Chapter 684: Forced March
Argrave was certainly no master of warfare. There was one thing that he understood very well, though, having once watched an entire one (1) video on Napoleon’s misadventures with the coalitions when he’d been bored, thus making him at least an expert in the field. Speed and maneuverability were incredibly important factors in any battle. Being able to reach a position, providing either timely reinforcement or carrying out a devastating blow to an undefended front, could often decide the fate of entire campaigns.
That was the crux of their defense strategy.
The benefit of being the defender was that one held a defensive position—the onus was on the other party to launch the attack. The castles and fortifications throughout Berendar could finally be put to good use. The primary instruction that Argrave had given each and all of the people throughout him domain was simply this: hold the line, and wait for relief. Argrave, and a few key other heavy-hitters, was that relief.
The hardest task didn’t rest on his shoulders, however. Elenore had expanded her network of mental connections to a vast degree to compensate for the loss of druidic magic. She was also supported by Lira, the goddess of connections. The two of them, together, received and processed communications from around the continent. They obtained reports, processed them, and gave judgment calls. It was unimaginably mentally taxing… yet Elenore was up to the task. Even someone as pretentious as Raven had acknowledged her genius.
And most importantly, Elenore could make the difficult calls without hesitating.
The first thirty seconds after everyone had departed was tense, and Argrave stared at Elenore as she listened to hundreds of voices in her head with some help from Lira. Finally, though, she opened her gray eyes, focused on Argrave, and gave the first command that ushered Argrave into non-stop battle.
“Reinforce Quadreign, immediately,” she said with certainty.
With a nod, Argrave called upon a blood echo that had been distributed long in advance. Ordinarily, maintaining an echo at such a long distance would be impossible—with sufficient focus, however, he could maintain countless in various different locations. He simply couldn’t employ them in the fight, lest that focus waver.
Argrave went from the pleasant warmness of Blackgard to the harsh cold of Quadreign in moments. Deafening noises and flashing lights disoriented him immediately, and he looked to the sky to see a power near equal to his own raging: the black flame of House Quadreign.