Chapter 40: A Decoy!
"That's not a problem," he simply said, as they two kept moving around the village, "after this battle, I will ask Froki to select capable generals and saints from my army and dispatch them for your service."
"N-No, that's unnecessary," she hurriedly refused, feeling more odd to his offer and generosity, despite having some happiness from his offer.
"Don't," Ibro firmly said, "or else I won't feel relieved seeing you vulnerable again like this," he added, "If things went as planned, I intend to leave a garrison to defend you here."
Noda looked away as she pointed towards the increasingly growing skeletons. "Army of them?"
Ibro looked towards the direction she pointed at, before he shook his head as he asked:
"What about them?"
"I like the dragons, those flying things, also those giant things walking on four legs, I like them too. If you are going to leave an army of them here, I will be much appreciated."
The eye corners of Ibro twitches involuntarily when he hears her words. This little girl wanted his dragons and golams, something that was very familiar. It seemed girls were all alike, he sighed, asking himself why each girl he knew of was always aiming for his best, hardily trained, and rarest units?
Ibro didn't reply but with a shrug, as he didn't want to create another Maya, merciless greedy Maya who always hunted his dragons. Noda didn't understand his response, but she took it as a yes, as she looked again towards the growing white ocean of skeletons, before chuckling.
'Poor me!' Ibro lamented his poor luck in girls.
The tour continued for quite some time, as three hours, unknowingly, passed before Ibro felt something disturbing coming from far.
"They are here," he muttered, before he grabbed Noda's hand, flew rapidly towards the village center, holding her in his arms. Flying this was something new on her, never got used to, and she didn't care about anything at this moment but him.
As for Ibro, he spread his divine sense, and scanned the place where this aura came from. It was coming from far, extremely far away, but with time, he started to get a clear picture of it.
An ocean of monsters, different shaped monsters, flying and ground types, both came hot, running towards the direction of Noda's village.
The numbers he estimated of this wave were huge, exceeding billions in his initial estimate. Despite facing this great number, he wasn't stressed or worried. Inside his realm, the number of skeletons were rising per second, and they were getting stronger the more they fought the demons summoned from the demon gates.
So, dealing with this wave of attack wasn't that hard for Ibro, but he doubted his enemies would take all this time just for collecting these numbers alone.
There must be a catch here, and he had to watch out for it.
Just as he reached the village center, he was met by Noda's friends, and Froki, who was now responsible for the defenses here.
"They came?" Froki asked, but Ibro just nodded, before handing Noda to her friends, before soaring again to the sky, while ordering:
"You keep the village safe, Froki."
Froki didn't have the chance to respond, as Ibro vanished in the sky. Noda moved to stand beside him, as both looked up, trying to glimpse a trail of him.
Ibro didn't have time to waste on arranging defenses here, as he wanted to stop the monsters outside the village. there was a large forest, acting as a natural barrier between the village and the great mountains in the distant back.
The monsters' army was exiting the mountains, when Ibro returned to them. He stood above the green sea under him, watching the monsters' ocean in front, while feeling the urge to hit them now.
He had many options right now, but he chose, rapidly, the most suited one to him. He knew the more they advanced, the less options he got, so he started with deploying his skeleton army at first.
'Move all the freshly recruited skeletons into here.'
'What about the older ones?' the system asked.
'Leave them for now, plus move any new recruits to here.'
'…'
The system didn't argue with Ibro, who had a goal in mind by this arrangement. The enemy was sending his weak monsters first, acting as cannon fodders, and Ibro would do the same.
What he had, and made him overpower the enemy, was the time factor. The more he left his older, stronger summons inside his world, the much power they would grow into, and eventually they would be able to beat any enemy, no matter what strength it had.
So, Ibro didn't care much about the newly summoned skeletons, as they would take much time in their evolution. Being here, and facing all these monsters, might be harsh as they would lose their lives, mostly, but those who remained would be strong, very strong.
So, Ibro watched his skeletons spread themselves over the stretch of the ground without any feelings, as he watched them attack monsters, and get beaten by them. The battle was, strangely enough, well balanced at first, and with time it started to, weirdly, lean towards Ibro, despite the massive losses in the skeletons he summoned earlier.
The number of skeletons decreased, but what remained were the strongest of them, so facing these monsters acted as a training yard for them, giving them more nutrients for their growth.
Death aura started to be thick here, with it the skeletons grew stronger and stronger, until a handful remaining of them were, easily, able after a few hours to hold the line of monsters, just a few miles into the woods, and then push them back again, towards the mountain.
As for Ibro, he had another battle in the sky to take care of, a battle with flying monsters.
He was alone at first, as he welcomed millions of flying monsters. He wasn't worried or afraid, as he took out his dinar sword, with another sword, as he muttered:
"Sword whirlpool strike!"
His body took the stance of the strike, before moving the two swords dancing together, performing the moves needed for the strike to be activated, then he ended it with a strike towards the incoming ocean of monsters.
The strike was done with the PSR energy, so its effects were just limited. Ibro didn't want to start using his ultimate energy, as he wanted to first assess the danger he was facing, luring the enemy out, and preserving his own strength.
So, he kept using his strike, in its weakest form, to hit the monsters up ahead. Despite being his weakest form, the strike was enough to kill tens of thousands of monsters in each hit. That helped to clear a path around him, with a free space between him and the monsters.
No monster even managed to step past this area, as they were always getting killed. Ibro sighed, his initial hunch was right. This wave of monsters was just weak, only great in numbers, not quality.
That made him more vigilant, as there was only one condition his enemy would try to use such a strategy, diversion!
The question now was, what his enemy was trying to divert him away from?
The only answer he had in mind was the village, so he kept using his divine sense to monitor the place, but he didn't find anything disturbing here at all.
'Something seemed off,' he muttered to himself, before deciding to retreat to the village, after deploying enough dragons to kill all the flying monsters. They were many, but weak, so the amount he released of his dragons, only one million of them, was enough to face these monsters and prevail.
He then retreated, towards the village, with his vigilance even more irritated.
"Is everything ok, my king?" Froki asked, in surprise and doubt.
"No," Ibro replied, before scanning the area once more, there was nothing there to alarm him, and that was alone alarming in itself.
"Something seemed off," Ibro said, as he paused with an idea popping up in his mind. Without delay, he darted towards the market, while ordering:
"You stay here, and lead all the skeletons to finish off the monsters here and clear their lairs inside the mountains. Break all the forts there, and bring me their treasures."
Ibro had already reached the market, where Noda had reached him. she noticed his urgency, so she hurriedly asked:
"what's wrong? are they trying to attack from somewhere?"
Ibro nodded, as he entered the market, headed straight towards the bridge lying there, while replying:
"Yes, they are attacking my village. The attack here is just a decoy. I will go now, if you wanna come, then come."
He entered the bridge, to pass through it towards the next side. Once his senses were regained, a loud noise of chaos and many orders came to his ears. Without even turning to look at the bridge behind, as it shone again declaring the passage of Noda, he used his divine sense to sweep the village, as he darted outside the market.
'Damn you, you came here to attack my village while I was away! Let me show you what despair really means!'