NOVEL NEXT B2 Chapter 40: Death from Above
B2 Chapter 40: Death from Above
Tiberius kept his head on a swivel as he walked through the remains of the besieged city. Aside from the now crumbling wall, most of it remained relatively intact, a consequence of their utter inability to fight back once the Legion was inside. Which was why he felt so confident in his contempt for its construction.
Again and again, the people of this world found ways to disappoint him. This was the largest city they'd been to by many orders of magnitude and still it fell so far short as to be laughable. The best thing he could say about the residents was that they seemed to have quite impressive wells situated all around the city, if only because they didn't have even basic plumbing.
Their streets were narrow, haphazard, and poorly paved. Dark alleys and crooked lanes ran all throughout the settlement. There was no orderly grid expanding out from a central forum. Rather, the middle of the city, the most reasonable place to put a marketplace and center of commerce, was instead home to a secondary wall and resplendent homes of what he assumed to be the aristocracy. A complete waste.
Tiberius shook his head in dismay. It was like conquering a city of the far east back in his world, created by a sheer mass of humanity rather than careful planning. He was actually a little regretful that they hadn't done more damage. At least then they would be starting from scratch instead of having to work with this mangled mess.
He let out a long sigh. Despite all of the issues he had with the city—ones that continued to pile up as he walked—it was in fact his city now. While his men were still securing it to his standards, the System certainly recognized it as such.
[You have successfully seized the barony of Wellshire! You have gained experience. See a Class Stone for territory management options.]
He had received the notification to confirm it only half an hour ago. And considering that the notification itself promised experience for the act, he couldn't help but be a little curious as to exactly how much experience they had earned. Hence his current destination.
The city's class stone came into view. Compared to the rough-hewn monoliths in Habersville and Stonester, this one was practically a work of art. A pentagonal pillar reached high into the sky, its five completely smooth sides extending vertically upward and meeting at a point at the top. A band of golden metal with some kind of unfamiliar script encompassed its middle. The entire thing was polished to a mirror finish such that Tiberius could clearly see his own reflection within the dark glass-like material.
Placing his hand on the class stone, Tiberius was momentarily blinded by a flash of white light. He closed his eyes for a moment, waiting for the sensation to pass. It was quickly becoming a familiar one, thankfully. The temporary blindness was a small price to pay for the incredible benefits of a level.
Tiberius watched as his status sheet appeared before him with satisfaction. The Legion had indeed done it once again. They'd leveled up. And far more quickly than ever before.
He assigned his four free points in his standard manner, with two in charisma and one each in wisdom and intelligence. He once again considered adding one to constitution, but thought better of it. His physical stats were progressing quite well on their own, after all, and the addition of a few guards to his usual retinue put to rest some of his paranoia.
Skimming over the text for any additional changes, he saw that there were in fact some of note. Specifically, his titles. It appeared that he'd earned a couple from their siege.
[Baron: Owner of a barony. +100% to intelligence and travel speed when on land under your control. This title persists so long as you own at least one barony.]
Evidently, seizing the seat of the barony—named Hausten, apparently—and killing its leader had granted Tiberius official ownership of the entire territory. Tiberius suspected that this was the reason behind the massive windfall of experience they'd received.
The text made Tiberius hum with curiosity. He suspected that it only applied to him personally, which made the travel speed benefits in particular a little less useful. But he would gladly take additional constitution. Thankfully, it didn't seem to conflict with Roman Emperor at all.
The other title was also fairly self-explanatory. [Conquerer].
[Conquerer (I): Successfully seize an enemy fortress. +20% to strength when assaulting a fortified structure.]
Again, he wouldn't say no to anything that gave them additional capabilities in war. Although Tiberius wasn't sure why he'd only gained the title now. Perhaps it was because of their use of siege weaponry. But he preferred to believe that the other towns he'd taken were simply too poorly defended to qualify as any sort of fortress.
After inspecting his status, Tiberius stepped away from the stone and flexed his hands before him. One would think that Tiberius would be used to the effects of leveling up by this point. Yet each time, he found himself relishing in the influx of strength, lucidity, and newfound youth that these stat increases brought with them. There was not a single bit of joint pain or weakness in his limbs. He felt as if his grip could crush the sword hilt in his hand, that he could bite through someone's shield if he tried.
He didn't even try to suppress the grin on his face. And as he strode back through the city, it was clear that almost every other veteran of the Legion felt the same. The old men in particular seemed to relish the feeling. The gap between their own abilities and those of the youth seemed to be shrinking, despite gaining the same number of stats, and they were making a point to let the greener men who had so often flaunted their youth and agility know it.
As the situation became more stable and the population quelled, Tiberius saw several spars and even a few fistfights break out between his men. They were mostly good-natured, although he did see centurions break up a few that were less so. Still, almost every single one of them was won by some grizzled old veteran. The combination of old age and treachery with the capabilities of youthful vigor proved too difficult to overcome. It was a gift that universally they had all thought they would not regain until reaching Elysium.
Tiberius could barely resist the urge to draw his sword and test himself, though now was not the time for it. But he was looking forward to his next training session with Quintus. It had been a long time since he'd been able to best that wolf of a man. Perhaps now he'd stand a chance once more.
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***
The siege was still in progress, but it was practically a formality. The same way a gladiatorial bout wasn't really until the victor, standing over his felled opponent, was given the signal to let him live or die.
As such, Quintus had decided that his work was finally done. Tiberius agreed, sending the centurion and the troops who had been under his command these few days back to Habersville to regroup. The Legatus would oversee the clean up of everything, something that Quintus lacked the patience and affinity for, and the men deserved a good rest anyway.
They were over halfway home when the entire column erupted into a blinding flash of light, signalling both a level up and what he assumed was their final victory in taking the barony's seat. Still, Quintus found himself surprised. Despite the amount of experience they needed to earn increasing every time, this had been their fastest level up yet. Perhaps this world's omnipotent "System" gauged their victory to be especially impressive and worthy of reward. Even if it had been, in practice, relatively trivial.
"Advance!"
After a brief halt, the column once again resumed its forward march. As usual, the increase in stats came with a marked increase in Quintus's abilities. It was evident in the speed of his movements, in the fluidity of his thoughts. His sword felt even more comfortable in his hand while his vision seemed to reach a bit farther. And that he hadn't even assigned his free points yet.
If he'd been blessed with this level of physical ability back home,he might have considered himself some sort of demigod. If he stepped into the Colosseum, he would be more than capable of defeating any champion or beast set before him. And that was no boast—it was a simple fact.
But now, here in this world, he still felt… inadequate. As a group, the Legion had so far shown itself to be without peer. But as an individual? Quintus had seen the power that those adventurers had wielded. If he'd had to face any one of them alone, he had no doubts that a swift death would have been the result.
He'd come to recognize that some of the Legion's initial distaste for the locals was misplaced. Sure, there were plenty of legitimate criticisms he could make of them. The lack of proper waste management, frequent baths, aqueducts to move water through their towns, properly organized armies… The list went on and on.
And while those issues remained true even as they progressed from the backwater of Habersville into more well-developed areas, there was one that he certainly saw changing. And that was the strength of the people.
Not the everyday citizenry, of course. The way he understood it, most of them only had classes that granted one or two stats per level, making the chore of leveling not entirely worthwhile. But the closer they drew to Novara's heart, the stronger their opposition became. Already, the Legion had faced off against a half dozen different and powerful individuals, by his standards. Yet he somehow doubted they represented the apex of achievement. After all, who would send their most talented fighters off on the edges of the empire to hold uncontested provinces?
No, the strong would be concentrated where there was fighting. And right now, there was a more pressing battlefront for Novara, one in the west. It was common knowledge to the citizens, and their farthest-ranging scouts had confirmed it.
The fact that more powerful fighters existed seemed to be a given. The real question was how long it would take to encounter them. So far, their numbers and group tactics had allowed them to fell foes far beyond them. But how long would such an advantage scale for?
That was why he felt such a need to be personally ready. This "rest" would prove a valuable opportunity for him to train his skills and prepare. He was already putting his free points into his three physical stats to become a better fighter. But leveling his skills and sparring were the best ways he could become stronger right now.
His individual efforts to level wouldn't amount to much. Already, the Legion had saturated both the forest around Habersville and the mines in Stonester with soldiers, the men soaking up every bit of experience by cutting down monsters in an all-too-literal interpretation of the term "farming". Although they were beginning to worry about hunting out the forest—that, or pressing too far into the newly-discovered territory of the elves. But the additional territory they'd just acquired should help with that quite a bit.
As Quintus thought, he took another look at the column beside him. There, trotting along, he saw the real spoils of their conquest, the true prize for they victory: horses. They finally, finally had horses. About fifty of them in total.
Evidently, the beasts were indeed rare, and not just in this province. Only aristocrats really used them, as adventurers usually walked or ran everywhere. Their high stats usually meant that such an approach was faster, a reality hammered home by the fact that the Legion had to actually slow down for the beasts to keep up. Though Quintus was certain that, with the right skills, that wouldn't be the case for long.
He eagerly anticipated the prospect of finally having a mounted cavalry unit. It would be small for the moment and have to utilize suboptimal mounts, but that was of little consideration. It would grow soon enough. The more avenues for power they could pursue, the better. And considering that they already had men trained in mounted warfare, their potential for gaining skill levels quickly was even higher. If they proved anywhere near as useful as the other specialist units already had…
"Sir." A scout rushed toward Quintus, interrupting his thoughts. "We've found something strange up ahead."
Quintus waited for the man to elaborate on his vague report. When he didn't, he gave the scout a flat look. For a man trained in information gathering, he certainly was not doing a great job of communicating said information.
"Strange how?" Quintus prodded.
"Uh," the man swallowed nervously and frowned. He seemed intimidated, and it wasn't hard to understand why. Quintus was relatively used to it from men who hadn't worked closely with him before. Although the fact that it was getting in the way of a proper report was indeed a problem.
Still, he never punished bad reports. That was a fast way to ensure that they never came his way at all. An army lived and died on its information—and its stomachs.
"Speak, soldier."
The scout swallowed and seemed to steel himself. "It's… some sort of flying beast. I assumed it was a bird, but it's been getting steadily larger and larger. I…"
"Some sort of monster, then?" Quintus asked.
"Maybe. I'm not sure. But it seems to be coming this way."
"Can you describe it?"
The man gave an uncertain nod. "The creature is large and pink in color with massive wings like those of a bat. From what I can tell, it's still a ways off, but it's in the direction that we're heading."
Quintus took a look at their surroundings. The column continued to march by sedately as he spoke to the scout, but this section was passing through a massive open field. A few slight hills that barely warranted the term were all they had to take cover behind. Nor did they have the siege weapons with them to fire upon the thing from a great distance. They did have the auxiliaries, their bows, and the Legion's own slings, however.
He ordered a halt and turned to the scout. "Head in that direction with a patrol. Gather as much information as you can, but prioritize staying hidden. We will prepare in case the creature proves hostile."
The Primus Pilus began shouting orders, relaying them up and down the column through his centurions. The troops rearranged and consolidated, rearranging such that their fields of fire could cover approaches from most directions in the sky.
As the Legion rushed to take their positions, Quintus couldn't help but feel that the entire situation was a bit surreal. He was very much not used to defending from an airborne foe. This was an entire area of battle tactics that they had never needed to invent. Yet here they were. He just hoped he was as good at improvisation as he thought.