Valerian, The Legendary

73 Action.

Valerian had given a strong ultimatum to the people and they also understood the gravity of the situation. He looked at Ensis and said, ‘You know the capabilities of your people better than I do. Command them in a way they move fast and efficiently. This is not the time to be upfront and show valor. Use any means necessary to achieve the objective.’

Ensis nodded and said, “Do not worry, we will not go easy or flashy. The life of our brethren is not something we joke with. What position are you used to in battle?”

She wanted to get an idea of his prowess and arrange a team of people to work with him. Letting him go to battle was already against the decree passed by Fragrantia. She cannot save him completely, but reducing the risk was still achievable.

Valerian shook his head and said, ‘You all will attack the warriors entangled with the shadows front the front, and I will strike from the back.’

Ensis and the other warriors were surprised, the guard captain wanted to protest when Valerian took out the knife and channeled the fire mana inside it. This was a display of his power. He put back the knife and said, ‘Dagger and Arrows. See you on the battlefront.’

Then he ran over to the group of Wraiths standing in the distance, communicated with them, and then after selecting one he rushed away. The warriors were still standing on the side like mannequins. Ensis woke up and said, “Let us go.”

A warrior asked, “Captain, is it wise to let that child move forward alone? Also, what did he mean by Dagger and Arrows?”

They were young and did not have much reading experience, the warriors usually spent their time with swords and spears shedding sweat and blood. How will they know what Valerian said? Ensis was a lady from a noble household. She still followed her habit of reading in her free time.

Ensis replied, “What he mentioned was a strategy. The front troops are called the arrows, and the one who breaches the back is called the Dagger. Both of them attack quickly. The dagger is allowed to move freely, it targets the strongest point in the enemy camp revealed during the arrow rain.”

.....

The warriors were shocked, they did not expect this child to be so smart. If they knew about the deduction Valerian made inside the carriage, they might be shocked to the point of existential crisis.

After the discussion, they all mounted the Wraiths and moved to attack the people behind the Empress.

...

Valerian was riding his horse at a breakneck speed. His torso was completely leaned against the back of the wraith. He was feeding this beast with a bit of his shadow attribute mana every few moments, the speed was faster than usual.

The terrain was mountainous, barren with scarce patches of trees here and there. However, the lack of cover did not make any difference since the dark of the night made it hard to see things. Valerian was moving completely by discerning the sounds, and thankfully his mount had a good pair of eyes to see through the darkness.

After a few minutes, when the sound of the battle became evident he stopped, here the field was lit slightly and from the shadows Valerian found it hard to make out who was a friend and who was the foe. However, the enemies had made one mistake, they all had a golden thread design on their shoulders.

Valerian could see the thread reflecting the shallow light from the illumination spells. He narrowed his eyes to deduce the strong and the weak of the enemy. A few moments had passed and he could now hear the slight thunder. This was the mounted warrior group.

Ninety-nine wraiths moved towards the people fighting below the mound. Valerian was sitting on a wraith silently. His eyes were calm as if a tiger staring at its prey. Hearing the noise getting closer, he leaned towards the ear of the beast and neighed gently.

Then he slid down and the Wraith walked away slowly. Valerian needed to hide even better and for that he must get down from this horse. After getting down to the ground, Valerian had taken out the knife tied to his waist. All he had to do now was to wait for the enemy commander to surface.

His breathing became gentle as he entered a special state of mind, to hunt the enemy. The silver-haired boy was crouching on the ground with his weight shifted forward. As the time passed, the battle lust condensed.

All of this happened in just a few seconds, suddenly, a man in black clothes, who was facing a Shadow turned his head and yelled, “Ambush!”

Valerian caught hold of this silhouette. This person was the weakest when it came to fighting, however, that was not because of the lack in his skills, he was a notch higher than most of the fighters, however, his focus was all over the place. That means he was paying attention to the surprise attacks. A scout would not be pushed to fight with the main forces, they will all sneak attack.

It was confirmed, that this person was the commander and he must be taken down. Ensis led the group to attack those with golden flowers. She was not a fool to mix up friends with foes.

The arrows had hit the mark, now the dagger should slip in. Valerian shot forward the distance between him and the target was, at least, two hundred meters. At this moment, the commander was re-organizing the troops to counter the sudden ambush.

They had predicted this might happened but the possibilities were very shallow, yet now that it had happened, they had to counter it well. Valerian used this chaos to his best advantage, he sneaked in the battle range. He was quickly moving toward the commander of the enemy group while avoiding the confrontations in front of him.

Like a river around the rocks, Valerian was half the size of these warriors, and they were all so embroiled in the enemy in front of them, that they did not pay attention to him. Warriors were extremely focused when in war, and during a battle, until they are targeted with strong battle intent they could overlook things.

The warrior’s code of battle mandated that if a warrior attacks another warrior with sneaky means, that will be sinful. This was why the people used mages to take down Warriors and vice versa.

However, none of these so-called codes applied to the Battle mages. That was why they were so feared in the magical community. If you are a battle mage, then either you lay low, or you become strong. Because if you acted too high profile without the proper strength, it was still easy to put them six feet under the warm earth.

Valerian moved quickly, he did not initiate combat with the weaker people, he wanted to get done with the commander first, that way the enemy group will be akin to a lamb on the slaughter board.

The shadow facing the enemy commander was suddenly overwhelmed by the change in the fight. Valerian moved closer to the two of them and cast two spells in a sequence, ‘Vitis Ligatura.’

A wooden vine sprouted from the ground and entangled with the feet of the enemy commander. However, the shadow still could not get close to the Commander as the enemy was waving the broadsword with one hand, while at the same time trying to get out of the vines.

Valerian deliberately attacked him like this, the vines were a set-up decoy, and the real attack was the second spell, ‘Ustilo.’

In the dead of the night, suddenly, a cloud of flames erupted on the battlefield and swallowed the commander of the enemies. Ensis and the rest were shocked, after the cloud of fire vanished, the commander appeared in front of everyone, he was not dead, the armor under his clothes saved him, but it was even worse than death.

The heat from the flames radiated through the armor and melted his skin, the man was wailing. The impact of this attack was like psychological crowd control. Everyone stopped, shadows and enemies alike. They all focused on only one figure.

A silver-haired boy walked toward the wiggling commander on the ground. His silver eyes made them recall what cold felt like, a chill rain down their spine. Valerian came to stand next to the commander and waved his hand, ‘Ferrum Ventus.’

The screams abruptly stopped. The fear inside the enemies could not be explained with words and even the shadows and the warriors feared this child. Valerian clenched his knife and his shadow flickered, then began a massacre. Ensis could see the cruelty of this child.

Valerian was indifferent to all the chaos around him. He was targeting the weak with his knife, while the strong were dealt with spells. The shadows also picked up the pace of dealing with the enemies.