Second World

Jack's regiment arrived first at the rendezvous point, which was an area with woods overlooking a large road. The convoy escorting the siege weapons was supposed to come via this road. The woods allowed Jack's 5,000 soldiers to hide within. He had the troops kill all the monsters inside the woods, preparing for the arrival of the player force as well as gathering exp for him.

Before dawn, the first group of players arrived. John was among them. He brought with him a bunch of transportation caravans.

"What is inside them?" Jack asked.

"They're empty," John answered.

"Then what are those empty caravans for?"

"For something."

Annoyed, Jack asked another question, "Where do you get them from?"

"From our pal, Dylan," John answered.

"Ain't he in the middle of transporting those war fires?"

The war fires had been completed four days ago, but since these war fires couldn't be put inside the player's storage bag. John had requested Dylan to use the Trade Association's service to arrange the transport, complete with native bodyguards service. Of course, they also sent players for extra security as well.

Dylan was originally following the transport caravans. He didn't have to, but he received points for any completed transportation. After John's insistence, he reluctantly returned and again used the service of the Trade Association in Thehemburgh to rent transportation caravans for independent usage for one week. John could use these caravans however he liked during this one week.

Dylan was grumbling when he rented the caravans as they cost a lot of points. This independent rental service was also only available for members who had achieved a high position in the faction. Luckily, Dylan was such a member.

The players who had arrived first all rested while waiting for the others to arrive. The siege weapons convoy was supposed to pass by around late afternoon. John went around checking the surrounding landscapes while he sent Life Runner to find the supposed incoming convoy.

Life Runner used the Haste magic scroll and then activated his Hide skill before he ran following the road. John had given him a large number of Haste scrolls. Of course, he had to go into hiding first to renew his Haste effect because his Hide skill was deactivated when he used the scroll.

Before noon, every player had arrived. The small woods were too cramped for their full size. John gathered the leaders to have a discussion. John had chosen players with the highest level for this mission. He, however, didn't inform them about the nature of the mission. Just in case there were spies. The players were sent in groups. So even if there were spies, they wouldn't see the number as an alarming issue to warrant reporting. Only now that everyone had gathered that everyone knew that something big was going on. But even if there were spies and the enemy players were informed, by the time they got here, it should have already past the time from when they clashed with the convoy.

John informed the leaders of the nature of the mission. Everyone then understood the importance of the mission.

"But there is a chance this is a trap?" Prideful Josh asked.

"Yes," John didn't refute.

"I think it shouldn't be," Life Runner said. He had come back from his scouting. "There is indeed a large army on the way, transporting many large objects."

"Do you see what these objects are?" Josh asked.

Life Runner shook his head, "They are covered with tarps."

"Then inside could be packed full of soldiers for all we know," Josh argued.

"I won't dismiss the possibility," John said. "But we will have to make sure. If they are indeed siege weapons, then our chance of winning this war will drastically go down."

"Can't we use those war fires that we talked about before on these siege weapons?" Selena asked.

"The war fires are already in transportation," Lustful Elly informed. "But they still need at least three days to arrive. If those things are truly siege weapons. I don't think the fortress can last that long."

"War fires are static weapons. They are too large to be thrown," Josh said. "The enemies won't just stay still and let us bring these war fires to the siege weapons."

"I have other use for those war fires. Forget about using them for these siege weapons," John said.

Everyone was pondering silently before Josh asked again, "So, how do you suggest we proceed?"

John used a small tree branch and started drawing on the dirt ground. "This is the woods we are in. This is the road that the convoy will be passing. A bit down the road from here is smaller woods. The difference is the opposite of these woods is a small hill. We will make our assault there."

"So, you want us to divide our force into two and sandwich the convoy in between?" Josh said while observing John's drawing.

"Yes. One will attack from the hill while another from the woods," John said. "It is important that we caught them unaware for the first strike. We will let them pass until the middle of their convoy. Life Runner had checked that these large objects that they were transporting were situated at the back half of the convoy. Our primary objectives will be these objects, not the soldiers guarding them."

"And what if the objects behind the tarps are more enemy soldiers?" Josh asked.

"Then we run like hell. No need to wait for an order," John said. "I believe all of us should be good at that, right? Some will die, but everyone wears the amulet of rebirth. We will regroup back at the reinforcement army camp. The native regiment commanded by Storm will only join after we confirm the existence of the siege weapons."

The leaders looked at each other before saying, "All right, let's go with that."

*

A few hours passed. An army was seen in the distance walking down the large road. No one was using mounts. They were all on foot, following the pace of the large objects on wheels at the back half of their formation.

As they walked, the lead officer at the front gave a sign for everyone to stop. This officer had seen something coming from the opposite direction of the road. As that something approached, he found it to be a convoy of caravans. At the frontmost caravan, someone in merchant attire greeted him.

"Sir, I'm sorry. Do you mind giving us some road?" The merchant said while showing his badge. "We need to deliver these transports and this is the only road around here."

The lead officer used Inspect on the merchant. "An outworlder?" He muttered. He had no love for outworlders. However, this outworlder in front of him was just a low-level one and also carried the badge of the Trade Association. The outworlder looked like a legitimate merchant.

The officer gave another sign. The army formation started shifting to the side to allow a small path for the caravans to pass through at the edge of the road.

"Thank you, sir! Thank you very much. Have a good day," The merchant said and resumed his journey.

The army stayed as they waited for this caravan convoy to pass through. It was a very long convoy. Probably thirty caravans in a line. The caravans themselves were large-size ones, able to transport lots of goods. The officer who saw the procession was rather amazed that this outworlder could amass the wealth to fill up these thirty large caravans. He wondered what was inside them.

He soon lost interest and gave the signal for the army to start moving again. The army walked forward while the caravans that moved by their side went in the opposite direction.

The thirty caravans continued to pass beside the army. When the hindmost caravan was halfway through the army formation, they suddenly stopped. The soldiers nearest to the caravans turned and watched the stopped convoy in bewilderment. Then they caught sight of the merchant, who was at the frontmost caravan, had jumped down to the ground. That merchant then ran a distance away from the caravans before unfurling a scroll. He then disappeared.

What's the merchant doing leaving his caravans? They thought with growing confusion.

Then all of a sudden, all the caravans' doors opened at the same time. A large number of people rushed out from each caravan. These people immediately attacked without warning.

Before the soldiers could register what had happened, a large number of people appeared on top of the hill opposite the caravans and started shooting. To add to the surprise, they heard loud yells. Another large group rushed out from the woods from behind the caravans. Magic and ranged attacks also shot out from inside those woods.

Before they knew it. They had been besieged from two sides. The attacks had been so sudden that they didn't react properly.

When the magic and ranged attacks hit, they realized that all those ranged attacks were not meant for them. The tarps covering the objects they were transporting were torn apart by the attacks, revealing all kinds of siege machinery. Ballistae, trebuchets, catapults, battering rams, and even archer towers that were laid down for transport.