The Accidental Archmage by Edmund Batara (read out loud books .TXT) 📕

he knew the deadliness of the situation, he would have enjoyed the view. It

reminded him of that early fantasy video game. The one in which the player amasses

an army of mythological creatures like those marching in the Gap. But rendered pixels

had nothing on the reality before his eyes. He kept looking at the formations, trying to

decide on a course of action.

Habrok draped the tarp over him and covered it with branches and other foliage. The

food and water were placed beside him. He had a good position behind some boulders.

As Habrok left to check the ledge defenses, something odd struck Tyler. The man has

not said anything to jinx us so far! That’s good! Unless… he’s a walking jinx. Oh God, I

hope not! I have enough on my plate. Though he had to admit, it has gone well so far.

But despite his preparations and instructions to his companions, he still hasn't resolved

himself to what he was going to do. The move against the host may easily lead to their

deaths in this isolated clearing. But before anything else, he had to settle the conflict

between what he had to do and what his conscience recoiled from. But the images of a

ravaged and burning Scarburg, with its dead piled in heaps, and the human heads

on jotnar and dokkalfr spears, strengthened his resolve. Finally, the thought of a frozen

Skaney with its humanity slaughtered or enslaved decided the matter in his mind. He

didn’t doubt that would be the ghastly fruit of a jotnar victory. That genocide he was

sure he didn't want on his conscience.

The enemy was now fast approaching the edge of the field of obstacles. After a short

while, he could see the rocks and flaming debris from Scarburg’s catapults flying

through the air. As they burst and impacted among the enemy, with beasts either

squashed or burning, he saw the first group start their assault. Some of the ice drakes

accompanied them.

Looking over the result of the first catapult attack, he was disappointed that casualties

were few. But he saw an opportunity. He hoped the catapults of Scarburg can continue

their bombardment as long as they could. He would have to time the use of his fireballs

with the impact of their projectiles. But considering the distance, he would have to test

how many fireballs he can ignite simultaneously. He was not worried about the first attackers, they were intended to soak up damage from the obstacle field.

Roughly estimating that thirty seconds had elapsed from the first volley, he counted the

time up to the second volley, trying to determine the rate of fire of the defenders.

Seeing the volley in the air, two shots a minute was his approximation.

The dokkalfr were now coming up and he noticed that they have loosened the gaps

between their ranks.

Quickly evaluating the impact points of the catapult projectiles, he considered that

exploding fireballs a bit further up the ranks of the dark elves wouldn’t raise any

suspicions. He focused on five points of the incoming ranks, prioritizing mages

whenever he spotted them. When the missiles landed, he also ignited the fireballs. His

fiery explosions did some damage but their area of effect was more like grenades

instead of the blasts he expected. Casualties appeared to be limited to a radius of six

feet, with only those in the blast zone immediately affected. Unfortunately, even some

of those looked able to withstand the blasts, standing up again after some time. Damn,

must be magical barriers or magical armor.

He resolved to focus on three fireballs instead, hoping the damage will be greater but

decided to try for a fast second volley. He did have to admire the dokkalfr. They

continued moving in disciplined ranks, still at marching speed. The third volley was

launched and crashed among the dokkalfr, infantry and archers alike. He timed his first

trio of fireballs to just before the catapult projectiles hit and the second trio a few

seconds after. The results were definitely better.

The fiery blossoms had a wider area of effect and exploded with a lot more force,

spewing magical fire all over dokkalfr some distance away. It looked as if magical

shields and magically protected armor were not enough to protect against his new

concoction. Bodies were savagely torn apart. In some instances, disintegrated with no

humanoid debris raining on their fellows. But blood was spraying everywhere. It was a

dreadful sight to see remains raining over the area, with a bloody mist here and there.

It looked like a charnel house on overdrive.

This is the part which war movies back home do not show, thought the shocked Tyler.

It was a morbidly fascinating scene. Horrific yet riveting.

He then realized he was parched. He took a drink from the waterskin and stuffed some

food into his mouth. He couldn’t even taste what he was eating. It was a reflex

movement on his part. The enormous stress of the situation had absorbed his attention

on what they were doing. Their lives were on the line and he felt deeply responsible for

the lives of Jorund and Habrok. Those men had entrusted their lives to them. With their

oath, even their souls.

Unfortunately, his enhanced eyesight gave him horrible glimpses of the blood and gore the fireballs gave birth to. Whole companies were laid low by the detonations and

though some dokkalfr did get back up, a lot more didn’t. Those who didn’t die

immediately were crawling away from the blast site. Some of ice giants and trolls were

already casualties. The ice giants and the trolls proved particularly vulnerable to the

fireballs. For some reason, the magical flames stuck to them. Those who were burning

went mad, running over dokkalfr or striking out against them. In some parts of the

chaos, dokkalfr were fighting them. Burning fascines and wrecked mantlets were

everywhere. It was not yet Hell but nearly there.

Yet most of the dokkalfr marched on, disregarding the damage inflicted on them. He

knew the fourth volley would be his last opportunity to coincide his attack on

the dokkalfr with that of the catapults. It was obvious that the catapults were operating

at a fixed range, a determined area beyond the obstacle field being its killing zone.

None of his other spells will long escape detection if he starts using them so