Elevation of Mana Chapter 195 First Battle

No sooner had out target spotted the army than it charged. It raced down the mountain like an avalanche, causing one in the wake of the oncoming creature. Rather than snow though this one was fire and stone, loose rocks kicked up mixed with blazing grass and dry plants as it screamed and tried to dive into the arraying elves. From its mouth issued torrents of fire, mixed between balls that went far and a stream every time it breathed out.

Tried is an important word, for they'd been prepping for that sort of aggression. Perhaps Neera hadn't been one of the main fighters last time these things came around, but she'd seen them before, and we'd had reports of how they acted. Before the beast could plow into our force shields were thrown, layer by layer before it. The first couple were ineffective, resisted by some form of magic, but only the first couple, there was clearly some kind of limit to its resistance.

Once it reached that limit though, all bets were off. The heavy hitters, Jina, Rolan, and Neera all began to pour death upon the beast, with the southern leader Uro on the backline keeping things organized. It fell in seconds, roaring and screaming loud enough to shake the air before Chien and I could even get in the fight.

I couldn't hear the cheer go up from the crowd below, but I could see them moving, throwing up hands and jumping high in celebration of the first victory.

“Boss!” I heard from beside me as I looked down.

Three more of the monsters were starting to appear from the same hillock the first one had. It didn't take more than a second for me to realize that the army couldn't see them, and instantly I threw a hand out the window, sending forth a warning sign, brilliant lights flying in the direction of the enemy.

“We need to get over that hill, see if there are more,” I told Chien as I began to steer us. “Prepare to shield us from any stray shots.”

The blimp rose as we shot forward, pushing it to the maximum of its speed, which wasn't all that fast, but was the best I had. As we did so the world fell back and away, revealing more and more of the landscape.

It took only seconds for me to see them, over a dozen more spots of fire burning in the surrounding hills. That was bad, but they weren't all converging just yet, merely going about their own business. Some were fighting monsters, or feasting on kills, others were searching around them.

We were near a pass in the mountains, visible from where I was, and clearly charred black. That must be where they'd come through at, and not too long ago judging by the distribution and destruction evident.

However that didn't remain so. More screams of dying beasts rang out below as the army clashed with the three that had attacked. They were holding, but it was plain to see that one had gotten very, very close to the front line, where it had no doubt been assaulted by spears and thrown weapons from the leading physically inclined elves.

The dying screams of one monster had been enough to draw three, but the screams of those three seemed to change the metrics of it. Each and every blazing section below us sent out a streamer of fire, racing towards the fallen. Our enemy had seen that a challenger had arrived, and they were keen to put that challenge to the test.

“Start with bombs, we need to delay them,” I informed Chien. “If that many hit the army too close together it's all over.”

I was already sending out more warnings, flash patterns showing there were many incoming, arcing towards the beasts as I tried to bring us between the army and where it looked like the largest concentration of flaming dinosaurs was.

Chien's aim wasn't great, his first few shots going wide, but being loud and leaving craters in the earth below. It caused a bit of pause in the enemy and that was something at least. With what I was seeing I wasn't sure that those bombs would kill one on anything less than a direct hit, but they could slow one down if they hit nearby and made it stumble or fall, or just disoriented for that matter.

Once I was happy with where we were I got on the cannon and began to fire. My first shot went wildly wide, nowhere near where I needed it. The second though hit right in front of one of the dinos, sending up a spray of dirt that made the massive beast trip and fall. Before it could rise a pale blue bolt from Matriarch Neera slammed into its side, making the thing thrash as it froze solid.

One after another we fought, trying to slow and delay. That didn't mean we didn't kill any though. Chien managed to score several direct hits, disabling or killing two himself. I managed only one, but the result was amazing. Cannonballs weren't magic, and while these things were tough, one to the face was enough to turn its skull into ever so many fragments.

The fight felt both incredibly quick, and as if it had gone on for hours. In truth it had probably only been about one hour, from spotting the first enemy until the last fell, but that didn't make it any less intense. With a look out to check for more approaching, and finding none, I handed control off to Chien and leapt from my craft to talk to the leadership below.

Rolan saw me slowing my fall and he, along with several others came to meet me where I'd land.

“That all of them?” he asked.

“All that I can see, how did we fare?”

“Ten dead, many more injured to one degree or another, and we need to rest.”

“We might need to put that off for a few moments, if you're able,” I told him.

“Why?”

“The pass they came through isn't far ahead, if we can block it we can hold there and lick our wounds without worrying about more coming through.”

“How big of a wall will we need?”

I gave him the rough dimensions, so far as I could tell. The pass was large enough, a small valley between two cliffs, probably carved by a river or creek over centuries or millennia, thousands of feet wide and very deep. With the elders and Ancients we had though we should be able to manage something.

“Uro, you're in charge here for the moment. Matriarch Neera, Jina, Poran, Laba, Toar, and Shorin, please join me.” He phrased it as a request, polite to egos, but it was clear he needed their cooperation on this, now not later.

I wove a platform for the healers carrying us up to the balloon while those with my same abilities flew in the direction I indicated. We'd fly in my craft and while it would be standing room only we had the room for now, since we'd burned through half of our bombs and no small number of the cannonballs I'd brought along.

“Glad you agree we need to close the gap,” I said to Rolan as we sailed towards the hole the enemy had come through.

“None of those things can come through or they'll cause havoc.”

“True.”

Soon as we landed Rolan got to work organizing the construction. The healers went first, growing trees to act like fenceposts and vines to connect and guide while I and several others filled the gaps between with rocks and rubble from the surrounding land. As each rock or section of earth was moved into place roots and vines wrapped it tight, anchoring it in place. Several times Rolan called for more dirt than stone, or asked us to call water from the air to keep the plants alive, but quickly things took shape. The wall was ugly, but by dark it was fifty feet tall, ten thick, and stretched from one end of the opening to the other.

We'd won our first battle, and now it was time to lick our wounds and heal.