Interspecies Trader

A week passed by. While patrolling the skies as usual, I noticed the time had come for the first large-scale battle between the temporary alliance of Makji and Taifau against the defending Thuk.

The three armies had chosen a vast plain for the battlefield, allowing a large amount of maneuverability. Despite being outnumbered, Thuk had chosen to face the assailants face-on, which was a very daring decision.

I placed myself on a hill far away, taking out a spyglass I bought in Alfiro, an enchanted item allowing me to see things in great detail even from several kilometers away. I was wearing a mask to protect my identity, just in case trouble happened. I had also prepared snacks and was ready for the long battle that would ensue. I wasn’t the only person spying on the battlefield as I saw many others around me, at a fair distance from me, everyone keeping both the plains and other watchers in check at the same time. I didn’t sense any danger, however. It seemed no one was interested in fighting as if it were some sort of agreement between neutral scouts. Of course, I could feel them looking at me weirdly, a rank 0 fully in the open, eating snacks as if on a picnic. Which was pretty much how I felt at the moment.

Thuk’s army was positioned in the west while Makji’s and Taifau's were in the northeast and southeast respectively. I knew that Thuk’s population was larger than the two other countries, mostly due to accepting all species except felines and canines, and this was reflected in the size of their army too. It was maybe thirty percent larger than the ones from its enemies, strong of about 120,000 soldiers. Makji had the smallest number, about 70,000, while Taifau’s army was around 90,000 strong. Makji’s small numbers were mostly due to a lower ratio of men in the army, making up only around twenty to thirty percent of the total.

The armies took a long time to position themselves on the plains. When this was finally done, a long moment of stillness full of tension ensued. Eventually, the alliance was the first to take the initiative, two loud horn-like sounds resonated on the battlefield to signal the start of the battle. The two armies attacked in unison, keeping a large space between them, which made it clear they hated each other just as much as they loathed Thuk. And yet, their coordination was on point, as if they had done something similar many times in the past.

The three armies’ formation was very similar. I wondered if this was because it was believed to be the most optimal setup or because they used the tactics from the Taende’s empire, which they all originated from.

The front line was made of two rows of mages. Their role was to use any spell shield they had to protect the bulk of the soldiers from offensive spells. This created a weird but interesting mix of walls of fire, water walls, wind walls, earth walls, and so on, moving together with the advance of the battalion.

Next in line were the sorcerers, which were the bulk of the armies. Just like how it was easier to learn to be a sorcerer, their proportion followed, making mages a slightly trickier choice but more desirable on the market. I estimated that about sixty to seventy percent of the soldiers were sorcerers.

Last were all the remaining mages, who were far from being idle. The ones at the front were sending long-range spells toward the enemy lines while the ones at the back prepared a mass ritual.

Rituals were a staple of wars, even back in my world. They differed from normal spells in their nature since they didn’t have any sel affinity. Rituals only manipulated pure sel and had some interesting pros and cons.

On the negative side, there was a great loss of power due to not using any affinity. The formation and manipulation of pure sel was also very slow, unsuited for quick individual battles. The positives outweighed the cons, though. Rituals allowed many mages, even potentially sorcerers at lesser efficiency, to combine their sel to produce a massive result far above the ranks of the casters. It wasn’t like rituals were only used for war either. For example, the way people in the domes had babies was a ritual where they combined the sel from the two future mothers to create a new life, and took a long time too.

Right at this moment, Makji’s ritual was slowly forming a massive hammer of sel, while Taifau was a lance. In response, Thuk’s mages were creating a large shield above their heads, ready to take on the massive attacks.

Once the attacking side was ready, they threw the massive ritual aggregation at Thuk’s army, who put their shield in front to block it. The large hammer clashed against the shield, exploding in a huge boom that could be heard even from my position. The shield barely survived the assault, right in time for the lance to come in contact too. This time, the shield was the one to break and the ritual lance of sel exploded in the ranks of the army, creating a massive hole that annihilated hundreds of soldiers.

The assailants had won the first ritual round but this was just the start. Right after, both sides began another ritual, readying themselves for the next assault.

Meanwhile, normal spells were flying all around the battlefield, making it quite the colorful spectacle, most blocked by the shield in front but some managing to pierce through, resulting in casualties on both sides. Yet, overall, it was clear that Thuk was at a disadvantage, the sheer number of enemies making it hard for them to counter everything.

Right before the bulk of the battalions came into contact, a large explosion happened at the back of Makji’s army. A massive sea of flames appeared out of nowhere, with devastating results, killing tens of sorcerers and mages. When I focused my attention there, I managed to notice the culprit of this sudden violent attack. It was a small species, with a fire armor spell burning around his body, spewing spells left and right in a frenzy.

His rank was 7, and no individual could stand up against him. He was the new high-ranked fire mage of Thuk, the very reason this war was happening in the first place.

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