It has been a week since we have been stuck in this stalemate. Right now, the iron skin spell is strengthening the fort. This week, the spell has accumulated quite a bit of iron mana. I am going to need that soon enough if I am to pull off what I plan to do.
I would have preferred not to make such a desperate plan. The problem is, I barely managed to complete the Iron Skin as it is. Every moment of inscribing the spell has been a nightmare. I almost ended up screwing inscription just because I expected the creatures to attack.
Well, without the formation ready, I don't exactly have a method of attacking right now. That is the only reason that I would make such a desperate plan. If it succeeds, though, I will be able to start my work properly.
This plan is why I am here at the southern gate with five people. These are people here other than me with cultivation. They are the only people who would be able to survive outside of the fort without their coats. The ones that will be able to fight for a bit at least.
Those coats might be useful for holding back the cold. They also tend to make our presence obvious to our enemies, especially in the plains.
Right now, the only part of the plan that I am comfortable sharing is that we plan to infiltrate the enemy's base. The only way we will be reaching the place is to walk in the plains for about fifteen minutes without our coats. That should be enough to hide our presence.
At least that is supposed to be the plan, but if I am a bit honest, I have no idea if we will be able to make it. Even if we do end up reaching the place, there are just too many uncertainties.
I mean, I don't even have a weapon of my own here. Even the sword I have I had to borrow from the troop. I mean, I could have bought a sword from the frozen peak. Plenty of the shops there had pretty decent swords. I had not expected to be sent right into the middle of a battlefield like this.
At least then things would not have been this embarrassing. (You ask one of your underlings for a weapon,) Well, there is little that I can do about it now other than regret it. As for why I would need a sword when I have the vine armor. Well, I'm going to need it for something else soon enough. (It is about time that I admit to myself that the vine armor has been a failure.)
The sword given to me is a pretty standard design for a sword. It is something that is issued to every soldier of the Frozen Peak. The quality of the sword is decent at the very least. It is going to survive a fight between mages, too, though I won't dare to use it a second time.
I swing the sword a few times, trying to get used to its weight and balance. The sword is about the correct size for me to use all of my stances at the very least. That means that I will be able to fight properly for as long as the sword doesn't break.
(After about five minutes of me playing around with the sword.)
Right now in front of me are the five people who are going to go with me on this present mission. None of them is going to be particularly useful. They are new soldiers (except Shamon), though I have to admit that they are well-trained. To give you an idea of their strength, I think they wouldn't be able to defeat me if all five of them were to gang up on me. Granted, I have a lot of experience in such fights, but still.
The only people of note here are Shamon and Entim. Shamon has reached very close to the foundation stage. (Or whatever is the equivalent for them.) Entim, on the other hand, I would say that he is halfway through the process of breaking through as well. He is also supposed to be the soldier with the most potential to break through in this group. At least that's what Shamon tells me. I have to rely on the man's judgment because I still don't understand the draconian magic path.
I would say that Entim is roughly about my age by looks. He might be a few years older. Regardless, all five of these soldiers are ready for action. Right now, they are waiting for my signal to leave.
I have to do something before leaving for the mission. I have delayed it for long enough. Well, I begin to focus on controlling my vital mana. Unlike before, when I push my vital mana to cycle faster through my body, right now my goal is to slow down this cycle. I have to do this to push all of my mana back into the mana core. I don't struggle much with this normally. Ever since I have come here, I have formed a habit of circulating mana, resisting the cold. Now it has come to haunt me.
It takes a few embarrassing moments for all of my mana to return to my core. Instantly, I can feel my body grow heavier. I can feel the world grow blurrier as my senses degrade to the level of a normal mortal. I feel like my body has become sluggish, and moving is becoming harder. Well, I will get used to this soon enough. After all, I am quite used to such sudden changes in my body. Thankfully, my mana sense remains as it is.
"It is time for us to leave.", I command, which the soldiers listen to dutifully. They are a silent bunch, these snowwinders.
Right now, we are standing in the safety of the southern gate. Once we step out, we will be completely at the mercy of the weather outside. I am thinking too much about all of this. We don't have time to waste.
I step out into the frigid wasteland outside of the fort. Instantly, it feels like I am trying to walk through ice. The winds battering me feel like blades of ice that are cutting into my body. The soldiers are walking through this weather like it is nothing.
Well, I grit my teeth as we begin our trek. None of us even dares to strengthen our bodies for fear of being caught. The only mana that I dare to use is to reinforce my sword.
Even for that, I am pushing my mana control to its limits to make sure I use as little mana as possible. I am making the sword just strong enough that a sudden swing will not break it. I can assure you that no ice beast will be able to detect my mana. Granted, I have never met the creatures so I can't tell how sensitive to mana these creatures are. (They have no mana sense, though. We are sure of that.)
(After about five minutes.)
We have finally reached the enemy's base. Now comes the tricky part. What I am calling our enemy's base is a series of tunnels dug by the ice beasts in the snow. The troop leaders have to use their abilities extensively to keep the place stable. So we hope that we won't need to meet any of the troop leaders if we go in by stealth. We can fight them, but then we wouldn't be able to pull off what we came here to do.
Right now, we have a pretty rudimentary map of the place. We can thank mana echolocation for this. The only problem is I am no master of this dwarven art, so the only thing that I can do is make a rudimentary map. (To be honest, this is how dwarves use echolocation. All their forts are underground.)
We absolutely cannot get lost in there, especially with what I plan to do to it. That is why I am still standing here. In front of me is a breathing hole for the tunnels below us. We will be able to enter the place if we are ready to squeeze a bit. (Well, the hole is considered minuscule compared to the size of an icebeast.) Once I enter the tunnels, there is no going back. This is the only chance to retreat that I have.
As I am thinking this, I throw my sword right into the throat of an ice beast. I had almost missed the creature in my mana sense. It has just popped out of one of the nearly invisible holes in the ground and would have discovered us soon enough.
Well, we have spent enough time outside. I gesture to the soldiers to follow me. Jumping into the hole, I end up in a tunnel that is quite large for us. If there is going to be a fight, then we are going to be fighting quite comfortably.
That is both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time, as it also applies to our enemies. They must have built a place so large that they could fight comfortably. Well, no use obsessing over it. I gesture towards a tunnel to the left. Based on my map, that should lead toward the center of this tunnel system.
I can't say for certain, but the center is in that rough direction. It did not take long for the map that I had built to become useless. Still, we had accounted for that. We manage to walk for a few moments as I feel a concentration of ice mana behind me. My sword flashes behind me, right into the eye of an ice beast. The creature struggles for a few moments before dying. I guess now would be a good time to mention that the icebeasts are quite similar to wolves in their shape.
The only thing that could be considered different would be their faces. Their faces and mouths are more like snakes than wolves. Well, if the creatures can detect us enough to ambush us, there is going to be no point in maintaining stealth.
"Screw it. Troop, enter into a defensive position. We will charge towards the target.", I command them. The soldiers follow my command as they quickly enter into a box-like formation. It would mean that we are abandoning stealth. Let's just hope that the troop leaders are not too active. I don't want to meet them this quickly.
I begin to run, while the soldiers behind me keep up with me as well as they can. Any creature ambushing us now would be in the easy reach of at least two soldiers. It does not take us particularly long to get lost as we run through the. The entire thing is a confusing mess of tunnels. Thankfully, we are still able to retain a general idea of the directions.
Also, I have been remembering every turn that we have taken. When it is time to go away, we won't get lost. Well, if I mess this up while leaving, the icebeasts will be the least of my worries.
As I am recording, we finally reach the center of these caves. It is like a massive opening in the ground. It is large enough for an airship to enter the place. Shamon tells me that these centers always exist. Something about this place acting as the foundation of the entire cave system.
Collapsing this centre will collapse the entire thing. Again, I am surprised that there is no troop leader here. After all, with such a massive weakness, I would have assumed that a troop leader would always be here.
Well, it would take a massive amount of mana to destabilize this place in the first place. The minute the troop leaders detect any foreign mana, they would come running to this place. That is why I need to hurry with my work. A troop leader would be able to stop us in our tracks.
As for what I am doing. I am going to be projecting the mana from the reservoir at the fort to this place. Well, I am sure that many of you do not know what projecting is. It would be stupid to try and explain it in the middle of a battle like this. Better to do it later.
Right now, this cave of ours has two entries. Enemies will be pouring in from both of them. Before I even command them, the five soldiers have already begun to cover these positions. They have good teamwork, so I am sure that they will manage to hold the enemy for a few minutes. Now I have to make use of these few minutes to do my work. Well, I have delayed this enough. Time to get to work.