Blacksteel and Blood

"We failed again..."

A woman sighed as she leaned against the wall of a dark alley not far from the inn, which was now surrounded by guards and townsfolk stirred awake by the earlier attack.

"I have never been so humiliated in my life..."

This woman had never tasted failure before, but ever since taking on this mission, she had experienced one setback after another. There were too many unknowns, too many unexpected circumstances. The target possessed strange powers and, somehow, had gained Beastkin allies despite being a Human.

"Then there is the silhouette I saw in the sky earlier. Was that just an illusion?"

She wasn't entirely sure that what she saw had been real. The Dragonkin had long been considered extinct, wiped out since the ancient times. If they still existed, there was no way they would have stayed hidden for so long. However, given what she had witnessed, and the abnormal circumstances surrounding her mission, she couldn't simply dismiss it as a trick of the mind.

"I will return for now..."

Slipping away into the darkened streets was easy. Most of the town's attention was focused on the inn, leaving her free to move unseen. She quickly made her way to a dilapidated building tucked away in a forgotten corner of Enrain. The cellar of this abandoned house served as their base of operations, though it was now nearly empty after the catastrophic losses.

She knocked on the door using their agreed upon code. One of the few surviving operatives answered and led her down into the cellar, where her partner was waiting.

By the look on his face, she could tell he already knew the results of the mission. He was visibly restraining his anger as he asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know... It was going well. Our operatives were infiltrating the target's room when there was a sudden explosion that killed them," she said, her voice tight.

Her partner closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again.

"Do we know who caused the explosion? Was it the target?"

She hesitated.

"..."

Her silence caught his attention immediately.

"What is it?" he asked, his patience wearing thin.

She steeled herself and finally said, "I saw something. But I don't know if it was real. While I was observing from a distance, I felt a sudden chill down my spine. When I looked up at the sky, I noticed a strange silhouette pass over the moon. It was more of a shadow really, but it had the shape of a dragon. The explosion happened soon after that."

She looked away as she finished. The words sounded absurd even to her own ears, but she could not shake what she had seen.

Her partner's first reaction was a look of ridicule, but it quickly shifted into something more thoughtful.

"I want to say that it's impossible, but this whole mission has seemed strange from the start. Could they be connected somehow? But the target is a Human... He has connections to Beastkin, though, so it could be..." He trailed off, speaking more to himself than to her.

He lapsed into a long silence, ruminating on the implications.

After a while, he spoke again.

"We need to be certain before we report this to headquarters. Let's continue observing the situation for now. As for the target, we don't have enough manpower left to complete our mission directly. But maybe we can use the current chaos to our advantage. With the army of monsters approaching, there may be an opportunity. If we're lucky, he will be killed in the fighting."

A sinister smile twisted his lips as he slammed a dagger onto the table.

"And how exactly will we accomplish this?" the woman asked, unable to keep the doubt from her voice. Considering their repeated failures, it was not an unreasonable question.

"I will take care of it. Don't worry."

____________________________________

The monsters appeared mid-afternoon from the direction of the forest and spread out along the western wall. There were at least two thousand of them, maybe even more. It was a far greater number of monsters than Fayde had seen gathered in one place since coming to this world.

There were snarling Kobolds, which were, in truth, not much different from lizardmen, only smaller. They were less scaly than lizardmen but had a similar reptilian appearance. The Kobolds made up the bulk of the force and served as little more than grunts. Their weapons of choice were spears, and they wore coarse leather armor, the most basic of protection. The Kobolds were generally weak and were nothing more than cannon fodder.

The next largest group were the bare-chested lizardmen, each wielding scimitar like weapons. They were larger than the Kobolds by at least a foot and a half, with rippling muscles and wicked teeth that made their snouts look like alligators. Even these were just middling monsters and were only an even match for the Human soldiers.

It was the larger and heavily armored lizardmen that would pose the greatest danger to the Human forces in close quarter combat. These lizardmen wore heavy armor and carried both a heavy spear and shield. Human light infantry would not even be able to pierce their armor, never mind hurt them. They would need to be dealt with by capable adventurers.

In addition to the heavily armored lizardmen were the lizardmen shamans. These were the magic casters among their kind and could unleash a variety of shamanistic spells. They were not particularly strong individually, but their magic was dangerous. The lizardmen shamans made up the smallest group, numbering no more than a few dozen. They served as the enemy's artillery, their magic capable of weakening or destroying sections of the wall. Their only other means of attacking the town would be by scaling the walls, but the defenses there were well prepared.

Normally, this kind of army would not pose much of a threat to the Town of Enrain, even with their overwhelming numbers. Enrain maintained a garrison of several hundred infantry, mostly spearmen and archers. Though the town had no heavy infantry, adventurers were required to partake in the defense and could be considered a form of heavy infantry and magical support. There were few military mages stationed in the town, but the adventurers would fill the gap, especially among the magic casters. The town could easily field over a thousand ready to fight, a large number for the size of the town because of the proximity to the forest.

With so many defenders, it was not difficult to hold the town, particularly since the monsters lacked any understanding of advanced tactics. They attacked only the western wall, which allowed the defenders to concentrate their forces accordingly, leaving only a few scouts on the other walls as a precaution.

The magic casters were divided into two groups. One group maintained a barrier protecting the western wall, while the other bombarded the monsters attempting to scale it. The defenders threw javelins or fired arrows into the monster horde and were doing an exceptional job keeping them at bay. As long as the barrier held, the plan was working.

However, under mysterious circumstances, several of the mages maintaining the barrier were taken out. The barrier collapsed in a small portion of the wall. The lizardmen shamans quickly noticed and took advantage, blasting a large hole in the defenses with fireballs. The heavily armored lizardmen were then ordered to concentrate their assault on the breach. Their heavy armor rendered most direct magic attacks ineffective, and ranged weapons bounced harmlessly off their shields.

They easily shrugged off all resistance and marched toward the breach. All adventurers were ordered to defend the gap and keep the heavily armored infantry from entering the city at all costs. Meanwhile, the light infantry, archers, and remaining magic casters were to remain on the walls and focus their efforts on targeting the lighter Kobolds and the enemy shamans.

The battle quickly shifted from a manageable siege to total chaos. The adventurers struggled desperately to hold the breach against the advancing wall of armored lizardmen.

Damn, even my Void Flames aren't effective against their armor, Fayde thought bitterly as he tried to hold the line. At least I can still use them as a shield on my arm. They deflect metal well, but they just can't cause enough direct damage when I use them as a ranged attack.

He had attempted to blast the enemy from a distance, but his Void Flames were simply batted away by their shields. Even so, he quickly discovered that when he enhanced his body or his sword with the Void Flames, the magic was far more effective. He had already left dents in a few of the lizardmen's armor and managed to bring down a couple of them, but other adventurers were not having as much success.

All the adventurers who had been drafted into the town's defense were fighting to hold the breach. The situation had turned into a bitter stalemate. Thankfully, Fayde and many others had been kept in reserve during the earlier stages of the fighting, so they were still relatively fresh compared to the enemy.

From the moment the monsters had appeared, they had launched a relentless siege. They probed and tested the defenses without pause, but it was not until nightfall that the walls were finally breached by the enemy shamans. How exactly the barrier had collapsed remained a mystery, but the timing was no accident. Several mages had gone down in a short span of time, and chaos had immediately followed.

Even so, the defenders were holding. Even with the hole in the wall, even with the heavy infantry pressing against them, the town would not fall so easily.

After holding the line for a time, Fayde finally fell back once the relief forces came forward to engage the lizardmen. Reia fought alongside him, and the two of them retreated to the rear of the adventurer's formation where Orban was directing the defense.

"Orban, I need to talk to you for a minute," Fayde called out as soon as he reached the rear.

"Fayde! Glad to see you're still alive! Hahahaha!" Orban bellowed with his usual rough humor. Fayde felt a flicker of annoyance but let it go, that was just the way Orban spoke.

"Listen, magic isn't working on their heavy armor. There is something strange about their armor, I never realized that it would be so effective at deterring magical attacks, it's crazy. Those heavily armored lizardmen are gaining ground," Fayde said, frustration creeping into his voice.

He was growing increasingly irritated at their lack of progress, but now he was much more aware of just how much of an advantage heavy armor could provide in battles where magic was involved.

Even in Earth's history, such heavily armored foes had been a nightmare for lightly armored soldiers. Strong piercing weapons were required to do real damage. Of course, there were other ways too.

What I can't understand is why magic is so ineffective. Whenever my spells hit their armor, it feels like the magic and metal repel each other. It's almost like the metal itself has properties similar to a magic barrier. Could it have some kind of innate magical resistance? I'll have to look into this later, it's just too strange.

Orban sighed loudly and said, "Indeed. The armor those creatures are wearing, we call it Blacksteel, it is steeped in magical corruption from the dungeon. Magic is devastating against most soldiers, but heavily armored monsters? It's almost useless. And if they've got what we call mirror shields, it's even worse! Magic can bounce right back at you!"

Fayde agreed that direct magic attacks were mostly ineffective against the heavy metal armor, but he could not help but feel that the people of this world lacked imagination when it came to magic.

Did it never occur to them to use other types of magic? Mental magic? Illusions? Spells to cause confusion or fear?

When he thought about how little magic research was done in the kingdoms, and how few mages there actually were, it made a bit more sense. For Humans, learning magic was difficult and costly. There was no public education system. Anyone who wanted to learn had to find a mentor, often at great personal expense. Occasionally, a rare few were taken in by a willing teacher, but those cases were few and far between.

Magic in the kingdoms was truly in a miserable state. The scarcity of education, combined with the high cost of learning, meant that most mages focused on elemental magic, the type that offered the fastest and clearest benefits. Direct damage spells were just more practical most of the time and there were other ways to deal with heavily armored monsters. More specialized branches of magic, like illusions or enchantments, were neglected.

If only the kingdoms had developed a real magical foundation, Fayde thought bitterly. They could raise mages with a wider variety of skills. As it stands, everything feels half-baked.

"Orban, I have an idea," Fayde said, straightening. "If direct magic attacks won't work, we can use more conventional means. The lizardmen move slowly and they're weak to fire. Let's set a fire at the breach to slow them down. That should relieve some pressure on the adventurers. In the meantime, I'll have some friends create a diversion, they'll head straight for the lizardmen commander."

Orban raised an eyebrow, looking at him suspiciously.

"Hmm. The plan sounds good, but who exactly are these friends of yours? And can they really take out the lizard commander?"

"Don't worry. They can do it. Just keep the lizardmen pinned down and get that fire started. Hold them back as long as possible. Once the commander and the shamans are dealt with, we can launch an all out counteroffensive. Can you make it happen?"

Orban rubbed his chin, considering Fayde's words carefully. While he was not the commander of the town's guard, as Assistant Guild Master, he had significant influence over the defense.

After a long moment, Orban slammed his right fist into the palm of his left hand with a loud crack.

"Alright! If you can really make what you say happen, then leave the rest to me!"

Fayde nodded to Orban and took off running, Reia following close behind him. While he had spoken with Orban, Reia had remained silent. She seemed to know exactly what he had in mind and stayed at his side without question. For a brief moment, he thought he caught a look of respect in her eyes.

They sprinted through the darkened streets toward the inn where they had been staying. Fayde had instructed Nes and Allein to remain inside and out of sight until summoned. Now that night had fallen and visibility was poor, the two Dragonkin could slip away unnoticed. In their dragon forms, their midnight-black scales would blend into the night sky, making them almost impossible to spot. With a strict curfew imposed and most of the city's guards concentrated along the western wall, sneaking out in another direction would only be easier.

The dirt roads were deserted. Most of the townspeople were shuttered inside their homes. When Fayde and Reia burst through the doors of the inn, the few people gathered there looked up in shock and murmured among themselves. Fayde ignored them. Without slowing down, he and Reia rushed up the stairs to the second floor where their room was located.

Nes and Allein were waiting exactly where they had been told. Fayde quickly explained the plan.

"I want you two to surprise attack from the rear of the monster army and cause as much confusion as possible. Target their commander and take out as many of the shamans as you can. The lizardmen might have limited night vision, but they won't be expecting an attack from above. Can you do it?"

Urgency was clear in his voice as he made his case to the sibling Dragonkin.

Nes's expression darkened immediately. He stood and shouted, "You want to put my sister in danger? I should kill you where you stand!"

Fayde flinched inwardly but kept his voice calm. He understood Nes's anger, even if he felt it was an overreaction.

They should easily be able to pull this off, he thought. They can fly, and no one will even know they are coming.

Allein placed a hand gently on her brother's shoulder, calming him before he could say anything else.

"We can do it," she said firmly. "Ignore my brother. He's just a little overprotective, but he means well."

Nes looked as though he was about to argue, but a single sharp look from Allein silenced him. Instead, he turned his glare toward Fayde, his eyes filled with murderous intent. After a tense moment, he exhaled heavily and backed down.

"I'm sorry to ask this of you, Allein," Fayde said, lowering his head slightly. "I understand why your brother is angry, but if this works, we can save a lot of lives."

Surprisingly, Allein gave him a playful smile.

"I was getting restless anyway. This should be fun."

Without another word, Nes and Allein moved to the window. They leapt gracefully down into the shadows below and disappeared into the night.

Fayde watched them vanish, then turned to Reia. Together, they rushed back toward the western wall, where the battle was still raging.

The final stage of the battle was about to begin, and this time, Fayde and his allies would be the ones to tip the scales.