With Soei taking care of the chief, I went back to my original work of surveying the battlefield. Things had ramped up, apparently, so I didn’t have time to waste.
“All right. Let’s go see what this Gabil guy is up to.”
“Can we help him, do you think?” Shion asked.
I shrugged. “Depends on him, I suppose. I can’t say if he’s still alive or not.”
We had agreed to rescue the lizardman chief. I hadn’t breathed a word about Gabil, and I certainly wasn’t going to expose ourselves to danger for his sake…
For now, I wanted to check out the state of the war.
“You aren’t planning to venture into battle yourself, are you, Sir Rimuru?”
“That’s my plan, Benimaru. And I’d like to see things with my own eyes before deciding on anything.”
Scoping out the situation was basic stuff, I thought, and I did want to check and see if Gabil was alive. Benimaru, however, was vehemently opposed.
“My lord, wait a moment. Hakuro and I could handle the job well enough by ourselves. You and Shion could simply observe us from afar, instead.”
“Indeed, Sir Rimuru. You are my leader, and the leader of us all. I am sure it would be wiser to leave this battle to us, in this case…”
Guys, guys, that’s not gonna work. All we had here were Benimaru, Hakuro, and a hundred goblin riders. Everyone had to pitch in.
I had been planning to work out a more detailed battle plan at a conference once the alliance was set in stone, but I already had the general idea in mind. We’d use the lizardman force as bait, and I’d have Benimaru and the other ogre mages take care of the higher-level orcs for me. In other words, I basically wanted to create a scenario where I’d be fighting one-on-one against the orc lord. I wasn’t interested in sending a hundred people to their suicides against two hundred thousand.
“Whoa, whoa, calm down, guys. Do you seriously intend to defeat two hundred thousand screaming orcs with a band of a hundred Riders?” I pointed out with more than a little disbelief.
“Yeah!” Gobta chimed in enthusiastically. “You tell ’em, sir!” I couldn’t blame him. You couldn’t expect someone to follow an order to jump off a cliff.
“I figured, where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Benimaru grumbled. Only Hakuro and Shion agreed with him. I was starting to wonder if all these ogres had a screw loose somewhere. “Will” can only get you so far, guys!
I was planning to give them a fair bit of leeway, but maybe I should tighten the reins a little instead. They had already lost to the orcs once—they should know how scary they all were. That was my take on their reaction, but I didn’t verbally share it with them. They were all acting like their evolutions had wiped the slate totally clean.
“Well, anyway, I’m gonna be watching the situation from the skies above. I’ll give out orders depending on how things go, so I’ll let you handle the details on the ground, Benimaru.”
“All right. Fair enough, then.”
That seemed to appease him well enough. But I was still nervous. I’d never done anything like commanding an army before. I played a lot of strategy games on the PC, but I had no experience directing actual flesh and blood around. So my intention was to watch the action from overhead and stick strictly to handing out orders. I’d use Thought Communication to link up with everyone and keep them abreast of developments. Benimaru would then use that to command the ground forces, although I’d have ultimate authority over whether we retreated or not.
“So is that clear?” I said to the assembled goblin riders. “You are to follow the orders of Benimaru, unless I give specific orders myself. Also, don’t do anything you think might get you killed! This isn’t gonna be our last stand, so don’t fool yourself into thinking it is.”
““Raahhhh!””
The riders roared their approval once more. I warned them not to get too hotheaded, but war was war, and they were rarin’ for one.
“We will not let you down, Sir Rimuru!” Shion said, Benimaru nodding next to her. Hakuro was as unaffected as always.
…Ahh, I’m sure it’ll work itself out. But between the way-overconfident ogres and the level of excitement among the goblin riders, I had a feeling I was getting in over my head. So I swore to myself—If things get too hairy, retreat, retreat, retreat.
✦ ✦ ✦
I was about to sprout wings from behind my back when I realized that my clothes would get in the way.
Wings granted me the ability to fly—that I knew from past experimentation—but this was an unexpected snag. Then I recalled what Shuna told me. The magical thread used in the clothing could transform itself, to some extent, based on the will of the wearer. Now I know what she meant.
Picturing myself with wings, I could feel two holes automatically open over my back. The wings came out, and the holes closed themselves. This customization is pretty nice. Better thank Shuna and Garm again later.
✦ ✦ ✦
It would take about an hour of running to make it out of the forest, but in the air, it took barely any time at all. Now I was above the battlefield, checking out the entire situation. I was a bit too high up to distinguish between the two sides, but I could use Magic Sense to figure it out well enough.
It was almost like I was a satellite, taking photos of the land below from sub-stratospheric heights. And come to think of it, having a bird’s-eye view of the entire battle like this gave us a killer advantage, didn’t it? And using that info to send Thought Communication messages to any of the troops I needed… It was like bringing the latest advances in war technology to a medieval battle. I had access to information that no general in this world could’ve ever imagined.
It was just what I needed to make the numbers work with the small force we had. In fact, this approach was probably best suited for handling small, mobile armies like ours. I marveled at my good luck at stumbling across this tactic as I scoped out the battlefield.
To sum up, it wasn’t looking great for the lizardmen. They were clearly surrounded with no escape route, and it was only the wild rallying from their leader that let them hold out. There was no telling how long they’d last.
Squinting, I recognized Gabil as the leader. I thought he was some random idiot at first, but maybe I underestimated him. Given how obviously devoted his sister was to him, I should’ve recognized that he was a decent person at the core. The first impression he gave was disastrous, though.
As a commander, he lacked the ability to see the big picture in battle, which might ultimately doom him. But it wasn’t like leaders were born capable of doing that, without any experience. If he survived this and learned from it, he’d very likely become a great general someday.
Now a single orc appeared before Gabil. Another group, clad in black armor, formed a circle around him. Definitely higher-level ones, decked out in full plate and showing a military discipline none of the other orcs had. The one facing Gabil was likely an orc general like the one Shion had erased from existence a bit ago; he clearly projected a much stronger presence than the orcs in the circle.
Then the duel began. Gabil fought courageously. His considerable nimbleness and skill with a spear as he faced off against the orc general made me wonder if Gobta had had any chance at all, in fact, without that shadow-skipping trick.
Sadly, though, the difference in strength between him and the orc general was just too much. Little by little, Gabil’s body was being ravaged by cuts and wounds. I hated to let him die. And if that’s what I thought, the answer was clear. I gave my orders.
Ranga, can you Shadow Motion yourself to Gabil?
Yes, my master.
As with Soei, Ranga could directly travel to anybody he’d personally met before. Which simplified things for me, definitely.
Gobta, you go there, too!
Geh! R-really?! It’s, like, a huge army there—
I heard a scream of pain through the transmitted thought. Gobta was cut off for a moment, then the line came back.
He will gladly accept the mission, Sir Rimuru.
Now it was Shion inserting herself into my mind. I didn’t know what had happened to Gobta, but I suppose I didn’t need to.
Great. I want you two to rescue Gabil for me. Get going!
Gobta would get to Gabil first while Ranga was distracting the rest of the horde. He’d then work with the lizardmen and goblins to forge a path out of that hellhole.
Off they went, together. But not even they could last long amid the sheer number of orcs, I thought.
Sir Rimuru, Benimaru asked, are we allowed to go…all out, then?
Help the lizardmen first. They need it. After that, do whatever you want. Pay attention to whatever orders Hakuro gives you, but otherwise, have at it.
Yes, my lord! We will show them exactly what the ogre race—or should I say, the ogre mages can do!
He sounded happy. Which was good. Because things were about to happen, and quickly.