Jackal Among Snakes - Chapter 686

Argrave had been wise in his instinct to be wary of this coming confrontation.

Argrave had joined Margrave Reinhardt’s force from on high. When he did, he could feel the distortion of time—the enemies all grew faster, while Argrave felt as though every movement was like trying to swim up the river. It had been easily remedied, fortunately. Any blood magic he cast would eat away at the divinity. He searched Erlebnis’ wiki to find a suitable spell, and found one created by a spellcasting sailor: [Tailwind]. The continuous yet relatively weak wind spell had been designed to push sails, but now Argrave infused it with blood magic and put it at the back of House Parbon’s army, breaking the fragile hold of the warped time over them all.

With that immediate concern addressed, he joined Margrave Reinhardt on the field.

Upon arriving above them all, Argrave grandly made countless divine servants perish with devastating volleys of blood magic. Droves of elites perished beneath his fire, and the margrave’s knights were granted reprieve from the relentless onslaught. Argrave thought he might’ve overestimated this force, until he saw familiar figures rise up, uninjured.

And worse yet... he received no return of essence for their deaths.

He was glad he’d learned this through relatively inexpensive magic. Without Elias’ report, he would’ve used [Godkiller] in an attempt to hunt down one of the leaders of the opposition. It would’ve worked—but the god of time would’ve resurrected the fallen deity, and the only result would’ve been a tremendous expenditure of power without any gain. Somehow, this new god had the power to hold together the fleeting spirits after a god’s death, and create them anew.

The obvious solution, then, was to kill their lynchpin. Facing three formidable forces—elite marksmen, expert assassins, and veteran berserkers—he wasn’t confident in simply bulldozing through the enemy. Still, if this god of time could so ably counter Argrave’s ability, why had he not been given a more prominent role? If he’d been able to provide the same treatment to that god of insects, Argrave couldn’t promise he’d have achieved victory at all.

There had to be a flaw in this formation. He intended to find it. With so many fronts strained, however, time was on the enemy’s side...

#####

Anneliese had assessed the situation objectively, compared it to her own abilities and the forces she had on hand, and came to the conclusion that she could defeat Almazora. Now that Argrave had trusted her capability and left her to the task, some amount of trepidation crept in. Her opponent was still the goddess of magic, and she was supported by the not-insignificant presence of the god of pain. The fact that Almazora had kept her godhood for several cycles of judgment meant she could at least defend the title against other gods. She couldn’t be underestimated as on opponent.

On top of her present enemy, the fact remained that Jaray had painted a target on her back.

This was a risk she didn’t like taking... but nevertheless, Anneliese felt she had to if they hoped to win. Mina had been indignant when Argrave left, but she had become mature enough to accept reality instead of raging against it. Now, Anneliese only hoped that she could demonstrate the same trust for the next order she was to give.

“Mina, I’m going to order Nikoletta’s force to stop retreating and counterattack.”

The small blonde woman said nothing, but Anneliese could see the emotions written on her face: horror, anger, betrayal. Mina’s whole world was falling down. She thought Anneliese was sending the only person she truly cared about to an early grave.

“If she continues to retreat, she’ll be caught in the valley between Jast and Dirracha,” Anneliese said, appealing to logic.

Still, Mina only stared, terrified and hurt.

Anneliese took a deep breath, staring into the woman’s soul as she searched for ways to persuade her. “Argrave trusted me to fight this opponent and prevail,” Anneliese said—simple, cutting words, drawing parallels to their two situations. “You need to trust Nikoletta to do the same. Love is trust itself, and I trust Argrave would not leave me here without believing in me. Nikoletta faces the god of pain—and she’s capable of shouldering more pain than you know. She could lose everything, and still keep walking.” Anneliese walked to the edge of the tower, conjuring the sheer white staff crafted out of Veid’s heart. “So, wipe that look off your face and help your Nicky kill her first god. Is she so fragile as to let a little pain break her?”

Leaving those words behind, Anneliese jumped off the tower, descending toward Almazora’s position. She didn’t spare another look back, trusting in her words to do the trick as she contacted Elenore. She gave the report to Elenore, and soon enough expected Nikoletta’s forces to cease their retreat.

This battle wouldn’t be without sacrifices, but few enough were. At the end of the day, Anneliese knew they’d come home victors.

Anneliese took a deep breath, preparing for the chaos as she prepared to eliminate the enemy.

#####

“Rook is dead. Law is killing what remains of his allies.”

That report, coming suddenly and unexpectedly, was perhaps the sweetest one that Elenore had gotten. Her mind felt those dark clouds of headache blown away by a healing wind. She readied herself to issue orders to the now-free ancient god, before another report came in.

“Nikoletta received an injury to the head from the god of pain—it refuses to heal, according to attending spellcasters, but it’s nonfatal. She’s lost an eye, but the deity perished. Almazora is surrounded on all sides, and is desperately strained.”

Elenore straightened her back, sharing a happy glance with the old Lira. The moment news came of Almazora’s demise, she was prepared to send Anneliese to Dirracha—if anyone could beat seven liches at once, it was her.

“From Relize...” came a tired voice, and she felt some of her excitement strain. “The centaurs... they’re... allies, ma’am. They’re firing upon the gargantuan sea creatures on the docks. I...” The report trailed off, its sender in disbelief.

Elenore was similarly stunned. With no word from Lorena as to their intent, and no contact with the centaurs before this moment, she’d assumed they were enemies. But... this? To have a friendly force join the battle, at one of its most pivotal moments? Her head went light and her vision white as relief blew away the black clouds of despair.

“The situation in Dirracha has improved,” came another report. “Some spellcasters have joined the battle. Thank you, Princess Elenore. Thank you,” came a relieved voice.

Elenore couldn’t help but exhale and inhale quickly, venting a thousand emotions as it seemed everything came together, all at once. She slammed her palms upon her desk, rising to her feet as she prepared to issue countless different commands.

#####

“Jaray? Jaray!” Ail physically shook the god of politics.

“I’m thinking,” he said calmly.

“Thinking? We need to act!” Ail slammed the back of his hand against his palm. “Action!”

Jaray closed his eyes. Beneath his lids, his eyes moved about rapidly as his thoughts raced. Finally, there was a snapping noise. He opened his eyes, looking at his hand. There, his wooden pipe had snapped in two beneath his grip. He took a deep breath, and stepped away from the map.

“I’ll go myself.” Jaray reached into his coat. “I’ll take the field.”

“Alright. Good.” Ail breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I’ll tell everyone. That should stop an all-out retreat. Where will you go?”

“Where Argrave is,” he said, pulling free a second box. He retrieved a brand-new pipe. “Come along. I still need you to coordinate messages and information.”