Compared to the chaos that was gripping the advisors and seers within all the cities of the nation, the chaos on the battlefield was nothing.
For one brief glorious mont, they had all seen the greatest divine treasure in the world appear. Then re seconds later, all the visions ended. Their premonitions vanished as if the trigger had never existed.
The Archbishop and Nacht shared a concerned look as the seers began to panic. All of their abilities had been triggered by the event, and then it was over, gone, vanished without a trace.
"Do you think that it might have been taken through ti by the mystery combatants?" The Archbishop asked.
The Seers slowly nodded in agreent. "That seems like the most likely outco. We don't recognize the aura of either of the parties involved in the attack on the hidden holy relic, but Bishop Misty was present, and sided with the one who was not a Titan. The most likely scenario is that she will have taken it through ti, but the current her will have no knowledge of the event, as she has not done it yet." The two Totems sighed. Dealing with Temporal Dragons was tricky. You never knew what they actually knew. They liked to hide things from themselves so that it would be a surprise when it happened. A little treat that kept their lives interesting.
Nacht frowned. "I will send a ssage to the temples to keep an eye out for her so that we can ask her what she knows about the incident, but I strongly suspect that she's not going to know anything except what we know from after the change in the tiline.
How and why she interfered is unclear, but we can start with Monarch Karl and his team, who should have been close enough to get so information about the situation."
That was naturally assuming that they would survive the battle. The Beast Master's team had the World Dragon's own luck, and they were on the weakest side of the offensive, with considerable area attack abilities. If they weren't concerned about drawing the attention of and provoking stronger foes from the other fronts, they could clear the entire North Side themselves with relative ease, from what Nacht and the Archbishop had learned of their skills.
After a few minutes of staring at the monsters while the troops on the line caught their breath, and the last of the soldiers equipped the ice cleats, horns began to ring out in the distance, signalling the invading army to retreat.
Starting from the back, they turned and left, while the front slowly retreated. Not fleeing in panic, but an orderly withdrawal of forces designed to minimize casualties.
They had already suffered heavily, and the walk back to the portals was over the bodies of their fallen comrades. But they were alive, and today, that was all that mattered.
"Are we not going after them?" Danni Mackenzie asked as they watched the enemy retreat.
"And send our soldiers down that muddy hill, where they will have to face an enemy line with decent footing in the riverbed? No, there is no need for further casualties today. Let them leave and regroup, and we will deal with them later.
I suspect that the losses they have taken will keep them quietly in their own borders for at least a few days." Karl explained.
He didn't know how the other sides of the city had gone, but the Overlords who were with him earlier had taken nurous bodies from their Overlord Rank kills, so the Mountain Giants would be at least a bit weaker than they were yesterday.
Overlord Niall chuckled. "I don't know about days, but they will stay put for at least one. The Mountain Giants are a chaotic bunch, and with everyone so worked up to follow them into battle, they'll have everyone in a frenzy soon enough."
He made a slight gesture with his head towards Danni and the other Command group mbers who were in earshot, reminding Karl not to say things that should be public, like the change in leadership, and how the Frost Giants had already realized they were being used as fodder, but didn't dare to disobey orders.
Those things were better left unsaid, and knowing them would only earn a trip to the Inquisition for the officers here, to ensure that they were absolutely loyal.
The Mackenzie Sister was well vetted, and not really a concern, as she was on Capital Security. But most of the others were either reserve soldiers, or noncombat officers who had been brought to the line to compensate for the lack of radio communication.
"How long do we wait before I can start telling those in back to pack up the supplies in preparation to move back to the city?" Karl asked Overlord Niall, who hopefully had more experience with this sort of thing than he did.
"I really don't know. I say we give it thirty minutes. By then they will be off the adrenaline high, and they should be thinking clearly again. It will make for better packed supplies." Niall suggested.
He knew that there was a guideline for this, he had just never cared what it was. He had been an Inquisitor since he beca an Elite, so he had never been the one who had to make the decision, only pass it on.
A few of the officers looked like they wanted to say sothing, but they were not brave enough to question the judgnt a Monarch and an Overlord, so they simply stayed silent for the half hour while Karl silently updated the troop deploynts on the map until everything was gone, and the last of the troops on the west side were reported by Hawk to be getting close to the border.
"Alright, have everyone pack up. The battle is over, there is nothing left to fight." Karl announced.
Orders were shouted down the line, but Karl could hear that the radios were crackling to life again, restoring normal communication.
Then, a System ssage appeared in Karl's vision.
{City Defence Successful}
{Calculating Difficulty}
{Calculating Rewards}
{1x5 Skill Points Awarded for successful completion at Monarch Rank}
{20 Bonus Skill Points for Successful Command Role}
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