Chapter 157: Chaos Across the Continents

Chapter 157: Chaos Across the Continents

Noah entered his scheduled planetary-management period expecting to review military production along the northern frontier.

Instead, the first thing he saw was artillery fire stretching across a section of the Varkesh-Skargrim border that had been quiet only days earlier.

Orange flashes appeared one after another behind Varkesh defensive positions. Several seconds later, explosions tore through Skargrim trenches, roads, and tree lines while another series of guns answered from farther north.

The disputed village that had once stood near the center of the confrontation was already burning. Civilians were leaving through the western road while military trucks, ambulances, ammunition wagons, and fresh infantry attempted to move in the opposite direction.

Noah widened his awareness and quickly discovered that the fighting was not limited to one village. Small battles had appeared across hundreds of kilometers of frontier.

Varkesh troops had crossed into two disputed regions during the night, while Skargrim formations launched their own attacks farther east. Several border posts had already changed hands more than once before either capital understood the full situation.

Some operations had clearly been ordered by higher command, but others looked improvised by officers reacting to incomplete reports.

Commanders were attacking because they believed neighboring units were already under attack, which created new reports that caused even more confusion.

Noah attempted to follow the sequence that had caused the escalation. Varkesh reports claimed Skargrim troops had attacked first, while Skargrim reports insisted Varkesh artillery had opened fire before its soldiers crossed any recognized boundary.

Local commanders contradicted their own governments, and several military records are incomplete even the time and date when the first major engagement began. Noah eventually stopped trying to determine which soldier had fired the first shot because thousands were already shooting now.

The weapons he had spent the previous management period studying were everywhere. Varkesh infantry advanced with standardized rifles and machine-gun teams distributed throughout their formations, while Skargrim troops answered from reinforced trenches using their own automatic weapons.

Radios carried orders between commanders who would once have needed mounted couriers.

Trucks moved ammunition directly toward forward depots, and observation aircraft circled above the battlefield searching for artillery positions and troop concentrations.

The new technology had made the war faster, allowing armies to react within hours instead of days. It had also made mistakes far more destructive because incorrect information could lead to entire squad being wiped out.

Noah focused on a Varkesh assault taking place west of the disputed village. A brigade had been ordered to seize a low ridge overlooking an important road junction, and the commanders responsible for the attack gathered thousands of infantry behind a short artillery bombardment.

Their tactics belonged to an older kind of war. The troops advanced in dense waves that might once have overwhelmed a defensive position through sheer pressure.

Skargrim machine guns opened fire from positions that the artillery had failed to destroy.

Entire sections of the assault collapsed before reaching halfway up the slope, leaving the surviving formations struggling to find cover.

Varkesh officers tried to redirect the survivors toward depressions in the ground, but several companies continued moving forward because their orders had not changed.

Machine-gun fire crossed the open terrain repeatedly, forcing those who survived to crawl, scatter, or retreat.

Noah watched the attack disintegrate within less than an hour. The weapons had advanced faster than the commanders using them, and tactics developed for older battlefields were now producing enormous casualties.

A century earlier, a concentrated infantry charge might have overwhelmed the ridge through numbers. Against automatic weapons firing from protected positions, those same numbers only created larger targets.

The Varkesh commanders eventually called the assault off after realizing that another attack would achieve little without suppressing the machine guns first.

More than a thousand soldiers remained scattered across the approach, with some already dead while others crawled toward cover and waited for medical teams to reach them after nightfall.

Several kilometers away, Skargrim paid for its own mistakes. One artillery battery received reports that Varkesh reinforcements were moving through a nearby town and prepared a bombardment based on hurriedly transmitted coordinates.

The coordinates were wrong, and the shells landed among a Skargrim supply column preparing to cross the same district. Fuel wagons exploded first before ammunition vehicles followed, turning the road into a burning line of wrecked trucks and dead soldiers.

Radios had accelerated command, but they had not made information accurate. False reports now moved faster as well, allowing a single mistake to spread through multiple commanders before anyone realized what had happened.

One Skargrim division abandoned a strong defensive position after hearing that Varkesh armor had broken through several kilometers to the east. The armored force existed, but it had stalled after mechanical failures and never reached the location mentioned in the report.

By the time the mistake was corrected, Varkesh scouts had already discovered the abandoned ground. They occupied it without a fight and immediately began fortifying the position before Skargrim commanders could reverse their decision.

Noah shifted his attention southward toward a railway town that had become important almost overnight. Three major lines met there, allowing whoever controlled the town to move troops, artillery, food, ammunition, and replacement equipment across a large section of the front.

Varkesh soldiers had occupied the station during the first day of fighting. Skargrim counterattacked before they could fortify the entire town, turning the rail district into a close-range battlefield.

The fighting spread from the rail yards into warehouses and residential streets. Machine-gun teams fired from upper floors while infantry moved through workshops, storage buildings, and alleys.

Artillery landed among structures that neither side had intended to destroy because commanders could no longer determine exactly where friendly positions ended. The railway station changed hands twice in one day, and by the third day half the industrial district was burning.

Civilians fled through alleys carrying whatever they could move. Some loaded belongings into carts while others abandoned everything and followed the roads away from the artillery.

The roads themselves became another battlefield problem because military and civilian movement now competed for the same routes.

Refugees moved south and west while military convoys pushed north, and wounded soldiers returned from the front through the same intersections. ℴℴ𝘮

Livestock blocked narrow roads, and broken trucks remained where their engines failed because nobody had time to remove them. A Varkesh artillery regiment spent six hours traveling a distance that should have taken less than two because thousands of civilians occupied the route.

Military police tried to clear a path, but the attempt only pushed frightened families into fields already being used by supply units. Noah remembered one of Rowan’s lessons immediately as he watched the confusion spread.

An army do not fight separately from the society supporting it. The war had barely begun, and transportation systems were already being forced to serve civilians, soldiers, factories, hospitals, and refugees simultaneously.

Noah widened his observation toward the western side of the front. Varkesh had deployed several of its new armored vehicles there, hoping to break through Skargrim defensive lines before the northern forces adjusted to them.

The machines initially created panic among Skargrim infantry who had never fought armored units outside training exercises. Rifle fire struck metal hulls without effect, and two fortified positions were abandoned before the vehicles even reached them.

Then the weaknesses of the prototypes appeared. One vehicle became trapped in wet ground, another lost its transmission, and a third advanced too far ahead of supporting infantry before being struck repeatedly by Skargrim field artillery.

Its armor failed after the second direct hit, forcing the remaining vehicles to slow their advance. Skargrim engineers began laying mines across likely routes while artillery officers learned to concentrate several guns on individual targets.

The armored vehicles were useful, but they were not invincible. Both sides were learning how modern weapons changed the battlefield while soldiers were already dying from those lessons.

Above them, aircraft added another layer of confusion. Most were reconnaissance machines rather than true combat aircraft, but their ability to observe troop movement made them increasingly valuable.

They circled above roads and rail lines, reporting troop movements through radio stations positioned behind the front. Artillery units quickly learned to value those reports because updated information allowed them to fire before enemy columns had already moved elsewhere.

Both sides began firing at the aircraft from the ground. The first attempts were wildly inaccurate, but volume of fire eventually compensated for the lack of specialized anti-aircraft weapons.

One Varkesh reconnaissance plane flew too low over a Skargrim position and immediately drew hundreds of rifle shots along with several machine guns. The aircraft continued another kilometer before smoke began trailing from its engine, then crashed behind the Skargrim lines.

Within days, pilots from both sides began carrying weapons. The first aerial encounters were clumsy, with aircraft circling one another while pilots attempted to fire pistols or experimental mounted guns from unstable positions.

Noah understood what would happen next if the war continued long enough. Aircraft designed only for observation would eventually become aircraft designed specifically to destroy other aircraft.

The front was already forcing technology to evolve again. Every battlefield problem created another demand that researchers and factories would eventually attempt to solve.

Varkesh’s central command finally attempted to bring order to the chaos through scale. A major offensive was organized against an important Skargrim rail corridor farther north, with thousands of soldiers concentrated behind artillery positions.

Trucks delivered ammunition throughout the night while armored vehicles were repaired and distributed among assault formations. At dawn, hundreds of artillery pieces opened fire and continued long enough to shake windows in towns far behind the battlefield.

Varkesh infantry advanced once the guns shifted deeper into Skargrim territory. This time the formations were more dispersed, machine-gun teams moved behind the first lines, and radios connected battalion headquarters to supporting artillery.

The attack gained territory quickly as several Skargrim forward positions were abandoned before they could be surrounded. Noah initially believed the northern defenses were collapsing, but the movement became clearer once he watched the units behind them.

The retreat was organized rather than panicked. Forward units destroyed bridges, damaged rail junctions, and withdrew toward prepared secondary positions while artillery shifted backward before Varkesh troops reached firing range.

Supply stores that could not be moved were burned before withdrawal. Skargrim was surrendering territory to preserve its army and force Varkesh to fight farther from its own supply network.

Varkesh continued advancing, but its supply problem worsened with every kilometer. Roads destroyed during the retreat had to be repaired before heavy traffic could pass safely.

Fuel trucks struggled to reach armored units, while artillery ammunition traveled farther from the nearest functioning railhead. The offensive did not stop, but its speed declined every day.

Factories hundreds of kilometers away were already responding to the increased consumption. Varkesh artillery plants moved to continuous production schedules while Skargrim machine-gun factories expanded their night shifts.

Rail workshops prioritized military repairs, and civilian orders were postponed because government contracts now carried emergency status. The conflict was becoming an industrial war sustained by factories almost as much as soldiers.

Rifles moved from assembly lines directly onto trains while artillery shells were packed into crates and transported toward batteries firing thousands of rounds each day. Engines wore out faster than replacement parts could be produced, and truck tires unexpectedly became valuable strategic supplies.

Noah stopped judging throught territorial changes. He examined food inventories, hospital capacity, rail traffic, fuel consumption, factory output, and refugee movement before deciding which empire actually held the stronger position.

The camp had changed the way he looked at war because battlefield victories were now only one part of what he observed. Varkesh had advanced farther, but several of its rail lines were already operating near maximum capacity.

Skargrim had lost territory, yet its industrial centers remained protected behind deeper defensive lines. Neither empire was close to collapse, which meant the conflict had the resources required to continue.

Viridian was beginning to react as well. Its northern armies moved toward the Varkesh frontier under orders officially described as defensive.

New camps appeared near major rail lines while ammunition trains arrived daily. Bridges were reinforced for heavy equipment, and supply depots expanded near routes leading toward the north.

Viridian had not entered the fighting, but Varkesh could no longer ignore the possibility. Several divisions originally intended for the offensive against Skargrim were redirected south, reducing the pressure along the northern front.

Across the western ocean, Luminous followed another strategy. Its government avoided immediate military commitment while sending warships into important trade routes.

Merchant convoys began traveling under naval escort, and prices for machine tools, fuel, optical equipment, and several strategic materials increased rapidly. Luminous companies sold to buyers from every continental empire willing to pay.

The western empire was profiting from the chaos while also preparing for the moment profit stopped being enough. Additional warships left harbor, reserve crews returned to service, and transport ships were quietly converted for possible military use.

Noah checked the unification summit only briefly because there was little left to observe. The meeting halls that had once been crowded with diplomats were nearly empty.

Skargrim’s delegation had withdrawn while several Varkesh representatives had already returned home. Viridian and Luminous officials remained in smaller numbers, but there was little left to negotiate while armies were killing one another.

The summit had not been formally dissolved, yet its political purpose had effectively disappeared. What concerned Noah more was how quickly the war was developing momentum independent of the governments that had started it.

Local commanders launched attacks without waiting for central approval because they feared the enemy would move first. Newspapers demanded retaliation whenever casualty lists reached major cities, and families whose sons died at the front increasingly called for victory rather than compromise.

Factories benefiting from military contracts resisted reductions in production, while politicians who had supported negotiation began avoiding language that could be interpreted as weakness. The original dispute had created the war, but the war was now creating new reasons for itself to continue.

Every destroyed town produced anger, and every dead soldier created another family demanding repayment. Every captured district also became territory the opposing empire wanted returned.

Noah understood the danger and knew he could issue a commandment if necessary. One divine order could require both armies to stop and force Varkesh and Skargrim to withdraw from the frontier.

The fighting might end immediately, but the political problem would remain untouched. Four empires would still distrust one another, their armies would still exist, and their leaders would still disagree about who controlled the future planetary government.

Noah hesitated before deciding not to intervene yet. His refusal had limits, however, and he established those limits clearly in his own mind.

If one empire faced destruction, if industrial damage threatened long-term planetary development, or if the conflict expanded until the survival of goblin civilization itself became uncertain, he would stop it. Until then, he would observe what the goblins did with the crisis they had created.

Another artillery barrage began before Noah finished that thought. Hundreds of Varkesh guns fired across the northern front, and Skargrim batteries answered minutes later.

The horizon flashed continuously beneath rising columns of smoke. Fresh refugee columns were already leaving another town while emergency camps expanded around cities farther from the fighting.

Medical stations were running short of trained personnel, and food prices near the frontier were rising because transportation capacity had been redirected toward military use. The civilian cost of the war was expanding even in regions where no enemy soldier had appeared.

Farther south, Viridian military trains continued moving north. Across the ocean, Luminous fleets continued leaving port as the western empire prepared for a conflict that might eventually reach its shores.

Noah widened his awareness until he could see the scale of the planet rather than any single battlefield. Factories worked through the night while rail lines carried armies and ammunition toward the front.

Aircraft circled above burning towns, and artillery illuminated sections of the northern horizon. Refugees filled roads leading away from the fighting while governments prepared additional reserves.

The proclamation intended to create one goblin civilization had instead forced every empire to confront the question of who would control it. That question was now being answered with rifles, shells, machines, and blood.

Noah continued watching as another military train disappeared toward the front. The entire goblin world was being pulled toward war, and the conflict was becoming larger with every passing day.