The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 230

Chapter 230

Chapter 230: Resounding Horns

Sylvie and I remained entranced by the snowy white field that extended from the shore out into the ocean. It was amazing to see the conjuration of such a vast phenomenon made from one person. Surely, General Varay would be exhausted by now until she could recover her mana, but the job had been well done.

Aside from the aesthetics provided, I was curious as to the sort of strategy Virion and the rest of the Council had to utilize this ice field. I was given minimal information on the specific formations, deployment and maneuvering of troops and the actual line formation that we’d be using to face the approaching Alacryan army.

“Ready to go up, General?” Curtis’s voice rang from behind.

I pried my eyes away, turning to the single set of stairs leading to the floor above. Sylvie was right behind me and despite appearing even younger than my sister in her human form, I could sense the excitement of battle leaking from her.

Climbing up the stairs and entering what I assumed was the strategic hub for the battle here, I was surprised at how... efficient everything was.

‘Efficient’ might not have been the best word, but the activities going on inside the room reminded me of the strategy rooms during my time as Grey back on Earth.

There were rows of desks with people sitting in front of large piles of transmission scrolls instead of computers. They were all faced towards the center of the circular room with a view of General Barion, standing on an elevated podium that was looking over a large earthen table with an uneven surface and a large glass orb perched on top of an intricate artifact. Surrounding this artifact were over twelve mages on standby.

While I was curious about the purpose of the clear orb, it only took me a second to realize that the earthen table, with a dwarven mage hovering his hands over it, was a rough depiction of the soon-to-be battlefield.

General Bairon Wykes, older brother of Lucas Wykes, was currently discussing something about the march before he finally turned to look at me.

His expression was controlled but the slight twitch in his eyebrows told me that he hadn’t exactly forgotten what I had done to his brother. Still, compared to how he acted when we had me for the first time, his impulse control had gotten a lot better.

“General Bairon,” I greeted curtly, walking up to the earthen war table.

“General Leywin,” he replied, not bothering to step down from the podium he was standing on.

I studied the layout of the war table, noticing the small earthen figures that most likely represented the troops.

“I’m assuming this information isn’t real-time, right?” I asked.

“No it isn’t, General Arthur,” the dwarf answered respectfully. “I’m only able to roughly gauge and track the progress from the reports through the transmission scrolls sent in by the captains.”

“And what is this giant orb?” I asked, looking at Bairon this time.

“It’s an artifact that can be better used as a medium for the diviners present,” he answered.

“How are the diviners getting information from the battlefield?”

“Those other mages you see beside the projection artifact are elite deviants capable of scrying by sharing senses with their bonded beasts. The diviners will be able to link the images from the scryers’ minds and project them into the orb for the strategic general of this battle to see,” Bairon replied, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Don’t worry, I came here after declining your position. I’ll be joining the other lances on the battlefield,” I quipped, annoyed by the lance’s attitude.

“At least you had the brain to decline it. Tens of thousands of soldiers’ lives rest on the choices made in this room,” Bairon retorted. “If you can’t even keep your own family alive, how will you keep the soldiers out there from dying needlessly?”

I whipped my head back, rage flairing. “ What did you say?”

Bairon smiled smugly. “You heard me.”

“Both of you, stop,” my bond said, pulling on my sleeve. “And retract your mana.”

Looking around, I could see that the killing intent infused with mana that had leaked out were straining the people present in the room. Calming myself, I shot Bairon a glare and held up a hand. “Give me the debrief papers you got from the Council and we’ll be on our way.”

Bairon reluctantly handed me the folder. In it were dozens of pages highlighting relevant information along with several transmission scrolls.

Not wanting to stay in this room any longer than necessary, I made my way to the exit, stopping just short of the doorway leading to the stairs with Curtis and Sylvie beside me. “And General Bairon? If one of the requirements to have this role was to ‘keep your own family alive’, then I might just argue that you’re in no position to be up on that podium.”

I crossed the high city walls that marked the edge of Etistin perched on Sylvie’s back as I read through the notes outlining the various phases of this battle. The drumming of footsteps resounded below from the soldiers marching through the hills that led down to the Etistin Bay.

To make things even better for those struggling on their march, the gray clouds hung low, and the air was moist. It looked like the battle would be done under the rain.

Something’s not adding up, I said to myself, my eyes scouring over the estimated numbers of the Alacryan forces approaching.

‘What’s wrong?’ Sylvie replied, noticing my concern.

It’s just that... if I was the Alacryan general, there is no way I would initiate a full scale battle like this.

I could sense the confusion from my bond, so I elaborated what was on my mind.

From what we’d gathered, Alacrya had been preparing for this war for many years now, from smuggling spies like Headmaster Goodsky to poisoning and corrupting the mana beasts. They’d taken extreme and careful measures by colluding with the secretive dwarves and bridging gaps by installing teleportation gates deep within the dungeons of the Beast Glades.

This all happened under our noses while Dicathen barely knew that another continent even existed!

So to me, it seemed counterintuitive for them to abandon all of the strategic prowess that they’ve demonstrated and face us head on like this.

Based on the numbers, their forces were huge and any of the attacks we’d already tried had been easily blocked by their specialized defensive mages. However, they were still coming by ship—their resources were limited. The journey here must’ve already drained their food and water supply by a considerable amount. If we played a war of attrition, their forces would soon die of thirst or starvation.

Of course, one could argue that Alacrya’s strengths truly shined in large scale battle, since their specialized mages were much more of a well-oiled and cohesive military force compared to our soldiers. But still, we vastly outnumbered them even if it would take time to mobilize all of our forces.

Was I overthinking things? Perhaps the Alacryans just wanted to wrap this up. I knew that Agrona wanted to avoid an unnecessarily high death count on either sides for his goals against the asuras in Epheotus, so maybe he thought that obtaining victory in a formal battle like this would end the war cleanly?

‘Maybe you should’ve taken the strategic general position,’ Sylvie chimed after absorbing all of the thoughts I had practically vomited onto her.

No. Bairon is a dick, but he’s right. I don’t have a stable enough mindset to dictate the lives of the soldiers when I know that each of their deaths would be caused by the decisions I make.

I didn’t want to play chess using the lives of our soldiers as pawns when I already felt responsible for the death of my father.