They brought him his sword and quickly briefed him on the situation. The sheer scale of the threat only heightened Malik's anxiety. He had just woken up a few moments ago, and now he was expected to save them from total annihilation. What rotten luck. If he failed now, he would either be killed again, or he would be exposed as a fraud, losing any chance to use these people. He still knew nothing about the true capabilities of this "Hero" body and needed time to learn. But right now, he had to think like a commander and find a trick to win this battle.
He grasped the ornate blue sword. This time, its runes did not glow with brilliant golden light; they remained stubbornly dull and lifeless. He remembered the overwhelming terror he had witnessed on the battlefield a century ago. He shoved the memory down, deciding to wear the mantle of a ruler and tactician, just as he had in his real world.
He looked up at them, his voice adopting an authoritative bark.
"Order the soldiers to prepare at the gates. I need to see the battlefield from a vantage point to assess the situation. Kaser, show me to the highest accessible opening."
Kaser smiled a fierce, feral smile. "At your command, Lord Hero. Follow me."
Suddenly, Kaser drew his twin silver axes. He sprinted toward the high wall of the chamber, leaped into the air, and slammed the axes into the stone. He began to use them as climbing picks, scaling the sheer rock face with terrifying speed.
Malik stared, mouth slightly open, wondering how he was supposed to follow that beast up a vertical wall.
Kaser reached a massive, circular stone door set high near the ceiling. He gathered energy around his axe and struck it. The blow echoed through the chamber like a thunderclap, making Malik's ears ring and forcing the Princess to cover hers. Kaser struck again. The stone door shattered, the heavy pieces flying outward and tumbling down the mountainside, crashing against the rocks until they settled at the feet of a Sand Soldier below.
The construct looked up, locking eyes with Kaser in a silent exchange of sparks and defiance, then let out a loud, grating hiss. The Sand Soldiers were as white as the desert—a blinding, unnatural white. Their faces were terrifying, resembling the blank stares of the dead. Some wielded spears, others heavy scimitars.
Kaser peered down, trying to estimate the size of the massive army. It looked to be around a thousand, just as reported. But at the rear of the formation stood something worse: colossal soldiers, towering like the statues of ancient heroes from old epics. They were broad-shouldered, wearing helmets the color of salt, and wielding oversized swords and spears capable of crushing ten men at once. They carried massive tower shields that covered them from neck to toe. There were only ten of these behemoths, but they were enough to inflict catastrophic damage.
Kaser turned back and peeked into the chamber. Malik had ordered a soldier to bring a long wooden ladder and was currently climbing it.
Kaser smirked. "Can you not jump up here, Hero? I suppose being dead for a hundred years ruins a man's stamina."
Malik blinked rapidly, focusing on his ascent. "My body is still recovering. One does not simply wake up from a century of death, ready to fight an army of sand monsters, Kaser."
Malik finally reached the top and stepped through the broken stone doorway onto the red mountain rocks. The view stole his breath for a moment. The White Desert stretched out before them, looking like a vast ocean of bitter salt. But the beauty was quickly overshadowed by the terrifying sight below. The monsters were battering the fortress gates with a massive wooden ram, ten of them on each side coordinating their thrusts perfectly.
But it was the colossal monstrosities at the rear that truly chilled Malik's blood. He swallowed hard.
"Can you defeat those giants, Kaser?"
Kaser's expression tightened slightly. "I can probably take three of them. But they are incredibly tough. The most effective way to eliminate a Sand Army is to kill the wretched Sand Mage who created them. But they usually hide in obscure locations, observing the flow of battle. We usually just settle for fighting the constructs and searching for the mage, but we've never managed to find one."
Malik hummed thoughtfully. He swept his eyes across the perimeter of the desert. The dunes rose and fell like frozen waves, occasionally broken by jagged red rocks.
If he is hiding, Malik reasoned internally, he must be in a place where he can clearly see the entire battlefield to direct his constructs based on the tactical situation. A commander often observes from afar, from a high hill. He might be able to fool them, but he cannot fool me. But where is he? The hills are empty. No one is standing on them! Unless... the cunning bastard. He might have buried himself in the sand, wearing white robes to match it. Perfect camouflage. We'd never spot him from here. He could be anywhere...
Malik began to systematically eliminate the dunes. He ruled out the ones that didn't offer a strategic view of the gates and the approaching forces. He turned the problem over in his mind, analyzing the terrain like a chessboard, until he narrowed it down to three specific hills. There was no fourth option. These were the only three vantage points a seasoned commander would choose.
Malik smiled a half-smile and placed his hand on Kaser's massive shoulder.
"Go down there and smash them, you giant. I know what we must do."
Kaser's smile widened, revealing his teeth. A dense, red energy erupted from his hands, enveloping his silver axes. He leaped high into the air, landing on the descending rocks, bounding down them until he was close to the Sand Soldiers. With a final, massive leap, he crashed into their ranks, slamming his axes into the ground.
The impact caused a localized sand explosion, blowing ten Sand Soldiers away and kicking up a massive dust devil that immediately obscured the battlefield.
Now, Malik thought. The mage will definitely raise his head to see what just happened and try to peer through the dust storm.
Malik focused intensely, his eyes darting between the three suspect hills.
There.
On the rightmost hill, a small, white bulge shifted and rose slightly from the sand.
Malik smiled like a madman, almost laughing aloud at the rush of outsmarting his enemy. He raised his lifeless sword and roared down to his troops.
"Charge into battle, men!"
Hearing the signal, the gate guards threw open the heavy doors, and hundreds of resistance soldiers poured out, screaming their war cries.