(Brendan POV)
"Get those boxes of pills delivered right now! They may be on us at any minute!" I yelled, giving directions to the orderlies that were keeping the field hospital functioning.
We had taken over one of the larger houses at the very edge of the town and moved all the beds we could here in preparation of treating the wounded. The good thing was that a rather tall bell tower was attached to the side so I could actually climb it and get a view of where the battle would take place from here.
Before the sun had even risen, everyone had been called to alert as the scouts had reported that the sounds of the Dongs mining on the other side of the tunnel had stopped.
Since they most likely had multiple teams of miners working round the clock to speed up the process, for them to stop completely must mean they were getting ready to blast it open for their army to march forth.
I had to watch thousands of peasants fumble with their armour straps that they had just managed to learn how to put on recently while holding on to their spears with shaky grips.
The day before, the princess had granted them the opportunity to write their letters that will be delivered back to the capital. For those who did not have a chance to say their farewells to their families, this was the last chance they would get before the battle was mounted.
Word had gotten around that the numbers they will be facing was in the hundred thousand range, such odds should have been insurmountable with our puny force of only forty thousand.
I had already seen a few who had ran off in the dead of the night in the last few days, no doubt never to be seen again. Unsurprisingly, a few were members of the Grand Sects that had came with us, most of them prioritizing their own safety over everything else.
A trained Outer Core Practitioner might be able to stand toe to toe against three armed soldiers, but in a war like this, no one will fight by your rules. Even a Master of a Major Sect can get overwhelmed by an army with their own group of Practitioners supporting them.
Without some form of credible hope, it is hard to keep this ragtag group of peasants together.
The princess's speech at the start definitely roused them up at the start to be sure, but they have had a few days to allow the harsh reality to sink back into them.
If Master had been here… Well… If Master was here we wouldn't need an army in the first place.
Though a few of the officers had suggested flogging the deserters to maintain discipline, the princess had rejected the idea and instead gave a small speech.
"Our ancestors had fought and bled for the very land we live on. But when some gutless, half-witted barbarians are threatening our lives and our families, they choose to abandon their brothers and sisters instead? These are no citizens of mine, they are but the dogs of the Dongs and they should pray that I will never see them again when we win this war for I will gut them myself."
Needless to say, the number of deserters dropped rather drastically after that speech, though I suspect the reason being both equal parts her threat and their sudden feelings of patriotism.
I'm not sure if I should be proud to say that none of the ten thousand that belonged to Master's Church had intentions of deserting, since it was obvious they were held together due to their fanaticism.
I had taken the chance to talk to them in an attempt to understand them better, and I could not find a single one who has lamented about their current situation.
That was also where I met the other 'Priestesses'.
Alpha was a wolf youkai that looked like she belonged in an office doing paperwork with her dress suit and reading glasses. I would have mistaken her for a butler if it weren't for the two prominent things jutting out from her chest.
She did give me a growl of warning when my eyes started to wander so I didn't let my eyes linger too much.
Apparently she was supposed to be the second in charge of the Church in the High Priestesses' absence.
Beta was a cat youkai and, typical of cats, she splendidly ignored everyone around her that weren't the High Priestesses. I was counted into the 'ignored' group though I was not complaining anyway. It was hard to imagine her sitting still behind a desk and doing paperwork.
Delta was an elf whom I had heard about from my senior sisters, something about her being the link for some abyssal demon or something. I wasn't very well versed in demonology so that went completely over my head.
I did, however, hear the elf girl bemoaning to Lian Li how she was not yet strong enough to summon over Abba-what's-his-name into our plane of existence.
Of course, I quickly dropped her into my list of 'girls that I definitely should not mess with'.
Gamma was the surprise though. Since the first three were non-humans, I was already expecting the last of them to be non-human as well at least.
We had been having a small meeting amongst ourselves when a loud voice boomed from outside our tent, asking for permission for entry.
In came a centaur with her brown hair tied to a ponytail and armed with an array of weapons strapped to her body. Her dark brown equine body barely fit in the tent, the girl needing to bend her human body just to enter through the tent flaps.
When she laid eyes on me, her first action was to draw her bow and nock an arrow at me, demanding to know who I was.
Well… Apparently she had been so preoccupied with her security duties that she hadn't known about me until that day. No, she did know that there was a 'Brendan', but she had thought 'Brendan' was a female instead.
Of course she apologized to me in the end but it was quite obvious she did so unwillingly. It seems like all of them have something against my existence but I'm really not in any position to demand anything from anyone.
Especially when all of them could crush me beneath their heel easily.
Well… Can't say I didn't sign up for this though. If some random person appeared out of nowhere claiming to be Master's newest disciple, I would be wary of that person too.
Honestly, I'm really here just to learn as much as I could from Master, if my senior sisters think that cleansing this world of its filth would create a much better learning environment… Then who am I to argue?
All that was yesterday's problem anyway, right now I wouldn't have anyone else defending the front lines of Master's home from these barbarians.
The only problematic thing was that there were still several hours before dawn, which was the promised time that Elaria would arrive.
As competent as the princess was, I really doubt she can stall for several hours should the Dongs choose to be aggressive.
The first battle group was already hunkered down behind our barricades, their spears poking through the gaps in the walls to point at the cave the army should be approaching from. Behind them were the archers who held their bows ready, all of them watching the cave with anticipation.
From the time they had assembled, almost an hour had already passed without anything else happening.
I could see a few officers pacing back and forth on the front lines, no doubt considering if they should just call off everyone to let them take a rest.
Just as I was about to leave the viewing tower, an earth-shaking explosion tore through the cave and sent rock and earth flying towards our barricades.
To their credit, our own Practitioners were quick to react, manipulating the debris mid-flight to redirect them back to the ground before it could destroy our defences.
Our soldiers tensed up and everyone got ready to confront the army that was undoubtedly going to spill out of that cave.
But just then, two more explosions rocked the mountains, creating another hole on the far left and right of the first cave.
Those explosions happened outside of our barricade.
It took a few seconds for everyone to realise the Dongs had dug more than one tunnel towards us.
Panic began to spread amongst the front ranks, the officers trying their best to keep everyone in order.
At that very moment, the sound of horns could be heard bellowing from within the caves and ranks of fully armoured men began marching out of all three tunnels with our soldiers stuck in between them.
Our first line of defense was already useless.
