The werebear spoke after she finally found her words.
"I didn't tell you this, but Konig Mitleid was the friend who rescued us from before. He looked dangerous when he was in his Blood Rage state, but I pitied him when he snapped out of it. It's a scary thing... losing control of your own body."
"Sierra, what about the battle on your side? Is it over?"
"Yeah, we managed to defeat Macher's invasion, but the weasel was so sneaky that he was able to escape. He ditched ten Knights from his private army in order for him to escape."
"Listen, I don't know how much longer we can last. We're out of ammunition, and the Brandals aren't giving us enough time to recover our HPs. How many are left on your side?"
"The battle just finished a few seconds ago. I still have to do a head count, but I think we have 400 militia members, 350 Avendre Mercenaries, 190 Zectian Knights, and 410 Sonstwelter Knights."
"That's alot, but even if your group joins us, will only have enough to match the Brandals' numbers."
"We could do a two pronged attack? We'll attack from the sides and draw their attention, while you attack them from the opposite direction."
Smoke smiled. The two pronged attack was one of the first war tactics he had discussed with Sierra. He quickly pushed the thought to the back of his head, and focused on the battle at hand.
"No, we can't do that. We may win, but at what cost? I don't want to lose anyone else."
"Well, you better think of something fast. Before the Brandals make their move. While you're thinking, we're already on our way to you. We should be there in twenty minutes."
Smoke was glad that Sierra had 1,300 men coming to their aid, but fighting the Brandals head on was suicide.
TIDINGK!
The DarkElf suddenly heard a sound. It was an indication that his life bar and mana bar had completely recovered.
An idea came to Smoke's mind when he realized that his Mana was at full capacity.
Smoke sent an order to his group channel. He told them to stay safely on top of the tower, regardless of what they were about to see.
The DarkElf left Adder in charge. He then briskly took all 4,000 of his arrows from Espion and Rasant.
After he gave out his instructions, Smoke used his 'Telefax Vision' ability. From a distance he confirmed that the Brandals were still huddled closely together.
The Brandal leaders were still discussing their final attack, and the black ctenosaur riders were busy applying bandages to their own wounds.
Some of the bandits had even built campfires. They were cooking a meal while waiting for their leaders' orders.
Smoke grinned from ear to ear. The Brandals' had given him the perfect scenario!
Immediately, Smoke left Adder in charge of the whole battalion. He then leapt up to the sky with Igniz orbiting around him.
Armed with his Digger's Wand, the DarkElf expanded his hooded cloak and expertly glided his way towards the Brandals' encampment.
Smoke activated the Digger's Wand when he was directly above the huddled Brandals. He created a trench that had a circumference of 600 meters.
He didn't stop there. He reactivated the same ability but this time only slightly smaller. With this method, Smoke doubled the gap of the trench.
The DarkElf wanted to be sure that the Brandals could not escape their trap.
When the trenches were done, Smoke glided around the Brandal's encampment. He followed the path of the trench that he created.
As Smoke flew over the wide excavation, he ordered Igniz to cover the trench in a sea of flames. Igniz gave Smoke an astonished look.
This was Igniz's first time creating such a long firewall, but after he saw the DarkElf's eyes, the dark ember sprite obeyed.
Igniz saw that Smoke was determined to finish the Brandals alone. After they covered the entire trench in flames, Smoke ordered his symbiote to do the same on the Brandal's encampment.
The dark ember sprite was wobbly. Igniz weirdly flew around and was about to faint. Nevertheless, Smoke's symbiote complied. Igniz covered the entire area, until he finally consumed his last energy.
Igniz started to fall down from the sky. The dark ember sprite had consumed Smoke's last MP. The DarkElf briskly caught Igniz and placed him inside his special pocket designed for his symbiote.
As he glided in the air, Smoke checked his 'Status Window' and saw that he was out of Mana. The DarkElf gambled on his increased Wisdom stat. He thought that his MP regeneration was enough for this grandiose plan to work.
Nevertheless, Smoke decided to push through with the second phase of his plan. He switched out his Digger's Wand, and took out one of the boss weapons he got from inside the labyrinth.
The DarkElf smirked as he heard the screams of the bandits below him. Despite their high resistance to Fire, the Brandals still received the 'Burned Status'.
Smoke could have simply used Igniz's flames as he did now, and not endanger himself against the bandits.
However, Smoke needed a bait worthy of the Brandals' attention. Otherwise, they would have leapt outside of their encampment and tried to climb out of the trenches.
Smoke shouted at the top of his lungs as he remained gliding above the bandits.
“Hear me you Brandal Scum! The name's Smoke! I'm the leader of this rebellion. I'm sure that you will be handsomely rewarded by Ultimo Maire if you can kill me, but I doubt that any of you pathetic losers can take me! You're only used to fighting Farmers and Fishermen!”
The Brandals were enraged at Smoke's audacity, and were looking for a way to attack him in midair.
Forcefully, Smoke dove down to the sea of flames below him. The DarkElf welcomed Igniz's flames as he was immune to its damage.
THUD!
The DarkElf stunned five Brandal Leaders as he landed at the center of their formation. The impact of Smoke's landing blew them away.
Smoke was whirling his deadly 'Chain and Sickle of Dasende' with his right hand, while he kept the heavy iron ball ready with his left. He recalled the three major reasons why this plan was only applicable now.
First, was the Brandals huddled formation. From the time Smoke arrived, this was the only occurrence where the bandits were all in one place.
Second, was his Mana. Smoke had depleted his mana from creating the first trench and raising the towers.
Third, was his weapon. The 'Chain and Sickle of Dasende' wasn't usable near allies. It would wreak havoc against friend and foe alike.
The DarkElf created a whirlwind as he rapidly spun his Dasende over his head. The whirlwind slowly became larger and larger as Smoke extended its chain.
Before the bandits recovered from their stunned state, Smoke targeted the necks of the leaders mounted on the back of their black ctenosaurs.
Smoke killed all five Brandal leaders on his sickle's fourth orbit. The DarkElf ran in every direction.
He slashed the opponents who got near him and bashed the bandits who were farther away with Dasende's iron ball.
Igniz's sea of flames slowly damaged all the Brandals. The ordinary bandits were left with 60% of their life while the Brandal leaders had 85%.
With his 'Lunar Gravity Boots', the DarkElf leapt up as soon as his regenerated Mana allowed him to use his items' active abilities.
The DarkElf stunned the four bandits below with the force from his landing as he used his 'Hooded Cloak of Cologus', and massacred the four black ctenosaur riders.
Gradually, Igniz's flames died out. Which revealed the soot covered ground. Sporadic smoke was coming out of burnt earth.
This time, the DarkElf went after the bandits on foot. As the bandits were running towards him, He knocked fifteen of the bandits down with a sweep from his long iron chain.
With his opponents down, he alternated hitting them with the weight and the sickle. As he kept attacking the fallen bandits, the other bandits on foot had him surrounded.
As Smoke looked around his enemies, his 'Chain and Sickle of Dasende' glowed. This indicated that his Mana was enough to use its active ability, 'Cyclone of Slaughter'.
Encircled by the Brandals, Smoke activated the ability. His movement and attack speed were increased ten folds. The DarkElf spun around with extreme speed that his weight and sickle created sixteen afterimages.
The Brandals within Smoke's reach were either slashed by the sickle or blown away by the weight. The ability lasted ten seconds which created a pile of dead bodies.
Slowly, the bandits started to back off. This time, the twenty-seven Brandal leaders stepped forward and faced the DarkElf.
* * * * * *
Adder along with everyone else watched Smoke fly off to the Brandals encampment, but as soon as he saw Smoke dig the trench and cover the enemies base with flames, he knew that his leader was on a suicide mission.
The one-armed man instantly called the other members of Smoke's private army, and told them to rush to Smoke's aid.
Smoke's second in command ordered the Maneators; Weise, Stark, and Rasant to bring Laernea and Gandiva's carriages down from their towers.
No one questioned Adder as they rode on the Lioumereans' carriages. Adder left Thyrsus in charge, to take care of the surviving militia members.
The trench was still covered in flames when they arrived at the Brandals encampment. They saw glimpses of Smoke jumping up and heard his loud landing as he crushed the bandits.
All of them wanted to cross the trench, but Igniz's flames prevented them. Adder decided to use this time to target the bandits that were away from Smoke.
The one-armed man ordered them to fire all of their projectile weapons. Forthwith; Sharur, Jinggu, Laernea, Gandiva, and Vijaya unleashed their bolts and arrows against the Brandals.
Ten minutes passed, and they saw that the flames inside the trenches started to subside. Some of the Brandals were jumping into the trench, as they tried to escape from the flames.
Adder reflexively ordered to focus fire on the bandits in the ditch. They would quickly be outnumbered if they managed to climb out of the four meter deep trench.
Adder, Espion, Weise, Stark, and Rasant spread themselves out. They targeted the bandits that started to crawl their way out of the trench.
Twenty minutes passed, and all of Igniz's flames were gone. Adder and everyone else finally saw Smoke. Their leader was clearly struggling.
The DarkElf dodged the Brandal leader's whips, but the bandit's throwing knives hit their mark.
The three Maneators were overwhelmed at the sight of their injured King. Weise, Stark, and Rasant leapt into the trench and plowed their way through the bandits. Espion followed the Maneators lead and trailed after them.
They blew past their enemies and rapidly scaled the other side. Stark led the way with his Rzeka glaive while Weise, Rasant and Espion covered his back and followed closely behind him.
Rasant's dual bullwhips momentarily distracted the Brandals. They thought that one of their leaders were caught by the maneators.
Weise dictated the direction where Stark should go next. The gray Maneator was constantly searching for the most efficient path towards their King.
Espion positioned himself inside the Maneators' triangle formation. This was one of the formations Smoke created for them inside the labyrinth.
The young Spy weaved in and out between the Maneators, attacking the bandits with Smoke's green dual knives and his blinding speed.
Adder watched Espion and the three Maneators gradually make their way to where Smoke was. He remained behind and led the attack on the bandits inside the trenches.
Thirty minutes passed, and Adder saw movements from the opposite side of the plains. Sierra had finally arrived with her reinforcements.
Everyone in Sierra's army stood in awe at the sight before them. One man was inside the swarm of Brandals, and fought heroically against the bandits.
The 410 Sonstwelters recognized the long white haired DarkElf as Smoke. They saw him turn into a blur as he attacked the bandits with his chain and sickle.
The Brandals' encampment looked like a huge black-and-gray arena as it was encircled inside a trench. The area was covered in soot and gray smoke was escaping from the ground.
Smoke's fight against the Brandals was brilliant, but his life bar was already in the red. Sierra ordered her army to charge the Brandals.
As Smoke's battle pushed on, Sierra noticed a shift in the bandits movements. She noticed that three Maneators were trying to create a path for Smoke to escape.
