Lightning Is the Only Way

After Silva left the Spire, he quickly called on every member of the Land Camp. There was no reason to wait for an attack. After all, no attack would come. Every second he wasted waiting would be a second where Shira increased her power.

Silva was done with being passive. It was time for him to become active and slaughter his enemies. As he gathered his camp, he walked past Shira without looking at her. Yet, Shira felt something different from Silva that made her narrow her eyes.

'Something has happened to that viper,' Shira thought. 'He is backed into a corner and realizes that he is about to die. He will strike with everything he has. I can't become careless now. As long as I continue suppressing him, he won't be able to live for long.'

After a while, all beasts of the Land Camp had gathered before the mountain range leading to the Hyena Tribe. Then, Silva turned to them with burning eyes.

"I have committed a mistake," he said slowly to his camp, surprising them. They had all thought that they had the best commander in existence. In their eyes, he had never committed a mistake.

"I have become too protective of you," Silva said. "By wanting to keep everyone alive, I have not given you a chance to rise to power. By disallowing you from dueling sea beasts without my consent, I have stunted your growth."

The beasts all remained silent as they listened to him.

"This won't happen again. Everyone wants to become powerful, and I have kept you from achieving that goal, fearing that you will die in the process. Yet, if I continue like this, none of you will ever achieve this goal. I have realized this, and I will do my best to rectify it."

The camp remained silent. Many of the beasts didn't have the mental faculties to process Silva's words, but the smarter ones managed to understand them. Yet, they weren't angry at their commander. By protecting their lives, he was keeping them alive, and as long as someone was alive, they could reach supreme power.

"For this war," Silva said, "I will only give you some basic commands and tactics. Everything else is up to you and your teamwork. As long as you all work together, no enemy can beat you. You should use your strengths to protect the weaknesses of your comrades. If no one can take advantage of your weaknesses, the weaknesses don't exist. Like this, you will all be powerful."

Nearly all of the beasts in the Land Camp were looking up to their commander. Because of that, his words resonated with them deeply. Their morale started increasing as their fighting will burned. The mood in the whole camp changed.

Earlier, they had not been scared or nervous. Silva's commands always protected them, and only very few beasts died. Because of that, such a war had felt more like practice and less like a war. Yet, now, they felt like they would enter a field of flowing blood.

"Today," Silva shouted, "we will assault the Hyena Tribe with our basic configuration. The only instruction I have for you is to kill your enemy with everything you have. The more you kill, the more food you will get. The Oracle will keep watch over the fight and will determine the food that everyone gets based on their performance."

"It's time to realize your dreams. Charge!" Silva shouted as he was the first to charge over the mountains.

"RAAAAAAAA!" the camp roared in unison as their roars echoed throughout the horizons. They were all fired up and couldn't wait to get into a chaotic battle.

Yet, in all the chaos, they never left their formation. The beasts with stronger defenses like tortoises, pangolins, rhinos, and such charged at the front. The beasts with incredible speed and attacking skills charged at the side while the beasts that could attack from range charged behind the defensive line.

"Realize the strengths of your enemies!" Silva shouted while charging. "See which beasts are the greatest danger to your comrades and kill them. Beasts that are dangerous to your comrades might not be dangerous to you. Don't look at what beast is dangerous to you, but what beast is dangerous to your comrades!"

The Land Camp listened intently and remembered the words of their commander. His fiery motivation was igniting their fighting instincts, and they started to become one coherent unit. This was something that Shira wasn't able to accomplish.

After charging over the mountains, the beasts charged over a wide land-bridge. Orthar had already created this path for them. Since they were invading a land territory, they didn't need the Earth Movers to change the terrain. Instead, the Earth Movers would protect their comrades from dangerous ranged attacks.

They quickly saw some scouts from the enemy that tried to flee. Silva didn't order anything, but he also didn't need to. The fastest members of the army charged at the scouts to hunt them down. Of course, they couldn't kill every scout. Yet, the more beasts they killed, the weaker their enemy became, and the more food they got.

After another minute, they saw the hyenas in the distance, quickly forming a defensive line. There were slightly more hyenas than there were invaders. On top of that, they had the advantage of positioning. The hyenas only needed to wait and attack while the Land Camp had to charge at them.

The army didn't retreat and only felt more bloodlust as they saw their enemies. They only charged wildly at the enemy lines.

"They don't use any tactics. This fight will be easier than we have initially believed," the second general of the hyenas said to his army. "Just follow my commands, and we will be victorious."

The hyenas showed that they understood the order and simply remained at their positions. After some seconds, the general gave his first order. "Fire hyenas, attack!" he shouted.

The fire hyenas threw their fireballs to the front, directly into the middle of the camp.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Yet, all their blasts were blocked by walls that had been created by the Earth Movers. Seeing that his plan didn't work, the general changed his tactic. "Wood hyenas, create a powerful wall to halt their charge."

CRRRRRRR!

A huge wall of brambles appeared in front of the charging army. An army without someone commanding them would charge right into the brambles and injure themselves. On top of that, the brambles would stop their momentum.

Suddenly, the front line of the Land Camp parted and slowed down. Then, the Earth Movers charged through the opened gap. Silva wasn't commanding them, but their Team Leaders still lead their teams. The Earth Movers quickly stopped before the brambles at the same spot.

CRRRRRR!

Earth rose and split in two as a pathway opened between the brambles. The majority of the army charged through that pathway. The enemy general gritted his teeth. "Attack!" he shouted directly. The enemy was already too close to kill them from range.

The hyenas charged forward, but their morale couldn't compare to the River Tribe. The hyenas have seen two of their plans fail while the Land Camp felt unstoppable. Nothing was able to stand in their way!

BANG!

One fire hyena jumped up. From this position, it could see the backline of the enemy. Then, it gathered all its fire around its body to shoot.

BANG!

The sound of a collision could be heard as another beast charged through the flames and bit the fire hyena on the neck before it could shoot its projectile. They both fell down and hit the floor.

"Kill them!" Silva shouted with an unrecognizable, burned head after he spat the corpse of the hyena to the side.

"RAAAAAAAA!" the army thundered with all their power as they charged directly into the enemy ranks. Some beasts of the Land Camp died in the charge, but the formation of the enemy was utterly broken. The Land Camp still held their formation while the hyenas were just scattered around.

"Camp A, fall back! Camp B, attack the front and scatter-"

BANG!

The general couldn't concentrate on giving orders anymore as he had to evade a sudden attack. One of the faster beasts of the Land Camp had circled around the chaos and directly engaged him. The beast had realized that the general was dangerous to its allies. So, to protect them, it had charged at the general.

Like this, the fighting became more chaotic.

At this point, this wasn't a war anymore. It was just mindless slaughter.