When I stepped outside, Harold was already putting the defense in order. "What's going on?" I asked.
"The beast wave is on the move, sir," Harold said, pointing at the distance.
I frowned. "Wait… That doesn't make sense. I thought they only attacked at night."
"It should be the case, sir. It's when they have the advantage, but…"
"They are still moving. They must have a reason for it," I said, but I didn't ask Harold another question immediately. "Pass me a spyglass," I said. Medieval variant it might be, with its subtle enchantment, it worked better than binoculars.
He did so, and I used to look at the horde. I wasn't able to see much. It was a huge army of beasts at the horizon, likely thirty miles away, most of the details lost behind the dust cloud they raised, and the rest was behind the cloud of the flying beasts.
An army that consisted exclusively of lizards. I turned to Harold. "Wasn't the beast horde supposed to consist of all types of beasts?" I asked.
"Yes, sir," Harold said, but once I passed binoculars back to him, a jolt of shock passed through him, showing that he had missed that detail. "That's not possible," he commented.
"Yet it clearly is. Maybe it's about the timing of the attack," I suggested. "Is there a way to control a horde like that?"
"None that I know of," he admitted, but he was clearly confused.
I paused, thinking of the possibilities. The single-type nature of the dungeon had some dangerous implications. "You have fought against other hordes, right?" I asked.
"Mostly as a reserve force and cleanup duty," he admitted.
"You're still familiar with the way they acted," I suggested. He nodded. "Watch them carefully. Aren't they moving in a little too orderly? Is that normal?"
He frowned. "It looks that way."
I nodded. It was an interesting bit of data, but there was no point wasting too much time on that observation. "Alright. Organize the defenses, but be ready to evacuate back into the dungeon if the worst happens."
He nodded. "Should we start shelling them the moment they are in range?"
"No. For the moment, let's keep that as a surprise," I said. "Keep everyone close to the gate. I'll patrol the perimeter."
"That's the best way," I replied. "I have both the mobility and the stopping power."
After a second he nodded, which didn't surprise me. Leading from the front was an accepted practice post-Cataclysm. He went to his tasks, while I moved forward, glad that they had followed my recommendation to cover the ground with metal. It allowed me to extend my Observe through it, particularly since the range had expanded significantly through Wisdom.
It was a good way to catch any possible invisible interloper. It wasn't a perfect solution, nor did it allow me to check the whole area immediately, but it was still useful. Even with the ability to open dungeon gates giving me options to escape, I much preferred not to be ambushed in the first place.
However, the ability became useful sooner than I had expected. After moving a mile away from the gate, I had caught the presence of a man, lying on the ground, camouflaged perfectly. Interestingly, his camouflage didn't radiate any mana to alert me, signaling that it was either not magical, or it had a much better tool than the camouflage ring I had dealt with.
Like any other tool of camouflage, once noticed, it was much easier to examine it. Curious, I drifted closer, ready to retreat or defend myself as needed, wondering if he was a scout or an assassin.
But, as I drifted closer, I could see his hands trembling in fear, suggesting that he was most likely a scout. I could have killed him easily, but I decided against it.
It was a tough decision, but it had nothing to do with mercy. I wanted to understand why the enemy bothered to send a scout, a weak one at that.
Of course, calling him weak was relative. As far as I knew, he might be easily above level fifty with a decent class, which counted plenty strong in the larger scheme of things. But, one thing was clear. He wasn't ascended, which meant it was unlikely that he was a threat to me.
That opened up possibilities, giving me more efficient options than just killing. Dealing with him directly had limited benefits, particularly since I doubted he was the only scout. He was likely only a forward scout, with others at a distance, meaning it wouldn't help me with keeping secrets. Besides, killing him would also reveal I could detect him.
Instead, I decided to use it to feed false information. Some information, like the rapid development of the farmers, was impossible to hide truly, and there were other secrets that had leaked out once I had mismanaged the situation with the guards, but that didn't mean they knew everything.
Misleading them on certain aspects, like the effectiveness of our new cannons, could be critical.
I checked the perimeter, and soon, I noticed two more scouts on the metal, which showed that my earlier guess about multiple scouts was correct. As much as I wanted to capture and interrogate them, letting the enemy underestimate our abilities was far more important.
Soon, as the beast horde continued to get closer, a smaller group split from the main group, approaching far faster. Yet, despite splitting, they didn't act too chaotic.
I frowned. It was an obvious probing attack to test us.
I interrupted my scouting trip and went back to Harold, dragging him inside the dungeon for a secret strategy meeting. "The probing attack, that's not good news," I said.
"Isn't it better to deal with them in pieces," Harold said. "That gives us the strategic advantage."
His thought process was easy to understand. The smaller the group, the easier we would deal with it, reducing the risk. "No, it gives us the tactical advantage," I corrected. "And, I don't like what it reveals."
"I don't —" he started, only for his eyes to widen. "They can control the beast horde accurately," he commented. "How did I miss this?"
"It's expected. You have dozens of other details you need to pay attention to," I responded. "It's easy to miss important details when one is bogged down in minutia." That was certainly the case, which was one of the reasons I didn't want to lead the defenses directly.
"What are we going to do?" he asked.
"We're going to undersell our abilities," I said.
"Keeping the artillery in reserve is easy," he said.
I shook my head. "No, that will only show them our confidence in our new weapon. We're not going to start using the artillery until the enemy drifts closer than five miles, and even then, keep the rate of fire low," I said. After a secondary thought. "Also, I'm going to modify a set of shells to reduce their effectiveness. Until the main horde steps well into the range, use only the weak ones."
"A simple plan, but an effective one," he admitted.
"It's better if we don't get too fancy. Our forces are not trained enough," I said, agreeing with his perspective. "We just need to draw the horde closer and deal with it directly. Still, be ready for surprises. We have no idea what kind of destruction they might bring."
"Will you be fighting, sir?" he said.
I paused, pondering between the merits of staying behind and rushing forward. Meeting with the enemy directly would put me in a more vulnerable position than I was comfortable with, but I had too many advantages for it to be truly dangerous.
It wasn't exactly safe, but it was far better than my trip to explore the other dungeon.
Decision made, I spoke. "I will fight with them first," I said. "If worse comes to worst, I could always retreat underground," I admitted. If that failed, I could always open a portal to escape, but I chose to leave that as a secret for the moment. Operational security was still a valuable commodity.
"If you think that's the more viable path, sir," he admitted. "Do we have anything else to discuss?"
"No, just make sure everyone outside knows their mission," I said as we left the dungeon. After a brief stop at the ammunition storage where I used my Reformation skill in an unexpected manner — weakening the conceptual weight of the shells to make them weaker — I moved away.
Ready to greet the first wave of attack.