Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

The group arrived at the camp one day and a half after leaving the capital, the sun was already setting, but they could tell that everyone was preparing for something big. Rain wondered if it was fine to arrive like that… he assumed that showing up at night would have been more efficient.

The atmosphere of the camp was intense, and while the soldiers had been stationed there for a couple of years already, anyone could see the glint in their eyes. In one way or the other, it was time to end their watch. If they lose, the enemies will have the chance to attack the capital, but if they win, they will taste their own medicine's bitter taste.

"We will camp on the back, keep a distance of ten meters from each group and try to mind your own business until you are called," Karla said. "Sometime later, we will pass the rations for everyone for dinner."

Karla sounded way more serious than usual; she was Branden's assistant, after all. Branden headed toward the tent of the commanding officer to present himself. While he didn't have a rank in the army, he brought a strong force, so he should be given some authority.

"Aw, man… I am so looking forward to this that I am trembling a bit," Jori said.

"You shouldn't say that out loud if you want to be taken seriously by others," Rain said. "Remember, you are the captain of the group, so your actions will reflect on us."

"You are right…" Jori said while looking around and seeing some slightly annoyed eyes.

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The other captains would also be looked down upon if he kept acting like that, so Jori had to present himself accordingly. In any case, everyone set their tents around, but they didn't stay inside. After the sunset, they set up a campfire since there was plenty of wood around and waited for their orders.

"It has been a while since Lord Branden left to talk with the commanders, but he still didn't leave the tent," Asche said while looking in the distance.

Those were some excellent eyes, Rain could see the largest tent, but since it was night, he couldn't see the movements around. Maybe Asche had some sort of ability that an archer path or something would grant. If his guess was right, he would get that by leveling up the Thief Path up to level fifty.

"It seems like a good idea to combine my earth magic with archery; I would be able to make good use of my strength at long range… nothing says that I will always have the chance to charge at the enemies. After all," Rain thought.

Before long, some soldiers passed around the area distributing the rations. They were basically a bit of hard bread. It was fine for now since it was still fresh, but soon everyone would get tired of it… everyone also brought some food, but that will only last for long.

"I guess we won't receive any orders today…" Jori said once they finished their meal. "Rain, what do you think the higher-ups will decide to do here?"

"I wouldn't know; I never had the chance to study battle tactics of such level," Rain shrugged. "I can think of some possibilities, though. They might try to spread us around Tristan and attack all sides at once… the enemies shouldn't have that many people stationed there… it should be less than ten thousand."

"That is a very specific number," Asche said while furrowing her eyebrows.

Rain knew that because he had talked with his father and because he had been there as well. In any case, the human side should have the double of that… It was quite a small number, but it made sense since only the nearest soldiers that lived one day away from the capital were called.

"They might also try a direct and total attack on a single side of the wall to catch the enemy off guard and destroy it," Rain said. "This would be a bit dangerous since the enemies will be able to respond eventually and then attack a lot of us.

Lastly, we can also act as a diversion while the commanders are doing something else, like infiltrating the city, cutting all routes that the enemies might get for supplies or Intel and similar things."

The group took a short while to absorb those pieces of information. All of them were made since all of them would need a large army to work… Either way, they were only interested in working hard to recover Tristan while surviving such an intense battle.

"Anyway, I guess we should get some sleep… we still split the guard duty as well; one of us needs to stay awake in case we have to receive orders in the middle of the night," Jori said.

Since they weren't alone and in the middle of nowhere, the group didn't have to do the guard duty in pairs, so they had the chance to sleep a bit more than usual. Or so they thought… Two hours before midnight, someone began to move around the camp, and then he began to pass some orders to the groups. They got lucky since Jori was still awake, and then he called everyone.

"We will have to move now…" Jori said after he woke up everyone. "We will have to do some walking before sunrise in order to catch the enemies off guard."

"How are we going to do that?" Reca asked.

"We will take a roundabout way through a forest in the south and then move to the western sense of Tristan, where we have to reach before sunrise and attack the army stationed there," Jori explained.

Rain didn't expect that, but he could tell what the commander was thinking… It was an attack on two fronts. Without the naming kd the army stationed outside Tristan, the guys in the walls will have a hard time stopping the soldiers. They wanted to make the gate fall on that very same day.