Chapter 235: Mental Battle (Patreon)

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No Cliff.

AN: Got some editing suggestions? Suggest it on the Google Docs here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mejOtW1OX-qTakqo7I3LACWKz01cSEgFNQOjILG_m7M/edit?usp=sharing

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“We’ll reach the border in one day,” Lord Commander Taldinar says, fanning himself from the sweltering heat, “It will take us another three days to reach the capital on a straight march.”

Thirty Dwarves, almost all Soul Lords, sit around a circular marble table conjured by one of the five Earth Elementals above. They all sit on chairs lavish of gold, iron, copper, silver, or adamantine, each corresponding to their home kingdom. The Lord Commander sits upon a throne of crystalized mythril, representing the kingdom of the High King, the Mythril Kingdom.

They are just a few kilometers above the Magma Sea, a breeding ground for Fire Elementals. If it weren't for those damnable beings, they could dig deeper and reach the old capital and rebuild the old lift. Unfortunately, they can’t get close enough to the Fire Elementals to enslave them.

“Hrmph! No one is going to see us this fa’ below the gound; let's hunt more Rineaons and add them to the ahmy!” Barbund says with a thick regional accent that excludes most Rs. He crosses his four arms, his lower arms across his bare chest. His digging arms come down in a cross, dripping in sweat. He wears a gold band on his arms, signifying his affiliation to the Gold Pillar Kingdom.

The reason it’s taken so long to get to the border is that the Lord Commander ordered the Soul Lords to hunt and enslave Rinerons, a majestic beast often regarded as the ‘King of the Earth’. They are often Legendary tier, being spawned Legendary like dragons, and Elementals. However, unlike those more powerful beings, Rinerons are at the bottom of what can be considered Legendary, especially newly spawned ones.

They have around ten Rinerons now, and if they continue enslaving more, they can have as many as eighteen for the attack, but the longer they take, the greater the chances are that they might be discovered. However, Barbund is right, they are far underground, and the chances of them being discovered is zero; not even their scryers can see the surface, so no Humans can see them at this depth. Regardless, there is an entire entourage of Mind Mages and Anti-Scryers, just in case.

“Doesn’t matter,” Lord Commander Taldinar says. “We’ve delayed the mission for too long. Besides, I am tired of this heat. We will march to Starport and come straight up from beneath it.”

Murmurs of agreement echo around the table as many complain about the heat.

“Hrmph! Letting a little heat botha you all, This is why Gold Pillah is the stongest!”

The other Gold Pillar Soul Lords nod in agreement.

“Well, Since you guys are the strongest, then why don’t you be the first in the assault? Show us peons how it’s done?” Soul Lord Derval taunts Barbund.

“Oh don’t, wohy! We’ll cush that Empoha befo’ you even caal out of the gound!”

“Enough! I will not have infighting in my army! We will fight together and win together,” Taldinar puts his foot down before things start heating up. “From here on it’s a straight march, and that’s final!”

Just then, the Master Mentalist perks up, looking around.

“What is it?” Taldinar asks.

“Strange…” the Mentalist mutters, furrowing his brow, “it seems we are being watched.”

“What do you mean, is it a monster?”

“No it’s—” the Mentalist clenches his teeth as he engages in mental combat, staying silent for a few minutes. “We’ve… been foun… There’s a Mind Dragon?!”

“What?!” Everyone stands up at the news, and questions start flying from everyone’s mouths; however, before the Mentalist can give any more information, he and the other Mentalists collapse to the ground.

“What did he mean we’ve been found? Is it the Humans?” one Soul Lord asks.

“You idiot! Why would a Dragon be helping the Humans?!”

“The Humans can’t reach us down here, so it has to be a Dragon!”

“SILENCE!” Lord Commander Taldinar roars. “Everyone, we march now! We can’t fight a Mind Dragon, and we must be encroaching on its territory! March! We march at once!”

Derval and the other Soul Lords grab the bodies of the Mentalists; they can still be revived. Only their minds have been destroyed, so all they need is their minds restored. Once resuscitated, they can give more information, but first, they have to get out of the Dragon’s territory.

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“This is really bad; the Emperor needs to see this,” Jordan says and vanishes.

“They haven’t noticed yet,” a Squire remarks.

“Be ready; it’s only a matter of time,” Lin says. I feel their minds brace for a battle. “Tylar, John, Lily, you’re on defense; the rest are on the offense with me. We won’t wait for them to realize we are watching; we will catch them by surprise.”

“Got it!” The Knights and Squires respond. Lin never addressed Yrania or me directly, but I get the impression he wants to prove the Oathbound’s capabilities, as well as not put me in harm's way.

I feel a faint mental touch from a foreign mind, and one of the Dwarves perks up, looking around. That is when Lin jumps into action, immediately stabbing at the Dwarf with the combined might of all his minds and the minds of the other Oathbound.

As soon as Lin’s mind makes contact, I feel a foreign network of minds, over a hundred minds linked together like we are. In an instant four of their minds are crushed before they can react.

“Keep their minds occupied so they can’t warn the army!” Lin commands, launching an assault of his minds against the strongest group of enemy minds.

I watch – well ‘watch’ isn’t the right word, ‘feel’ is more what I am experiencing – I feel the battle rage on and ingrain how Lin fights mentally. He slips past each mental thrust and counterattacks when his opponent is most vulnerable. He pairs each of his minds, one for deflecting attacks and one to attack with. His opponent does the same, and for a minute, it seems they are even, but then Lin conjures several more minds and crushes two of his foe’s minds! Getting the upper hand, he starts surrounding his enemy and picking off minds whenever they try to counterattack.

His opponent goes on full defense, all protecting one mind, even sacrificing minds just to protect that one.

“He’s going to warn the others!”

Realizing he is going to lose, the Dwarf is sacrificing himself to warn his army. Unfortunately, all the other Oathbound are engaged in their own fights, either defending or attacking, and while they are winning they won’t be quick enough to stop Lin’s opponent.

I jump in, drilling into Lin’s enemy’s mind with all of mine, forcing him to defend on two fronts and momentarily stopping him from saying his warning. However, my attack is nowhere near as strong as Lin’s, and he quickly readjusts, throwing more minds at Lin to delay him long enough to utter one sentence, but before he can finish, Yrania swoops in with each of her minds enveloping each of the Dwarf’s, like a Dragon’s maw snapping food out of the air, and crushing them with little resistance.

With the strongest opponent defeated, the rest of the battle is easily won as Lin reinforces another mental battle, and in quick succession, the rest of the Dwarven Mind Mages are defeated.

In a panic, the army rushes into action, immediately marching forward with reckless abandon.

“This is going to be difficult,” the Emperor says, looking at the mirror. “I can hold off one Elemental myself, but we don’t have the forces to fight off five, let alone the Dwarven Soul Lords and Rinerons.

I didn’t notice the Emperor arrive, but I’ve been more focused on learning how to fight mentally. He must have been waiting for the mental battle to end since it took several minutes.

“Why don’t you attack the army’s minds now?” I ask, “Their defenders are defeated, so it should be easy.”

“It’s not that easy,” Lin answers. “We can’t simply attack at this range; well, I can, but I’d be alone, and that’s a huge risk. For most at these distances, one can only engage in a mental battle if both sides meet, and most people are unable to meet us even if we are willing.”

“So we can only attack their minds if they initiate contact?”

“Normally, yes. A powerful Skill or breakthrough can let you attack at extreme ranges, but you’d be alone.”

“Can’t you link minds and attack?” I ask.

“You’d think so, but no. Others cannot use my Skill, but they can defend me should someone retaliate; however, there will still be a moment where I am vulnerable, where I can be attacked before others defend me, so it’s not worth the risk.”

Figures it won’t be so easy. If it was, wars wouldn’t have to be fought by armies; they’d be fought by Mmind Mmages who sit comfortably in their homes… kinda like I do.

“Before we continue, we need to have a meeting about how to defeat that army,” the Emperor says. With that, all the Oathbound vanish, leaving only the Emperor. “Thank you for finding this threat. You have completed what you were needed for, so if you wish, we can escort you home, but I’d like to hire you to peer into the Dwarven cities if you feel safe in doing so; also, I’d like your input on our current crisis. You don’t have to attend the meeting, but you’re welcome to.”

“Well, I can’t have you lose this fight; who will pay me?” I joke.

The Emperor cracks a smile, “Thank you.”

The world shifts around me, and I find myself back in the throne room. Turns out, all the Oathbound have been invited to this meeting.

“My Knights,” the Emperor starts a speech, “a crisis is upon us again. This time it comes in the form of a Dwarven army led by twenty-five Soul Lords, ten Rinerons, and five Earth Elementals. They are at our border and deep underground, so we have a few days to prepare and pick our battle, but once again, most of you may not return. This will be a battle just as perilous as the Cannibals, and I am ashamed to ask you to give your lives, but the survival of the Empire depends on it. The survival of your brothers and sisters, of your mothers and fathers, of your children and friends all depend on it! My dear Oathbound, I ask you, will you join me in defense of our great empire?”

“Yes, your Majesty!” All the Oathbound, Knights and Squires alike, say, almost in unison.

“I am proud to know all of you. You shall never be forgotten. For those of you who may not know, Squires, and our guest, Earth Elementals are extraordinarily powerful and even more difficult to slay; just one equals me in strength. Not only that, there are Rinerons, Legendary earthen beasts, although each one of you is worth five of them. And not only that, there are the Dwarven Soul Lords who so rarely marshal to war, but they have the power to enslave souls, so should any of you find your brothers or sisters turn on you, understand they do not do so willingly. Then there are the war machines, who can’t be left to pillage our lands.”

The Emperor pauses and meets each and every one of his Oathbound’s gazes.

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but we must not let them past the border! We are not without options! We are not doomed! Yes, Elementals are powerful, but they have weaknesses! Just as the Dwarves have found their souls to be a weak point, we shall exploit that! We have Jonathan, who can strike the soul directly; not even Elementals can come back from that! We have Brad, a gifted mana manipulator, who can suppress the mana of the Elementals; we have Violet, who can attack the Soul Lords’ Vitality directly. Each and every one of you Squires is gifted in your own unique ways, but you need not call yourselves Squires anymore, for I give you permission to use your Legendary points, you will need them for this upcoming battle, and you will have the chance to earn many more. I know that you deserve the proper ceremony, but time is short, and we still need to devise a plan, so consider this battle as your final Oathbound trial. I will give you an hour to spend your points before we move onto the battle planning, if you need more time you can do so after that, don’t rush your choice.”

It only takes the Squires fifteen minutes. It seems like most of them already knew how they were going to spend their Legendary points. None of them seem to have upgraded their race, since that requires several hours. Plus, their Classes are probably stronger anyway, so they get more bang for their buck by upgrading their Class. After half an hour, when it is obvious everyone is done going through their upgrades, the Emperor looks at Lin.

“Please show everyone what you saw.”

Lin nods and conjures an illusion of made mind mana to give everyone a three-dimensional map and, above that, an image of the Dwarven army.

“We will now discuss our battle plan.” The Emperor says, “Please speak up if you have any suggestions.”