Chapter 191 - Implication (Patreon)

The three quickly made their way to the next minor camp. Kefira teleported them further away from the front lines so they wouldn't be near any more ambush points, so they traveled parallel to the route they had previously taken.

The next minor camp was still some distance between a larger installation, but at least it wasn't mostly empty like the one next to Prince Endrew's camp. There weren't a whole lot of reinforcements available at the drop a hat to deal with this situation. They camp system had been designed to defend against an invasion, not infiltration.

Each camp had communication devices for emergencies, and they had cavalry and light infantry capable of moving quickly. The problem was that Reivyn had no idea of the strength of the reinforcements the Mage had been communicating with was. They could also be spread out all over the place and specialized in hiding.

The walls of the palisade came into view as they stepped out of the last teleport doorway, and Reivyn immediately dashed toward the gate.

"Ring the alarm bell!" Reivyn roared with Commanding Shout.

Not only did Commanding Shout carry his voice a long distance, but it also had a trace of the Command Skill entwined with it. The guards on duty didn't hesitate to sound the alarm.

There was no tower with a bell in it. Instead, there was a magical device that was connected with a network of other, similar magical bells. They were located throughout the camp, and they were even connected to the outposts. The sound of the alarm wasn't loud or intrusive, but it was pervasive.

The camp kicked into activity like an angry ant hill. Reivyn didn't slow down and rushed through the gates, flashing his badge once more as they crossed the line, but he didn't slow down.

The soldiers were rushing to their positions along the palisade walls, and the officers were spilling out of the various buildings to take command. The camp commander was among them, and he immediately called for a situation report.

Reivyn heard and spotted the commander, so he made a beeline for the man.

"Commander," Reivyn pulled up in front of the man. He hadn't expended enough energy to pant for breath, though he hadn't had time to wash up, either. He cut a strange appearance: Clothes disheveled, lacerations all over them with bloodstains, but he was completely composed and didn't look injured at all.

"We," Reivyn gestured between himself and Kefira and Serilla while flashing his badge with his other hand, "encountered an ambush on our way back. There were seven heavily armed men with '4's' branded on their heads and one Mage. I dispatched the seven men, and before I could kill the Mage, he used a communication device to call for reinforcements.

"We have no idea the size or make-up of the reinforcements, nor do we know their exact position. If you'll bring out a map, I'll be able to show you where we were ambushed."

The commander glanced at the badge and calmly listened to the explanation from Reivyn. His Adjutant leaned over and whispered into his ear.

"He's the 'counter-intelligence' officer sent by Prince Allik to root out the spies. He's the one who killed the imposter a couple days ago."

The Adjutant wasn't trying to necessarily conceal his voice, and everyone around could hear what he said. It was just a matter of procedure that he didn't want to give off the appearance of interrupting. This was one of the camp commanders that Reivyn hadn't interacted with, but the Adjutant had been someone that had seen him.

"I see," the commander replied. He had a serious expression on his face as he snapped his fingers to an enlisted man standing nearby. "Map."

The enlisted soldier snapped a salute and took off running. The soldier was obviously a runner, and he dashed away with incredible speed and precision, weaving his way through the throng of soldiers still running to their posts.

They didn't have to wait long for the man to return, and he was accompanied by a second soldier carrying a portable desk. They set the desk up and rolled the map open, pinning it in place, before stepping back.

"Show me," the commander said.

Reivyn didn't waste any time. He scanned the map, located their position, and he immediately spotted where he had been snatched away to while on their teleport hops. He pointed to the location in less than a second of the map having opened.

"Right here," Reivyn said. He traced his finger along a line that was parallel to their actual route, but this time closer to the enemy line. "We thought it was a good idea to keep our eyes and ears open for any reaction from eliminating their spies, so we were traveling a bit closer to their lines, and they were waiting in ambush."

"How they knew isn't an important question to be answered right now," the commander said, examining the map. "Just keep it in mind for later. For now, we need to respond to this provocation."

He looked up and indicated to several of his senior officers.

"Get on the communication device and contact the other camp on the other side of the ambush point. Send out the light infantry to rush through the harsher terrain, and send the light cavalry along the open areas. Have some of the Mages accompany them. If there was one Mage, there's likely more. Contact the other camps further along their travel route, too, and have them send out units to scout their surrounding areas. There might be more ambushes set up in case the first ones failed."

"Yes, sir!" A chorus of responses echoed out from several of the officers.

Everyone got busy with their tasks, and the soldiers that had rushed to guard the walls thinking their was an imminent attack formed up to await further orders instead.

"The outposts aren't prepared to intercept an unknown enemy force, so send word to them to be on high alert and be on standby. They aren't to engage any enemies they see unless another unit is there to assist them.

"You said the enemies had '4's' branded on their heads?" The commander looked to Reivyn. Reivyn nodded his head. "Were they just brands, or could you tell their strength?"

"Tier 4, Levels' approximately 70 to 100," Reivyn answered.

There were several sharp intakes of breath from the surrounding officers and men, but they were all professional enough to refrain from outright gasping. Reivyn could see the respect and astonishment in the eyes of those around him with his Divine Sense.

The commander eyed him up and down, nodding his head in approval.

"I can see why you were given such an important task."

"You overpraise me," Reivyn said, waving his hand in dismissal. "I will say, though, that they were using a weird Skill where they were linked together with Mana, and it enhanced their Stats and Skills. I would say their approximate strength was closer to Levels 85 to 115. Killing one doesn't break the Spell, either, it just weakens it."

"Anything else?" The commander quirked an eyebrow at the information.

"It also lets them to instinctually understand their allies' actions, allowing for them to utilize more of their Skill Level while fighting together."

"And you beat seven of them linked together? Plus a Mage?"

"The Mage wasn't really participating. I can't say that will be the case moving forward, though."

"I see."

Silence descended over the group of officers as they contemplated the information. The light infantry and cavalry units were quickly assembled, though, and the commander waved the officer over to where the map was still laid out.

"What's your opinion on the possible positions of any other ambushers?" The commander turned to Reivyn and asked. He wasn't only asking Reivyn, but he was including him in the discussion.

Reivyn, along with the other officers, scanned the terrain of the map. There were several locations that Reivyn saw that could be possible locations for an ambush, and the other other officers gave their opinions, as well.

The commander pointed to several locations that had been agreed upon by many of the experienced officers.

"Send your men to check out these positions as well as the routes they could take to converge on the original ambush point," he instructed the officers leading the strike force. "If you don't run into anyone, press toward the enemy line and look for them to be retreating."

"Yes, sir!" They saluted and ran back to their men.

The cavalrymen were the first to thunder out of the camp, followed closely by the light infantry. It was possible for men to raise their Stats to be significantly faster and have higher endurance than low-Level horses, but this wasn't an elite unit capable of that.

I'm definitely at that point, now, Reivyn thought as he watched them depart. It wouldn't necessarily come in handy all the time, though, as I would need to stay with my men under normal circumstances.

"Do you want to accompany them?" The commander asked Reivyn.

Reivyn didn't even had to look or use his Divine Sense to understand that Kefira and Serilla weren't in the mood to go traipsing back into the woods to look for more assassins.

"Not this time, commander," Reivyn said, shaking his head. "We're obviously their targets, so they might stick around if they know that we're still here. We might catch a few more of them, but they also might send more soldiers after us, too. What happens if we accidentally escalate the situation beyond what we're ready to handle out here?" Reivyn shrugged.

"That's a good point," the commander said, stroking his chin as he continued to look at the map.

"You seem like you have the situation in hand," Reivyn said. "I still have to report to Prince Allik, and I have my own company to take charge of in Piori. I would love to stick around and fight off some more invaders, but that's not my mission right now."

"Alright, have a safe trip," the commander said. He still didn't look up from the map. He was in commander mode. "Don't run so close to the enemy line this time."

Reivyn chuckled as he turned and walked away. None of the other officers questioned his decision to not stick around and participate. What would he do? He was an officer without any men to command. It would be strange, and almost insulting, to ask him to rush out and engage the enemy as an individual. They also had their own pride to handle the response to the invaders.

"Is it really okay to just move on while they're in the middle of a combat situation?" Kefira asked. She didn't want to stick around any longer, but she was reluctant to put Reivyn into a position where he could be considered to be abandoning his duty.

"Sure," Reivyn said, smiling at Kefira to disarm her concern. "One might argue that our mission is to 'win the war,' but winning the war requires the pieces in play to be played appropriately. Our piece isn't even in play here. It's just us.

"Plus, we can scan the areas we move through with our Mana to see if we can't find any Space fluctuations for any other groups lying in wait, and we can report their positions to the other camps. That task probably has more merit to it, as any additional ambushers might not be in direct communication. I don't know if they'll have any so far away from the first position, but we don't know that."

"That's a good idea," Kefira said, nodding her head. "I'm more sensitive to the Space Affinity than you, so you should focus on our surroundings, and I'll disperse my Sense Mana as far as I can while we move."

"What's your Sense Mana Skill Level?" Reivyn asked.

"73."

"Hmm, higher than mine."

"Yeah, if I had been paying attention and actively using it, we wouldn't have fallen for their trap the first time," Kefira said. There was some rebuke in her voice. "My Sense Mana Skill doesn't even have to directly reach the Space Mana in use. The Space Mana will send out ripples to the surrounding area, and if we're close enough, I'll be able to pick it up. I should have been running it earlier."

"You're not to blame," Reivyn said. "Hindsight is twenty-twenty, after all."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Kefira asked. Serilla gave him a strange look, as well.

Reivyn stopped for a second and thought about what he said.

"Umm, I'm not a hundred percent sure where that came from, but it means you can see the past perfectly. Anyway, the point is, we didn't know, but we do now. The important thing is to not make the same mistake again."

"Ok~ay," Kefira said, still eyeing him with a strange look. "You say the weirdest things, sometimes."

"I'll tell you more about it some time," Reivyn said. "I kind of know what's going on, but I don't have all the answers."

"Ok, I trust you."

They shared a smile before continuing on their way to the tree line on the far side of the camp. They traveled through the small wooded area before cresting a hill and once more continuing their teleport hops back to Piori.

Kefira led them once more further away from the line. They carefully judged the distance they moved away. They didn't want to move so far away that they couldn't investigate any unusual Space fluctuations, but they didn't want to be close enough to be caught up in another snatching incident.

Kefira still had no idea the principles behind the enemy snatching Reivyn through the portal. The teleport portals appeared to be flat, but the Space in between the entrance and exit still existed. She could see how a net could be cast to latch onto whoever passed through, but she would need to study it to understand it fully. They moved through the Space, but it was basically instantaneous.

"They probably have the net cast out and waiting, like a fishing net," Reivyn speculated. "Even though we travel through the Space in a fraction of a second, it's like our foot gets caught in the trap. Maybe our own momentum causes an automatic backlash from whatever device they were using, and it yanks us to their location."

"That makes sense," Kefira said. "We secured one of their magic devices, so I'll be able to study it when we get back to Piori."

Even though they were on alert of their surroundings, that didn't mean they couldn't talk about what had happened. They kept up a conversation as they moved, not just about the ambush, but about all kinds of topics.

Most of their concentration was on focusing on their surroundings, so they sometimes answered subconsciously. Not focusing too hard on the topic allowed some interesting ideas to pop out of their mouths from time to time.

"They were sure prepared," Reivyn said, "but how did they know to intercept us with Space? Was it conjecture based on our speed? That can't be right, though, because we ran most of the way. Maybe..."

Reivyn came to a stop, Kefira and Serilla stopping alongside him. They all shared a look as they thought of the same thing.

"We didn't catch all of the spies," Kefira said.