The middle district would be the main front, with the lower district acting as a skirmish line. Here the bulk of troops were stationed, intent on whittling down the invaders street by street, building by building. Radio operators remain in contact with each other from here, providing support to each other with constant updates on the situation. Malencian surveillance was tasked with keeping an eye out themselves, and reporting back to the troops. Flying units also took plenty of chances, demons would usually fly by bombing the area. Most demons were held back to keep the drakes in check, going through the barrier dome surrounding Malencia is a bigger hassle than it is worth, forcing the drakes to follow the ground troops by going through the wall breaches. Magical engineers also made the barrier just the smallest bit solid from the inside, causing immense smoke buildup within.


    Here on the ground the situation was the ugliest, Zulie had been deployed to one of many street barricades to hold. She was pretty sure the troops stationed in the streets had it far worse than the troops in the buildings, but the buildings usually had no fallback plans. If their building was breached, it became do or die.


    "This is 2-3, Target is suppressed, we are moving in quickly. Take it out, take it out!" Zulie''s radio buzzes with signals from a nearby barricade moving in on one of the drakes, who seem to prefer to stride over the ground when possible.


    "This is 2-6, 2-4 how far are you from 2-3''s position? Over." When the barricade isn''t busy fending off an attack, Zulie also works as a radio operator, attempting to coordinate support. Initially, the plan was to have a central command within the keep, but logistical concerns regarding the plant growth in the deeper parts of Malencia caused them to be forced to rely on local commanders like herself.


    "2-4 here, we are stationed at the transition checkpoint and are taking heavy fire from the east, 2-3 is about a hundred meters to the south of us!" The voice from the radio sounds somewhat desperate, and Zulie makes a short prayer to whoever might be listening that her own barricade isn''t sounding like theirs. Still, it may be best to merge those units to prevent their destruction.


    "2-4 can you link up with 2-3 from where you are? Over." A slight crackle in the radio system indicates the strain on it, but it shouldn''t deteriorate further with the omnipresence of fungal matter.


    "Negative! Negative! Quick get to the f&*#or$ south of us! They are rolling us with a couple of paladins! Request Broken Arrow! Repeat! Broken Arrow!" Another voice from the radio confirms the Broken Arrow, Zulie recognizes it as the air control for this sector.


    "Adventurers left side left side!"


    "Contact left! Contact left!"


    Zulie is forced to drop the radio as her own barricade is under attack, sure enough oddly dressed people from all kinds of races come from the left. Her group noticed them before they noticed her, and they open fire. A few of the adventurers drop at the heavy fire, but not nearly enough to make them feel safe. In the world of war, adventurers are effectively powerful mercenaries. Various magic spells crash into the barricade, the reinforcement on the barricade takes a beating but holds on. As Zulie''s unit exchanges fire with the advenurers the radio crackles to life again alerting Zulie.


    "2-6! Come in 2-6! Enemy units have overrun 2-3! Pull out of that sector, your flank is exposed!" The radio goes silent again before Zulie can get to it, but it''s now clear to her that the adventurers are bait for the real enemy forces.


    Picking the mushrooms up Zulie yells at her troops to abandon the barricades, the adventurers shouldn''t be able to run them down with the barricade still intact. The troops rapidly abandon their positions, running in the direction of the keep. Sure enough in one of the streets is a drake charging down flanked by a small group of adventurers. The adventurers move toward the keep as well, while the drake keeps charging in their direction. Zulie gestures for the men to scatter into nearby buildings, and set up a defensive position on this street. Her radio crackles to life again as the noise of combat gets closer as well, the former barricade is taken.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Warhorse has contact on all, rolling in to sector C3. Nearby units find some cover from rolling thunder." The code for an airstrike is given, and as Zulie looks above her for the show, she notices drakes hiding in the smoke above waiting in their own ambush.


    "Drakes inbound! Warhorse break right!" Zulie''s warning comes a second late, one demon gets her wing bitten off by a drake lying in wait.


    "I''m hit! Going down!"


    "I can''t see him! I can''t see hi-" The other demon of the duo got the warning in time, but a panicked reaction causes this one to be killed on the spot by another drake.


    "Position 3-0 this is stalker, flight group warhorse is down, we see only one survivor. Position 2-6 and 2-7 have been overrun, factory in that sector is taking magic spells, it does not look good from where we are. How copy over?"


    "Stalker this is 3-0, solid copy on all. We do not have any close air support at this time, displace to a more secure location deeper into the city, and await further instructions, out." Just like that, Zulie and her units are abandoned, left to fend for themselves as positions are overrun. As she switches to her radio the only sound coming from it is panic from the remaining units in the middle district. She fiddles around a bit with it, and finds the frequency that belonged to warhorse instead.


    "*Cough* *cough* this... this is warhorse 2, does anyone read? Shit, I''m down near... fuck... I''m down near some drake that''s running through sector C3." Zulie knows that warhorse is a couple of literal demons, but as someone who worked with demons before, she can''t help but think of them as her comrades regardless of how cruel they usually are. Everyone from this city is a comrade against the horrors of the merge, whether they want to or not.


    "Warhorse 2 this is 2-6, we have set an ambush for that overgrown lizard, come to the sound of gunfire when you hear it." Zulie checks across the street from her own window, and sees that the buildings across are occupied by her troops. 2-6 might be the most intact unit in this sector, and as such she feels they have duty to act as a beacon that survivors can flock to.


    Checking the street from the window, she sees the wounded drake move through the street, it had certainly spotted them move by, but seemed to have been too wounded to blindly charge. This street is a major road leading to the keep, and with some time, some paladins would definitely pass by. The drake is most likely planning to take this street, and wait for healers to bring it back from the brink. 2-3 did a number on the drake, that much is clear as the beast gets closer. Just as it passes by the manned house, Zulie opens up the ambush by firing her gun. The noise is followed by a cacophony of gunfire as the entirety of 2-6 opens up on the drake. Despite the perfectly time volley, the drake seems to have been prepared for it. It shielded itself somewhat from the initial volley, preparing to breathe fire on the ambushers in return.


    Instead of successfully burning half of 2-6 hiding in the buildings, the drake staggers as it gets blasted by numerous cutting streams of water from behind. Warhorse 2 stands behind the injured drake, missing a wing of her own. The drake tries to roar as an instinctual reaction to seeing an enemy, but its distraction costs its life as desperation fuelled 2-6. They reloaded in record time, and the next volley nails the dragon in the neck. Its roar turns to a gurgle as blood fills the drake''s throat, and it falls down after a short struggle to remain standing.


    Seeing the threat abate, Zulie cycles through more channels for forces in the region, surprised to find a new channel make contact with her instead.


    "Is mushroom listening? ...Hello? This is... two ackthual? Two ackthual! Yes, I bring order from leviathan lady! In case of invasion best tactic is... gwe- gueriy- goerilla-... gorilla war! All liqqi-dators are to do ambush!" Recognizing the voice on the radio as being from a kobold, Zulie looks outside only to see very short liquidators climbing from one of the manholes. ''Leviathan lady'' certainly refers to the mermaid who is currently not in Malencia, and with the kobolds being so dedicated to her, this must have been a standing order.


    Watching as the newly emerged kobolds begin to dance around warhorse 2 as they witness the corpse of the drake, only on question rests on Zulie''s mind.


    "Where the fuck am I going to find gorillas?"