I seriously wonder why I have such bad luck. This mission wasn't supposed to go like this. I am supposed to be at the Frozen Peak. I am supposed to be in a comfortable room, trying to build useless formations for the Snowwinders. (They really wouldn't be able to tell.)
I am not supposed to be out here in the Northern Wastelands. I am not supposed to be creating such a powerful formation while being hounded by enemies like this. Before I keep complaining, I guess that should explain what exactly is happening here.
We are facing a siege right now. There is a force of at least three troops that has camped outside our walls. It could be even more as well. Shamon is not sure of their numbers, only that they are more than they seem.
They have camped out in the wastelands, only this time they have built two bases. One troop to our north, and the other two troops out west. So we won't be able to destroy their base like we did the last time. (At least this confirms the possession I guess. There is no other way the Snowlords could have found this out, otherwise.)
They are also not passively waiting to be a sword on our throats this time. Instead, these damn creatures are attacking the walls. How the Ice Beasts attack the fort is pretty surprising. At the very least, it is not something that I would expect out of dumb beasts. I will admit that this is not the best strategy to employ at this moment, but it is a strategy nonetheless. (granted, it could have been the Snowlords.)
They are systematically testing the walls of the fort for any weaknesses. They are doing this by attacking the fort in waves. Groups of five Ice Beasts attack the fort at various random locations. Most of these attacks are stopped by our soldiers on patrol. It is not even too hard, as the creatures tend to retreat immediately if they face resistance. (as if their goal is to waste time.)
If the patrol gets injured while fighting one such wave, then the creatures will focus their attacks there. They will strike at the location with their full force. Most of the time, Shamon manages to send reinforcements to the targeted area. Until then, the patrolling soldiers have to manage the fight on their own.
Thankfully, I have Shamon with me here to manage the logistics of all of this. The man has really fought thousands of these creatures. It is almost like he is predicting their motion. Without him managing everything, I would not have gotten any work done.
Speaking of work, I finally managed to complete the water spear yesterday. I have had to work with both the chill and the threat of the enemy troop leaders, but I finally did get it done.
I feel completely wiped out from doing so. That is why I am forcing myself to rest. I could do more work, but that will do more harm than good at this point.
Honestly, things are good, the only problem is that I can't use the water spear. The problem with it is that it is only really useful against strong enemies. It is too costly to use against a large number of weak enemies. I will have to leave these beasts to the army here. I can still use it against the troop leaders, though they are not coming onto the battlefield.
That means that I don't have anything to keep me busy now. I am just sitting in the formation room, waiting for the troop leaders to attack. Now, waiting is not normally a problem for me, if it weren't for the chill.
You can say that I am just stopping it from getting worse. The only way to get rid of it is to get rid of the ice mana causing it. The only way to get rid of any foreign mana from your body is to use your vital mana to push it out. That would require me to meditate, which would cut me off from the world.
With the troop leaders already in our neighborhood, I need to be able to react instantly if they attack us. I have to mainly be ready for anything they can throw at the walls. Until they come close enough there is not a lot that I can do, as well. That means that I have to force myself to sit and do nothing while waiting for the enemy to do something. I have to do this while my body feels like a block of ice. It is very frustrating.
The injured soldiers down here with me are also not helping with my mood. Five soldiers are here at the formation core because they have been affected by the chill. These are the soldiers who got injured in the fight with the Ice Beasts. (No one has died yet, thankfully.)
The reason that they are at the formation core with me is because the core is the place with least ice mana in this place. It is not much, but it is enough to help out these soldiers. The only better option that they have other than this is to go to the Frozen Peak. (It is the only place that would have a lower concentration of ice mana.) Right now, that is unfeasible. The beasts have surrounded us. To escort injured people through them is going to be a nightmare.
On top of that, the location that I have picked to keep my formation core is a storehouse in the basement. it is very easy to guard when it is present this deep in the ground as well. (Unless your enemy is a dwarf.) Having them recover here ensures the safety of the soldiers, too.
These soldiers will be staying in here with me until they manage to get rid of the chill. Unlike me (who can actively control his vital mana), the only option the soldiers have is to passively expel the ice mana. It is a very slow process, and the only thing we can do to help them is to keep them as far from ice mana as possible.
The chill is like a leaking boat. There is a constant inflow of ice mana from the world outside that has to be dealt with as well. That is why everybody suffering from the chill has to stay in here.
Even right now, the only thing that can be done to help them is to cover them in coats. The only thing that I can think of that would reduce the ice mana further is to complete the formation. Once I do that, the concentration of ice mana in this place will reduce drastically. Considering how much effort it took to make just four spells out of ten, that is not going to happen soon. (I am not even thinking about the class eight inscription.)
The soldier's chill is not as intense as mine. I would say the ice mana that they have is about a hundredth of mine. Right now, their chill is equivalent to a bad cold. The only risk that they are facing is that it could get even worse. It could happen naturally due to the ice mana from the air entering them. It could happen due to another attack from the enemy. That is why these soldiers have been kept here as a pre-caution.
Otherwise, the soldiers are pretty fine. Most of them are sleeping simply out of boredom. (With quite a bit of exhaustion mixed in as well.) Even though these soldiers have a fraction of the ice mana that I have, it is wise to risk them. We are going to need them with the way in which we are being attacked.
I just wish that I could meditate right now. If only the creatures gave me a week or so. The ironskin is no miracle worker. It might be able to survive quite a few attacks from the enemy. If the three troop leaders were attacking it simultaneously, I am certain it won't hold. (This is a very untested formation. It would be wise to assume the worst.) If I had a couple of months for the ironskin to set in properly, things would be quite different. The creatures would have battered their head against that wall and still not break it. I could have meditated freely, then.
Yeah, I guess I should mention that we do not know how many enemy troop leaders there are. Shamon is sure that at least three troop leaders are there. The number of Ice Beasts attacking suggest that there might be more as well. This doesn't make sense.
The Snowlords don't like to keep too many of their troops in one place, especially this early in winter. The yearly hunt hasn't even begun yet.
Oh right, I have not spoken about what the yearly hunt is. The yearly hunt is a grand hunt of the Ice Beasts funded by the Commander to cull their numbers. It is considered to be one of the grandest competitions in the north of the continent. They say that the man gives quite a few grand gifts to attract the noble families down south. (A few of these rewards are enough to tempt even me.)
Even then, the man is only really able to attract the bastards. This place is too out of the way for any of the truly powerful nobles to come here. The only nobles willing to come here are the bastards who would not have been able to go to anywhere important anyway.
I guess I should explain why something like the yearly hunt even exists in the first place. The reason for that is because the numbers of Ice Beasts need to be culled. You see, just out of Northern Wastelands is the Draken Vale. It is the only fertile ground that exists in the Snowwind Empire, responsible for about eighty percent of the food that they eat.
Every year, the Snowlords raid the Draken Vale for their supplies. The way that they do so is through the Ice Beasts. They have the creatures raid the villages in this vale, raiding their food and supplies and bringing it back to the Frozen Wastelands.
The Frozen Peak was built to cull these very raiders. Now, the battle between the Snowlords and the Frozen Peak has become a battle of how many Ice Beasts are killed before they reach Draken Vale.
The Ice Beasts are the main reason that the Commander is not really able to participate in the battle. You see, as I have explained before the Snowlords each control a horde of Ice Beasts. That means that each Snowlord has about 3600 Ice Beasts in his control. There are an estimated 1000 such Snowlords every year.
If it was just the Snowlords, the Commander would be able to detect and kill all the Snowlords in the matter of a couple of weeks. With the Ice beasts, the Commander can't do so. When a Snowlord dies, his horde naturally begins to break up. The Ice Beasts begin to look for fresher pastures (Which in this case is the Draken Vale.)
Even a single troop is too much of a threat be allowed past the fort. A single troop could become thousands more if they are allowed to pass through the Frozen Peak. All of these creature have no Snowlord calling them back if winter ends, making them a permanent problem for the folks there. Even the Commander cannot manage so many of these beasts on his own.
Incidentally, this is the reason the Snowlords don't show themselves in the beginning of winter. It is the time the most number of Ice Beasts are killed. It can be considered to be the most dangerous time for a Snowlord. The moment their horde gets small enough, the Commander will get rid of them if he can.
That is why Shamon is so surprised that there are so many troops of the creatures attacking us. At least six troops have attacked this place. At this time, it shouldn't be more than one or two troops. This means that the Snowlords are focusing on me for some reason. It couldn't have been due to anything that I have been doing. I have, after all, not even done anything till now.
I believe that there could be three reasons that they are targeting us. Though none of them make much sense to me.
The first reason could be that they are planning to attack the ruins where the Scholars are. If that was their plan, attacking this fort would have cut off any communication to the Frozen Peak. I don't think it is likely. The Snowlords have never shown much interest in ruins. While they have attacked the place quite a few times, it was only when the Snowwinders were there. Right now, there are at most ten Snowwinders there.
Also, the magical ruin is a death trap with the Scholars in it. There have been enough expeditions for the Snowlords to know that. I don't know how they are, though I haven't been able to send a messenger to them. (there is no need to worry. They are certainly more safe than me at this moment.)
The second reason could be the formation. They are attacking us because they fear the strength of the formation I am building. This is also unlikely. I am sure that this formation is head and shoulders above any other formations built here. The problem is that the Snowlords cannot tell that, yet. I haven't even used the formation once. (They are not so skilled at formations to be able to tell without the thing being used.)
The third and the least unlikely is that the creatures have found out my identity. With how careful I am being, I have not let anything about me leak out. (I haven't mentioned about my identity even in the logs.) The only way that the Snowlords would learn of me is from the Snowwinders. The Snowwinders would not have been that stupid, right? They know of our relationship. If they know who I am, I wouldn't be surprised if a troop of Snowlords appeared to personally attack me at this very moment. (Even if it means the Commander kills them instantly.)
I guess, I am only wasting my time trying to guess the enemy's intentions. I simply do not have enough information to tell anything. I am shutting this log down then. I will continue this log when the troop leaders strike.