Chapter 389   - 388 - The Attack Begins

Point-of-View: Belia Lasmodeus

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Ooh, looks like things are finally getting interesting...Shiro finally banged Minise! At first, their tentative sexual tension and awkwardness around each other that kept growing in scale was pretty entertaining, but it got old real fast.

So, I decided to interfere and give them a push in the right direction...specifically, while the two of them were having dinner together, I subtly opened portals in their blind spots and cast a certain spell on them...specifically, a spell that has a sort of aphrodisiac effect.

To put it simply, I made them both super horny. And now, half an hour later, they're at Shiro's place, totally plowing. I have to say, watching them have sex while they're unaware that I'm watching...it's kind of exciting. Is this what it means to have a fetish?

Interesting...I feel kinda ashamed of myself but also really excited, and those emotions mixing is resulting in some rather chaotic feelings. Yeah, okay, maybe I should stop, this is turning me on a bit too much.

I ceased my Observation Magic with a sigh, feeling kinda warm. In my defense, things have been really, really boring over the past few months. We made all those defensive preparations, and neither Abyss nor the Laus Domain is paying the Rustlands any attention at all lately.

And it's been so boring! So much so that I've resorted to spying on random people, just so that I have something to do. However...I should be able to alleviate my boredom tomorrow.

Today's the 24th of December, and from what I've seen over the past couple of weeks, it looks like the Laus Domain is gearing up to attack Abyss tomorrow...I'll sneak out and join in on the fun at some point, there's no way that I'll be able to resist.

It's also been pretty interesting to watch the whole mess with the Wind Sage, I'd initially thought about interfering with that somehow, but decided against it when I noticed how the Wind Sage was changing.

His slow descent from a naive, inexperienced fighter to such a cold-blooded and downright sadistic killer has been so entertaining to watch, it's literally been my favorite thing during these dull few months since the Laus Domain attacked the Rustlands.

And I didn't want to ruin it, so I forced myself to keep from getting directly involved and left him alone. I did consider suggesting taking him into the Rustlands to bolster our overall strength, but that probably wouldn't go down too well.

After all, many of the Rustlands citizens would've had their loved ones killed by the other races, which of course, includes the Elves. And besides, if I brought him here, he'd be out of the reach of the Laus Domain, which means his development into what he is now would have been halted.

Well, anyway, the Laus Domain is on the move...looks like Sant has left about twenty members in each of his fortresses.

I have to say, I'm really liking what I'm seeing...morale amongst the other races is shockingly low, with the exception of the Fairies. Lot of them seem to be doubtful of Sant, some even looked resentful and defiant...how interesting.

How badly has he been managing and commanding them, anyway? I mean, seriously, the other races have much lower potentials for malice than humans do, you'd have to be one hell of a terrible leader for them to even consider turning against you.

The Fairies are the only exception, of course, they're more like insects than animals, like bees and ants, creatures that live for nothing but their purposes with no individuality or free will.

The Fairies remain steadfastly loyal to Sant, nothing he does will shake their loyalty...but doubt and unrest towards Sant is spreading like wildfire throughout the other three races.

Their pained, conflicted expressions make that quite clear. Heh, at this rate, the Laus Domain will be torn into a civil war. That'd be quite the sight. I have to say, I'm blown away by the fact that it looks like Sant has commanded even non-combatants to mobilize for this.

He's got quite a large army, but at the cost of more than half the population of the Laus Domain...even if they aren't entirely wiped out by Abyss, which is very possible, they're almost certainly going to lose a few hundred thousand of their numbers. Gotta say, I'm quite fascinated to see how it all plays out tomorrow...

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Point-of-View: Bell Fairbairn

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This is all so...unpleasant. I was currently leading a quarter of the troops towards Abyss, and the unpleasant tension was rather unbearable. Laus had commanded us to divide the army of 2.2 million into four, and each of us Elemental Sages would lead one of the quarters of five hundred and fifty thousand.

Since there are now only three of us with Sylvar on the run, the fourth group was being led by Laus's reindeer. As for Laus himself, he went on ahead in order to destroy the protective barriers surrounding Abyss.

He will likely attempt to use all of us as a distraction while he seeks to kill Kuro Black, he will not pay any heed to us, no matter how many of us die. He instructed us Elemental Sages to avoid being killed unnecessarily, and that the strongest of the troops should be at the rear...indirectly inferring that we should allow the weakest of us to lead the charge initially.

To put it simply, he considers our non-combatants to be disposable...and all of us understood that, even if no one acknowledged it out loud. The dissent was growing, however, no one refused to follow Laus's command. A single trigger will likely be enough, and I did consider being that trigger in order to convince them to retreat, but I decided against it.

No matter what, the Fairies will remain loyal to Laus, there is no questioning that. And there are Fairies amongst the group that I am leading, if anyone attempts to leave, the Fairies will likely see that as an act of betrayal against Laus and attack them. Laus had commanded them to snuff out any dissent or treachery, with force if necessary.

That means that he is aware of the fact that many of us have lost our faith in him, and he has taken measures to prevent that from interfering in this attack. We cannot afford to fight amongst ourselves, so I had no choice but to comply. But...I do not want to simply stand idly by while thousands of us are needlessly slaughtered.

Laus's plan certainly does not account for minimization of our casualties, it only ensures that our stronger combatants' chances of being killed is reduced while putting the weakest of us, the non-combatants, at the greatest risk.

The group that I am leading will approach from the west, while the ones led by Vokkeg, Bie and the reindeer will approach from the east, north and south, respectively. We are supposed to stand by just outside the farthest barrier, a yellow-hued nullification barrier that nullifies any active spells when passed through, and also prevents teleportation in and out of it.

I believe that it can detect intruders, considering how quickly Abyss responded when Laus sent that group to scout this area. It may have other effects as well, that we are unaware of.

Laus had teleported each of the four groups to just outside the yellow hued barrier, my group was currently to the east of Abyss, about three or four kilometers in from the beach...we were unable to get near the sea without being attacked by Krakens, that is why Laus bothered teleporting each group to the designated location.

Even he would not be so foolish as to allow a large number of troops to be killed before the battle even begins. We were currently about two hundred meters from the yellow nullification barrier, waiting on his signal. We had been here for three hours, having arrived at 2 AM in the morning.

When he said that we would be attacking on the 25th of December, I did not expect that we would attack so early...he did not inform us till 11 PM yesterday, so we barely had even a couple of hours to prepare. But why have we been kept waiting for so long? Should I attempt to contact him?

He did command us not to, but even so-...

"It is time to attack. All of you, charge forward immediately. If a barrier is in your way, then destroy it and rush through!" Sant ordered us telepathically.

He...he failed to take down their protective barriers. And yet, he still wants us to attack? We really are nothing more than a diversion for him, aren't we...

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Point-of-View: Kuro Black

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"Oh...he gave up," Remarked Az in surprise, before adding with a grimace, "But it feels like his troops are starting to move now."

I was currently in my throne room, along with Az, Rion, Draco, Zero and several others, while we monitored the enemy. Heh, they have no idea that we've known that they're here from the moment they got within the invisible detection barrier.

"Yeah, I'm watching through some of my monsters...a lot of them look really scared and like they don't want to be here. I don't see Sant anywhere though, guess he's using an invisibility spell," I replied, as I searched the area through my monsters.

Hm, does the fact that he gave up trying to unravel our barriers mean that the barriers are more complex than the one Belia placed around the Rustlands when the Laus Domain attacked them?

"From what I'm feeling through the detection barrier, he's just outside the nullification barrier, right at the peak of the dome...in other words, he's straight up. I don't think he's doing anything anymore though, he's given up trying to unravel the barrier, he's just sort of staying there, doing nothing," Informed Az.

"Is it time yet?" Inquired Rion, looking pumped up.

"Yeah, it is...mobilize four hundred thousand of our Troopers, one hundred thousand in each direction that the enemy is approaching from, I'll add four hundred thousand of my monsters as well. Keep the Troopers a hundred meters inside the insta-kill barrier, and I'll have the monsters posted a hundred meters inside the physical barrier. If the enemy manage to break through the physical barrier, the monsters will attack first, and I'll have them retreat if and when the enemy starts to overwhelm them, we'll give them no chance of building up any confidence of momentum. For a brief moment, they'll be reeling from the relentless attacks from the monsters. And that's when we annihilate the enemy with our strongest...," I remarked with a smirk...

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