AK - The Alchemy Kingdom

Chapter 154: Delaying the inevitable

Year 5, Spring, First Month, First Week.

Lew took a sip from his hot ale and tried to find the words to explain the unexplainable changes which would take place on AP over the next weeks. Heidi and the other Adventurers present continued to stare at him with curiosity. They would like to think of themselves as unshockable by APs surprises. From the low energy environment to the fantastic knowledge of the beasts location, passing for the great food, what could be more shocking? However, they couldnt be further from the truth.

You probably noticed that we prefer to select our customers

Everyone nodded as they remembered some people complaining about not finding AP and even accusing them of lying. Although they didnt understand how their host kept a place so well hidden, they wouldnt give up on such benefits because of a small matter that didnt even concern themselves, though, this added to the mysteriousness of the place.

Lets say that some people didnt like being left out of the list of customers and they intend to disrupt our activities as they are

Now, the Adventurers start to feel some concern about where this was heading. Would they close AP because of others' interference? Was it the Kingdom?

So, we decided to make some changes to our surroundings You dont need to think too much about it, I just wanted to let you know that the access to AP will be blocked during the next week

The Adventurers couldnt understand what changes he was talking about and why they wouldnt be able to enter or leave AP. They try to get something more from Lew, but he only explained that everyone who wanted to leave, had only tomorrow to do it. However, all the internal activities would continue working normally. Since they were still on the first week after New Years, which was considered bad for hunting, only one group decided to leave.

Lew continued dodging the questions until his secretary came to inform him that his presence was required in the command room. The Minister didnt think twice before escaping into the backroom.

What is it?

Sir, we identified a large group entering the forest. Shadow one was sent to get visual confirmation, but we estimate a group with at least fifty members. The locators pointed six wind signatures, two presenting sound properties.

After hearing the report, Lew felt both relieved and concerned. Relieved because his guess about the time of the Kingdoms movements was correct, and concerned because they had escalated the situation by sending six Mages.

Once we confirm the situation, we need to delay them, at least by a week. What do you propose?

Lew was taking the opportunity to give some commanding experience to his secretaries.

Sir, we should send the shadows first to try leading them astray and attracting beasts to their position while the other teams prepare some traps and try to bait the enemies into it. These would probably be enough to delay them for two weeks

Instead of accessing the idea, Lew just passed the command.

You heard her, lets put this plan into action.

***

Samia watched the Kingdoms forces from the top of a tree, more than 200 meters away. The group had been struggling against the beasts day and night, but unfortunately, this tactic only delayed them. Of course, the three dead Guards was a plus, and although it wouldnt make a big difference in the end, it was still three fewer enemies.

During the last week, the shadows had collected a lot of information by seeing the enemies fight against the beasts. Although this wasnt official, they could guess that only two Mages were Commanders and the other four were only Invokers. Similarly, amongst the martial artists, they estimated only five Fighters, the other 52, now 49, were probably Guards.

What made the shadow hesitate was that one of the Commanders was a sound Mage. Theoretically, the sound isolator would be able to neutralize any type of detection or direct attack, but she didnt want to test it live. Even so, they still needed a few more days and she was the only one who could get close enough. The plan was actually simple, very similar to what they have been doing for the last week, but instead of baiting the beasts, they would need to bait the group.

Samia watched the sound Mages attentively, praying they would pick up the bait but wouldnt be able to act on it, at least not at this distance. Fortunately, the plan appeared to be working as the sound Commander was trying to discuss something with the leading Fighter instead of launching a long-distance spell that could kill their agents. They kept the discussion going for a few minutes, before finally moving towards the bait.

The shadow didnt waste time and sent a warning message to the baiting group. They would need to start moving fast to escape the tracking Mages on time. Samia breathed another sigh of relief when the sound Mages paused but continued moving towards the bait, they probably identified the movements of the group, but fortunately decided to keep following them.

Almost half an hour later, the group was nearing the trap point. Samia carefully examinated the location, trying to find clues of their timely partner but failed to see anything. The Kingdoms forces continued to move towards the baiting group, unaware of the plot against their lives. Unfortunately, they passed by the planned point but nothing happened.

Samia took out the communicator and started to type the emergency message to activate their contingency plan when she noticed a strange commotion in the group. The wind direction and strength changed as the Mages started to form Wind Shields to block it and Wind Tunnels to push the beast back. However, the earth snake didnt seem affected by the attacks, it continued to dive in and out of the ground, taking on Guard every time and leaving behind only blood and screams.

Although she wasnt keen on seeing such a bloody mess like her sister, Samia couldnt help but smile when seeing their enemies suffer. Hopefully, the beast would keep them occupied for at least a few more hours and it would discourage them from following the baiting team. The shadow looked towards APs direction and asked the Origin to speed up their work, after all, they only had a few more cards to play before a direct confrontation became their only choice.

***

Two weeks later

For the Origin What is this?

The new Captain of the second section couldnt stop staring at the unexpected scene. His subordinate weakly answered:

My Lord, this is a

The Captain furiously slapped the Guard and yelled:

Stupid lower born Of course, I know what it is. I want to know how a Lake appeared out of nowhere. I never heard of such a place between the second section and the Green Mountains