Ball of Nothing

Chapter 127 The Battle Begins

Everyone was tense. Many warriors polished their armours or sharpened their weapons. Raj did some final fine-tuning for his weapons and Zero finally knew how the Pigeon Canon could be of practical use.

Hua Tuo meditated and Zero decided to spend his time foraging for things to absorb. It was always good to stock up on energy points. He didn’t know how many people he would have to heal today and was slightly worried. Hua Tuo made a lot of spare mana potions but Zero wasn’t sure if they were going to be enough. The children were quiet today. Leon and Jacqueline hadn’t argued at all and that worried Zoe slightly. Still, she cooked for everyone and kept herself busy.

Nobody knew when Carrabas would attack. Zenobia placed more warriors on patrol duty so that they could catch Carrabas before he arrived.

The day passed slowly and Zero was restless. They’d eaten dinner and it was getting late. There was still no news about Carrabas on the move. The last report came from Roovan. Carrabas was still at camp a few miles away from the village with no signs of mobilising the army. Zero was told to go to bed but he couldn’t sleep. The children were also having difficulty falling asleep so Lovina made some calming tea with a tad of sleeping magic mixed into it. Zero didn’t suspect a thing as he drank but found his eyelids closing slowly after a while. Hua Tuo didn’t say anything but carried his young apprentice to the bed, tucking him in. H would enjoy the peace will it lasted.

Count Carrabas finally launched an attack two days after. It was two in the morning when Zero jolted from his sleep. The village was woken up by Raj’s air horn blasting. The warriors got into position quickly and the evacuees were on standby. Zero hid up in the tree and palmed a small stone nervously. Mii had a map pulled out and Zero observed how the red dots were splitting up. Everything was going according to Zenobia’s plan up till now. The hired adventurers were held up at the bridge so Count Carrabas had to lead his army to take the detour.

It was at the detour point through the forest at the shallower side of the river that the plans went south. Zero couldn’t tell from the map he was observing but Roovan who was patrolling from the air saw it. The raven beastman quickly reported the situation. Count Carrabas was moving to the main area with the rest of his army. He’d sent three out of twelve knights to pursue the escapees but continued to march towards the village.

With Mii’s help, Zenobia received the report. Party call was a great magic and the chieftess thanked Zero silently. Wiser who heard the report scowled. according to Amaraline, Lovina had finished subduing the adventurers and put them to sleep.

"No good!" Mitchnew reported. "They’re setting fire to the surrounding forest to trap us in!"

Wiser remained calm. "Get Latitia and Cleo to put the fire out. Change of plans, we’re attacking. Cull their numbers from the trees. Get the archers."

"No!" Zero protested, startling everyone. "Don’t kill, the army is innocent. We can use the sleeping potions to put everyone to sleep and tie them up."

"The three knights are taken care of," Lowis reported back. "What should we do now, Chieftess?"

Zenobia listened to everyone on the call and frowned. "Get Cleo and Latitia to put the fire out. Lowis join the main force. Hua Tuo, keep the children and Karris safe. Lovina, are the adventurers taken care of?"

"Yes, we’re restraining them now," the witch reported.

"Good. Amaraline, take one person to watch over them. Lovina head over to the clearing to prepare a large scale sleep magic on the enemies. Zero, can you assist Lovina with your map?"

Zero replied affirmatively and Zenobia nodded. "Wiser, distract the enemies and gather them at one place. You can use every man at your disposal. Forget the sleeping potions, we don’t have time."

"Yes, Chieftess!" they replied and everyone reshuffled into their position.

Zenobia hurried through the tunnels. Grandma Moppo had mentioned not to activate it till the very last moment when all hope is lost and she prayed that she wouldn’t have to use it during this battle. If all else failed, they would lure Carrabas and his men into the tunnels. Zenobia would stay behind to activate the switch and destroy the tunnels after everyone left. She wouldn’t be losing anyone during this war, not if she could help it.

Wiser was doing a good job chipping at the large army. Count Carrabas proved to be a very slippery man and nothing Wiser did could faze him. The Count dished out orders left and right, mobilising his army to surround the villagers, trying to trap them in the clearing. Wiser wasn’t worried. He’d hidden some warriors in the trees. Soon held up the illusion that the trees were still on fire when in reality, Latitia and Cleo had already put them out. I didn’t change the fact that the houses were destroyed. However, it gave the villagers an advantage.

Within twenty minutes, they reached a stalemate. Carrabas’ remaining knights were engaged with warriors and separated from the main group. All the Count had left were militaria and conscripts. No one of his army was brave enough to confront Chowkah or Camie who stood in the vanguard.

The Count was enraged. Those cowards he was paying should simply die! How dare they take his money and not fight? They had the numbers. What was there to fear about two overly-grown monsters?

"What are you fools doing? Hurry up and fire arrows at them or something! Use fire! Bring out the guns!"

The army scurried into action clumsily. Wiser deadpanned. With such poor discipline, the army wasn’t going to win. He felt insulted for creating contingency plans when faced with such an imbecile. Soon was hiding in the trees. Bullets and arrows were useless against arcane force fields. It was clear that the Count didn’t do his research.

Lovina hurried over and was panting as she reported that she was in position. Wiser told her to give them a countdown until the large area spell was effective. In the meantime, he left the bullshit talk to Gweshr who was very good at buying time. Zero had to take notes. Some of those insults were very good at angering people. If someone made Zero angry in future, he’d be sure to call them a dunce.

The spell was a huge success. Carrabas didn’t know what hit him when he fell off his horse. Zero didn’t feel any pity for the pudgy Count. In fact, he’d deliberately thrown a stone onto the Count’s feet so that there would be a bruise when he wakes up. That was Zero’s form of punishment and he nodded in satisfaction at his craft.

Everyone got down to help tie over a hundred humans, disarming them as they did. Wiser didn’t do any of the work, opting to oversee everything from a distance. It was then that Zero felt a painful tug in his chest. His intuition skill was flaring up again, stronger than he’d ever experienced before.

Unable to hold his weight up and catch his breath, Zero collapsed onto the ground, clutching at his chest and heaving. There were dark spots forming in his vision and the brunet fought against the darkness that tried to claim him. In the battle, he saw a vision that made his blood turn cold. They appeared like pictures that came and went quickly but the message was enough to make Zero pale. There was no time to waste.

"Zero! Can you hear me?" a familiar voice called out as Zero’s vision returned to normal. The first thing he noticed was how the very warm and familiar healing magic was coursing through his veins.

"Master! There’s no time to lose, Amaraline is going to die. We need to save her!"

Zenobia who heard Zero’s claim stiffened. "Lowis, Mitchnew are you there?"

"Yes, Chieftess," they replied and Zenobia gave them orders to go save check on Amaraline’s situation as they were the closest to the bridge. Hua Tuo and Zero got onto Crudgel’s back to provide assistance should the worst happen.

The Centaur galloped at high speeds, hoping that he would make it on time. Zero’s grip on Crudgel’s waist tightened. He prayed that he wouldn’t be too late. Whatever prompted that man to kill her, Zero would find out. For now, he had to stop him!