I have to admit that I am quite groggy at this moment. The last couple of days have been draining, to say the least. Part of it is because I have been working overtime. I had to inscribe a conjuration spell into the formation in a matter of a week, after all.
I would have slept now if I could have. Even if I wanted to, there is no way that I can do so. Even now, I am barely supressing the nausea that I am feeling. I am sure that if I were to try and sleep now, everything that I have eaten in the last couple of days is going to be on the floor.
As for my present state, I can only really blame myself. I really have been getting too reckless with that sword of mine. (I am paying the cost of it now that I have to fight without it.) To recklessly enhance my mana sense, there are naturally going to be costs. I am sure that I have damaged my soul quite a bit this time around. (To heal any damage to the soul, however minor, is a long and painful process.)
Fuck, I don't want to talk about it anymore. Let's return to the topic for which I started this log. I have begun my work on the ballista. It has been a much more annoying prospect than I expected it to be.
Conjuration spells are very hard to inscribe. These spells have to be inscribed very precisely. If the runes are imprecise, then they can even cause the spells to backfire on you. Even a minor flaw can lead to massive problems. Maybe the thing meant to be created will be ten times the size it is meant to be. Maybe it will be conjured upside down. Maybe it will just explode on my face, taking the fort with me.
To create the ballista, there are two spells that I need to inscribe into the formation core.
The first is a pretty common formation. (at least among the druids). They call it the "standard ballista model type: strength". They have an entire series of these spells, each crafting different types of ballista. The model that I have chosen strengthens the force with which the spear will be leaving my ballista.
There are other such ballista spells, each with its own speciality. Some increase the range of a shot, some increase the durability of the spears shot. For now, I think increasing the strength of the spears is the best way to go about it. After all, the Snowlords are supposed to be durable.
It is a pretty standard formation, so I have started my work on it first. With it complete, I have completed half of my task. Now comes the true challenge. You see, ballistas like this make use of magical strings to throw spells like the water spear.
This magical string is the second spell that I need to inscribe to complete the ballista. The druids have many magical spells for this, but none meet my requirement. The one that I want to make use of is something that my master has created for this exact purpose.
The spell is known as the "string of water". The spell manifests a string of water mana that can be used to launch the water spears. It will also provide a speed boost to a water spear that is launched from it. (Enough that I can think about using it against the Snowlords.)
It is also very hard to craft. It is going to be much harder to inscribe than the body of the ballista. I need to inscribe this spell into the formation soon, as well. I am giving myself another week to do this. Rushing with the ballista is a risky little gamble, if I am being honest. I don't have any other option at this moment, though.
I will be honest. I do have one other option. I could have inscribed it in the time it took to make the ballista. It certainly would be enough to deal with the Ice Beasts out there quite easily. I don't want to speak anymore about it. Let's just call it a nasty little surprise.
I don't even know why I am doing this. Something feels very wrong about how we are targeted. I have a feeling things are going to get worse. I will need aces to deal with the storm about to come. All of my instincts are screaming this.
Anyway, I have committed to making the ballista. All I can do is just focus on the task at hand and make sure that I do not end up screwing this up. (It is not like it would be wise to start work on my nasty surprise now that I have gotten half the ballista complete.)
I guess I should explain why I need to hurry so much. The yearly hunt is going to end soon. Once that happens, a majority of the nobles at the Frozen Peak are going to be returning to their homes. (These guys only come here only for the yearly hunt.)
Once the hunt ends, the commoner soldiers are also going to retreat to the Frozen Peak. They will then maintain a defensive line around the fort. Their goal is to make sure that not too many Ice Beast troops enter the Empire. Sadly, we are at what can be considered the outskirts of this defensive line. The Frozen Peak will be able to send us reinforcements, but it will be too late. This is what the Commander was going for by assigning me this fort. It allows him to not take responsibility of me.
The enemy Snowlords are going to have much more freedom to act with the hunt reaching its end. As if all of this was not enough of a threat for me to handle, I also have to deal with the worsening weather. Even now, the storms of this place have begun to reach an intensity where the fort would have collapsed without the ironskin defending the wall. In the last few weeks enough metal mana has been layered onto the wall to help with that, at least.
There is no way that an ordinary storm will be able to harm the wall now. Only an attack at the level of the ice spike will be able to breach the fort. (Even it will barely be able to do so now.) Still, I am not sure if the ironskin can handle a Snowlord's attacks. They have enough experience in bringing down these temporary forts. (After all, they destroy dozens of these every year.)
At the moment, Shamon is even more worried about this than me. He has been acting like a ghost has possessed him. That is the intensity with which he has been directing his soldiers. Their work for now is to break that ice spike and repair the damage to the walls.
The soldiers have also been taking in the corpses of the Ice Beasts that they have killed. Their major focus has been to convert all of their meat into jerky as soon as possible. I am sure that they have left nothing to waste. The bones are now nails. Their hides have become clothes, and their flesh has become food. The brutality of the Snowwinders almost makes me feel pity for the Ice Beasts.
Looking at the intensity of their preparations, though, is why I am pushing myself as well. We have enough reserves to survive a few weeks at the very least without any problems right now. If they are preparing this cautiously for a seige, I can't help but wonder about the Snowlord's strength. (After all, just how much can words that you read on a paper represent the truth of a situation.)
This is better than the soldiers losing their minds because they have nothing to do, I guess. This fort has been a pretty oppressive place lately. The worsening winter does not help with it. This will keep them busy as I complete my work, I guess.
I guess that I should talk about the enemy closer to home. Things have been very quiet on that front. The reason for that is that the Ice Beasts are overwhelmed. You see, every troop leader can control eighty beasts using some kind of magic. The problem with that is that they have to always keep them in control. With so many troop leaders dead, their control over the beasts is failing.
I guess I should explain about this magic of their's a bit better. Trevor finally bothered to explain it to me. (Granted, it was not too useful since the man is basically guessing.) The Ice Beasts are controlled by the troop leader by some variant of mental magic. It is a kind of fake possession as far as I can tell.
Just like any magical method, such control is very limited. Each troop leader can perfectly control eighty such minions. Beyond that, the troop leaders stuggle to control their minions. There is a chance that a beast might escape said control.
As for what this means for me. It means that they are not going to be able to show any of the fine strategies that they have shown till now. If that does occur, it will make things easier and tougher for my soldiers. Things will be easier because there will be no organisation among the creatures anymore. It also means that the creatures will be more attuned to their instincts, which does improve their individual combat ability.
This confirms to me that the given magic is not true possession. Possession magic is much more capable than this. It can be defined as the projection of a soul onto another soul. Whatever the creatures are doing is very similar to it, but is not the same thing. For one thing, if it was true possession, it would have been impossible for the minions to ever break free.
We are going to lose quite a few of our soldiers if the Ice Beasts do attack the fort without any strategy. Shamon expects to lose at least ten soldiers if a full assault does happen. It is going to bring our numbers to a little more than half of our original numbers. That brings us to next issue, which is that of our reinforcements.
Only a fool would hope to expect any reinforcement from the Frozen Peak, now. (According to Shamon, at least.) The reason for that is quite simple. There are two major factions in the Frozen Peak. The first is the nobles, who have no interest in helping us out in any shape or form. Any reinforcement they send is essentially going to be to take over this fort.
If that happens, my work at the wall be over. The nobles will then have to figure all of this mess out if they want to keep the fort. The problem with all of this is that the temporary fort is the Commander's property. Before he gives any permission, any reinforcement sent to the fort will be considered to be "rude". I am sure that the Commander has many ways of destroying "rude" nobles.
That leaves the commoners, who are even more unlikely to help us out. Once the hunt ends, they are going to be even busier than the nobles. They will have to maintain their vigil to ensure no Ice Beast can sneak through the Frozen Peak. (It is of vital importance to these people since it is their homes that will be affected if the creatures get in.)
That means that we are going to have to figure out our reinforcements, or things will go bad pretty quickly. On that front, at least we have something of a good news. You see, we are not the only temporary fort in the area. Shamon has already initiated communication with the other forts. The fact that so many enemy troops attacked here means that the other forts must have been barely attacked. That means they have significantly fewer losses than us.
There are a total of seven forts this year, including ours. If we were to get even five soldiers from each fort as backup, we would manage to recoup all our losses. We just need to bargain for it. On this front also, I can't help this man. This type of bargaining requires a kind of personal touch with the leaders of those forts. Naturally I won't be able to provide that. All I can do is leave it to Shamon for now.
If I were a noble, things would have been quite easy for Shamon. The commands of the nobles is something that no commoner in this land will be able to resist. The difference between the nobles and the commoners is too high in this land, after all.
That is the reason that the folks here have never really challenged any of my commands. The people here are used to deal with the nobles and to challenge them is death. Speaking of the relationship between the nobles and the commoners, I should speak about why the Frozen Peak is such an unique place.
It can be considered the only place in the Empire where the commoners have more of a presence than the nobles. The reason for that is the Commander and his status as a commoner. No noble in the place can resist a single move from the Commander. Other than that, I guess certain credit has to be given to Jacob Starfall. The man has been keeping all the nobles in this place in check. He masterfully sets the nobles against the nobles, that they have no time for the commoners.
Otherwise, if the nobles behave as they do in their homes, the folks of this fort would have them hanging by the end of the month. That is why this attack on me was so problematic to the Commander. It would have removed Jacob Starfall out of the equation in the Frozen Peak, which would have translated into a full on fight between the commoners and the nobles eventually.