Chapter 186 Stalemate
Standing on Yin's back, Shiro glanced behind her and smiled at the small battalion that she was given.
They were riding on their own mounts but naturally, they couldn't compare to Yin.
Their average level was 45 and their main task was to destroy as many of the demon's camps as they can. If they see forts, they'll do a quick aerial bombardment before retreating.
Naturally, Lisandra was back at home since there wasn't much she could do in their situation. She was primarily a close ranged fighter while everyone in this battalion, apart from Shiro, was a long ranged fighter.
Approaching the first camp, Shiro narrowed her eyes.
"Ready your spells!" Shiro shouted out as rhythmic chanting could be heard from behind her.
"Swoop towards their camp please." Shiro asked with a small smile while patting the side of Yin's head.
*Ki!
Flapping her wings, Yin dived towards the demons camp.
Shiro crouched down and readied her own spell as she watched the camp come closer and closer.
While there was still some difficulty with creating a tier 3 magic circle, she could definitely feel the difference between completely broken mana links and having some healed.
"Fire!" She shouted out as she too activated her spell.
*BOOM!!!!!
A giant snowstorm erupted out from the middle of the demon camp. With a single gesture of her hand, Shiro turned all of the snowflakes into deadly razors that cut anything and everything it touched.
Her battalion wasn't idle either since they too sent their spells flying toward the demon camp.
Within a few short moments, the once lively camp was instantly razed to the ground.
"Stop! Let's move onto the next camp!" Shiro shouted out.
###
*BANG!!!
"What the hell is happening!?" A demon shouted out while slamming his hand into the desk.
They were ready to start the war but due to orders from the higher ups, they had to wait patiently. But this patience only rewarded them with more casualties.
"Sit back down and be patient. The deaths are within the general's plans." Another demon said, giving him a side glance.
"We're literally on their doorstep and can't do sh*t! Plus, I've heard that the humans have a powerful mage on their side. Her name is Shiro and she's primarily an ice mage." He gritted his teeth and sat down heavily.
"It's only one mage. She can't do anything."
"I wish. She also has a pet who is part of the Phoenix race."
"…"
"Can you see the problem?"
The second demon could only narrow his eyes since it was indeed a worry.
"Reporting!" A demon shouted out as he barged into the room.
"Speak."
"Camp Ghon, Hui and Dezk have gone silent." He reported as he kneeled down. Sweat dripped off his face since all three camps were quite close to the place. Since the enemy was able to take care of them easily, that could only mean that their combat power is outrageous.
"Impossible!" The first demon cried out in shock. Even if she was able to take care of one of the camps, he should have gotten the news much sooner.
"Do you have visual on her?" The second demon asked with a serious face.
"N-no we don't."
However, just as the demon was about to ask another question, he suddenly paled after feeling a sharp killing intent lock onto him.
His instincts ran while as he wrapped his arms around his head and put up as many defences as he could.
*BOOM!!! PING!!!!
Widening his eyes, he watched as the ray of light smash through his defences with ease. He could clearly feel the mana being ripped from his spell.
There were no explosions or the such. Just a clean line that evaporated everything that it touched.
*Cough!
Throwing up a mouthful of blood, the demon kneeled down heavily as he looked towards where the shot originated from.
"How…" He muttered in disbelief when all he saw was a tiny speck in the distance. Even with his incredible eyesight, he couldn't see the face of his assailant.
As for the other demon, he quickly used all of his berserk skills and flew into the air. Since the enemy could kill the other general in a single shot, he knew they could do the same to him.
"Tsk tsk tsk. How cowardly." A voice chuckled behind him.
Quickly turning around, he came face to face with Yin who grabbed him by the throat.
Her dark purple wings flapped gently behind her as her hair fluttered in the wind. Looking at Yin, the only thing that came to the demon's mind was deathly beauty.
"Since mum's had her fun with your friend, it's my turn to have some fun." She said with a smile.
Naturally, the demon tried to struggle out of her grasp but could only look in horror as he noticed how her grip didn't budge at all.
Reaching out with her finger, Yin drew a vertical line down his face.
"Bye bye~" She grinned before snapping her fingers.
*BOOM!!!!!!!
A blade of Dark Star energy erupted from the line she drew and cut the demon in half without any resistance.
However, even after the spell killed its target, it didn't stop.
Cutting across the fort as collateral, Yin stuck her tongue out playfully while watching the fort get cut in half.
"Whoops." She chuckled.
"Yin, what did I say about collateral damage?" Shiro's weary voice was heard over the crystal.
"Sorry mum~ But the goal was to destroy the fort anyways so this is fine." Yin laughed playfully.
"Fine. But watch out, I'm going to try a little something." Shiro chuckled.
"Hai~ I'm coming back now."
Jumping into the rift, Yin appeared besides Shiro and saw that she was currently aiming her sniper rifle into the sky.
"What are you planning mum?" She asked curiously.
"A meteor bombardment of sorts." Shiro replied while keeping an eye on the damage multiplier.
Lightning started to flicker off the sniper as the ambient mana in the surroundings were being absorbed without restraint.
*KISH!!!!
Some of the coils started to smoke due to the sheer amount of mana being stored inside the sniper.
"Mn, better than before but still a little lacking." Shiro muttered in slight disappointment.
Narrowing her eyes, she pulled the trigger.
*BANG!!!!!
The force of the shot caused the barrel to shatter apart and the ground beneath her to crack and fracture.
A flaming bullet cut across the sky as the demons that had survived the initial attack by Yin looked up in fear.
As beings that were sensitive towards mana, they knew that whatever was flying through the air would kill them without doubt.
*BOOM CRACK!!!!
Exploding into a giant ball of plasma just above the fort, lightning and fire rained down upon the fort as it easily demolished the buildings without restraint.
Since the average level of the demons inside the fort was 50, they died without question to the calamity that had just detonated above them. As for the few miraculous survivors, their miracle didn't last long since the calamity wasn't over.
If they survived one wave then the second wave will kill them. If they survived that, a third wave followed shortly.
As long as the ball of plasma was still in the air, the waves of fire and lightning continued to ravage the fort.
Of course, it couldn't last forever.
Every wave that shot out would decrease the size of the plasma ball but it was more than enough to decimate everything that breathed.
"What a sight." Shiro smiled.
"Not to burst your bubble mum, but didn't you just educate me about using too much mana a while back? How much mana did you use with that bullet?" Yin asked with a sh*t eating grin.
"*cough* Yin darling, let mum have this moment ok?" Shiro coughed lightly in embarrassment.
"Nope~. There should be a certain amount of truth between us ok?" Yin shook her head.
Looking away, Shiro didn't want to reveal that she used over 50% of her mana with a single shot. Plus, that wasn't including the shot she used to kill the first demon general.
For a single shot to take more than 600k MP was extravagant no matter how you wanted to look at it.
"Here eat this and let's go collect some loot." Shiro quickly changed the topic and handed Yin a C ranked mana stone.
"Tsk tsk tsk, how could you try to bribe your own daughter like this." Yin shook her head disapprovingly.
Unfortunately for Yin, it would be more convincing if she didn't take the stone without a shred of hesitation.
"Che, little glutton." Shiro rolled her eyes as she flicked Yin on the head.
"Hue!" Yin cried out feeling the flick.
"Don't hit this baby's head! I've already lost enough IQ because of you last time mum." She pouted.
'. . . Why does this daughter of mine think that just flicking her head will decrease her IQ?' Shiro thought to herself as she looked at Yin like a disappointed mother. The look was similar to that of a mother after her child came back with a test score of 1 even though the max was 100 and had the excuse that it was better than 0.
'It's still 1 out of 100 ok!?'
Dismissing the thoughts out of her mind, they made their way to the fort.
Collecting the loot that mostly consisted of level 50 armour, mana stones and demon materials, Shiro checked up with the battalion that she had ordered to attack the surrounding camps.
"Reporting, we've destroyed 6 camps so far. We saw reinforcement from another fort so we pulled back as you've ordered." One of the captains reported.
"I see, good job. We'll reorganise ourselves at point B." Shiro replied over the crystal. She had two sets of crystals. One so that she could talk with Yin if they were too far away and the other was to keep her linked with the rest of the battalion.
She didn't want them to find out about her nanotech just yet after all. The spy could be listening.
"Shall we go?" Shiro smiled.
"Sure~" Yin smiled blissfully while eating her mana stone lollipops. She had one in her mouth and another in her hand.
###
After regrouping, they continued to harass the demons through the night. Their casualties were minimal but the same couldn't be said for their enemies.
Losing a total of 5 forts, 34 camps and several high level members, the demons had taken a severe blow to their forces in a single night.
While the night was fruitful, Shiro was slightly confused.
'They seemed ready to attack at any moment but why were they still waiting at their camp?' She thought to herself.
Logically, the war should have started a while ago but they were still in their preparation phase.
An anomaly like this couldn't be ignored.
'They're not dumb enough to not attack so the chances of this being a part of their plan is quite big. But then this changes everything. Why do they want us to attack? What do they have to gain from the destruction of their camps and forts? How does delaying the war give them any benefits?' Shiro questioned.
Arriving back at the kingdom, the king called for a war council after receiving news about the damage they caused to the demon army.
The main topic for discussion is why they haven't invaded yet.
As the generals discussed the problem, Shiro sat near the window with Yin. Looking at the night sky with narrowed eyes, she wondered about the possible outcomes of the following war.
From what she had simulated, there was an 82% of victory but it is decreased to 39% if she factored in the unknown.
Nanotech gunmen were indeed powerful. But if the hidden agenda of the demon race were worse than she had expected, the Nanotech gunmen would have been created for nought. It was better to prepare some back up plans just in case.
But what else could she do?
She's already delayed the war, converted an army and even repaired her body slightly.
The threat of a Tier 6 demon king was also there since it was like a guillotine that could end her at any moment.
"We can't be too passive nor aggressive." Shiro muttered in annoyance.
A stalemate.
"You know mum, if this is annoying you, you can just end this quest right now." Yin suggested.
"Hais, I've already invested too much into this. If I don't get anything in return, I'm literally going to kill someone in the worst way possible." Shiro replied with a frown.
(Reili *Incoherent chanting*: Please don't be me, please don't be me, please don't be me.)
"So kind of like me?" Yin joked in an attempt to lighten Shiro up a little.
"Pretty much. I've already spent too much time on you." Shiro laughed and flicked Yin on the head once more.
"Gah! I've already told you to stop flicking my head!" Yin cried out.
"And I've already told you to stop eating my stock. Isn't this like the 18th C classed mana stone that you've eaten? Should we do a trade? I'll stop flicking and you stop eating."
"Mum, this baby's forehead is very tender and soothing. One can get great joy from flicking it, feel free to flick it as much as you want."
"Haha, glutton." Shiro laughed and patted Yin on the head.
She just hoped that the demon army would attack soon so that she could get rid of this stalemate.