*****Admin*****
Ah, so that's some of the background events that happen in that world. Everyone is usually too busy being the protagonist or trying to get laid to notice the plight of normal, common people. Honestly I will purge every reincarnated fuckwit. And the ROB who gave them the chance.
- A whole group of ROBs feel a chill down their spines-
Hmmm, I honestly thought he would join Loki or Hephaestus. Hermes, although quite self-serving is a pretty good choice. He has all the intel on what's going on. He can't help with logistics but if you need help with an INVENTORY and a SHOP, I will personally smite the ever-loving-shit out of you. Dimensional collapse be damned.
I believe I have chosen well. The one mistake was to make him a teenager. But that worked out in the end. He uses the services available to relive his urges, instead of trying to screw everything with a hole.
Note to self: fuck with Zeus in every possible reality.
- Zeus faces existential dread in every multiverse-
I need to setup rewards for him for completing missions not given by me. The chain quest given by Ouranos and this new mission as well.
Let's see…
*****Cassius*****
The squad and I had just been teleported to the Northeastern outskirts of the Dark Elf city-state of Zorya. Drow is an all encompassing term for elves who practice banned, forgotten or taboo magic. Most develop a trait respective of their magic and associated practices. The most common is a change in skin tone. The spectrum ranges from a pure white to jet black, so it's hard to tell if you don't know who you're dealing with. The hair and clothes will sometimes give you a hint, but it's best if you just ask.
The mountain elves live in large underground cities much the same way as their dwarven counterparts. Due to mountain elves calling themselves the Drow, and having darker skin, all non-standard elves a simply called Drow. No matter where you are people never change. The country of Umberous resembled Ancient Greece, as it consisted of city states that controlled their respective regions. There was no king as such, the county for a lack of a better term was ruled by a council. The mutual destruction of the Dark and White elves on Hjadningavíg, has seen more and more Dark elves become a subject of slavery and oppression. Some elves here are from Hjadningavíg, both White and Dark, they saw the conflict as pointless, and left to relocate.
Anyway, we started moving towards the city. This was the major supply point for the frontier forts on the Southwestern border with the mostly human country of Aglaria. It was prosperous and overpopulated. They were going through food shortages and famine due to said food shortage. The king and his court decided a good old fashioned war would solve many problems. They blamed their problems on the Drow, and launched an invasion into their lands to cleanse the land of darkness. They were getting their asses handed to them, but the Drow were about to reach a breaking point. The humans had one thing the Dark elves didn't, numbers.
The 3 million regular soldiers of the Aglaria were accompanied by able bodied support staff and mages. So the final number was more like 5 million possible combatants. They fought with medieval tactics. It should be easy enough to cause confusion within the ranks, it's just not feasible to eradicate millions. Possible yes, feasible no. The vast majority of the soldier were peasants or peasant conscripts. Riled up by their government and forced into a situation that would not benefit them. More were arriving everyday. The farmsteads being tended to by their families they left behind. I have no quarrel with them. The commanders and officers on the other hand are fair game.
A message from the Chat-Group broke me out of my thoughts.
{Mission: Assist the Dark elves in repelling the invasion of their home.
Optional: Recruit members for the Hermes familia.
Optional: Recruit members for your squad.}
Well it's a good a time as any to field test the weapons in the Warcage and see about some of the golems in the SHOP.
We were stopped after a few minutes by a group of Dark elves. They really do come in all shapes and sizes. The group was a mix of men and women. They were dressed pretty similarly, Dark clothing and armour. The differences came from a few sigils on their aforementioned clothing and armour. Also the skin and hair colour. A elf who looked to be somewhat important due to a bit of gold on her armour asked "who are you? What is your purpose in these lands?" They were all on edge. Understandable, I mean there was Cypher playing around in the forest surrounding the road. The wall of the city was at least 10 minutes away.
Did I mention I brought Cypher along? Well why wouldn't I? Especially after he "insisted." Honestly the face he made was too adorable, I couldn't say no. Also who was going to take care of him? So yes, Cypher was running around scaring the crap out of the birds in the background.
Coming back to the dark elves who intercepted us, there were more in the forest. Most likely archers or mages. The MAP showed that most of them were neutral. A few were hostile, but that is to be expected, they were after all in a war with humans, a large group appearing behind their lines was obviously not favourable to them.
Asfi took the lead and explained our purpose here, showing a letter from Hermes and a job request that was submitted to the guild. I didn't know about the job request initially but was filled in later during a briefing. A lot of useless chit-chat later we were taken to the Queen of the city. She was not in the palace as we originally thought, she was in the dungeons "interrogating" captured enemy soldiers.
We were told to wait in the garden near her solar. Cypher refused to become small, his reasons being that he is too strong to have to worry about anything. He's not wrong, for now. He'll grow up in time. Mentally he's a five year old. Meaning he's as honest and savage as a five year old. Thankfully no one can understand him, or I would have to kill a lot of entertaining characters. I've been mentally conversing with him ever since I tamed him, he knows what's going on, but he isn't seem to properly settle into the fact he is on the surface yet.
Waiting for the queen to arrive I went though the SHOP and browsed the golems available. The cheaper options weren't really options for my current purposes. They were more akin to training tools. You could buy them and then program them to perform specified functions. They were great for building upon a pre-existing template. The options I was interested in were the UAVs and UGVs. A "golem" that looked like a AH-64D Apache was what initially interested me. Fully armed and able to transport three people into an overwatch position, one in the gunners seat and two on the fuselage. There were also A-10, UH-1, AH-6, MH-6, UH-60, AH-1Z and Mi-24 available. There were other aircraft available as well, but I was more interested in something that can provide CAS and MEDEVAC if needed. The UH-60 could do everything I wanted it to do and could transport me to wherever I wanted to go. Cypher would have to become small or run on the ground, but I think he'll enjoy flying with an open door.
For UGVs there was a multitude of tanks and armoured vehicles. A few were of inters to me but were not really necessary at the moment. The dream of owning a tank was actually possible, but besides using it here in this mission, I won't be able to use it in the dungeon. Smaller golems were available. They looked like sci-fi robots. They had cannons for arms and miniguns and rocket pods on the shoulders. They were also expensive. I rather have a squadron of attack helicopters.
I was interrupted from my window shopping by the arrival of the queen. She was all woman, curves, muscle, the poise and look of a warrior. She reminded me a bit of my wife, just from the aura she exuded. She was around 6' without heels, wore red clothed and armour, and carried two shamshir at her side.
I was leaning against Cypher when she walked in. I did not get up to greet her or anything. One, it was too comfortable. Second Cypher was napping and purring. I do not want a cranky Cypher. He woke up but was still pretending to sleep. It's basically a show of dominance over the 'strange cats' for Cypher. Sometimes this boy...(sigh)
*****
After a long discussion, it was decided that at least the city of Zorya would be willing to send willing recruits to the Hermes familia in exchange for a godly patronage. Either Hermes or someone interested in creating a nation would reside in Zorya. That was not expected. But I can see what they were getting at. The benefits of having falna outweighed the downsides of dealing with the whims of a god. Asfi not knowing what else to do, agreed. Agreements written and signed,, we were given rooms to sleep. Well I say we, I was stuck in the garden with Cypher as his teddy. I woke up when Asfi came to call me for dinner.
*****
It was midnight and the half-moon was out. Me and Cypher decided to go hunting. The other side also employed mercenaries. People with falna from several gods in the region. We were going to take care of them first. I wanted to have a plan for their camp and know where all the important people stayed so I can have Asfi fly over and bomb them. Which reminds me, I need to make her a proper launcher as per her new requirements. She can keep the prototype.
The new launcher is effectively a 25mm rifle. All HE-AP rounds, with a fire rate of 60 rpm. I just need to make the parts, and ammo. I'll do that tomorrow, and have her test it out. She has enough ammo for now. I didn't give her any more smoke or flash grenades. She barely uses them.
Cypher and I made our way to the frontier forts. I used a runic spell for flying and took us there in under an hour. We headed to the southern fort. It was heavily contested and the fighting here was a lot more concentrated than in the centre and westerly forts. The terrain here favoured the cavalry, with wide open grasslands and plains and gentle rolling hills providing concealment of units for launching ambushes and counterattacks, the Dark elves were being besieged, and would give out in a few weeks time. Not due to lack of supplies, but due to strategy and unfavourable conditions.
We landed on hills behind enemy lines and setup a post. I would provide overwatch and Cypher would "hunt properly."
The Warcage had a few suppressible large calibre rifles. I was using a suppressed M200 chambered in .408 with a milti-scope. Usually in the MARSOC I would use a NV device that goes in front of the regular scope. That allows for greater precision as the zero of the regular scope is not changed. This scope was zeroed in for 500m and could zoom in 50x. It looked like a normal scope, but with a bit of work and finesse, I'd managed to give it night vision and infrared along with a rangefinder and wind speed indicator. I did that by combining several different scopes and seeing what works and what doesn't. This is the result of about 80 scopes combined together to test things out. I did something similar with the suppressor, it took 13 large caliber suppressors and a dead owl to get it whisper quiet. I don't know how but it works, so I'm going to take it for it's field test.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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The sun announced it's arrival with the purpling of the horizon. Looking at the time it was 04:53. The crack of dawn, it's been a long time since I've seen that. Honestly seeing a sunrise is subjective. If you've been up all night waiting and stalking your target, it's a horrible feeling. Because you won't be able to sleep until someone from your team decides to switch with you on the rifle.
If you've been fighting all night, seeing the sun is most wonderful, feeling in the world. The hope and determination to live another day burn within you. It revitalizes you into action. If you are new to war. For a veteran it only means seeing your dead comrades more clearly. You could be shooting all night long at an enemy position, not knowing the man in the next foxhole has died. Newbies get reckless with their hope, do something stupid and end up shot in the head. First light is a shitty time, all round. Both sides are usually low on ammo, so the situation resorts to kill shots only, or calling in bombardment, from artillery or an air strike.
I spent the night taking out guards and commanders along with Cypher. Basic tactics dictate placing your command HQ on high ground so you have a better position to observe the movement of your forces and the movement of your enemy. Sending messages and relaying orders to your forces to attack, defend, reinforce and counter attack are all given by the general in charge. And he is usually on the highest possible level to have a better overview of his forces.
That gave me a pretty clear line of sight to the command structure from the hill I was on. My hide was made pretty quickly using runes and alchemy. I got another 500g of gold. I directed Cypher to first take out the patrols around our kill box. Then we went to work. Cypher would take one guard and I the other. The invaders weren't familiar with long range snipers. The maximum range of their bows was 200 yards. So for now they worked alone or in pairs. Having a relaxed guard because their border was just a few miles behind them was also their undoing. Being able to retreat to their reserves and relaunch the invasion gave them a sense of security. It wasn't unfounded, for the Middle Ages, but asymmetric warfare would soon dissuade them of that notion.
I tried working out a plan with Cypher. Begrudgingly he became small as a normal house cat. He looked so adorable. Like a baby tiger. 🥰
Focus.
He would walk into the tents and communicate what he saw inside. The position of several high ranking commanders was divulged this way. Keeping over watch on Cypher, I could guess where I would have to shoot in order to get a kill.
A lot of men died that night. Cypher would ensure the kill and move on to the next tent. This continued for the night.
I told Cypher to knock over a few braziers and start a fire in their supply tents. He went back to full size, and swiftly proceeded to throw the invading camp into disarray. Done with the little scouting mission, I call Cypher back to the reverse slope of the hill. I covered up my hide, reamed with my suppressed MP7 and waited for him to show up.
He came back in a few minutes. I cleaned us both up, and left the area through the sparse woods. The woods got denser as we made our way back to the fortress. The elves there were on guard. There was a lot of commotion coming from the enemy camp after all. We broke through our cover and approached the side of the fort.
We were spotted and told to stop. I told them who we were and to confirm it before getting back to me. Cypher and it took a nap until late afternoon. When we were woken up by the arrival of a delegation and Asfi.
Asfi called out a few time before we stirred. Well before I was rudely stirred. Cypher woke up and was being his adorable self. Earning some brownie points from Asfi and the rest. He then flicked me across the face with his tail. It's like getting punched by Muhammad Ali. I don't know how I'm not knocked out cold right now, the headache is not exactly helping me think either.
I took a drink of a bit of elixir from my water canteen. It's watered down so as not to oversaturate my body with the elixir. It will have adverse effects down the line. I asked for water for Cypher as well. I can give him more than enough but that reveals my storage magic to outside parties.
Asfi and I talked for a while. Her mostly asking where we had run off to, and why. Me explaining our operations last night.
The delegation that came to meet Cypher and I also included the fourth princess of Zorya. Princess Catherine Stygios and her retainers were shocked at me taking out a large portion of their leadership. I said it was only the first day. I couldn't find the heavy hitters, or scouts so I took the initiative and restructured their chain of command.
The mercenaries will either take the money they have now and jump ship. Or get greedy and milk the already strained kingdom for more money and get kill for their troubles. Mercenaries, as far as I can gather are either new to the business of killing other people or experienced professionals. Experienced professionals have made a name for themselves therefore cost significantly more than the riff-raff just looking for money.
We moved the conversation inside. Due to the weather which was pretty warm at this time of the year, the plains where the Aglarians grew their crops were facing a drought. So was Zorya, it was the closest city-state of Umberous to Aglaria. From my point of view the invasion only served to fertilize the southern fields of Zorya. The elves would simply turn the corpses into a paste with magic. And then use water and wind magic to spread it around in their fields.
The invaders were nothing more than fertilizer to them. The only problem is the amount of fertilizer on their doorstep. If someone drops off 2 bags of fertilizer, no problem. 2 trucks worth of fertilizer, well, you're house is going to be smelling like shit for the next few months.
The elves were simply doing their best but the constant fighting was taking a toll. Their casualties were low. For every elf there were 1000 human casualties. But the killed elves weren't the issue. It was the ones that were captured. In the last few weeks of fighting there were a total of 29 casualties. With 23 captured. The captured ones were usually the ones fighting the mercenaries with falna. They were defiled, tortured and displayed in front of the elves. Screaming and begging to be killed as they were immolated.
That action was returned with indiscriminate slaughter of the invaders. Small groups would launch raids to harass and pester the invaders. Keeping them awake and stressed throughout the day.
There were reports of a flying man and ligerfang heading towards the enemy last night. I mean I wasn't being that stealthy. I expected to get spotted. It was either sniper or machine gun. The enemy camp didn't rise an alarm so it was sniper. I'll go with a LMG tonight. A M249 in 5.56 or a M240 in 7.62. I'd gotten rid of the Maximi for a dedicated weapon system. M249 in both calibres look the same. It's pretty easy to mistake which ammo to use and mess up the weapon. The M240 is actually pretty effective from an entrenched position. It can be used as an assault rifle but it gets very tiring after a few hours of running around with it. The M249 is lighter and has less recoil. I can move around freely without too much difficulty.
The main issue is the IFF. It actually depends on how I think of the mission given. If I go by my beliefs and the fasted method to accomplish the objective then only a few red dots appear on the MAP. If I take the elves point of view into consideration then there is effectively a red-out on the MAP. I simply want to expedite the process by which the invaders surrender and leave. This request from Hermes is taking time away from my studies and plans.
I can use runes to blow shit up. But the magic circle is visible and not really stealthy at night. Launching an attack during the day again is possible but getting shot is also certain. If you start any firefight during the day, expect to be seen and shot. Most engagements happen in the evening or early morning. Unless there is cloud cover that isn't throwing harsh shadows for the enemy to track during the day. You're not doing anything but keeping your position during the day.
After a bit more discussion, I left with Cypher to go and sleep. A proper bed, so nice.
*****19:30*****
I woke up in the evening and had dinner with Cypher. I would be a part of a squad of interested recruits. Asfi would lead the other squad. I still had to make her a proper launcher based on her new requirements and requests.
It is going to be magazine fed, and semi auto. The easiest way is to use a 25mm HE-AP round at 300m/s a 10 round magazine and a simple smoothbore barrel. The grenades themselves will have expanding fins to stabilize flight to target. I'm making it look like a simpler XM 25. None of the useless complicated nonsense. Point and shoot. If it's not dead shoot it again. She can keep the M79 and the smoke grenades. I think she'll get used to blowing shit up all the time and use the smoke and flash rounds to help her squad out a bit. She has enough ammo for now.
I also want to make this from scratch. I already have the runic circles for the monster cores setup and ready to go. I just need the rest of the parts and enchantments and we can get it made in a day. Asfi is taking her sweet time collecting all the necessary materials. I'm pretty sure she's trying to make it herself by cutting out the middle man but honestly it's not like I'm charging her labour. If I was she'd be happy with the M79.
After dinner I head out and meet the squad. Our mission is to find and mark the enemy adventurers. If possible to kill them as well. Basically a recon and infiltration scenario. The squad members are all individuals with their unique abilities and preferences. That will complicate things. I don't know how they will react to unexpected situations.
The squad under my command was a mix of men and women. They look like teenagers but are 90-130 years old. They have training and skills based on their preferences. I don't know how they will work in a unit. For this bit I'm using the M200 again along with cold weapons. I have my M249 on standby for exfil and covering fire. We'll be attacking the rear. It'll be heavily guarded due to last nights events but that's no issue.
It's time to become the reaper.
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