A Bored Lich

Author's note: Just a reminder of the signal. "I want you to spill water on your clothes while drinking, making it look like an accident, if you notice anyone following us." Doevm said. "Curse if it's dangerous to notify your squad members and stay silent if you're just incapable of drinking water. The squad members will chuckle a little to alert me. After I ask what happened, lie about how much you spilled. If I hear you spilled a little, there are only a few following us. If you spilled a lot, there are a lot."

…

Squad six had been marching for a few miles now. People took out their water sacs and drank, but none of them spilled. Even though this meant no one was following them, it made Doevm even more nervous. He routinely checked the surrounding trees for signs of the enemy. Every inch further they went was more dangerous than the last. '1000, 1001, 1002,' He thought as they went along.

The squad seemed to catch onto his caution. While they weren't nearly as paranoid, they started looking around as well. Since they had trained to travel through the forest, their legs and feet weren't tripped up anymore, but they marched just as slow as their first mission.

'1206, 1207, 1208,' Doevm thought.

Every twig snapped or leaf crushed was met with the gazes of the entirety of squad six as well as the tips of their weapons. Still they kept marching. Not one soldier gave the signal, where they pretended to spill their water.

'1498, 1499, 1500,' Doevm thought.

Right as he got to the 1500 mark, Hopi took out his water sac. He raised it to his lips and spilled the contents over himself. Squad six still marched, but they all held their breath.

"Damn it!" Hopi hissed. After this display, no one wanted to laugh, but the signal demanded they force it out. Doevm turned around, suppressing a sigh of relief that something was finally noticed. Now it was a matter of how many soldiers were following them. "Sorry sir, I spilled everything."

Now it was Doevm's turn to curse, but he did it silently. 'What does everything mean? I didn't put an exact number on it. That means we are in grave danger. Furthermore, they waited until we were far enough from base where it would take a while for reinforcements to arrive. We're most likely outnumbered and isolated. The only chance we have for reinforcements is if another squad happens to run into us, which would be nearly impossible. All the other squads are gone. Looks like I have to deal with this with what I have.'

Doevm stopped everyone and demanded they put down their rations and water. 'I guess since we're far from the base I can also activate my mana sense.' He took a deep breath, preparing himself for the worst, and unsealed his mana. 'Three. There are three right above us. That confirms it, someone is coming after me and that person is a spy. Hopi was the one to spot them because he has the best hearing. If any of the other squad members found them before Hopi, he wouldn't be in the clear right now. No one in my squad is the spy either, as they have all just awakened to very weak transparent green life essence. A spy would have already awoken to their life essence and might already have it at my color. This means the spy is at least at the level of squad leader.' He resisted the urge to look up. 'So what can I do against a force of three squads sitting right above us? Judging by their height, they are probably Elven mercenaries. Only they can move so freely in this rainforest's canopy. This is seriously overkill, unless they knew I was stronger than I let on. Three human squads were more than enough, but they wanted to ambush me with Elven squads instead. They are a lot more expensive to hire but get the job done.'

His squad didn't dare to sit on the ground as they rested. Every now and again, they would look around for the enemy then to Doevm. 'It's no use, you won't find them.' Doevm said. 'They climb high enough that humans can't see them, then jump down at us. The only reason I can think of as to why they haven't attacked us yet is because they want to wait until we're further away. They won't even take a small risk. They are determined to strike at the worst possible moment for me. This is bad. With their enhanced hearing, they will know if I try to warn my squad and attack us before we return to base. If I try to pretend, I'm ignorant and return to base, they'll let me go. Marcus will demote me for my cowardness even though Hopi detected them. I have no choice but to deal with them head on.'

As the gears turned in Doevm's head, he kept thinking about the objective. 'I can't take too long either. I have to go take the point on the map. If I don't, I'll have to battle yet another squad of men. So what if I have my magic? I can't use it to defend my squad or else they'll report me to the mages. While I can wipe all of their memories, I'll be left extremely weak after that. My control over magic is amazing, but I only have fourteen years' worth, and memory manipulation is extremely taxing. On top of that I will have to wipe out three squads with mana. That's out of the question.' He glared at the Lich, who just appeared.

'Kill everyone. That's the only way.' It said, but only Doevm could hear it in his head. 'Tell Marcus that your squad was ambushed by three squads at once. Make it look like you had an epic last stand, but in reality, you just killed everyone with a single spell. He'll understand. I'm sure he knows there's a spy in our midst. He'll be impressed by your quick thinking.'

'But then I'll need another squad,' Doevm argued. 'I spent so much time training this one up. If I get another squad, they'll all be ignorant hicks again. I'll need to throw them into life and death situations to build up their life essence to the level of my squad. By the end of the war I need to kill fifteen squad leaders. If I spend the time to rebuild another squad, I have less time to rack up achievements. Frey will surpass me.'

'Then do you have a plan?' The Lich asked. 'You can't use magic, you're outnumbered, you can't communicate with your squad, and you are not strong enough to handle three squads with your life essence. Think about the squad leaders. They will also have red life essence. If they attack you all at once, it'll be a slaughter. They're just waiting for you to go further away from the base. What is your plan?'

Doevm looked at all of his soldiers. Over the past two weeks he had grown so proud of them. He even learned some of their names, although it was mostly the people who complained the most that he knew. He spent the most time with them, beating them into shape. It was like each one of them was a mini Frey. They would all follow his orders, but he couldn't even give them any. He looked up and cursed the Elves once more. 'I could just use magic to annihilate them all before they came down. I could just use light magic. None of my squad would have to die. Hopi would be suspicious, but I would just wipe his memory later. However, then Hopi would lose reputation and the spy would know of my capabilities. I have no idea if the spy is watching us now. Why didn't the Lich think of this method? Something is wrong here.'

With all the pressure his mind was at its limits. He was surprised steam wasn't pouring out of his ears. Just when he was about to give up and use magic, a brilliant idea struck him. An idea so great that it was completely and utterly stupid. He nearly laughed out loud. 'Insanity and brilliance are closely related. Many called me mad when I discovered my own magic. Many called me brilliant afterward. I just hope my squad can get my meaning without the Elves finding out what I'm up to.' "Everyone. Leave your rations behind. We're continuing on our training exercise."

"Training exercise?" One asked. "I thought-" 𝘧r𝘦𝗲w𝘦𝚋𝐧o𝘷𝘦𝙡.co𝑚

"This is a training exercise." Doevm interrupted the fool. "That is why we came out here, a training exercise. Why else would we come outside the base and stop here? It is a training exercise." Since the elves couldn't see his facial expression from their height, they couldn't see the intense look he gave every one of his soldiers. "Got it? Remember what I said earlier about not following orders?"