Hours after the expeditionary army was destroyed by what the scouts described as a large group of monsters, an emergency meeting is held inside the palace. The n.o.bles who remained were called as plans are to be formed on how to respond to this new threat. On his marble throne, the emperor is having something that can only be described as a wake up call, reminding him that the empire may be powerful but not invincible, not even close to that. The reports he read were harrowing, the whole army was destroyed in only 30 minutes.160,000 men destroyed in 30 minutes is simply unreal. If not for the fact that multiple groups of scouts reported the same thing, he would"ve executed the first scout for spreading false information. He could only sigh, he has a very grave feeling about these invaders, it"s as if even the G.o.ds could not stop them if they were set loose. However, he can"t let this feeling weaken him, the empire has conquered many other kingdoms, races and beings over the last 800 years.
How"s this gate going to be any different? At most, the empire would just be incapable of stopping them for now, just like when the elves arrived. But sooner or later, the elves were defeated and conquered by the empire anyways. He shouldn"t be worried at all, maybe sending a quarter of the empire"s army should be enough to quell these otherworldly invaders. Soon, the meeting started and by the end of it, he managed to draw out 35% of the army of each va.s.sal states of the empire.
He only deployed 10% with the reason that these 10% are the most elite, mostly comprising of powerful mages. Each kingdom"s army would consist of around 100,000 men, empires would generally have 300,000 instead. The Saderan empire, has 15 va.s.sal kingdoms and 3 va.s.sal empires under its command. With 35% of each va.s.sal"s armies, the army sent to destroy the zerg expeditionary forces numbers around 840,000 men.
With this army, everyone is convinced that the invaders would immediately retreat. Even if they are monsters, everyone agrees that even beasts would realise that they"re outmatched and outnumbered by such a force, clearly underestimating the zerg. The a.s.sault will be launched in 3 days and led by princes and n.o.bles of the empire and its va.s.sal states. With over 35% of the n.o.ble clans becoming extinct due to its men being slaughtered by the zerg, the n.o.bles of the va.s.sal states wish to claim the limited spots of becoming an empire n.o.ble.
As an empire n.o.ble, they would be treated much highly and would wield much more power than their equivalents in the va.s.sal states. For example, a Saderan empire baron would wield power equal to a va.s.sal kingdom"s earl and a va.s.sal empire"s count. If they were to become an empire Earl, their authority would be equal to a va.s.sal kingdom"s royalty. They would be equal to kings at Duke rank and if they become the eight in line to the throne or above, their rank would be equal to the va.s.sal emperors.
So, if they display great might and power during the battle, they might get a huge promotion and enter the upper circles of the empire. If they"re lucky, the princes might be elevated to pseudo royalty or even true royalty. With that, they may be able to influence the Saderan empire and even possibly claim it. Unbeknownst to them, the emperor had set up countermeasures thanks to his fears of being usurped.
With the army gathered and discussed, the emperor felt less troubled. Even if the invaders are monsters as powerful and scary as they are described, even a group of ancient dragons would fall against an army of 840,000 men with a diverse set of roles and equipment, not to mention a small army of powerful but mindless beasts. Soon, these beasts will know the might of the empire and retreat from Falmart. Then, he would invade their world and turn them into his slaves, bolstering the imperial army"s strength to new heights.
Schwarz Forest, South of Alnus Hill
Colt Formal and his men had been travelling south for 3 and a half days, following the command of the G.o.ddess who had saved their life. They did not doubt her words, especially after hearing that the empire"s forces were obliterated within 30 minutes by monsters of various forms and abilities. It seemed that the demons" infantry consisted of large hounds with a pair sickle like appendages on their back, used to tear soldiers apart. They heard how easily they dodged spells and how they tore apart heavy and enchanted iron armor as if they were made of paper.
The archers of this demon army seems to be divided into two types. Spine serpents that shoot powerful bone needles that can easily penetrate up to ten armored people and turtles spitting green goo that turns all things it touches into a puddle. The wyvern riders, trolls and infantry were easily slaughtered by these demons, they could easily picture the scene. Long spears of bones being shot by high speeds, easily destroying the skulls of a dozen men while sprays of goo melt the approaching troops, turning them into puddles.
Barrages of these took down the wyvern riders in one shot as the needles penetrate through the dragon and killed the armored riders. Trolls were melted by concentrated fire from a group of these turtles. He shuddered at the fate he would"ve had if he didn"t believe, "Glad I listened to the G.o.ddess.", a theme shared by his men. Speaking of the G.o.ddess, she had visited him a day ago in private to bless him with more gifts for his mission.
According to her, the mission would be very hard so he will need all the equipment she is giving him. First, a little touch of transformation. She touched his forehead and transformed him into a combination of demi humans. He gained the beauty of the elves, his face transformed into a much more handsome and regal version of his youth.
Their beauty also comes with their sharp ears and affinity for nature magic. However, his ears are only half as sharp and long as the G.o.ddess mentioned that his form is a combined one. He gains the gift of the giants but his height is increased only by 2 inches which is the optimal height for physical attraction for all Falmart humanoids. A pair of his canines turned into fangs, a trait possessed by a few species of demi-humans.
In terms of abilities, he gains enhanced senses. Thanks to his partially elvish ears, his hearing is twice as well as a human"s prime and he could hear things twice as far as any human can. The affinity to nature magic blesses him with greater agility as his reaction speed is doubled and the strength and stamina of his legs are tripled, letting him move thrice as fast and jump thrice as high while lasting thrice as long doing these. If he ran, he would cover nine times the distance compared to him in his prime.
The nature magic affinity also allows him to influence nature around him with a mere thought. His anger would cause anything less intelligent than a lion to go on a frenzy and attack the target of anger. If he felt fear, he would be cloaked from anything less intelligent than an ape, preventing druids from tracking him using nature. Also, the affinity brings him easier control over mana and allows him to learn nature magic at five times the rate of an average mage.
In addition to agility and magic affinity, the giant part of the fusion granted him strength equal to that of a warrior giant. This strength is equal to the strength of slightly over 720 men, a light punch is enough to break a foot thick concrete wall while a serious punch would be like getting a direct hit by an artillery sh.e.l.l or a few sticks of dynamite. The strength of a warrior giant grants him the durability to withstand and survive the collapse of a mansion and provide him with strong skin and muscles which can only be penetrated by strong magic or a direct hit from a ballista.
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As for his other demi human abilities, he is gifted heightened senses. His sense of smell rivals that of a bloodhound, his sight could make out even a millimeter difference and his sense of touch could recognize small differences in air pressure from up to a meter away. Overall, Colt Formal could easily rival an apostle except for the regeneration aspect. However, that was not the end of the gifts he received.
The G.o.ddess gave him control over the "demons", gifting him with a squad consisting of four zerglings, two hydralisks, two roaches and an overlord. When they emerged from behind her, the reborn count drew his spear and prepared to defend himself. But the G.o.ddess simply pointed his spear away and told him that they"re his to command as backup. The Overlord had developed ventral sacs, allowing him to ride in it.
However, he declined and his zerg squad was the one carried by it in the end. The G.o.ddess had modified the overlord to be capable of cloaking, allowing his zerg allies to travel undetected. She also gave him what appears to be light, full body metal armor with magical runes engraved on it and a white cape with an orange colored interior. "The armor I gave you is made of a material called super biosteel."
The G.o.ddess summoned a short, purple energy blade on her right hand"s index finger. The purplish glow illuminates the metallic armor and the G.o.ddess with its violet light. To demonstrate its properties, the G.o.ddess sliced a small patch of armor, leaving a hissing molten tear. In a second, the metal cools and after another second, the tear completely closes up and all evidence of it vanishes up to the atomic level.
"Woah." To say that the count was astonished is a ma.s.sive understatement. An armor that could heal just as fast as an apostle is nothing short of a divine artifact. According to his memory, no such G.o.d in falmart possesses such a treasure and if they did, he doubted that any of them would bestow such an armor even to their most devoted. Before he could speak his grat.i.tude and humility, the G.o.ddess began talking about the cloak.
First, the G.o.ddess straightened his cape"s collar and then squatted down until her eyes met his, admiring his new features. Suddenly, she started to talk about the cloak, "The white cloak I gave you is called the Dawnfury Cloak, an artifact containing the power of dawn. Anything shrouded, partially shrouded or connected to a shrouded part will become invisible to all creatures of darkness. As for creatures of light, they will see you as a greater being and the more of them nearby, the greater power you will receive."
"Since this artifact is for your use and because I want you to learn, I will only reveal the details I have mentioned. As for its mult.i.tudes of other abilities, you"ll figure it out on your own. Besides, you have nothing to worry, nothing short of a G.o.d can truly harm you even at your current state." After saying so, the G.o.ddess vanished into violet particles. Once the violet particles fall onto the gra.s.s, a 10 foot tall wisteria tree emerged from the ground, surrounded by a patch of yellow primrose, lavenders and violets.
When he returned to his men, they almost attacked him due to his new demi human appearance. He was slightly taller, more attractive, had short pointed ears and predator fangs. He explained about being visited by the G.o.ddess once more and blessed with equipment and his new form. He kept the cloaked overlord and small zerg squad a secret since they would probably attack them on sight unless he proved to them that they"re allies.
That was exactly 24 hours ago and he still wore the same equipment given to her. Surprisingly, the armor and cloak are spotless and clean despite going through a lot of shrubbery on his path. Speaking of which, how far has he travelled and what exactly is she telling him to look for. His men had been asking the same question but never lost faith, considering that their commander has been recently visited and transformed by her into some sort of demi-human demiG.o.d. He and his one hundred men scaled up a pa.s.sage leading to higher lands.
While walking up the dirt pa.s.sage, a thundering roar echoed through the distance, followed by the sounds of distant screams and cries for aid. Looking up, he and his men saw a large cloud of smoke rising up in the distance. Hearing the roar and the cries, the apostle of destruction and his men sprinted towards the source of the rising cloud of smoke. Soon, they came across a flame dragon attacking a village of dark elves.
A small group of elven magicians and warriors fought the large, red scaled dragon. Sadly, all of their attacks are for nought as not even a scratch was inflicted on the fire breathing reptilian behemoth. Despite their effort, the beast easily swatted them aside and breathed fire to the village, burning houses and dark elves alike. Seeing people in danger, the former count charged without a second thought, followed by his squad of armed men a second after.