"Thank you for listening to my concerns. I will take my leave." Chronos said.
"Un, if you notice anything else don't hesitate to bring it up with one of the vice-commanders or myself. With so much unknown even a small observation could save many lives." Commander Stan told him as he left.
When he exited the tent, he saw the second commander's face and how the two guards outside had complicated looks on their faces when they saw his ears and tail. Based on their reaction Chronos decided to keep them out instead of hiding them like how he usually did.
Hopefully it would stop the idiots of the second order from bothering him.
Making his way back to Oliver and Gregory they went back into the swamp.
Once more nothing was found, even the insects seemed to have disappeared without a trace. This continued for 2 more hours, then just an hour from the main naga village, they found their first sign of life.
Or more accurately it found them.
Crash, bang.
Squueee.
In the distance a massive boar suddenly burst out of the nearby woods into a clearing, it was larger than any Chronos had ever seen before. It was being chased by a hundred or more shadows amongst them were animals, beasts, monsters, and lizardfolk. It had six legs and four tusks; its fur was also on fire making it difficult for any shadow to cause harm without being destroyed.
"Well, that's a change. Until now we've only seen beasts and monsters, now there are animals and even lizardfolk? Too bad we can't tell what tribe they're from without the tribal markings." Gregory commented.
"I didn't think the shadows could copy animals. Do you think the shadows need magic or some other form of energy to maintain their forms and animals lack that energy when they are away from the tears?" Chronos asked the other two.
They couldn't get close without alerting the shadows and they weren't sure what the boar would do if it saw them. Unwilling to approach the battle they chose to watch and discuss this from a distant hiding spot.
"Maybe, it could also be that animals aren't strong enough to take over a defended location so whatever intelligence is guiding them chooses not to send them out." Oliver commented as another two hobgoblin shadows were gored by the boar.
"How strong do you think that boar is? Given its attacks and durability, I'm betting it's rank four." Seeing that they couldn't do much, Gregory changed the subject.
Chronos sniffed the air to catch a good whiff of its blood. "No, it's blood has a sulfuric scent to it. It should be close to fifth rank. I'm surprised they could weaken it this much with just weaker units."
The boar had cuts and injuries all over its body. From his position in a tree Chronos could even see some injuries that showed clear signs of magic vein poisoning. One of its back legs was broken as well as the tusks on the right side but for some reason its eyes still had a look that said it wasn't going to lose.
"Oliver, it has magic vein poisoning. That should convince the idiots of the second order that there is something intelligent in the enemy forces." Chronos stated.
Poison could be created with magic, but magic vein poisoning was when you poison another's magic veins directly and it was nearly impossible for it to be created in nature. Someone or something had to intentionally create it for use against other creatures because every creature's magic veins were different. If you gave them a magic vein poison that didn't match their veins, it wouldn't take hold. Within an hour or two the poison would be expelled from an individual's magic veins and harmless to them.
"That can't be right. Even if these shadows are copies of the tribes in Dracon Fen the lizardfolk shamans don't have enough knowledge to make magic vein poison." Oliver said.
"Then we should assume they have naga matriarchs or at least the shadows of them amongst their numbers." Chronos replied.
"Ugh, this whole expedition is becoming more complicated." Oliver grumbled.
As they watched the fight, the boar began to puff smoke from its nose. It was preparing something big.
"Do you think that will reach us?" Gregory asked.
"No, we're nearly half a kilometer away from it, if it actually reached us that would be impressive. From the way the smoke is moving I think it will just be a localized explosion around its body." Chronos said.
As they watched the smoke curled around it becoming thicker and thicker within 30 meters of it but none of the smoke went beyond that mark. Once it had built up to the point that the shadows started to notice it the boar gave a loud squeal as its body lit up like a sun.
Boooooom
With a thunderous explosion everything within 300 meters of the boar was destroyed. The swamp turned to mist and the trees and grasses outside 300 meters burst into flame. Even some of the dried grass near Chronos lit on fire.
The wind from the blast was so strong that it knocked Chronos out of his tree and threw him 3 meters while Gregory and Oliver were both thrown to the ground.
"Damn, you weren't wrong Chronos, it really is close to the fifth rank. I'm glad the wind is blowing south, this fire won't stop our army from reaching the naga village. That boar has to be one of the swamp lords around here. I'm surprised they were able to injure it to that extent." Oliver said while picking himself up off the ground.
"I'm more worried about the fact that the shadows have become strong enough that they are now hunting the swamp lords. It looks like they might be winning too." Chronos said.
While they were talking the boar snorted heavily several times before turning to the east and barreling off. If it was so determined that it didn't take time to rest, then whatever it was after was in for a bad time.
They were about to leave when Chronos heard something slithering their way.
"Quick, get down." Chronos whispered.
All three took cover in bushes and tall grass just in time to see a group of shadows come into the clearing that the boar had been fighting in. It had all the usual monsters, beasts, and lizardfolk but this time there were two nagas with them. In that shadowy form none of them could tell what rank the naga would have held in a tribe or how strong they were.
They remained still until all of them had left the clearing following the boar.
"We have confirmed that the shadows have naga now but not many of them. Assuming that they need a living creature to create a shadow they wouldn't be able to capture many naga's since the casters would be the first to evacuate." Oliver said.
In the Dracon Fen almost everything had magic or aura of some kind. If a tribe had no casters they were either ridiculously strong or didn't last very long in the swamp. This meant that at least two tribes had not been able to evacuate before being defeated.
"Let's go back. We need to report this to Commander Stan as soon as possible." Chronos said.
Moving swiftly but silently it took them nearly 20 minutes to make it back to the army without alerting anything. Along the way they saw two more groups of shadows, they weren't as numerous as the one hunting the swamp lord but still enough to slow them down. Chronos took that as a good sign, the previously abandoned villages led him to believe that they would have moved on if they had defeated the main village.
Approaching the convoy Chronos' group rushed to Commander Adam, this time no one stopped them but a few looked like they wanted to until they saw Chronos.
Coming to Commander Adams' horse they put their index and middle finger together, and their ring and pinky finger together, curling them slightly they formed the image of a dragon's claw which was placed over the heart in the traditional Dragon Church salute.
"Commander Adam, we have a report." Oliver announced
"Speak."
Oliver gave his report with Chronos and Gregory adding their input when they thought it was important. Afterwards Commander Adam thought for a few minutes before giving orders to his troops.
"Prepare for battle, we expect combat within 10 minutes. We'll push through in an attempt to reach the village. Paladin's will be on the front and sides with mercenaries guarding the center, priests and mages in the center and knights in the rear. The center supports all sides. If we can't reach the village by midnight, we'll retreat and form a camp to assist them from the outside." Commander Adam ordered.
"Yes, sir." Everyone rushed to fulfill his orders.
One of the mercenaries questioned Chronos, "Why are we pushing into the night? It will be hard to see the enemy, especially since they are made of shadows."
"The dragon paladin's first blessing from the gods is the ability to see in the dark. Night won't even slow them down, instead you should focus on surviving and making it to the village. It's the only place with defenses nearby." Chronos answered him.
With everyone in place for the war column formation they charged forward at twice their previous pace but none of them seemed to get tired.
Military formations were truly useful in situations like this.