"We were able to establish so form of partnership, master, the plan has been enacted."
"Mn… That is good, this way, we will be ready for what may co, depending on how the human does." Ithil said to a female elf standing beside him in what seed to be his study. This female elf, also happened to be the sa elf leading the scouting team from before. Unsurprisingly, Ithil appeared to have a hand in this.
"What shall we do about the other, master? They seem to be planning sothing… else." She said, closing her eyes as though to hold herself from saying sothing else.
"Let them do what they please, for now. We'll take care of that soon." He said.
"As you wish, master."
"Keep in touch. For now, you're the leader of an elf scouting party." Ithil said before dislodging his attention from the elf standing beside him.
"As you order, master." She said, disappearing as though she was never there the very next mont.
…
Back at the camp, the place buzzed with activity as goblins worked tirelessly to prepare for what would be interpreted as an impending attack.
Lance stood, surrounded by several key figures of his clan and the elders of the newly joined tribes. A detailed map of the surrounding terrain was laid out before him, marked with symbols representing traps, defensive lines, and fallback points amongst other things.
"This isn't going to be a simple fight," Lance said, his eyes scanning the group. "The enemy will outnumber us, and its going to be a fight against beast and they will be coordinated from what we've seen so far. No matter what, we will not let any slip past us into the camp. That's where the defensive line here co in." He said, pointing to a position on the map. "This team will have nothing to do with the main battle and instead stand as the last line of defence." Lance said, explaining everything that had to be explained.
"That's all, for now. Work like there's no ti left because we don't know when the enemy will appear." Lance said.
He really hated the fact that they had to engage with their enemy blindly, but there was no other way. They had no idea where the demon was after all, and that was not reciprocal.
The good thing however, was that all the efforts they had put into fortifying the camp ant less efforts spared to do so. That aside, traps still had to be checked and new ones set even closer to the camp. Hidden pits were dug near key chokepoints, each one filled with sharpened wooden spikes and covered with foliage.
Zarra and her scouts maintained an even tighter schedule around the watchpoints, giving them a clear view of the enemy's approach. They had to be extra with everything now.
After thinking about it, Lia had found a way to provide extra protection for the calm as a whole. She focused on weaving protective enchantnts around the camp just like she would do to living beings. It was very tricky and sothing she had been practicing for a while, but ready or not, this was the ti to put her new spell to the test.
…
Late that night, as the camp settled into an uneasy quiet, Lance stood at the edge of the clearing, staring out into the dark forest, several thoughts in his mind.
"Chief… You're, thinking too much again," Rikka said, approaching slowly. She too had co to spend so ti alone and perhaps prepare ntally for the battle to co.
Lance chuckled softly. "It's hard not to." He said. "Are you ready?"
Rikka stood beside him, her golden eyes scanning the treetops. "I'm always ready. We've got this, chief. The tribe believes in you. We all do."
"Thanks, Rikka," Lance said, his voice sincere as he reached out to her, placing his ahdn on her hair. "That ans a lot."
She gave him a small smile, her usual fierceness softened for a mont. "We won't lose."
Chuckling a bit, Lance ruffled her hair a bit, "I like that spirit."
'Now, we're the only ones left around these parts… there's no way we can form any alliances in the end, we'll have to rely on ourselves going forward.' Lance thought to himself.
…
Elsewhere, the cloaked demon that attacked Lance and his tribe stood outside a cave, its entrance wide and its interior the type to be rendered completely dark even under day light.
"How much longer?" He said, seemingly talking to himself when a voice responded from within the dark cave.
The voice was hoarse, "soon… in a day… maybe two…"
"Is there no way to hurry it up? That tribe has quite the number of walking sacrifices. If we can get them, our work here will be done and we can return. We still haven't drawn much attention from the bigger tribes, its best we leave before they decide to take us seriously." The demon said.
"You think I don't know that? It appears you are telling what to do." The voice said, its tone unfriendly for a short mont. "Unless you want to take with you, useless rotten flesh, you will wait until I say otherwise, got it?" The voice from within the cave said, his eyes glowing a faint red through the darkness.
"Y-yeah… whatever. Take your ti."
…
The next day, even after waiting expectantly, nothing happened, there was no attack, and no sighting of any suspicious movent in the forests. Even then, there was another disturbing piece of information they discovered from the scouts that went farther into the forest to scout for any abnormalities.
They happened to reach the closest tribe to theirs, but the place where the bodies of several ogres once laid was now empty. Out of suspicion, they visited a few more tribes, or at least, where these tribes used to be, but it was the sa. Clearly, sothing was not right.
"We need to report this imdiately."
Reviews
All reviews (0)