Chapter 306: The Proper Placement

For an entire day, the city of Marimgar sat on high alert, while hidden scouts reported the arrival of a nearly continuous stream of Giants.

The ones they had been fighting, which identified themselves as members of the "Hill Giant Clans", then "Desert Sands Clan" members arrived, and finally the familiar Frost Giants that Marimgar had fought before.

The System translated their language for the listeners, and the Giants were not trying to be subtle about their intentions.

The first two were smaller forces, a few hundred each.

But the Frost Giants had sent nearly three thousand warriors to take Marimgar. It was almost as many as had come at the end of the Third Trial, and that was not great news for Marimgar.

Last time, they had been dropped in without warning, and without a cohesive battle plan. But they were forming one now, and fully intended to raze the city to the ground. However, they were still a long way from the city, and it would take them time, even running, to get within attacking range.

That gave Marimgar time to prepare, and to evacuate everyone once the Giants got close, while reinforcing the troop count at the way stations.

But now, it was time for Kalli to spend some more points.

"Who do we have for Rogues and Agility type warriors that aren’t part of a dedicated defensive group?" She asked nobody in particular, while reading the roster.

"Not many, everyone has been working hard to form groups. Well, almost everyone. We’ve got a few former city officials and leaders who are still agitating in the background, but everyone else is on board," Sanchez explained.

Kalli nodded slowly. "Do you have a list of the ones causing trouble?"

"You have a plan?"

She smiled, and the former Special Forces soldier gave a grim chuckle. Kallista De Marimgar definitely had a plan for the troublemakers. And it was not going to end well for them. Most likely, they would end up on the front lines with their cronies, offered a chance to earn glory, but with a Pulse Cannon aimed at their backs.

He knew that she was a lot of things, but soft enough to accept a growing rebellion until it actually exploded was not one of those things.

By the end of the day, there was a battle plan. Defensive formations, fast attack groups, and a full outline of where everyone’s duties lay. But along with that was another announcement. Kalli had purchased five more flight suits, and was trying for a new type of strike force.

Mages couldn’t function in the suits, the heavy armour interfered with their magic. But Clerics and Shamans could still cast.

So, the team was three warriors, one Shaman and one Cleric, all lower level members of the Hive City who had only recently advanced. Now, they were all level four, so they weren’t entirely helpless.

But they definitely needed to grow into the role.

To the people of the Hive City, that was a huge win, a sign that the Coordinator hadn’t forgotten them, and didn’t discriminate against them when they advanced.

For the new arrivals from the other cities, it was another sort of message. ⅇℯ𝚕.

The team chosen was one that put in work all over the city, as they were used to doing general handyman duties during their work shifts. So, the message was that those loyal to the city got the rewards, and that the Coordinator was watching.

The chosen group was overjoyed that they were going to get to try out something new. The Shaman could use elemental magic to supplement the attacks of the others, as well as directly to attack.

But they could also use [Entangling Vines] to slow enemies, so this new fast attack group could do crowd control.

That was something that the all Rogue teams could not manage. They had trap skills that could hinder the enemy, but those were dangerous to deploy too close to your own force.

"{Does everyone understand their assigned roles? If there are any questions, ask now, before the Giants begin their attack. }" Kalli messaged the city’s fighters.

It all seemed pretty straightforward to them, and the city guns would be manned by level 0 candidates, as the air defence guns actually did a wonderful job of promoting people in the previous trials.

A few minutes later, three men walked inside, and Kalli recognized them all as ones that Sanchez had marked for supervision. The troublemakers who thought that they were sneaky.

"Coordinator, we have questions about the deployment."

"Of course, take a seat and I will go over the positions and the roles. What part of it do you have an issue with?"

Kalli had placed them in the second rank of forces on either flank, putting them right next to the ocean on opposite sides of the city. One side was most likely to take the brunt of the Giants’ attack, and the other was so far from everything that they were unlikely to see any action at all.

But putting them in the second rank, when they were used to being in charge and giving orders, put them in the role of strategic reserves, who would join the battle after it was underway and everyone knew where more forces would be needed.

It was not the glory that they were hoping for, and there was zero chance that they would be leading anything, unless the front line commanders, which included a mix of other city leaders who had arrived at the same time they did, all fell in battle.

So, they couldn’t say that Kalli only helped her own, she had put other new leaders in the front with their elite troops.

She had just snubbed them.

"We would like to transfer positions. We’ve been relegated to reinforcement status, and it’s a complete waste of our leadership skills," one of the men insisted.

The woman beside him nodded with the vacant smile of a born sycophant.

Kalli pretended to consider it, then nodded slowly.

"Alright, I can change your locations. How about I move this team forward, and the other can go right beside them? I’ll move the two frontal teams back, and they can serve as the reserves. Their team leaders are Sanchez and Esmeralda, and they’re quite reasonable sorts. They won’t get mad about the change."

It would also put a very practical group of special forces soldiers right behind the biggest troublemakers when the fight started.