Carine Forest — Forward Battlements
"Get behind the walls."
Logos's voice cut through the ridge instantly.
Not loud.
Not shouted.
Yet everyone moved.
Because something in his tone had changed.
Sous, Adrean, Darian and the others immediately descended from the ridge line, boots striking stone and steel as they moved toward the newly erected battlements.
Logos turned toward the artillery crews.
"Firing positions."
The men immediately straightened.
"Prepare Arson shells."
Several officers froze.
"…Arson?" Darian repeated.
Across the battlements—
Every Laosian artilleryman had already begun moving.
Shells slammed into breeches.
Runes ignited.
Heavy mechanisms rotated with metallic groans.
Rows upon rows of black artillery lined the walls.
One hundred guns.
All aimed toward Carine Forest.
Then—
"Fire."
The world ruptured.
One hundred barrels discharged simultaneously.
The recoil drove iron frames backward as clouds of smoke erupted across the walls.
A hundred streaks of white fire arched into the heavens.
For exactly three seconds—
Then they burst apart.
What descended was not bombardment.
Not really.
It looked like sunlight had melted.
Sheets of burning white fire rolled across the forest in expanding waves.
Trees vanished.
Roots ignited.
Entire sections of Carine disappeared beneath oceans of flame.
The heat reached the battlements moments later.
Distant trunks exploded apart from pressure.
Smoke climbed upward in black pillars.
The entire front of the forest disappeared beneath fire.
Silence followed.
Absolute silence.
Even Darian had stopped speaking.
Several soldiers stared openly.
One Church knight whispered:
"…Saints preserve us."
Mirelle narrowed her eyes beneath her visor.
"That is not normal fire."
"No," Logos replied calmly.
"It is not."
Sous looked toward him.
"What exactly is it?"
"Sticky alchemical compounds combined with volatile ignition agents."
A pause.
"It burns efficiently."
Darian slowly turned.
"…You created liquid fire."
"Yes."
"…Why?"
Logos looked genuinely confused.
"To burn things."
Darian stared.
Then slowly looked back toward the forest.
"…I should stop asking questions."
Logos ignored him.
Because he was watching.
Calculating.
Waiting.
Then—
One tree moved.
No—
Not moved.
Stood up.
Wood split apart.
Roots tore violently from the earth.
Something enormous unfolded from beneath the forest floor.
Then ten moved.
Then twenty.
Then hundreds.
Across the horizon—
The forest rose.
Sous felt his breathing stop.
Because they were not trees.
Not truly.
Towering masses of bark and flesh rose into view.
Their trunks split apart like ribs opening.
Black roots writhed beneath dead wood.
Malformed creatures hung from them like tumors growing from branches.
Some still formed.
Others twitched violently.
Others stared.
Watching.
Waiting.
The canopies above were woven masses of bone and black growths layered together until they resembled leaves.
From far away.
Only from far away.
Sous's eyes widened.
"…Those are nests."
"Yes."
Logos still hadn't looked away.
Because his eyes had narrowed slightly.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
No one moved.
Because hundreds of those things had risen.
Hundreds.
One shifted.
Then another.
Then another.
Like an entire forest waking from sleep.
A Church knight whispered weakly:
"…Merciful heavens."
Then—
One nest screamed.
Not roared.
Screamed.
The sound rolled across the battlefield like thousands of voices speaking through one throat.
And immediately—
The forest exploded.
Creatures burst from beneath roots.
From tunnels.
From hanging masses.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Black forms surged forward through burning trees like an ocean of flesh and madness.
Sous boarded Penelope immediately.
"GET TO THE WALLS!"
White Tiger ignited in his grip.
"FRONTLINE FORMATIONS!"
Around him—
Cardinals surged into position.
Auroras activated runic wards.
Royal Prateras locked shields into formation.
Soldiers scrambled toward battlements as alarms erupted across the camp.
Bal reached Logos.
"What are your orders, my lord?"
"Retreat is not an option."
Logos's eyes remained on the battlefield.
"Armor up."
"Dig in."
Another artillery shell screamed overhead.
Kleber stepped beside him.
"Anything else?"
Logos glanced around briefly.
Making sure nobody else heard.
Then quietly said:
"Prioritize Laos casualties."
Bal frowned.
Kleber narrowed his eyes.
"My lord."
"Their forces are larger," Logos continued calmly.
"They can absorb losses more effectively than we can."
Bal's expression hardened.
"Can we use another method?"
Logos looked at him for several moments.
Then nodded once.
"As long as results remain acceptable."
Bal relaxed slightly.
Because he knew what Logos meant.
And he also knew what he had avoided saying.
Logos pointed toward the charging tide.
"The smaller creatures are irrational."
"The larger masses are not."
A pause.
"Make them kill each other."
"Understood," Kleber replied.
Then—
Logos looked toward the battlefield.
Toward the walls.
Toward the thousands of monsters flooding toward them.
Then calmly said:
"Deploy everything."
A pause.
"This is an excellent opportunity for testing."
Kleber stared.
Bal stared.
Several nearby soldiers slowly turned.
Absolute silence.
Then Bal sighed.
"…Of course you would say that now."