The eastern stronghold sat along a winding mountain trail. On one side of the trail, a cliff rose straight up, preventing any further passage east; on the other, the land fell sharply into a wide, deep valley, harboring a turbulent river at its base. While the river wasn’t entirely impassable, marching through the rushing water at this time of year would inevitably lead to a significant loss of stamina and mana. More problematic, though, was the large waterfall just slightly downstream. No, if the attackers wanted to march south, they’d have to take the mountain trail—which meant first taking the eastern stronghold.
The commandant in charge of the assault—one of Elan’s subordinates—scoffed. “This is getting boring... We need to change things up a bit. Any ideas?”
His adjutant merely shrugged.
Unlike the western stronghold, there was no forest here for their troops to spread out. Instead, the company formed something of a queue along the winding trail. The three students defending the stronghold—Beld, Elena, and Maggie—were far more skilled than the Trouverean forces, but naturally, they seemed to be growing tired as the battle wore on.
The commandant frowned. He knew they could simply keep going as they were now, using brute force to slowly chip away at the defenders’s stamina. However, they were meant to be playing the role of foreign invaders. From that perspective, this battle was just the beginning. No invading army would willingly sacrifice so many of their forces so early on in their campaign, not when any other strategy could suffice.
More than the strategy specifically, it was the ominous air of the entire engagement that weighed on the commandant’s mind. Despite the disadvantageous terrain, his forces were slowly but surely moving closer to victory, and that worried him. Their opponents—the brilliant students of Class 1-A at the Royal Academy—surely understood the position they were in. They had to know they were fighting a losing battle. So why hadn’t they changed strategies yet? Why would they willingly continue to fight, knowing that each minute brought them closer to defeat? It didn’t make any sense.
Perhaps they simply weren’t prepared to fight so many attackers...? No, that’s not what’s going on here. It’s as though... As though we’re being invited to attack. As though they’re welcoming it...
It was at that moment that Elan arrived from the northern stronghold, bringing with her a company of reinforcements. “It’s the same everywhere,” she said flatly. “All the strongholds. They’re using the terrain to limit our movements, and they’re doing so successfully.”
“It’s making things difficult,” the commandant replied. “It would be one thing if there were more of them... If we needed to defeat an actual force, rather than a handful of kids, then it would be more worthwhile to consider other tactics. I could send archers and mages to force their way through the blocked-off animal trails or along the river, and we could surround them that way... But there’s no point sacrificing any men just to capture an empty, half-built stronghold, especially when we’ll still have those three to deal with.” He shook his head. “The stronghold itself might be little more than a pile of wood, but with a position like this, a pile of wood is all they need. It’s an incredibly defensible position.”
It wasn’t just the animal trails that had been blocked off either. Every possible escape route—except for those Vesta deemed necessary—had been sealed by some means or another, usually involving boulders or magically triggered landslides.
Elan let out a strained laugh. “This is the first time that the enemy being too few has been the problem... The Sage has given us leave to act as we must. We can continue this slow but steady assault, or attempt another strategy. What do you think?”
The commandant barely had time to ponder his answer before the report came in: Three more enemies had just appeared at the far end of the trail.
“A pincer movement? What are they thinking? They’ve put themselves right between us and the northern stronghold... If more reinforcements were coming, they’d be dead in seconds,” the commandant muttered, utterly baffled by the development.
Elan, on the other hand, merely looked thoughtful for a moment before suddenly raising her voice. “They’re planning an ambush! Watch the cliffs, and shields up!”
It was too late. They didn’t have time to react before the first barrage came. Even if they had, though, it wouldn’t have helped them, because the attack didn’t come from the cliffs. Instead, pebbles and shards of ice pelted upward from the valley below, sending Elan and the rest of the soldiers into a state of panic. Elan, at least, quickly regained her composure and began issuing orders.
“From the valley...?! Ha! They’ve positioned their valuable mages in the most unfavorable position they could come up with! If you’ve got a path nearby, descend to the river! We’ll have them trapped like rats in a bag! Those two mages will be dead before they can cast another spell.”
The soldiers responded immediately, scrambling down the valley slope toward the riverbed. It was only a few seconds later that the first blast came.
“Argh!”
“Don’t touch the pebbles! They’re exploding for some reason!”
In reality, the pebbles were actually Earthbombs, a particularly volatile magical technique that only Dolph could wield, reliant upon a hydrovolcanic reaction. Though these particular Earthbombs were far from lethal, the unfamiliar, terrifying sound instantly sent both companies into complete disarray. With the soldiers queued up along the mountain trail, Dolph didn’t struggle to find targets for each missile he sent flying out of the valley. Al’s own contributions only added to the chaos, because as well as shards of ice, he was also lobbing very similar (albeit ordinary) pebbles at the Trouvereans to confuse them.
“Oy, stop pushing! You’re gonna make me step on it!”
“Calm yourselves! Just descend to the halfway point, and spread out! Don’t cluster!” Elan cried in a desperate attempt to regroup, but her voice could barely be heard over the explosions. Taking advantage of the chaos, Beld, Elena, and Maggie, along with Fey, Coco, and Reggie—who’d circled around to attack from the rear—simultaneously flooded themselves with Strengthening Magic and began to push.
“Argh! They’re closing in!”
“Push back, push back!”
“It’s no good! We’re losing ground!”
“No! We’ve gotta spread out, before one of those pebbles takes us all out in one go!”
Unfortunately, regrouping was already impossible. As both the front and the rear of the column began losing ground, the soldiers in the middle turned to the valley, pushing one another out of the way in their desperation to be first.
“Don’t push! Some of the ground is frozen— I said don’t push! If you slip, you’ll end up in the river!”
Unfortunately, the warnings of those who’d descended first were quickly drowned out by the screams.