Empire Of Souls - Chapter 182

Lenia’s army encampment sprung to life as soldiers ran about preparing for the approaching enemy. Regardless of whether battle broke out immediately or not, these soldiers were trained to be prepared. Lenia strode through the encampment, passing out orders as she went. This would be their first real battle as a trained military force and she wanted to ensure that no mistakes were made. There was no room for failure in her mind. She wasn’t displeased as she watched her army come to life. Their training had clearly paid off.

The vibrations that Lenia had initially felt became more frequent and the intensity increased. Now, all the soldiers could feel it. It was the marching of countless warriors and they were heading their way. Some felt a bit of nervousness, but with Lenia as their commander and the unfathomable Anathema on their side, they were confident. Lenia was a powerful Legendary being and Anathema was at a power level they couldn’t understand. They only knew she must be powerful, perhaps even more so than their commander. They also had confidence in the one they had chosen to serve as their god. So even if there was a hint of nervousness, their footsteps didn’t falter and morale was very high.

“It is almost time.” Lenia muttered after having given all the necessary orders.

She quickly rode towards the entrance of the encampment where the most elite of her soldiers had already formed up into ranks and were giving off a menacing air. These were ferocious warriors and each was heavily equipped with the best equipment that had been manufactured in recent weeks by the master craftsmen that Aleks had created. Of course, the master craftsmen had hundreds of servants to help them in crafting the equipment. They also were aided by a number of talented shamans.

Otherwise, they never would have been able to prepare equipment for so many soldiers. They had worked tirelessly over a period of a few weeks to prepare enough equipment for the ten thousand elites of Lenia’s army. As for the rest of the army, their equipment was either the equipment they already possessed or what was taken from the many that were killed during the failed expedition.

There just hadn’t been enough time to prepare equipment for the entire army. What they had was sufficient though. The expeditionary army had been well equipped and they had recovered quite a bit of the equipment. It wasn’t nearly to the standard of what their army would one day possess, but it was enough for now.

Lenia looked back at the approximately ten thousand elites with a satisfied expression. These were the core of her army and she was proud of their prowess and the aura their combined might gave off. They were an entire force of heavily armored infantry. Their army also possessed a small unit of cavalry, a large force of light infantry which also included ranged units, and a moderate force of magic casters. The army composition wasn’t fully complete and there was a much more diverse force planned for the future. For now, this was the best that could be assembled in the few months that had passed.

As Lenia watched the rest of the army forming up, she glanced towards the distant horizon which was in the waning hours of daylight. There was still sufficient light, but it wasn’t enough for a full battle to take place before nightfall. This was assuming that the Dark Elves followed normal conventions. She knew that Dark Elves had better vision at night than humans, but it was still difficult for such a large army to coordinate their efforts in a battle at night. They had many slaves who were not Dark Elves and that would form the bulk of their forces.

Not to mention it wasn’t as if she hadn’t thought of any countermeasures. Some of the races that were present in her own army could also see well in the dark and they had many shamans who could easily summon thousands of wild beasts with night vision or even light up the immediate area with enough light for others to see well. It wouldn’t be so simple if the Dark Elves decided to fight them during the night time. She doubted they would act so carelessly without fully understanding their enemy. That didn’t mean they might not try to launch a surprise attack, either way, Lenia was prepared.

A large amount of dust was being kicked up, and the first signs of movement were becoming visible. As the distant enemy came into view, their lines spread as far as the eye could see all across the horizon. It was a vast number of people, but to the people of the Steppes, it was still a relatively small number. Whenever the Horde was assembled in the past, the numbers would reach at least one million. This was much smaller than that, but it was still a large army and much larger than their force.

This was expected and there were no signs of surprise on any of Lenia’s soldiers. Even if they were outnumbered three or four to one, they weren’t worried. The Dark Elven army would mostly consist of slave soldiers and they were relatively weak in comparison to their soldiers. The Dark Elves themselves were quite strong, but they didn’t have any racial advantages that they feared.

Dark Elves were excellent marksmen and were of slightly above average talent when it came to magic. This placed them above Humans in both aspects, but only slightly above Elves in marksmanship and below Elves in magical talent. Humans were better at melee combat and in using Holy attribute magic than them however. Their greatest strengths were in their flexibility and agility, but this wasn’t much of an advantage to a mixed army like Lenia’s. They had never posed much of a threat to the Steppes before despite many attempts at conquest. They had only become emboldened because they thought a void had been opened in the power balance of the Steppes.

Lenia was here to show them that they have gravely miscalculated.

After a short time of observing the approaching enemy, a sudden monstrosity broached the horizon. It was immense and grotesque, an enormous spider, the likes that none of them had ever seen. It towered over the landscape and to anyone observing the approaching army, it looked like tiny ants crawling beneath a behemoth. At some point, Anathema had moved to stand next to Lenia. She hadn’t noticed her presence at first because she was so transfixed with the strange sight before her.

“What a pathetic scene. Are these mortals fools? What is the point of coming to battle with such a useless thing?”

Lenia looked over at Anathema who stood at her side and bunched her brows. She didn’t know what Anathema was referring to, but as the enormous behemoth sized Spider became more visible, she noticed it. On the back of the gigantic spider, was something like a makeshift palace. At first, Lenia thought she was seeing things, but her eyes did not deceive her. There was really a palace on the back of the spider.

Anathema’s vision was far superior to Lenia’s and she had probably seen them coming long before she did, but Lenia’s vision was still much greater than most others even if it took her longer than Anathema to make it out. The soldiers behind her still couldn’t make out much. They could just barely see the enormous monstrosity in the distance approaching.

It wasn’t an enormous palace and it was most likely constructed by magic only recently. There was no way that Lenia could accept the fact that there was always a palace on the back of the spider. It would be destroyed if the spider decided to shake or roll around a bit. Of course, so would probably everything else if it decided to do that. Nonetheless, the palace was real. Lenia couldn’t figure out the logic behind such a ridiculous thing. What was the point? Was it only to sate someone’s hubris?

Lenia shook her head and said with derision, “What an unsightly thing. That must be where the Spider Queen resides. Does she think herself too much above the rest of us that she wouldn’t deign to walk on the earth? She isn’t half the being my master is and yet even he walks among the rest of us. What arrogance! I can’t wait to see her pulled down from her lofty perch!”

Anathema chuckled, “For once we agree. It will bring me some enjoyment to crush that hag beneath my feet. Perhaps it was worth it coming here after all. She will regret putting on such a display of decadence before me!”

The ground shook even more as the massive army and the monstrosity approached. Their army eventually stopped quite a distance from them. There was at least a mile between them, perhaps slightly more. It was close enough that everyone could now clearly see the large army and especially that enormous creature which towered over all the warriors beneath. They could also see the palace now and most were dumbfounded by the sight. None of them could ever imagine seeing a palace on the back of such a huge spider.

After coming to a full stop, the Dark Elven army stood silent in the distance. For a moment, the two armies only silently observed each other. The sudden sound of a horn blowing broke the silence. It was a horn blown from the Dark Elven army. After several more minutes of waiting, a figure came fast approaching Lenia’s army on a large and unfamiliar mount. It was deer-like, but as large as a horse, and it had curved horns coming out of its head which looked like they could easily impale a man.

The figure stopped only a few yards from where Lenia was atop her horse and was now fully visible. He wore no shirt, showing off a hardened chest and strangely there was a collar around his neck. This was common among the Dark Elves and the male Dark Elves were often collared. The matrons would put chains on the collars and drag the men around as a punishment, or as enjoyment. It depended on the matron, but most were quite twisted according to rumors. He was handsome and well groomed, clearly a favorite of his matron and well taken care of.

The Dark elven man shouted as soon as he stopped his mount, “My matron requests to speak with you in the center of the battlefield!”

Lenia snorted in reply, “Not even the Spider Queen herself, just some lowly matron?”

The Dark Elf male who was riding the deer-like mount immediately grew angry at her reply, “How dare you speak so disrespectfully, you disgusting Human! My matron is the great Akasha, commander of our goddesses mighty army! You should be honored to even be in her presence.”

Anathema laughed derisively which only incensed the Dark elven male further.

“Goddess? Only a low level Demigod and already proclaiming herself a goddess! As if that ridiculous palace was not enough.”

Almost going into a rage, the Dark Elf reached for his blade, but he was just barely able to contain his anger.

“My matron will wait for you there!”

He turned his mount and rode back to the Dark Elven army while practically grinding his teeth into dust in his fury.

“This Spider Queen is quite arrogant. I suppose she will only come out of her palace once we crush this army of hers. I will let you handle these trivial things. Until the Spider Queen and her pet make their move, I will be resting.”

Lenia didn’t reply and only watched Anathema return to the encampment. As she walked, the soldiers gave her a wide berth and didn’t dare get in her way. Even if they didn’t fear their enemy, they certainly feared her.