《Out of Space》


 Chapter 1: Journey

    Chapter 1: Journey


    A purple swirling storm suddenly grew out from the emptiness of space, un-natural lightning streaking within it as the dark purplish clouds rotated to form a whirlpool. A spaceship suddenly appeared in the eye of the storm and the particles almost immediately dispersed.


    "All departments status report!" The XO of UNS Singapore spoke into hisms while he unbuckled out of his station chair. The battle shutters of the viewports rolled up, exposing the dim light from a white dwarf in the Rammas system. "Captain ke, all departments reporting green." Commander Kevin Ford looked up from hismunications console after several minutes.


    "So slow." Sighed Richard ke, captain of the United Nations of Man, heavy cruiser Singapore turn training ship. Commander Ford''s face turned slightly red with embarrassment as he coughed and said, "Captain, with due respect. Almost the whole crew just graduated from the naval academy. This is their first trip out so far."


    "I know" ke sighed again. He used to be inmand of a battlecruiser before losing it to the damn Swarm, losing both his ship and his left leg. Commended for his actions and sacrifice, he was givenmand of the heavy cruiser UNS Singapore.


    The ship measured over 210 meters with a beam of 33 meters and a sleek rectangr predator shape. More than a third of the length was upied by seven bulbous engines and its warp drive. A huge mass of sensor arrays stabbed out from the bow. It was armed with two dual 155 mm rail cannons on the dorsal side and a single dual 155 mm on the ventral side, 16 dual 50 mm pulseser point defense turrets - four on each side of the ship and 10 light missileunchers on the port and starboard side. Protected by a 200 mm armor belt and electro-maic repulse shield, a crew of over 840 men and women manned the ship with berths,boratories, and even a flight deck.


    A ship with this potential was considered state of the art 80 years ago. As mankind ventured out in the unknown and colonizeds, they met the Swarm nine years ago. All attempts tomunicate failed as the Swarm attacked with mindless abandon. Creatures out of nightmares dropped from the skies above Himpra Prime, while the unsuspecting colonists watched the beautiful meteor shower whichter turned into death with ws and ichor.


    A typical Swarm warrior drone stands two meters tall and has two sets of legs and arm ws. A t triangle carapace protects its braincase and teeth covered mouth which was located at the chest area. It uses its four ws to rend, tear and pull its prey into its mouth. Typical low caliber weapons bounce off or were unable to prate its carapace and by the time a relief fleet arrived over Himpra Prime, the survivors counted less than 15,000 out of 1.1 million colonists.


    Richard ke was one of those 15,000 survivors. He was in a polytechnic lecture on mechanical engineering when the Swarm fell on the other side of the. Soon a-wide emergency was dered and he was called up to his reservemission as a part of theary Defense Force. Over several months, he has been part of the desperate action to dy the Swarm as the government attempted to evacuate as many people into space as possible.


    Spores the size of buildings constantly rained from space for over two weeks and by then thend was forcefully terraformed into a mass of gooey substance. The Swarm used the organic materials of living beings and spawned more creatures. Several monthster, the fleet arrived but everything was overtaken except for ast stand of survivors. Himpra Prime was then bombed from orbit, turning the whole surface into ss in order to wipe out all traces of the Swarm.


    After that, ke enrolled in Fleet Naval Academy and fought in several distinguished actions before having his ship boarded with Swarm spores and losing it along with his leg. As the war with the Swarm continued, he felt left out and discarded in the safety behind front lines.


    "Captain, I rmend we push more drills so the crew can gain more experience." Commander Ford handed a tablet with details of the drills to Captain ke. He felt resentful to be the Executive Officer, or XO, of an outdated ship even as a trainee. He was a career officer who graduated with top grades at the academy. His firstmand was a destroyer that fared fairly well inbat. He was summoned to Fleet Command to meet Chief of Staff Admiral Spencer, thinking that he will get a promotion and a new ship tomand. To his dismay, he was "awarded" this position as XO. Admiral Spencer patted his shoulders and said. "You are still green, and inexperienced inmand. Learn from Captain ke." Shortly Ford departed after he was convinced this was a requirement for a promotion.


    Taking the tablet, Captain ke scrolled through the list of drills his XO detailed out. "Alright, run the crew through the drills. But I want you to do it randomly, at all hours." He handed back the tablet.


    "Aye Cap-," Ford replied halfway when a sudden alert sounded in the bridge.


    "CAPTAIN! XO! We are detecting gravitational anomalies ahead!" Sensor Officer 2nd Lieutenant Randy yelled excitedly. "Two... no, five anomalies. Eh... 9,852 km away!" He added. "Wow! Estimated mass 50,000 tons each!"


    Captain ke gripped his armrest as he swallowed the retort and counted to 10 to calm himself down. They are kids just fresh out of school. He red at Commander Ford and signalled with his eyes.


    Catching the gesture, Ford sighed inwardly. To be fair, it was his job to teach and train the bridge crew. He stepped over to Sensor Officer Randy and leaned over his shoulder and said in a low voice. "Lieutenant, please control yourself and report properly. You have learned it in the academy, keep your excitement down!"


    "Yes, Sir!" Randy swallowed his excitement and turned towards the Captain. "Sir! Five anomalies detected 67 degrees off to starboard, estimated mass of 50,000 tons each! Sir!" He nearly jumped up and saluted as he made his report, forgetting he was buckled into his crash seat. The rest of the bridge crew quickly turned away as the XO red at everyone on the bridge.


    "Rx." Captain ke said. He knew they were just as green as he once was. He should not be so harsh on them. "Do we know if there is a fleet operating in this area?"


    "Negative Captain." Replied thems officer. "ording to our logs and fleet schedule, we should be the only ship in this system."


    "Merchant fleet? Or smugglers?" Captain ke continued asking.


    "Captain, this system is designated as a training sector. There are no stations here nor do we have a pirate or smuggler base here for target practice." Commander Ford answered.


    "Captain, the contacts are moving. Sensors are picking up ion emissions. Computer analyzing the data reports 83.7% resemnce to Swarm parasite cruisers!" Sensor Officer Randy reported.


    Hearing that, the bridge crew started to get anxious. "Isn''t this a safe zone?" someone muttered.


    "SILENCE ON DECK!" Captain ke yelled. Damn these newbies. "This is not a market! Do your duty!" The crew instantly quieted down. "XO, set Condition Two!"


    "Aye, set Condition Two throughout the ship!" echoed Ford. He pressed onto the ship-wide inte. "All hands, this is your XO speaking. Set Condition Two throughout the ship. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill!" Following that announcement, the ship''s alert system red out.

 Chapter 2: Contact

    Chapter 2: Contact


    Second I/C (Second in-charge) Marine Corporal James "007" Bone was at the mess with the rest his Section Two mates having dinner when XO announced the Condition Two alert. Due to his name being simr to a ssic 2d movie character, everyone nicknamed him as "Double-0-7". He dropped his mess tray as he and his section mates rushed out of the mess hall towards their berth where their equipment was stored. He pushed his way past several confused crew members as they stood in the way, wondering what''s happening. Luckily for the Marines, they have been conditioned to respond rapidly by constant training and drills.


    As he reached the Marine''s berth, he found most of the toon gearing up. "Come on! Load up!" toon Staff Sergeant Pike yelled at everyone in the hatch, miraculously already suited up in full battle gear.


    Damn. Did he sleep in that gear? James popped open his locker and started to suit up. First was the environmental wear which allowed him to survive in space or any biochemical environments, followed by his chest te armor and munitions harness. Lastly, he donned his fully enclosed HS3 "smart" helmet and checked his readouts in the heads up disy. All green, no leaks from the suit. Good. He grabbed his personal weapon, an M7A1 pulse rifle that fires 6.5 mm cased telescoped ammunition and queued up at the armory to collect his ammunition.


    "Check your ammo! Make sure it''s not Armor Piercing! We don''t want you jugheads to put a hole through the hull and suck us all out into space!" SSGT Pike roared in his standard loud voice.


    He grabbed ten 50 round magazines, ensured they are not AP rounds and started slotting the mags into his ammo pouches.


    "Hey, Corp!" Pvt first ss Mills called out. "What''s the scuttle bug? Did we get scum here? And no AP rounds? How are we gonna do shit with these pussy rounds?"


    He held up the mag which contained 50 ceramic frangible rounds. This type of ammunition was used to prevent shots identally prating the hull of the ship or sensitive locations like the reactor or engine. The bullet fractures into tiny pieces upon contact with metal but against soft tissue, it will prate and fragment inside.


    "Do you want to put a bullet into the reactor and blow us all to space dust?" James retorted. "Just shoot at the mouth cavity!"


    Deep inside, James was worried too. Ceramic rounds just gave those Scum, as the Marines like to call the Swarm, bruises. The AP rounds will prate easier on less armored parts of the Swarm warrior drones but in an old spaceship without internal armored bulkheads, AP rounds were a disaster just waiting to happen. "Alright! Section Two, you pigs form up! By the numbers! NOW!" he shouted.


    Throughout the ship, crewmembers milled in confusion and were yelled at by their supervisors to get to their action stations. As time went on, department heads reported back to the bridge their level of readiness and XO Ford''s face grew darker and darker. They have traveled from Sol to Rammas, passing by two systems along the way for a total of two weeks. He deeply regretted being engrossed with paperwork instead of running more drills. He''d thought that nothing will happen behind the lines and he will just serve his term onboard before going over tomand his own ship! He nced at the captain as he thought.


    Captain ke sat on hismand chair without saying anything, but his fingers tapped on his armrest constantly. He was excited about the chance of a fight. He spent over two months in the hospital, another two months in rehab getting used to his new prosthetic leg and an additional month doing psych-evaluation before returning to the Fleet, followed by another two more months bound as a desk jockey before he was givenmand of this ship.


    The Fleet was sending out all their newest ships to the frontline to hold back the Swarm, while mothballed ships like the UNS Singapore were taken out, given an upgrade of their drives and systems and turned into auxiliary ships. At the time he was thankful to receivemand of a ship again but soon the excitement and joy died down as he got stuck babysitting new graduates and the children of important ministers behind the lines.


    "Captain, the five contacts will be within effective main gun range in 53 mikes." 2nd Lt Randy reported. Despite his calm report, he was actually afraid inside. My dad said this was a very safe deployment. There will be nothing to do, no chance of the enemy. His father was a senior minister on Earth and pulled some strings allowing him to be posted to UNS Singapore when the Council passed a bill that all able men and women within the age of 18 to 35 had to serve in the military.


    "XO, set the ship to Condition One and prepare forbat." Captain ke intoned. He looked at the tactical screen readout disying the contact''s course and frowned. If only I had some shipkiller missiles, I could start engaging them now, he thought. The 155 mm rail guns were simple electromaic cannons that just shoot out projectiles that reach 290km/s.


    In aary atmosphere, rail guns dominate the battlefield as long as there is a line of sight. But in space, moving objects were easier to be tracked and dodged. The longer the distance the easier it is to calcte its impact point, thus the effective range of rail guns was shorter thansers assers travel at the speed of light. This means he has to engage within 5,000 km, while ship killer missiles can be fired at targets over three times further!


    For this battle, he had to get to practically knife fighting range for shipbat. Suddenly he caught himself, I should not prioritisebat. His crew was too inexperienced. He only had a few of the old hands from his previous ship on board. He looked at the tactical board and started to make calctions in his head. If he turned the ship around now to the jump point out of this system, with the speed the enemy was closing in at, the ship would have to hold out for 15 mins at least before they can escape. Too bad he did not have any missiles. He sighed again. If he did the chances of survival would have been higher.


    "Navigator, plot a course back towards the jump point, nk speed. Get us out of here." kemanded. "XO, ensure all stations are operational."


    "Aye Captain." Commander Ford started to message all the department heads, chasing them for readiness reports. Each station''s readiness slowly started to flicker from red and yellow to green. After several minutes, he finally reported all boards showing green and gave a relieved sigh.


    "XO, after this we need to drill more. If we survive." Captain ke gave a bleak smile to his XO.


    "Yes, sir. That is for sure," replied Ford. He looked at the blinking red dots on the main tactical screen approaching slowly. "Five versus one. How did they get here? This is a dead system, other than the Ecythn jump point there shouldn''t be any other way in, Fleet has surveyed this system thoroughly."


    "I have no idea either. I''ve been running up and down this sector for almost a year. This is the first time this has happened, Could the Swarm have developed some kind of unknown drive that Fleet Intelligence doesn''t know about." Captain ke stood and stretched his back.


    He looked at the timer on the screen and said, "There should still be over 30 minutes before they have range on us. How about some coffee and food?"


    "Yes sir, I shall order some up from the galley." Ford said, "I think everyone should have something hot in their bellies too."


    "Sir, course calcted, time to the Ecythn jump point will take us 40 mins, but we will be within the enemy range for roughly 20 mins before we can jump." the navigator reported.


    Captain ke nodded. Not bad, plus or minus a few minutes from my own calctions. "Do it."


    "Pilot, bring us about, follow the new route." ordered the XO.


    "Aye aye. Changing course. nk speed aye!" intoned the pilot.


    Hope this olddy can hold out for 15 to 20 mins ofbat. ke thought to himself.

 Chapter 3: Engaged

    Chapter 3: Engaged


    "Combat Information Center confirms contacts as five Swarm Parasite ss bio cruisers!" Everyone looked up from their consoles as the report came in. Parasite ss bio cruisers were the Swarm''s mainstay space-borne weapons, born whole right out of a Queen ss hive ship like some insect. They were made of living tissuebined with a super hard carapace and had a simple brain that controlled the bio cannons and the organic ion propulsion at its back. Scientists have yet to discover how they are able to generate wrap fields to travel faster than light.


    It looked like a giant space squid with 2 trailing tentacles like limbs which only purpose was to grapple objects. It has a mouth cavity under the ventral front that when opened, stretched as long as seven meters allowing it to swallow small asteroids or even ships whole, crushing them into chunks before its stomach processed them down into resources to be used as fuel or organic materials.


    The sides of the parasite cruiser have several spike like protrusions, which fire out spores or acid seeds. Each spore seed contained over a dozen of warrior drones in stasis, protected by a jelly-like sac that acted as shock and temperature absorbents, allowing the drones to survive re-entry into a or even mming against a surface or a ship. The jelly also acts as a sort of nutrients for the drones, allowing them to survive in space for over a week. Once the seedsnd on a surface, the jelly sacs will break open and the drones will awaken. The parasite cruisers will fire their spore cannons tond their warriors on ships. Once the ship''s crew has been subdued, they will ingest the ship and produce more spore seeds. Swarm ships are known to feed on their own wounded kin to sustain and repair themselves.


    "Enemy contacts designated Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echoing within main gun weapons'' maximum effective range in ten mikes." Weapons Officer Yan Fey licked his dry lips as he stared intensively on his screen. "Guns are primed and ready sir!"


    The atmosphere in the whole bridge was tense except for Captain ke. Richard ke seemed like a changed person, from being indifferent to a tiger on a hunt. He sat on his chair, with his back straight. His untidy grey hair has grown long since hest had a naval regted haircut. The week-long unshaven face twitched in anticipation of the engagement and his brown eyes glowed with a sign of fire that has rarely appearedtely. "Have all main guns target Alpha, fire two volleys when in range," hemanded.


    "All departments ensure all non-essential personnel is locked down." Cmdr Ford double checked the crew members again. "Marines are standing by at key points for counter enemy boardings. Security crews are also securing their stations."


    "Enemy contacts designated Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echoing within range in 3 ... 2 ... 1!"


    "Fire!" ke snapped sharply.


    Since theunch of UNS Singapore from Mitsubishi-ST Orbital Slip Seven over Earth''s high orbit, she has never fired a shot in anger. Now more than 80 yearster, she finally has. Six 3.2 kg nickel iron slugs were flung out at a velocity of roughly 290 km/s towards the projected course of target Alpha. Five secondster another volley of six slugs was fired.


    "Target Bravo! Two volleys! Fire when ready!" kemanded.


    "Aye two volleys on target Bravo!" The Weapons Officer replied grimly.


    Everyone in the bridge stared at the screen as the timer on the 1st volley countdown the time to impact. At a distance of 5,000 km. It took the volleys 17 seconds to arrive at its target.


    "Target Charlie, two volleys!" ke continued.


    "No hits on Alpha! Nothing on the sensors!" SO Randy turned and looked at Captain ke in horror.


    "We are missing!"


    "Back to your station!" XO Ford stormed. "Keep your eyes on your screens!" He nced at the Captain.


    "Switch back to target Alpha, Two volleys again," ke ordered.


    "Aye target Alpha, two volleys!"


    "Enemy closing in at 4,300 klicks! We''re getting into their weapon range! Sir!" SO Randy cried. "Wait! Hit! Target Bravo is leaking atmosphere!" The bridge erupted in cheers at this news.


    "Quiet down! It''s not over yet!" ke shouted. The crew quickly silenced down but their morale was up.


    "Targets are performing evasive actions! Charlie no hits! Enemy at 3,900 klicks and closing!"


    "Fire at Alpha, two volleys again!" Captain ke barked. "Stand by to go Evasive Pattern Alpha and ready point defensesers and missiles. They are gonna fire their spore cannons soon!"


    "Multiple contacts detected! They fired their spore cannons!" SO Randy tensed up as he looked at his screens. "60...80...92, no, 93 spore seeds!" He looked on in horror. "7 seconds to impact!"


    "Go Evasive Alpha now! Fire countermeasure missiles!" XO Ford yelled.


    Twenty armored hatches popped open and twenty AIM-32H Space Sparrow multi role missiles sted out from the tubes and darted towards the iing clusters of spores on an interception course. Each Space Sparrow had onboard heat-seeking sensors to detect spore seeds in the depths of space at a range of 1,000 km. Secondster twenty tiny light balls appeared at the same time as the second volley of missiles wereunched. The spores that survived the second wave of missiles continued on till they got burnt down by the point defensesers. None made it within 300 m of the ship.


    "First wave spores all destroyed!"


    "Target Alpha is crippled! It''s leaking atmosphere and dropping out!" Cheers greeted this news and Captain ke gave a shark smile. "Switch to target Bravo, continuous fire!"


    As the parasite cruisers approached closer, the UNS Singapore''s railgun uracy increased, sessfully hammering target Bravo into bloody chunks of biomatter. The other three parasites cruisers dodged and returned fire with volleys of spore seeds.


    By luck and chance, the crew of UNS Singapore managed to do enough damage and three out of five parasite cruisers fell back slightly. But the waves of spore seeds never stoppeding.

 Chapter 4: Boarded

    Chapter 4: Boarded


    The ship shook as several of the spore seeds mmed into the aft and dozens of spores got vaporized by the sma exhaust of the engine. The point defense gunners did their best to prevent the spores from hitting the ship but still, some made it past the defensiveser fire.


    "Damage report?" Captain ke called out.


    "Unknown at the moment, Sir!" Ford replied as he checked each status on his screen. "I think they hit the engine block."


    "Get on thems! Warn Engineering that they might have trouble and alert the Marines." ke yelled.


    -----


    Chief Engineer Matt Peterson ended the call from Bridge and turned around to face his team. "We got some hitchhikers on our tail! Open the arms locker and get armed. Inform the Marines."


    The engineers and techs looked at each other with frightened faces. "Chief are we gonna fight too?" Someone yelled. "I didn''t sign up for this!"


    "So you wanna roll over and die? If those swarm things get in here, everyone is fish food for them! Now stop your whining or I swear to god I''ll space you guys instead and save the swarm the trouble of eating you!" Chief Engineer Matt bellowed at his crew.


    "Sir! Heard that you have some trouble?" Marine Sgt Collins of Section Four entered Engineering Block B with his team of six other Marines.


    "Yes, those Swarm seem to have boarded the engine block. We need to hold them off. If they destroy the engines, we ain''t going nowhere!" Chief Matt replied. "I''ll assign some guys to guide you around the engineering passages."


    He turned and yelled at the guys. " You and you! Yes, you! Grab a weapon and join the Sarge here! You are their guides. Go!"


    "Jenkins, Royce, and Dean. You three stay and guard the main hatch. The rest on me, move out." Sgt Collins led the rest of the section behind the 2 engineering crewmembers deeper into Engineering B.


    -----


    Marine Officer In Charge of the UNS Singapore, 2nd Lt Frank Lee was standing outside the Bridge hatch. He flipped out his readout, nced at it and returned it back to his pouch. "Staff, you fought these things before right?" He asked Staff Pike softly.


    "Yea, fought them several times, on Himpra, same as the Cap, and two fleet boarding actions." Staff Pike replied while checking his gear.


    "What is it like?" Lt Frank asked curiously. All he knew was from videos and training simtions. He just got this posting directly after finishing officer cadet school. Command sent him here to learn how tomand a toon in the rear lines before nning to send him to the front.


    "Bad. Really bad, don''t let them get near you. Their ws can rip your MK XI Armor into shreds, not to mention other than armor piercing rounds orrge caliber weapons nothing can pen their carapace. They are almost impossible to stop." He dug out a magazine from his ammo pouch containing the ceramic rounds and shook it. "These? It''s not gonna do much to them. But the trick is to shoot them when they get near you and open their mouths."


    He loaded his rifle and slung it. "Sir, you need to show the troops that you are confident." He reached out and stopped Frank from opening his pouch to take out his readout. "That''s the 11th time you took it out, Sir. Keep calm, don''t show your fear."


    Great. How am I going to do that? Thought Frank. He caught himself reaching for his readout again and instead forced his hand back and gripped his rifle instead. "You think they boarded?"


    "Sure as hell. These things, they don''t stop. They feed on you so they can create more of themselves. If we don''t fight them, sooner orter, mankind is gonna be extinct."


    He braced himself against the bulkhead with one hand as the ship groaned and shook from the maneuverings. "They areing. I can feel it."


    He looked at the rest of the troops milling outside the reactor room. "We have to make sure they don''t get past us if Collins and his section fail."


    -----


    The narrow service corridors lined with pipes and cables only allowed Collins''s section to advance in a single file.


    "Keep some distance, don''t cluster fuck together!" Collins warned his men as they followed the lead crewman to where the shipputers detected the intrusion.


    Pvt Leeds was following the techie in front of him. He looked at his readout and pulled the techie to a stop. "Wait, we are about 30 meters away from the target."


    The techie dressed in a white environment suit with a blue strip indicating he''s from Engineering looked frightened. He raised his weapon, apact personal defense weapon chambered in 5 mm, and nervously fingered the trigger.


    "Hey techie, what''s your name?" Leeds asked as he signaled the men behind him to stop and hold.


    "Lawrence, Spaceman apprentice of engi- ARGH!" A scythe-like de suddenly burst out of his chest turning his white suit red as he turned to reply to Leeds.


    "Shit! Contact!" Pvt Leeds yelled as blood sttered onto his visor. He scrambled back and fell on his back as he watched Lawrence twitching in agony while a creature from nightmares appeared.


    The warrior drone lifted Lawrence towards its maw and bit down, severing the head and part of the shoulder of Lawrence and started chewing.


    -----


    Pvt Drake grew up in a sprawling metro hub on the outskirts of LA. The war had started and with the neww stating that young men had to enlist, he decided to join the Marines. Travel to exotics, find aliens and kill them, the Marine recruiters said. Complete your term of enlistment and get a nice pension they said. He grew up ying CoD XV and other shooters, fancying himself a pro shooter.


    Yet despite all the time in VR games, the reality was different as he went through four months of grueling training in death worlds and airless moons. And he really wanted to kill some aliens.


    And now one of the aliens stood over his section buddy snacking on the techie that brought them here. He flicked his safety off and fired at the warrior drone. Reddish puffs of smoke erupted over the head carapace of the drone as it lowered its head to protect itself.


    A couple of shots blew what remained of the techie into a bloody mess. He watched his rounds impacting uselessly on the armored torso of the alien and decided to pull back instead. He grabbed Leeds''s harness at the grip bar behind his neck with one hand while firing at the creature. "Back! Get back!"


    Leeds kicked his heels as fast as he could to scramble back as the drone discarded the gory remains and dropped into a crouch. He brought up his M7A1 and fired point nk at the drone while he felt someone grabbing his harness and pulling him back just in time as two scythes mmed down where he was a second ago, leave a twin gouge on the steel deck.


    "Shoot the mouth!" Someone shouted in the rear. "Get back! It''s too narrow here!"


    "Fuck!" Drake cursed. Shoot the mouth? Easier said than done! I got my hands full trying to pull Leeds back! I can''t even aim straight! "Fuck!" He swore. "Leeds you fucking owe me one! Shoot that scum''s mouth!"


    Drake dropped his rifle which automatically retracted back to his harness. Using both hands he dragged Leeds all the way back.


    "Die mutha fucker! Die!" Leeds screamed as he unloaded his whole magazine into the drone. Several shots punched through the razor-sharp teeth due to his firing angle and tore the soft tissue within the drone apart.


    Taking critical internal damage, the drone jerked and vomited a mass of bloody gore and purplish ichor before copsing.


    "More iing!" Leeds yelled as he noticed shadowy shapes behind the corpse of the first drone. "Fuck!"

 Chapter 5: Overwhelmed

    Chapter 5: Overwhelmed


    "Captain, Marines reporting contact with the enemy at Engineering B deck 12." XO Ford reported. "So far one known casualty from Engineering."


    "Noted. Pilot, push engines to 110% output, get us out of their firing envelope." Capt ke ordered. "Drop some countermeasures, see if we can trick them for a minute or two."


    He turned to the Weapons Officer next and snapped. "All guns on target Charlie."


    As the Swarm ships slowed due to taking damage, the distance increased from 3,000 km to 4,000 km, but the Swarm ships regrouped and continued to chase and harrass the UNS Singapore.


    "Captain, Gun One can''t target Charlie, it''s at its blind spot!" WO Yan Fey said. He wiped his free-flowing sweat off from his face. "Do I re-acquire another target?"


    "Yes, make it so. Next time don''t ask me. Just do it and inform me ." ke replied. He looked at the main tactical disy screen. Seven mins more to the Ecythn Jump Point. "Prepare the warp drives."


    "Captain, engineering reports warp drives are on ready to go. But the engines can''t take 110% output much longer. They are overheating badly!" Ford looked up from his console.


    "How long can the enginesst?" ke asked.


    "Four more minutes, tops," Ford answered. "Then theputer will auto shutdown the engines and begin the cool down procedure."


    "Understood. Pilot drop back to 100% power but be ready to push it up to 125% on mymand." ke ordered.


    The whole bridge turned and look at their Captain. Confusion can be seen on their faces. "Back to your duties! The Captain knows what he is doing." Ford snapped.


    "Captain, with all respect, don''t you think its too risky to go 125%? The engines might blow and we will be stranded here." Ford whispered as he stood beside the Captain.


    "It will be fine. These things were built tost. Not like the ships these days." ke looked how the counter changed from 7 mins to 11 mins. "We just need it to give us enough inert force to enter the jump point. Then we call for help. The Fleet supply depot there can rescue us even if our engines are burnt out."


    -----


    Deep in the bowels of Engineering B deck 12, continuous gunfire echoed across the deck.


    "We need backup! Ray and Hawk are down!" Sgt Collins yelled into themandworkms. "We can''t hold them back! We are pulling back to deck 10 !"


    He paused to fire at the rushing horde, watching his shots knock the creature down. It shook itself up and started rushing forward again.


    "Back! We can''t hold them here! Get back to deck 10!" He instructed Leeds and Drake before throwing a stun grenade at the mass of ws and chitin.


    The concussion from the stun grenade disoriented the drones long enough for the three of them to retreat back. As they fell back they sealed and locked hatches to slow the Swarm down. Panting, Sgt Collins led Pvt Leeds and Pvt Drake to link up with the rest of Section Four.


    "Sarge Collins, what''s going on?" Asked Cpl Jenkins. With him were Lance Corporal Royce, Pvt Dean and 4 other white-suited techies armed with 5mm PDWs. Everyone was looking at Sgt Collins with anticipation, other than Leeds and Drake who leaned against the bulkhead panting.


    "Form a firing line here. Damn things areing!" Sgt Collins said. "These peashooters of yours can''t do much damage. Those scum are damn hard to kill." He pointed to the techies'' weapons. "Go find something to act as barricades. We hold them off here."


    The techies looked at each other and nodded. "We got some heavy machinery movers. Those can block the passageway."


    "Great! Get on it and tell Chief Matt to evacuate non-essential personnel away." Sgt Collins instructed.


    "Yes Sarge." with that, the techies ran off down the hatchway. Not longter, a couple of forklifts driven by the techs arrived and were directed by Sgt Collins to park in alternating zones to create an S-shaped funnel. The techs locked the wheels and jammed the fork arms against the deck to prevent the vehicles from getting knocked away easily.


    Screeching sounds of metal and unearthly cries echoed down the hatchway. "Get ready! They areing! Remember to aim for their mouth or their weaker joints. These pussy rounds can''t prate for fuck!" Collins yelled. "You guys, clear the area! Get back to Engineering!"


    "You guys take care!" The techs left the area and returned back to the engine room.


    "S4, S4e in! This is Eagle. Over"


    "Eagle this is S4 actual. Currently inbat with scums. Two men down. Requesting immediate support! Over" SGT Collinsmed back.


    "S4, Eagle. Roger, sending S3 to your location. Standy by. Over."


    "S4 copy that. Out." Sgt Collins turnd and said to the rest,


    "Section 3 ising to reinforce us. So we gonna have to hold here till theye!"


    "HOO-RAH!" The Marines of Section 4 yelled back. "Kill them all!"


    The warrior drones rended and tore the hatches that stood between them and their prey. Their senses allowed them to locate the tasty meat through a mix of psionic waves, smell and taste. They "saw" things by sensing their "life" aura, a kind of energy to the Swarm. They could even see the engines and reactor fueled with Helium 3.


    Live prey shows up as a yellowish white pulsing mass while pure energy sources show up as a red white mass. The dronesmunicated telepathically and divided into two groups to harvest those energies.


    The first group continued to systematically rip open the sealed hatches to reach the live prey, while the second group tore right through the decks to reach the mass of angry red aura only which the Swarm could sense.


    "Here theye!" The lead warrior drone mmed against the forklift, causing it to tilt down and crash into the deck on its side.


    "Fire!" Sgt Collinsmanded.


    Five M7A1s zed a hail of ceramic bullets that forced the leading drone backwards. It struggled to rise but must had suffered from some internal injury in its body. The Marines then switched to the next target behind but as one drone went down, three more appeared to take its ce.


    "There''s too many! Fuckers don''t die!" Pvt Dean shouted as he reloaded his third magazine. He suddenly found himself flying in the air towards the onrushing Swarm. "What?" He looked down at his chest to find a wtched to his armor flipping him upside down.


    "Nooo!" Pvt Dean screamed as he disappeared into the mass of thrashing ws and teeth.


    "Fuck! Dean is gone!" Lcp Royce screamed.


    He crouched behind a stack of engine maintenance parts, trying his best to shoot at the joints or mouths, but it was hard to hit as the creatures utilized their head carapace as a form of shield to advance.


    He fired at the exposed legs, sending one of the drones crashing down, and sent a burst into its exposed mouth as it struggled to crawl up. "Sarge! We can''t hold!"


    "Hold, goddamn it! Section 3 is almost here!" Sgt Collins reloaded his rifle and fired at a warrior drone which climbed on top of a toppled forklift. A searing pain tore through his left side as another warrior drone appeared and shed at him.


    "Fuck this! Use frags! He yelled as he stepped back.


    "Frag out!" Two fragmentation grenades were thrown by Pvt Leeds and Cpl Jenkins.


    Both of them aimed theim behind the upturned forklift to prevent fratricide. The M144 AP Fragmentation Grenades packs 70 tungsten ball bearings surrounding a 25g core charge of C-9 explosives. The resulting explosion of the explosives turns the tungsten balls into bits of sma that can burn through 4 mm thick armored steel.


    The dual explosion lifted Sgt Collins off his feet as the shock wave carried him back a couple of meters, dumping him painfully against the bulkhead. Dozens of molten holes could be seen on the forklift''s hard stic structure that protected the rest of the Marines.


    rms red and warning of several breaches in the hull screamed. The Swarm took the brunt of the explosions in their midst, shredding them to bits and pieces. As the auto fire suppression system kicked in, a dark shape emerged through the foam.


    LCP Royce dropped face down as he was cut in half by the warrior drone''s scythes. The rest of the section which was still recovering from the shock after the st was cut down one by one helplessly. Pvt Leeds lost his left arm as he attempted to fire his rifle before losing his head.


    Pvt Drake managed to skittle across the deck as he dodged the multiple shing limbs of the warrior drone.


    Just as he ran out of space to dodge, with the warrior drone looming over him, sudden gunfire forced the warrior drone to retreat until it copsed from the hail of bullets from the timely arrival of Section 3.


    "Medic!"

 Chapter 6: The Jump

    Chapter 6: The Jump


    The ship shuddered and shook violently, its hull groaning and moaning even louder. "What was that?"


    XO Ford scanned his console, "Damn marine jugheads are blowing the ship up! They just detonated 2 grenades in Engineering!"


    Captain ke looked at the main tactical screen and listened in to the marinems.


    "Need backup! Royce is down!"


    "Medic!"


    He closed his eyes remembering his first fight with the Swarm on Himpra Prime. He and the other troops of the 6th PDF have been deployed on the outskirts of the city. He remembered the sky being a beautiful purplish pink with white clouds in contrast to the horizon marred with plumes of ck smoke. He watched dark lines appearing in the wheat fields three km away using his binocrs, until there was too many to count.


    The Swarm were approaching their defensive location rapidly in a massive wave of ck chitin. Artillery fired and balls of fire spurted out among the dark lines, yet the Swarm pushed on relentlessly. Soon the order to open fire came, and he among a thousand others fired their weapons en masse.


    ''Captain?" XO Ford called out. "Are you alright sir?"


    "Yes, just remembering some things." ke looked at the timer. four more mins before entering the Eycthn Jump Point. So far their mains have been keeping the Swarm parasite cruisers at bay, but they learned and were staying mostly at the blind spot of Main Gun 1, effectively cutting down a third of their firepower.


    Combined with the emissions from their own engines, sensors have not been very effective meaning their point defense was less effective and the spore seeds werending on his ship more frequently.


    From his experience and research released to the military by Fleet Intelligence, the Swarm was attracted to sources of energy like the fission reactor and thrust engines. The scientists are unable to determine how they see as they don''t have physical eyes. It was widely spected that they sense andmunicate using some telepathic ways.


    "Let the Marines do what they need to stop the Swarm," Captain ke said. "If the Swarm don''t kill us first..."


    The ship groaned again as the pilot put the ship through another bout of evasive maneuvers. As the timer dropped to two minutes, Captain ke gripped his armrest and ordered, "Warp engines on standby, pilot, push engines to 125% power. Once we are in warp space, cut the engines immediately!"


    The seven massive Mitsubishi ST RX-78 Astrospace engines created a bigger plume of superheated sma pushing the 35,000 tons of armored steel faster towards the Ecythn Jump Point. The four remaining Swarm parasite cruisers, seemingly sensing that their prey was trying to escape, also put on speed and "swam" closer to the United Nations of Man heavy cruiser.


    -----


    "Staff! What do we do now? Section 4 just suffered over 80% casualties!" 2nd Lt Frank urgently asked Staff SGT Pike. "Put the survivors with Section 3?"


    "Sir, I advise you to let the survivors recover a bit first, put them here to hold the bridge. Push Section 2 to help secure Engineering B, and move Section 1 to cover Engineering A." SSGT Pike said while tapping the map on his readout. "Hand the rest of our M7A1s out to the crew security details to help hold Engineering. Other than our M7s, nothing is effective enough against the scums."


    "Can''t we load armor piercing rounds? Or get the heavy guns?" 2nd Lt Frank asked worriedly. "We are taking unnecessary losses."


    "Unless you wanna chance blowing half the ship to space. No sir." SSGT Pike sigh. "Let''s move the section out. Better to bring more ammo along."


    "Alright, Staff. We do it your way." 2nd Lt Frank said. He activated hisms and instructed Section 2 to advance towards Section 3''s location and ordered the survivors of Section 4 to take over the guard post at the Bridge.


    "Yes, Sir." SSGT Pike turned to the rest of the section manning the guard post outside the bridge hatch and yelled. "Alright pack it up! We are moving to Engineering A. Lambert and Gath, you 2 stay here and wait for relief from Section 4. After that head to the armory and bring 1 times 6.5 mm "C" type ammunition case to Engineering A. Do you apes understand?"


    "Yes, Staff! One times 6.5 mm "C" type ammunition case! Aye!" Pvt Lambert and Pvt Gath chorused.


    "Sgt Raman! Where are you?" SSGT Pikemed over the.


    "Y-yes, Staff?" Sgt Raman, I/C of Section 2 replied after a while.


    "What are you doing? Get your section to Engineering B and I want you to unlock the armory and issue out the remaining M7s to security details and also wait for Pvt Lambert and Pvt Gath to draw ammunition. Then get your ass back to your section. You clear?" SSGT Pike spoke into hisms.


    "Of course! My pleasure! Staff!" Sgt Raman replied, happy to know he could get out of harm''s way. Ever since he had been posted onboard UNS Singapore as an armorer, as there was no senior NCO for Section 2, he was assigned to be the I/C and armorer.


    Most of the men don''t like him, as he was not the ideal example of a fighting marine. With a slight pot belly and balding head, he struggled to squeeze into his suit, harness, and armor. He normally skipped the drills and exercises the rest of the men went through, iming he needed to inspect his armory, leaving the running of his Section to the 2 I/C, Cpl James.


    When the sirens went off, he was totally terrified. He hid in his armory, using as many excuses as he could to avoid being deployed with the men till Staff Pike kicked his ass out of his hiding spot.


    While he may have been a coward and was posted to UNS Singapore to keep out of trouble, his skills as an armorer were top notch. He was able to modify or even build guns from scraps and gun parts.


    Sgt Raman puffed out his chest, turned and said in a self-important manner, "Cpl James, you''re in charge now. Staff wants Section 2 to link up with Section 3 and I am supposed to head to the armory." He grinned happily. "New orders."


    "Eh, roger that Sarge." Cpl James raised an eyebrow as he watched Sgt Raman scuttled away like some huge cockroach.


    Sighing, he turned and spoke to the rest of the section who were watching Sgt Raman leave. "Ok new orders, Staff wants us to link up with Section 3. Let''s go!"


    "Fat Ramen is a joke, man." Pvt Mills said in a low voice to Pvt Bartley. "He always tries to hide in some dark corner away from all the fun! Ha!"


    Pvt Bartley, standing over 2m tall, replied softly "You shouldn''t make fun of the sarge. He''s a good man inside."


    "Come on! He was posted here due to him losing his marbles in the front lines. He''s lucky they didn''t shoot him for cowardice." Pvt Mills scorn. "Hey Corp! Why are we joining Section 3?"


    Cpl James looked up from his readout and saw Pvt Mills together with Pvt Bartley walking next to him. Pvt Bartley looked like a huge lost bear without his usual heavy weapon, and the M7A1 in his hands looked like a toy. "Heard that Section 4 got it bad. That''s why."


    "Ah shit, that bad?" Pvt Mills gulped. He wondered if he made a right choice in joining the Marines instead of Fleet or any other branches. Am I gonna die here on this old metal tub? He thought.


    "All hands prepare to enter warp space in 2 minutes! I repeat entering warp space in T minus 2 minutes!" The shipwide PA system announced.

 Chapter 7: Disaster

    Chapter 7: Disaster


    "Entering final limit of Rammas''s gravity well, warp engines are fully charged. Course to Ecythn System is plotted in. Captain, all systems green, ready to enter warp." The pilot announced.


    "Do it."


    All along the sides of the hull, purplish blue streaks of energy crackled and sparked. Everyone onboard felt the ship vibrate and hum all the way deep into their bones. A cosmic storm started formed about a 100m away from the bow of UNS Singapore, purple lightning shes across and reach out to in arcs, seemingly pulling the ship into the depths of the storm. Soon the ship covered by the cosmic storm vanishes away.


    ke held down a wave of nausea threatening to vomit out. He gulps down a mouthful of coffee from his fluid pack and asks, "How long to Ecythn ?" He noticed some unfortunate soul vomiting inside their helmets.


    "Sir, about 9 hours before we exit warp space."


    ke nodded and turned to Ford, "XO get more men to help the Marines. Once we can get the Swarm onboard contained, then we can start repairs." And count our dead, he thought to himself.


    Section 3 I/C Sgt Kai Xiang peered over the wrecked forklift, dozens of Swarm warrior drones corpsesid scattered along the narrow deck. Some of the bodies are still twitching and moving. He looks back at the medic trying to stop the bleeding of Sgt Collins. "Doc." He called out. "How does it look? He will be ok?" He asked.


    "His armor absorbed most of the blow, no major organs hit. Will need some surgery, he should be alright. He is just knocked out from the shockwave." The medic hooked a pack of nano blood onto Collins''s harness and the inserted the catheter into his suit''s medical port. He checked his medical readouts and gestures to the 2 medical assistants, "Alright, send to sickbay, he''s stable for now."


    Sgt Kai Xiang cocks his head as he thought he heard something. "Guys, is that gunfire?" He asked.


    The rest of the section also started to listen intently. "Yea sounds like those pop guns the crew uses."


    Someone said. "Sounds like below us."


    "Shit!" Sgt Kai Xiang cursed. He activated hisms, "All units on alert, we have unknown contacts other than deck 12. Repeat unknown amount of contacts other than deck 12. Be on the lookout!"


    "Hey Sgt KX." Cpl James leading his section arrived. "More trouble?" He nodded to other members section 3. "Where do you want us?"


    "Good, just in time. I want you to head down 1 level. Check it out. Hearing shots fired."


    "Roger that." Collins turn and said, "Alright let''s go scum hunting!"


    As Section 2 entered the lower decks, after turning around a split way, what they saw turned their stomachs. w marks scarred the walls and decks while blood, pieces of human parts and bullet casings litter the walkway. Several of the lights were damaged in the fight, leaving parts of the walkway in the dark or flickering.


    "The fuck. This is like those horror 2d movies we watched." Pvt Mills muttered. "Where did those scum went?"


    "Over here!" Pvt Ed stood over a ripped up section of the deck tes. A section of the floor has a huge hole torn up,rge enough for a Swarm warrior drone to enter. "I think they went down there."


    Cpl James shone his tactical lights down into the hole, revealing an engineering service duct which appears to lead towards the port side of the ship. He debated should he send his people down, when screams and gunfire echo off the sideway.


    "Ok Ed, David, Shawn, and Hong. You 4 down the rabbit hole and check it out. The rest on me." He hefts his weapon and headed towards the direction of the screams and gunfire.


    When the spore seeds m onto the hull of the ship, the outeryer consists of a highly corrosive agent, that is able to melt through several inches of thick armor. Once a breach is formed, the spore seed will cover the hole made and naturally seal it and starts to disgorge its cargo of warrior drones.


    Following the signs of battle and the sounds of fighting ahead, Cpl James and the rest managed to approach from the rear of the Swarm. As the back carapace of the Swarm warrior drones is thinnerpared to the front side, the 6.5mm rounds might not prate the hard carapace but still managed to cause enough broken bones and inner trauma to the warrior drones attacking the group of crew members ahead.


    "Thank the stars you Marines are here!" An ashen-faced crew called out. "We nearly died."


    "Is this all? Are there any more of them around here?" Cpl James asked the survivors.


    "I''m not sure. We were mostly running and shooting, didn''t have a chance to do anything else."


    "Alright. Stay here and hole up here." Cpl James turns and jerked his head back to where they came from and the rest of the section formed up behind him.


    "Pocking hell. This is like a death trap!" Pvt Shawn cuss as he can only advance in a half crouch manner in the tight service tunnel. "Yup, they went by this way." He pointed to the side of the tunnel where scratches made by ws could be seen and reported their progress to Cpl James. "Ok, we are told to keep going." He said to the rest behind him before continuing.


    After walking less than 20m a corner appear, where sounds of metal tearing could be heard. Pvt Shawn raises up a fist and the rest behind stopped and stay alert. He peeked around the corner to find several meters away, 4 Swarm warrior drones were ripping the through the bulkhead and tearing pipes and cables out. "Cpl James! We spotted the scums! But they are doing something strange." Pvt Shawn whispered into hisms. "Do we engage?"


    "What are they doing?" Cpl James asked, curious about the actions of the Swarm.


    "Eh, digging in the walls?" Pvt Shawn replied. "All 4 of them. They are tearing up the ce pretty bad."


    "Wait, what?" Cpl James stopped and rush back towards the group of crewmen they just saved. The rest followed in confusion wondering what is going on.


    "HEY, Do you know whats in the service tunnels?" He yelled as he approaches the crewmen.


    "Which service tunnels?" They asked back.


    "What tunnel is it you are in?" Cpl James held his palm up to indicted the crewman to wait. "He says MT-E-B-13C." After a short pause.


    "That''s the main conduit from the reactor to the engines and warp drives." The crewman replied after double checking his tablet.


    "What happens if the conduit is damaged?" Cpl James asked urgently.


    "Erm, lost of power to warp drives and engine until backup kicks in or power are rerouted. If the ship is underway in warp space as the warp drives require a high amount of power to keep running, an energy leakage will vaporize everything within 50m or more." The white-suited crewman said.


    "GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" Cpl James shouted to hisms after hearing what was being told to him. Next, he switches to themand and reported to everyone about what is going on. "Get out here! The Swarm is tearing the power conduits!"


    Horrified the crewmen turn and ran towards the center of the ship, followed by Cpl James and the rest.


    Hearing the shout to get out, Pvt Shawn turn and shoved David who was at his back "Go go go! Retreat!"


    Less than a second a burst of bluish white me erupted out between the warrior drones, instantly vaporizing them before turning Shawn and the rest into ashes. The st expanded, melting decks and turn hull tes to g before tearing the ship into half and sent the halves spinning in the warp space.

 Chapter 8: Lost

    Chapter 8: Lost


    A sudden rattle of the decks first indicted something was wrong. Capt ke sat on hismand chair reading the reports flooding in from Engineering felt the shaking of the ship. He looks up in surprise as did the rest of the bridge crew. The shaking of the ship grew stronger and harder like an earthquake, followed by the massive sound of groaning metal. "What the hell is that?" He asked.


    Before anyone could respond to his question, rms zed madly, and the whole world went white.


    The rip in the power conduits blew a massive hole at the port side of the ship closer to the engines. As a result, the force of the explosion caused massive structural stress and damage to the ship, snapping the ship in half like breaking chopsticks. The leftover energy spun the forward half of the ship like a spinning top.


    As dpression threaten the ship''s crew, theputer activated emergency dpression protocols and 1 by 1, airlocks m shut protecting the remaining crew members from instant dpression. Yet this did not save everyone as the inertia energy causing by the ship''s spin, forced a crushing 14Gs on everyone.


    Unsecured crew members and objects were mmed onto the bulkheads causing broken bones and instant concussions. Crew members fainted from the high gravity or died to heart attacks, broken necks or head concussions even with everyone is wearing a space/env suit. Theputer detecting the high gravity spin and no human responses, attempted to right the ship using maneuvering thrusters. It was sessful and managed to stop the spin of the ship. By then the crew of UNS Singapore has be incapacitated.


    The ship continued on in warp space, draining power from the charged capacitors and the remaining reactor. The spin from the explosion knocked the ship off course from its original plotted route to Ecythn system and traveled on to an unknown region in space. Warp travel is based on knowing where the endpoint is, if not, the ship will be lost traveling to an unknown part of the gxy. In the beginning, many explorers disappeared into the void of warp space, never to be seen again. Hence at each stable jump points, a warp signal buoy guides ships to their destination.


    ke felt someone shaking him, he slowly woke up from the endless shaking and "Captain! captain!"


    "Enough, stop yelling at my ear. It''s giving me a headache!" He grumbled.


    He tried to raise his head, only to feel like it weighs 10 times more. He blinked his eyes and realized as that it wasn''t his vision blurry but his head visor was chipped with spider web cracks. He tugs his helmet off with the assistance of someone he couldn''t really see clearly.


    "Captain, are you alright?" Comms Officer ra peer at Capt ke. She has some medical knowledge and is checking on Capt ke if he has any concussion.


    "What happened?" ke rubbed his face, coughing from the fumes and burnt stics and found his gloves tinted with blood. He looks around the bridge, finding several of the crew slumps over their seats.


    "I am not too sure, sir. I just woke up not too long ago." She checked his irises and deres, "You got a minor bump, sir. Stay on your seat. I go check on the others." And she moves to check another person.


    ke fumbles with his console, bringing up the ship''sputer logs. His face turns as he reads through the logs. A nuclear explosion onboard his ship? Damn. He unbuckles the crash harness that deployed when the explosion happened and stumbles to the pilot controls.


    He checked the pilot''s suit readout, finding him without any major issues and unbuckled him from his seat and unceremoniously dump him on the floor. ke pulls up the warp navigation systems on the pilot''s console and cursed. The ship is out of course! Damn it. 27 hours in warp space?! Need to shut it down! ke quickly keys in themands to drop the ship back to normal space.


    Red lines of warnings alerts appear immediately on the pilot console as he tries to stop the warp drive. [WARP DRIVE UNCONNECTED] What? How can the warp drive be unconnected? He made his way back to hismand console and search for the damage report. What? He looked at the ship''s wireframe diagram showing all the systems onboard. The reactor B is greyed out, so is the warp drives and engines. In fact, the entire rear half of the wireframe diagram is greyed out.


    Did the explosion blow half the ship away? All those men gone. What the hell really happened?


    He tapped a few keys trying to ess the systems but there was no response. ke stumbled back to the pilot seat and typed in somemands, and the console disyed what he was looking for. The warp engines are down but the warp emitters are still generating the warp bubble that keeps the ship in warp space. Without the warp bubble, ships can''t enter warp space. ke checked the power systems and found that the warp emitters are still drawing power from reactor A. He quickly shut down the power to the emitters.


    Without the warp engines to slow and control the exit speed of warp space, the ship dropped out of warp space back to normal space like a bullet hitting a water surface. ke flew forward, over the pilot console and m against the main tactical disy knocking his breath out, and causing more spider web cracks to appear. Several yells and screams of pain and surprise came from the other side of the console where Coms Officer ra was trying to treat the wounded bridge crew.


    The viewport changed from purplish grey scenery to normal specks of stars. A dribble of blood trickled down ke''s forehead as he climbs his way back over the pilot console. He slumps on the pilot chair, trying to get his head to stop spinning and looks over at ra. Seeing that she is moving, he turns back to the console and with 1 hand pressing on his head wound, uses 1 hand to search for their location.


    [Error, no database of the current system.] No! ke groaned. He looks out of the viewport seeing the tiny specks of stars in the distance. We are lost! He sighed.

 Chapter 9: Crash Landing

    Chapter 9: Crash Landing


    Stand in front of the viewports, Captain ke turned when XO Ford approaches. "How bad is it?" he asked.


    With his left arm in a sling, Ford held the tablet on his right hand and replied. "Not good. Lost all main propulsion systems, life support systems, warp drives, reactor B, supplies in cargo bay B and 378 crew members. The remaining 458 men and women are all suffering from some degree of injuries." He sighs and said. "We are basically a drifting hunk derelict in space."


    "Theputers still can''t pinpoint our location? ke asked.


    "No, theputers couldn''t match any of the Astro charts that we have. But basic survey sensors ssed this system as having a G5 star and 4ary bodies." Ford replied.


    ke reaches out for the tablet and Ford hands it over before continuing. "There is no traces of radio waves or any kind of electrical signals. We are in uncharted space."


    "How is life support doing?" ke continues to ask.


    "Overloaded. With the main life support gone, the secondaries are doing all they can to scrub the CO2 out of the systems. Maintenance gives 40 hours max, before total failure." Ford said.


    "So no chance of a rescue as we don''t even know where are we." ke scratched the bandage covering his forehead. "Less than 40 hours of air, looks like we have to find an ice asteroid or moon to mine some water to convert."


    "Captain, I think we can try surveying thes. With a G5 sun, there is a high chance that there might be a suitable for us tond on." Ford reaches over and taps a fewmands on the tablet. "Theputer has simted whichs have the highest chance of it being life bearing.''


    "But we do not have a way tond on the surface. There are only 2 shuttles onboard, and it is not used for atmospheric travel." ke said. "Unless wend this ship down?"


    "Yes sir, that is what I am proposing. The only way for us to survive is tond with what remains of UNS Singapore." Ford nods.


    "Alright prepare a n for me to review and also arrange for an all department heads meeting at 2 hours time." ke turns back to watching the stars.


    2 hourster, in the Captain''s boardroom. The seats are getting filled up as the heads of various departments arrived. Everyone has some kind of injury and looks tired as they took their seats. ke stood up as thest attendant entered the room. "Alright, now that everybody is here, we shall start. 1st thing I want to say to clear everyone minds is, the ship is crippled and there is no chance of a rescue at all." He looks around the conference table.


    The people at the conference table consist of XO Ford, Chief Engineer, Lt Cmdr Matt, Marine CO, 2nd Lt Frank and Marine Senior NCO, SSGT Pike, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sharon, and from Ship Operations & Maintenance, Lt Grayson. Missing from themand group is Master Chief Cobbs and Weapons Officer Yan Fey who lost their lives.


    "We will start by updating each other on what is each department''s situation and what resources we have left and ideas to resolve them." ke nodded towards Lt Cmdr Matt, "Let''s start with Engineering."


    "As you all know, we lost the engines, warp drives and also a reactor. We are down to 1 reactor running the whole ship now. As for fuel, the forward fuel bunkers are at 46% capacity, enough to keep the ship running for 3 months since no fuel is needed for the engines." Chief Matt reported. "So no issues with power for now." He gestures to Lt Frank to report next.


    "The Marines are down from a total of 28 men to 12 effective. We lost almost 60% of the toon to the Swarm and the explosion." Lt Frank spoke.


    "Medical is overwhelmed, I got over 200 with severe wounds and another 100 or so more with minor injuries and 8 in critical condition. I do not have enough beds to look after them all." Dr. Sharon said. "I need more help with the injured. Most of them are justying in the hallways."


    "I can clear the space at the forward hanger bay. It basically almost empty." Ops Officer Grayson said. "We can set up a triage station there."


    "Good, that will help." Dr. Sharon replied. "I also need some manpower."


    ke nodded and said, "Ok, Ops please prioritize it. Next?"


    "Damage control parties are working in 3 shifts to prevent dpression at Deck 17, 19 and 23. The explosion has weakened the ship''s structure but it shouldn''t be a problem. Also, we are trying to get the machine shop to fabricate some air scrubbers which will help with the increased CO2 in the air." Grayson looked up from his tablet. "If we use the emergency O2 supplies from the lifeboats, it will give us another 12 to 14 hours of air."


    Hearing that, no 1 spoke until Ford cleared his throat. "I have a proposal that might help in regards to that." With that, he activated the holographic disy in the middle of the conference table. "Scans show that this system has a total of 4s circling a G5 star. Theputer has calcted that this," The indicated starts pulsing. "Is within the Goldilocks zone, which can allow life to be sustained. 1 hour ago, a probe was sent to determine if it is habitable, has returned the sensor reports. Based on the report, it is an ex which can support Terran lifeforms." The holographic image of the expands out showing blue seas and green continents. "Theputer also calcted with our current amount of thruster fuel, we can achieve orbit in 2 weeks time."


    "2 weeks? We do not even have enough air for 3 days!"


    "Yes, that''s where Dr. Sharon expertisees in." Ford continued.


    "Me?" Dr. Sharon looks surprised.


    "Yes. We can use the cryo injections which is used to keep the heavily wounded in suspended animation to slow down the crew''s metabolism rate, and also power down all non-essential systems especially the general heaters. We freeze the crew and once in orbit theputer will thaw the men out and we cannd on the."


    "It might work, but I need to manage the dosage properly. Also, I need to fabricate more cryo shots. There is only so much in stock." Dr. Sharon frowns as she mentally did some calction. "Yes, I should have enough supplies."


    "Question, sir." Grayson raised his hand. "Even if the cryo shots work. We wake up all happy at the. How are we going tond? The SCT-200 shuttles we have are space haulers! They can''t fly in an atmosphere! Even if we use the lifeboats to drop into the, we can''t squeeze all the crew and critical supplies!" Grayson pointed out.


    Captain ke rose from his seat and said. "Lady and gentlemen, who said aboutnding on the in the first ce?" He smiled and said. "We are going to crashnd this baby down!"

 Chapter 10: Planet Fall

    Chapter 10: Fall


    A ship-wide announcement informed the crew of the current situation, while the head of departments assigns and prioritize tasks to their people.


    The next several hours onboard UNS Singapore was like a kicked anthill. Medical personnel and Marines worked to stabilize the wounded while other crewmembers stripped reserve O2 tanks from lifeboats and even the water converter to convert O2 out. The mechanics also managed to fabricate out the CO2 scrubbers, which lowers the CO2 content in the air.


    As everything was being prepped, Dr. Sharon using the med bay, managed to produce enough Cyro shots for each crew member using the stock medical biomaterials onboard. The medicalputer analyzed the requirements and fine-tuned the medicine to be used.


    "Sir," Ford appeared next to ke. "Here are the ns I have worked out with Ops."


    ke took the tablet and quickly nce through.


    "We will load the more severely wounded on the lifeboats while the rest stay on their crash seats. Then on the designated time, all crew members are to inject themselves with the cryo shot while theputer shuts downs all non-essential systems and vent all heat out of the ship. All thrusters will also activate at the same time pushing us towards ke''s World."


    "ke''s World?" Capt ke raised his eyebrow.


    "Ahem, yes sir. The rest of the crew is calling that, ke''s World, so it kind of stuck." XO Ford looked away. "All preparation should be ready in a 1 hour. But even with everyone in cryo-sleep, including the oxygen stores from the lifeboats, we barely have enough for the 2 weeks of travel to allow us tond on the surface."


    "Are you not scared?" ke suddenly asked. "We might not make it."


    "Sir?" Ford was confused. He was, of course, scared. This was supposed to be a simple assignment before he gets promoted. A stepping stone for his climb up to Fleet HQ. How could he not be? He didn''t want to lose face nor give up and he should put up a brave front. After all, he still has his pride as an officer. "Of course, yet there is nothing to do about it. I do want to survive and return to Earth, and preferably get a desk job at Fleet HQ," he responds.


    "Hahaha, you still thinking of climbing up the staff ranks?" ke joked. "I''m terrified, yet excited at the same time." He tapped his artificial leg. "They took this from me, and my friends and family too. I wanted revenge so much that I jumped at any opportunity to fight them. Even if it wasn''t on the front lines, I can still do some good training new crews." ke looked at Ford in the eye. "So even we are lost out here. We shouldn''t give up, I almost did before. Even if we''re afraid, there are still over 400 people counting on us, so we have to stay strong for them."


    Ford was surprised as he looked at ke. Ever since he joined as XO, he found ke was mostly indifferent to what the crew does. ke usually agrees to anything Ford proposed and generally kept himself out of running the ship other than attending meetings or major issues. Ford realized that maybe this was what drove ke, thebat and life and death situations.


    "We will not orbit the but instead crash into it." ke dered.


    "What?" Ford was shocked. "But can we survive re-entry?"


    "The City ss cruisers were designed to be atmospheric capable. It will be able to enter the atmosphere andnd somewhere safe. I will set theputer to wake me up and I will pilot the ship down." ke said. "Even if we don''t survive re-entry, it will be painless, the crew won''t even feel it."


    "But, it''s too dangerous! Half the ship is gone, shouldn''t we follow my team''s n?" Ford argued.


    "By fabricating drop pods for materials and supply, converting the haulers to atmospheric travel and using the lifeboats tond?" ke shook his head. "Not enough time for that."


    "Its a gamble! One against the odds, Sir!" Ford stood his ground. He pointed out the viewport. "There is no telling if the ship will break up during re-entry!"


    "I have already had Chief Matt and Ops Greyson to check the ship''s integrity. This olddy won''t fail us." ke pats the smooth bulkhead. He returns and faces Ford. "It is my responsibility to save the crew and the ship if possible. It is the only way left."


    Ford kept quiet and his thoughts race through his head. Finally, he nodded, "Yes you are right, we can''tplete the evacuation of the crew and most likely the heavily wounded will be left behind."


    "But Captain, only you alone to pilot the ship, will that be enough?" Ford asks.


    "Of course! I have plenty of experience piloting her." ke grins. "Alright back to work." He pats Ford''s shoulder and walks off with his hand sped behind his back.


    "Here, help carry this." Cpl James bends over a stretcher with a wounded crew on it. With the help of a fellow marine, they moved the injured into a lifeboat where medical personnel took over.


    "Urgh, I am still wounded, Corp!" Pvt Millsined. "How much more shit do we need to carry?" He rolled a massive canister of over 200 kg with the markings O2 stenciled on it onto a hoist with several others. "I''m iming overtime for this!"


    "Cut the crap and get those down to Engineering." SSGT Pike roared behind Mills, making him jump. "Hurry up, this shit is gonna save your arses soon!"


    "I am so gonna put in a letter of protest for this shit," said Mills out of hearing from Pike and the rest of the crew and marines nearbyughed as they continued their tasks.


    Finally, the crew of UNS Singaporepleted all preparations to enter cyro sleep. ke sat on themand chair in the bridge and watch the rest of the crew strap into their seats. He activated the ship-wide announcement systems and addressed the crew. "All hands, this is your Captain speaking, all of you have done very well in the fight with the Swarm and in the past few hours. All of you have gone beyond your call of duty and for that, you have my respect. Now we will be entering deep sleep to preserve our oxygen and prepare for a 2 weeks journey. I shall see you all there on the other side! Godspeed!"


    ke presses the injector against his thigh and injected the cyro serum into his body followed by hundreds of crew members who injected the cyro shot into their arms or thighs simultaneously.


    ke felt a cold numbness spreading from his thigh until his whole body is feeling cold, he felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier before he fell asleep. Throughout the ship, crew members slowly fell asleep from the drug and as theputer vented the heat from the ship, the temperature drops down to around 3 degrees Celsius.


    Theputer AI following the instructions that are given earlier by themand crew, ignited the maneuvering thrusters to the maximum, cing the crew on a force of 7 gravities. Following an order that was given by the Captain and XO, but unknown to the rest of the crew, theputer uses up all but 10% of the remaining fuel for the thrusters putting the ship onto a collision course with ke''s World. It will not enter orbit but instead enter the atmosphere of the andnd on its surface.

 Chapter 11: Blakes World

    Chapter 11: ke''s World


    ke suddenly jolts awake, he gasps for air while struggling against the restraints. As the fog in his mind slowly clears away, he realizes on themand seat. As he removes his helmet and takes in deep breathes, he felt the cold icy air. His breath turns white in the chill.


    ke tried to unbuckle himself out but finds his fingers numb, he spent several minutes shaking his hands and massages them until he could move his fingers properly. Finally free of the restraints, he looks around the quiet bridge. Lit by a dim red light, the shadows cast on the bridge crew sleeping on their seats look like they are dead.


    ke sat on the empty co-pilot seat and booted up the disy. Once the system started up, he ran a ship system diagnostics. He tries to peer out of the viewport as he waits for the logs to appear but due to the frosted screens, he couldn''t see anything clearly. Finally, theputer beeps and disy the ship''s system log.


    What is left of UNS Singapore is currently almost on top of ke''s World. Captain ke set theputer to wake him up an hour before hitting the low orbit of ke''s World. He checks through all the systems of the ship to ensure there is new issues or problems from the 2 weeks travel. Next, he powers up the main disy on the bridge.


    The huge screen flickers to life and shows a live image of ke''s World from the probe. Data streams on the side disy a few basic information regarding the. ke got up and stood in front of the disy and reads the 2 weeks of data from the probe.


    The atmosphere appears to consist mainly of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases and some unknown elements. ke skims through the data. Continental type world, 1.3 times the size of Earth, with a gravity of 0.9 times of earth. No electronic emissions of any kind detected but appears to have some native lifeforms. Satelite images show oceans, massivendmasses topped with vegetation. It appears to be totally earth-like to ke.


    He let out his breath that he has been holding in. ke could not imagine if after traveling here, the is unable to support human life. His whole crew will be doomed. He looked towards where Ford was lying on his crash seat, face hidden by the frosted visor. His gamble has paid off.


    Using the data provided by the probe and the current approach of the ship, theputer calcted several possible reentry sites. Finally, he chooses a site with the highest percentage of sessfullynding and less amount of projected casualties. He looks at the data and images and together with theputer, fine-tune the approaches, taking into ount factors like wind and drag.


    The ship will begin its approach from the thermosphere, looping once over the to bleed off speed before descending down to the troposphere and using the remaining fuel to and air brakes to further reduce speed before hitting the ocean and using it to dampen thending andnd on a t beach. ke was confident that UNS Singapore will be able tond on the but the issue is, will they still be in one piece?


    Almost an hourter, the floating hulk entered the orbit of ke''s World. Thrusters angled the ship to the correct trajectory and the ship slowly falls into the atmosphere. ke strapped himself in on the copilot seat and gave a quick prayer to the gods before activating the heat shields.


    st shields slid smoothly down to cover the viewports, the ice slowly melts away and the temperature in the bridge starts to rise. As the ship enters the atmosphere, the bow of the ship glows a fiery red, turning the ship into a falling star.


    All across the, natives lifeforms look up to the skies, watching a fiery falling star streak against the sky. As it travels through the sky, it announces its arrival with a thunderous roar, awakening slumbering creatures and scaring the natives.


    The damaged end of the ship trailed a massive plume of smoke, fire, and debris, from the day, it looks like a meteor while at night a falling star. As the natives of this world have never seen anything like this before, many falls to their knees in worship or fear.


    After the ship looped once around the, ke deploys its aero stabilizer fins from the ventral side, giving the ship some form of aerodynamics. He groans from his seat as the shaking rattled his whole body while warning rms zed endlessly driving him mad.


    Soon the shaking stopped and the st shields retracted back, ke looks out of the viewports, seeing a pristine world, and a whole lot of water rushing towards him. He quickly pulls the control up and activates the thrusters to slow the falling ship. Soon his view changes to show the skyline instead of the ocean. He checks his airspeed, still too fast and applies the air brake to slow down.


    ke wasn''t really flying the ship, as the ship is just dropping down from the sky. He tries his best to level the ship and not pancake into the ocean. As the City ss ships, UNS Singapore were designed for atmospheric entry, it is also designed tond on water. Even so, he told Ford, that he could handle it, he did not really have much skill in piloting the ship.


    By blind luck, he manages to keep the bow of the ship facing upwards as the aft portion sshnded against the ocean, creating a massive wake behind. He struggles with the aero stabilizers to keep the bow up as much as he can and burn up all the fuel in the maneuvering thrusters to slow the ship down.


    Despite his best efforts, the ship skids and cuts through the ocean, directly towardsnd, ke watches helplessly as thendmass getting closer and closer. Oh fuck, he closed his eyes and braced hard against his seat as the bow of the ship ram up the beach before smashing its way through the trees. He finally lost consciousness as the bow of the ship punch through a small hill before stopping.

 Chapter 12: Strange New World

    Chapter 12: Strange New World


    Cpl James had a good dream, with a pretty girl, living the good life while still schooling in university, when the Swarm invaded and turned the dream into a nightmare. The faces of Shawn, David and the rest keeps appearing and taunting him no matter where he ran or hide before catching up to him and turning into a Swarm warrior drone, it''s limbs gripping him tightly and drawing him into a deadly embrace.


    Screaming, he jolted awake suddenly and iled around, bathed in cold sweat before remembering he was buckled up in a crash seat. He took several minutes calming his racing heart down before trying to get out of his restrains.


    Where are the lights? He got out and stepped on the deck, thinking that he must still be under the effects of the drugs that he felt the ship was nted. He looked at the rows of marines and crew members strapped to their seats and realized that it was the side effects of the cryo shot, the ship is nted. Is the gravity generator broken down? He removes his helmet and a strong smell of ozone and burnt stics instantly assail his nose. He coughs violently and turns on his shlight on his harness.


    The light beam lit up thepartment, showing people strapped to crash seats mounted in 2 rows against the wall. Spending some time. James checks his teammates'' and the crew members'' vitals and found them all alive but still sleeping.


    Trying to open the hatch of thepartment, he found that there is no power and has to manually crank the door open. As he stepped out to the deck, he could see several beams of lights as other members of the crew are moving up and down, rescuing people and trying to organize things.


    James waved at a crewmember with a medical patch on his sleeve and called out. "Hey, medic? I got about 30 guys in here. Can you check them out?" The medic took a quick look into thepartment and took out a marker and starts to write something on the bulkhead next to the hatch.


    "Power''s out for now. Noms nowork." The medic exined as he sketches some medical lingo on the bulkhead. "Got it, I''ll be right back with more help. By the way, head to the forward flight deck, everyone is gathering there." The medic said and rush off down the hallway.


    As James approaches the flight deck, he notices it seem brighter and a chorus of voices could be heard and the air feel cleaner, less smokey. Stepping on to the flight deck, he was surprised at the sight he saw.


    Theunch bay doorsy open, disying a view of the evening sun. Orange purple skies and clouds stretched as far as he could see. He stood there watching the view than he realized that they hadnded on ke''s World. He notices the foliage looks bluish-green, instead of green but other than that everything looks suspiciously Earth-like. Even the smell of the sea from the breeze.


    James walks to the edge of the open bay doors and peers off the side, he found that the ship or what is left of it is wedged directly into a cliff hill. The forward bow appears to be buried into the hill while a trail of destruction could be seen behind the aft section. Wait how did wend? I thought the n was to drop supplies from orbit and not the whole ship? He rubbed his short crew cut hair and sat on the edge of the doors, feeling the sea breeze and watch the sun set into the horizon. Whatever. I am alive. He smiles at that thought.


    "Hey corp?" Pvt Mills stumbled over and flopped himself down beside James. He took several deep breaths and said, "Join the Marines, see news eh?" Behind him stood Pvt Bartley,


    "Pretty." He intoned before squatting down behind to James and Mills.


    "You alright man?" James noticed Mills''splexion wasn''t very well. "How''s the rest?"


    "Ribs hurt. I feel like a truck had sat on me." Mills brushed it off. "All up, Staff Pike says to take it easy first while he and LT go find out what is going on."


    "Well, we are all that is left of Section 2." James turns and looks at the crew standing or sitting around the bay doors. "Except for Raman," he added.


    "What do we do now corp?" Bartley asked in his deep voice.


    "What we need now is some beach balls, suntan lotion, and babes!" Mills interrupted and gave a wide grin. "By the way, this feels like some survival VR game I was ying back awhile ago. Yound on this with nothing, then you try to survive by rubbing sticks for a fire, to hunting animals, chopping trees and growing crops."


    "Shut up." James rolls his eyes. "We are not that primitive to that extent to need to rub sticks for a fire. Anyway, just take a break for now till we get new orders."


    "Thought the higher up''s ns was to orbit and drop instead of crashnding this hulk? Mills asked.


    James shrugged, "I woke up and we are all here. Maybe theputer crashed us? I don''t know."


    "Safer to crashnd than do orbital drops," Bartley said.


    Both James and Mills turned to stare at Bartley. "No shit?" Mills said sarcastically. "Why didn''t I thought of that?"


    "Stop that." James sighs. "Knowing our drop lift amount, yes, crashnding is better to get us all down in one piece rather than in pieces."


    "Well, I guess we all made it is a good thing? I hope no aliens here that want to eat us." Mills said as he flopped on his back. "Hey Big Guy, wake me when its chow time yea?" He said to Bartley.


    "Alright," Bartley answers back and sat down on the deck.


    James wondered at that, will there be aliens here too? Will they be hostile like the Swarm? He took ast look at the scenery as the dying light of the sun turns everything in darkness beforeying back against the deck and close his eyes in thought.

 Chapter 13: Numbers

    Chapter 13: Numbers


    ke leans against the railing, watching the night sky from the window in the officer''s mess. The''s dual moons loomed over the horizon with a spectacr disy of stars as the backdrop. It''s pretty romantic, he thought, with the dim lighting of the officer''s mess and that wonderful view.


    "Penny for your thoughts?" Ford joined ke at the viewing gallery. "How are you feeling?"


    "Better, after the meds," ke replied. "I was contemting about how beautiful this is."


    "Thank you, for saving us all," Ford said. "Your n worked. Younded us all in one piece with only a few casualties."


    "It was a gamble. Thank god thisdy held. I thought that we are all gonna die when that cliff came up."


    "Lady luck is smiling on you, on all of us," Ford said. "So what''s next?"


    "Let the crew rest for the night, we start from fresh tomorrow. Make sure that none of the crew leaves the ship, and all hatches are locked downter tonight." ke said. "We have a HOD meeting tomorrow after breakfast." He turned back to view the night sky.


    By 10 pm shipboard time, the crew members lock down the ship once more. As they have no idea what was out there, it was safer to just lock down the ship and the crew enjoyed some much-needed rest. As the crew slept into the night, a fair distance away, near the peak of a volcano, a deep roar rumble out.


    As morning came, the overall high morale of the crew could be seen. Chorus of greetings and cheerfulughter could be heard in the mess and walkways.


    ke sat at the head of the conference table and waited for all the heads of departments to enter and started the meeting. "Alright, wended safely but there are still many difficult times ahead. We need to ensure our survival here, as we do not know how long we will be stuck here. There are 3 possible scenarios; One, we are stuck here forever, so we need to build a permanent base here. Two, we build a base here and wait hopefully for a rescue. Third andst of all, we rebuild a warp drive and return to Earth."


    Chief Matt spoke up, "Rebuilding the UNS Singapore with what we have is impossible! We don''t even have the proper tools for it nor the knowledge base! Last option is out!" He deres.


    Ford spoke next, "As for a rescue, it is also impossible. 1st of all we are in uncharted space and with the war with the Swarm, it will be years before a survey ship enters this system."


    "So the only option is for us to build a base here. A colony of man." ke said. "In this case, we need to inventory every item and salvage all usable systems from UNS Singapore."


    Grayson raises his hand, "We need food, water, medical supplies, shelter, and security"


    Dr. Sharon also raises her hand and added, "We need to send out surveying teams to gather samples from native nt life and soil to see if it is edible and also if it provides the vitamins we need. Our vitamins supplies are a little low. And also I need to use thebs here to test if there is any pathogen or viruses that are harmful to us in the air or soil."


    "Eh, for security, I will set the Marines out to recon the perimeter, and also as escorts for the surveying teams if needed." Lt Frank. "But we arecking severely in manpower. I have only so many marines left."


    "Alright, you guys know what to do without me tell you," ke said. "I want a detailed report on our current level of status, manpower, fuel, power, food, water, equipment, weapons and action ns," ke tick his fingers off one by one. "For now we set up a perimeter first around the ship. We will convene again same time tomorrow morning. Thank you."


    By noontime, the ship was a hive of activity. Crewmen using power tools were either tting the ground to level the surface, while others, cut down trees and other foliage. Another team worked to clear the buried portion of the ship out. Pairs of Marines could be seen patrolling along the perimeter. In short, a perimeter radius of 100m is being cleared around the crash. This activity went on all day till nightfall where everyone retreated back into the ship to button up.


    "All here? Good. Let''s start." ke leans back in his chair as he looks around the conference table. Other than the usual people, a few more new faces appeared. "Ok, who first?"


    Ops officer Grayson cleared his throat as he volunteers to start first. "The ship doesn''t look pretty. What remains of UNS Singapore is the forward and center crew quarters, the forward flight and cargo decks, the bridge and CIC, the forward reactor and the central magazines." He flips his notepad, "Also, the med bay, the old civilian researchbs and Marine quarters are all that survived."


    "How about weapons systems?" XO Ford raised.


    "For weapons systems, the dorsal turret is currently half buried in the side of the hill, while the ventral turret is scattered in pieces from here to the sea. The missileunchers and point defensesers on the port and starboard side are rtively protected in their armored casements. But we have to dig some out from the hill. For ammunition remaining in the magazines, we have a grand total of 80 Multi-Purpose AIM-32H Space Sparrows missiles and 20 more in the readyunchers and 236 155mm sabot prators for the rail guns. For the PDsers, until the reactor is fixed, we do not have enough energy to fire them."


    Graysontook a sip of water before continuing. "We got 3 machine shops, 1 in flight, 1 in cargo and a final 1 in the forward reactor. All are tooled for maintenance and simple parts fabrication. We could tweak around with the software to produce other things but don''t expect to build a warp drive out of it."


    "Total active manpower standing at, 424. While 34 are still in recovery. We have set up 5 Wind, Tidal and Sr (WTS) power generators taken from the 5 remaining lifeboats, it currently provides enough power for our basic needs. Also, the ship''s water purifiers are still working, just that we need to find a proper water source, seawater works too but I don''t really rmend it. We will need to build a water supply line or we have to transport water to be purified every day." Grayson looked up from his notes. "For inventory," He nods to the Asian male sitting on his left. "Quartermaster Chen will update us."


    ''Good morning sir," QM Chen greeted ke. "We have a total of 22 days worth of food both perishables and preserved if running on full rations for 500 people. We have water enough for 16 days at current usage. 92 power tools, 5 forklifts, 19 heavy hand lifters. Zero fuel in the tanks. 2 space haulers and 4 buggies."


    QM Chen looks toward Lt Frank, and continues, "On the Marines and Security section side, we have a total of 37 M7A1s, 2 M7 DMRs, 220 Glock G88Cs, 50 M8 shotguns, 4 PK-299 HMGs and 217 PDWs. 30,000 rounds of 6.5mm C type. 50,000 rounds of 6.5mm AP, 179,000 rounds of 5mm and 10,000 12 ga shotgun shells." He pauses and flips his notes. "The Marines armorer says that once the ammo is used up, we do not have the advanced materials to produce any more ammo, except for simpler ammunition like the 12 ga."


    "Medical wise, I am almost all out of biomaterials to produce much vines or medicine." Dr. Sharon spoke next. "We used up almost all of it to produce the cyro shots. We need to see if there are any native nts here with medical properties that we can use if we want more medicine."


    "Is there any signs of viruses or pathogen that we need to be worried about?" ke asked.


    "So far no. I tested the air and seawater samples. As we have not found any source of water, I cannot verify it yet." Dr. Shanon replied. "As for the wounded in the sick bay. Good news is all of them are stabilized and should be able to recover in time. The bad news is I am nearly out of medical supplies like bandages, sterilizers, and other critical supplies for medical operations."

 Chapter 14: Numbers - Part 2

    Chapter 14: Numbers - Part 2


    "The Marines and the Security section have established a 100m perimeter around the base. We are hoping to clear the area to 200m." Frank said. "Once Dr. Sharon''s team is ready, I will have my guyspany them for surveys to provide security."


    "Lt, I will get the team leader to liaises with you as soon as possible." Dr. Sharon promised.


    "I guess it''s my turn now." Chief Matt sighs. "Well, the crashnding and ramming of the ship into the cliff has knocked the reactor''s fusing rod alignment out. Stupidputer." Chief Matt grumbled.


    ke looked away in embarrassment while Ford kept a straight face. As the crew still did not know the details, ke decided to keep it that way.


    "It will take some time to realign the rods."


    "How long?" ke asked.


    "It''s a very delicate job, supposing done in a yard. A week at least." Matt said.


    "Alright make it a priority. Also get the surveying teams out to look for water." ke ordered. "How about the wildlife here? Have we encountered any? Natives?"


    "No sir, other than the usual bugs and insects, there is surprisingly no form of wildlife seen," Frank said.


    "I won''t be surprised, considering we crashnded like that. We probably scared them all away." Dr. Sharon said.


    "Any chance of the Swarm here with us?" ke asked.


    "It''s too early to time. With the sensors andmunication arrays on the bow of the ship destroyed, we couldn''t even contact our probe in orbit. We have no eyes in the sky and all form ofmunications." Ford said. "We only have localmunications within a range of 15 km. If the weather stays like this. The range will drop to less than 10 km if the weather is bad."


    "We canunch some UAVs to help survey the surrounding areas and as first line of warning." Lt Frank said. "But they are power intensive. So we might not get as much flight time with them,"


    "Alright set that up with the UAVs." ke than ask, "How about transportation? Are the 4 buggies enough?"


    "Ahem, eh, sir." A bespectacled young man, in a mechanic jumpsuit with a rank of Petty Officer 1st ss pinned to his cor tabs, spoke. "The buggies will not be good for any off-road activities. They are primarily designed to be used in the ship. We need to modify them before they can be any use outdoors."


    "You are?" ke asked.


    "This is PO Nelson," XO Ford replied for him. "He took over Master Chief Cobbs''s duties in addition to his own in the motor pool."


    "Space haulers are too heavy to lift off in the atmosphere, it will require a lot of modifications before it could be flown. Also, fuel for the haulers is limited." PO Nelson continued.


    As everyone digest the news, ke stood up. "Alright, I think it''s good that we more or less know the problems we face. For now, our priority is food, water, power than medical. Weapons and modification of the vehicles is not an issue yet. As for rationing food and water, we decide again after 1 week." As he was about to end the meeting. Someone at the back raised her hand.


    "Sir, I am Spaceman Apprentice Alice, from Hydroponics. " A young caucasiandy with her tied in a ponytail introduced herself. "Hydroponics was lost in the explosion but I have some seeds with me in my locker, mostly potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, and strawberries."


    "That is good news," ke relieved as it could help a bit with the food issues. "Ok SA Alice, I am putting you in charge of farming. Get a list of what you need to XO Ford. Any other questions?"


    With that note, the conference ended and everyone returns to work. ke gestures to Ford to stay back. Once the room was clear, ke said. "What do think of our odds in starting a colony here?"


    "If we can settle food, water, and power. I think we should be ok. Unless the Swarm is here in force or there are hostile natives than we need to rethink our strategy." Ford answered.


    "We need to ration the usage of our equipment and look into ways to replicate or substitute them. We do not have the infrastructure to produce everything we need to support our current tech, sooner orter, it will break down and we won''t have the parts nor the ability to build or rece them." ke rubbed his eyebrows.


    "Do we have anyone with the relevant knowledge or know how in this case?" Ford asked. "I know Staff Pike is great with jungle survival stuff. He probably knows plenty of jungle and forest skills that will be useful to the crew out here."


    "OK, I think we should make all the crew members fill up a questionnaire regarding their skill sets," ke suggested. "This way we can filter out those with skills that can help in building up the base. I will look at expanding the perimeter."


    "I will get right to it, sir." Ford then left the room.


    ke finishes his coffee before following Ford out of the room and went off to supervise the crewmen working at the perimeter. He exited the ship by the cargo bay ramp with extends all the way to the ground. He stood at the foot of the ramp and cranes his head up and looks at the cliff where one-third of the ship is buried into. Damn, how did we survive that? Thank god for small mercies.


    "Captain!" A crewman in a red jacket stroll up to and saluted ke. "Sir, I heard from the XO, you areing to check on the perimeter?"


    "At ease," ke returned the salute. "So what do we have here?"


    "The soil is pretty sandy, we are about 300, 350m away from the sea. All around us is just overgrowth and not manyrge trees, so work has been progressing quite fast." The vegetation around the ship was 1st cleared away creating a t square shaped field. The ground was then ttened andpacted uniformly. "We extended to about 120m away and by tomorrow we should be able to clear thend up to 200 m away." They walked towards the edge of the field.


    The crewman pointed out various interesting features of the terrain and also borate on where will buildings be built using local materials. A wall enclosing the colony is also nned to be constructed.


    "How do you nned to build this?" ke asked PO 1st ss Letts after looking at his name tag and rank. "Do we even have construction materials to build all that?"


    "Cap, I used to run my own constructionpany before getting drafted," Letts said. "Cement and concrete are easy to make, all we need is limestone, sand, and some y. I have gotten the boys to go poke around to see if they can find some y for me but limestone and sand we got plenty around us." He gestures towards the cliffs.


    "But can we produce enough of it to use?" ke was impressed.


    "Yup, I set up a production line to produce as much cement and concrete as you want, as long as I have the raw materials." Letts dered.


    "How much manpower and resources do you need?"


    "40 to 50 for now. Then depends on the output and demand. Also, I need a week or so to experiment to get the perfect mix." Letts said.


    "Good work, PO. Keep it up. Inform either the XO or me if you need help." ke said as he thanks Letts for the tour.

 Chapter 15: Giant Wolf

    Chapter 15: Giant Wolf


    "Hey Big Guy, See anything?" Pvt Mills ask Bartley as they followed the 3 technicians into the forest. "What are hell are they collecting?"


    "Samples." Pvt Bartley replied. His eyes constantly scanning left and right at the clearing where they stopped.


    "Damn, I know its samples, but for what use?" Pvt Mills grumbled, he ps away an insect thatnded on his neck. Both of the Marines were wearing No. 4 forest camo fatigues, open-faced helmets with their armored chest tes and equipment harness. Except for Bartley, he lugs along a PK-299 heavy machine gun, that is attached to an exoskeleton frame that he wears, with severalrge pouches containing ammunition for his weapon.


    "To study."


    "You know what? You are all fun and games, really." Mills gave up trying to chat with Bartley and walked up to 1 of the techs crouching over a nt. "Hey, whatcha doing?"


    The technician turns and lifts up a small container with a leaf inside. "Well, we are cataloging the nts to see if they can be eaten or used in some way." He gives the bottle a little shake before cing it carefully into his bag.


    "Eh, ok." Mills straighten up, unimpressed. "So this blue-green nts are edible?" He pucks a leaf off a small tree. Most of the leaves of the nt life in ke''s world are bluish in color with a hint of green.


    "Well not this," The tech stood up. "Over here," he waves Mills over and kneels down to a tiny growth with blue fern-like leaves. "This here is a kind of tuber or root, in case you jug heads don''t know what a tuber is." The rest of the techsughs as he continues his exnation. "The guys at theb says it tastes like carrot and potato and carries the same nutrients and vitamins as them. So they called this a carr-ato."


    "Oh wow." Mills rolls his eyes while Bartley looks on in interest. "So other than the tuber root carr-ato. Nothing more interesting found?"


    "Hahaha, we found plenty in thest week." The tech proudly said. "There a tree sap that tastes like maple syrup but when dried bes like rubber."


    "Also there''s this berries that the other team bought in," The rest of the techs chipped in stories. "- that huge monster fish from the sea." "-mushrooms from the -"


    Mills listened with half an ear to the excited techs talking about new discoveries on this. He waves away the insects buzzing around his face and leans against a tree. He looks around the clearing, pulls out a pack of protein bar and starts chewing on it.


    "Mills," Bartley said in his usual tone. "Mills, something is watching us."


    "What?" Mills jolt up. "Where?"


    "I am not sure." Bartley slowly turns on the spot to face towards the forest. His eyes peer intently trying to find the source of his unease.


    "Are you sure?" Mills fingered his weapon''s safety. He casually walked towards the techs still in lively discussion. "Guys, I think we should start to pack it up. It''s gettingte." They are roughly 1 hour on foot away from the base.


    "But we are not done here. It''s still early!" The techs protested. "We only collected less than half of the samples needed"


    "We can do it tomorrow, for now, pack it up, we are heading back," Mills growled at the techs.


    Sensing something is wrong, the techs quickly grab their belongings and equipment. Less than a minute, they are all ready to return.


    "Quickly now, let''s go." Mills lead the way with Bartley covering the rear. The group quick march through the forest, climbing over massive tree roots and in certain areas, dense foliage.


    "Mills," Bartleyms. "It''s following us. I can hear it."


    Shit. Mills cursed. "Base, this dog 2, we might have a situation here." Hems back to base.


    "What''s the situation?" Base radio back.


    "We appear to have something following us. Unable to identify,"


    "RTB immediately, a rapid response team will meet up with you along the way for escort, over."


    "Roger that!" Mills ended thems. "Let''s go," He pushed the group to travel faster.


    They push through the dense foliage and emerges out into a field of grass. The wind causes the grass to sway like waves. "This is not good." Mills said as he scans the surroundings. The closest treeline is about 200m away. "It''s too open."


    "Big guy, hold the rear. We go by frog leap," He tells the group. "I go first. Once I reach the tree line, I will give a signal then you guys are next. Just run ok? Don''t stop till you hit the trees."


    Mills look left and right before dashing across the field in less than 40 seconds before he arrives at the edge of the forest. He quickly got into a ready position to cover the rest and waves the techs to start running. The techs seeing his signal, they ran towards him. Once they reached the cover of the trees, Bartley followed suit and sprint across.


    Suddenly a huge roar erupted from behind Bartley, causing to pause and turn. A wolf the size of a bus leap out from the foliage andnds several meters behind him. Everyone stood and stared in amazement before yelling for Bartley to run. The giant wolf-like creature, has 2 horns like a buffalo, and grey-blue colored fur coat, making it seemingly bend in with the surrounds. It made a leap towards Bartley who following the encouragement of the group, was running towards the trees.


    Mills flicked his safety off his M7A1 and took sight on the creature. The 2x red dot sight mounted on the weapons seems to erge the creature furthermore. Once he noticed Bartley out of the line of fire, he triggers his weapon, firing a long burst into it. This time, instead of the C type rounds, he was loaded with AP rounds.


    The AP bullets m directly into the center of the creature, causing it to tumble. Sparks and bluish blood burst out from the impacts. The creature yelped in a very dog-like manner and as it rose up, it shook its body causing specks of blue blood to scatter.


    "What the fuck!?" Mills roared! "That''s cheating! It''s bloody armor piercing rounds! It fucking shrugged it off!" Pissed, Mills continued firing at the creature.


    By this time, Bartley made it over to the tree line. He took a deep breath and braced himself as he hoists his PK-299 and fires a stream of bullets at 1,400 rounds per minute. The tracers from the HMG was like aser, striking the creature, and tearing it to meat chunks.


    "

 Chapter 16: Giant Wolves

    Chapter 16: Giant Wolves


    As the echo of Bartley''s HMG died down, the techs together with Mills cheered. "Hot damn! I need one of those myself!" Mills swap out a new mag with his partial empty mag from his rifle. "Hey techies, is that a giant wolf or what?" He asked the techie crouching next to him.


    "Eh? I have no idea. We need to bring the corpse back to study. But it does look like a wolf, with horns." The techie replied excitedly, as he peers intently at the downed wolf. "Huge too."


    "No shit, Sherlock." Mills rolls his eyes. Damn nerds.


    "Mills, it''s not over yet." Bartley''s calm voice cuts into their conversation. "More iing."


    In the distance, sounds of something heavy crashing through the foliage could be heard. Snarls and growls seeming grew nearer and louder. A sudden howl heralded the arrival of 4 more giant wolves, each as huge as a car or minibus!


    "Oh shit," Mills saw the group of wolves appear at the opposite side of the field. "Run!" He yells at the techs. "Big Guy! Covering fire!" And opens up with his rifle.


    Bartley opens fire with his weapon and backs off slowly. He directs the spray of tracers onto the nearest andrgest wolf in the group. Sparks, smoke, shreds of meat and fur flew as the tracerse into contact. Seeing his target dropping, he sweeps his fire to the closest wolf. Clumps of dirt and torn grass flew as the bullets wrought destruction in its path.


    The wolf roars in agony and raises its front paws to protect its venerable face, as bullets m into its body. The other wolves quickly leap into action and split off towards the left and right respectively to escape the storm of bullets from Bartley.


    The heavy fire from Bartley manages to suppress and take down the two of the wolves but the other 2 wolves moved too fast for him to get a good lock on them.


    For Mills, it was harder to hit the wolves. "Fuck! How can dog shit like that move so fast?" Mills cursed. He tries to get a good aim on the closest wolf but it kept dodging his shots. "Damn it! You dog! Stay still!"


    Bartley ceased his fire, turn and ran towards Mills. Upon reaching his side, he turns around and covers Mills''s nk and fires at the other rapidly approaching wolf. He fires a short burst and waits after the wolf makes a dodge by leaping to the side than he opens fire at where he estimates the wolf willnd. Theser beam like tracers torn the area where the wolfnded into smoke and blood, causing a small fire in the grass field.


    Finally, Mills also manages to bring down his target, just 10m away from him. The wolf crumpled down, dying of internal injuries. Even in its dying breath, the giant wolf snarls and rage, it struggles to raise up and its limbs w desperately in its attempts to move its body. Slowly the hate in its eyes faded as Mills and Bartley watch it slowly stops moving.


    "Any more?" Mills asked. He reloads and crouches down keeping his rifle in a ready position.


    "I don''t see anything," Bartley replied. He lowers his weapon and checks his ammunition counter.


    "Phew, thought thatst one was gonna get me." He walks up and pokes the wolf carcass with his smoking rifle barrel. "These guys are tough! I''m using AP rounds!" He bends over and examines the wolf body before using his hands to pull something out from its fur.


    "Holy shit." He holds up aplete bullet, with the tungsten alloy core tip slightly tten. "This shit is supposed to prate up to 14mm thick steel tes!"


    Bartley picks the bullet from Mills and examines it. Then he walks 1 full circle around the body and gauges. "Roughly 5 meters long, 2.5 meters tall." He taps the horns growing out from the head of the wolf. "Solid ivory."


    "Damn, we bagged a big one eh?" Mills grins. "Think they allow us to mount its head up in the barracks?" He poses with one foot on top of the giant wolf like a big game hunter. "We can make big bucks with this."


    Soon after, the rapid response team of 8 arrives with the group of techs. 2 Marines and 6 from the security details, their gear and uniform greatly different from the marines. They are armored with ck riot gear and dark naval grey jumpsuits, carrying PDWs or shotguns.


    They hurriedly bash through the undergrowth and appears out of the tree line and sees Mills leaning on top of arge rock while Bartley seems like trying to put out some fire in the distance. "Took you guys long enough." Mills grins. "And no thanks to you guys but the day is saved!


    "Yeah yeah," Lcp Cooper from section 1 rolls his eyeballs at Mills. "So what shit you got into this time, Mills?"


    "Found ourselves the natives!" Mills pats the "rock" he was leaning on. "A freaking giant wolf." He gives a little bow as he presents the giant wolf to Cooper and his team.


    Cooper looks over the giant wolf with the horns and whistle. "Damn this is a huge son of a bitch!" He gives the wolf a kick. "Bloody solid too."


    "We got another 4 more of this bad boy here." Mills jerk his head towards the field. "And this is just 1 of the smaller ones." Bartley could be seen stomping around among the blue greyish rock-like objects amidst the smoking grass.


    "4 more?" Pvt Koing and the rest of the security section looks on wild-eyed. "There''s more of these things around?" The security sections fingered their weapons and look around their surrounding nervously.


    "I don''t know, seriously." Mills shrugged. He watches as the techs excitedly start to collect samples, measure the bodies and snaps photos. "All I know is they are pretty bullet proofed."


    The group reports back to base asking for more support and help to transport the bodies back for analysis. Soon after over an hour, another 20 people arrived with heavy lifters and strapped the bodies onto the lifters and they started the trek carrying the giant wolves back to base.


    By the time they approach the base, everyone has heard about the incident and turned out to see the giant wolves. Mills happily basked in the glory of all the attention as he bragged about how he and Bartley heroically saved the survey team and how he killed the giant wolves.

 Chapter 17: Mana Stone

    Chapter 17: Mana Stone


    Captain ke and Cmdr Ford stood outside a reinforced window looking at the dissected remains of a giant wolf. It was ced on a steel pallet in a hastily made environmental clean room in the corner of the cargo bay as it was toorge to be moved into thebs. Huge ss containers containing parts of the wolf lined the sides of the enclosed area on a table. The rest of the wolves were stored in the refrigerator room in sealed bags.


    "So Doc, what do you think of these wolves?" ke asked through the inte at the window.


    "Very fascinating indeed these creatures," said Dr. Sharon wearing a yellow biochemical protection suit. She held a Ph.D. in criminal forensics and medicine. "I might not know much of animals but these creatures are amazing."


    Dr. Sharon gestures her assistant to disy their data findings on the disy mounted next to the window. "These are all males, very simr to our Terran wolves in fact. But with several times the muscle, bone and tissue strength and having horns." She lifts up a curved horn measuring over a meter long. "I suspect they use this as a way to gore other animals like what Terran bulls do. Also, their blood containsrge traces of copper, therefore their blue is blood. It is also why it''s fur is bluish. I think this is its natural way of camouging in the wild."


    "Blue like crabs?" Ford nce at ke who shrugs.


    Next, she disys a strand of blue hair. "This is taken from the body. Its tensile strength is almost as tough as nano carbon, that''s why your marines'' weapons are not that effective. With the dense coat of fur, it acts as a natural armor to absorb much of the kic energy and dispersing it away." She shook a tray full of deformed bullets to emphasize her point. "Other than the fur, it''s hide is quite tough but is easier to cut with a knife or shot through."


    "So you are saying, the fur is stopping bullets but not the hide of the creature?" Ford asks.


    "Yes, even with the fur, we manage to easily cut through it with our operating knives." Dr. Sharon said. "But the fur does not fully negate the kic energy away since most of them died of internal trauma."


    Hmmm, this means that the Marines'' bays and knives are more efficient than guns due to the fur coat of the wolves. ke thought. Or hit it with big enough gun.


    "But the most amazing thing we found is this." She holds up a piece of blue stone. Under the whiteboratory lights, it looks like a piece of blue quartz. "We dug this out from under its throat. It appears to form naturally from the creature like some sort of tumor. All of the wolves we have, has this under their throats, in various shapes and sizes." She gestures theb assistant to turn off the lights. As the lights went out, the stone she held in her hand, gave off a faint glow.


    "This is its molecr structure under the scope." A rotating image of molecules in a web-like structure appears on the screen next to ke and Ford. "Theputer is unable to match it to any known element. The closest match made is 68.33% simr to radium." She continues. "We also ran some tests on it and found something interesting." Theb suddenly lights up from a light bulb on the table, Dr. Sharon had ced the stone on a device with 2 wires, a red and a blue which connects to the light bulb that was lit up.


    "Oh, is it some kind of battery?" Ford wide-eyed asks. ke was speechless, this is unbelievable.


    "We believe that it is used by the wolves like one, allowing them to tap into the energy reserves giving them extra energy to burn." Dr. Sharon said. "Also when it is used this way, we detected some form of radioactivity. It will appear the more power being drawn from the stone, the higher the radioactivity is."


    "What? A miniature nuclear battery?" Ford and ke were shocked by Dr. Sharon''s words.


    "We need to run more tastes. By the way, the meat of the wolf has been tested to be edible by humans, with simr nutrient values to pork, we can use it to supplement our dietary needs." Dr. Sharon turns back on the lights. "And for the stone, we decided to call it a Mana stone."


    "That is amazing," ke said to Ford as they walked out of the makeshiftb. "A giant wolf, with horns that grow radioactive batteries. If we are not at war or lost, this will grant us many technologic breakthroughs." He stops at the top of the ramp and looks out of the cargo bay at the lively scene outside the ship.


    Over the week, thend has been cleared to almost a kilometer away. Straight roads made out of crushed gravel lined the clearednd. Tiny crewmembers could be seen working at the nted crops. Clusters of circr pop up survival huts from the lifeboats are arranged neatly in a circle with the UNS g waving gently in the sea breeze. Several wooden towers nested at the edge of the fields provide lookouts and security for the bubbling colony and the first workings of a concrete wall could be seen.


    "If we can harness the power of the mana stones, energy won''t be an issue anymore," ke said as he took in the scenery.


    "Sir, I think we should be careful out there," Ford cautioned. "We will need to increase the number of security forces to the surveying teams."


    "Yes, there is too much unknowns in this world and many things we have yet to understand," ke said. "Increase the number of guards and make sure they report in every 30 minutes from now onwards."


    "It also appears that the by-products of the wolf are quite useful to us. Do you think we should set up some teams to hunt more of them?" Ford asked. "Our food supply is starting to run a little low. Even if we are growing crops and harvesting wild vegetables, we need more sources of food."


    "How is the fishing operation going?" ke asks, thinking of the group of people with fishing skills.


    "Barely enough to feed the base. Too much time spent on the low yield returns, plus we need a boat to dorge-scale fishing if we want to support the base with enough food." Ford says. And the skills, knowledge, and equipment to build a boat were left unsaid between them.


    "No, I don''t want to send the men out to hunt something the size of a bus." ke decides after a while. "Also if possible run some drills for the base."


    "Yes, sir. Ahem," Ford cleared his throat. "Will you like to try some wolf steak tonight?" He grins.


    "Hahaha, sure, why not? I am sick of eating carr-ato every day!" ke jokes back.

 Chapter 18: Needs

    Chapter 18: Needs


    "Hey did you try the wolf steak? I tried it and it was awesome!" Conversations like these were happening all over the base colony. The wolves provided the men and woman of UNS Singapore with a rare meal, allowing them to enjoy some fresh meat other than just eating starch or foraged roots.


    Everyone was excited about the discovery of the wolves and topics of conversation was all about them. Yet in themanders meeting, the atmosphere was heavy.


    "So we had 1st contact with a native lifeform here and it appears to be hostile." Chief Matt said, as he leans back and folds his arms. "We have to assume the rest of the is hostile too."


    "It might be our men were trespassing in their territory? Wolves are known to be territorial creatures." Grayson argued.


    "We can''t assume they are the same with animals from Earth!" Chief Matt shot back.


    "Alright, that''s enough." ke ps the table with his palm. "We raise our alert levels. Ensure all survey team members are qualified with a firearm and is armed at all times, and also double the security detail with them."


    "Yes Sir," Grayson said, his face slightly red. "Here is our current progress of the base." He activates the disy and brings up a UAV view of the area. "Over 2 hectares ofnd is cleared and ready to be used for housing and offices. Our current production of concrete and cement is still under the process of being streamlined, once that ispleted, we will be able to produce enough concrete and cement for all our infrastructure needs."


    "Another hectare is being cleared and it is currently in the midst of use by Hydroponics to grow food." He zooms the image out to disy the whole area. "Current construction of the wall is at 20%pletion. It will cover the entire nned residential and production areas."


    "Our current food sources consist mainly of foraging from the northern forest. Fishing will be discontinued as it takes too much manpower and the returns currently are too low to support us. Hydroponics assures us that the 1st crops of potatoes and tomatoes will be harvested in 3 weeks time and also they are currently cultivating the local carr-ato, if sessful, it will be harvested within a period of 1 month." The disys show several graphs and charts indicating different foodstuff.


    "Our current food supplies is currently enough tost us for a month. I will like this number to be higher if possible, but we have yet to find more sources of food yet."


    "As for a source of water, recon flights with UAV has spotted a river up north, roughly 8km away." Grayson continues. "We will need to dismantle piping from the ship and dig an 8km trench to pipe water here. ns are here, waiting for approval." He hands a tablet over to ke. "The water converters are currently producing enough water from seawater for our current needs, but wear and tear will increase due to the salt content."


    ke nods. "Ok, what''s next?"


    Dr. Sharon''s assistant, PO Alvin, who heads the survey teams stood up and took over the meeting. "Currently, we have 6 teams doing surveying missions at these locations." The disy once again shows a top-down map of their current location. "The sea is to our west, while the cliffs and extends from our south several kilometers till it hits the sea. To our north, is a huge forest, and to the east isrge are of grasnd stretching over 20km before stopping at the mountain range with several active volcanoes. This is where the wolves are encountered. And also, we discovered a rabbit-like creature, simr to the wolves, it has horns." The disy shows several video recording from UAVs.


    "Is it hostile?" ke asked.


    "No, but it ran away from the surveying team. We are hoping to catch some of it to study." Alvin said.


    "Wait. Why didn''t the UAVs detect any of the wolves or any creatures to be exact?" QM Chen asked.


    "We believed that when we crashed here, we caused a huge stir to the local ecosystem. All local wildlife fled away and is only recently starting to return back." Dr. Sharon exins. "Or, another reason is, our sensors are not calibrated correctly to detect the local wildlife here."


    "Doesn''t the wolves show up in the infra sensors?" Chief Matt askes. "Or even heartbeat sensors should work?"


    Dr. Sharon shrugged, "We need a live sample to test. If the Marines can catch one alive."


    "No," ke rejected immediately. "I don''t want to lose men. If theye, we deal with them ordingly, but we do not go out to find trouble."


    Lt Frank nods, d that he does not have to send his men out on some crazy mission.


    Dr. Sharon shrugs again. "Well, the test results for the mana stones we have came back. It''s certainly is some kind of natural biological energy storage, but it appears that the color, size, and purity of the stones varies. The more clear andrger the stone the more energy it stores." Dr. Sharon paused for a sip of water before continuing, "We are unable to identify what it is made. It appears to grow out from the thorax of the wolf." I would really like a live sample to y with, She thoughts. "The amount of energy stored is roughly 5,000 watts for the smallest stone and up to 9,000 watts for thergest stone that we have." She ces a dull fist-sized grey stone on the table in front of her. "After we depleted its power, the color fades and bes like this, like a normal rock."


    "Is it dangerous?" Ford asks, "Like highly mmable or explosive? Thest time you said it emits radiation when it is used."


    "It is in a very inert state. It doesn''t appear to be highly mmable nor explosive and it is simr to the tensile strength of wrought steel." Dr. Sharon ces another mana stone on the table. The color of the stone is in a dark blue hue.


    "The more power you draw from the stone, the higher the amount of radiation is given off. Simr to how atomic elements create energy, the molecules inside split apart to produce energy." Dr. Sharon exins. "But unlike nuclear fission, the area of radiation is limited to less than a meter nor does it produce heat!"


    The people in the conference room were stunned. A mini nuclear battery which produces also no radioactive waste and heat! Think of all the tech that could be powered by that!


    "Amazing!" Chief Matt exims, "Can I have one to experiment with?"


    "Sure," Dr. Sharon pushes the blue stone to Chief Matt, who picks it up and examines the stone against the lights.


    Matt kept the stone in his pocket after examining it and says, "The repairs on the reactor are proceeding as nned. It should be operational within 4 days."


    "How much fuel do we have for the reactor?" Ford asks.


    "Enough to power what remains of the ship''s systems for 7 months," Matt replied. "After that, it''s all dry."

 Chapter 19: Ruins

    Chapter 19: Ruins


    A massive wolf, with a streak of silver fur on its back, its ivory tusks spanning over 2m, walks out of the tree line, sniffing the air. It stood upright, over 4m tall, and shook its self, disying its impressive silver blue mane. Walking over to a spot of trampled and torn grass, it lowers its snot and sniffs the ground, before looking up at a trail leading towards the other side of the field.


    The next few days at the base, the higher-ups ran several unexpected drills, some in the day, others in the middle of the night or just before dawn. A typical day at ke''s Worldsts 27 earth hours, and the crew kept the days, weeks, months and time simr to Earth. The drills differ from an attack to the base, to biological outbreaks.


    "They are starting to shape up properly," SSGT Pike says, as he stood before the tactical screen in the bridge watching the hive of activity at the base with the ship''s cameras. He nces at his wristwatch timer, 9 mins 11 seconds. "Better than before, Sirs. Before, they took over 19mins to get into action." SSGT Pike says to ke and Ford watching the action next to him.


    "Good work Staff." kes watches in approval. "Making sure the men know what to do in an event of an attack." He watches the crew in the base drawing weapons and getting to their assigned positions. Simted explosions popped here and there within the basepound. "Alright. End the exercise, and let the men stand down." He looks at the clock disying the local time, 4:46 am.


    "Thank you, Sir!" SSGT Pike did a parade ground salute and turn before exiting the bridge.


    As the day started, work was divided into construction, foraging, security, production, and surveying. Constructions teams worked on building the infrastructure of the base, like the perimeter wall, or digging the newly approved 8km long trench toy a water pipe to the deliver fresh water to the base. Other teams foraged for food like carr-atos, patrol the perimeter, creating cement, farming and exploring their surroundings.


    Communication officer ra sniffs a yawn as she sat at her console monitoring allmunications in the base with the different teams work out in the fields. So far, all themunications traffic mostly involves mundane reports. She looks at the time, another 2 hours more to shift change. She sighs and leans back in her seat, wishing time could pass by faster.


    Her console suddenly shes an iing transmission. "Base over." She taps the connect icon.


    "Dog 4 to Base over, we ah, found something here." ra leans over her console and waves to the XO, getting his attention.


    "Dog 4, please report your current location and status." ra continues, she pulls up the operation chart of the day, finding out who is Dog 4 and his team. "Sir, it''s Cpl James''s team. They are supposed to be surveying the North sector, grid H4." ra said as XO Ford stood beside her.


    "Base, Dog 4, eh we are at grid H4-B-3, over."


    "Dog 4, Base, what is the situation, over."


    "Base, Dog 4. We found some ruins of some kind over. Requesting orders over."


    "Dog 4, this is Base, standby over." ra looks up at XO Ford, waiting for his reply.


    "Tell them to hold, we will dispatch more support his way," Ford said after deciding a moment.


    "Dog 4, Base. Hold your position, back up and support on your way. Over."


    "Roger Base, Dog 4 over and out."


    "Get the Captain," Ford said to ra.


    Cpl James ended the call with Base and looks at the moss-covered ruins. A four stories tall tower-like structure made of stone, with the local flying creatures flying in and out of the crumbled roof. Several other copsed structures surround the tower but nature has reimed most of it, only a few remaining walls remained standing. The techies were looking over the entire site, trying to determine howrge the structure was, while the rest of his team were on alert, watching their surroundings of any danger.


    He removes his gloves and touches the surface of the structure, feeling the rough stone surface. Who built these, he wondered, and if are they still around.


    Suddenly yelling and sounds of gunfire erupted from the ruins. James turns and rushes towards the direction of gunfire, speaking into hisms as he ran. "What''s going on? Who''s firing!"


    He saw 2 of the techies scrambling out from a lichen-covered building with a copsed roof, next to the tower, 1 of them was firing his pistol wildly behind him. James quickly ran towards them, shouting. "What is going on?"


    The techie yells something incoherent while continuing to firing into the depths of the ruins. James, losing his patience, jerks the techie''s weapon away from him and ps him. "Calm down!"


    The wide-eyed techie blinks several times before saying "Monsters, little green monsters! They got Kristine!"


    James quickly ordered the security team to stay on alert, and waves to 1 of the security guys in his ck riot gear over. "Karl right?" James confirms his name, "You know how to do an entry?"


    Karl nods, he checks his shotgun is loaded and follows James to the entrance of the ruins. James directed Karl to enter first with his shotgun, while he slings his M7A1 and draws his Glock 88 out.


    With his left hand on Karl''s shoulder, he grips Karl''s shoulder to indicate Kal to advance. Both of them enter in step into the building with their weapons on the ready.


    Even with part of the roof copsed inwards, the shadows cast by the overgrowth and partially standing walls blocked most of the sunlight. A strong smell of rot and wet mud greeted both of them as they shone their shlights left and right. Several empty bullet casings shattered all over the moss-covered stone floor glittered from their shlights. Signs of struggle could be seen from the clumps of dirt and moss torn from the stone bs.


    "Corporal," Karl calls out. He directed his light to a small opening at the back of the building where a pile of stones sat. "Looks like a way in."


    James crouch down and shines his light in, he couldn''t see all the way in but the ground clearly shows signs of something heavy being dragged and other prints trampled all over.


    "Damn," James report his situation to Base and quickly makes a decision. "Let''s go in after them."


    He tells the rest to wait for the backup at the entrance of the tunnel while he and Karl will advance into the tunnel to save the techie.


    "Let''s go!" James tells Karl, and the 2 of them bends down low and enters the tunnel.

 Chapter 20: Dungeoneering

    Chapter 20: Dungeoneering


    The tunnel appears to be part of the ruins, as the walls and ceiling feature the same stone designs as outside. Dangling roots and some kind of fungus lined the sides of the walls. Only the entrance appears to be dug out by someone or something. After several meters, the tunnel slopes downwards and into the side of a stone corridor.


    James following the tracks and stops as they entered the corridor. He looks carefully on the stone floor and says, "This way," Pointing to the right. Bits of soil and moss on the stone floor shows the direction of where the attackers went. "Wait." James suddenly stops Karl. He pulls out a chem stick, lighting it, he jams it into the opening in the wall, pointing to the direction they are heading to. "For the reinforcements to know where we went." He adds for Karl''s benefit.


    Karl nods and starts fast walking with his weapon at the ready. They have tested theirmunication devices earlier and couldn''t get any signals out.


    As they went deeper, they noticed there were several side rooms with the doors, rotted or caved in, inside, they found them to be some kind of storeroom, with several unidentified objects withrge rat-like creatures scurrying away from the bright beams of their lights. Some of the rooms were even filled with bones or rotting parts of all kinds, they quickly retreated out of the room as the stench of rot and decay was super bad in there.


    The stone walkway finally splits into two ways, and James bend down low to examine the floor. "Shit, I am not sure where they went." He cursed. "The stone floor is too hard and dry to leave tracks behind."


    "So what do we do now?" Karl asks as he licks his dry lips nervously. "Splitting up seems bad."


    "Wait, turn off the lights," James said. With the lights turned off, darkness surrounds them. After a while, James excitedly said, "There! Found them!"


    Confused, Karl looks around in the dark before understanding what James meant. As their eyes adjusted to the dark, the right side of the tunnel appears to be brighter than the other. It highly meant that whoever grabbed Kristine, they have to be using some kind of light to travel.


    Turning on their shlights again, James marked the wall with an arrow indicating which direction they went and they set off at a faster pace. After another 10 to 15 mins of walking and passing by more empty rooms, they saw that there appears to be some kind of lights ahead, both of them turned their lights off and clearly could see a flickering glow at the end of the corridor.


    As they came closer, they peek out of the corridor to see the stone hallway expands out to a huge hall. From their vantage point, several crude torches hang on the sides of pirs that reached up to the hold the ceiling where what looks like chandeliers hung limply. Sounds of voices and growls reach their ears and they saw several children like creatures, mingling around a huge ck pot set in the middle of the hall. Pieces of furniture littered the walls and several sleeping cots could be seen.


    "What are they?" Karl whispers. "Natives?"


    "Yea, I think we found the natives. You see Kristine?" James ask.


    "No, I don''t see her." Karls peers around. "Wait... She''s in the pot!" Horrified, Karl blurts out loud.


    Instantly the hall turns quiet, all the denizens inside turns and look at the two of them.


    "Oh shit, sorry." Karl apologizes. "Ah fuck." The childlike creatures shriek and scramble to grab what appears to be knives or swords, as the des reflected the light from the ming torches.


    "FIRE!" James screams as the creatures closed in. From close up, the size of the creatures appears to be simr to a 10-year-old child. But the long ears with the wrinkly face, bulbous nose, red bleaty eyes, fanged mouths and bald heads seems to be from some fantasy nightmare. They shriek and yelp like hyenas, pushing and shoving their naked bodies at each other in their mad quest to get to James and Karl.


    The bark of the M7A1 and the boom of the shotgun drowned out their eager screams and cries of pain. James now understands why the techie says green monsters, as his 1,000 lumens tactical shlight on his M7 light up the creatures in front of him. The bright re of his light half blinds the creatures making them flinch away. Their skin is colored in a greenish grey hue, most of them are naked disying their deformed genitals, while others wore simple loincloths, rags or even animal hides.


    The forward wave of the green creatures screams in terror and pain as the bullets rips into them, they turned and shoves against the mass of green that is trying to get to the 2 humans. They couldn''t understand what powerful sorcery they have, that throws thunder and fire at them. They try to run away but were blocked by the crowd pushing from behind, getting countless stepped on and crushed to death.


    "RELOADING!" Karl screams in the cacophony of gunfire and shrieks, his hearing deafen by the firing in the enclosed area. James steps up to cover him as he sprays his M7 without even bothering to aim. The AP rounds torn through several bodies like paper in the tightly packed space. The flood of green skins soon starts to falter as the panic from the front spreads to the rear. Suddenly, like floodgates breaking, the host of green skins disperses and disappears into several other exits in the hall leaving behind a carpet of dead and dying.


    The smell of voided stomachs, blood and cordite linger in the hall. Holding back his urge to gag and vomit, Karl steps over a body of a green skin. "What the hell are these things?" He turns to see Cpl James, dodging a dying green skin''s dagger, who then shot it in the head with his pistol.


    "I have no idea," James said as he holsters his pistol. "How is she?"


    Karl reaches over the huge ck pot and looks in. "Eh, she''s naked and soaked in a bunch of other things." Karl gave a grimace. "I gonna tip the pot over." He braces his back against the almost 2 m tall cauldron and shoves it off the crude stone support. "Lucky they didn''t light the fire yet." He notices the firewood stacked underneath the pot.


    James joins Karl at the tipped pot and helps drag Kristine out. Apparently, the green skins have cut the clothes off from her body, as several long cuts could be seen on her body. She appears to be knocked out judging from the bleeding bruise on her forehead, other than that, she is still breathing.


    "Better find something to cover her up," James said before realizing there is nothing around and Karl''s uniform is a jumpsuit. He sighs and starts removing his armor and harness before removing his marine BDU to cover her up.

 Chapter 21: Trapped

    Chapter 21: Trapped


    She felt a piercing headache as she slowly gains conscious. Blinking her eyes rapidly, she reaches up to touch the source of her pain, finding her fingers sticky with blood. Ow, what happened? She slowly recalls the events earlier.


    "This is amazing!" She stares up at the crumbling moss covered tower. "There is an actually an intelligent species here! Look at these markings!" She brushes away at the moss to reveal several scratches etched onto the walls. "Joe, look, I think these are theirnguage."


    "Come on, rx, Krist!" Joe grumbles as he sets down his day pack on the floor. "These ruins aren''t going to run away."


    "Hey guys, over here. I think I found a way in!" Dan called. "I walked around the tower but the entrance seems to be totally caved in. But guess what? Look here!" He leads the rest into a side building where the roof has copsed partially. "That looks like the way in," Dan shines his shlight at a small opening at a pile of copsed stones.


    "I don''t know, it doesn''t look very safe," Joe muttered. "We better get the marines to scout it out for us."


    "Hahaha, what you think there''s a giant wolf inside?" Kristine jokes, "Come on, I studied this in university! Finally, I get to use what I learn!" She turns and smiles at the rest, her back towards the hole.


    "Well, I think we should tell the marines first," Dan also cautions. "We don''t know what could be in there."


    Suddenly Kristine heard something behind her like something scraped against the wall. She turns and from the light of Dan''s torch, a hideous creature appeared out of the hole, grabbing her foot. She remembers falling face down at the floor before darkness consumes her.


    "Hey, you awake?" A voice sounds next to her. Kristine tries to nod her head but gave up after a wave of giddiness made her gag. "Take it slow, you got a nasty bump."


    "What happened? Where am I? WHY AM I NAKED!" She shrieks out thest part.


    "Woah chill girl!" Karl backs off. "You got caught by those green skins thingies. You nearly became supper."


    "What?" Confused with her surroundings, she res around the hall. Seeing the spread of dead all over the floor, her brain slowly catches up to her sense of smell and reason. "Urghhhhh..." She vomits over the side and wipes her mouth with the clothing draped around her. She realized that the clothing is what the marines usually wear. "Thanks," she said in a small voice.


    "Ha, don''t thank me," Karl smiles and jerks his head towards another person crouch over what looks like a huge pot. "Cpl James there rushed in to save you and gave you his shirt," Karl reaches out with a hand to help Kristine up.


    "Thank you," Kristine said to the marine poking around at the contents of the pot after she buttoned up the marine BDU, while Karl looks away.


    "No problem, it''s my job." The marine said before standing up. "You better? Let''s go then."


    "So what''s inside that cooking pot?" Karl asks as they re-entered the passageway.


    "Carr-ato, pieces of some kind of meat and bones, some kind of herbs and the liquid seems to be the blood of some animal. And of course, plus 1 human girl." Heughs along with Karl as he said thest part.


    "Wait, you mean I was inside that pot?" Kristine asked in surprise.


    "Yup."


    "Yucks! That''s ... that''s disgusting!" Kristine suddenly felt her whole body was sticky.


    "Hahahaha, if Mills was here," James grins, "He probably has a joke or two for this kind of situation."


    "Hey Corporal," Karl stopped suddenly, "You hear that?"


    They all stopped and strain their ears, "I think it''s some kind of rumbling? Kristine guessed.


    "I don''t know about you, but it kind of sounds like boots, marching boots," James said.


    "No, not boots. It''s drums." Karl turns and looks at them. "Lots of drums."


    "Go!" James pulls Kristine, "Go back to the surface!" And the trio starts running.


    As they about to reach the intersection, Several glowing lights appear in front of them, blocking their way out. "Shit must be the green skins!" Something strikes the wall beside them, "An arrow?" James looks in surprise, "Back to the hall."


    They ran back, over the bodies and stood next to the overturned pot. "Where to now?" Kristine asks, looking at the other passageways leading out of the hall.


    "We can''t go in those, we don''t know where they lead to." James said, "We make a stand here." He points to a door at the end of the hall. "I checked it out earlier. Seems like some kind of storeroom for the green skins."


    They entered the room, finding it piled with stuff and without any other ways in or out. Karl taps the double doors and whistles, "Some kind of metal. Pretty solid."


    "Karl, on me, we move the pot into the room to help block the doors. Kristine, grab some torches from the walls to use as a light source and see if there is anything useful." James ordered.


    Over the constant rolling sounds of the drums, Karl and James roll the pot into the room. It barely fits through the doorway and Kristine slots a couple of torches onto the wall torch holders and drops several unlit torches on the floor. Just as they close the doors, they spot dozens of screaming green skins bearing torches storm into the hall.


    Lifting the heavy cauldron till it seats on its mouth, both Karl and James exhausted themselves. Just as they rest against it, the metal door nks loudly as dozens of tiny hands m against it. "Quick! Push it to block the door!" The door swings inwards and several snarling green skins could be seen trying to squeeze their way into the narrow gap.


    James pulls out a grenade from his pouch and lobs it through the door gap while pulling Kristine into cover behind the pot. "Fire in the hole!" He yells. A loud st, followed by shrieks of pain and the pressure against the door ceased. "OK, PUSH!"


    Finally with the huge upside down pot acting as a door stopper, the doors were blocked, preventing the green skins from forcing the doors open, and the humans in the room, slump down against the pot to catch their breath.

 Chapter 22: Boss

    Chapter 22: Boss


    Cries and constant banging of the metal doors grits on everyone''s nerves, but the doors remained firmly shut. The 3 of them thus took the time to explore the room thoroughly.


    "This racket is making me crazy," Kristine moaned. The banging against the doors and the sounds of drums at the back. "I wish they stop." She lifts up a piece of threadbare rag from the pile of dusty cloth. "Think they ate all these people?" She indicates the pile of rotting clothing.


    Karl shrugs, "Maybe," He lifts what appears to be a broken spear, the metal badly corroded. "Nothing of use here, all spoiled." he drops the spear back into the pile of broken weapon shards. "They seem to be using stuff from museums."


    James stood at a raised tform in front of what appears to be a block of chiseled stone, but the majority of it has been destroyed and vandalized by the green skins. "This appears to be a kind of throne or stone chair here." He looks around the room in the dim light. 8 finely chiseled pirs with the art defaced standing 4 by 4 on each side of the room. "This is supposed to be a throne room!" He exims.


    "Yes, it is quite obvious," Kristine gave up her battle against the noise. She indicates the raised tform and says, "That is where the monarch sits, viewing down on his or her subjects." She steps up the tform next to James. "This is probably used for ceremonies. The pirs should be carved beautifully but looking at the vandalism, you can see how they knock off the carvings."


    "You seems to know a lot about this stuff," James said.


    "Yup graduated from Cambridge, I majored in archeology and history." She replied. "It''s actually quite exciting to find all these alien ruins."


    "Why did you sign up with the navy?" James asked curiously.


    "Well, seeing all my friends get drafted or volunteered. Plus the money pays off my student loans, and I get to see the stars." Kristine shrugs. "You?"


    "Well, I came out of college, worked a few years at odd jobs," James said casually. "When the war started and I decided to do my part for mankind." He smiles. "Actually I just wanna escape from my life. A change of pace."


    "So how''s the change of pace now?" Kristine gestures around them. "Great?"


    "Haha, yea, it''s pretty exciting actually." James smiles.


    "Hey, you 2 lovebirds," Karl spoke up from where he stood at the edge of the doors. "I don''t hear anything at all!"


    The 2 of them blushed after hearing Karl''s words but soon realized it has suddenly gone quiet. The drums, cries and even banging on the doors have stopped. They quickly joined Karl at the doors. "Did help came? They retreated?"


    "I don''t know, suddenly they all just quiet down. I am getting a bad feeling here." Karl whispers.


    "Ok, I take it back my wish, it''s starting to feel really creepy," Kristine whispers back.


    "Why is everyone whispering?" James asks in a low whisper.


    "Cause it''s quiet out there!" Karl hiss back.


    Sudden the beating of the drums sounds again, except it seems louder. Karl backed off from the doors and raised his shotgun. "Bad feeling," he repeats.


    James hands Kristine a pistol and 2 stacks of pistol magazines. "I found your stuff earlier outside, most of it is trashed, but the gun and ammo aren''t damaged."


    Kristine grasps the G88, works the slide and holds it in a 2 handed grip. "Why didn''t you give it back earlier?" She pockets the magazines in the marine BDU chest pockets.


    "Erm, you don''t have any way to carry it." James gave her a quick check with his eyes, smiling.


    "Jerk." She responded, turning away and hid behind a pir facing the wall giving a small smile.


    Bom bom bom bom bom bom!


    The drums kept beating louder and louder. It sounds like the drums are just right outside the doors. Karl and James stepped back from the doors, Karl took the left side of the room while James covered the right side.


    Bom bom bom bom bom bom!


    Than silence.


    BLAM! Dust dribbles down from the ceiling and even the pot slides back slightly from the sudden impact. Kristine gave a frightened cry, while both Karl and James, jump in surprise. Another huge crushing blow, the doors creak ajar, a dent could be seen. "What the hell is that?" Karl yells.


    The green skins seeing the doors getting destroyed, shrieks excitement and joy. "Karl, you got any grenades?" James asked.


    "Nope, I only have 1 smoke." Karl replies.


    "I am going to throw myst grenade through the door before they break it down," James says and he pulls hisst grenade out, activates it and tosses it through the opening.


    A muffled st sounded, making more rock dust to trickle down from the roof. More screams of pain and agony could be heard beyond the doors. "Nice one!" Karl gave a thumbs up.


    A deafening roar erupts from beyond the doors, causing them to flinch, and the doors shook again as something massive hammers against it.


    "Eh, I think you made that thing angry." Kristine''s voice came out from behind 1 of the pirs where she hid.


    "Alright make ready, they areing." Karl gave a warning as the pot starts to tilt up and down from the constant hammering. "Here theye!"


    With a spacerge enough for the child-sized green skins appears between the door, they mindlessly rush into the room, meeting thunder and fire.


    Karl left his shotgun leaning against the pir and instead drew his Glock 88C. Each magazine in the Glock holds 32 rounds of 5mm CT ammunition. He aims and fires at the green skins that enter one by one, dropping them with single shots. James keeps watch for any stranglers from his side of the room, as the opening was towards Karl, there weren''t any green skins for him to shoot at.


    James turns around to see Kristine''s red hair hidden behind the furthermost pir at the back. She notices him watching her and gives a small wave with her pistol before turning her attention back to the door.


    Suddenly, something massive shoved the doors all the way back, causing the pot to slide to one side, and a creature over 3m wielding what appears to be a part of a stone pir looms over the mass of green skins that rushed excitedly into the room.

 Chapter 23: MVP

    Chapter 23: MVP


    The bright beams of lights from Karl and James manage to blind the majority of the green skins as they rush into the room. They raise their small arms and hands up to cover their eyes from the bright lights shining in their face and died.


    Therge creature at the rear bends down and turns away from the re of the lights and roars in anger. "Ignore thatrge one!" James yells as he hoses the green skins with his M7A1 crowding at the door.


    Karl holsters his Glock and picks up his shotgun, he fires the 12ga. 00 buckshot directly into the middle of the group, knocking the green skins down like bowling pins. Even Kristine at the back, fires into the mass.


    Simr like before, faced with overwhelming firepower, the green skins panics and tries to flee from the thunder and fire, while the rear kept the front from fleeing. The panicking green skins attacked the ones behind them that are blocking their retreat in their rush to escape the madness. The host of green skins soon turned into a rout, while therge grey skinned humanoid creature scratches its head in confusion.


    It roars out again and bends down to enter through the doorway, only to meet James and Karl''s fire. It topples back, with half its head gone and holes in its body and crushes the remaining green skins loitering around it.


    "Advance!" James shouted. He drops and ps in a new mag into his M7A1 and advance tactically forward, firing in short bursts at the routed green skins. Karl follows along, slotting new shells into his shotgun and supports James from the rear.


    Seeing James and Karl advancing into the enemy, Kristine thought, what the hell? Are they so enjoying this massacre? But she follows grimly along from behind. Men!


    "Why are you chasing them!" Kristine shouts after James and Karl, as she catches up behind. "They are running, we are winning!"


    "We are forcing them to run more, not letting them regroup so that they can attack us again!" James exins. "We are putting the fear of god up their arses!" He continues firing at the disappearing backs of the green skins. "Alright, let''s go before they form up again!"


    Returning to the passageway where they entered the hall, James took the lead, while Karl covers the rear, keeping Kristine in the middle. They rush back towards the intersection only to find it blocked by more of the green skins.


    Under the glow of the burning torches, dozens of the green skins formed up loosely in 3 rows, with the front holding crude bucklers and shields made of animal hides. The 2nd row held wooden poles fashioned into spears while the 3rd row, held bows, crooked and ready.


    Standing behind them milled more green skins outfitted with all manners of ancient weaponry, from stone axes to crude swords. A particr green skin stood out from the rest. It was dressed in dark feathery robes, with a helm made out of bones with twigs or horns sticking out from the sides, and it also holds a staff topped with a reddish crystal that appears to be made out of the spine of some creature.


    For a moment, both sides stare at each other, the shaman looking green skin suddenly shrieks something and points towards the humans and the green skins rushed forward screaming.


    "Will they ever stop!" Karl curses, as he pumps shot after shot into the screaming green skins, sending them flying back broken.


    James tried to fire at the shaman, but the shaman raises its staff and gestures something, and for some strange reason, his shots appear to hit an invisible wall. In the end, he gave up and fires at the enemies in front of him instead. Even with the tactical lights blinding the green skins, they still keep rushing and dying with no signs of breaking.


    "Argh!" Karl grunt in pain, as an arrow pierces his left thigh. His leg suddenly weaken, making him fall down.


    "Karl!" Kristine screams, she rushes forward and drags him backward with one arm, while her other arm fires her pistol into the mob. Karl abandons his empty shotgun and drew his G 88 and starts shooting while pushing himself back with the help of Kristine.


    James''s rifle suddenly locks back, he does a quick tilt to check the bolt, "Shit, I''m out." The mob of green skins just meters away from him, he drops his rifle on its sling and drew his machete from his back with his right hand and held his pistol on his left.


    The monomolecr diamond de is used for cutting trails in the jungle undergrowth, but this time around, it was used to cut down the green skins. The 1 molecr thick diamond edge, slices, and dices all thates near James. He chops and hacks at the mob surrounding him and fires his pistol when they pull out of range of his machete, his adrenaline causing him to ignore the cuts and stabs from the green skins surrounding him.


    He fought like a demon and empties his pistol into the crowd as they held back from him. Suddenly, there was a sh of light and James found himself mmed backward. He falls down and looks down at his chest armor, seeing a smoking crater on it. What? Do they haveser weapons?


    James looked up and saw the shaman waving its staff around and shrieking something. A ball of fire suddenly forms in front of the shaman, and it points its staff at James. The fireball flew towards him.


    James quickly rolled away, and the fireball left a scorching mark on the stone floor where he was earlier. A sma gun of some sort?


    The mob of green skins, seeing the human taking a hit from their shaman, regains their courage and charges forward again shrieking in excitement. Jamesshes out with his machete, looping off legs and opening stomaches, manages to clear some breathing space and he gets up to his feet and faces the shaman.


    As he was about to rush the shaman, several beams of light shone from the rear of the mob, and thunder and fire rains onto the shocked green skins.


    "Reinforcements!" James screams in joy. "They are finally here!" He turns and sees Karl, an arrow sticking out from his thigh, leaning against the wall on the floor, with arge stain of blood on the stone floor and Kristine with her tear stained face, trying frantically to stop the bleeding.


    "Oh no..."

 Chapter 24: Loot

    Chapter 24: Loot


    "Karl..." Kristine cries as she applies pressure at his thigh. The arrowhead has nicked his femoral artery, causing Karl to slowly bleed out. She tries her best to press down hard on the wound.


    James looks back at the green skins, seeing them distracted by the force attacking them from the nks, he quickly rushes up to Karl and Kristine. He grabs a self-sealing bandage from his first aid kit and rips Karl''s pants away. He pulls the arrow out swiftly, before pping the self-sealing bandage over his wound.


    The bandage with medical nanites quickly dispenses a fast clotting agent, that stops the bleeding temporarily. The medical nanites than enter the wound and starts to repair as much damage to the muscles and tissues and the nicked femoral artery.


    James looks up at Kristine and said gently, "He should be fine for now. Don''t move him. Try to keep his leg elevated." He rubs the tears away from her face. "Keep him safe!" Before he stood up and returns to the fight.


    The rescue team that came in manages to suppress the whole green skin army, the green skins with shield or bucklers raises them up to form a shield wall, only to prove useless as the bullets still prate through. The shaman scream and rage at its people, ensuring none of them slip away from the battle.


    It raises its staff and the bullets hit an invisible wall, sparks could be seen where the bullets impact its magical shield. James watches from the side, realizing that the staff the shaman is holding is the key to its power.


    James reloads his Glock and hefts his machete, taking advantage that green skins are distracted and not bothered with him, he then charges into their ranks. As James stands over 1.8m tall, and weights 90 plus kg with all of it as muscles, he ms into the ranks of the green skins like a quarterback ying football.


    The flimsy shield wall explodes inwardly, the small sized green skins unable to match his strength and weight tumbled backward and body parts started flying. James hacks and shes into the center of the formation, forcing his superior height and arm reach advantage against the smaller creatures. The shaman sensing James approaching, turns and points his staff straight at him, and starts to shriek something out.


    James fires his pistol nk point at the shaman, invoking a shower of sparks, causing the shaman to flinch. Its concentration broken, James ignores the rest of the green skins and charges closer to the shaman. Using his long arms, he chops down hard at the shaman''s right arm holding the staff just as it raises the bone staff up and starts chanting again.


    A look of shock appears in the shaman''s face, it screams in pain as he ils its severed arm in panic, spraying greenish blood all over. The shaman res at James with hatred and using its left hand, draws out a curved wicked looking dagger and stabs towards James.


    James gave a smile to the shaman and steps back out of its reach, he thanzily raises his Glock to its face and pulls the trigger. "This is for Karl!"


    With the shaman dead, the rest of the green skins'' morale broke, and they skittle away in all directions, shrieking in fright.


    "Yo! Thunder!" Someone yelled.


    "sh..." James replied tiredly. He slumps down against the stone wall, suddenly feeling all the cuts and bruises on his body.


    "Hey, I need a medic over here!" Cpl Collins steps over the bodies of the dead green skins and kneels down beside James. "James, you ok? Where are you hurt?"


    "I''m ok, tend to Karl, he is in a bad shape!" James wave Collins toward Karl''s direction.


    The rest of the rescue team starts to surround them, forming a defensive perimeter. Lt Frank kneels next to James who wasying on a stretcher. "Hey Marine. How are you doing?" He asks.


    "Hey, boss." James smiles, high on morphine, "Feeling great!"


    "Alright, we gonna get you out of here in no time. Hang in there." Lt Frank got up and went to check on the others. He watches the medic load Karl onto a stretcher, hooks up a sma drip before 2 others help to carry the stretcher out. The girl Kristine wrapped in a thermal nket follows closely along, escorted by another 2 security personnel.


    "Cpl Collins, organize the men, we going to flush these green things out." Lt Franks toes the dead shaman''s corpse. "Once all is cleared, gather everything for the science guys to check them out."


    "Yes, Sir!" Cpl Collins replied. "Alright people, form up. I want team A and B to push in that tunnel, C, and D this side..." Collins yell out instructions as he organizes the men into action.


    Several hourster, thest denizen of the underground dungeon was wiped out. The teams mapped out the entire dungeon, which lucky, wasn''t very huge. All the passageways link up to the hall where Kristine was held and a flight of stairs was found to lead up into the copsed tower.


    Hundreds of green skin bodies were carried out by portable heavy lifters and dumped at a mass grave, several of the more in one piece bodies and the huge humanoid were carefully packed into body bags to be sent back to the egg heads at theb.


    Other stuff was also carried out by the teams, gold and silver coins, precious stones, jewelry, ded weapons, antique armors and even mana stones. There were even several bones of various creatures that were packed and transported back to be studied.


    Lt Frank stood watching the crew pile all the treasure up inside a tent, he looks at Dr. Sharon who just arrived at the ruins not long ago and said, "There are probably 2 to 3 tons of gold and silver there. We are rich!"


    "Yes, but I am more curious is where did these coinse from. Is it an ancient civilization or a current one." Dr. Sharon frowns, her brown hair tied in a severe bun. She stands at 1.5m tall, his head not even reaching Lt Frank''s shoulder who height is at roughly 1.8m, his boyish good looks a contrast against each other, like a teacher and student.


    "Those green things seem to eat anything that isn''t their own or maybe even eats their own kind, as evidenced from the bones we found." She continues. "From this cracked femur, where they chewed it for the bone marrow, looks very human, but there are some differences from us still." She swaps some images of bones taken from the dungeon in her tablet.


    "There should be more humanoid races out here. We are not alone on this after all."

 Chapter 25: Aftermath

    Chapter 25: Aftermath


    "So we found a total of 2,742 gold coins and 5,491 silver coins. Each gold coin weights roughly at 4 to 4.2 grams and the silver coins weights at 5 to 5.4 grams," Ford reads out the report. "That''s a total of 11 kg of gold and almost 30kg of silver, not counting the weight of the pieces of jewelry."


    Everyone around the conference table cheered, "That''s pretty a lot." Chief Matt whistles admirably.


    "Yes," ke agrees. "XO, please continue." after he gestures everyone to settle down.


    "Right, we also found 43 pieces of jewelry in either gold or silver, 64 pieces of gemstones, dozens of ivory tusks and horns." Ford gave a smile as he read from his list. "Also, 17 pieces of the mana stone were also recovered, which we discovered not only in blue colors but also in red, yellow and green."


    "That''s a good haul," QM Chen said. "So are we getting paid?" He jokes.


    "1st of all, these minted coins represents civilizations or nations here has reached a level of technology and production means, capable to mass produce coinage." ke holds up a gold coin with an image of a tree stamp on both sides of the coin. "This means there is a thriving civilization out there."


    "Sir, but from the weapons and armor, we gathered from the green skins, their weapon technology appears to be around our human bronze-iron age." Lt Frank spoke up. "And those green skins don''t look so civilized to me. In fact, theck of maintenance of their weapons and armor shows howcking they are!"


    "Could it be that the green skin''s civilization is in decline, and they have fallen to their current barbaric state? Grayson raises his point.


    "No, I did an autopsy of them, and a brain scan," Dr. Sharon said. "They are small humanoid in appearance. Everything is very simr to a 10 to a 12-year-old human child, except they have thicker and tougher skin, a heightened immune system, more efficient organs and digestive systemspared to an adult human." She activates the disy, showing images of a green skin, cut open on an operating table.


    "Ok, that''s enough pictures for now." Chief Matt looks disgusted at the images. Almost everyone''s face turns kinda green.


    Dr. Sharon smiles wickedly before switching the disy to show images of a brain scan. "By the way, their blood is green is due to the double copper atoms in their blood. Oxygenation causes a color change between the copper atoms, hence it turns green."


    She then highlights the scans and said, "On the right is the brain scan of a green skin while the left is a human scan. The highlight parts are where we measure intelligence or how smart a person is. If you look at the human scan, which is of someone with an IQ of 190, andpare with the scan from a green skin, it is almost identical."


    ke raises his eyebrows as he listens to Dr. Sharon words. "Wait, you mean that they are all geniuses?"


    "No, not geniuses, like maths prodigy or rocket scientists but of intelligence. Meaning they are smart, learn fast and adapt fast." Next, she highlights another area on the scans. "This shows the level of aggressive activity of the brain, which is abnormally high."


    "So this is my theory that they are not a declining civilization but more of their culture as scavengers and cannibals like some ancient human tribes in the past as we discovered many discard items, with their own distinct design styles and manufacturing methods."


    "Alright, thank you, Dr. Sharon, for the report," ke said as the rest of the people in the conference starts debating among themselves. "Ok, I got SA Kristine who has some experience on archeology from the surveying team to give us a quick rundown of the ruins." He nods towards a redhead sitting at the side of the room.


    Kristine stood up, dressed her service dress uniform and stood before the conference table. The only scars from her adventure was a nearly invisible skin toned ster on her forehead, hidden by her short bangs.


    She took over the disy controls and starts disying an UAV imagery of the ruins. "We discovered these ruins over at the Northen section of the Base, 2 days ago. After the initial survey, and using a ground-prating scanner, we managed to map out the whole undergroundplex." She switches the view to a 3D disy of the tunnels.


    "The undergroundplex appears to be some sort of storage, with living quarters, a hall and a throne room or office. The upper levels are mostly buildings used for various purposes like production or even stables." Kristine extends the simted 3D model to disy the ground floor structures. "We believe this was a fort or outpost, but it was either abandoned or lost to the green skins or some other reason."


    "Do we know how old the ruins are?" ke asks.


    "Yes, we managed to do a simple calction on the nt growth and weathering on the stones stabs and found it to be around roughly 80-100 years old. Also, we dated the coins, they appeared to be within 10 years of cirction." Kristine replies.


    "Wait, does this means, we are in some countries'' territory?" Grayson asked. "Or there is some nearby town or cities?"


    "Yes," Ford answered, "We have thought of that possibility. We stepped up UAV recon operations, but as we have limited supplies for UAV maintenance, we can only scout so muchnd."


    "Ok, thank you, SA Kristine." ke dismisses Kristine back. "Chief Matt, I would like you to ensure our reactor is up and running ASAP, charge all our capacitor to the max. Grayson, get extra work teams to help dig the forward guns out and make sure all theser point defense and missileunchers are up and running." Chief Matt and Grayson nod.


    "Dr. Sharon I want you to keep finding ways on how to harness the Mana stones, but don''t blow the ship up!" ke cautious while Dr. Sharon smiles back.


    "QM Chen, I leave the treasure in your hands. Keep it safe, if we meet a friendly local, we can use it to trade for supplies or any necessities. Work with HR on it too."


    "Also for the incident with the wolves and the green skins. We spend almost 2% of ammunition stores. We need to find a way to replenish our ammunition or discover new ways of fighting. Lt Frank, I leave this task to you." ke ordered.


    "Alright, get to work, people! Dismiss!"


    "Aye aye, Captain!"

 Chapter 26: Ideas

    Chapter 26: Ideas


    Shortly after the meeting, ke left his office and entered the Flight deck. The 2 Boeing Super Spacebus sat on locked cradles on the far side of the empty deck. There is little personnel on the flight decks as most of them are assigned to other duties around the base and the ship. Yet at a corner of the deck, personnel can be seen constantlying in and out of a workshop.


    ke walked into the workshop, waving away the salutes from the crew. "Deck Chief Gale?" He calls out in the din of racket made by the workshop''s fabricators.


    "Captain?," A heavyset middle-aged man, dressed in a pair of dark olive green work overalls, lifts the welding mask upwards from his face. "What can I do for you, sir?" Senior Chief Petty Officer Gale Tyson ces his work tools and masks down.


    "A word, please, Chief?" ke gestures out of the workshop and with Chief Gale walks to the openunch bay overlooking the base colony. "I got something I need your help with, Chief."


    "What do you need Cap?" Chief Gale took out a pack of cigarettes and offers it to ke, who declines. He shakes his pack and cursed, "Damn, soon these things are gonna worth their weight in gold."


    "I need your team toe out with a design for an all-terrain vehicle, that we can produce with what resources we have," ke says bluntly. "We have no off-road capabilities at all, we need a vehicle capable of ferrying people and arge number of goods over long distances."


    Chief Gale lits his cigarette and takes a long drag before exhaling out the smoke. "We can covert the forklifts for use as a truck, but it will require massive overhauling the structure of the vehicle." He takes another smoke before scratching his head. "No, that will take too much time and also ruin a perfectly useful vehicle that we will need for heavy lifting."


    "So how is it? Possible?" ke pressed. "Too much manpower being used as porters and half the time the surveying team spent is just to walk from point A to point B and back."


    Gale puffed out some smoke before he carefully stubs out his half-smoked cigarette, "Well, I don''t think it should be too hard, we have all sorts of designs and production temtes in theputer."


    He keeps the cigarette back into its pack. "Well, I get the boys to work out some designs, with the current resources that we can produce. Should take a couple of days before we have something."


    "Good," ke nods. "Well, good chance for you to quit smoking. Unless you can find tobo growing here."


    "That''s why I am smoking them slowly, sir." Gale grins. "Alright, I''ll get back to work and get the boys toe out with some designs." He gives a salute before returning to the workshop, bawling at his people to not cken off.


    "Come on Lt," Sgt Raman pleads. "I''m already busy as it is," He gestures around the armory, where weapon partsid all over a table. "They keep breaking the guns!" He graduated from India''s Institute of Technology Bombay,pleting his bachelor''s degree in mechanical engineering and firearms design before being drafted into the military. If it wasn''t for the war, he was supposed to go start work with a high position in a prestigiouspany.


    With his skill set and family connections, after basic military training. he was posted to be a marine armory sergeant onboard UNS Singapore which was supposed to be safe from all conflict!


    He knew he didn''t fit with the rest of the "real" marines as he thought of them as lower caste than him, but he manages to keep his armory functioning well enough that Staff Pike cannot fault him at all. And recently he heard, that stuck up Cpl James found a treasure trove of gold and silver, damn, lucky asshole. Him, he gets Lt Frank in his armory ordering him around with some ideas to create a new bullet cartridge? Crazy!


    "Sgt Raman, I know you are busy, but those work you can delegate to others to do. This," Lt Frank controls his anger, he knows that Raman rarely leaves the armory to help with other work, always saying busy or finding excuses. He holds up his tablet and shoves it under Sgt Raman''s nose, "is crucial to our survival here!"


    "Lt, it''s not that I do not want to do this," Raman exins. "You can''t just make a new 6.5mm round with what we have here!"


    "Than what do you propose?" Lt Frank asks. "At this rate of ammo consumption, we will run out less than a month!"


    "Ah. as I said before, we do not have the materials to produce propent for the 6.5mm rounds. But we can substitute it with other materials, like ck powder or even smokeless if we have theponents." Raman came up with some excuses. "Just that, we don''t have all thoseponents to produce any!" He hopes that Frank will go away.


    "Wait, ck powder?" Franks does a quick search in theputer archives. " Sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate."


    "But the M7A1 can''t handle ck powder cartridges! The weapon will jam in a few shots due to the fouling of ck powder!" Raman exins like he is talking to a 3-year-old.


    "So we need to design a new rifle?" Franks asks. "One that allows the use of ck powder."


    "Eh, it''s easy to design a new rifle, since theputer has tons of temtes, the problem is finding potassium nitrate here." Raman gestures at the reloading bench. "We just don''t have the materials to make anything. So there is nothing I can do. Oh, Sir, I heard that we found some treasure?"


    "Yea, just some gold and silver coins." Franks busy with his tablet, casually answers, missing the look of greed from Raman. "I want you toe out with a new rifle design. Noints!" He cuts off Raman''s objections.


    "I will reassign others to take over weapon maintenance. You just concentrate on the rifle design, you have 3 days." Frank held up 3 fingers. "No buts!"


    With that, Frank left the armory, leaving Raman with his mouth gaping. Shit! Raman curses, why must I do all these ve work! I am the eldest son of the trade minister of India! Bloody low lives only know how to keep ordering me around! One day, I will show them who is the real boss!

 Chapter 27: Ethics

    Chapter 27: Ethics


    "So, Dr. Sharon, what is it that we couldn''t discuss at the meeting?" ke stood inside an oldboratory in the civilian section of the ship with XO Ford in confusion.


    "Well, there are some things to show you first before you decide what to do with the information." Dr. Sharon said as she brings up a disy terminal.


    "Look here, this is the video footage taken from the marine''s headcam." Dr. Sharon shows the 2 senior officers.


    A 1080p HD video recording of the fight inside the ruins ys itself. Lots of camera shake, muzzle shes and screaming. Dr. Sharon paused the video at one point and highlighted a portion on the video. "Look, you see that sh of light?"


    Both ke and Ford nods as they watch the video yback. "Watch closely." Dr. Sharon says before ying the video.


    "Is that some kind of energy weapon? ke asks he and Ford leans closer to take a look.


    "No," Dr. Sharon gestures both officers to a side table, where a long matt ck crate sat. She keys in a password at the lock pad and opens the lid. "This is what that green skin was using."


    A 1.2m long spine, inscribed with silvery runes all along the vertebral column with a reddish crystal set on the top rest on ayer of foam padding. ke and Ford immediately recognize the crystal as a mana stone.


    "This bone staff uses some kind of creature''s backbone as its main structure, the bones are fused together by silver and some other materials. The inscriptions are also very detailed," She shows a magnified image of the characters. "It is inked mostly in silver and some unknown substances. And of course, we don''t know whatnguage it is in."


    "The mana stone at the top is simr to the blue ones we have, the difference is just the color or something I haven''t found out yet." Dr. Sharon than ys another video from the same camera. "If you look here, we managed to capture the sounds the green skin made when it tried to blow the marine away. I managed to get the sounds isted from all the background noise and chatter."


    She ys an audio file and a series of harsh sounds y out. "It sounds like a kind of chant, from the tone and pitch of the sounds it made." She ys the video again, showing the green skin chanting and forming a fireball before it flew towards the camera.


    "Why does it feel like its magic?" ke looks at Ford, who shrugs. "Wait did you try it?"


    "Oh!" ke smiles when he sees Dr. Sharon face turns red. "You did, didn''t you? Hahaha, did you pose like a wizard or what those Japanese anime girls are called? Magic girls?"


    "It''s magical girls!" Dr. Sharon stomps, and seeing both of themughing there,


    "Ok, now I know why you didn''t want to talk about this in the meeting! Hahaha." kes teases whileughing. She angrily elbows Ford hard in his stomach.


    "Ooof! Why me?" But Ford kept on smiling even as he rubs his tummy.


    "Because he''s the Captain! Alright! Back to the serious topic!" Dr. Sharon tries to steer the topic back. "Watch this." She ys another video, this time it shows theb that they were in. Dr. Sharon could be seen standing in the middle of the room holding the staff with 2 hands.


    She could be heard speaking directly to the camera, "Time, 2:44 pm. Date, 2113 August 7th. Starting with experiment number 9." The video shows her she starting to recite the chant, sound by sound, just as she finishes thest verse, a faint glow re from the mana stone for a split second before Dr. Sharon copses onto the floor.


    "I was knocked out for like 20mins, woke up feeling weak and giddy." She exins. "When I finish thest verse, I immediately felt tired and lightheaded, before I know it, I woke up from the floor."


    "Are you alright? Did you do a checkup on your self?" ke and Ford look worried, all traces of merriment gone.


    "Yes, just fatigue and a minor dose of radiation. Nothing serious." She waves off their concern. "My theory is, to use it like casting a spell, you will require a certain amount of aptitude or mental strength, which clearly I''mcking in it, that''s why I fainted."


    "Interesting, so if we got the aptitude, the mental strength, the chant and a mana stone, we can cast fireballs like that?" Ford lifts the staff up and examines it. "Magic."


    "I will not rmend doing any of that yet until I run more tests." Dr. Sharon snatches the staff out of Ford''s hands before cing it back into the crate.


    "Ok, for now, we keep this quiet, and also do not ce yourself in such a dangerous situation!" ke lectured. "Keep at least 1 or 2 trustworthy assistants to help you. We can''t lose you and your skills."


    Dr. Sharon nods, she turns around and says, "Oh yes, the report for that giant humanoid is out too!" Pushing past the two officers, she keys in somemands at the console and a new image appears on the screen.


    "I decided to name it a Troll since it looks like one. Bodyposition is very simr to the green skins, except that its skin toughness is almost as good as steel. DNA for the troll and the green skins almost match at 99%. They should be from the same family tree but developed different, like monkeys and apes." She types in moremands. "Here is a very interesting thing I found. It has a separate organ which secretes a type of adrenaline, that I have never seen before. It actually increases healing of cells by a factor of over 1,000 times!"


    "What? Instant regeneration?" ke and Ford were shocked! "What kind of lifeform is that!"


    "I won''t say instant regeneration, just very fast healing." Dr. Sharon exins further. "These are the bullet wounds made by the marine before it died," She points out some barely visible puncture wounds on the screen. "While these are wounds made after it died."


    The bullet entry wounds made while the creature was still alive, have started to heal and close up, while the wounds made after the creature died, did not heal at all. "I found the nd to contain traces of a type of chemical that appears to speed up the natural healing of the body, much like our medical nanites."


    "So this creature has a nd inside that is like some kind of wonder drug that heals all wounds?" ke was seriously amazed. This has plenty of valuable resources!


    "Yes. If possible I would like to harvest these nds from these creatures, preferably alive." Dr. Sharon states. "As you know, our stock of biomaterials is very very low. The medical properties from these creatures can provide us with the biomaterials for our critical medical needs!"


    "Sir, I will like to raise an issue. Is this ethical?" Ford asks. "It is a living creature with some form of intelligence. Are we to farm it for its medical properties like some animal?" Ford looks at ke directly.


    "Is it a right thing to do?"

 Chapter 28: Stalker

    Chapter 28: Stalker


    James knocked at the opened hatch of the medical bay, "Hey Karl, still alive?" He pokes his head in, seeing Karlying on 1 of the hospital beds, with a bandage wrapped around his thigh. "How are you?"


    "Hey Corp," Karl replies weakly. "I feel weak. Doc says I lost too much blood. Almost didn''t make." He gives a weak smile. "Thanks for saving me."


    "Don''t sweat it. Good to see you better." James pats Karl''s shoulder. "Well, get out of here soon, you owe me a beer!"


    "Sure, on me. Invite that red head of yours along too." Karl gave a wink.


    "Come on, you mean Kristine and me?" Jamesughs, "Nah, she probably have someone else."


    "What someone else?" Kristine asks from the hatch. "What evil plots are you guys nning?"


    "Erm no," James quickly replies, his face turning slightly red from embarrassment while Karl struggles to notugh.


    "Urgh, help! Don''t make meugh." Karl moans, "It hurts!"


    Kristine shakes her head. Men! "So how are you doing Karl?"


    "Better, Doc says a week or so, and I am good as new." Karl responses. "So how did the ruins exploration went?"


    Kristine starts to tell the two of them about what they found in the ruins and what the ruins used to be. The trio starts talking about their theories and thoughts about who build the fort and also about the green skins.


    Suddenly, an alert went off from theirmunication devices. After a quick read of the message, both James and Kristine look up at each other before turning to Karl. "We got a silent mobilization. Got to go, see youter," James and Kristine dash out of the medical bay, meeting several other crews also rushing to their stations. Halfway, James, and Kristine split off in different directions. "Be careful!" Kristine yells after James before heading to her assign station.


    "What do we have?" ke connects hisms to the bridge as theirmunicators shed a priority alert message.


    "Sir, perimeter sensors are picking up something massive and closing in."


    "Roger that, I''ll be at the bridge in 5mins." ke cut the connection and turns to Dr. Sharon, "We continue this discussionter on. For now, any experiments with the Staff, do it with at least 2 assistants." Exiting theb, he looks at XO Ford, "Put a couple of guards to guard that thing. It seems dangerous."


    "Yes, Sir" Ford replies. Both of them hurries towards the bridge. As they enter the bridge, everyone inside was very tense, staring at the main disy. "What in the world..."


    A UAV hovers 30m off the ground, it''s camera facing the massive wolf as it creeps stealthily through the thick undergrowth towards the base colony. The imagery is directly disyed on the bridge main screen, shocks everyone.


    "How big is that thing?" ke walks up and stands in front of the disy. "Do we have an estimation of its size?"


    "Computer simtions gauge it to be over 9m tall and 18m in length." Came back the reply. "Target has just crossed the 5km mark and closing in!"


    The silvered back giant wolf pauses its movement and sniffs the air, looking directly at the hover UAV. The UAV coated with dazzle camouge pattern, designed to blend into the sky makes less noise than the wings of a hummingbird. The wolf tilts its head, as it senses something watching it, but it is unable to see or smell anything. After a while of confusion, it continues its slow crawl towards the base colony.


    To the crew in the bridge, the way the wolf crawls through the undergrowth looks hrious, but judging from its size, it no longer is aughing matter. "Do we have anything to kill it with?" ke asks. How the fuck are we going to fight something that size!


    "No, the Marines do not have anti-armor weaponry. We are not issued with anything more other than our individual weapons!" Lt Frank who entered the bridge just after ke and Ford stares wide-eyed at the screen. "Command did not expect us to do any groundbat!"


    "Point defenseser?'' ke called out to the weapons officer. "Status?"


    "Dead, sir, we do not have enough power for the PDsers!" Weapons reports. "Missiles are ready, but onlyuncher 1 to 8 are cleared to be fired."


    ke hits thems and connects with Engineering."Chief Matt! Can we divert all power to weapons?"


    "Yes, we can but it should only be able to give us enough power to fire 1 or 2 shot with the PDsers before it drains all power from the capacitors." Chief Matt replies back. "And I need some time to reroute the power and charge up the capacitors."


    "Do it!" ke orders before he turns to the weapons officer. "Open missile bays 1 to 8."


    "Aye, aye. Opening missile 1 to 8." The weapons officer punches in some keys and several nging echoes could be heard in the distance. "Missile 1 to 8 open and ready. Sir!"


    "All hands, battle stations, this is not a drill..." Ford alerted the crew through themswork. "Repeat ... this is not a drill!"


    All the of personnel working outside except for the security forces, dropped their work and rushed back towards the ship. People in an orderly manner, lined up at the entrance ports and the cargo ramp, while the flight deckunch bay is already starting to close up.


    James rushed down the ramp and ran towards a concrete bunker built next to the unfinished wall. Goddamnit, why must there be a situation now! He huffs and puffs as he ran a distance of over 2km. Can''t it wait when I am not onboard the ship?


    Finally, he reaches the bunker with the words N-3 stencil on the walls, banging on the armored door which was salvaged from the ship.


    "Hey Corp! d you decided to join us!" James sees Mills grinning face as he enters the bunker. "Having fun, jogging?"


    "Shut...up..." James slumps against a side bench and pauses to catch his breath. "All ... here?"


    "Yup, you are thest!" Mills replies, pointing out everyone in the bunker.


    James sees Pvt Bartley, giving a small wave of acknowledgment from the forward firing slits and 2 other ck-d security members, peering out of the viewports.


    "Corp, so what''s the deal? More drills?" Mills asks as he settles down at 1 of the firing ports.


    "Wait, I need to download the mission data." James pulls out his tablet and starts checking the mission brief. "hmmm ... what the hell! Mills! Come here!"


    Mills wondering what all the fuss is about, he leans over and looks at the tablet, which James is holding up to him. "Yea? HOLY FUCK!" Mills yells, causing everyone in the bunker to gather around to view the mission data.


    "Is this a joke?" 1 of the security guys asks. "A 9-meter tall wolf?"


    "Oh boy, I''m screwed. Mommy is here for her kids that I killed." Mills groans. "Wait! Big Guy! You killed more wolves than me!" He points at Bartley, who just shrugs his shoulders.


    "Enough, Mills! Stop whining." James kept the tablet and look at the room of frightened soldiers, except for Bartley whose expression doesn''t seem to change.


    "Question now is, how the hell do we kill that thing!"

 Chapter 29: All along the Watchtower

    Chapter 29: All along the Watchtower


    "Power is being rerouted to the point defensesers! Capacitors charging at 0.3% and raising."


    "Get those people in the ship now! Just ignore it!"


    "Shut the side hatches! Make sure all is locked down."


    Chaos and panic reign in the Bridge, crews at their stations frantically give orders and directions to the men and women still evacuating back to the ship. ke stood in the middle, staring at the image of the alpha wolf.


    "Sir!" Ford came up next to ke, "85% of the crew are ounted for. The remainder is the surveying teams in the South and Southeast section!"


    "Inform them toy low and be on alert," ke orders. "Once the all clear is given than get them to return back."


    "Weapons, how much more time do we have before thesers are ready?" ke asks.


    "Sir, as long as the capacitors reach 0.4% strength, we can fire." Came back the reply.


    ke turns back to the screen, watching the wolf creeping its way forward.


    "Captain, sensors are picking up more movement." Sensor officer Randy reports. "Moving UAV to expand area view."


    The UAV observing the approaching danger, under the control of Randy, drifts high upwards and the video is transmitted back to the Bridge. Dozens of bluish-grey shapes follow behind the alpha wolf, their bluish-grey fur blends them perfectly to the undergrowth as they appear and disappear from view.


    "Contacts just crossed the 2km mark."


    "Weapons?" ke asks without turning from the screen.


    "Capacitors holding at the 0.7%. That''s all the power we are getting from the WTS generators!" Weapons reports. The WTS generators are three in one power generators, powered by Wind, Tidal, and Sr energy.


    "All hatches secured, the ship is secured, Sir!" Ford informs ke. "Other than the away teams, and the perimeter defense teams, all crew is onboard and ounted for."


    "Weapons,unch missile 1 directly in front of the Alpha wolf as warning shot!" ke orders. If we can make them retreat, that is the best case scenario, he thoughts.


    "Aye, missile 1 firing!" The weapons officer hits theunch key, and a slight tremor could be felt, as the missile was ejected out ofunch bay, before igniting its engines and darts off towards the direct impact area.


    A sh of light and a small dirt cloud explodes upwards over a kilometer away. The UAV wobbles and readjusted itself as the shockwave from the st threatens to knock it off the sky. The view switches to infra then thermal as the cloud of dirt and smoke blocked the view, before switching back to normal vision.


    "Where did it go?" Infra and thermal shows nothing, except for the missile impact area. Everyone eyes were on the screen watching, hoping that the missile manages to scare away the wolves.


    As the smoke clears, a small crater has formed where the missile has hit. The alpha wolf has retreated back and res around in confusion wondering where the attack came from. It narrows its eyes and throws its head back and howls, before turning and ran away with the rest of the wolves.


    "Contacts are leaving!" Randy excitedly reports. "They just left the 5km mark! They are out of sensor range!"


    "Stand down, people." ke orders. "Good work everyone."


    ke gestures Ford to follow him, and he left the bridge and enter his office. "We need to be able to fend off those wolves. Infra and thermal have no effect on them, if we can''t lock on the missiles means we can''t hit them."


    "Sir, we will also need to ren the perimeter walls." Ford rubs his chin. "Currently, the ns for the wall is set to a height of 12m. But this alpha wolf changes a lot of things."


    "We need the reactor to be ready." ke sat on his chair and sighs. "Without power, we can''t fire thesers and that''s is currently our only trump card."


    Ford nods. "I''ll push Matt harder." before leaving the office.


    Four hourster, the wolves returned. They came to a distance of 2 km before ke orders another missile fired, this time to kill. The missile fired and guided manually only manages to scare the wolves away without killing or wounding any.


    When night came, the wolves attempted to approach again, only to be driven back by another missile. Throughout the whole night, the wolves constantly probe the lines, trying to sneak closer to the base colony.


    "Did you manage any sleep?" ke asks Ford, yawning. "How many times did theye? Five or Six?


    "Six times, Sir," Ford replied, he held two cups of coffee and hands one over to ke. "I managed to nap a bit."


    "Well, at least we didn''t waste all those missiles. At least 2 confirmed kills and 2 wounded." ke sips the hot drink. "But at this rate, we will run out of missiles before they run out of bodies."


    "Chief Matt is rushing his team non-stop to fix the reactor." Ford sets down his cup of coffee on the table. "He says he needs a more time. Which we do not have."


    "Well, at least the capacitors are at over 10% power. We can switch tosers instead of using missiles now." ke informs Ford. "The wolves are very intelligent, they appear to be probing our defenses and are trying to find a weak spot."


    "Yes, I gather that they are trying to weaken us too by doing constant raids." Ford frowns. "It''s like they are stalking us as prey."


    Down in the bunkers, James and his team rotated duties inside, some will be on watch while the others resting. Throughout the day and night, the alerts keep popping up, making them scramble and stand ready at the firing ports. The concrete bunker is built with a tower built on top and a basement barracks for the soldiers to rest and store supplies.


    Most of the team looks tired and fatigued, except for Bartley who managed a snore or two, while the rest attempted to fall asleep but couldn''t.


    "Corp, what are they doing?" Mills rubs his eyes and yawned. "Why are they not attacking?"


    "I don''t know." James blinks his tired eyes, he was too hyped to fall asleepst night. "Maybe they are testing us?"


    "Wish they stop doing that," Mills grumbled as he opens the packed meal, delivered from the mess earlier. "Urgh, more purple carr-ato mash!" He spoons some out and swallows it. "Damn wolves, start the attack! So we can eat you after we kill you!" He shouts towards the forest from the firing port.


    James smiles tiredly. He reaches for one of the packed meals when the perimeter alert beeps madly.


    "Action stations!"

 Chapter 30: Clash of Giants

    Chapter 30: sh of Giants


    Over 10 wolves ranging from the size of a car to a bus, rushed headlong through the forest and burst out of the foliage, appearing in the 300m strip of clearednd between the trees and the base''s perimeter.


    Snarls and growls apanied the creatures, as they sprint against the open ground. "Fire!" James yells as the lead wolf passes the 200m marker. Tracers erupted from his bunker followed soon by the rest as they opened fire too.


    The glow of the crisscrossing tracers lights up the new dawn of the day while howls and gunfire scattered the flying creatures from the forest.


    "Watch your fire and aim before you shoot!" James peeks out of the bunker while directing his men''s fire. "Don''t waste ammo!"


    Suddenly a huge shadow covers the left side port openings and the whole bunker shooked with a loud thud. A piercing whine could be heard as the wolf broke his paw against the hardened concrete when it tried to smash it away with its paws.


    It couldn''t understand why is it so tough! It used to be able to sweep the stone and wooden buildings away from the 2 legs! It whimpers in pain and tries to limp away.


    "HELLO, MY DINNER! COME TO PAPA!" Mills holler as he fires full auto into the retreating wolf who hit the bunker, making his head hurt. The impact of his bullets pounded the creature''s organs to jelly, causing it to vomit blood before it copses with a earth shaking smash. "Woohoo! Fresh meat tonight!"


    James shakes his head at Mills''s antics and climbs up thedder to the reach the tower top. After 3 levels of climbing, he emerges from thedder to a spacious square room with tiny rectangr viewports giving a panorama view of the surroundings. The 2 security crew members were stationed here and were firing carefully downwards at the attacking wolves.


    "How is everything?" James asks as he stood on the firing step and looks out at the surrounding. The sun has started to appear and casting long shadows over the ground while tracers flew hazardously towards the fast-moving wolves.


    "Doing fine, corporal!" they replied excitedly, their fear overtaken by the adrenaline rush and sess of the kills. "They can''t get to us!"


    "Good, watch your fire and ammo," James advised. "Make every shot count!" Most of the wolves have fallen, while some others surrounded the bunkers, trying to gnaw at the troops inside. Several wolves ignored the bunkers and rampage around the temporarily built structures at the Base Colony.


    He watches a wolf the size of a truck, tramples the survival domes, tearing its tough fabric before getting fired upon by the nearest bunker. It dodges and howls, but under the heavy gunfire, topples over and crushes an abandoned forklift on the side of the road.


    James checks his tablet and finds out that the wolves have split into 2 groups of over 20 each, and are attacking in 2 different directions. Damn. These guys are smart! But so far, other than a few damaged equipment and buildings, we manage to hold the line still. Unless that monstrous wolfes into y.


    Sensing that the attack has failed, the alpha wolf howls and the remaining wolves turn tail and retreated, leaving behind a dozen dead and dying. It res from the cover of the forest, staring with hatred at the Base Colony before it turns and retreats with its brood to lick their wounds.


    "Sir, contacts retreating out of motion sensor range."


    "Send a UAV after them, see if we can follow them back to theirir this time." Thest few attempts did not bore fruit as the UAV infra and thermal sensors couldn''t pick them out in the night. ke turns and asks Ford, "Any casualties?"


    "No, sir, other than some shaken nerves, we survived this attack," Ford reports after he checks with every department. "But we depleted quite a lot of our ammunition stores."


    "Get the crews out to bring in the bodies, make it quick. I got a feeling that they just fell back to regroup before attacking again." ke orders. "Also, stop rerouting power to theser''s capacitors. Restore power to the rest of the ship and base." He wipes the sweat off his face, as the temperature had steadily risen up in the bridge throughout the night due to the air conditioners having no power. He couldn''t imagine what the rest of the crew inside the ship were facing even with the vents open.


    The cargo bay ramps slide out as the massive armored doors cranked open. A couple of forklifts drives down the ramp and headed towards the bodies of the wolves lying all over the Base Colony. Dozens of crew members cling onto the sides of the vehicles as they hitch a ride to begin to clean up of the area.


    Mills watches the work crews, hook and tow the wolf carcasses away, "Fresh meat for tonight!" He rubs his gloved hands with glee. "Damn, I am hungry! I want a nice juicy medium rare steak!"


    All the soldiers stationed at bunker H-3 have climbed up onto the tower and were watching the work crews cleaning up the battlefield. "Think the wolves had enough? Will they be back?" asked one of the security guys.


    "Hell if I know." Mills patted his rifle stock, "If theye again, I just feed them 6.5mms while they feed my tummy!" Heughs at his own joke.


    "And someone was almost crying for his mommy the other day..." James couldn''t help but make fun of him, making the restugh along. James is very d that his team morale has risen, asks Bartley, "You alright?"


    "Yes, Corp," Bartley replies in his usual dull tone. "Just sad for those creatures. They look so noble."


    "Noble or not," James pats Bartley on his shoulder, "They are still trying to kill us. We do what we have to do to protect everyone here."


    "That we do," Bartley whispers. "The sh of the giants."


    The wolves did not returnter that day, nor the following weeks ahead.

 Chapter 31: Wheels

    Chapter 31: Wheels


    ke sat on his office chair and went through all the reports sitting on his work desk. Food and water supplies, ammunition consumption, crew morale, and more. Luckily the giant horned wolves donated over 4 tons of meat, helping them greatly with their food supplies.


    How am I going to solve the ammunition problem? Over 30% used up in the defense against the wolves, if they attack constantly, they will be down to sticks and stones. ke held up Lt Frank''s report and skim through it.


    ck powder? Hmm, we need a saltpeter source if we need potassium nitrate. ke makes a reminder to get survey teams to head down south along the cliffs and hills to see if they can find any "bat" caves


    Senior Chief Petty Officer Gale knocks sharply at the open hatch of ke''s office, "Permission to enter, Sir?" He stood at parade rest outside the office.


    "Come in Chief." ke nces up from his stack of paperwork, d of the interruption. He pushes back on his seat, thinking even if stranded on an unknown, trying to survive, yet paperwork never dies. "At ease, Chief and take a seat."


    Chief Gale pulls the chair out and sat down heavily, before handing over a tablet to ke. "Sir, the vehicle designs are done."


    "Oh? That''s fast." ke raised his eyebrows as he scrolls through the designs.


    "Yes Sir, the past 2 days due to the wolf raids, we are mostly on lockdown, so theds had plenty of free time toe out with something." Chief Gale exins. "We also built a couple of prototypes to test."


    "What? Really?" ke''s eyes lit up, "Can I see them?"


    "Sure you can sir!" And they set off towards the flight decks. Along the way, Chief Gale exins the design they came out with to ke.


    "This way," Chief Gale leads ke to makeshift garage housed inside the flight deck. "We built up this garage so that it is easier for us to create and test the vehicles."


    Sitting in the middle of the garage were 2 vehicles with several mechanics working on them. "Captain on the deck!" Chief Gale bellows. The mechanics instantly stop work and stood at attention.


    "At ease," ke enters the garage and looks with approval at the 2 vehicles sitting there. One is a 4 wheeler while the other was a half-track design, both still looking very barebones, with cables and gears exposed.


    Chief Gale points to the 4-wheeler and points out its characteristics. "We took an old jeep design as it was the simplest to build with what we have. It is powered by an overclocked 50kW electric motor salvaged from the auto doors, providing 67 horsepower."


    The 4-wheeler has no doors, just a simple car body frame with a driver seat, front passager seat and bench bolted to the back for 2 more passengers. "Of course, since the terrain here has no proper roads, it has 4 wheel drive capability, able to hit speeds up to 110 km/h with a max load of 450 kg and a range of 520 km on a full battery charge."


    "Tested?" ke sat on the driver seat, holding onto the steering wheel. He looks at the primitive design of the steering wheel, gearbox and foot pedals. "How do you drive this thing?"


    Chief Gale gives a brief run-through of how the steering wheel, gearbox, and foot pedals work. "This turns the direction of the vehicle, while this controls the speed and this is the elerator, brakes, and clutch."


    After 30mins of exnation and learning, ke turns the power key on and steps gently on the elerator. The jeep rolls forward smoothly and exits the garage to the joy and excitement of the mechanics. ke drove several rounds inside the flight deck before returning to the garage. "That was fun!" He grins at the excited mechanics and Chief Gale. "Very good work! Now we just need to do some outfield trials! What''s next?"


    "This is the half-track design we came up with. We actually wanted to use 8 wheels to give it good off-road capabilities but we are kindacking in rubber." Chief Gale pats the steel hull of the half-track. "For the engines, we pulled severalrge electric motors off the st doors. The 200 kW motors provide as much as 260 horsepower, allowing it to transport over 2 tons of load while keeping its top speed at 78km/h."


    The half-track looks like a tbed trailer truck with 2 front wheels while the rear is a caterpir track, instead of having wheels. "For it''s maxed range, the batteries are also good for roughly 480 km on a full charge."


    "Why a half-track?" ke asks, curious. "Shouldn''t a 4 or 6 wheels at the rear be better?"


    "A few points, Sir. One is due to the cement of the tracks, it spreads the vehicle''s weight over arger area, which gives it greater mobility over soft terrains like mud and snow." Chief Gale ticks off his fingers as he continues. "Relying instead on their front wheels to direct the vehicle, they do not require theplex steering mechanisms of fully tracked vehicles. Next, it is easier to learn to operate than fully tracked vehicles."


    "Last of all, rubber. We do not have enough of it to produce enough tires for all the vehicles, thus we opt for tracks, using modr steel tes as we have plenty of steel."


    ke nods before asking, "How long do you need to finish it before starting trial runs?" ke stands next to the half-track. "And how many can you build and how fast?"


    "The jeep is almost done, just needs some finishing touches." Chief Gale rubs his chin as he mentally makes some calctions. "Probably can squeeze out 2 jeeps per week."


    "As for the half-track. 1 per week or up to 10 days to produce it. Also same as the jeep, rubber iscking, unless we change all to tracks, like a tank." Chief Gale looks at ke. "Including the needs of rubber for the jeeps, I say 12 jeeps and 20 half-tracks is all we can produce."


    ke nods. Once the survey teams have jeeps, they can expand out to find more resources easier. "Alright, that sounds good. Quickly finish the prototypes and run trials, once all tested to run fine, I want production of the jeep and half-track to begin."


    "Yes, Sir. Also if you can assign people to start stripping the ship of rubber and other parts, it will help a lot." Chief Gale gave a suggestion.


    "Got it, I will assign people to work on it." ke agrees and continues. "We also need a manual for maintenance and driving, start getting some of your guys who know how to drive to be prepared to teach others."

 Chapter 32: The Empire

    Chapter 32: The Empire


    A pair of huge massive doors, with carved scenes of trees and nature, swings open and a tall slim pale looking male dressed in a ck coat with dark red pants, silk-like high cored shirt with a cravat tied in a soft bow, covered over by a ck waistcoat, walks through.


    His green eyes barely register the 2 guards bowing to him by the doors, a pair of golden earrings hung from his long pointy ears, his long handsome angr face framed by the light blonde hair and a thick sideburn frowns in worry as he hurried his steps towards His Majesty''s day office.


    Another pair of guards in full te mail and holding halberds, bows and opens the office doors as he approaches. As he enters the room, he bows low to the person sitting behind the golden gilded desk, His Majesty, Varacen Bluewoods, ruler of the Bluewoods Empire.


    "Your Majesty, I await yourmand." He half kneels on the floor in front of the desk with his head bowed low, waiting for Emperor Varacen to notice him.


    The Emperor ignored his presence, continues to read the rolls of parchment tied with colored ribbons. His signature blue hair and thick beard that only belongs to royalty are tied with a dark blue ribbon into a ponytail, have started to show strains of silver. Dressed in a white shirt, waistcoat, dark blue pants and a knee-high leather boots, he finally sets down the scroll.


    Emperor Varacen sighs, his aging face still retains some handsome features even after turning 60 this year. "Raise, my Lord Strum." He leans back on his padded chair, finely carved with trees and flowers. "You disappoint me greatly."


    Lord Strum stood up and resisted his urge to wipe the sweat off his face. "My emperor! I have failed you, the rebel scum still walks thend, my troops were so close to wiping them out, but the green skins raided in massive numbers, thus I had to fall back my troops to block the tide of green skins." He exins.


    "Yes, yes. I read your report and themanders report too." Emperor Varacen waves away his exnation. "Still, your ipetence has allowed the rebels to escape," Varacen tilts his head slightly looking at Strum like a wolf looks at a rabbit. "Maybe you don''t want your title of Duke of Fallowfall anymore?"


    "No... no, my liege, I won''t fail you again!" Lord Strum fell on his knees.


    "You sure? I got many other nobles queuing up to be a Duke." Varacen smiles wickedly, enjoying tormenting Strum. "I think I should just reward some other noble."


    "My emperor, I won''t fail you again! 2 months, no... 1 month''s time! I will root out the rebels from Fallowfall and they will no longer gue our Empire of Bluewood any longer!"


    "Make it so, or it wouldn''t be just your title." Emperor Varacen promises, "Your head might roll too."


    "Ye-yes, My Emperor," Lord Strum trembles slightly with fear, as he knows quite well how mad Emperor Varacen can be.


    "I will send the 3rd Lancers to you to help wipe out the rebels once and for all. Do not fail me this time." Emperor Varacen said before waving his hand to dismiss Strum.


    The massive doors m shut behind Lord Strum. He shivers slightly even in his warm coat and turns and looks at the massive castle, battlements, and towers linked together by bridges and spires rising high up into the sky topped with fluttering royal blue trimmed with gold banners.


    "Bring my carriage over!" He yells at his footmen, "Hurry up fools! Or I whip the hide off your backs!" Damn the ves and rebels. I will find you and when I do, you will wish you were never born into this world. His crotch grew hard at that thought and heughs in anticipation. "Where''s my carriage!"


    --------------------------------


    "FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD!" The crowd queued up in a line chanted in the ship''s gallery. "FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD!" and banging their trays or utensils in rhythm to the chanting.


    "SHUT UP YOU PUNKS!" The serving mate hoists arge stainless steel pot into the serving line. "Like you guys haven''t eaten in months!"


    The crowd cheers as they see the steaming pot and starts to hand over trays for the server to put food into their food trays. Mashed carr-ota, some greens with slices of tomatoes, a few local fruits and finally the main course, wolf stew. Chunks of wolf meat with potatoes from the farms and local onions apanied by arge piece of freshly baked bread.


    Petty officer 1st ss Keito Nagasaki, chef of the UNS Singapore leans over the counter and watches the crowd going wild over his cooking. He shakes his head and smiles, enjoying the mood. He always enjoyed cooking, taking a diploma in culinary before being drafted into the navy.


    He did not expect to be dropped onto an unknown world but to him, it was like those light novels he so used to read in the past, about reincarnations or transported to another world kind of setting. Due to limited supplies, he has to manage the kitchen and stretch the food supplies to feed over 400 people every day! Luckily the surveying teams after bringing the local wildlife or edible foodstuff to be checked for health issues will alwayse to find him to prepare them.


    Chef Keito was amazed by the different types of materials he has to work on, and all of them are new to everyone, thus he has to create new dishes to cater to everyone tastes. It was challenging and exciting to him, he felt truly alive at this point as his skills are tested to the max.


    He returns to the kitchen and took out a piece of t greenish transparent looking squidlike object. The surveying team brought it back from the ins to the East, and it actually looked like a ball of slime. No, it definitely is SLIME! After several cooking tests and tasting, he found the best way to cook and serve it!


    Days before, he removed its internal guts and left it to totally dry in the sun. Once dried, it shrinks and turns hard like dried fish or octopus. He then boils it with salt water and made soup stock from the bones of the wolves slowly boiled over 20 hours, till the soup turns whitish.


    Once the dried slime is boiled, he slices it into noodles like strips, paired with the wolf bone soup, tops it off with an ajitsuke tamago, or Japanese marinated soft boiled eggs and some roasted sesame seeds and seaweed and its done! Slime ramen!


    Time to serve the officers their meal, as he prepares several bowls of it, whistling along all the way.

 Chapter 33: Fugitives

    Chapter 33: Fugitives


    Sherene Goldrose bends over with her hands on her knees and takes a breather, pushing her falling hair back over her pointy ears. She stood up and watches the snaking line of people, slowly climbing the steep slopes of Sawtooth Mountain. Young and old, carrying what little possessions they have, struggles against the rocky terrain, trying to escape the pursuing Empire soldiers.


    "My Lady," A middle-aged male, with sharp eyes and hair turning grey at the roots, hands a skin of water to Sherene. "We must hurry, the Empire soldiers will be upon us soon. We have no time to rest!" He wears a half te with a long sword belted to his waist and in addition a backpack of supplies.


    "But the people are tired! We can''t just push them too much!" Sherene pleads with the veteran. "We can''t let them be taken by the Empire!"


    He sighs. Joseph Tokin had served the Goldrose family for over 30 years, he knew the young princess since she was a baby and her temperament very well. But as she is the onlyst surviving member of the Goldrose royal family, her parents, brothers and ultimately the kingdom losing their lives to the Mad Emperor Varacen in the, he has to protect her at all cost!


    "My Lady, I will dispatch men as a rearguard to buy us as much time as possible." He sighs inwardly, thinking of the men and women he will be condemned to death. "But we must hurry, please get on the wagon!" He dictates a wagon, pulled by arge lumberingnd dragon.


    Sherene looks into her loyal retrainer''s eyes, seeing the sadness and pain inside. "I-I understand. But no, let the old, wounded and young on it." She stubbornly lowers her head and starts walking again, ignoring her painful sore feet.


    Joseph shakes his head and waves at his g bearer toe over and give some orders. The g bearer nods and starts waving his g in a signal. Shortly after a small detachment of escorting soldiers broke off and headed to the rear of the column. "My Lady, we will soon reach the pass between Sawtooth Mountain and be able to see the sea. My men will remain to defend the pass, they will not be able to follow us as long as we hold the pass!"


    "But you can''t hold it forever!" Sherene looks worriedly at Joesph since she could remember, he was always there for her, as her mentor in sword and archery, her protector, and friend. She doesn''t know what she will do if she lost him too!


    "Don''t worry, my princess!" He smiles, "When winteres in 2 months time, the pass will be blocked, giving us a whole season to prepare! You need to lead the people to rebuild their homes. Leave the fighting to me!" He pats his breastte.


    "Look princess!" A soldier in the front yells excited and points to the front. A narrow gap slowlyes into view,rge enough for 4nd dragon wagons to drive pass side by side. "It''s the Sawtooth Pass!"


    The disposed citizens of the Goldrose Kingdom cheer up visibly as they point to the pass, knowing that once they cross it, they are saved!


    Sherene hurries along with the rest of the soldiers and civilians, appearing out of the pass and seeing the glittering sea in the far distance. It was the 1st time most of the people have seen the sea, as their kingdom isndlocked. The sparkingly clear blue waters could be seen clearly from their height.


    Suddenly someone shouted and points to the distance, Joesph and Sherene worried that the pursuit from the Empire hase, looks in surprise at the objects moving in the ins.


    2 dragon-less wagons were moving rapidly in the ins following a herd of Pico Picos, arge-sized flightless bird, seemingly capturing them with ropes.


    "What powerful sorcery is that?" Joesph stares wide-eyed at the fast-moving wagons. "They must be very powerful mages to do that!"


    The people from the Goldrose Kingdom stood watching the scenery and the dragon-less wagons rounding up the herd of Pico Picos in awe when suddenly a horn st bellowed from the rear.


    "The Empire is here!"


    Loaded up on the moving Jeep that was newly manufactured, Pvt Drake sat on the rear cheering the crew who was strapped standing in the middle of the jeep. The redesign of the prototype jeep has added a standing space in the middle of the vehicle, which holds a mount for mounting the PK-299 machinegun and new roll bars on the vehicle sides.


    The crewmate threw asso and expertly caught another of therge ostrich-like bird. "Hee-haw!" SA Puller drawls as he tightened the noose. "Damn I''m good!" All that time spent with grandpa in the horse farms sure paid off!


    At one side of the ins, the second jeep sat the rest of the survey team, husbanding the caught birds. "Lucky, they are quite docile or I think they ate you by now!" Sgt Collins jokes with the team. Therge birds stand almost as tall as a human, with an eagle-like head and body covered with grey-white feathers, while their tails feathers are ck and crane-like legs. It''s surrounding eye sockets are color in a bright red-orange, with distinct ck feathers protruding from behind its head.


    Suddenly a long bellowing sound of a horn echoes down the mountains and onto the ins, everyone snaps their heads up towards the sound. "What is that?"


    "Look! People!" Someone yells at the 2nd vehicle. Sgt Collins unstrap his binocrs and peers into the distance. The powerful 12x zoom instantly brings details of the group of people standing on the mountain slopes.


    "Oh my, we got natives!" Collins yells as he focuses his sight on the group. "Call Car 1 back!" Another st of long mournful sounding horn echoes again. "Damn!"


    Car 2 pulled up beside them with the caught Pico Pico in tow. "What the hell is that sarge?" Pvt Drake hops off the rear with his weapon at the ready. He carried an M7 DMR instead of an M7A1 for this mission.


    "There you see the gap between the mountain ridges?" Collins directed Drake, who deployed the built-in bipod of the M7 DMR onto the hood of the jeep, and peers into the 8x scope of the rifle. "You see them?"


    Drake adjusted his sights and activates the built-in rangefinder. "Yup, arge group of people, some wearing armor and carrying swords and spears. Distance... 426 meters away"


    "What''s happening?" The rest of the team asking those who had field sses.


    "Some group of people turned up... wait... they appear to be fighting," Someone gave amentary on the situation. "Oh no, there seems to be women and children in that group!"

 Chapter 34: Help

    Chapter 34: Help


    "Captain, Dog 5 is requesting instructions." Ensign ra sitting on her console waits for ke reply. "Do we render help?"


    ke frowns as he looks at the tactical map of the area. Arge number of unknown natives has appeared over the mountains, estimated numbers at around 2 thousand. He looks at the UAV imagery, showing a group of soldiers in eye-catching gold ending off another group of soldiers in blue while trying to buy time for their people to retreat.


    "Sir!" Ford looks at ke, "I advise we help them! There''s women, children and elderly in that group!" He zooms the image to the running people, even with a top-down image, clearly shows children


    and elderly among them.


    ke looks around the bridge, seeing everyone looking with anticipation at him. He noticed some of the female crew have tears in their eyes from watching those people getting butchered. "Alright, do it! Tell Dog 5 to provide aid as much as possible, but do not endanger themselves! Deploy the rapid responders."


    "Yes, Sir!" The bridge crew hearing his orders jumped to it with a fervor. Ford nods at ke and smiles. "Sir, helping them will boost the crew morale."


    ke nods, but he wonders that if helping these people, will it bring cmity in the future?


    Sherene shouts encouragement to her people, pushing them to move faster and into the safety of the pass. Soldiers and civilians alike work hard to roll stones and boulders to create a choke point against the Empire soldiers. She sees the rear guard doing their best to stop the Empire soldiers from advancing and losing their lives for it.


    "Its the Empire 3rd Lancers!" A soldier yells. Joseph looks at the banners, 3 red shes on a dark blue background, carried on the backs of the dragon ridingncers, the dragons look like arge Terran crocodile, with a longer neck and legs, while the snot is shorter.


    Damn. I don''t have much dragonnces to stop them! Joseph orders his soldiers carrying the dragonnces, which is basically ance magically enhanced with anti-dragon properties, enabling it to pierce the tough scales and hide of a dragon, it is a one-time use weapon, as after piercing its target the magic inside will detonate, killing the dragon.


    "Lord General!" A soldier rushes up to him and salutes, fist over his chest. "The magical wagons areing our way!"


    "What?" Joseph turns his attention away from the rear and pushes through the crowd to the front, he looks down the slope and sees the 2 wagons making their way up the slope. What kind of magic is needed to do that! He looks on in amazement.


    Sherene quickly joins Joesph as the crowd parts away from the approaching magic wagons. As they approach nearer, she could make out the features of the people driving it. Most of them were in grey or ck clothing that covers most parts of their bodies, while some are wearing a helmet of some sorts, the rest were wearing some sort of hats.


    The wagons stopped several meters away from the soldiers who formed a defensive line in front of Sherene and Joseph. She pushes the men away, and stood in front and said, "Greetings, I am Princess Sherene Goldrose, we greet you, strangers."


    Collins signal the driver to stop, and watches a very very prettydy walks out from behind the armored ted soldiers dressed in gold, pointing their spears at them. He drops his jaw in amazement and was stunned for a while, in fact, the whole team was stunned by her looks. They look human, except for the color of their hair and ears!


    "*********, * ** ******** ******* ********, ** ***** ***, *********." Thedy spoke something and gave a curtsy of sorts. Her beauty was incredible, with a top model body, heart shape face,rge blue eyes, everything is prefect!


    Collins scratched his forehead and looks around, "Anyone speaks... alien?"


    "Elves!" Drake half shouted, his mouth opened wide, "I can''t fucking believe it. Fucking elves!" Being a gamer, he recognized distinctive features, that are so familiarly the same as in the games he had yed before.


    "Pvt Drake, you know how to speak elf?" Collins turned around and asks. "If not, watch thenguage!"


    Damn, Collins cursed, how are we going to do this. Urgh, I just smoke my way through!


    He leaps off the jeep and removed his helmet, and held his hands up to show that he came in peace. "Erm, we are here to help? Can you understand?"


    Thedy tilts her head in confusion to his words before speaking in that flowerynguage to a tough looking veteran soldier beside her.


    "What kind of people are they? They look like us, but their ears are so short!" Sherene turns to Joseph, "Are they, enemies?" She looks at the man dressed in a weird green-brown colored pattern.


    "I don''t think so, he is standing there with his hands purposely held to the sides to show he is unarmed." Besides, if they have the magic to power those wagons, I don''t think we can stop their magic from killing us all here, Joseph thought.


    Collins points to their rear and tried to sign that they are here to help, he waves the rest of the vehicles and walks slowly to the pass.


    The surrounding soldiers nervously point their spears and swords as Collins approaches. He turns and looks at the Lady and gestures again to the rear urgently.


    "Joesph! I think they meant to help us!" Sherene pulls at Joesph''s arm. "They are trying to go to the rear!"


    Joesph frowns, he couldn''t be sure what these people are, nor why are they wanting to go to the rear where the battle is. Are they friend or foe? Should he chance it? Finally, he sighs, "Let them pass, I think they meant to help us." He orders his troops toy down their weapons.


    Collins seeing the old veteran gesturing and speaking, following that the soldiers lower their weapons, he knew that they have given them the green light to pass through. "Come on you pukes! People are dying are we are not the ones doing the killing!"


    His team of 7 follows him swiftly through the pass, apanied by the old veteran and some soldiers. He noticed that thedy was following behind them too, and he wondered who is she.


    As they exited the pass, they saw the battle raging on, scores of civilians were still fleeing and trying to climb towards the pass, some of the unlucky ones, slip and roll down the steep slopes.


    "Alright, we are gonna hit them from the nks! Drake, you snipe, engage all officers or what you think are officers!" Collins orders and the rest of the men formed upon his sides, armed with 5mm PDWs. "Ignore those big lizards like things, kill the riders!"


    They advanced down the stone path, waving the fleeing civilians out of the way. The soldiers in gold were holding a shield wall stopping the enemy at a bend in the path, denying the dragon calvary distance to charge through.


    "Watch your front, don''t hit any of the golden boys or civilians! Aim for the blue coats! READY?" Sounds of weapons cocking replied back.


    "FIRE!"

 Chapter 35: Mighty Magic

    Chapter 35: Mighty Magic


    "Heavy infantry to the front! Destroy that shield wall!" Knight-Captain Yoles of the Empire''s 3rd Lancermanded, riding his war dragon. "Lancers are to pull back to 50 paces, once the infantry breaks the shield wall, We charge!"


    Cries of acknowledgment reply to hismands. He observes the battle, savoring the smell of blood and enjoying cries of fear. These damn defeated Goldrose soldiers fight well for a destroyed kingdom, but too bad, they met me and my 3rd Lancers. Yoles smiles and yells over the battle. "We are the Third! Elites of the empire! Drop your weapons and surrender, or we will kill every single one of you!" And we make ves out of you all! He smiles inwardly at that thought.


    The golden shield wall quivers slightly upon hearing his words, and for a moment both sides stay at a standstill. Knight-Captain Joles smiles, knowing that the enemy morale has dropped, he raises his right fist upwards, ready tomand his formed upncers to charge into the shield wall, even with such short distance, they will still be enough to cause enough chaos to break the wall.


    "Fire!"


    Thunder and fire suddenly erupted from the rear corner of the Rosegold lines. Yoles jerked his head in surprise as his war dragon suddenly flinched from the loud sounds. He struggles to keep his mount from panicking and getting it back in control.


    Pvt Drakeys prone at the pass with several of the golden boys watching him, wondering what is he up toying there taking a rest when everyone is fighting. He ignores their stares and whispers, carefully set his bipod firmly onto the rock floor, and scans through the scope looking for targets.


    He almost immediately spots a full armored soldier in blue, with a red plume on its helmet in the sea of grey armors. He smiles and checks the distance, 237m, and zeros his scope in. He ces his crosshair over the target''s "triangle", which is from the shoulders to the navel of the body, forming a triangle; rather than going for a fancy headshot. He calms and slows his breathing, keeping his cheek snuggled tight against the rifle stock and gently squeezed the trigger.


    Knight-Captain Yoles finally manages to keep control his war dragon, he res at the Goldrose lines and raises his fist and strikes it down, "CHARGE! FOR THE EMP-!!!"


    The 6.5mm tungsten core armor piercing round traveling at 1,005 m/s took less than a split second to travel the short distance before punching through the te mail''s upper torso and into the leather under armor, before entering Knight-Captain Yole''s chest. The armor piercing bullet spiraled deep inside his body rupturing organs and shattering bones before exiting out from his armpit, and tearing out a huge chunk of tissue, exited his armor at an angle before prating through an unlucky heavy armored soldier nearby, sending him crashing down.


    "One..." Drake whispers as he sweeps for other targets.


    "In the name of the gods!" Sherene and Joesph stood stunned behind the strangers who weld mighty magical thundersticks. With each boom of thunder, fire spits out and an enemy drops, sometimes more than 1! It does not seem to even care how heavily armored the soldiers are, it cuts them down like wheat! "What kind of magic is that?"


    "It is as powerful as a level 5 spell! Maybe even more!" Sherene exims, shocked at how powerful the strangers are. The rest of the Goldrose soldiers and civilians watches in amazement, at the 8 strangers cutting down an enemy over 50 times their size!


    SGT Collins and his team advanced in a tactical wedge formation, firing aimed shots into the mass of blue infantry and cavalry. As only he and Drake are marines who uses the M7 series, the rest of his team are mostly naval crew and 2 others from the security section, they are armed instead with the fully automatic 50 rounds, H&K AMP-11 Personal Defense Weapon firing 5mm Full Metal Jacket rounds.


    They swept fire into the ranks of tightly packed soldiers, mowing them down in twos or threes. The 5mm FMJ rounds rip easily through the ranks of soldiers like paper, shields or te mail that can stop a spear, sword or arrow are nothingpared to its power. The Empire soldiers cluster even tighter together in confusion, which makes them into easier targets. The blue coats seeing deathing from afar held their ground bravely at first, but as the officers andmanders started dying one by one, and with Knight-Captain Yoles death, they start to panic and slowly fall back. What kind of magic is that!


    Once the first step backward was taken, more and more steps backward followed before the blue-coated soldiers turn and ran, some even abandoning their shields and weapons. Sergeants and officers screamed for their men to form up or hold their ground were picked off by Drake from afar. The Lancers seeing the deteriorating situation also turned and retreated ignoring the panicking men, trampling those unlucky to be in their way.


    Cheers erupted from the Goldrose side, and some of the hotblooded soldiers even started pursuing the routed enemy to cut them down. "Hold, you idiots! HOLD!" Lord General Joesph roars at the chasing troops. "Form up! g bearer where are you! Get the men to form up!" He storms off towards the shield wall, cursing and swearing at the hotheaded soldiers.


    Collins watch the backs of the blue coats running away in fear and felt a sense of extreme satisfaction. "Alright guys, good job!" The rest of the team started to chat excitedly and bragging among themselves over the firefight. "Ok, enough! You guys are like gossiping wives! Go police up all the spent cartridges!"


    Sherene walks towards Collins and kneels down in gratitude to him and his team, and the rest of the Goldrose people also follow suit and kneels down thanking their saviors. "We thank you from the bottom of our heart for saving my people." She said sincerely to Collins.


    Collins who was halfway reporting back to base, jolts in surprise as the crowd of elves suddenly kneels down to them all. "Erm... Base... they are kneeling down to me! Ah... What do I do now! Base, over?"

 Chapter 36: Elves

    Chapter 36: Elves


    "Ah... What do I do now! Base, over?"


    ke grins, as he watches the UAV feed of the kneeling elves around Sgt Collins. "Hahaha, maybe they gonna crown him a king or something?" He jokes, incitingughter among the bridge crew.


    "Alright, tell him to hold tight and secure the rear, backup ising," keughs, "He will be fine. Direct the UAV to provide overwatch and alert Dog Five if the enemy show signs of approaching."


    "Ford, I remember there should be a first contact manual with an alien race somewhere in the system right? Dig it out, and also the universal trantor." ke turns his head towards Ensign ra, "Ensign, work with the XO over thenguage trantions, you gonna be the official trantor."


    Collins moaned when he received Base''s reply. Urgh, securing the rear is easy but dealing with an alien race? Boot camp didn''t teach me anything! He nces around at his team who quickly avoided his eye and he sighs. Walking up to the noble-lookingdy, he reaches out a hand to help her up and points towards the pass with a hurry up gesture which he hopes she understands.


    Sherene looks up as the man in the strange patterns clothes gestures her to stand up and points towards the pass. She understands that the man is telling her to move to safety from his gestures, she nods, touched by his actions, as most nobles will be bragging how great they are for saving you, and will be trying to falter or ignore the interests of themon people.


    She raises up and taking his hand as support and brushes off the dust from her traveling dress. She was able to thank him again when she noticed that he has already turned around and headed off to towards the rear guards with some of his men.


    Pvt Drake dumps the collected spent cartridges into his pouch and strolls up towards Collins, the few golden boys watching him earlier, now look at him in awe and respect. He smiles smugly and cradles his rifle over his chest like a baby and calls out to Collins. "Hey Sarge, frag much?"


    "Great work with the sniping." They walked to the sea of bodies littering the mountain path. "Check this out." Collins squats down and lifts the visor off the metallic helmet of a dead blue-coated soldier.


    "Same ears and features. Some kind of civil war?" Collins looks over the bodies. "No, not civil. Different colors and insignia too."


    "Even weapons are slightly different." Drake picks up several swords andys them side by side. "Oh, herees their big shot." He warns Collins, seeing the old vet walking over.


    Collins straighten up and points towards the pass, trying to convey to the old vet to move his forces towards the pass.


    The old vet nods in understanding, and points at the bodies and mimics picking, seemingly indicating that they want to loot or salvage for weapons and armors.


    Collins also nods and steps back allowing the vet to send his men into strip the bodies and retrieve the wounded.


    "I think he was asking for permission to loot the bodies or something," Collins said to Drake.


    "Yea, since we did the killing, we have the rights to it, I guess?" Drake shrugs, as he watches the soldiers carrying wounded away, stripping and stacking weapons and armors aside, while giving mercy killings to the badly wounded men of both sides. "She''s very pretty eh?"


    "Yeah, out of this world." Collins sighs, "Let''s help them out with the wounded and dead, we got UAV cover so there are no worries of a surprise attack." Damn, we need the medics here fast, looking at the wounded, half of them won''t make it if the medics don''te in time!


    "Magister Thorn!" Sherene finds the old master magician sitting on a boulder next to a dragon wagon, his right shoulder swaddled in bandages stained with dried blood. "Why are you not resting inside!" She cried, gesturing to the magician''s apprentices to carry him into the wagon to rest.


    "No, child. It''s alright, I wanted to see what magic they weld." He feebly waves her and his apprentices off. "Come closer, I have something to tell you."


    Sherene leans forward and Magister Thorn whispers into her ear, "I don''t sense any magic power at all from them! They are not using magic!"


    "What?" She looks surprised, "But that power, it''s almost as powerful as a level 5 spell!"


    Thorn coughs and wheezed, "I do not know how they harness the elemental forces, but I did not sense anything from them at all!" Wiping the flecks of blood from his mouth, "I will advise making friends with them, with their power to harness the elements, our people can be saved!"


    "I understand, Magister!" She said seriously, "Please rest, you need your strength!" She looks at the apprentices at the side, and asks, "Have you given him the healing potion?"


    They looked at each other guilty, not daring to meet her eyes. "What? Why didn''t you give him the potion!" She stood up angrily. "What have you done with it!"


    "Calm down, child. I told them not to waste it on me." Magister Thorn coughs again, "I know my time is up. Why waste such a valuable potion on me, when there are so many others that need it? I told them to give it to the wounded."


    "No... Magister Thorn! You will be alright!" Sherene cried, tears falling, too many of her people and close friends have died. Her heart couldn''t take much of the sadness anymore.


    Trent Oaktall cautiously touched the sides of the blue-grey magical wagon parked at the pass. It felt cold and hard like iron, not wood, but who is crazy enough to use iron to build a wagon! His te mail itself would have cost the kingdom''s treasury tens of gold coins!


    The more he examined the wagon, the more impressed he became, the low hunched shape of the wagon looks like a predator, waiting to jump at its prey. The padded chairs attached inside obviously provides greaterfort to the riders. What kind of people are they if they can build something like these!


    Suddenly he noticed a dust cloud approaching from the seaward side of the mountain pass, he lifts his hand to shade his eyes and peers towards the dust cloud. The rapidly approaching objects slowly came into focus as they neared, and he yells excitedly to alert his sergeant as more of the strange magical wagons arrives.

 Chapter 37: Disaster Relief

    Chapter 37: Disaster Relief


    SSGT Pike leaps off the half-track and bangs the rear container housing troops and medical personnel. "Alright men, unload! Form up by your sections!" The half-track starts unloading people and supplies, "Jeeps cover the pass." The two jeeps slowly roll forward through the crowd of amazed elves into the pass, to cover the approaches with their mounted Pk-229s.


    "Staff!" Collins threw a salute and gave a quick report to SSGT Pike. "So far we got 227 of the natives wounded, with another 59 probably won''t be able to make it unless they get to the med bay quick." He gestures to the pile of half-naked bodies dumped down the mountain slope. "112 enemies confirm KIA, 48 wounded and in custody. I think it might be some kind of war going on between two countries."


    "Great work." Pike nods, crouching at the edge of the slope and looking at the bodies. Already the local scavengers have started to feast on the dead. "Why not burn them? Won''t it cause an epidemic?" Pike asks.


    "I think the locals think it is too much work, plus," Collins gestures around the barren mountain slopes, "not much firework around. Better to feed the wildlife here."


    "How do they fight and what weapons they use?" Pike questions Collins.


    "Mostly with sword, spear, and shields. For ranged, they use bows or crossbows." Collins points at the battlefield. "They mostly fight in a shield wall, using heavy armored infantry to anchor the enemy, while their croc cavalry charges in like a hammer."


    "Hmm very simr like our own medieval tactics," Pike observe the nearby elven soldiers, looking at the armor covering their bodies. "Our weapons effectiveness?"


    "Overwhelming, Staff. The bullets over prate in fact, and with them standing in formation, our rounds go through them like paper." Collins grins as he remembers the fight. "They might as well throw away their armors and shields."


    "Understood." Pike nods before turning around and hops up a boulder, shouting for the team leaders to gather up for a briefing.


    "Alright everyone, so we are dealing with some kind of alien elves in an alien world. All fun and games here!" Pike rubs his hands together. "We are going to treat this as a disaster relief mission, medical team leads are to organize your men to help with the wounded, support teams are set up cook tents and sleeping areas for the refugees." He points to the rear of the pass.


    "Our supplies are limited but we will do what we can for them." Pike hops off the boulder, pping his hands, "Get to work! Thank you!"


    Pike turns to Collins and asks, "Who''s in charge of the goldies?"


    "Him for the troops and her for the civilians I think." Collins points towards a grizzly looking vet standing next to a wagon pulled by a giant croc thingy before pointing to anotherdy with pink blonde on the other side.


    "Got it." And he heads toward the vet where Collins points first.


    "Sir?" Pike executes a perfect parade square salute to the grizzled veteran wearing some sort of golden robes under a chest te.


    Lord General Joesph eyes the approaching stranger in that confusing green brown pattern clothing. The strange short ears are wearing an unfamiliar cap style, with a matching shirt and pants in that confusing blend of green and brown, what appears to be a chest te colored the same way as his clothes with lots of small pouches and bags. And that crossbow-like weapon, that spits fire and thunder strapped to his chest diagonally.


    With his years of experience as a soldier, he recognizes a fellow soldier from the way he walks and holds himself. That man is dangerous, thought Joesph, returning the salute, by thumping his left hand over his chest. Not only their weapons are formidable, even their armor and items of clothing look finely crafted!


    Pike follows up with a salute to the beautifuldy with the pink blonde hair, dressed in a dust-stained ivory-colored dress with a slender golden belt. Damn elves, even the old man looks handsome. Shaking his head, he gestures the both of them to follow him, once he is sure that they understand what he is trying to convey, he leads the way over to the pass.


    Sherene nces at Joesph, wondering what this strange man is bringing them to see. She notices two more of those magical wagons parked on both sides of the pass, with what appears to be their soldiers and those strange thunder weapons of their standing guard. "Do you think they meant us ill?" She whispers to Joesph.


    Lord General Joesph eyes the strange soldiers and their gear, recognizing their level of professionalism, with the way they stand and hold themselves. "If they meant us ill, we arepletely at their mercy, especially with those thunder sticks of theirs! We can only hope they treat us fairly."


    The strange soldier points towards a group of people in the distance at the bottom of the slope, they appear to be setting up some tents. The soldier points to the direction of their wounded and mimics a carrying motion and points to the tents at the bottom again.


    "He is trying to tell us to move the wounded there?" Sherene asks Joesph, who nods, confirming her guess. "Alright, I will get them to be moved down."


    Pike seeing the two elves understanding his instruction, then points to the group of civilians milling around. He then mimics walking with his two fingers and points to another site, where some supplies were dropped earlier.


    Both of the elves nods again, Pike pleased with himself, gestures them to get their people moving, before he turns and jogs down to the half-track turned temporarilymand center. He pulls open the rear hatch of the half-track and climbs in. Set on the side of thepartment, are severalmunications devices andputer screens set up. He gestures the tech sitting on the console to connect him to Base as he prepares to make a report.


    ------------------------------------------------------


    Bouncing up and down at the rear of the jeep, Ensign ra hugs the microp tightly with one hand while the other held dearly on to the handhelds on the side. The speeding jeep with an escort at the rear, burst through the foliage like a rally racer, the jolt of the crude suspension ms her hard against her rear.


    "Woooo weeeeee!" Pvt Mills whoops and flexes his knees while he grips tightly onto the empty gun mount when all four of the jeep wheels left the ground. "Damn that was fun! Let''s do that again!"


    "Bartley, I didn''t know you could drive like that!" Cpl James hooks his arm against the hand grip on the co-driver seat, grinning, enjoying the wind and the roller coaster-like ride through the forest. "Madam, you all good behind?" He yells over the wind.


    "You Marines are CRAZY!" came back the reply.


    Mills looks back from his perch, grins, yelling, "Come on! We are not crazy!." He grins wickedly, "Just INSANE! WAHAHAHAHA."


    The speeding jeeps bounce over the grass ins and pull to a stop next to themand half-track. "Cpl James with a party of four and Ensign ra reporting for duty!" James reports to Staff Pike as they formed up before the half-track with a pale-faced ra.


    "You guys made it fast here eh?" Pike looks at ra, and asks, "Are you alright madam?"


    "Just peachy, Staff..." ra swallows an urge to vomit, while the rest of the Marines tried to keep a straight face. "I will go set up inside after I get some air first." She stumbles off to the side of the half-track while hugging herputer.


    "Now, what did you sons of bitches do?" Pike ces his hands at his waist and res at the five of them standing in attention.


    "Nothing Staff! Just a bumpy ride, Staff!" They chorus together in tune.


    ----------------------------------


    Feeling better, ra climbs into the rearpartment of the half-track and ces down the micrputer loaded with the universal trantor and boots it up. She rubs her forehead and pats her chest to smoothe away the nausea feeling. Damn jugheads, but she had to admit the speeding jeep through the forest was pretty exciting and fun, except for getting carsick.


    Alright to work. She connects her tablet to sync up with the micrputer and inputs themands to the universal trantor software, which was older than her, used at the time for the first contact with meeting other alien races when mankind just started exploring the gxy.


    She read the manual before heading over in that hellish drive, the trantor will requireparisons from thenguage you want to trante and thenguage to be tranted to. For example, the word Tree will require bothnguages to be input. The more references the better, as the system will learn and get better and better over time.


    Her tablet beeped twice, indicating the transfer ispleted and the software is in sync with the universal trantor. Now what I need is an elf to chat with.

 Chapter 38: The Hoomans

    Chapter 38: The Hoomans


    The past couple of days had to be the most confusing experience for Sherene Goldrose. The short-eared strangers were called hoo-mans, in theirnguage from her loop sided conversations with the hoo-man called Ca-ra.


    The magical equipment Ca-ra held in her hand was nothing like any magical item she has ever seen before! It can converse with someone else thousands of paces away, show moving or still images and even text! They have no need of scrolls or parchment as alle be writing into that device.


    Ca-ra calls this "tek-no-lo-gee" or something and Sherene realizes with each passing hour she spends conversing with Ca-ra, her grasp of to hernguage gets better and better. How powerful that must be!


    Not to mention how humble, polite and efficient their people are. The hoo-mans spend less than a day setting up the tents for her people, providing food and waving off offers of payment with kind smiles.


    Ca-ra had tried to exin to her that they are here to help or save them from disaster. She got confused with all the terms the hooman uses. But she has to admit hat they hoomans are very dedicated to their work.


    The magical wagons which Ca-ra calls as "Jee" and "Haf-tak", regrly ran up and down, bringing supplies and men to help build the city of tents, was nothing short of a miracle.


    And they must have seers of some kind, as they could tell when Empire soldiers are attacking, even at nights! And they could even see in the dark, defeating the Empire soldiers three times with their deadly thundersticks with no casualties at all on their side! I wonder how much more secrets they hold.


    She smiles as she watches an ongoing game between the hoomans and the children, involving a ball, and the objective seems to be to kick the ball into the middle of two poles set at both ends of the field, Some of the soldiers in the weird color scheme clothing taught the ball game to the children. she hears theughter of the children ying and the cheers from the apanying adults and felt truly at ease and safe after all that has happened.


    -----------------


    The Empire''s delegation had entered the pce to discuss a treaty of peace, but it was just a farce, the so-called ambassadors plotted with some of Goldrose Kingdom''s own ministers and murdered the King, Queen and other members of the Court while hidden agents of the Empire set fire to various parts of the Capital, sowing panic and confusion throughout the Kingdom.


    Luckily, she was at the Summer Pce, when Joesph came bearing the grave news. The Empire''s army, hidden along the borders,unched a surprise attack, forcing the Kingdom to its knees. Her two elder brothers, lead the Goldrose army against the invading Empire, but they fell one after another.


    In just three short weeks, all five major cities, including the Goldrose Capital fell, the refugees from those cities, towns, viges and retreating soldiers gathered to her banner and, holding back her pain, she led them through the goblin-infested forests before arriving at the Sawtooth Mountains.


    At the start, she had an initial band of over 11,000 soldiers and refugees. After three weeks of running, getting ambushed by the numerous crafty goblins and hounded to death by the Empire''s soldiers while others fell to diseases or illness, some even lost the will to go on, had diminished to less than two thousand people now.


    All that remains of her Kingdom are now gathered in a tiny tent city built in the middle of the grass ins.


    Today, she dresses in her best finery she has left, an ivory dress with long wide sleeves, trimmed in goldce, tied with a golden ribbon around her slender waist. Her hair braided up like a crown with the rest cascading down her back and wearing a simple tiara.


    With her were Lord General Joesph, bareheaded, in his armor, and sword polished till shiny with a golden cloak draped over his shoulder, stood on her left, while Magister Thorn looking pale but cheerful, holding a blue mana stone topped ironwood staff, and wearing a midnight blue schr robes trimmed with gold thread stood on her right.


    The medical skills of the Hoomans proved to be another marvel. Master Thorn, who himself has given up hope of recovery due to the serious injuries incurred from the Empire soldiers, was healed easily by the Hooman''s maa-dis.


    While advised by the maa-di to rest and not move around, Magister Thorn strongly felt that he should not be left out as part of the party to visit the Hooman''s Captial, to him, nothing short of death shall ever stop him from going.


    Several pages, apprentices, and military officers also stood anxiously behind them waiting for the Hoomans arrival. "What do you think of the Hoomans?" Sherene asked the other two next to her.


    "Really incredible, their "tek-no-lo-gee" is amazing!" Joesph praised, pointing to the approaching vehicles. "If we had those or even their weapons, we could have saved so much more of our people!"


    "Yes, yes. I am really excited to see more of their amazing "tek-no-lo-gee," Thorn agrees. "I don''t sense any form of magic from the hoomans nor from their machines, I wonder how do they get these amazing things to work."


    The approaching vehicles stopped neatly in a line in front of the elven party, the rear doors opening and a young smart looking hooman, wearing a body fitting light gray coat and pants, festooned with bits of colorful metal above his chest pocket hops down, and saluted.


    "I wee you toe me to city." He speaks in a barely understandablemon tongue and held out his hand towards Sherene.


    Sherene found her lips curling up in a smile as she gently covers her mouth with her hands and gave a smallugh."I thank you." She replies in Eng-ish, before epting his hand and climbing into the rear of the carriage.


    As she enters the carriage, she found her self in a very spacious interior lit by soft warm lights, a soft lush carpeted floor, and she does not even have to lower her head to walk inside. Surprised by the number of seats inside, two rows of seating were arranged by the sides next to clear ss windows, which she did not notice from the outside. ss that clear! How rich are they to put ss in a carriage?


    The hooman gestures her to the end of the carriage where seats were arranged to face each other.


    She took the seat on the right, feeling the wondrous soft andfortable seat conforming to her body. She rubs the texture of the seat, feeling the soft and rich fiber and examines the interior of the cabin, trying to understand what and how is it made. She turns to see the rest of party piling in and looking around acting like country pumpkins.


    Joesph and Thorn sat down on the opposite seats facing Sherene. Joesph tried to hide his astonishment to theforts of the seat and the luxurious interior while Thorn happily bounced up and down the seat like a child before settling down with a satisfied smile on his face.


    "Ahh, this seat feels better than my feather goose bed back at the Capital. Mind you, I paid quite the lump sum of gold for that. Think I can persuade them to let me have this?" He gave the seat a few more bounces before finding the best position to sit.


    Once the rest of the contingent has settled down on their seats, the hooman closed the door at the rear and walks over and sat down next to her, and spoke into a device set on his arm. Almost immediately, a slight quiver could be felt and she found the vehicle moving.


    She nces out of the crystal clear window, watching the scenery fly pass them, seemingly faster than dragon wagon or even a carrier wyvern! The expected humps and bumps did not appear nor even the usual creaks and groans of wagons and carriages, even as she watches the vehicle moving up and down the uneven ground, the ride was the smoothest and quietest she ever had.


    She turns to find both Joesph and Thorn with their heads glued to the windows, in fact, the whole party has their faces at the windows, watching the scenery fly past. She sees the hooman sitting next to her giving her a smile, "How ride feels good yes?"


    She bites back the urge tough out, and instead politely smiles and nods. "Very good." Before turning to watch the flowing scenery, her mind racing.


    Her smile slowly changes to a frown as she worriedly thought to herself, what can we offer these hoomans, they have such powerful tools and magic, what cards do I have to bring to the negotiation table which can benefit my people!

 Chapter 39: Castle of Iron

    Chapter 39: Castle of Iron


    ke looks in the mirror, adjusting the loose cor of his dress whites. Since crashnding here for more than two months now, he lost quite some weight. Despite his gaunt looking face, he never felt much better or healthier, except maybe doing basic training.


    He pulls his peak cap over his freshly cropped hair and steps out of his cabin. Ford stood outside waiting also wearing his dress whites with rows of ribbons disying his services, "Damn, I think I need to get this to the tailor again. It feels kinda baggy."


    Ford took a nce once over at ke and smiles. "Sir, you look dashing. It suits you perfectly!"


    ke shook his head, and head towards the flight deck to await the arrival of the Elves. "Well, I think we know what we should and shouldn''t say to themter at the meeting." ke gave a quick reminder to Ford. "But I still don''t under why waste the resources to make that VIP car."


    "Well, it is like shock tactics," Ford exins patiently. "Shock and awe them, from our investigations regarding the Elves, they are way technologically backwardpared to us."


    "I know, but we need a workforce capable of providing food for us," ke said, as they enter the elevator. "We need all hands on deck to just maintain our tech!"


    "That''s why we can''t let them know our weakness," Ford said. "We can offer protection and knowledge to them in exchange for food and raw materials."


    "Make our men bleed for them?" ke frowned, as the doors of the elevator open and they walk out. "I am preferring to letting them learn to defend themselves. I hope to be able to leave this someday and return home."


    The flight deck was decorated with white and blue banners and most of the crew have turned out in their best dress uniforms stood at attention waiting for the elven guests to arrive.


    "Captain on the deck!" A marine yelled as ke and Ford step into the flight deck. The crews visibly straighten up and ke saluted the officers before telling them to be at ease.


    He stood at the center of the parade, with Ford at his side and looks out of the gaping bay doors, which overlooks the sprawling base colony.


    Almost a month passed since the wolves raids, the perimeter walls had just finished construction, several small apartments formed the residential area of the crews next torge plots of farnd, which grows several Terran crops and the local carr-ato variety. Severalrger buildings in the center form the administrative and work offices, while dozens of warehouses and factories were built next to the ship.


    Hope we can work out something beneficial to us with the elves. ke thoughts as he eyes the approaching convoy in the distance.


    ------------------------------------


    Watching the walls of the city approaching from the window of the carriage, everyone slowly realizes the scale of the walls as the vehicle stopped at the gates. Sherene tilts her head as high as trying to gauge the height of the massive walls.


    The huge red iron gate, refurbished from the cargo bay doors, grinds open and the tiny vehicles drive through. Sherene stares at the orderly streets, and the oddly shaped buildings, there does not appear to be many structures around as she only manages to count less than 20.


    She looks in amazement as the carriage heads towards a massive structure that appears to be built into the side of the hill. A rampys down on the side of the structure and huge entranceys beyond that. As the vehicle climbs the ramp, she found herself stumped. The walls of the structure don''t look like stone, rather some kind of material she is not sure of.


    Frank, the hooman escort gestures her to exit as the doors at the rear opening. She stood at the exit of the carriage staring down onto a red carpet set on the floor that is so long, she couldn''t imagine how much work is required to sew them. Standing at attention on both sides of the red carpet were neatly formed squares of hoomans in simr grey uniforms.


    She notices among the hoomans wearing the same colored uniforms were also females mixed inside, does that means their females fight too?


    The huge cavern-like interior simply boggles her mind, how did they build the ceilings so high with even having pirs to support! Magic? As she steps down onto the carpet, a band of some sorts started ying some kind of foreign music, but she couldn''t see anyone ying.


    Standing in the middle of the carpet, were two hooman males, both wearing white and a matching white hat with colorful bits of decorations on their chest. As she strolls up towards the two hoomans with her entourage trying not to gape at everything, two rows of hooman soldiers suddenly snap into attention and p their thundersticks, raising them vertically.


    Everyone in their party panic, startled by the disy. Sherene forced herself to remain calm and tried not to show any reaction. They must be testing us if we show any fear, they will surely treat us with less respect! Other than Sherene, only Joesph remains undisturbed, raising only an eyebrow as he walks behind the princess.


    "Wee to Base Colony," ke bows with his left hand over his chest, disying his knowledge of elven greetings, that they have observed. "My name is Richard ke, Captain of the UNS Singapore." He spoke almost near perfect Common Tongue mixed with some English words that couldn''t be tranted.


    "And this is my second inmander, Commander Kevin Ford." A tall thin cold looking man with jet ck hair bows in the same manner to Sherene and her party.


    "Our honor to here," Sherene replies in Eng-ish and gives her best, charming smile to the grey-haired, blue-eyed gaunt looking hooman in front of her while doing a curtsy of sorts.


    She then introduced her party to the hoomans in return, from Joesph to Thorn before the rest of the entourage.


    keughs listening to her hardworking attempts at speaking English, and said, "Speak your tongue, I believe it will be easier for you." Since all of them wear a trantor earpiece, they could understand the elves.


    "Thank you, my Lord," Sherene smiles and sigh in relief in the same time, learning a newnguage in less than two days is already very taxing to her when there are so many things to do!


    "Come, refreshments have been prepared," ke gestures and direct them towards the interior of the ship.


    Sherene felt her footsteps sound strange as they walked into a hallway, she experimentally raps her knuckles against the seamless looking walls, and it rang with a metallic nk. The gods! It''s all iron! She turns and saw the hooman watching her with a curious look. She quickly gave a cough and smiles, "Oh, I was just wondering about something."


    The hooman Ford smiles in a way that made Sherene think of all the merchants she has met before. "Yes, as you imagined, it''s is made out of iron. Steel to be more exact."


    The rest of her party hearing this burst out in loud amazed whispers. "Iron? Steel? All of it!"


    "Come, I am sure everyone is tired from the journey, it is better to talk while seated with some food and drinks first." ke gave a side nce at Ford, knowing what he is trying to do.


    Tired? Sherene thought inwardly, that trip in the carriage was one of the mostfortable she ever had in her life! It took less than five turns of a ss! He must be joking!


    Ford just smiles in return and the party continues they way down the halls and finally into the ship''s ballroom. "We will be happy to give you a tour aroundter."


    Magister Thorn hearing that they will be given a tour around, nearly burst from excitement, he asks, "Can we see where you make your wagons? What kinds of magic you use?"


    The trantor couldn''t trante the word "magic", so ke and Ford was not too sure what is the professor looking elf was trying to say, but ke politely replied, "The wagons? You mean the cars? Yes of course."


    Sherene and Joesph look at each other in surprise, stunned at the thought that they could see what secrets are behind the wagons! Are the hooman serious?


    Ford watch their faces, caught the looks passed between the elves and smiles wickedly, rubbing his hands. Oh, how much good stuff can we squeeze out of them!


    They entered a luxuriously furnished room, the hooman aesthetic very different from her Kingdom. They appear to decorate with bright colors, like white and red. The walls were lined with a kind of redwood, thickly carpeted flooring,rge soft looking armchairs set at a semi-circle with tiny tables on the side.


    At the rear of the room, asrge as a dance hall in her castle, held several tables with tes and dishes, draped with white cloth. She found the whole room, strangely bright, lit by some sort of magicalmps set on the walls and ceiling.


    They have not even started any talks, and she is already very impressed and intimidated by these hoomans. Their mastery of magic has already surpassed anything she every learn and knew. In her heart, she felt like a child without any knowledge of the world in front of these beings!

 Chapter 40: Sugar and Spice and Everythings a Lie

    Chapter 40: Sugar and Spice and Everything''s a Lie


    As the ballroom starts filling up with hoomans, Sherene took the opportunity to speak with Joseph and Thorn at the table. "What does everyone think of the hoomans?" she asks in a low voice.


    "Very fascinating," Magister Thorn said, stroking his beard. "Their knowledge clearly is way beyond ours!" Thorn gestures at the lights in the hall. "How they make lights with magic and the temperature of the room is just right. They have very good control over the elements of magic."


    "Rich and powerful," Joesph gave his observations. "Looking at the quality of their clothes, the iron castle, the tall city walls, their numbers of soldiers with thundersticks and even these." He rubs the fine tablecloth. "They must have a very strong industry and a very deep treasury. But surprisingly we do not see much buildings in the city."


    "Yes, they have some very powerful magicians, I wonder if we will be able to meet them," Sherene answers back. "I do find ack of buildings in the city strange. And the city walls, who will build that tall!" She agrees to both her advisors'' observation. "The question now is, what can we offer in exchange for their help?"


    "That..." Joesph stammers, "We could try marriage with their lord, the hooman Captain ke?"


    Sherene res sternly at Joesph till he coughs ufortably. "Marriage is out of the question," Thorn speaks up for Sherene. "We don''t even know what kind of race are they!"


    "So what do we do?" Sherene frowns, "Offer our lives in exchange for protection from the Empire?"


    "Isn''t that the same as being a ve?" Joseph speaks harshly. "Enough of our people are ves to the Empire already, and now to another race? What if they are like the Empire too? All these are just a trick?"


    "Shhh... lower your tone! Joesph! Is that the way you speak to your princess?" Thorn rebuked Joesph, as the group attracted the attention of the hoomans around them. "We are thinking of ideas!"


    "Is everything ok? Is there something you are unhappy with? We will try out best to amodate it." ke walks over and asks them.


    ke and Ford had earlier purposely given the elves some space to talk among themselves, giving the elves the impression of respecting their privacy, but in truth, the ship''s security directional microphone picked up every word and sentence they spoke, transmitting it into their earpieces.


    ke used this outburst as an opportunity to break their momentum, he more or less has understood what their agenda is all about. Interesting, he thought.


    Unaware that their hosts had eavesdropped on their conversation, Sherene smiles and said, "Yes, we are fine. There is nothing to be worried about."


    "That''s good. Will you like a guide to the buffet table?" ke graciously asks offering his hand to Sherene. "Would you care to be my partner?"


    "Thank you." Sherene shyly took ke''s offered hand. She then turns and gave a warning look to the two grown men, warning them to behave themselves before allowing ke to lead her towards a row of tablesden with dishes of food and drinks.


    Joseph and Thorn chastened and with nothing better to dotched themselves onto Ford and starts bombarding him with questions like, how is this castle built out of iron and steel, what is tek-no-lo-gee, how does this and that work! Much to the dismay of Ford, judging from the expression he has on his face.


    ----------------------------------


    "What do you think of everything so far?" ke opens up the conversation.


    "Wonderful," Sherene replies sincerely, "I haven''t thank you for the help you sent to my people." She gave a bow, "Thank you for saving my people." She said formally to ke.


    "It is our duty," ke said, waving off her thanks. "We just couldn''t sit and watch people dying."


    "Why is it your duty?" She asked, curiously to why this hooman ke will send help to save her people.


    "My people grew up learning and being taught that the strong should protect the weak," ke exins. "Right or wrong, justice, and morals are to be upheld with honor and integrity."


    "I think I understand." Sherene nods her pretty little head. Some of the words were in Eng-ish, but she understands the gist of it mostly. Like the old fairy tales of knights and chivalry, told by her mother and nursemaid when she was a little girl as bedtime stories.


    "I have been waiting to ask this." Sherene points to the rows of colorful decorations on ke''s uniform. "What are these for? I saw it on almost everyone''s clothes, some many, while others just one or two."


    "Oh? These?" ke peers downwards at his uniform. "They are medals." He spoke the word medal in English, as his real-time trantor do not have an equivalent word. "Rewards for merit orbat." He gave a simplified exnation after seeing Sherene''s nk look.


    "Oh, medals!" Sherene understood after the exnation. ke''s trantor picked up the new word and automatically updated the cloud server. "Than you must be a great soldier for you have many medals." She gave a charming smile to ke.


    "Amen... Eh... not really," ke looks away, embarrassed from the million voltage smile. Her beauty overwhelming his senses. He felt light-headed, his heart suddenly beating rapidly and strangely attracted to her, with the urge to hug and protect her from all things.


    "You call us as Elves?" Sherene asks, "Why?"


    "Well, due to a very old story text that we have, there were descriptions of a race, that looks very simr to you and your people." ke exins, "Especially the long ears." He stares at Sherene intently, observing every feature of her face.


    "Where are you people from?" Sherene continues to question ke.


    "From Earth..." ke speaks softly, but not soft enough for Sherene as her ears perked up.


    "Ea-th?" Sherene tilts her head in confusion, exposing her fine neckline to ke''s stare, seemingly oblivious to his stare. "What is that?"


    "Our home, from the stars... many light years beyond this..." ke answers faithfully, using Eng-ish words that Sherrene could barely understand.


    "Are you alright?" Sherene finally noticing ke''s face turning slightly red, leans closer to his face. She was close enough for him to smell a sweet womanly fragrance from her. He feels his loins stirring and starts to feel harder to breathe.


    "Captain ke!" A voice jolts him awake. ke blinks his eyes in confusion and took a small step back, keeping a short distance away from Sherene. "Hello, are you going to introduce us?"


    Dr. Sharon and Chief Matt stood smiling behind ke and Sherene, with sses of champagne in their hands, calls out to ke.


    "Oh.." ke took a deep breath, recovering hisposure. "This is Princess Sherene Goldrose of the Goldrose Kingdom." He pauses to calm his racing heart and gestures. "This is the good Doctor Sharon and our chief engineering officer, Matt Petterson."


    Sherene gave a small curtsy to both the hoomans while they gave a bow in return after the introductions were done.


    Sharon hooked her arm under Sherene''s and drags her off to try out the food, "I''ll be borrowing the Princess! You boys go do what boys normally do."


    "Captain, are you ok? You face looks very red." Chief Matt hands a ss of water over to ke as he sat down on a nearby chair.


    "Something is wrong, I am not sure what." ke checks his personal bio reading on his wristwatch. An evaluated heart rate of 134, blood pressure slightly higher than normal, body temperature up by 1 degrees Celcius, no signs of poison detected.


    ke frowns slightly, what had gotten into me? He nces up to find the princess and Sharon, happily stacking their tes with food. He admits that the elf princess is very cute and pretty, but to get lovestruck like a boy? Strange.


    "Maybe it''s the weather and all these." Matt gestures around the hall. "Drink some water, and let Dr. Sharon give you a once overter."


    "I think so too, I''ll drink more water," ke assures Matt while trying to figure out what happened.


    ---------------------


    "Try this! And that!" Sharon directs Sherene to the different kinds of pastries and finger food prepared specially for this event. "Oh, you will love this!"


    Since young, with her education and upbringing as a princess of a kingdom, Sherene had tried and experienced all kinds of exotic and fine cooking. But this food, which she tasted, is out of the ordinary!


    The sweetness and savory vors! The perfect blend of spices and seasoning! She temporarily forgot her manners and wolfed down each dish that Sharon rmended to her.


    The amount of sugar and spices used, the cost of this banquet could bankrupt a small town! Sherene was once again amazed by the spending power these hoomans have and the chef with the skills to cook such dishes! He will be in great demand by all the nobles in the whole of the known world!


    The drinks which Sharon poured for her, were called fruit punch tastes deliciously sweet and tart while the bubbly champagne wine was nothing like she had ever tried before, And finally the dessert, cakes and tiny pies of fruits and cream topped with a dark brown sauce. Most of all, she fell in love with that wonderful bittersweet taste.


    Cho-cote!

 Chapter 41: Kingdom of Goldrose

    Chapter 41: Kingdom of Goldrose


    Finally, after the food and drinks, those involved with the discussion retired to the meeting room. The elven princess sat at one side of the rectangr of the table, nked by her general and magister, while the humans ke and Ford sat on the other side facing them. The rest of the people involved sat behind their respective leaders.


    The princess notices the decoration of the room is very simr to the ballroom, with wooden paneled walls, carpeted flooring and magical lights hidden cleverly into the ceilings. A blue g and a red white g with an unfamiliar crest design stood on the sides of a huge ck rectangr object set onto the wall.


    She stood up and said, "I want to thank the hoomans again foring to our aid during our time of great peril and saving our people. Thank you." She bows, and the rest of her contingent followed suit.


    Ford gives a small cough and gestures Sherene to sit down. "Now with that done, we will like to get down to serious business." Ford cut straight to the topic. "What happened? We will like to know what is going on beyond the mountains. And what will your ns be next?"


    Sherene nces to Thorn, who gave a slight nod. She sat rod ram straight on the chair and started narrating the events that lead them here.


    The Kingdom of Goldrose was a peaceful country consisting of six cities, dozens of towns and farming viges, with a poption of roughly 240,000 people living in it. It shares its borders with the Empire of Bluewood.


    11 years ago, the Emperor of Bluewood, passed away from illness, and a civil war erupted between the princes which other countries sought to intervene, eyeing the Empire''s territory. But the youngest prince managed to unite the whole Empire within a year time and defeated the foreign forces sent to disrupt their empire.


    In a short period of four years, the new Emperor, Varacen Bluewood, conquered those countries that attacked them when they were in the civil war, erging the Empire. As the Kingdom of Goldrose reminded neutral despite the urging of its ministers to attack the Empire when it was in civil war.


    At the same time, Emperor Varacen decreed that all non-people of the Bluewood Empire are lesser beings and that only the green-eyed people of Bluewood are the master race. All lesser people and sub-races were purged and forced into very.


    Fearing the Empire, the rest of the kingdoms started to fortify their borders including the Kingdom of Goldrose. The Empire sent out goodwill ambassadors to the Kingdom to discuss peace and alliances, and under the urgings of the ministers, the King opened the gates for the ambassadors.


    Unknown to the King and majority of the council, several of the ministers were bribed beforehand by the Empire spies, and on that fateful day, they slipped weapons into the castle and assassinated everyone in the council meeting.


    With the King dead, the Kingdom was thrown into confusion, and the Empire invaded. Using ves warriors and sub-races, they swept through the Kingdom forces using human wave tactics, overwhelming the defenses of the Kingdom.


    With both her brothers dead from trying to defend the Kingdom, she rejected the Empire calls of surrender, who Emperor Varacen branded them as rebels and instead lead her people and retreated towards the sea, passing through arge stretch of dense forestednd, known as the Uncharted Forest before reaching the Sawtooth Mountains and meeting the hoomans.


    "That is quite the story there," ke said after she finished. "So what are your ns now?"


    "We will like to settle down here." Sherene looks at the hoomans. "And if possible an alliance too."


    ke nces at the Ford, who nods before saying, "An alliance is possible but with some terms."


    "What terms?" Sherene asked, raising eyebrows.


    "We will teach you some of our technology and protect you as allies, but we will not help you wage war," ke listed out the terms. "We will not help you take back your Kingdom, but if you live within our walls, we will protect your people with everything we have."


    "And if we live in your city," Sherene''s heart rate beats faster as she got excited with the proposal, "We have to live by your rule?"


    "Yes, your people have to follow our rules, and our technology must not be shared with others unless they are part of the alliance," ke states firmly.


    So we must bend our knees to him asking, thought Sherene. ke had totally misunderstood what Sherene meant by rule.


    "If we do not agree to your terms?" Magister Thorn spoke up.


    "Than there will be no alliance." ke tly states. "You can settle down at any part you wish too, but not within one kilometer or 2000 paces of your measurement of Base Colony."


    "How about the defenses at the Sawtooth Pass?" Lord General Joesph joined in the discussion.


    "We will pull our men out," ke said. "Our walls are more than enough to stop any enemy from attacking." He gave a bluff, "We will only help members of the alliance."


    "If we break yourws?" Sherene asked, "What happens?"


    "Depending on the severity of thews broken," ke answered, "We have a set ofws in ce, that both my people and yours will have to follow. Anyone breaking thew will be punished ording to the crimemitted."


    ke then added a hook, "We also strongly do not support very in our society. If you agree to our terms, we will work out a system for both our people working together. You will still rule your people but you have to learn our ways of life, just as we have to learn yours."


    Does he want me as his queen? Sherene eye widens.


    The elven party sat back in their chairs and look at each other as they digested the information.


    ke than stood up, followed by everyone else in the room. "Think about it, we discuss it again tomorrow. For now, why don''t we show you to your rooms, andter a tour around?"


    "Thank you." Sherene nods miserably and suddenly noticed something strange with the hoomans expression. They all started looking their armbands and seems worried about something.


    ke lifts his buzzingmunicator up and seeing the priority alert message shing. Other crew members were all checking their devices as they too release the same message.


    Ford mouthed silently, to ke. An attack.


    ke frowns at the news. Should we bring them to the Bridge? Hell, why not, we did n to show them as part of the tourter. At least this time we can awe them with our power. He thought.


    "Alright, action stations people." ke turns to the rest. "Ford, head up first. I will bring our guest along shortly, find out what is happening."


    "Aye Captain," A chorus of acknowledgments replied ke.


    "Now, " ke turns towards elves, "There is a slight situation happening now, and I will like to show you something. Please follow me." He gestures towards the door, where all the crew members had already left the room.


    Exiting the meeting room, a strange voice was echoing up and down the halls, Sherene could barely understand the words, her party other than Joesph who remained expressionless, while Thorn looks around excitedly, the rest were almost panicking.


    The hooman ke gestures them to follow him and he sets off at a quick pace. Sherene wondered what is happening when they appear out of side hallway and into the main hallway. Dozens of the hoomans were rushing purposely along the way, and soon the hallway was empty except for them and their escorts.


    ke stood before the elevator and held the doors open while for half the elves to enter, while the other group enters the 2nd elevator. They seem slightly rmed and confused as to they are they standing in an enclosed box. "Don''t worry, this is a transportation device, that carries people up or down."


    The looks of surprise and amazement on their faces is enough to amuse ke. Upon reaching the correct level, the doors opened up and the elves pile out of the elevator in relief.


    "Captain on Deck!" The Marine guard posted in the bridge yells out as ke steps in. The bridge crew stood at attention till ke dismisses them.


    Magister Thorn had seen many wondrous and magical events in his life, but when he entered this room, he was dumbfounded. Crystals like mirrors reflecting some magical images and flowing magical runes of light glittered from the walls constantly. What sorcery is this!


    As Sherene entered the room, they climbed a small flight of stairs before a huge panorama view appeared. Instead of walls, huge windows showed the scenery outside the castle. Two rows of tables were arranged one below each other had a thin crystal like panel, with glowing runes where the hoomans sat tapping the tiny runes rapidly.


    A t glowing table and arge chair sit in the middle of all the rest. She lookups the ceiling, seeing another one of those crystal-like ss set at an angle facing down, glowing with hundreds of fast scrolling runes. The room was dimly lighted, most of the lighting from the runes and the massives windows.


    "Captain, UAV station at the Pass has picked up something new," Ford reports before activating the main disy screen.


    "We got iing dragons."

 Chapter 42: Dragonslayer

    Chapter 42: Dragonyer


    The General Atomics MQ-242 "Owleye" reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle is a small four by three meter angr shaped drone, powered by five 400 kW electronic turboprops, over 28 hours of operational time due to the sr coating panel which allows it to recharge it batteries in the day and has an operational ceiling height of 15,000m, yet it couldn''t fly over the mountainous ridges as the Sawtooth mountain tower over 16,000m above sea level.


    It could only enter by the naturally hidden pass, controlled by either its AI chip or a human operator. The UNS Singapore only carried four in its inventory and they were husbanded very carefully in its usage, once it is lost, there are no recements till the crew has the technology or means to build a new one.


    This particr Owleye has been assigned to the cover the Pass region, suddenly detects tworge radar and infrared signature returns. Its brain chip immediately turns the UAV heading towards the contacts and fires an encrypted electronic signal to Base.


    ------------------------


    The main disy screen flickers over to the UAV video feed, disying a bird''s eye view over the mountain ridges.


    Gasps of astonishment came from the elves, as they stared wide-eyed at the clear image. "What magical device is that!" Magister Thorn shakes uncontrobly with excitement as he walks up as close as he could towards the screen, standing behind the divider. "Amazing! Simply amazing!"


    2rge winged creatures could be seen pping their wingszily, heading directly to the pass with several figures riding and holding onto the back of the dragon-like creatures.


    Lord General Joesph marveled at the moving images, wondering if that''s how the hoomans always able to spot the Empire soldiers. With such powerful magical tools and weapons, the hoomans could even take over the whole world!


    ke points at the screen asked in the Elves'' Common Tongue. "What are those?" They won''t so surprised to see something like that as they have already spotted simr creatures, albeit smaller, flying around the mountainous region.


    "It''s the Empire''s dragon knights!" Joesph exims as he watches the video. "The trappings and banners on the dragons belong to the Empire."


    ke and Ford watching the image of the two massive looking lizards with wings, rigged with some kind of harnesses with Empire soldiers in their trademark bluecoats under a grey cuirass. "Zoom in more to that, and erge." ke points.


    The image erged and a couple of crossbows mounted on the top shoulder rigging, just in front of the wings could be seen along with several bulging saddlebags secured against the belly harness.


    "It''s like a flying bomber," Ford said, "Like those old world war two bombers with gunners."


    "They clearly intended to attack the Pass!" Joesph warns. "They can drop some ***** that causes a fire that is very hard to put out! That''s how they destroyed the city walls! It also carries soldiers who then drop behind the lines, and all those soldiers are Knights!"


    "I think he meant bombs?" ke looks at Ford who nods. "So they carry a kind of firebombs, possibly napalm in nature."


    "What is a Knight?" Ford raised the question to the Elves. He wonders if it is the same meaning as he thought of medieval knights in full te armor.


    "A Knight is a veteran soldier who survived more than a 100 battles!" Joesph exins. "Not only that, they must also be weapon masters. Just one of them is almost as strong as a hundredmon soldiers!"


    "Don''t worry," ke assures the Elves as they watched on nervously, he raised his left eyebrows as he listened to Joesph exnation, a single soldier as strong as a hundred men? Serious? before switching to English. "Do we have target locks?"


    "Aye Captain!" Weapons replied. "Ready to fire on yourmand!"


    ke nods. "Fire away."


    The weapons officer jab the firing key and the almost instantly a pair of smoke plumes could be seen bursting out from the aft missileunchers. The two missiles raced each other towards their locked on target.


    The heads of the Elves twisted sharply to the side window as they stare in confusion at the streaks of white smoke rising rapidly into the sky.


    "Bring up the missiles view on to the main disy." ke orders, sping his hands behind his back.


    Two sub screens popped up, inciting more cries of amazement and surprise from the Elves.


    "You enjoy doing that to them don''t you," Ford said dryly.


    "Haha," ke winks at Ford, who rolled his eyes.


    --------------------------


    The AIM-32H Space Sparrows missiles used by the United Nations of Man, manufactured on Earth by the Ford Aerospace Industries were created as a multiple role strike system, allowing it to be used in any situation and environment, be it in point defense mode, anti-ship or submarine mode or as a cruise missile.


    Having a multi-role weapon helps cuts down the logistics of supplying a naval force with a single weapon system instead of having multiple weapons.


    It screams out of itsunch tubes, exiting at a speed of over 100m/s. The missiles'' smart brain chip digested the targeted lock information given by thebat information center within a microsecond, adjusted its flight path in midair, it then ignites its second stage booster, flinging itself towards the target.


    In seconds, the missiles'' speed reached Mach 3, its electronic brain picking up the infrared signature of the dragon it has target lock on, its homing radar system picking the radar returns from the dragon allowing it to be even more urate, ms itself into the center of mass of the flying reptile, before the brain chip happily denotates its 15kg warhead of Composite-9 st frag explosives.


    -------------------------


    The missile views cut off sharply as thest view showed a surprised face of an Empire soldier staring directly at the camera before the signal lost error appeared on the screen.


    On the overhead view, two dense clouds of ck smoke appeared and burning trails of debris rained down, followed by the dying dragons, dropping down over the mountainside, creating arge dust cloud as they impacted the ground.


    "Scratch two dragons!" Weapons called out.


    Cheers erupted from the humans, while the Elves blinked their eyes in panicked confusion. Two dragons dead just like that? Is it real? Or just a performance, they wondered.


    Joesph broke out in cold sweat as he looks at the screen. A Knight is ranked as ss 4, a flying heavy ss dragon as ss 8. A heavy ss dragon carries a squad of four Knights and its dragon crew, a power more than enough to crash any fortress it attacks.


    A force strong enough to deter most Kingdoms, even Goldrose doesn''t even have a heavy dragon in its ranks. All wiped out in less than a turn of the ss.


    He felt a shiver down his spine and nces at the hoomans cheering and the smile on the hooman ke.


    He might not understand or know hooman facial expressions yet, but that professional look of a job well done, he thought, to the hoomans, this is just like a normal day''s work.


    Sherene watched the whole scene like she was in a trance, if her brain was aputer, it will be overheating from the amount of information to process. The hoomans are too alien in her mind, yet they weld powers capable to destroy this world! Are they demons or angels?


    Watching this performance, there is no doubt in Sherene''s mind that the hoomans can uphold their end of the bargain to protect her people. Should she submit herself and her people to the hooman ke''s rule? Be his queen? What will the future hold?


    ----------------------------


    "Dragons? Where! WHERE?" Mills practically screamed thest word out. He hops up from the sandbagged barricade and ran over to the crowded military tent set up at the rear of the Pass.


    Inside the open tent, severalmunication devices andputers were stacked on top of each other and the operator in charge was speaking with Base. A disy screen showed a patrolling UAV feed from covering the mountain pass.


    As the UAV operator zoomed in the images, two winged lizard-like creatures with soldiers in Empire colors could be seen. The stationed human troops, including the Goldrose soldiers, who had gotten used to the seeing the wondrous magical tek-no-lo-gees of the hoomans, started eximing in surprise and fear.


    "I thought you have seen a dragon before?" Bartley appeared behind Mills suddenly.


    "FUCK!" Mills dramatically held his hands over his chest. "You scared the shit outta me!"


    "Do you want to change your pants?" Bartley dead toned back at Mills, who rolls his eyes.


    "It''s a real fucking dragon! Not those pipsqueaks, wannabe lizards with tiny wings." Mills retorted back.


    "Alright! You whores!" SSGT Pike''s voice suddenly roars out from behind everyone. "Get to your stations or I swear to God I fucking cut your balls off and turn you into a sweet bitchy virgin and feed you to the dragons! Skewered of course, with this fucking amazing Goldrose spear like A FUCKING KEBAB UP YOUR ASSES!"


    Everyone dispersed in record time including the Goldrose soldiers who could understand the gist of the tone if not thenguage.


    "Alright, now... I officially just shit my pants..."

 Chapter 43: Are you...?

    Chapter 43: Are you...?


    Duke Sturm hammered both his fist on the wooden table top, scattering the map pieces onto the floor.


    What in the thirteen hell is going on! Are two heavy fighting dragons gone?


    The scout delivering the news, trembled as he kneels in front of Sturm and his lieutenants.


    Sturm drew his sword and hack downwards, cutting halfway down the unfortunate scout''s shoulder causing a fountain of blood to spray out.


    He left his stuck sword in the body and slumps down onto his seat. His temper temporary sated, asked his men, "Do they have a powerful mage supporting them?"


    "That is quite unlikely, I dealt a mortal wound to their magister. I highly doubt he has any power left to cast two level 10 spells to kill the dragons?" A voice rasped out from a fully enclosed set of metal armor.


    "Lord Kean, are you sure those are level 10 spells?" Sturm asked. "Those rebels shouldn''t have so much strength, won''t they be using it when their cities were under attack."


    "I do not know where or how the rebels have gotten such spells." The being inside the armor spoke. "But the power to instantly kill a heavy dragon requires at least a level 10!"


    Sturm leans back against his seat,plementing Kean''s reply. "Than all the more need to caught the rebels and force them to give up the level 10 spell."


    "But my Lord," One of braver lieutenant voice out, "The path leading to the Pass, is totally blockaded by the rebels."


    "And?" Sturm''s green eyes glinted dangerously.


    "Er... I we should use other ways to attack, instead of rushing in headlong." The lieutenant trembled as he replied.


    The officer looked left and right for help, but rest avoided his eye. He sighed and quickly came up with an idea, hoping he won''t turn into another cooling pile of meat on the floor.


    -------------------


    After that disy of spell power, the hoomans brought everyone to visit the Iron Castle.


    Thorn and Joseph were practically excited, pointing and asking questions about the hoomans tek-no-lo-gees but were unable to understand anything.


    Thorn kept asking about the spells that destroyed the dragons, but when shown the device, he couldn''t detect a single trace of magical power, leading him to wonder if the hoomans had tricked him.


    Afterward, they went around the city, showing the farms, strange blocky looking buildings with seamless looking walls and a short walk along the great wall.


    The Base Colony was arranged in a grid-like design, with roads branching out to other ces like the farms, factories, and the ship.


    The design of the walls was very special, built in a star shape with another star ovepped the insides of the outer wall, like apass rose.


    As Sherene stood looking over the parapet, she felt very conflicted. The city itself felt very alien, with perfectly paved straight streets and perfect looking structures.


    And the emptiness. There was barely anyone at all, she doesn''t even see any children nor elderly. Could they be all inside the Iron Castle?


    Something seems wrong, the hoomans are keeping back some things.


    "Why are there no children?" She plucks up her courage and asked the hooman ke.


    ke surprised by her question hesitates awhile before simply saying, "There are none."


    --------------


    Later that night after the dinner with the hoomans officers. Shereneid on the incredibly soft mattress andfortable pillows. What did he mean by that?


    She was troubled by his words. Could be they are impotent? Or is that why he wants her people so the hoomans could mate with them?


    She turns red at that thought. How do I make use of this? Should I use it as a bargaining chip for my people?


    Flopping herself hard on the bed, she buried her warm face into the soft pillows and tried to fall asleep.


    Yet she couldn''t fall asleep no matter how she tosses and turns. Finally, she got up, still dressed in her simple yet elegant silk shift, and tiptoed to the door.


    She opened the door by pressing the green rune set on the wall as she was taught and the door splits into two, one half sliding upwards while the other half slide downwards.


    At the start, when the door opened, she nearly shrieks in fear, as the maw like doors opened in front of her. She thought that the hoomans finally has shown their true colors and were offering her to some demons.


    Looking at the amused expressions on the hoomans especially that ke, she felt deeply embarrassed.


    She peeked left and right out of the doorway, finding no one around, not even guards and set off to find ke.


    -----------------


    "XO! We got movement along the VIP corridor!" The night watch officer reports. "Putting up on visual."


    The screen shows a bared footed female elf in a white spaghetti strap dress walking cautiously down the hatchway.


    "Well well well What do we have here?" Ford rubs his chin and grins evilly. "Seems like our little chick has flown the coop!"


    The rest of the night watch crew in the bridge lowers their heads, choking backughter at the way the XO is behaving. "Where''s the Captain?" He asks.


    "Cap, just left the Med bay, five minutes ago, heading back to his bunk." Someone replied.


    "Goodie, we are so gonna have some fun!" Ford gave augh, rubbing his hands in glee. "Use the way finders for our lost princess to find our Captain."


    "Aye aye XO!" The bridge crew gleefully chorused back.


    -----------------------------


    ke left the Med Bay, feelingprehensive, after a full medical checkup by Dr. Sharon. Base results have shown his body reacting to an unknown chemical and he also had a tiny spike in his radiation readings.


    Dr. Sharon hypothesized that he might be affected by a spell, thus leading to a spike in his rads reading, increased heart rate, adrenaline, and blood pressure. "You probably got Charmed and failed your willpower save."


    "What? What willpower save?" ke confused asked.


    Dr. Sharon grabs ke''s tablet and after a moment of rapidly tapping of keys, shoves it back to ke. "Here go read these when you are free." Before shooing ke out of her office.


    ke scratches his head as he walks back towards his bunk. He opens up the files that Dr. Sharon sent him, and several e-books with titles like Dungeon and Dragons Forever and Forgotten Realms appeared. Wow, he didn''t know that Dr. Sharon was such a geek. Oh, well I just read them before I go to bed.


    ------------------------------


    Sherene wandered aimlessly around the hallways, trying to remember the way back to the bridge when she noticed something blinking at the side of the walls. She peers closely and noticed several glowing runes appeared, that looks like an arrow.


    She stares at the shing arrow rune, with suspicion, and wonders should she follow it. As she was about to make up her mind, the shing arrow disappears and reappears further down the hall. "Wait!" She cried and ran after the arrow.


    ----------------------------


    Ford facepalmed as he watches the silly princess chasing after the way finder. Are they that stupid? Well whatever, as long as it is working.


    ---------------------------


    ke enters his room and removed his uniform and boots,ying down on his bed before flipping open his tablet and starts reading Dungeon and Dragons Forever. It appears to be some kind of fantasy setting in medieval times with magic, there were some illustrations besides descriptions of monsters and beast.


    No wonder the good Doctor called those two green skins captives we got from the ruins in the holding cells as goblins. The description and drawings in this book are quite realistically simr! ke enthralled, kept swiping the pages one after another.


    --------------------------


    The blinking arrow stops next to a door, and the door silents split open, revealing a dark interior. Sherene gulps nervously, thinking of all the childhood stories of demons of the 13 hells. She steps into the door and the door silently slid shut behind her.


    -------------------------


    "Hehehehe..." Ford smirks evilly. "Good work people. Now just pretend nothing has ever happened tonight..."


    --------------------------


    Sherene suddenly feels a chill running down her spine. She shivers and hugs herself close, before walking deeper into the room, where a tiny glow shone from around the corner.


    She peeks around the wall to see ke half-nakedying on the bed with his eyes glued to that magical device, he appears to be engrossed in reading something.


    She shyly shuffles quietly with her bare feet closer to ke. In the dim light, she could make out his body features, which appeared to be simr if not the same as her race, as she used to watch her brothers and father train half naked in the training yard.


    Her eyes end at ke''s left leg, his upper thighs ended in a stub, connected to a dull gray skeletal prosthetic leg frame. Which ke currently is using his skeletal leg to scratch an itch on his right leg.


    "Ohh..." Sherene gasps out in surprise at seeing his prosthetic leg. "What is that?"


    "WAA?" ke jumps up in fright, grabbing his service Glock 88 from under his pillow and nearly squeezing off a shot at the whitish figure hiding behind the bulkhead.


    "Princess Sherene?" ke yells, "What are you doing here? Wait, how did you enter my room? I nearly shot you!" He ces his pistol on safe.


    "Th-the spirits led me here..." she whispered timidly, suddenly realizing that she is alone in a room with a half-naked male.


    "What? Spirits?!"

 Chapter 44: A moment of Peace

    Chapter 44: A moment of Peace


    "So what are you doing in here? ke pops the trantor earpiece into his ear before grabbing his shirt. "How did you get in?"


    Sherene turns away from ke as he dresses, "I-I followed the spirits here. They lead me here"


    Spirits? What is she talking about? Wait "Do you those green blinking arrows?" ke''s eyes narrowed in suspicion.


    "Ho-how did you know?" Sherene spins around surprised.


    ke groaned. Oh, those assholes in the bridge. Somebody is gonna get hurt real bad!


    "Nevermind how I know. What are you doing here?" Asked ke as he plots his revenge against the night crew.


    "I-I have something to ask you." She shyly peeks around the corner.


    "Alright,e on in." ke had dressed up properly, in a shirt and shorts and went to turn on the lights. He enters the tiny bar counter and poured himself a drink.


    "Can you drink alcohol?" ke asks Sherene who shyly tiptoed into the room. She looks around and finds his windowless room very simr inyout to her given room.


    A simple bed on one side of the wall, a bolted on desk and chairs on the other side. A door that leads to the wash area. Except for the inclusion of the bar counter, everything is almost exactly the same.


    ke gestures her to a chair and she sat down like a cat ready to jump away in a moment''s instant.


    ke chuckles seeing how nervous she looked and hands her a ss of tequ with a ssh of artificial lime juice.


    "Here, it is a little strong. Something to warm you up." He puts a shot ss in front of Sherene.


    She looks at the tiny vial crystal-like cup in wonder. How much must these crystal cups cost! Sniffing the clear liquid emitting a strong sweet alcohol scent. She took a mouthful and coughed hard as the liquid burn down her throat.


    "Hahaha, that''s not how you drink that." ke demonstrates as he poured a shot for himself, drowning it down in one go.


    Sherene was on the verge of tears, there was so much that happened today and now she just made a fool of herself, spraying and coughing the drink all over the table and on herself.


    ke hands her a towel and wiped the mess on the table with another. Seeing the elven princess looking like she was about burst into tears, ke tenderly reaches out and pats her head, knowing what she had gone through, trying to save her people while having to put up a strong front and unable to grieve for her family.


    "You did well princess. Your people are finally safe. Your family will be very proud of you." keforted the elven princess patting her head and let her lean against his shoulder. "Don''t worry now. You are safe now."


    Sherene finally unable to hold back her tears, finally cried her heart out on ke''s shoulder


    He carried her as gently as he could onto his bed and covered her up with a nket after he wiped her tears away. The elven princess had cried herself to sleep and but there was a peaceful look on her face as her headid on the pillows.


    Damn. This princess is so much trouble. And the night watch is IN TROUBLE. ke shook his head before turning the lights down and settled down on his work chair, flipping open his tablet to continue reading Dungeon and Dragons Forever.


    -----------------------


    Lyonel was hungry and scared, his thin frail body sore from the constant beating the Empire soldiers doe out, frequently and randomly to whoever that caught the blue-coated soldiers eyes.


    He crouched down low, trying to hide and hopes that the bluecoats would ignore him as they walked by.


    "Take this boy and that girl." A whip scored across his barely covered body. What amounts to clothes had been turned to rags in the past few weeks or days, which he totally could not remember.


    He gave a gasp of pain and fear, as the whip left a red swab on his back and legs kicked him. "Get up filth!"


    He dragged himself up, holding back the pain and tears and stood shiver in the cold. The weather had started to turn slightly chilly, with hints of winter approaching.


    The blue-coated soldier drew a dagger out and stood before Lyonel, grinning wickedly. He closed his eyes tightly, wondering if it will take all the pain and suffering away and instead felt the ropes tied to his neck parting.


    He opened his eyes and saw the noose around his neck cut away. "Get together!" Another kick sends him sprawling towards another group of half-dead prisoners.


    Rubbing his sore and blistered throat, Lyonel found himself herded along with a sizeable group of people with others joining them at different times.


    He noticed almost all the people chosen were mostly sickly looking or even ugly. Are the Empire soldiers marching them to be killed? He knows that the Empire chooses the best among them to be sold as ves, while the sick and weak looking ones are left to be worked to death.


    The blue coats forced marched them throughout the night and a better part of the day, before allowing them to slump down and sleep where they have fallen.


    Lyonel saw many new and old faces, mostly the old and weak, and those that copsed during the march were given a few kicks to get them moving again, if they could not move anymore, they get a few stabs of the spear and left to rot.


    A bucket of cold oat porridge with bits of congealed fats floating on the oily surface was dumped in front of the group Lyonel was in, the people around him still with strength quickly crawled to the bucket and scooped handfuls of the watery porridge into their mouths.


    Lyonel managed to squeeze his thin hands into the bucket, scooping out a small handful of soggy oats and unidentified fats and he quickly swallowed his meager dinner, before someone shoves him away.


    That night everyoneid together to sleep, sharing body warmth against the cold night. And the next morning, the soldiers roused them up and feed them another water porridge before they set off at a grueling pace again set by the soldiers.


    By the time the sun reached the peak, the distant jagged outline of a massive mountain range slowly came into view of Lyonel.


    ----------------


    Sherene slowly woke up, opening her eyes in the dim light. She sighedfortably, rolling in bliss to the soft bed while wrapped in the warm fluffy covers, before remembering that she was in the hooman''s iron castle.


    She sat up and stretched, feeling surprisingly rxed and recharged. Her unique pink gold hair spills down her shoulders like a waterfall, framing her stretching figure perfectly. And then she spotted ke dozing off on the chair behind the table.


    "WA-waa-what are you doing in my room!" Sherene yelled in surprise and anger, tossing a pillow directly at ke, jolting him awake. "How could you enter a maiden''s room without permission!"


    "Huh?" ke found himself chased out of the room by a furious pink hair princess and stood staring nkly at the closed hatch. "What is going on?"


    He scratched his head, ignoring the curious stares and whispers of his crew passing by, and double checked the namete on the hatch. [Captain''s Quarters] It stated clearly.


    Wait did I just got chased out of my own quarters? ke thought in confusion. He knocks several times on the hatch and waited for a reply.


    "Go away! Y-you pervert!"


    Impatient, he punches in his key code and the hatch slides open. He walked in and saw the elven princess searching the room madly, turning his neatly kept quarters into a mess!


    "What in the world are you doing? ke demanded.


    "Where are my luggage! My clothes!" Sherene absent-minded reply while flipping out the drawers and lockers. "Why are you in my room again! Have you no manners to barge into adies room?" She fumed, cing her fists on her tiny waist.


    "What your room? You are in my room!" ke yells back. "Have you forgotten?"


    "What?" Sherene froze while she processed the information. "Oh the spirits!" She smacks her forehead as she remembered.


    "Go-good morning Captain ke" She gave her best smile while her ears turn bright red in embarrassment. "I-I hoped I did not disturb your sleep!"


    "STOP!" ke raises his hands up in horror as he recognizes the smile on her face. Oh, shit its that SMILE! Please don''t fail my willpower to save! He tried to turn away from her look.


    Sherene tilts her head in confusion seeing ke who shouted stop but just stood there suddenly grinning like a fool at her.


    "Ar-are you alright?" She asked ke, with that silly strange weird look in his eyes. Her heart beat in panic as the way ke stares at her is creeping her out.


    "Oh, I am not too good." ke replied in a daze, "But you can make it better!" He gave a creepy smile.


    "I am so sorry!" She cried in a panicky voice, her face and ears red and quickly escapes out of the room.


    "Nooo! Come back! Make me better!"

 Chapter 45: Battle of Sawtooth Pass

    Chapter 45: Battle of Sawtooth Pass


    The camp was bustling with activity like a kicked ho nest. cksmiths using pedal-powered grindstones sharpened dull and nicked des. Soldiers oiled and polished their armor, checking their leather straps making sure nothing requires recing.


    Duke Sturm stood watching the routine activities of his men and smiled. The sky was clear and beautiful, what a day to start a war.


    He had gathered over three thousand fighting men and with the humiliated 3rd Lancers, he has a fighting force of over 3,600. While over another 1.500 fought against the green skins and protected his supply line in the Uncharted Forest.


    Now to see if the n works.


    ----------------------


    Coming to the edge of the forest, Lyonel limped and lean against a great wood. The massive trunk appears to reach into the cloudless sky, its leaves provide some shade to the ragged elven prisoners.


    "Now you filth! Listen up!" An Empire soldier with a blue cloak fastened against his ornate armor yelled and points up the winding rock path along the mountain slopes.


    "This is your lucky day!" The soldier grins wickedly. "I will count to a hundred. If you reach the pass beyond the mountain, you get to live."


    And he casually drew his sword before cutting down an unfortunate prisoner nearest to him. "After I counted to a hundred, we will start killing you!"


    "So if you want to live" The rest of the prisoners were stunned, watching how that soldier just killed a person without batting an eye.


    "Run!" The soldier finishes with a shout, pointing his de to the path.


    With that shout, everyone jolts to action. They ran and ran, hearing the Empire officer counting down behind them.


    Lyonel stumbled as fast as he could. With barely any food for the past few days, his legs sore from the constant marching and his feet torn and blistered. He pushes on, desperate for the hope that dangled in front for him.


    The path quickly flooded with hundreds of prisoners, trying their best to climb the mountain path.


    The path soon narrowed, allowing lesser and lesser people to squeeze together, while the mountain slopes turn steeper. Screams cried out as people got pushed or slipped down the slopes, their broken bodies rolling to a rest at the foot of the mountain.


    A horn blew and echoed down the mountain, Lyonel and the people all turn back to towards the source of it and saw a column of marching soldiers d in blue, storming instep towards their rear.


    Seeing this the people at the rear screams in panic and shoves the people in front of them, trying to escape the doom marching towards them.


    Lyonel like many others suddenly found new strength from the fear gripping his heart. He screams and cried with fear and panic, pushing the people around him to get to safety.


    The Empire soldiers worked like a mechanical clockwork machine, marching forward every hundred paces and killing whoever is in their way before stopping and waiting for another two turns of the ss before continuing.


    In this way, they herded the prisoners towards the Pass. By the time they could see the pass, more than half the morning had gone by and less than half of the prisoners remained.


    -------------------


    Staff sergeant Pike folded his arms as he stood behind the UAV operator. "How many?"


    "Quick estimate by theputer puts over 3,500 in the rear group while the forward group slightly below a thousand." The operator wearing a bulbous beetle-like control goggles headset replied.


    Pike frowned, watching the live feed from the disy screens. It shows the blue-d soldiers advancing and chopping down the rear ranks of a group of elves in rags before allowing them to escape again and repeats the whole process again.


    It''s a bloody human shield tactic. They are trying to force the Goldies from breaking ranks to save their people while using them as shields to get as close as possible. And at the same time killing the refugees the Goldies'' morale as they watch their people die.


    If only we had some mortars or even artillery. Those babies will wreak havoc among that tightly packed infantry square.


    Pike walks out of the tent and watched both his marines and security sections deploying into the sandbag bunkers while the Goldies under the direction of theirmander, Rathia, formed up in a defensive shield line covering the main road while a loose skirmish line form out of archers using a variety of bows and crossbows lined up behind the men.


    The frightened and tired elves, looking like zombies hobbled as fast as they could towards the Goldrose shield line for safety. Once the civilians went past the bend, the Empire soldiers were immediately exposed, and the humans open fired with the single PK-299 stationed to defend the Pass.


    A simple dugout covered with sandbags and a simple roof made out of local wooden logs topped with more sandbags provides a line of sight to the bend and the approaches to Pass. The tripod mounted HMG spew hundreds of bullets, tearing the neat Empire soldiers'' formation into pieces of meat.


    Rathia sighs, "I really admire your weapons. If during the siege of the Capital, we have even one of your thundersticks, we would have held the walls."


    Pike gave a grunt, watching the Empires toppling over like puppets with their strings cut off. He uses his binocrs and watched the dying blue-coats.


    A typical Empire soldier wears a high cored blue jacket and pants with a metal cuirass and leather innerwear, topped off with a pair of knee length leather boots and a pot-shaped metal helmet.


    They are equipped with a short stabbing sword, and either a shield or a halberd. Some even carried crossbows slung across their backs.


    Their officers and sergeants wear a cloak and also a helmet crest to be easily identified. Blue for officers and red for sergeants.


    Suddenly the entire line of Empire soldiers vanished in a cloud of ck billowing smoke. The machine gun immediately ceased fire to conserve ammo.


    "What''s that?" Pike asked, more curious than concern.


    "A smoke spell," Rathia exins, looking nervous. "The Empire uses them at times to screen their forces from arrows and hide their soldiers."


    The unnatural dense cloud drifts closer to the rear of the fleeing elves, skeletal faces appeared within the smoke, screaming in soundless horror. It slowly swallows up the fleeing elves and stops short of the pass as if it hits an invisible wall.


    Leering faces could be seen as they attempted to push past the magic barrier set up by Magister Thorn. "Mages to the front!" Rathiamanded.


    Several robed individuals carrying staffs hurrying through the ranks of the soldiers and started their offensive spells.


    "NO! Pull them back!" Pike hurriedly yelled at Rathia. The past few days had opened his mind to the mystical ways of the elves. The few surviving mages, could conjure fire, water or move and shape the earth in ways that confounded his mind.


    The humans epted the existence of magic with ease and wonder. In fact, Pike has proposed to Lt Frank, about usingbine arms and magic for defensive and offensive tactics.


    Rathia looked at Pike with surprise, in the few short days they known each other, he had respected the hooman soldier greatly. He turns and watches the dark cloud with suspicion.


    "Back! Mages to retreat!" He decided to trust Pike andmands his mages to retreat behind the shield wall.


    Less than a second after mages reentered the shield wall, hundreds of crossbow bolts flew out of the magical smoke and ms into the raised shields, while some unlucky souls who did not ready his shield, cried in pain as the bolts pierced their bodies.


    A roar from hundreds of throats rose from within the smoke, and suddenly hundreds of Empire soldiers broke out from the smoke screen and mmed into the unprepared shield wall.


    "What the fuck!" Pike saw the disaster unfolding at the center of the lines. It appears that the enemy charged through the refugees under the cover of smoke and advanced right up their noses!


    "Fuck the civees!" He cursed on themandwork. " Open fire into their nks and stop their charge! Or they will swarm us all!" he ordered.


    Bursts of fire erupts immediately from the bunkers, knocking the blue-coated soldiers down. The HMG opened up again, sending bullets stitching into the smoke, preventing more enemy troops from reinforcement the front.


    Cracks of thunder and lightning ripple out from the rear of the Goldrose lines, scorching armor and shields, and the shock rupturing hearts and cooking organs.


    Suddenly a giant fireball ms into the bunker on the left, setting the whole structure into mes, dancing figures wreath in mes could be seen running out before copsing to the ground.


    "Enemy mages!" The Goldrose soldiers yelled as dozens of fireballs rained into their lines.


    The smoke from earlier had dissipated, revealing the enemy force behind. The magic barrier was destroyed by the simple use of the smoke,ced with magic energy which slowly drained the barrier allowing the Empire mages to cast their spells.


    Pike narrowed his eyes as he saw the havoc caused by the fireballs. Fuck magic, this is ridiculous. He wasn''t prepared for that, even as he saw what wonders magic can do from the Goldie mages.


    "Drake! You better blow those S.O.B mages to hell now!" Pike yells into hisms, "All units are to spread out! The enemy has area effect weapons! Show them what the United Nations of Man Navy and Marines are made of!"


    "HOORAH!"

 Chapter 46: Enemy at the Gates

    Chapter 46: Enemy at the Gates


    Duke Sturm leanzily on the saddle of his dragon and watched his troops emerged from the smoke and smash into the four-man thick shield line, catching the Goldrose soldiers in surprise.


    He smiles when he saw the shield lines buckling under the impact of his troops, but soon he frowns when he saw lines of fire ripped into his men, tearing them to shreds.


    He gestures to his runner andmands, "The enemy''s barrier should be weakened enough by now. Order the battle mages to begin their assault. Destroy those spell constructs first." He points to the sandbag bunkers spewing fire.


    The battle mages under the cover of the smoke, chanted their magic and gestures, creating several magical circles that glow in an unnatural red light.


    The magic smoke allows anyone to view out of it, but it blocks sight from outside, preventing both normal and magical sight from viewing into the cloud thus allowing the Empire soldiers to charge up mostly unmolested.


    The blue coats ignored the ves in front of them, marching double time, they just ruthlessly trample whoever is in the way and sought to reach charging distance with the Goldrose lines.


    The battle mages dressed in blue leather trench coats finally finished chanting their spells. The magic circles floated in front like a hologram, merged together with one on top of each other, andpleted the spells.


    Balls of fire grew into existence over the center of the magic circles hovering in the air. The temperature in the surrounding instantly heats up from the number of fireballs created. Another gesture from the mages and the massive fireballs flung themselves out like rockets, arcing into the sky and dropping downwards onto the middle of the Goldrose lines.


    Duke Sturm nods, watching at least one fireball torching the magical construct, silencing it. The screams apanied sound like sweet music to his pointy ears even from a fair distance.


    "Target the enemy mages. Once their mages are down, victory is at hand." Sturm smiles happily, thinking of the little princess. The secrets to the level 10 spells and payment for his two flying dragons, I will squeeze it all out from her body. I hope she doesn''t break so fast and can keep entertained.


    -----------------------


    Drakeid prone over the observation post that was prepared days ago. A smart camouge all-weatherting provides some shade and concealment from the enemy.


    Theting blocks all forms of thermal and electronic signal from emitting out, forcing the observation teams tomunicate only with directser signals.


    He deployed his bipod and rests his 22" long suppressed heavy barrel M7 DMR against the sandbags and zeroed his sights. "See anyone worth killing?"


    The Goldrose soldier lying prone next to him, peers out of the tripod-mounted binocrs. Both sides had reached an agreement days before to work together to defend the pass, and this particr goldie was assigned to partner with Drake.


    Drake used the time to teach the goldie soldier on how to be a spotter over the past few days of sentry duty when they two were partnered together.


    "Uh, the smoke, I can''t see anything," Kont replied. He wore an old leather armor instead of his te mail, allow him morefort toy prone, while his sword and uncocked crossbowid at his side.


    "Try the infra. It works." Drake continues to make minor adjustments to his scope.


    "Ahh I see something but it''s hard to find anyone!" Kont glued his eyes on the binos, sweeping left and right. He sees a huge blob of red, orange, yellow against a background of grey and white tones.


    "Damn." Drake cursed. He set to thermal and sees the huge blob of color mixed together, making it hard to find individual targets.


    Suddenly balls of fire erupt from among the defenders and hisms crackles, he left a receiver outside theting, hisms connected by cable to it. "Drake! You better blow those S.O.B mages to hell now!" He hears Pike shouting in thems. "All units are to spread out! The enemy has area effect weapons! Show them what the United Nations of Man Navy and Marines are made of!"


    "The smoke is gone!" Kont yelled excitedly.


    "You see where those fireballs came from?" Drake asked as he scanned the battlefield, ignoring the burning figures, knowing some of them were friends.


    "There is more smoke behind. I think they are there!" As to validate Kont''s words, another volley of fireballs erupts out from the smoke cloud behind the Empire soldiers.


    "Got it, help me pick the targets." Drake track through the smoke, seeing a massive heat signature within the smoke.


    "Eh, all the way to the right, a fireball just came out from there." Kont describes as best as he could, "About two-seven-three." He read the numbers out in Eng-ish, his numbers taught by Drake too.


    "Copy that," Drake said in English and homes his scope towards that direction. He spots a heat spot that appears to be gaining heat, while a lower temperature vaguely human-shaped blob appearing below. He held his breathe and gently squeezed the trigger and watched the orange-yellow blob copse down.


    "I think you got him!" Kont yells in excitement. He had watched how this hooman kills with his strangely quiet thunderstick, different from what the other hoomans use when they first arrived at the Pass. "There! About eight or ten paces to your left. I see something like a people shape!"


    Another hushed pop and an empty cartridge spins out from the ejection port, hits the rocky ground with a pinging sound, seemingly louder than the gunshot.


    ------------------------------------------


    Mills moaned in pain, his Marine BDUs melted and glued against his charred and peeling skin. Heid beside the smoking bunker. He tried to draw in air, but his badly burnt lungs barely work, each attempt to breathe feels like someone searing him with hot irons.


    He briefly remembers firing at the blue coats when the order came. Next thing he knew was a blinding sh of light and heat, and he saw himself and the rest inside the bunker on fire. Before he knew it, he was lying down here, trying to breathe with his half cooked lungs.


    After a short rest, Mills pushed himself up with great effort, biting back the scream that is forming in his throat and growls instead. He looks at his hands, seeing them ckened and oozing some clear liquid. Fuckers gonna pay. Picking up his rifle, he ignores the fresh waves of pain, his superheated rifle scorching his already burnt skin, further cooking his flesh.


    The blue coated soldiers with the help of their mages'' fireball attacks had managed to force the shield line into disarray, splitting the soldiers into tiny squares of resistance, while the bulk of the Goldrose soldiers attempt to rally at the rear.


    Mills barely could see clearly, his eyes half boiled by the heat and sh, he props himself against the side of the sandbag and drags his rifle against his side, ignoring the tearing of his skin. Mind over matter! MIND OVER MATTER! Remembering what his drill sergeant brainwashed them to do during boot camp.


    He sees the blurry blue figures moving past him, probably seeing him as a corpse. Mills cursed, turn me into a bbq yeah? I fucking make you into swiss cheese! And he sat there and open fire with his M7A1.


    ------------------------------


    Bartley manned the PK-299 HMG with fitness, firing short urate bursts into the rushing tide of blue coats when he saw the bunker Mills was in went up in mes. "Oh Mills!"


    He detached the PK-229 and reattached it onto his exo-frame, ignoring his surprised loader, and hooking the ammo feed into position while he climbs out of the MG bunker and charged down towards Mills.


    Bartley used hisrger build and shoves through the disrupted Goldie shield wall, ignoring the waves of heat caused by the falling fireballs and stood alone facing the charging tide of blue coats who were less than ten meters away from him.


    He heaves his PK-299, braced himself, and held down the trigger. A meter long muzzle sh spewed out, and the space in front of him instantly clears, dozens and dozens of blue coats tumbled down lifeless or dying. He rotates his weapon left and right, giving a good wash of bullets on both sides before he charged forward.


    "Mills!" He roars, as he stopped for the fourth time, his HMG tearing the advancing bluecoats to shreds. he spots a ckened figure lying against the bunker walls, firing his rifle sporadically. "Mills is that you?"


    "Wassup Big Guy? I just overdid my suntan." Mills rasped out, coughing out blood. "Fuckers couldn''t even do my tan right!" He pops off another burst at a group of blue coats charging towards them.


    Bartley went down a kneeling stance and torn that group up with a burst of his HMG. He removes a morphine injector from his medical kit and jabs it against Mills''s arm, who almost immediately sighs in bliss.


    "Medic! I got survivors at the Bunker Two!" Bartley speaks into hisms, he did a quick check and found another two barely alive, gasping for air like a fish out of water. He kept a wary eye around while waiting for the medic to arrive. Most of the crossbow welding Empire soldiers were quickly taken out by Bartley before they could fire their bolts. "You be ok when we get you to Doc."


    "Fucking hell, I want a refund on this fucking tan job."

 Chapter 47: Alliance

    Chapter 47: Alliance


    "What''s the situation?" ke entered the bridge and stood next to sleepy-eyed Ford.


    "Bad," Ford manipted the view on the screen, showing the Goldrose battle line in disarray, dozens of skirmishes broke out among the gold and blue-d soldiers. "They are attempting to reform another shield line at the rear."


    "What happened?" ke stared at the screen, "Are those incendiaries?" Pointing at balls of fires going off here and there.


    "No, apparently those are magic spells." Ford swipes the screen upwards showing an area shrouded with smoke. Several balls of fire emerged from the cloud and rained down the defenders. "It''s much more powerful than what they experienced in the ruins."


    "That smoke is magic too?" ke observes the unnatural smoke cloud. "Weapons." He called out.


    "Aye Sir?" The weapons officer answers.


    "Open Missile One. Target," He points to that smoke cloud on the screen. "Fire when ready."


    "Aye aye, Sir! Opening Missile One!" The weapons officer punched in the missiles arming codes and target coordinates. "Missile Oneunch bay opened, ready to fire!"


    ke nods, and the weapons officer hit the firing key. A whoosh and a smoke trail erupted from the Missile One''s hatch.


    "Isn''t that a bit overkill?" Ford asked, "Our munition stores are badly depleted."


    "Those magic fireballs are killing our people. If we can stop them from casting spells, our people won''t die." ke stated. "I would rather deplete all our munitions than let more of our people die."


    "Aye aye, Captain!" Ford and the rest of the crew stood up and gave a salute after hearing ke''s words.


    ---------------------------------------


    "Good! It''s about time! Prepare the 3rd to charge!" Duke Sturm ordered. "That giant there," He points to arge man, with arge crossbow-like weapon, that spews thunder and fire. "Kill him and take that weapon to me!"


    He had watched the battle from a safe distance, using a finely crafted ornate telescope made from master craftsmen. He had observed the thundersticks those strangely d men were using and was highly intrigued by them. What kind of magical weapons was those, he wondered?


    The 3rd Lancers had formed up at the rear of the infantry, impatient to push through, thirsting to rush in to kill the Goldrose soldiers, to wipe away the humiliation they had received and to seek revenge for their captain.


    Hearing the horn sounding, the war dragons snorted and chomped at their bits, kicking off the ground with their wed fore and rear legs and charged through thenes the infantry had opened up for them when a loud roar shrieked from the skies and the whole world turned white.


    ----------------------------------------


    The Space Sparrow missile flew straight towards the targeted coordinates before arcing vertically upwards and the brain chip redirects its thrusters, flipping the missile 180 degrees, and went into terminal mode, impacting, with just two centimeters off target, the explosion deformed the terrain, creating a small crater and billowing smoke and dust. The shockwave, followed by pieces of rock and stone fragments rained among the Empire soldiers, some fast andrge enough to break bones and dent armor, and sent the nearby soldiers flying, rupturing their organs and bursting eardrums.


    The Empire''s celebrated 3rd Lancers with an illustrious history of over 30 years literally ceased to exist as they were almost in the epicenter of the long-range missile strike, those that were caught at the edge of the explosion, suffered a major loss of hearing and internal injuries while their mounts went mad with fear.


    Sturm''s war dragon reared up and started thrashing in fright. Sturm managed to kick off his spurs and leaped off the back of the dragon as it thrashed about in panic,nding with a roll before the shockwave and smoke cloud reached him. The dragon than bolted away along with hundreds of other dragons, all foaming in the mouth and white-eyed in terror.


    "That level 10 spell!" Sturm dusted his coat, taking out a silk handkerchief to cover his nose and mouth from the dust cloud, while his lifeguards quickly surrounded him, protecting him with their shields. "I must gain possession of it at all cost!"


    ---------------------------------------


    Pike receiving information from Base about the missile strike, quickly informed Rathia to pull his scattered men back and reform up behind. The missile strike stunned the entire Empire army, it had perfectly wiped out the entire battle mage toon, leaving nothing behind.


    "Form up!" Pike shouts at the defending marines and crew using this lull in the battle, pointing to the main entrance of the Pass, where several chevaux de frise or wooden spiked barricades were being set up to create a chokepoint at the entrance next to a simple berm with a firing step, raised before with the help of the Goldrose mages acted as a wall. "Fall back quick!"


    The Goldrose soldiers humped their shields and filtered through the barricades and gathered together forming up again into a shield wall, while Marines, security, and crewmen followed behind them. Pike saw the huge figure of Pvt Bartley firing his HMG single-handedly, while the other he held onto the handles of a stretcher, covering the rear of a group of medics carrying wounded.


    "Pvt Bartley, hand over that stretcher to others," Pike orders. "Go set up your weapon back at the MG bunker!" He ignored Bartley''s abandonment of his post, seeing he saved three lives out of the four in the bunker.


    "Yes, Staff!" Bartley let the support crew carry the other handle and ran off back to his previous post.


    "Rathia, how are your men?" Pike asked as he stood next to him. "Will they be able to handle another charge like that?"


    "They will hold," Rathia said with confidence. "We will rather die than let those Empire soldierse and steal and kill our people."


    "Good."


    ----------------------------------


    Sherene, Joesph, and Thorn entered the bridge under an escort. They were told politely and firmly to follow the escorts to the bridge as their attention is needed.


    Seeing the big screen again, Thorn sighs in admiration, before his brain processed the images. "Is that Sawtooth Pass?"


    Sherene and Joesph stared at the carnage going on on the screens. "What happened?"


    ke red at Sherene, who lowered her head shyly and whispered very softly, "sorry..."


    He shakes his head at her before answering the question posed by Joesph. "General, the Pass was attacked, your soldiers and mine are currently defending it."


    "Show the yback on the secondary screen." He instructs a bridge operator, who reyed a video recording of the battle viewed by the UAV.


    "What?" All the elves eyes went wide, "Is this the past? You can view the past?"


    Ford shook his head and whispered sharply, "Stop making fun of them!"


    ke smiles and whispered back, "I still haven''t get back to you aboutst night! You wait!"


    "Haha, what happened?" Ford smiles and acted blur. "Did something good happened?"


    ke shakes his head and turns his attention to the elves. "What are those?" He points to the smoke screen and balls of fire.


    "That''s a smoke spell, used to conceal troop movements mostly," Joesph exins. "And those look like fireballs. Verymon spell."


    "Yes, a verymon spell just needs a longer time to set up and cast, but it is quite destructive and mmable." Thorn borates more. "Our mages uses lightning spells more, as they are faster to cast and uses less magic."


    The video then showed the missile strike directly into the smoke cloud, causing an evenrger cloud and shattering the nearby soldiers like tiny broken sticks, effectively halting the Empire advance.


    The elves sucked in a deep breathe when they saw the destruction wrought against the Empire''s soldiers with one spell. A legendary Level 10 spell!


    "I asked you here, not only to ask about the enemy spells," A new word he learned from reading Dungeon and Dragons Forever, "But also to talk about the offer of an alliance." He points to the main screen, showing the blue-d Empire soldiers retreating.


    "I will like your answer now," ke stated tly. "I do not want to waste the lives of my men for nothing."


    Sherene sps her hand hard together and stared up at the hooman ke. He is like a totally different person to her. Who is he? Someone who cares or someone who wants power? She looks at him standing there with his hands behind his back, waiting for her answer.


    Sherene looks at her advisors, both of them gave a slight nod, encouraging her to follow her own heart. She sucks in a deep breath and before letting out with a deep sigh and walked up before ke.


    And kneeled down, "My people are yours tomand. I pledge loyalty to you and your cause, my Liege." Joesph and Thorn also kneeled. "We are yours tomand." They intoned.


    "Wait... what?" ke was stunned. "Is the trantor broken or something?" He looks at Ford in confusion. "Is it some alien culture thingy?"


    "What did you dost night, Captain? You stud!"

 Chapter 48: Counterstrike

    Chapter 48: Counterstrike


    Lt Frank leaped off the cab of the half-track as it braked and armed personnel deployed off the rear of the tailgate. He nods to Staff Pike who waves him over to a camouged tent, turns to Cpl James. "Get the men organized."


    Lt Frank entering the tent saw support staff operatingms and updating the situational map on the middle of the tent. A Goldie in an ornate silver armor with their trademark golden robes stood looking at the tactical map with great interest.


    "Wee, Sir!" Pike gave a salute and inviting Frank towards the table. "This is the Goldrosemander, Sir Rathia." He introduces the officers to each other.


    "My pleasure to meet you," Lt Frank gave a Goldrose salute, fist to horizontal to his chest. The goldiemander smiles and saluted back. "I brought 43 men with me and whatever ammo we can spare." He said to Pike in English.


    Pike nods, and indicates onto the map, speaking in Common for the benefit of Rathia. "We managed to hold the gate into the Pass," He points to the map, "The missile strike had destroyed the enemy spellcasters and arge portion of their cavalry."


    "This ''me-sell'' you hoomans possessed, what spell level is it??" Rathia curiously asked. Pike used English for the word missile as they don''t have a simr word except for arrow in Common.


    "Spell level?" Both Frank and Pike looked at each other confused. "What do you mean?"


    Rathia looked at them in surprise, "You don''t know what is spells levels, but yet possessed such powerful spells and magic?" He thought the two hoomans were joking with him but seeing their clueless expressions, "You really have no idea?"


    "Alright, spells are ssed into roughly 10 levels. Starting from level 0, are street tricks, that almost everyone can do and required almost no magic power." Rathia demonstrates, snapping his fingers and a shower of sparks bursts out.


    "Damn. am I d I forced everyone to watch that potter movie and that ring movie," Pike kept his face expressionless while Frank jerks back in surprise.


    Rathia frowns at Frank''s reaction, before continuing, "Level 1 spells onwards reflects the strength, casting time, and magic used. The more magic and casting time used to prepare a spell, the higher the rank of the spell will be." He roughly exins the idea of spell levels.


    "So the ''mages'' you have, what are the level spells they used?" Pike asked as he digested the information.


    "Mostly level 2 to 3," Rathia said. "Combat magic is normally limited to around that level, for it takes time to prepare and focus. Unless you have plenty of time to prepare, like the Empire''s battlemages. Those were level 4 to 5 fireballs."


    "Your thundersticks artifacts are as powerful as a level 5 spell or even higher!" Rathia drones on, "And that spells that killed the two dragons, they should be as powerful as level 8 or even 9!"


    "I-I see," Frank nods, slightly amused to think that modern weapons as magic, but in a way, technology is magic to some. "How many casualties?"


    "3 dead from our side from the fireballs, 1 from an unlucky crossbow bolt in the face. 5 others suffering from second to third-degree burns. The Medics should be prepping them for transportation back for treatment." Pike said. "The Goldrose side took the worst of the blunt."


    "We lost over 80 men, with another 200 badly wounded, most of which will not make it past the night." Rathia sighed as he gave the sad news, "However, we rescued over two hundred of our people, and the Empire had paid a dear price for that."


    "I have isted the rescued people," Pike said, "Most of them require medical treatment and are badly malnutrition."


    "We should allow them to be reunited with their families!" Rathia insisted. "I do not understand why you want to hold them."


    ''It''s for their own safety and for our healers to treatment first." Pike exins, calming Rathia down.


    "Have we located their camp?" Frank asked, "UAV couldn''t spot it?"


    "The path is too open, it is hard for our scouts to follow them back," Rathia said. "Your magical all-seeing artifact should be able to follow them."


    "No, due to the weirdposition of the tree leaves here, the thick canopy blocks line of sight, infra, and electronic signals," Pike exins using English to Frank, while Rathia listens on in confusion at the strange words.


    "Than we need boots on the ground," Frank said. "Directser the target and guide in a missile strike withsermunications. Let''s nip the problem in the bud."


    "Yes Sir, I will form a strike team."


    -------------------------------


    ke sat in his office, massage his forehead, as he tried to make sense of what the princess has done. She sat like a timid mouse on the chair opposite his table, not daring to look at him in the eye.


    "So you meant to say, you want me to rule over your people?" He rified again for the fourth time with her.


    She nods, wondering what is wrong with this hooman, doesn''t everyone wants to be king? Why is he acting like its a troublesome thing?


    "Oh my god, my head hurts," ke groans, while Sherene tilts her head at him in confusion. It''s already hard enough to get the base up and running, and now this hot potatonded in his hands.


    "Alright, I will look after your people, but you are to lead them." ke decided, "I will not be your King or Emperor or whatever you have for a leader. We work together and not you under me."


    Work together? Under you? Sherene eye widens, she blushed and looks away in embarrassment. "Y-yes my liege," she muttered.


    "Wait, NO!" ke groans again, "I meant, you govern your people! And I did not mean sleep with me or what!" What a mess!


    "Anyway, for now, I will have workers construct living spaces for your people." ke sighs at the misunderstanding of thenguages. "Please prepare your people for departure to the Colony."


    "Y-yes my liege." Sherene stood up and gave a bow.


    "N-no, you don''t have to bow or call me my liege." ke''s headache getting worst. "Just call me ke. or Captain if you want to be formal."


    "Yes, my Captain ke." The princess gave a half bow before retreating out of his office.


    "What mess have I gotten into," ke moans his fate.


    "Sir?" Ford knocks at the open hatch. "Permission to enter?"


    "Come in," ke waves him in. "Any new updates?"


    "Yes Sir, Lt Frank had just submitted ns for a night infiltration team, they n to paint the enemy camp with aser and direct call in a missile strike."


    "Will the forest canopy allow the missile to lock on?" ke leans back in his chair, gesturing Ford to the seat vacated by the elven princess earlier.


    "They n to use either a wiredwork or directsermunication to guide the missile in." Ford replies, "uracy will be within a hundred meters plus-minus."


    "Approved, but make sure that if it goes south, they are to abort the mission," ke ordered, "No unnecessary risks are allowed."


    "Yes Sir," Ford made a note in his tablet. "Good and bad news, which first?"


    "Bad, I guess?" ke sighs. What got be worst than an emo princess who can turn me into a bbing idiot?


    "Small arms ammunition and medical supplies are in critical levels, we have to ration usage of them." Ford reads off the details from his tablet.


    "Noted, what else?" ke asked.


    "Good news, we found what you told the survey teams to look for." Ford flips his tablet over and disys a map. "A series of cave openings were discovered here and here." He points to the southern cliff hills. "Salt like crystals were found inside the walls of the cave. Sample testing shows a high concentration of potassium nitrate."


    "That''s good news," ke thought, "And the designs of a ck powder cartridge?"


    "The Marine armorer said that ck powder is highly corrosive, and if used in our weapons, they will foul and break down with no means of proper repairs." Ford checked his notes, before showing a drawn wireframe diagram of a rifle that looks simr to civilian hunters used.


    "He came up with this bolt action design, the metal parts must be treated with anticorrosive coating and the rest is mostly wood," Ford exins.


    "Bolt action? Will it effective against a giant wolf?" ke asked, "They almost literally can stop our current weapons."


    "Yes, it should be even more effective due to the ck power loads'' low muzzle velocity. We have to increase the caliber of the bullets, giving more mass to it. Our current ammo could not prate but got still deal enough internal damage, so a .50 caliber round even with lower muzzle velocity can deal enough punch to inflict internal injuries."


    "But we need a someone who has a chemistry background to helpe out with the form for the primers and improve the ck powder, hopefully into smokeless." Ford continued. "For now we are thinking of using electric triggers for firing the ck powder loads."


    "When can we see a prototype?" ke asked.


    "Once we start having people to mine the saltpeter, we can start to produce and test the ck powder loads." Ford said, grinning, "Well, you are now the King of Elves, you can get your new elves to start working in the mines."


    "Oh right! I haven''t pay back for you for that shit you did yesterday night!"

 Chapter 49: Infiltration

    Chapter 49: Infiltration


    The soft moans of the dying could be heard, as Lt Frank lead his small team of Marines down the steep slope. The pitch ck darkness illuminated slightly by the twin waning moons allowed Frank and his team, wearing night vision goggles to pick their way softly and slowly along the treacherous slopes.


    Franks'' team detoured around the battlefield via the slopes, ignoring the dying Empire soldiers. UAV reconnaissance had spotted several heat signatures at various parts of the path, most likely are Empire''s sentries and scouts.


    The only way to avoid getting spotted even in this dark night is to travel along the slopes, using them as cover. The Goldiemander thought that they are crazy to attempt such a thing but agreed to support Frank and his team as much as possible.


    The lead Marine, Pvt Koing after reaching the point where they n to rappel down to the foot of the mountain, aims a blocky pistol at the wall. A dull thud and a puff of superpressed air, and a hardened steel stake punched into the rock firmly. Koing than attaches a by device and rope to it before giving it a good tug to test.


    He turns a gives his team of three a thumbs up and hooks up his harness to the ropes and device. Once ready, Frank gave him a nod and started to rappel down the slope as softly as possible.


    Frank watched Koing descend down into the darkness, even with his night vision which turns everything into a green shade. The little moonlight given off by the moons make visibility is tough, granting them less than a hundred meters of vision.


    A double tap from thems signaled to Frank that Koing had reached the bottom, he pats Lcp Cooper on his shoulder, indicting him to go down. A soft jingle and another dark shadow disappeared down the slope.


    "There," Frank whispered, "Last known location of the retreating blue boys." He points towards a massive bluewood tree. "UAV spotted them heading in that direction earlier."


    "Go silence, avoid contact." Frank instructed, "Lethal force asst resort. Clear?"


    The other two nods. "Dog Actual, to Sierra, proceeding into mission area. Cover our asses, over."


    A double tap in thems replied to Frank''s message. He waves his team forward into the dark looming forest.


    Traveling into the forest, they found arge number of tracks caused by the matching boots of the Empire''s soldiers, allowing them to follow their path easily. Once in a while they crawled and detour around sentries hidden in the trees. Frank updated his tactical map on each sentry location each time one is encountered.


    The thick canopy blocked all light from stars to the moons from prating into the forest, limiting the viewing distance of their night vision to less than 40 meters. Finally, after almost an hour of sneaking around in the forest, they spotted a glow from the distance.


    The trees opened up to arge field, the sky still covered by the outstretching branches of the trees, providing a natural ceiling, sheltering the Empire camp from the weather. Hundreds of tents spread out among the trees, lit by burning braziers set twos by twos.


    Dozens of cookfire, with blue coated soldiers sitting around, could be seen and drifts of conversation could be heard from the camp. Frank and his team, lowered their night vision sensitivity, allowing them to see almost as bright as day. "There," Cooper whispered. He points to an extravagant tent set in the middle of the camp, where dozens of banners were propped up around it.


    Frank nods, and using the zoom function of his goggles, observed the tent. "Looks like their head honcho." He continues to observe a while before satisfied and gave his next instructions. "Let''s fall back some distance. Copper, set up theser spotter, Koing go up that tree there and deploy the transmitter."


    Both men nodded and started they pull back till a safe distance while keeping a line of sight to the tent. Copper removed aser spotter from his back and hit among the tree roots, sighting in with the binocr looking device, targetting the extravagant tent in the middle.


    Koing with the help of Frank boosted himself up the tree branches and slowly and as quietly as he could, climbed up the branches one by one, while Frank kept watch, holding one end of a cable.


    Finally a couple of tugs from the cable, Frank hands it over to Copper who plugged it into the spotter. A short whileter, a [signal online] appeared on the side of the screen and he armed the spotter.


    ----------


    Almost a hundred kilometers away, a message appeared in the main tactical disy, [Target quired]. ke nods to the weapons officer. "Use Saturation Bombardment n C. Fire!"


    The weapon officer keyed in the preloaded bombardment instructions and hit the fire key. The missileunchers lit up the Base Colony, like fireworks, with six missiles screaming to their destinations.


    ----------


    [Strike Inbound] Appeared on the spotter screen. "Iing!" Cooper whispered loudly, and Frank jerked the cable several times to warn Konig. As they were less than 600 meters away from the strike zone, they quickly braced themselves against the tree, covering their ears and opening their mouths.


    Suddenly the screams scramjet engines roared overhead and the night turned to day. The six missiles following the bombardment n C, hit within a circle around the targeted location, dealing an area effect bombardment, destroying everything within a 300-meter radius.


    After the earth-shaking explosions passed, Koing slid down from the tree, rolling the cable in his hand up. "All done?" He grins in the dark.


    "Wait," Frank crouched behind the tree root and observed the bombardment. "What the... ?" As the smoke slowly dispersed, an eerie glow appeared, covering the tent, while the rest of the terrain became pitted and cratered from the missiles. "Fuck magic! Fall back now!"


    Horns and rallying cries could be heard from other parts of the camp, suddenly dozens of lights appeared floating around the camp and lit up the dark forest, casting long shadows.


    Frank and his team abandoned all stealth and hurried to put as much distance as possible. Shouts could be heard from behind them as they ran through the forest. "Think they found us!" Cooper pants.


    A whistle and a thud, the tree in front of them poked a quivering arrow. "No shit!" Koing cried. The three of them turned as one and fired single shots at the shadows moving behind them. Their M7A1 fitted with silencers popped with each shot, dropping their pursuits. "How did they find us so fast?"


    "Magic! FUCKING MAGIC!" Cooper yelled. He shot another shadow that appeared from behind a tree, sending it tumbling down and saw it was not human nor elf. It was man-shaped but seems to be made out of smoke, two holes could be seen in its misty body. "What the fuck is that?"


    "Back! They can be killed! Keep firing!" Frank ordered, "Koing, Copper move!"


    The two marines disengaged and ran a short distance before turning around and provided covering fire to Frank, who ran past them and they repeat the maneuver until nothing is following them.


    "What are those things?" Koing asked as they keep running through the forest. "Ghosts? Spirits?"


    "I don''t know." Frank pants as he answered, "All I know is that the target is not eliminated. It''s protected by some kind of spell."


    Sounds of hooves could be heard from the rear as they ran, "Shit, iing cavalry!"


    -------------


    SA Corpsman June washed her hands under the simple tap fitted into the jerry can. She stood up and wiped her hands dry before rubbing her hands with hand sanitizers. She looked around the crowded tent, rows, and rows of badly abused elves, most of them feverish with infection set in their torn feet.


    She exited the tent and entered the next tent, nodding a greeting to the young handsome looking Goldie soldier on guard. The number of elves in this tent was the same as before, all lying on the beds, asleep while waiting for treatment and aid.


    After providing triage to over half the elves in the tent, June soon noticed something strange. So far she treated over 40 of the elven people, and all had major wounds on their bare feet. But she found some of the elves here barely had any signs of injuries on their feet, not only that, they appeared to be in better health than the others.


    Feeling her heart beating faster, are they spies trying to sneak in? I better report this quick! She thought.


    She smiled at the handsome faceying on the bed, watching her and turned to leave, pretending she wanted to go grab more medical supplies, when suddenly an arm whips around her throat and choked her from behind. June panicked and thrashed around, kicking the nearest bed and its upant off to the floor.


    The sleeping elves woke up to the mor and screamed for help, the Goldrose sentry outside dashed into the tent only to be tackled by two other elves. June''sst sight of the sentry was him getting stabbed by his own sword before she cked out.

 Chapter 50: Knights

    Chapter 50: Knights


    Lord Kean cracked his neck and stretched his lean muscr body. He looks at the femaleying on the floor wondering what manner of creature is this.


    He squatted down next to the unconscious female and observed her closely. She looked well fed, with none of the imperfections of the skin, if it wasn''t the short ears, she looked almost like a normal person. Such a pity.


    The clothing on her that appeared to be a cut out from a single piece of material, the fabric rich and finely woven with a cross in red sewn on the upper sleeves.


    What matter is this creature? He tilts his head in thought. Did these filth low blood mate with some other sub races?


    He gave a spit and turned his attention to the exit of the tent. The rest of his men drenched in blood had finished off all the filth in the tent, stood waiting for hismands. Their self-inflicted injuries to blend in with the ves already healing as they cast healing spells on themselves.


    "My Lord, we are ready." A tall grunt elf armed with the dead soldier''s sword greeted Kean.


    He nods to his men, 10 in all including him. "You all know your duties! Kill everyone who resists, we are here to destroy their camp and hold the Pass for Duke Sturm."


    "How about her?" His subordinate indicates the unconscious female.


    "Kill her," Kean than remember watching her providing treatment to the people in the tent. "No, wait, keep her alive. Bring her with us, even without magic, her healing arts are quite good. She will make a valuable ve for her skills."


    shes of lightning lit up the tent and followed by a series of thunder rumbled in the distance. Even the Gods are watching and blessing us. Kean smiled, "Let''s go!"


    "FOR THE EMPIRE!"


    -----


    Machinist mate Petty Officer 2nd ss Ivan Pavlo sat on the driver seat of the half-track packed at the side of the encampment. He took a drag of hisst remaining few sticks of cigarette, blew a smoke ring out of the window and hands it over to Sgt Raman. who epted it.


    "What the hell are we doing here?" Ramanined for the third time since they hid here to secretly smoke a stick. "I am sick of this ce, no women, no drinks, nothing."


    "Didn''t you see those ''elves'',?" Ivan propped his feet up against the steering wheel and leaned back in the chair. "They look fantastic! Hotter than a Russian girl. Might need to fatten them up a bit, but damn are they good looking." He gave a soft wolf whistle.


    He signed up with the Navy after the Court Judge gave him a choice, prison or military service. He got caught jacking cars, stripping them down at his own garage and selling them to customers after doctoring them as ''clean'' parts.


    ''Yeah, I admit they are pretty hot," Raman agreed, "Damn, don''t know what the Captain is doing, inviting them over and all that shit. They are just uneducated barbarians, we should just make them follow our lead."


    "Oh yeah, great idea," Ivan muttered, removing a small bottle and swallowing its contents in a gulp. "Ahhh... that hits the spot."


    "Is that alcohol?" Raman stared at Ivan''s bottle. He licks his lips as he stares greedily at the bottle.


    "Here, made this myself." Ivan hands the bottle over to Raman, who quickly drowns the contents down. "Hey, don''t finish it all!"


    "Damn, it burns all the way down. It''s good!" Raman smacks his lips, handing the bottle back. "Anymore?"


    "Damn you greedy svin''ya!" Ivan cursed in Russian when suddenly somemotion could be heard from the istion camp. "Huh? What''s going on?" He peers out of the side window.


    In the distance, lightning lit the night sky, followed by a series of rumbles.


    -------


    Kean''s men slipped out of the tent and rushed towards the exit of the camp. They memorized theyout of the camp as they were brought in earlier in the day. Several people headed towards them, seeing them covered in blood, started questioning them what had happened only to have their necks twisted or hearts crushed.


    Pushing on, they reached the camp entrance, where several of Goldrose guards and a couple of those short-eared beasts stood. Arcs of lightning res out from the leading Empire soldier''s fingertips, sting the guards away.


    Suddenly thunder and fire erupted from the short-eared beasts, sending a couple of his men spinning away. Kean raised his hand and muttered a quick chant, and spray his fingers out, blocking the fire from the beasts'' spells.


    Sparks crackle across his magic barrier, each blow knocking him back slightly, Kean raises his eyes in surprise, as his barrier can block spells up to level 5 without any issues. He felt his magic power draining with each fire hitting his barrier.


    His remaining men split into action, tossing spells at the beasts, sending them scrambling to cover, giving Kean a respite from the barrage of spells he blocked. "Kill them all! Make it quick!"


    Rushing forward without any regards for their lives, his men rushed the remaining few guards who fought back bravely but were overpowered instantly. His men are all knight ss soldiers, proficient in all known weapons and magic.


    He watches as one of his men fired a magic bolt, sending the ck and grey d short-eared beast flying. Kean walks over to one of his fallen men, his body broken from the spells welded by the thundersticks. Several holes leaking blood could be seen on his body, Kean flips the body over, seeing therge wounds at the back.


    What an amazing spell. Their spells enter your body and explode inside, making healing impossible, how marvelous! "Collect their thundersticks! It must be sent to the Ministry of Magic to be studied!" He ordered his men.


    Lord Kean stood at the gates, watching his men scattered into the night, heading towards the enemies headquarters andughed, enjoying the cries of pain and screams of the dying. "Kill! Burn! ****! It is a good night for mayhem!"


    -----


    Pike with his arms folded stood watching the UAV feed, waiting for the infiltration team actions. He smiled when he saw theser message came in, updating Base of the target and calling in the missile strike.


    He walked outside themand tent and looked in the direction of the enemy camp, and minutester, several shes of light could be seen followed by several ps of thunder like rumble. "That''s what you get for messing with the Marines, fuckers!"


    He turns towards the tent only to spin around when several distant gunshots woke the camp. "What the hell?" Picking up hisms, he speaks into it. "Report! What is happening? Who is firing?"


    "Staff! Gunfire reported from the istion camp!" A support staff poked her head out of themand tent. "The sentries are not responding!"


    "Damn! Order everyone to stand to! All camps are to go on lockdown! Shoot anyone who doesn''tply!" Pike orders, "Get the rapid response team to head to the istion camp now!"


    Theyout of the camps was arranged with the defensive works at the Pass, then at the rear, the military camps for both the elven and human troops. Next to the military camp was the hospital area and istion camp for the new arrivals, traveling further to the rear down the slopes at the foot of the mountain is the elven refugees camp.


    Pike rushed towards a Jeep parked next to themand tent, "Son, get me to the istion camp! And make sure your weapon is loaded!" He woke the off-duty driver who was napping at the driver seat.


    "Yes, Staff!" The crewmate started the engine and reversed the Jeep before driving down the rock path to the rear. As they arrived in the rear, bodies littered the area and several tents were on fire, while arcs of lightning could be seen striking at the soldiers who rushed towards a group of elves d in rags.


    "Fuck! I should have tightened security on those elves!" Pike leaped off the Jeep. "Get to cover." He told the driver who happily drove off somewhere safe.


    "All units, we got enemy contacts inside the istion camp," Pike spoke into hisms. "Contacts are highly dangerous with magic. Do not approach, shoot to kill! Repeat, shoot to kill!"


    -------


    Lamthughed with glee as he toasted several Goldrose soldiers with a lightning bolt, enjoy the burnt smell raising from their bodies, reminding him of roasted meat. He licked his lips as he dodged a spear thrust from another soldier, and riposte with his borrowed de. The Goldrose army prefers a curved, single-edged de as opposed to the Empire''s short stabbing swords, making it slightly weaker in stabbing attacks.


    His borrowed de hit the chest te of the soldier and it slid like a hot knife through butter, much to the surprise of the soldier. His look of surprise as he died with the de entering right through armor and heart earned an amused chuckle from Lamth. He had imbued a spell onto the sword, making it able to cut through almost anything.


    He leaped into another group of soldiers who attempt to spear him, cutting them down with his enhanced strength and agility. He stood there posing, with dozens of soldiers in a semi-circle around him, none daring to approach him. "Come on! You low lives,e bow before the master race!"


    "Master race?" A grizzly looking short-ear male pushed past the crowd of soldiers and stood in front of him. "You? Don''t make meugh."


    "Than die, beast!" Lamth bent his lean body forward and sprint forward towards the short-ear.


    That short-ear male shooked his head and raised his hand, his fast movement surprising Lamth who has cast Speed and Quick Reflex on himself, the ck object in that short-ear hand appeared magically in his hand.


    It must be another of their thundersticks! He felt time appeared to crawl, he twisted his body to dodge that weapon, knowing that as long as he dodges the first attack, that short ear is done for.


    Only to see a sh of silvering from his bottom left, he nced down to see a silvery deing from his blind side. Noo! He twisted his upper body backward, narrowly avoiding the sh that would have taken his head. He grins and wipes the thin trickle of blood on his neck, "You missed!"


    "Oh really?" Pike shrugged and fires point nk at that crazed looking elf face, blowing his brains out. "Dodge this."

 Chapter 51: Tech vs Magic

    Chapter 51: Tech vs Magic


    "Up!" Lt Frank shouted as he covered the other two Marines, firing aimed shots between the trees, knocking off a rider from his mount. "We are almost out of the forest!"


    "Up!" Cooper yelled, and Frank turned and ran leaving Cooper and Koing to cover him. Cooper wearing night vision, sighted his weapon on another rider, and fired, sending both rider and his giant croc tumbling down. "Damn, they aren''t giving up!"


    Frank ms himself over a massive tree root and heaved his weapon up. "Up!" He yelled out. Thank god for their enhanced genes, if not a normal, untrained and enhanced human won''t be able to carry over 45kg worth of equipment and run nonstop for over 30 minutes.


    The UNM Marines when undergoing basic military training were injected with body-enhancing drugs, increasing their muscr strength, reflexes, and stamina. Some units, Frank heard even had bio skeletal recements, further increasing their abilities.


    "I see the end of the forest!" Koing shouted, as he vaulted over another tree root andnded at the edge of the forest, seeing the green mountainous slopes under his night vision.


    "Dog Actual to Sierra, do you copy over?" Frank activated hisms. "Come in Sierra!"


    "Sierra to Dog Actual. I see you over," Drake''s voice came in slightly distorted but understandable via thems.


    "Under heavy pursuit! Requesting immediate support and extraction over!" Frank yelled into hisms as the trio dashed across the open ground and hit the rocky path, heading towards the location where they dropped their bying kits.


    "Dog Actual to Base, mission failed, repeat mission failed," Frank made a report back. "Target has some kind of barrier protection, missile strike has no effect, over!"


    "Roger that Dog Actual, RTB immediately," Base responded.


    "Damn, where''s our support!" Frank cursed, as several balls of light lit up the mountain slopes, exposing their location. "Get behind cover!"


    -----


    "Come on," Drake whispered to himself as heid prone on his poncho, his M7 DMR barrel and part of his scope poking out of the camoting, over 600m away, watching his fellow Marines running to cover. He tracks his scope to the edge of the forest, just as several balls of light lit the area up like res and dozens of croc cavalry bursting out from the trees, charging right at the exposed Marines.


    "Many dragon cavalries!" Kont cried out in excitement as heid next to Drake, using the bino to spot. "Eh, Six-two-three meters.. six-one-five... They are closing fast on your friends!"


    "Right," Drake had earlier zeroed his rifle scope to 600m. He tracked the nearest croc-dragon thingy and gently stroke the trigger, feeling the m of his rifle butt against his shoulder. A secondter, the creature topples over, flinging its rider off its saddle.


    "Good hit!" Kont cried, "Look 10 paces to your left!"


    Following Kont amateur instructions, Drake still managed to snipe the targets he is calling out. Damn, I need to properly teach him how to spot properly. He focused his attention back to sniping.


    -----


    Frank ducked behind arge boulder and popped up to fire at the charging cavalry, sending them toppling with each hit. Cooper joined in firing at the enemy as reached Frank''s spot, while Koing dropped to a kneeling position and fired.


    The Empire cavalry unable to close with the three humans, broke and retreated back into the cover of the trees. Checking his ammo, Frank nodded towards the cliff side, "We need to climb back up, we can''t go by the main path. I am sure they will be waiting for us there."


    "We got iing!" Koing warned as dozens of figures appeared from the treeline. "LT whatever you want to do, better do it fast!" He fired at the massing soldiers.


    "Base to Dog Actual, stand by for missile strike in 10 seconds!" Frank''sm crackled. "Danger close over!"


    "Down down down!" Frank shouted to his men. "Iing! Danger close!" He braced himself against the rock, covered his ears and opened his mouth. The other two marines also ducked down and copied Frank''s actions.


    By opening their mouths, the pressure wave caused by the explosion will not rupture their eardrums as the air in the various body cavities moves with the pressure wave.


    Shortly after a bright sh and a ground-shaking rumble knocked them down, the st of the explosion set their ears ringing. "Go!" Frank got to his feet unsteadily, shaking his head to clear the ringing of his ears. He looked over the rocks and saw the edge of the forest swathed with mes and smoke.


    -----


    Lord Kean stood at the shattered gate of the camp, his left hand gripping the neck of the female he captured earlier, dangling from his side.


    "What is taking so long? Have not the enemy been destroyed?" Kean impatiently questions his underling beside him.


    "I will find out what is taking so long my Lord," His man bowed and disappeared into the night and returning in a short while. "My Lord, they have encountered more resistance than anticipated."


    "Tsk, can''t even do anything right," Kean grumbled and headed towards the Goldrose camp, dragging the female along.


    "What''s this?" Kean asked in anger as he reached the entrance, seeing three of his men sheltering behind a magic barrier. "What are you doing?"


    "My Lord!" One of the men called out, "There magic is too strong! We can''t advance!" The barrier suddenly burst into sparks and another Knight brought up his magic barrier to block the shower of magic spells raining on them. "We can''t see where they are casting their spells from!"


    "What?" Kean could hear the thunderous crack of the thundersticks and the sparking impact of the spells on the barrier. Sweat could be seen glittering from the burning tents on the caster''s face as he focuses all his power in maintaining the spell. Two of his men lifeless bodiesid out on the ground, riddled with bloody holes.


    Kean dropped the girl and strolled up the gate into the Goldrose camp, ignoring his men cries of caution. He weaved a spell in his hands, chanting rapidly as he focuses his magic into his palms. Sparks exploded around him as the enemy spells impacted his barrier, draining its power with each hit.


    Tossing out his hands, several magic circles appeared, before merging together andpleting the spell. A massive ball of fire grew into shape and Kean quickly fires it off into the camp, once he has done that, he lowers his body as low to the ground as humanly possible and dashes after the fireball.


    Using the light of the exploding fireball, he saw several figures hiding behind stacks of bags. He charges in a zigzag manner, dodging their thundersticks'' spells. He leaped over the bags, watching the eyes of the short-ear beasts turn round in surprise andnds behind them. A quick sweep of his hands and a couple of heads flew off, blood squirting out of their severed necks like water fountains.


    The rest of the soldiers froze, staring wide-eyed in fear, watching Kean lick his bloodied fingers, before raising their thundersticks up to cast their spells. But Kean had disappeared, leaving the four soldiers in confusion, and screaming in terror as a soldier arced his back sharply, his chest te bulging unnaturally and vomiting blood, legs dangling in the air.


    Kean stood behind the twitching body, his right-hand half prated into the back of the soldier, gripping his heart. He frowns slightly at the body, looking at the ck cloth-like armor of the soldier. His hand has the power to punch through te mail, but he could only prate the back armor of the soldier and not out of it. "Interesting,"


    "BACK!" Karl screamed, following his own words, putting as much distance as he could. This guy is way more dangerous than those green skins! He ripped a shbang out from his front pouch and tossed it at the elf standing there, illuminated by the mes.


    Kean dropped the body and out of reflex, snatched the tube-like object thrown at him from one of the retreating soldiers. He looks at it in admiration, its workmanship exquisite with perfectly cut circr holes that lined the tube walls when it blew up in his face.


    "Urgghhh!" Kean screams in pain, covering his face with his hands. His eyes blinded and his ears deafened by the loud explosion, he stumbled around in a daze before feeling something punched him hard in the chest and the world seemed to disappear.


    -----


    Pike watched the sun rising over the treetops, turning the skies into a ssh of purple orange. He turned and look at the smoky remains of the attack several hours before and headed towards the field hospital.


    "Staff!" A medical personnel greeted Pike as he ducked his head into the medical tent.


    "How are they?" Pike gestures the wounded in the tent. "What''s the count?"


    "This way please," The medic led Pike to the rear of the tent, out of hearing from the wounded. "14 wounded, they will heal over time but we got nine dead." He sighed and flips the page of the notepad he was reading from. "The Goldies got another 31 dead and 12 wounded, and the civees we rescued, another 52 dead from the attack."


    "Fuck!" Pike cursed. "How about the enemy? We got a prisoner right?"


    "Yes, he suffered two GSW, one to his corbone, shattering it. And another to his left lung." The medic exined. "He''s out of danger at the moment, both shots over prated his body. If he was wearing armor, he wouldn''t even be alive to be captured."

 Chapter 52: Recovery

    Chapter 52: Recovery


    ke sat at the head of the meeting room''s table, his fingerings forming a tent shape under his chin. The elves as new allies were also included in this meeting. He started the meeting when everyone had settled down in their seats.


    "Alright, thest few days were quite a test. We had lost men and elves to enemy attacks and also we retaliated back." ke looked around the room, catching the eyes of everyone. "Chin up people, we beat back a force over three times our weight." He spoke in elvish for the benefit of the neers.


    "Let''s start the meeting. Status on our forces?" ke asked Lt Frank.


    "Yes, Sir," Frank stood up, thebat action he led had matured him, giving him more confidence than before. "Our current Marinebat strength is at 25, with one KIA and two WIA, while the supporting security section''s strength is at 93, with 12 KIAs and 17 WIAs." He paused and flipped his notes, "Under Lord General Josephmand, he has a total of 970 soldiers of varying equipment. In the course of thest few days, hismand had suffered 111 KIAs and 215 WIAs."


    We lost 3% of our current manpower in just 2 days of fighting while the Goldies lost almost 10 times the amount! ke mentally calcted. He looks at the princess next to him, knowing she will be greatly affected by the news.


    Sherene lowered her head in sadness, when she heard the number of deaths, struggling to keep her eyes from tearing and smiles in gratitude as ke ces a calming hand on her arm.


    "He also has erm, 14 mages under hismand." Flipping his notes again, Frank continued, "We captured over 137 POWs, all of them wounded but not life-threatening. 43 of those creatures they called war dragons and over 400 sets of swords, spears, and armor. A total of 372 confirmed kills and another estimated 900 kills from the missile strikes. 900 is the low end of the estimation, we calcted that as high as 1,800 deaths to be exact. That''s all for my report."


    Joesph was surprised at the efficiency of the hoomans. He knew they were good but this is out of expectation. From the numbers of soldiers to kills and death, they are highly organized! While some of the things they said, he couldn''t recognize, but he managed to guess its meaning.


    Grayson stood up and did a quick report "The census as of this morning for the elven civilians joining us stands at 2052, the security working with the elven mages had screened them to prevent another incident like the day before from happening. The total number of elves including the soldiers is at 3039." Finishing his part, Grayson sat down.


    QM Chen stood up next, "We need to watch our ammunition expenditure or train the troops to fire more conservatively. We expended over 40% of our existing stores of small arms munitions over the past three days, at this rate we will be fighting with swords and spears soon."


    "Understood," ke said, "I have a n for that problem which I will go through with everyer."


    Chen nods and continues, "In the past week we fired off 10 AIM-32s, while the action with the wolves we burn eight missiles. Now we have left a total of 82 missiles in our inventory."


    "The elves had brought along several of their domesticated animals which will help out with manualbor and transportation. They have 184 of those giant crocs like creatures which they callednd dragons, 142 of those woolly ''muffalos'' and over 300 small chicken-like wyverns which they breed for eggs and meat."


    ke nces at his tablet on the images of thend dragons which truly looked like some kind of docile giant dark blue crocodile with huge packs saddled on its back and sides, while muffalos look like a giant furry grey-blue buffalo with a face that reminds him of a kids show in the past using puppets. The chicken-like wyverns looked look a tiny fat fluffy white dragon with feathers instead of wings.


    SA Alice who used to be from hydroponics made her report next. "For food, the elves had told us that they just barely have enough to support their own people over winter, which ording to the elves ising in a couple of months time. And because of that, we have to prepare too, if we want to fed over 3,000 people in the future. I propose we build several greenhouses to allow hydroponics farming and if possible convert part of the ship for indoor farming."


    "Ok, submit a n for that," ke ordered. "Next?"


    PO Letts who was in charge of construction spoke next, "Weid down ns for new amodations for the new arrivals, and should be ready for them to move in, in about three to four weeks time. Also, we n to beef up the defensives at the Pass, with a double reinforced concrete wallyout and heavily fortified bunkers that can provide better protection from fireballs. I wonder if lightning rods work against their lightning spells?"


    "Get it tested with Magister Thorn," ke ordered, turning to the Magister, "If you are willing to?"


    "Of course, of course!" Thorn looked excited and lost at the same time, trying to figure out what these hoomans are talking about all afternoon.


    "I propose we build more wind turbines to help power our growing future needs and also to charge the Point Defensesers." Chief Matt spoke next. "Our reactor remaining fuel won''tst, so we need new forms of energy generation. If will be best if we can dam up the river up north and build a hydro dam, it will provide more than enough power for oursers."


    "Ok, please look into it." ke replied, "Dr. Sharon? You are awfully quiet today."


    "Ahem," Dr. Sharon cleared her throat, rolling her eyes at ke''sment. "Medical is totally swarmed, I haven''t slept for days, so pardon me for being quiet." Her remark made the others chuckle, "Supplies are almost gone, I saved up some of the supplies for serious cases in the future, while I am back to using spit and tape for the less serious cases. So expect the wounded to recover in weeks or even months rather than days with advanced medications."


    "No luck in finding any native nts with medical properties yet?" ke asked.


    "Nope, but with the elves here, I n to grill them about their medical knowledge." Dr. Sharon gave a cold smile, making the elves feel a chill down their spines.


    "Alright everyone, from the security side of things, I want everyone properly screened. We made a mistake, letting the refugees into the camp, lucky they were isted for medical reasons that we managed to lower casualties. So let''s not make the same mistake again."


    ''Next, prioritize food production and for the uing winter season. Submit your ns for your ideas and I will review them. Alice, recruit among the new arrivals with farming and animal husbandry skills to help you"


    "Chief Gale, I want you to start producing heavy tools and if possible to replicate more fabricators out."


    "Chief Matt, work on the ns for the dam and wind turbines. See which is more feasible or if we have the resources to go both ways."


    "Letts see what you can do with the defenses against magic, work with the good Magister here."


    "Dr. Sharon, I think you know what to do, right?" kes looked at everyone who nodded and making sure everyone understood his instructions.


    "For the Pass, improve the defenses asap, I want 24 7 UAV scouts overhead. Anything that moves, I want it tracked and reported, clear?


    "Alright I need everyone to work together, we are all in the same ship now. So if it sinks, we all drown together, best is we work together to survive." ke encouraged everyone while earning nk stares from the elves. They probably don''t understand a word I said.


    "Final item, I will need people with mining or construction experience," ke listed out his requirements to everyone including the elves. "Princess, please find out if any of your people are miners have mining experience, I need their help."


    He nods to Ford who activates the disy screen, disying a map of the area. "We found several caves here," He points to the southeastern side of the hills. "I want to set up a team of miners and a ry station here."


    "Caves?" Matt asked, "For what?"


    "Saltpeter," ke rified, "We can make ck powder with it and also it is used as fertilizer."


    "ck powder?'' Matt looked surprised, "Our guns able to handle it?"


    "No, that is why we are designing a new weapon, but first things first. We need to have a source of niter." ke exined.


    "Eh, my Liege," Magister Thorn raises his hand like a schoolboy and asked, "Can I be allowed to learn your magic?"


    Everyoneughed around the table, leaving the elves in confusion and slightly embarrassed.


    "We do not have magic, in the same sense as you can cast magic," ke exins. "What we have is science and technology." He further exins, "Our poweres from the understanding of how the world works."


    "I-I see," Thorn looked crestfallen.


    ke feeling sorry for the old man said, "You can view our library, we have books teaching you about science and technology. And we also like to learn and understand magic from you."


    Thorn brightens up as he heard ke''s words. "Of course! I will teach you all I know about magic too!"


    "Any more requests?" ke asked the other elves.


    "Yes, my Liege," Joesph stood up and gave a salute, "I like to learn from your warriors, and your ways of war."


    "Frank, see to it," ke ordered. "Princess?"


    "Can I follow you around as you work? I want to learn your ways too," Sherene spoke shyly.


    "Erm, ok," ke scratched his head, thinking is it a good idea. "Sure..."


    "Alright everyone," ke ps his hands together, "Get to work! The enemy won''t wait for us to get ready!"


    "YES MY LIEGE!" yelled the room, before bursting intoughter at ke''s expense.

 Chapter 53: A time to Grief

    Chapter 53: A time to Grief


    A surprisingly quiet week passed by without any attacks from the Empire forces, and scouting parties sent to investigate found the previous campsite empty. The Empire forces had already retreated.


    The Pass now had a two stories tall concrete wall, with a gate made from recycled cargo airlocks,rge enough for two wagons to pass through side by side. The front of the gate were several chest high concrete barriers ced in such a way that forces anyone walking to travel in an ''S'' path.


    A second wall, hundred meters away was under construction, nned to be even taller than the first wall. Block towers of reinforced concrete and steel covered the ends of the wall, allowing soldiers to fire at the approaches.


    The tents were gone, reced with more concrete buildings designed to survive bomb sts lined the rear of the walls, which served from barracks to storerooms and offices. A couple of wind turbines were under construction to provide power to the Pass defenses.


    A simple paved road made of crushed rocks linked the Pass all the way back to the Base Colony. The elves refugees'' city of tents had days before dismantled and the inhabitants moved into the walls of the colony.


    -----


    A huge crowd gathered over the top of a small hill, located outside the walls. The skies slightly cloudy and gloomy, the weather starting to turn colder, even the trees are starting to shed their leaves. People from both races stood silently and respectfully as coffins bearing the dead of the UNM crew and soldiers carried by bearers to their final resting ce.


    All the humans that turned out worn their dress uniforms and lined up in parade manner saluting the dead for giving their lives. Marines snapped to attention and raised their weapons, firing three volleys in a final salute, while a bugler blew a sober tune to give a final farewell. gs were folded and handed over to Captain ke who will help safe keep it till they can return home to their next of kins.


    ke gripped the folded gs tightly, vowing in his heart to not let any more of his men die. He spoke to the crowd. "Since we had arrived here, we suffered many losses, friends, family, and colleagues. Yet we did not grief or fall into despair, nor gave the dead a proper burial. We fought on and carried on with our duties. For that, I am proud of you all. Today, we are here to grief and honor our dead and give peace to them."


    "Go peacefully, know that you men had exchanged your lives so that others could live on. You will always be remembered. Thank you."


    The elves stood at the side, watching the hooman ways of honoring their dead. Days before, during the night, they had stacked their dead over firewood and sent them off into the heavens, where they will be one with the stars.


    Sherene sighed as she watched the whole ceremony. We had caused unnecessary deaths to these hoomans, will they me us in the future for it?


    -----


    In the city, hundreds of colorful tents lined up in perfect rows upied a portion of the empty and unnaturally t ground within the walls. Chatter andughter could be heard from the tents as the people gathered in groups to exchange words or share a meal.


    Lyonel struggled with a pail of water, trying to not spill any water out of it, as he navigated through the colorful rows of tents. Finally reaching his tent, he pulls the covers back, "Aunt May! I brought the water back!" And he sets it outside the tent and covers it with a wooden lid.


    "Lyonel! Why aren''t you still resting!" A plump motherly figure with an apron around her waist and a shawl covering her silver-brown hair appeared out of the tent. "The hooman healers told you to rest more!"


    "I am fine! It''s almost three five-days! And I want to help out!" Lyonel smiled at the middle-aged woman. As he does not have any known blood rtives here, the people in the Iron Castle arranged those children to stay with other families who are willing to ept them.


    "Come in, I have gotten two bowls of meat porridge from the cook tents!" She fussed over him. Lyonel knew that she had lost her own child in the war, and treats him as her son.


    "I heard that the hoomans are telling everyone to join sses." Aunt May ces a bowl of still steaming hot porridge on his hands as they sat on the folding beds with a simple wooden crate as a makeshift table.


    "Really?" Lyonel slurped the hot meal down, enjoying the salty taste of the porridge. "What kind of sses?"


    "Language, maths, ''se-sign''?" Aunt May struggled with the unfamiliar word. "Also they are looking for people with work or skills experience in various industries."


    "I want to be a magic soldier like those hoomans!" Lyonel mimic the gun actions of the hooman''s thundersticks.


    "No!" Aunt May nearly upsets her bowl as she stared in anger at Lyonel. "You are not allowed to join the army!"


    "But" Lyonel opened his mouth.


    "Go to school and study your letters!" Aunt May said, cutting off Lyonel''s objections. "You are still a child, wars are not for you! Finish your food before it gets cold. I still have to go to the Aid Station to help with sewing coats for theing winter."


    "Yes aunt," Lyonel quickly finished his meal, thinking that once he grows up he will join the army.


    -----


    ke sat in his office, reading a list of reports in hisputer, while Sherene sat at another table, tapping gingerly at the keypad, learning how to use theputer,


    "How are you doing?" After an hour of approving and reviewing reports, ke asked Sherene.


    "I-I am fine!" Sherene''s eyes glued to the screen, as she focused on the tutorials ke gave her to do.


    "Ohok," ke watched the princess''s intense focus at theputer. Oh well, back to work.


    Reports of the Empire movement has shown them retreated out of the forest. At least that''s one headache less. The defensive works were halfpleted, another week or so, it will be fully operational. Another couple of nests of those green skin goblins were discovered, and Goldrose soldiers supported by Marines were dispatched to handle them.


    Schools were also opened up for both humans and elves to learn from each other, in the way ofnguages, culture, and skill. As they only have so many sets of trantor devices, it is also better to learn how to speak and write Elvish than to rely on the device.


    sses teaching basic maths and science were also prepared to help train the elves into a basic workforce. While sses on farming, metalworking, and others were given to those already with experience in the rted fields.


    With the deaths of his crew, he has to get the natives trained with some basic elementary knowledge so they can operate machinery and work in the factories or farms. He also needed to get the Goldrose soldiers trained to handle firearms once they have the means to be produced.


    A knock on the hatch woke ke from his thoughts, He looks up and sees Ford stand there, with a tablet in his hands. "Come on in."


    Ford enters the office and looked at Sherene who barely gave a nce at him, engrossed in herputer. He raises an eyebrow at ke who shooked his head and gestures him to take a seat.


    "New report for the saltpeter mines." Ford hands the tablet over.


    Finally, the most important report ke wanted to read appeared. The progress report of the mining station for saltpeter.


    He reads the report which stated the number of worker recruited, the progress of the construction of a camp for the workers, the amount of niter mined and currently transported.


    He scrolls to the bottom of the report, looking for the amount of processed potassium nitrate.


    "We only managed to process a few kilos of that stuff currently," Ford exined, seeing ke reading the bottom of the report. "We set up a distilling nt at the south end of the Base, and aboratory for experimenting with it. There are only eight crew members who actually scored pretty well for their chemistry when they are still in school, so I roped them in as our chemists. They should being out with a batch of usable gunpowder anytime soon."


    "That''s great news. Any troubles?" ke asked,


    "Not at the moment. The guys are still figuring out the best way to distill the stuff and also ns for a milling nt to be connected with the wind turbines." Ford said.


    "Theputers archives has no records of this stuff?" ke was sure that theputers have all the information they needed.


    "Yes and no," Ford exins. "Theputer only listed the chemical forms and very basic information of itspounds and not ways to manufacture or extraction. It does not give every step by step information, so we have to experiment and test everything. And most of the crew are not really educated in sciences, especially chemistry."


    "I see," ke frowned, "We couldn''t get the AI to simted stuff out?"


    "We lost most of its processing hardware when the ship blew and whatever remained got further damaged when we crashed." Ford shrugged, "The techs are working on restoring its systems as much as possible."


    "Oh ya, the elves are saying those caves are dragons caves, by the way," Ford added as an afterthought.


    "What? What kind of dragons? The docile ones or the giant flying ones?" ke raised his eyebrows at Ford.


    "Big flying ones."

 Chapter 54: Goblins

    Chapter 54: Goblins


    "There is no need to be worried from what the elves were telling us about the caves," Ford said as he looked towards Sherene who was still super engrossed with theputer. "Apparently, those caves are all abandoned by the dragons from what they could see."


    "Are they sure of it?" Balke asked. "If more of those thingse back to the caves and seeing us messing around their homes, things can get real bad."


    "Well, the elves sent a few of their experienced hunters to check it out and found the caves abandoned without any recent traces of dragons," Ford rified, "But the more worrying thing is those green skins."


    "Goblins?" ke rubbed his chin, "Why?"


    "They found old tracks of goblins around the caves and reminds of cookfires in the deeper parts. The hunters said that it could be the goblins use the caves as a winter retreat." Ford exined. "I have taken the liberty to increase the number of Goldie guards to cover the mining station."


    "Good." ke nods, "How about the Bluecoats? No sign of them yet?"


    "Nope, the scouts follow them as far as they could before they pulled back due to the number of goblins in the forest." Ford scrolls through his tablet, "Well, recent UAV recon flights are also not picking up any unusual activity."


    "And our friend?" ke crossed his fingers and rested his chin on it. "How is he recovering?"


    "Well, Doc says he going to get better," Ford rubbed his face. "The Goldies ced some kind of restraint on him that prevents him from using magic. He is still unconscious, so we couldn''t question him yet. As for the corpsman, she''s doing fine, back to work already."


    "I see, make sure our guest doesn''t run away, he''s too dangerous," ke ordered, "If he resists, use deadly force."


    Ford nods, "Anything else?"


    "Yeah, I n to expand out along the grass ins for farming and rearing of animals, using the current road to the Pass as an anchor point." ke brought out the map of the area on the disy monitor in his office. "I n to build a few fortifiedmunities along the road for the workers and farmers to take shelter and holdout in an event of an attack."


    "Good idea, with the increase of people inside the walls, there isn''t much space for farming and animals. nning division is going nuts," Ford chuckled, "Well, thebor force from the elves are helping out once nicely, especially the hunters and foragers, we shouldn''t worry about food for the uing winter months."


    "Great, now all we need is new weapons and training for the elves and we will be all set."


    -----


    The spray of salt water drenched the men as they hoist the sails of the two-masted squared rig. "Faster with the sails! Tack into the wind!" A darkplexioned middle-aged elf, with a faded red bandana and his ears, hung several gold rings yelled over the crash of the waves against the ship. "Helmsman! Bring the ship towards the wind!"


    "Aye Captain!" The helmsman spun the ship''s wheel, causing the ship to shudder as the wind blew into the sails.


    Omaj Tinka, the captain, and owner of the trade ship, Wave Dancer, looked to the rear of his ship, seeing three dark dots at the horizon. He frowns and called for his ve mage. "Come here, boy! Make me a far-seeing eye!"


    A skinny elven boy, no older than 15, dressed in a pair of undersized sailor''s slops and an oil skin coat. His bright brown eyes narrowed in concentration as he held his hands up, forming a circle and started chanting. A small bright blue magic circle appeared, forming over his hands before the air shimmered and appeared to thicken.


    Trader Omaj stood behind the boy, adjusting the direction by turning his shoulders, and peers through the boy''s hands. The magically thicken air, bends the light and allow Omaj to see objects far away. The image between the boy''s hands looked like a magnifying ss, disying the three ships chasing them.


    "Damn! Those are raiders! Goblin pirates!" Omaj saw the green skins working the oars at the side of the makeshift contraption they called a galley. The crudely stitched patchwork sails made out of animal hides or people skin billowed with an unnatural wind.


    He looked at his map, his ship currently traveling in a channel, between an unchartednd and arge ind, dominated by a series of volcanos that appeared dormant. He cursed, thinking that if it wasn''t for the storm earlier, he had to makendfall to repair his ship, or he won''t be stuck here.


    They call this area the Goblin Sea, as there are thousands and thousands of those vile creatures that preyed on both sea andnd. Hundreds of years ago, many nations attempted to colonize thend here but were set on by the savage goblins and theirrger cousins.


    The nations formed an alliance and marched into battle only to be defeated in the unknownnds. The goblins had stolen skills and technology from the defeated settlers and surprised the Allied armies, who thought of them as beasts.


    Goblins armed with crude weapons like spears and knives, attacked from the forest en masse, overwhelming the Allied forces. The nations retreated and instead fought a defensive battle until the goblins exhausted themselves. Since then, they called the goblin''s army as the Green Tide, as they appeared like an ocean of green, as thousands and thousands of the creatures attacked the city walls.


    As for the ships, some unlucky trader or settler must have their ships raided and captured while they were beached ornded, many many years back. The goblin''s pirate ships are considered outdatedpared to his Wave Dancer while several at times a captured ship could be seen crewed by the vile creatures.


    "Boy! Cast your wind magic on the sails!" He cuffed the boy''s head. "Hurry! Or I feed you to the pirates!"


    The boy took a deep breath and started chanting a spell to create wind, but due to his low magic power, instead of a strong wind, a breeze was formed instead. "What are you trying to pull!" Omaj kicked the boy away. "Useless piece of shit! An egg wyvern has more value than you!" He aimed another kick at the cowling boy.


    Omaj ignored the crying boy and yelled, "Ready the stern bolt throwers!" The three goblin ships were slowly but surely catching up to them. His men, hearing his order rushed to the poop deck where two man-sized bolt throwers covered in oil canvas stood.


    Removing the canvas, the men locked the arms of the ballista into position, while others carried meter long wooden shafts topped with bronze bolt heads. Another crew attached a bowstring made out of animal sinew to the arms and hooked it up to a w.


    Two crew members started to nk the winch, pulling the bowstring into its armed position, and another crew loaded the bolt into the flight groove, sitting the bolt against the w.


    "Ready!" The bolt thrower team leader shouted out when his bolt thrower is loaded, followed by another "Ready!" from the second team.


    "Get here, boy!" Omaj yelled at the boy again, making him scrambled over to the bolt throwers, the crew members casting looks of disdain at the boy. "Set up your far-seeing eye again! Don''t fail me or I whip you till the skin of your back is gone!"


    The boy repeated his spell and luckily it held, enabling the bolt thrower team leaders to adjust their aims.


    "The goblin ships are in range!" The first mate of Wave Dancer yelled. "Do we fire, Captain?"


    "Yes! We need to dy them enough until we can escape!" Omaj nces up at the sun, which was hanging at almost 40 degrees angle in the sky. "At least another five hours to sundown! Once the nightes, we can escape from them!"


    "Ready as you are and fire!" The first mate yelled to the team leaders.


    The bolt thrower leaders made a few more minor adjustments and waited for the down roll of the waves before pulling the firing lever, and with a snap and crack, the bolts flew off towards the lead goblin ship. Using the far-seeing eye spell, the team leaders observed their shots, while the rest of the crews worked the wench to reload the bolt throwers.


    "Down two notches and left three notches!" The leaders ordered their crew to adjust the throwers. "Ready!"


    "Fire!"


    A lucky bolt, flying out of one of the throwers with a speed of 158 meters per second, arced through the sky, traveling over 300 meters before mming down at a perfect angle amidship, nailing several rower goblins together, sending them crashing to the back with the rest of the rowers.


    The port side crude rowing oars snapped, forcing the ship to turn suddenly to the starboard side, causing confusion to the goblin crew.


    The Wave Dancer crew yelled in triumph when they saw the lead goblin ship spin out of control. "Aim for the other ship!" Omaj yelled, smiling in joy. He ruffled the boy''s hair and cheered along with his crew.


    "Sail ho!" The lookout in the crow''s nest suddenly yelled down. "Sails ho!"


    "Ca-Captain!" The helmsman called out in sudden panic. "Two more goblins raiders has appeared!"

 Chapter 55: Pirates of the Goblin Sea

    Chapter 55: Pirates of the Goblin Sea


    Omaj''s face paled as he ran across the slick decks of his ship, looking over the bow. Another two of the distinctive goblin ships appeared in their way, attempting to pinch them between the two fleets.


    The sharp bows and twin patchwork sails hanging over the fat and low wooden hulls charged towards the Wave Dancer, like some kind of fat shark, the oars shing in thete afternoon sun. Goblin drums could be heard over the crash of the waves.


    "Where did theye from?" Omaj yelled angrily at the lookout in the crow''s nest. "Where have your eyes gone to!"


    "They just appeared out of nowhere! I swear!" The frightened lookout yelled back down. "They won''t there at the beginning!"


    Omaj cursed the gods for his luck. He was about to give newmands when a massive ssh of water erupted from the port side of Wave Dancer, he leans over the side and saw a couple of drowning goblins. "They are in range?" He ran back to the poop deck and shoved the bolt thrower leader away from the boy.


    Bending over the boy, he peers into the far-seeing spell. He sees the t low decks of the goblin''s ships stood a crude looking catapult, a couple of the goblins climbing into the basket armed to the teeth.


    "Make ready! Prepare for boarders!" Omaj yelled to his crew, who started to open the weapons locker to grab cusses and shields. "Bowmen! Once in range fired as they bear!"


    The waves are starting to subside as they reached the middle of the channel, allowing his bolt throwers to be more urate but it is also the same for the goblins.


    An ear-splitting screech sounded from overhead made everyone looked up, seeing a green blur smashing itself against the solid mast, leaving a smear of yellowish blood against the wall before what remains of the creature slid down onto the deck.


    And another screech, followed by more. The lucky ones hit the sails and dropped rtively safely onto the decks, only to skewered by the crew of the Wave Dancer. "Furl the sails!" Omaj knew that they couldn''t outrun the ambush, and the only way is to fight.


    The other two goblin ships that appeared in their front with the wind towards their sails soon arrived within range as the Wave Dancer was getting tangled with the other pirate ships.


    They turned and presented their broadsides, firing more of the goblin catapults, sending more green living missiles towards the Wave Dancer.


    Dozens of goblins crashed in glee onto the Wave Dancer, their eyes wide in ecstasy and bloodlust as they doped up on some kind of magical drug, screamed in joy as they allow themselves to be flung over the water and onto the enemy ship.


    "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" A goblin crackled wildly in glee as itnded right on top of an elf crewman, his body cushioning its drop. The goblin sunk its teeth onto the neck of the dazed elf and rammed the bone shiv in its hand into the side of the unfortunate elf. "Wakakakakakakaka!"


    Omaj expertly looped the head off the crazed goblin riding his crew member, but it was toote, the dying seaman flopped onto the slick decks covered in his own blood. "Protect the bowmen and the bolt throwers!" He yelled to his crew.


    His crew quickly formed in a shield line, around the archers and the bolt throwers, as goblins rained down among them. The Wave Dancer which is built simrly to an old Terran brigantine mounts four bolt throwers on each broadside and two more each at the fore and aft of the ship, enabling the ship to fire at least six bolts per broadside.


    As the goblin ships attempted to close in, the Wave Dancer fired off a broadside of six bolts right into one of the goblins'' galley, shattering the twin masts, turning the decks yellow with goblin blood and dismounting two of the six catapults mounted on the decks of the galley.


    "Drop the sails! Bring us about!" Omaj roared to his crew. His men quickly release the cables to allow the sails to unfurl, while the helmsman spun the wheel, bringing the ship into the wind,


    The agile elf brigantine maneuvered smoothly out of the way of a goblin galley that sneaked up from the aft of the Wave Dancer and attempted to ram them from behind. The ramming attack failed and instead, the goblin rowers who kept their oars out desperately rowing to increase their ramming speed, had the oars smashed to bits as the galley''s starboard hull scrapped against the aft hull of the Wave Dancer.


    The oars splintered by the force of the collision broke ribs and sent arm length splinters flying all over the row decks, slicing flesh like paper, drenching the decks with goblin blood. Howls of pain and suffering drifted over from the goblin''s galley.


    "Burn them!" Omaj yelled over the din of shing swords and waves. The archers ced a y tube, filled with a mmable liquid onto their arrows and fired at the stricken galley at their rear. The y tubes exploded upon impact against the wooden hole and a thick foul smelling sticky tar oozed out.


    "Boy! Burn them!" Omaj shoved the boy towards the railing. "Quick!"


    The frightened boy raised his trembling hands and started chanting in a small voice, forming a tiny red magic circle, which ignited a tiny spark,nding on the galley.


    Omaj cursed, watching the poor performance of the mage ve he purchased from the Empire since the start of this journey. He spent over 60 gold royals on the boy and felt cheated by the ve merchant who sold him. "What can you do right?" Omaj kicked the boy, sending him groaning in pain. "Again! Or I throw you instead, over to the goblins!"


    The boy got up shakily onto his feet and leans against the railings for support, raising his hands, he focused his magic again, and a red magical circle appeared as he chanted. This time, a shower of sparks red out over the widening expanse of the two ships, some of themnding on the galley and which a sudden whoosh, the galley decks coated with the ck sticky tar burst into mes.


    The goblins screamed in fear and tried to beat the mes out, using seawater, but the mes were too hot and spread too much. The thick clouds of ck smoke choked the goblins who attempted to put the fire out and soon the whole vessel slowly burnt down to the waterline.


    "Now, that is the way!" Omaj voiced his approval to the boy. "Do well and be treated well. Fail me and suffer the consequences!"


    With the rear three galleys disabled or destroyed, Omaj focused his ship weapons to the forward iing two galleys. "They must have some kind of shaman on board if they can avoid detection for so long!"


    The snap of the bolt throwers rang constantly as Omaj ordered his ship to present their broadside to the approaching goblins. His archers shooting down any suicidal flying goblins that tried tond on his ship while the rest of his crew stood ready to cut down any goblins thatnded or manned the bolt throwers.


    The sky slowly turned purplish and red as the sun slowly sets across the horizon, and the sea around the Wave Dancer floated bodies and broken wooden parts. Predators from the ocean circled as they feast their bellies full on the aftermath of the battle.


    Another galley burnt in the distance, spewing thick ck smoke and the rearmost goblin pirate had retreated, leaving the battle with a loss of four galleys.


    "Captain," A serving boy hands adle with fresh water to Omaj, who gratefully epted it and drown its contents in a gulp. He scooped another serving and sshed the water over his head, cooling himself and wiped the sweat and the soot off his face.


    Omaj looked at the slowly drifting and burning hulks of the goblin ships and frowned. They managed to fight off and destroy the creatures but in the process of doing so, had damaged the repaired mast, meaning they have to makendfall again to cut a new mast.


    This journey is making him lose more money than it is worth! And with wintering, the trade winds will change, making the journey even longer. He thought of all the bolts of silk, grains in wax sealed y jars and ingots of copper and iron stored in the hold.


    "Captain, we have 15 dead, and 24 wounded." The first mate reported a bald elf with an old scar across his face. "Could have been worse, if the boy''s magic hasn''t saved us at thest moment."


    The shaman on the goblin side fired a ming spell, which burnt their sails and mast down. The boy managed to cast a wind spell that extinguished the fire before it spread, but it had taken all his energy and he has copsed afterward.


    The shaman waster killed by archers who saw what the boy did and even if he was a ve, the boy is still part of the Wave Dancer''s crew and he had saved the ship.


    "Well, his magic is still so weak, he has to improve his power if he wants to be a freeman and have a ce in this crew!" Omaj turned to look at the concussed boyying on the deck.


    -----


    "XO! We are getting reports of smoke along the sea on the Southside!"

 Chapter 56: Magic 101

    Chapter 56: Magic 101


    ke looked at the ns for the gunpowder mill, it was to be powered by wind energy with the use of a wind turbine.


    He leaned back in his chair and looked at the number of files in hisputer he has to approve. Food, water, shelter, tools production to the war with the Empire.


    He looked at the princess whoid on the table with her head over arms, her glossy hair spilled over the keyboard.


    He got up from his chair as quietly as he could and draped his jacket over her shoulders just as hismunicator beeped urgently, waking the princess up.


    "Eh, I got to go," ke said awkwardly and shuffled hurriedly out of the room.


    Sherene pulls the jacket closer to her body and smiled sweetly at ke''s retreating back.


    -----


    Magister Thorn had a wonderful 5 day week. He had followed several hoomans around, learning their words and observing their ''tek-no-logee''. The study of the natural world is so fascinating! He absorbed the textbooks teaching about physics like a sponge.


    Using what he learned about physics, he tried applying some principles to his magical spells, sessfully creating new and more powerful spells!


    And the thunder sticks used by the hoomans, are just basically using some alchemistic form to propel a projectile out, simr to a crossbow but many times deadlier!


    Thorn couldn''t imagine the look on Joseph''s face when he shows him his new spells. Thorn just couldn''t wait to meet himter in the day. It will be priceless to see his expression!


    But before that, Thorn was currently teaching a ss of hoomans on the understanding of magic.


    "Magic is formed from six basic elements. Fire, water, air, earth, light, and death. Each element draws power from their respective element." He exins in a mix of Engish and Common.


    "Fire magic is mostly chaotic and destruction based spells, water magic is usually manipting and control spells, air magic harness the power of natural power of wind and weather, earth magic is the control of nature and growth, light magic involves healing and restoration whilest of all death magic controls the realm of the dead and decay." Thorn tried to exin in simple terms to the hoomans.


    "To cast spells, we draw magic from inside our bodies or gather from the surrounding energy if there is plenty of magic around. Or we use a stone of power, a pure form of crystallized magic energy, which I believe, you hoomans named it as ''Mana stones''." Thorn held up a crooked staff capped with a green-brown crystal the size of a small chicken egg. "I searched the word ''Mana'' in your -puta'' and found it meant ''Power'' in somenguage of yours."


    "Using these stones, we can draw upon more magical energies than what a normal people body can hold," Thorn disyed a sparkling burst of light and magic show. "Of course, there are some freaks who are born with more energy than ten peoplebined."


    "Magister Thorn?" Dr. Sharon raised her hand up like a schoolgirl and asked, "Does the color of the stones represent anything? And how is it found?"


    "Ahh..." Thorn stroked his beard, putting down the staff. "There are only four sses of magical stones found naturally, Fire, water and earth type of stones." Under fire type, the color is mostly red to orange, while water is mostly blue, air type stones are mostly translucent. Andst of all earth type stones are either green, yellow or brownish in color." He disys his staff topped with the green-brown stone. "Of course, there are also different quality and rity!"


    "The stones are formed naturally in certain creatures with magic affinity to the elements. Like the wind wolves that you have encountered before," Thorn exins, "The wind wolves have a natural affinity to wind, granting them ayer of moving air around their bodies, which make arrows and bolts harder to prate their bodies!"


    Exmations of surprise and head nods could be seen around the ssroom, as the hoomans started chatting among themselves. "That''s why AP rounds don''t really work on them!" He vaguely heard some hooman saying that. AP? What is that? He wondered.


    "Some creatures, like dragons, can have their blood crystalize into what we called ''Bloodstones''. these ''bloodstones'' contains a lot more magic powerpared to a normal ''Manastone." Thorn, liked the way the hoomans named the stones of power as mana.


    "How about light and death magic?" Dr. Sharon asked again. "Are there no mana stones formed naturally for those? And those green skins why they don''t have stones on them?"


    "Light and death magic is extremely rare, the magical energies are unable to crystallize due to the day and night!" Thorn exined excitedly, these hoomans are more excited to learnpared to his apprentices and those students in mage school! "There is no full day of light or darkness, that allows a creature with affinity to either one to form the stone."


    "So you meant that as long as a creature with affinity to light, say gets exposed to sunlight all the time will slowly have a light stone created?" Dr. Sharon rified her thoughts with Thorn. "So if the creature gets sunlight for weeks or months constantly, they will create a light stone if they have an affinity to light magic? Correct?"


    "Yes YES!" Thorn hopped in excitement, "But it is impossible to do that! There is only so much sunlight per day! When the sun goes down, the gathered magic is consumed over the night, thus there is no leftover magic to crystallize! And light magic dispels death magic, so it is the same for creatures of death affinity!"


    "As for green skins or goblins as you called them, they are simr to us, people who have what we called colorless affinity, meaning we can cast either element of magic. Like us, their magic is constantly being used and does not umte into stones."


    "There were plenty of experimentations by the other countries to create light and death stones over the course of history, but they all failed." Thorn droned on. "Death magic is taboo by most if not all countries as they involved plenty of deaths to ur or live sacrifices."


    Dr. Sharon frowned in deep thought, does that means we can artificially create light or death stones? "Hmmm..."


    "Moving on!" Thorn excited rubbed his hands, loving the attention the ss of hoomans is giving him. "Each person''s body has a natural born storage of magic energy that is collected and stored. It gets replenish over time, but if you spend all the magic energy in your body, you get what we call ''Magic fatigue'' which can cause extreme tiredness or in some cases, the person falls unconscious."


    "Magic is ssed in 10 levels, each level is identified by a magic circle and its color," He looks around the ss, seeing everyone taking notes attentively. Oh, I love these students! Most of his previous years of teaching, the students mostly ignored him or sleeps in ss!


    "The power of the spells depends on the size of the circles, which is dependent on the caster''s amount of magic power too. So if you want a more powerful spell, you need stones to help increase the amount of magic." He disys a level three spell, invoking three magic circles floating over his hand as he chanted.


    The magic circles were the size of dinner tes and emitted a green glow, Thorn finished the spell and the whole room suddenly felt warm and cozy. Dr. Sharon immediately felt her tiredness disappear and strangely rxed.


    "This is a simple energy restorative spell. I did not spend much mana on it, it will onlyst a short time before disappearing." Thorn used the hooman word for power. "This spells creates an area of effect that anyone is inside is affected by its power. It helps restore stamina, but it cannot be used too often, as the body still requires rest to naturally recover. Too much Restoration, the user count break his own bones and suffer injuries still as they overtaxed their bodies."


    "So this spell is just an illusion of the mind? Tricking it to think that their body is not exhausted?" Dr. Sharon asked again. "How about healing spells?"


    "No, not an illusion, it just takes energy from the body!" Thorn exined. "Like it uses other energy from your body to give you stamina and strength!"


    Wow? I think he means, stored energy like fats and stuff. Won''t this be a great way to lose weight? If we could package this and sell on Earth, we will be rich! Dr. Sharon thought to herself. "How about the energies in the stone? Will they deplete?"


    "Ahh, here''s the interesting thing," Thorn grinned like a Cheshire cat. "The stones do run out of mana but it can slowly replenish the lost mana over time!"


    "Wow is that some kind of sr powered magic casting wonder wand?" Someone in the back joked, causing some confusion to Thorn who did not really understand what sr means.


    "Erm, it just recovers on it own over time," He exined again over theughing ss. "A stone like th-."


    A sudden re of rm cuts into his lecture halfway, followed by a magical announcementing from the ceilings, "All hands stand to, Condition Yellow! Repeat Condition Yellow!"

 Chapter 57: New World

    Chapter 57: New World


    "Lower the longboat!" The bosun yelled at the crew, "Handsomely now,ds!" Lit by stormmps, the crew struggled with the hoist to lower the longboat over the side of the Wave Dancer and into the water.


    "Captain, it''s dangerous for the crew to row in the dark," the first mate advised his captain. "Not to mention trying to makendfall in the goblin-infested waters."


    "That''s why we must make immediate repairs to the ship, so we can get underway before the sunes up," Omaj exined. "When dawn breaks and the goblins spot us still here, they will swarm us with their ships."


    The Wave Dancer was currently anchored several kilometers offshore, her crew working to get the longboat down, to transport a work party onto shore to cut an everblue tree down.


    "Make sure the men know the risks, the faster we rebuild the mast, the earlier we can get away from this godforsaken ce!" Omaj said to his first mate.


    A mighty ssh and the cheers of the crew signal the boat had safety dropped over the side. The work party started climbing down the cargo rigged to the side of the side and onto the longboat.


    "Two trips to bring everyone over." The bosun reported to Omaj. "Guards and all, Sir. "Do you want to refill the water barrels if freshwater is found?"


    Omaj nodded in the dim light from the stormmps. "Once the boat sets off, douse all lights. And ensure all crew to be on silent watch."


    "Aye Captain!" the first mate left the upper decks and started instructing the rest of the crew in a low voice.


    Omaj looked up at the twin waning moons and prayed silently to the fickle goddess of the sea, for protection against the goblin pirates.


    -----


    "What are they doing?" ke stood at his usual spot on the bridge, with Ford at his side. "Why are they lowering a boat over?"


    The Owl Eye UAV hovered at an altitude of a hundred meters, it''s quad motors struggling against the strong sea wind to stay stable, the main propeller on standby mode.


    Its triple sensor lens spun once and focused on the moving figures on the anchored ship, disying the whole scene in green light, to the observing humans.


    "It appears that the mast of the ship is down," Ford points to a dark empty section on the deck of the ship. "They seemed to have fought a naval battle earlier."


    "Well, I am not surprised," Lord General Joesph said. "The sea andnds around these areas are notorious for goblins. That''s why we were quite surprised to see your city built here."


    "Ready? We didn''t encounter many goblins." ke frowned. "Are they that dangerous?"


    "Well, they are mostly a nuisance but as a massive army, yes, unless you are behind a high wall, with lots of arrows and bolts," Joesph exined. "Settlers had attempted to settle down here hundreds of years ago but were driven off by the green skins," Joesph exined the history of the area to ke and Ford. "Several nations banded together in an alliance to destroy the goblins were instead defeated."


    "With their ships captured or razed, the defeated remnants fell back deeper into thends, over the mountains before building a city fort to defend against the Green Tide." The bridge crew stopped work as they became absorbed in Joesph''s story.


    "That was how the People founded the first city in thisnd. Seven different nationalities united in one goal, to survive in the new world."


    "So what happened?" Ford asked.


    "Our ancestors fought off the goblin hordes, and slowly expanded, growing stronger, but soon they faced creatures beyond their understanding and facing internal turmoil, before finally split into dozens of small kingdoms after the death of the first King."


    "Is that how the Goldrose Kingdom was formed?" ke asked.


    "Hahaha, no! We Goldrose are from the direct bloodline of the first King! He who united the defeated and lost allied armies. King Legon Goldrose!" Joesph proudly said.


    "Our princess is the 34th descendant of King Legon!" Joesph stated. "But sadly, she is the only final descendant of that proud lineage."


    "I see" ke and Ford looked each other with a raised eyebrow. "Interesting..."


    "Cap, the boat hasnded on the beach," a bridge crew reported the movements of the unknown ship, interrupting their thoughts. "It unloaded the people and is returning back to the ship."


    They turn their attention back to the screens, observing a dozen men spreading out from on the beach, heading towards the forest.


    "Strange, if you said thesends are all goblin infested, but we really did not see much of them around," ke spoke out his thoughts to Joesph.


    "I am not very sure. We choose to escape here as we nned to make use of the goblins to keep the Empire off our backs." Joesph replied. "Rarely had anyone came so far, we relied on maps that are hundreds of years old!"


    Both ke and Ford frowned and looked at each with a worried look. "So where have all the goblins gone to?"


    Joesph shrugged in a very human way. "I have no idea. The goblins tend to like to live deep underground in caves or ruins."


    "Alright, no point worrying about that now," ke said, "Let''s focus on these strangers. Lord Joesph, do you have any idea where they came from?"


    "As we are andlocked country, not really, but they might be merchants from the isles." Joesph stroked his chin. "The Isles are famous for their ships and merchants."


    "The Isles?" Ford asked, "Is it on the maps you shared with us?"


    "Yes, but the maps are not very urate nor detailed like yours." Joesph looked embarrassed. "We do not really have much knowledge of the seas around thesends."


    Ford nods and opened the scanned Goldrose map, interposing over the current area mapped by the humans on the main disy.


    All the way up north of the Passid the old Goldrose Kingdom, and further up their borders stands the Empire, and another two nations to the northeast and east of Goldrose, the Man Kingdom, and the Foral Kingdom.


    The entire continent is simr in shape to a pear, with several clusters of inds to the southeastern part of the continent. The Islesid around that cluster of inds.


    The interesting feature is that the entire continent appeared to be surrounded by a ring of mountains, with a giant ind freshwater sea in the middle of the continent. The nations appeared to walled in by the mountains. The elves named thend as the New World.


    Another two continentsid south of the New World, where their ancestors came from werebeled as the Old World. "Do you know how far are the distance between New and the Old World?" Ford enquired Joesph.


    "Well the old texts said, as much as 20 5 day weeks or more," Joesph replied.


    "Why didn''t you return to the Old World?" ke asked, "And did the Old World send any more ships over?"


    "Well, from what the old history texts wrote, our ancestors were too busy trying to defend as the goblin horde to devote much attention to the Old World. Outposts and forts built in the untamednds get overrun easily if not garrison enough or supply lines get constantly raided. Therefore the decision to stop sending men to their deaths was made." Joseph exined. "I am sure it is the same for the other nations."


    "Hmmm, so there is no news of whatsoever of the Old World?" ke asked again to which Joesph shook his head.


    "We have no contact with thend where our ancestors came from for over hundreds of years," Joesph said.


    ke thought to himself, so they have been cut off from the whole world, living in this ring of mountains, like a frog in a well. ke gave a look to Ford who nodded, signaling him that they will talk about thister in private.


    "Sirs," the tech reported from his station. "The boat has returned with another load of passengers and is currently beached on the shore."


    ke nods, "Keep observing, inform us of any changes." He turns back to Joesph and asked, "What do you know of the people from the Isles?"


    "Mostly from merchants, they are supposed to be the remanents of the defeated allied fleet. The surviving warships and supply ships with their sailors escaped to the inds and settled down over time." Joesph narrated the history of the Isles as much as he knows of and remembers.


    "It''s said that they have the blood of the sea in them, making them great sailors and merchants," Joesph exined. "They rarelye to do trading in Goldrose, mostly dealing with Manians instead as they have a seaport nearer to the Isles."


    "So there is a high chance they are traders?" ke points to the image on the screen. "If we contact them, we start some trading."

 Chapter 58: The Untamed Lands

    Chapter 58: The Untamed Lands


    The beached crew of the Wave Dancer stumbled along the coast in the dark, trying to find a suitable everblue tree, using the help of the boy, who managed to conjure up a ball of light, providing some form of illumination to their surroundings.


    Finally, the ship''s carpenter dered a tree that was suitable for the mast, and the crew carried tools over and started sawing the ironwood tree. The guards fanned out in a circr formation, protecting the crew while watching out for monsters.


    The boy yawned sleepily, his job was just to maintain the light spells constantly to provide enough light for the crew to work with. He sat against another tree, his eyelids felt like lead weights as he fought off the sleep demons.


    The crew hurried their work, working fast to finish cutting down the tree and stripping the leaves and branches off, fueled by stories since childhood about the horrors that ran amok in the untamednds. They worked strangely quiet in the night, other than the asional grunts and huffs, no chatter could be heard, afraid that they might attract the attention of hostile creatures.


    Even without chatter, the sawing and the eventual felling of the tree echoed mightly throughout the forest, causing the bird wyverns to cry out in surprise from their nest, sending a huge cloud of birds pping away in anger and fear from the trees.


    Everyone froze, even the boy snapped awake and alert, they all stared into the depths of the forest, feeling the darkness creep up into their bones. The guards fingered their weapons and ready their round wooden shields, while the ship crews holding felling axes stood nervously peering around them.


    Time passed slowly, a turn of the ss, followed by another, and the crew and the guards slowly rxed, some even started to joke around themselves, patting each other over the backs for scaring themselves.


    As the men turned their attention to the felled tree, the sudden snap of a twig, froze everyone again. Turning towards the direction of the sound, they readied their weapons again, "Hey you two," The bosun ordered in a low voice, "Go check it out!"


    Demal had joined the Wave Dancer as a guard for adventure and coins. It was the second voyage he signed up for, the first providing him with enough coins and stories to provide for and entertain his four younger siblings for some time. So when the call at the port for crew came again, he signed up and gotten the job easily as he has worked with the Wave Dancer before.


    He rubbed his sweaty palms against his salt crusted pants and heaved the dagger-ax up, pointing the sharp end towards the direction of the sound, while his friend and fellow guardsman, Qoman held up the burning torch in his left hand and a short sword on his right.


    They advanced step by step carefully deeper into the forest, avoiding as much of the loose twigs and leaves scattered all over the forest floor. Leaving the contours of the mage light, they entered the dark forest, the feeble light from the burning torch trying to cast away the darkness around them.


    "You see anything?'' Demal asked in a low whisper, bending low with his polearm held out perpendicr to the ground. His eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness, but the flickering shadows cast from the light by the trees appeared to be taunting him, making him imagine monsters hiding behind the trees.


    "No, I don''t see anything at all," Qoman lifted his smokey torch higher, trying to light the area more. "What''s that?" He heard a rustle of leaves to his right and he spun around. "You heard that?"


    Demal looked back towards the rest of the crew, feeling the urge to run back into the protective embrace of the lights cast by the boy mage. "What are you doing?" He turned back around as the torchlight from Qoman appeared to dim.


    Only to find Qoman missing, just a burning torch marking his previous spot. "Oh, my goddess!" Demal prayed, he slowly backs toward the rest of the crew, his eye wide in fright, "I should have listened to mother and stay home!"


    He took another two steps back, trembling and bumped against something on his back, and felt a breath of warm, rotting air washing over him, looking up, he saw in the dim light, a row of yellowing dagger-like teeth, the mouth salivating and opening impossibly wide. "I am sorry mother!" he cried before disappearing into the maw.


    -----


    "The sailors are under attack," The UAV operator in the bridge reported to themand team. "No visual on the infra and most of the canopy is blocking the sensors from prating."


    "Night vision?" ke asked the operation, watching the hues of color appearing and disappearing on the main disy, "Anyway to see what is attacking them?"


    "Sir, there is an 87% chance of the attackers are the giant wolves." The operator replied as he tapped several keys on his control panel. The live images the UAV managed to get through from the breaks in the canopy showed very little.


    "Are we gonna send help?" Joesph asked, "They getting ughtered."


    Ford raised an eyebrow at Joesph and asked, "So we send people into that, with a high chance of some of them not going to make it back alive for what? To find their remains?"


    Joesph''s face turned red, "But we can''t just abandon those men to their deaths!" He argued with Ford. "If we save them, it will also be easier for the Isles'' merchants to trust and work with us!"


    "So you are now willing to send your men to their deaths or you want to borrow our power for that?" Ford snapped back.


    "Enough," ke cut through the argument, "Both of you! We will send a team down when the day breaks. No point in wasting lives in the dark and in unknown territory. Besides, it has ended." ke gestures to the screen.


    The imagery showed bodies slowly cooling and fading into the cooler background temperature. "Lord Joesph, please go prepare your men for departure at the barracks, we leave at dawn," ke ordered.


    "As youmand, my liege,'' Joesph gave a salute and left the bridge while Ford red daggers at his back.


    "You are too soft," Ford muttered. "Why do we need to help everyone we see?"


    "Yes, I know, we are not a charity organization," ke smiled at Ford''s temper. "Bullets and medical supplies are not free, but it is good to have a debt owed to you. Makes negotiation easier."


    Ford shrugged, "Our bullets and medicine are not unlimited you know?"


    "Think of it as an investment?" ke turned to Lt Frank who stood watching the tactical disy map quietly.


    "Lt? Why so quiet the whole night?" ke enquired. "What''s your thought on this?"


    "We have been trying to track the wolves for some time now, but haven''t been sessful at all. And they had been very quiet too, almost no signs of any wolves at all." Frank leaned over the table as he calcted the distance of the encounter to the base.


    "We might have forced them off their usual hunting grounds, they are probably trying to stock up for winter, and those men just nice made a nice juicy meal for them." Frank gave his assessment.


    "We probably won''t find much remaining there, well, chances of any survivors doesn''t look good, and yeah, I would rather do this in the day than at night." Frank gave his thoughts, "Also, Cmdr Ford is right, we can''t keep doing charity for others. The men are tired and we are low on beans and bullets. Very low."


    "Heard and received, LT," ke nodded. "Make the men ready, depart in the morning."


    "Yes, Sir!" Frank gave a salute and left the bridge.


    "Boy''s pretty sharp for his age." Fordmented, "He will do good in the future."


    ke agreed, "Yes, we really need that gunpowder mill up and running asap. The problems this world keep throwing at us, it''s like some kind of timer of bad stuff, and we keep running out of time."


    -----


    The boy huddled into a ball, hiding in a hollowed trunk of an everblue. He covered his mouth and nose with both his hands, trying to stifle his sounds of breathing. The crack of twigs and dried leaves draws closer, and he prayed to the goddess in his heart.


    Just as the sounds of heavy footfalls neared him, a scream of fear echoed down the dark forest, and the huge creature spun around, racing off towards the unfortunate soul. Howls followed by more screaming could be heard from where the boy hid.


    Feeling his heart almost exploding from the tension, the boy quickly took several deep breaths to calm himself and with trembling hands, cast a tiny barrier around his hiding ce in the trunk which helped to mask his presence.


    Thus he hugged his knees toward himself and prayed, hearing screams and howls till fatigue consumed him into darkness.

 Chapter 59: Survivor

    Chapter 59: Survivor


    Floodlights lit up the mustering square outside the concrete barracks, both the elves and humans formed up ording to their respective squads, both races had been doing joint exercisestely, devised by Staff Pike.


    Lt Frank stood watching the men forming up and doing roll calls, "Why are there like so much missing marines and security? What happened?" He noticed the number of reporting strength is lesser than the usual.


    Sgt Collins shook his head, "Those dumb asses had all reported in sick,"


    Frank turned, surprised, "What happened? Some kind of virus?"


    "No, Sir!" Collins replied, "Recently they have been dared by the survey teams to eat the stuff they brought back without going through proper checkup first, those arseholes thought it was funny."


    "What?" Frank looked pissed, "Are they that stupid?"


    "Bunch of kids," Collins shrugged, "Lucky no one is badly sick from the inedible stuff, Doc is quite pissed off too. She''s threatening to give anyone else who tried food that is untested a major enema with herrgest syringe." Collins grinned.


    "Hahaha," Franksughed along, "Well hope those punks learn their lessons. When Staff Pike gets back from the Pass, hahaha, they are so going to hell."


    Collins grinned wickedly, before turning his attention back to the roll call. "Alright LT, all here, except for those reported sick."


    "Brief the men, by 0600, all units are to be loaded up and ready to move out at any moment," Frank ordered.


    Collins gave a salute and jogged off, yelling for the NCOs to gather up. The integrated squads now consisted of a single marine, acting as an in charge and a security personnel as the 2nd I/C and the rest of the ten men squad were filled by the Goldies, armed with swords and up teched short ranged repeating crossbows.


    The marines turned in their M7A1s and instead carried the 5mm PDWs and everyone also started carrying a sword or a machete with them along too. They used the armory diamond grinder to grind the Empire''s short swords into a hacking de design which the crew preferred.


    The Goldie soldiers treated the machetes as some high tier godly weapon as it could cut through armor easily due to it mono de edges, while the sharpened swords have a better edgepared to before, much to the crew''s amusement.


    Two half-tracks painted in a digital camo scheme of blues, greens, ck and greys, apanied by another two more jeeps in the same color scheme, rolled into the muster ground. Five squads will set off to the site where the sailors werest seen once the sun is up.


    Frank stood inside his office in the barrack''s admin building, watching the men milling around by the newly arrived vehicles, and hoped that the mission will go well, which will bond the human and elven soldiers, closer.


    -----


    "Ahoy the ship!" The bosun yelled from rocking longboat, of the 30 odd sailors who went down to shore, only nine survived, including the bosun. "Lower the hoists!"


    The bosun had fled the instant he knew that there was something very wrong, thus he managed to survive with the eight others left watching the boat at the beach.


    "What happened?" The Captain yelled down from the side of the hull, "Where''s the recement mast?"


    "Sir, it was terrible sir!" The bosun after climbing back up the ship reported. "Monsters ate all the men! I was barely able to escape!"


    "What?" Omaj cursed loudly, thinking quickly, his ship without the top mainmast will lose some speed, especially if they want to run from the goblin pirates. "The carpenter? And the boy?"


    The bosun shooked his head and didn''t dare to meet his eyes.


    Omaj mmed his fist against the wooden railing, losing the ship''s carpenter was a serious hit, the boy ve is just money, which can be earned back, but without the ship''s carpenter, if even if they have spare spars to repair the topmasts, they can''t!


    "Bring up the longboat, we will take a chance at running pass the goblin pirates before the sun is up!" Omaj ordered, "Clear the decks! Prepare to go silent sailing!"


    TThe crew of the Wave Dancer jumped at his orders, quickly retrieving and securing the longboat back in its berth. The anchor was raised up while other hoisted the sails down, catching the morning breeze. The ship''s navigator directed the helmsman softly and the ship slowly started moving off, the figurehead of ady dancer dipped into the waves, forming a small bioluminescent bow wave.


    -----


    The boy jerked awake suddenly, feeling his back cold and damp with morning dew. He sat listening to the surrounding of the forest, trying to sense if those monsters are still around. Finally gathering enough courage, he peers his head out of the hollowed trunk, peeking over the tree roots.


    Seeing and hearing nothing, except for the sounds of insects and animals waking up from the morning sun, the gloomy and dark forest slowly lit up as the first sun rays pierce through the trees'' canopy.


    As the world slowly brightens around the boy, he felt the peaceful forest totally different from what he had experiencedst night, like it was all a dream. He squeezed his aching body out between the roots and stretched his joints and muscles, feeling them cramping as he stayed in the same position for hours.


    Finally feeling better, he set off towards the area where theyst fell the tree. Picking his bare feet over the wet morning mild dew, he skipped over patches of bloody scraps, a testimonial tost night carnage and found the work site.


    Bloody bits of body parts littered the site, with dark stains of coagted blood sprinkled all over the area. He started to quickly gather up equipment and gear from the litter around the site. He grabbed a fallen cuss and an abandoned oilskin knapsack. filling it with wet sea biscuits which had fallen off from somewhere or someone, a waterskin,mp oil held in a tiny wooden cask and a cracked stormmp.


    He looped the cuss into the cloth band around his pants and bundled his feet with scraps of bloodied cloth to protect them and hurried off without another look at the bloodied site.


    As the boy headed deeper into the forest, he stops and cast a simple spell, which several specks of green light appeared and point towards a direction. Gritting his teeth, the boy waved the spell away and set off, all the while keeping his ears and eyes open for any signs of the monsters from the night before.


    "I will take my revenge!" He said to himself as he pushed his frail body deeper into the forest, stopping here and there to take a short break or a drink of water and a bite of moldy biscuits.


    -----


    Collins gripped the side handle of the jeep as it bounced along the ttened grass, the lead jeep had cut a swath through the tall swaying grass which the other vehicles followed. The fresh sweet smell of fresh cut grass assailed Collins''s nose, making him want to sneeze.


    As they approached the edge of the forest, Collins turn on both his motion and heartbeat sensors attached to his harness, the high-powered ultrasound device used doppler-shift discrimination and wifi signals to filter out moving objects from stationary background objects and then disyed them on a small monitor with beeps to indicate positive returns of movement or heartbeats.


    The lead vehicle rolled to a stop and the rest followed, "Alright! We are here!" Collins spoke into hisms, and leaped off the jeep,nding with a crunch on the grasnd. "Form up in your squads!"


    The rear tailgate of the half-tracks opened up and the men exited and formed up into their squads before heading into the forest. "Keep a 15-meter distance from each squad! All men are to have a line of sight to each other!" Collins called out in a mix of Common and English. "Move out!"


    Three squads deployed into the forest while a single squad was left behind guarding the vehicles. The men spread out, supported by a motion and heartbeat tracker from each squad. Not long after, they arrived at the site of the massacre.


    Collins looked up at the thick canopy, while his radioman walked around, trying to contact Base, beforeing up to Collins. "Sarge, we can''t get a proper signal out, we have to deploy a fixed line up to the trees over the canopy if we want a proper signal."


    "Roger," Collins turned to the men checking the area out and yelled. "Alright make a quick sweep of the area, see if there are any survivors, and see if there is anything useful to salvage back!"


    The men and elves went to work,bing the area, calling out to see if there is anyone still alive and picking up equipment from the ground.


    "Want not, waste not," Collins said to his radioman, "Damn, these guys got torn up pretty bad," He poked at a bit of bloody gristle with his machete which the local insects and flies had started to feast on the carnage.


    "SARGE!" Someone yelled, "I got a heartbeat reading here!"

 Chapter 60: Return

    Chapter 60: Return


    Duke Sturm freshened up as much as he could in a side room after hended riding the courier dragon onto the dragon tform of the top of the castle. The past three-five days of traveling by flying had been taxing for him, as he was flying non stop from one way station to another, switching the tired courier dragons for fresh ones.


    The ornate double doors, nked by two of the Emperor''s Lifeguards stared impassionately at him as he approached deeper into the inner castle. The doors opened admitting him into the study of the Emperor, making him sweat more as he walked in to face the consequences of his defeat.


    Duke Sturm bowed and went down on his knees and greeted the Emperor, "Long live the Emperor, your humble subject has returned."


    "In defeat, no less," The Emperor snorted, "Your blunders had made the 3rd Lancers suffered so many casualties, that they might as well ceased to exist anymore!" He pounded the ironwood table in fury. "What do you have to say?"


    Sturm did not dare to look up, keeping his head lowered to the ground, "The rebels had a very powerful mage and strange magical artifacts with them, my Majesty! Level 10 spells and artifacts as powerful as level 5s!"


    "My Spies reported that you lost two heavy war dragons, over a thousand fighting men, and of course the entire 3rd Lancers of over two thousand men!" Emperor Varacen read from a roll of parchment. "You even had the enemy attack your headquarters!"


    Sturm hearing the report cursed inwardly. He wanted to report directly to the Emperor, downying the loses and defeat. "Your Majesty, the enemy hit my troops constantly with Level 10 spells, we couldn''t do anything about it!"


    "This lowly servant managed to survive by using up a family heirloom artifact if not, this servant would have perished too!" Sturm exined as sweat gathered around his brow.


    "I know what your artifact is capable of," Emperor Varacen leaned back against his throne. "Show me!"


    Sturm dug into his inner chest pocket and removed out a piece of finely wrought crystal pendant attached to a silver chain. A eunuch approached Sturm with a piece of silk cloth set on a tray, and Sturm ced the cracked crystal pendant onto it.


    The eunuch carried the tray with the crystal pendant and bowed to the Emperor, who picked up the pendant. The design of the pendant was made out of several runes carved out on the delicate silver wire, while arge diamond-like stone was set in the middle.


    Emperor Varacen lifted the pendant up against the light from the windows, seeing the stone had turned dull and a crack had split the stone in half. "Level 10 spells you say?" He continued to examine the stone closely.


    "Yes, your Majesty! The spells killed the dragons with a single strike and also the 3rd Lancers! I was lucky I had a light stone for protection!" Sturm exined. "The rebels have allied with some inferior creatures, who possessed some kind of weapon, an artifact that can constantly cast fire and thunder spells, each spell kill scores of men, in less time taken for a turn of a ss!"


    "Hmmm," The Emperor leans against his thronezily with an arm propping his head, "What happened next? I thought Sir Kean was leading the Knights, could he have failed too?"


    "H-he had fallen in battle with the creatures," Sturm exined, "We set a trap for the rebels, hiding Lord Kean and his men with the ves we released into the rebels. He was supposed to attack at night but we lost his magical life link and with the level 10 spells destroying our camp, I-I ordered the troops to retreat..."


    "You meant you got scared and ran away with your tail between your legs?" Emperor Varacen mocked. "All these efforts and nothing to show at the end of it all. And you still have the guts to appear before me?"


    "My Emperor! I deserve death for failing you!" Sturm frantically bows and bang his head against the gold iid marble tiles, causing blood to flow from his forehead.


    "Enough!" Emperor Varacen waved Sturm to stop, "Don''t dirty my floor."


    "Th-thank you, your Majesty," Sturm straightened back on his kneeling position wobbly.


    "What to do now?" The Emperor tapped his finger on the armrest of his throne as he watched Sturm kneeling in front of him. His main army is currently preparing for a spring offensive to invade Man once winter is over.


    "Return to yournds, I want you to raise another army. and prepare for a spring offensive against the rebels," Emperor Varacen finally said. "Do not fail me this time, it''s yourst chance. I will send someone along with you, SHE will help you to wipe out the rebels and their allies."


    Sturm kowtowed to the Emperor, praising him for his wisdom and leniency. He climbed up to his feet and retreated out of the room.


    "Bring the witch here," Emperor Varacen spoke and returned to his work.


    "Yes, my Emperor," A voice appeared out of thin air, followed by a slight breeze as the presence that


    spoke disappeared.


    A short momentter, the doors opened again and a hooded woman dressed in an oversized dark blue trench coat, nked by two of the Emperor''s Lifeguard walked in.


    The Lifeguards bowed and shoved the individual forward to her knees and stood next to her, ready for any threatening moves she might make.


    Emperor Varacen with his head propped against his hand spoke, "I have a task for you, satisfy me with your work and I will release more of your people."


    The hooded female kept quiet, watching Varacen with her wavering golden eyes.


    "Ha! Good, I like your defiant spirit," Emperor Varacen smiles wickedly, "Go with Sturm and settle the rebels, I want you to bring to me the Level 10 spells and the magic artifacts. Do it, and some of your people will be freed."


    The hooded female, stood up, ignoring the Lifeguards'' attempts to stop. Emperor Varacen waved the guards away, "Go andplete your tasks, I am sure you will not fail. You know the price of failure!"


    She red at Varacen for while before turning and walking out of the room, with the guards bowing to the Emperor and chasing after her.


    "My Emperor, why do you keep someone like her," The mysterious voice appeared out of nowhere. "Just ce a ve controller choker on her and she will do your bidding easily."


    "Haha, then where''s all the fun in that?" Varacen grinned, "I want to slowly break her spirit bit by bit."


    -----


    "SARGE!" Someone yelled, "I got a heartbeat reading here!"


    "Squad one, on me!" SGT Collins yelled, running over to the voice. "What do you have?"


    "There, 40 meters away in that direction!" The security crew pointed to a clump of dense tree roots in the distance. "No movement but picking up heartbeats. The signal is weak."


    Collins turned and directions his men to spread out, before approaching the direction of the signal. He brings his own tracker up and the "Beep, beep, beep," audio grew faster and faster in his ear beads as he neared the target.


    Collins paused and ensure everyone is in position and waves a couple of the elves forward into a nking position. He gestures another elf to follow him and together they circled around the tree roots, finding w marks gouged most of the roots into shreds.


    He peers through the cracks to find a body slumped, half hidden in the dense roots. "Sir? hello?" Collins called out, but there was no reply nor movement from the body. "Go, pull him out slowly, he might be wounded."


    The elves put away their crossbows and climbed over the roots, slowly and gently pull the elf out. An elf with greying brown hair was gently lifted out and ced on his side on the forest floor. His salt crusted clothes stuck to his back were a bloody rip could be seen.


    The medic standing at the back rushed forward when they ced him down and started to check his vitals. "Breathing is shallow, the heartbeat is weak, no fever needs an immediate blood transfusion."


    He pulls out a sma transfusion from his kit and inserted a catheter into the arm of the wounded sailor. The rest of the elves hovered over, watching the medic do his work, marveling at the magical "tek-no-logee" of the hoomans.


    "Quit standing around like some idiots!" Collins yelled at the milling elves, "Spread out and watch the surroundings!" Collins shooked his head, as the elves jumped to hismand and dispersed.


    "How is he doing?" Collins asked the medic.


    "He''s stable for now, but we need to get him to a medbay to fix his part." The medic held up the drip and waved for his assistants to bring a stretcher over. "He''s lucky that the salt in his clothes is helping him in preventing infections and clotting most of the wound."


    "Good work, send him back on the jeep" Collins stood up and walked back to the site, "Alright, everyone keeps searching around, it''s gonna be a long morning!"

 Chapter 61: Green City

    Chapter 61: Green City


    "Captain, the sailing ship is exiting our area of operations. The UAV won''t be able to track them much longer." The operator reported as he piloted the UAV from his console. "Do you want to follow the ship?"


    ke looked at the map, calcting the distances between the ship and the Base. "Alright, follow it till the UAV has 40% power remaining and return to base."


    "Aye, Sir."


    "I think we need tounch another UAV to recon these inds south of us," ke pointed to the map. "Need to find where are all the goblins are hiding, especially if their ships."


    Ford nodded, "We can set up a UAV controller at the mining station, should give us enough range to cover the inds." He looked at the map. "The inds look like they appeared to be formed by volcanic activity."


    Ford scrolled through his tablet, "We got to wait till tomorrow afternoon tounch. "Currently we have one UAV on standby and the remaining UAV is under maintenance. For the other two, one is trailing the ship and another is covering the Pass. The UAVs are all booked out."


    "Noted. Send the techs first to set up a UAV controller at the mining station. once maintenance ispleted, we can fly the UAV over." ke said, "Saves us some time."


    Ford nodded and went to his own console, and starting assigning new jobs and missions for the crew.


    As the morning breaks, ke was woken up by an aide. He took a nap at his office sofa, informing his aide to wake him up when the day breaks. He washed up in the toilet, feeling refresh and headed back into the bridge.


    "Sir, the Search and Rescue convoy has departed, ETA, one hour twenty minutes to reach the area of operations." A bridge crew informed him as he asked for a status report. "The sailing ship has left the channel an hour ago and there is no sign of any goblin ships around."


    "Got it, thanks," ke epted the daily report from the crew and sat down on his chair, reading the full report while his aide handed him a mug of steaming caffeine.


    -----


    "Hey Mills? How ya doing buddy?" Lambert pulled a roller chair over to the tank, where Mills was submerged in. The greenish fluid bubbled as oxygen was pumped into the tank constantly. "Mills?" Lambert rapped against the clear stic.


    Mills floating inside the tank had his burnt skin removed byser and now is recovering in the ''Fish Tank'', a biochemical cocktail of polymorphic drugs, nanites, and healing assisters. Wearing a breathing device, Mills opened his eyes in the tank, seeing Lambert and a few other marines wearing medbay gowns gathered around the tank.


    "Hey there, pretty! How''s the vacation?" Lambert joked. "You look like a newborn baby!"


    Mills gave him the finger, his wounds mostly recovered and restored by the medical soup. He pressed the big red release button and the top of the tank opened. Mills slowly climbed out from the tank with the assistance of built-in steps and sat on the lid, removing his mask and breathing hard.


    His lungs had to be reconstructed due to him breathing in superheated air that turned his lungs into middle raw steaks, over 80 of his skin was burnt away, so did all his hair. His cornea had melted and had to be removed and repaired, even his voicebox was damaged.


    "Wha- are you ba-stards doing her-e? He rasped, breathing hard as the climb had used up all his stamina.


    "Hey, take it easy," Cooper said with concern in his eyes. "You just got some new lungs, take it slow man."


    Mills nodded, out of breath to make any response. The rest of the marines climbed up and carried him down gently from the tank, putting him down on a bed.


    "So, what are you all doing here?" Mills asked again after he rested. "Skiving?"


    "Hahaha," The whole gangughed, "Well not really skiving, we just had a bit of disagreement with the local food here."


    "You meant untested and inedible stuff?" Dr. Sharon entered the bay. "You all could have died!" She fumed. "Why did you do that for? Have you guys have no sense?"


    "Eh... Mdm, the surveying team dared us to taste test the stuff they bring back in exchange for credits to the VR E-Room," Lambert scratched his short cropped hair in embarrassment.


    "What? For more credits to use the entertainment room, you guys can bet your lives?" Dr. Sharon roared. "Do you think this is funny? I got more important cases to deal with rather than you kids! If you want to die that much, I can help you!"


    "Sorry, Mdm!" The whole gang straightened into parade attention. "No more dares, Mdm!"


    "Alright, I take your words this time around," Dr. Sharon lowered her voice, her temper cooling down after giving the marines a piece of her mind. "Now go back to your beds and rest, and don''t disturb the rest of the patients!"


    "Aye aye, Mdm!" The whole gang dispersed from the bay, giving Mills a wave and a wink. "See ya around Mills!"


    Dr. Sharon shook her head, wondering what is in the brains of those marines, air? "How are you feeling now, soldier?" She turned her attention to Mills.


    "Bett-er, Mdm," Mills replied, "My in-sides feel itchy all the ti-me,"


    "That''s good, means you are healing up fine," Dr. Sharon took out a penlight and shone into Mills'' eyes, checking his irises. "Your corneas look better, after another few more days of treatment in the tank, you should be fully recovered, but you need to do some physio to restore your stamina."


    "Thanks, Mdm," Mills replied, "I thi-nk I slept more than en-ough. Ca-n''t wait to get out of he-re."


    "Take it easy, soldier," Dr. Sharon said while going through his medical readouts. "Rest more, and don''t get into trouble like your friends!"


    "Yes, Mdm." Mills meekly replied.


    -----


    "Captain, SAR reports that they have found a single survivor." Comms officer ra looked towards Cpt ke. "They are on their way back."


    "Sir, UAV has spotted more sailing ships off the coast, they are heading for the elven ship." The UAV operator called out, "Looks like goblin ships."


    "How many?" ke asked, turning his attention back to the tactical screen.


    "Four, fi-seven. Seven ships, Sir!"


    ke looked at the screen, watching seven ships with oars pursing the elven vessel. I don''t think they will be able to catch up with the elven ship, ke thought.


    True enough, less than an hour of trying to close up with the elven ship, to no sess, the goblin pirates turned around and head back to where they came from.


    "How much power does the UAV have left? ke asked the operator.''


    "57%, Sir."


    "Follow those goblin ships," ke ordered. "See where is their hideout."


    The operator wearing the VR bulbous helmet, piloted the UAV towards the retreating ships, keeping a distance of one kilometer away in the sky. After another hour of tracking, which the pirates headed seawards along the ind, looped into a natural cove.


    Blocked from view by the dormant volcano, a city appeared on the opposite side. The only way to spot the city is to fly over the volcano or travel around the ind.


    Severalrge makeshift piers stuck out like skeletal fingers along the sheltered cove, dozens and dozens of galleys berth next to the piers, and somerger ships, most likely prizes that they have captured. Sunken ships of all shapes and sizes could be seen in the clear water, their rotting masts jagging out from the waves.


    Dozens of dry docks could also be seen, lined the coast with skeletal frames of even more ships under construction. Hundreds and thousands of goblins could be seen moving around the ships and the city streets.


    Behind the backdrop of the busy harbor, a massive ramshackle city could be seen with crude dwellings made out of mud and wood sprawled haphazardly along the coast all the way up to the volcanic mountainsides. Cave openings could be also seen, dot the sides of the dormant volcano mixed with what appeared to be farms of some kind.


    "Oh my god," ke stared at the screen. "How many goblins are there!" He tried to count the number of shipsid tied up against the piers and gave up when he reached 40. He noticed most of the ships appeared to be badly in need of repairs.


    The whole bridge crew stared in fascination of the goblin city. "There must be thousands and thousands of them!"


    "Sir, UAV power is below 40%, do you still want to UAV to continue its mission or return to base?" The operator reported.


    "How much power is needed to return?" ke asked the operator.


    The operator ponders for a while before replying, "Sir, due to the strong winds here, flying the UAV back will eat up roughly another 35% of remaining power or more."


    "Damn, alright, pull back the UAV for now," ke said. "Fire up the standby UAV, I want eyes on that city!"

 Chapter 62: Interrogation

    Chapter 62: Interrogation


    ke''s footsteps echoed down the dimly lit hatchway, as he walked down into the deepest level of the ship. Exposed wall panels and emptypartments showed how the ship had been salvaged for parts and materials.


    ke climbed down the final set of stairs, his boots nging against the metal ting of the decks and came upon a checkpoint manned by a marine and two security crew members.


    "SIR!" The three men stood at attention and saluted to ke.


    "At ease," ke returned the salutes. "The prisoner is awake?"


    "Yes Sir!" the marine replied. "XO Ford and the others are all inside waiting for you sir!" He gave a nod and the security crew unlocked the hatch, spinning the door wheel manually to slide the hatch open.


    "Carry on," ke said before he ducked his head and entered the hatch into the lockup.


    Cubes of clear armored ss separated evenly around the room. A small crowd could be seen gathered around a single ss cell.


    ke waved away the salutes of the two sentries on duty and walked between the rows of cells, passing by a cell where two goblins were squatting down and drawing on some bones.


    He reached the group gathered before a ss cell, where a single elf dressed in an orange prisoner one piece sat on the small bolted bed staring nking at the ss walls.


    Gathered around the cell were XO Ford, Dr. Sharon, Princess Sherene, Lord General Joesph, Magister Thorn and a few aides.


    "He can''t see us?" Sherene asked Dr. Sharon. She waved her hand in front of the ss wall at the elf prisoner.


    "No, he can''t, these walls are optical armored ss, we can control what he sees. Now it''s set to mirror mode, so he can''t see us but we can see him."


    Dr. Sharon exnation confused the elves, "What kind of sorcery is that? Is it even possible?"


    "Captain, you''re here just in time," Ford noticed ke approaching. "We are about to start the interrogation."


    A young man in an officer uniform saluted ke, "Sir, I will start the interrogation, but I must stress one thing, we have no ways to verify any truth of what he says."


    First Lieutenant Tavor first joined the crew as part of the intelligence department of the ship, before that he was a graduate from Naval Intelligence. This was his first assignment onboard a space-faring ship which ultimatelynded him here.


    So far he had been working on gathering as much information regarding this world as possible.


    Standing before the ss wall, Lt Tavor pressed his palm against the ss, and a handprint scanner tallied his prints before a door slides open.


    The prisoner worn a pair of leg cuffs and cor imbued with runic carvings jerked his head in surprise, seeing a hooman entering.


    Tavor dragged a chair into the cell with him and the mirror door closed seamlessly without any traces.


    Tavor set the chair down at the corner of the cell and set down, watching the elf without any expression.


    Finally, after a while, the elf broke the silence, "What creature are you?"


    "A human," Tavor replied in Common tongue. "Do you have a name?"


    "Hoo-man?" The elf observed Tavor closely, "What manner of a creature is that?"


    Tavor shrugged, ignoring his question. "Do you have a name?" He repeated his question.


    "I am Sir Kean Uther, Lord of the Order of the Fall Knights," Kean stood up proudly, "You will release me or face the consequences!"


    -----


    The Goldrose elves recoiled backward upon hearing his name and title, causing Ford to ask, "Is he famous?"


    "Fa-famous?" Joesph looked at Ford with his eyes widened in shock. "That''s the Lord of Death, himself!"


    "Wow? That title is so corny," Dr. Sharon quipped making ke and Ford to choke back theirughter.


    "He destroyed countless viges and towns, and even captured an entire city of hundreds of thousands people with just his Order of Knights!" Joesph exined.


    -----


    Tavor press his ear bead with his hand, listening to Joesph''s description of Kean. "So you are the Lord of Death?" Tavor held his two fingers up making a quote gesture.


    "Now you know what you are dealing with you low life, release me at once and I will spare your life!" The elf spoke in an arrogant bearing.


    "Now, now, there''s no hurry for that, tell me about the Empire? Tavor said. "I am very curious about your country."


    "Why must I listen to you low life scum, you must be some kind of bastard breed, your ears are not even the same as people!" Kean raged, "Your mother got raped by goblins and had you as a bastard child?"


    "Haha, no not really," Tavor smiled at the elf brightly in spite of all the insults that were thrown at him. "No seriously, I like to know more about the Empire."


    "Why do you want to know more?" Kean''s eyes narrowed in suspicion.


    "Well," Tavor leans forward and whispered, "I am thinking of defecting to the Empire! But I want to know what kind of ce the Empire is like and is it powerful enough to protect me from my own people!"


    Tavor looks around the cell and spoke in a hushed whisper, "You know how powerful the spells my people have, so I want to know if the Empire has the power to stop those spells! If not why would I want to defect to your country!"


    -----


    "What? Is he serious? Sherene had her face almost glued to the ss walls, she spun around in anger, "You are his lord! Are you going to let him betray you?"


    ke held his hands up to calm the fuming princess, "Chill out! It''s a ploy! Hush now and watch the show!"


    -----


    Kean looked at the hooman in surprise, maybe I can make use of this hooman to escape and also get the strange weapons and spells from him. "Why do you want to defect?"


    "They sent me here to die, I want to stay alive so I can get my revenge!" Tavor said simply. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."


    "The enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Kean repeated those words back to himself. "I see," He nodded and smiled, "Very interesting!"


    "So what can you offer and what do you want to know?" Kean sat back on his bed, leaning forward and whispering back.


    "Spells that can one-shot dragons, those thundersticks you saw and how to create more of them," Tavor replied. "Also a way for you and me to escape to the Empire''s borders."


    "Good! You get me those, and I promise you under the name of the Order of the Fall Knights, I will grant you protection,nds and even a noble''s title in the Empire!" Kean promised in a solemnly manner. "What do you want to know about the Empire?"


    Now we are talking! Tavor thought gleefully to himself, dumbass. "Tell me about Empire armies? How strong are they?"


    Unknown to the elf inside the cell, the humans hadced his food and drinks with a serum that rxes the user brains, making them more talkative, like a weak form of a truth serum. It makes the user think he is in control of what he is saying and doing.


    And so Kean happily answered all the questions asked by Tavor the whole day, thinking of how he managed to win over a hooman with powerful magic and weapons.


    -----


    ke and the rest of the group filed out after three hours of hearing the prisoner talk about the Empire troop strengths and weakness.


    ke decided to call it a day and left the rest to Tavor and his intel department to handle everything.


    Joesph caught up with ke and said, "My Liege, if what he said was true, how are we about to withstand the full might of the Empire? A standing army of over half a million soldiers!"


    ke slowed his steps and said, "There is no point in worrying about that now, we have other worries that are present in front of us now, we can only solve those first and be able to focus our preparations against the empire."


    ke stopped and turned, forcing the whole group to stop. "Alright, here''s a gag order! No one is to spread the word about the strength of the Empire''s army. I know half a million is a lot, but we can''t have panic spreading among the people! We will n on how to handle this in a proper way, understand?"


    "Aye, Captain." "By your order, my Liege."


    "Good, now we have today''s problems to resolve, let''s get back to work. Once Lt Tavor finishes his interrogation, we will have a meeting on this." With that ke and his team left the area.


    -----


    "Oh my god!" Petty Officer Ivan Pavlo froze as he heard what the Captain said. He was behind a hidden section of the hull, refilling his illegal makeshift still, making potato vodka, when he heard footsteps approaching.


    Half a million of those crazy blue elves? And the Captain wants to fight them? He thought in a panic to himself, we are so fucked!

 Chapter 63: Dissent

    Chapter 63: Dissent


    Petty Officer Ivan sneaked a peek around the corner, seeing no one around outside the armory, he whispered, "Raman! You there?"


    Sgt Raman hearing his name stuck his head out of the armory hatch, "Ivan? What''s up? You got a new batch of vodka?" He grinned.


    "Ye-no, I mean I got something more than that!" Ivan entered the armory and looked around, making sure no one else is inside and shut the hatch.


    "What''s wrong?" Raman narrowed his eyes in suspicion, wondering what is wrong with Ivan.


    "I got some really bad news man!" Ivan said nervously and poured out what he heard earlier from the lower decks.


    "Seriously?" Raman widened his eyes in surprise at the news. "That''s true?"


    "Heard those stuffy elves and the Bossman himself said so," Ivan nodded, "Don''t tell anyone else, man!"


    "We need an exit n," Raman said after he sat down and thought for a while. "We can''t stay here anymore."


    "But how are we going to survive out there?" Ivan asked. "You wanna go over to the Blue Boys?"


    "We might not have to," Raman waved Ivan closer and whispered his n into Ivan''s ear.


    "You understand?" Raman asked when he finished exining his n. "You know what to do?"


    "You sure it will work out?" Raman asked, "I am not too sure about it."


    "Come on, we will be like kings!" Raman said confidently. "Just follow the n."


    "Got it," Ivan nodded, "Once my side is done, I will contact you."


    "Tell no one ok?" Raman said as Ivan opened the armory hatch and looked around outside before leaving.


    Raman smiled contently as his ns are finally ced into action.


    -----


    ke entered the medbay and found Dr. Sharon speaking with the sailor the Search And Rescue team brought back two days ago,ying on the hospital bed.


    "Doc?" ke called out, "A moment of your time please?"


    Dr. Sharon paused her conversation with the elf and walked over to ke.


    "How is he?" ke asked.


    "Well, other than the torn muscles at his back, he''s doing quite well. Gave him a blood transfusion and he woke up today." Dr. Sharon replied.


    "Is he lucid enough for some questions?" ke asked, watching the greying elf dressed in a medbay gown lying on the bed.


    "Yes, but don''t excite him too much, his stitches mighte off." Dr. Sharon advised, leading ke over to the bed.


    "Hello Amar, this is Captain ke, he has some questions for you," Dr. Sharon introduced the Captain. "It''s alright, he''s a friend."


    "He-hello, sir. I try my best to answer as much as I can and know of," the elf appeared to be anxious about short-eared people.


    "It''s ok, I just want to know what is your role in the ship, where did it depart from and its destination," ke spoke calmly and slowly. "And what happened along the way."


    "Oh, alright, I am the ship''s carpenter, from the merchant ship the Wave Dancer. We left the port of the First and is headed towards the Bluewood Empire''s port city of Duhal all the way north with a shipment of iron, copper, cloth, and seeds." Amar said, "We hit a massive storm off the coast of the Goblin Sea before stopping for repairs."


    He adjusted his lying position in the bed and continued, "Due to the storm forcing us to makendfall, our ship had to pass through the channels between the Goblin Inds and the maind, if not we normally avoid sailing this area."


    "We got ambushed by five goblin raiding ships but we managed to fight them off, but in the process of doing so, the topmasts were badly damaged and we didn''t have any more spare spars for a jury rig."


    "The Captain ordered us to make fornd to cut down some trees for repairs but we got attacked by monsters!" the old elf moaned. "Am I the only one left? Is the Wave Dancer still around?"


    "Sadly you are the only one we found, as for the ship called the Wave Dancer, we saw her sailing away," ke said.


    "Oh," the old elf looked crestfallen. "I see."


    "Why couldn''t you sail back out over the inds and avoid the goblins?" Dr. Sharon asked.


    "The currents in the channel are quite strong, and from what I heard, the ve mage boy the Captain bought couldn''t cast a proper wind spell," Amar exined. "And with winter approaching the trade winds will change, the ship could be stranded in the open sea."


    "I see, thank you, Amar." ke said. "Rest more and don''t worry, we will help you find your way home after you have recovered."


    "Thank you, kind sir!" the elf thanked ke, who waved it off. "If you need to ask me more questions, free feel to, You are my saviors."


    "How are the wounded?" ke asked as he left the ward, "Let''s visit them." and he followed Dr. Sharon around the medbay.


    -----


    Ford stood watching the topography of the ind they dubbed as Goblin Ind, several icons were interposed over various locations, indicating points of interests.


    Shipyards, docks, warehouses, barracks, housing etc, werebeled on the map. All courtesy from regr UAV flights over the past two days.


    A total of 73 goblin ships were counted with another 24 more under various stages ofpletion, their positions littered all over the map.


    ''If only we had some fighter-bombers, we could burn the ce down,'' Ford thought. The only way into the harbor is by the hidden cove and anding force from the volcano side is too exposed.


    The rest of the ind is covered in lush ever blues and sandy beaches. ''It will make a great ce of a resort for some R and R.''


    Ford frowned in worry, ''Half a million troops to our North, a bloody goblin stronghold to our South and god knows where are those giant wolves are hiding.''


    He looked at the numbers entered in the logistic system database on supplies and housing. At least we managed to stock up on enough supplies tost over the winter.


    The womenfolk of the elves had been helping out with foraging and even using the lifeboats''nding parachutes to make extra coats for theing winter.


    The crews had stripped the electronic heaters andid kilometers of wiring underground, connecting the heaters with the power generators, providing heat for the cold nights.


    Hopefully, the construction of the public housing for the elves could bepleted within the month and everyone will have a warm roof over their heads.


    Ford admitted that the elves might look slim and pretty looking, but they are quite hardworking and earnest in their ways.


    ''At least we have some good news,'' he thought, swiping his tablet screen on the gunpowder results. The few crew members he had drafted into bing elementary chemists came out with a sulfurless ck powder. 70% niter and 30% charcoal and ignited using an electronic fuse for firing.


    The use of sulfurless ck powder will not only reduce the amount of fouling and corrosion to the metallic parts of the weapon, it will also reduce the amount of smoke produced.


    And of course, they do not have to go mine sulfur in the volcanic areas. Charcoal could be easily made by burning wood in an enclosed container and at the same time, the byproducts of heat could be used to boil water for steam to generate electricity.


    And without sulfur in the ck powder mix, makes it safer to handle. But the problem with sulfurless ck powder is the high ignition temperature required.


    The addition of sulfur helps to reduce the ck powder ignition temperature, meaning a spark would ignite it easily, whereas, without sulfur in the mix, a simple spark won''t be able to ignition the ck powder at all.


    Not only that, they still do not have a proper percussion cap or primer developed yet. The amateur chemists are still figuring out how to synthesize out mercury fulminate.


    Lucky, so far the test results with the electronic firing look promising but the problem is the production of the electronic firing fuses, as they don''t have stores of lithium for making batteries for the fuses.


    Either that or a manual crank is required for creating an electrical current to ignite the ck powder. Which will greatly reduce the rate of fire of the bolt action rifle designs they were nning on as the shooter would be required to nk the dynamo several times before squeezing the trigger.


    The fabrication team will have a prototype soon, once that is settled and all kinks worked out, it will be put into production and the training of the elves will begin.


    The marines and the security teams will also learn the new weapon and also how to fight with a sword, just in case.


    ''And the sailor, with his skills as a ship''s carpenter, if he could be recruited, we can make our own ships for fishing and as a deterrent against the goblins or even do trading with the Isles for much-needed necessities.'' Ford thought.


    "Guess I need to push the idea out to everyone in the next meeting," Ford spoke to himself. "Hope nothing more will go wrong"

 Chapter 64: Guns

    Chapter 64: Guns


    The first kes of snow drifted down overnight, turning the wholendscape into a world of white by the next morning. Dressed in a navy grey environmental suit, ke strolled down the newly constructed city with Princess Sherene, who was bundled up in thick furs, her snow boots crunching on the soft snow.


    Strips of lighting salvaged from the ship''s hatchways and repurposed as streetmps lined the sides of the street. A couple of older elven children could be seen shoving snow off the roads while the younger ones are ying with the snow. A half-track painted in red, with both Common and English wordings on its front and sides, indicating it as a public bus, pulled up next to a bus stop, where queues of elves and some humans boarded the bus.


    The area where the elves previously pitched their tents were all removed and a city square was built in its ce. Now dozens of wooden stalls and carts reced the tents, turning the square into a lively market. Several storefronts surrounded the square was still under construction, with more residences avable above the stores.


    "The City is starting to look more lively,pared to the time when we first came here," Sherenemented, looking around the market with interest.


    "Yes, it sure is," ke agreed, remembering the first month when theynded here. "It''s more lively now."


    Fresh produce from the hydro farms and greenhouses, salted and smoked meat, eggs from bird wyverns and pico picos to milk and wool from muffalosid out among the stalls. The elves traded daily necessities with each other with colorful stic chits issued by the humans, each red chit is valued at a single meal at the public canteen, while greed chits are valued at five meals and blue chits at ten.


    Each family or single elves were given enough chits for two weeks worth of food from the canteen, and for each job they worked in they were paid in an equivalent amount of chits for the hours they put in.


    After watching the bustling crowd for a while, ke led Sherene back towards the covered jeep parked down the street. The driver seeing the two of them returning started up the engines. "To the Academy," ke said to the driver, who nodded and drove off.


    Passing by the newly built public housing, Sherene was d she gave her allegiance to the hoomans. To be able to finish constructing housing over two thousand of her people in less than two months was an aplishment that no one could have done it except the hoomans.


    "What are you thinking about?" ke asked, seeing the princess staring intently out of the windows.


    "You hoomans are so powerful, even if you say it''s not magic," Sherene said, "To be able to do so much in so little time, it is so amazing that nothing short of a magical."


    "Ha, thank you," ke smiled. "But all these technology and innovations are developed and perfected over hundreds and thousands of years. We learn and improve as we move along."


    "I see," Sherene sat back on the chair, "But our ancestors had been here for hundreds of years, yet we did not develop like you hoomans do."


    ke scratched his head, "Well, I guess it is because we did not have magic, so we can only improve in other ways."


    The jeep slowed to a stop beside arge three-storyplex, with its own walls and gate. "Sir, we are here." The driver parked the jeep on the lots allocated for vehicles.


    ke and Sherene stepped out to the cold, meeting Magister Thorn who was waiting at the sheltered porch for them. "Wee, wee!" Thorn greeted them excitedly.


    "Hello, Master Thorn," Sherene did a curtsy which Thorn quickly pulled her up.


    "No need for formalities lets go in where it is warm, and out of this snow," Thorn led the two of them into the building.


    Sherene removed her fur coat and hung it on the side of the doors, and followed an excited Thorn down the hallway while looking around in curiosity. It was her first time to the Academy.


    ke said, "So, Magister Thorn, how is the school doing?'' He hade before, when the building was finished, touring all the facilities for teaching the elves and humans on ways of science and magic. ke built the Academy as an institute of learning so that the newly joined elves can be educated with the knowledge of humans, making them capable of working in the skilled jobs and other fields of expertise.


    ke and invited Thorn to be in charge of magical studies and also as the headmaster of the Academy, knowing that he had the experience of being one in the past, while Dr. Sharon holds the vice-principal role, teaching modern medicine and science.


    Thorn led them through several doorways and finally into another wing of the school. "Here we are!" Thorn waved them into a workshop.


    Tables with vices and mps set evenly filled most of the room, and arge chalkboard adorned the wall, where drawings of a rifle could be seen. Chief Matt, Ford, Lt Frank, and Staff Pike standing in front of the teacher''s table set on the side of the chalkboard and was fiddling with something.


    As the trio approached the group at the table, they could hear the Pike''s voice, "This is not very practical if it is designed is built this way, what happens if it breaks?"


    "Oh, Captain, Princess," Chief Matt greeted the neers as he spotted him, the rest turned and gave their greetings. "Just in time!"


    "In time for what?" ke asked, looking at the two rifles on the table. "The prototypes are out?"


    "Oh yes, we have two prototypes," Matt said cheerfully. "This," He points to the top rifle made out of local wood and metal stamping, "is designed by the Marine''s armorer." He worked the bolt of the rifle, pulling the bolt back, and hands ke the rifle who peered into the chamber of the rifle.


    "It uses a simple and reliable electronic firing circuit that ignites the new ck powder cartridge that we came out with." Matt held up a bullet cartridge with a pointed tip. "6.5 mm caliber soft tip for the projectiles, as the current bullet molds for the marines, are already in 6.5 mm, no point to retool them, and brass for the casing." He flips the cartridge and disys the rear end, showing a tiny hole coated with a grey substance.


    "No primer for the cartridge, instead we have a 0.5 mm hole for allowing ignition of the ck powder with external means. The hole is coated with a local tree sap that is waterproof and keeps the ck powder grains from falling out." Matt took the rifle back from ke and dry fired it.


    "The bolt extracts the cartridge out from the chamber and when pushed forward, loads a new round into the chamber from the 10-round box magazine. Once the bolt is locked in ce, squeezing the trigger will fire the electronic circuit inside the bolt and firing the round." Matt used a pair of pliers and pulled the butt pad off the rifle butt and shows ke.


    "A pair of 12 volts batteries powers the electronic firer. Good for over a thousand shots before needing to rece the batteries." He set the rifle down.


    "Very nice, but why no automatic rifles?" ke asked.


    "ck powder will foul up gas operated or recoil operated gun systems, making it jam." Matt shrugged, "Well, not to mention the constant recoil will probably break the shoulders of an unenhanced human, so till we can have smokeless powder, it''s a bad idea."


    "I see," ke nodded, while Sherene was totally lost.


    "Now this design actually came up by Magister Thorn," Matt points to the next rifle on the table. "Magister Thorn, if you may?"


    "Oh yes," Thorn rubbed his hands in excitement. "Oh, this is so fascinating! Well, Mr, Matt came to me with some questions regarding magical runes and us talked about thundersticks, no firearms."


    "I learned the basics of how a bullet is fired out of this piece of metal tubing from this ''rifle''." Thorn lifted the simr looking rifle up. "Now instead of using ''eletrokics'' for firing the bullet out, I use a fire rune instead."


    Thorn worked the bolt expertly and pointed it to away from the group and squeeze the trigger, and sharp hiss and a sh of light could be seen from the muzzle. Satisfied, Thorn ced the weapon down and removed two small red mana stones out from his pockets.


    Holding the two red stones up, ke noticed they were cut into a circr shape with what appears to be some kind of rune carving on one side of each rune. One of the stones were hallowed out in the middle, like a donut.


    "Now when those two fire runes touch each other, the magic will be triggered and mes will be created. By cing them both in the bolt, when the trigger is pulled, the bolt with this rune," He lifts up theplete circr rune, "will touch the other rune, and fire will be created. And with the impact of the bolt hitting, the mes will be forced into this tiny hole, and into the cartridge, lighting the ck powder." Thorn exined proudly.


    "I invented this new runic magic by reading the book of ''Basic Concepts Of Electricity''!"

 Chapter 65: Camp Alpha

    Chapter 65: Camp Alpha


    The shrill of wood and metal being processed resonated loudly in the confines of the cargo bay. The machine shop fabricator''s robotic arms constantly moved up and down, as it took processed materials and form it into a finished product.


    "Hey, Ivan!" Chief Gale shouted over the din of the noise, waving his arms to get his attention. "Over here."


    "Yes, Chief?" Ivan shut the door of the small office, cutting off the racket of the machines.


    "Hey, take a seat. I got some stuff on the inventory here that says defects. And you signed off it." Chief Gale handed over the tablet to Ivan to see. "There''s almost more than a dozen items highlighted. What''s wrong with them?"


    "Ahh," Ivan eyed the inventory list, "I think the fabricator printer head is faulty, that''s why there are so many items on the list that failed the quality control tests."


    "OK, then on the next production downtime, get the guys to do a full diagnostics of the fabricator," Chief Gale sighed, "The Boss needs those manufactured as soon as possible." He looked out of the small office window, at the crates of freshly minted rifles lined up in rows.


    "Got it, Chief," Ivan took the opportunity that Chief Gale was not looking at him to quickly wipe the cold sweat forming on his forehead. "I get the boys to do a full maintenance run."


    -----


    Mills, leaped off the back of the half-track turned public bus, his newly issued boots crunching the soft snow and he hoisted his duffle bag over his shoulders. "Wee to Camp Alpha," He read out loud from therge wooden sign, hanging over the gates.


    Wrapped up in his environmental suit, his exposed skin turned red as the cold winter wind blew against his new baby smooth pale skin.


    Walls of reinforced concrete, several meters high and topped off with razor-sharp concertina wires stretched off as far as the eye could see from where Mills stood. Signs with ''No Trespassing'' written in both English and Common, decorated the walls on regr intervals.


    He adjusted his pixeled cap and joined the short queue at the gates, where he spotted Koing inspecting the queuing elves'' identity cards. "IC please," Mills could hear Koing asking the elves in front of him.


    The identity cards were a fusion of technology and magic, as the elves have a system using magic and mana stones to record a person''s identity and records with blood. The cards have a photo image taken of the cardholder, his or her name, date of birth if applicable and address. The cards were also magically linked with a keystone and radio-frequency identification or RFID capable.


    The registering person will be required to put a drop of his or her blood onto the keystone, which will then store the data of the person in the stone. Another drop of blood is then dripped onto a special rune that has been engraved onto the card and synced with the keystone, like a modern day card key and reader. This way, the cardholder can be verified if he or she is the actual person holding the card.


    This measure was put into ce as the humans were worried about infiltrating spies or enemies. Even if a card was stolen and used in an inspection, they could find out whether or not the person holding the card is the actual person.


    Mills watch curiously as Koing held up a brown-yellow stone set in a pendant which Koing wore around his neck. The elf held the card in his hand and Koing held the stone over the card, after which it started to emit a soft green glow like a chem stick which Koing than nodded his head and waved the elf through.


    "Yo, Koing," Mills gave a greeting as the queue finally reached him. "Security is pretty tight." He looks at the four security goons in their ck riot armor and navy grey environmental suits.


    "Hey, out of the hospital?" Koing replied back, taking out a handheld scanner. "Ooo, lookey here, somebody got promoted!" He gestured to Mills''s newnce corporal strip on his sleeves.


    "Goddamn, you look so pretty!" Koing teased, "What skincare products are you using? Can I pull your cheeks?"


    "About damn time!" Mills grinned and tilted his head to the side, allowing Koing to scan the RFID chip embedded into the back of his neck. "And fuck you, understand?"


    "Hahaha, baby face Mills is angry!" Koingughed, much to the amusment of the rest of the guards. "Anyway, Staff is pretty pissed with that sneak attack at the Pass,"


    He puts away the scanner after it beeps an affirmative. "He''s all worried about magical mimics and doppelgangers and stuff. So everyone in and out needs to be checked and verified."


    "Damn, I heard about that attack in the medbay," Mills said, "Crazy son of bitches."


    "Yeah, well you better drop your stuff and report to Staff," Koing pointed into Camp Alpha, giving Mills directions to the barracks. "It''s pretty barepared to Camp Pendleton back on Earth but its cozy enough."


    "Cool! Sounds lovely," Mills rubbed his cold hands together. "What''s with all the elvesing in?"


    "Some of them are here doing construction work for the base, others are the goldies soldiersing for boot camp," Koing replied. "Higher up wants them trained to be at least marine standard or least proficient in modern warfare tactics."


    "Wow? That''s going to be a challenge," Mills said.


    "Also heard a scuttlebutt that we will be needing to turn in our arms and be reissued with new weapons and training," Koing said in a low voice. "Except for those guarding critical posts."


    "What? Are they giving us swords and shields?" Mills cursed, "So we going caveman with sticks and stones."


    "Well, not really," One of the guards said, "Heard that it''s gonna be some ck powder rifle or something."


    "Whoa?" Mills looked surprised, "Muzzleloaders?"


    Koing shrugged again, "Like I said, rumors. You better get going."


    "Right, see you around," Mills strolled through the gates and headed towards the direction of the barracks.


    As he passed through the gates, several lines of gabions covered the gate internally, where a couple of bunkers could be seen too, making anyone forcing an entry into the camp into a fielding field. "Damn, Pike is serious about this security shit," Mills whispered as he navigated his way past several barriers and into another gate.


    Finally, after walking for a while, he found the barracks he was looking for. A squat three stories concrete structure with tiny windows and firing slits on the walls of the upper floors sat next to an open field with a couple of g posts flying the marine corp g and the UNM national g.


    He entered the building and found Cpl James as the duty officer of the day, sitting behind a table, reading something on his tablet. "Hey Corp! Guess who''s back?"


    "Oh shit," James gave a dramatic groan as he looked up as sees Mills standing there grinning. "My peaceful days are over, and they even gave you a candy strip? What are they thinking!"


    "Haha, I know you missed me," Mills grinned wider, "Come on show me your love, tell me you miss your daddy!" He dropped his duffle bag and opened his arms wide. "Come to daddy!"


    "In your dreams, boy," James stood up, grinning and sped Mills''s arm. "Wee back, good to see you all okay."


    "Heh, it''s good to be back! I missed all the killing!" Mills replied cheekily.


    "Well, you probably be assigned to do something else for the time being till you get back to shape fully." James said as he pulled out a file from his tablet and consulted it for a moment before saying, "Your bunk is on the second floor, door 205, you are sharing it with Bartley."


    "How''s the Big guy doing?" Mills asked as he picked up his bag. "He alright? I didn''t see him visit me in the medbay."


    "He''s pretty quiettely," James said, handing over a set of keys. "You better go ask him yourself."


    "Gotcha," Mills replied and headed up the stairs, looking for his room.


    Finding his room, he gave a couple of knocks on the door before turning the door open. "Knock, knock."


    "Mills!" Bartley dropped the gun barrel he was cleaning and bounced up from the floor. "You are back!"


    "In the flesh!" Mills smirked and dumped his bag on the side. "Why didn''t you visit?"


    "Ahh, I-I was worried that you won''t make it," Bartley said in a small voice as he hunched down on his bed. "I didn''t dare to see you gone, just in case."


    "Goddamit, I am hard to kill," Mills said, lopping his arm over Bartley''s massive shoulders. "Come on, Big Guy, have a little faith in me!"


    "Anyway, you saved me, if you didn''te through the enemy lines and pulled me back," Mills patted Bartley''s back. "I would have really died back there."


    "Well, you are my friend, it''s the least I could do for you," Bartley replied.


    "No, not a friend," Mills said in a serious voice. "Brother. Thanks for saving me, brother!"

 Chapter 66: Recruits

    Chapter 66: Recruits


    Arven Silverhand stood in line waiting with other people for the arrival of the magical red wagon at the ''bus stop''. He was dressed in a simple garb consisting of a handwoven linen shirt and thick leather pants, covered by a thick muffalo fur coat and his army cloak.


    Slung over his shoulder, he carried what little possessions he had while an army issued sword was belted on his waist. His most prized possession, a silver brooch with a motif of a spiked rose with a sword behind it which indicated his rank in the army.


    Bronze for a five-man leader, silver for a 50-man and gold for 100-man. He proudly wore the brooch on his left shoulder, pinning his cloak. He joined the army since young, served with distinction for 10 years, and now nearly 29 years old, as a 50-man leader, he was told to report to this new camp, for ''retraining''.


    The red wagon soon came into view around the perfectly built streets made of some material Arven hasn''t seen before in his life. The people in front of him including some of those hoomans started shuffling forward as the back doors open and the passengers alighted.


    He paid with two red chips to the clerk at the booth who gave him a ticket stub with his distance printed on it which he pocketed it. Before that, he couldn''t imagine precious parchment being used wantonly like this. The changes the hoomans gave were overwhelming to many.


    Arven managed to get a seat next to the window, wondering what is this all fuss all about. Soon the wagon filled up to capacity and the wagon driver gave a few horns better moving the wagon off.


    "Hi sir, I''m Kont, from Nester''spany, 4thnce." the person sitting next to him introduced himself, cing his right palm over his heart. "Are you also going for ''retraining''?"


    "Yes, my name is Arven," He replied to the young man next to him, returning the same greeting gesture.


    "The hoomans are amazing and strange, yes?" Kont leaned over and peered out the window. "They imed they do not know magic yet they are able to make things that can only be exined as magical."


    "Yes, the things they can create is really magical," Arven replied, watching the view of the city. "Even the ways they wage war is so strange. We now go to learn their ways of wars."


    Kont nodded in agreement, "I found with the hoomans during the battle at the Pass, I helped this hooman spot the enemy many times the distance the eyes can see!" He thought back to the battle, "And the hooman killed the Empire soldiers without even knowing how they died."


    "I was there too," Arven told his side of the battle, "Our shield walls did not manage to hold up against the assaults of the Empire mages and shock troops. We nearly fell but the hoomans'' magical thundersticks turned the tide of the battle."


    "I was saved by the hoomans," He added. "They wore cloth armor and dared to faced numbers ten times their own, and even won the battle!"


    The half-track continued its way out of the city''s northern gates and followed the highway towards the grasnds, heading for the ce called Camp Alpha. Almost an hourter, the vehicle finally arrived at the Camp, the nose plow of the half-track was caked with frozen snow, as it plowed the snow away from the roads.


    The rear doors of the half-track opened and the passengers slowly file out of the vehicle, the driver stood at the back, reminding the passengers not to lose their tickets stubs for the return trip or it will cost them another chip.


    Standing in front of the gates of the camp, the elves followed themands of the hooman guards, lining up and showing their identity cards to the guards who verified with a keystone. As they entered the gates, another hooman dressed in a thick greyish suit that covered them from neck to toe, yelled in a mix of Engish and Common, "Alright, form up! Look at the lines drawn on the floor and line up ordingly!"


    The elves confused followed the instructions as best as they could and after several minutes of shuffling around finally everyone was in position. "Oh my heavens, my grandmother can move faster than you lot!" That hooman yelled, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Next time I give amand, you lot better MOVE FAST!"


    "Now listen up! You lot may think you already know how to fight and is about to embark on the next big adventure. Well, let me set you straight. My Marine Corps has been around for 338 years, tracing our proud lineage to the United States Marine Corps and through them to the Royal Marines of the United Kingdom! My job is to ensure none of you screw up my Corps! We are the fiercest warriors ever to grace the Earth! And now you will join the proud lineage and uphold the values and tradition of my Marine Corps! We fight and we kill, that is our sole existence here!"


    The elves turned and looked at each other and muttered among themselves, wondering what have they done to be treated this way. "People! You will be tested, stressed, and put to the limits. We are a proud force, not once in our history have we been defeated, we will go to ces where no one has gone before and kick the shit out of whoever has pissed on us. From now onwards, we are going to find out who among you will be good enough to be part of my Marine Corps!"


    Arven looked shocked, and stood there wondering what is happening, isn''t he supposed to be here for training to use the hooman weapons. Why is it now he is here to join some Marnee Cops? He opened his mouth and asked, "Excuse me, but I think you got it wrong here."


    "Yes recruit?" The hooman smiled gently to Arven, "No, no there is nothing wrong here. What''s your name recruit?"


    "My name is Arven Silverhand, 50-man leader of the Army of Goldrose," He said proudly, "I was sent here for training to learn about using thundersticks."


    The hooman nced at the magical device strapped to his arm, nodding after a while and said, "Well, Recruit Arven, you name is on the list."


    "Wait, why are you calling me a recruit? I am a 50-man leader!" Arven argued.


    "Well, I am Corporal James Bone. From now onwards, regardless of what ranks or nobility you held before in the Goldrose Army, you are now all recruits!" Cpl James stated. "If none of you are willing to go through the training, you can wash out right now! But the Goldrose Army has been disbanded! You have two choices now, join the Marine Corps or return to the city and find other work. The bus is still waiting outside!"


    Arven froze, he remembered a few days before the Lord General Joesph gave a speech to all the soldiers, telling everyone that the army will be disbanded. Those willing to continue fighting as a soldier under the hoomans is to form up at one side, which he did with the majority of the others. They were then given ordered and instructions to report to this ce.


    "No one? Good. From now onwards, you will only speak when spoken to. The first andst words out of your mouths will be ''Sir''." Cpl James paused, watching the elves with an amused smile on his face.


    It took the elves a few minutes before they realized that they are supposed to reply, a stammering of, "Yes Sir." came from the group.


    James looked up at the cloudy grey skies and said, "My grandmother can shout louder than you! And the proper way to answer is Sir, yes Sir!"


    "Sir, Yes Sir!" The elves echoed.


    "Nevermind, maybe this will help motivate you lot." James shook his head. "The whole lot, assume push up position. That is, turn 45 degrees to your right and get down on your hands, ce them slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Your body should form a straight line from your ankles to your head. This is your push up position."


    The elves looked at each other in bewilderment, wondering what is going on. James sighed and gestured for Mills behind him who demonstrated how to get into a push-up position. The elves dropped their bags and gear and soon followed.


    "Now stay in that position, as I was telling youdies, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon, a minister of death, praying for war. But until that day you are pukes! You''re the lowest form of life, you are not even fucking beings! You are nothing but unorganized pieces of shit!" James strolled down the line as he continued.


    "Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. My orders are to weed out all weaklings who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps! Do you maggots understand that?"


    "Sir, yes Sir!" The elves moaned out.


    "Bullshit, I can''t hear you." James continued walking down the roll.


    "SIR YES SIR!" The elves screamed their lungs out while still in push-up position.


    "You there, what is your name?" James crouch next to Arven and asked.


    "Sir, Arven, Sir!" Arven yelled out, his face turning red.


    "Bullshit, You are Recruit Bigfuck from now on!" James shouted into Arven''s ear. "What is your name recruit?"


    "Sir, Recruit Bigfuck, Sir!"

 Chapter 67: Boot Camp

    Chapter 67: Boot Camp


    "toon Three! Fall in!" Corporal James yelled with a bullhorn as the recruits charged out of their barracks and formed up into rows of three with the tallest man as the right marker. The toon consists of 28 recruits dressed in long-sleeved grey utilities, camouged pants, and boots.


    The quartermaster nearly had a stroke while trying to outfit the entire training camp, but he managed to pull a miracle by having the fabricators run overtime to produce all the materials needed for all the recruits.


    He had all the crew scrape up all the unwanted pieces of clothing and cloth scraps, before having the fabricators recycle the materials into uniforms for the recruits.


    It was 0500 hours, local time, another 15 other toons have also formed up in the massive parade square and stood in attention in the cold winter morning.


    It had been two weeks since they started boot camp and the elves are slowly shaping up. After the morning reveille, the toons began their morning workout routine with five basic exercises before moving on to a 5km run around the base.


    All the elves were used to running while carrying heavy shields and wearing heavy armor so they made quick time with the run. After the run, they rested for a while before heading to the cookhouse for their breakfast.


    -----


    Lieutenant Frank stood on the top floor of the administrative building of Camp Alpha with Staff Pike, watching the recruits finish their morning run. "Well, physically and mentally the elves are pretty tough." He said, watching the recruits from the frosted windows.


    "Yes, the only problem now is teaching them how to think and react to orders," Pike said, "The shipment of the rifles will be arriving tomorrow. The instructors had all familiarised themselves with the handling of the new weapon."


    "Great, how about ammunition for the weapons?" Frank sat down on his desk, powering up hisputer.


    "Over 25,000 ck powder rounds produced by the autoloader. Current production is at 9,000 rounds per week as long as we have raw materials. Production will ramp up once a second autoloader is produced by the workshop''s fabricators." Pike read off the report in his tablet. "We will also be issuing the men with sword bays."


    Frank nodded from his desk, "Another eleven weeks before they graduate from the course. Bringing our manpower up to another five hundred bodies."


    "448 to be exact Sir, if everyone passes out," Pike replied. "We probably will lose 10% due to injuries or other reasons. So roughly 400 will make it through."


    "Pick some of the ones with potential to be instructors, once this batchpleted their boot camp, prep the next batch of recruits," Frank ordered, "Quartermaster Chen will have plenty of time to cook up the next batch of uniforms and equipment for the intake. And also the workshop''s should have enough time to produce more rifles." Pike nodded, gave a salute and left the office.


    "400 to hold the Pass against half a million," Frank muttered to himself as he started his work. "Damn, we arecking everything!"


    -----


    Recruit ''Bigfuck'' Arven sat with the rest of his toon in an outdoor training shed, ignoring the cold winter air against his shaved head as he stared raptly at the thunderstick, Corporal James was holding up in his hands. "Alright, now is the best part of being a Marine! Guns!"


    The rifle was made out of local wood, finished in a dark brown luster. To the elves, it looked like a thin elongated crossbow, without the bow arms, with the wooden handguard almost as long as the metal barrel ending off in a blunt nose.


    "This is called a rifle, not a thunderstick, magic stick or wanking stick. As you have learned in your sses, this here is a bolt action rifle." James disyed the weapon to the ss. "This is the M1 bolt action runelock ck powder rifle also known as the ''Magelock rifle'', as it uses both magic and technology to work together."


    "It weights at 4.19kg, with a length of 1.1 meters long, and a barrel length of 60 centimeters. It has a polygonal rifling inside the barrel, which helps reduce the fouling and also makes it easier to clean." James paraded the rifle around the ss, "It has an integrated 10 round box magazine just in front of the trigger guard. It has a rear sliding ramp sights allowing the shooter to aim up to 500 meters away. It has an effective firing range of up to 730 meters and a muzzle velocity of 621.8 meters per second."


    "For those who did not listen in ss, muzzle velocity means how fast the projectile exits the barrel and flies straight at you!" James added to the benefit of those who were looking confused.


    "Why is it called a bolt action runelock?" James asked the ss, who returned nk faces back. "This here is the bolt, which requires you to manually pull back to eject the round inside and chambering a new round." He pulled the bolt back, showing the ss the opened bolt, and points inside. "This here is fire rune, by pulling the trigger, the hammer hits the rune, like the old ancient flintlocks, thus it is called a runelock."


    Seeing the confused faces of the elves, James further exined patiently, "In the days of old, flintlocks were the ancestors to our modern guns. Flints were used to ignite the ck powder and this M1 Magelock uses runes to fire."


    "The M1 Magelock is reloaded using stripper clips of five rounds each," James held up a five round clip of 6.5 mm. "Align the rounds downwards in the opened chamber and push the rounds down firmly. It can also be reloaded by single rounds of ammunition."


    "Moving on, here is a bay lug," James points to a ring-like device near the muzzle. "You attach the Type 1 sword bay to it." He picked up a 40 centimeters long single-ded short sword with a straight handguard from the table and inserted the bay on to the rifle.


    "Now, you have a long spear." James demonstrated a few bay thrusts and sweeps with the weapon, much to the elves'' appreciation.


    James removed the bay and continued, "Now I will call out each recruit''s name, you will be issued with an individual weapon each, memorize your weapon''s serial number!" James red at the recruits, "Treat it like your wife or your girlfriend, make sure you do not lose your weapon!"


    "Now, Recruit Bigfuck! Front and center!" Jamesmanded, reading from a list of names. "Recruit Alphabet!!


    Soon the whole toon was issued with a magelock each, they spent the next few hours learning about the parts of the weapon, how to strip and clean the weapons. The elves acted like children in a toy shop, mock firing and y acting with the weapons as they sat in the training shed, ensuring that the rifles are cleaned.


    After that, they run through a few rifle drills, as they had practiced rifle drills days before with wooden mockups, they only had an ident when one of them dropped his rifle and the toon was punished for that, doing fifty push-ups.


    The next day after breakfast, after they drew their rifles from the armory, they stood in attention in perfectly aligned rows on the parade square with the entire batch of recruits, dressed in full battle order, gripping their new rifles tightly.


    The elves wore a steel ''coal scuttle'' helmet printed in blue-grey camouge, a ck ''H'' harness with pouches for equipment and ammunition, sword bay attached to a sheath on the harness,pleted with blue-grey digital camouge battle dress uniforms.


    -----


    "Damn, they look smart," Captain ke who stood with the princess on the reviewing stand said.


    Princess Sherene nodded and smiled charmingly, giving a wave to the formed up recruits. "They feel different too."


    "They are the future protectors," Captain ke said, avoiding eye contact with the smiling princess, "Ahem, well, it''s good for their morale to see you encouraging them here."


    "Really?" Princess Sherene excitedly turned her head, focusing herrge pretty eyes on ke, who quickly turned and to look at something else.


    "Damn..." ke cursed softly, he was sweating even in the cold winter air.


    -----


    "Now, Recruits! Repeat after me!" Staff Sergeant Pike stood at attention in front of the battalion of elves. "You will repeat the Rifleman''s creed after me."


    "Sir, Yes Sir!" The battalion replied loudly.


    "This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine."


    "My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life."


    "Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me."


    "I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will be part of each other."


    "I, hereby swear, before the g, that I will be brave, honorable, discipline and vignt."


    "I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life."


    "So be it, until there is no enemy, but peace."

 Chapter 68: Bored

    Chapter 68: Bored


    "Hey, Chief Gale. Got a minute?" Flight lieutenant Peter Mitch and Flight lieutenant Tommy Kanzy stood outside of Chief Gale''s workshop.


    The workshop lights were dimmed down, as the fabricators were on their downtime and the most of the mechanics were off day for the day. Chief Gale set his reading sses down and gestured the two pilots into his office. "Wassup, gentlemen?"


    "Well, Chief, me and Tommy boy here are plenty free at the moment," Peter said as he made himselffortable on one of the chairs. "We were kinda wondering if we got to tinker around with the haulers."


    "You meant you two are bored out of your minds and your hands are itching to fly and crash something?" Gale retorted back.


    Both the pilots grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, we have been helping out the workshops and doing parts maintenance for one system after another. It''s not what we signed up for!"


    Tommy nodded vigorously at the side. "It''s a waste of our skills. And since the two haulers are just collecting dust sitting there, we thought that if we could do some modifications or something and see if we can get it flying in the atmosphere."


    Chief Gale rubbed his face as he gave their ideas some thought, to be honest, these two kids'' skills were truly wasted here just doing basic maintenance. After a short while, "Oh well ok, we need all the edge we have against this."


    The pilots high fived each other, excited to be doing something else.


    "But, I wanna see your modifications and designs on file first before you can touch the ships," Gale gave his conditions. "After that, it gets passed on to the Captain. He has the final say. Get it?"


    "Yes, Chief!" Both pilots saluted and filed out of his office.


    "By the way, that doesn''t mean you get off from doing maintenance!" Chief Gale yelled at the two pilots who stared back with a pained expression.


    -----


    "How''s everything on your end?" Raman asked Ivan as they met up in private at the ship''s armory.


    "Well, I managed to pull several critical parts out as not meeting quality control and listed them as recycled in the system," Ivan said, pulling out a sk of potato vodka.


    "I also got the stuff we need," Raman patted arge armory container on the side with abi lock. "Now we just have to wait for a good opportunity."


    "Well do you think it''s a good idea?" Ivan took a drink from his sk nervously.


    "We talk about itter," Raman gave Ivan a warning look as someone hit the inte outside the armory. Raman nced at the camera screen and pressed the hatch release, and two other burly crew members entered the armory.


    They sat down next to Raman and Ivan and took out ying cards and chips. "Yo Ivan, any more of that vodka?"


    Ivan removed a couple of sks from his bag and handed them over. "20 creds as usual."


    "Sure thing," The crew member with tattooed arms counted out a stack of red chips and slid it across the table to Ivan, who ced them in front of himself.


    The other crew started shuffling the ying cards and doled out the cards to each yer. "Same rules as before."


    As the game progressedte into the night, Raman''s pile of winnings grewrger while the other two men faces grew darker. Finally, the tattooed crew dumped his cards down and gave up, "I am out, you are lucky tonight."


    Raman smiled, "Say, I heard something interestingtely, think it will benefit us all."


    "What interesting news?" The tattooed crew member raised his eyebrows.


    "Well, keep this between us strictly." Raman leaned forward and spoke in a low voice. "I heard that the Empire"


    -----


    Magister Thorn bent over theser engraver, watching the mana stone getser-cut into a perfect circle.


    The fire rune engraving started appearing like magic, etched by the invisibleser beams, burning the design into the surface of the round cut rune stone in seconds. Followed by an inking device which painted the runic symbol over with magical ink.


    "What a wondrous machine!" Thorn who was wearing a pair of protective goggles looked like some crazed old man with his messy white hair and tinted goggles.


    The runic symbol that he drew, was copied exactly and replicated onto a tiny surface in perfect detail! The magical silver ink that he had prepared to be used to write the runes of power, was inked along with theser engraving.


    If he wanted to do the same detailed work, it will painstakingly take him many hours or even days to carve the runic symbol out followed by inking it with silver. But this device does it all in seconds and even on a surface area as small as his smallest fingernails!


    Thorn stood up and removed his goggles, thinking back to the weeks before that he told Captain ke, that he needed days to prepare each fire rune for his thundersticks. Captain ke just looked at his work and smiled, telling him not to worry at all. How indignant he was at that time!


    But this device just made him eat his words and pride. He looked at the several chests of mana stones, which the Princess donated to the hoomans and wondered what other interesting toys can he make.


    -----


    Flight lieutenant Peter and Tommy sat hunched over theputer, looking at the ns of the Boeing 848 Super Spacebus. Both were the pilots assigned to fly the UNS Singapore and the Spacebus.


    "Well, if we remove the cosmic radiation protection tiles, the airlocks, oxygen recycler and tanks, the directional thrusters, the dual wing main thrusters, and armor ting," Tommy pointed at various parts on the Spacebus drawings. "At least 55% reduction in weight can be achieved. More if we can hollow out the hull and cut away all unneeded parts."


    The Boeing 848 Super Spacebus was introduced in the early 2070s as an all-purpose space hauler. The bulky and squat angr designes with a forward passengerpartment capable of carrying up to 40 passengers and a rear cargo area with over 10 tons of cubic space.


    The cargopartment was also modr, allowing the boxy module to be removed, allowing an external cargo container to be carried or an additional passenger module, increasing the number of passengers to 200.


    Powered by a Rolls-Royce Trident 800 helium 3 engine, it was capable of short-haul flights between space stations and starships. While not atmospheric rated and an outdated model, its durability, reliability, and ease of maintenance prompt the UNM Navy to continue its service even if it is a 40-year-old design.


    "But if we remove the main thrusters how is it gonna fly?" Peter asked, staring at the drawings, "We should add in a flight surface controller here and here."


    "Who said we are gonna need thrusters to fly it?" Tommy raised his eyebrows. "All the helium 3 fuel is taken by Engineering for fuel for the reactor."


    "What we should do is to convert the engine to run on electricity instead." Tommy highlighted the stubby wings where the ends of the wings sat a thruster unit. "We modify the wings, add in a duct fan unit instead."


    "Duct fan unit?" Peter frowned as he thought about. "You mean like a VTOL craft?"


    "Yup, since the wings are tied to the flight control systems, we can recode the software to tilt the wings front and back," Tommy exined.


    "It won''t maneuver very well with it non-streamlined structure, nor fast," Peter stood up and stretched his back. "It will be like flying a tank."


    "Unless we make the duct fan mounted wings capable of independently rotating forwards and backward," Tommy cut Peter off, "turning left and right is just a simple task of reducing the power of either one of the fans."


    "Hey, let''s check with that Indian marine armorer, see if he can design some rockets?" Peter''s eyes glowed, his tiredness gone. "Strap a few rocket pods on it and vo! A flying tank!"


    "That''s a good idea," Tommy rubbed his weary eyes, they had been going through the ns for hours. "I''m sure the Marines will appreciate the fire support. But we need to cut down the weight more if we want more range and flight time."


    "Hmmm, why can''t we use magic to lighten the load?" Peter suggested as heid down on the bunk. "I heard that magician Ton or Korn gave the idea of those rifles powered by magical runes."


    "That''s it!" Tommy pped his head, "why didn''t I thought of that! If magic can help reduce another 20% of the weight, we can increase the flight time and range of the ship!"


    Tommy dived into his work, redesigning the Spacebus, removing non-essential parts and reducing the overall weight of hauler while thinking on how to convert the engine to run on electricity which will in turn power the dual duct fans. He also drew in ns for mounting of weapon pods.


    Finally done, he looked at the 3D design on hisputer. "Great, all done, now to find that great magician to find out if his magic can help."


    Tommy got up from his chair and stretched, "Let''s go find the magician!" and found Peter already asleep on his bed.

 Chapter 69: After Action Review

    Chapter 69: After Action Review


    Thick heavy snow covered the ins, several figures suddenly appeared out from the snow and advanced up the snow-covered terrain and into the edge of the forest. The white camouged shapes moved with a purpose, keep as low as possible to the terrain


    Acting toon leader Recruit ''Bigfuck'' Arven, his helmet covered in a white flock and dressed in a white cloak, waved his section forward and half crouched his way into the cover of the trees.


    He peered around the snow-coated leaves of everblue tree, observing their objective his toon was tasked with a pair of covered field sses. His fellow recruits reached the rallying points and waited for hismand for the attack.


    The opposing force, dressed simrly but with an Empire blue coat over their gear and carrying Empire weapons and shields, the des and spearheads dulled, was digging in around the area their camp area, seemly unaware of their presence.


    "One-ear, tell me what you see," Recruit Arven handed his binocrs to his second inmand, Recruit Orgen ''One-ear'' who like Arven, served as an old timer in the Goldrose Army, who lost his left ear fighting the Empire forces, thus earning his nickname.


    One-ear took the binocrs and went down on his hands and knees and leopard crawled to a better vantage point. He looked at the activity of the enemy camp, and counted the number of sentries and their locations, before crawling back to Arven.


    "I counted eight sentry posts, two-man each," One-ear returned the binocrs and unslung his rifle. "They appeared to be setting up their camp. They haven''t spotted us at all."


    Arven nodded, he also counted the same number of sentry posts and guards. "Tell Section Two and Three to begin their attack in 10 minutes, they are to make as much noise as possible, I want the enemy to think we are all there." He checked his timepiece while giving his order to his runner, who repeated the order back, before moving off, keeping himself low and hidden from the enemy sights.


    "One-ear, you take Section 1 on a nking maneuver on their right," Arven points towards a low depression on the right nk. "Keep out of sight, use that depression for cover. Do not engage till the enemy has fullymitted against Section Two and Three, understand?"


    "Keep out of sight, and only attack when the enemy''s attention is all on Two and Three?" One-ear replied. "Got it."


    Arven nodded, as One-ear hurried back in a low crouch to where his section had gathered, and he next turned to his Section One. "Alright, we hold here, once the enemy rushes out we fire into their nks. Till then keep out of sight."


    He had his toon arranged in an ''L'' shape. Section Two and Three formed the lower part of the ''L'' while One and Four were at the nks. And just as ordered, 10 minutester, pops of gunfire erupted from Section Two and Three''s position.


    Snow erupted as the training bullets impacted against the snow. The bullets were made out of the waxy native tree sap and filled with red dye made from the pigment of flowers. The sentries who got hit, sat orid down on the snow and removed their helmets to indicate that they were dead.


    Yells and shouts of rm erupted from the Opposing Force or OpFor camp, and like a kicked beehive, the men posing as Empire soldiers charged out in the direction of Section Two and Three. Act toon Leader Recruit Arven hidden among the trees, watched the ''enemy'' formed up a shield wall and charged into the gunfire where Section Two and Three were at.


    Arven turned to his men and said, "Make ready!" Clicks and rattling of bolts replied him as his men, removed their safeties and worked their bolts, chambering a round in. Seeing the majority of the enemy had taken the bait, Arven yelled, "Fire!"


    Bursts of fire and smoke exploded out from around him as his men fired their Magelock rifles. The elves had trained well enough in the firing ranges that they could fire at least 20 aimed shots per minute with the bolt action.


    He waited for the enemy to take the bait and managed to time his volley right at the enemy''s nk as they lined up perfectly for his men to enfde fire.


    The training paint round hammered into the nks of the shield wall, causing the ''enemy'' to cry out in pain and surprise. While the bullets are made out of rubbery wax, it still packed enough kic energy to feel like someone poking you very hard with a pointy stick.


    Suddenly the snow around Arven exploded, spraying him with bits of wet snow and red dye, and throwing his men into confusion, "What?" He peered through the gun smoke and spotted the enemy side has Magelocks too and were firing at them.


    "Take cover! They got guns too!" Arven yelled over the sts of gunfire. He followed his own advice, throwing himself down onto the soft wet snow and rolling behind the everblue tree. The enemy line exploded into smoke and more bullets smacked against the hardy tree trunk, shaking the snow umted on the leaves down on him.


    One of his men cried out in shock as a paint round smacked right against his cor, spraying a dark red dye out, looking realistically like blood. The unfortunate recruit dropped down and rolled about the snow screaming in pain."Medic!"


    "Take out their shooters!" Arven yelled and aimed his Magelock at the enemy. He squeezed the trigger and his rifle muzzle erupted in a cloud of gunsmoke, temporarily blocking his view till the wind blew it away. He saw the enemy he shot at sitting down on the snow, with one hand raised up, indicated he got hit.


    "Come on," Arven encouraged his men, "Pour it on!" He worked the bolt of his Magelock and fired again. "Suppress them!"


    Suddenly a chorus of shouts emerged from the far right, as One-ear sessfully led his Section unnoticed to the rear nks of the enemy. His Section emerged out of the low snow depression and firing their Magelocks as they charged, hitting the rear of the surprised enemy.


    Not long after, a loud whistle blew, and the sounds of gunfire and smoke died down as the exercise came to an end.


    "Alright,manders gather up the rest of the men, go police up all the spent cartridges and make sure your equipment is still with you!" Sergeant Collins spoke into a loud hailer, "Get the medics to tend to those wounded in the exercise."


    Hourster, toon Three of the attacking force gathered into a tent where several benches, a table, and a disy screen was ced. Collins and James stood inside waiting for the men to settle down. "Alright settle down, what we are doing here is an ''After Action Review'' or an AAR," Collins said to the gathered recruits. "We will do one of these after every action, so get used to them."


    "Now, I want to say a good job on the attack," Collins said, looking at Recruit Arven, "It was a textbook attack and ambush, properly executed. And even with the surprise part that the ''enemy'' had simr weapons, you managed to control your men and counter them, especially when you are still in the middle of training."


    "Now, we will be going over every individual and unit actions as we know and see how we can improve on them. I''ll start with ammunition expenditure." Collins turned to the mounted disy and graph appeared. "We counted an average of 32 rounds of 6.5mm per enemy that got shot. That means each of you fired at least 30 shots each for the whole engagement."


    "The low count was 11, Recruit Bigfuck." Collins pointed to another chart. "But in the first ce, you shouldn''t even be firing at all. Why did you fire, Recruit?"


    "Sir, this recruit wasn''t really doing anything and th-the enemy is just there, so I fired, sir!" Arven replied ufortably.


    "You were supposed to be paying attention to everyone else''s action." Collins shook his head, "Your task as Acting toon Leader is to lead, your weapon was given to you for self-defense or for something you have to shoot at because you can''t get your men to do it in time."


    "Did any of the enemy came close to your position?" Collins continued asking Arven.


    "Sir, No, Sir!" Arven admitted.


    "You are there to lead, and control the flow of the battle," Collins advised, "lead from the front if you have to, engage if you have to, but keep your eyes on the battle. Understand?"


    "Sir, Yes, Sir!" Arven replied, nodding in understanding.


    "Recruit Yothan!" Collins yelled next. "You, my friend, had won the big prize. 107 rounds."


    "Sir, Yes sir!" Recruit Yothan shot to his feet in attention.


    "Now, Recruit Yothan, tell us all, how the fuck did you expend 107 rounds of ammunition?"

 Chapter 70: Promotions

    Chapter 70: Promotions


    "What do you think of the current batch of recruits?" Captain ke asked Lieutenant Frank while sitting in ke''s office with Commander Ford and Staff Sergeant Pike in attendance.


    "Well, physically and mentally they have are quite tough, it''s just we had to brainwash away their notions of how to wage war and train them to follow orders and how to think," Frank gave his opinion of the recruits. "Most of them have the willingness to stay in a shield line and die, which is good and bad.


    "Good for the fighting spirit and bravery, bad for it will be a waste for a trained soldier," Frank said. "We managed to get them to think for themselves and the overall bigger picture."


    ke nodded, "Alright, ording to the schedule, they are reaching thest week of their training soon, right?"


    Staff Pike spoke up, "Yes sir, once they finish the final week of training, they will pass out sessfully."


    "Ok," ke reached into his desk drawers and pulled out a small felt box. "I believe congrattions are in order, Major Frank."


    "What? Major?" Frank looked wide-eyed in surprise at the box which ke opened to show a pair of embroidered Major rank tabs. "This is a triple promotion!"


    "Well, we can''t have you as a mere 2nd Lieutenant to be inmand of a battalion," Ford spoke up.


    Everyone in the room smiled and stood up, "As the Highest authority in detachedmand, I, Captain Richard ke, Captain and Commander of the UNS Singapore, by the power and authority vested to me by the United Nations of Man Naval Command, hereby promote Marine 2nd Lieutenant Frank Lee to the rank of Marine Major," ke intoned solemnly, "As the people presented shall hereby be my witness."


    Frank stood in attention, his mouth opened in surprise, Major? Holy shit!


    "Congrats Sir!" Staff Pike saluted Frank while ke and Ford smiling, shook his hand.


    "Well Staff, if you don''t mind, it will be an honor for me for you to pin my rank on," Frank said sincerely to Pike.


    "The honor is mine, sir!" Pike took the offered rank tabs and removed the ''butter bars'' from his uniform cor and recing them with the Major tabs that were embroidered in official emblem of the United Nations in gold thread.


    "Here," ke removed another box and pushed it to Frank, "You should have the honor for this."


    Frank opened the box and saw a pair of Master Sergeant embroidered rank insignia inside and smiled, "Well, congrats to you too, Master Sergeant Pike."


    "No shit?" Pike swore as he looked at the box offered to him by Frank. "Damn, everyone gets promoted."


    "That''s the idea," Ford answered, "With the new recruits passing out, we need to put the more experienced men intomand roles and they need the rank for it, also we will need toe out with a sort of Officer Cadet School to train potential candidates into officers."


    Newly promoted Major Frank and Master Sergeant Pike nodded in understanding, "We wille out with proposal and training manual for that," Frank said.


    "Good, now with the newly trained troops about to graduate, I will pull out the Naval Security section," ke informed the two Marines. "Marines will now handle the exterior threats and security while the Naval Security will take over civil security and police work."


    "Our advanced weaponry will be locked in the armory only to be issued for areas of critical importance," ke said, "Our ammunition stocks are too low for any morerge-scale conflicts, all personnel other than those guarding points of importance will be issued with the Magelocks."


    "Aye aye, Sir!" Frank and Pike echoed, "We will ensure everyone turns in their weapons to the armory."


    "Next, the two pilots came up with this proposal of getting the two haulers to fly," ke activated the disy in his officer, showing ns of the Boeing 848 Super Spacebus. "They also proposed a weapon system, installing ck powder rocket pods here and here."


    Pike nodded, "Looks good as a close in air support tform, since it is not aerodynamics, using it as a fixed rotor might be more efficient than having it as a ducted fan design. But how are they solving the weight issue? Those things weight hundreds of thousands of tons, as they are for use in space only."


    "Well, they are stripping as much of the structure and non-essentialponents out as possible," ke exined, "As, we had some unexpected help from Magister Thorn."


    "That elf quack?" Pike snorted, "I get that magic is useful, but it can''t be all our solutions."


    "Well, his idea of using runes to fire rifles is quite good, in fact, it''s more reliable than using electronic firing circuits," ke smiled, "Pike, you ran the tests your self."


    "I know Sir," Pike shrugged, "It just doesn''t really sits well with me Sir, how do we know if it will failter?"


    "That''s something we have to take a risk for now," ke said, "With wintering to an end soon, we will need every tool and weapon in our disposal. From what the prisoner is singing to Intel, I bet you a wolf steak that they will be back for Round Three."


    "So how will Thorn''s magic help?" Frank injected, going straight to the point. He was very interested in having some VTOLs as close in air support or as an aerial transport for his Marines.


    "Well, the same thing as before, the use of runes embedded into the hull of the ships, use some sort of anti-gravity or weight lessening spells engraved into the hull," ke said, "He''s doing research on aeronautics and aerospace engineering now. But he''s very certain it is doable, and he did mention something about flying castles and fortresses in the ancient times."


    "Flying castles and fortresses?" Frank and Pike sat up straight as they heard that, "There are such things on this?"


    Ford shrugged as he added, "Thorn said he read it somewhere about the Old Lands having flying inds and castles, hundreds of years ago. There were even rumors about it in the Empire but no one could verify, even the prisoner does not know."


    "Great, giant wolves to dragons to fly inds," Pike snorted, "What''s next? Gods?"


    "Don''t curse it," ke said sharply, "It mighte true."


    "Sorry Sir, my bad," Pike apologized. "But if that quack elf could get the ships up and flying, it will help greatly. I see what ck powder rockets we can cook up with the current stuff we have. Also if we could get theirbat spellcasters to join in the Marines..."


    "I see what I can do with that point on the mages," ke promised Pike.


    "Alright, Chief Gale has informed us that the next fabricator will be up and running in another week or so, but as it is a smaller and simplified model, the things it could produce out when being able to match our current fabricators," ke said, "The elves also have more or less finished learning the basics and advanced tech courses. So we will move production over to the elves instead of constantly relying on the workshops."


    "We will introduce the concept of mass production and assembly line production to them," Ford added, "This will help simplify and ease production requirements. We are nning to let the elves handle the less... techy stuff first, till they get up to proficiency."


    "Yes, when springes, we also have to expand the farms, we only have just enough to survive this winter," ke rapped his fingers on the table, "Also that sailor is willing to teach whoever is willing to learn on shipbuilding techniques, plus what we have in our archives, we could produce a fleet of wet water ships for fishing to improve our food stocks and also for defense against Goblin City."


    "Sir, the Marine armorer had also just submitted another firearm design," Frank sent a file over to ke who opened it and put it up onto the disy. "It''s a revolver design."


    The image disyed a 2D wireframe top, front, and side drawing of an archaic looking swing-out cylinder revolver. "It holds five rounds in the cylinder, chambered for the 6.5mm ck powder loads, same ammunition as the Magelock." Frank read out the specifications of the weapon. "It also borrows from the concept of the Magelock, the revolver hammer hits the rune to fire the cartridge."


    "This looks quite good," ke admired the drawings. "Your Marine armorer is pretty knowledgeable on firearms."


    "Yes, he is," Pike spoke up, "Other than that he is quite useless."


    "Oh, why?" ke looked away from the disy, his eyebrows arching up.


    "That guy''s always finding ways to ck and avoid any dangerous duties," Pike exined, shook his head. "He got posted to the Marines as a rear echelon due to his family political connections. Ha. guess they are regretting their decisions now!"


    "Well, I don''t care if they got any political connections back on Earth," ke leaned back in his chair, "We are all in the same sinking ship now, everyone has to help in one way or another if not everyone sinks together."

 Chapter 71: The Crucible

    Chapter 71: The Crucible


    "Come on maggots! CRAWL FASTER!" James screamed at the mud-drenched recruits crawling under a series of barb-wired obstacles. James fired his Magelock over the heads of the weary recruits, his live round smacking next to the wet snow, where one of the recruits stopped to take a breather, making the recruit flinch and continue his crawl.


    The snow had been churned into mud by the bodies of the sleep-deprived recruits as they navigated through the obstacle courses. Somewhere down the line, Mills sadistically sshed buckets of wyvern blood and guts over the struggling recruits. "Get used to blood and gore!" while other drill instructors fired live ammunition among the recruits.


    Once the obstacle course waspleted, the recruits were then forced marched eight kilometers to another location where they began another series of challenging exercises. The recruits'' final week of training is toplete the Crucible test.


    The Crucible is a test every recruit must go through to be a Marine. It tests every recruit physically, mentally and morally and is the defining experience of recruit training. The Crucible takes ce over 72 hours and includes food and sleep deprivation and over 80 kilometers of marching. The recruits get barraged constantly in the day and night with exercises, which required every recruit to work together to solve problems, ovee obstacles, and help each other along the way.


    The obstacles they faced included long marches,bat assault courses, leadership reaction courses, and team-building exercises. All the while, their instructors were in warm clothes, drinking hot drinks, and offering them food, hot beverages, nkets, and a warm shower if they will just quit and ring the Bell. Yet so far none of the elves covered in snow had given up, they pushed and encouraged each other, showing the humans that they were a very tough race.


    Newly promoted Master Sergeant Pike sat on the jeep, watching the recruits humping over 20 kg of gear trotted zombie-like over the snow as they finished the final course. The freezing night wind blew strongly against the tired elves, but they ignored the freezing wind and stubbornly pushed on, even if their feet oozed with broken blisters.


    Soon, the sun rose and Camp Alpha appeared in their sights, the tired recruits broke into a marching song to keep their spirits up and to ignore the chill and weariness creeping into their bones.


    "In the early morning sun,


    With a field pack on my back,


    And an aching in my heart,


    And my body full of sweat,


    I''m a long long way from home,


    And I miss my girlfriend so,


    In the early morning march,


    When the cold wind blows,


    When the cold wind blows,


    When the cold wind blows,


    When the cold wind blows,


    I know I know,


    You have to go,


    So hurry back home,


    I miss you so."


    Pike smiled in the rear of the jeep, that was following behind the marching recruits. Soon they will be real Marines after they reached the Camp and received their globe and anchor badge, which signified them bing a Marine. Damn, these guys are pretty hardcore, Pike hoped that the next batch of recruits will be the same too.


    As the recruits marched through the gates, they headed to the parade square where dozens of viewing stands were constructed. Surprised, they found out that their families and rtives whom they listed as their next of kin appeared in the stands, waving and cheering them on.


    The tiredness that had seeped into their bones instantly vanished, and they marched straighter and proudly. Even with their unkempt appearance, they marched in step, and kept in proper formation, holding their rifles at port arms.


    As they assembled at the parade square, Major Frank and Master Sergeant Pike stood before them standing on a covered tform, with Princess Sherene as the Guest of Honor. Captain ke, Commander Ford, Lord Joesph, and the other high rankers, sat behind on the reviewing stand.


    Out of the 448 recruits, six were dropped out due to injuries sustained during the training. The six will be allowed to rejoin the training after they had recovered fully. Other than those six, not a single former Goldrose soldier gave up and ring The Bell set outside the parade ground.


    The Bell was a simple cast iron bell, if any recruit who wishes to quit, can ring the bell three times loudly in the middle of the whole camp. And if they ring the Bell during the Crucible test, they get to have hot food, drinks, and warm dry clothes in front of the rest of the wet, cold and hungry recruits.


    They marched passed the public viewing stands and saluted the officers in the reviewing stands before stopping their march in front of the podium. Now the 442 recruits formed up proudly, all traces of fatigue gone, and stood in attention staring straight ahead. Master Sergeant Pike nodded, proud of the recruits standing in front of him. "All of you made me proud, I have never seen a batch of recruits like you who never gave up! You now no longer maggots, you not pieces of crap, nor are you not idiots, and no longer recruits, you are all Marines. You havepleted what I''ve done many years ago when I was a recruit like you." Master Sergeant Pike voice amplified by the mike and speakers set around the parade square.


    Major Frank took over and gave his speech to the Marines, "Today you people are no longer maggots. Today you are Marines. You''re part of a brotherhood. From now on, until the day you die, wherever you are, every Marine is your brother. Most of you will go to Sawtooth Pass. Some of you will note back. But always remember this, Marines die, that''s what we''re here for! But the Marine Corps lives forever. And that means you live forever!"


    "HOORAH!" The men roared aloud in unison. The force of their roar gave Princess Sherene goosebumps. Being told that they will die, yet their morale is so high, Princess Sherene thought it was quite scary, how did they train them to be so hardcore? She wondered.


    Princess Sherene was than invited to give a speech on behalf of the people. The crowded stands cheered as she stood before the podium, she cleared her throat and the people hushed, allowing her to speak. "My people, we hade a long way since we left our mothend. Everyone had experienced some kind of loss along the way. Now the Hoomans had reached out a helping hand to us, not only in material means but also in military help."


    "Today we are gathered here to witness the birth of a new army to defend us from our enemies, with the help of our Hooman allies. Let us salute our brave men who are willing to give their lives so that we can sleep peacefully at night. Thank you." Princess Sherene gave a bow to the gathered troops. The public also stood up and bowed respectfully to the men standing in attention in the parade square.


    "Congrattions, Marines!" Major Frank stood at attention and gave a salute to the graduated Marines, who saluted back. "You will now receive your Anchor and Globe insignia, which means you are Marines now!"


    The drill instructors gave out and walked down the rows of elves, issuing a Marine insignia and congratting each and every one of them. "You are no longer recruits! You can call us by our rank and names from now onwards!"


    "Now return your gear and arms, you have two hours with your friends and families gathered here, after that clean up all your gear and tomorrow you get one week off. toon leaders dismiss your men!" Master Sergeant Pike gave the order once every Marine had been issued a Marine insignia.


    The newly graduated Marines cheered and the individual acting toon leaders gave themands for them to dismiss. The Marines than rapidly dispersed back to their barracks to change and drop their gear, before returning to the parade square dressed in new uniforms to find their loved ones and sharing their experiences excitedly and asking them to pin the new insignia on for them.


    The drill instructors went around with digital cameras to help the families and friends to take a picture together with the graduated Marines. Almost everyone was no longer strangers to the hoomans'' "tek-no-logee" and they eagerly gathered to take pictures.


    Princess Sherene watched the scene from her seat with mixed emotions. She found that the practices of the hoomans were very different from her people''s way of living and thinking, which can be counted on as cultural differences. But watching the way the new soldiers and their families and friends behave now, she felt them no longer as part of the people. She wondered if every one of the people will be brainwashed into bing more hooman-like in the future. Will the people''s identity and the culture and history of Goldrose be lost forever?

 Chapter 72: Escape

    Chapter 72: Escape


    As the celebrations went on in Camp Alpha way into the morning, back in the ship, several men met up in the Marine''s armory. Seargent Raman watched the armory hatch''s camera, making sure no one else is around before opening the hatch. He always used a backdoor hack to erase the video images and ID tags of the people entering and leaving the restricted area, to prevent Security from noticing anything wrong.


    "All here?" Raman looked at the group inside the armory. Two crew ratings from Maintenance and Operations, two from Engineering, two mechanics from Auxiry and one more from Security. Ivan nodded, "All that want to go are here."


    "Good," Raman rubbed his sweaty palms together and said, "The passcode for the arms lockers are here," He passed out the data tes to crew with the Security uniform tabs. "Grab all the ammo, and rifles and load up into the crates."


    "Ivan and your friend, you go start up the vehicles, we will meet you at the motor pool," Raman instructed handing Ivan a set of ck security armor and a Glock 88 attached to a leg holster. The armory didn''t keep any spare Marine armor as those were all transported to Camp Alpha.


    "The rest help transport the equipment we need over to the motor pool." Raman continued, handing out sets of ck turtle vest armor to his fellow conspirators. They loaded the PDWs and M7A1s with live ammunition and slung the weapons on their backs before cing the loaded crates onto hand loaders, pushing them out of the armory.


    The dozens of weapons lockers were emptied out rapidly, dozens of PDWs and a few M7A1s that remained in the armory were stacked into foam crates, while cases of 5mm and 6.5mm were loaded into separated crates. The armory started to look empty as crates and crates of equipment were loaded out and pushed towards the motor pool at the Cargo Bay.


    "Move those too, they arebat rations which I nicked from the Marine stores," He pointed to several stic boxes sitting at the side of the armory. They were soon loaded up along with the rest of the crates. Raman did a quick check around the armory, making sure everything is taken before he exited the armory and locked the hatch. He took out his tablet and hit a few keys in it, releasing a virus he wrote into the system.


    Almost immediately, the armory lost all power and the lights went out inside. Even telltale red lights of the emptied electronically locked lockers disappeared. Raman grinned wickedly, well that will give us some time for them to open the lockers only to find them empty.


    Too bad they didn''t store all the weapons and ammunition in one ce, if not I would have taken all, Raman rued, too much time is needed to raid the rest of the arms lockers in the various parts of the ships and no way to get to the city armory.


    Raising his Glock 88, he aimed the muzzle of boxy shaped silencer attached to the pistol and squeezed several shots into the security pad of the armory door, destroying the lock sensors, causing a smell of burnt stic in the hatchway.


    Raman swung his backpack onto his back and walked away without looking back and put on a pair of shades while holstering his weapon.


    -----


    "Come on, Hio, use more strength!" Spaceman (Machinist) Ryan urged his partner as they gripped the handles of the monkey wrench, trying to loosen the devil cursed bolt from the transmission gear of the half-track they were maintaining. "Ok, on three, one, two, THREE!" The two mechanics huffed and puffed as they exerted their strength against the bolt.


    "Goddamn it, how did it get so fucked up with muck, that we can''t unbolt it!" Spaceman Apprentice (Machinist) Hio, grumbled as he wriggled his sored fingers. "Hey, that''s Ivan and Tony?" Hio, saw the two entering the motor pool pushing some equipment with hand loaders.


    "Petty Officer Ivan and Tony boy!" Ryan yelled from where he sat on the cold hard decks of the Cargo Bay. "Need some help here!"


    The two men walking towards the other side of the bay froze, turning their heads like robots staring at Ryan and Hio. "What''s wrong?"


    "Huh? Oh, nothing, what are you guys doing here sote?" It was 0200am shipboard hours, Ivan asked as he walked over to the two Machinists. "Shouldn''t you guys be off duty?"


    "Damn, I want to, but we got to fix this shit before we can get off," Ryan grumbled, tapping the hull of the half-track with a spanner. "Some help in unscrewing that bolt? We can''t find the powered screwdriver, don''t know which asshole used it and didn''t put it back in its ce!"


    Hio stared at Ivan, looking at the armor and gear he was wearing, "PO Ivan, did the sirens went off? Are we under attack?" He gestured with his head towards the armor Ivan was wearing.


    "Oh," Ivan looked down at his armor, seemingly like noticing it for the first time. "This?" He quick drew his silenced pistol and fired into the two unsuspecting friends, dropping them both onto the decks in their own puddle of blood.


    Ivan''s heartbeat pounded loudly in his ears, louder than the suppressed shots of his Glock, his head drenched with cold sweat. He swallowed his suddenly dry throat a few times, before holstering his pistol with shaky hands. "S-sorry guys."


    "What happened? Did you kill them?" Spaceman Senior Tony came up behind Ivan, causing Ivan to jump in surprise. "Shit."


    "Blyad!" Ivan cursed, "Don''te up behind me like that!" He patted his chest a few times, trying to calm his racing heart down. "They saw us, we couldn''t let them report anything. Enough,e let''s go."


    "Shit," Tony spat as he cast ast nce at the two bodies on the deck, he worked with those two before a few times and found them to be great guys. "Shit."


    "Take that half-track, I had it listed as down for maintenance, there should be some equipment loaded in the back," Ivan tossed an electronic key to Tony. "Check the back to see if its all there."


    Tony unlocked the vehicle and pulled himself up the tailgate of the half-track, doing a quick inventory of the equipment piled in the back. Dozens of foam crates stacked the rear neatly in rows, he opened the nearest crate and saw dozens of pieces of machinery seated in the foam padding.


    "There should be 20 crates at the back," Ivan said as he pushed the hand loader with more crates to the back of the half-track.


    "Got it," Tony did a quick count and reached for the crates Ivan handed up. Soon other members of the conspiracy arrived with more crates and started helping to load the supplies up. No one said anything about the two cooling bodies on the other side of the bay.


    Raman walked in into the Cargo Bay and head towards the motor pool, he noticed the two bodies on the floor next to a half-track and smiled inwardly, now they are too deep in already, they can''t run back to the Captain and betray him.


    "How''s everything?" Raman asked Ivan. "All good?"


    "Yea, except for a little problem, but it''s taken care of," Ivan sighed, "We just need to hook the trailer up and we are good to go."


    "Great," Raman turned an pointed to the security guy, "Aaron right? Go open the bay doors, and lower the ramps." Aaron nodded and ran towards the control booth at the side of the bay doors. After a while, loud sounds of hydraulics echoed in the vast Cargo Bay as the massive doors slid open inch by inch.


    "Split up half-half between the vehicles," Raman ordered, "Let''s get the hell of out this ce!"


    They picked up Aaron at the doors and drove down the extended ramps heading towards the west walls. Tony stood by the inte and reported to the Bridge about the opening of the bay door, using the wind blowing in to muffle his voice, reporting that Hio and Ryan were doing a vehicle test and since they were logged in as working in the motor pool, Bridge did not suspect anything.


    The vehicles'' headlights cut a swad through the fluttering snow drifting down from the dark skies as they navigated along the wet and slippery snow road, before finally reaching the West Gates of the walls. The security personnel manning the gates were surprised, but Ivan bluffed his way through, saying that the Wind, Tidal and Sr generators were down due to the heavy snow, and they need to shut it down before it gets damaged in a storm.


    They were waved through and they really drove towards one of the W, T, S generators. The conspirators quickly detached the power cabling and collected the cables, while the two from Engineering shut down the generator and prepped it for transport. It took them less than an hour to load the portable generator into the trailer.


    As they drove off in the snowstorm, the sirens within the walls red, waking the inhabitants up.

 Chapter 73: The Hunt

    Chapter 73: The Hunt


    Spaceman Apprentice Dale from Maintenance and Operations scanned his ID chip from the sensor, updating his timesheet, as he entered the Maintenance locker room in Cargo Bay to start work. Humming to himself, he changed into his work overalls and started up the all-in-one robotic cleaners.


    After making sure the cleaning solutions and water tanks were all topped up, Dale using his control tablet and four robotic cleaners the size of arge trash bin, followed docilely behind him, running on their many roller wheels as he led the machines out of the garage of the Maintenance locker.


    Wearing a pair of head mufflers and running music in the background, he directed the cleaners to clean and maintain the decks of the Cargo Bay. A short whileter, as he was enjoying some hot decaf, an alert on his tablet went off and he went to investigate the problem. These bots tend to get stuck easily or if they detected some tools left behind by the mechanics, they will prompt an alert out.


    "What''s wrong, R2D4?" He named the four robots one to four after some ssic science fiction character from the 2D oldie motion pictures archives. "What''s got into your gears?"


    He looped around the half-track and stopped in his tracks, there were two bodiesying on the deck in their own pool of congealed blood. "Oh, shit." He pulled his personnelm device and spoke directly into it, "Control? Cargo maintenance... We got dead people here..."


    -----


    Captain ke was angry, very angry. He gripped the handrails in the Bridge till his knuckles turned white, as he listened to the reports from Flight Operations. "Sir, we can''tunch the UAV in this storm! The current sustained wind speed is at 73 kilometers per hour and with sudden gusts up to 223 kilometers per hour! No to mention the thick snowfall, our sensors will be totally blind!"


    "So you are saying we have to let those traitorous bastards off?" Captain ke mmed the tactical table plot with his fists. "How about the tracking devices on the vehicles?"


    The Sensors operator shook her head, "No luck, Sir. It will appear that they disabled the tracker."


    "What? Even the secondary backup? Even the Search and Rescue beacon?" ke pressed the flustered operator.


    "Sir, we got no signal to the SAR beacon at all," She replied, after checking her console for the eighth time.


    "What do we got then?" ke turned to the officer wearing Security insignia standing at the side of the tactical table plot. "You better have something for me!"


    "Yes, Sir." 2nd Lieutenant Mike Jacobs gave his report. "Central cameras along deck 3A, 4B, 4C, 6C, and 7A had motion detected during the time period between 0100 hours to 0200 hours. We eliminated movement from other locations as those have their alibis and esses checked."


    "In the past hour, we also did a full roll call of all personnel to find out who has not replied." Lt Mike uploaded his report on the Bridge disy, showing a few individual dossiers. "These are our current suspects, they have not reported in for the past one hour."


    "Spaceman Apprentice Leung, Chun-Kok, born 2109, New Territories, Hong Kong. Maintainance and Operations."


    "Spaceman Apprentice Ramu Garcia, born 2111, Man, Philipines. Maintainance and Operations."


    "Spaceman Siddarth Kumar, born 2111, Mumbai, India. Engineering."


    "Spaceman Senior Nics De Vos, born 2105, Ghent, Belgium. Engineering."


    "Spaceman Senior Aaron Hart, born 2109, San Diego, CA, North America."


    "Spaceman Senior Tony Petrynec, born 2112, Dnipro, Ukraine. Auxiliaries, Cargo Operations."


    "Petty Officer 2nd ss Ivan Pavlo, born 2110, Kursk, Russia. Auxiliaries, Flight Operations."


    "3rd Sergeant Raman Singh, born 2108, New Delhi, India. United Nations of Man Marine Corps."


    "Apparently, our good Sergeant here has hacked into the armory security system which he was in charge of, changing and erasing logs." Lt Mike said. "As he was very familiar with armory systems, he fried both the main power and the backup power systems for the armory, which when we opened up, found it totally empty."


    "What did we lose?" Captain ke asked as he leaned over the tactical plot. "Has the virus been scrubbed from the systems?"


    "We managed to iste the virus within the armory security systems, it has no threats to the main systems, but to be safe, I will advise we shut down every system and run the codes to make sure there are no hidden viruses and backdoors he might have left behind." Lt Mike replied as he scrolled his tablet for the list of missing items.


    "Information is stilling in on what had been taken by the deserters, but based on thest updated armory report from Master Sergeant Pike''s inspection, which is two weeks outdated, we estimate that we lost 8 M7A1s, 30 PWDs, 10 M3 shotguns, 30 Glocks 88s and a dozen M1 Magelocks. For ammunition stocks, 7,000 rounds of 6.5mm in both ammunition types, 20,000 rounds of 5mm, a thousand rounds in 12 ga. 00 buckshot and over three thousand ck powder loads. 20 sets of MK VI body armor. Also over a hundred High Explosive Anti Personnel grenades and shbangs were missing."


    Captain ke closed his eyes as he crunched the numbers in his head, "That''s almost the remaining one-third of our remaining hi-tech ammunition stocks!"


    "On the plus side, Sir," Lt Mike continued, "We had dispersed most of the weapons and ammunition to several locations all over the base in the past week. If not our losses will be worse."


    "What else is confirmed missing?" ke asked, trying to keep his temper in.


    "We have no concrete evidence yet, but we are suspecting that they might have stolen a full set of a ss 5 Fabricator. We found reports of parts listed as deflects and recycled in the system, the Forensics team is putting together the lists of parts to be self but it looks like a ss 5."


    A ss 5 Fabricator is man-portable advanced materials 3D printer capable of printing anything handheld from mobilems units to assault rifles as long as raw materials are avable. The workshops were printing out ss 5 fabricators to increase production of smaller parts to free therger ss 3 Fabricators on otherrger important projects.


    "Also Forensics found that several database topics in the system were copied, mostly on manuals on basic infrastructure, agriculture, animal husbandry, medicine and sciences like chemistry and physics," Mike added.


    "Captain!" The UAV operator called out, "The storm has dropped, we can resume flight operations."


    "Do it, Launch all the UAVs on standby. Do a 100-kilometer grid search pattern." ke ordered. "Target the northern and southern parts of the West Gate."


    -----


    The flight deck was a flurry of activity, as the two standby UAVs were loaded onto the electromaicunch catapults. The whine of the supercharged turbofans of UAVs drowned out all conversation in the flight deck, as theunch crew ensured all systems were operational. The Catapult Officer did ast minute check on theunch pad and signal the Air Boss waiting inside the Primary Flight Control room.


    As the maws of the armored flight bay swung open, the wind from the lessen storm blew in, rattling the two UAVs locked side by side on the dualuncher bay. The Catapult Officer checked the wind speed and gave a worried look at the Air Boss, signaling with hand signs that the wind speed might be too strong for the UAVs to handle during the takeoff.


    Air Boss, Chief Petty Officer Ethan Turner who was in charge of all Flight Operations on the Flight Deck frowned as he double checked the instruments. The current wind is very unstable, even though it had dropped to 45 km per hour, well within the safety takeoff speed for the Owleye UAVs. It was the gushes of wind that worried him as it could suddenly jump up to 100 or 200 km per hour, which might catch the UAVs in a crosswind and that would crash the precious UAVs.


    Damn, those traitorous murdering bastards are getting away in the bloody storm, he thought to himself. Fuck it, let''s take the risk. "Alright, all hands, clear the bay, fuck the wind, the Captain''s ordered it and we are gonna find those traitors!"


    The roars of approval were drowned by the high pitched whine of the electromaic pulseuncher as it powered up and "pulse fired" the carriage holding the UAV out at speeds of over 250 km per hour into the angled ramp and out into the stormy skies.


    The Owleye staggered as it hit the storm but managed to right itself. The UAV operator wearing the full immersion headset controller skillfully piloted the UAV into the air and directed the nose of the UAV towards the search grid.


    -----


    The two half-tracks packed side by side in the cover of the everblue forest, taking shelter from the raging snowstorm. "Quickly get those smart camouge covers over the vehicles," Raman shouted over the storm.


    The conspirators struggled against the wind and finally managed to pin and lock the camo covers over the vehicles. "Good work! Let''s continue moving!" Even with the dozer des deployed to clear the snow in their tracks, the snow storm quickly covered up their tracks. Raman tried to peer out of the window and into the sky, he might not be a true Marine, but he had learned enough of how to avoid aerial surveince and recon.


    The smart camouge plus the snowstorm will effectively negate any emission of infrared, thermal and electronic signals, making them invisible to anything sensors. He smiled happily and yelled loudly into the directserms linking the vehicles.


    "Let''s go build our own Kingdom!"

 Chapter 74: When shit falls, it comes in buckets...

    Chapter 74: When shit falls, ites in buckets...


    The hunt for the deserters went on throughout the next day, but even with the snowstorm weaking, yet no traces of the two stolen half-tracks could be found. Unfortunately, before the storm ebbed, one of the Owleye UAVs encountered a sudden gale of wind, forcing it to go into a t spin and pancake into the snow-packed terrain.


    Captain ke had no choice but to call back the rest of the UAVs searching for the deserters to prevent more idents till the storm passes. The recalled UAVsnded one after another and were towed to the maintenance hangers for servicing by the crew. A retrieval team was dispatched to find the crashed UAV, hopefully, the airframe is still sound enough for the crashed UAV to be repaired back into service.


    Air Boss Ethan directed the crashed UAV into the hanger bay and strolled over to Chief Gale, "How is it? Can it be repaired?" Both of them stared at the warped wreckage of the UAV. "Lucky the ground is packed shoulder high with snow, it should cushion some of the impacts."


    Chief Gale crouched down and peer at the underside of the airframe, tapping the ting with his knuckles, "Well, we will need to do a full detailed microscopic scan, to see if there are any hairline cracks on the frame. Can''t tell anything for now. If not we should be able to get up and running in a month or two."


    "Damn, now we are down to only three UAVs in active service," Ethan rubbed his tired face, having not slept since the alert went off. "Chief, do your best to fix her up, alright?"


    "Sure, I will get my boys on it," Chief Gale shook his head as he cursed under his breath, "Fucking traitors if I get my hands on them," He cracked his knuckles in anger. "I am fucking gonna tear their heads off."


    "Sorry for the lost of your two men, Chief," Ethan patted Chief Gale''s shoulder. "We will get them."


    Chief Gale nodded, "They were just kids. Damn it." He hammered his gloved fist against the wreckage.


    Ethan stepped out of the hanger bay and bellowed at his men, "Alright, prep the returned birds forunch, once the storm passes, we are gonnaunch again. Make sure the birds are fully refueled and ready to go."


    -----


    Commander Ford frowned as he read thetest report that came in twice, making sure he didn''t read it wrong. Finally, he gave a deep sigh, setting the tablet down on the table. "Well, I got more bad news, Cap."


    Captain ke sprawled over his office sofa, one hand resting over his tired eyes. "What''s more shit did they do?" He gestured his other hand to Ford for him to continue.


    "We lost contact with the W, T, S Generator earlier but Engineering listed it down due to the heavy storm. An engineering team went down to check when the storm lessened, in case it got disconnected or damaged due to the storm, but when they reached the site of W, T, S generator Four, they reported that it is missing." Ford replied, slumping down weary on a chair. "It is highly likely that they stole it too."


    "So not only guns and ammo, a ss 5 fabricator, and now even a power generator is stolen," ke spoke from his position on the sofa. "And we got a downed UAV for our efforts with still no results on where they ran. Oh, not to mention our stock of gold and silver reserves."


    "Apparently one of the security officers manning the vault that morning as part of their gang," Ford confirmed. "At least, he tasered his fellow officers rather than killing them in cold blood, is something we can be thankful for."


    "We still lost two kids because of their actions." ke cut Ford off, who conceded the point.


    "They also stole enough of the emergency rations tost the eight of them for a couple of months." Ford sounded defeated. "Its very clear that it was nned long before, as the hacking of the security systems is not something you can do in a day or a week or two."


    "Security Forensics also found the files regarding all weapons designs and blueprints wiped off from the system servers, except what was saved in the tablets." Ford continued the bad news, "Even the designing software. We are back to the drawing board or we will need the IT guys to write out a new design software."


    "How did we missed all these?" ke asked, "There should be some signs right? How did they evade the intruder fail-safes in the system?"


    "Most of the ship''s primary AI server functions were badly damaged in the crash, and the IT guys took down the system to rewrite the lost codes and functions," Ford exined. "Apparently our Indian friend here not only holds a Bachelor''s degree in mechanical engineering and firearms design but also a Bachelor''s of Science in Computer engineering."


    The profile picture and the dossier of Raman Singh appeared on the disy screen in the office. Details of his education and background appeared below his photo image.


    "He must have slipped in the malicious codes when the IT department rebooted the mainframe." Ford gave his hypothesis. "Forensics is still digging through everything with a fineb that he had touched or been to onboard the ship. But so far, nothing yet."


    "So he''s a super hacker, a firearms designer and the son of India''s trade minister." ke checked off the points with his fingers. "Fucking fantastic."


    "IT will be shutting the mainframe for debugging and a full diagnostics of the codes to find if there are any hidden backdoors." Ford said, "Weapon systems are already isted from the mainframe to prevent any remote controlling if he had nted a backdoor, before the codes are checked and cleared, all of the ship''s weapon systems will be down."


    "Fuck it, it''s over 20 hours," ke said, sitting up from the sofa. "Call it off the search, let the men go get some rest, we can''t do anything now till the storm passes and without our main weapon systems, we are practically defenseless."


    "Understood," Ford responded and started packing his stuff. "I get the men to stand down for now and focus on defense."


    "Go get some rest," ke advised Ford. "My gut feeling is that they are long gone, but I suspect, it won''t be thest we see of them."


    Ford stood at the opened hatch and nodded, "Than we need to prepare a warm wee for them when we see them again."


    "You bet we will," ke agreed. "We will be ready for them."


    -----


    Camp Alpha, Briefing Room One.


    The air was heavy as the human Marines not on duty gathered around the front rows of the theater like seating, listening to thems of the Marine search parties. When the order came, telling the men to stand down, they all broke out in curses and disagreement. "Alright! Stand down!" Master Sergeant Pike''s voice drowned out all argument from the disgruntled Marines. "Go back to your bunks and rest."


    "But Top, we still can move out to find those bastards." The men argued. "We ain''t tired!"


    "I know everyone is pissed with this shit that''s going on. It is a serious stain to our Marine Corps honor!" Pike stood in the front and addressed the gathered Marines. "I know everyone wants a piece of that traitorous bastard. So do I!"


    "So let us out to find that asshole!" Someone yelled in the back. "We got good trackers here!"


    "But the orders came in to stand down for now. Grab some chow and sleep, it isn''t over yet!" Pike told his men. "Save your energy till the storm passes, no one can track any shit in this storm. I am also expecting every one of you to be on alert, ready to move out at any moment, do you understand?"


    "Yes Top!" The men addressed Pike unofficially as ''Top'' due to his seniority and position as the top of thepany''s enlisted ranks.


    The men filed out of the briefing room in ones and twos, shaking their heads and grumbling along the way. Mills grumbled as he and Bartley headed back towards the barracks, "Damn, that ck shit, always knew he was up to no good."


    Bartley shook his head and replied as he strolled beside Mills, "Bad business." The st of the cold wind hammered against them as someone opened the main door out of the admin building. They left the building and leaned against the snow storm, before entering the barracks.


    "Woooh," Mills shook the snow off his environmental suit and stamped his boots to clear the snow. "Crazy weather, hope those bastards freeze to death in it, saves everyone the energy of killing them."


    The newbie Marine on desk duty in the barracks visibly restrained himself from jumping to his feet and greeting the arrivals. Mills chuckled, and asked, "Does the winter storms get this bad?"


    The Marine elf nodded, "Normally not as bad as the mountains protect us from winds, but it does storm quite a bit during this time of the year. But the heavy snowstorm normallyst a day or two, and once it passes, the next seasones,"


    "Well, it sounds like mother nature doing a final dump on us before moving on."

 Chapter 75: Distractions

    Chapter 75: Distractions


    The snowstorm continued to rage till the next morning. When the dark clouds cleared, sunlight shone down from the clear blue skies brightening the city covered in a thickyer of snow.


    The inhabitants exited their dwellings and cleared the snow away while chatting with their neighbors. Most of the topic involved the sirens that went off in the Iron Castle.


    The hoomans living in the Iron Castle were very strange in their ways, yet wise despite their youthful looks. But to them, as long as they have a roof over their heads, food in their bellies, they will follow the hoomans in their strange ways.


    -----


    Main Conference Room, UNS Singapore


    The whole highmand was gathered in the room, except for the elves. Everyone faces were dark and grim and the air in the room was heavy.


    Captain ke sat in his usual ce at the head of the door with Commander Ford at his side.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, the past few days we had an incident that has affected us badly in both material resources and morale." ke started the meeting with that statement.


    Mutters of agreement came from everyone as they looked gloomily at ke.


    "I am not here to assign any me for what happened," ke continued. "This is something none of us predicted nor expected. But we shall learn from our mistakes."


    "Captain," Chief Engineer Matt spoke up, "Do we have any idea where or why they deserted?"


    "For now, we suspect the reason is either greed or the threat of the Empire," Commander Ford spoke. "But we are leaning more towards the Empire''s threat. As for where they went, there are only two directions they could have gone, either North or East."


    Head of Security, 2nd Lieutenant Mike gave his report, "Forensics ran through all eight of the deserters'' daily activities and data logs, while most of them were wiped out from the server, we managed to reconstruct some of the files." He passed a stack of dossiers and transcripts around the table. "It appears that Sergeant Raman is the brains behind everything, from the viruses to the nning of desertion. Some of the armory inventory had been modified as early as two weeks after we crashed, the summary is all listed in the files."


    Lieutenant Mike gave a whole rundown of what had been stolen, from advanced weaponry, ammunition, food, manuals, gold and silver from the vaults, the ss 5 Fabricator and an automated Marine surplus reloading kit to the W, T, S generator and the two half-tracks with spare batteries. "In total, a third of our remaining stocks of advanced weapons and ammunition were looted and almost all our weapons database and research were wiped from the servers." He ended with that point.


    "As to why we couldn''t discover them so far, we suspect that they are using Marine smart camo covers that can reduce their heat and electronic signatures, and with the snowstorm covering their tracks," Ford continued after Mike ended his brief. "Once they hit the cover of the forest, we can''t track them in the air at all."


    "So what now?" Chief Matt asked. "They stole one of the W, T, S, generators and with the storm, seven out of the eleven windmills are down for repairs, our power needs are barely met. Not to mention the IT boys have to check all the codes for viruses, all our armament are down!"


    "We rece what we lost and focus on defense first," ke spoke. "Continue training troops and bluff up defenses at the Pass, while the IT guys focus on checking no backdoors are installed and we restart our weapons research again."


    "So we are gonna let the bastards off? Pardon thenguage, Doc." Deck Chief Gale apologized to Dr. Sharon who waved him off. "We gonna let those murderers walk?"


    "For now, yes," ke sighed. He turned and activated the disy behind him, showing a UAV feed. "This was taken this morning at 0944 hours, 237 kilometers Northeast from the Pass when the storm was over."


    The video was split into two images, the right image showed the normal view of the terrain, while the left image disyed infra imaging of the same terrain.


    A field of white could be seen covering the thick everblue forest canopy, while the infra imaging show spots of red appearing among the breaks in the forest canopy.


    The spots of red appeared in several areas where the canopy of the trees was not clustered together, stretching for kilometers over the distance.


    "The Empire has made their move," ke gave his report to the surprised crowd in the meeting room. "With the current terrain and weather conditions, it is estimated that they will arrive within striking range of the Pass within one week to 10 days."


    "Goddamn," Someone cursed. "They just don''t give up do they?"


    "The thing here is, it will be that they either hired mercenaries or they press-ganged some other races to wage war," ke switched the UAV feed to another image, disying a frozen zoomed in the image which caught a perfect shot of several creatures through the break in the trees.


    "That appears to be a creature we ssed as a troll," Major Frank took over the briefing. "And here is another shot of another new creature." He disyed another image of severalrge bare-chested muscr humanoid creature taken at an angle, their skin a mix of dull grey and green tones, wearing skull caps, with animal skins for shorts and wielding wicked looking axes and huge sabers.


    "That looks like an Orc!" Dr. Sharon eximed excitedly, her eyes shining as she smacked the table top with her palms. "Whoops, sorry." She noticed everyone staring at her with weird looks, her face turning slightly red.


    "Ahem," Frank cleared his throat before continuing, "Yes, thanks to Dr. Sharon''s reference materials, we are ssing this new creature as an Orc."


    "ording to the elves, the Empire uses irregr troops constantly, the Orcs to them are like arger cousin to the goblins but tougher and stronger, they call them as ''Oerkin'' which trantes to Larger Greenskins" Frank gave a basic description of the Orc. "First-hand information from Goldrose soldiers who had fought against them is that they are very hard to kill."


    "Standing over two meters tall, with muscles that any body builder will kill for. They appeared to have a mix of both goblin and troll traits. The cunninginess of the goblins and simr regeneration powers of the trolls and skin tough enough to stop swords and spears." Frank than quoted the elves, "to kill an Oerkin, one must chop off its head. There have been many records of supposedly dead Oerkin with wounds that would have taken lives, waking up after a battle has ended."


    "Oooh, could your Marines capture one alive?" Dr. Sharon eyes continued to gleam excitedly. "I wanna study them!"


    "Doc, please calm down," ke interjected. "Now, we estimated at least four to five thousand Orcs in the force as Lord Joesph told us about them. They are mostly mercenaries, operating in ns which only have so many males avable for hire."


    "Intelligence estimates a force of roughly 10,000 heading our way, mixed with Orcs, trolls and regr elven infantry, siege weaponry and that is not counting their baggage and supply train, and what other auxiliary and irregr troops that they scoured up along the way." Ford listed out the enemy force disposition. "Our nemesis is known as Lord Strum Cyrras, Baron of Fallowfall. Apparently, he is the head honcho of this region, also the one governing the conquered territories of Goldrose."


    "Intel from our prisoner is that this guy is ruthless, ambitious and a somewhat decent general and spellcaster. He is also part of the Knights of Twelve, which seems to be some kind of secretive knightly order, which Intel is still trying to dig more information out from the prisoner." Ford stated.


    "The Marine orders are to dig in for the fight, Engineering to repair all the windmills and restore power, the project to dam up the waterfall will proceed once the snow melts," ke stated issuing orders to everyone. "Dr. Sharon, please continue your research on strategic magical usage with Magister Thorn."


    "Deck Chief Gale, please work with Flight Operations to try to repair the downed UAV, and also the ns for modifying the two Spacebuses." ke listed out his priorities one by one. "Security and IT support to continue to ensure no backdoors and viruses are in the system and get my guns working ASAP!"


    "Everyone clear on their roles?" Everyone nodded, "As for the traitors, leave them be, for now, they can''t survive out there for long without a proper support base. Alright dismissed."


    Themanders and heads of departments saluted ke and exited the room one by one, "Matt, stay for a minute." ke called out.


    After the room was cleared, only ke and Matt remained. "Could the damagedser turrets be dug out and salvaged?"


    "Yes, it''s doable, but there are other more pressing projects to work on now," Matt considered the question before answering. ''Why?"


    "Well, I was thinking of converting them into giant electromaic slingshots."

 Chapter 76: Eye of the Storm

    Chapter 76: Eye of the Storm


    Sherene stood before the opened windows of her office, allowing the cold wind to blow in. The temperature has risen over the past few days as winter slowly came to an end. She returned to her seat before her desk and looked at the neat stack of perfectly cut and pure white parchment, no, paper, she corrected herself.


    Printed on the smooth paper, were neatly arranged characters in both Common and English. It was a census on the number of people living currently in the city, with their ID numbers listed as well, allowing her to search for more detailed information if she keyed the ID number in theputer on her desk.


    Captain ke ced her in charge of running the City hall, and all civic matters. She has a few hooman advisors and her own people that upied other offices in the same building which help her manage the civic affairs if the city.


    Now that spring is almost here, she has to manage workers to tilt thend for farming and animal rearing, roads to be built and maintained, schools to be built,nd to be surveyed and mines to be built.


    The incident a few days ago which rmed all the hoomans were strangely brushed off when she asked ke and Ford. Both of them told her not to worry and just focus on running the city instead. She didn''t press the issue, knowing ke will tell her when the timees. And yesterday, ke told her to use the colored ''credit'' chips as currency for the city instead of using gold, silver and copper coinage.


    ke told her that the citizens can use gold, silver, or copper and exchange with credit chips in equivalent value. He wants her to implement all of themunity supply stores to only ept credit chips instead of hard coinage by end of spring.


    Sherene understood that since they do not have a source of gold and silver mines, creating their own type of currency and enforced by the City hall to be epted only in the shops, will help to cement its value to the people.


    Also, the chips themselves were very durable and lightweightpared to the heavy coins. ke told her to start up a national bank which will guarantee the value of the credit chips with hard gold. He hopes that people will deposit or exchange their precious metal for the chips in the bank rather than hold onto them in their homes.


    Sherene ced a piece of nk paper and smoothed it carefully on the table and picked up a pen which the hoomans called a ballpoint pen. The first time she used it, she fell in love with it.


    The ease of writing with the ballpoint pen was addicting,pared to the cumbersome quill feathers and ink she was used to before. ke told her that these pens are cheap and easy to produce, making her shocked, as a set of quill feathers and a bottle of ink could cost up to 10 gold pieces! That is almost half a year sry for a regr craftsman!


    And not the mention the wondrousmps that provide light brighter than candles at any time and it doesn''t produce any bad smell! Even after attending the sses given by the hoomans, she still thought of themps as magical.


    She spent the whole morning working out the details on the tasks to be done during the spring season. Finally, her tummy growled and she looked at the hooman clock invention hanging on the wall, finding it time for the midday meal.


    She left the City Hall and wandered to a nearby eatery opened by a former inn owner. "Wee! Oh, it''s the Princess!" She was greeted cheerfully by the owner''s daughter cum waitress as she slid the wooden doors open.


    "Here, have a seat!" She was offered her usual seat next to the windows of clear ss. "The usual?"


    Sherene smiled and nodded, "Yes, please! An extra egg too! And a te of fries!" She gave her order to the waitress.


    The tiny store started to get crowded as the lunch crowd started toe in. The people who came into the store for lunch wasn''t surprised to see the Princess sitting there, as she regrly had lunch there, they greeted her with a smile and gossiped with her on trivial matters, making herugh.


    Her food came, a bowl of wyvern broth slime ramen with slices of pan-fried wyvern meat, topped off with arge gooey wyvern egg and garnished with green onion herbs and fragrant spicy oil, this recipe was introduced by the hoomans, much to the delight of the elves'' taste buds. They normally just harvested the slime''s core for its magical properties and never thought that it could be a delicacy. With the introduction of slime as a food ingredient, a booming industry in rearing slimes for food had started up.


    Following that came a te of golden fried thick cut fries sprinkled with sea salt, also courtesy of the hoomans. Potatoes grown from the farms was a new staple food introduced by the hoomans to the elves, the carbohydrate-rich and filling super starch, was extremely popr either deep fried or baked and served with butter, sour cream and bacon bits!


    The waitress who ced therge serving of steaming hot fries also included a small dish of red tomato sauce on the side, making Sherene''s mouth water. A condiment from the hoomans, ''kat-chup'' was made from mashing the red fruit and cooked with salt, sugar, vinegar and other herbs together. It tasted tangy, sweet and sour, making it ideal for dipping fries.


    Lately, she felt she had gained weight ever since she started working at the City Hall. The hoomans are scary, not only are their weapons deadly, even their food is deadly too! Thought Sherene as she dug into her bowl of slurpy ramen with relish.


    The eatery was soon filled with sounds ofughter and cutlery as the people enjoyed their mid-day meal, blissfully unaware of theing of a darker storm.


    -----


    Sawtooth Pass


    The Marine garrison had been reinforced with most of the new recruits. A few of the more promising recruits were sent to Basic Leadership Course before heading to the Advanced Leadership Course.


    Teams of Marines in fatigues dragged sharpened logs and bound them together into barricades, with the sharp pointy ends facing away from the gates. The crater from the missile strike was filled in, to prevent the enemy from using the crater as cover. The roads were cleared of any form of cover that could be used, while barricades were hammered into the hard rocky terrain, forming a maze-like passage.


    Engineering hade by earlier and deposited two modifiedser point defense turrets, stripped from the ship. The fully armored enclosure turrets were upgraded and erged, enabling a crew of up to four tofortably operate the weapon system manually.


    A simple track was installed between the recycledser projector coils, with a roller carriage attached to it while theser emitters and focusing lenses were removed. By powering the coils in sequence using electricity, the maic coils will be able to propel the carriage at high speeds, simr to the Flight Bay EMunchers.


    A cylinder cardboard filled with hundreds of lead pellets can be loaded onto the carriage, like a giant shotgun shell, and when propelled out at high speeds, the dense pellets will burst out of the lighter cardboard container like grapeshot. Another specialty ammunition avable was a discarding sabot round, using a steel prator instead of other denser materials. It was designed for use against heavy armored creatures like dragons. The ready ammunition lockers in the turret are capable of holding 42 Grapeshot shells and 12 Anti Dragon Sabot shots.


    To assist in targeting, a crude rangefinder and camera were installed, protected by two-inch thick armored ss, connected to a disy and fire control system inside the turret. Air pumps connected to pipes were also installed in the turret to ventte the air inside.


    To further protect the turrets from offensive magic, ayer of silica ceramics was coated over the outer armor of the turret, which can be heated up to 1204 Degree Celsius and a lightning rod was installed to protect against lightning attacks.


    Simple hydraulics reced the electric servo motors that rotate the turret, azimuth, and elevation of the gun. Power cables were nted into the floors and protected byyers of concrete to prevent disruption of power to the guns.


    With two of the railguns covering the approaches to the Pass, they effectively could throw a spread of grapeshot at any enemy that approaches within 400 meters and fire an anti-dragon sabot shot effectively up to four kilometers away.


    Mills leaned against his shovel, cking off from filling sandbags and watched the engineers hoist the converted rail guns into ce on the secondary wall using a crane built on top.


    "Damn, I wanna fire that!" He eximed to Bartley who was working diligently, shoveling sand into the bags.


    "Maybe," Bartley gave a simple reply as he focused on his task.


    "Can''t wait to see those Blue Boy faces when you st a massive shotgun in their faces," Mills grinned, "Revenge is best served with a shotgun st in the face."


    "Heard that they have over ten thousand Oerkins and troops headed this way," One of the new Marines said as he worked alongside them.


    "You mean Orcs? Ten thousand, how many do we have?" Mills asked.


    "300," Came the reply from Bartley.


    "Oh no you don''t," Mills cursed, "This is sounding a lot like that movie we watched the other night and that one the other day."


    "Which moobee?" The elf stopped his work, wiping the sweat off his brows. They were introduced to the wonders of movies and dramas in the recreational room, turning them into die-hard movie junkies.


    "This is so much like 300 meets Helm''s Deep!"

 Chapter 77: War Drums

    Chapter 77: War Drums


    Urka the Fierce spat a piece of tough gristle out from his mouth as he mbered over a massive tree root. He paused at the top of the root and stared over the heads of his n mates marching behind him. He adjusted the leather straps holding his double moon ded ax on his back.


    His n known as The Hand had joined the soft skins for promises of food, weapons and a share in the plunder. They mostly roam around the outer ridges of the mountains like nomads, living off thend and raiding the soft skins for food, weapons, and ves. As theycked the knowledge of metal forging, they relied upon the soft skins for iron weapons and at times food to tide over the winter months.


    The ns periodically wage war amongst themselves, over the best watering hole to the prime pastures for their wandering herds of muffalos. n rankings were also determined by wars and duels, basically, it is all about the survival of the fittest.


    Most of his n worn a simple boiled muffalo hide or those with higher ranks within the n, worn crude looking metal ting, hammered into some resemnce of a chest te with a white handprint painted on their chests. They disdained the weak and small soft skins who were wrapped in thick furs and leather armor, yet they had to control their unhappiness with working for the soft skins, for they pay well in weapons, armor, food, and ves.


    To the Oerkin, a warrior should fear nothing, not even the cold. He felt that his n shouldn''t bow down to the soft skins and just take what they need from them. But the Great Chief had spoken and he could not disobey. He leaped down and his bared feet wrapped with leather squished the wet snow.


    He continued the march with over four thousand of his kin, heading towards the distant jagged peaks of the mountain range, sensing an aura of bloodlusting from the mountains. Excited by the thoughts of war and plunder, he drew in a deep breath. "Waaaargh!" His war cry echoed through the forest, inciting his n to roar with him, and the war drummers unlimbered their drums and started beating a tempo furiously.


    -----


    Duke Sturm rode on a pnquin mounted the back of and dragon. A small charcoal brazier burnt, keeping the temperature warm and cozy inside. Sturm lounged on several pillows while the pnquin swayed gently on the back of the lumbering creature.


    Chewing on a golden fruit, Sturm gave a sigh of enjoyment as a two half-naked female knitted his muscles. He dropped the half-eaten fruit back on the bowl and half closed his eyes in bliss.


    "My Lord!" A cry woke him from his pleasant dreams. "A report has arrived from the scouts."


    He sat up from the pillows and shoved away the ves, his pleasure ruined. "What is it?"


    "My Lord, the scouts have the Pass in sight and it appears that the rebel has fortified the Pass." The soldier riding a war dragon reported, pacing therger lumberingnd dragon side by side. "They report seeing a double defensive wall built at the Pass."


    "What?" Sturm pulled away from the thick heavy curtains of the pnquin and red at the soldier. "Are the scouts urate?"


    "Yes my Lord," The soldier handed a rolled up scroll to the footman riding along thend dragon, who presented the scroll to Sturm.


    Sturm grabbed the scroll and unfurled it, ring at the contents, which showed a sketch of the Pass and the fortifications protecting it.


    "Impossible, it must be an illusion spell!" Sturm dumped the scroll to the side, "How could they have built this much walls during winter?"


    The reporting soldier kept his head down, not daring to dispute his Lord. "It is just a ruse, even if they sessfully constructed the walls during winter, Now that the snow is melting, the ground it stands on won''t be sturdy enough to withstand our artillery."


    Sturm gestured to the rear of the marching column, where severalnd dragons pulled a massive construct behind them among the columns of blue-coated soldiers slogging through the mud, causing by hundreds and hundreds of feet and the melting snow.


    Several morend dragons cleared the way of his army, uprooting the everblue trees, and creating a highway for his war machines to move over the difficult terrain.


    He heard the rising tempo of drums started in the front of the marching army column, and smiled, "Well, at the least the dogs are hungry. Form the army into two columns, let the dogs take the center stage." Sturm gave out his order to his men. A gbearer started waving gs in a particr matter, while a horn was blown to call themander''s attention to the signal gs.


    -----


    The Owleye UAV stationed at the Pass, glided in gentle circles in the wind, its adaptive coat turning it semi-invisible to the naked eye as it trailed the advancing army through the thick forest. It''smunications array constantly sent bytes of information back to Base, updating the Combat Information Center in real time.


    The uprooting of the trees allowed the UAV pilot to constantly track their movements within the thick blue canopy of the forest as they marched in a direct path towards the Pass and the humans and elvish defenders ready themselves as the enemy neared.


    -----


    Sawtooth Pass, Alpha Wall.


    Marine Private Tn stood inside the protected casement eyeing the forest through the firing slits. He carefully dripped some gun oil onto his bolt carrier and gave it a good wipe, before installing it back into his rifle.


    He worked the bolt, making sure the action was smooth and squeezed the trigger, dry firing the Magelock, making sure the fire runes were working.


    He pulled the bolt back and slowly slid in two five-round stripper clip one after another into the open chamber. After that, he closed the bolt and put the weapon on safe.


    "Sarge," He called James who was sitting with his back against the wall, eyes closed. "Think we can win?"


    "Of course," Third Sergeant James replied. "We fought backrger numbers with less than half of the defenders we got now."


    "Not to mention, you guys have Magelocks now," James added.


    "I see them!" Someone yelled excitedly, and everyone turned their attention to the distant forest edge, seeing in the distance, trees were being toppled, creeping closer and closing. "Looks


    "Don''t worry, they still have to climb up the slope of the mountain," James assured his men. He was now in charge of a new section of elves, his previous men were all mostly reassigned among the new recruits.


    "Alright do a check of your weapons and ammunition," James ordered, "Check your sights are set to 300 meters."


    His men rested their Magelocks against the firing slits and started to make adjustments to their sights and ensuring their weapons were loaded.


    "I don''t think they will attack today," James said while looking at his wristwatch. The sun will go down in three hours, and he highly doubts the enemy will attack in the dark especially after marching through the forest and melting snow without resting.


    Sure enough, UAV reported that the enemy had stopped roughly two kilometers away from the Pass, hiding inside the forest and started to make camp, and learning from their previous experience, the campsites were spread out among the forest and no longer clustered together. Even the number of sentries were doubled.


    "Alright, the blue boys are hunkering down in the forest for the night," James said to his section, "Get some shuteye as much as possible, we will rotate watch tonight."


    Some of the Marinesid down against the cold hard concrete to rest, while others stood watching the forest, hoping to see something. James ducked out of the exit of the bunker built inside the walls and head towards themand post at the rear. The defenders were all situated inside the walls behind ayer of reinforced concrete rather than the exposed top.


    As he passed by the second defensive wall, named Beta, he nced up at the towering railgun turrets, where dozens of engineers and tech were like ants, doing their best to get the guns operational before the enemy attacks.


    He entered a concrete bunker set into the mountainside, where three Marine sentries stood guarding a sandbagged checkpoint, after passing inspection, he entered the steel door and found another two sentries stationed at the end of a 50-meter long corridor, wide enough for only two men to walk side by side.


    He nodded to the two sentries before entering another steel door with another two more guards on the other side, before entering the main Sawtooth Mountain Defensemand center. Dozens of disy screens salvaged from the ship lined one side of the wall, where live imagery was been broadcasted. Arge tactical plot table sat at the middle of the room, surrounded bymanders and section leaders as they discussed strategy on the map.


    Elves and human operators in Marine digital cam uniforms sat in front of consoles andputers, operating the systems and speaking into their headsets.


    He joined the group ofmanders in the middle of the room and listened in to the discussion they were having. Master Sergeant Pike was addressing everyone at the table.


    "Here is how we are going to kick their asses."

 Chapter 78: Rematch of the Pass

    Chapter 78: Rematch of the Pass


    "Watch your front! Make your shots count!" James yelled over the roars of Magelocks, his throat sore from the thick gun smoke he inhaled in. "Aim low, aim low!"


    The recoil from the M1 Magelocks was a lot stronger and powerfulpared to the smokeless chemical propent of modern firearms. During trials of the M1 Magelock, it was found that the force of the recoil tends to kick the muzzle up slightly. Therefore during training, the instructors drilled into the recruits to fire low, topensate for the powerful recoil.


    James leaned into the butt of his Magelock and peer down the sights, waiting for the dirty gun smoke to clear. He led his sights slightly before an Orc trying to cross no man''snd, aiming roughly at the area where he estimated the Orc will reach. As the smoke cleared, he quickly readjusted his aim and squeezed the triggered and was rewarded immediately with a painful kick in his shoulder followed by a loud bark and a dense cloud of dirty smoke and the 6.5 mm steel jacketed lead bullet weighing 13.3 grams took almost a second to travel between the short 300-ish meters and kissed the upper torso of the charging Orc he fired at.


    The Orc''s thick hide proofed no resistance against the spinning heavy lead bullet, entering through its chest wall and shattered the upper ribs of the Orc, before mushrooming and fragmenting into two pieces with one piece spiraling downwards and out through the back, missing the rear ribs and leaving a fist-sized exit wound. The other continued on at a slight angle, ripping into the upper left lung before lodging at the scap.


    The Orc toppled backward with a warcry cut off in a gurgle, the spent fragment exiting from his back, hit and bruised hispanion behind him before both of them went down in a tangle of bodies. The dazed Orc sat up and rubbed the area on his belly where the spent bullet had hit him and got up and screamed a war cry before another bullet blew half his right arm off, leaving it dangling by the remains of his biceps muscles and skin.


    The Orc screamed in anger and pain, tumbling on his butt again. He picked up a discarded saber and cut off the remains of his crippled arm. Gritting its teeth, the Orc growled and continued charging albeit slower than before, while leaking ckish blood from his wound, joining the rest of its kind in rushing towards the walls.


    The narrow passageway and the maze-like barb wired barricades funneled the Orcs into a killing zone as they tried to navigate through. Some of the Orcs attempted to climb over the barb wires, only to have the barbs trapping and tangling them, while others hack and sh at the barricades.


    The Marine defenders made good use of this situation to fire into the amassed Orcs, pinning them down. The passageway soon became slippery with blood and a small mound of bodies formed around the barb wires, where the smarter Orcs took over under the fallen bodies of their own kin.


    At the rear, dozens of crude looking Orc catapults were carried into their effective throwing range and stones mined from the slopes of Sawtooth Mountain were flung onto the walls, the majority of them falling short and crashing their own kind.


    Urka the Fierce stood on top of a boulder to better view the battlefield. In the distance, cloudy smoke constantly erupted from the walls, obscuring the defenders from view. He growled, this is the third attack of the day, and with only a few hours of daylight left, and still no progress. It had been two days since they started their attack yet they couldn''t break those soft skins defenses!


    "Have Elder discovered what spells those tri-cursed soft skins are using?" Urka turned and red at the elder Shaman covered in a hooded cloak made of animal skins. Mysterious symbols were painted with blood adorned all over the cloak while chaotic tattoos that make eyes crawl could be seen on the shaman exposed hands.


    "Warbearer Urka," The Elder Shaman greeted with his palm facing Urka, "Elder have no idea what power or magic are those." A low raspy voice came from the hooded figure. "The spirits are confused."


    "Confused?" Urka leaped down from the boulder,nding heavily on the wet rocky ground, causing a slight crack to appear in the hard ground. "Urka thinks you better talk to the spirits more, Those cursed magic is killing our nsman in hundreds and yet nsman couldn''t even reach the walls!"


    Urka red at the rear of the catapults, where rows of armed blue-coated soft skins stood watching with more others seated leisurely on their mounts. At this point in time, he hated those blue soft skins more than the enemy at the walls, if it wasn''t for the Chief taking this job in exchange for winter supplies, they won''t have to bow their heads to these cursed weaklings.


    A trio of soft skins riding those lean wingless dragons rode up before him, looking down at Urka from the perches of their mounts. The disdain look on the soft skin furthered infuriated Urka, but he kept his temper in, narrowing his eyes at the lead rider who was dressed in fancy ornate armor with a spectacr red plume on his helmet.


    "Why are you still not pressing the attack?" The plump looking soft skin asked, using his nose to look at Urka. "My Lord expects you to have taken the walls already. why are you still struggling here? From the magic scrying, clearly, the rebels only have less than 400 defenders. Are the Orkin so weak that they can''t win a force less than a tenth of your numbers?" He sneered at the gathered Orkin.


    "Urka understands," Urka lowered his head, his eyes glittered dangerously. Suddenly, he had an idea. Keeping his head down, he grinned wickedly. "Urka show Great Lord victory! Comee!" He urged the fat soft skin on his dragon to follow him while speaking in Common.


    "Urka''s army attacking in huge numbers now!" Urka gestured around him while leading the soft skins forward towards the front line. "Come see, here best view of victory!"


    "Hmph, its good that you are finally seriously attacking, this lord shall witness your victory than!" The noble sniffed his nose and nudged his dragon to follow Urka, his two retainers followed obediently behind.


    "Here, here!" Urka gestured excitedly, keeping his head low and bowing and scraping to the hated mounted soft skin. He led them well within view of the Pass, the mour of the battle for all to see.


    -----


    Lord Dir, a noble''s son from the Captial, joined Duke Sturm''s army for adventure, war, and riches. As he came to the battlefield, the stories of glory and mor were vastly different to what the bards sang and told in the Gentleman''s Clubhouses in the Captial. He didn''t expect the march to be so ... dirty. Mud was everywhere, in his trousers, underclothes, boots, and stockings! And the Oerkin, the crude barbarous dumb low life beasts, smelt worse than anything he ever knows. He tried to avoid as much contact with the Oerkin to prevent the smell from contaminating him.


    As the dumb Oerkin led him to the rise in the front, a view suddenly appeared before to him. The battlefield in all its glory could be seen clearly from where he rode his dragon. He could see the walls blurred by the smoke of their spells to the Oerkin storming and dying across the narrow passageway to reach the walls. The warcries and echoes of thunder rolled over him, and he felt his blood rising.


    "How spectacr!" Lord Dir whispered to himself. He stared at the battlefield, daydreaming himself as a general and giving orders to the hundreds and thousands of soldiers under hismand when a sudden buzz and wet smack sounded, painting his escorts wet with blood and bits of bone and brain matter.


    -----


    Corporal Drake hidden in one of the squat armored wall towers, tilted his head away from his scope, as he gently worked the bolt of his specially customized rifle. "Good kill," Private Kont whispered, his face glued to the tripod mounted binocrs. "Who in their right mind wears such a colorful plume to battle? It''s like painting a bull eye on their back and tell us to shoot them!"


    Drake gave a small smile, a few months back, thinking that Kont would have loved to wear arge colorful plume on his helmet and parade around, now, after learning about sniping, his mindset had greatly changed.


    He pushed the bolt back, chambering a new round into his new toy, the M3 Magekiller, Anti Material Rifle. Fitted with a 10x detachable scope and a 45-degree tilt sights, a deployable bipod and a 29" or 74 cm long free floating heavy barrel with an integrated muzzle brake.


    It weights at 11.2 kg unloaded and fires a .50 caliber round (12.7 mm). It has a detachable box magazine of five rounds capacity. Using the same design as the Magelock, the firer works the bolt to chamber a round to be fired. The M3 Magekiller has a muzzle velocity of 853 m/s and an effective range up to 1,100 meters.


    "That''s a kill shot at 674 meters away,'' Kont reported, continued to sight down at the group at the tiny rise. "Do you wanna take another down?"


    Drake peered back at the rise, seeing the Orcs had either rolled to cover or scattered away, leaving the panicking dragon with half a corpse still mounted on it. The two escort-like soldiers were trying to figure out what had happened still and Drake felt sorry for them. "Think that should be good enough for now. Let''s see if there are any trolls or exposed catapult gunners for us to shoot at."


    Kont nodded and continued to scout around with his bino. "Contact, left of the rise, next to the catapult. Eleven O''clock."


    Drake shifted his body and spotted the exposed catapult. "I got a target left of the rise, loading a catapult."


    "That''s your target, check parax and mil." Kont looked through his bino and spotted the target Drake was sighting on.


    Drake adjusted his scope and reads the mil on his scope. "1.46."


    Kont double checks his own reading and found it to be within 1.4 too and he keyed in the data into his tablet''s ballistics software. "Check level, hold over 2.8."


    Drake took a breath and held it, "Ready."


    "Left, point two," Kont ordered, giving the wind estimation.


    Bam!


    "Good hit."


    -----


    Urka grunted with barely suppressed glee as he saw from the corner of his eye how that useless piece of meat exploded. He long had suspected that the enemy in the Pass had their magic aimed here, and since he had lost several Warleaders here, he found out that wearing anything that appeared to show strength and power, will always get killed by some mysterious magic. He purposely led that soft skin to this open spot and stood between the dragon and the direction of the Pass.


    A sharp thunder different from the constantly roaring thunders rolled down the Pass as he stood up from where heid prone. Surprisingly, the rest of the Oerkins were showing good humor, as they watched the dumb soft skin get killed. The other two soft skins finally managed to get the panicking dragon under control, and casting ast look at Urka, they scampered back to the rear of the lines, leading the dragon with the lower half of an armored body still attached to the saddle and stirrups.


    Once out of range, Urka and the surrounding Oerkins hooted withughter, throwing obscene gestures at the retreating soft skins. After a while, feeling slightly better, Urka turned his attention back to the Pass, wondering how should he crack this hard nut. Finally, he gave up, thinking there is no point in letting more of his nsman get injured or killed.


    He turned to one of the Oerkin at his side, "Sound the retreat." He looked at the sun position in the sky, "And tell the Elder to prepare the ritual for tonight."

 Chapter 79: The Ritual

    Chapter 79: The Ritual


    The mournful wailing of a horn sounded over the battlefield, and the attacking Orcs paused in their attacks and retreated. As they pulled back, some of the Orcs even kicked their fallenpanions, waking them up. Those fallen Orcs with wounds that would have ordinarily killed a normal person just stood up and rubbed their heads grumpily before limping back to their lines.


    Major Frank stood inside the Sawtooth Mountain Pass Defense Command Center, watching from cameras overwatching the Pass. He noticed an Orc with his arm blown off and a gory exit wound on his back, woke up from the battlefield when his own kin gave him a good kick.


    It groggily shook its head and stood up, scratching his armpit with his good hand and stumbled after the rest. Frank frowned as he watched simr scenes happening throughout the battlefield.


    "It seems like the Orcs don''t die so easy," Frank pointed out to Master Sergeant Pike standing at the tactical table.


    Pike looked up from the map and nced at the disys beforementing, "Bloody things just soak up all the damage like a fucking bullet sponge."


    "Looks like about a hundred or so dead, maybe less and three, four hundred wounded," Frank did a quick calction from the images he saw on the disys.


    "They are retreating, looks like the battle is over for the day," Pike came next to Frank staring at the disy. "So far there isn''t any serious casualties except for some dumb fucks who don''t know how to duck when the rocks from the catapults hit the walls."


    "Those catapults are quite irritating," Frank highlighted the dozens of man-portable catapults on the screen, that the Orcs were carrying back.


    The crudely made catapults were just more like a very simple trebuchet made out of wooden sparsshed together and using muscle power to throw 40 to 50 kg rocks by having two or more of the orcs acting as counterweights, pulling the ropes while another Orc held on to the basket holding their ammunition of choice.


    Once enough force is being applied or the poor Orc could no longer hold on to the basket, it will release the basket, throwing its contents towards the target, sometimes with the unfortunate Orc along as he couldn''t release his hand in time, much to the enjoyment andughter of its peers.


    "Rotate the men for some rest and hot food," Frank said, "Double the watch tonight, I got a feeling they might change their tactics or try something funny soon. Send the men out to clear the field and rece any barb wires that need to be repaired."


    Pike saluted and left, smiling as he watched how the green Lieutenant had mature over the past few months and now a Major.


    -----


    Empire Camp, 1st Fallowfall Regiment of Swords, The Duke''s Own.


    Inside a gaudy looking tentrge enough to house 20 to 30 people, Duke Sturm hunkered on a beautifully carved chair made out of darkwood. The tent was decoratedvishly with other furniture made of darkwood, making it a full set, which probably is worth over a thousand gold coins, while thick and rich carpets covered the tent floor. A small gold brazier kept the cold away, but with the crowd of officers surrounding arge table in the middle of the tent, the atmosphere inside felt stifling instead.


    "My Lord," Commander Elosen of the 3rd Fallowfall Regiment of Swords spoke, "The Oerkin have been stuck in a stalemate with the rebels at the Pass for more than three days! Give me two days and my regiment will take the Pass for you!"


    "Tsk," A dark lean elf, armored in an ornate full te with markings and colors identifying him as a Lancer, scorned Elosen. "The distinguished 3rd Imperial Lancers had been wiped out fighting the rebels at the Pass, and that is without any defensive walls in ce. What do you think your three thousand men can do when your better peers failed to do so?"


    Commander Elosen growled at Luisa, Commander of the 2nd Fallowfall Lancers, "You impertinent fool, shut your trap, who are your betters here?"


    "Just stating a fact, well if you want to rush off to die, I shouldn''t stop you," Luisa gave a dismissal wave at Elosen, who turned red with rage, and stood up, going for his sword.


    "ENOUGH!" Duke Sturm roared, banging the darkwood tabletop in front of him, scattering the silver tes of meat and fruits. "Cease this nonsense now!"


    Both Elsoen and Luisa, bowed and gave their apologies while sending res at each other. The rest of the officers just shrugged as those two were always going for each other throats.


    "We learned something in the past when dealing with these rebels," A schr looking elf wearing a monocle stood up and said, "Since thest time we fought with them, they appeared to be capable of casting multiple Level 10 spells simultaneously. Also, it appears that the ''thundersticks'' artifacts have changed, they now spew arge amount of smoke."


    "What are you trying to say here, Dr?" Elosen impatiently grumbled. "Get to the point!"


    "I am trying to say that, the rebels are much stronger than before," The schr Dr, dressed in a dark blue trench coat, with silver runic markings replied. "We must be more careful this time."


    Lord Sturm nodded, he had already taken a few more measurespared to previously. His lifeguards ringed his tent, and sentry wards were ced to cover all approaches to the camps. Even his own tent, spells were woven to protect him from any attacks, both physical and magical.


    "The Oerkinmander had informed me that they are gonna, cast the Ritual tonight," Sturm told his men, who started to whisper among themselves ufortably. "Let the dogs have their chance then we see."


    "Yes my Lord," The men around the table rosed and saluted.


    -----


    Orc/Oerkin Camp


    The darkness in the tent was so dark that light appeared to have been absorbed. Urka couldn''t see anything as he was led into the center of the tent by unknown hands. "Urka the Fierce, you havee for the ritual." A rasping voice came from the darkness, "But to gain power, you must sacrifice something. What will you give?"


    "I will give the fallen enemies as the sacrifice," Urka intoned, following the ancient ritual. "My blood for life and my bones for strength."


    "For that, our ancestors will raise, to wreak havoc among the living!" The Elder finished the ceremony and Urka felt hands leading him out.


    As Urka left the tent, the Elder started chanting, followed by other shamans seated in a circle. A dark red glow appeared under their feet, and a magic circle slowly lit up in a reddish glow. In the center of the magic circle, was a block of ck obsidian, where a naked elf was bounded and gagged.


    The naked elf squirmed desperately, trying to free his bonds, his eye wide in terror as he jerked left and right. The chanting rosed to a high frenzy, and the shamans using thigh bones of people, drummed against the dirt floor, beating a tempo that drove the captive elf insane.


    As the magical glow grew brighter and brighter, the elf''s eyes bugled out, turning red as blood vessels ruptured, blood started flowing from his ears and nose. He arched his back in an impossible angle and his muscles spasmed, a wordless screaming raising in his throat. The tempo of the drums and the chaotic chanting grew faster and faster, and suddenly the elf exploded into a cloud of bloody mist, leaving behind his bones and organs which started to rot away.


    And the tent fell silent immediately and darkness returned. The Elder shaman strolled up to the remains and dug out the rotted heart which still beat slowly and ced it into a small pouch. "Burn the remains, make sure all is ash." The Elder instructed and left the tent with the pouch.


    Urka stood outside the tent, waiting with several warriors in a semi-circle. "Is it done?"


    The Elder nodded, holding the stained pouch up, "We are ready."


    "Come," Urka turned and led the way, his warriors and the Elder following behind him. They picked their way through the roots and wet soil of the forest under the zing torches of the warriors, before arriving at arge clearing.


    His warriors spread out, their torches illuminating the clearing, bodies of the fallen Oerkinid in a pile. "We found where the Empire buried their dead the previous time they were here." He gestured to the wet soil.


    "Wonderful," The Elder rasped, and started wandering around the clearing, before stopping and pointing to a spot on the ground. "Dig a hole here, as tall as an Oerkin."


    Urka nodded, gesturing his warriors to work. He stood back and folded his arms as he waited. Soon over a span of a ss, a hole was dug, several rotted bones could be seen within the sides of the hole. The Elder glided over and examined the hole, circling it twice and seemingly satisfied, dropped the pouch in and starting chanting.


    Urka felt goosebumps and a chill down his spine as he hears the chant. He fought back the urge to vomit and braced his legs firmly and tried to ignore the chanting. Suddenly one of the Oerkin warriors cried out, holding his head and ran around in circles, before ramming his head into a nearby tree trunk with such force, its skull split opened and bits of brain matter stained the trunk. Another Oerkin''s legs shook and pee dripped down.


    Just as it started, the chanting stopped, and the Elder appeared to smile at Urka within the hooded cloak. The Elder drifted over to the fallen Oerkin and paused over the cracked skull, poking the insides with a bony finger. "Hmmm," The Elder studied the spilled brains and dered, "The Spirits approves, this is a good omen."


    Urka gripped his fists to stop them from shaking and gathered his voice before saying, "Is it done?" while the rest of the warriors recovered from the sanity inducing chanting. Some fell down on weakened legs with others vomited or peed themselves, they avoided looking at the Elder and their unfortunate kin.


    "Yes, yes," The Elder responded, as its fingers continued to poke around the skull, leaving traces of grey matter on its fingers. It puts its finger into the hood, seemingly tasting the fresh brains, before turning around and gestured the soil, "Good, good, all is done, is just a matter of time now."


    Urka nodded, his strength returning and felt the soil beneath his feet start to squirm and move. He quickly stepped back and keep alert, watching the soil started to crumble. Several moans suddenly came from the pile of Oerkin dead, and the Oerkin warrior whomitted suicide jerked up on all fours and stood up, its movement like a puppet.


    "Ahhh, my children," The Elder antics appeared to be like a child, as it pping its hand excitedly. "Come!"


    The dead Oerkins heeding the Elder''s words stood up and shuffled over to stand in front of the Elder, while rotted skeletal hands erupted from the soil and dug their way out. Oerkin and Empire dead slowly gathered in a huge mass. Urka stared in fascination, as he only heard tales and stories of the undead servants of the Oerkin''s Elders. The ssy-eyed Oerkin stared without expression ahead, while the rotted bodies of the Empire soldiers, most of them just bones and scraps of cloth clinging to their skeletal frames stood awaiting the words of the Elder.


    "It is time," Urka said to the Elder and saluted with more respect than usual. With an army of undead, all they need to do is wait till the defenders exhaust themselves before the Oerkin pushes in. "Send them against the Pass now, they will be perfect for a night attack."


    "Spirit warriors,e! Tonight you are alive again!"

 Chapter 80: Zombie Mode

    Chapter 80: Zombie Mode


    Mills dozed off with his head resting against his helmet, sprawled off at a corner of the bunker walls. He was having a good dream about having a buffet feast, gorging himself with the free flow crustaceans and shellfish, drinking wine and champagne.


    "Lance Corporal Mills!" He heard someone calling him in his dream and snapped awake, instantly gripping his Magelock and alert.


    "What?" Mills stared at the dark figure squatting next to him, "Damn, I was about to start on that lobster." He wiped the drool off his cheeks.


    "Lob-star?" The Marine elf cocked his head in confusion. "Huh?"


    "Nevermind," Mills stood up and stretched, "What''s up?"


    "We heard somethinging from the slopes," The elf reported. "Shhhh, here is it again!"


    Mills leaned against the firing slits of the wall and listened hard, but he couldn''t really hear anything. He looked at the intent look his fellow elven Marine was having as he twitched his long ears, and wondered if their ears can hear at a higher frequency than humans, like a dog. "Nope, can''t hear nor see shit."


    "Shhh... there it is again!" The elf insisted, pointing out to the darkness. "Sounds like many hands scratching."


    Mills concentrated again and caught a sound like a piece of rock being kicked. "Wait here." And he activated hisms. "Thunderchief, this is Alpha Four,e in over."


    "Thunderchief, send."


    "Alpha Four, reporting possible night probe at my location, over."


    "Roger, standby."


    Mills turned back to outside view, "Eh, think we better close our eyes first," And just as he said that two stabbing beams of white light cut through the darkness, illuminating the terrain in front of the Alpha wall. "Ow." Mills flinched as the bright lights killed his night vision.


    "OH MY GOD!" The elf next to Mills, cried out, the elves having better eyes than the humans, and using a phrase they learned from watching movies and dramas.


    Mills blinked his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness and looked at the passage, "Fuck me, what are those?" The passageway appeared to be crawling with shadowy figures, and some even appeared to have climbed up from the near vertical slopes next to the passageway.


    "Undead! It''s the Oerkin''s vile dark magic!" The elf said, his eyes looking unnaturallyrge in the reflected like. The two spotlights swung downwards and lit the ground in front of Alpha Wall and a whistle blew.


    "Contacted!" Mills shouted out finally after he got over his surprise at seeing bodies missing limbs and skeletons crawling and shambling towards the wall. He keyed hisms to Drake''s connection, "Hey wake up! It''s CoD ZOMBIE MODE! Woohooo!"


    The Marines around Mills looked at him like he was crazy, "What? You guys didn''t y zombie mode in CoD? Damn, I need to let you guys y someter." Mills promised them, leaning his Magelock out of the firing slit and taking aim, "Go for headshots!"


    A whistle blew in the distance and jets of me from Magelocks from other sections stabbed out into the early hours of the morning as the Marines prepare to defend against the new threat. The smoke from the guns was carried away by night winds howling through the Pass, allowing the men and elves to fire rapidly with any smoke obstructions.


    Mills fired as fast and urately with the Magelock as best as he could. He personally found the Magelock fun to fire, the kick of the recoil, further bruising his shoulder. Mills''s customized Magelockes with a 2x magnified red dot sight he personally installed and built into the frame of his Magelock. He aimed the red dot at the chin of a slow walking rotting corpse and squeezed the trigger, feeling the butt hammering against his shoulder and smelling a hint of urine smell from the gun smoke.


    His bullet entered the upper jaw of the dead Orc, shattering teeth and bone, before blowing out the upper spinal cervical, dropping the Orc, like a puppet with its strings cut off. "Headshot!"


    "Aim for the heads!" Mills yelled as he noticed the shots cement on the bodies of the zombies. "Come on, you are Marines! You can shoot better than that!" And he put his words into action, dropping another zombie with a headshot. "They are just standing there for you to shoot! How great is that? How can you miss!"


    At this point, more spotlights had lit up, turning the passageway as bright as day, the undead appeared in many kinds, from fresh Orc corpses to rattling skeletons. Even dead animals could be seen in the mix. The fresh corpses moved faster while the rotted skeletons moved slower, and a bullet in the head ended all life regardless if it was living or dead.


    "How many are there!" Despite the slow jerky movement of the undead, the defenders were not killing them fast enough, as normally a bullet wound would have incapacitated anyone, maybe not an Orc but the undead, short of destroying the head, continued in their determined relentless approach to the walls.


    As the undead hit the walls, they found no way to enter nor climb. The concrete walls were angled in 25 degrees outwards with the tops of the walls rounded and topped off with barb wire. The undead tried to climb on the smooth concrete walls but their hands and fingers could not find any purchase.


    The undead hammered their rotting fists and bony hands against the heavily armored cargo doors in a vain effect to break the gate. Those still with functioning vocal cords growled and moaned, while the skeletons rattled their loose jaws.


    "Thunderchief to All units, cease fire, cease fire!" The call came in through all thems.


    "Cease fire! Cease fire!" Mills yelled at his men, as only section leaders worn thems gear. They were thinking of equipping the rest of the men with simplerms units, but they did not have the time to research and develop anything yet. The men ceased firing, rubbed sored and bruised shoulders and checked their ammunition.


    Some of the smarter elves, bounded the rifle butt with soft hide or cloth to lessen the impact from the recoil, yet still from the constant firing for the past few days, everyone''s shoulder turned blue-ck from the impacts.


    "What now, Corp?" The men asked, watching more and more of the undead massing at the bottom of the walls.


    Mills removed his helmet and scratched his head and rubbing the soot stains off his face. "Well, no point wasting ammo on those things since they can''te in." He peered down the firing slits and looked at the wriggling mass of arms reaching upwards, and spit down. "Headshot!"


    "Wait," Mills held his hand up, gesturing the men to keep quiet as he listened to hisms. "Oooh, sounds fun."


    "Alright, there''s gonna be something interesting happening soon," Mills grinned, looked at the undead. "Just watch the show."


    The men looked at each other and shrugged, knowing their section leader weird quirks and followed suit, gathering at the firing slits and watched the undead, waiting for stuff to happen.


    Not long a sudden explosion of mes ripped through the massed undead, setting some on fire. One after another, balls of fire erupted among the dead, turning them into char. "Holy smoke, is that what happened to me?" Millsughed, "Damn, I am tough to survive that shit!"


    The spells cast by the mages reaped havoc among the undead, and before long most of the gathered undead was once again properly dead, and the rearmost creatures turned and retreated back to the night.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Defense Command Center


    "Well, that was new and unexpected," Master Sergeant Pike puffed out his cheeks. "I totally wasn''t expecting that."


    "Me neither," Major Frank responded, as both of them stood next to the tactical table, staring at the disys in themand ''Pit''. "Damn, are they really undead? Like zombies and skeletons?"


    "Every time my brains adjusted to the shit this has, it throws a curve ball at me," Pike sighed, "I really like to get Magister Thorn here to consult on all these voodoo and ult shit."


    "Roll sanity check please, in the words of Dr. Sharon," Frank grinned, "I can only imagine this like some fantasy game. And yes, I think we need Magister Thorn''s expertise here." Frank turned to one of themunications operators and inform him to contact Thorn and bring him over asap.


    "Do you wanna call Joesph over? He might have some insight on this?" Frank asked Pike as he leaned over themunications operator''s shoulder.


    "Nope, let himplete his officer training course," Pike shook his head, "We can still handle this."


    Frank nodded, and returned his attention to the operator, giving his instructions. "How is the new task force doing?"


    "Looking good from the screens, Sir," Pike responded as he focused on a screen disying the front of Alpha Wall. "Looks like the undead is getting barbequed nice and crisp."


    "And the rest are retreating," Franked chipped in, watching the remaining undead retreat away from the re of the spotlights. "Seems like they are under control of someone."


    "Or something," Pike added, "What''s that thing called? Negi something?"


    "A necromancer," One of the operators helpfully gave the correct word. "I think that is what you are thinking off, Top."


    "Yup, that''s the word, thanks," Pike snapped his fingers, "A necromancer, I read that on that book, the Captain is forcing everyone to read."


    "Hmmm, if there is as you said a necromancer than this will be a big problem," Frank frowned as he leaned over the map. "Look, we are here, the enemy is roughly here," he pointed a location in the forest, "We know the Empire buried their dead here," He pointed to another location roughly west of where the Pass is.


    "I don''t know how are they reanimating their dead, but from the looks of things, it appears they took the Empire dead and raised them, including their recent dead," Frank folded his arms as he continued his analysis. "Now, that means they can reanimate any deaths no matter the timeframe, and the numbers will favor them greatly, as they can bring back those that died in assaulting the walls."


    "Not only that," Pike interrupted, "Look at Screen Six." The view on the disy showed a dead clearly rotting carcass of some sort of deer-like creature. "They can bring back animals too."


    "Oh fuck, wait what about the flying dragons we shot down?" Frank eximed out. "And the dead Orcs we retrieved?"


    "We retrieved the bodies of the dragons, remember?" Pike reminded him. "We beheaded the Orc bodies to prevent them from ying possum, so that should prevent them from raising. Dr. Sharon gonna get into a fit when she sees the headless corpses."


    "Oh right, damn, I have forgotten all about it," Frank shook his head. "At least we know that destroying the head, will permanently put them back to being properly dead again, while fire, works as long as you burn them downpletely or if the head is destroyed in the process."


    "We need to build us some mers," Pike grinned, he loved this kind of shit. "Issue is what to use for fuel. Damn, I am feeling like making some napalm now!"


    Frank grinned along at Pike''s excitement. "Well, one thing at a time. We will need to rely on the new task force to handle the zombies, no point in wasting ammunition on them."


    "We had stockpiled over nine hundred thousand rounds for the Magelocks in various ammo dumps." Pike said, "It should be more than enough for our defensive needs."


    "Good," Frank nodded, "Keep to the daily rotation schedule, let the relief force take over in the morning and brief them of the new threat."


    "For now, let the undead cluster fuck together than get the 101st ATI to nuke them, why waste ammo when we have unlimited fireballs?" Frank pointed out. "Also get the postbat recovery detail to behead and burn all the corpses from now on."


    "True, now we need Thorn to find a way to stop this," Pike agreed and added.


    "Also one more point, whose magic is it? The Orcs or the Empire?"

 Chapter 81: Night of the Living Dead

    Chapter 81: Night of the Living Dead


    "Hey wake up! It''s CoD ZOMBIE MODE! Woohooo!" Someone shouted in Drake''s earpiece, jolting him awake. His first instinctive reflex was to roll over t on his tummy from where heid and aimed his weapon out of the embrasure before his brain caught up to his actions.


    "Da fuck?" He checked hisms and realized the voicems came from Mills and just as he was about to reply, a whistle blew and he found the outside of the walls lit by ring spotlights, and scores of shadowy figures were moving among the passage.


    "Drake!" Kont appeared beside him, "It''s a night attack, looks like the undead." Kont looked calm as he told this piece of news to Drake, who stared at him in surprise.


    "Undead? You mean zombies and vampires?" Drake asked back, flipping open the covers off his scope and peering into the brightly lit passageway. He focused on a moving figure and saw in the re of the spotlights, a shambling figure, with its left arm missing at the elbow, while the other arm raised towards the walls. The skin has shrunk away from its body, making the body look skeletal, while patches of rotten flesh where tiny white maggots wriggled could be seen and the eyeless face of the dead Empire soldier gaped its jaw open, biting the air, screaming a cry which Drake couldn''t hear.


    "What the fuck?" Drake jerked his head back from his scope, using his gloved hands to rub his eyes, wondering if he was still sleeping. "Zombies?"


    "Van-pa-er?" Kont looked confused and shook his head, "Walking Dead, yes."


    "Damn," Mills was right, this is bloody Zombie Mode, Drake thought. "Switch out the M3, we using our M1s instead,"


    Kont nodded and unslung his rifle on his back. "I will take Tower One." And he trotted off towards the other end of the enclosed tower.


    Drake reced the scope''s cover and carefully ced the M3 Magekiller to the side before picking up his customized M1, andid back prone on the raised tform, aiming out into the approaching horde. His and Kont''s M1 Magelocks was the sharpshooter variant, factory zeroed, and ites with a 6x magnification scope and sh suppressor.


    "Headshot!" Mills''s voice came in again from hisms, making Drake grit his teeth. So this is how you wanna y, asshole, he thought and fired at the approaching horde, aiming at their heads.


    -----


    Thorn was packing up his loose items in the Academy''s workshop when sudden heavy and frantic footsteps echoed down from the hallway outside. He nced at the digital clock on the wall, showing the time to be 0113 AM and frowned, wondering who else is still in the school after sote.


    "Magister Thorn?" He heard someone outside calling, he poked his head out of the room and saw a couple of hoomans in that ck uniform which worked as peacekeepers were wearing. One of them ducked his head into another workshop calling. "Are you here Sir?"


    "Yes?" Thorn called out to them, making them pause and headed to him excitedly. "What can I help you, Po-lease Officers, with?" He remembers the Captain the rest calling them ''Po-lease Officers''.


    "Finally we found you!" Both of the men looked relieved, "We need you toe with us. Sir."


    "What happened?" Thorn looked confused, "Where do you want me to go? I still haven''t packed all my stuff!"


    "There is no time Sir, you are needed at the Pass, Sir," Both men looked grim, "They need your help there."


    -----


    One Kilometer East of Sawtooth Pass, Empire mass grave


    Urka grunted as he red out from the cover of the forest looking at the Walls being magically illuminated, "The Spirits won''t be able to sneak up on them, they fight surprisingly well for soft skins."


    The Elder kept to side, either ignoring Urka or not hearing what Urka said. Urka turned and nced at the Elder, his ears catching something from the hooded cloak, as he took a step closer, he caught a few snatches of the whisperinging from the hood. The whispers made his head hurt, his skin crawl and goosebumps raising all over his body. He quickly retreated away from the Elder Shaman, leaving the Elder alone.


    His warriors also kept a wary distance away from the Elder, more so from the gathered dead at the site of their former graves. Their burning torches cast flickering shadows among the dead, making the shadows appear to be stalking the Oerkin, making them uneasy and restless.


    Urka peered through a precious eyess, which had been looted at some point in time in the past, its former owner no longer around to protest its use. The eyess brought Urka seemingly closer to the battle at the Pass, the echoing of thunders from their cursed thundersticks rolled down from the mountains, scattering the sleeping wyverns, which screeched their disapproval and dive bombed the Oerkin and gathered dead with their poop as they flew away.


    Urka ignored the sts of goo, and concentrated on the battle, nodding in satisfaction as the dead reached the walls and cursed when balls of fire incinerated them into char. "Do something," He turned and instructed the Elder. "We are losing the Spirits to their magic!"


    A sigh escaped from the hood of the Elder, "I have done all I can if the Spirits cannot advance into the walls, there is nothing much I can do."


    "Bring the Spirits back, don''t waste the Spirits'' bodies," Urka ordered, "Keep them here first, while I go talk to the soft skin lord."


    The Elder gave a bow and appeared to start whispering something. Urka quickly beat an escape with his warriors, leaving the Elder alone in the clearing with the dead. After leaving behind the Elder, Urka felt better, he might not fear swords and arrows, but the chaos magic and dread of the Elder frightened him to his bones.


    As he neared the camp of the soft skins, dozens of soft skin sentries surrounded them, and a self-important bearing soft skin wearing that ridiculous looking plume on his helmet, ornate te, and blue cloak. "Halt, what business do you have?" That soft skin sneered, puffing his chest up, trying to look imposing which was funny as the Oerkins towered over every elf by a good 20 to 30 centimeters, not to mention Urka''s biceps were asrge as the elves head.


    Urka just stared at the officer and spoke slowly and simply, "Urka here to see big lord."


    The officer tried to stare down Urka, but failed miserably, and to cover up his embarrassment, he shoved an unfortunate sentry, "Go inform the Duke, our ''guests'' are here to speak with him. Go!"


    The sentry stumbled off in the darkness, and Urka waited impatiently for the sentry to return. Both sides red at each other, fingering their sword hilts and spears nervously, they waited in the dark. Finally, the sentry returned with someone in tow, Urka stood up from the tree root he was sitting and stepped forward.


    "Ahh, Lord Urka," The neer greeted Urka like a long lost friend with all smiles andughter. "Well met, my lord."


    "Urka here to see your big lord," Urka spoke in Common, the unfamiliar words rolling off his tongue like sand. "Need to talk, make ns." He exined to the gaudily dressed flunkey.


    "I am sorry to say that my Lord Sturm is currently resting and wishes that no ones disturb his rest," The flunkey responded with a deep bow, "My greatest apologies, could my lord please return first ande back when the sun breaks?"


    Urka fumed with rage, but he held it down, there was no point in provoking the soft skins for now. He nced up at the dark sky and mentally calcted roughly how long more till dawnes. Urka looked at the bowing flunkey and said, "Urka wait here, bring food and drink."


    The flunkey straightened his back, and looked at Urka in the eye, "My lord, that is not proper, it will be best for you to return to your camp."


    Urka just stubborn sat down back at the tree root, staring at the manservant back and repeated, "Food and drink, Urka wait here for Big Lord to wake up."


    The flunkey after staring at Urka for a while, gave in and nodded, "Would my lord prefer if I bring a chair for you to rest? nkets against the cold?"


    Urka snorted, "Cold?" He nced in contempt at the soft skin soldiers dressed in cloaks and thick clothes. "Food and drink, now."


    Bowing again, the flunkey returned to the camp and shortly after returned with several servants in tow, carrying tes of cold wyvern and skins of ale. He bowed again and before leaving said, "I will return when my Lord Sturm has woken up, should you have other wishes, please inform the Captain of the Guard, and we will do our best to amodate your wishes."


    Urka nodded, waving the manservant away. He grabbed an entire roast wyvern and bit down, chomping down the bird including the bones, before gesturing his warriors to help themselves. His warriors gathered around the food and drinks with glee and sat down, feasting on the food and drinks, jousting and joking among themselves, ignoring the hungry looks cast by the soft skin sentries.


    Urka burped and smacked his lips as he finished his second skin of ale, he had to admit that the soft skins culinary skills are quite good, and so is their brewing skills. Satisfied, Urkaid back against the tree trunk, "Some of you keep watch," He told his warriors, "I don''t trust the soft skins at all."


    His warriors nodded and started arguing among themselves on who to start the watch first, while Urka settled downfortably and closed his eyes and rested.


    -----


    Highway to Sawtooth Mountain Pass


    Thorn held on to his dear life as the open top jeep racing along the road towards the Pass. The wind blew strongly against his face, whipping his untied hair wildly. He randomly thought that should he cut his hair short, like the hoomans, while gripping the handlebars set in the frame of the jeep tightly.


    Despite the early morning, he noticed that they had passed by several half-tracks going up and down the road, which normally at this time there should not be any vehicles at all. He wondered what has happened at the Pass. He wondered if it is gonna rain, and how are they going to keep dry in a vehicle like this with no cover, as he heard thunder rumbling in the distance.


    As the jeep near the Pass, that was when Thorn realized that the thunders were actually Magelocks firing in the Pass. He yelled over the wind to the driver, "Are those Magelocks? Are we under attack again?"


    "Yes Sir," The driver responded, keeping his eyes on the road. "They need you to help them with something."


    Thornpsed into silence, thinking that if they wanted him there meant something magical is happening and they need his brains for it. He shivered in the biting wind, as they have traveled over an hour in hooman time, cursing himself for not bringing along a cloak.


    Finally, the jeep entered the camp at the Pass, passing by two gates before stopping at the third gate. "Sir, this is the furthermost I could go, someone will bring you inside." The driver said to Thorn, who thanked the driver for the ride and got down on shaky legs.


    Almost immediately, two elves dressed in that spotted uniform approached him, "Sir, please follow us." One of them spoke respectfully, and stood at parade rest, waiting for Thorn to follow them.


    Thorn nodded, "Lead the way." And followed the two soldiers pass the gate and onto another jeep waiting inside the gate.


    Less than five minutes they arrived at a squat, bare and grey concrete structure built into the side of the Mountain. The sound of gunfire was a lot louder here, indicating he was nearer to the Walls. The two soldiers gestured for him to follow them into a door at the side of the structure. He noticed a lot of guards and checkpoints before entering a huge room, which resembled the Bridge in the Iron Castle which several huge disy screens dominating the room.


    Major Frank looked up as the two escorting Marines saluted by raising their right hand to the side of their head, palm straight, fingertips to the right eyebrow. Frank saluted back and dismissed them and waved Thorn over.


    "Wee to the Pit."

 Chapter 82: War Plans

    Chapter 82: War ns


    Thorn looked around the busy chamber and headed head down a short flight of stairs to the center of the ''Pit''. Following the way of hoomans, he shook Frank''s outstretched hand. "How are you doing?"


    "Good, Sir," Frank answered, smiling at the disheveled old man, who always reminded him of Albert Einstein.


    "Greeting you too, Sergeant Pike," Thorn reached out and shook Pike''s hand too. "So what is happening?"


    "Well, Sir. We hope you can tell us," Frank responded, gesturing Thorn to view of the disy. A yback video of the attack of the undead was yed, making Thorn peer intently at the images.


    "They appeared to be undead, raised from the grave by dark magic," Thorn said as he studied the imagery on the disy.


    Frank and Pike stood silently, waiting for Thorn to continue. "Hmmm, the Oerkin are quite proficient in the Dark Arts."


    "Is there any way to stop them? Pike asked, "We found that destroying the head and burning the bodies help."


    "Yes, yes, from my understanding, spirits inhabit the dead bodies and controls the movement of the host body through some way by using the head as the container of sorts " Thorn rubbed his snowy beard as he recollected his scarce knowledge of the Dark magic. "By destroying the head, the spirits lose control of the body or if the body part is too badly damaged, the spirits depart voluntarily from their hosts."


    "Is there a necromancer raising the dead?" Frank asked.


    "Neko-man-sir?" Thorn frowned at the unfamiliar English word. "You meant a Spirit Caster?"


    "What is a Spirit Caster?" Pike asked before Frank could open his mouth.


    "Hmm, from what I know, a Spirit Caster is someone with the ability to talk to the spirits andmand them," Thorn exined to two hoomans. "They do not really revive the dead, what they do is just call the spirits to inhabit the bodies of the dead, and the spirits use the bodies as host."


    "I see," Pike nodded and gave a brief exnation of what a necromancer is to Thorn.


    "Hmmm, so Spirit casters are quite simr to your necromancers," Thorn eximed excitedly, "I would like to borrow that book, your Captain has!"


    "Magister, please, we have more pressing issues now, "Frank stopped Thorn from going off track. "Is there a way or some spells that can stop the dead? Also, can the spirits control a living body?"


    "Hmmm, I need to do some research, but from what I know, they can only control a dead body." Thorn furrowed his forehead, "And all my books which I brought are all over at the Academy''s library."


    Frank looked at Pike with a dismayed look, "Damn, alright we will send you back immediately. If you find anything useful, please inform us directly," Frank said, gesturing the Marine guard at the door toe over.


    "Private, bring the Magister to the motor pool and have one of the drivers return him back to the Academy in the best possible speed," Frank gave the Marine the instructions, who acknowledged the order.


    "Sir, I will assign someone to be with you. He will have somemunication equipment so you can contact us directly," Frank told Thorn who nodded in understanding while Pike picked up a handset and made a call.


    Frank nodded to the Private who then led Thorn out from themand center and towards the motor pool. As Thorn left the Pit, "What a waste of time, its a mistake not to have a direct line ofmunication to Thorn, we will need to rectify that."


    Thorn followed the solder to a row of sheds where a few of the jeeps and half-track were parked under, the Marine handed Thorn over to a driver who directed Thorn to a jeep parked at the side.


    Seated in the rear was thergest hooman Thorn had ever seen, he had his sleeves rolled up, disying massive biceps. His armor appeared to be custom made to fit his frame and a Magelock that looked tiny sat behind his shoulder.


    Does he have Oerkin blood? Thorn wondered as he climbed aboard the front seat. "Lance Corporal Bartley," The giant at the rear greeted Thorn as he sat in the jeep. "I will be your escort, Sir." He said in a deep rumble.


    "Well met, Lance Corporal," Thorn returned Bartley''s greeting and waited for Bartley to say something. After an awkward silence, Thorn faced the front and cleared his throat ufortably. Just nice, a hooman driver hopped in, gave a smile and greeting to both of them and started the engine and drove off back towards the City.


    -----


    Entrance to 1st Fallowfall Regiment of Swords, The Duke''s Own


    Urka snoozed loudly with several of his warriors who sprawled around the littered remains of the supper they had. A few of the Oerkins, stood watch, their mood bad as they lost a game of fingers to theirrades, thus they had to stand guard.


    The Empire sentries stared with disgust at the scene of the sleeping Oerkin, talking among themselves about how barbaric they were.


    The bored Oerkin standing watch entertained themselves by throwing pieces of bones from the remains of their supper at the elven sentries, betting among themselves to see who can hit anyone, much to chagrin of the Empire sentries.


    Shortly after the sky brightened and the first rays of the sun cast over thend, the same manservant appeared at the gate and greeted the still snoring Urka.


    His warrior gave Urka a strong smack on the shoulder who woke up and punched the unlucky Oerkin in the face, much to the amusement of the rest. Urka hawked and spit his dry throat before gesturing the flunkey to led the way.


    Those Oerkin who were still asleep were rudely woken up by brutal kicks in the face or groin, inciting good-naturedughter among the Oerkins.


    The Empire soldiers sneered as they entered the camp, the hostility and disgust could be inly seen on all the elves faces. Urka and his warriors ignored all the dark looks and insults thrown to them as they swaggered their way past rows and rows of tents before arriving at an inner stockade, heavily guarded by fully armor ted soldiers.


    Urka grunted with approval at the look these heavily armored guards gave, his warrior instincts recognizing them as veterans of hundreds of life and death battles. He left his warriors behind and followed the flunkey into the only tent in sight.


    The huge tent with its midnight blue color and a dark shiny luster stood in the middle of the encampment, surrounded by a wooden palisade wall, and ringed by guards. Urka felt his skin tingling slightly as his natural senses alerted him of a strong presence of magic.


    The flunkey lifted the tent''s entrance, causing the gathered morning dew to tickle down the rich looking material. Urka ducked his head and hunched down, as he squeezed hisrge build into the entrance.


    The first thing he noticed was the huge table in the middle of the tent, upied by several soft skins, some dressed for battle while others in coats and robes. while an elf dressed simply in a white silk shirt and ck pants sat at the head of the table breaking fast with the variety of dishesid on the table before him.


    The flunkey gestured him to the opposite end of the table where another servant stood waiting with a dark colored chair. "Sit, and join me in breaking fast." A rich and mellow voice came from the elf sitting and eating at the head of the table.


    Urka nodded and sat down heavily on the offered chair, causing it to creak rmingly, his bared feet enjoying the feel of the thickyer of carpets and fur. A small army of servants soon arrived and piled dishes after dishes on the table in front of Urka.


    Urka reached out and grabbed arge b of ham and chewed down, ignoring the fat juices that spilled out on to his chin. The table of soft skins stared at him like they never seen an Oerkin eat before.


    Urka ignored the looks and just grabbed whatever food that took his fancy, washing it down with a silver goblet of watered wine. One of the soft skins dressed in robes ced his eating fork and knife down, patted his mouth with a cloth before dering he had enough. The rest followed suit, only the soft skins dressed in armor continued feasting on the food.


    Lord Sturm speared a piece of cold roast with eating fork, chewing the meat while watched the Oerkin called Urka attack the food like a starving man. His men had reported the results of the battle using summoned undead, and he wondered what had this barbarian chief from the steppes want with him now.


    Finally, after demolishing most of the food on the table including the untouched portions of the soft skins, Urka gave a satisfied burped, causing some of the soft skins to cough and gag slightly.


    "Me Urka, Warleader to the Band of the Hand, greets Big Lord Storm!" Urka stood up and held his palm out facing Sturm at the head of the table in greeting.


    "Well met, Urka. I am Lord Sturm, Duke of Fallowfall and Lord General of the Army of the South." Sturm returned a greeting while still seated. "Why have youe?"


    "Urka needs your soldiers to help fight," Urka said bluntly, much to the surprised elves.


    "An Oerkin asking for help?" Commander Elosen of the 3rd Fallowfall Regiment of Swords asked mockingly. "I thought you Oerkins are very tough?"


    "Oerkins tough, but walls tougher," Urka admitted. "Urka here to n with Big Lord."


    Sturm sat back and studied the Oerkin looking intently back at him. He recruited them for theirbat strength and also their knowledge of dark magic. He was hoping that the Oerkin could waste their strength fighting against the rebels, making subjugating them easierter on. "What do you propose?"


    "Send ve army, attack in day," Urka said simply "Urka''s spirits attack at night. No sleep for enemy."


    Sturm raised his eyebrows in surprise with Urka''s suggestion, he was getting more and more impressed with this Oerkin who coulde up with such an idea. Using his ve army of twelve thousand to wear the rebels down in the day, while the Oerkin undead army attacks at night to keep the defenders upied while keeping their own main force fresh to attack the walls when the rebel''s morale and stamina have been wornpletely down.


    "Interesting, it could work," Sturm leaned forward, "Tell me more about your ns." He invited Urka to continue on.


    "ve army storm the walls in the day, stone throwers destroy the walls," Urka exined, "Night, Oerkin shaman bring spirits up from the dead, attack the walls, more stone throwers help out."


    "When walls destroyed, all army attack together!" Urka smashed his palms together, mimicking destroying the enemy.


    "Won''t that benefit the Oerkins more? Using the dead ves for their dark magic?" Commander Elosen sneered, "I don''t trust the Oerkin as far as I can throw them."


    Urka gave Elosen a look before turning his attention back to Sturm and gave a shrug, "Up to Big Lord to believe or not."


    Sturm frowned, it is true that if his troops dying will boost the ranks of the Oerkin''s undead army, but the rebels are dug in pretty hard. If Sturm followed Urka''s n, he has toe out with a counter for Urka''s undead army, in case Urka suddenly turns on him.


    "Alright, Warleader Urka, I will discuss this with my men first, return to your camp and wait for my answer. In the meantime, I will move my siege engines forward to support your attacks to the walls." Sturm assured Urka. "Keep up the attacks first."


    Urka stood up and nodded, "Yes Big Lord!" and followed the flunkey out of the tent.


    "My lord," A tall, thin elf in a polished dark blue te mail stood up and addressed Sturm, "It is not wise to bolster the strength of the Oerkin''s undead army using our own men, even if they are ves."


    "Hear, hear!" Commander Elosen raised his goblet to Commander Asther of the 1st Fallowfall Regiment of Swords. "Those low life dogs are just using this opportunity to strengthen themselves!"


    "If I may," Battle Mage Dr interrupted, "I have a suggestion that might just well, tip the scales to our favor."

 Chapter 83: Whats Next?

    Chapter 83: What''s Next?


    "Alright, settle down people," Commander Ford called the meeting into order. The conference room full of both humans and elves quiet down and rosed as Captain ke scrolled in. "Captain on deck!" The Marine guard holding the door open yelled.


    "At ease," ke sat down on his customary chair after returning the salutes gave to him by his officers.


    "Now, I''m sure most of you have heard that the Pass is under siege by Empire forces for the past week by now." ke acted as he didn''t notice the res given to him from the elves, especially from Princess Sherene.


    ke gave a small cough, "We deemed that it wasn''t wise to release the news of the siege to the public as we have everything under control for now." He gave a quick peek at Sherene''s direction, who turned her head away.


    He sighed, "A quick update to those not privy to the news up in the Pass. Currently, we are still holding the Pass, with 44 injured Marines and zero deaths. Intel has estimated the enemy deaths reaching over a thousand."


    A disy screen where Frank and Pike could be seen nodding as they attended the meeting via video conferencing. "Not counting the undead, we also destroyed two of their super siege engines."


    The Super Siege Engines which the Marines called them, was a giant ballista twice the size of a maturend dragon. Made out of bones and tendons of dragons, magical runes were also engraved onto the construct, further strengthening it. Land dragons were attached to a winch which winded the loading mechanism, and it is powerful enough tounch half a ton projectile at over 500 meters away.


    Marine snipers ravaged the loaders and gunners of two of the Super Siege Engine from afar when they first appeared at the edge of the forest and attempts to recrew the Super Siege Engine were met with urate and deadly fire. It was only tillter in the night, when the Undead came out, that they were able to recover both siege engines.


    "The first operation involving the Hundred and First ATI was a great sess. They destroyed the two Super Sieges and arge number of Undead." Frank reported from over the video call.


    "Hundred and first A, T, I?" Sherene questioned, "What is that?"


    ke nodded to Frank in the video, who then exined, "The Hundred and First Arcane Tactics and Intervention or 101st ATI for short is a special operations task force created tobat against magic using magic."


    "Form from volunteers from the Marines who have disyed an amplitude for magic, they undergo further training, from Recon to Special Operations and infiltration." Frank continued, "They went through Enhanced Combat Magic Theory courses which are a fusion of human knowledge of natural science, physics and magic are taught with the help of Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn."


    "Each member of the 101st ATI is highly skilled in stealth infiltration, direct magicbat, and anti-magic countermeasures." Frank proudly introduced the 101st as he was the brainchild of its creation.


    "We are nning a new operation to eliminate the source of the undead forces once and for all, if sessful, the battle of the Pass could be said to be over." Frank finished his part.


    "Magister Thorn?" ke invited Thorn to say his piece.


    "Ahem, regarding the Undead, the books I have did not cover much on ck or Dark Magics, as it is a taboo magic and most spells or literature involving the Dark Arts are destroyed when discovered," Thorn exined. "But I have managed to find a small fragment of a diary of a Court Magician, hundreds of years ago, describing their fight against the undead."


    Thorn skillfully manipted the keypad in front of him and a scanned image of an ancient yellowed parchment appeared on the room''s disy screen. "I tranted as much as I can of the oldnguage as possible and here is what it says."


    A tranted text appeared below the scanned image in English, "Fought over a fortnight with thy cursed dead, numbering in the hundreds. My vanguard of brave warriors gave their blood to open a path to the Spirit Caster, and after several bouts of spell weaving, I stand victorious. Yet the dead still roams and hunger for the flesh of the living."


    "Is that all?" Chief Matt asked, "Defeating the Spirit Caster here doesn''t drop the dead. It doesn''t tell us how to stop the dead at all."


    Thorn apologized, "That is all from the diary. But we deduced that there might be a magical anchor instead for the spell to keep reviving any dead creatures, if we can prove it, destroying the magical anchor will end the dead once and for all."


    "That''s where the Hundred and Firste in, we will insert them in stealthily, and their mission objectives is to eliminate the Spirit Caster or Necromancer and find evidence of the magic anchor and destroy it," Frank said. "Details of the operation will be released after its execution."


    The people within the room started to mumble among themselves, till Ford stood up and cleared his throat loudly.


    "Alright, let''s move on to the next agenda, morale," Ford continued the meeting. "Currently the morale at the Pass is pretty low due to the constant attacks and the psychology of exposure to undead magic."


    "We are open for any suggestions and ways to improve morale," ke spoke up, "This will be a long siege as we do not have the manpower nor the resources for a counteroffensive."


    "How about a VIP visit? Captain and the Princess can go do a tour of the Pass to help boost morale," Quartermaster Chen suggested.


    "Ok, what else?" Ford asked as he took down notes.


    "Song and dance?" Matt added, "Have some concert or performance?"


    "Can we just st music, like a radio talk show in the past?" Dr. Sharon added, "We can use it on both the city and the Pass, we can also allow family members to dedicate songs to the Marines fighting in the Pass, it should help a lot psychologically speaking."


    "All good ideas," Ford rapidly wrote down the suggestions.


    After a round of discussionster, ke came to a final conclusion. "Alright, we will need to create a new department for spreading news and increasing morale for the masses through means of media like a talk show."


    "Princess, can your people share their music for us to record? The more popr the better," ke asked. "Also can you hire some people with a talent for storytelling to be the radio talk show host?"


    Sherene nodded as she too took down notes with her ballpoint pen on a notepad."When do you need all these?"


    "As soon as possible," ke replied before turning to Chief Gale and Chief Matt, "You two, pleasee out with a simple working receiver and a transmitter for mass production and a broadcasting tower, keep our advancedmunications strictly for government and military usage only."


    "Sir, also we like to rmend that radios andmunication devices be installed in the Academy, we found out that getting Magister Thorn to travel up to the Pass and only to have to return to the Academy for his research is wasting too much of his and our resources." Frank pointed out, "If that night we couldmunicate directly, we would have not wasted more than three hours running up and down."


    "Gale and Matt, you heard that?" ke asked the two Chiefs, who nodded in confirmation. "Anything else?"


    "Yes Sir," Frank said, "My two guns are still not working."


    "Reasons?" ke raised his eyebrow, he shouldn''t have to deal with these details.


    Matt answered, "The power conductors are discharging an unusuallyrge amount of electricity each time the electromaic guns are fired, we had a few incidents during testing that the gunnery crew and techs got electrocuted, but so far none in serious conditions."


    ke closed his eyes and sighed, "So what is being done?"


    "We are testing several theories and taking the guns apart to see what went wrong during the modifications." Matt admitted, "Until we fixed the issues, the guns can''t be used, as it is a much as dangerous to the gunners."


    "I understand, send me a detail report on that, put the priority on fixing the guns," ke said, "Frank, I am sorry but till the problems are solved, your guns are grounded."


    Frank nodded, unhappiness could be seen on his face. "Yes, Sir."


    "Ok, next, resources and production," ke instructed next, "Princess?"


    Sherene dressed in a pair of ivory robes, wrapped around her slender waist and tied by a sash ending in a ribbon, stood up, gave a small bow to the gathered audience before starting her report, "Our current expenditure of ck powder ammunition is slightly over 40% of stored reserves. Our production of ammunition is hampered by theck of resources from the saltpeter mines. We will need more mines or erge the existing mine to increase the output of niter if we are to meet our current needs."


    "At this rate of usage, our reserves of ammunition will be deleted in two weeks, not counting the new production. If added, it will only give us another additional week." Sherene reported, causing the room to break out in heated discussions.


    "Quiet down," Ford red at everyone from his seat, "Let the Princess finish."


    "Thank you, Commander. As during the whole winter, the ''Fa-bi-ators'' has been focusing on producing Magelocks and military equipment to outfit the soldiers, I hope that this season they could be used to produce tools for mining, farming and basic necessities for the people."


    "To date, we only have a single saltpeter mine running at the moment. Surveying teams have actually found several deposits of zinc, copper, and lodes of iron within the caves of the Southern Cliffs, located near the saltpeter mine."


    She highlighted the area on the map she disyed on the briefing screen. "Now that Spring is here, and the snow has melted, workers will be able to start clearing thend around the resources and also to build proper roads. But we will require troops to help protect the workers from wild creatures and possible goblin raids now that winter has passed."


    Frank interrupted, "We do not have excess manpower now for protection of the workers, all the Marines are tied down defending the Pass, and the next batch of recruits will take at least three months to graduate."


    "Can''t we cut short the training?" Sherene asked, "We really need those mines running for the industries that are starting up all over the city. And there is only so much material left from the Iron Castle." Sherene and a selected few knew about how the hoomans came to this world and the Iron Castle is actually a starship.


    "If you want topromise quality for quantity," Frank said bluntly. "I will not rmend that I rather have the men properly trained than be some half fuck soldier."


    "Noted, Major, no need for such words," ke stepped in, giving an eye of warning to Frank, who blushed and apologized.


    Sherene nodded, she grew up with her two brothers and had heard enough cuss words to be not affected by them. "Then how about the Po-lease? Can we tap into their manpower?"


    2nd Lieutenant Mike Jacobs, ex-Head of Security, currently now Police Chief, spoke, "I could only spare like twenty to thirty men, that''s about 30% of my total manpower."


    "That should be enough for now," Sherene said, "I would like to propose to also train the workers as a sort of militia, so that if any trouble urs, at least they could fight and defend themselves."


    "We could make them into a reserve police force," Mike offered, "So at least in times of trouble, we can call them up to help with any problems in the city."


    "Sounds good," ke agreed, "Mike, I want you to also start recruitment of more permanent police officers."


    "Captain," Sherene cut in, "We are actually running out of manpower for everything, from the mines, farms,nd clearing, soldiers and skilled workers for the new factories, we need more people in the long run."


    "I know, but where else can we get more people?" ke asked, looking around at the table. Everyone was also looking at each other for ideas. "More sex?" Someone joked, causing most of the room to burst outughing.


    "I know from where, Sir," Pike spoke in the video, "We can try to free the Empire ve army and rope them into our side."

 Chapter 84: Arcane Tactics and Intervention

    Chapter 84: Arcane Tactics and Intervention


    "Good morn~ing, Marines!" A sweet and cheerful voice echoed down Sawtooth Mountain Pass, "Hey this is not a test! It''s rock and roll! From the Pass to the No Man''s Land!" The voice came from a speaker mounted on a tall wooden pole. "We got a song dedication from a Mrs. Montery to her son, Pvt. Ladian in the brave Marines fighting in the Pass to protect us all from the Big... Bad... Empire! Her message is, Stay safe and love you always, Mom. And here''s Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fortunate Son for you boys in Hell''s Gate! Enjoy!"


    Rock and roll music started ying from the speakers after the announcement. Mills held his Magelock like a guitar and jammed along with the song, while the others tap their feet or nod their feet to the rhythm of the song. Surprisingly, the elves really took to rock and roll from the human''s music archives.


    "Oh fuck," Mills moaned, as a whistle blew across the walls. "Here theye again!" He propped up against the firing slits, peering at the clouds of smoke appearing in the passage, littered with discard weapons and bodies. A ragtag band of Empire soldiers charged past the ruins of barb wires and barricades, wearing mismatched pieces of armor and wielding swords and shields. Small spots of magical smoke erupted here and there, concealing the charging soldiers, while the defending Marines held their fire, waiting for targets to appear before firing.


    The weary Marines had been fighting in the Pass for ten days now, the men rotating between resting at the rear encampments and fighting in the front lines. The Pass was now known as Hell''s Gate by the Marines and public as they received news from the new broadcasting stations and portable radios. The public response to the attacks by the Empire was shock and anger, followed by an overwhelming support of the fighting Marines and items as such handcrafted gloves and socks were donated to the front. But the Marines as they faced off the dead and living alike, they themselves slowly be numb like the zombies they were fighting against.


    The constant attacks both in the day and night tested the Marines'' mental and physical strength. The nightly ghastly moans and howls of the dead seeped the morale of the Marines, causing some of them to break down mentally. Even the original human Marines were affected, thou mildly, thanks to their mental conditioning done on Earth.


    Just the day before, Command hade up with a new department, called Armed Forces Entertainment Service or AFES, to help boost morale using music and news to the masses. A team of technicians hade up and set up a few broadcasting towers around the Pass and the base. After which music was sted throughout the day and night, drowning out the cries of the dead.


    Ever since the instation of the broadcasting towers, the Marines morale soared as popr music from both human and elves were yed, and during certain times of the day, messages from family members of the Marines were yed on air, making some of the tough soldiers cry and others smile. And the sassy female voice of the broadcaster, made the menugh with her antics over the air and fantasized on how she looked like.


    With the background music sting loud enough to cut through the war cries and gunfire from the Magelocks, Mills sang along to the lyrics of the chorus of the song, "It ain''t me, it ain''t me, I ain''t no millionaire''s son, no. It ain''t me, it ain''t me, I ain''t no fortunate one, No, no!" while aiming and firing. Almost everyone around Mills was doing the same, either screaming the song lyrics or just humming along.


    After a while, the Empire ve army had enough and retreated, earning the jeers and taunts from the Marines, "Come on? Come back!" Mills yelled at the backs of the retreating troops. "I still haven''t had enough fun yet!" He turned to his section and ordered, "Alright, those clowns will be back again, take this time to clean ur arms, and drink some water and check your ammo. And for god''s sake, keep those helmets on!"


    The radio ran Led Zeppelin''s Immigrant Song as rocks half the size of a jeep flew over from the cover of dug in wooden shields, fired from siege engines hiding behind them and the rocks startednding around the walls, sending clouds of rock dust into the air while the hardened Marines hid within the fortified walls.


    -----


    Specialist Sergeant Tyrier Lodess, of the 101st Arcane Tactics and Intervention, checked his gear as he and his team, ymore One, gathered in the briefing room inside the Mountain. He and his men wore a modified Mk VI Riot armor, additional heat formedminate plywood and 2mm thick steel tes at strategic locations on the armor. They carried a variety of weaponry, from swords to ck powder shotguns, silenced Magelocks and thetest weapon out of R&D, the M2 MageSpitter.


    The M2 Magespitter was a specially designed rapid-fire assault carbine, the body of the rifle was made out of stamped steel and the grips and stock out of native wood. A fire selector enables the firer to switch between, Safe, Single and Automatic fire. Weighting at 3.3 kg empty, a total length of one meter with a barrel length of 45 cm, it has a capacity of 30 rounds of 6.5mm held in scythe patterned detachable magazines. Muzzle velocity was measured at 607 m/s and an effective range of 270 meters with a rate of fire of 320 rounds per minute on full automatic.


    To enable the gas operated system to work properly, two gas tubes ced at the sides of the main barrel channeled the expanding gas from firing the cartridge against two wind runes were inserted at the front, the expanding gas than collides both the wind runes, creating a pocket of air, which created the much needed force for a gas blow back system used in conventional twenty-century rifles. To increase the efficiency of the gas trap style mechanism, a muzzle boosteres installed at the muzzle of the rifle barrel. It provided additional energy to ''boost'' the energy provided by the recoiling gases. This ''boost'' provides higher rates of fire and more reliable operation of the gas operated system.


    Using a fusion of technology and magic, the Hundred and First make use of runes carved into their equipment to strengthen and reduce the weight spells to enhance and buff their abilities like speed, strength, agility, endurance etc. Defensive spells were woven into their armor and shields, making them able to tank damage from both physical and magical. Offensive spells were even imbued into ammunition, increasing the damage dealt or even creating special effects like explosions or sh freezing an area.


    Tyrier ensured his customized M2 is tightly strapped against his chest, his rifle magazines secured jungle style with dual mps. It was customized with a 2x red dot sight, a forward grip, aser sighting device and a silencer attached. Another member of Team One carried a huge rune reinforced ballistic shield, his double-barreled sawed-off shotgun holstered in his right tight, a crisscross bandoleer of shotgun shells covered his burly armored chest.


    "Officer on deck!" The nearest Team One specialist yelled as he stood at attention when the door opened and Major Frank, Master Sergeant Pike entered with and a First Lieutenant with Intelligence markings on his uniform following behind. The rest of the team of seven stopped all work and stood at attention.


    "At ease," Frank waved them down. "All ready?" He looked at the seven elves standing fully decked out with weapons and heavy armor. "Alright gather around than." The Lieutenant directly plugged in a data stick into the disy in the room.


    "Now, you guys surely could have guessed about the mission by now," The Lieutenant said, "I am First Lieutenant Tavor of Fleet Intelligence, we will be working closely together in the future." He introduced himself and pointed to two points at on the map disyed in the screen. "Primary Objective Alpha, take out the Necromancer." The map zoomed into a blob of darkness in the middle of a group of Orcs.


    "UAV recon flights spotted this anomaly a few days ago," Tavor highlighted the inky ck blob. "Intel had rerun back the previous videos during and before the attacks and found have recorded this in a few instances. The next few images switch to different locations of the forest with a different timestamp stating the time and date, showing a simr dark blob with a group of Oerkins.


    "We suspect that this fellow here is the boss of the Orcs," Tavor pointed to Orc significantlyrger to the rest, without any adorations on his body and armor. We spotted him a few times staying at the rear and with the humanoid-shaped dark blob with him." Another image showed a very sharp and clear image of both the giant Orc and the dark blob behind him.


    "Magister Thorn''s assessment of the blob as a sort of anti-magical scrying spell to prevent others from discovering it. We tested with a simr spell and it does appear to show up as a blurry blob in our cameras and sensors, so we are 100% certain this is our target." Tavor exined to the room.


    "Eliminate Target Alpha, if possible recover any intel or artifacts in rtion to the target for Command to study," Tavor listed out their objectives. "Objective Beta, if after eliminating the Primary Target and the undead is still operational, search and destroy possible magical anchor in the vicinity of these two locations."


    Tavor disyed a top-down map of the forest with areas highlighted with blue and red. "Areas marked in Blue are suspected Empire forces, while Red are areas of Orc activities." He pointed to an area highlighted in Red, "There is an 80% chance of the Neancer''s living quarters to be located here. And here, is where the mass graves of the Empire soldiers were buried."


    "The Primary Target will most likely appear at these locations during certain timings of the night, most likely to observe and control the Undead army." Another three locations were highlighted. "We want a clean kill here. Cut the head off, douse the body with salt and burn it." Tavor stared eye to eye with the ymore One members. "This is a high priority target, make no mistakes. Questions?"


    "What level of support are we getting?" Tyrier raised up, "Couldn''t we hit the target with a missile strike?"


    "Command doesn''t want to leave it to chances, the target might have a barrier spell that negates all forms of attack." Tavor rified, "We need you guys there to ensure that the target gets taken outpletely."


    "You will have priority UAV tasking and a single missile strike for emergencies," Major Frank spoke up, waving off the protests from team ymore One. "I know, I asked for more support but that is all that has been tasked to you."


    "The seven of us going against ten thousand Oerkins, and unknown thousands of Undead to kill one Necromancer?" Someone sarcastically pointed out, "And all we get is a single missile?"


    "Settle down!" Pike bellowed, ring at the unhappy elves of ymore One. "You are the 101st, elite among the Marines! Stop your whining!"


    "I will have a fullpany of Marines on standby with half-tracks to pull you out when you give the word," Frank assured them. "Command has their reasons for this arrangement I am sure."


    "Alright quit whining!" Tyrier cut his team''sints off. "We will think of a way to get in and out with them knowing we are there. Isn''t this what we trained for?"


    His team nodded, "Alright, if we are going in and out quiet, we need to swap out some of the guns." Tavor continued, "Drop the shields, grab a silenced M2, pack some more explosives for distractions."


    Turning to the disy and looking at the map, "Any intel on the patrols routes and locations of sentries?" He asked Tavor, who smiled.


    "Ahh, thought you never ask,"

 Chapter 85: Claymore One

    Chapter 85: ymore One


    The thunder of Magelocks echoed over walls of the near vertical mountain face. The twin moons appeared as two thin crescents hovered over the tall peaks of Sawtooth Mountain, as a single dark shape loomed over peaks, narrowing missing the jagged rocks, kicking up loose rocks and dirt. The twin turboprop duct fans screamed as maximum power was applied to them, barely allowed the modified space shuttle to clear the peaks barely with a meter or two below its belly.


    Several figures were strapped onto crash seats facing each other in the pressurized cabin of the Valkyrie, renamed by the two pilots who redesigned the space shuttles into a helicopter. All the radiation ting were removed from the ship and redundant systems stripped away to lighten the ship as much as possible. The cargo attachment at the rear was also stripped away, and the tail boom of the shuttle shortened. After the new modifications, the old space shuttle no longer looked like the original, bing a stub looking predatory flier.


    Dozens of weight reducing runes were carved into the main hull of the flier, giving a further 25% reduction in the total weight of the heavy and pig-like copter. The copter flew like a sports car despite it having no aerodynamic surfaces except for the stubby wings welded on the middle of the hull to provide weapon hardpoints, each offering three weapon stations, in addition to providing lift. Arge blue-grey mana stone was set in the nose, under a 10 mm thick armored steel ting, the mystic runes carved in the stone, glowed dimly as an electric current was run through it, causing the stone to project a bubble of wind resistance, simr to the Giant Wind Wolves'' innate ability. This ability allowed the copter to fly like on greased tracks against all weather but a hurricane.


    "This is your flight captain speaking, please put your trays up and ensure your seatbelts are buckled," A chippy voice came over the speakers in the red-lit cabin. "If you feel the need to puke, please do so in the inside of your helmets, as Air Valkyrie does not permit vomiting in its flight cabin."


    Specialist Sargeant Tyrier rolled his eyes at the antics of the pilot. He nced out of the armored ss window, seeing nothing but darkness before checking his team out. Some of them were nodding off in their crash seats, catching as much sleep as possible, while Specialist Private Hitsu sat the other side of the bird, stared out into the darkness.


    After a short while, the pilot voice broke the engine hum of the cabin, "Alright, boys, we are approaching the LZ nding zone) in five minutes, please ensure you have left no belongings behind as you depart from the bird. And thank you for flying Air Valkyrie and have a pleasant day!"


    "Wake up, wake up!" Tyrier yelled over the whine of the engines, "Five minutes!" He raised his hand out, disying five fingers, waking everyone up. The team started checking their gear for thest time and braced themselves for the insertion.


    -----


    Flight Lieutenant Peter grinned as he cut thems off to the cabin. He leaned forward and smacked on his co-pilot, Flight Lieutenant Tommy''s dark grey helmet, decored with lightning strikes on the side, only to receive a middle finger as a response.


    "You are really enjoying this, eh?" Tommy''s voice came into Peter''s helmet.


    "Hell yeah! We are flying!" Peter answered back cheerfully. "Always knew that if anyone can make this bucket of bolts to fly, is you."


    Tommy snorted, "And no thanks to you, bro."


    "Come on, cheer up! How''s the scope looking?" Peter asked.


    "All''s clear, no radar contacts," Tommy replied, "One minute to target LZ."


    "Roger that," Peter replied, "Thunder Chief, Thunder Chief, Valkyrie One on direct approach to LZ in one minute, over."


    "Thunder Chief, copy that, make sure the cargo is properly delivered, over"


    "Wilco, Valkyrie One out." Peter ended thems, "Alright, boys hold on tight! Here we go!" And yanked the joystick sharply, tilting the bird on its side, nearly vertical to the ground, before nose-diving down and pulling up just before hitting the ground.


    -----


    The whine of the turboprops changed pitch and the buckles holding Tyrier bit hard against his armor as Tyrier gripped the handrails in time just as the pilot yelled a warning, "Alright, boys hold on tight! Here we go!" The copter suddenly took a hard right turn before the floor of the copter dropped, as the pilot took a hard dive downwards, sharply reducing airspeed and mmed the men hard against the crash seats and hover the bird about a meter above the terrain, as a precaution againstnd mines. Despite knowing the enemy has no such technology, it honed the pilots'' skills as they kept the bird steady.


    The crew chief stood braced against the rear of the exit like a statue, the sudden turns, and dives seemingly unable to a fazed him at all. He punched the rear exit ramp down as the lights turned from red to green and stood on the side, yelling, "GO GO GO!"


    The elves of 101st ATI, team ymore One, buckled their safety harness and rapidly exited the bird, hopping off the rear ramp and spreading out in a circle, crouching in the clearing, their M2s with the fat silencers pointing into the darkness of forest around them. As the bird lifted off, and the ground effects and whine of the turboprops vanished, Tyrier whistled into hisms, "Move out," and headed towards the north of the forest, straight for their objective.


    The team donned their night vision gear, advanced equipment taken from the limited stores of the ship, same as with theirms systems they were using, and headed into the forest in a diamond-shaped formation, keeping a distance of roughly five meters away from each other. The elves trekked quietly and skillfully, not leaving behind any traces of their passage as they head northwards towards their objective.


    The transport copter had airlifted ymore One down to the south, over the mountain tops, 15 km away from their objective to avoid detection. From there, they were to trek their way upwards and sneak their way into the enemy''s camp, taking out the target and if needed, search and destroy the anchor.


    The team was mostly armed with silenced M2s and each other member carried a pump action shotgun with experimental arcane ammunition. While the other members carried the M3 Magekiller, to be used to take out the target from a distance if possible. Each pair of soldier will have two M2s, a shotgun and a M3 between themselves. Using spells to enhance their speed and agility, the team made quick time, reaching the borders of the Orc encampment in roughly an hour.


    They could hear the calls and yells from the distance in the direction of the Orc camp. Tyrier nodded to one of his teammate who, stopped and silently moved his lips, where a dim glow of a bluish magical circle appeared under each of ymore One''s feet. When the spell waspleted, everyone glowed slightly bluish before everyone''s body appeared to blend into the darkness. "Done," The caster whispered as he finished the minor invisibility spell.


    "Go," Tyrier whispered in the team''sms, "Turn on your infra probe lights. And keep everyone in sight! Don''t get lost!" He peered around in a circle, trying very hard to spot his teammates in the dark forest. He reached over the back of his shoulder and flipped on a switch on a cylindrical device strapped over the back of his vest.


    Pulling his night vision goggles down, several pulsing lights started in his vision, highlighting the location of his team. After ensuring everyone could pinpoint each other''s position and their pieces of equipment are working fine, they set off quietly, weapons at the ready as they sneaked past groups of drunken partying Orcs.


    One of the ymore One team members started to map out locations and positions of the Orc encampment as they sneak through, identifying guard towers, stores, barracks, sentry locations etc. Finally, after an hour of infiltrating into the camp, the team spread out over three marked locations, Area A, B and C, each with two members overwatching the area where the suspected Necromancer would appear except for Specialist Sergeant Tyrier who camped somewhat in the middle of all three locations, acting as themand and control point.


    Tyrier had slowly and quietly climbed up onto an ancient everblue, settling down on a thick branch, three stories high and securing his position by tying a rope and a carabiner around the branch and clipping it on to his harness. After which he removed a smart camoting and covered himself, lying prone on the branch, and keeping watch around him. The minor invisibility spell will remain active for a couple of hours before fading, more than enough time for the team to dig in and hide.


    High Command has not given any dateline for the mission except that it is highly critical that the mission must seed, thus Tyrier decided to ensure everything works out perfectly. His team had nted multiple mines on each location, resembling the ymore mines of the twentieth century, a simple curved te with hundreds of ball bearings on one side and shaped explosives at the other.


    The mines were daisy-chained together for maximum effect on the trap area, remotely detonated by a nking device with creates an electronic charge down the hidden electric wire, cleverly camouged among the forest floor. It will be used as thest option should the team snipers failed to make a kill shot with the M3 Magekiller, as the target most likely be protected by magical defensive spells. The huge mass of ball bearings will be more than enough to shred what magical shields and bodies to pieces.


    The special operations soldiers hidden in the forest waited for hours, ignoring the crawling and stings of insects on their exposed skin and waited for the Necromancer to appear. But Lady Luck was not smiling to them as night turned to day and it was untilte afternoon that something happened.


    Specialist Private Hitsu slowly chewed the dried fruit bar in his mouth, slowly savoring the sweetness of the mixture of fruits and nuts. He and his partner mentally tuned out the boredom of having nothing happening for hours, even taking turns to take a power nap to recharge themselves. He watched the sloppily patroling gangs of Orcs, crashing through the undergrowth, loud enough to alert anybody hundreds of meters away and shook his head.


    He used to fear these Orcs, thinking back to the childhood stories that his mother used to scare him with, saying if you don''t sleep now, or you don''t listen and be a good boy, the Oerkins wille and snatch you away and eat you at night. Now looking at the way the Orcs move and carry themselves, he smiled at how foolish he was when younger.


    "Pssh," Specialist Loke hissed from his hide, a tree away from him. He signals Hitsu with hand signs, indicating some unusual movement approaching from their East. Loke handled the massive M3 anti-material rifle, lying on a tree branch, covered with the smart camo that blended the special operations sniper perfectly together with the tree, it was only Hitsu knew where to look at that he could spot where and what Loke was signing with.


    Hitsu, very very slowly turned his head to look at the direction of where Loke said something was happening. His face painted with dark blue and strips of ck camo paint, slowly peeked out of theting, avoiding any sudden movements which could attract any attention and saw arge troop of Orcs storming their way across them at a distance of 50 meters away.


    Hitsu cursed inwardly as he noticed a small contingent of robed individuals among the Orcs, but one of them clearly stood out among them, as that individual extruded an aura of pure evilness to Hitsu''s senses. He double tapped hisms, signaling to his other teammates that his area of operations which is Area B, has spotted the target.

 Chapter 86: To Kill a Necromancer

    Chapter 86: To Kill a Necromancer


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    Captain ke and the othermand staff stood around the tactical disy table, ncing either at the map on the table or the disy screens, disying UAV overhead video feeds or the direct feeds from the Hundred and First Arcane Tactics and Intervention, ymore One teams'' helmet-mounted cameras. The disy from the helmet-mounted cameras was choppy as the signal was poor due to the canopy of signal blocking trees, despite the transmitter tower ymore One had installed in the forest canopy top, beforehand.


    Everyone'' eyes were bloodshot as they waited and drank cups of decaf the whole night, watching the disys and waiting for reports of the mission toe in. Yet hours had past yet there was nothing and most of themand staff had retired to rest when the call came in that the target has been sighted.


    Now everyone crowded around the disys, watching the screens. "The Necromancer appeared to be heavily escorted this time by his minions." Commander Ford asked, "Should we call it off or wait for another opportunity?"


    "Tell ymore One to hold their position and stay on the target," ke answered. "Leave it to their tactical decision, of aborting or continuing."


    -----


    "-on your own tactical discretion," The voice spoke into Specialist Sergeant Tyrier''sms. He cursed, thinking what a great way to deny all involvement in this shit. Looking at his tablet, he nudged Squad One and Squad Threes towards Squad Two''s position. cing Squad Three as a blocking force to cover the possible retreating route of the Target while Squad One was assigned to support Squad Two.


    Tyrier peeked out of his cover and tried to see if he can spot the group of Orcs in the distance, but the clustered tree trunks prevented line of sight. "Squad Two, what''s the tactical situation on your site? Over."


    A whisper came back from thems, "Heavy escort, at least a dozen Orcs, four mages of unknown magical capabilities and our Target. Over."


    "Heading?" Tyrier asked back, looking at the digital map in his tablet, as he looked at the icons of his team get into position slowly to avoid detection.


    "Target appears to be heading to Cemetery Site B." Came back the response. "They will arrive within 15 minutes."


    "Squad One and Three, you heard that?" Tyrierms over the all unit channel, "You got less than 15 minutes to get to position."


    Clicks and taps replied Tyrier over thems as Squad One and Three acknowledged the order by tapping their mics. Tyrier nced around, making sure no one is around and quickly pulled the smart camoting away and rolling it up, storing it back into his pouch, before unbuckling the carabiner and slithered down the tree trunk. He did a quick stretch of his body and legs, removing the kinks from staying in the same position away.


    He ghosted his way around the trees in the fastest possible speed, without attracting any attention from the rowdy patrolling Orcs and found a nice vantage point within some massive tree roots. Tyrier braced his M2 carbine against the tree roots and spotted movement between the trees. Good, the Target is heading towards where they had set up the traps the night before.


    "Squad One in position," A low panting voice sounded from thems in Tyrier''s helmet. "We got movement here, eyes on the Target."


    "Squad Three?" Tyrier asked, "Are you ready?"


    "Negative," Squad Three''s in charge replied, "We got too many patrols here, we need more time to get to position."


    Damn, Tyrier thought, should I order the team to stand down or go ahead, he pondered. He looked up from his hiding spot to see half the group of the Orcs had entered into the clearing, "Squad Three!" He hissed.


    "Almost there!" The reply came back, as the entire Orc contingent is now inside the clearing, standing well within the kill zone of the ymores. "... Here!"


    "Loke! Take the shot!" Tyrier whispered urgently into his mike. "Take it!" And prayed.


    -----


    Specialist Private Lokeidfortably on top of the broad moss covered tree branch. His smart camoting covering his whole body, up till therge bulky silencer for his M3 Magekiller. The thick and 40 cm long ck matt coated silencer peeked out from the edge of histing, if not for the bipod, Loke might not be able to properly aim and fire his weapon.


    He zeroed his scope to within 100 meters in this engagement, disregarding wind and everything else since the sniping distance is practically almost in knife range. He used a 4x magnification scope instead of the standard 6x or even 10x scopes as it would give him too much tunnel vision, preventing him from shooting or spotting other enemies in the close distance.


    Hearing the background chatter of Squad Three''s race against time to reach their blocking position, Loke kept his crosshair slightly aimed away in front of the hooded target. He believed that if aimed directly at the Target, it might sense or felt it.


    As the whole group entered the clearing, Squad Three finally reported they are in position and Loke heard Specialist Sergeant Tyrier whispered his name, "Take the shot! Take it!"


    Loke swung the scope directly over the Target and without hesitation nor pause and squeezed the trigger. The muffled boom of the heavy weapon and the escaping gun smoke instantly covered Loke''s view, and he could only rely on his partner Hitsu to report the results of his shot. He quickly worked the bolt, sending therge .50 caliber empty cartridge spinning away down to the forest floor.


    -----


    Hitsu raised to a crouch slowly, bnced properly on the tree branch and readied his M2 Magespitter as he heard the order came in from Tyrier to take the shot. Less than a second, a thump and a cloud of dirty smoke appeared in the upper tree trunk where Loke had hidden, and Hitsu quickly looked at the Target, seeing the Target flew back from the impact of the anti-material round.


    "Good hit," Hitsu whispered in excitement in all teamms. "Target down!"


    "Wait and hold position," Tyrier ordered. He had unfastened his binocrs and peered at the crowd surrounding the fallen Necromancer. "Ensure target is dead, we need to behead the target!"


    "No movement from the Target from my side," Squad Two reported, "But the Orcs are getting restless."


    "Take them all out, make sure no one escapes!" Tyrier ordered again, as he observed the actions of the Orcs.


    "Roger!" And several soft pops and smoke clouds appeared around the clearing as Squad One and Squad Two engaged the Orcs and less than ten minutes, the clearing was filled with dead bodies.


    "Squad One, go, make sure none is alive!" Tyrier directed his men to advance into the clearing.


    Squad Two emerged from the undergrowth, their boots barely making any sound in the forest floor. The two elves entered in a tactical formation, side by side, each covering their firing arcs and sector. They headed straight to the Target, ignoring the rest as they focused on their main objective.


    Specialist Lance Corporal Young approached the target body cautiously, he looked at his partner who nodded, covering him from the side and Young took a step forward before giving the body a double tap to the head, just in case.


    As the two bullets smacked into the hooded figure''s head, Young suddenly felt a chill down his spine, "It''s not dead yet!" And fired another three rounds into the head. The hooded figure suddenly twisted away and stood up in an unnatural way, staring at Young from within the darkness of its hood.


    Young and his partner fired into the center of mass of the Target, seeing the hooded figure jerked backward as their bullets hammered at it. "Die! You son of a bitch!" Young cursed, as he emptied an entire magazine of 30 rounds directly into Necromancer''s body.


    "Fall back! Tyrier yelled at Squad One, who heeded his order and retreated, firing as they went. A muffled thump echoed between the trees, and another .50 caliber round mmed into the Target, causing it to flop backward. "Hit it with everything you got!"


    Squad One and Squad Two opened fired, their silenced weapons popping and thumping away in the clearing. Tyrier also fired at the Target, seeing it jerk and dance with the impacts of the bullets, Suddenly the dead Orcs stood up, forming a meat shield around the Necromancer, causing chunks of meat and dark red blood to st all over the clearing.


    "His magical defensive spells must be weakening!" Someone yelled in the team channel, "It''s using the dead to recover!"


    "Fark!" Tyrier cursed again, by now the racket made by the silenced weapons and the gun smoke raising from the clearing should have alerted even the dumbest Orc. "Go loud!"


    Hitsu hearing the order, quickly dropped his M2 on its sling and reached to his back, ripping out his pump action shotgun. In its, five round magazine tube was loaded with experimental explosive shells. Each shell was packed with a hollowed slug, with as much ck powder that can bepressed and packed into it with dozens of ball bearings surrounding the ck powder charge. A pair of wafer-thin disks, carved with a fire igniting rune, sits on the tapered nose of the slug.


    When the explosive slug impacts any hard surface, the twin rune wafers will copse together and a me will be ignited like an impact fuse, causing thepressed ck powder charge to explode and throwing ball bearings out in a hemisphere effect, killing or maiming any creature within a five-meter radius.


    Hitsu aimed at the corpse wall and fired, just as Specialist Private Altied from Squad One also drew out his shotgun and fired, a secondter. The resulting explosion tore the Orc bodies into unidentified meat chunks and offal. The second explosive slug, a second behind exploded inside the barrier of the dead when it impacted against something, immediately causing the corpse wall to copse inwardly.


    An unearthly cry erupted from the small mound of bodies, and the Necromancer emerged out, its robes frayed and holed from gunfire, its hood was torn off. A feminine elvish face with lifeless eyes and covered with sanity causing tattoos could be seen. The shotgunners emptied their magazine tubes at the Necromancer, frailing the figure with hundreds of ball bearings and shrouding it in explosions of smoke.


    "We got iing from the Orc Camp!" Squad There yelled in thems. "Engaging!"


    "Squad Three, keep them out of our backs while we kill the Necromancer!" Tyrier ordered, recing his spent magazine with a fresh magazine. He raised his left hand out, his fingers forming a seal like gesture and two small blue-white magical circles appeared before his hand. He started chanting, forming the spell circle and casting a bolt of lightning directing into the smoke covered figure, inciting another unearthly cry.


    "Why won''t this thing die!" Hitsu cried out, as he reloaded his shotgun with more explosive shells. The Necromancer leaped out of the smoke and charged directly at Altied from Squad One, who dove out of the way and raising on one knee, dropping his empty shotgun and quick drawing his M2 and fired into the side of the Necromancer, causing it to flinch.


    "DIE MUTHA FUCKER DIE!" Altied screamed at the creature, its feminine elf face and lifeless eyes showing no expression except for the mouth opened wide. Catching a glimpse of the chaotic tattoos on the Necromancer''s face, Altied screamed again, as he felt his mind itch, his ears hearing strange and chaotic whispers.


    "Don''t look at it!" Tyrier shouted as he charged into the clearing, and fired his M2 at the back of the Necromancer. Dark stters of ichor burst out and wisps of smoke erupted from the blood sts on the ground as it corroded what it touched.


    Altied''s buddy, Specialist Lance Corporal Young charged over and tackled him away from the deadly swipe of the Neancer''s w-like nails, as Altied was transfixed to the rune tattoos on the Neancer''s face, his mouth starting to drool.


    The Necromancer opened its mouth and gave a scream, it''s intended victim having snatched away from its grasp. Suddenly it toppled backward again, as a .50 caliber round blew its left shoulder away, sending a huge spray of smoking ichor across half the clearing.


    "Back!" Tyrier reached Altied and Young''s side, helping to drag Altied out of the clearing. They managed to get Altied away, who slowly recovered his senses. "Hit the explosives!" Tyrier shouted at Hitsu, who quickly pulled out the detonator, giving it a few cranks, creating an electric current and squeezed the detonate trigger.


    The daisy-chained ck powder ymore mines facing the inside of the clearing detonated as one, eight mines each throwing 700 3.2mm steel balls, at a velocity of 1,018 m/s. The Necromancer struggled to its feet and cursed, just as 5,600 steel balls ripped through the entire clearing.


    "SOFT SKINS! YOU WILL BE PART OF MY AR-"

 Chapter 87: Angry Orcs

    Chapter 87: Angry Orcs


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "YES!" Cheers erupted as the crew and officers watched what happened through the choppy video stream from ymore One''s actions. Seeing the Necromancer get shredded by the mines, the whole bridge just stood up, cheered wildly and apuded.


    "Great work, ymore One," the Bridge Communications Officer, congratted the team for a sessful mission.


    "Hey, hey," Captain ke called out, "The mission is not over yet! We still need to determine if the Necromancer''s death will it also affects the Undead army." He reminded everyone.


    The crew quiet down, as they looked on hopefully on to their disy screens hoping that with the Necromancer killed, the dead will no longer raise up.


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, Ambush Site B


    Coughing from the gun smoke, Specialist Sergeant Tyrier pushed himself off from the top of Specialist Altied, whoid on the forest floor, moaning. Tyrier gestured to Specialist Lance Corporal Young to assist and treat Altied as he headed back into the clearing.


    Stters of dark red blood, bits, and pieces of Orc sprawled all over the clearing. Tyrier readied his weapon and head for the spot where the Necromancer was thest to be seen. The robed figure was so ravaged badly by the steel ball bearings from the ymore mines, that mostly of the Necromancer was scattered all over the area. Despite that, the upper half of the Necromancer torso remained behind with its female elvish face still lying there.


    Tyrier avoided looking at the face, remembering what had happened to Altied earlier. He drew his single-ded sword and hack down with all his strength, severing the head off. Digging into his pooches, he pulled out a drawstring bag of kosher salt and sprinkled them all over the torso and the decapitated head, before pouring a sk of alcohol liquid over the body parts and setting them on fire.


    Salt being used is for purification will dispel any negative or evil energy, and the fire will destroy any chances of the creature from reanimating.


    "Squad Three, what''s your situation, over," Tyrier asked as he watched the mes consuming the body parts.


    "We pushed them back, for the time being, they are still confused to where our location is," Squad Three replied. "But we got a huge bunch of really angry Orcs here!"


    "Roger, extract yourselves and meet us at the designated rally point Alpha, copy?" Tyrier responded.


    "Copy that, bugging out now," Squad Three replied as they fired a few more rounds and retreated behind the gun smoke, using it as cover for their retreat.


    "Alright Squad One and Two, head to rally point Alpha now," Tyrier ordered, "Move it!" Tyrier wanted to see if there were any things left behind by the Necromancer, but apparently, everything got destroyed by the ymore mines. "Move it, people!"


    War horns bellowed from within the Orc camps, "Detonate the rest of the mines at the other sites, keep them busy!" Tyrier ordered as he supported Altied''s limp form. He chanted a quick strengthening spell, boosting his strength and fireman carried Altied over his shoulder, including all his weapons and armor, taking off in a quick jog into the undergrowth.


    Squad Three led the pursuers back towards the ambush Site C, the angry Orcs crying out in bloodlust and excitement at the fleeing two figures, screaming vulgarities in their Orc tongue after them. The two elves hopped over a fallen log where they hid the detonator and quickly cranked the charge, and timed the trap just as the pursuing Orcs entered into the killing zone.


    Other than bits of gore, blood, and broken pieces of equipmentid shattered all over, nothing alive remained in Site C, Squad Three without even a backward nce, sprinted off towards the rally point.


    Squad Three was thest to arrive at the rally point, the rest was already assembled at the rally, with Squad Two on overwatch, keeping an eye around their surroundings for any signs of pursuing enemies. Young from Squad One was providing magical medical aid to the mind stunned Altied, was who slowly recovering his wits.


    "What happened?" Specialist Corporal Doth jerked his head towards Altied and Young.


    "He nearly got his brain fried by some chaos or dark magic," Tyrier answered. "Young saved his ass just in time."


    "We got the target?" Doth asked again.


    "Beheaded, salted and burnt," Tyrier gave a rare smile, "Alright, set up thems array, let''s see what further instructions Command has."


    Doth nodded, gesturing his partner over as both of them headed off to high ground to deploy the portablemunication array in their backpacks. Tyrier went to check on Altied, "How is he?"


    Young peeled back the eyelids and examined the pupils of Altied and said, "He should be fine, with some rest, his brain just couldn''t handle the bacsh of some raw chaos magic." Young kept away his medical supplies, "Lucky he got high willpower and managed to resist the effects of the dark magic, if not," Young shrugged, his hands mimicking a pair of wings flying away. "I gave him 10s of tranq-shot, it should sedate him till we can get him to proper medical aid.


    Tyrier nodded and headed up to where Squad Three were setting up thems gear. A small foldable antenna disk stood on top of a boxy device with dials and wires, with Doth hunched over it as he aimed the antenna disk into the skies, at roughly the position of where the recon UAV was scheduled to appear over.


    "We got a connection," Doth said, nodding to Tyrier. "All yours."


    "ymore Actual to Thunderchief do you copy over?" Tyrier spoke into hisms set in his helmet.


    "-derchief reading you loud and clear, over."


    "ymore Actual, requesting orders over."


    "Thunderchief, Command wants you to standby for confirmation of undead activity, should threat is still red, go secondary mission, over."


    "ymore Actual, copies that, out."


    "Damn," Tyrier groaned, he was tired so was his men. "Alright, pack it in, we go into hiding till night falls." He spoke into his all team channel.


    "Command wants us to assess the situation of the undead activities, if they are still active, we will begin the secondary mission." Tyrier briefed his team, "Young, you hold the rally point and look after Altied. The Squad Two will reinsert back, and standby at the mass grave site and while I and Squad Three will head towards the Necromancer''s suspected tent."


    "Questions?" Seeing no one saying anything, Tyrier continued, "Rest up in rotations, we will move out when nightes."


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, Orc Frontline


    Urka the Fierce stood at the back of a tree trunk, using it as cover from the deadly long ranged spells cast from Walls of the Pass. He watched a trio of Oerkin stone throwers in action, sheltered behind walls made out of thick logs, the Oerkin crew pulling the ropes of the trebuchet, andunching a rock almost the size of an Oerkin towards the walls.


    "Warleader! Warleader!" A skinny Oerkin wearing a bright orange sh across his chest, signifying him as a messenger, called out to Urka from behind the lines.


    "What is it?" Urka gestured him over, making sure they are behind the cover of the tree trunk.


    "Something has happened at the camp! Smoke and fire!" The messenger excitedly gave his report.


    "Slow down!" Urka roared, using his fist and thumping the head of the messenger to stop his babbling. "What happened at the camp?"


    "Eh, don''t know?" The messenger shrugged his shoulders as he rubbed the egg-sized bruise forming on his head. "Just seeing smoke where the Elder was headed to."


    "The Elder?" Urka frowned, why has this idiote to disturb him with such matters. "The Shamans should be able to take care of themselves, don''t disturb me unless the camp is under attack or on fire!"


    "Eh?" The messenger scratched his head, "Okey dokey," and scrammed off.


    Urka shook his head and returned to watching the stone throwers at work. and not longter, the same skinny messenger appeared before Urka again. "Eh, Warleader..."


    "What now?" Urka asked impatiently, recently he had been getting very impatient with how the war had been going on.


    "More smoke and boom booms in the forest!" The messenger waved his arms to indicate the size of the smoke.


    "Boom Boom?" Urka scrunched his face in confusion, "What?" Then it hit him, boom boom meant the sounds the thundersticks made by the cursed soft skins in the Pass. "Where?" He roared at the terrified Oerkin.


    "Back at the camp!" The shaking Oerkin pointed a finger back towards the camp. That was when Urka heard several sharp cracks and followed ps of thundering distantly from the rear. He shoved the messenger away from his path and ran back, his warriors following closely behind.


    As the entered the camp, he noticed the camp was in a state of confusion, warriors standing around looking confused, while the ves huddled down in fear. A sudden ripple of sharp ps shooked the camp, Urka could feel a slight shock wave passing over him, "This way!" He waved his warriors. "To me!"


    Appearing down a well-worn path in the forest floor, several Oerkin warriorsy dead or heavily wounded on the path, Urka kneeled down next to a wounded warrior and shook him awake, questioning him, "What happened?"


    "Soft skins..." The wounded Oerkin coughed out, "That way..."


    "Go!" Urka roared at his warriors. He grabbed a passing Oerkin warrior and said, "Alert the camp, the soft skins are attacking, be on alert!" And he ran after his warriors, just as another ripple of explosions went off, nearer this time, the shockwave causing him and his warriors to stumble.


    "What is happening? How did the soft skins get behind us?" Urka cursed, as he ran along the path, before arriving at a clearing where a strong stench of blood and soiled bowels. A path of ground in the clearing was charred ck, and as Urka neared, the smell of badly burnt meat assailed his nose. He looked around the carnage in the clearing, trying to piece together what had happened here.


    Clearly, a very powerful spell had ravaged all living here, he couldn''t identify most of the body parts, but he found scraps of blood-soaked robes among the litter in the clear. "Where is the Elder?"


    His battle-hardened warriors upon seeing the scene, their faces turned pale, they shook their heads, unable to question Urka''s question. "Find the Elder! Spread out!" He roared at the hesitating warriors. "GO!"


    Despite their best efforts and trackers, the Oerkin could not find any trace of the Elder Shaman, even the fellow Shamans remaining in the camps couldn''t even discover any sense of the Elder''s aura. "We couldn''t feel him at all, not even his Spirit!" One of hooded Shaman said to Urka.


    "Curses! How about any trace of the soft skins?" Urka asked his lieutenants, who shooked their heads. "What have you all been doing all these time!" He roared angrily.


    "No soft skin was seen returning to the Pass," One of them replied. "Nothing passed by the south path!" Another said.


    "Keep finding them! Use the wind wolves!" Urka shouted angrily, "Find the soft skins and the Elder now!" He waved madly at his warriors, making them flinch back in fear and respect.


    His warriors bowed and turned to their subordinates and started handing down orders and instructions, using kicks and punches to drill it into their thick skulls. Urka returned his gaze at the bloody site, the sticky blood already turning dry in the sun, attracting hundreds of insects and small creatures to feed on the mess.


    "The Elder couldn''t have been defeated?" Urka wondered, "No, the Elder is protected by the Spirits, even if I match against the Elder, I won''t possibly win at all." But yet a doubt remained in his heart. He looked at the charred patch of grass in the middle of the clearing again, wondering what had happened here.

 Chapter 88: Objective Beta

    Chapter 88: Objective Beta


    Uncharted Forest, Rally Point Alpha


    Tyrier grabbed Altied''s shotgun and bandolier while distributing Altied''s remaining 6.5 mm magazines to the rest of team and started to field strip the weapon down and clean it. Everyone took turns doing sentry duty while the team rested, ate, maintained their weapons and gear and waited for the sun to set and darkness toe.


    The team cast a barrier of Nondetection and both physically and magically removed all traces of their passing. As they hid and rested in the trees, Orc patrols passed by them several times, searching for any traces of their whereabouts. The only time they nearly got found was when a couple of giant Wind Wolves appeared with Orc riders strapped on top their backs, the wolves sniffed around the trees where they had hidden but couldn''t find any scent and left shortly after, causing the whole team who were aiming their weapons at the wolves all the time to rx.


    Firing off another short micro burst message to the UAV drone circling over the forest, and after receiving the return message from Command. Tyrier whispered to the gathered team, who huddled together. "Alright, we are going back in. Command reports that the undead are still active. This means there is a high chance of an anchor for the undead to spawn. This time keep using Minor Invisibility, I want no one to get found out."


    The team nodded and started their preparations, once the Invisibility spells were cast, they stealthily climbed down the trees and split off towards their objectives, leaving behind Squad One to watch their backs.


    The return trip back towards the Orc encampment was slower this time around, as Orcs patrols trampled all over the forest despite it being dark, and the light of the twin waxing crescent moons barely cast enough light through the thick forest canopy. The noisy Orcs holding burning torches wandered around in unpredictable routes, poking and shaking at the undergrowth as if expecting something to pop out.


    Despite the noise and lights cast by the patrols, the sheer numbers of Orcs wandering around made progression slow as they had to stop and time their movements and try to avoid having an Orc walk into them. Luckily they did not encounter any of the Wind Wolves in the area. making their infiltration easier.


    Tyrier and Squad Three reached the outer edge of the Orc camp, just barely past midnight. Looking at the hive of activity in the camp, it will appear that the Orcs were not all sleeping, countless numbers of undead could be seen gathering at an area on the other side of the camp. Doth tapped Tyrier''s shoulder, pointing to the mass of undead. "Over there?" He whispered.


    Tyrier adjusted his night vision goggles to maximum zoom, looking at the bright green scenery of the camp with undead crowding around a couple ofrge tents. A few shadowy figures stood at the head of the undead crowd, waving and gesturing around.


    "Looks like the remaining shamans are trying to take back control of the dead," Tyrier whispered back. "Tavel, you stay back with the M3, provide overwatch if shit happens. Doth, on me." Tyrier recast the Minor Invisibility spell again, ignoring the waves of giddiness washing over him.


    After verifying the spell is functioning, they hugged the edge of the camp, staying within the shadows as much as possible before venturing into the open, using the shambling dead as cover from the Orc sentries. Ignoring the rot and decay of the dead, Tyrier gripped a half rotten Empire soldier from the back, his fingers sinking into the leathery and shrunken skin, holding onto the shoulder bones. He lifted the confused undead and used it as a shield, advancing closer and closer to the front of the crowd.


    Doth at his rear, had ced his left hand firmly on Tyrier''s shoulder and followed behind their makeshift cover. With the Minor Invisibility spell over them, their bodies outline visibly blurred and semi-transparent, they managed to blend in among the dead easily as the dead did not show any signs of aggression.


    Finally reaching as close as they could get to the tents of the shamans, Tyrier ditched their cover and they both crouched, fast crawling among the legs of the dead, squeezing through the bodies and using a spot of shadow cast by a burning brazier, they both rapidly crossed the open area and into the cover of the tents.


    "Squad Two, We are in position," Tyrier whispered into thems.


    -----


    Three hours ago,


    After splitting off with Tyrier and Squad Three, Hitsu and Loke headed straight for their objective, skirting past the countless numbers of Orcs wandering around with burning torches. As they closed into their objective site, the number of undead wandering around became thicker, some of the Orcs entertained themselves by poking or beating the undead, guffawing along all the way.


    Surprisingly, the undead ignored them, and they managed to reach the site of the mass grave, where hundreds of dead stood in mindless rows. "I think there is no one controlling them at all," Hitsu whispered to Loke who nodded. "See anything living?"


    Loke nced carefully around in his night vision goggles, shaking his head after a while. "No, looks like only the dead are here."


    "Alright, I search this side, you search the other," Hitsu said, pointing out the areas to be searched.


    Loke nodded again and cautiously stepped out to the open, his huge M3 strapped on his back while his M2 Magespitter held at the ready. Hitsu also advanced out, his M2 up and ready, a bright green beam emitting out from hisser sights as he looked through his night vision. He slowly sweeps left and right among the dead, making sure that they were dormant before stopping to cast a spell.


    A couple magic circles appeared from his hand as Hitsu whispered the chant for Detect Magic, and as the spellpletes, several fireflies like lights appeared and floated around, before orientating their direction and flew away from Hitsu,


    But Hitsu cursed, as the fireflies heading into all points of thepass. "Damn, there is too much magic interference here!" Some of the firefliesnded on the corpses, others on the trees or even the ground.


    Hitsu looked over at where Loke was, who was also casting a Detect Magic spell, but to no use. Loke shooked his head at Hitsu who waved back and turned his attention back to his surroundings. "Now, how do we find the anchor?" He hissed in frustration.


    As they looked up and down the entire area, the dead suddenly started moaning and shambled off away from the grave site. Both Hitsu and Loke looked at each other in surprise, wondering where are they moving off. "What''s happening?" The two of them quickly scrambled into cover, hiding behind a pile of dead wood, watching the undead shuffled off.


    "I think someone had taken control of them?" Loke guessed, "They look like they are heading to the Orc camp."


    "Damn! We need to warn Tyrier!" Hitsu whispered urgently, "ymore Actual, this is Squad Two, do you copy over?" He spoke into hisms, trying to contact Tyrier.


    "It''s not getting through!" Hitsu cursed as he tried to contact with Tyrier and Squad Three for the fourth time. "What do we do now?"


    "We continue to search for the anchor, I am sure they can handle themselves," Loke said seriously, he gestured to the emptied field, "They are gone, its easier to search the site now."


    "Do we even know what to look for?" Hitsu asked, as he lifted his head up and peered around the clearing, making sure no hostiles are around.


    "The dead are gone, we should be able to use Detect Magic now," Loke pointed out.


    "Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that," Hitsu grinned sheepishly. "I cast it then."


    Not long several specks of lights flickered around the field, clustering around a point in the middle, were several burrows could be seen under the effects of the night vision goggles. "We got something here!"


    They slowly approached the location where the magical specksnded, all the while keeping an eye around their surroundings. "Still looks fresh," Loke rubbed the disturbed soil, "Seems like something is buried here while everything else was dug up."


    "Cover me," Hitsu said as he detached a foldable entrenching tool from his back, flipping out a spade and gripping the D-handle and started to digging and shoving dirt away. Loke retreated back to find some cover by jumping down into a convenient looking trench dug out by the buried dead. He braced his M2 against the wet loose soil and kept watch as Hitsu dug away.


    After about 40 minutes of digging, Hitsu cried out, "Found something!" And he carried the item he found, dropping into the same grave where Loke was camping. "Here," He tossed it to Loke while he removed his helmet and wiped off the sweat.


    "What the fark is this?" Loke held the dirt crusted pouch up, turning it left and right. "Something moved in it!" He dropped the bag hurriedly and tensed up, aiming his M2 at the pouch on the floor.


    "You felt that too?" Hitsu asked as he swallowed a mouthful of water. "I thought it was my hands trembling from digging too much or something." He capped his water bottle and return it to its ce at the back of his harness. "Salt and burn it?"


    "Shouldn''t we report to Tyrier that we found the damn thing?" Loke said, his eyes not leaving the pulsing pouch on the floor. "Are we sure its the anchor?"


    "Tried, can''t get through still," Hitsu removed a small can of purified salt and bottle of mmable fluid. "Only way to find out if its the anchor or not." He smiled, "Go on, open it."


    "Wha-What?" Loke''s eyes went wide, "You kidding right?"


    "Hehehe,e on, I need to salt it and burn it," Hitsu grinned.


    "I salt it and burn it then, you open!" Loke reached out for his own set of salt and fuel. "You open it!"


    "Hahaha I didn''t tag you for someone so timid," Hitsu teased as he kept his salt and fuel. He pulled out his sword bay, crouched next to the beating pouch, and looked up at Loke. "Ready?"


    Nodding, Loke stood over Hitsu, each hand holding a can of salt and mmable fluid. Hitsu reached down and quickly slit open the pouch and shook out the contents onto the floor. "Aww, what the fark!"


    A ckish crimson heart, still beating unnaturally, flopped with a sick p on the grave floor, looking like some sort of abomination slug. Loke quickly dumped the whole can of salt, burying the heart in a small mountain, and poured the whole bottle of mmable oil into the mix. Hitsu deftly flicked a flint lighter, sending sparks flying and igniting the whole mixture.


    "Seriously? A whole can of salt?" Hitsu stood up as the unholy object burst into mes. "You know you can feed a whole family of four for weeks with that amount?"


    "Take no chances!" Loke defended himself as he breathed out a sigh of relief, watching the cken heart slowly cook, the congealed fats popping and hissing in the fire. "Think it''s the anchor?"


    Hitsu nodded, "Well I think that''s obvious." He looked out of the grave and blinked his eyes, trying to readjust them back to the darkness. "Let''s go, find a high ground and see if we can contact Tyrier."


    "Yeah, let''s go," Loke cast ast look at the dying mes, the heart no longer recognizable.


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, Orc camp, Shaman tents


    "Shit, we can''t get through to the Squad Two," Tyrier whispered to the rest. "I think there is too much magic interference in the air here."


    "Now what?" Doth asked, "We continue or what?"


    Tyrier considered his tactical options, they are currently in the middle of an entire Orc camp and surrounded by not only by the Orcs but an army of undead too. If they get discovered, there will be almost no chances of escape.


    Yet if theyplete the mission, the siege against the Pass will weaken significantly and lessened the chances of an enemy breakthrough.


    "Fark it, let''s just burn the camps down," Tyrier made his decision, "Douse the tents with all the oil and set up all the reminding ymores we have left."


    Doth and Tavel nodded, grinning evilly. They quickly poured the oil onto the hides material of the tents and cing some of the experimental explosive shotgun shells next to the tents. Tyrier nted his stores of ymores, each team member carried four. He purposely faced two of the ymores directly facing the tents, and the remaining two at the most likely venues of approaches.


    He unrolled the spools of fuses andid them next to the patches of oil, making use of the fireter to act as a timer for the ymores. "Ready?" He asked the rest who nodded. "Get to cover," And he crept out to where hest saw a brazier burning.


    Seeing no one looking at his direction, he dropped the remaining spool of det cord into the fire, and quickly sprint away to where the rest of his men went. The spool of det cord, suddenly burst into mes, causing the brazier to re brightly, kicking up sparks and showers of embers into the night sky, and a tiny me raced down the trailing cord, charging towards the pool of oil at the back of the tents.

 Chapter 89: Ride of the Valkyries

    Chapter 89: Ride of the Valkyries


    "You can''t find the Elder''s Spirit?" Urka asked in surprise at the three hooded Shamans gathered in front of him. "Did you try all ways?"


    "Yes, Warleader, we did," The lead Shaman bowed and replied, "There was no trace of his Spirit in this ne."


    "How about the Spirit Walkers?" Urka asked after he got over his shock. "Can they be controlled now that the Elder is not here?"


    "Yes, we might not be as powerful as the Elder, but we will share the control among our selves." The Shaman said, giving the greeting of the Hand before leaving Urka alone to his thoughts.


    "Summon Orth here now!" Urka shouted out from his seat inside his tent to his warriors outside, and shortly after, the ps of the tent lifted up and a heavyset Oerkin entered.


    "Yes, Warleader?" Orth greeted Urka with the Hand greeting.


    "Did you find anything in your search?" Urka asked.


    "No, Warleader, even the Great Wolves could not find any trace of the soft skins," Orth replied.


    "Find them, they killed the Elder right under our noses!" Urka roared, "This is a disgrace to our n! We must find them and make them wish they were never born!"


    Orth nodded, "I will continue the search for the soft skins than."


    "Go," Urka waved his lieutenant away, deep in thoughts on how to win this war, and exin about the death of the Elder to the Great Chief.


    The Shamans stood before their tents and started chanting, using bones to drum out a rhythm that makes anyone listening to feel their bones aching. The nearby Oerkin quickly departed away from the Shamans, and not long, the area in front of the Shamans cleared, and slowly one by one, the dead started appearing and gathering.


    Nodding with satisfaction, the three Shamans split up, each will lead a portion of the dead, they actually felt happy that the Elder has died, thus the position of Elder was now opened. It had been upied by the Elder for many many generations. The rest of the Shamans were also unhappy with the fact that the Elder used the dark arts to prolong his life and not only that, he chooses elf ves to be his host, transferring his spirit from one body to another when the previous body started to rot.


    Just at this time, as the three Shamans were thinking of ns and schemes to take the position of the Elder from each other, a brazier red loudly, sparks and embers flying high. Startled, the three Shamans stared at the brazier, the bright mes killing their night vision, preventing them from spotting the burning fuse that ran to the rear of the tents.


    Suddenly a flickering brightness appeared among the tents, and the realization came to the three Shamans. "Fire!" They ran and shouted, "Fire!" Standing behind the tents and watching the mes licking the sides of the tents. "Quick! Our scrolls and artifacts!" They shouted for their followers and apprentices to put out the fire and save their magical items.


    As they dashed back into the tents, and one of them paused, making sure that the other two didn''t notice him, he ran into thergest tent which belonged to the Elder, hoping to salvage what treasures that had been left behind, when the makeshift explosive of shotgun shells exploded.


    The explosion of the shells drew the entire camp''s attention to the Shamans'' tents. The explosion stunned and shocked the Orcs around the tents, making them wondered what was going on.


    The two ymores facing the tents were armed by a det cord fuse. Tyrier had set the fuse length for ten minutes and as the Shamans and their followers were inside the tents confused with the earlier explosion, the special blend of ck powder and mana stone dust shaped charge blew, each throwing 700 ball bearings into the tents.


    The material of the tents was reinforced by magic to protect against both physical and magical attacks. But with the fire constantly draining the magic barrier and the damage by the makeshift explosive, the ball bearings ripped through the weaken barrier and into the thick animal hide material of the tent and despite slowed down by the magical barrier and the animal hides, the spread of ball bearings still carried enough kic energy to paint the insides of the tents with blood.


    Another five minutes after the first wave of ymores that went off, the Orcs that arrived on scene to investigate and put out the growing fire was cut down by thest two ymores ced in strategically located positions, even some of the gathered zombies were not spared.


    Urka who came rushing over to find out what had happened in his camp managed to witness first hand his warriors turned to blood mist by the second wave of ymore mines. "Waaa?" He stood shocked at the sudden deaths of over twenty strong and powerful Oerkin warriors. And as to further pour salt in his wounds, the gathered undead suddenly copsed bonelessly on to the ground with hardly any sound.


    "FIND THE SOFT SKINS NOW! I WILL RIP THE SKIN OFF, TEAR THEIR BONES OUT AND MAKE THEM WATCH BEFORE DIGGING OUT THEIR EYES!"


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, Enroute to Rally Point Alpha


    "-ore Actual co-in over! This - Squad -wo!" Tyrier heard Hitsu''s choppy voice in hisms. "ymore Actual here! Can you hear me?"


    "-nk god! -tual, -nal is bad," Came the reply in Tyrier''s helmet. "If you can hear me, rendezvous back at Rally Point Alpha now!" The whole forest appeared toe alive after the ymores went off. Tyrier and his team could hear something roar in the direction of the Orc camp.


    "-ger tha-,"


    "Young, do you copy?" Tyrier switchedms and called for Squad One''s Young.


    "I copy," Young''s voice came in crisp and clear. "Young, get to Command, tell them the Necromancer threat has been eliminatedpletely." As they retreated, they saw several of the undead copsing, meaning they must have destroyed something important.


    "Tell Command we need immediate extraction, the Orcs are very pissed with us!" Tyrier told Young over thems. Suddenly a howl cut through the night, followed by another and another, "Oh shit, their pet wolves must have found our scent!"


    "Run!" Tyrier yelled as heavy footsteps could be hearding from the rear. "GO!"


    A dark green shape loomed up in Tyrier''s night vision as he looked back, the eyes of the wolf shed brightly likemps and Tyrier''sser sights interset with the head of the wolf and he squeezed the trigger of the M2, the silenced pops of his weapon and shes and the clouds of smoke, blocked his vision temporarily.


    A yelp and several Orcish cries of surprise could be heard as the wolf flinched from the shots and crashed headlong into a tree, sending the riders on its back flying off like broken toys. The wolf sat down on his hind legs and shook its head, clearly dazed by the impact and Tyrier took the opportunity to switch to his shotgun and fired a couple of explosive shots at the wolf.


    Tyrier turned and ran, knowing that there is one lesser wolf on the chase.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain, Marine Support Base


    The whine of turboprop fans steadily grew louder and louder and the two Valkyries on the tarmac powered up their engines. The rear cargo rampid open and Sergeant James stood on the foot, waving at the Marines to board. "Come on! What''s there to be afraid of? We did this in practice!"


    "But Sarge! It was just a piece of wooden cutout!" Someone protested as they brunched up before the ramp. "You sure this metal bird can fly?"


    James rolled his eyes, god, he kinda forgotten these guys never seen an aircraft before. "Don''t worry, I am here inside with you!" He gestured to the other bird on the other side, "Look, section three and four have boarded, now all is left is you pussies!"


    The brunched up Marines looked at each other and slowly one by one entered the belly of the beast. James shook his head and the crew chief just smiled and gave him a thumbs up before the ramp doors closed up.


    "Alright, buckle in tight!" James yelled over the whine of the turbofans. "Check your weapons are not loaded! I do not want to have someone shoot a hole in this bucket and kill us all!"


    The Marines hearing that quickly double checked themselves and their neighbors'' weapons making sure no one is loaded. James smiled as he watched the elves panicking as the pilot lift off the bird, "Alright Marines! Do you want to live forever?"


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, Rally Point Alpha


    Pops and barks of silenced gunfire erupted from the line of defense, Tyrier had his men hold. They conserved their shots, making sure each shot counted as the horde of Orcs charged towards them.


    Without the night vision goggles of the Hundred and First, the Orcs could only blindly charge at where they believed the soft skins to be hiding at. The superiority of the weapons and training allowed team ymore One to fight off an enemy hundred times their size.


    The M2 Magespitter proofed to be very efficient in close quartersbat as the rate of fire of the weapon allowed ymore One to downrge groups of charging Orcs while Loke and Young sniped at the wolves with the M3 Magekiller, requiring one to three shots to bring down a wolf. When the Orcs rallied to attempt a charge into their lines, Hitsu and Doth will switch to the shotguns, firing explosive shots into their midst, tearing them to shreds.


    "I am out!" Tavel shouted, dropping his M2 and drawing out his Single Action Dragon revolver, rapidly squeezing off five shots of 5mm into a blindly charging Orc in front of him, sending it toppling backward. "Reloading!"


    "Here!" Tyrier tossed a magazine across to Tavel who fumbled for it in the dark. He himself switched to the shotgun and pump shot after shot at where the Orcs were concentrated. "Come on, where''s the pickup?"


    "ymore One, this is Valkyrie One, inbound to your location in five mikes," A weing voice came into Tyrier''sms. "Heard you guys got some pest problems?"


    "Valkyrie One, this is ymore Actual, requesting immediate pickup! Area is hot! Repeat area is hot!" He yelled into hisms, craning his head up to look into the dark sky.


    Not long the whine of engines could be heard in the distance, "ymore One, keep your heads down, we got some presents for your friends!"


    "What?" Tyrier was confused by that statement, "Oh shit," He then remembered from watching all those movies about helicopter pilots, "DANGER CLOSE! DANGER CLOSE!"


    Several whooshes followed by loud clumps of explosions ripped through the forest directly in front of ymore One, turning the night into day. "Say hello to my little friend!" Peter yelled as he hovered his bird over the rally point, his payload of 70 mm experimental rockets fired from twin rocket pods torn into the forest, setting it on fire.


    The 70mm rocket''s payload was a mixture of hydrogen, oxygen, aluminum and mana stone dust. Using an impact fuse of fire rune on the nose of the rockets, the thermobaric rockets worked simrly to a fuel-air bomb, which dispenses the aluminum and mana stone dust into the air before the hydrogen and oxygen mix ignites.


    His wingman, Tommy staying on his station at 200 meters away, rippled fired a volley of rockets into a patch of the forest, sending huge balls of fire into the sky. "Valkyrie One to Two, I am dropping my cargo, cover me, over."


    "Roger," Tommy, piloting Valkyrie Two, spun his bird on its axis and continued to ripple fire volley after volley of rockets into the night.


    Valkyrie One turned, its back facing the direction of the Orcs and hovered over the clearing, dropping its tail ramp, and dozens of Marines jumped out and fanned out to form a security cordon.


    They fired at the shell-shocked Orcs, who were backlit by the burning forest and balls of explosion raging behind them. Valkyrie Two also hovered over the clearing after One had cleared and dropped off the remaining Marines who reinforced the line, driving the Orcs back into the forest, screaming about dragons and fireballs.

 Chapter 90: Earth Magic

    Chapter 90: Earth Magic


    Uncharted Forest, 1st Fallowfall Regiment of Swords Camp, The Duke''s Own


    "What is happening with the Oerkins?" Lord Sturm stood on top of an archery tower and nced toward the Oerkin camp, seeing arge orange glow from the Oerkin camp direction. "How long was this ago?"


    "Just after the ringing of the night bell, my Lord," The reporting soldier kneeled at the side.


    Suddenly severalrge thunder cracks and balls of fire could be seen in the distance. Sturm braced himself as the ground shook slightly and looked with surprise at the rising mes.


    "What in the thirteen hells is happening?" Sturm cried, "Send your men to find out!"


    The soldier bowed and retreated down thedder, and headed towards his subordinates.


    Sturm frowned as he watched more mes bursting skywards followed by a slight ground tremor. Could it be the rebels are attacking? But from that direction? A new passage maybe? Multiple thoughts raced through Sturm''s head as he analysis each possible scenario.


    "We wasted more than a week here already and the Oerkins attacks are not progressing well enough," Sturm spoke to his officers behind him. "Prep your men for an all-out attack before the sun breaks, we will hit them in multiple ces at once."


    Sturm leaned on the parapet, the fire from the distance reflecting a mad glint in his eyes, "For the Empire!" he whispered.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Marine Support Base


    The rear ramps of Valkyrie One mmed open, and the soldiers of Hundred and First ATI, stormed down the decks, each man holding on to the stretcher bearing one of their wounded.


    Several medical personnel with arge red cross armband rushed up, pushing a trolley bed, taking over from the weary soldiers.


    "He got mind farked!" Specialist Lance Corporal Young yelled over the scream of the turboprops. He was the team healer or medic as hoomans called them.


    "What?" One of the hoomans medics looked at him in confusion. She was digging into her bag for tools and stuff like blood pressure monitor which Young managed to recognized from his first aid courses.


    "He saw something he shouldn''t have!" Young continued to yell over the rotors as they pushed Altied towards the medical tentage, "His brain couldn''t handle the magical bacsh."


    "Oh," The female human with her name tag reading ''June'' had her short hair tied up in a ponytail and a pair of stethoscope over her neck. "Ok, he goes into Trauma One!"


    "I gave him a total of 20 CCs of tranq-shot, and hooked him up on IV fluid drip since yesterday evening," Young ran through all the medical aid he gave. "I also cast a Minor Recovery and Minor Dispel on him."


    "Got it," June scribbled down the information on a pad hooked to the trolley. "Any physical trauma?"


    "No, its only mental injury," Young replied, stopping the thick white curtains of the medical tentage.


    "Don''t worry," June assured, giving him aforting smile as she and her team pushed Altied into the tent, "We will heal your friend."


    "Ok, I just wait here." Young sat down next to a couple of Marine guards on duty at the medical center, who nodded respectfully to Young. Not long after sitting down, Young dozed off from exhaustion.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass Defense Command Center, The Pit


    Major Frank smiled as the word came in that the Hundred and First Arcane Tactics and Intervention hadnded sessfully at the Marine Support Base at the rear of the lines.


    The reports from the defending Marines haven''t any sights of any undead. And the nightly attacks had ceased, allowing the defenders some rest.


    He started pping in the Pit, "Good work, people," he praised everyone as they paused their work and pped along. The face of Specialist Sergeant Tyrier on the disy screen gave a tired smile of satisfaction.


    "Sir, we do have a single casualty from fighting the Necromancer," Tyrier reported, "He''s currently in the Medical Center undergoing treatment."


    Frank nodded, "Still, ymore One has done an outstanding job, I am going to rmend the whole team for citations."


    "Thank you, Sir," Tyrier gave a salute, "If there is nothing else, Sir, I need to attend to my men."


    Frank smiled again, and returned the salute, "Tell your men good job, drinks will be on me."


    The disy connection cut after they both finished the conversation. Frank look at Pike who said, "Well, the Valkyries turned out to be a blessing in disguise."


    Frank nodded, "Even the trial rockets are way above expectations. I am expecting at least half of the rockets to fail or even blow up in their podunchers."


    "Ya of little faith!" Pike grumbled. "I designed those things, they will work, one way or another. He grinned, "Now is to put it into mass production."


    "So far our new weapons are working well enough to counter the enemy," Frank said, "I''m curious how they tame those wolves."


    Just at this moment, amunications tech called, "Sir, iing transmission from Command."


    Frank nodded, "Put it on in the main screen."


    The screen flickered and Captain ke appeared before him. "Sir!" Frank and Pike saluted.


    "At ease," ke saluted back, "I like to give my congrattions on a sessful mission. UAV shows no undead forces attacking the Pass, I hope the undead threat has been totally eradicated."


    "Yes, Sir. We currently have no reports of any sightings of undead either," Frank replied.


    ke nodded in the screen, "The modified helos and rocket pods appeared to be also working very well."


    Frank grinned, "Yes, way better than expected, I''m sure it will be a nasty surprise for the Empire when we unleash them."


    "Good, this war is getting stupid," ke sighed, "If we can overpower the shit out of them in one attack and end this siege, we will be in a better position to choose our next battle."


    Frank nodded, if they can choose their battles, it definitely will give them more of an edge against the Empire.


    "Sir, I am sure they will react after this morning''s activities," Frank gave his assessment.


    "Yes, I concur too, the ship''s missiles batteries will be avable on your request," ke said, "but we only have so many missiles, try not to waste it on small fry."


    "Yes, Sir and thank you, Sir!" Frank said, "I will also have the Valkyries to provide close-in air support."


    ke nodded, "As much as this fight is necessary, but if possible, like what Master Sergeant Pike had suggested, try to avoid killing the ve soldiers."


    Frank gave a grimace, "It will be hard, Sir. From what we know, standard Empire tactics involves using their ve army as meat shields."


    "They send them up to soak as much damage as possible, and keep the enemy pinned down while they more mobile units maneuver into a nk attack," Frank exined.


    "At times, they also ignore their own ves'' troops and just trample or friendly fire them," Pike added. "Well, I would suggest using the Armed Forces Entertainment Service to st propaganda to the ves, you know, get them to surrender and deflect over all that shit."


    ke nodded, "I will speak with the Princess on this in the morning, brief your men on offering the ves options to surrender."


    "Yes Sir," Frank replied, "I will also get a ce to securely hold the prisoners and screen them properly."


    "Great! Now get some rest, it''s nearly 0400 hours, and I''m sure the enemy wille up with something soon," ke said.


    -----


    As the sky brightens slightly, thousands of Empire soldiers slowly crept closer to the Pass, their steel hobbled boots muffled by strips of cloth, and they gathered just at the edge of the forest with the grumpy Oerkins and waited for instructions.


    Ny-nine hooded mages in blue trench coats stood in the rear of the lines, they had drawn a massive magic formation among the trees, using precious materials like drops of dragon blood, mercury and enchanted silver for the formation.


    Master Mage Dr stood directly in the middle of the spell formation next to a female wearing a dark blue hooded robe which highlighted her figure perfectly.


    Two fully armored in blue and gold tones, the Emperor''s Lifeguards nked her by the side, their nk visors covered their faces fully with no eye slits to be seen.


    Mage Dr nodded after a while as he inspected his men''s work, "To your satisfaction, My Lady? He asked in a mocking tone to the female.


    The witch ignored him, crouching down and using her forefinger and poked the markings on the ground. She nodded and stood back up and reminded quiet, casting a cold ze at Dr, who smiled.


    "Do your thing then," Dr said, "Or you can escape if you want?"


    She looked away and Drughed, "Bring the ves," He snapped his fingers, "Quickly now."


    Three hundred downtrodden ves of mixed ages and gender, secured together by ropes tied to their necks, were dragged and forced to kneel in specific locations within the magic formation. Three hundred soldiers apanied them, standing behind with their hands on their sword hilts.


    The witch closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly and her shoulders visibly shook, she took a deep breath and looked up, her silver eyes filled with anger and sadness as a magic circle expanded out from her, enveloping the formation.


    Dr raised his hand and chopped down, timing it just as the witch finished her enchantment. The three hundred soldiers drew their swords as one and chopped down, cutting off the screams and cries of the bound and kneeling ves.


    Blood fountained out, and as the blood touched the lines of the magic formation, the formation glowed brighter and brighter as it absorbed the blood.


    Dr felt goosebumps raising all over his body as the air crackled with energy, and he started tough madly, enjoying the feeling of raw power building up in the area. "NOW!" he screamed at his men, who stood in a line, raised their hands up and chanted a spell.


    The magic formation glowed brightly, lighting up the forest, and suddenly a massive earthquake erupted, the ground rumbled and shook, and the earth moved, rising higher and higher, uprooting trees along its way before mming directly against the vertical cliff walls of the Mountain, creating a ramp up,rge enough for a dozennd dragons to walk side by side.


    Thendscape had changed, and a new gentle slope had raised up directly against the Wall of the Pass, just as the first rays of sunlight cut over the peaks of the Mountain.


    -----


    Sawtooth Pass, Wall Alpha


    The rumbling and shaking of thend woke Mills up from his sleep, he kneeled on all fours, wondering what the hell is going go. "An earthquake?"


    "Corporal!" One of his men yelled, one hand holding onto his helmet as cracks appeared in the concrete walls, and concrete dust dribbled down from the ceilings.


    "Look!" The Marine pointed out of the firing slits where the sky was brightening. Mills pushed himself up, bncing himself against the wall as the ground continued to roll and sway under his feet.


    He leaned against the firing slit and looked out, his mouth dropping as he saw the earth climbing up against the cliff wall unnaturally. The earth pushed and rise up like water, before hardening and forming a gentle slope about a kilometer long down the side of the cliff.


    "What the fuck?" He rubbed eyes and stared out again, the shaking of the ground slowly stopped but the huge stretch ofnd appearing in front of him made him wonder if he has gone insane from too little sleep.


    Hundreds and hundreds of tiny figures could be seen forming up the slope edge as Mills continued to stare. A whistle went off, and the public announcement system red, "Stand to, stand to! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!" before rock and roll music continued ying.


    "Fuck!" Mills yelled, gaining back his senses. "It''s an all-out attack! FUCKING HACKERS!"

 Chapter 91: Anti Dragon Warfare

    Chapter 91: Anti Dragon Warfare


    Urka looked on grumpily as he stood with the members of his n at the rear, watching the thousands of Empire climbing up the slope under the cover of smoke clouds cast by the Imperial Mages.


    He hawked and spat at the side, the soft skin Big Lord has told him to get out of the way. Urka.never had been disgraced and humiliated so badly before. He wondered how he had to answer to his n for his failures when he returns with his defeated band.


    Should he ignore the Big Lord orders and charge in alongside the soft skins? Maybe he could still salvage some credit for the battle still? Yet his pride would not allow him to do that, "Break camp, we return home!" he gave hismand to his warriors.


    -----


    Lord Sturm stood on top of a viewing tform, constructed at the rear, allowing him to see the whole battlefield. He nced at the retreating Oerkins, and snorted useless beasts. He had thought that he could use them as shock troopers in the front but they turned out weaker than expected.


    Ignoring them, Sturm turned his attention to the developing battle, watching his men close up in good order, ovepping their shields as they used the cover of smoke to advance up.


    The crossbow regiment followed tightly behind the shields, while the Lancers stayed out of sight, waiting for an opportunity to strike. In the front, a huge ramble of ves armed with low-quality weapons and junk armor raced up the slope, knowing that by moving fast, they have a better chance of survival.


    "What is that heathen sounding noiseing from the walls?" Sturm asked, hearing some unfamiliar musicing from the walls.


    "My Lord," One of hisckeys responded, "It is some kind of music the rebels had been yingtely."


    Sturm raised his eyebrows in surprise, straining his ears to throw to catch the music, but with the roar of the battle and shouts of thousands of men, he couldn''t really catch the tune.


    "Oh whatever," Sturm looked at his troops'' position. "It is almost time. Signal the Sky Knights to begin their assault."


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Wall Alpha.


    Mills aimed his Magelock at the dark cloud of smoke in front of him, gauging roughly where the enemy will be and fired. "Damn, how I wish we had some artillery support!"


    The loudspeakers were sting AC/DC''s Thunderstruck, which to Mills felt it was oddly appropriate. "Alright, ignore the ves, go for the Blue Boys!" Mills yelled over the music and gunfire as the ves emerged out from the smoke, charging withdders to the walls.


    The ves who carried the siegedders mbered over the obstacles such as barbwires and nted the feet of thedder down firmly against the ground in front of the walls.


    They climbed up rapidly, only to find that there was no parapet at the top of the walls. A smooth, rounded roof greeted them, and they couldn''t find any way to climb or walk on the rounded surface.


    Major Frank frowned as he watched the ves milling in confusion at the roof of the wall, as they could neither advance or retreat. Already a few had slipped off and fallen to their deaths from losing their footing.


    "Damn, what kind of magic is that that can terraform the earth?" Frank sighed. "Fucking cheaters."


    "No such thing as cheating in war, Sir," Master Sergeant Pike spoke up. "I wonder how much energy is needed for a magic thatrge scale."


    "Thought you hated them magic?" Frank teased, "Didn''t you get a headache every time they used magic that acts against nature?"


    "Marines learn to adapt and improvise," Pike responded, "We get better and better at killing things!"


    "Sir, radar is picking up multiple bogies in the air." A tech reported from his station. "Distance 2070 meters and closing in."


    "Do we have visual?" Frank asked, turning serious.


    The tech yed with the controls and a UAV visual feed appeared, numerous ck dots in the sky could be seen, and as the image zoomed in, they erged to be huge winged lizards and dozens of smaller ones.


    "Damn, they have so much flying dragons?" Pike cursed. "I thought they were quite rare?"


    "It''s probably all they had left," Frank replied. "Seems like they are nning to airdrop troops behind the walls, judging by the number of soldiers on board the dragons"


    Dozens of soldiers could be seen, riding in special harnesses, strapped to the sides and the back of the dragons. "I count about forty plus aboard each dragon," Pike said. "Tenrge dragons, and roughly fifty or more smaller ones. Those look like escorts or skirmishers."


    "Say forty troops not counting the dragon crew, ten of those means around 400 soldiers," Frank calcted. "Most likely all are veterans or Knight ss warriors."


    "Let''s just shoot them down while they are still some distance away," Pike suggested. "Looking at their flight path, they would be passing north of us and most likely will swing in andnd at our rear."


    "Missiles or railguns?" Frank rubbed his chin as he debated between the two weapons. "I suspect they probably have some kind of magical shielding, they must have learned from the previous time."


    Pike nodded, "One thing is for sure, they ain''t stupid for some low tech pukes."


    "Railguns than, we can afford the ammo," Frank grinned wickedly. "Direct Guns One and Two to engage the transport dragons."


    Pike shook his head at Frank''s gleeful expression. "You just wanna y with the new toys."


    "Hey, its been down for servicing for so long," Frank argue his point, "Now it is its trial under fire."


    -----


    The two modified Mitsubishi XLM 5 megawatts Point Defense Laser turrets, which was salvaged and turned rail gun emcements, finally had the chance to prove its worth. After weeks of tampering and redesigns, it was finally able to be fired in anger.


    The gun loader manually mmed in the 105mm discarding sabot anti-dragon shot into the chamber of the railgun and turning the chamber hatch shut. "Ready!" The loader yelled.


    The gunner peered through his gun sights, and the gunying system calcted distance and heading, using the fire-control radar which disyed the information on the target''s azimuth, elevation, range and range rate on the targeting screen.


    The gunnerid the sights over the predicted dots and squeezed the butterfly trigger, and a dull thump echoed within the turret followed by the whine of the electromas discharging the build up static electricity.


    Gun Two fired a secondter, and five secondster, Gun One fired again, followed by Two, again and again.


    The kic energy prator exited the railgun barrel at a velocity of 3,675 m/s, the crack of its passage through the air caused shockwaves as it ripped through the air causing a sonic boom.


    The prator rod fired from Gun One flew directly at the center of mass of the leading dragon, and a magic circle appeared just before it impacted the dragon. A shockwave erupted from the kic energy given off by the prator and the magic shield flickered. Five secondster, a second sabot mmed into the shield again, followed by another five secondster.


    The magic shield fractured and exploded as the third prator rod mmed into it, and the crew of the dragon panicked, they made the dragon dive down to dodge the attacks but was toote as the fourth armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot clipped the hindquarters of the dragon, despite a ncing hit, the kic energy imparted, rent off the dragon''s rear legs and tail, effecting a dying screaming from the beast and sending it into a death spiral to the ground.


    A second dragon exploded into chunks of meat and broken bodies of the soldiers onboard as its magic shields failed, and the remaining eight dragons including the confused escorts scattered, diving for cover and taking evasion maneuvers.


    The gunner tracked the diving dragons, the turret servos traversed the turret at 100 degrees per second, and the gunner fired when the lock on tone beeped.


    In less than five minutes, all the ready ammunition of armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot or APFSDS were used up, and the loader scrambled out of the turret, screaming at the nearby support crew to bring more APFSDS up.


    The crew piloting the dragons took the opportunity in the lull to close the distance over the mountain, nning to use the mountain as cover. The smaller dragons couldn''t fly that high, instead, they hug as close to the terrain as possible, aiming for the Pass directly.


    Gunner/Commander Newt of Gun One whooped with satisfaction as he saw his shots took down two of therge dragons, he used to be a ballista operator back in the day of the Goldrose Army. He yelled to his loader who was busy dragging in bundles of APDSDS shots from a support crew outside the hatch. "Hey, Taki, just load the canisters shots first, the smaller dragons are almost onto us!"


    The loader, Taki yelled, "Argh we need more space for ammo and maybe another loader!" He hoisted the bundle of three prator rods onto the inside of the turret and lifted up arge canister from the ammo racks. He shoved the canister into the mouth of the gun chamber and closed the breach, yelling, "LOADED!"


    A high pitch whine followed by a chest pounding thud could be felt, and the canister containing 1150 lead balls dispersed out upon exiting the muzzle at 1710 m/s, like a giant shotgun, swatting off several of the smaller dragons as they attempted to close in over the mountain tops. The rest scattered, some keeping as low to the ridgeline, while others went as low as the treetops, trying to dodge from the ''deadly bee magic''.


    "LOADED!" Taki yelled again, as he reached for another canister shot. The gun whined and thumped, spitting out its load of grapeshot, sending another bunch of dragons spiraling down. Despite both guns best efforts to shoot down the dragons, dozens slipped pass, their crews threw firebombs down, setting the Pass defensives on fire.


    Thick ck smoke billowed out from the incendiaries within the Pass, the smoke providing cover for therger dragons to glide in closer tond their cargo. One of therger dragons red its wing as it attempted to reduce speed andnd directly in the middle of the two walls, ate a shotgun st directly from Gun Two. Its body parts and blood painted the entire courtyard and wall dark red with stinky blood and guts.


    The remaining six heavy dragons spread out, somending on the roofs of concrete structures, others just crashnded, spilling their live cargo out like toys. The Marines took the opportunity while the Empire soldiers were recovering from thendings, rapidly fired their Magelocks, creating a killing zone. The dragons spread their body and wings as wide as possible to protect the men, soaking up the bullets and crying tears of pain.


    -----


    Frank cursed, "Alright, tell the Valkryies we need close air support now! Get them to hit the front of the walls, don''t let the enemy pile up at the gates!" He gave hismands to themunication operator who nodded and started speaking urgently into the boom mic.


    "They are inside thepound," Pike reported, "So far the boys at Beta are pinning them down, but sooner orter, they gonna cast some shitty spells and break out."


    "Send in the Hundred and First," Frank decided after considering that they might be facing Knights ss soldiers. "Have the Marines on site support them."


    Pike nodded and headed towards the exit, "I am going out for some air, it''s getting stuffy as hell in here."


    "Go get some for me," Frank grinned, "And don''t buy the farm yet, I still got tons of paperwork waiting on your desk!"


    "With all respect, Sir, fuck paperwork! I rather die!"

 Chapter 92: All Out Attack

    Chapter 92: All Out Attack


    Sparks and smoke exploded against the gleaming dome of a Level 4 magic shield covering the Third Fallowfall Regiment of Swords. Commander Elosen dressed in his blue ornate armor, waved his heirloom sword yelling encouragement to his three thousand men. "Advance! Our mages'' spell Protection will protect us from their weak magic! Just another 400 paces away!"


    The Third Regiment of Swords carried shields and short stabbing swords as standard gear, they were a veteran regiment, fighting in several wars and trained to the highest Imperial standard. Their tactics were to storm up to the enemy in a tight wall of shields and hammer into them, the second line will use their short stabbing swords to stab at any exposed body parts, feet, arms, faces etc. Working like mechanical clockwork soldiers, they grind their enemy down bit by bit and so far no other army was their rival. Their morale was high as they marched in step, shields locked together and followed theirmander to victory.


    The Regiment''s mages held their staves tightly, their faces white and sweating from the effort of holding the Level 4 Protection spell. Each impact against the shield drains some power from them and there is a lot of damage being dealt with the shields as evidenced by the constant sparks exploding on the surface of the shield.


    The Third finally exited the cover of the magical smoke and emerged within full view of the Wall, less than a 100 paces away. Elosen''s pride swelled as his Regiment will be the first to scale the walls, ignoring the fact that the ve army had already arrived way before him.


    He raised his sword and pointed directly at the Wall and roared, "CHARGE! FOR THE EMPIRE!" And the whole world around him exploded.


    -----


    Skies over Sawtooth Mountain


    Flight lieutenant Peter, whooped with glee as he pulled up from a strafing run. "Valkyrie One to Two, did you catch that?"


    His Valkyrie dived down over the side of the mountains directly from the nks just as he spotted a huge perfect infantry square marched out of the cover of the smoke directly in front of the Wall. He gave them a good strafe with a dozen rockets directly in their nks.


    He pulled up and jinked his bird hard as an Empire dragon nearly rammed into him. "Woo that was close," Peter said to himself. The air was thick with Empire dragons and lead from the gun turrets which were sting away at the highly agile flying reptiles.


    Without guns onboard the Valkyries, Peter and Tommy focused on rocketing the enemy infantry, ignoring the dragons. His Valkyrie shook wildly as an Empire dragon somehow managed totch on his bird. Warning alerts beeped and red, as he twisted his head back and fore, trying to locate where that dragon has grabbed on to.


    "It''s on your port wing stabilizers!" Tommy''s voice came through the warning sirens. "Directly behind your rocket pods!"


    "Oh, you wanna y?" Peter grinned, ignoring the warning alerts. "Let''s see if you can handle this!"


    He tilted his bird downwards and looped towards the battlefield, lining up for a strafing run. Pushing his head against the armored sapphire crystal canopy, he grinned and squeezed the trigger, firing off a salvo of rockets.


    The Empire dragon with its rider gripped tightly onto the weld on stabilizer wings, with the rider using its javelin trying to pierce the magic beast hide while the dragon tried to bite chunks off the beast. But to both the dragon and its rider surprise, the ''hide'' of the beast appeared to be made of metal when suddenly the three roundish pods erupted in mes, torching the dragon and burning the face of the rider off.


    The dragon fell off with a bird-like cry, as it death spiraled down the air, its wings folding as it mmed down into the battlefield, shattering apany of infantry.


    "Woot! First air to air kill! A few more and I am an Ace!" Peter crackled wildly as he looped back his ship, and fired off his remaining rockets, "Valkyrie One, Bingo on ammo, RTB."


    "Thunderchief, Roger, watch the skies, forecast today is heavy with dragons and lead."


    Peterughed as he pulled his Valkyrie away from the battlefield in full speed, ignoring the few Empire dragons that attempted to tangle with him.


    -----


    Sturm hammered the wooden railing and cursed loudly as he watched the ck flying creature rain dragon fire on his troops as they finally reached the walls. "Signal the Dragons Corps to focus on taking those two creatures down!" He gave his order to his runner who ran off to the signal gs.


    The 17th, 18th, 25th, 26th, and 32nd Imperial Dragon Corps weaved through the clouds of grapeshot and smoke, the dragon crews lobbing sks of alchemist fire directly at the walls as they flew past. The Empire ssified dragons into three categories, light, medium and heavyweight ss.


    Under 10 tons, lightweights such as the Yellow Swift Wings, mostly function as couriers or the blue colored Lightning worked mainly as rapid passenger transports, While the medium and heavy weights dragons are mostly used forbat doth some were used to transport personnel or goods too.


    Medium weights were ssed between 10 to 30 tons, were mostly rode by a single bonded rider or with a crew up to four, depending on the breed. The Empire used mostly domesticated Silver Wings named for their silver scales which weight over 12 tons, were renowned for their speed and agility, requiring a single dragon rider to pilot them. The rider normally uses a light crossbow or javelins as their weapons of choice.


    The othermonly used medium weight dragon was the Razorback, average weighting around 20 tons, with ck and gold scales, and a spiked spine It can carry a crew of up to four and its bonded rider, tho normally a crew of two was used, to reduce the total weight. The crew mostly worked as crossbowmen or as grenadiers, throwing firebombs.


    Heavyweight dragons are slightly special, as most heavyweight breeds have breathe abilities, like spitting or breathing fire, acid, lightning or even sts ofpressed air.


    The Empire had sessfully breed its own fire-breathing heavyweights called Spitfires, weighing on average, 32 tons, with a wingspan of over 15 meters, a body length from head to tail at 22 meters and their scales are a mix of dark blue and dark crimson. Crews of up to a dozen typically served on board with the dragon with its bonded rider or Captain.


    The Empire Spitfires wore specially woven baskets and harnesses that allowed the crew to move around the dragon during flight. They can carry ordnance like firebombs to rocks for bombings fortifications.


    The heavyweights that did not manifest any special abilities were negated to beasts of burden roles or as troop transports. It allowed the Empire to rapidly deploy its soldiers and move supplies rapidly over vast distances.


    An Imperial Dragon Corps consists of twenty mediums and two heavies, and for this battle, Sturm hadmitted five Imperial Dragon Corps.


    Raising his eyess, he watched the battlefield, seeing the Third Regiment decimated while the First and Second got hammered by dragon fire despite having Protection spells. "Order the ballistas to load the Dragonces, a reward of a hundred gold coins for the crew who brings down the rebel''s flying beasts."


    "Order the left nk to push up and support the assault in the middle," Sturm continuing giving orders as he observed the battlefield. "Have the siege engines brought up, make sure more smoke is cast to cover their approach to the gate!"


    The giant siege engines were towed by two heavily armorednd dragons. Massive tes of metal and leather covered all the vulnerable areas of thend dragons as advanced up the slope pulling the giant ''door knocker'' siege engine. A massive wooden construct designed to destroy walls or gates. Runes and enchantments covered the whole body of the siege engine and hundreds of crews piled up alongside the construct, riding along.


    As the massive siege engines approached the gates, a sudden sh of light erupted directly on one of the siege engines followed by another on the second siege engine. Sturm cried out in surprise as the light seared into his eye. He fell back, rubbing his eyes as his guards quickly surrounded him.


    As Sturm recovered his eyesight, he looked back at the pass, seeing the burning remains of the two siege engines and the copsed dyingnd dragons, which effectively blocked most of the approaches to the gate. "Damn, those rebels! Where did they get such powerful spells!"


    "Get the witch here, I want that wall taken down now!" Sturm yelled at his frightened runners. "Once the walls are down, I want the Lancers to push full force in."


    "But my lord, the auxiliary ve army is still at the forefront of the battle," One of hisckeys pointed out, "Are we going to... ?"


    "Why? You care for those ves?" Sturm red at theckey who spoken, "Than why not you join them at the front too?"


    "Eh, no my Lord, I didn''t mean that," Theckey bowed his head down and tried to keep himself as small as possible.


    "Enough of this nonsense, I want the Witch to destroy those walls now!" Sturmmanded, "I want the Imperial g raised up by noon!"


    Not long, the Witch was escorted up to the viewing tform with Mage Dr following behind. "Great, I want that wall destroyed now," Sturm went straight to the point.


    "That is impossible, it is protected by several enchantments and spells," The Witch immediately said, staring at the walls.


    "How about the Mountain walls?" Sturm asked, standing next to the Witch and watching the battle. "Can you copse the mountain?"


    The Witchughed merrily, and asked, "How many lives are you willing to sacrifice? A thousand? Two thousand?"


    Sturm''s face turned red as he reeled in his anger. "Don''t y games with me, Witch!"


    The Witch stoppedughing and her face turned serious, "To make the ancient mountain move, will require far more magic than ever. Even if you sacrifice thousands of lives, it might not even be enough!" She gestured at the imposing peaks, "They have been here for thousands of years, the amount of magic has seeped right into their very fabric of existence. And you, just a man, wants tomand the ancients to do your bidding?"


    Sheughed again, "Using the topsoil of the surrounding area to create a way up to the walls is already going against the natural order of things. Now you want to move mountains?" She sneered at Sturm.


    Sturm angrily backhanded the Witch, his ring scratched across her face, causing a trickle of blood to flow freely down. "Enough! You are here to help, so help! Or my report back to the Emperor will not be so good for your people!"


    The Witch straightened up, ignoring the blood flowing down her cheek. The p had knocked her hood off, and her thick long silver hair flowed out. Her silver eyes red daggers at Sturm''s threat and she took a deep breathe, calming her anger down. "The next best thing I can do is creatend bridges over the walls." She said after calming down. "The rest is up to your men, I can only do so much."


    Sturm nodded, admiring at the Witch''s beauty, "Dr, bring her and prepare the materials needed for the spells to be cast."


    "Yes my Lord," Mage Dr bowed, before gripping her forearm and pulling her back down the tower.


    "Get the battle mages to bombard the walls with fire, I want the walls to burn," Sturm ordered to his runners, "And get the rest of the regiments to advance when the Witch''s spell is cast." Sturm nced at the skies where the dragons circled and dive bomb the area behind the walls.


    "All forces are to make an all-out attack! NO MERCY!"

 Chapter 93: The Witch

    Chapter 93: The Witch


    Balls of rising mes, billowing smoke and cracks of thunder could be seen and hearding from the Walls. The cries of the wounded and dying echoed down the mountain pass, as the Witch escorted by her two handlers strolled without a care, walking up the gentle slope leading up to the Pass. As before, she has experienced many such battle scenes, except normally these scenes were reserved forrge cities walls or huge fortifications.


    The death cry of a Silverwing dragon screamed passed her head, its wings filled with gaping holes. Crunching as it mmed neck down first, its bones breaking and its bonded rider and crew crushed under its weight and speed of the fall. Mage Dr whistled as he watched the dragon crashed, looking intently at the twitching carcass with rapt fascination as he followed the Witch and her handlers.


    "Have you ever wonder how something sorge and heavy could fly?" Dr cheerfully asked, seemingly obvious to the chaos and bloodshed around them. The Witch ignored his question and continuing climbing the slope.


    A Regiment of Spears parted way for them as they approached from their rear, the regiment''s Imperial battle standard, a long staff, topped off with a figure of a diving dragon clutching spears with the letterings of figure nine, showed them that this was the 9th Fallowfall Regiment of Spears. The figure of the diving dragon was the crest of the Duke of Fallowfall.


    Dr cheerfully greeted the soldiers, who stared back at them with dull eyes and grim faces. "Hurry along now, won''t want to miss all the fun, yes?"


    They exited the regimental lines and stood about 300 paces away, roughly 150 meters in human measurements and stared at the walls wreathed in smoke. The approaches to the main gate were blocked by two shattered frames of the monstrous ''Door Knocker'' siege engines, mes licking out from the wreckages as the fire consumed the construct. The four deadnd dragons, their hearts, and eardrums ruptured from the close approximation of the two spells explosionsid at where they had fallen over.


    Dozens of ves soldiers and Imperial troops huddled behind the massive carcasses as they took cover from the spells raining around them, ignoring the scorching heat from the burning constructs behind them. "Alright, do your thing now." Dr gave a theatrical bow to the Witch, gesturing with his hands as if inviting her for a ballroom dance.


    She flinched slightly as a whizz buzzed over her head, making her instinctively ducked, but she recovered quickly and saw a 9th Regiment of Spears soldier behind her suddenly keel over and vomited blood, dying as heid there, hispanions started to drag him off to the rear and another spearman stood over in his ce.


    She looked at the featureless face masks of the two Imperial Lifeguards, both watching her without any movements or feelings and looked at Dr who stood watching her with a weird sicko smile. She felt very tired of all the fighting and killing suddenly, and the burden of protecting her people from the Empire weighting her very soul down to the thirteen hells.


    If she died, her burden would be someone else, should she be selfish and wish for death? She looked at the trail of blood underneath the 9th Regiment, it looked some simple, just a spell from nowhere and she will be free of this life. She turned and looked at the walls, willing for one of the defenders to direct his magic at her, to kill her. And as if the Gods had granted her wish, suddenly the two Lifeguards leaped into action, one of them rising his shield, blocking a spell from hitting her. The loud nk of metal impacting and the force of the spell sent the Lifeguard sliding on his feet backward for several paces, before recovering while the other hunched over his shield, covering himself and the Witch with it.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Sniper Tower Beta


    "What the FUCK!" Corporal Drake jerked his head back as he blinked his eyes in astonishment. "Where did that came from?"


    "He blocked your shot with his shield!'' Private Kont exined, "He''s good, very powerful too."


    "Are you praising your enemy here?" Drake cursed as he ejected the spent cartridge from his M3 Magekiller. "That''s some fucking OP equipment he has!"


    "They appeared to be protectors of that female," Kont peered in his bino, "Great reflexes and intuition too. They don''t know where we are, and of course, they retreated."


    "Damn, I was nning on round two with them," Drake worked his M3 anti-material rifle''s smoothly oiled bolt, chambering a new round into the breach. "Come on, don''t think you can hide in the group of low leveled minions!"


    "There, you see her? The silver head, center, fourth file from the front, behind the shields. 430 meters."


    "Got her," Drake whispered, his scope aimed directly at her pretty head. He held he breathe, listening to Kont give themand and wind direction and was about to squeeze the trigger when she turned her head up and looked directly at him and smiled before closing her eyes.


    "What the fuck?" Drake whispered as he worked his bolt again, sending the empty cartridge spinning out.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, 150 meters in front of the Gate


    The Witch sensed rather than saw the killing intenting directly at her from a great distance. She looked up and in her mind''s eye, she saw a man, with very short ears, lying prone, holding a huge long tube-like object, pointing directly at her and she knew at that moment, her time hase. She smiled at the man, thanking him in her heart for releasing her and closed her eyes, waiting for the spell toe.


    Instead, she heard and felt a st of wind, followed by a loud metallic nk again, and when she opened her eyes again, she saw the Lifeguard that blocked the spell earlier, lying clumped up in a mess of blood on a pile of 9th Regiment soldiers, missing his left shoulder. She looked surprised and spun around looking at the distance where the strange short-eared man was, wondering why didn''t he kill her.


    Before she could think of anything else, another loud nk and the second Lifeguard slipped backward, his shield heavily dented and deformed. The Lifeguard looked stunned, as he recovered and then his upper torso blew up. The few soldiers directly behind him also suffered the same fate, exploding into bits of meat and blood flew everywhere.


    Despite seeing many battlefields, this was the first time she saw someone or lots of people exploding directly in front of her and she vomited out the acidic juices from her empty stomach, some of the weaker-willed soldiers also vomited or even started to retreat, citing angrymands from their officers and sergeants.


    Drughed, his eyes crazed as he stood over the mangled body of the Lifeguard. "Wow, I want this spell so much!" He crouched down, poking at the gory remains of the body.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Sniper Tower Beta


    "Target in the open, 420 meters." Kont looking at the scene with his bino. "Good kill on those two tough sons of bitches."


    "No, leave her." Drake tilted his sights up, looking at the Nazi looking elf crouching over the dead body. "I want that mage."


    ''Why didn''t you shoot that silvered hair, girl?" Kont pressed, as he adjusted his binocrs.


    "I am not sure, she looked at me in the eye and was ready to die," Drake confessed, "I just couldn''t shoot her then."


    Kont raised his eyebrows, turning to look at Drake and teased, "Someone''s in love?"


    Drake rolled his eyes, "Yeah right, serious time. let''s kill something then we talkter."


    "Hahaha, sure!" Kont sniggered as he returned to his task, "Alright, Target in the center of the infantry square..."


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, 150 meters in front of the Gate


    The Witch stared at the chaos happening around her, and made a decision, she will escape the bonds of the Empire and fight them to death. With her powerful magic, she was sure she could deal a huge blow to their forces.


    Another buzz blew by her head and she turned her head just in time to see Dr flew back several paces, his mouth in an ''O'' shape, surprise in his face as half his lower half body was blown away by a powerful spell.


    The soldiers looked with confusion and fear at the scene, their morale dropping rapidly as they watch one after another, high leveled fighters and mage getting killed from nowhere.


    The Witch suddenly went down on one knee, her right palm pressed against the rocky floor. And a magic circle expanded out, her lips rapidly chanting a spell and suddenly jagged spikes burst out from around her, ripping into the men of the 9th Regiment.


    Cries and screams rang out, as bodies were pierced by razor sharp rock spikes. "Kill her!" An officer in the 9th screamed, pointing his sword in her direction. The men finally having a target to focus all their pent-up fear, confusing and anger, roared out a war cry and charged past her spikes, their spears stabbing at her.


    She mmed her left palm down, and another magic circle expanded out, and a stone wall punched out, mming against the frontmost soldiers, denting their te mail and breaking bones and internal organs from the force.


    They crumpled down, blood streaming out of their mouths, drowning in their own blood and fluids. The rest of the men stood back, stunned by the attack. The Witch wasted no time, throwing another st of Stone Spikes, impaling dozens of men with her attack.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Sniper Tower Beta


    "Oooo, I am starting to like your girlfriend," Kont joked as he watched the battle. "Ow! That got to hurt!"


    "Shut your trap about what girlfriend shit," Drake yelled, "She turned against the Empire, she must be an ally."


    "I know right?" Kont gave Drake a wink, nudging his eyebrows, andughed at Drake''s expression. "Alright, let''s save your girlfriend."


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, 130 meters in front of the Gate


    She was getting exhausted, taking deep breaths while wiping the sweat off her head. Her silver hair, stuck wildly all over her forehead, making her wish she had cut it short.


    She stepped back, dodging another low-level Fireball thrown at her from the 9th Regiment support Mages and the remaining Battle Mages from Dr''spany.


    Kicking up a shower of pebbles, she quickly cast a spell on the fly, turning the pebbles into spikes, sending them flying into the raised shields of the 9th. Three meters long ax spears stabbed at her from all directions, wounding her everywhere, casting blood to stain her dust covered robes.


    This is where I fall, she thought to herself. Dodging backward, she pping her palms together and started a chant, pouring all her remaining mana into the spell. Just as she was about to finish the spell, a fireball mmed into her, sending her toppling backward, her magic shield flickering away as it deflected the spell.


    She looked up to see a semi-circle of shields and ax spearheads facing her. She closed her eyes, waiting for the end toe when a wet p and something st against her face. Opening her eyes and rubbing the wetness on her face, fingers came away red with blood.


    She then noticed the soldiers stepping back, their shields raised up warily, on the guard against something. Another soldier blew up, and his unfortunatepanions behind joined him in painting the scene red with gore.


    An officer screamed something which she could not catch, and his head and helmet flew off, his upper torso exploding, bits of metal and meat flying backward, and the 9th broke. Some dropped their shields and spears, lightening themselves so they can run away faster. Another Officer yelled for them to stop, only to join the fate of so many others in exploding into a bloody mess.


    Sheid back on her back, feeling the wounds and mana burn creeping up on her. She smiled, wonder who was the rebel mage that saved her, was it that stranger with the short ears, before she lost consciousness.

 Chapter 94: 26th Imperial Dragon Corps

    Chapter 94: 26th Imperial Dragon Corps


    York of Tression was a young man inspiring to be a Dragon Rider when he grew up. He ran away from his vige of Tression, stowed away on one of the river barges, before jumping off and swimming ashore, reaching the Dragon Fortress, where dragons were bred by the Empire and where Dragon Riders are born.


    To be bonded with a dragon, it mostly involved luck and of course influence and money. For a penniless youngster with just his clothes on his back, he couldn''t bribe his way past the dragon handlers. The young dragon hatchlings bonded the easiest during this period, thus many noble families sent their scions to be selected, presenting themselves to the best dragon breeds to be bonded.


    He managed to be picked up an Imperial recruiter, looking for adventurous and brave young men to fly as part of a dragon crew. York signed up immediately, earning a single gold coin as a signing bonus, which he spent on a pair of boots and a short dagger.


    Earlier, he clung tightly to the ropetings secured around the belly of the dragon. The wind screaming in his ears, his eyes protected by Imperial issued, crystal goggles. He and his fellow crew mates of eight others sat in baskets on the side belly of the heavyweight dragon called, Blue Thunder, with another forty odd heavily armed and armored fierce looking soldiers.


    At an age of twelve, Blue Thunder was still a baby considered by ages of dragons. A typical dragon of the Spitfire dragon breed can live up till a hundred and ny years.


    Yet Blue Thunder was fully grown, its.head to tail measured at 23 meters and a with a wingspan of 16 meters. The Dragon Rider or Captain Qon as the crew called him, was the son of some noble whose father bribed his way into been selected to enter the hatchery.


    Captain Qon was just fifteen years old when he bonded with the two-year-old Spitfire hatchling and named him Blue Thunder from his thunderous roars and color of its scales. They lived and trained together for nine years before recruiting a crew and further training together with the crew for another year.


    York remembered the months of running and climbing in the cold mountain air, their trainers wanting them to get used to the cold air and high attitudes. Now they were flying into battle, freshly joined the 26th Imperial Dragon Corps a few months back.


    His crewmate consisted of him as part of a four-man rigger team, in charge of securing thes and rigging, which constantly got loose by the stress of flying and maneuvers. A Sergeant at Arms, in charge of the four gunners who carried heavy crossbows, the navigator in charge of finding their way, a lieutenant as the second officer and finally Captain Qon.


    York was excited at the prospect of going into battle at the start as were the whole crew. Captain Qon even bought them drinks back then. Now Captain Qon face was white with fear, and Lieutenant Fowl was gone. One moment he was yelling something at them, the other he was just gone. Some of the fierce looking soldiers that sat at the passenger harnesses at the back and sides of the dragon were also missing, theting and rigging were torn or loosen during the stress of the mad dive and dodging maneuvers.


    Somebody shouted and pointed, York turned and looked, his eyes widening in horror as the right wing of Blue Thunder was ripped and torn, gaping holes appearing in the wing membrane.


    York turned and looked at the dragon which breathing appeared to beboring. He then noticed several bleed cracks in its nk scales and some of the soldiers strapped to the side had body parts like arms or legs missing and appeared to be dead or dying.


    The past ten minutes was like a ride through the thirteen hells. Their wing dragon, a senior heavyweight Spitfire called Ravager, suddenly stalled in the air, it''s magic barrier artifact specially prepared for this mission, shattered and while everyone was wondering what happened another heavyweight dragon suffered the same situation.


    When it happened again, everyone realized that it was a long-range magic attack. The g dragon roared out,manding the rest of the dragons to scatter from the formation and take evasive maneuvers. But it was toote for the 26th Imperial Dragon Corps''s Ravager.


    Something hit its back spine, tearing its tail and arge part of its hindquarters out, spraying hot dragon blood across the sky. Everyone was shocked and the next ten minutes was hell. Every dragon took flight in several directions, but still, another heavyweight was hit by a spell, sending them crashing down.


    Then suddenly a sound like hundreds of bees buzzing passed them loudly and when York looked around, they were already in this situation.


    He prayed, hoping that this nightmare woulde to an end, remembering his parent''s words forbidding him to ever join the army or the dragon corps. He wished he had never run away from home then, a dark stain appearing in his pants as Blue Thunder slowly tilt over and spiral downwards, and those still alive started screaming.


    -----


    York slowly opened his eyes. He felt like he had been hammered by a Troll followed by an Oerkin. He slowly tried to sit up but found himself dangling at the side of something scaly. His mind slowly refocused and he slowly remembered Blue Thunder crashing.


    The hammering sounds slowly became roars of thunder, and he found himself in the middle of a courtyard surrounded by bodies and bits and parts of things he didn''t want to find out what they belong to. He tried to unbuckle himself down, but his weight was pressing against the buckle, so he used his dagger and sawed against the leather, slowly parting it and falling down a short distance to the hard surface.


    Moaning in pain, he pushed himself against Blue Thunder and rested. The constant loud roars of thunder increased his headache. As he closed his eyes against Blue Thunder resting, suddenly someone crouched next to him. He looked up and found a fierce looking soldier with scars all over his face next to him.


    "What happened?" York asked timidly. "Where are we?"


    "Boy, we are in the middle of the nest of rebels," The veteran smiled, "Just where we wanted to go."


    Did Blue Thundernded them at their objective? York reached out and patted the hard scales of the dragon. "Good work, Blue. You have done well."


    "Yeah, that''s all good and touching. Now, this thing is the only thing keeping us alive from those cursed thunder spells," The veteran said, his head looking at all directions constantly. "We need to move, boy, or when those cursed rebelse around with those bloody thunder spells we will die here."


    York groaned as he tried to stand up, but his leg was broken. "My leg, its broken I think." He sniffed, trying not to cry in front of the Knight. "I won''t be-be much help to you, Sir."


    "Goodd," The veteran Knight smiled, his fierce expression looking more kindly. "Stay here and don''t move, you did your part. Now it''s time for this old man to do his." The Knight turned and yelled something, and getting a response from someone else which York couldn''t see.


    "Alright, boy, keep your head down, and y dead," The veteran Knight cast a quick healing spell on his broken leg, "This should help take the pain off a bit."


    "Than-thank you, Sir!" York looked upon the Knight with wonder.


    "See you at the Gates of Heaven, boy!" The vet grinned and stood up yelling a war cry brandishing his sword and shield, "For the Empire! Charge!" Other cries and shouts joined him, and the survivors of the crash charged over the body of Blue Thunder, and fire and thunder greeted them.


    York dragged himself over the side of the dragon, peeking out and watching thest heroic moments of the Knights. Domes of Protection spells covered the dozen ragged looking Knights as they charged towards the Gate, and almost immediately, hundreds and hundreds, puffs of smoke and sparks erupted all over them, and when their Protection spell failed, they fell on the spot no longer moving.


    York couldn''t help but cry, seeing the heroics actions of the Knights and the old veteran reached the Gates, leaning against it and stopped moving. "No!"


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Wall Beta


    "Cease fire, cease fire!" Sergeant James yelled over the gunfire, chopping his hand horizontally, signaling his men to stop firing. "Damn, they sure die hard." He saw thest warrior charging to the Gate and died as he touched it. "Brave sons of bitches."


    He nearly had a heart attack when the dragon mmed down in front of the courtyard, which shook the entire Pass. There were some survivors who threw spells at them, which mostly were negated by the defensive runes and spells built into the Walls. His men returned fire, forcing them to take cover under the dead dragon, but thatst banzai charge was hardcore crazy.


    Suddenly explosions shook Wall Beta, and a massive shadow covered the firing slits. James did a quick peek and saw another massive dragon, hovering above its dead kin, spitting balls of fire at Wall Beta. He quickly dodged as he saw the dragon''s head turn his way, feeling the scorching heat and smokeing in from the slits. "Get the firemen into action now!" He yelled, "Fucking dragons! I WANT ONE TOO!"


    -----


    Private Lorner had joined the Marines as the first batch picked from the remnants of the Goldrose Army. He was skeptic about it at first but soon grew to love the magical weapons the hoomans introduced. He volunteered immediately when the fearsome hooman Master Sergeant Pike asked for volunteers for a special team called ''Fireman''.


    He thought it was something to do with fighting with fire and he wasn''t exactly off the mark. Now dressed a hot and stuffy full body suit of a silvery white material, with a full transparent face mask. Lorner and his buddy, Private Entor dressed simrly, charged out, dragging along a heavy hose. He and his buddy aimed up at the dragon spitting fire at random targets and braced themselves.


    Just as he was about to pull the charging handle down, the dragon spotted them in the openings of the wall and spit a ball of fire directly at them. The two of them screamed as the fire covered them, and they keep screaming even when the fire had extinguished. "WILL YOU TWO BITCHES SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Pike''s voice screamed into their earpieces. "You can scream all you want when you get butt fucked! BUT SPRAY THAT FUCKING DRAGON NOW!"


    That''s when Lorner and his buddy realized that they were still alive and they barely felt any heat at all. "Gods in all heavens, we are still alive!" Entor yelled excitedly. "Damn this armor is great!"


    "Yes, you dumbfucks! You better wish you are dead if you make mee over there to tell you to spray that dragon again." Pike''s angry voice cut in theirms again. "Don''t make mee and make you scream!"


    "Oh shit," Both Entor and Lorner cried, "Yes Top! Engaging dragon now!"


    They both gripped the hose tightly shot a spray of thick foam at the confused dragon who roared, trying to spit more fire their way, only to swallow firefight foam. The choking dragon tried to p its wings to gain attitude but the thick foam covered all over its body, and it gave a wet cough before flopping belly down on the hard concrete courtyard, cracking it and shaking the whole Pass.


    "Good work!" Pike yelled in theirms, "Now spray the fires and put them out!"


    The dragon and its surviving crew and elvish cargo were all covered in firefighting foam, blinded, confused and bruised from the crashnding. The dragon kept coughing and sneezing, trying to force out the foam coating in its throat. Each time it coughed or sneezed, the crew onboard was shaken so badly, that some were thrown off its back, the rigging torn from the violent sneezes and coughs.


    "Ooo, I like this job," Lorner grinned, "Firemen are awesome!"

 Chapter 95: Rout

    Chapter 95: Rout


    Base Colony, UNS Singapore Command Bridge


    Captain ke tapped the tactical tabletop with his forefinger, watching the battle raging at the Pass from the eyes of the recon UAV. "How many fucking dragons do they have?"


    Commander Ford replied calmly, "Approximately about a hundred small ones and about ten of therger ones."


    ke sighed, "I need to bring forward my ns for an airforce way earlier than anticipated." He turned and look saw Princess Sherene speaking with themunications officer ra at the side.


    "If a bloody border duke has this much fighting air elements at his disposal, I cannot imagine how much flying dragons the main standing army of the Empire has," ke said, jabbing his finger up north at the territory of the Empire.


    "But we yet had discovered any fuel source here," Ford raised his concerns. "Even using hydrogen as a fuel source, we don''t have the industrial capabilities nor the tech to manufacture hydrogen engines."


    "I know, simplebustion engines we can make, but any further we need to research and develop along the way," ke responded, "Damn, I wish we had uploaded the whole astropedia into the ship''s databanks when we were still over Earth''s orbit."


    "We can try methane for fuel or alcohol, we justck the manpower for all these projects," Ford gave some ideas.


    "What are you two talking about?" Princess Sherene walked over, joining them at the tactical table. The glow from the table top, highlighted her elfin features, making her look like a goddess.


    "Nothing much, just production and ns on how to handle that," ke pointed to screen, showing dozens of dragons swooping over the defensives and some of therger dragons crashnding on top of the Pass.


    "Oh," Sherene frowned, "But you two don''t look very worried?" She narrowed her pretty eyes suspiciously, making ke cough and look away.


    Ford grinned, enjoying the difort the Captain was having, knowing fully that the Captain has some feelings for the Princess. "Well, we trust that Major Frank at the Pass will be able to handle this situation easily."


    "Besides, Frank has Pike, there won''t be any problems." ke added, "Well, we also tasked all our weapons in support for them if they need it."


    "Hmmm, I see," Sherene looked sadly at the battle. "But people are dying there."


    "It''s war, either you kill or be killed," keforted the princess. "Harsh realities of life."


    Ford smiled and softly walked away, leaving the two of them haloed in the glow from the table, a tiny ind of a quiet moment for the two, surrounded by the chaos in themand bridge.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Courtyard between Wall Alpha and Beta


    A foam covered dragon raged and choked, thrashing wildly in the space between the two walls, when a series of pops and explosions riddled all over its body, sending it against the mountainside, before emitting a death rattle as it choked to death. Its blood staining the mountainsides and pooling around the cracked concrete flooring.


    Anotherrgely sized dragon crashnded beside its dead carcass, belly flopping down as its wings were ripped and torn. The dragon panted heavily, sparks shooting out of its mouth and nostrils with each heavy breath. Dozens of figures leaped off its back and magic circles flickered into life from the neers.


    Specialist Private Hitsu of the Hundred and First Arcane Tactics and Intervention, Team ymore One, broke open his double barrel sawed off shotgun, slotting two explosive shells into the open breech and in one motion, flipped the barrel up, locking the breach closed.


    Hoisting a ballistic shield, he looked at his buddy, Specialist Private Loke, armed with an M2 Magespitter, without the bulky silencer, who nodded and gripped the right shoulder of Hitsu with his left hand, his right raising the carbine in a ready stance.


    Both of them wore surplus armor from the Security Section, MK VI ''Riot'' armor, modified with several extra tes of armoring with strengthening runes carved on them. The armor ting made them lookrge and bulky with pieces of armor covering all vital points of their body.


    "Go!" Loke yelled, and thumped Hitsu''s shoulder hard, if not he wouldn''t be able to feel anything through the heavily armored and padded shoulder ting. Hitsu lifted the transparent ballistic shield, made out of nanocrystal graphene sapphire ss, and charged out of the sally port from Wall Beta and into the madness happening in the courtyard.


    The first thing Hitsu saw was a couple of fucking huge dead dragons, with bodies and puddles of blood all over. Smoke and cracks of spells and Magelocks echoed loudly in the confined area. The sky had several dragons madly swooping and dodging fire from the rail gun turrets.


    And it was raining dragon blood. Blood was falling in a light drizzle, as the dragons in the air keep fighting despite suffering wounds. A fireball streaked towards Hitsu who quickly angled his shield up, letting the spell nce off his shield. A three round burst fired next to his head by Loke, dropped the Knight who cast the spell.


    Hitsu was thankful for the hoomans for inventing earplugs, or he would have gone deaf from the burst fired next to his head. As the smoke cleared, they caught the attention of Empire Knights bunched up next to the clearly winded and heavily wounded dragon.


    Bracing his sawed-off shotgun against the edge of his shield, he rapid-fired off both barrels, sending two explosive shells which exploded in their midst, sending those without magical protection screaming and dying. He kneeled and reloaded, "Reloading!" making himself a solid cover for Loke, as Loke fired into the stunned group.


    "Reloading!" Loke yelled next, crouching down behind Hitsu as crossbow bolts and fireballs and lightning bolts erupted all over them. "UP!" Loke yelled as he finished reloading and stood up, returning fire back calmly with single shots.


    -----


    Issen was a veteran Imperial magic Knight, under themand of the Knights of Twelve, serving under the banner of Duke Sturm, fighting in several campaigns with him over a period of five years.


    The orders for the Knights came in the morning before the sun was even up, they climbed on board with the 26th Imperial Dragon Corp, the Fireborn, and took off with four other Dragon Corps.


    All of them were skeptical that the Duke will send over a hundred Knights just to invade a tiny Pass, but everyone kept their peace and followed the orders. And now he understood why Duke Sturm sent over a hundred Knights into battle with the rebels.


    The two strangely fat armored rebels holding a flimsy looking ss like shield crouched in the open ground between them and the walls. Already they had killed or wounded at least half or more of the Knights and soldiers just by themselves with their cursed magical thundersticks.


    He looked at his squad of three, and nodded, knowing for them to be able to advance up and take over the walls, they needed to defeat those two first, knowing not to underestimate them despite their fat appearance and just the two of them.


    "You and Ern go left, you with me," Issen ordered, pointing to thest Knight "Go fast, use everything you have to kill those two and rally at the walls." And everyone nodded and started to cast support spells. First was Haste, Agility Up, Strength Up, and finally Endurance Up. "GO!"


    Charging out from two directions, they sprinted with inhuman speed despite wearing over 20kg of armor and weapons. They charged towards the clumsy looking rebels and flickered out their swords from their scabbards.


    Suddenly, the Knight charging in front of Issen toppled down, his throat blown away by a spell. And Issen sensed danger, he raised his shield just in time and felt a couple of heavy punches against the prized mithril steel, yet despite the protection of the shield the impacts shattered his left arm.


    Gritting his teeth, he dropped the mangled shield, and continued charging, moving left and right, his left arm dangling uselessly at the side. Just a few paces more!


    -----


    Hitsu calmly said, "I''m on the guys on the left, right side is yours!" As two groups of Empire soldiers sprinted out in two directions. He fired both barrels again, dropping his shots roughly where he predicted both of them to go, missing one but turning the other into bloody meat paste with the shrapnel from the exploding shells.


    Loke tracked the fast movement of the two Knights and fired twice, taking down the foremost before switching aim and double tapping the next knight. He cursed when that knight blocked his shots with his shield and came up to knife range, swinging his longsword directly at his neck.


    Loke sidestepped away from Hitsu and the sword swing, his speed not losing out to the Imperial Knight despite his heavy armor. He raised his heavily armored left shoulder pauldron, taking the second sword strike directly, and the Knight''s sword snapped. He countered with thrusting his M2 rifle''s muzzle out like a spear, aiming for the unarmored throat of the Knight, and punching through therynx. The Knight''s eyes bulged wildly, coughing out blood while his good hand gripped the hot barrel, stopping the thrust from going in further.


    Loke growled and squeezed the trigger, blowing out the back of the Knight''s neck, and gun smoke erupted out from the dead Knight''s gaping mouth and nostrils.


    -----


    While Loke was distracted by the sword swing, the other surviving Knight charged at Hitsu, swinging his war ax in a double handed chop.


    Hitsu rolled out off the way, dropping his empty shotgun and came up on the side and mmed the edge of his shield against the left arm of the Knight, denting the armored rerebrace, and snapping his humerus bone. The Knight roared with pain, his left arm useless and yet he tried to swing his battle ax with his right hand from an awkward angle.


    Hitsu dodged the attack, its speed had dropped noticeably, and rammed his shield edge against the back of the Knight''s left greaves, cracking the shin bone and forcing the Knight down on his knees. Hitsu than ended the fight with a smash of his shield edge against the back of the cervical spine, killing the Knight instantly.


    "That was satisfying," Hitsu puffed out, "Your kill was gross." Hemented on Loke''s kill, seeing the gore on the muzzle. "It''s gonna be a hell to cleanter."


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain, Rear of Wall Beta


    The remaining heavyweights managed tond or crashed here, between the barracks and admin structures. The dragons spit fire at the concrete structures, scorching the grey surfaces. Gunfire and smoke from Marines forced back the dragons, and the rest of ymore One decimated the remaining Knights and soldiers thatnded.


    Tyrier stood over the body the heavyweight dragon he had just in, reloading his pump action shotgun. The damn reptile kept attempting to eat him despite already half dead, so he gave it a few shots of explosive shells to eat. It must be because I killed its rider, thought Tyrier as he looked at a bullet-riddled corpse in a thick blue fancy looking jacket with gold bridles.


    The only remaining flight-capable heavyweight dragon tried to take off under heavy fire and attracted the attention of Gun Two, which sent an armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot shot, nailing the dragon at mid-flight, the force of the explosion, showered the rear base structures and its defenders with dragon gore and blood.


    The remaining smaller dragons seeing the death scene lost all motivation to continue to fight. They dropped thest of their firebombs and retreated, dodging k from the guns.


    The Marines defending cheered as the dragons retreated and turned their attention to the sieging army in the front, just as Valkyrie One and Two had returned fully rearmed and refueled, and some tech had rigged up some external speakers, sting "Ride of the Valkyries" over the air.


    The two space haulers turn gunships volley fired their 70mm rockets at the shocked army, each fuel-air thermobaric st shattering bodies, sucking the air out of lungs and then turning the air into mes.


    Those caught in the after sts had their eyeballs, eardrums and internal organs ruptured. Most of the elves went mad by the sheer destructive power of the rocket salvos and ran screaming away, discarding weapons and armor. "Run Blue Boys!" Flight Lieutenant Peter yelled as he looped back his bird, going for another strafing run.


    The retreat soon turned into a rout, as hundreds of Empire soldiers broke formation, ignoring orders andmands and scrambled to the safety of the forest, while the radio broadcast was repeating messages calling the Empire to surrender.


    "Soldiers of the Empire, nothing is more confused than to be ordered into a war to die or to be maimed for life without the faintest idea of what''s going on Drop your weapons and surrender please"

 Chapter 96: POWs

    Chapter 96: POWs


    Captain ke stepped off the rear hatch of the Valkyrie, holding on to his peak cap as the powerful turbo wash from the turboprops threatened to blow his cap off. He reached out his hand to Princess Sherene, helping her off the flight cabin as the whine of the engines slowly died down.


    Major Frank waiting at the other side of thending pad with his other staff officers and saluted when ke strolled up to him.


    "Sir and Mdm! Wee to Hell''s Gate!" Frank grinned, his face youthful face losing the harshness. "I got the whole tour for you."


    "Good job with the battle," ke praised Frank, "You and your men did well holding the Pass and routing the enemy."


    Frank kept grinning, "Yea, it was a close job, especially when those dragonsnded." He led them to a jeep and personally drove.


    The smoke from the battle two days ago still lingered all over the Pass, damages to the structures and defenses slowly became more apparent as they neared the walls and the wailing of wounded dragons echoed down the mountain from their holding pens.


    "17 dead and 152 wounded over a week of constantbat, and 42 needed to have parts regrown in the Tank," Frank reported, yelling over the wind as he drove. "Intel estimated a total of seventeen thousand dead on the other side. We also captured close to 400 tons of weapons, armor and food supplies from their abandoned baggage train. Also another fivend dragons, almost two hundred war dragons and close to a thousand livestock ranging from bird wyverns and some kind of pig."


    "A total of five thousand surrendered and another three thousand captured wounded," Frank continued, handing over a tablet while driving with one hand. They charged up the rocky road and was waved past the checkpoint by the Marine sentries. "We also liberated close to a thousand five hundred ves."


    "We will need supplies for the prisoners, as the supplies we captured will only be enough for two months. Feeding over ten thousand mouths isn''t easy," Frank said as he pulled to a stop and parked the jeep at the covered parking lot next to a heavily guardedplex.


    Princess Sherene spoke up, "I will see what I can do to supply food for them, but we barely have started growing crops for this season. It will be difficult."


    "Yeah, wait till you see the dragons," Frank said, "They eat a lot."


    Sherene face turn white, "Dra-dragons? How am I going to feed dragons and over ten thousand more people?"


    "How many dragons do we have?" ke asked, putting his hand on Sherene''s shoulder to calm her down.


    "We got two ofrge ones which they called Spitfires and seven medium weights, a breed called Silverwing." Frank pointed to a series of hanger-like structures on the other side. "Currently we are holding them there, under the threat of their masters'' life."


    "They speak?" ke was surprised, it was the first thing he knew of such things. "They won''t rampage or something?"


    Frank winked, "Yup, in Common too, they are surprisingly polite and gentlemen like. They agreed to good behavior and not fight us as long as we save and spare their captains and crew."


    "Seems like they are the most sensible ones here," ke said. "And the remaining Empire forces?"


    "We are using the Valkyries to conduct harassing operations on them, forcing them to retreat deeper into the forest, also, the Hundred and First and Marines will be several raiding operations targeting their supplies and ground harassment," Frank added, "If they can capture supplies, we get the Valkyries to pick up supplies for our own use, if not we deny them to the enemy by burning."


    "Great job," ke nodded, walking into an entrance set into the mountainside guarded heavily by Marines.


    "Master Sergeant Pike with Lieutenant Tavor of Intelligence is personally running the screening process of the prisoners," Frank continued his report. "We have gotten a ''Truth Stone'' from Magister Thorn."


    "Truth Stone? What does it do?" ke frowned, unfamiliar with the object.


    "It''s a magical artifact that can detect truths or lies," Princess Sherene exined, "The stone changes color depending on the answer given. It''s a royal artifact, used to test the loyalty of the royal guards."


    "Yeah," Frank nodded, "But Tavor found out that it actually detects intention instead of truth or lies. If you intend to be truthful, it shows up as you telling the truth while if your intentions are evil, like telling a lie, the stone glows red." Frank waved the sentries aside as they passed another checkpoint before entering into themand center.


    "So it actually detects good or bad intentions?" ke rified, looking around the busymand center.


    "Yes, Sir and wee to the Pit."


    -----


    She found herself running in the forest, sounds of beating hooves as soldiers riding war dragons chased after her and her people. She screamed as she watched her people dying, soldiers driving spears into their bodies and woke up, finding herself in a strange bright room.


    White curtains blocked her surrounding view and she could feel the soft mattress and pillows beneath her but when she tried to move her arms and legs, she found them bound against the bed frame.


    She looked at her body, she was wearing some kind of robes, a clear tube with some liquid inside seemed to be stuck to her arm and her body was covered with bandages. The boundings looked like some kind of grey leather but with magical runes carved on them, which she recognized as an anti-magic rune.


    She coughed as her dry throat itched and suddenly the white curtains parted and a female wearing strange grey white clothing holding some kind of board looked and smiled at her.


    "Finally you''re awake," the stranger spoke in Common and picked up a jug of water on the side table which she didn''t notice at first. The stranger poured a cup of water and that''s when she noticed that her ears were short and rounded.


    "W-who are y-you?" She asked, her throat parched and painful. "W-where am I?"


    "Here have a sip, slowly," The short-eared stranger gently fed her cool and refreshing water and she felt better after drinking some.


    "Don''t worry for now," The stranger said and gestured to her restrains, "These are for yours and our safety. Please bear for now till we are certain of your intentions."


    She tilted her head in confusion, wondering what does the stranger meant, her eyes growing heavy and she yawned before falling back to sleep again.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Defense Base, Monster Holding Pens


    Captain ke stood before a hanger like structure. He looked down the side and saw several simr structures and shook his head, thinking of the time and resources spent on making these in such a short time.


    The single Marine guard saluted ke and pushed open a side door, letting ke enter.


    As ke entered the holding pen, a strong musty smell hit him and as he saw the massive blue red dragon lying on its side, in the center of the pen, eyes closed and snoozing away.


    ke circled the sleeping dragon, marveling at the creature, looking at the beautiful blue red scales as light reflected off them. Wow, this guy must weight like 30 or 40 tons at least.


    Several spots on his body had cracked scales with dried blood, most likely caused by gunfire. Its wings were torn and appeared to be repaired up with sticky tape or duct tape.


    He wondered which Marine did that, most likely by his original guys. Shaking his head, he returned to admire the dragon.


    Suddenly the dragon snorted and opened its golden dinner te sized eyes and looked at ke. It raised its massive head and yawned, disying its impressive array of sword-like teeth, as long as his arms.


    The dragon stared unblinkingly at ke and a long ufortable silence stretched out. Finally, ke cleared his throat, "Hi, my name is ke."


    The dragon cocked its head, "Ba-ke? What manner of creature are you?"


    "We are humans, from a ce very very far away from here," ke gave his best salesman smile.


    "Hoomans? Interesting," The dragon rested its head against his front ws. "And?"


    "Oh, I just want to see a dragon up close," ke scratched his head in embarrassment, "I mean I never seen a real dragon before, it''s mostly in stories or CG, that kind of stuff you know?"


    The dragon looked confused but nodded, "Satisfied?"


    "Ah, I am sorry," ke apologized, "I didn''t mean to disturb your rest." ke gestured to the dragon''s wounds. Damn, he sounds like some ancient Englishman! ke thought to himself.


    "It''s alright, I am your prisoner," The dragon settled down, "I have nothing much to do either."


    "I see," ke pointed to a bench at the side, "do you mind?"


    "Go ahead, I am sure you have some questions for me," The dragon sighed, "The other hooman always has questions."


    It must be referring to Lieutenant Tavor, ke thought, "Well, to be frank, I don''t know much about your kind and am frankly very curious."


    "Same here," The dragon replied, "Oh where are my manners, my name is Blue Thunder." The dragon rosed up and dipped a bow, which ke unconsciously returned a bow too. Blue Thunder settled back down onto his forearms and asked, "Do you have any news of my captain?"


    "Ahh," ke remembered Frank''s report on the health of the dragon crews. "I am sorry, but he did not make it," ke replied honestly.


    "Captain! Why did you inform him that!" Tavor''s voice screamed out in ke''s earpiece. ke flinched, quickly pulling his earpiece out and rubbing his ringing ears, "Damn."


    "Thank you for being honest with me, hooman ba-ke." Blue Thunder appeared to sink down lower on his forearms, "I already had the feeling that he didn''t make it, you know the bond and all that. At least I know your people tried their best to save him."


    ke felt the urge to go up to the dragon and give it aforting pat. Blue Thunder eyes drool up and looked like a lost puppy. "I am sorry for your lost."


    "It''s alright, lives are lost in wars and we are constantly at the frontline," The dragon sighed sadly, "I have seen many of myrades passed away."


    "What are your ns now?" ke asked, as he walked up to the dragon and gave it a pat at its higher arm. "Any ns?"


    "ns?" Blue Thunder repeated the word, "I am your prisoner, having surrendered, I am submitted to your bidding."


    ke looked surprised, "Even if we want to execute you?" He blurted out.


    "Yes... If not who will look after us?" Blue Thunder raised his head up and look at ke with itsrge teary eyes and hissed. "We are your ves now. To the victor goes the spoils."


    "I see," ke raised both hands up in a calming manner, as he looked at the mouth full of teeth directly in front of him, the smell of sulfur from its breath nearly choking him. "But we have no ves here. Everyone is a free man."


    "Free?" Blue Thunder narrowed his eyes in wonder, "There is such thing?"


    "Of course! We will offer the prisoners a choice, to either join us or we let them go back," ke exined. "We need people, and free men and women work better than unwilling ves."


    "That is very interesting," Blue Thunder scratched its chin in a very human, elvish like way, most likely picked up from its crew. "I can do what I want?"


    "Eh yes, but of course you have to follow thewsid down by the government," ke continued to preach. "If you are willing to work, we, of course, will be willing to ept you. But know one thing, everyone has to work for their meal, there is no free food in this world."


    "Oh like a sry?" Blue Thunder looked excitedly at ke, its huge mouth gaping opening. "I always hear my captain and the crew say they like to spend their sry in the pub or to a whole house or war house?" It scratched its head as it tried to remember the word they used.


    "You meant a whore house?" keughed, "No that''s not for you, but yes, you get paid and what you want to do with the money is up to you."


    "You mean I can buy lots of meat to eat?"

 Chapter 97: Post Victory

    Chapter 97: Post Victory


    Uncharted Forest


    Duke Sturm''s face was pale as he rode his war dragon hard, pushing it to gallop faster. The musicing from the sky rose to a fervent height as the singer screamed the lyrics of some unknown heaven cursed song.


    "War, whoa, lord,


    What is it good for,


    Absolutely nothing, listen to me."


    Followed by explosions going off at the rear of the retreating Lancers. The enemy flying beasts charged past over Sturm''s head and he ducked reflexly, his war dragon starting to foam in its jaws.


    "Faster!" Sturm whipped the dragon''s side, ignoring the gasping cries from the mount. He looked up again, as the volume of the music rosed up again, indicating those cursed flying beasts were back to throw their fireballs at his men.


    For the past three days, Sturm and the remnants of his forces had been harassed constantly by the enemy''s flying beast, which spits fireballs at his frightened troops. He had his remaining mages and crossbowmen, forming an ambush for the flying beast, but it just shrugged off the spells and crossbow bolts, ying its demonic music as it looped back spitting fire at his troops again and again.


    Starving and exhausted, the remains of the entire army of Fallowfall consisting of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Regiment of Swords and the 9th, 10th 11th, 13th and 15th Regiment of Spears, 2nd, 5th 6th and 8th Crossbow Regiment and the 2nd and 3rd Lancers retreated in a disorderly manner through the Uncharted Forest, many falling prey to the goblins tribes and monstrous beasts living inside the forest.


    Reports constantly came in either outdated or unclear from the rearguards and scouts as the army was running scared and confused. The remains of the Imperial Dragon Corps had flown away, leaving them without any air cover, not that it will do the Fallowfall army any good. Conflicting reports of rebel soldiers attacking in the front, the nks and the rear keep pouring in, making Sturm disregard them totally.


    Finally, the cursed music faded away, meaning the flying beast had returned to whatever hell it came out from and Sturm reined in his war dragon. The poor beast stumbled and choked as it gasped for breath, its side heaving up and down. Sturm jumped off the saddle and stretched himself, his back aching while his inner sides of his legs chafed from the constantly riding.


    "Gather themanders or whoever is left. I want the regiments to be back under control!" Sturm yelled at his subordinates. "Bring me some food and water, now!"


    His men dispersed to do his bidding and not long his manservant came up with a handful of trail bread and a half-empty waterskin. "My apologies my Lord, this is the best I could find,"


    "What? Where are our rations?" Sturm growled, "I made sure that we have more than enough field rations tost the whole army at least two months!"


    "My Lord, we lost a third of the baggage train when we retreated and the rebels had constantly harassed us." His manservant exined calmly. "The remaining half were abandoned along the way or were destroyed by the rebel''s flying beast chasing us."


    "Damn you," Sturm cursed as he crushed the hard trail bread in his right fist, grinding it to powdery pieces. "Oh, just you wait, I will be back."


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass Defense Command Center. The Pit


    "You been constantly visiting the dragon pen," Frank said as they headed towards the meeting room. "Anything interesting to share?"


    "Hmm, I learned quite a bit in fact," ke said, "More insight on the workings of the Empire and how they train and breed dragons."


    "So we gonna have our own dragons?" Frank grinned excitedly, looking like a kid again. "Damn, I only saw those in CGs."


    "Maybe, if we can convince those unbonded dragons to our cause," ke smiled. "Those whos bonded captains were still alive, will only follow the wishes of their captains."


    "Feels like so kind of very to me," Frank said, "But then again, how awesome is it to fly it!"


    "I am surprised at the way they talk," ke said, "They don''t feel so scary, they seem more like a ... very wise child?"


    "You know, Lieutenant Tavor been up against my ass all day, grumbling about you breaking protocol and all that shit on the dragons," Frankughed, "I rarely seen him so worked up."


    "Haha, that was my fault, the dragons were just too ... polite and it just slipped my mouth when they asked about the fate of their crew," ke shook his head, "Maybe I should leave the interrogation and interviews to the professionals next time."


    Entering the room, they found Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn in a heated discussion, with Thorn gesturing wildly and his Einstein-ish hair making him look like a madman as usual. "If we can harvest the blood from the dragons, we can use it for many alchemical purposes!"


    "Have you wondered why dragon blood is so rare?" Dr. Sharon hissed in frustration, "You think they will let you take a needle and draw their blood just like that?" She snapped her fingers in irritation.


    "Hmmm true, but we can drug their food, you know all that," Thorn grinned.


    Dr. Sharon rolled her eyes, "If it was that easy, don''t you think there would be more dragon blood out there?" Dr. Sharon soften her tone when she saw Thorn looking downcast, "You told me for the magic in dragon blood to be potent it has to be a wild dragon and not bred."


    "That''s true," Thorn peaked up, "Oh Captain, greetings."


    "Oh," Dr. Sharon looked around and saw ke and Frank standing there watching the two of them chatting, and quickly rose, "Captain."


    "At ease," ke smiled, "So you guys wanna get some dragon blood? Didn''t we harvested tons of that?"


    "Yes, yes, but the blood quality was very low," Thorn sighed, "Seems like the magic from dragons bred in captivity weakens them a lot."


    "Holy Fu-," Frank coughed, "I mean that was considered weak?"


    "Yes, yes, if it was a wild dragon, its powers would be at least say, ten maybe twenty times stronger," Thorn absentmindedly replied, "Maybe its due to their young age? Rarely do breed dragons reach their mature ages of a hundred."


    Frank looked at ke with horror, and said, "I gonna have to review my defensive ns again."


    "Hi, has the meeting started?" Princess Sherene stuck her head in, her gold pink hair tied in a bun and she was wearing a formal sky blue formal looking robes.


    "No,e in," ke smiled warmly,tely he found himself looking forward to seeing the Princess.


    "Alright, everyone''s here, let''s start," ke nodded to Frank.


    "Ok, I asked for this meeting, due to several reasons," Frank said, "Supply, manpower, prisoners and what''s next."


    "For supply, I will be requesting from City hall," He nodded to Sherene, "To help catalog the supplies and equipment we had captured off the retreating Empire army. Also, we will be needing your help to provide food for the prisoners. And we also badly depleted our ammunition stores in that one week ofbat, so I would like to request extra production of ammunition to meet our needs."


    Sherene nodded, "I see what I can do," She turned and whispers to her aide.


    "Next is manpower, so far we suffered very little loses, but we have arge amount of wounded both ways. Our priority of course is to our men first then the prisoners. Dr. Sharon, I will like your team full-time assistance in this manner, I am not sure if our medical supplies will hold out or not."


    "It''s not really an issue for now," Dr. Sharon replied, "I got a few magical healers which helps to decrease the usage of our medical supplies but the regeneration Tank can only be used so much. I am still working on a substitute for the nanite solution."


    "Ok, next is the prisoners, what are we going to do with them?" Frank asked, "Are we gonna to let them go or recruit those that are willing to join us?"


    "For the prisoners, release them if they choose to leave," ke said, "No point in feeding the enemy for them. If we keep them locked up or even asbor, we need to spend food and manpower to keep watch over them and also there is always the threat of sabotage."


    Everyone nodded at the table, "But if we let them go. won''t theye back and attack us againter?" Sherene raised a point.


    "Yes and no," ke smiled, "If you were given freedom after a life and death battle, would you want to return to it again or return to your families?" He pointed out. "Also if we show mercy now, their hearts will also be moved, and they will show mercy back to our men if should they be captured."


    Sherene nodded but didn''t look very convinced. "I understand."


    "As for those who are willing to join us," ke continued, "Run them through a dependable test, I heard Magister Thorn had loaned us a Truth Stone?" ke asked, which Thorn nodded.


    "Dr. Sharon and Lieutenant Tavor, I want the two of you toe out with a list of psychological questions to determine their intentions and loyalty." ke ordered, "Then we let these people in, on a probational basis on their behavior and work performance, before granting them full citizenship."


    "For the dragons, if they are willing to join us, we will, of course, wee them," ke added, "They will be very useful for some of the things I could think of to help us."


    "Yes Sir," Dr. Sharon and Lieutenant Tavor replied, while the others nodded.


    "Okst point, what''s next?" Frank continued, "Currently twopanies of Marines are harassing and doingbat sweeps of our surrounding areas of the Uncharted Forest, supported by the Valkyries. As for the artificial ramp created by magic, it is almost impossible to destroy using conventional means, so we are stuck with it."


    "Also there are reports of increasing goblin activity, now that winter is went and truly gone and spring is here," Frank reported, "We can''t extend our forces too much into the forest and there is a limited amount of ammunition left for our Valkyries."


    "City hall had started to send men to clear and tilt thend, we will need protection from the goblins if that is the case," Sherene pointed out. "We need to prepare for the next winter."


    "Sir, if I may," Lieutenant Tavor spoke out, "I think that it is a good time for us to regroup and focus on material needs now, the 2nd batch of Marines are being trained now, and look at what one battalion can do?" Tavor gestured at Frank, "We should focus on building up our supplies and tech, if we had better equipment, training, and supplies, we can focus on a highly trained and professional force rather than branching out all over the ce."


    "Noted, Lieutenant," ke frowned as he steeped his fingers together. "Alright here''s what we do, Magister Thorn. continue your research and development with Chief Matt, Gale, and Pike."


    "Dr. Sharon, you continue your R and D on medical practices with magic and also training of doctors and nurses."


    "Princess Sherene, please work out a n for supplying the troops and prisoners, and what iscking or needed. I expect that we will need a lot of materials soon. And the dragons, they need a lot of food."


    "Frank, pull back your men for much-needed rest and repair the defensives at the Pass, also oversee the next batch of recruits. You also need to provide patrols and protection to the loggers and farmers."


    "Tavor, I need the psychological test for the prisoners, also continue interviewing the prisoners for information on the Empire. the more we have, the better we can prepare for."


    "Oh yes, I need HR to do up a recruitment and marketing speech for the prisoners..."

 Chapter 98: Recruitment

    Chapter 98: Recruitment


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Rear Marine Base, Hell''s Gate


    Princess Sherene had spent thest day helping out at the medical center, tending to the wounded Marines and even the prisoners of war. She also visited the defenses and worked on her public rtions, boosting the morale of the troops.


    Now she just the sun was on its zenith, she stood under a covered tform, facing thousands of prisoners, who all either sat or stood at the enclosed parade square where armed Marines guarded them. "Good afternoon everyone. My name is Sherene Goldrose, I am the former princess of the Goldrose Kingdom. I am sure most of you are confused and worried about what will happen to you in theing days."


    Sherene paused and looked over the crowd who whispered among themselves. "Most of you are just following orders from the Empire in waging war here if not every one of you would be still enjoying theforts of your home. We do not me you, but your masters."


    "My country was brought into a war it did not wish, and it was conquered by the Empire and yet the Empire still persists in destroying all that remains of its people. I know some of you also came from conquerednd and the only way for you to survive is to join the Empire," Sherene''s voice echoed out from the broadcasting speakers. "Here we only wish to be left alone, to live in peace and freedom, but we are willing to fight and defend for that peace. In the traditional way of the New World, losers in battle with be ves or subjected to the whims of the winner. but we will offer you two choices."


    "One, you join us on probation and after the period of probation is over, you will be part of us." The whispering and muttering rosed louder as the crowd started talking among themselves.


    "Two, you will be released, you are free to go where you want to go. You will be given a few days of food and a simple weapon for defense and that is all." Sherene continued. "You have one day to make your choice."


    "Those that are worried about their families and yet want to stay, we will find ways for them to join you here for a better life!" Sherene promised, "We protect and look after our own!"


    The crowd burst out in a discussion as she finished her words, some yelled demanding to know more while others yelled pro-empire slogans and insults. "One dayter, you will be asked to make your choice, think about it carefully." Sherene stepped off the tform and into the hot sun, following her aide as they head to a waiting jeep.


    "What''s next?" Sherene asked as they sat down inside the cloth covered jeep.


    "You have a meeting with the medical staff at the medical center with Dr. Sharon, in twenty minutes," Her aide replied as the driver drove them off towards themand center.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass Defense Command Center. The Pit


    "Why didn''t you do the speech or say something yourself?" Major Frank asked as he and Captain ke watched the live feed from the disy on the Princess''s talk at the parade square. "The speech from the HR dude is pretty bad,"


    "The speech''s so so... Anyway, we are too alien to them still," ke shrugged, "Besides its always nice to have a pretty face doing the recruitment talk, yes?"


    "Is that why you joined the Navy?" Frank deadpanned.


    "Of course!" ke grinned, "Have you seriously seen any female Marines?"


    Frank groaned, tired of that stupid joke. "We do have females in the Marines you know?"


    "Hahaha of course of course," ke winked, "Well, the speech ended and we shall see tomorrow on who is willing to join us."


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, POW Holding Camp Charlie


    In one of the Empire issued tents, arge group of Oerkins huddled together, "What does everyone think about joining the rebels and strange hoomans?" A bald grey skinned Oerkin questioned the group in Oerkin Tongue as he gazed at all the Band leaders involved.


    The whole party had scars and freshly healed wounds all over their bodies, as they were picked up and held as prisoners after the battle was over. Most of them had fainted or could barely be moved when the army of the Empire was routed. Close to two hundred of the Oerkins were picked up by the Marines and dropped off at the POW holding camp.


    Now after the speech from the rebel ex-princess about the hoomans willing to recruit people, they were honestly tempted by the offer. They know that if they returned to their tribes they would suffer humiliation and scorn from their own people for falling into the enemies hand.


    "Hmm, I don''t mind, if we can have those loud thunder sticks to y with!" Someone yelled, and the almost all of the Oerkins grunted in agreement. "Make big boom! I like!"


    The bald grey Oerkin nodded, "So all in agreement?" The Oerkins growled and grunted in agreement, "Done than tomorrow we shall be part of the rebel hooman tribe!"


    -----


    All over the five POW holding camps, discussions among the Empire soldiers were ongoing constantly, as they debated they would stay or leave, or if was it a trap or something. The discussions soon split the camps into three groups, those that were willing to stay, those that were on the sit and wait, and thest group were those against the idea of staying.


    The next day, the strange clothed rebel soldiers opened the gates of POW holding camp Alpha, letting the two thousand plus prisoners to the parade square. As they were herd to the square, they saw two gates leading to other ces which they couldn''t see.


    This time, instead of the Princess, it was a grizzly looking old timer, dressed in the same strange patterned uniform, addressing the crowd from the raised tform. "Alright, listen up! I am only going to say this once and once only!" The soldier bellowed, his voice echoing down the parade square with the need of any magical assistance.


    "Those who willing to stay, enter this green gate on my right!" He pointed to a gate on the right with a green colored banner hanging on the sides. "Those who want to return to the Empire, enter the red gate on my left," And he repeated his gesture, pointing to the left gate with a red banner.


    "Now form up in an orderly manner! Do not push or rush, disobey and suffer the consequences," He warned, ring at everyone. "Form up now!"


    The crowd looked at each other before someone timidly walked up to the green gate, and soon a steady stream of people started to be processed through the green gate while others scorning the traitorous rest, headed out of through the red gate.


    The whole process for the five camps took almost the whole day, those willing to stay were than returned to the holding camps while those that want to leave, were each given a 5-day rations pack and every group of five were given a single dagger, a sword, a spear, a shield and a bow with ten arrows and pointed down the slope towards the direction of the Empire.


    The wreckages and bodies of dragons and soldiers were long removed by the prisoners, but the stench of blood and voided excretions lingered strongly under the hot sun. A warning was given to those that want to return that if they remained within sight of the walls, they will be shot on sight, with several warning shots given off, scaring those defiant men off into the forest.


    Finally, as night falls, thest of those wanting to return to the Empire had vanished into the sea of trees and the base slowly returned to normal activity.


    -----


    "So tomorrow we will start to process those staying," Captain ke said, "Make sure no spies or assassins are hidden in this time."


    "Yes, Sir!" Lieutenant Tavor and Master Sergeant Pike responded. "We estimate it would take almost a week, our week not their''s, to process everyone."


    ke nodded, there were almost four thousand who decided to stay, in fact, many expressed concerns about leaving their families and skepticism on whether the hoomans could deliver their promises of bringing in their families from the Empire.


    "Well at the dragons are simpler," Major Frank added, "Blue Thunder is willing to sign up with us and so are the two Silverwings without their masters. Sadly none of their remaining crews except one kid is staying with the dragons, hopefully, that kid knows enough handling of dragons than us, course none of us, including the Goldrose people knows anything about dragon care."


    "On the interesting side, we have more than 200 Orcs very willing to join us, in fact, they all specifically requested to be part of the military force, something about bangs and booms," ke grinned, "Well, Major, they''re all yours."


    "Ooo, Orc Marines, how clique!" Frank rolled his eyes, "I hope they are not as dumb as they look, but they will make good shock troops or heavy gunners."


    "What are you nning to do with the dragons, Sir?" Master Sergeant Pike asked curiously. "Gunship dragon or anti-air support?"


    "Oh, I was thinking more of them being aerial recon, the Owleye UAVs badly need some downtime for servicing and maintenance or we going lose them forever." ke said, "Blue Thunder could double up as a rapid troop transport or heavy cargo lifter."


    "You think they will be willing to?" Frank inquired, "We don''t even know how to control or even manage them."


    "We will have to create an Air Force to manage all dragons and air units in the future, for now, we just learn as we go," ke answered. "Take things one step at a time for now."


    "Sir, we do have an interesting character who wants to join us," Tavor spoke up. "May I?" He gestured to the disy.


    ke nodded and sat back, as Tavor fiddled with the disy and soon the screen showed a portrait of a pale looking female elf with silver hair in hospital gown lying on a hospital bed. "Her name is Irisval von Aston and is currently held in a heavily guarded istion ward at the medical center."


    Tavor yed a video next, reying back a few videos of the battle days ago, "We suspect she is the culprit for the creation of the earthen ramp here." He yed the appearance of the earth forming a ramp in slow motion. "And in this video, apparently due to our Marine snipers, the death of those two creepy looking masked knights, she turned against the Empire." Another video was shown, the silver-haired elf casting spells against the Empire forces.


    "ording to her statement, she was held against her will, using the threat of termination of her people that she was forced to work with the Empire," Tavor continued, "She stated that due to the deaths of her handlers that she decided to fight against the Empire, apparently, she said and I quote, sick and tired of fighting and all the killing, end quote."


    "Can she be trusted?" ke asked the most important question.


    "Well, she passed the psychological, profiling and truth stone test we gave her," Tavor shrugged, "Well if she turned out to be a sleeper agent, it will be hard for us to keep tracking her all the time. So unless she has to prove her loyalty in one way or another, I say she''s a keeper."


    ke nodded, "What are her skills?"


    "She said her powers involved with earth magic. The Empire mostly use her powers to destroy enemy fortifications or create gaps, allowing them to break through," Tavor answered.


    "So she''s like some sort of magicalbat engineer?" Frank raised an eyebrow at Tavor, who coughed and nodded.


    "Interesting," ke looked at Frank and smiled, "Well, you got yourself abat engineer now."

 Chapter 99: Dragonite Crystal

    Chapter 99: Dragonite Crystal


    As the week passed by peacefully, the damages to the Pass were repaired and most traces of battle were cleared, except for some blood stains still lingering behind despite some rain. 1st Marine Battalion, 2nd Company, slowly emerged out from the forest edge, finally after more than a week ofbat patrols and sweeping of the area of any remnants of the Empire army and the prisoners that were released a week before, had ended their week-long patrol mission.


    The tired Marines cheered when they saw the Wall in the distance and picked up their speed, marching in lines of two as they climbed up the slope. Suddenly a with a p of wings and a dragon swooped down over the Marines, sending them diving for cover, the Marines yelling and shouting, "Aerial contact!"


    The dragon red its wings, beating furiously to hover on the spot and the Marines who raised their Magelocks found the dragon was actually dressed in armored barding, in counter shaded digital camouge scheme, all dark above except for a multi-scale pattern at the edges.


    It crackled out something suspiciously likeughter before pping its wings away, heading towards the forest as it went on its aerial patrol. "Damn, fat lizard!" The Marines yelled insults and shook their weapons at the dragon flying away. "Goddamn Air Force pukes!"


    "Alright, funs over," The sergeants ordered the men to continue their way back. "I want a shower!" The massive repurposed cargo doors slid open on oiled tracks, granting entry for the wearypany, they noticed several changes made to the defenses, such as dozens of Czech hedgehogid along the slopes, which served to prevent siege engines from being pushed up.


    As they pass through Wall Alpha. they saw the sides of the mountain were being ttened, and the beginnings of concrete towers and bunkers were being constructed. Finally leaving behind Hell''s Gate after passing through Wall Beta, the men were dismissed back to their barracks.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass Defense Command Center, The Pit


    "Attention on deck!" The Marine on duty called out as Captain ke entered the staff meeting room, before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.


    "At ease, people," Captain ke gestured everyone to take their seats. "OK, what''s today''s agenda?" He looked around the room and the disy screens showing other people''s images.


    Most of themand staff were present at the meeting room, while those not physically here were present via video conferencing from the ship''s meeting room. "Sir," Commander Ford spoke up from one of the disys, "Today will be a briefing on our current material and supply situation and future ns on how to handle the new growth and our stance against the Empire."


    "Great," ke rubbed his hands, "let''s start."


    Quartermaster Chen''s image on the disy screen flickered as he stood up and said, "Sir, our current material needs far outstrips our production capabilities. Be it ammunition, weapons, rune stones, and even clothing. Our fabricators and simple factories are barely able to keep up the demand at our current rate of consumption."


    "We arecking in many vital resources such as niter, copper, zinc and even our stocks of salvaged steel is dwindling. We need to secure sources of resources! Even with the iron and crappy steel that was looted from the Empire army, it still barely enough!" Chen''s face was full of worry as he gave his report.


    "Princess," ke called out, "How are the mines going for those sources of copper, zinc, and iron we found?"


    "Slowly, my Lord," Sherene''s image in the disy replied. "There had been several reports of goblin activities going on south of the new mining locations, we are still trying to secure the area."


    "Captain," Major Frank spoke up, "I have sent in anotherpany of Marines to sweep the goblins out of the woods, but it takes time to ferret out the sneaky green skins."


    "Work with the Air Force on this?" ke suggested, "Get the dragons to help sniff out the goblin nests."


    Frank nodded and sat back down, casting a look at the newly promoted Flight Lt. Commander Tommy, who was taking the role of Air Force Commander, returned a nod to Frank.


    "Food production just still ongoing," Sherene spoke next, "We erm, stored the dead dragons and the meat yield from them are more than enough to sustain the poption needs for meat for a couple of months." When the hoomans proposed to use the dead dragons for food, Magister Thorn nearly had a fit, while Sherene was kinda put off by the whole idea, but when she first tried dragon steak cooked by the hooman chef, she changed her mindset almost immediately.


    And the fact that the other living dragons didn''t really mind them eating their kind also helped, as to them dragons, meat was meat, they said all things followed a natural order, the strong preyed on the weak.


    "The designated farnds had been just cleared, thanks to the wonderous vehicles and nting has begun. We implemented and lease scheme with the citizens, granting parcels ofnd to anyone willing to farm thend. Farming equipment was loaned to the farmers at 25% of their harvest for a period of two years." Sherene looked directly at ke and gave him warm smile, "Response was great! We currently have over 800 hectares ofnd being cleared and farmed right now. It should be more than enough to support our needs with a surplus when harvestes."


    "Most of the ex-ves and soldiers are farmers, to begin with," Sherene continued, "Once they are cleared to work, we can increase both our minerals. materials and food production greatly."


    "Good work," ke praised Sherene, earning a sly look from Ford, whom ke ignored.


    "And we have some good news," Sherene beamed, "In the saltpeter mines, the miners found arge deposit of Dragonite crystals!"


    "Dragonite crystal?" All the humans looked at each other with confused looks. Magister Thorn nearly jumped out of his seat, almost pressing his face against the disy screen. "DRAGONITE?"


    "Calm down. Magister, can you all exin what that is?" ke gestured Thorn to calm down.


    "Dragonite is a very rare mineral!" Thorn exined excitedly, "It is suspected to be formed from the bodies of dragons after many many years!"


    "How does it looks like?" ke narrowed his eyes as he vaguely felt it was something very familiar. The rest of the humans also leaned forward.


    "Oh, it looks like some sort of dark red crystal, like ruby." Thorn nodded to himself, "But the magical powers it possesses!"


    "What are its uses for?" Frank asked next, while ke was slightly disappointed that it wasn''t crude oil that he was expecting.


    "Hmmm, it has many properties, like highly mmable, able to increase magic usage and explosive too," Thorn listed out a few he can think of. "It is quite rare to find. The ancient scrolls do speak of them using as a fuel to power their floating castles."


    "Fuel?" ke''s eyes lit up at the word, he rubbed his chin as he looked at Ford meaningful, who smiled in understanding.


    "How much trouble will it take to mine it?" ke asked, "It is dangerous?"


    "Hmm no, and yes," Sherene replied, "It can be mined like how you mine ores, but as it is mmable, we have to use special tools to extract the Dragonite crystals out, as sparks could ignite it, causing an explosion."


    "Then won''t that Irisval girl be of use?" ke asked Sherene.


    She pondered about the question before answering, "I believe she should be of great help if she truly is a Geomancer."


    "Awesome!" ke grinned widely, "We talk in detail on thister! Next, military?"


    Master Sergeant Pike stood up and said, "Ammunition consumption is at an all-time high, most of our ready stockpile are badly depleted, we couldn''t sustain another all-out siege like before till ammunition production replenishes our current needs."


    "Under weapons development, R and D are still ongoing with a man-portable mortar system, we do have a simple prototype but we actually need more production of gunpowder for the guns munitions."


    "The M2 Magespitter has been proven inbat during the week before, sorge-scale production can begin once the Hundred and First submits theirments and reviews on improvements of the weapon." Pike continued, "Also the new gunpowder mix of adding powdered mana stone has vastly improved the force of the gunpowder by arge as 20%. It will be very useful as a high explosiveponent."


    "Next the experimental explosive shells and thermobaric rockets have also proven to be of quite effective, so we will refine those and being mass production as long we have the raw materials for them." Pike paused and looked at Magister Thorn''s screen, "The stores of mana stones we captured from the Empire are all that is left as of now. We are seriouslycking mana stones of all types, we need to find a source for those fast."


    "A mana stone can actually be used for many years," Thorn exined. "Cutting the stones into wafers and constant usage in the Magelocks are burning them out faster than we can rece them."


    Magister Thorn furrowed his eyebrows, "Well, the only source of mana stones are harvested from beasts and monsters from thend. We used to have guilds that sent out requests for mana stones to be harvested, and those are typically taken care of by adventurers."


    "So, we will require teams of men to go hunt beasts and monsters for their stones?" ke asked, "Isn''t it too ineffective?"


    "Well, demands for mana stones ain''t really high previously," Thorn pointed out. "Well, that is the only way to obtain more stones, unless of course, you raid the Empire stores for them?"


    "Got it, I will think about what we can do," ke scratched his chin, "Pike, I need weapons R and D to focus on making a proper fuse, rather than using up the mana stones as disposable fuses." ke than leaned back and asked, "What''s next?"


    "Our patrols had spread out to a distance of 50 km radius from the Pass and found no traces of the Empire''s army," Frank said next, "With the newly recruited dragons, we are using them as aerial recon while the UAVs are taken offline for maintenance."


    "The two Silverwings had an endurance of roughly 2850 km per day or even more as long as adequate food, water and rest is given," Tommy said, "Their average cruising speed is roughly 142 km per hour and their sprint speed and jump up to 210 km per hour, but they could only keep it up for like 20 mins or so."


    "They can keep going non stop on their cruise speed for up to twenty hours before needing to rest and properly feed, and the lesser the weight, the faster and further they can go," Tommy said. "Therger Spitfire could fly up to 30 hours non stop while its cruise speed is roughly at 120 km and sprint speed at 180 km. But the Spitfire can carry up to its own body weight in cargo as long it is distributed evenly along its body, while the Silverwings could only carry up to a third of its own weight."


    "So far, the dragons are performing recon patrols around the Pass and flight trials to determine their full abilities," Tommy continued, "Also we have put up several recruitment notices for pilots and crew for the Valkyries and the dragons." He sat down as he finished his report.


    "Ok, all done?" ke looked around, "Ok, now for the Empire, I want us to stay on a lower alert level, but make no mistake, people, we are at war." ke stood up, his arms leaning on the table top. "I want intelligence on the Empire," ke turned to a disy, showing the map of thend and pointed, "I want a team of intel gathering unit to insert here, pushing into the borders of the Empire to collect information, for this I would like to send the Hundred and First in."


    "Communication rally points will be established and seeded along the mountain ridge and the forest for the intel team tomunicate with us and also for future usage." ke turned to Frank and Tavor.


    "I want a n of action by end of this week. It''s time to hit back and we need to know how!"

 Chapter 100: Mines of Sea Cliff

    Chapter 100: Mines of Sea Cliff


    A couple of half-tracks rumbled down the unpaved road, along with a scenic route of the ocean, ferrying miners to their destination at the Sea Cliff mining facility. Irisval Von Aston sat nervously on the padded seat, staring wide-eyed at the moving scenery flying past her window.


    When she woke up from the healer tent, she found herself questioned by a strange short-eared male, wearing some kind of uniform, after which the healer came in and told her that she copsed due to magic exhaustion and minor blood loss.


    The next few days, the same strange male calling himself as Tavor, made her answer strange questions and look at weird pictures, and sheter found out that a truth stone was used on her while she questioned the strange hooman questions.


    She told them everything she knows, and what they wanted to know. Like how her Aston family was from a conquered nation and her family held the bloodline of Elementalist which when the holder of the Aston bloodline awakens, has the power to control an element type. The Empire was greatly interested in using their bloodline to wage war against the whole world.


    In exchange for the lives of her family, she forced herself to fight the Empire wars. At the start she resisted, but when the fingers of her younger siblings were given to her for each day of her refusal, she caved in. Now she hopes that the Empire thinks she had died here at the edge of civilization.


    Her belief in these hoomans was raising with each day as she saw the way things happen and magical things work here. She firmly believes that if one day her family could be saved, it will be with the help of the hoomans.


    Now she sat in an unadorned form-fitting and unfamiliar uniform in light grey tones and a scandalous skirt that ended at her knees, showing off her calves. She looked at the piece of paper in her hand, which had perfectly printed letters in Common and Eng-ish, telling her to appear at the mining station with directions and information.


    She folded the precious piece of paper carefully and slipped it into her only bag issued by the ''government'' with a few possessions. Finally after over an hour of traveling, both the vehicles pulled up before a heavily fortifiedpound. The metal grill gates rolled open, as guards in ck armor waved the vehicles in, before shutting the gates.


    Irisval followed the group of burly and friendly miners down the vehicle and did a slow turn as she took in the view. Squat buildingsid tidily on the side, surrounded by a grey wall with towers at fixed intervals. Several arcane machines sat under a shed and what looks like a pair of metal strips on the ground exited from a huge barn-like building with several tall round chimneys that gave off clouds of smoke.


    Her eyes followed the thin metal strips, as they lead into the side of the sea cliffs, and into a gaping hole in the cliffs. Thepound walls ended next to the cliffs with those metal wires she remembered seeing during the battle at the Pass. Fourrge strange looking windmills spun rapidly against the sea breeze and she wondered why they need mills here.


    "Miss Aston?" Somebody called out to her as she looked around thepound. She turned and saw a mid-aged suntanned male in a red jacket waving at her, "I am Petty Officer Letts, in charge of construction and mining." He put out his hand for her to shake.


    "Please call me Irisval," She gripped his hand in greeting, learning that is a form of greeting from observing the hoomans in the past week. "I was tolde here to help with some construction and mining?"


    "Yes, yes," Letts smiled, warming up to the prettyss. "I was told to wee you here,e I''ll show you to your room first then a quick tour of the facilities."


    The room assigned to her was overlooking the seaside,rge enough for a single bed, a desk and chair at the side, and cupboard. A simple bathroom was also included, she had learned how to use the bath facilities while she was under the healer''s care.


    Letts waited patiently the room while she looked over her new lodgings, and next showed her themunal canteen, kitchens and the recreational room. Following that, he brought her to the offices, saying that she will be stationed at the office next to his during office hours, unless she was on site. Work hours are starts from nine in the morning and end at seven in the evening, while a mid-day break for an hour and a half for lunch.


    Next, Letts led her to a ce which he called the ''Locker room'', where he said equipment for going into the mines are stored. He looked at her uniform and said, "Hmm, we need to get you some work clothes, don''t wanna dirty your uniform if you wear that into the mines."


    She was given a pair of slightly oversized overalls and work boots which she took a few minutes figuring out how to wear it in the changing room. After which Letts assigned her a locker and told her to ce her uniform and other things that she didn''t want to bring into the mines.


    She was also given a safety helmet with a magical device that can light up an area, a handheld magicalmunication tool, and a face mask. These hoomans must be very rich, she thought as she carefully clipped themunication tool onto her belt, mimicking Letts.


    Letts taught her how to operate themunication tool andmp on her helmet. After certain she is proficient enough, he led her out from the building and towards the barn-like structure.


    Inside, dozens of workers were pouring cartloads of soil intorge vats, the smell of shit and urine overpowering in the workspace. Remembering her face mask, she put it on and breath deeply, then noticed that Letts was already wearing his mask and grinning at her through it.


    "Come, this is where we process the soil they dig out for nitrates." Letts exined, "We dig the soil out and transport it down with carts on those rails tracks than we pour them into those vats and pour water in."


    "We leave them for several days for the nitrates to get into the water, before pouring that water out and boiling them," He points to a few of the workers dressed in white frocks and masks, stirring the vats with sticks. "We add in wood ash to the mixture and boil off the water. The remaining mixture will then be sent off to the gunpowder mills to be further processed."


    "I see," Irisval replied, only understanding half of what Letts said.


    "Haha, don''t worry about all the technical stuff yet," Letts good naturallyughed, "You will learn it all in time!"


    Next, Letts led her out towards the mining cave, where several carts rumbled down the tracks towards the processing nt. "Remember to not walk within the yellow line," Letts pointed to the ground were lines painted in yellow next to the tracks. "Keep out of the yellow line and walk along the designated path, because those carts may juste out of the caves at any time." Just as he finished saying that, a cart came barreling out, filled to the brim with soil and rolled down towards the nt.


    As they entered the mines, Irisval immediately found that the caves were brightly lit, which is different from what she knew of, as she had some experience helping out in mining and tunneling with her magic when she was in the Empire service.


    Dozens ofmps giving off white light hang from the ceiling with cables and wires secured to the walls of the cave. Something like music was echoing down the tunnels and voices of the workers could be heard singing andughing as they worked. "Now this way, walk your step!"


    They headed downward, for almost 30 minutes as Letts pointed out details and gave exnations along the way beforeing to a dead end. There was a fissure in the walls and Letts kneeled down and shone his handheld light into the crack, letting Irisval see what was inside.


    "Look, can you see that?" Letts''s face looked eerie as the light cast shadows on his features.


    Irisval lowered her self down and peer into the crack, and saw a passageway inside, the walls of the passage glowed red as fist-sized crystals reflected the light from Letts''s magical torch. "Oh my, are those Dragonite crystals?"


    "Ah huh, they sure are beautiful," Letts replied, "Now here''s where we need your help. You know earth magic yes? We need you to help expand the hole here for us to mine the crystals."


    Irisval stood up and patted her hands and knees, and turned on her heamp, walking in a circle around the area as she looked around the cave. "Hmm, it shouldn''t be a problem."


    "You know we can''t use tools to widen the passageway, as they might explode from a spark," Letts asked, "So we need you to do this nice and safe."


    "I understand," Irisval said, "I do it now?"


    "Now?" Letts looked startled, "Don''t you need to prepare or something?"


    Irisvalughed, herughter echoing down the tunnel, "No no, it''s very simple, you just want to widen the holerge enough for people to enter and also those carts of yours, yes?"


    "If possible of course!" Letts nodded excitedly, "You can do that?"


    "It''s easy," Irisval smiled and ced her palm against the rock wall, and started to chant softly. A brownish hued magic circle appeared over her palm and the flickered as the spellpletes.


    The wall slowly crumbled, like falling ashes, onto the floor and an openingrge enough for a jeep to pass through appeared. Soft red glow shone through the small mound of crumbled rock dust. Irisval gently swept away the dust and picked up a Dragonite crystal the size of an egg and held it out towards Letts who looked with an open mouth expression of surprise.


    She giggled, "You hoomans had never see magic before?" She teased. "I weathered the rock into dust so there will not be any damages to the surrounding area."


    Speechless, Letts shooked his head, "Seriously, not till we came to this. You really broke down the rocks to soil?" He blurted out.


    Irisval raised her eyebrows, and kept the tiny nugget of information in her mind, "Yes, so is this good enough?" she asked.


    "Oh yes! YES!" Letts yelled, "Oh my god! You are wonderful!" He grabbed Irisval and hugged her, spinning her around in joy. "This is so amazing! Thank you!"


    Irisval was very surprised by the manhandling but she felt warm inside, it was the first time since she sided with the Empire that someone praised and thanked her sincerely. She quickly looked away, hiding her tears forming in her eyes and quickly said, "Let''s see what is inside?"


    "Oh yes, wait, I need to report this first!" Letts quickly pulled out his walkie and started tomunicate with the mining control team.


    Irisval stepped over the pile of rock dust and looked around with the help of her heamp. The passageway stretched out far into the distance with several other tunnels branching away. She found fossilized bones edged with crystals, jagging out from the rock surfaces and even the ground she walked on was covered with Dragonite crystals.


    The passageway ended at a huge cavern where the sight shocked her, as hundreds and hundreds of bones of dragonsid all over the cavern floor, hermp lighting up the Dragonite crystals formed over the bones and surfaces of the cavern, casting an eerie red hue to the entire area.


    But what shocked her the most was not the Dragonite crystals or the bones of the dragons, it was a door. A in simple looking door set at the end of the cavern, her heamp shone directly on it.


    "Oh my, a dungeon!"

 Chapter 101: Dungeon

    Chapter 101: Dungeon


    The news of Dragonite crystals and the discovery of a dungeon in the mines had spread to the city within a week. The news brought much discussion within the city citizens.


    Even the city broadcasting system was talking about the discovery and everyone were both hyped by the sess of the Marines defeating the Empire forces and now the news had spread about the discovery of the valuable Dragonite crystals and news of the dungeon.


    "So what is a dungeon? Captain ke asked as he looked around Magister Thorn''s office in the Academy with interest. There were all sorts of strange and weird fetishes one would find in some museum being haphazardly ced all over the shelves. Large tomes and rolls of scrolls made out of animal hide were stuffed in all corners imaginable.


    Thorn sat on his chair behind his desk furrowed his eyebrows as he thought about the question, while Princess Sherene sat opposite the desk sipping tea with Dr. Sharon. Commander Ford lounged on the sofa with his legs crossed while Master Sergeant Pike stood at parade rest next to the door.


    "Hmmm, well a dungeon orbyrinth is a construct left behind by a god," Thorn said, " To be exact, it is an ancient spell that the gods used to create their strongest warriors."


    The humans looked alert as they heard the exnation. "Are there really gods?" Pike asked.


    "Well, I don''t know for sure if gods still existed at this time, but they sure are mention greatly in the ancient and historical texts during the Age of God as the historians called it," Thorn replied. "Well, to give a brief understanding, there was a war among the gods in the ancient times, vying for control over the heavens, you know all that usual drama."


    "During the Age of Gods, the gods had split into three camps, the so-called old gods who defended their ce in heaven, the new gods who wanted change and challenged the old regime and the neutral gods who sat by the fence and watched the show."


    "Massive armies formed from both magic and recruited from the mortal realm waged war among themselves following the orders of the gods," Thorn appeared to be giving a lesson in history to the hoomans. "But what the old and new gods did not know was that the neutral gods watched and learned as they created these dungeons andbyrinths to create the best soldiers for their own armies."


    "And when the time came when both the old and new gods were weakened, the supposedly neutral gods attacked with their armies, crushing all opposition from both sides," Thorn said, "But at the final fight in the heavens, the old gods used a spell which ended the war but following that all traces of the gods vanished."


    "So you meant that goblins and dragons were created by gods?" Dr. Sharon asked, her eyebrows raised up in disbelief. "Even the people?"


    "Well, in a way, yes," Thorn nodded, "the magical creatures that you see now are the descendants of the gods'' magical armies. For us the people, legend has it that we are the children of gods without any godly powers nor the immortal lifespan of a god, thus we were called mortals."


    "Wow," ke spoke up, "But the question is how do the dungeons fit in? As to how do they work to create the best warrior?"


    "Oh, I am not very sure," Thorn said sheepishly, "I only know that it''s a maze and that the creatures fight constantly and the victor will be picked by the gods."


    "Wait that sounds familiar," Pike spoke up, "Isn''t some kind of Japanese Kodoku? Or the Chinese call it a Gu? Except for poisonous insects, monsters are used instead?"


    "Now that you said it, it does sound so," ke frowned. "So we got some kind of ancient construct from the age of gods in our backyard, nice..."


    "Ko-do-ku? Ku? I would like to know more about them please, and, you are looking for a source of mana stones, yes?" Thorn asked, "Well, the monsters inside the dungeon will drop mana stones after getting defeated."


    "What?" The humans all cried out the same time. "There is something so convenient?"


    "Well, each dungeon orbyrinth has a heart, it basically is a huge mana stone that attracts the dead spirits of creatures," Thorn exined further, "And there must be a huge abundant supply of magical energy, like a fey line than it can happen."


    "A massive magic formation is created at points of magic energy naturally gathers, this is used to power the magic array and the dungeon heart. Using these energies, the dungeon heart will use the spirits of creatures it gathers, forming bodies, bringing the spirits into life with flesh and blood." Thorn frowned, "as to how it all came back, you have to ask the ancient gods."


    "It acts as some kind of ma to attract spirits and souls? That''s amazing!" Dr. Sharon eximed, "I can''t wait to explore it!"


    "I don''t think that''s such a good idea, Doc," Ford said. "How deep orrge will the dungeon be?" Ford asked Thorn.


    "Well, I explored a couple of dungeons in my days," Thorn said proudly, "Depending on the magic source, it can go from three or four stories underground to a hundred levels! There used to be a couple of dungeons within the Goldrose Kingdom, both were small dungeons that mostly used by adventurers to hunt for monsters."


    "For this dungeon, I suspect it should be around 10 to 15 levels deep," Thorn guessed, "We will only know more when we explore it."


    "Wait, so the dungeon has creatures inside, so what happens if we killed everything?" Pike asked. "And what happens if we remove the dungeon heart?"


    "Oh, most countries forbid the removal of the dungeon hearts, as the creatures inside will reappear again even after being defeated," Thorn answered. "Usually takes two days or more for the monsters to reappear. Adventurers normally use dungeons to hunt for materials and items from monsters this way, and the country with the dungeon charges an entrance fee."


    "So, the monsters respawn?" Pike eyes glowed, "So we can keep farming the monsters for mana stones?"


    "Oh yes," Thorn nodded, "But the treasures and artifacts don''t respawn when taken out of the dungeon."


    "Wait!" ke stopped Thorn, "There are treasures and artifacts?"


    "Of course!" Thorn nodded again, "Well the gods wanted to entice mortals and creatures to join their armies in the past, so it''smon to have treasure and artifacts stored inside the dungeons."


    "As for the heart," Thorn said, "removing it will destroy the dungeon. The monsters wouldn''t respawn anymore and the dungeon will be a lifeless structure. So I would advise not to touch the heart at all if you want a constant source of mana stones."


    "Great" ke looked at Ford who grinned. "So we should lock down the dungeon first to prevent anyone from entering till our forces cleared it first?"


    "Well, you can charge a fee for anyone willing to enter the dungeon," Thorn shrugged. "That''s how it was done normally."


    "How difficult would the dungeon be?" Pike asked again. "Do many people die exploring a dungeon?"


    "That depends on the dungeon type," Thorn replied, "Also it does get harder the deeper you venture into the dungeon, and if you encounter champions or even bosses inside. Some dungeons are even well known for mechanical traps and devices."


    "There had been many deaths in the past till the adventuring guilds tend to assign a grade to known dungeons, from Rank One to Rank Five. With Five as the hardest." Thorn continued, "It helped to reduce the number of deaths greatly as the guilds also assigned a rank to each adventurer, so they know what''s the approximate level for them to enter a dungeon."


    "They have champions and bosses?" Dr. Sharon excitedly asked before looking at Captain ke, "Captain! Request permission to be part of the exploration team!"


    ke groaned and shook his head, "Doc, please, it is dangerous, and we can''t have anything happening to you!"


    "Well, you can have ymore One to escort me!" Dr. Sharon argued.


    "I been in a dungeon too when I was younger," Princess Sherene suddenly spoke up, "It was alright, I and my brothers fought against some undead."


    "Princess, you''re NOT helping!" ke muttered, shaking his head.


    "Hahaha," Fordughed, "Doc, let the Marines take a look first, if Pike deems the danger level to be eptable then we organize you and a team to enter the dungeon. How''s that, Captain?"


    ke nodded, "Yes, and Princess, no, you don''t get to go either!"


    Both Dr. Sharon and Sherene pouted and started whispering some conspiracy between themselves.


    "Alright, so to sum it up, this dungeon can provide us with a steady supply of mana stones." ke summarised, "Also chance of finding treasure and magical artifacts. But we do not know what grade the dungeon is."


    "So how do the guilds grade the dungeons?" ke further asked.


    "By the number of levels and monsters type," Thorn said, "Generally a dungeon up to five levels deep are rank one, up to 10 levels as rank two, up to 20 levels deep as rank three and 30 levels deep as rank four and anything more than 40 levels deep as rank five."


    "So you estimate our dungeon to be rank two to three?" Ford asked which Thorn nodded. "Great! So who wants to form a party?"


    "Me! Me!" Dr. Sharon hopped up and down excited, her short 150 cm height made her look like a child at times, especially now.


    ke sighed and red at her till she settled down quietly at her chair. "As we had said, wait till we assess the danger level."


    "Sir, I like to volunteer the Hundred and First on an armed recon of the dungeon first," Pike said.


    "How''s the wounded ymore One member?" ke asked.


    "He''s alright now, he will be having nightmares for a while, but there aren''t any longsting effects to his mental health," Dr. Sharon answered. "He shouldn''t be possessed or carry any unwanted things on him. He just failed his sanity check."


    "Yes, Sir, Doc had given him a clean bill of health," Pike said, "I would like to have the Hundred and First run through the dungeon as a training exercise for them. You know, idle hands are the devil''s tools and all that, and I do so love a live fire exercise."


    "I see," ke grinned and rubbed his chin. "Alright, Top, I approve. Send them in for a look see look see, if things get too hot, pull them back."


    "Yes, sir!" Pike acknowledged. "I will have them map the dungeon out as well, and also apany of Marines will be in support should they need more firepower."


    "Alright next, how are the test results on the Dragonite crystals?" ke asked Dr. Sharon next. "Are they suitable for us to use as a form of fuel?"


    "Oh, very!" Dr. Sharon smiled, "Apparently we can refine it into a liquid form which works simrly to gasoline, in fact, the Octane index is rated at 90 just purely on its own!" And with a few minor refinements, we can make aviation grade fuel as you have requested."


    "I think so far this is the best turn of events since that incident involving those deserters," ke said, "I got ns for a couple of all wooden construction airframes, just that weck fuel and proper weapons for them."


    "Now we have the fuel problem solved, we need to solve our gunpowder issues," ke continued, "ck powder really isn''t suited for fully automatic weapons, fire a few dozens rounds in it and the weapons will jam."


    "Top, I would like to prioritize on the research of making smokeless powder." ke instructed Pike, "Artillery can still be put on hold. If we have smokeless powder, the problems caused by ck powder in the breech-loading artillery will also be solved too."


    "Also anti-air artillery," ke raised up next, "We need some sort of dy or proximity fuses for anti-aircraft shells. We can''t use impact fuses against flying targets."


    "Intel has estimated that if the Duke''s force of roughly 20 thousand regr troops gets supported by a hundred dragons, the main standing army of the Empire of half a million would have at least two thousand five hundred dragons on call, not counting irregr or reserves if they have it!"

 Chapter 102: Peace through Superior Firepower

    Chapter 102: Peace through Superior Firepower


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Marine Support Base


    The concrete hangar doorsid open and Lieutenant Commander Tommy walked past the parked Valkyries undergoing maintenance by a crew of techs. He paused to admire the squat hunching ragged look of the birds and walked towards the office at the end of the hangar.


    He entered the side office and found Captain ke and Chief Matt had already gathered around the office desk. "Sir!" He quickly gave a salute.


    "At ease, Commander. Here, take a seat," ke gestured Tommy to an empty chair while pouring a bottle of whiskey into a ss and passing to him.


    "Since this is an unofficial meeting, so I brought some drinks," ke grinned and the three of them toasted. "Cheers!"


    "So what''s the meeting about, Sir?" Tommy asked after taking a swig of the whiskey.


    "Well, it''s about the formation of the Air Force of course," ke replied as he took out a tiny disy stand and ced it on the desk before switching it on.


    A holographic 3D model of a bine appeared, slowly rotating above the circr disy stand. "This is a World War One British Aircon DH 2 bine model," ke said. "Designed by Sir Geoffrey de Havind whoter formed the De Havind Aircraft Company which built and designed one of the most sessful multi-rolebat aircraft of World War Two, the de Havind DH 98 Mosquito which frame is built almost entirely out of wood and they also built the firstmercial jet airliner in the world."


    "I abit of a history buff and I got a hobby of 3D holo kit modeling old nes," ke exined. "I am thinking of using this as the base design for our first aircraft here. The DH 2 runs on a pusher configuration and its design is very maneuverable and rtively easy to fly. Historically, its engine is prone to stalling but we should be able to fix its stalling issues."


    "Isn''t it too primitive?" Tommy raised his eyebrows as he took a sip of the whiskey. "It looks flimsy, won''t a monone tracer design be better?"


    "Wellpared to everything we have, yup very primitive," ke agreed, as he poured another round of whiskey. "But considering the technical knowledge and resources we have, this is a good learning and starting point for our people to learn how to build and design aircraft."


    Chief Matt nodded, "Cap, has a point here, we know how to maintain the Spacebus turned Valkyries and UAVs due to that was what was taught and we have the manuals. But straight up building an aircraft? Well, frankly I doubt anyone has the proper expertise on building one. Not to mention knowing the Cap, he ns to build our aircraft using metal-wood and metal-metal bonding techniques."


    "Even me, if you ask me about building you a car, I could still wing it, but a whole aircraft? It''s gonna be hard," Chief Matt admitted, "This design here at least looks simr to ultralights which some of my boys have some experience on, it will be a good learning lesson for everything on this project."


    Tommy nodded, and picked up the holo kit, examining the ne. "So the wings are made out of some kind of fabric?"


    "Well, for the frame we can use wood and nano carbon tubes while the wings we can opt for using our limited salvage stock of carbon fiber polymer or even treated leather," ke said. "Matt will work with his guys ining out a way to use wood as the main material to rece metals such as aluminum and other advanced materials which we have no way to produce."


    "The elves appear to be quite proficient with woodworking techniques and hopefully we can work something out," Matt grinned next. "If not, we try magic. The aircraft will be a twin seater pusher engine design. With a wind resistance and weight reduction runes, and at least a 200 horsepower engine, it will be more than enough for our current needs."


    "I n to have the aircraft with a proper canopy instead of an open-air top, the forward gunner will be more like a ball turret carrying dual heavy machine guns while the aircraft primarily carry cannon or rocket pods," ke said. "But of course only after we get a prototype up and flying than we see what we can do to upgrade it to more modern standards."


    "And with fixed wheel carriage, we won''t even need a proper runway for them to take off andnd, as long the field is t and without any foreign objects and debris littering the field," ke grinned.


    "Sir, that is a lot of guesswork and ifs," Tommy pointed out, "We don''t even have abustion engine yet!"


    "Haha, I know, that''s why we are drinking now!" ke joked before looking serious, " Look, Chief Matt here already have ns and designs for a nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine rated around 200 horsepower."


    "We already sessfully built a prototype five-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, roughly rated at 100 horsepower and tested it," Chief Matt said next, "We used methane and ethanol fermented from potatoes as fuel for the prototype and it somewhat worked,"


    "What wecked was a sustainable fuel source as using potatoes currently just to make fuel will dip into our food stocks greatly," Chief Matt continued, "But now we found out that Dragonite crystals are simr to our fossil fuels, and it is more efficient and cheaper to producepared to using and producing methane or ethanol."


    "So now the more powerful nine-cylinder engine can go into testing phrase once the fuel has been refined and tested," ke finished.


    "Well I chose the DH 2 is also because it can be built by hobbyists in their own garage," ke smiled, "I got the exact specifications and ns, that came along with the holo model kit."


    "I want you in this project not only because your the Air Force Commanding Officer, but also due to your previous experience in flying monones," ke asked, "How''re the dragons?"


    "I see," Tommy nodded, he had some prior experience in flying monones in the past. "I am currentlying out a doctrine for dragonbat with Blue Thunder and a training manual for integrating dragons into the wholebined arms doctrine."


    "From what we know of the Empire dragon tactics are they group 20 middleweights and two heavyweights into a unit or Corps as Blue Thunder exined to me," Tommy exined, "The heavyweights are the anvil while the middleweight worked as the hammer."


    "They will conduct harassing tactics against enemy dragons to force the enemy to close in with them and use the heavies to punch through while the mids nk or distract," Tommy finished his drink in one swallow. "It works well against an enemy whose numbers are lesser than theirs, which is all the time."


    "When engaging heavy against heavy, they normally have the dragon exchange long range breathe attacks, like fireballs and stuff then close into crossbow range, which from what Blue Thunder tells me, the crossbow bolts tend to have special spells inscribed on them that hurt a lot."


    "The next and final move is boarding action, which the crew on either side jumps onto of each other dragons and try to kill the crew or take the captain hostage which the dragon tend to surrender."


    "That sounds like some old school age of sail naval action. Range with cannons and close in before entering boarding actions," ke raised his eyebrows.


    Tommy nodded, "That''s why I''ming out with a new doctrine against the Empire dragons."


    "Just hit them from afar before theye into crossbow range," Chief Matt suggested. "Or have aircraft like what the Cap, suggested, gun them down before they can react."


    "Yes, Chief," Tommy nodded, "If the first prototypes proved themselves, I will switch to aircraft as the main force while the dragons will be ying the roles of bombers and close air support."


    "Apparently autopsy results from Dr. Sharon exins a bit of how dragons with over 30, 40 tons of weight could fly," Tommy shared some information he gotten from Dr. Sharon. "The dragons have these sacs inside their lungs and chest cavities that get filled with hydrogen. Seems like their lungs are able to process hydrogen from the air they breathe in and stores them in sacs like organs in their body."


    "Thepressed hydrogen proves lift for the dragons and Dr. Sharon believes that is how they are able to breathe or spit fire out," Tommy continued, "And with their innate magical abilities to fly and most likely weight reduction. That''s probably how something heavier than a dinosaur could fly even without hollow bones."


    "Even the scales of the dragons are almost simr in properties with ker," Tommy shook his head, "Anything short of 12.7 mm is not gonna do shit to a dragon."


    "I did n to put 20 mm autocannons on the nes," ke hinted, "provided wee out with a smokeless propent soon."


    "So to sum it up," Chief Matt downed his drink in one gulp, "It''s all magic!"


    "Well, yea, in a nutshell," Tommyughed. "I am starting to not question any weird shit this throws at me anymore. I just exin it as magic."


    "Yea, but we need to know how these magic can help us," ke said, "I am not really keen on fighting half a million troops from the Empire. Even if I have a nuke, I seriously wouldn''t wanna nuke them."


    "Why, Sir?" Tommy asked, curious. "Why not nuke them then everything is solved."


    "Have you ever thought that we are here identally? What right do we have to meddle with an alien''s politics?" ke asked. "How would you feel if an alien racees and nuke us? Like the Swarm?"


    "Erm, all-out war? Either they die or we die?" Tommy guessed.


    "You have it," ke said, "Look at the Swarm, we didn''t provoke them and yet they are determined for our destruction."


    "In this case, we helped a group of refugees in this from another nation," ke exined, "To us, we might be self-righteous in saving these people, but what other the other side? To them these are rebels, despite all that very shit, to them we are the meddling ones."


    "So does it make it right if we have a weapon of mass destruction to bomb them for following their culture, beliefs, and ideas that are alien to us as ours are alien to them?" ke pointed out. "Also the coteral damage? Are we willing to take the me for killing countless unknowing innocents? And the UN banned the use of nuclear weapons on greens in the 2061 Peace ords to prevent events like the Sirius Incident where the Chinese nuked the French colony and kicked the''s ecosystem into a nuclear hell, wasting 30 years of terraforming efforts."


    "Not to mention weck any means to produce a nuke, or even do perform any nuclear cleanup," ke added. "Almost all our equipment for that was lost in the rear portion of the ship."


    "If that''s the case why are we helping the natives?" Chief Matt asked, "Shouldn''t we be minding our own business?"


    "I wish it could be that simple, Chief," ke sighed, "We crashnded here without anything except what''s onboard the ship, the locals can provide us with food and a workforce for our survival needs."


    "If we rejected them, our current food and industrial capabilities won''t be what it is today," ke exined. "Almost 90% of the crew are all city kids, without any proper skills of surviving out in the wild. That''s why we need them just as they needed our help. This one of the reasons why I want to make this war with the Empire to be fucking expensive, making each lost so great that they take years to recover and forcing them to negotiate with us instead of sending more troops against us."


    "And not only that, we don''t have any means of returning home yet, and most likely we will have to stay here for generations, so having the natives integrate with us also helps our objective in surviving in the long run." ke gave a sigh and stared at the bottle of whiskey. "And the creatures and monsters here, all being hostile and with our fighting force despite being first grade, are very limited, having locals as part of our armed forces also boost our survival rate."


    "But to do that, we need to have a war machine capable of crushing any force sent against us. We don''t have the manpower or the need to invade the Empire. That''s why I am pushing weapons development more than civic development for now." ke poured another roll of drinks for everyone and gave a toast, throwing back his head and finished the whole ss in one shot.


    "Peace through superior firepower, bitches!"

 Chapter 103: Golems

    Chapter 103: Golems


    Following the discovery of the Dragonite crystals and the appearance of a dungeon, the mining station underwent a frenzy of changes. Apany of Marines was dispatched to reinforce the mining station and provide security to the miners.


    As Captain ke''s jeep rumbled to a stop at the parking lot, he noticed severalrge rocky figures pushing carts filled with soil along the tracks. The strong stench of waste assailed ke''s nose as a gentle breeze blew the smell over.


    "Hey," ke stopped one of the workers along and way and pointed to the weird rock figures working in the yard. "What are those?"


    The worker looked at ke and his dirt covered face gave a toothless grin, "New here? Why those are Mistress Irisval''s akmekal!"


    "Akemkal?" ke scratched his head as he repeated the unfamiliar Common Tongue word. "Mistress Irisval?"


    "You don''t know who Mistress Irisval is?" The worker looked at ke''s confused face like he was some country bumpkin. "Well let me tell you then, Mistress Irisval is our miningmunity benefactor!"


    The elf pointed to the animated rock figures and said, "With her help, those akmekal can do the work of three men, greatly helping us increase our output and work!" He said proudly.


    "Hmmm," ke rubbed his chin, watching the slow movements of the rock figures. He thanked the worker and walked up next to one of the working statue.


    On closer view, the moving statue looks like a hunk of rock with very humanoid features chiseled out from its surface. A featureless lump served as the head, with arge broad chest and wide shoulders which two blocky arms dangled down to its stubby legs, ending at the knees area. Each hand had three digits that looked like a mp.


    One of the rock figures was unloading the carts of soil into a vat and ke stood next to it, ignoring the stench and it towered over ke, taller than the four meters tall vat, which a tform and stairs were constructed on the side for workers.


    ke rapped his knuckles against the stone legs and the akmekal paused its work, turning its featureless face to him. The akmekal appeared to examine ke before returning back to work, carefully shaking the cart of saltpeter rich soil into the vat.


    "Goddamn!" ke whispered in wonder, these things appeared to be made out of rock or stone, yet it could move its arms and legs like it was not made out of solid matter. "What kind of magic is this?"


    "Captain?" Someone called out from the processing nt and ke turned and saw Petty Officer Letts dressed in work overalls, safety helmet on and in a face mask. "What are you doing here, Sir?"


    "Oh, I''m just here to take a look around," ke said and gestured to the stone figure working behind him. "New help?"


    "Haha, so you met our automations?" Letts grinned as he led ke towards the admin building. "The locals call them elementals, which trante to elementals or golems."


    "Where did theye from?" ke asked, "from the dungeon?"


    "No no, it''s that girl whom you all sent over, made them," Letts rified. "Irisval von Aston, she made them."


    ke stopped in his tracks and stared at Letts, "I know she is an earth elementalist but she has the power to do that?"


    "Actually no, she could make baby sized golems, and they will only have enough magic power tost about an hour before she has to transfer her magic to power it again," Letts exined, "At the start she wanted to use the baby golems to help out with the mining work, but it depleted her energy greatly."


    "I see, than looking at this giant, I say there has been some kind of breakthrough?" ke guessed.


    "Oh yes," Letts grinned even wider, "Those Dragonite crystals? It seems they are chock full of magic power and goodies inside. Well, she ced one of those crystals into the baby golems and it ran like some energizer bunny, its operating timesting a solid three days and it is still running."


    "So we experimented with arger version of the golems and it powers them well," Letts proudly said. "We managed to gauge that per 100 grams of Dragonite crystals is equaled to roughly five hours of battery life for these monsters."


    Letts gestured to the giant golem diligently unloading the contents of the mining carts, just as a trio of baby-sized golems carrying a crate over their heads ran past ke and disappeared around a corner.


    "It has very basic intelligence, so you need l to tell it specifically on what you what it to do, seems to work well with programming stylemands," Letts said. "I got a couple of IT eggheads to see if we can apply programmingnguage onto their magic core to see if they can write some kind of basic AI for them."


    "That is outstanding!" ke praised, seriously impressed by Letts''s mind and initiative. "How do they move their arms and legs if they are solid rock?"


    "I don''t have an answer for that," Letts shrugged, "Even if you ask Irisval she will just tell you its magic. Maybe Dr. Sharon or Chief Matt might exin it with science?"


    "Hmm, interesting," ke and Letts entered the main admin building were Letts started to strip off his work overalls and safety gear. "Keep me constantly updated on the golem AI development."


    "Yes, Sir. Almost strangely we can''t use concrete for the golems," Letts added as he led ke towards the offices. "Irisval said something about living rock and concrete has no life or something along these lines."


    Letts opened the door to his main office and a room with several desks against the wall with two other staff could be seen working, filling columns and ticking checklists in thick books.


    "Wee to Mining Incorporated!" Letts grinned, "That''s my office, and this is where my staff handles the records of output and other expenses and ounts."


    "That''s Irisval''s office on the right," Letts pointed out, "Looks like she''s not in."


    "Aetter?" Letts turned to a young female elf with blonde hair, who was busily punching numbers into a calctor amidst the messy pile of paperwork around her desk. "Where is Irisval?"


    "Mistress Irisval?" The blonde elf paused her work with an irritated look, "She should be at her workshop." She returned to her work, ignoring the two of them.


    "Sorry," Letts smiled in apology to ke, "They are very hardworking and focused."


    ke grinned and followed Letts out of the admin building and back into the courtyard. "Why are they calling her Mistress?"


    "I think its a form of respect, due to her powers," Letts shrugged, "Seriously I am also not too sure. Oh, here we are." Arge two-story wooden shed with both itsrge swing doors opened painted in red stood by three other simr building in parallel. Arge white ''4'' was painted on the side of the workshop and a pair of rail tracks led into the open doors.


    As they entered the workshop, ke noticed there were mini cranes and hoists all over the ceiling, their chains hanging overhead. At the center of the workshop, arge magic formation was drawn and carved into the floor, drawings of unknown symbols, signs, and runes were drawn all over the walls and floor, followed by cables snaking all over the flooring. If the lighting and atmosphere of the workshop weren''t so bright and sunny, he would have thought he entered some sort of cultist den.


    Work tables upied both sides of the workshop, with several monitors,ptops, and tools of all kinds and scrolls, candles and jars of unidentifiable stuffid haphazardly all over the tables while a radio was sting some rock and roll. Stairs on the side led to side nkway on the second floor to a bridge suspended over the middle of the room.


    A huge rock boulder over four meters tall and two meters wide with moss still present on its surfaces sat at the middle of the magic formation where the pair of tracks cut right through. They must use the tracks to travel the rocks over here using the carts and the cranes to hoist it over the formation, thought ke.


    As they neared the rock, a head full of thick silvery hair tied in a ponytail appeared on the other side, and he saw a girl dressed in a pair of dirty work overalls carrying a bowl of what he assumed to be liquid silver and brush, drawing some arcane symbols onto the rock surface.


    Letts cleared his throat and coughed, and the girl who was humming along to the tune jerked up and noticed the two of them standing at the entrance. "Oh, Boss Letts!" She cheerfully called out and ced her work tools down on the side.


    She removed her gloves and paused, recognizing ke and pulled up straight, "Eh, my Lord!" she cried in surprise and quickly went down on her knees to kowtow, much to Letts and ke''s amusement.


    "It''s alright," ke waved for her to get up. "You don''t have to do that here or call me Lord, just Sir or Captain will do. Is this what do you call it, an akemkal?"


    "Yes, my lo-Sir," Irisval blushed as she quickly got up. "Yes, this is an akemkal, or golem as you call it in Eng-ish."


    "Amazing," ke walked around the rock with his hands behind his back, looking at the arcane symbols and runes drawn here and there. "How does it works?" Thinking that Dr. Sharon would go apeshit crazy if she knew about these.


    "Sir, I cast an enchantment spell onto the rock, making ite alive," Irisval exined as simple as possible. "My magic will grant it life and it follows my orders or anyone imprinted with my magical mark. It will continue to be able to move and do simplemands until its magical reserves run out or if I remove my magic."


    "Can anyone just remove its magic?" ke asked as he stopped next to the silver-haired elf.


    "No, only by destroying its core and only me can stop it," Irisval replied. "Normally, my magic only allows a much much smaller version of the akemkal to be made, they normally work as simple servants, carrying objects for you andst an hour or two before I need to recharge them with my magic."


    "But," She turned to the table at the side and picked up a blood red crystal quartz. "Dragonite crystals, this can increase the lifespan and strength of the akemkal, allowing me to increase the size of it."


    "And Boss Letts has someone helping me to program the akemkal, allowing us to give them moreplex instructions," Irisval added, gesturing to theputers on the tables.


    "How do you program them?" ke asked curiously.


    "For me, the spells I draw on the akemkal are mixed with instructions like walking, running, lifting and other basic movements," Irisval exined, "The hooman Tae-joon Pak, is helping me analyze my enchantments with those devices." She points to the pirs of the workshop where cameras could be seen.


    "Where is him now?" ke asked again. "I would like to talk with him."


    "I think he has gone to lunch," Irisval shrugged, "He should be back soon."


    "Senior Spaceman Tae Joon Park," Letts said, "He''s our IT support here, responsible for the robotic mining drones we have. But since we are not using them, and he saw what Irisval is doing here, I assigned him over to see if he can do anything to help out."


    "Apparently, he thinks that he can crack the drawings she is drawing on the golems," Letts continued, "He thinks that as he long as he can crack it, he can work with it like some kind of programming code, andser print out moreplex enchantments onto the golems, you know like some basic AI stuff."


    "Damn," ke turned and looked at Letts in excitement, "If he seeded, you know what?"


    "We can have fucking heavybat walkers!"

 Chapter 104: Looking for Group

    Chapter 104: Looking for Group


    Third Sergeant James Bone of 1st Marine Battalion, 1st Company, 3rd toon leaped down the tailgate of the military half-track, his boots mming down on the hard concrete. He took a look around as he grabbed his weapon and gear off the storage bin. Other than the smell, the mining outpost look neat and tidy.


    He walked towards arge sign with an arrow that said, "Marines" and entered the building where an elf with corporal strips, most likely newly promoted after the battle of the Past sat on duty behind a desk at the lobby. "Sergeant! How can I help you," The corporal stood up in parade attention.


    "Here, I am supposed to find Top," James hands over his orders printed in a paper over to the corporal who took a quick nce before directing him to the top floor and informing him to hand over his weapons to the armory behind him before going up.


    James nodded and head over to the armory, dropping off his Magelock, Single Action Revolver, machete, and ammunition before climbing the stairs up to the third floor, where he entered arge room with chairs set out in rows enough for twenty people.


    Some of the chairs were upied, and James spotted a familiar face, and carried his gear over, flopping next to the shortly cropped red hair grinning at him. "Hey, James," Petty Officer 2nd ss Kristine looked up at him as he sat next to her. "How''s it going?"


    "Can''t be better," James smiled at Kristine, "Long time no see, how are you?"


    "Busy," She smiled back, "Teaching the natives in the academy most of the time." She rolled her eyes.


    "Oh, what subjects?" James asked as he removed his load bearing harness.


    "English and mathematics," She replied, "I also help out with basicputer knowledge too."


    "I thought you majored in archeology and history if I remembered correctly," James furrowed his eyebrows in thought, "Why are they getting you to teach such stuff?"


    "Apparently being from Cambridge makes you wildly popr with the higher-ups," Kristine exined, "Well, me me for acing my English and Maths scores."


    James gave a low whistle, "So Teacher Kristine, what brings you here?'' He gestured around the meeting room.


    "Beats me," She shrugged and leaned back on her chair, "How about you?"


    "Oh, mines simple," James kicked back and yawned, "Got pulled to be an instructor at the Camp Alpha, trained out a batch of Marines and then the Empire came for round two, and we kicked their asses."


    "That sounds simple," Kristine grinned, "So know anything why they called us here?" She looked at the other group of elves dressed simrly to James, who was mostly dozing off at the chairs.


    "They are from the Hundred and First, team ymore One," James gave a quick exnation, "Seems like something big is gonna happen if they are here too."


    "Hope it has nothing to do with the dungeon the radio is talking about all week," Kristine said, "I dunno if I can go into another tunnel again."


    "Hmm, well, to be frank, I think it has to do with the dungeon," James gave his guess, "You and me being in a ruins, and you being knowledgeable Cambridge gal, had major in archeology and had proven capable under fire..."


    "Noooo... please stop!" Kristine pleaded, "I have nightmares about that!"


    "Come on, if we go in, at least this time we are more prepared!" James grinned. ''It will be like a Role ying Game now! Go in kill monsters and find treasure!"


    "What''s with you guys always about killing and treasure?" Kristine moaned, just as the door opened and several people entered the room. Magister Thorn, Dr. Sharon, Top, Captain ke, and an unfamiliar silver-haired elf entered together and Top, yelled, "Attention on deck!"


    The dozing ymore One team woke up almost immediately and following James and Kristine, shot up in parade attention and saluted as one. Captain ke saluted back, "At ease, men." And other than Top who stood at parade rest at the door, the rest of the group found seats and the room settled down.


    "Alright, I have called everyone here for a mission," ke began the brief, "By now everyone has heard of the dungeon right?" Nods were returned from everyone. "So we are going in to explore it."


    "ymore One will be split into two, Squad One and Squad Two will under themand of Master Sergeant Pike and supported by Magister Thorn," ke started to assign team roles. "The second party will be Squad Three and Specialist Sergeant Tyrier under themand of Sergeant James and supported by Petty Officer Kristine and erm, Mistress Irisval."


    The seated soldiers nodded at ke''s instructions while Kristine''s face fell. "Dr. Sharon will be providing support remotely at the operation center here."


    "Now, this dungeon is something most of us are new to," ke said next, "Magister Thorn will give you a brief of roughly what you can expect to find inside. Magister Thorn?" ke invited Thorn up.


    "Thank you, Sir," Magister Thorn stood up and faced the group seated. "Well, I entered two dungeons when I was younger, back in the days," He smiled, "What can we expect inside?"


    "For one, monsters, but what types or species, we won''t know till we explore the ce," Thorn said, "Next, traps, there might be some or there might not be any, also dependant on the dungeon."


    "For this dungeon, we estimated using ground prating radar, that it will be roughly thirteen levels deep," ke added, "The size of the levels is roughly one acre or less. The radar could only pick up rough patches of subsurface objects and changes in material properties, but not theyout of tunnels and rooms."


    "So, we will be going in to explore and map out the first level and see what is inside first," Thorn continued. "The monsters get stronger as the level deepens, so it should be easy for us to clear the first level."


    "Ok? Any questions?" ke asked.


    Kristine raised her hand, "Sir, why do you need me here?"


    "I want you in the team is due to your archeology experiences and since you been under fire before and can keep a cool head.'' ke smiled.


    James silently mouthed, an I told you so, which made Kristine rolled her eyes and gave a re to James who grinned back.


    "You are all allowed to use deadly force and the rest is up to the team leaders discretion," ke continued. "Also gather all materials you could from the monsters back for research purposes. You will be carrying your standard weapons, except for team leaders, who will be issued the M7s, just in case."


    "Anything else?" ke asked again, "No? Ok, you will set off tomorrow morning at 0900 hours, gather at the Ops room by 0700 hours for a final briefing. Team Leaders to gather at 0600 hours, clear?"


    "Aye aye, Captain!" The men chorused and broke up into their teams.


    James stood at one corner while his team gathered around him, He looked at the three ymore One soldiers, who greeted him, "Sergeant James, you were one of our instructors at Camp Alpha." Tyrier grinned.


    "Great!" James grinned back, "Let''s introduce ourselves to each other," He gestured to Tyrier to start.


    "I am Specialist Sergeant Third ss Tyrier Lodess, I am ymore One''s team leader."


    "Corporal Doth Leodin, Squad Three''s Magic Assualt, team ymore One."


    "Private Tavel Kan, Squad Three''s Sharpshooter and support medic, team ymore One."


    "Erm, Petty Officer 2nd ss, Kristine Perry, Auxiliaries Department, I work in the life support systems, apparently I have knowledge of studying ancient ruins that is why I am here."


    "Sergeant 2nd ss James Bone, 1st Marine Battalion, 1st Company, 3rd toon." And all eyes turned to thest member of the team, the silver-haired girl.


    She looked unease and spoke in a soft voice, "Irisval von Aston, I am an Earth Elementalist."


    The ymore One guys whistled and wowed as they heard Irisval was an Elementalist, much to the confusion of James and Kristine. Tyrier seeing their confusion exined, "An Elementalist is very rare in this time and age. They have the ability to control the elements and for Irisval she said she''s an Earth Elementalist meaning she can control the earth."


    ''Compared to your magic power?" James asked, "More powerful?"


    "Oh yes," Tyrier nodded, "Say if I want topare her magic vs mine involving the use of Earth element, Irisval''s level one spell will be equaled to my level three spell even if it is the same spell using the same amount of mana power."


    "Butpared to other elements, she will be weaker especially against water-based spells but strong versus air based magic," Tyrier further exined, inciting a shy nod from Irisval.


    "Very interesting," James rubbed his chin, wondering how should he deploy his team. "Alright, let''s take a break for now, and let''s meet up againter to discuss the dungeon after lunch? How''s that?"


    Everyone agreed and nodded, "So where should we meet up? The cafeteria?"


    "Sure, why not?" Everyone was new to this area and does not know where else to go.


    But Irisval stopped them. "Why note to my workshop? It is quieter there and easier to talk."


    "You have a workshop here?" James raised his eyebrows.


    "Yes, I work here." She timidly replied she wasn''t too good with new people.


    "Great! Then let''s go there instead!" James dered and got her to give the location of the workshop. "Workshop No. 4? Alright, let''s meetter!"


    Two hourster, the whole group gathered outside arge wooden building with a huge number 4 painted on the side with Irisval waving at them at the entrance. "Wee to my workshop," She gave a shy smile. "Come on in."


    "Why do they call you Mistress?" James asked as they entered the workshop, seeing two hulking rock sculptures set in the middle of the building surrounded by drawings on the floor.


    "Erm, I think they call me that in as a form or respect after I helped some of the miners during a cave in," Irisval blushed, "I told them not to but they insisted."


    "I see," James nodded, the rest looked around the brightly lit interior of the workshop in curiously. And saw a human sitting behind someputers at one side of the room, tapping away at his keypad with the radio running some music at his side.


    "Is sculpturing your hobby?" Kristine asked as she peered at the featureless face of the rock statues. "Is this your workshop to make sculptures?"


    The ymore One membersughed, as they heard what Kristine said, and replied, "Ma''am, Mistress Irisval here is an Earth Elementalist. Meaning these sculptures are her akemkal!"


    "Akemkal?" James and Kristine looked surprised and confused at the unfamiliar word. "What''s that?"


    Tyrier grinned, "I guess you guys just arrived and hasn''t seen anything here yet." He rapped his fingers against the hard rock surface and gestured for Irisval to exin.


    "Erm, an akemkal is a golem or puppet in other words," Irisval exined, "We will be bringing these two upgraded golems in with us tomorrow to act as our support."


    ''Wait, what?" James cried out, "You mean this rock sculpture can move?"


    "Of course, Sergeant!" A voice suddenly cut into their conversation, and an Asian man dressed in a grey jumpsuit with rolled sleeves wearing sses joined them. He was the human that was working at the corner earlier and hearing their conversation came over to join in.


    "This is the apex of magic and human ingenuity!" The Asian male continued, a wide grin on his face, "Using the modern science of robotics and mixing with Mistress Irisval''s control of Earth magic, we are able to create pseudo robots with basic AI without the need ofplex machinery and wires!"


    The Asian male appeared to be raving at this point as heunched into an exnation which most of them couldn''t understand what he was exining, making Kristine whispering to Irisval, "Is he alright?"


    Irisval sighed, "He''s fine, just .... over passionate. He''s Tae Joon Pak the ''sis-term'' support for the mining here and the Captain called him an ''Oh-ta-Ku'' or something like that."


    "He did however taught me and showed me some images and videos of how a person''s anatomy like the joints of arms and legs, this allowed me to visualize a better way for the golems to move, thus increasing their agility and speed of movements," Irisval exined over the words of the Tae Joon Pak, which everyone was ignoring now. "I am creating the skeleton of the golem first than I will add in the rest like the armor for the body, which Tae Joon is helping me with on his ''corn-pu-er''."


    "Damn, this is going to be fun, we got fucking armor support!"

 Chapter 105: Dungeon Level 1

    Chapter 105: Dungeon Level 1


    As dawn slowly break, members of the dungeon exploration team gathered once more at the meeting room on the top floor of the admin building. Everyone involved was already waiting anxiously, most of all James and Kristine didn''t get much sleep the night before.


    James sat next to Kristine, yawning as he woke up earlier than her and had to sit in an earlier meeting, he sighed and nced at Kristine who ignored him. "It was nicest night," He whispered in her ear, making her blush slightly and giving him a hard pinch on his arm.


    Rubbing his arm in amusement heid back on his chair and smiled, refocusing on the topic at hand, which Top was detailing out final instructions to both the teams. Finally, the final briefing was over and the whole room filed out and gathered at the front of the admin building where a couple ofrge dark green tents were set up.


    "Alright, enter the tents one by one, inside you will draw equipment and supplies for the mission," Pike pointed to the two tents behind him. "Ensure you have enough food and water for two days. Spare ammunition for your weapons, and rock climbing gear."


    Kristine looked nervous as she entered the first tent, and saw two tables inside. A couple of Marines dressed in battle dress uniforms gestured her over and handing her an armored tactical harness and helmet to her size, instructing her how to wear it properly. Next, she was given a Single Action Revolver, which she had qualified in the gun range many weeks ago, which the Captain mandated all personnel to go through.


    When she left both the tents, she carried only the revolver with spare ammunition, a katana-like de in a scabbard, strapped to her left leg, as she was supposed to be rear support, she didn''t carry any other weapons, except a tablet and the M314 Motion and Heartbeat Tracker. She was also given a day pack which carried a multi-tool, spare batteries, 10 chemical light sticks, a first aid kit, 2 days worth of rations and water and also has 15 meters of dynamic rope strapped to the side of it.


    "We do not expect you guys to take more than five hours exploring the first level," Pike said as everyone gathered before him again. "Each of you will be carrying a tracking device, and extra food and water, just in case. This tracking device," He held up an oblong shaped matt ck object, "may or may not work inside, to be truthful, as we do not know what may interfere with the signals it gives off. So all the best!"


    Irisval handed over a t piece of rock each to Pike and James with arcane runes carved into it and said, "This will give you control over Number One," She points to the two 2.5 meters tall golems at the rear.


    James whistled as everyone looked over the support golems and admirably said, "Damn this looks so doped!"


    The new golems looked more futuristic than her earlier works, with clean lines and sloped armor. It also has a lower center of gravity, making it looked hunched, with both its arms nearly touching the floor, which also enables it to walk with all fours, allowing it to climb steps if needed. The drawings of the arcane symbols were hidden under ayer of rock armor, protecting it from damage and numerical marking to indicate which unit is marked over the right chest te and left shoulder pauldrons.


    Arge mechanical repeating crossbow almost half the size of Irisval was mounted on the left arm of the golems, simr to the ancient Chinese repeating crossbows. It can fire a bolt in every three seconds from a box magazine contain twenty half meter long wood and steel bolts attached to the top of the crossbow by pumping the corking lever forward and backward.


    As they walked up towards the entrance of the mines, the workers and miners lined up at the sides and cheered them on, "Damn, I always wanted to grow up to be an adventurer when I was a child," Hitsumented as he waved at the cheering people, "I used to line up along the streets watching and cheering adventuring parties when they returned from the dungeons."


    "Why didn''t you then?" Pike asked as he was curious about life in Goldrose.


    "Well, for one, the toll to enter a dungeon is too expensive," Hitsu shrugged as he recalled his childhood, "Also my parents never wanted me to expose myself to unknown dangers. A lot of adventurers didn''t return, and they wanted me to be a clerk."


    "Well, look at you now," His buddy Loke joked, "A budding adventurer!"


    They followed the brightly lit interior of the mines and past the widen entrance to the Dragonite cave, where several scaffoldings andmps had been set up, the lights turning the Dragonite cave like some kind of psychedelic disy. Further down the cave, a Marine section could be seen manning a checkpoint a short distance away from the dungeon door with dozens of techs and workers doing some chores here and there.


    Pike turned and looked at Specialist Private Altied, "You ok, son?"


    "Yes, Top!" Altied with a slight ashen face replied back. "Can''t wait to kill something, Top!"


    "Sound out if you are not well," Pike said, "We don''t need heroes."


    "Yes, Top!" Altied gritted his teeth as he approached the gaping hole in the cliffs. His brain had suffered a shock from peering into the abyss and looking at the dark door sent shivers down his spine. Sweat slowly formed over his forehead and he felt someone patting his shoulder, and saw his buddy Young smiling at him.


    "You alright bro?" Young asked concern shown on his face, as he observed the dtion of Altied''s eye pupils. "You can still rest you know?"


    "Fuck rest," Altied cursed, "Mind over matters! Didn''t Top taught us that shit during hell''s week?"


    "Yeah, but you didn''t get mind fucked," Young argued. "Seriously bro, if you can''t do it, no one will think less of you."


    "I have to do it," Altied responded firmly, "Or I will forever for scared of the dark."


    "Good to hear that bro!" Hitsu looped his arm over Altied''s shoulder, "We got your back!"


    "Yeah!" Loke added from the side, "ymore One forever!"


    "Hooraah!" The group of brothers chorused, and Altied grinned, his fear of the dark diminishing as he stood with his brothers in arms.


    -----


    Magister Thorn stood before dungeon door and ced a hand on it, giving it a gentle push, which to the surprise of the rest, it swung inwards with barely a creak. "Come on now?" Thorn looked at the surprised faces of everyone and grinned, "You think it will be hard to enter?" He gave a bark ofughter and walked into the darkness, invoking a light spell as he entered.


    "Alright everyone, put on your war face," Pike shrugged and waved everyone in, "Hitsu, I want your war face, not your fuck face!"


    "Top, this is my war face!" Hitsu quickly wiped the smile off his face and he readied his weapon and entered behind Loke. "Damn, does Top has some magical eyesight or something?"


    "Eyes front! Less talk!" Pike barked as he entered next, following the team in.


    The dungeon corridor stretched further than their light beams could reach, while Thorn''s light spell floated above his head, illuminating the arched corridor. Kristine immediately went and poke around the walls as she noted the architecture of the tunnel, the walls seemed to constructed out ofyers andyers of bricks, with some carvings on the upper arches of the tunnel. "Interesting," She muttered to herself.


    As they continued down the corridor, Kristine waved a sensor wand around, which Irisval looked on in interest at what she was doing, and the two girls started chatting away at the middle. The heavy footsteps of the two supporting golems followed docilely behind, walking on all fours they navigate through the spacious corridor. "Anything on the sensors?" Pike asked as they walked for almost five minutes.


    "Nothing Top," Young said as he waved his motion tracker left and right in front of him. The brick corridor looks clean, and not even dusty at all.


    Kristine used her helmet cam to record all the drawings on the walls and after a while, "The drawings and carvings repeat themselves after a while, looks like some kind of hieroglyphics. Magister Thorn, you know anything about them?"


    Thorn shook his head as he looked at the hieroglyphics, "No, my apologies, I do not have knowledge of ancient words or symbols." He suddenly pointed to the front and said, "I see another door."


    "Wait!" Young hissed, "I got some movement behind the door! The signal is too weak, to detect much, I think something is blocking the scanning signals but so farms with Ops is still ok."


    Pike looked at Hitsu and Loke and jerked his head once. The two of them nodded and ran forward, each taking up a position next to the door while Altied, Young and Pike formed up them. "Ready!"


    "Lights off. Go!" Pike ordered while James''s team stayed back, holding the rear. Loke swung the door open, and pushed right, while Hitsu went left and the rest followed, each covering a sector. They entered a dimly litrge room with five openings, and what appeared to be dozens of ants the size of arge dog attacking several amber colored slimes. "Ok, fuck magic!" Pike cursed as he mentally rolled his eyes at the giant ants.


    "What do we do now?" Hitsu whispered, the room was surprisingly lit by severalrge clumps of glowing moss, that gave off enough ambient light to see. The ants so far have not noticed them as they were busy harvesting the slimes, by cutting them up with their mandibles and secreting some sort of substance, that they use to collect the slime fluids.


    Thorn stuck his head into the room and eximed "Oh my, those are spider ants! And honey slimes!"


    "Danger level?" Pike asked as he kept an eye on the ants who busied themselves with the slimes.


    "Hmmm, I would say spider ants are a level 3 creature," Thorn replied, "Those slimes are a level 0, they are not hostile, great for making desserts but beware of the ants, if they swarm you, they are quite troublesome."


    Pike did a quick calction, Empire Knights are around level 4 to 5 while Wind wolves are ssed by the elves as level 5 to 6. "What are the spider ants characteristics?"


    "They have the strength of about ten men, very fast movement speed, ability to climb walls, carapace harder than iron, lives in a hive,municates telepathy and has a queen in control of all," Thorn ticked his fingers as he recounted the traits of a spider ant. "Weak to fire and their joints are their weak points and strong against earth magic and pierce attacks."


    "Top!" Hitsu whispered, "I think they noticed us!"


    The ants squeaked and chirped as they turned to faced a new threat, while several ants hurriedly bundled up the collected honey from the slimes and ran off into one of the tunnels. "They don''t look so happy to see us," Loke added, his M2 Magespitter''s buttstock snuggled tightly against his shoulder, as he looked down his sights at the angry ants.


    "Well, if they are rife up, they turn hostile to whatever that disturbed them," Thorn added helpfully from the rear. "Yup. they look angry."


    Pike closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath, "Fuck this, kill them all!" Just as the ants rushed up to them, waving their mandibles threateningly and Pike opened fire with his silenced M2.


    The 6.5 mm solid lead bullet punched a hole into the head of the lead ant, the hard exoskeleton cracking and hemolymph fluid exploding out from the exit hole and the dead ant curled up as its body systems no long pumped hemolymph to its body parts.


    "Fuck magic!"

 Chapter 106: Waste Not, Want Not

    Chapter 106: Waste Not, Want Not


    Pops of suppressed gunfire echoed down the corridor and James looked up with narrowed eyes. "Top, what''s the situation?" He radioed using hismunicator.


    "Fucking bugs!" Top replied, "We got some giant ants here."


    "Need support? Over," James asked, as he held his weapon ready, watching the doorway, where sounds of gunfire drifted out.


    "Negative," Top replied over the radio, "It''s over. Come on in, it''s cleared."


    James stood up from his crouching position and waved from everyone to follow, "Top says it''s cleared, let''s see what''s inside." He told his team.


    As they entered the room, Kristine and Irisval both coughed, as the thick cloud of gunsmoke lingered inside the room. Thorn raised his hand and form a simple spell, and a small breeze dispersed the smoke in the room.


    Over twenty plus bodies of ants the size ofrge dogid curled up in death. The remaining honey slimes appeared to have been frightened off and had disappeared somewhere. The ground was wet with leaking hemolymph from the dead ants as Kristine went up next to a dead ant to snap a photo with her camera.


    Thorn bend over a dead ant a poked around, "The mana stones are normally around the forehead or the thyroid part of the ants." He deftly used a dagger and sawed at the hard exoskeleton of the ant''s head, before digging into it and pulling a slimy yellowish mana stone out.


    "Here," Thorn tossed the finger-sized stone over to Pike who rubbed the slime off the stone before examining it in the light of the moss. "Nice," He turned to the rest and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Grab the stones from the bodies!"


    Pike asked Thorn next, "What else is usable from these creatures?"


    "Well, the silk from their rear abdomen could be harvested to make cloth," Thorn said, "Also, the carapace when treated, works better than leather and steel armor."


    "Some artisans use the eyes of the ants to make jewelry while the eye cases can be used as clear bowls," Thorn listed out a few of the usages he knew off. "The mandibles can be used as saw des too."


    "Damn, that''s a lot of usages for them," Pike replied, watching the team cut up the ants for mana stones. "Is it edible?"


    "Oh yes," Thorn nodded, "I never tried it before but I heard that people do eat them and apparently it tastes pretty good."


    "Alright, Ok guys, stop what you doing," Pike called out, "The way you guys try to harvest the stones is making my eyes bled. Mistress Irisval, can youmand your golems to transport the bodies of the ants out to the main door? Give it to the people outside the dungeon and let them do the proper job of harvesting, while we focus on exploring the area."


    Irisval nodded and started to direct her golems to collect and transport the ants out. "Bring along those bundles of silk of honey slimes, waste not, want not," Pike added.


    The golems have arge wicker basket secured to its back, and one of the golems gently dropped the dead ants into the basket of the other and once all were collected, they lumbered off back to the exit of the dungeon.


    While that was going on, Kristine looked around the room, finding more drawings and carvings along the walls which she recorded down. She did a quick measure and found the room to be roughly 20 meters by 32 meters.


    "So which tunnel we go first?" James asked Pike as they prepared to move out again.


    Pike pointed to the second tunnel from the right and stated, "The ants used that tunnel, most likely it leads to their hive." He walked up to the hive and took out a piece of chalk and drew arge ant-like symbol next to the opening with an arrow point to it.


    "Let''s split up here," Pike said, "My team takes the rightmost tunnel, while your team takes the leftmost. Mistress Irisval, I will like your golems to hold this room when they return, is it alright?"


    Irisval nodded. "James, once the golems returned," Pike said next, "Explore the leftmost tunnel, clear?" Pike started to mark the stone floor with his piece of chalk, indicating which direction and which tunnel they entered including the time.


    "Alright, Team One, let''s go!" And Team One followed Pike into the rightmost tunnel, theirmps lighting up the way while Team One under James waited for the golems to return.


    As Pike''s team entered the tunnel which turned and bent here and there, they entered more ants and honey slimes. After fighting their way through the ants, they found a fork in the tunnel and took the right turn, marking the walls with arrows and soon found a huge cavern filled with sand.


    "Look, is that a chest?" Hitsu asked, his light beam shining at a distant object. "Holy spirits! I never expected to find a treasure here!" He started to approach the chest.


    "Halt!" Pike yelled, stopping Hitsu''s advance. "There might be a trap here." Pike kneeled down and grabbed a handful fine sand, letting them run off his gloved fingers. "It''s just too quiet here."


    The men on alert following Pike''s words looked around cautiously, checking every hook and crook in the cavern ask they slowly approached the chest at the end of the seemingly empty cave. "Squad One check it out, the rest wait here," Pike ordered.


    Young and Altied nodded and advanced cautiously from both sides, they made their steps as light as possible as the approached the chest. Young looked at Altied and nodded, using his M2 barrel to flip the squarish wooden chest open. Both of them leaped back, on the guard, in case of some traps but nothing happened. Hitsu sighed happily and straightened up, when suddenly the ground under him exploded upwards, sending him flying head over heels over a couple of meters away.


    Spitting sand out of his mouth, Hitsu scrambled for his weapon, just a massive reddish shaped appeared out of the sand. As the sand slowly washed off the dark red carapace of a giant scorpion, Thorn yelled "Sand scorpion! Watch out for its poisonous twin stingers!"


    A massive twin-tailed scorpion towering over three meters snapped its ws seemingly in anticipation of the meal it will be having. It''s three pairs of eyes eyed Hitsuying a few meters away from it with hunger and scuttled on its many legs towards Hitsu. pincers snapping in eager happiness.


    "Oh fark!" Hitsu cried out, rolling on the sand to dodge the snapping ws. "FARK THIS!"


    "TAKE IT OUT!" Pike yelled, and fired in the sides of the giant scorpion, causing it to flinch in pain, his 6.5 mm rounds not prating the thick carapace. "Fuck!"


    The rest fired almost at the same time, sending the giant scorpion scuttling away from the bruising pain of the bullet impacts. Other then the cracks on its carapace, the heavily armored scorpion appeared fine and very angry that its prey got away from it and the stinging pokes from the other prey creatures.


    It reared on its hind legs and jumped, scaring the shit out of Hitsu as itnded right next to him, "FAAAARK!"


    Altied dropped his M2 and reached to his back, pulling out his pump-action shotgun in one smooth motion, and fired an explosive round, hitting the rear of the scorpion''s tails, as it tried to stab Hitsu with its stingers.


    The force of the explosion sent the scorpion tumbled over to the walls of the cavern and the loud explosion shocked Hitsu, sending him rolling away holding his head and cursing. "Are you trying to kill me or that thing?"


    "That must be a champion monster!" Thorn yelled as three magic circles formed in front of his raised staff, "It is not dead yet!" And he cast a lightning bolt directly at the dusty cloud, the sharp crack of lightning echoing painfully down the tunnels.


    Suddenly a huge sand wave appeared from the ground towards Hitsu. Loke yelled, "Get out of the way!" And Hitsu made another dive, just as the giant scorpion burst out of the sand, sending sand flying all over the cavern.


    "Goddamnit!" Hitsu coughed out more sand and rolled to a crouch position, firing his M2 at the giant scorpion. "EAT LEAD!"


    Altied seeing his explosive rounds not doing much effect on the monster started to pump the remaining explosive shells out and reloaded with 12. gauge solid slugs. He raised his shotgun rapid fired, sending a 35 grams impact discarding sabot lead slug flying at 400 meters per second directly to the side thorax of the giant scorpion.


    The force and impact of the sabot slug punched through the hard carapace of the scorpion, sending pieces of shattered exoskeleton shell and lead flying away, and a spray of light blood ichor out. The giant scorpion hissed in pain and anger, spinning around in its many legs, searching for the source of its pain.


    It''s many eyes locked onto Altied who pumped his shotgun, ejecting the spent shell and charged, its twin tails rearing back to strike down at the prey that dared to hurt it. It ignored the scorching heat from bolt lightning, intent on hunting this prey that stood in front of it.


    "Aim for its leg joints!" Pike yelled and Young, Loke, and Hitsu fired continuously at the fast moving legs, and seeded in blow away a couple of its leg, causing the scorpion to crashed down as it got unbnced.


    Altied aimed his shotgun directly at the gaping mouth of the giant scorpion and fired, the sabot slug drilling out of its mouth through the back of its main braincase, killing it instantly. Itid prone just meters away from Altied, its surviving legs, pincers, and stingers involuntary twitching in its death throes.


    "Fucking fantastic people!" Pike praised as he reloaded his M2, "Damn, this is one for the books!" He sized up the still twitching scorpion.


    "It must be some kind of guardian for that chest," Thorn said, "Most likely there is more than one sand scorpion here, and this defeated the rest, thus it grew to this size and bing the champion here."


    "Howrge do they normally grow up to?" Hitsu asked as he tried to shake the sand off his uniform and gear. "I heard they normally appear down the beaches along the east."


    "Normally only four or five feetrge, never as big as this before," Thorn poked it with its staff, making sure it had stop moved. "Look at that!"


    Everyone bend down to look at what Thorn pointed out, "Wow! That is some huge mana stone!" Young gasped as he shone his shlight at the head-sized clear yellow-green stone under the chin of the scorpion.


    "Damn, we gonna need the golems to carry this baby out," Pike puffed, "Oh, what''s in the chest?"


    Everyone turned their attention to the chest at the end of the cavern and found a cluster of crystal-like bottles with a thick reddish liquid and some with a dark blue liquid. A couple of age stained scrolled tied with blue ribbonsid on the side of the chest.


    "All that shit for just some drinks?" Pike sighed, disappointment on his face. He was hoping for some magical artifact.


    "Ohhh, those are healing and restoration potions!" Thorn said as he picked up one each of the colored potions, checking them over. "It can bring back someone from the brink of death with this red healing potion, while this blue potion restores magical powers."


    "As for these scrolls," Thorn gently unrolled the scrolls and studied them under the light of the soldiers''mps. "Looks like some spells, I need to study them more but these are at least level 5 spells."


    "Wow!" Hitsu grinned, "That didn''t turn out to be so bad after all." Even Pike nodded in agreement after hearing what the potions could do.


    "Alright, check your gear," Pike ordered, "I am going to see if I can raise Team Two over thems."


    After a short while, Pike cursed, "Damn, these tunnels, can''t get a signal through. Alright, we are heading back to grab the golems and bring this trophy back."


    "Want not, waste not!"

 Chapter 107: Clear!

    Chapter 107: Clear!


    Morrock, Capital of the Empire of Bluewood, Imperial Pce


    The precious crystal goblet worth dozens of gold royals shattered into hundreds of crystal shards and the dark red wine stained the dragon wood paneling of the study walls, the liquid dripping down onto the thick rich carpets.


    Emperor Varacen stood over his dark wood desk, ring the kneeling messenger who brought the news of Duke Sturm''s army defeat at the hands of the rebels. The news took over three five-day weeks to arrive at the Capital, despite the speed of courier dragons and ry stations. Varacen stared at the trembling soldier with a yellow sh tied diagonally across his chest from his right shoulder, marking him a member of the messenger corps and sighed, "Go," waving the thankful messenger away.


    "Kill him," Varacen spoke to no one in particr as the messenger left his study, the thick dark wood doors closed by his personnel eunuch. He sighed again as he flopped down onto his chair, looking at the map on his table. "And bring me Sturm, alive preferably."


    His eunuch brought over another crystal goblet and a bottle of ga wine, the colorful gas clinking against each other as the eunuch filled the crystal goblet halfway, the wine glittered in a rich blood red shine in the goblet.


    A muttered scream drifted into the study despite the closed thick wooden doors and Varacen nodded, sipping the wine and rolling a piece of ga in his mouth before spitting it out. "Ahh, 30 year old ga wine from the alps." His mood restored and he spoke to thin air again, "And the witch?"


    A mysterious voice appeared out of nowhere, "Dead it appears with her guards."


    Varacen raised his eyebrows, "Two Imperial Lifeguards?"


    "Yes, Your Majesty," The voice appeared out of thin air. "By all eyewitness ounts, once the Lifeguards were killed, she rebelled, and appeared to have been killed in the resulting melee that followed."


    "Pity," Varacen took another sip of the wine. "Oh well, we still have her brothers to y with." He looked at the map again, "This brunch of rebels at the south is wasting a lot of my resources, I have to finish my fight with the Twin Alliance. or this rebel group will forever be a thorn. They must not grow strong."


    "Send the Rock down to take over all of Sturm''s forces," Varacen said, after debating in silence for a while. "Tell him to use all resources at his disposal to crush the rebels before they grow stronger, I don''t really care how he does it, as long as the rebels are destroyed."


    "Yes, your Majesty."


    -----


    Sea Cliff Mines, Dungeon Level 1


    Both teams were gathered at the first room of the dungeon, having a quick cold meal and some field maintance of their weapons. More than three hours had passed since they had entered the dungeon and sessfully mapped and explored almost the whole level.


    Master Sergeant Pike finished his report back with base and hopped up on a rock outcrop and pped his hands, gathering everyone''s attention. "Alright, we are almost done with this level. Just a little more to go." He pointed to the tunnel where an image of an ant was drawn. Each tunnel openings had images of monsters drawn next to them, from stick drawings of a twin tailed scorpion to slimes and ants. "That tunnel most likely has the way down to the next level."


    Apparently, the first level of the Dungeon consisted mainly of Honey Slimes, Spider Ants and Sand Scorpions. The two golems were busily wandering in and out of the tunnels as Number One transported the dead carcasses of the ants and scorpions out of the tunnels, while Number Two ferried them out to the exit.


    All the tunnels so far led to a cavern or room while some passages looped back to each other or ended in dead ends. So far the four tunnels that they explored each had a room or cavern and unfortunately for Team One. only they encountered a Champion monster, the rest were just a group of mobs or the harmless slimes. But other than the chest from by Team One, they found no other chests in the other rooms, leading them to specte that only rooms with chests most likely have a strong monster inside.


    "Everyone ready?" Pike asked as the team members policed up their trash. "Alright let''s go. Team One will be the vanguard, Magister Thorn and thedies in the middle. Team Two will be the rear guard."


    Once everyone was in formation, Pike nodded and Loke set off, leading the party down as the forward scout. Kristine, waved her sensor wave, sending sonar beeps every ten seconds, and the mapping program in her tablet automatically updating a 3D rendering of the Dungeon. Their lights lit up the tunnels and a swarm of angry chirping ants charged out into the hail of thunder and fire.


    -----


    Sea Cliff Mining Station Operations Center


    A bank of monitors temporarily set up on one side of the room disyed the choppy andgging video stream from the dungeon exploration teams. Captain ke stood watching the irritatinglygging and jerky images, wishing that they have real-time telemetry instead as the jerky images were giving him a headache.


    "Ford," ke spoke over the open air real-time conferencing call with Commander Ford back at the Bridge in UNS Singapore, "We will need people with experience in dissecting monsters. Get all the butchers, tanners, anyone who knows how to process monster parts here as soon as possible."


    "Got it, Sir, I will check with the Princess about who to call," Ford nodded, "Looks like a great haul we got eh?"


    "Oh yeah, they did great," ke replied, trying not to grimace as he watched thegging video captured from their helmet cams. "I seriously do not know how the monsters will respawn after a few days inside that dungeon. I hope what Thorn said is true."


    "It''s magic. Sir," Ford grinned, "Well, if it works, we can send regr hunting trips in the dungeon to harvest for what we need."


    "Yea, but this amount of materials from the monsters will not support arge poption," ke said, "At most a small vige or town, but any bit helps in the long run. Especially the mana stones from the monsters if we want to maintain our firearms tech."


    Ford nodded again, "I will get with the Princess regarding getting those with knowledge of working with monster parts now." He gave a salute and signed off from the conference call.


    ke went back to watching thegging videos, and gave up after a while and went to look at the hauling out of the dungeon instead.


    -----


    Sea Cliff Mines, Dungeon Level 1


    "Watch your head!" Pike yelled as he stood at the rear of Squad One and Two from his team engaging the ants. "They are crawling from the ceilings!"


    "Argh, eat lead!" Hitsu yelled, firing his M2 up to the ceiling, sending rock chips and ant parts flying down, before his weapon locked back. "I''m out!"


    "Switch!" Pike yelled and Tyrier from Team Two stepped into Hitsu''s spot, while Hitsu backed off to reload. Tyrier calmly aimed his M2 and fired single shots, each hitting a different target.


    The ants seemingly knew that they wereing and had gathered in force, throwing themselves into the fray, giving their lives for more of their brethren to close into the intruders. Yet it proved futile as the M2 Magespitters made short work of the suicidal ants.


    Both Thorn and Irisval helped byunching magical attacks over the heads of the crouching shooters. Thorn sent bolts of chain lightning, which jumped from one ant to another, electrifying them, while Irvisal turned the terrain into soft mud, slowing the ants down greatly andunching rock spikes which stunned the ants, the spikes not strong enough to prate the ants'' carapace.


    Just now, the heavy thumps of footfall appeared behind the party, and Number One golem appeared. Irisval quickly ordered it to attack the ants, and Pike ordered the men to give way for the golem to advance.


    The runes in Number One lit up, following Irisval''s order, and inside the core of the golem, a magical artificial lifeform powered by Dragonite simr to the hooman''s Artificial Intelligence followed the many instructions drawn within its body, connected by the magical connections engraved in its body. Move forward, protect the people, and kill the enemy, its simple brain told it.


    Magical muscles of rock and stone, twisted and stretched as Number One strolled forward, passing by the soldiers on its side and raised it left arm with the repeating crossbow. Its right arm pumped the firing handle up and down, throwing heavy bolts down range, each bolt impaling an ant or smashing them into pieces.


    The ants were too tightly clustered together in the tunnel that the rather inurate repeating crossbow was still able to kill one or more ants with each bolt. When it''s repeating crossbow ran out of bolts, it swung its arms mightly, wallowing directly into the mass of ants, crushing and breaking the ants with each swing of its arms. The ants tried to bite and bind it with their spider silk only to seed in chipping some of its rock armor and the silk could not bind it tightly enough, allowing Number One to break free easily.


    The rest supported Number One melee''s attacks by firing at the sides of the golem, preventing the ants from surrounding Number One. Finally, the pressure dropped and the ants retreated, leaving behind hundreds of dead, twitching ants.


    "Check your ammo!" Pike ordered as everyone took a breather from the fight whichsted only twenty minutes but felt like hours. "Anyone need resupply or injured?"


    "Good work, Number One!" Irisval praised Number One, patting it on its arm, which Number One appeared to respond by giving a slight nod.


    "We need to give it some melee weapons, or a minigun," James said from the side. "A chain sword will be awesome! Hell, a bloody mer too!" He excitedly said looking up at Number One, "He will wreak havoc in such close quarters!"


    Number One seemed to give a look at James before turning back to Irisval whomanded it to transport the ant carcasses back. "Thank you for your help!" The golem started to pile the shattered body parts of the ants into the basket it was carrying.


    "All ready?" Pike asked after everyone refilled their emptied magazines and ensured they have sufficient ammunition. "Let''s go, the Queen Ant should be up ahead."


    The passageway widened as they followed the echoing sounds made by the frantic ants as they neared their hive. From a width that four men could walk side by side to twice the width as they came upon a huge opening dimly lit by glow moss.


    Shadows of ants scurrying around the opening could be seen cast by the light beams from the exploration teams. Angry hisses and chittering came from the ants as they formed a wall, blocking the way into therge room.


    "Hit them with explosive rounds!" Pike ordered, which Altied and Hitsu followed the order, switching to their shotguns and firing an explosive shot each directly at the cluster of ants. The force of the explosions and the shrapnel, torn up the ants, sending bits of ants parts flying all over the area. "Clear!"


    "Go go go!'' Pike ordered next, and they stormed into the opening in a double file formation, and spreading out to cover all points when they cleared the opening. The girls and Magister Thorn hung back and waited for them to give the all-clear before entering cautiously into the room.


    Kristine stared up at the mammoth sized Queen Spider Ant, which bloated body appeared to be perched on some sort of mound made out of soil and rock like a throne, its fat ovipositor dangling over the mound, supported by strands of silk attached to the ceiling of the room. Hundreds of crutches of milky white eggs clusters covered all over the walls and ground, while dozens of wriggling maggots like creatures could be seen spawn all over the area.


    "Ok, I should have protested more oning here..."

 Chapter 108: Boss Fight

    Chapter 108: Boss Fight


    A de of wind smashed against the rock barrier raised by the Irisval where most of the exploration team had taken cover behind, sending rock fragments and dust raining down on the pinned elves and humans. Pike leaned out and popped a few shots at the ants that tried to nk them and dodged back to cover as another wind de smashed into the barrier again.


    "Thorn!" Pike yelled, "Any ideas on how to defeat it!" The rest of the team had scattered when the Spider Ant Queen suddenly threw des of wind at them, with Loke taking a ncing hit to his chest, where his armor te buckled under the force of the wind des.


    "I''m not sure! She appears to have a wind barrier up!" Thorn''s voice came over the entrance of the room, "It should be a wind element creature! Use fire based attacks!"


    The Queen kept at its throne of dirt, sweeping its scythe-like arms, throwing wind des at the intruders. Irisval managed to throw up a rock barrier, providing cover from the deadly des of wind while Hitsu, dragged Loke back under cover of the barrier and Young quickly tended to his injuries.


    The wind de had sliced past the thick anti spalling cover and into the graphene armor ting and inner trauma ting, before weakening but still had enough force to slice open Loke''s upper chest and shoulder to the bone. The shockwave following the wind de mmed enough force that dented the armor tes and broken his corbone while ripping open the surgical-like cut.


    Blood gushed out as Young and Kristine ripped off his armored vest, "Minor Heal!" Young cast a healing spell, cing his hands over the gaping wound. The wound closed slightly, but the degree of damage was too much, and blood continued to flow freely. Kristine pped a couple of self-sealing bandages over the wounds and the medical nanites started to work on the wound, repairing as much damaged tissue as possible. "He''s going into shock!"


    Kristine dug out a tranq shot from her own medical supplies from her own first aid kit and jabbed the shot into the meaty portion of Loke''s thigh while Young cast another healing spell to try to stabilize Loke. Kristine next grabbed Young''s medical bag, pulling out an automated external defibritor device, cing the electrode pads on to Loke''s chest, startlingly white looking, against the amount of blood staining his body. "Come on!"


    "James, take your team and suppress the Queen from the left on mymand!" Pike yelled over the sound of gunfire and monster cries. "The rest of you guys take care of the minions!"


    "NOW!" Pike yelled. And James'' team sheltering behind a rock formation swung out from cover and fired at the Queen, causing it to scream in anger and pain as dozens of 6.5 mm rounds hammered her exoskeleton. A few stray rounds punctured the Queen''s soft ovipositor, causing jets of slimy fluid to burst out.


    The Queen reared its head and screamed the high pitch frequency of the scream momentarily stunning the explorers, and the clusters of eggs cases started to wriggle.


    "What the fuck?" Pike covered his ears, wincing in pain, luckily everyone was wearing earplugs for protection against gunfire and the high pitch scream did not badly damage their ears. "Now what?" Pike cursed as he noticed the clusters of eggs around them started shaking and wriggling.


    The Queen jerked itself and shooked her rear end, ripping the gutted ovipositor off and started to climb down her throne. Her heavily depleted worker and soldier ants gathered around her and prepared to charge the humans and elves again.


    "Hit them with explosive shots!" James cried as he recovered from the sonic attack. He raised his M2 and fired at the Queen, the lead rounds leaving marks on its thorax carapace. Explosives erupted among the gathered ants and yet the ants continued to rush forward.


    "Chain Lightning!" A bolt of lightning streaked out from the opening of the cavern, jumping from one ant to another, roasting them perfectly as Thorn cast his spell from outside the cavern. "I am not strong with fire based spells!"


    A charge of lightning leaped onto the Queen which she dismissingly gave a swept of her forelimbs, shattering the lighting charge into a shower sparks. The Queen raised her forelimbs and swept down, sending two wind des directly at Thorn, who gaped and disappeared in the explosion of rock dust and fragments, the sides of the opening shattering as the wind des smashed with a huge force, leaving two cuts in the walls.


    "Thorn!" Pike roared, "Goddammit, as usual, there is always some fuck up in Intel!" He dropped his M2 on its sling and pulled out his M7A1 from his back and ducked out of the badly degraded rock barrier, leaning forward into the recoil as he fired his M7A1 at the Queen.


    The 6.5 mm armor-piercing tungsten steel core rounds punched through wind barrier around the Queen, the magical barrier slowing the power of the rounds down by half. But still the armored piercing tips of the bullets mmed onto the hard exoskeleton of the Queen''s chest, dumping all its remaining kic energy into the internal organs of the Queen, shocking the heart and sending the Queen spasming and vomiting out bile from its massive jaws.


    "Damn, I should have shot that bitch up with my M7 earlier," James grumbled as he pulled himself up, switching over to his M7A1 as well and joining Pike in taking down the Queen.


    The Queen stumbled backward as the hard hitting advanced weapons broke both its forelimbs which she used to block the barrage of bullets, and spasmed as a couple of three round burst blew her segmented neck apart, tearing her head off and a small pulsing fountain of ichor shot out from the Queen''s severed neck. Her remainings legs kicked and spasmed as her heart continued to pump hemolymph, still not knowing that the brain has died.


    A cheer went up from the teams as the Queen stopped her movements,ying on her side with her body curled up like a ball next to the mound of rock and dirt.


    "Erm, are they supposed to do that?" Tyrier asked, his weapon pointing at the moving eggs. "Are they hatching?"


    "Uh oh," James gave a curse as the egg casings nearby broke, and a slimy whitish ant crawled out. "Arghhh!" James used his machete and hacked the newly hatched ant in half. "Damn, it is not over yet guys and gals!"


    "Iing!" Tyrier yelled, as more and more of the eggs hatched new ants out. "Destroy the eggs! Don''t let them hatch out!"


    Irisval grabbed a handful of rock fragments from the floor and whispered a spell, "Rock Spike!" Throwing the stones and fragments through a magic circle in front of her, turning the stones and rocks into dagger sharp spikes. Her spikes smashed the clusters of eggs nearby, killing the ants before they hatch.


    Kristine and Young seeing Loke stabilized from his wounds helped engage the surviving ants and the newly hatchlings, with Kristine picking up Loke''s dropped M2, her hands sticky with Loke''s blood, firing at the monsters with precision.


    Altied, Hitsu, and Don fired their shotguns loaded with explosive shots, shredding huge clusters of eggs and hatchlings in the process. "Come on! Have some!"


    A lightning bolt streaked out again from the rear, rupturing more eggs clusters, and Thorn appeared from the doorway, his robes and hair caked with dust and a trail of blood over his forehead. "I am getting too old for this," He grumbled as another magic circle appeared before him. "Chain Lightning!"


    Clean up of the cavern took them roughly half an hour. A toon of Marines had joined in on the cleanup when ke at the Operation Center deemed them to be in big trouble and dispatched the Marines in.


    "Talk about beingte for the rescue," James shook his head, watching the Marine medics strapping Loke onto a stretcher and transporting him out gently. "Damn, I am tired!" He stood next to Kristine and gave her a hug, "How are you doing? Any injuries?"


    "Stop that," Kristine pushed James away, "People are watching!" Irisval looked scandalized at the open disy of affection and blushed, looking away hurriedly as Kristine gave her a wink. "Yes, I am ok, all this blood is from Loke." She raised her hands, the blood covered up to her upper arms and her vest and uniform.


    "d you are ok," James ignored her protests and hugged her again, kissing her on the forehead. "Who cares if everyone watches." He grinned back at the Marines catcalling on the side.


    Pike walked up to Thorn who sat on a tform of rock, a Marine medic, cleaning up his wound on his head. "How is he?" Pike asked the elf medic.


    "Just some minor concussion and torn skin, nothing serious, just head wounds tend to bleed a lot, Top," The medic pped a piece of a band aid over the wound and nodded to Thorn, "Sir, all done."


    Thorn sighed, "I am too old for this kind of action," and he gave a grin, "But it was fun while itsted."


    "Damn it, old man," Pike said, "Please take care of yourself, the Princess and the Captain will have my hide if anything happens to you!"


    "Haha, I am alright," Thorn grinned, dusting his robes as he stood up. "Well good job on killing the Queen!" He watched the newly arrived Marines clearing the dead ants and pointed to the dirt mound. "The entrance down to the next level will be there."


    "Is it gonna be this hard each time?" Pike asked, watching Loke on the stretcher disappearing into the tunnel out of the room.


    "Hmmm, my theory is that due to many many years, there have not been any creatures had killed the Queen, and thus it grew stronger and stronger over time," Thorn guessed, "And we are the first to enter the dungeon for maybe hundreds of years?"


    "Wait, so if and when the dungeon ''respawns'' the Queen will be easier to kill the next time?" Pike asked with a raised eyebrow. "So meaning all the Boss monsters and Champions from the next level onwards are way harder than usual?"


    Thorn nodded, "If my theory is correct then yes. The monsters will have many many years to grow their strength and we will be the first to encounter them. But there should be a good catch to this, the stronger the monster, the better the materials it provides." Thorn gestured the Queen, "I suspect that it should have a very high quality mana stone in its body."


    "Great, just great," Pike shook his head and sighed, "Damn, I hoped this would be a walk in the park with our modernized weapons, I can''t imagine how adventurers fought with cold steel against these monsters and lived to tell the tales."


    "That''s why mages are highly respected and in demand," Thorn gave a wink to Pike, "Magic makes it easier to clear a dungeon."


    Pike shook his head again, and waved for Thorn to take a rest, while he went to gather up some volunteers from the Marines, "Alright, you pukes, I need volunteers!" He randomly pointed at the loitering group of Marines. "Yes, you, you and you. YES, YOU! There is no one behind you!"


    "Carry your entrenching tools and start digging that mound up!" Pike led the group of volunteers over to the Queen''s dirt throne.


    The elves worked rapidly, clearing the mound and soon arge pair of doors appeared among the dirt, and the elves worked faster, excited at finding the door.


    "Hey guys," James called everyone involved with the exploration over. "We found these buried or dropped here and there in the room."


    ced on the floor at James'' feet were arge pile of treasure, from pieces of gold and silver nuggets to gemstones of all kinds. "We also find a lot of mana stones," He shone hismp to anotherrger pile to the side, "In fact, there are a few dozen piles of these mana stones all over the ce, I am guessing these came from either monster the ants hunted or they themselves that died naturally over time."


    Thorn went over to the pile of mana stones and picked one up, the thumb sized greenish crystal glittered prettily against the lights cast from themps. He dropped the stone back to the pile and rubbing his hands and grinned at the ragged looking bunch.


    "Now isn''t this the best part of exploring a dungeon? Loot!"

 Chapter 109: Rest and Recuperation

    Chapter 109: Rest and Recuperation


    The Mining Station was still lit up despite thete hour, drifts of music andughter could be heard from far away, and the green skin scout sniffed his the air, his mouth watering, as he caught the smell of meat roasting from the brightly lit town that appeared suddenly over the winter. His band head will be pleased with his news when he returned with it, and he slipped off into the darkness with his tummy rumbling.


    -----


    The celebration party reached its zenith just past midnight, the miners, workers, and off-duty Marines drank and feasted on locally fermented alcohol and fresh ant meat. Captain ke sat next to Princess Sherene, listening to Thorn''s version of his experiences in the dungeon. He dropped the finished piece of ant leg on the side, which looked like a piece of snow crab leg, and somewhat tasting like snow crab.


    Sherene happily dug out the fleshy meat and dropped the shell next to a small pile of empty leg shells. The ant legs were boiled in seawater and served with soya sauce, courtesy of Chef Keito''s cooking. "This is delicious!" She wiped her mouth with a napkin and settled back on her seat happily.


    "Yes," ke agreed and asked, "Didn''t your people have ant meat before?"


    Sherene shook her head, "No, this type of monster cuisine is kind of hard to find among the nobles or royalty." She grinned happily and gave a small blurp, "This is my first time trying. It tastes very good!"


    "Hahaha," keughed at her satisfied expression, "Well, this is also the first time I had ant meat too, but it turns out pretty good." He remembered Chef Keito during the tasting, and him insisting ant meat as tasty as crab, while the volunteers looked on skeptically before some brave soul tasted it and agreed with Chef Keito. "Well, it is good that it will bring some food variety to the city."


    Sherene nodded, "City hall had just finished moving therge magic ice box from the Iron Castle out nearer to the city, it is so useful! Food can be preserved for longer and there is almost no wastage!"


    ke took a while to understand what she meant by magic ice box, "You meant the refrigeration unit?"


    "Yes, yes," Sherene nodded, her hair braided up and tied up with arge blue ribbon. "I have arranged for all those with knowledge or skills in skinning or butchery to help dismantle the monsters. With the new re-fee-gation set up next to the market, we can process all the meat and materials easier and less wastage."


    "But there are more and more reports of goblin sightings now," Sherene added, "The farmers, loggers, foragers, and hunters are getting worried."


    "Equip the farmers and workers in the forest with crossbows and bows for now," ke turned to look at Sherene, "We only have so much Magelocks, and they are going to the next batch of Marines. I will push Major Frank toe out a training program for a Militia force."


    Sherene nodded, her good mood had vanished as she thought of theing troubles and problems that faced her and her people.


    "Cheer up," ke patted her hand, "We just won a victory against the Empire recently and also cleared the Dungeon''s first level, and the number of resources and materials we have gotten will help us a lot in theing days."


    "Look at them," ke pointed down to the courtyard where tables and chairs were arranged and arge bonfire burning in the center and people dancing to music around it. "Yesterday they fought with their lives on the line, today they celebrate that they are alive."


    "They y hard and enjoy as much as they can, as there is no telling what will happen tomorrow. So why worry so much now?" ke advised Sherene, seeing her downcast face. "We make ns to ensure nothing goes wrong, but life doesn''t always follow our ns, that''s the way we should enjoy the moment when we can."


    Sherene smiled, "Thank you, your people had really done a lot of us, and yet we still are demanding more from you."


    "Well, well, to be frank, we also need your people, we can''t be strong just on our own," ke patted her hand again, "Don''t worry, we will do something about keeping your people and mine safe." ke offered her another te of ant legs, " More?"


    -----


    "Well, we got four days off for R and R, so what are your ns?" James asked as he held Kristine, both of them swaying to the music.


    The flickering mes cast a warm orange glow on Kristine''s face as they danced slowly to the music, "I don''t know."


    "Do you want toe with me to the beach resort?" James asked, "You know for some suntanning and water sports."


    "There is a beach resort here?" Kristine asked, her eyes lit up by the mes. "And you pulling my leg, Sergeant?"


    "Oh no," James grinned, "It''s for the armed services only, but with ns to open to the publicter on."


    "Howe there is a resort here?" Kristine rested her head on James''s chest.


    "Well, Captain ke thought it will be good for the crew and armed forces to take some time off from all the hustle and bustle," James hugged her, "It''s actually more like a chalet, we need to bring our own food and stuff. What do you say?"


    "I am not sure," Kristine pushed away from James embrace, "Are we together or this is just a fling for you?"


    "Hey, look here," James said gently to Kristine, holding her chin, "I am serious about us being together, the Captain and XO had already stated that the rules of fraternization among the crew and military no longer applies here."


    "And seriously, I don''t think we will have a chance to return to Earth in our lifetime, maybe our kids'' generation but definitely not ours," James stated honesty, "Besides this is actually quite a beautiful world. No over poption, politics. pollution all that, only the monsters trying to eat you and an Empire that keeps trying to kill you."


    "Wait a minute, when did I say we will have kids?" Kristine red at James smiling face. "I have not agreed to anything yet."


    "Come on!" Jamesughed, lifting Kristine up and giving her a spin, making herugh too. "Let''s go to the resort, there will be barbecue!"


    "Alright, only if there are ant meat!" Kristineughed.


    -----


    East of the Uncharted Forest, the Great Ocean ins


    War leader Urka of the Band of the Hand emerged out of the forest foliage and stood before a grasnd that stretched as far as the eye could see. He took a deep breath, taking in the fresh scent of grass and not the coy rotting scent of the forest''s undergrowth. The sun shone down, warming him up as he kneeled down and gave a simple prayer to the Spirits. "We are home."


    His defeated warriors cheered up visibly as they saw the endlessnd of the Great Ocean ins. They had marched hard for four five-day weeks through the cursed Uncharted Forest, fending off monsters and goblins attacks before reaching the edge of the forest.


    "Come! We will return home soon!" Urka yelled at his warriors who gave a cheer. "Another two, five days and we will reach the Band." Following that, Urka climbed on to his mount, arge grizzle wind wolf and urged it forward and his warriors followed along.


    Urka''s wearily warriors managed to make to within sight of the Band after traveling for nine days, the journey was considered peaceful, only having two encounters with monsters, which they managed to defeat at the cost of a few unfortunate warriors.


    Finally, they reached the wooden palisade of the Band and stood, waiting for the sentries to open the gates. The patrols and lookouts had already spotted them when they were two days out from the camp, and wolf riders rode up and down, dispatching messages and supplies.


    As they entered the gates, the whole Oerkin band had turned out to wee them back, some with cries of joy, while others with silent tears and words of condolences. The Great Chief dressed in a pure silver wind wolf pelt and wearing a headdress made out of the skull of a red griffin and decorated with sesame red griffin feathers, stood before the Great Hall and watched passively as Urka went down on one knee before him. "Great Chief, we have returned."


    The wrinkled face of Great Chief remained solemn and just stared at Urka. The noise from the gathered Oerkin slowly quieten down as they turned to watch what was going on with Urka and the Great Chief. Finally, after a period of silence, the Great Chief spoke, "You returned with only half the warriors you began with, and where are the elders and shamans?"


    Urka looked down on the ground, unable to answer. "Your actions had caused the n greatly!" The Great Chief continued, "You are stripped of your position as War leader and shall be confined in the pit to reflect on your actions!" The Great Chief waved for the guards to take Urka away. "Go, reflect on what you have done, I have important guests to entertain."


    Urka stood up speechless and allowed the guards to strip his armor and weapons away, leaving him bare-chested and the guards led him away pass the muttering and gossiping crowd, past the dwellings and to a pit several meters deep. Just as he was shoved down the pit unceremoniously, he saw something strange. Two strange looking grey metal objects were parked side by side behind the Great Hall and that was thest thing Urka saw as he was dropped into the pit.


    -----


    Band of the Hand, Great Hall


    "Ahh, Sorry for, ah, dy," The Great Chief said in halting Common and gave a yellow toothed smile at the guests sitting around the table, set on the floor. "Come, drink and feast!" He gestured to the food and drinks on the table.


    "Thank you for your hospitality," Former Marine armory sergeant Raman smiled back, giving a toast to the Oerkin. "The food and drink are pretty good." The rest of the human party joined in the toast.


    "Ahh, guests you are!" The Great Chief exined hurriedly. "Only the best for the guests!" He had seen what strange and powerful magic these strange hoomans have.


    "So, what we can do for you?" Raman ying asked, knowing well what the old rat wanted as he leaned back andzied on the soft wolf hide covered floor.


    "You know we Oerkin has no metal skills," The Chief said, "We like to have you all as our metal workers!"


    "Workers?" Raman raised azy eyebrow, "I am sorry, but we are not anyone''s workers here." The rest snickered as they continued to drink the wine.


    "Ahh, not workers?" The Chief frowned, "Then what do you want?"


    "Simple," Raman sat up, "I want ves, young and healthy, and warriors andnd."


    "ves? No problem, but warriors?" The Chief frowned, "Why warriors andnd?"


    "I want to have my own army and workers," Raman exined, "You provide me with ves and warriors, in exchange, you get metal weapons and armor. And if you are a really good boy, I may gift you with some Magelocks." Raman and the restughed as he finished his demands.


    The Chief looked at them in thought, wondering if he meant the thunder sticks. "ves easy! Land? Just pick where you want. But warriors? They have to be willing to follow you."


    Raman gave a shrug, "As long you provide me with what we need, you get what you want. If not, we take our services somewhere else." Raman stood up and jerked his head to the rest. "let''s go boys!"


    "Wait, wait!" The Chief raised his hand up, gesturing them to stop. "Warriors, yes I know who to give you!"


    "Well, if that is the case," Raman gave a triumphant grin, rubbing his hands together, "Let''s talk business then!"

 Chapter 110: Operation Dagger

    Chapter 110: Operation Dagger


    The cold wind howled loudly as the massive waves pped up and down. Specialist Sergeant Tyrier felt slightly sick, the up and down motion of the dragon they were strapped on making him slightly green. The cold air helped to suppress his urge to vomit, he and ymore One were all dressed in simple homespun clothes, thick jackets, and goggles to protect against the high altitude flight.


    Blue Thunder stretched his wings and leisurely pped his wings a couple of times, and rode the air currents as they glided in the night, navigating from the dim light of the twin crescent moons. They had traveled for two days, staying close to the mountain ridge, only flying during the night and resting in the day.


    Blue Thunder felt free for the first time, he did not have a crew or a master to order him to do anything, onlyws and rules to follow. The hooman ke had said that if he agreed to work for them, he will be paid and given proper housing and care, but should he negate on the agreement, all that was offered will be removed.


    For the first time, Blue Thunder had something he owned. The first pay he got, he bought himself a whole roasted Peco Peco, and thoroughly enjoyed it. He heard that if he saved up enough credit chips, he could get someone to build a house for him! Back in the Empire, it was unheard of that a Dragon could own property! Not to mention he really wanted a tee-vee set so he could watch all those moo-bees and dra-maas and of course music!


    Blue Thunder had signed up with the so-called Air Force, serving as a heavy lifter and was expected to work alone at times, using his own initiative, yet another concept unheard of in the Empire. He did miss his Captain and crew greatly, after all, they had grown up together, but life and death is a way of life in the Empire, and he was happy he wasn''t put down, like so many of the other dragons he saw at the coven that had lost their Captains.


    He started humming to a tune to the song "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons, which to him the naming was quite appropriate. "Hey Blue, could you stop that singing?" Tyrier poked Blue Thunder''s side as the dragon started on the chorus, making his whole rumbled and trembled, making Tyrier motion sickness worst.


    "Hahaha, sorry," Blue rumbled, "Look, I can see the town of Falledge." The dark shapes of the trees looming behind them and in the distance, pinprick spots of lights by the fires andmps from the town could be seen in the dimly lit terrain. "I am going to find a spot to set down around the mountain edge."


    The men of ymore One all looked up alert and started scanning the horizon for the town. Everyone was rigged on to the nks and dorsal top of the dragon with carabiners. A simple lightweight scaffolding-like structure was rigged onto Blue Thunder''s back, with benches and even hammocks for the men to walk, sit or even sleep.


    The design allowed the men to walk up and down, and even cross over to the other side of the dragon''s nk. The strips of wood, double up as benches or gangways for the men and the whole design does not interfere with the dragon''s movement or even whennding. They only have to ensure that the hammocks and any loose items are secured properly in the bins connected to the frame.


    "Ahh, I see a cave opening!" Blue Thunder smacked his lips as gave warning to the men. "Standby fornding!"


    Everyone started checking their gear and carabiners were properly secured, "One Ready!"


    "Two Ready!"


    "Three Ready!"


    "Four Ready!"


    "Five Ready!"


    "Six Ready! All clear! Good to go!"


    "Dropping in three... two... one," Blue Thunder dipped his left wing and dropped into a slow spiral dive, bleeding off airspeed as he circled down and gauged the distance and the cave location. Just before mming onto the side of the mountain cliff, he pped his wings rapidly, hovering just below an openingrge enough for him to enter and used his powerful legs and front limbs to grip the rock wall, and like a Terran lizard, climbed into the cave while folding his wings to his side.


    "Urgh, I think next time we should take the Valkyrie instead," Young moaned as he unhooked his carabiner and dropped down the side of Blue Thunder, who looked mighty smug.


    "Well, that was a goodnding," Blue Thunder huffed, looking pleased. "As Commander Tommy said, anynding that you can walk away from is a good one!" He quoted and suddenly, tensed up. "Something is here with us!"


    "Positions, people!" Tyrier immediately ordered, drawing out his Glock from his holster and spreading to the side of the dark cave. "No lights till my order!'' Their main weapons were still secured in the weapon bins on the back of Blue Thunder.


    "Hmmm, smells like a griffin," Blue Thunder growled as his hackles rose, ears back, tail down and his posture lowered. And a snarl replied Blue Thunder from the depths of the cave.


    "Ready... lights on my mark!" Tyrier ordered as everyone had taken up positions on the side of Blue Thunder, under what cover they could find in therge cave tunnel. "Three... two... one, LIGHTS!"


    At Tyrier''smand, everyone looked away, only keeping one eye open, even Blue Thunder, they had rehearsed these tactics a few times before. The under rail mounted 200 lumens white light from seven pairs of Glocks, lit up the interior of the cave as bright as day. A cry of pain and surprise screamed out as the creature with a head of an eagle and body of a lion with featured wings was blinded by the sudden re of lights.


    Blue Thunder took the opportunity that the griffin was blinded and pronounced on it, his jaws going for the neck while his forelimbstched on the monster, his ws digging in deep, causing blood to flow. With a sharp jerk and a bone snapping crack, Blue Thunder snapped the neck of the griffin and dropped the limp carcass on the cave floor.


    "Dinner is served!" Blue Thunder licked his chomps and ws. He did a little dance over the carcass of the griffin and sent rock dust and fragments raining down from the cave ceiling.


    "STOP!" Tyrier yelled, "You big oaf! You want to bring down the whole cave?"


    "Sorry," Blue Thunder stopped his dance and settled down carefully. "I was just excited."


    "Yes, yes, we know!" Altied shook his head as he reached up to the side of Blue Thunder to unload supplies. "Come on, stay still, I need to grab themps and if you want me to cook for you, you better behave!"


    Blue Thunder hurriedid down t on the ground, allow the men of ymore One to unload the supplies stored on his back. "Luckily you didn''t destroy any of the supplies when you fought that griffin." Young said as he hoisted down some bedrolls.


    "It was just a youngling," Blue Thunder boasted, "I can kill hundreds of them easy."


    "Yeah sure," Tyrier ced themps out at several locations, lighting the whole cave up. "Found anything else behind?" He called out to Hitsu, Doth, and Tavel who went to check the rear of the cave for any more surprises.


    "Oh yes!" Hitsu yelled back after a while, "Found some treasure!"


    Everyone stopped their work and went to see what treasure was found, even Blue Thunder was curious. "Look, the griffin''s hoard."


    A huge bird-like nest woven out of tree branches sat at the rear of the cave, and glitters of gold could be seenced among the wooden branches. Tyrier used his light from his pistol and dug out a piece of gold nugget from the nest and whistled. "Damn, this is pure gold."


    "Yup, nothing but gold here," Tavel called out from the nest he was standing on, "Seems like griffins love gold."


    Blue Thunder snorted, "Amateurs! A proper hoard should not only consist of gold! You need jewels, coins and all kinds of treasure!"


    "Blue, you don''t even have a hoard," Young pointed out, while the restughed.


    "Mark my words! I will have one... someday!" Blue Thunder tilted his head high up and gave a harumph.


    "Sure you will," Tyrier smiled, tossing the gold nugget to Blue Thunder who deftly snatched it up with hisrge wed hands. "Keep it up killing the griffins, and I heard that Major Frank is going to offer a quarter share of any treasure found during a military operation. So, part of these is ours!"


    "Holy shit!" Doth cried out, "Seriously?"


    "Yup, when we retire, we will be set up for life!" Tyrier grinned. "So make sure you guys pick up every piece of gold here and record it down."


    "We are going to be rich!" Blue Thunder grinned and started to do a little jig again, causing everyone to curse and swear at him.


    After the excitement had died down, the men cut up the griffin and roasted the choice portions, which Blue Thunder ate most of it, and everyone settled down to sleep as the sun came up.


    They woke up again, close tote afternoon and started their preparations to infiltrate the Empire. "Alright, Blue, you drop us near the edge of the forest, and beat it back to base ok?" Blue Thunder nodded.


    "This town we going into is called Falledge, it was part of our Kingdom of Goldrose and since the fall of the Kingdom, the Empire had taken over it. We have no idea how many Empire troops will be stationed there, but it should be a lot, as Duke Sturm should be using it as a springboard to attack the Pass a few weeks back." Tyrier looked around the gathered men and dragon.


    "We will split up into groups of two and disperse into the poption," Tyrier pointed to Hitsu and said, "You will be with me since Loke is not with us on this mission." which Hitsu nodded.


    "High Command has given us one month''s time to gather as much information as possible," Tyrier continued. "Stockpiles, military strength, routes,test maps, marching orders even the feelings of the local poption about the Empire."


    "I want all information to be recorded down in code, and don''t get caught," Tyrier red at everyone. "We gather back at the edge of Falledge again after one month, if you do not make the rendezvous, it will mean that you have been either captured or killed."


    "If chances of being captured are very high, make sure all information and weapons are disposed of properly, the Empire might not understand the hooman''s technology, but just to be safe," Tyrier stated. "There will also be a very low chance of rescue should you be captured, so make sure you don''t get caught!"


    "Alright, gear up, it''s about time to move out." Tyrier pped his hands, signaling the end of the meeting and headed to the cave entrance. He stood at the edge of the opening, looking down the sheer drop of the cliff and pulled down a walkie-talkie.


    "ymore Actual to Thunderchief, do you copy over?" He sent out a message, they had early mounted a transmitting ry device out on the cliff walls. They had along the way, installed another ry device at their previous resting site, allowing radiomunications over long distances.


    "-underchief, what''s your situation report, over."


    "ymore One has arrived within sight of Falledge, will begin Operation Dagger in one hour time, over."


    "Thunderchief, copy that, stay safe and God bless."


    "ymore Actual, Roger and Tango Yankee, out." (*Tango Yankee means Thank You)


    The men had changed, wearing simple homespun clothes and trousers with simple leather sandals. Each carried an unadorned short sword and dagger, with a concealed holster for their silenced Glocks. A sling leather case holds either a shotgun or an M2 Magespitter inside, while a pooch carried some explosives and grenades. A small slung bag carried other basic necessities for each man and perfectly foraged traveling documents, taken from the thousands of prisoners were carried in a simple scroll case.


    Blue Thunder silently glided to a stop at the edge of a farmer''s field, and ymore One hopped off from the dragon. Blue Thunder gave a nod and quickly took off, pping his wings mightly and disappeared into the night skies.


    "Alright people, eyes front! We are in enemy territory now!"

 Chapter 111: Talent

    Chapter 111: Talent


    Shadowy figures silently moved crept along a long irrigation trench next to a field of native grains. The man tall stalks of yellow-green crops swayed gently in the early morning wind and the six figures appeared next to a row of wooden fences.


    "Sun''s up in an hour or so. We are going to wait for the gates to open, then we are going into the city in groups," Tyrier said the team, "keep hidden till then."


    Soon, the sky lightened up, the clouds turning red and the thin fog slowly dispersing and people started arriving in small groups to the town gates. The three stories tall wall festooned with arrow slits surrounded the whole town of roughly 20,000 inhabitants together with a moat. "Let''s go," Tyrier waved everyone up and walked out from the grain field towards the small queue forming at the gates.


    Tyrier''s boots squelched as the morning dew and water from staying hidden in the irrigation trench had seeped into his boots. He ignored the cold and wet feeling, joining behind a couple of chatting gatherers with arge pile of firewood tied to their backs.


    Hitsu formed up beside him, his hand gripping the pommel of his sword. "Rx," Tyrier whispered, ncing behind them to see the rest joining the queue behind them. Tyrier stepped up right behind the two wood gatherers and gave a polite cough, making the two gatherers to turn and look at him with curiosity.


    "Greetings good sirs," Tyrier gave a disarming grin to the two old aged men dressed in coarse wool country clothes. "I have been on the road for some time, so I was wondering if you could share any recent news of the town?"


    Both the gatherers looked at each other and hesitated, but their faces quickly turned to smiles as Tyrier flipped a silver coin to them. "Well, kind sir, what do you want to know?"


    "What''s thetest news and happenings around here and the town," Tyrier asked, "I been away for weeks with my friend here, so we arecking news of the area."


    "Oh, well, the Duke lost some kind of major battle down south with the rebels," One of the older gatherer whispers, "But don''t go talk about it in the town, if the guards hear you, they will take you away, or worst!" He made a throat slitting motion.


    Both Tyrier and Hitsu nodded, "What other news?"


    "Well, spring is here, so the goblins are out in force now," The older gatherer said, "Other beasts are also roaming around too." He scratched his head as he thought, "Well, rumor has it that the Duke has gone missing."


    "I see, anything else?" Tyrier asked.


    "Well, the army has left, thank the heavens," The other gatherer spoke up, "It is more peaceful now that they have left." He looked closely at the two, frowned and whispered, "Are you two deserters from the army?"


    "Heavens no!" Hitsu cried out, "What makes you think so?"


    "Well, you have the feelings of a warrior," The gatherer rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Well, the guards are checking and arresting any army deserters."


    "I see," Tyrier grinned, cing his hand firmly on to Hitsu''s shoulder. "We used to be part of the Goldrose Army, but now," He gave a shrug and continued, "We are working as adventurers and problem solvers."


    "Ahh, I see! My greatest apologies!" The two gatherers quickly gave a bow to them, which they hurriedly stopped the two.


    "It is aright, it''s all in the past," Tyrier said, "You don''t have to bow to us anymore."


    "We just want to thank you for your brave efforts against the Empire," The old man whispered, looking over his shoulder to the walls. "Be careful of the guards, they might mistake you all for deserters!''


    "It will be fine, we have traveling papers," Tyrier grinned, touched by the sincerely from the two gatherers. "We will be fine. Can you rmend any inn for us to stay?"


    "Hmm, you can try the Prancing Pony down by left of the main street after you pass the market stalls, you can''t miss it, it has a sign of a prancing pony," The old man rubbed his chin said, "Tell the owner, that Old Raggins rmended you. He will give you a fair price."


    "Thank you, good sirs!" Tyriers dipped his head in thanks and pointed to the front, "Look, the gate is opening."


    A thick wooden drawbridge was slowly being lowered by two sets of iron chains set on each end of the drawbridge. It came to a stop with a crash and the gates of Falledge swung open, and a metal portcullis was lifted up slowly and several guards could be seen behind it.


    The queuing crowd started to stir, some getting up from where they sat waiting, others started shouldering their bundles and goods while cart drivers woke their dragons up from their nap. A voice shouted from across the bridge, informing the queue that they can advance.


    The drawbridge barely creaked as Tyrier and his men shuffled down the line towards the gate. The guards checked the identity papers of each person entering the town and soon the two gatherers turn were over and Tyrier and Hitsu stood before the guards who waved for their papers impatiently.


    Tyrier and Hitsu handed over their scroll cases containing their travel papers and discretely observed the gatehouse, finding dozens of murder holes on the ceiling and a stout looking metal reinforced door at the side, most likely leading to the control room with the winss which lowered or raised the bridge.


    "Purpose?" The guard with a red cloth sh across his half te asked snobbishly as he nced at their traveling papers.


    "Work," Tyrier said truthfully. "We are adventurers and problem solvers. He gave a slight bow to the guard.


    "Oh," The guard raised his eyebrows, "You look more like soldiers than adventurers..."


    "Kind sir, we just want to find some work to support our bellies," Tyrier gave his best smile, and sped the guard''s hand, handing him a small pouch of coins.


    "Hmmm," The guard turned to the side and deftly checked the contents of the pouch, where a few gold nuggets could be seen and seemingly satisfied, nodded and returned the papers into the scroll cases, handing it over to Tyrier and grinned, "Wee to Falledge. Word of warning, don''t get into any trouble, or we will throw you in the dungeons! Next!" The guard turned attention to the next in line, waving for theme forward.


    Tyrier looked at Hitsu who gave a shrug and they entered into the town.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Conference Room


    "Attention on deck!" A Marine bellowed from the opened from as Captain ke entered the conference were all the heads of departments rosed and saluted.


    "At ease, people," ke waved everyone to their seats and nodded to his second inmand, Commander Ford. "Let''s start."


    Ford continued standing and patiently waited for everyone to settle down in their seats, "Alright, a quick report on our current situation." He activated the main disy screen and a series of graphs and charts appeared.


    "As of Start of the Year, first quarter, almost nine months we arrived here, we have finally some nice green lines to show on our charts," Ford grinned, "Despite that, we are still in the red for several items on the list."


    "Food, poption, education, transportation, production, mining, and military sector have shown positive growth over thest quarter, while ammunition, medicine, technology, and magic research has declined or stagnated." Ford tapped on the screen to highlight each point.


    "We need to focus more on thosecking, especially ammunition and technology," ke spoke next. "So I am gonna divide everyone up into different sectors to work on."


    "There will be five key sectors, Military, Production, Transportation, Magic, Science, and Technology, and finally Civil." ke listed out five points. "Major Frank will head the Military sector, which will cover, all forms of external security and threats."


    "Chief Gale will be in charge of Production, which will cover all forms of factories, mining, and construction."


    "Quartermaster Chen will head the Transportation sector, which will deal with our transportationwork and including supplying goods and resources to each area."


    "For Magic, Science, and Technology, I want Magister Thorn, Dr, Sharon, and Chief Matt to handle it all, including medicine and research."


    "Finally for Civil, Princess Sherene will take the lead with Ops officer Letts in support. Education, housing, agriculture, fishery, healthcare, public works, and police will all fall under Civil," ke finished outlining his n. "I want all of you to list out and recruit who you think is a talent to your sectors that you will be running. Questions?"


    "How about the budget?" Quartermaster Chen asked, "We need something to pay for workers and sry."


    "ounts department will be working with everyone on this," Ford exined, "They will work out a budget to be assigned to each sector and also other special requests."


    "How about manpower? Who can we draw from?" Chief Gale asked, "We can headhunt anyone we like?"


    "If you find a talent from the locals, recruit as per normal procedures, if they are part of the crew or Marines, apply directly to HR for approval," ke rified. "Any other questions? No? Ok, next."


    Lieutenant Tavor stood up, "The next agenda will be for ''Your ears only'', rated top secret," He warned everyone in the meeting. "Failure toply and leaking of top secret information will be met with severe consequences."


    Everyone including the elves present nodded seriously, all their faces grim. "Now, two days ago, weunched Operation Dagger, and top secret information gathering mission within enemy territory, which in this case is the Empire."


    "The Hundred and First, ymore One had inserted sessfully in the border town of Falledge, formerly part of the Kingdom of Goldrose." Tavor informed those that were in the dark. "The timeline for Operation Dagger will be one month, for ymore One to infiltrate and blend into the poption within the Empire, subjected to be extended if required."


    "Operation Dagger primarily objectives involved information gathering, scouting of enemy dispositions, supply depots and stockpiles, weapons manufactories, troop strength, morale and marching routes," Tavor highlighted the main objectives. "Secondary mission is to discover the families of those who decided to join us and the possibility of recruitment of local supporters."


    "So basically, it''s a spying mission?" Dr. Sharon pointed out.


    "Yes, in the simple sense," Tavor nodded, "We also want to know if is it feasible to project our forces into upying Falledge."


    "You mean, an invasion into the Empire?" Sherene''s delicate eyebrows rose all the way up. "You want to take Falledge?"


    "Hmm," ke interjected, "Well, if it is possible to take and hold it, yes. I would rather the enemy fight on their ownnd than on ours, this way we can limit the destruction on our own infrastructure and also we have more room to fallback or maneuver should we need to." He admitted frankly.


    "But what about the civilians?" Sherene half rosed from her seat, her fists clenched tightly as she red angrily at ke. "Their homes and livelihood?"


    ke stared back at Sherene calmly, "It is war, but of course we will try to prevent as many civilian casualties and evacuate them to safety beforehand."


    "But, who if they do not want to leave?" Sherene shot back, "Are you just going to let them die?"


    Ford gave a cough and interrupted, "Please, Princess, we will do everything to ensure the safety of nonbatants and besides, it is one of the options we are looking at, we are still looking at the feasibility of the operation. If the information given to us states that the town is not suitable for a long defensive battle, then, of course, we will notmit to it."


    Sherene gave a jerk and sat down, muttering, "I am sorry for the unsightly outburst, please continue."


    Lieutenant Tavor nodded and continued the brief as if there were no interruptions, "By identifying key supply depots, stockpiles, roads and bridges, and staging areas of enemy forces, we can predict when the enemy will make a move against us again."


    "Once identified, Valkyries willmerce long-range bombing of those key locations, stopping the enemy before they can even think ofing within a 1000 kilometers of us."

 Chapter 112: Guns, Mushrooms and Explosions, Oh My!

    Chapter 112: Guns, Mushrooms and Explosions, Oh My!


    Master Sergeant Pike cursed as he dumped the glossy magazine he was reading on to his desk. "Goddammit!" He took a deep breath and calmed himself down, before picking up the gun catalog magazine back up and flipping through its pages.


    "Top, you ok?" Mills leaned back from his chair, tilting back and looking into Pike''s office.


    "Peachy as hell," Pike growled back, and Mills quietly returned to his original position. "Damn that Indian fucker!" Hepared the technical drawings of the M2 Magespitter with his own unfinished design and flipped through the gun catalog. He worked as an armorer many years ago when he was still a noobie third sergeant and his knowledge of creating firearms from scratch was amateurish at best despite his hobbies in antiquedte 20th century firearms.


    He knows how to fine tune a rifle, mod a shotgun or even scratch build simple hobby bolt actions and pistols, but designing and making a military grade heavy machine gun, was totally out of his depth. On his work desk were several technical drawings of designs, from mortars to cannons to an engine.


    "Should I go for a hand crank design or a recoil assist system?" Pike muttered to himself, "Damn, those eggheads better research out how to make smokeless powder, the bloody ck powder is just too dirty for recoil assisted guns.


    The M2 Magespitter will require cleaning and maintenance after roughly firing 600 rounds, or the weapon will jam, as the fouling will choke up the wind runes, preventing them from activating. The M1 Magelock is slightly better, able to fire close to a thousand rounds before needing to be properly cleaned. In fact more the half the time the Marines spent during the defense of the Pass was just to clean their weapons.


    Now he needed toe out with a machine gun design for using ck powder cartridges and another design for using smokeless powder. He mentally cursed again, damning Raman''s soul to the deepest hell for deleting all the weapons data in the armory and sighed, diving back to his work on making a machine gun.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Biohazard and Containment Laboratory


    Spaceman Senior Apple was whistling to the music ying in the background and dressed in a yellow biohazard protection suit. Her work involved testing and analyzing all unknown organic material if it is capable of consumption or the chemical makeup. Samples were constantly passed to her from surveying teams and just recently, a new batch of samples arrived and they were directly from exploring Dungeon.


    Apple got tasked to check the meat of the giant ants if they were safe to be consumed and it turned out to be pack full of proteins and minerals. She even managed to try it at the cafeteria the next day and the kitchen staffbeled it in the menu as Ant Meat Pasta.


    When she tried it, she found the ant meat sweat like crab meat, and the pasta was actually made out of potato flour, stir fried with chopped tomatoes and herbs. It tasted better than the usual slime noodles.


    She took a sample case,beled with #UIF-112 on the top of the container, UIF for Un-Identifed Flora, and removed the vacuum sealing. Arge football sized greenish brown mushroom with white spots on the crown sat in a storage case.


    "Hmmm, what do we have here?" She hummed along to the music ying in the background and used a digital camera and snapped a few photos and then gently scraped off some silvers of the mushroom with a scraper, cing them onto a petri dish and inserted the dish into an analyzer. Next, she used a scalpel and cut out a small portion of the mushroom and ced it on to another petri dish and ced it under an imaging device.


    She turned on the device and a microscopic view of the mushroom popped up on the disy. She then cut more pieces of the shroom and ran a tox screen followed by a nutrient test, just as she was about to run the next series of tests, the analyzer beeped urgently, with red warning lights shing.


    She quickly dropped what she was doing at the moment and checked the analyzer reports, and her eyes grew wider and wider as she read the incredible results.


    "Oh my god," She quickly picked up all the pieces of mushroom she cut, and gently ced them back into the container and resealed it. She hit the inte linking to the medicalb down the hall and said, "I got a Code ck here. Requesting immediate removal of Code ck item to a safe room now!"


    She grabbed a shock and st resistance case from the room''s emergency stores and packed the storage case #UIF-112 carefully into the foam lined box and ced it into the two way bin, letting it get decontaminated inside the bin before the medical and science team members came.


    "What is it?" Dr. Sharon asked using the inte from outside the Biohazard and Containment Lab, as she and her colleagues waited for the decontamination countdown timer to finish.


    "The chemical analyzer picked uprge traces of nitroglycerin inside the sample," Apple spoke through the inte. "Theputer immediately drops a high explosive alert, and following protocol, I stopped all work on it and resealed it back and encased it in a shock and st resistance container.


    "Nitroglycerin?" Dr. Sharon asked in a surprised voice, "Are you sure?"


    Apple punched a few keys on theputer and brought up a disy. She connected the camera and erged the image of the mushroom, followed by pulling out the analyzer report putting it side by side with the image.


    "42% Nitroglycerin, 33% crude fiber and ash, 9% liquids, 5% iron, 4% phosphorus, 3% potassium, 1% sulfates and the rest will require more in-depth testing," Dr. Sharon read the report. "Oh my, where is this from?"


    "The dungeon, they sent us a sample a few days back," Alex replied, "The system is saying nitroglycerin is highly unstable, so that''s why I am calling a Code ck."


    "Got it," Dr. Sharon nodded, and turned around and ordered her people, "Ok, transport it carefully, it is highly explosive, put it in a secured cooler."


    "Alright, we will be handling this carefully," Dr. Sharon said next, "Apple, I want you to continue analyzing the Nitroshroom, but use small samples to be safe."


    "Nitro-shroom?" Apple repeated back, "I guess that is an appropriate name..."


    "Hmmm, I got to report this up higher," Dr. Sharon grinned, "I think the Marines and the Captain will be very happy to hear this news."


    -----


    Outskirts of Base Colony, Chemical Research Center


    At roughly the same time, just several kilometers away, at a secured location away from the City, a research center for the sole purpose of researching smokeless powder was constructed. It was purposely built far away from the city center to prevent idents from happening should theb explode due to the nature of the research they were working on.


    A loud explosion ripped through theb, sending the few researchers tumbling back in shock, shards of ss and stics flew everywhere, some causing cuts on the researchers despite the protective coats due to the force of the explosion.


    Spaceman Luther turn chemist researcher screamed in shock and pain, half his left hand blown off by the explosion, blood pooling underneath his hand as he kneeled on theb floor crying. His colleagues rushed to his aid, carrying a first aid kit, wrapping a bandage over his torn up left hand. "Are you alright? Luther?"


    Lutherughed and cried at the same time, cradling his hand and said, "I did it! I made gun cotton!" before his eyes rolled up and went into shock.


    "Fuck! Get him to the hospital quick! He has gone into shock!" His colleagues jab him with a tranq shot and carried him out of theb and towards the motor pool.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s office


    "Captain!" Commander Ford knocked on the opened door and entered without waiting for a reply, "We got some very good news and... bad, I guess."


    "What''s the bad news?" ke stopped his work and leaned back on his chair looking up at Ford.


    "Well, I won''t really say it is bad, just one of our amateur chemist got his hand blown off and we have a live explosive onboard the ship in ourbs." Ford said, "I am not sure of the details, Dr. Sharon said one of the samples brought in from the cave is highly explosive."


    ke eyebrows rosed, "Ok, nothing happened to both thebs?"


    "For the chemistb, just some broke equipment, and two others with minor injuries," Ford reported, "And Dr. Sharon isted the explosive sample to a secured location for testing explosives."


    ke nodded, "And the good news?"


    "Well, the chemist who got his hand blown off, found out how to make guncotton," Ford grinned, "that was what his colleagues said he said before he fainted."


    "Is that how he got his hand blown off?" ke asked, and seeing Ford nod, "Okay, I want theb to have the strictest procedure in handling dangerous material and explosives. Get Pike to go knock some heads. We are lucky, no one is dead or blows up the city."


    Ford nodded again, "Got it and one more thing, the explosive sample down thebs here, is actually some kind of shroom that has a high concentration of nitroglycerin!"


    "Wait! Guncotton and nitroglycerin are key ingredients for making smokeless powder yes?" ke shot up from his seat, excited.


    "Yes, Sir," Ford grinned, "Once we can properly extract and manufacture both ingredients, it will just be a matter of time before we sessful create a smokeless powder form."


    "Alright, make ensure safety is a priority on all thebs and research centers, have Pike or guys with explosive handling knowledge to drill in the importance of safety to those working in thebs and research centers," ke ordered and grinned, "Finally, things are looking slightly better than before!"


    Ford agreed, "Yes, it seems this month is the most peaceful month we have sincending here."


    "Well, that won''tst for long," ke sighed, "Take a look, Intel just sent this over." He turned on the office disy for Ford, showing a map with several red and yellow dots. There were also arge number of green dots scattered all over. "Red for monster attacks, while yellow for sightings of monsters."


    "The green dots represent confirmed sightings of goblin activity," ke exined.


    "Damn, that is a lot of goblin activity!" Ford did a quick count of the green dots.


    "No need to count, there is a total of 89 reports and it is climbing daily," ke said, "Not only goblins, but we also have reports of giant snakes, smanders or and dragon variant, wind wolves, giant boars, and some other creatures still not identified by the people working out in the forest and farms."


    "In a way, we get plenty of meat and animal products when the Marines kill them," ke continued, "But we only so many troops to spread around, and the next batch to graduate is still two months out."


    "Lucky, we managed to get a source of mana stones, even if it in a limited amount," ke added, "If not, it will be back to arrows and swords for the new recruits."


    "Well, we also can''t keep relying on the Marines to constantly farm the dungeon," Ford pointed out, "We will probably need to form a full-time team of hunters and gatherers to work in the dungeon."


    "Yeah and I am very interested with those potions they found in the dungeon," ke rubbed his chin, "If we can mass produce them, our medical worries will lessen a lot, at the rate of injuries people are gettingtely."


    "That''s all the excitement for today," Ford said, "I better go look for Pike."


    ke nodded and turned to the report Ford just sent him, and grinned, "That''s from Sharon?"


    "Heh, nitroshrooms..."

 Chapter 113: Falledge

    Chapter 113: Falledge


    The creaking of the wooden floor woke Tyrier up, as someone''s heavy footsteps could be heard moving up the staircase. He dug under the wyvern feather pillow and pulled out his silenced Glock and ttened himself against the wall next to the door and waited. Not long, someone knocked on his room door, "It''s me"


    Tyrier lifted the woodentch up and the door swung open and Hitsu entered and quickly closed the door behind him. "Wooo, it''s hot outside." Hitsu removed his leather armor and sword belt, cing them on the room''s table before pouring himself a drink.


    "What did you find?" Tyrier peered out of the window and while cing his pistol on safe. The sky was a beautiful purplish red as evening slowly descended over the town.


    "The whole town stinks, and I meant it literally," Hitsu finished the cup of water. "I bribed some of the town rats and cutthroats, but they tried to ambush me on my way back."


    "You dealt with it?" Tyrier sat down on his bed.


    "Yup, but we just lost some contacts from them," Hitsu fanned himself with hisrge brim hat. "But I did pick up some chatter at the local Adventurers Guild here. Seems that the Empire is offering a reward on the capture of the ex-Duke of Fallowfall."


    "Oh, that is interesting," Tyrier got up and picked up his outer garments and started to get dressed. "Anything else?"


    "Well, there are more jobs on the board for medical herbs than usual," Hitsu recalled, "Also, there are a few Empire contracts offering mercenary work for up to three months."


    "What is the job scope?" Tyrier finished dressing up, looking like some well to do merchant.


    "Mostly convoy escorting work, but the job''s at the city of Woschester," Hitsu said, "I checked with the girl at the counter and she said it will take roughly three five-days by foot or two five-days by and dragon."


    "Anyone willing to sign up earns a deposit of 10 silvers and gets a gold crown at Woschester," Hitsu continued, "What the cargo is, the girl doesn''t have any idea, but she suspects is probably military supplies. She said that the Imperials are building some kind of outpost south of here."


    Tyrier nodded, "Got it, get some food and rest, I am heading down to the gentlemen''s club to gather information."


    "Got it, Boss!" Hitsu grinned as he leaned back on the chair and stretched, "Watch your back, the streets ain''t so safe, especially at night! Damn, you get to have all the fun!"


    "Rank has its privileges!" Tyrier gave a wink and left the room, making sure Hitsutched and locked the door before heading down. He wore a finely tailored grey coat over a white spider silk shirt with high cors that were all the rage in Imperial fashion with a pair of ck breeches and knee length boots. In his left hand, he held a sword cane topped with a piece of blue mana stone and his Glock was stored in a concealed shoulder holster while he held a top hat in his right hand.


    He gave a greeting bow to the inn motherly matron who smiled back at him, and he left the inn, stepping out to the stone-paved streets of Falledge. The streetmps using glow moss gave out enough light to walk in the streets during the night, but Tyrier decided to call a carriage instead. As what Hitsu hadined earlier, the smell of the town was pretty bad. He gave a whistle to a coach parked at the side of the road and the driver quickly drove it over to him.


    He climbed up on to enclosed coach and driver closed the door, "To the Clubs and Royals," He instructed the driver who nodded and climbed to the driver seat and snapped the reins of the dragon pulling the coach. The dragon gave an annoyed snort and leaned forward, its two powerful hind legs pushing off the pavement, pulling the coach forward with a slight jerk.


    "Damn," Tyrier muttered, "I must be getting soft." He adjusted himself as the coach shook and rattle through the journey, making him think of the City of the hoomans. "Clean, no smell, smooth roads and bright." He watched the passing scenery of the Falledge through the small open window. Falledge might be called a town, but it grew almost twice its size since the war.


    Many adventurerse to Falledge due to it bordering the Uncharted forest and it was also a staging area for the Empire forces, which they also brought along their families and ves. It soon grew from a modest poption of less than 10 thousand to over 20 thousand.


    Soon the coach pulled to a stop in front of arge row of stone and brick buildings and Tyrier paid the driver. He straightened his coat and carefully stepped over a pile of dragon poo, and walked up towards the three-story tall brick building fenced in with an ornate gate. Two footmen dressed in a red uniform stood before the gates and gave Tyrier an eye over, before bowing and greeting him, opening the gate for him to enter.


    Tyrier gave a nod and strolled carefreely into the walkway of the building. "Clubs and Royals Gentlemen''s Club" was written in bold on a bronze que that was attached to a pir on the side of the main door.


    As he approached the door, a doorman greeted him politely and opened the door for him, weing him to the club. A warm glow greeted him as he entered the building, and the servant offered to take his coat for him, which he declined and the servant directed him towards the main hall. The hallway was richly decorated with paintings of war, and several monster trophies lined one side of the hallway. He walked past the trophies and paintings with just a simple nce before entering arge hall.


    Inside the hall, dozens of reclining chairs were spaced out in groups of two or four, which small round tables set next to the chairs. Puffs of smoke erupted from several upied chairs as the people smoked pipes and drank liquor. He scanned around the room before his eyesnded on a group chatting away, but he focused on the fat male in the group who was gorging away on a grilled wyvern leg.


    "Hello my friend," Tyrier strolled straight to the fatty, who paused at eating the leg, and his greasy mouth broke into a wide smile as he recognized who it was.


    "Tyrier Lodess!" The fatty put down the leg and wiped his hands and mouth while eximing in surprise and happiness, "As I live and breathe! How are you and what brings you here?"


    "Etoro Arther," Tyrier grinned, giving the big man a hug, " I am fine, it has been years since west met. How are you doing"


    "Oh, its only been 1 year, two months and... four days since west met each other," Etoro grinned. "I am doing quite well, as you can see!" He gestured his belly andughed.


    As usual, Tyrier was amazed by the mind of his fat friend, who seemed to have a memory unmatched by any other. "Yes, you are fatter than thest time I met you." Etoro had a round cheerful face with a double chin, beady eyes and a bald head, his tailored shirt wasrge enough to make a tent for two to sleep in.


    Etoroughed and pped Tyrier''s back and pulling him to join his friends, "This is Tyrier Lodess, he''s a good friend of mine for many years, we used to work together in the army before it got disbanded."


    "These are my partners in crime here," Etoro winked, and introduced the other three, "The skinny one is Lyo Yonder, next to him is Qoum Bishop, and that is Cesta ckwind."


    "The four of us form the North Star Tradingpany, a simple and modest tradepany here," Etoro proudly dered. "Wait, how did you find me?"


    "Well, I was just in town, and was looking around, and found out about you from the merchant district," Tyrier exined, he didn''t really expect to find someone he knew before, and Etoro used to be his unit''s quartermaster. "I found out that you like to hand out here, so here I am."


    Etoro gestured to Tyrier to sit down, a new chair brought over by one of the servants, "Drink? Food?"


    "I get a mulled wine," Tyrier told the servant on the side who nodded and went to fetch his order. "So how is business?"


    "Not bad, not bad," Etoro said, "What are you doing now?"


    "Oh, I working as an adventurer and problem solver now," Tyrier said, "You got a job for me?"


    "Hmmm," Etoro nced at his partners who looked back passively. "Maybe, but let''s not talk about work here! Come, drink up!" Etoro picked up his ss of wine as the servant returned with a ss of mulled wine for Tyrier.


    The night was spent with Etoro and Tyrier reminiscing about the past, exchanging funny stories during their time working together and before long, they bid farewell to each other. "Come and find me at mypany tomorrow," Etoro winked and give his address to Tyrier who assured him he will and they left.


    Returning to the inn, Hitsu opened the door and let Tyrier in, "How was it?"


    "I am meeting him tomorrow to talk business at his office," Tyrier said as he stripped off his coat and boots. "Damn, I am tired."


    "I will take the first watch," Hitsu said, while Tyrier nodded, andid down on his bed to sleep.


    The next morning, both of them had the inn deliver some water up for washing and refreshed themselves before having breakfast downstairs at the dining room. After a simple breakfast of bread, soup, and sausages, they headed separately to their own mission. Hitsu headed for the Adventurers Guild while Tyrier headed towards the address given by his friend Etoro.


    Tyrier soon stood before a store with arge bustling warehouse in the merchant district where he went up to the storefront and spoke to the clerk inside. "Hi, I am here to meet with Mr. Arther, I have an appointment with him this morning."


    "Please wait a moment... Sir?" The clerk looked at him in askance.


    "Tyrier," He replied and went to take a look around the goods offered by the store, while the clerk headed upstairs to inform someone.


    The double shelves were stacked with many different items, ranging frommon household items like cutlery and tes to traveling supplies like crystalmps and camping gear. There was even a section that offered to buy mana stones and monster materials.


    "Sir Tyrier?" The clerk appeared at Tyrier''s elbow, "The Master will see you now."


    "Master?" Tyrier gave a small smile and followed the clerk upstairs and into a door where arge desk and chair strong enough to support Etoro''s weight. The room was decorated with paintings of sailing ships and monsters, while a sofa and tea table upied a ce on the side.


    "Good morning!" Etoro cheerfully greeted Tyrier and the clerk bowed respectfully and closed the door behind him, leaving Etoro and Tyrier alone. "Take a sit," He waved Tyrier to the sofa and joined him in the opposite side. "Tea?"


    "Thank you," Tyrier said, as he settled down on the sofa and epted a cup of tea from Etoro.


    "So, what is your true purpose here?" Etoro asked while taking a sip of the hot tea. "You didn''t just coincidentally appear here, did you?"


    "Seriously, I didn''t expect you to find you here," Tyrier gave a shrug, "But since I found you, and I do need your help on somethings."


    "Like?" Etoro asked, "if it is within my means I will help you."


    "I need information," Tyrier said. "And it must be discrete."


    "What kind?" Etoro asked again, "I am not an information broker."


    "Well, I am sure you will pick up something when you do trading with other people," Tyrier said, "Or you know someone who does."


    "Well, that depends on the information you need," Etoro sipped his tea, "So what is it?"


    "I want information on all Empire troop movements around this area."

 Chapter 114: A Business Deal

    Chapter 114: A Business Deal


    "What?" Etoro sputtered out the tea he was drinking. "Are you crazy? You want me to be a... spy? Goldrose is gone, all the royal family is killed, even thest princess has gone into hiding..."


    Etoro stopped his ranting and stared intently at Tyrier, "Wait, the rebels down at the south..."


    "Shhh..." Tyrier ced a finger at his lips and smiled. "I just only want information, I am not a rebel or... loyalist here."


    "Ahh..." Etoroically covered his mouth his both his fat hands and quickly sat down again, ignoring the tea stain on his velvet silk shirt. "Sorry, I thought you were part of the rebels."


    "Well, it doesn''t matter if I am or not," Tyrier leaned front, "I just need information about the Imperials."


    "But if we get caught..." Etoro whispered, "It is not safe!"


    "I am not telling you to specifically spy on them," Tyrier changed his tactic, "I just want to know what you heard when you are out there doing trading. Stuff like rumors or sightings, as long as it is rted to the Empire troops, I would like to know."


    "But why?" Etoro countered, staring at Tyrier intently, "I doubt you are doing this just for fun!"


    "Alright, but don''t tell anyone else," Tyrier whispered, "I will have to kill you if I tell you."


    Etoro ruby face whiten when he heard that and he backed against his chair to put as much distance against the killing aura Tyrier was giving off. "Alright, I won''t ask no more!"


    "Good, cause, seriously I would hate to kill you," Tyrier released the killing aura he gave off. "Now, I am willing to pay in solid gold for any information regarding the movements of the Empire." He shook out a pooch full of gold royals onto the table courtesy of the former Duke Sturm''s war chest, captured when his army retreated.


    "I see, what I can find out," Etoro mopped his sweating head with a silk hanky, "This is a dangerous game you are ying."


    "As long as you keep it to yourself," Tyrier promised, "You will get to live long enough to enjoy life."


    "Damn, what a way to treat an old friend," Etoro grumbled, "Alright, I do what I can, but no promises! When all this is over, you owe me an exnation."


    "You got it, old friend," Tyrier grinned and finished his cup of tea. "So you got any work for a problem solver?"


    "What? You still got the cheeky to ask for work after threatening my life?" Etoro face turned red, "Argh, I wonder why am I friends with you!"


    "Hahaha, rx, that was just business and this is just me looking for work," Tyrier smiled, "Besides, there are always risks in brokering information."


    Etoro shook his head, "Alright I do have a job here, just that my partners are divided on trusting you with it, but since you dropped a hot coal on myp, I think it should be fine for you to handle it."


    Etoro leaned forward and said in a low voice, "We got a client, who let''s say is interested in bringing ves out of the Empire."


    "ves?" Tyrier raised his eyebrows, "You dealing with vers now?"


    "No, not vers," Etoro looked ufortable, "Our client wants to save the ves," He whispered, "They want to bring the ves out of the Empire but the Empire does not allow ves to be taken out of their territory, so we need to smuggle them out."


    "That''s interesting," Tyrier rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "What do you need?"


    "I will need to someone to escort them through the Uncharted Forest and out from the mountains to the sea." Etoro picked up a map from one of his shelves in the room and carefully rolled it out on the table top, "There will be a ship to pick them up."


    "Are you sure your client isn''t just taking ves here and selling them away at other ces?" Tyrier asked.


    "Yes, I am sure," Etoro nodded firmly, "One of my partners, ckwind, you saw himst night. He used to be a ve we freed, and now he is one of my guides through the Uncharted Forest."


    Tyrier gave a whistle, and leaned back on the sofa, "How long does the journey take?"


    "Give or take, a month," Etoro replied.


    "One month through the Uncharted Forest and Untamed Lands, and another month back?" Tyrier raised his eyebrows, "Through Goblin and Oerkin territory and heavens know what other monsters?"


    "How many guards and ves?" Tyrier narrowed his eyes and asked harshly.


    Etoro gave a weak smile and muttered something, which made Tyrier ask again. "How many guards?"


    "Hehe, roughly twenty?" Etoro muttered. "About a hundred ves?"


    "Twenty men escorting a hundred ves?" Tyrier asked, "You must be mad!"


    "We have done it before!" Etoro insisted, "Well, there were some casualties."


    "Of course there will be casualties!" Tyrier said, "In fact it''s suicidal!"


    "But that''s the only fastest and safest way!" Etoro stubbornly said. "Look, help me escort the freed ves out, and I do all I can to provide the information you need."


    "Let me think about it first," Tyrier said, "Are you sure there is no other ways to do this?"


    "Yes, there is a hidden cove south-east of the coast," Etoro exined, "It is deep enough for the ship to dock and hide. We can''t go southwards due to the war between the Empire and the rebels, and the only way to avoid Imperial patrols is to head south-east directly to the coast."


    "Got it. I will get back to you again," Tyrier stood up, "How long on your side to gather all the information I need?"


    "Give me a couple of days?" Etoro responded, also standing up. "Well, I look forward to you good news."


    Tyrier nodded and left Etoro''s office, and soon stepped out to the early afternoon sun. He turned and looked up to the 2nd floor, seeing Etoro watching him from the window and gave him a wave before leaving.


    Maybe we could change the freed ves route? Tyrier smiled to himself at the thought, but he needed to check in with High Command first.


    -----


    Falledge, Adventurer''s Guild


    Hitsu pushed open the doors into the high ceiling building and entered a buzz of noise and mor. He pushed his way past a couple of leather armored adventurers who wereughing over something and stood before arge notice board where dozens of parchment were pinned on the board, each listing a job or request.


    A child came up to him, "Sir, sir! Do you need help on reading the jobs? I can read and write for you! All for a silver!" The boy dressed in simple homespun stood at his elbow, pulling his sleeve for attention.


    "Tell you what," Hitsu grinned, "How about telling me about thetest news that is going on in this town?"


    "Latest news?" The boy looked at him and smiled back, "You found the right person! I know all about what is happening in this town!"


    "I give you a silver for every five news items I find worthwhile," Hitsu offered, "But if you try to give me any fake news, the deal is off."


    "One silver for two news!" The boy bargained.


    Hitsu grinned, "One silver for four."


    "THREE!" The boy counter offered.


    "Deal," HItsu ruffled the kid''s hair, making him grumble. "So what''s your name?"


    "Bill, but everyone here calls me Billy," Billy smiled, "So what do you want to know?"


    "Well, I am interested in knowing what''s going on with the Empire now," Hitsu said, bringing the kid to a quiet corner out of the hustle and bustle of the guild. "Stuff like major events urring within the Empire. Like... war."


    "Why do you want to know all that?" Billy curiously asked.


    "Well, my boss is a merchant," Hitsu lied easily, "Having information like war, famine and other things can help make or lose lots of money."


    "Makes sense," Billy nodded sagely, "Well, for one, seems like Duke Sturm lost the war with the rebels and is on the run."


    "Well, everyone knows that in this town," Hitsu replied quickly, "You need to do better than that."


    "But no one knows where he has gone!" Billy retorted back, "But I heard a rumor." He leaned forward and tried to act all secretive and failing due his age and size. Hitsu had to keep hisughter down and school his face as serious as possible as he bent down to listen. "I managed to overhear some men that came to buy some supplies that they are heading back to Fallowfall and something about a keep."


    Hitsu leaned back unimpressed with the information, "They could be anyone just on their way back to Fallowfall!"


    "Yes, but they were wearing heavy armor underneath their cloaks! I have been around adventurers to know the difference between leather armor and te mail!" Billy furiously replied, "And this." He looked around their surroundings before digging something out from his belt and cing it in front of Hitsu.


    A rectangrly shaped palm-sized bronze tokenid on the table and Hitsu picked it up, turning it over and seeing a motif of a diving dragon. "See, I know the diving dragon is the coat of arms for the Duke, I am very sure those are his men!" Billy proudly folded his arms.


    "Can I have this?" Hitsu asked, "I offer you a silver for this, and you know it is dangerous to carry it around."


    "Alright, so does that count as one?" Billy asked as he held up the silver coin with a motif of a dragon,monly known as a silver dragon and pocketed it.


    The kingdoms and nations here had been using the same coinage from their ancestralnds, the difference only being the printed surface depending on the nation or kingdom but all gold coins have a printed crown on one side, while silver coins have a dragon and copper coins have a printed shield. Even the weight and size are kept the same, making the coinage easy for trade among the nations and kingdoms in the new world.


    Hitsu nodded, "Anything else?"


    "I heard rumors that a new Imperialmander is taking over Duke Sturm, and should be arriving soon," Billy frowned in thought as he tried to recall any interesting bits of news. "His name is quite, cold sounding... think he is called... the... er the Stone?"


    "The Rock?" Hitsu asked, as his eyes narrowed.


    "Yes yes, the Rock!" Billy grinned. "That was what some of the adventurers were discussing the other day!"


    "Do you know when he will arrive?" Hitsu asked hastily.


    "I think they were saying he should be here within the month," Billy shrugged.


    "Can you try to find out more about when he will arrive?" Hitsu asked, "Of course be careful when doing that, I don''t want you to get into any trouble." He dug out another piece of silver dragon and passed to Billy. "Thanks for the information, I wille down here again tomorrow. You will be here?"


    "Of course! I am here every day!" Billy grinned, rubbing the two silver dragons in his pocket happily.


    Hitsu gave a proper look over at the kid, seeing him properly for the first time, as he was too focused on his surroundings, and said in surprise, "You are a girl?"


    "What? -no.. no!" Billy face blushed, "I am a boy!" She said fiercely. He was dressed in an oversized shirt patched many times over the years. How did he know I am a girl? She thought.


    "Well, no matter to me, but you be careful out there!'' Hitsu said, giving her another ruffle of her shortly cropped curly ginger hair. "I see you here tomorrow!"


    Billy nodded and went back to the notice board, offering to read and write for people as Hitsu quickly headed out of the guild. "Damn the Rock!" He muttered under his breath as he exited the guild, "I need to find Tyrier quick!"


    He headed towards the merchant district in a hurried pace, totally missing two pairs of eyes watching and following him from the shadows.

 Chapter 115: Officer Cadet School

    Chapter 115: Officer Cadet School


    Camp Alpha, Officer Cadet School


    Joseph Tokin, at forty-three of age, formerly Lord General of the Kingdom of Goldrose, sat in a ssroom with several other of his previous armymand, taking a ss in Advanced Infantry Tactics, learning about different types of infantry warfare, currently mentored by Major Frank.


    He and the others were all wearing the standard blue-grey multi-scale camouge uniform all the military was wearing. Everyone including him has a white bar on their shoulders, indicating they were Officer cadets. His ss went through basic military training before being fast-tracked to Officer Cadet School and went through several courses on leadership, tactics, and management.


    He heard that after the course is over, they will be split up to different branches of the military, air,nd, and sea. The hoomans didn''t treat any of his fellow cadets including him with any special treatment, regardless if they were nobles ormanders of a thousand men before. Even his title as Lord General, he wasn''t given any preference, in fact, he was expected to "muck" around with everyone.


    Luckily despite his age, he was still able to keep up with the younger ones, and of course, a strategic use of a restoration spell here and there helped a lot. But shooting with an M1 Magelock yed hell with his right shoulder, and he just barely managed to scrape by the passing score for a rifleman. "Alright, this is all for the day," Major Frank ended his lecture on infantry warfare and continued, "Read up on Sun Tze''s Art of War, this will be your homework!"


    "Attention on deck!" The cadet nearest to the door stood up and shouted, and everyone stood up and saluted Major Frank, who returned the salutes and left the ssroom.


    Arven and Rathia gathered next to Joesph''s desk and started grumbling, "Damn, I was hoping on catching on some sleep tonight, guess it will be spent on reading instead!"


    Arven Silverhand used to be a 50 man leader in the Army of Goldrose, and he was rmended to be in the Officer Cadet School after he passed out from Basic training and due to his leadership skills he disyed in the Second Battle of Sawtooth Mountain Pass. He became friends with Rathia and Joesph during the first week of orientation and stuck close to them ever since.


    Rathia Redstone, on the other hand, was Joesph''s close friend and second inmand of the remaining survivors of the Army. They been through a lot over the years and were lucky to be in the same Officer Cadet ss. "Well, it''s a very interesting read, in fact, I am amazed by the contents," Joesph said.


    "The book is said to be over 1,800 years old," Joesph added, "I doubt that we in the Goldrose, the Empire or even the whole New and Old World would allow anyone to have ess to this material!"


    Both Arven and Rathia nodded, "The hoomans also made it mandatory for all to take sses on writing and reading, I wonder how their home city looks like." Arvenmented.


    "Alright let''s go get dinner," Rathia said, "I am hungry, I heard tonight they have some ant meat!"


    Arven and Joesphughed at Rathia gluttony and they packed their stuff up and left the ssroom and headed towards the cookhouse. Along the way they saw thetest batch of Marine recruits dressed in fatigues, jogging towards the cookhouse instep. The interesting thing was that there were Oerkins mixed in among the elves.


    "If it was us before, we wouldn''t have thought that Oerkins could be made part of our kingdom," Joesph said as he watched the toon came to a halt before the cookhouse, and the men were dismissed in an orderly manner into the cookhouse, forming lines before the food section. "Now we are all part of a brotherhood."


    The trio entered the cookhouse and headed to an area marked for officers, they hanged their multi-scale camouge jockey caps at the hangers provided. The food offered was in a style called which the hoomans called it a Buffet, food set on trays wereid out over the table, heated with a small me underneath. They could choose what they want to eat and how much they want by serving themselves.


    They filled up their tes and found a seat and started to dig in, the food was foreign but goodpared to what they normally eat in the Army previous, with fried or baked potatoes with gravy, boiled carr-atoes, either wyvern meat or some other monster meat, and a side of sd greens. The menu was different every day but repeats every week.


    As they were eating, Major Frank entered the cookhouse and joined them at their table, his te piled with steaming gravy, potatoes, and meat. "How are you guys doing?"


    The trio nearly shot up from their seats to salute Frank, who grinned, saying "No ranks in the mess."


    Joseph grinned, their time as trainees and recruits had ingrained into them a sense of wanting to greet any officer by saluting or standing at attention. "Sir, we are doing fine."


    Frank continued smiling digging into his food, "Good, you guys will graduate soon, God knows how desperately I need more officers!"


    "Sir, why are we not sent to the Pass when the Empire attacked?" Rathia asked. It was a sore point between him and Arven who had at least fought in the first week of the battle, before getting pulled out to Officer Cadet School.


    "Simple, you guys are not ready yet," Frank bluntly said. "Until you are fully trained to lead inbat, then yes, you guys will be assigned to take overpanies."


    "But we have many years of experience in soldiering!" Rathia pushed.


    "Arven, enough! I am sure the hoomans have their reasons for everything," Joseph stepped in, cutting Rathia off.


    "It''s ok, we do teach you all to think for yourselves," Frank smiled, "First of all, what you all know aboutbat involves cold steel tactics and magic." He exined patiently, "What you know then of modern warfare tactics is just what you have seen."


    ''That''s why we are drilling and teaching you all how to fight with modern weapons against an enemy with cold steel weapons and also the possibility of the enemy having firearms of their own." Frank continued, his small talk had gathered the attention of all the Officer Cadets who were having dinner.


    "Until you have graduated, you are still Cadets," Frank said, "Until then, you will not be risked at livebat situations till you all have being deemed ready to lead men, despite most of you were already leaders in your own right."


    "Sir, so you mean that we are not ready for this war yet?" Someone asked.


    "Yes, look at all the tactics and weapons the Marines are equipped," Frank said, "As officers, you need to know how each weapon works and make split-second decisions. War is no longer taking hours and hours, you don''t have messengers running here and there to ry messages nor do you rely on signal gs. We have to set the highest standard for you guys, so as to set the ''bar'' for the next batch of Officer Cadets. You guys will be teaching or leading by example for future generations toe."


    "Even then, we are still learning new ways of warfare," Frank admitted, "Like incorporating magic into the ranks, as it could change overall battlefield tactics and results."


    The cadets nodded and returned to their seats while they digested both food and thoughts of the speech given by Major Frank.


    -----


    Camp Alpha, Training Area C, Shoot House


    "Go go go!" The recruit acting sergeant yelled, as his section stacked up against the wooden structure''s door. The leading door breacher, fired his breaching shotgun off the hinges and the lock, while his number two, an Oerkin who kicked the door down and lobbed a blue training shbang, which the men counted down from three to one and yelled, "Exploded!" before entering the building.


    Mills stood on the top of a raised tform, overseeing the exercise. The shoot house was built like a maze, without a roof, allowing observers to watch what is happening inside. Other than Mills, other sections of the training toon stood on the tform too, watching the action going on. Cracks of thunder echoed out of the house as the Marine recruit section stormed into the house, clearing the rooms and corridors one by one.


    Dozens of dirt golems charged towards the recruits they entered rooms, the golems were conjured up as target practice by Irisval who was also at Camp Alpha learning on how to be abat engineer.


    The golems made out of soil and dirt, exploded to bits when hit by the 6.5mm rounds, but some unlucky recruits which did not check their corners had the golems punching them, the soft dirt only knocking them down and not dealing any serious damage.


    Soon the whole recruit section who breached the building was surrounded by the golems and carried out, Mills shook his head at the section''s performance and blew a whistle, before sending a mentalmand onto the bronze te which controlled the golems, telling them to stand down.


    "That was pathetic!" Mills greeted the panting men and orcs on the entrance of shoot house. "My grandma can do better than you!"


    "Recruit Slow!" Mills barked, "I told you to take three steps in and crouch!" He pointed at the orc squatting on the grass. "Do you know what is three?" Mills held up three fingers, "One, two, THREE!"


    "Erm, gotcha, Corporal!" The orc named Slow replied, rubbing his head. "Three steps and knee down."


    "Than why in the hell did you not?" Mills cursed, "You are freaking huge! You not crouching, effectively blocks the whole section behind you! By doing so, no one other than you can open fire!"


    "That is how you guys got swarmed!" Mills exined, "Now we will be doing the run again! I expect to see you take THREE FUCKING STEPS and crouch down! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME RECRUIT SLOW?"


    "Erm, yes, Corporal!" Recruit Slow nodded, his helmeted head bobbing up and down.


    "Alright, show me what you got, or I swear to the gods, you guys will keep redoing this run till I am satisfied!" Mills growled at the recruits before turning to the rest on the viewing gallery, "You guys up there better pay attention too and don''t screw up!"


    The section quickly gathered up and checked their weapons and gear before heading to the starting point. Mills returned back to his vantage point and looked at his watch, and blew the whistle, signaling the start of the exercise again while mentallymanding the golems to be on guard.


    Pike carried up the tform and stood beside Mills, "How are they doing with the training so far?"


    "They are pretty tough, Top" Mills sighed, "But the Orcs are either mathematically challenged or just naturally dumb. Other than that, they can shoot pretty well and really adapt to modern tactics pretty well and heavy weaponry."


    Pike nodded, "Well, that''s the gist of training. We keep drilling them till it is ingrained in their muscle memory." Pike said. "Since the dungeon run, we need a Standard Operating Procedure or SOP on clearing dungeons."


    "Heard it was pretty exciting thou," Mills grinned, "Actually I would wanna be posted to the Airforce! I want me a dragon!"


    "In your dreams, Marine," Pike shook his head, "We need more boots on the ground than in the air now."


    "Well, sooner orter, we will need some Marine close in air support," Mills continued to argue, "What''s better than a 40-ton dragon that breathes fire?"


    "Train your men, Marine," Pike rolled his eyes, "Get the new batch of recruited trained and ready than we see."


    "You got it, Top!" Mills rubbed his hands in glee before returning his attention to the action below, "WHAT THE FUCK RECRUIT SLOW?"


    "THREE FUCKING STEPS! NOT ONE NOT TWO BUT THREE FUCKING STEPS!"

 Chapter 116: First Aerial Prototype

    Chapter 116: First Aerial Prototype


    Falledge, Merchant District


    Hitsu stood next to a statue of wind wolf, waiting for Tyrier to appear at the za next to the main street that led into the Merchant District, tapping his feet impatiently as he waited. The za was filled with people and races of all kinds. from therge greenish Oerkins to the stout and short dwarves, there were even a few mixed breeds in the crowd.


    Finally, after like an eternity, Hitsu spotted Tyrier in his top hat, coat, and cane, strolling out of the Merchant District. As he was able to approach Tyrier, Hitsu spotted some movement at the corner of his eye, and when he turned to look, a couple of shadowy figures ducked out of sight into an alley.


    "Damn, was I followed?" Hitsu muttered to himself, "I was careless!"


    Tyrier spotted Hitsu at the statue of the wolf and strolled up to him, "What''s up?"


    "I got some important news and also I seemed to have picked up some rats," Hitsu wagged his eyebrows to the direction of the alley were his followers had ducked into.


    "Empire or?" Tyrier asked, his eye narrowed and he gripped his cane tightly.


    "I think its local thieves," Hitsu gave a shrug, "I think offed a couple of them the other day."


    "Well, it seems its still too early for lunch yet," Tyrier nced up at the sky and grinned, "I could do with some exercise."


    "Then let''s do it," Hitsu grinned too, jerking his head towards the alley.


    As the two of them entered the alleyway, the smell of sewage grew stronger and sounds of the bustling crowd disappeared. "Come on out, I know you are there," Hitsu spoke out, his hand on his scabbard.


    Two figures detached themselves from the shadows and stood before Hitsu and Tyrier while another two more figures appeared behind them, blocking off their exit route. "Well, well well," A third figure appeared in front of them and said, "Fancy that, walking right into myp."


    The person who spoke was a slim looking elf with shifty eyes and a sharp angr face. He wore a jacket with long tail coats and trousers with knee-length boots and held an ornately carved staff. On his head, a simr top hat to what Tyrier was wearing, rested in a fashionable angle.


    "Capias Kane," Hitsu spat, "So, what do you want?"


    "Oh well, a few of my boys went missing the other day," Kane looked at his nails and buffed them against his coat. "I was wondering if you knew anything at all."


    "Those?" Hitsu raised an eyebrow, "They tried to double cross me, epted my money and attempted to rob meter."


    "I see, but it is bad for my reputation if I allow anyone to off my boys," Kane said, his eyes narrowing. "This is the price you have to pay. Take them, boys!"


    His four henchmen stood forward, drawing short swords and wicked looking knives, surrounding the two ymore One members. Tyrier gave a shrug and turned to the rear, facing the two at the back while Hitsu deals with the two in front.


    The two henchmen rushed forward, stabbing towards Hitsu, who eyed the speed of the attack with contempt. He easy sidesteps the first stab and punches out with his leather glove protected right fist, catching the henchman in the jaw, shocking his brain and knocking him out with a single punch.


    The other henchman hacked his sword at Hitsu who after giving a punch he gave the first henchman, did a round horse kick using his body momentum, the back of his left heel hitting the face of the henchman, breaking his jaw and sending a couple of teeth flying out.


    Tyrier blocked the thrust of one of the enemies at the rear, and countered with a backhanded whip of his cane, drawing a mark across the man''s face and sending him scrambling back crying with pain. He then smacked the second henchman with his cane on his sword arm, breaking bones, and stab hard with the cane''s tip in the abdomen, causing the henchman to vomit bile out.


    Kane stood ashen-faced as he watched four of his men get taken out easily. "Whoa, easy there!" He quickly backed off into the alley, "I was just joking around!"


    "Uphold your end of the deal," Hitsu said, "Or end up worst, don''t worry, we know where to find you." And the two of them left behind the moans and groans of pain in the alley.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Marine Support Base


    The nine cylinder air cooled radial engine roared as it pushed the bi-wing prototype out of the hanger and onto the stretch of newly built runway. Spectators lined the sides of the runway with both medical and fire services on standby as they watched the first test flight of the YF-1 Cobra, YF meaning prototype fighter.


    Flight Lieutenant Peter sat at the rear of the tandem cockpit as the pilot with a navigator/gunner in front of him, crewed by test pilot Third Sergeant Legos Stilva from the newly formed Airforce. Both of them wore modern parachutes just in case of any failure, they were to ditch the ne and eject out.


    Despite many disapprovals from High Command and Commander Tommy, Peter forced his way to be the test pilot of the Cobra, ignoring the risks it may bring to him and the rest of the crew, using the argument that, other than he as Tommy was themander of the Airforce, no one else has actual piloting experience who could fly the ne and provide feedback andments on the ne''s performance.


    Peter pushed the controls and the ne responded eagerly to hismands, rolling to the middle of the runway. The two seater fighter bomber prototype designated YF-1 Cobra, retained several features and looks from the original Aircon DH 2 despite many changes made to the design. The bi wings were spaced slightly further away from each other to reduce aerodynamic interference between the two nes and ps were installed.


    The engine used was a 9 cylinder radial engine pushing an output of 220 horsepower and the design of the aircraft hull and wings was streamlined, the cockpit was enclosed and in tandem rather than open, making the aircraft look more sleek and deadly like a dart.


    "Cobra One to Eagle Nest, do you copy?" Peter radioed the control tower that was built in parallel to the runway. "Cobra One is all green, ready to take off."


    "Eagle Nest to Cobra One, you are cleared for taking off, God speed over!" The control tower responded. "You better not crash my ne!"


    Peter grinned as he recognized the voice belonging to Tommy, "Roger that, Eagle Nest, save some champagne for me when we get back! Cobra Oneunching!"


    He pushed the throttle up slowly to 50%, building up Revolutions Per Minute or RPM while engaging the brakes and setting his ps on takeoff mode. The howl of the engine rose and he checked the red and white g at the side of the runway for the direction and strength of the crosswind. He released the brakes and pushed the throttle up to 75%, getting more speed for taking off, and slowly pushed it to the max, and the ne leaped forward, reaching speeds of 100 km per hour and the tail started to lift off the ground.


    Peter pulled the control stick up gently, and the ne wheels left the grounds, and he reduced the throttle slightly, to prevent the engine from overheating. His altitude meter showed him climbing slowly from 40 meters... 70 meters and finally at 150 meters, he pulled the stick back and looped the ne towards the airfield, both he and his co-pilot whooping in joy.


    "Cobra One to Eagle Nest, we have lifted off, so far so good," Peter radioed back, as he tilted the ne in a gentle curve. "She''s flying fine!"


    "Eagle Nest, roger that, proceed with the test flight, over"


    "Cobra One, Wilco, out." Peter finished his report and engaged the internalms, "Hey, Legos, how are you doing up there?"


    "Great! The view is very nice," Came back the reply.


    "Alright, we are going for the testing objectives," Peter said back, "You ready?"


    "Got it, head south-southeast," Legos read from his map chart that was secured to his left thigh, "at our current speed, we will be over the objective in 10 minutes."


    "Wilco," Peter replied as he piloted the ne towards the testing grounds.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Marine Support Base, Air Traffic Control


    Captain ke stood in a spacious tower with clear ss surrounding all sides of the wall, overlooking a long airstrip and dozens of tiny hills, each housing a concrete hangar, covered with soil and grass, providing both protection and camouge from the air.


    He watched one of the disy screens installed from the dwindling stocks of disys onboard UNS Singapore, showing the bine performing several twists and turns, the live video captured by a hovering UAV.


    "So far so good," Commander Tommy said next to ke. "A few more trials and we can go into mass production."


    ke nodded, "We need to start production as soon as possible, and also have pilots trained and ready within a month''s time."


    Tommy raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Why the rush?"


    "Well, a few days ago, we received intel that a new Imperial Commander is on his way over, most likely to take overmand of the Empire forces here," ke replied in a low voice, not wanting the Air Traffic controllers to hear anything.


    "If the Intel is correct, we will be facing anotherrge-scale attack from a more experienced general," ke continued, "I would like to be more prepared this time, especially now we are fine-tuning our smokeless gunpowder."


    Tommy nodded, "I will do what I can to teach the pilot cadets as much as I could."


    "Luckily most of the aircraft is made out wood, glue, modern and magical bonding techniques," ke said, "The native glue made from the ever blue trees'' sap works like aircraft dope, making the hull and wings airtight and weatherproof when dried and set."


    "Seriously, I don''t even understand how half of all these works," ke admitted, "Ford just says its magic just to exin it all."


    Tommyughed, "Well Sir, frankly, I also don''t know how everything works either! My techs just tell me everything is being held up by duct tape and magic."


    "Seriously, I will require a lot from you and your pilots," ke said, "If we can establish air superiority early, this war is half won."


    "Intel is studying both supply and invasion routes to the surroundings of Sawtooth Pass, and also the nearby towns, viges, and cities." ke continued, "Once Intel has pinpointed all important locations, your boys will fly in and bomb the shit out of them."


    "I heard there is a new ordnance research division up?" Tommy asked.


    "Yes, I ced my missile and main gun weapon techs with Top advising under one roof," ke replied. "They came out with the fuel-air mix for the 70 mm rockets."


    "I have them working on a 100 kg general purpose unguided bomb and a 250 kg version," ke grinned, "It will be used on both soft and hard targets."


    "Nice!" Tommy grinned, "Can''t wait to test them!"


    "Other than bombs, the Ordnance Research Divison is also working on a 20 mm gun design," ke said, "It should be more than enough against a heavyweight dragon."


    "Sirs!" One of the flight controllers yelled, causing both ke and Tommy to stop their conversation and look at what the problem is.


    The whole team of flight controllers stood gawking and pointed to the disy, as the image showed the tiny ne dropping out of control from the sky and a couple of parachutes popped up secondster, while the ne pummelled into the ground turning into scrap.


    "Ah damn," ke cursed, "Back to the drawing board again."

 Chapter 117: Gunpowder

    Chapter 117: Gunpowder


    "Ahh... fuck..." Flight Lieutenant Peter gripped the parachute controls as he floated down, his chute deploying automatically. A second white chute was drifting down following the wind, meant that Flight Sergeant Legos had also safety ejected from the dead ne. "Tommy is gonna tear me a new one for ruining his ne..."


    He had tried a tricky maneuver, going vertically up and dropping all power, letting the ne free fall down before bringing the throttle up. He nearly seeds, the ne slowly responding to his controls, but it pushed the engine beyond its limits and started to overheat, red warning lights lit up and the engine died, sending the ne into a t spin.


    Immediately he yelled for Legos to eject, and pulled the release for the canopy where explosive bolts blew the canopy away and he waited till Legos to eject out before he pulled his own ejection bar.


    As he floated down, a couple of jeeps with red and blue lights shed and raced towards theirnding locations, while another jeep and a red half track headed to the crashed ne were thick smoke was brewing out, most likely the red fire truck was going to put out the fire.


    The ground soon reared up towards Peter and remembering his training, he red the parachute and kept his knees bent andnded, his momentum making him running a few paces before he came to a stop.


    Almost a hundred meters away, Legos alsonded, but with more grace than him who gave a thumbs up to indicate he was alright, after which he started to collect the parachute.


    One of the jeeps screeched to a halt next to Peter while the other jeep headed to where Legos hadnded. "Any injuries?" One of the elves asked, his armband had a red cross.


    "I''m unhurt, just my ego is injured," Peter gave a sigh as he rolled up his parachute. "Gonna be a hell of a report to write when I get back."


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Marine Support Base, CO office


    Peter and Legos stood at attention, having a day to recover from their mishap, in front of Commander Tommy''s desk. Captain ke sat at one of the chairs, facing the two pilots, watching them sweat.


    "So from your report, you tried to pull a stunt, going 90 degrees vertical and t dropping down into a dive, but was unable to recover cause the engine stalled?" Tommy asked sternly.


    "Yes, Sir!" Peter responded. "As per instructions on the test run, I managed to find a way on how the engine will overheat and stall, Sir!"


    ke gave a bark ofughter. "Damn this kid is good."


    Tommy''s face turned red, "Goddamn it Peter, you knew that this is a prototype and maneuvers like that, especially on a pusher configuration, the engine will stall!"


    "Now you just cost us weeks and months of research and material losses!" Tommy scolded, "You are lucky the Captain did want to write you up on charges of recklessness and destruction of government property!"


    "Calm down, Tommy," ke said, "Good thing is both pilots are fine, we can always build another ne, it is also the purpose of the trial flights to find issues and problems before mass production."


    "Dismissed!" Tommy said, waving the two out of his office, who both gave a salute and retreated rapidly out.


    "Well, at least we know pushing the engine too hard will cause it to overheat and stall," ke said. "Guess we need a cont for the engine."


    Tommy nodded, "That''s an issue with pusher engine configurations, it doesn''t get cooled as much as a pull configuration engines as the propellers cool the engines."


    "I think the next gen aircraft design will be a traditional engine mounted forward," ke sighed, "New monone designs for faster speeds in the future once we have enough materials to construct them, but we reallycking the skill sets and knowledge on building a proper aerodynamic frame."


    "Luckily we have a couple more airframes on standby, except we are not using carbon fiber for the struts and supports, but with wood," Tommy said. "We don''t have that must stock of carbon fiber, nor do we have the capability to produce more."


    Tommy mentally calcted and said, "My guys will be able to assemble up the remaining two airframes in a day. As for the crashed bird, maybe the engine and cockpit could still be salvaged, but the airframe, wings, and tail are totaled."


    "We can rebuild it, but it will take a week or so," Tommy added, "At least, a basic flight can be achieved with the prototypes. I could get the recruits to start doing practice takeoffs andndings first."


    The current cadre of trainee pilots was drawn from volunteers from both elves and humans. Some of the crew members had experience in flying hover cars and ultralights as hobbies when on Earth. They applied to be part of the Airforce when they heard that pilot positions were opened. Now, after everyone passed the basic entry requirements, which out of 200 over applications, less than 60 passed. They went through a daily rigorous training both physically and mentality, as they require a fit and strong body to resist against G-forces, and also the ability to handle stress while making split-second decisions while under fire.


    "Once the other two prototype frames are fitted with the engines, I will start the men on the basics, once they are ready, they will be doing actual flying," Tommy said, "So far all they were doing is just simted flying and lessons on tactics and formations."


    ke nodded, "Do it but do it with safety in mind. I don''t wanna lose both men and machines to careless mistakes."


    "You got it, Boss!" Tommy replied.


    -----


    1 km East of Base Colony, Ordnance Research Divison Facility


    The temperature in the processing room was kept at a cool elven Degree Celsius, and a pressing machine sat next to a hopper of chopped greenish yellow shrooms. A conveyor belt system carried the cut shrooms over to the presser, which gently applied enough pressure to squeeze out a thick, colorless, oily substance, which was then passed through a strainer and filter and collected into a container which was cooled to a constant five Degree Celsius. The collected nitroglyence was then stored in a freezer, only to be taken out when required.


    The nitroshrooms were harvested from the first level of the dungeon carefully, and its spores collected. A program had begun to cultivate the shrooms outside of the dungeon had started and the results are unknown yet if it will be sessful or not.


    In another site, pulp made from fibrous grass harvested from the ins were soaked in a mixture of nitric and sulphuric solution, after which was washed and dried. The process is then repeated a few times before gun cotton or nitrocellulose is created.


    The highly mmablepound was also stored in a temperature and shock resistance environment. Bothpounds were then gtinised with a ratio of 65% nitrocellouse and 30% nitroglyense with 5% resin jelly from the sap of the native ever blue trees, forming into spaghetti like sticks.


    The experimental smokeless powder was three times more powerful than the current ck powder form used and has a tter trajectory. The current rifle cartridge cases could be shortened, reducing weight and allowing morepact weapons, smaller caliber and more ammunition to be carried.


    The ordinance team was ecstatic over the development of the new propent, especially Luther who almost lost half his hand from an idental explosion when he discovered guncotton. But despite the discovery of the form of smokeless powder, they still did not have any sess ining out with a primer for use, so the military still has to use fire runes on mana stones as primers and fuses.


    News of the sess of creating a smokeless propent had Master Sergeant Pike heading to the Ordnance Research Facility in a rush. He cradled arge and heavy object, wrapped in oilskins and forced his way through security and into the facility.


    The ordnance design team was called to gather at one of the conference rooms and when they arrived, they found a clearly over excited Pike pacing impatiently at the head of the table waiting for them and arge package rested on the table top.


    "All here?" Pike asked as the team piled in. "I heard you guys had seed in making a smokeless propent, yes?"


    The team nodded as one, and Pike''s face broke into a rare smile, surprising the whole team. He went to the package on the table and started to unwrap the oilskins, revealing a weapon that clearly looks like a machine gun.


    A single long barrel with a perforated shroud covering the barrel with a folded back bipod was attached to a boxy body that ended with a pistol grip and solid wooden stock. Pike pushed the release sp on the top side of the machine gun and lifted up the top cover and disying the belt fed system. A simple iron sight was just a notched ''V'' sight mounted to a post on the rear and a single leaf de at the front of the barrel.


    Pike next unrolled a metallic linked ammunition belt from a bag and ced it next to the machine gun. "A new design I came out with recently. I had the fabricators worked on it first, that''s why I have this here."


    "It''s chambered for our current 6.5 mm rounds, and I ran a couple of hundred of rounds through it already," Pike proudly show off his new weapon. "But with ck powder, it clogs up the internal mechanism after less than a dozen rounds."


    He points to the ammunition belt and said, "That''s a non-disintegrating metallic link ammo belt of 50 rounds. Since I heard you guys managed toe out with a new propent, I need a new 6.5 mm cartridge capable of allowing this weapon to find over a thousand rounds without jamming."


    The team started a rowdy discussion among themselves as theypared ballistic data. "Top, your machine gun might have to be remodeled." One of the Ordnance guys said.


    "The current ck powder 6.5 mm cartridge case is 75mm long holding a charge of 90 grains or 5.9 grams of ck powder." The tech exined, "The charge is just enough to propel the bullet at over 650 m/s."


    "But our new propent is almost three times more powerful and effective than the ck powder form we are using now," the tech said. "We need to cut down the cartridge length, or risk overpressure which can blow up the cartridges inside the chamber and damaging the bolt and receiver and it will also increase wear and tear of internal parts of any weapon greatly."


    "Give us some time to y around with propent loads," Luther with the damaged hand said. "Once we got the science nailed down, we can design a new cartridge out based on the ballistic data."


    Pike nodded, "I leave this here, I still got a 20 mm autocannon to design out, so I need you guys to help on that too."


    The team nodded eagerly, crowding around the machine gun and checking it out while discussing what is the best way for the ammo to be.


    "Oh ya, since you guys have new explosives to work with, I expect a new mortar bomb to be recing our current ck powder ones?" Pike added just before he left the room, making everyone groan. "And tracers too before I forget, thanks!"


    "New ammunition design and mortar bombs for Top and the Captain wants improved rockets, a 100 kg bomb, and a 250 kg bomb, Luther grinned, holding up his wounded hand and rubbing it tenderly which he is supposed to have an appointment with the Doc to fix his hand.


    "Life is getting more exciting here!"

 Chapter 118: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

    Chapter 118: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)


    The sky turned dark and gloomy as smoking trails of fire streaked across the sky, exploding into small mushroom clouds as they impacted the surface. Mills gripped his M1 Magelock and looked up in horror at the hundreds and thousands of burning spores crashnded down from space.


    He yelled to his men to make ready, while he readied his rifle, but to his surprise, there wasn''t anyone replying to him. He turned around to check on his men, only to find several Swarm warrior drones feasting on the torn bits of elves and humans parts. Mills screamed, firing his Magelock from his hip, the heavy round barely scratching the thick carapace of the lead Swarm warrior drone.


    His actions caused all the Swarm warriors to turn their eyeless heads towards him and their saw-toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth gaping open and screaming an alien cry, before lunging towards him with their many limbs.


    A thunderous roar of rage erupted overhead, and a heavyweight dragon pped its massive wings rapidly, holding it huge muscled body hoving over Mills, its shadow blotting out the dim sunlight in the sky, and in its great front limbs, it held on to a massive Gatling gun which Mills subconsciously recognized it as a 30 mm General Electric GAU-8/S Super Avenger, an ancient design over a hundred years old, except for changes on its ammunition and material upgrades, it was still in service with the United Nations of Man''s military due to its overwhelming firepower.


    The ammunition feed was looped over the dragon''s chest like an old 2D picture action war movie, the ammunition feed ending at the huge ammo drum slung over the back of the dragon''s chest. The dragon which Mills recognized as Blue Thunder strangely wearing a dark blue beret, reared its head back and sted a ball of fire into the cluster of Swarm warriors in front of Mills, turning them into charcoal. Mills cheered, "Go fuck them up!"


    Blue Thunder probably hearing Mills''s suggestion, beat his wings even faster and tilted his body upright while the GAU-8/S in his arms was aimed at a huge dark horde of approaching Swarm warriors and he pulled the trigger with his wed finger.


    An eardrum bursting ripping fire exploded out from the muzzle of the seven barrelled gatling gun, spewing a mix of 30 mm armor-piercing incendiary and high explosive incendiary rounds at a rate of 3,900 rounds per minute torn into the mass of aliens, turning them into bloody chunks of meat and ichor. The powerful recoil forced Blue Thunder backward, as he furiously pped his wings to keep steady. The spent cartridges were recycled back via the double feed system and into the ammo drum.


    "Holy fuck!" Mills cried out in joy as he watched the mass of Swarm warriors get cut down by theser-like gunfire. "I am touching my self, tonight!"


    He sat down next to the sandbag barrier and watched the light show when suddenly a shadow loomed over him, "Ah fuck," He looked up and saw a funnel-like mouth full of teeth stretching over his face. "FUCK YOU!"


    Mills yelled and felt something smack him hard on his back, he jerked up and found himself lying face up, having fallen off his bed and staring at the spinning fan on the ceiling and Bartley looking down sleepily from the top bunk at him and asking, "New trend?"


    "Fuck me, that felt real!" Mills groaned as he pulled his legs off his bed and sat on the floor, rubbing a bruise forming on his back. "I had a damn realistic dream there."


    "Nightmare?" Bartley rolled back onto his bed and asked.


    "Yea, sort of, dreamt about the Swarm but it had dragons with fucking Gatling guns!" Mills grinned as he recalled the nice parts of his dream.


    "You been watching too much anime and movies," Bartley''s voice drifted down from the top bunk, "It''ste, get some more sleep. Night."


    "Damn, I need to drop a suggestion to the Airforce for having dragons with fucking gatling guns!"


    -----


    Seacliff Mines, Dungeon Level 1


    Sergeant James sat on a stone outcrop and carefully stripped his M2 Magespitter into their individual parts. He started cleaning the barrel and the bolt of his weapon, while others in his toon did the same.


    The 1st Battalion, Alpha Company, toon 2 was involved with clearing the dungeon for the week. They have found out that, allowing the dungeon monsters to recuperate for a week or more, allowed a more optimal amount of resources to be harvested.


    If they went in right after the monsters respawned, the quality and quantity will beckingpared to a weekter, the monsters'' quality and quantity will double. Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn''s theory is that the newly respawned creatures are at level 0, like in a video game, they have not gained any XP. Allowing the dungeon ecosystem to run its course over a week or more, the monsters will gain XP and level up, thus increase their quality.


    That was why when they first explored the dungeon, a supposed cake walk, turned out to be way much harder due to the monsters inside had decades to increase their levels. If the Spider Ants and Sand Scorpion did not have a max growth cap, the exploration would have been even deadlier for them.


    Alpha Company, 2nd toon had easily mopped up the Spider Ants and its Queen, and even the Sand Scorpions, but they did not find any champions rated monsters. There wasn''t any new treasure as they do not respawn, and even the Spider Ant''s nest looked emptier than the first time James was here.


    Several Marines carefully cut away the bundles of raw silk cocoons and stacked them onto a pile for transportation out of the dungeon. The door to the next levelid against the ''throne'' of the Queen, which carcass was like a third smaller than the Queen, James and his team previously defeated.


    After an hourter, the men of toon 2 had rested and resupplied, stood before therge double doors. James nodded to one of the Section Leaders who gestured his section to form up next to the door. Other Section leaders also arranged their men behind cover and aimed their weapons at the door as it was opened.


    A flight of stairs made out of stone lead downwards into a hallway where another double door stood. A couple of support techs started unspooling a coil of cables down, ensuring that the cables are able to slip under the doors by digging a small trench, allowing the cables toy inside.


    The techs buried the cables in concrete, to prevent any monsters from chewing or destroying the power andmunication lines and attachedmps andms array onto the ceiling walls. The whole toon stood around on guard as the techs worked and finally when they were done, James tested thems and WIFI signal, ensuring all is properly working before getting the toon to advance to the next step, which is entering Level 2.


    The double doors swung open, and beams of light prated the darkness, disying arge hall filled with pirs and doors leading elsewhere. "Set up security, ensure no hostiles in the room," James ordered and toon 2 spread out into the pired hall.


    There were nine massive stone pirs on each side with carvings of dragons, griffins, some giant birds and other mystical creatures expertly cut into the stone. James stood before a pir and nced up, it was at least three stories tall and the thickness would require three man holding hands to hug the pir.


    "Clear right!"


    "Clear left!"


    "All Clear! Room Secured!"


    "Sarge! We got 2 doors on each side of the hall, no hostiles reported," Section 1 Leader Corporal Tells reported.


    "Get toon 3 to set up shop here and the techs to wire up the ce," Jamesmanded, "Once toon 3 is here doing security, we will take a look at door number one." James pointed to the leftmost door on the left wall.


    Not long, toon 3 appeared, carrying cases of ammunition, rations, water, medical.ms and sensor gear down. Several techs appeared and started to wire the ce up for lights and sound. Sergeant Collins grinned as he joined James looking around, "Wow, this is like some Indiana Jones shit we watched the other day, yea?"


    The Marines started deploying spotlights which lit up the hall and the massive pirs cast sharp shadows against the stone walls. "I feel like a grave robber or some viin like the movies who is uncovering some super ancient weapon," James replied to Collins, gesturing with his hands.


    "Hahaha, tell you something," Collins patted James''s armored shoulder, "I always dreamt of digging up or exploring some dark dungeon in hopes of finding a treasure or some sort."


    "Well, it''s good if its treasure," James muttered, "I don''t wanna dig up some crazed mad god or demon."


    "That will be bad right?" Collins''s mood turned serious, "Damn. You wet nket."


    "Heh," James grinned at his friend''s serious face, "Well, let''s pray we don''t."


    "Be careful out there," Collins warned, "I got your back here, any shit, just call and we will be there to pull your ass out of the fire."


    "Sure," James nodded, "Don''t bete!" He walked towards his men, called for them to gather up.


    "Alright, toon 3 is here, they will be in charge of holding the fort here," James briefed his men. "We will do this as we had trained, make sure to check all corners including the ceiling. Ready?"


    "ALWAYS READY! HORAAH!" The men chorused, their morale up.


    "Ok, let''s go, Section 1 up first, then 2 and so on," James ordered as the men arranged themselves and formed up before the first door. "Ready? Go!"


    The leading point man tested the door and found no resistance, and pushed the door open gently, his weapon up and ready. Private Geen stepped into the doorway, his shotgun aimed left and right, the lights showing a corridor that ended in a right turn.


    The whole ce is covered with stone tiles, and roots dangled from the stone ceiling through the cracks. A cold and damp feel washed over Geen as he stepped on the moss-covered stone tiles. Unlike the dungeon level above, there wasn''t any glow moss in this ce. Geen''s section 1 followed several steps behind him as they advanced deeper.


    Geen quickstepped around the corner and came face to face with a giant brown scaled lizard which reared up in surprise at the blinding lights. The lizard hade to investigate the sudden light sources and just as it was about to round the corner, something ring blinded it.


    Geen yelled in surprised as the startled lizard spit out its tongue wildly in panic, the lizard''s extendable tongue impacted against the wall behind Geen which cracked audibly and Geen squeezed the trigger of his shotgun in reflex.


    Seven lead balls mmed directly at the lizard''s exposed chest, the force tearing the soft underbelly skin, and lizard blood and bits exploded out, showering the walls with blood and gore. Geen yelled in pain this time as some fluid from the lizard sshed onto him, the fluid started smoking and eating into his armor and skin.


    He yelped as he tried to pat away the smoking acid on his armor. He dropped his smoking shotgun, the barrel starting to deform as some droplets hadnded on the barrel, melting the metal. His section mates rushed over, and helped him out of his smoking armor and using water to try to wash the acidic substance away while other provide security cover.


    "What the fuck is that?" James came up next to the dead lizard the size of a horse. It had two thin crests of bone on the top of its head and what looks like a frill or grills on the side of its head. It had two short arms with ws and powerful looking hind legs and tail. The acidic substance leaking from the torn chest area was smoking and eating slowing into the rock surface and giving off a pungent sour smell.


    "That looks like some freaking dinosaur..."

 Chapter 119: Level 2

    Chapter 119: Level 2


    The lizard bent its hind legs, muscles tightening as it prepared tounch itself out of cover at the prey approaching it. Its skin tone mimicking the surrounding rock walls, blending it almost perfectly against the background. It dipped its head ever slowly, eyes staring hungrily at the prey standing meters away.


    A sudden loud crack and the lizard stiffened, a part of its head blown cleanly away and toppled backward with hardly a sound on to its side as it died convulsing.


    "Damn, those lizards are hard to spot!" Private Tinoth of Alpha Company, toon 1, Section 2 muttered. He turned off the infra sensor and used his still warm M1 rifle muzzle to push his all-purpose vision goggles up,


    He went up to the twitching body to ensure the creature is dead but waving an all clear to the rest of his section waiting behind. "Scratched one lizard." He reported to his Section Leader.


    "Any traps or hidden stuff?" His Section Leader asked, joining him next to the dead lizard, where the section appointed ''butcher'' was doing the grisly work of removing the mana stone.


    "Only this here, nothing else," Tinoth replied. He used to be a forest ranger in Goldrose, working as a scout or trail breaker for adventurers or merchant caravans. Heter joined the Army of Goldrose as a scout when the Empire invaded and managing to survive till now.


    So far they have managed to clear two of the four doors, encountering mostly giant dino lizards and more slimes. Nitroshrooms and green moss also grew in abundance all over the tunnels. They also found a new monster, which was actually a huge greyish white fluffy ball of fur. It had a rabbit like face, and had long fur growing all over in a ball shape. It seemed to feed mostly on small insects and moss and was quite docile, allowing the men to pat and cuddle. The men took to calling them as fluff balls or cotton balls.


    There was only one other casualty when an unlucky Marine got ambushed by a camouged lizard, getting poisoned but was saved by his mates in time. James called the lizards as dino lizards, as they looked simr to a Terran dinosaur, except it could change its color to blend in with its surroundings and its tongue could stretch out till over three meters in length. It also has a corrosive spit attack, using acid stored in a sac in its chest area. The Marines learned not to shoot in that area as the acid substance will burst out and spray all over the area. They mostly utilized the environment, hiding in every nook and crannies,ying hidden till preyes close enough from them to leap out to attack.


    The terrain was simr to the level one, mostly rock walls and open caverns but instead of ants, the dino lizards dominated the level instead. Magister Thorn overseeing the operation in the safety of the Ops roommented on the lizards saying that it is a type he has not seen nor read before, while Dr. Sharon was interested in its ability to create a highly concentrated bio-acid and moring for the Marines to bring her an intact specimen, if possible alive, which James kinda ignored her, sending her a dead specimen instead.


    The toon encountered a fire beetle nest in the 3rd door, where a Champion was found. The Champion fire beetle had a shiny red ck armored carapace and a curved horn like a Hercules beetle and it was huge, almost the same size as a jeep. The smaller weaker fire beetles chittered in anger as the elves entered their nest cavern, and set upon them with arcane balls of fire.


    The section entering the nest scrambled for cover and called for backup, which the rest of the toon responded. They fired their Magelocks in return to the fireballs cast by the beetles from behind cover, while the beetles stood in open ground. Each lesser fire beetle was the size of arge dog, fat and roundish like adybird beetle except their shell is in dark crimson red instead of bright cheerily red. The lesser fire beetles were easily taken out by over 20 rifles and shotguns as they charged and stood in the open, while the Champion beetle was ignored. After the lesser fire beetles were cleared, James ordered the toon to fall back out of the nest and using the narrow tunnel to funnel the Champion into their lines of fire.


    The Champion taking the bait of the retreating Marines, charged angrily after them, entering the tunnel where the rest of the toon had formed up in firing lines. "FIRE!" James yelled when the retreating men were under cover and out of the firing line. The Champion beetle could only head in one direction due to the narrow tunnel and the men couldn''t miss at all.


    Five ymores nted beforehand also detonated as one as the Champion closed in, spewing their load of steel ball bearings directly into the charging Champion beetle. When the dust cloud settled, the once magnificent looking beetle which its glossy shell, looked pitted and worse for wear, its horn had even broken off. Thebined firepower had stopped the Champion in its tracks and it died without even casting a simple spell or attack.


    The Marines raided the nest next, finding eggs andrvae of fire beetles and a small mound of discarded beetle shells, which could be used to make armor or other products. A treasure chest was also found, and several more bottles of healing potions and magic potions were recovered. The men also found a small pile of gold, silver and mana stones scattered all over the nest, making the men grumble as they had tob and collect the treasures one by one all over the nest.


    Tinoth grumbled as he bent down for the twentieth time, picking up a piece of glittering gold and dropped it together with other valuables he collected into his upheld helmet. "Heavens," he moaned, "I didn''t think I would rue the day Iin about collecting gold from the floor..." He stretched his aching back.


    The nearby menughed, as they also stopped and stretched their backs, as they had been collecting the valuables from the floor one by one for the past half hour. James watched the men who faced death earlier,ughing and joking as they went about their duties and smiled proudly, knowing that these men will stand facing deathughing.


    Collecting the Champion beetle carcass was the worst, as a foul smelling liquid was discharged from its body, and due to its weight, the men had to make use of two Support Golems to lift it out of the dungeon. And from the Champion, it yielded a humongous fire mana stone, which made Magister Thorn watching behind the cameras mounted on the men, whooped with joy.


    Once the clean up was done, the toon returned back to the staging point to resupply and rest, while toon 3 did a second sweep through the areas that were cleared and also to transport all the dead creatures for processing and research.


    Collins rolled the clear crystal vial with a dark red liquid sloshing inside on his gloved palms, before holding it up against the re of the spotlights and observing the red liquid. "Strange, how something like this could heal and regenerate body cells."


    James finished the dried jerky and swallowed a mouthful of cool spring water from his canteen before saying, "Yeah, but isn''t our nanomachines the same?"


    Collins raised an eyebrow at James chewing away at the jerky in his mouth and said, "Serious? This shit here is made using magic, while nanomachines made out of science and technology."


    James gave a shrug as he swallowed the jerky in his mouth, "Well, I reckon that the elves just went down another path, while we humans went down the science path. Who knows maybe in a thousand years, the elves might have some magical construct allowing them to travel in space?"


    "True," Collins nodded before returning the healing potion into a matt ck foam covered shock resistance case with the rest of the potions, closing and locking the case. "Still it is amazing they can do these stuff we only see or read in movies and books."


    "Yea, I always wanted a dragon," James grinned, "Hell, if we had some close in air support dragons, I think we could easily fight off the Empire early on."


    "Well, If wishes were horses, beggars would ride," Collins grinned back, pping James''s back. "We do have dragons now, and I heard the Airforce had some prototypes nes up and running already. Not only that, High Command wants to project our forces outwards once the 2nd batch of recruits hadpleted basic."


    "Hell yeah," James dusted his hands and kept his canteen. "It''s about time we show those Blue Boys whose the boss here. Can''t have them thinking we are their bitches, able toe and go as they please."


    "Horaah! Well, its time," Collins checked his watch and said to James, who nodded and started to strap on his armor with Collins''s help. "I had toon 3 double check all the doors again to make sure all had been cleared leaving thest room with the Boss and entrance to next level untouched for your toon 2 boys." The rest of the men of toon 2 were also getting ready, helping each other with their gear.


    James nodded as he checked his gear while Collins continued his report. "We tried to scan the interior of the Boss room but there is some magical interference, making the scans wonky, we did pick up some conflicting life signs inside, but the system can''t nail it down. All we can say is its a huge room, almost twice the size of this room and with contacts inside."


    "Ahh, fuck," James cursed. The hall with the pirs where toon 2 and 3 had set up shop, was roughly 28 meters in length and 11 meters wide.


    "As for what is behind the doors," Collins shrugged, "We can only guess what it could be."


    "More dino lizards?" James guessed, "Or a super dino lizard or maybe a giant fluff ball?" He gestured towards a few cages holding the Fluff balls waiting to be transported up to Dr. Sharon''sbs.


    "Well, maybe," Collins replied seriously, "We found no other way into the room so it is not like the 1st level of this dungeon where the Ant''s nest is open. Seriously we have no idea to what is inside, so, be careful."


    James gave an assuring smile to Collins, "Got it! Well, if its some super lizard or heavily armored beetle, we do have a new trick up our sleeves."


    Collins looked over at some of the toon 2 men lugging along arge tube on their backs. "Let''s hope it works like it did during live fire exercises."


    "We tested it and practiced with it extensively for this," James gestured his surroundings, "It will be a waste not to be able to use it in the end. Disappointing in fact."


    "Then why didn''t you use it in the tunnel for that?" Collins pointed to the dead Champion beetle secured on to a pallet.


    "Too crowded, and despite it being a recoilless system, the backst can still kill or wound you know?" James worked the bolt on his M2 rifle, making sure it was empty before pping in a fresh magazine and pulled the charging handle back, chambering a round, before putting it on safe. "I wanted to see what the ymores can do to armor in an enclosed area."


    "You still can joke around at this time? Haven''t you thought of what if the ymores couldn''t stop it?" Collins frowned, "Hey, don''t forget about your girl. You need to make it home in one piece, alright?"


    "Got it, dad," James grinned, "Well I did have a fallback n for that."


    "James,e on be more serious," Collins lectured, "We don''t know what is behind those doors, you are to take all precautions, understand?"


    "Yeah, got to go, bosses to kill and dungeons to clear."

 Chapter 120: The Fog

    Chapter 120: The Fog


    The men formed up silently next to the double doors leading into the final room of the dungeon, where they expected the Boss of Level 2 to be inside. Private Tinoth tested the door handle, giving it a gentle pull, opening up a tiny crack. He turned and nodded to his Section Leader who returned his nodded and Tinoth pulled out a flexible fiber camera scope. He crouched next to the crack and gently inserted the flexible camera into the door crack and using a handheld device and observed the interior of the room.


    As the scans earlier taken from toon 3 had shown, the room stretched over 50 meters deep and 20 meters wide. The night vision of the camera got only pierce into roughly 20 meters before everything was too dark and unclear to scope more. Tinoth twisted the camera left and right, taking in the whole room, while James watched the video on his tablet.


    "Looks clear," Tinoth whispered. He checked his motion and heartbeat tracker issued only to point men, and couldn''t find any movement nor heartbeats, only static showing up on the screen. "Damn, too much interference, either magical or natural here." He whispered to his Section Leader.


    James keyed his mike and ordered the whole toon, "Go deliberate, slow and steady."


    Tinoth kept his gear and unslung his weapon, taking in a deep breath as he gathered his nerves. "Go!" His Section Leader pped his shoulder, indicating him to move in.


    Tinoth pulled the door open and stepped in towards the right, while his section mate behind him rushed in and covered the left with the Section Leadering up 3rd covering the middle. Tinoth receiving another p on his shoulder pushed in towards the corner of the room, his shlight illuminating pirs and man tall blocks of stone scattered all over the area.


    The rest of the toon entered section by section, and very quickly all four sections of seven men each had entered, covering the entire area. "Move in," James ordered and the men moved up, checking everywhere of the room.


    The lights from their weapons stab out for a few meters before drowning in the darkness. It appeared that the darkness in the pired room was absorbing all light. Corporal Tells from Section I whispered next to James, "Sarge, I don''t like this much."


    As they advanced deeper and deeper, chunks of rocks somerger than a half trackid haphazardly all around the area, next to pirs with carvings simr to the ones in the first room.


    the temperature appeared to drop, and a fog appeared before them, making most of the men curse.


    "Halt," James ordered and he looked at the fog, "Point men, what do you see?"


    The point men equipped with infra goggles tried to peer through the fog but couldn''t find anything. "Nothing, Sarge, no heat signatures nor movement on the sensors." Came back the replies.


    "Pop res, light up the ce!" Jamesmanded. The point men dug into their pouches removing re guns salvaged from the spaceship''s life boats and fired into the fog. Four zing balls of reddish re erupted out and flew into the fog, before hitting the ceiling and bouncing to the ground.


    Also immediately a howl burst out from inside the fog and the men tensed and ready up their weapons. "Back! All sections fall back!" James yelled. "I want distance from the fog now!"


    "I got movement!" Tinoth yelled, as his M314 Motion Tracker beeped rapidly, the sensor returnsing from within the fog as he backed away from it.


    Suddenly, dozens of fluff balls bounced out from the fog, and the Marines snapped their rifles up ready to fire when around roar broke out from within the fog. "Back!" The Section Leaders yelled to their men, as they moved away from the fog and whatever is inside.


    The glow of the red res cast shadows of something moving within the fog towards them. By this time, they retreated back to the fall end of the room where the exit was and took cover among the rock debris and stone pirs.


    "That doesn''t sound very good," CorporalTells muttered, "Sarge, permission to ready the bazookas?" Just as he finished saying that, suddenly, reptilian shapes darted out from the fog and the men opened fire at the hissing creatures.


    "Contact!" The men yelled and fired at the leaping lizards. Some of the men screamed as the lizards spat globs of corrosive acid that ate into their armor, melting away skin and flesh. Others cry out in surprise as some lizards whipped their long fleshy tongues that glued to their bodies, pulling with an overwhelming force to the owner''s tooth-filled gaping mouths.


    "There''s too many of them!"


    "They are everywhere!"


    "Help! Someone!"


    Screams and cries rang out among the Marines as the flood of dino lizards mmed into them. James cursed, wishing they had a machine gun or two. "Grenades!" He yelled, "Use them!"


    "Several yells of "Fire in the hole," followed after his instruction, as the nearby Marines took to his order, pulling out a pin attached to the head of a cast iron oval-shaped metal ball, triggering a heat rune, that slowly heats up to over 300 degrees, which will ignite the ck powder packed inside the grenade. Unlike modern-day grenades, these do not have a safety lever and required the operator to throw the grenade once the heat rune was activated, as the heat rune will hit ignition temperature of the ck powder within 3 to 5 seconds.


    The grenades flew over the heads of the besieged Marines,nding among the herd of dino lizards and detonated one after another, spewing out lethal shards of shrapnel, tearing and stunning the creatures within the st radius of three meters each.


    Due to the sudden grenade barrage, the pressure against the Marines dropped as the lizards cringed in surprised and confused from the explosions, allowing the Marines to rapidly take advantage of the situation and turning it around.


    The Marines fired their M1s and shotguns into the cluster of dino lizards, the heavy lead bullets blowing away scales and lizard flesh, drenching the rock ground with dark red lizard blood. Just as it happened suddenly, the lizards retreated back into the fog in terror from the onught by the Marines.


    Corporal Tells spat out a glob of blood from his mouth from a cut in his mouth as he took a hit in the jaw by a whipping dino lizard''s tail. He gave his machete sword an expert flick, flicking off the blood as he returned his sword into his scabbard attached to a tactical rig on his left thigh. He then transferred his emptied revolver to his right hand and started reloading it, while keeping an eye out for his dropped M1 Magelock dropped somewhere in the melee.


    "Check your ammunition! Medics to the wounded! The rest keep watch and be at the ready!" James voice could be heard over the cries of pain and curses.


    James moved among the men, seeing the carnage wrecked by the dino lizards. Several were out killed by the acid spits, only a pile of smoking and bubbling skeletal remains, with intact arms and legs remaining behind. Even the weapons, armor and gear were melted through, the lucky ones managing to remove their armor before the acid ate through them, but still suffering burns on their arms or legs.


    The medics were busy using water and healing magic to neutralize the acidic burns and James ordered everyone to pass their water over to the medics to use to wash the acid off the victims. Other than the vicious acid attacks, the rest of the men mostly suffered cuts and bruises from the ws and bites which given a healing spell, managed to stop all the blood and mild poison inflicted from the lizards.


    "Sarge, we got five deaths, all from the corrosive attacks, another four in critical condition from the burns and two more due to having serious injuries from the getting mauled. Another fourteen with varying degrees of wounds but stillbat effective," Corporal Tells reported. "The men are doing fine despite the loses and injuries," Tells jerked his head towards the fog in the distance, "And it seems like they are massing again."


    "nt ymores, I want a two-tiered defense line," James ordered, "Evacuate the wounded now."


    Tells nodded and head off to ry James orders, barking out instructions to the toon. James keyed hismands to the toon leaders channel, "Apache Two to Apache Three, over."


    "Apache Three, send."


    "Apache Two, request immediate medevac, and support over."


    "Apache Three, Roger, E T A five mikes, out."


    James ended hisms and looked around, seeing the men, deploying ymores and the Section leaders directingnes of fire. The badly wounded were strapped on to foldable stretchers by the medics and were being ryed to the exit.


    "HERE THEY COME!" Someone yelled, followed by barks of gunfire. The dino lizards burst out of the fog again, but this time, the Marines were ready and not distracted. They fired at the charging lizards with urate fire as the lizards entered theirnes of fire, sending them toppling down and forcing the rest of the lizards to hop over or swerve to the sides to avoid their fallen herd.


    The defensive line to the fog was roughly 30 meters away and with the speed of the charging lizards, they can close the short distance in less than 5 seconds. The ymores deployed earlier were rigged to a trip wire by the Marines, detonated as the leading dino lizards tripped the wires. The shotgun st like explosions swatted the charging lizards away like a giant hand, leaving behind bits of gore and blood.


    The Marines cheered andughed at the gorely screen, and redoubled their efforts at shooting at remaining stunned lizards. As the Marines cheered on, a sudden roar blocked out their cheers, and a massive shape broke out of the fog.


    "Oh fark," Tinoth cursed, as he looked up at the towering behemoth appearing out of the fog. He emptied his shotgun at the monster and died when it tail whipped the pir he was taking cover from. killing two others of his section mates.


    James cursed, "A fucking T Rex? You got to be kidding me!" The behemoth that appeared from the fog looked simr to a Terran extinct dinosaur, the Tyrannosaurs Rex. It has silverish scales with quartz-like crystal jutting out from parts of its body and tail. The neck is longerpared to a T Rex and it has thicker and longer forelimbs.


    "Use the bazookas!" James yelled as he fired his M2 uselessly at the behemoth. Keying hismunicator, he screamed into it, "Dungeon Ops,e in! This is Apache Two! Are you seeing this shit? Over!"


    "Oh yes, what an amazing specimen!" Magister Thorn''s voice replied excitedly.


    "Fuck that!" James cursed, "What is that? How do we take it out?"


    "Hmmm," came back the reply which made James grit his teeth in frustration.


    "Goddamn it, Dungeon Ops, people are dying here!" James cursed in hisms.


    "Apache Two, this is Dungeon Ops, wait one over," Another voice cut in and thems went silent.


    "Fuck!" James cursed, just as the reinforcements from toon 3 arrived. His own heavy weapons team in his toon ready a tube on their shoulders, their buddies pping their shoulders yelling, "Ready!" into their ears as they plugged in the fire runes to the rear of the tubes.


    Lance Corporal Abert Tinner ced the simple wire cross sights on the center of mass of the behemoth as they were taught. Previously he worked as a miller, grinding grains into flour in the mill he worked in the outskirts of the Capital. When the Empire attacked, he got caught up in the battle and was conscripted to help man the ballista on the city walls.


    He was credited with two lightweight dragon kills and four troll kills with the ballista he was crewing. Themander on the wall was so impressed with his skills that he got awarded an Army position and was givenmand of four ballistas on the wall. Now he kneed among the stone debris and blood-soaked ground, aiming a metal tube at a monster, over 20 times his height. "Ready!" His assistance gunner yelled in his ear, pping hard on his shoulder armor.


    He squeezed the trigger and a loud WHOOSH burst out from the tube, and a dark dart streaming fire and smoke mmed into the monster.


    "One round away!"

 Chapter 121: Bazooka

    Chapter 121: Bazooka


    Seacliff Mines, Dungeon Operations Command


    "Goddamn it, Dungeon Ops, people are dying here!"


    "Apache Two, this is Dungeon Ops, wait one over," The radio operator replied as she turned and looked at Magister Thorn standing there watching the video streams on the disying from the Marines inside the dungeon. "Sir, what do we do?"


    Dr. Sharon poked Thorn on his side, "Thorn? Are you ok?" she asked him after seeing him standing frozen before the disys and not replying to the operator''s questions.


    "Ahh, I am trying to recall what that creature is," Thorn sighed, "My memory is not as good as before."


    "Thorn, you need to hurry up," Dr. Sharon stared at him seriously, "Not trying to pressure you, but people are dying."


    "Yes yes yes, I know," Thorn rubbed his temples and suddenly snapped his fingers, "It must be a silver dragon!" He pointed to the silver scales of the creature and exined, "Those silver scales are the trademark of a silver dragon, but they do not grow up to that size! And those crystal formations on its body, I suspect it might be an evolved or mutated species!"


    "Great, how do we defeat it?" Dr. Sharon patiently asked. "We got a name now."


    "Hmm, silver dragons are carnivorous creatures," Thorn closed his eyes as he recalled what he had read about them, "They belong to the metal-earth element ss, weakness to lightning attacks... They are weak to air element spells and strong against fire and earth."


    Dr. Sharon nodded and stood over the radio operator, "Put me through to Sergeant James, now!"


    -----


    Seacliff Mines, Dungeon level 2, Boss room


    "It''s either an evolved or mutated form of a silver dragon, weak to lightning based attacks or air elemental magic," Dr. Sharon voice came in through thems. "Strong against fire and earth magic, over!"


    "Apache Two, copies that!" James responded just as he saw a burst of fire from one of the bazooka teams firing.


    The fire rune concussion primed, ck powder rocket-propelled with a fin-stabilized 70 mm rocket was almost the exact same rockets used by the Valkyrie gunship rocket pods, except the difference was the infantry version uses a shape-charged warhead instead of a thermobaric warhead and has a shorter rocket body.


    The rocket exited the RPG -1 ''Bazooka'' tube with a muzzle velocity of 79 meters per second and impacted with a thunderp directly at the chest of the T Rex like dragon. A small ck cloud formed over the explosion and the behemoth roared in pain and anger. As the smoke cleared, under the lights of the Marines, the chest scale where the rocket had impacted, had cracks and blood leaking out.


    "HIT IT WITH ALL BAZOOKAS!" James yelled over the gunfire. The rest of the heavy weapons teams, a total of four, one team each in each section, fired as they got into position. "Protect the rocket teams!" James ordered as he noticed the smaller dino lizards appearing to edge towards the rocket teams.


    The silver behemoth roared again as another couple of rockets mmed into its side. He fell onto all fours with a ground-shaking crash and followed up with a tailwhip at the nearest Marine, who cried out and dodged just in time. The tail whip smashing the stone blocks to pieces, sending rock fragments flying like bullets to the shattered Marines.


    James ducked as a fist sized rock chunk smacked against the pir he was behind. "toon 3 guys, nk left and distract that piece of shit!" He yelled his order to the new arrivals who ran to cover.


    "Everyone, don''t stay in the same spot! Keep the smaller lizards off the rocket teams! Keep moving and keep your head down!" Jamesmanded as he ducked out of cover, running towards one of the rocket teams.


    Another rocket burst out, and impacted against the shoulder of the dragon, blowing off a


    chunk of crystal off. The dragon growled in anger, whipping around impossibly fast for its size and reared up its head. It opened its jaws and seemed to suck in the air, its chest expands outwards, and light motes of visible magical energy started to gather before its open mouth.


    "Shit," James screamed, "GET THE FUCK OUT OF ITS WAY!" And the men all scrambled away, just as all the crystals on its body started to glow brightly, turning it almost like a light show. A beam of super concentrated energy burst out, the beam gorging a trench out from the ground in the direction it fired and dumping all its energy into the walls, leaving behind a glowing molten furrow and tunnel almost five meters deep along the ground and wall.


    "Everyone alright?" James yelled as the dust slowly settled down. The power of the dragon had scared away all the smaller lizards, only leaving behind the foolish humans and elves in the room. The dragon panted and appeared to shrink slightly and the glow of the crystals diminished. It red with glowing green eyes filled with madness and anger at the puny two legs before it.


    All of the Marines managed to dodge the beam attack, only those closest to the beam, suffered from a suntan, their exposed skin turning bright red from the heat of the beam attack. Lance Corporal Abert of toon 2, Section 4''s heavy weapons team had dropped his bazooka when he dodged the attack of the dragon.


    His buddy, Private Minosta, panted and rolled over on his back as they the two of them took cover behind a section of a destroyed pir. "This is crazy! How in the 13 hells are we gonna to kill that thing?"


    "See where I dropped the Bazooka?" Abert asked as he peeked over the cover, seeing the dragon mming its front limbs at some cover, where a couple of Marines ran out from the smoke and debris. As the dragon was busy destroying the cover, another rocket streaked out from the side and exploding on its back.


    "There," Minosta pointed, "You dropped the damn rocketuncher there." He pointed to the matt grey tubeying among some debris in the open.


    "Cover me," Abert said, "I am going to run over and grab it."


    "Damn, you are crazy," Minosta worked his M1 Magelock action, and braced his rifle over the cover and aimed at the angry dragon. "GO!"


    Abert took off in a sprint, keeping his body as low as possible, hoping that the dragon won''t notice him. He skidded to a stop next to the fallen bazooka and grabbed the carrying handle, and turned up to see the dragon looking at his direction. "Ahh, fark!"


    His buddy, Minosta fired at the dragon, yelling "Over here, you damn piece of shit!" He managed to draw the dragon to his attention and cried out in fear as the dragon kicked arge chunk of stone at him, which mmed into the space where Minosta was under cover.


    Abert cursed and dashed towards Minosta, as the dust settled down, "Mino! You okay buddy?"


    A cough and a dust covered Marine appeared out from underneath the cover, "Damn it, I have enough of this craziness!" Minosta was part of his crew when they were back defending the city walls, out of the twenty men, only Minosta was alive.


    "Come on!" Abert grinned in relief at his friend, offering him a hand up. Both of them looked towards the dragon, seeing it battered, its silver scales looking slightly dull, and leaking fluids. It gave a roar and the crystals on its body started glowing again.


    -----


    James yelled over the voicems, "Apache Two to Three, request all bazooka loads immediately, over!"


    "Three, Roger! Standby five mikes!"


    "Two Copies! Out!"


    James nced out of his cover to see the dragon starting to glow again. "Ah fuck this, is this some kind of T Rex Godzi?"


    "INCOMING!"


    -----


    "Load me!" Abert yelled as he went down on a kneeling stance, propping the bazooka against the top of the cover. MInosta pulled out a rocket reload from his backpack and carefully inserted it into the rear of the bazooka, before inserting a fire rune to the trigger.


    "Ready! I got one more round left!" Minosta said, pping Abert''s shoulder and dodging to the side, covering his ears and opening his mouth.


    Abert waited as the behemoth drew in energy from its surroundings, charging up its beam attack again. The crystals on its body grew brighter and brighter. "Fire! For heaven''s sake!" Minosta yelled at the side.


    "Not yet..." Abert muttered, "Wait for it, wait for it..."


    The light motes grew in intensity around the mouth of the dragon, and a rocket mmed at its head, causing the dragon to flinch. The attack got disrupted and weird whitish glow on its body dimmed and it angrily turned to face the direction of where the attack came from.


    It started gathering energy again, and the rocket team scuttled away, but the dragon seemed intended on them, it tilted its massive head, tracking the two Marines running from cover to cover. It would have beenical if not for the deadliness of the attack as, where the two rocketers ran to, it followed them, forcing whoever is in the same cover to run away too.


    "Fark," Abert cursed, "Come on, we need a better angle!" He gestured Minosta to follow him, making him groan.


    Another rocket exploded on the dragon''s back, breaking more of the crystal shards but it ignored it, focusing at the running rocketers. The glow of energy grew brighter and brighter as it charged its attack again, Abert and Minosta came to a halt next to a fallen pir and Abert hoisted the bazooka on his shoulder, aiming at the dragon.


    The dragon reared its mouth open, as the energy gathered reached its limit, it threw its head forward, to roar out the mass of energy when Abert''s rocket detonated next to its snort. The high-explosive anti-tank rocket warhead detonated by having the ck powder charge inside copse a metal liner inside the warhead to form a high-velocity super sma jet of liquid metal which sshed against the ball of supercharged magical energy formed in the mouth of the dragon.


    The reaction between the two energies caused the magical field to copse, and the energies ran amok, resulting in a massive explosion which blew the upper jaw and half the skull of the silver dragon away.


    The energy shockwave broke out and the ground cracked, those Marines closes to the explosion suffered from ruptured eardrums, copsed lungs and other internal injuries. Those furthermost away were knocked off their feet and dazed by the shockwave.


    The body of the dragon stood swaying lifeless, before toppling over, causing another earth shaking crash. Cries for medic and pain were heard after the shellshock effects of the shockwave dissipated. James stood, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head to clear it of the ringing sound, leaned against a destroyed pir and looked dumbly at the destruction the dragon wrought.


    The remaining toon 3 support sections arrived and quickly helped out with the medical assistance. "James? SERGEANT JAMES!" Someone yelled next to James who jumped and turned to see who was it and saw it was Collins.


    "Are you alright man?" Collins stood before James, checking him for injuries. "You ok?"


    James nodded dumbly, pointing to his ears, "I think they are broken."


    Collins unbuckled James''s helmet and removed his helmet, finding his ears leaking blood. "Goddamn, what happened here?" Collins looked around at the men of toon 2 and some of his toon 3 support who were all down on the ground and waved for a medic toe over to treat his friend, "Medic! Over here!"


    Collins left James to the medic andms Dungeon Ops for a trauma team to be on standby for mass causalities and calling for more support to be sent in.


    James smiled dreamily as a tranq shot was jabbed into his arm and the meds worked its wonders, a trail of blood slowly dripping out of his nose and mouth as he wasid on to a stretcher.


    "Fucking dragons..."

 Chapter 122: The Return of the Goblins

    Chapter 122: The Return of the Goblins


    "Heal!" Glows of radiant lights lit up the interior of the emergency trauma tentage. Medical personnel worked fervently on the wounded as they were brought out from the dungeon in an almost endless stream. Marines carrying stretchers were directed to different tents for different degrees of injuries, with the medics scribbling medical lingo on the foreheads of the wounded.


    Dr. Sharon had immediately mobilized all her medical staff from the City to the scene when she saw the disastrous action inside the dungeon, knowing that her standby team of medical staff was not enough to handle all the casualties.


    The miners and workers all also stopped their work and help transport the wounded to the medical area set up for treatment, while Dr. Sharon organized the rescue and medical teams. toon 2''s remaining men fighting the silver mutated dragon had suffered one form of injury or another and most of it severe, while the two sections from toon 3 who reinforced the fight against the dragon also suffered heavy casualties.


    toon 4 of Alpha Company were deployed to help medevac the wounded out of the dungeon while toon 1 stayed topside as security for the miningplex. Magister Thorn could be seen running around the medical tents, casting major healing spells on the more critically wounded to stabilize their conditions.


    Five half-tracks with two of them painted with a red cross on their sides and the rest in darb navy grey rolled into the miningplex almost an hourter, carrying both medical staff and supplies to help with the wounded and all these activities were watched by hundreds of goblins armed with makeshift spears and bows in the distant forest edge.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Office


    "ke," Commander Ford barged into the Captain''s Office with barely a knock.


    "What''s the problem?" ke looked up from hisputer, knowing that Ford rarely called him by his name unless something serious had happened.


    "The Marine''s Alpha Company has taken some serious casualties in the dungeon just minutes ago," Ford reported, "And that''s not all."


    "How bad?" ke asked back, "Medical support?"


    "toon 2 and half of toon 3 is effectively rendered nonbat capable," Ford replied, "That''s almost 40% of the Alpha Company''s fighting strength. Dr. Sharon was on site, she had used her authority to mobilized all avable medical support over to the mines."


    "And you need to see this," Ford gestured ke to follow him.


    "What is it?" ke followed Ford out of his office and they headed towards the Bridge.


    "Just two hours before Alpha Company''s incident, recon flight by Dragon One Two picked up movement within the Goblin City," Ford exined as they entered the Bridge. "Weunched an Owleye UAV to observe and this just came in."


    "Bring the UAV feeds on disy 2," Ford told one of the bridge crew who nodded and started tapping some keys.


    An overview image of arge volcanic ind appeared, "This was imagery from 20 minutes ago," Ford said and he pointed to a crescent shaped cove where dozens of dots could be seen. "Zoom in there."


    The image zoomed in disying arge cluster of ships beating out of the messy harbor, heading towards the exit of the cove. Ford changed the settings of the video to real time, and the image jumped to another view, showing arge floti of goblin ships heading towards shore. "Theputer analysis estimates they will hit the shore south west of us in nine hours."


    "Any reason or intel on where the goblins are acting up?" ke asked as he mental tried to count the number of ships.


    "Intel suspects that this is the annual migration fleet from the records of the elves," Ford said. "The goblins dig in for winter and during spring, theyunch fleets to the maind to keep their poption down in Goblin City. Guesses are this is a way for Goblin City to not get overpopted."


    "Damn, what''re our forces current deployment?" ke asked.


    "Alpha Company is based at Seacliff Mining Complex, Bravo Company at Sawtooth Pass, Charlie is conducting search and destroy operations along the farms and logging camps north and northeast of the city," Ford read off a list, "Andst of all Delta Company is at Camp Alpha, undergoing training with the First National Guard milita and having their rest and recuperation."


    "What''s thending zone of those goblin ships?" ke asked as he rubbed his shaved chin in thought.


    "Here," Ford highlighted a location on the tactical map, "The entire goblin fleet willnd roughly over a stretch of 10 kilometers along the coast."


    "Intel says there are 273 ships of varying sizes, mostmon of all is the galley-sail configurations, numbering 191 in total," Ford said, showing an image of a long rakish design with a low freeboard with two sails, a catapult at each end of the ship and rowers sitting in rows on each side. "Intel is designating their estimated tonnage as a frigate type and call sign as ''Dagger'' ss. They also estimate a crew of roughly 180 to 250 manning the ship with cruising speeds of 6 knots per hour using both wind and rowing, and burst speeds up to 10 knots. It also mounts two to three primitive catapults."


    "The second mostmon type of ship observed is this," Ford changed the image to another top view of arger vessel. It had three sails and a higher freeboard, at least eight catapults could be seen on the top deck and what appeared to be a ram at the bow of the ship as it cleared the waves. "It looks simr to an old Earth sloop of war, except the bow is straight with a ram underneath, it might have a single broadside of ballistas under the deck and Intel thinks it carries roughly 150 to 200 goblins. Intel ssed it as a ''Sword'' ss destroyer. The goblin fleet has roughly 50 of these."


    "There is also another lessmon design seen here," Ford switch the image to another, showing a image of arge twin-hulled galley. It looked like two galleys were clobbered together, with two sets of sails on each hull, and rowers on the side. "This looks like their supply or troop transport. Intel guesses that it could hold roughly 400-600 bodies onboard and its call sign is ''Scabbard'' a transport ss, which the fleet has 11 of those.


    "Finally the rest of the ships are mix of designs, most likely prizes captured from merchants fleets," Ford highlighted the rest of the seagoing ships. "The total number of goblins are estimated on the numbers of 40,000 to 50,000."


    ke sat down on themand chair and yed with the images in the disy before saying, "Put me through to Commander Tommy." He told thems operator.


    "What''s the readiness of the Airforce?" ke asked when the call got through to Tommy.


    "Our single heavyweight and one medium weight dragon are standing by at the airbase," Tommy said, "The other medium weight is being recalled back to base."


    "The Cobras?" ke asked.


    "We only have four of those running, the other two are under servicing, Sir!" Tommy replied, "The pilots are not ready forbat operations nor do they have proper armaments! We canunch the Valkyries instead."


    "You have spare rocket pods for the Valkyries, yes?" ke pressed on, "Load the Cobras up with the rocket pods, and let the pilots learn by a trial of fire!"


    "But, Sir," Tommy protested, "We only have these four machines, and the next batch of airframes will still require weeks to bepleted and the men are ready yet!"


    "Tommy, remember what I said before?" ke waved away Tommy''s protests, "We have enemies knocking on our back door now, we have no time to cuddle the men."


    Tommy sighed and nodded, "I will call for volunteers."


    ke gave a nod and ended thems, "Ford, maintain and UAV flight over the goblin fleet and bring the alert level up to Condition Yellow. Contact Major Frank, Delta Company is to cease all training and recall anyone who is on leave back to active servicing, they will be our main force."


    "Yes, Sir!" Ford replied before going off to carry out his orders.


    "Damn it, why now?" ke spoke to himself, as he leaned back on his chair watching the approaching fleet.


    -----


    Goblin Sea


    Goblin Master Jiak the Skull Krusher, flexed his greenish toned muscr biceps at the cowling goblins before his wed feet. He sat on a throne made of skulls of various creatures and species. He topped over the tallest goblin by a good head, his body twice the size and muscr instead of the thin weak looking bodies of the goblin race.


    A spray of seawater rained over the quarterdeck where the skull throne sat, and Jiak the Skull Krusher, a Hobgoblin, rubbed off the seawater off his bluish hair done in a mohawk style. His squarish jaw chewed constantly on a piece of tough gristle and he spat it out to the side of the prize ship he captured many moons before, naming it as the Skull Taker.


    "So you meant the dy of the ships was due to the tides and wind, and not your faults?" He questioned the kneeling goblins whimpering before him in goblish.


    The whimpering goblins cried out, "Yesss, my Master! We no meant for dys! It was the winds and sea!"


    "If that''s the case," Jiak waved his hand to his personal guards, which were hobgoblins too, armored in a thick leather with small tes of metal sewed onto the armor, picked up the terrified goblins, one in each hand. "Feed them to the sea to appease the Gods, since they me the gods for the dy. We need to give the Gods some offerings, yes?"


    Cries of terror came from the goblins held by the guards, they bit and scratched at the armored hands holding them but to no avail, they were tossed over the side of the ship like unwanted rubbish, wailing in fear as till they hit the water.


    "Any more excuses about the wind and sea?" Jiak roared from his throne to his crew,"No? Good, that''s what I thought." He said satisfied, "I want to reachndfall before the sun sets!"


    And the crew hurriedly went above their tasks, while the goblin shamans cast more wind spells to fill the sails, pushing the ship faster.


    ----


    Sawtooth Mountain, Marine Support Base, Temporary AirBase


    Four F/A-1 Cobras taxied slowly to the runway with their rear propeller engines revving up while Blue Thunder and the other medium weight called Quick Silver waited on arge square concrete tarmac with a yellow circle and an ''H'' in the circle painted in yellow. Besides them, two of the blocky Valkyries rested on simr squares.


    Commander Tommy, tugged his harness straps, making sure they are properly secured and tighten and grabbed his helmet under his arm and quickly jogged towards Blue Thunder. As he neared the dragon, Chief Gale stopped Tommy before the dragon and yelled loudly to be heard over the dim of the aircraft engines. "Sir, are you sure you are going? You are the CO of the Airforce you know?"


    "That''s the thing," Tommy gestured towards the four Cobras standing by on the runway, loaded for bear. "I can''t call for volunteers and expect to sit in a safe cozy room directing the men!"


    "Does the Captain knows?" Gale asked, shaking his head at Tommy''s foolhardiness.


    "Nah, he doesn''t," Tommy grinned and put on his helmet, "But I did say I will ask for volunteers, and I volunteered!"


    Gale shook his head again, "You better watch yourself up there!" He said to Tommy before smacking Blue Thunder''s hindquarters and yelling, "Blue, make you no heroics! You are to make sure our Bosses back in one piece, alive!"


    Blue nodded solemnly and promised, "I promised." He stretched t onto thending pad, allowing the crew to board his back where from the side, it looked like the dragon was wearing a backpack.


    The crew of seven including Commander Tommy entered the hatch into the self-pressured cabin secured onto the back of Blue Thunder. The oolong cabin was previously a lifeboat from UNS Singapore converted into a Command and Control module, with sensors,ms and all the whistles and bangs for a modern-day battlefieldmand and control.


    "I will just be doing battle management up there, what could go wrong?"

 Chapter 123: Goblin Fleet

    Chapter 123: Goblin Fleet


    The goblin fleet sailed rapidly, faster than what the humans predicted due to the wind spells cast by the goblin shamans. They plowed through the waves, where drums beating the same rhythm throughout the whole fleet in a sustained about pace for the goblin rowers to work on.


    Most of the goblins in the fleet were younglings, attracted by offers and promises of food, drink, plunder and riches, joined the Skull Krusher fleet sent out of the Mother City to raid the neighboringnds for food and resources. Leading the younglings are the Goblin Master Jiak the Skull Krusher who managed to make a name for himself by capturing a merchant''s vessel and returning to the Mother City with its treasures.


    In recognition of his exploits, the Elders raised him up into a Hobgoblin, reforming his body and mind, turning him stronger, faster and smarter. Now, he was made a Master, leading a force of over 200 ships and 40,000 goblins into the maind to raid the people and their resources. Jiak took over two years to gather this number of ships and troops, backstabbing and stealing resources from other Goblin Masters in the Mother City, before having a strong enough force to have the Elders'' approval for him to set sail with their blessings.


    Jiak the Skull Krusher sat on his skull throne and grinned wickedly, relishing the thoughts of killing, **** and plunder soon toe.


    -----


    Skies over The New World, No. 1 Squadron, Dragon and No. 2 Squadron, Valkyrie and No. 3 Squadron, Cobra


    Commander Tommy sat buckled on the chair that was bolted to the floor of the trailer, he looked at the UAV feed in the tactical disy screen showing the goblin fleet approaching to the shore rapidly. The time estimate had changed from either of nine hours to roughly seven hours now. The time, taken by the squadron to scramble and the flight time took another two hours, meaning the goblin fleet willnd within three hours or so.


    He mentally calcted the distance and time to engagement and keyed the to all flight channelms, "King Dragon to All units, enemy fleet less than 15 minutes away, look alive now!"


    A series of confirmations replied him, and he keyed thems to No. 2 Squadron where the Valkyries are grouped under. "King Dragon to Valkyrie One and Two, begin attack now, once bingo on ammo, RTB (Return to Base) for rearming and refuel, over."


    "V One roger."


    "Valkyrie Two copies that."


    Tommy leaned over and looked out of the tiny viewport and watched the two bulky gunships increase their speed, breaking from the formation and roared towards the distance. "King Dragon to all Cobras, check your fuel and weapons, over."


    Reports came in on each ne''s fuel and weapon status and Tommy nodded, the Cobras will have enough fuel for almost an hour ofbat before having to RTB for fuel.


    "King Dragon, Blue has spotted the enemy ships!" Blue Thunder reported, he has a special throat mike strapped over his thick neck and a couple of speakers over his ears.


    "Valkyrie Actual has tally on surface contacts, weapons standing by, over."


    "Weapons green, go for attack!"


    "Valkyrie Actual, roger that, weapons green, engaging!"


    "Blue can see the Valkyriesing in high on an attack run!" The dragon sighed happily. "Oooo pretty!"


    -----


    Flight Lieutenant Peter piloting Valkyrie One, keyed hisms to the other Valkyrie piloted by Sergeant Legos, "V One to V Two, drop down to 100 meters sea level and reduce speed to 60% power and engage surface vessels. Weapons green, repeat weapons green."


    "Roger that, One." Legos pushed his flight stick forwards, following Peter''s Valkyrie lead, and reducing his throttle, and flip the master weapons switch. He marveled at the magical technology of the hoomans, enabling them to fly through the skies simply with machines.


    Like every other child in the kingdom, they worship dragon riders for the ability to fly in the sky or Knights with theirbat powers. For Legos, it was the freedom of flight that made him look up to dragon riders. Thus when the first call for volunteers to join the Airforce, he quickly signed up and was lucky he possessed a body that was able to handle something called G-force, which many other failed and vomited or fainted during the test.


    He had flown the F/A-1 Cobra and the Valkyrie and enjoyed flying the Cobra more as he felt more freedom as the little ne responded to each of his controls, while the Valkyrie was more powerful but he felt it too enclosed and detached from the skies for him.


    Ensuring the screen shows the ''70 mm rocket'' highlighted, he followed on Peter''s nk, dropping down to 100 meters above sea level.


    "V One to Two, we will attack one by one from the starboard side, observe my run and follow after I am done, over."


    "Two, copies," Legos replied and followed Peter''s craft as they looped toe in from the right side of the goblin fleet. He hung back, giving space for Peter to start his attack run, and provide observation before his turn. The sea was crowded with dozens and dozens of ships with ck and red sails spread all below his craft, he was pretty sure the goblins were pointing at him.


    "Valkyrie One, beginning attack run!"


    The bulky gunship dipped down and dropped its speed even more, and the six pylons with rocket pods red, as Peter rippled fire the rockets down the sides of the goblin ships. Balls of fire erupted as the rockets impacted the flimsy wooden ships while meters tall water sshes burst up when the rockets missed and hit the ocean.


    Legos couldn''t help but gave a cheer when he saw rockets blowing up the goblin ships. He had friends and family members losing loved ones to the hated goblins and he relished the thought of blowing them up. As Peter''s Valkyrie went down the row of helpless ships, several more ming balls of fire erupted and then Peter pulled up and looped around. "Wooo! Two did you see that? You''re up next!"


    "Roger, beginning attack!" Legos replied and angled his Valkyrie into position and drop his speed, lining up the targeting crosshairs on the next row of ships not attacked by Peter, and squeezing the trigger. The whoosh of the rockets shooked the Valkyrie slightly, making Legos grin as he felt like he held the power to destroy the world in his hands. Balls of fire burst up as his rockets hit their target, followed by white plumes of water.


    He pulled up his Valkyrie after he reached the end of the fleet and looped back, just as Peter started his next attack run and the slower Cobras and dragons arrived at the scene.


    -----


    Goblin Sea, The Skull Taker


    Jiak twitched his eyebrows in surprise as he first heard the strange roaring from the skies, and looked up in wonder at two greyish objects flying over the fleet. The goblins all cried and pointed excitedly at the strange flying objects and one of them looped back and suddenly explosions went off among the fleet.


    "Its an attack!" Jiak roared, as he stood up from his throne, "Ready the anti-dragon shooters!" Hemanded his crew before turning around to a shaman beside him. "Ry mymand to all the ships, tell them to form up in the anti-dragon formation now!"


    The goblin shaman bowed and took out a crystal orb and started waving its hands over the orb and chanting some strangenguage. As the orb cast a purplish glow, the shaman ryed its Master message to every shaman holding a simr orb.


    "Tell the shamans to use spells to take down those cursed flying monsters!" Jiak added as he saw the other strange flying monster turning and flying towards them.


    -----


    Skies over Goblin Sea


    Blue Thunder disappointedly took to holding his station over the goblin fleet, flying in arge circle round and round while Tommy inside themand module directed the Cobras to attack in pairs at the goblin fleet. Quick Silver, the medium weight stayed next to Blue Thunder as an escort, both of them watching the one side battle unfolding underneath their wings.


    The two pairs of fighter attackers F/A-1 Cobras split up and dived in from two different directions. The nes were loaded with two 70 mm rockets pod each holding 10 rockets at the underside of the hull next to each wing. The forward gunner/copilot was supposedly armed with dual machine guns, but the weapons were not ready yet, hence the copilots acted as spotters and navigators instead.


    "King Dragon to all Cobras, conserve your ammo, two rockets per ship, over," Tommy ordered over the voice channels. "Make your shots count!"


    And as the Cobras lined up for an attack, the skies suddenly in a nightmare. Bolts of lightning, fireballs, ice spikes, and even ballista bolts shot upward towards the attacking Cobras which they dodged and weaved with surprising skills.


    "All Cobras, break! Break! Break!" Tommy yelled, surprised at the amount of magical anti-air fireing from the fleet. He noticed the goblin ships had arranged themselves in ayered crescent formation and wondered what was that formation for.


    The Cobras managed to wing out of the barrage of magical anti-air cover, only one of the nes taking a lightning bolt to the wings, which the magical defense barrier managed to negate the attack, only leaving behind a scorched mark on the wing.


    "Valkyries are to draw fire from the Cobras!" Tommy ordered, "Cobras are tomence attack runs after the Valkyries have gone in! Let the Valkyries soak up all the AA fire!"


    Chorus of acknowledgment sounded out from the pilots in thems and the Cobras formed up again, circling back for another attack run, while the more heavily armored Valkyries dived in and strafed the ships while drawing fire.


    The goblin fleet burst into what looks like fireworks, as bolts of lightning and fireballs raised up after the Valkyries, which flew too fast to be hit by most of the spells. A few lucky mmed against the armored hull of the Valkyries, and the pilots barely even felt anything, the only evidence of the spells impacts was just scorched and chipped paint.


    The shamans exhausted from casting their spells, took a breather and the skies over the fleet cleared up, while the anti-dragon ballista was reloaded.


    The Cobras took the opportunity in the lull of the anti-air defenses and dived in, adding their firepower into the foray, torching and blowing up more ships and goblins. Finally, with their ammunition depleted, the nes reformed up next to Blue Thunder and Quick Silver and returned to base. Despite the low uracy of the rockets, the air strike left behind almost a quarter of the goblin fleet in mes.


    "All units RTB," Tommy ordered as both No. 2 and No. 3 Squadron had formed up. "No. 1 Squadron is to stay and observe." The Valkyries in No. 2 Squadron and the Cobras in No. 3 broke formation and headed back to base for rearming and refueling.


    Tommy looked at the chalkboard secured to one side of the wall, one of themand operator had written down the time estimates in columns and headings for each Squadron to return to base, ground crew servicing time and fuel time remaining. And on another column, the estimated time for the goblin fleet to hitnd was also written down.


    Tommy using the information, gauged that the Squadrons will be able to hit the goblin fleet one more time before they hitndfall and nightes. And when night falls, it will be harder for the rookie pilots to engage the goblin forces on the ground, so he most likely willmit the dragons for a night attack.


    He wondered what the goblin admiral will do at this time, will they split their fleet or still brunch up as target practice for his pilots.

 Chapter 124: The Goblin Beach Landings

    Chapter 124: The Goblin Beach Landings


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    Captain ke folded his arms as he stood before the tactical disy plot, watching the blue virtual icons indicating friendly units blinking on the scene.


    "All units RTB," Call themand over thems, and ke watched the blue icons started blinking towards home. He turned his attention over to the screen disying the smoking goblin fleet, the high resolution image taken from a remote camera mounted on the chest harness of Blue Thunder.


    Commander Ford next to ke said, "Looks like a quarter or more of the goblin fleet is decapitated from the strike."


    ke nodded, "Not bad for a bunch of newbies."


    "Tommy''s strike group should have enough time for a second strike before night falls," Ford added. "They should be able to whittle down the enemy a bit more for our weing party on the beach."


    "Strange formation they are adopting," ke pointed out at the crescent shaped fleet formation. "Luckily whoever is in charge did not scatter the fleet."


    Ford frowned as he watched the goblin fleet, "It looks like some kind of encirclement formation. Look, the two tips of the crescent could cut off the escape of any ships, surrounding them."


    "But for an anti air formation, it makes no sense," ke said.


    "No wait," Ford pointed to the middle of the formation, "I think it is a formation to do with dragons."


    "Why do you say that?" ke raised his eyebrows.


    "Look, the way dragons attack are simr to a helicopter," Ford exined, "They hover in ce and spit fireballs or spells and sweep over the target they are attacking."


    "That crescent formation is used to trap the dragon in an encirclement," Ford continued, "it should allow spellcasters, archers, and ballistas to hit the dragon from all sides."


    "But won''t the dragons break out of the formation?" ke pointed out.


    "Most likely yes," Ford replied, "Don''t forget dragons fly slower, especially elerating from a hovering position."


    "I see," ke grinned, "Guess they did not expect to get hit by fast movers!"


    Ford smiled back, "Yea, I think whoever is in charge there is probability cursing and swearing at our boys."


    -----


    Goblin Sea, The Skull Taker


    Jiak the Skull Krusher cursed as he took in the sight of his ships burning around him, the fleet which he had painstakingly built up piece by piece. He red up to the skies, seeing two dragonszily circling above his fleet, most likely waiting for a chance to grab a tasty goblin snack.


    "Inform all ships to push faster! We need to get tond before more of those flying creaturese back!" Jiak ordered, and his pet shaman bowed before rying hismand into the crystal ball. "What are those vile flying beasts?" He asked the shaman once he finished his orders. "Some kind of dragons?"


    "Master... I have no idea," The shaman replied, "I could not detect any trace of magical power in them and they do not look like any dragons I know of."


    Jiak frowned, "Tell the shamans to cast a shimmering spell over the fleet. Make sure we can''t be spotted easily."


    "Master, the spell will only hold for less than a span of a turn of the ss!" The shaman warned Jiak, "It will not cover the fleet all the way tond and the spell will exhaust all the powers of the shamans!"


    "Tell the fleet to close up," Jiak replied after a moment''s thought, "That will reduce the amount of power needed to cover the whole fleet."


    "But, my master..." The shaman protested.


    "Enough!" Jiak snapped, "Do it!"


    "Yes, master..."


    -----


    Skies over Goblin Sea


    The tech next to Commander Tommy suddenly gave a cry of surprise, prompting Tommy to turn his attention over from the map he was looking over. "What is it?"


    "Sir! The enemy fleet..." The tech turned and gaped at Tommy, "It''s gone! Only the wreckage from the air strike remains behind."


    "What?" Tommy climbed out of his seat and stood over the tech, gripping the hand bars set on the ceiling of the module for bnce. "Show me!"


    "Sir, one minute they are there, the second they just vanished!" the tech said, showing the yback of the video of the goblin fleet.


    The image showed the goblin fleet started to bunch up and a sort of shimmering over the air could be barely seen and the ships disappeared. Tommy reyed the video in slow motion and keyed hisms, "Blue, what do you see?"


    Blue Thunderzily pped his wings, riding the warm air currents, and was half asleep when the speakers at his ears crackled to life. He snapped awake instantly, jerking the module on his back as he did, causing the people inside to curse.


    "What? what?" Blue Thunder tilted his head downwards and using his forelimbs and wiped away his drool. "Huh?"


    Tommy sighed, "Blue, do you see the goblin fleet?" He nearly fell off his feet when Blue suddenly jerked.


    "Goblin fleet?" Blue Thunder blinked his eyes rapidly and looked down to the clear blue sea, "Aren''t they below... HUH? Where did they go?" He narrowed his eyes and craned his neck left and right, trying to spot them. "Wait, did I go off course?"


    "Nevermind, Blue," Tommy said over thems, "Quick, how about you?"


    "They disappeared suddenly below us," Quick Silver the medium weight replied in his deep bass voice. "They used a spell to hide themselves."


    "Roger that, tango, out," Tommy cut thems and pondered his options before instruction the tech, "Try infra?"


    The tech nodded, switching the camera mode to infra, which the disy showed up in a dark grey color. "Look, see here!" The tech pointed out dozens of ships like shapes highlighted in white against a grey background.


    "Damn," Tommy cursed, "They used a spell to hide the ships. The Cobras has no infravision, only the Valkyries are equipped with infrared. This is gonna be a bitch to fight!"


    "Sir, I don''t think they will be able to keep up such arge scale spell for long," the tech said, "It should take a lot of juice to power a spell like that over a huge area."


    Tommy nodded, agreeing with the tech''s analysis. He looked at the digital clock on the disy and thought, another three hours to sunset. The Valkyrie and Cobra squadrons should arrive within 30 minutes. "Order No 2 Squadron to engage the fleet first, which No 3 squadron to take a holding pattern 10 kilometers away. We let the Valkyries hit them first and when the spell expires, send in the Cobras. Prioritize the Scabbard ss transports first!"


    "Yes, Sir!'' The tech replied and hurried to ry the orders to the squadrons.


    -----


    West of Seacliff Mines


    Dozens of half-tracks rumbled down the beach before stopping before a red g stuck into the sand. The rear tailgate opened and troops in digital camo hopped out and formed up before the g. Once their cargo has been dumped, the half-tracks rolled out and return to pick up another batch of soldiers.


    "Alright, you maggots!" Corporal Mills yelled over the crashing of waves and pointed to a rise overlooking the sea. "Grab your entrenching tools and dig! I want proper firing foxholes here, here and here!"


    "Yes, Corporal!" The recruits chorused and grabbed their entrenching tools and started to dig.


    "Come on, chop chop!" Mills yelled as he strolled among the recruits digging foxholes, "Your lives will depend on the foxholes you dig! You will fight in them, take cover in them and sleep in them! Make sure you dig them nice and deep!"


    "The enemy ising!" Mills continued as he yelled encouragement to the frantically digging recruits, "This is no longer a drill! This is real action!" He pointed towards the sea and said, "Hundreds and thousands of green skinned scum are headed our way to kill us!"


    He paused and yelled to the Orc recruits, "No offense there, wasn''t talking about you guys. Anyway, goblins areing and it is a good day to kill some goblins!"


    "The sky is clear, we got a nice breeze here, great view of the sea," Mills stood over the rise watching his toon of recruits, "It practically a perfect shooting range built for us here!"


    "HOORAH!" The recruits yelled as they dug faster, piling sand and soil over the sides of the holes.


    "You boys will hold this stretch of the beach," Mills continued, "toon 1 will be on your left nk and toon 3 on your right! We will hold this beach with everything you got!"


    -----


    Major Frank stood on the side of the jeep and tried to spot the enemy fleet with his binos, just as two Valkyries screamed past over his head, darting towards the horizon. He lowered his binos and looked up at the two dark shapes in the sky, and frowned.


    "Airforce is saying the fleet is cloaked?" Frank asked Pike who was leaning on the side of the jeep with a pair of shades.


    "Yup," Pike nodded, "But it should be temporary, we can spot them with infra or wait till the spell wears off."


    Frank raised his binos again, following the Valkyries'' flight path, " It''s almost time, is everything ready?"


    "Yes, Sir," Pike replied, "All four recruitpanies have dug in and Delta Company is on standby as a reserve force. Problem is how will the goblins scatter their fleet or hit the beach in one concentrated force."


    shes appeared over the horizon of the sea, lighting up the purplish sky. A short whileter, rumbles of thunder could be heard. "Well the Valkyries have engaged them, hopefully, the Airforce can sink as many ships as possible."


    "Well, I think its a good chance to test the recruits," Pike said, "Good live fire training for them, and also for our new artillery corps."


    "Hows the set up of the artillery going?" Frank asked as he put down his binos.


    "We got 6 batteries of 120 mm mortars on stand by, each battery has three mortars," Pike replied, "They are spread out behind thepanies for support fire."


    "Problem is that we do not have much ammo for sustained fire. Each gun has only roughly 60 mortar bombs, but we got plenty of starburst shells to illuminate the night sky for the troops to see." Pike said, "Production of the new smokeless gunpowder is still insufficient for our needs, so we used the new smokeless powder for the mortar bomb''s propelling charge while the warhead is good old ck powder."


    "The mortarmen might need to relocate depending on where the goblinsnd," Pike added, "So I took the liberty of attaching some half-tracks and jeeps to their batteries.


    Frank nodded and snapped his binos up again, "There! They came out of hiding behind their magic."


    Pike took out his bino and observed the mass of ck dots in the horizon, background by mes and smoke, "Damn, we need to learn that cloaking spell, it will be damn useful."


    -----


    Goblin Sea, Skull Taker


    "Faster!" Jiak roared, "Land can be seen! Once we havended, we will no longer be at the mercy of those flying monsters!"


    "M-master!" One of his hobgoblin bodyguards called out pointing, "More flying monsters!"


    "Shaman! Use all your powers and blow the fleet to shore now!" Jiak roared at the pale faced shaman beside him, "If not we all die here!"


    The shaman nodded resignedly and spoke into his crystal orb, and before long, a sick greenish glow lit up all the ships in the fleet and they suddenly elerated, hurling towards the distant shoreline. One by one the shamans in the goblin fleet copsed from mana burn, blood flowing out from their nose and ears as they burnt up their life energy.


    The leading galleys glided up the sandy beach with a loud crash and oar not properly secured mmed against their owners, breaking bones. Other ships behind being slower to steer away, rammed into the ships already beached on the shore, causing chaos and casualties among the goblin crew.


    Soon every ship settled down on shore, and cries of pain and the dying could be heard over the waves. Jiak grinned, "We made it! Now get off the ships!"


    Just as he said that several whistling sounds could be heard over the waves, growing louder and louder. Jiak looked up in confusion and his world turned into fire and hell.

 Chapter 125: Unto the Breach

    Chapter 125: Unto the Breach


    A whizz shrieked passed Jiak''s head and the top part of his skull throne behind him exploded, bits of bone shards and splinters showered over his head. "What sorcery is this!" He roared, ncing up from over the wooden railings of his ship.


    The sun had set, yet despite that, the area around the beach where Jiak''s fleet hadnded was brightly illuminated by mage fire, balls of glowing orbs hanging in the sky. He did not expect to encounter any resistance on the shore and now his shamans were mana drained and made useless by the shimmering spell used to cloak the fleet.


    "How did the long legs know we areing?" Jiak roared in surprise, "Could the attacks from the flying monsters be part of the long legs?"


    "Charge! Attack the long legs!" Hemanded, leaping off the side of his ship and pping the t of his de at his confused goblins. "Get off the ships!"


    The goblins near him gathered their courage and followed Jiak, shrieking a war cry as they charged up the beach. The magical lights floating in the sky lit the way for them and Jiak while shes of light could be seen sparking in the distance and the buzz and whizz of something screamed around him like angry bees. Some of his goblins fell to the sand soundlessly as if they suddenly fell asleep, others screamed as parts of their bodies suddenly blew up.


    A whistling sound was heard and arge gout of mes and sand erupted not far behind from where Jiak stood, the shock wave mming into him and bowling him off his feet.


    Jiak shook his head, spitting out sand from his mouth and tried to clear the ringing in his ears before standing up again. He turned to shout at his minions to follow him, only to find a smoking crater in the sand behind him, and his goblin minions shredded by the explosion. One of the goblins at his feet coughed and shrieked as its bloody guts flowed out from his missing half of its body.


    He stared nkly for a moment before at carnage before one of his hobgoblin guards dragged him into the cover of a sand dune while the sand exploded around them.


    -----


    Recruit toon 2, Foxhole


    Recruit ooth aka Slow was leaning over the foxhole he dug, looking down on the customized sights of the M1E Magelock. It was specially modified for Orcish hands, designated M1E, E for Erged. The trigger guard was removed to allow the thick fingers of the Orcs to squeeze the trigger while the rifle stock along with the rifle grip was also lengthened, adding another 20 cm to the butt.


    The sights were raised to allow the Orcs to sight in as their heads wererger than the humans and elves. ooth peered through the notched sight, remembering Master Sergeant Pike''s firearm lecture on the proper way of aiming and shooting.


    He kept the single rear leaf sight center of the circle and aimed slightly ahead of a goblin dashing along the beach waving its spear in a somewhat threatening manner and squeezed the trigger softly. The m of the rifle butt against his shoulder barely affected his stance as the bullet spiraled out of the barrel and smacked into the running goblin, sending it disappearing into the shadows with a puff of something dark and glistening.


    ooth grinned and worked the erged knob of his M1E''s bolt, ejecting the spent cartridge and pushing a fresh round into the chamber. He sniffed the sour piss smell of the gunsmoke and sighed happily, before scanning the illuminated beach for more goblins to kill.


    "It is a good day to kill something!" He smiled happily as he shot another goblin runner.


    -----


    Rear of the Beach defense line


    "Load starburst!" The gunnery sergeant yelled and the seven-man mortar crew leaped into action. One of the crew tossed a shell with a white painted nose and a crudely drawn star on the side of the shell to the Assistant Gunner who held the shell over the muzzle of the mortar tube and the sergeant yelled, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" and the whole crew covered their ears and opened their mouths.


    The Assistant Gunner dropped the shell into the tube and stepped away, covering his ears and opening his mouth and a thunderp sounded,pressing the lungs for a moment and causing heads to ring despite covered ears. In the distant sky, a star burst into life, a tiny parachute deploying, lighting up the area like a tiny sun.


    "Switch to high explosives!"


    -----


    Frank and Pike stood next to their jeep watching the goblins get ughtered on the beach lit by parachute res lobbed by the mortars. "Better than I expected," Pikemented, "This batch of recruits is pretty urate even without tracers to guide their fire."


    "Might be due to being an Orc or elf? Doc did say they have better hearing and eyesight than unaugmented humans. Looks like theynded within a two kilometer stretch of the beach," Frank said as he peered through his binos in night vision model, "What are their numbers you think?"


    "Maybe ten, fifteen thousand?" Pike guessed, "They took quite the beating when they beached in that mess."


    Frank nodded, "I am pulling in the other two recruitpanies to the north and south of the beachhead. We will box them in."


    "The mortar batteries are doing pretty well so far," Pike observed, "Most of their shells are pretty on target."


    "They better, this is a very expensive live-fire exercise," Frank joked, "We managed to pin them down with mortar fire, but once our supply runs out, the goblins will definitely make a break through the lines. They still outnumber us by thousands."


    "We just have to keep hitting them while they are still confused," Pike said. "Since they are bunched up nicely among the beached ships, I took the liberty to call for an airstrike."


    Frank nodded, "Nice, now we need to advance and push them into the sea." He pointed to thergest concentration of beached ships. "Prep Delta Company for assault, we will attack them there."


    Pike nodded and reached for the radio set mounted at the rear of the jeep and startedmunication with Deltapany before heading to find thepany.


    -----


    Delta Company, 500 meters from Goblin beachhead


    "Alright, Delta dogs! We are going over the hill and straight at those green skins!" Pike roared over the dim of gunfire and explosions. "Attach bays!"


    Delta Company was the onlypany without any humans in its ranks. The elf Marines drew their sword bays and with a rattle, they attached their bays onto their rifles.


    The light from the starburst parachute res cast a hungry glint in the elves eyes as they stood in loose ranks among their toons. The toon sergeants and corporals traveled up and down the ranks, ensuring their men''s weapons were loaded and bays properly fixed.


    "Company! Form up in line formation!" Pike barked. The individual toons started to spread out and not long the wholepany stood in a line following Pike''s order. "Advance!"


    Like the ancient musketeers, the wholepany marched forward in step in a single row, climbing over the gentle slope and three sharp whistles were heard, signaling the recruits inside the foxholes to cease fire.


    The recruits watched Delta Company march pass them and cheered, shouting encouragement to them as they advanced towards the goblins.


    "Compaaaany... Halt!" Pike bellowed, and the men nearby echoed hismand, and the line came to a stop and crouched down.


    The night sky suddenly lit up again as the Airforce''s Valkyries and Cobras arrived again, using the ming wrecks as a marker, the aircraft volley fired thermobaric warheads into the mass of ships, setting the majority up in mes.


    When their rockets depleted, the nes looped around, wagging their wings in salute to the Marines on the beach and returned back to base, while a pre-nned heavy barrage of mortar fire rained down onto the beach making it into thergest firework show for the Marines who had front row seats to watch.


    Finally thest echoes of explosions slowly faded and Pike stood up, and blew his whistle, signaling the assault. The elves of Delta Company howled and charged, covering thest hundred meters in seconds and fired into the shell-shocked goblins. "OOORAAAAAH!"


    Starburst shells continued to pop overhead, and together with the burning wrecks, the entire beachhead was almost as bright as day. The Marines fired at the goblins who finally seeing their enemies who screamed in their strange high pitch voices and rushed them with crude spears and des.


    The Marine line stopped as the surviving goblins came out from craters, sand dunes, and even from burning ship wreckages. They rushed out in small groups of threes or fours and died while the smarter goblins yed dead till the Marines were almost on top of them, and they jumped up shrieking war cries only to get impaled by 15" long cold steel and died in doves.


    -----


    Jiak squeezed himself as much as he could into a ball to avoid the earth-shaking explosions going off all around him, ignoring the screams of fear and death of his lesser kin. Suddenly the explosions stopped and a roar that grew in intensity sent chills down his spine. He pushed himself up and peered over the sand dune, and saw a line of dark figures appearing out of nowhere and fire, smoke, and thunder erupted from the line of figures, and his goblins died all around him.


    "Master! We must run!" His hobgoblin guards advised him, tugging his arm to pull him away from the approaching danger. "We must hurry!"


    Jiak nodded and cried out, "Retreat to the sides!" Those goblins hearing his cry echoed his words and followed Jiak, scrambling away in fear of the approaching death. But the line of death stretch as far as the eye could see, and the only way Jiak got go was towards the sea. The fire and thunder grew more intense as the line approached closer, and suddenly the world turned into mes.


    -----


    Blue Thunder happily burped out sparks as he pulled up from his bombing run. His fireball impacted at a cluster of goblins, turning into dancing fire pyres. Quick Silver at his nk shed down with his ws, gripping a couple of goblins and tossing them into the sea. Inside themand and control module, Tommy and the rest of the crew groaned as the module shook and buckled under Blue Thunders maneuvers. "Blue, enough fun yet? You need to break off, the air is too hot with friendly rounds!" Tommy yelled into the mic.


    "Fufufu," Blue Thunderughed manically, and hovered on the spot, spitting a couple more fireballs at the panicking goblins. "This is fun! Burn baby burn!"


    Tommy rolled his eyes, wondering if dragons are naturally pyromaniacs and where did he learned that phrase from, and is that why stories always have them torching and burning viges and castles?


    -----


    It was not long before the goblins ran away screaming in fear from the advancing line of fire and steel, some tried to break out from the sides, only to encounter defensive lines manned by the recruits who gleefully shot down the goblins. Majority of the goblins were forced into the sea, some even tried to refloat the beached galleys, others pushed rowboats back out into the waves.


    Pike halted the advancing lines of the Marines and they all prone down or crouch down and fired at the fleeing goblins. He took out his tablet and switched to a map and keyed hisms. "Magnum Zero Nine, this is Dog Pack Seven, fire mission, request for grid one zero niner four dash seven six two niner, immediate fire for effect on my mark, Dog Pack Seven, over."


    "Dog Pack Seven, Zero Niner, that''s a roger on your fire mission, on the way, Zero Niner out!"


    Secondster, whistles of mortar bombs screamed over the Marine line and hell visited on the screaming goblins.

 Chapter 126: Authors HP 46.7%

    Chapter 126: Author''s HP 46.7%


    Hi guys, just wanna share something about my health/medical condition.


    I got diagnosed with two cancers during 2012, a tumor in my left lung taking up 2/3 of its space and thyroid cancer.


    Went through the usual chemotherapy and operations to remove the remaining mass of tumor and my entire thyroid. Which 2 weeks after my chest op, I went back to ICU for having heart and lung infection, they reopened my stitches, re cut my chest up again, cleaned and removed what ever they forgot to take out in my chest ...


    Fast forward to 2015, I got diagnosed with severe clinical depression, nearly died from overdose of sleeping pills and then ...


    This year 2018 I got hit by two heart attacks. First at mid Feb and the second just a couple of weeks back and I still got 3 arteries at 60-70% blockage but the doctor is scared to touch them as they might shift and worsen my condition. (They removed 5 blood clots at my 1st bypass and 3 more blood clots at my 2nd bypass)


    Frankly I am broke with all this medical bills. My insurance went over the limited, government support in the form of Medisave which I have had all gone into my hospital bills and whatever savings that I had. The current support at $79 from you guys is enough to pay more than half of my monthly medicine which I have to take for life. ( My daily cost of meds per day is the cost of 1 happy meal...less the toy and happiness... @ SGD $6++)


    Therefore I am very grateful for the support you guys gave to me. Please be patient if some days I fail to deliver/post chapters up. Thanks for the support!


    *** aaaaaaand myptop have to die at this point ... have to use my workce''s PC. I am back at work aldy! No rest for the wicked ***

 Chapter 127: Picking up the Pieces

    Chapter 127: Picking up the Pieces


    Falledge Town, Merchant District, North Star Trading


    Etoro Arther paced around in his office, rubbing his hands anxiously as he waited for news from his people. The fine china holding his favorite snacks and sweetmeat were ignored as he stood before the window, peeking around to see if his people had returned every once in while before resuming his pacing.


    Finally, a knock on his door and his clerk''s muffled voice sounded through the door, "Sir, Mr. Bishop is here to see you."


    "Let him in! Let him in!" Etoro hurriedly replied, and he stood before his office doors.


    Qoum Bishop entered his office, his dark red hair stered against his head with sweat. He quickly dropped himself onto the sofa chair, ignoring his travel-stained clothes against the rich leather and raised his hand up, and a couple of blue magic circles appeared.


    A fist-sized piece of ice appeared over the magic circle before melting away into a thin fog, which covered the entire room. Qoum gave a relieved sigh as the room cooled down, and he removed his traveling coat.


    "How is it?" Etoro asked as he carried over a set of tea and poured a cup for Qoum.


    "Hmmm," Qoum took a sip and grimaced, raising his finger and using magic to cool the tea down before drinking it. "Job''s done. 347 ounted for, 15 deaths during transportation."


    Otoro sat down next to Qoum and pour them both another cup, "15 deaths? What happened?"


    "The vers were too rough, I guess?" Qoum gave a shrug, "Anyway I did my part, so where is the payment?"


    "Of... of course," Otoro got up and went to his desk and opened his drawer, taking out four white coins with an image of a crystal shard on one side, and ced them on the table before Qoum who picked them up and nodded. "I just round it up to a perfect 400 royals.


    Qoum pocketed the tinum crystal coins and rosed. "They are ced at the usual drop off at the warehouse, I also bribed the town guards and officials to keep it quiet."


    "Thank you," Otoro said, and gave a short bow as Qoum gave a simple wave and left his office.


    Otoro stood over his office window and watched Qoum disappear into the crowd before he rang a tiny brass bell, and a clerk appeared. "You called, Sir?"


    "Yes, yes," He removed a key from around his neck and handed it over to the clerk and said, "Go to the warehouse and do the usual and prepare them to move at a moment''s notice."


    The clerk epted the key and gave a bow before he left to do Otoro''s bidding.


    "Now, is to see if Tyrier can do what he promised."


    -----


    Somewhere in Falledge


    Kaga Whitetail hissed in suppressed pain, as the boils burst open with bloody fluid leaking out from her bare feet. She swallowed back the tears threatening to break out from her blue eyes and gently rubbed her swollen ankles. Looking up at the unlit interior of therge room, she suspected that they were kept in some warehouse, where daylight shone through the eaves in the roof.


    Moans and sobs could be heard from therge group of people lying on every surface or even on top of each other. She gently shifted herself to a morefortable position against the hard packed ground and ignored the persons besides her. The thin dirty shift she wore for thest four months clung against her malnourished and wasted body, barely provides enough warm and decency to her body.


    She shivered despite the being spring and in the day and hugged her dirty and matted tail, no longer looking white and healthy, her dirty white crudely cut short hair and her cat like ears drooping in sadness and pain, wondering what will happen to her and the people around.


    Kaga gritted her teeth in pain the person next to her identally knock against her wounded feet, sending waves of pain, her tail tensing up. She cursed the Empire for causing all these hardships and tried to use magic to cast a simple healing spell, but she could not gather any spiritual power from her surroundings as the in-looking metal cor shackled around her neck blocked her magical powers.


    She sighed and curled up into as small a space as possible, hugging herself before slowly drifting off into a nightmare fueled sleep.


    -----


    The blue mountains outside the window brought a sharp and foul-smelling breeze into the room Kaga was in. She paused her reading of the scroll and set it aside and rosed, walking bare feet against the straw woven mats and stood before the open window and looked outside, wondering what was going on.


    From her vintage view of the tallest tower in the city, she saw a plume of smoke rising off in the distance and suddenly a loud nging sound was raised from one of the watchtowers where someone was beating an rm.


    "Priestess!" The wood and paper sliding door slid open and two handmaidens in white and red long billowing robes, "The Empire has attacked!"


    "What?" Kaga spun around, "We had an agreement!"


    "They broke it!" The two girls, one with brown ears, hair and tail cried, "They are storming the Beast City as we speak!"


    "Quickly, we must head to the Formation Array!" Kaga said, "The guards? Takao, go inform the elders to gather at the Formation Hall!" She instructed the brown-haired girl who bowed and dashed off.


    "They are mobilizing to the walls," The other girl with grey-blue ears, hair and tail replied. She waved for the two Kobold guardsmen stationed outside the Priestess room to follow them and the two dog-like looking humanoid carrying curved sabers followed faithfully along.


    They hurried down the wooden steps and out of the Tower and headed past arge stone courtyard and up a flight of stairs again, before reaching a huge building with arge and gently curved roof with many pirs supporting the structure.


    Kobold guardsmen bowed as they approached and they quickly pushed open the doors for the Priestess''s party. Once inside, Kage''s eyes took a short while to adjust to the darkness inside and hurried down into the middle of the empty hall, where argeplicated looking magic formation was etched into the tiles.


    The interior pirs had runes carved into them and what appeared to be talismans were stuck all over the hall. A simple oilmp sat in the middle of the formation, the tiny me flickering slightly in the breeze that the party brought in.


    "The elders?" Kaga asked as she knelt next to themp, checking the oil levels. "Are they here yet?"


    "Here, Priestess," A mellow voice rung out from the main doors as another party of robe dressed beastmen entered. "We await your bidding." The group of elders with Takao bowed to Kaga.


    "Quick, we need to bring the barrier up to stop the Empire," Kaga responded, pointing to each point of the formation. "I need all your help in this."


    "Are we too rush to use the Formation now?" One of the grey-furred elder asked as they hurried in their own pace to the formation. "The guards should be more than able to handle some weaklings."


    "No, I have seen their powers," Kaga said, "That is why I agreed to a non-aggressive pact and open borders with the Empire, just that, I never expect that Varacen to attack so fast! I miscalcted, I thought we had at least a year more to prepare!"


    The seven elders muttered something among themselves as they start surrounding Kaga in the middle of the Formation, "We are ready."


    Kaga nodded and sat down cross-legged in a meditative stance, while the elders followed suit, and started chanting. The magic formation and runes started glowing brighter and brighter before the countless talismans sudden burst into mes one by one and a bright beam of energy burst out of the building into the skies before exploding into a shimmering dome that covered the entire city.


    Kaga sighed as powering the formation had drained her of all her energy. "Keep watch over the me, do not let it go out!" She ordered the me Keeper at the side, who nodded.


    Suddenly screams and cries could be heard outside the Formation Hall, and Kaga looked up in surprise. "The enemy? Here!"


    The doors exploded into wooden shards and splinters and a kobold guardsman flew into the hall, his chest caved in, and blood pooling around its broken body. Two dark figures stood against the light and sniggered as they casually strolled in.


    "Well, well, what do we have here?" One of them mockingly spoke. "Cute little kitties aren''t they?''


    As the two walked in, their features could be seen clearer, both were dressed in typical Empire te armor, but more ornate and delicate looking. The one that spoke had his long blonde hair tailed in a ponytail and specks of blood could be seen on his smooth white face while the other Knight had a full faced helmet covering his head.


    "Kill them!" One of the elders yelled and she conjured up several magical mes and shooting them at the two figures, while another elder took out a handful of talismans and chanted something before tossing them out. Kaga''s handmaidens instantly took up positon in front of her, shield her with their bodies.


    The spirit fires shoot towards the helmeted Knight and the Knight just casually sliced the fires away with his long sword, while the other Knightughed as the talismans stuck onto his body and exploded.


    Kaga looked in wild-eyed horror as that giggling Knight that exploded, emerged from a glow of a magical protection spell and causally dusted himself off unharmed from a spell that is equaled to an Empire level 4 spell! "Quick! Summon the guardians!"


    The elders looked at each other and nodded before formingplex hand seals and chanted an invocation under their breaths.


    "Hahahaha, what toys are the kitties trying to bring out this time?" The Laughing Knight asked, as he stood casually and waited for them to finish.


    "Don''t waste time," The Helmeted Knight said, "Kill them off."


    "Alright, alright," The Laughing Knight grumbled, "You spoil all the fun," He reached to his back and drew out two wicked looking daggers, "Greater Agility!" and vanished from sight before appearing in front of a startled Elder.


    "Hi!" He grinned and sliced the jugr of the shocked Elder, sending a spray of blood out. "Who''s next?"


    The Elders stepped back in horror as their concentration broke and Kaga quickly tossed out several talismans and quickly chanted a spell, turning the talismans into flying eagles, that swooped down at the Laughing Knight.


    "Protect the Priestess!" Cries rang out from the rear as dozens of Kobold guardsmen rushed in and died as the Helmeted Knight sliced and diced with his swordy against the badly matched guards.


    The Elders quickly resumed their spell as the Laughing Knight was distracted by the paper eagles when suddenly the Helmeted Knight seemed to get impatient and threw his sword with full force at Kaga, "Greater Strength Up!"


    "Noo!" The two handmaidens screamed as they quickly used all their power to boost up their protection spells, blocking the silver Mythril sword''s passage and flew back into Kaga who was supporting the Formation Array.


    As they fell back, the Spirit Lamp which was used to gather spiritual energy was knocked down and the me went out, almost immediately the flow of energy into the Formation Array ceased, and without Kaga supporting the Array with her power, the city protection spell faded away.


    The Laughing Knight grinned as he shredded thest paper eagle, his handsome face blooding from cuts from the attacks of the paper eagles. "Damn, that was interesting, your useless papers and actually able to hurt me, little kitty!"


    "RUN!" Takao pushed her sister and Kaga to the back, "I will hold them off! GO!"


    Takao''s sister grabbed Kaga and dragged her away, much to the amusement of the Laughing Knight, "Trying to run, kitties? I so like a hunt!"


    "Die!" Takao charged forward and the talismans in her fingers turned into daggers and she shed at the Laughing Knight, aiming for his neck, but he justughed and punched out, breaking her weaken protection spell, breaking her ribs and causing her to vomit out the contents in her stomach before copsing in a heap in front of the Knight.


    "Now, for the next kitties," He rubbed his hands gleefully when the remaining Elders lobbed spirit fire and exploding talismans at him.


    "Nooo!" Kaga screamed weakly as she watched the Knights massacred everyone in the room before her mana drained body gave up and shepsed into darkness.

 Chapter 128: Freed

    Chapter 128: Freed


    Kaga jerked awake, shivering an shaking as she curled up on the hard floor panting. Tears flowed down as she recalled the sacrifices made by others for her. Herst handmaiden hid her in some shacks and switched clothes before leaving her to draw away the searching Empire soldiers.


    Without the Spirit Lamp and her as the key to the CIty Protection Spell, the Empire''s dragons swooped in and tangled with the city''s griffins while siege engines attacked the city walls. With the Empire Knights wreaking havoc behind lines, the city fell rapidly and the city inhabitants fled.


    She waster captured by vers who followed behind the Imperial Army, who traded gold for life, healthy bodies. Cutting her long hair short with a dagger and being on the run for over two weeks, she looked like any other refugee on the run. It was also probably due to her depleted both magic and physical powers from casting the City Protection Spell, the ver''s appraisal of her was that she was unfit as a prime ve, and was cast with the undesirable and dying leftovers.


    She attempted to escape when her magic recovered, but unluckily she was stopped by an anti-magic formation cast into the ve holding pens which earned her a beating and anti-magic cor. She and many others were transported from one holding pen to another before reaching the southern trade hub of Woschester.


    After a week of horrible treatment in the pens, a buyer came and said he needed bodies to clear thend near the uncharted forest and they were sold. Another two weeks of hard travel, several died along the way from the harsh conditions before they arrived at this ce. Kagaid shriveled up wondering when they will have some porridge to eat and drink.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Gods, what a mess! It''s been three days since the goblinsnded yet they are still running around... like a cockroach!" Captain ke sighed as he read the after action report from Major Frank. "The goblin mop up is taking too much time and resources away from us."


    "Yes, Sir," Frank agreed, "But we need to clear them out thoroughly or we have an unknown cancer at our nks."


    "Agreed too," Commander Ford added, "Despite the overwhelming victory at the defense of the beach, there are still hundreds shattered and hiding along the beach. We can''t take the risk of having an enemy there. It''s better to finish them off once and for all, or we have to spend resources just guarding against them."


    "3 deaths and 47 injured from Deltapany, the recruits suffering no deaths only 5 injuries due to mishaps," ke read from the report. "And we lost a single F/A-1 Cobra onnding."


    "Sir, the pilots are still new to nightbat andnding," Lieutenant Commander Tommy replied. "The good thing is both the pilot and co-pilot suffered minor injuries and will recover in a couple of weeks time."


    ke nodded as he continued reading the report, "Ordnance used, 70% of all rocket stocks, 80% of all mortar bombs and roughly 295,680 6.5 mm ck Powder (BP) rounds fired."


    "Estimated goblin deaths at roughly 21,000, with roughly 2,000 still hiding along the beach still," ke put down the tablet and looked at the threemanders. "That''s not counting the 12 deaths and 24 heavily wounded Marines of Alpha Company. That''s almost half the fighting strength gone from an experiencedbat unit."


    "Sir," Frank spoke up, "It''s my fault, Sir!"


    "No, no," ke waved Frank down, "I am not assigning me here, we just could not foresee what dangers are in the dungeon. Even with having an entire toon fighting the Boss of the level, it was almost wiped out even with all kinds of precautions we took."


    "I think we should suspend exploration of the Dungeon till we consolidate our forces first," ke said. "What do you all think?"


    Ford looked at the other two and nodded, "We have been constantly encountering external threats without having a proper chance to rest and recuperate. Thou the Dungeon did offer us substantial rewards like the nitroshroom, but its dangers are just too overwhelming at the same time."


    "What you are saying is?" ke raised his eyebrow at arched his fingers together.


    "Stop digging deeper," Ford replied.


    "Sir, I think we should stop the exploration, and limit it to Level Two for our resource needs, and avoid deeper exploration," Frank said.


    "I concur too, Sir," Tommy replied.


    ke looked at the three standing before him and nodded, "Ok, from now on till further notice, exploration of the Dungeon will be stopped, harvesting teams are only to have ess to level two that has been cleared. No one goes down into Level Three, anyone caught will be prosecuted."


    "And be shot," Frank grinned.


    "And survivors will be shot again," Finished Tommy.


    "Get out of here, kids..." ke rubbed his face, covering the smile he had.


    Both Officers gave a salute and left the Bridge leaving Ford behind with ke. "Captain, regarding the trade deal with Falledge, you think its a good idea?"


    ke nodded, "We can secure a line of supply from the town, why not?"


    "But it''s in the enemy territory," Ford replied. "It will not be a stable source of supply."


    "Yes, I know," ke agreed. "That''s why I want to milk it as much as I can before it gets discovered."


    "Well, 10 tons of seeds, a thousand heads of muffalos and two thousand eggying bird wyverns," Ford replied from memory, "It isn''t a lot to support our poption of fewer than 9000 humans, elves, orcs, and three hungry dragons..."


    "Well, its a start," ke said, "City Hall is still at its baby steps, but these are seed stocks crucial for our food needs for the future. Besides, we do not know if the merchant friend of our ymore One leader is reliable yet. It''s like a test to see if he can deliver."


    Ford nodded, "Then how about the transporting ves crap?"


    "If what Sergeant Tyrier reports is true," ke rubbed his chin, "I don''t mind opening up the Pass for the freed ves. In fact, I would even like to meet with the person doing this, especially if they are from the Isles. That''s another trade option there."


    "And you can poach on the freed ves to join us too right?" Ford shook his head.


    "Hehehe," ke grinned, "You know me too well!"


    "Well, ording to our good Sergeant there, the merchant Otoro Arther should have a batch of freed ves to be transported to safety within the week," Ford said. "But do you think this Otoro guy will ept?"


    ke flipped open his tablet and pulled up the files on Otoro Arther, "Owner of North Star Trading, 31 years old, Son of Baron Arther, Kingdom of Goldrose..." There were several pictures of Otoro in the file too, most likely taken from a recording camera from Tyrier.


    "Well, we can only wait and see," ke said. "And hope our good Sergeant can convince his friend."


    Ford nodded, "I am assuming you going to authorize the mission to extend over the one month period?"


    "Of course," ke grinned, "There is still so much to learn!"


    -----


    Somewhere in Falledge


    Therge barn-like wooden doors swung open and several figures stood before the flood of sunlight shining into the holding room. Kaga sat up slowly and squinted her eyes against the bright lights.


    "Alright, everyone!" One of the figures spoke in a loud voice. "We are going to clean you up, feed you and have proper ces to sleep. But I need you to be orderly! Come along now!"


    Hearing the word food, the hungry people got up and slowly exited the room, and Kaga dragged her swollen and bleed feet along. As she came out of the room, she found her self in arge courtyard with three other warehouses like structures. People wearing white aprons were helping the ves too weak to walk out of the warehouses and led to what appears to be a healer.


    Stalls were set up along the courtyard where bowls of soup or porridge were handed out to the starving ves while another area was covered up with cloth for people to shower and clean up. She limped her way to the shower area first, as she desperately wanted to feel clean again after so many months of filth.


    Entering one of the shower stalls, she found a wooden tub filled with hot water and a female wearing one of those white aprons was saying, "Just wash up and I will remove the dirty water for you," And she ced a pile of clean clothes on the side for her. "For your dirty clothes just dump it here," she pointed to a basket, "We will burn themter."


    Kaga nodded and stripped, dumping her dirty rags into the basket and slowly climbed into the tub. Her body was thin to the point where her ribs could be clearly seen, and her tummy was bloated due to malnourishment. Soaking into the hot water, Kaga gave a sigh of relief as the aches and pains in her body faded, despite her burning wounds on her feet.


    Using a scrub, she washed off theyers of dirt and filth and had to ask the attendant for the second fill of water in her tub which had turned into a dirty grey soup. After that, she raised off and used a coarse soap tother her whole body until she was sore and pink before exiting the shower, dressed in a simple clean dress.


    Next, she limped her way towards the healers and had them help her with her feet. She was curious as to why there was such a good treatment but decided to just make the best out of the moment first.


    The healer wrapped her feet in a foul-smelling salve which was cooling to her feet. The healer also brought along a Magesmith who carefully removed the anti-magic cor from her chaffed neck, and more of the foul-smelling salve was applied to her.


    After thanking both the healer and Magesmith, she left to find food at the food stalls. The smell of food made her mouth water and after queuing for a while, she has gotten a bowl of porridge and she sat down on the floor and wolfed the hot food down.


    Once satisfied, she started to observe her surroundings, finding it strange that someone would spend so much effort for some ves. She wondered what their agenda could be and she watched the crowd of people and beast men mingling around, holding bowls of hot porridge and dressed in clean clothes.


    Suddenly someone stood on top of a small raised tform and rang a small bell, catching the attention of everyone. "May I have your attention please?" Once he has gotten everyone''s attention, he continued, "I have good news for you. From now onwards, everyone is free, no longer a ve."


    After he spoken those words, the crowd broke into a wild discussion. "But, it is still not safe for you to be here, therefore, we will have to move you out to another ce where you will be safe!"


    Kaga touched the ve brand burnt onto the top of her right hand and wondered where will they be bringing them to.


    "Where will you bring us to? Is this real?" Someone yelled, asking the question Kaga had. "What if we want to stay?"


    "There is no point staying here," The man replied, "Staying here and getting caught by the Empire will be death waiting not only for you but also those that helped you! Therefore, you must leave here!"


    The crowd kept quiet after hearing that. "Don''t worry, we will bring you somewhere safe, where the Empire won''t reach you."


    "But where is safe from the Empire?" Someone yelled again. "


    "We will bring you to The Isles."

 Chapter 129: Green Troubles

    Chapter 129: Green Troubles


    Tyrier Lodess blew out a blue smoke ring as he leaned back against the posh sofa, savoring the smooth smokeleaf taste rolling in his mouth. He sighed contently as he watched the small crowd in the Clubs and Royals Gentlemen Club mingle among themselves and wondered how many of these sons of bitches jumped over to the Empire side on the first signs of trouble.


    "Tyrier!" A voice calling his name snapped him out of his wandering thoughts and he looked around, seeing the fat form of Otoro Arther walking over to him with arge smile pasted over his face.


    "Hello, old friend," Tyrier gave a wave and gestured Otoro to join him at his table. "Have a seat."


    Otoro dropped his heavy mass onto the chair and it sank visibly and managed to somehow support his weight. "One thick cut, Ruby Stag steak, medium raw with a side of fried taters." He gave his order to the uniformed waiter serving at his side. "Also a bottle of fine red fire."


    Tyrier waved away the waiter who looked in askance, "I have eaten."


    "So," Tyrier turned his attention to Otoro while continuing to puff his smokeleaf cigar. "What do you think of the deal?" He asked after they were left alone.


    "There is no problem for the livestock and seeds," Otoro said as he went into full business mode. "But the trade route through the Uncharted Forest..."


    "Well, if you can deliver the goods, you don''t have to worry on my client''s end," Tyrier gave his assurance. "They can take care of transporting the goods once it is delivered to the agreed location."


    "But the Empire might take note of the shipment..." Otoro pressed on. "It is risky..."


    "Come on, old friend," Tyrier shook his head, "I am sure you know how to move goods in and out unnoticed by the Empire."


    "Hmmm," Otoro finally nodded, "Its a deal, and the payment?"


    "Payment will be on delivery," Tyrier smiled, "Don''t worry, if this deal goes well, there will be more contracts in the future."


    Otoro nodded again, stuffing a napkin onto his cor, and kept quiet as the waiter returned with a te of dark red meat and a bottle of amber red colored wine. Tyrier waited till Otoro finished a mouthful of the rich looking meat before asking, "Regarding the other contract, what is you and your client''s answer to my client''s proposal?"


    Otoro cut another piece of meat and chewed thoughtfully before swallowing it. "If your side can provide the protection for the shipment, they are willing to do things your way. But... they can''t trust you fully."


    Tyrier took a deep pull with his cigar and puffed out, "The problem is more on your client''s side. How do we know if they are not really reselling on the other side?"


    Otoro put down his knife and fork, and dabbed away the juice and oil from his mouth before saying, "I can vouch for them."


    "Then you can rest assured that my client will do all in their power to ensure the safety of the cargo," Tyrier replied with a smile, "But if they wish to stay, you and your clients can''t force them to leave."


    "I... I can''t make that decision," Otoro picked up his knife and fork and started eating again. "I need to discuss with them."


    "Well, if you go by my client''s route, it will be a lot safer than cutting through the Uncharted Forest," Tyrier said.


    "But," Otoro pointed with his fork at Tyrier, "The traveling time by sea will be increased by at least a week!"


    "Think about it," Tyrier unceremoniously poured himself a ss of red fire wine. "If my client can secure a safe route, won''t you merchants benefit in the end?"


    "Your current route is to cut through the Uncharted Forest, then the Sea ins followed by climbing over the Mountains before going cut through the unknown territory towards the sea." Tyrier pointed out. "My client can ensure safety from half of the Uncharted Forest and to the sea directly. In fact, other then the extended sea passage, I expect the traveling time onnd will be faster by at least one week or more!"


    Otoro paused in his eating and gave a serious expression, "Are you serious?"


    "Do I look like I am joking with you?" Tyrier looked squarely at Otoro and sipped the wine.


    "This deal is too good to be true..." Otoro replied, "I never trust a deal like that."


    Tyrier sighed, feeling exhausted trying to convince his friend. "Alright, the truth is my client wants to recruit people and also trade for basic resources like food, metals, and crystals."


    "If you work with my client, my client can also gain a friendly contact with your client and could also form some trade contracts both ways," Tyrier made up some story on the spot.


    "Hmmm, that makes sense," Otoro finished his steak and gave a small burp. "But if the Empire finds out?"


    Tyrier leaned forward and whispered, "Why do you think the former Duke is on the run now?"


    Otoro''s gleamed brightly when he heard that. "Interesting! Very interesting!" He wiped his oily mouth and grinned. "I will contact my client and once they replied, I will give you an answer."


    Tyrier nodded and leaned back to enjoy his cigar, hoping that what he talked with Otoro tonight is enough to convince the people behind him.


    -----


    Seacliff Mining Facility, Field Hospital


    A massive silver dragon loomed over James who fired his M2 uselessly at the behemoth. The mouth yawned open and a glow lit up the insides of the mouth before a dazzling bright light lit up James''s world.


    He jolted awake, sweat drenching his hospital scrubs and winced in pain as his sudden moment pulled his internal injuries. James rolled to his side coughing in pain and realized that a blue light was shing in the room.


    He took a few deep breaths and realized the facility silent warning siren has gone off. A harried-looking nurse hurried past his row and he called out to the nurse. "What''s go-going on?"


    "It''s a goblin raid," The pretty nurse looked deadly pale in the shing blue lights and white LED lights of the field hospital. "Don''t worry, we should be alright, we will be moving everyone into the mines." after saying that, she headed off to somewhere urgently.


    "Damn, I was having this sweet dream with this girl..." Someone down the row of beds joked, and those awakeughed beforepsing into painful coughs.


    "Sarge," Someoneying next to him asked James, "What do we do now?"


    "We can''t do shit in our condition," James panted as heid back on his back. "Just trust your brothers out there."


    "Hooraaah..."


    -----


    Sergeant Collins peered into the darkness with his night vision sensors and cursed. Just a few minutes ago, the outer perimeter sensors were tripped and movement detectors picked up dozens and dozens of sensor returns.


    "Turn out the men, and sound the silent rm, have all nonbat personnel help evacuate the wounded into the mines as we had drilled," Collins instructed the crew manning the Security Control Center. "We got a shitload of goblinsing for us!"


    He left the SCC carrying his weapon and headed up the perimeter walls, where he saw several Marines were already on the alert and watching their firing zones in the wall bunkers. He quickly left the walls and head towards the parade square.


    Two and a half toons to cover the entireplex walls of over 4 kilometers. With the basicplement of security guards of 50 and his 69bat effective Marines, each man has to cover roughly 35 meters of the wall by themselves.


    By this time, all thebat capable Marines and Security had assembled at the parade square. Collins quickly assigned the troops to their defensive sectors. There were three walls, NW, SE and SW with the main gate, covering theplex that converged to the natural cliffs.


    -----


    The grass parted as a goblin carrying a crude spear crawled t on its belly towards the lights of the strange yummy soft skin castle. Hundreds more shadowy shapes crept or crawled behind, all with one goal in their mind and bellies.


    -----


    "Damn it, how I wish I had a battery of mortars," Collins cursed again as he watched the goblins crawled their way past the 500 meters mark. "A couple of airbursts would seriously ruin their day."


    He keyed the section leadersms and ordered, "All units are weapons free at 200 meters, the facility floodlights will be turned on to signal the attack!"


    Acknowledgments replied him and he returned to watching the sneaky goblins. "They are not from the goblin fleet Deltapany defeated, so these must be the local goblins, which means there is a nest somewhere close."


    "Sarge," One of the techs in the SCC called him, "HQ says reinforcements are on their way, and aerial support is 20 mikes out."


    Collins nodded, and saw on the screens the miners and their dependants moving into the mines, while others helped the medical staff push the beds with the critically wounded or support those still capable of moving on their own into the mines.


    "Alright, once all non-essential personnel has evacuated into the mines, lock it down," Collins ordered.


    "Sarge! The green skins had crossed the 200 meters mark!" A support tech yelled from his station.


    "Turn on the lights!" Collinsmanded, "Blind them!"


    -----


    Stationed all along the perimeter walls were several powerful floodlights taken from the spare supply stores of the ship, UNS Singapore. The 225,000 lumens LED lights capable of lighting up stadiums zed on, instantly illuminating the clearednd surrounding the walls and turning the night into day.


    The goblins creeping up to the walls were suddenly blinded as the floodlights came on, most stood up and cried tears of pain at the bright lights in their face and the Marine section leaders seeing the goblins exposed themselves, yelled, "FIRE AT WILL!"


    At roughly 200 meters away, most Marines were capable of hitting a man sized target. The smaller sized goblins were harder to hit as they were small and wiggling about in panic, but still many shots torn into the goblins, blowing away heads and limbs.


    Knowing that their element of surprise was gone, the goblin chief ordered an all out charge to the walls, most followed his order, while others stumbled half blind in panic. Goblin archers with crudely built short bows fitted arrows and released them blindly towards the walls, hoping by luck to hit something. The gathered reserve of goblins was also pushed up, no longer worried about being stealthy and they charged forward, screaming in high pitch voices for blood.


    "Aim for the archers!" Themand was passed on, and the men echoed it along the walls.


    The attack wasing from the South Western Gate and the South Eastern walls, leaving the North West facing wall quiet of any activity. Collins was tempted to pull some men off the NW walls to support the defenses at the Gate but decided not tomit yet. So far, the goblins had only managed to cross the 100 meters mark, their short legs giving them a disadvantage in closing the distance to the walls.


    Cracks of fire and thunder rippled out from the wall bunkers, the heavy lead rounds punching through two or more goblins if they were stacked up closely. Even the lead bullets ricocheted off the ground would seriously injure a goblin if it was in the path of the spent bullet.


    "How many are there!" Collins looked in disbelief as the outer perimeter motion sensors beeped madly, and the disy screen showed a dark green horde pouring out from the forest edge towards the walls. Theputer estimated roughly seven thousand and climbing sensor contacts moving in the forest towards theplex.


    "Contact HQ, tell them we got a horde of goblins heading our way, if they don''t hurry and give us some support, we might get overrun anytime!"

 Chapter 130: It Aint Easy Being Green

    Chapter 130: It Ain''t Easy Being Green


    The howl of the Valkyrie''s engine screamed as it came to a hovering stop over the concretending pad at the miningplex. The rear ramps dropped open and the troops housed inside rushed out, heading towards the walls and before the rear ramp was closed the Valkyrie had powered up the engines and lifted off, clearing the airspace andnding pad for the second Valkyrieing in for a dust off.


    Sergeant Collins blinked his eyes rapidly and shook his head to clear a ringing headache he had after a blow from a cudgel hammered his helmet as he fought off the goblins storming up the siegedders at the walls. His Marines formed up beside him as they fired into the shrieking creatures as they climbed up in a swarm, crackling and giggling like mad constantly.


    "Get them off my fucking walls!" Collins roared as he got up, racking his M2''s bolt and getting back into action. "Use your grenades and blow thosedders!"


    The elves around Collins obeyed and pulled out grenades from their pouches and primed them before lobbing over the walls at where thedders were stacked up.


    Loud cracks followed by high pitched screams showed the efficiency of the grenades. "Attach bays!" Collins roared and drew his sword bay and inserted it under his rifle barrel. "Chargeeeee!"


    The goblin presence on the top of the walls ceased as the grenades did their work and the charge shattered the remaining goblin foothold on the walls. The Marine elves including Collins stood over the parapet and fired downwards at the clustered goblins, while others used their rifles to topple thedders to the side ignoring the arrows and streaks of sparkling spells flying everywhere.


    "Trolls!" Some one yelled at the side. Collins looked up and under the re of the floodlights, severalrge humanoids carrying siegedders under their ham sized arms were charging forward on the right.


    "You five follow me!" Collins pointed to the nearest Marines armed with a bazooka, "The rest hold here." and he led the group towards the direction of the walls the trolls were aiming for.


    The walls towered over 12 meters, and a troll was roughly three meters tall. they lugged along two long woodendders under its armpits easily, trampling over their own goblins that were too slow to give way or had noticed them in their paths. They wore a set of thick leather armor with a crudely made full faced helm, looking like a bucket with holes for the eyes. Bullets impacted against its body, making it grunt in pain but it continued on, its wounds leaking blood and supernaturally closing up as its innate regeneration ability kicked in.


    Collins skidded to a stop before the troll, "Give it hell!" gesturing the rocketuncher team. "The rest provide covering fire!"


    The team with the bazooka quickly set up the rocketuncher and leaned over the parapet, cing the wire crosshair directly at the center of the nearest troll who dumped thedders at the base of the walls while checking their backst.


    "Clear!"


    "One round away!"


    A WHOOSH and a trail of sparks and me burst out and a secondter a loud thunderp was heard. At such short distance, the rocket could hardly miss. The rocket punched through the thick leather armor like paper and detonated its shaped charge warhead. A jet of superheated liquid metal instantly melt through the tough bark like skin of the troll, cooking and charring the surrounding flesh.


    The troll''s chest cavity copsed, its lungs and heart melt and burst into mes, rib bones ckening into ash, muscles, and flesh overcooking and burning, and blood boiled and turning into vapor.


    It toppled backward with a mighty crash with smoke and mes flickering out from the charred hole in its armor. Even with its impressive regeneration power, it could not survive a direct hit to the chest, its healing speed unable to match with the destructive power of the rocket''s warhead.


    "Fuck yeah!" Collins cheered along with those that witness the kill. "Hell of a good shot!"


    "Iing!" One of the Marines yelled as a dark shower of arrows and fireworks appeared and peppered the wall. The fireworks-like spells exploded upon impact, sending sparks, heat, and smoke flying everywhere.


    Screams and cries of pain followed as arrows found unarmored limbs and body parts among the exposed Marines, while some of the wildly errant spells hit some unlucky people. "Medic!"


    "Get in cover and hit the rest of the Trolls!" Collins ordered and keyed hisms, "Valkyrie flight, this is Apache Three, requesting fire mission, over!"


    "Valkyrie One, fire mission, over," came the reply over thems.


    "Apache Three, fire mission, grid three three fout dash seven two niner, fire for immedate effect, over!" Collins read off the map on his tablet as he leaned against the parapet, peering over the walls.


    "Valkyrie One, standby," Collins''sms buzzed, "Valkyrie One to Apache Three, that almost on top of you guys, over."


    Collins cursed as another volley of arrowsnded around his men. The arrowheadsnded with sparks and bounced off into the night. "Apache Three, that is an affirmative! Request immediate fire mission!" A magic spell whizzed by his head and banged off into the night sky.


    "Valkyrie One, roger that, danger close, repeat danger close! Coming in hot!"


    "Get down!" Collins yelled to his men, "Danger close! DANGER CLOSE!"


    The Marines all dived down and huddled against the parapet, ignoring the Trolls who mmed thedders against the walls where the giggling goblins rapidly crawled up. The Marines put a solidyer of reinforced concrete against the iing bombardment and echoing, "Danger close!" down the walls. They turned away from the iing barrage and covered their ears and opened their mouths to prevent the shockwave from damaging their insides and ears.


    The high pitch scream of the Valkyrie''s engines tore overhead as it lined up parallel to the South Western Gate wall and rippled fired all its rocket pods. The brightly lit no man zone was further brightened by the exploding barrage of rockets.


    The mass of goblins archers vanished in rolling mes and smoke. The overpressure from the thermobaric warheads mmed into the Marines undercover, thumping their insides and causing their ears to ring and deafening others. The trolls and the goblins that were climbing up thedders were swept away by the shockwave, most died from ruptured organs or fell to their deaths, while the trolls were cooked in the explosions, and were temporarily knocked down.


    Collins forced a yawn, trying to get rid of his stuck ears. Even with the concrete parapet acting as a barrier, he still felt the shockwave and heat from the explosions. He stood up and survey the effects of the bombing run and smiled in appreciation. "I do love the smell of cooked goblins in the morning!"


    "Apache Three to Valkyrie One, good run!" Hems his thanks to the Airforce bird and turned to check on his men andmanded. "Kill those trolls before they regen!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    Captain ke watched the impressive rocket barrage going off via the UAV circling above the miningplex. "Damn goblins, howe there are so many?"


    "From Magister Thorn''s exnation, the goblins only eat, sleep and procreate all season. Only during winter, they hibernate and when springes they leave their dwellings in search of food." Commander Ford replied. "Apparently, goblins can interbreed with many other races, and can have as many as 40 babies per year."


    "And what is the conclusion from Dr. Sharon?" ke asked.


    "She said that their sperm is kinda like some DNA parasite," Ford gave a shrug, "They enter the fertile host''s embryos and recodes the female host''s DNA string, and injecting its own DNA code over and a goblin baby is made."


    "That is some sick screwed up shit," ke replied, disgust showing on his face. "These goblins are like tougher than those from thending fleet."


    "Due to that invasive DNA re coding, most goblins take over some of its parental host traits but it might also fail," Ford continued. "That''s why the good doctor thinks why some of the goblins show high levels of IQ, and others barely a child''s IQ," Ford said. "It is also a reason why the goblins'' growth are stunt due to DNA mismatch. In this case, these attacking goblins probably inherited some trails from something here, not to mention they are most likely doped up with some kind of drugs or herbs."


    "They are like cockroaches," ke said, "If we don''t stamp them out, they will be a blight to us all."


    "We guess is that the goblins from Goblin City mostly interbred among themselves, that is why their genes might have regressed. And one of the reasons why they have an annual crossing to the maind is to collect gic material for breeding," Ford nodded, "We also found somerger goblins, we believe to be an evolved version or a cousin breed."


    "From the goblinnding ships?" ke asked.


    "Yes sir, actually more like pieces," Ford added. "Magister Thorn believes it to belong to a hobgoblin, which basically arerger, faster and smarter versions of goblins."


    "So it is like a goblin that has leveled up?" ke asked.


    "Ahem," Ford gave a cough, "Yes Captain, its a leveled up goblin."


    "We estimate as much as a thousand were spread across the fleet, most likely as lieutenants to control the goblin horde," Ford gave a serious expression, "Most likely the overallmander of the goblin fleet is a hobgoblin."


    ke turned back to the screen, watching the Marines fending off the remaining goblin wave which appeared to be dying down. "Damn, we have the Empireing head-on, and goblins to our nks and rear."


    "Any reply from ymore One on the situation with the merchant''s backers?" ke asked suddenly.


    "Thest report was that the merchant Etoro will be contacting his backers," Ford replied. "We are still waiting for them to reply, which will take up to a week for the reply to travel up and down. But the food supplies will be proceeding as agreed."


    "Good," ke replied, "Have Major Frank send in a couple of toons to secure the supplies at the arranged location and escort it back, and have Commander Tommy to send one of the dragons as overwatch."


    "Yes, sir," Ford noted it down in his tablet. "Then we will proceed as nned for the resupply. But we expect to find more goblins or other monsters to attack the convoy as they travel past the Uncharted Forest."


    ke gave a sigh, "Damn crazy. Have the Airforce standby to fire bomb the forest if needed. If this supply run is sessful, I think we might need to force a road into the forest."


    Ford shook his head, "That will take too many resources and manpower, which we are bothcking. And the maintenance of the roads in the forest will be hell. The basic road that Duke Sturm had built with his army to attack us, has already being reimed back by the Forest."


    "I was thinking to cut it into the side of the mountain. It might increase the distance to Falledge but it will be safer for traveling." ke gave his idea. "But first, as you said, we arecking in a lot of things in every field. That road building will be a long-term project which we can''t afford to invest in now."


    "The Empire and goblins," Ford added in. "We need to handle these two first."


    "We need a line of defense against Goblin City''s fleets," ke nodded, "Well, regardless if its a goblin or a hobgoblin, bastards are trying to eat my people and fuck them, and we can''t have that can we?"


    "No, Sir," Ford smiled at ke''s use of vulgarities. "You are suggesting?"


    "We are going to need a good old fashion navy!"

 Chapter 131: The Council of Masters

    Chapter 131: The Council of Masters


    "... had brought in a new contract with the Man Kingdom, with an estimated annual profit of 235,387 gold royals after deduction from taxes and expenses." A loud voice droned on in the massive open hall, where arge circr rough table stood in the middle. Approving ps could be heard from the audience in the hall. Five figures sat in high backed chairs, spaced evenly around the round table, that was stacked with scrolls and documents. "Next on the Agenda, approval of Item #13, the construction of 10 ships of the line..."


    Surrounding the five figures in the hall, where a ring of tables which clerks and assistants to one official or another sat and took down notes. On a raised tier above them, was a viewing like a galley were other officials who conduct their day to day businesses. Each of the five figures wore a long coat slung over their shoulders, and they sat listening to the official presenting the Agenda.


    "Finally, thest item on the Agenda, the purchase of ves on the Maind. Our contact has informed us of a new yer in the Maind, who is willing to provide escort services to the seaside, on the conditions provided." The richly dressed Speaker wearing a gold chain with a gold seal spoke, his voice resonating clearly in the whole council hall. "First, they have proposed a new route through the Uncharted Forest which will change the rendezvous with the ship. Second, they wish to discuss trade with us. Andstly, they requested that should the freed ves wished to stay behind, we will not force the issue."


    The first figure to react sitting on the round table had a white long jacket with gold braids and ornate gold designs on the sleeve cuffs dangled over his broad shoulders. Three gold loops hung from his right earlobes and he rubbed his shortly cropped straw-colored hair as he threw his head back andughed out loud. His good-looking weathered face split into arge smile as he spoke. "Damn, those Goldrose survivors are good!"


    "Tsk, how crude as usual, Fleet Master Dijon," The other member, the only female on sitting at the round table with long raven ck hair frowned at theughing Fleet Master. She looked strictly at the Dijon who just grinned back at her.


    "Ahh, rx, Megan," Third Fleet Master Dijon replied, "You just get more wrinkles!"


    "Alright enough banter there," Arge presence loomed over the table and the one who spoke leaned forward. His ornate jacket draped over his muscr right shoulder and his white spider silk shirt stretched taut against his barrel-like chest. With a mop of greying hair and beard, the speaker continued, "What are the advantages and disadvantages of this deal? Akron? Marshal?"


    The remaining two Fleet Masters on the table looked at each other and Akron spoke first. He was a frail-looking elf with silver-blue hair with a crystal monocle over his blue eyes. Despite looking weak, his eyes were sharp and alert. "First Fleet Master, the information we have on the so-called ''Rebels'' was that they had defeated the Duke Sturm of Fallowfall in at least two engagements."


    First Fleet Master Kose Torke gestured the Fourth Fleet Master Akron to continue while he pulled a small pile of document scrolls rting to the Rebels and opened them and started to skim through the scrolls.


    "We estimated less than 10,000 Goldrose survivors had held up at this Pass here," Akron used a long wooden pointer and tapped on a mountainous spot on the table where a map of the New World was drawn on. "They have defeated a force of at least 40,000 Imperial troops led by Duke Sturm."


    Dijon gave an impressed whistle as he heard the report. "Damn, they must have a pretty goodmander leading them to defeat Sturm."


    "That, we do not have much information, but all reports led to the remnants are led by Lord General Joesph Baker and thest surviving royalty, Princess Sherene Goldrose," Akron replied, "Also, there were unconfirmed reports of the rebels had managed to acquire some magical artifacts from some ruins or had contracted a demon, which made them powerful enough to fight against an enemy three to four times their size."


    "Marshal?" Kose turned his attention to the silver-haired old man, wrapped in his long jacket like a robe. "Your thoughts?"


    Fifth Fleet Master Marshal, also known as the Old Man, cleared his throat and spoke with a rasping voice, "If the Fourth''s information is correct, then, working with Rebels will greatly help in our ns in the long run. But..."


    "But?" Megan asked, her willowy eyebrows rising up in question.


    "It is best not to turn them into an enemy for now," The Old Man coughed, "if the rumors of artifacts are true, it will be wise to trade with them in the hopes for getting our hands on some of the artifacts. But if they are found to be demon worshippers, we have to distance ourselves from them and instead work with the other nations to destroy them."


    "How about the terms they give?" Kose asked.


    "There is not much difference except in sailing time, we do expect to lose a certain amount of ves to the Forest. If they can deliver the ves by their route perfectly and we deduct half of the ves wishing to remain behind, it is still within our expected oue," Marshal replied. "We also can gain a better understanding with the capabilities of the Rebels if we work with them. I give my agreement."


    "Information is key," Akron sounded his approval.


    "The rebels want to make use of us to provide more warm bodies for their army I say," Megan voiced her objection.''


    "We can bring along arge fleet to the Goblin Sea, on the pretense of fighting goblin pirates and as a show of force," Dijon grinned, "I approve!"


    First Fleet Master nodded, "Then it is one against and three yes," He looked at the Speaker and nodded, "We agree."


    The Speaker bowed and hammered against the podium and dered, "The Isles will ept the new terms of conditions of the ve Trade with the Rebels."


    ------


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "What''s the toll this time?" Captain ke asked Major Frank as they sat in ke''s office.


    "We managed to repulse the attack on the mining facilities," Frank reported, "3 deaths and 28 wounded. And also 9 others got hexed."


    "Hacked?" ke gave a confused look.


    "No Sir, its hexed, not hacked," Frank replied, "Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn are looking into this matter seriously." Frank handed over his tablet to ke who started to scroll through the contents on it.


    "What the hell is this?" ke asked in surprise, as he passed the tablet to Commander Ford at his side.


    Ford looked at the content and blinked his eyes rapidly in surprise, "Molecr disassembly and reassembly?" The content on the tablet showed several images of bird wyverns, frog-like creatures and Puffball-like creatures with the names and image identity of elves in the Marines.


    Frank nodded, "Yes, apparently it is some kind of curse from a goblin spell. It turns living matter into something else, in this case, it turned the Marines into critters of some kind."


    "So this hex thing, is it permanent?" ke rubbed his face tiredly, "What''s the diagnostics?"


    "Well, ording to Magister Thorn, depending on the level of the hex, it could be temporary or permanently," Frank exined, "But in this case, it should be temporary, the affected Marines will return to being huma-, eh, elvish again after a day or two."


    "How do we know if they are our men?" Ford asked.


    "Well, most of them still had their dog tags hanging over their necks," Frank said, "They were found mostly next or on top of their uniforms and gear, while others had eyewitnesses of something bright green hitting them before they turned."


    ke sighed, he was tired, barely having much sleep and rest, since the attacks from the goblins. "How is their health?"


    "Dr. Sharon is looking after them," Frank gave a grin, "It''s kinda funny actually, the hexed Marines retain their consciences and intelligence but could onlymunicate with quacking, chirping and signnguage."


    "God, this is bing a zoo," ke shook his head but he grinned, "Bet you that Sharon is having a great time."


    The officersughed while imagining the short doctor trying tomunicate with the animals, just as the door to the Captain''s Quarters slid open, and Dr. Sharon herself appeared, "Captain!"


    The men quickly stifled theirughter and straighten their faces. ke gave a cough to hide his amusement and invited Dr. Sharon to have a seat. "What''s up? Everything alright?"


    "Yes, No," Dr. Sharon waved off ke''s questions and sat down heavily on the chair offered by Frank. "It''s like a zoo in my med bay."


    "Yes, I heard," ke gave a small smile at that statement. "How are you coping?"


    "Actually it is amazing," Dr. Sharon replied, "Magic that is able to restructure living matter! But that''s not really the thing I''m here for." She dug into her oversized doctor coat''s pockets and pulled out arge shard of clear crystal.


    "Isn''t this from the T-Rex boss?" Ford asked as he observed the crystal Dr. Sharon ced on the table.


    She nodded and said, "Yup and the test results are out." She pulled out her tablet and transferred the data over to the disy screen in the room. "You will be amazed!"


    The disy screen booted up and showed a schematic of the crystal with colorful graphs and charts. "This has enough power as a micro-fusion core!" Dr. Sharon said excitedly.


    "Wait," Frank injected, "Isn''t it some kind of mana stone?"


    "No, it''s not even close to a mana stone or even a Dragonite stone!" Dr. Sharon exined, "It is pure energy, and unlike mana stones whiches in different vors, this is neutral."


    "Neutral?" ke raised his eyebrows in confusion, "So what are the difference with it and a mana stone?"


    "A mana stonees with different elemental properties which power that particr magic element," Dr. Sharon replied, "While Dragonite stones are like fossil fuels. This here has no affinity to any elements nor is it a fossil fuel."


    "It''s pure energy condensed into a crystal form," Dr. Sharon said, "It has enough power to say, fire the ship''s main guns or the whole Colony for a week."


    ke sat up straight as he heard that, "Are you sure?" The ship''s main guns had been dug out but due to power constraints, it was just sitting there doing nothing.


    Dr. Sharon nodded, "I passed the data and a sample over to Chief Matt and his engineers to take a look and do tests, they shoulde out with a detailed report within a week or so."


    "Great!" ke eximed, "At least some good news."


    "Well, you haven''t heard what they found in the Mutated Silver Dragon''sir?" Dr. Sharon grinned.


    ke looked at Ford who shook his head, "No, I did not have the time to review that report yet," Ford said sheepishly. "Too many happenings going on in this 32 hours."


    "Well, they found a bag inside," Dr. Sharon and Major Frank grinned.


    "A bag of?" ke and Ford asked together. "Gold? Silver?"


    "Hehehe," Dr. Sharon lowered her voice and said mysteriously, "It''s a bag of holding!"


    "A what?" ke and Ford looked confused, "I think I heard or read of it somewhere before..."


    "Ohe on, you guys are not fun," Dr. Sharon pouted. "A bag of holding has a dimensional space inside, allowing it carry more than what you could think of." She searched her folders in her tablet and brought the dungeon report up onto the main disy.


    "Huh?" ke rubbed his forehead, he felt a throttling headacheing along. "So you are saying this bag can hold more than what it appears to be able to?" He pointed at the screen where a picture of a simple looking light brown colored, cloth sling bag was shown.


    "Yes, well, we did find a horde of gold, silver, potions, magical scrolls and even some weapons and equipment inside," Dr. Sharon grinned. "Our own tests showed that it could carry roughly 226 kg of items, not exceeding a volume of 1.2 cubic meters and the bag only weighs half a kg. You can''t stuff itemster than 32 m by 12 cm into the mouth of the bag and to retrieve an item out, you just have to ce your hand into the bag and mentally you can ''sense'' what is inside."


    "Sense what is inside?" Ford raised his eyebrows, "That''s quite unscientific for you Doc."


    Dr. Sharon rolled her eyes, "You need to try it to understand, anyway,ing here, science gets thrown out of the window."


    "So you are saying this bag allows us to carry," ke did a quick mental calction, "over 450 times its weight in small items?"


    "Yup, it is a bag of holding after all!"

 Chapter 132: Magic Appraisal

    Chapter 132: Magic Appraisal


    The Academy


    Magister Thorn hummed a tune from one of the hooman songs he heard over the ''rad-eo'' as he drew out a magic circle on the glossy ck obsidian table top. He carefully consulted the yed yellowed tome as he etched arcane runes carefully on the edges of the magic circle. Once he was satisfied, he carefully wrapped the tome up with a piece of soft leather and kept it back into the bookshelf.


    "Now, I havepleted the magical formation for appraisal of magical items," He dered to the group of students and observers. "Appraisal of magical items usually involves using magic greater than the item its self, but most of us do not have that much magic power in the first ce."


    "So what we can do is to ''borrow'' the power of our surroundings," Thorn gestured towards the magic formation he drew out earlier, "By using the natural energy that is everywhere, we draw three Magic Gathering Formations linking together to power the Magical Appraisal Formation that on the center."


    "It is not advisable to use four or more Magic Gathering Formation to link to the Magical Appraisal Formation," Thorn exined, "It bes redundant as there is only so much magic in our surroundings for the Formations to draw on."


    "Sir?" A 13 year old girl raised her hand up in question.


    "Yes, child?" Thorn paused with his lecture as he pointed to the student.


    "If the magic item level is higher than the power gathered, how will we be able to appraisal it then?" the female student asked.


    Thorn smiled, "Well, that''s what I will be touching on now. Just by using Magic Gathering Formations is sometimes not enough, so we have to inject our own magic powers into the array to boost the spell. Another method is to use Mana stones to power the magic arrays or even use a Great Magic Gathering Formation."


    "There are also areas where the natural concentration of magic is very high, these areas are of course highly coveted by anyone, and kingdoms and nations have designated them as strategic resources," Thorn exined, "That is why most Appraisal Mages charge an arm and a leg for appraisals of high leveled items and also why most of them are high leveled Mages."


    The ss broke out in Oooos and Ahhhs as they heard it and the students started to excitedly chattered among themselves, talking about bing rich by being an outstanding Appraisal Mage.


    Thorn smiled at the students and pped his handed together loudly, "Alright, now we should test this Appraisal Array of mine and let''s see if it works!" He rubbed his hands together and retrieved a matte ck case from behind his desk.


    The students quieten down as they saw the matte ck case. The smooth sleek lines and mystical materials of the case were clearly made by the hoomans. The students craned their heads as they watched Magister Thorn slowly and carefully pressed several glowing hooman runes on the side of the case before the case popped out.


    What appeared in the foam lined case was an ancient looking sword to the elves in a rough scabbard. Thorn carefully drew the sword out and an old fashioned leaf-shaped de was drawn. The de of the sword was wide and fat for most of its length but the final third narrowed into a thin tip intended for thrusting. Spiral patterns were etched onto the surface of the de while the grip was molded together with the de from a single piece of iron. Spiral patterns and swirls designs could be seen along the grip.


    "This was found in the second floor of the Dungeon by the Marines," Thorn exined as he showed off the sword to the ss. "I have done a simple Detect Curse spell on the sword and have found nothing, but anyone with a sliver of magic ability will be able to feel the magic power in this sword."


    He then re-scabbard the sword into the rough hide leather scabbard and passed the sword to the students for them to feel the presence of magic power in it. The students excitedly observe and examined the sword, passing it to the next person once they have felt the magic inside.


    "To roughly gauge the power needed to appraisal a magic item, you first examine the item, and feel its magic," Thorn continued his lecture as the students look at the sword. "Most of you should feel an overwhelming source of shock from the sword as you magical powers are weaker than the weapon."


    The students who had examined the sword earlier nodded and massaged their tingling hands and arms, while the student who was pouring his magical sense into the weapon gasped in surprise and nearly dropped the sword. "As of your magical strength now is not strong enough to handle a magical item of its level, that is why you will feel something like lightning traveling through your bodies. This is a way your body is telling you that your powers are not strong enough to handle the sword''s magic."


    Dr. Sharon sitting at the rear, pursed her lips as she thought of what Thorn had just said. Does this mean that the elves nervous system has a natural defense against magic their body couldn''t handle like the pain is telling the body of injuries? She quickly noted down her theory in her tablet.


    "Now who can tell me how magic is ssed?" Thorn asked the ss and pointed to a boy who raised his hand.


    "Magic is ssed from Level Zero to Ten," The boy responded.


    "Good," Thorn nodded, "How about Mages?"


    "Eh, from the number of Magic Circles they can form?" The boy replied.


    Thorn nodded, "Yes, how we ss magic and the level of Mages is simr. From the number of magic circles. A Mage is ssed by the number of Magic Circles, he or she is able to manifest. As each magic circle increases the power of the spell by one fold, but overuse of magic will lead to mana exhaustion, which can be fatal in the battlefield or even have long-term health effects! So remember do not overexert your magic power!"


    "So for you all to graduate at the end of three years, you have to be capable to cast at least a Level 2 spell, which you will be needed to be able to manifest two magic circles," Thorn demonstrated by having woven a magic circle in form of him. The blue-white circle glows brightly in the ssroom, followed by a second circle and ending at a flickering seven magic circles.


    "I am barely at the strength of a 7th Circle Mage," Thorn grinned sheepishly. "Maybe someday one of you will overtake me and go beyond the 7th Circle.


    The sword had made its way to Dr. Sharon who drew the de out halfway and she looked at the dull spiral covered surface of the sword. She frowned and remembered the lecture from Thorn''s sses, and closed her eyes. She slowed her breath and calmed her heartbeat, trying to visualize and feel the natural flow of the world, but try as she might, she couldn''t feel anything.


    She opened her eyes and sighed, maybe it is something to do with the biology of the elves and humans, that''s is why humans couldn''t sense the mana of this world. She had racked her brains many times in the past, following the scrolls and techniques taught by Thorn but there was still no results.


    As she was able to return the sword, she thought of something, maybe she should try yoga or tai chi since both of them do have breathing mantras and techniques. No harm trying, she thought as she does some simple yoga exercises and she slowly took a breath and it moved the diaphragm down and up as she inhaled and exhaled, pushing the abdominal organs forward, and then back inward. But after a while, there was still no response and just as she exhaled out in frustration, a tingle of electricity coursed up her fingertips, making her drop the sword in surprise.


    The loud nking of the weapon made the whole ss turned their attention on to her, and she half stood in her seat looking at the sword with wide eyes. "Dr. Sharon, are you well?" Thorn asked in concern, looking at the petrified Sharon.


    "I.. I.." Dr. Sharon looked down at the sword and up at Thorn and back at the sword, "I-I think I am alright," She suddenly gave a huge grin, "Oh yes, I am alright," Her eyes shone as she bent down to pick up the fallen sword, "Please continue with the ss, sorry for disrupting it."


    Thorn looked at Sharon for a while, before nodding and taking the sword back and returning to the front of the ssroom. "Now we will test if my Appraisal Array works!" He ced the sword onto the center of the magical formation on the obsidian table and ced both his palms on the top of the Magic Gathering Formations.


    "Heed my call, the power of this world, and gather upon me," He chanted and injected his magic into the array, "Magic of the world, lend me your strength!"


    The magic formations glowed as multi-colored light motes appeared in the ss, the colorful light motes float gently towards the magic formations and as theynded the glow of the formation grew brighter. The light started to travel on the lines drawn on the table and traveled all the way to the center of the array and connected with the Appraisal Formation and lighting it up.


    The whole ss''s attention was all focused on the glowing formation on the table and just as suddenly as the formation glowed, the light faded away and Thorn exhaled out a puff of smoke from his mouth and grinned, "It''s done!"


    He reached out and touched the sword, injecting a wisp of mental energy into the sword and information flowed into his mind. He smiled and said, "Alright, I have appraised this weapon. It is a Wind Elemental Sword, imbued with arcane energies of the air element. This essentially allows its wielder to engage in rangedbat by casting Air-based magic from a distance."


    Dr. Sharon''s eyes gleamed as she heard that, what did I felt just now? Was it just an illusion? Did I just sessfully touch magic? I need to quickly do more experiments!


    The school bell rang and Thorn started to keep his things, "Now, the ss is over, for homework, read up Chapter 4 on Effects of Magic on Items. Tomorrow we will be talk about it."


    The ss rose and thanked Thorn before leaving gathering their belongings and leaving the room, leaving behind Dr. Sharon and Thorn. "Did something happened just now?" Thorn asked as he cleared away the marks on the obsidian table.


    "I think I felt magic!" Dr. Sharon grinned widely. "But just a tiny weeny bit!"


    Thorn stopped his work and looked up in surprise, "That is amazing!" He started pacing as he thought of all possibilities. "I did not expect you hoomans to able to interact with magic since your race is not from this world."


    "Yes, I did too," Dr. Sharon picked up the sword on the table. "We humans should not be able to cast magic in this world. But I managed it somehow." She sat down on the front desk and went through her yoga breathing exercises, putting all her focus on the sword. Several minutester, she opened her eyes and smiled happily, "I felt it again! Just a slight tingle, but its there!"


    Thorn smiled excitedly, "Could it be limited to certain persons? Like not every people have the magic aptitude."


    "I need to experiment more on this first," Dr. Sharon said. "In the meantime," She waved the sword, "I am gonna borrow this for a while!"


    "Sure sure," Thorn nodded, "You will inform me of your research?"


    "Of course," as Dr. Sharon left the ssroom, "You will be the first to know!"

 Chapter 133: The Appearance of a Hero!?

    Chapter 133: The Appearance of a Hero!?


    First Fleet Master Kose stood on the wooden balcony as he looked out to the mass of tiny inds and sails spread out before him. He rapped his fingers against the wooden railings as he waited for the messenger wyvern''s handler to finish securing the message tube on to the small wing blue-green reptile which looked like a tiny version of a fighting dragon. The Blue Spotted Wyrven patiently withstood the minstrels of its handler, who hand fed it with strips of raw fish. The handler whispered into the ears of the Blue Spotted Wyrven who cocked its ears as it listened to the instructions.


    Bobbing its head in acknowledgment, the messenger wyvern with an intelligence of a 10 year old child gave out a squawk before spreading its two meter long wings out and catching the warm sea breeze. Its forearms hugged the message tube secured in a harness over its half meter long serpentine body and with its wing filled with wind, it kicked off from the wyvern roost and allowed the warm air currents to boost it into the air like a kite, and it slowly disappeared into the redding sky.


    "Fleet Master, it is done," The wyvern handler gave a salute, left hand with open palms against the chest, touching the right shoulder. "It should arrive within six days."


    Kose nodded and continued watching the scenery in the roostery. Tiny inds cleared of all vegetation were used to grow a sugar crop called Cococane. The thick segmented stalks ended in palm like leaves withrge hard shell meaty and juice filled nuts. The stalks were crushed to produce a sweet greenish nectar which could be drank directly or processed into sugar.


    The sweet nectar was fermented into a strong alcohol which was in great demand in as a trade good, making it the Isles primary cash cow, earning the ind nation millions in gold royals annually.


    Kose took a deep breath of the salty air, enjoying a moment of peace, watching youngsters ying and running along floating bridges that linked the tiny inds together. The Isles buildings were built out on the seas on tall stilts and wooden floats topensate for the ocean tides.


    Land was at a premium, as it was to be used to grow both cash crops and food crops for the nation. Terraces were dug out by hand and magic on the mountainous slopes, where the rich fertile volcanic soil provided nutrients for the grown crops.


    Severalrge floating harbors housed the mighty naval fleet of the Isles. If the Isles'' Navy imed to be second best, no nation in the New World will dare to im first ce.


    Kose gave out a deep breath and waved his hand. His attendant waiting on him approached from behind and waited for hismand. "Instruct the Third Master to prep his fleet for sail. Inform him to be ready to sail with the tide in three-five days."


    The attendant saluted and retreated out, leaving the First Fleet Master alone in his thoughts as he viewed the scenery in the tower.


    -----


    Somewhere near the town of Falledge


    "Come on, Dante, are we seriously going to fight the rebels?" A slim, roguishly looking elf stepped out of the foliage while grumbling, "Damn insects and trees, nothing but trees, bushes, trees, oh look! More trees!" He brushed off a fallen leaf from his shoulder and stood with his hands on his hips, a rapier dangling on his belt while a knapsack was carried on his back.


    A young looking male wearing full ted ornate armor stepped out behind the rogue, sweeping his golden hair off to the side, his youthful good looks and bright blue eyes took in their surroundings in one nce and he smiled radiantly at hispanion, "Come on, Stab, look around you, can''t you feel the surrounding beauty of nature?"


    "Hell no!" Stab pped an insect away and wiped his sweaty brow and paused halfway, his eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Wait a minute, why are you not even sweating in that armor of yours?"


    "That is because, unlike you, my hero can''t sweat!" A female voice came from behind Stab, "Move out of the way, you sleaze bag!" A staff rammed against the Stab''s bag, pushing him out of the path of a dark purple robed mage.


    "Wait- what?" Stab hopped nimbly out of the way, "That''s cheating! You waste your magic on making Dante not to sweat?"


    "Of course, unlike you," The female mage turned and smiled sweetly at the sheepishly looking Dante who gave a helpless shrug, "My hero must always present the best of himself!"


    "Hahaha, for who to see in this endless parade of trees?" Stab rolled his eyes, "Ohh, maybe that wyvern there? Or those little ants at your feet?"


    "Come on guys, stop fighting," Another female elf dressed in a hunter attire with a longbow and quiver hang over her hip appeared before them, "Liz and Stab, please?"


    "Hmph," Liz turned her head away from Stab and marched over to fawn over Dante who was helpless in his efforts to fend her off.


    "I found a game trail leading towards Falledge," The Huntress reported, "It should take us a day the most if we follow it, instead of going by the main road."


    "Good work, Evelyn," Dante gave a charming smile, which dazed Liz, and making Evelyn blush.


    "Tsk," Stab shook his head, "Come on, let''s hurry, I can''t stand trees and more trees, I wanna have a drink and a proper bed!"


    Dante nodded and gestured for Evelyn to lead the party while Liz waved her staff and their luggage floated along with them as they followed Evelyn.


    After walking for a distance, Dante suddenly stopped the party, "Wait!" His handsome features narrowed in concentration, "We gotpany! Make ready!" He pointed towards the left of their party towards the thick trees surrounding them.


    "Oh, I was getting bored," Stab jerked his neck sideways, making popping sounds and he loosens up his muscles. "What do we have?"


    Evelyn leaped up effortlessly onto a tree branch and readied her bow, deftly stringing the bow and drew a couple of arrows pinched between her knuckles of her index, middle, and ring finger. "Smells like goblins?"


    "I hate goblins," Liz dropped her magic over their luggage and stood with her back against the tree where Evelyn was in. She raised the head of her staff up and a four greenish magic circle formed, "Nature Protection All!"


    Dante and the rest of the party bodies glowed green and a warm, fuzzy sensation covered their bodies before fading away. "Thanks, Liz!" He unhitched the massive kite shield from his back before drawing his great sword out from his back. "I sense over a hundred of those evil beings... They have not sense us yet!"


    "Attack or ambush?" Stab asked as he held a long stilleto in his left and gave his rapier in his right hand in few quick flicks.


    "Wait, I see them, about 150- 200 feet away," Evelyn peered through the forest in her vantage point, seeing dozens of shadowy figures moving between the trees. "It looks like a raiding force."


    "There must be a vige or farm nearby if they are moving in such numbers," Dante guessed, "We will attack."


    "I thought you say that," Stab gave a sigh, "Usual formation?"


    Dante nodded, "I will be the vanguard, Liz, and Evelyn on the rear while Stab, do what you need to do."


    "Got it."


    "Yes, my hero!"


    "Uh-huh..."


    Dante went down on a knee and closed his eyes, his greatsword, normally a two-handed weapon for others, but used single-handedly by him rested against the dry forest soil. "Sun God, hear my prayers," He heaved his kite shield on his left arm, "Grant me the strength to wipe evil off thend."


    Standing up, "For I am the Hero of the Sun!" and a radiant glow burst out from him, gaining him a great increase in strength, agility, and resistance. "AND I SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!"


    He took over in a sprint, faster than a horned rabbit, leaping over massive tree roots like a walk in the park before his glowing figure mmed into the nks of the goblin raiding party.


    "Damn, it must be that damn Sun God''s blessing that makes him so ... bright and popr with thedies," Stab rolled his eyes and sprint after Dante, his body was feeling lighter as Dante''s Sun Bless Aura affected him too, granting him increases in his stats.


    "Ahhh, wait for me!" Liz cried as she chased after Dante''s after image, her pink eyes glowing with passion. Her short stature having a problem keeping up with both Dante and Stab''s speed despite the Aura effects. Her oversized wizard hat flopped madly as she navigated her way around the trees, seemingly glued to her head. "My herooooo~!!!"


    Evelyn shook her head and leaped from one tree branch to another, making sure to stay within sight of Liz as they approach the one-sided ughter happening ahead.


    A wooosh of wind generated by the greatsword''s after swing, sent a couple of weaker goblins tumbling down on their backs while those unfortunate enough to be in the way of the sword parted into halves. "Haaa..." Dante breathed out deeply, releasing his pent-up breath as he swung his greatsword. A trail of broken and sliced body parts followed behind him, yet despite all the blood and gore, none touched his body nor armor.


    The goblins were stunned by his sudden glowing appearance and even more so by the sudden carnage wrought among them within seconds. They stood there dumbly for a while before some goblin let out a cry of fear and the rest was jolted awake.


    Some ran while others charged towards the glowing figure, swinging their crude weapons wildly. Dante ignored the flimsy attacks and just focused on swinging his greatsword, cutting down dozens of goblins with each sweep.


    Stab flicked his rapier and a goblin grasped its torn throat, trying to staunch the green blood. Stab sighed as he watched Dante swinging his sword around energetically, while he sidestepped and riposte a clumsy swing from another goblin and ending its life with an elegant stab into the right eye with his rapier.


    A blood-curdling roar suddenly broke out and a huge figure charged out from the depths of the forest. A forest troll armed with a broken off tree branch swung it mightly at Dante who stabbed his greatsword into the ground and bracing with his shield, taking the attack head on.


    "Other than his godly looks and strength, that kid is just all muscles and no brains," Stab shook his head, and stepped into the shadow of the tree next to him and disappeared from sight. He suddenly reappeared behind the troll, emerging from the shadow of the troll and stabbing deeply with his stillelo at the left thigh of the troll, effectively hamstringing it, bringing the troll down on one knee. "Now, that is a good boy."


    "Thanks!" Dante yelled, shing a perfect row of pearly white teeth, and beheading the troll half-kneeling before him. "Just the right height!"


    "Fight with your brains! Not with your muscles!" Stab yelled as he neatly skewered two goblins in the heart with his rapier. "Like this!"


    Suddenly several bolts of white magical energies smashed into the far ranks of the goblins. "Hmph, you darey your filthy stinky hands on my hero!" Liz appeared, panting angrily as she stood on top of a tree root, "DIE YOU FILTHY ANIMALS!" Her staff glowed and six massive bluish glowing magic circle appeared before her, one over each other, "MAGIC MISSILE TIMES ONE HUNDRED!!!"


    Dozens and dozens of energy bolts rained out and mmed into the shattered goblin raiders, causing heavy casualties and blowing away trees and creating holes to the forest ground. "WAAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!" Liz stood there with her hands on her hips and threw her head backughing madly in triumph.


    "Are you trying to kill us too!" Stab cursed, as he stepped into the shadows to evade the magic missiles and reappearing next to the tree where Liz stood, while Dante heroically stood there unflinchingly with his sword and shield, painting a heroic scene with the background in explosions and death.


    Evelyn gave a sigh at the antics of Liz and Stab and turned to look at Dante, secretly admiring Dante''s pose which painted a heroic scene with the background in explosions and death.


    *** Author''s rumblings ***


    N-NANI!!!! A hero!?


    Cococane is basically sugarcane + coconut ... btw its a drink too ~ Tastes pretty good, when mixed together with some squeezed fresh lemon.

 Chapter 134: Supplies

    Chapter 134: Supplies


    Chirps and cries of bird wyvern echoed softly down to the forest grounds. Creaks and squeaks of wooden wheels could be heard along with the stamp of steel-toed boots.


    "Bronco One to Bronco Two, have you got eyes over Blue Diamond? Over."


    "Two, affirmative," A low voice replied 1st Battalion, Bravo Company, toon 1''s earpiece. "Two, two wagons spotted, arge herd of livestock and at least four zero bodies, over."


    "Roger, keep eyes on them, over,"


    "Copy that."


    The convoy of wagons and livestock with the guards rumbled on unaware of being observed by a toon sized recon party hidden in the forest. The convoy so stopped next to a clearing where a small spring was nearby. The wagons were drawn up into a circle and the livestock and dragons used to pull the wagons were kept coraled in the middle of the encirclement. The guards and the wagon drivers collected fresh water from the spring and set up camp within the wagons, some kept guard, while others pitched tents and prepared cook fires for dinner.


    "See anyone following them?" Third Sergeant Eunos Silverstar asked his point men over thems.


    "Negative, Sarge," The replies came back from the scouts scattered along all likely approaches to the clearing. "Nothing here."


    "Roger, stay alert, out," SGT Eunos ended thems and gestured his radioman over. The backpack-sized radio equipment carried by the signaler was a new product from the mysterious factory of the Iron Castle. Due to theck and shortage of the vastly more advancedmunicators, only certain personnel will be issued with themunicators while the rest had to use bulky radio sets for long distancemunications or for toon basedmunications, they used a low tech short distance walkie-talkie.


    "Radio back HQ, and tell them Blue Diamond has arrived, Bronco Two and Three are standing by for further instructions." He passed his instructions to the radioman, who nodded and remove his backpack radio and started to fiddle with the controls of the radio set.


    "Bronco Two to Thunderchief,e in over?"


    Due to the thick canopy and strange properties of the trees, radio waves,ser, and even infra were blocked or partially scrambled by the forest. The tech guys came up with an idea to nt rys at fixed intervals all around the surrounding areas. An all-weather antenna rose above the thick canopy of the forest and a signal transmitter is housed in an armored camouged casing at the bottom of the antenna.


    The rys were installed next to the tallest trees in the area and used the trees as a natural support. Each ry uses a battery able tost a week and the Marines used the ry points as patrol routes, heading to each ry in sequence and ensuring that the expensive ry stations have power or were not damaged or tampered with.


    "Sarge, HQ is telling to hold and proceed ording to the n," The signaler looked up from his radio set, wearing a pair ofrge ear cups.


    "Got it," SGT Eunos nodded, "Inform all units that Operation Chaperone is go."


    The signaler nodded and returned to his set, and started to issues out instructions to the rest of Bronco Two and Three. SGT Eunos looked up to the gaps in the canopy and looked at the matte ck hooman made digital wrist watch and mentally calcted. "Still three more hours to night fall, tell the team leaders to let the men rest and rotate the watch."


    Soon night came, and dozens of fire from the camp cast shadows to the surrounding forest. The men of Bronco Two and Three hunkered down in tree roots in ones or twos or slung themselves up onto the tree branches. Night creatures and monsters came out and stalked the caravan but none approached, just keeping to the edge of the clearing, watching and growling at the ring of wagons with the alert guards.


    The creatures and monsters ignored the men of Bravo Company, as they had sprayed something called a Monster Repent on themselves. Rumor among the Marines had it that it was made from the dung of the Mutated Super Silver Dragon aka Mini Godzi and the spray does smell bad, but it worked and the low leveled monsters avoided the Marines.


    The night passed peacefully for the caravan, as the pointmen of Bronco Two, stealthily lobbed a few Monster Repent stink bombs around the caravan, protecting them from the creatures of the night. As day broke out, the camp stirred to life, groups of elves headed towards the spring to refill their water buckets and others started to make breakfast and break up the camp.


    Sergeant Eunos walked out calmly with two other Marines as escort towards the camp in full view of the guards. He kept his hands off his weapon and waved at the guards who looked dumbstruck at their sudden appearance. "Hello, the camp!"


    -----


    Norman Stone was washing his face when a loudmotion broke out, outside his wagon. "Foreman Stone!" A guard in leather armor and wielding a windup crossbow yelled urgently, banging at his wagon. "Eh... something or someone is here! Anyway,e see!"


    "What thing?" Norman gave a confused look and hurriedly wiped his face with a towel draped over his neck and followed behind the frantic guard. He noticed the whole camp in an uproar as they all stood around nervously and staring at the same direction the guard was leading him to.


    "What is going on?" He pushed his way past the caravan workers and guards. He climbed up on top of the outer ring of the wagons and peered over the roof to see a trio of strangers in strange items of clothing and appeared to be covered in paint and bits of leaves and twigs on its helmet or head, he couldn''t be sure.


    "Greetings to the camp, is there a Foreman Norman Stone among you?" SGT Eunos ignored the looks and crossbows directed at him and his men. His escorts, however, were on high alert, their Magelocks snuggly nested against their shoulders, ready to aim and fire at the first sign of danger.


    "I am Foreman Stone," A sweating, half dressed, potbellied elf, waved his hand from one of the wagons. "Are you the contact we are supposed to meet here?"


    "Yes, we are. We will be your escorts and guide," SGT Eunos nodded, "We can move off at any time when you are ready."


    Norman wiped his face again with his towel and frowned, wondering what kind of barbarian tribe did they came from. On close inspection, all three of the guides wore the same item of clothing, and have tree leaves to branches to pieces of shrubs struck all over their bodies. The swords on their side looked more like a long dagger, and the long wooden sticks they carried doesn''t look like any weapons he had seen before in his many years working in the trade industry. And the barbaric paint that covered all visible parts of their body was just so uncivilized in his opinion, but he kept his mouth shut, and instead forced a smile out.


    "Come, share our salt and bread," He gave a traditional greeting to the strangers, offering salt and food in exchange for peace in the camp. "Alright make way!" He turned and shouted at the gawking workers and guards. "Finish your breakfast and prepare to break camp! I want the caravan to be ready to move out before high noon!"


    The three Marines easily climbed up the side of the wall of wagons and found Norman waiting for them, offering them a waterskin. "Here have something to drink."


    "No, thank you," SGT Eunos declined politely, "My name is Eunos Silverstar, my rank is Sergeant, you can call me Sergeant Eunos or Sergeant. As you know, we are here to escort you through the forest to our camp where payment will be made on delivery of the goods."


    "Eh, of course, Sergeant," Norman gave a short bow, being used to the strange customs of many tribes and nationality he had encountered over the years. "Food?"


    "We have eaten," SGT Eunos declined again, "We want to see the full ledger or inventory list for this shipment."


    "Eh, sure, sure," Norman gave aplicated look, wondering why won''t a barbarian want to see something like that? Would they know how to read civilized words? Still, he kept his mouth shut and lead them to a cluster of wagons in the center of the camp, and climbed into one of the more sturdy looking wagons and soon reappeared with a covered te, which he removed the cover, showing an inventory list of items in the caravan written down in white chalk.


    "Good," SGT Eunos reach over and took the te from the startled merchant, he quickly scrolled through the list and said, "I want to do a stock check."


    "What?" Norman looked surprised, "I-it''s all there!" He gestured to the list, "Look, you can''t read, then let me exin to you."


    "4 tons of grains seeds, 3 tons of buckroot seeds, and 3 tons of purple yam seeds." SGT Eunos read out from the te, "1000 heads of Muffalo and 2000 bird wyverns." He looked up and scowled at Norman, "I know how to read, and count." He gestured to the herd of shaggy looking muffalos. "There is barely 200 of them there."


    "Ah-h, they... they were killed by goblins and monster raids while we are getting here!" Norman stammered at first before firming up his voice. "We can''t help it if they died along the way!"


    SGT Eunos shooked his head and the two Marines at his side looked at Norman with pity in their eyes. "We followed you ever since you left Falledge, you had only suffered one attack by a small group of goblins, which only two of your guards got minor injuries. This is the same amount taken out from the town since you left it, minus whatever livestock you and your men ughtered for meat."


    "Wha-what? How?" Norman''s eyes went wide in surprise and fright. "G-gu-!"


    One of the escorting Marines rammed his fingers in a strike against Norman''s throat, while the other moved quickly and braced Norman up, preventing him from toppling over. Norman''s eyes bulged wide open and grabbed his own throat and dry heaved, his face turning red as he choked.


    "Now, now, Mr Stone," SGT Eunos patted Norman''s cold sweaty cheeks in a friendly way, "No more lies, what happened to the rest of the cargo?"


    "I-I-I," Norman coughed and hecked as he struggled to breathe.


    "Loosen him up, let him breath," SGT Eunos gestured to his men, who lowered their grip on his cor, letting him breathe. "Slowly now, take in deep breathes. Now tell me what happened?"


    "I-I- so-sold th-them off," Norman coughed, "I- didn-didn''t think you wou-would find out."


    "Please," SGT Eunos sighed, and gestured to the livestock pen, "One look and anyone will know at least half is missing."


    "But we didn''t count on you following us from the start!" Norman replied meekly as he rubbed his sore throat.


    "Ahh, nevermind," SGT Eunos said, "We take what is left, payment will, of course, be deducted from the missing amount."


    "W-what?" Norman looked up in surprise, "Ah- no is good, all good," He quickly changed his tune when he saw the evil re from Eunos.


    "Once you delivered the goods to our camp," Eunos red at the trembling merchant, "We will do full stock check, any missing goods will be deducted from the payment. So it will be in your best interests to keep the livestock alive and also not to lose any more grain!"


    "Yes, yes, yes!" Norman bowed a few times rapidly, "I shall make sure everything is in proper other." And with that, he quickly made his escape.


    "Sarge, this is farked up," Private Toton said as he looked at the escaping figure of the fat merchant. "HQ will be pissed off."


    "Well, no n survives contact with the enemy..."

 Chapter 135: Stressed Out

    Chapter 135: Stressed Out


    Dr. Sharon hummed the theme song from Starwars as she shook a test tube filled with a thick red liquid. She carefully slotted the test tube in a centrifuge tube and inserted into the centrifugeb machine before hitting the start button. The machine hummed and started spinning rapidly while she reced the sample of the healing potion back into theb fridge.


    "Dum dum dum da da dum da da dum..." She hummed as she waited for the machine to finish separating the particles from the healing potion. A short whileter, the countdown on the machine reached zero and the machine gave beep to indicate the sample is safe and ready to be removed. She took the tube out from the centrifuge machine and ced it onto a stand. The liquid had separated into what appears to be four differentyers.


    The topmostyer appeared to be a clear looking liquid, while the secondyer had a tint of orange. The thirdyer was a thinyer of cloudy white substance while the finalyer was a thick slurpy red in color.


    She took a pipette and carefully separated the four different substances into other test tubes for testing and research. "Interesting..." The red substance was like a thick jelly. "I wonder what is this made out of."


    "serc... salqu..."


    "What?" Dr. Sharon spun around in surprise as she heard someone speaking to her. "Who is there?" She looked around the empty and brightly litb, where she was the only one working.


    She looked at the clock showing the shipboard time, "Damn, its almost 3 am. I must be exhausted and hearing things." She turned back to the table and started to pack the test tubes into different containers. Picking up the test tube with the clear fluid, she gave it a little shake and held it up against the light to observe it.


    "welel... tuil...iqu..."


    She nearly dropped the test tube as a voice spoke again. She felt goosebumps appearing all over her body and she shivered. "Whos ... there?" She craned her head, looking left and right in theb, "Anyone? Ok, no, please don''t answer back, thank you!"


    She quickly packed up everything and secured the samples into the fridge and practically ran out of theb. Her footsteps storming down the deck as she headed towards the ship''s canteen. As she entered the canteen, she felt better as severalte shift crew members were gathered here for either their break or for ate night meal or snack.


    She copsed on one of the benches and slumped over the table. "I must be overworkedtely till I am hearing voices..." She sighed and rubbed her temples. "Too much stresstely."


    "Dr. Sharon?" Sherene appeared beside her with a tray and a stack of documents. "Are you alright?"


    "Princess?" Dr. Sharon pushed her self up from the table. "I''m okay, just tired and overworked I guess? What about you? It''ste and you are still awake?"


    "Oh, I was reviewing and studying some files," Sherene replied, setting her pile of documents and tray on the table. "I am trying to understand what this ''sep-tick'' tank does and also sustainable sanitation for City hall to review next." She took the te of cookies and a mug of tea from her tray and ced it next to Sharon. "Would you like some?"


    "Oh, thank you," Dr. Sharon took the mug of tea and generously pour several teaspoons of sugar into the drink and stirred it vigorously before taking a long sip and sighed contently. "That hit the spot."


    Sherene stared at the amount of sugar used and smiled awkwardly. "You like sweet things a lot?"


    "I needed the sugar rush, I have low blood pressure," Sharon replied as she took a cookie and dunked it in the tea. "Helps keep me awake and active."


    "Ha ha... I see," Sherene was not too sure what she meant by sugar rush and blood pressure. She took a cookie and happily nibbled away at the chocte chip cookie, savoring the taste.


    "So," Dr. Sharon grinned slyly at the princess munching away at the cookie, "How''s the progress with you and the Captain?"


    rene paused with the cookie in her mouth, "Aaa- tain- not-in!" She coughed and choked on the cookie and Dr. Sharon hurriedly handed her the mug of tea which she drank and nearly spit out the overly sweet tea. "I mean... there''s nothing going on with me and the Captain!" Her face was red.


    "Fufufu, are you sure?" Dr. Sharon gave her a sly look. "Well, he''s not a bad match for you, but he''s too rigid. You need to take the initiative!"


    "In-initiative?" Sherene blurt out, "What?"


    "Oh my gods," Dr. Sharon shook her head, and giggled, "You really are clueless about dating and rtionships?"


    Sherene blushed and took a nibble of her cookie saying in a small voice, "There was the war and all that..."


    "Excuses!" Dr. Sharon brushed off her exnations. "Now you must be active! Take the first step boldly! Attack! Attack! ATTACK!"


    The whole canteen paused and stared at the two women, with Dr. Sharon bouncing up with one leg on the bench and shaking a clenched fist. Sherene blushed even deeper and lowered her head, and acted like she did not hear anything while chewing her chocte chip cookie. "What? Never seen a prettydy?" Dr. Sharon rebuked her surroundings and the people quickly returned to their own matters, avoiding the Doctor''s evil eye


    "Come let me tell you more!" Dr. Sharon hugged the shoulder of Sherene excitedly and started plotting out her n for Sherene whose ears turned as pink as her hair till the sun rose into the sky.


    -----


    "Nil... -o... alda..."


    "undum... alma..."


    "hm.. loa... golodh... sulca..."


    Sharon hugged her pillow covering her ears as a mysterious voice keep saying names of stuff that she has no idea what they were. She plugged her earpiece into her ears and sted some pop songs to drown out the voiceing from her head.


    Professionally, she suspected that she probably was suffering from some sort of psychological stress and her mind is ying tricks on herself. She could self-medicate but she knew the risks of overmedication, therefore she decided it to be thest resort.


    Grouchy with barely a wink of sleep, Sharon left her bunk and decided to go workout at ship''s gym. Dressed in PT attire, she entered the gym and saw some off-duty Marines from the original crew working out with the gym weights.


    "I''m telling you, man, those Orcs are batshit crazy," One of the Marines was heard telling the others. "I think it is a bad idea to introduce heavy weapons to them."


    "Why is that?" Dr. Sharon joined their conversation as her interest was piqued.


    "Mdm!" The group of three Marines leaped to attention in surprise. "We were just discussing for fun! Mdm!"


    "At ease, gentlemen, we are in the gym and out of uniform," Dr. Sharon waved them to rx. "Anyway, mind if I join you guys?"


    "Eh," The trio looked at each other and nodded, "Yes, Mdm..."


    "So what is the issue with the Orcs?" Sheid down on the bench and gestured to one of the Marines to support the barbell and started to bench press. "Don''t worry, I am a doctor, doctor to patient confidentiality," She winked.


    "Well ok, for one, they are huge, I mean,pared to Bartley, one of ourrgest guys, they still tower over him!" The Marine earlier exined.


    The other skinner looking, Marine, added, "Quartermaster Chen is making a big fuss too, about how they keep tearing up the sleeves of their no. 4 uniforms."


    "Yea, especially when they started working out in the Camp''s gym," The Marine supporting Sharon''s barbell said. "Those guys are like gym rats, just racking up their muscles."


    "And they started a fight over the use of the gym with another toon recruits the other day," He reced the barbell onto its supports and Sharon sat up. "Those on duty had to taser them to put them down."


    "The current batch is gonna graduate soon right?" Sharon wiped the sweat off her brow with her towel as she listened to the men gossip.


    "Yes, Doc, they gonna form the 2nd Battalion and then the next new batch of recruits will be processed for training again, "But I heard the Orcs will be spread out among all thepanies in both 1st and 2nd Battalion."


    "But I heard they gonna rece the losses for 1st Battalion, Alpha Company losses first..."


    "Shit, toon 2 and 3 had it bad..."


    "Damn, mini Godzi... what do you think is the level three Boss? A demon? Or maybe an eight-headed hydra?"


    "Doc?"


    "Huh? Oh, sorry, I was... erm... mediating... sorry what were you guys talking about?" Dr. Sharon blinked her eyes rapidly and refocus to the gossips the Marines were chatting about. The voice in her head was saying something and she found that she recognized one of the words.


    "Oh, we were just talking about what could be down in the dungeon after level two," The Marines look at her with concern, "Doc, are you ok?"


    "Yes, yes!" She smiled at the men, "Just had an inspiration, thanks for the chat and help guys! See ya!" She quickly left the gym and head towards herb in excitement.


    "Weird but ok..." The trio shrugged and returned to their gossip and weightlifting.


    -----


    Camp Alpha, Commandant Office


    Major Frank red at the three massive orcs towering over him by a good half meter who stood in perfect parade attention after being escorted in by Master Sergeant Pike and two other Marines with a ck armband and armed with tasers and revolvers. Frank remained seated in his chair as he observed the muscr built of the Orcs and the way the uniform stretched tightly over their body frames.


    "So, what is the cause of the fight, recruits?" Frank finally asked after a while of silence, making the three Orcs sweat.


    "Sir, Recruit Gor has no excuses, Sir!" The leftmost Orc spoke up while the other two remained quiet.


    "Recruit! I am asking about the cause! Not who''s at fault!" Frank snapped angrily. "Under Military Regtions, fighting among fellow Marines is an offense punishable by death! So you better tell the truth!"


    "Sir, Recruit Slow, reporting, Sir!" The middle Orc barked, "Sir, Recruit Gor and Recruit Bighead were just sparring among themselves, Sir!"


    Pike at the side turn away and swallowed his smile. Frank shook his head and asked, "Sparring? Using dumbbells and barbells? And you? Why do you have a bruised eye then?"


    "Eh, Sir, this recruit was.. erm... trying to.. eh.. make sure they fight fairly? Sir!" Recruit Slow resisted the urge to scratch his head as he came out with some nonsense. "Sir, this recruit was unlucky, Sir!"


    Frank rapped the table loudly with his knuckles startling the three sweating Orcs while Pike tried to keep a straight face. "This is the first and final warning for you three. I do not want to see you fighting among yourselves, save the fighting with the enemy. Your instructors will deal out the punishment for you three! Dismissed!"


    The three Orcs saluted and the two duty Marines escorted them out of the office, leaving Frank alone with Pike who gave out a loudughter. "Hahahahaha, it''s so funny to see something twice your size shaking and sweating in their boots."


    Frank sighed, "The Orcs have lots of aggression, I think we need to give them more ventures to vent their energy."


    "Hehehe, I know just the thing, sir!" Pike grinned evilly, "It is always a good day for training exercises."


    Frank nodded, "Make sure they are still in one piece for the final Crucible."


    "Hahaha, no worries, after this, I am sure they won''t dare to do anything too excessive," Pike gave a wave and left the office.


    "I need a damn break..."

 Chapter 136: Operation Chaperone

    Chapter 136: Operation Chaperone


    Norman Stone cursed his luck to have met such barbarians out here. He thought he could pilfer and trick the rebels who will be desperate for the supplies he was delivering and force them to concede to the full payment despite only delivering half of the agreed amount of supplies.


    If it wasn''t for those strangely dressed barbarians with ck grey war paint''s interference, he would have seeded. Norman leaned over to his chief guard and spoke in a low voice, "Can your men take them out?"


    The grizzled looking old war veteran, shooked his head slightly and replied back in a low voice, "They got us surrounded, if you look closely at the trees around us, you can catch a glimpse of them following us."


    Norman jerked his head around in surprise, and stared intently at the surrounding trees, trying to spot the barbarians following them.


    "Save your effort, they are very hard to spot," The chief guard said, "those damn leaves, twigs and strange clothing makes them almost invisible in the forest. Even the war paint serves to hide them."


    "If word got out to the boss that we ripped his clients off..." Norman twisted his coat tail nervously. "We are in big trouble..."


    His chief guard just gave a shrug, "Well, think of how to survive this first before thinking of tomorrow!"


    The wagons creaked as they followed the direction given by the three Marines, following a freshly cleared trail around the massive tree roots and towards the distant towering mountain peaks. The moving was slow, as the caravans had to maneuver around the trees despite a trail clearly marked and cleared by the Marines days before. So far, the caravan managed to avoid most of the weaker and lower willed monsters with the usage of the monster repent, but on the third day of travel, they have gotten a close encounter.


    -----


    Private Lenn walking point cocked his head to the side as he thought he heard something. He paused and raised his left hand up in a fist, signaling his section mates to halt and take a kneeling position. He crouched low and slowly and steadily crept forward to observe the terrain in front of him. Once in the cover of a tree root, he slowly removed his motion detector and scanned his surroundings, but there were no return signals on his scanners except for the convoy''s movement at the rear.


    He paused, his sixth sense was telling him something is wrong ahead, the forest was too quiet like it was holding its breath, waiting for something. That was when he heard a soft hissing from the trees. He froze and only moving his eyes upwards and saw arge coiled shape in the trees, several meters away.


    The dark bronze scales blend the giant serpent almost perfectly against the tree trunks, the only give away is the hissing the snake made as it tasted the air with its tongue. The creaking and squeaking of the wagons grew louder, as Pvt Lenn stared at the side of the snake. He did not dare to look directly at the eyes as it might sense him, so he used the corner of his eyes to carefully observe it. A trickle of sweat slowly rolled down his eye and he ignored the stinging sensation of his eye and very softly, he touched his mike key and radioed his sergeant. "Contact, big snake on a tree ahead, over!" He whispered softly.


    A secondter, two burst of static replied him, indicating the message was received. Pvt Lynn slowly readied his shotgun as he waited for orders toe and kept watch on the snake. Suddenly the creaking and squeaking sounds from the wheels of the wagon at the rear stopped, and the giant snake jerked its massive diamond shaped head up and gave a low hiss.


    "Oh, shit," Pvt Lynn cursed softly, as he calmed his beating heart, "here ites!"


    -----


    "What? A Giant Bronze Boa is ahead?" Norman nearly yelled out as he heard the news from the dirty looking barbarians. "Are you sure? You can sense it from here?" He looked at his chief guard in disbelief at the words of the barbarians.


    "Stop the wagons," Sergeant Eunos repeated tiredly, finding that dealing with this merchant was harder than killing goblins and imperials. "Get you people prepared and ready for an attack now!"


    "I simply can''t believe it!" Norman folded his arms, "We have not been attacked for the past three days! Why would there be any monsters now?"


    SGT Eunos rolled his eyes and thought inside, its because we were protecting you, you farking dumb ass! He gave up trying to reason with Norman and looked at the chief guard next to him instead. "Come on, it''s the bloody Uncharted Forest, there are monsters everywhere."


    The chief guard looked at Eunos and pondered before he said to Norman, "I think we should take up defensive positions, to be safe."


    Norman looked at his guard with a red face and nodded angrily, "Fine! Fine! If we arete to return, there will be a fine to pay!" He waved for the drivers driving the wagons to stop and they reined in thend dragons who, honked and rumbled as the iron straps dug into their fleshy necks, making them stop.


    Suddenly several loud thunder cracks were heard, and then the whole forest erupted into chaos.


    -----


    Pvt Lenn watched the Giant Bronze Boa slithered its way down the tree majestically and crawled its way towards the convoy. He hugged himself against the tree roots and prayed that the snake did not detect him as it passed by his way. The Bronze Boa''s tongue flicked in and out as it tasted the air and it suddenly froze, before whipping its head directly at Pvt Lenn''s position.


    "Ah fark this!" Pvt Lenn cursed out loud as therge ssy eyes of the Bronze Boa stared at him, its jaws slowly stretching out and exposing fangs the size of his arms. He aimed his shotgun directly at the mouth of the Bronze Boa and said, "Say hello to my little friend!" and held down the trigger while furiously pumping away at the pump action slide.


    sts of 12 gauge, 00 buckshot fanned out into the head of the giant reptile, stinging and hurting it. Its soft meaty mouth ruptured with dark red blood as shot torn into its opened mouth. The Bronze Boa jerked its head back in pain and surprise, an angry bubbling hiss came from its bloodied mouth and it wrapped its rear body around the tree which Pvt Lenn was sheltering at.


    "Ahh!" Pvt Lenn yelled in terror as the lower half of the tree was crushed into two, showers of wood bark and splinters rained down all over him as he ran half crouched away from the destruction caused by the thrashing snake.


    Gunfire popped in front of him as his section mates opened fire with their Magelocks, clouds of smelly and dirty grey smoke shrouding the undergrowth. Pvt Lenn leaped over another tree root and slid to rest against the tree, and dug into his ammo pouches and started to reload his shotgun with shaky hands. "That was farking scary!"


    "Go, go, go! Spread out!" Someone yelled as the gunfire intensified, causing the roosting wyverns in the trees and other small animals to scramble or fly away in fright at the sudden loud thundering roars. "Use the RPG!"


    The Bronze Boa rampaged as bullets mmed into its body, most were deflected off by the tough bronze scales while some managed to prate into its body, the soft lead bullets ballooning inside the flesh of the snake, tearing muscles and severing nerve endings. It swung its massive body towards the creatures that stung and hurt it but the tightly packed trees blocked its attacks.


    The Boa decided to run as no matter where it tried to attack the strange creatures, more appeared and stung it with their loud weapons. It turned tail and tried to slither its way away from the stings when suddenly a loud crash threw it against a massive tree trunk and breaking it. It wiggled its body feebly, trying to escape but its back was broken and it felt the lure of sleep calling it into its embrace and gently it surrendered to the darkness.


    -----


    The RPG-1 team hoisting the smoking bazooka had fired at the back of the retreating giant snake, the rocket-propelled grenade took less than two seconds to impact against the back of the snake, where it punched through the bronze scales and dumped all its explosive warhead into the snake, ripping out a huge chunk of flesh and the force of the explosive mmed the snake into a tree and breaking both the tree and snake into two.


    The stench of blood and cooked meat rosed from the aftermath of the one-sided battle and other then a few scratches and torn skin, the Marines suffered no other injuries. SGT Eunos received the all clear from the forward team and he invited both Norman and his chief guard over to take a look at the dead giant snake.


    Norman stiffened when he saw and smelled the gory scene and quickly covered his nose with a scented napkin while his chief guard''s eye glinted with excitement. He stood over the dead carcass of the snake and peered at the damage of its body. "Magic?"


    SGT Eunos nodded, not wanting to disclose their strength yet. "We will need some of your people''s help in dismantling the meat, bones, and skin of the Bronze Boa." He said instead, "And fast, this amount of blood is going to bring a lot more trouble."


    The guard stood up and turned to Norman with a questioning look, who agreed and nodded, the merchant inside him seeing the value of the skin despite it being damaged. "I get my people on it quick!" and with that said, he turned and hurried off back to the safety of his caravans.


    "Very powerful," The chief guard praised SGT Eunos, "Your warriors are very strong to defeat a Bronze Boa, that monster should be at Level 4 or at the peak of Level 3. It would take over a hundred warriors to fight and take it down, and at least half or two third will die fighting it." He spoke in a respectful manner. "Many must have died to fight that monster and I give my regards for their sacrifice."


    SGT Eunos nodded and did not share that there virtually were zero casualties at all. Nevertheless, he thanked the guard and watched as the caravaners appeared nervously and started to butcher the Bronze Boa up, skillfully separating the meat from the skin and bones out.


    In a span of the turn of two-hour sses, the giant snake was cut up and quartered and carried back to the caravan. The men were in high spirits as the meat will be a vast improvement over their current travel rations.


    As they left the area, snarls and cries were heard as lesser monsters and creatures fought over the scraps left behind.


    -----


    Camp Alpha, Recruit Barrack ''C''


    Recruit ooth aka Slow was on his knees scrubbing the white urinal with a toothbrush that looked like a tiny toy in his ham-sized fists. He sighed as he carefully scrubbed with the toothbrush, as he had already broken several by using too much force, earning him extra toilet cleaning duties.


    It will be almost time for the final Crucible test and he has to pass the inspection of the toilet first before he could join in as punishment for fighting among themselves. If he failed this inspection, he will have to retake the whole course again!


    He frowned when the doors burst open and his toon soft skins and orcs enteredughing and joking there watching him clean the toilets. "Come on Slow! You can''t be that slow!"


    ooth sighed inwardly and forced down the rage boiling inside him. He kept quiet and focused on moving the brush up and down, the wooden brush creaking as his grip tightened.


    "Hahaha," His toon matesughed and to his surprise, they crouched down next to him and brought out brushes and started to scrub the toilets along with him. "Come on, you can''t be slow for the inspection!"


    "Whaa-what?" ooth looked around and found everyone in his toon here, helping to clean the toilet. "wh-why?"


    "Come on, we are all one big family!" One of the elves said as he bent over the sink with a brush. "Yeah, we do this together!" Another spoke up.


    ooth sniffed and quickly rubbed away a tear forming in his beady eyes. "Oh, is our poor orc boy crying?" The toonughed.


    "Not crying!" He hid his face away from his teasing mates.


    "AM NOT CRYING! It''s THE KHEN-MI-KALS!!"

 Chapter 137: The seeds of a Nation

    Chapter 137: The seeds of a Nation


    The parade square roared with thousands of voices as the viewing stands erupted in cheers when the marching Marines entered in near perfect formation. Rifles held diagonally across their chests, the freshly graduated Marines and the newlymissioned officers marched in step to the marching band''s tune. Their heads tilted at an angle towards the reviewing stand as all the major VIPs stood saluting or pping the soldiers'' march pass.


    A dozen F/A - 1 Cobras in three diamond formations did a fly by over the heads of the spectors, earning more cheers and waves. Thest ne on each diamond formation released a trail of colored smoke trailing behind, in three colors, red, blue and white for each formation. The left and right formations broke formations as they came over the parade square, earning Ooos and Ahhhs from the crowd at the disy. It was the first time the inhabitants of this world had ever seen an aerobatic disy despite just a simple maneuver, but it wowed the hearts and minds of all present.


    As the parade came to an end, Captain ke strolled up to the front and spoke into the microphone set at the podium in front of the formation of Marines. "Today marks another extraordinary day for our people. In less than a year, we achieved many things. From fighting off an enemy ten times our size to fighting off goblins invasions and building amunity for our families and loved ones." He paused and looked around the parade square where everyone who can make it to the graduation came.


    "We have humans and elves. And now the Oerkins join us, and we even have dragons now." He continued, "In the past, who amongst you would have thought of that? Now we have enough food and thriving industry and... military strength. But we must not be conceited as there are still many dangers in this unimednds and nations wanting to swallow us all. Therefore we must persist in our efforts, and stay strong together! Forget that you are humans, elves, orcs or even dragons, we are now one family. And as a family, we help each other and grow together, for being united we can be the strongest!" The stands exploded into cheers at ke''s speech.


    "United we stand, divided we fall!" ke yelled into the mike over the dim of the cheers and the whole parade echoed his words while fireworks exploded overhead, lighting up the evening sky.


    "United we stand, divided we fall!"


    -----


    Camp Alpha, Meeting Room


    ke nodded and greeted everyone as they gathered into the meeting room. "Alright people settle down, we do a quick brief than you guys can go party!" ke grinned at the faces of his department heads as they quickly settled down.


    Major Frank stood up and started the meeting going, "542 freshly minted Marines and 61 Officers graduated from this batch. They will have a few days of leave before we send them their orders."


    "Most will, of course, form the backbone of 2nd Battalion. We will also be posting recements to 1st Battalion to cover their loses, especially for 1st Battalion, Alpha Company." Frank said. "Those currently still on sick leave once they have recovered will instead be posted over to 2nd Battalion to boost the overall experience of the men."


    "The new officers will also be spread out among the two battalions and also some will be posted to the Airforce," Frank nodded towards Commander Tommy. "And also we will be taking out selected personnel out for extra courses and advanced training. And also for the formation for the second ATI team."


    "ymore Two?" ke raised his eyebrows.


    "Yes, Sir," Master Sergeant Pike replied, "We all have seen the effectiveness of an arcanemando unit, therefore we will be having a selection course for candidates for the second team."


    "Nice," ke nodded in approval, "Next?"


    Tommy stood up next and started his report, "After this parade, we will be starting our next recruitment drive for pilots and service crew among the civilians. As of now, we have a total of 17bat operational F/A - 1 Cobras, one heavy weight, and two medium weight dragons and two Valkyries. The current pilots are also undergoing night time operations so in the near future we can expand our flight operations to include night ops."


    "Next we are also looking at developing aerial transportation for both troops and cargo," Tommy replied, "We are working with Chief Matt and Chief Gale toe out with a design for that."


    Chief Gale stood next, and said, "Under production, we are currently splitting our resources to 25% consumer products, 25% machinery, and 40% military needs and 10% maintenance. We took out fabricator production line to primary focus on pumping out fabricator parts and have one line primary just replicating fabricators out."


    "But due to the lower quality of materials we have, the newly built fabricators require more maintenance and also the new parts break down faster than normal," Chief Gale reported, "Unless we have better materials like aluminum, titanium, cobalt, nanomaterials or evenposites materials, the fabricators all will be required to undergo major downtime for maintenance and servicing."


    Princess Sherene gave her report next, "We have confirmation of the supply convoy heading our way under escort of our soldiers, and will be expecting the shipment of seeds within two weeks. Food stocks are adequate for this year, but it will be good to be able to stockpile more for winter."


    "Public works have been ongoing in terms of housing, roads, schools, hospitals, and markets for the civilian poption," She continued, "There had been increasing cases of unrest and uwfulness in the city but we are managing to keep it in check so far."


    "I see," ke nodded again, "Do what you need to, to deal with the unrest andwbreakers, you have the full support of the police and security force."


    Next, Chief Matt started his report, "We have been testing the Dragonite fuel and found that it can be used as a petrochemical substitute to ourbustion engines but it produces much much more waste heatpared to fossil fuels. To offset that, we have to installrge radiator panels to disperse the heat. All the current F/A - 1 Cobras have upgraded engines with radiators panels, improving their heat management."


    "We also have built up a prototype Dragonite generator to provide power, which is still under development and testing stage," Chief Matt smiled proudly, "It should be able to provide enough power for the city. We will be undergoing heavy testing soon, and if it works, it will also be able to power our point defensesers thus increasing our defensive capabilities."


    "Good work on that," ke grinned at the news, "What you need, just inform Ford, he will get it approved for you."


    Magister Thorn rosed, "I have been studying the creatures we have found in the Dungeons and found them to be thought to be extinct in our time. The mutations and the monsters in the dungeon were most likely due to the higher concentration of magic and cannibalism among the monsters, which caused some kind of mutation or evolution that made them vastly different from what we know. That is why the monsters are a lot harder to defeat and more dangerous."


    "To determine the Boss of the dungeon, we found that the primary dormant species normally will be the greater variants. For example, the spider ant queen, and the silver dragon. The dungeons were massively popted by spider ants on level 1 while on level 2, it was a lesser rock dragon." Thorn exined, "So if we went down to level 3, and determine which monster is the dormant species, we can roughly estimate or guess what the boss will be, thus improving our response to fighting it."


    "Got it," ke said, "But we will not touch level 3 for the time being till we are ready for it."


    "I see," Thorn looked disappointed.


    "Dr. Sharon?" ke called out to the doctor who was strangely quiet throughout the meeting. "Are you alright?"


    "Huh?" Dr. Sharon snapped her head up, she looked quite pale and has dark eye bags. "I-I am fine, just thinking about something."


    "Ok, so do you have anything to report?" ke raised an eye at her condition.


    She rubbed her head before standing up and say, "Well, I made a breakthrough in identifying the ingredients of the healing potions. I know what they are made of, and I know how to make them."


    The room became silent as everyone stared in surprise at her. Even Magister Thorn''s mouth dropped out in shook, "B-but that''s something lost since the Age of Gods! No one has sessfully made a healing potion for hundreds of years!"


    "Err... well, yeah I found out how, and what was inside the potion," She gave an absentminded shrug, "Just that we need to find the herbs for it."


    "How?" ke asked, he read the report of the healing potion effects and found them incredible, it has the ability to close wounds, repair bones and torn muscles, and with a higher dosage, it can even regenerate lost body parts! It was more amazing than their medical nanites!


    Dr. Sharon rubbed her hair, messing it up more, "Well, first you need the flower of a White Poppy, you dry it and grind it into powder and boil it with Lunar Nectar collected from the Lunar Tree. Next, you drop in Blood Grass and wild Sageroot and simmer it for two hours. You then strain the solution out and infuse a Greater Healing spell into the clear liquid and vo, one bottle of healing potion!"


    Everyone in the room looked nkly at her exnation and were dumbstruck, as they did not understand half of what she was staying, except Magister Thorn who bounced up in excitement. "Really? Is that it?"


    Dr. Sharon nodded, "You have to control the temperature and of course the number of herbs and order which you put it in."


    Thorn''s eyes glowed and he went over to Dr. Sharon and started discussing potion making in excitement. ke gave a cough and said, "I guess that''s it for the meeting. Good work everyone, now go enjoy the party!"


    The room started to file out and Ford gave ke a wink before leaving the roomughing to himself. ke shook his head and as he turned around he saw a blushing Sherene still seated at the table. "Princess?"


    "Ahh?" She jumped and lowered her head again in embarrassment. "Y-yes?"


    "Do you want to join me at the party?" ke asked gently, raising a hand out to her.


    She looked up and smiled charmingly at ke who flinched slightly at the dazzling smile. He felt his heart rate increasing and his face flushing and Sherene took his hand and stood up, "Let''s go!"


    "Damn, am I still not immune to that charm effect?" ke whispered softly as he led the princess out of the room.


    -----


    Falledge, Merchant District, North Star Trading


    Etoro Arther balled up the message that just arrived from the Isles via a message wyvern. He read the message twice before he released the wyvern who hadnded on his window frame and stood before the firece. He slowly chanted a me spell and dropped the smoking message into the firece, watching the mes turning the balled up message into ash. He returned to his desk and rang a bell, and in less than a minute, his clerk reappeared at the door. "Boss?"


    "Prep our goods to move, and also inform my friend, Tyrier, that my client has agreed to his terms," He instructed, "Tell him we will move the goods within five days."


    The clerk bowed and gently closed and door and left to do his bidding while Etoro sat down on his chair and rubbed his brows, wondering if all this was a good idea after all and how many will survive the travel to freedom.

 Chapter 138: Troubles

    Chapter 138: Troubles


    Falledge, Adventurer''s Guild


    Hitsu tilted back his head as he downed a pint of local beer, and gave a satisfied sigh. He smacked his lips and licked the foam around his mouth and called for another refill. Leaning against the bar counter in the Adventurer''s Guild, he watched theings and goings in the area with one eye.


    Suddenly the door swung open and a party of four stood haloed by the afternoon sun at the doorway. Hitsu squinted his eyes as he tried to take in their features, and only when they entered did he clearly see how they looked like.


    The youngster standing in the front looked to be in his early twenties or maybe younger. A mop of golden curly hair covered his head. His perfectly chiseled face was handsome enough to make the females in the guild to swoon and the smile he shed made even the vilest tempered character in the guild blush and acknowledge back. The silverish ornate armor had a motif of a crying dragon with a sword through it, and on his back hung a massive pommel of a greatsword.


    Hispanions followed behind him was a slim, sharped eye make with gold rings in his ears and a rapier hooked to his belt, and a petite girl in oversized mage robes and hat, with one hand clutching a knobbed staff and the other holding onto the dark blue cloak of the youngster. The finalpanion was a huntress in leather with a short sword sheathed to her hip and an unstrung bow over her back with a quiver full of arrows in red fletching.


    A few luggage floated behind them as they headed towards the Guild''s counter. Hitsu leaned back against the bar and watched the party walk pass, taking a drink of his beer as he observed them. He felt that the youngster looked fairly familiar but just could not ce his face.


    -----


    Walking up to the counter where a blushing female Guild administrator sat, Dante gave his winsome smile at the young girl, who nearly swooned at his feet, and making Liz go purple with jealousy. "Hi, there! We just came into town and want to cash this in!"


    Stab dug around the floating luggage and removed a coarse bloodied bag and he set it carefully onto a stone b at the side for turning in bounties. "147 goblin right ears and 1 troll right ear."


    The Guild admin girl looked startled and quickly called for the bounty handler to check the bloodied bag. And not long the handler with a bloodied apron nodded and confirmed the tally, "147 goblins and 1 troll."


    "C-can I have your guild card?" The admin girl asked Dante who nodded cheerfully and removed his guild card worn like a ne and handed it over to the girl. As the admin girl checked his credentials, she nearly dropped his card in shock, "H-h-hero?"


    She looked up and ask in a timid voice, "Y-you are the H-Hero Dante?"


    "Of course he is, you dumb big boobed bitch!" Liz snapped, her patience stretched to the limit. "Hurry up with the cash out! You are wasting our precious time!"


    "A-ah... yes, I am s-sorry!" The girl cried and quickly started to process the payment and records, tears forming at her eyes. "H-here is your p-payment of 6 gold and 47 silver..." She handed over a small tray with the coins ced on it with her head lowered.


    "Thank you!" Dante grinned and gave a wink to the apologizing admin girl and left, with Liz hissing and ring at the admin girl while Evelyn tried to calm her down.


    "Come on, let''s find an inn to rest!" Stab grinned as he hefted the bag of coins they just made. "This should be more than enough for us to stay for a week here."


    ----


    At the side, Hitsu narrowed his eyes as he watched the antics of the party. In fact, the whole Guild went quiet when they heard the admin girl called the youngster ''Hero Dante''. As they left, the whole Guild burst out in spection and discussion about the Hero.


    "Damn, we have some annoying yers in the field now..." Hitsu cursed under his breath. He now knew why that youngster looked so familiar, as he saw that face years ago, as he destroyed a Goldrose stronghold singlehandedly. "Damn, fake bearer of justice!"


    He dropped a silver for his drinks and quickly looked around and found Billy, the girl who dressed up as a boy on the other side of the Guild. "Billy, I need your help!"


    "Huh? What news do you want this time?" The tomboy asked. "You want to know who just came into town?" She grinned slyly.


    "I know who just came to town, the Hero Dante and his party," Hitsu said, and Billy''s face fell, losing her chance to make some easy money. "I need you to follow them discretely, find out where they are staying and what are their nsing here. Can you do that?"


    Billy snapped her head up with a money gleam in her eyes, nodded and put out an upturned palm and smiled happily at Hitsu who grumbled and dug out a silver and dropped on her palm. She continued to smile while holding her palm up still and Hitsu rolled his eyes and dropped another two silvers coins on her hand before she kept the money, "Considered it done!" and she ran out of the Guild after the hero''s party.


    "Damn money grubber..."


    -----


    Coast off Goblin Sea


    Lance Corporal Fowl jerked his Magelock up when he heard a crunch of sand on his right. His buddy quickly took up position on the side and readied his weapon. LCP Fowl gave a quick nce at his buddy who nodded and he approached the sand dune where they heard the sounding from.


    Hispany has been on a search and destroy patrol for the past two days, encountering several small holdouts of goblins along the coast. If it wasn''t for the goblins, the beach was actually very scenic, and he actually enjoyed the times where there was a lull in the action.


    The beach has numerous sand dunes, made by the constant strong sea wind which pile the sand up into little sand hills, dotting the entire coast. He kept his eye at the top of the dune and making sure his footing was solid before rapidly charging up the shifting sand in a single breathe.


    As he crested the sand dune, he saw arge group of goblins sheltering within the dune. The goblins looked up in surprise at his sudden appearance and soon turn to horror and fear. They leaped up and shrieked loudly, and the whole group suddenly started to panic.


    A half-naked goblin wearing some kind of grotesque looking headgear flung a crude throwing ax at Fowl, who yelped and threw himself to the side. He struggled to bring his Magelock at the crazed eyed goblin and fired, hitting the goblin in its left cheek, blowing out arge chunk of flesh and bone out, together with arge part of the grotesque headgear.


    Laying on his side, he kicked his legs and shifted himself to a better sitting position, and quickly worked his bolt action, jerking out the smoking empty cartridge and rechambering in a new round and fired into another goblin charging up the slope of the sand dune.


    The shot knocked the screaming goblin off his feet and sent it tumbling down on to the middle of riled up goblins. Fowl kicked madly backward while working his action and fired at the mass of goblins trying to reach him by climbing up the sand dune.


    Suddenly several loud gunfires erupted next to Fowl, making his ears ring painfully and he saw the rest of his section had climbed up the dune and were firing into the mass of goblins. The goblins screamed in terror and suddenly as one they dropped their weapons andid t on the sand, shaking in terror.


    "Cease fire! Cease fire!" Fowl''s Section leader yelled over the loud thundering guns. "Goddamnit! I said CEASE FIRE!" He pped the rifles next to him upwards as he roared at his men.


    Fowl pushed himself up and dusted as much sand off as he can, grimacing as sand had gotten into his boots and underwear. He looked at the cluster of goblins prostrating before them in terror, their half-naked bodies shaking visibly. "Are we taking prisoners?"


    "Damn, I don''t know!"


    -----


    Goblin Coast Staging Area, Prisoner Camp


    Commander Ford and Captain ke stood watching a long line of naked and cuffed goblins getting processed at the field next to severalrge newly erected tents for the goblin prisoners. The surrendered goblins were given a hose down and cleaned up properly before they were transported here to be held.


    "You think its a good idea to do this?" Ford raised his eyebrow at ke, "That''s extra mouths to feed and seriously what do you want them to do?"


    "You asked around the Orcs to see who can speak goblish or whatever they call it?" ke ignored Ford''s question.


    Ford sighed and nodded, "Yea, I passed the word out, Pike should be getting word back to us soon."


    ke continued to watch the wide-eyed goblins who were observing their surroundings in wonder. "I read the report from Dr. Sharon on the goblins. They actually have a very high level of intelligence, higher even whenpared to higher primates."


    "So they are a bunch of super smart monkeys," Ford sneered, "A bunch of bloodthirsty man-eating green monkeys, and you are keeping them."


    "Remember what Thorn said about goblins?" ke ignored Ford''s sarcasm. "That they are good at replicating items?"


    "Yea, they are good at eating and raping over other races genes too," Ford continued showing his displeasure.


    ke shook his head, "You are not seeing the big picture. Thorn said that goblins are good at reverse engineering and are capable of replicating what they learn, albeit in a cruder form."


    "So you want them to be your Santa little green elves?" Ford asked. "Teach them advanced production methods and let them learn how to build advanced stuff? That''s suicidal!"


    "For them to run a production line, yes," ke admitted, "But of course there will be limits to what we want them to learn and be able to make. It''s just that I haven''t thought of how to recruit them over properly."


    "Recruit them?" Ford was almost livid, "You know you are inviting trouble in the long run? The risks of having those things passing on their knowledge to their own kind and have it used against us are almost 100% guaranteed."


    "That''s why I am still cracking my head over it," ke gave a sheepish smile, "Chill."


    "The risk factors are too high," Ford continued to push his point, "You will probably get an uprising if the people knew you are recruiting the goblins into the ranks. Not to mention, we do not know if the goblins might grab someone and cook them for dinner or even betrayal."


    "The Orcs at least are more honorablepared to a goblin," Ford stared at ke, "We have no way of knowing how a goblin will act or even what they are thinking of!"


    "So its a no from you?" ke asked, to which Ford nodded in reply. "Hmmm, I was thinking of having the goblins work in prison camps, it will help our manpower issues greatly if they proved to be handy enough."


    "I understand our production needs," Ford said, "But some risks we just couldn''t take and the aftermath is something we cannot bear either. You need to consider more about this!"


    "I need to think about this more," ke rubbed his day-old stubble forming on his chin, "In the meantime, make them useful, get them to do some work and earn their keep."


    Ford nodded, his eyes cold as he stared at the goblins wandering around in the enclosed area.

 Chapter 139: The Evil Within

    Chapter 139: The Evil Within


    Camp Alpha, Firing Range


    "Alright, some of you are vets, while others had just passed out from basic," Master Sergeant Pike gave a no-nonsense re at the gathered Marines seated on the dirt floor next to the firing range in Camp Alpha. "Now, you all have been selected to attend this course and will be assigned as your section''s automatic riflemen!"


    The mixed group of elves and orcs, looked upon wonder at the boxy looking weapon disyed in front of Pike. "This is thetest weapon designed here! Straight out from thebs of Ordnance and tested thoroughly before we decided to hand it over to you shitheads!" Pike growled.


    "This is the MG-1 ''Magebreaker'', chambered in .338 or 8.5mm, weights 10.8 kg unloaded. It can use either belted ammunition," Which Pike held up a length of chained ammunition from the table, "Or a drum magazine of 75 rounds. This baby has a tested muzzle velocity of 807.7 meters per second, and a rate of fire of roughly 500 rounds per minute. It has an effective range of up to 1,770 meters!"


    Pike disyed the new weapon, which looked a bit simr to the M2 Magespitter except its body is boxier and has a longer barrel at 24" long with a sh suppressor at the end and a carrying handle. The wooden pistol grip and rifle stock were painted in matte ck paint. Pike ced the weapon down and picked up a couple of loose cartridges off the table and ced them side by side for the Marines topare.


    "On the left is the old 6.5 mm round and the longer round is the new .338 or 8.5 mm round," Pike exined, "The new 8.5 mm round uses a new smokeless propent for firing, and it is three times more powerfulpared to the same amount of ck powder. The bullet weights at 19.44 gramspared to 9.3 grams of the 6.5 mm bullet. It is avable in Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) or also known as Ball, AP, and Tracer ammunition types."


    "It also has close to 2.5 times more pration powerpared to the current 6.5 mm ck powder loads," Pike grinned at the wide-eyed Marines listening intently to his description of the weapon. "That is almost three times the effective range of your standard issued Magelocks! And its current recorded maximum range is up to 5,642 meters!"


    Some of the orcs were using their fingers, trying to count and gauge the distance, making Pike sigh and shake his head. "Nevermind, today this week-long course is to familiarize yourselves with MG-1! It will be your best buddy, your wife, your girlfriend, sexual fantasy or your right hand! You will be taught how to clean it, service it, fire it and repair it!"


    "And if anyone of you shitheads fails to reach my expectations, I will bust you back to be an ammo runner!" Pike roared at the suddenly alert Marines, "Now is that clear?"


    "YES! MASTER SERGEANT!"


    -----


    Falledge, New Dragon Gate Inn


    Billy sat on the side of streets watching the Hero Dante and his party enter the New Dragon Gate Inn with their floating luggage. For half a day, she wandered not too closely behind, watching the party as they wandered around the town, selling loot gathered from their travels and having cksmiths to maintain their weapons and armors.


    She gnawed at her piece of hard bread, using her saliva to soften it before swallowing as she watched the party through the open doors of the Inn. Billy looked up at the darkening skies and sighed, wondering should she still tail them or should she return to the orphanage. She saw the party got led away by a server and hesitated for a while before deciding to find out at least which room they were staying at.


    The streets and shops around her started to darken andmps were lit while the Glow Moss of the streetmps cast a dull pale glow to the streets. She craned her head looking at all the windows of the three-storied Inn, hoping to see where they will be staying at, but to her dismay, as darkness came, most of the rooms'' windows lit up.


    Stuffing the remainder of her bread into her pockets, she timidly walked into the Inn and headed straight to the counter, "Good evening, Sir!" She greeted the manager at the counter who gave her a once over and sniffed his nose.


    "What do you want, brat?" The sharp nosed manager asked, "No begging allowed here!"


    "Ahh, no, I just wanna ask if the Hero Dante is staying here...?" She asked in a small voice, acting like a timid child but inside her, she was fuming at the attitude of the manager. "I''m a fan of his, and would really like to get his signature..."


    "Shoo, go away," The manager waved his hand dismissively at her, "Our guests are not to be disturbed by begger kids, shoo!"


    "But..." She gave her best puppy eye look at the manager, who ignored her and instead rang a bell, where two burly men appeared. "Throw that begger kid out!"


    "Waa?" She was unceremoniously dumped out of the Inn and warned never to appear again or she will get beaten up. Billy rubbed her sore butt and dusted her clothes angrily and struck her tongue out at the retreating backs of the bouncers. She retreated to the side of the streets and started nning for her next move. If I can''t get n from the front... then I will go back the back! She thought and headed off to the rear of the New Dragon Gate Inn.


    But as she explored the rear of the Inn, she found it all fenced up with walls and a locked gate. She frowned and thought of climbing over the gate but suddenly noticed the building at the side of the Inn looked deserted and there were no walls covering it. She wandered around the building and found that the side of walls had several sculptures that give easy hand and foot holds for her to climb up.


    Looking around, she found no one in the vicinity and the darkness of the night gave her plenty of covers to climb up the side of the building next to the Inn. This is gonna cost that Uncle plenty of silvers once she was done with this! She though in her mind as she expertly crawled up the side of the walls.


    Giving out a final grunt, she flopped her self over to the roof of the building andid on the sloped tiles panting from the effort of the climb. Billyid on the roof for a while, catching her breath before she sat up and looked across the gap to the Inn opposite her. A balconyid before her eyes within a couple of meters away and she decided to jump across. Gathering her courage, she nimbly ran along the side of the roof and leaped across the distance and hit the balcony rolling and mmed against the wall.


    Groaning with pain from thend, she rubbed her elbows and knees and thanked the gods that the room''s balcony shended on was unupied. She leaned over the balcony and started to slowly climb over to the next balcony, as the balconies of each room were within easy climbing distance.


    After peeking into the windows and curtains of several rooms, she still couldn''t find where the Hero Dane and his party were staying at. She leaned out of the balcony and gauged that there were roughly another six or seven rooms she still did not check yet.


    "I am really gonna charge that Uncle for more money! Not silvers but in gold royals!" She grumbled under her breath and started climbing again. This time, after the second balcony, she found the girls from the Hero''s party. She peeked through the tiny crack of the curtains and saw both girls were blushing their hair and preparing to sleep.


    Ignoring them, Billy quietly climbed out of the balcony and headed to the next but found the room to be dark and empty. She continued on to the next balcony were lights could be seen from the window and peered in.


    To her happiness, she found the Hero Dante! He wasying on his bed with his top off, showing off his perfect muscles with his hands over his head. He appeared to be humming and he turned to the side of the room and said something which surprised Billy till a woman walked into view.


    They started hugging and kissing on the bed and Billy watched with wide-eyed, blushing at the intimate act and at the same time fascinated by it. As the couple reached the climax of the act, Billy recognized the girl as the Adventurer''s Guild admin girl! She covered her mouth and sniggered, thinking that this piece of information should be worth something to someone, when she heard a gagging noise from the room, loud enough to be heard despite the thick windows and stone walls.


    She peeked back into the window and saw the girl who was saddling the Hero Dante, had her throat gripped by the Hero and was struggling in his grasp. The Hero Dante had a strange smile on his face as his eyes were half closed and Billy noticed with a shock that the bare skin of the girl was turning grey and wrinkled, at a pace that was mind-boggling to the young girl.


    Soon in a matter of seconds, the body of the girl held by the Hero Dante, turned into a grey and dry husk, totally unrecognizable as the pretty and vibrant admin girl earlier. The Hero dropped the shriveled body on the side of the bed and stood up naked.


    Billy gasped as she saw the terror sicken looked of the shriveled body and quickly covered her mouth in panic and dodged down away from the window, praying that the Hero Dante did not hear it.


    -----


    Dante stretched his body, feeling power and youth coursing through his veins when he heard something from the window. He tilted his head and smiled, grabbing his discarded clothes and putting them on and stepped over the dried up husk on the floor.


    He yanked the balcony door open and looked out, left and right and saw nothing. "Must be a bird or something," He said and closed the door.


    -----


    Billy let out the breath that she held, and sighed in relief. She stood up from the next balcony which she managed to climb over just in time before the Hero opened the door and started her climb back down from the Inn when she felt a chill on her back.


    She turned slowly and saw the Hero Dante standing at the balcony, giving her a charming smile but his eyes were giving off a sense of dread. Billy froze and said, "Hi, and... bye!" before quickly jumping over the side of the balcony and madly climbed down to the first level.


    As her feet touched the ground floor, she barely cast a nce back up and took off as fast as her legs could. But to her dismay, she heard a heavy thud and looking back, she saw the Hero Dantended right behind her and his face still held that cheerful smile.


    "Oh heavens!" Billy panicked, her heart beating rapidly as she ran for her life, knowing that if the Hero caught her, she will be killed or turned into that dried up body!


    The adventurer uncle! He must be able to save her! She thought as she ran through the small alleyways, hoping to lose the Hero.


    "Run little rabbit run!" She heard soprano voice mocking her from behind and she chanced a look and regretted as she saw that smiling face behind her, keeping to her pace easily.


    "I aming to catch you~!"

 Chapter 140: See no Evil

    Chapter 140: See no Evil


    Falledge, The Prancing Pony Inn


    Tyrier''s leg was propped up against the table as he leaned back on the creaky wooden chair as he waited patiently for Doth conversation on the radio with HQ to end. The rest of the ymore One team have gathered at the Prancing Pony, taking over two other rooms down the hall. Now half the team was gathered at the Doth and Tavel''s room as theymunicated thetest piece of information back to HQ.


    "Damn, I did not expect that bloody Hero toe here!" Hitsu grumbled as he sat on the edge of the bed. "That guy is crazily strong!"


    "Yea," Tavel nodded as he leaned against the wall next to the window, "I heard he single handed destroyed a third of the beastman army."


    "Yea, I saw him once at the border," Hitsu said, "He destroyed the border fort just by himself. Calling himself the light of justice..." Hitsu spat at the side, "Just because he found some remnants of the old gods makes him think that he is some kind of savior to the people and everyone must worship him."


    "Well, we got to be careful with him, we don''t know why he is here," Tyrier suddenly spoke, "He is dangerous."


    "Well, I got someone to tail him for us," Hitsu said, "Hopefully, we can get some info on him and be better prepared."


    "Alright, done!" Doth set down his headgear and mike, "HQ tells us to sit tight and focus on transporting the freed ves and do not get into any trouble."


    "One more night before we leave this ce," Hitsu sighed, "I am starting to like this ce."


    "Nah, I want proper showers and toilets!" Tavel joked, "I think I have gotten soft!"


    The men joked andughed among themselves when suddenly a ground shaking rumbled was heard and felt. "What the..?"


    Cries and shouts could be heard from outside the window, and Tavel quickly opened it and looked out, the muffled sounds immediately became clear as another rumbled shook the Inn and more cries and screams of panic were heard.


    "What''s going on?" Doth asked as he quickly put away the precious radio equipment into a leather carrier while Hitsu and Tyrier grabbed their weapons from underneath the beds.


    The door suddenly banged urgently and Altied poked his head in, "Something is wrong!"


    Tyrier took one look out into the night and ordered, "Load up, be prepared for anything, if its nothing to do with us, good but if it is something that might affect our mission, be ready to move at any time!"


    The men nodded and Altied went to alert rest outside, while Doth and Tavel headed back to their rooms for their gear. A short whileter, everyone had gathered around Tyrier''s room all armed discretely and ready for action.


    "Altied, Young, Doth, and Tavel, you four form one team and standby at the ground floor and secure an exit," Tyrier ordered, "Hitsu and Loke with me as the second team. Loke and Histu go up top and keep watch on the roof."


    The ymore One members split up as ordered and headed to their positions. As the disturbance keep going on, almost all the customers and even the workers in the Inn came out to the streets to stare and discuss, making Altied''s team easy to ess the back area of the Inn without anyone noticing them.


    Loke hoisted himself up from the side of the window and hooked his feet over the roof shingles, and rolled himself up. He leaned down and grabbed his gear handed out from the window by Hitsu and set it aside before giving a helping hand to the rest to climb up.


    Another rumble was heard, louder and closer this time and a cloud of smoke lit by themps of houses could just be seen a few streets down from the inn. "Its like getting closer!" Loke pointed out.


    "See anything?" Tyrier asked as he stood on the roof, trying to see what is going on. Some of the roofs of the other buildings were also upied as the inhabitants also climbed up to see what is going on.


    "Too many buildings in the way," Loke replied as he sat with his scoped M1S, looking through the 6x scope, trying to spot what is causing the disturbance.


    "Wait, I see something!" His scope spotted a small figure darting out from a side alley next to the main street where a few gawking pedestrians were staring at themotion. He saw the small figure nearly trip but managed to keep his bnce and kept running when the alleyway where the figure came out exploded. "What the hell?"


    Alerted by Loke''s sighting, both Tyrier and Hitsu removed a small pair of binocrs and peer to where Loke said. They too saw the walls of the alleyway exploded out, and a figure appeared from the smoke. Despite the lower zoom of the binos, Hitsu quickly recognizes the figure walking out of the smoke, "That''s the Hero Dante!"


    "Wait!" He tracked downwards to the running figure, "Oh shit, that''s the girl who I got to tail him!"


    "She must have either seen or heard something that is really bad for him or she had just pissed him off really badly," Loke said, "Orders?"


    Tyrier frowned, noticing girl heading towards their Inn before the buildings across the street blocked her from his view. "I think shes headed to us."


    "Damn, she must being to find me!" Hitsu cursed, "Now what?"


    Tyrier rubbed his chin in thought before saying, "Back her up, she must have some information that is very important for him to risk killing someone in public."


    "Go pick her up," Tyrier ordered Hitsu, "We head to the freed ves location. We are pushing the mission up by one day!"


    "Got it!" Hitsu swung down over the side of the roof and rapidly disappeared from view.


    Tyrier next said, "Provide cover as much as you can for the girl, then pull out, don''t tangle with the Hero solo!" He then followed after Hitsu down over the edge of the roof.


    "Roger that!" Loke said and he made sure that all his gear is properly secured as he sat with his left knee up. He braced his left elbow against his knee and used it as a support for his rifle as he aimed at the Hero strolling down the street like nothing is happening. The dim lights barely cast enough lights to illuminate him but under the scope, Loke ced the crosshair right at the center of his body silhouette and squeezed the trigger.


    The muffled puff of the suppressed shot barely could be heard over the dim of noises made by the town''s inhabitants as they were specting on what is happening. The smoke from the shot was quickly dispersed away by the night breeze and the bullet drop straight down at the Hero.


    -----


    Dante grinned as he watched the girl run away from him in fear. The feeling was intoxicating, different from killing monsters, especially since he had absorbed the life force of the girl in bed with him earlier.


    He ignored the shouts and cries of bystanders as he punched out into the air, were three magic circles formed out. His fist impacted the magic circles and a force ofpressed wind exploded out, mming in the alleyways where the girl had run into. He gave a smile to a city guard who shouted at him and casually gave the guard a backhand p, which blew the head of the guard away, leaving behind a headless body, squirting blood and screaming people.


    As he walked out of the smokey alleyway, he saw the girl running still, and his grin grew wider, "Run little girl, run~" Heughed cheerfully, "It is a nice night for a hunt!"


    Suddenly his senses warned him of danger, and he sub consciously brought up his magical defenses. Something mmed into his chest, powerful enough to knock him back a step. He looked down surprised at the attack from nowhere and saw a strange t object stopped at a few centimeters from his chest by his flickering magical barrier.


    He picked the object up and looked curiously at it, wondering what is it, for it does not look like a throwing dart, an arrowhead or even any hidden weapon he has seen before. Dante looked up and his smiling eyes narrowed, wondering who sent this to him that is strong enough to make him feel threatened and he crushed the heavy pellet in his fingers, ttening it more.


    -----


    Loke cursed, "Farking magic barriers! I hate magic sometimes!" He worked the bolt of his rifle and re-scope at the target but the Hero had vanished from view. "Fark!"


    He keyed his micromunicator at his ear, "I lost sight of the Hero! Make ready, he''sing and he shielded!"


    The rest of ymore One returned their affirmatives and prepared themselves for a strong fight ahead while Loke took a running leap and jumped across the roof of the inn andnded on top of another building''s roof across the street. The tiles cracked and shattered as hended heavily, and pieces of tiles slid down and fell down to the streets.


    "I see him!" Loke yelled into hisms, "One street down, right behind the girl next to the bakery!"


    -----


    "Roger!" Hitsu replied as he pushed past the crowd forming at the streets, and headed towards the bakery. He ignored the yells and cursed thrown his way as he shouldered roughly aside those in his way and he unwrapped his M2 Magespitter out, and did a quick check of his weapon and stepped out into the street where the bakery was located.


    He saw the kid, Billy, her face frozen in terror as she ran blindly away from the monster behind her. Her cap had fallen off and her shoulder-length sweat-stered hair flying wildly as she twisted her head to look behind her at the smiling Hero.


    "Billy!" Hitsu yelled as he took a firing stance with his M2, aiming the sights down at the approaching Hero. "Over here!"


    Billy spun her head around when she heard Hitsu''s voice and her tear stained face broke into a relieved smile and she dashed with all her remaining strength towards Hitsu.


    -----


    Dante looked at the person dressed like an adventurer in leathers and holding something like a pole in his hands and his brow ceased slightly before he gave a shrug and raised his finger and a magic circle formed up before a bolt of light burst out and mmed into the girl''s back. "Magic Missile!"


    -----


    "NO!" Hitsu shouted as he saw in horror the bolt of magic missile mmed into Billy''s back, and she copsed like a puppet with strings cut off. "YOU FARKER!"


    He raised his weapon and fired in short bursts at the Hero standing at the end of the street while advancing step by step towards the fallen child. "FARK!"


    -----


    Tyrier pushed his way out of the gawking crowd and saw the girl downed by the Hero, and Hitsu advancing by fire towards the fallen girl. "Shit!"


    "The girl is down!" Tyrier spoke into hisms, "Loke, overwatch now! The rest we need an exit now!" After he gave his orders he dashed forward to provide support for Hitsu.


    -----


    Dante face twisted as suddenly his magical barrier was barraged by dozens of attacks. Sparks and smoke exploded all over his magical shield and the impacts of the unknown spells were forcing him to step backward.


    "What sorcery is this?" His normal smile disappeared and reced with a cold re, as he looked at the adventurer with the strange pole that was smoking and popping away with sparks at him. "Wand of magic missiles? Or a wand of lightning bolts?"


    He narrowed his eyes as he felt his magic shield starting to weaken from the barrage of spells. "Sun god hear my prayers!" He started to gather his divine powers to empower himself. "Grant me the light to light up the night."


    "For the light shall cast away the darkness from thisnd!"

 Chapter 141: Hear No Evil

    Chapter 141: Hear No Evil


    Uncharted Forest


    "Look!" Norman cried out in surprise as they exited the edge of the forest after days of travel in the forest and came up next to the sheer cliff walls of Sawtooth Mountain. He pointed at a structure seemingly formed from the mountain itself, a fort right at the face of the mountainside. Lights lit up the side of the mountain and appeared to cast away the night from the fort.


    Sergeant Eunos grinned, his white teeth a sharp contrast to the grey-ck face paint, "Wee to Fort Aegis!" He gestured to the stunned caravaners as the wagons rolled out one by one to full view of the stone fort.


    Norman''s eyes widen as they approached the dark gaping hole that was the gate into the fort. He noticed the surface of the walls were smooth and seamless, without any traces of seams or joints. His wagons stopped at the entrance and where several simrly dressed warriors without the facepaint and leaves and twigs stood guard. The stone grey walls had several long slit holes on their surfaces, spread evening among the wall and what looked like thin coils of wires covering the gateway.


    The barbarian warrior next to him leaped off the wagon and navigated through the strange looking coils and approached the guards, doing some kind of hand gestures to the head before the one named Eunos walked back and waved them in and he suddenly blew a loud whistle which made no sense to Norman till his chief guard nudged him and pointed to the rear of the caravans.


    He turned and looked, and was surprised again as scores of barbarian warriors emerged from the edge of the forest and into the lights cast by the fort, their strange outfits making them difficult to spot among the forest foliage. "We were guarded by so many barbarians?"


    His guard shrugged, "I am not too sure, but I will expect so if they can fight and kill a bronze boa."


    Norman was d that he did not order his men to attack Eunos and his men if not his life will have been forfeited long ago by the barbarians surrounding them! He waved for the wagons to start moving forward, wanting to quickly unload the supplies and leave this ce.


    As they entered the gate, Norman was amazed by the strange strips of glowing light that lit the internal of the fort brightly. He noticed that the walls to the floor were a perfect even t surface, no rough edges and he wondered how powerful the magic is needed to create such a perfect construct inside a mountain.


    The guards led them to a huge cavern which was also brightly lit by the strips of strange magical lights and were told to unload within the yellow and white lines painted on the floor. Several strange looking people wearing uniformed grey clothes came up to the caravan as they stopped and asked, "Hey Sarge, who''s the one in charge of this outfit?"


    The barbarian escort jerked his thumb towards Norman who quickly went down his wagon to wee the neers. "Greeting, I am the Trader Norman Stone, I represent North Star Trading."


    "Sure, I am the Quartermaster here," the one that called out to their escort replied. He was shorter than the people around him and had jet ck hair with slightly nted eyes. "You can call me Chen." Norman suddenly stopped in his tracks as he noticed that the neers'' ears were round and not long tipped!


    The rumors and gossips he heard from others suddenly came into his mind, these must be the demons that the rebels had sold their soul to! His face turned ashen and he stood several steps away not daring to make a move as he stared at the hand offered out by the short one called ''Chen''.


    QM Chen had held out his hand and felt awkward as the merchant looked frozen in his steps, his face looked pale and his lips were trembling. "Are you alright?"


    "Ahh.. ahhh..." Norman trembled as he saw the short demoning closer and jumped when someone tapped his back. "AHH!"


    "Boss? Are you feeling well?" His guard looked at him with a strange look and Norman noticed him giving a subtle shake of his head.


    "I... I am fine," Norman forced his emotions into control and gave a forced smile at the short demon. "Must be the weather, hot, cold, hot, cold..."


    "Yea, I get that too, well, take a break if you need to," QM Chen gave a shrug, "We just need a few of your guys to do the stock taking, then we will be out of your hair."


    Norman nodded hurriedly and made some agreeable noise from his throat and quickly disappeared to the rear of the wagons with his guard. "Demons!" He hissed in a low voice, "We are in a den of demons! Did you see their ears?"


    His guard nodded, "But we have to pretend nothing is wrong, if not we only live to see the sun!"


    Norman nodded worriedly, "Inform the men, tell them to act like nothing is wrong, and work quickly!" He ordered his guard, who nodded and left to tell the rest.


    "Gods! Please keep us safe!"


    -----


    Falledge, a street away from the Prancing Pony Inn


    Tyrier ran up next to Hitsu and pped his shoulder, giving him a signal that he is next to him. Hitsu dropped down on one knee and swapped out his empty magazine while Tyrier advanced up firing his M2 with single shots steadily at the flickering blue white magic shield covering the Hero.


    As Tyrier reached the girl, he took a knee and with his left hand he checked the pulse of the girl with keeping his steady fire at the Hero. "She still has a pulse!" He yelled at Hitsu who formed up next to Tyrier and the downed girl.


    "Fark!" Hitsu saw the burnt and smoking wound on the back of Billy, her clothes burnt away and the white of bones could be seen glistening with cken blood. "She looks bad! Young! I need you here now!"


    "Got it!" Young replied on the squad channel, "ETA... Five mikes!"


    "Reloading!" Tyrier yelled and Hitsu took over the cover fire, spamming shots at the Hero, preventing him from doing any action.


    "Oh shit," Hitsu saw that the Hero started glowing, "He''s gathering divine power! We need to get out of here now!"


    "Go! I got the girl!" Tyrier yelled as he left his M2 on his sling and grabbed the unconscious girl up in a fireman carry. "Go, go, go!"


    A sudden re of bright light lit up the entire street like day, and the Hero in the middle of the eye scorching brightness and dashed forward, his right arm drew back in a punch.


    "DOWN!" Hitsu yelled and threw himself out of the way of the Hero, while Tyrier dropped t on the street, cradling and protecting the girl as much as he could when he felt the air on his back super heated up and a sh of light smashed into the gossiping crowd.


    Wails and screams erupted from the crowd as bodies burst and burn, skin turning crisp and smoking as a concentrated beam of sun ray torched the watching crowd. Tyrier concentrated all his mana into his magical barrier, as the edges of the beam superheated the surrounding air and baked the steel te in the leather armor on his back.


    Hitsu after rolling away, scrambled up to a firing position and fired at the Hero, and cursed when he saw his bullets melting as they impacted the Hero''s Sun Aura, leaving glowing red liquid dripping down. "Fark!"


    The Hero looking like some superhero in the 2D picture movies Hitsu had watched back in base, was bathed in a white glow covering his whole body. The Hero turned and looked directly at Hitsu who was firing still at the Hero and closed the distance, swinging his arm, trying to punch Hitsu.


    "Shit!" Hitsu kicked away from where he was crouching and rolled away, as the wall where he was at nearly exploded into smoke and pieces when the Hero''s punch hadnded. "These are the times, I hate magic!"


    Tyrier pushed himself up and lifted the girl, "Distract him and I get the girl to safety!"


    "Wh-what?" Hitsu yelled as he heard Tyrier''smand in thems, "Seriously? No help?"


    "Loke!" Tyrier snapped as he took the opportunity to run away from the Hero who was busy trying to beat Hitsu up into a pulp.


    "Wait one!" Loke''s voice came back, "That crazy son of a bitch blew the building I was in up!" He climbed out from the rubbles covered in brick and stone dust from the second floor. "Goddamn it! I hate fighting magic users!"


    "Ain''t you one yourself?" Doth teased as he and Young appeared around the corner of the street, ignoring the overcooked bodies and the smell of roast meat. "Engaging!"


    Sparks and molten lead dotted the Hero''s body as rounds fired by Doth and Young mmed into him at the side. The Hero jerked in surprise despite the divine power protecting him, kic energy was still transferred into his body, knocking him around.


    Hitsu took the opportunity to drop his emptied M2 on his sling and quick drew his Glock and emptied the whole 30 round magazine into the center of mass of the Hero, causing the Hero to cry out in pain and shock as he raised his hands to block the bullets mming into him and toppled into the ruins of the wall.


    "Now run!" Doth yelled and Hitsu turned without even bothering to check if the Hero was dead or not and just took off on his heels.


    "Link up at the Merchant district!" Tyrier voice came in, "We are getting out of here now!"


    ----


    Dante coughed and spat out blood as heid in the ruins of the brick wall, his divine powers gently ebbed away, and the glow from his body died down. He pushed himself wobbly up and spat another glob of blood out of his mouth and rubbed his swollen arms and chest where the strange spells had hit him.


    He bent down with a wince and picked up a piece of deformed lead, and crushed it in his hands. "Now this is something new," His cold and hard ze disappearing and reced by a boyish and charming smile. "I haven''t bled in over fifty years!"


    He stepped out of the ruins and ignored the cries of pain raising from the wounded and walked back to the New Dragon Gate Inn. Those that hurt him will soon face his wrath, and the Huntress will be able to track those that ran away tonight.


    -----


    Falledge, Merchant District Entrance


    "Let''s me see!" Young bent over the wounded girl and ced his hand over the wound, "Minor Heal!" He cast a healing spell to stabilize her condition and started cleaning and applying some medicine over the wound. "She''s stable now but it doesn''t look so good, we need to get her to a healing house or a proper hospital!"


    "Shit," Hitsu cursed, "What now?"


    "We find my friend," Tyrier said, "Then we get out tonight!"


    "How about her?" Hitsu asked, gesturing the girl under Young''s treatment.


    "We bring her along," Tyrier hesitated before saying. "The Hero is willing to show his face to kill, she must know something that is able to make that guy go on a killing spree!"


    "Damn," Young cursed, "I prep her for transport."


    "Alright, you four stay here and keep watch for that maniac," Tyrier gestured Altied, Doth, Tavel and Young to stay. "I will go with Hitsu and Loke to talk to my friend first and get some supplies, then we move out."


    "Got it!" The men nodded and spread out to take up positions to keep the surrounding area under watch.


    "Let''s go find Otoro and get the hell outta this ce!"

 Chapter 142: Speak No Evil

    Chapter 142: Speak No Evil


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    ke nodded at the two Marine guards and palmed open the armored st doors leading into the Bridge and stopped the Marine from announcing his arrival. He quickly climbed up the steps and stood next to the tactical plot table, "What''s the situation now?"


    "Sir!" The officer of the watch greeted ke, "ymore One has reported that they are engaged with the Hero roughly 20 minutes ago and have just managed to disengaged in battle with him."


    ke''s raised his eyebrows in surprise, "What happened? I thought thest transmission we had with them was to stay out of the way of the Hero?"


    "Yes Sir," The officer replied, "But they found an informant of theirs being chased and attacked by the Hero. The Hero has attacked anyone in his way in the town to try to kill off the informant so far."


    ke tapped the table with his fingers before saying, "Get me all the info we have on the Hero so far."


    "Yes, Sir!" The officer nodded and started to key into his tablet to bring up all the files they had on the Hero, before transferring the data over to ke''s tablet.


    ke sat down on hismand chair and the Officer started the briefing, "Date and ce of birth unknown, age unknown, previously known location was at the Capital of Bluewood."


    "Powers appeared to be some blessing of the Sun God, giving him supernatural powers and strength," ke listen on, "First seen, in the Year 71, but multiple sightings and appearances over a period of 150 years, till this Year 231. Rumors are either he obtained the divine fragment from the Sun God or he was blessed by the God himself."


    "Unconfirmed reports that the power is passed on to another person or that the powers granted the user eternal life. Last known affiliation unknown, but suspected to be with the Empire of Bluewood." The officer finished the short brief, "That''s all the information Intel has gathered from Empire defectors and the people of Goldrose. Also, almost everyone heard of the Hero as a bedtime story."


    "So are we dealing with an urban myth, folktale or a real Hero...hero?" ke pondered, which the officer gave a shrug, "Sir, it could just someone who found some godlike powers."


    "Are we still able to contact ymore One?" ke asked.


    "Yes sir," The officer replied, "We have them on standby. They are nning to leave the town now and will head towards the location of the freed ves. They will push up the escort mission by one day."


    "Contact them," ke said, "Tell them to use extreme measures to ensure the safety of the team and their informant. The suspect hero is heavily armed and dangerous and if he is willing to kill in front of so much eyewitness despite being a ''Hero'' their informant must have found out something that is potentially very valuable. Ensure all means to protect the safety of the informant."


    "Yes Sir!"


    -----


    Falledge, Clubs and Royals Gentlemen''s Club


    Tyrier ignored the indignant cries of the footman as he barged his way in with Hitsu and Loke on tow, kicking the double rosewood doors open with his booted feet. "Stuff it!" He shoved past another footman who tried to block his entrance and stormed into the main hall of the Clubs and Royals.


    Themotion attracted the attention of everyone and they stared at the ck powder stained, disheveled man armed with a metal and wooden pole. His clothes with ripped and dirt-stained, with a hint of urine stench. Otoro looked with dismay when he recognized the face under all the smudge.


    "Otoro!" Tyrier stormed up directly at his pudgy friend who looked at him with surprise in his face. "We need to talk now!"


    "Sir!" The manager of the Clubs and Royals arrived, nked with fourrge muscr men, "We request you leave this premises now!"


    Otoro stared at the fierce glint in Tyrier''s eyes and looked at the manager, "Wait, let me talk with him."


    "But Sir! This man barged into the Club and is viting thews!" The manager eximed, "He is disturbing all the guests here!"


    "It''s alright," Otoro waved away the manager''s concerns, "I can vouch for his conduct."


    Otoro then led Tyrier to a private corner, ignoring the indignant manager. "What is it? Are you alright?" On closer inspection, Otoro saw specks of dried blood on Tyrier''s clothes and face. "What is going on?"


    "I''m fine," Tyrier brushed off Otoro''s concerns, "We need to move up the transportation of the freed ves."


    "What?" Otoro looked around to make sure no one is nearby to hear their conversation. "Why? Did the city guards found out? Is that why you are in this state?"


    "You know the Hero?" Tyrier asked, "He''s out in the streets murdering people, and he has targeted one of mine,"


    "What? The Hero is killing people?" Otoro felt the news was unbelievable. "But he''s the hero! How will he want to kill innocent people!"


    "I don''t care about that now," Tyrier said harshly, "Tell me where the freed people are, and I will move them out now, tonight! It''s getting more dangerous here now!"


    "Alright!" Otoro nodded and dug into his pockets searching for something before he gave an ''ah'' and took out a small runestone. "Here, this will lead you to where the ce where they are currently at. Just imbue some of your magic powers and it will show you the way."


    Tyrier nodded and pocketed the runestone, "How about supplies, is it ready?"


    "It should be, we had stored most of the traveling supplies at that ce, but we wouldn''t have all the wagons andnd dragons to move everyone," Otoro said, "The rest was supposed toe on the day itself but..."


    "It''s alright," Tyrier said, cing his hand on Otoro''s shoulder, "Thanks buddy, you watch yourself, especially with that Hero, he is not what he seems."


    "I.. see," Otoro nodded, and gripped Tyrier''s hand, "You be careful, see you when I see you!" With that, Tyrier turned and left, and with the other two scruffy looking adventurers, they left the Clubs and Royals with the manager and his goons escorting them.


    Otoro stood at the same spot watching his friend disappear from his view and a strange glint in his eyes.


    -----


    Tyrier deftly climbed over the low wall, where they had left the rest and everyone gathered up in the empty courtyard. "How''s the girl?"


    "She''s stable, gave her some tranq shot," Young replied, "She won''t feel a thing nor wake up for the next six hours give or take."


    "Good," Tyrier nodded, "We are moving out," He tossed a pebble-like object to Altied, "You''re on point, put some magical energy into it and it will lead us to the freed ves location. Hitsu help with the girl."


    "Boss, HQ sent new instructions," Doth said, "We are to keep the girl alive and safe, she''s our number one priority now, the secondary mission is the escort of the freed ves."


    "Got it," Tyrier gave a nod to everyone, "Check your gear and let''s move!"


    -----


    Altied hugged the side of the building as he navigated down the street, heading towards the western gate of the town. He felt the runestone tugging his senses towards that direction. The streets were strangely deserted, the windows of the buildings were all shut up tightly, barely a sliver ofmp light leaking out.


    In the far distance, cries and wails got be heard on and off, raising and falling as the maze-like streets echoed the sounds. Reaching an intersection, he paused and took a quick peek left and right, and Young behind him pped his shoulders before he took over in a low run to the next block of buildings across the street.


    Altied peeked out again and gave a thumbs up, signaling to the rest to move up, and they started to dash across the open street, alert for any hostiles. Hitsu carried the unconscious girl on his back, tied up with some rope into a support sling, carrying her like a backpack. They continued in this way until they reached the dark looming town walls.


    Peeking out from a hidden corner of the street, Altied counted five guards, that appeared to be on high alert, as they stood watching nervously around them, the cries and wails in the distance unnerving them.


    "Knock them out with non-lethal means," Tyrier whispered and the five of them excluding Hitsu who carried the girl and Young stayed in the shadows. The five ymore One members quietly crawled their way across the open expanse between the walls and building they were hidden next to. They sneaked past the hundred meters or so of open area and crouched next to the walls, the firelight from the burning brazier effectively blinding the guards'' night vision as they crowded around it nervously.


    With barely a sound, the five of them approached as one, looming up behind each suspecting guard and with a quick chokehold, all five were dragged away and knocked out without causing any rm from the patrolling guards on top of the walls. Their unconscious bodies were dumped in a dark shadow zone and Hitsu and young rapidly dashed across the open area and hugged against the gate.


    The heavy bolt was pushed back and the small wooden side door built into the huge gates was slowly and carefully opened, to prevent any squeaky hinges from sounding. The group slipped through the opened door and closed it before disappearing into the night, headed towards the cover of the forest.


    -----


    Falledge, New Dragon Gate Inn


    Dante strolled up the stairs smilingly, ignoring the questions from the innkeeper and his minions and knocked on the room door of where Liz and Evelyn were staying in. After a short while, a sleepy looking Evelyn opened the door, dressed in a simple frilly nightgown.


    Dante smiled cheerfully and entered the room, brushing past the groggy huntress. "I need your help!"


    "Huh? what?" Evelyn rubbed her sleepy eyes and flinched from the bright glow of light on Dante''s finger, which lit up the dark room. The sleeping form of Liz got to be seen snuggled up in the bed covers, giving a soft snooze once a while.


    "I need you to help me track a few people," Dante said, and he ced a ttened piece of lead on the table.


    Evelyn headed towards the side table and poured some water onto the copper basin and sshed her face, before lighting up a tablemp and carrying it to the table where Dante was seated. She put themp down and picked up the piece of lead and sniffed it, and also coughed as the stench of urine was very strong to her magically enhanced sense of smell. "What is this?" She held the lead piece away from her and rubbed her nose.


    "Are you fine?" Evelyn asked as she looked at the dust-stained clothes of Dante. She patted at his hair, dusting away some tiny pieces of stone. "Why are you in such a mess?"


    "I am fine," Dante smiled and gestured the lead again, "How?"


    "I should be able to track who that belongs to," Evelyn said, turning towards the lead piece on the table. Dante suddenly reached out and grabbed her and sat her onto hisp, grinning at her surprised and blushing face. "We can''t" She whispered to Dante.


    "Why not?" Dante smiled, "Liz is sleeping, as long as you don''t make any loud noises... she wouldn''t know!"


    "But..." Evelyn wanted to protest but Dante kissed her deeply and all thoughts of protest disappeared as her mind went nk. "mmmmm...."


    Both her and Dante clothes were soon removed and Evelyn mounted Dante on the chair, burying her head on his shoulders as they writhed against each other in pleasure and Evelyn copsed on top of Dante, exhausted while he sat there with an amused glint in his eyes.

 Chapter 143: Tears of the Sun

    Chapter 143: Tears of the Sun


    Kaga was rudely awakened when she heard loud bangings and frightened criesing from outside the shared living quarters. She rolled off the wooden pallet and spied out the cracks of the wall panels. She saw several of the helpers that provided food to the people were holding burning torches and gathered at the main gate which someone or something was banging loudly at.


    "What''s happening?" Someone asked in the room as the people sleeping inside were waking up by the dim outside. "I don''t know!"


    The banging grew louder and yells and shouts could be hearding from the gate, before it burst open, swinging creakily on the rusty hinges. Gasps were heard from the helpers who brandished their ming torches at the intruders who barged in.


    Kaga''s eyes widened in fear as she thought that the Empire soldiers hade to arrest them and take them back to very. The others having the same thoughts panicked and started to flee out of the buildings, hoping to escape the Empire soldiers.


    But she saw only several dark figures at the gate who entered and closed the gate before the firelight lit up their features and they do not dressed like any Empire soldier. One of them was even carrying a child on his back.


    She walked out of the building and came up close until she could hear what the housekeeper and the newly arrived men were talking about.


    "- move now!" The foremost scruffy looking male spoke sharply at the housekeeper, who face was turning pale at the bloodthirsty sight of his eyes. "There is no time, gather all the people and load up the supplies as fast as possible, we need to leave now!"


    "But.. but!" The housekeeper sputtered, trying to reason with the tall scary looking man. "We do not have enough wagons! And some are still sick! Nor are the adventurers escorting them here! It is suicidal to go out there!"


    "The Empire ising!" The man angrily hissed, "If you stay any longer, everyone dies!"


    The housekeeper paused at the man''s angry words, "They know...? Oh, the heavens! Quick!" He turned around and gestured wildly at his helpers, "Wake them all up and get whoever is able bodied to help load the supplies into the wagons we have now! And hitch the dragons up to wagons too!"


    The helpers hearing that quickly dispersed and started to call out the people still indoors and also rounded up those that went hiding away. Kaga watched as the leader of the fierce-looking group sat down at one of the outdoor benches and the rest of his party gathered around him.


    Soon the whole yard was a hive of activity as workers and the ex ves started to carry and hoist sacks of food and barrels of water onto the wagons while other harnessed thend dragons in the stables and led the sleepy beasts to be hitched onto the wagons. The word had spread that the Empire will being soon lit a fire under the ex ves, who worked withoutint and rest, and soon everything that could be loaded up was done.


    The weak and sick were ced on the remaining empty spaces onboard the wagons while the rest moved on foot, as they headed out of the yard led by the fierce looking mercenary who brought the news of the Empire''s arrival. They hurried along with the wagons, using the dim stars lit sky to light their way as torches ormps were forbid by the mercenaries, to prevent the Empire soldiers from spotting them, they said.


    The camp was so abandoned as the housekeeper and his staff scurried away home, not wanting to be caught when the Empire''s soldier came to raid.


    -----


    Dante stepped out of the shower tub, and carried Evelyn''s exhausted body out of the tub, wrapping them both with a dry towel. They have returned to Dante''s room for another bout of intense lovemaking before showering.


    Dante casually wiped himself dry and dress up, before un-sheathing his greatsword and used its edge to open a cut on his finger. He then used his blood to draw runes on the surface of the greatsword before imbuing it with his magic powers.


    Evelyn woke up at some point and watched Dante at his work, only when he was finished did she snuggled up next to him. "How are you feeling?"


    "Great!" Dante smiled, "Get dressed, its nearly morning, we will grab some breakfast before we head out."


    Evelyn nodded and kissed the side of Dante''s face before slipping on her nightgown and exited his room. Dante stood up and gave a few swipes of his sword in the room, making and blood red after image with each swipe, the force of the swipes shaking the room slightly. Finally satisfied, he returned his sword back into the sheath and headed down the inn to find some food.


    Stab and Liz were surprised that they were moving out so soon after they arrived at the town. Dante just casually exined that they are hunting a group of adventurers who were holding a child and that the child was in danger.


    Liz almost immediately stood up and said, "Evildoers! Bullying and threatening children! We must stop them!" And she almost stormed off, when Stab stopped her by pulling her robes.


    "Where do you think you are going?" Stab sighed, he had heard of themotion that was going on outside during the night when he was having several drinks at a pub a few streets away. He did not think that it was due to Dante trying to save the child and fought against several people and he wasn''t victorious. It was almost impossible, thought Stab as he knew that Dante was one of the strongest fighters he ever has seen. "Do you know how to find them in the first ce?"


    "..." Liz froze and jerked her robes away from Stab before returning to her seat and buried her blushing face into her mug of hot milk. "..."


    "Don''t worry," Dante smiled and patted Liz''s head, her fuzzy red hair standing out without her usual pointed hat. "Evelyn has gotten their scent, she can track them easily."


    Evelyn nodded, "As long as it does not rain, I can find their tracks."


    "Good, everyone full?" Dante asked, "Alright, let''s go!"


    -----


    After a few hours of tracking and searching, the Hero''s party arrived before them arge camp surrounded with wooden palisades and a stout gate. Pushing the gates open, showed the camp had an abandoned feel to it. The party stayed within sight of each other and they checked each and every building, finding it empty and the signs showed it was abandoned in a hurry.


    "Looks like everyone left in a hurry," Stab said as he came out of thest building shaking his head. "No one is home."


    Dante nodded, as he sat on the bench which Tyrier and ymore One had sat on a few hours earlier. "Evelyn?"


    The Huntress stood braced on top of one of the roofs of the buildings, staring out into the sea of trees surrounding them. "They left that way, at least nine wagons and dragons, almost 300 people." She pointed towards the south.


    Next, she gestured down to the tracks on the ground floor from the roof. "You can roughly see how many different sets of feet there and the lines drawn by the wagons."


    "I found several sacks of dried rations and some water barrels in the stores," Stab said, as he joined Dante and Liz at the bench. "I think they took what they could and left the rest."


    "This group looks quite big, are you sure this is the correct people we are supposed to go after?" Stab asked Evelyn who had nimbly climbed down the side of the building and joined them.


    She nodded and indicated to the bench which they were sitting on, "I can smell the same scent which Dante gave me to track them with." She bent down and sniffled the wood, "No doubt about it, it''s the same scent!" She rubbed her nose.


    "I thought we are going after a small group of people over a child, but this looks like more than that," Stab said, "Could it be some kind of kidnapping racket?"


    Dante gave a good natured shrug, "We will know when we find them," He turned to look towards the south, his eyes turning cold.


    -----


    Southwest of Falledge, Uncharted Forest


    Two untidy lines of tired people were walking on the sides of the row dragon pulled wagons. The lines weaved around the massive tree roots and disappeared from view in the forest. Kaga slowly put one put before the other as her healed sores on her feet were started to hurt again after more than half a days travel.


    As she rounded a bend, she saw the head of the column had stopped and the people were gathered around a clearing. Her stomach rumbled when she saw some people starting to take out cooking pots from the wagons and remember thest time she ate was dinner the other day.


    The people surrounding her saw that the cooking pots were beingid out over cook fires, forgot about their tiredness and pushed themselves faster, flopping down on the green grass when they reached the gathered wagons.


    Kaga headed for the water barrel set out withdles for people to drink and pour a mouthful into her parched throat. The mid-spring weather made the forest humid and hot, making her sweaty and sticky. She wished that there was a river for them to wash up as the water in the barrels were limited and precious.


    "Alright, people listen up!" The mercenary from before stood on top of one of the wagons yelled, "I will form every one of you into teams. Each team will be responsible for one aspect of workload, be it cooking, driving the wagons or collecting firewood."


    "There are no maids or servants here," Tyrier continued, "Everyone has to y their own parts if we are to survive the trek to safety! After getting fed, I want to start organizing every one of you. Now, drink more water, get some food and rest!"


    Kaga nodded, thinking that what he said was right, and headed to one of the cookpots was an ex-ve was stirring some grain porridge with strips of dead meat inside. Several chipped bowls were set to the side and Kaga took one and had the cook serve her up one big bowl of porridge with some chunks of vegetables and strips of dried meat and started feasting.


    Tyrier hopped down the wagon and looked worriedly to the rear, where small groups of stragglers wereing in slowly. "Shit, this is not good. We have too many peoplegging behind."


    Young stood next to Tyrier and said, "If the Hero is chasing her, he should havee by now. I don''t think we need to worry much about pursuit now."


    "I don''t think that S O B will give up so fast," Tyrier said. "There is only seven of us to guard this rubble of over three hundred, we can''t be everywhere if they are strung out too far back."


    "Hitsu, Loke, and Tavel are acting as the rearguard," Young said, "They should be able to handle anything thates their way."


    "I seriously hope so," Tyrier said grimly.


    -----


    "Yup, the campfires are still warm," Stab dug his fingers into the soil covered campfires. "I say, half a day ahead of us?"


    Dante smiled, "We are getting close." He looked up to the sky, "It will be dark soon, but we should be able to catch up with them before the sun sets."


    "Let''s go!" Liz waved her staff threatening, "I want my bed! And a shower! I will make those people that forced me out here to suffer!"


    Danteughed and patted Liz''s shoulder, "Get them we will! Let''s go!"

 Chapter 144: Sum of All Fears

    Chapter 144: Sum of All Fears


    Kingdom of Bluewood, Imperial Capital


    A tall muscr bald elf wearing pure ck te mail with a crest of a twin-tailed scorpion strolled past the featureless Lifeguards of the Emperor, his ted boots nking as he walked down the narrow spiral stone steps and entering into an underground hall. The globes of light moss lit the way for him as he pushed the heavy stout wooden door open and entered a stone chamber of horrors.


    Dozens of tables and wall racks hung naked people of all races, sex, and ages in various poses of agony. Some had their eyelids cut away, and forced to watch various kinds of torture inflicted on their bodies, while others had their tongues removed. The ck armored elf stood before a table filled with instruments of torture and gently removed his ted gloves, and pping them on top of the table, ignoring the screams of the condemned.


    The Emperor bent over the wriggling body of Sturm, eagle spread over a rack with steel bars securing his arms and legs and watched his mage drawing lines of arcane symbols that confound and distort the mind. Sturm''s mouth was opened in agony, a dark bloodied pit of emptiness as his tongue and teeth were all forcibly removed. His eyelids were also cut away, forcing him to watch the dark mage drawing magic runes on his body with the blood of the sacrificed.


    Once the hooded mage was done with his art, he bowed to the Emperor who smiled and patted Sturm''s shoulder in an assuring way. "My dear Sturm, well let this be as enjoying to me as to you." The Emperor then turned and nodded to his mage who started to whisper some form of chant which crawled the insides of the mind if one were to listen closely to it.


    Suddenly Sturm jerked upwards, despite the steel bands holding his body, he bent up in an arc, thick veins appeared over his head and body as he contorted in pain and suffering. Underneath his skin, worm-like veins were wriggling all over his body and his body turning red and his temperature went up higher and higher.


    The Emperor tilted his head as he watched in fascination at the changes urring to Sturm''s body. The skin of Sturm grew taut and turn dark shiny brown, his muscles growing abnormally, while his pupils turn red and sharp teeth grew out from his toothless gums. The metal bands holding on to his arms and legs creaked and strained as Sturm struggled and growled in suffering.


    Finally, after a turn of the ss, Sturm slumped down back onto the rack, his lidless eyes staring nkly at the stone ceiling while his chest rose up and down as his body had changed to almost twice of his actual size.


    The Emperor pped his hands happily, as the mage bowed and gestured that the experiment is a sess. "Well, at least you can be useful even if you have failed me after all." He turned to the neer and smiled, "So what do you think?"


    The bald knight just gave a raised eyebrow look and said, "Won''t know till he goes into the battlefield."


    "Ahh, my esteemed mage here assures me that his," The Emperor gestured the changed Sturm on the rack, "Bronze Men, are more capable than our knights, one of them equaling 10 knights in strength and resistance. Normal swords and spears can barely prate their bronzed bodies."


    The bald knight shrugged, and repeated, "Still have to see their performance on the battlefield."


    "Haha," The Emperorughed, "Then he''s all yours! Since you caught him and brought him back to me. How''s the situation at the border?''


    The bald knight just gave a casual nod, "Not good, the two nations had allied up and are resisting rather strongly. But your Bronze Men are still tough as imed, we should be able to force breakthrough before winter."


    "And the rebels?" The Emperor stabbed the unmoving body of Sturm with a dagger. "How do you n to deal with them?"


    "I have sent the Hero down to deal with it first," The ck knight replied, "The priority now is the Two Nation Alliance. The Hero should be able to deal with them, if not after we crushed the Two Nations, we can easily divert all our attention to the south, once we unite the whole Newnd."


    "Good," The Emperor looked at the skin of Sturm were he had stabbed hard with his dagger, yet there was barely a mark seen. "I will be sending all the Bronze Men we have to be under yourmand.''


    The ck knight nodded, "I will make preparations for departure as soon as possible. Please send the Bronze Men to the ck Scorpion Legion barracks." The knight then gave a bow and departed from the stone chamber.


    "Don''t fail me, Rock..." The Emperor advised at the disappearing back of the knight and smiled at his mage. "Now, who is next?" He rubbed his hands together in glee.


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, 479 km from Sawtooth Mouth Pass


    "GO, GO, GO!" Tyrier yelled as he fired at the approaching blue-coated soldiers mounted on dragons. He pushed the frightened ex-ve as he aimed at the charging dragons. His single shots snapping the soldiers off their saddles.


    "Come on!" Altied helped one of the fallen ex-ves up from the ground and urged the rest to run faster. "Where the hell did those blue boyse from?"


    "I have no idea!" Doth yelled over the dim of gunfire, as he crouched next to tree root and fired single shots at the dragon cavalry. "I thought we are dealing with that Hero guy only!"


    Unknown to ymore One, the Hero and his party had managed to track the escaping ves and Dante sent Stab back to Falledge to the garrison to bring reinforcements. Stab had shown up at the garrison and showed a letter to the garrisonmander who immediately after reading it, turned pale and followed all instructions given by Stab.


    It took the garrison''s cavalry 3 days to catch up with the Hero and his party who followed behind the convoy and they took the opportunity to attack the ex-ves when they stopped to setup camp.


    "Go!" The men of ymore One held the rear and proceded in a tactical withdrawal, buying time for the nonbatants to escape. Due to their firepower, they managed to stall and even led the pursuing cavalry into an ambush which decimated more than half their numbers.


    "Doth!" Tyrier yelled, "You gotten in contact with HQ?" He dropped down behind a massive tree root and reced his empty magazines with a fresh one.


    "Negative!" Doth yelled back from a tree further down the line. "Too much interference from the trees!"


    "Damn!" Tyrier cursed, he patted his ammo pouches and found he barely had two magazines left. "Try harder! Find high ground!" He yelled back to Doth who nodded and dashed off somewhere.


    "Ammo status?" Tyrier yelled to the rest.


    "Two mags!"


    "Three left!"


    "Same three here!"


    "Shit, at this rate we need to go melee!" Tyrier cursed to himself. "And the damn Hero hasn''t shown his face yet!"


    "Save thest two mags for the Hero and his party!" Tyrier ordered, "Switch to melee against the blue boys!"


    Suddenly, a warcry roared out from dozens and dozens of soldiers as they charged across the trees to close in with ymore One. "CHARGGEEEE!"


    Tyrier dropped his M2 and drew his longsword, stepping over the roots of the tree he was at and skewered a charging blue coated soldier right in the chest. The boyish features of the soldier''s eyes widen in shock and he crumbled down while Tyrier barely gave a second nce at the dying soldier.


    Hitsu raised his palm up and two blue magic circles appeared and a crack of lightning red out, followed by a strong smell of ozone and burnt meat as he sted at the enemy soldiers. He blocked a spear thrust and grabbed the spear and jerked the surprised soldier holding the spear towards him and impaled his sword bay into the surprised soldier.


    Taver leaned against the tree roots and calmly fired his M2 at the charging soldiers, at the short distance, he barely missed, each shot dropped a blue coated soldier. Altied also did the same, popping single shots at the enemy, providing cover for the rest.


    Young and Loke were leading and escorting the escaping ves, while the rest held the rear, trading spells, and gunfire. And just as suddenly as it happened, it was over, the Empire soldiers were either dead or dying, the small battlefield was littered with the dead and dying.


    "Grab whatever is useful!" Tyrier ordered, "Five minutes then we retreat!"


    The men quickly went forward and started to loot the bodies of the Empire soldiers, picking up swords, water skins, dried rations, and even healing items. They gathered the weapons and retreated, leaving behind broken bodies. They managed to catch up with the ex ves and handed out the weapons and supplies to them, as they had run away when attacked, leaving behind most of their supplies of food and water.


    "I think the Hero is purposely draining our strength before he will show himself," Young spoke up as he applied some medical paste on a sword cut on Tyrier''s arm. "At this rate without any supplies, we will be cut down one by one."


    "Damn," Tyrier looked at the frightened and exhausted ex ves. "How many made it?"


    "I did a roll call earlier," Young replied as he bandaged up the wound. "232 of them, roughly 110 people are missing or lost."


    "Shit!" Tyrier flexed his bandaged armed and grimaced. "Doth! Did you managed to contact HQ yet?"


    "I am still trying!" Doth was perched on top of a tree branch, the radio headset covering his ears while he fiddled with the dials of the radio. "No go!"


    "Keep trying, if you managed to get to HQ, tell them we need a dust off, ammo and supplies," Tyrier ordered.


    "Hitsu, find out who can fight or know how to use a sword," Tyrier ordered next, "Issue out the swords we got from the Empire." Hitsu nodded and started yelling to the ex ves who were huddled up together.


    ''Tavel, check our total ammunition amount," Tyrier said next to Tavel, "Redistrub the ammo evenly out."


    A smallish girl with white hair and fluffy ears suddenly stood before Tyrier who looked up in surprise," Yes? Can I help you?"


    "I can help!" The cat girl said, "I- I know how to fight with magic! My name is Kaga, Kaga Whitetail!"


    "Thanks," Tyrier smiled at the cat girl who barely reached his chest height and looked like eighteen or sixteen, "Then I will like you to help protect the women and children."


    "But... I know magic!" Kaga protested, "I can help kill the Empire soldiers!"


    Tyrier shook his head, wondering what is happening to his world were women and children have to fight and kill just to live. "It''s all good," He assured the cat girl, "I am sure your magic powers are very strong, but I rather need you to protect the rest."


    Hitsu came up at this time and cleared his throat, "Boss, I got about 40 men and women here who knows how to use a sword."


    "Ok, gather them together," Tyrier stood up and rubbed the head of the cat girl who frowned, "Go look after the rest." Just as Loke yelled from his vantage point.


    "Contacts!" Loke yelled down from the tree he was in, he spotted more blue coats moving among the trees. "They are about five, ten minutes away!"


    "Go!" Tyrier gestured Kaga towards the rest and headed to where Hitsu is gathered with the ves that knew how to handle a sword. "Protect the rest for me ok?" He left Kage who stood there staring at him with tears forming in her eyes.


    "Come on! It is a good day to die!"

 Chapter 145: Rearguard

    Chapter 145: Rearguard


    shes of steel and iron rang out among the trees where two groups were fighting. On one side were men and woman dressed in simple woven tunics and trousers while the other group was soldiers in blue coats and te mail. Grunts and curses apanied each swing and stab of the sword as both sides fought to overwhelm each other.


    Tyrier flung a ball of fire into a group of soldiers who raised their shields to block only to get their shields shattered away and bones breaking from the explosion. He parried a swing from another blue coated soldier and hammered his dull de onto the armored pauldron of his opponent, barely denting it. But it made his opponent curse in pain and Tyrier smashed the half helm of the soldier with a reverse sh, sending the shocked soldier tumbling over the forest undergrowth.


    "Goddammit it!" Tyrier dropped his blunt and bent de and quickly drew his Glock out and fired at the fallen soldier. He stepped back from the fight and took a quick check around his surroundings, taking note of his own guys and he fired at the blue coated soldiers who were overwhelming the armed ves.


    Tyrier took a quick breather, and reholstered his pistol before grabbing an abandoned ax spear from the ground and charged at one of the enemies who was engaged with a couple of ves. He rammed the spear with all his body weight into the side of the unaware soldier, the edged tip punching through the side te mail leather covers and into the guts, citing a dying scream from the soldier.


    He pulled out and swiped the spear around, giving some breathing space for the two clearly exhausted and wounded ves. The fighting had been brutal and dirty, the trees had forced the fighting into pockets of small conflicts. The remaining two Empire soldiers stared out with hate-filled eyes from the eye slits of their helms at Tyrier as he kept the spear between them.


    Tyrier sighed and suddenly reversed the spear and stabbing it into the ground before whipping out his pistol and gave each of the surprised soldiers a shot each before picking up his spear again. "Grab their shields and rece any swords or weapons with dulled edges!" He instructed the two ves behind him, "Quickly now!"


    The two winded ves quickly dashed forward and grabbed the fallen weapons and equipment on the ground, while Tyrier kept a watch around them. "GET DOWN!" He suddenly yelled when he felt goosebumps rising on his skin and he dropped t.


    The two ves were slower and they paused, turning to see what was the problem when a dozen bolts of energy blew up the area around them. Tyrier rolled away to the side until he reached the cover of a tree root while the area he was before was smoking and bits of bark and flesh rained down.


    As the smoke cleared, both the ves were down, parts of their body missing and smoldering from the effect of the spells. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" A childish girlish voice was heardughing, "Die you, evil man! Know the power of I, Liz the greatest mage ever!" A petite sized girl appeared several meters away, perched on top of a tree root. She waved her staff and posed, all the whileughing to herself.


    "What the... fark?" Tyrier peeked over the side and saw the scene, "Damn kid is crazy!"


    He turned back into cover and unslung his M2, and slowly leaned out while prone, cing his rifle sights at the crazy girl who had started chanting and preparing to cast spells. He lined up the rear and front sights directly at the center of mass and squeezed the trigger twice. The painful m of the rifle butt against his shoulder feltforting, like an old friend.


    Both bullets mmed into the girl mage, the impacts barely shattered her magic shields but was enough to break her concentration of her spells and also it knocked her off the tree. "Ahhhhhhh!"


    "Crazy bitch!" Tyrier spat, "Eat lead!" He quickly rosed from his position and weaved through the trees, "Fall back. fall back!" The Hero''s party members have started to show their powers, it would mean that the Hero will act soon. "Come on people! BACK!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "---more One, ----est re--for--ent unde- ---tack by her- and emp-- forc-s" A choppy transmission burst was broadcasted into the headphones of the radio operator. "Repea-, nee- sup---t now!"


    "XO!" The radio operator yelled out, urgently waving for Commander Ford toe over. "I am picking up a transmission with ymore One identifier. The signal is very gabbled up but it will appear that they are in trouble."


    "Let me hear," Ford leaned over thems panel and held the offered headset to his ear, listening to the yback. "Shit. Get me the Captain, Commander Tommy and Major Frank on the line now, put it on themand chair."


    "Yes, sir!" The female operator quickly punched in the call to the Captain and the Airforce and Marinemanders to themand chair of the bridge which Ford quickly sat on.


    "Captain!" Ford greeted ke and gave a nod to Tommy and Frank when they all log in to the call. "Got a situation again. ymore One appeared to be under attack, permission to engage retrieval protocols?"


    ke nodded, "Do it, I will be in my office in..." He nced at the digital timer on the side, "10 minutes. Brief me what''s going on there. Tommy prep the birds, Frank get your boys loaded and ready to move."


    "Yes sir!" The men acknowledged the order and left the chat.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Airbase, Valkyrie Hanger One


    The old support base was rebuilt and refurbished to be an Airbase for the nes, dragons, and Airforce. Inside the brightly lit hanger, a single boxy looking craft was nested on its fournding gears, and arge crew of technicians, elves, humans, and even a few goblins dress in a various color-coded vest over work overalls swarmed the craft.


    "Come on!" Chief Gale yelled at his crew as they serviced the craft, "Move those asses of yours, load up the extra fuel canisters, remove all the external armor ting!" He stood over the crew as theybored with powered tools, unbolting huge tes of armor ting from the bird.


    Two goblins wearing oversized ear mufflers, a ck hockey like helmet, and a green vest over their kid-sized overalls, pushed a trolleydened with a massive fuel tank pod. They both eagerly scampered across the hanger and parked the trolley at the color coded box drawn on the floor, handing over to the crew with a yellow vest.


    Chief Gale kept a wary eye on the goblins as they scampered back happily to the elevators that lead to underground storage to pick up the second load of fuel tanks. Shaking his head, "Damn, never would I thought that I will have goblins under my watch."


    "Chief!" Flight Lieutenant Peter walked into the hanger, with his flight helmet held roguishly at his side. "How''s everything?"


    "So far so good," Chief Gale replied, "Just that those goblins give me the creeps." He unconsciously patted his sidearm to make use it is there.


    "But I heard they are pretty handy on maintenance," Peter said as he watched two goblins giggling away as they push a fuel pod out from the elevator. "They seem so happy and eager too."


    "Yea, I just hope they don''t turn on us," Chief Gale frowned. "Those creatures seemed to worship technology. They have been praying to the nes, calling it some kind of Machine God..." He rubbed his head as a headache sudden threaten to pop out. "Gods, I am getting too old for this shit."


    "Hahahaha," Peterughed cheerfully, "I still remember when they first saw the Valkyrie, they all bow down and prayed, andter they found out that your the ''Chief'' of all the nes, they started to worship you as the chosen one of the Machine Gods! Hahahahahaha!"


    "Not funny, Lieutenant," Chief Gale rolled his eyes, "Not funny at all."


    "Great Chief Gale!" The two goblins skipped over and saluted, "Weplete great mission! Need more mission?"


    "Ahh..." Chief Gale sighed, "Once the fuel pods are loaded, return the trollies back."


    "Yes! Great Chief!" They gave a salute again, and ran off happily, "Mission epted!"


    Peterughed again and gave a salute to Gale as he half jogged to his bird while mimicking the voice of the goblins, "Great Chief Gale, I go for mission now!"


    "Asshole..." Chief Gale cursed at the back of theughing Peter. "Damn, I hate goblins..."


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, 469 km from Sawtooth Mouth Pass


    Kaga panted hard as she helped to support one of the injured ves as they half ran in the forest. She kept her eyes on the back of the mercenary with his strange weapons and ignored the pain from healed blisters from opening again. Only two of the mercenaries were with them while the rest were at the rear selling their lives for them to escape.


    Suddenly the mercenary at the front stopped in his tracks and raised a clenched fist. Kage was confused but she stopped as she watched the mercenary turned his head left and right as if he had sensed something. She was about to ask when the mercenary suddenly spun to the right and brought up his strange metal wand and thunder and fire erupted from the tip of it.


    Despite witnessing the effects of the strange magic weapon they were carrying, the loudness and suddenness were still shocking to everyone, including Kaga. She flinched and instinctively ducked down, but her eyes never left the mercenary as he continued to cast spell after spell with the thunder stick of his.


    -----


    Doth jerked to the right just as he sensed an intense killing aura from his right. He smoothly raised his M2 and fired at the glow that was approaching, and saw sparks exploding off a magic shield. "Damn! Is that the Hero?" He cursed his luck but he held his ground. "Young! We gotpany!"


    He tracked the inhumanly fast movement of the glowing Hero, firing at him as he weaved in and out of the trees for cover. Despite that Doth''s majority of his shots managed to hit the Hero, forcing his speed to drop as the force of the bullets stunned him slightly.


    "Son of a Bitch!" Doth yelled as he stepped back while firing at the rapidly closing Hero. Suddenly he felt a chill, a premonition of death behind him and his instincts told him to duck. He dropped to the side just as a silver sh came from behind. "Fark you!" He crashed down on to the undergrowth just as someone attempted to backstab him.


    His left shoulder took the brunt of the attack and bleeding, but he ignored the pain and turned his M2 to the attacker and fired nk point.


    -----


    Stab cursed as his rapier missed his target, only managing to inflict a cut on the guard''s shoulder. He was very curious of the weapons the guards were using and knew that these were the rebels that had signed some pact with demons to possess such powerful artifacts. He knew that they are very dangerous, that was why he and the Hero decided to attack from both sides.


    With the glow of the Hero as a distraction, he would slip into the shadows and reappear behind the guards to backstab them while they are distracted by the Hero. But he did not expect to be noticed! He had erased all of his presence but how did he got found out?


    Just as those thoughts were racing in his mind, the guard rolled over and pointed the thunder stick artifact at him, and the world turned into mes and thunder.


    -----


    Doth emptied his remaining magazine into the slim bony looking male, his shots unable to miss due to the very short distance. He saw the bloody body tumbled down as the protection spells on him failed and the bullets ripped through the assassin.


    "How you like that? Bitch?"

 Chapter 146: Yo Mama...

    Chapter 146: Yo Mama...


    Sawtooth Mountain Airbase


    Two military half-tracks rolled up to a stop next to the runway where two of the Valkyries were winding up their turbines on standby. The loaded troops at the rear hopped off one by one and formed up next to the birds for inspection. Newly minted First Lieutenant Joseph Tokin, formerly Lord General of the Kingdom of Goldrose, grinned in anticipation of uing mission and stood before the gathered toon with a gleam of excitement in his eyes.


    "Alright, men of 2nd Battalion, Eagle Company toon 1! Most of you know me before you joined the Marines, now I am also part of the Marines like you," Joesph roared over the sound of the engines. "Now we got a problem!"


    He pointed to the far distance over the mountains, "We got our buddies trapped beyond the Pass, and we are going to save them. ves escaping from the hands of the Empire are being ughtered."


    "We all got our duty to do," Joesph clenched his fist, "Goldrose might be destroyed but now we have a new role to y, as protectors of the weak!"


    "HORAAAH!" The toon echoed out loudly. "HORAAAH!"


    "Mount up!" Joesph gestured towards the Valkyries, "Section One and Two onboard Valkyrie One and Three and Four, Valkyrie Two is your ride! Go go go!"


    The heavily armed Marines split up and dashed towards the waiting Valkyries which rear cargo bay ramps were down, and what appeared to be a goblin wearing dark green airforce overalls in a helmet and aviator sses was waving them onboard, much to the surprise of the boarding Marines.


    "What the fark?" The Marines were confused as they looked at the goblin, who screamed at them in a high pitched voice to sit down and buckle up.


    "Buckly up you dumb Mar-nees!" The single goblin flight crew cried, "Dumb Mar-nees wanna die in pieces in this flying bucket of godly bolts?"


    The stunned Marines onboard Valkyrie One sat obediently onto the buckle seats lined on the walls of the aircraft. A massive pallet of supplies was secured on the middle of the deck, with what appeared to be a vehicle of some sorts.


    "Greg! All clear?" The elven crew chief hopped in from the side hatch and sealed the side hatches. "Check all cargo are secured?"


    "Checking!" The goblin named Greg bounced happily from one seated Marine to another, tugging at their constraints and grinning evilly as he pulled the straps tightly, making the Marines groan, "Nice and tight tight, wrapped up all nicely! Hehehehehe!"


    "Oh my god," The Marines prayed as the rear cargo ramp closed up, "Are we going to fly with this crazy goblin?"


    "Hey! Green skin!" Some Marine yelled, "You want to lick clean my boots?"


    "Dumb Mar-nees! Believe I dump you out of ne without a chu chu?"


    And Flight Lieutenant Tommy grinned as he heard themotion in the rear over thems, "Cargo all green!" His crew chief said before cutting off the tirade between the Marines and Airforce as his crew chief ended thems.


    "Valkyrie One to Mother," Tommy radioed the flight control tower, "One is all green, standing by for take off, over."


    "Valkyrie Two to Mother, All green. Ready for take off, over."


    "Mother to Valkyrie Flight, mission is go, Godspeed gentlemen!"


    "One, Roger!" Tommy applied power to the turbines and the heavy aircraft slowly rose as the powerful rotor turbines form an air effect under the craft and he gently tilts the Valkyrie''s nose towards the Pass and with Valkyrie Two behind, the two rotorcraft flew off from the airbase.


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, 468 km from Sawtooth Mouth Pass


    "Barrier Up!" Young barely managed to cast a magic protection spell just as the Hero mmed his sword just meters before him, causing an energy shockwave that mmed into his Barrier spell. He snapped fired his M2 at the glowing Hero who barely flinched from the impacts of the bullets as the aura of the Sun God melted the lead bullets before they impact him. "Fark!"


    The Hero grinned and shed down with his greatsword which smashed a crevice several meters long on the forest floor and splitting an ancient tree into two at the end of the sh. Each step of the Hero left the ground smoking and burning from the intense strength of his aura.


    Young rolled t on his tummy, managing to dodge the sh but the ncing force of the sh almost overloaded his magic protection spells. "Goddamnit! SOME HELP DOTH?"


    Doth fired from the nks, but the effects were the same, he barely dealt any damage to the Hero, "This son of a bitch is not taking damage!"


    "Hahahaha, you dumb peasants," The Hero suddenly paused and smiled at the two men, "The first fight with your strange weapons, I have already known the secret behind them. So it is easy to counter it, as long as I encase myself with a burning aura strong enough to melt the stones thate out from your thundersticks."


    "So why don''t you stay still and die for me?" Dante gave a sunny smile at the two soldiers. He turned and look at the slumped body of Stab and sighed, "It''s hard to find good help these days and you just have to go kill the good ones."


    "Yeah, and yo mama so fat!" Doth sneered from behind the cover a tree as he reloaded. "That the monsters hide their food when they see her!"


    Young quickly took the time to scampered away to a better position, "Seriously? Trash talk at this time?"


    The aura from the Hero suddenly red up, "What did you say?" The white glow turned pale blue, and the heat from his aura dropped.


    "Well, it''s working!" Doth yelled, "Hey, farker! Yo mama so stupid that I told her she lost her mind, she went on a quest looking for it!"


    The temperature in the devastated forest dropped, and a sharp chill cut into both Doth and Young as the Hero red at them. "You speak ill of my mother?"


    "Damnit, now he''s pissed," Young rolled his eyes and he readied a spell. "Well at least, its better than seeing that fake smile."


    "YOU DARE SPEAK ILL OF MY MOTHER?!" The Hero roared and a shockwave burst out from his body, the force smashing away the remaining trees and soil, sending both the soldiers back into cover from the flying debris.


    "Fire!" Young and Doth yelled at the same time and they both leaned out from their cover and fired and threw spells at the Hero, "Lightning bolt! Magic Missile!"


    The bullets and spells mmed into the Hero causing him to step back and for a moment, Doth and Young thought they finally manage to get some damage in, but the Hero suddenly spun to the side, dodging the rest of the bullets and charged towards Doth''s position.


    "What the?" Doth yelled in fright as he saw the crazily fast speed the Hero was going, almost another level faster than before! He quickly dropped down on his back as a whitish blue beam mmed into where he was under cover. The tree exploded and he felt his tactical vest ripping apart from the force of the Hero''s passage.


    "RUN!" Young yelled as he fired at the fleeting figure of the Hero. He led his target and fired, casting smoke and sparks to erupt on the body of the Hero. "We can''t solo him! Back!"


    Young reached into his pouch and ripped out a shbang. He jerked the pin out and tossed it underhand at the path of the Hero and turned tail and ran. The sharp crunch and sudden burst of light sent the Hero screaming as his senses were all dialed up to over three times a normal person''s sensitivity.


    "Yea! Take that bitch!" Doth panted as he ran, holding on to the chest. "Goddamnit!"


    "You alright?" Young came up next to Doth and gave him an arm for support.


    "No, think that farker got me some," Doth panted, "My insides feel like shit now and the radio''s trashed."


    Young did not say anything else but just supported Doth as much as he can, as they ran deeper into the forest, leaving behind the cries and screams of pain and anger.


    -----


    Loke cursed as he dodged just in time as an arrow mmed into the spot he was against just a second ago. That damn archer is good! He quickly leaned out and lined his scope onto the moving shadow in the trees and fired.


    The archer dropped just as the bullet was about to hit her with such grace that Loke was impressed. "Damn!" Loke worked his bolt on his M1 and the two of them continued to exchange fire between each other.


    -----


    "Crazy bitch girl!" Hitsu yelled as he dived into cover for the fifth time as the area he was hiding exploded from multiple Magic Missiles strikes. "IM GONNA TO SPANK YOU!"


    He leopard crawled his way out from the tree roots and fired at the pissed looking mage girl hovering over half the destroyed terrain. "Eat lead!"


    The bullets mmed into the shield of the girl mage who yipped in pain and started to weave left and right trying to dodge his shots. Sparks and smoke trailed the crying girl mage as she tried to dodge all the bullets.


    "Hahaha! How do you like that now?" Hitsu yelled as he fired from prone and suddenly his weapon locked. He did a quick tilt check and found his bolt had jammed, most likely from over fouling in the barrel from the ck powder ammunition. "Oh... shit..."


    The girl mage stopped and red at himying in the edge of the destroyed forest. She panted and said, "You... you... evil man! Even cute little girls like me, you dare to bully?"


    "Ahahaha..." Hitsu slowly backed off, trying to find some cover. "Well, you didn''t get hurt did you?"


    "You... you... EVIL MAN!" The girl mage tear stained face cried out angrily, "I shall punish you!" She raised her staff and five magic circle started to manifest in front of her, aimed directly at Hitsu. "Magic.... Mi..."


    "Oh,e on," Hitsumented, and he quickly sprinted off to the side and dived down the slight depression of the forest floor, just as the spell waspleted.


    "...issle times... three... HUNDRED!!!!!!"


    And Hitsu hugged himself and screamed like a little girl as the world around him exploded.


    -----


    Tyrier jerked his head up as the ground suddenly shook and saw a mushroom-like cloud appearing, followed by a rumbling sound that grew louder and louder. "BRACE YOURSELVES!"


    A shockwave and dustcloud suddenly mmed into them, sending the weaker Empire soldiers and ves tumbling away. Tyrier and the rest quickly took the opportunity to dispatch away the downed soldiers. "What was that?"


    "Who''s missing?" Tyrier asked, as finally there were no more enemy soldiers that remain standing. "Where''s Loke and Hitsu?"


    "Think they were that way," Altied pointed to the west where the smoke cloud came from. "Shit."


    "Tavel, take charge of the ves and head to the rendezvous point," Tyrier quickly ordered, "Altied with me. Let''s go!"


    With that both Tyrier and Altied sprint off towards the direction of the explosion. After a short distance, they found arge fan-like portion of the forest missing, the tree trunks were blown away, leaving behind jagged remains of roots and dozens ofrge craters on the forest ground.


    "Spread out and keep alert," Tyrier ordered as they approached the center of destruction carefully.


    The only area unaffected stood the girl mage leaning against her staff, her shoulders heaving up and down as she panted. Tyrier gave a look at Altied who nodded and crept up to the unsuspecting girl and smacked the back of her neck, knocking her out easily.


    "What the hell happened here," Tyrier asked, "Where the hell is Loke and Hitsu?"


    Suddenly a crack of a piece of wood spun the men around with their weapons aimed at the direction of the sound. "Hey guys," Loke walked into the destroyednd with a figure slung over his back, "All good?"


    "You look like shit," Altiedmented as he gestured to the wound on Loke''s shoulder. A stub of broken off arrow was struck there, which Loke just dropped the body of the female archer down without any care to the ground.


    "Hurts like fark... now, where''s Hitsu?"

 Chapter 147: The Cavalry has Arrived!

    Chapter 147: The Cavalry has Arrived!


    Skies over Uncharted Forest


    "Alright! Everyone listen up!" First Lieutenant Joesph spoke over the inte linking to both Valkyries'' passenger holds. "We will be dropped into the Uncharted Forest in support of the distress call from the Hundred and First. Our objective is to find and support their mission which is to escort arge group of freed ves back to Hell''s Gate."


    "Intel has it that they are doing a fighting withdrawal with Empire forces and also the Hero and his party," Joesph announced, which the Marines started mumbling among themselves when they heard the Hero was involved.


    "I know most of you had heard of the Hero''s exploits, but this time the Hero is with the Empire side," Joesph added, "Our mission is to prevent the freed people from being captured or killed by the enemy, simple as that. There is no point thinking of why the Hero is helping the Empire or who is attacking. Just know one simple thing, that is to ensure the safety of the civilians!"


    "Sir, yes sir!" The Marines cried out.


    "Good!" Joseph grinned at the hotblooded Marines, "We will be dropping in at the nearest emergency rendezvous point and work our way towards theirst known location. Following that, Eagle Company, toon 2, 3 and 4 will be dropping in at intervals with extra supplies depending on the local situation."


    "Alright, ETA is 49 minutes to the LZ nding zone), grab some shut-eye while you can, its gonna be a long walk home!"


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, 467 km from Sawtooth Mouth Pass


    "Come on!" Young whispered to the faltering ve, reaching out and helping haul the weaken ve into a hollow in the tree. "Stay quiet," He passed out hisst bottle of water and carefully climbed his way over the tree root.


    "Boss," Young lowered himself down onto the ground, "We are running out of food and water, the survivors are all spent both physically and mentally." The food and water scavenged from the dead empire soldiers were mostly spent and the original supplies and wagons were mostly abandoned when they were attacked suddenly, while others were lost along the frantic escape.


    Tyrier looked up from Doth''s cold body and gently covered his face with a dirty cloth and sighed, "I know, we managed to keep ahead of the Hero so far, I think with our wards up, we should be able to hide from him for a while."


    "We should be roughly two to three hours away from the rendezvous point," Altied said, as he kept thepass stone back into his pocket. Regrpass does not work properly in the Uncharted forest, requiring instead the use of a pass stone'', a magic rune imprinted with a host location and it will point to the correct direction when magic is used on it.


    "Young, gather some people that still have energy, see if you can find some water source to refill our water," Tyrier ordered, "Loke, take a few men with you too, go see if you can forage some food up."


    Loke nodded, looking depressed as they couldn''t even find any traces of Hitsu at the aftermath of the battlefield. He turned silently and Young followed behind, patting his shoulder as both of them went to gather volunteers.


    Tyrier gave out a long breath and continued his task of wrapping Doth''s body up securely. During his training, they were taught never to leave a man behind, and he wasn''t going to left Doth''s body behind. Finally finishing, what remained was a shrouded body wrapped in cloth and secured tightly with vines collected from the forest.


    He looked up to see the two bound captives staring wide-eyed at him. The younger girl mage was ring at him, if ring could kill, those eyes will be stabbing him to death. She gave a muffled mmm! from her gagged mouth and struggled against the bounds that prevented her hands and legs from moving. Even her fingers were tied up to prevent her from drawing runes or magic seals.


    The other female archer or huntress was simrily bounded and gagged. But she just sat there calmly and watching everything that was happening calmly and to Tyrier, he felt that she was just waiting for the Hero toe anytime. Her belief in the Hero was very strong, that she felt it was just a matter of time only.


    Tyrier and Tavel had drawn a magic seal around the two girls, in case there was some magical tracking that the Hero can use to track them. So far, fighting the Hero has cost them two members of ymore One. Doth had suffered serious internal injuries, that even healing spells, potions nor even the super magical technology of the hooman''s could even save him, while Hitsu was MIA (missing in action) fighting the girl mage, but looking at the end results of the devastated battlefield, there was a very high chance Hitsu was dead, blown to pieces.


    Capturing two of the Hero''s party members in exchange for two deaths in the team, Tyrier clenched his fists angrily, wishing that he rather have two of his men back then having such an exchange. Now he ns to use the two girls as a hostage against the Hero. hoping to use them to force the Hero off their backs.


    He gave ast pat on improvised bodybag and left, unwilling to spend another minute more in front of the people who cause the deaths of his men.


    ----


    Uncharted Forest, Rendevous Point Red


    The tilt rotors of Valkyrie One whined loudly as the craft hovered slightly off the riverbed, the rotor wash sending sprays of ice cold water into the air as the tail ramp sshed open. "Go kick butt, dumb Ma-nees!"


    "It''s kick ass!" The Marines hollered back at the goblin who rolled his eyes dramatically behind his aviator sses. "Move move move!"


    The men of 2nd Battalion, Eagle Company, toon 1, leaped down the ramp and fanned out, forming a security cordon as the goblin rolled the crates of supplies off the bird. A mightly sshed and a digital camo coated four-legged creaturended. It looked like a crab with only four legs and two stubby arms ending with a four finger ws and a tiny round head mounted at the area while a crab will have its ''head''.


    Once all the Marines and supplied were offloaded, Greg yelled into the inte, "Chief! Dumb Ma-nees all gone! Closing door!" And he pped the big red button for the rear hatch closure. "Oooo big red buttons! Greg like much much! Hehehehehehehe!"


    The spider tank swirled its head left and right, as it absorbed information of its surroundings as it noted the departure of the Valkyries. Its body was four meters long and two meters wide, standing at a meter tall. Armor ting made from the spider ants'' shells covered all parts of its body, while wolf leather protected the joints areas. "Come here Asagi!" Private ooth aka Slow called out to the spider golem nicknamed Asagi due to the initials painted on the side of the golem, ASASG-01 which represented, Armored Support Autonomous Spider Golem.


    The spider tank, hearing its name, turned around on its legs and came trotting over and stood before Slow who patted it and it stood on the side awaiting other instructions. The ASASGs were newly created by the pair working in Ordnance. A motherboard was installed with a 512 tetra byte silicon chip with millions of lines of code as a sort of pseudo-AI was fused together with a mana stone as its brain, its veins were lines of magic formations and its heart was powered by refined Dragonite ore, while its muscles were made of stone.


    It worked autonomously but were coded to follow instructions of ranking Marines and its partner, which Slow drew the straw. He was at first confused and frightened by it but soon found it to be a faithful partner, and at times like a puppy wind wolf. The two hoomans who made it told him to think of it like a dog or puppy, as it was just ''born'' and is still learning, just as he was learning about being a Marine.


    Slow whistled to the rest of his toon and they started to carry the crates of supplies over and stack them onto the back of the spider tank, who obediently lowered its joints to allow the Marines easier ess to its back.


    "Alright! Let''s move out!" Lt Joesph ordered, once the men were ready, there were two of spiders tanks and two All Terrain Rovers, built specially for use in the forest. The men spread out as they headed into the forest with the Rovers follow in a slow pace behind while the spider tanks strolled causally along.


    -----


    Slow rolled up the long antenna of the radio set carefully to prevent it from tangling with the trees as the radio set was mounted on the side of Asagi. "Good girl, stay," He patted the side of the spider tank who seemed to enjoy it and tied the antenna up, once done, he grabbed the hang bars on the rear and stood on adder step. "Alright, let''s go!"


    The spider tank hearing hismand, started to crab its way forward, easily climbing over tree roots, while Slow hang on tightly to the slightly rough ride. They have been traveling for almost an hour, trying to raise the Hundred and First on the radio, but there was no response, so they could only continue pushing forward, hoping to get in touch with the missing team.


    Suddenly, echoes of gunfire rolled their way over to Slow''s ears, and the forest burst into a frenzy of activity as bird wyverns called out angrily from the sudden loud thunders.


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, 467 km from Sawtooth Mountain Pass


    "Go!" Tyrier yelled as the Hero suddenly appeared without any warning. His glowing body carrying his great sword shed through anything in his ways, be it trees or the ves, cutting them down without any distinction.


    "Stop him! Buy time for the rest to run!" Tyrier yelled as he dragged the two bounded girls out. "Young and Altied, take point!"


    Young nodded and help lifted the body bag up onto Altied''s shoulder and they took off with the rest of the panicking ves. Altied tossed out thest remaining few magazines before he left and Tyrier grabbed them, shoving them into his empty magazine pouches.


    "Stop!" Tyrier yelled at the Hero as he dropped the two girls and ripped off their gags, "Or they die." He drew his Glock and aimed at the two sputtering girls.


    "My Hero! Kill him!" The girl mage screamed and spat, "Evil man!"


    The Hero stopped his attacks and stood half surrounded by the remaining members of ymore One, their guns aimed at him, waiting for his responses.


    Dante looked at the two girlsid bound on the feet of the ragged looking mercenary. "Where is the girl?"


    "What girl?" Tyrier feigned ignorance, knowing full well who he was referring to, "Ani''t both of them here?" He gave a kick at the loud-mouthed girl mage, making her curse his whole line of family to his neighbors.


    "No, you know full well who I am referring to," Dante smiled charmingly, the glow of power around his body, lessened. "Leave the girl behind and you and your men and those ves can walk away." He gestured to the rest of ymore One.


    "Don''t know what you are talking about," Tyrier gave a shrug, "But if you don''t retreat, your friends here will get it."


    "Alright have it your way then," Dante tilted his head and the glow of his body grew brighter and he readied his greatsword, taking a step forward towards Tyrier.


    "If that''s the way you want to y it," Tyrier looked down at the two girls, "Sorry no offense," And he casually pointed at the girl mage and fired.


    BAAM!

 Chapter 148: Eye of the Sun

    Chapter 148: Eye of the Sun


    Liz jumped as the 5mm round punched through her calve like paper, the bullet ripping her tendons and muscles and exited out to drill into the soft wet dirt ground in a spatter of bright red blood. She stared dumbfounded at the tiny red hole where blood was starting to flow out of her wound, and slowly her mind caught up with the situation.


    She looked so shocked that Tyrier felt bad shooting her, and turned his attention back to the Hero who paused and had a curious expression on his face. "What is that artifact?" The hero asked.


    "This? None of your business," Tyrier kept his pistol trained on the two girls. "Leave and you and your party can walk away when we are in a safe distance."


    "I am really curious about those wands you have," The Hero narrowed his eyes, his normal smile no longer shown, and instead his face bore an expression of emptiness. "Well, if you don''t wish to tell me, I just force it out of you then." And he charged.


    "Keep dreaming asshole!" Tyrier knew that the Hero doesn''t care about the lives of his party and dropped the signal for the rest to fire at the Hero. Clouds of gun smoke, thunder and fire erupted in the forest as the rest fired at the Hero who swung his greatsword up, ignoring the bullet impacts.


    "FLASH OUT!" Tavel yelled a warning and tossed a shbang at the charging hero, who brought the t of his greatsword up, shielding his face from the burst of sudden light and eardrums bursting st.


    "Petty tricks! Let me show you the power of a real light!" Dante screamed as his ears rang from the after-effects of the shbang, "Hear my words, thy God of the Sun! Show the might of the Sun!" And his body burst into a blinding light that was like a mini second sun in the forest.


    "Ahh!" The men of ymore One and the two girls cried out in pain as the light re from the Hero blinded them. Loke covered his eyes with his hands and still found that he could see through his flesh to see the bones in his hand from the light of the hero!


    "Back!" Tyrier kept his eyes closed, yet a light spot stayed in his vision that almost made him tear. He followed the sounds of the screaming girls and reached down as his leg kicked a thrashing body. He reached down and grabbed the person and started to drag the kicking body along. "Grab the other one!" He yelled.


    A sudden force mmed against him and sent him flying and smashing into a tree trunk, cracking the wood. His magic shield flickered wildly as the damage taken overloaded his shield. Tyrier''s vision slowly recovered and he saw a brightly glowing figure standing before him, with a blurry long object raised up overhead. "Ahh, fark..."


    -----


    The forest in front of the advancing Marines suddenly lit up, and the Marines froze before Lt Joesph yelled, "That way! Double time! Go, go, go!"


    The Marines quickly ran through the foliage, ignoring the danger of tripping over a tree root or breaking an ankle in their mad rush to the scene.


    -----


    Dante smiled, "I just take your legs, so be good and stay there for me ok?" And just as he swung his greatsword down, someone tackled him from the side, sending both of them rolling over the undergrowth. He looked at who was it and found one of those mercenaries had wrapped his arms around him and shoved him away. He mmed his elbow down sharply at the mercenary, causing the person to give out a yell of pain and his hold loosen.


    Bunching up his knee, heshed out and send the cursed mercenary flying away, smashing through trees with bone-crunching cracks. He smiled and stood up, and felt something with his foot. He looked down and saw two dark olive green spheric objects rolling on his feet. And the ground exploded into mes and smoke.


    -----


    Tavel coughed up blood as hisid in the ruins of the tree he was stuck in, his left arm and leg dangling in a weird angle that a body shouldn''t be doing. He smiled at stuck a middle finger up weakly as the two grenades he dropped at the Hero blew up, before fading away to the darkness.


    -----


    "Tavel!" Loke yelled as he saw his teammate broken body. The twin explosions of the grenades jerked his attention back to the Hero, only to see the Hero stood there remaining almost unscathed, "Son of a bitch!" He raised his M1 and fired round after round at the Hero.


    To his surprise, he saw his rounds sending the Hero jerking back, and realized that the grenades must have deleted his magic shields or something. He keeping his fire up, emptying all shots in his rifle, and dropped his rifle to its sling and quickly drew his Glock, pumping all 30 rounds in the pistol''s magazine into the barely standing Hero.


    "Is that all?" The Hero suddenly spoke, his clothing in tatters, several bruises could be seen and his ears and nose were leaking a small trail of blood. His usual cheerful mood was gone, reced with a chilling aura, the golden glow turning bluish as he stood up and wiped the blood off his nose.


    He looked down at his mithril greatsword which had several cracks on its de, and cracked his knuckles, as he stared down at the lone man with the thunder wand in his hands. "Die!"


    He punched out, sending a shockwave that ripped the soil up and blew away the trees in its path. His opponent rolled away at thest instinct, barely dodging his attack. He threw another two punches out and charged forward, closing the distance to the madly dodging mercenary who sent several spells his way which he pped away with ease.


    Suddenly at his side, more thunder and fire rain on him, Dante nced to the side and saw the leader of the mercenaries throwing spells with his thunderstick at him, and a wave of anger grew in him. Can''t they die already?" He thought angrily. "AHHHHHHHH"


    He roared out, send out a shockwave of pure energy, that sent both the mercenaries tumbling down and the girls crying in fear. He saw the leader of the mercenaries crumbled down, coughing and vomiting blood as his magic shields were unable to tank the damage he dealt out. Dante quickly turned to thest opponent who still looked back at him with defiance in his eyes.


    "I will gorge those eyes out, pretty boy!" Dante sneered and leaped forward, each step sending him several meters forward, his right arm raised back, and his two fingers hooked back, ready to w out Loke''e eyes as he kneeled down the ground.


    "Fark you!" A voice suddenly came from behind and thunder roared, making Dante jerked as bullets impact against his back. He rolled to the side to avoid the spells and red at the neer.


    "Hitsu!" Loke cried out as he half crawled to cover, dragging his suddenly heavy rifle along. "You lucky son of a bitch is still alive!"


    "Lucky?" Dante cocked his head, "I don''t think so. For he will die soon."


    "Yeah, tell that to that crazy bitch who tried with over 500 magic missiles," Hitsuughed.


    "Liz? Baah, useless!" Dante spat out a gobble of blood from his mouth. "Enough talk, time to die!"


    "Okay!" Hitsu shrugged, "You first!" And fired his M2 at the wildly dodging Hero charging at him. "Here have a present!" He lobbed a grenade before the Hero and hopped down the tree root he was on and quickly scrambled away.


    Dante''s eyes grew wide as he recognized the olive green colored ball and he quickly swerved out of its way, as the cursed spell ignited, his already badly weaken shields catching some of the sts and flickered wilding.


    "You will pay for that!" Dante gave a curse and threw a punch through the tree where he guessed that guy was hiding, causing the tree to explode.


    "Missed me!" Hitsu cried as he ran to another tree for cover, taking a knee and popping a few shots at the Hero. "Damn, how do we stop this crazy asshole!"


    "ENOUGH!" Dante screamed, "SUN GOD BLESS ME WITH ALL YOUR POWERS! FOR SCUM DEFILE YOUR BLESSINGS AND SCORN YOUR LIGHT!"


    "GIVE ME THE STRENGTH THE SMITE ALL DARKNESS IN THE LAND! FOR ETERNAL LIGHT!"


    "EYE OF THE SUN!"


    Thend shook, the mountains rumbled as a presence as ancient as the mountains suddenly bore down on top of the Hero. A golden outline of an eye manifested over the skies and a warm glow covered thend. Danteughed as the glow recovered his wounds and mana, "ALL HAIL THE SUN GOD!"


    "Uh, that is bad, right?" Hitsu said as he cast a recovery spell on Loke, "We are so screwed..."


    "Mortals! I, Dante the Hero is the chosen of the Sun God! I have lived for over 200 years!" Dante half floated in the air as power from the divinity filled his body. "Be proud that this is the second time, I used this spell on a mortal, and I will wipe you out, and I will find the girl and kill her and you can''t stop me!"


    "ONE ROUND AWAY!" A sudden loud crack and a wooooosh screamed out, and a Dante was suddenly covered in an explosion. Loke and Hitsu turned in surprise and suddenly saw dozens of camouged figures emerging from the undergrowth, andughed madly to themselves. The Marines hase!


    -----


    "Hit that wisecracking ass hole again!" Lt Joesphmanded, "All RPG-1 teams to mark target!"


    And the RPG-1 tottling teams shouldered the bazookas and waited till the smoke cleared, exposing an indignant Hero who was coughing and waving away the at the smoke. "ONE ROUND AWAY!"


    And the RPG st rocked the forest, followed by another and another. The glowing manifestation of the Eye of the Sun slowly diminished and disappeared as the Hero was hit by at least seven bazookas.


    "ENOUGH!" The Hero Dante roared, sending a shockwave out, and sent most of the nearby Marines flying away from the force of his powers. "I AM A GOD!" Only to be answered with another rocket in his face, sending him tumbling down. "Noo!"


    Dante felt his powers reclining and he looked up and found the spell he cast had disappeared, "How could divine powers be matched by ants!?" He gathered all his energy into his right fist and punched out, sending a golden beam of energy directly at a team of strange clothed soldiers who confounded his eyes as they seemed to blend in and out of the forest.


    "You will not defeat me!" He raised his hands to gather energy again. "I WILL CRUSH YOU ALL LIKE ANTS!"


    "Hit it with the MGs!" Lt Joesph ordered next, and the gunners armed with the new MG-1 Magebreakers fired up, sending lines of tracers at the madly dodging Hero, "HIT IT WITH EVERYTHING! Kill that son of a bitch!"


    "HORAAH!" The Marines let it rip, rifles, machine guns, and even an asional RPG mmed at the frantic looking Hero. Sparks and smoke erupted all around the Hero, the force of the concentrated barrage of four machine guns, and at least 20 rifles, forced him to be able to focus on defending only.


    Dante growled as the strange thunder spells were seriously draining his recovered magic, his previously recovered wounds started to hurt again and those strange but deadly powerful spells had further weakened his body and magic a lot. "STOP THIS NONSENSE! I AM A GOD!"


    "Orcs smash god!" Private ooth had braced his MG-1 at on the head of Asagi, the spider tank and fired in a controlled burst, guiding his tracers into the path of the retreating Hero. "Wahahahahaaa!"


    "Run you puny god! Run!"

 Chapter 149: The Long Walk Home

    Chapter 149: The Long Walk Home


    "Cease fire! Cease fire!" Lt Joesph yelled as the Hero retreated from sight, "Check your weapons! Medics! Get to work! We got wounded here!" He quickly directed the men into action, "Section Three and Four set up a defensive perimeter! Here and here! Sergeants! Take charge of your men! Move!"


    Lt Joesph walked up to the two operators that were in a sorry state but still standing ymore One members. "Report soldier!"


    Hitsu and Loke both straightened up and replied, "Sir! Specialist Corporal Hitsu and Specialist Private Loke reporting Sir!"


    "What happened, son?" Lt Joesph gestured them to sit down as medics arrived to check on their wounds, "Take it easy, and tell me what happened."


    Loke and Hitsu then gave out their own ounts of the situation from the time they left the town to till just now''s fight. By the time their story was told, the rest of the heavily injured members were all stabilized and strapped onto stretchers, waiting to be transported.


    "Damn, that was a hell of a fight!" Lt Joesph said, nodding in admiration of their capabilities. "Alright, get some ammo, food, and water, we will move out and head to the rendezvous point and hopefully round up all those that were scattered."


    Lt Joesph stood up and nced around the destroyednd, an artificial clearing roughly the size of a small marshaling field with stumps of broken trees and roots sticking out from the gorged out soil, andrge pieces of wet wood littering everywhere that gave off a sweet and sickly smelling sap.


    He looked at his toon Seargent who wordless handed him a note and read the contents. "Seven wounded, One critical from toon 4. ymore One has two walking wounded, the team leader and one more in critical condition. And we have two prisoners, both slightly shaken up, one of them had a gunshot wound in the leg but she will survive." Lt Joesph raised his eyebrows as his Seargent gave his report.


    "Secure the prisoners," Lt Joesph said, "Give them all the courtesy but if they try anything funny, shoot them."


    "NCOs (Nonmissioned officers) gather up!" Lt Joesph yelled, pping his gloved hands together. Soon all the Sergeants arrived before him, and he said, "We will move out in 10 minutes, prepare your men to move. I want section 4 at the rear covering our asses! We do not know if the Hero wille back for round two, so tell your boys to keep their eyes and ears open, their mouths and asses shut tight!"


    "Yes sir!" The NCOs chorused, grinning at the prospect of kicking the Hero''s ass again if hees back for round two."


    "Ensure your men have adequate ammo, water, and food," Lt Joesph continued, "I did not bring along the supplies on the ASASGs just to look pretty out here, I expect them to be used up! Now before the fight, we had encountered some of the freed ves, and we pointed them to the general direction of where to meet upter. Section 2 and 3 will do a sweeping patrol back to the rendezvous point, and keep your eyes out for any stragglers. Section 1, will transport the wounded. Questions? No?"


    "Okay, get to work people! We got a long walk home!"


    -----


    Dante scrambled madly through the forest, ignoring the ps of low hanging branches and suddenly appeared before a small river stream. He sshed into the icy cold water and the cold shook him awake from his flight and he stood there heaving in waist deep water, the river washing away the blood and mud from his body.


    "AHHHH!" He mmed both his clenched fists down on the flowing water, causing two massive spouts of water to surge up. "Ants... dare to wound me?"


    He let the falling spray of water wash over him and he dunked his head into the river for a short while before standing up again, and on his face was his usual smile, "Now I know why The Rock requested me toe here."


    He turned back to look at where he ran out from, and his smile grew wider, "I will be back, and this time, I will crush you ants." And he vanished without a trace from the river.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Situation on the ground now?" Captain ke asked as he settled into his chair, epting a steaming mug of local tea from an aide.


    Commander Ford turned around from the tactical plot table and replied, "Situation resolved, but unknown if the Hero will attempt a second attack."


    ke nodded and looked up at the UAV feed hovering over the area of operations. "Damn, they destroyed an area of a football field in the forest?"


    "Yes, sir, but it is mostly done by the Hero himself only," Ford exined, "Also watch this," He switched the view to where the manifestation of divine power was recorded.


    "What the hell?" ke sat up in his chair as he looked at the golden eye in the sky. "What do we know about this?"


    "Sadly, nothing," Ford replied, "Magister Thorn hasn''t seen anything like that before and his exnation is that power is highly likely to do with the divinity in the Hero''s possession."


    "We tried all matters of spectrum analysis on it, and it showed up in every sensor we have out there, infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, gamma," Ford continued, "Dr. Sharon appeared to be going crazy in herb over this."


    "She reports a dense amount of radiation was given off, but it did not belong to any of the three main types we know of," Ford said, "Not alpha, beta or gamma."


    "But one thing we do know is that the Hero''s radiation spiked and all the radiation is given off were like attracted to him like a ma," Ford switched an image, showing a ck an white image, a massive orange-red blob over the ''Eye'' and the colorful blob was connected to the Hero at the bottom of the image. The Hero was disyed as an ink blob of orange and red in the picture.


    "Dr. Sharon suggested that divinity powers or even magic powers are a form of radiation. Just what kind, how, why, or even the dangers of long-term exposure are all nks at this point in time still." Ford said. "She is suggesting that if we can fine-tune our instruments to detect this unknown kind of radiation, we can use it to detect magic."


    ke nodded, "Do it, and tell Sharon to take a break,tely she doesn''t seem to be herself, I do not want to order her toy off her work, god knows how important it is, but she needs to pace herself and not overwork, we need her healthy and in one piece."


    "Yes, sir," Ford nodded, "I will pass on your word."


    "Good, what''s the extraction n for our forces on the ground?" ke asked.


    Ford switched the view to an overhead map and traced several lines. "They will march from this point all the way back."


    "Why not have the Valkyries airlift them back?" ke asked.


    "We do not have the capacity for all that," Ford replied, "Each trip can take the most 60 people, and will require at least three hours before the next dust off. This will make thest two groups remaining on the ground highly vulnerable to attacks from monsters or the Hero."


    "I see," ke closed his eyes, "Make sure all avable support is given to them. It''s a long walk home..."


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, Rendevous Point Red


    The tired ves cried out in desperate fear and anger, as three massive owlbears stood before them and charged. They mmed into the single line of ves who were armed with looted swords and shields of the Empire soldiers and a frenzied melee broke out.


    Young''s rifle and his pistol had long ran out of ammo, and he could only stab out with the bay attached rifle, scoring a thin gash on the nk of the bear-like creature.


    Towering over three meters when on its hind legs, the owlbear had a head and face of an owl, and a body of a bear, with feathers growing out at certain parts of its front limbs. Its ws were tipped with 6" long razor-sharp talons, that can rip a man apart into two with a single swipe of its ws.


    The desperate ves could only stand and fight as they no longer had any strength to run, and running will only result in the owlbears hunting them down behind. "Shit! They must have smelled the scent of blood from our bodies!" Altied yelled as he fired hisst remaining pistol magazine at the nearest owlbear, blowing out chunks of meat and hair from its chest. "FARK! I''m out!"


    Young eyed the river at a short distance away, seeing a small mound of stones set in a pre-arranged manner. He knew that the Marines hadnded and they had buried a small cache of supplies there. But the issue now is the remaining three owlbears blocking their way.


    "Use your spells!" Young yelled as he summoned up his remaining mana reserves, barely drawing out a two circle magic spell and flung the lightning bolt at a charging owlbear who was cutting down the weaker ves.


    "My magic is as dry as your tits!" Altied yelled back as he rammed his bay into the back of an owlbear. The owlbear roared as the bay stabbed through its thick hide, and it spun around, sending Altied flying back, screaming. It reared up on its hind legs and hovered over the stunned soldier, ready to turn Altied into bloody meat paste.


    Suddenly, a white shaped bird darted down and shed at the face of the owlbear, sending it into a maddened frenzy. The white bird constantly harassed the face of the owlbear, make it retreat and trying to w the bird down.


    "Quickly run!" A girl''s voice came from behind and Young and Altied turned and saw a white-haired cat girl carrying someone on her back gesturing them from behind a tree.


    "We can''t!" Young bitterly yelled back, "This is where we need to wait for the rest toe!"


    "You want to die here?" Kaga angrily yelled back, "My magic won''tst long! I don''t the proper materials to make any proper talismans!''


    "No shit," Altied said as he watched the owlbear take swipes at the paper bird. "If we run, they are gonna hunt us down, and running just makes you die tired."


    "Can you make more of those things?" Young asked, "We need like, five.. no three minutes!"


    "I don''t have the materials!" Kaga yelled, wondering why this two would want to keep fighting, "I need parchments!"


    "Will this do?" Young tossed out his slightly sweat soaked soggy notepad. "Its a bit wet but its paper."


    "Paper?" Kaga looked at the almost perfect white rectangle notepad. "Yes... I think so!"


    She quickly put the still unconscious Billy against the tree trunk and bit her own forefinger, breaking the skin and blood soon flowed out and she started to scribble some weird runes on the paper.


    Young and Altied looked at each other and gave a shrug, unable to understand her magic. "Okay, once her spells distract the three owlbears, we go for the buried supplies. Clear?"


    Altied looked over at where Young was pointing and gauged the distance, "about a hundred meters sprint, and to dig, three minutes? I think we need five!"


    "Just do it!" Young said, "Come on," He gripped his empty rifle and charged out, angling towards the buried cache. The remaining ves were still valiantly fighting off the owlbears who had smelled blood and were hungry for the juicy flesh running around in front of them.


    "Done!" Kaga yelled only to look up to find both of the soldiers missing. "What? Wait! Arghh!"


    She saw the two had already run up to the owlbears without waiting for her. She quickly held the three pieces of makeshift talismans and chanted, imbuing her spirit power into the pieces of paper and she tossed them out sharply.


    "GO!"

 Chapter 150: Chocolate

    Chapter 150: Chocte


    Three pieces of talisman burst into pale blue mes as they left Kaga''s hand, and three white paper eagles dart out, each arrowing towards an owlbear. The paper eagles sharp edges drew paper-thin cuts on the faces and arms of the owlbears as they tried to block and swipe the flying inanimate eagles buzzing around them.


    The ves gave a tired cheer as they say the Owlbears were distracted by the paper eagles and quickly regroup and recover their strength. "Now! Let''s go!" Young yelled as he saw the owlbears ignoring them.


    Both Young and Altied dash past the owlbears, to the puzzlement of the ves as they headed towards a small mound of stones near the river. Altied sprinted and slid to a halt on his knees directly next to the stones and quickly swept them away, his gloved hands started to dig at the loose soil together with Young.


    One of the owlbears growled and with a lucky swipe, it managed to tear one of the paper eagles to shreds and its eyes glowing red with anger,nded on all fours and charged at the nearest creatures, which were the two ymore One members.


    "Oh shit! Here ites!" Altied yelled in panic as he frantically, shoved arge handful of dirt away, "Which mother farker buried the cache so deep!"


    Suddenly another paper eagle shed across the path of the owlbear, its razor-sharp wings giving a paper cut at the left eye of the owlbear, slicing its pupils open and a clear fluid mixed with blood burst out. The owlbear screamed in pain and anger, blinded in one eye, it trashed madly, churning up the ground around it as it hammered and shed its powerful ws wildly in pain.


    "God bless that cat girl!" Young barely paused in his actions of shoving dirt, as he looked at the crazed owlbear just meters away, his stomach feeling like it had dropped somewhere as fear threatened to overwhelm him.


    Just as this time, Altied''s hand mmed on to something hard in the soil and he quickly swept the soil and dirt away, revealing an olive green wooden surface. "Got it! Quick, here!"


    Digging up the edges of the crate, both of them tugged the long crate out and quickly opened it, revealing a couple of still factory fresh and greasy M1 Magelocks and cardboard boxes of ammunition covered in grease paper.


    Ripping away the grease paper covering, the hooman''s wording ''6.5 x 75 mm - 50 Cartridges'' could be seen printed on the side of the boxes of ammunition. They quickly tore the packaging away, and a started shoving the loose 6.5 mm rounds into the new rifles from the crates.


    The owlbears had destroyed all the paper eagles by this time, and Kaga had run out of endurance, barely able to channel more of her spirit power into the talismans she was trying to draw. The ves barely had recovered back a bit of breath, now faced two greatly pissed off owlbears covered in paper cuts.


    Thest half blinded owlbear''s remaining eye gleamed with rage as it eyed the two two-legs and roared, ignoring the paper eagle as it decided to vent all its pent-up rage at the nearest thing it could kill. It roared again and its ws digging furrows into the soil as it bounced towards them.


    "Here ites!" Altied yelled, his fingers shaking slightly as he pressed down another 6.5 mm cartridge into the open chamber of the M1 Magelock. "Ahhh!"


    "You shoot! I load!" Young yelled back, as he looked up at the looming owlbear charging at them at a pace that ate up the very short distance between them. The owlbear''s wide beak opened up in a permanent growl as it ran on all fours, nning to use its beak to rend them to pieces.


    Altied swiftly raised his half reloaded rifle and mmed the bolt forward in one deft move, and fired. The thunderous bark of the rifle and a dense dirty cloud of gunsmoke erupted out from the muzzle of the Magelock, the rifle butt mmed painfully into his already bruised shoulder feltforting to him. He deftly worked the bolt, and fired again, not waiting for the gunsmoke to clear, as the huge shadowy figure loomed up in front of him, barely needing him to aim.


    "Ahhhh!" Young scrambled out of the way of the crashing owlbear, spilling loose cartridges all over the ground, as the owlbear''s limbs suddenly lost all strength and tumbled forward, its momentum carrying it forward directly at where Young was a moment ago. "That thing nearly crushed me to death!"


    Young gave a cursed and yelled at Altied, "Here catch!" He tossed the fully loaded rifle over to Altied who caught it one-handed and tossed back the other rifle which Young grabbed and started to reload using the spilled ammo on the ground.


    Altied went on a half crouch and started firing at the other owlbears, "Its bear season now!"


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, Rendevous Point Red


    Lt Joesph stepped out from the darkening forest and the first thing that greeted him was a small bonfire where arge group of ragged looking ves has gathered around and roasting meat. He shook his head and turned to look at the advance party, who gave a helpless shrug, "We found them just like that too, Sir!"


    "Well, whatever," Lt Joesph sighed, "Signal the rest to join us, and do a roll call."


    "Yes, Sir!" The advance party replied and headed back into the forest.


    "Sir?" Lt Joesph turned and saw two banged up looking individuals wearing leather armor with a tactical vest over it. "Specialist Young and Altied reporting, Sir!"


    "What''s this? A pic?" Lt Joesph raised an eyebrow at the two soldiers.


    "No, Sir!" Young reported, "We were attacked by owlbears, Sir! And the people had nothing to eat since yesterday, and the meat will just spoil if we just left it there..."


    "At ease, soldier," Lt Joesph suddenly gave a grin. "I was joking, but is the area secured?"


    "We did the best we could to mask the area with non-detection magic," Altied said, "But it might not work with the Hero since they found us thest time."


    "We have few of the ves walking the perimeter," Young added.


    "Pfft," Lt Joesph snorted, "My Marines sneaked past them, and they didn''t notice us till they announced their arrival."


    Both Young and Altied just shrugged, "It''s the best we could do with what we have, sir."


    "For that, good work," Lt Joesph admitted, "Alright the rest of the men, and your guys will be joining us soon. Any more meat left?"


    -----


    Kaga sat with her back against a tree holding a steaming piece of meat and watched the strange and simrly clothed men with paint over their faces, wondering where did these group of barbarianse from. The mercenaries that protected them were acting very friendly to these barbarians and even seemed to defer to one of them, wearing a sort of dark blue hat, that looked like a tten slime on his head.


    She also saw the leader of the mercenaries being carried in, his face pale and breathingboriously. She wondered if he will be able to survive the travel through the forest. What had happened when they stayed behind to fight the Hero and the pursuing soldiers, she wondered.


    Kaga bit into the cooled meat and oil and juices dripped out, filling her mouth with a strong gamey taste. She quickly swallowed the meat, not knowing when will they have another chance to eat.


    "Hello," Kaga startled as suddenly someone spoke to her. She looked up from her half-eaten meat and saw the leader of the barbarians standing in front of her. She quickly got up and was able to give a greeting bow, and was stopped by the barbarian. "Rx, continuing eating, I just want to ask some questions."


    Kaga nodded timidly, taking the opportunity to observe the barbarian in front of her. She noticed that his clothes appeared to be finely made, the color and patterns that seemed to turn them invisible to the eye in the forest, upon seeing the material closer, she realized that they just made out of perfect little boxes and long boxes!


    Even the strange belt, with its many pouches, the material and workmanship was amazing, and suddenly the realization hit her, she saw the same gear worn by the mercenaries! And also, almost all the barbarians were equipped with the same items! Who in the spirit world was so rich to be able to make perfectly simr equipment of such scale and quality?


    The barbarian gave a pearly white smile, giving a sharp contrast to his dark painted face, making him look like some sort of living nt with a smile, sending shivers down Kaga''s spine.


    "First of all, I want to thank you for helping them with your powers," Lt Joesph jerked a thumb towards the ymore One members sleeping at one of the campfires. "My name is Joesph Tokin, I am a Lieutenant, in charge of this merry band of misfits."


    Kaga nodded, "I was just doing what must be done at that time only..." She nibbled her meat nervously, her ears ttened on her head.


    "Haha, don''t be so nervous," Joesph said as he sat down before the girl, removing his beret and took out his water bottle and started to wash his face paint off.


    Kaga gave a poke at the slime hat, wondering who would wear something like that but found the texture of the hat was actually some kind of cloth. She quickly tucked her hands away when Joesph wiped his face clean with a cloth. She then realized that Joesph was actually older than she assumed at first, as a weather hardened face soon appeared behind the cleaned war paint.


    "Now, where was I," Lt Joesph kept the towel and water bottle away, "Ahh, yes, your powers."


    "If I am correct, you should be a priestess of the Beast n, yes?" Joseph asked.


    Kaga nodded again, wondering what he wanted to know.


    "Well, it''s very rare to find a priestess of the Beast n," Joseph continued, "May I know your name?"


    "Kaga..." She replied after some consideration, "Tosa..."


    "Ms. Kaga, if you don''t mind, can you share how you came to be... a ve?" Joseph asked. "I know that priestess in the Beast ns are considered leaders and elders and are quite respected in theirmunities."


    Kaga nodded, she uses her powers had already attracted a few of the beast kin ves who had earlier came and paid their respects to her already, treating her like royalty. "The capital had fell..."


    "What?" Joseph looked shocked, "You mean the Beast City had fallen to the Empire? When and how? I remembered that the Beast City has a guardian that is able to raise a city protection spell!"


    "Ahh..." Kaga looked down, guilty feelings resurfacing as she remembered how she failed her people trust in protecting the city. "It... fell... three or four months ago... I don''t remember the exact timing..." Her ears drooped sadly over her silver-white hair, her tailid lifelessly and tears started to form at the edges of her eyes.


    "I... see..." Joseph noticing her distress, quickly changed the subject. "You earlier efforts today had saved everyone here." He dug into his pouches and removed a piece of chocte and offered it to her.


    "Eat it," Joseph said, "Don''t think of the past, we live now and for the future."


    Kaga took the offered item and pondered awhile before unwrapping the chocte and gave a lick, before turning away and nibbling at it furiously.


    Joseph gave a relieved sigh as he watched Kaga''s actions, that piece of chocte was given to him by the Princess when he departed for this mission and he knew it was her favorite hooman food ever since she had some during the first meeting with the hoomans.


    "What is it with girls and chocte?"

 Chapter 151: Far Harbor

    Chapter 151: Far Harbor


    South of Seacliff Mining Complex, Goblin Coast


    Two jeeps rumbled down the grasnd, following a path made by worn down by dozens of vehicr traffic over the week. Captain ke sat on the rear seat, facing a rosy-cheeked Princess Sherene who had her face to the wind, her eyes half closed in bliss as she enjoyed the ride in the uncovered top jeep.


    ke had to admit that the view in the grasnd around them was beautiful in a wild untamed way. With the mountains as the backdrop, the ever blue forest in the distance and the majestic ocean spreading across their view, surrounded by gently waving stalks of yellow grass. This was something rare to see on Earth these days, only in frontier or rim worlds could such a wild beauty be seen.


    The Jeep rolled up a small grass dune and they saw a sprawlingplex under construction in the distance. As the vehicles drove closer, details start to appear, trucks with construction materials were being unloaded, cement was being poured, and cranes looming over the water were dangling massive concrete supports into the sea as the skeleton of a deep water pier was being constructed.


    Teams of security personnel patrolled the perimeter next to freshly elected steel fences while other construction went on. Storage sheds, hangers, fuel bunkers, housing, offices and even helipads were all in the process of being built. Sherene eyed all the ongoing with a sparkle in her eyes, turning to ke andmenting loudly over the wind, "Your hooman ''tech-no-logee'' is still amazing even after seeing it again and again."


    "If it was the old us trying to build a harbor city here, it would take many years and tens and thousands of workers to build, yet all these took only weeks to beid out." She shouted over the roaring wind.


    "It will still take some months before the harbor is fully constructed," ke yelled back, "But as long as the pier is ready, we can start using it first to meet the ship that the Isles is sending over in a couple of weeks time!"


    Sherene nodded, her pinkish hair tied in a long ponytail, whipping in the wind. "And what are those?" She pointed to a huge rectangr area that had been dug up, easily the size of a ser ball field that was in the City where the hoomans had her people going crazy over the game called ''ser''.


    "Those will be the dry docks for ships to be constructed in the future," ke replied, "Provided R&Des out with a workable hull."


    The jeeps were waved through a heavily fortified checkpoint where teams of security in ck-d leather armor with shotguns, rifles, and bay swords manned the bunkers. The jeeps drove on, passing by pallets and pallets of construction materials and finally rolled to a stop before the inner gate to the single almostpleted pier.


    Sherene took the offered hand of ke and hopped down, she was dressed in a white blouse made from muffalo fur and tucked into a pair of khaki trousers and ending in a pair of ckbat boots which would be scandalous to the courtdies in the old days. She looked up at a towering crane where it creaked as it hoisted a massive block of prefabricated concrete piece swinging it over their heads and hovered over teams of workers wearing yellow helmets and bright orange jackets.


    The seeming weak looking arms of the crane were reinforced with strengthening magic runes and tethered to the ground with Earth magic, to prevent the crane from toppling over from the massive blocks of concrete weight over several tons.


    The crane lowered the block gently into the arms of the workers who maneuvered it into position like a piece of a puzzle, fitting it perfectly into ce and the men like ants, started to remove the cables tied to the block rapidly. A potty looking human wearing a white hard hat came jogging over as Sherene and ke watched the ongoing work with their escorts.


    "Captain! Princess!" Petty Officer Letts waved as he stopped before them and wiped the sweat off his safety helmet. "Gods, Captain, stop throwing me projects! The mining facilities are already taking up all my time already!"


    ke grinned and shook Letts hand, "Well, who asked you to be the boss of a constructionpany before getting drafted?"


    "Yea, but a man needs some time off and not having impossible construction projects one on top of another!" Lettsined good-heartedly. "Well, enough of whining, wee to Far Harbor!"


    -----


    Falledge, Town Garrison


    Dante lounged leisurely over a pillow filled chair, with his mud-stained boots hitched over the glossy wooden table. The Garrison Commander face was pale with a forced smile as he grimaced inwardly as mud had stained onto the rich dark wood of his table. "Sir Hero... Let me get this straight. You want me to muster all avable fighting men of the garrison to go after some runaway ves and rebels?"


    Dante nodded cheerfully, taking a swirl of a goblet of purple wine. "Yes, all your men and dragons."


    "Wait, before we go into that," The Commander asked, "What happened to the two hundred soldiers and one hundred dragon cavalry I dispatched to your aid under your party member?"


    "Dead?" Dante gave a nonchnt shrug, "The rebels are pretty strong."


    "What? Three hundred soldiers all dead?" The blushy mustache of the Garrison Commander twitched in agitation. "Care to exin it?" The Commander''s grey eyes narrowed in suppressed angry at the attitude of the Hero.


    "Well, we ambushed them as they were about to set up camp," Dante exined, ignoring the re thrown to him by the Commander, "But turns out that the small number of rebels were more than enough to fight off three hundred of your... soldiers..." Dante gave another shrug as he returned the Commander''s re with a smile.


    A nerve twitched from the forehead of the Commander as he caught Dante''s hidden meaning, that his troops were weak and it''s their fault that they died. He suppressed the anger boiling inside. "What about the town? You destroy half of it just the other night and injured many civilians and the town''s watchmen!"


    "Oh, that wasn''t really my fault," Dante shed a smile, "I was flushing the rebels out, and those people just did not move away fast enough. But don''t worry, their souls will be taken good care of by the Sun God!"


    The Commander mmed both his clenched fisted on his table in fury, "That is not eptable! You wantonly killed people and ran amok in the town and also wasted three hundred of his Majesty soldiers! You will not have a single more soldier from me to go on some wild goose chase!"


    "Oh, you sure?" Dante did not even bat an eyebrow at the disy of aggression from the Commander, "I do have the Letter from the Rock that you are to grant me all demands and requests that I make, you know?"


    "I will take it up with the Emperor, but no! I will not move the troops on your word," The Commander firmly stated his stance, "Get out of my office now! You are not wee, and you can be certain the Emperor will hear the word of this!"


    "Oh, sure..." Dante stood up and turned to the door, "That is a nice sword..."


    He gestured at a pair of crossed swords over a shield with a motif of a griffin hang on the side of the wall. He turned and smiled at the Commander who had his guard up and winked, before with a speed faster than the eye could follow, he snatched one of the swords off the wall and shed horizontally at the barely reacting Commander.


    "Nah, my bad, this sword is actually a piece of junk," Dante gave a flick of his finger against the de of the sword which made it rang and he tossed it away to the side and opened the door of the office.


    "Hey you," He called one of the guards stationed outside, "Who is the next in charge after the Commander?"


    The guard was surprised at the question and bbed something out, which Dante just shrugged it away, "Call him here now, it''s urgent."


    "Eh..." The guards looked at each other in confusion, wondering what is going on.


    "Come on hurry up!" Dante gave a p, and finally, one of the guards nodded and ran off, his armor nging loudly down the stone hall.


    "Good boy!" And Dante returned into the room, closing the door behind and sat back at the pillow lined chair, and gave a toast to the headless Commander still seated in his chair. "Cheers!"


    -----


    Goblin Coast, Far Harbor


    "We used prefabrication techniques here," Letts exined as he led the Captain and the Princess on a tour through the harbor. "Basically we model out how we what the buildings and structures to look like in a 3D software, and we built it out in pieces, like a puzzle before putting them together."


    He gestured to an open area where massive blocks of various shapes wereid out in the sun, "Those are all part of the pier that is currently going up. The workers just have to follow the numbers of the parts and put them together, really simple!"


    Sherene made an impressed sound, "So you mean you just made these ''pre-fa-bee-cake-tion'' here and then put them togetherter?"


    "Yes," Letts grinned at the pronunciation, "It cuts down the workload and vastly speeds up the construction time." He pointed out to the pier, "We don''t even need to hammer the supports into the seabed, we just stack tons and tons of concrete into the sea as the foundation, short of a tsunami, or a god''s power, those concrete blocks won''t even move. And to top it off, all of the blocks have anti-corrosion runes installed into them, so weathering from the waves will be drastically reduced at the same time!"


    "Very nice!" ke nodded, just as impressed as Sherene was with the speed and way of constructing the harbor. "What''s the timeline like?"


    "If the weather holds for the next week," Letts replied with a small frown, "We can finish casting all the major blocks for the pier and it will take another week to finish up installing all. Say two and a half weeks tops for the pier tomerce operations."


    "For the rest of the harbor, I said, end of summer, at least three months for all necessities to be installed, and another two months to go into full operations," Letts said.


    ke nodded, "How about the construction slips? When can we start ship constructions?"


    "Well, I still say three months minimum, at least," Letts replied, "But we did set up a workshop down the pier for prototyping the new wet water vessels you wanted. It should be sufficient for your needs now, as long as it''s not a mass production or anythingrger than a Corvette. Your team can start work on it in about a week."


    ke nodded, "I will transfer the R and D team and work crew over in a week''s time then. Housing?"


    "Very basic quarters, but there are hot showers and flush toilets, all sr and wind powered until we can get the new Dragonite powernts installed," Lett reported.


    "Survey teams are also mapping out the terrain from here to Seacliff Mining Complex, once most of the work here is done, we can start the next phase of construction," Letts added, "A rail line from here linking to the Mining Complex and back to the Colony."


    "In the meantime, a superhighway is the only other means of transportation to Far Harbor from the Mines," Letts said.


    ke nodded, "In the future, all our manufactories and refining industries will be all sited down the south, while the agricultural industries will be along the northern quarter of the Colony." He disclosed part of his ns to Sherene who nodded.


    "Alright, Letts, make sure Far Harbor is enough to be up and running within two weeks time," ke said. "We have guests from afaring soon..."

 Chapter 152: Wings of War

    Chapter 152: Wings of War


    The Isles, Anchor Ind Fleet Docks


    The creaking of wooden nks and cries of sea wyverns were mixed together with the chorus and mor of voices and raucous yells of sailors and porters as the ships in the Fleet Docks were being loaded up with supplies and being prepared for sea, making the whole Port busy and bustling.


    Wagons carrying supplies of grounded up flour, and barrels of salted meat were unloaded by porters who carried the cargo down the slippery and wet wooden nks of the docks nimbly, while coopers at the dock workshopsbored to make barrels and casks to store water and rations.


    Dozens and dozens of long boatsdened with supplies were rowed out further into the sea, where other three-masted ships were anchored, transferring supplies onboard. Crews onboard the ships spent their time, manning the pumps, coating and painting the wood hull and making repairs to areas were rot had seeped into the nks. Rigging was being coated with tar and spliced and reced as the crew ensured that the rigging was all ship shape.


    Others patched and reced the sails while cabin boys polished brass fixtures and chipped away at rusted iron parts and painting them over. The decks were swabbed and cleaned and supplies were tallied and carefully stored into the ships'' holds. The deck and under deck ballistas were checked and the iron-tipped bolts were polished and painted while the mechanisms of the ballistas were oiled carefully.


    Third Fleet Master Dijon stood next to a pair of heavy ballistas that were sited facing the entrance into the Fleet Docks of Anchor Ind, his sea dragon leather boot braced on top of one of the stone battlements as he observed the bustling scene from the stone fort protecting the anchorage.


    "Fleet Master," A white coated sailor with lesser braiding on his coat stood respectfully several steps behind Dijon, and in his arms held a silver tray with several scrolls stacked neatly tied with different colored ribbons, "The daily fleet report is here."


    Dijon watched the activity going on down in the harbor for a while more before stepping down and picking up the topmost scroll. His gold braided long coat pped in the wind as he slung it over his shoulders while wearing a dark blue pea coat with a white cravat and loose white pants and high boots. He unfurled the scroll after ripping off the red ribbon and quickly nced through the report and snorted.


    "The Fearless, Outrunner, and Ironwill had sprung a leak?" He tossed the scroll back onto the pile, "They need three days to fix those leaks? Those idiots, I should remove their captains for not properly maintaining their ships!"


    "Fleet Master, it will not be wise to change the captains with the date of departure so soon," His aide advised, "If we reallocate the other ship carpenters over to help out, we canplete repairs faster and still be within the schedule to depart."


    "Do it," Dijon growled and gave a dismissal nce at the remaining reports, "Give a summarized rundown of the rest of the reports." He turned back to watch the ongoing fleet preparations.


    "Ship of the line, Boar, Talon, and your gship Fury, all reports their ships are ship shape and ready to sail once supplies have all being loaded," The aide summarized as he read the reports. "They estimate to be ready within the day."


    "Escorts Falcon, Justice, Striker, and Dauntless reports the same, ready to sail once supplies are loaded," The aide continued. "Other than the three escorts ships reported a leak, the transport Fastwind is also awaiting supplies."


    "All ship''s Captains have reported that the chandlers supplying food and water to the ships appeared to be dragging their feet," The aide rerolled thest scroll, and tying it up with a blue ribbon. "Supplies were supposed to be delivered were eitherte orcking in quantity or quality."


    "What?" Dijon turned his head, "Light a fire under the quartermasters, make sure the chandlers are not shortchanging us!"


    "My Lord, the chandlers appeared to be prioritizing the merchants'' ships first," The aide raised his eyebrow as he gave a word of warning.


    "To the thirteen hells with the merchants, Fleetes first!" Dijon spun around and red angrily, "They know better than to push this point! Send the quartermasters with armed sailors, and see what those chandlers have to say!"


    "Yes, my Lord," His aide bowed, "I will advise the men to put in a few good words and it should ease the problems of the supplies."


    "Good!" Dijon grinned, "Show those money loving grubbers what it means to y the fool with me!"


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Airbase, Dragon Pen One


    Blue Thunder stretched his serpentine body out, his hindquarters pointed towards the sky with his tail erect like how a dog stretched its back. As several loud bone poppings cracks could be heard. "Ahhh..." He ended the stretch with arge yawn, showing off his impressive array of sword length teeth.


    "E," The ground crew coughed, "Blue, you need to properly wash your mouth and brush your teeth! It stinks like a cesspool!"


    Blue Thunder gave a toothed grinned and a wink, "Will you do the honors for me?"


    "Hell no!" The ground crew wearing a yellow jacket backed off, shaking his head. "Your teeth are gonna decay if you not gonna do anything about it at the rate you eat those sugary snacks!"


    "Hehehe," Blue Thunder justughed, "Snacks yummy! Especially fried potatoes with ketchup and cheeeeeze!"


    "Yeah, yeah, ok now hold still!" The yellow jacket ground crew stood in front of him and raised both arms holding a light wand in each hand. "Alright, bring it up!" He yelled and waved the light wands.


    Blue Thunderid still with his limbs folded underneath his body and closed his eyes as a loading crane hovered over his back and lowered pallets of equipment and supplies down onto his back, and a small team of yellow jackets started to swarm over his harness and started to secure the items onto his back.


    "All good?" The ground crew officer yelled at the rest who raised a thumbs up from their positions and scrambled off Blue Thunder''s back after releasing the cables to the crane. The ground crew officer pointed his light wand at the crane operator who nodded and backed the crane away, and another crew at the back raised his thumb up when the crane reached the safety zone.


    "Alright Blue, you''re up!" The ground crew officer yelled, waving his wands at Blue Thunder who cracked open his eyes and stood up, "Check left!"


    Blue Thunder obediently shook his left limbs out and red out his left wing. "Good! Check right!" He repeated the same steps but with the right side of his body, rattling the supplies on his back. "All secured! Blue! You are good!"


    Blue Thunder nodded and craned his head over to see a small crew of four aviators suited up in fully covered cold weather gear started to climb up onto his back, and secured themselves on top of his back, trying to settle down asfortable as they could while more yellow jackets double checked their rigging and harnesses. "All green!" Good to go!"


    "Roger that!" Blue Thunder replied and started to crawl out of the dragon pen, following the yellow markings on the ground.


    The loudspeaker secured next to his harness near his ears red out, "Comms check,ms check!"


    "I hear you!" Blue Thunder replied and the crude looking jury-rigged throat mike on his harness transmitted his draconic voiceover to his flight crew and to the control tower. "Loud and clear!"


    "Mother to Dragon One, read you loud and clear too! Proceed to Runway Two, the wind is currently heading in from the North-East-East direction, at 30 knots per hour. Weather is clear with a spot of clouds and zero chances of rain." The loudspeaker red out with the information.


    Blue Thunder bobbed his head, feeling that the hoomans take things too detailed, which of course to him made him feel assured that they care for his safety, unlike the Empire who only cared for his fighting strength. "Copy that! Mission to resupply and support the Marines at Rendevous Point Yellow will proceed as nned. Over."


    "Mother copies, godspeed Dragon One. You are cleared forunch."


    "Dragon One taking off!" Blue Thunder bunched up his wing muscles and took off at a run, while keeping his wings t out, and he pped their strongly, filling his wings with air and he leaped off the ground with a mighty leap, his limbs kept straight pointing to the rear while pping his wings furiously, and the wind carried him up into the air.


    The crew secured at the back of Blue Thunder yelled and cheered wildly as they were jostled around during the takeoff, watched the ground dropped away from their feet and they soared into the air. "Heee haaw!"


    "Alright, its gonna be a long flight," The crew chief yelled over the wind, "Navigator! Check the heading of Blue, give him directions as usual!"


    The rest of the crew unbuckled out from the harness and attached a movable safety line to Blue Thunder''s harness and started to check on the tied down supplies, double checking if any of the items hade loose from the take off, while the Navigator opened up his maps andpass, and started to plot their course and giving instructions and directions to Blue.


    The crew consisted of a Crew Chief who is in charge of the rest of the crew, a Navigator who plots the course, a radio operator who handles themunications and a single flight crew who provides support to everyone else and also works on the riggings.


    Blue Thunder gently tilted his massive body to face North East, and pped his wings, giving a constant speed as they headed towards the Rendevous Point Yellow where the Marines of 2nd Battalion, Eagle Company, toon 1 and members of the 101st Arcane Tactics and Intervention, ymore One escorting over 200 freed ves were heading to.


    -----


    Falledge, Town Garrison


    Vice Knight Captain Utho stood pale faced before the smiling face of the Hero, trying his best to keep his legs from showing their trembling. "Y-yes my L-Lord! The m-men has been g-gathered!"


    "Good! See? That was so easy!" Dante smiled as he sat on the desk of the previousmander, the blood dried to a sticky paste on its surface and the headless body of themander still sat on the chair while the second body of Sub Commander Monthid headless on the side, his blood turning the rich thick carpet dark red mixing together with the blood of the deadmander.


    "Now let''s go hunt ourselves some rebels and runaway ves, shall we?" Dante cordially invited Vice Knight Captain Utho who swallowed back his fear and nodded hurriedly and quickly left the room with Dante following behind.


    As they exit the keep, the mustering grounds were filled with soldiers grumbling among themselves, wondering why they had been mustered. Six medium weight dragons and a single heavy weight dragon sat on their hindquarters with their crews gathered before the dragons, turned their attention to Utho and Dante as they stood before everyone at the mustering field.


    "Form up men!" Utho yelled in his best parade voice, thankful that his voice did not sound funny under the pressure of the Hero. "U-Under the order of our great Emperor, we have been called to our oath to serve the Emperor''smand! We are to move out in pursuit of a band of dangerous rebels and runaway ves who had ambushed and k-killed three hundred of our brothers in arms just the day before!"


    Hearing that news, the men growled as anger grew against the rebels and ves rose. "But fear not, our great Emperor has sent us the Hero, Dante to lead us to victory!"


    The men roared and yelled out after hearing the Hero was here, "DANTE! DANTE! DANTE!" They chanted, their fighting spirits raised by the fact the Hero was leading them. "DANTE! DANTE! DANTE!"


    Dante smiled and stood forward, "Let''s the Sun show us the way to victory!"


    "DANTE! DANTE! DANTE!"

 Chapter 153: Rendezvous Point Yellow

    Chapter 153: Rendezvous Point Yellow


    UNS Singapore, R&D Laboratory


    Senior Spaceman Mason scratched his head as he looked at the wooden model made by the ship carpenter, Amar, whom they rescued months ago. He turned the model around and frowned, "Is this how the long boats were built?"


    Amar nodded, "Yes, it is the simplest and fastest way to build them that I know of." The model has a wide shallow draft and double banked open deck for rowers to be seated side by side.


    "No, for the speeds we are looking at, this design will rip the whole boat into pieces!" Mason shook his head, he had a fast boat handling license back on Earth and while most of the naval personnel had some basic training and time on a fast craft on the sea, he had the most experience out of them all.


    He pointed to the monitor disying an image he had of a speedboat he used to own, "See the bottom hull? Its a sharp ''V'' at the bow softening to a t bottom at the stern, it gives it the ability to ne the boat at high speeds."


    "ne?" Amar looked confused, "I am not very familiar with this hooman word."


    "Alright, let me exin as best as I can," Mason said, "While the boat is at rest, the boat''s weight is borne entirely by the buoyant force. At low speeds every hull acts as a discement hull, meaning that the buoyant force is mainly responsible for supporting the craft. You understand so far?"


    "Roughly," Amar nodded as his years of as a sailor gave him a rough idea of what Mason was trying to exin. "The ''buoyant force'' is what keeping the boat afloat right?"


    Mason nodded, "That is correct, now as speed increases, hydrodynamic lift increases as well. Eh... What hydrodynamic means is the motion of water and effects on the water and in movement." He gave the best simplest exnation he could think of.


    Amar nodded, gesturing Mason to go on.


    "Ok, as speed increases, the hydrodynamic lift will push the hull upwards," Mason demonstrates by cing the wooden model of the longboat on the table and moving it while tilting the bow of the model upwards. "This is called ne, you might want to ask Dr. Sharon to exin more on it, but as speed goes up, the bow also lifts up due to hydrodynamic lift. "


    "How fast must the boat go to have this ... ''hi-row-die-namic'' lift?" Amar asked, "4 cables? 6 cables?" He had never seen such an extraordinary thing happen before in his many years at sea.


    "Eh 1 cable is roughly 1 Terran knot which is one nautical mile per hour which is roughly 1.85 km..." Mason mumbled as he calcted the speed the elves used for measuring sea travel which was by cables instead of knots.


    "I say roughly 10 or 11 knots," Mason answered, "about 18 to 20 km per hour."


    "10 cables of speed?" Amar''s eyes went wide, "The fastest flying clipper is only at 16 cables! And it is more than 10 times the size of a longboat... and the number of sails needed for that speed!"


    "Well, they are using the power of wind and magic," Mason grinned, "We are using motors to power the boats."


    "Now, we gonna need to build a prototype out," He smiled and hooked his arm over Amar''s shoulder, "Come on, trust me! This boat is gonna be the fastest ever you have ever seen! It will have at least a sustainable speed of 38 knots per hour and a max speed of 44 knots!"


    "38 and 44 cables?" Amar felt like he was dreaming, or that Mason is pulling the wool over his eyes, "Are you sure such a thing is possible?"


    "Ohe on! You have seen our airnes," Mason tsked, "You think we can''t make ships go that fast in the sea?"


    Amar felt a sudden thrill going up his spine, "Re-really?" He had never felt so excited for a long time, maybe since the first time he built his own boat when he finished his apprenticeship at the shipyards in the Isles, "Let''s do it! YES!"


    "Hahahaha," Masonughed at the joy and excitement shown on Amar''s facial expressions, "Alright, I don''t have any shipbuilding experience, and that I have to leave it to your knowledge, but I do know some of the modern concepts of boat craft, and that I will try my best to teach you and let''s see what we cane out together!"


    "Yes... yes... you were saying about the bow being a ''V'' shape?"


    -----


    Skies over the Uncharted Forest


    Third Sergeant Stamford formerly Petty Officer of the UNS Singapore had transferred over to the newly formed Airforce and his naval ranked switched to an air force rank. Riding on the back of Blue Thunder, he was the only human and the Crew Chief of the other three members of his flight crew.


    With the strong bone-chilling wind whipping his thickly insted body with a full face mask, he grinned at the endless seas of blue-green trees underneath him with the jagged peaks of the mountains to the left of his view. "Damn, this is a view to die for."


    "What is it, chief?" Corporal Barkley the navigator yelled, as he looked up from his maps that were velcroed to his thigh. He was seated in a bucket chair that was part of Blue Thunder''s harness. Most of the others were also seated in the twin rows of chairs and were either dozing off or admiring the view.


    "Nothing! Just thinking how beautiful this view is!" Stamford yelled back. When the Airforce was just formed, he volunteered immediately, hoping that he could serve alongside a dragon, and his wish was granted. Having grown up in Sout West Ennd, Cornwall and hearing stories of knights and dragons from his great-grandfather since young, seeing real dragons brought him back to the stories of chivalry in the old days of man.


    "I always wanted to ride a dragon!" Stamford yelled again, "Damn, this is awesome!"


    "10 minutes to Rendevous Point Yellow!" Barkley yelled back, "Blue? You got that?"


    "Yes, I hear you, Barkley, I see the river!" Blue Thunder''s voice came in crisply on their headsets.


    "Alright, people, brace yourselves!" Stamford yelled into the radio, "LZ in sight, 10 minutes!"


    The rest of the crew quickly checked their buckles and ensured that they are secured before gripping onto the holding bars at set at the side of their seats and braced as Blue Thunder made a gently dive towards the ground.


    The snaking river came into sight, parts of it sparkling under the sun where the forest canopy exposed the river to the skies and Blue Thunder red his wings, dropping his air speed as he glided in, tond at the only area that was not covered by the trees which were on the river itself.


    He beat his wings rapidly as he came to a slow hover and his hind legs sank into the cool clear running water, reach up to his hind calves and mindful of his passengers he gently lowered his front body and forward limbs into the river, barely shaking his crew.


    "Touch down!" Blue Thunder gave a loud tired puff, "Phew, I need some sleep... and meat!"


    "Alright, you big lizard, get us off the river and let us unload the gear, then you can go sleep and eat!" Stamford yelled.


    "Yes, Sarge..." Blue Thunder rumbled and climbed up the banks of the river and flopped on all fours, t on the rocky river bank. "Done!" He folded his wing in and rested half his head onto the river, letting the water run over his chin and he stuck his tongue out, licking the waterzily.


    "Alright! Let''s unload the cargo and wait for the Marines toe!" Stamford ordered and the rest of the crew started to unclip the restraints holding the cargo and move them off Blue Thunder''s back.


    It took them an hour to fully unload everything off Blue Thunder''s back, by then, the midday sun was zing away at them. And all of them were hot and sweaty from the work.


    "Dek, you''re on watch! Setup the MG and radio in to HQ that we havended, on schedule! And see if you can raise the Marines." Stamford said. "The rest cover up the cargo with the ground sheets, then get some rest and food. We rotate the watch every two hours."


    The tired men nodded and went on their work, and everyone went for a quick wash up in the cooling river before settling down into the shade of the trees, nibbling at dried rations or having a shut eye.


    Private Dek, climbed back up the back of the snoring Blue Thunder and attached the MG support into the harness at the right shoulder of the sleeping dragon. He locked the bolts of the support into ce and hefted the MG-1 out from its storage container, carefully locking it into ce, followed by attaching the roll magazine in and worked the action of the machine gun, before putting it on safe.


    Next he sat down on the bucket seat behind the machine gun and unslung his radio out, "Dragon One calling Mother, do you copy over?"


    ''-ther, receiving you, over."


    "Dragon One hasnded, standing by to receive Marine force over."


    "Mother, roger that."


    It wasn''t even an hour when a whistle was blown from the forest edge and two camouged Marines walked out waving, and Dek waved back, "Hey guys, the Marines are here!"


    Soon the rest of the Marines and ragged looking ves appeared, and the ves were frightened by therge yawning mouth of Blue Thunder who was woken up by the sudden bustle around him, and he sleepy rumbled, "I am hungry..."


    "Go hunt something!" Stamford shooed him away angrily when he poked his massive snort and blew hot rancid air at Stamford. "Bring home dinner!"


    Dek quickly secured the MG away and scrambled down the back of Blue Thunder who quickly bounced off into the sky, looking for prey.


    "Sir!" Stamford greeted Lt Joesph and the ymore One team leader, as they gathered for a quick talk. "Supplies here will be enough tost you guys to the next rendezvous point. Which is Point Blue."


    Lt Joesph nodded, "Can you medivac some of the more seriously wounded?"


    "I can take roughly six to eight stretchers on the back of Blue, but hisndings and takeoffs are not exactly gentle," Stamford advised, "It might not be safe for those that can''t be moved."


    "How about the Valkyries?" Tyrier asked, "Can''t theye in to take the wounded off?"


    "There are too many trees in the vicinity," Stamford replied, "We can''tnd those birds. We are using the river to drop in, but it is still too risky to get a Valkyrie over the such a small opening in the canopy."


    "And HQ doesn''t want to risk such a valuable asset," Lt Joesph sighed. "Alright, let''s see how we can rig up a medivac on the dragon. I got a couple of serious cases and a high profile target that the Hero wants."


    "CHIEF!" Stamfordms suddenly crackled alive, "ENEMY DRAGONS! I GOT THREE ON MY TAIL! ALL MEDIUM WEIGHT!" Blue Thunder''s voice roared over thems.


    "What?" Everyone froze and quickly headed out to the break in the canopy over the river and stared out at the sky.


    "STAND TO! STAND TO!" Lt Joesph roared out, startling the nearby Marines and ves, "Iing aerial dragons! Move it!"


    The men, quickly sprung into action, scrambling away from the open areas and directing the frightened ve to take shelter among the trees keeping out of sight, while they manned their weapons and kept watch of the surrounding area and skies.


    Suddenly a shadow darted over the river, followed by a few more, and Blue Thunder was seen pping his wings as he led three other smaller but faster dragons with blue rigging and trappings of the Empire away from the rendezvous point.


    "Oh shit! The Empire found us!"

 Chapter 154: Dog Fight

    Chapter 154: Dog Fight


    Blue Thunder dipped his wing and did a sharp swerve in mid-air, dodging the raking ws of the smaller Empire dragon that dove down from above. He retaliated with a sweep of his tail as he turned away, his barbed end scored a small gash along the back of the squeaking dragon.


    A couple of crossbow bolts mmed against his nks from his blind spot, his hard scales managed to deflect the bolts away, the pinpricks irritating Blue Thunder more than damaging him.


    "Evade! Evade! Coming from under you!" The loudspeakers crackled to life and Blue Thunder came to a sudden hover, and a shadowy shape darted up before him, missing him by meters. "Get to safety!"


    Blue Thunder growled as the attack that nearly gutted him and red at the insolent dragon that circled back for another attack. He stayed hovering on the spot and sucked in the air into his lungs, filling it up and his chest glowed slightly.


    The Empire Dragons and their riders seeing him starting to glow, yelled out in warning, and they started to split, making themselves as small as a target as possible.


    Blue Thunder spat out a ball of fire at the nearest Empire dragon and dove downwards, aiming for the small clearing over the river where the rest of the Marines had gathered. His fireball barely touched any of the dodging dragons but it distracted them long enough for him to disappear into the canopy of the forest.


    -----


    Lt Joesph peered out from the cover of the trees, seeing the Empire dragons circling in the sky and cursed. "How did they find us?"


    Crew Chief Stamford frowned, "They must have spotted Blue Thunder while he was hunting anding within sight, his harness must have given him away since there is no one else here that uses gear like that."


    A crash came from the undergrowth and the men all spun around, aiming their weapons at the source of the noises and a draconic snort soon poked out from the trees and rumbled, "It''s is me..."


    "Blue!" Stamford ran out, gesturing at the Marines to hold their fire. "Are you okay?" He came up next to the panting dragon.


    "Am okay..." Blue Thunder replied, "Just slightly tired and... hungry!"


    Stamford looked worriedly at the condition of Blue Thunder. He had burnt up a lot of calories just flying over and also in the shortbat in the skies. They have some food for Blue Thunder, but the n was supposed for Blue Dragon to forage his own food, while the rations for Blue Thunder were to be used in an emergency, like now.


    "Alright, we are gonna feed you," Stamford said, "Any injuries?"


    "Not sure," Blue Thunder replied, as he craned his neck over his own body trying to see if he was wounded, "But there is a bad itch at my back..."


    Stamford nodded, waving for the rest of the crew over. "Get his rations, and give him a once over, check if there are any injuries on him."


    The men nodded and went off to work, Stamford climbed onto Blue Thunder''s harness and started to inspect the harness''s condition and also for signs of injury. As he stood on his back, he could felt waves of heat emitting out from Blue Thunder''s body.


    "You wanna goy down at the river there?" Stamford asked, "The trees should provide some cover for you."


    "Sure!" Blue Thunder nodded and started to make his way over to the river where it was covered by the trees. He half sank himself into the water and moaned in bliss, "Much better!"


    "Chief!" Dek yelled, gesturing him over to the rear of Blue Thunder''s back.


    "What is it?" Stamford came over and saw what Dek was pointing at. A stubby crossbow bolt had stuck deep between two ovepping scales. "Damn. Get the first aid kit over!"


    "Blue! You got a crossbow bolt in your ass!" Stamford yelled, and Blue snaked his head back to try to see. "You just hang tight there, we will get it out!"


    "Oooo, no wonder it itches!" Blue grumbled. "Get it out quick!"


    "Hold on buddy," Dek said, as he came back with a first aid kit that looked more like a toolbox. He removed arge pair of pliers and mped the jaws onto the bolt. "On three... two... one... and... Ahhh!"


    He pulled the bloody bolt out in a long pull, the wound sucking at the glittering arm length long bolt. "Annnd... It''s out!" Making Blue Thunder gave a grunt of pain.


    Thick glistering dark red blood started to flow out from the wound. Stamford took the bucket of water from Barkley and poured over the wound, washing the blood away and with a shlight, he peered into the wound. "Looks clean, not poisoned."


    He took the package of clotting powder and dumped all into the wound, before stuffing a wad of gauze on top of the wound, underneath the scales. He took the offered roll of duct tape and started taping the gauze against Blue Thunder''s scales, making sure it was tight.


    "How are you feeling?" Stamford asked, as he hopped down to the riverside, and started to wash his arms thick with dragon blood.


    "Hungry..." Blue Thunder grumbled. "Butt is not so itchy now."


    "Good," Stamford climbed up the river banks, "Here eat some rations first."


    Blue Thunder looked at the small pile of blocky cardboard colored ration bars and made a face, "I want meat!"


    "Eat this, for now, you big baby!" Stamford shook his head and smiled, "Its high in calories, chock full of whole grains, honey, fats, and all the vitamins a growing boy like you needs!"


    Blue Thunder sighed and started munching away at the blocks of ration bars sadly.


    Leaving Blue Thunder to his meal, Stamford went back to find Lt Joesph with Sergeant Tyrier in a discussion. They both waved him over, and said, "We need to move soon and fast. One of the dragons have gone back to report, I am not sure if they spotted us in the forest."


    "Dragons have great eyesight for hunting," Stamford said, "They can spot a goblin hiding in the bushes at 100 meters away, so I am certain they must have spotted us already."


    "Than all the more reason for us to move out now," Tyrier said. "Dying longer will only allow the enemy toe closer."


    Lt Joesph nodded, "Yes, but we need to do something about them." He pointed to the sky, "If they keep following us, the enemy will still know where we are."


    "HQ says, at least two hours or more for any aerial support," The Marine radio operator said. "The wind is against the nes, that is why it takes longer toe here."


    "Damn, two hours?" Tyrier cursed, "A lot can happen in two hours!"


    "Well, we can rig up Blue for aerialbat," Stamford suddenly spoke out. "He does have mounting points for machine guns. We can take down those medium weights before the Empire returns here."


    Both Joesph and Tyrier looked at Stamford, "You are confident to take down those medium weights? Not to mention if the enemy reinforcementse, you guys got to take the risk of fighting more than two dragons!"


    "Well, Sir, isn''t this why we signed on?" Stamford grinned, "The risk and the fight!"


    "Well said," Lt Joesph nodded, "What do you need?"


    "It''s all good, I will get my crew to load up and secured forbat," Stamford replied, "Head towards Point Blue while we are distracting the dragons, so even if we fail, at least you guys can get away, just that we can''t medivac any wounded now."


    Joesph and Tyrier nodded, "Godspeed!"


    -----


    Dek attached the machine gun support into ce at the back of Blue Dragon''s harness near the tail of his spine, snapping the MG-1 into ce and loading the drum magazine in. He ensured that the spare ammunition secured against the harness was properly stored and settled down into the bucket seat, with the machine gun aiming at the aft, or the tail of Blue Thunder.


    Stamford double checked the rest of his crew making sure everyone is secured and ready. Three machine guns all manned, one on each side of the shoulder of Blue Thunder and the remaining gun at the tail. He checked his shotgun, making sure it was fully loaded and properly strapped against his body and yelled, "All green! Clear forunch!"


    Blue Thunder gave a grunt and made a run towards the open canopy, the Marines yelling their support as Blue Thunder bounced off into the open air, and with several ps of his massive wings disappeared from the view of the Marines.


    -----


    "Contact left!" Barkley manning the left shoulder gun yelled into thems, and Blue Thunder banked left, and head towards the two dark specks in the skies, going for the kill.


    ''Here theye!" Stamford yelled, "Watch your arcs of fire! I want no one to shoot up Blue! Especially his wings! Make sure your guns are arc locked!"


    "Roger!"


    "Yes, Chief!"


    "Got it!"


    Blue Thunder sucked in air and spat out a ball of fire directly at one of the Empire Dragon which weaved right, dodging the fire ball and Private Luth manning the right gun opened up with the MG-1, spewing 8.5 mm tracers directly in the path of the surprised Empire dragon.


    The new 8.5 mm rounds traveling at 807 meters per second missed the flying dragon, but Luth using the bright tracers as a guide managed to correct his aim, firing in the path of the dragon. The 19 grams bullet hammered into the body of the dragon, ignoring the tough scales and torn through muscles, bones, and flesh like paper.


    The whole engagementsted four seconds before the Empire dragon flew past and out from the arc of fire of Luth''s gun. But that four seconds had sent 34 rounds fired from the machine gun into the Empire dragon, which over 20 had stricken the dragon.


    A stream of dark liquid could be seen trailing the dragon, as it flopped over to the side and spiraled down to smash into the canopy with a mighty crash, sending wyverns pping away in flight from the trees.


    "SCRATCH ONE DRAGON!" Luth yelled excitedly as he leaned his body over, watching the downed dragon doing a cartwheel among the thick canopy before disappearing into the forest. "Woooo hoooo!"


    "Good kill!" Stamford yelled back, as he kept his eye on the other Empire dragon who seemed to hesitate after seeing the death of its brood. "Go for thest one while it is still confused!"


    Blue Thunder growled happily and pped his wings harder before keeping his wings in and stooped down towards the startled Empire dragon, with his ws out. The men onboard yelled and whooped as gravity seemed to disappear and they went diving down like a roller coaster ride.


    The Empire dragon tried to get out of the way back was just a second too slow. Blue Thunder''s full body weight of 33 tons mmed onto the left wing of the panicking Empire dragon, snapping the shoulder off, while the T-Rex sized talons of Blue Thunder gouged against the nk of the screaming dragon, its rider, and small crew staring in wide-eyed horror visible even in their dopey looking crystal goggles.


    The screaming Empire dragon tried desperately to pped its wings, but only its right wing function, its left dangled uselessly and with its life-blood pouring out like a tap, it folded inwards and fell from the sky, together with the screams of its crew.


    Blue Thunder did a slow circle over the area, as the Empire dragon mmed into the Uncharted Forest, the canopy barely able to soften its death fall, and a small hole appeared in the sea of trees and small flying wyverns burst out angrily from their nests.


    "Good kill!" Stamford yelled again, to which Blue Thunder gave a pleased grunt. "Wait, what is that?" He pointed to the horizon in the distance as he narrowed his eyes, and quickly pulled out his field sses, and saw several specks approaching them in the air.


    "Oh, noes!" Blue Thunder mumbled, "More Empire!"

 Chapter 155: First Air to Air Dragon Combat

    Chapter 155: First Air to Air Dragon Combat


    *Rmended music Sabaton - Aces in exile*


    Blue Thunder gave a grunt, as he lined his body straight at the approaching Empire dragons, "They are splitting up!" He roared over the wind as he noted the dragons had split into two groups.


    "Yes! I see them!" Stamford yelled. "Two of the mid-weights are holding together with the single heavy and the other three are vectoring in for an attack!"


    The single heavyweight dragon with silver trimmed blue banners and streamers beat its wings rapidly as it sought to gain altitude, together with its two escorts. Blue Thunder could just barely see dark figures clinging onto its back as it rose higher.


    "They are going for a pincher attack!" Blue Thunder growled, "The heavy looks like its going for height advantage, while the other three distract and harass us!"


    "Ignore the heavy, we take out the trio first!" Stamford yelled as he gauged the distance and speed between the enemy. "We do a high-speed fly pass, followed by a turn circle port side! All guns to fire as they bear!"


    "We let the heavye up from our aft, most likely they will do a swooping dive down at our tail," Stamford twisted in his seat as he looked to the rear, "Dek, make sure you give that heavy a good dose of lead!"


    "With pleasure, chief!"


    "Alright! Let''s do it!" Stamford yelled, "Let''s show them ground pounders what the Airforce can do!"


    Blue Thunder elerated, pulling his wings strongly, forcing more wind against its serpentine body and gliding through the air like a fish in the sea. The dotted figures in front of them quickly resolved into three silver-ck scaled Razorback dragons with streamers tied to their legs and wing tips, boldly disying the Empire colors.


    They broke their formation and aimed for Blue Thunder in three different directions, aiming to rake their ws against his nks with the lead Razorback distracted him head-on. "Dive down now!" Stamford yelled as he clutched his shotgun tightly against his chest.


    A sense of gravity disappearing sent the men whooping, as Blue Thunder dived under the reaches of the dragons who tried to box him in, and the machine guns fired, raking the underside of the confused Razorbacks.


    Stamford gave a wordless yell as he pumped shot after shot at the underbelly of the lead dragon who cried out in anger at the missed ploy and the rear machine gun fired, and Stamford caught sight of a line of tracers sparking off the underbelly of the dragon before it vanished from view.


    "Did we get them?" Stamford yelled, checking left and right making sure everyone was still in ce while digging into his pouches for shotgun shells.


    "I think so?" Someone yelled back.


    Blue Thunder craned his neck back as he turned a loop back towards the action, "I can''t see the heavy and its escorts!" He yelled as he looked around in panic.


    "7 o''clock high! Coming in fast!" Dek yelled as he spotted a shadow against the sun. "It''sing from the sun!"


    "BREAK LEFT! BREAK BREAK BREAK!" Stamford yelled urgently, and Blue Thunder did a sharp tilt left, and a swooping shadow burst out from the skies, barely missing Blue Thunder, the force of its passage sent Blue Thunder struggling to keep bnced. "HOLY FUCK!"


    "GOT NO LINE OF FIRE!"


    "CAN''T SEE SHIT!"


    "INCOMING LEFT FLANK!" Barkley yelled as he spotted a silvery shape darting in from the left side. He twisted his body, trying to bring his MG-1 to bear on the target, but the Razorwing cunningly stayed out of his line of sight, using the pping wings of Blue Thunder as cover as it inched closer.


    "I GOT HIM!" Dek yelled as he swung his gun over, his wire sights hovered over the dragon where three of its crew could be seen firing and loading crossbow bolts at them. He angled the gun slightly forward and fired, bright tracers ripping out from the barrel and into the path of the dragon making it swerved away in panic. But before it disappeared from sight underneath Blue Thunder, Dek saw his shotsnding on the crew members, their body turning limp as the dragon dived away. "I got its crew!"


    Stamford leaned over the back of Blue Thunder to peer at the disengaged dragon, "Damn, we need some guns at the bottom!"


    Blue Thunder gave a dismissive snort and Stamford felt its body bellowing up, followed by a roar and a smoking ball of fire rained down towards the diving dragon, and surprisingly hitting it square on its back. "Ha! Take that!"


    "What a lucky shot..." Stamford shooked his head, to which Blue Thunder snorted again.


    "There is no such thing as luck!" Blue tilted his head up proudly. "I just good!"


    "Watch your front you dumb beast!" Stamford yelled, "Praise yourselfter, but we still got five dragons to go!"


    "Make it three!" Dek yelled from the back, "I just saw one crashing into the trees, and another limping away at five o''clock!"


    Stamford grabbed his field sses hanging on over his neck and quickly scanned the horizon, seeing a dragonboring its way across the sky, with what appeared to berge drops of blood raining off its body. "That dragon won''t make it, gauging by the amount of blood it''s leaking!"


    "Tally ho!" Luth yelled and pointed. "3 o''clock high!"


    "Blue get us some attitude!" Stamfordmanded as he turned his sses over to the direction Luth yelled seeing the remaining dragons have regrouped and wereing back for another pass.


    "Roger!" Blue Thunder pped his wings mightily and swung his body towards the approaching Empire dragons, "Come get some!" He roared and spat out another fireball at the approaching group as the distance closed. The Empire heavy also spat a fireball out, which Blue Thunder dodged and the guns opened up.


    -----


    Dante stood on the crown of an ever blue tree watching the aerial dogfight in interest. He smiled and leaped off the tree easily and used the branches of the trees to navigate his way towards the battle. "I found you~"


    -----


    Blue Thunder gave a yelp of pain as a bolt of lightning gouged his nk, melting his dark blue scales and fusing them against his flesh. He roared and spat a ball of fire at the Empire heavy as it flew past him, missing the dragon as it bent its body away agilely from the fireball.


    "RAWR! I AM PISSED OFF!" Blue Thunder roared as he chased the other heavy through the skies. "Stop running!"


    Luth cursed as Blue Thunder''s motions made him drop the fully loaded 75 rounds drum magazine off the side and into the sea of trees, he braced himself properly and dug another drum out and hugged on to it tightly as Blue Thunder went into another bout of aerobatics. "I am gonna be sick!" as he was thrown left and right in the sky.


    "Watch your 4 o''clock!" Stamford yelled, as an enraged Razorback, which he recognized as the one with its crew decimated, swooped in with its jaws wide opened and its ws stretched out. Stamford raised his shotgun up and fired, while Dek swung the MG-1 around and fired, the short distance making it hard to miss, and thebined fire pounded the dragon into bloody meat.


    Blue Thunder tried to swerve out of the falling dead dragon''s way but was just a little too slow and the dead dragon clipped part of Blue''s wing tip, making him scream as his wing tip bone fractured from the impact.


    Also immediately, they went into a spiral, the men screaming as Blue Thunder fought back the pain and tears. He barely managed to recover from the spiraling dive but in the process, he had lost too much speed and attitude, desperately trying to limp his way in the skies above the canopy.


    Seeing his weakened state, the remaining Razorback screamed in triumphant, and darted down from the skies, going for the kill. It swooped down, ready totch onto the back of Blue Thunder and rake its ws into its spine, only to meet another barrage of machine gun and shotgun fire, its bullet riddled body crashing into the sea of trees behind Blue Thunder.


    Stamford wiped the vomit stains off his side of his face, and with wobbly fingers, shoved shell after shell into his shotgun as he reloaded. "Oh my god, I thought we were dead there."


    "There''s still one more!" Blue Thunder growled, his right wing barely able to move, as they glided gently along the treetops. "I can''t find any ce tond!"


    "Iing!" Dek yelled as he saw a streaking ball of fireing down from the Empire heavy. He swung his machine gun up and fired off a long stream of tracers, which the dragon dodged away, and the glow of a magic shield could be seen as a few lucky bullets impacted.


    Blue Thunder tilted his body away from the fireball, which exploded, sending a small cloud of smoke upwards. He quickly leaned his body towards the explosion and used the hot air current to gain a bit of attitude, knowing that if he crashed into the trees, his crew will most likely die or suffer from serious injuries, even himself won''t be spare. Andnding on a hover into the trees will only trap him in the canopy, making him an open target as he needs time to break through the thick branches and into the cover of the trees.


    Soon another fireball rained down on them and a bolt of lightning torn into his tail, making tears form on his eyes.


    "Dragon One,e in over. This is Gold Leader!" The radio suddenly burst into life and Dek quickly reached to its receiver.


    "This is Dragon One! We receive you, over!" Dek yelled excited as he craned his neck left and right looking into the horizon.


    "Gold Leader, standby, I believe a big bad bully is on your tail," The weing voice sounded so sweet to the crew that they and even Blue Thunder gave a loud cheer.


    Suddenly ck dots dropped out of the sun, right on top of the unsuspecting Empire heavyweight. Four A/F - 1 Cobra appeared and the twin pylon mounted 20 mm autocannon gun pods fired, sending 129 grams projectiles at 670 meters per second screaming down at a rate of 520 rounds per minute. The 20 mm autocannon ammunition configuration was two high explosives shells followed by two armor-piercing shells and the fifth shell was a tracer.


    The magic shield barely held for three seconds when the explosives and armor-piercing shells detonated against the magic defenses of the unsuspecting Empire dragon. It shattered, and the magical bacsh mmed into the mage who cast and maintained the spell. He jerked back and coughed out blood before the remaining shells that encountered no more resistance, turned the crew into steaming pieces of unidentified meat, and blowingrge chunks of flesh off the screaming dragon.


    As the Cobras pulled up from their attack, what was left of the dragon, rained over arge section of Uncharted Forest in bloody chunks of gore and blood.


    "YESSSS!" Blue Thunder and his crew cheered as they saw the Empire Dragon literally exploded into pieces. "Airforce for the win!"


    "Gold Leader to Dragon One, your wing doesn''t look too good," The lead Cobra radioed over as they regroup and buzzed over Blue Thunder, checking them out.


    "Dragon One, we took a beating! Need to touch down immediately!" Dek radioed back under Stamford''s directions.


    "Roger that Dragon One, divert to bearing 223 degrees, there''s a river clearing approximately two kilometers away, over," Gold Leader radioed back, "Think Blue can make it?"


    "Roger! Standby!" Dek replied, "Blue! You heard that?"


    Blue panted heavily and barely gave a grunt in reply, his eyes half closed in pain. "Just... tell.. me... where... to... fly..."


    "Got it!" Barkley checking his instruments yelled, "Blue turn to your left, 8 o''clock heading! You can do it!"


    Blue grunted and beat his wings weakly, trying his best to keep afloat in the air, and soon the glitter of a snaking river could be seen among the sea of trees.


    "We survived the first air to air dragonbat!"

 Chapter 156: I FOUND YOU~!

    Chapter 156: I FOUND YOU~!


    Uncharted Forest - 292 km from Sawtooth Mountain Pass


    Lt Joesph looked up as he heard a muffled rippling echo from the skies, but the thick canopy barely allowed any view into the sky. Even sound was muffled and suppressed by the thick cover, making it hard to gauge where it wasing from.


    "Come on, move it guys," Lt Joesph encouraged the tired ves as they pushed through the forest. "Tyrier!"


    He gestured the ymore One leader over, "Think you cany some false trails and cover our movements?"


    Tyrier paused and nced around the forest before nodding, "Got it, you got any ymores or explosives?"


    Lt Joesph nodded and pointed, "Get it from the Asagi," He gestured to a small quad pedial walker, climbing over a tree root withrge baggage on its back, following a hulking Oerkin wearing a barely fitting helmet and a sleeveless uniform with a couple of ammo belts crisscrossed over his barrel chest. In hisrge muscr arms, he cradled arge machine gun that looked almost too small for him. "I will assign you some guys for support."


    "Got it," Tyrier gave a low whistle, signaling the rest of ymore One over, "Alright guys, got a shit job." He said to the rest of the team as they gathered around him.


    "We gonnay some surprises for any chance of pursuit at our rear and also spells to cover and mislead the enemy," Tyrier gave a quick brief. "Whatever we need, explosives or mines, we get it from the golem''s supplies. Questions?"


    "Why the fark are we doing this shit?" Hitsu grumbled, "Can''t the Marines handle it? Why is it always ymore One got to do all the shit jobs?"


    "Shut it!" Tyrier growled, "Will you trust a brunch of FNGs (*Fucking New Guys) to wipe your ass?"


    "Now I know you guys are feeling pissed and sad with Doth''s incident," Tyrier lowered his tone, "That Hero who killed our friend and buddy is out there, and he ising again," He pointed to the rear.


    "And we are gonna give him a surprise party when hees," Tyrier said while looking in the eyes of each of his team, "Now what say you?"


    "Time for round two!" Altied growled, "Let''s kill that son of a bitch once and for all!"


    "Hell yea!" Tavel nodded, rubbing his bandaged arm. "He''s got to pay for Doth!"


    The rest nodded in agreement, "Okay, we are gonna split into three sectors, left, center and right nk." Tyrier pointed to three directions.


    "Altied and Young, you cover the left nk, Hitsu, and Loke, on the center and Tavel with me on the right,'' Tyrier ordered, "Mine it, trap it,y your magic formations, or whatever shit you want, but do it quickly. Questions?"


    "How much time?" Loke asked.


    "Maybe half a day? Or less?" Tyrier replied, "We have no idea, it could even be an hour."


    "Won''t it be a hazard in the long run if the traps and mines are not triggered?" Young asked in concern.


    "We mark in on the maps if possible and have the Marines clear them in the future," Tyrier replied, "We don''t have the luxury of worrying about hazards now. Any other questions?"


    The men shook their heads as they pondered on what to set up on their assigned areas.


    Tyrier nodded, "Good. Grab what you need, and who you need. The lieutenant had given us his okay on using his men."


    "Sergeant Tyrier?" A Marine Sergeant appeared behind Tyrier, "The LT has sent us over to assist you."


    Tyrier did a quick look and saw two sections worth of Marines had gathered up, half of what Lt Joesph had in his force. The golem called Asagi was curiously looking left and right at the ongoings as it stood at the edge of the crowd.


    "Alright Sergeant... Emberstone," Tyrier read the nametag off his uniform, "Split the men up into three groups and also all the explosives and mines from the golem and do the same."


    SGT Emberstone nodded and started directing the gathered Marines, pointing and gesturing at the golem while getting the men to form up in three groups. "Sergeant Tyrier? It''s done."


    "Good," Tyrier strolled up, "Alright, you guys are here to help usy some surprises for the blue boys who ising. We don''t know how much time we have, it might be an hour or a day. So work fast and work safe!" He pointed to one group, "You guys follow Altied and Young. You with them and the rest with me. Now let''s get to work!"


    "OOO RAH!"


    -----


    Somewhere at the Uncharted Forest


    Blue Thunder painfully stretched out his broken wing, allowing Luth and Dek to bind his broken wing bones with a piece of wood and duct tape. He chomped down on the unappetizing ration blocks and sighed, "I want meat..."


    "Come on, Blue, soldier up!" Stamford patted Blue''s ridged head. "Wait a while more, and I get the boys to hunt you somethingter."


    "Promise?" Blue Thunder made a te-sized puppies eyes at Stamford who shook his head at Blue Thunder''s antics.


    "Promise!" Stamford replied, "When it is all safe and clear!"


    Blue Thunder gave a grunt, as Barkley pulled out another crossbow bolt stuck at Blue Thunder''s left shoulder. "Damn, another few hands, and this would have skewered Luth."


    "How is it?" Stamford climbed up next to Barkley who was stuffing the wound with anti clogging powder."


    "Removed four crossbow bolts, applied burn cream on three lightning bolts strikes, patched several torn wing membranes on both wings with duct tape and..." Barkley gestured to the other two who were still splinting Blue Thunder broken wing bones. "that..."


    Stamford nodded turned to watch Blue Thunder, swallowing the remaining ration blocks. "He should be fine with enough rest and calories," Barkley said, "But the wing at this condition, he might not be able to fly long distances and his speed will be greatly affected."


    "Meat will heal me fast!" Blue Thunder snaked his serpentine head back to look at the both of them, "Meat makes it all good!"


    "Yes yes, you glutton!" Stamford shooed his head away, "Go get some shut-eye, we might need you to move at any time!"


    Blue Thunder gave a pout and lowered his head back on the ground and closed his eyes, and before long, a bubble appeared over his nostrils as he gave off a light snooze.


    "The crew? And ammunition status?" Stamford asked as he watched the bubble of snort grew expand and contract following the rhythm of Blue Thunder''s breathing.


    "No injuries, just shaken," Barkley turned his attention to the other two who were packing up the first aid toolbox. "Ammunition is down a roughly 1.5 drum magazine per gun."


    "Gold Squadron is providing as much cover for us as possible," Dek yelled, as he stowed away the first kit toolbox. "But they only have enough fuel to stay in the AO (Area of Operations) for roughly another two hours or less."


    Stamford nodded, "Let''s wash up and take a break for now, with Blue in this state, we can''t do much either. But at least we cleared the skies."


    "Oh, yea! I got puke all over my body!" Luth said, as he started stripping his uniform off and ran towards the river with Dek to wash up.


    "I keep watch for now," Stamford said, ter we might need to do some hunting for Blue and our dinner before it gets dark."


    "Got it."


    -----


    The Hero paused in his movements in the trees and he cocked his head, listening to the sounds in the forest. "Now, now, what do we have here?"


    He closed his eyes and from his body, covering him in a warm yellow-white glow manifested, granting him an increase in his abilities. He could hear the nking and shes of metal against metal in his rear, where the rest of the Empire forces following him were making their clumsy way through the forest.


    For the past day, they had airlifted every soldier into the forest closest to where the enemy is at as Dante''s mental link with Evelyn was still unsevered. Dante himself personally destroyed arge swath of forest, enabling the dragons tond the men, before making return trips to pick up more. Only when the dragons had transported everyone, did he send them out to look for any traces of the rebels and the strange barbarians with the demonic thundersticks in the direction where he sensed Evelyn''s lifeforce.


    He judged that they were roughly half a day or less away when one of the dragons returned bearing news of discovering an unaffiliated dragon but matching the description of an Empire heavyweight dragon that was said to have turn traitor.


    Dante left the soldiers behind to push forward, his mental link with Evelyn was telling him she was roughly in this direction. Now crouched in the trees, he closed his eyes and opened up his inner eye, groping for a sense of where Eveyln''s lifeforce was at.


    He opened his eyes with a smile, feeling the strength of the mental tug, knowing himself to be very close and he kicked off from the tree branch, the force of his leap shattering the branch as he flew for meters onto another tree branch, his magic barrier around him, negating the whipping branches and trees.


    "Time for vengeance, mortals!"


    -----


    Private Slow grunted as he stretched his strained back, after spending half an hour digging around the forest floor and nting ymore mines and rigging them up to trip wires. He pointed harshly at Asagi who peered from next to him at the barely visible wire he set at knee length across two tree roots. "No no! Back! Dangerous!"


    He shooed the curious spider golem away, "Danger! KA BOOM!" He gestured with his fingers opening up like an explosion and pointed to a corner of a tree. "Stay!"


    Asagi seems downcasted as it lowered its head and trotted sadly to stand at where Slow pointed. Slow gave a sigh and gave it a pat, "Wait here, Me done soon!"


    Asagi gave a sort of wag with its armored ted stone body and settled down at the tree, waiting patiently for Slow to finish up.


    "Sarge! I am done here!" Slow yelled after he covered up the ymore aimed between the two ever blue trees with trunks wider than he could hug with his two hands. "Come on, Asagi, let''s go!"


    Suddenly a tree branch snapped loudly from above and a small shower of leaves fluttered down. Slow jerked his head up in surprise and saw a slightly glowing elf half kneeling on a tree branch that was snapped in half with one part dangling in the air.


    "WHAT?" Slow roared out, "CONTACT!"


    -----


    Dantended hard on to a tree branch and looked down, seeing a strange monster with bags and boxes on its back next to an Oerkin dressed in a strange manner. He gave a grinned at the Oerkin who yelled out an unknownnguage and seemed to fumbled for something on the body of the strange four legged creature.


    Dante''s eyes narrowed and his grin grew wider as he recognized the weapon the strange Oerkin was lifting up, it looked like one of those cursed thundersticks! "Found you!"


    -----


    Slow grabbed his MG-1 which he stacked on the back of Asagi, cursing at himself for leaving his weapon, and for a brief moment, his drill sergeant words came crashing into his mind, "NEVER LEAVE YOUR WEAPON FROM YOUR SIDE AT ALL TIMES!"


    "Oh, I am gonna get drilled out!" Slow yelped as he remembered the painful memories of basic training. "CONTACT! HERO SIGHTED!" He roared again, and swung his MG-1 in hip fire stance, snapping off the safety and fired, sending a meter long muzzle shing into the forest, and spent empty cartridges flying off into the forest ground.


    -----


    Dante smiled widely as he watched the slow-motion movements of the Oerkin and he leaped down, his arms reaching to the back of his waist where a pair of swords hung in their own scabbard sat.


    A twin gleam of silvery light shed out, and the Oerkin yelled in pain and rage, as twin fountain of blood erupted out from its body in an ''X'' shape. It dropped the roaring thunderstick and fell against the weird looking four-legged creature which appeared to have arms that gripped onto the falling Oerkin and started to drag it away into the trees.


    Danteughed as he watched the antics of the creature seemingly trying to save the Oerkin. He took a step forward and shed down at the Oerkin, wanting to finish it off as he knew the Oerkin were very tough and hard to kill. But to his amazement, the strange creature blocked his sword sh, sending a numbing sensation down his arm as a loud, "CLANK!!" reverberated from the body of the creature when his sword hit it.


    "Huh? What manner of creature is this?"

 Chapter 157: Cobra Down

    Chapter 157: Cobra Down


    *Hero Dante''s theme song ''David Guetta - Titanium ft. Sia''


    Skies over Uncharted Forest


    Gold Group leader Flight Sergeant Legos Waver, nced at his flight instruments, giving a hard rap against the fuel gauge, and noted down the fuel level and flight time with a pencil stub against a notepad velcroed to his right trousers tight.


    "Alright Gold Group," He triggered his throat mike, "Check your fuel levels, and report in, over."


    "Gold Two, fuel at 47%, over."


    "Gold Four, fuel down to 48%, over."


    "Five here, fuel at 45%, over."


    "Roger, Gold Group!" Legos did a quick calction and keyed the mike again, "Alright, report in when fuel is at 35%, out." He gauged that they had roughly less than an hour of flight time in the area.


    Commander Peter had ordered the flight of F/A- 1 Cobras off the runaway and positioned them to patrol around Rendevous Point Blue. They barely started their patrol when the word came in that an enemy flight of dragons had ambushed Dragon One, and Legos directed his men to make all haste over to provide support.


    Two nes had to fall back and return to base after they developed engine problems, leaving four of them toe to support Dragon One, but as they arrived, they found that Dragon One had shot down six of the Empire Dragons and were under attack from thest dragon.


    Using the sun as cover, and the element of surprise, he had two of his nes engage the unaware dragon, each making a high-side gun pass, their new 20 mm autocannons proofing very effective in tearing the shielded dragon to shreds.


    "Gold Lead, Gold Four! Red Smoke spotted!" Suddenly hisms crackled, "Repeat, Red!"


    "Shit," Legos craned his head around his cockpit, peering out from the ss, looking around for the smoke and cursed as he saw thin tendrils of red smoke drifting out from a patch in the sea of trees. Red smoke meant that the ground forces had encountered the hero while blue smoke indicated enemy troops.


    "All Gold units, vector in over to the marked location and standby to provide close in air support!" Legos ordered as he tilted his flight stick, turning his A/F - 1 Cobra towards the red colored smoke drifting out from the sea of trees.


    -----


    Lt Joesph watched the red smoke from the smoke grenade clustered at the top of the forest canopy, wondering if the air support up there will be able to see it. Theirms were unable to get through the forest canopy and the bloody Hero had turned up while they were in the middle of setting up traps for him.


    Barks of M1 Magelocks erupted all around him, as the toon fired at the glowing target. The sheer amount of firepower kept the Hero at bay, as he raised his magic power to the maximum, making the surrounding trees and nt life smoking from the heat of his aura.


    Out of the corner of his eye, Lt Joesph noted one of the two ASASG were dragging a wounded Marine back away into cover. He turned and yelled, "Medic! Tend to that wounded Marine!"


    "RPG teams! Load thermobaric rockets!" Lt Joesph yelled, "Give that son of bitch hell!"


    The rocket teams quickly reloaded with thermobaric rockets into theirunchers, swapping out the HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank) rockets with rockets coded with a red band on the warhead.


    The Hero tossed a few high energy beams, which scorched the trees and any exposed flesh, making the Marines cry out in pain and anger. The tracers from the MG-1s were likesers, following the Hero''s frantic movements as he weaved in and out from the trees, using them as cover. But when the Hero exposed himself to attack, several lines of tracers converged on him, sending him tumbling backward as the force of the .338 (8.5 mm) rounds hammered him silly.


    -----


    Dante dodged another line of sparking thunderstones that were thrown his way. He panted and raised both his sore arms, seeing bruises forming, turning his arms blue-ck. "What kind of demon sorcery is that?"


    He sneaked a quick peek from behind the battered tree he was at, trying to pick out the individual spellcasters hiding in the undergrowth, but the demon cursed casters were like forest sprites, their bodies blending into the surroundings almost perfectly!


    "Cursed mortals, think your demonic powers are strong?" Dante''s ever-present smile changed, to an expression of pure seriousness. "Let me show you the difference between a god''s power and a demon''s!"


    -----


    "There! 100! Enemy behind the tree!" An RPG team crouched down, while the assistant pointed at where the Hero was hiding at. "Clear!"


    "ONE ROUND AWAY!" The Marine with the RPG fired, sending a smoking dart ming its way over to the tree where the Hero was behind and secondster, a sharp crack resounded, and the tree tottered over, with smoke and splinters flying all over the ce.


    -----


    Dante was praying to the Sun God when suddenly his heightened senses heard a WHOOOOOOSH, and the tree he was suddenly exploded, and a pressure wave mmed into him. His magic shield fluctuated and held, but he felt his insides were like a troll had hammered him. He rolled away and leaned against a massive tree root, and felt a raw sweetness in his throat and he vomited out a mouthful of dark blood.


    "What?" He stared incredulously at the blood in his hand. "I was harmed by minor creatures?"


    His aura changed as his temper changed, "Lowly lesser creatures dare to hurt my body?" He closed his eyes, ignoring the impacts of the thunderstones against the tree root he was under. "Sun God, hear me! Creatures bound to the dark arts have risen... Grant me the light to cast the darkness away!"


    Almost immediately his the aura in his body glowed brighter, and the difort he felt in his body faded away and the pain in his arms disappeared. He turned both his arms and saw the bruises had all gone and he narrowed his eyes, "I shall not underestimate these lesser creature''s power. Those thundersticks and stones of theirs are clearly way more powerful than I can imagine!"


    "It is time to stop ying around!" Dante started praying again, calling upon the Sun God to grant him power, in exchange for offerings.


    -----


    Tyrier and the rest of ymore One had moved up in a textbook nking maneuver, using the cover fire provided by the Marines and they crouched next to a tree root, roughly a couple of trees away from the Hero. Tyrier looked his team and wordlessly mimicked pulling a grenade out and throwing it. The rest of the team nodded and each dug out a ck powder egg shaped grenade and held it ready.


    Tyrier gave a nod and raised up his fingers, counting down from three to one. And everyone on the count of one pulled the grenade pins and lobbed it hard towards the area where the Hero was hiding. Six grenades flew out, the safety spoon spun away from the fuse and the protective covering for the fire runes was removed and the twin rune waffles touched each other and red up, sending arge spark out which ignited the measured fuse, setting it burning down the thin tube.


    The six grenades bounced against the semi-soft dirt forest floor and rolled in different directions, but most of itnded next to the Hero who was praying away. The slow-burning fuse smoked and finally reached the main explosive filler in just 4.7 seconds and the grenade exploded in the confined body of the cast iron grenade and cracked the casing, turning the serrated cast iron shell into hundreds of fragments, sending them flying at a spherical st, throwing lethal shrapnel in its immediate vicinity.


    -----


    Dante just finished his invocations when suddenly heard several soft thumps and he opened his eyes and they widen in surprise as he recognized the egg-shaped olive green colored artifacts rolling around him. "BASTARDS!"


    And the world exploded.


    -----


    "GO GO GO!" Tyrier yelled a second after the grenades exploded. They burst out of cover and pushed in towards the sts, in two teams of three, their weapons up and ready as they charged.


    -----


    Hearing the grenade explosions, Lt Joesph yelled, "CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE! Section Three and Four, advance!"


    And the Marines of Section Three and Four climbed to their feet and fanned out, advancing to where the Hero was.


    -----


    Tyrier stepped over the root of a tree and swung his weapon around, expecting to see the Hero, but what was left was just some smoking holes, caused by the grenade and a dark wet patch, that looked suspiciously like blood.


    "Check your area!" Tyrier ordered and the rest quickly spun around, their weapons scanning their surroundings. He crouched over the dark patch and touched it, feeling the warmth from the dark liquid on his fingers. He sniffled the substance and nodded, "Blood. He''s wounded alright."


    "He''s wounded! That means he will be pissed!" Tyrier warned, "Be on alert!"


    Rapid footsteps could be heard and Tyrier yelled, "Marines! Watch it! The Hero is wounded and is hiding somewhere! Keep your eyes open!"


    "CONTACT!" Some Marine yelled and he fired, followed by the rest who saw a fleeting figure up in the trees. "Up on the trees! He''s running!"


    "Go!" Tyrier yelled, chasing after the shadow. "Kill that mother farker!"


    -----


    Dante growled as he hugged his sides, his Sun Aura had vanished after tanking all that damage from the cursed demonic weapons. Something from those weapons had hurt his side, and as he hopped from tree to tree, he felt warm wetness forming at his side. Looking down, he saw he was bleeding and he cursed again.


    "Damn low lives!" Dante screamed as the trees around him exploded from thunderstones cast by the demon worshippers. "SUN GOD! GIVE ME STRENGTH!"


    "EYE OF THE SUN!"


    -----


    Suddenly as Tyrier and the Marines were chasing the Hero, the Hero suddenly shed with an intense ring brightness that brought them all to a halt and forcing them to cover their eyes.


    As the brightness faded, a sudden shockwave, followed by a heat wave that mmed everyone backward, and the troops yelled and cursed as they painfully rolled and tumbled back along the forest floor.


    When Tyrier recovered, he noted in horror that a huge expanse of the forest had literally been scorched away, leaving behind arge circr clearing of charred ground.


    "Shit! Sarge!" He yelled at the Marine Sergeant. "Check your men!"


    "ymore One! Report!" Tyrier yelled as he pushed to the edge of the newly formed clearing, feeling waves of superheated airing from the ground. He saw a glowing figure floating in the middle of the clearing and huge floating manifestation of divine power in the air, where a glowing eye was looking down at him.


    "MORTALS! YOU WILL PAY FOR DAMAGING THIS BOB-!?!?" Dante''s yelled was cut short when suddenly several buzzing roars thundered from the sky and streaks of yellowish red tracers hammered into him.


    -----


    "GUNS GUNS GUNS!" Legos yelled as he squeezed his gun trigger, and his whole ne shook wildly from the heavy thumping of the 20 mm gun pods. Twin streaks of tracers roared out and intersected directly at the floating figure with a huge ass eye in the sky. His 20 mm rounds causing smoke and sparks on the figure as he broke off his engagement, allowing the second Cobra lined up to make it firing run.


    -----


    Tyrier yelled out in excitement as he saw the Cobras swooped in from above, each firing a long burst before breaking away, and allowing the next ne in line to fire, sending the Hero tumbling in the air. "KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH!"


    -----


    Legos looped his fighter around, watching his flight wing engaging the Hero in turns, but suddenly as thest ne broke away, the Hero seems to pulse brightly, and a beam of eye-searing light ripped out and cut thest ne''s left wings, Gold Five into two, sending the ne spiraling down.


    "Mayday Mayday! We got a Cobra down, repeat Cobra down!"

 Chapter 158: How to kill a Hero

    Chapter 158: How to kill a Hero


    The radio squawked with yells of "Cobra down! Gold Five is down!" Flight Sergeant Stamford cursed as he stretched his head up, trying to see the action in the skies but the small opening in the canopy barely allowed him to see anything from the back of Blue Thunder.


    "Damnit! They are getting hit hard up there!" Dek said as he looked up from the radio set. "What do we do now?"


    "Pray..." Stamford whispered, "We can only pray for them to survive..."


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, Scorched Ground


    "Light him up!" Lt Joesph yelled as he crouched next to a ckened piece of wood log. He had ordered Section One and Two to continue to head towards Rendevous Point Blue while Three and Four engaged the Hero hovering in the air, glowing with divine light.


    The long RAATATATATATATAA burst of fire roared out from the sides and the Orc gunners braced their MG-1 against the fallen trees and fired in long controlled bursts. Bright tracers floated out towards the Hero, who raised his arm up, and a glowing shield appeared. The bullet impacts leaving behind sparks and red glowing molten lead on the shield''s surface.


    A WOOOOSSSSH screamed out from somewhere and the thermobaric rocket mmed into the back of the Hero. The thin wafers of fire runes at the nose of the rocket propelled grenade copsed and sending a ming spark into the explosive filler and ignited, throwing out a small cloud of hydrogen, fine aluminum and mana powder mixing into the air. In a split second, the second stage fuse ignited, the fuel air mix detonated, rising the immediate temperature to over 1.400 Degree Celcius, sh cooking the air. The sudden detonation caused a small vacuum in the atmosphere, and air rushed in to fill the void, causing a thunder crack and st wave which radiated out in a small sphere.


    The Hero screamed as the st wave hammered him, his arched his back up, blood gushed out from his nose and ears, the bright red a startling contrast against his golden glow over his body. "I KILL YOU! I KILL YOOOOOUUU!"


    His thunderous roar mmed into his surroundings, even over tens of meters away, the men on the ground screamed and yelled as the shock wave from his roar hammered into them, making their internal organs wobbled.


    -----


    Tyrier barely managed to defend against most of the shock wave made by the Hero due to his magic defenses, but he saw a couple of Marines rolling and moaning on the ash coated floor as they suffered some inner injuries.


    "How do we farking kill that thing!" Tyrier yelled as he quickly cast a healing spell on the wounded Marines, "Minor Heal!"


    "Grab that RPG-1!" Tyrier yelled at Hitsu who sat on the floor with a silly look on his face. "Wake the fark up!"


    Hitsu coughed some specks of blood out into his hand and climbed to his feet unsteadily, groping around the fallen body of a Marine where an RPG-1 was strapped to his back. He unslung the rocket tube, giving the body of the Marine a pat on his part and flipped the sights open, and inserted the fire rune into ce at the rear of the tube.


    It was the first time Hitsu ever fired the RPG-1, in fact, the whole ymore One team was not even trained on the weapon. It was introduced while they were still out on a mission at Falledge and during the trek home, the Marines helpfully taught them enough to operate and fire the rocketuncher.


    He aimed the bazooka unsteadily at the rampaging Hero who was throwing sunbeams left and right, and squeezed the trigger, igniting the simple rocket motors, flinging the rocket out on its way to meet the Hero. Hitsu grinned weakly as he watched a small ck explosive cloud nketed the Hero and dropped the spent rocket tube down, before slipping into darkness.


    -----


    Flight Sergeant Legos twisted his fighter into a low swooping loop, and lowered the throttle, reducing speed as he lined up his gun sights for a fly pass. "GUNS! GUNS! GUNS!" He roared, his whole ne jerking as the dual 20 mm autocannon gun pods mounted under each wing sted away, the spent cartridges almost twice the length of his forefinger got recycled into an ammunition hopper.


    The bright tracers chased the Hero who raised his shield to block, and the view changed as Legos, yanked his stick up and to the side, pushing his throttle up, as he came out of the attack run, pulling away from the Hero. He looked up at the rear view mirror. keeping his eye on the enraged Hero and saw him starting to pulse brightly. "OH FARK!"


    Legos yanked his stick to the left, forcing the agile ne into a barrel roll, as the Hero spat a beam of superheated light energy at him. He clenched his teeth and leg muscles hard, as the G force pressed down on him, barely dodging the Hero''s attack.


    "That was close!" Legos puffed out as his fighter lengthened the distance away from the Hero. "How tough is that asshole?"


    "Gold Two to Gold Lead! Fuel is at 34% and dropping!" The radio crackled. Legos quickly nced at his own fuel gauge and cursed. His fuel has hit 36% and they have to return if not, they will not have enough fuel tond.


    "Gold Group! All birds to make onest attack run and regroup at sector four, niner, three, three, copy?" Legos read out the coordinates from the map on his left thigh.


    "Roger, Gold Lead!"


    "Lining up for attack run!"


    Lego turned his ne back, seeing the sun reflecting off his other two wing mate fighters as they dived down onest time with guns zing.


    -----


    Lt Joesph cursed as he heard the voicems from the radioman. "Shit, the flyboys are out of fuel and will do ast attack before returning to base!"


    He looked at the medics working on the gathered woundedying low behind a cover of sloping terrain. "Sarge? How many stillbat capable?"


    His toon Sergeant rubbed a smudge of blood off his nose and spat out a gobble of blood spit to the side and said, "Three, not including you and me and the two medics. But all have some form of injuries."


    "Shit!" His first Marinemand and he got half the toon in the shits. "Stay and fight or run?"


    "Sorry Sir, most of the wounded can''t move," His toon sergeant shook his head, "And I doubt we can outrun that bastard." Jerking his head towards the Hero fighting with the remnants of his men and ymore One.


    "Radioman!" Lt Joesph called out and reached out for the ''C'' shaped receiver. "Eagle One to Thunderchief,e in over?"


    With the destruction of the forest, several opening in the canopy had opened up, thus allowing some radio signals to get out and not long, HQ replied. "-derchief, send."


    "Eagle One, taking heavy casualties! Requesting support, over!"


    "-underch- stan- -y."


    "Shit!" Lt Joesph tossed the receiver back to the radioman and looked out from cover the maddened Hero. "What does it takes to kill that son of a bitch?!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    Captain ke faced turned darker and darker as he watched and listened to the reportsing in from the battle with the Hero. He looked up at the live streaming UAV video over the battlefield, seeing the eye-catching divine Eye of the Hero, brightly ring at everyone beneath it.


    "Captain! Eagle One requesting immediate support, they are reporting heavy casualties!" Themunication officer reported from his station. "Orders?"


    "Tell them to fall back if they can," ke ordered. "What''s the status of the Valkyries?"


    "They are roughly 30 minutes out with 2nd Battalion, Eagle Company, toon 2," Commander Ford replied from the tactical plot table. "Gold Group is disengaging from the Hero and is RTB (Return to Base).


    "Hmmm... that''s still too long," ke replied. "Status of the main guns?"


    Ford turned and looked at ke with a surprised expression on his face. "Sir, I don''t think that is a good idea. We canunch a missile strike instead."


    "You saw what 20 mm and RPGs can do to that... thing!" ke countered. "Now status?"


    "As ofst maintenance reports, Engineering and Armament cleared it for active duties," Ford replied as he pulled up the records. "It can be fired, but not advisable."


    "Bring it up online," ke said instead, "warn the city."


    "Aye, aye Captain!" Ford replied reluctantly. "Weapons officer! Power up the main guns!"


    "Aye! Powering main guns!" The weapons officer of the day yelled back excitedly. "Sounding main guns alert!"


    -----


    A sudden harsh re rang out three times, signaling and warning the ship for the firing of the main guns. Gunners supposed to be on duty manning the main guns jerked up in shock as they heard the re and the inte rang out, "Prep the main guns! This is not a drill! Repeat this is not a drill!"


    The gun captain yelled, "ON TO IT! MOVE MOVE!" He hustled the gun crew into action, and they dashed up from the ready room and into the main gun control room. "Check all systems!"


    "Aye! Power systems are green!


    "Reactor holding good!"


    "Loader is green!"


    "Targeting online!


    The gun captain nodded as the reports came in, "Weapons! Gun One systems all green!"


    -----


    Out in the city, it was alreadyte afternoon, and most of the inhabitants were preparing to wind down for the day. Children that had finished their afternoon sses were ying around the fountains and green parks when suddenly a siren rolled out. "Attention citizens, attention citizens! The main gun will be firing! All citizens are to take shelter and keep calm! Repeat the main gun will be firing! All citizens are to take shelter and keep calm!"


    Police and security officers dashed around the streets warning the citizens to stay indoors and cover their ears as the public broadcast system continued to broadcast warning messages in both English and Common Tongue.


    The citizens were confused and frightened but they followed the advice and warnings as best as they could, hunkering down under tables or beds and covering their ears as they wondered what is going on.


    -----


    "Captain, systems all green!" The weapons officer replied.


    "Target! That... thing!" ke ordered.


    "Aye! Target locked on!"


    Using the unique radiation given off by the Hero''s powers, the UAV hovered above the battlefield helped triangted targetting data back to UNS Singapore''s fire controlputers, measuring distance, wind, atmospheric density, pressure and projectile drop.


    The servo motors of whined as the massive 108,000 kg main gun turret rotated, to face the direction of the target. A single rectangr railgun barrel hummed and tilted upwards as it aimed itself.


    "Sir! Distance 527.8 kilometers away! Minimum impact from the''s earth curvature and gravity!" The weapon officer reported.


    "Do we have a clear line of fire to the target?" Ford asked.


    "Negative! The mountains are blocking!" The weapons officer replied.


    "Give me a double shot," ke ordered, "Blow the mountain away for the second fire."


    Ford looked at ke in shock, "Are you sure?"


    "Do it XO*!" ke spoke sharply. (XO* - Executive Officer, 2nd inmand)


    "Aye Captain!" Ford sighed inwardly. "Prep Gun One for firing solution!"


    "Prepping Gun One for firing solution!" The weapons officer intoned. "Gun One loaded and standing by!"


    -----


    The energy crystals harvested from the dead mutant silver dragon were refined into a stable form of a liquid which was stored into a battery like canister. The gunners in Gun One, rammed the canister into a converted generator which hungrily sucked the refined crystals into pure electrical energy, charging up the capacitors.


    As the firing solution was calcted and keyed in, both gun turrets tilt up to the same elevation and hummed, waiting to be fired.


    -----


    "Captain... You sure about this?" Ford asked, "Blowing up a mountain... you might cause some irreversible ecological consequences..."


    "Hell with that," ke replied, shaking his head. "We need to stop that thing right now!"


    "Fire the main guns!"

 Chapter 159: Dantes Inferno

    Chapter 159: Dante''s Inferno


    *Rmended music - Nightwish - End of All Hope


    UNS Singapore, Gun One


    The Huawei Lei Shen series 9 dual 155 mm rail cannon hummed as energy flowed into its rectangr conductive rails. Built and designed by the weapon tech department of one of China''s top hi-tech firms, the older ships like UNS Singapore were armed with the Huawei Lei Shen series 9 railgun which was state of the art during the ship''smissioning. Now thetest frigates and cruisers in United Nations of Mankind mounted thetest Lei Shen series 14 and above models. But that does not mean that the series 9 model was any weaker than its more recently developed counterparts.


    Heat dispensing radiators shields popped out on the armored turret body as the weapon readied itself for themand to be fired. Inside the turret, autoloaders rotated the ready ammunition stores and selected two streamlined armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot projectiles each weighing over 3 kg. They dropped onto a loading hoist which carried the shell into the rear breach of each of the railguns and an automatic rammer shoved both projectiles into their respective guns.


    A mp gripped the armature covering the projectiles in ce as the rammer rotated and locked the gun breech securing the weapon. All these took less than five seconds to bepleted while the gun crew doubled checked their consoles and switches that everything was operational.


    -----


    "Fire the main guns!"


    The weapons officer jabbed the firing key, and a split secondter, the left barrel of the Gun One roared. The projectile was tossed out by the maic fields hit Mach 18 within a second, causing a vacuum tear in the very fabric of the atmosphere. The sonic boom scoured off all loose particles off the exposed hull of the UNS Singapore, and as the shock st hit the Colony secondster, it was like a 7.5 on the Richter scale magnitude earthquake.


    Roofs rattled, windows broke, and any loose items fell and shattered throughout the Colony. The people hurdle under cover screamed while the unlucky ones had their eardrums ruptured.


    Those onboard the UNS Singapore barely felt the shockwave, only hearing a massive thumping, as the ship''s internal sound and shockwave proofing held.


    The armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot projectile screamed through the atmosphere, taking 0.19 seconds to bury its self against one of the snow covered peaks of Sawtooth Mountain and exploded. The peak vanished, and copsed, raining tons of rock and snow down the slopes. Secondster, the roar of the explosion swept over the Colony, creating more screams of fear and terror among the civilians.


    The public broadcast system red again, warning the poption for a second imminent firing of the main guns and the people panicked more as they quickly hid and took shelter again.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Holy mother of god!" The bridge crew looked stunned at the destruction wrought by the main gun fire.


    "Back at your stations!" Ford barked. "Status?"


    "Stan-stand by!" The weapon officer looked slightly pale as his fingers trembled slightly while he checked with the gun crew. "A-all systems normal! Heat levels still within tolerance levels! Gun One auto heat dispensers are functioning normally."


    Ford turned and gave ke a disapproving look. He knew the effects of firing the main gun in an atmospheric environment as he had done a live firing exercise on a barren before.


    ke stared back unflinchingly at Ford and said, "Ensure that the Eagle One knows we are firing at his vicinity, make sure they take all the cover and precautions they could."


    "Aye, Captain," Ford sighed and turned to the ck-jawedmunications officer. "Contact Eagle One, make sure they are prepared and under cover for main gun impact!"


    "Aye XO!" thems officer jolted back to life and started messing around with herms control, raising Eagle One on the radio. "Eagle One confirms danger close!"


    "Warn the poption again," ke said and he waited for thems officer to do her work and waited, looking at the main screen, watching clouds of snow and rock dust drifting down from the shattered mountain peak.


    "Lock on that Hero..." ke said finally after he mentally ensured that enough warning and time was given to everyone to take shelter. "FIRE!"


    And another supersonic boom ripped across the skies.


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, 291 km away from Sawtooth Mountain Pass


    Lt Joesph screamed at the men to take cover, "Danger close! DANGER CLOSE!"


    "Get into cover!" His men yelled at each other, shouting to those still fighting the Hero.


    The Hero hovered in ce, smiling at the panicking and dying soldiers. His body was constantly recovering from the effects of the Sun God''s Eye. He forcefully held onto his link to the Sun God''s divine powers, protecting the link from the cursed demon explosive spells, and thunderstones.


    He gloated at the creatures stumbling away from him in urgency, feeling the terror in their eyes and feeding on their fear of him. Is this what the Ancient Gods felt like? To easily dominate man and creatures? He gave out a bark ofughter, feeling the adrenaline rush as endorphins released from his brain made him high.


    "HHAhaHAHAHAHaahahaahAHAHAHAHhahahaa...!" Danteughed joyfully, "FEAR ME! BOW BEFORE ME! WORSHIP ME! FOR I AM A GO-!!!????!!!!!!!!????????????!!!"


    -----


    Something mmed into Dante, and the Sun God''s Eye closed, vanishing from the mortal world as if it did not exist at all. A sharp crack of thunder, a hundred, no, a million times louder than the roar of a riflegged by 18 seconds behind the projectile that mmed directly into the unaware Hero.


    The Marines and ymore One hunkering down under cover both physically and magically. screamed and yelled as the st wave overloaded their bodies, battering and tossing them like a ship in a storm. Weakened trees were torn up and uprooted, crashing down as the ground shook from the passing of the low flying projectile traveling at Mach 18.


    -----


    Dante screamed as his mind could notprehend what was happening. The terror he has not felt so long since he first gotten his divine powers came rushing in. He felt his heart at the back of his throat and could barely feel any part of his body, only vaguely seeing something dark nesting on his belly.


    He barely felt the heat caused by the friction of the air against his body as he suddenly traveled at 5,963 meters per second with a third of the projectile''s head buried in his abdomen. His skin turned red, and peeled off, as the air scraped his remaining clothes and skin off and the heat burned his hair away and sh cooked his flesh off, exposing his bones.


    Before his brain could process his dire situation as 0.45 secondter, he and the projectile mmed deep into the side of the mountain range, sending a mushroom cloud up into the air and sent pieces of rock and stone flying hundreds of meters away.


    -----


    Blue Thunder roared in fright and tucked his head in under his wing together with his crew as they huddled together, using Blue Thunder''s body as cover from the passing railgun projectile shockwave.


    The men yelled and cried as the ground shook terribly and Blue Thunder felt true fear for the first time in his life. "I-I think I w-wet myself!"


    -----


    Gold leader, Sergeant Legos cursed as he fought against the sudden turbulence while the other nes in his flight rolled and dived in the air.


    "Shit!" Legos cursed as he saw one of his nes impacted against the sea of trees and did a cartwheel before sinking into the leaves.


    "Cobra down! We got another one down!"


    -----


    Valkyrie One and Two barely managed to stay in the air as the shockwave from the rail gun projectile passed by them several kilometers away, both ships hit air turbulence as the supersonic wave rolled over them.


    Greg the goblin screamed and shrieked as he held on to his dear life in the holds of Valkyrie One. The stench of vomit and voided bowels reminded him of his times onboard the goblins raiding ships. "BAD MEMORIES! BAAAAAD MEMORIESSS! NOOOO STINKY MAAAA-NEEEEEEESSS NOOOOO~~~!!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "STATUS?" ke roared out, as the UAV feed suddenly flickered and a [NO SIGNAL FOUND] error message popped up. "Get that back online!"


    "Aye aye!" The frantic crew quickly jumped into action, trying ways to bring back the UAV.


    "Captain, Gun One reports systems holding," Ford reported, "Energy crystal battery currently left 15% power. Temperature holding at yellow levels but heat sinks and dispensers are still functioning."


    ke nodded, "Load the guns and have the crews on stand by, I want to know what''s happening on the ground!"


    "Sir! No responses from Eagle One!" Thems officer yelled. "Valkyrie Flight reports mushroom cloud sighted in the vicinity of Eagle One, ETA 22 minutes!"


    "Airforce Command reports Gold Squadron had lost one Cobra due to the shockwave!" Thems officer reported again as reports from each department started to flood in. "They are requesting a SAR (Search And Rescue) team!"


    "Have Valkyrie Flight vector over for SAR duties once they dropped off the troops!" ke ordered.


    "Captain, upper decks 2A, 4B and 5A reporting warping from the after effects of main gun firing!" Ford looked up from his tablet. "I have ordered crews down to do structure checks and support bracing on the structure frames just in case."


    "Got it," ke nodded, "After this get Engineering to do a whole super structural sweep of the ship, check if there are any issues with the ship''s structure."


    "Aye Captain!" Ford replied. "Damage and casualty reportsing in from the city!"


    "Bad?" ke asked as he eyed a beeping light on hisputer and ignored it as it appeared to be a call from the Princess.


    "Very..." Ford sighed, "I did warn you, Captain... Your poprity ratings gonna drop."


    "Who cares about poprity ratings?" ke raised a frustrated eyebrow. "I care about making sure a threat like that rabid Hero gets put down once and for all!"


    "Sirs! UAV back online!" the UAV operator yelled from his station. "Putting it back up on the main screen!"


    The main screen flickered to life and the view started panning, showing a trail of destruction caused by the rail gun projectile tearing right over the canopy of the Uncharted Forest, leaving behind a straight line of broken trees.


    The image panned towards the circr clearing before it showed a dust cloud still drifting over a mountain face, and the imagery switched to infra, showing a bright blob right at the bottom of the dust cloud. The view panned downwards again, showing figures in the forest, some moving around while most barely moved,ying in various poses on the floor.


    "Think we got him?" Ford asked.


    "What does the radiation sensor tells us?" ke asked the UAV operator.


    "Nothing except background radiation and very low levels of ''Mu'' radiation around the surrounding areas. Mu radiation was the ssification Dr. Sharon gave for the magic radiation given off by the Hero and all forms of magic, just that the amount of radiation the Hero gave off was hundreds and thousands of time higherpared to normal magic, making Dr. Sharon able toe up with a method of detection.


    "Vector Valkyrie Two into the impact site," ke said after a while. "I want visual confirmation of kill."


    "Yes sir!" thems officer spoke into her mike as she directed the flight of Marines to their new heading. "ETA 31 minutes, Sir!"


    ke nodded and looked at the blinking light shing nonstop on his console and sighed, keying the ept key. "Yes?"


    "ke!" The princess''s panicky voice could be heard loudly, making some of the crew look his way. "What is going on!?"


    ke hit the headset key and donned on the headset, cutting off the princess''s voice from his console speakers. "Something we had to do."


    "What is something we had to do? Do you know how many damages are in the city now?" Sherene yelled into his ear. It was the first time he ever heard her yell, oh no the second time, as he thought back to the time she invaded his bunk. "We got calls from many people about being wounded! Are we still required to be taking shelter?"


    "Yes," ke replied, "For at least one hour!"


    "Do you know there are fires all over the city now?" Sherene said, her voice slightly cracked.


    "Hmm, I can think of someone who probably is in an inferno right now..."

 Chapter 160: End of a Hero

    Chapter 160: End of a Hero


    Uncharted Forest, Ground Zero


    The sharp angr lines of a Valkyrie roared in, banking sharply as its tilt rotors swerved forward, slowing the heavy craft and bringing the Valkyrie to a hover over the ckened ground. Its undercarriage bays swung open on hydraulics and four stubbynding gears deployed.


    The powerful wind from the dual rotors blew the green smoke away and kicked up a storm of ashes from the scorched forest. Before the Valkyrie''snding jacks touched the ground, the rear ramp dropped open, and the ship settled down gently. The Marines charged down the ramp, forming up a short distance away before a batten looking Officer wearing a beret and another person with visible wounds dressed in leather armor with a tactical vest.


    The second Valkyrie did a single circuit around the destroyed forest and gave a wag of its wings before its tilt rotors swung to the rear and it flew off towards the dispersing mushroom cloud in the distance.


    "Sir! Sergeant Arven of 2nd Battalion, Eagle Company, toon 2 with two sections at yourmand sir!" A slightly ashen faced Marine with three stripes on his sleeve yelled over the slowing powered down rotor engines.


    "Lt Joesph, this is Specialist Sergeant Tyrier of the Hundred and First." Lt Joesph gave his introduction and raised an eyebrow as a slight stench of sourness drifted over to him, "Are you, ok son?"


    "Eh yes, sir!" Arven looked slightly embarrassed, "Air turbulence." He gave a simple exnation.


    "Ahh," Joesph smiled, and gave a bark ofughter, "Well, it was pretty rough down here too! Rx, I am no longer the Lord General, just a simple Lieutenant."


    "Yes, sir!" Arven grinned back, his nervous tension fading away, "I got medical supplies onboard and medics standing by."


    "Good! I will have need of your medics!" Joesph''s face turned grim, "There are a lot of wounded. This way."


    "Medics! On me!" Arven turned and yelled at the gawking Marines fresh off the Valkyrie, "The rest unload the supplies off the bird!"


    Joseph led them towards a small defile, where dozens of menid in rows with dried blood staining their uniforms. "Most of them suffered internal injuries and broken bones! We need to medivac the more critical wounded out!"


    "Eight dead, and seven badly wounded," Joesph said. "And I have no idea how is the rest with the ves. Our radio is dead."


    "We got radio contact with them earlier," Arven replied as he watched his medics rush to work on the wounded. "They had several casualties but thankfully no deaths, but there are broken bones and burst eardrums from the weaker ones."


    Joseph nodded, "Well, that''s one worry off my back. Any news on the Hero? Is he killed?"


    Arven shrugged and turned towards the dust cloud, "If he''s alive, he should be something in there, but I doubt anyone can even live through that, even if he is a god!"


    Tyrier gave a snort, "Farker is harder to kill than a cockroach! And what the hell is that spell?"


    "I am not too sure either," Arven gave a worried look, "The hoomans have such a powerful weapon hidden."


    Joseph frowned, "I guess they have some secret cards kept hidden away after all."


    The three soldiers turned and watched the dust cloud hovering over the distance, each in their minds wondering how much more hidden away powerful weapons the hooman has in their disposal that could wipe out an entire mountain or even a god.


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, Impact Zone


    Valkyrie One dipped its nose down as it entered the dust cloud, its rotors causing the smoke and dust to swirl away as it came to a hover before a massive hole against the side of the mountain face, its powerful forward spotlight lighting up the insides of the dust cloud.


    Flight Lt Peter struggled slightly with the controls as the rock dust interfered slightly with his rotors, making the Valkyrie sluggish as the filters tried their best to filter out the air in the turboprop engines. "Come on baby!"


    He spun the Valkyrie on its axis and slowly and expertlynded, the rear ramps dropping open and Greg the goblin yelled angrily, "Stinky Maa-neess! You mess up my deck! Shoo shoo! Go kill yourselves!"


    The sickened Marines ignored Greg''s jibs and spread out from the rear of the Valkyrie, the dust cloud hovering in the air blocked some of the sunlight, making thete afternoon seemed like evening.


    Lt Rathia looked around his surroundings with a sense of dread. The dust cloud had effectively blinded them as they could only see a short distance away while the air was chock full of rock dust, making his nose and throat itch.


    Everyone buttoned up their uniforms and pulled up the cor to cover their nose, as they tried to breathe in as little as possible of the dust. Beams of light stabbed out as visibility dropped and the sky grew dark inside as the sun slowly started to set.


    "Sir! Found the hole!" Someone yelled in front and Lt Rathia quick jogged over and a dark wall loomed up before him.


    "Sir! Up there!" The Marine shone his torch up toward the surface of the cliff walls, and the beam barely reached the edge of an opening with cracks radiating out in all directions.


    "That''s what? 15, 20 meters?" Lt Rathia gauged, "I need rope and climbing gear!"


    The men settled down around the wall, while those who were better at climbing scaled the walls, easily finding cracks and foot holes on the surface. Soon, a yelled came down from above and a rope was dropped down.


    "Section One up, Two stays here," Lt Rathia ordered, "I want Section Two to be on alert, watch our backs and also keep an eye on our ride out of here."


    With that, he started climbing the rope, and before long, he hoisted his body into the newly created cave, panting with the effect and from the dust. He took his bottle out and washed his mouth and nose before wetting his throat. "What do we have here?"


    The men all gathered up and shone their lights into the gloomy darkness, their beams unable to prate that far deep into the hole. Themps were made with sh runes, powered by mana stones and reflected by a simple reflector surrounding the sh rune.


    "All ready? Let''s go!" They advanced in loose two file formation, as the tunnel wasrge enough for up to four people to walk side by side. The rock tunnel had cracks all over its surfaces and continued for over 50 meters before the tunnel widened into a sort of circr room.


    "Look!" The point men whispered, as their beams of light yed over a shapeying against the walls. They advanced on alert, their weapons held ready as they spread out, giving room for the rest to enter the room. Their lights and weapons all focused on the only thing inside the area.


    "It''s the Hero!"


    "No shit!"


    "Farker still alive?"


    "You!" Lt Rathia patted the nearest Marine, "Go check!"


    "Eh, y-yes sir!" The unlucky Marine sighed at his luck and gathered his courage before stepping forward, to where the Hero was, while the others snickered at him. "Sir, he looks dead, if not he wished he''s dead."


    Lt Rathia went forward and observed the body. Upon closer inspection, the Hero was actually half buried in the wall, with parts of his body missing. What appeared to be the upper torso and what was left of the left arm with the right arm missing at the shoulder. The head portion looked like an over barbequed round ham, with a thickyer of char and pinkish meat underneath the cracked skin.


    Most of his skin was gone, and his flesh was either stripped away or charred ck with some greyish roasted bones sticking out. He was barely even recognized as a person, as what was left behind was just a vague ck shape.


    "It that even a person?" One of the Marinesmented as he shone his light at the body with less than half its body barely intact. "Look what is that?"


    A glint of light could be seen inside the body from the shlights of the Marine as he yed over the body. "Don''t touch it with your bare hands!" Someone warned.


    Lt Rathia removed his bay and poked around at the body where the glint was seen, "Could be just a piece of the projectile left?"


    His sword bay suddenly poked something hard and with any hesitation, Lt Rathia stabbed in and jerked, ripping the charred flesh open and something fell out with a clink on the rock floor.


    Suddenly the body gasped, its chest rosed up and down, and a pair of eyes with startling eye whites opened wide on the ckened and scarred charcoal lump. "UHHHHMMMM!" It suddenly gasped for air scared the shit out of the Marines as they all jumped in fright.


    "FARK!" Everyone fired their weapons almost at the same time, cursing and swearing at the suddenly alive body! "DIE!! FARK!!"


    The roars of gunfire in the enclosed area deafened the men, and Lt Rathia was yelling, "Cease fire! CEASE FIRE!"


    The gunfire slowly died down, while one Marine gave ast shot at the spasming body. "Cease fire!" Lt Rathia red at the Marine who gave an innocent nk look. "Goddamnit!"


    He waved the smoke away while the men kept their weapons trained at the Hero, cursing at the Hero for scaring them and wondering how the hell is he still alive after all this. Rathia noticed the Hero seemed to be struggling desperately to move the remaining stub of his only hand with melted flesh towards the object on the floor.


    He nced down and with his gloved hands, he picked up the strange crescent shaped object and shone his light on it.


    "OHHHHhNNNNNNNnnnnNNNnn..." The Hero moaned out, his vocal cords had burnt away, his left arm ending in a melted ckened stub waved desperately at Rathia.


    Rathia frowned as he eyed the Hero before looking carefully at the object, and found that it was actually just a part of arge piece of something, only that it was broken into a crescent shape. Complex runes covered its surface coated with bits of overcooked Hero parts and blood.


    Rathia grimaced at it before something clicked in his mind, he looked back at the Hero who appeared to be shriveling up as he tried to grasp the object in his hand with his handless arm. "Is this the divine artifact of the Sun God?"


    He waved the artifact in front of the Hero who opened his lipless mouth, and a moan came out. "Well, Mr. Hero, no more artifact for you."


    The body of the Hero suddenly seemed to sink in, and the eye whites of the Hero turned dull and yellow, and he soon stopped its desperate movements, his head resting down on his ruined chest with his arm stretching out towards Rathia.


    "Is he dead?" Someone asked and using his muzzle, he gave the body a poke. "That''s dead right?"


    "Mine the ce," Rathia said, as he held the artifact at arm''s length. "Give me your rope pouch," He gestured one of the climbers and dropped the artifact into the sling bag. "Use all your explosives and bring this ce down."


    The men nodded as they checked their gear, removing ymore mines and grenades. They stacked the explosives against the tunnel walls, into the cracks and crevices. Once done, they unrolled the fuse lines and gathered at the edge of the cave.


    "Alright let''s get out of here and blow this ce up!" Rathia said, and they climbed back down to the waiting men who were on alert due to the gunfire they heard. Once safely down, Rathia gave themand, "Set the fuses, we should have 30 to 40 seconds to get clear!"


    "Blow it up! Let this be his tomb!"

 Chapter 161: Regrets

    Chapter 161: Regrets


    Sawtooth Mountain Airbase, Hanger 4


    Captain ke stood silently inside a darkened hanger by himself. He stared at the dozen of wooden casketsid out perfectly in rows each covered with a red, blue, white striped g trimmed with at the edges. Eleven dead Marines and One ymore One memberid peacefully within each coffin.


    Soft footsteps echoed and ke released out the breath he was holding in and turned, seeing Princess Sherene dressed in a ck coat over a dark blue dress robe. She reached out her hand towards ke who gave a small grim smile and took her warm hands into his palm.


    "I am sorry," ke whispered. "Your people died under mymand."


    "No, they are standing at the Gates of Heaven now," Sherene gave a smile back at the sad expression on ke''s face. "They fought to protect and defend us from the evil of this world."


    "It is never easy when you lose men," ke replied as he turned and looked at the cold silent coffins. "I had lost a lot of men over the years."


    Sherene silently stood beside ke as he kept vigil over the coffins, shyly reaching out and slipped her arm around ke''s waist, give him mental support.


    "I lost my friends and families during the invasion with the bugs," ke continued, seemingly unaware of Sherene''s arm hugging him. "I lost my two thirds of my crew when my ship was boarded fighting the bugs over the gravity well of Mecatol Rex. I stayed behind and set my ship to self destruct while buying as much time for my crew to escape."


    "I lost my leg then," ke looked up at the ceiling of the hanger. "You should have seen that battle, dozens and dozens of Titan ss battleships, Zeus ss battle carriers, Ares ss battlecruiser, Hera ss cruisers, and Aegis ss destroyers."


    "A mighty fleet over 200 of the finest ships and brave souls of man gathered before one of the Swarms forwards, which they used tounch attacks into the human space," ke rumbled on, his eyes unfocused as he recalled the fleet action.


    "I was the Captain of an Aegis ss destroyer, the Guardian. My ship was part of the 4th Carrier Group, escorting the Zeus ss battle carrier, Endurance with my other sister ships." ke seemed to sink into himself, as he gripped his prosthetic leg. Sherene watched him pour out his pass quietly, not fully understand the words he spoke.


    "Space was lit up by hundreds and hundreds of rail cannons, missiles, energy beams, sma spores, and bug spores." ke turned and look seriously at Sherene, his eyes haunted from the past.


    "I and my sister ships fought their best, shooting down spores before they could reach the carrier Endurance, but a sudden appearance of a Parasite Mother, carefully hidden away in the void of space, dropped over 20 Swarm parasite cruisers and they swarm the 4th."


    "It was an action worthy of the history books," ke smiled, "12 destroyers, 5 escort cruisers, and 1 carrier against over 20 parasite cruisers and 1 Parasite Mothership..."


    "We killed them as they neared, our guns pealing off their bio armor and reached deep into their guts, spilling their lifeblood out, but we fared no worst as them, as thousands and thousands of bug spores rained on us."


    "We fought as hard as we could, till the barrels of the guns melted and the Endurance was targetted primarily by the bugs." ke whispered, "Guardian ran out of missiles and railgun ammo, most of the point defense turrets melted and there was this huge wave of spore about to hit the carrier."


    "And onboard the carrier, the number of lives onboard were over seven thousand men and women," ke closed his eyes. "I made the decision to position my ship in the path of the spores, to save the Endurance. And that decision caused the deaths of over a hundred men and women."


    ke gave a small smile, as Sherene wiped a tear off his eye. "And I fell into depressionter on but was given another chance, the Singapore. High Command couldn''t let a war hero go to waste, even doth he''s mentally unwell. So I was to be the chaperone for the kids, teaching them how to go and die."


    "And die they did, I lost another 370 men and women again to the Swarm," ke lowered his head, "I couldn''t save them, and most of them were just kids, fresh out of school!"


    "And wended here, and there are more deaths," ke whispered, "Everywhere I go, there are deaths. I do not think I am a goodmander, everymand I give. I will cause death..."


    "Hush.." Sherene frowned worriedly and she enveloped ke in a hug, "You are not a badmander, we are at war, and war there are deaths."


    "I am tired of seeing my people die," ke buried his head onto Sherene''s shoulder. "Too many deaths and I can''t show any weakness to my crew."


    "I know, I know," Sherene patted ke gently as she continued to hug him, "Not all choices we make will lead to the results we want. We can only pray for those that passed on for they have left to a better ce."


    "Don''t worry, you can always find me!" Sherene lifted ke''s head up and smiled. "I will also be there for you!"


    ke zed at the deep mesmerizing blue eyes of Sherene, and he felt better after pouring out his sadness that he had kept away locked in his heart. Sherene blushed as she stared back at ke and for some reason, she leaned forward slowly, her plump rosy lips widened slightly.


    ke gave a smile back and he held onto Sherene and kissed her gently on her lips and who melted in his arms and she kissed back fiercely.


    -----


    Human Colony, General Hospital


    Dr. Sharon stripped away her bloody surgical gloves and dumped them into a biohazard bin before turning the tap at the sink and started scrubbing her hands with soap. She looked up at the tiny mirror, and gaunt looking face looked back. Dark eyebags covered her eyes, and her eyes were blood shot. Her cheeks had sunken in and she had a very paleplexion.


    She sshed water over her face, the cold water shocking her system, making her feel slightly refreshed. "I need sleep!"


    "tye maure sr-"


    Dr. Sharon sighed as she heard the voice in her head, the damn voices were keeping her awake all nighttely and she was at the operating theatre saving lives, as the Valkyries medivac in the wounded.


    She exited the washroom and head towards the Intensive Care Unit, and stared at the health monitoring systems. The newly constructed hospital had most of the bare minimum equipment for healthcare and medical emergency with a massive helipad on the roof. It had a bed capacity for up to two hundred patients and four operating theatres.


    Dr. Sharon had spent most of her time teaching and education trainee nurses and doctors on modern medical care. She also incorporated magic for healing and would mostly use magic to help recover wounds as it was more cost effective. Most of the ship''s medical equipment had made their way over to the hospital while leaving behind one set for emergencies onboard the ship.


    She nodded to a couple of trainee nurses who gave a short bow to her before they scurried off to wherever they were supposed to be. After she was satisfied with the health monitoring systems, she wandered off to her office.


    Dr. Sharon dropped onto her sofa in her room. She appropriated the sofa from the recreational room from the ship and using her authority and now she flopped on it, closing her eyes as she worked over 7 hours non stop saving lives. She drifted away into a dreamless sleep as soon as her exhausted body hit the sofa.


    "Lre ehtel..."


    -----


    The Colony, City


    Groups of citizens sifted through the concrete rubble as they looked for survivors and personal possessions. The city had suffered two major quakes from the firing of the rail gun, and rescue workers and police officers worked all night to help provide first aid to the wounded and rescue people trapped under piles of rubble.


    There had been a few deaths caused by falling debris and ruptured organs. Most of those wounded and died did not take shelter or ignored the warnings given by the Public Broadcast System and they paid with their lives.


    Yells and shouts echoed through the city as everyone was out on the streets. Several Orcs were even sighted as they lifted heavy concretes bs that broke off from buildings caused by the quakes. There were fear and despair in the air, yet also a strongmunity bond, as strangers and neighbors helped each other out during the crisis, ignoring each other''s race or beliefs.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Office


    ke sat on his chair as he mindlessly turned the item sealed in a stic bag in his hand that was retrieved from the Hero''s body. "So this came from the Hero?''


    Commander Ford nodded, "We did all kinds of checks on it, even carbon dating."


    "And the result?" ke ced the artifact on the table.


    "We do not what is it made out off," Ford answered, "It blocks x-ray scans, and carbon dating roughly tells us this thing is roughly 400 years old. Be noted that the carbon dating is not that urate due to its exposure."


    "But we estimated that it could be up to 6-700 hundred years old," Ford continued. "There are minute traces of Mu radiation given off constantly from its surface."


    "Magister Thorn''s conjecture is that this might be from the Age of Gods and that Dante had found it somehow and that is how he got his divine powers." Ford finished his report.


    "So is it safe to touch?" ke asked, "Can anyone just use it and gain powers like Dante?"


    "Yes and maybe..." Ford replied. "To gain powers like Dante, Magister Thorn says that you might need to be chosen or acknowledged by the god."


    "Also we have no idea what are the side effects of having such power," Ford added, "I don''t really want another crazed hero rampaging around."


    "Dr. Sharon thoughts?" ke asked, "She be able to figure out something?"


    "I did not disturb her for this," Ford said, "She''s was busy in the hospital till this morning and I am letting her sleep first."


    ke nodded, "Have the families of the deceased Marines arrived?"


    "Yes Sir," Ford sighed, "The funeral will be set next week."


    ke leaned back and asked, "Do you think I made the right choice?"


    "You mean the main guns?" Ford asked back which ke gave a confirmation nod.


    "Yes," Ford replied simply. "Sometimes we need to sacrifice something for the greater good."


    "But the price is it worth it in the end?" ke asked.


    Ford nodded, "Yes, if not the Hero would have killed everyone and march in here afterward."


    "I thought you disagreed?" ke asked again, "The main guns are too overpowered to be really suitable for atmospheric firing."


    "I did," Ford replied, "It is my job to tell you the pros and cons, and the final decision is for you to make. And seeing how the Hero could actually still be alive after taking a 155 mm sabot projectile, I believe that you made the right choice in the end."


    "We have deaths and wounded in the city due to the firing of the gun," Ford added, "But in the end, I think it was needed, if not the death toll caused by the Hero will be much much more higher."


    "I see," ke sighed, "Please provide all support to the civilian poption and also make sure the rest of the Marines and ves make it home. Also, we probably need to construct bomb shelters for the civilian poption in the uing months."


    "Yes, Captain!"

 Chapter 162: Sunblock

    Chapter 162: Sunblock


    Goblin Sea


    A huge wave crested over the bow of the gship Fury, as two-meter tall waves rose up and down. The dark skies lit up as a bolt of lightning shed across the skies, like an erratic serpent crawling in the skies. Thunder rumbled and sheets of rain hammered the Isles'' ships as they weathered the storm.


    Fleet Master Dijon roared withughter as the rain and seawater drenched him. He held on to his ship''s steering wheel with both hands and his feet spread wide in perfect bnce as the Fury crashed into a wave and rose up and down.


    The crew hurdle against the mast and whatever shelter they could find, praying that the storm would end soon. "Fleet Master! We can''t see the rest of the fleet!" His first mate yelled from his post at the poop deck.


    "Don''t worry about the rest, once the storm passes, we will be able to regroup," Dijon roared over the storm. "I trained the men myself, they know how to handle their ships."


    Dijon peered out into the dark stormy night, trying to see ahead, "Navigator! What''s our heading?"


    "Holding firm! Three points to the star!" The oilskin d navigator yelled next to him as he studied the lodestone in the bowl, being careful not lose the lodestone in the storm.


    "Great! What great weather!" Dijonughed wildly, as his muscles bulged, gripping the ship''s wheel tightly, making sure his ship stayed on course.


    It was hourster when the storm ebbed, and the seas returned to normal, the sun has risen up a couple of hours and the skies barely had a cloud in the clear blue skies. The crew of Fury were drained and barely had any rest, most of them hadid down and rested on the decks. "Ahoy sails!" The boy at the crow''s nest yelled from the top of the main mast. He pointed to the rear where some white spots could be seen along the horizon.


    Dijon pulled out his copsable farseer, the telescope made by the finest ss masters on the Isles. He counted several white square sails in the distance, and gave an order, "Trim the sails! Bring us about!"


    His first mate nodded and roared at the crewying around the decks, "TRIM THE SAILS YOU LAZY DOGS!" and the crew jumped into action professionally.


    Dijon folded his thick muscr arms and watched his crew work, despite theirid-back manner, his men were fiercely loyal to him, he smiled, turning to the navigator who was spinning the wheel to bring the ship around towards the sighted sails.


    The missing ships of the fleet soon joined up and jolly boats wereunched from the ships as the Captains gathered at the Fury. Each Captain dressed different, some were wearing a tri-cone hat, with colorful blouses and pants, others were bareheaded and dressed more formally, but all wear a white jacket with gold braids and trimmings, which identified their ranks.


    They all gathered in the gship Captain''s Quarters where Dijon sat before a long table. His bed had been cleared away, leaving enough space for the nine Captains to settle down on chairs brought in by the crew.


    As they settle down, crew members doubling up as stewards started serving breakfast, fresh eggs hard boiled with cold bread, smoked ham and fish, a wheel of hard cheese, jugs of honey and dried fruits were quickly spread out on the table. Jugs of watered down wine were also ced on the table for the Captains who quickly filled their mugs and gave a toast to Fleet Master Dijon.


    "Everyone made it?" Dijon asked as he scanned his Captains,


    "We are missing Ironwill''s Captain," Someone spoke, "We did not see any signs of his ship since the storm."


    Dijon nodded, "Keep a lookout for his shipter. Damage to your ships?"


    His Captains gave a quick report of their damages and progress of repairs with the most serious was the loss of a mast while they dug into the food.


    Dijon nodded as he chewed on a hard boiled egg, listening to his Captains'' reports. "Good, we hold for repairs for Striker, once the repairs to the mast are done, we set sail again."


    "My navigator tells me that we are roughly 2 days sail away from the rebel''s harbor," Dijon said with his mouth full. "We are here to show off our might and show these rebels the power of our fleets. This will be a diplomacy meeting, I want no one to misbehave at the rebels harbor!"


    The Captains looked at each other and an unsaid thought could be seen in their eyes. It''s more like you the Fleet Master to start a brawl in drinking holes and pubs! But they all kept quiet and nodded.


    "Good!" Dijon grinned, "Now we are also to pick up some ves for transportation back, and also see if we can make some business deal with the rebels at the same time!"


    "The Empire most likely will defeat them sooner orter," Dijon added, "So squeeze as much gold out of their pockets before it all ends up in the hands of the Empire! FOR GOLD!"


    The Captainsughed, raising their mugs and goblets high, "GOLD GOLD GOLD!"


    -----


    Goblin Coast, Far Harbor


    The rumble of heavy machinery roared past Petty Officer Letts, and a heavy tractor powered by a nine-cylinder engine pulling a trailer loaded with massive pre fabricated reinforced concrete blocks kicked up a massive dust cloud in its wake.


    Letts coughed and waved the dust away, quickly crossing the busy dirt path as another tractordened with more pre fabricated blocks roared up. He quickly entered the small office next to the busy construction site and shut the door, barely muting the loud noises outside.


    "Phew! It''s hot!" He removed his white safety helmet and hung it over a peg by the door and settle down on his desk where a simple rotary fan blew warm air.


    "Of course it''s hot!" A soft feminine voice replied to him, "Its almost the start of summer!"


    "Yes yes I know," Letts started to unroll the sheets of architectural drawings on his desk. "At least the rain will stop and the ground will be easier for the construction crews to work on."


    "Yes, the stormst night, was quite bad," The silver hair elf walked over to Letts''s desk. "Last spring storm of the season."


    "Yup... So Irisval, how was your civil engineering course?" Letts asked as he used a couple of rocks as a paperweight, cing them on the ends of the technical draft.


    "It was... educating..." Irisval smiled, "I didn''t know there were so much to consider in construction and buildings."


    "Well, good for you! Come here and take a look," Letts absent mindedly gestured her over. "Look here, this is the pier section which we havepleted construction. Now, here will be the dry docks and port for major ships toe in to load and unload cargo."


    Irisval nced through the design drawings and nodded.


    "Now the seabed here is mostly sand and sediments," Letts continued, "But this area has no good natural deep harbor for deep-hulled ships. We need your expertise to harden the terrain so that we can construct a port out towards deep sea."


    Irsival nodded as she rotated the drawings and took note of the location, "I need to go take a look and feel of the area first."


    "Ok, by the way, the ships from the mysterious Isles will be arriving by tomorrow," Letts reminded her, "There''s gonna be a big weing reception at the pier for them. If you are free, go join in the fun."


    Irisval nodded and rolled up the blueprint drawings. "Got it boss!" and she exited the small office.


    As she stepped out of the shade of the office, the hot sun sted onto her. making her narrow her eyes as they slowly adjusted to the bright sunlight. She has worn a simple white blouse with pockets and a pair of khaki shorts disying her long legs andbat boots with a toolbelt over her slim waist where she kept measuring tools and mana stones.


    Shorts were like all the fashion rage now in the city due to the changing weather, she thought to herself and grinned, wondering how the people from the Isles will react when they saw the girls here all dressed up in short blouses and scandalous shorts.


    Wearing her white helmet, she hopped across another rumbling tractor carrying more construction materials and headed towards the port area where a white painted 2 meter tall wooden wall fenced off the construction site.


    Slogans and warning signs were nailed up against the wood wall, and strips of yellow and ck markings lined the edges. She reached the gate where three security guards in ck armor and equipped with swords and revolvers guarded the entrance.


    They stopped her as she neared the gate, and she disyed her pass, which they carefullypared the picture on her pass with her face before nodding and allowing her entry. She stepped past the guard post and entered the still under construction port, skipping over water holes, with the roll of drawings under her arm.


    Dozens of workers with yellow helmets were toiling under the sun. There were even a couple of Orcs carrying ''I'' shaped steel beams and they stacked it on other beams, and teams of workers started welding the beams together.


    She skipped past the dry docks and headed straight for a fenced off area by the beach and stood before the sea. She noted the beach had been paved over with concrete and she head right to the edge of the concrete tform and removed her boots before she climbed down into the water.


    The surging waves pushed against her as the cooling seawater reached up to her lower thighs. Irisval felt the loose sand underneath her feet and admired the beautiful crystal clear waters.


    Closing her eyes, she channeled her magical senses to the sand underneath her, probing the terrain with her powers. It was almost an hour before she suddenly opened her eyes, and gasped for air as she used almost two-thirds of her power.


    She grimaced as she realized she got sunburnt, her smooth white skin had turned red from standing in the sun and she wondered if the hoomans have any medication for sunburn, if not she has to find a healer to cast some healing spell on her skin.


    Climbing back up to the concrete tform, she spread the roll of paper out and started to jotting down notes, highlighting areas where the terrain was soft, or firm, and where reinforcements were required. Finally done, she felt like she was baked under the sun, and she quickly returned back to the shaded office.


    "Here!" She dumped the roll of drawing onto Letts''s table and turned the fan to blow her, taking out a bottle of lukewarm water from her desk to drink. "Phew, it''s hot! I am cooked!"


    Letts looked up from his paperwork and saw Irisval looking like a boiled lobster andughed, "Didn''t you apply sunblock?"


    "Sun bob?" Irisval raised her pretty eyebrows in question.


    "Sun-block, not bob or bored..." Lettsughed again, and dug into his drawers, removing a bottle of sunblock lotion. "Damn girl, your skin is gonna peel off at this rate, you better go find Doc, for some after sun cream or you gonna regret it tomorrow! Here, catch!"


    He tossed the bottle of lotion to Irisval who caught it and stared in confusion at the English wordings. "You actually need to apply that over your exposed skin before you go out in the sun. Keep it."


    Letts nced through the notes written on the drawing while Irisval read the instructions on the bottle. "Wait! This blocks the sun?"


    "Huh? yea!" Letts replied without looking up. "That''s why it''s called sunblock."


    "Why didn''t you give me this earlier!" Irisval cried as she red at Letts.


    "You didn''t ask," came back the reply.


    "ARGHH!! MEN!!!"

 Chapter 163: Holidays and Festivals

    Chapter 163: Holidays and Festivals


    Sawtooth Mountain Holding Camp


    Kaga Whitetail yawned and stretched her body out in a very cat like manner on the simple bed she was lying on. It was just a simple metal frame with a piece of cloth stretched over it, the idea was ingenious to Kaga. In fact, ever since they arrived at this ce, she was amazed and constantly surprised by many things.


    After the fiasco with the Hero, Kaga and the rest of the ves, escorted by the strangely dressed barbarians which sheter found out that they were mostly from the Kingdom of Goldrose, which the Empire hadbeled them as rebels, traveled a couple of days before encountering a caravan of dragon wagons which was hired by the rebels to transport the tired ves to safety.


    The caravan foreman, named Norman, seemed to havee from the same employer who bought and freed them. He appeared to be afraid of something as he kept twitching in fear throughout the journey until they reached an impressive stone castle built into the very surface of the mountains where he adamantly refused to enter, staying outside the castle and leaving as soon as the ves were dropped off and even refusing an escort through the Uncharted Forest.


    They rested half a day before setting off again, this time riding strange mechanical contraptions that appeared to run on magic without the use of any dragons! The speed which it traveled boggled Kaga''s mind as the scenery outside the ss windows appeared to vanish as rapidly as it appeared!


    They were then told to exit the magic wagons and a small army of white coated and simrly white costumed healers fussed over them before they taken to a ce for a shower and fresh clothing were given after which they were fed. Once that was all settled, they were separated into males and females and were given arge tent which was shared by four persons each.


    Kaga remembered the healers were saying something about diseases and virus and ''ma-nu-tree-tion'' among the survivors, and they were needed to be ''qurr-ren-teen''?


    She slipped on a pair of slippers that she was told were actually made out of slime parts. The sole came from the body of ck slime, found in the swamps up north, the slime was gutted and its guts removed before the body was machine pressed into a shape of a sole and sun dried. A simple soft woven strap made of grass was secured to the sole.


    The slippers felt soft andforting to her feet as she exited the tent, and headed towards the canteen for food. She noted some of the womenfolk were washing their clothes at the washing areas where water gushed out from taps which she only has seen at either nobles, royalty or the filthy rich mansions.


    Finding her way into the cook tents, she smelt the strong aroma of herbs, spices, and meat! Kaga grabbed a tray from the side and joined the queue where a cook was giving out food. As her turn came, she gave her most charming smile at the young man, who blushed and handed her a slightlyrger portion. Today''s menu was scrambled eggs with ham and two slices of white bread and slices of a red sweet and tart fruit that they called ''toe-ma-to''!


    Finding an empty seat, she sat down and wolfed down the food. Ever since she came here, she felt she was gaining the weight she lost over the past few months. The food was just too good and exotic, like that ''bur-girl'' she had the other day, two toasted bread buns with a juicy chunk of meat with cheese and more of that red tart fruit! It tasted heavenly and Kaga was looking forward to what is for lunch today.


    As she was finishing her meal, she overheard a group of people who came together with her to this camp, discussing about what are they going to do next. "This all seems just too good to be true!" One of them was heard saying his voice low.


    "But they fought and protected us from the Empire!" Another was saying also in a low voice, but Kaga hearing was sharp enough to hear their conversation.


    "Yes, but look here! They are keeping us like prisoners!" The earlier male spoke, his eyes ncing over to a couple of guards at the end of the tent. "We are like ves still to these people!"


    Kaga''s ears twitched as she held in her anger, her food forgotten. Did they know how much they sacrificed to save them?


    "I heard that they will be asking us who wants to stay and who wants to leave to go to the Isles," Another person whispered, "I overheard some of the strangely dressed healers talking."


    "Are you sure?" Another asked, "Could they be selling us off instead?"


    "I just find all this all too good to be true!" The original speaker insisted. Kaga discretely observed the speaker, who had a sunken yellowish face and dark silvery hair and a thin body frame, most likely from being starved over a long period of time.


    He nced furtively around and gestured his group closer and whisper even softer, making Kaga strain her fluffy ears as she leaned closer to listen while pretending to eat her breakfast. "We should make a run for it!"


    "But how? The camp is surrounded by those strange wire fences and there... guards!" Someone hissed. "You want to overpower the guards?"


    "Shhh... lower your volume!" The yellow faced elf sharply whispered. "You want everyone to know?"


    "No way," Another person said, "I''m out of this. this is way too much for me!" A few others also disagree and they picked up their trays and left.


    "Cowards!" The yellow faced elf spat, "Ignore them, they can be ves for all their lives!"


    "But where can we go?" Those that remained asked.


    "Simple! We know they are going to ship us off," The elf gave a nasty grin, "We just steal that ship!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Main Conference Room


    "So what do we know of the Isles?" Captain ke asked everyone gathered in the room.


    "Virtually nothing, except information from some merchants who dealt with them in the past," Lueftuant Tavor of Fleet Intel, replied. "What we have is only second-hand information, which can''t be verified."


    "But we do know is that they are the strong naval force in this area, on par with the Goblins at least," He said next, "Also what we know is that they have a very strong presence in the finance world. Most likely controlling at least 50% or more of the trade within its sphere of influence."


    "It should beparable with old Earth Britain, an ind nation, which its navy as its strongest military power and relying mainly on trade." Tavor pointed to the map highlighting the area where the Isles were reported to be located. "The map given to us by Goldrose is over a hundred years old and un-updated, so this is to be taken as a gauge."


    "UAV recon flights had already spotted arge sailing fleet heading our way," Tavor switched the view on the screen to disy a top down view of over ten ships with white sails in an inverted ''V'' formation.


    "Those looks like simr our old sailing frigates to brigs," Chief Matts spoke up as he looked at the image. "Just no cannons."


    Tavor nodded, "Yes, from the images we managed to identify their main ship to ship weapons are mostly ballistas or catapults. Crew strength in the smaller brig like ships are calcted at around 200, while therger frigates types are at around 350. Also, we found that they appeared to lost one ship after the storm the night before."


    "At their rate of speed, they will arrive in another day or two." Tavor finished his report and sat down.


    "Thank you," ke said, "Alright, Far Harbor has informed me that the pier is ready to wee our guests, so we be sending some representatives down. We will also iste the visitors to only the area around Far Harbor, I don''t want them to know our capabilities. All construction work and equipment will be pulled out and the workers will be given a holiday."


    "I want security to be on full alert too," ke added, "And also if possible, Princess, I will leave the negotiation of trade deals under your care."


    Princess Sherene shyly nodded and blushed, keeping her eyes down on the note pad in front of her. ke grinned and turned to Dr. Sharon. "How are the neers?"


    "We have settled them down, and done a full medical and health check," Dr. Sharn replied, "So far, blood works on virus and diseases came back negative. But I still like to keep them in quarantine for a couple days more just to be sure."


    "Got it," ke nodded, "Major? How are you men doing?"


    "Morale is actually pretty high, despite the memorial service the day before." Major Frank replied, "In fact, the men of Eagle Company are calling themselves Godyer and are recovering well."


    ke gave a weak smile remembering the tears of families as they watched the coffins enter the ground. "Princess, how is the civilian poption doing?"


    Sherene jerked as if she just woke up, "A-ah, so far, repairs are still ongoing," she replied in a fluster, her face turning red. "City Hall has run a few public broadcasts on the radio exining the situation, and we managed to appease the poption, and withpensation given to the families that were affected, and with the amount of support given by the government, so far there weren''t manyints."


    "A-also, I like to propose something," Sherene looked up at ke, "It''s almost summer and soon it will be harvest time, I like to propose we have a summer harvest festival for the people."


    "A summer festival?" ke turned and nced at Ford who shrugged, "Is there any cultural background to it?"


    Sherene nodded, "Traditionally during mid summer, after the time of harvest, everyone gathers to give thanks to the God of Harvest for providing food to the people. And I think we need something like this, it will help boost the morale of the citizens."


    "Well, I think it is a good idea," Ford spoke up, "We did miss out on celebrating Christmas, New Year and other festivals."


    "Yeah," The rest at the meeting room nodded and voiced their approval to the idea of having festivals and holidays. "Holidays!"


    "Alright, alright, rx people!" ke nodded and gestured for everyone to calm down, "n the date, budget and manpower needed. City Hall will handle all forms of festivals and holidays, ok?"


    Sherene nodded eagerly and gave a small smile at ke who gave a cough and turned to the look at the rest, "Now in regards to the Hero incident, we will need an SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) in dealing with entities like these. We can''t keep firing the main gun unless it is a situation that threatens the whole of the colony, the main gun isn''t a weapon for atmospheric usage. It is over powered in fact!"


    "But Captain, 20 mm cannons and rockets barely deal any damage to the Hero," Major Frank pointed out, "We can''t fight something like that on par."


    "I know, so either we upgrade our weapons or we have someone where simr powers," ke replied. "All ck powder weapons will be turned in and returned to the factories to be modified for the new smokeless propent ammunition. That will improve our firepower sufficiently at least."


    "And so far the only force I know, managed to fight with the Hero almost on par is ymore One using ck powder weapons." ke continued, "Therefore, I want you, Major, to scout for more talent among the Marines to join the ranks of the Hundred and First. We need more than one team of ymores."


    "Sometimes if guns don''t work, we need to use magic, and if it doesn''t work either... we use both guns and magic!"

 Chapter 164: Friends from Afar

    Chapter 164: Friends from Afar


    Goblin Coast


    "Ahoy! I see something ahead!" The boy yelled down from the crow''s nest, his hands forming a rectangr shape with his fingers as the air around was magically enhanced, giving the boy a blurry but zoomed in view of the coast.


    A tall whitish stone structure loomed up from a long stretch of what appeared to be a pier or harbor of sorts. Waves crashed against the stone surface and figures could be seen moving around. Fleet Master Dijon frowned as he noted the length of the stone pier like a bridge into the sea with a round tower that he wondered if it works in the same function as their firelight towers back at the Isles.


    "Sound the horns and raise the gs," Dijon ordered to his first mate, "Tell the rest of the ships to form up in a tight formation." He did not expect the rebels to have such awe looking structure and it would be more impressive as they neared.


    His suspicions were true when his fleet came within eye distance, and he gauged the pier to be at least 10 times the length of his ship fromnd to the sea, while the width of the stone bridge to be at least as long as his ship from the beam to the aft. Such an impressive engineering feat, they must have a very powerful spellcaster or geomancer to mold and rise stones to make something like this!


    He also knew that thest time, any Isles ships that passed by this area did not report any signs of construction, and it was just before the winter season. So that meant that the rebels had magically raised this in with two seasons? How much did they sacrifice to make something like this? Or were the rumors true that they sold their souls to the demons for power?


    "Signal the rest of the ships," Dijon narrowed his eyes in thought. "with the red and yellow g."


    The boy in charge of raising signal gs and blowing the horns looked startled at the order and hesitated, but with a re from Dijon, he quickly scrambled off to the main mast and started pulling colored gs out from the locker and attaching it to the signal lines and hoisting it up for the rest of the fleet to see.


    The other ships'' Captains seeing the colored gs frowned and their expressions turned serious. "Order the crew to make ready forbat, stay on the highest alert and be ready for an attack!"


    The red g meant "Make ready for possible battle" while the yellow g meant "stay alert for an attack." The ship crews unlocked the weapon lockets, removed barrels of cusses soaked in oil of the fruit of cococane, and crossbows while gunners ready the ballistas and catapults.


    The ships closed their formation, expertly forming up into two rows as they sailed towards the stone pier while making ready for battle.


    -----


    Goblin Coast, Far Harbor, Pier One


    Princess Sherene was dressed in a simple cream colored short sleeved long dress that reached till her ankles, tied with a golden ribbon around her slim waist, which she found that she appeared to be have gained weight making her slightly depressed as she thought of all the tasty food she had over the month. She wore a simple woven straw hat, that provided some shade from the summer sun, and had a pair of shades given to her by ke and also a cream that Dr. Sharon insisted her to apply on her skin, saying if she does not want to look like a cooked spider ant, she better apply it.


    The white washed concrete pier rosed up several meters higher than the ocean waves, barely sending any sea spray onto the broad expanse of the pier. She noted it could easily park over a dozen of the Jeeps without any issues, while still leaving space for people to walk. The sides of the pier waist height pirs spaced out evenly along the edge, where a simple rope was tied to rings embedded into the pirs, creating a fence like effect, most likely were to prevent people from walking over the edge and into the sea, Sherene thought to herself.


    She held on to her fluttering dress tightly, as the sea breeze blew strongly and nced out towards the clear sea, where she saw two lines of sailing ships with their white sailsing towards the pier. She nced around, making sure everything was in order, the weing band, something she picked up from the hoomans, to the colorful banners and gs tied to the small pirs, making the whole area look festive.


    Dozens of police, security and even a toon of Marines stood at their posts while guests invited over by the City Hall and selected workers from the harbor construction and harbor staff crowded behind the guards as they chattered in the sun and sea breeze waiting for the ships to arrive in excitement.


    Further down, behind a roped off area, were the freed ves they escorted through the Uncharted Forest. All of them were invited toe to watch the ships arrive, and informed that they can have the choice of staying behind here and earning their citizenship or leaving with the strangers to the Isles.


    -----


    Lt Joseph removed his beret and rubbed the sweat off his regtion cropped hair. He reced his beret and carefully pressed it down to the desired shape and turned to watch theing ships. 2nd Battalion, Eagle Company, toon One were given this duty as a simple job for them, as most of the men that survived were still recuperating and HQ thought it will be good for them to have some sun, not to mention they were with the ves for a better part of their journey, and it was better to have familiar faces than strangers posted to watch them.


    Dressed in a starched dark grey uniform coat, with a polished leather belt and holster, gold buttons and a pair of marking trousers with red strips along the seams. He walked towards the Princess who was holding on to both her dress and a wide brimmed straw hat.


    "Princess!" Joseph grinned, as she turned around in surprised and broke into a smile at the sight of him.


    "Lord Joseph!" Sherene cried out in pleasant surprise. Shest saw him was after the time he returned from the forest, covered in injuries. "Have you recovered? Shouldn''t you be resting somewhere?"


    "Hahaha," Josephughed warmly, "I''m all fine, Doc gave me a perfect bill of health just the day before."


    "Are you sure?" Sherene looked at him worriedly, she treated him like family as he and Magister Thorn were the only people left in her life that she knew since young.


    "Of course, of course!" Joseph waved her concerns away. "I''m here to help keep an eye on order, but it shouldn''t be too hard, so it will be a rxing job."


    Sherene nodded, "If you are not well, remember don''t push yourself ok?" she reminded him again.


    "Rx, Princess!" Joseph grinned, "Look! The Isles ships are almost upon us! What we are missing is that old bugger, Thorn and it will be just like old days!"


    Shereneughed, "Well, I heard he is pretty busy at the new school of his, working on some project or teaching students. I did invite him along, but he said something about his old bones unable to ride in the Jeep for long hours." It was roughly a 3 hour drive from the City to Far Harbor.


    "Heh, knowing him, he must be engrossed over the artifact we found from the Hero to be bothered with all this ceremony," Joseph gestured around them.


    "Hehe," Sherene covered her mouth and giggled, "I guess you are right, he must be deep in his study trying to dig all the secrets he could out of that thing!"


    "Look, here they are!" Joseph felt warm hearing the Princess''sughter and watched therge and imposing sight of a sailing ship slowly make it way to the pier.


    -----


    "Master Dijon!" The first mate yelled, "We are nearing the pier, depth at roughly a quarter less five and holding!" He stood over the anchor chains holding a weighted stone and line, measuring the depth of the ocean floor as they approached the bridge.


    Dijon watched the figures at the pier suspiciously and looked behind his ship, where other Captains had formed up in a line. On the stone pier, a figure, most like the port master was blowing a shrill whistle, all the while waving a yellow colored g.


    "What is that man doing?" He asked curiously, wondering why is he waving a g. "Is it some kind of warning or signal?"


    "Master Dijon," His navigator holding on to the steering wheel spoke up, "I think he might be telling us to follow him to where to tie the ship up!"


    "Really?" Dijon raised his eyebrows, as in the Isles, a boat will lead the ships to the docks to be tied up. "Well follow him and be on the alert for any signs of trickery!"


    The massive two decker ship creaked as it rocked it way slowly, the navigator carefully steering the ship beside the stone pier, listening to the first mate calling out the depth and the crew threw ropes over to the men who gestured for the ropes on the pier as the port master blew his whistle and waved his g madly at the ship, signaling them to hold. The port workers quickly secured the ship''s ropes to the concrete pir lining the edging of the dock and they removed the rope barriers to allow the ship to drop their gangnks over to the pier.


    Half of Dijon''s fleet followed him in, the other fleet dropped anchor and held their position in a line, their catapults, and ballistas aimed towardsnd and the pier. The ships following Dijon''s gship were also directed to dock on both sides of the stone pier and soon the pier became crowded with ships for the first time.


    Dijon gave a sight a relief when noted the friendly smiles and waves the dock workers gave the crew, but that did not ease the sense of unease in his heart. He nced towards thend, seeing severalrge walled buildings and what appearedrge blocks of stone of some kindid neatly on the ground.


    "Secure the lines!" Dijon bellowed at his excited crew, "The first watch with me, the rest be on alert!"


    His crew from the first watch, gathered up at the gangnk, dressed in their best day dress, mostly a mix of color faded blouses, threadbare coats, and patched trousers. All were armed with a variety of weapons, from cusses to hooks, to cudgels and even knuckle knives, hidden daggers, and hand crossbows.


    A small party of neatly and smartly dressed elves stood ramrod in a perfect row of two lines. They held what appeared to be a long metal rod with wood finishings, that looked like a mix of a spear with the lower body of a crossbow. A very prettyss in long fluttering dress and holding a straw hat in one hand smiled at the front of the group together with a severe-looking male, in a weird t hat on his head and also simrly dress like the two rows of elves.


    "I am Fleet Master Dijon," He dered as he stepped down the gangnk, in his white and gold clustered coat, a mboyant wide brimmed hat with arge golden tail feature of a griffin. Gold chains hung from his thick muscr neck while his fingers were adorned with more gold and precious stones. Yet all that wealth, he carried a simple and worn cuss scabbard hooked on his rich leather belt.


    "Humble greetings! Fleet Master Dijon," Sherene gave her best court curtsy and gave her best smile, dazing the crew. "I am Princess Sherene, previously of the Kingdom of Goldrose, now Assistant Governor to the Colony of Mankind."


    "Wee to Far Harbor, friends from afar!"

 Chapter 165: 165 - Trade Talks

    Chapter 165: 165 - Trade Talks


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    Captain ke sat with one arm propped against his chin as he watched the live streaming videos disyed on multiple monitors. Commander Ford frowned and nced at ke who appeared to be dazing at his seat.


    "Captain, don''t you think we need like at least some of the other officers at least down at Far Harbour to be part of the weingmittee?" Ford probed the Captain.


    "Nah, didn''t you heard what Lt Tavor has briefed us?" kezily replied, "Those locals that did not interact with us before assumes that we are demons, and those that work with us have sold their souls to be granted great power."


    "I don''t think us being there will help diplomacy much!" ke waved Ford''s concerns away, "Besides, Sherene has a charming effect on other people, she will do well convincing the people from the Isles!"


    "If you say so..." Ford sighed, "What about the Empire now?"


    "Well,st we heard was that the Rock guy was supposed to be here, but Intel lost track of him and instead, the Hero came and made a huge mess..." ke frowned, "I guess either that the Rock has gone to another front, or is gathering his strength before hees down on us, seeing how we defeated Duke Sturm and the Hero."


    "It should ''rock'' the Empire back for a while, giving us some breathing space," ke grinned. "Get it? The Rock get rocked back on his heels~"


    "Please, Captain..." Ford shook his head, "Are you sure you are okay? Lately, you seemed to be... I don''t know? Cheekier?" He did not know what word to use to describe ke''s actions.


    "Hahaha," ke grinned, "Well, I guess something has left my shoulders, and I feel... great!"


    "Do you need a checkup? I will page Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn for a full medical both physical and magical right now..." Ford narrowed his eyes, "You are not acting yourself, Captain..."


    "Hahahaa, rx!" keughed at Ford''s expression, "Truth be told..." ke lowered his voice so only Ford could hear him in the crowded Command Bridge. "Me and the Princess, we... erm... I asked her out... and she agreed."


    "HAHAHAHAHA," Ford burst outughing, "OH MY GOD!" What are you, a twelve year old?" Ford hugged his sides as heughed at the red faced ke who grinned sheepishly back. "Hahahaha, I can''t stopughing!"


    The crew turned and stared at the normally serious Commander and wondered what the Captain said to make the Commanderugh till he couldn''t control himself. "Shhhhh!" ke red red faced at Ford, "Come on! Is it that funny?"


    "Hahaha yes," Ford coughed and grinned, "Oh yes, I mean, everyone knows you guys are together you know?"


    "Huh, what?" ke scratched his head, "Everyone does?"


    "Of course! Everyone can see the way the two of you look at each other, and how the Princess blushes when she makes eye contact with you..." Ford grinned wickedly, "And the list goes on, I can continue if you want..."


    "Stop!" ke raised his hands in surrender, "I gave up! You guys are like bored housewives!"


    Ford kept his evil grin, "Seriously, I mean its good that you guys are official now, I mean, you shoulda seen the bets on you and her getting together! It is getting slightly a bit out of hand..."


    "What? People are betting on us being together?" ke jaw dropped in surprise. "Serious?"


    "Oh yes. Which week of the month, who kissed who first..." Ford ticked off his fingers, "Well... I guess I can go collect my winnings! HAHAhahaha!"


    "What?" ke stared at Ford who winked back, "You..."


    "Hahaha, don''t worry I give you a good treat with the winning bet!" Fordughed. "Anyway good job onting the Princess!"


    -----


    Goblin Coast, Far Harbour


    Princess Sherene tucked away her sunsses carefully into a small pouch and her aide kept it away for her. She smiled at the tall muscr sailor with thatrge brim hat with a golden feather swaying in the sea breeze. "Please follow me,e and have some refreshments and shade."


    Lt Joseph yelled amand, and the two rows of Marines snapped to attention and a secondmand had them forming up, facing each other, creating a way for the Princess and their guests to walk between them.


    "Fleet Master, if you may?" Sherene gestured for the Inder to take the lead, while she stayed next to him, escorting him towards a row of buildings built just for this event.


    -----


    Fleet Master Dijon schooled his face into a pleasant expression, despite having feelings of unease at this ce. He looked around his surroundings, noting the neat rows of men were their soldiers from the metal and wooden polearms with what appeared to be a short sword as the spearhead. He wondered why would they have such a strange looking weapon, that looks like a spear yet seems moreplicated to make than a simple spear.


    The navalmander in him took note of the pier, and his unease grew. Five of his ships had docked, including his gship, Fury and selected crews had already disembarked fully armed and were gathered just behind him. He noticed that despite the five ships docked, and some more is docked parallel to the pier, it could easily amodate his entire fleet while still having space for more ships.


    He hid his frown, wondering why would the rebels built such a massive pier for what reason. Are they nning a fleetrge enough to be utilized by this harbor? And what are those walled up areas dotting the beach further away?


    Dijon decided to ask, and he lifted his burly arms and pointed to the distant shore, "Princess, what are those?"


    "Oh? Those are warehouses and stores yet to be built or halfway constructed," The Princess answered with a small smile. "And those will be workshops and services to be provided to the ships once they havepleted construction."


    Dijon raised his eyebrows, looking at the small slender Princess, surprised at her words, "You mean all that is to be built?" He gestured the blocks of walled off areas, which were almost the size of a small town.


    "Yes!" Sherene nodded happily, proud of her people''s work, unaware of what Dijon was feeling. "We hope to have this area as a trading port in the future, and of course, we do hope you could be our trading partners!"


    "Oh," Dijon kept his thoughts hidden, thinking that how were they able to afford all these construction work and how are they going to handle the wrath of the Empire? "Who built these?"


    Sherene smiled sweetly and said, "It''s all done by our earth elementalist!" She recited the script given to her by ke, "She is a very valuable help to us in construction! All these were done by her! If not how do you think we managed to built so fast?" Sherene giggled, "People might mistake us for worshipping demons! Hehe!"


    "I-I see," Dijon had the grace to appear embarrassed. "If talking about trade, what do you want to trade for?"


    They had walked to the end of the pier and Dijon noted the ground was the same grey white stone material. Everything looked neat and tidy, with groups of people behind what appeared to be the town guards of sorts with roped barricades. "Let''s talk inside," Sherene gracefully gestured Dijon into a building, that was made out of the same material but more ornate in design.


    Several long steps led up to a facade withrge round pirs and arge double door which guards dressed in all ck with shiny leather belts and boots, wearing a strange looking cap opened the doors.


    A soft velvet carpet covered the main hallway and ball of warm light lit the interior. Dijon looked up in surprise at the light chandelier, wondering what kind of magic is that. Another flight of stairs led them up and into one of the doors, arge room withfortable looking chairs and arge table was arranged out in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Large windows were closed and bordered one side of the walls, which allowed natural light to brighten the room, yet the room remained cool.


    A side table filled with refreshments and covered trays sat on the side, which the Princess gestured for Dijon to partake with his Captains. "Food and refreshments will be provided for the rest of your men. Also, supplies for your ships, please inform my port master here. He will arrange with your men to supply your ships."


    Dijon nodded and spoke to one of his retainers who nodded and left the room, leaving to arrange for supplies for his ships. The rest of the Captains left their men behind and only followed by a couple of their own retainers or aides. settled themselves down on to the chairs.


    -----


    Kaga tiptoed from the middle of the crowd as she tried her best to get a view of the front. One of the nearby beastmen who had a body of a bear helpfully made some space for her, allowing her to squeeze her way to the front of the barricade.


    She saw the colorfully looking sailors disembarking from the ships and the crowd cheered, as the sailors waved at them. Suddenly, she spotted a figure, she recognized. It was the same man that saved her and gave her that piece of a yummy treat!


    Kaga waved and shouted, trying to get his attention, but the crowd was too loud and they were too far away. She tried her best to catch his attention but he passed by her without seeing her. Thinking fast, she ducked down under the barrier of rope, and dart out, followed by a cry of surprise from the ''po-lease man'' in ck uniform. "Hey!"


    Arms reach out to grab her, stopping her from approaching the group. She barely made a few steps before she was caught. "You! Stop! In the name of thew!"


    She yelped as she was brought down to the rough ground, "Noo! I need to talk to that man! That one in the funny hat!"


    "Nice try, girl!" The guards holding her down, shook their heads, "Come on, girl, this isn''t a ce for you to be at." Despite the initial rough tackle, the guards held and spoke to her gently after seeing she was just a small cute fluffy thing, which made her tail stand up in anger.


    "NO! I''m serious!" She tried to wriggle her way out but was held on too firmly by the two guards who shrugged and carried her away to the side. "Wait!!"


    "Hold it!" A voice suddenly spoke out, and the two guards froze, while Kaga eyes widened in surprise.


    "You!"


    -----


    "Metal ores? Grain? Skilled shipwrights?" Dijon took a sip from a crystal like goblet, holding the thin ss carefully with his coarse fingers, and savoring the sweet and tarty drink with a hint of alcohol, something called a fruit punch, which he wondered what does the punch meant.


    "Yes, in return we can offer you pure alcohol, high-grade steel, copper or other metals." Sherene sat gracefully, on the sofa, nibbling away at a piece of chocte brownie.


    "Hmmm," Dijon frowned as he ced the goblet down, and picked up a bar of steel from the table, feeling the heft of it. "I will need to have the quality of this verified."


    "But shipwrights?" Dijon raised his eyebrows, "We don''t deal with ves."


    "No, we just want to hire them," Sherene replied. "We will pay for their food and lodging."


    "You want to build more ships? Dijon asked.


    "Yes, you do know that the goblin raiders are just out there right?" Sherene replied. "We do need some ships to patrol the straits and also for fishing and if possible direct trade with you."


    "Interesting," Dijon smiled, "Does that means that you are not afraid of the Empireing for you, Princess?"


    "The Empire..." Sherene looked slightly downcast but she quickly covered it up with a smile, "They did try, three times in fact..."


    "Three times?" Dijon frowned as he only heard about two attacks.


    "Didn''t you heard that they sent the Hero, Dante after us?" Sherene replied.


    "And?" Dijon leaned forward, curious for the answer and news of the Sun Hero.


    "Just say that the world has one lesser hypocrite who thinks he represents justice."

 Chapter 166: Story Telling

    Chapter 166: Story Telling


    The Colony, Academy of Science and Magic


    Magister Thorn hummed to Pachelbel''s Canon in D Major as he carefully scribbled down notes and observations onto his notepad as he yed around with the 8k ultra high resolution image of the Hero''s artifact they recovered. He was frankly amazed by the level of detail of the image, as every nick and scratch was shown up clearly and sharply and he doesn''t even need to squint his eyes nor wear what the hoomans called corrective sses ...


    He sighed and closed his eyes as Beethoven''s Symphony no. 9 yed next, letting his mind wander with the music for a while before he resumed his work. He tapped a few keys on theputer that the hoomans provided to him, which was as alien as it could be to him at first, but over time, it proved to be more useful in recording, retrieving and analyzing information rapidly.


    "Hmmm?" Thorn suddenly straightened up, "What is this?" Theputer dumped several matching runes and symbols to what was found on the surface of the artifact. He had all his books and scrolls carefully scanned into theputer and stored into the system with the help of his students. And theputer started beeping as its databased found simr runes or iconology.


    Thorn frowned as he studied the information poured out on the screen, feeling confused and shocked at the same time. "My heavens! What is this?!"


    -----


    Far Harbor, Civic Center


    Fleet Master Dijon stood facing the floor to ceiling windows, looking outside from the second floor down to the harbor where open topped wagons were being pushed by men,dened with supplies towards the ships docked along side the pier. He gave a rapped against the clear ss and frowned, his merchant mind spinning rapidly. "This ss, is it done by your craftsmen?"


    "Yes," The Princess replied while sipping some hot beverage. "All made here, by own our hands."


    He turned back to the view outside, hiding his expression from the Princess view, as he digested the information. So far, all he saw was wealth and incredible workmanship everywhere, unlike the reports that they were defeated by the Empire and were on the run, before managing to fight off the persisting forces due to terrain constraints.


    All these disys of wealth do not tally which them being on the back footing, it shows more like they are prospering instead of slowly being defeated. He looked at his ships, fully decked out and ready to intimidate and awe the rebels here, to force them into epting whatever unfavorable deals or contracts with him, but instead the tables appeared to have been turned.


    Or was all this just a ploy? To show that they are strong but actually, they are weak? He turned and observed the Princess, who sat upright, her long legs tucked under her dress, sipping from a delicate cup and saucer, seemingly at ease without any traces of worries or fear in her manner and deposition.


    Dijon rubbed his stubble on his chin, and turned his attention around to thevishly decorated room, taking in all the details, from the food, drinks to the decor. He could calcte roughly how much gold and silver was spent just to prepare all these for him and his Captains who were sampling and enjoying the food. Dijon grinned suddenly, well, let''s put my sense of unease to a test, I shall dy as long as I can, and freeload with my men here, let''s see how long the Princess can keep this pretense up!


    "Ha!" Dijon gave out a sudden bark ofughter, making the Princess raise her fine looking eyebrows up. "Tell me how you defeated the Empire at the mountains! I am sure it is a tale worthy to tell and songs to be made!"


    The Princess appeared lost for a minute before she nodded, and racket made by the rest of the Captains quietened down as they turned their attention to the Princess''s words, hearing of their journey, chased by the Empire troops, and hounded by blood thirsty goblins and monsters in the Uncharted Forest and the brave battle they had at the Pass.


    She purposely left out some details in regards to the hoomans abilities, and instead retold them as allies who helped saved them from the ws of the Empire. The Captains cheered as they heard how they won and cried when told how the dead were mourned and shuddered as they heard of the undead walking again.


    They sat raptured by the tale, their drinks, and food in their tes forgotten as they listened to the strong soprano voice, lost in the wonder and action of her words. And when the story ended, the men wept for the lost souls who fought bravely against the Hero and gave a prayer to the gods to look after their souls in the afterlife.


    Sherene wiped a tear away from her eyes, as she finished the story. Some parts of the story were left out, only those that were moremon knowledge where told. She found her tea had turned cold and stood up to pour herself another cup only to find the whole group of rowdy Captains bawling their eyes out, and blowing their noses on napkins and sea scarfs.


    "Eh... are all of you well?" She asked timidly, worried if it was the refreshments or the ''air-con'' that had made them sick.


    "Your story is so sad!" One of them cried, sobbing into his sleeves. "Your men are so brave!"


    "Yes! That Dante! I knew he was no good!" Another yelled, "To think he would hunt and kill girls for their life energy!"


    Even Dijon was affected by the story, as to them, being men who grew up sailing the rough seas, they were mostly out in the oceans for many months, and they know about the dangers and perils of life and death as ites easily and swiftly out in the sea. And the sailors were quite romantic by nature and also view brotherhood and loyalty strongly, and when knowing that brave men sacrifice themselves against a godly foe despite the overwhelming odds, made their blood boil.


    But he frowned, wondering how did they defeat the Hero in the end, "So how did the Hero lose?"


    "It took thebined magic of all our mages to cast a level 9 spell that finally overwhelmed his shields," Sherene simply made something up, thinking that ke is gonna to have to make up to her for a whole lot of lies and half-truths she spoke today.


    Dijon nodded but did not push the issue, and Sherene mentally gave a sigh of relief. The other Captains refilled their tes and drinks and started to ask her more about the story she just told, asking about details on certain parts, and she did her best to answer.


    Dijon took a bite out of the triangrly shaped bread with fillings and nodded to himself as the taste was better than he expected, and watched the Princess trying her best to answer all the questions asked by his Captains. There were several loopholes in the story she gave, but now is not the time to expose it all, let''s see how long they can y this game, he smiled as he tried a piece of fried po-ta-to. "Hmm... Delicious!"


    -----


    Far Harbor, Police Station


    Kaga sat with her back straight as she nervously twisted the hem of her skirt before the fierce looking soldier across the table from her. "That''s all I heard..."


    "So, there is a faction among the freed ves that want to steal a ship from the Isles?" Lt Joseph asked to confirm again.


    Kaga nodded, "Yes, I heard them talking about it the other day, and I wanted to find someone to report it to, but no one seems to take me seriously..."


    Lt Joseph sighed, looking at the shy way Kaga was behaving. She looked like some kid around twelve years old, despite being way older than that. Her fluffy looking ears drooped downwards as she fidgeted in her seat. "Rx, I am not interrogating you, nor am I gonna arrest you..."


    "If you say so..." Her soft reply came back, as she didn''t dare look up.


    "Come on," Lt Joseph sighed and opened the door, "You are free to go, I will investigate on what you had reported."


    "Thank you..." Kaga gave a bow and left the room, led by one of the policemen out of the station.


    "Sir?" One of the police officers asked, "Do you think she is telling the truth?"


    "Yes, I believe her words," Lt Joseph nodded, "Go dig up on what you can on the description she gave us, and do it quietly!"


    "Yes, Sir!" The officer saluted and left, leaving Joseph alone in the room.


    "Damn," Joseph frowned and thought to himself, if those ex ves tried to take over one of the Isles ships, it is gonna look bad to us, and the Isles might break all trade deals and rtionships with us, which we desperately need the goods they can offer to us!


    He stood up and walked out of the room and called his toon Sergeant over. "Spread the word, see who can find Sergeant Tyrier of the Hundred and First, if they see him, get him toe here to find me, I got something to talk to him with."


    His sergeant nodded and saluted before leaving to spread the word among the troops while Joseph put on his beret and headed towards the Civic Center were the Princess and the delegates from the Isles were at.


    -----


    The Colony, Academy of Science and Magic


    Magister Thorn paced around his table as he waited for Dr. Sharon to arrive, while periodically ncing at the montior screen which theputer was still analyzing the artifact.


    He sped his hand worriedly and nervously, before noticing his own gestures and tucked them into his coat pockets, muttering, "Come on ...e on ... hurry please...."


    Someone suddenly knocked on the door of his office, and he yelled, "Come in!e in!"


    Dr. Sharon entered with a briefcase and stood over his desk, "What is it that is so urgent?" She stifled a yawn as she sat down on the lumpy chair in front of the desk.


    "Look at this!" Thorn excitedly snatched up a piece of paper printed out with a jumble of text and pictures.


    Dr. Sharon scanned through the paper and the notes scribbled on it and frowned, "Wait is this what I think it is?"


    "Yes!" Thorn nodded, "Theputer has found some matching text in the database and tranted it out."


    "Hummingbird on the Left?" Dr. Sharon rubbed her tired eyes as she re-read the notes. "What kind of name is that?"


    "That''s the best trantion theputer gave!" Thorn said, "Also some of this I managed to find out." He started to click on some files on theputer and turned the screen to face Sharon. "Look!"


    "Deity of war, sun and human sacrifice?" Dr. Sharon tiredness appeared to vanish as she read the scripts that Thorn had dug out in his research. "So this God that the Hero worshipped, isn''t just the Sun god, but also of war and human sacrifice?"


    "Yes!" Thorn said, "Remember what the little girl told us in the hospital? She said she saw how the Hero absorbed the female''s life force he was in bed with!"


    "So that was a form of sacrifice?" Dr. Sharon frowned. "But where did you get this from?"


    "Now, that''s where it gets more strange..." Thorn spoke in a low voice as he stared at Dr. Sharon in a very serious manner. "This data did note from any of my books, scrolls or from my knowledge. Neither did ite from any other mages here."


    "The inscriptions here that theputer tranted as ''Hummingbird of the Left'', came from an ancientnguage, and that is from you... hoomans..."

 Chapter 167: The Things We Do for the Greater Good...

    Chapter 167: The Things We Do for the Greater Good...


    Far Harbor, Dockside Pier


    Specialist Sergeant Tyrier with the rest of the ymore One on tow looked at the two lines of colorful stalls, lining alongside the dockside, all filled with goods and different types of food. He adjusted his stiff uniform cor, feeling slightly ufortable in uniform as he hasn''t worn it in months.


    "Look!" Hitsu eximed while excitedly pointing at one of the stalls, "I heard that stall serves good ''bu-girls''! I''m hungry!"


    "Yea, let''s grab something to eat," Tavel agreed as he wiped the sweat off his cap, "Don''t know why they sent us here for."


    Tyrier looked around, seeingrge groups of Inders gawking at the wares disyed and sampling food offered from the stalls and nodded, "Alright," He looked at therge clock tower on the roof of the Civic Center and said, "Buy what you want to eat and drink and meet up here again in half an hour''s time."


    "Yes!" Hitsu grinned and looped his arm around Young''s shoulder, dragging him along, "Come on! Let''s go! FOOD!"


    The stalls lining around the streets where specially set up for the Inder''s visit, like a special bazaar with all manner of products and food currently being produced by the city. In a way, this allows the Inders to see what goods are tradable and also allows the sailors from the Isles to unwind and spend some of their money.


    ssware, metalware, even what appeared to be toilet rolls were on disy from various stalls. So far the most crowded stalls were those selling weapons, asrge groups of Inder sailors, hanging around the stalls were the weapon and armor samples while anxious looking police officers hovered at the side, trying to act normal but were clearly worried that some fights might break out.


    Hitsu ordered a few sticks of barbecued meat, and a couple of hot dogs from one of the barbecue food stands, adding a generous amount of ketchup and mustard sauce. He briefly wondered why buns with sausages were called hot dogs, does that means the hoomans use dog meat for the sausages? He gestured with his elbow to Young who had a cheeseburger and they went to join in themotion at the weapon stalls.


    The group of sailors was interested with a repeating crossbow, that uses a crank mechanism to load and reload, allowing a user to rapidly fire off dozens of crossbow bolts in a minute. They gathered around a fenced off area, where a straw dummy was the target, wearing a battered Empire chest te and helmet. The sailor testing the crossbow looked slightly uncertain at the seller who gestured how to fire and load the crossbow before he pointed the crossbow at the straw target and worked the crank as instructed.


    The first shot went wild, hitting the boarded up wall and the rest of the sailors jeered. The red faced sailor appeared to want to give up, but the seller encouraged him to try again and to hold on to the crossbow more firmly. The sailor gave a shrug and gripped the crossbow tightly, pointing at the dummy set at fifty meters away.


    The second shot fared better and hit the ''leg'' portion of the dummy, making the othersugh and cheer. Soon there was a bet ongoing on whether if the next shot would hit the chest te. The embarrassed sailor looked like he was about to walk away, and suddenly someone pushed through the crowd, and everyone hushed up.


    Hitsu swallowed arge mouthful of hot dog and saw a female sailor d in tight leathers and silks. She yanked the repeating crossbow off from the other sailor and tilted the weapon left and right, admiring its workmanship and design. She suddenly snapped the crossbow against her shoulder and cranked it repeatedly, sending bolt after bolt towards the straw target till the bulky box magazine on the top of the crossbow ran dry.


    She tossed the crossbow back to the seller who looked at her with awe on his face, and the crowd went wild. "ANNA! ANNA! ANNA!" They chanted as she swept her tri-cone hat off and a thick mop of luscious golden red locks spilled out over her shoulders and she gave a bow to the men whoughed and whooped before she walked up to the straw target and examined the results of her work.


    Hitsu mouth remained wide open as he stared at the golden red hair sailor strut her way down the range. He suddenly choked when Young pped his back, as he saw Hitsu zing at the female and piece of a hot dog stuck in his throat making his cough.


    "Hahaha," Youngughed as he watched Hitsu''s antics. "Hey, I thought you have two girls already? Why are you ogling at another one here?"


    "AAH.. wh-what?" Hitsu thumped his chest, forcing the piece of hot dog down his throat, "What girls?"


    "Heh, that Billy and that crazy mage girl?" Young winked at Hitu.


    "WHAT?" Hitsu nearly dropped all his food as he started to deny any involvement with those two girls. "Serious?"


    "Hahaha," Youngughed as he finished his burger. "Everyone knows you like little girls.."


    "..." Hitsu wiped the ketchup and mustard sauce from his mouth. "You got to be kidding me..."


    "Hahahahhaa," Youngughed, "Anyway, that chick, she looks way out of your league."


    Hitsu sighed and finished up his food but as they were about to leave, a clear and boisterous voice called out to them. Turning around, they saw the earlier female sailor standing there with her arms on her hips and walking towards them with a few other sailors in tow.


    "You two!" The female sailor gestured to them both with a jerk of her head. "Your uniforms look different from the rest. Who are you?"


    "M-me?" Hitsu stammered as he stared at the heart-shaped face covered by a golden red crown of hair. "Ah-hh.. I-I am H-Hitsu!"


    Young on the other hand, nearly face palmed himself at the sad disy Hitsu was giving. "We are part of the Hundred and First.


    "Hundred and First?" The female sailor frowned and looked at the rest of her sailors with a confused expression. "You carry yourselves different from the rest of those ck shirts and those grey shirts!"


    Young looked down at his grey dress uniform, simr to the Marines, except their pants were trimmed in gold instead of red. He gave a shrug, "We are just simple soldiers."


    "Soldiers, eh?" The female raised one of her eyebrows up, "Than care to exin how that ''repeating crossbow'' works to this poor sailor?" The rest of the sailorsughed and giggle among themselves.


    "Eh, you are?" Hitsu shyly asked.


    "My name is Anna, Anna Boony. First mate of the Man ''o'' war, Talon." She proudly raised her chin up, "So tell me, how does those crossbow work, soldier boy?"


    "Erm," Young looked at Hitsu and scratched his head, "Well, you work the crank, it drops a bolt down from the box and at the same time, it pulls the string back and locks the arms into ce. When you pull all the way to the back, the string is released and the bolt is thrown out and you crank it again to repeat."


    "Hmmm, such an ingenious way of firing rapidly. It that how you defeated the Empire?" Anna asked, her eyes boring deep into Young who coughed ufortably.


    "Yes, 20 men armed with a repeating crossbow is as powerful as a regiment of crossbowmen!" Young exined, "But of course,pared to a regr crossbow, it has a weaker prating strength and range."


    "Interesting, soldier boy," Anna gave a wink and walked off, "Be seeing you again."


    "Wow, did she wink at me?" Hitsu sighed, "My poor heart can''t handle it!"


    "You and your damn nonsense," Young shook his head, "Come on, we need to head back to find the rest."


    "Damn, she is hot!" Hitsu sighed again, looking at the disappearing back of the first mate of the Talon.


    -----


    "Tyrier!" Lt Joseph quickened his steps as he spotted Tyrier near a food stall. "Just nice, I was looking for you!"


    "Hey Lt, what''s up?" Tyrier swallowed the sweet bread roll, that the stall owner called it a ''donut'' and he finished it off with a gulp of ''Root beer'', some drink made out from the essence of some root or bark of a tree.


    "We need to talk, I need your help," Lt Joseph said, will pulling Tyrier to a quiet corner. "We might have a small security problem."


    "Why me? Can''t the police or the security guys handle it?" Tyrier frowned, "We are supposed to be on R and R now." (Rest and Recuperation)


    "Well, it''s those ex ves," Lt Joseph said in a low voice, "Some of them wants to run and take over one of the Isles ships."


    "What?" Tyrier cursed, "Are they stupid?"


    "Well, since you guys actually had fought together and they trust you more," Joseph continued, "I like you to talk them down."


    "Talk them down?" Tyrier asked, "I wanna beat them up! Who ising up with such a silly idea?"


    "So the guy''s called, Cesar." Lt Joseph took out a note from his breast pocket. He hands it over to Tyrier to nced at its content.


    "Oh, this guy?" Tyrier frowned, "I remember him, quite the whiner."


    "Think you can do something about this guy without hurting our rtionship with the Inders?" Lt Joseph asked as he watched a group of Inder sailors trying some hot dogs from the food stall.


    "Well, depends on how you want me to fix it?" Tyrier asked, "Quietly or verbally."


    "I''m guessing this guy will be trouble in the future," Lt Joseph said, seeing the sailors buying another round of food, this time cheeseburgers as they enjoyed the hot dog. "Quietly and out of sight."


    Tyrier nodded, "Do you have his position?"


    "He wasst reported at the back of the hostels," Lt Joseph gestured towards the right, where rows of bungalow like houses were constructed for the Inder''s stay. "I got a tail on them."


    "It is official or...?" Tyrier narrowed his eyes as he asked his question.


    "What do you think?" Lt Joseph turned and looked back at Tyrier in the eye.


    Tyrier nodded, "Got it, I will send word once it is done."


    "He should have one or two aplices, deal with them and this problem goes away," Lt Joseph added as Tyrier walked off, waving.


    Lt Joseph watched Tyrier disappear into the crowd and sighed, "The things we do for the greater good..."


    -----


    Far Harbor, Back alley of Bungalow Row


    Four men were crouched behind somerge empty wooden crates, one of them spoke while cing some items on the ground. "I managed to grab some of these while the stalls were busy and distracted."


    The one speaking held up a couple of short straight tipped steel daggers. "There are too many guards around and I don''t dare to steal more!"


    "Good work, that''s a start at least," A thin yellow faced elf grinned in the shadows, "Asther, What did you find out about our future ride?"


    "Looks like we will be going on board the Ocean Dreamer," the man called Asther replied, as he yed with one of the daggers. "Its a transport and there was word that the Inders might stay at least for a week before leaving."


    "A week?" Cesar looked surprised, "I thought they will only be here for three days?"


    "Well, I overheard the sailors saying they will be staying about a week before leaving," Asther shrugged. "Everyone in the docks heard them."


    "See my friends? These so-called rebels are tricking us, telling us to trust them but yet something as simple as departing from thisnds, they can''t even give us the truth!" Cesar shook his head in sadness.


    "When we return, spread the word," Cesar smiled, "Let the rest the truth, this way we can gain more supporters!"


    "My, my, what a gathering you guys have here!" A voice suddenly spoke over them, making them jump up in shock.


    "Now, that I have your attention, I believe, its time for you all to... disappear..."

 Chapter 168: Awakenings

    Chapter 168: Awakenings


    A snap of a cervical vertebrae cracked loudly in the sudden silence and a limp body with an expression of surprise still on his face slumped down onto the concrete floor. Hitsu patted his uniform, dusting it as he made sure his medals were not dirtied or damaged in any way.


    Cesar and the remaining two men stood rooted on the spot as they recognized the person, and the voice that spoke walked into the line of sight. "Remember I told you before that if you can''t help, at least stay out of the way and not bring more troubles to everyone?"


    Tyrier stood before the fear stricken men, "I told you I will kill you if you be a burden to me. And it appears that my words did not get through into your thick skulls."


    "N-no, wait how did you know?" Cesar yelped in panic as his eyes widened in fear. "W-we are doing nothing!"


    "Nothing?" Tyrier raised a questioning eyebrow and using the tip of his shiny boots, he toed the daggersying on the floor. "While it might not be a crime to owe ded weapons, but these surely are something you are nning on using on some stupid n of yours."


    "No! wait!" Cesar looked around wildly, seeing all the exits out of the alley blocked the men in the same uniform and he recognized them all! They were all the fearsome mercenaries who fought against that crazy Hero to a standstill! "I can exin!"


    "It''s toote for exnations," Tyrier replied, "In fact, letting you live for the past few seconds talking here is already good enough for you." Tyrier gave a gesture and three shadows darted in.


    "NOO!" The terrified men yelled out, only to have their mouths covered and strong arms gripping over their necks. A sudden twist and a crack, and all three died with terror frozen in their faces.


    "Damn, this sucks," Hitsu said as theyid the four bodies out in a row. "I thought we were on vacation?"


    "Stop grumbling," Tyrier replied as he walked out of the alley and gestured to a ck uniformed officer in the distance. "You there, you know who Lt Joseph is? Good! Tell him it''s done, that''s all. Thank you."


    The officer nodded and tried to peek into the alley, but Altied blocked his view and smile, "Somethings is best to be arrogant of." He advised to the police officer, who gave a brief nod and left.


    "Come on, let''s clear the bodies and wrap it up." Tyrier said, "Tonight, Lt Joseph gonna treat us to a big meal for this shit he dropped on us!"


    "HOORAAHH!" The men of ymore One cheered as they melt into the shadows in the alley.


    -----


    Far Harbour, Civic Center


    Lt Joseph nodded as the police officer whispered into his ear and he thanked him, thinking that he needed to treat those ymore One guys to a beer or somethingter. He knocked on the double wooden doors and pushed it open and entered into therge reception room.


    Princess Sherene gave a charming smile as she saw who has entered and waved for him to take up a seat in the informal setting.


    Lt Joseph nced around the room, noting that the Inders were all watching him and gauging him. He walked over to the refreshments table and took a cup of tea, stirring some sugar and cream in before heading over to the group seated around in a loose circle.


    "This is Lieutenant Joseph Tokin," the Princess introduced them to the gathered Inders. "He was Lord General of the Army of Goldrose."


    "General," Dijon rose up and gave an Inder salute, which Joseph waved it off.


    "I am no longer a Lord General," Joseph grinned, "I''m just a humble soldier now."


    "I see..." Dijon nodded, "We heard about your exploits with the Hero and also your efforts in saving the freed ves. For that we thank you."


    "I''m curious, Fleet Master Dijon," Joseph said as he sat down, "Why would the Isles go into so much trouble just to save a few ves?"


    Dijon leaned back on his chair as he studied Joseph and the Princess. He steeped his fingers together, before giving a nod and bluntly said, "For manpower."


    "Manpower?" Joseph looked at the Princess who also had a clueless expression on her face.


    "Yes, manpower." Dijon smiled, before exining. "Look, the Isles are just severalrge inds, my nationcks thend to grow crops or even cities."


    "Look at how aggressive the Empire is going. The Two Nation Alliance is what is left on the maind, not counting you and your merry band of rebels." Dijon said, "Sooner orter, the Two Nation Alliance will fall apart, and what is left is just remnants of royalty and rebels which frankly, the Empire can just sweep everyone away once they have control of the whole maind."


    "Once they have the maind, where do you think they will turn their eyes to next?" Dijon continued, "They will surely turn their eye on the Isles, and while we have a mighty fleet, we can''t fight with a poption 10 times our size!"


    "That''s a reason why we need more people," Dijon answered Joseph''s question, "We have unsettled inds ripe for starting new towns and ports, money and transports are all not an issue. Just weck the people to settle down."


    "I see..." Joseph looked at the Princess who gave a slight nod, confirming their theory of why the Isles need the ves.


    "Well, why not we take a break for now?" Sherene stood up and smiled, "Let me show you to your rooms and let you all settle in, we meet up for dinnerter?"


    Dijon nodded and as he stood up, the rest of his Captains followed him and Princess Sherene led them out of the reception hall, showing them the way to their rooms while Joseph remained behind, deep in his own thoughts.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "So what we suspected is true?" Captain ke said to the image of the Princess shown on the main screen.


    "Yes," The real time imagery nodded, "So far that is what they are telling us, there might be another reason they are not telling us. But it is believable so far."


    ke nodded, "How about the trade deal? Did they ept our offers?"


    "They need some time to verify the quality of our goods, and also time to appraisal them," Sherene replied. "They decided to stay longer than stated before, extending it from three days to a 5 day week now or longer."


    "I see," ke scratched his chin. "We have enough supplies for them?"


    "Yes," Sherene nodded, "I predicted that they might test our resources by purposely overextending their stay, so I had stockpiled enough food tost them for at least a month."


    "Great thinking!" ke smiled, and Sherene turned away from the camera blushing. "Now, must of the ex ves appeared to want to stay than follow them to the Isles, and that will probably raise some tensions."


    "Don''t worry," Sherene winked, "I know how to sweeten the pot for them, so they won''t make much noise over theck of manpower to bring home."


    "Haha, thank you for your hard work!" ke replied.


    "Well, you better reward me when I get back!" Sherene winked again and blew a kiss to the camera, before ending the call, much to the crew''s amusement. Commander Fordughed and winked at ke, mimicking the Princess''s actions and blew a kiss to him.


    "You buggers..."


    -----


    Somewhere north of the Colony


    A small quake rocked from inside of a smoking mountain, radiating out to its surroundings. Creatures ran and fled as the volcano shook, its smoking peaks boiling and vomiting out magma down its slopes.


    A low rumbled came from the insides of the volcano, and something stirred in the depths of the glowing red river of magma and a dark shape slowly raised out from the molten earth. It crawled out from the magma and the liquid earth cool as it hit the surrounding air, turning its body rock hard.


    The creature shook its body and kes of hardened crust broke away and it crawled its way out towards one of the many cave tunnels and before long, it emerged from the top of the volcano. The air shimmered around it and it sniffed the air, around it before spreading its wings out and sending the rest of the hardened crust breaking away from its body.


    It gave a roar as it tasted the air, having slept for hundreds and hundreds of years. It was awakened by something and it stretched its serpentine body as it perched on the volcano peak. Itsrge yellow eyes narrowing as it spotted creatures and animals run away in fear from its appearance.


    It leapt off the peak and spread its wings, allowing the hot air currents to fill its wings membrane and it glidedzily in a circle before it tilted its body down and darted down towards a wind wolf who tried to dodge to the side, but the agile dragon snapped out its ws andtched on tightly in a death grip, sinking its ws into the hide of the wolf which yelped and cried in pain.


    The dragon gave off so much heat, that the wolf''s hide started to char and its fur burst into mes. The wolf yelped and screamed in pain, desperately trying to escape from the ws of the dragon carrying it in the air but soon its struggles weaken, as its body boiled and cooked from the heat of the dragon.


    The dragonnded on a ttish peak of a mountain and started to feast on the cooked flesh of the wolf, relishing the taste of a fresh kill, after hundreds of years of hibernation. As it finished its meal, it found afortable ce to sleep off the meal. The dragon roared out a continuous me, scorching the terrain around it till the rock melted and form a bowl shaped depression. Quite the ground hardened, the dragon nodded in satisfaction and curled up into the bowl and dozed off.


    Simmering waves of heat could be seen rising from the body of the snoozing dragon, and none of the creatures nearby dare to return to their nests and dens, as they fled in fear of a new boss monster that appeared.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, R&D Laboratory


    Senior Spaceman Mason tapped some keys into theputer with the ship carpenter, Amar hovering over his shoulder. "We give it a double nked hull. Adding two straight beams called coamings that run the length of the chart house, day room, and engine hatch, and are integrated to the hull. These beams will add strength and help seal water out since they rise up from the deck. This will give us the strength without excess weight, andminating the wood would help too."


    "We have the machinery and glue to bond the wood, making it stronger," Mason added for Amar''s benefit. "We can use the foam sent that the Singapore uses to repair breaches on its hull. It is highly heat and water resistant, and we have tons of that stuffying around."


    "Fom seend?" Amar looked confused, to which Mason ignored.


    "Now that we have the design, we just need to work out the model and test it!" Mason continued. "This I need your help to make a model out for testing!"


    "You hoomans are amazing," Amar peered at the screen, looking at the detailed lines of drawings and ns. "If I have no idea what is happening here, I might think you people are demons!"


    "Hahaha," Masonughed, "Your magic is just as strange to us as our technology is to you. So noints!"


    "Talking about magic," Mason jolted up, "I think we can further strengthen the hull here with magic reinforcement runes! This way we will not need the use of steel to brace the internal bulkheads."

 Chapter 169: I Spy with my Eye

    Chapter 169: I Spy with my Eye


    Fleet Master Dijon took a swig of ice cold foamy root beer and munched on arge triangr piece of bread which the locals called a ''pit-za''. The taste sweet and sour with the salty gooey cheese and slices of meat sausage tastes heavenly, as Dijon finished the third slice of the round bread that was cut into six slices.


    "Fleet Master and Captains, the magical wards are in ce." The Fury''s ship mage bowed to the gathered men and settled down at a corner of the reception hall, where Dijon had requested from the Princess for their personal use.


    "Good, now no one can listen or scry into our meetings, so let''s start!" Dijon wiped his greasy hands onto a table cloth and gestured for his Captains to report their findings. "It''s over two days since wended, what do we know of these... rebels?"


    "Master Dijon," The Captain of the Man ''O'' War, Boar, spoke, "My men tested the weapons the rebels were offering and so far, they are quite impressed. Especially with the repeating crossbows! Its range might be shorter and power weaker than our steel crossbows, but the rate of fire of it is crazy! One man can fire off more bolts than a file of five men armed with steel crossbows in a turn of a ss!"


    "I strongly advise we purchase some repeating crossbows back and hand them over to Weapon Guilds for them to learn and discover how they work!" The Captain of the Boar added, "It will greatly increase our fighting strength if we can have the men equipped with such weapons!"


    The rest of the Captains nodded and voiced their approval, for they too have seen and yed with the repeating crossbows. Dijon nodded, "Do it, see what the Princess wants to trade for those crossbows. Next?"


    "The quality of their refined steel is must tougher and durablepared to ours," A greying sailor withrge gold loops in his ears spoke up, "I tested the few bars of sample steel they offered us and made this." The sailor brought out a long package wrapped in soft leather and handed it over to Dijon who curiously unwrapped the bundle to find a shiny curved cuss.


    "This is?" Dijon asked the old hand as he lifted the cuss up to admired in the light.


    "I forged this with the steel they gave us," The old Smith replied, "''Ca-born steel'' they called it. I tested it and it proved to be at least two times stronger than our current steel we produce. It is almost like mithril!"


    "I see," Dijon stood up and gave the cuss a few experimental swings and sweeps. "Tourn, draw your sword!"


    The broad-shouldered Captain of the Talon, stood up and drew his cuss out, and with a loud "AHHH!" He chopped downwards at Dijon who parried with lightning fast reflexes.


    A loud ng echoed in the hall, and a piece of metal snapped off from the cuss held in Tourn''s grip. His cuss has broken off in the sharp attack with Dijon!


    Dijon nodded in a pleased manner as he examined the de surface for any imperfections, barely finding any nicks. "This is good steel indeed!" He handed the cuss pommel first to Tourn who took it and started to swing the cuss around.


    Dijon picked up the broken sword and observed the de, seeing where the two edges had met and the force of both swords broke the poorer quality iron-steel. He nodded again, "Well?"


    "If they can supply us with arge quantity of this ''ca-born steel'', it will definitely increase our fighting strength." The old smith said while the rest of the Captains muttered among themselves and nodded.


    "Good! This is a wasted trip after all!" Dijon grinned widely, "The Princess had offered us these materials in exchange for grains, raw ores, processed wood, and most importantly, shipbuilding techniques."


    "For raw materials and food, it is a good deal in exchange for the repeating crossbow and ''ca-born steel''." Dijon said, "But in exchange for shipwrights to teach them how to make ships?"


    "Fleet Master," A Captain spoke up, "We shouldn''t offer them the shipwrights! Their weapons and steel we can trade for and the Guild Masters will sooner orter unlock the secrets to their production means. Therefore trading our ways to make ships will not be worthwhile to us!"


    "Yes, we agree too!" The Captains voiced their thoughts, "Why let them profit? We can just sell ships to them!"


    Dijon nodded, "Than its settled, we will not agree to not teaching the rebels how to build ships, rather we will offer them our older ships for sale."


    "Next, what else is worthy to be traded?" Dijon asked as he picked up another slice of cold pizza.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "So those Inders doesn''t wanna share their shipbuilding technology, but rather offer us some old ships for sale?" Captain ke frowned as he watched the live feed of the Inder meeting going on at Far Harbour. "Damn, those money grubbing bastards... I hoped the lure of better steel and a repeating crossbow would be enough to entice them to share their technology..."


    "Oh well, not every day is sunday~" ke sighed, "Princess, squeeze them hard in exchange for the carbon steel and the crossbows. I think they are also interested in canned food and ss."


    The image of the Princess on the side of the video feed nodded as she too was viewing and listening in to the ongoings in the reception room, as they have bugged the whole area, with both audio and video devices. Magic wards? Ha!


    "Not getting any shipwrights is still within our ns, but raw resources are important, our current output from the new mines are still below our needs and the Isles can provide us enough raw resources to cover the deficits."


    "Luckily, the harvest is doing fine, and there will be less spoge of harvest since the tractors with thebine harvesters were introduced!" Sherene smiled happily, as she was d that food will not be many issues for the winter months.


    ke nodded, d that he pushed hard at Chief Matt and his team to produce a sort of simplebine harvester, that is powered by the same V9 engines the aircraft were using. Dozens of therge spinning harvesters were deployed to all the farms, vastly improving the rate of harvesting crops and preventing the rest of the crops from over riping and spoge.


    "I guess the Fleet Master will speak to me tomorrow after they are done with their discussions," The Princess tiny portrait spoke. "I better go prepare my notes if I want to counter their offers! Bye, ~!"


    ke grinned at the casual way the Princess signed off, thinking that she is started to be more and more carefree and badly influenced by the media the Entertainment Broadcasting team is throwing out. He looked up to see his bridge crew turning away and hiding their smiles as they acted busy. He sighed, wondering if it was the media team or his crew was badly influencing the Princess.


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain, Holding Camp


    Kaga Whitetail was feeling conflicted, as ever since she reported the manner to the soldier, the ones that were involved in the conspiracy went missing! She wandered around the Camp''smon area trying to see if she could find them but for the past two days, she couldn''t even see a shadow of them!


    What had she done! She berated herself and started to question her own beliefs. Are the so-called hoomans, demons that require sacrifices? If so is that why those who opposed them had gone missing?


    She suddenly felt very lonely and afraid of this ce, despite the number of people around her. She had no friends here, as everyone kept a respectful distance from her due to her spirit powers as the beast men treated her as an elder, while the elves normally don''t get close to a beastman.


    As she was feeling down, her senses suddenly felt someone was spying on her and she spin around, trying to locate the source. Something had triggered her six sense, and she felt a chill down her spine as she looked around, her fluffy ears twitching as she scanned her surroundings.


    "-kawaii!" Her twitching ears heard something strange and she turned to the direction the voice came from and saw two short eared hoomans crouching suspiciously behind some crates outside the fence of the camp.


    She narrowed her eyes and red at the two people who suddenly noticed her looking their way and they both ducked down, trying to hide from her sight. Already feeling unhappy, she stormed her way to the wire fence and red at the two men trying to squeeze themselves behind a stack of crates but failing terribly. "YOU THERE! WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?!"


    "Ahhh! Gomenasai! Gomenasai!" One of them was like praying and bowing, wearing a pair of strange artifact on his face, that covered his eyes. The other was trying to crawl away with something ck and blocky in his hands.


    "Are you a thief?" Kaga asked, speaking inmon, as she couldn''t understand En-ish or whatever they are trying to say.


    "Ahh... n-no... w-we no thief!" The weird guy with the strange round contraptions around his eyes spoke back in haltingmon tongue.


    Kaga observed them both and found them to be wearing a simr uniform, like what most of the rebels do. "Are you workers here?"


    "Work? Y-yes yes work!" The strange dou both looked at her like she was some goddess, making her feel conieous of her body, and she turned her body away from them hugging herself.


    "You... what are you two doing! So suspicious! I going to call the guards!" She yelled angrily as she blushed.


    "No- no! We no su- suspicious! We work!" One of them showed a sort of card that was clipped onto his breast pocket of his uniform while in his hand he was holding some strange ck item.


    "What is that?" She asked curiously, pointing to the ck object.


    "O-oh this...? Both of the men looked at each other and suddenly they gave out a sillyugh. "No-Nothing!"


    "GUAR-!!"


    "SHHHHHH!!!" Both of them quickly hushed her, "Ok ok, this is a camera!"


    "Cam-el?" Kaga looked confused at the En-ish word. "What does it do?"


    "It- erm- pictures?" The guy with the eye thingy spoke hesitated.


    "Pik-cure?" Kaga was even more confused.


    "Look!" The guy turned the object around and showed the back of it by the fence. Kaga leaned forward and saw some runes lit up and suddenly an image of what appeared to be her incredible likeness appeared on the surface.


    "WAA!" Kaga hissed, her tail and ears standing up as she red at them. "EVIL! You steal my spirit!"


    "N-no no!" No steal sp-spirit!" The guy cried in surprised, "Picture!"


    "Look!" He turned and pointed it at a nearby tree and clicked something before showing it to Kaga.


    Kaga hissed in warning as he pushed the evil artifact towards her, and she saw an identical image of the tree inside the artifact! "What magic is this!?"


    "N-no no magik!" The twoughed and seemed to wipe tears and sweat away in relief as Kaga calmed down. "This- take picture!"


    "It can capture anything inside?" Kaga looked suspiciously at the screen and tapped hard at the object with her extended w nails.


    "Don-t break!" The guy holding the artifact hugged it close to his chest, saying some weirdnguage, "Antique, DSLR Nikon D850~!"


    Kaga leaned back and looked at them with disgust, "You two are weird..."


    "No- weird!" The two of them yelped, "We take picture- of you!"


    "What? Why?" Kaga narrowed her eyes in fright, wondering what they want to do with her ''pik-cure''!


    "Catgirls!" The two guys spoked in unison, "REAL CATGIRLS! WOOOO!"


    "Eh..." Kaga looked frightened by the two and she slowly backed away from the two strange men, "My mommy told me... not to speak with strangers..." And she turned tail and ran off in fright. "Crazy hoomans!"


    "Ahhh~ Nekomimi moeeee~~~!"

 Chapter 170: History and Wrecks

    Chapter 170: History and Wrecks


    Skies over the South Eastern Goblin Coast, 228 km from Far Harbour


    Quicksilver red his wings as he glided along the coastline, his small crew of two were seated in tandem on his back, observing the area around them as they did their routine aerial patrol. Quicksilver''s dark silver scales glittered in the sun as he made a slow bank over the coast, his horned and ridged serpentine head looking around alertly.


    "Yaaawwn..." Gother yawned, as he stretched his stiff body covered in a thick flight suit. "See anything interesting, Pera?"


    "Nothing but the sand, sea, and trees..." Pera replied as he nced at his wristwatch. "Well, we do another pass along the coast and we can return to base."


    "Yay!" Gother cheered, "Quick, you hear that?"


    "Yessshh..." Quick hissed and he pped his wings, gathering speed and did a loop as they went along the coast for thest round, when he suddenly spotted something in the distance. "Wait! I see something!"


    "What?" Both the aviator crews went on alert, "Where?"


    "Our 2 O''clock direction." Quicksilver replied, "Follow the coastline, see the dark outline against the waves?"


    "Head that way," Pera ordered as he was the crew chief. "Gother, report back to base, tell them we are investigating an anomaly."


    Quicksilver returned to their original course and left their usual patrol route as they head towards the unknown sighting around the coast.


    "It''s a ship!" Quicksilver eximed as his eyesight were better than the elves, spotting the object washed ashore against the rocks and reefs.


    Pera using a pair of field sses, replied, "I think that''s the missing ship from the Isles."


    "Bring us down for a closer look and see if you spot any survivors!" Pera yelled over the wind.


    Quicksilver bobbed his head in acknowledgment and arrowed his wings, losing altitude fast while increasing his speed. Soon the individual masts of the beached ship could be seen clearly and Quicksilver red out his wings, reducing his speed and he did azy sweep around the wreck.


    "See anyone?" Pera yelled as he gripped the saddle bars tightly as Quicksilver did an almost 90 degrees tilt.


    "I don''t see anything!" Gother yelled back as he too hung on tightly to the saddle bars.


    "Keep circling!" Peramanded as they peered around the wreckage, trying to find any signs of life. "Gother, radio Mother."


    "Dragon Two to Mother,e in over!"


    "-other, send."


    "Dragon Two, spotted a shipwreck off the coast of goblin sea, over."


    "Mother, Roger, send coordinates, over."


    "Dragon Two, standby!"


    Gother removed the p covering his map and started to read off the numbers on the map back to base, who acknowledged the coordinates.


    "Mother is telling us to standby for support," Gother yelled, as he secured the radio set. "ETA, one hour!"


    "Got it!" Pera nodded, "Quick, bring us down, not too close to the wreckage. We wait for support toe.


    Quicksilver slowly came to a gliding stop over the white sandy beach and his wsnded on the soft warm sand, digging deep as his full weight slowly settled down on to his ws. Both Pera and Gother, unbuckled their harnesses and removed shotguns from their casings and climbed down from Quicksilver''s back.


    "Damn," Gother shoved his aviator helmet''s visor up and grimaced at the heating from the sand. "It''s bloody hot!"


    "Stay on alert!" Pera said, as he kept his eyes at the distant trees, "There is at least a hundred men or more onboard that ship, and they can''t all just drowned from the storm."


    "Yeah, so where are they?" Gother asked. "Where have they gone?"


    "God knows..."


    -----


    The Colony, Academy of Science and Magic


    Dr. Sharon sat on the sofa of Magister Thorn and swiped her tablet as she dug out some historical text from the UNS Singapore''s archives. There were sadly not much, as most of them were just basic books from the ship''s entertainment library.


    "Do you know who is the Hummingbird of the Left?" Magister Thorn asked from behind his desk, covered by stacks of old scrolls and manuscripts. They had been working on and off on this topic for the past few days.


    "Roughly I can guess," Dr. Sharon replied distractedly. Lately, the voice in her head had disappeared, making her have a sense of unease in her heart. "Well, at least I think I am right."


    "Who is it?" Magister Thorn asked curiously as he stood up from his seat and drag his chair over to the sofa where Dr. Sharon was sitting. "I did not know you hoomans have gods!"


    "While to be frank, we have many gods, but science had proven those gods to be just beliefs created by man. But who is to say religion is wrong?" Dr. Sharon exined. "But then again, aftering here, I won''t be surprised to find our gods are real too!"


    "So about this Hummingbird?" Magister Thorn asked again, "What kind of god is it?"


    "Well, if I guess rightly, he''s from the Mayan or Aztec civilization..." Dr. Sharon replied. "I can''t remember the full details, maybe two thousand years ago? My history of South American cultures iscking... I only roughly guess."


    "South ''er-marry-can''?" Thorn looked confused.


    "Its the name of a continent from the world we are from," Dr. Sharon exined.


    "But if he''s a Mayan or Aztec God, then we are kinda in a big mess..." Dr. Sharon looked up at Thorn. "They are famous for sacrifices, from babies to young to male or females to the old."


    "Is that why theputer listed it as a God of sacrifices and war?" Thorn asked. "But why the Sun too?"


    "I seriously have no idea..." Dr. Sharon said. "I think we need to look for help, maybe someone has studied Ancient South American history or cultures onboard this ship..."


    -----


    Shipwreck off the South Eastern Goblin Coast, 228 km from Far Harbour


    The Valkyrie''s engines pitch grew louder and louder as it came into a hover a short distance away from Quicksilver who stuffed his ears with his wingtips as the roar of the engines irritated his sensitive hearing.


    Marines hopped out, ignoring the little green figure who screeched insults from the hull, "Dumb Ma-neesss! Go earn pay! Stop eating and grow fat! Too fat my god ne can''t lift your fat ass off into the skies! Next time you walk!"


    A Marine with three silver stripes on his sleeves jogged over with an officer that has a single gold bar on his shoulder and stood before Quicksilver and his crew. "So you guys called for some tender loving care?"


    Quicksilver blinked his eyes in amusement at the way the hooman was talking while his two crew members looked momentarily confused. "Ahh, nevermind, its a joke." The hooman Marine rolled his eyes.


    "Ahem, Sergeant Mills," The slightly embarrassed looking officer coughed, "I think I do the talking, you go check up on the troops."


    "Gotcha L.T" Mills gave a wink and ran off towards the Marines spread out around the beach.


    "I am Lieutenant Coraths, 1st Battalion, Bravo Company, toon 1," Lt Coraths replied. "You guys saw anyone alive from the wreck?"


    Both Pera and Gother shook their heads. "We had Quicksilver here called out among the forest edge but no one replied."


    "Great..." Lt Coraths rubbed his forehead between his eyes, "Ok, I need you guys up to provide some eyes over the sky, while me and my boys move in to do a sweep."


    "Sergeant Mills!" Lt Coraths yelled and Mills came over. "Get the men ready, we are going into the forest to do a spread. Make sure even one keeps within five meters away and be on constant visual contact from each other."


    "Yes, Sir!" Mills cheerfully replied and went off to inform the men. He had recently been promoted after finishing his instructor role at Camp Alpha and now he got posted to 1st Battalion, Bravo Company, toon 1 as a third sergeant.


    The men quickly spread out in a double line formation and entered into the forest, their weapons on alert as they sweep thend for any signs of life. One of the leading point men held a precious motion and heartbeat sensor, his long ears peeking out from the headset of the tracker.


    "We do a five kilometer sweep and if there still nothing, we report back to HQ and await further orders." Lt Coraths said to Mills who nodded. He was slightly awe of Mills as he heard some stories and rumors of him during his Officer Cadet School days, that Mills once got hit by a fireball and still continued fighting while on fire with his skin melting off.


    Roughly an hourter, someone yelled, and the sweep came to a halt. Lt Coraths and Mills walked up to the Marine who gave out an alert. "Sir, Sarge! Look here."


    On the ground, were clearly remains of a campfire. Mills crouched down to feel the campfire, finding it cool to the touch and he shook his head. "Maybe a day or more old. It''s cold."


    "Look here! Looks like blood!" Someone cried.


    They saw several stters of something dark and even arge patch here and there, with the ground looking disturbed. "Looks like a fight here. Looks like some tracks."


    "Wait! These look like Oerkin footprints!" One of the point men spoke up, as he examined the tracks on the dirt. "Yea... smells like them too!"


    "Shit," Mills cursed. "So the missing crew got taken by orcs?"


    "Can''t tell for sure, let''s report it in." Lt Coraths replied. "Radioman!"


    "So are we following the tracks? Mills asked as he watched the tracks leading deeper into the forest.


    "No!" Lt Coraths replied hurriedly, "Let''s see what HQ says."


    The radioman started to make his call back to HQ, having found a small break in the canopy.


    "So what now?" Mills asked as the rest of Marines formed a circr security cordon around the campsite.


    "Sir! We can''t get through to HQ!" The radioman replied as he fiddled with the radio set.


    "L.T?" Mills asked again as he looked at Coraths.


    "Eh..." Coraths rubbed his forehead, "We fallback to the wreck." He said after a moment.


    "Huh?" Mills gave a look of surprise. "Seriously Sir? We are not going to follow the tracks?"


    "It might be a trap!" Coraths said, "Until we get confirmation from HQ, we do nothing."


    "Okay..." Mills frowned and gave the order to the men to pull back.


    It took them another hour to exit the forest, but then all of them were tired, hot, and sweaty. "Damn wild goose chase!" Mills muttered under his breathe. "What a waste of time and energy!"


    "Sir!" The radioman cried, "HQ says to proceed with extreme caution, and see if we can follow the tracks."


    "Got it, eh, men! We are heading back in! Take a 15 minutes break!" Coraths yelled.


    "What?" Mills couldn''t believe his ears at what he was hearing. Even the men were grumbling as they flopped down or sat down against the trees to rest.


    "L.T!" Mills strolled up to Coraths who was wiping his face with a hand towel. "We just wasted an hour walking out of the forest and now we are going back in again?"


    "Well, sarge, you heard the radio. HQ wants us to go check out where the tracks lead to." Coraths replied.


    "But Sir, the men are tired, and we do not know how far those tracks might lead to." Mills exined.


    "The men are fine! They are trained for this!" Coraths proudly replied.


    "That is not what I meant, Sir." Mills patiently tried to reason with Coraths, "We do not know how long we will be in the forest, and we will need supplies!"


    "Not an issue," Coraths replied confidently, "We can have the Valkyries airdrop in supplies to us when needed."


    "Oh my gods," Mills whispered under his breath as he watched Coraths walk away.


    "We are so screwed!"

 Chapter 171: Lost

    Chapter 171: Lost


    Far Harbor, Civic Center


    The reception room''s furniture had been rearranged the night before, now a long table was set in the middle of the room with high back chairs all around. Yet only two of the chairs were upied, one by Fleet Master Dijon while opposite him sat the Princess. The rest of his Captains and aides stood respectfully behind him while the Princess''s retinue did the same.


    A piece of parchment was ced before each of them, with a pen for them to sign the terms and conditions listed. "The Isles will provide, 10,000 stones* of iron, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, and tin each. 5,000 heads of eggying bird wyverns and 1,000 heads of muffalo. 2 Flying Fish ss schooners and a dozen fishing boats." Princess Sherene read from the contents written down on the contract. (*1 stone is 100 kg)


    "In exchange, We will provide 10,000 repeating crossbows, 10,000 sets of half-te armor, 10,000 sets of half faced helmets, 20,000 sets of cuss and 10,000 sets of long daggers, all made out of carbon steel. 20,000 small sized ''mason'' jars with lids for food canning, and 1,000 pure ss panels." Sherene looked up from the contract and smiled sweetly, "All to be traded within two month''s time."


    "Hmph," Fleet Master Dijon frowned, acting like he got cheated by the Princess. The two flying fish ss schooners were over 5 years old and leaking, and well below the Isle''s standards for an ocean faring ship, while the fish boats were small sized and cheap and easy to manufacture.


    Princess Sherene smiled despite knowing that Dijon most like will be giving her two of the oldest ships in his fleet, but ke had said that it was alright to ept the deal, as they n to tear the ships down to learn how to make their own and with the discovery of the shipwreck off the coast of Goblin Sea, ke had told her not to inform the Inders about the discovery, as he nned to salvage the wreck for their own use once the Inders has returned.


    Well. at least ss was cheap and easy to make for us, thought Sherene, as she signed and stamped her official seal onto the parchment and did the same with the other copy. "Pleasure to do business with you, Fleet Master. I hope there will be more opportunities for more trade between us."


    Dijon nodded and gave a bow, "The pleasure is mine, of course, as a merchant, we will never turn down our clients."


    "Now, let''s us celebrate!" Dijon grinned, his early expression of a stern face disappearing as he picked up a ss of wine and toasted to the Princess.


    -----


    Somewhere in the Forest, North of the wreck


    Mills cursed, as he pped at some insect buzzing around his ear. He wiped beads of sweat off his face, his helmet long removed hours ago and secured to his harness webbing, and he wore a jungle hat instead.


    He looked around at his surrounding men, looking at their tired and listless faces as they toiled through the forest mindlessly, barely keeping an eye around their surroundings. They had been following the tracks for more than a day and their supplies had run out, while the LT tried to call for a supply run, the interference in the forest blocked all of their attempts tomunicate out.


    The tracks there were following led them deeper into the forest, an unexplored region the Marines and Surveyors had barely touched, hence there were no maps, nor even transmission towers installed and the dumb fuck LT had to bring them in without any re-supply, Mills cursed in his mind.


    "Sarge!" One of the Marines called out, "Where are we going?"


    "Hell if I know..." Mills replied harshly. "Keep your eyes open! We are in an unknown territory!"


    "Damn, Sarge, does the L T knows what he is doing?" The Marines gestured to the rear where the Lieutenant was.


    Mills looked back, spotting Lieutenant Coraths flipping over a map. Mills shook his head as he watched the antics of the Lieutenant. Does that idiot know this area is not mapped?


    Finally unable to bear the embarrassment the Lieutenant was causing to the rest of the toon, Mills went up to Coraths and gently took the map away from his hands. "Sir, this area is not mapped, you can''t find anything in this."


    "Wh-what?" Lieutenant Coraths looked up in surprise, "Why did you tell me earlier? You made me look like a fool!" He hissed to Mills angrily.


    Mills sighed, "Sir, I think we should stop and retrace our steps back to the wreck. We have been out of radio contact for at least 16 hours!"


    "No! We came so far already to give up, and HQ ordered to follow the tracks!" Lieutenant Coraths stubbornly replied.


    "Sir, we have no lines of supply normunications, HQ most likely has dispatched another toon to look for us." Mills replied. "We need to re-establishms as the priority!"


    "No, our mission stands," Coraths red at Mills, "Sergeant, do your duty, don''t teach me how to do my job! We continue on!"


    "Alright, enough cking around! Let''s move!" Coraths bushed past Mills and yelled at the rest of the Marines who grumbled and continued on, following the point men.


    Mills closed his eyes as he counted down to one, cooling his temper before he turned and followed the rest of his men, muttering under his breath, "Don''t make me shoot you behind your back, asshole..."


    -----


    Camp Alpha, Commandant''s Office


    Major Frank frowned as he looked at the screen of hisputer. He picked up the handset and keyed for Master Sergeant Pike''smunicator. "Top? What''s the news with the missing Alpha Company''s toon?"


    "Major, we lost contact with them roughly 18 hours ago. They were supposed to report in every two hours, but as that area has no radio coverage, themunication operators did not sound out the alert till just now." Pike replied.


    "Damn, send out a search party, and request for air support from the Air Force," Frank ordered, "Who''s leading the lost toon?"


    "Lieutenant Coraths Riveria, ranked 49 out of 175 Officer cadets in ss 2. Decent grades andmand scores." Pike replied as he forwarded the dossier on Coraths over to Frank from his workstation at Sawtooth Mountain Command. "His instructors''ments were that he is quite a mission focused and likes to follow the book to the letter."


    "I see," Frank nodded, "Sent the search party out, dead or alive, find them."


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain, Air Force Base, Dragon Pen 2


    Quicksilver was happily chomping away at a giant stainless steel bowl, that is more like a tub. He licked the insides of his bowl clean, smacking his lips as he swallowed the remains of the fried potatoes, cheese, and tomato sauce. "Hmmmm mmmm! Now that is a meal worthy of a dragon!"


    "Right? Right?" Blue Thunder stuck his head over from his own pen as he too licked his chomps after finished his own serving of cheese fries. "I can just eat this all day!"


    "Burpp..." Quicksilver gave a burp and looked at Blue Thunder, "Hows the wing?"


    "Still sore!" Blue gave a dramatic sigh while wiggling his wounded wing still with patches of ''X'' shaped duct tapes. "But healing! Just need more meat! zed and roasted with ''tear-ra-yucky'' sauce! Oh my!"


    Blue Thunder swallowed a mouthful of saliva as he remembered the exquisite taste of ''tear-ra-yucky'' zed meat. "Ohh... I hunger for some now..."


    "You and you bottomless hole tummy!" Quicksilver sighed as he saw Blue Thunder''s eyes zing over as he drooled and day dreamt about his meat. "You should heal up first!"


    "Hey, Quick!" Some yellow jackets and green jackets crew came over. "You''re up for a mission!"


    "Huh?" Quicksilver looked over to the crew that started to unload the harness from its storage bins. "I thought I am off duty now?"


    "The Air Boss wants you to go," Flight Corporeal Pera replied as he walked in with Private Gother into the dragon hangar pen. "It''s about the shipwreck from yesterday."


    "What about it?" Quicksilver asked, while Blue Thunder curiously listened from his side. "Didn''t the Marines went down to check it out?"


    "Yea, they did, but those Marines went missing," Pera replied as he wore his own body harness.


    Quicksilver stood up and waded over to the markings drawn on the ground, where the yellow and green jacketed crews hadid out his harnesses. He ces his arms and legs at the proper loops and the crew swarmed over his body, securing the straps and buckles together.


    "How did they get lost?" Blue Thunder asked as he leaned his massive head against a stack of machinery.


    "HEY!" One of the yellow jackets yelled, "Get your fat ass head off that equipment! You want the Chief to cut your meat rations?"


    "Ohh... sorry..." Blue Thunder meekly apologized and shifted his head away from the machinery which groaned when the heavy weight on it got lifted away. "Tee hee... don''t tell the Chief!"


    "Grrrr..." The angry crewman went over and checked the machinery, and sighed with relief as the engine for the crane system only looked dented but still working. "You want us to get chewed out by the Chief?"


    "Hehehe sorry!" Blue Thunder hid his head back into his own pen. "Anyway, what happened to the Marines?"


    "Not sure," Pera yelled from the back of Quicksilver. "We are going to find out!"


    "Ok, take care! Give me the full details when you guys return ok?" Blue Thunder spoke to the back of Quicksilver who crawled out of the dragon hangar, towards the runway. "Be careful!"


    Quicksilver gave a flip of his tail as acknowledgment and before long, he took off from the runway, bouncing off into the skies.


    "I''m bored..." Blue Thunder sighed as he leaned his head down between his arms. "And craving for meat! Tear-ra-yucky..."


    -----


    Skies over Goblin Coast, Enroute to the Wreck


    "Dumb Maa-neessss!" Greg the goblin giggled as he sat on the oversized bucket seat facing the rows of irritated Marines. "See? No listen to the Great Greg, now dumb Maa-ness lost in forest! HEHEHEHEHE!"


    "Aww, someone shut that damn goblin up!" Someone yelled, "Damn thing keeps yelping away."


    "Oh, dumb Maa-neesss want a piece of Greg?" Greg sneered, "Careful dumb Maa-nees walk hometer! Hahahaha!"


    "God, this is like some weird ass pstick B gradeedy show..." Corporeal Koing sighed as he heard his toon mates throw insults back and fore with the goblin crew. "Come on, I''m trying to catch some sleep guys!"


    Luckily the heated exchange did notst long as the pilot''s voice came over the inte, "Alright, kids! We are over the AO* now, 5 minutes!"


    *Area of Operations


    The new Lieuftuent nervously yelled out, "Al-alright people, check you gear!"


    Koing sighed, "Hope nothing goes to shit and toon 1 is just lost and not inbat!"


    The men suddenly felt gravity disappeared and they yelled out, some in fright, others in enjoyment as the pilot dropped the Valkyrie towards the ground in abat dive, abat maneuver to rapidly reduce little and also to get to the ground as fast as possible, to avoid taking fire or radar lock in abat situation. But most of the time, the pilots like to do that, as it gave them a kick out of making their cargo puke.


    The cabin light turned green and Greg happily smashed the rear hatch door''s button, dropping the ramp down, and yelling from his position, "GO and die dumb Maa-nesss!" Go go gooo!"


    The men rapidly unbuckled themselves and charged out of the ramp in order, while Koing unhooked the supports holding his partner to the cabin, ASAG-05, nicknamed ''Tags'', which wasdened with supplies, happily bounced out of the Valkyrie following Koing as they took a kneeling position.


    "Walking and getting dirty is so dumb! Only gods fly! Bye~ Dumb Maa-nees!!"

 Chapter 172: Chains of Command

    Chapter 172: Chains of Command


    Far Harbour, Pier, Fury


    Fleet Master Dijon looked at the pitiful few ex ves that were willing to follow them back to the Isles and sighed. The transport ship was able to carry over 500 men and women, yet barely a tenth of the passager hold will be used. He sighed and nced at out to the sea, seeing dozens of longboats ferrying his men and supplies to the ships anchored offshore.


    "Fleet Master!" His first mate called out, as he walked barefooted towards Dijon and gestured to the pier. "Compliments of the Princess."


    Dijon looked down from the decks of his gship and saw dozens and dozens of crates were being delivered by workers. He strolled down the gangnk and gestured his some of his crew to open the crates and follow each crate was filled with ssware.


    The harbor master dressed in a strange single piece of clothing said, "Sir! The Princess offers you this ssware inpensation of the number of freed ves. It''s the least she can offer you, she said."


    Dijon checked another few more crates. finding each crate containing at least 40 sets of ss goblets. He gave a low whistle, as the quality and rity of the ss were beyond anything they have, matching or even surpassing the Master artisans at home and in greater quantities too. He mentally calcted the value, estimating that a single ss goblet could probability sell at around two to three gold coins, meaning the stacks of crates here would be worth as much as a small ship!


    "Thank your mistress for me!" Dijon grinned, thinking that maybe he did not lose out much after all on this trip. "I will look forward toing back for another visit!"


    "Please do so, Sir!" The harbor master bowed, "We will greatly appreciate and wee your visits! Swift winds and calm seas!"


    "Swift winds and calm seas!" Dijon replied, gestured his men to carefully load the crates of ssware to the ship, before he nced at the distance white stone building, "I will be back."


    ------


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Captain, Far Harbor reports that the Isles'' Fleet has left our waters," Themunications officer reported from his station. "Harbor security is doing a sweep of the area to ensure no stragglers were left behind."


    ke nodded, "Put me through to Major Frank, please."


    "Aye, stand by Sir!" Themunication officer tapped several keys, before the screen in front of ke lighted up with a [CONNECTING VID LINK] text.


    Soon Major Frank''s image appeared on the screen and he saluted, "Captain!"


    "How''s the search going?" ke asked.


    Frank frowned, "No news yet, I have the Dragons dropping active radio transmitters with a cable down into the canopy of the forest, and only having my search party replying. The missing toon is still not responding to our hails."


    "Damn, could they been wiped out by monsters or the same thing that took the sailors?" ke asked worriedly.


    "Sir, we found tracks of a campfire and orc tracks," Frank replied, "And tracks of the missing toon too, so far all indicated that they were following the orc tracks."


    "It''s been more than 36 hours since they went missing," ke sighed, "Step it up, if not call off the search, I leave it to your judgment."


    "Yes, Captain!" Frank nodded before ke closed the connection.


    "Damn, always one shit after another," ke leaned his head back.


    "Captain," Commander Ford spoke up from his workstation. "You need to take a break."


    "Well, when we have no shit happening, I will then take a break," ke sighed. "There just so much to do, and everything has risks."


    "Well at least the slime nt is on track now," Ford grinned.


    "Ahhh... slime nt... who came up with such a horrible naming..." ke groaned at Ford''s reminder.


    "Well, it processes slimes for use to various industries," Ford replied, "Don''t forget, you and the Princess supposed to be there tomorrow morning for the opening ceremony!"


    "Urgh, can''t you go in my stead?" ke asked, "I''ll take a double shift in exchange!"


    "Nope, You''re the big boss!" Ford winked, "and besides, your girlfriend is there!"


    "Damn..." ke cursed Ford, "Alright, anyway, what''s the assessment of the shipwreck?"


    Ford checked his tablet before replied, "Well, we sent a couple of teams down to check it out, looks like its still intact, except for a couple of holes just below the waterline."


    "Most of the equipment is still onboard, except for the ship''s charts." Ford added, "Guess they are smart enough to remove any maps."


    ke nodded, "Is it salvageable?"


    "I have Chief Matt to take a look with one of the teams," Ford nodded, "He says we just need to unload all the heavy stuff onboard, like the ballistas, catapults, bast, and other supplies to lighten the ship. Next, he said, we can attach the deployable floats from the lifeboats, and wait for the tide and float the ship out. as it is stuck on the rocks."


    "Do it," ke gave his approval, "But I do not want the Inders to know what we are doing. Make sure none of their ships are nearby when we float the ship out."


    "Finder keepers?" Ford gave a suggestion, "I mean they should have some salvage rules of the sea here right?"


    "We don''t know," ke answered, "So y it safe, and if we can repair and upgrade that wreck, it will be useful in the future."


    Ford nodded, "That''s why you told the Princess not to mention to them that we found their missing ship?"


    "Yup," ke grinned, "Cause I want to steal it!"


    "Heh!"


    -----


    Somewhere in the forest northeast of the Wreck


    "CONTACT!" Someone yelled, and a harsh bark of an M1 Magelock roared out, sending a stab of mes into the dwindling darkness. "Iing!"


    Yelps and shrieks suddenly rang out in the dark forest twilight as goblins rushed out from the undergrowth, ambushing the tired and lost Marines.


    "Form up! Give me a defensive circle!" Lieutenant Coraths yelled as he looked around in confusion at the dark figures. "Lights! Give me some res!" He yelled next to the toon mage who threw up some magical res that lit up their surroundings.


    "No!" Mills yelled from his position as he saw what the Lieutenant ordered. The pitiful few lights popped into existence, providing a soft warm glow, that clearly exposed goblins but also the Marines within the magical glow.


    The goblins screamed in delight as they saw the highlighted Marines under the glow and rushed forward, their eyesight clearly more superior in the darkpared to the elves who tried to filter out which were shadows and which were goblins in the dim glow.


    "Fuck!" Mills cried as he fired point nked at a goblin that appeared to grow out from a bush. "Back!" He ordered, "Form a firing line here!"


    The men followed his orders, back pedaling as they fired at anything that moved, while Coraths was rallying the other men on the other nk. Suddenly, Mills heard Coraths calling for a charge, and he was stupefied, a charge into the dark against unknown numbers? Is he crazy?


    He saw the men of Section 1 and 2, with a few others from 3 and 4 rush forward, screaming a war cry and mming into the surprised goblins and for a moment, it looked like the charge worked in the Marines favour, till suddenly a Marine screamed and his broken body flew over the heads of the rest and crumbled against a tree.


    Arge shadow stepped into the magical glow, resolving into a forest troll. "Troll!" The men yelled, "RPG!!!"


    Mills turned and yelled at the nearest Marine with an RPG-1 on his back, "Quick! Take out that troll or they all be butchered!" The Marine and his buddy quickly yanked the tube out and crouched down while the rest hurried away from the back st and providing cover for the team.


    "ONE ROUND AWAY!" The HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank) rocket screamed out and impacted on the troll, blowing its arm, causing it to bellow in anger and pain. "RELOAD!"


    The angered troll hammered its fist on a slow-moving Marine, beating him into a pulp while the others fired at it and tried to retreat, only to have the giggling goblins sneaking in for a stab or poke.


    "Lieutenant! What do we do?" Someone yelled at the stunned Coraths who stared open-mouthed at the Troll ravaging his men. "Sir?!"


    "Ah.. hit it with rockets... yes! The RPGs!" Coraths blinked rapidly and turned around looking for any Marines with RPGs. "QUICK!"


    "Shit!" Mills cursed as he saw Coraths panicking, "Come on guys! Hit it again and don''t miss!"


    "You!" Mills ran to the Orc machine gunner, "Ignore the Troll! Suppress the goblins instead!"


    The orc nodded his helmeted head, and resting the bipod of his MG-1 on a tree root and fired sending bright arcs of tracers into the undergrowth.


    "Up!" The RPG team yelled and aimed the weapon at the one-armed Troll, "ONE ROUND AWAY!" and the rocket impaled itself in the hard belly of the Troll before it blew up, ripping the troll into two halves. The Troll continued to scream and struggle on the ground as its lifeblood slowly drained away.


    By then it was toote, more than half of the toon were dead or dying, with the remaining half with wounds of varies degrees. Despite the death of the Troll, the goblins, like sharks sensing blood, rushed in wave after wave, shrieking wildly and waving crude weapons at the retreating Marines.


    "Fuck this!" Mills cursed, as he fired his weapon mechanically, the tide of goblins were like endless, popping out from the shadows every now and then. "Back!"


    "Hold the line!" Coraths yelled suddenly. "Hold the line!"


    "What?" Mills paused and turned to look at the Lieutenant. "What is he trying to do now?"


    "We leave no man behind!" Coraths yelled again, "Stand your ground! Kill those green scum!"


    "Is he serious?" Mills felt like he was dreaming, "Shit!"


    "BELAY THAT ORDER!" Mills roared angrily, and the remaining Marines looked confused.


    "Sir! We need to pull back and regroup!" Mills yelled at Coraths as he made his way over while reloading his weapon. "We are outnumbered and blind here!"


    "No! We hold the line! We will not leave the bodies of our brothers to the green scum!" Coraths stubbornly cried, his M2 against his shoulder as he fired at anything that moved in front of him.


    "You serious?" Mills looked at the wide eyed Coraths. "We need to fall back! You impulsive charge nearly killed everyone! The goblins will overrun us!"


    "Coward!" Coraths screamed at Mills, "You hoomans think you are so smart! But whene to fighting, you are all the first to run!"


    "What did you say?" Mills expression turned cold, "You want to repeat that again?"


    "Coward! Sergeant, I am charging you for insubordination!" Coraths continued to scream at Mills, "I am busting you back to private! Get out of my sight!"


    The surrounding men turned and looked at each other, confusion on their faces. "Sir, I don''t think this is the time for this..."


    "Shut it private! You want me to charge you for insubordination too?" Coraths turned and screamed at the Marine.


    "Enough!" Mills yelled, "Lieutenant Coraths, I relieve you, sir, under the authority of paragraph 1088 of Naval Regtions, for your reckless hazarding of yourmand. I assume full responsibility with this and will forward aplete report to the next highermander, with witness statements from all concerned. You will stand down as themanding officer, and remain escorted until such time as you are notified otherwise."


    "Corporal!" Mills barked to the surprise of the men around him, "Take the Lieutenant''s weapons! Assign someone to watch over him! Lieutenant, I hope you cooperate as we are underbat situation now, don''t make it worst!"


    "What? You are relieving me ofmand?" Coraths eyes looked even wider than before. "You have no authority, coward!"


    "Take him, Corporal!" Mills sighed, "The rest watch your sectors, prepare to move out!"


    "You... you...!" Coraths looked like he was going to have a heart attack.


    "Sir?" The Corporal gently removed Coraths''s rifle and his sidearm before gesturing the private he scolded earlier to look over him.


    Mills quickly reorganized the remaining men into two sections, "One, pull back 50 meters and hold! Two provide fire support!" Hemanded the men to pull back in a tactical withdrawal.


    "Back! Move it!"

 Chapter 173: Meetings

    Chapter 173: Meetings


    UNS Singapore, Conference Room


    "Output of our current mines has risen by a total of 4%, while saltpeter output has dropped by 12% as military demand for saltpeter has dropped. We are reallocating manpower from the saltpeter mines over to the mines. Estimated transfer of manpower will take roughly three working weeks." Chief Engineering Officer Gale reported.


    "A third of our all our M1 Magelocks have been recalled back to the factory for retooling to the newer 6.5 mm smokeless cartridge and will be issued out to the frontline troops first, while the Militia will still use the original ck powder M1s till the Marines have all switched over to the new ammunition."


    "Production of the new smokeless propent is moving smoothly, but we had a couple of idents. Thankfully all minor injuries," Chief Gale paused and looked towards Dr. Sharon. "Dr. Sharon and my team have worked out some SOP* (*Standard Operating Procedure) and safety measures for the workers in the factory. We will also be conducting more safety courses to ensure workce safety for all our works in the entire production sector."


    "Also the new slime factory for processing slime for use as raw materials is scheduled today, at 1100 hours," Chief Gale gave a nod to Captain ke and the Princess. "This new factory will be able to process up to 4 tons of slime daily, with more room to expand should we need to."


    "Slime captured or harvested will be gutted, cleaned, sterilized, and sorted out to either as a food product or raw material." Chief Gale exined the purpose of the Slime factory to those that were clueless about its usage. "Slimes like the Green and Yellow variants will be dried and processed into food. Honey Slimes will be sterilized and milked for its nectar, while ck Slimes found in the northern swamps will be sun-dried and aired, before being processed into bio-rubber."


    Bio-rubber were made by using the rubber-like bodies of the ck Slimes, stacked together and heat bonded, before been shaped into the tires, gaskets, soles, or linings and many other products. The demand for ck Slimes rocketed, and teams of hunters ventured into the swamps to hunt for the Slimes, while farmers attempted to breed the ck Slimes in their own backyards.


    ke gave a nod, "We will be there for the opening. What else?"


    "The vehicle factory output currently far exceeds our needs, so I might cut its production to half, we have sufficient vehicles like trucks, tractors, buses, harvesters, jeeps, and half-tracks to support a poption of fewer than 10,000 people, not to mention the need for bio rubber for tires." Gale added, "On the other hand, the market for consumer products has risen, and I most likely will focus on that instead."


    "Ok, work with the Princess on what the poption needs most," ke replied. "Next?"


    "Sir, I had the boysb over the entire ship and found dozens of hairline cracks in the main structural frame of the ship," Matt said as Gale finished his report. "The ship took quite a beating when itnded, but firing the main guns finally cracked the spine of the olddy."


    "What can we do?" ke asked.


    "Either we refrain from firing the guns, or we brace the main structural frame with patches which will barely do any good once you fire the guns again. Alternately, we can remove the guns and site them on stable ground." Matt listed out his suggestions.


    "Give me a detail report," ke replied, "I take a lookter."


    "My team has fully surveyed the shipwreck and willmerce salvaging operations in three days once the Isles''s Fleet has left the area," Matt said, "We will strap and secured the self inting flotation devices we salvage from the lifeboat and wait for high tide before we attempt to float the ship out. Pumps will also be installed to pump out the flooding in the bottom hull."


    "Great, make sure the Isles don''t spot the wreck!" ke said. "I don''t want them to im it."


    Magister Thorn gave a cough, "I will have my best students cast a shimmering spell over the wreck before the Isles ships can spot it. I will also be there to oversee it." Thorn gave a grin, "Always wanted to pirate a ship!"


    "Hahahaha," The people around the tableughed and smiled at Thorn''s joke before ke gestured them to cool down and listen to Matt''s report.


    Matt nodded, "Next, Ordnance havee up with a new weapon, a simple dual purpose breech loading cannon, 3" 23 monobloc gun design using a vertically-sliding breech block, firing a 76.2 mm or 3" shell. It can be mounted on a fixed pedestal or field carriage."


    "So far, tests results are quite favorable. Its range, firing at a 45.3 degrees angle, it cannd a 5.9 kg shell at 7,315 meters away." Matt read off the numbers from his notes as the disy screen showed a video clip of the weapon being test fired. "At an anti air angle of 75 degrees,ser calction recorded the shell reaching heights of 5,181.6 meters."


    "That''s pretty impressive," ke whistled, "Give my thanks to the team."


    Matt nodded and continued, "The R & D on the fast craft is still proceeding, the team is currently testing out a 1:10 scale model, once their results are refined, they should be starting the next step of testing."


    "Good, we need at least some presence in the waters around us," ke grinned. "And with a light gun, we can at least have more firepower on the field or at sea againstrge sailing ships like what the Isles have!"


    "Sir, why not develop torpedoes?" One of the naval department heads asked. "Won''t it be more devastating against their ships?"


    "Yes, it will, but we know nothing of building a torpedo, and the amount of resources we need on developing a torpedo is not worth it as it can only be used at sea," ke exined to rify the doubts of his people. "While a dual purpose light gun, it can be used at sea,nd, and against air targets."


    "Also. mounting a light gun takes up less space than a torpedo," Matt added, "A 3" gun can carry more ammunition than a torpedouncher, and sink or damage more ships per gun than what a single torpedouncher can do."


    "All clear?" ke looked around the table, "Good? Ok, what else do we have? Magister Thorn? Dr. Sharon?"


    "Captain," Magister Thorn stood up and gave a slight bow, "Dr. Sharon and I have actually discovered something strange and disturbing about the origins of the Hero."


    "What is it?" ke frowned when he heard it was about the Hero.


    "We are unsure as of now," Magister Thorn replied, "But we will like to request some help in finding out more before we release the information."


    "What help do you need?" Commander Ford asked.


    "We need some people to help with our research." Dr. Sharon spoke up. "I like to ess HR''s records."


    "You need HR records?" ke looked at Ford in confused, "Ok, sure."


    "Thank you," Dr. Sharon replied. "We will give a full report once we have finished our investigations."


    "Eh... ok, next?" ke looked around the table.


    "Sir," Major Frank spoke, "Search operations for the missing toon is still ongoing, but there were reports of what appeared to be gunfire, therefore the toon is most likely engaged inbat, I took the liberty of deploying a third toon in for support into the area and also increase the search radius."


    "Ok, keep me updated." ke nodded.


    "Master Sergeant Pike has also revised the troops'' loadout to maximize their firepower out on the field after the incident with the Hero," Frank loaded up a chart on the main disy for everyone to view. "1st and 2nd Battalion will be reorganized into the following, Three infantry Companies, One Weapon Support Company, and One Motorized Support Company."


    "Infantry Companies will have an HQpany and four rifle toons," Frank further detailed, "Each rifle toon now will have an additional machine gun section attached." Previously, each toon only has four seven-men sections.


    "Each section will now consist of an AT (Anti Tank) and assistant AT, a grenadier, a marksman, a point man, and finally the section IC and 2 IC (InCharge)," Frank continued, "Machine gun sections will be a three-man team, consisting of the IC, machine gunner and assistant gunner. An ASAG will also be supporting the MG section."


    "Under the Support Company, four 120 mm mortar toons with three mortars in each toon will provide heavy fire support for the Battalion, while the Motorized Support Company provides logistical support to the Battalion."


    ke nodded, "Looks good, when will it be implemented?"


    "Within the month or longer," Frank replied, "Depending on how fast we resolve the current issue with the missing toon."


    "I like to nominate the whole of ymore One for Silver Valor Cross, another other merit awards," Frank pushed a list of recipients and nominations over to ke. "Also for a few outstanding Marines."


    ke nodded and looked towards, Commander Tommy, "What''s the Air Force status now?"


    "We lost two pilots and three aircraft from the fight with the Hero," Tommy reported, "Our current manning is at 27 F/A - 1 Cobra and 6 T-1 training crafts." The T-1 training aircraft were the original two-seater prototypes that were improved and turned into trainers for the pilot trainees.


    "I am also rmending Blue Thunder and his crew for a Silver Valor and also confer them the title of Ace pilots for their efforts for taking down six confirmed aerial dragon kills." Tommy handed over a list of names to ke. "As for the injured Blue Thunder, he is recovering well and will be flight capable in a couple of weeks."


    "Next, we are working on a heavy rotor lifter," Tommy added, "We are designing a helicopter that will allow us to transport troops and supplies. The Valkyries are overworked at the moment, and if any one of them goes down, or is down for maintenance, our lift capabilities will be seriously screwed."


    "Not only that, we are looking at designing a cargo ne for short haul air transportation purposes," Tommy said, "This will be useful not only for the military but also the industrial and civilian sectors in the future."


    "Also, we are working on a parachute course for the Marines," Tommy gave a nod towards Frank, "It will improve ourbat reach in the future."


    "Great work people, good initiative all around!" ke grinned. "How''s about the civil side, Princess?"


    "Rebuilding of the city is still underway," the Princess replied, "Shelters for civilians are also being nned out."


    "On agriculture, we are expecting arge bountiful harvest, and with the new harvesting tractors, we do not expectrge spoge. So food will not be a problem for winter this year. Also with the trade agreement with the Isles, we will be able to start our own fishing industry which will also increase our sources of food." Sherene read off her notes.


    "There has been some unrest due to the damages in the city caused by the cannons, but we managed to pacify the affected parties," Sherene looked up from her notes and said, "Issues now is the production of winter clothing."


    "Matt and Gale. Can you work out a heating system to the city?" ke asked, "Or some heating stoves for those outside the city grid? And also see if you can start up a proper clothing manufacturing process. We got like, five months roughly before its winter? Work with the Princess on it."


    "Got it, Captain!" The two nodded.


    "Anything else?" ke asked.


    Quartermaster Chen raised his hand up, "Sir, I have a proposal here."


    "Go," ke gestured to Chen to speak.


    "Sir, the rail gun has actually left a small trail of destruction directly into the Uncharted Forest," Chen said, as he pulled up some UAV imagery onto the screen which showed the blue-green canopy of the forest and a somewhat pencil straight line of destruction could be clearly seen from the over top view. "While it is not a straight line from Sawtooth Pass to the town of Falledge, it at least covers a third or more of the distance."


    "Look, what I am saying here is that we can actually make use of the destruction to carve a highway into the forest!"

 Chapter 174: Getting Out

    Chapter 174: Getting Out


    "Fuck!" Mills yelled as a bolt of greenish magical energy zed past his ear. He paused to turn around and fired at the direction of the shaman who cast the spell. In the dark, he doubted he was able to hit anything but it should make the goblin duck for cover, he hoped.


    "Come on!" Someone yelled, and a barrage of machine gun fire erupted from somewhere in front of Mills, the bright tracers leaving after strobes of light in his eyes. The machine gun appeared to suppress the chasing goblins as Mills heard the shrieks and cries of goblins fading behind him as he ran.


    Hoping over a tree trunk, Mills leaned against the tree and took a breather, before yelling, "Report! Section 1 and 2?"


    Shouts slowly drifted from the forest, as men shouted to each other, passing words along the strung-out Marines. The machine gunner kept up the fire in short briefs, keeping the goblins at bay while word traveled back up to Mills.


    "Section 1 and 2 both have two men missing each, fuck!" Mills cursed under his breath, meaning now he has only 13 men, including him. "The lieutenant is one of the missing?"


    Mills gave out a deep breath and looked at his spent men. They had been running for several hours in the night while being chased by goblins. "We hole up here! We are on a slight raise terrain and have nice lines of fire here. And with the ruckus we are making, I am sure search parties from HQ should have heard us by then. Once they get into contact with us, we regroup, resupply and return back for the fallen."


    The men most of them veterans fighting in the Pass nodded, "Take this time to quickly clean your weapons too!" Mills added. "and rotate the MG gunner!"


    Mills peered over the root, but in the pitch dark of the forest, he barely could make out anything. "Shit, and here I was so fucking proud I made Sergeant, should have stayed a corporal and remained at Camp as a trainer... fucking hell."


    Shrieks, yelps, and giggles were soon heard again as the goblins regrouped, Mills checked his watch, barely an hour has passed, "Watch your front, boys!"


    "MARINES! WHEN YOU GO TO INTERESTING PLACES, WHAT DO YOU DO?"


    "MEET INTERESTING PEOPLE!"


    "AND WHAT DO YOU DO?"


    "WE KILL THEM!"


    "HOORAH!"


    -----


    Goblin Coast, Shipwreck


    "Watch your step!" One of the techs warned as Chief Engineer Matt gripped the ropedder and pulled his way up, grunting as he made his way up. Hands gripped his body and pulled in over the railing and onboard the deck of the ship. He stood carefully on the nted deck, as the ship was tilted to the side at an angle.


    A massive groan came from the ship as a wave mmed into it, and Matt felt the whole ship shifting slightly. He ran his hand along the wooden hull of the sailing ship, observing the lines and workmanship while taking a tour of the top deck. The main mast of the two-masted ship had two third of its length snapped away, most likely caused by the storm.


    "Chief! Good to see you!" A tech came up and started to report their progress. "This ship is quite simr to a Terran brig, judging by the number of mast and type of square rigging they use. We cleared away the remains of the rest of the sails to prevent winds from toppling or shifting the wreck more."


    "That mast must have broken off in the storm and dragged the ship towardsnd before the sailors could cut it off and the Captain must have ordered the men to abandon ship," The tech said, "We searched the Captain''s quarters for maps and any intel, only finding some dairies and personal efforts. Most likely thrown overboard or carried away by the Captain."


    "Most of the ship''s store is missing, and so are the weapons like swords and crossbows," The tech continued as they toured the Captain''s room, "We suspected they took all the food, water. and weapons before abandoning the ship."


    The Captain''s Quarters were quite spacious, with arge work desk and high back chair, with the back facingrge shuttered window openings. A couple of sea chest took up a corner of the room next to a messy bed against the wall. A wet moldy smell came off from the sad looking animal skin serving as a carpet while wall mounted cupboards covered the remaining wall.


    "Anything of interest here?" Matt asked as he pushed out the shutters of the window, letting in fresh air to air the cabin and light flooded in.


    "We cleared every item and swept the entire cabin for hiddenpartments, using metal detectors, echo sounding and even with magic. We did find a hiddenpartment magically locked under the animal skin, but it was empty." The tech used his booted feet to peel the skin back and tapped at a spot on the wooden nk. "Students from the Academy spent a couple of hours cracking the magic lock, well they were pretty excited at first but turns out to be empty."


    "I see, the students are still here?" Matt asked as he looked into the smallpartment roughly the size of a shoe box.


    "Yes Chief, they are casting a ritual to create fog to hide the wreck from the Isles'' ships," The tech gestured to the outside of the ship.


    "Good, make sure they have everything they need, the Isles'' fleet should be less than a day away. They most probably won''te within sight ofnd, but it pays to be safe," Matt straightened up and walked out of the Captain''s Quarters, "Show me the damages to the hull."


    "This way Chief," The tech led Chief Matt down into the cargo hold and portable lights set up at fixed intervals lit the interior up. An engine roar grew louder as they passed by a couple of ballistas on their mounts, the shuttered gunports tightly closed to prevent sprays from the waves from getting into the main deck. A V9 radial engine rumbled on a stand attached with to a capacitor with cables snaking off to various locations onboard of the ship, provide power to the lights and water pumps that hummed and sucked out the seawater flooding the ship through two areas, the hold, and the crew quarters at the bow.


    "Here, Chief, this is the hold," The tech stood before a hatch cordoned off with yellow warning tape. "Ware the steps, they are slippery!" He bent under the tape and carefully climbed down the wet slimy wooden stairs.


    The hold had several rotting barrels and crates sitting on ankle-deep seawater and the smell of the sea and rot was very thick. Sounds of crashing waves and the groaning of the ship like it were in pain could be constantly be heard over the power generator upstairs.


    "It was almost at chest height when we first came," The tech exined as he pointed to a gaping hole at the side where glistering seaweed and barnacles covered rocks could clearly see jutting in. The rigged lights showed the damage clearly, the splintered hull with a hole roughly a meter wide and 30 cm tall, had seawater sshing in every few seconds. "Now its almost low tide, if its high tide, this area will be chest height in water."


    "We cover up that hole with space foam once its low tide, "The tech added, "And we will continue to pump out the remaining water, after that we will attach the floats and deploy them. The stab resistant material of the floats will be more than able to handle the reefs and rocks here. Once high tidees, the ship will be able to float out."


    "This way," The tech continued on, "We checked the crates and barrels, all of them either biscuits of some sort or salted fish, meat and fresh water. Most of them are already contaminated with seawater, not sure if we can still use them. We are removing everything that is not bolted down to lighten the ship now."


    The tech led Matt through to another hatch and into the forward crew quarters at the bow. Light from outside flood through from the hull as another tear in the hull,rge enough for a fully grown man to climb through.


    Spray from the waves sshed in and flowed down towards them as the bow of the ship was actually slightly angled towards the sky, allowing Matt to see the horizon through the hole. "If it''s high tide, the wateres in more," The tech exined, "oh, the guys are here to fix the hole."


    A couple of techs carrying what appeared to be red cylinders on their backs entered the crew cabin and saluted Chief Matt, who nodded and gestured them to continue their work. They started spraying the quick-drying space foam over the hole with a nozzle attached to the tanks of space foam used to quickly patch holes in spaceships.


    They sprayed both the outside of the hull as well, to create as much of a perfect seal as possible and within 10 minutes they were done, after spraying two coatings of foam to ensure that the foam sticks to the wet hull.


    Matt tapped the dried foam that hardened into a rigid substance, and nodded, "Good work, now we wait for the Isles''s ships to pass by us before we float this baby home."


    "Sir, how are we gonna float it to Far Harbor?" One of the techs with the space foam asked. "We got nothing to tow it back. Are we gonna sail it back?"


    "Yea, Chief, I know we all did a basic sailing course back on Earth but I doubt anyone remembers anything from that course any more." The other tech spoke up.


    "Oh that''s easy," Matt grinned, "You saw those V9 radial engines I bought along with me?"


    The men nodded, remembering the pile of equipment the Valkyries airlifted in earlier.


    "When we float thisdy out, we are gonna jury rig the engines on the side of the hull, most likely from the gunports and attach the two paddle wheels I had them specially made," Matt winked at his astonished men. "We are gonna paddle back and we don''t need sails!"


    -----


    When the search toon came into contact with 1st Battalion, Bravo Company toon 1, they found dozens and dozens of dead goblins littering around thest stand of the lost toon. "Thunder!" The point man of the search party yelled from the cover a tree.


    "sh!" A tired yelled replied the point man and he cautiously came out of cover and climbed over the bodies of the dead goblins. "Hey, d you guys are here to join the party!" A soot-covered Marine Sergeant covered in wounds called out from a small mound of dead goblins.


    "Sarge?" The point man looked at the terrifying face of the three striped hooman covered in blood, gore, and ck powder residue. He looked around the area and found several more wounded Marines, all covered in wounds and surrounded with dead goblins on all sides.


    "Help is on its way!" The point man turned an yelled out, "Medic! We need medics here! You guys alright?"


    "Just peachy, private," Mills grinned tiredly, as he used his broken M1 rifle, breaking it when he ran out of ammo and swung it around like a baseball bat after his sword bay snapped off. He braced himself up from the dead goblins heid on after exhausting all his strength fighting off waves after waves of goblins


    He looked at the rest of the surviving lost toon andughed, those that survived joined him and startedughing and cheering too, as they saw dozens of Marines emerged from the undergrowth.


    "Nothing beats starting the day killing goblins, sleeping on their bodies and the smell of fresh blood!"

 Chapter 175: We All Float

    Chapter 175: We All Float


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Captain, Isles''s Fleet currently on an east heading, 116 km away from the wreck," The operator reported from her station. "The Fleet has just passed by Point Baker and heading towards Point Charlie, estimated time of arrival, 7 hours 48 minutes."


    Commander Ford traced his fingers on the tactical table plot, measuring the distance between the fleet and the wreckage, and nodded, "Sir, we can begin salvage operations. The Inders shouldn''t be able to see what we are doing at this distance."


    "Do it," ke ordered, "But make sure the work team takes safety precautions."


    "Aye Captain." The operator turned back to her station and started issuing instructions.


    "Lucky we managed to recover the lost toon," Ford sighed, as he traced his finger up the digital map on the table, tapping at a spot in a forested area. "We haven''t fully mapped out nor explored this area yet."


    ke joined Ford at the table and leaned both arms on it, as he looked at the map of their surroundings. "We only barely managed to survey and explored a radius of roughly 200 km around the Colony and roughly a 50 to a hundred km of each outpost we have out there." ke indicated the mines, hydro dam, farms, and Far Harbor.


    "We might need to do a proper mapping of our surroundings, but it is just too manpower intensive if the area is forested," Ford replied. "and manpower is something we can barely spare!"


    ke nodded, "We really need to find more ways to resolve our manpower issues."


    "How about getting more autonomous golems adapted for the factories?" Ford replied, "Automatic manufactories should reduce a lot of our manpower issues."


    "No, we only have one source of golems and it''s from one Elementalist" ke replied. "Should anything happen to her, our industry will be crippled."


    Ford nodded, "Maybe we can get more ves and free them?"


    "Urgh... where do we get the gold for that?" ke sighed, "Unless... We strike directly at their ves'' markets and free everyone?"


    "But do we have the lift capabilities for an attack?" Ford asked.


    ke rapped the table and looked up at Ford, "We need to prepare and n for that scenario once we have the lift capabilities."


    -----


    Goblin Coast, Shipwreck


    Chief Matt stood on the nted deck surrounded by a thinyer of fog. He leaned over the railings and barely made out the few figures on the beach who had drawn up several spell formations, which were activated currently. Tendrils of fog drifted out from the center of the spell formation and covering the surrounding areas with ayer of mist.


    Chief Matt nodded with satisfaction at the fog created by the students, knowing that it will effectively cover their salvaging operations from any prying eyes. He turned to his men and said, "Start securing the ship with the load bearing straps! Once the Isles Fleet is out of range we can prepare to float the ship out!"


    "Aye Chief!" The men excitedly started their work. "Check the lines!"


    The weapons onboard had been removed and tossed overboard before being dragged to shore. The remaining stores and furniture were too removed and dumped overboard. Several techs dressed in their EVA (Extra Vehicr Activity) space suits less all the essories like maneuvering thrusters had dropped into the water under the ship and straps were carefully wrapped under the barnacles infested bottom of the ship''s hull before being secured to through the opened wide rectangr gun ports.


    The techs underworld worked carefully and slowly due to the force of the waves and the dangers of getting crashed between the hull of the ship and the rock reefs. They also have to be careful of the razor-sharp barnacles and shellfish that covered the surfaces of the rocks and hull.


    It had taken the men in the EVA space suits a couple of hours to wrap four sets of load-bearing straps under the ship and once they were done, packets of self-inting floats were looped into the straps and carefully secured to the straps at strategic locations.


    Other crew members spent the time ensuring the timbers and the main deck of the ship was solid. The two radial engines were then secured under the main deck and bolted into the wooden frame of the ship. The two sets of paddle wheels were left on the top deck waiting to be installed once the ship had been sessfully refloated.


    "Chief!" A tech yelled from the beach, "HQ reports that the Inder''s Fleet has just passed Point Baker! We are cleared tomence salvage operations!"


    "Got it!" Matt hollered back, "Pack up the gear and be ready to embark on the ship!"


    "The rest activate the floats!" Matt ordered, and the men jumped to his orders.


    On the hull, were four sets of load bearing straps eachdened with a single floatation device on the sides. The men in the main deck pulled a tab linked to the devices and the CO2 canister releases the gas stored inside and the floats popped out from their packaging and erged into bright orange pods.


    The ship tilted and groaned as the bnce of the ship shifted on the rocks. "Check the hull for any leaks!" Matt yelled, "Also check the floats! See if any have any leaks too!"


    The ship was a hive of activity as the small army of techs ran up and down the hatches, verifying and double checking the hull to ensure everything is shipshape. Soon the tide started toe in, and the ship groaned as it was carried up by the secured floats. Matt and his crew held their breath as they all stood at the railings, looking at the floats rubbing against the rock reefs, hearing the scratching and squeaking of the floats.


    Everyone prayed and hoped that the floats will not burst or erupt from the rock reefs. Slowly, minute by minute, the squeaking of the floats disappear as the rock reefs vanished under the rising tide and the ship was freed!


    "YESSSH!" Matt and his techs cheered wildly, some hugging or high fiving each other. "Alright! Phase One is done! Now for Phase Two!" Matt turned around and yelled at the celebrating techs, "The hard part is over but we still need to ensure the ship doesn''t get beached or trapped on the rocks again!"


    "Bring the ship around to face the open sea!" Matt ordered, and one of the techs quickly manned the helm, spinning the steering wheel, turning the reced and serviced rudder, forcing the ship''s bow to point towards the open sea.


    "Activate the CO2 canisters!" Matt ordered once the ship was facing the right direction. The men yelled down the hatches, repeating Matt''s order and the tech yanked two cords which were connected to a dozen canisters of CO2 strapped under the hull. The CO2 canisters released the gas and a burst of bubbles erupted out, the force of the bubbles escaping, shoved the ship against the waves and tide, pushing the ship out towards the sea.


    One of the precious motion detectors were repurposed as a sonar used as a depth sounder, the tech held the handheld device at the bow of the ship, yelling out the readings of the depth as the CO2 canisters shoved the ship further from shove. Once a safe distance was achieved, Matt ordered the anchor to be dropped and the ship came to a slow halt.


    "Good work people!" Matt grinned at his excited team, "Alright, start installing the paddle wheels and contact the guys on the beach to row the boats over." The two longboats and a further two wooden dingies were found hidden along the forest edge, covered with foliage, most likely dragged up from the beach by the original crew and hidden. The Marines had discovered them and the techs used the boats to ferry from the beach to the ship and carry gear up and down.


    The beach party had loaded up all the essentials and equipment onboard the boats and were waiting for the ship to be floated out before joining them out at the sea.


    Matt grinned as he saw the men carefully lowered the paddle wheel down one side of the ship with ropes and hands stretched out from the gun ports of the main deck underneath to grab the wheel before they attached the wheel into the steel shaft. A tech lowered himself down with ropes and used a power tool to bolt the wheel securely to the power shaft.


    This process was repeated on the other side, and the boats from the beach also arrived, the grinning faces of the students to the techs staring up at the ship as they holler excitedly. They paddled the boats to the side and a swing out crane was pushed out with ropes were dropped over for them to secure the boat with all the equipment and crates of supplies, which the men slowly hoist the boats up one by one, before securing them on the deck.


    Matt looked at the men gathered on the deck as they finished all the work of securing the boats and equipment. He grinned and said, "Alright! Now is the final part of our n! We are gonna run the paddles and sail home! Hoist the anchor! Make ready for sail! Now give me your best pirate warcry!"


    "UGHHH~!" The human techs roared andughed before they scampered to their stations, leaving the elves with a confused look on their faces. "Is it a hooman thing to shout ''Urghh'' before they set sail on a ship?"


    Mattughed as he heard the elven crew said that, "Power up the engines!" He roared, as the men turned the capstan of the anchor, pulling the heavy anchor up.


    Suddenly the cough and the purring roar of engines and the slight vibration could be heard and felt as the twin engines powered up. Matt waited till the anchor were properly secured before he gave the next order, "Engage the wheels! Give me Ahead Slow!"


    "Ahead Slow, Aye!" One of the techs repeated and yelled down the order to the crew below, "Ahead slow!"


    The two paddle wheels started turning as the shaft was engaged and it started to ssh water, pushing the ship forward slowly. "It''s moving!" The men yelled excited from their stations as they peered out from the open gun ports and windows openings. "Woo Hooo!"


    Matt grinned as he felt a slight breeze against his skin, "Give me Half Full Ahead!"


    "HALF FULL AHEAD!"


    "AYE!"


    The ship started to pick up speed, slowly gaining speed from 1 knot to a steady 4 knots. Matt went down to the main decks to check on the engines and found most of the men had stripped away their top as the temperature rosed up from the heat created by the Dragonite powered engines despite the opened gun ports and windows.


    "Chief!" The tech in charge of the engines frowned, "We are just going at half speed, and the engines are looking like they are gonna overheat!"


    "Damn," Chief Matt looked around the deck, "The airflow is not strong enough to cool the engines!"


    "At this rate, before we go 10 km, the engines will melt!" The tech reported with a grim face. "We need some way to cool them!"


    "Wait!" Chief Matt snapped his fingers, "I know just the thing!" He turned quickly climbed back up the hatch, leaving behind the clueless tech.


    "Hey, kids!" Chief Matt found the small group of students gathered at the bow of the ship, enjoying the view. "I need your help!"


    "Chief?" One of the students stepped forward, "My name is Elza ssten, a first year. I am the leader of this party. What do you need our help with?"


    "Elza, I need you and your party to help create a magic formation that creates cold air!"


    "Cold air?" Elza tilted her head with her brown hair tied into a bun. "I think we can do it, but why?"


    "The engines are overheating!" Matt exined, "It is too hot and will overheat and break down. That is why we need to cool the engines down!"


    "I see," Elza nodded, and looked at her party of four and smiled.


    "Let''s go solve this heat problem!"

 Chapter 176: Deja Vu

    Chapter 176: Deja Vu


    The Colony, Academy of Science and Magic


    Dr. Sharon sat alone on the workbench, staring at the broken golden amulet encased inside a clear containment unit. The voices in her head grew louder and clearer the nearer she was to the artifact and she felt a tingle of fear down her spine, yet the academic part of her brain was calmly analyzing her situation.


    "... i'' anar ondo..."


    "... i'' anar ondo...!"


    "... I'' ANAR ONDO...!"


    "... I'' ANAR ONDOOO...!"


    "Doctor?" Someone suddenly shook her shoulder, making her jump, the voices that spoke in her head seemingly apanied by tribal drums, cut off, leaving her mind back to her own thoughts.


    "Ye-yes?" Dr. Sharon turned and saw a pretty redhead female dressed in a grey tech suit, with strips of a Petty Officer 1st ss, standing over her, "Can I help you?"


    "PO Kristine reporting for duty Ma''am!" Kristine stood at attention. "I was told you needed help on some history stuff!"


    "Oh, OH!" Dr. Sharon rubbed her temples as her mind slowly recovered. "At ease, sailor and grab a seat."


    "What help do you need me on?" Kristine asked as she dragged over a chair.


    "Well," Dr. Sharon scrolled through her tablet as she pulled up Kristine''s academic records from her service record folder. "Says here you majored in archeology and history in Cambridge. What degree did you take on? Ancient history or Modern?"


    "Yes, Doc," Kristine answered, "I got a BA(Bachelor of the Arts) in ssical archaeology and ancient history. They mostly cover Mediterranean cultures."


    "I see," Dr. Sharon looked slightly disappointed, "Do have any knowledge of ancient Latin America cultures?"


    "Eh, I did read up on them but I am not very well versed in them," Kristine replied, "Why do you need knowledge of Latin America cultures?"


    "We found something, that might be connected to something from Earth," Dr. Sharon exined, "That''s why we need your expertise in archeology and history."


    "Wait? You meant we found something here that could be linked with the ancient civilizations on Earth?" Kristine looked excited as she heard Dr. Sharon words.


    "Yes, this," Dr. Sharon gestured to the containment unit on the end of the table. "We pulled this off the Hero''s body."


    "What is it?" Kristine yed with the disy screen as cameras inside the containment unit erged the imagery out.


    "Well, its made out of pure gold as far as we know," Dr. Sharon said, "24 karats, 99.999% pure gold, weighing at 289.4 grams. It appeared to have broken off into pieces, judging by the cracked edges."


    "To have the ability to smelt pure gold is quite hard, especially the separation of gold and silver is a difficult process," Dr. Sharon continued, as she dug out a gold royal coin. "These have a purity of 89 - 90% gold, 5 - 7% silver, and the remainder 3 - 4% copper and some minor impurities."


    "This is either made by advanced melting technology, alien tech or... by the Gods themselves..." Dr. Sharon exined. "The natives here surely do not have the technology nor the means to refine such pure gold, and this amulet is several hundred years old by carbon dating."


    Kristine''s eyes widen as she listened to Dr. Sharon words, "The engravings on the amulet does look familiar. How are you sure it is rted to us?"


    "Theputer had analyzed the symbology on the surface and managed to match this," Dr. Sharon showed a printout of the amulet with certain portions of the engraving being highlighted and disyed on the side, with English tranted text. "Hummingbird of the Left."


    "Hummingbird of the Left?" Kristine frowned, "Wait, let me get my old books! I should have a couple of reference books on Latin America in my tablet!"


    Kristine quickly left theb and headed to her office, as she was also a teacher here teaching Elementary English and Maths to the students here. Along the way, students bowed and greeted her back she was in too much of a rush, only giving a quick acknowledgment, and not stopping to chat with her students.


    Reaching the Teacher''s Room, she grabbed her tablet on her work table and started to scroll rapidly, searching for her old ebooks on history. "Found it!" She saw the book titles under her history folder, [Aztecs: An Interpretation (1991)] and [Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America (2001)].


    Hurrying back with her tablet, she found Dr. Sharon appeared to be staring into nk space, seemingly simr to how she found her the first time. "Doctor?" It felt like deja vu to her.


    "Doctor?" Kristine called again and reached out to shake her after calling her a few times without any response. "Are you alright?"


    Kristine shook Dr. Sharon''s shoulder gently and the Doctor seemed startled by her touch. She turned from her seat and asked Kristine, "Ye-yes? Can I help you?"


    -----


    Somewhere in the Forest north of the Wreck


    Sergeant Mills sat with the rest of his toon, everyone spotting some kind of injury, watching the men of Bravo Company, toon 3 wrap explosive charges around the trunks of trees and roots.


    "Clear! Fire in the hole!" A Sergeant from toon 3 yelled, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"


    A series of clumps echoed through the forest, and Mills feel the pressure wave mming into his body despite being behind cover and over a hundred meters away. Loud snaps and cracking of wood could be heard and as Mills peered over his cover, he saw a small clearing had appeared.


    Rays of sunlight flooded in, highlighting the drifting smoke and wood particles in the freshly created clearing. "Burn it all!" Someone yelled, and several magic circles could be seen formed by Marines who have some magic affinity and balls of fire rained onto the pile of broken tree trunks, roots, fallen leaves, and branches.


    "Damn, this shit is gonna take some time to clear", as thick grey smoke erupted from the burning green wood and leaves, Mills cursed. "Well, at least we can have some form ofmunications and resupply."


    The Lieutenant of toon 3, came up to Mills with a happy smile on his face, "Well, Sarge, once the clearing has burnt down, we can call in air support to evacuate you boys out of here."


    Mills nodded, too tired and wounded to criticize the Lieutenant for burning the forest, which most likely the smoke will kill them off first before any monsters. The Lieutenant gave Mills a nod before he strutted off, yelling at his men.


    "Well at least, in a couple of hours, we be on a nice warm bed," Mills sighed as he leaned back against the tree. He looked around his gathered men, mentally doing the butcher''s list. Hisst stand have two deaths, leaving 11 heavily wounded men, but the search toon had found another five Marines from his toon scattered all over, three of them poisoned badly by the arrows and darts of the goblins, while the remaining two of the Marines got turned into Furballs, their cute little bleats catching the attention of the search parties.


    They found three badly mangled bodies of Marines, killed in action by the Forest Troll, and two other MIA(Missing In Action), which Lieutenant Coraths was one of them. So total five KIAs, two MIAs, and seventeen survivors, all badly wounded, Mills thought to himself and cursed, "Fucking forest, fucking trees, and fucking ''Noob-tenants''!"


    -----


    Goblin Sea, The Floating Wreck


    Elza and her ssmates stepped into the main deck of the ship and instantly felt the suffocating heat and humidity of the area. She blushed as she saw the half-naked sweaty bodies crew of hoomans and elves working at the engines.


    "Elza! This is crazy!" One of the boys cried as sweat started to form all over his body. His white uniform with a dark blue tie and dark blue pants started to get soaked with sweat and the humidity. "What can we do?" He loosened his tie as he stared with uncertainty at his surroundings.


    Chief Matt climbed down the hatch behind them and said, "Can you guys cast a spell to at least blow air out?"


    "I-I can do that, S-Sir!" A petite female student shyly raised her. Dressed in a naval like uniform, the girls wore a ribbon instead of a tiepared to the guys. She raised both her hands up and a magic circle formed, and she chanted the spell she wanted.


    "Wait!" Chief Matt cried out, "What are you doing?"


    Instantly a ball of visible wind appeared to gather before her glowing blue magic circle, the surrounding hot air got sucked in towards the ball of wind and she faced the opened gun ports. The swirling ball of air whipped the skirt of the girl wildly as the air was spinning around her, dropping the surrounding temperature, and the techs cheered and pped.


    "Gale!" The girl cried out and shot out the ball of hot air out and secondster, it impacted the surface of the sea where a meter high water ssh erupted. The girl teared and rubbed her hands frantically as the heat from the ball of air scorched her hands.


    "Quick," Matt saw the girl''s hand having gotten burnt by the heat, and swiftly grabbed her hands and dunked them into a nearby barrel of seawater. "It''s gonna hurt but better than having boils and skin peeling off!"


    The girl cried out in pain as the seawater burnt her scorched hands, but she slowly sighed as the water slowly cooled her painful burns. "Damn girl, that was stupid."


    "Hey, get the medkit over here!" Chief Matt roared at the stunned techs, who quickly jumped into action, with several of them running like chickens with heads cut off. Matt sighed and turned to the pale faced students, "Well, I appreciate the help, but next time please tell me what you n to do first. In an engine room, there are a lot of hazards, and we have to take safety precautions before rushing in to do anything."


    The student nodded, as they stared wide-eyed at Matt. "Now, the temperature is just solved temporarily, we need a long term solution."


    "Those spell formations you all drew on the beach," Matt asked, "Can you do something simr here?"


    "The mist spells?" Elza asked, "It shouldn''t be a problem. We just need to get our materials and we can set them up"


    "Great!" Chief Matt grinned as he took one of the medkits offered by several of the techs, and scowled at them, "Why do you need eight people to grab one medkit? Back to your stations!"


    The rest of the students went up to grab their materials while Matt sprayed burn lotion over the girl''s hand and gently wrapped her hands up with bandages. "Alright, don''t use your hands for the time being, once we are back, go see the doc."


    "T-thank you, S-Sir!" The girl bowed and hurried off awkwardly.


    "Chief!" The techs whispered, "Didn''t know you are such a softie!"


    "She''s about the same age as my granddaughter," Chief Matt sighed, "A softie eh? I see... I haven''t been around much due to all that paperwork, and now I''m getting too soft on you guys right?"


    "Oh, no no no!" The techs all shook their head and they quickly disappeared to their stations not daring to show themselves.


    Chief Matt shook his head at the antics of his men and grinned, while the students returned armed with sling bags filled with all manner of arcaneponents. "Ok, I think two of those formations should be enough, I want one here and one there." Matt pointed to two areas next to the engines.


    Elza nodded and split her group into, and with the help of the techs, they cleared an area roughly 2 meters by 2 meters on the deck and started drawing on the wooden nks. "Can you just make it collect cold air instead of creating fog or mist?"


    "I think we can if we just remove the spell for creating water and heating water," Elza said as they started to n and draw on their notebooks the new formation.


    It took them roughly 30 minutes which by then the temperature has rosed up again, making the students sweat and pant in the hot environment. "Done!" Elza called out as her team had finished the spell formation first followed by the other team.


    The spell formations glowed and soon Matt felt the air turn cooler, and a thin mist appeared to form inside the deck, which slowly disappears away in the sea breeze.


    "HA! I think I just invented a magical air conditioning system!"

 Chapter 177: Decisions, Decisions...

    Chapter 177: Decisions, Decisions...


    UNS Singapore, Prison Deck


    First Lieutenant Tavor of Naval Intelligence whistled a tuneless tone as he strolled deep within the bowels of UNS Singapore, clutching a briefcase. His slick polished boots making loud echos down the dim decks as he entered a restricted area. A checkpoint appeared, were five security officers sat behind an armored ss station and Tavor removed his sidearm and dropped it into an opening on the table before he scanned his palms and iris.


    The armored hatch slid opened and Tavor gave a nod to the men inside the guard station before he stepped into a short corridor with metal detectors and chemical sniffers. The armored hatch closed and a yellow light blinked, followed by aputerized voice, "Please wait while we scan for any anomalies."


    A short minuteter, the yellow light switched to green, indicating all scans have beenpleted, "Please proceed and key in your ess details."


    Tavor tapped his login and password, and theputer timestamped and recorded his logged in ess and verified his identity before the hatch at the end of the corridor opened. He exited the scanning corridor and he walked briskly towards the objective he was here for, as he headed deeper into the prison cell.


    He stopped before a cell numbered ''4'' and keyed in his ess codes, the armored door slide open, and 6 meters by 6 meters transparent cube, internally illuminated sat in the middle of the cell, directly below an anti-magic spell formation engraved into the cell floor.


    A young girl sat on the bed, the only furniture in the prison cube, curled up like to ball, hugging her knees to her chest tightly as her long bushy brown hair covered her face messily like some horror movie actress. She sat there rocking to herself as Tavor stood there observing her actions.


    Tavor walked over to an inte set on a row of tables and monitor screens and hit the send key, "Hello? Can you hear me?"


    The girl jerked up like she was shocked by electricity and she scrambled against the walls of the transparent cell, wrapping the nket provided around herself and shivering wildly. "G-go go aw-away de... de-demons!"


    -----


    Goblin Sea


    Chief Matt frowned as he looked at the spell formations on his deck, and had a nagging feeling in his head. "Elza!" He called out to the students who chatting away happily with the techs.


    "Yes, Sir?" Elza hopped over the spell formation, her eyes shining with pride at her work.


    "Can you exin how this works?" Chief Matt frowned as he looked at the formation, feeling he was missing something.


    "Erm, the original formation was a threeyer formation, the firstyer collects heat from the surrounding, and the secondyer formed water from the surrounding air, andstly thest formation holds the gathered cold air and water together," Elza exined as she looked in confusion at Chief Matt''s worried face. "The cold air touches the warm water and fog is formed."


    "For this formation, we just removed the secondyer and some parts of the thirdyer," Elza exined, "The heated air will be absorbed and cold air will be formed above the formation, thus colding the engines."


    "Wait... if you removed the water creation portion, where does all the heat collected go?" Chief Matt looked worriedly at her.


    "The heat? OH!" Elza looked up in horror, "The... manastones... they will gather all the heat..."


    "SHUT THE SPELL FORMATIONS DOWN NOW!" Chief Matt yelled, "NOW!"


    The students looked at Chief Matt in confusion, but luckily Elza jolted awake and she quickly followed Chief Matt''s instructions, "Quickly stop the spells formations!" She knelt before the spell formations and pressed both her palms on the formation, channeling her magic into the spell, and cutting the magic conducts from the manastones powering the formation.


    The glow of the spell formation faded and the heat slowly returned, but the two manastones used to power the spell formation continued to glow in a red hot manner with air shimmering over it.


    "Don''t touch that!" Chief Matt yelled, "You go grab some thermal instion gloves and theser thermometer." He ordered one of the techs who ran off bidding his order.


    "Thank god we shut it down in time," Chief Matt gave a relieved sigh, "If the manastones overheat, it will explode. While the force of the explosion isn''t very strong, it will still be deadly in a half enclosed area."


    During the initial testings and experiments with mana stones, they had heated one of them till it blew up, destroying cameras and testing equipment with a TNT force of 5 kg for a single 200 grams piece of stone. But the temperatures required for it to go boom was over 750 degrees celsius!


    "Alright, I think we need to rethink on this, the spells formation works, but we need some way to cool the manastones," Chief Matt said as he took theser thermometer from the returned tech. "Wow, it reached almost 200 degrees celsius in like twenty minutes of operation."


    "Hey Chief, the timber is burnt ck," The tech wore the gloves and picked up the burning hot manastone. "Where do we put this?"


    "See if there''s a bucket of sand or seawater." Chief Matt replied. "Damn, I think we can jury rig it into some sort of steam engine for ships!"


    "It can cool the engines, and at the same time create steam, which in turn can be used to generate electricity for the ship!" Chief Matt muttered to himself excitedly, "Oh my god, near infinite power! But the stones have limited power and have to be reced. Damn..."


    "Ok, boys! We are gonnae out with a way to cool the manastones!" Chief Matt roared at his crew, "Best idea gets one week off!"


    "OOOOHHHH!" The techs all yelled and cheered in excitement and started discussing among themselves ways of cooling the stones, leaving the students bewildered.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Prison Deck


    Liz Regnar wrapped the nket tightly around her thin frame, as she peered about wildly at the mirrored walls, only seeing her hundreds of her own frightened figure on the bed on all four sides of the walls. The harsh white lights made her crazy, as it was forever brightly lit and she lost all track of time, not knowing when was day or night, alone in this mirrored cell. The only way she could track time was by the meals given to her twice a day.


    Now a godlike voice spoke from the ceilings, breaking her already fragile mental state. "Hello? Can you hear me?"


    "No!" Liz yelled as she tried to bury herself deeper into the nkets, "It''s just a voice in my head!"


    "What is your name?" The voice spoke again. "Tell me your name!"


    "I don''t know anything! Go away!" Liz yelled again, "It''s just a bad dream!"


    "This is not a dream! You know it isn''t! Now tell me your name!"


    "It''s not a dream?" Liz''s eyes went wild with terror, "No! This is heaven or hell? Where am I?" She had tried to gather her magic but failed every time, and this time it was the same, making her feel small and useless, just like a normal person.


    "Answer the question!" The lights suddenly went out, turning the cell pitch ck and Liz screamed in terror. "ANSWER THE QUESTION!" A spotlight shone directly down at her, as she rolled up in a fetal position crying.


    "E-Elizabeth Regnar..." Liz sobbed.


    "Elizabeth Regnar, why are you with the Hero Dante?"


    "I-I heard h-he was recruiting party members!" Liz replied, "I signed up and was chosen..."


    "Who else was in the party with the Hero?"


    "There was Stab... and Evelyn..."


    -----


    Lt Tavor leaned back from the console as he reyed the video of his interrogation of the girl mage. "Hmmm..."


    He made some notes on his tablet as he reviewed all the data he has on both the prisoners and felt something was wrong and doesn''t tally. Liz the girl mage had said the Hero Dante came here to subjugate the rebels by orders of the Emperor and were after ymore One for kidnapping kids, while Evelyn the Archer said that the Hero was hired by the Adventurer''s Guild toe to investigate Sawtooth Mountain Pass for traces of the rebels.


    "So who is telling the truth?" He put both his booted feet up and observed the shaking curled up body of the girl in the cell. "Liz seemed too scared out of her wits to be lying. Or could both of them be telling the truth?"


    He yed back the video recording he had of Evelyn, and frowned, as hepared both girl''s reactions. "Evelyn seemed more calm than Liz, despite the fear and confusion she has."


    The way the prisoners were treated, with constant harsh white light, a mirrored cell, istion, sleep deprivation, were all design to disorientate and confuse the mental state of the prisoners, making it easier for interrogation without the use of violence. Liz hadpletely broken down, while Evelyn seemed more... detached and confused, which was rather puzzling to Tavor, who thought that if someone were to hold out longer, it will be Liz the Mage as mages are supposed to have stronger will power, ording to Magister Thorn.


    He looked at the whimpering girl and felt nothing, to be honest. He was scouted straight into Naval Intelligent once he graduated from OCS on Earth. He was an orphan, growing up in one of Israel government-run orphanages before the war came, and thew stated that all males of a certain age group are required to serve the human race against the invaders, and also every one of age and both male and female in the orphanages was sent off to the military.


    Tavor fairly well in Officer Cadet School, cing within the top twenty of his ss. His instructorsmented he was strong withnguages including foreign cultures and has the ability to absorb a wide array of information and a great memory. Also, it helped that he has no family or ties to anyone.


    He checked the medial reports from Dr. Sharon, going through their medical history, and found something about Evelyn appearing to be in a constant confused state once she regained consciousness. Dr. Sharon wrote that it might be due to the tranq shots given to her over a long period of time, causing her brain to suffer some minor amnesia.


    Tavor watched the rey of the interrogation of the Evelyn girl, watching her every gesture and micro-expressions. One said the Hero is recruited by the Empire, the other said by the Adventurer''s Guild, so let''s say if both are telling the truth, does that means the Adventurer''s Guild is under the control of the Empire?


    If that is the case, it would actually not be a surprise as if I am in charge of an Intelligencework for a nation or empire, an Adventurer''s Guild where people of all types and races gather for work, it will be the best ce to gather information. Not to mention, even issuing secret missions to the unknowing adventurers to do dirty jobs under the guise of the Guild will be easy too! Tavor thought to himself, "Shit! There is at least one branch of Adventurer''s Guild in every major town and city on this continent! Even the Isles have branches there!"


    He frowned, tapping the console, what should we do about the two girls now that he sort of has an answer. The girl mage has power magic power, which will greatly help boost our magic capabilities, even if she does not goes to the front line and just serves as a teacher. As for the archer girl, unless she works as a hunter or trains the Marines in woodcraft, there wasn''t much she could contribute to the Colony.


    But are they worth the risk to try to recruit them? Or is it better to give them both a bullet in the head and an unmarked grave? What should I rmend to the Captain?


    Decisions, decisions...

 Chapter 178: Doctor Strange

    Chapter 178: Doctor Strange


    The Colony, Academy of Science and Magic


    Kristine gently knocked on the door to Dr. Sharon''sb in the Academy, and gingerly pushed the door open. She saw the Doctor leaning over the ss containment unit, staring at the artifact without moving.


    Kristine knocked harder on the door, and called out, "Doc?" She did not remember the Doctor to be so... strange. She briefly remembered the Doctor was quite famous for being geeky, always yingputer games during office hours in the med bay with her patients.


    "Oh, Kristine, you are here," Dr. Sharon replied without turning, for some strange reason, she could feel the presence and identify the person who came in without seeing who was it.


    "sses for the day has ended, so I pop by to see if there''s anything I could help with," Kristine replied timidly, as she looked at the back of Dr. Sharon.


    "Thank you," Dr. Sharon finally took her eyes off the broken amulet and sat down on her chair. "I have been reading up on what God the Hummingbird of the Left. Seems like it is referring to the Aztec God of war, sun and human sacrifice, Hutzilpchtli." She pronounced the name as ''Whi-che-los-pon-chtli''.


    "We might have a misconception here that Aztec Gods need daily sacrifices, most likely due to mainstream movies and shows, that mold our perception of the Aztecs as crazed worshippers of blood and death." Dr. Sharon said, "So far the two books you shared with me, shows another side of the story that we know of."


    "But what we do know that most of the carvings on the amulets are 84% simr to the Aztec pictograms." Dr. Sharon added, "The question now is, why is an ancient Earth Civilization doing in a millions of light years away?"


    "That is something I am not understanding too," Kristine replied carefully, "but so far we only have one iplete piece of evidence, we need to find out more before we cane out with any concrete theory. If not its all just guesswork, we..."


    Dr. Sharon appeared to tilt her head to the side like she was trying to listen to something. She put her hand up and stop Kristine''s sentence as she narrowed her eyes. "Doctor?" Kristine looked with concern at Sharon.


    "Wait," Dr. Sharon was trying to hear the voices in her head, but the banging of the drums muffled the words. She stood up and walked back to the containment unit and rested her forehead against the sapphire ss, and the words became clearer.


    "-lm nr edledhron..."


    "What does that means?" Dr. Sharon whispered to the voice in her head.


    "-Im vanwa..."


    "Dr. Sharon?" Kristine looked at the strange manner the doctor was disying. "What do you mean by that?"


    "Oh, it''s nothing..." Dr. Sharon straightened up, "Just voices in my head you know..."


    "Eh ok," Kristine frowned and said in a concerned voice, "Doc, I think you need to take a break from work, I think you are pushing yourself too much. Yesterday you too were so unfocused that you have forgotten what we talked about!"


    "Haiz..." Dr. Sharon sighed, "I want to, but there''s just so many things going on. I have the hospital to handle, not to mention any critical cases, researches to do, voices in my head and now this."


    "That''s why you should take a couple of days off!" Kristine replied, "You are not an AI drone, even drones will break down without proper downtime! And you are so stressed and tired out that you are even hearing voices in your head!"


    Kristine stood up and grabbed Dr. Sharon''s shoulder and pulled up her and shooed her out of theb. "Take the rest of the day off! Go back and get some proper sleep, or y games! Shoo!"


    And like a mother hen, she shooed Dr. Sharon out of theb and followed her down to themunal bus stop and ensured she left the campus than was Kristine satisfied. "Remember no work!" She called after the confused Dr. Sharon onboard the bus.


    -----


    Goblin Sea, The Floating Wreck


    "If we put this spell formation back and with a container here and pipes installed," One of the techs were bending over a piece of drawing on the table. "We can use the heat released by the Transfer spell, and boil the water in the container, steam pressure will then be built up and collected and channeled to the turbines here, turning it and generating electricity."


    "This way we can ensure that the mana stones don''t reach critical mass!" The techs proudly showed off their collective work. "We harness the heat given off by the engines and transfer all that heat energy to boil water, thus creating steam to power the turbines which in turn gives us electricity and also cold air!"


    "But this contraption only works in areas where there is plenty of waste heat. If not, it doesn''t really work in any other environment." The tech doing the presentation exined.


    "So this is just like a thermoelectric steam generator?" Chief Matt said while folding his arms over his chest. "Some sort of Seebeck generator?"


    "Yes, we used the Seeback Effect for this concept," The techs replied carefully, wondering if the Chief would be happy with their work. "But in this case here, since we do not have a turbine or generator, we can just use the transferred heat to boil the water to get rid of the heat energy and the pipes acts as a funnel for the steam to escape."


    "What do you think?" Chief Matt turned and looked at the quiet girl beside him. "Think you can edit the spell formation again?"


    "Erm..." Elza folded one arm under her chest and the other tapping the side of her head. "I think so, we just have to ensure the Transfer spell for moving the heat is set up correctly. If not the heat will not be able to boil the water in the container."


    "We might need to run a few trials to ensure it is correct," Elza said.


    "No problem," Chief Matt replied. The paddle wheels so far were working splendidly, giving them a constant speed of 3 knots, as they did not want to overheat the engines. "Boys! You will help measure and ensure everything is perfect!"


    "Aye Chief!" His crew roared out happily, d that their design works.


    "Everyone here gets a week off when we return! Good work!" Chief Matt grinned, "But only if we canplete our makeshift Seebeck Steam Generator! Now get to work!"


    "Aye Aye Chief!" The crew quickly grabbed and dragged the stunned students down in the warm decks below, and they started to work on the spell formation again while the crews started jury-rigging makeshift containers and pipes.


    -----


    The Colony


    Dr. Sharon rested her head against the window of the new model bus. The original electronic motored half tracks that used to be running the bus routes were reced by the Dragonite powered aero-engined buses. An exposed radiator poked out from the bo of the bus while the small propeller fan, blew against the engine as it roared and nked.


    The bus was far noisier than the electronic half-tracks, which made virtually no sounds except for the harsh scraps of its metal tracks. The wheels of the bus were made out of bodies of dried ck Slime and sounds of something sticking against the paved road could be constantly heard.


    Dr. Sharon sighed, missing Earth and the convenience of modern technology. The air in the bus was warm, despite the windows were rolled down. There were a few other passengers onboard, but they looked absolutely fascinated by the moving scenery and the bus to be bothered by all the minor details.


    The voice in her head was surprisingly quiet as if it was asleep, but Dr. Sharon had a nagging suspicion that each time she was close to some modern technology stuff, the voices in her head appeared to quieten down a lot, but if she was with stuff from this world, it chatters non stop.


    And when she was closer to the magical amulet, the strength and volume of the voice in her head gets louder, clearer and evenes apanied by tribal drums. What the hell is going on?


    She had spoken with Magister Thorn roughly about bodies or souls taken over by another entity, but Thorn has no idea of such topics for he isn''t well versed in spirit magic, nor does he have any books or scrolls with knowledge on them. Even when she tried to repeat the words she heard to Thorn, he couldn''t identify nor understand them, leading to her keeping quiet to the whole ordeal.


    Maybe Kristine was right, she does need to take a break and just rest, and catch up to her games that she had been neglecting for weeks! She smiled to herself happily, thinking of what games to yter, RPG? FPS? or city building sim?


    -----


    Goblin Sea, The Floating Wreck


    "Chief Matt! We present to you... the Seebeck Steam Generator Mark 1!" The techs grinned happily and in excitement despite the hot and sweaty environment. Even the students were grinning widely having been infected by their enthusiasm and energy.


    "Alright, people quiet down!" Chief Matt roared over the excited voices. "Let''s test it out!"


    Elza nodded to one of her ssmates who knelt down and injected his magic into the formation. A couple of techs started to pour buckets of seawater into arge metal box container which was used to store some equipment. It was suspended over a wooden table with arge hole remove from the tabletop and once it was filled they closed the lid and secured the lid with a heavy wooden nk. A couple of hoses recycled from the water pumps were attached to the sides of the makeshift water tank.


    As the spell formation started to glow and the mana stones lit up, the air started to cool, and the men cheered, as they watched with barely concealed glee in their eyes. "Bring us up to half speed!" Chief Matt ordered.


    The techs in charged of the engines, nodded and engaged the gears, switching gears and increasing the speed of the paddle wheels. The sounds of churning water grew louder and ship prowled forward, riding the waves as paddle wheels sped up.


    "5 knots and holding!" Someone yelled down from the top hatch.


    "Let it run!" Chief Matt ordered as they watched the engines and the spell formation. "Check the engine and the mana stones'' temperatures"


    "Engines holding at 119.7 degree celsius but dropping!" The tech with theser thermometer cried, "Stones looking at around 89.4 degrees and climbing fast! 95.2, 99.6, 103.1, 107.5..."


    "Keep observing!" Chief Matt ordered. "What''s the temperature in the water tank?"


    "Erm, looks like it''s at 76.3 degrees and climbing." One of the techs checked the jury-rigged thermometer recycled from the engine for the water pump.


    "Mana stones'' temperature holding at 137 to 138 degrees!" A tech reported, "Engines temperature holding at 103.6 degrees!"


    "Good!" Chief Matt grinned, "Now time to do an endurance test! Run the engines at half speed for an hour, I want to 5 minutes checks on the temperatures of both the engines and the stones! Clear?"


    "Aye Chief!"


    -----


    The Colony, Residental Zone


    Dr. Sharon flopped down on her chair and powered up herputer on her desk in her assigned apartment. It had a living room, and three bedrooms, and a kitchte. One of the rooms she converted it into her work area, one as a guest and storage room, and the master bedroom she used for her self.


    Most of the furniture was simple fabricated pieces, with a few locally made wooden pieces like the dining table set. She swept open the curtains, and opened the windows, letting in the fresh air and natural light. She has not returned to her apartment for the past few days, sleeping either on her office couch or hospital bed.


    "Finally time for some games!" She grinned as she booted up her game menus.


    "Mana tyali...?"


    "URGHHH!!!"

 Chapter 179: Welcome To The (Concrete) Jungle

    Chapter 179: Wee To The (Concrete) Jungle


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "Here are the full detailed reports of the interrogation of the two prisoners," Lieutenant Tavor handed over two files onto ke''s desk after he finished summarizing the details with the Captain in his office, with the XO in attendance.


    "Sir, the effects of the interrogation might cause some side efforts to the prisoners, while I personally think that the Mage will be more useful in boosting our magical sector, the Archer could also help with other fields like hunting, tracking, forestry, and woodcraft," Tavor said. "The chances of recruiting either one of them frankly aren''t very high. In fact, I think there might even be some negative bacsh."


    "It is also not advisable to release them should they reject our offers of recruitment," Tavor continued, "While we have to take note that, we did kill the Hero after all, and they might have emotional attachments to the Hero."


    "Meaning?" ke raised an inquisitive eyebrow up.


    "Revenge, or hatred to our cause," Tavor replied simply. "They might take things to another level, which will implicate our operations and survival."


    "Your suggestions?" ke leaned back on his chair as he waited for Tavor to reply.


    "Execute them," Tavor said coldly, "Saves us the trouble in the future."


    "Cold-blooded murder?" Commander Ford snorted, "Where are our morals if we take that path? Are we degrading ourselves to murderers and cutthroats?"


    Tavor gave a shrug, "It''s the best case scenario for us, with the after efforts of the interrogation, we do not even know how their mental states will be like."


    "Even if we do not execute them," Tavor continued, "Are we just going to release them back to the nearest town? If yes, what if they leaked out information on us?"


    "Did you not ensure there was no information leaked to them and they were totally isted in the cells?" Ford narrowed his eyes as he refuted Tavor''s points.


    "Yes, but they have battled with the Hundred and First ATI, and Eagle Company," Tavor replied, "They have some inkling of ourbat capabilities, which if they were to be taken by any Imperial agent, they can disclose quite a bit of information regarding our weapons."


    "But our weapons have already been exposed to hundreds and thousands of Imperial soldiers already!" Ford argued. "What difference does it makes?"


    "A lot, Sir!" Tavor turned looked at Ford. "For one, the girl Mage is well versed in magic, almost at the level of Magister Thorn or even stronger in terms ofbat magic. She fundamentally understands that our weapons are either a magic artifact or of a non-magical construct."


    "Next, should they reappear back at any town or city, they can incite negative feelings towards us, which will be bad in the long run, should we attempt to form any contacts with anyone," Tavor said. "They can also be used as a propaganda tool against us by the Empire for killing the Hero, this will, of course, be a demerit to us, should we want to cause internal strife within the Empire."


    "Lastly, I refer to the main reason of executing them again," Tavor added, "Should they decided to take revenge on us, it will only add more to our te, which frankly is quite full."


    "I understand, Lieutenant," ke gave out a long sigh, "Killing them gives us bad karma, not killing them might lead to having troubles in the future while recruiting them, we might be rearing a poisonous viper in our house."


    "Ford, thoughts?" ke asked the XO.


    "Sir, Lieutenant Tavor gave us good points regarding them, but to convene an execution of prisoners goes against our code ofw," Ford frowned. "There is no concrete justification to kill them."


    "As Tavor has interrogated them, both of them only joined the Hero''s party for a year or so, and neither of them believes they are on the side of evil. There is a high chance they were duped by the Adventurer''s Guild if the Guild is actually secretly controlled or is working with the Empire!"


    Tavor had also reported his suspicions on the origins of the Adventurer''s Guild, stating that they might be part of the Empire or has sided with the Empire.


    "If that is the case, thousands of Adventurers were unknowingly working for the Empire''s agendas, which makes them all victims of fraud!" Ford said. "How can we just execute two girls duped into working with the Empire unknowingly on the charges of bing future problems which might not even happen!"


    "I see..." ke rubbed his be as he thought how troublesome this issue turned out to be. "We hold them for a period first. Let''s give them the carrot first and see how it goes from there onwards."


    "Tavor, put your best men over watching the two of them," ke ordered, "Well, Commander Ford has his points, you have yours too and I believe its better to be safe than sorry. Watch them carefully, any signs of aggressive, you are authorized to use deadly force, but I do not want to see you taunting and forcing their hand. Is that understood?"


    "Yes, Sir!" Tavor nodded.


    "Dismissed!" ke said, satisfied with Tavor''s work. "Good job by the way."


    After Tavor left the office, Ford frowned and said, "Sir, isn''t that a bit too heavy-handed?"


    ke raised his hand, stopping Ford from continuing, "If we can reduce the number of deaths in the future by cutting off the root now, why not?"


    "But sir!" Ford argued, "Have we fallen so low?"


    "It''s not a matter of falling so low or aboutws and codes of conduct," ke replied as he stared at Ford with steel in his eyes, "We got pushed around too much and it''s about time to do something about it!"


    "I understand Sir," Ford gave in, "But we still need to hold on to our morals, or we be like them, cold-blooded barbarians and killers."


    "Wee to the Navy, XO..."


    -----


    The Colony


    Kage Whitetail glued her face against the super clear ss windows, sans the oily prints of her palms and face. She stared wide-eyed at the massive walls, which seemed to be made out of a single piece of stone, like a mountain.


    The bus she was in carried a batch of the freed ves as they are transported to the city after their quarantine period was over and for the first time, Kaga saw the Capital of the so-called rebels and demon worshippers.


    The mountain-like walls spread as far as the eye could see, while the height was so great that she had to crane her neck all the way up to see the tops as the bus entered a tunnel-like entrance. The strange and magical white lights lit up the interior of the tunnel entrance, where what appeared to be a simple red and white striped barrier blocked the way into the city.


    She stared curiously outside the bus intently, seeing strange stripes of ck and yellow colored bands lining the floors while guards in the smart-looking ck uniforms entered the bus and did a quick check before he disembarked. The red and white striped barrier was then raised and the bus was waved through.


    The driver drove the bus forward, heading towards the bright light at the end of the tunnel and Kaga looked shocked as they came out of the walls and saw a sprawling city with structures that boggled her mind.


    In the beast city, she lived in, the buildings cannot be taller than the Priestess''s Tower which was already an impressive five stories tall. The buildings and stone towers she saw here, were shaped in rectangr blocks with boxy shapes jutting out at intervals, while some the walls were made out of ss totally!


    She knew that building a tower more than three story high takes a lot of work and craftsmanship, not to mention the cost, as stronger and better material is required for the foundations and sometimes, magic is used to strengthen the whole building. What she saw here, were like dozens and dozens of buildings over five or even ten stories tall! How did they do it?


    The exit of the tunnel was on the top of the slope, allowing Kaga and the people in the bus to ogle at the city as the area around the walls wererge fields growing a variety of crops. There were even herds of Muffalos and giant Pico-pico birds mingling around the grasnd. As they travel towards the city, there was another curtain wall, but smaller and shorter, likely only three-story tall surrounding the area providing an internal line of defense should the main walls be breached, which Kaga highly doubt it was possible to do so.


    In the far distance, Kaga noticed a massive strange looking grey white structure glittering in the sun that appeared to be built into the sides of a mountain range.


    "Wee to the Colony, or as the locals called it the City!" A voice suddenly was hearding from somewhere on the bus. The people, including Kaga, were not as frightened as the first time they heard a voiceing out from a ck box in the camp.


    "You have just passed by the Main Walls of the city and are now within the Agricultural District. This is just a small part of the City''s farms, the others are all spread out over the North Eastern Sector."


    "Next, we areing up to the Inner Defensive Walls. This walls provide an internal line of defense and also includes bomb raid shelters for citizens to take shelter should there be an attack on the City. There are also bomb shelters located within the City for everyone to take shelter." The strange female voice cheerfully said. "Your personnel orientation officer will guide you along with more information should you wish to enquire."


    "The City is divided into 6 Main Districts which are further divided into sub-districts. You have just seen the Agricultural District, which has 4 sub-districts, namely, North, South, East, and West. We have a Commercial District which is divided into North and South, the Industrial District where all our factories and workshops are located.


    "You are now entering the Residential District 2. There are three Residential Districts from 1 to 3, each capable of housing up to six thousand people. We are now heading towards the Central Business District located at the very center of the City to do the in processing of the start of your new life here with us!"


    The people in the bus stared at the neat and tidy streets, where magic wagons like the ''bus'' they were on zipped passed them, and other magic wagon carried huge loads of goods on their backs drove along the streets.


    The bus stopped at a road, before a strange red rune hanging from a pole. Kage realized that the red runes must be meaning stop, as she saw other wagons speeding off across them and simr runes hung over a bent pole were showing a green glow.


    How amazing! Thought Kaga, as she looked at the orderly way the wagons moved and the people on the streets that crossed the road. The roadside stalls and buildings looked vibrant and colorful. There was no rubbish on the streets nor beggars sitting around. Everyone was dressed in colorful clothing and they looked fat and happy.


    "To your right, you will be able to see the Castle of Iron, that is where Captain ke, Lord Governor-General to the City lives. We are now entering the Central Business District. Up ahead you will see the City Hall, where your identity card, work, and living permits will be issued to you."


    A grand looking stone grey building sat at the center of a massive square that has a beautiful water fountain in the middle where several people sat on the benches rxing or having lunch. The bus followed the roundabout and stopped before the steps of City Hall and the doors slid open with a loud hissing sound.


    "Thank you, hope you enjoy your new life here! Have a nice day!"

 Chapter 180: My Soul!

    Chapter 180: My Soul!


    The Colony, City Hall


    Kaga stepped down from the red bus and looked around in wonder. Stone buildings towered all over the huge za, with the lone fountain in the middle,rge enough for have more than a thousand people to gather.


    "People from Group 9! Please gather here!" A girl voice could be heard calling over the gawks and voices of awe in the crowd.


    Kaga turned and saw a girl dressed in a long-sleeved white blouse with a red ribbon underneath a dark blue vest and blue skirt with blue side hat on her ginger head tied in a short ponytail. She waved a small triangr red g on a stick, calling for people from Group 9 in Common Tongue. Kaga remembered she and the people in the same bus were from Group 9 and she walked up to join the group gathering before her.


    -----


    Billye of Tinstreet Orphanage from Falledge also known as Billy the Kid stood on a couple flights of steps bearing a wide smile that started to make her jaw cramp. She waved a little red g and called out again in Common, "Please gather here people from Group 9! Please..."


    Finally, some people finished gawking around started to gather before her, she had to stand on the steps to be able to look over their heads at the small crowd. "I need to count the number of people before I bring you in! Please stay together and do not wander off!"


    Billy sighed inwardly as half of the people were either ignoring her or just too awed by their surroundings. She resisted the urge to scratch her stockings as her legs itched and the unustomed new uniform she was wearing. So far she started this job as an administrative assistant for almost 2 5-days weeks while studying Eng-ish lessons during the evening. Luckily her seniors here were kind and helpful to her, but she was just not used to being feminine again after fighting for scraps so long in the gutters.


    "People! Please line up..." She called out, again and again, her temper starting to rise.


    "HEY!" Billy couldn''t stand it anymore, a vein popped in her head. "GROUP 9! Please line up properly!" She yelled loudly at the crowd who looked shocked at the little girl shouting at them before they obediently lined up before her. "I need to count heads! Can''t you all listen to instructions!"


    The group of people blushed in embarrassment as passersby giggled andughed at the scene of a little girl holding a tiny g and scolding a bunch of grown-ups.


    "Billye!" Another girl dressed in the same manner panted as she ran down the steps, "Sorry, there was a meeting that dragged on longer than expected! I..." The girl paused as she saw the group of chastened looking neers all obediently lined up. "You managed to control... the crowd all by your self?"


    "Roxy..." Billy''s face turned sheepish, "Tee hee... I just identally raised my voice a bit..."


    "Hahaha," Roxyughed and patted Billy''s head, "Well, good work! Let''s get them in processed then!"


    "Okay, I counted, everyone is here!" Billy smiled, quite liked the feeling of warmth from Roxy. "Group 9 follow us and PLEASE! Do not wander off!" She gave a re for good measure to the group and together with Roxy at the rear, led the whole group of neers up the stairs and into City Hall.


    -----


    Kaga gave a small smile as she suddenly recalled why the little girl looked so familiar, it was the wounded child she helped carried during their run in the forest! She must have recovered and is now working here. Maybe she should find some time to catch up with herter.


    Passing by the massive round stone columns, they entered the massive double wooden doors of the City Hall and saw arge bustling hall, with several doors that led somewhere. A row of counters with the same blue uniforms the two guides were wearing sat behind the tables and were serving people seated on chairs.


    Arge strange magical board hung over the counters will periodically change runes with a chime, and someone seated on the rows of chairsid out on one side of the hall will then walk up to an empty counter. Kaga was then given a square chit, with some strange runes drawn on it, and looked up as Billy exined.


    "This is a queue number! Each of you is given one!" Billy turned and pointed to the huge magical board hung above the counters. "When your turnse, a matching number will be soon on that board, as long as your queue number matches with that, head towards the correct counter!"


    "If you do not understand the numbers or runes, just match them!" Billy continued to exin, "On each counter has a number too! The board will show you which counter to go to! Remember, just match your queue number with the board, and match the counter number shown and head to that counter. You can seat there while waiting for your number to be called!" Billy pointed to the rows of chairs on the side.


    "If there is anything you are not sure of, please feel free to ask!" Billy said and was almost immediately bombarded with questions and she almost instantly regretted.


    "What magic is this?"


    "What are we doing here?"


    "Where''s the toilet?"


    "I''m hungry!"


    "Where do we sleep?"


    "..."


    Kaga found an unupied chair and sat down, observing each and everything in the hall. Suddenly she saw a group of short-eared people, and she tensed up slightly, remembering the two strange short-ears that appeared at the camp and tried to capture her soul! But she slowly rxed again as the short-ears did not appear to be after her and the people around them, making her question if the rumors of demons are true.


    She watched the short-ears carefully, observing their every movement and manners, feeling like they were very simr to the long ears, making her fluffy ears twitch. Who built all these? Could it be the demons? If so, they must possess very powerful elemental magic to raise stone walls and buildings!


    Time passed unnoticed as Kaga was concentrated on observing her surroundings, seeing new things and wonders while the board chimed, and Kage saw the exact same runes with her ''queue number'' and another rune next to it.


    She quickly recognized the rune to one of the counters bearing the same rune and she walked up nervously and stood before a cheerful looking middle ageddy. "Oh my, a beast man! Take a seat, dear." She spoke in Common.


    Kaga gingerly sat down, her tail and ears erect as she nervously stared at the uniformeddy. "Don''t be nervous, you are here to fill in some information and we will assign you a ce and offer you jobs and education courses."


    "There will also be an orientation for you to attend, so you get to know the City better." The matronlydy smiled, putting Kaga feel slightly at ease.


    "Now, please put your hand here, on this Truth Stone," The matronlydy said, "What is your name, dear?"


    "Ka-Kaga Whitetail..." She replied as she stared at the stone with her right hand on it. The stone gave off a warm feeling and glowed slightly, while thedy nodded as she appeared to use her fingers to press on something rapidly on the table, giving off tapping sounds.


    "Age? Hmm... 19 you say? Where were you born? Parents? Siblings? Previous upation?" The questions continueding. "As in what did you work as before?"


    "Eh... I was... the Guardian Priestess of the City of Beast..." Kaga truly spoke out, knowing that she couldn''t lie with a Truth Stone in her hand.


    "Oh my, you are the Guardian Priestess?" The matronlydy eyes widen and she rubbed her forehead, "This is above my pay grade... Please on hold..."


    The administrativedy got up and walked to a table at the back, and picked up a strange looking handle that has some curly strings linked to it and seemed to press on the surface of the strange object.


    Kaga''s eyes widened and her ears and tail stood straight up as her heightened hearing clearly hear thedy speaking to someone on it! What demonic sorcery is that! She couldn''t understand what she was talking about as they seemed to be speaking in anothernguage that she recognized it to be like what the people were saying that they need to learn.


    Less then a turn of the ss, thedy returned and smiled, "So sorry, dear, to keep you waiting, but I informed the higher-ups about your situation and they will be here to talk to you, but let''s continue registering you first into the system!"


    Kaga looked suspiciously at her, and wonder should she make a run for it. "Hehehe, dear girl, don''t be so nervous, now, what skills do you have? Magic? Combat? Knowledge?"


    "I am skilled in the use of Spirit Magic, I should be considered a 6th Circle Mage by your standards." Kaga replied, "I am also well versed in divination and protection formations." She also listed out several fields of thought she had studied.


    "Wow, a 6th Circle Mage at your age?" Thedy was clearly impressed, "Good, good, we need more people of your caliber!" She appeared to rap on the table rapidly, producing more of those tapping sounds as she looked to the side at something, driving the level of curiosity of Kaga higher and higher, making her ears twitch madly.


    "Erm... If you d-don''t mind..." Kaga couldn''t stand not knowing what thedy was doing, "What are you doing tapping on the table?"


    "Oh? Hahaha," Thedyughed and gestured Kaga to lean over the counter. "You are a curious one ain''t you?" She showed Kaga a piece of a t ck rectangr object with tiny squaresid out in rows on the surface with runes drawn on each square.


    "This is a ''keyboard'', we press the keys to type in the words we want into the ''corn-pu-er''," She exined as she showed Kaga a glowing disy screen on the side filled with more strange runes. She held a strange ck oval object and clicking sounds could be heard and Kaga saw something glowing on the screen and thedy demonstrated by tapping on the ''key-bore'' and runes appeared like magic on the screen.


    Kaga ears and tail twitched madly as she looked at the way the ''corn-pu-er'' worked and resisted the urged to ask more. Thedyughed at her expression and kindly said, "Don''t worry, you will learn more when you start attending sses."


    "Now look here," Thedy pointed to a boxy object with a round shiny circle in the middle. "Smile!"


    Kaga gave an awkward smile, looking directly at the strange object, wondering what is it when suddenly she remembered seeing something very very simr to it. But it was smallerpared to what those two weird short-ears were holding... But could it be the same? It can capture your soul?


    A click sounded and thedy giggled, "My dear, you looked so stiff! Now I need your fingerprint and a drop of your blood into the Truth Stone and we will be mostly done!"


    "What is that thing?" Kaga asked pointing to the camera. "Does it capture your soul?"


    "Hahaha, where did you hear that from, my dear?" Thedy giggled again, "You are so cute!"


    Kaga blushed as it was the first time someone called her cute, "But.. but..."


    "Hehehe, don''t worry, it just takes a photo of you," Thedy smiled and took her hand gently, and pressed it against a piece of silvery-looking pad. "Don''t move your finger yet. Ok, the other fingers..."


    Next, she took one of Kaga''s finger and ced before the Truth Stone and there was a tiny prick of pain and a drop of bloodnded on the surface of the Stone, making it glow. "Ow, what did you do?"


    "I need a drop of your blood to register with the Truth Stone," Thedy replied. There was a strange whining noise and thedy smiled, "And we are done!"


    She handed over a small stack of papers and a small rectangr card, "Here are some brochures for you to read on, and this is your Identity Card! Don''t lose this! There is a fine if you do!"


    Kaga looked down at the card and gasped in shock as a perfect looking image of herself was posted on it!


    "MY SOUL!"

 Chapter 181: Home

    Chapter 181: Home


    Goblin Coast, Far Harbor


    A long moanful wail of a foghorn sted out from the lighthouse at the end of the pier, as a sailless ship approached. Workers paused in their work as they looked at the ship with two strange contraptions on its sides slowly came in to dock with the pier.


    "Dead slow astern!" Chief Matt yelled as they approached parallel to the pier. "Keep her steady!"


    The paddlewheels slowly came to a stop before they started to reverse directions, churning the sea with sshes of whitewash. The crews on the deck tossed out mooring ropes to the surprised looking workers on the pier, who quickly grabbed the ropes as the Harbor Master came panting down the pier, yelling happily, "They''re ours! Our ship!"


    "Stop all engines!" Chief Matt roared, as the ship''s speed slowed to a crawl and the noisy rumbling engines died down and the turning paddle wheels stopped their movement.


    The crew onboard yelled and cheered loudly as the ship came to rest against the pier. "We are home!"


    "Good work, people!" Chief Matt grinned as he watched the men and women hugging each other and cheering. "Drop the gangway! Division leaders to ensure their areas are properly secured and equipment powered down and prepped for transportation!"


    "Chief Matt! Permission toe onboard?" a voice called out from the lowered gangway and Matt saw Commander Ford standing there with his staff. He quickly came down the helm and saluted the Commander.


    "Sir! Wee onboard The Floating Wreck!" Chief Matt greeted the XO who returned his salute before saluting the g tied to the mast. "Apologies for not having a wee party, Sir!"


    "It''s ok, the Captain sent me over to take a look at how the Harbor was progressing when we receive word of your return," Ford grinned, "Looks good."


    "Well, the Inders do know how to build a ship," Chief Matt said, "It was built pretty solid, but we might need to rebrace certain portions of the ship."


    He gestured to the paddle wheels, "While R and D are stilling out with a proper screw propulsion system, we have to make do with these first. And also better bracing for the engines and a more sturdy design for the paddle wheels. Luckily the sea is calm enough to not break the wheels. I will seriously advise till we have a steel frame for the wheels, not to go out to the deep sea."


    Ford nodded as he looked at the busy crew carrying crates and containers of equipment out on the hold. A portable power crane on the pier was rumbling its way over on the tracks on the pier, to help unload the equipment. "I heard you guys had some breakthrough in so steam power system?"


    "Oh yes!" Chief Matt grinned, "Well, the kids that Magister Thorn sent over are not bad at all, we managed to work out a simple system with their fog creation spell formation to create a sort of Seebeck power generator."


    Matt led the party down the hatch and into the main decks where the original ballistas were removed and reced by two ult looking shrines like contraptions. Magic runes covered a small area while a water tank stood on thin flimsy looking stands with two metal pipes looking like arms poked out from the tank. Dials and more runes covered the surface of the water tank while mana stones sat on certain points on the magic formation.


    "What is this?" Ford looked at the strange design.


    "Basically, this spell formation absorbs hot air, turning it into heat energy and transfers it into the water tank, boiling the water, and steames out of the pipes," Chief Matt exined, "Since we didn''t have any turbines generators, we just let the steam out from the sides of the ship."


    "The radial engines will overheat if we do note out with something to cool them, and luckily, we managed toe out with something like this, that will allow us to not waste the heat energy," Chief Matt smiled at the ugly looking generator. "It''s not pretty but it works and can also function as a generator and thermal sink, but its only good for areas with high temperature, if not the power output will be low."


    "Nice, very nice," Ford nodded and patted Chief Matt on his back, "Alwaysing up with thing amazing, Chief!"


    "Well, its either getting it to work or we are rowing home," Mattughed. "It''s design still needs to be properly refined, but once its up, we should be able to have a more efficient design that can work as air conditioning and thermal generator for engine rooms, which can also provide hot water, cool air, and power. It''s like killing three birds with one mana stone!"


    "Work on it," Ford replied, "Once the dry docks are properly constructed, we will move The Floating Wreck over for a full structural breakdown and check up before we get it repaired and refitted."


    "Most likely we will te the hull with ayer of steel, should increase her top speed by a few knots, rebrace the internal structure for steel paddle wheels and strengthen and up-armor the hull and structure for the new 3" guns that Ordinance is working on. Modernize the ship, p in some proper navigation gear and steering, and we got our selves a nice little Corvette." Fordid out the ns for the ship to Matt.


    "The Inders will also deliver a couple of their own ships to us, which we will do a for 3D scan, and we will try to reverse engineer them while putting in our own touches, hopefully, within six months we can learn how to build proper ships, either paddle powered or screw powered." Ford said, "And also have our own small fleet of mosquito boats ready in time for the Goblins annual sea festival!"


    "Pretty ambitious don''t you think?" Matt said as he listened to Ford''s words. "Six months?"


    "Captain wants to at least have another ship, at least a corvette size by end of this year''s winter," Ford said, "But I told him unless he ns to scrap only one of the ships the Inders are trading to us, then yes, we could have another ship to be retrofitted to at least more modern standards."


    "But Intel gauges that the Inders most likely will give us their oldest ships that most likely barely can float their way here," Ford said, "So depends on what we get, we see how it goes."


    "The Floating Wreck definitely will not set sail alone," Ford continued, "Even with modern guns, there''s no way a single ship can handle hundreds of goblin ships. so either we built a new ship out, or its gonna stay within range of the new coastal defenses we are nning along Far Harbor."


    "The PT boats that we are designing wouldn''t be able to handle the high seas, nor do they have the range to hit Goblin City," Ford added, "So till we have some experience buildingrge ships, and tenders for them, the PT boats will be assigned to coastal defense and short-range patrols around Far Harbour."


    "I see," Matt nodded, "Well, Sir, I think we better go top side, I need to check on my guys to make sure they are not cking!"


    "Alright, Let''s go," Ford reclimb the steps back up the decks. "Good work bringing back this ship, Matt, tell your boys and girls that!"


    -----


    The Colony, City Hall


    Kaga felt her brain was functioning and not functioning at the same time. The past few hours were like an unlimited buffet of information dump and culture shock that overloaded her mind. She sat there on one of the chairs with her head leaning against the backrest, mentally drained.


    "Kaga?" A soft voice called out, shaking her shoulder gently. "Are you okay?"


    "Haa??" Kaga whimpered, "Nooo... my brain hurts!" Her ears ttened against her head and she squeezed her eyes closed while covering her ears with her hands. "No more information!"


    Billy stood there confused, wondering what had happened to Kaga in the meeting room with the higher-ups that made her this way. "Erm... I was told to bring you to your apartment, we will be housemates from today onwards!"


    "LALALALALAA...." Kaga mumbled to herself, "I can''t hear you~ Lll~"


    Billy frowned and shook Kaga again, "Hey wake up!"


    "Ll...."


    A vein popped in Billy''s head and she shook Kaga more vigorously, "HEY!"


    "Ahhhh..." Kaga cried, "So giddy..."


    "Heavens..." Billy sighed, "Am I gonna have someone like this as my roommate?" Shemented her luck.


    "Why did you shake me..." Kaga rubbed her head and said in a hurt voice. "Wait, it''s you!"


    "Hmm?" Billy frowned, "You know me? Is it because I was your guide this morning?"


    "No, no," Kaga hopped up from the chair, "I carried you in the forest when we were running away from the Hero!"


    "Huh?" Billy rubbed her head, "I am sorry, I can''t remember much of what happened in the forest when I woke up I was on the back of the little golem."


    Kaga gave her a hurt look and she lowered her head sadly, sniffling, "... sob... I thought you would remember me...sob..."


    "Eh..." Billy sighed, "Ok, ok, I am sorry, but thank you for saving me! And now we are housemates!"


    "Housemates?" Kaga gave a confused look, "what is that?"


    "Oh, we will be staying in the same apartment," Billy grinned, "They assigned you to be with me!"


    "I see, but what is an ''a-pa-men''?" Kaga asked, her ears twitching in curiosity.


    -----


    The Colony, Residental District 3


    The red bus with a number 3 dropped both Kaga and Billy off at a bus stop with a sign that said, ''Street 13''.


    "Remember. only bus number 3es in here, and press the bell when you see the sign ''Street 13''!" Billy exined to Kaga, "Now once you''re off the bus, follow this street and the next block will be the apartment you be staying at!"


    "Eh... okay," Kaga looked up, down, left, right at her surroundings curiously, constantly turning her head to stare at something strange and asking, "What''s that?"


    "That''s the rubbish bins," Billy sighed, feeling mentally drained as she kept exining things to her throughout the bus ride. "Later I teach you more."


    Kaga craned her head up staring therge blocky stone buildings towering into the skies, there were dozens spread out with perfect streets and roads between them. Patches of blue-green grass patches covered thewns while what appeared to be gardens or parks were ced here and there among the towers.


    As the evening softly settled in and the sky turned purplish red, streetmps lit up, casting a bright orange glow around the area, and the towers lit up with lights, turning the whole scene like some wonderous mage city told in stories. Kaga stood still and took in her surroundings in wonder as she watched people walking around the streets, children running without care around the parks and gardens while heading home and the wondrous magic wagons driving up and down the streets.


    "Come on, stop gawking like some country bumpkin!" Billy teased, "We are almost home!"


    Kaga followed Billy to a stone tower, where arge rune sign was posted on the side of the tower''s walls. "We are in Block 6A, the seventh floor, unit number is 0, 7, 0, 9! Please remember!"


    Kaga followed Billy into the brightly lit entrance and saw a flight of stairs that lead up while a couple of double doors were facing them on the other end. Billy held Kaga''s hand and pulled her along, leading her to one of the double doors and press a strange looking rune on the wall. "Press this if you want to go up," Billy exined.


    "What is this?" Kaga asked as she bent over to observe the strange looking square rune that looks like an arrow pointing upwards.


    "Its an ''air-le-vater''", Billy replied, "Look its here." A chime rang and the doors suddenly slid open with a soft rumble, surprising Kaga greatly, as a very small room appeared.


    "Come on," Billy strolled in and pulled Kaga in, and press and rune on a surface filled with many others. "Remember this is the number 7!"


    The doors slid close and Kaga shivered and felt trapped. The small room suddenly rumbled and shook slightly, making her jumped and hug Billy tightly.


    "Are we going to die?"

 Chapter 182: Running and Choices

    Chapter 182: Running and Choices


    The earth shook as creatures and monsters of all types stampeded through the thick foliage. The weak and slow creatures were trampled over by otherrger and faster creatures as they fled from the disaster happening behind them. Fires roared and the wood cracked as forest raged with mes, fueled by the dry grass and trees during the hot summer months.


    A fiendish red dragon rolled around in a raging patch of mes in the middle of the scorched forest, enjoying the waves of heat emitted by the surrounding forest fires. It breathed in the scorching hot air, feeling the burning hot air in its lungs and it gave out a sigh of contentment. "I love the smell of mes in the morning!" It roared happily while rolling about, scattering ashes and embers into the hot air.


    Creatures fled with their eye whites showing in terror and made their escape from the burning forest, screaming in fear and some even choked to death from the smoke of the mes, while others burnt to death or suffered from heat stroke.


    -----


    Northern Forest


    A great silverback wolf with a scar across its face growled as it turned to face its brood. There were barely three females left, and the young pups were clinging tightly on their backs, whimpering in fear. A couple of younger males panted and flopped on the warm grass, as they escaped from the burning inferno behind them.


    The alpha wolf snapped at the youngsters, forcing them on their feet and to continue towards South where there was a great water source. The mothers grimly licked the young pups on their backs and followed the alpha with patched throats and dry tongues dangling out from their jaws.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Captain, we are picking up arge heat source North of our position," A sensor operator reported before she switched the view on the main disy with her station''s disy. "On screen now!"


    ke turned his attention to the screen as he put aside his daily reports to look at the sensor readings. A colorful infra image could be seen, withrge patches of white, reds and yellows shown over a stretch of forest.


    "Sir, our patroling UVA spotted this, on its routine patrol route," The operator said, "Switching to visual."


    The disy changed again, this time showing a swath of blue-green trees and in the distance,rge plumes of grey smoke could be seen covering the horizon. "Looks like a massive forest fire, Sir!"


    "Where is that?" ke asked as he observed the imagery. "Is it near any of our instations?"


    "It''s roughly 200 over kilometers North of us," The operator replied, "Nearest instation is the Hydro Dam station, at the waterfall. Estimated 100 km away."


    "Keep observing it," ke ordered, "Warn the Hydro Dam crew of the fire and get them to take precautions. Also get a team to start working out some forest fire protection and fire fighting procedures just in case the fire spreads over here."


    "Yes, Sir!" The operator replied and started making phone calls.


    "Damn," ke whispered under his breath, "This better note to us!" He scrolled through his contacts list on hismunicator and selected [The Princess].


    After a short while, the call connected, "Hello dear?"


    A choking sound was heard on the other line, "Are you alright?" ke panicked, thinking something had happened.


    "No, I mean yes! I am alright! Just... don''t call me dear in public!" Sherene whispered, "I am in a meeting now!"


    "Haha ok, but I''m calling for some serious issues," ke grinned. "We have reports of a massive forest fire up north."


    "Forest fire?" Sherene''s worried voice sounded over thems. "Will it affect us? It''s going to be the summer festival this week! Do I need to evacuate anyone?"


    "No, but I like you to notify the fire department to be on standby just in case," ke said, "And alsoe up with some fire safety procedure in case we need to implement should the firees within 50km of our territory."


    "I understand!" Sherene replied, "I will get my people on it!"


    "Thanks for the hard work!" ke grinned, "Love Ya!"


    "PFFFFt!!!!" Sherene''s face turned red, "You...!"


    "hahaha! Bye bye~" ke winked and closed connection, smiling contently to himself, while the crew on the bridge whispered and giggled.


    -----


    Northern Forest


    Snarls and roars broke out among the trees, and a dark figure flew out and mmed against an ancient tree. The snap of the thoracic spine of the wind wolf was barely heard over the roars and cries of the wolves circling around a five-headed Hydra.


    The Hydra wasrge, almost on par with the Alpha wolf. Its scaly body bore bloody wounds and ripped scales. It was surrounded by four wind wolves, and two of its serpentine heads red daggers at the alpha while the rest of the heads each tracked a wolf.


    The wind wolves growled, their hackles raised and feet spread out, ready to pounce onto the Hydra which suddenly attacked them as they ran away from the fire. The Hydra hissed and its tail suddenlyshed out, striking with a force strong enough to bend a 5 mm thick steel te.


    The nearest wind wolf leaped up, dodging the tail sweep andnded on all fours before it charged at the Hydra. The tail continued to sweep with a massive force, forcing the rest of the wolves to scatter or rest having broken bones. The Alpha roared and leaped in, dodging the tail attack nimbly and the Hydra''s heads dart in to cramp their jaws on the Alpha.


    The Alpha suddenly roared out, firing a ball of condensed air, which mmed right into the opened mouth of one of the heads. The ball of super condensed air erupted deep inside the head and the head popped, the eyeballs of the startled Hydra burst out with bits of flesh and blood. The other heads cried out in pain as one of its heads died and the shock was transmitted to the other brains.


    As the heads reared back in pain, this gave the wolves an opportunity to strike at the Hyrda. They mped their powerful jaws on the fleshy portions of the Hydra, tearing out flesh and scales. One unlucky wolf yelped in pain and fear when suddenly the heads recovered and three of them bit down on the wolf.


    The wolf screaming wolf struggled and tried to get free but the sword long teeth held ontched on tightly, causing arge amount of blood to flow out. The rest of the brood tried to save the wolf, one of them even leaped on to the back of the Hydra, gnawing away at the base of one of the necks.


    The heads suddenly bit harder and with a ripping sound, the screaming wolf was ripped into two, its guts and blood flung two ways and tossed to the side. The Alpha wolf roared madly when he saw his brood killed and fired another ball of air at the Hydra''s heads which weaved away from the attack.


    The Hydra shed out with its ws catching another wolf who wastched on to its body, its fur barely able to block the sh, three bloody w marks appeared on the nk of the wolf, making it cry out in pain and it disengaged from the Hydra, limping to the side to lick its wounds.


    Its remaining four heads turned and red at the wolf on its back and darted down, tearing the wolf too slow to run into bloody chunks. The silverback Alpha Wind Wolf seeing that they could no longer win this fight, turned and roared out at the hidden females, telling them to run and it turned back and faced the Hydra head-on, buying time for the females with the pups to escape.


    -----


    The Colony, Residental District 3


    Kaga suddenly jolted awake and sat up straight in her bed. She looked around her surroundings in confusion before slowly remembering that this was her own private room!


    She flopped back on the soft andfy bed, hugging an equally soft and fluffy pillow, and started rolling around the bed, enjoying the simple luxury of clean, soft bedsheets. She procrastinated for over 15 minutes on the bed before she was willing to get off the bed.


    As she left her room, she saw a note stuck to her door from Billy, telling her there is food on the table and if she wants to cook, there were some ingredients in the refrigerator.


    Kaga peeked under the covered te and found a couple slices of bread with a slice of cold ham and a fried egg, She took the whole te and walked to the balcony, pulling aside the curtains and instantly a view of the city was before her.


    Kaga dragged a chair over and sat down eating her breakfast as she watched the scenery of the city. She remembered that she has to go down to the Academy for the start of her sses and today was a day off for her, so she decided to read the brochures given to her by thedy at the City Hall.


    The first brochure with vibrant and realistic images spoke about generalws and crimes in the city. Things like stealing, robbery, fights, murders were all dealt harshly. Otherws talk about traffic in the streets, like how to cross the roads properly, with a green man light and stop if it is a red man.


    Comints or grievances are to be reported to the nearest police station while starting a new business requires a license to be granted from the City Hall. Bribes and corruption will also be dealt harshly and even littering is a crime!


    The more Kaga read, the more she felt there was no freedom here! Even crossing the road if the traffic lights are red, is called jaywalking is also considered a crime, and may be fined up to a few hundred credits!


    Who was the lord of this city? Kaga thought to herself, how can the Lord expect the people to follow every singlew listed and not rebel?


    She continued reading and found more unbelievablews written down. If caught without their identity card can also be resulted in being arrested and thrown into jail till their identity can be verified! Losing the card will also result in a fine, but if the owner loses the identity card more than three times, the person can be jailed for up to 3 months!


    She quickly returned to her room and search through her stuff, making sure her identity card is still safe. This ce is so strict with theirws, maybe that is why it looks so neat and tidy?


    She put down the brochure aboutws and picked up the next, which was about living in the city and how to adapt to a new city life. The colorful images printed on the parchment was amazing, making Kaga wonder how much gold must be spent just to make all these pictures on the high-quality parchments.


    This talked about how to travel around the city on public buses, which timetables and bus routes, numbers, and even the cost to ride them. Another section talked about where to find markets to purchase daily necessities. There was even a section on the exchange rates of silver and gold to the local chits and credits.


    The final brochure talked about education and jobs. A long list of educational courses was listed out, including the timings of the sses, cost, and locations. There were several basic courses that were free and that was what Kaga will be going tomorrow. She looked at the names of the courses and were confused as they were mostly in Eng-ish, which she barely understands. She sighed and could only wait till her Eng-ish improves before she can check up what courses shes can take.


    Under Jobs, they were split into different sectors, from service, manufacturing, farming, to military. There were a few more others which she couldn''t understand what they were.


    "What job should I choose?"

 Chapter 183: More Running and Choices

    Chapter 183: More Running and Choices


    Camp Alpha, Training Room 5


    "Alright boys, we are so gonna have some fun today!" Master Sergeant Pike stood before a gathered toon. "Lately, it seems that you boys have gained some weight?"


    "Nooo!" The toon moaned in dismay.


    "Top! I''m still a growing up!"


    "We have been working out in the gym!"


    "Orcs good, no fats, much muscles!"


    "Wadever~" Pike waved away theirints. "FULL BATTLE ORDER NOW!"


    The toon had a look of horror and they quickly sprinted off to their barracks to grab their gear.


    "10... 20... 30..." Pike looked at his wristwatch while counting numbers. "40... 50... 60..."


    The men re-gathered and formed up in lines, each wearing his helmet, webbing, field pack, and weapon. "Top! toon ready for inspection!"


    "Hmmm... you guys took 3 mins and 40 seconds to form up," Pike frowned, "Never mind, give me a hundred."


    The whole toon looked aghast and they dropped down to a push-up position. "One... two..."


    "One... hundred!" By the time they finished with a hundred push-ups, their arms were trembling and sweat stered their uniforms to their backs.


    "On your feet!" Pike roared. "Today we are going to y with a new training toy! And that toy is inside this Training Room 5! Now section by section move in!"


    The men wearily formed up and entered therge structure, despite being called a Training Room, its size was more like an aircraft hangar. A running track greeted the men, with obstacles along the tracks way. Slopes, monkey bars, water pits, ropedders and many more wereid out at intervals. There was a magic formation drawn up in the middle of the circr track and also one on the roof wheremps hang.


    "Okay, boys!" Pike rubbed his hands together gleefully, "You guys are the lucky ones to test out this new obstacle course! Do you see those two magic formations? Those are gravity spells! It will increase the gravity in this area by 1.5 times!"


    "REJOICE! For I am joining you for a nice little run around this course!"


    "Urghhhhhh....."


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    Captain ke strolled in through the armored hatch, nodding at the two saluting Marines, "How''s the forest fire doing?"


    "Captain," Ford greeted ke and gestured to the tactical plot table. "The fire is spreading southwards at a rate of roughly 400 meters per hour, that is if there are no wind conditions affecting the fire''s spread."


    ke nodded, "So the Hydro Dam should be safe?"


    "Yes Sir," Ford replied, "The fire should die out before ites within 50 km of the dam. But just to be safe, we are nning on making fire breaks 15 km out from the Dam."


    "City Hall has also dispatched some firefighters over to the Dam," Ford said, "We also deployed some Marines over to support them should they need the manpower."


    "The firefighters will be deploying water pumps, drawing water from the Dam, and spray around the surrounding forest, to help moist the area," Ford continued, "Not to mention, the hot air and water vapor released by the fires will condense into clouds that can cause rain or lightning."


    "The rains might not douse the fires but this will increase the humidity around the area," Ford added, "This will slow down the rate of the fire spreading."


    "How about the creatures and monsters in the forest?" ke asked, "They should be escaping the fires right?"


    "Yes Sir," Ford tapped at the tactical map, "Major Frank has raised the security alert to Orange, and all our outposts along the Northen sector are on heightened alert. Luckily the farms along our Northen sector haspleted their harvest, so most of the workers have returned to the city or moved to other farms. Livestock is also being relocated to the Eastern Sector Pastures just in case."


    "Alert the Militia too," ke rubbed his chin, "Make sure our infrastructures are not damaged by the escaping monsters. See if we can channel the animals and monsters away."


    "Got it, Cap," Ford nodded, "I will talk with Tactics."


    -----


    Northern Forest


    The lead female wind wolf panted and heaved, the little ones on clinging tightly on her back, their ws and tiny needle-sharp teeth prickling her back as they held on to their dear life of their mother as she dashed through the thick trees rapidly.


    She leaped up over a massive tree root in front of her path and something mmed against her, sending her flopping back with a surprised yelp. The four pups on her back cried out in fear and fell off, rolling around the forest floor like giants balls of fluffy cotton.


    The other female stopped and let out a low growl, staring at therge shadow that appeared from behind the tree. A bronze boa hissed and slithered down, its ssy eyes staring at the yummy meals rolling on the forest floor whimpering in panic.


    The mother wolf snarled and charged, her motherly instinctsing into y as she threw herself forward to protect her babies.


    The giant boa dismissively flicked its long muscr tail, pping away the female wolf with ease, sending her flying backward and coughing blood. The pups yelped in fear and tried to scramble away as the boa hissed happily at its tiny prey.


    The other female wolf, leaped forward, nting both its wed front paws directly on the crown of the giant snake, smashing its head down with her full body weight against the forest floor. The three pups on her back bit and scratched harder on her back as they held on to their dear life, screaming in fear.


    The Boa flipped and snaked, hissing in anger as it turned its attention to the other wolf. A dribble of blood flowed out from a broken scale on its head and it darted forward, trying to sink its fangs on the wolf who nimbly dodged out of its striking range.


    The attack and distraction had bought enough time for the fallen pups to climb back onto their mother, which was badly wounded. She licked her pups and nudged them up her back, and turned to face the giant rampaging snake together with her sister.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    A Marine knocked on the door to ke''s office and saluted, "Captain, the prisoner is here."


    ke looked up from his paperwork and nodded, "Bring her in."


    The Marine pushed the door wide open and a girl in rattling chains was lead in with another Marine escort. "Sit!"


    ke observed the fidgety looking girl dressed in a one piece orange prison wear. An antimagic cor was secured to her neck and both her hands were handcuffed together with a long thin chain that linked to the cuffs on both her legs.


    The two Marines stood expressionless with their arms behind their backs at parade rest, next to the seated girl. Their eyes staring at a space on the bulkhead behind ke.


    ke tapped his stylus pen against his table as he watched the clearly distressed girl. He let the silence drag for minutes before he brought up her dossier from theputer on his desk. "Elizabeth Regnar, seventeen years old, and already a Fifth Circle Mage, specializing in non elemental magic." He spoke in fluent Common Tongue.


    "Tell me Liz," ke asked, "Can I call you Liz?"


    The girl nodded timidly, keeping her head down and not daring to meet his eyes.


    "What is your ns for the future?" ke continued, "What are your goals?"


    Liz kept quiet as she continued to keep her head bowed.


    ke gave a shrug and said, "Well, I have a few choices here for you, I can let you go free, but you might turn around and bite meter."


    "So it seemed better to have you executed and just dump your body in the forest and feed the monsters, and no one is wiser," ke said coldly. "Alternatively, you pledge your allegiance to me, and you get to keep your life, and still have a future for your ns and goals."


    "So what will it be?" ke asked, "Feed the monsters or work for me?"


    "I... I..." Liz gripped the hem of her dress tightly as she didn''t know what to do. The haughtiness and pride were all gone in her. The defeat and subsequence imprisonment had drained her mentally and for the first time in her life, she felt weak and powerless.


    Ever since she was a child and manifested her first magic circle at a young age of ten, everyone around her praised and called her a child prodigy. Her family was instantly famous as countless rich and powerful families had extended multiple invitations to work with her family, and countless marriage proposals were offered to her, some even from members of the royal court in the Capital!


    She was enrolled in the most prestigious Royal School of Magic in the Capital when she turned twelve and after five years of studies, she graduated as an honor student and a Fifth Circle Mage! Yet now, she was defeated, weak, powerless and even captured.


    Liz sat with her head lowered as she slumped her shoulders in shame and defeat. Is dead better than dishonor? Or pride? Should she die when she hasn''t even reached the prime of her life?


    The tapping sound from the pen made by the demon kept her on edge. She gritted her teeth and finally muttered, "I... I... choose... to serve... you..."


    "Huh?" ke blinked his eyes as he pretended not to hear her response, "What did you say?"


    "I said... I choose to serve you!" Liz looked up angrily with shame and tears in her eyes. "I pledge my soul to you! Isn''t that what you want?"


    "Well, if you are willing to work for me then sure," ke smiled, "But I don''t need your soul."


    Liz looked surprised, "But you are... de..."


    "Demons?" ke gave a bark ofughter, mirth in his eyes. "Seriously?" He looked at the two Marines and grinned. "So you are saying they sold their souls to me?" He gestured to the stock still expressionless Marines beside her.


    Liz turned and looked at the Marines at her side and felt a chill down her spine at the way they stood still and without expression, like being soulless! She shivered and timidly nodded, "Everyone says the rebels sold their souls to demons and..." She stared at ke''s short and rounded ears.


    "Hahahaha," ke shooked his head, "Well, don''t worry about that. But there are some terms and conditions I willy down first."


    "You have to take a binding blood oath and obey thews and regtions everyone here follows," ke spoke seriously, "There are people who do not trust you, and frankly so do I. Until you prove your worth and trustworthiness, then I will release you from the blood oath or after a period of 5 years."


    "5 years?" Liz looked surprised, "You mean you will release me from my oath after 5 years?"


    "Yes, after that it is up to you if you want to continue working for me or leave," ke exined, "But for the next 5 years, you have to work and live here unless you are assigned to another location."


    "I will put your abilities to the best use, but most likely you will be assigned to the Academy for the time being," ke said. "You will be paid a retainer fee and assigned a government housing. Other than not breaking thew, and doing what work you are assigned to, you are generally free to live your life anyway as you want to."


    "Is this real? I even get paid?" Liz looked at ke suspiciously, "It is not some trick to lower my guard and you eat my soul?"


    "I am serious, and no we do not eat nor need souls" ke solemnly replied, "Now, I will have someone do up a contract and let you read through it and of course, you can change your mind anytime, before your blood oath. Well if you do~" ke ran his thumb against his throat and gave an evil smile.


    Liz nodded rapidly in understanding. "Good," ke grinned, "Bring her out and assign her some basic amodations first," ke told the Marines who gestured to Liz to get up.


    "Bring in the next prisoner."

 Chapter 184: Gods and Burgers

    Chapter 184: Gods and Burgers


    The Colony, Residental District 4


    It was sunny when Kaga stepped out of her apartment. Dressed in a simple pastel green dress, she timidly looked around her surroundings as she exited the ''evil-ator'', still unustomed to the scary room that seemed to trap her as it rumbled and shook it way up and down.


    Today she was supposed to go to the Academy for her introductory sses and the morning before Billy left for her work, she had acted like an older sister, teaching Kaga how to take the public bus and where to get off, despite being younger and shorter than Kaga.


    Kaga gathered her courage and strolled out of her apartment block and nervously looked around. The scenery still slightly different in the daypared to the time she first came in the evening. There were slightly lesser people on the streets and she even saw some people riding on strange contraptions with two thin wheels, working their legs in a circr motion and speeding along the streets.


    She saw some children ying around a park as she walked towards the bus stop, they were climbing up and down some kind of tiny castle that even had some kind of slide, which the children giggled andughed as they zoomed down the slides. Kaga felt conflicted as she remembered her own childhood, that there were no fun times. It was all about learning and training on her spirit techniques, even the other children had to work in the farms or help out in their families stores.


    Is this some kind of utopia? She thought to herself as she walked down the clean streets, passing by a park filled with bright yellow flowers, each almost as tall as her. Kaga has not seen such flowers before and she took a detour and stood before one of the massive blooms.


    "Little girl, is this the first time you have seen such flowers?" An elder suddenly spoke to her from the side. He was dressed in outdoor work clothes and wearing a straw hat and gloves.


    "Ah... yes, what kind of flowers are these?" Kaga frowned as she doesn''t recall seeing such flowers in her books that she read before.


    "These are called ''Sunflowers''," The gardener exined, "They came from the hoomans."


    Kaga looked surprised, "The hoomans? You mean those short eared people?"


    The gardener nodded sagely, "Yes, these flowers are not only beautiful, but the seeds could also be eaten or pressed in oil for cooking. Even the petals can be used to make colored dye!"


    "I see," Kaga smiled and gave a bow, "Thank you, sir, I need to go to the bus stop now!" And she left the park full of sunflowers. "Interesting."


    As she arrived at the bus stop, she saw a row of stores or houses next to the bus stop with many people queuing up. Curious, she went and take a look and her sensitive nose picked up delicious smells of cooked food of some sorts.


    Her nose carried her body to the stores before her brain caught up with her, and she saw several shops selling bread, pastries, some kind of ''bur-girls'', the soupy long chewy ''nu-dels'', and even traditional people''s food like fruits and nuts tters in paper bowls, honeyed porridge, and cold cuts.


    Kaga''s tummy rumbled despite having breakfast, and she jingled the strange colorful coins in her pocket that she received as part of a ''Care Package'' that every neer gets after registering in the City Hall. Should she get a ''bur-girl''? She pondered long and hard. And in the end, her tummy won the war against her brain.


    After she queued for a short while and ordered a wyvern patty ''bur-girl'' covered generously in tomato sauce, she happily munched away and saw a bus driving off from the bus stop. She froze as she recognized the bus number as the one that Billy told to take to go to the Academy, and that if she missed it she has to wait up to 20 minutes or more for the next bus!


    "Nooo! I''mte!"


    -----


    The Colony, Academy of Science and Magic


    Dr. Sharon, Magister Thorn, and Petty Officer Kristine sat around the work desk in Magister Thorn''s office as they looked at the stack of documentation regarding the broken amulet recovered from the Hero. A two live video conference call was linked to UNS Singapore''s conference main where several of the top brass were in attendance.


    "So in conclusion, this Sun Amulet is from Hutzilpchtli, the Aztec deity of war, sun, and human sacrifice. But in this case, human, being the rtive word, as we can confirm that it does not limit to human beings but other living species as well," Dr. Sharon said. "The information was given by the girl who witnessed how the Hero drained the life force out, can be concluded that it is a form of sacrifice to Hutzilpchtli which most likely, boosted the Hero''s life span and also his powers."


    "From the Marines'' eyewitnesses, they clearly heard the Hero bragging he lived over 200 years, meaning that the Hero must have routinely sacrificed people to increase his life span," Dr. Sharon added. "But we can''t really prove any of that, so all these are just working theories."


    "So Doc," ke''s voice came in loud and clear, "How does all this rte to how an ancient human civilization deity came over thousands or even millions of light years to this?"


    "We suspect that due to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire from 1519 to 1521, which drove the Aztec Gods away. The Spanish inquisitors in Mexico during that time were pretty effective and brutal in enforcing their ways and religion," Kristine took over and exined, "This probably reduced a massive amount of devotees worshipping the Aztec Gods meaning a huge reduction in faith, which was theorized by some that faith is the main source of power for Gods. As for how they travel to others, we have no idea. By magic?"


    "If that is the case," Commander Ford interrupted, "Does that means that Gods and Deities from America, Ennd, Eygpt, China, India, hell, all over the world are real?"


    "Theoretically yes," Kristine replied, "We have ack of information and evidence here, but we theorized is that the Gods and Deities from Earth had migrated away from our when the civilizations they are the patron of, copsed. As they lost worshippers and faith, their powers or even their presence were weakened greatly and have to find new worshippers in other worlds."


    "But howe there isn''t any divinity with Christianity or Buddhism or even Im?" Someone asked. "Why we didn''t have a Hero of our own?"


    "I think there are, is just that modern people don''t believe in them as much as the olden days, I mean look at the old days, there were stories of Heros and even Gods appearing upon men, but over time this became legends and myths." Kristine exined, "We pray to our own religions, and make offerings, but we rely more on technology than faith to power our current culture and lifestyles, whereas, in the ancient times, religion and gods were integrated in every part of their lives and culture, maybe that is why we lost touch with magic as we rely more on tools and technology nowadays."


    "So does this means that as long we have faith and belief in Gods, we can use magic too?" ke asked.


    "No, we probably had regressed too much in that matter," Dr. Sharon replied. "Our species have evolved to be more reliant on technology, our brains are more attuned to science. This probably cut off our original roots with magic. That is probably why we can''t feel or touch any magical power now."


    "So is there a way we can use magic in the future?" Major Frank asked, "Like training or even imnts if required?"


    "Most likely not in our generation, if we continued to live here, but future generations and cross-breeding with the elves," Dr. Sharon frowned, "I say there is a 60% chance our descendants will be able to use magic."


    "As for the use of imnts," Dr. Sharon sighed, "If you are willing to sacrifice people to do testing as guinea pigs, then there''s a 50 50 chance of sess, maybe higher."


    "Or we dig up more of these artifacts," Dr. Sharon gestured the Amulet. "Fuse ourselves with this and we can use magic too."


    "No, we will not sacrifice people as test subjects on some mad science experiment here," ke forcefully cut in. "No departments must ever cross that line, or I personally put a bullet in your head, is that clear?"


    "Aye Captain!" Everyone replied in unison.


    "Good, that line of thought will not be entertained again," ke growled. "Now, the amulet, is it dangerous? What did Dr. Sharon meant by fusing with the amulet?"


    "Dangerous? Not really as it is in an inert state," Magister Thorn replied, "But it is best not to touch it with bare hands, as it might attempt to fuse into the person''s body."


    "Fuse?" ke looked worried, "Isn''t that dangerous?"


    "Well, the amulet doesn''t react to anything except when it senses a living body touching it," Magister Thorn exined, "As long no one touches it barehandedly, it should justy dormant."


    "Magister, did you touch it?" ke frowned.


    "Ha..." Magister Thorn looked slightly embarrassed, "I did it under controlled conditions with guards and even Dr. Sharon watching me."


    "The amulet seemed to feed off the life force or mana of living beings," Magister Thorn added, "I feel my mana powers draining from just a slight contact of no more than two seconds, which I quickly retracted my touch from it."


    ke sighed and rubbed his face, "Magister, please do not take such risks, and from now on, no one touches the Amulet, once you all havepleted all your findings, I want that thing booby trapped, locked up and buried with the key thrown away. Is that clear?"


    Magister Thorn looked dejected, "But its a God level artifact..."


    "No..." ke shook his head, "It''s too dangerous, no one knows what will happen if the Amulet fuses with a person. Will that person still be sane? Or the mind has taken over by the Aztec Gods. So no, it is for the safety of everyone, we can''t take the chance of another Hero rampaging here, especially in the school and so near the city."


    Magister Thorn nodded and apologized, "You are right, I am sorry, I have forgotten about the safety of my students and the people in the city."


    "Apology epted," ke replied, "Remember no risks, we can''t afford to lose any people at all."


    "What else do we know?" ke asked, "Are there more Heroes out there?"


    Magister Thorn nodded, "There are a few over the years, but no one knows where they are now."


    "I see," ke frowned, "What else?"


    "The inscriptions and pictograms on the Amulets are like a prayer to Hutzilpchtli," Kristine said, "Well, with half of the Amulet missing, I could only trante so much."


    "But one thing is for sure, Hutzilpchtli was here during the Age of Gods," Kristine continued, "So theoretically he should be part of the New Gods, who fought against the Old Gods. But since we do not have much-written records of what happened to the Gods after the Final Confrontation on this continent, we do not know if there are any Gods still remaining on this."


    "And also what kind of God leveled artifacts are scattered around the world," Kristine said, "If the Empire has on their hands a few of these artifacts, we might be in for a tough fight if they have a few more of those ''Heroes''."


    ke''s expression turned dark, "I understand, Tavor, I want you to see if you can set up some spywork, we need to gather more information from out there." ke turned to the Intelligence Officer who nodded.


    "Now, the other problem we have is which other ancient Gods and Deities havee here!"

 Chapter 185: Gone Rogue

    Chapter 185: Gone Rogue


    The Colony, City Hall


    Billy pushed a trolleyden with boxes of documents and rolls of parchment. She stopped at the elevator and pushed the button, and as she waited her eyes drifted to the poster stuck on the noticeboard.


    [First Summer Festival! Come with your family and friends!] Was written in bold letters, and lifelike colorful images were disyed. Billy smiled, thinking of asking Kaga along to the festival that was just three more days away.


    The lift doors sprung open with a ding, and Billy pushed the trolley in, sighing as she returned to her mundane job, despite missing her free life but in Falledge, she was grateful for having a roof over her head, food on her table and the sense of security of the City.


    "Endure three more days!"


    -----


    Northern Forest, Hydro Dam Power Station


    Corporal Bartley Jackson leaned his thick muscr body over the packed sand barrier and sigh worriedly. He looked at therge swath of blue-greenery of trees and in the fall horizon, a reddish glow and thick grey clouds of smoke could be seen.


    The air smelled slightly acidic, as ashes and the haze from the forest fire was carried over by drifts of wind. Even the sun was blotted out from the amount of haze in the air, making the entire area dim. Lightning shed in the distance among the clouds of smoke.


    Bartley frowned slightly as he stood watch from the three storied tall reinforced concrete watchtower next to the Dam, where argeke was dammed up, and the constant roar of falling water, that turned the turbines of the dam muted the rumble of thunder. He thought he spotted some movement in the far distance.


    He picked up his field sses and scanned the edges of the forest. A perimeter of roughly 500 meters was cleared around the Power Station, giving the defenders clear lines of fire and making it harder for any enemies or monsters to approach. There were also coupleyers of remote control ymore mines nted around the Power Station and barbed wired fences ringing thest hundred fifty meters to the station.


    A sudden movement caught his attention, and he swept his field sses over and spotted a blur of white that appeared in his 10x magnification view. Bartley adjusted his focus on the field sses and saw a wolf half hidden among the forest edge.


    Bartley frown grew deeper as he observed anotherrge wolf appearing beside the next. He keyed hisms, "Tower 2, to Aquarium, I got eyes on two wind wolves, north-eastern quadrant, Over."


    "Aquarium, Roger, standby, out."


    Bartley returned to observing the two wolves, and they both gingerly paused at the edge of the cleared field. By now, remote cameras installed at the Power Station would have picked up the two wolves and he wondered what the new Lieutenant would do.


    He checked his MG-1 on the mount, making sure the ammunition belt was not snagged against anything and returned to observing the wolves who seemed to hesitate and kept looking over their shoulders.


    "Aquarium to all units, hold your fire. Only fire by mymand." The Lieutenant voice came in over the radio set.


    Suddenly the wolves seemed to sense something as they stepped out to the clearednd, and faced the forest, their hackles, and tails up in an aggressive stance.


    Bartley eyes'' went wide as the wolves turned, and saw tiny shapes on the backs of the wolves. "Tower 2 to Aquarium, be advised that the wolves appeared to have pups on them, over."


    "Aquarium, Roger."


    Just at this time, suddenly a small rain of dark shapesing from the forest appeared over the two wolves, who leaped and dodged like they were dancing or ying and a small flood of green shapes appeared from the forest edge, rushing towards the wolves.


    "Tower 2, I got goblins engaging the wolves over," Bartley reported as he glued his eyes on his field sses. "Please advice? Over."


    "Aquarium, standby over."


    Bartley cursed in a soft voice as he rooted for the wolves. "Come on, you can do it."


    The goblins encircled the two clearly weaken wolves protecting the pups on their backs, and hidden goblin archers shot arrow after arrow at the snarling wolves. Goblins spearmen kept the snapping jaws and ws at arm''s length, constantly giggling and shrieking away.


    The wolves barely had much strength left, looked at each other and suddenly they leaped over the heads of the short goblins, breaking out of the encirclement and charged towards the Power Station.


    "Aquarium to all units, set your sights at two-fifty meters, make ready!"


    "What?" Bartley lowered his field sses as he listened to the radio chatter. "The Lieutenant wants to shoot the wolves with the babies?" The wolves were limping towards the perimeter fencing with over a hundred goblins chasing after them.


    "Aquarium to all units, target the wolves followed by the goblins."


    Bartley gave a conflicted look at his machine gun before he detracted it with a determined look and slung it over his back. He hooked his booted feet to the sides of thedder and gripped the sides before sliding down rapidly, expertly controlling his rate of descent with his gloved hands and feet.


    He sprinted out from the tower and ran towards one of the gates at the perimeter fence, praying that he could make it in time. He nced over at the Power Station''s roof, where several helmeted heads could be seen, manning their weapons.


    Reaching the gate, he unholstered his revolver and fired at the lock withouting to a stop, and mmed his whole body weight against the small gate with the shot off lock, sending it swinging opening and squeaking on its hinges.


    He saw the wolves were roughly 300 meters away from his position as there were colored markers stuck at measured intervals for the defenders to gauge distances. He ignored the squeaking calls on hisms and just ran with full speed towards the wolves.


    -----


    Lieutenant Starven stood up from his chair from surprise inside the security control room and stared incredulously at therge Marine charging out to the killing zone. "What is that Marine doing?" He asked the roomful of personnel who also stared in surprise at the camera disys.


    "Call him back now!" Starven roared, "Who is that mad man? What is he trying to do?"


    "Sir, that should be Corporal Bartley from Tower 2!" One of the operators replied, "He was the one that called in the sightings."


    "Call him back!" Lieutenant Starven roared angrily. He stared with anger at the moving figure on the disy screens. It was not even two weeks he took overmand of Battalion 1, Charlie Company, toon 4 and those hoomans in hismand were disregarding him!


    "Sir, he is not responding to our hails!" The operator replied. "The wolves are approaching the 250 mark! Do we still fire? We might hit him."


    "Goddamnit!" Starven cursed, "Warn him off now!"


    The operator turned back to his radio set and desperately tried to call the Marine that went rogue.


    -----


    "Corporal Bartley, cease your actions and return to your station immediately!" Bartley''sms squeaked, which he ignored as he pumped his arms while sprinting towards the wolves. The two wolves slowed and red at him as he approached, while also keeping an eye behind them at the horde of goblins at their tails.


    "Steady!" Bartley stood before the two wolves who towered over him with at least twice his height. Bloody foam could be seen on the sides of their jaws, while their massive tongues lobbed out and their sides heaved with each pant. Wounds and bloody marks could be seen all over both the wolves when Bartley was up close to them.


    One of the wolves suddenly copsed as its rear legs gave out, and the three dog sized pups cried out in fear, meowing for their mother. The remaining standing wolf positioned itself before Bartley and growled, baring its dagger sized teeth at him.


    "Easy! Friend!" Bartley gently said while spreading his hands to the side to show he meant no harm. He slowly moved his hand to hismunicator and keyed the mike, "Aquarium, do not fire, repeat, all units do not fire on the wolves!"


    "What the thirteen hells are you ying at, Marine!" Lieutenant Starven''s voice screamed into his ear. "You will return to the Control Room now and ce your self under arrest for the abandonment of your post and total disregard for orders and your superiors!"


    "Sir, the wolves are just trying to protect their young," ke exined slowly and calmly like he was talking to a child which infuriated the Lieutenant more. "They meant no harm to us. We have no need to fire on them."


    As they were talking the cries of the goblins grew louder and standing wolf panicked, it tried to protect its fallen sister and at the same time having to be on guard against Bartley and the approaching Goblins.


    "Corporal, I don''t care if the Gods themselves are out there, you disobey direct orders and abandoned your post!" Lieutenant Starven screamed, "Get your ass back here now!"


    "Sorry Sir," Bartley stoically replied, "Since I have already disobeyed orders, I might as well continue."


    "What? Get back here n-!" Bartley disconnected hismunicator and unslung his MG-1 from his back. He turned and faced theing goblins and braced himself and fired.


    The wolves and pups jumped in shock at the loud buzzing roarsing from the strange two legged creature. They cowed on the spot and covered their sensitive ears from the loud roars, whimpering in fright.


    The MG-1 spewed bright tracers out towards theing goblins, the high powered 8.5 mm rounds torn through their makeshift armor and naked bodies like paper targets, dropping them in scores.


    Bartley grunted and fired in a long burst at each cluster of goblins he saw still standing. The heavy recoil made controlling the weapon difficult for most people but not for him and the Orcs as he had a naturallyrger build and stronger upper body strength.


    Less than five minutes, the remains of the goblin force retreated in fear, screaming and crying in their tribalnguages as they ran back to into the cover of the forest.


    Bartley lowered his weapon and looked at the very scared wolf standing over its sister. Its tail and ears were lowered and stered against its skull. It gave a growl of warning at Bartley who gently put his weapon down on the grass, and raised his hands up, "Easy, I am a friend."


    The wolf looked at him with suspicion and at the weapon he ced on the floor and decided to trust him, for both she and her sister were totally spent, having been on the run non stop and attacked by monsters for over five days.


    It flopped down on the ground and panted, her strength leaving her body andid there with half opened eyes watching the two leg approach her slowly.


    Bartley slowly made his way towards the giant wolf and patted it gently on its head, letting the wolf lick his hands. "Good girl. Friends."


    He looked at the frightened pups trying to hide under their mother''s belly and smiled. He walked slowly over to the other fallen wolf and found it still alive, but badly injured and weak. A wolf pup the size of a German Shepherd, growled at him, baring its fangs as it tried to protect its mother.


    Bartley kneeled down and held out the back of his hand, which the wolf pup cautiously sniffed his hand, before giving it a lick and allowing Bartley to rub and scratch its head and floppy ears.


    When the security team of Marines led by Lieutenant Starven came up, they found Bartley surrounded by several wolf puppies, happily licking and ying with him between two giant wolves watching over them.

 Chapter 186: Wolf Whisperer

    Chapter 186: Wolf Whisperer


    Northern Forest, Hydro Dam Power Station


    A small convoy of jeeps rumbled in through the double gates and sentry posts, stopping before a blocky structure sitting next to a roaring man controlled waterfall. A concrete dam had blocked off the original waterfall and water was released by outflow gates which created the waterfalls. The skies were hazy and smelled of burning wood and ashes.


    Captain ke stepped down from one of the jeeps and nodded to Major Frank who was apanied by Master Sergeant Pike. Both of them were waiting at the entrance of the building for ke''s arrival and saluted ke as he exited the jeep. "Sir!"


    "At ease," ke replied, "So they are inside?"


    "Oh no, Sir," Major Frank replied. "We actually ced them outdoors under a shed, with armed guards, twenty four seven."


    "And the Marine who broke regs?" ke asked again as he followed the two Marines into the building. "What happened actually?"


    "Well, the Marine is one of ours," Frank exined, "Seems like he spotted some wolf puppies being carried by the two female wolves and being chased by goblins, he decided to save them instead of shooting them."


    "So he managed to save the wolves," ke stopped and turned to look at the two officers. "What''s the issue now?"


    "Sir," Pike answered for the Major, "The Marine abandoned his post during abat situation and also disobeyed a direct order from hismanding officer."


    "I see," ke nodded, "So what are you guys gonna do about it?"


    Frank frowned, "I don''t really want to give a very harsh punishment, but if I don''t, it might give off the impression that we are cuddling our own people and also that abandoning of duty posts and insubordination will not get one into much trouble, which will undermine the officers'' authority and also lead to more issues in the future."


    "Go by the book then," ke replied, "We can''t show favoritism."


    "Sir, insubordination during times of war is a death penalty..." Frank looked at ke seriously.


    "Put him up for court-martial," ke sighed, "Let the court judge him then."


    "Now let''s see the wolves," ke continued walking through the corridors to the elevator that will bring them up to the top side of the dam.


    Both the Marines looked at each other and nodded, "Yes, Sir," Frank replied with a heavy heart as he knew that the Marine will get a death penalty.


    -----


    Goblin Coast, Far Harbour, Special Projects Workshop


    "Easy... easy..." Senior Spaceman Mason called out as he stood under a newly developed inline four engine that was secured to chains from the workshop roof crane. "Lower it slowly..."


    He held on to the side of the brand new engine and with the help of another engineer, they carefully slot it into ce in the hull of the sleek looking experimental speed boat built by the ship carpenter Amar and a team of engineers and craftsmen.


    The next hour was spent carefully connecting the drive shafts, cranks, chains, and bolting the engine into ce. The experiment speed boat had a ''V'' shaped bow, sharp lines and a simple wheelhouse. It was 10 meters long, and four meters wide, powered by a four cylinder water cooled inline piston engine of 102 horsepower. After several model kit sized prototypes, they finally built a smaller scaled working prototype to test before they start working on the actual design.


    The whole team double checked the motorboat to ensure every bolt, nut, and screws was properly tightened and in ce before they pushed out the sliding doors that led out to sea. A sluice gate was opened and seawater started to flood the dry dock of the experimental motorboat.


    As the water started flooding the dock, the motorboat gently floated up on the surface of the water and the team of amateur shipwrights cheered. "Let''s start the engine and test out our new toy!" Mason yelled excitedly. Even Amar was excited as he stood on the side watching the boat he helped design and built.


    Mason grabbed a bright yellow personnel flotation device and tossed it over to Amar, "Come on! Let''s go for a test drive!"


    Amar eagerly wore the life vest with the help of one of the hooman engineers and they all climbed aboard the motorboat. Mason turned the ignition and the engine roared slowly to life, sending out a small cloud of grey smoke from its exhaust. "Woooo!"


    The rest of the team removed the lines from the moorings and Mason gently gave power to the boat, easing it out of the workshop. As it appeared out of the workshop and into the sun, the workers around Far Harbor stopped and stared, wondering what kind of boat is that.


    "Engine temperature looks good, just as we trial ran them before!" One of the engineering guys on board called out.


    "Great, let''s clear the stone pier and see what this baby can do!" Mason grinned, and pushed the throttle up, sending the motor craft charging through the waves. "Oh my god, this is awesome!"


    The sea wind and spray hit them as they bounced across the waves, running at over 20 knots per hour. Amar gripped the hand rails of the motorboat and startedughing wildly, "This is amazing, I never gone so fast before in the sea! Amazing!"


    The motorboat hit a surging wave and bounced up, sending whitish ''V'' shaped waves out. Mason drove the motorboat around the pier, charging pass The Floating Wreck still moored at the pier and showing off his boat. Soon the pier was lined up with workers and staff as they "Oooh and Ahh" at the trials Mason was putting the boat through.


    After an hour of ying around with the motor craft, they finally happily returned to the workshop leaving the cheering crowd behind.


    -----


    Northern Forest, Hydro Dam Power Station


    ke leaned over the railing and observed the two giant wolves licking their pups from the roof of the Dam. "So how aggressive are they?"


    "Well, as long you don''t try to take their kids away," Pike replied, "They seem okay so far with us next to them."


    "What happened exactly?" ke asked as he watched one of the pups trying to snuggle up to its mother but failed and did a cute tumbling cartwheel instead.


    "We think that due to the forest fire, they were trying to escape from it," Frank said, "And we think almost all the monsters were driven away from the forest. And these two were carrying their kids with them, so the rest of monsters most probably perceived the puppies as an easy meal."


    "So what are we gonna do with them, Sir?" Pike asked as he frowned. "We don''t know if we can train them to be mounts or even work animals, provided if they are willing to listen to us."


    "Could we make them our next best friend like dogs?" ke asked. "The Orcs do use them as mounts."


    "Not sure, but I did send out a message to all the Orcs in the Marines," Pike said, "see if any Orcs have any knowledge of rearing a giant wolf."


    ke nodded, "Let''s go closer." And they climbed down the stairs and walked towards the vehicle shed which they gave the wolves to use.


    As ke and his party approached the shed, both the wolves sat up and looked at them walking over with cautious and curious eyes but they did not growl nor any other signs of aggression.


    ke stopped before the nearest wolf and saw the streaks of dirt and blood on its matted fur. "Are they provided with medical care and adequate food and water?"


    "Food and water yes," Pike scratched his head, "Medical? We don''t have veterinaries here."


    ke turned and looked at Pike, "We don''t? How about those looking after the Muffalos or Peco pecos?"


    "Well, we are not sure if they are willing to evene close to a giant wolf," Pike replied, "and the scent of the wolves might spook the animals when they return. Plus the wolves don''t allow us to touch them. We have tried, trust us."


    "How about that Marine who got close to them?" ke asked.


    "Sir, he''s ced in confinement now," Pike replied. "In one of the staff rooms here."


    "Well, bring him here and see if he can do some good," ke ordered.


    "Yes, Sir!" Pike turned away and spoke into hismunicator while ke turned and watched the puppies y, the corner of his mouth lifting up.


    Not long, arge build male apanied by a trio of Marines arrived. They saluted the Major and ke, "Sir! The prisoner is here, sir!"


    "Remove the restrains," ke nodded towards the handcuffs.


    "Yes, sir!" The Marine escorts quickly removed Bartley''s handcuffs, which Bartley rubbed his sore wrists once they were removed.


    "Corporal Bartley, front and center!" Pike roared.


    Bartley quickly marched up and stood in parade attention before ke, "Corporal Bartley reporting, Sir!"


    "Corporal, I heard the wolves are friendly with you," ke asked, "Is that correct?"


    "Sir, Yes, sir!" Bartley replied in a serious manner.


    "Ok, Corporal, I got a job for you, I heard that the wolves only allows you to get close to them," ke gestured at the wolves who were all looking at them with curious expressions, "I''m putting you in charge of looking after them. You will be let out from your confinement once per day to look after them, after which you will be returned to your cell."


    "Corporal, while you did a good deed here, but you disobey direct orders and even abandoned your post which is a serious offense in times of war," ke said, "Redeem yourself with hard work, and we will see what we can do about your court-martial."


    "Sir! Thank you, Sir!" Bartley replied without a change of expression.


    "Alright, show me what you can do!" ke nodded, "Clean them up, and see if you patch them up as well."


    Bartley walked up to the wolves who licked and poke their noses against him, allowing him to touch their fur and pat them. "Sir, I will need some brushes, a first aid kit and eh, buckets?"


    ke turned to Pike and nodded, who started talking into hismunicator again. ke gestured to Frank and they walked to the side away from hearing of the rest.


    "Well, if we can tame these wolves, I think we can sorta have some kind of wolf cavalry?" ke suggested. "Mobile infantry tactics and all."


    "Wolf cavalry?" Frank repeated andughed, "Well, it will be better if we had bears..."


    -----


    Northern Forest


    A plume of mes rose up from the center of a massive ash field. The red dragon yawned and puffed out another plume of mes from its nostrils while scratching its tummy. It looked around in surprise at thend around it, unable to recall why the lush forest had instead turned into and of scorched earth.


    Its tummy rumbled in hunger and it looked around, trying to see if it can spot some prey, but all it saw was just scorchednd and ckened trees stumps. Giving a huge sigh, it pped its wings and rose into the air, and started looking around to see if it can find something big and yummy to cook.


    As it rose up higher, it saw the area around was all burntnd, and mes and smoke were even seen in the forest all around it. It scratched its head in embarrassment as it finally realized that the cause of the destroyednd was caused by it.


    Oh well, it thought to itself, nature will always find a way to grow back and it pped its wingszily, catching the heat air drafting from the forest fire and started gliding in a circr motion as it climbed higher and higher into the air before flying away from the scorchednd and headed for the distance blue-green forest that has not been affected by the forest fire yet.

 Chapter 187: Summer Festival

    Chapter 187: Summer Festival


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    ke removed his uniform and draped it over his chair before he poured himself a drink made from fermented carrato, locally farmed. He took a sip and let the harsh burning liquid go down his throat and felt a warm fuzzy feeling in his stomach. "Want a drink?" He asked the princess who was seated on his chair going through her work with hisputer.


    She shook her pretty head and said, "Our food stores are looking good. We had arge surplus of grains and tubers, which can be stored for over a season."


    "And we do not need to ughter the animal stock for winter as we have plenty of feed stored up for them too," Sherene focused on her Excel sheet. "The Muffalo herders have started to sheering the wool for production of winter clothing."


    ke stood behind Sherene and hugged her. "How''re the preparations going on for Summer Festival?"


    Sherene smiled and leaned in ke''s embrace, "We have quite a few venues allocated for this Summer Festival, one at each Residential District, and the main event will be held at City Hall za."


    "Since it is a two-day holiday event, I have increased the number of buses to the outer farms, mines, and Far Harbour to pick up those that wish to attend the Festival," Sherene purred happily in ke''s arms. "I also followed the rmendation given by your staff to double the pay for those working on holidays, so that they will not feel left out for the Festivals."


    "Hmmm," ke muttered, "So everything is in order?"


    Sherene nodded, "Well, my people are still setting up the stages and event site. They should be finishing by today and tomorrow the Festival starts!"


    "How about your side?" Sherene looked back and asked, "Is everything ok?"


    "Well, we still have many things to worry about," ke sighed and stood up, picking up his drink and drowned it down. "Goblins to our West, Empire to our North East and a natural disaster to our North."


    "But at least we managed to resolve all our basic needs," ke smiled at Sherene. "Food, water, shelter, security, and manufacturing are all on track."


    "We just need arger poption to support our industrial needs," ke said, "other than that we are doing pretty well, as long there aren''t any more invasions."


    Sherene nodded, "But the Empire... sooner orter they will return right?"


    ke rubbed Sherene''s head gently while leaning against his table. "Intel estimates roughly a month before news gets to the Empire''s Capital, and another month before some sort of response to be taken."


    "By then, it is autumn," ke said, "Hopefullyte autumn is the best, as no sword and shield army will move in winter without long term preparations. I hope..."


    Sherene nodded again, "My father and brothers used to say fighting in winter is terrible and a huge drain to resources. Men had frozen to death or died to hunger due to supply lines getting cut off by heavy snow storms."


    ke grinned, "Not bad, well that''s one of the major reasons, not to mention the terrain will be harder for travel. And they have to cross the Uncharted Forest."


    "The newly formed Combat Engineer unit together with that Elementalist girl has already started a line of defensive works at the bottom of the ramp at Sawtooth Mountain," ke added, "The original wall will be upgraded and supported with the still under development 3" guns. Once we have those built, even if the Empire throws a million troops at us, we can easily hold the pass as long as we have ammunition."


    Sherene frowned, "Will the Empire stoping? Why can''t they leave us in peace?"


    "I don''t have the answer for that, my princess," ke replied gently, patting her soft hair. "Well, we can only make it so expensive for them to attack us, that they call for peace talks."


    "If not, once our airpower is up and running," ke''s eyes gleamed dangerously, "I just bomb them back to the stone age."


    -----


    The Colony, Residental District 4


    Kaga sat on a wooden bench watching several City Hall staffs hanging colorful banners and ribbons on to themp posts lining the side of the streets. Lately, the whole city was full of excited energy as everyone was looking forward to the Summer Festival.


    She nibbled her ''bur-girl'' and sighed in bliss. She picked up a textbook, Introduction to Basic English, and started reviewing her notes for her ss. Her study partner was Billy, when she returned from her day job at City Hall, both of them were bing closer and closer in just a few short days.


    The next day, Kaga went to her morning ss in time and joined a ss of over forty students, some she recognized as part of her same group when they escaped from Falledge. The teacher called Kristine taught them the basic alphabet and phonics. The lessons were easily picked up and absorbed by Kaga, as she had always liked to read.


    When the school bell rang, Kristine ended the lesson and gave them some homework to do at home. The whole ss stood up and thanked the teacher before they all excitedly left the ssroom. Kaga was no different as she had an appointment with Billy at the Commerical District.


    Having traveled a few times in buses, Kaga confidently boarded a bus that will take her to the Commerical District or C District, as some of the locals called it. As the bus turned into the street of D District, colorful signboards covered up the facade of the stores and buildings lining the street.


    She alighted the bus and saw Billy already here and she went up joyfully to her. "Billy, I''m here!"


    "Kaga! Finally!" Billy smiled, "I''m hungry waiting for you!" Billy reached out and hugged a blushing Kaga while rubbing her soft fluffy ears. "Hehehe."


    "S-stop!" Kaga quickly brushed off Billy''s hands, and covered her ears with her hands, "..."


    "Hehehe," Billy grinned, "Your ears and tail are just too soft and fluffy for me to control myself! Hehehehe!"


    "..." Kaga turned redder, "Let''s go..."


    "Alright! Let''s go shopping!" Billy grin went wider as she thought of dressing Kaga up in cute clothes. "Hehehehe..."


    "..."


    -----


    Northern Forest, Hydro Dam Power Station


    Bartley carried arge bucket of water over to the wolves'' shed and refilled the water trough for the wolves. He had spent over two hours showering the wolves and the pups earlier and now the wolves looked much better despite some wounds still visible on their bodies.


    Both the giant wolves licked Bartley and the little dog-sized wolf pups charged out and tackled him down on to the group and started to lick and sniff him happily. "Good boys and girls!" Bartley gave a rare smile.


    These couple of days, Bartley schedule has been, the morning after breakfast, he goes to the wolves to feed them, cleans the shed, brushes their coat, takes them on walks and returns to his cell for the night.


    The aggressiveness of the wolves had decreased a lot, that some of the other Marines coulde near and y with the wolf puppies and the men started nicknaming Bartley as the Wolf Whisperer.


    "Alright, let''s go for a walk around the base shall we?" He gave a whistle and the wolves and puppies started to follow him as headed towards the perimeter fence.


    ----


    The Colony, City Hall za


    The crowd grewrger andrger as more people squeezed into the za for the Summer Festival. Large white sails of cloth were hung at regr intervals among the streets and some local musicians were ying linked to the broadcasting system.


    Along the streets were lined with stalls selling drinks, food, and trinkets. Everyone was in high spirits as they waited for the Festival to start. Soon the Princess came onto the stage set before the City Hall and the crowd went wild, cheering happily away.


    "Hello everyone!" Sherene beamed happily to the cameras which were projected onto therge cloth sails, allowing everyone including those at the other districts events to see her. "I hope everyone is excited to be here tonight!"


    "YES!" The crowd replied enthusiastically.


    "Everyone here has worked hard, be it as a farm hand, a clerk, factory worker or even a cleaner!" Sherene gave her opening speech, "And this hard work is shown around us. Those that came here first will remember the food rationing, theck of necessities and even proper heating or clothes."


    "Now we have heated homes, plenty of food, running water, clean and safe streets," Sherene smiled to the camera. "And now I dere the first Summer Festival to begin! Enjoy the night of musical performances and dance!"


    A sudden burst of fireworks erupted from City Hall''s roof, turning the twilight sky bright with shes and burst of colorful stars. Loud cheers joined the fireworks as the music started ying again performed by local musicians and the people started to party.


    -----


    Northern Forest


    The red dragon just finished fighting with a giant copper boa twice its length, when it heard pops and cracks of thunder in the distance. Ignoring the rumbles of thunder, it roared out mes from its mouth, sh frying and cooking the snake.


    It used its nimble front ws to tear the charred skin and scales off before tearing into the yummy soft medium rare meat inside. It feasted halfway when the rumbles of thunder came again, this time longer and louder.


    Irritated by the thunders, it raised its serpentine head high up and looked at the sky, trying to see if it is going to rain. The rumbles of thunder came again, and it leaped into the air, as it scouted around its surroundings.


    To its surprise, it saw exploding stars in the far distance lighting up the sky and the clouds. It tilted its horned head in confused and dropped back down to the ground and continued its meal while pondering on what are those strange bright colorful stars.


    Once it had its fill, the red dragon leaped into the air again, and spread its wings out, heading towards the location were the exploding stars werest seen, leaving behind a burning forest.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    The festival yesterday night was a sess and everyone off duty had partied tillte. The morning shift was only half manned, and Commander Ford was the seniormanding Officer inside the Bridge.


    He seeped some hot decaf from his mug, wondering if they coulde out with a local equivalent of coffee before their stock of runs out. He rubbed his temples as the partyst night took his toil on his head.


    "XO!" An operator called out, "Sensors are picking up a moving object, 168 kilometers away, heading in fast at roughly 110 kilometers per hour, bearing North, North East, to our position!"


    "What is it? Do we have visual?" Ford called out, all his headache and sleepiness gone instantly.


    "Negative!" The operator replied, "We got no assets at that location!"


    "Scramble the alert Cobras!" Ford asked. "What other assets do we have on standby?"


    "Aye! Scrambling the alert Cobras!" The operator replied as she looked at the ready chart. "Dragon One and Three, Gold, Silver Wing, and Valkyrie Two,"


    "Launch Dragon One and Three, have Gold and Silver Wing on alert and Valkyrie Two on standby for airlift support," Ford ordered. "Give me one UAV into that AO*!" (*Area of Operations)


    "Aye XO!" The operator replied and she quickly started to send out orders.


    "Recall allbat personnel, bring us up to Condition Yellow!" Ford added.


    -----


    Sirens red out in the pilots'' ready room, where four alert pilots of Bronze Wing was lounging around. They jumped up and started grabbing their gear and helmets when the sirens went off in the room and rushed out towards the Hanger Deck of UNS Singapore.


    Color coded techs ran a final check over the four Cobras parked at the internal hanger, while a few techs started to power up the engine starts, spooling up the Cobras engines.


    The pilots climbed into the cockpits as the massive hangar deck doors started to yaw wide open, letting in a gush of wind.


    A yellow jacketed tech started to wave his light wands, signaling for the nes to get into the position ofunch. Once the lead Cobra was hooked into the catapult gear, the jacketed tech gave a salute and a sharp wave off, and the F/A - 1 Cobra was thrown out of the Hangar Deck with a loud roar.


    "Whooooosssssssh!"

 Chapter 188: 188 - A Wild Red Dragon Has Appeared!

    Chapter 188: 188 - A Wild Red Dragon Has Appeared!


    The six alert F/A - 1 Cobras were thrown out of the flight deck one after the other while the rest of the Bronze Squadron scrambled into action. The roars from the propeller engines woke some of the city inhabitants that had partied all night as the nes flew over the city before grouping up and headed straight towards the source of the unknown contact.


    Flight Sergeant Lightseer, wingmander of the Bronze Squadron lead the other five nes of his wing towards the north while forming up into pairs.


    "Thunderchief, this is Bronze Leader, now maintaining angels 01."


    "Bronze Leader, this is Thunderchief, you are under my control. Steer 040 maintain present angel. Over."


    "Roger that, Thunderchief."


    "Thunderchief to Bronze Leader, target position 030, range 90, attitude 1000,"


    "Bronze Leader, Roger!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "XO!" The operator called out, "Airforce Command has no units out at that area, they are scrambling their alert fighters into the air now."


    "Got it," Ford answered, "Tell Flight Ops to have the rest of fighters up on CAP* duty around the city." (*Combat Air Patrol)


    "Has Bronze Flight made contact yet?" Ford asked the flight control operator.


    "Bronze Leader, this Thunderchief, target dead ahead, 25. Do you have contact, over?"


    "Bronze Leader. Negative contact. Request target attitude."


    "Thunderchief, target no change."


    Ford frowned as he looked at the radar signatures on the tactical plot. "ETA to city airspace?"


    "10 minutes Sir!"


    "Alert the wall defenses for a possible ground to airbat. Prepare to intercept!"


    "Aye XO!"


    -----


    Skies over Northern Sector


    Flight Sergeant Lightseer turned his head left and right in his cockpit, trying to spot the contact they are supposed to intercept, but he still couldn''t see anything. He could only see a thick fog of smoke covering the horizon due to the forest fire.


    "Bronze Six to all Alert Fighters, any visual over?"


    "Negative!" Came back all the replies.


    "Bronze Six to Thunderchief, negative contact. No bogey in sight!" He reported back to base.


    "Target dead ahead 15, heading 190, attitude 1000, Speed 100, reduce speed!" The operator''s slightly panicking voice came into his headset.


    "No joy, negative contact! I say again no joy, request target position," Lightseer grounded his teeth in frustration as he tried to spot the target in the hazy skies.


    "Caution! Almost same position, same attitude! Use caution! Bronze Squad Break! Break!" The operator was clearly panicking as she yelled out.


    "Shit!" Lightseer cursed, "All fighters, break break break!"


    He twisted his flight slick to the left, banking his fighter away from his current heading, and in the corner of his eye, he spotted a reddish shadow. "Did anyone see that?" He called out.


    "Three, I see it!" A youthful excited voice yelled over the squadronmswork. "It''s right under your bellies!"


    Lightseer rolled his ne to the side and looked out of his ss canopy, seeing a rakish slim blood red dragonzily pping its wings just meters away from his ne. The dragon was almost two and a half length of his Cobra and with a wing span at least twice his ne''s. Ridge spines and scale ted the body of the dragon, giving it sharp predator look.


    The dragon suddenly looked up and roared, sending plumes of mes and smoke out of its nostrils and mouth. It rolled over and dived into the canopy, which appeared to wither and burst into mes as the dragon skimmed the tree tops.


    "Holy mother of the heavens!" Lightseer pulled his joystick back, tilting his fighter away from the dragon. "Thunderchief! Contact identified! We got a wild red dragon!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "-derchief! Contact identified! We got a wild red dragon!"


    The audio came in loud and clear over the speakers and Ford frowned. "What do we know about red dragons?" He asked themand staff around the bridge.


    "Sir, ording to the data entered by Magister Thorn, red dragons are simr to the Spitfire species, with the ability to spit fire," One of the tactical officers reported, "And wild or feral dragons are typically strongerpared to domesticated dragons."


    "Bronze Leader, do we engage over?" Came the voice of the Bronze squadronmander over the speakers as he requested instructions.


    "Chase it away," Ford said, after a pause. "Keep out of the city''s airspace."


    -----


    Lightseer cursed when he heard the order. "Alright, Bronze Group, listen up, I want Three, Four, Five and Six to fire at its path, force it away from the city. Two, you be on my wing."


    "Yes, Boss!" The other pilots replied and formed up over the dragon, before diving one by one and firing their 20 mm cannons in the path of the dragon. The heavy bullets exploding and ripping up the canopy in the path of the flying dragon, causing it to roar out in surprise as it verve away from the path of the exploding rounds.


    The dragon huffed angrily as it pped away from the strange noisy things that spat small fireballs like magic at it. It red at the buzzing flying creatures and roared out a ball of fire at them, which they nimbly dodged.


    To its surprise the strange flying noisy monsters did not attack it, they just buzzed around and spat those strange breath attacks in its path, seemingly like warning them away from where it wanted to go. It paused in its flight, pping its wings mightily to hover in ce over the forest, the heat from its body, slowly charring the leaves of the treetops.


    To its expectations, the strange noisy creatures did not attack it, constantly circling around it while the dragon pondered on its next actions. Should it continue to investigate the strange lights it sawst night and risk those strange creatures'' attack or should it back off and observe. Since it woke up, it hasn''t seen any other of its kind and it was not sure how long had it slept.


    It decided to observe after a while, it red its wings and settled down on the canopy of the forest, turning the surrounding trees into firewood, sending sparks of embers and ashes into the air as it burned away a swath of forest andnded in the middle of the charred ground.


    ------


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Captain on the Bridge!" The Marine at the armored hatch announced as Captain ke stepped through, waving off the Marines'' salute.


    "At ease, people," ke swiftly mounted the steps up to the tactical plot table. "What do we have?"


    "At the moment it''s like a face off," Ford replied at the side, pointed to a patch of forest on the tactical plot map. "The dragon hasnded and is currently holding its position here."


    "What is it doing?" ke looked up at the UAV feed being disyed on one of the screens.


    "Nothing, Sir. It''s just sitting there watching Bronze Squadron," Ford said. "We suspect this Red Dragon to be the cause of the forest fire judging by the amount of heat it is giving away from its body."


    "What actions are have we made?" ke continued to ask as he got updates from themand crew.


    "So far we did not actively engage it," Ford replied, "We just forced it off course, all actions are to prevent the Dragon from entering the City''s Airspace."


    "Good, keep it that way," ke frown, "What other assets are in ce?"


    "We currently got 1 Air Group over the target," Ford picked up his tablet and checked the deployments. "1 Air Group over the City, and another Air Group, Gold Squadron, ETA 8 minutes, inbound from Airforce Command with Valkyries on standby to airdrop infantry if needed. Dragon One is also inbound in 20 minutes with Dragon Three riding wing."


    "City''s anti air defenses are all manned and ready, civil defense forces are clearing the streets and ensuring everyone is in a shelter," Ford continued, "2nd Battalion is being deployed for city defense while 1st Battalion is standing by."


    "This world is fucked up," ke sighed while shaking his head. "Can''t we have any peace and quiet for a few months?"


    "Yeah, I get that too," Ford grimaced. "Well, at least the dragon doesn''t seem hostile, rather more curious. I think it might have gotten attracted by our fireworksst night."


    "Great, so now we can''t have celebrations without attracting a dragon or two," ke sighed again. "Any other information on the dragon?"


    "Visually it looks like a between a med or heavyweight," Ford said, "Body is slimmer than Blue Thunder but longer than the Razorbacks we have. It is a feral beast that''s for sure."


    "I want 24 7 surveince on that dragon, if it so much as take a dump, I want to know about it," ke ordered. "Clear?"


    "Aye, Captain," Ford nodded.


    -----


    The Colony, Outer Defense Walls, North Sector


    Lieutenant Joesph rode the cage like steel cargo elevator up to the top of the North Sector Wall. The ride took a minute to reach the top with the nking gears rattling away. As the elevator doors slid open at the sixth floor, a heavy gust of wind mmed into the open doors, staggering Joesph and hismand staff.


    He stepped out of the elevator and stood on the open roof of the walls that stretched as far as the eye can see. The width of the roof was roughly five meters wide, allowing plenty of space for the defenders to move on the walls while two rail tracks lined the city side of the parapet.


    At regr intervals were dual .50 caliber machine nests protected by sandbags, or dual 20 mm autocannons serving as k guns. Several Marines and Milita formed a line and started to transfer loads of ammunition crates out from the elevator and load them onto the rail carts next to the elevator. Once the carts were full, they were pushed along the tracks by a simple bicycle-like contraption to supply the defensive guns on the Wall.


    Lt Joesph hopped onto one of the fully loaded ammunition carts and hitched a ride down the tracks. One of the logistic workers hitched thedened carts to the velocipede and started to pedal, pushing the heavy carts along the track.


    The heavy carts slowly picked up speed and soon zoomed passed the defensive guns that were pointed towards the sky. The train finally stopped before a 70 mm rocket battery manned by a couple of Marines, who saluted Joesph as he had gotten off the carts.


    "All good?" Lt Joseph asked the two Marines manning the 4 x 7 cell rocketunchers.


    "Yes, Sir!" The two Marines grinned, "Great view here!"


    "Alright, stay frosty!" Lt Joseph grinned back, copying the hooman expression. The two Marines started to unload the crates of 70 mm rockets from the carts and storing them at the nearby protected ammunition bunker. He agreed that the view was stunning, the fields of clearedndid out in the open in perfect squares and the blue forest in the distance while the horizon was dark with smoke from the raging forest fires.


    Lt Joesph walked towards a staircase, where a guard unlocked the steel barred doors, granting entry to him after checking his credentials.


    A couple of stories down, Lt Joesph pass by another checkpoint and after clearing security, he entered into the North Sector Command center. Another Lieutenant was in the room filled with support techs as they manned all themunications.


    "Sir!" The young looking Lieutenant hopped up from his chair when he saw Lt Joesph entering. "It''s an honor to serve with you!"


    "Rx, Fairmont," Lt Joesph shook his head at the eager youngster, "We are all the same rank here."


    "Yes sir!" Lt Fairmont gave a wide grin, "Well, I deployed all the reinforcements you brought to their respective posts." He pointed to the map of the Wall defenses, highlighting out each AA gun or artillery battery.


    "No feral dragon is gonna fly into the City without getting shot at by at least ten dual .50 caliber heavy machines, four dual 20 mm autocannons and two 70 mm rockets batteries!"

 Chapter 189: Dragon to Dragon Talk

    Chapter 189: Dragon to Dragon Talk


    Skies over the Northern Forest


    Flight Sergeant Lightseer tapped his fuel gauge and triggered his throat mike. "Bronze Leader to Thunderchief, Bronze Group bingo on fuel, requesting for RTB(Return to Base)."


    "Thunderchief, you are cleared for RTB, Gold Group inbound to take over CAP (Combat Air Patrol) over the Red," The operator''s voice replied in Lightseer''s headset.


    "Bronze lead to Bronze Group, time to RTB," He ordered to the rest of his wing before casting ast nce at the Red Dragon curled up on the charred forest floor. "Damn, why HQ doesn''t want us to just kill it and call it a day. Damn waste of our time!"


    The rest of Bronze Group ceased their endless circling and formed up next to Lightseer''s ne before they flew back towards the Castle of Iron''s runway.


    The dragon eyed the noisy creatures buzzing off away, back towards the strange ce where itst heard and seen those strange fires over the night skies, wondering should it follow them, when another group of simr noisy buzzing creatures appeared over the skies.


    It waved its serpentine tail against its nose and pondered what should it do about these strange creatures. It has lived for a long time and those noisy creatures were something it has never met before. At least before it went into a deep sleep, it never encountered such strange creatures before. What changes has this world gone into? It thought to itself as it tickled its own nose with the tip of its tail.


    -----


    The Colony, Outer Defense Walls, North Sector Defense Command


    "Top!" Lieutenant Joesph greeted Master Sergeant Pike as he entered into themand post.


    "Sir!" Pike gave a parade worthy salute to both the Officers inside and stood at ease next to the tactical tabletop. "Looks like our uninvited guest is pretty tame at the moment."


    "Yea," Lt Joesph agreed, "What do think it is nning? Think we canmunicate with it?"


    "Sir," The other younger Lieutenant, Fairmont spoke up, "Why don''t we just kill it?"


    Pike patted the officer on his back and said, "Sir, if you noticed, that creature''s presence just torched an entire forest almost 10 times the size of the city. Now imagine what will happen if you pissed it off."


    "Oh... I s-see..." The young officer blushed in embarrassment. "I did not think of that..."


    "Well, it''s a learning experience," Lt Joesph winked at Pike, "You get wiser as you grow older! Ha!"


    Pike grinned and leaned over the UAV video stream, "I think I better head down to take a look personally with the dragon. See if we can understand each other."


    "You speak draconic?" Lt Fairmont was fairly surprised by Pike''s words.


    "Nope, but I got a Universal Trantor..."


    -----


    Skies over Northern Forest


    Blue Thunder pped his wings mightly, his previous wounds mostly recovered and he was happy to be able to just stretch his wings out, rather than being cooped up in his pen.


    "Blue! Don''t over exert yourself!" The speakers next to his ears crackled to life, Flight Sergeant Stamford motherly voice sounding worried and tense. "Your wing tip bone just healed, I don''t want you to fracture it again!"


    "Yes, Mom..." Blue Thunder sighed, rolling his dinner te sized eyes upwards while tilting his serpentine head back and replying to Stamford seated on his back. "You nag too much!"


    "Yea right!" Stamford growled, stamping his booted feet against the harden scales of Blue Thunder. "Don''te crying to me when you break your wings again!"


    Blue Thunder turned his head back facing the front acting like he did not hear a word from Stamford, and even tried to whistle innocently which he failed badly, much to theughter of the rest of the crew.


    Stamford gave a sigh at the childish antics of Blue, wondering why such a big and powerful beast like Blue could still act like a child. "Ok, war face time, we are nearing the target."


    In the distant horizons, as they approached, the skies were dark and covered in a thick cloud of haze, were random erratic strobes of lightning and thunder could be seen and heard in the firestorm.


    "I see Gold Squadron!" Corporal Barkley yelled as he peered through the thick haze, spotting the blue grey dots circling over an area.


    "Damn, your eyes are sharp!" Stamford praised as he tried to pick out the aircraft against the gray haze in the skies. "I can''t see shit in this haze!"


    "I see them!" Blue Thunder gave a grin, disying an array of scary looking sword teeth. "And I see the Red Dragon too!"


    "Alright, bring us down nearby, but not too close," Stamford said, "I don''t want you to get into a fight with it." He gave a stomp with his boots on Blue Thunder''s back. "You hear?"


    "Okay..." Blue Thunder sighed disappointedly. "It will be easy for me to win, you know? Its smaller than me and looks weak too!"


    "Weak?" Stamford rolled his eyes upwards, "That thing set the whole forest on fire! Can you do that, you big idiot!"


    "Cheh! It''s just a small issue..." Blue Thunder tilted his head up in disdain. "I could tten it easy with just one arm!"


    "You better stop having ideas of fighting!" Stamford stomped harder against Blue Thunder''s back. "We know that feral dragons are magically stronger than domesticated dragons like you! We don''t know how powerful, but I am sure you can''t win it with just one arm!"


    "Hmph!" Blue Thunder gave a snort and kept quiet, ring his wings as he came to a gliding descent.


    As they came lower towards the scorched forest, they felt the temperature increasing rapidly. "Damn it''s hot!" Dek yelled out over the roaring wind as Blue Thunder swooped in tond at the charred ground.


    Blue Thunder gave a grunt as he felt a sense of unease at the temperature of the surroundings. "Hmmm... maybe you are right, we should be friends!"


    The air was thick with smoke and ashes, and not long the men were sweating in their flight suits. "Look, it has noticed us but its just sitting there. Think you can talk to it or something?" Stamford asked as he cradled his shotgun, the metal barrel turning warmer by the second.


    "I don''t speak draconic if that is what you want me to talk to it with," Blue raised his head up, sitting up on his hindquarters and staring at the Red Dragon in the distance.


    "What?" Stamford frowned, "You are a dragon and you don''t know dragon talk?"


    "Well, I grew up with people since I was born!" Blue Thunder raised his head up indignantly, "No one taught me draconic!"


    Stamford shook his head helplessly, "Well, try something, make it go away without it getting pissed off with us, okay?"


    Blue Thunder turned his head and stared wide eyed at his Crew Chief, "Seriously? You want me to growl or bark at it expecting it to understand that we meant no harm and just wants it to go away?"


    "What happens if my growl means ''Fark you?'' in draconic?" Blue Thunder hissed. "No way! You go do it!"


    Stamford shooked his head again and turned to Dek their radioman, "Well, call it in, tell them we have a wee problem here."


    -----


    Northern Forest


    The Red Dragon narrowed its golden eyes as it watched the blue scaled dragonnding at a short distance away and a few of those tiny inferior walking meat bags climbed down from the dragon''s back and started to converse in some kind of crudenguage to and fro.


    It hissed in agitation, sniffing the other dragon''s scent and tasting its bloodline in the air with its tongue. After a while, it spat in disappointment, for it found the bloodline of the blue and red scaled dragon before itcking, despite it having some bloodline simr to itself.


    The Red Dragon cocked its head as it continued to observe the bodynguage of the dragon that wasrger but with huge inferior bloodline with the small group of walking meat. It found it strange that despite the weak bloodline of its species would listen and serve as a mount for the inferior walking meat bags.


    It rose up to its full height and was about to interrupt the strange chittering conversation between the lesser dragon and the walking meats when suddenly several strange rumbling creatures came into sight and more of that skinny looking walking meats climbed down from the strange blue grey purring creatures.


    -----


    "Top!" Stamford called out in relief, "We got a smallmunication problem here." His face was slightly red and his flight suit was unzipped all the way down, as waves of heat could be felt radiating from the strange dragon.


    "Damn its hot here!" Pike snarled, "Alright, boys, space out! Stop clusterfucking there! Firefighting teams to take their positions!"


    A couple of trucks started up their engines and spaced themselves out. The men, some dressed in silvery full body suits while others in yellowish suits started to unroll deted rubber hoses that were salvaged from the ship''s firefighting equipment and repurposed into trucks. They quickly attached the hoses to the water tanks that contained a mixture of foam and water. The electric motors hummed as they built up water pressure and the firefighters formed an ad hoc perimeter around the Red Dragon.


    "Sergeant Stamford?" Pike walked up to the sweaty Crew Chief and gave a pat on the snout of Blue Thunder as a way of greeting. "What''s the situation?"


    "Well, this fat lizard here doesn''t know how to speak dragon!" Stamford gave a dramatic shook of his head, while Blue Thunder gave him an eye roll and a snort of disdain in reply. "So we can''t speak with that dragon there."


    "Not to mention, that thing is just too hot to approach," Stamford added, "We are like two, three hundred meters away, yet the heat waves its giving is pretty tough to handle without thermal instion gear."


    "Well, fear not," Pike grinned, "I brought some toys!" He propped the ck carry case onto his knee and opened it, disying a few sets of Universal Trantor devices. "I got some techs on standby for IT support and we just hook this baby up to Blue''s intes and we can try some basicmunications with that Red Dragon."


    "Why spend so much time for a dragon?" Blue snorted again, "It barely fit the standards for a heavy weight fighting dragon!" He puffed up his chest, and straightened its back, trying to make his shoulders as broad as he could.


    "Don''t jelly here!" Stamford pped Blue''s puffed up belly with barely an effect. "And stop showing off!"


    "But its true!" Blue lowered his head, "Its just a feeble looking thing!"


    "Blue!" Stamford snapped, "If that dragon beats you up, I wouldn''t help you!"


    Blue settled down on all fours and pouted at the side, "I''m just saying..." He spoke in a low voice to Bek and the rest of his crew who tried to control theirughter.


    -----


    The Red Dragon frowned as it watched the lesser dragon puffed up and ring at it, but with a gesture of one of the meat bags, it deted and appeared meek before it. Some of the walking meats appeared to be in the merriment of its treatment! No matter how weak its dragon bloodline has fallen, to be meek and controlled by those interior walking meats? What a disgrace to the great draconic race!


    It roared angrily and with its head held up proudly, it strolled mightly and majestically over to the startled group of meat bags and the disgracefully lesser dragon, clearly a youngling from the way it acted and held itself!


    I will teach this youngling what it meant to be the king of all beasts in the world! It thought as it stood before the clearly frightened and cowed meat bags. It radiated off waves of heat that instantly turned the surrounding temperature up by dozens and dozens of degrees before it opened its jaws and roared!


    "RAAAAAAAAAAAWWWRRR~~!!!!"


    "Give that fucking dragon something to drink!"

 Chapter 190: Misunderstanding Dragons

    Chapter 190: Misunderstanding Dragons


    "RAAAAWWWWRRRR~!!!"


    The Red Dragon stomped mightly towards the pathetic meat bags and the confused looking youngling. It gave another roar, wanting to impose its dragon fear to the lesser creatures when suddenly a few jets of cold liquid and some thick foamy substancended on its body.


    Instantly steam erupted out as the water got into contact with its superheated scaled while the firefighting foam thickly coated its body. The Red Dragon gave out a yelp in confusion as tried to back off away from the water jets sprayed by those meat bags.


    It raised its wings to block the water sprays and tried to spit some fireballs out only to swallow arge mouthful of water and foam. It started to cough and splutter in shock and distaste, and in its haste, it tripped over its own tail and flopped backward in a tangle.


    Blue Thunderughed and quickly muffled hisughter by burying his head with his wings when both Pike and Stamford red at him. "Is it so funny?"


    "BWAHAhahahaa!" Blue Thunder nearly rolled around on the ground in glee, "Serves it right!"


    "Alright, cease fire!" Pike roared out,manding the men to shut their hoses off. "We only got so much water to waste!"


    The drenched Red Dragon sneezed and shivered, looking like a wet dog. The surrounding temperature had dropped drastically like someone just turned off the heater. It red resentfully at Blue Thunder who quickly avoided its re and swallowed theughter boiling out of his throat. "Ahem..."


    "Sooo... what do we do now?" Blue Thunder whispered, "I thought we are not gonna piss it off? It looks mightly pissed off now!"


    "Can you just shut up?" Stamford felt a major headacheing and it wasn''t due to the increasing humidity. "You are not doing any better!"


    Blue Thunder covered his mouth with his wings and ducked low, "Sorry~!"


    In the meanwhile, Pike had strolled up before the wet and indignation looking Red Dragon which was baring its teeth at him. Pike looked pretty chill and unconcern, while Blue Thunder whispered in awe, "Does Top doesn''t feel the heat? Is he really cold blooded and made out of ice inside?"


    Stamford gave Blue Thunder a ''wtf'' look and asked, "Now where did you hear all that nonsense?"


    "From the Marines!" Blue Thunder''s eyes were as round as giant saucers as he gazed with awe and worship at Pike. "They say he once walk through hell and fire as if it was just a stroll in the park! Truly!"


    "Stop listening to those Marine''s housewives gossips and nonsense!" Stamford rubbed his aching head. "Gods... you are older than all of them yet you still are so gullible!"


    "But they swear its true!" Blue Thunder gave a gulp, "I even remember seeing him at the walls! He ordered those firefighters to spray their magic at one of my old wing mates! Scary!"


    Stamford shooked his head at Blue Thunder''s adoration and awe to Pike, thinking that Pike was just wearing an environmental suit that regtes temperature underneath his camo fatigues. He didn''t have the heart to break Blue Thunder''s image of his idol.


    "Stop listening to gossips! Or I cut your cheese fries rations!" Stamford warned sternly.


    "Oh, noes! My cheese fries!"


    -----


    Pike stared eye to eye evenly with the Red Dragon and growled, "You bring the heat up again, and I get my boys to give u a nice dose of fire foam. You clear?" while he gestured to his men with the hoses.


    The Red Dragon eyes narrowed and it followed the gestures of the strange meat bag to the sides were several more simr looking meats were holding on some long wiggling things. It remembered that they spray some sort of liquid and water that made it cold and wet!


    It growled back at the strange unfearing meat bag, who alone stood before it speaking in some strange harshnguage. Did this puny meat bag dare to try to threaten it? What insolence!


    The Red Dragon braced itself back on its fours and was about to pounce again when the strange meat bag yelled something, and water sprays hammered it from several sides. It squeaked in surprise and difort, backing away from the water sprays before the meat bag gave a wave and the water disappeared.


    Pike gave a sigh, "Blue! Go pin it down!"


    "But... Sarge... I don''t like getting very wet too!" Blue whined back.


    "Blue... You wanna know how wet you can get when I get my hands on you?" Pike growled.


    "YES SIR YES! Wait! I mean no, NO SIR!" Blue Thunder felt a chill down his spine and he quickly stood at attention, mimicking the Marines parade stance. "I go pin that dragon down, but please don''t spray me too!"


    "5... 4... 3..." Pike started to tap his feet in annoyance while looking at his wristwatch. "2..."


    "I''M ON IT!" Blue Thunder cried out in panic and with a wooosh, he leaped over the heads of everyone and with two bounces, hended on top of the shocked Red Dragon. "Excuse me!"


    The surprised Red Dragon barely managed to resist when all 40 plus tons of weightnded on it. It screamed out in shock and pain as Blue Thunder tried to saddle on its back. "Keep still! And it will be over soon!" Blue Thunder roared as he tried to hold down the struggling Red Dragon without seriously injuring it.


    "Ow!" Blue Thunder cursed as an errant red scaled wing pped his face. "You nearly took my eye out! Urghhh!" The Red Dragon managed to squirm ontop its back. and face Blue Thunder, snapping at his face with its powerful jaws while Blue Thunder managed to pin its arms and legs with his own.


    "Stop that!" Blue Thunder suddenly got enough and roared mightly directly at the Red Dragon, who surprisingly flinched back from his roar. "Stop... ?!"


    -----


    When that strange youngling suddenlynded on its back, it felt so shocked that it froze for a second which allowed the youngling to force it onto the floor in an embarrassing pose. When it finally regained its senses, it struggled angrily, thinking what a disrespectful youngling whoid its dirty hands on it.


    But as it managed to flip itself over, the youngling had pinned its arms down with its superior weight and roared into its face! It looked at shock at the disrespectful youngling and growled, narrowing its eyes and a rumble rose from its chest as it prepared to unleash its breathe attack.


    -----


    "Oh fuck..." Pike watching at the side saw that the situation was going sour. "SPRAY THAT DRAGON NOW!"


    Instantly water and foam were hosed directly at the Red Dragon''s face, stunning it and making it choke as it unintentionally swallowed water and foam. It started to struggle wildly under Blue Thunder which tilted his head as far away from the water sprays as possible.


    "Erm... guys..." Blue Thunder called out while holding firmly down on the Red Dragon. "I think that''s enough water for the day? GUYS?"


    "Cease fire!" Pike roared and strolled up towards the two Dragons once the water and foam had died down.


    Blue Thunder gave a sigh of relief and peered down at the choking dragon underneath him. "I think it''s dying..."


    Pike took a look at the slumped head of the Red Dragon and yelled, "Blue, give it CPR!"


    "CPR?" Blue Thunder looked at Pike in surprise, "What is CPR?"


    "Urghh..." Pike frowned, "Forget it... Just use both your arms, put them like this and press against the chest of it." He demonstrated against the ground. "Press down against the lungs to force the water and foam out."


    "Erm okay, I try..." Blue Thunder scratched his head and mimicked Pike''s actions and press down hard on the chest of the Red Dragon. "HMMM?!"


    "What is it?" Pike asked seeing the expression on Blue Thunder''s face. It was surprisingly easy to read his facial expressions, thought Pike.


    "Erm... I think its a female!" Blue Thunder appeared to look embarrassed. "Ehh... should I even be touching her... brea... I mean chest?"


    "She is choking on the foam, you idiot," Stamford yelled as he came up next to them, "Force it out of her throat and lungs or she chokes to death, you big dummy!"


    "Oh yes, of course!" Blue Thunder cleared his throat and went back to pressing the chest of the dragon.


    "Roll her over to her side!" Stamford yelled, "Dek, grab the first aid box from Blue!"


    Blue Thunder gently rolled the Red Dragon to her side, watching with mixed emotions as the Red Dragon coughed outrge mouthfuls of water, foam and some blood. "Oh dear..."


    "Since when you cared about modesty?" Stamford asked while he grabbed a listening horn from the first aid toolbox and held it against the heaving chest of the Red Dragon, listening to her lungs. "It sounds clear, might still have some water inside."


    "Open her jaws, Blue," He ordered, and waited while Blue Thunder prised open the Red Dragon''s jaws, "Massage her throat upwards, see if you can smoothe any trapped foam or water out."


    "I watched enough drama to understand modesty and molest!" Blue Thunder snorted while he gently rubbed the dragon''s throat, and after a short while the Red Dragon gave a mighty heave and vomited out anotherrge mouthful of water and foam with some blood mixed together. "There now, all good now!" Blue Thunder gently patted the back of the Red Dragon. "I don''t wanna get sued!"


    "Phew, looks like its all expelled out," Stamford said, as he pressed the listening horn against the side of the Red Dragon which looked around her in surprise at the people and Blue Thunder patting her back. "Seriously, I am gonna ban all your dramas!"


    Blue Thunder stuck his tongue out at Stamford before he gave his best dragon smile at the shocked and confused looking Red Dragon which stared wide-eyed back at them before her eyes narrowed in angry and she pped Blue Thunder across the face with her wing and flipped him off her body.


    She growled in anger and stared at the meat bags surrounding her and the disrespectful youngling that mounted her. "Filthy low blood! You darey your hands on me! Disgraceful!"


    Pike frowned and stopped his men from spraying more water and foam at the clearly pissed off Red Dragon. The surrounding temperature was slowly rising again as the Red Dragon recovered her senses. Pike pointed to himself and said, "Pike." before he pointed to the Red Dragon who red at his direction with hate-filled eyes.


    She turned her head when one of the meat bags she recognized as the fearless one that approached and tried to threaten her with those magic water spells said something while pointing to himself. "Pi-e?"


    Are they trying to talk to her? She thought. She knew of those hairless meat bags who used to offer her food and sacrifices in the past and in those days, only a handful barely knew enough of her tongue tomunicate properly with her.


    She nced to the side, seeing those strangely dressed meat bags with those strange contraptions that barely gave off any magical powers but were powerful effect to suppress her fire element powers.


    She also knew that she cked out for a while, only to wake up to see them surrounding her and that... disgraceful youngling on top of her, rubbing and touching her body! As she thought of that scene, her anger red up again and she gave off a growl at the clearly cowed youngling on the side.


    She turned and look at the strange fearless meat bag who was called ''Pi-e'' started to point at her without any respect in his posture and seems to ask what is her name.


    "Rastraz the Red, Pride of the Volcanic Dragons!" She proudly puffed her chest out, despite the pain in her chest, which she did not know how she had gotten injured.


    "Ra-taz... Rasta... Rastras?" The meat bag Pi-e, repeated and said. "Rastraz?"


    Rastraz was surprised that he could pronounce her name properly after a while tries and nodded with approval.


    "Good, you will make a good servant for me!"

 Chapter 191: Here We Go Again ~

    Chapter 191: Here We Go Again ~


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Captain, Ground Team led by Master Sergeant Pike has establishedmunications with the Dragon," One of the operators reported from his station.


    "Great," ke nodded from his seat, "See if he can entice the Dragon into our ranks. Failing that, make sure the Dragon does not approach within 150 kilometers of any of our outposts and the city."


    Commander Ford raised an eyebrow and asked, "You wanna recruit that dragon?"


    "Why not?" ke smiled, "We have ample food now, what we arecking is bodies."


    "Another dragon?" Ford folded his arms as he leaned against the tactical plot table. "Seriously?"


    ''Yes, it''s still a sentient being," ke replied, "It might not be able to work in some industries but it can still be useful in the aviation sector. Not to mention their shit actually provides quite a bit of useful chemicalpounds."


    "Ha! If Blue Thunder and the rest of the dragons heard that you just hire them for their shit," Fordughed, "I wonder what will they think about that!"


    ke grinned, "Well, we did mine the shit of their ancestors for saltpeter. Not to mention if this dragon can just produce thermal heat naturally, there is a lot of applications we can use it for."


    "Sir?" A voice called out from the Command Bridge hatch and ke saw Lieutenant Tavor from Intelligence making his way over. "I might have some bad news here."


    "Damn," ke gestured him over to the tactical plot table, "what is it?"


    Tavor keyed his tablet to sync with the tactical table before he disyed several images. "As you know, we run a four-tier defense surveince and detectionwork. The outer mostyer is set at 200 kilometers. Thisyer is covered by our remaining UAVs."


    "The secondyer is covered by the Cobras on Combat Air Patrols roughly patrol around a 150 kilometer radius around our borders," Tavor continued, "The thirdyer is covered by the dragons, within a 50 to 100 kilometer band."


    "And finally, our final line is covered by motion sensors seeded at key locations and Marine ground patrols," Tavor finished uploaded all the files into the system. "As with the incident with the Goblin invasion fleet a few month''s back, I had tasked a UAV to do a recon pass every day."


    Tavor selected an image and erged it on the screen, "This was taken 4 days ago, this 3 days ago and this was 2 days and this was yesterday." The images show goblins ships appearing on the wet docks of Goblin Ind.


    "This looks like a military built up!" Ford eximed. "Where did all these shipse from?"


    "We suspect that they have some dry docks or construction slips hidden inside the sea caves dotting the interior of the cove, that is why we did not spot them earlier." Tavor exined, "This clearly shows that the goblins are preparing for something, and we counted roughly 30 ''Dagger'' ss galleys and 10 ''Sword'' ss sloops."


    "It is way lesser than what they have thrown at us previously," Tavor said, "My department take on this is that this is a raiding party or pirates setting out for plunder."


    "Any signs of our new friends from the Isles?" ke asked, "Could the sea goblins be targeting them?"


    "Most likely yes, but they might not be specifically aiming for our trade ships," Tavor said. "After all, we do spot one or two convoys of Isles merchant ships passing by us."


    "The trade deal with the Isles still has a week or so before they are supposed to deliver their promise," Ford reminded everyone. "As for their payment of weapons and armor. We have them all ready and stored in climate controlled warehouses at Far Harbour. Even the ss they ordered ispleted and is awaiting transportation to the warehouses."


    "Put up more eyes to look out for the Isles'' ships," ke ordered. "Also continued keeping tabs on Goblin Ind. When that Goblin Fleet sails, I want to know about it. Clear?"


    "Yes Sir!"


    -----


    Northern Forest


    In the past two days, several tents had sprung up among the ruined forest, where two disgruntled dragonsid watching each other cautiously. The temperature had returned to normal but the humidity was still high, making Flight Sergeant Stamford easily irritated.


    "Come on, Blue!" Stamford stood before Blue Thunder with the top half of his flight suit tied around his waist, exposing a white tee while his arms were on his hips. "Keep talking to her! You know the trantor will only work if you two keep talking!"


    "But... she''s scary!" Blue Thunder bowed his head low, "I meant, look at those eyes of hers! Actually its quite pretty but she wants to kill me!"


    "For god''s sake!" Stamford rubbed his sweaty face, "You are a goddamn dragon! You are a male and you arerger than her! How can you be so scared still!"


    "But... females are hard to understand!" Blue Thunder whimpered, "I watched enough dramas to know that!"


    "Alright, I''m cutting your hours on the Entertainment Rooms will be cut!" Stamford added, "Those damn soap operas are filling your bird brains with nonsense!"


    "Nooo! I''m still watching ''Days of our lives''!" Blue Thunder moaned, "Please! I do it! I talk to her now ok?"


    Stamford looked stunned for a while, "What the fuck? Why are you watching that shit of a soap opera?"


    "It''s interesting!" Blue Thunder grinned, "There''s almost everything inside from love to family to death, even curses and vampires! Hehehehe! Great insight on hooman life!"


    "Blue, I am gonna have a serious talk to you about what shows you can watchter," Stamford shook his head helplessly, "I wonder which idiot uploaded that series into the database..."


    "Go talk to her now! Talk more!" Stamford yelled as Blue Thunder tried to creep away.


    He whined, "Do I have to?"


    "You want me to get Top over here to have a heart to heart talk?" Stamford decided to use Pike''s reputation.


    "Oh, it''s okay, he''s busy!" Blue Thunder moaned quickly, "I go right now!" And he hopped over towards the Red Dragon that was lying serenely on her side, watching the ongoing around her with mild interest.


    "Hi, there!" Blue Thunder gave a forced cheerful greeting, as he approached the Red Dragon called Rastraz, who red at him with her golden eyes. "Erm, how are you doing?"


    Rastraz growled at the male youngling who came up to her without any proper etiquette and sighed inwardly. The young ones are always the ones that cause troubles. She had taken the past couple of days to assess her situation.


    The strange meat bags appeared to be simr but there are actually two different races, the long eared people, and the short eared ones. She remembered encountering the long eared people many many moons back, and they worshipped her like a god.


    It would appear that the descendants of her followers had probably forgotten her over time while she was asleep in the volcano if not those of her followers had passed on to the next life and these are of another nation.


    These walking meats were so short lived, thought Rastraz as she nced at the antics of these people around her. She turned her attention back to the youngling and wondered how did their proud race now willingly serve under those that once prey and worshipped them as gods.


    Blue Thunder sighed and turned his head around and hissed to Stamford who was eyeing him like a hawk.


    "She''s not talking!"


    -----


    Highway to Far Harbor


    ke sat shotgun on the jeep as his driver gunned the engine down the super highway towards Far Harbor. The newly constructed work was like a miracle to the locals as they finished work on the road in just a month''s time.


    The freshly paved highway provided a much faster transportation route for the construction materials to travel up and down the Colony to Far Harbor while a split way links the highway towards the mines.


    Several trucks rumbled passed the jeep carrying ores and other processed materials towards the industrial parks for the hungry factories to produce everything that they needed.


    ke smiled contently and felt that despite all, he had done pretty well for his people here. Just several months ago, when they first crashednded here, there was nothing and now a thriving city and industries were built and the food was no longer worries on his mind.


    In just another two more months, it will mark the 1st year anniversary of their crashnding on this, thought ke. Damn, time flies.


    The jeep soon arrived at its destination and ke hopped off, leaving instructions for his driver before he headed towards a nondescriptive structure built alongside the harbor, with part of its structure out in the sea.


    A couple of security officers saluted him as he approached and the sturdy looking metal door swung open to admit him in. Cooling air greeted him as he stepped into the building and out of the sun.


    "Captain!" A youngish looking sailor leading a small party of other personnel stood at attention and saluted. "Senior Spaceman Mason, Sir!"


    "At ease, gentlemen," ke said after returning the salutes. "What have you got for me?"


    "Come this way, Sir!" Mason gestured to ke to follow him. "We have sessfully tested two half sized prototypes and will be beginning to develop our third prototype following the feedback and test results from the first two."


    "How much time is still needed before we can have abat ready model?" ke asked as they entered into a dry construction slip where two wooden speedboats sat on support moorings.


    "We need about two months or so, at least," Mason replied as he did some mental calction. "There are still some technical issues we need to iron out before we can start mass production of the boats."


    "That''s taking too long," ke frowned, "Any chance of having the prototypes or a base model for use within a week?"


    "A week?" Mason''s jaws dropped slightly, "Sir, that is impossible. We barely just learn how to build a speed boat hull!"


    "Nevermind, disregard what I asked, just continue with your work," ke replied, "How about the wreck we salvaged off the coast?"


    "Well, if you want that ship tomence operations," Mason brought ke to another entrance which led them to the ship. "It''s sea worthy now, thanks to Amar''s skills. You know that ship carpenter we saved?"


    "Yes, I remembered him," ke nodded, "But he didn''t return to his homnd with the Isles ships?"


    "Nope, seems like he got nothing much there," Mason replied, "And the stuff we are doing here is more exciting for him too."


    The wreck that ke saw from the video and images taken were like two different ships. The rebuilt and reworked wreck now had a fresh coat of paint and ayer of steel ting covering its outer hull and the masts for the sails were all removed.


    The top decks were remodeled and a superstructure now sits behind the forecastle and the quarter deck has a single ck funnel jutting out. The wooden spars of the bowsprit and even the figurehead were removed.


    The fresh coat of sea grey paint made the ship look totally unrecognizable as a former sailing ship of the Isles.


    "This became Chief Matt and his department''s pet project," Mason exined as he showed off the ship to ke. "They are working on its internals now, giving it a powernt and putting in that new techno-magic thingy that the Chief had worked out with the students from the magic school."


    "Once it is done, it will be powered by a single 2,750 hp triple-expansion reciprocating steam engines with a single shaft propulsion system," Mason said, "It should give it roughly 16 knots (29.6 km/h) of top speed with a range of 3,500 nautical miles (6,482 km) at 12 knots (22.2 km/h)."


    "Weapons?" ke asked as he walked up the gangnk to the ship.


    "Chief is looking at putting two of your new 3" 23s, one at the forecastle and one at the stern," Mason replied, "there will be cups mounts for dual 20 mikes on both sides of the ship and .50 caliber mountings for anti-air and anti-boarding actions."


    "Where''s the Chief?" ke asked as he stood on the deck looking up at the two story tall superstructure.


    "He should be down below the decks working on something," Mason said, "Need me to get him?"


    "Of course, I want to get this ship up and running ASAP!"

 Chapter 192: Chief of Naval Operations

    Chapter 192: Chief of Naval Operations


    UNS Singapore, Conference Room


    "Alright, everyone please settle down!" Commander Ford pped his hands together bring the meeting into order. "Quick summary for those not in the loop, we got possible goblin pirates that willmerce raids within our sphere of influence."


    "Now this might not be much of an issue before," ke spoke up, "But now we are looking to be trading partners with the Isles, therefore we need tobat piracy now to prevent it bing an issue in the future."


    "Now the thing is that we only have a single salvaged ship that''s being converted into an armored cruiser or irond," ke continued, "A single warship with mostly new and experimental tech with no support vessels and backup."


    "Our fast attack craft concept will not be able to be implemented in time to defend against pirates and raiders," ke added, "So the core of the fighting will be ced on the single irond we have now till we can produce more ships."


    "Sir, how about we built some maritime patrol bombers?" Airforce Commander Tommy raised a question. "It can do coastal patrols and reconnaissance too. And if in the future if needed, it can also perform in anti submarine warfare."


    "Sounds interesting," ke replied, "Draw up a proposal for it. Good to have more cards in our hands even if we couldn''t produce any of this equipment now."


    "What else is happening now?" ke asked around the table.


    "Autumn nting will begin next week, mostly tubers and mushrooms types of crops which can survive over winter and be ready to harvest when springes," Princess Sherene gave her report. "The strawberries provided by you hoomans are also doing surprisingly well in the markets and also easy to grow over autumn and winter."


    "This year it will be different than usual," Sherene smiled charmingly, "It will be a busy winter!"


    "Why is that?" ke asked.


    "Well, previously, the farms could not provide any food during the cold months and most people stay indoors to conserve heat," Sherene exined, "Most people shut themselves in during winter, but with central heating, warm clothes, plenty of food and jobs in the factories and stores, people will be more inclined to work during winter!"


    "I see, that is a good sign," ke replied, "I guess."


    "Well, a city that doesn''t sleep is a thriving city," Ford said. "Now, since we have food production sorted out, I will the military side to report their progress."


    Major Frank nodded and said, "Sir, currently we are preparing for the 3rd batch of Marine recruits to be processed and training will begin soon. But I think this will be thest batch of recruits we can recruit without putting a drain into our manpower resources."


    "As of now, our current manning is at 842bat operation Marines, with another 357 nonbat support staff," Frank read out the numbers, "This uing batch of recruits will be roughly around 450 men, bringing the total military personnel at around 1,650."


    "Our total poption is holding at around 10k with the addition of 117 goblins and 268 ves that joined us," Frank continued, "The Marines take up 1.6k of the total poption and that is not counting, the Police, Air Force and the formation of the Navy."


    "If we add the rest of the armed forces in, at least 40 % of our total poption is allocated to the armed forces," Frank said, "Leaving us what? Less than 6,000 civilians, to support our industry and most of them are females?"


    "We have less than 400 children of ages below 16," Dr. Sharon spoke up, "And our current birth rate is low, bloody low in fact."


    "We need to introduce measures to increase our poption for the next 15 years," Dr. Sharon said, "Or we will be reduced to an aging poption in the future will no young adults to support our growing infrastructure in the future."


    "Even if we mass recruit other races like orcs and goblins into our ranks, we still require people to make babies if we want to sustain the nation in the future," Dr. Sharon warned. "I will advise we implement measures to encourage people to start making babies soon."


    "Got it," ke nodded, "Major Frank, this will be thest batch of recruits, for the time being, only recruitter on to recoverbat loses."


    "And as for the poption growth and babies," ke looked at Sherene and Dr. Sharon, "Can both of you work out with Public Health services and City Hall toe out with incentives to entice people to start having families early?"


    "Offer them government subsidies, housing, grants, education aid, medical, and what others you can think of without impacting our current industrial needs and workforce," ke threw out some ideas to the both of them. "Set up amittee to oversee all these?"


    "Ok," Sherene replied and nodded to Dr. Sharon.


    "Now, baring all that," ke continued on, "I want Chief Matt to led the project on fully restoring the ship tobat ready status."


    "We do not know when the goblins pirates will act nor where will they hit," ke said, "Commander Ford?"


    "Ahem," Ford turned on the disy screen which showed a coastal map of the region with icons of varies colors dotting the surface. "This is roughly the range we calcted a typical goblin raiding ship has." He highlights an orange circle around a skull, which had a text, "Goblin City".


    "Now, these yellow dots are surface contacts, our radar has picked up over the past couple of days," Ford indicated another group of yellow dots scattered all over the area. "We believe that these are merchant convoys or ships. But it might also be pirates or other things that we do not know of."


    "ording to our investigations, the goblin sea has only two seasons that are suitable to sail and that is mid-spring to mid-summer and early autumn to end autumn," Ford exined, "Any other times, the sea is rough and covered with ship-killing storms."


    "Now, the majority of these yellow contacts do not hug along the coast while the nearest ships still keep roughly a 100 kilometers distance fromnd," Ford continued, "Therefore we rarely spot any of them unless our recon flights spot them or the radar reports them."


    "We estimate that our friends will be conveying the trade agreements to us within the next two weeks," Ford traced a line south along the coast to an icon that said "Far Habour".


    "Therefore, to prevent any loss of deliveries, we need to ensure our ship is up and running within two weeks," Ford finished.


    Chief Matt frowned, "Within two weeks to ensure everything is running and alsopleting ship trials? It will take a miracle to do that, Sir!"


    "Chief," Ford nodded, "Yes, provided if you handle it only with your department."


    "Yea, but who else has the expertise to work on ships here?" Chief Matt raised an eyebrow.


    "We have some... people with skills with regards to that," ke spoke up, "Goblins."


    "What? You want to put goblins to work on the ship?" Chief Matt half rose from his chair, "This is obscene!"


    "Chief," Commander Tommy injected, "They do quite well so far in my Air Force!"


    "Still, we don''t know what murderous schemes they might have in their minds!" Chief Matt growled, "We can''t fully trust those things!"


    "Chief, will I agree with your points," Ford stepped up and said, "But we do believe that with their help, they can vastly cut down the time needed to retrofit the ship since most of them have some sort of technical skills and are into machines."


    "And if they proved themselves well," ke added, "We can integrate them into ship construction work, which will help boost the industry."


    "But Sir!" Chief Matt frowned, "I understand that we arecking skilled workbor, but to use them to construct a warship which under the Military Code is ssified as Top Secret and not to mention the same warship will be used against their own kind. Why would they be willing to help?"


    "With the chances of sabotage so high, it will take double the time for us to conduct sea andbat trials as we have to double check and ensure everything that the goblins touched is clean!" Chief Matt continued to argue his points.


    "I see," ke frowned, "How about if we limit them to work in modrponents?"


    "Modrponents?" Chief Matt repeated, "You want to installponents in modrly?"


    "Wouldn''t it be faster to repair damages and losses?" ke asked. "Plus if everything is modr, the ship is easier to upgrade in the future."


    "But most of the ship has being nailed or welded down," Chief Matt replied, "Only parts that can be modr will be the superstructures, engines, and weapon systems."


    "Than we do that for now," ke said, "Let the goblins work on nonbat systems and have a quality control team to inspect their work."


    "Aye," Chief Matt nodded, "I guess we can do that."


    "As for the Chief of Naval Operations," ke grinned, "I am putting Commander Ford in charge."


    "Huh?" Ford looked surprised, "You want me to be Chief of Naval Ops?"


    "Yup," ke continued smiling, "You do just fine, all the naval projects are now under your scrutiny."


    "I..." Ford looked around the room, where everyone smiled and pped. "Thank you, Sir! I will not fail you!"


    "Good, then Project Irond is in your hands, CNO!" ke smiled.


    -----


    Northern Forest


    Blue Thunder''s tummy rumbled as heid with his nose sniffing before the cook wagon. "I''m hungry," He whined at the cook.


    "Please wait!" The poor cook was terrified by the sword sized teeth filled mouth whining next to him. "It will be done soon!"


    Blue Thunder sighed and settled down for a long wait, smelling the aroma of roasting potatoes waffling out from the huge specialized tumbler oven that looked like a twentieth century cement mixer.


    "What- doing- you?" Rastraz spoke in poor English as shended next to Blue Thunder who shot up in surprise.


    "Ah?" Blue Thunder blinded his eyes rapidly in panic while keeping a safe distance from her, "I... am hungry..."


    "Hun-gee?" Rastraz looked at Blue Thunder who shyly rubbed his tummy to mimic hunger. "Oh..."


    She turned her head to look at the strange rotating drum where the even more terrified cook sweated under the waved of heat emitting off from her body. "What''s that?" She pointed.


    "Erm... nothing!" Blue Thunder turned his head away, "Nothing!"


    Rastraz frowned and leaned closer to Blue Thunder who tried to edge away from her, "Noth-ing?" She noticed his teeth looked pretty clean and he doesn''t have the overwhelming stench of roting from his mouth. "Hmmmm..."


    "Erm... the potatoes are done!" The cook cried out and stopped the magic heat runes and used a long pryer and unscrewed out the bottom hatch, where arge wide barrel was ced.


    Steaming potatoes rolled out from the tumbler and into the barrel, filling it up. Blue Thunder eyes went gooey as he stared at those creamy looking potatoes, a strand of saliva starting to dip from his opened jaws.


    The cook and his assistant soon divided the hot potatoes into another barrel and started to mix in sour cream, yellow butter, and bits of friedrd. "Alright, it''s done!"


    "YAY!" Blue Thunder carefully picked up the hot barrel of potatoes and blew at it, cool it down before he started to feast on the baked potatoes, "Ooooo... will be nicer if it was fried and with cheese sauce!"


    Rastraz blinked her golden eyes at Blue Thunder who happily chomped down the strange offerings the meat bags gave him, wondering what is it that made him so happy about. She gracefully stretched her neck over to the barrel offered by the meat bags who quickly made way for her and gave it a sniff.


    It doesn''t smell too bad. She looked at the presentation of the food which she assumed is something to eat and frowned, finding itcking in colors and looks. Lumpy bits of cream colored things and bits of fats and oil are mixed in together.


    She looked at Blue Thunder who was clutching the barrel with his arms and licking the insides happily and wondered if it really tastes that good. Blue Thunder noticed her hesitating and asked, "You don''t want to eat it?" His eyes glowed with expectations.


    Rastraz frowned again and carefully picked up the barrel, and closed her eyes before taking a bite of the unappealing food.


    "OOO!"

 Chapter 193: Project Ironclad

    Chapter 193: Project Irond


    Goblin Coast, Far Harbor, Dry Dock 1


    "One two, one two~" A couple of goblins bearing a piece of steel armor ting asrge as them over their heads, marched off down the workshop to hand it off to the next station. Their short stubby feet matching in time with their chanting, "One two, one two~"


    The shriek of a power tool screamed out amidst sounds of high pitched giggles andughter made Commander Ford and Chief Matt d they wore protective ear mufflers when they came into the assembly workshop for inspection.


    "Looks like everything is going ording to schedule," Commander Ford yelled over the sounds of heavy machinery,ughter and what suspiciously sounded like heavy metal music in the background. "All is well with Project Irond?"


    "Yes," Chief Matt replied as he led Ford into a side office, the door shutting off the majority of the workshop noise. "In just three short days, since we allowed the goblins to work in the assembly yard, they actually proved to be much adept with working in the workshop."


    "Seems like they are a natural in this field?" Ford asked as he watched the ongoings at the dry dock assembly floor from the 2nd-floor window of the office. "Any incidents?"


    "A few minor injuries and lost fingers at the start with the goblins, but we knocked some sense into them and so far they are doing well," Chief Matt replied, joining Ford at the window. Teams of elves, humans, and goblins were welding and bolting tes of steel armor onto the decks and outer hull of the converted ship.


    "We sealed the lowermost decks, turning them into watertightpartments," Chief Matt pointed out, "The belt armor starts from just above the waterline, at 5" thick and covers to the gunwale. The top deck armor is covered with 2" steel tes. Not to mention the existing wooden hulls and decks that were already in ce."


    "The interior ribs and structure of the ship will be braced and strengthened to allow the ship to withstand the recoils of the new 3" guns we will be putting in," Chief Matt gestured to a wireframe drawing on the table. "The original n was to put two 3" guns only, but we decided to add in an additional in the mid structure, giving us a three gun broadside."


    "Will the guns be in an armored turret or open air?" Ford asked as he leaned over the ns. "Can we have more .50 caliber guns too?"


    "The 3" guns will just have a simple 2" thick gunshield," Chief Matt replied, "We only have so much time to work on the ship. As for the additional .50 caliber guns, sure, we can bolt in more mounts for them if you need more."


    Ford nodded, "Okay, I guess we can only upgrade the guns when winteres."


    "So who''s gonna be the captain of the Floatin'' Wreck?" Chief Matt grinned.


    "Floatin'' Wreck?" Fordughed, "Me."


    "You?" Chief Matt raised an eyebrow, "You are the Chief of Naval Ops..."


    "Well, well, I am the Chief of Naval Ops of a single ship," Ford grinned, "Besides, who else other than the Captain has any experiencemanding a ship?"


    "True," Chief Matt nodded, "Well if she''s yours, you better look through all the specs and memorize everything bolt and nut onboard her then!" Chief Matt started to rummage through some documents on the table and handed over a thick stack of notes and papers.


    "Start reading up on the new power nts and the magic heat exchange system that is installed, also I think you better start picking your crew soon," Chief Matt advised, "And check with Petty Officer Letts on where is your new office gonna be, I think you gonna need it pretty soon!"


    "Damn, this is a lot of studies!" Ford frowned as he leafed through the stacks of manuals. "And most of these are just handwritten notes!"


    "Well, everything is just jury-rigged and held together by grit, spit and a whole lot of duct tape," Chief Mattughed, "Seriously, I won''t rmend firing a full broadside till we have fully tested and trialed the system."


    "That bad?" Ford winced, "I thought you braced the whole structure?"


    "Yeah," Chief Matt nodded, "We did, but these ships are not like built like our 18th century ck powder ships on Earth. The strain by the ballistas firing onboard the Floatin'' Wreck is the most 1 is to 10 of what the 3" guns will be on the ship''s structure."


    "The steel bracing will help of course, but just try not to fire all three guns at the same time," Chief Matt cautioned again, "It might shake loose the structure and you might end up breaking the ship into two."


    "Damn, that is quite a scary thought," Ford sighed, "How are the engines?"


    "Here," Chief Matt flipped through the stack of manuals and pointed out one of them. "Double acting triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine. It makes use of the magic heat exchange system to boil water and is linked to the series of double-acting cylinders of progressively increasing diameter. These cylinders are designed to divide the work into three or four equal portions, one for each expansion stage."


    "We decided against using the aero engines to power the ship as the triple expansion engines can have a smaller temperature range and reduced cylinder condensation. Also, the pressure difference is less in each cylinder so there is less steam leakage at the piston and valves. The turning moment is more uniform, so bncing is easier and a smaller flywheel may be used. Only the small high pressure cylinder needs to be built to withstand the highest pressure, which reduces the overall weight. Simrly,ponents are subject to less strain, so they can be lighter. The reciprocating parts of the engine are lighter, reducing the engine vibrations. The steam engine could be started at any point in the cycle, and in the event of mechanical failure the engine could be reset to act very simply, and thus keep running."


    "All these advantages outweigh the use of the current aero engines we have," Chief Matt exined. "And the magic exchange system will draw the heat produced by the boilers and engine to generate steam. And it is all fueled by mana stones, which we can easily farm from the Dungeon and we do not need massive fuel bunkers to store the mana stones."


    "Nice," Ford nodded as he flipped through the freshly printed manual with handwritten notes scribbled in here and there. "Single screw propulsion?"


    "Yes, for now," Chief Matt nodded, "It''s still new tech for us, so far the Experimental Group down the harbor had run some tests on it and it more or less work."


    "More or less?" Ford ced the stack of papers down, "What if it breaks during high stress maneuvers?


    "That''s what the sea trials will be all about!" Chief Matt frowned, "Look, we have only so much time, manpower and expertise to research, build and implement without some goblins or Empire forces breathing down our necks."


    "Chill Chief," Ford raised both his hands up, "I am not criticizing you, I am worried that if shit breaks down duringbat, people die."


    "Damn," Chief Matt rubbed his face, "Sorry, you are right, there are just so many projects toplete and everyone is expecting them to work 100% without any issues."


    "Look, me and my team, we are not miracle workers," Chief Matt frankly spoke out, "Most of us are burn out from the stress and workload but none of the boys areining."


    "I''m proud of them," He continued, "I know every one of them misses home and some loved ones on Earth, but they know they are stuck here forever and everything in this is trying to kill and eat them."


    "But we can only do so much," Matt nodded towards the assembly floor and said, "Even working with former enemies that want to eat them is breaking their nerves. I don''t know how long anyone can hold on to their sanity for much longer."


    "Chief, I know the stress everyone has here," Ford sighed and watched the ongoing work over the ship. "Look, try your best to keep you boys happy?"


    "I do," Matt replied, "I keep them busy as much as possible so that they won''t have any idle time to think about other things. But this just can''t go on much longer."


    "I see what I can do," Ford promised. "Once Project Irond ispleted, why not have the men off? We do have that R and R resort down by the coast."


    "Yea, I get them to go for a break," Matt nodded, "Damn, I need one too."


    "Yea, I will put you guys down for a week''s vacation once we finish this," Ford grinned, "I know where the Captain keeps his liquor stash."


    "Ha! I don''t mind getting drunk for a week!"


    ----


    Somewhere in Goblin Sea


    Burning globes of fire hissed and sttered when they impacted the churning sea, throwing up clouds of steam and smoke. The lead merchant ship bobbed up and down in the waves as the ship''s mage force more wind against the sails, desperately trying to increase the ship''s speed.


    Therge merchant ship''s sole escort nimbly dodged a heavy broadside of ballista bolts and ming catapult loads from the small fleet of goblin raiders and swung in against the wind,ing alongside one of the goblin raiders and the ship shook as the four heavy ballista onboard fired.


    The 12 kilograms wood and steel ballista bolts were flung out at a velocity of over 45 meters per second and traveled the short distance of 200 meters over the waves before depositing all their load onboard the unlucky goblin raiding gallery.


    Screams and shriek echoed across the waves as the bolts dealt their deadly damage to the upants onboard and the goblin ship suddenly tilted away from the chase and the other goblin raiders rapidly swerved to avoid ramming into the dead ship.


    "Again!" The Captain of the Sea Stinger roared, "A gold royal to each man who hits their target!"


    "YAAAAAAAAH!" The crew of Sea Stinger cheered as they put their backs into reloading the ballistas, readying them to fire another bolt at the persisting goblin pirates.


    "Captain!" One of the lookouts on the crow nest yelled, "The Wave Dancer is making a run for it! Three raiders on her tail!"


    "Curses!" The Captain roared, "Bring her about, we need to keep those pirates off the Wave Dancer!"


    "Ayee~!" The crew quickly started putting on sails while the helmsman spinning the steering wheel, turning the ship back to the wind. The agile ship leaped as itpleted its turn and leaped forward when the wind filled its sails.


    "Send a bolt to those cursed creatures!" The Captain roared again, "Give them something to remember we are still here!"


    The ship suddenly lurched and a bright semi transparent light ball covering the ship red, and sparks of energy exploded over the sky. "Lucky spell!" The ship''s mage cried out, "The shield still holds strong! No worries!"


    "Damn," Captain Nemu of the Sea Stinger cursed, "Fire your ballistas as they bear! Two gold royals for any gunner who hits the goblin ships!"


    The gunner crew encouraged by the increased promise of rewards worked harder at reloading the weapons and the chief gunners carefully sighted their weapons before releasing the bolt, cursing as they missed.


    Just as the Sea Stinger slowly caught up to the three goblin pirates that were harassing the Wave Dancer, "Destroy those pirates! If our employer sinks, so goes our pay!" Captain Nemu yelled.


    A screech screamed over the Sea Stinger, followed by a ripping tear of a canvas. Almost immediately the ship slowly, as a lucky bolt ripped the sails arge gaping hole. "Cut that sail down!" Captain Nemu roared. "Curses! We are losing the chase!"


    The remaining two goblins raiders chasing after the Sea Stinger eagerly pounced forward as the Sea Stinger''s speed dropped, their top decks filling up with giggling goblins hungry for blood.


    "Prepare for repeal boarders!"

 Chapter 194: A Good Place to Live and Die

    Chapter 194: A Good ce to Live and Die


    The Colony, Academy of Science and Magic


    Elizabeth Regnar, known as Liz to her friends, stepped carefully down the tiled hallway of the school which she was told to serve at. More like ordered, she thought as she adjusted her pace to match the female hooman who was bringing her to her new amodations and start her servitude to them.


    Her left leg felt itchy from the strange contraption they had bound to her ankle, the cksmith stating repeatedly to her that it will know where she is at all times and should she attempt any means of hostilities, the anklet will self destruction with enough force to blow her leg away.


    The hooman cksmith further demonstrated its capabilities on a wooden mannequin and the wooden leg with the strange ck anklet exploded spectacrly, much to her dismay.


    She tried sensing it with Detect Magic and even apply her magic senses into the artifact but nothing was found. But she admitted that the hoomans tried her better than expected except for the horrible light cell, where the white lights and voices haunted her.


    After she had agreed to serve the demons, no, hoomans as they called themselves. They put her into a more normal cell, with a cot, and iron bars imprisoning her in. Then the whole week was spent doing strange activities, like questioning questions on parchments which she found, strangely of superb quality.


    She was taken in and out of her cell to another ce where she was told to cast her most powerful spell at some mannequins spread out in an open field with strange markings on the floor. She conjured up her most powerful spell, an enhanced magic missile spell of 300 times, firing off 300 magic missiles at once and devasted the terrain.


    But she noticed the expressions of the hoomans in grey and white clothes were barely impressed as they quietly watched and made notes in those t brown tablets, making her felt like it was barely passable in their eyes. If she cast the same spell back at the Capital, the spectators will be cheering andmenting on her abilities and magic power.


    On other days, a creepy looking soldier in those grey strangely cut uniforms will take her to visit a tired looking hooman who was called Doctor Sharon. The female doctor will start asking strange questions like if she wants something, will she take it using a soft or hard approach. And all the while the strange creepy soldier stood with his arms folded watching her with his sinister eyes.


    She felt very ufortable under the presence of that soldier and was actually relieved to return to her cell. Next, during the evenings, she was taken to a ss with other people to learn ''Basic English''. There she found Evelyn who appeared to be not her usual self, most likely she was depressed with the death of Dante. Evelyn barely spoke a single word and just stared nkly at the board. The teacher called her to pronounce words and she just stood up and repeated what the teacher asked without any emotion.


    Liz tried to speak with Evelyn but Evelyn barely replied back, mostly in single words or with barely a nod or shake of her head. Liz felt frustrated and wondered if the had hoomans did something bad to her.


    Now she followed another female hooman into this school which they named it as the Academy of Science and Magic. She saw several students dressed in long dark green skirts, pants and white shirts with a simr matching coat or jacket, presumably the academy''s uniform.


    The strange and scary soldier had taken her out of her cell and with a simple, "Follow me," and handed her a bag of clothes and other necessities and boarded the magical wagon they called a ''Jeep'' and he drove her here.


    He crudely listed down the terms and conditions for her limited freedom. She can only stay within the campus of the Academy. Leave the boundary of the Academy without prior approval will result in the anklet on her left ankle to explode. Any attempts to tamper with the device will result in the anklet to explode. Any hostile activities will result in the anklet to explode. Basically, he just told her almost every scenario that will result in the anklet to explode.


    The pretty short hair hooman called Kristine brought her to a building wing away from the main campus of the Academy and said, "This is the hostel area for the staff working in this Academy. You will be living here for the time being till other orderse in for you."


    "T-thank you," Liz stammered as she nced up at the red bricked structure with perfect windows and tiny balconies lining the facade, thinking that her new environment wasn''t so bad after all.


    "You will take the role of an Associate Lecturer, which is to help the Lecturers prepare their ss materials," Kristine said as she led Liz up the stairs to her room. "You will be dealing mostly with magical studies and also be helping out the magic R and D department in tests and trials with regards to magical stuff."


    Liz frowned as she barely understood what Kristine was saying like R and D departments. What is that? She wondered but she kept quiet just nodding along. She sort of understood the Associate Lecturer title, which should be sort of an assistant.


    "Once you settled down and is capable of handing a ss by yourself, we will promote you to be a Lecturer, meaning you will teach sses by yourself," Kristine continued before stopping at a door marked ''209''. "This is your room and your keys."


    "Wait, you meant that I will teach a ss by myselfter on?" Liz asked in surprise, "But I thought only magister ranked mages could take students!"


    "We do not have that sort of requirements here," Kristine replied as she leaned against the wall. "As long you pass your Advanced English, Maths and is a 5th level circle mage and also worked as an Assistant Lecturer or have prior experience in teaching, we grant the person a three month probation in teaching."


    "I... see," Liz blinked her eyes in surprise, "But age?"


    "As long you are above 18, you can work," Kristine continued to answer her questions patiently. "From what I read from your file, you will turn 18 before spring in a few months time."


    "File?" Liz looked rmed, "W-wait how did you know my age?"


    "Nevermind," Kristine gave a creepy grinned which sent chills down Liz''s spine. "You will get used to itter. Now put your stuff in the room, we still got a few ces to go. I will show you the shower facilities, the cafeteria, the staffroom, and the sses. Also, I will introduce to you the teachers you will be helping out."


    -----


    Somewhere off Goblin Sea


    "Put more sails!" Omaj yelled at his crew as he held on to the wooden railings on the deck. His ship, the Wave Dancer punched through a wave with a white ssh of salt water. "More speed!"


    He nced to the rear, seeing the escort ship he hired falling behind as its sails got ravaged by an unlucky bolt. "Quick! While the Sea Stinger is distracting the goblins! We must get away!"


    "Master!" The Wave Dancer''s First Mate yelled out, "All sails are up already! We are already at full speed! Unless..."


    "Unless?" Omaj eyes narrowed.


    "If we lose some of the cargo?" The First Mate suggested.


    "Lose some of the cargo?" Omaj cried, "You want to lose your head?"


    "No! Master!" The First Mate looked horrified and ran off away from the helm.


    "Mahel!" Omaj roared, "Make more wind! I didn''t hire you to look pretty!"


    The ship''s mage sighed as he lowered his slim soft hands down. "Master Omaj, I have already done my best, the sails can only take so much wind."


    "Damn!" Omaj cursed, "Wet the sails!"


    The crew started hoisting buckets of seawater up from the sides of the ship, and sshing the sails of the ship, making the canvas wet. Wetting the sails down helps to hold more wind as the canvas fibers swell in thickness with moisture and wetting sails is one way of decreasing porosity and hence increasing effective driving force and making the sails stand tter.


    "It is working, Master!" The First Mate at the deck yelled as the ship picked up a bit more speed. The men were exhausted as they had to hoist buckets of water up constantly to the top of the masts and pour them down the sails which in the wind, evaporated quickly.


    "Master Omaj! Look! The Sea Stinger!" A lookout from the crow nest yelled out as he pointed to the rear.


    ----


    Captain Nemu cursed as the ripped sailed were chopped off by his crew and suddenly aughing cry could be heard.


    "Waaaaaaaakakakakaaa~~~" A goblin smacked against one of the undamaged sails, the fabric cushioning its fall and it slid down the billowing sails like a child''s slide,nding on the deck while giving off a victory pose in the middle of the crew of dumbstruck sailors. "SUCCESSSSSS! SWEEE!"


    "KILL IT!" Nemu roared at the stunted sailors who reacted a second slower than the happy goblin who cut down two of the nearby sailors with its rusty de, turning the decks slick with blood.


    "WEEEEEEEeeeee... Oh Noess!" Another goblin flew by, but it missed the ship andnded into the sea. "OOOPPPSSS!"


    "Repel boarders!" Nemu cried again as more and more doped up happy goblins started appearing in the skies,unched by the goblin catapults from the raiders closing in fast like sharks. "Ballistas! Kill those ships now!"


    "Captain! Beware ahead!" The lookout roared from above, gesturingly wildly to the bow of the Sea Stinger.


    Nemu turned and saw one of the goblin ship chasing the Wave Dancer and turned about and was heading in a ramming course.


    "Helmsman! Hard to starboard!" Nemu yelled as the distance between the two ships closed.


    The helmsman desperately spun the wheel, turning the ship hard towards the starboard side and the Sea Stinger groaned as it slowly turned. The oing goblin raider under bow ram missed and the two ships passed just meters between their hulls. The gunners on both ships didn''t waste the opportunity and fired their ballistas and catapults in point nk range.


    Both ships shook madly as heavy projectiles impacted the hulls. The goblin ship floundered as two bolts punched hard and deep into the bowels, cracking the hull at the waterline, sending gallons of seawater into the belly of the raider.


    The Sea Stinger did not fare as well as the ship was just a light vessel, its wooden hull barely 16" thick at the sides. The crudely built goblin ballistas had enough energy to smash through the thick hardwood, three bolts fired from the raider as it passed. As the raider sat lower in the water, the goblin gunners fired upwards at a slight angle and the three bolts exploded into the interior of Sea Stinger.


    One of the bolts even upset a ballista off its mount, shattering the arms of the ballista and crashing several gunners under the weapon, while another bolt punched a quarter of its length through the top decks, its metal tip gleaming in blood.


    The lower deck gunners and crews screamed as splinters the size of a man''s arm exploded out from the wooden beams and hull as the bolts punched through the hull. The splinters acted as shrapnel and frayed everyone not protected, ripping skin and tearing body parts into bloody scraps in seconds.


    Almost immediately, a quarter of the crew of the Sea Stinger was down. Nemu cursed as the deck under him quaked and he peered over the railings and saw the devastation wrought by the goblin raider against the side of his ship.


    Suddenly, a three pong hook hammered next to Nemu against the railing. Shocked, he followed the rope that was attached to the hook and saw it came from the disable goblin raider that was slowly drifting away but still within range.


    "Gods of the Sea! Here theye!"

 Chapter 195: UNS Floatin Wreck

    Chapter 195: UNS Floatin'' Wreck


    Goblin Coast, Far Harbour


    The loud wailing of a ship''s horn sted out as the UNS Floatin'' Wreck left the mooring slips under her own power. Workers and staff lined the harbor watching the converted armored cruiser slowly made it way out of its dock with puffs of grey smokeing out of its single smokestack.


    Commander Ford stood inside the newly built wheelhouse and watched the small bridge crew of three, manning their stations as they slowly piloted the ship out to open waters. Ford finally released the breath he was holding in as the ship cleared the pier and was out in deep water. Most of the crew were from the original UNS Singapore crew, taking charge of the rest of the newly recruited elves and even a couple of goblins working in the boiler room.


    Ford picked up an old fashioned handset and dialed to Engineering, "Grayson, how are the engines and boilers holding?"


    "Looking good so far," came back the reply.


    -----


    UNS Floatin'' Wreck, Engineering, Boiler Room


    1st Lieutenant Grayson returned the handset back to the wall bracket. He was formerly in charge of Ship Operations & Maintenance onboard the UNS Singapore was recruited by Ford to be the UNS Floatin'' Wreck''s Executive Officer. He leaped at the chance almost immediately, preferring amand posting rather than working as the Operations Manager for the Colony.


    Grayson watched the two goblins who chittered happily next to the magic heat exchange system inside the boiler room. He kept one eye on the pressure gauges and another eye on the two goblins who wore a cut down work overalls and a leather gloves and toolbelt armed with wrenches, spanners, and screwdrivers.


    One of Chief Matt''s underlings, a ck male, grinned at the side to Grayson, "XO, don''t worry about Bone and Razor, those two are pretty cool."


    Grayson grinned back, "Still, keep an eye on them, Eddie, doesn''t hurt to be extra careful."


    Petty Officer Eddie had been assigned as the Chief Engineer onboard the Floatin'' Wreck by rmendation of Chief Matt and he has been handling his duties seriously. The two goblins, Bone and Razor looked upon Eddie in awe, as Eddie''s skin was dark chocte, making the goblins yapped about him being some reincarnate of some pagan gods they worshipped and not to mention being a techie was more than icing on the cake to them.


    The two goblins oversee several valves and dials while scribbling something down on a clipboard and scrambled over to report to Eddie, almost kneeling and bowing. They instead threw a salute and grinned happily, "Pressure good! Heat good!" Plenty of steam!" Bone grinned, showing off his broken tooth, while his topknot was tied with a piece of animal bone.


    Razor had a missing ear, reported next, "Magic stones looking good! Plenty of magic, air is not too hot too!"


    "Great work!" Eddie double checked their records physically,paring the numbers they checked on the clipboard against the dials and grinned, "Alright! Keep watch, if the steam pressure hits the red bar, remember to release some of that steam! Don''t let the pressure built up too much!"


    "Aye aye Chief!"


    -----


    UNS Floatin'' Wreck


    The dull grey hull of the Floatin'' Wreck gently crested a wave and a siren red on and off. Crewmen rushed to their action stations while division heads yelled at the men to their stations. Ford stood inside the wheelhouse and watched as the crew reacted to the drills.


    Several crew members rushed up to the 3" bow gun and removed the oilskin tarps covering the weapon. A couple of them started to unlock the ready ammunition lockers next to the gun and started removing shells, while the rest started to spin the cranks, turning the gun to the floating targets dropped overboard earlier by the ship.


    The gunners pried open the breech of the gun and a shell was dropped in. The rammer shoved the shell into the breech followed by a thick circr wad of bursting charge and the breech was closed and locked. "Ready!"


    The gun team stepped back, covering their ears, leaving only the gunner sighting the weapon. He raised his left hand up to signal to the Weapon''s Officer that his gun was ready to fire. The Weapon''s Officer stood on top of the wheelhouse, in the flying bridge, giving him a 360 degrees view all around. He turned to the back to look at Gun No. 3 and noted the raised hand.


    The officer picked up the handset and spoke, "Captain! No. 1 and No. 3 ready to fire!"


    Ford looked at his watch, timing the gun crews readiness and speed. He turned to Grayson and said, "Timing could be better, they took 6 minutes and 39 seconds to ready andy the guns."


    "Yes, sir!" Grayson nodded back, "Its the crew first time working onboard the ship out in the sea. They normally just drilled on a simted popup of the ship and the guns onnd. A few more drills like this, I am sure we can cut their response time by at least 50%!"


    Ford nodded, "I understand, actually it''s not bad for a start."


    Grayson grinned, "Don''t worry, Sir. I am sure we got a pretty solid crew here despite most of us arend lubbers."


    Ford gave augh before he said, "Tell Weapons to give me a three round rapid fire for each gun."


    "Aye! Rapid Fire, three rounds!" Grayson repeated the order and spoke into the handset. "Guns, three rounds rapid fire!"


    The Weapons Officer, receiving the information, picked up another handset and passed on the order to the guns. "Three rounds rapid fire! Fire!"


    The 3" 23 Mark I guns roared. The ship shuddered slightly from the recoil and the gun crews started to service the weapons, extracting the spent shells casing, cing a new shell and bursting charge before mming both into the breech and locking it. The gunnerid the sights over the target and fired.


    The targets were roughly 400 meters away, drifting along with the tide and waves. The shriek of the shells from No. 1 and No. 3 gunsnded somewhat nearby the target, throwing meter tall water sshes.


    The 2nd volley,nded closer to the floating target, made out of a few barrels and a big red painted rectangr board. The 3rd volley also missed the target, one of the shellsnded close enough to sent sprays of seawater over the target.


    Ford frowned as he watched the water sshes using binocrs. "Local fire control isn''t very urate." Hemented.


    "Yes, Sir," Grayson agreed as he watched the artillery practice. "Allow Weapons to control the firing?"


    "Yea, let''s just keep drilling them," Ford nodded, "Tell Weapons to switch to central control of the guns. Same as before three rounds of rapid fire."


    "Aye!" Grayson replied. "Central control and three rounds rapid fire!"


    The Weapons Officer received the order to switch to central control and he checked theser range finder mounted on the pair of powerful binos. He keyed in the numbers onto his tablet, where a firing table and chart calcted the elevations and angles of each individual guns.


    He spoke into the handset, directing each gun, giving the elevations and angles to set. The gunners quickly crank the wheels to turn the guns to the correct elevation and angle. Raised hands were soon seen by the Weapon''s Officer indicating the guns areid and loaded. He then yelled into the handset. "Three rounds, rapid! FIRE!"


    -----


    Goblin Coast, Far Harbor


    The UNS Floatin'' Wreck gently docked against the pier and the worker threw ropes over to the crew to tie the ship down. Ford stood at the gunwale watching the securing of the ship before the gangnk wasid down. He gestured to Chief Matt who was watching impatiently by the harbor and almost ran up the gangnk once it was set down, followed by his staff.


    "How was it?" Chief Matt asked eagerly. "Everything working as it should?"


    "Well, one of the two magic heat exchange systems broke down," Ford reported as they entered the wheelhouse. "I think we need a mage onboard to handle arcane stuff."


    "I see," Matt nodded, "What other issues are there?"


    "We barely topped 14 knots running at full speed, that''s 2 knots lesser than what you promised," Ford read out from a note. "And we could only sustain that speed for 36 minutes before one of the magic heat exchangers blew. Lucky there wasn''t any injuries."


    Matt turned to his staff who nodded, "Got it, we will look at it."


    "Next, No. 1 and No. 3 guns are working fine, but I think we need to reinforce the deck more," Ford continued, "The gun crews reported that the deck moved each time they fired."


    "Got it, next?" Matt nodded.


    "Steer controls feel sluggish like there is too much drag," Ford said. "Also I think No. 2 gun can be installed."


    "Sluggish controls and instation of No. 2 gun..." Matt frowned, "OK, We will do a once over. The guns performance?"


    Ford grinned. "Not bad, we manage to hit the targets we dropped over. I say with an uracy of 40%."


    "40%?" Matt frowned, "The 3" guns are pretty urate."


    "I know, but we are firing on moving targets on an unstable tform." Ford exined, "4 out of 10 shells hitting a target the size of a car is pretty good for a rookie crew, don''t you think?"


    "True," Matt conceded. "I guess more drills and training will be required yes?"


    "Of course!" Ford looked at his crew being drilled by Grayson as they docked. "Training and drills keep the crew sharp and deadly."


    -----


    Southern Sea of the Isles


    Fleet Master Dijon frowned as he watched pieces of wreckage and flotsam drifting up against the hull of his ship. Several of his crew were dredging the flotsam, trying to see if they could hook some up to identify which ship had been wrecked or destroyed.


    "Anything?" Dijon asked as he walked back to the helm.


    "Master Dijon," The First Mate of the Fury replied, "We don''t know what ships were lost here, or who is fighting who."


    "There is plenty of wreckages floating around and these might have being carried over by sea currents and waves," He said as he held a piece of broken wood, carefully giving it a once over before he tossed it over the side. "But it looks like maybe two to three ships worth of wreckages?"


    "Order the rest of the fleet to close up and be ready forbat. And bring the cargo transports to the middle of the formation," Dijon ordered, "I want the fastest ship to scout ahead."


    "Aye, Master!" The First Mate nodded and started to bellow at the signal boy who was in charge ofying out the signal gs.


    Soon a flurry of colorful gs arranged in a certain order was flying from the tops of the sails. Dijon raised his telescope and watched the other ships in his fleet reply with a confirmation signal g and the ships started to close up into a circr formation. The group of merchant ships carrying ore and grains for the rebels stayed inside the protective formation. The ships promised by Dijon to the rebels also took shelter inside.


    "Master, at this rate, we will reach Far Harbor in three days," The navigator spoke up as he reviewed the sea charts. "As long as the wind holds and we do not meet any dangers."


    Dijon nodded and kept his hands behind his back as he watched the drifting wreckage and flotsam slowly drift away. There was an asional bump as a barrel or crate hit the hull of his ship and he frowned, wondering what has happened around these seas and the only way to know is to see which ships fail to report back ording to schedule.


    "Calm seas and fair weather..." He whispered softly to himself.


    "What the thirteen hells is happening?"

 Chapter 196: Your Navy

    Chapter 196: Your Navy


    Skies over Goblin Coast, Southern Sector


    The General Atomics MQ-242 "Owleye" reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle hummed happily as its glider wings were deployed, allowing it to maintain a power saving gliding attitude in the skies as it patrolled its designated sector assigned to it by its human masters.


    Currently, UAV UNIT 03, nicknamed "Ozzy" by the crew was running on autonomous control, its electronic brain churning zeros and ones at a speed unmatched by anything this world could rival. It''s highly sensitive multi-spectrum optics suddenly picked up movement under it and its electronic brain started checking its programming, following the correct lines of code and dialed in its optics at the movement spot.


    It saw a cluster of tiny ships like objects moving under wind power and engaging inbat. In 0.2 seconds, its processor started topare references from the installed Identification, Friend or Foe database,paring the hull shapes and sizes with known ships while at the same time, a Priority Alert directive programmed in its core fired an encryptedpressed 18 kbmunication data pulse to its controlling station onboard the UNS Singapore.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, UAV Control


    UAV pilot and Sensor specialist, Seaman Rodney was half dozing off at his station. The bulbous front heavy UAV control headset covered most of his head and weight over 4 kg. He sat on his control chair, resting his head against special neck support that helped take most of the weight off his neck.


    As heid there for hours at a time with both his hands holding on to the flight controls on either side of his ''cockpit'' chair, he had quietly set in a program for the UAV to run autonomously and it will alert him should it detect anything out of the norm.


    It was amon practice done by UAV pilots and their superiors normally ignored it as long the UAV pilots don''t ignore and properly check on the alerts reported by the UAVs. Military Regtions required a human operator to be overseeing autonomous AIs at all times, but it was not really rigorously enforced most of the time.


    The United Nations Security Council has anonymously voted to not have fully self-aware AI constructs due to the French China Colony War in thete 2050s, when a nuclear armed UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) fired a couple of 15 megaton mini nukes on to a French Colony as the AI detected multiple hostiles inside the French Colony and its analysis was to destroy the Colony to prevent the French from expanding it into a forward staging area by adopting a scorched earth doctrine.


    Later somehow Wikileaks managed to get ess and leaked the records of the investigations and supporting data forensics of the AI which fired the thermonuclear missiles, It reported that the AI''s core had calcted that killing an enemy civilian poption of over a 100,000 to prevent the French from gaining a military foothold into friendly territory which has an 88.426% probability to change the course of the war towards the French''s advantage. The use of nuclear weapons was justified by the Chinese AI''s core analysis, prompting it to make its own decision to destroy all infrastructure in the area to deny the French forces.


    The leak and general disclosure of the investigation had a massive bacsh to the Chinese Government which prompted the end of hostilities between the two countries and also the 2061 Peace ords banning the use of nuclear weapons on greens and civilians. It also started a wave of anti AI sentiments and distrust among the poptions in the outer colonies and also on Earth.


    -----


    Rodney jolted awake when UAV UNIT 03 pinged him. The loud ringing designed to wake the human mind continued to echo in his head even after he shut the rm down. He quickly essed the data streaming in from UAV UNIT 03, checking the live imagery being broadcasted directly. "Shit."


    Rodney hit the alert button, which alerted the Duty Officer who came over and Rodney took over controls of UAV UNIT 03. Instantly his goggle''s Head Up Disy interface turned blue and a [CONNECTING...] message text popped up.


    Once the link was established with the UAV, the blue interface faded away to be reced with the view of UNIT 03''s cameras giving Rodney a sense of vertigo as he felt like he was a bird flying in the air and looking down to the earth and sea.


    He turned his helmeted head left and right and UNIT 03''s cameras mimicked his actions, following his view, allowing him to see what is around. Rodney narrowed and focused his eyes on a spot under him, and the view zoomed in allowing him to see the area he focused on.


    Micro sensors and monitors lined the interior of the UAV Control Helmet, which scans and monitors Rodney''s irises for changes. These minute changes allow UAV pilots to control the UAV cameras like focus, change of spectrums and even target lock on using just their eyes.


    UAV pilots had to train specificity and learn how to control their eyes and facial muscles to be able to pass the UAV piloting courses. One of the reasons why most people does not want to y poker with UAV pilots as they are very good at controlling their facial expressions.


    "What is it?" The Duty Officer of the day arrived next to Rodney''s station and nced at the screens disying the views of UNIT 03. "Wait, are those ships?"


    "Yes, Sir!" Rodney replied as he deftly controlled the UAV to drop its attitude and trail the ships. "Looks like they are fighting."


    "Damn, those darker ships look like goblins raiders!" The Duty Officer started to contact the Command Bridge. "Bridge? We got some situation here."


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    ke frowned as he looked at the list of reportsing in of pirate attacks. "How''s work on the... Floatin'' Wreck?"


    Commander Ford and Chief Engineer Matt looked at each other and Matt spoke first, "Well, we are still working on some teething issues."


    "And the crew is being trained and drilled on the job," Ford added next.


    "When can the Floatin'' Wreck enter service?" ke asked as he looked up from the reports.


    "Realistically?" Matt frowned, "I say at least two more weeks."


    "Two more weeks?" ke shooked his head and ced the tablet he was reading from in front of Matt. "Have you seen this?"


    "6 reports of sightings of pirates over the past two days within 200 km of the Far Harbor," ke growled, "Another 2 reports of pirates engagement with other ships spotted by UAV recon flights."


    "That''s a 400% increase in goblin naval activity in the week and at 200 km off Far Harbour, that''s like within a couple of days of sailing," ke continued, "If the Isles know that we cannot control the seas around our harbor, what do you think they will do?"


    Chief Matt shrugged, while Ford gave a sigh, and said, "They will cease all future forms of trade with us."


    "Yes, that is one of the scenarios that will happen," ke nodded. "Not to mention we do not have a thousand UAVs to keep watch along the entire stretch of coast!"


    "That''s thousands and thousands of kilometers of probablending zones for goblins raiders to drop off and attack our outposts and farms," ke rapped his table while making his point. "Even the Airforce could not be everywhere to cover us."


    "Well, Cap," Matt frowned, "The thing now is if the Floatin'' Wreck breaks down, we got no means to tow it home. That''s why we are running extensive trials to ensure that the ship will be able to operate in abat environment, survive it and limp home on its own power."


    "We don''t need an indestructible ship here," ke replied, "Ford, I know this is under your jurisdiction, but we need to have some form of presence out at sea."


    "The number of pirates running about, frankly is quite rming," ke rubbed his chin. "If we are unable to stop the pirates, I am sure it wille to bite us in the ass in the future."


    "Couldn''t we send in the Airforce to bomb Goblin City?" Matt asked.


    "We could, but the nes have not enough fuel to make it back home," Ford answered. "We could use the Valkyries but they are getting overworked now."


    "Yes, Commander Tommy reported that for each hour of flight on the Valkyries they have to ground it for maintenance for four hours at least," ke said, "And the Valkyries are being tasked as transports for the time being."


    "Therefore, the fight with the pirates will fall on your shoulders," ke looked at the two officers who grimaced. "It''s a tough war, but I got confidence in you two."


    "Sir, we technically couldunch the Floatin'' Wreck for pirate suppression duties, but I will advise limiting its range to with 50 kilometers of Far Harbour only," Matt replied. "While we do that, we could make some sort of a barge or tug using the ns from Project Fast Attack."


    "So at least we have some way to at least tow the ship back or even conduct rescue work should the Floatin'' Wreck breaks down within our waters," Matt suggested.


    ke turned to Ford and raised an eyebrow, "Your navy, your decisions."


    Ford rolled his eyes before he nodded, "Do it."


    "For the time being, I have the Airforce engaging any pirates within range," ke said, "Far Harbor also needs an airfield so that they can support the Navy in the future."


    "Got it," Ford nodded grimly. "I talk to Letts."


    "Alright, you two," ke grinned, "Enough with the glumpy faces, once all these shit is over, I got a nice bottle stored up for you guys. What say you?"


    "Aye..."


    -----


    Somewhere in the Goblin Sea


    Madughter woke Captain Nemu up and he found himself tied upside down and dangling over the rafters of a dark hold. From the creak and swaying of his surroundings, he knew he was in a ship and when the splitting headache passed, he slowly noticed that he wasn''t alone.


    Several other figures were tied and hang up in the same manner as him. He wasn''t sure if they were alive or not, but he was pretty sure he got caught by the goblins as theughter and screeching cries were made by them.


    The hold smelt bad of rot and decay. Light prated from cracks between the hulls and from a tiny mage light glowing on the other end. Crates, barrels and other objectsid haphazardly all over the area and from the sounds ofughter, the goblins must be celebrating.


    Suddenly shrieking voices were heard and a flood of light appeared that reignited the throbbing headache of Nemu. and a hatch leading above decks opened. Several child sized goblins appeared and they excitedly grabbed the nearest tied up body and started to drag it up steps, which woke the man who started to groan at the rough treatment.


    "They are gonna eat him!" A voice suddenly spoke to Nemu from the side, surprising him.


    The hatch mmed shut and the bright light andughter got cut off. Nemu wriggled himself, making his body rotate to face the direction of the voice.


    "So we are just rations for those cursed creatures?" Nemu asked as his body dangling by the ropes turning him around slowly and the person who spoke earlier came into his view.


    "Yes..." A roughed up sailor, with a puffy face, came into view of Nemu. He was also tied upside down and swaying with the rise and fall of the goblin ship. His eyes were void of any life as he said, "I saw what they did to the rest..."


    "First... they cut your limbs one by one while you are still alive." He whispered. "They drain your blood to make blood sausages with your guts that they remove from your slit bellies..."


    "Than they roast your limbs in front of you and chop the top of your skull off and eat your brains raw..." The man shrugged as he recalled the grotesque scenes he witnessed.


    Above deck, a scream rang out long and hard, followed by giggles and sounds of children likeughter.

 Chapter 197: Good Intentions

    Chapter 197: Good Intentions


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    Lieutenant Tavor knocked on the hatch and entered, "Sir."


    "Close the hatch," ke replied as he saved his documents in hisputer. "Sit down."


    "Now, Tavor, let''s start," ke finished up his work and turned his attention to the Intelligence Officer.


    "Sir, as of the past week, the Mage girl and the Hunter girl has not disyed any signs of rebellion," Tavor started his report. "We will continue monitoring their activities but I suspect that the Hunter girl might have some kind of mental block or issues."


    ke nodded, "Keep them under your eye."


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor replied. "Here is the list for the executed prisoners."


    ke took a deep breath before he picked up the soft copy document. "Is this the only copy?"


    "No Sir," Tavor replied, "I have the other only copy under lock and key in the secured vaults."


    ke nodded and leafed through the lines of text. "268 goblins prisoners executed under the context of being unfit for civilized duties. They have gone too far feral to be able to integrate into any civilized society."


    "4 forest trolls and 2 rock trolls also terminated as they were also deemed too feral and dangerous to release," ke continued reading. "The bodies were given to the Hospital for autopsy and harvesting of their adrenal nds."


    "68 Empire prisoners of war executed for war crimes or deemed too dangerous for release," Tavor said coldly. "Also another 13 citizens imprisoned under the Sedition Act, all of them pro-Empire supporters."


    "13?" ke raised his eyebrows, "That''s all? I thought we might have more."


    "There are some, but most are just normal people withints and minor grievances." Tavor replied, "We interviewed them under the pretext of doing a simple survey and they were released."


    "What do you n to do with 13 hardcore empire supporters?" ke asked mildly.


    "Under the Sedition Act, sedition acts and speech, and the printing, publication, sale, distribution, reproduction, and importation of seditious publications that undermine the administration of government are deemed as traitors and criminals," Tavor cited thew by heart. "Such being found guilty will be punishable by death of a firing squad or life imprisonment."


    "Than you better make sure you investigate thoroughly," ke leaned back on his chair.


    "Yes Sir," Tavor nodded, "As for HUMINT, I have recruited and trained several native operatives and had dispatched them to the town of Falledge."


    "If all goes went, we can start seeing results in a couple of months," Tavor said. "The agents will be using a covert signal radio set forms."


    "HUMINT(Human Intelligence)?" ke sighed, "Damn, sometimes I really wish for advanced technology with all our spy nes, satellites, and drones."


    "I did take the liberty to see if we can ess the two satellite survey probes that wereunched before wended here," Tavor said, "No luck. We would need a very powerful signal booster or directser the probes as they orbit over head."


    "Then we will need to hack into their systems as we lost all the codes and ess when we crashed the ship," Tavor added.


    "The IT guys are still trying to retrieve and hopefully restore the damaged ship data core," ke sighed, "But good work."


    "It is my duty, Sir," Tavor replied without any expression. "Sir, I also like to inform you that ymore One under the orders and initiative of Lieutenant Joesph has taken out a number of ves that were sowing dissent."


    "Oh, really?" ke was surprised, "How did you find out?"


    "Lt Joesph reported the incident to me and I covered up their disappearance to prevent anyone from finding out," Tavor replied.


    "I see," ke nodded, "Is that all?"


    "Yes Sir," Tavor replied again.


    "This meeting is adjourned," ke stood up, "You know what to do."


    "Aye Captain!" Tavor stood up and saluted before exiting the cabin.


    ke watched Tavor close the door before he picked up the stack of documents and reread everything. By the time he finished the whole report, it waste, with the ship''s clock showing 2347 hours.


    ke dropped the whole report into theser shredder, watching the paper report turn yellowish than ck before turning into shredded ashes when the shredding jaws spun up.


    He sighed heavily and poured a finger of scotch from his dwindling liquor store before downing it down in a single gulp, feeling his insides burning. He ced his ss down and picked up hismunicator and sent a text message to Sherene.


    [I miss you...]


    -----


    Northern Forest, Hydro Dam Power Station


    Corporal Bartley frowned as he walked towards the makeshift pen for the wind wolf family. He saw two uninvited ''guests'' looming tall and imposing over the fence and one of them seemed to be licking her chops at the wolves.


    "What are you two doing here again?" Bartley asked as he stood before the two dragons, Blue Thunder and the female red dragon, Rastraz.


    "Erm, just showing her the sights!" Blue Thunder rumbled good naturedly. "I heard that the Marines had adopted some Wind Wolves! So we came to see!"


    "Didn''t you guys saw enough in the past two days?" Bartley gestured around him. "You are scaring the pups!"


    "Really?" Blue Thunder gave a surprised wide eye look at Bartley as he tossed one of the wolf pups into the air with his front limbs, making the wolf pup bark in happiness. "They seemed to like it?"


    "Kids..." Bartley shook his head, "But the mothers don''t like it. Especially with yourdy friend drooling there."


    "I not drooling!" Rastraz straightened her body, posing as majestically as possible with her massive serpentine body. "I- I''m just... hot, its sweat! No! I mean... Urghh! Why do I need to exin to a meat bag!?" Rolling her eyes she pouted herrge lips and turned away in a huff.


    Bartley shook his head and went to check on the mother wolves who wee him by licking his hands. He pushed away the thick fur of the wolves to check their wounds and gave a nod, patting the sides of the wolf and said, "Good, looks like you two are healing well."


    "Weeeeee ~" Blue Thunder tossed another pup up, while another wolf pup gnawed at his wings.


    "You don''t have to worry about them," Bartley assured the two mother wolves, "Blue is a good guy."


    "Hehe," Blue Thunder looked slightly abashed, "You sure know how to make a dragon happy!"


    "I think you are here for the food," Bartley retorted, "Aren''t you on active duty now?"


    "I am to escort and keep her highnesspany," Blue Thunder puffed up his chest proudly, "Besides, Marine chow is better than Airforce!"


    "Please don''t let yourmanding officer hear that," Bartley whispered. "Anyway whye here? You can bring her to the Airbase or even Camp Alpha."


    "I think it is something to do with negotiations?" Blue Thunder scratched his head while using his wing to fan the puppies ying at his feet.


    "They want to recruit me or something," Rastraz gave a snort, hermand of English was almost magical, most likely due to her racial traits or something. "As if I am some sort of object that can be easily bought!"


    Blue Thunder gave a look at Bartley and did a very human shrug. "Oh well, she wanted to stay around the country side, and agreed to keep her powers down and not burn down the forest as long as we can keep her fed..."


    "So... here we are!" Blue Thunder gave a big grinned and started to y with the wolf pups.


    "I think... you wanted to y and eat more than anything..." Bartley frowned at Blue Thunder who acted like he didn''t hear Barley''s words.


    "When''s lunch?" Rastraz suddenly asked as she pushed away one of the pups that tried to lick her. "I''m hungry..."


    -----


    Goblin Coast, Far Harbour


    A crane rumbled and the operator expertly lowered the 3" gun down over the superstructure of the Floatin'' Wreck. A cluster of workers and techs reached out to grab the ropes and gently steered the gun into the No. 2 mount.


    Once the gun was in ce, the ropes were untied and a team of welders started to weld the gun into the deck while others bolted the mountings into ce.


    Commander Ford stood inside the cramped wheelhouse and watched the ongoing onboard his ship. "How long more before we can take her other for another sea trial?"


    Lieutenant Grayson looked at his tablet and said, "Work is still ongoing to retune the engines, while the No. 2 gun should be installed within the hour, I say, before noon today, we should be able to depart for another round of tests.


    Ford nodded, "Supplies and fuel?"


    "Currently we have two weeks worth of food and water already stored in the new refrigeration holds for the crew of 85 including 11 officers," Grayson reported, "Ammunition for the guns are not loaded till before departure."


    "We are currently carrying 79 kilograms of waste mana stones," Grayson continued, "These will be used for the Magic Heat Exchange System, and the Dragonite fuel bunkers are at 20% capacity."


    The Magic Heat Exchange Systems uses waste mana stones that were either badly chipped or leftover parts after being cut.


    "Due to safety concerns, fuel and ammunition will only be loaded when yard work and before departure only," Grayson said.


    Ford nodded and turned around when a sailor knocked on the bridge door, "Sir, Air Force Commander Tommy is here to see you, Sir!"


    "Where is he now?" Ford seemed surprised by the sudden visit and he gestured the sailor to lead the way. "Grayson, watch the ship."


    As Ford walked down the gangway, he saw the skinny ex pilot looking up with awe at his ship which gave him a proud sense of ownership. "Tommy? What wind blew you here?"


    "Ford!" Tommy turned from his gawking and grinned, shaking Ford''s hand happily. "Nice ship you got there!"


    "Thanks," Ford grinned back and lead Tommy away from the bustle and noise of the dry dock. "This way."


    Ford led Tommy into a side office and they sat down and catch up with each other area of expertise before Tommy grinned and reveal why he came down.


    "Look, I know the pressure is on the Navy now that pirates are piging all over the area," Tommy said, "And the proper air strip on Far Harbour is still months away frompletion."


    "My A/F-1 Cobras couldnd and take off from a t grass field if needed," Tommy said, "So I am dispatching a squadron over to support you. I will put them under the Navymand, but you will need to pave the ground for the nes tond and take off and also provide hangers and bunkers for their ammunition, fuel, and spare parts."


    "Thanks, Tommy," Ford nodded gratefully, "That would help a lot. I will get the construction crew to prioritize the basic airfield for the nes."


    "No worries," Tommy smiled, "There is one more thing, I got a new experimental ne and I like the Navy to take it."


    "A new experimental ne?" Ford frowned, "Why would Air Force give it to the Navy?"


    "Well, it''s just a simple redesign of the existing Cobra," Tommy said and he took out his tablet and transmitted a file over to Ford who opened the file and whistled.


    "A sea ne version of the Cobra?" Ford looked at the ns and the specifications.


    "Yup, The A/F - 1N Sea Cobra," Tommy cheerfully presented his new ne. "The wheels are reced with hollow airtight floats, giving it the ability tond and take off from the water."


    "This is still in an experimental phrase for this aircraft," Tommy warned, "So its max performance and stats are still under review and testing. But I think this will help the Navy in establishing its presence over the ocean."


    "Damn," Ford''s eyes glowed and heughed, "I think the Marines are gonna be pissed, we took all the 3" guns and now we even got a new ne to y with!"


    "Please don''t break it..."

 Chapter 198: 198 - Vacation

    Chapter 198: 198 - Vacation


    South of Goblin Coast, Goblin Sea


    The Fury and her escorts steadily made headway, their sails filled with cold air blowing towards the continent as the season was changing. The ships spotted a massive sea creature out beyond the Goblin Sea, the creature hunting something as a deep wailing cry could be heard from afar.


    The sailors made gestures to their gods and prayed that the sea creature will note closer while Fleet Master Dijon ordered the fleet to bear away from the creature, keeping their distance from it, lest they attract its attention.


    "Could the previous wrecks be caused by that creature?" The Fury''s First Mate asked Dijon while they were inside his cabin.


    Dijon frowned, "Maybe, maybe not."


    "It will be wise to still keep the men at ready," Dijon said.


    "But Master, the crew has been on cold rations since yesterday," The First Mate not daring to look at Dijon. The fire in the galley will be doused during ship actions and the men had to endure leftover cold porridge and hardtacks for meals. "They are nervous and grumbling!"


    "Issue them another ration of mur," Dijon ordered, "The alcohol should keep them happy for a while but only for those on their breaks!"


    "Aye, Master!" The First Mate gave a broken tooth grin and went off to issue the order.


    Dijon sat down on his chair and opened a magically locked box and grinned to himself. Inside the box was a silver ne encrusted with various precious stones and a centerpiece of arge heart-shaped emerald stone.


    He admired the ne under the glowlight and was pretty confident that the Princess would like it. He snapped the box shut and restored the spells on it before keeping it locked in his sea chest.


    "Soon, I will see you again," Dijon smiled as he strolled back out of his cabin. "Very soon."


    -----


    The Colony, City Hall


    Princess Sherene sneezed and rubbed her nose, wondering if she caught the chills. The weather had turned coldtely as autumn slowly seeped its way over thend. She was busy ensuring that the farmers had changed their crops and have the proper tools and equipment. Not only that, she has to add in a new fishing department to the Hunting and Forestry sector which will regte the new fishing industry that is getting set up.


    Sherene sighed at the amount of work she has to do and wondered why the hoomans have to be so detailed, even tho she acknowledges there were good points in being detailed. I think I need to hire more help, thought Sherene as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.


    Suddenly a soft chime sounded from herputer and a message notification popped up. She clicked on it and smiled warmly as she read the message.


    [I miss you...]


    -----


    Goblin Sea, Far Harbour


    Captain ke walked up the gangway of the UNS Floatin'' Wreck with Princess Sherene to much fanfare from the crew and workers. ke stood at attention and saluted the g hung over the radio mast and asked, "Permission toe onboard?"


    Commander Ford with the ship''s officers and the crew turned out in their finest stood at attention and saluted ke. "Permission granted, Sir!" Ford grinned and gestured ke to follow him.


    "Do you need to make it so formal?" ke asked as he nodded and greeted some of the sailors as they headed into the ship.


    "I wish I had a band or had time to train some of the crew to y something," Fordughed at ke''s expression. "Seriously, its good for the crew."


    "Wee aboard," Ford gave a quick tour of the Floatin'' Wreck. "Now, the ship is roughly there, I say another couple more sea trials and a few more fine tuning and debugs, the ship will be fully operational and ready forbat."


    "I don''t think we have that much time," ke replied. "We picked up the convoy inbound to Far Harbour. They are roughly a day''s sail away if the weather holds."


    "Damn," Ford frowned. "I hoped that we have a couple more days to work out more bugs on the ship first."


    "Well, you know what to do," ke said, "Take her out and provide escort for the Isle''s convoy."


    Ford nodded, "Got it, I will get the ship prepped and ready to depart by today."


    "I heard you got a new toy from the Airforce?" ke changed the topic. "How is it?"


    "The float ne?" Ford smiled, "Well its good to have some form of aerial support. The couple of prototypes Tommy dropped on myp so far is doing great."


    "We build a simple floating dock for the float nes using spare wood logs and barrels," Ford said. "Refueling is a bitc-, I mean refueling is still tricky." Ford gave an apology to Sherene who smiled back.


    "We don''t have to proper facilities to store the fuel tanks and refueling equipment out in the sea at this moment, so we are reduced to refueling by hand using canisters one by one," Ford exined. "Once the water hangers for them are built, we can do it more efficiently."


    "But so far they proved to be pretty handly," Ford added. "As long as the seas are calm enough, they can take off fairly well."


    "Good," ke nodded, "Good initiative by Tommy to give you the seanes. Well, I hope to see some form of carriers in the future."


    "Carriers?" Ford frowned, "If we can solve our manpower issues, that wouldn''t be a problem I guess. Once we master proper shipbuilding techniques, I am sure we can build some."


    "Great, I leave you on your work," ke grinned, "And for god''s sake, you are the Chief of Naval Operations, I expect you to lead the Navy, but not at the front lines."


    Fordughed, "Well, where is the fun in a desk job? Besides, if I don''t take the chance to be a Captain now, I probably won''t have the chance in the future!"


    "True, but watch yourself," ke reminded him, "You''re a senior officer, we can''t afford to lose you!"


    "Well, Navy warfare doctrine which I am writing will be to engage the enemy from long range," Ford winked, "We just stay far away and pound the shit out of anyone!"


    -----


    "It''s beautiful," said Sherene as she stood before a stretch of pristine clear water, her bare feet buried in fine white sand.


    ke smiled as he held her hand, watching the wind blow her hair messily. "You are beautiful!"


    Sherene blushed and pouted, "I am talking about the sea!"


    "Haha I know," ke pulled Sherene down on the sand, cuddling her in hisp. The security detail that discretely escorted them melted away somewhere, giving the two of them some privacy. "We need to spend more time together."


    "I know, but it''s so busy at the City Hall," Sherene replied as she leaned into the warm of ke''s chest.


    "We need to go on dates more!" ke dered, "After all this is over, I am thinking of having a vacation with you!"


    "But can we afford to take the time off?" Sherene sighed in ke''s arms. "There are so many people depending on us."


    "A vacation is good," ke replied, "Helps recharge the mind and body, if not we be too stressed out."


    "Stress?" Sherene frowned, unfamiliar with the word.


    "Yes, stress!" ke smiled, "Stress can make you fat! Hair loss! Bad skin!"


    Sherene startled as she clutched her tummy, followed by her hair than her face at each word ke said. Her eyes were big and round as she stared worriedly at ke who burst outughing at her reaction. "Really!?"


    "Hahahahaha, yes, in a way," ke gave Sherene a tight hug till she squeaked. "That''s why we need some time to rx!"


    "YES!" Sherene nodded vigorously, "Let''s go on a vacation!"


    -----


    Goblin Sea, 179 km from Far Harbour


    The heavy twang of the ballista arms sounded loudly next to Fleet Master Dijon as he stood next to one of the deck ballistas. The sweaty bodies of the gun crews toiled worked the cranks, turning the gears to pull the wooden reinforced arms of the ballista back.


    Dijon stood on the side and observed the arc of the heavy ballista bolt flying into the distance and saw a white ssh next to the goblin galley. The gun chief yelled, "Give me three points to the right!"


    The crew quickly lifted the rear of the ballista and reset its position on pre-marked notches on the wooden decks. Finally, the arms were cocked back fully and four men lifted the heavy bolt and slotted it carefully into the firing bracket.


    "Stay clear!" The gun chief roared, "Ready? FIRE!"


    Another heavy twang sounded, and the bolt shot out, flung by the still vibrating arms of the ballista, arcing its way towards the pursuing goblin ship. The boltnded close to its mark, clipping the side of the goblin galley, shaking the whole ship and sending a small spray of lethal wooden splinters around the impact.


    "Give me one more point to the right!" The chief roared and the crewbored to lift the ballista again.


    Dijon grinned at the crew, "Good shot! Extra mur for you men!"


    "YAAAH!" The gun crew roared out happily and with renewed vigor, they worked to reload the ballista again. "KILL!"


    Dijon turned his attention to his fleet, watching his experienced ships forming up into a battle line, and ballistas firing, the dark bolts hitting the goblin raiders as they tried to close in. He frowned as this was the second pirate attack made by the Pirates over the previous day.


    What is happening here? He wondered as he watched another bolt skewered another goblin galley sending tiny figures and wood flying. Why are there so many pirates at this time?


    His fleet had formed up in a flying ''V'' with the merchant ships protected inside the ''V''. A total of five battleships, including his Fury and another two scouting sloops of war which were harassing the wounded and stricken goblin raiders at the nks.


    Fiverge triple masted merchant ships carry each carrying 200 tons of metal ore and livestock followed by two beaten looking single-masted sailing ships with their deck stacked full of fishing boats. Those ships hurdled tightly together between the majestic warships like little chicks as the warships kept the marauding pirates away.


    "Ahoy! Sails ahead!" The lookout at the crow''s nest yelled down and the boy pointed forward. Dijon frowned and turned away from the side and followed the direction the boy was pointing. He pulled out his foldable telescope and adjusted the view until a blurry image jumped to his eyes.


    Dozens of dark grey square masted sails could be seen in the distance. Dijon waved his First Mate and handed him his telescope, "What do you see?"


    "Hmm," The First Mate peered into the scope and frowned, "Square rigs, looks goblin. Looks like they are trying to box us in."


    "Curses," Dijon snatched back his telescope and peered through them again. "Damn green skins!"


    "Order the fleet to tighten the formation," Dijon ordered, "We will break through the enemy blockade at full speed!"


    "Order the sloop Captains to go into independent action," Dijon ordered next, "They are to head to Far Harbour."


    "And any ships left behind is to rally at Far Harbour with all possible haste!" Dijon ordered, "May the Gods of the Sea protect us all!"


    -----


    Skies over Goblin Sea, 175 km away from Far Harbour


    "Sea Wyvern One," The pilot hit the press to talk button on his mic. "To Poseidon, current position at Point Beta Six, I''m seeing a naval battle ongoing here, over."


    "Poseidon, roger that, stay over the AO for observations, over."


    "Roger that!" The pilot gently tilted the float ne over and dropped his altitude to get a close view of the ongoing sea action.


    "Poseidon! This is Sea Wyvern One! It''s the Isles convoy! They are under attack by arge fleet of goblin pirates!"

 Chapter 199: Shock and Awe

    Chapter 199: Shock and Awe


    Fleet Master Dijon cursed again and he spat a mouth of blood across the gunwale and wiped his mouth. Leaning against the gunwale he took into the situation of his surroundings and found most of the goblin pirates were dead or dying.


    Some of the crew were tossing the bodies of the foul smelling goblins overboard while othersid down on the deck weeping in agony as their lifeblood slowly seeped away. The ship''s surgeon and his assistants busied themselves over the wounded and dying, casting healing spells or applying salves.


    "What''s our situation?" Dijon asked his First Mate as the bloodied man panted his way over.


    The First Mate with a torn scalp and his body full of sticky drying blood reported in pants, "Master, we managed to fight off the goblin boarders. We are still tallying the loses but we have many wounded."


    "See to the men," Dijon nodded and dismissed him away. He turned towards the stern and nced out to the sea, seeing his fleet getting tangled up with the goblin pirates. "Where did they learn to be so cunning?"


    His fleet had formed up hours before and were charging forward with full speed directly into the waiting goblin ships. His nks were hounded by more goblin pirates, exchanging ballista fire with his ships on the sides.


    As they could not maneuver out of the encirclement, Dijon decided to use theirrger and heavier hulls to plow past the more fragile and smaller goblin galleys. But he did not expect the goblins to have a trap set up for that.


    As his fleet mmed into the goblin ships, a couple of the goblin galleys were smashed aside, the weaker hulls splintering and tipping dangerously over, spilling goblins and stuff into the dark sea. Suddenly, Dijon''s ship the Fury shuddered wildly and came to a sudden stop. The sudden stop sent the cheering crew flying across the decks or into wood bulkheads and some even went flying off the ship and into the dark waters.


    Dijon found himself sailing through the air as he was flung off the poop deck and over the stairs down to the top deck. Luckily he managed tond on a pile of ropes which barely broke his fall, suffering a dislocated shoulder as hended awkwardly on his shoulder.


    Roaring in pain, he climbed to his feet and stared around in surprise. While his crew recovered, he peered over the edge of the ship and found a glowing magic formation underneath the waters which had trapped his ship.


    He quickly checked his surroundings, seeing every warship in his fleet caught in a simr trap while the merchant ships desperately attempted to maneuver away from crashing into the rear of the trapped ships.


    Shriek screams and drums were heard as the goblin galleys making good use of the disorientated sailors to close the distance to boarding range. "Make ready to repel boarders!" Dijon roared. He grabbed a nearby crewman with his good hand and ordered him to help reset his dislocated shoulder.


    A loud crack and harsh growl, Dijon gingerly rotated his arm and shoulder while he drowned a healing salve, feeling the numbing pain slowly fading away. "At arms! Come on! On your feet sailor!"


    Giggling goblins soon flooded the sides of the Fury as two of the galleys crashed against its hull. Grappling hooks and chainsshed against the side of the ship and the crew desperately hacked and sawed away at the grapples.


    The goblins dug into a small pouch made out of beast leather or elven skin and inhaled the handful of ash grey powder covered with specks of evil green glitters. Some throw the powders into their mouths and they chewed the dry powder while inhaling the power inducing drug.


    The drug once inhaled into the goblins'' system, almost immediately they felt no fear and pain. The colors and sounds of their surroundings became clearer and more vibrant. The pulsing blood veins of the long legs looked oh so delicious and tempting. Even the screams and cries of the long legs sounded so funny and pitiful!


    "WAAAAKAKAKAKAKAKAAKAKAAA!!" The goblins giggled and crackled madly as they stormed up the grapples, so in their mad rush up fell off and despite that, theyughed more and ignoring their injuries, they attempted the climb again up the vertical hull of the long legs ship. "Nyahahhahahahaa~"


    Dijon shed at the dozens and dozens of dirty green fingers crutching on the railings, chopping them off like sausages on a chopping board. "Sunleo!" He roared at his ship mage. "Break the magic formation!"


    "Yes, Master!" The mage cried back and he waved his staff in a series ofplication gestures as he weaved a high level dispel spell.


    "Cover the mage!" Dijon ordered his crew as more and more goblins swarmed up to the decks. "Protect him! He is our only chance of breaking out of the spell!"


    "Aww~" A goblin gave a mocking cry as it cut down one of Dijon''s crew in front of him and Dijon''s saber separated its sword arm away, sending the goblin toppling back in giggles. "tis but a scratch!"


    The goblin leaped forward with its good arm out wanting to w at Dijon who side stepped away and hacked down, chopping the remaining arm off theughing goblin, "Hahahaha, just a flesh wound!" The goblin giggled madly. "me bite your legs off!"


    Dijon backshed the loony goblin''s head off and ending its tirade and moved in to help provide support to the besieged crew protecting the mage.


    "Greater Dispel!" The mage cast the disenchantment magic and the magical shackles holding onto the Fury vanished and the ship slowly picked up speed as while dragging the goblin galleys along.


    "Push the goblins back!" Dijon roared, "Destroy the grapples! Their ships are dragging us down!"


    The crew with renewed vigor mmed with a vengeance into the goblins who thought it was pretty funny. The melee turned the decks slick with blood and gore, the goblins diedughing while the sailors died screaming and crying.


    Thest of the lines tying the Fury to thest goblin galley parted away under repeated assaults by the crew had the Fury gaining more speed as the strong wind filled its undamaged sails. Dijon took a scoop of cool water being handed out in buckets to the crews by the cabin boys and felt refreshed,


    He nced out to his fleet and wrenched in pain as he saw one of his ships catching fire. Thick ck smoke billowed out from the holds and hungry mes licked the sails. Before long the burning mast unable to hold its weight anymore folded inwards and the ship drifting as a burning hulk.


    "Damn the goblins to the thirteen hells!" Dijon roared, "Gods of the seas take them to hell!"


    "Master! Trouble!" Someone yelled from the decks and Dijon turned his attention over, his anger temporarily forgotten. "More sails!"


    "What?" Dijon made his way past the stunned crew and looked with his telescope. "No way!"


    "How many ships do the damn goblins have?" Dijon fumed. "Arm the ballistas! Clear the decks! Signal the rest of the fleet who can still move! I want them to form up on the Fury! Quick!"


    The crew quickly worked to clear the deck of bodies and clutter while the signal gs flew up. The few warships that managed to clear the magical traps turned towards the Fury while the merchant vessels and the two unarmed schooners had managed to dodge ahead of their escorts as they had managed to avoid the magical traps set by the goblins.


    The two sloops of war had heroically charged in to protect the merchant ships, keeping the bulk of the goblins focused on them as they pursued the fleeing merchants.


    "Master!" The First Mate cried out, "Our ships can''t handle another magical trap! The merchants will drag us down, we can still turn back and retreat!"


    "We can''t abandon the merchants still!" Dijon frowned, "Not to mention the capital lost, if the crew gets picked up by the goblins, they will suffer a fate worse than death!"


    "But Master," The First Mate frowned, "we lost a third of our strength just from that ambush! Now there is another fleet in front of us! We must turn back to the Isles!"


    The merchant ships turned desperately away from the new goblin fleet as they spotted them, angling with the wind, hoping to cut away from the blockade. Dijon looked worriedly at the merchants ahead and back to his reforming warships. Only four out of the five of his ships survived and almost all badly affected by the trap.


    "The merchants will not make it!" The First Mate cried as his experienced eye gauged the distance and wind. "The goblins will cut them off easily."


    Dijon cursed and hammered the railing with his fist, angry that he was powerless to stop the goblins. What good is being a Fleet Master if he couldn''t destroy the goblins attacking his ships!


    Suddenly one of the goblin galleys appeared to shatter into mes. Small gout of mes and grey smoke rosed from the affected galley. A rumble and a faint thunder crack followed the explosion of the galley and that was not all as another galley went up in mes in the same way.


    Dijon stood dumbstruck as he tried to understand what was happening. The goblin fleet appeared to be in disarray as they turned left and turn, seeming trying to avoid something and another galley blew up again. "What is happening there?"


    "Master! What is that?" The lookout cried out and pointed. Dijon followed his pointing arm and with his telescope, he saw a strange object with smokeing out from it. Sunshine appeared to glitter off its surface and there were several small pops of smoke appearing on its side.


    "What in the heavens is that?" Dijon frowned as the strange grey shaped object appeared closer and closer at a speed that boggled his mind. He nced briefly at the goblin fleet and saw that there weren''t any surviving ships and he felt afraid of the unknown. What could have destroyed a pirate fleet of over 15 ships in a few turns of the ss?!


    A low moaning cry seemed toe from the strange grey monster as it approached swiftly. It was fast enough that a bow wave could be seen from its bow and arge wave trailing from its stern. As it came closer, it looked like a ship but without any masts and sails.


    Figures could be seen moving on its top and Dijon tensed up, "Ready the ballistas!"


    "Ahoy the ship!" A voice suddenly red loudly and clearly across the sea between the strange vessel and Dijon''s fleet. "We are from Far Harbour!"


    "What?" Dijon looked stunned, "What sorcery is that?"


    "Fleet Master Dijon, I am Lieutenant Joesph, we met at the reception." A voice called out from the strange ship. "We are here to escort you."


    -----


    The scattered Isles'' fleet slowly reformed back and the strange grey ship came alongside the Fury. Dijon stood at the railings and observed the rebel''s ship with an experienced eye. The ship length looked simr to their twin masted ships but other than that, the ship was totally different. His Fury was longer in length and rode taller on the wavespared to the grey ship.


    Arge forecastle sat at the forward mids of the ship with a strange looking barrel that has a t squarish t covering. Another simr long barrel sat on the top deck while a tall sailless mast rosed from the midship just before a strange funnel-like tube that gave off smoke and steam.


    Dijon gaped at the strange ship as he stepped on the deck and found that ship was cover in metal! A metal ship that sails without wind and can float on water? What kind of magic is this!

 Chapter 200: Beginning of a New Era

    Chapter 200: Beginning of a New Era


    Dijon stood stock still as he stared at the short eared creature before him, dressed in a grey uniform and wearing a t sloping hat. His hand darted to his saber pommel only to find Lieutenant Joesph''s hand gripping his in an iron grip.


    Lt Joseph shook his head while preventing the Isles Fleet Master from drawing his saber. The bridge sentry Marines stood at the ready, their hands on the p of their sidearms. Dijon looked around at the tensed looking from the soldiers and he rxed his hand away from his saber, putting his hands up in surrender.


    "At ease, people," Commander Ford waved the Marines to stand down. "Let him keep his weapons."


    Joseph nodded and stood at the side, cing his hands behind his back as he stood at parade rest, eyeing Dijon''s actions carefully while the two Marines rxed and returned to their spots.


    "Wee to my ship, Fleet Master Dijon," Ford gave a disarming smile. "Wee aboard the Floatin'' Wreck."


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    ke closed thems line with Ford that came from the Floatin'' Wreck and traced the position of the ship on the tactical plot. The blinking green dot on the map showed its current location that was being ryed back to theputers by the UAV performing overwatch in the area.


    Telemetry from the UNS Floatin'' Wreck''s surface radar had several other pings blinking on the tactical plot which the sensor operators had tagged them as ships from the Isles. Other unknown contacts were also tagged and the sole Sea Cobra flying in the area was being vectored in to investigate.


    ke keyed another line on hisms and the Princess answered shortly. "Hey, the Floatin'' Wreck has met up with the Isles convoy of ships. They will be arriving at Far Harbour tonight."


    "I got it," Sherene replied, "I will be on my way over from City Hall after I settle everything here, I will be there to meet them when they arrived."


    "Okay, be careful," ke ended the call.


    "Ops, issue a tasking for Airforce Command," ke said, "I want a full flight of Cobras over Far Harbour for security."


    "Aye, Captain!"


    -----


    Goblin Sea, The Fury


    Fleet Master Dijon stood on his deck staring at the metal ship that was puffing away in front of their formation. His crew was making signs to ward off the demons as their eyes fell on the demon powered contraption.


    Dijon rubbed his tired face and sighed. He had wondered why the rebels were suddenly so strong and able to survive in the wilnd. Now he knew why, as they had received the help of these strangers.


    They looked like people except that they had short and round ears, other than that feature, they closely resembled people. But are they demons as the rumors said? He thought back to the conversation that urred onboard that demon ship.


    The strange short ear spoke in Common tongue with a strange ent and Dijon noticed the other people seemed to jump at his everymand. Was the power of these demons so great that the rebels had to obey theirmands so rigidly?


    The demon said that they came to escort the Isles ships and offer friendship and protection as long as they are in these waters. Dijon frowned as he wondered why the rebels still needed to purchase ships from him if the demons were so powerful to even construct a ship out of metal and sail without wind!


    The rest of the conversation with the strange demon was mostly about cooperation and ways tomunicate. After that Dijon was dismissed and he returned to his own ship in a daze. Now, he watched the metal ship sail forward without any sails, easily keeping ahead of his fleet and he wondered if he has made a deal with the devil.


    -----


    Goblin Sea, UNS Floatin'' Wreck, Bridge


    Ford settled back on his chair and listened to the list of reportsing up from all the ship''s departments. "Another rupture in the high pressure pipes and armor tes buckling on the forward aft of the ship." Lt Grayson said.


    "The wooden undersupport for No. 1 Gun has cracked under the firing of the weapon," Grayson continued reading the reports and sighed, "Other than all that, ship is still seaworthy. We can still push her up to 14 knots per hour if needed."


    "Keep it steady at 4 knots," Ford replied, "Them Isles ships couldn''t make more than 4 knots. Just stay ahead and escort them back to Far Harbour while we see what repairs we can do for now."


    "Make sure No. 1 Gun can be fired, make its repairs a priority!" Ford yelled after Grayson who left the bridge.


    "Captain!" The radar operator called out, "Sea Wyvern One reports multiple sightings of goblin raid ships!"


    "Where?" Ford asked as he sat up alert.


    "North north west, 40 kilometers out," The operator reported, "Its the cluster of unidentified surface contacts we have on the radar!" The radar was taken from the dwindling UAV spares and installed onboard the ship.


    Ford stood over the transparent map board where the radar operator had drawn a red ''X'' of the sightings. He did some mental calctions and gauged that the goblin pirates will intersect their current course within 3 hours at their current heading.


    "Tell Sea Wyvern One to keep tabs on their movement," Ford replied. "Notify me once they are within 10 kilometers."


    "Aye Captain!"


    -----


    Hourster, a siren red throughout the UNS Floatin'' Wreck. "Action stations! Repeat! All personnel action stations!"


    The crew having drilled rigorously over the past week, quickly and professionally arrived in the fastest possible time and manned their stations. In the horizon, dozens of grey sails appeared in a tiny line like magic.


    Ford lowered his powerful binos and said, "Comms, inform the Fury that enemy sighted, bearing in from our port side."


    The operator nodded and switched to the loud hailer and started to broadcast the message across the sea. Following that, the Fury ran up a series of colored gs and shortly after, the rest of the fleet formed into two lines.


    The warships formed the outer line closest to the approaching pirates while the merchants and nonbatants stayed in another line staying away from the fighting.


    Ford nodded, "Looks good, they are pretty skilled."


    "Alright, let''s show these Inders what our baby can do!" Ford grinned. "Grayson, take us out and engage the enemy at half range!"


    "Aye aye, Captain!" Grayson replied excitedly. "Helms, give us full speed! Bring us to port, keep our distance at two kilometers away from enemy contacts!"


    The Floatin'' Wreck suddenly surged forward, leaving the rest of the Isles ships behind in its wave, its speed climbing up and holding at 14 knots, closing the distance between the two fleets rapidly much to the surprise and awe of the Inders.


    The ship charged forward and the navigator was calling out the distance for the pilot at the helm controls. "Now!" Ford ordered.


    "Turn! 90 degrees starboard! Now!" Grayson yelled, "Ahead slow!"


    The ship groaned as it tilted to its side as the rubbers forced the change in direction, making arge turn before it slowed down, and its broadside of guns facing the line of goblin ships.


    "Guns! Give them hell! Independent fire!" Fordmanded.


    "Aye! Independent fire!"


    And the guns of the Floatin'' Wreck roared.


    -----


    The empty shell casing sprung out from the opened breech and smoke followed the casing out. The loader holding 5.9 kg shell dropped it into the opened breech and another shoved a 0.56 kg propent charge behind it, shoving both into the breech before it was mmed shut and locked.


    The gunmander yelled, "Clear!" And everyone stepped away while covering their ears and opening their mouths yelling, "Clear!"


    The gunner havingid the gun sights pulled thenyard and the gun roared, throwing the 5 kg shell out at 503 meters per second. The barrel jumped back on its hydraulics which damped the recoil away.


    The HE (High Explosive) shell screamed its way over two kilometers of open sea and impacted against the wooden hull of the goblin galley. The impact triggered fire runes wafers on the nose of the shell touched each other and ignited the 3.62 kg charge of ck powder and mana dust.


    Immediately everything around 5 meters around the impact point in a spherical wave was vaporized by the explosion. The shockwave grew out and turned nearby bodies in mush and broken bones and further cracked the wood hull and beams. Secondster, another HE shellnded on the same vessel and totally obliterated the galley.


    The Floatin'' Wreck cruised slowly forward and its guns constantly fired, sending rolls of thunder over the stunned Isles fleet behind. Dijon glued his eyes on his telescope in shock as he watched the impossible havoc caused by the demon powered metal ship.


    Each sh of thunder seemed to signal death on the enemy and at such range and uracy! In the time his fleet caught up with the demon ship, there were only pieces of floating wreckage and dirty smoke over the area of the one sided massacre. Was this how the small group of rebels defeated the thousands strong Empire army? Dijon thought.


    "Ma-master!" The First Mate stood in horror at the scene, "Wha-what are they? What powers are those? Is it magic?"


    "I-I have no idea," Dijon found himself tongue-tied and he couldn''t understand anything either. Even the ship''s mage was shaking in both fear and excitement upon seeing those powers up close.


    Suddenly a low buzzing sound rolled over them from the skies and everyone looked up and saw a strange oblong object with what appears to be wings circling over the fleet. The crew yelled out in fright and some even grabbed crossbows to defend themselves.


    The strange flying object seemed to wobble in the air as it lined up towards the metal ship before it came roaring straight down and hit the water, bouncing up and down against the waves before coughing sounds could be heard and the roaring ceased.


    It floated on the water next to the demon ship and the ship closed to it before something like a crane was lowered over the strange flying thing and what appeared to be a person riding the flying creature climbed out and took something from the crane and exchanges words with the crew on the metal ship before he ducked back into the flying creature and the roaring started up again.


    The mind boggling flying thing rode the waves and charged off, seemingly to time its bounce into the air by hitting one of the waves before it flew off into the skies.


    "What is that?" The crew was shaken badly by all the events today. Even fighting sea monsters and pirates could not rattle the veteran crew but after dealing with the metal ship and roaring flying thing, the crew went crazy. "Gods have mercy! Demons!"


    The First Mate looked at Dijon with a horrified expression, "M-master? Ar-are we going to still follow them? Are we dealing with de-demons? Are they the ones that destroyed all the rest of the ships we encountered along the way?"


    "I.." Dijon looked down at the pieces of floating wreckage hitting the side of the Fury''s hulls and his brain seemed to have shut down as he could not process all the new things he saw and found out today. "Demons?"


    Are these short ears friends or foe? What sacrifices had the rebels made to these ''demons'' to be granted all these strange powers and weapons? If the rebels with these weapons and powers could stand up against the strongest Empire here, what will the future hold for thesends? What will we see and happen if we follow them back to Far Harbour? These thoughts raced through Dijon''s mind.


    "I-I thi-think, this is the beginning of a new era..."


    ----- End of Book 1 -----

 Chapter 201: 201 - Invasion

    Chapter 201: 201 - Invasion


    The boy was dressed in a faded yellow tunic with sweat stains panted his way up the steep flights of stone steps before he nimbly climbed up the woodendder and took a second to catch his breath. He gazed out to the far distance over the fort walls and saw the dark blue squares of infantry appearing over the summer crops, trampling the unharvested yellow fields of grain down.


    "Wake the fort!" An elderly sentry yelled below him, "Hurry!"


    A tingle of dread, fear, and excitement ran down his spine as he reached under the bronze bell hanging in the watchtower and grabbed the wooden rod tied inside and struck the bell madly.


    "TONG TONG TONG TONG TONG~~~!!"


    The echoes of the bell woke the guardians of the fort who roused themselves out in confusion before their leaders and officers yelled at them to arm themselves with weapons and don their armor. It took the confused men sometime before they realized that the Empire was here at their doorsteps and they hurriedly sprung into action eagerly.


    "TONG TONG TONG TONG TONG~~~!!"


    Heavy footfalls echoed up and down the entire fort as the men rushed to their defenses. In less than a turn of the hourss, the guardians were all up and ready, their sweaty palms gripping spear shafts and clutching shields while others held onto the risers of their bows and fingered the fletching of their arrows, making sure they are nicely straightened to ensure a proper flight.


    Their sister fort, a few stone throws away, were the same, it''s one thousand defenders rushing to make ready forbat as the Empire forces marched steadily towards the two tiny forward forts guarding the farmingnd.


    The marching Empire forces shed to a stop well before extreme bow range and the squares and lines of blue armored d soldiers shook themselves into formations. Dozens and dozens of mantlets or portable shields made from wood logs were carried forward by Empire archers. They hide behind the mantlets as they cautiously advanced to within bow and crossbow range before mming the sharp stakes of the mantlets into the ground.


    "LOOSE!" The guardians of the fort released volley after volley of arrows at the advancing enemy that was hidden behind the mantlets who exchanged bow fire with them.


    A horn blown by the Empire cut through the cries and curses of the guardians in the fort and the heavy marching of the Empire troops stormed their way step by step towards the two thousand defenders barring their way forward.


    The Empire heavy infantry squares raised their shields to protect themselves from the rain of arrows but here and there, an arrow found an opening, sending a soldier to theherworld. The archers behind the cover of the mantlets shot back at the defenders with equal results, dropping the defenders in ones and twos.


    As the distance closed, mages from both sides started their spells while the defenders having an advantage of magical protection spells and formations carved into the stones of the forts. Bolts of lightning and balls of firended among both sides.


    Empire mages split their duties in defending and attacking. Half of the mages in the infantry squares cast protection spells to block as much of the arrows and spells that were thrown their way while the other half focuses on attack spells.


    A heavy ballista bolt hammered against the closest infantry square and the bolt splintered against the magic barrier. The barrier held for a split second before it copsed, the mage who expended his mana, fell back as he convulsed from mana burn. The shattered bolt flung splinters as long as a man''s arm into the infantry square, fraying any unlucky soldier who was exposed into a screaming bloody mess.


    Each infantry squareposed of over a thousand troops with its support of mages and other auxiliary troops. Six infantry squares were thrown forward with another thousand archers as ranged support against the two forward forts with a thousand defenders each of the Two Nation alliance.


    The forward forts were built to provide a system of early warning for the cities behind them. They were built in pairs, each able to "nk" the enemies'' attack on either fort. Should the enemy choose to attack a single fort first, the defenders in the other fort will be able to hit the rear and nks of the besieging enemy while attacking both forts at the same time will split its forces thin, granting an advantage to the defenders.


    Yet the enemymander could not ignore the forts and skip past them as they can carry out attacks to his rear or his supply lines. Thus the forts had to be destroyed, dying the main attack to cities, which granted the Two Nations more time and warning to prepare for an invasion.


    The defenders were all volunteers as they knew that the forts were just a dying tactic and they are selling their lives to buy time for their loved ones in the cities. The defenders roared as one as the Empire infantry mmed into the spike moat covering the forts and siegedders mmed up against the stone parapets.


    -----


    The boy wiped streaks of tears off his face as he clung tightly to the buckling saddle of the sprinting war dragon. The war dragon''s two feet kicked against the dirt path as the boy guided its movement towards one of the signal towers behind the forts and away from the madness.


    The tower keepers hearing the boy''s yells and reports of the Empire forces, turned pale before they quickly climbed to the top of the wooden tower and doused the dry straw and wolf dung with dragon oil and stuck a flint against a piece of stone, creating sparks which set the whole thing on fire.


    Soon a thick smelly grey cloud appeared over the signal tower, which soon was followed by another tower and another as far as the eye can see.


    -----


    "Lord Rock," A fully armored soldier with a motif of a twin-tailed scorpion on his breastte riding a war dragon, dismounted and saluted, "The defenders of the two forts have been destroyed. We have taken over five hundred defenders and another five hundred wounded."


    "Kill the wounded," The bald muscr knight replied on his war dragon mount. "Keep the rest as ves. Rotate the regiments that fought out and move the rest forward."


    "Yes, my lord!" The soldier saluted again and dashed off back onto his mount and charged off to issue the orders of his lord.


    The Rock sat upright on his war dragon as he zed across the smoke tinted battlefield littered with dead and dying bodies. He turned and looked at the rows and rows of silent soldiers d in heavy armor and touched the bloodstone amulet hanging over his neck.


    They have wasted almost a day destroying the two forts, The Rock thought to himself. Its time for them to move before the enemy can react!


    He gave a mentalmand and the silent soldiers moved as one, marching forward without a single word. The other soldiers strayed away from this group, whispering among themselves as they watched the eerily silent regiment marched over the trampled ground.


    The Rock gave a wave and a horn blew across the fields and the tired Empire soldiers picked themselves up and formed into ranks before trotting across the broken fields, advancing towards their next objective.


    -----


    Windkeep Castle, Frontier City, Kingdom of Man, Two Nation Alliance


    Hurried footsteps echoed down the marble-like flooring of the great hall as the courier half ran towards the Castle Lord''s private study. The two guards gave way to the courier who had a red sash trimmed with gold diagonally over his shoulder which identified him as an important messenger.


    The courier knocked on the thick double doors and not long the doors were opened inside by a manservant who led the sweating courier inside the study.


    "My Lord!" The courier went down on one knee, "The warning towers... they were lit!"


    The Grey Lord ced his quill down as he heard the news. "When was this?"


    "Just earlier!" The courier, "No more than a turn of the ss! I came as soon as it was reported!"


    "You may leave," The castle lord also known as the Grey Lord to the people here dismissed the courier who stood up and retreated from his study.


    "Call all themanders for an urgent meeting now," The Grey Lord said to his servant who disappeared out of the study behind after the courier.


    It took less than an hour for all six of themanders stationed at Frontier City to arrived at Windkeep Castle. The great hall had a massive rectangr tableid out by the servants with some light refreshments.


    The Grey Lord sat at the head of the table, his long grey hair tied in a ponytail, while his thick bushy grey beard wasbed neatly and tied with tiny gold bands. He looked to be in his mid-forties, with a wrinkled and sun-baked face, and deep grey eyes. Even his simple dressing was in grey-white tones.


    Themanders arrived one by one, all dressed for war, as they filled up the seats. Other officials dressed like schrs and merchants also arrived and soon the table was fully filled.


    "As you all may know by now, the warning beacons along the border had being lit up," The Grey Lord stated once everyone was seated. "I want all able men to be armed and ready for battle as soon as possible."


    "Next, I want the farmers to move all the harvest in and burn the rest that can''t be moved. I also want the merchants to provide all the carts and wagons they have to help out," He looked at the group of civic officials and merchants who nodded.


    "I already sent out the messenger wyverns out to the next city and the Capital," The Grey Lord said next, "I expect reinforcements to arrive within two five days week."


    "My Lord!" One of themanders spoke up, "Will we be moving the troops to relieve the forward forts?"


    "No," The Grey Lord shook his head, "The border forts could only buy us a day or two of time the most. By the time we muster our forces, the forts would have been lost."


    "I want the soldiers to dig in and fight," He continued, "Frontier City has never been lost and we have fought off invaders ever since its founding as long as we stand strong behind its walls. Strong together!"


    "Yes, my Lord!" The men echoed. "Strong together!"


    -----


    The city inhabitants remained calm and went on with their normal activities even as news spread of theing invasion. The trust the inhabitants had to their city was immense as the city walls had never been breached since it was built a hundred years ago.


    The city sat in a mild raise, with the south side facing the enormous ind freshwater sea, the source of all life on this continent, the Source Sea. Large swaths of farnd spread out from the city walls provided food for the sixty thousand inhabitants and soldiers living in Frontier City.


    The walls that the inhabitants ced their faith in stood over 20 meters high. Made out of granite and magic, it held against dozens of invasions over the years. Massive siege engines sat on huge square towers covered the approaches to the city while dozens more of ballistas were hidden in embrasures within the wall.


    gs of red trimmed with gold and gs of purple were flying on the walls as soldiers dressed in tabards of either red or purple. The red represented the Kingdom of Man while the purple represented troops from the Kingdom of Foral whom both Kingdoms were allied as the Two Nation Alliance.


    A grizzly looking soldier with a crude leather band covering his left eye spat over the battlements as he caressed the well-worn wood of the crossbow in his hands lovingly.


    "Come on ye bastards! I''m waiting for ye!"

 Chapter 202: Flames of War

    Chapter 202: mes of War


    30 km into the Kingdom of Man


    Thend was on fire and smoke. Fields of unharvested crops burned and wilted in the heat as the farmers and soldierid torch to the fields. The air smelled of ashes as the farmers carried what little possessions they have while the carts and wagons pulled bynd dragons and muffalos were piled full of harvest.


    Those that couldn''t be collected or transported were set to the torch by soldiers to the wailings of the farmers. Yet despite all that, the farmers and their families could only bear it as the threat of the Empire loomed upon them.


    The fires were soon seen by the city when night falls while the thick ck smoke could be viewed in the day. And scouts raced through the fire and smoke, carrying news of the sightings of the Empire armies.


    Behind the fleeing Man scouts, came a screen of Empire war dragon cavalry. Long lines of ck armor-d Empire soldiers marched behind fluttering blue Empire banners over the fields, followed by wagons and wagons of supplies and camp followers.


    The Empire cavalry rode down on the fleeing scouts and any other civilians in the area, capturing or killing them if they resisted and looted what pitiful processions they had. The Empire soldiers dabbed their blue capes with water and covered their mouths and noses to avoid breathing most of the ash in the air while foraging parties ventured around the countryside in search of food and water.


    The retreating Mans had poisoned most of the wells and torched whatever food supplies they couldn''t transport but still, there were some that were missed or hidden away by farmers and their families.


    The Empire forces happily piged whatever that could be found and filled barrels of fresh water from flowing streams and rivers while constantly advancing towards Frontier City behind the mass of panicking vigers looking for shelter in the city.


    -----


    Frontier City


    The Grey Lord stood overlooking the battlements from the tallest tower in his Castle. The Grey family had served as the city guardians and lords for generations. He watched the flood of refugees streaming across the fields and fortifications towards the city gates and frowned, "Have the harvest from the farms being all brought in?"


    "Yes my lord," One of his aide replied while consulting a scroll. "The granaries and storehouses are nearly filled and should have enough supplies tost the city for 3 months."


    "Issue an order to the merchants to limit the sale of grain and other necessities, I do not want the people to hoard supplies." The Grey Lord said. "Have the scouts returned?"


    "No, my lord," A military aide replied, "they are expected to return before nightfall."


    "Close the gates before it gets dark," He ordered, "Turn the refugees away."


    "B-but, my Lord, there is at least a thousand or more people still out there!" The military aide cried. "We can''t leave them all out there?"


    "The city is full," The Grey Lord said without any change of expression, "Tell them to head towards Winterfall instead."


    "But my lord! Winterfall is at least a week march away!" The aides were looking at each other in confusion. "The refugees won''t make it with the number of supplies they have!"


    "Close the gate by nightfall," The Grey Lord repeated before he turned away from the view and headed towards the stone stairs. "I will not repeat myself."


    "Y-yes, my lord..." The aides bowed as they watched the disappearing back of the castle Lord disappearing down the tower.


    The aides looked out towards the crowd and shook their heads, "Those that can''t make it in by the time the sun sets is doomed ..."


    -----


    Frontier City Eastern Wall


    The setting sun had painted a purple-red hue over the city walls which beauty was lost to the one eyed soldier dressed in a mix of leather and te mail as he shoved his way past the crowd of mingling soldiers who had gathered before the gatemander''s room.


    "Back to your posts!" Several nobles and officers yelled at the gathered men. "Back off!"


    "Why do we have to close the gates?" The gathered soldiers called out, "There are still many people out there!"


    "The Grey Lord gave the order!" The Gate Commander stormed out of his office cursing, "Now get back to your posts or I have you whole lot whipped!"


    The one eyed soldier pushed his way to the front and said, "I didn''t sign up to let helpless folk die!"


    "Captain Borse!" Themander frowned, "What are you doing here?"


    "My men want to know why are the gates closed?" Borse the one eyed demanded, "The city can still hold the refugee folk, why are we abandoning them out there? The Empire army is almost upon us!"


    "It''s the Grey Lord''s order!" Themander retorted, "He wants the gate closed! Now back to your posts! And you too, Captain!


    The gathered soldiers grumbled among themselves and slowly dispersed back to their post leaving Captain Borse ring at the Gate Commander who lost in the staring match and retreated back into his office.


    "Captain," A scrawny soldier dressed in oversized leather called to Borse, "What do we do now Captain?"


    "Back to the men," Captain Borse frowned as he walked back towards the walls. "Call the squad leaders together."


    "Yes, sir!" The scrawny soldier saluted and ran off ahead, leaving Borse alone with his thoughts.


    Borse came from one of the many micro kingdoms dotting the continent, the small and peaceful Kingdom of Dawn before it got embroiled in a war with the expansionist Empire of Bluewood.


    His kingdom destroyed and the remanents enved, he and his survivingpany of soldiers fought on desperately for many years. His originalpany of over a hundred slowly grew to a thousand as soldiers and refugees from other defeated kingdoms joined up with him over the years.


    They conducted hit and runs attacks, lightning raids on supply convoys of the Empire but eventually were forced back and with over two thousand civilians, Borse had to make a choice of retreating or risk having the nonbatants killed by Empire troops hunting them.


    Hence Borse gathered his men and the refugees and marched towards the Kingdom of Ma when word came that the two remaining kingdoms have formed an alliance. Upon reaching Frontier City, the Grey Lord recruited him on the promise that the refugees with him were to be taken proper care of.


    Borse nodded at the two sentries at the gate of a simple fenced off campsite next to the Eastern Wall. In the darkening skies, several braziers and torches were already lit, casting their orange glow to the surroundings.


    Rows of mismatched tents were pitched up as neatly as possible in the hard-packed earth while thepany''s cksmith and quartermaster had their stores and smithy set up against the city wall with a couple of simple wooden lean-to covered their supplies and the smith was at work sharpening and grinding des.


    "Captain," A small group of rough looking soldiers appeared before Borse gestured them to follow him. They entered arge tent in the middle of the camp and the men gathered around the only table in the middle of the tent.


    "The Grey Lord gave the order to close the gates," Borse spoke. "The people are trapped outside."


    "Is there no way for us to open the gates to allow those poor folks in?" One of the leaders asked. "We can''t just let them be ughtered out there?"


    The rest of the men nodded and agreed, "Yeah, we seen too many of our own people dead! We must find a way to save them!"


    "I say we storm the gate and open it!" Someone yelled, "The Empire army is still not here yet!"


    "I will seek an audience with the Grey Lord," Borse pped his hand on the table, silencing everyone. "I want no one to do anything rash while I am gone! Is that clear?"


    The gathered leaders grumbled but they nodded in acknowledgment. "Now, I want you all to check on your men, make sure everyone is ready, the Empire..."


    "Captain!" The same scrawny soldier burst into the tent in a hurry. "The Man scouts are back and they report the Empire is here!"


    -----


    The bells in the entire city toiled and rang as news of the Empire army is within sight of the city. Soldiers were ordered to their posts in the walls, while the citizens of the city flocked to the tallest buildings or towers to catch a glimpse of the invading army despite it being at night.


    Screams and frightened cries sounded from the gates as desperate refugees hammered at the gates, trying to force their way into safety. Those at the rear that was smarter quickly make their way away from the city, knowing that the Empire army''s focus will be on the city instead.


    In the distance, hundreds and hundreds of fire lights slowly emerged as the Empire army approached. The Empire army stopped at the very edge of the city defenses and made camp before the whole city where the citizens were watching with a festive mood.


    -----


    "My lord, we shouldunch a night raid while the enemy is still making camp and in disarray!" Themanders advised the Grey Lord who was observing the pinpricks lights from torches and campfires in the distance with a magical scrying spell.


    "Do you know who themander of the Empire army is before us?" Grey Lord asked mildly.


    "I heard it is The Rock," One of the aides responded to Grey Lord''s question.


    "Ahh yes, the Scorpion King," Grey Lord sighed, "And you want to lead the cavalry out on a night ambush against one of the Empire''s greatest generals?"


    "Why do you think he parades his army before the city and sets up camp before your eyes?" He continued.


    Themanders looked at each other with frowns on their faces, "Because it''s a bait to trap any forces silly enough to attack them?"


    Grey Lord nodded, "Rotate the men on the wall and make sure everyone had a good rest and ample food, it will be a busy day tomorrow morning!"


    -----


    ck Scorpion Legion I Camp


    "Have the men rest," The speaker in heavy armor removed his helm, exposing his bald head, "Half the sentries too, give the men a good rest."


    "But my Lord, won''t the Two Nationsunch a sneak attack tonight?" One of the armored soldiers gathered in the richly decorated tent asked.


    "Knowing that bastard in that castle there," The Rock gave a grin, "He won''t dare to move his forces."


    "I want scouting teams out tonight," He continued as he took a gon of wine from one of the serving maids, "Map the terrain around the city and also set up distance markers for our troops tomorrow."


    "Should we prepare for a preemptive attack before the sun rises?" One of the ck Scorpionmanders asked.


    "No, I got something better," The Rock grin went wider, "Prepare the Bronze men, when the moon is at its zenith, send them in to attack the city."


    "But my Lord, the Bronze men..." Themanders looked uneasily among themselves, "We do not know their capabilities..."


    "Do not worry," He assured themanders, "I know what they can do, and I have my ns. Get the engineers to work on building the siege weapons anddders. Now go carry out my orders!"


    "Yes my Lord!" The gatheredmanders and leaders saluted and bowed before they left the tent.


    The Rock finished the wine and tossed the gon away before he picked up the soul stone controlling the Bronze men and grinned, feeling the souls conscious of the ranks and ranks of turned people, that stood in silence at the back of the camp where none of the other soldiers were willing to approach nearer.


    "The Two Nations wouldn''t know what storm ising for them!"

 Chapter 203: Dawn of War

    Chapter 203: Dawn of War


    Dark shadows made their way across the dark fields in several files, approaching the looming city walls where dozens of bonfires were lit at the base, providing a source of light for the sentries on the walls. Metal scrapped and squeaked against each other as the silent shadows marched towards the walls.


    Magical detection spells set by the defenders suddenly burst into life as the shadows touched the spells, sparks and magic res erupting from the triggered spells illuminated the surrounding fields. The lights flickered off the ck armor of the Empire soldiers who continued to advance without any changes, heading straight for the remaining few refugees camped at the outside of the city with hopes that the gates will open for them in the morning.


    Screams broke out among the refugees as they woke up to a firework disy that lit up the advancing soldiers. The ck-d soldiers rampaged through the camps, killing and ughtering everyone regardless of age or gender. The defenders on the walls looked on in fear and confusion as they saw figures in dark armor attacking everyone below the walls.


    rms rang and the sentries aimed their crossbows at the Empire force wreaking havoc below. Commanders and leaders screamed at the sentries to shoot their bolts and arrows at the attacking soldiers.


    Hundreds of bolts and arrow rained down from the walls, mming into the mass of enemy infantry and any unlucky refugee into a porcupine. The city was awakened as bells rang of the night attack and more and more soldiers appeared on the walls.


    But to the defenders'' surprise, the enemy soldiers riddled with dozens and dozens of bolts and arrows appeared to be fine, as they continued their butchery of the panicked refugees. The defenders looked at each other in a panic wondering what sorcery are they dealing with, while theirmanders continued to order them to shoot their crossbows and arrows.


    -----


    Frontier City, Last Company Camp


    Captain Borse stood before his assembled men who were dressed in all forms of patched up armor and different colored tabards. His men were made up from a collection of fallen kingdoms and he was proud of them, for each of his men in hispany were like brothers who had fought and bled for each other.


    "Captain! The 843 men of The Last Company have all assembled!" Thepany senior sergeant holding thepany''s standard which looked like a patchwork of multiple colors stitched together by the womenfolk reported.


    Borse nodded and was able to address thepany when a messenger riding a war dragon covered with red and yellow trappings reined in before Borse and gave a quick salute before yelling, "Commander''s orders are for yourpany to reinforce the third section of the Eastern Wall!"


    "You are to make your way there now!" The messenger removed a roll of orders and double checked the scroll before he handed over to Borse and jerked his reins, turning the war dragon around and rode off. "Got to go! More orders to deliver!"


    Borse nodded and took the offered order scroll before he turned to his men, "Group leaders! Form up the men, we head to the third section of the Eastern Walls now!"


    -----


    Fields before the Walls


    Several mage lights shot out over the walls to illuminate the fields showed the enemy soldiers finishing up the remaining refugees too slow to escape. A cold evil aura appeared to flow out from the enemy that demoralized the defenders especially when the orders came down to not open the sally ports to engage the enemy in closebat and save the refugees.


    The defenders could only shoot off bolts and arrows at the strangely silent enemy whose eyes appeared to glow red in the shadows.


    Borse''s men quickly climbed up the winding tower and onto the battlements, joining the Manpany of Guardians on the walls. The men spread out among the stretch of wall between the two towers that defined the area which they are ordered to defend.


    Borse looked out over the battlements and felt a chill down his spine as he looked at the silent enemy and asked. "What do you think?"


    A soft looking aristocratic youngster with long braided hair wearing a set of tailor-made half te stood beside Borse and frowned. His perfect eyebrows narrowed artistically as he looked at the ughter below. "It''s strange, they are too quiet..."


    "Yes, wearing that armor and wielding weapons will make men pant and yell," Borse frowned, "I don''t even hear anythinging from those Empire soldiers other than the screams of the refugees!"


    "You are right," The aristocrat said, "And they seemed immune to arrows and bolts."


    "Taris, is this what we heard about before we came here?" Borse asked, "The Empire''s secret weapons?"


    "I think so," Taris replied as he rubbed his dragon hide gloves against his chin. "Look they are retreating!"


    "Bastards!" Borse brooded, "Them Empire sent those bastards just to kill off the refugees!"


    Taris nodded absentmindedly as he fell into his own thoughts, while Borse cursed at the retreating Empire soldiers when a horn blew from one of the towers. "Looks like the lords andmanders are being called to gather up."


    "This is unnatural," Taris said, "I don''t know what foul magic is being used here but it doesn''t bore well for us."


    "As long we get to kill those bastards!" Borse replied, "If the Grey Lord had let those poor folk in, we won''t have these deaths on us."


    Taris nodded, thinking back of his castle when it got razed down by the Empire. "The men of the Last Company will do their best to prevent what had happened to their homes and families."


    -----


    ck Scorpion Legion I Camp


    Lines of Bronze men marched into the camp with various degrees of wounds. Most of the Bronze men had arrows or bolts sticking out from their armored bodies but they continued to remain silent, the only sounding from them were the stomp of footsteps and the squeak of metal against metal.


    The men of the ck Scorpion watched the Bronze men marching back to their ces with fearful expressions, some whispered prayers to their gods while others kept well away from the Bronze men.


    As the Bronze men settled down, a small army of mages and their apprentices followed by healers tend to the Bronze men''s maintenance and wounds.


    The Rock strolled among the Bronze men, watching the apprentices removing or snapping off arrow shafts before taking the armor off the corpse grey bodies of the Bronze men. Puncture wounds left behind by the arrows and bolts left a finger sized hole with a thick purple red pus like blood clotting around the wound.


    He watched the healers removing the arrow shafts and cleaned the wounds while the mages shoved rubbery hoses made from the intestines of some monsters into the mouths of the Bronze men and force feeding them some arcana concoction that gave the Bronze men the energy to keep moving.


    "My lord," A skinny robed mage with a head of thinning white hair approached him while bowing, "We hardly lost a single Bronze man from the arrows and bolts of the enemy!"


    The Rock nodded and asked the Master Mage in charge of the Bronze men, "Does the injuries hampered them?"


    "Oh, no!" The Master Mage cried out excitedly, "They will heal in time, as long as they don''t lose a limb or two, they will function as normal!"


    The Rock looked at the silence figures of naked Bronze men being worked on by healers and mages. There were even a few females among the ranks he noticed. "When will they be ready to fight again?"


    "Once we finish feeding them... by dawn?" The mage frowned as he mentally calcted, "No, an hour before dawn, they should be ready."


    "Good," He turned around and gestured one of his aides who hurried over bowing, "Call themanders to gather at my tent within an hour."


    His aided bowed again before rushing off to carry out his order.


    He returned to his tent and not long, hismanders arrived one by one. "Hows the progress of the siege equipment?"


    A stout elf in simple leathers stood forward and saluted, "We have already assembled four of the trebuchets, eight ballistas, two siege towers, and rams from our baggage trains."


    "A further 200dders were crafted using the trees here," The siege engineer said, "The remaining two trebuchets and two siege towers will bepleted by dawn."


    The Rock nodded before turning his attention to his legionmanders. "We will attack at dawn when the siege equipment is in position."


    "Atus, I want you to takemand of all the Legion Cavalry and go to block off the main eastern road behind Frontier City to prevent anyone from escaping or reinforcing the city." The Rock looked at one of themanders who held saluted at the order.


    "4th and 5th Legion is to attack the Eastern walls," He continued giving orders, "2nd and 3rd to take the North while the 1st is to go for the West walls."


    "Start the attack with firebombs beforemitting the ve troops," The Rock said, "The legions are to advance behind the ves."


    "My lord how about the south harbor of the city?" One of themanders asked.


    "Don''t worry, Admiral Steelore is waiting at the other side with his fleet to ambush any Man or Foral ships that dare to close his path." He replied. "Now get some rest, the sun will be up in a few hours!"


    -----


    The sky slowly brightened over the horizon, turning the clouds orange red. The Empire elite Legions had formed up in ranks waiting for theirmanders to give the word for the assault. Each legion held three thousand elite infantry, a thousand cavalry and 500 archers with another 50 mages for magic support, and over three thousand followers like wagon drivers, cksmiths, cleaners, cooks and even prostitutes that support the entire marching army.


    The breaking of dawn was herald by severalrge y pots filling with burning resin. The smoking pots arced over the skies and smashed against the walls, spewing its burning content over walls and the defenders.


    Screams and bells rang from the city as the Empire siege engines tossed more and more y pots filling mmable resin onto the city walls and its defenders. The city ballistas quickly responded back by firing massive bolts towards the Empire siege engines hidden behind a bulwark of earthenworks.


    The thick oily and smelly smoke helped mask the approaching Empire ve army as they made their way towards the city walls, but despite that, some of the arrows and bolts from the defenders still managed to find a mark among the lightly armored warrior ves.


    Over twelve thousand ves attacked in three directions. They wore light leather armor and armed with a spear or a simple sword and shield into battle. Should they survive the battle, they will granted their freedom and be an official citizen of the Empire.


    The warrior ves carried the long green wooddders crafted the night before and charged towards the walls where the defenders were blinded by the fire and smoke. Any ve that ran away from the battle were mercilessly cut down by the Empire legions behind them.


    The long wobblydders mmed against the walls and the ves attempted to climb up onto the battlements of the walls but showers of hot sand and oil rained down on them, sending the climbers screaming down to the ground while others rolled and screamed in agony on the ground as the hot sand burned their eyeballs away and the boiling oil fried their flesh.


    Despite the horrors going on before the ves, more and moredders mmed against the walls and the ves plowed on, most falling to the ground breaking bones and limbs as thedders were hoisted off the walls by the defenders.


    "For the Empire! KILL!"

 Chapter 204: Siege

    Chapter 204: Siege


    Frontier City


    Grunts, curses, screams, and cries surrounded Borse as he hacked at the hooks of the siegedder in front of him. Suddenly a wild-eyed warrior shrieking something unintelligible appeared before him on thedder. The warrior leaped off the rungs of thedder and crashed into one of his Last Company men, both of them rolling on the stone floor.


    Borse gave a curse and shed hard at the neer, his blunt de leaving a white mark on the leather armor of the warrior before scoring a bloody line across the back of his arm. The warrior screamed in pain, rolling away from Borse and the Last Company soldier.


    "Kill him!" Borse roared and charged together with his man, both of them attacking from two different directions and managed to deal a killing blow after a couple of bouts.


    Turning back to thedder, he saw a couple of Empire ve warriors had managed to climb up and clear a small space around them. "Stop them!" Borse yelled hoarsely. "Don''t let them up!"


    Suddenly a sh of silver and Taris appeared before the two ve warriors, his rapier darting in and piercing one of them in the eye before he pulled out rapidly and with an off-hand sh, he cut the throat of the other warrior all within a second.


    The half blinded warrior screamed and died as several other Last Company soldiers rammed their spearheads into him and pushed the dead warrior off the battlements. "Push thatdder off!"


    With the help of four others, Borse managed to shove thedder back away, and he saw the surprised ''O'' of one of the ve warriors at the top of thedder as it toppled to the side.


    Borse panted hard and dropped his blunt de, picking up a leaf de sword from one of the dead littered on the wall. "Kill those bastards!"


    -----


    The day ended with yet another retreat beaten back by the weary defenders. Borse and his men gave a tired cheer as the pressure fell off and the Empire forces retreated, leaving behind broken bodies. The wounded and dying cried and scream rosed constantly from both sides where theyid fallen.


    "Move all the wounded back!" Borse yelled hoarsely as the smelly oily smoke caused by the fires clogged up his dry throat. He hawked and spat out a glob of dirty spit before he yelled to the scared youngsters below the inner wall. "Water! Bring water up!"


    The city urchins too young to wield a sword but wanting to fight the Empire climbed the stone steps of the tower, delivering buckets of cool clean water drawn from the city wells to the defenders.


    "Captain, do you think they will attempt another attack?" Taris asked. He still looked neat and clean despite being constantly in the thick of the fiercest fighting. He swept his hair back with his hand like he was out having a stroll in a garden instead of a battle.


    Borse growled, "Maybe, maybe not, this is the third attempt, they are just testing our strength." He raised his blood stain sword up, checking for nicks on the de while ignoring the sticky dried blood.


    "Get a rapier," Taris advised, "It doesn''t get dulled easily and you use less strength and stamina."


    "I wielded a sword for over fifteen years," Borse sighed, "I don''t know all that fancy sword moves of you nobles."


    "Ha, you just need fitness," Taris winked with posing in a rapier stance. "Just poke poke, perfect for stopping the enemy from climbing up thedder."


    "Just I want to poke an enemy, I will use a goddamn spear," Borse growled as he walked along the battlements checking on his men with Taris at his side.


    "Brute force as usual," Taris smiled. "Oh well, I leave all the heavy work to you then!"


    Borse snorted and picked up adle from the water bucket and quenched his dry throat, the cooling water tasting like nectar. "Go make yourself useful, find out how many are wounded and dead."


    Taris''s smile faded and his expression turned serious before he headed towards the tower. "I will do that."


    "Bastards," Borse cursed as he looked over the battlements at the distant Empire camps. "Alright, clear the dead and the wounded, refill the arrow barrels and check your des!"


    The men carried out the orders by simply tipping the enemy death over the walls while they carried their own dead down andid them neatly in the courtyard. Swords and spearheads were reced and thepany cksmiths used pedal powered grindstones to sharpen the des.


    The tired menbored on till the sun came down before hot food from the kitchens were delivered. Most of them ate quickly and made used of the lull to sleep on the battlements.


    Taris walked up with a bowl of thick porridge to Borse who was sleeping against the battlements and kicked him awake before handing him the bowl. "Eat."


    Borse stood up and stretched his aching muscles before digging in the food. "Thanks."


    "We got 47 dead and 31 seriously wounded," Taris sat down next to Borse and leaned back against the wall. "Another 400 with minor injuries and wounds."


    Borse set down the half eaten bowl of porridge and cursed, "More of us gone. How are the conditions of the seriously wounded?"


    "I paid off the healers to give our men treatment over the others," Taris replied, "but at least half of the men won''t make it by tomorrow morning."


    Borse nodded and continued eating, "Get some rest, we still haven''t seen any signs of those undying soldiers nor the ck Scorpion Legion."


    "Yes, it''s just the first day," Taris replied. "Gods, I feel drained already!"


    "Don''t let the men hear that!" Borse snapped. "It''s bad for morale!"


    Taris grinned, "Sorry about that."


    "Now get some sleep!"


    -----


    "ATTACK! ATTACK!"


    Borse jolted awake from his sleep and sprung up. He looked over the battlements and saw fireballs flying towards him and he yelled in fright. "Taris! Get up!"


    He reached down and dragged Taris who was still half asleep and pulled him away from the section of the wall they were at while yelling at the rest of the men to scatter.


    Secondster a loud whoosh roared and the area of the wall they were at burst into mes as the y pots filled with mmable resin thrown by the Empire''s trebuchet exploded.


    Waves of heat washed up against the Borse and the rest who made it away in time, while those slower were caught by the sticky ming resin which melts their flesh down to the bones.


    Borse and his men could only watch their brothers in arms scream in pain and died painfully. Taris face turned ashen as he tried to use a water spell to extinguish the mes but it barely put out the fire.


    The men growled in angry as they watched helplessly, some even tearing as they couldn''t save their friends. Borse suddenly roared, "The Empire will pay! First, they took ournds, then our families, and now our friends and brothers!"


    The men roared in anger and their spirits rosed as they stared with hurt filled eyes at the enemy camp in the distance. "Back to your posts! Watch out for enemy attacks!"


    -----


    The siege of Frontier City went on for a week with the Empire trebuchets constantly flinging rocks or mmable materials into the city throughout the day and night. Thick smoke clouded the city as fires raged among the walls and buildings nearby and the festive feeling of the city faded slowly into fear.


    Several rich merchants bribed the guards at the south harbor to allow them to flee the city onboard private yachts and cargo barges were met and dealt swiftly by Empire coastal ships raiding along the ind sea''s coast.


    Others attempted to leave from the Eastern Gate barely traveled half a day before getting ambushed by the ck Scorpion Legion''s cavalry. Any other travelers or merchants attempting to reach Frontier City were also ambushed, captured or killed along the Main Eastern Road.


    The constant bombardment by the Empire''s siege engines soon took its toll on the defenders. The defenders knew that as long as the gates remained closed, the Empire could not enter the city and the city has more than enough supplies tost over three months.


    But with the constant harassing attacks, drained the city''s morale over time. Severalmanders appealed to the Grey Lord to lead their men out to destroy the enemy''s siege weapons were all rejected on the premise that the city walls were still strong enough to hold out against their bombardments.


    The ck Scorpion Legion leaders gathered before theirmander and watched the smoking city in the distance. "The Grey Lord is smart." The Rock said as he lowered his telescope.


    "He probably knows that I have an ambush waiting for his troops to attack the siege engines," He said as he pointed to the row of trebuchets lined up behind a series of protective earthen berms.


    "He also knows he has the advantage of the city walls and supplies, despite the fact that we can resupply via the ind rivers with our ships," The Rock frowned, "I think it is about time to deal a decisive strike at the city."


    "Frontier City has never been captured since its founding," He looked at this men, "But because of that, they have turnedcent and ck. They think their high walls, magic defenses, and anti dragon ballistas will be enough to stop us."


    "But they are wrong, tonight, we will open the gates and take the city!"


    -----


    Borse wiped the sweat off his forehead as the heat inside the crowded tent rose. Otherpany captains, hundred man leaders, and their aides all squeezed into the Western Wall''smander''s tent for a meeting.


    Themander wore a gold lined tunic and sat on a throne-like chair with a couple of servants fanning him in the hot and stuffy tent. Despite looking muscr, themander had a slight tummy that shows from his stretched tunic.


    "My captains and leaders!" His voice cut the soft mutterings of the gathered soldiers, "The Grey Lord forbids a sally attack upon the enemies siege weapons for he knows its a trap to lure the troops out."


    "So for the time being, please endure," He gave a small smile to the soldiers who frowned and mumbled among themselves in displeasure.


    Borse cursed inwardly, knowing this was yet another waste of their time having this useless meeting. Themander continued to speak more of morale and failed badly at trying to give a rousing speech to the captains before he quickly dismissed the men from his tent to cover his embarrassment.


    "Captain Borse?" Someone called out to Borse when he was enjoying the soft breeze outside the hot sweaty tent. He turned and saw a young Man soldier in a shiny te mail with a captain''s plume on the helmet he was holding.


    "I''m Captain Lanser, leader of the 19th Guardians," the young Man soldier introduced himself. "I am assigned to the same Western Wall as you are, and will be holding at your right nk."


    Borse gave a grunt of acknowledgment, as he checked out the Man soldier. "You look pretty young to be a captain."


    "Ah..." Lanser''s face turned slightly red, as he said in embarrassment, "Well, my father he gotten me thismission, he raised apany of soldiers to help fight against the evil Empire!"


    "I see," Borse frowned at the young Man who looked barely old enough to even shave. "Is this your first time in a battle?"


    "Y-yes, and since we are to be neighbors, I am hoping you could give me some pointers?" Lanser gave a hopeful look at Borse''s frowning face.


    Borse winced and closed his eyes before muttering a string of curses to the gods and the city lords. "You want some pointers? Take off your armor and go home, this way, your men and you won''t die needlessly!"

 Chapter 205: From Within

    Chapter 205: From Within


    Like clockwork, the Empire''s trebuchets started tossing rocks and ming pots against the city walls. The dark night skies were lit up with fireballs and screams of the wounded and dying. One of the firebombs went up in a ball of greenish mes as it impacted against the Northen City wall''s gate.


    Do Saaker rosed from his prone position among dozens and dozens of refugees huddled together for warmth in the streets after he saw the green fireball in the distant wall. He carefully stretched his body, working out the kinks and knots of his toned muscles and covered himself up with a tattered bloodstained cloak.


    He pulled the female beside him covered head to toe in simr outfit up and half dragged her along the dark streets. Their path illuminated by the fires burning on the walls and buildings that were hit by firebombs.


    They kept to the shadows, making their way towards the North Gate. It was easily as the street was dark, the Grey Lord had issued an order that no streetmps are to be lit at night and all windows must be covered.


    They barely met any patrols along the way as all the soldiers'' attention were at the walls. Do stopped at the edge of a burnt down building and pulled the sleeve of the female he was dragging along up.


    He pinched hard on the flesh of the underside of the female''s arm and felt something hard and he pulled the object out. A glistering bone handle appeared and he slowly pulled it out from the flesh of the female who remained silent throughout the whole process.


    The bone dirk came out slowly with a sticky wet sound and was covered in a thick sticky purple red blood. Do wiped the dirk clean with his tattered cloak and repeated the procedure on the other hand of the female.


    He rubbed the ring on his finger and the female suddenly appeared toe alive, despite the ssy eye look reflected in the firelight and they waited in silence in the shadows. Do grinned in anticipation of the killing he was about to unleash upon the unaware city.


    Not long, other shadowy figures appeared and gathered around Do who nodded in greeting to each party. "It''s time to open the gates!"


    The gathered agents nodded, as they have infiltrated into the city a week earlier by pretending to be refugees. The night where the Bronze men attacked the refugees gathered before the walls was a n by The Rock to hide his own men with several Bronze men among the refugees.


    Weapons were hidden inside the bodies of the Bronze men to avoid any suspicion and they were covered in blood as their skin tone were obviously very different from a regr person.


    The soldiers who checked them when they were rescued from the attack fell for the lie that Do gave. The female Bronze man was his wife who had lost her mind in the attack. The soldiers seeing the lifelessness of the female and in the dark, could not find anything wrong and they let them in.


    Other agents also entered in the same way and for a time they were watched by soldiers but as the siege intensified, their guards disappeared to fight at the walls.


    The agents kept an alert eye out for the green fireball which was their signal. Seeing that, they were to attack the gates and hold it for the Empire forces to relieve them.


    Doltar gestured the men forward and gave a mentalmand to his Bronze man partner. His ring has only a small bloodstone that can only control the female. His force consist of a dozen Knight ranked soldiers and six Bronze men.


    They quickly formed up in two files and mimicked the Man patrol''s marching style and in the dark with poor sight, they appeared to be a Man patrol with their dark cloaks. As they appeared the gates, hundreds of soldiers from Two Nation Alliance appeared but no one paid any notice to them.


    It was till they were roughly 50 feet from the Gate did some soldier noticed something strange about this group of soldiers that appeared to be dressed like refugees. An rm was cried out but it was toote.


    Doltar and his men dashed forward, their speed enhanced by magic. They cut down the soldiers in their path and arming themselves with the fallen soldiers'' weapons. The Bronze men formed the rear guard, punching and breaking bones of the soldiers who rushed in to fight with them.


    His team split into two, with one heading to the Gate to remove the bars and obstructions that block the gate while the other heads towards the Gatehouse to raise the portcullis.


    Doltar rushed up the tower next to the Gate which leads to Gatehouse on the third level. As the siege was ongoing, the men inside the tower couldn''t hear the screams and yells happening in the courtyard.


    Taking advantage of surprise, Doltar and his men killed their way into the Gatehouse before the general rm was raised which by then was toote. Inside the Gatehouse, his men quickly worked on the winch that raised the portcullis up.


    Shouts and rms rang out as more and more soldiers rushed to the scene. The Empire agents cast a firewall spell that threw up a wall of fire that drove the allied soldiers back. Allied mages quickly responded to the attack and hurl lightning and fire at the Empire agents around the main gates.


    The Bronze men smashed apart the beams of wood and steel that was propped against the gates. The heavy iron bars that required a wench to lift, used all six of the Bronze men''s strength to lift and the bar weighing half a ton cracked the stone pavement when it was dumped to the side.


    "Stop them!" A Man Officer yelled and the soldiers rushed forward, braving the firewall and leaped in to fight the Imperial agents.


    The Bronze men started to push against the heavy steel and wood gates, opening the way for the Empire forces waiting outside.


    -----


    The Rock sat on his war dragon waiting in silence. The mes from the city cast an orange glow on his features and he suddenly yelled, "Advance! The gates are opening!"


    Warhorns blew, following his order and the Empire Legions stormed forward. The Bronze men took the front, they weathered the storm of arrows and bolts as the defenders shot at them when they came into sight.


    A ballista bolt fired from one for city towers impaled two of the Bronze men as they approached the slowly widening gates. The bolt almost as thick as a tree trunk nailed both Bronze men together, their limbs twitching as they tried to move while their purple red blood sttered all over, but the rest continued on without a care.


    "The gates are opening!" Someone cried in horror, and the defenders pushed harder against the small group of Imperial agents. "Kill them!"


    The Imperial agents were all Knight ranked and they easily cut down any soldier that came close, while exchanging spells with the mages. But soon they turn pale when they saw hundreds and hundreds of soldiers approaching from all sides. Quickly they mentallymanded the Bronze men to attack the soldiers.


    The Bronze men stopped their work and turned to face theing soldiers. They charged into the surprised ranks of soldiers, who stabbed their spears with no effect on their bodies. The Bronze men smashed away the spears thrust at them with their bare hands. They plowed into the soldiers, breaking bones and crushing armor, throwing the ranks of soldiers into panic and fear.


    Spells hammered at the Bronze men without much effort despite a lightning bolt blew off one of the arms of a female Bronze man. She kept on throwing herself against the raised shields of the Two Nation''s soldiers, gorging flesh and raking eyes out with her sharp nails.


    Suddenly a flying wedge of heavily armored soldiers smashed through the thin line of Bronze men and Imperial agents. The Bronze men rein back from the sudden charge and took a few seconds to reorientate themselves before they threw themselves against the shield wall.


    -----


    "Fireball!" Doltar flung a ball of fire out from the narrow doorway he was defending from. The ming ball exploded into a shower of mes that blind and burnt the cluster of Alliance soldiers, one of them even did the ritual burning dance before flopping down unmoving.


    Doltarughed as he watched the dancing soldier and charged up another spell. The soldiers seeing him getting another spell ready, retreated in fear, giving Doltar and his team some breathing room.


    "Where are the Legions?" Doltar asked as he threw the spell at the backs of the retreating soldiers.


    "They areing up by the main road now!" One of the agents peered out from an arrow slit. "They areing!"


    "Good! Hold the Gatehouse with your lives! If the portcullises down, the Legions will be trapped!" Doltar yelled to his men. "Hold this room at all cost!"


    -----


    The Rock urged his mount forward on a quick trot, following beside Legion I. The ming pots thrown by the trebuchets that were burning on the walls provide more than ample light for his soldiers to make their way over the fields and towards the North Gate.


    "Signal the Dragon Corps," He ordered. "They are to focus on the West Gate."


    His runner nodded and ran off to carry out his orders. "Signal the good Admiral, Tell him to attack the South Harbour now!"


    Another runner ran off with his orders while he smiled while watching the first rank of the Bronze men reaching the ajar Gates.


    -----


    Borse reloaded his crossbow, grunting with the effort to lock the crossbow arms back. Suddenly a draconic roar erupted from the night skies and he jerked his head up. "Whose dragons?"


    "Not ours!" Taris yelled from his side. "Sounds like an Imperial heavy weight!"


    "The gods be damn!" Borse cursed, "Runner! Inform the wallmander that the Imperial Dragon Corps are attacking the walls! Go!"


    Borse turned back to the skies and raised his crossbow up, trying to catch signs of the Imperial dragons and he wasn''t disappointed. Dozens of dark shadows appeared out of nowhere from the starry sky and resolved into draconic shapes.


    ------


    The Imperial dragons started to spat fireballs down, hitting at the battlements and forcing the defenders to run for cover. The gunners on the ballista towers quickly swerved their weapons and pointed towards the attacking dragons, firing bolts of dragonce.


    Man mages flung balls of lights into the skies and turned the night to almost day bright. The Imperial Dragons scattered as their cover of darkness was broken and the numbers anti dragon ballistas towers that were riddled all over the city fired at the panicking dragons.


    Dozens and dozens of Man and Foralian light and medium weight dragons took off from the Grey Castle towers, making their way towards the Imperial Dragons to engage them in aerialbat.


    The disciplined Imperial dragons flew out of the city''s anti dragon ballista range and formed up in a tight formation, their crew armed with crossbows and waited for the Alliance dragons toe.


    The Alliance dragon riders whooped and raced each other in their effort to reach the heavier and slower Imperial dragons, each rider wanting to make the first kill and be a hero.


    The Alliance light and medium weights each carried two to three riders each armed with a crossbow or throwingnce. The Alliance dragons were easily highlighted by the city, allowing the Imperials to fire their crossbows with uracy.


    The volley of bolts tore wings membranes and dropped riders, causing panic among the flyers which the more experienced Imperial dragons took advantage off by closing in while constantly firing bolts at the shattered Alliance dragons.


    Roars and screams echoed down from the skies as dragons and their riders wove a deadly dance of death in the skies above the city while thousands and thousands of soldiers wage and battle below.

 Chapter 206: 206 - Breakthrough

    Chapter 206: 206 - Breakthrough


    South Harbor, Frontier City


    Gentle wavespped against the low slung hull of the coastal raiders. The Imperial galleys rowed by ves followed the rhythm of the drum beats, straining hard against the oars. The galleys painted with stripes of blue paint charges towards Frontier City''s harbor in a massive wave.


    The harbor defenses spat balls of mage light out towards the freshwater sea, illuminating the area around the harbor brightly. The Imperial galleys were exposed under the mage lights and the ballista towers started firing bolts towards the invading ships.


    One of the Imperial galleys closing in towards the harbor suddenly foundered in the water. The galley jerked sharply, that several of the crew were thrown overboard by the sudden stop. A sharpen log jutted out from the bowels of the ship as they hit the harbor underwater defenses.


    Screams rang out as the water rushed in from the torn bottom of the galley. The ves chained to their seats screamed in panic and plead with their masters to release them but the Imperial crew was too busy trying to save themselves to care for the ves.


    The struggling ves drowned as the galley sunk underwater together with the crew who couldn''t swim or were overburdened with armor. The other galleys quickly slowed down following the disastrous end to one of their own ships.


    Crew members were dispatched to the bow of their ships to watch out for any hidden underwater dangers. As the galleys slowed, the harbor defenses had more time to fire their weapons at the Imperials, wrecking bloody carnage onboard the crowded decks.


    The Imperial galleys returned fire with their onboard catapults and ballistas, sending bolts and firebombs at the harbor. As the distance between the Imperial fleet and the harbor shortened, several more galleys got tangled up with underwater traps, while the harbor defenses'' uracy went up, striking more and more galleys.


    Suddenly a thick fog exploded out from the lead ships of the Imperial fleet. The thick fog hid the Imperials ships and the defensive fire from the harbor ceased temporarily. The Imperials taking the lure in the attacks from the harbor quickly closed the distance.


    A sudden wall of fire erupted from the sea before the harbor, as the Alliance mages cast a massive firewall spell to deter the approaching ships hidden inside the fog. The intense heat forced the Imperial ships to halt and the battle switched to the mages from both sides as they start throwing spells blindly at each other.


    The spells burned down ships unlucky to be in its path and the harbor also caught fire from Imperial spells and firebombs.


    -----


    North Gate, Frontier City


    The massive wood and steel gates towering over five meters mmed back against its hinges as the ranks of Bronze men hit the gates running. The causeway into the gates was wide enough for threerge wagons to move through side by side and over a hundred of the Bronze men stormed through the opening.


    The Alliance soldiers froze when they saw the ajar gates suddenly mmed wide open and a force of ck d Empire troops rushed in. The sudden charge knocked the Alliance soldiers back on their heels and the ughter began.


    -----


    Western Wall, Frontier City


    Borse cursed as a siege tower suddenly appeared from the dark, he quickly pulled a soldier by his armor and yelled, "Tell the towers to attack the siege towers! Ignore the damn dragons! They can''t hit anything in the dark!"


    The soldier saluted and ran off with his armor nking away towards the nearest ballista tower while Borse rallied his men. "We got siege towersing! I want a three line crossbow to wee them when they hit the walls! Those without a crossbow, go find a shield and form a shield line!"


    "Captain Borse!" A young voice called out from the chaos and Borse saw the young Man officer that spoke with him the other day.


    "Ahh?" Borse frowned as he tried to remember the Man''s name.


    "Lanser..." The Man gave a forced smile. "You remember me?"


    "Ahh yes, Captain Lanser," Borse nodded before asking, "do you have anything important?" He gestured towards the looming siege tower pushed by a small army of ves andnd dragons.


    "I... I was hoping you can advise me on what to do now..." The Man looked embaressed.


    "Don''t you have someone with experience advising you?" Borse looked shock. Even Taris listening at the side shook his head in pity.


    "Ah... no..." The youngster looked like he wanted to bury himself in a hole. "My men are all new at this war thing."


    "Gods be damned!" Borse cursed loudly. "You mean everyone in your troop is just a bunch of rich noble sons that dreams of glory and killing but no one had the brains to teach you all how to fight?"


    "We know how to fight!" One of the aides standing next to Lanser yelled out hotly. "Watch your tongue or I have it removed! Mercanery dog!"


    Borse stared in incredulous wonder at the tone of the Man aide while Tarisughed at the side.


    "Boy, go home, don''t y war here. You will just sully the dead." Taris snapped.


    "Who are you calling a boy?" The aide growled and half drew his sword. "I cut your ton-!"


    Instantly the men of The Last Company drew and pointed their des at the three Man soldiers, cutting off the words of the aide.


    "Enough!" Borse roared. He pointed to the siege engineing and said, "Our problems are out there! Not among ourselves!"


    His men lowered their weapons but continued to re with hostility at the Mans. Lanser looked pale at the actions of Borse''s men and turned to his aide and snapped, "Quiet!"


    "I- I am terribly sorry for my men''s words," Lanser said, "I apologize on his behalf."


    "It''s alright," Borse waved away Lanser''s attempts at apologizing. "We have bigger problems here!''


    "We need to get the towers to start to shoot at the enemy''s siege tower!" Borse quickly said. "The Empire dragons are a lure to distract the ballistas!"


    "There is no use in trying to shoot in the dark those dragons, they won''t hit anything!" Borse pointed out. "While they are wasting their time reloading, the Empire''s siege tower will hit the walls."


    "What can we do?" Lanser asked as he walked up to the battlement and peered out. "If the ballistas can''t stop them?"


    "Shield wall on the front and archers behind," Borse said. "Shields to hold off the flood of enemies while the archers pick them off."


    "I- I understand," Lanser turned to one of his men and said something. His man nodded and was about to leave but the Last Company men blocked his block with hostile looks.


    Borse sighed inwardly and nodded to his men who then opened a path for the Man. "If you want to survive this, we need to work together!"


    "Captain!" Someone yelled, "Attack! More siege towers in sight!"


    "Damn!" Borse cursed, "Men to your posts now!''


    -----


    North Gate, Frontier City


    With gate held by the Empire forces, the Imperial Legions switched their focus to the gate, sending reinforcements to support the attack.


    The Manmanders seeing the situation turning dire ordered their troops off the walls and to fall back towards the inner walls.


    The Empire troops sensing victory, atta ked with renew vigor, chasing down the retreating Alliance soldiers.


    The city residents seeing the retreat of their soldiers paniked and headed towards the inner city, jamming up the roads and gates, adding more confusion and panic.


    The Grey Lord cursed from his vantage view in his castle, watched his city burn. "Close the inner walls gate! Order all the soldiers that could not make it inside the walls to dy thr enemy!"


    "But how about the people?" His civic minsters asked.


    "Ignore them! if the Empire takes the inner city, all is lost!"


    -----


    Western Wall, Frontier City


    "Captain! We got enemiesing up on the right side!" A soldier reported panting to Borse.


    "What?" Borse asked. "From the right?"


    "Y- yes! They on fighting on the walls!"


    "Taris!" Borse yelled. "Take a troop and go check it out!"


    Taris nodded and called from his men before leading them towards the right tower of the wall.


    As Taris exited the tower, he found the entire section of the wall under heavy attack. Enemy soldiers in their blue livery were streaming out from the far end of the tower and throwing themselves into the swords and spears of the defenders.


    "What happened?" Taris grabbed a nearby Man soldier and asked.


    "The north gates were breached!" The frightened soldier replied. "I don''t know how but they are inside the walls!"


    "You!" Taris pointed to one of his men, "Go inform the Captain of this news! GO!"


    Taris turned back to the Man soldier, "Where''s Captain Lanser?"


    "The Captain?" The soldier looked confused, "I think he''s in the front somewhere!"


    "Alright! Follow me!" Taris yelled at the surrounding Man soldiers, "We need to stop them from destroying the nk!"


    The Man soldiers looked at each other in fear and confusion, "But- but..." They hesitated.


    "Are you men of Ma?" Taris asked in a low voice, "Did you not join the army to fight against the Empire?"


    "Should you falter here, what will happen to your families andnd?" Taris continued to speak to the gathered soldiers. "What willter generations speak of your actions in the future?"


    "Now, you can make a difference in this battle!" Taris''s voice lowered as he caught the men''s attention. "Fight for your people or be a coward. History will know your name as heroes or losers!"


    "What say you?" Taris''s suddenly yelled asking his own men.


    "We fight!" Taris''s men yelled out.


    "How about you all?" Taris''s voice boomed as he gestured to the Mans soldiers. "What say you?"


    "WE FIGHT!"


    "WHAT SAY YOU?"


    "WE FIGHT!"


    -----


    Whips snapped against the backs of the ves pushing the siege tower forward alongside a couple of bellowingnd dragons. The heavy metal wheels creaked as it rolled over the uneven terrain. Once in a while, the whole mobile tower shook as a ballista bolt mmed into the armored walls.


    Some of the bolts bounced off but a few managed to find a weak spot among the steel tings hung onto the tower''s frame. The lucky bolt prated and skewered the unlucky soldiers hiding inside, the force of the bolt causing the bodies to explode.


    Ranks and ranks of legions and ve warriors followed closely behind the towers as they advanced. The Imperial Dragons having done their duty as decoys for the city ballista, engaged the city''s dragons using superior tactics and experience.


    Dragons soon flew off the skies, somending on the legions and even over the walls, crushing anyone unlucky to be in their way into bloody meat paste.


    The city district outside the inner walls was mostly lower ss residence and workshops. As the Empire troops slowly flooded in, they started to raze the buildings and pige whatever valuables they could get their hands on.


    The people hiding in their houses were dragged out and gathered at an area to be sorted as ves while the pretty ones were raped or reserved by officers to be enjoyedter. Those that resisted were cut down on the spot, terrifying those who witness the brutally.


    Alliance soldiers locked outside the inner walls tried to surrender to the Empire but were cut down by the Imperial soldiers too crazed to care. Some Alliance officers managed to rally their men and they fought a desperate stand in the narrow city streets.


    Soon word came that the South Harbor has fallen, and Imperial raiding galleys started tond their crew and attacked the South Gates, causing more panic to spread throughout the city.


    All this while, the Rock sat on his mount and watched with a satisfied smile on his face at the sessful attack.


    "In the morning, we dine at the Grey Lord''s table!"

 Chapter 207: The Retreat

    Chapter 207: The Retreat


    Western Wall, Frontier City


    The grinding siege towers mmed against the city walls with a bone-jolting crash and a ram dropped down against the battlements. War cries rang out by hundreds of throats followed the ve warriors as they leaped over the bodies of the dead and onto the walls where Captain Borse and his men had formed a shield wall before the ram.


    "LOOSE!" Borsh roared as the Empire ve warriors charge out of the siege tower. Heavy twangs came from the crossbows and bows released by the double rank of archers sheltered behind the shield wall.


    The volley of arrows and bolts hammered into the first wave of attackers, the force of the volley mmed bodies backward to theirrades behind. As the bodies fell, they caused the others at the rear to stumble over them.


    Borse yelled the nextmand, "SPEARS! FORWARD THRUST!!!"


    "HOOOO!" The men armed with spears thrust out from behind their protective shields, stabbing at the enemy while the bowmen reloaded. "AGAIN!"


    "BOWS! LOOSE!" Another volley was fired out, the close distance ignored the light armor of the ve warriors and blood rained down to the lower floors.


    The ve warriors screamed in pain and fear as they were brutally cut down by arrows and spears. Suddenly a heavy sh of shields came from behind and a phnx of ck shields appeared from the stairs of the siege tower.


    "It''s the ck Scorpions!" Someone yelled as the Imperial Legions shoved the ve warriors out of their way as they stormed across the ramp. ves fell screaming as they were knocked off the ramp and down to the hard ground below.


    "LOOSE!" The bolts and arrows hammered into the shields of the ck Scorpions, some prating hard enough to nail the shield bearer arms to the shields. Suddenly the shields parted slightly, exposing a row of hand crossbows which shot out and mmed into the Last Company''s shield line.


    Some lucky bolts hit the exposed archers at the back and the veteran Legion charged across the short causeway. "CHARRRGEEEE!"


    The two lines of shields mmed into each other and the heavier Legion infantry managed to win in mass and strength against the Last Company soldiers. The Last Company soldiers fell back and quickly reformed up and surrounded the group of ck Scorpion troops holding at the ramp.


    "Don''t let them have a foot hold on the walls!" Borse yelled while he put his weight behind one of the shield bearers. He grunted with effort as they attempted to shove the ck Legion troops off the ramp. "Push them back! Push them off the ramp!"


    The archers abandoned their ranged weapons and added their weight to the shield line, both sides the men shoved and cursed, too close to use any weapons as they tried to push each other back.


    More and more Last Company men came and supported the shield line while some archers kept at the nks and attempted to snipe at the enemy.


    As the wooden ramp was slick with blood, a couple of the soldiers slipped, which gave the opening needed by the Last Company, whom the men''s muscle bugled and grunted with effort, shoving the enemy off the ramp and down the walls screaming to their deaths.


    "Captain! Message from for you!"


    Borse extracted himself from the shield wall and rested at the rear. "What is it?"


    The messenger sent by Taris quickly detailed out the situation happening at the other section of the wall.


    "What? Enemies are breaking in from the right nk?" Borse repeated in a low voice. The messager nodded in confirmation.


    "Hell, what is going on here?" Borse turned back and look at the burning city. "Is the city burning more or is it just me?"


    The messenger frowned and said, "It seems like the fire is spreading faster."


    "Any news from the wallmander?" Borse asked.


    "No sir," His men replied him.


    "Something is wrong!" Borse stood up and looked around the chaos. "Go check on themander!" He ordered his aides before joining in the shield wall to repeal the attackers again.


    Pots of hot coals and boiling oil were carried carefully by the men who flung the contents of the pots into the opening of the siege tower. The scalding hot oil and red coals cooked the soldiers behind the shield walls, melting fire and setting the damp limbers of the siege tower on fire.


    The siege towers were doused in water to prevent the defenders from setting the whole construct into mes easily but the mmable oil flowed over the timbers and cooked the men trapped inside. The men at the top tried to retreat down the stairs but the other soldiers at the bottom wanted to charge up, trapping everyone inside as they either cooked to death or died of asphyxiation and suffocation.


    "Captain!" The men who went to look for the wallmander came running back, "We can''t find themander or any other nobles or officers!"


    "What?" Borse stepped back from the burning tower.


    "We saw what appeared to be soldiers with Imperial colors on the streets too!" One of the men reported. "I think the Northen Walls have fallen!"


    "Damn!" Borse cursed as he red at the burning city.


    "What do we do now, Sir?" The men asked nervously. "Do we still fight or...?"


    "Send word to Taris," Borse snapped. "Tell him to fall back to our area now! And bring as many troops as he can!"


    -----


    North Gate, Frontier City


    The Rock rode leisurely through the gates nked by two ranks of heavily armored soldiers and mages. He breathed in deeply at the smell of burnt flesh and ashes in the air and smiled, "Go, enjoy yourselves! Take the city! Take everything!"


    His men gave a chorus of approval before they charge madly into the burning city while Heid his eyes on the Grey Lord''s Castle in the distant.


    -----


    Western Wall


    Taris stood behind a line of shields held by Man soldiers and lunged his rapier over the shoulders of the heaving men, striking an exposed arm or face with pinpoint uracy. The Man officer, Lanser watched with wide eyed wonder at the way Taris worked his rapier with fitness.


    He scrunched his face together as the healer crudely stitched the wound together on his shoulder where a iling ax punched through his ornate armor. As he fell, his men nearly broke and ran away. It was when Taris suddenly appeared with a small troop of soldiers and he single-handedly rallied the soldiers to his side and rescued Lanser.


    Should Taris be a few minuteste, Lanser''s position would have been overrun by the Imperials. He leaned against the parapet of the wall while a healer fussed over his wound. Biting back the pain, Lanser stood up and looked around him. A broken siege tower sat just dozens of feet away from his section of the wall where several ballista bolts had pierced it, breaking the construct''s protective spells before some mage managed to electrocute everyone inside the tower with some lightning spells.


    "Captain! We can''t find Commander Ottom!" One of Lanser aides reported, "And none of the staff nor nobles are around!"


    "Where could they have gone?" Lanser frowned. He watched Taris fighting off the flood of blue Imperials pouring out from the wall tower. "Could they have all fled? But why?"


    "Lord Taris!" A soldier from the Last Company called out, "The Captains wants you to fall back now! Seems like the North wall has fallen and the enemy is inside the city too!"


    "What?" Taris and Lanser both looked surprised at the news, "Captain Lanser! Pull your men back! Tell those ballista crews in the towers to fall back towards Captain Borse now!"


    "G- got it!" Lanser replied, getting his men to pull out of the walls. "What about you and your men?"


    "We will hold the enemy off as the rear guard!" Taris grinned, "Don''t worry, we are very experienced in rear guardbat! But leave your archers behind to support us!"


    Lanser nodded, secretly impressed more and more by Taris''s confidence. "Archers support the rear guard! The rest pull back and head to the next section! Move!"


    The Man soldiers grabbed their wounded and started evacuating to the next section of the wall by moving through the connecting tower. The ballista crews warned about the fall of the Northern walls quickly abandoned their weapons but not before burning the ballistas to prevent the enemy from using it.


    Taris and his men slowly step back as the Imperial troops constantly threw themselves against their flimsy shield wall while archers on both sides exchanged arrows and bolts.


    "Grab all the oil and mmable things!" Taris ordered his men, who quickly scrounge up somemp fuel and pots of still steaming oil. "Douse the wall with the oil!"


    The men quickly pour the mmable liquid onto the floor, the oil mixing with the sticky blood and bodily fluids. The men holding off the Imperials carefully step back as they strained their bodies against the hammer blows of swords, spears, and arrows.


    After backing off for more than 20 paces, Taris turned to the archers and yelled, "ming arrows! Set the ground on fire!"


    The archerspiled by dipping their arrows heads into a sticky resin mixture and lit them on fire with a slow burning match. The volley of ming arrows stuck around the area where they had doused it with oil but none of the ming arrows managed to ignite the trap.


    The archers in panic quickly shot off more ming arrows, trying to hit the oil soaked ground but the crowd of Imperials was blocking most of the shots. Taris cursed inwardly as he saw the efforts of the archers were not working at all.


    Suddenly a shrieking ball of firended among the Imperials and a split secondter, the oil caught fire and mes licked up from underneath the armored boots of the Imperials. They screamed in panic and fear and attempt to beat the mes away by stamping on the fire, only to have to burn oil stick to their boots.


    With the Imperial in disarray, the pressure against the shield wall lightened, allowing Taris and his men to disengage easily. As Taris entered the connecting tower, he saw sweating, pale face Lanser leaning against the wall heaving.


    "Thanks for that spell!" Taris grinned and helped Lanser up.


    "You saved me earlier, its the least I can do," Lanser smiled back and allowing Taris to support him. "But that''s all I can cast, my magic aptitude is very low actually."


    "That one fireball is more than enough, my friend," Taris replied as half carried Lanser through the tower to the other side of the walls. "Not bad for your virgin battle!"


    -----


    With the fall of the North Wall and the eventual retreat of forces from the West Wall, the Empire troops virtually faced no opposition as they flood in through the gates. Captain Borse noting the situation of the city has be dangerous, quickly ordered the men to form up and head towards their camp to escort their dependants to safety.


    He had earlier sent several runners to order the camp to prepare to move in an instant as the enemy has breached the walls. His people being on the run for many a year has perfected the packing of the camp quickly despite having a soft life in the city for a few months.


    By the time Borse and his men with other Man and Foralian soldiers that tagged along reached their camp. The people had already packed the tents and as many supplies as they could carry. Pack animals likend dragons and muffalos were stolen from nearby and were all hitched up and ready to move.


    "Where to, now?" Taris asked.


    Borse grabbed the reins of a war dragon and in a deft move, he mounted up onto the saddle. "To the West Gate."

 Chapter 208: The Cabal

    Chapter 208: The Cabal


    A figure stirred under a cover made out of soft animal skin. He carefully removed himself from the tangle of bodies cuddled up against him and strolled butt naked to therge open balcony. His bare feet brushing against a carpet of animal furs.


    From the vantage point of his balcony, ex-United Nations of Mankind Marine Corps, Third Sergeant Raman took in a breath of fresh air and grinned widely. He looked at the city he shaped slowlye awake and sat down on a wicker chair to observe the sun rising over ins.


    A wooden palisade ringed his tiny kingdom and further out arger and taller concrete wall was being built to rece the palisade. Blocky houses made out of mud and stone bricks were arranged in a ring around his fortified pce also made out of local bricks and concrete.


    "My Lord, the bath is ready," A soft feminine timid voice spoke from inside the room and Raman stood up and stretched before he followed the scantily d ve to the bath. A gilded gold cor ringed the neck of the voluptuous ve which indicted her status as a favored ve. The ve cor on a ve indicated his or her position. A gold cor generally is for ves with masters of high ranks or status while silver cors are for ves with some status or position and iron cors are for the lowest of ves.


    Should a ve attempt to escape and was caught, they will be beaten till an inch of their lives before ving away at the saltpeter production factories for life.


    Raman entered the Turkish styled bath and allowed the girl to wash him before he sank down into the waters and she massaged his shoulders while he soaked in the water. After washing up, Raman had a full body massage before he pulled the girl down and ravaged her.


    Fully refreshed and dressed in a pair of white spider silk robes, he entered the dining room to find the rest of his gang already feasting on the foodid out on the table buffet style.


    "Yo, herees our great Sultan!" Former Petty Officer 2nd ss Ivan Pavlo greeted Raman when he entered.


    "Good morning!" Raman grinned at his gathered men and sat down on the head of the long table. "Anything of immediate concerns?"


    "Some of the orc vige chiefs are grumbling that we are taking their men away and we are destroying their traditions and beliefs." Chun-Kok, the only Chinese among the deserters said. He was in charge of Administration here. "Theyin that their people no longer have honor in their lives."


    "Ha! As if we care what they want!" Nics De Vos, running the Recruitment and Manpower department said. "We did not force their young men to join us anyway! Hahahaha!"


    "But Boss, I must say using a pyramid scheme on these dumb aliens is a damn good idea!" Nicsughed. "We sell them guns and ammunition in return for ves, food and trade goods!"


    "And we don''t have to worry about any rebellion from the orcs!" Ivan wiped his greasy fingers on to the table cloth. "They are so stupid to fall for it! As long as they each recruit people who are willing to ''invest'' in our weapons, they get a small percentage of the investment and if their recruited members also recruit more people to invest in, they too get part of the investment as a reward!"


    "Hahahaha, seeing those dumb orcs doing sales is so damn funny!" Ivanughed together with Nics. "Ultimately all the profit goes to us!"


    "Don''t worry with the local Chiefs, I will be meeting themter," Raman replied and picked up some cold meat from the tes. "Siddarth, how are the fabricatorsing along?"


    "Pretty well," Siddarth replied, "We are in the midst of assembling the third fabricator, but we are pretty short handed here." He gestured around the table, "Only two of us are from Engineering with the knowledge to work the parts."


    "Well, some of you guys that are free need to help out with the fabricators," Raman said. "We need those tools to keep enjoying our life here, yes?"


    The men around the table nodded and agreed. "But Aaron, I want you to keep your focus on training our core of orc troops, you are excused from working with the fabricators." Raman detailed out his work n.


    "Yes, Boss," Aaron nodded, "We need a more sturdy weapon design, those damn orcs keep breaking the guns!"


    Raman sighed, "Well, I see what I cane out with. How goes the training?"


    "Well, I got over a thousand hot-blooded and grouchy orcs who keep trying to prove that he''s the better Orc over the other," Aaron said. "Had to shoot a few of them to keep the others in line."


    "The cannon revolvers you made are pretty deadly in close range if they could stop trying to use the guns as melee weapons and breaking them in the process," Aaron said.


    The revolver cannons were a simple design with a revolving chamber able to hold four 25mm ck powder short case rounds. The revolver barrel and frame was made out of carbon steel was toorge for humans and elves'' hands as it was specially designed for orcs.


    The orcs were able to hit targets up to 15 meters away urately with the revolver and blow huge holes out of a standard Empire te mail.


    "As for the rocket guns," Aaron grimaced, "Its uracy is something to be desired. I am training the orcs to volley fire with the rocket guns and I don''t want to be under the receiving end of that volley."


    The rocket guns were another design made by Raman. The weapon is simr to the M79 grenadeuncher used in the 1960s. The difference being arger handgrip, no flip up sights and different ammunition. It fires a 40mm ck powder explosive shot with a crude rocket motor. The rocket is loaded singly into the break action of the gun and fired with a contact fire rune.


    It had an effective range of 400 meters and 4 seconds of fuel for the rocket to burn. It was highly inurate but the effects were devastating to receive and the Orcs loved it.


    "Keep training them, I don''t expect them to be the Marine standard of training," Raman replied. "Alright, I think there is a delegation of traders waiting for me to talk business. I leave it to you boys to do what you need to do."


    With that Raman wiped his lips with a cloth before he headed off to the meeting area where a group of merchants was awaiting his arrival. He has chosen the site of his city carefully, building his city directly on top of a freshwater oasis in the ins which was also near a major trade route. His actions, of course, incited the ire of the local Orc ns as he took possession of a major water source.


    Two Orcs were chatting among themselves while standing guard over the door into the meeting road, straight up and saluted military style to Raman as he approached. They pushed the doors open for Raman to enter and return to their gossip once the doors were closed tight.


    In therge meeting room were a long wooden table andfortable chairsid out around. Several merchants dressed in rich and colorful clothing to showcase their status stood up as Raman came in. "Greetings, Sul-tan,"


    "I heard that you seek safe passage over the ins?" Raman got into business immediately.


    "Yes, my Lord," The merchants looked curiously at the strange being seated in front of them. "We like to hire your men to provide escorts."


    "I got a better n," Raman grinned, "How about setting up a trading hub here?"


    "A trade hub?" The merchants looked at each other, "Why do we want to trade here in the middle of no where?"


    "I offer a free trade zone here in my city," Raman replied. "It''s free trade, no trade taxes."


    "What is a free trade zone?" The merchants asked curiously.


    Raman grinned, knowing that he has gotten the merchant''s attention and started to exin what a free trade zone is and the benefits of it.


    -----


    The meeting went on tillte afternoon and Raman came out of the room with all smiles on his paunchy face. Finally, it is alling together! Raman thought to himself happily. It had been almost half a year since they ran away from the ship and established his city-state here in the ins.


    If it wasn''t for the fact of his powerful weapons, the Orc''s countless raids on his budding city would have destroyed his dreams. Luckily he managed to sell his pyramid scheme of investing in his weapons to the Orcs who paid in ves, valuables, food and trade goods which increased his wealth and manpower greatly.


    He even epted contracts of servitude by the Orcs if they couldn''t pay and while sales incentives andmissions, he formed a medieval army of sales executives that strived to hit the end of the month KPIs!


    All these generated iing and manpower as word spread to the surrounding cities and towns of a new city that offered weapons and items of the utmost quality. His city mostly consisted of Orcs and ves, while a mix of merchants setting up shops and services here. As only one can offer to buy a property in his city will automatically be a citizen which has its own benefits like exemption from paying entrance fees and water taxes.


    These activities, of course, did not well went with the Orc nomadic ns living in the ins as young orcs lured by the promises of riches by Orcish salesmen. The Orc elders were also unable to do much as Raman was smart enough to offer trade deals with the surrounding ns that would force the ns to rely on him solely in the future for weapons and other resources.


    And with his weapons and an army of Orc soldiers bonded to him by a magical contract, no Orc n was stupid enough to attack him anymore. Raman grinned as he envisioned what his city will grow into and unlike those damn stuck up officers trying to regimentalize everything, this is what freedom is all about!


    But he still has to be mindful of the power of his previous colleagues. Those people ying soldiers might be weak in dealing with this world, but they still have plenty of fire power to destroy everything he has built up.


    And for that, he needed to be both economically and militarily strong that those UN shitheads will have to think twice at attacking him. Now his city poption is almost fifteen thousand strong, with another five thousand traffic daily at least. People are flocking to his city in waves due to the expansionist Empire which was aggressively expanding its borders.


    Sooner orter, the Empire wille knocking and Raman knew enough that to prevent stop the Empire is not to defeat it but to make it too painful and expensive for them to continue.


    But he needs an army and for that, Raman nned to unite the Orcs under one g, his g. With the powerful Orcs in his pocket, he will have a force that no one can content against and he will be king!


    As he walked towards the great hall, the doors were opened by two of thergest specimen of Orcs, Raman has ever seen. He strolled confidently through the opened doors and sat down on the throne like seat on the raised tform where arge group of grumbling Orcish chieftains and Elders were gathered under the watchful guns of his Orc soldiers.


    They watched cautiously with beady eyes at Raman who looked down on them like he was their god.


    "Wee to The Cabal!"

 Chapter 209: The City of Slaves

    Chapter 209: The City of ves


    The boy stood up and stretched his lean body while he rubbed his strained neck. He has been carving binding spells on the iron cors on his work table for the past four hours non stop. His workshop lit brightly by huge open windows that asionally brought in some breeze from the ins.


    "M- Master An?" A slim girl barely the boy''s height gently knocked on the door and entered with a tray of steaming food. "It''s your midday meal."


    "Ahh... Teresa!" An gave a bright smile and quickly gestured her in. He quickly swept the stack of iron chokers to the side of his work table and even helping her take the tray off her hands. He set the tray down on the table before pulling another chair over for her to sit.


    The girl quickly refused the seat and hurriedly rejected the offer, "M- Master An... I got work to do at the kitchens!"


    An shooked his head and firmly pulled her down to the chair, "Sit and share some of the food! I can''t finish them all!"


    "B- but..." Teresa looked flustered, "It isn''t my ce to dine with you..."


    An sighed and looked at the rusty iron cor around her neck. She wore a simple grey homespun coarse dress and a somewhat whitish gravy-stained apron. Her hands were rough from constant work in the kitchen galleys. She had a heart-shaped face andrge greenish eyes that attracted An a lot and her blonde hair was bun up in a knot.


    An thought that if she cleaned up and dressed better she will look quite pretty. "Eat!" He pushed the tter of meat and boiled roots with gravy and the small basket of freshly baked bread in front of her.


    "B- but it is not proper!" She insisted, her hands gripping her apron tightly. "If the housekeeper sees me sitting here and eating your meal... She will have me whipped!"


    "Rx, I will protect you!" An patted his chest as he gave a reassuring smile at the frightened scullery maid. "Quickly eat while it is still hot! You need more food, you are all skin and bones!"


    The girl sighed and gave in, picking up a piece of bread and nibbling at it nervously. An cut half the steak and pushed it to her and watched her savourly her food with joy.


    After the meal was over, Teresa quickly packed the tes away onto the tray and quickly retreated out of An''s workshop, bowing as she closed the door.


    An''s smile vanished as the door closed and he thought back to the day he was rescued by Raman and his men in those strange magical wagons of theirs in the forest. Raman promised him revenge and An bent the knee to vowed to serve Raman with all his ability as long as he can get his revenge.


    An sighed and looked at the stack of cors he was assigned to put spells to bind the restrained to the will of its master and with a sudden sweep of his hand, he flung the cors onto the stone floor, the iron cors rattling loudly in the workshop.


    "ARGHH!!!!!!!"


    -----


    Stronghold of the Cabal


    Teressa moved quickly back to the kitchen where she ced the dirty dishes into a wooden tub and she went out to the courtyard where a water pump sat. She worked the pump and water sshed out into the wooden pail under the hose.


    When she was caught by the Orc vers that raided her small vige, she thought she will be some worker for the Orc mines or worst sold to the Empire to be a toy to some nobles. But instead, she was brought here and traded for some strange shiny cylindrical but exotic looking items that filled arge wooden chest.


    When she first came here, she was assigned to some Orc foreman that was very generous with his whips. She and hundreds of others were forced to make bricks with mud, straw and crushed rocks.


    Over time, she found that there were as much as ten thousand vesboring away to build a city in this wide ins. The first to be built was the Stronghold, where she briefly caught a glimpse of some fat man in strange clothing that the Orcs seemed to follow.


    All the ves were forced to bow and touch their foreheads against the ground when the "Sul-tan" was in their presence. Those who refused were whipped to an inch of their lives and returned to work for their masters. Those that attempted to escape and were caught by thoserge wolves of the Orcs were crucified. Their rotting bodies left nailed on crosses were purposely left, staked around the camps of the ves to remind them of the consequences of defying the "Sul-tan".


    When the city buildings finally were built, the Sultan announced that the ves can have their own homes and even pay! They can buy their freedom back with the money they saved and no longer be a ve but a free man and even citizenship in the city!


    Teressa looked at the magical binding contract that stated she owed the Sultan a debt totaling 57 pieces of gold crowns and if she repaid the amount in full she will be free. The breakdown cost of the debt was even listed out from the cost of buying them to food, lodging, and even welfare.


    To everymoner, a single piece of gold crown already represented arge amount of wealth. Yet this contract gave hope to everyone for a chance to gain back their freedom if they work hard enough to save up.


    But she, like many did not realize there was a very fine print on the contract that said there was an annual interest fee of 25%. So she signed the contract as the other offer was to be a ve for life working in mines or construction, stating her skill sets and was given an iron cor that binds to the contract she signed with her own blood.


    ves with useful skills were sorted out and assigned jobs that could make use of their knowledge and skills properly. Those that were unskilled were sent off to some mines and farms to beborers.


    She was lucky to be picked to work inside the pce of the Sultan, the Stronghold of the Cabal despite barely having any skills or useful knowledge only then knowing how to cook. She got assigned to be a scullery maid, cleaning pots and pans while doing other menial household chores.


    Every week, she earned a pitiful 4 copper coins which food, lodging, and clothes were deducted from the total pay. Her meals which were mostly leftover bread and soup and she shared a room with three other girls working in the Stronghold too.


    Teressa found that the city was built very differently to the only city she ever been to that her parents brought her to when she was just a child. The roads wereid out perfectly and the ves have to follow the instructions given strictly or be punished.


    The city was surprisingly cleaner than what she would expect from having Orcs and ves living in it. A small army of ves was assigned to clean the streets and sewers every day and no one was allowed to dirty the streets or they will face punishments.


    There was just a public whipping of a couple of ves who dumped night soil out on the streets and the Orcish enforcers quickly dragged the two ves pleading for their lives to the punishment square where they rang a bell to gather everyone to watch them deal out the punishments.


    Only ves living in the city worn a metal type cor while those ves that did not sign the contract of debt to the Sultan worn leather cors and were not allowed in the city after dark. They slept in workcamps outside the city and were mostly miners, builders or farmers.


    Brutish Orc enforcers armed with strange tubr weapons manned the walls, gates and even patrolled the streets regrly. They dealt with anyone breaking the rules andw with brutalness. Even the merchants who passed by has to follow the rules strictly.


    The ouying Orc ns watching the city grow grew greedy for the wealth of the city and sent constant raids, hoping to steal ves and pige the city. The Orcs strange tubr weapons roared as loud as thunder, frightening the ves and at the same time, those strange weapons cut down the raiding hordes easily.


    Over time, Teressa and the other ves grew ustomed to the weapons and even felt pride each time the Orc enforcers beat back the raiders, some even cheering for the enforcers much to the amusement of the Orcs enforcers themselves.


    Another strange thing that happened was that the Sultan decreed that everyone including the Orcs were to take sses in the schools that were built. So other than her work duties in the kitchen, Teressa had to go take sses, learning words and mathematics. Most of the ves were illiterate but those knowledgable that perform well in the written tests were given better jobs as clerks and administrators.


    It was also at this time when she met the strange boy also known as Master An who seemed to take an interest in her.


    -----


    Training fields of the Cabal


    Aaron paced down the firing line marked out by gorging the ground with a bay. "Form up!"


    The ranks of Orcs excitedly strolled up as one and lined up before the firing line and drawing out their revolver cannons. 20 meters down the line was a row of poles staked to the ground with Empire te mail attached on them.


    "Take aim!" Aaron barked and the Orcs raised the heavy revolvers up in a two hand stance, using the crude leaf sights to aim at the targets.


    "FIRE!"


    Thick gouts of rotten egg smelling white smoke burst out from the firing line as the Orcs squeezed their triggers. The area around the targets exploded as heavy shells hammered all over the area. The more urate shots hammering the te mails and blowing a blooming metal flower at the exit wound.


    "FIRE!"


    Another volley roared out, this time, the fire was less urate as the thick smoke limited visibility. Some of the Orcs were even waving the smoke away and coughing.


    "FIRE!"


    "FIRE!"


    "FIRE!"


    The te mail targets barely held together by the end of the fifth volley. Gaping holes and dangling metal tes could clearly be seen on the destroyed targets. The Orcs shootersughed and whooped with glee at the destruction.


    "Switch weapons!" Aaron roared again and the Orcs quickly reholstered their revolvers into their holsters that were worn diagonally across their chest before reaching over their shoulders and pulling out the rocket guns.


    "AIM!"


    The Orcs raised their rocket guns and rested the buttstock against their thick shoulders, aiming as they were taught at the targets while thumbing back the cocking hammer to arm the weapon.


    "FIRE!"


    A volley of sharp pops followed by a shrieking roar and streaks of sparks could be seen in the smoke as the rocket engines of the rockets ignited. The rockets burst out of the barrels and flew out wildly, shrieking towards the targets.


    Raman gave an evil smile as he turned his back towards the training field while facing the Chiefs and Elders watching the weapons demonstration at the side and asked, "Is it better to be feared or respected?"


    "I say, is it too much to ask for both?" Raman looked at each of the Orcs in the eye. "They say the best weapon is when you never have to use it. I respectfully disagree!"


    "I prefer the weapon that you can keep firing!" Raman spread his hands out as the targets behind him vanished in a series of explosions. "I give you the new age of warfare!"

 Chapter 210: Running the Gauntlet

    Chapter 210: Running the Gauntlet


    East Gate, Frontier City


    Thousands of people and soldiers from the city crowded around the only exit that still remained free of Imperial troops as they tried to escape the burning city. In the sea of chaos, only a small area was in order, the men of the Last Company and 19th Guardians had formed into an infantry square formation, protecting their dependables inside the square.


    Earlier when they retreated from the Western Wall, they found a noble who told them that the East Gate still stands and there are no Imperial forces sieging that gate. Borse decided to head towards that Gate in hopes that what the nobles said were true as he could see the North, West, and South districts were on fire.


    He crudely told Lanser that if he wants to follow along he has to listen to hismand and Lanser willingly agreed. Borse than told Lanser to have his men go retrieve their families if they have in the city within 2 hours and meet up at the East side of the city. Anyone not there in time will be left behind.


    The men of the 19th Guardians were mostly second or third sons from rich families. Borse ordered them if they bring their families along, they can only bring what they could carry on them. Any excess luggage they were to carry themselves as the road towards the next city will be very rough.


    Next Borse ordered half his men to go requisite more wagons,nd dragons, and supplies for the road ahead. They were rtively unmolested as the Empire troops were hitting the North and West areas of the city while the South Gate was under heavy siege from the Imperial ships.


    Most of the 19th Guardians returned with their families in tow, but some of their dependants brought extra luggage, citing that its all their valuables and important things which Borse ignored.


    "You brought it along, you carry it yourself!" Borse crudely informed them. "No soldiers here will carry your luggage for you nor will the wagons are for you!"


    Those that came with their own carriages were forced out and thepany wounded were ced inside. The soldiers ignored the outraged owners and while their sons tried to calm their families down.


    "Captain?" Lanser stood beside Borse who was mentally counting the number of wagons they have. "Most of those people are powerful, they have the means to make life difficult for you if you treat them badly."


    "Why would I care?" Borse asked, "I''m not a Man nor Foralian citizen. Our wounded needs those carriages more than their fat asses."


    Lanser gave a cough of embarrassment, while Taris at the sideughed. Taris pped Lanser''s back and said, "Come on you are a soldier, cuss wounds are normal here. Besides, the important thing is our lives, what can gold do if you have no food to buy? Can you eat gold or diamonds?"


    Borse nodded in agreement, before ordering some of his men to dump the excess luggage off some of the merchant wagons, that they secretly piled into. "Remove those and load the supplies in.


    The soldier dragged the chests off the wagons and without any care just flung them to the side where the chest broke and rolls of fabric and jewelry spilled out from the broken chests. The owners cried as if they lost they''re first born, kneeling over the spilled items and trying to gather them up while cursing and threatened the soldiers who gave a grinned and continued to dump the unwanted luggage off.


    "We need all the supplies we need to make the distance to the next City," Borse gave a crude exnation. "And we allowed you and your men to bring their family along rather than letting everyone to die here."


    "Alright, its time to go!" Borse looked back at the Western Wall. "The Imperial soldiers will soon sack finish the West District. We need to move now, we can''t wait anymore!"


    With that Borse ordered the soldiers to form up into a square formation with all the wagons and dependants in the middle and marched off towards the East Gate. Halfway there, they found the way blocked hundreds and hundreds of people attempting to escape out by the East Gate.


    Using the blunt ends of their spears and shields, the men forced their way through, ignoring the cries of outrage and battered their way towards the gate. Some of the Man and Foralian soldiers quickly attached themselves to thepany as they saw that they were disciplined enough to still hold together in a formation, giving them hope to escape this ce.


    As they came within view of the massive gates, Borse frowned as he saw the gates were closed. "Alright, boys! The gate is within sight! Let''s move up!"


    They forced their way to the front and found barricades with Man soldiers blocking the Gate. People in small groups of twos or threes appeared to allow through the barricades and out from the side door of the Gate after paying some fee.


    Borse yelled, "Who''s inmand here?"


    The soldiers looked Borse in his mismatch armor and sneered, "If you want to pass, its 1 gold piece per person! No money, get lost from here!"


    "What?" Lanser came up next to Borse and frowned, "Bring your officer out here now!"


    The soldiers seeing Lanser in his Guardian armor and his sash of office paled in fright, "Yes, Captain! A- Ah wait a moment please!"


    A short whileter the soldiers returned with a fat officer in an undersize te mail who wobbied out from the Guard House and looked at the group of soldiers with a look of disdain. "You want to get out of the city?"


    "Yes!" Lanser nodded. "Out the gates! Let these people out!"


    "Deserters!" The fat officer yelled and pointed a puny finger at the astonished Lanser. "You soldiers are running away from the Empire! Go back to your post or don''t me me for being merciless!"


    Lanser''s mouth hung wide open in shock, while Taris at the side held back hisughter at Lanser''s expression. Boris''s face only turned darker and without a word, he turned around and looked at his men''s confident faces. "Breakthrough!"


    The men roared and charged, stunning the guards at the gate. The fat officer was so shocked that he toppled onto his back and sat on the floor staring at the soldiers mming the barricades down and attacking the guards while the civilians at the side cheered.


    "Tr- Traitors!" The fat officer cried out in fear, "Rebels! It''s a coup! You are Imperial agents! Spies! Traitors!"


    "Shut his fat mouth!" Borse roared and pointed to the fat officer who saw several soldiers led by Lansering over the broken barricade directly at him. He gave a yelp of fear and quickly crawled to his feet and wobbled off to lock himself in the Guard House.


    Most of the guards around the gate were taken by surprise but a few resisted and were cut down. "Quickly before more guardse! Lift the gate bars up! Lanser! Bring some of you men to the Gatehouse and open the portcullis!"


    The civilians seeing the soldiers lifting the heavy crossbar of the gate surged forward to help, while Lanser led some of his men up the tower and into the Gatehouse. He used his authority to force his way in and had the portcullis raised.


    The gates slowly swung open by hundreds of hands and everyone cheered. "Move it! Don''t push!" Borse yelled at the people who quickly ran out of the city.


    "Let''s go!"


    -----


    Three monthster, over the Goblin Sea


    Specks of white fluffy snow drifted down from the grey skies, limiting visibility by more than half. The heavy drones of heavy engines rumbled loudly inside the cabin of the seane flying over the Goblin Sea.


    Airforce Corporeal Eisan walked over the metal scaffolding inside the ne where dozens of dark olive green cigar shaped bombs hung on racks. He carefully checked each rack of 50 kg cast iron bombed pained in dark olive green with a yellow band around the nose to ensure the bombs were not knocked loose from their cradles.


    A total of three bomb racks lined both sides of the scaffolding and each rack held four bombs. Eisan passed by the legs of Airforce Private Lukon who manned the top turret as he headed towards the forward bay of the seane bomber.


    The scaffolding split into two ways, one going up and the other going down. The steps up led to the radio, radar and navigation station and directly to the cockpit while the steps going down led to the crew resting area and pantry beforeing to the ess of the nose turret.


    The Flying Boat "Mariner" (FB-1) was thetest andrgest ne ever built yet by the Colony. Powered by two heavy 14-cylinder radial engines and with a range of over 3,000 kilometers. It can carry a load of 6,500 kg. Ites armed with a dual .50 caliber air-cooled heavy machine for the nose, dorsal and tail turrets and one each in blisters amidships


    The sea gull wing design of the ne has a flight speed of 310 km per hours, allowing it to reach the Goblin City within six hours. The nes had to refuel halfway with a special seane tender out in the sea as the entire airforce fleet of Mariners made their way to bomb the goblin''s capital.


    The three Mariner bombers were cruising at a speed of 290 km at an altitude of five thousand meters above sea level. The crew of seven had to wear oxygen masks and thick coats to allow them to function so high up.


    "Mother to Seagull One," The radio came to life just as Eisan sat down on his station. "What is your status over?"


    "Seagull One to Mother, we are looking fine," Eisan replied while he pulled out a chart, "ETA to Tango, forty minutes, over."


    "Roger, godspeed Seagulls! Out."


    "Hey, Goldan?" Eisan called from this station to the pilots. "How''s the weather out there?"


    "Shit, is shit!" Came back the reply from the internalms. "Damn goblins most probably be cozying in some damn cave!"


    "Well," Eisanughed as he said over thems. "We are gonna help make them nice and warm!"


    -----


    Goblin City


    "Ahhh choooooooo!" Riker the goblin sneezed. He rubbed his wet nose and sucked on the mucus that collected on his bony finger. "mmmHmmmmm~"


    He looked up at the badly built roof and walls of the workshop shed and cursed. "Dumb builders need to be hang by their toes!"


    He shivered again as a gust of wind blew in through the cracks of the shed. Rubbing his shoulders, that were coveredyers of animal skins, he returned to his work, using a crude de to ne a piece of wood into somewhat t.


    The base skeleton of a goblin raid shipid out among him as he and dozens of other goblins worked on it. Riker dropped his tool as he took in a deep breath and sneezed again, and at the same time a massive explosion erupted somewhere outside that shook the work shed madly.


    "Ha? Did I sneezed and something blew up?"


    -----


    Skies over Goblin City


    "DROP DROP DROP!!!" The co-pilot/bomber yelled as he glued his eyes onto the bombsights at his station, his finger flipping down on the release switches. The underbelly hatches had swung open at the approach towards the city and upon the release triggered, the cradles holding the bombs opened in sequence and racks of bombs fell.


    Each ne dropped their loads over the city on locations marked out by Intel to be the construction workshops for the goblin ships and where the docking slips of thepleted ships were.


    Blossoms of explosions followed behind the three nes as the ck powder bombs on impact fuses hit the ground, sending massive clouds of ck dirty smoke and fire up into the skies.


    "Nice warm and toasty!"

 Chapter 211: Battle of Reachfields

    Chapter 211: Battle of Reachfields


    The seagull shaped flying boat hit the choppy waters with a bounce, before dipping down again. The pilot pulled back the throttle, powering down the engines as he fought the controls to keep the ne leveled against the sea.


    After a few more bounces against the waves, the flying boat''s knife bow plowed through the waves and the pilot slowly eased the throttle to allow the flying boat to push itself next to the massive seane tender, UNS Matador.


    The twin-hulled seane tender had a small flight deck perched on the top of two hulls. Cranes and other heavy lifting equipment lined the sides of the tender while an ''ind'' sat on the starboard side of the t top deck.


    The ship''s length was measured at 84m with a beam of 28.5m wide. The flight deck had two steam catapults for the F/A -1N Sea Cobras tounch out and deck space for helicopter type aircraft tond and takeoff. Inside the belly of the tender held eight Sea Cobras tightly parked together with two elevators to bring the nes to the top.


    To retrieve the seanes once they wereunched, the Sea Cobras had tond on the sea surface and be picked up by cranes. The seane tender was built by using the two old ships bought from the Isles. The hulls were stripped down and refurbished with new materials before the top flight and hangar decks were welded over the two hulls.


    It was armed with two 3" guns, one on each side of the hull, eight dual 20mm mounts and twelve .50 caliber guns for self-defense. A crew of 139 manned the ship, which barely filled up half the required manpower needed to fully crew the ship.


    The remaining two flying boats followed the first ne down and soon parked next to the UNS Matador, where the crew of the tender swung a crane over with refueling lines. The FB-1 Mariner crews grabbed the refueling lines and plug them into the refueling port on the wings while the UNS Floatin'' Wreck sat a short distance away watching over them.


    Once refueled, the lead ne powered up its engine propellers and goosed off to allow the next ne to take its ce to refuel. The process was repeated for the till all three flying boats were fully refueled and they gunned their engines to full power and bounced off the waves and back into the skies, doing a single loop around the UNS Matador before flying back to base.


    Commander Ford grinned as he watched the three flying boats disappear over the snowing horizon, "Mission sessful!" He reported back to Command before he turned to his crew in the bridge of UNS Matador.


    "Good job, people! Now bring us back home! Those green skins won''t bother us for some time now!"


    -----


    Reachfields, Kingdom of Ma


    The sun disappeared behind the grey clouds and the temperature dropped. Tiny snow drifts fell from the downcast skies before being whipped around in the air by gusts of cold wind. Yet despite the cold weather, thousands and thousands of men and beasts stood side by side, facing each other with weapons and full armor.


    Banners of various colors representing different allegiance andpanies fluttered in the cold winter air. The men stamped their feet in the cold and rubbed cold hands together. The breath of the anxiously waiting soldiers turned white in the air as both sides stared down at each other.


    Captain Borse cursed under his breath as he rubbed his nose numbed from the cold and wondered why the hell were they fighting in the winter. He looked at his Last Company''s men which grew to almost double the numbers since the retreat from Frontier City and frowned, wondering how many will get to see the next day.


    The past few months had been a frenzy of running and fighting. The Empire general purposely left the Eastern Gate open so that the demoralized soldiers and citizens will have a hole to run. He instead had his cavalry forcesying in wait to harass the retreating poption and soldiers.


    The constant raids andck of supplies for many, led many of the people and soldiers to surrender, giving the Imperials easy victories. The run to the next safe city was like what Borse and his men had fought for many months ago and the constant battles hardened up the inexperienced 19th Guardians led by the youngster, Captain Lanser.


    After many tough situations, they arrived at the City of Reachfields where thousands of refugees fearing the Empire had fled there. The normally peaceful city suddenly turned chaotic as thousands of troops from the Two Nation Alliance rallied there. Defensive trench works were dug and the city walls fortified.


    Borse and his men were given a billet outside the city and assigned a series of defensive works consisting of dirt walls and wooden palisades to defend. The Empire slowly made its way over to Reachfields as it consolidated its forces and also strengthen its supply lines before it made its way over.


    Now both armies stood facing each other with a distance of a ballista maximum range away. Troops were formed uprge infantry squares while archers stood in a loose skirmish line in front of the line troops. Mages formed up behind the shield walls and the dragon cavalries held the wings of the army. The flying dragons stayed at the rear waiting for themand to fly.


    All in all, it was a straightforward battle as thend t enough for cavalry and infantry charges with little hills and forests around to provide concealment to hide troop movements while the Two Nation Alliances troop were fortified behind defensive works in front of the city.


    Suddenly ck dots arrived over the Imperial formations and someone yelled, "Imperial Dragons!"


    "They are attacking!"


    Horns and drums rolled down from the Empire side as the Imperial formation shook into action. They marched forward confidently with the dragons in support overhead, trampling over the frozen farnds.


    "Make ready!" Borse yelled from the barricade he was standing behind. The Imperials were attacking their fortified position so they had an advantage of cover. His men sat up from the ground and gripped spear shafts with frozen hands and fingers, resting the long shafts against the spiked barriers.


    The roar of dragons had Borse looking up to see the pale yellow underbellies of the Alliance dragons flying over them as they sortie against the Imperial dragons to prevent the Imperial dragons from bombarding the allied troops below.


    Suddenly dozens of heavily armored trolls with chains appeared and stormed their way towards the allied defenses. The Empire hid the trolls and moved them forward in their cages covered with a white cloth to prevent the Allied troops from spotting them.


    Borse''s face turned pale with horror as he watched two trolls about three times his height storming over, their thick iron chains digging furrows on the frozen ground as it was dragged along.


    "Ballistas! Aim for the Trolls!" Borse turned and yelled, hismand being echoed down by others to the Ballistas mounted on therge tform towers.


    The Imperials advanced with shields raised as they came into bow range. Poles marked the terrain for the Allied troops, allowing them to gauge the distance and the Company Captain of the Archers yelled, "LOOOOOSEEE!"


    Hundreds of ck feathered arrows were released as one. They arc into the air and rained down among the advancing Imperials. Cries and screams rose from the Imperials as they weathered the arrows, the unfortunate ones getting hit.


    The Trolls ignored the pinpricks of the arrows that stabbed into their exposed bodies and instead roared with fury and they charged. The ballistas fired bolt after bolt, reloading as fast as they could to hit the Trolls but only were marginally sessful in bring down two trolls out of almost fifty of them.


    Borse watched anxiously as the Trolls closed the distance rapidly to their position. The arrows and bolts only further irritated them as the two Trolls were targetted by the archers and crossbowmen.


    "Tell the mages to hit them with their biggest spell!" Borse ordered, "Kill those damn things now!"


    The Trolls mmed into the fortified dirt walls and spike barricades like they were nothing. Pieces of sharpened logs torn off by the Trolls flew everywhere. Dirt exploded when the Trolls hammered their crude iron maces against the earth walls and send bodies flying away.


    The brave men stabbed at the Trolls with their spears and barely drew blood against the rough barklike skin. Several soldiers were swept away back a swing of its iron mace, their blood sttering across the entire defensive works.


    Suddenly cracks of lightning sparked out and impacted dead center on one of the Trolls. The thick iron chest te glowed red from the spell''s impact and the Troll suddenly jerk danced on the spot. Steamers of smoke appeared from the Troll''s body and the smell of burnt meat rose out.


    The Troll gave ast jerk and toppled face down with an earth shaking crash and the men cheered wildly. The other Troll seeing itsrade down, roared with fury and its crushing attacks intensified.


    "Form up! The Imperials are here!" Borse roared as he saw the line of blue coated soldiersing within charging range. "Form a shield wall now!"


    The men hesitated as they looked at the carnage wrought by the Troll and the line of blue coated soldiers approaching. "Hurry up! Don''t let the Imperials roll over!"


    The Troll roared with anger and spotted the soldiers behind him retreating and forming into a shield wall. It delighted it as it made it easier for him to smash those puny two legs and it ran over just as a ballista bolt punched half its length through its left shoulder.


    The sudden force of the ballista bolt threw the Troll backward and directly onto the charging Imperials who couldn''t stop in time and the heavy body smashed dozens of armored Imperials into a bloody pulp.


    "Good shooting!" Borse roared together with the rest of his men. "Plug the holes! Don''t let the Imperials in! Mages, kill that thing now! And someone go behead that troll!"


    More streaks of lightning struck the Troll with the impaled bolt in his shoulder, electrifying it. A couple of beefy soldiers armed with logging axes quickly stood over the head of the first fallen Troll and they hacked and chopped at the tough neck muscles of the Troll, before its head rolled off, effectively killing the Troll before it regenerated itself.


    The other soldiers gave a war cry and rushed up back to their original positions. The barriers destroyed by the Trolls were quickly shored up with soldiers armed with shields. The men anxiously readied their spears as the line of blue coated screaming Imperial soldiers mmed into the barricades at a charge and the dying began again.


    -----


    As the sky grew darker, the Imperial troops pulled back to lick their wounds, leaving behind hundreds and hundreds of dead and dying. The day''s battle had ended without any side having an advantage over the other,


    Borse sat down on his steel helmet and watched his people sieving through the wreckage and bodies to find anyone still alive. Their own dead were collected while the Imperials were set aside to be burned. Others picked up weapons and equipment and piled everything on one side to be taken to the Company''s cksmiths to work on.


    "Damn cold day isn''t it?" Borse said as Taris and Lanser came up to him. "How bad?"


    "We lost 117 today, with another 342 wounded," Taris gave the butcher bill. "We have another 28 seriously wounded and they might not live till tomorrow."


    "Damn," Borse looked down and spat. "See if we can repair the barricades and walls."


    Lanser frowned and asked, "Captain, we can''t keep having our people die without any recements, at this rate, sooner orter there will be no one left in the Company."


    "So what you want us to do?" Borse asked as he stood up and loomed over Lanser. "Run away?"


    "No, not run away," Lanser replied as he stood his ground against Borse. "We need to recruit more people to thepany."

 Chapter 212: 212 - Pyramid Scheme

    Chapter 212: 212 - Pyramid Scheme


    The Great Ocean ins


    Ex Warchief Urka grinned as he counted out the number of ves that were being used to exchange for the dreaded Boom Booms of the Cabal. He ced his meaty arm over the clearly disgruntled Orc who just paid twenty ves just to buy the weapons.


    "You no worry!" Urka gave a salesman like smile. "You bring ves or gold, you get Boom booms! More ves or gold, more Boom booms!"


    The Orc shrugged off his arm and asked, "So where are my Boom booms?"


    "No hurry, no hurry!" Urka raised his hands up in peace before he gestured one of hisckeys over with a wooden crate. "Here are your Boom booms! One every four ves!"


    The Orc opened the wooden case and pulled out the revolver cannon, marveling in its design and pointed at the distance and squeezed the trigger a few times.


    "Why no boom boom?" He demanded, "Fake?"


    Urka and hisckeysughed at the angry expression on the Orc''s face, which prompted his men to pull out swords and axes. Urka and hisckeysughed even harder at the menacing disy of force before Urka pulled out his own revolver cannon and causally fired at one of the Orc buyer''s man.


    The heavy weight bullet blew a huge chunk of flesh off the arm of an axe wielding grunt. The surprised Orc roared out in pain and looked at remains of his left arm where a strain of muscle was left connecting his forearm together.


    It held its shot off arm together and stared nkly as shock kicked in before it copsed down from loss of blood. The smoke and the roar of the revolver cannon slowly faded away leaving the buyer and his men in awe and fear at the power of the weapon while the chained up ves screamed in fear and pissed themselves.


    "BOOM BOOM!" Urkaughed. He holstered his weapon and reached out and grabbed the empty revolver off the stunned Orc buyer''s hand and broke open the chamber. He took out a shell and slot it into the chamber before snapping it back in ce and squeezed the trigger, pointing the weapon in the air.


    "BOOOOOW!" The gun roared, jerking the Buyer back to his senses. He looked at his dying man and back to Urka holding the smoking gun and grinned.


    "No fake! Good boom boom!" The buyer gave a smile. "But that?" He pointed to the 20mm shell, Urka was holding in his palms.


    "40 shells for each ve," Urka replied as he yed with the shell in his hands.


    "100 for one ve!" The buyer countered his offer.


    "50 for one!" Urka counter offered.


    "80 for one!"


    "60 for one! That''s the best I can do!"


    "Deal!"


    Urka smiled happily, and they spat into their palms and shook hands to seal the deal.


    Urka watched as another ten healthy looking ves were brought in and he had his men check them out. "Say, have interest in joining the Cabal?"


    The buyer''s eyebrows rosed up high as he heard Urka''s offer. "How?"


    "Ooo..." Urka smiled and started to give his best salesman speech on how to join the Cabal.


    -----


    An hour or soter, the buyer once again shook hands with Urka. "So as long as I bring someone to join and he signs the contract, I can earn amission of one out of ten?"


    "Yes! yes!" Urkaughed, "and if that person brings in another, you will also earn one-tenthmission of that contract!"


    "So If I got more and more people to join under me, I can take a cut from everyone?" the buyer asked in confirmation.


    "Of course! Look at me!" Urka showed off his gold rings and the pair of cannon revolvers. "Look every warrior under me can afford a Boom Boom too!"


    The buyer''s eyes lit up and he asked, "How do I sign up?"


    "Here!" Urka unfurled a magical contract for the interested buyer. "It will cause you 20 ves or 400 pieces of gold for these 10 maic health mattress!"


    The buyer looked septical at the mattresses and frowned.


    "Don''t worry, you will make it all back easily!" Urka assured the buyer. "Its a very worthwhile investment!"


    "But I don''t have so much gold nor ves..." The buyer frowned.


    "Don''t worry!" Urka gave a wink, "You can use other stuff of equal value to pay!"


    "And if you still do not have enough," Urka lowered his voice, "I can give you a loan, seeing we are acquaintance!"


    "Hmmm... deal!"


    -----


    Watching the back of histest customer with his men walking away with ten sets of mattresses which the high ups told him to sell. He wondered if those lumpy mattresses were really that wonderous.


    Oh well, as long as he hit his sales target, Urka does not really care. With this customer, he made 40 gold crowns but he needs to pay half of it to his sales team leader.


    He carefully removed a notebook and ticked and crossed some sections inside, filling up the sales form. Another three more sales to make and he would make the top sales employee of the month and he will be given a big reward! Urka rubbed his coarse hands together in glee, wondering what reward will he get.


    He gestured his men to start preparing the transportation of the ves and he carefully rolled the magical contract signed by the customer earlier and the other IOU contract into a scroll case and started whistling away as he watched the ves getting transferred into a wagon pulled by a giant wind wolf.


    Once the ves and the trade goods were loaded up, Urka sat on the wagon with the driver who prods the wolf to start moving. They exited a shed like building and entered the main street of Sin City which the members of the Cabal strangely named it as.


    It was a wonder to Urka when he first came to work under the Cabal. He was here when those short eared soft skins dered a city to be built here and in a short time, a small army of vesbored non stop to build this city of wonders.


    Brick buildings no taller than three storeys lined the main streets with the first floor acting as a shop or store front. The City was built circr, with the Stronghold of the Cabal right in the middle of the city. Buildings expanded out from a circr curtain wall that surrounded the Stronghold and each district is further divided by a ring road.


    Four straight causeway connected the ring roads together and to the city gates. The outer wall was still in the midst of construction and Urka knows that once the walls arepleted, it will be near impregnable by any enemies!


    At each ring''s entrance was a checkpoint guarded by burly Oerkins dressed in some sort of bulky heavy armor te that cover them from head to toe. They each held a revolver rifle, that is the same in design as the revolver cannon but with a longer barrel. a hand guard and a buttstock. The wagon stopped next to checkpoint and one of the Oerkins came over swaggering.


    "Ooo look! Its the great Urka!" The guard lifted his featureless facete up from his helmet and gave a toothless grin at Urka on the wagon. "What do we have here?"


    "The usual..." Urka ignored the sarcastic tone of his fellow Oerkin. "ves and goods to be delivered."


    The guard gave a wave to the rest who came over and started to check the cargo. "So great war chief! How''s life?" The guard jeered.


    "I am no longer a war chief!" Urka growled. "Better than you all standing in the cold!"


    "Oh, I have forgotten you are no longer war chief!" The Oerkin guard dramatically patted his armored head. "Sorry! HAhahaahha!"


    Urka''s hand reached for his weapon but at thest second, he controlled himself and forced a fanged smile at the guard. "All done here?"


    "Aww," The guard looked disappointed that Urka did not rise to the bait and rudely waved him through, "Have nice day, ya?"


    Urka nodded to his driver and the wagon creaked forward passing by the checkpoint and into the second ring of the city. The city current consisted of three rings of district. The first ring of district that is closest to the Stronghold, was for trusted warriors and followers of the Cabal.


    The second ring which Urka has entered was the industrial ring, where storehouses, workshops and other manufacturing industries were located. The third ring consisted of allmercial and residential buildings. Once the wall for the third ring ispleted, Urka had heard rumors from the foremen that they will build another ring for residential.


    His wagon pulled into a yard where several other simr wagons were parked and the wolves were huddled together for warmth under a shed. Dozens and dozens of ve workers were unloading goods from the wagons while an Oerkin foreman stood watch with a whip on his belt.


    The driver parked at one of the marked lots and Urka hopped down and headed towards the smaller squarish building next to therge storage houses. As he entered the building, the ze of the firece immediately warmed him up.


    "Urka!" Someone called him as he was about to go hand in his work contracts for the day. A short eared soft skin dressed in a woolen tunic and long pants waved him over from the door of his office.


    Urka entered the room and removed his leather coat before sitting down on the offered chair.


    "My man! How are the sales today?" The short eared soft skin asked as he poured a mug of steaming tea out for Urka.


    "Thanks Boss!" Urka epted the hot tea offered by his boss. "Boss Le-ung, I sold off another three contracts of health mattresses and two five sets of Boom Booms!"


    "Good! Very good work!" Leung Chun-Kok formerly from Maintainance and Operations of UNS Singapore grinned widely. "You will make top sales for the month soon! Very good!"


    Urka smiled back happily and sipped the hot bitter drink. "Boss Le-ung, does those health mattresses or whatever they are works as you said?"


    "Ha!" Chun-kok smiled and leaned back on his chair. "What do you personally think?"


    "Ermm..." Urka debated on should he tell the truth or not. "No?"


    "HAHA!" His boss barked out a loudugh, "You are right! It''s all crap!"


    "Huh?" Urka looked confused, "but... why will so many people still willing to buy?"


    "My man, the hook here is not on the mattresses but the lure of having other people make money for you!" Chun-kok sipped his tea. "To us, we take a 90% cut of all items sold and they upon finding someone to join under their team, will take a 10% of the recruitment or sale fees and another 5% of all future sales and recruitment by the members of his team."


    Chun-kok drew a pyramid like chart on a piece of paper. "Look, we are up here." He points to the tip of the pyramid.


    "Everyone below us will make money for us," Chun-kok pointed to the bottom part of the triangle. "We don''t have to care what items we sell, as long as those people believe that they can make money by buying from us and selling them to other people!"


    "I- I see," Urka furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to grasp the concept.


    "Hahaha don''t worry about it!" His boss said. "Just work hard on hitting your sales target and I can assure you, you will be rich!"


    Urka nodded and stood up, excusing himself as he needed to turn in the invoices and contracts. Chun-kok stood up and patted Urka on his back, constantly praising him for his hard work. As the door closed behind Urka, Chun-kok gave a piece of parting advice to Urka.


    "Pyramid schemes always work on greed!"

 Chapter 213: Shocking Changes

    Chapter 213: Shocking Changes


    Far Harbor


    Dozens of white masted ships sailed majestically into the stone pier under the watchful gun forts covering the harbor. A boat without a sail and oars raced ahead of the floti, escorting them into the docking piers.


    Fleet Master Dijon stood at the bow of his ship and took in all the changes that have urred since the previous time he was here at Far Harbor. Those walled off areas had were taken down andrge barn like structures stood in their ces.


    A second stone pier was constructed at the other side of the harbor and strange yellow colored structures that looked like the ribs of some monster towered over the piers and the docks. The harbor also had more ships and activity nowpared to before and several small fishing boats and barges were docked at the newly constructed pier.


    A couple of fishing boats were even returning to unload their cargo of sea product that they caught off shore. The strange magical boat did an amazing 360 degree loop that shocked those new sailors in the arriving ships that never came to Far Harbor before.


    The PT boat painted in dazzle camo paint scheme of greys, white and ck powered past the line of sailing ships with ease against the wind and currents. The tiny crew onboard gave a friendly wave before the magical boat speed past the ships that left most of the sailors in stunned wonder.


    The Isles'' ships slowly docked one by one against the pier and a weing party headed by the Princess waited patiently for them to disembark from their ships. It appeared to Dijon that each time he came to this ce, there was something new and exciting waiting for him and he doesn''t know if it is a good or bad thing.


    Fleet Master Dijon smiled when he saw who was in the wee party and quickly stormed down the gangnk eagerly and gave a gentlemanly bow to Princess Sherene before taking the back of her hand and kissing it. "My, you look gorgeous as ever, Princess!"


    Sherene dressed in a ck turtle neck sweater and long woolen skirts gave a forced smile and tactically kept her hands behind her back and gave a curtsy. "Wee to Far Harbor again, Fleet Master Dijon. How was your trip here?"


    "Uneventful, your navy must has done a very good job in defeating the goblin pirates!" Dijon gave a dramatic sigh. "But the weather is turning bad and soon the seas will be closed for the rest of the winter months. I guess I will be staying here until the weather is fair again!"


    "I- I see," Sherene politely smiled and felt a headacheing. "We have plenty of entertainment and activities here that should keep you pretty upied!"


    "Hahaha! Sure! I will take your offer then!," Dijon gave a wink at Sherene who acted like she didn''t see it. "Oh yes! I bring gifts for you fromnds afar!" He turned and gestured to his men to bring the chests over.


    "Pearls from the deep seas, gemstones from the fire inds and the finest and the rare colored silk from Emporer silk ants!" Dijon proudly showed off the gifts to Sherene who appeared to be stunned.


    "All for you!" Dijon gave his most charming smile.


    "I- I... Thank you," Sherene sighed inwardly, "But I can''t ept such valuable gifts!"


    "Take it as a token of my... appreciation," Dijon insisted strongly. "All these will only be wasted on others but could only truly shine in your presence!"


    "Ahem..." An aide coughed from behind Sherene, "Fleet Master, why don''t we adjoin to another location with freshments first?"


    Dijon looked at the female beast girl behind Sherene and frowned. The beast girl quickly said, "The Princess has been standing here for some time in this cold, and it is not very good for her body!"


    "Ahhh!" The hostility in Dijon''s eye faded and he quickly nodded and agreed, "Yes! yes! Too much cold sea wind is not good for the body! You must be cold!" He reached out to take Sherene''s hands when the beast girl quickly bundled Sherene up in a thick coat.


    Dijon looked at this half stretched out hands and coughed to cover his embarrassment. Sherene winked at Kaga and mouthed a thank you at her quick actions.


    Kaga sighed inwardly and wondered why did she listen to Billy to work in the City Hall? This group of sailors doesn''t seem to have any good intentions to the Princess! She felt her tail standing at the way that guy looks at the poor Princess.


    "Fleet Master Dijon, why don''t you introduce your sweetheart here to us?" A silky voice came from behind Dijon. A tall striking looking woman with raven ck hair covered in a long coat made of fine wolf fur walked over with a white ornate jacket of office dangled over her shoulders. She blew a puff of smoke out from the slim smoke pipe she held in her fingers.


    Another person stood next to her, shorter by half a head with a monocle stuck to his left eye. His carefully groomed and wax mustache stood out against his pale skin. A simr ornate white jacket draped over his shoulders and he hugged a leather case against himself.


    "Ahh!" Dijon expression turned serious and he gave the introductions, "This is Second Fleet Master Megan Luza and Fourth Fleet Master Akron Willer."


    "I am Sherene Goldrose, City Governer here," Sherene smiled and gave a curtsy to the other two VIPs. "Wee to our humble little ce."


    "Humble?" Megan took a drag on her pipe and blew the smoke at Sherene''s face. "This ce doesn''t look humble at all!"


    "Ahem," Kaga coughed and quickly suggested, "Let''s all retreat indoors out of the cold and have some refreshments? I think everyone is tired from their long journey here..."


    Megan turned and looked at Kaga, who ttened her ears by the intense stare. "What a cutie!" She reached over and rubbed Kaga''s head. "Lead the way, girl!"


    Kaga felt a chill down her spine at the way Megan looked at her, like a Boa eyeing her meal! She shivered and quickly moved out of range of Megan who looked slightly disappointed.


    Sherene pasted her smile on her face but she felt her blood pressure rising. What a bitch! She thought to herself but she kept on smiling as she was the host and they were guests from afar.


    "Please board this cart," Sherene invited the VIPs to sit inside the five seater open top electrical cart. The two Fleet Masters looked with curiosity at the cart and asked, "How does this thing even move? You push it?"


    "HAHA!" Dijonughed at Megan''s septical look. "It''s a wonderous magical wagon!" He gave an air of superiority and sat down on one of thefortable seats and sighed infort.


    Akron gave a shrug and climbed into one of the seats. He gave the seat a couple of bounces and pats before nodding in approval before he turned his attention to the harbor, seemingly ignoring everyone else.


    "Please take a seat?" Sherene gestured again to the cart where everyone was waiting for Megan to enter.


    Megan gave a huff and gingerly climbed into the seat next to Akron, the seat molding to her contours once her full body weight had settled down. She leaned back and put on a face of indifference despite feeling the material of the seat to be superfortable.


    So far everything here appeared to be out of the ordinary. If what Dijon said was true, these Goldrose peasants had built this whole harbor up in not even a year''s time!


    Sherene sighed and sat down next to Dijon who looked quite excited and happy while Kaga took the seat next to the driver. "Let''s go!"


    A simr vehicle with armed soldiers followed the cart as they sped down the pier and towards the harbor''s Civic Centre. Along the way, Arkon and Megan appeared to be visibly surprised by the smoothness and the speed of the magical cart. They held tightly to the handrails and looked at their surroundings with wonder as they passed by the strange yellow rib-like structures that turned out to be cargo cranes but in a muchrger and grander scale!


    Finally, the carts stopped at a grand looking building with arge circr facade that had two thick ck sticks, one long and one short and fat. Another thinner stick appeared to be constantly moving! What kind of socery is this?


    Dijon snickered at both Arkon and Megan''s expressions and said, "Don''t be a country pumpkin! Come on there are more interesting things to seeter! Hahaha!"


    Inside the reception room, Arkon and Megan marveled at the grandeur of the furnishing and decor of the huge room and sat down onfortable sofas. The temperature appeared to be just nice, not too hot nor cold, prompting them to remove their jackets and hand them over to the servants who collected their coats.


    Megan nodded to herself as she observed her surroundings, thinking that this ce was designed and made to impress people. She wondered how much gold the Princess spends to just maintain this ce.


    "So, we all heard about all the magical and wondrous things that your kingdom of rebels are making," Megan said as she leaned back into the cozy sofa. "Dijon has been telling us all sorts of stories about here and of you too."


    Dijon gave an embarrassed cough, "Well if you saw what their single ship could do against a fleet, you will be amazed. And those flying things of theirs."


    Megan smiled, knowing that Dijon likes the Princess and she can''t resist teasing them both. "So you want to propose an alliance between the two kingdoms?"


    Sherene sat up in surprise, "An alliance? With the Isles?"


    "Dear Dijon here came back talking about demon powered weapons and flying machines," Megan continued. "He seemed to think that as long as we ally with you all, the Isles can be taken to new heights."


    "That is why I and Akron are here to take a look and see if it is worthwhile for an alliance between the two kingdoms," Megan stood up and walked to the refreshments table and gestured to Kaga. "Now, my cutie, tell me what is all this?"


    Kaga sighed and went up to the buffet table and starting to introduce the food and drinks avable, quickly forgetting about the way Megan looks at her as she viewed the buffet spread longingly.


    Sherene turned and looked at Dijon, "An alliance? You did not speak of it the previous time you were here!"


    "Well, on the way back, I thought over it for some time," Dijon smiled. "And I think it is good to have strong ties with the Isles, we can offer you many necessities that youck. Not to mention, the Empire will also think twice in making any moves against you should they know we are allied."


    "I- I need to discuss this with my people!" Sherene felt surprised. "It is too sudden!"


    "Yes, yes, we will need time to prepare for everything to be perfect too!" Dijon replied, "I think a good time is around spring?"


    "W- wait? Prepare for what?" Sherene tilted her head in confusion. "Why in spring?"


    "Oh, its for our alliance!" Dijon gave a wide smile. "The avenue, gifts, invitations, even the clothes to be tailored and other preparations. We can do it here or back in the Isles."


    "Huh? Why would an alliance need all that?" Sherene was feeling more and more confused by the minute.


    "Hahahaha..." Meganughed while she was holding a visibly struggling and panicking Kaga in her arms. She shooked her head at theplete clueless expression on the Princess''s face. "Dijon is proposing an alliance between two kingdoms and what''s more easier for that than in marriage?"


    "MAR- MARRIAGE!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?"

 Chapter 214: Jealousy?!

    Chapter 214: Jealousy?!


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    Captain ke smiled warmly at the image of the girl who was trying her best to exin the advances made by the Fleet Master over the video call. He felt a warm stirring in his heart at the adorable frustration she was having there and wished he could go over immediately to cuddle and pet her.


    "I don''t think we need such an alliance!" Sherene stormed, crossing her arms over her chest angrily. "It is ridiculous! But, on the other hand, an alliance with the Isles will help us greatly..."


    ke raised his eyebrows before asking in a serious tone, "Are you afraid that I can''t protect you?"


    "NO! Of course not!" Sherene red at ke through the screen. "And don''t you dare say I have no faith in you either!"


    ke raised his hands up in mock surrender, "Alright, alright! Do what you want, but you are not gonna get married to anyone else except me!"


    Sherene tilted her head upwards proudly, "Of course! You''re mine!"


    -----


    ke gave a curse as he leaned back on his chair after the call ended. Damn Inder want to steal his girl? I will show him who is her man! He reached out and hit thems, dialing for Commander Ford. After a few seconds, the call connected and Ford''s saluting image appeared on the screen. "Sir!"


    "How''s everything out there?" ke asked as he returned the salute.


    "Seas are pretty choppy now, some of the waves are measuring almost 3 meters tall," Ford replied with a hint of static. "The Squadron is en route back to Far Harbor by tomorrow after the weather clears."


    "How''s the ad hoc carrier?" ke asked next. "Can you make it back earlier?"


    "The Matador sails well but is quite the bitch to maneuver, we can tank the weather if needed," Ford frankly said. "It''s quite a stable tform in the rough seas. I can only pity those in the Floatin Wreck if they push through the weather. Hahaha!"


    "The Matador so far works as intended to be a tender for float ne and dragon ops over the sea," Ford continued his report. "Only then the twin hull being of an inferior grade and teething issues here and there, I say this ship so far is a sess."


    "Good, if the Matador works as intended, we can n to construct a few more to act as an amphibious assault ship with dragon and seane support in the future," ke said. "It can also carry up to four of the PT boats, allowing us to expand the operating range of those fast attack craft."


    Ford nodded, "I n to have anotherrge surface vessel for an additional escort for the Matador first. Just having the Floatin Wreck as a single escort is seriously overworking the crew of that ship."


    "n your manpower properly," ke said. "We only have so much personnel to spread out among all the divisions."


    "Got it." Ford acknowledged ke''s orders. "So how did the VIPs from the Isles take to Far Harbor?"


    "Goddamnit!" ke cursed when Ford mentioned about the Inders.


    "Huh? Did I miss something?" Ford asked in a curious tone. "What happened?"


    "That fucker Dijon proposed an alliance of marriage to Sherene!" ke growled. "He has the bloody gall to do that! Asshole!"


    "Hahaha what? Seriously?" Fordughed. "Wait, is that why you want my ships back earlier?"


    ke cleared his throat ufortably, "It''s just a show of force to the Inders..."


    "Ahahahaha!" Fordughed harder. "Whatever you say Captain! But as a fellow officer and friend, I will make full steam back to provide support fire for you and Lady Sherene! Wahahaha!"


    ke rolled his eyes, "Just don''t make it too shy..."


    "Don''t worry, the men all support you two!" Ford grinned and saluted. But before the connection cut off, ke could hear him yelling at the bridge crew to make all haste to rescue the Captain and his girl from invaders of the heart.


    "What the fuck?"


    -----


    Far Harbor, Civic Centre


    Sherene puffed out her cheeks after the call ended and stood up from the console where the harbormaster graciously offered her his office to make the video call. That didn''t go too bad, she thought. She gave a pout as she hoped to see ke getting jealous over this matter but it seemed like he wasn''t really affected much by this matter.


    Sherene sat in the office for almost twenty minutes to sort out her thoughts before she snorted and left the office in a huff. "Hmmph! Men!"


    She pushed open the doors and entered the reception hall finding the three Fleet Masters gathered around the coffee table while lounging on the sofas. When Dijon saw her, his normally frowning expression turned cheerful.


    Sherene sighed inwardly, wondering how is she gonna reject him nicely without damaging rtions between the two nations and still able to get an alliance with the Isles.


    "That was fast," Megan stretched out on the sofa like a snake. She eyed Sherene over her longshes and asked, "So what is the verdict? Are you willing to marry our dear Fleet Master Dijon and ally with us?"


    Sherene looked at the three Fleet Masters eyeing her like a piece of meat and felt an ufortable chill down her spine. Even Kaga beside her also hissed softly as her ears and tail stood up in agitation from the intense pressure given off by three Fleet Masters.


    She looked at Dijon was appeared to be flexing his muscr body at her, while the quiet Akron just sat there and quietly observed Sherene with a critical eye. "Is the only way to ally with the Isles by marriage only?"


    "It''s the fastest way and easiest way, of course," Megan gave a predatory smile and winked at Kaga on the side who''s hair stood up on ends and she quickly hid behind Sherene. "It will also be easier for the Council and people to ept the alliance."


    "I can offer you anything you want, my dear Princess!" Dijon smiled. "All the treasures in this world!"


    Sherene furrowed her eyebrows and winced from the forceful way Dijon was asserting himself.


    "The Empire? We can force their economy to copse easily!" Dijon boosted. "We have our own merchants in all their markets! It will be easy to make them unable to wage war against you!"


    If that is the case, why haven''t you all stop the Empire in the first ce and none of all these horrors and tragedies would have happened! Sherene fumed in her mind.


    "I am of considerable rank in the Isles too," Dijon self promoted himself. "I have my own fortress and cartel of merchants all over the New World!"


    "I promise to treat you well!" Dijon continued. "We have equal status and you can keep living here in Far Harbor and I will not interfere with the politics of your country!"


    Kaga gave a snort as she heard what Dijon was offering the Princess, "That''s isn''t really very impressive you know?"


    Dijon frowned when he heard the beast girl''s retort. "Is there anyone out there that can offer more than what I can offer to the Princess?"


    "Of course!" Kaga jerked her head up proudly, "The Captain! He is way more powerful and can make all sorts of amazing things! Orcs, goblins, trolls, wolves and even ancient volcanic dragons bow before him!"


    "What!?" The three Fleet Masters looked at each other with doubt, thinking is there such a powerful being in existence? "Ha, you are just over exaggerating! Is he some kind of ancient hero?"


    "What? You don''t believe?" Kaga''s eyes narrowed in contempt. "He can y dragons and heroes with a push of a button!"


    "Bah!" Megan brushed Kaga words aside with a wave of her slim hands. "You are just a little girl, what do you know of this world?"


    "Me?" Kaga growled angrily, "Let me tell you how great I am! I am the former Guardian Priestess of Beast City!"


    Her words appeared to shock the three Fleet Masters, "You are the Guardian of Beast City?!"


    "Yes!" Kaga stood proudly, puffing her chest out. "I protect the whole Beast City but sadly the Empire invaded us with a sneak attack!"


    "HAHahahaha," Dijon and Meganughed at Kaga''s words while Akron gave a twitch of his mouth. "That is the funniest story we ever heard! You? The guardian priestess? Hahahahaha! Your just a weak little cat girl!"


    Sherene frowned and spoke sharply, "Enough, it is your choice to believe her words or not but you do not make fun of my people!"


    Megan wiped her eyes as she controlled herughter, "It''s so funny, I guess people who are weak stays together. I don''t what you see in her, Dijon."


    "Princess, I can assure you that I am the most suitable candidate to be by your side!" Dijon ignored Megan''s cutting words. "You need to stop having the illusion that you are strong even if you have those strange short ears people and weapons with you!"


    "Stop delusional yourself that whoever this Captain guy is, he can grant you protection from the Empire!" Dijon stood before Sherene and said. "I can offer everything and more than what that Captain guy can offer you!"


    Sherene looked at the serious eyes of Dijon and was about to reply when suddenly the loud droning roar sounded outside the building. Frowning, she looked out the full height windows and saw a Valkyrie hoving right outside the windows.


    The power of the rotor engines rattled the ss windows as the pilot skillfully hovered the Valkyrie directly over the entrance of the Civic Centre. The Fleet Masters stood up in stupified surprise at the massive construct hovering and roaring away. The streets before the Civic Centre cleared as the Valkyrie hovered lower before settling down with the rear ramps facing the entrance of the Civic Centre.


    Sherene without a word quickly left the room with the others in tow. She half ran and pushed passed the gawking workers in the Civic Centre and appeared at the front entrance steps with her heart beating rapidly. As if waiting for her to appear, the two dragons, Blue Thunder and Rastraznded next to the Valkyrie, nking it.


    The rear ramped mmed open and two ASAG golems stormed out with a troop of heavily armored Marines marching behind. They stopped in unison with a sh of boots before a silent order and turned to face inwards in a perfect parade square drill.


    The three Fleet Masters gawked like the others as they watched the perfect movement of the Marines. Dijon had met a few of the Marines before but it was the first time he saw them in heavy armor and weaponry. The strange alien look of the Valkyrie had the Fleet Masters in amazement as they wondered how this clearly man made construct could fly.


    At this time, a tall figure dressed in a trench coat with a peak cap walked down the ramp with a slight limp. As he appeared, the lines of soldiers snapped to attention. Even the two dragons at the side appeared to be standing still like statues, eyeing the crowd with all seriousness.


    Sherene walked down the steps of the Civic Centre, with people parting the way for her and met the short eared man in the middle of the soldiers. "Why are you here? I thought you have a lot of work to do? How did youe so fast and why the entourage?"


    "How can I sit still while someone is trying to steal my girl?" ke replied with a grin. "Well, I got you a couple of dragons and apany of Marines to back you up if someone tries to take advantage of you!"


    ke reached out and pulled her in his arms and kissed her, much to her surprise before everyone. The crowd loudly wowed and cheered and even the solemn-faced Marines cracked a smile at the scene.


    Blue Thunder looked wide eye in excitement and thumped his tail happily against the harbor ground while Rastraz looked around suspiciously.


    "Where''s the cheese fries?"

 Chapter 215: My Stance

    Chapter 215: My Stance


    The Colony, City Hall


    The corners of ke''s mouth twitched when he looked at the three VIPs from the Isles looking around their surroundings with gaping mouths.


    Sherene gave him a yful pinch at the side and a stern look and whispered. "Don''tugh at our guests!"


    ke looked at the Princess and smiled, wrapped one arm around her slim waist and squeezed her to his side, "Did I tell you that you look gorgeous today?"


    "N- no..." Sherene blushed before she gave another pinch on his hand. "Don''t change the subject!"


    ke gave an evil wink and walked up to the three Inders still gawking at their surroundings. After the call with Commander Ford, ke had immediately roped in the Airforce and Marines for some "help".


    When Master Sergeant Pike found out about the purpose of the escort, he immediately turned out an entire battalion for support while the Airforce sent over a Valkyrie and a squadron of Cobras.


    The word that the Inders are here to court the Princess''s hand for marriage spread rapidly and when ke appeared at the flight decks, he paused in surprise.


    An entire fully armed battalion of Marines with all their organic support had formed up in parade formation with two dragons hanging around at the back.


    Master Sergeant Pike''s voice roared out, "BATTALIOOON... ATTEN.. SHUN!"


    The storm of boots echoed through theunch deck. Even the techs and support crew stood at attention following Pike''smand.


    "Sir! First Battalion, reporting for duty, Sir!" Pike''s parade square powered voice shook ke awake.


    "Damn, Top," ke walked up to the Master Sergeant. "Is there a need for all this?"


    "Sir! The enemy is already at the gates!" Pike grinned.


    "If the Earth Command knew that I mobilized an entire Battalion to show off for a girl..." ke grinned, "Ah fuck it, let''s show those what happens when they to hit on my girl!"


    "HORAAAAH!"


    "Blue Thunder! Why are you here?" ke asked as he looked at the dragon with a silly toothed draconic smile pasted on his face.


    "Eh, Captain... I- I heard that the Princess is.. ahem- in trouble!" Blue Thunder muttered out quickly. "Ie to offer my services!"


    Rastraz on the side rolled her eyes up dramatically and said, "He means that he wants to go see the love drama that''s happening with you and the Inders!"


    "Wha- What? Nooo!" Blue Thunder panicked and swiped his wings to cover Rastraz''s serpentine head. "No- no! We are here to give you our full support!" He thumped his puffed up chest. "Go, Captain ke!"


    Rastraz''s voice came out muffled under Blue Thunder''s wing, "And he promised me cheese fries!"


    keughed and shook his head as he walked up the ramp in the Valkyrie, "Weird dragons."


    -----


    "So what do you think of my city?" ke asked the three Inders.


    "It''s unbelievable!" Fleet Master Megan cried out. "How did you built all these? Are those ss? How much ss can you produce? How did you rise those buildings to be so tall? What are they for?"


    Megan spewed out a torrent of questions. Her initialposure had disappeared when she first saw this strange short ear appeared from the strange flying construct.


    What happened next threw her mind off as they rode onboard the flying machine. A goblin dressed in an oversized shirt yelped at them to buckle up tight and use the "puke bags" should they feel the need to vomit and not dirty his decks.


    Dijon had to restraint himself from chopping the head off the foul mouthed goblin while the spotted green blue uniformed soldiers snickered at the side.


    They had flown before on a dragon but this was totally unlike flying on a dragon. They sat strapped down on seats facing each other and the sudden vertigo from the taking off of the Valkyrie incited a yell of fright from Dijon, making the soldiersugh more.


    ke and the Princess disappeared through a door to the front and they were not seen throughout the whole flight.


    The tiny windows offered a view that showed the terrain skimming away rapidly and after a while, suddenly they felt themselves falling as the Valkyrie did a rapid descent and pulled up sharply before touching down on anding pad.


    As Megan and the rest exited the scary flying machine to see themselves inside a massive cavern. To their amazement, the cavern looked man made and was brightly lit by globes of bright white light.


    Hundreds of simr uniformed soldiers were formed up before them and they saluted as one when ke and the Princess appeared behind.


    After that, they were given a quick tour beforeing out to the city in a simr magic wagon they had ridden earlier and stopped before the grand looking building overlooking a huge fountain and za.


    -----


    ke waved her questions away, "It''s hard to exin about all the details, but yes we built all this with everyone''s help and power."


    Mentally, Megan calcted with her merchant mind, and estimated that it will probably need a quarter or maybe even half the Isles''s entire treasury to build this city with the type of materials used!


    She darted a nce at Dijon and sighed, thinking about how he offered his wealth to the Princess. How could he evenpare to the wealth this person has!


    She frowned as she wondered if the Empire''s rumors that the Princess has allied or stole her soul to the devils where true after looking at all the strange and amazing contraptions around her.


    As for Dijon, he was dumbstruck on the entire journey. He had wrongly assumed that the whole of the Princess''s people were all living in Far Harbor but upon reaching the City, he was totally wrong.


    Like Megan, his merchant''s mind automatically took in all the cost and rarity of the materials used to build the city and he was stupified by the amount of gold and manpower needed to build such a city!


    The first sight of the towering walls had him in awe and fear, wondering what monsters are there here that needed such a tall and thick wall. The scale of such a project will be enormous and time consuming, not to mention arge number of workers will be required but when he asked about it, the Princess just said it took them only four months to fully construct it from base up and another two months to full furbish it with zero deaths in the workforce!


    Zero deaths and within a season to build such a massive undertaking were totally unheard of to the Inders. The marvels and surprises keep showing up one by one the more they looked around. Even the normally quiet Akron had an expression of shock and he was even more excited when he saw lorries carrying goods moving up and down the roads.


    "Those wagons! They carry goods yes?" Akron excited asked ke when they were touring around the city. "Can we buy them?"


    -----


    After the exciting afternoon, the trio had lunch with the Princess and the Captain inside the City Hall. Several exotic dishes were served to the Inders who found the dishes very different from what they had ever tried. There was even sweet dessert at the end of the full course meal where Sherene happily chowed down a cup of chocte pudding.


    ke waited till everyone had cleared their tes and the waiters filled their sses before he said, "On the topic of an alliance between the Isles and the Princess, I believe there is a small misunderstanding here."


    "First, the Princess is not the ruler nor the final decision holder here," ke looked at each of the Inders. "Second, this nation is also not under her rule, it is under my direct rule and she is part of my people."


    ''Thirdly, she is my fiance," ke stated this out pointedly and gestured to Dijon whose face thundered. "So there will be no alliance by marriage."


    "Fourthly, while we appreciate an alliance between our two nations, it doesn''t mean I need an alliance with you," ke bluntly pointed out. "I have enough military strength to defend my people and if required, to wage war directly at the Empire should the need to do so rises."


    "And thest point," ke continued. "I am sure Fleet Master Dijon has informed you all that we, ''short eared people'' are not really demons, we are just people from another ce. While we wee the trade between the two countries, it doesn''t mean we can''t survive here without your trade."


    "I hope that can help ease whatever thoughts and questions you have in your mind," ke smiled and stood up. "Now I must leave you all, I have a shit ton of work to finish. I will let Sherene take over as host for your stay here. I hope you enjoy your stay here, good bye."


    With that, ke kissed Sherene at the cheek and leave the room, leaving behind an awkward silence. Sherene rolled her eyes at the way ke had delivered his stance to the Isles and had even earlier in the morning told her to try to not strain the Inder''s rtionship with them.


    This was like telling them to fark off and don''t touch my things! Sherene sighed inwardly. But she felt a bittersweet and happy inside her heart as she thought of how he came immediately to assert his authority and dered that she was his. Hehe!


    Sherene''s personnelmunicator beeped and she saw a message blinking. After reading it, she smiled and said, "Well, my people have arranged suites for your stay here. I will have my people direct you to your rooms. Feel free to ask my people for any assistance that you require. If you need to talk to me, I will be inside my office."


    Sherene stood up and smiled before leaving the trio alone inside the dining room in silence.


    -----


    Surprisingly, it was Akron the quiet one that broke the silence. "It appears we are underestimating the people here."


    "Whether if they are working with demons or angels, their abilities and strength are far greater and beyond our understanding." Akron gave his thoughts. "The Empire might not be their match after all."


    "Yes," Megan nodded and sipped the sweet wine before her. "In terms of goods and production," She twirled the wine in the ss before flicking the wine ss with her finger. The ss chimed with a sweet tone, "It appears to be of very high quality!"


    "They appeared to be very strong economy to be able to build whole towers with ss," Megan continued. "The people here also appeared very motivated."


    "Their navy is very powerful as I had reported," Dijon added next. "Those sailless ships and boats of theirs can urately destroy ships at the distance the eye can barely see with those thunder weapons of theirs."


    "It will be wise to have a good rtionship with them," Akron said. "If we can get those thunder weapons and also have a monopoly over the trade with them, it will greatly benefit our kingdom!"


    "I agree," Megan nodded and finished the wine. "Poor Dijon, you best give up your idea of marriage with the Princess. It''s best if you apologize to the Captain too. He has already stated his stance with us. If we go against him, we will lose out on a lot of things with all this strange, "tek no lo gee" of theirs."


    Dijon growled and said, "Damn the gods! He has embarrassed me!"


    "Calm down you fool!" Akron barked. "You want to start a fight here? In his territory?"


    Dijon grabbed the wine bottle on the table and drowned the whole bottle in a single gulp. "Damn! This wine is not a wine for men!" He tossed the bottle on the table and sat back in his seat in a bad mood.


    "Actually, I quite like this sweet wine," Megan retorted and picked up the bottle, ignoring Dijon''s ck face.


    "I wonder if they will sell us some?"

 Chapter 216: Burger Shock

    Chapter 216: Burger Shock


    UNS Singapore. Captain''s Quarters


    ke sat down before his work desk and triggered the conference call which he had pushed back toter. Almost immediately, the disy screens lit up with multiple images of various officers and in charge.


    "Alright, let''s start the meeting." ke waved away the salutes and greetings. "Sorry for thest minute cancetion of the staff meeting."


    Snickers and grinned shed back at him from the images as almost everyone had heard about the love triangle drama going on. ke smiled back and said, "Before any of you ask, yes it well pretty well and no, the Princess is not marrying anyone else."


    "Damn! We hoped there will be more drama going on!" Someone said from the conference and everyoneughed.


    "Alright, funs over, time for serious work!" ke shook his head at the childish antics of his men.


    Chief Matt reported first, "We are experiencing a massive shortage of rare earth minerals and also some industrial metals. Stuff like neodymium, europium and ytterbium etc etc. Despite their name, rare-earth elements are, with the exception of the radioactive promethium, rtively plentiful in the crust."


    "We need to survey and open more mines to exploit these resources as they are needed from refining stainless steel tosers and even LED lights." Matt proposed. "As for the industrial metals, we arecking mostly with Molybdenum which is needed for steel alloys and super alloys and aluminum for almost everything from household products to vehicles and even construction."


    ke nodded and said, "There should be a shipment of bauxite ore from the Isles at Far Harbor and do what you have to source for our minerals and metals needs. Anything else?"


    "Yes, sir," Matt replied, "We havepleted the train line connecting all the major facilities to the Colony just in time for the Year One Founding Day''s celebrations. So far we only have two train enginespleted and it will also be unrevealed at Founding Day itself."


    "Good, next?"


    "Our operation to bomb the Goblin City is partially sessful," Commander Tommy said. "We destroyed or damaged 65% of our targets." He inserted a UAV image of the aftermath of the bombing raid which bomb craters could be seen clearly against the backdrop of snow.


    "Here, here and here," Tommy pointed out several details on the image. "These are the primary ship production facilities Naval Intel had identified, but only two of these high-value targets were hit by the bombs."


    "The new FB - 1 Mariner has proven to be quite capable as of now, and with external fuel tanks installed, we can extend there range more to directly strike against Goblin City," Tommy said. "My pilots are ready to hit the city again to finish the job."


    "No," ke rubbed his chin. "Let the goblins rebuilt. Besides in this weather, it''s too risky to fly and the pilots also can''t see shit and the refueling squadron is on its way back to Far Harbor already."


    "Captain, we can hit them again as long we install fuel tanks!" Tommy insisted. "We can destroy the goblins once and for all!"


    "No, I want to keep them there," ke cut off Tommy''s words. "Let them rebuilt and once they do, we send in another raid to bomb them. This way we can allow the pilots to gain experience and confidence."


    Dr. Sharonughed out loud, "Hahaha, Captain, you wanna use the goblins to farm experience for our men?"


    ke nodded, "Yes, Goblin City will be our live fire exercise''s targets."


    Tommy grinned, "Damn, I didn''t think of that!"


    "You need to y more games!" Dr. Sharon advised. "Anyway, we have a nice 0.23% increase in our poption. 200 over babies were given born safety in the hospital this couple of months and the number hopefully will rise."


    "Do we have adequate beds and medical staff?" ke asked worriedly.


    Dr. Sharon nodded, "I got 27 apprentice doctors and 142 nurses that all had various experience in healing or were healers before. But I have problems with dealing with offsite injuries and illness."


    "We only have a very simple ambnce coverage within the city that the locals are just starting to learn to make use of," Dr. Sharon highlighted out her problems. "Any offsite injuries take us too long to respond and I am hoping to set up clinics with their own ambnce support or if possible an aerial ambnce for rapid rescue work."


    "Fire out a memo to the supply department and get them to issue you with what you need," ke gave his consent. "Anything else?"


    "No, alright, thest part of winter is almost here, after Founding Day, the weather should start to go bad, very bad," ke said. "But this year, we have no enemies at our doorsteps and we have ample food. Everything is kicking off nicely and we are doing more than surviving! I want to thank everyone for their efforts in holding on strongly! Thank you!"


    The officers all cheered happily despite knowing that they had no way home.


    "But the Captain got enemies! Enemies of the heart! HHAHAHAA"


    -----


    Fleet Master Megan stepped into the suite that the attendantid her into and was impressed with the exotic decor of the room. She stepped into a living space where sofas sat around a ss coffee table facing a strange t ck reflective dull mirror like object. A liquor bar sat at the corner of the room where there was a floor to ceiling height ss doors framed by white curtains that opened out to a balcony that showed off the city in all its splendor.


    A door led to a bedroom with arge fluffy bed that had Megan bouncing on it happily like a little girl. Her chests of personal belongings were neatly packed inside the room without any signs of tampering. The view of the room also showed a nice view of the city and with a final door that led to the washrooms.


    She walked out to the balcony and stood leaning against the railings and admired the city view until the sun slowly sets. The city slowly lit up to her amazement like some sort of fairy tale. Bright globes of orange and white light came alive, lighting the city beautifully.


    "How did they build this city?" Megan wondered out loud. "How magical!"


    The doorbell suddenly rang and shook Megan out of her thoughts. As she opened the door she saw Akron and Dijon together with the beast girl and another short haired girl both of them in a simr uniform standing outside.


    "Let''s go for dinner!" Dijon said grumblingly while gesturing to the two girls. "They came to bring us around the city for food and sightseeing." His mood still appeared to be quite bad even after some hours.


    Megan smiled and reached out and hugged Kaga who tried her best to avoid her arms but failed. "Please.... don''t touch my ears!! NYAaAa!"


    In the end, the whole group clustered into one of the elevators and headed down the residential tower and appeared on the street where a minivan was waiting for them. They all piled into the vehicle and the driver drove them off to a restaurant for dinner.


    Along the way, the Inders glued their faces to the transparent windows and marveled at the lights of the city. It felt totally different in the day when they had a tour, the lights cast a warm glow around the city making everything soft and warm in the falling snow.


    "How did all this came about?" Megan asked Kaga next to her. "What is needed to build all these wonders?"


    Kaga gave a shrug and said, "When my city fell, I was taken as a ve. It was these people who saved me in the end."


    "When I first came here, I too was in wonder and amazement at what these hoomans can do!" Kaga said. "When I first met one of the hoomans, I thought he was a demon came to steal my soul. But over time, it turns out that they are not unlike us at all, just more knowledgable and... weird..."


    "So this city was built by the hoomans?" Megan asked. "It feels like only the gods are able to build a city of wonders like this!"


    Billy spoke up from the other side of the car, "Yesh, it is amazing how they manage to do this! When I first came here, I too was awed by the scale and how tall the buildings are!"


    The minivan soon stopped and the driver parked the vehicle and the whole group followed the two girls to a ce that had walls and doors made out of ss! The inders gawked at thevish way the restaurant was built and followed the two giggling girls in.


    As the Inders clothing stood out among the locals, they attracted a lot of curious looks. After finding a table booth that could seat all of them, the trio looked around for a menu or a wrench to take their orders but found none. "Why isn''t anyoneing to serve us?"


    Kaga and Billy giggled and said, "We make our orders at that counter there!"


    They turned and looked and saw a small line of people queuing up that looked simr to the Adventurer''s Guild quest counter. "Aren''t we here for food? Why do we have to queue?" Dijon looked confused.


    "Haha, don''t worry we will order for you all," Billy smiled. "Just wait here and don''t go running off!"


    With that Billy and Kaga joined the queue, while the Inders observed their surroundings curiously, finding the people that queued from the counter seemed to carry trays with strange wrapped items andrge mugs away.


    Not long, Billy and Kaga returned each with a tray filled with all sorts of items. Both girls proudly ced the tray down and handed out what appeared to berge cups with some drink inside.


    "This is a fizzy drink! That is strawberry favored, that is honey nectar and this is berry apple!" Kaga pointed out the different drinks.


    Billy pointed to the tray where a stack of wrapped items sat. "This is wyvern meat burger, that is Peco peco meat and this is muffalo meat."


    Next on the tray was arge steaming te of pale looking strips of some kind of vegetable with some red, white and yellow sauce drizzled over. "This is cheese fries! The dragons love these!"


    The trio looked at each other in bewilderment and mimicked how Kaga and Billy handled the "bur-girls". They unwrapped the wrapper and saw a thick cut of meat sandwiched between two buns with some grease and sauce slowly dipping out.


    Watching the two girls munching away happily, they followed and took a small bite before their eyebrows shot up in surprise at the taste. "Heavens!" Megan took another bite and the taste of grilled meat mixed with the sweet and sour sauces and the cheese mixed perfectly, simting her taste buds greatly. "Delicious!"


    Dijon gave a grunt of acknowledging and wolfed down another two more of the burgers before trying out the cheese fries. After a few mouthfuls, he dered, "This food is truly worthy of the dragons!"


    Akron sat quietly eating away while the others praised the food constantly. He carefully took a sip of the strange fizzy drink and nearly choked. The fizzy bubbles tickled his throat and the refreshing burst of vor and sweetness was something he had never tasted before.


    Kaga giggled at Akron''s expression whichid to Megan and Dijon trying out the drinks and they too spurted at the fizzy drink. But once they got used to the drink they sipped away happily, enjoying the refreshing taste and sweetness.


    "This food must cost a fortune!" Dijon dered as he helped himself to another burger.


    "Hahaha!" Billy and Kagaughed. "This food isn''t expensive! We and many otherse to eat here at Burger Shack almost every day!"


    Akron looked in shock at the foodid out among them and silently thought to himself, that this nation was seriously too shocking!

 Chapter 217: Gossips and Threats

    Chapter 217: Gossips and Threats


    Kingdom of Bluewood, Imperial Capital


    Loudughter and music could be heard from the inside castle. Currently, a grand ball was underway and hundreds of nobles and their guests mingled around, drinking and feasting. The Emperor sat on his throne with a small smile on his face while he watched the nobility under him dance and drink.


    His mood was good as he had just gotten reports of a sessfully autumn campaign waged by the Rock. The speed of advance into the Kingdom of Ma had far surpassed his expectations and that made him very happy.


    He looked at the fat and wasteful nobles who only know how to leech and spend all their time in depravity and his good mood slowly faded away. Suddenly he felt disgusted and left the ballroom, heading towards his private study.


    He sat down next to the firece and the eunuch poured a ss of wine for him as he brooded over the problem of the nobles yet he needed their influence and wealth to support his campaign to conquer the whole continent.


    Finishing the ss of wine, he walked towards his bedroom and smiled at the girl shyly covering herself on the bed waiting for him. His smile grew wider as he saddled the girl and felt her throbbing veins filled with vibrant life force only the virgin youngsters have. And he enjoyed himself before feasting on the energy of the girl.


    -----


    The Colony, City Hall


    A strange spectacle appeared today at the City Hall. People looked with confusion and humor at the two dragons leaning against the side of the municipal building with one of the dragons in his reddish blue scales having his head inside one of the windows.


    Princess Sherene pped a sheet of documents against Blue Thunder''s face as he poked his head around in her office. "Can you stop that!"


    "Tell me what happened!" Blue Thunder begged, giving Sherene his best puppy eyes look. "Did the Captain challenge him to a duel? Was there bloodshed?"


    "Stop!" The Princess sat down on her chair and covered her face in despair. "You big fat... lizard! Why are you so gossipy!"


    "But its juicy news!" Blue Thunder grinned. "I exercise my right for free speech! Now tell meeeee!!!"


    "No!" Sherene stood up and ced her hands on her hips and red at Blue Thunder who pleaded more. "Go away!"


    "But everyone is curious!" Blue Thunder pushed her with his snort. "Come on! Share share please?"


    "Arghhhh..." Sherene gave up and sat on her desk ring at the insistent dragon. "Alright! Here''s what happened then..."


    -----


    Rastraz sat outside and leaned in closer to listen to the conversation between the Princess and Blue Thunder. She quickly straightened up when she thought Blue Thunder had noticed her but returned to eavesdropping on the conversation while blushing. "Oooo..."


    -----


    "Aww..." Blue Thunder sighed, "So touching! You must be joyous that the Captain cares so much about you!"


    Sherene looked at the dragon and didn''t know whether tough or cry or be angry. In the end, she admitted, "Yes, it made me felt very touch and happy."


    "Hehehe," Blue Thunder giggled. "So did you two make outter on?"


    "W- What?!" Sherene yelped. "Blue! Now, that''s crossing the line!"


    "Whoops! Sorry!" Blue Thunder stuck his tongue out. "Hehehe, but we are all happy for you two! It''s so romantic!"


    "How about you and Rastraz?" Sherene quickly changed the topic. "Are you two... together?"


    "Me and her!?" Blue Thunder jerked in surprise and his massive head nearly cracked the window frame. "Oh sorry! Anyway... no way she likes me!"


    "How do you know?" Sherene asked curiously. "I always see you two running around together and up to mischief."


    "I''m under orders to apany her!" Blue Thunder quickly replied. "She still doesn''t know the... erm proper manners!"


    "Heh," Sherene winked at Blue Thunder. "Reallllyyyyy....?"


    Blue Thunder gulped and lowered his voice, "Well, I admit that she got pretty eyes and very glossy scales... but... she''s too fierce..."


    "I like a girl who''s nice and sweet," Blue Thunder whispered. "You know like those in the dramas who wait for you toe home with a nice home cooked meal and gives you a massage after a hard day''s work."


    Sherene shook her head at the dragon. "I think you need to stop watching so many shows. It''s like a bad influence on you!"


    "Oh no!" Blue Thunder quickly defended his dramas. "You should join us too! We are just starting season 1 of Game of Thrones! I heard there are dragons inside!"


    Shereneughed and said, "I think you should look at properly at Rastraz, she''s might be fierce but she''s very nice once you know her."


    "h," Blue Thunder stuck his tongue out, "She''s fierce, rude, loud, steals my share of food and has a princessplex!"


    Suddenly Blue Thunder''s face changed, his eyes bugled out and his mouth snapped shut while his whole body trembled. "What is it?" Sherene asked in concern as she saw something was not right with Blue Thunder.


    "Ahhhh..." A drop of tear formed in Blue Thunder''s eye and he blinked rapidly. "Its... nothing... I.. got to go! Nice... chatting with you!" With that, he quickly pulled his head out of the window and scored a few scratches against the wall and window frame.


    Sherene quickly went to the window and looked out and sheughed as she saw Rastraz had her teeth sunk into the meaty part of Blue Thunder''s tail with she muttered something like, "Sa- I loud? I rude? HMM!?"


    "Sorry!!!" Blue Thunder tried to extract his tail from her mouth but she clung on tightly. The people around themughed at the couple fighting in public while giving way for the two dragons antics on the street.


    "Hey! You two!" A ck uniformed police officer walked up to them and yelled, "Stop disturbing the public! You want me to p you two with a fine? If you wanna have a lover''s quarrel go do it somece private! Don''t damage public property!"


    "Sorry Officer!" Blue Thunder quickly apologized before turning to Rastraz. "Will you please calm down? I treat you to cheese fries as an apology? Ok?"


    "Hmmph!" Rastraz finally released her bite on Blue Thunder before she stormed up in a huff, spreading her wings out and flying off towards the direction of a Burger Shack with Blue Thunder giving another apology to the police officer before giving a sad wave of good bye to theughing Princess and flying off after Rastraz.


    "My... my pay..."


    -----


    Kingdom of Bluewood, Imperial Capital


    The Emperor stood up naked and pulled a bell. A small army of eunuchs came into his room and dressed him up while a couple of eunuchs removed the dried up husk off the bed before wrapping it up and removing it to be disposed of.


    He ate a hearty breakfast before entering the gathering hall where his ministers awaked his arrival. His ministers bowed and saluted him as he sat down on his throne. Nodding, Emperor Varacen ordered them to begin their reports.


    "Monster wave at ...."


    "Famine at several ...."


    "Poprity at all time high ..."


    The reports went on and on, before the final Minister said, "My Emperor, we have conquered almost two thirds of all tamednd in the New World. Your poption is growing weary of war, will my Emperor end his campaign soon?"


    "My poprity is high is due to the sesses of the army!" Emperor Varacen said. "If I recall the army back, where will the people get their cheapbor of ves from?"


    "Will your businesses be able to get all those goods to sell that were brought back by the army?" Varacen continued. "Will the amount of taxes you collect be enough?"


    "Will those areas having famine be able to survive if resources were not taken from conquerednds?" As Varacen spoke his voice grew louder and louder. "Without war, will there be fertilends for our people to grow food?"


    "NO!" Varacen roared. "The army will only stop when this wholend is ours! Than will our people prosper!"


    "But my Emperor, the demands of supporting the army are straining the treasury..." The sweating Minister said. "We might not be able to sustain another year in war!"


    "If that is the case," Varacen smiled, "All the nobles will generously donate to the cause!"


    His ministers looked at each other in panic and started to protest. "Enough!" Varacen cut their protests away.


    "You can afford to party but can''t afford to donate to the Kingdom?" Varacen frowned. "Maybe I should do an internal investigation of corruption..."


    The Ministers all paled and they quickly kneeled and bowed, "My Emperor, we will be willing to donate generously to the conquest of the whole New World!"


    "Ahahahahaa! Good! Good!"


    -----


    The Colony, Burger Shack


    Fleet Master Dijon, Megan, and Akron each carried a tray of food and sat down together. After dinner yesterday, they decided to eat here again as they can''t forget the taste of the exotic "bur-girls".


    "Why no one has ever thought to ce meat and sauce between two bread buns?" Megan asked as she bit into her burger. She tried something new, ordering a fish fillet burger, which the fillet was coated with something and deep fried till golden brown and paired with a slightly tangy and sour sauce.


    "If we bring this idea back to the Isles," Akron suddenly said. "We can create something simr and it will do very well as a business."


    Both Dijon and Megan looked at each other and nodded, their merchant minds agreeing. "But the food recipe?"


    "Let''s see if we can meet with the owner of this ce and see if he is willing to sell to us," Akron said seriously. "There are so many interesting business ideas here!"


    "Hey!" Kaga and Billy suddenly appeared next to them. "You guys really like this!" Both of them smiled at the trio. "Wait for us! We will go order some food too!"


    "Do you think those two girls know the owner?" Dijon asked as they watched the two girls queuing up to make an order.


    "We can ask themter," Megan crumbled up the wrapped into a ball before sipping her fizzy drink.


    Not long the two girls returned with a tray each and they joined the trio from the Isles. "Say," Megan asked. "Do you girls know the owner here?"


    "Owner?" Billy repeated. "I''m not sure who the boss is but I heard that it''s one of the hooman''s business."


    "A hooman''s business?" The trio looked at each other and frowned. If it was a local, it will be easier for them to discuss a deal, but with a hooman, most likely the deal will be harder to close.


    "Yup," Kaga said while nipping away at her burger. "These food recipes are all food from the hoomans."


    The three Inders looked even more surprised, "Not only are they knowledgable in warfare, construction, magic artifacts, and even food recipes? What else are by the hoomans?" Megan asked in surprise.


    "Well, the farming and mining techniques and equipment are all taught by them too," Kaga said. "They have a massive school that teaches almost everything here."


    "A school?" The Inders looked at each other, "Are they blessed by the gods of knowledge?"


    "Maybe," Kaga said nonchntly. "I am saving up some money so I can take some courses I have interest in at the Academy of Science and Magic."


    "Can you bring us to this ''Academy of Science and Magic. to see?" Megan asked.


    "Okay, sure!" Kaga nodded, before whipping out a ck looking device the size of her palm.


    "Hey, Lest?" Kaga spoke to the strange device. "Can youe to pick us up at Burger Shack in half an hour''s time? Okay, thanks!"


    "What is that?" The trio looked curiously at the ck device on Kaga''s hand. "Why are you talking to it?"


    "Oh, this?" Kaga grinned with pride and held it up and showing it off.


    "This is a personalmunicator!"

 Chapter 218: Proposal

    Chapter 218: Proposal


    Burger Shack


    A massive shadow descended down rapidly from the skies and with a sudden flurry of pping wings, the dragon nimblynded on the ground. Rastraz carefully tip toed her way around the strange moving machines and stuck her head next to a window opening and tapped the window with her w politely.


    "Yes? Burger Shack! How may I help youuuuuuuuu.....??!" The serving girl at the drive through window stepped back with surprise as Rastraz stered her face as close as she could to the window. "Man- manager! It''s the dragons again!!!"


    "I want an extra extra extrarge serving of cheese fries!" Rastraz said. "Also give me fifty of those fish burgers! Please?"


    Another shadow covered the fast food restaurant as Blue Thunder''srge body swooped over the building before he red his wings andnded on the parking lot. This was the only Burger Shack in the city that had a parking spacerge and empty enough for the dragons tond.


    "WAIT!" Blue Thunder yelled in panic at Rastraz. "What are you ordering?!"


    "Cheese fries! And fish fillet burger!" Rastraz turned her head and snapped at Blue Thunder. "And you are paying for all that!"


    "Oh my god!" Blue Thunder blinked in shock. "H- how much did you order?"


    "A super extrarge cheese fries and fifty burgers!" Rastraz grinned. "That''s cheap for an apology!"


    Blue Thunder''s shoulders slumped down in defeat and he picked at the velcro bag he wore over his harness. The bag normally would be a good size for a humanoid creature, was like a small pouch for the dragon. He shook it and heard the sad tingling amount of credit chits in his wallet before he removed a silver ck card andmented his fate, making his way to the drive-through.


    "Give me another super extrarge cheese fries and another fifty muffalo burgers..." Blue Thunder carefully handed his credit card over through the window to the girl. "You ept card right?"


    -----


    "Lyonel!" The Manager yelled and once skin and bones boy jerked up from his cook station.


    "Yes, Manager?" Lyonel yelled back as he dropped a fryingdle filled with strips of frozen potatoes into the fryer. "What is it?"


    "The damn dragons are here!" The flustered Manager came stomping into the kitchen. "They want 2 sets of super extra extra extra cheese fries and 50 fish and 50 muffalo burgers!"


    The kitchen crew hearing that the dragons were here and the order they made groaned. "Stop whining!" The Manager yelled. "Lyonel, that means you need to fry a twenty bags of fries! I will get someone to help you."


    The Manager quickly distributed the workload among the kitchen crew who despiteining was pretty experienced in making dragon sized servings as the dragons tend to patronize them. In a way, they felt proud insidepared to other Burger Shake branches that they can im that only the dragons dine in their particr branch.


    Lyonel quickly went to the freezer with a trolley cart they specifically had gotten because of the dragons. He started piling 5kg bags of frozen french fries onto the cart and a helper quickly helped push the cart to the frying station.


    Next, he quickly turned on the unused fryers and poured sunflower oil in while his helper tore open the bags of french fries while the oil was slowly heated up with a heat rune.


    The hardest part was making the cheese fries for the dragons due to the amount of french fries to be fried and the sauces to be properly poured over them. Fourrge barrels used to store cooking oil were used as the containers for the cheese fries. The dragons typically returned the barrels for them to be reused.


    Once the fries were nice and golden brown, they were tossed into the barrel while a cookdled in cheese sauce, mayonnaise and some chili. Another kitchen staff will pour crispy friedrd into the barrel. This process kept repeating until all four of the barrels are filled.


    The burgers were slightly easier to make, meat patties were grilled while frozen fish fillets were fried and an hourter, the meal for the dragons waspleted.


    Lyonel helped wheel the packed food out to the dragons who were waiting at the car park. At first, when he first saw the dragons, he was frightened and in awe like many others. But over time, he found that the dragons were actually very gentle giants and at times a goofball, like now.


    He recognized Blue Thunder from his bluish red scales but didn''t know the red dragon''s name. He saw her a few times with Blue Thunder and that was it. The food was packed into crates could be attached to the bottom part of Blue Thunder''s harness.


    After having secured the crates to the dragon harness for a few times before, the veteran kitchen staff deftly secured the load-bearing straps under the crates andtched them tightly onto Blue Thunder''s harness.


    Blue Thunder gave a lopsided grin at the kitchen crew and even exchanged a few pleasantries and jokes while the red dragon quietly sat there and judged everyone with a superior expression.


    The Manager personally thanked Blue Thunder for his patronage while Blue Thunder tried to ask if there was a VIP card or discount or something to which the Manager sadly said there wasn''t such a thing but he will refer his suggestion to Management.


    Sighing dramatically, Blue Thunder gestured to the red dragon and they left, flying back to the Airbase where Lyonel heard that was where they lived.


    -----


    Dijon, Megan, and Akron stared wide-eyed at the scene of the dragons flying away from the table where they sat. When the dragons first came, they flinched in reflex with Dijon going for his sword which he forgot he didn''t carry it out, while Megan had a mage staff appeared out of thin air.


    Even the quiet Akron without a weapon snatched the fork and brandished it, ready to defend himself from the dragons.


    Kaga and Billyughed at their poses and quickly assured them that the dragons were harmless. They told them that it was fairlymon to see the dragonsing here to buy food for themselves or even for their crew at the Airbase.


    They watched the dragons and even forgot about the appointment with their driver who came and waited for them to finish gawking. Only after the dragons left did theye back to their senses.


    -----


    Draco Air Force Base, Dragon Pen


    Rastraz frowned at Blue Thunder who was humming a tone while he carefully using his ws to poke several runes on the hooman device inside Blue Thunder''s dwellings. She curled up her body against the wall and rested her head on her forelimbs as she waited impatiently for Blue Thunder to start the "pro-jecter" up.


    Lights appeared on the wall and Blue Thunder hummed a victory tone before he crawled his way next to Rastraz and settled down into a cozy spot for himself. He used his tail to pull the barrels of cheese fries before him and happily sighed as he breathed in the yummy aroma.


    Rastraz frowned and pushed Blue Thunder away from her and unwrapped her burgers while Blue Thunder slurped his cheese fries.


    Music soon yed from the surround sound speakers as the show started and Rastraz forgot about her irritation of Blue Thunder as she glued her huge glossy eyes to the projected images on the wall as the intro of Game of Thrones started.


    -----


    The Colony, City Hall


    Sherene looked at the pile of paperwork littering her table and her busy staff regarding projects for theing spring and other civil matters. At the same time, they have to ensure that theing Founding Day celebrates were all in order. Food stalls, performers, the parade, safety, everything had to be nned out and cater for. And also what to do should there be a change of weather, where would the VIPs sit and all that.


    As the day went on, she buried herself at work till suddenly someone reached over and took the pen she was holding away. Startled she looked up and saw ke standing there with a mischievous smile on his face.


    "What are you doing?" Sherene asked, slightly annoyed. "I still have many things to do!"


    "Look outside, it''s dark already!" ke shooked his head. "Your staff told me that you haven''t had dinner and I''m here to make sure you eat something and not overwork."


    "Oh, is it thatte already?" She quickly nced at the time and looked outside the window. "Oh my, its almost eight!"


    "I told your staff to return home since it''s sote," ke sat on the side of her table. "Come, finish up and let''s go out for dinner."


    "Why are you here?" Sherene asked as she sort and tidied up her documents.


    "Well, I finished my work and I''m free," ke smiled before taking out arge bouqet of sunflowers from behind.


    "Flowers!" Sherene happily giggled. "They look very pretty!"


    "Well, I think sunflowers fit you very well," ke exined, "Sunny and cheerful!"


    "Why thank you!" Sherene tiptoed and kissed a smiling ke.


    "So what do you want to eat?" ke couldn''t stop smiling at the happy Princess.


    "Slime ramen!" Sherene smiled. "And ''bar-be-que!"


    "Sure!" ke took Sherene''s coat and helped her wear it as they left the office and headed down to a small shop where Sherene always ate at.


    -----


    "Boss!" Sherene entered the shop and quickly. "Two slime ramen and two "bar be que" special set!"


    The owner seeing the Princess and the Captain quickly came over to greet the two. "My Princess and my Lord, it''s an honor to have you here!"


    "Boss, why so courteous?" Sherene smiled. "Ie here to eat almost all the time!"


    "Hehe," The owner smiled wider and quickly added. "I will quickly prepare your food, please wait!"


    "So you alwayse here for meals?" ke asked as he looked around the small cozy shop, ignoring the stares of the customers as they started to whisper among themselves excitedly.


    "Yes!" Sherene smiled as she helped herself to the teapot and poured a cup for ke. "Their slime ramen is the best!"


    ck grimaced, thinking back to the first time they ate slime ramen, cooked up by their own cook. "Well, I haven''t had any slime ramen for quite some time."


    "Wait," Sherene paused in her act of pouring tea. "I- is this a date?" She leaned closer and whispered.


    "Haha," keughed. "In a way, I guess so?"


    "Hehe" Sherene smiled happily before she poured tea and sipped it. "Blue Thunder came down today and he was like some fishmonger wife, keep asking me about the two of us and Fleet Master Dijon."


    "Ahh, I heard something about two dragons appearing at city hall and causing some ruckus," ke said. "So what happened?"


    Sherrene narrated out the whole story and they bothughed at Blue Thunder getting bitten by Rastraz, enjoying each otherpany. Soon, the owner returned with a y pot filled with red hot coal with a mesh over it.


    tes of raw food appeared and Sherene rubbed her hands excitedly at the spread. The owner bowed and retreated, leaving Sherene and ke alone. "Hehe, you should try this! This is ant meat, that is muffalo, this is w fish..."


    The twoughed and joked throughout the dinner, having a rxing time and forgetting about all the issues and stress of the day. After the meals, ke held Sherene''s hand as they walked the streets, enjoying the night and watching the kes of snow drifting down over the city.


    They strolled happily along the streets watching the warm orange light from the streetmps cast over the city. They stood at a small rise that looked over part of the city that glowed in the dark and snow.


    ke held her hand and suddenly took out a ring and went down on one knee before asking in a serious tone.


    "Princess, will you marry me?"

 Chapter 219: Friend or Foe

    Chapter 219: Friend or Foe


    Outskirts of The Colony


    A Jeep rumbled up a dirt track and passed by a rustic wooden gate and fence before the driver stopped the vehicle before a simple wooden cabin with severalrge barns next to it. The passengers and the driver hopped out of the military Jeep and looked around their surroundings in interest.


    "Bartley?" Mills yelled out. "Are you in?"


    One of the barn''s door swung open and a massive 3 meters tall Wind Wolf stuck its head out and sniffed the air, before giving off a couple of greeting barks.


    "Has the wolves eaten you yet?" Mills joked as he walked over to the barn and rubbed the soft fluffy fur of the wolf which happily rolled over to let its belly to be scratched. "Oh, you like this don''t cha?"


    Bartley appeared from inside the barn, dressed in a leather work smock over a locally produced shirt and knee-length work boots. He leaned the rake against the wall and removed his gloves before wiping the sweat off his face and smiled at Mills.


    "Hey, big guy!" Mills went up to Bartley and gave him a brotherly hug. "Damn! You smell of dog shit and piss!"


    Bartley grinned and shooked hands with Drake, Collins, and James. "How''s farm life doing for you?" James asked his former section mate.


    "The air is good, work is tiring but honest at least," Bartley smiled. "Come inside, it''s cold out here."


    Bartley shooed the curious wind wolves back to their pens and closed the barn door before bringing his friends into his cabin.


    Mills went to the Jeep and came back with a trunk food of supplies. "I got some locally brewed piss for you!"


    The cabin was tidy and simply furnished. There were only a single chair and a sofa and in the end, they just dragged the chair and sofa over to Bartley''s bed and they gathered there.


    "Cheers!" The gang toasted each other and took a swill from the bottles of local beers. The quality of bottling drinks had improved vastly over the months and the men finished the drinks quickly.


    "How are you doing?" Collins asked as he popped open the trunk and shared some meat jerky around. "Civilian life good?"


    "In a way, yes," Bartley smiled bitterly. "More freedom."


    "Hey, don''t sweat it," Drake patted Bartley''s back. "You did something good there. You saved those wolves."


    "Yea!" Mills chirped in. "Train them well! I want to ride into battle on a wolf! Woo!"


    James shook his head, "Don''t worry, we are all here for you. Even getting dishonorably discharged from the Corps, none of us think badly of you!"


    "Thanks, guys," Bartley nodded in gratitude at his friends.


    "Hey, we are brothers!" Mills raised his beer up and yelled. "Tonight we party!"


    "We got meat for BBQ and plenty of drinks!"


    -----


    Kingdom of Bluewood, Imperial Capital


    The Emperor sat up on his bed and clutched his chest hard, his fingers digging deep into his flesh. A crescent shape appeared under the skin of his chest and appeared to be alive as it radiated a soft glow through his skin.


    Sweat trickled down his naked body as he struggled against the scorching pain in his chest. He raised one hand and gripped the sleeping girl next to him and almost immediately, the pain lessened and he felt a cooling sensation flowing from his hand to his chest.


    He looked down and in the dim mage lights, he noticed wrinkles on his body slowly disappearing and his skin regaining the supple glow of youth.


    As the pain faded, the crescent shape pushing against his skin slowing retreated back into his body and the glow disappeared. Taking a deep breath, he looked down to his bed where the girlid, only to find a dried out husk curled up in a fetal position.


    The Emperor stood up and walked to a full length polished bronze mirror and admired his body under the dim lights. He rubbed the red patch on his chest where his nails had gorged into his skin drawing blood. As he watched, his skin visibly recovered with a blemish.


    He frowned wondering why has it been so activetely. It used to only trigger once a year or less buttely, it has kept demanding more and more from him. He looked at his 20 year old plus face and body and smiled, knowing that no one suspected him to be over sixty years of age.


    Not even his own sons can recognize him till thest moment when he whispered to their ears. He remembered the disbelieve in his eldest son when he ran his sword through his body. "Luke, I am your father!"


    His eldest son stared in horror and died with confusion in his eyes and he wasn''t the only one to die that way. Only his youngest son, did he banished away due to some lingering feelings for his mother and he took his youngest son''s identify and reunified the Kingdom under his new identity.


    It all had started when he was given a piece of artifact that gave him renewed strength and vitality. He knew his sons were plotting for the throne once he died and knew that they were useless. He was given a new chance in life so why shouldn''t he take this chance to unite the whole New World?


    His useless sons were only interested in power, women, and wealth and won''t amount to anything greater than he ever was! Only him, the great Emperor Dios Bluewood will be able to hold the people''s heart and unite the world under one banner!


    His youngest son, borne out with a favored concubine was the weakest among his brothers. Weak of will and mind, his magical powers were also below average. Hence, he decided to make use of his youngest child for his plot but in return for his affections to his concubine, he allowed his youngest to live. With that, he faked his death and assumed the identity of his youngest child and yed the whole Kingdom into the palm of his hands.


    When the uprising by his supposed brothers came, they dismissed him as the weakest and fought among themselves while Diosughed behind the scenes. He had already prepared his strongest army to only obey him and when his sons were weakened, he attacked and in a brief year of suppression, he regained control of the whole Kingdom again. Expect this time, it was under the guise of Varacen Bluewood, the youngest hidden genius of the only surviving Bluewood lineage.


    Admiring himself again in the mirror, he pulled the bell and a small army of eunuchs appeared, he gestured to the body on the bed and the eunuchs bowed before removing the body.


    "Bring me another girl."


    -----


    UNS Matador, 78 km offshore from Far Harbor


    Commander Ford sat on hismand chair and watched the grey skies as waves as tall as a human rosed against the twin hulls of the Matador.


    "Commander!" The bridge navigator called out. "Two more hours to Far Harbor approach. Weather is not looking too good."


    "Got it," Ford replied and wondered if the Captain and Princess were okay. "Contact Poseidon and get weather updates from them."


    "Aye!" The bridge crew radio back to Naval Command and requested for the current weather update.


    "First Officer," Ford stood up from his seat. "You have the conn."


    "Aye, I have the conn!" The First Officer leaped up and saluted as Ford left the Bridge to tour his ship.


    Ford went down to the hanger deck and found the crew in a joyous mood. Six AF - 1N Sea Cobras rested snuggly on their cradles were stuffed tightly to one side while the crew ensured that all the items that were needed to be offloaded or be reced were checked and secured properly against the stormy seas.


    He returned the salutes of the crew and walked to the end of the internal hanger deck to the stern of the ship where the deck had arge square well that opened up to the Sea Operations well deck. Two PT - 1 ''Mosquito'' boats sat on an unflooded well deck on secured moorings that could hold another two more PT boats.


    Ford could see the UNS Floatin Wreck from the half exposed stern of the well decks were the hanger doors were closed up. The well deck could be flooded and the Mosquito boats will be floated out from the stern. The Sea Ops deck also stored amphibious warfare equipment forunching attacks orndings on beaches.


    He headed next to the starboard hull which also known as Hull A while the port side hull was known as Hull B. Several enclosed passageways connected the two hulls together which held the ship''s crew quarters, storage, mess, entertainment, and gym facilities, and also the engine rooms.


    Each Hull had their own independent engine and power rooms. The Engineering Department had to split their manpower between the two hulls to oversee and maintain the engines. As he entered the Hull A engine''s room, the temperature rosed to sweltering levels.


    "Chief?" He called out to the Matador Chief Engineer, a newly promoted crewman of UNS Singapore.


    "Commander? What brings you here?" The Chief asked as he put down his work tools.


    "How''s everything?" Ford asked as he looked at the confusing array of dials and gauges.


    "A few burst pipes here and there," The Chief reported. "Also a few armor ting sprung out from their bolts and leakages here and there."


    He rapped his knuckles against the wooden hull and said, "These hulls are not really designed to take such heavyweight despite having bnced over with a twin hull design."


    "The weight ratio calctions are fine, but these hulls are just too old," The Chief engineer said. "Well, if we can rebuild these hulls from the ground up, this ship design is actually pretty solid."


    "How bad is the leakage?" Ford frowned, wondering why no one has reported this issue to him.


    "The leaking isn''t too bad, the pumps are able to keep up," The Chief said. "Since we are nearing Far Harbor in a couple of hours, it isn''t a very big issue nor will it affect our speed at this point of time."


    Ford nodded, "Regardless, I want a damage report on that."


    The Chief nodded resignedly. "Got it, Commander. Once we hit the docks, I will also get the docks to see if we can fix the hulls up properly to prevent more of these issues."


    "Good," Ford replied. "Keep up the good work, Chief!"


    "Aye!"


    After checking each department, Ford returned to his office and started going through all his reports. "Six goblin raiding groups destroyed over a three week period with 47% aircraft ordnance and 62% aircraft fuel onboard expended. Zero casualties."


    Suddenly the alert buzzer rang and the public announcement system red, "All hands! Action Stations! Repeat, this is not a drill! All hands! Action Stations!"


    Ford jerked up from his reading and in reflex, he ran out of his cabin. The crew ditched what they were doing and quickly moved towards their stations as they had trained and drilled.


    Appearing at the Bridge, Ford immediately asked as he stepped in. "What happened?"


    "Sir! Surface radar is picking up multiple contacts!" The First Officer quickly reported. "We don''t know what is it, but they are big!"


    "Bearing and heading?" Ford stood over the tactical plot table. "Report back to Poseidon and Thunderchief now!"


    "Aye!"


    "Launch the alert Cobras!" Ford ordered next. "Prep the half of the Sea Cobras for anti-shippingbat and the rest with air to air loadouts."


    "Aye!"


    "Order the Floatin Wreck to take up station between us and the unknowns!" Ford gave the nextmand. "Deploy the Mosquitos and have them on close by escort duty!"


    The bridge crew scrambled rapidly to Ford''s orders while Ford frowned, "What camee so near to us without us detecting it?"


    "Sir! Surface radar is showing seven contacts! All twice the size or evenrger than the Matador!"

 Chapter 220: Terror of the Deep

    Chapter 220: Terror of the Deep


    xons continued to wail, as crewmen rushed to their stations. The yellow and green coated techs swarmed over the cradled nes and readied them forunch.


    The two alert Sea Cobras sat on the flight elevator awaiting their pilots as techs armed the onboard weapons and the trolley umtors kick-started up the propeller engines.


    The alert pilots quickly climbed onboard their nes and techs helped buckled them up as the elevators cranked loudly, moving up to theunch decks. The tform shuddered to a halt and techs unhooked the umtors before guiding the nes to aunch cradle.


    Once the Sea Cobra''s wheels and the airframe were properly locked in ce, the techs scrambled clear while the Air Boss that sat in a ss blister on theunch deck overseed the entire flight operations. A Red signal light turned yellow and the pilots pushed their engine power to the max, the roar of the engines louder than the shing of waves against the ship hulls.


    The Matador groaned as the ship maneuvered its stern towards the wind, allowing the nes tounch with the wind behind them to prevent crashes caused by crosswinds.


    The signal turned green and the steam catapult fired, super elerating the hooked up nes to speeds of over two hundred kilometers in just a couple of seconds, tossing the bines into the air.


    The ''Catafighters'' dubbed by the crew and pilots dipped down as they hit the air before rising up. The two nes did a loop around the Matador to orientate themselves before charging off in the direction of the surface contacts.


    -----


    Seaman Lero Gemwoods angled his body as he raced through the hatchways, heading towards the Sea Operations well deck. Several crew members ran passed him as they headed to other locations in the ship.


    As Lero reached the Sea Ops well deck, he saw the stern doors had lowered and the well deck was already flooded. He quickly ran to his equipment locker and grabbed his gear consisting of a harness webbing, personal flotation device, and his personal arms.


    He quickly slipped into his webbings and donned the dark blue PFD over and checked his service revolver was loaded before slipping it back into his holster. Other PT crew members were also simrly gearing up and while others lugged ammo boxes and weapons onboard the two Mosquito boats.


    Lero quickly boarded the Mosquito boat he was assigned to, FAC 04, nicknamed by its crew as ''Mozzy'' and quickly ran through a series of checks on his boat station. His crew members consisted of thirteen others and he generally manned the top side twin .50 caliber guns.


    He quickly helped moved and secured the stacks of olive green ammo cases to the storage bins while the engine of the PT boat roared to life. Once the All Green was given, FAC 04 ''Mozzy'' and her sister boat, FAC 05 ''Lassy'' reversed out of the Sea Ops well deck and into the open sea.


    -----


    Thick grey-white smoke spewed out from the funnel of UNS Floatin Wreck as it pushed its engines to the maximum speed and took up a protective screen before the seane tender.


    Dark figures of crewmen could be seen running along the top deck of the Corvette as they manned the weapons on the decks from Commander Ford''s vantage point on the Matador''s Ind Bridge.


    Multiple reports came in from all sources, some demanded answers, others asked questions, harrying the Bridge crew. "Ford," Captain ke''s voice spoke from the image on the screen. "What''s the situation?"


    "Not too sure yet," Ford replied. "Our alert Cobras justunched and are en route to the location of contacts."


    "Noted, I have scrambled a flight of Cobras to provide support over your AO," ke said. "Also, Far Harbor defenses are being activated."


    "Thanks, my remaining nes are still being scrambled forunch," Ford frowned. "This came at a bad time, we had already prepped all the nes to be ready to be off loaded when we arrive back at port in an hour or so."


    "Lucky, the two alert Cobras were still standing by," Ford shooked his head. "Bad oversight on my part. "


    "Well, not entirely your fault," ke replied. "We just never expected something to appear so close to the port. Our nearest UAV is being routed over to investigate too."


    "Alright, keep me updated when you have news," ke said. "I gonna have a talk with the Isles representative, see if they know anything."


    -----


    The two Sea Cobras flew side by side and less than a hundred meters above sea level. The two pilots kept their eyes peeled wide as they approached the location where the radar reported multiple surface contacts.


    The grey skies and light snowfall made visibility low and the pilots could only see a cluster of small inds as they reached the target area. They dived lower and did a long loop, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary in the area but couldn''t find anything unusual.


    "Flying Fish One to Matador," The lead pilot radioed. "No contacts sighted. Over."


    "Matador," The ship replied. "Surface targets right on top of you, over!"


    "Negative, Flying Fish One sees no targets, over."


    Just as Flying Fish One finished his report, the seas below him appeared to churned violently. To the pilots'' surprise and horror, the cluster of ''inds'' appeared toe to life as massive flippers rosed up from the water and the ''inds'' swam away from the churning sea.


    "SHIT SHIT SHIT!" Flying Fish One yelled out in fright at the sight of the suddenly alive inds. "Flying Fish One, we got sea monsters! Repeat! SEA MONSTERS!"


    As the two nes pulled up to a higher altitude, dozens of wiggling tentacles burst out from the churning seawater and shot towards one of the nearest Ind. The tentacles wrapped another the ''ind'' and the pilots could clearly see trees and rocks getting destroyed by the rapidly constricting tentacles.


    A serpentine head suddenly popped out from the ''ind'' and it roared loudly with its beak like mouth and the four giant flippers thrashed madly as it tried to escape from the pull of the tentacles.


    "Gods of the Heavens!" Flying Fish One cried out as he saw what rosed out from the depths of the sea that the tentacles belonged to.


    A massive arrowheaded dome, with a pair of bony ridged ws rosed up from the sea. Its maw a mess of tentacles that were able to stretch over a hundred meters long, that was drawing the ind creature closer and closer to it.


    It''s two ws snipped rapidly in excitement as it drew the creature it caught closer and closer to its gaping maw. The rest of the ind creatures cried out in panic and distress as they saw one of their kind about to be eaten by the monster. One of the ind creatures even turned around and charged towards the monster, seemingly trying to save the other.


    "Matador, Flying Fish One," The pilot radioed. "What are our orders?"


    "Flying Fish One, Matador, Hold one, over."


    -----


    The Owleye UAV happily hummed in the air as it flew over the AO of the sighting of the sea monsters. Its sensors recorded and imagery was fed back to the data servers onboard UNS Singapore and everyone who was the images were frightened by the size of the monsters.


    "What are those creatures?" Ford shuddered at the thought of such monsters were hiding in the depths! "Those looked like some kind of giant sea turtle while the squid like thing looks like a hermit crab with tentacles..."


    "This is fucked up," Ford took a deep calming breath. "Order Flying Fish One and Two to maintain altitude and keep observing the monsters."


    "All ships are to maintain a five-kilometer distance from the monsters!" Ford ordered next. "Weapons on standby, if that thing shows any aggression to us, fire at will!"


    "Sir, do you think we should help those, ''ind creatures''?" One of the female bridge crew asked. "They look kind of pitiful..."


    Ford frowned and returned to observing the fight between monsters. It clearly is shown that the tentacle monster was the apex predatorpared to the giant turtles who kept baying away in panic.


    Even the brave giant turtle that attempted to save its friend suffered greatly from the pincher ws of the tentacle monster. Help them? Ford rubbed his chin as he thought to himself, thinking of the pros and cons.


    Helping the turtles will definitely bring about the wrath of the tentacle beast and there weren''t any returns from the saved turtles but If we can defeat this monster, it will greatly boost the morale of everyone, and also show off our might to the isles, thought Ford.


    Just as Ford was about to give his orders, Captain ke called in. "Ford, I spoke with the Inders and shown them the images of the sea monsters."


    "They called the tentacle monster as ''Krarga the Terror of the Deep'' which the Inders greatly fear. They are known to devour whole ships and convoys," ke repeated what the Inders told him. "It took them a fleet of over twenty warships to defeat one and that creature was just in its infancy and yet less than half the ships were able to sail home. Very dangerous and that creature should be a matured monster they said."


    "These turtles like creatures as Ind Whales," ke exined. "Ind whales are gentle and peaceful creatures and are highly revered as sea gods and is said to be good luck for the sailors. They also saved many sailors lives as the Ind whales travel from ce to ce and its back, as you can see, is like its own ecosystem."


    "Ford, I want you to save those creatures," ke ordered. "It will grant us goodwill with the Inders and not to mention also a way to show off to them our naval strength."


    "Hmm... don''t you mean that you wanna just show off to your lovepetitors?" Ford joked while the bridge crew sniggered.


    ke cleared his throat loudly and smiled mysteriously, "Yea, as if I needed to that! Ha!"


    Ford raised an eyebrow at the mysterious smile of ke and wondered what happened while he was away. "Alright, seen you what to show off what we can do, I assume you invited the Inders for a view?"


    "Yes, they are actually here at Command," ke replied. "Well, put on a good show for them for us alright?"


    Ford nodded and turned to his excited crew. "Let''s show them what the Navy can do!"


    -----


    "Flying Fish One, this is Matador," The radio crackled to life. "New orders to engage the sea monster attacking the ind creatures once the rest of Flying Fish flight have joined up with you. In the meantime, provide artillery observation, over."


    "Roger that!" Flying Fish One replied in surprised. They were gonna attack that huge monster? Are they serious?


    As he waited for the rest of the aircraft from Matador to join him, UNS Floatin Wreck sailed to a distance of three kilometers away from the Krarga and open fire.


    Shrieking shellsnded around the surprised sea monster as it reeled in its weakening prey. It screamed as a shell hammered against its rubbery body and the HE shell exploded. The shock and mes of the explosion sh fried its skin and transmitted shockwaves into its body, causing it excruciating pain.


    The Krarga''s rubbery hide was thick and strong enough to bounce the shells off its body but the resulting explosions badly shook its insides. Its primitive mind was unable toprehend what was happening to it except that it was in much pain.


    It loosed its hold on its prey and wiggled free, trying to escape the pain that came from nowhere. The freed Ind Whale quickly swam away from the loud explosions while baying in even more panic.


    "Floatin Wreck! Good hit! Good hit!" Flying Fish One cried excitedly over the radio as he observed the shells fall. "Fire for effect!"


    The guns of UNS Floatin Wreck roared again.

 Chapter 221: I Got Bigger Guns

    Chapter 221: I Got Bigger Guns


    "One to all Flying Fish," The flight leader hit hisms as he watched the remainder of his flight forming up next to his wing. "Fish with guns to go in first and provide close-in support while Fish with anti-shipping ordnance tomence bombing of that wiggly thingy next, over."


    "Roger!" The rest of Flying Fish flight replied and the nes formed up into a 3 - 3 - 2 formation. The first three Sea Cobras were armed with twin .50 caliber guns and a dual 20 mm gun pod dipped their nose and the nes appeared to burst into mes as the guns fired while the other three Sea Cobras with their anti shipping bombs pulled up higher to gain altitude.


    Streaks of yellow red tracers licked out towards the sea monster that was dazed by the shelling provided by UNS Floatin Wreck. The heavy rounds hit the thick hide of the Krarga and the rounds barely even managed to scratch its slimy surface.


    "SHIT!" The pilots of the first wave of Sea Cobras yelled as they saw their own tracers bouncing off the sea monster and some even appeared to bounce back to them!


    The three Sea Cobras spun away as they dodge their own ricocheting rounds and cursed as they found no damage were done to the creature.


    The second wave of Sea Cobras dived down at an angle of 50 degrees from the skies with air screaming through their wings. Releasing their load of two 50 kg cast iron bombs, they quickly pulled up one after the other andrge water spurts erupted around the squirming sea monster as the dyed fused bombs detonated, the shock waves further shocking the creature.


    The Ind Whales bayed in fear and swam further away, trying to escape the sudden loud explosions. The Whales raised their serpentine heads out from the waters and watched the death struggle of the Krarga while the strange buzzing creatures roared loudly at it.


    As Flying Fish flight regroup after their strafing and bombing run, another volley fired by the Floatin Wreck hammered the sea monster and suddenly the Krarga vomit out a dark cloud of blue substance and its movement slowly ceased as it floated on the waves.


    "Flying Fish one to Matador," The flight leader radio as they circled around the sea monster. "I think the monster is dead! Over!"


    "Matador rogers," Came back the reply, "RTB for resupply over."


    With that, the nes of Flying Fish returned back to base while the flight of Cobraunched from Far Harbor took over observation duties over the sea monster.


    ----


    UNS Singapore, Conference Room


    The trio from the Inds glued their eyes to the wondrous imagerying from arge rectangr t surface. They had watched some dramas and shows with a simr artifact in their hotel rooms but these current images that were being shown were ''live''.


    They were invited by Captain ke over to this strange yet fascinating castle that appeared to be made out of some kind of metal. It only further confused them as to they would these hoomans go and waste so much good iron just to make something like this, was it because they were so rich in metal that they can afford to splurge on some so weird castle?


    Could the ores they traded for used to build this strange castle? Is it some kind of monument to the gods? The Inders couldn''t understand what was going in the minds of these strange hoomans.


    They were given several pictures that were drawn so lifelike and with colors so vibrant that it could only be made by some kind of high leveled magic. They recognized the monsters shown in the picture and told what they knew of these creatures to ke and his staff.


    Not longter, they were shown these amazing moving images that Captain ke said were happening, ''Live'' as in right now. The trio was stunned by the implications of such a magic artifact as it meant that something that was happening across vast distances could still be viewed as it was happening with this artifact!


    Akron immediately asked, "How much is this artifact? Give me an offer!"


    Captain keughed as he heard what Akron asked, "This, unfortunately, is not seble."


    "Why? I can give you any price you ask for!" Akron quickly said. "I can trade with you ourrgest warship! A Man of War!"


    Dijon and Megan gasped as they heard what Akron was willing to offer for that artifact. A Man of War was the Isles pride and joy. There were only 15 such war vessels in the Isles''s fleet, with each Fleet Master owing two to three only.


    It was the symbol of strength for the Isles, which even the pathetic few ocean going warships of the Empire can barely match the might of a single Man of War! Akron had only two Man of War in his fleet, with one surviving as his gship while the other is captained by his son.


    A Man of War could carry up to 300 fighting men and carries eleven heavy ballistas on each broadside. Its armor can withstand multiple hits from ballista bolts and brought fear to its enemies when it appears. The cost of building one Man of War, can easily fund the construction of several smaller frigates!


    Yet Captain ke wasn''t impressed by the offer. He shook his head and said, "I am very sorry, but this tech is not for sale."


    "Tet?" Akron frowned. "Give me an offer, I will do my best to match it!"


    ke smiled, "No, I think you do not understand what I meant, this can''t be sold and seriously, I do not really need any warships." He gestured the screen which shown the death of the Krarga as if mocking the Man of War of the Isles.


    "Akron, enough," Megan spoke up seeing that Akron wanted to push harder. "Look at their weapons, they can easily kill the Krarga with just two ships and their flying machines. What makes you think they need a Man of War?"


    "I- I... yes, you are right," Akron backed down after hearing Megan''s word. "I am sorry, Captain ke, I have overstepped my boundaries."


    "It''s okay," ke waved away his apologies. "I can understand how exciting it is and the possibilities it can offer."


    Akron nodded solemnly, knowing that with such an artifact, they can get information directly firsthand without any timeg by using wyvern or courier dragons!


    "Is what is shown here true?" Dijon asked suspiciously. He has taken part in a battle with a Krarga many years back but had failed to defeat it and yet a third of the convoy was destroyed.


    ke nodded and said, "Yes, the Navy is now attempting to bring back the carcass of the sea monster back.


    "Can we see it?" Megan''s eyes glowed in excitement. "I didn''t see a Krarga before."


    "Sure, I will make the arrangements once the fleet has returned to the dock with the creature."


    -----


    FAC - 04 ''Mozzy'' was momentarily airborne as it hit a wave and Seaman Lero felt gravity disappearing as he braced himself inside the open air dual .50 cal gun turret on the flying bridge of the speeding boat. He gave out a cry of excitement as the boat appeared to fly through the wave tops.


    Along the sides of Mozzy was FAC - 05 ''Lassy'' as it plowed through the waves, kicking huge sprays of water at high speed. Lero peered over the gun shield of his weapon and saw a huge purplish grey inding up ahead.


    A flight of Cobras buzzed around above them while in the far distance several inds with flippers and heads appeared to be swimming closer to them.


    "Heavens!" Lero gasped in amazement as the PT boat came next to the floating carcass of the sea monster. The boat pilot reduced speed and the PT boat made a circuit around the sea monster. The water was filled with a dark blue stain which Lero assumed to be the blood of the monster.


    The huge glossy lifeless eyes of the monster stared dead ahead and Lero counted a total of four eyes, two on each side of its ''face''. The mouth tentacles stretched out far and bobbed up and down with the waves and there was barely any wounds seen on the body of the creature.


    "Is it dead?" Lero heard one of the crews below yelled as they all looked at the monster floating there. Lero shuddered at the thought that if it wasn''t, they will be the ones dead!


    Still, he aimed his armed .50 cal at the creature as the boat slowly powered next to the creature. As they came next to the creature, the stench was overwhelming, smelling like a mixture of rotting garbage and spoiled milk.


    Coughing madly and pulling his sea strained uniform to cover his nose, Lero''s eyes teared as the stench irritated his eyes. Mozzy''smander, Petty Officer Jorn quickly ordered the pilot to back the boat away and not get too close.


    Both the PT boats moved away from the carcass and stay roughly two hundred meters away from the mound of flesh and upwind from it.


    "Fark! That is disgusting!" Lero spat over the side before taking out a canteen of water to rinse his face and mouth. "No wonder no fishes areing to eat that thing with a smell that bad!"


    As he capped his canteen, he noticed the Ind Whalesing closer and closer. "Hey, Boss! Those weird ind fish ising closer! What do we do?"


    Petty Officer Jorn heard his yell, mbered up to the flying bridge and looked out from his pair of binocrs. "I heard they are quite docile and friendly. Maybe they justing over to say thanks?"


    "Erm, will they flip us over when theye too close?" Lero swallowed his fear as he saw the moving indsing almost right on top of them. He could even see wyverns roosting in the trees on the backs of those creatures and thick vegetation growing on their backs.


    The one which was grappled by the Krarga had its back look like it suffered a hurricane, as the foliage on its back was torn and trees were broken here and there. Lero wondered how these creatures came to grow an ind with trees and nts on their parts at some point.


    The Ind Whales paused several meters away from the two boats and both sides stared at each other in curiosity. The heads of the Ind Whales looked serpentine, with thick folds of skin and intelligent beady eyes. Their mouths were beaked shape like a Pico Pico bird and they have turtle like flippers.


    "So what do we do?" Lero asked again as he nervously held on the butterfly gripes of his dual .50 cal.


    "Fark, as if I know!" Jorn whispered back. "Gonna make a damn call!" With that Jorn climbed back into the wheelhouse leaving Lero alone in the turret mount.


    Time passed and the Ind Whales just watched them while the injured Whale once in a while gave a bay of pain.


    The unique hull shape of the UNS Matador and UNS Floatin Wreck soon appeared over the horizon. The Ind Whales gave out a cry as they saw the ships but did not do anything else except watch.


    Commander Ford stood at theunch deck and frowned as the wind changed and the stench of the monster drifted over. He mentally estimated the length of the sea monster to be at least twice that of the Matador and he peered over the side of the ship into the dark waters below and wondered what other horrors are there underneath his feet.


    He turned to the assembled crew on the deck and yelled, "Alright boys, we got a shit job to do!"


    "That is to stow that sinking bag of shit monster back to Far Harbor!"

 Chapter 222: The Great Krarga

    Chapter 222: The Great Krarga


    Far Harbor


    People lined the wharves and docks as they watched with fantasied horror at the huge dark purplish lump of flesh that gave off an overpowering stench being towed in by the seane tender, UNS Matador.


    Despite the gagging smell, the elves who lived in the interior of the continent have neverid any eyes on any sea monsters before only hearing them in the tales passed down by their ancestors who crossed the Great Oceaning to the New World.


    Even the Inders were impressed by the sheer size of the monster as they nimbly climbed up their ships'' masts to gain a better view.


    As the Matador passed by Far Harbor, it blew its fog horn in acknowledgment to the excitement and awe crowded who cheered wildly. They suddenly saw several moving inds that appeared to move following behind the UNS Float Wreck. They looked at each other in and wondered what are those, while the Isles sailors were dumbstruck by the scene.


    The Matador released its towing chains and the PT boats took over the duty of towing it towardsnd at a location, two kilometers away from Far Harbor to prevent the stench from reaching the port.


    The PT boats dragged the carcass as close to shore as possible and the tide washed the sea monster up to the beach where arge group of people donned in bright yellow bio hazardous gear waited.


    -----


    Dr. Sharon stared at the sea monster in excitement, momentarily ignoring the voice in her as she ran left and right of the carcass, taking samples and measurements. Even Magister Thorn wearing the cumbersome biohazard gear moved with vigor as he oohed and ahhed together with Dr. Sharon.


    At a further distance, with their faces covered with cloth masks and rebreathers, Captain ke stood with the trio of inders and several other officers as they watched the ongoings happening at the beach.


    Tents and istion chambers, spotlights and measuring tapes were all set up here and there as the science team and techs swarmed over the sea monster.


    "What are they doing?" Dijon, his voice muffled as asked while looking at the strange yellow suited people moving around the monster''s carcass.


    "They are taking samples and other readings to find out more about the creature," ke thought awhile before he replied in as simple terms as he could. "They are dissecting the monster."


    "Sam- pearl?" Megan frowned at the unfamiliar word. "Die- secting?"


    "Erm," ke snapped his fingers as he thought of the appropriate reply. "Cutting it up to see what it is and see if anything can be used from it."


    "Oh like a Monster Dismantler?" Megan asked.


    "Yea, I guess so?" ke could only give a helpless shrug. "They are also studying it to find it weakness and other stuff."


    "I see," Dijon nodded in understanding. "Understand the enemy to defeat the enemy!"


    ke nodded and returned to watching the scene before them. He had speed read the preliminary report sent by Commander Ford as they have flown over here.


    The pilots reported that their .50 cal and 20 mm guns barely able to prate the rubbery hide of the monster and the 50 kg bombs and the 3" HE shells killed it in the end.


    If that was true, they would need to develop AP shells for the 3" guns and also some form of depth charges or even torpedoes to kill these monsters if there are more of them out there! ke frowned as he thought of the unknown lurking out there and they definitely need to equip all the ships with sonar!


    "Do these monsters appear frequently?" ke asked. "How do your ships deal with them?"


    Dijon stared at the hooman, thinking whether should he tell him anything. He chest still smolders with the thought that the Princess''s heart is his.


    Megan watched Dijon''s expression and rolled her eyes before lightly pping the back of her hand against his shoulder. Dijon gave a sigh before saying, "They normally stay at the deeper parts of the oceans. That is one reason why no ships ever made it back to the Old World."


    "The younger ones tend to drift into shippingnes once in a while," Dijon exined. "We will hang bells underwater and hammer it. They do not seem to like the sounds made by ringing bells underwater and will go away."


    "But how do you spot them?" ke asked curiously.


    "We don''t..." Dijon stared directly at ke.


    "We only know when suddenly a ship gets eaten..."


    -----


    Dr. Sharon hovered excitedly over a tech who was using a hi powered drill to pierce the hide of the monster. After several minutes, the drill finally sort of managed to punch through the rubbery hide and yellowish fat flowed out.


    She quickly scooped the pale yellow fluid and collected it into a jar before running off to the onsite mobileb that was set up for analysis. The sea monster looked simr to a Terran giant squid with an arrowhead but with 2 pairs of eyes and a pair of pincer ws.


    "How fascinating!" Dr. Sharon cried she first saw the creature. It has been quite a while since she had a new species to y with. And today there were two new species for her to look at and y with!


    "I will find out all your secrets," She whispered to herself as she sat down on theb table. "Than I will look at those cute little Ind whales! Hehehe!"


    -----


    UNS Matador, Bridge


    Ford gave a sigh of relief and removed his cloth mask. The stench of the monster was just really bad and he wondered if the smell will linger on, on his ship. He better have the Chief Mate to open up all hatches to air the whole shipter.


    He turned his gaze towards the Ind Whales that had followed them back and wondered what they wanted from them. If those things lingered around here, they gonna cause some shipping hazards as they can move around the area.


    Now that they reached Far Habour, they just have to wait for a tug to pull them into the port and the crew can get some time off after they secured the ships. Ford sighed as he thought of all the paperwork and reports he got piled up for him when he returned to his office onnd.


    "Damn, I rather fight sea monsters than do paperwork!"


    -----


    A couple of hourster, ke boarded the Matador with much fanfare from the crew with the Inders in tow. They looked around the ship with curiosity as they stood on theunch deck and wondered why did they build the top decks t and how does this ship with two hulls move with any sails.


    Ford smiled at the expressions of the Inders and Dijon recognized Ford as he waited with a party of senior officers at the entrance to the ind bridge. "Wee onboard the Matador."


    "What is this t deck for?" Dijon could no longer hold back his curiosity.


    "This?" Ford tapped the deck with his feet and grinned. "Its for flight operations."


    "We cannd dragons and other flying machines here," Ford exined to the surprised Inders.


    "Dragons?" Dijon gave a jerk as he looked around theunch deck again. "This is... ingenious!"


    "Why haven''t we taught of it before!?" Akron cried out. "The Isles have no heavyweight or medium weight species of dragons."


    "But we have plenty of lightweight dragons that served as scouts and messengers," Akron exined. "Normally if we use them on board the ships, theynd or fly off from the masts of the ships, but there is a chance to damage the masts, riggings, or sails."


    "This idea of having the decks of the ships t for dragons tond and take off..." Akron eyes glowed as the concept of a dragon carrier came into his mind.


    Megan stood at the side and watched the exchange among the hoomans and her colleagues and frowned inwardly. These hoomans have so many innovative ways to do things and they kept insisting none of these ideas were powered by magic.


    Where did these hoomanse from? And where did they all learned these ''tek-no-logee'' from? Will they turn on us and invade us? Megan felt more and more ufortable the longer she was with the hoomans as she couldn''t understand them.


    "Megan!" Dijon yelled out. "This ship is amazing!"


    Megan schooled her face and smiled, not giving off any indication of how disturbed she is with the smiling hoomans. She shuddered slightly as she looked at the two tall hoomans looking at them with constion looks like they were children in their eyes.


    Dijon and Akron continued to discuss about the endless possibilities that this concept could bring to the Isles. Megan feigned interest and kept a wary eye on the hoomans who lead them to a tour of the ship, in a way, showing off their power.


    Frankly, she was shocked by the power of the hoomans and the Princess alliance. Two ships and a few strange flying machines killed a sea monster that would normally take over 20 great warships to defeat and they did not even suffer a single casualty.


    Not to mention the prosperity of the city they have seen that no other cities or kingdoms could replicate! There were no beggars seen nor even any poor folk. The poorest folk could even afford clothes with such high quality that no other kingdom could give them own people.


    Megan suspected that this ke wanted them to see how they defeated the Krarga and even hosted them to view their warship was to both give them a warning and assurance at the same time.


    The message was simple. Be our enemy, and we will destroy you easily just as we had with the Krarga. But ally with us and you can be guaranteed good returns from how prosperous you have seen with your own eyes.


    Megan was very sure this was not all of their powers, they must have some hidden card somewhere and with this thought, Megan felt afraid. One wrong diplomatic move, and we will have a Great Krarga at our throats!


    She better make sure that Dijon doesn''t do anything to anger the Captain or they will have a diplomatic crisis in their hands!


    -----


    Site of Krarga Research and Recovery


    Magister Thorn hummed as he watched the efficient workers break down the Krarga piece by piece andbeled properly in the cold night. Lucky, it was winter and it helped to keep the carcass from rotting faster, if not, Thorn couldn''t wonder how much worst the smell would be!


    Workers struggled with power tools to cut the monster up with several science department techs overseeing the whole operation under the re of the bright whitemps.


    Power tractors hoisted the crated portions of the sea monsters and loaded them into trucks to be sent off to the refrigeration units to be further analysis by the Science Departmentter on.


    He wondered who will win, Blue Thunder or this monster if the two of them ever fight. He had never seen such a huge monster in his life and the size and weight of the Krarga clearly outssed the heavy weight dragons by a wide margin! He would ce his bet on the Krarga by the looks of those hundred meters long tentacles that had nasty looking barbed suckers.


    He doesn''t even know what spells could hurt this creature and by the preliminary reports he heard from Dr. Sharon, the hoomans thunder weapons were barely able to pierce through its hide! Well good thing was that he doesn''t really like the water!


    Once his portion of samples arrives at the Academy, he will use a variety of spells to test on to see which spell and element are the most effective against it.


    "Hahaha!" Thorn suddenlyughed while rubbing his hands. "My, even after getting this old, this old man still gets the chance to see new wonders! My life hasn''t been in vain! Hahaha!"

 Chapter 223: Friendly Giants

    Chapter 223: Friendly Giants


    Bursts of salty water sprays drizzled over Dr. Sharon as she soaked in the sun on the forward decks as the PT boat engines roared over the sounds of crashing waves. She carefully shuffled her way next to a green faced Magister Thorn who looked like he was gonna copse anytime.


    "How are you doing?" Dr. Sharon grinned at the sickly looking Magister.


    Thorn gagged as he tried to keep himself from vomiting from the seasickness. "Th- this is not wh- what I call enjoyable..."


    Dr. Sharonughed and whooped as the craft bounced higher while the crewmen secretly sniggered behind their stations. Despite being only a 15 minutes ride, the rough journey made Thorn seriously sick as he had never experienced something like this before.


    "Look, we are reaching already!" Dr. Sharon grabbed Thorn and shook him excitedly, making him groan and leaned over the side to puke.


    "Hold on to ya hats!" A cry came out from the pilot house and suddenly the PT boat swung madly to starboard, turning a sharp 180 degrees and throwing arge sheet of water into the air.


    Magister Thorn yelled in fright as he felt himself flying off the buckled seating while Dr. Sharonughed madly.


    The PT boat finally settled down next to a curious Ind Whale which the pod of Ind Whales had stationed themselves several kilometers away fromnd.


    The huge beakhead of the Ind Whale peered out from the water surface and blinked its beady eyes. There was a pale scar that ran from under its left eye all the way down to its long neck. It bayed out a cry of greeting before sinking its head down underwater to feed on the numerous nkton and jellyfish like organisms.


    The pilot smoothly reversed the PT boat so that the stern of the boat faced the creature and the crew dropped two intable dingies over the side.


    "Thorn?" Dr. Sharon dug into her medical pouch and handed him a space sickness pill and a bottle of water. "Take this, it will help you with motion sickness."


    Thorn gratefully epted the pill and swallowed it with the water. After a while, he felt better, the giddiness had subsided and he here no longer felt like vomiting.


    The crew called out for the Science Team to gather at the stern to board the dingies. On the other sides of the PT boat, simr scenes yed out on two other PT boats as Marines boarded the dingies in ones and twos.


    Seaman Lero ensured his shotgun was strapped securely behind his back as he took the spot on the electric motor of the dingy. The Science Team slowly made their way down to the dingies, five on each with two naval crewmen with them.


    Once everyone had settled down, Lero powered the motor up and pointed the dingy towards nd''. The intable dingies were taken from the life craft of their spaceship scrapped gently up the beach of the Ind Whale.


    "Alright out!" Lero yelled out to the team on his dingy. "Everyone help pull the boat up! We don''t want it to be washed away by the waves or tide!"


    Dr. Sharon''s boot hit the sandy beach and she looked around in wonder. "How this creature is able to carry an ind on its back?"


    She returned to help the rest tug the boat up the beach and quickly turned her attention to her surroundings. If she did not see the head of the Ind Whale, she would have thought that this was a real ind!


    The only difference from a tropical Earth type foliage was the colors of the leaves and species of trees and nts. Driftwood and other sea debris littered what appeared to be a tide line. Sharon could even see several small crustaceans species running about on the sand.


    Cries of wyvern nesting in the trees echoed out together with sounds of other creatures and insects that vied with each other for attention.


    "This is amazing!" Dr. Sharon cried out as she activated her shoulder mounted video camera while the Marines thatnded spread out in a protective formation.


    Lero and the other naval crewmembers lugged out crates of equipment from the dingies and a few Science Team members quickly set up instruments and other unknown equipment that Lero could only guess their purpose.


    "Hey, Doc!" Sergeant James Bone walked over and greeted Dr. Sharon. "How''s it going?"


    "Hey there Sarge!" Dr. Sharon smiled as he recognized the Marine. "You look a lot better since thest time I said youying on the hospital bed bleeding all over my floor!"


    "Ha!" James grinned. "Marines are meant to be mended and patched!"


    "Don''t make it a habit," Dr. Sharon advised. "There only so few of us left..."


    "Yeah," James nodded as he promised. "Anyway, what do we have here?"


    He looked at the topical setting of the ind which greatly shed against the drifting snow and cold winds.


    "Well, my guess is these creatures migrate from one ce to another during the cold seasons, most likely to seas with warmer currents, hence tropic floral," Dr. Sharon said.


    "Than why are they still doing here?" James watched Magister Thorn leading a couple of Science Team members poking at some stuff here and there excitedly.


    "Your guess is good as mine," Dr. Sharon frowned and gestured out to the sea. "But if I would guess, I say they find it safer here? Another guess will be that they are recovering from the attack of the Krarga and once recovered they will move on."


    "Hmmm," James thought that it made some sense. "Well, I got my boys to keep your team safe. Make sure none of your team moves without any security escort. We don''t know is inside the jungle."


    Dr. Sharon nodded and James gave a quick salute before he left to yell at his men. Even with the rumbling voice in her head, it didn''t dampen her spirits as she looked at the new things that could be found here!


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Captain, the Science Team hasnded safely on the Ind Whale," An operator reported from his station.


    ke nodded and continued watching the live stream of the Science Team. He was surprised that there was such a creature here, which reminded him of those tales of turtles carrying the world on their backs, but in this case, it was an ind.


    I wonder if we could tame them? Thought ke as he watched the ongoings on the back of the creature. If they could be controlled, won''t they make good refilling bases for ships and nes?


    "Captain," Commander Ford greeted ke as he entered the Command Bridge. "How''s the expedition force?"


    "Theynded and so far so good," ke replied. "How about your end?"


    It has been two days since the Fleet returned to the docks and the sea monster processed for scientific studies.


    "Both ships will be undergoing refits and repairs. And with the weather forecast for theing week showing that the seas gonna be very rough," Ford joined ke at watching the imagery. "The Fleet will be stranded. So it''s a good time for the ships to have some dock time."


    ke nodded, "Next week will be Founding Day, it''s going to be the biggest holiday for everyone, I hope nothing unexpected turns up."


    "Well, I can''t really be surprised much now," Ford admitted. "But seriously, I think I need to rethink the manual for naval operations now."


    "Also we gonna need depth charges, torpedos, and more firepower," Ford said. "That thing took all the 3" shells like we were just pissing at him."


    "Lucky water transmit shock waves pretty well, if not I don''t think we could have killed it," Ford pointed out their weakness. "Either that or we have to aim for its eyes."


    ke nodded, "Well, Ordnance is working on arger variant of the 3" guns. Depth charges shouldn''t be too hard them toe out with. But torpedos..."


    "Torpedos are not really armor piercing weapons," ke said to Ford. "well, we can still have Ordnance to do some research on it ande out with a viable nter on."


    Ford nodded, "Dragons, sea monsters, and now swimming inds. So what''s next?"


    -----


    Back of Ind Whale ''Scar''


    The Science team gathered soil samples and bagged floral while the Marines yed babysitters on the back of the Ind Whale they called Scar due to a scar along the side of its head. James''s booted feet crunched as he stepped on frozen insects and nts that were slowly wilting under the cold temperature.


    "Hey Doc," James called out. "Isn''t the cold bad for the ecosystem here?"


    He toed a half frozen colorful wyvern with bright red and green feathers and a long feathery tail. Dr. Sharon bent down and carefully picked up the frozen creature the size of a chicken and gently wrapped it with thermo foil to help warm it up.


    "Yes, the ecosystem here is dying due to the weather," Dr. Sharon busied herself with saving the poor shaking wyvern. "We see what we can share and collect. But I doubt much could be saved."


    "Will it affect the Ind Whales?" James asked as he shifted the weight of his rifle sling. "I meant with the ind on its back dying, will there be any erm, problems for the whales?"


    "I seriously don''t know," Sharon replied. "I can''t even imagine how we can even look at the biology makeup of these amazing creatures! And I still have a sea monster waiting for me back at theb!"


    "Happening times," Jamesmented as he watched the wyverning back to life. "I wonder if the whales would allow us to take a blood sample?"


    "Gauging by the strength of the Krarga," Dr. Sharon carried the revived wyvern up. "I think we might something a lotrger than the needles we have that can poke into the hide of these creatures."


    "Heh," Jamesughed as they made their way back to the camp. "Wait!"


    Dr. Sharon froze as did the rest of the team and the Marines. "What is it?"


    "What is this?" James used his rifle muzzle and pushed away at some of the floral, exposing a glittering column. "Oh, my gods..."


    Dr. Sharon and the rest of the team all looked stunned at the object that James had uncovered. A cluster of shimmering crystal columns glittered under the dim sunshine as the shriveled up nts covering its surfaces were pulled away.


    "What is this?" James repeated as he looked at the rainbow glitter from the crystals. Each column was about the size and thickness of a human, and even with the weak sunshine from the overcast skies, the crystals gave off a glittering rainbow sheen.


    "Spread out and see if are they any more of these crystals clusters!" Jamesmanded his men, who started to search around the area and found several more clusters overgrown with floral.


    "They seemed to grow out of the ground!" Dr. Sharon replied excitedly. "Call Magister Thorn over! He might know something!"


    James nodded and gestured one of his men to do it while he continued to clear more of the vine and leaves away.


    "What, these look familiar!" James frowned as he ordered his men to help clear the foliage away.


    Dr. Sharon turned to James, "You are right, they do look familiar..."


    "Isn''t these those energy mana stone we gotten off that T Rex Godzi monster?" James leaned forward and observed closely. One of the first sses given to the Marines is to not touch anything with their bare hands when outfield with the Science Team. Several images made up by Magister Thorn showing effects of someone touching an unknown magical artifact that backfired had the Marines'' itchy hands controlled.


    "Y- you are right!" Dr. Sharon stared wide eyed as she read the readout charts on her portable analyzer.


    "It''s energy reading is off the charts!"

 Chapter 224: Monster Briefings

    Chapter 224: Monster Briefings


    "Its tensile strength can beparable to graphene which is around 200 times that of steel," Dr. Sharon said as she stood at the head of the conference table.


    She disyed an image of a cut out portion of a b of purplish white meat. Pointing to the skin portion which information oveys appeared, "The skin or hide of the beast is roughly two centimeters thick on average with the thickness raising to five centimeters thick covering vital organs of the creature."


    "Tests showed that it can withstand anything below our 3" guns or 70mm rockets as long as the impact point is not at an oblique angle," Dr. Sharon reported. "The hide of the creature, however, isn''t so resistant to sharp implements."


    "But that doesn''t mean that the creature is vulnerable to sharp implements like des or armor piercing weaponry," Dr. Sharon continued. "It has a secondyer underneath that skin which acts as a force absorbent."


    She pointed to the next portion highlighted on the image. An animation showed the skin separating from the thick yellow whiteyer underneath. "This is what we would call the blubber or fat of the monster."


    "It''s on average 40 centimeters thicks in most ces and up to sixty centimeters on selected parts of its body," A rendered image of the Krarga showed up on the disy and several locations were highlighted out.


    "This fat acts as a shock absorbent and also as a self sealing band-aid," Dr. Sharon showed another image. "We dug two of this out from its body, buried inside its blubber." An image of two battered looking 3" shell heads wasid out alongside dozens of other items.


    "We also found a total of 86 expended .50 cal bullets and 43 20mm shells intact inside its body," Dr. Sharon read out a list. "Hundreds of shrapnel, most likely from the bombs casing or shattered ammunition and also dozens of what we believed to be teeth or ws of other sea monsters embedded inside its fat."


    "Cause of death is by overpressure," Dr. Sharon said next. "The High Explosives impacts from the 3" shells and the 50kg bombs ruptured its internal organs. You should have seen the mess it made in the sciencebs, the guys will be cleaning out that ce for months!"


    "So, Doc," Chief Engineer Matt spoke up, "Does this means our current conventional weapons are useless against it?"


    "Yes and no," Dr. Sharon replied. "Hmmm, low caliber weapons will be useless, but thermobaric weapons should mess them up pretty well."


    "Hmm," ke frowned. "This creature sounds a lot like the Swarm..."


    The people both gathered around the conference table or attending online all mumbled in agreement.


    "Well gically they do not match each other," Dr. Sharon exined over the concerned mumblings. "Don''t forget that the Swarm takes on the traits of the species it consumed. So I will not be surprised if the Swarm had encountered a simr creature like this over the gxy and took on some of its traits."


    "Alright," ke pped his hands to gather everyone''s attention. "The way to kill it is to bomb it till it dies from internal injuries or hit it with a bigger gun right?"


    Dr. Sharon rolled her eyes before replying, "In a simplified way, yes..."


    "Ok..." ke turned to Master Sergeant Pike''s image and said, "Top, I want you to get Ordnance to work out some kind of depth charge for both the Navy and Airforce and also to expedite the new guns."


    Pike nodded as he took down some notes. "Yes, Sir!"


    "Doc, continue your research on the creature and see if we can make use of it hides or blubber for any military or civil applications," ke ordered. "What else?"


    "Continuing on," Dr. Sharon switched the images again and this time, an image of an Ind Whale appeared. "We found some interesting things on these creatures."


    "By luck, we actually found the backs or inds of these creatures to contain several lodes of energy stones," Dr. Sharon said excitedly. "If you all could remember, we fought and defeated a T Rex Godzi like monster inside the dungeons."


    "On its body, we harvested crystals we dubbed as ''Energy stones'', which are in essence a solidified condensation of pure energy," Dr. Sharon exined. "These stones had all been converted into a stable liquid electrolyte that is currently been used for the Point Defense Laser turrets and the ship''s main rail gun batteries."


    "The amount we harvested from the T Rex only limited to over a dozen charges," Dr. Sharon said. "But we struck gold here!"


    "We estimated from the amount we managed to uncover that the Ind Whales has close to over a hundred charges or more of the Energy stones!" Dr. Sharon disyed the next few imageries of their findings on the Ind Whales.


    "Captain, I propose that we increase all resource to mine this material," Dr. Sharon said to ke. "As we do not know when will the Ind Whales depart as clearly, they are migrating creatures as evidenced from the tropical floral on their backs."


    "What are the risks?" ke asked as he pondered on the Doctor''s request. "We do not really need to rely solely on the energy stones as our power grid is now able to handle most of the ship''s onboard weapons."


    "Risks..." Dr. Sharon frowned before answering, "I have no guarantees on the risks as we totally have no idea nor any habitual information of these Ind Whales. But so far, they are pretty docile."


    "We managed to extract some blood from one of the Whales and even mined some samples of the energy stones out," Dr. Sharon rified. "So far the Whales reminded as they were as before, feasting on nkton and jellyfish."


    "I believe this is an opportunity that we shouldn''t waste," Chief Engineer Matt spoke up for Dr. Sharon. "Having another energy resource at our disposal allows us to have backups in case of SHTF* (*Shit Hits The Fan) situations."


    "What do you think?" ke turned to Ford and asked.


    "I would agree too," Ford replied. "If we can harvest more resources, it will only help us in the long run."


    ke nodded and said, "Go for it but take all precautions. I don''t wanna lose lives just for a few energy stones."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    "Captain!" Pike remained behind in the video conference as everyone left or logged out. "A minute of your time, Sir!"


    "What is it, Top?" ke stopped in his tracks.


    "Sir, I think you might want toe down to Ordnance for a look," Pike smiled mysteriously.


    "Ok, sure." ke agreed and Ford gave a shrug as ke gave him a questioning look.


    -----


    Ford stepped on the elerator of the Jeep and grinned, "Damn, I missed driving!"


    keughed as he sat back on the seat while Ford continued, "I have spent like almost a month out at sea and at the port, it''s not like I have any chance to drive!"


    "Well, go slow, I don''t wanna spend my time in the hospital under Dr. Sharon''s care!"


    "Heh, well, I think I know who you would rather care for you, yes?" Ford shot a sly grin at ke whoughed back.


    "So how''s the princess?" Ford asked as he took an exit out of the side streets and towards the East Gate. "When you guys n to wed?"


    "Hmm, we still haven''t thought of when is the wedding," ke sadly replied. "That''s just too much on our tes now."


    "Ohe on!" Ford moaned. "Just set a date and leave the rest to the staff to handle! Is it that hard to do?"


    "True," ke nodded. "I will talk to herter about this."


    "Goddamn," Ford shook his head. "I seriously worry for your rtionship!"


    "How about you?" ke quickly changed the subject. "Anyone, you are interested in?"


    "Ha! Who can I find when I am mostly out at sea?" Ford replied as the guards waved them through the checkpoint at the East Gate. "I just leave it to fate."


    "Hmmm," ke smiled. "Well, maybe I should let you meet up with the Inders more, that girl Megan is quite pretty!"


    "Don''t you start!" Ford raised an eyebrow as he raced down the Eastern Highway. "I''m not that desperate... yet!"


    "Hahaha," keughed. "I wonder what Top wants us to see?"


    -----


    1 km East of Base Colony, Ordnance Research Divison Facility


    Ford pulled the Jeep to a stop and reversed into a parking lot before the two officers exited the vehicle. They entered the secured facility and found Pike at outside a hangar like structure.


    "Sirs!" Pike with the rest of the waiting techs and staff saluted as the two officers walked up and returned the salutes. "Wee to ORD."


    "Well, what''s the urgency here?" ke asked as he followed Pike towards the hangar doors.


    "Hehe, Sir," Pike grinned. "I think you would like this!"


    Pike turned to one of the techs and nodded, and the hangar doors crunched open while everyone stood back from the doors.


    ke waited with curiosity at the side and he suddenlyughed madly as he saw what stomped its way out of the hangar. "Hahahaha, goddamn it! You guys really did it?"


    A five meter tall, six-legged multi-joint walker, simr in design to the ASASGs walked out of the hangar with a crab like grit. An open hatch with clearly a pilot sat on the forward facing of the spider tank and with a turret on its back.


    It looked like a 21st century armored vehicle but without tracks, having six multi joint legs instead. while a machine gun blister sat on each side of the walker.


    "The Manned Armored Walker ''Bushmaster'' or MAW," Pike proudly presented the walker as it stormed its way over to a testing field. "Armed with a 3" stub gun and a dual 10 cell 70mm rocket pods with a coaxial MG, a cup mounted MG, a co pilot MG and an MG casemate on the nks."


    "It runs with a crew of 7 and can carry up to 30 tons of gear and equipment." Pike led the awestruck officers to the testing field. "Its multi jointed legs allow it to easily maneuver over the roots of the trees in the forest giving it an average speed of 19 kilometers per hour,"


    "While moving over rtively t terrain, it can go up to 28 kilometers per hour," Pike said. "It also can go wheels down, which will increase its speed to 46 kilometers per hour."


    "Damn, I didn''t expect you guys to reallye out with this!" ke grinned as he admired the walker painted in the local forest green blue camo scheme.


    "Well its design and programming came from Senior Spaceman Tae-joon Pak, Spaceman Hideo Koichi, and of course, Irisval who crafted the frames of the golems." Pike gave credit to the trio. "As weck AI cores, we decided to have a person pilot these instead."


    "With the so called ''Magic programming code'' which SS Pak and SM Koichi invented, " Pike struggled with a straight as he exined. "They managed to devise a system which the golem will move following a certain set of controls."


    "Since the golem does not need any processing power for autonomous control, the amount of energy it uses also is greatly reduced," Pike patted the spider tank. "It can function on average, ten hours onbat situations and sixteen hours on nonbat situations."


    "Armor is 50 mm thick rolled homogeneous steel with explosive reactive armor ting," Pike pointed to the blocking stabs lining the sides of the spider tank. "Internally the framework of the golem is made out of porous stone mixed with ceramic y that allows it to absorb any shock and giving it some flexible to prevent any breakage."


    ke and Ford stared up at the sloping side armor of the spider tank and followed Pike''s lead as he climbed up from one of the multi-jointed legs.


    The test crew stood on the top of the tank and showed off their new vehicle with pride as the two officers gawked at the machine.


    "Damn, just in time to show it off for Founding Day!"

 Chapter 225: Year One + 4 months

    Chapter 225: Year One + 4 months


    The entire city was decorated with banners and gs of reds, blues, whites, and gold. Music and processions of dancers and performers filled up almost every street as the city inhabitants danced and celebrated in the snow.


    Bursts of fireworks rocketed off here and there and the whole city was celebrating Founding Day. Work at all the outposts had stopped and everyone that could make it to the city gathered in the streets except for a few critical personnel.


    Princess Sherene stood hand in hand with Captain ke at the City Hall''s balcony and waved madly at the thousands gathered at the za before the municipal building. Several Cobras flew pass in diamond formations overhead and peeled off into aerobatic stunts that wowed the crowd.


    "Look at the sea of people!" Shereneughed as she waved at the masses. "Thank you!"


    "Why the thanks?" ke asked from her side as he too gave a wave once in a while.


    "If it wasn''t for you saving my people," Sherene replied. "We would not have this day today..."


    "Technically, it was the Marines who saved your people..." ke grinned. "I just reaped the rewards!"


    "Hey! So you want me to marry some Marine?" Sherene smiled dangerously. "Well... I can do that..."


    ke broke out in cold sweat, "No no no, I was just joking!"


    "Hmph!" Sherene eyed ke with a sly smile. "I got options now!"


    "Wh- what?" ke was speechless and he stared at Sherene who was giggling away. "So you want to y? Huh?"


    ke activated the microphone and cleared his throat. The roaring crowd and music slowly died down as they waited for him to make a speech. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!"


    "Today marks a new chapter in our lives, for we celebrate one year since this city which every one of you had helped built." ke addressed the eager crowd while projections of his image and speech were broadcasted to other temporary disys all over the city.


    "We found long and hard, worked with sweat and blood to get to this day where we have a safe ce to live and grow in. Our children can y in the streets without a care in the world and we all have a proper roof over our heads and food in our bellies because of what we had put in our sacrifices and efforts into!"


    "This city isn''t built for me, or the Princess. It is a city for you, even if you are an Elf, Orc, Beastman, Goblin, Troll, Dragon, or even the Wind Wolves!"


    "Everyone has contributed and we live in harmony among all the different races because why?" ke paused as he looked at the crowd. "We care about this city!"


    "Today is the day the city was officially founded one year ago, yet it still bears no name," ke said. "We had run a poll for everyone to vote which name is best suitable for the city and now we will officially unveil the results!"


    "Now the most voted name with 8,000 over votes, I dere this city as Haven!" ke yelled over the roar of the crowd as they cheered wildly.


    ke smiled and gestured for the crowd to quiet down before he continued. "I have another news for everyone, the Princess has epted my marriage proposal and we will be wedded next autumn!"


    Sherene gasped when she heard his announcement to the city about their marriage. ke gave a wink and pulled her into his embrace and kissed her in front of the crowd.


    The crowd went crazy as they cheered and apuded madly. Bands beat their drums and music red again throughout the city while a cluster of fireworks erupted over the City Hall.


    "I dere the opening of Founding Day!"


    -----


    Dijon, Megan, and Akron looked around in wonder and felt their hearts beating wildly as they were dragged into the celebratory mood of the crowd even thou they were seated at the VIP viewing tform.


    They haven''t seen such arge scaled procession before as most parties or even public announcements of nobles and royalty would the most have a thousand or two thousand people gathered the most. But here, it clearly could be seen that the whole city was in celebration and out in force in the streets.


    They watched in awe at the aerobatic disys of the strange flying machines as they danced in the air with the dragons. Columns of soldiers marching with such precision that made them wonder if they were illusions made by magic.


    The next thing they saw made they gawked in surprised as two massive armored looking monster bearing six legs waltzed it way behind the marching troops. The crowd gasped in astonishment as they too have not seen such creatures before while the hoomans seemed to whooped in joy and excitement.


    "What are those monsters?" Megan leaned over to the side and asked a hooman dressed in a strange light grey coat with bits of colorful metal lining his chest.


    "Monsters?" The hooman looked surprised at the question before he excitedly replied, "Mecha! Those are freaking spider tanks!"


    -----


    Liz Regnar held onto the arm of Evelyn excitedly as they stood watching the processions of bands, dancers, performers, and even soldiers passing by the stand. She had seen and attended many balls and festivities of nobility due to her social status and poprity in the Captial and she was secretly impressed by the sheer scale of it all.


    Even the normally unresponsive Evelyn gave a small smile and swayed along to the music which made Liz happy as she found out from the Magister that Evelyn''s soul had suffered some damage. Her initial hostility to the hoomans and the rebels faded as she waster shown evidence regarding the nature of the Hero that she worshipped.


    She did not believe at the start but slowly she slowly came to ept the truth as she recalls several incidents where the hero did something that she can''t match it up like sudden disappearance or strange female dried up corpses found in every town, vige, or city they had been through.


    She wondered why she did not pick up these disturbing signs at the same, but Magister Thorn consulted her told her it might be a mor spell the Hero had projected around him, making people trust or naturally feel good near him.


    This news struck her mind deeply and she felt she can''t trust anyone anymore and instead, she sought Evelyn out to try to help her to recover her damaged soul and uncover the truth.


    Today she granted leave by her probation officer toe to view the parade and enjoy some time off. Seeing the cheering and happy crowd, she felt herself being swayed and even started to join in the cheering.


    -----


    Irisval wore a wide-brimmed straw hat and pped enthusiastically as she watched the parade passing by her stand. She smiled with pride when she saw the two prototype MAWs marched past to the amazement of the people around as children clung to their parents and pointed and asked questions.


    A sudden gush of wind blew against the stand as two Dragons swooped over the stand, their powerful wings kicking up a storm as they flew past over the cheering crowd. Irisval''s hat flew off and her silvery hair whipped in the sudden wind.


    She flinched and tried to grab her hat only to find someone had already helped her recover hat from flying away. She stood up and thanked the stranger for his help only to freeze as she recognized the hooman holding her hat out to her.


    "You...!"


    -----


    Drake climbed up the steps of the view stand to reach the top where he was supposed to relieve Kont over his security duty when suddenly a gust of wind kicked up by pping wings of a dragon hit him.


    He looked up and frowned at the underbellies of Blue Thunder and Rastraz as the duo flew off somewhere over the stands and out the corner of his eye, he saw a straw hat flying towards him.


    He quickly snatched the hat and turned to return to its owner and froze as he stared into the clear golden eyes.


    "You...!"


    -----


    City Hall


    "Well, the naming of the city is settled," ke raised a toast to the senior officers and ministers gathered.


    "To be honest, we, humans havee to this ce for over a year," ke said as the gathered men and women listened.


    "It''s one year and four months to be exact since you crashed the ship!" Someone yelled in a joking manner.


    "Hahahaha," All the humansughed, while the elves looked confused as they did not know the full story, only knowing that these hoomans came from somewhere and were stranded here.


    "Alright my fault, my fault!" ke raised his hands up in mock surrender. "Well, I am d that we all made it till now, and I hope that we can continue to survive!"


    "CHEERS!"


    -----


    The Kingdom of Foral, Border to The Great Ocean ins


    A batteredpany of soldiers and their families toiled against the snow as they made their way to the border to the Great Ocean ins. Dozens and dozens of wagons pulled bynd dragons or muffalos left streak marks and paw prints on the knee deep snow.


    Wrapped in several threadbare nkets, Captain Borse leaned into his spear shaft as he plowed through the snow, his breath turning white in the cold.


    He stopped and looked at the rear, where hundreds of soldiers slogged on. Hispany had increased almost tenfold ever sinceing to the Two Nation Alliance. It had grownrger thanpany size, more like a small army as dozens of Man and Foral soldiers attached themselves to him after getting lost in the retreat.


    They had made used of the heavy snow to pull back from the lines, only to get harassed by Imperial Dragons Corps which the Two Nation Alliance could barely counter with their weaker dragon species.


    Knowing that it will be safer to head to outlying regions of the Foral Kingdom, as the Imperial Army will very likely aim the cities andrger towns while pushing towards the Capital. Hence, Borse made the decision to head southwards towards the Great Ocean ins, where the Oerkin ruled.


    The border towns and viges were mostly abandoned due to constant raids from the Oerkin or due to conscription to the Foral Army. Borse was thinking to take over one of the abandoned vige or town and have their men and families rest up for the winter before making their next ns.


    Even the Oerkins wouldn''t risk a raid during the winter months, which will give Borse''s Last Company the time it needed to recover its strength.


    Taris strolled up next to Borse with Captain Lanser in tow and they shared a wineskin among themselves, warming them bodies with the burning sensation of alcohol down their throats.


    "How far more?" Borse asked as he looked at the struggling troops. "The men are gging, and their families are barely able to keep up with the pace!"


    Lanser unrolled a map from the scroll case he had on his side and frowned as he did some calctions of their position. "I say half a day or more before we reach one of the towns."


    Borse nodded, "Tell thepany to halt. We rest for the day and continue tomorrow."


    Taris nodded back and returned to the troops calling the leaders to halt thepany and setup camp.


    "Captain," Lanser asked. "Do you think we... will survive?"


    Borse sighed inwardly as he looked at the hopeful expression on Lanser''s young face. "Of course, we will survive!"


    "Send out riders to scout ahead of our path," Borse said. "I don''t want any surprises along the way."


    "Yes Captain," Lanser smiled, his spirits lifted after hearing Borse assurance and he left to see to his orders.


    Borse looked at the number of dependantsgging behind the troops and wondered how will he feed everyone over the rest of the winter and how many will die tonight.


    "Damn Imperials!"

 Chapter 226: Dead Frontier

    Chapter 226: Dead Frontier


    Haven, City Hall Ballroom


    Laughter and music filled the Ballroom of the City Hall while fireworks and other performances continued throughout the night of the city.


    Commander Ford took a ss of sparkling wine from a passing waitress and joined Captain ke and Princess Sherene. "Congrats on the engagement!"


    He raised a toast to the smiling couple. "Finally you announced it officially, I think the people were gonna tear you apart for dragging your rtionship for so long!"


    ke rolled his eyes while Sherene poked him in the chest. "Hmmm, I did wonder was I supposed to propose to you in your culture!"


    "Ha!" ke snorted, "Very funny!"


    Sherene and Fordughed at ke''s expression and they continued to make small talk while the party was in full swing.


    "Greetings!" Megan suddenly appeared before them with Dijon and Akron in tow. "And best wishes to the Captain and the Princess for their ceremonial bond."


    ke and Ford raised their brows at the unknown term but mentally tranted it as a marriage while Sherene smiled prettily and thanked her.


    "This is Commander Ford, my second inmand and Chief of Naval Operations," ke introduced Ford to Megan and Akron whom they have not met before. "Fleet Master Megan and Fleet Master Akron of the Isles."


    Ford gave a short bow as he was introduced and said in Common greeting, "Well met."


    "Hmmm..." Megan gave a flirty smile and looped her arm into Ford''s who smiled back uncertainly. "Tell me, Commander, what do you do as Chief of Naval Operations?"


    ke and Shereneughed as they watched Ford getting led away by Megan. Dijon and Akron gave their congrattions and left to find their own entertainment.


    ke grinned as he watched Dijon walked away, "Well at least he took it well."


    "You are so bad!" Sherene scolded. "He''s not a bad guy!"


    "Wow? Defending another guy now in front of your husband?" ke teased.


    "What husband!" Sherene snorted. "We are not married yet!"


    "Hahaha," ke hugged Sherene before asking, "Will mydy care for a dance?"


    "Hmph! That''s more like it!"


    -----


    Drake sat down to the silver haired girl and felt lost for words. The sense of feeling he got from her ever since he spotted her through his scope was something he couldn''t put to words.


    She was his only live target that he missed deliberately and the feeling he got from her confused him. She was someone that he was trying to kill at that time.


    The girl sat watching him silently while he tried to put together words to break the awkward silence. Earlier in the day when they both met, she told him she will wait for him here till hee and they need to talk.


    After his duty was over, he hurried over and saw her still sitting in the same stand while most of the crowd had left to celebrate in other ces or gone for dinner.


    Now sitting next to her, he felt ufortable in hisbat gear and unsure what to say when she broke the silence.


    "I have been trying to find you for some time," she said. "I wanted to thank you."


    Drake turned and looked at the girl who stared back at him. The girl he remembered in his sights looked vastly different from what he could remember.


    She no longer had that haunted look that he remembered and she was dressed casually in a human fashion, arge coat for the cold over sweaters and jeans.


    "You saved me that day," She continued.


    "B- But..." Drake stuttered. "I... I was aiming to kill you!"


    "I know..." She leaned back on the bench and kicked her feet. "I was actually wanting to die."


    "But... why?" Drake asked in confusion. "Why did you want to die?"


    "Because the Empire enved me," She exined. "I was tired of all the dirty deeds the Empire used me for and how many lives were sacrificed each time they used my powers."


    "There is always a cost of usingrge scale magic formations," She looked up at the blossoming disys of fireworks in the night sky. "Using the life force of hundreds and thousands of people, magic can be strengthened or super charged, which increases the potency of the spell."


    "I lost count of how many people that were sacrificed over the years for my magic," She turned and gave a sad smile at Drake. "Until I sense the killing intent from you, and in my mind''s eye, I saw you."


    She reached out a hand a cupped Drake''s cheek, "You were my Angel of Death, the one who could finally release me from the pain of living."


    Drake was startled as he felt her cold hands on his cheek and realized that she must have been sitting here the whole time in the cold waiting for him! He quickly took her hand into his gloved palms and rubbed her cold hand. "Come!"


    He pulled her up and led her towards one of the stalls selling hot beverages and snacks. He ordered a couple of hot drinks and hotdogs and sat her down next to an outdoor heater. "Eat and drink!"


    She looked surprised but followed his words, sipping the hot drink and ate the hotdogs. Drake watched her face slowly regain a rosy flush before he introduced himself.


    "By the way, my name is Drake, nice to meet you."


    -----


    The Kingdom of Foral, Border to The Great Ocean ins


    The morning sun brought some warmth to the half frozen men and women of the Last Company as they prepared to set out from their camp. Borse sipped the hot weak tea and felt better as the hot liquid warmed his belly.


    "Captain," Taris looked tired and his appearance unkept, which is quite unusual. He was normally explicitly groomed even in a battle. This journey must be taking its toll on him.


    "We got a dozen frozen to death over the night," Taris sighed as he gave his report. "Two of them were children and five were the more critically wounded."


    "Also, there are more reports of people getting sick from the cold," Taris took the offered tea from Borse and disregarded the scalding hot tea and just finished it all in one go.


    Borse nodded in silence as he expected the news. "We have to push harder to reach the abandoned vige. The sooner we get to shelter, the better our chances of survival."


    Taris nodded just as Lanser joined them. "The scouts are back. They report the way is clear but the snowfallst night might slow us down more."


    "Good, take all the avable mounts and send an advance party ahead to clear the way for the weak and ill," Borse replied. "Move all the weak and ill on the wagons."


    Both Taris and Lanser nodded before they returned to the men, giving out Borse''s orders.


    It was nearly evening when the Company reached the outskirts of the vige. The men and women cheered up visibility as they the vige. As they entered the broken down palisade and gates, they saw dpidated buildings and skeletons of burnt down houses.


    At the vige square, a ramshackle well sat forlornly while dozens of cook fires were raging, made by the advance party as they hade in earlier to scout and prepare for the arrival of the rest of the Company.


    Borse watched the men and women enter the vige and gratefully epted bowls of hot soup and gave a sigh of relief, knowing that tonight, at least they have some sort of shelter.


    "Divide the men up, have one party gather firewood, another party to fix some of those buildings up," Borse told Taris and Lanser.


    He picked up a sign covered in snow from the roadside and brushed off the dirt and snow, revealing the name of the vige [Dead Froniter].


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    ke gestured the Intelligence Officer to start his report as he sat down on his chair. Lieutenant Tavor removed a paper report from his briefcase and handed it over to ke who skimmed through it quickly.


    "Our operation to insert agents into the Adventurer''s Guild in the City of Falledge has borne us some fruit," Tavor reported. "We have two agents working inside the Guild and also managed to contact the merchant, Otoro to help us facilitate the transportation of freed ves."


    "In return for his services, we are providing him with several trade goods that can''t be traced back to us," Tavor said. "With his connections, we are able to form a moreprehensive picture of the Empire."


    "So what''s thetest update on the Empire side?" ke asked, his eyes still reading the documents.


    "As of current intel, Falledge currently has a garrison of four thousand regr and auxiliary troops," Ford recited from memory. "Also one dragon corps remained stationed at the city."


    ke raised his eyebrows at the numbers. "Isn''t it a bit low?"


    "It''s winter season, so it is normal for the local lords to stand down their troops since they can''t afford or unwilling to feed or support them over the winter," Tavor exined. "And rarely any army fights a winter campaign due to increases supply difficulties and higher demand of resources at home."


    ke nodded in understanding and gestured for Tavor to continue.


    "Other reports state that the Empire topmander, The Rock, has sessfully pushed all the way into the interior of the Foral Kingdom and the Man Kingdom," Tavor said. "We do not have an exact location on the outdated maps that were provided to us by Magister Thorn, but reports say that they are suspected to be within 200 kilometers away from both the two kingdom''s Capitals."


    "They are now waiting for the winter to end and the roads to open up before taking the final battle. After which it will just a mop-up operation for the Imperials."


    ke put down the documents in his hands and asked, "So what is the estimated time we have before the Empire turns its eyes over to us again?"


    "We estimate that if they are sessful in conquering both the Capitals within half a year by early summer," Tavor said. "After that another three to four months to pacify the area and mop up remnants of the two Kingdoms. Following that another three months to move their troops back and retrain, recover, and resupply."


    "Counting all that, the fastest time they can raise their armies against us is in a year," Tavor said. "But we also have the advantage of a natural barrier of heavily forested terrain which houses deadly monsters and creature. That would give us a buffer of another month or so."


    ke nodded, "One year. A lot can be done in one year."


    "Good work," ke praised Tavor for his efforts. "Keep expanding the spywork. In terms of funding, I will have ounts to approve the funds you need to expand."


    "Thank you, Sir," Tavor replied. "Also another thing, Sir. If you look at thest part of the report."


    ke picked back up the document and skimmed to thest portion. "Operation Freedom?"


    "Yes Sir," Tavor started to exin the operation. "We gathered enough information to identify a major ve trade hub that supplies the entire south region with ves."


    "It''s based on this city called Orwell''s Point," Tavor disyed a map with the city''s location next to the ind sea. "ves gets transported to the city via river ships and get distributed all over the southern region including Falledge. It is also located at the border of what they call the Great Ocean ins and is also a major trade hub for the Orcs."


    "Hmm," ke read the details of Operation Freedom. "You want to gather intelligence and have the Marines liberate the city and free the ves?"


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor replied. "On the sess of this operation, we can deal damage to the Empire."


    "The lost of the ves will affect the economics of the Empire while we can increase our manpower with the freed ves."

 Chapter 227: The Gathering

    Chapter 227: The Gathering


    Dead Frontier, Border to The Great Ocean ins


    Morale was high as the men and women worked on improving the abandoned vige''s conditions. Buildings too dpidated were torn down and any usable materials were recycled to patched up those buildings still sturdy enough for habitation.


    The old broken down vige hall had its walls and roof mended and served asmunal sleeping quarters so that they can use lesser fuel for heating. The badly rotted palisade was broken down to be used as firewood as they nned to build a new palisade once springes.


    The broken well was fixed but the water was frozen solid and dirty and with the ground too frozen solid for them to dig another well out. So they began theborious task of breaking the ice and emptying the well of its contaminated water to allow fresh clean water to flow in again.


    Those with hunting skills set off in the snow to find animals to hunt for food and hide, while others armed with felling axes chop down trees for building materials and firewood.


    Borse watched proudly at the Company as theybored withoutint at the tasks, in fact, the men were in high spirits as they sang and worked to rebuild the vige.


    "What''s the total count?" Borse asked as Taris and Lanser approached him.


    "A total of one thousand and eight hundred and six soldiers," Taris replied. "More than half of the men are from Man and Foral while the rest are our boys."


    "We have another three thousand four hundred families and dependants with us," Lanser said. "This vige will not be able to hold all of us unless we expand it."


    Borse nodded, "How about our supplies?"


    "It should be just barely enough tost us to end of winter," Taris said. "As long the hunters could bring in game every once in a while."


    "Water shouldn''t be much an issue, we found another two more wells buried under the rumble and are cleaning it out now," Taris continued. "There is also a frozen stream further up the vige, we can also melt snow for our needs."


    "Problem is the number of shelters," Taris gestured to themunal building. "We ced the old, weak, and young into that building but we still have hundreds without any shelter over their heads."


    "At this rate, we probably would cut down all the buildings here just to provide firewood to warm everyone," Taris frowned. "The weather is turning worst and without proper shelter, many will freeze."


    "Have everyone double up in the tents," Borse said. "This way we have more than enough tents for everyone and they can share their warmth at night."


    Taris and Lanser nodded. "See if you can cut more trees down before the weather worsens." Borse told them as they left. He looked at the people working on improving their chances of survival and gave a prayer to the Gods, looking at the grey skies as he prayed for the safety of his people.


    -----


    Haven, Burger Shack


    Dijon ced the tray of food down next to Megan and Akron and he slumped down tiredly on the seat while rubbing his aching head. He had drunk too muchst night and woke up with a hangover that threatens to split his head in half despite it beingte morning.


    Megan smiled as she helped her self to Dijon''s fries while he was in torment. "Who asked you to drink so muchst night?"


    "Arghh, those damn, Mar-nees!" Dijon cursed. "Now I know why they kept calling themselves jar heads!"


    "It is because you didn''t want to lose out to their drinking..." Akron tactically replied from behind his burger.


    "Ahh... my head hurts..." Dijon leaned back on the seat. "Everyone was drunk even my crew..."


    "The celebrations for their Founding Day are quite impressive," Megan ignored Dijon as she spoke with Akron who nodded.


    "Yes, and the army marching parade!" Akron said absentmindedly. "If only they would trade those thunder weapons of theirs to us!"


    "Hmmm, I doubt they will," Megan replied. "I probed that Fordst night, but he''s surprisingly immune to my charms."


    Akron looked surprised at Megan''s confession. "But your spell should be more than capable to charm anyone!"


    "Yes, but it failed." Megan''s eye narrowed dangerously as the charm spell she used was a Level 3 spell that she held a lot of pride in. But strangely, that hooman Ford seemed to be unaffected. Does it mean that the hoomans possessed the power to resist control spells?


    Little did they know that the humans had found a way to nullify charm effects as the Princess herself had a passive ability that charms anyone of the opposite sex. Dr. Sharon had worked with Magister Thorn and the Princess toe out with a protective spell that is able to nullify any charming effects. If not, the Captain would have gone crazy due him constantly failing his willpower save against the Princess!


    Just as Dijon wasmenting his hangover and Megan brooding over her failure, the door jingled out and several Air Force personnel walked in. What was eye catching was the group of goblins with them, making Megan and Akron stared at the strange sight.


    The goblins went through the door excitedly, one of them dressed in a pair of rolled up children sized dark green overalls simr to what the pilots normally wear and the rest in dark blue overalls.


    The one in dark green wore a grey ski mask with a pair of goggles over his bloated head and a pair of thick socks with protective paddings.


    They queued up behind some customers who barely gave them a second nce and Megan recognized the one in green as the goblin that was with them onboard the strange flying machine.


    Greg the Goblin tip toed as he dropped a handful of credit chits down on the counter, the coin like tokens rattled on against the counter top as the cashier counted the chits. He swallowed his saliva as he snatched the tray of Wyvern Burger Set Meal from the girl. "Thankee!"


    He joined his gang as the Valkyrie One crew and support techs settled down and dug in. They did not join the celebrationsst night as they were on active alert and only till the sun came out did they stand down from their duties.


    Hence the whole crew of Valkyrie One decided to take one of the half-tracks ande to Burger Shack for breakfast. Greg''s sharp teeth easily shredded the burger in a few chomps and he licked his sauce strained fingers with relish before burping.


    "Goddamn it, Greg!" The pilot of Valkyrie One, Lieutenant Commander Peter cursed as he waved the stench of bad breath away. "We are trying to eat here!"


    "Tee hee! Sorree!" Greg giggled with the rest of the goblins techs as he helped himself to the cheese fries. "mmHmm!"


    When Greg was first offered a chance to ''redeem'' himself when he was caught by the ''Mar-nees'' on the beach with dozens of others. He quickly took the offer, as he somewhat knew that if he didn''t, he will be killed by these long legs!


    To his surprise, he and others who took the offer was treated like kings! They all each have their own beds and even a table and chair! To the goblins, this was a super luxury as they lived in overcrowded dens underground or in caves in Goblin City where they had to fight among themselves over every little thing.


    The weeks that followed were a blur of constant surprises to Greg and the others. The ''Mar- sheens'' and ''Ve- hic- kas'' were extraordinary to them, the fascination and adoration of these strange devices hooked them and they looked upon the strange short eared hoomans as Near God beings!


    As he has shown a higher level of initiative, he got assigned to fly onboard one of the God Mar- sheens! Immediately his status among his kin rosed as they view him with envy and admiration.


    He found that some of the long legs distrusted him at the start but over time, they soon joked and chit chats with him and the rest of the goblins. They call this interaction as friendship and friends were things that were alien to the goblins.


    But Greg loved it. He no longer felt like he was just part of the ''cog'' in the system, a word he learned from the hoomans. In Goblin City, as long as you are stronger and more vicious, you gain more respect and admiration, but here there wasn''t a need to be vicious to others!


    Even the Ma- reens that caught him became friends with him, and they always cursed each other but he knew that they were just jokes. And when they stood up for him against others who distrusted the goblins, he nearly teared and he decided that having friends were the best feeling ever and he will do anything to keep his friends safe!


    Greg watched with a satisfied smile as the rest of the crew bantered and joked over the meal and felt truly at home here with these people.


    -----


    With a massive flutter of wings, Blue Thunder settled himself down next to the half-track parked next to the Burger Shack. "Hmmm? Who else is here?"


    Rastraznded with grace next to him and poked him with her wing while shivering, "Let''s order quickly! I don''t like the cold!"


    "Hmm, okay!" Blue Thunder waddled his way over to the drive-in counter and poked his head next to the window. "Helloooooo~~~"


    "MANAGER!!! THE DRAGONS ARE HERE AGAINNNNN~~~!!!"


    -----


    Irisval von Aston rubbed away the grains of sleep from her eyes and unwillingly crawled out from the thick cozy folds of her nket. She shivered as her bare feet touched the cold floor and she quickly donned a pair of fluffy slippers.


    She looked at her self in the mirror in the toilet and turned on the tap. The ssh of cold water shook her awake and she smiled to her own reflection as she remembered the talk she had with the soldier, Drake.


    They both talked till it was veryte and he had to return to the barracks while she returned home. He promised to meet up with her againter today and she looking forward to the meeting.


    Irisval hummed happily to herself as she recalled back what they talked about the night before.


    They talked about many things, from their families to their daily lives to what food they like. To Irisval, it was like suddenly having an old friend and they were updating each other about their lives.


    And before they knew it, it was close to 1 am, and Drake had to rush back to return to the barracks.


    She nced at the clock and there were just two hours to the promised meeting, "Oh dear! What am I going to wear!"


    -----


    Drake tugged at his ufortable starched uniform cor as he got off the jeep. His buddy, Kont gave a wide grin and thumbs up. "Heh! Good luck, lover boy!" before he drove off leaving Drake alone.


    The streets still held traces of celebrations from the night before, while music drifted over from other ces that were still having celebrations ongoing.


    He stood at the bus terminal as he waited nervously for someone he just metst night. It felt unreal to him as he felt that they were like long lost friends reunited. He tugged at his uniform cor again, and suddenly someone tapped him on his shoulder.


    "Hi! Waited long?" Irisval''s silvery hair was tied up with a long ribbon in a ponytail with a simple coat over her long dress and boots.


    "H- Hi!" Drake was stunned by her smile.


    "Let''s go!" Irisval grabbed his arm and dragged him along. "Let''s go eat something! I''m famished!"


    "S-Sure!" Drake smiled as he allowed Irisval to drag him along. "Where are we going for lunch?"


    "Burger Shack!"

 Chapter 228: Questioning Plans

    Chapter 228: Questioning ns


    13km offshore from Far Harbor


    Snow constantly drifted down from the downcast skies, turning visibility low. The barge rumbled as it plowed through the windswept waves, relying on a very basic beacon system and radar to navigate the seas.


    A beam of light shed through the snow and suddenly arge shadow loomed out. The pilot of the barge lowered the speed of the boat and aimed the bow of his boat at the lights.


    As the barge came closer to the lights, the shadow turned out to be an ind with a simple wooden light tower. The pilot docked the boat next to the floating dock made out of airtight barrels, nks, and reinforced with steel scaffolding.


    Secured next to the floating dock was arger floating tform with dozens of crates stacked together and workers wearing bright orange life vests, waiting for the barge to be tired up and secured.


    A load of miners disembarked from the barge and the rest waiting at the floating tform started to load the crates of energy stones onboard carefully in the wet docks.


    The newly arrived miners went up to a tent with one side exposed to the elements where a foreman sat with a table. The foreman looked up at the new arrivals and gave out orders and punch cards, directing them to a supervisor who will look after them.


    The miners following the supervisor enter the wilted jungle. The cold had killed most of the floral on the ind and the snow left a coat of white over the frozen vines and broken trees.


    The supervisor started to assign duties to the miners, teaching them how to carefully dig the clear luminous crystals out of the ground. Dozens of patches of freshly dug and covered soil littered all over the area, while those crystals yet to be dug out were mapped out with white and red striped tapes.


    The energy stones grew as deep as 9 meters underground. Those crystals not yet fully developed had an umbilical cord like organ that attached to it. Those crystals were not to be touched and were cordoned off with red tape.


    Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn theorized that Ind Whales created these crystals to store energy over winter and also for long distance migration. They could only guess as they have no concrete evidence or other proof to why the Ind Whales produces these energy stones.


    The miners upon extracting the crystals stored them into wooden crates where another group of workers will ferry them down to the shore to be loaded onto the barges.


    As the men worked, the Ind Whales hibernated in the cold, their heads and flippers motionless as they dreamt what Ind Whales dreamt.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Conference Room


    "So, for this Operation Freedom," Major Frank patted the folder of documents in his hand. "You are proposing to airdrop in a battalion of Marines to capture Orwell''s Point?"


    "Yes, Sir," Intelligence Officer Tavor replied politely.


    "With no other support?" Frank''s eyes narrow as he dropped the folder down on the table. "No UAV, no air, nor artillery or even any chance of reinforcements?"


    "Sir, there is no way any of ournd vehicles can drive all the way from here to Orwell''s Point in that kind of terrain," Tavor pointed out to the map where the whole stretch of the Uncharted Forest thaty between the two cities.


    "Even if we force our way through the forest, it will take a week or two for the entire convoy to hit Orwell''s Point," Tavor exined. "The whole operation cost, time, and resources will not be worth the effort."


    "So you are proposing an airdrop?" Commander Ford, cut in before Major Frank can retort. "Why?"


    "First, we have the new FB - 1 Mariner which with extended fuel tanks, can each drop off a toon of Marines," Tavor said. "With the Air Force now processing five of these nes, we can effectively airdrop in apany and enough supplies to support thepany of Marines on the field."


    "Secondly, the one way trip by air takes only six hours,pared to the one to two weeks overnd," Tavor continued. "If we removed all the unnecessary equipment and armor, we can extend the range of the Mariners further."


    "With the nes doing four round trips, within 24 hours, we can have a full battalion and enough supplies for them attack Orwell''s Point." Tavor finished.


    "Yes, but the whole point of this Op is to rescue the ves?" Frank said. "How are we gonna do that without any vehicles!"


    "That brings me to the second part of the Op," Tavor smiled. "We hold the city, and since the city is right next to an ind sea, we cannd our Mariners there."


    "We let the ve ships in and we ambush them," Tavor continued. "And at the same time, the Mariners will do constant trips to pick up the ves and also drop off supplies and reinforcements."


    "At the end of the day, Orwell''s Point will be a territory of the UNM!"


    -----


    After the meeting had dispersed, Ford stayed back with ke in the room. "So what do you think of the chances of this operation?" ke asked.


    "Frankly, I am quite optimistic about our sess," Ford admitted. "Tavor is turning out to be quite the Intel Officer."


    ke nodded, "I am only worried that the enemy spots them before the whole battalion has dropped in."


    Ford gave a shrug, "Well, they just have to drop off somewhere less visible then."


    "Hmmm, maybe we should startying ns for a highway to Orwell''s Point," ke said. "If we are gonna hold that city, it will be good to have a direct road to it, rather than constantly relying on airdrop supplies."


    "It will also help with the development of the city in the long run," ke continued. "But the issue would be the Forest itself, I am afraid it will not be so easy to construct a highway there due to the monsters."


    "True, the creatures in the Forest are no joke," Ford stated. "And we can''t afford tomit so much of our troops to guard the highway either."


    "Alright, let me think about it first," ke said. "So how''s the Ind Whales or turtles doing?"


    "They appeared to have gone into hibernation," Ford answered. "They are just sleeping there while we mine the crystals on their backs."


    "So far, there aren''t any incidents happening," Ford said. "We did not touch any of those still growing crystals and also we harvest only two thirds of the crystals to prevent any harm to the creatures, in case the depletion of the crystals will affect their health in some way."


    "Good, keep me posted should anything happens," ke replied.


    "Well, the other thing is Ordnance hade up with a simple depth charge device," Ford grinned. "They should be testing it out within a week or two."


    -----


    Draco Air Base, Commandant''s Office


    Commander Tommy rubbed his tired eyes as he stared at theputer disy screen continuously for several hours. He yawned as he stood up and stretched, and looked at the drawings of the helicopter designed he came up with,


    He hade out with a design powered by a twin turboshaft engine, with four-de main and tail rotors. It can be used in both utility orbat roles and it will greatly improve their air power and reach once it is in production.


    Now, he just needs to get this over to Special Projects and get them to fabricate it out.


    -----


    The Academy of Science and Magic


    Liz hugged several folders of papers and books against her chest and she entered the ss of 2E1. The ss stood up as one and greeted her before they sat down. Liz smiled as she looked at the children just a few years younger than her and felt a sense of achievement.


    I guess being a teacher has its moments, she thought to herself as she wrote on the chalkboard. "Advance Magic Theory"


    Initially, she was shy when she first teaching the ss alone, the students seemed uninterested in her sses as they view her age to be too young to be even knowledgable in magic.


    Yet, one time, there was a live demonstration of magic casting, she shocked her ss with her spells, which turned the once defiant ss to admiration. After that incident, her ss became very attentive and even active in asking her questions both about magic and even personnel.


    At first, she felt swamped by the attention. She used to be the focus of envy by many of her peers but they did that at a distance. Her students most likely did not know of her status and past, chatted with her with innocent which slowly, she got used to it.


    "As all of you know, magic came into existence by the grace given to us by the Gods, many many many years ago," Liz said. "But as the Gods disappeared, the gift was still within us, but it has weakened till the point that not every one of us is born with the aptitude for magic."


    "Some of you have more mana capacity, while others just a tiny grain in their bodies," Liz continued. "But even with arge capacity of mana, you need to know how to form the magic."


    She raised her right hand up and a flicker of mes appeared, "A level 0 spell, which almost everyone can do is easy to form as long you understand what you want it to do, in this case a fire."


    "But what if you want to cast a different fire spell?" Liz asked, "This is where visualization works."


    "You imagine what you want, and focus your magic and the spell chant to create that spell," Liz exined. "Just blindly chanting a spell will not allow you to draw out the full power of that spell."


    "That is why so many mages venture fore on adventures to learn and experience the dangerous out in the world, as seeing new things and wonders help a mage to better visualize his or her spells." Liz smiled as she gave a wave of her hand and the me turned into a soaring wyvern before vanishing.


    "What I just did was the same level 0 spell but I visualized it as a wyvern," Liz exined. "Magic is not dead, you just have to learn how to properly control and weld the mana inside you."


    As her ability to control mana was top notched, that was why she could cast multiple magic missiles easily.


    The students in her ss went oooh when they saw her skillful maniption of mana. "Teacher Liz, did you travel on adventures too?"


    Hearing that question, Liz felt a pain in her chest as she remembered her party with the Hero. Even the death of Stab hit her hard despite the two of them never seeing eye to eye and always arguing.


    And now what was left of the party was only Evelyn who had her soul damaged allegedly by the Hero himself! She doesn''t know who to trust on the matters of the Hero and the strange hoomans isn''t really helping much.


    She looked at the hopeful eyes of her students and sighed inwardly before answering, "Yes, I traveled for a bit as an adventurer."


    "Tell us some stories!" The ss erupted excitedly at the news that their teacher used to be an Adventurer. Most students dreamt of growing up to be one or a dragon flyer!


    "Well, I can, but after this, I want all of you to promise me to practice hard on your mana control, ok?" Liz tried to be stern.


    The ssughed and agreed while Liz shooked her head and starting telling them of a Quest she did with the Hero, except she omitted out the Hero.


    She looked at the innocence of the children who listened with rapt attention to her story and started to question the things she has done in the past.

 Chapter 229: Operation Freedom

    Chapter 229: Operation Freedom


    Draco Air Base, Training Hanger Three


    Private Slow held on to a yellow strap that was hooked to a cable overhead as he stood in a queue behind several of his toon mates. "30 SECONDS!" The toon Sergeant yelled and everyone echoed after him. "Standby!"


    An overhead red light switched to green followed by a buzzer and the toon Sergeant yelled, "GO GO GO!"


    The first man walked out of the wooden frame door and hopped off the tform, before moving out of the way for the next person behind him. Slow shuffled up as his toon mates in front of him hoped off the tform one by one.


    When his turn came, the Sergeant gathered the yellow static line and Slow hopped off andnded on the ground before he gathered next to the rest of his toon.


    The weeks long exercises had started off with lectures and videos on parachuting off an aircraft before moving on practical motions like what Slow and his toon was doing. They had been practicing hopping off a fake aircraft hatch to doing jumps off a tall tform simr to a fly fox zip line to how to do anding by rolling on the wet ground as the snow melts.


    Slow heard from the Sergeants that once the weather clears up, they will move on to doing real jumps off an airne! Slow had nearly panicked when he stood on the top of the several stories high tform and the hooman Corporals screamed and yelled in his ear to jump.


    He had closed his eyes and leaped off the tform, and felt his heart at his throat before the sudden jerk of his harness against the zip line nearly made him bite his tongue. The first jump was scary but the following other jumps, he actually found it quite fun and thrilling zipping down the line!


    -----


    Master Sergeant Pike stood at the side with Major Frank observing the men training for the parachute wings. "What do you think?" Frank asked.


    "Looks good so far, but it''s only practical," Pike replied. "But I say they should be ready to do their first jump next week."


    Frank nodded, "Once 2nd Battalion finishes their training, start on 1st Battalion. 3rd Battalion we will leave it to thest."


    "So it''s confirmed? You are using the 2nd to hit Orwell''s Point?" Pike asked.


    "Yes, 2nd will take point on the attack, 1st Battalion will be on standby, while 3rd will hold the fort back home," Frank confirmed.


    "Damn, we need more troops," Pike shook his head. "Two thirds of our troopsmitted to an attack, and with spring here soon in a couple of weeks, those damn feral goblins will be raging all over the ce."


    Frank smiled, "We are way better than before now that all workers at the outposts are required to be trained and part of the LDF or Local Defense Force."


    "They can hold off the goblins easily behind fixed defenses and mortar support, till the Airforcees in with air support," Frank said. "The 3rd will act as the hammer while the LDF acts as the anvil."


    "You saw their performance," Frank pointed out. "They can do it."


    Pike nodded grudgingly, "Those LDF troops might not be crack troops on the field but yeah, they should be able to hold their own till supportes."


    "We won''t have to worry so much about the homefront," Frank continued. "I only worry about the 2nd not able to take over Orwell''s Point before the rivers are open for the Empire boats to be used."


    The rivers leading to the ind sea from the Empire would normally be frozen or the water levels drop below safe depths for their river barges and ships to travel. Once winter ended and springes, the melting ice in the mountains and surroundings will raise the water levels of the rivers and open the channels for ships to travel.


    The n was for the 2nd Battalion to air drop in 20 km away from Orwell''s Point at the open ins and once the whole 2nd Battalion hasnded, they will move in to capture Orwell''s Point before the river recovers.


    This will ensure that no ships from the Empire will arrive till the 2nd Battalion was well established and dug in in the city and also no news of the attack could travel by ship back to the Empire. The attack will be inplete surprise to the enemy and any shipsing down to Orwell''s Point will have both the ship, crew, and cargo seized and impounded by the 2nd.


    The next phase would be 1st Battalion reinforcing the city if needed via the float nes which willnd on the docks with supplies too and the nes will return with ves who are willing to work under the UNM.


    The Air force will also be sending Blue Thunder and Rastraz along but they will travel at a slower pace as they will be carrying extra equipment along for the Marines. The dragons will take the role of observers and reconnaissance duties for the Marines on the ground.


    The logistic of this operation normally would be easy to handle back on Earth. But with limited air capacity andck of proper roads, it became a challenge for Quartermaster Chen who was ensuring his team has calcted the weight of every equipment to bullets to fit onboard the aircraft!


    "Threebatpanies and one supportpany," Frank said. "Think they can handle anything thates their way?"


    "Sir, I personally trained these men," Pike proudly dered. "I can ensure they will take Orwell''s Point without any trouble!"


    -----


    The cold air of winter slowly gotten reced by the warmer air currents that swept in from the east. The dull grey cloud skies were no longer seen as the clouds dispersed and the striking clear blue skies revealed themselves once more.


    The heavy droning roar of engines resonated deep into the very bones of Slow as he sat on the edge of the seat. His bulky fieldpack hang at his knees and on his chest sat a reserve chute while the main parachute sat on his back.


    The men''s M1 Magelock were secured snugly against their belly just below the reserve chute. The buttstock of the weapons was removed and kept in one of their pouches. While for Slow, his MG-1 was stored with his ASAG, Asagi, and he only had a revolver strapped to his thigh. On his sides, sat other men of his section, shorter by more than a head to him as some of them dozed away or exchanged nervous jokes.


    Slow tried to sleep but the constant drone of the engines made him hard to fall asleep so indeed he sat there and listened to the batter between his section mates. Suddenly a buzzer buzzed and the interior of the modified FB - 1 Mariner glowed red.


    "MAKE READY!" The toon Sergeant roared over the drones of the engines. "10 MINUTES!" He held up ten fingers.


    The men roused themselves up, and those asleep were jolt awake. "STAND UP!"


    The troops lumbered to their feet as they were heavily burdened down by equipment and gear. "HOOK UP!" The Sergeant made a hooking gesture with his finger.


    Slow reach over and snapped his static line to the overhead cable.


    "EQUIPMENT CHECK!" He patted his harness as he yelled.


    The men including Slow double checked their gear and harnesses, making sure their buckles and straps were properly locked and in ce before checking the backs of their buddies before them.


    "SOUND OFF FOR EQUIPMENT CHECK!"


    "SEVEN OKAY!"


    "SIX OKAY!"


    "FIVE OKAY!"


    "FOUR OKAY!"


    "THREE OKAY!"


    "TWO OKAY!"


    "ONE OKAY!"


    Slow''s section called out as they finished their checks while the other sections in their toon did the same.


    An aircrew hit the hatch controls and the door slid to the side. He leaned out checking the exterior of the ne before running his hands all over the hatch to ensure there were no sharp edges. The toon''s Lieutenant did a follow up check before he ducked back into the ne.


    The co pilot sat on the controls of the FB - 1 Mariner and looked over his gauges. "Wind 210, prepare for drop!" He spoke to the crew at the cargo bay.


    "ONE MINUTE!" The pilot called out to the bay while the Marines echoed.


    "30 SECONDS!"


    "MOVE UP!" The air crew waved for the Marines to step to the hatch.


    "5"


    "4"


    "3"


    "2"


    "1"


    The jump lights turned green and the air crew yelled, "GO GO GO!"


    The first man stepped off the ne and kept his hands to his sides while the wind whipped him away from the fusge. His static line ripped his chute open as he left the ne and his chute deploy secondster.


    One by one the men stepped off the ne and finally it was Slow''s turn. They had done two practice jumps already and he loved it. He grinned with excitement and eagerly stepped off the ne and his chute deployed once he was away from the ne.


    Dozens and dozens of dark grey parachutes that were made from spider ant silk floated gently down from the sky. If locals not of Haven, saw this spectacr they would be stunned and shocked as they would not understand norprehend what was going on.


    The drop zone was an area of arid grasnd, where the grass has frozen and yellowed from the cold. Slow hit the ground in a text book roll and he grunted as he rolled over a stone. He ignored the pain on his side and quickly collected his billowing chute.


    Soon the field was filled with the toon''s chutes and the men quickly packed their chutes together. Several others headed to the air dropped crates to retrieve the weapons and supplies stored in them.


    Slow quickly headed to the squarish object that hadnded. He quickly removed the straps and restrains and Asagi happily unfolded itself out. The little golem stretched its limbs out in a manner like a dog before it rubbed itself against Slow who patted it on its head.


    Next, he retrieved the package secured to its back and removed the MG-1 stored there and popped out a box of ammunition and loaded the weapon.


    The men came over to Slow with their loads of parachute and they piled it all on the back of Asagi which made it lookical as the pile of parachutes were like three times its size after they tied it down securely on its back.


    "Alright, boys!" The Lieutenant said. "Spread out and dig in! We are the first wave, the second wave won''t be here in another ten hours! So make yourselvesfortable!"


    "Radio operators! Set up yourms and put it under cover!" The LT continued to give out orders as the men went about their duties. "Sergeants look after your men!"


    The Sergeants took over and they assigned the men to cover their sectors while digging in. The endless ins stretched out as far as the eye could see and somewhere in the distance is their objective, Orwell''s Point.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Sir, Operation Freedom has begun, the First Wave of drop troops had touched down and the Mariners are returning for the second wave in five hours," The operator reported.


    ke nodded as he looked over the region on the tactical plot. "Any reports of contacts?"


    "Negative Sir!" the operator replied.


    A radio ry system had been set up by having the dragons drop a ry antenna down on the canopy of the Uncharted Forest as a temporary measure.


    "What''s the ETA for the dragons to rendezvous with the dropped Marines?" ke asked.


    "Another 4 hours, Sir!" Major Frank reported from his Operation Center located at the Marine''s Camp Alpha.


    "Alright keep me update of any changes!" ke said to Frank''s image.


    "It high time we kick some Empire Monday blues away!"

 Chapter 230: Modern Warfare

    Chapter 230: Modern Warfare


    Orwell''s Point


    Dasar yawned as he stretched his cold body after a morning of standing guard at the drawbridge. He rubbed his cold hands together with the shaft of his spear and stomped his fur lined boots to relieve them.


    His partner. Jun, leaned against the wall and as close as he could to the dying embers of a fire brazier while hugging his spear and half dozing away.


    Dasar rubbed his wind bitten face and nced up to the sky which had started to brighten and suddenly there was a tter of metal. He turned to the noise and saw Jun had slumped over on the ground and knocked off the brazier.


    Dasarughed thinking that Jun had fallen asleep on his feet and fell down. He reached out to help his friend up when an 8 gram, 6.5 mm cupronickel coated lead bullet mmed through the thin low quality steel and leather of his helm.


    The bullet velocity despite lowered slightly by the suppressor was way more than enough to prate the steel helmet of the guard and drilling through the skull before exiting out of the other side of the helmet and spending the remainder of its energy against the thick gatespanied by a small spray of blood and brain matter.


    -----


    "Go!"


    Several shadowy figures emerged from the moat that surrounded the wall. Their damp uniforms stuck on their bodies as they quickly cover the short distance to the walls.


    Sergeant Miles mmed his body against the city wall and checked the two kills before nodding to his men. "Get rid of those coals." He said with disgust as the red hot coals were burning and cooking the fallen guard who had knocked them over himself as he fell.


    "Raider One to Lord Actual, in position over." Mills reported his progress to the Battalion Commander, Captain Joesph Tokin, who was just recently promoted from First Lieutenant to Captain tomand 2nd Battalion.


    "Lord Actual to Raider One, what''s your sit rep?" The Battalion Commander asked.


    "Raider One, So far so good," Mills replied. "Guards surrounding the drawbridge and gate has been neutralized."


    He looked up at the drawbridge and said, "No rms as of yet. Over."


    Joseph replied back, "Raider One, Lord Actual, secure the Gatehouse and clear the two gate towers, how copy?"


    "Raider One, roger that. out!" Mills nodded and gestured to his section into action.


    "Alright guys, we are gonna up the walls!" Mills said and his men took out grappling hooks from their backpacks. The hooks were fired withpressed air, making a dull thump. The three pronged hooks shot up with a whine as the cables whipped out after them.


    The rubber padded prongs hit the top of the wall and the Raiders reeled them in, the prongs barely making any noise. Once the prongs were holding firm, they attached a roll of folded updder that self deployed itself upwards with tiny motors running up the cables.


    "Go, go, go!" Mills hissed as they secured thedders to the ground.


    Mills followed his men up and they climbed thedders as fast and silently as they could. The city walls reached a height of roughly nine meters and the men made the climb in less than two minutes.


    Vaulting over the battlements, Mills saw his men had spread out in a security cordon, their suppressed M2 Magesplitter already imed the lives of the guards that were dozing away.


    "Raiders! Split up and hit those towers!" Mills whispered and his men split into three groups of two and set off to the towers on each side of the wall.


    At the same time, he led one of the teams and headed into the walls towards the gatehouse where the controls for the drawbridge were.


    They found a stout looking wooden door reinforced with iron bands blocking their way into the room. One of the men tried to open the door but it was locked from inside and he shook his head at Mills silently.


    "Damn, we need to breach this!"


    -----


    "Raider Three to Lord Actual, guards at the port cleared, moving in to secure the port, over." The radio at the temporarymand post of 2nd Battalion crackled.


    "Lord Actual, Raider Four, East Gate is in our hands, over."


    "Raider Two to Lord Actual, West Gate secured, no enemy contact remaining, over."


    Joseph smiled as he listened to the reportsing in from the infiltration teams who were sent ahead to clear the guards and secure key entry points into the city.


    Compared to how wars were waged just a year ago, this was like magic, more than magic, as magic couldn''t even replicate what was being done here in the Command Post! Joseph thought.


    This battlefield management and control system taught and implemented by the hoomans are short of amazing, it wasplicated to understand at first but once you learn how it works, everything just falls into ce!


    Joseph watched the support staff move markers and icons of friendly troops on the map of the area. The map was taken just 12 hours ago by the dragons which flew overhead of the city and with a super high resolution camera.


    Even as he stood there, one of the dragons was providing overwatch with thermal imagery which one of the monitors were disying the live video feed that was going on in the unaware city.


    "Lord Actual to all Raiders, good work, hold your stations while Raider One drops the bridge, over." Joseph took the handset of the radio and announced.


    "Echo, Falcon, Gryphon, standby to attack," Joseph spoke into the set. "Hawk, prepare to provide support fire and hit the enemy barracks. Over."


    "Roger that!"


    -----


    Mills sharply gestured to his men to nt breaching charges at the door. His men quickly removed a couple of blocks of explosives and glued it against the hinges and waited for Mills''smand.


    Several minutester, Mills''sms came in, "Team One, tower cleared. over."


    "Team Two, tower cleared."


    "Roger, Raiders rendezvous at the gates." Mills ordered. "We are going loud, make ready!"


    He turned and nodded at his man who held the firing device in his hand.


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"


    The explosives were detonated by an electric primer and the door vanished in a cloud of fire and splinters. The men leaned against the pressure of the st and they charged in a secondter.


    Four men were found in various stages of confusion inside the room while oneid bleeding out on the ground had a portion of the door embedded inside him.


    Mills stepped over the dying man, and they shot the rest of the guards one by one. "Drop the bridge and raise the portcullis!"


    At the same time, Captain Joseph''s voice came in over thems, "All Raiders report! What is going on?"


    "Raider One to Lord Actual! Had to go loud," Mills exined as his men worked the levers and cranks for the bridge. "Door is bared in. Bridge ising down now. Advise to move the rest of the boys in fast!"


    "Lord Actual, roger that!"


    The chains holding the bridge rattled as the lever was removed and the bridge swung down and crashed loudly against the stone ground in the early morning. If the explosion didn''t wake these assholes up, that surely will do the trick, Mills thought.


    "CONTACT!" Mills''sm rang out, "Team One and Two engaging enemies at the gates!"


    "Go!" Mills ordered and he fired a burst at the mechanism that lifted the bridge, ensuring that the drawbridge could not be raised again. As for the portcullis, there was nothing they can do except destroying the whole thing.


    Mills emerged from inside the walls and saw dozens of Empire guards already dead, lying on the streets in front of the gates. His men were prone on the top of the wall and firing in controlled aimed shots at the confused guards who woke up and came out to see what was the ruckus.


    Just at this moment, several wailing screams came overhead and one of the structures they had identified to be a barracks exploded into smoke as the mortar support from Hawk Companynded around it.


    "Raider One, to Hawk, on target, fire for effect!" Mills yelled into thems.


    Secondster, another volley of mortar shellsnded on the partially damaged stone structure. The mortars shells kicking up clouds of dirt and rock as High Explosive warheads destroyed the roof of the barracks.


    -----


    Joseph watched the thermal imagery and saw several bright shes on the screen where the mortars hit, and white colored bodies could be seen unmovingying here and there.


    The higher body temperature of people could be seen easily against the cold background of their surroundings while the Marines in the city all had an infrared beacon that disyed their locations.


    "Target Alpha destroyed," The artillerymand and control operator reported, "Switch to Target Bravo?"


    Joseph nodded in confirmation to the operator who spoke in his mike to the supportpany''s mortar batteries.


    Not long, Joseph heard the thump of the mortars firing and looked at the screen where Intel had pointed out a secondary barracks for merchant or ver guards. The cluster of white bodies ttened down on the screen as shes of white suddenly appeared over them.


    "Echo, Falcon, Gryphon, Operation Freedom is go, repeat Operation Freedom is go!"


    -----


    "- Operation Freedom is go!" The message repeated over the toon''sms clearly and the Company Lieutenant turned and grinned.


    "Alright! Godyers! MOVE OUT!"


    "HOORAAAAH!"


    The Marines roared out as they charged up from a prone position and onto the causeway that led to the drawbridge. The city''s warning bells were ringing at this time and several fires caused by the mortars lit the city up while sleepy residents poked their heads out in confusion from windows and doorways.


    The main stronghold in the middle of the city was targeted next after the ouying barracks were bombed by the mortars which had pre sited the targets earlier in the day before. Now the airburst shells fragged the assembled knights and Imperial soldiers who mustered at the inner courtyard of the stronghold.


    Several Imperial Mages attempted to shield the men but after several hits from the mortars, their mana waspletely drained and the shields failed and the dying started all over again.


    Small clusters of guards and Imperial soldiers approached from the alleyways and side streets as they responded to the ringing of bells, only to be taken down by urate fire from the shotguns and bolt actions of the Marines.


    The 2nd Battalion had several objectives to capture and secure, namely the ve Pens, Stronghold, East Gate, West Gate, South Drawbridge, Docks, Warehouse District, Adventurer''s Guild, Merchants Hall, and the local Governer''s mansion.


    The barracks and vers amodations were tasked to Hawk Company to destroy with mortars whose ammunition were limited as they were carried in by the dragons. After which they were to hit the Stronghold to pin any reinforcements down till the major objectives were secured, following that they will provide fire support for any calls.


    2nd Battalion split itspanies and toons as they pushed in from three directions, onepany from each gate. The West and East Gates each had a small, wooden bridge over the moat wide enough for a single wagon to pass and it had a mechanism that allowed the bridges to be easily destroyed by the city guards should the city be attacked.


    Only the South Gate has a proper drawbridge, and with the guards silenced before they knew they were attacked, the West and East Gates were opened up for Falcon and Gryphon to enter.


    -----


    Joseph smiled proudly as he looked at the stream of reportsing from all the toons as they secured streets and crossroads of the city. The sun had just peeked out from the horizon and they have already captured over two thirds of the city already in just within an hour or so.


    "Damn, I love modern warfare!"

 Chapter 231: You funny guy!

    Chapter 231: You funny guy!


    UNS Singapore, Conference Room, Operation Freedom Minus 25 days


    "Orwell''s Point has roughly 30,000 people in the city on average, but during winter and early spring, the number drops to half," Lieutenant Tavor said. "As merchants and vers rarely do business due to the rivers and roads being closed due to winter."


    "And at least 5,000 of those people in the city now are ves, the reminder mostly guards, soldiers, and service providers," Tavor tapped on the overhead image of the city.


    "2nd Battalion has to capture all the major points of the city, which will effectively allow them to control the residents of the city," Tavor detailed his n.


    "Control the food stores in the Warehouse, prevent information from being leaked out by taking the Merchant''s Hall and Adventurer''s Guild," Tavor listed out the important locations. "Take out the Stronghold which the elite of the Empire troops reside in and capture the Local Governor in his mansion."


    "Hold the docks and the gates to prevent anyone from leaving or escaping," Tavor continued, "And hold each intersection of the streets to control movement."


    "Once the city is in full control," Tavor''s map changed colors, which divided the city into several sections. "Marines are to do a house to house search of any Imperials still hiding. With the streets cordoned off, the search parties will flush out any remanents of Imperial forces."


    The map sectors slowly turned green one by one to indicate the area being cleared. "Once we have totally secured the whole city, the second part of the missiones in."


    "The Marines will dig in, and lure any trade or ve ships in," Tavor said. "And they will be impounded and the goods seized. Any other merchantsing in via thend route will also have their goods searched and confiscated if deemed valuable to our war effort."


    "In the meantime, the city defenses will be upgraded and ves will be given the option to leave or join us." Tavor looked up from his notes to the gathered upper brass. "Once the city is secured, the FB - 1 Mariners wille in to resupply the troops with ammunition."


    "Once we have fortified the city," Tavor smiled coldly. "Short of a tactical nuke, nothing can dig the entrenched Marines out!"


    "It''s high time to stop being nice!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Operation Freedom Plus 3 hours


    Sergeant Mills nodded to his team as they stacked up against the building walls with a stout wooden door between them. They were clearing the Western Sector of the city, when suddenly a volley of crossbow bolts was fired at them, resulting in two men getting injured.


    Luckily the reinforced steel ballistic tes protected the vital points of the men and the bolts barely dented their armor. The two men that got injured were hit at the arm and leg and were dragged off under the cover of a building while they screamed for a medic.


    The attacked toon reacted swiftly and fired at the suspected building windows, the heavy bullets shattering the wooden windows and lime ster. Mills quickly ordered some men to follow him and they advanced to the door of the building under the cover fire.


    "BREACH IT!" Mills yelled at one of his men who rapidly fired his shotgun at the top and bottom hinges, shattering the iron and wood.


    "GO!" He pped the Orc next to him. "GO GO GO!"


    Private Slow charged forward and with his full body weight behind the size 16 boots, he sent the wooden door flying off its broken hinges. He stomped in, taking three steps and kneeled down while sweeping his MG-1 to the left of the room while Mills entered right behind him and swept his weapon to the right.


    The room was typical of a local dwelling, with a firece and dining table and chairs while a doorway led to the kitchens. A staircase sat on the right, leading up to the second story.


    "Clear!"


    Mills gestured towards to kitchen while he aimed his weapon at the stairs just as several footsteps stormed from the upper story and a pair of booted feet appeared at the stairs. An Imperial soldier dressed in half mail with a crossbow dangling at his side and holding a sword charged down the stairs only to have Mills popped a couple of shots into the Imperial''s body, sending him toppling down the steps.


    He stepped over the dead body and snapped his weapon up to the 2nd floor, covering the stairs. He heard the creaking of wood on the 2nd floor and he yelled in Common, "Drop your weapons ande down with your hands up! Surrender now!"


    "DAMN YOU TO THE THIRTEEN HELLS!" Came back the reply and Mills looked at the Orc which he recognized as Slow and he gave a shrug.


    "Well, I tried!" He gestured to the ceiling of the building to Slow who grinned. "Fire there!"


    Slow shouldered his MG-1 and fired off a short burst at the spot where they heard the creak. The high powered 8.6 mm rounds easily punched through the ster and wood, tearing fist sized holes in the ceiling.


    Blood suddenly flowed down from the holes and Mills nodded and they advanced up the stairs carefully. Reaching the top, they saw a dead soldier pitched on thending with a shattered crossbow on the side.


    Mills gestured to Slow to cover his back while he checked one of the two rooms here. He ghosted in through the door and found an empty bedroom. Checking the next room, they found another dead Imperial soldier who most likely got killed by the return fire from the toon on the streets.


    "Clear!" He yelled before he went and yelled out from the window to the toon on the streets. "ALL CLEAR!"


    Mills turned to Slow who was checking the body of the dead Imperial. "Hey Slow, good thing you remember your three steps!"


    -----


    Captain Joesph walked into the great hall of the stronghold and grimaced. Bits of mortar and stone littered the carpentry of the hall and half dried bloodstainsid here and there.


    He picked up an overturned chair and ced it properly next to a long wooden table on the side. He looked at the litter of goblets and tes and gestured to his staff. "Clear the tables and bring in the equipment. We set up shop here."


    "Yes, Sir!" His staff quickly cleared up the hall and moved in all the equipment, turning the hall into amand center in just half an hour.


    "What is thetest from HQ?" Joseph asked his radio operator as he looked at the tactical map of the city that spread out on the table with markers of friendly units'' positions.


    "Sir, they have acknowledged our sit rep," The operator replied. "Thunderchief is sending the Mariners in with ammunition supplies. ETA 5 hours."


    Joseph nodded. "Tell Gryphon to check the warehouses, I want an inventory of what is in there."


    "Yes, Sir!" The operator started to y with the dials on his radio and passed themand on.


    "Next, I want all units to move any supplies, weapons, armors of the enemy to the courtyard outside," Joseph said next. "Keep a tally of what we got."


    "Continue to keep the city in lockdown," Joseph continued. "Once we sort out the sheep from the wolves than we move on to dealing with the Governor and Merchants."


    -----


    By the time the sun reached the mid of the day, all the defenders of Orwell''s Point had either surrendered or killed. The ves were easily recognized by the cors they wore were kept under guard at the ve Pens while the Marines double ensured there were no hidden threats lurking behind.


    Weapons were confiscated and several huge piles of swords and spears were dumped at the Stronghold''s courtyard. Teams of surrendered Imperial soldiers worked to clear the grisly remains of their formerrades. The bodies were dumped outside at an open pit to be burnt.


    Joseph sat on a captured carriage and entered a pair of splendid looking gates that led to an impressive looking mansion. Thewn and gardens looked explicitly neat and tidy. And despite it was early spring, the nts in the garden looked green and flowers were blooming.


    How much did this governer spend to have enchanted his garden to withstand winter? Thought Joseph as he stepped out of the carriage. Falcon Company''s Lieutenant came up and saluted to Joseph.


    "Sir, they are kept inside the main building," The Lieutenant reported as he led Joseph towards the Mansion doors. "We have secured the whole Mansion. All the servants, maids, and ves are kept under watch at the servant''s wing."


    "The Governor and the Merchant''s family we kept them separated in the other wing of the mansion." The Lieutenant said.


    Joseph nodded and wondered how much money and ves were used to build this mansion as he admired his surroundings.


    "We found several storehouses at the back filled with tons of food and other supplies, not to mention also the Governor''s treasury which is quite impressive," The Lieutenant continued his report. "We also found a couple of hidden tunnels, most likely for the family or the Governor to escape. We have sealed off the tunnels to prevent their use."


    Walking through the double doors guarded by Marines, the LT brought Joseph to a day room were dozens of men in clothed in various sleepwear red at him as they entered.


    "What is the meaning of this!" A portly male in long pajamas yelled. "We are all respected men here!


    The Marines guarding them snickered as they eyed the enraged half dressed merchant. They quickly snapped to attention when they saw Joseph entering. "Atten- shun!"


    "At ease," Joseph waved the salutes away before turning to the group of men gathered before the firece.


    "Do you know who are you offending by keeping us here?" The portly merchant stormed up to Joseph. "Release us at once! Or face th- MMMMM!!!?!"


    Joseph''s revolver clicked as he cocked the hammer back and jammed the muzzle of his sidearm into the babbling mouth of the merchant whose expression turned white.


    "One more word out of you stinking mouth," Joseph gave a cold smile. "And I blow that mouth of yours away! Clear?"


    "MMMMMMM!!!!" The merchant tried to back off, cold sweat forming all over his face while nodding his head in panic and pain.


    "Good if you understand, better if you don''t!" Joseph removed his revolver from the frightened merchant and picked up a cloth off the table and wiped the saliva off his gun.


    "Now, you all listen carefully, no one is to talk till I give you permission," Joseph tossed the tablecloth back on the table. "This city is now under the control of the United Nations. Meaning, all your possessions is now the property of the UN!"


    The group of people turned and looked at each other in confusion and shock. Joseph noticed one man seated on one of the chairs gave a sneer. "You," Joseph gestured to the sitting man. "You must be the Governor, yes?"


    The Governor adjusted his sleeping gown like it was some court dress and stood up. "Yes, I am."


    "So what is so funny?" Joseph sat down on one of the chairs and kicked his booted feet up on one of the ottomans.


    The Governor frowned slightly as he saw the dirty boots of this brutish soldier on his furniture. He cleared his throat and smiled, "You seriously do not know who you are offending?"


    "Of course, I know!" Josephughed. "Aren''t you all from the Empire of Bluewood?"


    "If you know, then stop this foolish!" The Governor jerked his head up proudly. "Surrender before the Emperor brings his wrath down on you!"


    "Hahahaha," Josephughed and looked at the LT next to him while gesturing to the Governor. "You funny guy!"


    "I kill youst!"

 Chapter 232: Slaves

    Chapter 232: ves


    Haven, Camp Alpha, Command Center, Operation Freedom, Day Five


    "7 river barges impounded, over 200 other various types of small boats also held," Joseph''s voice came through the speakers with some background static and slight chops to the audio feed. "Death toll as of now is over two thousand Imperial troops and ver guards."


    "2nd Battalion suffered two deaths and 22 injured," The 2nd Battalionmander reported. "Also there were 300 over coteral damage to civilians and ves."


    "Three thousand soldiers and guards captured and currently being imprisoned at the ve Pens," Joseph continued. "We have taken major merchants leaders and the Governor as HVTs* (High Value Targets*) and will be sending them back for Intel to debrief on the Mariners."


    "In total, there are over 3,376 civilian residents remaining in the city," Joseph''s image said. "That''s not counting the poption of outlying farms and fishing viges. So far, the citizenry is following our orders without any issues."


    "We seized over five thousand ves, which more than half were so badly abused that they could only blindly follow orders," Joseph''s expression hardened in the video link. "And over a thousand of those ves are just children!"


    "We found a slum about two kilometers away from the city that consisted of ves too weak, ill, or crippled to work," Joseph''s expression looked tired. "Battalion medics are warning all personnel to not approach the slums as it is overflowing with diseases and other viral infections."


    "Its a dumping ground for unwanted ves," Joseph gave a sigh. "Teams in protective gear checked out the slums and found hundreds of bodies, most in various stages of decay and some bodies are still thawing."


    "Still there were two hundred survivors, all sick and malnutrition and half dead," Joseph looked deted.


    "Do what you can for them," ke replied. "If they can be saved, do it."


    Joseph nodded, "We can only do so much for them."


    "Now, material goods ranging from winter food supplies are over 800 tons, enough to feed the whole city for a couple of weeks," Joseph continued. "We expect shipments of supplies to starting in now that Spring is here."


    "Over 27 tons of cold weapons and armor seized, two hundred war dragons taken from the stables and the valuables we confiscated from the merchants and nobles there, are still being tally. But current value estimated at over half a million gold crowns."


    Someone whistled in the background, "Damn that''s a lot of money!"


    "We expect the figure to climb as seriously, some of the stuff here, we do not even know how much the true value is," Joseph admitted. "Just from the pay chest of the vers, it''s more than enough to equip apany of soldiers!"


    An averageyman in most kingdoms earns roughly one gold per year, the money plundered from Orwell''s Point is more than enough for ke to buy a dozen warships from the Isles!


    "We are using the prisoners to help rebuilt the city and also to buff up the defense works," Joseph grinned. "We estimate another two days before traders and other travelers to starting to the city as the weather turns warmer."


    "Good, do what must be done," ke nodded before turning to Major Frank who shook his head, indicating that he has nothing to add. "Alright, we will talk againter."


    Joseph''s image saluted and the video link cut off shortly. "So now, the easy part ispleted. Herees the hard part of holding the city."


    "Sir, I still think we should ship a squadron of Cobras over via the Mariners in crates," Airforce Commander Tommy suggested. "The FA - 1 Cobras can be disassembled and reassembled easily. Having a fighter squadron would greatly help the troops there."


    "Hmm, true," ke nodded. "Ensure that the nes have a defendable location for the runways before giving Tactics a workable n for that. There''s no point to having the nes there but the runways get attacked and destroyed."


    Commander Tommy nodded, "The Mariners will be down for major maintenance after this Op is over!"


    Ford and Frank both nodded, "We really need a dedicated cargo hauler, just relying on the Mariners isn''t gonna cut it in the long run."


    ke agreed, "Yeah, I agreed too. Still, we work with what we have now. Anyway, hows the defenses for all the outposts now that Spring is here?"


    Frank gestured to the map on the wall and said, "Well, all the personnel at the mining outposts, farms, logging camps, and other works havepleted their basic military training over the winter."


    "They are all equipped with surplus M1s and the outposts are all fortified and holds enough supplies for them to hold for two weeks," Frank said. "We expect the feral goblins to start their usual attacks and raids within the week."


    "All vehicles now are traveling in armed convoys and no one is to solo drive at any highway now," Frank added. "Even the new cargo trains have armed guards apanying them."


    "What happens if the goblinsy siege to any one of the outposts?" Ford asked.


    "3rd Battalion is on rapid response duties," Frank replied. "The guys under siege at the outposts will hunker down and wait for the 3rd toe in and relieve them."


    "The Air Force is also on full standby to provide close air support," Tommy added. "We can keep the pressure off the outposts till the 3rdes and save the day."


    Frank winked and bumped fists with Tommy. "1st Battalion will be holding the defenses for both Haven and Far Harbor."


    "The Navy is also on standby for any sightings of goblin raiders," Ford said. "Intel has been throwing up UAVs and scout nes up to re Goblin City for any ship movements. But so far they seemed to be trying to recover from the previous bombings."


    "Good, everyone knows your assigned work and duties!" ke smiled. "I can start rxing and nning my honeymoon!"


    "Yea right!" The guysughed. "You are still the Boss!"


    "Alright, jokes over," ke grinned. "Great work all around. I want constant re flights all over our area to spot any goblin movements. Hit them as they mass up, try to destroy them before they near any of our facilities!"


    "Aye, aye Captain!"


    -----


    Dead Frontier


    Teams of men carried several horned deers into the vige to the cheers of the gathered. They managed to survive winter and now the wild game has reappeared due to warmer weather, the people won''t starve anymore.


    Borse smiled at the cheerful gaunt faces of the people and saw hope on their faces. The wild game they had caught will most likely be lean meat as the animals just came out of hibernation.


    He needed to start building and repairing the palisades now that winter is over and also have the troops patrol their surroundings. So much work to be done, thought Borse. Food for the people, trees to be cut for lumber, the vige to defend from Oerkin and goblin raiders.


    And the constant threat of the Empire looming overhead, Borse felt very tired suddenly.


    -----


    Orwell''s Point


    Sergeant Mills jerked the ck hooded merchant up from his knees as the roar of the flying boat engines grew in pitch. "Bring them all! Let''s go!"


    The frightened merchant cried and squirmed in his restraints as Mills and another Marine dragged him across the dock, his legs thumping over the gaps between the nks. They dumped the HVT to the Air Force who took over the slobbering merchant and secured him on to the seat.


    Mills stood back and double check the head count of the HVTs been loaded onboard the Mariner and signed off his charges over to the Air Force crew chief. "All yours!" He yelled over the roar of the engines.


    The crew chief gave a thumbs up and climbed into the ne and Mills helped the crew close the hatch of the flying boat. The crew gave a wave to the Marines on the dock before the pilot pushed the ne off the docks and headed towards the open stretch of water.


    The engines of the ne grew louder as the pilot pushed the engines to the max and the craft roared its way across the wide river before it gently rosed into the air and it banked over slightly and disappeared into the sky.


    "Alright! No more baby sitting!" Mills grinned to his men. "Now, get those prisoners to help move these supplies! I want them under cover before lunch time!"


    -----


    Joseph paced around the great hall of the stronghold as his staff manned radios and othermand systems. "Sir, Dragon One has spotted two river barges on approach from the North East River."


    "How long till theye in sight of the city?" Joseph stopped and asked.


    "Four to five hours," The operator replied.


    Joseph gestured the operator to erge the image taken by Blue Thunder. "Looks like a cargo runner."


    "Most likely they are here to sell goods before picking up ves and bringing them back," 2nd Battalion''s tactical officer said. "Looking at the log books of the Governor and merchants here, seemed like ves are brought in from the surrounding areas to be traded back to the Empire or other ces."


    Joseph nodded and grinned wickedly, "Hmmm, I wonder if we can trade off the prisoners for their goods?"


    "Haha!" His staffughed, "Well, Sir, we have to check with Higher Command about that!"


    Joseph kept smiling, "Hmmm, well, how''s the counting of the treasures we confiscated?"


    "Sir, we are still going through all the stuff," One of his staff replied. "There are just too much and we are short handed."


    "Alright, there is no rush," Joseph waved off his staff''s concern. "We will load what has already being counted and weighed on the next flight back to Haven."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    "Any issues with the city poptions?" Joseph asked next.


    "There are several fights breaking out with the ves and locals," Another staff reported. "We have a couple of stabbings, but not fatal."


    "What happened?" Joseph''s eyebrows rosed up.


    "Seemed like the ves were abused and treated badly but some of the locals," The staff replied. "The ex ves returned to exact vengence on locals. We have arrested everyone who was involved, but these cases on the rise!"


    Joseph frowned, "Issue out a statement to the ves, tell them to report whatever abuses or injustice they had suffered to us, and we will investigate. I do not want public order to be disrupted."


    "Ensure the ves understand that. I will not hesitate to punish anyone harshly who breaks thew!" Joseph said.


    Just at this moment, a Marine came in and saluted, "Captain! There is someone wishing to speak with you! Sir!"


    "Who is it?" Joseph asked.


    "Sir, the person calls himself as Mattew and he says he represents the ves, Sir!" The Marine stood at attention while giving his report.


    "Where is he now?" Joseph walked over to the Marine.


    "Sir, he is outside the stronghold gates, sir!"


    Joseph turned to his staff and shrugged, "Seems like we can save the trouble of issuing a statement to the ves."


    "Bring him into the parlor," Joseph said to the Marine who saluted and went off to carry out his orders. "Well, let''s go see this Mattew guy and see what he wants."


    Joseph was enjoying a goblet of fine red taken from the Governor''s stores when there was a knock on the door. The Battalion Sergeant opened the door and a gaunt looking male with filthy red hair stood with two Marine escorts behind.


    "Come in," The Sergeant gestured the man in and took up a position at the doorway, watching the ex ve like a hawk with his hand resting on his sidearm.


    "Drink?" Joseph offered the ve who looked out of ce in the finery of the parlor with his dirty and tattered clothing.


    The man shook his head and stood there with a proud bearing facing Joseph and spoke in a serious manner.


    "I like to propose an alliance!"

 Chapter 233: Barbarians

    Chapter 233: Barbarians


    Uncharted Forest


    The soft wet ground suddenly moved and soil slowly got pushed out, forming a small burrow. A bald greenish head appeared and it took a deep breath of the fresh spring air and giggled. Before long several more burrows appeared and like rabbits, goblins started to crawl their way out of the soil.


    -----


    Outskirts of Haven, Agriculture District 2


    A yellow green hue covered a plot ofnd as several farmers maintained a spell over thend. Furrows appeared on the soil as the farmers used magic to tilt the plot ofnd. A tractor hooked up to a high capacity fertilizer spreader sat on the end of the plot, the driver waiting for the spell to end.


    Once the mana dissipated away, the farmer moved the rumbling tractor forward and switched on the fertilizer spreader. The nozzles on the spreader sprayed out a liquidpost which was made from the city wastes.


    The other farmers headed off to the next plot ofnd to cast the next spell to tilt thend while the tractor continued to spray nutrients to prepare thend for crops.


    -----


    Far Harbor


    "Thank you for your hospitality here," Fleet Master Megan said as she stepped on the boarding ramp of her ship. "We will bring your wishes of an alliance to the Council to decide. With luck, we will return in time with good news!"


    With that, she disappeared into the ship with Akron who gave a bow before boarding. Dijon stood on the pier with an unsure expression before he rubbed his head hard and said, "Oh well, my apologies on offending you by courting you while you are engaged to another man."


    Sherene smiled, "The fault does notypletely on you, I never told you I was engaged, and that led to some misunderstandings."


    "Well, best wishes!" Dijon gave a curt nod before he walked up to his own ship and boarded. "I will try my best to convince the Council for an alliance, but from what I see, your man seems strong enough to protect you all."


    He gave a wave and disappeared into his ship while the crew started to prep the ship for departure. Tug boats started to pull the sailing ships out of the docks and towards the open sea, and before long the ships dropped their sails and with the winds filling them up, they started to move and slowly disappeared over the horizon.


    "Phew!" Sherene finally rxed. "That''s one problem gone!"


    -----


    Mining Outpost


    Cracks of rifle shots broke out along the roofs of the mining facilities as a small horde of goblins attempted to climb over the series of barb wires and electrical fences that surrounded the locked down outpost.


    The workers and miners had all trained to be part of the Local Defense Force as militia troops. The attack from the goblins came just after midnight when most of the workers were asleep.


    The hungry goblins blinded by the powerful spotlights of the facilities ran headlong into the rolls of razor shape concertina wires. The sharp des shed and trapped the goblins in their rags, making the creatures yelp in pain and surprise.


    The outpost''s rm rang out and the workers jolt awoke before they grabbed their weapons stored in the armory and took up positions on the roof tops as they were drilled and trained.


    Lights flooded the outpost surroundings, exposing the pale green skins of the goblins and cries of dismay and shock. The outpostmander barked an order and the men fired in aimed shots, shooting at those nearest to the outpost.


    Some of the luckier goblins managed to avoid getting trapped in the concertina wires hit the next line of defenses of electrical fencing. The voltage running through the fence was barely enough to stun silly any goblins but was enough to make the goblins jump up in shock and pain.


    It slowed the goblin rush as they stood there looking at confusion at the strange fence, not understanding why does it hurt and makes them feel funny when they touch it. The defenders quickly made full use of the confusion to fire at the goblins and not long, the goblins fled in useless anger.


    These simr incidents urred throughout the night at different outposts, as the goblins came out to raid for food only to be beaten back. The Air Force scrambled its fighters into the air and they drop bombs and rockets at anyrge gatherings of goblins that were found.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    ke rubbed his tired eyes and gratefully epted the mug of steaming hot tea from the steward and continued to listen to reports streaming in from Air Force Command and Marine Command.


    "Nine of our outposts were hit, but so far none breached," Commander Ford yawned as he stretched himself out on one of the chairs. "We got a few injuries, mostly from falls and someone identally shot himself on his leg."


    "3rd Battalion barely had to mobilize to support any outposts," ke said. "Frank is trying pushing for a major sweep through the forest to clear out the goblins."


    "Well, the number of goblins in each raid barely amount to two hundred," Ford replied. "Why not? Let Frank and his boys go hunting in the forest. the goblins seemed to be overstretched and in disarray."


    ke nodded and he hit thems, "Frank, go kick some ass!"


    "Aye aye, Captain!"


    "Shouldn''t you be on the Matador?" ke asked as he ended thems.


    "Oh, there''s still plenty of time," Ford grinned. "Intel estimates that the Goblin invasion fleet needs a half a week to get here."


    "How many damn ships do those green shits have?" ke frowned as he dug through hisputer records for the Intel report.


    "Well, thest report said that they counted like four zero vessels of various sizes," Ford replied. "I will sail out in the afternoon, and will expect to meet them within 28 hours."


    "Compared to the previous fleet, I see our single bombing effort has shown some results," Ford pointed out. "That''s like a third of their previous fleet!"


    ke nodded, "Well, destroy them before theye close. I don''t want a repeat ofst years battle clean up. Damn things can burrow into the sand and beaches!"


    "Yea, that was a huge waste of time and resources just to clear them off the beach," Ford agreed. "Alright, I''m gonna get some breakfast before I return to Far Harbor. Want some?"


    "No, you go ahead, I still got some reports to go through," ke declined. "But help me get the steward to send some more tea and sandwiches up will ya?"


    Ford looked at the cooling tea on ke''s desk and sighed. "Damn, how I wish they have some local coffee here, I can''t bear to finish myst few packs!"


    "Well, that''s not the worst I can think of," ke smiled. "Wait till you tell the Princess that the stocks of chocte are running out!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point


    The jolt of the creaking wheel of the wagon as it went over a hump on the road incited groans and moans from the people held inside a cage. Several burly men armored in a mixture of leather and steel rode war dragons next to the convoy of wagons.


    Inside one of the morevishly decorated carriages among the convoy,id a half naked mustached bald male with arge belly on several fluffy pillows. On his side were three young women scantily dressed and giving him a massage on his shoulders and legs.


    The convoy slowly came into view of Orwell''s Point and they crossed the six meter long draw bridge just behind another simr convoy.


    The head guard rapped against the wooden window covers of his master and said, "My lord, we have reached the city gates!"


    "Good, good," Kuhm leaned forward from his position and pushed the window panels open and nced out to the city.


    A city guard came up and asked, "Purpose?"


    "Purpose?" Kuhm frowned in annoyance, "To trade of course! Tsk!"


    "We need to check your cargo!" The guard seemed unperturbed and instead said.


    "You," Kuhm gestured to his head guard outside. "Deal with it."


    "Yes, my lord!" His guard bowed and hastened off to settle with the city guards.


    "Tsk! Lowlives!" Kuhm leaned back on the pillows while the girls fawned all over him.


    Not long the carriage moved again and his head guard rode his mount next to the window and said, "My lord, the guards seemed strange..."


    "What is it?" Kuhm frowned. "What is strange?"


    "They... they rejected my offer of coin," His guard said.


    "Guards that rejected money?" Kuhm was intrigued by this news. "How strange indeed."


    "Also, my lord," His guard seemed nervous as he gripped his sword hilt tightly. "The city... feels too quiet!"


    "Hmmm?" Kuhm pushed away the girls and he leaned out of the window to see for himself. And true enough, he sensed that the energy in the city was different and there were also no people on the streets only than them and the convoy before them.


    "Send someone to find out what is going on!" Kuhm quickly ordered and he pitched forward just as the carriage stopped abruptly. "What is going on!" He yelled angrily as his girls helped him up.


    "The merchants ahead of us suddenly stopped!" His guard quickly informed his master. "I will go and find out why!"


    But before the guard could move his mount forward, a sudden voice loud and clear enough for everyone to hear spoke, "Everyone please step out from your wagons and carriages. Riders are to dismount from their dragons and weapons are to beid on the floor now!"


    The merchants and their guards were in an uproar when they had these demands the unknown speaker. The guards drew their weapons and formed up in a protective circle around their charges while the wagon drivers nocked and loaded their crossbows and looked around nervously.


    "What is this?" Kuhm peeked out of the carriage window in surprise. "Has the Empire gone crazy? Are they robbing us in broad daylight!?"


    "You have till the count of five toply, or we will take actions!" The voice thundered again.


    "Stay inside my lord!" His head guard sat on his mount and covered the carriage, his helmet head jerking left and right as he tried to find the enemies.


    "Four"


    "Three"


    "Two"


    "One..."


    BAAAAM! BAAM!! BAAAM!


    Several thunderous roars made Kuhm jumped and the girls screamed in fright. His eyes widen in horror as he saw his head guard''s head jerked and the mangled helmet flew off with bits of red and greyish matter.


    "Drop your weapons! Get off the wagons and carriages! I will not repeat myself again!"


    "Breakout!" Someone yelled and the chops of hooves sounded as some of the surviving guards attempted to ride out of the streets, only to find the side streets were covered up and even the way out of the city was barred!


    BAAM! BAAM! BAAAM!


    Another series of thunders roared, and Kuhm heard nks of armor and weapons hitting the ground.


    "WE SURRENDER!" Came frightened screams and cries after the loud roars. "Don''t kill us!"


    "Drop your weapons! Get off the wagons and carriages! NOW!"


    Kuhm with shaking hands opened the carriage doors and he kicked the girls out before him. The frightened women kneed with their heads down with tears streaming down their faces seemed fine before he nervous stepped out.


    As he stepped out, a pair of rough hands suddenly grabbed him and mmed him down to the rock pavement, making him bite his lips.


    "Get down! You fat ass!" Someone screamed at his ear and he felt hands groping his body and he wondered if he was going to be raped!


    He turned his face and saw dozens of booted feet move around. The men belonging to those boots wore a strange confusing pattern of blue green and grey colored uniform and they were stripping the guards and other merchants of their weapons and other personal belongings.


    "Who are these barbarians!?"

 Chapter 234: Custom Seizure

    Chapter 234: Custom Seizure


    Kuhm moaned as his hands were forcefully wrenched to his back and something tied his two thumbs together painfully. Next, he felt hands jerking him up to his feet and he startled as he saw an Oerkin holding onto him on one side and another person on the other.


    The two strangely dressed barbarians sat him down next to several others. He recognized some of his guards and drivers among the group, all with various expressions of confusion and fear.


    The barbarians yelled and barked in a strange tongue, but he could recognize some Commons words were mixed with their speech. And the strange thing other than their clothes was that all of these men and Oerkins had their hair cut till every short. Their hair was barely visible under the pot shaped helmets they wore.


    The barbarians yelled at them to get on their feet in Common and they lead them deeper into the city. Kuhm realized why the merchant''s convoy before him had stopped when he saw at the head of the convoy was arge barrier that blocked the road.


    He noted that the side streets were all walled in and there was even more of those barbarians on the roofs of the street.


    After crossing the barrier, Kuhm found himself and the others at the main square of the city. He saw locals watching the ongoing behind their windows while also many others lingering at the edge of the square.


    A small tform for public promations sat on the end of the square where several figures in that strange colored clothing stood. Kuhm noted that there were almost a hundred of his men and the other merchant''s people gathered here.


    A smallmotion broke out at the rear and Kuhm saw the ves that he brought to sell here were being led in. The ves looked around their surroundings with unease and fear as the barbarians led them next to Kuhm''s group.


    "Alright! Everyone''s here!" A booming voice came from the tform and a figure wearing a strange hat stood at the front. "Now, for the confused people here, this city, Orwell''s Point is now under the control of the United Nations!"


    "Allws and rules imposed by the Empire of Bluewood are now hereby voided and onlyws stated by the United Nations will be in effect immediately!" The person said as he stared at Kuhn''s group.


    "very is banned in the UN, anyone found to be in the possession, import, export, or trafficking of ves will be subjected to a hefty fine, and also imprisonment! Repeat offenders will be caned and jailed or subjected to hardbor!"


    Kuhm and the other merchants'' jaw dropped when they heard this news. Orwell''s Point has fallen to these barbarians! How is it possible?!


    The crowd watching the ongoings remained silent as if used to such scenes while the merchants under arrest started to voice their disagreements and displeasure.


    BAAM!


    A suddenly crack of thunder shocked the merchants to silence as they flinched from the roar.


    "I will not repeat my self again. You all have witnessed what happens if I have to repeat myself again," The man held a strange smoking handbow in his hands.


    "Now, all your properties will be seized and impounded by customs!" The man said next. "While those who are to be sold as ves will be released."


    "That is all," The man finished his speech and stepped off the tform.


    Kuhm was stunned as were the other merchants. "All our properties will be seized? Where is the justice in thisw! JUSTICE!!"


    "Aww, shut the fark up!" One of the barbarians rolled his eyes at the merchants'' outroar. "Come on! Move it!"


    -----


    Joseph stood at one of the balconies of the stronghold and watched the wagons and carriages that they had seized being brought into the courtyard and parked together with dozens of other wagons that they have collected over the week.


    Soon a team of local trusted bookkeepers andborers swarm over the goods on the wagons. Each item was detailedly noted down and theborers will move them over to the warehouses for storage.


    "At this rate, all the warehouses will be filled to the brim!" His second inmand, Lieutenant Rathia said. "We can''t even move all the materials back with the nes working overtime!"


    Joseph grinned as he looked away from the view and said to his old friend, "Well, most of the stuff here we can just resell it to the locals or use it ourselves. It''s only the minerals and ores that needs to be shipped back to Haven."


    "And most of the goods they brought to trade here are mostly junk weapons and armor, which we can get the local cksmiths to melt them down to ingots," Joseph continued. "The other is ves and food."


    "Good thing most of the merchants here carry a lot of gold to trade in the ves!" Rathia said. "Now I know why everyone is dealing in ves."


    Joseph nodded, "So how goes the pacification of the region?"


    "Well, we have hit the nearby farms and fishing viges," Rathia said. "They aren''t so happy with us taking away the ves that worked for them."


    "Some of the ves even rejected to be freed," Rathia shooked his head. "We left them there, but we did issue a warning to the people that owning ves are illegal now and will be subjected to strict punishments if found."


    "But the worst is the copper mines we found," Rathia sighed. "We liberated the mines but most of the ves are so badly abused and worked, their minds are gone except for the newer ves."


    "We moved the badly affected ves to a holding area outside the city with 24 7 medical care and support," Rathia said. "But I doubt we can save any of them. They have been scarred too deeply."


    "Tell the medics to do their best for them," Joseph sighed. "Also, inform High Command, see if they can send us more doctors and nurses for support."


    "Got it," Rathia nodded.


    -----


    Great Ocean ins


    Tokk the Brute scratched at an itching scab on his head and looked back at the crude wagons being pulled by a pair of scrawny wind wolves. The drivers of the wagons flipped their barb tipped whips at the wolves, inciting a tired growl from them as they moved faster.


    "Come on!" Tokk roared out. "I want to be in the city before night!"


    Tokk gave a wide toothy grin as he looked at the crates of merchandise he is nning to sell at Orwell''s Point in exchange for good ves. He was very sure those soft skins have never seen such a product before!


    Recently, all the tribes seemed to be crazily raiding any settlements and viges in the Ocean ins and causing all those soft skins to run away. Now, all the nearby viges were all abandoned and Tokk could only think ofing to trade the items he has to the Empire soft skins so that he can get more ves.


    Even the soft skins vers also were grumbling about the shortage of ves! Tokk shook his head as he thought of all thepetition among the tribes to get more ves. Well, Tokk smart! Tokk goes to city to get ves! Haha!


    After several hours on the road, Tokk and his men finally caught the glimpse of the city in the distance. He wondered why soft skins like to live in such a smelly and cramped ce. It further reinforced Tokk''s impression that the soft skins are weak and cowards to hide behind walls.


    "Faster!" Tokk ordered. "Faster we sell the faster we get to eat meat!"


    "MEAT!"


    -----


    "What is the meaning of this!" Tokk roared as he faced several strangely dressed soldiers. "You do not take Tokk stuff!"


    "Drop your weapons! NOW!" The soldiers pointed those pointy sticks at Tokk and his men which suspiciously looked like those Boom Sticks from Sin City!


    "Boss?" His men looked eager to charge forward at those soft skins. They fingered their revolver cannons as they stared down at the group of soldiers cowering behind those barriers.


    "WAARGH!" Tokk roared and quickly drew his weapons. "Kill these treacherous scum and escape!"


    Tokkughed as he squeezed the triggers of his cannon revolvers, enjoying the kick from the recoil and the rotten egg smell. The thick dirty gunsmoke blocked his view making him unable to see where his shots hadnded.


    Thunderous roars answered him back as he dove to the side and he heard the yelp of pain from the wind wolf as he rolled under it.


    His menughed madly as they fired their guns as they stood their ground. The strange soldiers cursed as the barricades around them exploded from therger caliber rounds.


    Tokk emptied both his revolvers at the barriers which the soldiers were huddled behind and broke open the revolvers and started to reload.


    As he finished reloading, he looked up and saw his men fall, as a rapid thunder roared out, and he saw the dark red blood of his kinsmen blossoming.


    "NOOO!" Tokk cried out in rage and he charged up, both his guns roaring as he fired at the enemy.


    "DIE YOU SOFT SKINS! DIEEE!"


    -----


    "Captain!" Joseph''s staff called out urgently from the great hall. "Gunfight at the main gates!"


    "What happened?" Joseph quickly walked over to themand post.


    His staff quickly show his a video of the short skirmish that happened at the main gate. They had install dozens and dozens of closed circuit cameras all over the city.


    Joseph frowned as he saw the video of the caravan of Orcs started shooting the troops at the gate. "Are those guns?"


    "Where the hell did they get guns?!"


    -----


    Sergeant Mills kicked away the guns from the burly body of the Orcying face down on the ground. He was on rapid respond duties when the call came in of Orcs with guns. Luckily none of the Marines at the gate were badly injured, most had cut from shrapnel but were otherwise fine.


    They managed to suppress and cut down the rampaging Orcs with the MGs covering the gate and with Mills''s team in support, the Orcs went down fast.


    "Fifteen bodies, Sarge!" His men called out as they ensured the Orcs were thoroughly dead. "No survivors!"


    "Damn," Mills cursed under his breath. "We taught these guys too well..."


    "Check their bodies and wagons, see if we can find any clue or something to how these Orcs have gotten guns!" Mills ordered. "And get someone who knows how to handle the wolves to calm them the fuck down!"


    The wind wolves were huddled together at one side and while hissing and baring their teeth aggressively at the Marines who eyed them warily.


    Mills bent down and picked up therge frame revolver, feeling the hefty weight of the weight in his hand. "Damn, this looks almost like a copy of our Single Action revolvers!"


    He broke the action of the revolver open and ejected the shells inside, letting them drop onto his palm. He whistled as he looked at one of the unfired rounds, "Damn, this must be like 20mm or something!"


    The weapon looks simple and crude, with a solid frame, top break cartridge firing revolver and a ''J'' hand grip made out of polished wood. Mills sniffed the chamber and grimaced at the rotten eggs smell of saltpeter.


    "Fuck, something is fucking wrong with this!" Mills frowned. "Hey, I need a runner! Get these tomand now!"


    "SARGE!" One of his men yelled from the top of the wagon he was inspecting. "I think you want to see this!"


    "What now!" Mills had a bad ominous feeling as he climbed up the wagon. "Aww, fuck..."


    A couple of crates had their lids peeled off by his men and he saw the shapes of the revolvers covered by sawdust. He did a quick count of the number of crates on the wagon and cursed.


    "Where the fuck did they get so many guns!?"

 Chapter 235: Extreme Prejudice

    Chapter 235: Extreme Prejudice


    Captain Joseph yed with the Orc revolver while the rest of his officers and NCOs gathered at the Great Hall turned Command Center. He dry fired the heavy revolver, requiring him to use both hands to stabilize and squeeze the heavy trigger.


    "Damn, this thing is hard to fire!" Joseph said to his men as he dropped the weapon on the table. "Now, anyone has any ideas as to how and where did thesee from?"


    The room of officers and NCOs looked at each other and shrugged. Joseph sighed before asking, "Any prisoners? Anyone, to interrogate?"


    "No, Sir!" The Officer in charge of the Gate replied. "They were Orcs and the men all responded with deadly force when they retaliated."


    "So the dudes that were bringing these in to sell or trade were all dead and we have no single clue of who, where, and how all thesee from?"


    "Eh, yes, sir..." The unfortunate Officer replied.


    Joseph rubbed his face tiredly. "Get our Orcs to check the dead of their belongings and see if they can get a clue of which tribe or n they came from. Then see if we can backtrack from there."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "- recovered 90 Orc revolvers and over one thousand rounds of ammunition for them," Joseph''s image said to the room.


    "Any leads on where they came from?" ke asked as he fiddled with his thumbs.


    "Only clue we got is that they are from the neswalker n," Joseph replied. "As to where they are currently, we have no idea as they are nomadic."


    ke nodded, "Got it, send some of the weapons back for Ordinance to take a look, and destroy the rest."


    "Yes, Sir," Joseph said. "Sir, if it is possible can we get some UAV support here? It will help greatly to map the area out and also spot threats before theye closer."


    ke nced at Commander Tommy, who nodded and answered, "We can strip down the Owleye and ship it over part by part and send down a tech crew to reassembly and work maintenance on it."


    "Ok, do it," ke ordered. "Priority now is to try to track where these weaponse from and who is making them."


    "Frank, send in the 101st," ke said. "Get to the bottom of this! This is a major threat should our enemies possess firearms."


    Frank nodded, "I will get the team ready for the next flight down."


    "Good, okay go do what you all are supposed to do," ke ended the meeting.


    "Captain," Ford''s image on the disy frowned as he stared at the picture of the Orc revolver. "Could this be made by them?"


    "Them?" ke''s eyes narrowed as he thought of the possibility. "The deserters?"


    Ford nodded as he exined his theory further. "The Indian Marine is after a weapons designer, and our Single Actions revolver designs are made by him after all. It will not be hard for him toe out with another design."


    "Hmmm, so you are saying there is a high chance they have allied with Orcs?" ke turned to look at the map of the area. "They went east instead of up north? Is that why we couldn''t find them all this time?"


    Ford nodded again, "Seems so, the terrain has changed since the time this map was made over a hundred years ago. Already teams of surveyors are reporting that the certain terrain features are not asrge nor is the map urate."


    "If they are somewhere in the east," ke''s fingernded on a terrain feature on the map. "The Great Ocean ins?"


    "Yes, that is the intel we gotten from the Orcs prisoners where that is where their tribes and ns lived at," Ford said.


    ke tapped on the area where the supposed Great Ocean ins were supposed to be. "Hmmm, Thorn''s map shows that area as a forest."


    "Yes, but ording to the Orcs, it is actually a vast in," Ford''s image confirmed.


    "Tell Lieutenant Tavor to find me at my office now," ke hit the inte and spoke to the operator.


    "I want his Intel department to work on this!"


    -----


    Goblin Sea, UNS Matador, Command Bridge


    Ford ended thems and cursed under his breath before turning his attention to the tactical plot. Blimps of surface contacts were showing up on the radar as his tiny fleet prepared to face off the Goblin Fleet.


    "Alright, orders to the CAG, go forunch!" Ford ordered the Carrier Air Group,mander to the single squadron of Sea Cobras.


    1st Lieutenant Legos, CAG of the Sea Cobra squadron onboard the Matador, grinned as he reced the phone back onto its mount and yelled at the gathered pilots inside the ready room. "Mount up!"


    His pilots quickly grabbed their gear and ran to their individual bines. The techs had already warmed up their engines and hooked the bines to the towing tractors.


    One by one, the bines were loaded up on the side elevator and brought to the top decks. The crew quickly hooked up the undercarriage of the bines to the steam catapults. There were only two catapults on the decks and the rest of the squadron waited patiently for their turn.


    Theunch lights turned green and catapult master hit theunch key, and the steam catapult propelled the hooked up bine out into the air with a massive roar.


    Once both catapults were fired off, the locking carriages were winded back to their positions and the next Sea Cobra were locked into ce.


    Within twenty minutes, all eight of the Sea Cobras were safelyunched into the air and they flew off in formation towards the direction of the Goblin Fleet.


    An hourter, thems lit up with calls of enemy contact.


    -----


    Legos peered over the side of his bine''s lower wing and saw the telltale white lines on the sea''s surface which indicated the wakes of ships.


    "Flying Fish Lead to all Fishes," Legos called out. "Surface contacts! Two O''clock low!"


    "Roger!"


    "Flying Fish to Matador, contacts sighted! Engaging!"


    The eight bine squadron split into pairs and dived in towards the unaware goblins. The pilots armed their rockets and gun pods and let loose once they were range.


    -----


    Camp Alpha, Standard Obstacle Course


    "Come on!" Hitsu yelled at their new teammate as they climbed over a low wall in fullbat gear. "Bloody FNG!"


    The new teammate bit back a curse as he rolled on the sand after jumping off the top of the wall, allowing the roll to disperse away from the weight of his equipment from damaging his knees.


    Lance Corporal Wolf Tannor had managed to pass all the strict tests and criteria before he was assigned to take one of the opened slots in the 101st ATI, ymore One. Now, he just needed to get his new teammates'' recognization.


    "What''s FNG?" Loke asked Tavel as they watched Hitsu leading the recement for Doth down the obstacle course.


    "Farking new guy," Tavel replied absentmindedly as he looked at the stopwatch in his hand. "Well, not bad timing for someone who is not using magic to boost his stats."


    "Wooo!" Hitsu dumped his backpack weighing 30 kilos down before removing his vest and weapons. "Hey FNG, run faster!"


    Wolf grunted as he ran finished thest 400 meters, several seconds behind Hitsu. He dumped his gear down and started drinking some water from his canteen.


    "Not bad, Hitsu at 4 minutes 12 seconds," Tavel said. "Wolf at 4 minutes 18 seconds."


    "Damn, I did slower than before!" Hitsu gathered up his gear as he looked at the chart Tavel was holding.


    "Alright, boys! Gather up at briefing room four in 15 minutes !" Tyrier suddenly appeared and called out. "We got a new job!"


    "Finally!" Hitsuughed and he quickly jogged off to drop off his gear with Wolf in tow.


    Less than 15 minutes, the whole ymore One team had gathered at the briefing room. All of them except Tyrier and Wolf moaned dramatically when they saw Lieutenant Tavor entered with a thick folder in his arms.


    "Quiet!" Tyrier gave a frown as he eyed the Intel Officer. Thest time they worked with Tavor, had one of their own dead.


    Tavor gave a small smile at the expressions on the men and said, "I am sorry for your loss on the previous mission but now we have a new job for you."


    He plugged in a data stick into the disy console and an image appeared on the screen. "Okay, shit has just got real now."


    "As of 17 hours ago, 2nd Battalion Marines encountered an Orc merchant convoy at Orwell''s Point," Tavor started the briefing. "The Orcs instead of surrendering attacked the Marines and were all killed."


    He flipped the disy showing the aftermath of the skirmish. "Now, the Marines on checking the cargo of the wagons found these."


    The images showed dozens and dozens ofrge revolvers lined up neatly on a table with rows and rows of ammunitionid out on the side. "90 Orc revolvers and over a thousand rounds for the weapons."


    "What the?" The team was shocked as they saw the images even Tyrier could not maintain his calmness. "I thought the hoomans were only the ones who knew how to make guns?"


    "Apparently not," Tavor replied, "This is where you guyse in."


    Tyrier frowned as he said, "So you want us to find out where these weaponse from?"


    Tavor nodded, "Find who and where they are making these arms. Once you have positively identified the factories or workshops, you are cleared to call in an airstrike. Your objective is to destroy these weapons and any known methods of production!"


    "Oh Shit!" The team groaned as they heard what Tavor needed them to do. "I knew it! He always brings us bad news or some crazy ops!"


    "Quiet!" Tyrier growled at his team. "How are we going to find them?"


    "So far the only clue we have is that these Orcse from the neswalker n," Tavor said as he looked at his watch. "You will take the first flight over to Orwell''s Point that will leave in... five hours."


    "Once there, 2nd Battalion will provide you will all the support you need," Tavor said. "But take note, their support is limited, but you will have priority tasking over the UAV that is going to be station there."


    "So where do we go to find this neswalker n?" Altied asked. "And what kind of support exactly?


    "At this point of time, we are still determining their locations as the Orcs are nomadic creatures," Tavor answered. "Your area of the search will be within the Great Ocean ins. Better familiarize yourself with what intel we know of the area."


    Tavor started to hand out documents to the team who started to flip through the intelligence documents.


    "As for local support, you will have the 2nd Battalion Marines, apany of 120mm mortar support, a squadron of Cobras and two heavy dragons," Tavor said as the team read through the documents. "But expect the Marines to not get to your location quickly. The Marines will also assign some Orc to help liason with you out in the ins."


    "What? The whole ins is estimated to be over 1.300 km square?!" The team grumbled. "How are we gonna move around that area!"


    "On transport, you will have new toys," Tavor smiled. "They will be shipped over together with you and you will start training on their usage once you arrive at Orwell''s Point."


    "What is this?" Loke asked as he looked at thest part of the documents which was a manual for some kind of vehicle which he found it slightly familiar.


    "Are we gonna be ratbs?" Hitsu asked as he looked at the manual. "Motor... cycle operator manual..."


    "Last of all, this is highly ssified," Tavor suddenly gave them a serious look. "We suspect that these weapons were made by the very same deserters and murderers who ran away."


    "If they are found to be the ones making the weapons and selling it, find them and terminate with extreme prejudice!"

 Chapter 236: Welcome to the Sandbox!

    Chapter 236: Wee to the Sandbox!


    Haven, Research and Developmentb


    "What''s that smell?" Senior Spaceman Tae Joon Pak asked as he kicked back on his chair. "Koichi?"


    Tae Joon quickly saved his work on hisputer before he stood up and went to find the source of the smell in theb. "What is that?"


    He saw Koichi and the other IT guys clustered around the table in the pantry. "What are you guys up to?"


    "Ohh TJ!" Koichi smiled excitedly, his thick sses fogging up from the steaming from the portable grill in front of him. "Come! Come!"


    "What are you all doing?" Tae Joon joined them and did a double take at the grill. "Wait, takoyaki?"


    "Hai!" Koichi expertly flipped the half cooked balls of dough with a pick. "I managed to get some tako directly from guys at Biohazard and Containmentb!"


    "Why will there be octopus from Biohazard?" Tae Joon gave a confused expression.


    "Haha, it''s from that Kaiju!" Koichi grinned. "B and Cbs just finished the testings and has cleared it fit for human consumption!"


    "But I thought that monster smells?" Tae Joon picked up the bowl filled with chunks of purple white meat on the table and sniffed it. "Hmm?"


    "The smelles from the slime it secretes out," Koichi continued flipping the takoyaki balls on the grill. "Anyway, I got some of the meat from B and C and borrowed the grill from Chef Keito and see if it tastes good!"


    Koichi expertly flipped the takoyaki out onto a te and squirt some mayonnaise over them. "Too bad we don''t have any okonomi sauce and bento kes!"


    "Come let''s eat it while it''s still hot!" Koichi offered the te to the rest of the IT department gang who hesitated. "I try it first then!"


    He poked one of the takoyaki and bit into it. "MmmMMM! Oishii desu!"


    "Really?" The rest looked at each other and gathered their courage and they each took one and ate it. "Ohhh! Not bad!"


    "Let''s try grilling it with just salt!" Koichi suggested next and he dropped the chunks of Krarga into the round cups of the takoyaki grill and sprinkled some salt in.


    Soon the whole team just busied themselves grilling and cooking the Krarga in the pantry, enjoying the octopus like taste of the monster.


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, River Port


    The roar of the FB - 1 Mariner slowly died down as the flying boat glided to a gentle bump against the wooden dock.


    The side hatch swung out and the aircrew tossed ropes to the waiting workers at the port, securing the flying boat to the pier. Members of ymore One climbed out of the hatch and stretched themselves after the five hours plus journey in the cramped seating.


    "Hello, guys!" Mills waved at them while seated on one of the pilings and chewing away at some jerky. "Enjoyed the flight?"


    Tyrier smiled and shooked hands with Mills, "It was okay, just too noisy for a good nap."


    "Ha!" Mills grinned back. "Let''s get your gear offloaded and have a meet the CO session!"


    "Well, lookie here," Mills winked at the next two Marines that came out of the ne. "I see you guys are here to join in the fun too?"


    "Put a sock in it!" Drake mumbled as he gently set his weapon case down on the dock. "Can''t have you take all the glory!"


    Millsughed and hi fived Kont who said in a serious tone, "Well, they needed the pros, so here we are!"


    The men of ymore Oneughed at Mills''s expression and he shrugged in defeat, "Damn, I give up!"


    He turned to the group of half naked men who sat on their heels at the side watching the byy curiously and said in Common, "Alright, help offload the cargo from the ne and bring it back to the stronghold!"


    The half naked workers nodded and when down to the ne where the aircrew started to offload the cargo out to waiting hands.


    "You guys are using vebor?" Drake''s eyebrows rose up as he hefted his weapon case over his back.


    "Nah," Mills shook his head. "They kinda formed some union or faction and said that they are willing to work for us if we pay them fairly."


    "So the CO used the money we liberated from the nobles here and paid them their fair dues," Mills rified. "We aren''t ill treating them at all!"


    "I see," Drake nodded. "Well, I guess its good for them to have paid work now."


    "Well, plenty of the farms, merchants, and locals aren''t too happy about it," Mills replied as he led them off the dock area. "We had to put down a few protests and some it turned quite ugly."


    "The ex ves are also not having a good time either," Mills continued to give them a brief of the city happenings. "Some of the locals had been downright nasty with them, treating them still like some animals, of course, they only dared to do that when we can''t see and it is hard to track down the perpetrators for the hate crimes."


    "In return, some of the ex ves had formed gangs and are retaliating back to the locals," Mills sighed. "Now both sides are having a cold war, while we in the middle are trying to ensure that the whole city doesn''t explode."


    "Why not impose martialw on the city?" Drake asked while the rest listened on. "It will limit the movement of both parties and reduce the amount of conflict."


    "We sorta having a curfew going on now," Mills replied. "No one is to be on the streets after the tenth bell. Anyone caught gets thrown into the city dungeons. No excuses epted."


    "But still the city needs thebor provided by the ex ves to function," Mills led them onto a wagon where a couple of raptor like dragons were hitched on to. The ex ves carried the offloaded cargo and piled them onto the back of the wagon. "The locals couldn''t provide enough manpower to run the city and we do not have enough troops to totally lock down the city. Hence the CO decided not to put the city under martialw."


    The cargo from the ne took up three wagonfuls of space and the men hitched up on side and tops of the crates as the driver snapped the reins, sending the wagons jolting off ufortably over the unevenly paved roads.


    It took them almost fifteen minutes to reach the Stronghold where 2nd Battalion set up shop at. The newly arrived Marines and Special Forces took in their surroundings, feeling the tense atmosphere of the locals and ex ves in the city.


    They saw a couple of fights breaking out between the young locals and the ex ves over some unknown issues. Whistles blew as Marines equipped in riot gear charged through the crowd, welding shields, and batons. They waddle into the fight andshed out with their shields and batons forcefully breaking up the fight.


    "Damn, this city feels like it''s sitting on a powder keg!" Hitsu whispered to Loke. "I wonder what will happen if the whole city suddenly revolts!"


    Loke shook his head, "That is not our problem, we have enough on our te already!"


    "Loke is right," Tyrier said from the top of the crate. "We just focus on our mission. 2nd Battalion will handle the problems in the city."


    The wagons creaked to a stop after passing the sentry posts and lined up together while a team of 2nd Battalion Marines in work fatigue gathered to offload the cargo. "Well, we are here. We just call this ce, the Stronghold. The CO is upstairs at the Great Hall, waiting for you."


    The men followed Mills into the keep and climbed up a grand staircase before entering high ceiling hall whereputers and disys were set up all over the Great Hall. Electronic beeps and professional voices of operators working over their stations could be heard with an echoing ambient.


    Everyone stood at attention while Mills reported in, "Sir, Hundred, and First ATI and a support party of two reporting for duty! Sir!"


    "At ease," Captain Joseph gestured the men toe closer as he looked up a stack of reports at the tactical tablet. "Come here and take a look."


    The men gathered around the table while Joseph said, "High Command has sent you here to find out where and how did the Orcs have gotten hold of guns."


    "Now, they told me to give you guys every bit of support that I have, which frankly is pretty stretched now," Joseph looked at everyone as he briefed them. "I only have threebatpanies, and one supportpany stationed here. The locals and ex ves over number us by at least 20 to 1!"


    "We, of course, have the advantage of firearms and we also confiscated every weapon we could find but I am sure we missed plenty," Joseph said. "And I am not sure if you heard, the city is having a stand off between two factions, the local merchants and farmers against the ex ves."


    "And we are stuck in the middle of them, trying to keep the peace and at the same time, fend off any Empire troops that decided toe knocking on our doors," Joseph straightened up. "I can only give you limited manpower support. You will have full material and artillery support which includes the single squadron of Cobras we have here. UAV will also be on your call if you need it."


    Tyrier nodded, "Thank you, sir! But I think the most important thing now is what intel we have on the source of the guns?"


    "I am sure you all read the preliminary reports on the Orc Revolvers?" Joseph asked. "Well, just as a recap, the weapon is clearly made for Orc hands."


    "It''s chambered in 20 mm and the recoil can break a person''s wrist easily," Joseph said. "The cylinder holds five rounds and is built like a cannon barrel."


    "This allows therge caliber shell to fire without breaking the cylinder," Joseph exined. "Now, manufacturing something like this is possible with our knowledge of iron casing, but Orcs are not known to possess such high level metallurgy skills."


    "In fact, we found that all the Orc revolvers appeared to be cast from the same mold, meaning someone is mass producing these weapons or someone taught the Orcs how to do it!" Joseph frowned. "This is not good for our campaign here. Should the Empire acquire the knowledge of firearms making, we will lose our advantage despite our weapons being higher quality and efficiency."


    "We identified three locations within the Great Ocean ins where the neswalker n might be located," Joseph pointed to the map on the table. "We interviewed several merchantsing from the Ocean ins and this is the best we get."


    Tyrier looked at the three dots on the map and said, "There are at least several days walk between each other. Have you send UAVs or recon flights over?"


    Joseph shook his head, "The UAV just arrived on one flight before you. The techs just assembled it up and are running checks as we speak on. I expect another hour before they certify the UAV good to fly."


    "You got a new vehicle to y with right?" Joseph asked. "I was told that you need to familiarize yourselves before starting the search."


    "Yes Sir," Tyrier replied. "We will be working with the ground crew to assemble and learn how to use these motorcycles."


    "Woo, cool!" Mills couldn''t help exim in surprise. "You guys got bikes?"


    "Bikes?" Everyone looked at Mills in confusion.


    "Haha, we call motorcycles as motorbikes or bikes for short," Mills grinned. "I own one myself!"


    "Well that settles it," Joseph pointed to Mills. "Help them learn how to use the bikes."


    "Yes, sir!" Mills grinned.


    "Wee to the Sandbox, boys!"

 Chapter 237: Intranet Trolls

    Chapter 237: Intr Trolls


    Haven, United Nations Testing Grounds


    "Fark!" Corporal Clove cursed as he hammered his gloved fists against the controls. "This. Piece. Of. Shit!" He tried fruitlessly to wrestle control back.


    Despite the gyro bncer installed inside the Manned Armored Walker, the dancing spider tank made Clove sick as he wanted to puke from the jerking motions. The Unit 02''smander cursed from his seat at Clove''s shoulder as he gripped the hand bars to prevent being tossed off the chair.


    The MAW 02 Bushmaster was currently doing a violent tap dance with its six legs. Its heavy padded feet churning the earth up around it as it danced madly on the spot.


    "Shut it down!" The techs yelled at the Clove as they watched helplessly at the mech going haywire. "SHUT IT DOWN!"


    Unit 02''s Commander, Third Sergeant Sath reached to the side and pulled the red emergency shutdown bar and the MAW suddenly copsed downwards as power was cut off from all its magical circuits to the systems. "Fark this shit!"


    The test crew slowly crawled out with shaking legs, helped by the techs who checked them for injuries before hooking cables onto the MAW and prepped the MAW for transport back into the mech bay.


    "Damn thing just acted up all of a sudden!" Clove rubbed the bruise he had on the side of his head as heined. If it wasn''t for the helmet he wore, he would be suffering more than a mild concussion now. "I was putting it on the obstacle course and its controls suddenly went crazy!"


    -----


    Senior Spaceman Tae Joon Pak and Spaceman Hideo Koichi both sighed at the same time as they carried their equipment over to the downed mech which had been recovered and was now sitting docilely inside the mech bay. They flipped open the ess hatch and climbed into the cockpit before hooking up theirptops to the Bushmaster''s system.


    "Running system diagnosis..." Koichi said as he rapidly tapped on the keypad. "Retrieving logs from the system database..."


    Tae Joon on themander station was unscrewing the ''ck Box'' out from under the seat before he hooked his system to the ck Box and copied all the system log files over to hisptop.


    After a while, they both exited the Bushmaster and climbed down thedder while its anxious crew approached them with questions. "Alright, we can''t tell you guys anything now till we run a full system diagnosis and recheck all the logs for any bugs in the system!"


    The crew looked disappointed while Sgt Sath asked, "So when will it be fixed?"


    "We don''t know yet!" The two IT specialist shrugged. "Might be a day or a week. We need to check all the lines of code and see if there are any conflicts in the programming that we missed."


    "Damn!" Sath cursed. "Now I got to go write a report on why 02 is down for repairs!"


    "Yea, you go do that," Tae Joon sighed. "We go find out what is wrong and I think I know what is the problem!"


    -----


    Haven, Research and Development Lab, Basement 3, The Cave


    Tae Joon swiped his ess card before thumbing the scanner and the armored door slid open. Koichi followed behind, carrying several stacks of boxes and they entered into a darkened room.


    "Hey, Mike!" Tae Joon called out before reaching out to the light switch and flicking on the room lights. Instantly the room lit up brightly in harsh white light. "MAGIC MIKE!"


    "RAAAAWR!" Three Trolls in various poses appeared in the lights roared in anger. "MY EEYEEEEEESSSSSSssssSSSS!!"


    "Gods!" Tae Joon sighed as he flipped off the lights leaving only one set. The Trolls quickly calmed down and crowded over, sniffing at the boxes Koichi was holding. "Magic Mike!"


    The Trolls parted and Tae Joon saw a huge Troll, easily thergest in the roomying on the several mattresses and cushions with several monitors surrounding him. Tae Joon and Koichi ignored the rest of the Trolls and they walked up next to sprawling Troll and found him naked, his huge genitals dangling out and they could hear moanings and cries in the background.


    "What the fuck?" Tae Joon frowned as he turned the monitors over and saw porn was being yed on the monitors. "Why are you watching porn?!"


    The Troll called Magic Mike gave a shrug as he picked up a small barrel of Rootbeer and took a swill. "Wat puny hoomans wan with Magic Mike?"


    Tae Joon dropped several data sticks on the table and said, "These codes, I want you and your gang to run debugs on them, check for any issues or conflicting lines of code."


    "Sure, wat you give?" Magic Mike scratched his tummy while eyeing Tae Joon. His dull grey skin had several stains of sauces and spilled drinks.


    "Pizza," Tae Joon gestured to Koichi who dropped the boxes down on the side. "How long you need?"


    The Trolls hearing the word pizza suddenly became very excited and they stared crowded closer, their greasy hands reaching to the boxes when Magic Mike gave a growl, which the rest of the Trolls quickly retrieved their hands back.


    Magic Mike sat up and plugged in the data sticks and quickly glimpsed through them, "One week."


    "Three days," Tae Joon shook his head. "You guys have no other projects now and are so free that you can watch porn!"


    "More pizza! If not, one week!" Magic Mike shook his pudgy head slowly.


    "Deal, I will bring the rest of the pizza in three days time!" Tae Joon replied before he turned and walked off with Koichi in tow. "I expect the debug to be done by then!"


    As the door to the Cave closed, Koichi let out a breath of relief, "That ce stinks!"


    "Yes!" Tae Joon shook his head. "Let''s get out of here."


    "Why do we need to use the Trolls as debuggers?" Koichi asked they walked towards the elevator.


    "For some reason, it seems that the Trolls are natural in 0s and 1s," Tae Joon exined. "They can read code faster than what we orputers can do."


    "So they are geniuses?" Koichi said as they entered the elevator.


    "It''s kinda like those people with autism," Tae Joon replied. "I dunno how to exin it but they have some kind of savant syndrome. They have significant mental disabilities but can demonstrate certain abilities far in excess of average. The skills at which savants excel are generally rted to memory. This may include rapid calction, artistic ability, map making, or musical ability. Usually, just one special skill is present and in this case for the Trolls, it appears to be programming."


    "But don''t think they are stupid and simple minded," Tae Joon warned. "They are pretty cunning."


    "Anyway, we still need to do our part," Tae Joon sighed. "We still have to double check all their work and also ensure there are no backdoors installed."


    "And also the intrawork they worked on," Tae Joon continued. "We have to ensure that the whole intr is safe to use for the masses. After seeing them watching porn... I don''t think I feel safe letting them work on it."


    Koichi suddenly giggled, "Well they are intr trolls!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point


    The puttering engine roared out as Mills applied throttle to the dirt bike, its wheels kicking a spray of dirt as he skidded across the terrain. "Woooo hoooooo!"


    Behind him, followed the rest of the Team, including Private Slow, riding on his modified ASAG. They had spent several days learning how to maintain, repair, and riding the dirt bikes.


    The elves slowly gained more confidence as they rode and familiarized themselves more with the bikes. As they were training themselves outfield, the UAV and dragons assigned to Orwell''s Point flew reconnaissance all over the area, heading from one suspected location of the neswalker n to another.


    They returned to the city and no longer drew looks of fear and shock from the locals as they did the first time they rode the bikes out. Some of the local kids even ran happily alongside the soldiers as they return back to the Stronghold.


    "CO wants to see you guys inmand," A Marine called out when the Team parked their bikes inside a shed. "It''s urgent!"


    Tyrier nodded and got the men to quickly stow away their gear before they all trooped into themand post.


    "Good, you guys are back!" Captain Joseph gestured them over to the map table. "UAV has spotted what appears to be an Orcish n at one of the suspected locations. I want you to go in and check them out."


    Tyrier and his men crowded over the table and took a look at the images taken by the UAV. Dozens and dozens of circr tents sat spread out around a water hole in the ins while animals were corralled in a makeshift fence nearby. "This just came in an hour ago."


    "Take your men out and gather intel," Joseph ordered. "If evidence is found that they possess firearms, try to grab a High Value Target for interrogation. Clear?"


    Tyrier and the rest of his men nodded as they pondered over the UAV images. "Private Slow and Sergeant Mills will be your liaison for this mission."


    "Alright boys," Tyrier said. "Check your gear and service your bikes, we will move out in five hours when it is dark!"


    With that, the men left themand post and headed to prep their gear for theing mission. The men packed weapons, ammunition, rations, medical supplies, fuel for bikes and loaded them onto the saddle bags on the bikes.


    When the skies turn dark, the Team of eleven rode off from the side gates and guided by the UAV overhead, disappeared into the darkness.


    They rode in silence, their heamps lighting up the terrain before them as they rode at a speed faster than the full gallop of a war dragon. It took them four hours of riding before they stopped and made camp before continuing in the morning.


    When morning came, a shadow in the sky slowly resolved into a dragon and it beat it wings furiously as itnded on its hind legs next to the camp. "Hot damn!" Mills whistled as he looked admiringly at Blue Thunder.


    The men quickly unloaded the cargo on the dragon. Canisters of fuel were used to top up their bikes tanks before the remainder was buried into the ground. Blue Thunder helped by digging the hole with his forearms.


    They left a beacon hidden at the cache and rode off again and the process of having the dragon to resupply and making a cache repeated. Byte evening they finally arrived at their destination. They covered their bikes up with camoting and hid them before proceeding over two kilometers on foot towards the Orc camp.


    Drake grunted as he leopard crawled his way over the green sprouts of the ins and reached the top of the crest. He carefully peered out with his binos as Kont joined him and the Orc camp jumped up to his eyes.


    A simple wooden stake wall surrounded the camp, with dozens of guards walking the grounds. Torches lined the walls and outside the numerous circr tents inside the camp whilerge shadowy shapesid inside the pens which they had identified earlier was the wind wolves and livestock kept by the Orcs.


    "Overwatch in position," Drake activated the throat mike and reported.


    "Roger!"


    Somewhere below, members of the 101st ATI were making their way stealthily towards the camp. Their n was to sneak in and do a quick search of the camp and see if they can find any clues to the firearms.


    Drake kept his binos and snuggled his customed M1S against his shoulder as he looked over the guards with his powerful 12x scope. Heid his crosshairs over a walking sentry and was about to move the scope to another when he jerked his scope back. "Well, well..."


    "Kont! You see what that guard is wearing?" Drake asked Kont next to him who had set up an observer binocrs on a tripod.


    "Wait... Oh, yeah I see it!" Kont replied excitedly.


    "Overwatch to All," Drake quickly reported.


    "The guards are armed with firearms!"

 Chapter 238: South

    Chapter 238: South


    Tyrier slowly and patiently crawled his way forward and stopped just at the edge of the firelight of the torch burning next to the stake walls. He waited till the pair of yawning Orc patrol walking off before he sprung up from a prone position and squeezed between the wooden stakes of the wall.


    He quickly slipped next to the nearest tent and heard the monstrous snoozes of its upants. He wiggled through the bottom of the leather ps and turned on his night vision in the darkness of the tent.


    Immediately his view turned green, and he saw several sleeping shapesying on piles of animal skins and fur. He ensured that they were all in a deep sleep before he went through the upants'' belongings.


    Other than the usual Orcish trinkets and luggage, He found leather holsters with the Orc revolvers stored among the Orc''s cluster of cold steel weapons. Tyrier frowned and quickly retreated from the tent before repeating the whole process over again.


    After two hours, he slipped past the walls again and disappeared into the night. Making use of the glow of an infra beacon, he made his way to the rendezvous point where the rest of ymore One were gathering after their initial intion of the Orc camp.


    They retreated some distance from the Orc camp before they settled down andpared notes. "These Oerkins are from the Stonepicker n! They not from inswalker!" Private Slow informed everyone.


    "I see the banners, not inswalker!" Slow repeated.


    Tyrier nodded, "This is worse than we thought than... It means there isn''t only one n with firearms!"


    The rest cursed as they heard the news. "I found the forge, but they don''t appear to be making the weapons here," Altied said as he took out some jerky from his pack to chew.


    "Yea, I found what appeared to be their armory of sorts," Loke said. "They have only a few crates of ammunition inside. I think they are getting these stuff from somewhere."


    "Camp looks strange, camp too small!" Slow suddenly spoke up. "I see no youngsters!"


    "Could they all be sleeping?" Hitsu said. "That''s why you don''t see them?"


    "No. no! The guards!" Slow exined. "All old men! No young Oerkins!"


    "Wait," Tyrier frowned as he recalled the patrols that passed by him. "You are right! Where will the youngsters go?"


    "Raids? But camp too small and no grieving banners ced up!" Slow frowned before he gave a shrug. "Maybe they join another n?"


    "Anyone has seen the chief?" Tyrier asked.


    "Me! But the tent is too guarded so I can''t go near his tent at all," Hitsu said.


    "Why don''t we just grab a couple of the guards and ask them?" Mills suddenly asked from the side. "Split them up and interrogate them on what they know of the guns?"


    "Well, we can do that..." Tyrier rubbed his chin in thought.


    And an hourter, ymore One dragged two trussed up Orcs back to a hiding spot far away not to be heard and were separated to interrogate individually.


    As dawn breaks, Tyrier rubbed his tired eyes and gratefully epted a mug of hot tea from Mills. "Are they talking?"


    "Well, not really," Tyrier replied while sipping the herbal tea. "But Slow did manage to get something from them."


    "We know their traders went to some trader city and gotten the weapons by trading their ves and other goods," Tyrier continued. "Most of the youngsters had left to join that city for promises of riches and a good fight."


    "As to the location?" Tyrier frowned. "Only the trade elders know, but it''s somewhere south."


    Mills nodded, "Then, south is where we go next."


    -----


    Far Harbor


    The UNS Matador slowly entered Far Harbor port limits while a gaggle of strange escorts. The Ind Whales happily kept pace to the tender as it sailed towards the port.


    "I feel like a mother duck bringing home the ducklings... " Ford joked as he peered at the Ind Whales with his binos. "Damn things keep following us around like puppies!"


    The UNS Floatin Wreck took station on the starboard side of Matador and blew its fog horn as they sailed in and the Ind Whales seemed to take that as a signal and they remained behind, baying yfully.


    "Damn strange behavior," The XO of the Matador said to Ford. "I think they see us as a protector or mother figure?"


    "Need to have a talk with the good Doctor," Ford shook his head. "I would have expected them to leave for other ces by now, never thought they would stick around. The mining of their energy crystals can continue but if they keep following us like this, it will make it harder for the miners to work."


    "Yes sir," The XO nodded. "Maybe we should mine them while the Matador is docked?"


    Ford sighed, thinking this world is getting more and more troublesome. "Well do what we need to do first. We worry about those turtlester."


    -----


    Great Ocean ins


    "Tuut! Tuut!"


    The suppressed bark of the M2 ended the dozing Orc sentry as he leaned against a rocky outcrop. His body went limp and copsed with his shattered head spewing blood and brain matter.


    "Uh?" Another sleepy sentry turned his attention to the meaty flop of hispanion and before he could take a step, the side of his head exploded outwards with pieces of white bone fragments and brain matter.


    "Go!" Tyrier hissed as he pushed himself up with one hand while the other he held his M2 rifle snuggled against his shoulder with his hand on the trigger. The other members of ymore One ghosted in towards the sleeping caravan, fire light glittering off their bug eyed goggles.


    "Clear right!" Hitsu whispered as he shot the Orc sleeping against a wagon and advanced up with Loke in support.


    "Clear left!" Altied reported while he and the new guy Wolf cleared the left of the caravans.


    Tyrier entered camp site with Mills and Slow in tow, all three with their weapons up and ready.


    "All rovers and sentries down!" Kont reported from the sniper perch 300 meter away as he and Drake provided overwatch. "Tangos still remaining inside the wagons!"


    Tyrier signaled Mills and Slow, pointing to one of the three of the covered wagons where the Orc traders slept in. They ignored the other open top wagons and the ve cages as they headed to the rear of each wagon.


    "Team 3 hold, keep your eyes out!" Tyriermanded in the squad frequency. "Team 2, form up on 1."


    Hitsu and Loke soon appeared from the other side of the wagons, their goggles pushed up on their helmet mounts as the campfire was too bright to use the night vision goggles.


    Tyrier looked at everyone who readied themselves at the rear of the covered wagons and spread his hand out, his fingers closing one by one as he counted down for the men to action. As his hand closed to a fist, he yelled, "GO GO GO!"


    The men each yanked the ps of the wagons open while their partners provided cover, aiming their weapons into the interior. Mills''s wagon was empty while Tyrier''s Team 1 and Team 2 had some Orcs sleeping inside.


    The Orcs were jolted awake by the sudden yell and were immediately dazed and disoriented with 1000 lumens tactical shlights shining in their faces. They have dragged off the wagons and shoved to their knees.


    The Orc traders struggled at first till they felt the still warm barrels pushing against their heads. They recognized the weapons as the Broomsticks which they had purchased and it was further confirmed when their sight returned and they saw the dead bodies of their guards being dragged together.


    The caged ves and prisoners screamed and cried for help as they were rudely shocked awake by the yells of the soldiers and the Orcs.


    "Shut up!" Altied yelled and hammered his rifle butt against the cage, forcing the locked people to shrink back from the scary painted face.


    Tyrier ignored the ves and he crouched down next to the three Orc traders they had captured. He drew his service revolver and the gleam of the firelight reflected from the dark metal and the eyes of the Orcs appeared to be mesmerized by the weapon.


    "Now, tell them this," Tyrier said to Slow who acted as the trantor. "I will let them leave if they tell me what I want to know."


    Slow dutifully repeated what Tyrier said to the three kneeling Orcs only to receive scorn from them. They cursed and spat at Slow who rosed an eyebrow at their ranting.


    "Which is the head?" Tyrier asked Slow who pointed out to the morevished and colorful dressed Orc. "And who are the rest?"


    "Most likely his sons or rtives," Slow shrugged. "I would say rtives as none of them looked like him."


    Tyrier nodded and with a smooth movement, he fired his revolver point nk at the nearest Orc which Slow identified as a rtive. The 6.5 mm 50 grain bullet left the 4.5" or 120 mm revolver barrel at 730 meters per second, the sudden roar of the revolver broke the silence of the night and the ves cried out in fear.


    The eyeball popped as the 3.2 grams bullet drilled through the eye without resistance before ripping all the nerves and brain matter into bloody mush. The bullet mushroomed as it hit the thick skull and fragmenting into three pieces, before breaking through, with one piece ricocheting within the braincase, further scrambling the brains like eggs.


    The remaining two fragments popped out from the lower back of the surprised Orc''s head with a stter of brains and bloody tissue before he flopped forward before the campfire. kicking up embers from the fire.


    "AHHH!" The head trader screamed in anger as he tried to get up and break free of his restraints. The cuffs tying his fingers together dug deep into his fleshy thumbs and blood flowed as the Orc screamed in anger and hate. "I KILLL YOU !!!"


    Hitsu and Loke both used their full body weight and mmed the Orc trader down, and the Orc could only see the blood and fluids slowly dripping out from his dead nephew''s ruined eye socket. "I KILL YOU!"


    "Now, if you don''t want this fine specimen of an Orc to die too," Tyrier waved his gun in the direction of the other shocked Orc kneeling on the other side. "I suggested you start talking."


    "Y- YOU!" The trader gritted his yellowed teeth in suppressed anger. "I WILL KILL YOU!"


    "Oh is that so?" Tyrier thumbed the cocking hammer of his revolver back and took aim at the Orc who looked suddenly unsure of himself. "Say good bye then!"


    "N- NO! WAIT! I TALK!" The Trader''s beady turnedrge in panic as he saw Tyrier aiming at his other kin. "I TALK!"


    "Good," Tyrier smiled. "Now tell me what I want to know and we all walk away happy!"


    An hourter, Tyrier reloaded his revolver, recing three spent cartridges before he reholstered his weapon. Turning to Mills, "So this city they are going, its called Sin City?"


    Mills rubbed his face tiredly before he nodded, "It actually sounds kinda familiar..."


    Tyrier took a seat, "Never heard of this ce before, in fact, this is the first time we ever came to the ins."


    "So what are you nning with the ves?" Mills gestured to the freed ves clustered around the campfire for warmth. Their threadbare clothing barely provided any instion against the cold night air.


    "Let them go?" Tyrier shrugged. "But then again they might expose us."


    "So you n to finish them off too?" Mills frowned. "Unarmed civilians too?"


    Tyrier sighed, "No, I don''t kill civilians. I don''t even need to lift a hand, most of them will die trying to find their way home."


    Mills shook his head sadly at Tyrier''s reply and walked away.


    "Fucking hell..."

 Chapter 239: Stories

    Chapter 239: Stories


    Great Ocean ins, Dead Frontier


    Borse grunted with effort as he worked on one end of the two man saw, the see sawing de cutting the log down. After working the whole morning away, Borse was taking a break and having a simple mid day meal when Taris came up and joined him.


    "We need seeds," Taris said suddenly as they were eating half way. "And many other necessities."


    Borse nodded as he chewed the coarse bread softened by some well water in his hand. "And?"


    "Some of the refugees that joined us over the past few weeks spoke of a trade city in the Ocean ins," Taris exined. "I am thinking of bringing a few wagons down with our stock of horns and hides we got from wild game to trade for some seeds."


    "If we n to stay long term here," Taris broke the bread into small crumbs and nibbled. "We will need seeds to grow crops to support everyone here. We only have a handful of seed grains and that will not be enough to feed everyone, especially with the influx of new refugees joining us everyday!"


    Borse looked over the vige that now looked more like arge town, there were dozens of halfpleted wooden shacks still needed to bepleted to house his people. Every since winter had ended, there was suddenly small groups of people fleeing the war from the Kingdom of Foral to refugees who had their viges piged by Orc raiders and vers.


    "Get a list from the town hall on what is seriouslycking and take what you need to go trade for seeds and food," Borse said. "Gather two squads for escort and see if you can find someone who knows their way around here to lead you."


    Taris grinned and stood up, dusting himself off before he went off to find the people he needed to form a caravan. Soon less than a day, Taris managed to gather all the people he needed and even a list from the town hall of the needs of everyone.


    He looked at the stacks of horns and fur bundled up on the back of the wagons and the chest filled with jewelry which the troops had secretly stashed on themselves and they voluntarily gave up to Taris to purchase the necessities that were needed.


    Taris found a youngster who imed he been to the trade city which he said it was called, Sin. He said it will take them roughly a five day week by mount to reach the city. "Well, Boss, wish me luck!"


    Borse nodded and gave a wave as Taris grinned and urged his mount forward while the rest of the convoy moved out of the repaired gates of the vige. "Take care, brother..."


    -----


    Somewhere in the Great Ocean ins


    Blue Thunderid t on the ground gently snoring away with a bubble forming on his nostrils as the men and aircrew unloaded the crates of supplies off his harness.


    Other members of ymore One worked on their bikes, ensuring they are in working order while the rest buried the load of crates into the pit dug by Blue Thunder earlier.


    Airforce Sergeant Stamford spread out a map on the nk of Blue Thunder and pointed at their location. "We are here," He said to Tyrier and Mills.


    "UAV has spotted the city which the intel you gathered called, Sin City, down here," He traced his finger down the map and stopped at a red dot. "It''s about half a day''s ride over semi rough terrain."


    "You guys should have enough fuel and supplies for a quick look see look see," Stamford said as Tyrier and Mills pondered over the map. "So we won''t be resupplying you along the way there. This will be the final resupply point."


    "Field Command wants you guys to go in take a look," Stamford continued. "See if you can find the source of the firearms and also if those traitorous bastards are there."


    "Don''t get detected," Stamford warned. "It will be a few hours for air support to get to you, so don''t get into trouble!"


    Both Tyrier and Mills nodded grimly, knowing that if they got discovered, whoever is behind the firearms will be alerted and it will be harder to catch them the next time.


    "Got it," Tyrier replied as he rolled up the map. "Once it''s dark we will move out."


    The Team normally travel at night despite the slower speed due to the terrain and higher chance of an encounter with monstrous beasts, to prevent being spotted by anyone. They will stop in the early morning and set up camp before moving off again at night.


    Just as the sun slowly set, Blue Thunder, having his belly filled with the grilled meat of a mighty bison like creature, took off into the skies, leaving the Team behind.


    "Alright, police up the area," Tyrier pped his hands. "I want no traces of us being here, got it?"


    The men spread out and carefullybed the area in the dimming light of the setting sun. By the time all traces of their presence was gone, they mounted up on their bikes and one by one set off in the direction of Sin City.


    The small group of soldiers stopped as they spotted pinpricks of lights in the distance, all of them dismounted and took out their binos and they saw the shadowy shape of a city with lights dotting here and there.


    "Looks like we found the city," Mills said. "Find a ce to set up again and observe the city?"


    Tyrier nodded in the dark, "Yea, let''s do that."


    The men found a small rise with a rock outcrop that could serve as an impromptu shelter against the weather if needed. They settled down and had a rotational guard to keep watch while others slept.


    Mills grinned as he smelled the aroma of fried steak. Slow was humming to himself as he prepped the day''s breakfast for everyone. The Orc surprised everyone with his cooking skills and he became the Team''s designated chef.


    Slow dropped a few slivers of fat kept from the Red Auroch they hunted yesterday into the cast iron pan. Once the fat bubbled and oil flowed out, he dropped bs of choice cut auroch meat onto the pain and sprinkled a finger of salt, pepper, and some bits of wild herbs he picked along the way.


    He carefully packed away the remainder of the red meat into the icebox that had a magic rune carved into the inner side that lowers the temperature. If kept properly, the meat couldst them for a few days before the magic in the rune depletes.


    The rest of the Team came over and sat down around the campfire watching Slow''s cooking and took the mess tins of steak before digging in. Mills licked his lips as he finished his portion and sat the mess tin down. "Damn, that was good!"


    The rest grunted agreements as they ate the food cooked by Slow. "Damn it, Slow, you should be a chef!"


    Slow looked embarrassed as he packed away his cookery onto the ASAG''s storage bins. "Cooking not warrior job! Is female or ve''s job!"


    "Bullshit!" Mills shooked his head. "You can make it rich if you opened your own restaurant!"


    Slow smiled as he thought of his own restaurant before he shook his head, "No, Slow is warrior!" Slow is Marine!"


    "Ha! But you can''t be a Marine for life," Mills said as he leaned back against the rocks, looking up at the bright twinkling stars in the night skies. "Someday, you will retire from all the fighting, so what will you do?"


    "I''ll be a farmer," Hitsu said. "I''ll buy my own plot ofnd and run my own farm."


    "Farming?" Lokeughed. "What will you grow?"


    "Potatoes!" Hitsu grinned. "Those damn dragons love that stuff! I will make lots of money! Hahaha!"


    "Pfffft! Hahahaha" Altiedughed. "I am thinking of getting my own ship, I want to explore beyond thesends and maybe return to our ancestralnds."


    "I want to get married and have kids, with a nice 3 room apartment down at District 2!" Young said. "Maybe get a job at the General Hospital."


    Tyrier and Mills smiled at the talk among the men, when Tavel asked, "Say, Sarge, how about you? What do you n to do when you retire?"


    Tyrier looked up to the skies and thought for a while before saying, "I actually never really thought much about it, I always assume I would die in some unmarked grave in a battlefield."


    The rest hearing Tyrier''s words fell into silence. "But if I really could live till I retire, well, I like to run a farm like Hitsu. But not growing potatoes..."


    The menughed and Tyrier smiled. "How about you Mills? What are you going to do if you get to retire?"


    "Me?" Mills smiled and answered, "Find myself a pretty wife, get a house near the sea and enjoy life till I die of old age!"


    "Hahaha," Tyrier shooked his head at Mills''s answer. "So simple?"


    "Yup, that simple!" Mills replied. "I do want to return home, but I don''t think we will be able to find our way home in the stars."


    "Is it true you hoomanse from the stars?" Slow suddenly asked.


    Mills looked at Drake and gave a shrug, "Yea, we came from the stars, from a far far away."


    "How far?" Slow asked as he looked up at the stars in the skies.


    Mills grinned and replied, "Slow, you can''t walk there. Even if you can walk there, you will die of old age before you even reach a fifth of its distance, maybe even lesser!"


    Hitsu whistled, "Damn, how did you guys get here than?"


    "From our ship," Mills exined simply. "Our ship could travel anywhere in this whole world in minutes!"


    "We found in an intergctic war with an alien species which aim was to take bio matter to grow and propagate out into the whole universe," Mills said. "Thest time we fought, we kinda lost, and our shipnded here as we escaped."


    "I see," Tyrier frowned. "Even with your powerful tec-no-logee you lost?"


    "Think of them like dragons but thousands and thousands of them," Mills gave an example. "Half the time, your bullets can''t prate their hide, and even one you kill, two more steps in."


    "But they sooner orter will run out of troops?" Loke asked. "If you bombed them from afar."


    "They outnumber us by 1000 to 1 or even more..." Mills sighed. "I saw UAV footage of the Swarm massing onnd and they covered the entire area, the bombs barely reduced their numbers as the ships and nes attacked them."


    "Are they that dangerous?" Kont asked. "How did you all stop them?"


    "Yes, you can ask Drake, he found them face to face before too," Mills replied. "He managed to get out alive, while others of his section didn''t make it."


    The rest turned to look at the fire lit face of Drake who nodded seriously. "Those creatures are taller than even Slow with jawsrge enough to swallow you whole. They have four arms and two legs, with each arm ending in a ded tip sharp enough to rip steel to shreds."


    "Some of them could spit acidic saliva at you while others have thorn barbs that is like a rifle," Drake said. "I was lucky to get out alive, just two of them things tore up my friends into pieces in just seconds."


    "Well, the trick is either to use high powered weaponry with armor piercing ammunition or shoot its weak points which are the opened mouth or its joints," Mills said.


    "Pray these creatures don''te to this," Mills''s expression turned serious under the lit of the fire as he looked at everyone gathered.


    "For no one here has the strength nor firepower to resist them!"

 Chapter 240: Serpent

    Chapter 240: Serpent


    Haven, Research and Development Lab, Basement 3, The Cave


    "So you are saying that there are duplicates of the samemand lines?" Tae Joon asked as he checked the code on hisptop while standing on a rtively clean area of the Trolls'' room turned cave.


    "Ya, ya!" Magic Mike muttered as he stuffed slice after slice of pizza into his mouth. "Mmh hmm mh!"


    "Because of these duplicates code, it''s causing the mech to go haywire as the pilot tried to execute a series of maneuvers?" Tae Joon spoke to himself as he scanned the lines of code. "Why didn''t we spotted this earlier?"


    "Too many redundancy!" Magic Mike licked his greasy fingers and wiped his hand against himself. "Too many submands and sub controls and checks!"


    "Well, thanks!" Tae Joon closed hisptop after he verified the coding. "Enjoy your pizza!"


    The Trolls grunted as they continued to feast on the pizzas delivered, ignoring Tae Joon as he left the room.


    Tae Joon left the basement and went up to his workb and handed over hisptop to one of the IT department programmers. "Triple check everything, make sure there is no virus or backdoors in the code and run the test diagnose program on it once you check andpiled the code."


    The programmer nodded and epted theptop, plugging it directly to an isted system before he and a few other programmers started to run checks on the code.


    A whopping roar shook his window and Tae Joon looked out to see a skeletal frame of a prototype helicopter passing by next to theb and headed towards the testing ground. He smiled and rubbed his hands together and sneered, "Pfft, just a helo, my teams'' mechs will overshadow the aviation team''s achievements!"


    -----


    Outskirts of Sin City


    Kont scribbled down some notes on his notepad whileying on his side on the prickly grass before leaning back to his tripod mounted hi powered binocrs. "Hmmm..."


    "Hmm what?" Drake asked as he scanned the city mud walls with his sniper scope. "Seen anything interesting?"


    "Well, I observed at least 17 wagons being delivered into the city side gates over the past two hours," Kont replied. "If I am not wrong they should be transporting limestone."


    "So?" Drake asked. "The city seems to be still in the state of construction or expansion."


    "Yes, but limestone?" Kont frowned. "I see the walls are all y!"


    "So? Maybe they use the limestone to make other stuff?" Drake moved his scope to look at the side gates where a line of carts and wagons were waiting to enter the city.


    "But isn''t limestone one of the main ingredients used to make concrete?" Kont replied. "I learned that during one of my night sses."


    "Hmmm." Drake paused as he considered Kont''s words. "Kont, you see that group ofborers working on the wall, roughly a hundred meters left from the main gates?"


    Kont aimed his binocrs towards the location Drake indicated and found what Drake was saying. "Yea, I see arge party working on the wall."


    "Think you can see what they are using?" Drake asked as he tried to spot what theborers are using.


    "Wait," Kont said as he observed the workers working. "Oh, they are pouring some grey mixture from the barrels into the wall. Shit, is that concrete?"


    Drake could see the figures pouring something into molds set against the wall but wasn''t sure what they are till Kont spoke of the limestone. "Damn, if they are really using concrete, I think we might have found our deserters!"


    -----


    Sin City, Pce of the Cabal


    Raman dressed in a pair of flowing robes stood at the balcony of his suite and watched the glowing fire lights of his city in the night while sipping some local wine.


    A hissing rasp jolted Raman out of his thoughts as he spun around and dropping his wine goblet while pulling a revolver out and pointing at his bedchamber.


    He saw arge ck serpent, easily as long as five meters coiling its self over the soft furs of his bed. The snake appeared to enjoy the feel of the furs against its ck oily scales as it slithered in a circr motion while giving out hisses of bliss.


    "Y- you..." Raman was dumbstruck, his hands holding his gun shaking as he stared wide eyed at the snake.


    "W- what are you doing here?!" Raman whispered. "H- how did you get in!"


    The serpent stopped its rubbing against the furs and coiled up, it''s t triangr head straightened up, its pitch ck flint like eyes glittered from the light of the firece in his bedchambers.


    "Ishh am alwayssss hereee..." The serpent rasped. "Ishh can go whereee ever Ishh want, no mortal can ssstop meee!"


    "Haveee you found what issh need?" The serpent slithered off the bed and coiled it way over to Raman. "Havesss you?"


    "No! I need more time!" Raman stood glued to the floor, shaking in fear as the serpent coiled around his body. He felt the snake''s body slowly constraining him but he could only stare in terror at the pitch ck eyes of the snake.


    "I sensessssss itssss powerrr!" The serpent hissed at Raman from his ear. "I needssss itsss powerr!"


    Raman nodded his head rapidly in agreement, "I- I promise you! I will find it for you! But the world is so big, where are we to find it for you?"


    The serpent looked towards the direction where it sensed the power of its archenemy, "Theresss..."


    Ramen nodded hurriedly again, "O-okay! I will send people to find it!"


    "Ahh... your soul sssmell so good..." Raman felt the serpent licking his sweat that wasing out from all his pores in fear. "Hmmm... feaarr... ssso delicioussss..."


    "Find meee what issh wantss fasssst... issh hungry..." The serpent gave a warning squeeze of Raman''s body before it released its hold on him and slithered to a dark corner before seemingly entering into the shadows "Failsss mee not, mortal... ish hunt for ssssoulsss now... hungryyy..."


    Raman suddenly felt his strength disappearing from his body and he slumped down on the spot, shaking uncontrobly. He flung the gun away to the side and rubbed the sweat off his face and cursed. "Damn, this fucking world!"


    -----


    Outskirts of Sin City, Hidden Camp


    "So you suspect that they are making and using concrete to build the city?" Tyrier frowned as he heard the report from Drake and Kont while everyone was gathered around the campfire for dinner. "If that is true..."


    "Than those fuckers are here!" Mills growled. "We need to call this in!"


    Tyrier nodded, "Inform Command about this, I want them to send in the UAV to scout more!"


    "So what''s next?" Mills asked. "We infiltrate the city?"


    "No, I don''t think we can get in so easily," Tyrier frowned. "We need more intel first."


    Mills nodded, "Well, we waited for more than half a year to find these bastards, I am sure letting them live a few more days won''t make much difference."


    "Alright, remember our main objective!" Tyrier remained everyone. "A, we need to find out where are they making the weapons. B, where are they making the ammunition. C, where are the weapons stored. D, the ns for the weapons if any."


    "Next, E, identify and locate all eight of the deserters. F, locate the missing fabricator and WTS generator." Tyrier listed out their mission objectives.


    "Once we have all these intel, we move to the next part of the mission," Tyrier looked at each member in the eye. "We destroy everything."


    "Are we to kill those eight off too?" Hitsu asked.


    "If possible to capture alive, if not... " Tyrier made a gesture across his throat. "Dead or alive, they areing back with us."


    The men nodded. "Good, now get some rest, we will take turns to keep the city under tabs, while we wait for further instructions from High Command."


    The men dispersed leaving Mills and Tyrier behind. "So what d you think of our chances in capturing all eight?" Tyrier asked.


    "Depends on what intel we can gather first," Mills replied. "Issue is how are we gonna get into the city?"


    Tyrier rubbed his chin, "Well, we can pose as merchants, but we will need some props for that."


    Mills grinned, "So when are we gonna rob more Orcs?"


    -----


    Sin City, Pce of the Cabal


    It waste morning when Raman entered the Great Hall. His eyes had dark eye bags as he couldn''t fall asleep till the sun came up. He looked at the strange tense looks the Orcs and his men were giving everyone, even the ves appeared to be skittish today.


    "What is the problem?" He asked as he sat down for his breakfast, looking at the only one still lounging around the table.


    "Didn''t you heard?" Kumar took a sip of local tea. "There were a few unexined deaths in the pce and the city."


    "Unexined deaths?" Raman rubbed his tired eyes and took a cup of tea for himself. "How unexined?"


    "Well, some of the maids found three of their own dead in their beds this morning," Kumar exined. "And guards reported that there were another five more simr cases in the city. Two ves, two Orc guards and one merchant found dead in the same way."


    "All had expressions of fear on their faces but no visible wounds anywhere," Kumar shrugged. "Seemed like they died of fear. So the whole city is kinda on their toes because of these deaths."


    "There are rumors of some death god in the city," Kumar continued. "But it should be all nonsense. Hey, are you okay? You look kinda pale! Are you doing with some illness? Want me to call the healer over?"


    "N- No," Raman quickly waved away the concerns. "I am okay, just not enough sleep."


    "Heh, you should pace yourself, man!" Kumar grinned and winked. "Don''t do it too much!"


    Raman nodded tiredly, ignoring Kumar''s jibs. "Call everyone for a meetingter today, I have something important to say to everyone."


    "Got it Boss Sultan!" Kumar grinned and he left the table, leaving Raman alone with the maids.


    The private conference room soon filled up with all eight of the humans and they all looked at Raman curiously. "Is this meeting because of the unexined deaths happeningst night?"


    "In a way yes," Raman said. "I believe you all remembered the oath we made in the forest before we came here?"


    The men all paused and looked at each other uneasily. "Y- yes..."


    "Well, the Oath Giver came to mest night!" Raman said and the room went so quiet you could hear a pin drop. "Yes, it came and those unexined deaths are most likely its handiwork!"


    "BLYAT!" Ivan mmed his fist on the table. "What does that... thing... wants from us!"


    "It wants what we promised it!" Raman yelled. "And we need to find it for it or we will be dead next!"


    "We shouldn''t have agreed to its terms that time!" Aaron said. "It wasn''t worth the trouble!"


    "And then what?" Ramu Garcia asked while making a sign of the cross. "Let it take our souls?"


    "Enough!" Raman banged the table to stop the arguments. "We promised it and took its power. Now it is here and it wants payment."


    Raman could feel the fear in the room and he sighed, "We spread the word of what we are looking for to the merchants here and put up offers of rewards for any information or best if they have what we want."


    "Leung, get your sales guys to ask around too since most of the time they are on the ground, running from one vige or town to another," Raman ordered. "See if we can get any clues of what we want."


    Leung nodded while Raman continued, "It said it sensed its power and it''s somewhere towards the direction where we came from..."


    "The Singapore..."

 Chapter 241: Ambush

    Chapter 241: Ambush


    Great Ocean ins


    "Shields!" Taris yelled as several Oerkins charged up swinging massive cleavers and axes. The battle hardened troops quickly mmed their shields together, forming a wall against the Oerkin charge.


    The men yelled at the Oerkins hammered against the shield wall, knocking a couple of men back and denting the iron reinforced shields. The rest of the troops quickly closed together to cover the gaps while others dragged the wounded away.


    The shield wall barely ten shields wide flexed inwards as the Oerkins threw their full body weight behind their weapons, threatening to smash down the flimsy shield wall.


    "Spears forward!" Taris quickly ordered the second line of troops to advance with their long spears. He next turned to the drivers and helpers armed with crossbows that hid behind the ring of wagons and ordered. "LOOSE!"


    Twangs of bows string rang out as the auxiliary support fired their crossbows at the Oerkins who ignored the bolts mming into their bodies. They parried at the stabs of the long spears and backed off, giving the shieldmen some breathing space.


    "Form up!" One of the squad leaders yelled to the shieldmen and the tired men reformed their formation and pressed fore towards the Oerkins. Suddenly several thunderous roars and smoke burst out from among the Oerkins.


    Almost immediately, the shields wall exploded, sending broken men and wood shards flying. The Last Company troops screamed in shock and pain while the spearmen at the back paused in confusion.


    Taris frowned as he wondered what kind of spell was that and cursed himself for not bringing several mages along! He only knew a few spells due to him being a noble in a previous life.


    He only knew several basic level 1 spells which were more than enough to get him out of any sticky situations. Knowing the situation will worsen if the men were unrallied, he rushed forward and yelled at the men. "Charge! Quickly! CHARGE!"


    Despite confused and dazed, the troops responded to Taris''s order and charged, their responses having honed over many battles. They leaped over their fallenrades and yelled out a fierce war cry as they closed in to the Oerkins that were almost half a sizerger than them.


    Another sudden thunderous roar and smoke erupted from the Oerkin and men fell with bloody holes in their bodies to limbs flying off.


    Taris gasped in shock at the power of the Oerkin, his mind unable to understand why they have such powerful magic. The survivors waived unsteadily as the sudden violent deaths made them pause. The dying and wounded screamed and thrashed about on the bloody ground made the battle harden men felt a tingle of fear down their spines.


    "Bwahahahahahahaa!" The small party of Oerkinsughed at the expressions of fear on the soft skins. "Soft skins surrender! If not, you taste more Boom Boom! Bwahahahaa!"


    Taris looked at the fear showing on his remaining men,st than half still standing while they barely downed a single Oerkin. "Hell!" He tossed his rapier down on the blood soaked soil and ordered the rest of his men toy down their weapons.


    "Hehehehe," The Oerkinsughed and disarmed everyone before herding them all together. They left the badly wounded and dying behind and with practiced hands, they noosed everyone together with rope in a human chain and tied the end to one of the wagons before whooping with joy and drove all the captured wagons away.


    Taris could only curse their fate as they stumbled after the wagon, unsure of what the future will hold for them.


    -----


    Tyrier cut off his engine as he stopped his dirt bike at the base of an outcrop of rocks. He climbed up the outcrop and removed his binocrs from his pouch and scanned the area. The rest of ymore One parked their bikes and stretched their bodies as they rested while waiting for Tyrier.


    "Seen anything?" Hitsu asked as he chewed some jerky. "It''s four days and we haven''t found any Orc merchants to rob!"


    "Well, what do you know," Tyrier grinned as he focused his sights on a train of ck dots in the distance. "We got a winner!"


    "Really?" Hitsu chucked the remaining jerky into his mouth and climbed up the rocks with the others. Taking out his own set of binos, he scanned the horizon, "Where? Where?"


    "There," Tyrier pointed in the direction where he spotted a train of wagons. "Looks like a kilometer or so out."


    The rest looked at the where Tyrier pointed with their binos and the tiny dots erged into several wagons with dozens and dozens of people following the caravans. "Alright, let''s keep an eye on them. I don''t want everyone to watch them, I want two on watch and the rest to be resting."


    "Once they stop for the night," Tyrier smiled. "We ambush them!"


    "Ooorah!"


    -----


    Taris''s throat was patched while his lips were cracking due to the dry weather. The amount of water the Oerkins doled out barely helped quenched his thirst, not to mention the dry rock hard bread.


    The Oerkin stopped the wagons and herded the men together and tied the end of the line to another wagon. They started to prepare and cook dinner and one of the Oerkins came over with a bucket, handing out stale biscuits and a small cupful of water for each person.


    Taris barely had the strength to chew the hard biscuit as the hard three days travel had sapped all his strength. But he forced himself to bite and swallow the biscuit as he knew he needed the energy to keep moving.


    He thought he briefly heard the sound of distant thunder as he drifted off to a dreamless sleep as heid huddled among the rest of the men, sharing body warmth.


    -----


    "Check left!" Tyrier hissed softly to Team 2 as they advanced slowly towards the camp in the middle of the night with their night vision goggles down. He rested his cheek against his rifle butt as he and Team 1 advanced tactically forward.


    Team 3 advanced towards the right of the camp and reported. "One, Three, two sentry spotted. Over."


    "One, Two. One sentry spotted Two Omegas sleepers. Over."


    "One to All, standby. Over." Tyrier replied as he and Team 1 swept the central area of the camp and spotted a sitting Orc and two other shapes sleeping next to the campfire. "I see one sitting by the fire, and two sleepers. Over."


    A couple of clicks was heard in thems as Team 2 and 3 acknowledged his report. Tyrier nodded as all eight of the Orcs''s position were identified. "One to All, mark your targets! Standy by for take down. Over."


    "Roger,"


    "Affirmative."


    Tyrier gestured to the new guy Wolf to target the sitting Orc and they waited for the rest to be ready.


    "One, Two, target marked. Standing by. Over."


    "One, Three, On target. Ready to go. Over."


    "One, to All, on three, two... one... mark!"


    Wolf''s silenced M2 tutted and the 6.5 mm bullet pped the sitting Orc''s head with a wet smack, knocking him off his perch.


    "One, Two, two Omegas down."


    "One, Three, Tango down."


    "Go, go, go!" Tyrier whispered loudly and gestured the rest of Team 1 forward, his weapon covering the sleepers.


    "Clear the camp, take out all the Omegas!" Tyrier ordered as he creeped up next to one of the sleeping Orcs and stabbed down swiftly with his bay into the muscr throat of the sleeping Orc.


    The thick muscles barely provided any resistance as the honed de pierced through tissues, tendons, and nerves. Tyrier stuffed the smelly nkets the Orc used to cover himself against the cold against its face as the Orc spasmed and struggle in suddenly surprise.


    Soon the struggling Orc ceased his death spasms and Tyrier looked to see Tavel had simrily finished off the other sleeper. He gave a questioning nod to Tavel who replied, indicating his target was dead. Wolf had smartly kept himself in the shadows, his weapon sweeping the camp for further unexpected threats.


    "All Teams, report?" Tyrier whispered as he wiped his de clean against the nkets.


    "Two, all clear, zero movement."


    "Three, clear, but there is a whole bunch of prisoners and ves here."


    "Roger, sweep and check the wagons," Tyrier replied before he gestured the rest towards the wagons.


    After several minutes, ymore One regrouped at the campfire. "All cleared, wagons mostly carried trade goods." Altied reported.


    "Eight kills," Loke said, "And about 28 men tied up back there."


    "Leave them there, for now, we will settle them in the morning," Tyrier replied. "Clear the bodies before any beasts or monsterse sniffling for blood."


    The rest nodded and split up to handle the dead Orcs before returning to the camp. "Alright, half on watch the other half get some rest," Tyrier said once they had cleared all traces of the one way fight away. "Make sure someone is always keeping an eye on the ves."


    -----


    Taris blinked his eyes rapidly as he woke up from the ufortable position he wasying on and as his mind slowly cleared, he wondered why didn''t the Oerkinse as usual to kick them awake once it was first light.


    To his surprise and shock, he saw a couple of strangely dressed and face painted barbarians sitting on the wagon tops watching them. "Who are you, people?"


    With his cry, the rest of the men woke up too and they too were confused and surprised by the appearances of these strange barbarians.


    Suddenly another one of those barbarians appeared between the wagons and took out a knife. The men cursed as they braced themselves against the strange barbarian, unsure what he was going to do.


    The barbarian without a word tossed the knife at the men and sat down on the side of one of the wagons and waited. Everyone paused and looked at each other before looking back at the barbarian seated there in a casual pose. "Well, what are you waiting for?"


    "You want us to fight among ourselves?" Taris''s anger rose as he cursed at the barbarian. "We are not ves!" He assumed that the Oerkins had sold them to these barbarians.


    Tyrier rolled his eyes up and sighed, "No, what makes you think I want you to fight among yourselves? Its to cut yourselves loose! Idiots!"


    Taris was dumbstruck as he heard the barbarian words. "Why would you want to free us after buying us from the Oerkins? What hidden motive do you barbarians have?"


    Tyrier sighed again, "First we did not buy you, the Orcs are dead, anyway its up to you if you wanna stay tied up. Me? I am gonna get something to eat."


    With that Tyrier stood up and walked off, heading towards the campfire.


    Taris was confused, the Oerkins are dead? He gestured to one of the men, "Cut us loose."


    The man nodded and sawed away at the ropes that bound everyone together. After everyone was cut loose, Taris gestured everyone to follow him as they followed the barbarian footsteps and entered the camp.


    Taris noted that there were only seven barbarians in total, three were on the wagons acting as guards or lookouts while the rest was preparing some food on the campfire.


    "Well, if you have any injuries, my guy here will take a look at it," The earlier barbarian said as the Last Company men stood uncertainly before him. "I also need some help from you guys to prepare food..."


    Taris nodded to his men and the men gave out a yell of happiness and went off to help to prepare food despite being weakened. "My name is Taris Von Goldblum. I am the second inmand of the Last Company."


    "Sergeant Tyrier, of the One Hundred and First," The Barbarian replied while chewing some jerky. "How did you end up in such a state?"


    "Damn Oerkins ambushed us!"

 Chapter 242: Opportunity

    Chapter 242: Opportunity


    Outskirts of Sin City


    Millsid on his back next to the prone figures of Drake and Kont as they kept an eye on the city in the distance while Slow was fussing around the camp site. The four of them had remained behind with ymore One set off to find some Orc merchant to hijack their wagons.


    It has been five days since they had left and today was the deadline for them to return back to the camp to report in. They had agreed to cease all forms of electronicmunications after suspecting that the deserters might be behind the city as they feared that the deserters might pick up on theirms.


    "So you think they managed to find some Orc merchants?" Mills asked.


    "Maybe, I duno," Drake replied as he scanned the city walls with his scope.


    "Damn, aren''t you bored of staring through that all day?" Mills folded his arms over his head as he stacked his leg over the other.


    Drake sighed as he nced at Mills''s attitude, "You are a goddamn Sergeant now, act like one!"


    Millsughed, "Come on, chill bro!"


    "Hey, guys!" Kont suddenly called out. "I got some movement here! Lots of movement!"


    "Where?" Drake quickly put his eye back on his scope as he looked around the city walls.


    "The main gate!" Kont replied excitedly. "Wow, looks like something major is going on!"


    Mills flipped himself over and crawled up to the crest of the mound and took out his binos and quickly focused in to the city gates. He could see a long train of wagons and riders pouring out from the city, and the Orcs were all heavily armored and armed.


    "Shit did they somehow found us?" Mills cursed and yelled down to the camp. "SLOW! PACK IT UP, FIVE MINUTES!"


    "Drake, keep watch! Kont, go help Slow!" Mills called out as he scrambled down the slope and quickly headed back to their hidden camp.


    As they both ran back to the camp, they saw Slow had already packed most of the gear theyid out. Asagi the spider golem docilely sat on the side with its back to Slow, allowing him to load the field packs onto the ASAG''s back.


    After ensuring everything was gathered up and secured either on their bikes or the ASAG, Mills ran back and dropped himself next to Drake. "Are they heading towards us?"


    "Ehh... I don''t think so," Drake replied. "They seemed to be heading west."


    Mills frowned as he observed the movement of the Orc troops. "Doesn''t seem like some merchant escort, there''s like what? Two hundred Orcs?"


    "I think its closer to five hundred Orcs in that party," Drake said. "Is it a raiding party?"


    "Are we going to bug out?" Kont asked from behind them as he and Slow joined them.


    "Nah, false rm," Mills frowned. "Damn it, where are Tyrier and his team?"


    -----


    Taris sat next to Tyrier as the wagon they were on slowly rolled over the neverending grasnd. "So you all just want to enter the city?"


    Tyrier nodded without saying a word. He and the rest of his men had changed their uniforms to what the locals were dressed in.


    "Hmmm, why don''t you all just walk in?" Taris pressed on. "You should be able to enter the city easily?"


    Tyrier gave Taris a raised eyebrow and replied, "Seriously? You tried to go to the city with several wagons and an escort, and what had happened in the end?"


    "Point taken," Taris conceded and smiled. "But I am still curious, you haven''t told me the reason why you want to enter the city?"


    "It''s best if you don''t know the reason," Tyrier said. "I think it''s about time to set up camp for the night."


    Once the convoy stopped and the men went about their duties in setting up camp for the night, Tyrier and his men removed their dirt bikes from one of the wagons. "We will be back by morning." He said curtly to Taris who nodded, used to these barbarians mysterious ways in just a few days.


    The strange magic mounts roared to life and they zipped off into the distance at speeds greater than what a war dragon could run at. The Last Company men watched the dust cloud kicked up by the barbarians with mixed feelings as they disappeared into the night together with the roar of those mounts.


    -----


    "They are back!" Mills called out as he heard the distinct rumble of motorcycle engines. Soon the headlights of several motorcycles lit up the camp as members of ymore One drove in.


    "We managed to get a caravan to make our way in to the city," Tyrier said as he sat down next to the fire. "We will dump our bikes here and meet up with them in the morning."


    "We got a small problem here," Mills interrupted Tyrier. "Just five hours ago, a troop of Orcs left the city heading towards north west."


    "We estimated that there are about five hundred troops and they are all heavily outfitted for war," Mills said. "I had Drake and Slow to trail them to see where they are heading."


    "Once they are certain on the Orcs'' objective they will send out a coded transmission to Command," Mills exined.


    Tyrier nodded, "Ok, we will return to the caravan and sneak in with the merchants, if shit hits the fan, we will fire off a red re."


    "Got it, I and Kont here will keep overwatch for you guys, if there is any danger, three rapid taps on the mike," Mills replied and shook Tyrier''s hand and other members of ymore One, "Good luck people!"


    "Let''s go!"


    -----


    Slow and Drake had paused almost a kilometer away from the marching Orcs as they stopped to make camp for the night. It was easy to spot the Orcs as they had hundreds of burning torches and camp fires burning in the night.


    They had trailed the Orcs for a few hours with Slow riding the ASAG while Drake sat on his bike. "Where do you think they are going?" Drake asked Slow as they settled down for a cold dinner.


    "That is a war band," Slow replied. "They not going to raid vigers with that."


    "But they are heading towards the north west," Drake frowned. "Could they be joining up with the Empire for a mercenary contract?"


    "Maybe," Slow gave a shrug. "Or they going to Orwell''s Point?"


    "Damn, guess we can only find outter!"


    -----


    As morning came, Tyrier and his men appeared back at Taris''s caravan. They exchanged a few words before the men packed up the camp and prepared to continue their journey to the city.


    Not long, they spotted the outline of the city in the distance. As they came closer to the city, they encounter more and more Orc patrols who challenged their purpose before growling at them to behave and then galloping off on the tamed wind wolves of theirs.


    Byte afternoon, they joined the small queue of merchant wagons at the main gate. Dozens of wagons with Orcs and other Elven merchants withrge escorts waited in the sun as the Orc guards checked their cargo manifest before allowing them through.


    Finally, Taris''s caravan was next and the Orc guards boredly asked them to state their business and what was in the wagons. Taris slipped a couple of gold crowns into the palm of the head guard to help grease their way in faster.


    Tyrier sat next to one of the drivers, holding a crossbow across hisp, acting as a caravan guard. He took in his surroundings, seeing the city walls that were made with a mixture of concrete and mudbricks.


    The Orcs did a show of inspecting their wagons before allowing them passage into the city and Taris waved his men through. "So what now?" Taris asked as they entered the city.


    "Find a ce to stay and do your trading," Tyrier replied. "Don''t worry about me."


    "Well, if you say so..." Taris gave a good natured shrug. "Now, where do we go..."


    The main fare way after the gate gates expanded out roughly a few hundred meters before an internal wooden stockade led into the city proper. Workersbored at ttening and preparing thend for further expansion of the city between the two walls.


    Reaching the wooden gate, another group of bored Orcs pointed out the merchant district, warning them that they can''t enter the inner city without any escort or risk getting thrown into jail before allowing them into the city.


    The streets behind the second gate were wide and crudely paved but surprisingly clean. The air had the usual smells of an overcrowded city and a sourish Orc odor. ves were easily identified by the various metal colored cors around their necks could be seen busy with one thing or another.


    Following the instructions by the guards, they turned right into a highway for wagons and followed the several crude arrows that pointed to the merchant district. Pop up stores and shops selling various products to fresh vegetables lined the sides of the streets and the street ended at a massive L shaped structure that was three stories tall.


    A ve dressed in work robes with a bronze cor came up and said, "Masters, please follow me and park your wagons inside the stables."


    Taris nodded and gestured his men to follow the ve who led them to a barn like structure where dozens of wagons had already filled the stalls there. After the men settled their wagons and mounts, the ve handed a wooden token to Taris and bowed, "Master, this token is used for doing trading with the Merchant Guild inside and also to retrieve your parked wagons and mounts. Please keep it safe!"


    "Will our goods be safe here?" Taris asked worriedly.


    "Master, you can rest easy," The ve gestured to several Orc guards milling around the building. "No one dares to steal here, the punishments are quite severe."


    Taris nodded before asking, "Where can we find a good inn for all my men?"


    The ve helpfully gave a few rmendations and Taris awarded him a couple of silvers. The ve thanked Taris before he went to serve the next merchant wagons that came rolling in.


    "Let''s find an inn and get some food and rest for the day," Taris grinned to his men who cheered. "Tomorrow we go trade our stuff for what we need!"


    After asking around two inns rmended by the ve, they finally found an inn that had enough rooms to amodate all of the Last Company troops. Tyrier and his men joined them in themon area of the inn during dinner and the men cheered them as they entered.


    Taris smiled and handed mugs of ale to the surprised ymore One members, "Well, we never properly thanked you for saving us! Bottoms up!"


    "Bottoms up!" The men cheered and they toasted to Tyrier and his men who joined them.


    Tyrier sat down next to Taris and asked, "So what are you going to do now?"


    "Sell off our trade goods and barter for grains and tools," Taris said. "My people will need these if they want to survive out here."


    Tyrier nodded as he had a vague idea of Taris''s purpose here. "How big is yourmunity?"


    "Around five thousand?" Taris replied as he sipped his ale. "But at least half are fighting men."


    "Five thousand?" Tyrier was surprised. "That much?"


    "It''s growing still and we barely have enough to feed everyone there," Taris continued. "That''s why this trip down to barter for seeds and other necessities is important."


    Taris finished off his mug of ale while Tyrier pushed his mug over to him. "We crossed one and a half kingdoms toe here!"


    "I see," Tyrier covered his mouth as he grinned. "It must be tough."


    "Say, where is that vige of yours, again?"

 Chapter 243: A Brewing Storm

    Chapter 243: A Brewing Storm


    Orwell''s Point


    Shadowy figures darted past the unsuspecting patrolling soldiers from one alley to another. They made used of low roofs, sewers and other forms of cover to gather near the docks in one of burnt down warehouses still in the midst of being repaired.


    "All here?" A voice whispered out among the gathered and someone struck a flint, only to be pped away by the neighbors. "No fires!"


    "They can see us!" The voice whispered frightenedly. "They have some cursed magic that allows them to see light!"


    The gathered shadows muttered among themselves as they heard the panic tone in the speaker''s voice. "Be quiet! Let''s be quick before they discover us!"


    "Why have you called us here?" Another voice asked in the darkness. "We might get caught!"


    "The reason why I called you here is that our ex masters are rallying against us!" The voice hissed in anger. "Despite the intentions of our new barbarians overlords... they can''t win the might of the Empire!"


    "And once the Empire descends on us with their full might, they will purge us all!" The voice rosed in terror and the gathered rest shifted uneasily in the darkness.


    "If we want to live, we must fight!" The voice spoke again in a low hush. "The Gods have given us a chance for freedom and revenge. The barbarians forbid us to take revenge as they desire the wealth of the Imperial pigs!"


    "Yeah!" Some of the men agreed. "Why must we listen to the barbarians! Sooner orter, we will still be like ves to them!"


    "No!" Another voice called out loudly. "We must not! We gave our word to the new lord of the city that we will behave and they will treat us civilly!"


    "Pah!" The original speaker spat to the side in disgust. "Have you lost all pride and dignity? After bowing and scraping to the Imperial pigs and now you are kissing up to the new barbarian lords?"


    "No!" The second speaker quickly said. "I trust these new lords! Can''t you see that they are trying to make sure our people are well fed and no longer discriminated anymore as ves? Haven''t they returned us our dignity and freedom from the farms and made those responsible pays for their crimes?"


    "So? In the end, they are just making use of us!" The original speaker retorted. "They are already siding with our ex masters by preventing us from taking justice!"


    "They tell us to report all crimes to them and they will investigate!" The speaker scoffed. "When did you ever heard an investigation from nobles and merchants led to any news?"


    "Because they get paid off by the guilty parties!" The speaker fervently said. "Where is the justice in that?"


    "No! They gave us our justice already!" The second speaker replied. "Did they arrested all the nobles and merchants who were found to be guilty of murders and mistreating us?"


    "Yea so? Those they executed or imprisoned are small flies!" The original speaker retorted back. "Where is the Imperial governor? Where are the merchant guild masters? Where are they?"


    "That..." The second speaker couldn''t reply back as he did not have the answer.


    "See?" The original speaker said smugly. "Of course we don''t know where are they. Even if we demand for their heads. the barbarian lords would not give them to us! Why?"


    "Because they have let them go!" The voice rosed angrily and the gathered muttering rosed along. "They had bribed their way out! The barbarians are only making a show of goodwill!"


    "I say we fight the locals and the Barbarians!" The speaker suddenly dered. "We outnumber them more than half! We can''t let ourselves be ruled by others anymore! We must take hold of our fate in our own hands!"


    "But we have no weapons!" Someone in the group pointed out. "And those Barbarians Lords have their powerful thunder magic. How can we ever win?"


    "That is why we are gathered here to discuss!"


    -----


    Elsewhere in another part of the city


    Another group of people with hooded cloaks and masks were gathering inside an underground cer. They whispered among themselves in hushed tones as they waited for their leader to appear.


    A hush came over the hooded group as three men entered the cer from a secret door set in one side of the stone wall. They bowed as the lead trio removed his hood, and a face covered with a golden half face mask appeared.


    "Come, we have no time," The masked man said quickly as he sat down before the gathering. "We must make ns against the despicable ves!"


    "Yes!" The people here all hissed their approval.


    "The damn barbarians think they can just walk in here and be the lords of Orwell Point!" The gold masked man said. "They think even if they removed the governor and the leaders of the merchant guild that no one will dare stand up to their atrocities!"


    "They think that freeing the ves gave them goodwill from the masses?" The gold masked man eyes glint with a fervent glow. "NO! They dared to take our property! Our blood and sweat! Our livelihoods!"


    "No!" The gathered growled.


    "We are Imperial citizens!" The man continued to raise the gathered mood. "We stand for righteous!"


    "YES!" The gathered roared while the gold masked man gestured them to calm down.


    "Tonight, this is the night that will further change your lives!" The man looked at each gathered in the eye. "Tonight will be a night where future generations will remember us for doing the right thing!"


    "Come, my brethren, we must make ns to return our city to the Empire!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold


    "Sir, we are picking up dozens of movements in the city," The surveince operator called out to the DO* (Duty Officer) in themand center.


    "It is a good kind of movement or bad?" The DO joked as he came over the shoulder of the operator.


    The operator rolled her eyes as she tapped a few keys on her system and a simplified map of the city appeared. "We got two hot spots. Here and here."


    The DO frowned as he looked at the screen where the operator had highlighted movements picked up by thermal sensors and camera that the Marines had secretly seeded all over the city. "How many people roughly in each spot?"


    "Estimated around twenty roughly each," The operator checked her notes before replying.


    The DO turned to another staff and said, "Which teams are nearest to those two locations?"


    The staff consulted the duty charts before replying, "Falcon''s toon 2 here and Gryphon''s toon 3 here."


    "Send them both into check out those two areas, its curfew time and these boys want to y..."


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Intersection between the Merchant and Warehouse District, 2nd Battalion, Falcon Company, toon 2, Section 2


    Lance Corporal Ply rubbed his tired eyes as he stood behind a sandbag emcement with the rest of his section watching over the main crossroad to Warehouse and Merchant District.


    He stiffed a yawn and suddenly down the road, he heard boots running and called out. "Hey, what''s up?"


    His toon Lieutenant appeared leading the rest of the toon as they came running over hastily. "Section 4 take over Section 2''s duties."


    As Section 4 had two men down with various illnesses, only five men were active. LCP Ply was confused and he asked, "LT, what''s the problem?"


    "We got a mission!" The Lt quickly gave a quick update to Section 2''s men. "Seems like there is an illegal gathering going on right now down at one of the shops in the Merchant''s District."


    They half ran over to the street where the surveince cameras had traced the gathering at. They stopped under a newly erected power pole that had a camera attached to the top of it.


    "Shop is down that street," The LT whispered. "Sergeant Quain, bring your section and block off the street. Grab any leakers that escape our!"


    Sergeant Quain of Section 3 nodded and quickly assigned duties to his section. The men quickly slipped off into the shadows as they blocked off all the exits out of the street.


    "Form up!" The Lt hissed and the rest stacked behind him. "Section 1, take the lead... GO!"


    The men quietly advanced up towards the shop while keeping into the dark shadows. The glow mossmps of the city were only sufficient to light up a small area on the street while keeping most of the areas in darkness.


    "Section 2, go the back of the shop, see if there is any backdoor!" The LT ordered and Ply and his section followed their Sergeant to the back of the shop.


    As they came to the back, they saw there was indeed a rear entrance. The Sergeant whispered into hisms, telling the LT that they had found a door.


    "On my count breach it!" The Lt replied and the men took up positions before the door. "3, 2, 1, BREACH!"


    The sudden yell was loud enough to shatter the silence of the night before the heaviest Orc or elf mmed their boots against the wood door, breaking it into pieces and storming in with their weapons sweeping left and right.


    "Clear!" Cries came from the men as they checked the building. "Upstairs!"


    Several Marines ran up the stairs and checked each room on the 2nd floor before yelling, "All clear! Not a single person here!"


    "Damn, is the intel wrong?" The LT cursed as he banged his fist against the table in the backroom. He suddenly paused and he hit the table again, cocking his head to the side as he heard something.


    Quickly, he pushed the table away and stomp his boots against the wooden flooring and he yelled, "There''s a trap door here! Open it up!"


    His men quickly pushed everything out of the way as they searched the floor for a way to open the trap door that was hidden.


    They slipped their bay des against the cracks of the flooring and soon pried open the door and found a flight of stairs going down. "Go! Check it out but be careful!"


    The Marines went down the stairs, their tactical lights lighting up the underground room, finding jars and other crates of items being stored here.


    Ply swept his light and the beamnded on a wooden door at the end of the underground cer. "Here!"


    Quickly the nearby Marines formed up on him and they nodded at each other before Ply mmed his feet against the door only to find himself flying backward. "What the... ?"


    "It''s warded!" Someone yell. "Be careful of magical traps!"


    "Blow it up!" The LT ordered and the nearest Marines pulled out therge egg shaped grenades and they jammed it against the door before pulling the pins out. "Fire in the hole!"


    Everyone took cover while leaving their mouths open and the grenades suddenly blew up. The wards flickered before copsing as the force of the frag explosion drained off the magic ward and a couple of fireballs suddenly appeared before hitting the rear of the cer.


    If anyone were standing at the door, they would be burnt to a crisp by the fireballs. "Breach, bang and clear!" The Lt yelled at his men who responded by stacking up next to the scorched door.


    A Marine unslung a shotgun from his back and he aimed at the hinges, firing a single shot each which obviated the hinges. The Marine next kicked in the door and a Marine on the side gave an underhand toss of a shbang hit the ground rolling before it erupted.


    A sudden sh of bright white light could be seen from the corners of Ply''s eye and it was followed by a sharp crack. "GO GO GO!"


    He followed behind one Marine who immediately turned right as he entered while Ply swept his weapon left, covering the other side of his buddies. He saw several people in hoods and masks crying and screaming as they were blinded and deafened by the sh bang.


    "What kind of farking party is this?"

 Chapter 244: Demons

    Chapter 244: Demons


    "ON THE FLOOR NOW!" The Marines screamed at the dazed men inside the breached room. "DOWN NOW!"


    They grabbed anyone still standing and kicked their legs, making the hooded men fall down onto their knees before being mmed face down against the dirt floor.


    "We got a hidden passage here!" Someone yelled and in the glows of the mage lights, the Marines saw a section of the wall was half blocked open by one of the escaping hooded men who unluckily turned and faced the st from the sh bang, rendering him half blind and screaming.


    "Section 2, go check it out!" The LT ordered and the men of Section 2 piled up next to the hidden door before entering cautiously one by one.


    They did not go far when the narrow passage opened up into the city''s sewers and they found themselves before a raised stone tform that was surrounded by flowing water. Under their beams of light, they saw four figures standing in the middle of the tform and they yelled, "Hands where I can see them!"


    Ignoring the stench of raw sewage, Ply sidestepped to the left while the others spread themselves out to cover the area with their weapons. The four hooded figures continued to stand there silencing and unmoving.


    "HANDS!" The Sergeant roared at the four. "PUT YOUR HANDS UP, NOW!"


    One of the hooded men flipped his hood back and they saw he was wearing a half golden mask. "Well, I certainly did not expect you Barbarians to find our hideout so fast!"


    "But you are all toote!" Golden Mask smiled. "I will be seeing you again. That is if, you all survive!"


    "Hahahahahahahaa!" Heughed and suddenly he leaped off the tform and vanished like smoke into the shadows with hisughter echoing off the sewage tunnels. "Hahahahahahaaaaa..."


    "Fark!" The Sergeant ran to where the Golden Mask had disappeared, shining his shlight all over but he couldn''t find any traces of the man. "What the fark!?"


    "Take them away!" The frustrated Sergeant ordered the rest while gesturing the unmoving trio in the middle.


    "Sarge!" Ply yelled. "Something is not right here! I don''t have a good feeling about those guys!"


    As if to confirm his point, the three hooded figures suddenly started to spasm on the spot. Bone cracking sounds could b heard from the hooded figures as they appeared to change shapes underneath their cloaks.


    "What in the Gods name is going on?" All the Marines aimed their weapons at the three who appeared to look taller and thinner. Their limbs seemed elongate while their bodies hunched lower.


    One of the hoods of the men, fell back as his head appeared to grow horns. The Marines looked with horror as the flesh on the cheeks of the man ripped apart as he opened its mouth in agony. His teeth fell off from his mouth in bloody chunks as fangs grew in its ce and the wide eyes behind the mask turned yellow.


    "DEMON!" The Sergeant cried out in horror. "FIRE!"


    Almost instantly the Marines of Section 2 open fired. Ply''s hands turned sweaty as he kept working his bolt after each pull of his trigger only to find his rifle was empty. In his fear, he had fired off all his ammunition in his rifle and he has forgotten to reload, he just kept squeezing the trigger in fear.


    The heavy rounds hammered hard against the Demon possessed elves as their body underwent horrifying transformations. Bloody nails fell off as ws grew out, while bone spars pushed through flesh, skin, and cloth.


    "BACK! FALL BACK!" The Sergeant yelled and started shoving the fear rooted Marines towards the tunnel. "GO!"


    Ply nearly tripped as his jellied legs barely responded to his action but his section mate caught him in time. They quickly drag themselves back into the tunnel and out into the cer and found Section 1 with their bound prisoners staring at them in confusion.


    "RUN! GET OUT!" The Sergeant appeared behind them and tossed a grenade into the tunnel. "FRAG OUT!"


    The thud of the grenade sent dust and dirt drizzling down from the roof of the cer. "Demons! Farking demons! Get topside now!"


    The LT looked confused but he quickly acted, ordering the Marines to bring all the prisoners up and evacuate the building. As they exited the room, the secret doors exploded as a vaguely humanoid creature smashed its way through.


    Everyone looked back in horror at the demon with a permanent grin whose skin over the face was so tightly stretched that it had torn off in many ces, exposing the flesh underneath. It had skeletal arms with ws and a pair of ''S'' shaped horns growing out from the side of its head.


    Its body appeared thinner as the quite form fitting cloak now looks baggy over its skinny and tall frame. It turned its bloody head and gave a peal of madughter as it spotted the Marines and the prisoners.


    "FESSH MEAT!"


    "RUN!" Someone cried and it became a mad scramble up the stairs. The LT cursed and quickly ordered, "Section 1, provide covering fire!"


    The training the Marines had, taken over and they quickly turned and fire at the demon host, buying time for the rest to climb up the stairs. The demon host flinched as shots hammered against its body causing foul smelling dark red blood to stter all over the cers.


    "Fall back!" The order finally came and the Marines quickly climbed up the stairs leaving behind a broken demon host just as two more demons came in from the wrecked secret entrance.


    Due to the racket of the guns, all the people that lived nearby or in their own stores were wakened. Glows of mage light lit the area as curious bystanders gathered while others watched on from their windows.


    "Evacuate everyone from a two hundred meter radius!" The LT ordered. "What is HQ''s reply?"


    "They are sending in the rest of Falconpany to support us!" The radioman replied. "But they are at least 15 minutes away!"


    "Shit!" The LT cursed. "Never mind! Get the people to safety-"


    The side of the store exploded into bits of wood, ster, and stone as a hulking creature roared. It crawled out on all fours like some kind of animal. Tatters of clothing remained on its body as bone spars and thorns had grown out everywhere.


    Its head no longer had any resemnce of a person anymore as long blunt fanged snot had stretched the skin tautly. It sniffed the air and cocked it horned head before howling.


    Ply felt goosebumps as the howl sent tingles of primal fear down his spine. He nearly dropped his rifle as he took back from the creature.


    "HOLD FIRM, MEN!" The LT voice roared out and he raised one hand up to the sky with his palm facing upwards and chanted a spell. "Inspire Courage!"


    The LT glowed slightly and a ring of energy motes expanded out from him. Each soldier that was within the ring, no longer felt fear as the spell canceled away the effects of the demon''s howl. "Kill it!"


    With their hearts fortified, the Marines fired at the demon host, which screamed in pain while trying to close in with the soldiers.


    The third demon suddenly appeared from the ruined walls, and it too charged towards the Marines. Ply no longer panicking, fired his Magelock at the charging demon who looked simr to the first demon but its legs were bent backward.


    "DEMONS DIE!" An Orc Marine heaving the MG-1, advanced step by step forward while hip firing his machine gun. The bright red tracers peppered the dog demon and the force of the bullets sending sprawling to the ground.


    "KILL!" The Marines yelled a war cry and advanced up by fire movement, their shots forcing the demons to be unable to do anything and before long, theyid unmovingly on the ground with gunshot wounds all over.


    Even the shop front was so badly shot up, it looked like a mini warzone with numerous bullet holes all over the walls.


    "CEASE FIRE!" The LT ordered. "Some go check if they are dead!"


    The Marines poked and prod the bodies for a while before yelling, "Clear! They are dead!"


    "Go check the one in the cer too!"


    -----


    Joseph frowned as he looked at the Marines policing up the area where the demons had appeared. In the daylight, the demons did not look as frightening as in the night but it still makes one feel revolted by the dripping pus and smells of hellstones.


    "So what happened?" He asked thepanymander of Falcon. "How did these vile creatures came back here?"


    "Well, Sir, they appeared to be summoned by someone," The CO of Falcon replied. "toon 2 was sent to investigate an illegal gathering here and upon the pursuit of some escaped suspects, one of the suspects escaped but the left behind three presents for us."


    The CO gestured to the tent at the side where the bodies of the demon hosts were temporarily stored. "From the statements of those arrested, they have no idea who the person is responsible as they were all masked or hooded up to conceal their identity. The only name they know is they call him Golden Mask."


    "We got enough evidence from them that they are nning to raise up in arms," The CO continued. "It''s more than enough for life imprisonment or death."


    "Squeeze more info out of them," Joseph replied. "I want to know who that person who is capable of summoning demons!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "Demons?" ke frowned as he looked at the screen with the image of Joseph. "Any causalities?"


    "Thankfully, none, Sir," Joseph replied. "Except for the three whose bodies were used to host the demons."


    "Do you need anything?" ke asked. "More troops? Or specialized personnel?"


    "Well, Sir, if you could spare Dr. Sharon or Magister Thorn," Joseph thought for a while before replying. "They will be a great help in determining the origins of these demons. And also someone with good investigative skills."


    "Got it," ke nodded. "I see what I can do on my side. Out."


    "So what do you think?" ke asked the gathered Officers in his office.


    Marine CO Frank frowned worriedly, "Well, I don''t really think is a good idea to sent either Dr. Sharon or Magister Thorn down."


    "The city is still hostile," Frank exined. "And we can''t afford to have anything happen to either one of them."


    "Pfft," Dr. Sharon waved off Frank''s concerns. "I am a big girl, I know how to look after myself! And besides who else knows how to do a biopsy here?"


    "Still you are too important to be exposed to any dangerous situation!" Frank argued back.


    "If I may," Magister Thorn raised his hand up. "I think we both should be there."


    "Why?" ke asked.


    "Because, its a demon, which I had some minor experiences with demons in my life," Thorn replied. "Also, I think with Dr. Sharon''s help, she can help on the science side."


    "And while I may be old," Thorn grinned. "I can still protect the Doctor if needs require."


    "Hmm," ke rubbed his chin as he thought of what to do next. "Tavor, what do you think?"


    "I think it is a good idea to sent both down to Orwell''s Point, Sir," The Intelligence Officer said. "But I would propose a few additions."


    "Like?" ke raised an eyebrow at Tavor.


    "Add in the two girls from the Hero''s party," He suggested. "The girl mage can help Thorn with the magic side of things while the hunter girl can help with the investigation part. She does have very good tracking skills, so maybe she could help us trace and find where the person responsible is."


    ke nodded, "That sounds good to everyone?"


    "Alright, all of you, go pack your holiday outfits and luggage, you are on the next flight down to Orwell''s Point!"

 Chapter 245: Pay Back Your Dues

    Chapter 245: Pay Back Your Dues


    Sin City


    Tyrier sat down at one of the tables at the back of the tavern where it offered him a full view of the ce and also the entrance. He ordered some food and drinks from the serving ve and slowly nursed the mug of ale that was ordered.


    There was barely a crowd in the tavern. Most of the patrons were merchant guards of mixed races. Not long, the doors opened and Hitsu, Loke, and Wolf walked in. They quickly spotted Tyrier and went over to join them.


    "Anything new?" Tyrier asked as they settled down.


    Hitsu shook his head before replying, "We can''t enter the inner city. Can''t even bribe the guards to let us in. I think we need to go n B."


    n B was to sneak in at night and infiltrate the inner city. Tyrier nodded and said, "let''s wait for the rest before we decide what to do."


    They sat there and ate in silence while waiting for the rest of the team to gather. Only when they finished their meal did the rest returned. Altied, Tavel, and Young joined and ordered some drinks and food before sharing the information they gathered.


    "All the gates are too heavily guarded," Altied said with a full mouthful of grilled grass rodent. "And there are no tall buildings next to the walls, we can''t jump across nor look into the inner city."


    "We saw some merchant wagons entering the inner city," Young said. "Looks like they are transporting gold into the inner city."


    "If we wanna sneak in, either we go over the walls, or we stow away with the treasure wagons?" Tyrier frowned while the others nodded. "How I wish we could just have UAV coverage here... saves us all the troubles..."


    Everyoneughed while Hitsu said, "Well then, won''t we be out of business?"


    "Alright, we continue to keep an eye out to see if we can find a chance or more ways to enter the inner city undetected," Tyrier whispered. "Same as before, keep your tracks clean!"


    Everyone nodded and Young raised his mug, "For Doth!"


    "For Doth!"


    -----


    Haven, Draco Airbase, Terminal One


    Liz hugged arge bag looked around with curious eyes at her surroundings inside the strange tall ceiling of the building she was in. One side of the building wasvishly made out of ss! She stood several steps from the ss walls, afraid that she will be in big trouble if she identally breaks the ss!


    Her eyes went wide as she looked at therge looming oblong shape with long wings being towed to the front of the building where she could see several people fussing around the flying construct.


    She found her self being summoned to the headmaster''s office in the morning and was told to pack enough clothes for a week as she will be going somece to help with an investigation. Magister Thorn next told her to be ready within an hour as they were be rushing for time.


    An hourter, Liz sat in the "vee he cle" with Thorn and they were whizzed away and dropped at this strange building. She looked at Thorn who was also watching the flying construct with the excitement of a three year old.


    "Headmaster, are we going to ride inside that?" Liz asked nervously. Even doth she has seen how the nes flew around the city and even heard of legends of flying ships and inds, she couldn''t really put her trust in that flying construct made out of wood and metal!


    "Yes, yes!" Thorn smiled. "It will be fun!"


    "Erm... okay..." Liz stammered. "Where are we going?"


    "We, my dear, are going to the city of Orwell''s Point!" Thorn winked. "Oh, here are the rest!"


    Liz turned and saw her friend, Evelyn also totting a bag, next to a female hooman that she recognized as the Doctor who gave her weird vibes.


    A soldier appeared from the side and said, "If you all could follow me, we can board the ne now."


    Thorn nodded and picked his bag which looked more like a sack, while the female hooman dragged a strange silver rectangr box with wheels behind her. Liz went up to Evelyn and held her hand, "How are you?"


    Evelyn gave a small smile, "I''m feeling better, just tired mostly."


    "Really?" Liz looked concernedly at Evelyn. "Do you know why we are called along?"


    "I think they need our skills in finding out some things that are happening in the city they want us to go," Evelyn replied slowly. She appeared to be out of breath after that sentence and Liz quickly gave her shoulder for Evelyn to lean against.


    "Are you ok?" Liz frowned worriedly. "I think you better stay behind and rest! I will tell th-"


    "No, I am alright," Evelyn patted Liz''s head. "It seems that Dante had damaged my soul and with him gone, the connection with him was severed."


    "I''ll be fine in time," Evelyn assured Liz. "Don''t worry!"


    As they passed through the opening in the ss walls, the loud whine and hum of machinery assailed their ears. A small troop of soldiers was standing in a file with bulging backpacks and gear all over their bodies waited for them next to the ne.


    "I am Sergeant Aztes," A burly soldier strolled up to Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn and saluted. "Hundred and First ATI, ymore Two! We will be in charge of your security at Orwell''s Point!"


    "Lead the way Sergeant," Dr. Sharon replied after returning the salute. "We talk more onboard."


    The ymore Two Sergeant nodded and gave an order to the rest of his team who followed behind the civilians onboard the ne. Not long, the ne taxied to the runway and took off into the skies.


    -----


    Orwell''s Point


    Captain Joseph reread the stack of reports and statements regarding the raids of the two meetings and arrests made. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, thinking that this war has just gone moreplicated with demons and cultists now thrown into the equation as if the city was not chaotic enough!


    "Sir?" An aide knocked on his door and struck his head in. "HQ just sent word that the investigation team has just left Draco Airbase. They will bending here in roughly five hours."


    "Thank you," Joseph nodded and he picked up the statement report he was reading halfway. 8 men were found and arrested in the Merchant District, with 3 deaths among them caused by the demons. No Marines or other civilians were injured but the whole city now knows that there are demonic cultists in the city.


    The other raid at the Warehouse area was not so lucky, as the illegal gathering had dispersed when the Marines raided the ce and found it empty. Joseph decided stricter measures were needed to prevent another incident like this from happening, especially from the statements of the arrested they were plotting some kind of uprising.


    Now Joseph waited for more information from the mouths of these plotters under interrogation. Once they break, his Marines will respond immediately to arrest all those that were involved.


    Joseph frowned as he stood up and looked out of the window towards the docks. He knew that their time was almost up here as the Empire will grow suspicious and send ships or dragons down to investigate why their ships are not returning from Orwell''s Point.


    "Damn it!" Joseph cursed. He needed to pacify the city before the real enemyes knocking at his door or he and his troops will be facing both external and internal threats! "Five hours more eh?" He collected all the reports and ced them into a folder for the team that was on its way over to read.


    -----


    Seagull 03, Enroute to Orwell''s Point


    "- two hours more," Came the announcement from the pilots in the cockpit. Liz sighed as her whole body was starting to ache in the ufortable buckle seats. They were seated leaning against the ''walls'' of the flying contraption facing each other but the space between the passengers had stacks of crates and boxes strapped down limiting movement.


    She looked to her side where Evelyn had fallen sleep while the hooman Doctor and Magister Thorn were in some heated discussion. Opposite her sat the soldiers who were supposed to escort them and she noticed that all of them appeared to be asleep which lead her to wonder how could anyone sleep in such ufortable and noisy settings!


    Evelyn yawned from the side and rubbed her eyes, "Are we there yet?"


    "No, two hours more at least," Liz replied. "Are you fine?"


    "Yes, better now that I have taken a nap," Evelyn replied as she stretched as much as she could in her seat.


    "Hey? HEY?"


    Liz and Evelyn looked over the stack of crates to see one of the soldiers gesturing to them. "You girls from the Hero''s party yes?" The soldier had to shout loudly and repeat himself over the roar of the aircraft engines.


    Liz nodded uncertainly, not sure why the soldier was asking such a question.


    "Hey, you know, my brother was in that town your Hero destroyed!" The next shouts from the soldier shocked Liz and Evelyn. They did not know what to say after hearing that and just looked at each other in silence.


    "You know that town where they said they had cultists and demons inside?" The soldier continued to shout across. "Ya, you guys came from the request of the Adventurer''s Guild, right?"


    Liz and Evelyn just kept silence as they did not want to have a confrontation with the soldier. "Hey? Why did your party destroy half the town?"


    Liz frowned as she recalled the quest they received from the Guild, and after reaching the town where they said there were cultists dabbing with demonic magic, they investigated and found several shrines that appeared to be used for ult practices.


    Dante at that time had said that he had sensed most of the people in the town were tainted and he started a cleansing. In the end, more than half the town was destroyed by his efforts and hundreds purged.


    The Adventurer''s Guild evenplimented them on their work and they were even hailed as heroes to the people. Liz at that time was still naive to believe in their words and her own misguided sense of justice.


    "Is that why the higher ups are sending you girls here?" The soldier continued to taunt them. "Cause you all are great demon hunters?" He twitched his fingers in an exaggerated gesture when he yelled the word, demon hunters.


    "Enough!" The Sergeant who applied to be sleeping suddenly yelled out. "Watch your words, they are our responsibility for this mission!"


    The soldier gave a shrug and a smile back as he conceded to his Sergeant. But he turned and eyed the two ufortable girls opposite him and made a two finger gesture to his eyes and pointed back at them while mouthing the words, "I have my eyes on you!"


    Liz shuddered at the gesture and turned away, "Evelyn, do you think we were wrong back then? Did we not fight for justice and the people?"


    Evelyn appeared to shrink into herself as she replied, "Honestly, I do not know. All I know was that I loved Dante and he is gone now. Even if what he did was wrong or evil, but to me, he is always the light in my heart."


    She smiled at Liz, "He is always inside me even if our connection was severed. I do not me him for what he has done to me."


    "But what about the people that he killed and hurt?" Liz asked. "Their blood is in our hands too!"


    "Well, I guess we can only make amendments," Evelyn smiled. "To pay back everything."


    Liz sat quietly as she pondered Evelyn''s reply. "I guess it''s our due to pay back everything that we have done so far..."


    Evelyn'' smiled wider, "Yes, everyone must pay for what they have done..."

 Chapter 246: 246 - The Devil is in the Details

    Chapter 246: 246 - The Devil is in the Details


    Uncharted Forest, Site of Battle with the Hero


    The Orcs warily made their way out of the forest into a massive circr clearing. The previous traces of battle has mostly vanished and reced by new growth sprouts.


    The Orcs nosed around and trampled the area in search of something as a human stood in the middle of the clearing.


    Ex naval security Spaceman Senior Aaron stood surrounded by the Orcs with his eyes closed. In his left hand, he held a golden trinket that was shaped like a wiggly worm.


    He slowly rotated on the spot as if sensing something before he snapped his eyes open. "This way," he growled at the Orcs who obediently followed him.


    They followed a small trail of destruction which the forest has already started to reim. Moss and other ferns grew on the barks of rotting and uprooted tree trunks.


    The small trail led them before the stone slopes of a mountainous range and Aaron pointed up to the side of the mountain where a dark cave could be seen. "Up there!"


    The Orcs argued and cursed among themselves before some of them clearly lost to some kind of choosing game, slung coils of woven vines and made their way up the steep slopes.


    After some time, the climbers managed to reach the cave and dropped the rope vines down after securing them.


    Aaron climbed deftly up the ropes with other Orcs following and entered the cave.


    The original climbers grunt and growled as the cave was only barely five meters deep.


    Aaron ced his palm with the trinket against the back wall of the cave and he smiled before ordering the Orcs. "Dig!"


    Dirt and rocks flew as the Orcs threw themselves with a vengeance against the cave walls. As the sun dipped down, the Orcs had managed to deepen the cave by a few meters.


    It took them two days before Aaron ordered them to stop, and he went down on his hands and knees, sweeping away the loose soil before exposing a withered slump.


    He smiled and held the trinket close to his heart and whispered, "I have found it, Master!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold


    Liz silently admired the handiwork of the beast girl that just joined them the day before. The beast girl held a swinging crystal pendant and allowed it to spin around an aerial map taken by the dragons.


    The pendant''s spin slowly stabilized as it came to an area where demonic energies were detected before bing unnaturally still as it pointed to a spot on the map.


    The beast girl''s eyes opened and she sighed as the amount of concentration and magic focus that was needed was very high, as evidenced by the fatigue look and sweat stered all over the girl.


    "There should be something bad here," Kaga said tiredly as she wiped the sweat off her face with a towel provided by Liz.


    Captain Joseph nodded and turned to his aide and gave an order who scurried off immediately.


    Joseph was impressed by the girl''s divination abilities. When she came over in one of the flights, he was skeptic at her skills after seeing her so young and cute. Sheter asked the troops to pasted those talismans of hers all over the city and he realized that it works simrly as the cameras and monitoring systems of the hooman.


    Kaga admitted that she borrowed the idea from the hoomans as it allowed her to cast a " over a vast area rather than having to perform arge scale area spell to epass the city which required alot more magic power.


    Using this, she was able to detect traces of what she called "unclean" magic as the energies made her felt that way.


    Once she has located anyrge traces, she will immediately inform one of the officers in the map room and they will send troops down to investigate.


    In this way, they have found a couple of sites where traces of ult activities had taken ce.


    All these ult and demon cultists had baffled everyone, who was wondering what the objectives of these cultists were after.


    Liz followed the soldiers down to the new location discovered by Kaga as she was in charge of providing magic support.


    A couple of the ymore Two soldiers followed her as they followed the troops through the streets and surrounded a non describsive looking two story building at a corner of a quiet street in the residential district.


    The soldiers surrounded the small house where a small stone wall surrounded a small plot of herbs. They crouched low and waddled their way nearer to the house when suddenly the building made of wood and stone exploded and a towering monstrosity smashed its way out from the ruins of bricks and mortar.


    Liz watched from a street away while other residents were evacuated back further and she frowned, wondering what was the purpose of the cultists.


    The thunder sticks of the soldiers roared and slurpy yellow pus erupted from wounds on the giant worm like monster with tiny humanoid baby arms and legs that were wing against the air. Liz was about to cast her magic when a loud whoosh roared out.


    She saw a fiery smoke trail flying out from a soldier with a tube over his shoulder. It hit the giant worm with a crying baby face with a sick p and the white meaty flesh exploded, painting the area with smelly pus.


    The demonic monster toppled over with loud curses from the soldiers who some even vomited over the side from the smell of the blood pus. Liz caught a sniff of the smell and backed off, letting the soldiers handle the fallout of the demon while she waited with the other officers.


    The soldiers escorting her grinned as they watched the monster blew up and started chatting excitedly among themselves over the cause and reasons why there were cultists here.


    "Well, what did you guys find inside?" Liz finally went up to ask one of the soldiers with the three stripes on his sleeve, which she remembered is a rank called Sergeant.


    "Nothing much, ma''am," The soldier replied while scratching his bared head before he put his helmet on again. "Most of the demon''s body has destroyed the ce and all its... blood has messed up the entire scene!"


    "So now what?" Liz frowned as she wondered if they were wasting their time here.


    "The site has been badly contaminated," The Sergeant sighed. "I doubt we will be able to find any information or clues here. It seemed that the demon worshippers are getting smarter as they had such a demon summoned here. It isn''t deadly to anyone if they don''t get too close but at the same time, it ensures that everything in the location gets destroyed."


    As he finished, a pair of soldiers carrying a backpack with hoses came over. Both of them were dressed in a thick jacket and had fully covered face shields. "Well, we can only cleanse the ce up with fire to destroy all traces of the unclean."


    The Sergeant gave amand and the pair raised up a nozzle before mes burst out, washing over the decaying worm corpse, setting it burning.


    -----


    Uncharted Forest


    Drake and Slow carefully watched the Orcs movement at the foot of the mountain as they hide among the leaves up on the trees. Drake had the whole event on video as the Orcs climbed up and down from the side of the mountain before they packed up and headed back to their camp.


    "What is all that about?" Drake asked Slow as they slowly climbed down the tree once the Orcs had left the area.


    "That is where the Hero was sealed!" Slow hissed. "I remembered the other toon blew the cave up with the remains of the Hero inside!"


    "Why are they here for his body than?" Drake frowned. "And how did they know it was there?"


    "Duno but that hooman looks like he knew something," Slow shrugged.


    "Yes..." Drake''s eyes narrowed. "Maybe I should have taken the shot..."


    Slow shrugged again, "We have chance again, no problem!"


    "Alright, let''s follow them and see what are they nning with the remains of the hero!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold


    Kaga felt tired, really tired as she finished another round of divination. She took a sip of overly sweetened tea and sighed happily as the sugar rushed up to her brain.


    "Are you making any sense of this?" A voice asked her from behind.


    She turned and saw the stern looking Joseph, who had a worried frown on his face. She shook her head and replied, "I don''t know yet, I can tell that the cultists areying low now and if this is a plot to overturn the city back to the Empire, it doesn''t really make any sense."


    "Why do you think that way?" Joseph prodded the beast girl whose feet barely touched the stone floor as she sat on the tall backed chair swinging her feet and sipping that damn sweet tea of hers.


    "Firstly, why would the Empire work with cultists?" Kaga replied. "Everyone knows and hate the demon worshippers and cults. It will be to the Empire''s disadvantage if they were found out."


    "Go on," Joseph nodded encouragingly as he sat on the table facing Kaga.


    Kaga took a sip of her tea and continued, "Next, even if the plotters have no idea who they were working with at the start, but word has gotten out that a cult is pulling strings, no one would dare to try anything."


    Joseph nodded again, "Yes, we did have a few people came up with reports that their neighbors or certain people are suspected to be part of the cult. But almost all of them turned out to be a case of false reports after a detailed investigation. They just want to make use of us to kill off their enemies andpetition."


    Kaga dipped her head before saying, "Well, that''s the nature of people... but I think why the cultists are up in arms is probably that we are disrupting the ve trade here!"


    "The cults need bodies for their vile and unclean arts," Kaga shuddered as she felt a chill down her spine when talking about the demonic cults. "What easier way for them to have bodies is by getting ves?"


    Joseph frowned as he thought hard on the point made by Kaga. "That is true since the Empire allows the trading of ves, as long you have the money, no one cares what happens to the ves. So by us putting an end to the trade here in the south, the cults who normally posed as merchants and buyers openly are faced with a shortage of bodies for their dark arts!"


    "That makes sense!" Joseph smacked his head. "Why didn''t I thought of that? This is probably why there are so much cultist dens in the city!"


    Kaga smiled, "But it is just a thought on my part, it might not be the truth of what is happening here and why are the cults willing to step out."


    Joseph nodded, "Yes, but this point at least makes some sense to why they are getting desperate."


    "Anyway, thank you for your help!" Joseph gave a rare smile. "Get some rest, you look very tired and you will need your strength in theing days. We have a long fight to go!"


    Kaga nodded before she hopped off the chair and went off to her bed, leaving Joseph alone in the map room with a few other support techs.


    He spread his hands over the map and frowned, "If the damn cults have set up shop here, we are going to be in bad trouble with the Empireing down on us soon."


    "Damn it, I think we need more reinforcements if we are going to fight two fronts here!"

 Chapter 247: Mechanisms of Chaos

    Chapter 247: Mechanisms of Chaos


    Haven, United Nations Testing Grounds, Hangar Three


    "NOO! NOO! NOO!" An angry roared reverberated off the concrete walls of the hangar, echoing loudly as the support techs covered their ears from the outburst of the angry troll.


    Magic Mike dressed only in a pair of work pants swung his keyboard around madly as he put on a tantrum. "DUMB SOFTY!"


    He growled and gave his keyboard another few more swings for good measure before he calmed down and sat down on the floor facing a bank of three monitors before plugging back in the keyboard and mouse carefully to theputer.


    "Tell me bug!" He growled to the MAW crew who was watching his tantrum with amusement. "Tell me step by step toots did!"


    The crew started exining what went wrong with the mech and what were the steps before they have done that lead to the mech having control issues. Magic Mike mumbled to himself while he tapped on the keyboard with his oversized fingers, "If... else..."


    "Alright, people!" Master Sergeant Pike suddenly stormed into the hangar and yelled out. "Pack it up, and prepare to roll out! We are going on a live exercise!"


    "No, no no!" Magic Mike grumbled from his spot as his fat fingers flew across the keyboard, tapping rapidly away. "Not ready yet!"


    "No time!" Pike said as he stood next to the sitting troll with his fists on his hips. "Save your work and pack it up, the MAWs are moving out now!"


    "But... but... it''s still full of bugs!" Magic Mike protested. He seemed cowled by Pike''s piercing re.


    "What bugs?" Pike asked as he stared down at the troll who appeared to be squirming on the spot like a child.


    "Stupid golem make dance moves still!" Magic Mike exined. "Need to debug controls or it keeps dancing!"


    "Then you areing along!" Pike replied. "Pack what you need to fix the bug along the way!"


    "M-me?" Magic Mike looked surprised. "But me no warrior anymore! Me pro grammer!"


    "Yes you, since you need to fix the bugs and we need the MAWs in action!" Pike said. "Now get to it!"


    "Alright, boys! Pack everything up for transport!" Pike roared to the rest of the support and mech crew. "Bring along the urban warfare kits too! We are going into the sandbox!"


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, Orc Camp


    Aaron sat on a camp stool inside a tent and held the trinket in his hand and whispered to it, "I have found what you required my Master!"


    The wiggly worm shaped trinket shimmered and it appeared toe alive in Aaron''s hand. A hiss and a tiny forked tongue flickered out from the head while the eyes made of flint came alive.


    "Aissss, Ish fewl issst!" It hissed happily. The tiny golden snake turned and flowed off Aaron''s hand and towards the skeletal remains that were ced on the floor. "Ahh... the power!"


    The snake appeared to drill into the mummified remains and sounds of bones cracking could be heard as the snake appeared to crush the skeleton in search of something.


    "NOOO!" The snake suddenly burst out from the mummified ribs and it screamed in anger. "I feel its presence! But isssh not hereeeee!"


    Aaron swallowed nervously as the angry snake wiggled it ways up from his leg and onto his hand again. "FIND MEEEE THE SUN!!"


    "Y-yes, Master!" Aaron stammered and he exited his tent. He raised the snake to his chest and the snake turned back into a wiggly worm shape trinket when his hand suddenly exploded and he screamed in pain. A secondter, Aaron''s head jerked back as the second 6.5 mm bullet hit him.


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, 347 meters away from the Orc Camp


    Drake and Slow and followed the Orcs and the deserter back to their camp without them knowing they were being trailed. They climbed another tree and settled down to watch the ongoings inside the camp.


    "Where are they bringing the remains of the hero?" Drake asked. "What do you think they want to do with it?"


    "Hmm, dark magic?" Slow guessed. "Shamans like dark magic, can make free army!"


    "So you think they want his body cause he used to be a hero?" Drake frowned. "Will it be very strong if the shamans turn him into a zombie?"


    "Maybe..." Slow shrugged. "Me no shaman, me guess..."


    Drake cursed inwardly as he got into a more stable position on the massive tree branch. He wrapped a quick release cord over his body and tied it to the tree, preventing him from identally rolling off the branch.


    Next, he unslung his scoped rifle and deployed the bipods and settled down to scan the camp, aiming at the tent where the deserter and the hero remains were at. The sun had gone down by then and he frowned as he couldn''t see what was going on inside the tent.


    Suddenly the ps of the tent burst open, and the deserter stood there. He wearing the naval security body armor over some local clothes, less the helmet, and gauntlets. Drake quickly made a split second decision and he hissed to Slow, "I am taking the shot!"


    He centered his crosshair over the body''s sniper''s triangle just as Slow called out the distance. Drake barely made any changes to his sights as he was already zeroed in to the tent. He calmed his nerves and released his breath, while his finger gently squeezed down on the trigger till the shot and kick of the recoil came as a surprise.


    He quickly recentered his scope back onto the target and saw his shot hit just as the deserter raised his hand to his chest. He went for a headshot next and fired, as he was worried that the deserter might survive the chest shot with his body armor the deserter was wearing.


    "Not good!" Slow suddenly cried out. "He no dead!"


    "What?" Drake cried out and he looked through the scope at the target he shot twice. "What the fuck?"


    -----


    Uncharted Forest, Orc Camp


    Aaron rolled away as the second shot blew his left ear off and nced the back of his skull. He cursed and screamed loudly in pain as he rolled to his feet, holding his missing right hand.


    "ASSASSINS!" An Orc cry went up and the camp suddenly boiled into action. Aaron quickly ducked back into the tent and slumped over the bed rolls with pain. A couple of Orcs rushed in with weapons drawn and they looked upon Aaron for instructions.


    "Find them!" Aaron hissed angrily. "Don''t kill them yet! I want them alive and in front of me! GO!"


    The Orcs bowed and disappeared out of the tent to follow hismands while he nursed his wounds. He held up his destroyed hand and if anyone were to see his hand, they will be surprised as there was barely any blood or gore.


    Instead, a small cloud of smoke like a wisp of darkness coiled up gently from his right slump, same as his missing left ear. Slowly, his right hand reformed back from a wisp of dark smoke and he flexed his newly grown hand and touched his left ear which too had reformed back.


    A slithering hiss came from his cor as a snake with tendrils of smokeing off its body slithered out and coiled around his shoulders. "Find mee the Sun, or your powersss will be forfeited!"


    Aaron nodded, "I will!"


    -----


    "Go!" Drake dropped down from the tree and ran off towards the direction which they had stashed their dirt bikes.


    Slow followed behind, hisrger frame crashing through the undergrowth as they discarded all notions of stealth. The barks and howls of wind wolves rosed behind him as the Orcs sent out search parties to find them.


    "We... need... to... report... this!" Drake panted as he parkoured through the roots of the trees. "We... have... some... big... shit... going... on... here!


    Slow kept quiet as he heaved his body over some roots just as a long deep howl came from behind them. "They found us!"


    "Keep going!" Drake cried out and they ran and moved as fast as they could. Stomps of something heavy racing through the woods could be heard behind them as the wolves were released to hunt them down.


    "There!" Drake yelled out as they came to a lightning split tree. They bunched up the smart camoting and quickly started the bike engine while Slow hopped on the ASAG. Once the bike was roaring, they swerved in and out around the tree roots and raced off, heading towards the battlefield against the hero as they had nned earlier with the howls of wolves behind them.


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold


    "Look, I need to talk with your Lord!" A voice could be heard yelling from the courtyard. Joseph sighed as the thought of how badly designed the castle was as he could hear the yells from the courtyard when he was on the third floor.


    He looked out of the window and saw a shabbily dressed ex ve arguing with the Marine guards at the gateway before he gestured to his aide. "Bring him up under escort, let''s see what he wants now.


    "Yes, Sir!"


    Not long the ex ve was brought into the study of the previous owner which Joseph had converted it into his own workspace. "M-my lord!" The ex ve stammered out as he saw Joseph seated behind the desk. "I bring grave news!"


    "Matthew... Matthew..." Joseph sighed dramatically. "Tell me, what were the promises you gave me when you want to ally with me?"


    "Erm..." Matthew''s eyes darted furtively in panic as tried to avoid the re from Joseph. "I, we, follow your rules and l-ws?"


    "Yes, rules andws," Joseph repeated his words. "Now, some might say rules andws are meant to be broken."


    "But, you, Matthew... You disappoint me..." Joseph pped the desk in mock anger. "You want to lead your people, I gave you the power and right to do so, yet what did you do? Have secret meetings behind my back?"


    "N- no... w- wait! How did you..." Matthew words slowly trailed off as he stared in horror at Joseph.


    Joseph smiled, knowing his bluff had paid off. He had suspected that Matthew, the representative of the ve faction had some doings with the meeting that they failed to arrest anyone. "I have eyes everywhere, Matthew."


    "You wanted an alliance with me, but where is the trust?" Joseph rant on. "How can I trust an ally who meets in secret and make deals with cultists behind my back?"


    "N- NO!" Matthew''s eyes went wide in fear. "We did not make any deals with the cultists!"


    "Then why did you not inform me of their presence in the city?" Joseph pressed on. "You all should know that they will sow chaos within the city but yet, nothing was reported to us? Tell me, what are you nning?"


    "I- no..." Matthew''s mouth gasped out and close like a fish as he tried to find the right words to defend himself but failed.


    "Lock him up," Joseph waved to his men. "We will put out a notice that we have caught the upper management of the ex ves to be in league with the cultists."


    "NO! NOT TRUE!" Matthew squirmed hard in horror in the arms of the Marine guards, knowing that the ves will tear him apart if they thought he was working with cultists as they hated them to the core. "I SPEAK! I TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW!"


    Joseph smiled and gestured his men to pause. "So tell me, what was the agenda on that night''s meeting? And what ns are you all hatching?"


    Joseph''s smile faded as he heard the words Matthew poured out and his face turned grimmer and darker by the time Matthew finished.


    "So, I guess, I was right not to trust you all at the start. Your bloody faction wants to kill everyone and found your own nation!"

 Chapter 248: Of Spycraft and Aliens

    Chapter 248: Of Spycraft and Aliens


    Sin City


    Hitsu quietly reced the sewage grate and grabbed a handful of wet sge on the dabbed on the cracks of the grate where it had been carefully dug out. He crawled his way through the narrow sloping drain and exited out at a waste area near one of the poorer districts of the city.


    He nced around the darkness, making sure there was no one wanting to ambush him before he scurried over to a small hut which they had secured for their own usage. Using the rain barrel outside, he stripped and took a bar of coarse soap to wash the smell off and cleaned himself up as best as he could before entering the hut in clean clothes.


    "Damn, you smell like shit," Altiedmented as he sat on the rafters next to a roof slit where he kept watch of their surroundings.


    Hitsu ignored the gib and instead struck a vulgar gesture at Altied and poured himself a mug of tepid water. "Phew, wetwork is tough!"


    "Anything new to update?" Tyrier asked as he removed a notepad from his pocket.


    "Well, same as usual. Guards rotate on a half hour basis, random patrols on the streets. The pce is almost impossible to infiltrate," Hitsu replied. "Still can''t find out what those covered things are on the walls. Ballistas?"


    "Maybe a cannon of sorts?" Wolf said. "I tried to get near to one of those covered things but the Orc guards shooed me away before I could even get closer."


    "Sarge, I think we got what we needed," Loke said. "We know where their factories are, who is running what and where the deserters are hiding now!"


    "Yea," Young joined in. "We should get out, find a nice spot and call it in, and wait to watch fireworks from the Air Force!"


    Tyrier frowned as he weighed the intel he has now on the inner city and the deserters. "Let''s go over one more time, I feel like we are missing something here."


    He unrolled out a crude hand drawn map which had annotation here and there scribbled on. The inner city was a ring around the Pce where non ves lived. On the northern side of the inner city sat arge walledpound where severalrge sheds sat which they had identified as the factory.


    They eavesdropped on the ve workers and heard that it was the ce where they were making and assembling the Boomsticks of the Orcs. Another point of interest was a three storey building that functions as a treasury building of sorts where the Orcs transport the taxes and goods.


    Most of the rumors they heard from the ves said of several strange beings that had short ears lived inside the Pce and those working inside rarelyes out to the outer city.


    "We got four locations to hit," Tyrier pointed to the map. "The Factory where they make the guns and ammo. The Treasury where two confirmed deserters are sighted regrly, the Pce, where most likely the rest of the deserters are at and the Barracks where stockpiles of weapons are kept."


    Everyone nodded, "But how are we gonna hit all four locations with just seven of us?" Loke asked.


    "I n to have Hitsu and Young leave the city and call it in," Tyrierid out his n. "Call in the Airforce to hit the Factory, Barracks, and Treasury."


    "And in the midst of confusion, we sneak into the Pce and take out the high profile targets," Tyrier exined. "But I still have a strange feeling here that we are missing something."


    The rest shrugged as they couldn''t answer Tyrier''s unease. "I think it''s better we find out what those covered weapons are, I don''t want any surprises."


    -----


    Uncharted Forest


    Corporal Clove gently eased the twin joy sticks of the MAW forward as its six legs climbed over several tree roots that blocked their way. The rhythmic stomping of the legs made him dozy as the scenery before him were never changing, just trees and more trees.


    The golem mech slipped but quickly recovered as one of its fore legs stepped against the side of a root. Thankfully, the mech was stable enough that a slip barely made it fall, while a gyro stabilizer kept the main hull of the mech level with the uneven terrain.


    Clove jolted awake as his Sergeant at the backpartment cursed, "What was that?"


    "Nothing, Sarge! Just uneven terrain..." Clove quickly replied.


    They had made good time over the course of a single day due to a trail already being made by construction crews that were making a highway to link to the town of Falledge and with further ns to branch off the highway towards Orwell''s Point.


    Work had stopped temporarily on the road works due to heightened goblin and monster activity as they came out of hibernation. Clove nced at his monitor which disyed his rear view, seeing two other MAWs behind him and a line of armored vehicles and trucks following.


    The turrets of the MAWs were each covering a sector as they plowed through the forest. Clove''s Unit 02 was leading the way, followed by Unit 01 and 03 brought up the rear. His mech had its 3" stub cannon facing forward while 01 had its cannon covering the right and the 03''s cannon was covering the left.


    The stub cannons allowed the turrets to rotate freely within the forest without hitting the trees unlike if they used a long barrel. The velocity of the cannon was lowered and range and uracy reduced but it allowed the turret to fight in a more enclosed area.


    He stifled a yawn and grinned as he returned his attention back to the forest ahead, making sure not to repeat the same mistakes and slip again. Soon, another five days or so, they will reach Orwell''s Point and Clove could not wait to get into a fight and test this baby out in realbat!


    -----


    "Think they found us?" Drake whispered as he and Slow huddled down inside a hollow of roots. He had abandoned his bike after running out of fuel, hiding it away as best as he could while he rode shotgun behind Slow on the little ASAG golem.


    Slow gave a shrug as he removed thest of their "dung" bombs. He tossed it out from their location and settled in to the hollow where it was quite cramped as both he and Drake were sharing it. Asagi crouched outside, hugging itself, making it look like a block of rock as it blended in to its surroundings.


    They could sleep and rest as Asagi did not really require sleep and it would alert them of any approaching dangers. And with the dung bombs made from a high level monster, its scent will scare away the majority of the monsters in the vicinity.


    They had been on the run from the pursuing Orcs for two days, barely managing to keep ahead of them most of the time. The wind wolves had an uncanny ability to keep picking up their trail despite their best efforts of at evasion, which was probably negated by the unique noise made by the motorcycle engine.


    After ditching the motorcycle, they managed to finally lose their pursers and could settle down to rest. "We need to get somewhere where we can send a signal out," Drake said. "Command needs to know that something is fucked up with all this shit!"


    Slow nodded as he sucked on a pack of jello, "Bad magic..."


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    Captain ke rubbed his face as he ended the voice conference with Joseph at Orwell''s Point. "Demons... cultists... ve revolts... deserters...."


    He sighed and felt very tired, "And I told we finally have a stable foothold in this ce, some sort of peace and stability, but no... More unknown variables and mind blowing shit keep dropping on ourps one by one!"


    Commander Ford gave a bark ofughter which made ke confused, "What''s so funny?"


    "Well, Sir," Ford smiled. "I''ll been thinking and letting my mind go free, you know like what Dr. Sharon would say."


    "We cannot force ourmon sense of our world on to this here," Ford exined. "If we keep thinking that the elves are like humans, then we will be in deep shit."


    "They are aliens, simple as that," Ford continued. "And aliens won''t make sense to us, same as we don''t make sense to them as we are aliens to them. But in this case, they have a wide variety of species and... cultures..."


    "So you are saying cause I am humanizing them all along?" ke frowned.


    "In a way, yes... I guess," Ford shrugged. "Subconsciously or not, we kinda see them as humans, with human needs. But they are not humans, no matter how gically alike or they look like us!"


    "Well, I guess you are right," ke sighed. "Well, we now have alien cultists and a potential alien revolt in our hands, not mentioning those criminals still running amok somewhere churning out guns to a bunch of super human green skins..."


    "Let''s settle one issue at a time for now," Ford grinned. "Look the homefront is stable now, even with the goblins popping out like rabbits here and there, the LDF can take care of them. You have sent out half of Third Battalion and those new toys of yours to reinforce Joseph, so I am pretty sure they too can handle it."


    "So what else are you worried about?" Ford asked. "Cultists? Demons? Aren''t Joseph doing fine so far? And Magister Thorn, that mage girl and that cat girl aide of the Princess is down there to help handle things, why still so worried?"


    "I don''t know..." ke replied. "I just have a bad feeling..."


    "Hahaha, could it because of your wedding that''sing soon?" Ford smiled. "Having the jitters?"


    "Damn, that''s still quite a few more months away!" ke waved away Ford''s teasing. "How about your naval side. Any ns on the Ind Whales?"


    Ford continued smiling and said, "Well, there''s like tons of suggestions on what and how to handle the giant turtles. Some want it to be a floating battery cum air base, others a battleship or some even suggested a submersible base!"


    "Well, we did think of all that but after some observations and findings from the wildlife team," Ford exined. "They are not suitable for anything else but maybe as a mining node for those energy crystals."


    "Firstly, these creatures are actually pretty shy. The wildlife team spected that they were willing to allow us contact with them is due to us saving and protecting them from that purple squid." Ford said. "Loud noises also don''t go well for these creatures."


    "Secondly, the ind portion or backs of the turtles are not 100% soil or rocks. It seemed that its an organic mix of living tissues and soil. So no deep drilling or construction on their backs, we probably injured them if we do so," Ford continued saying.


    "And as for a submersible base, these creatures appeared not to dive or go underwater at all, the nts on their backs absorb sunlight and it indirectly feeds them too," Ford said. "Also, we have no idea how to control them, so they can''t even be a ship to transport anything."


    "Wait, what?" ke was surprised. "So they are like feeding on sr energy?"


    "Yea, in a way. Dr. Sharon probably can exin it more in detail, but it absorbs energy from the sun via the nts on its back and at the same time feeding nkton off the surface of the sea." Ford replied.


    "The energy crystals are formed from excess energy, sorta like our fats that are stored in our bodies," Ford continued. "Well, I am thinking of some ways to allow the turtles to stay among our waters, but we don''t know how to entice them yet!"


    "Hell, if we know how to control them, we can use them as a heavy cargo freighter!"

 Chapter 249: Preparations

    Chapter 249: Preparations


    6 km away from Sin City


    "Dragon One, Dragon One, this is ymore One, do you copy, over?" Hitsu spoke into the receiver of the radio. "Dragon One,e in, over."


    "Nothing still?" Young asked as he observed their surroundings, alert for any hostilities.


    Hitsu sighed and tweaked around the controls of the radio set and re-adjusted the umbre antenna. "Damn, it''s been a day and they still haven''t responded yet!"


    "Well, patience, young one," Young grinned. "They are supposed to be flying the area soon."


    "I hope so! I just feel so exposed in the ins!" Hitsu picked up the radio and started broadcasting again. "Dragon One, Dragon One, this is ymore One,e in, over."


    "-on One, send again-" The radio suddenly squawked back.


    "Hell yeah! They are responding!" Hitsu sat up straight cheerfully and he quickly spoke into the radio set. "ymore One, to Dragon One, do you copy, over."


    "-agon One, request Authentication Charlie, over."


    "ymore One, standby for Authentication Charlie!" Hitsu quickly removed his dog tags and whispered a chant which unlocked the magic lock on his dog tags. He snapped open one of the dog tags and pulled out a small piece of paper hidden inside.


    "ymore One, ready for Authentication Charlie, over!" Hitsu reported back.


    "-ragon One, go for Authentication, over"


    "Authentication Charlie, Omega, Uniform, Tango, Oscar, Foxtrot, Sierra, Papa, Alpha, Charlie, Echo, Two, Four, Niner, over!" Hitsu read the codes on the piece of paper.


    "-ragon One, roger, stand by... ... ... ... authentication checks out, ymore One, good to hear from you again. over!"


    "ymore One, I got a parcel for delivery to Hotel Quebec, go scramble, over," Hitsu grinned at Young who smiled back and plugged in his tablet to the radio transmitter and hit the upload key, "Uploading data package!"


    "Dragon One, copy scramble mode, receiving!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Command


    The specialist manning themunications systems suddenly jolt up in his seat. He had been manning his station for the past three hours with barely any excitement other than the usual radio chatter.


    He epted the iing data package and following his training, he ran an anti virus scan of the data before checking the data.


    "Sir!" He called out to his CO, Captain Joseph after doing a quick read of the info dump, "You need to see this, Sir!"


    Joseph leaned over the specialist''s shoulder and read the data on the screen and he nodded before saying, "Forward it over to HQ on high priority messaging, they need to see this!"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Captain!" The operator called out, "We got an iing priority mail from Orwell''s Point."


    "Send it to my desk," ke replied and he sat down on his chair before pulling his console over and opening the file.


    "Damn me," ke whistled to himself as he read the file. "Call for an emergency meeting for all military departments!"


    "Aye, Captain!"


    -----


    ke sat in his chair in his own office and waited for everyone to arrive before he starts the meeting he called. Other than ke, only Commander Ford and Lt Tavor from Naval Intel were physically present in his office, while the rest were attending the meeting virtually.


    "Alright, ymore One has just sent word that they have found the deserters in a city apparently that was founded by them," ke informed everyone. "They have set up a base for themselves roughly in the middle of the Great Ocean ins."


    "Now, our team has also found the factory and armory where they manufacture and store the weapons and ammunition," ke continued. "They have proposed a strike on each target and they will enter the so called Pce to ensure the deserters are taken care of."


    "So we are going to kill them on the spot?" Pike asked. "No judge and jury?"


    "I am the judge and jury!" ke replied. "In times of war, the act of desertion, murder of fellow crewmembers, stealing of critical war materials, and selling weapons are all crimes punishable by death!"


    Pike nodded, "Just double confirming, Sir!"


    "And you have it, Top! Now, we have their locations," ke looked at everyone. "I want to station our bombers at Orwell''s Point, and bomb the weapon factories and armories to dust!"


    "I want a viable action n by today!" ke ordered. "What are our risks in this operation? What assets are needed? What is our timeline, everything! GO!"


    "AYE AYE CAPTAIN!"


    One by one themanders logged off leaving behind Ford and Tavor.


    "What are your assessment of Orwell''s Point?" ke asked. "Give me your honest opinion."


    Ford nced at the impassive expression of Tavor, knowing that he liked to speak after everyone had said their piece. "Chaotic."


    "There is barely a minimum amount ofw and order," Ford continued. "We have multiple factions vying for control of the city and the Marines are barely able to keep the peace."


    "There is too much anger in the ves and these ves barely respond well to strictws," Ford shook his head. "We won''t get many people willing to integrate into our society easily."


    "Tavor? Your thoughts?" ke asked next.


    "It is as what the XO has said," Tavor replied. "We got too many individual factions and there are several charismatic leaders within those factions. But wepleted our goal of cutting the supply of ves to the south region and also their stream of revenue."


    "I am still sweating the high value targets we caught from Orwell''s Point in the cells," Tavor continued. "Soon they will break and we will be able to question them for all the information they hold."


    "Okay, see to it," ke asked again. "Now how are we gonna hold on to this hot potato we got in our hands?"


    "The merchants are actually the easiest to deal with," Tavor exined. "They care about profit only. They are just angry due to the loss of their work ves and the profit from ve trading."


    "We can offer them some rebates or tax relief and othermercial incentives to pacify them," Ford offered. "It will help in keeping them quiet and happy."


    ke nodded and gestured Tavor to continue with his opinions.


    "The locals are worried about their livelihoods as the freed ves meant the loss of cheapbor. Most of the locals barely had to do any hard work and instead relied on the ves for all kinds of chores." Tavor said.


    "We have to encourage the locals to start working again," Tavor shrugged his shoulders. "They are over reliant on their ves for all their work. Seriously I don''t really have much of an idea on how to get them to move their own butts."


    "Next, the ves are bitter and angry from the treatment they received from their previous owners," Tavor said next. "Not to mention most are from defeated nations and kingdoms or kidnapped from viges and towns."


    "I would rmend we put immigration on hold for the ves from Orwell''s Point," Tavor said. "Instead we can develop a tech and manufactury base there with the manpower we have there instead of shipping them over to Haven. This way we can save the cost of transfers and also slowly screen out who are the ones worth to retain and invest training on. And once the highway to Orwell''s Point ispleted, we can then decide if we want to do arge scale transfer of selected personnel over to Haven."


    Ford nodded in agreement with Tavor''s suggestion leading to ke giving his approval. "Done, I will talk to the Princess to stop the immigration for the time being."


    "And for the loyalists," Tavor frowned. " This will be the hardest foe to fight as they can be anyone. This would be simr to the 2010 conflicts in the middle east and the 2114 insurgency in the outer colonies."


    "Urban gueri warfare," Ford sighed. "This can be very messy."


    "Yes, they know thend and the people," Tavor said. "And we can''t kick door every door we want just to flush them out as it will seriously damage our reputation and support from the locals."


    "And we don''t exactly have much support among the people in Orwell''s Point," Tavor continued. "Even if the ves are grateful to us, they still see us as a form of conquering army."


    "But didn''t we do kinda well with the people of Goldrose and those ves we saved from Falledge," ke cut in. "They willingly joined us pretty fast didn''t they?"


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor replied. "But they had a rallying point, which is the Princess. While the ves from Falledge witnessed how the 101st fought and how we destroyed a hero. That is more than enough to win them over to our side."


    "The prisoners of war were the same," Tavor added. "A defeated army has no honor to return to and after witnessing our firepower, they could be swayed over due to strength difference."


    "So we need someone for them to rally to?" ke raised his eyebrows. "Is there anyone we can do that among the people in Orwell''s Point?"


    "Yes and no, among the leaders holding the ves together we have a few candidates that we can approach," Tavor smiled slyly. "As for a local figure, I think I know someone who fits our goal well."


    "Do what you need to gain support to our side," ke ordered. "We need to win the hearts and minds of the people in Orwell''s Point."


    Tavor nodded before he continued, "Andstly, we have an unknown variable, the cultists. People talk about the cultists as demon worshippers or practitioners of the dark arts or magic."


    "We have very little information regarding them but the general consensus is they are bad, like real bad guys. Live sacrifices, virgin blood, and all that." Tavor said. "We can actually earn quite a lot of goodwill if we can uproot them from the city."


    "But the issues will be digging them out in the first ce and not only that," Tavor sighed. "Each time we find a cult location, it''s almost certain to be booby trapped with some monstrous demon which wrecks the entire area around it."


    "These acts of destruction undermine our standing with the locals and not to mention the damaged property costs is pretty high, and worst if anyone is killed," Tavor said. "In short, it''s hurting us more than hurting them in the long run."


    "I agree too," Ford said. "We need to find a way to permanently stop those cultists while keeping the coteral damage as low as possible."


    "Preferably with a live cultist," Tavor smiled. "I do so want to know what they have inside their minds. What secrets there are!"


    "Ahem," ke coughed ufortably at Tavor''s eerie smile and words. "I am sure the team down at Orwell''s Point is doing all they can to fight and stop the cults."


    "Well, let''s leave it to the people on site to do it, I trust that Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn have everything under control," ke replied. "But now, we need proper ns for a counter insurgency and we need to win the hearts and minds of the people in Orwell''s Point, see to it."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    Haven, Draco Airbase


    The next day, just as dawn broke, the main runway of the airforce base was already packed with five of the PB - 1 Mariners lined up with their crew and support techs swarming over them. One by one, the twin engine flying boats started up, the roar of the engines woke up the nesting wyverns in the nearby trees.


    Three of the five nes were reconfigured back to a bomber role with bomb bays and racks reinstalled over the night while the other two remained as cargo haulers which were loaded with supplies and munitions for the three bombers.


    After a final check waspleted, the lead ne charged down the runway and took off, followed by others one by one. The support crew stood waving their caps wildly at the nes which took off for war disappeared off into the brightening skies.

 Chapter 250: Running Man

    Chapter 250: Running Man


    Uncharted Forest


    "Goddamn it!" Drake cursed as he worked the bolt of his rifle after shooting an Orc of the back of a wind wolf. "Can''t they just give it up already?"


    Slow grunted in agreement as he humped his MG and climbed over a tree root with a panicking ASAG behind him. He braced his MG 1 against the root and sweep fired a long burst into the foliage forcing the obviously modern tactics trained Orcs scuttling for cover.


    A heavy volley of return fire hammered the surroundings of Drake and Slow, blowingrge holes out of the trees and roots. Asagi the little golem iled its fore limbs wildly in the air and tried to bury itself as deep as it could in the recesses of the tree roots which it was taking cover at.


    Wood chips and splinters rained all over Drake and Slow as they ducked under the heavy barrage. "Slow, get back!" Drake yelled as he braced himself and popped up, firing his bolt action at a couple of Orcs running forward over the support of cover fire.


    He caught a nce of his shot bowling over one of the crouching running Orcs before he ducked down from the fury of heavy shells blowing away at his cover.


    "Ahhh!" Drake cried as the bits of wood and moss exploded all around him and he quickly threw himself down to the dirt and crawled rapidly away as his cover got shot up to hell. "Fuck. This. Shit!"


    He scrambled over to another tree just as Slowid down covering fire from his new perch somewhere behind him. The long rip raw burst of the machine gun contrasted differently from harsh barks of the Orcs'' revolver cannons.


    Slow yelped as a 20 mm shell clipped him, ripping out a chunk of his pauldron armor. The ripped steel tings under the padded leather and cloth stabbed into his meaty shoulders while hot lead fragments from the 20 mm shell sttered over his face and neck. "OWW!"


    He ducked down and brushed away the burning fragments from his face, cursing and swearing as he did. He eyed Asagi hiding under the tree root and gave it a kick. "Get out now! MOVE!"


    The spider golem wobbled in fright and skittled off wildly as the Orcs fired at any movement they spotted. If it has a voice it would have squeaked in fear as it ran off with a trail of exploding shell impacts and disappeared into the foliage. Slow gave a puff of relief as he saw Asagi safety gone before he stood up and exchanged fire back with Orcs, yelling out a war cry. "WAAAARRRRH!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Temporary Airbase


    Iskal had worked under three different masters over the nine years since he became a ve. He had a simple life, working on his parent''s farm in a small vige when it was razed by raiders.


    His parents were old and hence ignored while he, being a young and healthy man, was taken by the raiders to be sold. After that, he was traded here an there like livestock, and any ignorance, pride, free will and defiance thoughts were beaten out of him till he only learned to obey the whip.


    He could only dare dream of freedom when he was cuddled together for warmth with dozens of other browbeaten ves at night. But suddenly all that has changed!


    A strange army suddenly attacked the city he was in with his master. He was working as a porter under his merchant master, tasked to carry out mindless tasks of carrying goods from the trade markets to the warehouses and back daily.


    He and the other ves were suddenly awoken by loud thunderps and shes of light in the night. Peering out of the cracks in the hovels, they saw fire and smoke in the city. And the next day, a promation that the city of Orwell''s Point was now under the control of the United Nations, a nation no one has ever heard of!


    Even stranger and wondrous was that the strangely dressed soldiers appeared and dered that very will be ouwed and anyone breaking thew would be dealt with harshly!


    Suddenly, he and the others were freed. The heavy rusty iron cors were struck off from their necks, some who wear the same cor for years had sores and rust stains like tattoos over their necks and cors.


    But with this new found freedom, Iskal was suddenly afraid of facing the world. He and the others had only known a life of pain and following orders. When to work, when to eat, when to sleep, even when to relief themselves.


    He has no idea how to survive with the freedom he has now, or even how to find food. Some others even returned to their old masters and begged them to take them in again as they did not know what to do with their new life at all.


    The newer ves were better off as they still held on to some traces of their previous lives. some left, others found work or started their own work in the city.


    At first, Iskal thought that the new overlords will treat them like ves but to his surprise, they provided food, shelter, and medical care for them. And in the first time after many years. he felt almost respectable again.


    Luckily the new overlords offered jobs for those ves too confused and unable to integrate themselves back to society and Iskal had taken up the offer. Food and shelter were provided and so was pay.


    His new masters had them working on a field nearby the city, digging and ttening the ground beforeying crushed rocks and ck pitch over the area, forming a long rectangle road that was so wide that ten wagons could line up side by side!


    He and the others had no idea what they were doing and why would their new overlords want something, like a road and yet not a road to be built in the middle of no way that doesn''t link to anyce.


    And that wasn''t all when the first flying monsters came, everyone in the city was frightened by the constant roars it made and when itnded by the sea, people came out!


    Iskal was both frightened and amazed by what everyone was calling those as God Flying Chariots as only the power of Gods could make men fly in the skies which seemed to amuse the soldiers greatly.


    Now he sat with a group of other ex ves, enjoying an afternoon meal of freshly baked bread and smoked meat next to the half cylindrical shed that they were building at the side of the ''not a road'' road when they heard the roars of the God Chariots approaching from the skies.


    He looked up in wonder as not one but five of those God Chariots appeared and they did a loop over beforeing down on the ''not a road'' road. Iskal''s eyes lit up as he realized the purpose of the ''not a road'' road was finally for. It was for those God Chariots tond!


    The roars of the God Chariots slowly died down one by one as they moved towards the half cylindrical sheds and tiny figures appeared from it while other men in colorful uniforms ran up to them pushing a smalldder over.


    And once again, not for the first time or anything soon, Iskal felt grateful and amazed by his new overlords for the changes and wonders they had brought over to Orwell''s Point.


    -----


    Uncharted Forest


    Asagi the spider golem skittled madly over the foliage and roots of the forest as it ran in panic. Despite not having any audio receivers, it can perceive noise from the vibrations of its carapace and the loud sounds had frightened it.


    Its core programming had a subroutine check which makes it take preventive measures to protect itself from dangers and it is currently abiding by this rule. It turned back now and then from escape as it ran through the forest, trying to catch a glimpse of its handler.


    It paused after running for over ten minutes were the loud noises were no longer loud, just echos from the forest. It hopped able on its legs as it looked around for its handler but couldn''t see him and its tiny processor brain went into overdrive as it decided what to do next.


    It seemed frustrated and it circled around on the spot while waving its forelimbs around in agony when it suddenly picked up some strange new contacts in its immediate surroundings that sounded huge and heavy approach.


    -----


    Drake dropped his spent Magelock rifle as a wind wolf with an Orc wearing a mixture of leather and iron armor riding on it loomed up from his side. He quickly drew his Single Action revolver and snapped off a few shots at the triumphant expression on the Orc who quickly turned to anguish as the bullets hammered against the Orc''s center of mass.


    He ducked and rolled from the snapping jaws and swipes from the ws of the wind wolf and emptied the remaining chamber of his revolver at the face of the wolf which flinched back from the painful blows.


    Drake quickly ran and reloaded his rifle on the move, making sure to keep his head down as the Orcs spotted him and fired at his direction.


    He suddenly cried out as a spent bullet hammered against his rear ballistic te and knocked him face down onto the dirt floor painfully. He gasped for air as the bullet had knocked the air out of his lungs and heid there painfully for a while before managing to recover himself.


    Slow suddenly appeared next to him and without a word, he scooped Drake up to his feet and growled as they found themselves surrounded from all sides by Orcs and wolves with bloodlust in their eyes.


    "Ahh... fuck..." Drake gasped as he leaned against the side of Slow. He drew hisbat knife out from his harness while Slow did the same with his sword bay, his machine gun had long ago ran out of ammunition. "Come get some you fat bastards!"


    The ring of Orcs suddenly parted to allow a garishly dressed Orc which reminded Drake of some of those red coats in those historical dramas he watched with the rest. The Orc was wearing a crimson red high cor jacket with yellow trims on the cor and sleeves. It sat on a wind wolf and wore a pair of ck riding leathers and boots with metal inserts.


    A revolver cannon rifle sat in a holster before its right leg next to the saddle while the Orc held the reins of the wolf with its gloved left hand.


    "By order of the Marshal, you are now prisoners of the Cabal!" The Orc loudly proimed. "Give up your weapons and we will let you live soft skin..."


    Drake spat and instead went low on abat stance. "Fuck you and fuck your mother and your Marshal and your Cabal pals!"


    The Orc''s expression darkened and he gestured, "The Marshal said to bring you alive, but he didn''t say in how many pieces."


    "Kill the Oerkin and cut off all the limbs of the soft skin, but keep him alive for the Marshal. It will be our offering to our dead brothers!" The red coat Orc growled.


    "WAARGGHHHHH!" The Orcs roared in glee and charged just as something heavy shook thend causing everyone to pause. "-Gahh?"


    Stomps of something massive grew louder and louder while the ground trembled more with each stomp had the Orcs and Marines looking around in fright and confusion. Cracks of trees snapping and toppling could be heard as the monster approached and the red-coated Orc jerked the reins of his wolf, making it backpedal just as a massive shadow crushed through the trees and everyone looked upon the monster with horror.


    "MONSTERR!"

 Chapter 251: My Mech is Fight!

    Chapter 251: My Mech is Fight!


    Rmended song - The kinks - You really got me


    Uncharted Forest


    Corporal Clove pulled the control sticks back in reflex with a creature dashed out from the foliage before his mech, barely stopping in time from crushing the tiny thing with its armored feet.


    "Clove!" The mechmander yelled out, annoyed by his driving. "What the fark was that for?"


    "Sorry, Sarge!" Clove apologized. "Something just ran in front of us and I braked to prevent running it over!"


    "What?" Sergeant Sath frowned as he manipted the cameras mounted forward of the MAW to see what was in front, only to see a spider like creature crouching before them. "What in the world is that?"


    "Sarge... isn''t that an ASAG unit?" The turret gunner cried out as he peered through the gunsights on the spider golem. "What is that unit doing out here all alone?"


    "Fark me if I know!" Sath cried out. He turned to the rear monitors seeing the rest of the convoy had stopped and been waiting behind when the radio crackled.


    "Zero One to Zero Two, What''s the hold up ahead?" Their toonmander asked.


    "Zero Two, erm, we have an A S A G in front of us," Sath reported and he undogged the hatch over his head and climbed out. "Please advise, over!"


    "Zero One, what? An ASAG?" The disbelief in the tone was clear from themander over the radio.


    "Zero Two, that is an affirmative and that thing seems to be trying to get our attention on something!" Sath reported as he watched the spider golem bouncing up and down urgently while using its forelimbs and gesturing deeper towards the forest.


    "Zero One to Two, standby!"


    The mech toonmander''s Lieutenant came over on foot while Sath and the gunner had climbed down and stood next to the ASAG which seemed to be going into a fit from all the bouncing and jerking it was doing.


    "Which unit is it from?" The Lieutenant asked as he watched the strange antics of the spider golem. "Is it damaged or something?"


    "Hmmm, looks like it''s from 2nd Battalion from its markings," Sath replied as he crouched next to the ASAG. "They are sort of sentient, maybe this unit had its brains or something damaged?"


    "But why is it all the way out here?" The Lieutenant looked around their surroundings while frowning. "Could 2nd Battalion lost an ASAG?"


    "It looks battle scarred," Sath rubbed the pockmarks of bullet impacts on the armored hull of the ASAG which was pulling at his uniform and gesturing towards the west. "Strange..."


    "You hear that?" The gunner, Lance Corporeal Moote asked as he gestured everyone to stay quiet while readying his cut down M2 Magesplitter carbine. "There!"


    "Sounds like ... thunder?" Sath frowned. "No, wait, that''s gunfire!"


    The ASAG seemed to understand their words as it ran towards the direction of the distant rumblings and gestured at them.


    "Is there an Operation here that we do not know of?" The Lieutenant frowned. "Fark this, button up! Let''s follow the little one!"


    He ran back to his unit while Sath and Moote climbed back onto theirs. "Zero One to all units, hold and dig in for possiblebat!"


    "Zero Three to hold position, Two, follow that ASAG!!"


    -----


    Clove piloted the mech as best as he could around the trees while trying to keep his eye on the ASAG which was smaller, nimbler and faster in the forestpared to his hulking five meters tall mech.


    The mech smashed through tree branches in its way as it moved over roots and Sath yelled, "Be careful of the tree branches! I don''t want you to damage the gun barrels before we even get to use them!"


    "Yes, boss..." Clove whispered under his breath as he fought the controls to keep the mech from toppling over the roots. "Damn trees!"


    As he crossed one specifically huge specimen of an ever blue tree, he spotted the ASAG waving urgently with its tiny arms as if telling them something. "Sarge?"


    "Yea, I saw that!" Sath replied. "I think we are near! The external pickups are not picking up any more sounds of gunfire. We might be either toote or the party is over!"


    "Zero Two to One, approaching contact zone!" Sath reported as he nodded to the gunner, Moote to arm the guns. "Alright, boys, lock and load!"


    The MAW has a crew of seven, the pilot, the mechmander, turret gunner, two loaders, and a gun each on the side hull with the single .50 caliber machine gun in ball turrets. The left and right ball gunners removed the safeties from their guns and swung the ball turret powered by electric motors around, making sure the controls were working smoothly.


    The ASAG crept up to a tree and peeked over which was quite amusing to the crews of the mech as it helped scouted the way. It suddenly shot its body back and hopped madly in ce while gesturing itsrger cousins to move in.


    "Zero One to Two," The radio spoke. "Proceed with caution! If any friendlies are under fire, you have weapons free!"


    "Zero Two, copy that!" Sath replied. "You heard the boss! Go!"


    Clove grinned as he finally had his wishe true. He had earlier armed the head mounted pilot controlled twin .50 cals machine guns and was gearing to go into battle with guns zing.


    He pushed the mech forward, and the six legs responded, covering the distance easily and not long a strange scene appeared on his right as he sort of over shot the distance.


    A ring of Orcs was standing or mounted on wolves surrounding what appeared to be two Marines with their backs against a tree. They all stared wild eyed directly at the suddenly appearing mech which Clove could see the shocked ck jaws of the Orcs to the firearms in their hands clearly on his monitor.


    One of the Orcs in red riding a wolf yelled something while the two Marines suddenly dived down t and Clove grinned as he turned the facing of his mech towards the group of Orcs.


    The turret whined as Moote swung the gun towards the Orcs and Sath ordered, "Fifties only! Gunner! Load HE and standby! The rest fire!"


    -----


    "Aye! Load HE!" The loaders repeated and they hoisted a 3" shell with a thick yellow band on the shell''s body to indicate its load type. One of them shoved the shell into the opened breech of the 3" gun while the order dropped a powder bag behind and they rammed both into the gun before closing the breech. "LOADED!"


    -----


    As the loaders were working, Clove on hearing his Sarge''s order to fire, he sighted his forward facing guns at the crowd of gawking Orcs and squeezed the red trigger on his control sticks, sending bright yellow-white tracers flickering out towards the surprised Orcs just the gunners on the side ball turrets fired as well.


    The standing bodies of the Orcs suddenly blew apart and seemed to be snatched off by an invisible hand as the tracers through them. Even the wind wolves which had a natural barrier of wind to protect themselves couldn''tst even two seconds under the onught of heavy firepower.


    Drake and Slow kept their heads down as blood rained all over them as the bodies of the Orcs were flung away with gaping holes and missing body parts.


    Those lucky enough to survive the opening barrage screamed in fear and ran, following the red coated Orc whom he abandoned his wolf and ran, keeping himself as low to the ground as possible as the dirt ground around the running Orcs were churned up into the air from the .50 cal impacts.


    Cloveughed madly in the cockpit and pushed his mech forward to close up the distance between his unit and the retreating Orcs as the visibility among the trees were less than ten meters.


    The high powered .50 caliber guns plowed through the Orcs like paper targets, the side turrets swung left and right as they chased the Orcs into the cover of the trees which shook madly from the heavy impacts, sending leaves and twigs raining down over the screaming and dying Orcs.


    Some of the braver Orcs tried to return fire, only to be chewed up by unit Zero One as they came in to join the fray from the nks. As the Orcs dispersed, it became harder to hit any Orcs as they took cover behind the trees and roots.


    "Gunner!" Sath called out as he highlighted a spot with hisser designator on his fire control screen, "Fire on my point!"


    Moote swung the gun turret to the point where Sath hassered, "Mark!"


    "FIRE!" Sath ordered.


    Moote squeezed the butterfly trigger of the 3" gun and the weapon roared, spitting the HE shell out towards the cluster of Orcs cowering behind the trees. Less than a second, the shell buried itself three centimeters into the tree bark before the crashed nose cone of the shell broke the fire runes inside and ignited the bursting charge.


    The explosive snapped the hundred year old tree into half and flung splinters everywhere while toppling over. The Orcs hidden nearby were ttened by the st while blood leaked out from their orifices. Others had splinters piercing into their bodies while their eardrums were ruptured from the exploded HE shell. Those nearest to the st barely were barely recognized as anything living, leaving behind piles of steaming blood and gore.


    The shell shocked Orcs wandered about in a daze only to be cut down by the .50 cal gunfire before the Lieutenant ordered a ceasefire.


    -----


    Drake covered in blood, coughed from the thick blood iron smell in the air and retched as he kept his eyes away from the piles of broken limbs and gore around him. He ignored his surroundings, only picking up his weapons before stumbling away from the scene of carnage to puke properly.


    -----


    Slow followed behind while shaking his head at how easily these Orcs which had chased them for so long were just snuffed out in a matter of seconds!


    He too kept his nce away from the gore, carefully threading his way over the blood while collecting his weapon before he joined Drake who was puking his guts out and patted Asagi fondly on its ''head''.


    -----


    "Fark me!" Sath whispered as he looked at the blood spattered all over the forest from the inside of the mech. "This is unbelievable!"


    Clove grinned and cheered, "Woooo, we kicked ass!"


    "We did more than kick ass!" Sath whispered. "Fark, I pray we are not the unlucky guys assigned to go through all that... shit..."


    "Oh..." Clove paused in his delight as the words sank in. "Fark..."


    -----


    The clearing team retched and vomited as they went through the dismembered corpses and gore, collecting weapons and any intel from the previous owners. Even with masks on, the thick odor of blood made the men sick as they hurriedly checked and cleared the surroundings.


    They found several Orcs still barely alive, their regenerative abilities had already kicked in. Dozens and dozens of Orcish firearms were recovered and the one they identified as the leader of the Orcs in that red coat was not found among the dead or dying.


    The Lieutenant stood over the two Marines they just saved as they reported their situation and frowned as he heard about the part where they shot the hooman deserter but he seemed to be still even getting hit twice.


    "Well. hitch a ride with one of the trucks," the Lieutenant said. "I will ry the information over directly to HQ and see what is their response. For now, get some rest, you two look like shit!"


    Drake n Slow gratefully epted the offer and climbed up to one of the trucks and fell asleep almost immediately squeezing between the stacked crates of supplies.


    -----


    Clove patted the side of his mech and grinned, "Good girl! You fight awesomely!"


    "HAHAHAHAA! My mech is fight!"

 Chapter 252: 252 - Air Raids

    Chapter 252: 252 - Air Raids


    Rmended music - ck Sabbath - Panaroid


    Skies over Sin City


    Blue Thunder grumbled as he did anotherzy circle over the tiny city below. "Must we keep doing this? I''m getting dizzy..."


    "Stop your whining!" Airforce Sergeant Stamford snapped. "Keep circling till we get their reply!"


    "Look!" One the crew cried out, "They are signaling!"


    Stamford and even Blue Thunder craned their necks over to look at the city, seeing shes of lighting from some spot in the city.


    "All... set... ready... for... operation... " their radio operator with the binos glued to his eyes read out the morse code he had memorized by heart. "eleven... tonight... out..."


    "Got it!" Dek the radio operator looked up, "Ops to begin tonight at 11 pm!"


    "Good!" Stamford replied and smacked the side of Blue Thunder. "Now give them a roar to acknowledge the message!"


    Blue Thunder sucked in arge lungful of air and roared out while spewing mes as they flew off towards Orwell''s Point, leaving behind a city of bewildered people.


    -----


    As night fell, the men of ymore One split into three teams and headed towards the crude sewage system of the city. The men dressed in dark cloaks with weapons and armor hidden under crawled through the sewage tunnels, carefully casting counterspells to hoodwink the detection runes carved into the basic sewage system.


    Climbing out of the grates, the men cleaned themselves off as much filth as possible and used spells to remove the odor from their bodies to prevent the enemy from sniffing them out. After which they split off to their own objectives.


    -----


    Tyrier with Tavel led the newest member of the Team, Wolf towards the most heavily guarded objective of their mission tonight, the Treasury. Rows of braziers lit the perimeter walls of the Treasury building with shadows of patrolling Orcs moving up and down the walls.


    They cast Agility Up, Stealth, Grace, and Non Detection spells over themselves before sprinting across the wide expanses that separated the civic building from the other structures in the inner city.


    Reaching the walls, they hid in the shadows between two light globes of the lit braziers. Tyrier and Tavel gripped hands to form a step and gestured Wolf who is the lightest among them to jump up the four meters tall walls. Wolf took a short running start andnded one foot on the hand step while the other two tossed him up over the walls.


    Landing nimbly on the walls, Wolf checked his surroundings before uncoiling the rope he had over his back and dropped it down to the rest below after securing it to the battlements of the wall.


    Shortly, Tyrier and Tavel joined him up on the way. "We got 20 minutes before the guard''s patrol here! Drop the package on the roof and get back here before the patrol is back!"


    Wolf and Tavel nodded and they disappeared down the wall and into the shadows.


    -----


    Hitsu and Loke, forming Squad Two, headed towards the main barrack''s Armory. They slipped between the paths of patrolling Orcs and the asional wind wolf, thankful that they have cleansed the odor of the sewers away.


    Seeing therge blocky stone structure across the street with several Orc guards milling around the gates, Hitsu and Loke stopped and took a moment to find the best point of entry. They had spent the whole week reing the ce and had identified a few entrances they can use to enter the walled barracks.


    One of through the side wall where they could swing a rope across from the roof of a local''s residence to the walls of the barracks and crawl their way in.


    The other was to scale the walls up by the far end of the barracks as the walls there were built more unevenly, allowing plenty of footholes for anyone who is proficient enough in climbing, could do so.


    Thest option was to wait till the Orcs guards were changing shifts as there will be a short period where the guards will abandon their posts to go rouse the taking over Orcs awake from their beds.


    "Wait or climb?" Tavel asked as he watched the chatting Orcs at the gates.


    Hitsu nced at his watch and frowned. "We got some time still, the Orcs should be changing shift soon!"


    Tavel nodded and they settled down to wait.


    -----


    Altied and Young carefully slipped over the walls of the Factory, bypassing the magic detection runes and guards easily. They kept to the shadows and climbed up the roof from the stack of empty crates and carefully made their way over to the main Factory building and peered into the windows to confirm the location of the fabricator.


    They had red the factory a few times in the past week, getting the feel of the area and making sure the high tech fabricator was in the factory. To their surprise, they actually found one more of the machines beside the original fabricator that was stolen. The new fabricator looked cruderpared to the original and that had rmed Tyrier who pressed for the Operation to go ahead sooner in case they had replicated more fabricators.


    The rest of the time, they spent searching the inner city for more fabricators and weapon stockpiles. It was only these three locations that ymore One has positively identified to hold the means and results of the weapons that Tyrier finally sent word to begin the bomb raids.


    Altied pulled out a slim tube out from his pouch and gave it a twist on the head. The beacon beeped softly and an infra signal invisible to the naked eyes started pulsing. He taped the infra beacon onto the roof of the Factory and nodding to Young, the two ymore One soldiers proceeded to sneak off the premises to safe ground.


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Airfield


    Airforce pilot Goldan, started flipping switches after he buckled into his seat. He and his co pilot started to run the usual pre flight checklist before taking off. "Batteries okay, checking brakes and hydraulics."


    "Check!"


    "Fuel tanks? Tanks one, two, three and four?"


    "Check! All good!"


    "Okay, signal to start number one!" Goldan ordered.


    His co pilot leaned out of the side of the cockpit and gestured the ground crew that they were starting the number one engine. Goldan pushed down on the starter switch for the number one engine and held it down for about fifteen seconds, while he set the hand primer with his other hand and gave it a few good pumps to get the air out of the primer lines.


    Once he was done, his co pilot unlocked the fuel mixture controls while Goldan pressed down on the mesh switch. The co pilot immediately pulled the engine one fuel mixture lever all the way back to full rich mixture when the engine coughed and started up.


    Goldan checked the oil pressure gauge that slowly rose up and hovered around the 70 mark before testing the RPM of the engine by adjusting the throttles to one thousand. Once satisfied he nodded and said, "Signal the guys we are starting Number Two!"


    The whole process was repeated for the other engine and soon the flying boat was ready to take off. "Omega Tower, this is Seagull One, request taxi instructions for Seagull Flight over."


    "Seagull One you are cleared for runaway zero one to the southwest, over."


    "Seagull One, roger, requesting wind information." Goldan continued asking.


    "Omega Tower, wind at North north East, speed, one five klicks, over."


    "Seagull One, roger, out!" Goldan ended the radioms and said to his co pilot. "Let''s go!"


    His co pilot gestured the ground crew and they rushed over to remove the wheel chocks and other equipment before giving the pilots the all clear signal. Goldan returned the salute of the crew ground as he taxied the ne to the runway.


    One by one, the Mariner flying boats eased out of the hangars behind them and lined up for their turn on the runway.


    "Alright! Let''s go!"


    -----


    Sin City, Inner City


    The men of ymore One had gathered at the rendezvous point nearby the gate that led into the so called Pce of the City. They hide among the shadows while waiting nervously for the nes to arrived to kick start the whole operation, constantly checking their watches and fidgetting around.


    Tyrier nced at his watch, seeing the seconds counted down away to 2300 hours and peered out to the dark skies. "Any time now boys!"


    -----


    On approach to Sin City


    The FB 1 Mariners had all of its onboard weapons and crew removed, only leaving behind the pilot, co pilot cum bomber, and a navigator cum radio operator onboard.


    The extra weight removed allowed it to carry more ordinance and fuel for the trip to the city and back as the travel time was roughly three hours to the target and another three hours back.


    Hardpoints on the wings carried extra fuel tanks to give the nes more flight time and internally, they carried a mixture of napalm canisters and 250 kg high explosive cast iron bombs.


    The three bombers each held a six napalm canisters and twelve 250 kg bombs internally and each was assigned to a specific target that they had all been briefed and tasked on before beginning the mission.


    The pilots all wore night vision goggles inside the cockpit and they easily saw the glow of the city as they approached at an altitude of 1,200 m above ground level. The nes slowly dropped their attitude till they reached roughly 500 m above ground level and the bomb bays cranked out.


    -----


    "What is that?" Tyrier suddenly jerked up as bells started ringing in the city. "Did they found us?"


    "No..." Loke said as he peeked out of their hiding spot. "I.. I think they spotted the bombers!"


    "But how?" Tyrier frowned. "Damn it!"


    They could see dozens and dozens of Orcs rushing out from the barracks and other dwellings as they ran to manned their defensive posts. Globes of light floated up into the air as Orc shamans and ve mages cast illumination spells into the skies.


    The ringing of the bells grew in intensity as more of the city were roused awake and from the illumination of the floating light spells, Tyrier finally saw what that had made him feel uneasy about all this time.


    The covered up and tightly guarded weapons turned out to be some sort of an anti air gun! An Orc gleeful sat on the crude seat and pulled the gun mounts to rest against his shoulders. Two long and thick pock holed barrels poke out pointing to the skies while other Orcs pped thick boxes of shells on to the gravity loaded bolt mechanism of the AA guns.


    "Oh shit," The men of ymore One cursed as they stood up from their hiding spot and stared at the closest AA gun on the roof of a building. The gun roared and spat bolts of yellowish beams towards the sky at some unseen target which the men knew it must be their bombers!


    -----


    Goldan frowned when suddenly he noticed his night vision appeared to be glowing brighter and brighter as he approached the city. He pulled his goggles up and cursed as he saw the city had globes of floating illumination spells over them and suddenly, what seemed to be streaks of light flickered towards his ne.


    "Shit! We are under fire!" His co pilot screamed out as a couple of holes appeared next to him on the hull of the ne. "They got anti air guns!"


    "Seagull One to Omega Point! We are under AA fire! Repeat under heavy AA fire!" Goldan yelled into the radio as he pulled the bomber up. "FARK!"


    "We are in bombing range!" His co pilot yelled as he poked his eye on the bombsight, seeing the infra beacons blinking away on the ground beneath him. "What do we do?"


    "Fark!" Goldan cursed as the AA fire has knocked him off course.


    "We line up again andplete the damn mission!"

 Chapter 253: Kill Team

    Chapter 253: Kill Team


    Rmended music: Marilyn Manson - Killing Strangers


    Sin City, Inner Wall Battlements


    Moor the Oerkinughed bombastically as he sat on the pedal seat of the anti air Pow Pow Gun nicknamed by the rest. He yelled at the rest of his crew who heldrge metal blocks each containing 20 shells of 20 mm ammunition to hurry it up.


    The support Oerkins shoved the ammo stacks upside down into the feeding well of the dual cannons and Moor pulled the bolts back to load both cannons. There was a crude wire sight, made out of two ''O''s and Moor stepped on the pedals that looked simr to bicycle pedals to rotate the whole gun turret.


    The turret turned with the squeak of badly oiled gears and Moor rested the ''C'' shaped gun butts over his shoulders as he swung the guns upwards into the night sky that were illuminated by dozens of floating spells.


    He was very proud of the fact that he was made Gunner as only a selected few were chosen and had to pass the Gunner test! He peered into the two gunsights, remembering in his training to align both ''O''s together before firing and scanned the night skies.


    Suddenly one of his support Oerkin yelled and pointed to the sky. A pale ''t'' shape could be roughly seen against the pitch ck of the night as the strange flying object had its belly lit up by the illumination spells.


    Distant roars of the Pow Pow Guns could be heard as they too spotted the strange flying creature. Flicks of glowing darts flew into the night skies, chasing after the creature.


    Moor grinned and swung his guns towards the fast approaching creatures as the night sky appeared to glow with hundreds of glowing darts and spells. With his arms stretched out under the 20 mm cannons, he squeezed the trigger on the pistol grips and the whole Pow Pow Gun roared deafening and the recoil hammered painfully against his shoulder.


    "WAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAA!" Moorughed as he held down the trigger, watching the huge muzzle sh spitting out from the cannon muzzles. Bolts of tracers shot out into the night sky, most of it barely even reaching anyway near the flying creatures but Moor didn''t care as he was enjoying himself greatly.


    Just a short several secondster, the bolts of the cannons locked back as the magazines ran dry and the Oerkin support crew snatched away the emptied magazines and reced with fresh mags, allowing Moor to continue sting happily away into the night skies.


    "POW POW POW!!! MUUHAHHAAHAHAHAA!!!! MORE POW POW!!!"


    -----


    Skies of Sin City


    "Break! Break! Break!" Goldan yelled into the squadronms, "Break up and reform up for bombing run! It''s going to be a hot run!"


    The three bombers split their formation and broke away from each other as fiery bolts of tracers chased them. The tracers appeared to move so slowly from the ground before flickering past the bombers who rosed their altitudes higher.


    "Shit, we can''t do a low level bombing run!" Goldan cursed as he left the dangerous airspace of flying lead. "Our uracy will drop by a lot!"


    "Just get me over the target and I will do the rest!" His co pilot cum bomber yelled. "You worry about keeping us afloat, I worry about the bombs!"


    The three bombers surprised by the presence of AA guns had managed to escape the AA over the city with a few torn holes in their fusge that were caused by luck more than how urate the Orcs shooting were.


    This time, the bombers knew what the enemy has in store for them and they rosed to an altitude of 750 m above ground level before heading back into the fray.


    With his eyes glued to the bomb aiming device, the co pilot of Seagull One, mentally calcted the distance and height and gauged the proper timing to release the bombs from experience gained from bombing the Goblin City.


    He saw the pulsing glow of the beacon appearing on the bomb sights among all the flickers of tracers and magic spells. He adjusted the targeting cross hairs and said, "Keep the ne level and speed constant! Bombing run lock in!"


    "Got it!" Goldan replied as he calmed his nerves and kept the ne as level as possible while keeping his airspeed constant. He tried to avoid watching the glows of the tracers darting up towards his ne, knowing behind those tracers were more bullets following behind that were invisible to the eye.


    The ne shook slightly as a few shells punched holes through the left wing but the structure held. "Shit!" Goldan cursed as he fought the controls to keep the ne stable. "Anytime now!"


    "DROP! DROP! DROP!" His co pilot suddenly yelled and flicked the bomb release switches.


    Almost instant, a rolling crank could be felt throughout the bomber as the bombs in the back dropped off in series. The bomber suddenly lightened, rosed up and Goldan quickly applied power to the throttles and pulled the ne controls up, bringing his bomber out of the danger zone.


    His co pilot struck his face against the side windows and waited for the fiery mushrooms to appear in the city. "Think we hit what we supposed to hit?"


    "Who knows?" Goldan growled. "Let those on the ground sort them out, we delivered the package and it''s time to run! We ourselves got some shit to worry too!"


    He rapped the fuel pressure gauge of the left wing and said, "Those bastards have damaged our fuel lines, pray that we can make it home in one piece!"


    -----


    The Mk II low drag general purpose bomb spun slowly on its axis as it left the bomb racks. It has a nominal weight of 250 kg but its actual weight with the fuze was closer to 257 kg. It arced beautifully with the rest of its brothers and sisters towards the ground and just before it touched the ground, its extended-nose fuze mmed the fire runes together as it touched the ground first and ignited the 122kg of high explosive filling just before the bomb touches the ground.


    Instantly the building which the bomb impacted against vapourised from the st for the sudden explosion. The low quality concrete, wood and stone barely able to withstand even a split second of the force of the explosion.


    Barely secondster, the rest of the eleven Mk II GP bombs rained down in a vertical spread barely two hundred meters apart and everything in its path was turned to fire and ash instantly.


    The six napalm canisters each holding 100 L of a mixture of liquid Dragonite fuel and bio rubber made from slimes spun wildly as the canisters were a high drag design. They shook wobbly from the shock waves of the exploding Mk II bombs before hitting the ground seconds after the explosions faded.


    The thin cased canisters smashed apart and spewed a thick reddish liquid across the area before a fire rune ignited and set the whole mixture into mes, turning the surrounding area into an inferno.


    This phenomenon repeated itself over two other locations, turning the inner city into a sea of fire.


    -----


    Screams and cries rang out from the city as ves, merchants, residents, and Orcs ran about in panic from the sudden spread of destruction. Several parts of the inner city wall had seemingly disappeared in the sudden explosions with the mage fire that seemed to be unable to be doused with water.


    Dispelling the domes of protection that everyone cast, Tyrier coughed and swept away the dusty and smoky air caused by the bombings. Thankfully none of the bombs had impacted near them or even with seven protection spells one on top of another, they properly won''t be able to make it out alive.


    He scanned his surroundings and other than copsed buildings and raging mes, there wasn''t anyone alive that he could see on the streets. "Let''s go!"


    His team gathered themselves and they sprinted off as best as they could over the shattered streets, heading towards the Pce.


    The Orc guards at the main gate of the Pce were mostly suffering shock shell effects of the bombs. Tyrier and his men shot them where they stood, sat, orid down and they advanced through the gates and into the Pce.


    Climbing therge flight of steps to reach the main doors of the Pce, they shot at any Orcs that presented themselves. Damages to the Pce could be seen as the air cleared slightly from the cracked concrete steps and walls to the shattered roof tiles littering the floors.


    The Orc guards barely had any chance to defend themselves as several suppressed shots put them down and the men stacked up on both sides of the double doors. Tyrier gestured to Wolf to open the doors and when the doors swung outwards, the men stormed in, covering the inside of the Pce, sweeping left and right. "Clear!"


    The interior of the Pce stretched out into a long hallway, with a long red and gold trim carpet that sat in the middle, leading up to a flight of stairs that branched into two ways.


    "Squad Three, check the first floor!" Tyrier ordered. "One and Two, upstairs!"


    Altied and Young split from the group and they each took up one side of the hallway and proceed to clear the ground level while the rest advanced upstairs. "Take the right wing," Tyrier ordered Hitsu and Loke while his team headed to the left side of the grand stairs.


    They searched room after room, finding ves huddled under tables or beds in fear. They ignored the ves but shot down the Orcs or ves who rushed them without any hesitation. "Where are your masters?" Tyrier demanded from a couple of cowering ves after securing the left wing of the Pce.


    "We don''t know! Don''t kill us!" The ves wearing golden cors and white robes cried out in fear.


    "Damn!" Tyrier cursed. "Team, what''s your situation?"


    "Two,ing up to what seemed like the throne room, over."


    "Three, ground level mostly cleared. No hoomans spotted, over."


    "One, roger, Two hold up, Three continue sweep and hold main exit for extraction." Tyrier ordered before waving his men to where Squad Two were at.


    "Three, copy that."


    Tyrier and his squad backtracked to the stairs and found Hitsu and Loke at the end of a luxuriously decorated corridor with dozens of dead Orcs littering the way. All of them died with looks of surprise on their face. "Any rm yet?" Tyrier asked.


    Hitsu shook his head, "I don''t think so. We managed to take them down before they made any noise, except hitting the floor."


    "We found mostly offices or administration rooms here," Hitsu gave an update of their sweep of the right wing of the Pce. "That''s thest room we found and we suspect it the throne room of sorts since we found over a dozen of the Orcs guarding it."


    Tyrier nodded and leaned against the massive ornately carved wooden double doors and tried to listen into the other side. He managed to hear some faint and muffled voices before he stepped back. "Alright, we gonna breach, bang and clear it!"


    Hitsu nodded and he swung out a sling bag and dug his hands into it, before pulling out several blocks of explosive. He handed some over to Loke and they two struck the blocks of explosive against the solid looking double doors.


    Hitsu poked several fuzes into the blocks and uncoiled a roll of wire before attaching it into his hand held detonator. The rest fell back from the doors, seeking cover before Tyrier nodded and Hitsu gave the detonator a few nks, building an electric charge and squeezed the detonator trigger, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"


    He turned away from the st as the double doors blew inwards, kicking up bits of concrete and smoke in the corridor. "FLASH OUT!" Tyrier yelled as he and the rest each tossed a shbang as far into the room as possible.


    shes of eye searing light followed by loud deafening cracks echoed out from the room. "GO! GO! GO!"


    The men of ymore One charged through the smoke and into the throne room with their weapons up and ready.

 Chapter 254: Article 75

    Chapter 254: Article 75


    Sin City, Great Hall


    Raman stormed hurriedly into the Great Hall where the rest of his cadre sat around with worried looks on their face. Ivan waved the Orc guards away and ordered them to guard the main doors before closing and bolting the doors.


    Raman grabbed a pitcher of watered wine and poured himself a goblet, shooing the ve away who offered to do the work. He slumped down on the chair at the head of the table and said, "How? HOW?!"


    Nics De Vos standing by the windows watching the destruction of the inner city turned back and looked at the Raman was in a state of panic and sighed. "You are too greedy!"


    "I warned you that we shall stay low for the time being, but no... you want to expand your powers and control of the area," Nics spat. "Now look at what you have done! They have found us!"


    Raman paused in his fidgeting and red at Nics by the window, "Didn''t you enjoy the spoils too? Now it''s all my fault?"


    "Enough guys!" Ramu stood up and smacked the table hard. "ENOUGH!"


    Raman and Nics turned away from ring at each other and looked at Ramu who said, "Now the important thing is, is there an army outside the gates? Or is this just a strategic bombing?"


    "I have confirmed earlier that three ces are hit, Tony said from his seat on the table. He took arge gulp of the goblet of wine before him and said. "The factory, the Administration, and the Barracks are hit by the bombs."


    "Leung... " Tony took another gulp of the wine, "Is most likely buried under the Administraction building..."


    "Shit..." The rest looked at each other. Every one of the original eight was here except Aaron who was leading an expedition to find what the snake wants. Now one of them was dead.


    "If this was just a strategic strike, they just destroyed half of what we have built up!" Kumar who was running the production department cried out. "All the time and effort... Gone! Just like that!"


    "Calm down!" Raman snapped, his nerves returning. "We knew that they will find us sooner orter, and we made some ns for that! They must have sneaked some spies in and they found out which buildings and areas are a high priority."


    "I doubt they have the capability tounch a ground attack, we will be able to see theming miles away," Raman said. "But I underestimated that they have some kind of bombers! I assumed they will attack with those converted cargo haulers!"


    "We prepared those AA guns as a surprise for those low lying gunships, now we need to rethink how to rebuild our production base!" Raman said. "We can''t have the ves nor the Orcs think we are weak! We need to be able to better protect ourselves and show those pretentious assholes that there are consequences if they fuck with us!"


    "Wait," Nics cut in, "What are you going to do? Upgrade the weapons we have to the Orcs?"


    "No, we sell weapons to the Empire and get them to wipe those fuckers off the face of this!" Raman cried out with a crazed light in his eyes. "We will show those fuckers!"


    "Are you crazy?!" Nics cursed just as the rest looked among themselves uneasily, "You know what consequences there will b-?!"


    The double doors suddenly blew inwards and several splinters the length of a man''s hands sliced through Nics as he bent over the table ring at Raman, sending him gaggling on to the floor.


    The shock wave knocked the rest over their chairs and they stood up on their feet in confusing with blood caused by the cuts from the splinters. Raman wiped the flecks of Nics''s blood off his face as he sat dumbly on the floor with his ears ringing when he sat several dark tubes rolled in. His armorer knowledge kicked in and he recognized the tubes as shbangs.


    He quickly threw hisrge bulk behind the upturned table and plugged his ears with his fingers and opening his mouth just as the shbangs detonated. He screamed as his ear ringed painfully and he quickly crawled his way to the back entrance of the hall.


    -----


    "GO! GO! GO!"


    They rushed into the room, finding an upturned table and five bodies in rolling about on the ground from the effects of the shbang. "Tag and bag them!" Tyrier ordered coldly as he swept the area.


    Tavel dragged the closest hooman to the side and wrenched the crying man''s arm behind before cuffing him by the thumbs. The rest did the same while Hitsu called out, "We got a door here!"


    "Go check it out!" Tyrier ordered and Hitsu and Loke disappeared through it.


    Tyrier turned and looked down at the five men, one of themid squirming by the table in a pool of his own blood, choking on his blood while Wolf crouched next to him.


    Wolf looked up at Tyrier who shook his head slightly and Wolf nodded and stood up, denying the man any medical assistance as the choking man with a splinter in his throat gasped and reached out to try to grab Wolf''s arm who stepped out of reach.


    Tavel using his tablet, verified each person''s facial features and names, followed by fingerprinting each of the arrested persons.


    Wolf walked among the hoomans are using a video camera, he carefully video and record each person''s facial features properly before zooming out to the capture the four kneeling men.


    "Who the fuck are you!"


    Tyrier stood before them and pulled out a small notepad, flipping pages till he found the correct page. "By the authority granted to me by the highest level ofmand, Captain Richard ke, United Nations Naval Command, You five havemitted the most serious crime of Desertion in time of war. Under UN Article 75, the crime is punishable by death or other such punishment as a court-martial."


    He paused and looked at the kneeling men who were recovering from the effects of the shbang. "Do you understand your crimes?"


    The four looked at each other in fear and nodded hurriedly. "Y-yes..."


    "Good, then it will be simple," Tyrier gave a cold smile. "And together for the crime of Murder One of two fellow UNNC servicemen during your desertion, also the crime of stealing properties of the UN and selling weapons to the enemies of the UN, the Captain has judged and dered your punishment by death!"


    "W-wait?" The four eyes turned wide as they look up in horror. "W- We demand a trial! W- We have rights you damn savages!"


    Tavel and Wolf each took up positions behind the condemned men who screamed, plead, and begged for their lives. "Make ready!" Tyrier''s expression remained impassive as the men of ymore One drew out their service revolvers as one and pointed at the back of the condemned human skulls.


    "Take aim!"


    "NOOO YOU BASTA-!!"


    "Spaceman Apprentice Ramu Garcia, Spaceman Siddarth Kumar, both found guilty of desertion underbat and aplices to the murder of Spaceman Ryan Lim and Spaceman Apprentice Hio Aoi. You are hereby sentenced to death by firing squad without trial!" Tyrier dered and nodded to Tavel and Wolf who stood behind the two. "FIRE!"


    "FUC-!"


    BAAAM! BAAAM!


    "Spaceman Senior Tony Petrynec found guilty of desertion underbat and aplices to the murder of Spaceman Ryan Lim and Spaceman Apprentice Hio Aoi. And Petty Officer 2nd ss Ivan Pavlo, found guilty of desertion underbat and to the cold blooded murder of Spaceman Ryan Lim and Spaceman Apprentice Hio Aoi. You are hereby sentenced to death by firing squad without trial!" Tyrier snapped his booklet shut and nodded to Tavel and Wolf who had step over the lifeless bodies and stood behind the two.


    "I GOT RIGHTS! I AM A DAMN HUMAN! YOU ARE JUST FUCKING MONKEYS WHO WE BROUGHT UP! YOU FUCKIN-!"


    "FIRE!" BAAM! BAAM!


    Four bodiesid face down with the back of their skulls blown away, blood and brain matter scattered across the rich carpets. Tyrier turned and drew his revolver and stood over thest dying hooman in his own blood and said formally. "Spaceman Senior Nics De Vos found guilty of desertion underbat and aplices to the murder of Spaceman Ryan Lim and Spaceman Apprentice Hio Aoi. You are hereby sentenced to death by firing squad without trial!"


    And he fired, hitting the forehead of the hooman whos eyes remained open.


    "Pack it up! We only got five confirmed kills here! We still got three more to find!" Tyrier ordered. Wolf retrieved the video camera from the table where he recorded the whole proceedings and carefully packed it away.


    "Two, this is One, location?" Tyrier asked.


    "Two, chasing one of the hoomans, we appeared to be in the north wing of the Pce!" Hitsu voice replied.


    "Roger, we are on the way," Tyrier replied as the men reloaded their weapons. "Wait..."


    He felt a strange tingling sensation of magical energy and he turned and cursed. "Fark this shit..."


    The bodies of the executed appeared to be smoking. The GSW on the backs of the dead had tendrils of smoke rising and before their very eyes, the wound closed up and the dead coughed and cursed.


    "Mother fuckers! I fucking kill you fucking monkeys!" One of the supposed dead pushed himself up to a kneeling position. "You hear! I fucking kill you!"


    Without a word, the three ymore One soldiers flipped their carbines up and fired. The suppressed weapons tearing chunks of flesh off the half kneeling men with their arms still bound behind their backs.


    They jerked and danced as bullets pping into their bodies, throw flecks of blood and gore all over the Great Hall before the ammunition ran out and the bodies mmed face down again in their own pool of blood.


    Tyrier and the rest quickly reloaded their weapons. "What was that!?" Wolf whispered as he kept his eye on the bodies while pping in a new mag into his M2 carbine.


    "Farkers must have signed some pact with the Oerkin Shamans!" Tavel spat over the side as he stepped to the side to cover the bodies. "Farking dark magic!"


    "-hahahhah! ack! ahhaha!" One of the bodiesughed and coughed wetly. "Orcs shamans? Those savage weaklings? No!"


    The speaking body pushed himself to a sitting position before grunting and ripping his thumbs off the restraints, sending more blood sttering across the room. He looked at the exposed bones of his thumbs and winced. "It hurts like fuck you know?"


    Tyrier fired again, aiming for the head. His shots blew half the head away of theughing hooman and the others following his lead, firing again and emptied their magazines into the reviving bodies of the hoomans.


    ck smoke tendrils coiled around the wounds of the hoomans and the wounds slowly closed up again. The hooman known as Tonyughed and coughed again as he sat there watching the ymore One troops stepping back while reloading to put some distance between them.


    "You.. ack! Can''t kill us!" He grinned and wiped the blood from his face which dissipated into ck smoke. Even the blood in the room was slowly vaporizing into ck smoke. "The Great Serpent is our patron!" His eyes glowed with madness as he yelled. "WE CAN''T DIE! HAHAHAHAHA"


    "Shut the fark up!" Tyrier yelled as he suddenly elerated forward while drawing his sword bay and shing down. Tony''sughing head flew off from his body and Tyrier continuously fired his M2 into the rest, forcing them to keep reviving.


    "Cut off their heads! Salt and burn them!" He quickly ordered. Tavel and Wolf charged forward and hacked at the reviving hoomans with their des, turning the whole room into a charnel house.


    Tyrier pulled out a bottle of salt and quickly poured it over the bodies. The tendrils of smoke appeared to avoid the salt while seeming appeared to coiled around angrily before dissipating away.


    "Looks like its working!" Tyrier grinned as he saw the wounds of the hoomans appeared to be struggling to recover. He nodded to Tavel and Wolf who each held a thermite grenade in each hand.


    "Burn mutherfarkers... burn!"

 Chapter 255: Bag of Infinite Ammo

    Chapter 255: Bag of Infinite Ammo


    Outskirts of Sin City


    The skies of over the distant city lit up and brights dots of lights continuously floated away before disappearing into the darkness of the night skies.


    Blue Thunder sniffed and whimpered with pain as his crew poured antiseptic over his torn wing membranes before stretching them and using arge sewing needle to sew the torn pieces together.


    "Oh, you big baby!" Rastraz giggled from the side as she stretched her serpentine body out leisurely. "It''s just a small wound!"


    Blue Thunder lowered his head grumpily and retorted in a low voice, "I see how you fare when you get shot next!"


    "What?" Rastraz''s golden eyes glowed as she red at Blue Thunder who looked away acted innocent.


    Crew Chief Sergeant Stamford gave a smack on the side of Blue Thunder and said, "All done, you big baby!"


    "Why can''t you use duct tape?" Blue Thunder gave his damaged wings a few experimental ps. "I don''t like needles!"


    "All the duct tapes have been confiscated by Logistics!" Stamford grumbled as he helped the rest pack up the sewing kits and medical supplies. "They did an all department wide sweep, collecting all the duct tapes back, saying that our total stocks of tape are in critical levels and we are wasting it too much on many unless things!"


    "What? Noooo... I want duct tape!" Blue Thunder whined. "At least it does hurtpared to needles!"


    "Than stop getting yourself shot!" Stamford sighed as he shoved the medical kit into Blue Thunder''s harness while Rastraz guffawed wildly on the side.


    Blue Thunder sadly replied, "But bullets have no eyes... I can''t control where they fly..."


    Stamford shook his head and looked over to the burning city whose anti air defenses were still firing wildly off into the night skies like some sort of fireworks even when all air assets had long left the airspace of the city.


    "Well, pack it up, we are going back to take some images of the city before we head back to base!"


    -----


    Sin City. Pce of the Cabal


    Hitsu and Loke cautiously entered the back door and followed the sounds of footsteps stomping away in the distance. After checking the corridor was clear, they hastened their steps after that person who was running away from them.


    They came out of the corridor to find themselves in another wing of the Pce where several doorways could be seen. A sudden roar and a couple of Orc guard from one of the doorways fired at them, blowing arge chunk of ster and wood out of the walls next to Hitsu.


    The two ymore One soldiers ducked and took cover before leaning out of cover to return fire at the Orc guards. The loud roars of the Orcish guns drowned out the suppressed barks of their weapons.


    Hitsu yelled, "Cover me!" before he did a quick dive and rolled to the other side of the hallway. Large holes appeared around Hitsu as he rolled to cover as the Orcs fired gleefully at him.


    Loke snapped his trigger rapidly, sending round after round down the hallway, blowing small holes around the Orcs'' cover. As he returned to cover, he caught a glimpse of more and more Orc guardsing to reinforce the area. "Shit! More Orcs!"


    "Cover me! Buy me a couple of minutes!" Hitsu cried out as he dug into his sling bag and pulled out weapon parts before fiddling with them. He quickly assembled an MG 1 from parts he retrieved from the bag before digging out a belt of ammunition.


    He pped the top cover down once he aligned the links of 8.6  70 mm ammunition in ce and worked the cocking lever, chambering a round into the firing chamber. Hitsu made sure that belt of ammunitioning out from the Bag of Holding was not snagged before he leaned out of cover and let his machine gun rip.


    The high powered 8.6 x 70 mm rounds copied after the .338 Norma Magnum were designed for high precision sniper rifles and medium machine guns tore through the cheap concrete, wood, and ster easily, blowing fist sized holes in the walls. Most managed to prate the weaken walls and hammered at the Orcs taking cover.


    Hitsu slowly moved out of cover as he hosed down one side of the hallway, suppressing the Orcs down before switching fire to the other side. Loke quickly formed up behind Hitsu and the two advanced down the hallway soaked with Orcish blood and spent casings.


    -----


    Screams of agony tore from the wiggling tendrils of ck smoke as the thermite grenades burnt through the hacked body parts and carpet. Tyrier and his team stepped back from the intense re of the mes as the concrete and wood of the floor glow red and slowly melted.


    The creepy ck smoke squirmed and faces could be seen forming within the smoke as it tried to escape the mes. "AHHHHHHIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"


    "What in the thirteen hells are those things?" Wolf asked with wild eye horror.


    "Dark magic," Tyrier replied, "Yet, it is not the Orc''s magic..."


    "Yea, that hooman said something about a Great Serpent god..." Tavel added. "Fark, we dealing with Gods again? Thest time we met a Hero with some God artifact, it didn''t go so well..."


    Tyrier kept quiet as his mind raced while watching the ck smoke with the faces dissipated away. "Well. at least they can be destroyed using the same methods to dealing with the undead!"


    "See if there is any intel worthwhile here, if not set some charges," Tyrier ordered. "Destroy everything here."


    "Squad Three, what''s your situation?" Tyrier spoke into hisms.


    "Three, we got somepany at the ground level hallway but so far nothing we can''t handle, over."


    "Copy that. One to Two, report!"


    "Two, facing heavy resistance, in pursit of a Tango, over!"


    "Roger, we areing your way. Out." Tyrier turned back to the rest who had was still looking around the ce. "Anything interesting?"


    "Got some ounting books and ledgers," Tavel said. "Nothing else."


    "Wolf, you done?" Tyrier asked.


    "Almost!" Wolf plugged in the detonator fuze into thest block of explosive that he taped to the side of the wall before he twisted the together the slow burning fuze cords together. "Fifteen minutes fuze?"


    Tyrier nodded, "Do it."


    Wolf used a worn looking stic lighter and carefully lit the fuze lines. The slow burning fuze caught fire and started fuzzing away. "Done! Let''s get out of here!"


    Tyrier led the way out of the Great Hall and into the side door where Hitsu and Loke had gone through to link up with them, leaving behind a pile of molted concrete and charred body parts.


    -----


    Hitsu checked the rooms on the left while Loke covered the rooms on the right, both finding luxuriously decked out bedrooms for either the top echelon or for VIP guests. They found several females ves huddled together in one room and they quickly shooed them away.


    Loke stopped before one of thest rooms and frowned as he sensed magical energies emitted from behind the closed door. He gestured Hitsu over and stuck breaching explosives on the door before taking cover and blowing the door away.


    Almost immediately a magic array activated and several fireballs exploded outwards. The fireballs sshed themselves harmless against the other side of the walls while Hitsu and Loke entered after the trap had activated.


    As they entered, they saw arge room with several worktables littered with ve cors or artifacts of sorts. Crouching behind the bed as a young male hunched protectively over a female ve.


    "HANDS UP! SHOW ME YOUR HANDS!" Hitsu and Loke roared at the couple. "UP! UP! UP!"


    The two dazed from the explosion reacted too slowly for Hitsu''s liking, and he pushed them face down against the bed while Loke switched over to check out the room for any other upants. "Clear!"


    "Kid''s a mage!" Loke whispered to Hitsu as they nned their next move. "What do we do?"


    "Secure them?" Hitsu asked while Loke shook his head.


    "What happens if the Pce burns down," Loke said. "If they are tied up, they can''t escape."


    "But clearly he isn''t a ve," Hitsu replied. "No ve cor and from the looks of the things, he seems to be the one doing the ve binding contracts. He could be one of them."


    "Fark, I better call it in," Loke cursed. "One, this is Two."


    "One, send."


    "Two, we might have an HVT here. Over."


    "One, tag him and bag him, we pick him upter, five mikes, out!"


    "Well, you heard the boss!" Loke said. "Tag and bag him!"


    Hitsu gave a shrug before whipping out cable ties and roughly bound the kid''s thumbs together behind his back. "You do anything stupid, I kill you and your little girlfriend on the spot!"


    "NOO! Leave her be!" The kid cried out. "She''s innocent!"


    "Damn," Hitsu whistled. "Kid''s a romantic!"


    Loke rolled his eyes, "Tag and bag her too!"


    Hitsuughed before tying the frightened girl up too and slipped a hood over both their prisoners and they stood watch, waiting for Squad One to arrive.


    A short whileter, theirms crackled, "One to Two,ing in, hold your fire!"


    Hitsu and Loke rxed their hold on their weapons as they saw someone waving their hand from the doorway. "Come in!"


    Wolf did a quick peek before he entered the room with the rest. "Two HVTs?"


    "Yup," Hitsu nodded. "Tag and bagged them."


    "Where''s the hooman?" Tyrier asked.


    "Should be in there," Hitsu gestured to thest room. "We cleared all the rooms except that one."


    Tyrier nodded, "Knock them out." He gestured to the two on the bed.


    Loke removed his medkit from his harness and removed two syringes of tranq-shot before poking it into the fleshy part of their butts, dumping the chemicals into their system. "That should keep them nice and quiet for a couple of hours1"


    "Alright! Stack up!" Tyrier called from the doorway. "We go in and take out the hooman, be aware that he might have some pact with some dark Gods!"


    "Aww shit! More stuff involving Gods?" Hitsu cursed. "Why can''t the Gods give us some powers too!"


    "Shut it!" Tyrier hissed. "War face on!"


    The men formed up before the door and using breaching charges, they blew the door open and tossed in shbangs as before. Rushing in they found themselves in a room filling with gold decorations all over. Curtains billowed from the open balcony and the bedroom could be seen from an opened door.


    The men spread out automatically, checking the whole suite for dangers. Tyrier advanced cautiously through the door into the bedroom when he felt a tingle of arcane energies rising. He swung his weapon to the source of power and saw a fat dark skinned hooman kneeling before a gold idol.


    The hooman was muttering something frantically before the gold idol which looked like arge leaf stalk with a wiggly looking worm at the bottom. The hooman which Tyrier recognized as the Armory Sergeant Raman sensed his presense and he turned his double chin head to face Tyrier.


    A crazed look was in his blood shot eyes and the hooman grinned stupidly with a strand of saliva dripping down from one corner of his upturned lips. "Too...te... hahahhaha!"


    "FARK!" Tyrier squeezed the trigger, stitching across the chest of the hooman with blood flowers. He paused when he saw the tell tale smoke tendrilsing out from the wounds of the fat hoomanying on the side next to the idol which was flecked with the hooman''s blood.


    He sensed an ominous feelinging from the gold idol and he dug into his pouches and pulled out all the explosives he has.


    He quickly tore a piece of fuze cord and jammed it into the explosives before lighting it with a simple me spell and tossed it onto the idol and ran out of the room.


    "OUT OUT OUT! FIRE IN HOLE!!"

 Chapter 256: The Great Devourer

    Chapter 256: The Great Devourer


    The whole Pce rocked and rumbled as the Sultan''s suite suddenly exploded. Coughing and shaking his head to get rid of the ringing in his ears, Tyrier stood up from the hallway outside of the suite now turned into a rubble of broken concrete.


    The rest of his men collected themselves and looked into the wrecked room, "What the fark was that?"


    "Shit... I don''t think that will stop it!" Tyrier quickly answered. "We need to get out of here now!"


    "What is inside that room?" Hitsu asked as he hefted up his machine gun.


    "Another farking artifact of the Gods!" Tyrier cursed.


    The floor suddenly shook and sounds of something stirring within the rubble of the wrecked room could be heard. "Eh... That doesn''t sound so good..." Altied said.


    "BACK!" Tyrier ordered and everyone turned heel and ran away down the hallway when it appeared that the whole Pce started to shake madly.


    He turned back looked at the room and caught a glimpse of a dark shadow spilling foth from the rubble and he yelled, "RUN!"


    "Three to One, what the hell is happening up there?" Tyrier''sms came alive.


    "One, Code ck! Repeat, Code ck!" Tyrier yelled into hisms as he followed his men, racing down the hallway before he skidded to a halt. "FARK!"


    "What?" The rest stopped and looked at Tyrier.


    "The damn HVTs!" Tyrier cursed. "Wolf with me, the rest link up with the others on the ground floor!"


    "Ahh..." Wolf swallowed nervously as he followed hismander back. The ominous feeling and the dense amount of magical energy gathering in the area was enough to make his hair stand on its ends. He forced the primal fear of the unknown forming in the pit of his tummy down and quickly ran behind Tyrier.


    They came back to the room where they left the two tied up and hooded prisoners and each grabbed one using a fireman carry and ran out of the room when cracks started to form on the floors and walls.


    "Shit! I don''t know what that farker summoned in, but it''s farking destroying everything here!" Tyrier cursed as he ran while carrying the prisoner over his shoulders. "Faster!"


    They came to the stairs and found many other ves and even Orcs in confusion and terror from the shaking of the Pce. Ignoring the ves and Orcs who likewise ignored them and only thought of their own safety, they met up with the rest on the ground floor.


    A sudden loud crack and sounds of breaking concrete could be heard while the whole Pce underwent another massive earthquake. "Get out!" Young yelled as he helped up some fallen ves, shoving them towards the main doors of the Pce.


    Spilling out of the Pce with a small crowd of ves and Orcs, the men of ymore One turned back and look stunned at the spectacle happening behind them inside the Pce.


    A massive wiggling shadow could be seen against the night sky. It seemed to swallow away the light from the mes of the burning city and the illumination spells in the skies. Its head was a vast triangr shape and it seemed to stretch its body before coiling around the remains of the crumbling Pce.


    "What in the thirteen hells is that thing?" Everyone stared in horror at the creature that appeared towering over the Pce.


    "Is that the Great Serpent they spoke of?" Loke said to no one in particr. "Fark... that thing must be like a hundred meters long!"


    "Fall back!" Tyrier ordered and ran down the stairs. His words seemed to break the hold on the rest including the ves and the Orcs and they scrambled down the grand stairs of the Pce entrance, screaming in terror at the horrors they just witness.


    The coiling Serpent either sensing the running people or the screams, turned its gaze at the crowd before widening its jaws and hissing. It flowed over the dome shaped roof of the Pce and slithered after the fleeing ves and Orcs, hissing in hunger.


    -----


    Moor the Oerkin and the rest of his crew had stood or sat dumbstruck by the monstrous form appearing within the Pce. He rubbed his beady eyes, thinking that he might have snort one too many ck powder mixtures till he was seeing things.


    "I- Is that the K- Keeper of Souls?" A younger Oerkin asked at the side as he too stared in fear at the source of all their childhood fear from tales told by their Mothers and Shamans that the Keeper of Souls wille if they were naughty.


    "Impossible!" Moor cried out. "The Keeper was banished long ago! Our Ancestors made it so! And our shamans took its powers for our own!"


    "B- But... That''s the Great Devourer?" The young Oerkin trembled in fear. "The stories! The drawings! It''s the same!!!"


    "NO!" Moor cried out loudly, breaking the silence and everyone turned and looked at him, wide eyed. "We must kill that... abomination of a God!"


    "LOAD THE POW POWS!" He roared, shocking the surrounding Oerkins into action. He sat back on the cannon mount and pedaled fiercely, turning the whole gun mount to face the Pce where the shadowy Serpent was hunting among the ruins for a tasty morsel of souls.


    Once the whole gun mount was facing the Serpent, he held on the pistol grips of Pow Pow Guns and squeezed the trigger, roaring out loudly together with the barks of the cannon to dispell away all the fear and terror in his heart.


    -----


    "Aissssssh, yisssss....." The Serpent hissed happily as it swallowed whole a warm screaming body down its throat. "Hmmmmm... niassse and young, twenty the mosst! How... delicatee tassting!"


    It ahhhed and looked down on the bright glows of souls that dotted all over the area before its mightly visage. That fat oath taker of his might be useless in many ways, but at least, in the end, he made himself useful.


    It hissed happily as it thought of the creature willing to give up his soul in exchange for power and oh yes, power it gave. With that creature''s help, it managed to manifest into this realm and after that, it feasted on the oh so delicious soul of that creature.


    Now, all it needs is more souls to keep its manifestation permanent and there seemed to be more than enough souls here for it to do just that! How delightful! Thought the Great Devourer.


    Just as it leaned down to snatch up another tasty morsel, streaks of red hammered against its body, making it wobble on its perch of the Pce. It hissed angrily, wondering who and what dared to interrupt its meal.


    It tracked the source of the red hot darts from a spot on the thin flimsy walls these creatures all loved to build and hissed out its displeasure. The red hot darts barely dealt any damage to its body, but it was angered that these low forms dared to even strike at its god body.


    It slithered its way over the dwellings the low live forms loved to make and reared up before the tiny contraception that was spitting fire at its body. It hissed and widened its jaws and snapped down.


    -----


    Moor roared wildly as he fired shell after shell at the rapidly approaching Serpent. More than half his shots missed which blew uprge chunks of masonry from the buildings as he tried to track the erratic movement of the Serpent.


    The Serpent suddenly reared up before he even noticed and he stared at the wide mouth and flickering split tongue. He saw the scales of the pitch ck Serpent were giving off smoke like some kind of aura. He continued to hold down the triggers, sending more hot tracers mming into the body of the Serpent till his weapons suddenly stopped firing.


    He turned to call out to his crew and found himself alone at the walls. His crew must had ran away some time ago and he looked back at the Serpent that was gazing at him hungrily. Drawing out his revolvers, he took a dual gunslinger stance and roared out while firing at the sudden gaping mouth.


    "WAAARR-"


    -----


    "Run!" Tyrier sucked in a deep breath as he ran through the streets. Everyone ignored the ymore One soldiers as their attention was focused at the cmity that appeared before them. They easily slipped through the Inner City gates as the guards were in a state of confusion.


    Anyone questioning them was pointed towards therge Serpent looming over the city and all questions were immediately forgotten as they stared at the monster. They easily made their way to Outer City gates where it was thronged with a massive crowd of people wanting to escape the city.


    They quickly covered their weapons and gear under their cloaks and removed the hoods of their prisoners and acted as merchants guards, blending into the crowd and slowly made their way out of the city together with a flood of other merchants and ves.


    Once safely out of the city, they wandered away from the crowd who were watching the disaster happening within the city and headed towards the shing infrared beacon in the far distance.


    -----


    Blue Thundernded next to Rastraz''s prone form and he whimpered in fear almost immediately. "Boss! Don''t make me go over the city again, okay?" He begged his crew chief as he cuddled up into a ball next to Rastraz trembling form.


    "What the hell is wrong with you two?" Stamford climbed down from Blue Thunder''s trembling body. "I never seen you so afraid of anything before! Maybe that railgun firing but this is so unlike you!"


    Blue Thunder only gave a whimper and buried his head under his wing, squeezing closer to Rastraz who seemed to allow it as she too huddled closer to Blue Thunder.


    "Rastraz! What is wrong?" Stamford frowned worriedly. "Are you two alright?"


    "City... bad... very bad magic!" Rastraz hissed in fear under her wing. "Don''t want to go near!"


    "What?" Stamford frowned. "Shit, ymore One is still in there. What the hell we do now?"


    "Sarge!" Dek their radioman called out, "ymore One just reported in!"


    "What''s their situation?" Stamford came next to Dek who was fiddling with the radio equipment.


    "They requesting extraction, seven plus additional two cargo," Dek replied.


    "Tell him same rendevous point, no changes," Stamford replied. "and ask them what the hell is happening in the city that my two fucking dragons are so scared that they are practically useless now!"


    -----


    Hourster, a shlight shed in a series of codes before Stamford replied with his own shlight. Several shadows emerged into the camp and Tyrier dumped his cargo down on to the ground without any ceremony before sitting down.


    Stamford offered Tyrier a corked bottle and Tyrier popped it before taking a deep swill of the drink. He gasped out and said. "Damn, you got juice?"


    Stamford grinned proudly, "What can I say? Airforce!"


    "Damn flyboys, getting all the good shit while we eat dirt!" Tyrier sighed. "Anything to eat?"


    "We got some stew that went cold from waiting for your arrival, if you want, we can warm it up for you guys," Stamford replied.


    "Nah, it will do just fine," Tyrier grinned. "We are not so pampered like you flyboys!"


    "Hahahaha," Stamfordughed good naturally while gesturing to his crew to bring the stew over. "So, business, what the hell happened in that city?"


    Tyrier''s expression changed, "It''s another damn artifact of the Gods..."


    "Those damn deserters had gotten their hands on an artifact and seemed to have made some unnatural pact with the God!" Tyrier exined. "We got to the fat bastard toote, and he summoned some kind of giant Serpent that is terrorizing the whole damn city!"


    "Shit, a giant snake?" Stamford cursed and jerked his thumb towards the two sniveling dragons, "My two dragons aren''t willing to even go anywhere near the city."


    Tyrier looked up from his mess tin and said in a serious tone, "Don''t worry, I am not suicidal either!"

 Chapter 257: Calamity

    Chapter 257: Cmity


    An was having a bad dream. Images of his father''s face morphing to his own, hands dragging him away to the abyss, his mother crying and screaming as she was torn away from his grasp. He suddenly jolted awake and looked at the ring of faces staring down at him.


    He felt his cheeks stinging as if someone had pped him hard several times. "Wh- what, where am I?"


    "Finally awake, boy?" A gruff voice spoke over him and he tried to focus his eyes onto the speaker while feeling light headed. "Sit up, boy."


    He tried to push himself up to a sitting position before realizing his hands were bound behind his back. "W- Who are you? Why did you tie me up?"


    "Name. Tell me your name boy!" A rough voice spoke behind him and he tried to turn to face the speaker.


    "A- An," He replied and he slowly recalled what had happened in the Pce. "Wait... who are you all? Did you kidnap me from the Sultan?"


    "Ha! Sultan?" Someoneughed with a strange ent. "Who''s the Sultan?"


    "Sultan Raman!" An cried out using Raman''s name as some sort of talisman against these bandits. "He''s the king in these parts!"


    "Damn fucker thinks he''s a king?" The person with the strange ent spat. "Fuck that bugger!"


    An blinked his eyes as his mind slowly recovered. He started to notice details around him, like the sky seemed brighter and he was surrounded by almost a dozen men and the ve girl, Teresa wasying down next to him. How long was I knocked out, he wondered.


    "How is she?" He tried to move himself to check on her but he couldn''t make it. "Is she alright?"


    "Yea, lover boy," One of the bandits replied. "Don''t worry about your love. She''s just sleeping."


    "I see..." An replied. "So you want ranson? I warn you first that the Sultan is not a forgiving man and he is very powerful!"


    The men backlit by the dying embers of the campfireughed and one of the men with a grizzly look to him said. "There are bigger problems now, Raman and his merry gang are... mostly gone..."


    "Gone?" An was more confused by their words. "Let us go! I make sure you get paid well!"


    "Nah, we are not grabbing you for money," The man, clearly the leader of this group of bandits replied. "Tell me, what is your role or position with the Sultan? What do you work as?"


    "I..." An ms his mouth shut, "No, I will not tell you anything till you release me and her and promised us safe passage back to Sin City!"


    "Well, that we can''t do..." The man replied. "Well, you see, Sin City... is no more!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    ke frowned as the report came in from Orwell''s Point regarding the situation that was unfolding at Sin City. "So ymore One has ounted for five confirm kills and two probable?"


    Tavor of Naval Intel nodded, "Yes, Sir. There is also a report of a confirmed target that was found in the vicinity of the site of the Hero''s remains. That makes six of the eight."


    "One of the deserters is suspected to be in the Treasury when the bombs fell," Tavor continued. "Also thest deserter''s situation is unknown after the appearance of the Giant Serpent that is destroying the City now."


    "So we got at least one target still alive that''s running around digging up the remains of the Hero?" ke kept his frown on.


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor replied. "I took the liberty to assign assets closest to the target to take him out."


    "Good," ke nodded. "Now, what do we know of this snake that''s rampaging at Sin City?"


    "Unclear, Sir," Tavor said. "So far the information we getting from the field reports that the deserters called it the Great Serpent. We have the School checking the libraries and databases for any references to a Great Serpent."


    "Damn, just when we needed Thorn and Sharon, and both of them are away at Orwell''s Point," ke rubbed his face. "So it''s confirmed to be some God?"


    "Yes, as of this time," Tavor nodded. "ymore One is already extracted and en route towards Orwell''s Point for some rest and resupply. I would rmend sending them backter to observe the situation happening at Sin City."


    "We need to be able to keep constant eyes on the Serpent''s movement," Tavor said.


    ke sighed and ordered, "Task the UAV at Orwell''s Point to keep track of it. I want to know its every action, even if it shits or pees!"


    "Yes, Sir!" Tavor replied.


    "What do we know of the city''s poption?" ke asked.


    "We estimated its numbers to be around ten thousand max," Tavor said.


    ke rubbed his eyes before responding, "Is there anything we can do to help those people?"


    "No, sir," Tavor shook his head. "Regretfully, we have no assets within the area of operations that can handle the Serpent. The Airforce has even reported that the dragons were afraid of even going near that city."


    "What?" ke was surprised. "Even Rastraz?"


    "Yes, even the ancient dragon is afraid of that Serpent," Tavor said. "This proves that that being is way more powerful than the Hero we fought and defeated."


    "Sometimes, I wish that we have a tactical nuke onboard or even a bloody orbital satellite to bomb the shit out of these Gods..." ke sighed. "And our railgun is out of alignment to even fire at that direction and angle."


    "I need you and the general staff to n out contingency ns and even evacuation ns," ke said. "In case that thing heads our way. I got a feeling that it wanted not the Hero''s remains but the stuff that the Hero was carrying and that goddamn thing is in our hands."


    Tavor nodded, "It will be done. I will also post more men to ensure the artifact is properly secured and if needed, transported away and destroyed."


    "Good, make it so," ke gave his agreement.


    After Tavor left his office, ke called up both the Marine CO and the Airforce CO. "Alright, I think you guys roughly know the shitstorm that is happening right now?"


    Both Officers nodded in the disy screen. "Good, so I will cut it short. I got the General Staff and Intel to work out contingency and evacuation ns in case of that God Serpente knocking on our doors."


    "I want your men to be on full standby for now, all units to be fully prepped and loaded for bear," ke ordered. "We killed a Hero before, now we will kill a God!"


    After briefing and ordering his men, ke leaned back on his chair and frowned.


    "This is a goddamn cmity!"


    -----


    Uncharted Forest


    "Like I said," Corporal Drake gestured vaguely in the general direction of the forest. "Just follow the trail of bodies and it will lead you to their camp!"


    Third Sergeant Sath, mechmander of the 1st Armor, Unit 02 sighed. "I know, but it''s damn hard to spot the bodies in this damn forest!"


    Drake squeezed his way past the cramp quarters of the gun turret and hunkered down next to Sergeant Sath peering at his view screens. "Say... Slow, erm, you know the way?" He turned and asked the Orc who was keeping himself as small as possible in the tight passengerpartment that was filled to the brim with extra supplies, leaving only enough room for two men to sit.


    "I need to see thend..." Slow replied from his ufortable position.


    "Alright..." Sath sighed again. "Clove, full stop."


    The mech rumbled to a halt and lowered its main hull to the ground. Slow squeezed his way out from the toppartment hatch and hopped down to the ground and stretched himself.


    "So how?" Sath called out from themander''s hatch. "Think you can find the correct way?"


    He and his crew got assigned this special mission from HQ of chasing down the enemy Orcs and the hooman traitor just this morning. The 1st Armor CO decided to only send one unit with the two Marines to go hunt their target down, as he deemed the protection of the Convoy more crucial due to the series of increasing monsters attacks they encountered along the way.


    The wheeled and tracked vehicles were mostly bogged down by the roots of the thick trees that required the engineers to blow up before they could proceed forward.


    At the start, every one of Unit 02 was excited to go kick ass, but now, it seemed like they are lost. He watched the Orc Marine sniffed the air and paced around the Mech before pointing to one direction.


    "You sure?" Sath asked. "We are already quite lost, I don''t wanna get bogged down in the middle of nowhere!"


    The Orc nodded confidently and climbed onto the small ASAG that was following them, "Follow, I lead."


    "Well, let''s move out then!" Sath said and the Mech jerked forward while he buttoned up as the tree branches scraped against the hull once the Mech moved forward, keeping pace behind the tiny ASAG which skittled across the forest like a spider.


    Slow sat on Asagi and pointed the way as he used his superior sense of smell, tracing the scent of Orcish blood against the smells of the forest. Finally, they managed to trace back their route when they were fleeing from the Orcs and they set off towards finding the enemy''s camp.


    -----


    Sin City


    The once bustling city was in ruins, the Pce and the Inner City built by the blood and sweat of thousands of vesid destroyed and charred by the bombs and napalm dropped by the UN Airforce.


    The fire had raged throughout the night, fueled by the wooden structures and mmable materials in the Armory and Factory. When dawn came, the fires died down after consuming more than half of the Inner City.


    The rest of the city fared no better as a godly being had torn through the entire ce in search of prey. It feasted on the running ves and those hiding inside the Pce before moving out to the Inner City. Those Orcs brave enough to stand before it all ended up as a meal source.


    The Great Serpent reared its triangr hooded head up high and red at the hateful Sun. Its flint like scales appeared to absorb the light from the sun while tiny tendrils of smoke rose from its body.


    Another mud building copsed as a mighty muscled Serpent''s body rolled over it as it spied something inside. The hiding inhabitants screamed in terror and tried to crawl their way out of the rubble only to be snatched up by the Serpent and swallowed whole.


    It has rampaged throughout the City till dawn broke, hunting and feasting on the energy of the souls. The low forms had tried to destroy it a couple of times, spewing those pitiful burning hot spells at its mighty form and they all became its meal in the end.


    The Serpent hissed happily as its shadow body grew more and substantial, the wisps of smoke from the leaking of its material body lessening as its hold to this realm solidified more with each soul eaten. Even with the hateful Sun shining down from the skies, its body managed to maintain its form as long as it has enough energy.


    It sniffed around the ruins of the City, fishing here and there for more tasty souls before it turned its eyes to the thick life energy that was gathering just beyond the low lives city and its jaws widened hungrily.


    First, it must feast till it can sustain its form indefinitely before it can go hunt for that hated God and devour its power for itself and it will be finally reborn into this realm fully!


    But for now, it has to devour more!

 Chapter 258: A Gathering Storm

    Chapter 258: A Gathering Storm


    Uncharted Forest, Cabal Camp


    He nced down at the kneeling Orc dressed in a red coat and frowned. "So you are saying you met a monster that spews fire like those weapons of ours?"


    "Y- yes, my chief, " The sweating Orc bowed his head lower, "Much faster and more powerful!"


    "Many Oerkins die!" The Orc continued, "I ran, bring news back!"


    "I see," Aaron sighed and reached down and patted the Orc on its burly shoulder. "You did well! Now join the rest of your men... in hell!"


    "NO! Great Chief! Mercy!" The Orc cried out and tried to dislodge Aaron''s hand away from his shoulder.


    Aaron smiled and said softly, "Don''t worry. You will be one with the Great One!"


    Wisps of ck smoke oozed out from the body of trembling Orc. Its eyes rolled upwards, showing the whites while its jaws opened ckly and an unearthly cry rosed out from the Orc''s throat. The Orc gave a final shiver before copsing face down before Aaron who held a ball of ck mes in his right hand.


    He offered it to the talisman on his chest which morphed into a living snake and it swallowed the soul me whole before morphing back into the talisman.


    "Break camp!" Aaron called out. "We leave immediately!"


    The nearby Orcs nodded hurriedly and scrambled off to obey his orders, none wanting to upset their chief in fear of having their souls sucked out.


    "So they areing here?" Aaron whispered under his breath, "Well, I got a surprise for them!"


    He giggled madly and swept into his tent to pack up his gear and leave behind a surprise for his old friends.


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold


    Dr. Sharon nodded to the two helpers who carted out the grisly remains of the autopsied demonified body to be cremated. She carefully removed her disposable mask and eye protection before slipping off the bloody apron and gloves.


    Dumping everything into a bin marked with Hazardous Materials symbols, she vigorously rubbed her hands with soap and washed them thoroughly. The voice in her head had quietened downtely, but when she was dissecting the demonified bodies, she sensed an angry emotion from the voice in her head.


    She dried her hands before she picked up her notes and recordings and went to look for Magister Thorn who was going through all the items confiscated from the cultists'' dens that the Marines had raided.


    She was amazed by the changes demonification could do to a person''s body, in this case, an elf. Organs were gically evolved or moved while muscles, bones, tendons, and nerves were remade or regrown and even physical changes of the entire skeletal structure of the person!


    The pain would drive anyone insane! Its small wonder that anyone having a demon entering their bodies could barely stay sane, allowing the demon to effectively control its host''s body. It seemed like the way a demon controls their host was the same way as we do with our UAVs and other unmanned vehicles, thought Dr. Sharon.


    She politely knocked on the thick wooden door and waited till Thorn''s muffled voice gave her permission to enter. She pushed the door open and saw him standing over a pile of objects and parchments, his hair messy and his wardrobe looking wrinkled and unkempt.


    "How long have you been working on this?" Dr. Sharon asked as she closed the door and dragged a wooden stool over. "No, wait... Did you even sleep at all?"


    "What?" Thorn rubbed his ink stained fingers over his face. "Sleep? I think so?"


    "Nevermind," Dr. Sharon sighed. "Found anything interesting?"


    "Oh yes!" Thorn''s bloodshot eyes immediately glowed with vigor. "Look at this!"


    He shoved a couple of items on the table towards Dr. Sharon. "These are relics from the Age of Gods! And these!"


    He ced a few parchments before Dr. Sharon. "These are copies and trantion of dairy entries that dated back as far as the Age of Gods too!"


    "And?" Dr. Sharon didn''t feel very impressed with the items as she tilted her head and looked at Thorn.


    "Oh, sorry," Thorn seemed to dete. He gave a dignified cough and exined. "Well, as you know demonse from another realm, but in truth, its just another ce in this world that was sealed off by the Gods."


    "The entries on the diaries talk about some of the causes that went into making the seal by the Gods," Thorn exined. "It appears that the Young Gods did the sealing together to cut off a source of the Old Gods'' powers and a portion of their army."


    "So these demons are the army of the Old Gods?" Dr. Sharon rified.


    Thorn nodded, "Yes, yes!"


    "So where are the demons from?" Dr. Sharon asked.


    "Why, everyone knows they lived in the thirteen levels of Hell!" Thorn eximed.


    "What?" Dr. Sharon was surprised. "I thought it was just an expression!"


    "No no, Hell is a ce, more urately, it''s underground but sealed off with a very powerful God level seal," Thorn exined.


    "Serious?" Dr. Sharon''s eyebrows shot up. "I thought Hell was just a figure of speech or some kind of expression like we human use."


    "No, it exists," Thorn smiled. "And I more or less can guess the intentions of the cultists."


    "And?" Dr. Sharon rosed an inquiring eyebrow.


    "They want to weaken or even destroy the seal of the demons," Thorn expression turned serious. "They want to let the demon roam free in ournd!"


    "That sounds bad..." Dr. Sharon replied. "So how do they n to do that?"


    "Well, the notes we gathered are mostly iplete," Thorn admitted, "So other than using blood magic or dark arts, I am shameful that I have no idea either..."


    "It''s alright," Dr. Sharon grinned. "At least we have an idea of their agenda, this means we can make ns to counter them!"


    Thorn was able to answer when an urgent knocking came from the door. "Come in!"


    A female military staff officer entered panting, she saluted Dr. Sharon and reported, "There is an urgent situation happening right now! The CO has called for all senior officers and members to gather in the map room immediately!"


    Dr. Sharon and Thorn looked at each other with worry on their faces, what could have happened that Joseph was calling every senior member and officers? They hurriedly packed and put away their work and followed the female staff officer towards the map room inside the Great Hall of the Keep.


    They found other senior officers and staff had already arrived at the map room and they were thest to arrive. "Good, everyone is here?" Joseph looked around the room.


    "Alright, as some of you know the bombing raid carried out on the deserter''s city was a sess," Joseph said. "But there was an unforeseen incident happening on site."


    He nodded to his aide who brought up the imagery on the screen. "This is being recorded live over the city now."


    The image showed a slight isometric view of a smoking city in ruins. A dark serpentine shape was shrouded within the smoke and dust clouds. "The creature you see here is known as the Great Serpent. It was reported to be summoned in by one of the hooman deserters and it has wreaked havoc for the past six hours."


    "Why aren''t we informed of this situation earlier?" Dr. Sharon frowned.


    "HQ has shut down all information on this incident and only lifted the ban, just..." Joseph looked at the clock and said, "sixteen minutes ago."


    "What?" Dr. Sharon rolled her eyes. "So what is the n? And what is that creature?"


    "Our sole UAV will be conducting full surveince of the creature," Joseph stated. "The creature is known as the Great Serpent and we will need both your help, Doctor and Magister to help us identify this creature, if possible."


    "HQ has forwarded us several contingency and evacuation ns," Joseph said. "If the UAV detects that creature approaching us and hit the 200 km meter, we will abandon this city and evacuate as many people as possible using the river barges that we confiscated."


    "All armed forces will set up two defensive lines, one at 20 km away, the other at 10 km away," Joseph said to his military officers. "HQ will be dispatching more Cobras over for support and also the convoy will be reaching us soon in a couple more days."


    "As for critical nonbat personnel," Joseph turned back to Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn, you and the medical personnel will be evacuated by the Mariners once we confirmed the heading of the creature."


    "Companymanders, brief your men on the situation," Joseph said.


    "But Sir, what about public order and the cultists?" One of themanders asked. "If we move all our men up to form a defensive line, the city will have no troops to hold it!"


    "I know, hence I will be meeting with the representatives of the ex-ves and the local leaders hereter to discuss a ceasefire and agreement," Joseph said. "That thing destroyed a city of over ten thousand people in a few hours, I am sure we can get some sort of cooperation with the ex-ves and locals."


    -----


    Outskirts of Sin City


    Hundreds and hundreds of Oerkin warriors formed from dozens of ns and tribes stood under the sun, ring at the Serpent hidden among the smoke of the cursed city. Hundreds and thousands of other people consisting of ves, merchants, and their guards stood on the far end as they watched the face off.


    The side with the merchants and ves seemed to be jovial as the merchants discussed among themselves how to split the spoils of the city once the Serpent was defeated while others ced bets among themselves.


    The Oerkin warriors grumbled among themselves under the heat as tribal elders and shamans met together under a massive animal hide tent to discuss their ns involving the God they are facing on now.


    "That thing! Abomination!" An Oerkin elder cried out, "Our forefathers bled and died to put that Monster away!"


    "We must unite!" Another Oerkin elder gave his approval. "The longer we wait the stronger that Thing bes!"


    "No, we must run and protect our females and younglings!" Another cried out. "We stand no chance!"


    "We longer have strength and power like our forefathers!" The chief said. "We lost all when our forefathers fought that Thing! We Oerkin are weak now! All due to that Thing!"


    Other nodded and mumbled their agreement. Once the Oerkin were the most feared race on this continent, but the war with the Dark God has reduced the once proud and mighty race to a pitiful few.


    "Fight it, we must!" An elderly Shaman spoke out. His bone trinkets tied to his hair rattled as he spoke. "Our duty! We are the protector of souls! The Great Devourer must not feast on more souls!"


    The chiefs and elders looked at each other and kept quiet. "Our forefathers bravely stood against that Thing and won! Now it''s our Duty to do the same!"


    "Or I fear, our once Great Race will be devoured by that Thing!" The elderly Shaman finished his piece while the others mumbled among themselves.


    "We, Wolfmaster n, say we fight!" The Wolfmaster n chief suddenly spoke and stood up. "Run if you want, we no cowards! We warriors to the blood!"


    "GOOD! We, Stonepickers, fight too!" Another chief added in his voice and stood up.


    "We, Windwalkers, will stand and fight too!"


    The rest of the chiefs looked at each other before standing up and joining the crusade. Finally, only one n chief was left sitting alone, before he too stepped up and said, "We, inswalker will join too!"


    The elderly Shaman nodded sagely and said, "Order your men to bring word back! We must gather all our strength together to stand a chance with that Thing!"


    The chiefs and elders nodded and they left the stuffy tent and started calling out runners to carry word back to their ns and tribes.


    "Go! Bring all warriors of all ages back! We fight for the eternal glory of all Oerkins!"

 Chapter 259: The Day is My Enemy

    Chapter 259: The Day is My Enemy


    Rmended song, The Prodigy - The Day Is My Enemy


    Captain Joseph, Commanding Officer of the Third Marine Battalion, sat facing several of the locally remaining prominent men of Orwell''s Point. The local merchants andmunity leaders red uneasily at their opposite counterparts made up of ex-ves who red back with equal resentment and malice.


    "Thank you all for making your time out of your busy schedules to meet me here," Joseph politely greeted the people. "Now before we start, I-"


    "Wait, my lord!" One of the merchants cut in before Joseph could finish speaking. "Why are we here with those... -, second rate citizens?"


    "Second rate?" The ex-ves contingent cried out indignantly. "What makes you so superior? Money?"


    The merchant smirked and made a mock helpless gesture, "See, my lord, this uneducated ... people... will only impair what ns you have, my lord!"


    "What?" The ex-ves where more riled up by thements and the trap the merchant had forced them into. "You stinkin-"


    "ENOUGH!" Joseph banged the table with his palm. "I called you here not to have you act like bickering housewife shopping in a damn market!"


    Both sides immediately quiet down, while the locals hid grins behind their hands and smirked at the ex-ves who fumed angrily, ring fiercely back.


    Joseph gave out a long sigh and addressed both parties. "I want both sides to stop all manner of aggression right now!"


    Both parties silently shook their heads inside, knowing that there is no way it is possible of what Joseph was asking of them.


    "We have cultists running amok in the city and that is just the least of our problems heading towards us!" Joseph simply said. "And I am not talking about the army the Empire is sending over to retake take this ce, but this..."


    He switched on the disy on the wall behind him and the gathered people gasped in surprise at the images that were shown. "What is that amazing artifact?" Some of the merchants stared at the lifelike and vibrant images shown on the screen."


    "Now if I can have your attention on the screen," Joseph carried on ignoring the amazed cries and questions. "This just happened several hours ago at a city not too far from here, about two five day weeks distance of travel away."


    The locals and the ex-ves watched as a giant snake rampaged over a city, seeing it snatch tiny figures with iling hands with its massive mouth from the ground.


    "How is that possible?" The gathered locals and ex-ves mumbled in unbelieving tones among themselves.


    "We recorded this cmity from the air with... magic..." Joseph exined. "You all have seen our flying machines, that was how we found out that, that city was attacked by such a creature."


    "Now, it is highly possible, this creature wille to target us next," Joseph said. "When that happens, anyone still remaining behind these walls will end up very much like that city''s inhabitants."


    Both sides were shocked by the words of Joseph. "This the reason why I gathered all of you here to make ns on how to save as many people as possible should the situationes to that point!"


    "Look, I am not telling you all to bury your grievances in a day or two, I know its hard after so long of resentment between the two sides," Joseph added. "But I would like you all to set aside that for the good of your own people."


    -----


    Sin City


    The gathering tribes and ns of Oerkins grewrger andrger as more and more Oerkins responded to the summons with all haste. The Great Serpent after feasting its fill had hidden among the rubble of the ruined city, awaiting the Sun to set before it moves out to hunt to sate its ever growing appetite.


    The Oerkins were restless as they waited impatiently for more of their brethren to join them while the Shamans and Elders prepped spells and magic formations to defeat the Great Serpent.


    The other merchants and ves loitering around the outskirts had pulled back further and set up camp, most of the masterless ves being forcefully assimted into the folds of the merchants.


    Others seeking freedom braved the endless ins and set off with barely any supplies and disappeared away from the sight of the city.


    "We wait no longer!" The Elder Shaman dered to the rest of the Oerkin Elders. "It will be dark soon!"


    "But our brethren have not all joined us!" One of the Elders replied. "Not enough warriors!"


    "The Thing is strongest without the light!" The Shaman snapped. "We must act... NOW!"


    The rest of the Oerkin Council looked at each and before nodded. "So be it! It will be a glorious day to die!"


    The Elders and Chiefians left to prepare their warriors for war while the Shamans gathered together. "Eldest... our powers will be useless against that Thing!"


    "We can''t summon any warriors to our aid either," The Shamans said. "That Thing has eaten their souls! We can''t call them back to fight for us!"


    The Eldest Shaman shook wrinkled head and said. "We must call upon the aid of our forefathers!"


    The rest of the Shamans looked at each other in surprise, "But Eldest! We can''t defile their eternal rest!"


    "Now is not the time for such customs!" The Eldest berated the rest. "Only with their strength, may we win!"


    "I- it shall be done!" The rest of the Shamans bowed in submission to the Eldest. "We will head off to the ancestral graves immediately..."


    "Do it fast, or we will not be here when you all return..."


    -----


    "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGG!!!"


    The charge into the ruined city started off with a war cry, as hundreds and hundreds of Oerkins roared out at once. They slowly picked up the pace as they neared the tall gates left wide open in the haste of the city inhabitants'' race to safety.


    They swarmed the wide rubble littered, cracked streets of the city, rushing towards the center of the city as the Great Serpent had nested in.


    "KILLLLL!" The Oerkins cried out as they saw the creature stirring to life. It had taken shelter inside the ruined Pce, coiling itself under the broken roof protectively, as it did not like the sun rays touching its body.


    The Serpent opened its golden eyes and saw a mass of delicious looking life force rushing forward to it. "Hmmm, dinner timeee? How naiseee for them to offeeer themselvesss to missh!"


    A volley of hand cannons roared out and the ruined walls of the Pces exploded from the heavy shots of the Oerkins. Those without firearms charged straight past the ruins columns and walls, navigating their way over the fallen masonry and bodies to close in with the Serpent which eyed them with eagerness.


    Shots mmed against the body of the Serpent causing tiny puffs of ck smoke to pop out. The Serpent narrowed its golden eyes as it felt stings from the hot burning bites on its body. It slithered out of its cover and avoided the golden red sun rays of the setting sun before happily throwing its self against the Oerkins who wielded a variety of weapons.


    "DIE CURSED ONE! DIE!" The n Chief of the Wolfmasters with his muscles bugling swung down hard with his heavy double de ax against the body of the Serpent. He barely felt any resistance as his ax went through the smoky zed body of the god snake.


    A puff of foul smelling oily ck smoke oozed out following the passage of his swung ax. The n Chief took a step to brace himself from his surprise when the body of the god snake mmed against his chest, sending him and dozens of other warriors flying across the rubble sown ground.


    He cursed as a sharp pain cut into his chest and coughed out blood. The Serpent barely even spared him a nce as it happily snapped away at the numerous Oerkins surrounding it, tossing its triangr hooded head back to swallow any unfortunate Oerkin it had caught with its jaws.


    A greenish glow suddenly covered the Wolfmaster''s n Chief and he felt the pain in his chest numbing before fading away. He pushed himself up and saw the Eldest Shaman with his eyes closed, holding out his crooked staff and healing the wounded around him.


    "Much thanks, old one!" He grunted in gratitude before turning back to re at the god snake. "Our weapons could not harm that Thing!"


    "It is a lord of darkness!" The Shaman warned. "Light! We need light!"


    The n Chief nodded and bellowed to the Oerkins nearby, "Fire! Burn everything!"


    The Oerkins warriors started using flints to burn whatever mmable material they could find, and soon a several torches and fires lit up the surroundings, casting an orange glow while the sun sets below the horizon.


    The Shaman lifted his staff high up and chanted. Motes of light appeared before condensing into a ball of light and the Shaman pushed the Illumination spell into the air, which brightened the area.


    The Serpent suddenly paused in its feeding frenzy as it noticed a source of light behind its back. It turned and snarled angrily at the elder Shaman. "Puny low livesss! I ssshall regain my powersss! You will never stop mee!"


    "Our forefathers have done so once," The Shaman stood proudly staring back against the angry snake. "You will fail once more!"


    "Heeheeeheeehee..." The Serpent hissed. "With jussst a few of you?"


    The Serpent''s eye narrowed into slits, "That fateful day... Ish feed and feed... the tassteee... ohh... how deliciouss... You forefatherss tasted sooo good..."


    The Shaman''s expression did not change as he raised his staff up and pointed at the snake. "We, Oerkin will stop you!"


    "COMEEEE!" The Serpent roared and struck down towards the Shaman faster than the eye could see. The n Chief of the Wolfmasters gasped and tried to throw himself before the Shaman but the god snake was faster as it snatched up the shaman into its jaws. Itughed in triumph before turning to face the angry n Chief. "Yoou be neext!"


    The Serpent widened its jaws and was about to attack the Chief when it suddenly gave a jerk. "Whaat!?"


    A bright glow could be seen within the belly of the Serpent. The n Chief gave a bark ofughter, "You bite off more than you can chew!"


    He charged forward with scores of other warriors as the Serpent was distracted by the glowing light in its belly. "The light! It makes the shadow god solid! Kill it quickly!"


    Spears, axes, swords and hand cannons hammered against the suddenly less shadowy body of the Serpent. Thwacks sounded from the body of the Serpent as the Oerkins'' weapons connected against its body. It roared its anger and pain as it felt the pain of the Oerkins'' attacks.


    "DOWN!" The Wolfmaster n Chief suddenly roared and threw himself face down on the ground as the pissed off God whipped its body wildly, crushing and throwing bodies into the air. It shrieked loud enough to shattered the eardrums of the nearby Oerkins.


    "CURSESSS!!!" It hissed as the glow in its body grew brighter with no signs of stopping. "ISH REMEMBER YOU! ISH SHALLL DESSTROYY ALL OF YOOU!"


    "KILL!" The Oerkins roared out and charged against the madden Serpent. The cold weapons of the Oerkins dug into the ck flesh of the Serpents, spewing foul smelling smoke and ichor all over the area while Oerkins were crashed underneath the squirming body of the Serpent or were bitten into pieces and swallowed.


    Roars of hand cannons merged with the war cries of the Oerkins as they charged constantly against the Serpent which snarled back in equal ferocity.


    -----


    The group of Oerkin Shamans riding the swift wind wolves looked back to the distant city with sadness as they felt the Eldest''s life force among them fade away. "We must hurry! We must bring the Ancient Horde or all is lost for our race!"

 Chapter 260: Touch Me Not

    Chapter 260: Touch Me Not


    Orwell''s Point, Docks, Location of a cultist den,


    Evelyn paused in her tracks and crouched down low as she followed the trail of magic that matched the other cultists'' locations the soldiers had unrevealed. The smell of rotting wood and fish wafted up from the rows and rows of tied up river bargesshed together against the docks.


    She nimbly climbed over the top of one of the barges and leopard crawled her way to the edge of the roof and peeked at the barge next to the one she was hiding on.


    A flicker of candle me could be seen through the warped timbers of the river barge and Evelyn smiled, knowing that she had tracked the target. She slowly rolled over and waved to the soldiers hidden at the edge of the docks who were waiting for her signal.


    Seeing her wave, the soldiers advanced up, keeping low and moving as silently as they could with all that gear that they were carrying. Evelyn eyed the passable stealth movements of the soldiers with a wary eye under the glow of the twin moons in the night sky before turning back to keep watch on the cultists'' hideout.


    It had taken her two days to track and find the traces of demonic magic that the cultists were desperately trying to hide. A gentle breeze carried the scent of blood and death to her nostrils as she waited for the soldiers to surround the barge.


    A soft rustle and a body crawled up next to her. She could smell the sweat and dirt from the soldier who was her guard and watcher. "In there?" The soldier asked as he pulled himself next to her prone form.


    She nodded, her gesture barely seen under the moonlit night.


    The soldier spoke something into that strange device of theirs that did not use magic. He seemed to nod and replied to whatever that was said before he turned to her and said, "Now, we sit tight and watch the show!"


    Several dark figures emerged and advanced in a line towards the barge, their soft footsteps seemingly sounding loud to Evelyn''s sensitive ears.


    The team of soldiers silently climbed their way into the barge and gathered at the hatch that led into the barge''s hold. Knowing that there would be magical traps and tripwires, the entry team pasted blocks of explosive against the hold, and hunkered down.


    A sh of eye searing light blew up, causing arge white spot in Evelyn''s sight. The st wave hit her almost immediately and the loud roar deafened her even as the soldier next to her pressed her down with his arms over her head protectively.


    A secondter, several loud pops and shes of light erupted within the hold followed by screams and panicked cries. Evelyn blinked and rubbed her eyes as her night vision was affected by the explosion.


    She watched the troop of soldiers jumped into the gaping hole on the barge yelling. Other soldiers swarmed out from their hidden positions and surrounded the boat while another team climbed onboard.


    Shortlyter, several hooded figures with their arms restrained behind their backs were dragged out by soldiers one by one. Evelyn saw her oldpanion and ex party member, Liz being escorted by another soldier entered the barge as she was in charge of checking for any magical or arcane items or traps.


    Another awhile a soldier emerged out and waved at the soldiers waiting outside who entered to deal with whatever that they have to inside the barge.


    "Well, that was easy," The soldier next to her said. "Let''s go back.


    "Wait, I need to go into that barge..." Evelyn suddenly said to the surprised soldier.


    "Why?" He asked curiously.


    "I can sense and track the cultists easier," She replied. "It will be easier to do it with a location that wasn''t destroyed like the others."


    "I see," the soldier nodded, "Makes sense, alright let''s go down then!"


    They climbed down the roof of the barge before entering the hideout of the cultists. The other soldiers barely gave them an eye as they walked into the brightly magical lit interior of the barge''s hold.


    The scent of blood and death grew thicker as Evelyn entered the hold. Magic circles of unknown purposes were drawn all over the decks and even the bulkheads. The timber decks and bulkheads at many ces were stained dark reddish ck from god knows how many sacrificial rituals that were made here.


    Thick yellowed candles stubs made out of the victims'' fat were ced almost everywhere. Thankfully they all had been snuffed out, or Evelyn won''t be able to endure the stench. An altar sat in the middle of a magic circle with skulls, idols and more candlesid on it.


    Liz was hunched over at one of the magic circles, holding her nose as she tried to make sense of the usage of the circles. Evelyn ignored her and walked around the hold, making sure not to step on any of the circles.


    She saw arge trail of dried blood leading out of the hold to one of the side hatches where a couple of soldiers shook their heads at the contents of the room before they closed the hatch.


    Liz stood up from the circle where the altar was and said to the soldier next to her, "I am not sure what the purpose is for this magic circle... But it seems inert, it probably needs some form of catalyst for it to work, as long we don''t provide the catalyst, it shouldn''t activate at all."


    The soldier nodded, "Any ideas what the catalyst would be? I don''t want the Crime Scene Investigation team to identally activate it..."


    Liz sighed and red at the soldier, "Make a guess?"


    "Erm... blood?" The soldier replied back.


    "Good job!" Lizughed sarcastically and patted him on his shoulder which she had to tiptoe to do it considering her height. "You''re halfway to being a great mage!"


    "Ha..." The soldier rolled his eyes before turning to another and telling him to send in the CSI team to document everything.


    "Hey Eve!" Liz greeted Evelyn when she saw her looking over the items on the altar. "Nice work as usual!"


    Evelyn smiled and gestured to the items on the table. "What are these?"


    "Well, if I am to make a guess," Liz pointed to the gold idols on the table that looked like some kind of leaf with a wiggly worm underneath it. "It should be the representation of whatever evil or demon they are worshipping."


    "That knife should be used for sacrifices while the skulls used to hold the blood?" Liz said. "You have to ask Magister Thorn if you want more details. I only know some from his exnations."


    Evelyn nodded and she stared at the small palm sized gold idols sitting on the altar with deep fascination. She felt a strange tingling sensation on her scalp as she stared at the strange idol.


    "Well, don''t touch it," Liz said as one of the soldiers called for her to look at something. "We don''t know what kind of pagan god or demon these idols represent, so its better be careful!"


    Evelyn nodded and she straightened up before ncing around her surroundings. Seeing her handle gawking around the hold and not paying her any attention, while the rest of the soldiers were also not looking her way. She rapidly fitched one of the smaller idols and slipped it into her pockets in one smooth motion before she walked away to join Liz at looking at another magic circle.


    A small smile grew on the corner of her lips as she felt theforting warmth of the idol that was radiating out from her pockets before she rubbed the smile away and joined Liz.


    "Soon... very soon..."


    -----


    Uncharted Forest


    "There!" Drake cried out loudly next to Sergeant Sath''s ear. Luckily Sath was wearing protective headgear and ear mufflers if not he would have flinched from Drake''s excited yell.


    For the past two days, they finally found the Orcs campsite. "Looks too quiet to me!" Sath said as he activated the zoom of the view screens. "Seems like they had run off already!"


    "Damn!" Drake cursed. "Hold here, me and Slow will take a look at the site."


    "Got it!" Sath ordered the driver to halt and Drake climbed out from the top hatch and joined Slow on the ground who was waiting for him next to his ASAG.


    "Let''s go re on foot," Drake said and the two of them advanced into the abandoned Orc camp.


    Fifteen minutester, they found nothing of usefulness and the two Marines stood at thest tent which was thergest and the ps of the tent still had a couple of bullet holes that Drake fired, days before.


    They entered the tent warily but found it empty except for a small folding table with an amulet acting as a paperweight on the note underneath it.


    Drake stopped Slow from approaching and he carefully checked the table for any tripwires before gently pulling the note out from underneath the strange gold amulet. He carefully unfolded the note and cursed.


    [[ When you have read this, I would have been long gone! You fuckers tried to kill me but failed! Don''t worry, what doesn''t kills me only makes me stronger! Your ex - Aaron ]]


    [[PS. Have fun with the gift I left you! =D ]]


    "What the fuck?" Drake reread the note again. "Gift?"


    He looked down at the amulet with the strange worm like wigglies and frowned. "I am so not touching that..."


    Slow bend over and gave a sniff of the amulet and growled, "Bad magic!"


    "What the hell? Are you a dog now?" Drake pulled Slow back. "Better not touch it, it is probably a trap! Let''s get the hell out of here!"


    As he said that, the amulet seemed to glow and move. "Oh fuck..."


    A hiss came from the worm that was actually a tiny snake which started to growrger andrger by the second. "FUCK THIS! Get out!" Drake cried and he pushed Slow out of the tent.


    The two Marines stumbled out to the open as a giant snake grew and ripped the tent pegs off the ground. Luckily for them, the tent snared the head of the snake, preventing it from seeing. It shook its mightly head left and right, trying to shook loose the tent, giving the duo precious time to get clear.


    The campsite was situated at a small clearing within the forest, Drake pondered should they take cover in the trees when the snake finally managed to wrestle off the tent. "Hide among the tents!" He cried softly to Slow who nodded and the two ducked behind one of the empty Orc tents.


    "What the fuck is that?" Drake hissed to Slow who returned a shrug. "Damn it!" He activated hisms, "Zero Two, do you copy? Did you see that thing?"


    "I see it, what the fuck is that?"


    "A fucking giant snake!" Drake growled into hisms, "And its gonna eat us if you don''t do something about it!"


    "Roger that, standby!"


    Drake peeked over the side of the tent and saw the snake sniffing the air, before whipping its head and staring right at where Drake and Slow were hiding. "Oh, noes... fuck... it''sing!"


    The snake snarled and darted forward while Drake and Slow split up into two different directions. The tent copsed from the weight of the snake and it turned left and right, as it wondered who should it catch first.


    In the end, it chose Drake and slithered after him. "Why the fuck... are... you chasing... me!"


    "Go... chase... Slow!" Drake panted as he ran with all his might, trying to outrun the giant snake that was looming up behind him. "Mother... fucking... snake!"


    Suddenly a continuous roar of a machine gun burst out from behind and a line of tracers hammered against the snake, making it cried out in anger as it whipped its head back to see who was hurting it.


    Slow growled as he hefted his MG 1 and fired again at the pissed off snake.


    "Come to daddy!"

 Chapter 261: Unit Zero Two

    Chapter 261: Unit Zero Two


    The enraged snake seemed immune to the machine gun hammering away at its body. Drake stopped to catch his breath while he swung his own weapon up and to add his firepower into the mix. He noticed that the rounds that impacted the body of the snake seemed to spew out smoke instead of blood.


    Could it be a creature made out of some arcane shit? Thought Drake. "I will fucking pay you back your damn gift!"


    Now it was Slow''s turned to be chased as he had attracted the aggro of the snake. He dodged between the rows of tents as the snake chased after him causing the snake to get entangled with some of the tents.


    As he was about to reach the cover of the trees, the tree trunk sized tail of the snake suddenly whipped out and caught Slow across his hip and side, tossing him across the open area and rolling on the ground for several meters beforeing to a stop.


    "SLOW!" Drake yelled out and he emptied his weapon useless against the summoned snake which ignored him as it slithered over to the drowned body of Slow. "FUCK! ZERO TWO WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"


    The massive crab spider like shape of the MAW suddenly broke out from the edge of the clearing. Leaves and tree branches drifted down from its hulking hull and the stub nose barrel of 3" 23 gun turret burst out in mes and smoke.


    The HE shell fired at point nk range took less than a split second to travel into the mid back section of the surprised snake. The shell missed despite the range as the snake unnaturally wiggled out of the way of the passing shell which blew the tree in its path into shreds.


    "ALL GUNNERS FIRE!" Sath roared out inside themander''spartment as he cursed when he saw the opening salvo of the 3" gun missing. "Shoot that bitch up!"


    All four .50 caliber machine guns onboard the MAW Unit 02 opened up almost instantly and the heavy caliber rounds shredded everything around the panicking snake.


    Drake took the opportunity that Zero Two was providing for him, ran towards Slow''s body on the side. He grasped the back of Slow''s harness and dragged Slow who weighted nearly twice his own body weight. "AHHHHH..."


    Suddenly, he felt the weight lifting and he saw Slow''s faithful ASAG lending a hand. Together with Asagi''s help, they managed to drag Slow into the cover of the trees where Drake quickly ripped out his medical satchel.


    Slow gasped weakly as blood flowed out from his nose and mouth. He couldn''t understand what was happening only that he was running when suddenly he felt a sharp pain and the world seemed to turn upside down.


    "Rx!" Drake pushed Slow''s questing hands away. "You got hammered pretty bad, but you''re an Orc, so this isn''t some big deal!"


    He tore open a tranq shot syringe and jabbed it into the meaty portion of Slow''s inner tight. "This will help you take the pain off for a while!"


    "Fuck!" Drake cursed as he watched Slow''s eyes rolling back before closing as the meds kicked in. He probably has broken bones and internal injuries from that tail whip of the snake, thought Drake.


    "Asagi! Come here!" He called out to the ASAG who was hovering anxiously over its sleepingpanion.


    The Robo golem obediently trotted over and Drake dug into its cargo that it was carry and pulled out an RPG - 1 rocketuncher and canvas bag with three pockets that held three rocket reloads for the RPG.


    "Look after him!" Drake ordered the ASAG while he slung the rocket bag and RPG over his shoulders. The ASAG rocked on the stop, mimicking a nodding gesture before it scurried over to stand watch protectively over Slow.


    -----


    "Arghh!" Sath cursed as the whole MAW shook wildly from the body m of the snake against the hull of their unit. "Dodge that shit! We can''t take any more damage!"


    Already several warning dials were beeping angrily in red on his console as they wrestled with the enraged snake. "I''m trying Sarge! This thing isn''t actually very fast!"


    "Do your best!" He yelled as he hunched over his gunsights and squeezed the trigger of the .50 caliber, sending bolts of red yellow darts at the fucking fast moving snake and two thirds of the shots missing.


    "Stay still!" His gunners cursed as they tried to track the snake from their turrets but failing. Another loud nk and the whole MAW shook again and red rms red again.


    "NO!" Clove the pilot yelled out in panic as his controls suddenly locked up. "We lost Number Two leg!"


    "Shit!" Sath quickly gave an order. "Pull back, get us as much distance as possible against that damn thing!"


    "I try!" Clove yelled back as he wrestled against his controls. "Our speed is down by 20%!"


    The damaged leg of the MAW dragged against the churned up earth as the MAW tried to retreat backward from the giant snake that was a lot longer than the mech. "Come on baby! You can do this!" Clove whispered under his breath as he eased the throttle before pushing it up to full reverse.


    The Snake hissed as it dodged another HE shell spewed out from the monster. It narrowed its golden eyes in anger as it noticed the monster seemed to be trying to run away. Never!


    It hissed in triumphant as it knew that the monster it was fighting is weakening as it no longer moved as fast and agilely. But it still remained wary of its magic attacks. That strange mouth of it can spew deadly spells that could blow up a huge area. It must be careful not to get caught by that spell as the spells would be able to damage its shadow body in this realm.


    "Come on,e on!" Clove whispered urgently under his breath as he pulled his controls back. His disy screens showed the pitch ck snake slithering left to right and the side turrets were firing at the erratic movements of the snake, trying to hit it.


    His forward mounted .50 calibers had run dry and he did not have the time to open the ammo hatch and manually reload the guns as he was focused on piloting the mech. Behind him, he could hear Sath yelling at the gunners inside the turret to load and fire.


    The mech shook slightly as the main cannon fired and Clove saw the snake darted away to the side as the shell blew up in its path. Sath has ordered the gunner to aim at the ground instead of directly at the creature, hoping to damage it with the area of effect of the HE shell.


    It seemed to work as the snake was jolted by the st. It retreated back slightly and seemed to assess the situation before it started whipping its way over again. It moved way too fast for the mech guns to bear on it as it went from the side and suddenly coiled itself around the hull of the mech.


    nking sounds could be hearding from the turret as the snake tried to bite through the turret. "Shit! It''s on us!" Clove yelled as his view was covered up by the body of the snake. He could only see pitch ck scales that appeared to be smoking on his screens.


    The side gunners yelled saying they could not depress or move their guns to fire at the snake''s body wrapping around the mech. Sath cursed as his view too was blocked while the snake tried its best bite the hull.


    -----


    Drake panted as he followed the trail of destruction left behind by the mech and the snake. He ran past wrecked trees and shell holes before seeing the mech being wrapped by the snake into a ball while pecking away at the hull.


    "What the fuck?" Drake paused as he stared at the strange sight. "Damnit!"


    He quickly ran forward again, trying to get as close as possible to fire his RPG. He managed to fire a nice spot between a couple of trees and braced the rocket tube against the roots and readied the RPG to fire.


    He gauged the distance to be less than 50 meters away and he fired the RPG, aiming at the lower part of the mech to prevent any over pration into the mainpartment. If he missed or due to some reason, the RPG could not damage the snake, at least the damage will be dealt on to the armored legs of the mech instead.


    Foooosssh! The rocket burst out of the tube and punched against the coiled up body of the unsuspecting snake. Inky ck smoke spewed out from the resulting explosion of the rocket and the snake seemed to jerk straight up as a portion of its body disappeared.


    Its mouth went wide in a snarl of pain and anger and it turned its head to find who dared to damage its body, its current prey temporarily forgotten. It stopped a lone creature hidden among the trees and it loosened its body around the strange monster and was about to throw its body at the tiny existence when suddenly searing pain ripped through its body again.


    -----


    Creaking sounds of metal being crushed could be heard everywhere inside the mech as the crew braced themselves helpless. Suddenly a loud st shook the whole mech again and warning sirens red again. More lights and dials on the console turned red or yellow as theputer tallied the damages to its systems.


    "Wait!" Sath cried out as he noticed his view showing cracks due to the lenses getting damaged showed the body of the snake loosening up. "It''s leaving!"


    "Fire when you can!" Sath quickly ordered while Clove climbed under his controls to ess the ammunition hatch of his forward guns and swapped out the empty cans of .50 caliber ammunition. He slotted in fresh cans of .50 caliber and pped the ammo belt onto the feed tray before locking up the ammo cans.


    "I can move my guns!" Someone yelled and the mech shook slightly as the side gunner fired his .50 caliber at the body of the snake no longer within the blind spot of his turret.


    Sath grinned and turned to the gunner in the main turret, "Fire once you got a good shot!"


    The gunner in the main turret nodded and glued his eye onto the gunsights while his hands gripped the firing triggers. "ON! FIRE!"


    The 3" stub gun managed to rotate and aim directly at the agitated snake and fired. The HE shells punched through the smoky scales of the snake before exploding. The force of the explosion tore the snake into halves and spewing smoking tendrils of snake matter everywhere.


    "Take that bitch!" Sath and the crew cheered as they saw the flopping halves of the snake wiggling in death throes around the ground. The jaws of the snake opened and closed like a fish out of the water as it tried to move its body but couldn''t.


    Slowly the snake stopped its movements and its ssy eyes stared into emptiness as itid there and to the unease of the soldiers, the bodies parts of the snake slowly evaporated into ck smoke and started disappearing.


    -----


    Drake walked up next to the badly mangled mech and dropped the RPG down before he sat there staring at the wisps of ck smoke. "What the fuck is that thing?"


    The hatches of the MAW opened up and the crew spilled out of the mech and joined Drake on the ground while examining the smoking bits of the vanishing snake.


    Sath stood before his mech and frowned, "I wonder how the fark are we gonna fix her up!"


    Despite the battered exterior and the mangled legs, Unit Zero Two still stood proudly before its crew. Sath smiled as he patted the side of his mech, "Well, you did great! Don''t worry, we will patch you back up as good as new!"

 Chapter 262: Yippie Kai Yay!

    Chapter 262: Yippie Kai Yay!


    Great Ocean ins


    Arge dust cloud trailed behind the group of wind wolves with riders on their backs as they traveled as fast as they could. The Oerkin Shamans and their escorts had ridden hard for more than a day and a half before a massive dark mound appeared before them in the dark moonlit night.


    As they came closer to the mound, it turned out to be a massive outcrop of rock that barely had any life on it. "Finally! The Ancestral Hill!" The elder shamans cried out as they came up to it. "Quickly, we must hurry! Or we miss the time to call the spirits!"


    The group quickly dismounted from the tired wolves where a few tenders stayed behind to care for them while the rest made the climb up the steps carved out on the rock surface.


    Legend has it that this was a massive piece of rock that fell from the heavens beforending on the earth. Their forefathers revered the rock and all great warriors were buried in it, turning it into an Ancestral Hill, as they believed their spirits can travel to the gods with the help of the Rock of Heavens.


    Soon the party arrived at the top of the hill, where the summit was mostly t. Thousands and thousands of weathered and torn gs of every color imaginable covered the top of the Hill, where underneath each g,id a great warrior of the ns.


    The Oerkins kneeled down as one and bowed, praying their respect for their ancestors before walking carefully around the graves to the center of the hill where a circr stone hedge sat.


    In the middle of the stone hedge, was an altar made of stone. The elder shamans quickly split up their duties, some went around to recarve the ancient magic circles alreadyid on the surface many centuries back, while others prepared the items needed for the ritual.


    Thirteen ves were dragged in by the Oerkin guards who were brought along for the ritual. They each were chained up on against the thirteen stone pirs of the stone hedge. The Oerkins ignored the cries and pleas of mercy as they went about their business.


    Once the preparations of the ritual werepleted, thirteen shamans stood before the thirteen ves each holding a ritual dagger. The rest of the shamans formed a circle around the stone altar and started chanting. The Oerkins guards quickly left the vicinity of the ritual as the magical chants made them feel super sick.


    The cloudless night sky suddenly seemed darker and out of nowhere, storm clouds appeared. The clouds gathered into a vortex that spun right above the skies of the altar as the chanting grew in intensity. Green bolts of lightning shed and cracked across the skies while an unnatural wind spread through the area.


    The Oerkin guards that retreated well away from the ritual could feel goosebumps forming on their skin as the magical energy in the area soared higher and higher. The chanting rose higher and higher, driving the ves chained to the stone pirs insane and suddenly with the shamans before the ves seemingly as one, wielded their daggers skillfully, cutting apart the skin and muscle of the screaming ves and they reached into the chest cavity and ripped their hearts out.


    Thirteen beating hearts grasped by thirteen shamans were ced onto the altar. The ring of chanting shamans continued without skipping a beat while the blood from the ves flowed down from their bodies and pooled into ancient grooves on the stone floor.


    The flowing blood raced along the grooves and not long an arcane formation was formed out from the life essence of the dead ves. The ancient formation glowed an eerie green and the shamans suddenly stopped the chanting.


    The ground shook slightly while the shamans watched the thirteen hearts cken and purpled as the gathered arcane energies consolidated into them. "It is done!" The elder shaman cried out. "ARISE WARRIORS! ARISE!"


    The hard rock surface of the tomb hill cracked and broke apart as skeletal hands dug and crawled their way out of their disturbed eternal rest. One by one, the reanimated bodies of the Oerkin ns climbed out of their graves and gathered around the stone hedge.


    "Warriors! We disturb your rest as an ancient evil that has reappeared in thisnd! We need your strength to fight it as you once had done so!" The elder shaman called out to the specters ringing them.


    The army of undead stood silently before the shamans, the glows of green fire in their empty eye sockets grew brighter as they heard the Elder Shaman speak of the Thing that has reappeared. And as one, without a word, they turned and marched towards the direction of the evil that has appeared in this age.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    ke leaned forward to look closer at the rey of the UAV broadcast of the aftermath of the battle between the Orcs and the Serpent. Hundreds of bodiesid everywhere, most of them were missing some body parts while others died due to internal injuries.


    He forwarded the video till the portion where the Snake broke the Orc''s army and headed towards the campsites of merchants and ves still in the area and another massacre happened. He turned off the video after watching countless people getting swallowed up into the Serpent''s mouth and had enough.


    "Captain?" Ford appeared next to his seat and called out. "You okay?"


    "Yea, no... I mean after seeing so many people get eaten live..." ke sighed. "There got to be some way we can take that thing out without having so many casualties!"


    "Well, the only thing we can be certain of is that it''s nocturnal," Ford said. "So far we only see it move during the night."


    "Well, at least that is something we can work with," ke leaned back on his chair. "Now hopefully our weapons would work on that thing..."


    -----


    Skies over Great Ocean ins


    "Say, you think this time we won''t get shot at?" Airforce pilot Goldan asked hispanion as he peered over the cockpit of his FB - 1 Mariner.


    "Well, Intel says that the city and the Orcs are all destroyed by that Giant Snake..." His co pilot replied. "I doubt we get any more AA fire, but... "


    "Please don''t jink it!" Goldan cried. "Please don''t say that the snake can spit acid or something!"


    "Heh, I didn''t say anything!" His co pilot grinned. "You did!"


    "Ahh.. fark..." Goldan cursed. "Damn it! Better pray that it doesn''te true then!"


    "Hehehe," His co pilot snickered and looked back at the flight of two other bombers on each of their nks. "Well, lucky, we all managed to make it back in one piece previously!"


    "Yeah... Damn Intel didn''t warn us of any AA weapons," Goldan sighed. The whole flight of three bombers had miraculously survived the bombing of the city. As the nes returned to their base, they found gaping holes all over their fusge and wings when theynded. One of the bombers even had one of its tail wing blown off from its fusge while another had one of their engines down.


    This made the pilots and crew even more endeared to the bombers and they started to make up pet names for their nes. Some of the crew had evenmissioned some local artists to paint decals on the side of the cockpit.


    For Goldan and his crew, they had an image of a sea wyvern clutching a bomb under each w with the hooman number One behind it. At first, they didn''t know what a seagull is, till the hoomans showed them some images of the strange looking white and ck feathered birds. They wanted to the locals to paint the seagull as its wings looked very simr to their bomber, but none of the locals know how a seagull looked like, so in the end, they opted for a dark blue sea wyvern instead.


    "Hey, I see it," His co pilot had taken out a pair of binocrs and were spotting into the distant horizon, "The city ising up ahead of us."


    "Roger that," Goldan turned professional as he checked his gauges and dials. "Seagull One, to Seagull Flight, target in sight, check and make ready your presents!"


    The co pilot unbuckled his seat restraints and went to check on their bomb loads together with the radio / navigator onboard. As the distance was way beyond their endurance and loads, the nes only carried the two pilots and the radio operator while the rest of the load was taken up by up the napalm canisters, 250 kg bombs, and fuel.


    Goldan could finally see a ck blob in the distance with his naked eyes. Intel given was that the Giant Snake will not move in the day, most likely it''s nocturnal hence they were making this bombing run in the day which took them a couple of days to transport all the extra fuel and bombs for this mission.


    Their objective to try to hurt it as much as possible, but if they can, it was best if they could kill it when the loads of bombs and napalm they carried but Intel was not so confident that they could do it on a single bomb run.


    "All good!" His co pilot sat down back on his seat and buckled up. "All presents signed and ready to be delivered!"


    "What''s that hooman mystical creature that they called?" Goldan snapped his fingers, trying to recall the name. "Sanna? Sanda ss? That one in the red suit and a thick white beard..."


    "Santa us?" His friendughed. "You been watching too much moobes!"


    "Ha! I feel like Santa now!" Goldanughed back. "You know delivering presents and gifts! Maybe we should repaint the ne red?"


    "You want the Commander toe down on you hard?" His co pilot grinned. "Alright, keep her steady! I can see the city clearly now!"


    "One to All, proceed for fly by for re of the target!" Goldan ordered to his flight.


    The three bombers formed up into a single file and they dropped their altitude lower as they did arge yawing loop to try to spot the snake hiding in the city. "Damn, even if we bombed them, I feeling sorry for them!" Goldan sighed as he saw how the city turned into.


    The once proud city had been reduced to rubble and wisps of smoke still drifted out from parts of the totally destroyed city. The flight of bombers did two loops around the city before they pulled away. "One to All, the target seemed to be hiding at the ruins of the Pce, do you all concur?"


    "This is Two, I concur."


    "Three, yeah, saw its tail there!"


    "One to All, alright, we will drop first, Two and Three to observe bombing results!" Goldan gave his instructions.


    "Roger!"


    He dipped his nose lower and aligned the bomber towards the Pce in the distance once he hadpleted his loop. He flipped the bomb bay controls and a whine could be heard throughout the ne as the hydraulics hummed as the bomb bays swung open steadily.


    "800... 700... 600..." Goldan counted down the distance. "500... 400..."


    "Keep her steady!" His co pilot said as he poked his eye onto the bombing sights. "Steady... DROP DROP DROP!!!"


    The bomber suddenly sprung up as the weight of the bombs disappeared off the bomb bays and Goldan pulled up the bomber from its low altitude run just as bombs and napalm went off behind them.


    Flowers of mes and plumes of smoke erupted behind their tail as the Pce burned once again. Both pilots looked back to see a madly thrashing shadow within the me and smoke and they both grinned, knowing that they had executed a perfect low level bombing run on the target.


    "One to All, switch to high altitude bombing and carpet bomb it!" Goldan quickly ordered. "I think that Thing likes our presents!"


    "Yippie kai yay, motherfarker!"

 Chapter 263: Die Hard

    Chapter 263: Die Hard


    Rmended music - ck Sabbath - Paranoid


    Sin City, Pce Ruins


    It was having the best time of its long immortal life, eating its fill after hundreds and hundreds of years sealed within the darkness and now the foolish mortal had agreed to its pact of sharing his body with it.


    It recognized the mortals when it first set eyes on them when they awoke him when they somehow found an idol that contained some of its conscious. It had notid eyes on these mortals for over a few thousand years and at first, it was surprised by their appearance in this realm. It remembered the greed of these mortals and habits, it lured them with sweet promises of wealth and immortally, and to its delight, these mortals'' tastes hadn''t changed a slightness bit even after so many millenniums!


    The desperate mortal offered himself to be the champion of its power and once the pact was formed, its shadow god body flowed into the fat mortal''s willing body and invaded every essence and cell of its new host. It still remembered the horror and screams of the terrified mortal when he realized what had happened but by then it was toote.


    The link between realms was connected and its power flowed into the body of the mortal when the enemies of the mortal came and used some spell that destroyed its host. It decided to discard the weak flesh and instead reform its body to its original looks but it came with a price, for it to maintain its god body, it must have the energy to sustain its form or its body will vanish from this realm and be returned back to the darkness!


    Hence it feasted upon the delicious soul energies that were around it which enriched its power and consolidate its form, bing more and more tangible in this realm. If only it has the power of the Sun Gods! It will be able to break out fully from its prison!


    It slept deeply, confident that no weak mortal could ever hurt it as it burrowed under the ruins of the mortal structures that they like to hide in while it waited for the sun to dip below the earth where its power will be the greatest in the dark.


    His followers had found traces of a Sun God power''s in the area and it craved for it madly. It was coiled under the ruins when suddenly it heard a strange buzzing roar that grew louder and louder. It woke up and saw through the cracks of the ruins, that the sun was still high up in its zenith.


    The buzzing roars came again before disappearing, making it wonder what matter of creature was making such a racket but it did not want to leave itsfortable burrow due to the sun outside.


    As it decided to ignore the noise, the roar came again and suddenly the ruins and ground around it rocked madly and gouts of mes and smoke nketed it.


    It reared its body upwards in pain that it hasn''t felt for hundreds and hundreds of years as dipping liquid fire flowed down from the cracks and holes of the ruins and stuck onto its body, scorching its god body. It squirmed madly in pain and anger, its massive body shattering what remains of the Pce roof and its walls, exposing itself to the sun.


    -----


    "Tally ho!" Seagull Two''s pilot cried out as a thrashing snake appeared from the ruins with napalm stuck on its body, burning and cooking deep into its flesh. "One well done snakeing right up!"


    The pilot aligned the bomber directly overhead the squirming snake and the co pilot cum bomber released their load of bombs and napalm canisters before the pilot looped the bomber around to admire their handiwork.


    More blossoming balls of mes and smoke erupted around the Serpent and it cried out a mightly snarl that the pilots at hundreds of meters in the sky could hear. "That thing is pissed for sure!"


    "Three going in!" Thest bomber roared over the Serpent and ck dots could be seen trailing behind it. The ck dots fluttered downwards towards the ground and a series of explosions went up, kicking up more dirty smoke and balls of fire into the air.


    The Serpent screamed madly as it rolled and thrashed over the ruins of the city, further ttering the already destroyedndscape. Several parts of its body were on fire and no matter how it tried to rub the mes off, the mes stuck on to its body stubbornly and before long, the snakeid still, its tail twitch constantly as it panted heavily.


    "It is done for?" Goldan asked as peered over the side. His co pilot and radio operator both had a pair of binocrs glued to their eyes as they observed from the cockpit and side windows at the serpent gasping for breath and twitching weakly on the ground. Large swaths of skin on the snake were charred ck or missing as the skin was cooked off by the napalm. Several parts of its body, pink flesh, and starking white bones could be seen, as the napalm had melted and cooked its skin and flesh while the cast iron bombs also blew chunks of its body away.


    The serpentid panting heavily as the wounds looked mortal to the pilots as they buzzed around to make sure of their results of the bombing while waiting for the smoke and mes to clear. "It is dead?" Goldan asked again.


    "I am not sure," His co pilot replied. "Can''t really tell..."


    "It seemed to be still moving!" Their radio/navigator operator called out. "Damn thing survived all that firepower!"


    "Hey, its sort of a god after all!" Goldan retorted. "Can''t expect it to be that weak!"


    "Yeah, I hoped that it is that weak," Their radio operator replied back. "So that we can pack up and go home! I missed my bed and my burgers!"


    "Hahaha!" Goldanughed. "Yeah, it will be awesome to kick back with an ice cold beer!"


    "HOLY SHIT!" Their co pilot suddenly cried out. "Seagull Three!"


    "What?" Goldan quickly looked over and saw Seagull Three going into a death spin, onerge portion of their portside wing had gone missing. That was when he saw a dark shape flopping down into the smoke and mes, kicking up more smoke as it crashed down.


    "MAYDAY MAYDAY!" The terrified cries of Seagull Three''s pilot sounded loudly in theirms as they called for help. "We are going down! Repeat! Mayday! Ma- AHhhhhhH-"


    A ball of mes rosed up from the thick smoke in the city where Seagull Three wasst seen dropping down into. "What happened!" Goldan cried out. "Two, what did you see?"


    "One, this is two, go high!" The urgent voice of Seagull Two cried out. "That damn snake jumped up and bit off Three''s wing! Go high now!"


    "What the?" Goldan nced his altitude meter dials and saw they were at roughly 550 meters in the air. "How is that possible!?"


    He quickly followed Seagull Two''s advice and increased the altitude of the bomber while pulling further away from the city. "One, any chutes?"


    "Negative!" Seagull Two replied, "No chutes, we lost Three with all hands onboard!"


    "Fark!" Goldan cursed. The atmosphere in the cockpit suddenly turned heavy. "Two, form up on me, we are returning to base. The damn thing is still alive but wounded at least."


    "Two, roger, RTB," Came back the solemn reply.


    "We will be back, and the next time, we will burn that farker down!"


    -----


    It burnsssss! Thought the Great Devourer, as it rolled about on the small crater formed when itnded on the ground. It hadid still, biding its time as it eyed with anger and pain at the strange flying creatures in the air. It sensed the soul energies of weak mortals within the flying creatures and waited till one of them came low enough.


    It used all its strength and shot itself upwards into the sky in a rush of anger. It snapped at the flying creature, hoping to catch it by its body but missed, only managing to mped its jaws at the wing which broke, sending both of them tumbling down to the ground.


    It felt the wounds on its body slowly regenerating, while the magic mes that kept burning on its body slowly dissipating away. The magic fire was the most damaging to its body as it couldn''t douse it and if it did not spend its stored energy to regenerate its body, the mes would have eaten through its body!


    It growled angrily as it had to spend all those soul energies it stored up to regenerate its body, meaning it had to hunt again and regain back the power to fully materialized its body again!


    It looked around trying to find shade as the sun rays started to cut through the smoke that was slowly drifting away by a breeze. It knew it could not stay in the same ce now that those flying creatures had attacked it while it was sleeping. It has to find a new burrow to recover its strength and take shelter from the sun till night falls!


    Hissing in annoyance and angry, it slithered across the ruins in search of a new den in the Great Ocean ins to recover and n its revenge, unaware that several hundred meters overhead, a sky pattern camouged UAV hummed and constantly sent out micro pulses of data, streaming a live video feed to the men and women in Operations Command at Orwell''s Point.


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold, Operations Command


    Joseph frowned as he watched the slithering snake crawling out of the ruins and headed westwards from the city. "Think that thing is heading to the Uncharted Forest?" He directed his question to Magister Thorn and Dr. Sharon.


    "Hard to say," Thorn rubbed his beard. "It should be looking for shelter now."


    "Yes," Dr. Sharon said. "That Thing will be looking for a ce to recover first and wait till nightfall before it goes hunting."


    Joseph turned and looked at Dr. Sharon, "You sound very sure..."


    "Yup," Dr. Sharon confidently nodded while tapping the side of her head. She had tied her non regtion shoulder length hair into a high pony tail. "Something tells me that, that is what it will choose to do next."


    She didn''t mention that the confidence came from the voice in her head. Lately, she seemed to be able to understand the tone and expression of the voice in her head even if she can''t decipher thenguage. The voice had also seemed to be more considerate and no longer kept her awake all night by chattering away non stop.


    "Look, we if look at it as a person," Dr. Sharon quickly exined her reasoning. "If you are wounded and you... don''t like the sun or day. What will you?"


    "Shelter to heal up and rest," Joseph nodded. "But that thing, does it follow ourmon sense?"


    "Why not?" Dr. Sharon asked back. "A wounded animal will always find shelter to heal back or it will be food for any predator. I am certain that Thing has the same mentality!"


    "Alright, assuming it is looking for shelter," Joseph said and he looked down on the map table. "Where can it go? Its all... tnd everywhere..."


    "Well, snakes know how to burrow underground right?" Dr. Sharon asked. "I might not know much on zoology but it should be able to do it easily right?"


    "Zoology?" Joseph shook his head at the unknown word, "Well, I guess so that it can dig underground..."


    "So we just wait till it digs underground and send in the remaining bombers to hit it again," Dr. Sharon suggested. "Don''t give it time to heal, if it is like the Hero, the more time we give it, the harder it will be to kill!"


    Joseph nodded and thinking of the precious bomber they had lost to that thing, he was determined to kill it even more.


    "We will make it die hard!"

 Chapter 264: Die Harder

    Chapter 264: Die Harder


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "- lost one of the FB - 1 Mariners, all three crew onboard currently listed as KIA or MIA..." The image of Airforce Commander Tommy said. "We are now down to four Mariners in the entire bomber fleet."


    ke nodded without a word and turned to the images of Joseph, Dr. Sharon, and Magister Thorn before said, "Any idea what we are dealing with?"


    "Well, we looked through the whatever clues and testimonies of the insertion team and could onlye out with a couple of guesses," Dr. Sharon spoke.


    "We thought at first it could be Quetzalcoatl from the Aztecs since thest encounter we had was with an Aztec God, but Quetzalcoatl''s name tranted to, as ''feathered serpent'', which clearly none of its traits are showing here." She gestured to the video of the burning snake.


    "Next we look at the other myths and the suspected God we dealing with here could either be Apophis of Egyptian origin or the Nidhogg from Norse mythology." She continued next. "As of now we still are not very sure which God we are really dealing with till we have more information."


    "Got it, Doc, thanks," ke thanked her for her hard work. "Now, what do we have on the situation with the locals?" He directed to Joseph next.


    "Sir, we are still in the midst of getting them to work together peacefully," Joseph said. "As for the leaders of the ex ves who are plotting mischief, we had already detained all of them and reced them with other people more pro to our cause."


    "Good," ke nodded. "Any movement from the Empire?"


    "We are seeing a serious build-up of forces at the nearest city to Orwell''s Point, I suspect another week before they sail down the river or march towards us," Joseph replied. "The twopanies from 3rd Battalion are a wee reinforcement and with light armored vehicles and the two spider tanks, we are more capable enough to hold off the Empire when they bring their forces down."


    "But, we will not be able to evacuate everyone if the God Snake heads our way," Joseph said. "There is nowhere to hide in the open ins and even if the evacuees made it to the cover of the Uncharted Forest, they will be easy pickings for the monsters that inhabit the forest."


    "Nor can we sail up the river, as that is as good as delivering them to the Empire," Joesph said.


    "Yes, well, General Staff has proposed another n instead," ke said. "They want you to build underground concrete bunkers."


    "Underground bunkers?" Joseph frowned. "Do we have that much time?"


    "Well, if we use conventional means to dig, no," ke said frankly. "But General Staff has sent an expert along with materials for the construction with the convoy, and she will handle the digging."


    "She eh?" Joseph grinned, "It''s that earth elementalist witch, eh?"


    ke nodded. "Yes, with her help, you can easily shore up any defensive works and also enough underground shelters for the whole poption of the city."


    "Great, now at least that''s one worry off my mind," Joseph said.


    "What about the cults?" ke asked. "Any new intel?"


    "We managed to a sessful raid just the other night," Joseph answered. "We managed to grab a few high level cultists and are still interrogating them."


    "They are pretty tight lipped but give me a few more days," Joseph gave a wicked smile, "I am sure to make them sing sweetly like a song wyvern!"


    "Do what you need to," ke ordered. "Now the bombers have done their part and bought everyone more time with that Thing... I heard you approved another strike on that thing again?"


    "Yes, Sir!" Joseph nodded. "We are waiting for the Snake to think it''s safe before dropping the remaining bombs we have on it in the day."


    "After that, we will need to send the bombers back to Haven for resupplies, we only have so many bombs in store," Joseph said. "We hope to injure it more and keep it on its toes!"


    "Good initiative, keep it up," ke smiled. "Well, once the transport ne program has cleared, you will have dedicated heavy lift cargo ne which will greatly reduce your supply problems."


    "I will look forward to it, Sir!" Joseph smiled back.


    "Alright, thank you for your time," ke nodded to everyone. "Dismissed!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Operations Command


    "Well, that went well," Dr. Sharon sighed as she rotated her tired shoulders. "I am gonna catch some sleep, if it isn''t important, don''t wake me up!"


    With that, she disappeared from the Ops room, leaving behind Magister Thorn and Joseph. "Well, what are your ns today?" Joseph asked.


    "Hmmm, I will be appraising the items the soldiers confiscated from the cultist hideout," Thorn replied. "You?"


    "I guess I''ll be interviewing the cultists we arrested down in the dungeons," Joseph said. "Want to join me?"


    "Hmmm..." Thorn frowned as he did not like to see torture. "No, there is only so much time and so many questions..."


    "Ha!" Joseph barked out augh, "You are still the same old friend."


    Thorn smiled and gave a small bow before he too left the room. Joseph sighed and left the room before heading towards the dungeons of the stronghold.


    When they first captured the city''s main keep, the dungeons were filled almost to the brim, hundreds kept in unappealing conditions, piss and fecal matter staining the stone walls and floors. The stench and conditions were so bad that Joseph had half a mind to order in a couple of mers and torch the whole ce up.


    Now the conditions were better, even if the stone cells remained the same, at least the stench was gone with the walls and floor scrubbed clean byw breakers. He found that the idea of punishing offenders with ''social work'' was actually quite ingenious, forcing them to do hard work that nobody wants to do.


    Now the gloomy ce was cleaned up nicely and with repeat offenders at an all time low, Joseph walked towards the end of the dungeon where a barred door sat. Two Marines straightened to attention as he approached and unlocked the well oiled lock of the gate.


    He went down a flight of stairs lit by a smoky torch set at regr intervals on the wall and reached the bottom and into a square room. A trio of Marines sat around a table against the corner of the room stood up in attention as he entered. One of them quickly unlocked the only wooden iron reinforced door and he entered a dimly lit corridor.


    This area was the deepest part of the Keep, where condemned prisoners or prisoners with overwhelming strength were locked up. He briefly nced over the runes and array formations carved all over the surfaces of the walls of the cells and came up to one of the eight cast iron doors.


    He banged hard against the thick rusty stained door and the door swung opened by one of thergest and nastiest looking Orc Marine Joseph had ever seen. The Orc gave a casual salute and stood back, his sleeves had been ripped at the shoulders as his biceps were toorge to fit through the sleeves and he stood at parade rest by the door.


    Another Orc simrily dressed in the non regtion ripped uniform stood at attention next to a naked hooded prisoner in the middle of the cell.


    The hooded prisoner was drenched and sat gasping for air while fully restrained to a chair that was upturned with the prisonerying on his back facing the ceiling under a puddle of water. A couple of hooman made lightmps sat on each corner of the room, brightly lighting the room up.


    Joseph nodded to the Orc next to the prisoner who set the naked prisoner and the chair upright again before pulling the soaked hood off. The prisoner immediately sucked several deep breaths of air while squirming his eyes in the sudden light. "Name!" The Orc growled dangerously.


    "Le- Lector.. Lector... of... Galestone... vige..." The heavily trembling prisoner gasped out.


    "Tell me, Lector," Joseph dragged a chair over from the side. The legs of the chair made a scraping sound that made the prisoner flinch in fear. "What is it that you... desire?"


    "I... I just want to live!" The prisoner cried out, "Please! Lords! don''t kill meeee!"


    "Good, good," Joseph nodded to himself. "Tell me about yourself?"


    The frightened prisoner quickly babbled out his life, from working in the fields to making a living as a clerk with a merchant.


    "I got a question for you. Why a young man with a promising future such as yourself, joins a cult?" Joseph asked after the prisoner ended his babbling.


    "I- I don''t know they were a cult!" The young man cried out. "They told me that they... they are looking to recruit... loy- loyalists..."


    He stammered to an end after that in fear. "I... I was stupid! I am sorry! I will never revolt or fight against you Lords ever! I swear upon my life!!"


    Joseph shook his head, "Lector, Lector, I assume that is your real name?" He suddenly wrenched the hand of the prisoner, twitching the palm over and continued, "I have never seen a farmer which such nice skin nor a clerk without ink under his nails..."


    "No! N-" The prisoner thrashed in his restraints as Joseph jerked his head at the Orc Marine who stood over the prisoner and slipped the wet hood over his head again. He kicked the legs of the chair over, sending the prisoner in the chair toppling over on its back.


    Next, he picked up the barrel of water while the other Orc crouched next to the prisoner and held him down while the barrel of water was slowly poured over the hood of the prisoner, causing him to thrash wildly against the restraints.


    Joseph sat cross legged on his chair without any changes in his expression as he watched the waterboarding torture of the prisoner while asionally looking at his wristwatch. This method of interrogation was taught to him by the hooman Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant Tavor.


    He admitted it was actually pretty useful so far, but he knew that confessions under torture barely counts for any use. But it didn''t really matter as in this case, he has five more other prisoners to tally the information given up.


    He checked his watch and nodded, "Enough, let him up."


    The Orc Marines lifted the prisoner back up to a sitting position before ripping off the cloth hood. The young man called, Lector coughed and vomited out water and snot with tears in his eyes. Joseph watched the eyes of the young man carefully, catching a glimpse of pure hatred in them and he nodded to his Marines again.


    The process was repeated twice and finally, a hint of fear was present in the young man''s eyes. "So now, what is your name?" Joseph asked again.


    "A- Alden... Si- Silvaton..." The young man gasped for air, his face turning red and eyes bloodshot from the suffocation torture.


    "Now, we are finally on the correct page," Joseph smiled. "So, Mr. Silvation... I assume you have some noble blood in you?"


    The young man kept his head down as he shivered in the cold and pain. "Y-yes..."


    "Judging by your appearance, you don''t look local either," Joseph said. "Where are you truly from?"


    "Nor- Norshelm..." The young man replied. "The river city..."


    "Norshelm... Norshelm..." Joseph rubbed his chin as the city was the next closest city by the river to Orwell''s Point and also the city where the Empire was gathering its forces to attacking them.


    "Well, Mr. Silvaton, if you wish to not to be subjected to more water," Joseph stood before the young man and jerked his chin up, staring at the fearful eyes of the young noble. "Tell me everything, the cult, Norshelm, everything!"


    "To live or die? Tell the truth and live, but if you tell a lie, we can make you die... just harder!"

 Chapter 265: With A Vengeance

    Chapter 265: With A Vengeance


    Between the edge of Uncharted Forest and Great Ocean ins


    Aaron Hart frowned as he rode out of the Forest from the back of the tamed wolf. He felt a sharp ache in his chest for quite a while and wondered what mortal illness could still affect his body.


    He looked back to the Forest and smiled as he thought of the note and the present he left behind for his ''friends'', knowing that they will definitely love it.


    Suddenly another sharp ache stabbed into his chest and he cursed, his hands gripping tightly at the thick fur of his mount as he gasped. He looked up to the endless ins stretching out in the distance, knowing that something has happened to his Patron!


    "Hurry!" He snapped at his escorts, "We must return at once!"


    He looked down at his right hand and saw his hand giving out tiny tendrils of smoke. He clenched open and close his hand in worry, wondering what was going on with his powers.


    He remembered them when on the run away from their previousrades, they had blindly driven in the heavy snowstorm before the lead half track got bogged down. They tried to pull the half track out with the help of their second vehicle but with the storm raging all around them, it turned out to be futile.


    When the storm subsided, they were lost in and of white as they argued inside the heated vehicle on their future ns, dozens and dozens ofrge naked pale blue looking humanoid creatures wielding crude weapons surrounded them.


    Despite their panic, they managed to fight off the creatures just as another storm hit them. Unwillingly to leave behind a precious vehicle filled with supplies and tech, they dug in, constantly besieged by the blue creatures.


    It was by luck that they spotted a cave nearby that they decided to use it to take shelter from the constant heavy snowstorm and that was where they found the series of caves to be the den of those blue monsters.


    With their superior weaponry, they easily killed off the waves of monsters, including the old and young. Aaron secretly enjoyed it all, feeling like he was in a VR game, killing monsters and finding loot.


    And loot they found, bits and pieces of gold and silver, and statues of snakes carved into the rock walls. They stood before thergest rock statue of a hooded snake that stood in the middle of the cavern, easily four to five meters tall, staring with wide eyed wonder.


    On the base of the statue were several gold idols and amulets, and bits and pieces of offerings in the form of finger bones of small animals, small mana stones, to gold or silver. Without a word, Raman had reached out and picked up thergest gold idol of the snake and admired it in the light of his torch.


    He grinned madly at the rest, and Aaron remembered him yelling, "We are rich! RICH!"


    The rest with their adrenaline high from the killing, caught up to Raman''s enthusiasm as they too scrambled for the lootughing.


    Little did they know that the blood from the creatures they have in slowly flowed towards the statue of the snake and pooled at the base. They were all too busy, digging among the small hill of offerings for treasure to notice.


    Suddenly they all paused at their mad rush for treasure as a heavy presence descended on them. They felt goosebumps rising all over their bodies and a deep sense of primal fear growing.


    The shadows cast by the glows of their shlights started moving and shadowy snakes appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them, hissing viciously.


    An ancient voice hissed out from the stone statue as the petrified humans stood there shaking in fear. "Aisssh... fresssh soulissh!"


    Arge shadowy snake oozed out from the bared mouth of the snake statue and hissed in pleasure before the men. "Hmmmmm... you all..." The snake appeared to study them closely as it slithered around them.


    No one dared to make a single move as they could feel the intense pressure from the snake and deep down inside, they knew if they make a wrong move, their lives will be forfeited immediately!


    "How many yearsssss hasss Ish not mets ssuch beingsss again!" The snake hissed in anguage that strangely, the humans all could understand. "No matter! You all smell goood!"


    The snake rosed up before Raman and its jaw widen till it wasrge enough to swallow the fat human whole! Raman yelled out in reflex, "Wait! G- Great one! W- we seek to s-serve!"


    "Ahhh? A believer?" The snake closed its jaws and tilted its head in a human like gesture. "I seeh..."


    Raman quickly dropped down to his knees and bowed with his head against the bloody ground. "G-Great One! W- we are your servants!"


    He peeked under his belly on his kneeling position and saw the others still rooted to the spot and he quickly hissed out, "Quickly knee!"


    The rest stared at the shadowy snake and at Raman before they too quickly kneeled down and bowed, following Raman''s example. "E- eh, Great One!"


    "Hmmmmm..." The snake coiled before Raman and hissed happily, "Goood... Ish just needed some help in thiss realm..."


    "Find me the Sun!"


    -----


    Aaron snapped out of his thoughts when suddenly one of his escorts cried out and pointed to the rear. He followed the Orc''s gesture and saw a massive monster bursting out from the trees. "What in the world is that?!"


    -----


    Sergeant Sath grinned as he saw the bunch of Orcs in the distance on his zoomed disy as Unit Zero Two crawled out of the Forest. "Found you assholes!"


    "Distance 2000! Load HE!" He yelled to the gunner and loader in the gun turret. "Pilot, full forward! Close the distance as much as you can!"


    The hammering and nks of the 3" gun being loaded merged with living stone joints of the Mech as the pilot, Clove, pushed the speed of the Manned Armored Walker up.


    The internal damages dealt by the fight with the Great Serpent''s spawnling had mostly fixed as best as they could, but several red lights still lit up on Sath''smander console. The external armor ting of the MAW was badly dented by the fight while one of the forward legs were jettisoned off due to heavy damages.


    The MAW limped forward as fast as it could with it''s remaining five legs as it sought to catch up with the running Orc party through the Forest. Now at the open ins, Clove deployed the wheels stored in the inner side of the armored legs and powered by an electric motor, the MAW charged across the uneven open ground with the little ASAG tagging behind. "Looks like thirty, forty of them in that party!" Sath called out.


    "Great, it will be a cake walk!" Drake grinned while crowding behind Sath''s chair. "Open the top hatch, me and Slow will ride on the top deck!"


    "Got it!" Sath nodded and he punched the hatch release for the two Marines to climb out of the cramp passengerpartment and onto the hull of the MAW. "Remember your ear plugs!"


    Both Drake and Slow climbed out of the internal of the MAW and crouched on the top decks. There was a simple depression on the side of the hulls which allowed troops to hold on and ride on the top of the MAW and Drake and Slow each took one side while gripping the hand bars to steady themselves.


    They crouched down and watched the distance between themselves with the Orc party closing at a snail pace. Drake estimated the MAW was traveling roughly at 30 to 40 kilometers per hour and he jolted as hisms red out, "Watch out, the main gun is firing!"


    Drake gestured to Slow who hunkered down, facing away from the stub cannon barrel which suddenly roared.


    -----


    "Distance 1800!" Sath called out as he designated the target for the gunner. "FIRE!"


    "AYE!" The gunner cried out and the hollow thump of the cannon echoed loudly within the turret.


    "LOAD HE!"


    "UP!"


    "READY!"


    "Drop two degrees! FIRE!"


    "AYE, two degrees down! FIRE!"


    "Good hit! Fire for effect! Three rounds HE rapid!"


    "AYE!"


    "LOAD!"


    "UP!"


    "FIRE!"


    -----


    The shriek of a passing shell screaming past Aaron''s Orc party made him panic as he instinctively ducked his head down, and a short distance ahead, the ground erupted upwards, the shockwave and thunder hit him and throwing and raining dirt down.


    "Spread out! Disperse! DISPERSE!" He yelled over his ringing ears. He yanked the leash of his wolf mount, urging it to run faster as the frightened wolf slowed its pace after the explosion scared it.


    The Orcs too deafened by the st, remaining bunched up, only concentrating to put as much distance as they could with the monster that was spitting thunder at them. Another shriek and a loud boom, several wolves and Orc tumbled down as the 3" HE shellnded between them.


    "DISPERSE!" Aaron continued to roar out and he waved his hands to the side urgently. The Orcs finally understanding his yells, broke off into several smaller parties and widened the distance among themselves as more HE shellsnded among them.


    -----


    "Distance 1,500!" Sath roared out. "One and Two MGs engage!"


    The two side ball turrets fired, their gunners using the tracers to guide their shots at the running Orcs and wolves. The range was more than within their effectiveness of the .50 calibers. The heavy rounds riddled the wolves easily as they were arger target, sending them tumbling head over heels and throwing their riders off violently.


    On the top deck, Drake grinned at the thickly bandaged up Slow who bared his teeth back while working the bolt of his rifle, chambering a round in and yelled over the wind. "Its time for some payback and revenge!"


    Slow nodded as he braced his MG - 1 against the hull of the MAW. Oh, he will make them pay, that was for sure!


    -----


    Great Ocean ins, somewhere near Sin City


    It had burrowed into the ground after blindly searching for shelter to get out of the sun and recover its wounds. It hissed angrily as it checked its body and closed its eyes as it conserved its energy, letting its newly formed material body to repair its gaping wounds.


    It slowly fell into a deep slumber, dreaming of vengeance and hellfire.


    -----


    Skies over Great Ocean ins


    Despite the lulling hum of the bomber''s engines, Airforce pilot Goldan remained wide awake as he checked their position with the navigator. They were using the UAV currently in the Area of Operations as a beacon and the UAV was currently vectoring them to their target.


    When they returned on their previous mission with one ne less, the mood in the airbase was subdued. The ground crew had solemn expressions as they ran over to service the aircraft and help the crew and pilots off.


    But today, the atmosphere at the airbase was full of energy, as the men and women prepped the bombers and the Ordnance Technicians signed and wrote messages dedicated to the crew that lost their lives on the bombs that were loaded onto the bombers.


    The rest of the airbase personnel, seeing what the Ordnance Techs were doing, joined them and the clusters of bombs inside the bomb bays of Goldan''s Seagull One was covered with messages of vengeance for the lost crew.


    "Targeting up!" The navigator called out from his station.


    "Opening bomb bays..." Goldan replied as he flipped the switch for the hydraulics.


    "900... 800... 700... " Goldan called out as he watched his gauges while his co pilot peered into the bombing sights.


    "DROP DROP DROP!"


    A mixture of their total remaining stocks of napalm and Mk II general purpose 250 kg bombs were released over the den of the unsuspecting God Snake which was still slumbering underground.


    "We are back, and this time with a vengeance!"

 Chapter 266: Live Free

    Chapter 266: Live Free


    The ins were burning. Thick oily ck smoke rosed into the skies, where it was visible hundreds of kilometers away. The creatures living in the vicinity fled from the inferno that was raging on in the heart of the ins.


    The fire was constantly apanied by thunderous roars that could be heard echoing away dozens of kilometers away. No sane creature nor person had remained close by, as they all fled away from the angry pressure of the Serpent God.


    -----


    "Seagull Two to One, presents delivered!" Thems in Goldan''s headphones cried out. "ce burning up hotter than hell!"


    "Roger, RTB! Stay high, don''t get caught by that thing!" Goldan replied as he turned the ne back towards base, before leaning back and watching the burning fields.


    "That is for the guys of Seagull Three!"


    -----


    Lebo the Hunter crouched low, using the tall grass for concealment and watched the squirming Serpent God thrashing about in the distance. Fires raged all around it as it cried out in pain and anger while rolling about the scorched earth, creatingrge furrows of churned earth.


    He had wrapped a dirty sweat stained animal hide across his mouth and nose, as the thick ash and smoke hugged the area around the Serpent God. He frowned as he watched two strange crossed shaped objects flying off in the skies, that barely looked like any wyvern or dragon he has ever seen in his whole life of hunting monsters.


    Despite his misgivings, he bowed and gave a prayer of thanks to the strange flying creatures as he watched how they burnt the hidden Serpent God out of its hiding ce. He picked up his quiver filled with throwing spears and carefully backtracked away from the enraged Serpent.


    Once he was certain he was far enough from the snake, he turned heels and ran, heading towards the army that was awaiting his scouting report.


    -----


    It was rudely awakened by the same hellfire that came out of nowhere. The dirt ceiling above it copsed and buried it while shockwave baffled it all over, making it confused and hurting its insides.


    Liquid hellfire scorched and stuck to any of its exposed flesh, while the air around it was superheated up by the rivers of fire. Nasty storm clouds soon formed above the raging inferno as the superheated air rose up into the atmosphere, and chain lightning thundered and shed in the clouds.


    Its injuries were barely healed when yet it suffered again, feeling the hellfire burning right into its core. It thrashed about, trying to rub the hellfire off its body as it dug its way out of the earth. It wondered how was it found, was the Gods of Fire working with the mortals against it now?


    It opened its jaws and screamed out its rage, knowing that its injuries will lessen its time on this realm and it must feed or its powers will be too weak to remain here. It rolled about on the ground and slithered its way out of the inferno, making sure to avoid the swaths of hellfire an ignored the energy draining sun rays on its body as it looked around desperately for prey.


    -----


    Thousands and thousands of Oerkin had gathered together by the call of the Great Summons. It has been over a hundred years since thest Great Summon was invoked and all the warriors of the Great ns and Tribes had gathered before a massive inferno raging in the distance.


    "Is that where the Evil One is?" One of the gathered Lesser Chiefs asked.


    The gathered Chiefs and Elders of various ns and tribes zed upon the burning ins. "Where are the rest? Have they all been defeated?" Another young Oerkin chief asked.


    The Elders and Chiefs looked at each other uneasily. "We have no news, wait for the scouts to return!"


    "Are we fighting?" Another called out while the Elders and Chiefs ignored the questions. "What are we waiting for?"


    "All of you! Silence!" One of the Elders with an angry expression roared out. "We observe more before making any rash acts!"


    "We wait for the scouts to return?" Amanding voice broke the unease among the chiefs and elders. A young Oerkin with perfectly sculpted muscles wearing a sleeveless hide armor with a brace of ck powder revolvers hung on his hips and great ax dangling over his back stroll to the center of the gathered Oerkins. "How long must we wait? We have gathered here for over three days!"


    His dominating presence forced the Oerkins to give way to him and he stood before all the chiefs and elders. "Me, Turok! Son of Drokk, Great Chief of the Wolfmasters!" He roared out his credentials.


    "Son of Drokk, we greet you!" The elders and chiefs gave a respectful bow to the young chieftain of thergest Oerkin n. "Your Father will-"


    "Yes, yes!" Turok waved the pleasantries away. "My Father missing still! Together with a thousand of the Wolfmasters warriors!"


    The other lesser chieftains also cried out, "We have three hundred warriors missing!"


    "Five hundred of the Tusk n!"


    "Enough!" The Elders and Chiefs on the front roared out. "Wait for the scouts to return!"


    "Not only that!" Turok growled. "Where are the Shamans? I see none here! Even our n''s Shamans are missing!"


    His words made the rest of the young chieftains uneasy as they looked around themselves while the Elders and Chiefs sighed. "The Shamans have all gone to get help..."


    "Help?" Turok narrowed his beady eyes. "From who? And where? All the Great ns and Tribes had gathered to the call of the Great Summon! Who else can the shamans call? Unless..."


    "Yes... Our ancestors!" One of the Elders confirmed his thoughts. "As of now, we waiting for them to arrive..."


    "Why do we need..." Turok frowned. "Wait... the missing warriors! Every single one defeated?"


    "Yes..." The Elders and Chiefs nodded sadly. "We do not wish to spread this news!"


    The sons of the chiefs that perished in the battle with the Serpent God looked around themselves in shock at the news.


    "There are three thousand warriors!" Turok cried out! "How could it be possible!"


    "It is the truth!" The Elders and Chiefs replied. "We are fighting a Great Evil!"


    "But... the bodies! Their spirits?" Turok clenched his fists in anger. "Where are they?"


    His question was met with silence until Turok turned away from the gathering of Elders and Chiefs. "I shall gather my warriors for war! We have waited too long! Now it is injured we must take this chance to kill it!"


    Turok suddenly stopped and turned back and said, "That Evil has to be stopped! Like how our fathers had done so for the greater good of the Oerkin race! That Thing feasts on the spirits of all things living, if we want to live free after death, we must fight!"


    With that, he walked off, with the rest of the sons of the Chiefs following behind as they went to rally their warriors to fight.


    -----


    A stench of old and rot followed the army of undead as they marched tirelessly across the ins, drawn to the ck clouds of smoke in the far horizon. Surrounding the undead army was the Oerkin Shamans who spent all their powers to keep the spirits in check and also by maintaining a magic barrier over the undead as the sun rays greatly weakened the spirits.


    The shamans watched the smoke given off by the fires with great unease as they approached nearer. They all had felt the loss of the Eldest Shaman who stayed back to fight the Evil, and now massive forbidding clouds gathered over the thick smoke with flickers of lightning and roars of thunder.


    "We must hurry! I fear the Great Summon might be in trouble!" One of the Elder Shaman using a short ranged telepathy spell spoke into the minds of the shamans nearby. "We should be able to make it to the Summon by nightfall!"


    The other Shamans nodded and together, they squeezed out all their remaining mana to keep the barrier protecting the undead stronger, to allow the spirits more energy to move faster as they kicked their wind wolves mount, urging them to move faster.


    -----


    The shrieking shell screamed past Aaron''s head and he ducked and the Orc riding the wind wolf ahead of him disappeared into smoke, mes, and gore. The riderless wolf tumbled head over heels with its rear end missing and trailing blood and gore everywhere as it rolled across the ins.


    He turned his head away from the stter of blood as his mount rode through the billowing dust and smoke. Flecks of blood and bits of flesh cling onto his body and clothes which he quickly brushed them off.


    He turned back and cursed as he saw the crab like tank following him instead of the other split off parties of Orcs. His remaining escort of five Orcs was all that remained of the ten that followed him.


    He watched a line of tracers erupted out from the side of the crab tank, the rounds ripping up the other party of Orcs that rode away in another direction. Most of the Orcs and wolves tumbled down from the lethal spray of bullets and Aaron cursed again.


    He stared at the thick smoke rising in the distance and wondered what was all about before he turned his attention back to the tank that was chasing and hunting him. Should he surrender? They probably put him on trial and lock him up somewhere right? Better than being dead... He thought.


    But he touched his chest where the emptiness of the snake amulet used to sit and felt a tingle of fear down his spine. It is better to live free than be subjected to a cell as he knew that the Serpent can get into ces and walls, doors, and locks meant nothing to it!


    Well, at least he has some backup n. Aaron dug into his saddlebag and pulled out an M7A1 rifle. He turned and yelled at his escorts, "We fight! Enough running! Use the anti armor rounds!"


    His escorts grinned happily as they too pulled out weapons from their side saddles on their mounts. retrieving their revolvers cannons. They expertly loaded up the four round chambers of the revolver cannons with special green tipped 20 mm shells and Aaron gave amand, the riders all suddenly as one split and galloped back towards the chasing spider tank.


    -----


    Drake perched on the warped hull of MAW Unit Zero Two frowned at the sight of the Orc cavalry looping back while swinging their ck powder arms. Slow suddenly cried out, "The sides!"


    He turned and saw the other split of parties also looping back towards them and wondered if they were nning to fight. He knelt down and braced himself properly before raising his scoped M1 rifle and snapped off a shot and missed.


    Undeterred, he took aim again and fired at the charging human, aiming for therger wind wolf rather than the rider. The 6.8 mm bullet spun out of the barrel with a trail of mes and gases. It struck the charging wolf in the face a split secondter and despite the innate barrier of air protecting the wolf, the wolf flinched as the bullet slowed down and dumped its remaining kic energy against its coat of fur that acted as an absorbent armor.


    The remaining kic energy was enough to bruise the wolf painfully and as it flinched from the hit, it identally tripped over its own legs and tumbled over the ground while flinging its rider off its back.


    The rest of the Orcs fired as they closed the distance between themselves and the spider tank. Their anti armor shells scoring potholes against the armor of the MAW, making both Drake and Slow duck t to avoid getting hit by sprays of hot lead and shrapnel.


    The guns of the MAW opened up as the Orc riders rushed them, easily blowing chunks out of their bodies and before long, there was barely a single Orc still alive around them. Some of the wolves not wounded too badly whimpered and limped away from the monster that killed its owners.


    Drake peered over the hull of the MAW and saw the human pushing himself up unsteadily and growled.


    "Now for the final meal!"

 Chapter 267: It is A Good Day to Die

    Chapter 267: It is A Good Day to Die


    Aaron pushed himself to a kneeling position before giving a sudden twist to his dislocated left shoulder, snapping it back into ce with a cry of pain.


    He looked up at the towering spider tank which had stopped about 50 meters away from him. He nced around seeing all his Orcs were littered around either dead or dying.


    He sighed as he picked up his M7A1 and stood up facing the spider tank. "You know, it''s hard to train these guys... Such a waste of my time and energy..."


    "Spaceman Senior Aaron Hart! You are charged with desertion duringbat and essory to the murder of two fellow crew members!" A human Marine yelled from the top of the spider tank. "Under Article 75, you are to stand down! Drop your weapons and do not resist!"


    "Damn Marines..." Aaron cursed. "You assholes think you are all better than us squids? Always strutting around and the damn navy gets all your leftover shit..."


    "I WILL NOT REPEAT AGAIN! DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND STAND DOWN NOW!" The Marine yelled again.


    Aaron shook his head and gave a grin instead and yelled back, "Why don''t youe down here and make me?"


    A crack of a rifle shot echoed out and the dirt before Aaron''s feet blew up as the Marine fired a warning shot. "LAST WARNING! STAND DOWN NOW!!!"


    Aaron swept his left hand up and gave the bird to the Marine and he dived to the right as the area around him exploded as the Marine open fired. He rolled swiftly to his feet and fired his pulse rifle just as he finished his roll.


    The high powered advanced 6.8 mm rifle rounds prated the simple armor of the MAW and blew chunks off its already weakened armor together with parts of its living rock systems. The spider tank wobbled as his rounds punched deep into the innards of the tank, destroying magic circuits and living rock muscles.


    He wondered how the hell did they manage to build a mech out here with the limited technology and manufacturing capabilities. It must be powered by magic, thought Aaron as he ran closer to the spider tank while keeping as low as he could.


    He emptied the entire magazine at one of the legs joints, and the high powered rounds sawed the leg off, spewing out some kind of silvery liquid and cont fluid. The spider tank rotated and it seemed that the pilot was trying to stabilize the tank with the loss of a leg, making the gunners unable to properly draw a bead on him.


    Even the two Marines on the top hull had to grab on to something as the tank tried to bnce itself. Aaron grinned as he quickly took the opportunity to reload his rifle. Just as he was about to fire, the side sponson turret swiveled towards him and fired.


    He grunted loudly in surprise as suddenly he felt something punched and jerked him backward violently all of a sudden.


    -----


    The young Oerkin Chief stood before his kinsman who had formed up in a loose cluster. Each Oerkin carried either a great ax or heavy sword. Some were armed with ck powdered hand cannons or carried quivers filled with throwing spears.


    He looked to the left and right of his warriors, seeing the rest of Oerkins'' ns and tribes forming up together with his warriors. He nodded grimly to himself and turned to look at the billowing ck smoke.


    The air smell acidic as ashes were carried over by the winds and the whole ins appeared dark and forbidding as the skies were overcast with dark red thunderous clouds while a raging fire burnt underneath the skies.


    The scouts had returned and they brought news of the Thing appeared to wounded by the strange flying creatures that came from the skies. The Elders and Chiefs insisted on waiting for the Shamans to return with the army of spirit warriors while the younger Chieftains followed his lead, urging for the attack to start before nightfall.


    In the end, more than two third of the Council followed him, and the gathered army nowid before him, all eager to rush into battle.


    He pulled his great ax off his back and raised it high in one hand and roared, "IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE! CHAAAARGHHH!"


    "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!"


    Over ten thousand of Oerkins'' voices roared out as one as they jogged forward towards the Thing that clearly sensed their challenge.


    -----


    Itid exhausted on its side as it tried to circte its flow of mana to recover its injuries it had sustained. The grass around it burned but it ignored the fire as it was barely able to scorch its body. Only the detested hellfire still burning away around its den gave it pause.


    It suddenly cocked its head as it heard a faint roaring crying from beyond the mes and smoke. It tried to sniff the air and see through the smoke only to smell the bitter sour ashes in the air while its eyes were blinded by the heat and smoke.


    But its senses were still very much acute and it slithered out of the mes and smoke to see a massive army delivering themselves right to its feet.


    Its golden eyes widen in anticipation at the offeringsing to its doorstep and it lurched forward with its jaws wide hungrily, its wounds temporarily forgotten.


    -----


    Drake braced himself carefully as the MAW finally stabilized and he quickly climbed down the side with Slow. He gave a couple of hand signals to Slow who nodded and they spread off to the sides to surround the human deserter that had half its torso blown away.


    Remembering that the deserter had some sort of power like the Hero, Drake moved cautiously forward. His scoped rifle was slung behind his back while he swapped to his service revolver and thrust it out, aiming at the unmoving body on the floor.


    He nced with the corner of his eye and saw Slow hip carrying his machine gun and covering the body from the other side. The MAW had settled down on its haunches while all the guns seemed to be aimed at the unmoving body.


    "Zero Two to Overwatch, is he dead?" Drake''s earpiece suddenly spoke.


    He hit the push to talk button of hisms and replied. "Unsure, keep your fingers on the trigger!"


    "Roger!"


    Drake advanced till he less than two meters away from the body and he cursed as he saw the massive gaping hole on the body of Aaron had wisps of smoke that appeared to be knitting its body together.


    "Fuck!" He quickly kicked away the discarded rifle before emptying his revolver point nk at the regenerating body and stepped back to reload while Slow came up with his machine gun and hosed a stream of red hot lead at the unnatural thing flopping away from the impacts of the bullets.


    "Ahahahahahahaaaaaa.... ack..." The body suddenlyughed as it jerked and spasm. "You can''t... kill... me... I AM... IMMORTAL!"


    "Fuck you!" Drake cried out as he and Slow stepped back. "ZERO TWO, POUR IT ON!"


    The MAW had a total of four hardpoints for the .50 caliber machine guns. The pilot controls the hardpoint for a dual forward facing .50 cal, a single .50 cal for each of the side sponson ball turrets and thest was for themander on the main gun turret.


    A total of five .50 caliber guns each spewed out a mixture of tracer, ball, and armor piercing rounds at a 1 : 2 : 2 ratio at a muzzle velocity of 908 meters per second at 510 rounds per minute.


    Forty two .50 caliber rounds were fired out of the 5 guns every second and it took not even a split second to hammer into theughing human at the force of almost 20,000 Joules. Close to 850,000 Joules of energy was dumped into the body of the human every second.


    A short five secondster, the guns fell silent and what remained behind the smoking pockmarked holes of the churned up ground was just pieces of a booted foot and bits of unidentified parts.


    Wisps of ck smoke drifted up destroyed ground and Drake frowned as he watched the smoke attached itself to the booted foot. He looked over to Slow who was eyeing the smoke warily and asked, "Fire?"


    Slow nodded, "Fire good, fire clean evil!"


    "Zero Two to Overwatch, is that thing dead now?" Drake''sms ringed again.


    "Negative, we are gonna burn it!" Drake replied. "Got any incendiary rounds?"


    "Erm, negative, want to try the 3" HE?" Sath asked from thems.


    "Hmmm... Sure, why not?" Drake grinned and he waved Slow to back off further.


    A humanoid shape was being formed out of the wisps of smoke and another raspingughter came out from the regenerating human. "Hahahahaa! I am... immortal! You... can''t... kill me with those puny... weapons!"


    -----


    Sath shook his head as his cracked disy showed the human being regrown by tendrils of ck smoke and shuddered. "Load HE!"


    "Aye, load HE!" The loaders repeated themand and went to work with the 3" gun.


    "UP!"


    "Ready!"


    Sath watched the two Marines backing off to a safe distance before he gave the order, "FIRE!"


    The scratched stub barrel of the 3" cannon roared!


    -----


    "- can''t kill me... Hahahahahahaa!" Aaron coughed andughed deliriously as the pain of reconstruction his body drove him close to insanity. "Ahahahaha... Fuckers can''t k-!!?!"


    -----


    The 3" HE shell detonated right in his center of mass, the 0.68 kg of trinitrotoluene bursting charge filled the hollow steel shell ignited when the fire runes crumbled together with a force of 3,136,208 joules, instantly vapourised everything within an eight meter radius.


    When the smoke and mes cleared, another small smoking crater was formed and nothing remained of the human.


    Drake and Slow went up and poked around, trying to see if they can find any traces of the human but there seemed to be nothing remaining of the human. "Well, Zero Two, I think that did it!" Drake reported after over fifteen minutes of searching. "Can''t find any parts of the fucker remaining!"


    "Good job people!" Zero Two replied amidst the background cheering of the crew. "We wait for a while more to be sure before we make some repairs to the MAW. That asshole chewed up thedy pretty badly!"


    Drake gestured Slow to keep on searching to be double sure that that guy was well and truly dead. They walked up and down and dug a bit around the ground before they were called back. Drake stood next to the MAW on watch while the crew busied themselves over the exposed panels to repair and service the MAW as much as they could.


    He looked up at the clear beautiful blue skies that contrasted greatly with the stormy clouds in the distance and gave off a deep breath of contentment that he was still alive.


    "Damn, it is a good day to die..."


    -----


    The Owleye UAV hummed softly to itself as it hovered at a height of over two fifty hundred meters in the sky over the raging battle below it. Its smart camo paint under its belly allowed it to somewhat blend into the skies as it spied on the people below it.


    It''s high powered camera recorded and streamed thousands of gigabytes of data back to its control center as it watched impassively at thousands of toy like Orcs throwing their lives against the Giant Serpent.


    It''s engines continued to hum softly to itself as it repositions itself over the victorious Giant Serpent that was crushing the remaining few pockets of resistance as it feasted on the Orcs souls and it''s once exposed wounds slowly closed up and healed.


    The UAV continued on to video and stream data back as the satisfied Serpent slithered off in search of a new ce to hole up till nightfall, leaving behind thousands of dead and dismembered bodies of the Orcs.

 Chapter 268: The Snake, the Empire, and the Hoomans

    Chapter 268: The Snake, the Empire, and the Hoomans


    Fora, Grand Pce, Capital of Kingdom of Foral


    A soldier in d in ck armor ran across the sleek tiles of the Grand Pce. His cloak billowed behind him as his mail boots nked loudly, echoing throughout the empty hallways. He paused before an open doorway and knelt down, "Lord Rock!"


    The man who conquered the Two Nation Alliance stood with his back facing the soldier with his hands sped behind his back. He dressed in a simple grey tunic and pants with a long sword on his side while his normally worn armor was arranged neatly on a side table.


    He turned away from the view of the captured city and gestured the soldier in as he took a seat on the table. "What news do you bring?"


    The soldier had a yellow messenger sash across his chest stood up and handed over several rolled up parchments from his scroll case. He gave a salute and exited the room, closing the door behind him but staying outside the room as he waited for his Lord to finish the reports and in case there was a need for an urgent reply.


    The Rock picked up the scrolls tied secured by colorful ribbons, with each color determining the urgency and content of the reports. Blue and green for non urgent daily reports of the military and civic side, yellow for petitions, and red and yellow for urgent military and civic matters, respectively.


    He saw the startling blood red ribbon in the midst of the usual blue and green ribbons and he quickly ripped the red ribbon off and broke the wax seal. He reread through the scroll a few times and frowned before he called out to the messenger waiting outside. "Messenger!"


    "Yes, my Lord?" The soldier who delivered the reports entered the room again and knelt down.


    "Take this!" The Rock tossed a silver amulet that he carried on his belt. "Pass the order to the ck Scorpions to prepare for war! Tell all themanders to meet me in the Great Hall by the turn of the ss!"


    "Yes, my Lord!" The messenger caught the amulet and quickly left to carry out his orders.


    The Rock stood up and walked back to the balcony and nced out to the smoking city and wondered who had the balls to attack and invade one of the Empire''s city!


    -----


    Dead Frontier, Great Ocean ins


    Taris watched yet another group of refugees setting up camp at the outskirts of the vige stockade next to several otherrge clusters of tents and wagons that had sprouted up since he returned from his trip to the trade city.


    Beyond the rising tent city, were cleared fields that were being tilled by both physical and magical means. The soil was poor and thin in the surrounding areas and the water not easily avable but luckily, there were plenty of soldiers of the Last Company that knew some basic water spells from their years of fighting on the field.


    Those soldiers now wandered around the tilled field and cast water spells to irrigate thend while others sowed thend with the seeds bartered back.


    "Taris," A deep gruff voice called out and Taris saw the bear like Captain of the Last Company walking up next to him. "More refugees?"


    Taris nodded, "It''s getting worse by the day! We do not have enough food for everyone! Even with the seeds we have gotten, I don''t think we can support so many people when winteres!"


    "There have been some scuffles among the refugees already," Taris reported. "We are barely able to keep the peace now and many families are begging us for food and water."


    Borse''s expression hardened before he jerked his head towards another group of people who had their own guards and richer looking tents and wagons. "Who are they?"


    "Looks like some merchants and nobles from Foral with their families and guards," Taris replied.


    "What is in those wagons?" Borse asked again.


    "Not sure," Taris shrugged. "They did not allow us to check their cargo and we did not push them."


    "Did they ask you all for food?" Borse''s eyes narrowed as he stared at the dozens of covered wagons parked in the middle of the camp.


    "Now that you asked," Taris frowned, "No, I don''t think so, I need to check with our quartermaster on it."


    "Call him over," Borse said before he sat down on the wooden steps as he waited for Taris to return with Company''s Quartermaster.


    Not long, an old man lead by Taris came back. "My Lord," The balding quartermaster bowed as he stood before his captain.


    "What is our food situation now?" Borse asked immediately, ignoring the pleasantries.


    "Not counting the need for the refugees, we have enough tost till harvest of the newly nted crops," The old man said. "As long as the yield of our first harvest isn''t too low and the hunters bring back meat regrly, we can get past this year''s winterfortably."


    "But our stocks of salt is low, so we can''t preserve a lot of meat," The quartermaster rubbed his chin as he squirmed his eyes over his thick pile of ledgers that he brought along. "It will be good if we can send another trade caravan off to get more food back, especially with the number of refugees piling up at our doorsteps..."


    Borse nodded before asking, "Did those people there ask for any food?"


    The quartermaster narrowed his eyes as he peered at the group pointed out by the Captain and replied, "I do not recall them ever asking for anything..."


    "Got it," Borse nodded again. "Go back to your work."


    "Yes, my Lord," The quartermaster saluted and walked off carrying along with his thick ledgers.


    "How long have they camped?" Borse asked Taris.


    "More than a week?" Taris replied. "They were here when I returned three days ago..."


    "Bring some troops along," Borse suddenly said. "I want to see what is inside those covered wagons!"


    Taris grinned and gave a mock salute and called out to the guards at the gate and before long, a hundred man leader came up and saluted to them both. "My lords! My men are ready for your orders!"


    "Good," Borse gestured him and his men to follow him as he set off towards the camp outside.


    The merchant guards and house guards of the nobles could barely even stop him and his men as the soldiers spread out to block the guards, leaving Borse, Taris and a handful of escorts to enter the merchant camp undisturbed.


    They walked right up to the covered wagons in the middle of the camp, while dozens of people of all ages in rich clothing eyed them in confusion and loathe.


    They ignored the stares and whispers and stood before one of the covered wagons were a couple of guards tried to stop them but frozen under the intense re from the veteran soldiers. The guards could only run off to inform their superiors as they did not dare to stop the soldiers.


    Borse gestured to his men who pulled off the back cover of the wagons and they found crates and barrels of food supply.


    His face darkened as the soldiers checked the cargo in another wagon and found more supplies of dried fruits, flour grain, salted meat, and other kinds of food preserved in oil. Taris whistled as he took a quick peek at the other wagons.


    Mentally he calcted the amount of food here in these twenty wagons are more than enough to feed a few hundred people for at least a month! Taris gave Borse a silent nod as he hopped off thest wagon.


    Borse nodded back and turned to one of his men and ordered him to bring more soldiers over. They will seize these wagons to feed the people!


    "You!" A sudden cry came from several well dressed men who came rushing over with dozens of guards. "What are you trying to do?!"


    "Are you the leader of this camp?" Borse asked as the angry looked men stood before him.


    "Yes!" The red faced merchant cried out. "Get out of my camp!"


    The guards behind the merchant grasped their weapons tightly as they stared down at the soldiers.


    "You know..." Borse replied calmly. "This area is under my control?"


    "You bandits!" The merchants cried out. "You want to steal our stuff!"


    Taris giggled and gave a low bow, "You are speaking to the Lord of Dead Frontier..."


    The merchants paused in their ranting and quietened down, while the red faced merchant quickly changed his tone. "Oh! My lord! My mistake! Many apologies! My mistake!"


    Borse grunted and pointed to the wagons, "I want all of them!"


    The merchants paled and looked at each other, "But my lord! Those are our supplies!"


    Taris shook his head in mock sadness at the merchants'' reactions, "Not anymore!"


    -----


    The Isles, Council of the Masters


    The five Fleet Masters sat on the round table with solemn expressions on their faces, even the normally chatty Megan was subdued.


    "Is this information urate?" The First Fleet Master asked softly at the messenger.


    "Yes, Fleet Master!" The messenger replied. "It came by priority wyvern!"


    The First Fleet Master nodded and dismissed the messenger before turning his attention to the other four who all had taken turns to read the delivered parchment.


    "Sightings of a giant snake that is over two hundred feet long?" Megan finally broke the silence. "Where can such a monstere from?"


    "From the information given, it seemed to appear out of nowhere in that city called Sin..." The schrly Akron spoke up. "And that city was destroyed in one night..."


    "We need to take measures!" Dijon roared as he hammered both his fists on the table top. "Even if we are separated by a barrier of water, if that Thing swims over..."


    Megan snorted, "That is the least of our problems now!"


    She gestured to the map on the round table and said, "The Two Alliance has fallen and effectively, the Empire is now the sole power controlling the whole continent!"


    "We need to take steps to prevent the Empire from swallowing us up!" Megan said.


    Dijon calmed down as he heard Megan words, "True, but those hoomans... They are strong too!"


    "Ultimately, can a city fight against a whole continent?" Megan asked. "We should instead focus on getting the arcane arts from the hoomans to strengthen our military!"


    The Fleet Masters started to debate among themselves as the First Fleet Master watched and listen on. They continued to discuss tillte what course of actions they have to take against the Empire, the Snake, and the Hoomans.


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Command


    "A total of five hundred and fifty thousand 6.8 mm rounds, five hundred thousand .50 cal, and four hundred and fifty thousand 8.6 mm for the MGs. A hundred spare M1 Magelocks, forty MG - 1, ten .50 caliber machine guns, twenty RPG - 1, ten 120 mm mortar tubes and 4 3" guns." The Quartermaster of the 2nd Battalion reported. "Another two hundred rounds of HEAT rockets for the RPGs, three hundred 120 mm HE mortar shells and three hundred HE 3" shells are also delivered."


    "We also took over ten heavy hauler trucks, eight half tracks, and twelve jeeps for use for 2nd Battalion," The Quartermaster continued. "Also another ten tons of Dragonite fuel for the vehicles."


    "Got it," Joseph nodded.


    "Sir!" A boyish Lieutenant dress in a one piece dark green jumpsuit stood up and saluted in the meeting room. "1st Armored reporting for duty, Sir!"


    Joseph''s eyebrows rosed up as he saw the two golems crouching outside the city walls. Their low slung and sleek lines made them looked predatory and the amount of firepower each possessed was enough to destroy an entire steel and shield army by its self.


    He returned the salute of the Lieutenant and gave a smile, knowing that their chances against the Snake and the Empire just went up by arge factor.


    "Lieutenant, wee to Orwell''s Point. I am very certain you and your boys will be very well appreciated here!"

 Chapter 269: World Events

    Chapter 269: World Events


    178 km North West West of Orwell''s Point, Shard River


    A long snaking river sparkled under the sun stretched away from Blue Thunder''s view as he rode the warm updrafts of the air currents. Hezily beat his wings and followed the river, heading upwards as he and his crew were watching the river of any Imperial movements.


    Blue Thunder snaked his head back and peeked at Rastraz at his rear and winked at Crew Chief Stamford who sighed and shook his head at Blue Thunder''s antics. Just a couple of days earlier, he had begged to be reassigned back to Haven and in the end, the CO ordered them to go on a long range reconnaissance mission instead.


    Stamford wondered what kind of monster was so terrifying to both the dragons that they immediately agreed to this mission. Normally Blue Thunder and Rastraz will try to push these missions away as they both are gettingzier in their ways.


    "Hey?" Rastraz voice came in loud and clear from the short radio frequency radio. "Something ising up the bend of the river!"


    Stamford nced over the back to Rastraz who did not have a crew on her. She did not allow anyone to ride her, only begrudgingly allowing the techs to hook up a flight harness on her, which held the two way radio and some spare supplies.


    He carefully removed his binocrs and peered down the snaking river glittering in the sun, following the river upwards till he spotted several ck objectsing around the bend of the river where the canopy of the forest blocked the rest of the river.


    "Blue!" Stamford called out, "One o'' clock, ground level!"


    Blue Thunder tilted his body gently and swooped down, lowering their altitude to easier identify the objects on the river. Behind him, Rastraz followed closely, keeping a short distance behind his tail.


    Stamford watched a river barge slowly came into his view of his binocrs and soon, several more followed behind. He started counting once the number when up to thirty and he cursed as more and more ships could be seening out of the cover of forest on the river.


    "Empire!" Blue Thunder yelled, as his superior eyesight spotted the gs and banners on the river ships. "Many many ships!"


    "Don''t get too close!" Stamford warned Blue Thunder before yelling at Rastraz, "You too! Break off!"


    Rastraz gave an indignant snort and ignored Stamford''s orders. She swept her wings backward and dived down like a missile towards the floti of ships.


    "Break off! BREAK OFF!" Stamford yelled urgently in the two way radio as he saw what Rastraz was trying to do. "Stupid beast!"


    The river barges spotting her approach, quickly fan out into a checkered shape formation barely in time as Rastraz suddenly snapped her wings out and red to a slow hover before the floti. She sucked in a breath of air and embers of fires glowed in her air sacs.


    Just as she was about to spit her mes out, several ballista bolts whistled through the air at her. She dodged the ballistas bolts in panic, twisting her body awkwardly and she heard Blue Thunder snickering at her in thems making her angry and embarrassed.


    "GET BACK HERE... YOU STUBBORN DRAGON!" Stamford yelled in the radio. "And you! Blue! Stop making it worse!"


    Rastraz red at Blue Thunder circling in the skies with anger and continued to ignore Stamford. She turned her attention back to the ships which were arming and firing ballistas at her.


    She stopped her hover and pped her wings, seeming like swimming in the air and dodging the ballistas and arrows aiming at her gracefully. She opened her mouth and roared out a stream of mes over the leading ships.


    She hmphed and turned around to observe her handle work only to see the ships she med were barely damaged! Suddenly she heard several horn blows and on the corner of her eye, she saw dozens of dragons appearing from the trees!


    "Retreat!" Stamford yelled again. "They have barriers protecting the ships and dragons to provide air cover! You can''t defeat them all by your self! Retreat!"


    Rastraz hissed in anger and turned tail and fled just as several lightning bolts ran across her belly, making her gasp in shock and pain. The lightning shock locked her joints and wings and she turned rigid for a couple of seconds and dropped like a stone.


    "NOOO!" Blue Thunder roared out in fright and anger at seeing Rastraz dropping down and hitting the river surface with a massive ssh. "RASSSS!"


    "Shit!" Stamford cursed when he saw Rastraz went down. "Call it in!" He quickly ordered his radioman.


    "Omega Point! Omega Point, this is Dragon One! We are under hostile contact! We have a dragon down! Repeat! Dragon down!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Command


    Joseph stared at the sweating ex ve, Matthew seated in the middle of the stone room turned office. He rapped his fingers against the tabletop copying the way The Captain did and said, "You know what you need to do, yes?"


    "Yes! Yes! My Lord!" Matthew quickly replied eagerly. He was taken to a tour of the dungeons and after seeing what was being done to the cultists, he was totally on the side of the Barbarian Lords.


    "Now, make sure, your people stop all violence and any stupid ns of trying to overthrow the regime," Joseph recapped the points. "If there is anyone still nning any violence, you are to inform us by the agreed manner."


    "Yes! yes!" Matthew nodded. "I will make sure no one has any rebellious thoughts!"


    Joseph nodded to the two Marines guard at the door and they took Matthew out. "Not what I really hoped, but I guess that is a start for now at least!"


    He sighed as the footsteps of the guards and Matthew echoed away. "Well, the bigger problem now is the damn Snake, we will just have to fix our internal affairster."


    Earlier, he had met up with the Merchants of the city and offered them a deal, that was for every ex ve hired and paid with an agreed minimum wage, the government will offer tax reduces and also subsidies for the employers.


    After taking half the morning away with the meeting with the Merchants, he ordered Matthew to be brought to the dungeons and take a tour, before impressing upon him the importance of his duties, or there will be severe consequences.


    "Sir!" The door swung open and one of his aides came in, "Priority message from Dragon One!"


    "What is it?" Joseph stood up from his chair.


    "They have encountered the Empire fleeting down from the Shard River and, they lost Dragon Two!" The aide quickly reported.


    "What? Rastraz is lost?"


    -----


    Dead Frontier


    "So, we managed to confiscate enough food for everyone tost for this winter, but looking at the number of refugees that areing pouring in..." Taris sighed, "I think we need another trip to Sin City..."


    "Hmmm..." Borse nodded. "Gather all the valuables we have left, and this time bring arger escort along, don''t get caught by vers again!"


    Taris gave a good naturedugh at Borse''s reminder, "So what do you think of this, United Nations?"


    "Too far away for any use to us," Borse replied. "Hence no point bothering to think about them, when we have so more urgent matters here."


    "True..." Taris nodded, "Well, I go gather the men and materials for another trip down."


    He left the still under construction vige stone Tower that had fallen into ruins after years of neglect and now being restored to be used for the soldiers of the vige which now resembled a small city orrge town.


    "I want five hundred troops!" Taris gave his order to the Last Companymanders, "Fifty wagons and as many volunteers to drive them! Load them up with all the valuables we have taken from the merchants and nobles!"


    "We are going... shopping!"


    -----


    Eastern Shore, Gateway City


    Dozens of warships of the Islesid anchor offshore with their batteries of ballistas and catapults aimed towards the shoreline, supporting the defenses of the seaside city. The city docks and piers were chock full of refugees as the remnants of the Two Nation Alliance sought safe haven with the Isles.


    Gateway City was the only city with enough deep water facilities to harbor over a hundred ships and also the closest city to the Isles. It was also the main trade hub for the Two Nation and Isles to conduct trade and at this time, a massive Imperial Army was at its doorstep.


    The Isles''s Council of Masters had immediately ordered a Fleet to support and help protect the city as they knew if the Empire captured that city, it will open the doors for them to invade the Isles. If they are sessful in repelling the Imperial forces, they can use an excuse of protecting their interest and annex the city to their side!


    Dijon stood onboard his gship, Fury and watched the shoreline with an angry frown on his face. He brought over 27 warships and 8 troop transports, making the journey in less than a 5 day week once news of an Imperial army threatened their own lifeline to the continent. He knew another Fleet, wayrger than his was being prepared at home and once they are readied, they wille and reinforce him.


    Hundreds of longboats ferried troops off the warships while the transports were forcibly docked in the harbor. The transports had forced their way through the many ships and vessels crowding the docks, ignoring the Harbor Master''s protests.


    Over two thousand Isles''s sailorsnded in the first wave while another three thousand more waited for their turn to board the shuttling longboats while another five thousand infantry poured out from the 8 troop transports at the docks.


    Gateway City''s Mayor and it''s Garrison Commander came to the docks only to be greeted by marching troops and were told that they are here to help resist the Imperial Army. Dijon had smiled at the nervous and worried expressions of the Mayor and his staff and slyly assured them that they were just here to help.


    The city''s Garrison Commander had shared some information regarding the Imperial force, which their scouts estimated to be over 30 thousand strong. The city garrison holds over elven thousand troops and with the remnants of the Two Nation''s army, another 7 thousand mixed allied troops were being rallied.


    He had brought along five thousand crack infantry in the eight transports and he has another six thousand fighting sailors onboard his warships he could deploy without depleting his Fleet''s operations.


    The shipsid anchor as close as they could without getting beached by the tides so that they could provide fire from their heavy ballistas to the shores and Dijon has a couple of tricks still hidden up his sleeves against the Imperial Army.


    He turned and looked at the two t longish ships anchored behind the battle line and grinned, knowing that the Imperials will be in for a nasty surprise!


    -----


    Great Ocean ins, Site of the Oerkin Battle with Great Evil


    Hundreds and hundreds of shambling shapes moaned and wandered about aimlessly under the dark clouds of the night while the Shamans held an emergency council. They stared at the few Oerkin survivors that they found on their way to the confrontation with the Great Evil.


    "All dead?" The Elder Shamans hissed behind their cowls in shock at the bobbing heads of the survivors. "How?"


    "The Chieftains lead the attack! We stormed at the wounded Great Evil that was set alight by the strange flying creatures that helped us!" The survivors recalled the events to the gathered Shamans.


    "But the Great Evil started to regain its strength as it ate our kin!" The survivors growled and angry tears flowed down. "The Chieftains seeing it was useless to fight, ordered everyone to scatter!"


    "We could do nothing only to be food for it!"

 Chapter 270: Dragon Down

    Chapter 270: Dragon Down


    Shard River


    The square shaped hull of the river barge quaked slightly under her feet as she stood with her hands on her hips while staring up at the circling dragon with deep blue eyes. The ballistas on the midships tossed out another bolt into the skies and the deck quivered again.


    She nced back at another river barge which had a dragon tied down with rune chains and wondered if the rampaging dragon in the air was its mate as it desperately and futilely tried toe closer over to her ships since yesterday.


    The mages had informed her that the red dragon''s mana was of the purest quality! No wonder they needed five times the rune chains and even a magic locking formation to pin the red dragon down, they were lucky that they managed to stun the dragon with several lightning spells before it destroyed the whole fleet!


    Normally a typical heavy weight dragon would not even be able to survive getting hit by several high leveled lightning spells unless they have a magical barrier. Even so, the dragon woulde out heavily damaged. This red dragon did not even have any signs of injuries other than being knocked out for a short while!


    They used over ten high tier magic crystals to power the formation to hold the dragon down and it was just barely enough! A high tier magic crystal is worth a massive fortune and only certain high level monsters produce them! One high tier magic crystal is equivalent to ten thousand low tier magic crystals and the market price is worth hundreds of thousands of gold crowns!


    *Magic crystals are Mana stones*


    "Lady Titannia, that dragon keeps bothering us, but it keeps dodging our spells and ballista!" A soldier with a red cloak half kneeled behind her reported. "Our stores of ballistas are being wasted upon that creature!"


    "And our dragons?" Titannia swept her braided blonde hair over her shoulder as she turned her attention to her aide. "What are they doing?"


    "Eh... that dragon is too crafty!" The soldier replied, "Each time we tried to ambush it, it seemed to know where they areing from! As if it has eyes on its back!"


    "Hmmm..." She frowned as she looked up to the circling dragon again. "Do you see any riders?"


    "We... cannot be sure," the soldier replied embarrassedly. "It is smart, it keeps to the sun, blinding the dragons, making it hard for them to attack it."


    "But the red dragon has some sort of harness over its body..." the solder reported. "We can''t approach it to see what is it, but the red dragon most likely is a part of a force!"


    "Hmmm, does it have any gs or trappings to show its allegiance to?" She asked. "Or a rider?"


    "No, mydy... the harness appears to only carry some goods..."


    "A high leveled red dragon used as a porter?" Titannia shook her blonde head. "What a waste! "


    "Well, tell the ballistas and the mages to not waste any more energy on it," Titannia ordered. "But keep an eye on it, if it tries to rescue its mate, feel free to kill it."


    "Yes, mydy!" The soldier saluted.


    Titannia eyed the red dragon which was trying to wiggle its way out of its restraints. It screamed and yelled at the mages and pikemen surrounding it as it red with hatred at its captives.


    She admired the sleek lines and the crimson glow of the red dragon scales and licked her lips. "Be patient, O fiery one... I shall make you my mount and you will no longer be used as a lowly porter!"


    Tilting her head back as sheughed at the thought of taming such a magnificent beast and once she tamed it, she will show that upstart bitch, who will be the top graduate of the Bluewood Royal School of Magic!


    She was always known as the second bestpared to that little girl they called the Magic Genius, but this time, with a tamed red dragon, her fame will grow stronger than that bitch!


    -----


    Blue Thunder roared with anger as he circled above the floti of ships below him, powerless to get close enough to free Rastraz from her magical bonds. Stamfordid low on his back as he observed and recorded the number of ships paddling down the wide river.


    "Blue!" Stamford snapped at the fuming dragon. "Calm down!"


    "Calm down?" Blue Thunder growled. "They got Rastraz! She''s chained up down there! She must be so frightened! She... She... I... I must save her!"


    "Calm down you damn fool!" Stamford kicked hard against the thick scales. "We can''t just go swooping down without a n! They have thirty ships all heavily armed with ballistas and mages!"


    "Not to mention another twenty mid weight dragons as support somewhere hiding in those trees!" He continued to berate the agitated dragon. "We have called for backup, but we need them toe closer before the Cobras have enough range to hit them!"


    "Stop your nonsense and act like a soldier!" Stamford yelled. "If not you''re gonna get all of us killed without saving Rastraz!"


    "I... I..." Blue Thunder hung his head low, "I understand, I will follow yourmands..."


    "Good!" Stamford sighed in relief. "Now, find a safe ce tond, you need to replenish your burnt calories, if not you will not have any strength to keep those Imperial dragons at bay!"


    Blue Thunder gave ast forlorn look at the weakly thrashing form of Rastraz on the deck of one of the river barges and gritted his teeth before banking away and went off in search for a safending zone.


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Airbase


    A dozen F/A - 1 Cobras sat on the side of the runway tarmac had their engines slowly spooling up with a small army of ground crew swarming over the little bi nes.


    The pilots sat in the snug little cockpits and ran their pre flight checks as the ground crew finished up on fueling the nes and checking the weapons load outs before the Wing Commander waved the nes onto the runway.


    Two by two, the nes took off from the simple concrete runway and once their wheels were off the ground, they looped towards the river, heading upstream where one of their own had been lost.


    -----


    Goldan stood at the roof of the airport and watched the nes take off into the skies. "Damn, why can''t we go with them?"


    "Well, we are reassigned back to being cargo haulers..." His co pilot leaned against the parapet and watched the nes fly off. "No supplies, can''t win the war!"


    "Damn!" Goldan cursed again and he turned to look at his FB - 1 Mariner being serviced at one of the hangars. They had justpleted a round trip from Orwell''s Point to Haven and back with a load of supplies. The Mariners were in a serious need of some downtime and servicing. "Oh, well, hope that Angel Flight all makes it back safely."


    "I think that is the least of our problems here," His friend reminded him. "That damn snake is still running loose out there and we dropped enough explosives and firebombs to burn down two cities, yet it still lives!"


    "Yeah..." Goldan nodded. "That damn snake... I wonder how are we gonna kill it..."


    "I am sure those hoomans wille up with something," His partner replied. "If one thing I am sure of, its those hoomans ingenuity at waging war, so I am not surprised if theye out with some god ying weapon."


    Goldan nodded again, finding thements of his friend to be quite true. "Well, at least the Cobras will slow down the advance of the Imperials, giving us time to deal with the God Snake."


    "I really wish we are out there bombing those damn Imperials!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Command


    Joseph, Dr. Sharon, Magister Thorn, and the other senior staff officers all watched in silence at the yback video of the one sided massacre of the Orcs by the God Snake.


    "Alright, what is everyone thoughts?" Joseph asked as the yback reached the end, showing pockets of Orcs retreating away from the God Snake.


    "Ground troops are useless to fight that thing," One of thepanymandersmented. "It will be suicidal and a waste of lives just to send troops against it."


    "Attack it with long range weapons," Anotherpanymander added. "Stay as far as possible and keep hitting it."


    "Napalm seemed to be its bane," Dr. Sharon said. "And it doesn''t like the day either..."


    "Fire and light magic are its weakness?" Magister Thorn also gave his insights. "That thing seemed to recover as it feeds on the... Orcs..."


    "Okay..." Joseph summarized everyone''s feedback. "So fire and light, stay as far back as possible and bomb it while notmitting any troops to fed it?"


    Seeing everyone nodding in agreement, Joseph continued, "Okay, so we gonna need a lot more napalm for the Airforce..."


    "Captain," Dr. Sharon raised her hand up. "Why don''t we contact the Orcs?"


    "Eh?" Joseph gave a questioning look to Dr. Sharon''s question. "Why?"


    "If we can get the Orcs to work with us, it will be easier to kill that thing, yes?" Dr. Sharon answered. "Also, if we can get the Orcs to get as far away as possible while we bomb it, it will not have any food source around it to recover."


    "And if we keep hitting it till it dies?" Joseph rubbed his chin as he finished Dr. Sharon''s sentence. "That might work..."


    "Since we have half tracks now, we can hook up the 3" guns and tow them out," Dr. Sharon added. "The Airforce can bomb it at night, while the 3" guns can bombard it from afar. If it starts toe close to the 3" guns, we tow them away and run off somewhere before we hit it again."


    "And hopefully, if we can get the Orcs to cooperate with us, we can starve that thing off," Dr. Sharon gestured to the video. "The Orcs are just feeding it and making it stronger, we need to stop feeding it if we want to kill it!"


    Joseph nodded, "That is a good idea, but we are gonna need a lot of supplies for this to work and also the Empire is just less than a five day week away from us."


    -----


    Shard River


    Rastraz hissed angrily as she tried to blow mes and superheat the air around her but the runes on the thick chains that were holding her down to the wooden decks of the ship glowed bluish white and her power ebbed away.


    She woke up wet and chained to the deck with her whole body tingling and numb before she remembered that she was hit by several lightning spells which surprised her while she was trying to attack the ships. She did not expect these mortals to develop such spells capable of stunning her!


    "Release me at once! You low lives!" Rastraz growled and struggled desperately against the chains, rattling them loudly against the deck while her ws gouged deeply into the thick timbers of the deck.


    Dozens of soldiers and mages surrounded her and ignored her yells as theyssoed her arms, legs, and wings, pinning her down as tight as possible as she thrashed about. The mages hit her periodically with lightning spells to shock and stun her and also they supplied mana to the sealing formation underneath Rastraz.


    She noted the hastily drawn runes on the deck of the ship and she tried to w the runes away, but the soldiers supported by strengthing spells made the task almost impossible for her. They pulled in all directions, forcing her to be eagle spread across the decks helplessly.


    A massive roar came from the skies and Rastraz looked up with hope, remembering Blue Thunder and those hoomans were still out there. She watched as the shipsunched ballista bolts, arrows, and even spells at Blue Thunder but he managed to keep one step ahead of the deadly weapons and spells.


    "BLUE! BLUE!" She cried helplessly and tears formed in her golden eyes. "HELP MEEEE!"


    To her despair, she realized that Blue Thunder could not get close to her and with a final angry roar, she watched Blue Thunder gave her ast look before he turned tail and disappeared from sight.


    "NOoooo! Bluee! Blue!! Come back! Don''t leave me behind!"

 Chapter 271: Be a Man! Do the Right Thing!

    Chapter 271: Be a Man! Do the Right Thing!


    Somewhere in the Great Ocean ins


    "Stop dancing you... piece... of... SHIT!" Sergeant Sath of the 1st Armored, MAW Unit Zero Two could hear the pilot at the forwardpartment cursing and swearing away as the MAW literally was dancing its way to ruin.


    He could hear the internal rock structure of the MAW cracking loud and the sad shrieking of the joints as the damagedponents rubbed together by the malfunctioning spider tank. The MAW made another few more jerky dance moves before burning out one of the radiators and spewing out smelly cont fluid.


    The MAW stopped and settled down on its haunches and thepartment hatches opened up as the crew and passengers inside spilled out, choking on fumes and burnt circuits.


    "Now what?" Drake asked as he hopped down the broke down MAW and watched with envy at Slow who was riding his ASAG in a rxed manner. "I don''t think we can call for a tow truck out here in the middle of no where..."


    Sath looked at the sad appearance of the MAW, with its external armor ting torn or badly warped. Bits and pieces of its internal stone structure were peeling off or crumbling away. He knew that the poor girl was on herst legs, having carried them so far.


    "Hows the radio antenna?" He asked his crew who was fiddling on the top side of the MAW.


    "Not looking good," His crew yelled back. "If we had some duct tape, maybe we could tape the broken mast back together..."


    "Anyway, try your best," Sath sighed. "And see if you can get a broadcast out to Orwell''s Point. If worstes to worst, activate the emergency beacon, hopefully, some of our boys in the air can spot us."


    "Great... now we are stuck in the middle of no where..." Drake slumped down tiredly on the grass.


    "And we don''t even know where the hell are we at..."


    -----


    On approach to Imperial River Floti, Shard River


    "Angel One to Dragon One, what''s your sit rep over?" The lead pilot of the wing of twelve A/F - 1 Cobras called out on the wireless.


    "Dragon One, currently grounded and under cover, over," Blue Thunder''s radioman, Dek quickly replied. They had hidden under the canopy of the forest for the night and had set up the radio antennas over the canopy while waiting for reinforcements to radio in.


    "Angel One, Roger, Angel Flight en route to your AO in one five mikes, over," Angel One reported.


    "Dragon One, copy that! Be advised, there are three zero surface Tangos and two two Bandits," Dek reported. "All medium weights!"


    Angel One, roger that! Three zero surface Tangos and two two Bandits in the air!" The wingmander of Angel Flight confirmed.


    "Dragon One, also beware that Dragon Two has being captured and is onboard one of the forward Tangos," Dek continued his report. "Please take caution to not fire blue on blue, over!"


    "Angel One, affirmative, friendly POW onboard one of the Tangos!" He swallowed back his nervousness before rying the information back to his whole flight. "


    "All Angels, be aware of Bandits in the AO!" He spoke as calmly as he could. "Two two in the air and three zero surface Tangos!"


    The rest of the flight gave their affirmative and they continued on in a three four ne diamond formation.


    "Beware of blue on blue, Dragon Two is POW onboard one of the Tangos!" He warned everyone.


    Not long, they clearly spotted the Imperial Flotiing down the wide snaking river. "Alright, Angels, Wing One and Two willmerce attack on surface targets! Wing Three keep an eye out for bandits in the area!"


    "Roger that!" The pilots of Angel Flight were made up of freshly graduated pilots and despite most of them having fought in the old cold steel armies, it was the firstbat flight for all of them!


    The two leading diamonds of bines broke formation and dived down, their pilots disengaging the safeties on their weapons.


    "Wing Two engage from the rear! Wing One, follow my lead!" Angel Onemanded and the four Cobras of Wing Two broke off and charged around towards the rear of the enemy ships.


    Wing One and Three stayed high using the sun as a cover while they waited for Wing Two to circle to the rear of the enemy. Once Wing Two was in position, Angel One gave the order and both Wing One and Two dived down while Wing Three keep watch from above for the enemy dragons.


    "Angel Four to all, friendly spotted!" One of the Cobra pilots reported. "Friendly onboard Tango Three, counting from the front!"


    Angel One looked down and counted the ships from the front to the third vessel and saw a vaguely draconic shape lying on the deck. "Roger, all units check your fire!"


    Angel Flight were loaded with the onboard twin .50 caliber guns and the two hardpoints were equipped with 20 mm cannon pods. Angel One took the lead and aligned his crosshairs on the leading ship and the target soon grewrger than his ''X'' of his gun sights.


    He held down both the red colored trigger on his control stick and the whole little bine shock wildly as his forward mounted .50 calibers and the gun pods fired. Smoke and mes burst out from the front part of the Cobra as he hosed a stream of lead down onto the target.


    "Guns! Guns! Guns!" He cried out in excitement as he watched his shots connect with the ship he was targeting.


    He barely had to lead his guns as the ship was powered by oars and the current, which moved the ship rather slowly. He only had to angle his ne up slightly to the center of mass of the ship before he pulled his ne up to prevent ramming his ne into the ship.


    He caught sight of his rounds and shells blowingrge holes off the deck of the smoking ship before the view changed to the clear blue skies.


    "Woooo hoooooooo!"


    -----


    Titanna was seated inside the superior cabin below decks and were going through several ancient books and scrolls on how to tame a dragon when she heard a strange buzzing that grew louder and louder. She frowned, wondering who was disturbing her study and was about to put away her books and scroll when the whole ship suddenly shook madly and loud explosions and snapping of wood could be heard.


    She felt the pop of her magical protection barrier around the cabin almost immediately just as the river barge lurched. She really fell but she managed to grab onto the bolted down table and quickly made her way out of the cabin. Titanna mmed the door open and saw the several beams of light shining through holes in the upper deck.


    The deck she was on was filled with smoke and screams of pain and the dying. She ran up the stairs and looked at her fleet in shook, seeing several more of her ships smoking and listing to the side as some strange flying creatures spat angry roars of tiny mes that were more destructive than a ballista bolt!


    Her ship that she was on was smoking and she could see the damage more clearly once she was on the top decks. Large gaping holes and bits of pieces of bloody parts could be seen. She was lucky as she had a magical barrier up around her cabin which helped to somewhat protected the river barge slightly.


    "What is going on!" She grabbed a nearby pale faced soldier and asked. "Report!"


    "Eh, m- my Lady!" The wild eyed soldier stammered. "Mo- monsters are attacking!"


    "What manner of monsters are those?" She asked as she tried to peer through the smoke. She could barely see the fast moving creatures in the sky covered by her smoking and burning ships. Sounds of thunderous roars could be heard echoing throughout the area.


    "My Lady!" A soldier in a more borate armor disying his officer rank came up to Titanna. "We are under attack!"


    Titanna rolled her eyes at the soldier''s words and took a deep breath to calm her anger. "Yes, I can see that!"


    "Where are the mages?" She demanded. "Get the ballista crews to ready the weapons! Kill them!"


    "Yes my Lady!" The officer saluted and ran off rallying the men.


    She cursed as she watched helplessly at the strange flying monsters that rain death on her ships.


    -----


    "Wing Three, to Angel Flight!" The lead pilot of Wing Three called out excitedly. "Bandits spotted!"


    The four Cobras of Wing Three tilted over and dived down from a higher altitude to the iing Imperial dragons flying over to protect the Floti, totally unaware that they were being stalked and hunted.


    The fast and nimble Cobras that were engaging the ships suddenly broke off from their attacks on the ships. They formed up and flew in a circle, each pair of nes keeping a distance of a few hundred meters to cover each other rear.


    The Imperial dragons charged in, trying to get into melee range while the crew onboard fired crossbows and lobbed spells at the faster Cobras.


    With their whole attention focused on the circling Cobras, the dragons and their crew neglected to look above them as four more Cobras with the sun at their tails dropped down and fired their weapons.


    Suddenly the Imperial dragons started to drop like flies as the wing of four Cobras punched through their formation from the top, gunning down six dragons in a single pass.


    The Imperial dragons and their crews panicked and they tried to disengage from their original targets. The circling Cobras suddenly broke formation as one as if they knew what was happening and the nose of the Cobras burst into mes and more dragons were felled.


    The aerialbat barelysted fifteen minutes but the victors were the strange flying creatures which were more nimble, faster and has more powerful magicpared to the Imperial dragons.


    Twenty two dragons died that day at the cost of one Cobra which unluckily crashed his ne right into a dragon as the unlucky pilot was unable to dodge the dying dragon.


    The remaining Cobras looped around the wreckage of the crashed Cobra, trying to see if anyone walked out of its ming debris and seeing none, they retreated and returned to base, leaving behind the entire air cover of the Imperials dead and crippled over a dozen river barges and one pissed off female Commander.


    -----


    Blue Thunder carefully bnced his whole body weight onto the top of the thick forest canopy and sat there watching the one sided battle. "Poor me, soon you all won''t want this dragon anymore!"


    "What the hell are you up to now?" Stamford grumbled as he watched the battle with his binocrs.


    "Well, you hoomans have those powerful flying contraptions!" Blue Thunder sighed. "You won''t need old me and Rastraz anymore..."


    "What are you talking about?" Stamford turned his attention to the dragon. "Why are you thinking that way?"


    "Those flying nes are so powerful... they can defeat two times their numbers and only lost one ne..." Blue Thunder moaned. "You won''t save Rastraz... and will abandon me too!"


    "Stop being silly!" Stamford rolled his eyes at Blue Thunder. "You are thinking too much!"


    "Do you know how much maintenance is needed for those nes after each flight?" Stamford seeing Blue Thunder''s sad expression decided to give somefort to him. "On the other hand, dragons are cheaper to maintenancepared to a bine!"


    "Really?" Blue Thunder perked up slightly. "You won''t abandon Rastraz and me?"


    "Silly old dragon..." Stamford shook his head and smile. "Ask the rest, see if they want to serve somewhere else!"


    "Yeah, why would we want to abandon you?" The rest of the crew grinned at Blue Thunder. "You are our dragon!"


    "Sob... sob..." Blue Thunder sniffed and rubbed his wet nose. "Guys... you all... sniff... sniff..."


    "Come on, you fat lizard," Stamford patted the side of Blue Thunder''s head. "Chin up! How are you gonna save Rastraz if you act like a cry baby? She won''t like this side of you, you know?"


    "Yeah! Come on, be a man! Do the right thing!"

 Chapter 272: Airborne Marines!

    Chapter 272: Airborne Marines!


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Command


    "Sir, word is just in that Angel Flight had sessfully raided the Imperial river fleet with one ne lost," The General Staff officer reported to Joseph.


    "Where is the Imperial fleet location?" He asked as he stood over the map pinned on the plot table.


    The Staffer pushed three blue wedge shaped wooden tokens on the map and said, "Angel Flight reports that they engaged the Imperial river fleet at these coordinates."


    He updated the blue wood tokens and the green painted arrow tokens which represented Angel Flight on the map table. "Roughly here, Sir!"


    The top down map made by the UAV in preparation of the Imperial attack, took them over a week to map out before the UAV was tasked to spy on the Serpent.


    "They report at least eight ships disabled and all dragon elements in the AO has been cleared."


    Joseph took out a set of rulers andpass tool to measure the distance from the Imperial fleet and Orwell''s Point before he looked up at the chalkboard stacked against the wall to see the Airforce taskings "Hmmm... They lost all their air cover... Hmmm... We got two Mariners still on base?"


    The staffer checked the Airforce taskings and replied, "Yes, Sir, Seagull One and Three is down for their scheduled maintenance while Seagull Two is en route back to Haven for supplies."


    "So both Mariners on the ground are in cargo configuration?" Joseph asked again.


    "Yes, Sir!" The staffer replied.


    "Good! Very good!"


    -----


    Sergeant Mills exited the briefing behind hispanymander, 2nd Lieutenant, Silverstar, a slightly older elf with several years of fighting with cold steel tactics. "What do you think of our chances here?"


    "If we can achieve total surprise," Mills gave hisment. "We should be able to wing it somehow..."


    "Sergeant... That''s not very assuring you know?" Lieutenant Silverstar, CO of 2nd Battalion, Falcon Company replied.


    Mills grinned, he kinda liked this no nonsensemander who was willing to listen to the advice given by his NCOs. "Well, Sir, we are Marines... not Airborne!"


    "But being a Marine, they ask us to jump, we ask how high!" Mills winked at hismander who faced down Demons with hardly a blink. "Don''t worry, Sir. I make sure the Boys won''t disappoint you."


    Mills left his Lieutenant and gathered the rest of the NCOs. He was in charge of all the NCOs since he got promoted to Company Sergeant Major. "Alright, people, we got a new job. I am sure all of you have all heard about the screw up made by the Airforce?"


    "The one we lost a dragon?" One of the Sergeants answered.


    "Give that man a beer!" Mills grinned. "Yup, they lost a dragon and an ancient red dragon to boot!"


    "Now, as usual, when someone screws up, who do you call?" Mills asked with a wide smile on his face.


    "THE MARINES!" The NCOs roared out. "HOO RAAH!"


    "HOO RAAH!" Mills yelled back. "Now, as we Marines can be depended on, not like some other branches. We are needed to go and help the Airforce wipe their asses and clean up their shit after they shit all over the ce!"


    "We will be inserting into the forest and take up ambushing positions on both nks of the river," Mills detailed out their operation ns and gestured to a blown up map of the area of operations.


    "We wait for the Imperial river fleet to pass by us, and with air support from the flyboys, we willmence a raid against the Imperials!" Mills continued. "And at the same time, we will go save our dragon princess!"


    "Sergeant Major, how are we going to be inserted in?" Another Sergeant asked. "By foot?"


    "No, we Marines are going Airborne!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point Airbase


    Goldan grinned happily as he ran through the pre flight checks of his Mariner while his co pilot shook his head in amusement. They could hear the cussing of their cargo at the rear of the ne as the Marines climbed on board.


    "Someone is happy," The co pilot did his own checks of the flight instruments and made hisment.


    Goldanughed, "Well, at least its less boring running supplies up and down..."


    "Everyone is loaded!" Their crew chief yelled from the cockpit hatch.


    "Got it!" Goldan replied before he hit the broadcast to all on his mike.


    "Wee to Omega Point Air! We hope that you enjoy our flight-"


    -----


    The internal cargo bay lights turned green and the crew chief yelled, "GO GO GO!"


    The leading Marine took a step off the open hatch and the wind whipped him away and secondster a grey parachute burst open. One by one, the Marines jumped off and dozens and dozens of parachutes filled the skies.


    Once the Marines has cleared the ne, the crew chief shoved out bundled crates of weapons and supplies out after the departed Marines before shutting the hatches.


    The two Mariners had each took up one side of the river and dropped their cargo of Marines over the area, before looping back and returning to base.


    -----


    Imperial River Floti, Shard River


    Titanna was livid with anger, as her fleet barely moved since the attack and had to stop their advance to made repairs to the damaged ships. She had paced up and down her cabin, barely able to get any sleep as she thought of the humiliation those flying creatures have dealt with her fleet!


    Finally, the Fleet Captains gave the word that all but one of the river barges were able to continue on. They had to abandon one of the river barges as its belly was holed from the attack of the flying creatures.


    Over a hundred sailors and soldiers died in that attack and so did all the dragons! Titanna gritted her teeth and managed to calm herself down slightly when she saw the ships'' anchors weighing up and oars sshing away.


    Titanna''s head hurt when she thought of all the resources gone to train the dragons were just wasted by those cursed flying creatures. She wondered what kind of creatures were they, were they part of the unknown enemy that quietly captured Orwell''s Point?


    A hundred sailors and soldiers were just a small drop in the bucket for her forces but the loss of the dragons dealt a huge blow to the morale and resources of her troops. Not mentioning the loss of the ves'' rowers were barely worth mentioning.


    "Make haste!" Titanna growled. "Do not fail the Rothschild family!"


    -----


    Haven, 15 km from Far Harbor


    Intelligence Officer Lieutenant Tavor clutched tightly the heavy armored case across his chest as the PT boat crested a wave, making him feel the gravity dropping beneath his feet.


    He managed to keep his seating as he held on with one hand on the railings. Slowly before him, the shape of arge Ind Whale came to sight.


    The PT boat gently bumped against the floating docks and Tavor climbed out of the boat, escorted by several Naval Security personnel.


    They walked down the unstable floating docks and climbed onto the back of thergest Ind whale. After an hour of trekking through the foliage following a simple trail, they emerged at the top of a small hill where a pit had been dug out.


    Dozens of workers stand at the side as they watched with curiously at the work of the soldiers, wondering what was all this about. Tavor looked into the pit and saw that it was already filled with cement and had hardened.


    A small portable cement mixer sat on the side of the pit next to a small furnace and Tavor gestured the worker to start the furnace. The worker gave a shrug and followed his order, turning the furnace up and melting the bars of lead inside.


    Once the bars of lead had melted, the workers poured the molten lead into the pit and kept repeating. Soon the concrete pit was filled halfway with a thick silvery substance and Tavor stopped the worker.


    He watched the lead cooling down and taking a pair of thick gloves to protect his hands, he gently set the armored case into the middle of the pit, directly on top of the solidifying lead.


    After he did that, he straightened up and looked at the worker and said, "Fill it to the brim with lead than pour in the remainder of the cement before burying everything!"


    The workers nodded and they went to work, while Tavor stood there and watched them with an impassive expression. It took almost an hour to finish every, and the pit was covered up properly with soil and Tavor addressed the crowd of workers.


    "No one is to speak of this incident... Or there will be consequences..."


    -----


    Mills rubbed his bruised shoulder and checked his men, herding them together and doing a roll call. Once everyone was ounted for, they started heading towards the direction of the river.


    Once they reached the bank of the river, they saw several figures in Marine fatigue waving on the other side. "King Falcon, you read me over?" Mills activated his radioms.


    "Read you loud and clear!" Lieutenant Silverstar replied from across the river bank. The river was roughly over 20 meters, separating thepany into two. Lieutenant Silverstar lead toon One and Two while Mills take care of toon Three and Four.


    "Set up ambushing positions!" Lieutenant Silverstar ordered. "Dig in and set up the MGs and RPGs to have interlocking fire! Check your men firenes! I don''t want blue on blue incidents!"


    "Got it, Boss!" Mills replied and he turned to his NCOs, "Alright, you heard the Boss! Break out the entrenching tools and start digging!"


    "I want MGs and RPGs set up here, here, and here!" Mills walked along the bank of the river and pointed out locations for the heavy weapons.


    "Get a team to cut down those trees!" Mills ordered next. "We use them as barriers and cover for the guys!"


    Mills reached behind his pack and removed a standard issued Mark I E.T (Entrenching Tool) de and stick, attaching them together and forming a small shovel. He joined the rest of the men, hacking away at the foliage and soil.


    A couple of hourster, a massive shadow covered the digging Marines and Blue Thundernded behind the soldiers. Mills took a break from digging the foxhole and walked over to Blue Thunder, greeting Stamford as he climbed down the dragon. "Hey man, how''s everything?"


    "Not so good," Stamford rubbed his aching lower spine. "Well, dragons are damn stubborn..."


    "Heh, that''s why they pay you the big bucks!" Mills grinned.


    "Yea, yea..." Stamford grinned back. "Well, we did a quick flyby of the Imperial river fleet and they are roughly four hours out."


    "Four hours," Mills looked at his wristwatch. "Plenty of light still for a nice ambush! RADIOMAN!"


    One of thepany radiomen ran over, "Priority message to Lieutenant Silverstar, tell him, the enemy fleet is four hours out!"


    "Yes, Sarge!" The radioman started to fiddle with his radio set.


    "Hows the preparations?" Stamford asked as he followed Mills to the river bank. He saw the Marines had been hard at work digging foxholes and trenches for the heavy weapons. Some of Marines were even dragging chopped down tree trunks as extra protection and draping foliage over to conceal their positions.


    "Alright people! Four hours till enemy contact! I want positions to be ready in three!" Mills roared out. "toon leaders and section leaders! Check your men! Make sure your men are properly dug in and concealed!"


    "Yes Sarge!" The men chorused.


    "Raiders!" Mills called out. "Form in!"


    A dozen Marines with wide essories of weapons hanging all over their body harness gathered before Mills and Stamford. "The enemy ising down in about four hours, and Sergeant Stamford here will brief you on your mission!"


    "As you all know, Rastraz the Red Dragon has gotten herself captured," Stamford said. "Now, thest recon over the enemy fleet show that she is being held onboard the 4th vessel."


    "Now, this is the n. We will air drop you onboard the target vessel with the help of Blue Thunder!"

 Chapter 273: You Dont Mess with the UN!

    Chapter 273: You Don''t Mess with the UN!


    Rmended Music - The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army [The Glitch Mob Remix]


    Lance Corporal Ladin of 2nd Battalion, Falcon Company, toon 3, Section 4id low in his concealed foxhole, watching the appearance of the first Imperial river barge being paddled by vesing down the river before him and his section.


    Hispany Lieutenant hissed urgently, "Keep your heads down! If those Blue Boys spot you! You gonna get toilet cleaning duties for the whole damn month!"


    The men instinctively ducked their heads lower, no one wants to clean the toilets for a month! Ladin gently parted the drapes of foliage before him and slowly slid his M1 Magelock forward and leaned against the buttstock.


    "Make ready!" The Lieutenant whispered and the NCOs echoed slowly down the line. The men checked their weapons, removing safeties and aimed at the fast approaching river ships.


    "Anytime now!"


    Suddenly, a soft low buzz slowly roared louder and the water around the leading ship churned up with water sshes and smoke. The roar of several bines screamed over the hidden Marines and the Air Force Cobras timed their attack perfectly.


    The Imperial soldiers on board the river barges were on alert after experiencing the sudden attack before. Almost immediately, thunder cracks of lightning streaked from the ships to connect with the fast evading Cobras.


    Loud cracks, smoke, and sparks erupted from one of the Cobras but the lightning spell did not appear to affect the Cobras, much to the surprise of the Imperial soldiers and sailors.


    The Cobras were built with a static wick which was a piece of metal electrically grounded, to the frame of the aircraft, with one or two spikes or needles on the end.


    It was housed in a fiberss rod to inste it from the bine and the spikes concentrate the electric charge around them, and since they are connected to the airframe, they allow the airne to dissipate any static electricity it may build up out into the air. The lightning spell mmed against the airframe of the bine only to go through the dissipator and was discharged safely away from the ne but minor damages were still dealt on to the wooden airframe, causing it to catch fire.


    The pilot of the smoking Cobra hit by the lightning bolt hit his fire extinguishers, which wreathed the ne in a white cloud which doused the burning embers on its wooden frame. The pilot spun the agile fighter in the air to further douse any remaining embers before circling back to engage the Imperial fleet.


    The Cobras broke formation and focused their attention at the middle and rear of the Imperial River Fleet, their .50 cal and 20 mm cannons punching holes easily into the fat and slow river barges.


    "toon Three!" The Lieutenant yelled. "Target the forward vessel! toon Four! Aim for the next vessel down the line!"


    "FIRE!"


    Ladin had his sights over one of the deck ballista where several sailors and soldiers were crewing it. On hearing the order to fire, he squeezed his trigger, feeling the sharp kick of his rifle against his shoulder and he vaguely saw the figure he was aiming at fell.


    He quickly worked the rifle bolt and switched target, aiming for the confused ballista crews and fired again and again.


    -----


    Titanna cursed as she instinctively ducked when the strange flying creatures roared overhead. She flung her hands out and chanted, "LIGHTNING BOLT!"


    To her surprise, she clearly saw her Level 3 Lightning spell hit the belly of one of the flying creatures but it just wagged its strange body and a puff of white smoke covered its whole body before the creature looped back and started roaring back in anger and spitting some kind of spells at her ships again!


    "What manner of monsters are they?" Titanna clenched her fists tightly. "Ballistas and bowmen! Take them down now!"


    She raised her hands up and a magic circle started forming in the air as she readied another spell to repent the dangerous flying monsters when suddenly the narrow banks on both sides of the river erupted into fires and thunder!


    -----


    Mills had looped his arms around the harness of Blue Dragon and clung as tight as he could to the dragon. He could smell a strong musky and earthy smelling from its glossy blue reddish scales. The rest of the Marine Raiders, fourteen in total including him had all simrly hooked themselves onto the harness of the dragon on both sides of its belly.


    "The mid and rear of the fleet is tangled up by the Cobras!" Stamford yelled from the top of the dragon to Mills. "Your Marines have engaged the forward elements of the fleet! The smoke from the burning ships will provide cover for us!"


    "You guys ready?" Stamford yelled again.


    "ALWAYS READY!" The Raiders cried back. "HOOO RAAH!"


    "Let''s go kick ass!"


    Blue Thunder gave a growl and he leaped into the air, pping his wings mightly and the Marine Raiders hooked to the side of his belly yelled out in excitement.


    "There! You see her?" Stamford yelled at Blue Thunder who without a word, aimed towards the river barge where he could see a sad curled up red dragon.


    "RASTRAZZZZZ!!!" Blue Thunder roared out as he closed the distance to the ship easily through the smoke. He pped his wings hurried to a hover, barely a couple of meters over the deck of the river barge where the sailors and soldiers looked up in shock and horror at the sudden appearance of a heavyweight dragon!


    "GO GO GO!" Stamford yelled once he was certain Blue Thunder was directly over the ship, just as the dragon''s aircrew manning the three MGs fired into the crowd of Imperials.


    Half a dozen lines were thrown down when they saw they were over the ship and the Marine Raiders hit the quick release on their restraints when they heard the order.


    They fast roped down the lines in two waves midsts the surprised and dying Imperials and whipped their weapons out to finish off those still standing while the aircrew detached the lines off.


    Blue Thunder pped his wings and leaned forward, flying away to provide air cover as he was too big and slow a target for the ballistas if he remained hovering over the ship. "Ras! Hold on! I will be back!"


    Mills shook his head at the dragon which vanished into a plume of ck smoke and concentrated on his mission. The river barge was built in a wide rectangle shape with a squarish castle like top at the back portion almost like an ancient Chinese or Japanese warship.


    Two ballistas that wererger than the 3" guns batteries sat on the forward side of the t deck while the captive red dragon was tied down on the bow of the barge. The covering fire from the MGs onboard Blue Thunder had cleared the decks, making it slippery with blood.


    "Second Squad! Provide cover!" Mills ordered and he half jogged over to the chained dragon. "First Squad on me! Move!"


    As Mills approached the chained down Rastraz, he looked at the hope glowing in her eyes. The Imperials had wrapped so many chains that were as thick as his arm around the dragon that she looked kindaical.


    With her jaws chained shut, Rastraz could only blink her eyes rapidly at the hooman before her, while trying to struggle out of the heavy chains. "MMMHMMMMMMM!!!!"


    "Hey, Princess!" Mills teased. "We are gonna get you out of these chains soon, alright? Just hang tight there!"


    "MMHMMMMMM!"


    "Cut those chains!" Mills ordered his men, while he circled around the dragon to see if there was an easy way to get her out. He also noticed the strange markings on the floor and guessed that it should be some kind of spell to restrain the red dragon''s power.


    "CONTACTS!" The Second Squad Leader yelled. They had piled and stacked up the dead Imperials into a gruesome cover and were hunkering behind the bodies and firing at any Imperials archers or crossbowmen that tried to get to the top decks from the pilot house / castle.


    Some of the Marine Raiders grabbed fallen weapons and hacked against the thick chains but were unable to break them. "Fuck this!" Mills cursed as his hand tingled painfully after trying to chop the chains with a borrowed ax.


    "Blow it up!" Mills ordered. He winked at the golden wide eyed panicked expression of Rastraz as she heard his order. "Don''t worry love, we will get you out!"


    "MHHHHMMMMMM!!!!"


    The men pped blocks of explosive all over the chains, they had used the smallest charge to prevent identally blowing up the dragon they were supposed to rescue along with the chains.


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"


    "MMMMMMMMMMMMMHHHMMMMMMM!!!!!"


    A loud crack followed by metallic ringing was heard and once the smoke cleared, Mills saw some of the chains barely broke. "What the fuck is this made out of?"


    He picked up a fragment of the chain and it was barely even warm! But the good thing was that at least some of the chains had snapped and they could kinda unroll the chains off Rastraz.


    "Sarge! They got Mages!" The Second Squad leader yelled. "They got bloody magic shields!"


    "So? We got RPGs!" Mills barked angrily. "We win!!"


    Secondster, Mills heard the telltale whoosh of an RPG rocket followed by a loud p and the whole barge shook wildly. He turned and saw arge smoking hole on the superstructure of the barge.


    "Magic my ass, eat RPGs!" Mills shook his head. "Second Squad clear that structure! See if there is any valuable intel to grab!"


    "Aye aye!" The Second Squad stormed into the superstructure and gunfire resumed.


    Finally, with the chains loosen enough, Rastraz started squirming and pushing the loose chains off her body. She moaned in pain and stretched out her badly bruised wings and growled at Mills.


    "Are you trying to save me or kill me?" She hissed unhappily as she licked her body where the explosives had blown the chains off.


    "What? No thanks?" Mills sighed dramatically. "What a bad mannered dragon..."


    "You!" Rastraz could only stamp her tail in anger. "THANKS!"


    "Alright, alright, just teasing you!" Mills grinned. "Think you can fly?"


    "Hmph!" Rastraz snorted and tested her wings. "I think so..."


    She narrowed her golden eyes at the spell formation around her before she pointed with one w at a spot. "Destroy that spot! And here and here too!"


    Mills nodded and had his men nt more explosives. After they detonated the explosives, they saw the below decks had some kind of glowing stones. "Woah, are those mana stones?"


    "Destroy it or remove it!" Rastraz growled. "It''s powering the magic formation and preventing me from using my magic!"


    "Got it!" A couple of the Marine Raiders hopped down the deck and carefully pulled therge head sized mana stone out. Rastraz immediately felt some of her power returning and she quickly directed the Marines to destroy and remove another four more mana stones under the decks.


    Mills looked at his watch, he could still hear gunfire happening from the front but they had spent almost thirty minutes trying to get Rastraz out. Any longer, it will be hard for extraction. "All done?" He yelled at his men and the red dragon. "We need to go soon!"


    "Done!" Rastraz grinned and she pped her wings happily. The men backed off from her as they felt waves of heat emitting out from her body. "Time for revenge!"


    "Revenge my ass!" Mills cursed loudly and fired a re into the sky."Get your ass to safety! You barely recovered! I won''te and save your ass the second time if you get caught here again!"


    Chastised, Rastraz stopped emitting her magic out and lowered her head impishly.


    "Blue Thunder ising to bring us out!" Mills red at the red dragon twiddling her ws together. "You better be good and follow along, or we leave you here!"


    "Alright! Bring those mana stones along!" Mills ordered. "And grab some of those chains too! I think they are quite valuable! And give me all your explosives!"


    The Marine Raiders quickly grabbed therge mana stones and a few lengths of chains and stuffed them into their backpacks after emptying them of explosives. Therge figure of Blue Thunder suddenly appeared from the smoke and he hovered anxiously over the men, his body toorge and heavy tond on the damaged barge. "Ras! Ras! Are you okay?!"


    Mills dropped his backpack filled with explosives into the lower deck after lighting the fuze. He grinned as he quickly gathered his men and climbed the swaying ropes back up to the body of the Blue Thunder.


    "Never ever mess with the UN armed forces!"

 Chapter 274: Disturbance in the Force!

    Chapter 274: Disturbance in the Force!


    Great Ocean ins


    It spat out a mouthful of bone dust and earth as it slithered back away from the relentless advance of the undead. It hissed in displeasure at the tasteless souls it had consumed and narrowed its flint eyes at the undead surrounding it.


    "ISH THE LORD OF CHAOSSS!" The embroilment of Apep hissed loudly. "ISH THE DEVOURER OF SOULSS!! OBEEY MEE!"


    The undead heedless of itsmands pressed on against the Great Serpent swinging their rusty and broken swords and axes against the body of the snake. Normally such attacks barely dealt any damage to it but due to its wounds cost by the hellfire, the little pricks done by the undead slowly chipped away its reserves of power.


    Earlier in the day, it had found the connection to the most despicable power in the far distance suddenly disappear from its senses and now when it was about to go hunt down the Oerkins that had run away from him, it encountered these tasteless souls!


    It decided to vent its frustration and anger on these tasteless souls since it could not exin why it lost its connection to the thing it wanted the most!


    ----


    Shard River


    Wisps of smoke and cries of the wounded and dying echoed down the river. Titanna,mander of the Imperial River Floti sat on the edge of her bed while holding a hand on to a wound on her shoulder. One of the healers bent over her wound and carefully cleaned her wound before casting a healing spell to regenerate her flesh.


    She gritted her teeth as her flesh, nerves and shattered bones knitted back together painfully and blinked back tears of pain and humiliation. The air attacks and the sudden ambush of a strange force, followed by the loss of the red dragon made her feeling angry and stupid.


    She hade to the conclusion that the strange flying creatures, the dragons and even the ambush of the unknown force must be linked! They must be from the unknown force that attacked Orwell''s Point!


    Her fighting strength of over thirty ships, ten thousand sailors, soldiers, and twenty dragons were wilted down to a mere eighteen ships and six thousand men!


    And of that eighteen ships, half were beached against both sides of the river banks to prevent being sunk and blocking the river. Already four of her ships had sunk to the bottom of the river and causing a hazard to any passing ships!


    She waved the healer away from fussing over her bandaged wound and stood up, her two personnel attendants quickly dressed her and helped her into her te mail.


    epting a cup of numb leaf tea, she quickly drained it and ignored the sharp piercing pain till the extract of numb leaves worked their magic. Feeling the pain fading away, she strolled out of her cabin to ess her situation.


    As she exited, a cluster of senior officers andmanders quickly bowed before her and started to give their reports one by one. She already knew the losses but she did not know if any of the attackers were still in the vicinity.


    "Lady Titanna, our scouts on both sides of the river did not find any of the attackers but we found their traces," One of themanders reported and he stretched both hands out, offering several shiny objects. "Our men found these left behind in holes that the attackers hid in."


    "Clearly, the ambush here was to save the red dragon we caught," Anothermander spoke up, "They chosen this spot with care, as the river here is the narrowest!"


    Titanna took one of the shiny golden cylindrical objects and frowned as she observed it closely. "Gold? No... too light..."


    "It is not gold, but some other kind of metal..." Themander replied. "We found many of these litterings around both sides of the river banks."


    "We have no idea what kind of spells those attackers used but..." The elderly healer said and the officers andmanders parted away from a body covered by a blue cloak soaked with blood. "We suspect that those shiny objects must have something to do with their attack spells!"


    The Healer pulled back the cloak, showing a half naked body with a couple of holes on his chest. The body had already turned slightly grey and the flesh around the finger sized holes had turned purple and ckish.


    "They used some sort of spell that is able to prate through our te mails easily and please be warned, what I am about to show you might be too..." The Healer nervously stammered.


    "Just get on with it!" Titanna growled.


    The Healer nodded and he turned the body over showing tworge grisly holes on the back where the starking white bones could even be seen from the fist sized holes.


    Some of the more weak willed officers coughed and stepped away from the sight. Titanna covered her nose and gestured the Healer to turn the body back. "What kind of spell can cause such horrific damage?"


    The Healer shrugged and handed over a cloudy ss bottle in which a few pieces of mangled metal. Titanna took it and rattled it, "And this is?"


    "We found these in the bodies of the dead and wounded," The Healer continued. "Bits of metal or some material... Like a bolt or arrowhead..."


    Themanders and officers looked at each other in worry. "So you are saying that those attackers used some kind of magic that can send these bolt or arrow heads faster than our crossbow and bows?"


    "I... It''s just a guess, my Lady," The Healer quickly answered while bowing.


    Titanna snorted and turned to her chief Mage, "What do you think?"


    The hooded Mage took the ss bottle and peered inside it carefully before answering, "It might be possible, after all, magical knowledge is ever growing and there is still much unknown magic out there! Not to mention we do not even hold a fraction of the knowledge of magic our ancestors in our ancestralnds have!"


    "I see..." Titanna frowned. "What is everyone thoughts on our next actions?"


    "My Lady, the flying enemy mighte anytime again," One of themandersmented nervously. "And we do not know where their ground forces ran to..."


    "Erm, mydy," A seniormander stepped up, "I think we should call for more reinforcements."


    "We should make camp and not advance till we have more troops to support us!" Anothermander stepped up forward. "We need more air cover and better air protection! Those flying creatures can hit us while we can''t do anything to them!"


    The rest of themanders muttered their agreement. Titanna bit her lips into a thin line before nodding, "We setup camp here! Send word back to my father that we need more men and dragons!"


    "Yes, my Lady!" Themanders bowed as one.


    "Make sure those flying creatures do not surprise us once again!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold, Living Quarters


    Evelynid on her straw bedding and used her senses to ensure she was totally alone and no one was observing her before she carefully removed the golden idol she had stolen from inside her bedding.


    She blew the candle out and using the lights shining in from the tiny window, she traced her fingers over the simple carved idol of some sort of worm. She felt a tingle in her scalp as she caressed the idol and feeling the idol turning warm in her hand.


    For some strange reason, she felt some sort of connection to this idol as something inside her was like calling it out to her. She couldn''t exin the feeling, just that it felt like Dante was next to her telling her something.


    Suddenly, she jerked her hands away from the idol which suddenly scorched her fingers. She stared at it surprised and fright, wondering what has triggered the idol. She carefully poked it with a finger and found it just warm to the touch and she quickly wrapped the idol up in a cloth and hid it back into its hiding ce.


    As she slowly fell asleep, she could feel Dante was like trying to tell her something, something about a darkness that the Sun couldn''t reach in her dreams.


    -----


    Great Ocean ins


    Thend was churned up, while hundreds of rotting body parts littered all over thend. The Serpent was heaving away as its body bore hundreds of nicks and cuts.


    Suddenly it snapped its head up alertly towards the North. "Issh feel it!"


    It impatiently snapped its tail, crashing several crawling zombies. It needed to hunt! These tasteless souls were unable to allow it to fully recover its strength.


    "Isshing for yoouu! The SUN!!!"


    -----


    Gateway City


    Dijon watched the Imperial infantry supported by dragons rushed the walls again for the second time in the night. He shook his head as the mages toss illumination spells into the sky, which immediately lit up the surroundings, allowing the archers and ballistas to loose their arrows and bolts at the attacking enemy.


    Even with the magical smoke cover, hundreds of arrows and bolts still found their marks among the Imperials. The heavy shipboard ballistas easily punched through the raised shields with enough power remaining to pin several soldiers together.


    The Imperial Dragons despite more disciplined and tactical, were evenly matched with the Isles''s Dragons brought by Dijon''s two dragon carriers. Each t top held thirty light weights and ten medium weight dragons.


    The Imperials twelve heavy weights dragons and twenty medium weight escorts found themselves overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of the Isles Battle Dragons and the surprising rate of fire of the Isles dragon crew''s crossbow.


    Dijon grinned, knowing that the Imperials Dragons rely on their formation to bowl through the lighter dragons will not expect his Battle Dragons to be equipped with repeating crossbows!


    Despite the weaker strength of the repeating crossbows, it was still capable of punching into the scales of the heavy weight dragons. With poison on the tips of the bolts, they were able to force the Imperial dragons to retreat to nurse their wounds.


    Barely two turns of the ss, the Imperials retreated from the battlefield, leaving behind hundreds of dead and dying. The Isles''s troops equipped repeating crossbows and with the superior steel armor of the UN, had lesser casualties.


    Dijon made a mental note to himself to order another ten thousand repeating crossbows from Haven. He knew if they would be willing to sell them their thundersticks, he would have won the battle here in just a day!


    "Lord Dijon!" The governor of Gateway City hustled up to him with all smiles on his tired and ragged face. "It''s a great victory! Marvelous! Those weapons of yours! How marvelous!"


    Dijon nodded crudely at the fawning governor, "Don''t worry, Governor, with me and my men here. You won''t have to worry about the Imperials taking over Gateway City!"


    "Yes! Yes!" The Governor nodded eagerly. "Thank you!"


    "I will station my men here to help protect the city," Dijon slyly smiled. "I hope you will provide all the appropriate lodgings and supplies for my men?"


    "Ah?" The Governor sweated. "You meant to stay?"


    "Of course!" Dijon''s smile widened. "If not how are we to protect the city from the aggressions of the Imperials?"


    "But... but..." The Governor stammered weakly.


    "Well, if I pulled my troops back due tock of supplies and properly lodging," Dijon gave a serious expression. "I can''t guarantee the Imperials will note back after we left to get supplies..."


    "No! No no! You misunderstood me!" The Governor quickly reassured Dijon. "My granaries have ample supplies! I will have the barracks cleared for your men to stay!"


    "Hahaha!" Dijonughed. "Good good! Then I shall thank you for your hospitality!"


    "Yes... yes..." The Governor''s expression looked like he had bitten something bitter.


    Dijonughed again at the Governor''s expression, knowing that with the Isles troops garrisoning Gateway City, it will effectively be under the control of the Isles!


    "Hahahahahaa!"

 Chapter 275: Three Way War

    Chapter 275: Three Way War


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Command


    Joseph straightened up as the video link came to live and saluted to the officers on the other side of the link. "Good morning, Sirs!"


    "The Operation to retrieve Rastraz from the Imperials has gone down sessfully. Falconpany has disengaged from the enemy and is pulling back to form a skirmish line 3 kilometers away from the Imperials." Joseph reported.


    "Good. How is Rastraz doing?" ke asked.


    "We had our dragon handlers take a look at her. So far, she''s fine, just shaken and bruised." Joseph replied. "She will recover fully in a couple of days."


    ke nodded. "Okay. Are the Imperials still pushing down the river?"


    "Our scouts watching them reported that they had dug in and encamped on the river banks," Joseph answered. "We suspect that they are waiting for reinforcements."


    "Kick them home. Hard. They have overstayed their wee here," ke ordered.


    "Yes, Sir!" Joseph smiled.


    "Now, any news of the missing MAW?" ke asked next.


    "No Sir," Joseph frowned. "Thest contact we had was that they are chasing after one of the deserters. After that, we lost all contact. Once Blue Thunder and Rastraz have recovered, I will send them down to thest known location of MAW Zero Two."


    "Dead or alive, make sure you find them," ke said. "And what of the Snake?"


    "Yes, Sir," Joseph nodded. "We have the UAV on constant surveince of the Snake and as of this morning, it had dug in the underground to keep away from the sun. It has advanced 73 kilometers over the night closer to our location."


    "It appeared that the Orcs'' ck magic has failed to keep that monster at bay," Joseph continued. "We expect that the Snake will hit our first line of defense within two days. We do not have any idea why it suddenly changed its heading but judging its current direction, I say there''s a very high it''sing our way."


    ke asked. "How are the ns going along for the defense?"


    "We nned to have the Cobras bomb the Snake as it approaches our defense lines with napalm. The Mariners will continue their role in doing supply runs," Joseph said. "We converted two of the half tracks into gun carriages for the 3" guns and also we hooked up a few mortars onto carriages that will be towed by jeeps. It will greatly improve our mobility and response times. We will use that to bombard the Snake from far once it is wounded by the napalm bombs."


    "We identified the only weapons seemed capable to damage the Snake is the napalm firebombs," Joseph added. "Hence we do not n to use any troops to fight against the Snake as we observed that it will be throwing lives away for nothing,"


    "The Marines will keep order and help with the evacuation of the city if needed while we hit it from afar with our nes and artillery." Joseph finished. "Also, with Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn''s help, we areing up with a special blend of mortars shells to deal with the Snake! But whether if it works or not, that remains to be seen..."


    "I see..." ke nodded. "Do what you need to do, you have priority on all our stocks and production of napalm."


    "Thank you, Sir!" Joseph smiled. "If will be great if there are more Marines to run supplies to Orwell''s Point, Sir!"


    "I know, R and D side is pushing out a dedicated cargo hauler that can carry the load of two to three Mariners, but we need time," ke sighed. "And time is against us, so we can only use what we have now!"


    "I understand sir!"


    "So, how is the crackdown on the cults?" ke asked. "Any breakthroughs?"


    "We managed to arrest several of the senior cultists here," Joseph answered. "But we couldn''t find out what kind of Demon God they are worshipping. Seems like they have some kind of geass that prevent them from disclosing that information."


    "We lost four of the senior cultists before we stopped questioning the rest about the identity of the Demon Gods..." Joseph replied helplessly. "Magister Thorn has yet to find a way to counteract the geass."


    ke nodded, "Alright, do what you have to do. Hold Orwell''s Point if possible, if not, pull back with all your forces. Understand?"


    "Aye aye, Sir!" Joseph saluted and the video link cut off.


    "Well, you all heard the Boss, I want to ns of attack by end of the day!" Joseph turned to his staff and ordered. "One against the Imperials camping at our doorstep, the other for the damn snake crawling its way over!"


    "YES SIR!"


    Hourster, the upper seniormand staff gathered back at themand center. "Sir, as the threat from the God Snake is greater than the Imperials camping out there, we have decided to assign all the cobras to engage the God Snake once we have plotted out its course."


    "We will emce a deep pit in the path of the God Snake and bury it with napalm canisters and explosives," The staff officer exined their n of action. "Once the God Snake dropped into the pit, we will detonate all the explosives and napalm inside, hopefully, it will be enough to kill it once and for all!"


    "But how can we be sure of it falling into the pit?" Joseph questioned the action n.


    "We will need a lure... someone has to lure it over the trap..."


    -----


    Great Ocean ins


    A long train of wagons escorted by two lines of heavily armored cavalry that rode on the sides slowly made their way over therge expanses of grass rolling in the gentle wind.


    Taris sat on the coach seat next to the driver and watched warily at the dark clouds in the far distance. "Hopefully this time we don''t get captured as ves again!" He joked with the wagon driver who grinned back.


    The journey over the ins to Sin City will take them roughly two five day weeks or lesser as long no hups happen along the way. Taris wondered if he will get to meet their saviors that stayed on in Sin City. "Oh well, if fate wills it, we will meet again someday!"


    -----


    Shard River


    Mills carefully threaded his way over the bushes andid down next to one of his men carefully. "Any movements?"


    "No, Sarge," The Marine Raider replied. "Looks like they are digging in for good."


    "Any changes to the patrols?" Mills asked again as he peeked through his night vision seeing his world turn green and white. The enemy encampment erged in his view, showing a simple circr log wall surrounding the camp with guards manning them.


    "Same patterns and routines," His man replied softly. "But they are quite alert and the mages appeared to have set some arcane traps and tripwires here and there."


    "Too bad we do not have any mortars with us," Mills sighed. "Or it will be such a nice easy target to bomb!"


    His men grinned in the darkness, showing white teeth under theyer of painted faces.


    "Alright, keep watch for a while more," Mills slowly back crawled away. "Stay alert!"


    He crawled his way back and found his radioman hidden behind a tree. "Get me the LT."


    "King Falcon, this is Raider One, we got eyes on the enemy encampment Bravo," Mills reported. "It''s heavily guarded and seeded with arcane traps and rms. We can''t sneak in easily."


    "King Falcon, Roger," The radio buzzed back. "Standby."


    Mills handed the handset back to the radioman and pulled out a bar of dried fruit candy to snack on while he waited for instructions.


    Less than ten minutester, the radioman hands the handset back to Mills, "Lt is on the line."


    "King Falcon, all forces are to fend an assault on the encampments," The radio said. "Draw them out into an ambush. Should enemy fail to respond, harass them till they do so. Out"


    "Hell yeah!" Mills grinned and went off to find the rest of thepanymanders to discuss their attack ns.


    -----


    Titanna dressed in her sleeping gown sat on the edge of her bed fussed over by her two attendants, one of them brushing her golden hair while the other applying some ointment on her wounded shoulder.


    "My Lady, your wound shouldn''t leave any scars," Her attendant happily informed Titanna who nodded absentmindedly. She was brooding over the fact that the strange enemy has such powerful creatures and magic, she wondered how to defeat this strange force when suddenly yells and cries rang out from outside her tent.


    She brushed away her two attendants and strolled out of her tent while her attendants quickly draped a long coat over her shoulders to cover her thin gown. "What is happening?"


    Her four house guards at the entrance of her tent gave a quick bow and reported, "It seemed like the enemy is attacking us, my Lady!"


    "From where?" She demanded as she looked away from the eye searing illumination spells that were drifting in the air.


    "From the South of the camp!" Her guards replied just as a couple ofmanders came running up.


    "The enemy is attacking both our camps!" Bothmanders chorused. "Their strange magic is killing our men behind the walls!"


    A sudden explosion rocked the camp and a small ball of fire rosed from the southern walls. Titanna covered her ringing ears from the loud thunderous roar. "Rush the enemy! Close up to them as fast as possible! Prevent them from casting their magic!"


    "Yes, mydy!" The twomanders ran off to give the orders to sally out to fight the enemy.


    "Get me into my armor!" She turned and walked back into her tent while her attendants grabbed her armor off the stand. She hastily donned her armor over her sleeping gown and buckled on her sword belt while her maids worked on her greaves and bracers.


    Once she was armored up, she quickly left the tent where a dozen of her house guards awaited her with hernd dragon mount. The vicious reptile hissed and cooed as she rubbed its neck before she mounted its back and grabbed a shield from one of the pages. "Move!!"


    She wheeled her mount towards the South wall where the gates had opened up and forced her way through the crowd of infantry pouring out of the camp to attack the enemy. In the dim light of the illumination spells, she saw scores of bright shes and thunderous roars appearing along the tree line and realized those must be the spells cast by the enemy!


    Once she and her guards left the camp and with the way before her had cleared of friendly troops, she drew her sword and pointed to the tree line that was over two hundred paces away and yelled, "FORWARD!"


    The infantry cried out a war cry and they ran forward with their shields up while Titanna pushed her mount into a quick trot. She vaguely heard sounds of metal against metal and saw dozens of men flopping down with dark stains on their armor. "KEEP YOUR SHIELDS UP! DON''T STOP! CLOSE UP CLOSE UP!!!"


    Seeing the distance closing to roughly a hundred paces, she quickened her mount and yelled, "CHARGEEEE!!!"


    Hundreds of throats cried out after her and they all ran forward. Titanna leading the cavalry quickly overtook the running infantry and the thunderingnd dragons made the adrenaline in her blood surge. She screamed loudly with exhration as her mount charged faster and faster and the dark tree line rushed up before her.


    Twenty paces... ten paces... and she was into the tree line! She peered into the dim lighting and saw several crouching figures just a short distance away from her. She leaned forward low over her mount and angled her shield in her left hand before her when suddenly she saw a blinding sh and a thunderous roar and something hit her with a force of a mighty hammer!


    She got flung off the back of her mount and she mmed down on her back hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs. As sheid there curled up in pain and gasping for air, a sudden series of thunderp erupted behind her and hideous screams rang out from hundreds of throats.

 Chapter 276: High Value Target

    Chapter 276: High Value Target


    Mills crouched next to a section of Marines who were taking pot shots at the Imperial camp. The floating illumination spells and res backlit the guards on the wall allowing the Marines to easily make urate shots over the less than two hundred meters distance between them.


    Suddenly like an ant hill after getting poked, the gates swung opened and scores of shielded infantry poured out with a gaggle of cavalry mixed up among the soldiers.


    "Alright, boys!" Mills yelled happily. "Here theye! Let''s give the Blue Boys a nice show!"


    "HOOORAAAH!"


    The Marines fired faster, barely needing to aim at the thick clusters of troops. The powerful 6.8 mm rounds easily ignored the shields and te mail of the soldiers and sometimes even over prating and hitting an Imperial at the back.


    Mills watched calmly as the Imperials slowly and steadily formed up and advanced. He might not like the brutality and ideals of the Imperials but he got to admit that he admired their guts to continue advancing under rifle fire.


    "Cease fire! CEASE FIRE!" Mills and the rest of the NCOs yelled down the line as they watched the Imperial cavalry moving forward. "Pull back to the second line!"


    Their n was to entrap the Imperial cavalry among the thicket to prevent them from breaking into their lines and allowing the Marines to pick them off while they were bogged down. Only a single toon wasmitted to the attack while the other toon had some other mission up the river.


    This meant less than thirty men against an estimated two to three thousand Imperials in the camp!


    The whole Falconpany has only a total of 110 men. With the Company split in half, two toons on each side of the river, the n was to use guerri tactics to force the enemy out and bled them out till they have no choice but to retreat.


    The Marines fell back in good order, retreating fifty meters from the tree line and they hurdled behind roots and tree trunks while waiting for the cavalry to appear before them.


    Thundering hooves of thend dragons pounded louder and louder and suddenly in the illumination provided by the light spells and res, shadowy figures emerged into the Marines carefully prepared fire zones.


    "FIRE!!" The order rolled down the thin line of Marines and almost immediately the harsh roars of rifles and machines guns rippled out.


    Mills kept an alert eye around his surroundings, only firing a shot when a centaur like shadow appeared before him and felling the rider.


    He pped the Marine next to him who held on to the detonator which linked to a daisy chain of ymores set up at the forest edge. The howls of the Imperials were just steps away from the ymores with the detonator was triggered.


    Over a thousand Imperials carrying wood with steel reinforced shields entered the killing zone of the ymores when they exploded.


    Forty locally produced DM - 1 ymore, all the stock the two toons were carrying, were nted five meters apart and they upied a tiny stretch of 200 meters along the tree line. Each was filled with 700 3.8 mm steel ball bearings detonated almost simultaneously as one when the electrical signal sparked the inner bursting charges.


    28,000 steel ball bearings were flung out at an average velocity of 1,020 m/s over a 60 degree arc in front and were lethal to an effective range of 100 meters. Like an invisible p from a mighty God''s hand, the loose ranks of charging Imperials crumbled as the 28,000 steel ball bearings ripped into their bodies.


    Those that were behind, luckily survived the frag sts only to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder from seeing hundreds of theirrades frayed into meat shreds and blood mists before their very eyes.


    Even those that avoided the sudden death, screamed in pain and terror from lost limbs and body parts. Othersid on the blood soaked grass crying for their parents among the pieces of mangled bodies.


    "Fuck..." Mills whispered. It wasn''t his first time seeing hundreds of men dying here but the scene always fucked with his sanity. He quickly put the scene out of his head and yelled. "toon Three! ADVANCE!"


    "HOO RAAAAH!"


    -----


    Titanna stared at the dying glow of an illumination spell drifting between the cracks of the forest canopy and coughed wetly. She could only move one hand up and she wiped her mouth with her gauntleted hands and saw her fingers came away dark red.


    She tried to move her body to a sitting position but she barely had the strength. Turning her head to the side, she saw her left arm bloodied and bent in an unnatural angle with the shards of her broken shield sticking out from the mangled bracer.


    Giving up trying to move, she sighed and returned her eyes to the skies and a hideous face in ck and green came into her dimming vision.


    "Are... you... Death?"


    -----


    Mills stood over an Imperial and was surprised to find it was a female. He vaguely remembered he fired at someone around this spot and wondered if he shot her.


    Her golden hair frecked with blood and dirt spread out from underneath her like some kind of tapestry. Her left arm clearly broken from the angle itid and from the broken shield, she must have tanked the rifle shot which knocked her off her mount. She whispered something too soft for him to hear as he stood over her.


    Mills looked at her eyes slowly rolling upwards and sighed. He nced up at the roars of rifle fire at the tree line and knew that the Imperials were being mopped up and in full retreat. He also saw the glow of mes in the distance and knew that the other toon has seeded in burning the river barges beached on the river banks.


    He reached down and felt her pulse on her pale neck, feeling a weakening pulse and he sighed again. "Damn, I just can''t stand seeing a pretty gal die... even if she is the enemy..."


    Mills stood up and sighed again, "What a waste. Damn girl shouldn''t be ying with swords..."


    He took a few steps away from the dying girl before he stopped and turned around again. "Urghhh!!"


    "MEDIC!!!"


    -----


    Lieutenant Silverstar nimbly crawled his way over the rope slung across the river and dropped down with barely a change in his breathing.


    "Sir!" The officers and NCOs greeted their Company Commander as they gathered at the river bank.


    "What''s the situation on your side?" Lt Silverstar made way for another Marine as his men on the other side of the river slowly crawled over on the tight rope. "Casualties?"


    "The Imperials are on full retreat," Mills reported. "We estimated the ambushst night cost them around five to six hundred men."


    "We only have a few minor wounds from tripping and idiots poking themselves in the dark," Mills continued. "Nothing too serious."


    "The men are down to a third of their ammunition reserves," One of the NCOs added. "All our ymores are used up and the RPGs are down to theirst shots."


    "We upied their camp and are inventorying what is usable and what is not," Mills said next. "We n to burn whatever we don''t need and unable to carry."


    Lt Silverstar nodded, "Its the same on my side, they are in full retreat. Tallying up their loses here and on my side, we probably inflicted close to 30% of their remaining power here. Not to mention we dealt a serious blow to their morale!"


    "Sir, we got some prisoners too," Mills added. "What are we gonna do with them?"


    "Wounded?" Lt Silverstar asked. "We do have quite a few wounded Imperials on the other side, I n to just give them some supplies and dropped them off on one of the still floating barges and let them paddle home."


    "Understood," Mills nodded as themand party headed towards the Camp. "We should be able to clear the camp out in a couple of hours."


    "Good, we will leave on two of the barges and burn the rest that hasn''t been burn," Lt Silverstar ordered. "While the Imperials might be running, if they rally up again and push us hard, it will be hard for us to extract out."


    "toon Two are loading up on the other side of the river," Lt Silverstar continued. "Once they have loaded everything, they will move the barge over to this side of the river."


    Mills nodded as they entered the camp. "Sir, there is a prisoner I think you will wanna see."


    "Oh?" Lt Silverstar raised an eyebrow at Mills''s words. "An HVT?"


    They entered arge extravagant tent where a couple of Marines stood watch outside. Inside the tent, Lt Silverstar was surprised to see two maids dressed in fashionable native dresses that were totally out of ce on the battlefield tending to someone on the bed.


    "That, as I gathered from the maids," Mills spoke on a lowered voice next to Lt Silverstar, "is the darling daughter of the Rothschild family who is the big shots running the show at the Norshelm City."


    "Her name is Titanna Rothschild," Mills added. "And I think I am the one who shot her... But don''t tell her that!"


    "Ha!" Lt Silverstarughed at Mills''s embarrassed expression. "Okay!"


    The maids red angrily at the suddenughter from Lt Silverstar who disturbed the rest of their mistress.


    Lt Silverstar ignored the dagger stares from the maids and strolled next to therge ornate bed. He used to think that owning something like this on the battlefield was something natural, but after going through Boot Camp and Officer Cadet School, hemented the waste of resources needed to transport such a useless item onto a battlefield.


    "Ms Rothschild," Lt Silverstar greeted the blonde hair girlying on the bed with her shoulder in bandages and covered in nkets while Mills hovered closely behind him, "I am 2nd Lieutenant Silverstar, Commanding Officer of Falcon Company, 2nd Marine Battalion."


    "Hmph!" The girl rolled her eyes and turned her head away in disdain.


    *Cough* Mills covered hisughter behind a barely suppressed cough which made Lt Silverstar re at him. Mills quickly looked away innocently.


    "Ms Rothschild, you are now a prisoner of war," Lt Silverstar turned back and spoke in a more serious tone. "It is to your best interest to cooperate with us, or..." He left the threat unsaid.


    The two maids tensed up and quickly pushed Lt Silverstar back away from the bed and their mistress. They red angrily at him. "You dare threaten our mistress?"


    Mills suddenlyughed wickedly and drew his sword bay out, "Well, if a soft approach doesn''t work, don''t me us for going hard to you girls!"


    He brandished his bay threateningly while advancing in an evil manner before the two maids who to his surprise stood their ground despite the fear in their eyes. "Heeheheheehehee..."


    "Enough!" Titanna suddenly spoke and gestured her maids to the side. "What do you want? You scoundrels!"


    Lt Silverstar red at Mills who winked back and sheathed his bay before sighing and turned to Titanna. "We will give you two choices. Tell your men to surrender and give up advancing towards Orwell''s Point immediately. We will allow you and your men to retreat back to Norshelm."


    "Impossible!" Titanna did not even consider his words at all. "Orwell''s Point is a fief of the Rothschild! We will never give it up!"


    "You scoundrels will never be able to use me to fulfill your evil needs!" She growled until she clenched her arm in pain as she overexerted herself.


    Lt Silverstar looked at Mills who shrugged. "Guess there is nothing to talk about."


    "Well, then thest option is that you will be kept as a prisoner of war until your side decides to negotiate your release!"

 Chapter 277: The Trap

    Chapter 277: The Trap


    Great Ocean ins


    A small camp could be seen bustling with activity on the open ins. A huge rectangr area was cordoned off with white ropes and red gs while Marines in work fatigue unloadedrge barrels and supplies off the supply trucks.


    Irisval, her long hair tied up and stuffed into her cap and dressed in a pair of grey work overalls with military boots walked the ground around the cordoned area. She turned to the military liaison following her and asked, "Are you very certain it wille directly here?"


    "Yes, mdm," The Marine replied politely. "Our scouts have plotted its course, and it hasn''t deviated for almost two days."


    "I see," Irisval replied. "But it doesn''tes this way? Won''t we waste all the effort and time here?"


    The Marine just replied, "Mdm, the higher up has nned for that contingency already."


    "And what are the ns for that?" Irisval continued to press the soldier.


    "I am sorry, mdm, it''s on a need to know basis..." The Marine shrugged apologetically. "I have no authorization to tell you the ns..."


    "Hmph!" Irisval snorted. "If you don''t tell me the ns, how am I going to prepare the trap to amodate any changes?"


    "Sorry, mdm," The Marine stone-facedly replied. "It''s above my pay grade..."


    "Tsk!" Irisval gave up. "Alright, step back, I will create the pit now."


    Earlier, she had drawn a formation on each plot of marked outnd. Now she took out several brown yellow mana stones and ced them on the anchor points of her spell formation. She focused her mana together and the earth before her quivered and a pit slowly formed.


    Excess dirt and soil magically piled up at the sides where a couple of half tracks with bulldozer des shoved the soil up and dumped them into the dump trucks which doubled up as cargo trucks earlier.


    They transported the dirt to a short distance away and dumped them before returning for another load while Irisval constantly forces the earth to climb out of the pit.


    Soon after half an hour, a pit the size of a basketball court appeared that was over fifteen meters deep. Irisval sat down on the grass panting as the spell took out a lot of her stamina and power.


    The Marine handed her a bottle of fruit vored water and a fruit bar for her to recover her strength,


    "One down, another eight more to go!"


    -----


    Before Irisval started to work her magic on the pits, hundreds of ex ves hired to help with the digging watched on in wonder at the magical way the strange rumbling mountless wagons two, three times taller andrger than any wagon they have ever seen, moving all the materials, equipment and manpower easily and smoothly like magic!


    "Hey!" A Barbarian Lord wearing a thin orange skull cap called out to the gaping workers. "I need the team leaders to form your people up into teams of twenty!"


    "Each team will be responsible for their own areas!" The Barbarian foreman continued his briefing and pointed. "Shovels and other equipment are on your right! Over there!"


    "Make sure you wear your protective gear! Helmets and gloves are at the equipment point!" The foreman continued to drone on. "Safety first! Drink plenty of water! Water points are at those tents on your left!"


    The ex ves looked at each other in confusion. Safety first? Protective gear? Drink plenty of water? What insanity ideas these Barbarian Lords have!


    One by one they drift over to the tents where several tables stood under the shade. A Barbarian soldier stood behind each tabledened with equipment of all types, the ex ves recognized the weirdly colored uniforms, looked shyly at the equipmentid out.


    "The line starts from here!" One of the soldiers yelled and pointed. "Start queuing up here and move down the line after you taken your gear!"


    The ex ves timidly followed the soldier''s orders and they shuffled from one table to another under the directions of the soldiers. They were each given a tiny white skull cap and a pair of thick gloves and a pair of solid working boots!


    Their faces lit up with excitement when they heard that they could keep the boots but the ''safety helmet'' and gloves they have to return. The line started to turn more lifely as the men started to get impatient for their free boots.


    When the hired ex ves were properly equipped, they followed the instructions of the soldiers to remove the topsoil without destroying the grass around arge roped out area. They moved the clods of grass carefully to the side, unsure what was the purpose of all these actions.


    Once the marked out area was cleared of the topsoil, a pretty girl in strange wear came up and she started drawing circles and arcane runes on the dirt while the workers rested at the side watching her work.


    They oooh and ahhh when the earth was magically dug out and they followed their team leaders and started to help with the excavation of the site. Ramps were dug down into the pits while a timber frame was constructed to prevent the sides of the pit from copsing in.


    The work for the ex ves was mostly catering away the earth that had gathered at the bottom of the pit and building the overhead support for the trap.


    The ex ves were quite surprised at the pace and welfare were given to them, as they thought the conditions for this job that was posted in the city square would be simr to the how they were treated usually at the mines or farms.


    They did not expect such good conditions, from proper tools to adequate rest times and even food and water were provided to the men for free!


    Soon the men broke out in songs as they willingly work harder for these Barbarian Lords that treated them like people.


    -----


    "Carefully now!" The Marine Sergeant yelled at his men as they lifted the barrel of napalm onto the wheelbarrow. "Don''t drop it and spill that shit out! Or I make you lick it all up!"


    The Marines grunted as they carefully transported dozens and dozens of napalm barrels down into the nine pits that had merged into one major pit with skeletal frames of wood pirs that reached up to the top. Hundreds of tree trunks transported over from the forest were buried at the bottom of the pit with their ends sharpened, making the bottom of the pit looking like a forest of giant stakes.


    Over forty drums of 20 gallons (75.7 L) containing locally produced napalm were buried into the football field sized pit with its round front end exposed. At the back of the drum was an explosive charge which, when triggered, will rupture the drum and shoot a jet of me about 10 feet (3.0 m) wide and 30 yards (27 m) long.


    Another troop of Marines carefully hooked up explosive charges to drums of white phosphorous to the tips of the sharpened stakes and the roof supports. The idea was that if the God Snakended in the pit, the white phosphorous will blind and burn it while the main killer was the napalm me fougasse and sharpened stakes were just icing on the cake.


    Once the mines and traps were emced properly, the workers and Marines climbed out of the pit carefully. To cover the pit, dozens of tree trunks wereid across the roof supports and filled up with tree branches and leaves.


    The workers carefully scatter earth and soil over theyer of leaves and slowly the pit started to look simr to its surroundings except for theck of grass. To cover that up, before Irisval started her magic, the marked out area had the topsoil with the grass carefully removed.


    Now that the cover of the pitfall waspleted, the workers carefully moved and rented the topsoil with the grass back to their original positions and the pitfall merged with its surroundings. If there wasn''t the white ropes barrier around the pitfall, it was hard to spot thend had been disturbed.


    Following that, the soldiers and workers started to pack up everything up and clear all traces away. They spent over two days working on the massive pitfall, and at first, the clueless ex ves also got some inkling of what was happening here from conversations here and there with the soldiers.


    The ex ves started off skeptic about the pitfall trap, wondering if it was enough to kill a God Snake, but after watching the amount of strange arcane weapons being emced and the braggings of the soldiers of how power just each barrel of ''naa-palm'' was, they started to feel assured once everything waspleted.


    -----


    Irisval pat her hands clean as she stood up after putting her finishing touches to the pitfall''s camouge. She has expended a lot of her magic and stamina over the past two days, despite the work being portioned out in smaller loads.


    If she tried to tackle digging out the entire pit without portioning it out, she would have fainted from mana burn and exhaustion without even reaching a fifth of the depth!


    The only issues she had was trying to dig in a rectangr shape instead of a round shape. That took her some serious concentration to achieve and once it was done, she felt a sense of pride at her handiwork.


    "Thank you, mdm!" Her military liaison thanked her. "Without your help, we couldn''t finish this in just two days!"


    "It''s my duty to help," She smiled at the young soldier who blushed. "So, do you know how far away from here that Thing is?"


    "HQ reports that it should a day or two away," The soldier replied. "Once we packed everything up, we will retreat back to Orwell''s Point."


    "So what will be the lure?" Irisval pressed. "You don''t expect that Thing toe and obediently fall into the trap right?"


    "Well, we have a bait for it," The soldier smiled.


    "What bait?" Irisval frowned, having this conversation several times over the two days.


    "I can''t tell you, mdm. It''s above my pay grade!"


    "Arghhh!"


    -----


    Hunger. It hungers for souls. Even when it rested in the day, its dreams were filled with the chaos of the Great Feast where it gorged itself with thousands and thousands of souls!


    Its gently coiled itself tightly in the crude shelter it dug out the morning before daybreak. Many patches of its once pristine skin were scarred or peeling. Milky white pus slowly leaked out before evaporating into ck wisps of smoke as they dipped onto the rocky earth.


    Slowly it opened its flint eyes and watched the light slowly receding away like an ocean''s tide from the entrance of the burrow. Soon it will be night, and the hated Sun will vanish under the earth and it can move.


    It could only feel a tiny presence of the Sun Gods power in the distance and it was desperate to get to it faster, or its body will cease to exist in this realm much longer. Its no longer bothered to spend what remains of its power to regenerate its body as it saved it to keep its presence on this realm longer.


    Only by feasting upon the powers of the Sun Gods, does it have a chance to break the barrier between realms. And once that was achieved, it will be free to travel between the realms and feast upon all those delicious souls!


    It has umted its power over time and periodically sent trinkets containing its Will on to this realm in hopes that it could gather followers. Followers it did get, but most of them were just too stupid or weak to fight the Sun Gods'' champions!


    Even if there were bodies willing to host its magnificent presence, there were strict requirements needed for the host bodies. Not all mortals here could endure its powers and it was pleasantly surprised when it found eightpatible mortals from a distant world that was abandoned many many years back!

 Chapter 278: Operation Pied Piper

    Chapter 278: Operation Pied Piper


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Command


    The atmosphere in the converted great hall was taut with anticipation as the men and women in themand center watched the screens of the UAV broadcasting live from the ins. The orange glow of the sun rays slowly crept down the ins at the sun slowly set over the horizon and thend turned dark.


    The UAV automatically switched to night mode and the view on the screens jumped, flickering white before turning the view into a white and greens. Two pinpricks of light reflected by the God Snake glowed as it made its way cautiously out from its burrow.


    Its forked tongue flickered out, tasting the air before it turned and looked towards the direction of Orwell''s Point, giving a chill down the spines of the men and women in themand post.


    "Start the Operation," Joseph spoke with a subdued voice. "Tonight we kill a God... May the Heavens protect us!"


    -----


    Great Ocean ins, First Line of Defense


    "-pration Pied Piper is a go! Repeat, Operation Pied Piper is a go!" Came the voice of the HQmand operator on the radio. "May the Heavens protect! Out."


    "Alright, you heard the man!" 2nd Sergeant Tyrier of the Hundred and First, Arcane Tactics and Intervention, ymore One, yelled. "Roll out!"


    He sat on the vehiclemander seat of the jeep while Tavel started the engine. Wolf hung on the mounted machine gun on the rear.


    Next, to them, another jeep carried the rest of the members of ymore One. They drove off into the night heading towards the God Snake that had just woken up from its slumber.


    "Sarge?" Wolf yelled over the wind. "What is a pied piper? Why do the HQ always give funny names to a mission? Can''t they just name it Kill the Snake like what the guilds do?"


    "Well, it sounds cool!" Tavelughed from the driver seat. He donned one of the hooman''s limited advanced night vision goggles, making him look like he was wearing several bug eyes on his head.


    "There is a story behind the Pied Piper," Tyrier yelled back. "I asked the Doctor about it and she told me it was some ancient folktale in hernd, there was a gue of rats and mice in the vige. A piper yed a tune and lured hundreds of rats and mice to found it. The piper led the rats and mice into the river and they all downed."


    "Wow, that must be some powerful magic!" Wolf grinned. "Bet those vigers loved the piper!"


    "Actually, no..." Tyrier replied. "The people refuse to pay for his service, he retaliated by using his instrument''s magical power on their children, leading them away as he had the rats..."


    "What?" Wolf was horrified. "So what happened to the children?"


    "No one knows..." Tyrier said.


    "Damn!" Wolf whispered. "Hope we don''t end up like those children..."


    -----


    "Check your equipment!" Commands rang out along the berm of earth constructed by the leftover earth and soil taken from the pitfall traps. A line of six half tracks with their rear rolled up the berm ramps had a small contingent of Marines fussing over them. "All gunners and loaders get ready!"


    The half tracks had their rear passengerpartments removed to allow the instation of mounted weapons. Two of the half tracks held a 3" gun while the remaining four held 120 mm mortars bolted on to the backs of the vehicles.


    Further down the line, a dozen supply and transport trucks waited patiently with their engines on standby, ready to drive off at a moment''s notice.


    The batterymander stood on the top of the berm watching the two jeeps disappear into the night and prayed that everything goes ording to n.


    -----


    It slithered along the ins at an even pace, its scaled body brushing past the waving grasses in the night and leaving behind a snaking trail in the waist length grass.


    It kept an eye out for any souls as it headed single mindedly towards the trace of a Sun Gods'' presence. It darted quickly down with its jaws and snatched up a ins hopper, that looked like an antelope with a rabbit''s head.


    It swallowed the petrified tiny creature whole and kept an eye out for more prey. These creatures barely hold a soul in their bodies, but energy was still energy, even if was just a tiny fraction of a pure soul.


    Suddenly it paused in its movement and reared it triangr hooded head up. It spotted two pairs of glowing lights in the distance before it and hissed in pleasure. Souls!


    -----


    "Erm, Sarge," Wolf nervously gripped the spade handles of the .50 cal machine gun. He felt his palms sweating inside his soft leather gloves as he looked at the God Snake''s silhouetted shaped and its eyes glowing under the reflection of the two jeeps heamps. "Think it takes the bait?"


    "Shhhh!" Tyrier hissed as he stared at the unmoving shape in the distance. "Tavel! Ready to make a run for it!"


    "Team Two!" Tyrier called out to the next jeep. "Hit it with a RPG and run for it!"


    "Aye!"


    Loke and Hitsu leapt off the side of their jeep and Hitsu braced the RPG tube on his shoulder. "Distance?"


    "Roughly 200 meters away!" Loke answered as he inserted the mes runes in ce and smacked Hitsu''s armored shoulder before dodging to the side. "UP!"


    "ONE ROUND AWAY!" Hitsu squeezed the firing runes and a loud crack erupted from theuncher before a whoosh screamed out as the simple chemical fueled motors of the rocket propelled grenade ignited.


    Time seemed to slow down as everyone''s eyes were following the sparking fumes of the shrieking rocket as it closed the distance towards the God Snake. The rocket dipped down and exploded with a thunderp and threw up a smoke cloud of smoke and dirt just short of the surprised God Snake.


    "FARK!" Hitsu cursed as he watched his rocket fall short of its target. "MISSED!"


    "GET THE FARK OUT OF THERE YOU DUMB ASS!" Tyrier yelled while he smacked Tavel to drive off. "YOU WANNA BE SNAKE FOOD?"


    "Oh... fark..." Hitsu quickly tossed the spentuncher onto the rear of the jeep before climbing back up a step behind Loke. "Fark me!"


    "GO GO GO!" Loke banged the side of the jeep, ignoring Hitsu whose body was still halfway outside the open jeep.


    Both jeeps dashed off rapidly, pretty certain that the God Snake will follow them.


    -----


    "Whaaat?" It reared back in surprise as the shockwave of the sudden explosive shook its body. "Tissss..."


    It narrowed its eyes in anger, feeling that the spell was simr to the strange flying creatures that hurt it but on a smaller scale. "Yoou Daress!"


    It dropped its stance down and charged after the fleeing mortals. The glows of their magicalmps easily allowed It to followed them. Hissing in anger and anticipation of a good meal, it increased its speed, closing the distance of the fleeing mortals rapidly.


    -----


    "It''sing!!!" Wolf yelled as he held on to his dear life by the weapon mount. The jarring ride with all the bumps and humps of the ins despite dampened down by the jeep''s suspension, was still more than enough to throw him off his feet and off the jeep if he did not hold on tightly.


    "Shoot that damn thing!" Tyrier craned his neck back to see a dark shadow looming up rapidly behind them. "SHOOT IT!"


    "Oh!" Wolf suddenly remembering he had the machine gun. He carefully stepped around the weapon and swung it to the rear and flipped the safety off. He ced the circr gunsight onto the middle of the shadow and squeezed the butterfly triggers.


    The 50 cal roared out, spitting fiery red yellow bolts out and the heavy bullets hammered directly on the body mass of the God Snake, making it shriek in anger. The other jeep''s mounted 50 cal also opened up at that point.


    Tracers could be seen bouncing away from the shadowy God Snake as the bullets failed to prate its body. Tyrier cursed as he glimpsed from the side mirror, seeing the glows of the tracers lighting the God Snake up.


    A ''OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR'' tag printed on the mirror didn''t help either, as he could very clearly see the whole body of the God Snake reflected in the mirror! "It''s gaining on us!"


    He pulled out a re gun and pointed up to the skies and fired. A whoosh of a rocket re popped and the illumination spell imbued inside the head activated when the cap burst and a tiny parachute popped out. A tiny piece of mana stone serving as a battery touched the runes due to the force of the sudden eleration.


    The simple steel cap of the re was inscribed with an illumination spell instantly glowed brightly as the mana stone touching the activation runes powered the spell. The mana stone had only enough mana to power the spell for roughly five to six minutes which by then the re would have dropped back to earth.


    Almost instantly, the surroundings were lighted up dimly. but enough light was avable for 3" guns to spot the God Snake in the t ins.


    -----


    "Target sighted!" The gunmander yelled. "Distance, 2900!"


    The 3" gunputer directors were made out of the tablets and programmed by the IT departments, turning the devices into a jury rigged targetting system for the guns.


    "FIRE!"


    Gun One fired, followed by Gun Two, a secondter. The half tracks rocked on their tracks as the crew scrambled to reload. "LOAD!"


    "UP!"


    "FIRE!!"


    -----


    "Come on,e on!" Hitsu muttered as he sat on the open floor of the jeep with his legs syed out to support his body. He had the bag of holding slung to his front and he fired his MG - 1 while the rest did the same with their weapons.


    The humps and bumps did not help with their aim as they fired at the fast approaching God Snake. "DRIVE FASTER!" Hitsu screamed at Altied who was at the wheel.


    The God Snake suddenly snapped forward while Altied just in time swerved the wheel, just barely dodging the snapping Snake from ripping a chunk out of the jeep''s rear wheel.


    "HOLY FARK!" Hitsu screamed as the snapping jaws of the God Snake nearly gotten his left leg. "PLEASE DRIVE FASTER!"


    "SHUT... UP!" Altied cursed as he spun the wheel left and right, trying to throw off the aim of the angry God Snake. "I AM TRYING!!! WITHOUT... KILLING... US ALL!!!!"


    Suddenly they heard a shriek followed by another just a second behind and the area around the God Snake erupted into sudden blinding mes. The shockwave of the 3" shells knocked the jeeps a bit, but both drivers managed to keep the jeeps from toppling over.


    "HELL YEAH!" Hitsu roared out as he saw the God Snake stumbled. "EAT THAT BITCH!"


    Another volley from the 3" guns shriek over again and impacted on the dazed God Snake, sending up more shes of mes and smoke.


    With the God Snake getting barraged by the 3" guns, both jeeps managed to gain some distance from the stalled God Snake. "How far more?" Hitsu asked as he checked his ammunition.


    "Another klick!" Came back the reply. "Just a few minutes before we reach the trap!"


    "It''sing back!" Loke yelled while Young reloaded the jeep mounted .50 cal with fresh cans of ammunition.


    The enraged God Snake seemed even faster as it appeared to swim against the grass and caught up with them almost without effort.


    "Almost there!" Altied yelled as the jeep bounced off a hump, temporarily flying before hammering down on the earth hard enough that Altied almost bit his tongue off. He tasted blood in his mouth and without taking his eyes off the fluttering ging up, he spat out a glop of blood and saliva.


    "Come on,e on... follow the pied piper!"

 Chapter 279: I Like to Order One Umagi Set!

    Chapter 279: I Like to Order One Umagi Set!


    The night skies were lit up by floating orbs of light and bright darts of tracers and exploding shells of cannons. Cannon and small arms fire rumbled like thunder while the effects of the tracers and shelling caused the surrounding vegetation to catch fire, bathing the low clouds an orangey glow.


    The Snake hissed with anger, unsure where those irritating explosions came from, but it hurts. It''s barely recovered body and tough scales could easily withstand arrows and swords, but not overpressure from high explosives.


    It could only see two fast moving objects with the glow of souls on them and it channeled all its anger and frustration on those running mortals. It lowered its body and slithered as fast as it could after its prey, ignoring the spells exploding all around it.


    Focusing all its attention on the fleeing creatures, it did not notice any changes to the terrain when it followed them, only knowing that it will vent all its anger and hunger on the puny mortals.


    -----


    Both jeeps formed upon a single file as they sped between two lines of yellow gsid out carefully. The gs wereid between a supporting roof bridge for the jeeps to cross the pitfall trap. Just as the forward jeep reached the midpoint of the bridge, a red re wasunched out, further illuminating the surroundings.


    They sped on and was barely off the concealed bridge when the God Snake entered on covered pitfall.


    -----


    "NOW!" The groundmander in charge of the troops yelled as he viewed the God Snake entering the trap with a pair of binos. The Marine holding a demolition board quickly twisted one of the trigger keys and several dull thuds of explosions could be heard and felt underground.


    The daisy chained explosives hooked up underneath the supports of the roof bridge blew and the whole roof copsed inwards, dropping the surprised God Snake down into the pitfall. The groundmander seeing the Snake falling into the trap quickly ordered the next set of traps to be set off.


    Twisting another key on the demo board, the Marine grinned as suddenly the night turned to day as the napalm fueled me fougasses erupted like volcanos. "Burn baby... burn!"


    An unholy shriek resounded out from the ming pitfall and the God Snake could be seen thrashing wildly within the mes. The super heated air and mes finally ruptured the drums of white phosphorous, and once the chemical got into contact with air the highly toxic powder reacted violently andbusted.


    The ground troops all watched from a distance of two kilometers away with binocrs at the disy of fireworks and smoke. Yet the shrieks and thrashing serpentine shadow within the smoke did not appear to lessen. The groundmander frowned and turned to the mortar batterymander, "Give me the special munitions! Three rounds rapids!"


    "Yes, sir!" The mortarmander nodded and ran off to his mortar carriages and yelled at his men.


    "Load the special!" He quickly ordered the men who jumped into action. "Three rounds air bust!"


    The 1st ammunition bearer quickly rotated the fuze cap of the mortar shell clockwise until a three-letter engraving PRX was above an index line which indicated the fuze was set to proximity air burst setting before handing the mortar bombs to the assistant gunner who held the bomb at the tip of the 120 mm mortar already sighted in to the pit while the 2nd ammunition bearer prepped the next mortar shell.


    The gunner peered through the sights and double checked the range chart before nodding to his section leader who acted as the fire controller who yelled. "Mortar One. Ready!"


    "Two ready!


    "Three ready!"


    "Four ready!"


    "THREE ROUNDS SPECIAL! FIRE FOR EFFECT!"


    "FIRE!"


    The Marine gunner dropped the bomb down the mortar muzzle and quickly turned away from the st while keeping his mouth open and covering his ears. The solid thump of the mortar st shook the men''s insides but they ignored it and continued to serve the gun, firing a total of three rounds each as fast as they could drop the bombs down the muzzle.


    -----


    After recklessly speeding away for a distance, Tyrier ordered the jeeps to stop and the ymore One men all quickly watched the fireworks going on at the trap. They covered their ears as the unholy screams of the God Snake mmed into them like a shockwave.


    "What the fark is that?" Hitsu yelled as he covered his ears while rolling on the back of the jeep from the pain that stabbed right into his brains.


    "Quickly cast Mental Fortitude!" Tyrier yelled out while putting his words into action. Everyone quickly cast the spell which fortified their willpower to defend against the sanity causing shrieks.


    "Damn, that was close!" Hitsu rubbed the back of his head, feeling like something had squeezed his brains for fun. He rubbed the trail of blood that dripped out of his nose and quickly stuffed earplugs into his ears to block off the screams.


    "Is that bloody Thing dying yet?" Hitsu asked as he pushed himself up from the floor of the jeep. "Damn, my head hurts..."


    Tyrier massaged his burning eyes and looked at the glowing ming pit in the distance, "I hope so!"


    Suddenly several shrieking shells screamed overhead and the men instinctively ducked, "MORTARS!"


    They straightened up when they realized that the mortars were not aiming for them andughed sheepishly among themselves before turning their attention back to the trap, seeing the mortar bombsnding right on target.


    -----


    Shrieking in pain and anger from the hellfire that was burning its strength away, the God Snake tried to dislodge its self from a couple of sharpened tree trunks that had unluckily pierced into its open wounds.


    Thankfully, the hellfire helped as the mes and superheated air reduced the stakes to charcoal and the thrashing Serpent managed to break free.


    But before it could rejoice, suddenly severalrge explosions roared loudly and instantly its vision was blocked by clouds of white acidic smoke that burnt its eyes and exposed wounds. Badly blinded it rolled about in pain and panic, trying to get out of that hell hole.


    It mmed its body against the walls of the pit, trying to rub the sticky hellfire off its body. And not long, it felt the temperature of its surroundings dropping finally!


    Just as it thought it received some respite from the hellfires, it suddenly heard several shrieks followed by several thunderps above its head. It raised its blinded head up and its boiled tongue hissed out to taste the air and it suddenly shrieked as its burnt tongue touched something that was worse than the hellfires it had suffered from!


    -----


    The dozen special munitions mortar bombs detonated in series as they screamed over the air. The bombs internal mechanical clockwork fuzes were set to detonate after seventeen seconds, the time needed for the mortar bombs to travel and reach the target site.


    The clockwork fuzes'' timer winded down to zero and the fire runes snapped together, igniting the burster assembly charge and spewing the contents of its charge out.


    2.45 kilograms of pure sodium chloride ormonly known as salt spewed out from the bursting cap of the mortar''s payload. In less than 10 secs, over 29 kilograms of salt were scattered over an area of half a football field, directly over the God Snake.


    As the sea saltnded down into the inferno, it melted in the superheated air and boiled, before its molecules broke their bonds into sodium and chloride.


    But as more of the salt rained down over the God Snake and with the temperature dropping, enough of the remaining saltnded on the God Snake and onto its festering burns and wounds.


    Almost immediately, the wounds touched by the raining salt started to erode into wisps of smoke as the purifying powers of salt broke the bonds of the God Snake''s body from this realm.


    The pain almost drove the God Snake insane as it spasmed even more violently, destroying the walls of the pit and causing the magical reinforced earthen walls to crumble.


    The groundmander seeing the effects of their special munitions appeared to be effective, quickly ordered the mortars to fire every single mortar shell they have in stock.


    The mortar men jumped into action and bomb after bomb, the mortar kept firing till the tubes glowed red in the night.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    The whole Command Bridge was silent as everyone had their eyes glued on the UAV feed being streamed on the battle with the God Snake. ke unconsciously bit his nails as he watched the feed only to have the Princess gently pull his hand away.


    He smiled at her before turning back to watch the live stream. "Damn thing is pretty tough to endure so much napalm."


    Commander Ford nodded from his spot. "If we can''t kill it this time, we don''t have enough stocks of napalm left to use on it."


    They watched as multiple bursts of white powder appeared overhead of the God Snake, making it squirm violently each time. "Looks like Joseph and his people came up with a good idea with the salt loaded mortars. Seemed like it works well on it."


    "Well, salt seemed to be used in all cultures and religions as a ward against evil," ke replied.


    "Also the intel from ymore One was quite valuable that salt works against these... things..." ke added. "Hell, I don''t even know what these things are ssified as. Demons? Devils? Evil Gods?"


    Ford smiled, "Don''t start that in front of Dr. Sharon, or she will start a lecture and give you homework and make you have an exam afterward!"


    "Ha!" ke grinned back. "Well, looks like its working. The sensor measuring the density of its magic power appears to be dropping fast."


    They continued watching the UAV feed, observing the thick oily smoke evaporating off its body under the burningnd, exposing its startling white bone structure.


    Slowly, its scales and flesh evaporated away and leaving behind a skeletal frame over a hundred meters long and it suddenly crumbled under its own weight before turning into dust. The watching crew andmand staff cheered wildly as they watched the God Snake getting defeated.


    "That was easy..." ke smiled. "I kinda expected more..."


    "Seriously?" Ford frowned. "You want more?"


    "I mean, we did use our main gun to kill a God''s Champion..." ke shrugged. "That seemed just too easy..."


    "Do you know how much napalm, fuel, explosives, mortar ammunition, 250 kg bombs and countless small arms ammunition firing that Thing costed us?" Ford raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Not to mention the loss of a Mariner which is one fifth of our entire bomber air fleet!"


    "Woah... chill," ke grinned. "I meant it in a good way. Besides, materials and machines could always be reproduced while the lives of men are more precious."


    "We are lucky we only lost the crew of one Mariner and luckily not the full crew either," ke added. "That is still considered a heavy price for an easy victory."


    "True," Ford nodded. "Well, an easy victory is always good, even if the material cost is high. I guess we lucked out this time."


    "We will take all the luck we can get," ke smiled tiredly before turning to themunication link to Orwell''s Point. "Good work, give my congrattions to the men."


    "Yes, Sir!" Joseph''s image replied. "Operation Pied Piper is a sess!"


    "Have the men take a well deserved break," ke ordered. "You too, give me your report tomorrow afternoon."


    "Thank you, Sir!" Joseph saluted and his image disappeared from the screen.


    "Damn, I''m hungry!" ke stood up. "We all only had some sandwiches while on duty."


    "Now that you asked," Ford stood up. "Yeah."


    "How about you?" ke turned to Princess Sherene, who nodded.


    "Let''s go to the Officer''s Mess," ke said and he turned to the rest of the Command crew. "Alright people, good job. Stand down to alert from Orange to Yellow. Those off shift now, get some rest, food, or whatever you want. I will see you all tomorrow! Dismissed!"


    "Aye aye, Sir!" The crew chorused and saluted the departing officers.


    "I remember the menu for tonight is umagi right?"

 Chapter 280: Words

    Chapter 280: Words


    Orwell''s Point, Northen Border


    Mills pped the side of his neck and wiped the slimy remains of a bug off against his sweat and mud caked uniform. He used his boots to push away a curious little blue slime in his path and turned back to find their high value prisoner riding on one of the capturednd dragon staring daggers at him.


    If looks could kill, she probably killed him a dozen times over. He sighed and waited till the mount carrying the prisoner came up next to him and he took over the reins from her escort. "Wonderful day isn''t it, my Lady?"


    Titanna hmphed and turned her head away from him. She felt sore all over her body, especially her wounds. She was dirty and tired, wearing the same dress for days and only could wipe down her body with a wet towel.


    Even both her maids following her on foot were also not doing so well with the forced march through the forest.


    Yet, Titanna was impressed with the discipline of these Barbarians soldiers. Despite hearing some grumbles here and there, the way they move through the forest spoke a great deal of their training and experience!


    These Barbarians must have grown up in the forest and must have trained together since young as their coordination and skills in the woods were top notched. She had taken part in training her men before and knew that it takes almost forever to get the men to be able to work independently and yet together at the same time!


    A proper arms man would take years to train, from wielding a spear to a sword and shield to fighting in a formation. A cavalryman would also need to learn how to ride and dragon, and how to fight on a moving mount.


    Even the conscripted peasants will take some months to at least learn how to wield a spear and stay in a formation to fight properly.


    But looking at the way these men move and orders being transmitted barely without a word and only by hand signs, her judgment was that this was a group of crack troops! Not to mention each soldier was armed with those strange thunder artifacts and barely a hundred men had routed her force of over ten thousand!


    "Do you want to ride in the carriage?" He asked. "You don''t look so well."


    "No!" She snapped and urged her mount faster, her hands tied to the horn of the saddle while an anti magic cor was worn around her neck.


    Mills nced at her regal looking bearing despite the fatigue on her face and shook his head. Wondering why women must be so headstrong at times.


    They were supposed to ride back in luxury on the river barges but there were sightings of enemy dragons that probably were the reinforcements to the routed army.


    Their Cobra air cover had been withdrawn and reassigned to defend against the God Snake hence the Lieutenant ordered everyone off the ships and make the trek on foot back to Orwell''s Point.


    Over the course of three days through the thick forest, they encountered several monsters that they beat off and the meat from those creatures was a wee addition to the cooking pots.


    He turned to the prisoner and asked, "Say, why do you fight in wars?"


    Titanna looked down at the strange short eared Barbarian, "Of course it is for the glory of the Rothschild family!"


    "Do you do anything that does not involve the name of your family?" Mills asked as he carefully led the mount around a tree root.


    "Of course!" Titanna snapped, wondering what trick question was that. "I do many things that do not involve my family!"


    "What I meant is do you have any goals of your own?" Mills questioned. "Like dreams of your own?"


    "I d-" Titanna stopped, as she wondered about the question. "I do want to beat that upstart mage and take the top ce!"


    "Yes, now we are getting somewhere without constantly hearing about your family name!" Mills grinned.


    "But taking the top ce bring glory to the Rothschild!" Titanna frowned.


    "Arghhhh!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain Quarters


    ke scrolled through the reports on the aftermath of Operation Pied Piper. Finally finishing the report he looked up at Commander Ford who was reading the same report. "Well, at least now we have one less worry here."


    "Yes, but there is something here that doesn''t add up," Ford frowned as he scrolled the report on his tablet. "We are missing one confirmed kill for the traitors."


    "Really?" ke looked back on the reports. "We got the video feed of the five in the room, the ex Marine Sergeant turning into the Snake, one was reported to be blown up in the factory and the other out in the ins from MAW Unit Zero Two."


    "Everyone is ounted for..." ke paused. "Wait... Who was the one in the factory?"


    "Spaceman Apprentice Leung, Chun-Kok, born 2109, New Territories, Hong Kong. Maintainance and Operations," Major Frank answered. "His body is the only one no one was able to visibly tally with."


    "And judging from the way those idiots gave their souls," Ford gave a cough at the word souls. "They were granted supernatural regeneration capabilities. The bombs might not be enough to kill him unless he took a direct hit..."


    "True..." ke frowned. "Shit... if that is the case, even if we banished the God Snake back to wherever it came from... It still has a link to this ce via Leung if he is still alive..."


    "Sir, I propose we send a Company down to Sin City and see what we can find," Major Frank suggested. "I am worried that we might have missed something..."


    ke nodded and gestured towards Captain Joseph on the screen. "Okay. See what men you can spare without lowering the defenses of Orwell''s Point. Go dig around Sin City, see if you can find anything."


    "Yes, Sir!" Joseph''s image replied crisply.


    "How are our stocks of munitions?" ke changed the topic, looking at their short quartermaster.


    "We have more than adequate small arms munitions, but any special munitions like napalm were all out," Quartermaster Chen reported. "Fighting that Thing wiped out all two months of napalm production, we need to reproduce everything..."


    "How about the 3" shells and 120 mm mortars?" ke asked. "Does Orwell''s Point has enough munitions and supplies?"


    "Orwell''s Point needs more 120 mm mortars, we used up almost 80% of their stockpile while we still have enough 3" shells tost for a while, even the 250 kg bombs are enough for the nes for now," Joseph replied. "And the Mariners are back on full time supply runs."


    "For food and fuel supplies, we have a stockpile of two months," Joseph continued. "We do need more small arms ammunition if we are preparing to be under siege."


    "Got it," Quartermaster Chen replied as he took down notes on the side.


    "On our side, we have a healthy stock for our 3" guns, mortars, and 70 mm rockets," Chen continued. "Small arms ammunition production is more than enough for all our needs too."


    "The production lines are being retooled to push out the new 88 mm and 155 mm designed guns," Chen added. "We expect to see them on the field within a month."


    "Good, more firepower is always weed!" Major Frank grinned. "With the 155 mm howitzers, we can literally hit any target we want within a twelve kilometer radius!"


    "Airforce?" ke asked next. "What is thetest on the projects on your side, Tommy?"


    "We started recruitment for a new batch of pilots among the eighteen to twenty years old poption," Commander Tommy replied. "The requirements for this new batch of pilots won''t be as strict as they are gonna be fixed rotor aircraft pilots, I will be personally interviewing the applicants."


    "Navy?" ke turned to his Chief of Naval Operations, Commander Ford.


    "We are pushing out a new Corvette design," Ford grinned. "It''s going to be arger variant of the PT boats but more heavily armored, crewed, and will be armed with new 88 mm guns Ordinance is going to push out."


    "And we are shipping a couple of stripped down PT boats forward to Orwell''s Point with the nextnd convoy over," Ford added. "The PT boats will be very useful in defending and patrolling the river there."


    ke nodded. "Princess? How about your side?"


    "Total basic literacy levels have gone up by 40%," Princess Sherene reported. "Overall happiness of the poption is actually pretty high."


    "Demands for work and especially in the factories has also gone up, while people applying to study more advanced courses has gone down," She added. "It would appear that not many are willing to spend more time advancing their studies after theypleted their basic education and required subjects before starting to look for work."


    "Sir, this is quite worrying, as our current workers barely hold the minimum amount of knowledge to work the machines and factories," Chief Engineer Matt spoke out. "All our currentbor only has the experience but not the advanced technical knowledge to further improve our industries."


    "If this goes on, our tech level will stagnant and if worse, deteriorate..." Matt warned. "We need to boost people''s tech knowledge more."


    "Princess," ke rubbed his chin. "Get your people to work out a n on how to attract the poption to improve their knowledge more, give them incentives, grants, schrships, anything. People are very valuable resources."


    Sherene nodded and she quickly scribbled something down on her notepad.


    "Now for the prisoners we taken from Orwell''s Point and Sin City," ke turned to his Intel Officer. "What do you have for us?"


    "We have some information here and there," Lieutenant Tavor replied. "Orwell''s Point''s former Governor is pretty tight lipped so far, but he did give up a few hidden caches of his wealth that he squirreled away."


    "Also we have some more inking of the forces around Orwell''s Point and the Rothschild family which appeared to be in control of these parts," Tavor said. "The family has its roots as far as the original sailors and soldiers thatnded here."


    "They control the Southern portion of the New Land, and previously, that Duke Sturm that chased the remnants of Goldrose into the pass was also under the Rothschild family," Tavor added. "Head of the family is a man know as Moel Rothschild, roughly in histe forties."


    "He is said to be very focus and ruthless," Tavor looked up from his tablet. "He is also known to be bad tempered and do not forget a grudge easily."


    "So basically, he''s a gangster?" Fordmented.


    "He has three biological sons and one daughter," Tavor ignored Ford''sment. "He also has four illegitimate sons, all of which is around the age of twenty to twenty five, while the youngest at the age of eleven."


    "And just recently, 2nd Battalion, Falcon Company has taken the only daughter of Moel Rothschild as a prisoner of war..." Tavor ignored Ford''sment.


    "Oh, shit..." Ford sighed. "Did we just pissed off another warlord?"


    "On the matter of that," Tavor continued, "Moel Rothschild cares a lot of his family pride, so the taking of his daughter as a prisoner of war will definitely not go well with his temper."


    "We can expect lots of heavy demands and threats on the return of his daughter," Tavor gave his assessment. "It will be a pride thing for this man, and he will not stop even if we give in to his demands."


    "Hmmm..." ke frowned. "So you are saying even if we return his daughter back safe and sound, and peace deals we worked with him will be conveniently forgotten?"


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor simply replied. "Rmended course of action is not to deal at all with the Rothschilds. Hold the daughter in custody and bled the Rothschilds dry."


    "Do not trust any word of a Rothschild!"

 Chapter 281: Feelings

    Chapter 281: Feelings


    Orwell''s Point, Docks


    Mills''s arm darted and caught Titanna as she nearly tripped over the bobbing skiff when she tried to climb up the slippery steps of the harbor slip. The rest of Eagle Company were being ferried over by the river boats when they returned from across the Shard River.


    "Be careful!" Mills warned as he gripped her restrained arms firmly. "It''s slippery!"


    Titanna blushed angrily and when she managed to stand on firm ground, she shrugged off Mills''s helping hand. "I can walk by myself!" She proudly said and stormed off before Mills, much to the escorting Marines mirth.


    "Damn, Sarge," One of the snickering Marinesmented. "I think she''s falling in love for you, Sarge!"


    Mills rolled his eyes dramatically and flipped his middle finger at them, "You know what a viper is?"


    The Marines grinned wildly, "Yeah, a poisonous snake, yes?"


    "She most likely is the one stabbing me in my sleep or poisoning me in my meals if we were ever together!" Mills snorted.


    The menughed at Mills''s reply, "But it will be worth it!"


    Titanna gritted her teeth hard together when she heard the words of the barbarian soldiers behind her. "As if I would fall for a curt low bred barbarian who even cut his ears short!" she hissed under her breath.


    "Alright, enough jokes," Mills grinned. "You are making our Princess here blush!"


    Titanna paused in her steps and turned back and growled at Mills. She has never encountered such a maddening man before! All the men she met were either in awe, sweet talking, or fawning over her, while others were either fearful or even wanting her death.


    This was the first time she met someone confusing, who treated her courteously and even more so, he treated her like ady instead of an enemy who was they were trying to kill each other a few days ago!


    Now he was joking and teasing her like an old friend which was something even her friends she had would never dare to do so!


    "What?" Mills took a step back and held his arms over his chest protectively while his eyes widenedrgely. "You couldn''t be really falling in love with me?"


    "Arghh!" Titanna felt so frustrated by this person''s words that she couldn''t find anything to retort back. She stamped her hard leather boots on Mill''s feet and stormed off in a fast pace with the Marine escortsughing and running after her.


    "Ow!" Mills wiggled his toes in his boots and frowned. "What did I do?"


    -----


    "Oh, Drake!" Mills grinned as he entered the barracks. "You''re back!"


    "Hey man, just came back yesterday," Drake epted a brotherly arm sp from Mills. "It was pretty hairy for a while out there."


    "Tell me about it!" Mills dumped his gear onto his bunk and sat down. "We all thought you guys have gone MIA out there!"


    "We got lost out there," Drake told his adventure to Mills while some of the returned Eagle Company Marines also joined in the tale.


    It was almost more than an hour when Drake and Mills caught each other up to the current state of affairs. "We were lucky that we managed to get picked up by a convoy of returning workers out there. If not, I don''t know how long before we could be found!"


    "Well, at least you get to see the bastard in the eye when you guys blew him to bits!" Mills growled. "I didn''t even get my shot at one of them!"


    "Didn''t you caught a princess out there?" Drake grinned. "Heard you two are pretty sweet together!"


    "Please!" Mills raised a palm to stop Drake''s teasing. "Well, I... I mean she''s pretty and well endowed to boot, but-"


    "She''s a viper?" Drake finished Mill''s sentence. "Just tame her!"


    "Oh, please... not you too!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Prison Deck, Holding Cells Two


    Tavor''s fingerprint opened the hatch and he stepped into the clear armored ss holding cell. A young boy sat on the bed, the only furniture inside the mirrored walls of the cell, holding his head.


    The lights in the cell were dimmed down but were enough for Tavor to observe the boy''s features. He wore a magic suppression cor and was in an orange prison uniform that looked oversized in his skinny frame.


    Tavor hit the lights button and the lights inside the cell glowed bright, and the boy jerked up and looked his cell in fright. "Who are you? Let me go! Let me out!"


    Tavor hit the voice button on the panel, "You im to be the prince of the Bluewood Empire? Is that the truth?"


    "Yes!" The boy cried out almost in tears. "It''s the truth! My father took on my identity and cast me out to die!"


    "That sounds pretty far fetched..." Tavor replied. "Do you have any proof?"


    "Proof?" The boy looked up at the mirrored ceiling where the strange distorted voice appeared toe from. "I have a ring that you took from me! It bears the si of my lineage!"


    Tavor muted themunication and checked his tablet, opening the file folder of the boy''s information. He selected an image from the image folder and erged the image, focusing on the ring.


    It looked like a normal silver ring except with a crest stamped on the t top of it. Unable to verify anything or its authenticity, Tavor could only put it aside for now.


    "Now, tell me again, how did your father take over your identity," Tavor asked again. "Start from the beginning."


    The boy looked frustrated at the same questions over and over again. He sighed and sat back down and hugged his knees.


    "As I said before, he..."


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold, CO''s Office


    "Sir!" The Marine sentry opened the door after knocking and showed the two guests in before closing the door and returning to his station.


    Joseph continued his paperwork without looking up and just casually gestured to the two persons to take a seat.


    The ex ve turned leader Mattew turned to hispanion and gestured him to sit down on the chairs before the work desk.


    Finally, after a short while, Joseph signed off on the reports and kept the documents in a file and observed both his visitors.


    Mattew, as usual, had the snake oil salesman''s smile on his face, but seeing the sweat forming on his forehead, Joseph knew he was nervous and afraid. On the other hand, hispanion had an eagle eye look and a hint of aristocratic bearing.


    The man had a fierce looking pair of eyes that observed Joseph openly. A pair of bushy eyebrows topped his grey eyes and his once full cheeks looked gaunt most likely due tock of proper meals when he was a ve.


    Joseph could see thin white scars marring the man''s suntanned face and his exposed hands, most likely due to his fierce nature and defiance that his previous masters had inflicted upon him. He gauged the man to be roughly twenty, twenty five summers old.


    "So what can I help you with?" Joseph finally broke the silence and asked directly.


    "M- my Lord," Mattew cleared his throat and smiled weakly, "My friend here, Gavin of... ckvale, wishes to serve under you as a warrior."


    Joseph gave a raised eyebrow at the man called Gavin, noting that his build if properly recovered, this man most likely was a Knight or high ranked soldier of some fallen kingdom or nation.


    "My Lord," The man''s brassy voice said. "I am a good fighter, very good in fact. I can wield a sword and shield, broadsword, dagger, spear, halbert, bow, and crossbow all equally well."


    "I am also proficient in mounted warfare and can use thence fairly well," He stated proudly. "As well as unarmed fighting, I know some brawling moves too! And I am also a 2nd Circle Mage."


    Joseph nodded in appreciation, knowing that learning any one of these skills will require a lot of dedication of time and effort, most likely since he has started training since a child.


    "How a man of your skills end up in this state?" Joseph asked curiously.


    "I... used to serve as a Knight Captain of a two hundred man troop," Gavin replied hesitatingly. "But we lost and I was taken prisoner... and the... King I served, was executed."


    "With no one to pay ransom for my release," Gavin sighed. "I was sold as a ve."


    "I see," Joseph replied and shook his head sadly. "But I do not need anyone with cold steel skills."


    "Cold steel skills?" Gavin cocked his head to the side at the unfamiliar phrase. "I can teach too, I used to train and drill my men myself."


    Joseph smiled, "The problem is not with your skills, I am sure many nobles or even armies would love to have your skills and ability."


    "Than what is the issue here?" Gavin''s eyes seemed to burn as he felt angry and humiliated that this Lord did not desire his services. "Is it because I was a ve before?"


    "No, no," Joseph waved his protests away. "In my army, we do things differently. Skills like swordsmanship or archery are secondary."


    "What?" Gavin looked like he was about to explode as he half rosed from his seat. "Sir, are you joking with me? What kind of army looks down on swordsmanship or archery? Are you trying to insult me?"


    Joseph suddenlyughed as he recalled his own reaction before he joined the UN Marines Corps which made Gavin more pissed off, thinking that he was being looked down on.


    He rosed fully and turned away in a huff, storming towards the door when Joseph said, "Sit down."


    Gavin paused and turned, seeing Joseph seated calmly with a smile on his face, studying him intently, making him wonder if this was some kind of test. He meekly returned and sat down with an embarrassed look.


    "If you really wish to join my forces," Joseph''s smile disappeared as he spoke seriously. "You have to swear allegiance and pledge to protect the interests of the United Nations."


    Gavin nodded solemnly, "A Knight does not break his bond easily!"


    "Good," Joseph nodded. "But you will have to retrain everything and the environment will be strange at first. But you will get used to it."


    "No problems, My Lord!" Gavin dered proudly. "I can take any training!"


    "Good, then I hope to see you graduate from Boot Camp," Joseph smiled.


    "Boot Camp?" Gavin looked confused, "Boots have camps?"


    "HAHAHHAA!" Josephughed as he thought the samest time. "You will find out when the timees! Hahahahaha!"


    Gavin scratched his head in confusion but he stood up and walked next to Joseph before going down on one knee, bowing. "You are my Lord and Master now! Lord Joseph, I greet you and with all my-"


    "Get up," Joseph grinned. "You don''t swear your fealty to me."


    "I- Huh?" Gavin looked even more confused at Joseph''s words. "But..."


    "Just get up," Joseph replied.


    "T- Thank you, my Lord," Gavin stood up with an expression of confusion. "My Lord, I- I have a request..."


    "Tell me," Joseph gestured him to sit down again.


    "I know there are some people who are willing to serve under your name too," Gavin replied. "Most of them are myrades and brother in arms that I known since bing a ve here."


    "Really?" Joseph was surprised and pleased at the same time. Recruiting immigrants over to Haven was not given the go ahead due to the differences in culture, mentality, and dissent. But if people were recruited directly into the military, that was another story as disciplines and order could be instilled into the recruits unless they rebel which under militaryw, it will be a serious offense, but still fully controble, unlike new civilian immigrants.


    "How many people wish to sign up?" Joseph asked without showing his excitement.


    "I think about a thousand or so?"

 Chapter 282: Unexpected Encounter

    Chapter 282: Unexpected Encounter


    Orwell''s Point Airfield


    "Ras?" Blue Thunder poked his head into the entrance of the hangar. "Are you there?"


    He heard a small shuffling noise from deep inside the hangar and he crawled his way in. "Ras?"


    His eyes adjusted to the dark of the hangar and he saw Rastraz huddled into a ball at the very back of the steel and wood hangar, her wings draped protectively over her head.


    Blue Thunder sighed, remembering when he was first shot down and the hoomans took him. He wondered if Rastraz was suffering from what those dramas and movies called PTSD. He gently made his huge body over to the side of Rastraz andid down next to her, covering her body with hisrger wingspan.


    He started humming a tune he remembered from The Game of Thrones as heid next to Rastraz feeling her warmth spreading to him.


    "Mmm hmmm mmm mm mm mmmmm~" He hummed as he gently wrapped Rastraz with his tail.


    Blue Thunder suddenly felt Rastraz trembling and shaking under his wing and tail. Concerned he quickly pushed away her wings with his serpentine head. "Ras! Are you okay?"


    "HAHAHAHAAA!" Rastraz burst outughing. She wiped a tear from her golden eyes with her wing tip and giggled again. "Hehehehe!"


    "Huh?" Blue Thunder looked confused. "Are you sick? Did they hit you too hard on the head?" He held Rastraz head still with wed hands.


    "Hahahaha!" Rastraz pushed Blue Thunder''s hands away while trying to hold in her mirth. "Your... singing is bad!"


    "W- What?" Blue Thunder leaned back and gave a relieved grin. "Really? Oh well, at least it cheered you up!"


    "Ahh..." Rastraz stopped her giggles and looked away and said softly, "Thank you... foring back..."


    "Hehe!" Blue Thunder puffed his chest up. "How can I abandon you?"


    "I thought you ran off..." Rastraz whispered and she rested her head on her folded arms. "I didn''t know you went for help..."


    "I wanted toe to save you..." Blue Thunder rubbed his head in embarrassment. "But I couldn''t save you under those circumstances..."


    "Well, at least you came back in the end," Rastraz smiled gently. "I guess that counts too?"


    "Well, of course!" Blue Thunder stood proudly. "After all, I was ordered to look after you! I can''t fail that responsibility can''t I!"


    Suddenly the temperature of the hangar appeared to rise up. "Huh? Why is it getting so hot in here?" Blue Thunder scratched his head as he looked around in confusion.


    "Ras?" Blue Thunder turned and saw Rastraz starting to glow red in the dark. "Erm... why are you getting heated up?"


    "Y- you... IDIOT!" Rastraz growled and smacked Blue Thunder with the full force of her tail before she huddled into one corner in a ball. "Don''t talk to me! Go away!"


    Blue Thunder rubbed the spot on his head where Rastraz''s tail hit him in confusion and pain.


    "What did I do?"


    -----


    Border of Sin City


    A line of covered wagons pulled bynd dragons slowly crested over the gentle slopes of the waving grasnd. Outriders on alert, followed on the side of the convoy providing protection to the slow rolling wagons as they kept to the well traveled path.


    Taris stood up from the wagon seat and stare out to the City in the distance in shocked surprise as the city now stood in ckened ruins visible even from the far distance.


    "What in the heavens..." He whispered as the men around him too spotted the ruined city and they were rmed.


    From the distance they were at, Taris estimated they need at least half a day to reach the city, by then it would bete afternoon. He did not fancy staying near the ruins of the city with barely a few hours of light.


    He ordered the men to drive the wagons to the side of the path and make camp. Taris called his guards to be on alert and sent a team of fast outriders to scout the city out first.


    As the sun set, the sound of galloping hooves came and a dozen riders pulled up before the entrenched campsite. "Captain Taris!"


    "What''s the situation with the city?" Taris asked worriedly. If the city was truely destroyed, then all the efforting here to trade for essentials will bepletely wasted and the people back home will face a very hard winter this year.


    "Nothing remains of the city!" The leader of the scouting party reported. "But there are scores of people and Oerkin camps scattered around the ruins."


    "Damnation!" Taris cursed, knowing that they will return empty handed. "What happened to the city?"


    "We asked around and the people said it was caused by a fight between some super creatures!" The scout leader replied. "A giant snake and some flying monsters destroyed the city! Some of the people even say it was the work of gods that destroyed the city."


    "Sir, we might take this opportunity to salvage whatever useful things we can find in the ruins," The scouting leader advised. "We noticed most of the people that remained went into the ruins to find anything of worth."


    Taris sighed, "We don''t have much food and water tost us long out here."


    "Sir, we still need to top up our water here," The scout added. "Why not see we can trade with the people here if they have what we need?"


    "Alright, since we are here, we might as well make full use of our supplies," Taris nodded. "Get some rest, we will move out in the morning."


    The scout saluted with his fist over his chest before going off to look after his mount, leaving Taris behind to ponder on their options.


    Taris sat down before the campfire in deep thought, wondering how can he turn the situation around. Without the city, they will not be able to trade for the much needed food for his people back home and he did not know of any other city that existed in the Great Ocean ins.


    Should he approach the Oerkins? But where could he find any Oerkin Tribes or ns to trade for their livestock? He still remembered the incident where he and his men were attacked and captured to be sold as vester.


    Hopefully, tomorrow he will find out what the city ruins hold and what steps he should take after he sees the ce with his own eyes.


    The night went by without any incident and when morning, the caravan from Dead Frontier packed up and rolled forward towards the city ruins. Along the way, they spotted dozens of camps of various sizes which they learned that most of the camps were survivors of the city while the Oerkin camps seemed to be a mixture of many ns and tribes.


    The people in the camps they passed by all looked wretched and downtrodden even the usually loud and boisterous Oerkin were strangely quiet and lifeless.


    The mood surrounding the ruins creeped Taris out the closer he got to it, leading to him wondering if it was a good idea to go to the city ruins. Finally, they reached close enough to see the once tall walls were now reduced to barely a man''s height and not one structure remained standing.


    The once strange looking squarish pce that dominated the city was gone, ttened into bits and pieces of masonry and charred wood. Yet despite the destruction of the city, he could vaguely see hundreds of figures poking around the ruins, most likely trying to forage or salvage some useful items.


    He noticed the people still staying around looked like they used to be ves judging from the marks on their necks. He raised a hand and directed the caravan to the side of the path and ordered his men to set up camp again.


    His caravan arrival had the attention of almost everyone here as they kept eyeing his wagons, making him feel like they were nning to rob him. He ordered his men to be on alert at all times and be on the watch for any attacks by the locals.


    After ensuring his camp was properly defended, he set up with an escort and approached the ruined city gates. Less than a month ago, when he came here, the gates made out of massive logs that were cut and transported at a great cost from the forests at the edge of the Great Ocean ins nowid in charred ruins.


    He saw several people in thin bare clothing hacking away at a piece of the charred gate, most likely chopping it for firewood. He approached them and asked politely, "Greetings, may I ask what happened here?"


    "Huh?" The group of people stopped their work and stared at Taris with hostility until they noticed the number of well armed men behind him and changed their tone and bearing. "Eh... The city was destroyed by the Gods!"


    "Yes, the Gods came from the skies and rain fire and thunder down," Another said. "And a giant snake came out of the pce! It destroyed the city!"


    "I heard it was the Oerkin shamans who called upon the Snake!" Another person added and the group started arguing between themselves over whose story was true.


    "No, it was some goddess that called fire down to burn this ce down for its sins!"


    "I witnessed the beast myself! It rampaged throughout the city!"


    "I see..." Taris raised his hands up to cut the argument of the locals off, "When did this happen?"


    "Oh, almost two weeks ago!" The group finally managed to gave an answer that everyone agreed to.


    "Do you know if there are any farms or merchants remaining?" Taris asked. "I want to buy seeds."


    "There are a few scattered farming viges around here, but..." One of the group said while rubbing his fingers together.


    Taris sighed inwardly and tossed a silver coin over to the man who grinned happily, rubbing the silver against his sweat stain clothes. "There is one about a half a day on foot south of here. Just follow the road down, you can''t miss it."


    "Or you can try your luck at the city center where the city''s storehouses and granaries are," Other person offered helpfully and Taris awarded him with a silver coin too. "Maybe you might find some store not yet found by others."


    Taris thanked the happy men and left them to their work before heading deeper into the ruins. The once broad streets were cracked and littered with broken masonry. They wandered around and reached the site where he did business with the merchants here.


    Therge warehouses and granaries that surrounded the merchant guild were ttened and most likely picked cleaned by the survivors. Along the way, they noticed spots of dark stains with insects and flies buzzing around, most likely someone had died on those spots.


    Taris stood before the ruins of the ce where he knew the merchants once deal with thousands and thousands of gold crowns and other trade goods.


    "Damn," He kicked a piece of ckened masonry in frustration, knowing the food he wanted to trade for were all burnt down.


    "Oie..." Suddenly a voice called out to him, jolting him from his thoughts. He turned and saw a person dressed in what appeared to be once rich clothing but now looked torn and dirty.


    He noted the looks of the slim young man with raven ck hair appeared exotic with his slightly nted eyes and also, strangely enough, his ears were short and round, unlike the normal long and pointy ears, even his voice had a strange ent as he spoke.


    The strange man pushed himself weariedly off from the piece of rubble he was seated on and dusted himself off. Taris saw the stranger was shorter than average and he came closer to Taris while gesturing to the water skin carried by Taris on his belt.


    "Some help here? Can I have some water?"

 Chapter 283: New Things

    Chapter 283: New Things


    Uncharted Forest


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Josa yelled out from behind a makeshift sandbag bunker while a piercing siren wailed out. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"


    He inserted a key into the firing slot and gave it a twist after the wailing siren red three times to warn everyone of the danger.


    The forest rumbled and the earth shook, while hundreds of colorful feathered wyverns burst out into the skies as the nted explosives detonated. Snaps and cracks of broken tree trunks followed after the echoing boom before multiple crashes of toppling trees were heard.


    Coming out of the protective bunkers, the workers cheered as they saw the majority of the trees before them had been blown down, making the clearing of the forest easier for the road that they were building towards Orwell''s Point.


    A small army of woodcutters advanced forward with powered chainsaws when the aftermath of the clearing explosions had settled down. Tractors and bulldozers pred to shove and dig away the hundreds of years old tree roots out of the ground to make way for the paving of the highway.


    Josa removed his yellow safety helmet and wiped the sweat off his forehead as he watched the men cut and dug up the tough roots before cranes lifted the wood bits away and dumping down onto the back of the tbed trucks.


    He admired the vehicles and the efficiency of the tools and knowledge imparted by the hoomans. If using traditional means, they would need at least two years just to clear a path for a road to be built!


    But with these amazing tools, they could finish the highway in months and with just a hundred men!


    Suddenly a whistle blew out loudly, followed by other whistles which indicated a monster attack was taking ce. The workers and the Local Defense Force that was providing security had run several drills together and the men knew what to do in an event of an attack.


    The workers dropped their tools and abandoned their vehicles. They ran towards the sandbagged bunkers and armed themselves while LDF teams took up positions.


    "Goblins!" Someone yelled out, and several rifle barks echoing down the forest was heard.


    Josa yelled at the nearby workers to hurry their ass over when suddenly several short green grey creatures burst out from nearby trees shrieking in excitement.


    "Shit!" He wanted to duck into the bunker to grab a rifle but the entrance was blocked by the men rushing inside. Seeing the goblins just meters away, he grabbed the first tool he could and brandished it before the yelping creatures.


    He pulled the cord and the chainsaw burst into life, rumbling loudly and it trembled in his sweaty hands like a beast eager for blood.


    The first goblin giggled as it hacked down with two hands with its crude stone ax and Josa dodged the simple attack easily. He swung his chainsaw downwards and the teeth of the saw bit into the back of the neck and right shoulder the goblin, spewing dark greenish blood all over as the powered saw sawed off the head and arm of the giggling goblin off.


    "URGGHHH!" The blood sprayed all over Josa and he cursed loudly. "FARK!"


    The other goblins paused for a while before screaming and charging at him again. Josa quickly took up a spearing position by holding the chainsaw out before him. Using his superior reach, he swung the chainsaw horizontally and the saw bit onto the shoulder of a screaming goblin.


    The goblin screamed and gurgled as the sawtooth des savaged its arm off and the chainsaw sputtered as the chain teeth got caught against the ribs of the dying goblin. "Oh shit!"


    He shoved his work boots against the child like body of the goblin and kicked the creature off the des of the chainsaw. Following that, he backed off from the rest of the goblins and tried to kick start the chainsaw again by pulling the cord, but Lady Luck did not favor him as the motor refused to start, most likely the due to the de getting clogged up with gore.


    "Am I going to die here?" He parried a spear thrust with the chainsaw as he backed off desperately when suddenly someone yelled from behind him.


    "Get down!"


    He ducked to the side and crawled away just as half a dozen rifles roared out. Looking up he saw the goblins that he was fighting off were blown off their feet. Coughing from the smelly ck powder smoke that lingered around, he epted a hand from one of the workers who had armed themselves as he felt his legs seemed to turn soft.


    "Boss! That was crazy brave of you to tackle those goblins with just a chainsaw!" The menughed and praised Josa. "You are like a goblin yer!"


    "If you didn''t stop them, we won''t be able to arm ourselves in time!" The men thanked him feverishly.


    A couple of squads of the LDF appeared and swept their surroundings for more goblins. asionally, gunfire could be heard. Josa sat on the side of the bunker and gripped his shaking hands tightly, grinning and listening to the workers spreading the tale of his bravery.


    Later on, the workers started wearing hand made patches on their work sleeves with an emblem of a pair of crossed ax and a chainsaw.


    The work resumed with an asionally attack by goblins or monster and work only paused when dozens of heavilydened supply trucks drove up the halfpleted highway before they rolled off into the forest on their way towards Orwell''s Point.


    Marines on the mounted turrets on the tops of the trucks waved at the workers as they disappeared into the forest.


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold, CO''s Office


    Titanna looked around the stone room in disappointment as the furnishing were spartan and dull. A firece sat on one side of therge room, while a trio of sofas sat before it. The work desk were piled high with documents of an unfamiliar type of parchment that looked beautifully white and cut into perfect rectangles.


    Those parchments were the only noteworthy items in this room as she sat on one of the chairs before the work desk. Two burly barbarians soldiers in that strange patterned uniforms stood at attention beside the door, preventing her from escaping if she wanted to.


    Not long, the doors opened and the two barbarian soldiers snapped to attention as a middle aged looking solider in the same type of uniform entered with another female and an elderly schrly looking mage.


    The newly arrived soldier sat down behind the work desk while the other two took seats next to the firece. He gestured for the two guards to leave the room before addressing Titanna.


    Titanna''s eyebrows rosed as she thought he must be quite confident of his fighting skills if he asked his guards to leave. She eyed the weak looking female and the old man and wondered if they were more dangerous than they looked.


    "I am Captain Joseph, Commanding Officer of the 2nd Marine Battalion of the United Nations," He spoke. "I hope you can forgive us for theck of hospitality at these... trying times."


    "This is Dr. Sharon, our resident doctor, and healer," He gestured towards a shortdy wearing a pure white coat with many pockets whose ears were simr as that infuriating barbarian soldier.


    "And this is Magister Thorn," Joseph introduced next.


    "Now, I am sure you have some questions and is uncertain about your future here," Joseph continued without pause. "Rest assured you will not be mistreated as long as you behave and give your word that you will not attempt any escapes or endanger the lives of the people around you."


    "You all do know that my family will not rest till you are dead, right?" Titanna leaned back leisurely on her chair. "They will not stop and will resort to all means to take by this city."


    "Ah, yes," Joseph nodded. "Your father, Moel Rothschild is known to be quite the... ruthless man."


    "Knowing that you still dare to stand against him?" Titanna sneered. "I don''t know if I should praise you for your bravery or stupidity!"


    "The Rothschild family has over two hundred Knights!" Titanna proudly dered, "Each as powerful as a Fifth Circle mage or higher!"


    "What can you barbaric peons do?" Titanna smiled sweetly. "But I can make you a deal."


    "And what deal will that be?" Joseph gave a soft smile. "Pray tell us."


    "Surrender and swear fealty to me!" Titanna stood up and dered. "I will promise you all that your lives will be spared but your lives will belong to me!"


    She stood them smugly and expected them to be grateful for the benevolence she bestowed to them. But she slowly noticed that Joseph''s expression remained the same while the female looked distracted and the old Magister looked at her like she was some kind of alien specimen.


    "What?" Titanna angrily stabbed her hands on her waist, "Are you denying my benevolence?"


    "Cough, cough..." The distracted looking female cleared her throat. "Please, stop making a fool of yourself. You have nothing to make a deal with us."


    "Whaaat?" Titanna spun around in anger. "Granting you your pitiful lives isn''t it enough?"


    "That is if your daddy can defeat us first!" The female dismissed her words casually.


    "Dad-di?" Titanna was confused by the word. "You are courting disaster!"


    "Thank you, Dr. Sharon," Joseph spoke up. "Now, Lady Titanna, not that we do not want to make a deal with you, but frankly, the terms you offered us, is uneptable."


    "In fact, it isughable," Joseph shook his head sadly. "You undermine our abilities, but I can assure you, whatever forces your father sends, my men are more than enough to destroy them all."


    "And in the meantime, I hope you obey the rulesid down before you, or you have to forgive us for not giving you any respect," Joseph smiled. "I guess you have nothing else to offer to us. I will have my men escort you back to your room."


    "W- wait!" Titanna cried out. "You do not know what ising!"


    "My father will not rest until he destroys you!" Titanna quickly warned as the guards entered to bring her back. "Why do you risk it all? By serving me, you and your men can gain riches and power beyond your limits!"


    Joseph raised a hand to stop the Marine guards, "Lady Titanna, rest assured that we already have power beyond your limits and understanding. Your family''s two hundred odd Knights do not pose a threat to the security of this city."


    He nodded to the guards to gently pulled Titanna out but she cried out as she was beingid out. "No! That is impossible! Unhand me!"


    She wanted to possess the magic of these barbarians and not allow it to be destroyed by her father. If she has the knowledge of the magic, she could surpass her brothers and even her father over time! Not to mention, she can surpass that up stuck bitch! "Let me go! I can walk by myself!"


    The two guards shrugged and released her on the hallway. She hmphed and straightened the simple gown given to her and tilted her head up and walked off towards her assigned room. She must think of a way to get the magic of these barbarians in her hands!


    As she walked down the stone hallway towards her room making ns in her mind, a voice suddenly called out, breaking her thoughts. "Titanna?!"


    She turned around to see who was calling her and froze in shock, "E- Elizabeth Ragner!!!"


    Liz stood there dumbstruck as she saw the rich spoiled girl who always bullied her when she was studying in Bluewood Royal School of Magic but she always managed to defeated her in all academic fields. Both girls in the hallway and stared at each other and cried out at the same time.


    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

 Chapter 284: Long Term Plans

    Chapter 284: Long Term ns


    UNS Singapore, Conference Room


    The room quickly filled up with both physical and virtual presence with the top brass and Heads of Departments. Once everyone had settled down, Commander Ford started the meeting. "As you know the agenda for today''s meeting, will be about our future prospects here."


    "We havended here for almost a year and a half and had made substantial progress on all fields," Ford continued. "Be it agriculture, mining, manufacture, construction, science, magic, or defense."


    "Now, we have surpassed our initial basic needs and hase to the stage where we have to decide what will be our long term goals and ns," Ford said.


    Captain ke stood up and took over, "As what the XO has said, we now have reached the stage where we need to decide what we want to do here."


    "As yourmander and highest ranking officer, I have the authority to give an absolute order and everyone follows along," ke said. "But I kind of am wearing a double hat here. One as yourmanding officer, the other as a civil governor."


    "The military will always follow the orders of the civilian democratic government," ke continued. "So here, we will push forward some proposals and these will be decided by majority vote, as these will affect our future and even our future generations toe."


    "As of now, we still do not have any technology and means of construction an FTL or even a sublight drive to take us out of this," ke said. "R & D gave an estimate that in another three years or less if we are not interrupted, we should have the capabilities to conduct orbitunches out of the to low orbit."


    "Provided we can get the advanced materials needed for space rockets and our poption knowledge boosted to a certain literacy level," ke added. "Or than that, trying to build a space drive to bring us home, R & D estimates at least twenty years to even develop a basic sublight engine."


    Everyone''s expressions in the meeting turned disappointed. "Sir, twenty years?" One of the officers asked. "Why so long? We have the tech manuals and Engineering practically knows the inside out of a basic space thruster and engines!"


    "Let me exin," Chief Engineer Matt stood up and ke nodded for him to continue. "Knowing the inside out of a space engine and having a manual on it is difficult from building one from scratch."


    "Take the materials needed," Matt said. "We need high grade advanced alloys andposites just for basic engine body, not to mention advanced micro electronics for theputer systems needed to control the whole damn thing."


    "The locals have limited knowledge of science and even our people aren''t full time engineers or specialists with years of space engineering experience," Matt exined. "Other than some old hands and instructors here, every one of the original crew is just kids. Freshly graduated from schools or universities!"


    "And not everyone holds an engineering degree," Matt added. "Hell, I even got a couple of social media designers in my department!"


    "Even if we have the knowledge," Matt continued. "We do not have the resources nor the manufacturing capabilities. Our fabricators are just for normal non shipyard graded repairs and recements."


    "Already we are stressing out the fabricators by brute forcing them to make things that are not originally designed to be making!"


    "Thank you, Chief," ke gestured Matt to stop. "I think this is enough of an idea of what we can do or not do to get home, yes?"


    "So now, since we most likely will be stuck here for many years, I think it is fair that we start to n a more permanent mentality that we will be here for good," ke dered.


    "We got a few choices," ke started to list out points. "We can continue to dig in and expand our manufacturing and tech abilities. Whoes to attack us, we remain passive and just defend. We keep a close door policy to all foreign influence."


    "Next, we take a pure military stance and force the Empire to capitte," ke''s eyes glittered. "We take control of this whole continent."


    "Lastly, we carve a niche for ourselves," ke looked around. "We hold off the Empire with military strength and diplomacy, and ally with whoever that is willing to be our allies."


    "What do all of you think?" ke asked everyone presented both physically and virtually.


    "Captain," Dr. Sharon''s image spoke up. "While closing ourselves off away from the whole world and minding our own business doesn''t mean that others will note and find trouble with us. Hence the first option is not viable."


    "Not to mention the native poption is pretty aggressive," Dr. Sharon added. "We can''t turtle up and close our borders and expect others to note knocking on our doors."


    "And without a source of manpower from the natives, it is almost impossible to create a workforce and improve our tech base either," Chief Engineer Matt chipped in. "We need the most here is manpower, which we are seriouslycking."


    "Sir," Major Frank spoke next. "Chief Matt is right, without manpower, closing our doors to the locals will not only affect our workforce but also our military strength."


    "We need manpower to draw our recruits from," Frank continued. "And without a high tech workforce, we can''t even producebat drones or rece any losses we sustained frombat."


    "It is close to impossible to invade and take control over the whole continent due to those reasons," Frankmented. "Even if we have the manpower to draw from, holding the whole continent without the local having a certain level of education and proper governance, it will lead to an uprising among the nobility here."


    "The culture and how life goes on has too deeply seeped into the bones of the poption here," Frank said. "We can''t just waltz in and force everyone to follow ourws and rules, there will be massive outbreaks of revolts and unrest."


    "I say the second option is out too," Frank ended his view.


    "So the only way is the third option?" ke asked around and seeing most of the officers and senior staff nodding. "If that is the case, then we need to start a 10 year and a 50 year n of action on both military and civic matters."


    "I want all departments to submit both 10 year and 50 year ns by end of spring," ke ordered seeing everyone has no objections. "That will give you and your people roughly a month plus to work out the ns for our future."


    "Alright, that will be all for today''s meeting," ke stood up. "Good work everyone and let''s work towards our future here. Dismissed!"


    -----


    Ruins of Sin City


    "Are you sure there is something useful here?" Taris asked the short eared stranger which he called himself as Long.


    Leung nodded and bit into a greasy hunk of meat of some ins creature. He led a couple of wagons and its escorts of his newly made friend away from the ruined city. "We are nearly there, just over that small rise."


    Taris frowned and wondered should he really trust this unknown person. He had never seen anyone with ears like his and wondered if it was clipped away from young or was he born that way.


    He looked back towards the city ruins, seeing the clusters of tents scattered around the city edge before turning back to try to spot anything usual at the spot that Long had pointed out. He had only brought along a hundred men and a couple of wagons to check out if what this Long had told him was true.


    In exchange for food, water, and protection, that stranger promised to lead them to a hidden underground supply store.


    Faced without much a choice since the city was totally devastered and barely has of the food they needed, he decided to trust this weird stranger''s words and agreed to his terms.


    Now after riding over two hours over an endless in with no end in sight, he started to doubt the words of this stranger.


    "Here!" The short ear with his strange ent suddenly yelled out from the wagon. He hopped out and ran towards a slight depression of thend.


    Taris stood up on his wagon and surveyed his surroundings before he frowned. There was barely anything here and the ground was covered with swaying knee length grass. His veteran men had automatically taken up a defensive stance and without being told, they spread out and faced away from the wagon on alert of an ambush.


    "There''s nothing but grass here!" Taris yelled at the stranger who had ran to the middle of the depression.


    "Dig here!" The short ear man yelled as he gestured to the ground at his feet. "The supplies are buried underneath."


    "You sure, Sir?" Taris''s escorts asked him as they eyed the strange man warily. "Something doesn''t seem right!"


    "Trust him for now, but keep your sword loose," Taris replied to his concerned men. "If he does anything dangerous, kill him!"


    His men nodded and they took out some digging tools from the wagons before they went over to where the excited short ear was gesturing. An hourter, they hit something hard and the men worked harder, uncovering what appeared to be some sort of underground building with a wide door capable to fit the wagons they brought through with ample space on the side.


    The strange short ear went up to the door and fiddled with it before he gestured Taris and his men to help push the door open. They had to dig more of the soil away as the doors swung outwards.


    When the door was fully opened, the strange man went in and Taris and his men followed. Using an illumination spell, the interior was light up clearly and they saw the insides were simple and had no other way other and it was roughly the size of a standard storehouse. A huge object covered in heavy cloth and other crates and barrels stacked on the side.


    The strange short ear climbed up the covered object and pulled the heavy cloth away, exposing the object, much to the fascination of Taris and his men.


    It was almost as tall as their covered wagon and its width was wider while its body was longer. It had two fat wheels in the front where a ss window covered most of the ''head'' while the rear it had a t cover with many smaller wheels inside of it.


    Its body was boxy in appearance and upon closer inspection, the whole thing was seemed to be made out of iron!


    There was something hooked up and also covered up behind the strange metal wagon like thing. The strange short ear gestured to the side and said, "Those are food and grain seeds that were stored away as emergency supplies."


    "There should be enough tost your people over winter," The strange man said as he appeared to fiddle around with the object at the back of the metal object. Finally, he straightened up and with a satisfied smile on his face.


    "What is this thing?" Taris asked as he circled around the strange metal object twice. "A kind of sculpture?"


    "Haha, no no no!" The strange man grinned. "This is a vehicle, it''s like your wagons but without the need for animals to pull it!"


    "Really?" Taris turned his attention to the smiling short ear. "It can move without animals? By magic?"


    "Haha, yes yes," Leung grinned wider. "Its kinda like magic."


    He reached up and opened the door of the driver''s cab and climbed in. He opened the glovepartment and took out the engine key kept inside and started the engine, much to the surprise and fright of the men as the vehicle suddenly started vibrating and making noise.


    He smiled and quickly pocketed the amulet that was inside thepartment, making sure those people did not see him do it and leaned out of the door.


    "Well, I have delivered my end of the bargain. Can I join you at your settlement?"

 Chapter 285: Be My Guest

    Chapter 285: Be My Guest


    Eastern Shore of the Source Sea


    Over a hundred square hulled river barges anchored a short distance from the shoreline of the giant ind freshwaterke. Hundreds more tiny boats ferried men, equipment,nd dragons, and supplies across to the ships while thousands more men awaited their turn on the shore.


    The Rock turned to his adjutant, "How long more?"


    "My Lord, it will take the troops and supplies another day more to load up onboard the ships," His man replied with a bow.


    "Make it faster!" The Rock replied. "I want the ships to start moving by midday tomorrow!"


    "Yes, my Lord!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold Canteen


    Liz smiled cheerfully at the golden haired girl staring at her intently before her across the dining table.


    She remembered how she was bullied and hounded by the person before her during her years in the Royal School of Magic. And now, her nightmare had appeared before her again, but to her slight delight, she found out that Titanna was made a prisoner of war!


    "So what do you want?" Liz asked in a gleeful manner as she saw a vein twitching on the face of her old school mate. "I see, you now is a prisoner."


    "Tsk!" Titanna gritted her teeth hard. "What about you? Have you fallen so low and joined these barbarians?"


    "Ha!" Liz gave a smile and gloated Titanna, "Well, I am not the one who got defeated so badly and now has guards to watch her every move!"


    "Y- you!" Titanna swallowed down her anger and asked. "Elizabeth, can you tell me more about these... barbarians?"


    "Is that how someone asks for a favor?" Liz leaned back on the chair and grinned in triumphant.


    Titanna red at Liz and took a deep breathe and put a smile on her face, "Can you please tell me about these people? Please?"


    "That''s more like it!" Liz folded her hands and tilt her head up with a smug expression. "So, what do you want to know?"


    "Who are they?" Titanna quickly asked. "Where did theye from?"


    "Why do you want to know so much?" Liz frowned as looked at the eager expression on Titanna''s face.


    "I... I... want to know more about my enemies!" Titanna leaned forward and whispered. "So I can defeat them!"


    "Hmmm..." Liz gave a shrug. "Well, I can say it is almost impossible to defeat them with the kind of soldiers you have."


    "What?" Titanna snorted. "I got hundreds of Knights that can single handedly defeat any troops sent against them! What can these barbarians do?"


    "Haha!" Lizughed. "If that is the case, why are you sitting here with that cor and those two watching over you?"


    Liz jerked her head towards two of the Marines guards seated two tables away at the canteen, keep an eye out on Titanna.


    Titanna touched the anti magic cor on her neck and blushed with embarrassment and humiliation. "I... purposely allowed them to catch me!"


    "Is that so?" Liz giggled happily, knowing that she had poked Titanna''s sore spot. "Well enjoy your stay here then!"


    "Wait! Tell me more!" Titanna stopped Liz as she stood up to leave.


    "What do you want to know?" Liz sighed. "You can''t defeat them even if you send all your men here."


    "I... I want to know their magic!" Titanna whispered and nced around fugitively. "How did they cast those invisible magic spells that kill at a great distance and more deadly than a bow or crossbow!"


    "Oh, that?" Liz pondered on her question for a while before she grinned wickedly. "That''s called ''science''!"


    "Signs???"


    -----


    River City of Norshelm, Rothschild Estate


    Moel Rothschild stood at the ss windows which was made at a great price by the Capital''s Artisan Guilds. He looked out and looked at the small army of house ves working on maintaining his rose gardens andwn.


    He was close to sixty with and yet he carried himself with the vigor of a younger man. His shoulder length greying hair was kept back by a thin gold circlet. He turned as a knock sounded on his study door and a servant opened it.


    A soldier with a messenger sash appeared and handed a roll of parchment over to the servant who then brought it before Moel.


    He deftly broke the wax seal and nced through the contents of the letter twice before he crashed it into a ball and mmed his fist down hard on the table.


    "Call Knight Captain Judis here now!" He ordered his servants who scurried off at hismand.


    Not long, the sound of boots could be heard and the door to his study opened and a towering man stood before Moel. The Knight Captain was dressed in leathers and his silver hair was stered to his skull while a towel hung over his shoulders.


    Judis was training with his men at the fields when he was summoned by his lord. He kneeled and bowed, "Your orders, my lord."


    "Take your men down to Orwell''s Point and secure the release of Titanna!" Moel ordered. "Once she is safe, destroy all those who dared toid sully the name of the Rothschild!"


    "What happened to the young Lady?" Judis enquired. "Did she failed in her attack on Orwell''s Point?"


    "Yes!" Moel tossed the balled up parchment report to Judis who carefully opened the report to read. "See for yourself!"


    "Interesting..." Judis''s eyes glowed. "For an unknown force to defeat ten thousand soldiers and even capturing the young Lady."


    "Bring Louis along," Moel suddenly added his third son to the expedition. "Let him learn and experience what war is like and what happens to our enemies!"


    "Yes, my lord!" Judis bowed again and retreated out of the study. He grinned the thought of rescuing Lady Titanna should improve his standing with her, increasing his chances of sessfully wooing her.


    As for the foreign army, the thought of being defeated by them has never crossed his mind, as he has total confidence that the strength of his army of Knights that could even rival the Emperor''s Own Lifeguards one on one wouldn''t lose out to a bunch of barbarians as the reports stated.


    He imagined that the Lady Titanna most likely fell into a trap and she got caught by those barbarians with unscrupulous means.


    The reports of mightly magic and flying weapons most likely were greatly exaggerated ounts of themanders who lost Lady Titanna to the enemy and they were trying to make the enemy stronger than them, to lessen their penalty of a defeat.


    No matter what, those scum who daredy their filthy hands on Lady Titanna will so face his wrath! He returned to the training fields and roared out, "MEN! Gather up!"


    Two hundred and twenty seven half naked men with bodies that would make a body builder cry with envy gathered before Judis quickly and they awaited his words.


    "The young Lady has been captured by barbarians on her quest to retake the city of Orwell''s Point!" He stated to the hot blooded knights who growled in anger when they heard the news. "Our Lord has ordered us to set fore to bring her safely home."


    "The time of our training has ended," Judis said. "All of you are veterans and Knights! We will now set off to save the young Lady and destroy those who dare touch her!"


    "See to your equipment and gear! We will set out within a day!" Judis ordered. "Leaders, stay back!"


    "Go! We have an enemy to destroy!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold, General Office


    "What are you doing?" Titanna asked as she looked over the shoulder of Liz as she tried to decipher some cultist''s mad rumblings scribbled all over some creature''s skin that she did not want to think it came from a person.


    "Can you stop bothering me?" Liz sighed. It has been four days since she bumped into Titanna and that girl kept finding her and bothering her with questions. "I am trying to work here!"


    "Looks like some child''s random drawings..." Titanna was bored as she was confined to the keep. She couldn''t leave the area and after two days of wandering around with no one else to talk to, even the guards denied to chat with her, she could only find Liz to talk with.


    "This... child''s drawing as you call it... was taken off the body of a demon cultist that probably killed and sacrificed hundreds of people..." Liz hissed under her breath. "This is not a child''s work!"


    "Oh, so why are you studying it?" Titanna sat down next to her. "Just burn it, that what''s we all do back home if even find anything demon rted. Keeps the taint away."


    "We want to find out why and what are they doing here," Liz tried to exin as patiently as possible. "So that we can see the bigger picture and destroy or stop their grand ns!"


    "I see," Titanna fiddled with the strange looking stick that has a pointy end on the desk before her. "Like know your enemy to defeat your enemy?"


    "Yes... yes..." Liz gave up trying to concentrate on her work. "Can''t you go find something else to do?"


    "Well, I can''t leave the keep," Titanna replied and she found out the stick was like some kind of ink stick as she drew on the desk top. "I am bored! There is no tea parties or ball dances... All these soldiers around and no one talks to me!"


    "Fine... fine..." Liz sighed. "I talk with you, but can you wait till after six?"


    "After five?" Titanna was confused at the expression.


    Liz sighed again and pointed to a circr object hanging on the wall. "You see that long ck hand and the short hand?"


    "Yes," Titanna nodded, wondering what she was trying to say.


    "You see the numbers?" Liz continued. "When the long hand is at the number thirteen and the short hand is pointing to the number six... That is at six o''clock!"


    "What is that thing?" Titanna stood up and went closer to see. "Is it some kind of magical artifact?"


    "That is called a clock. It measures time," Liz exined. "It works the same as our time ss, but more urate and it does not need to be turned."


    "Amazing!" Titanna acted like a child as she tip toed and hopped around trying to get a closer look at the moving hands of the clock. "How does it works?"


    "Don''t ask me..." Liz returned to her research. "Ask the Doctor if you see her, she can exin to you better."


    A knock came from the door and someone stuck his head in, "Hey, is the Princess here?"


    Liz groaned as her work was interrupted again. "YES!"


    "Hey, Princess!" Someone called out and Titanna turned around, finding the voice familiar.


    She involuntarily made a growl from her throat as she recognized the soldier who called her. "You again!"


    "Yea, me again," Mills grinned. "Come on, CO wants you at his office."


    "Hmph!" Titanna turned away from Mills and folded her arms together. "I am not going anywhere with you!"


    "Is she always like this?" Mills asked the two Marines watching her and they both gave a helpless shrug. Even Liz also gave a helpless sigh for Mills.


    "Damn..." Mills strolled up to Titanna and snapped his fingers sharply in front of her face, shocking her at his rudeness. "Chop, chop! Come on, time is wasting!"


    "You...!" Titanna mouth formed an ''o'' shape as she couldn''t stand his mannerisms. "How dare you!"


    "Stop wasting bloody time," Mills had no patience to deal with her and started pulling her arm, half dragging her out of the room.


    "Un- Unhand me this instant... y- you brute!" Titanna tried to hit him and push him away, much to everyone''s amusement. Her strength was way above average as she had trained since young with martial weapons yet she couldn''t dislodge the grip from this scoundrel!


    "Yea... yea... I am the bad guy as usual... Well, your daddy had sent someone to ask for your release, so if you wanna stay, be my guest!"

 Chapter 286: Negotiations

    Chapter 286: Negotiations


    "Thorn?" Dr. Sharon poked her head into the room which had been converted into a sort ofboratory wizard tower for the Magister. "We need you in the great hall!"


    "Wait! Wait!" Magister Thorn was hunched over several vials and beakers of some liquid on the desk. He looked like he was doing some alchemical ritual but using modern chemistry ssware gifted to him by Dr. Sharon.


    "What are you doing?" Dr. Sharon frowned and entered the room. "What is that?"


    "Oh, this?" Thorn grinned like a child who had gotten his most wanted present. "This is dragon''s blood!"


    "Pure bloodline of the dragons!" Thorn continued as his eyes glinted with excitement and happiness. "Untainted by lesser lineage. Just pure blood of the dragons!"


    "Where did you get that?" Dr. Sharon stood over Thorn who was gazing with adoration at the test tube of thick red substance.


    "From Rastraz!" Thorn grinned. "I helped did a check up on her the other day and... erm..."


    "You took her blood?" Dr. Sharon shook her head. "On medical grounds?"


    Thorn smiled sheepishly, "Well... "


    "Haha," Dr. Sharonughed, "You cunning old man!"


    "Ha!" Thornughed back. "Well, she doesn''t let us take her blood for any other reason... and the opportunity was here, so..."


    "Like you always say," Thorn gave an impish smile. "In the name of Science!"


    "You!" Dr. Sharon sighed helplessly. "Don''t let her find out you took her blood for other reasons!"


    "Of course!" Thorn patted his chest. "So what is going on at the great hall?"


    "Oh yes!" Dr. Sharon quickly pulled Thorn up from his seat. "We need to go, there is a contingent of Imperials here to talk about the release of the prisoner of war we caught."


    "I see," Magister Thorn set down the vial of blood in disappointment. "That is indeed a grave matter, we better hurry."


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Docks


    Arge crowd had formed that was kept at bay by Marines surrounded the docks as they came to watch the delegates of the Empire.


    Joseph stood with several other senior officers and grinned at Magister Thorn and Dr. Sharon as they joined him. "Too busy in your work?" He teased.


    "You know me too well!" Magister Thornughed and he tried tob his white beard and fuzzy hair with his fingers.


    "Look here theye!" Dr. Sharon called out as an ornate looking river barge. The single silvery barge had dozens of blue colored gs bordered with gold and silver while hundreds of silver white oars shed against the sun as they rowed the barge forward as one.


    The sound of drums and music slowly drifted across the river as the barge neared under the watchful eyes of the single 3" gun battery stationed on top of a gun tower built specially to defend the river passage.


    The shing silver oars moved in tune with the beat of the drums while two more barges less ornate than the silver ship stopped a short distance away and dropped anchor at the river. The silver ship soon came to a perfect stop next to the docks.


    Figures in full steel te armor lined the side of the barge and the of the hull opened and a ramp dropped. Two rows of heavily armored soldiers stormed down the ramp and formed up on the docks before turning as one to face each other smartly.


    Mills whistled softly, "Damn, that drill would increase Pike a great deal! Now, all we need is The Imperial March!"


    "Shhh!" Drake standing at attention next to Mills hissed. "Herees the big fuck!"


    Four men d in ornate armor strolled down the ramp with several flunkies at their heels had the lined up Imperial saluting with their right fist across their chest.


    The leading armored knight wore a silver gold ted full te and had his helm hooked to his belt. A gold scabbard hung on his left with a red jeweled pommel with the sword peace bound with a white ribbon.


    His fine silvery hair was kept back by a simple silver circle adorned with a red gemstone. He strolled up towards Joseph and gave a bow, "Greeting, my Lord. I am Knight Captain Judis. Commander of the Knights of Silver."


    He eyed the grizzly looking soldier in the strange color patterned uniform with an appraising eye, recognizing his experience.


    "Well met, Commander," Joseph returned his bow. "I am Captain Joseph,manding officer of 2nd Battalion, Marines, of the United Nations and Governor of Orwell''s Point."


    "United Nations?" A young man next to Judis gave a questioning look at Joseph. "What manner of a nation is it?"


    "We can talk more inside when it is morefortable," Joseph gestured politely towards a horse drawn carriage. "We have prepared refreshments for your wee. And you are?"


    "This is our young master, Tidus Rothschild," Judis introduced the young man dressed in an even more ornate te mail. He had an arrogant look and a permanent scowl on his face as he wrinkled his nose at the smell of the rotting docks.


    "Let''s go!" He sniffed and waved the air before him. "This ce smells!"


    Judis nodded and gestured his men to follow him. The Marines eyed the Imperials warily as they marched past them and they followed behind.


    The return to the stronghold in the middle of the city was uneventful despite the local popce had turned out to view the Imperials delegates. The local police in their ck uniforms stood at intervals to keep the locals from rushing forward.


    So far, the popce had started to trust their new lords, as the efforts against the cultists and the promises were given to them were not broken. Even the grumbling merchants and ex ve owners issues with the loss of their ves had died down due to the amount ofpensation and tax rebates given to them.


    The number of jobs provided and dying discrimination of the ves also improve the standing of the Barbarian Lords to the locals.


    And with the harsh penalty of the breaking ofws and crackdown of gangs had the city seeing its first peaceful period since its founding. Many of the locals had a better opinion of the strange polite Marines and the United Nations.


    Hence when Judis watched Tidus waving from the carriage at the gathered locals along the main street, he was surprised there wasn''t much happiness or enthusiasm at seeing him and his men.


    Frowning, he retreated back from the window and turned to see the enemymander smiling at him. Something is wrong here, thought Judis at the reaction of the locals.


    Finally, the carriage rolled into the courtyard of the stronghold and they were brought into afortable day room where refreshments were served on a side table.


    "I am sorry for theck of more exquisite offerings," Joseph politely said. "But please help yourselves."


    "Lord Joseph," Judis denied the refreshments and sat down on the sofa. "I am here on behalf of my Lord to talk business with you."


    "Ah, yes," Joseph smiled. "Straight to the point."


    "I want you to release Lady Titanna and return Orwell''s Point to us," Judis said in all seriousness. "And I will allow you and your men to retreat out of the city without harm."


    "If we reject your offer?" Joseph unhurriedly poured himself a cup of tea and stirred in two cubes of sugar. "What will you do?"


    "As much as I respect you," Judis eyed Joseph like a hawk. "I will be forced to destroy you and your men."


    "I see," Joseph took a sip of his tea before sitting down before Judis. "So it''s either, give you Lady Titanna and Orwell''s Point, or you kill us all?"


    Joseph took another sip of his tea and sighed. "So there is no negotiation at all?"


    "This is not a negotiation!" the young lord Tidus removed his scaled gloves and pped them on the table. "This is what you will do as ordered!"


    Joseph sighed again and gave a death re at Tidus. "Son, you need to keep your mouth shut when your betters are speaking."


    Tidus shrunk back as he felt the blood lust from Joseph''s re and he shivered slightly but he jerked his head up and snapped. "How dare you a barbarian speak with that tone with me? I can crush you here and now!"


    "Then I guess we have nothing more to said," Joseph stood up and he gestured to the door. "I will not be seeing you off."


    The Marines stationed at the doors opened them and one of the officers gestured, "My Lords, the carriage will return you to the docks."


    "What kind of insult is this?" Tidus roared. He reached for his peace bound sword and was able to draw it out when Judis gripped his hand, stopping him.


    "Enough!" Judis hissed at the young man. "Stop making a fool of yourself!"


    The young man gritted his teeth and red daggers at Joseph who smiled back. "As I said, you are not here to talk, but to dere war, hence there is no point for any more words between us."


    "Lord Joseph," Judis put a smile on his face and said carefully. "We are willing to ransom for the release of Lady Titanna. If you care to give us an offer?"


    "Sure of course!" Joseph grinned and rubbed his hands happily. He snapped his fingers and a beast girl entered the room with a roll of parchment in a tray.


    Judis picked up the parchment and unrolled it. His eyes scanned the contents of the parchment and he jerked his head up. "Ten thousand able bodied ves?"


    Joseph nodded as he poured himself another cup of hot tea. "The contract is here. If you agree, just sign it and Lady Titanna will be released unharmed."


    "Ten thousand?" Tidus snapped contract over and read it. "Are you crazy?"


    "Ten thousand ves for her?" Tidus threw the contract onto the table. "I will only offer one thousand ves for her ransom!"


    "So in the end," Joseph stared into his cup of tea as he stirred it. "Her life is only worth a thousand ves?"


    "No!" Judis stood up and hushed the livid Tidus. "But ten thousand able bodied ves will take us some time to gather and transport over."


    "Well, I have time," Joseph gave a wide grin. "All the time in the world."


    "You!" Tidus cursed under his breath at the shameless attitude of Joseph.


    "I guess you better send word back to your Lord," Joseph continued. "As you said, it will take some time for you all to gather and transport the ves here."


    "We can agree to the ransom," Judis held Tidus back with a warning look. "But, we must see Lady Titanna and make sure she is unharmed!"


    "Of course, of course," Joseph rubbed his hands together and nodded to one of his officers who appear to fiddle with something.


    Suddenly the ck rectangr object on the wall flickered and a window appeared with Lady Titanna inside in.


    Shocked, the Imperials stared wild eyed at the window. Even the Lady Titanna stared back to them with the same surprised expression. "TIDUS? JUDIS? HOW ARE YOU INSIDE THAT THING?"


    "WHAT DID YOU DO?" Judis spun around and red at Joseph who was calmly sipping his tea. "Release her from that prison now!"


    "Rx," Joseph raised his hand to stop his men as the Imperials ripped off their peace bound weapons in retaliation to the imprisonment of their Lady inside an arcane prison.


    "That is just a magicmunication device," Joseph exined. "She is not trapped inside that thing, it is just an image."


    "Is that true?" Judis turned and asked Lady Titanna who nodded.


    "Yes, I am actually inside a room," Titanna rified. "I am seeing everyone inside this window!"


    "I- I see..." Judis gestured his men to stand down. "I apologized for that disrespectful outbreak earlier."


    "Apology epted," Joseph gave a sly smile and rubbed his hands gleefully.


    "Now, ten thousand ves for her release. It''s a very good deal, yes?"

 Chapter 287: True Lies

    Chapter 287: True Lies


    Great Ocean ins


    The rumble of a motorcycle scattered the herd of in hoppers from their grazing as Hitsu crested over the gentle slope. He pushed his goggles up and pulled down his bandana before taking a sip of water and radioed in. "One, this is Two Lead, coast is all clear, over."


    "One, roger that, keep your eyes peeled. Out."


    Hitsu turned around and looked at the dust trail kicked up by the convoy of trucks and turned to Young. "Why do we always get the shittest job ever?"


    Young braced his motorcycle and took out his binos and scanned the area before replying. "Well, we are the best out here. And-"


    "And we been to Sin City before, right?" Hitsu finished his sentence. "Damn, I am tired. I am gonna take a month''s break once this is over!"


    "Yea, as if we can take that long break with all the shit that is happening around us," Young lowered his binos. "Well, hopefully, this will be a simple mission."


    "They send us out here to make sure that hooman is truly dead," Hitsu grumbled. "If I was that, I would have run far far away if I wasn''t dead. Who would still wait around?"


    "True," Young gave a shrug, "But still we need to go check it out."


    "Damn," Hitsu sighed. "This sucks!"


    "Come on," Young kept his binos and gestured towards the approaching convoy. "We need to link up."


    "Yea... yea..." Hitsu rev up his bike and they charged back towards the convoy.


    Tyrier sat at the cab next to the Marine driver, checking the route they were taking on the map. Behind him in the truck, were another four more others, each armored up with steel ting on the sides where Eagle Company of the 2nd Battalion, Marines, rode shotgun.


    Another two covered jeeps drove ahead and they were surrounded by several outrider scouts on motorcycles.


    Each armored up truck had a 50. cal machine gun mounted on the cup on the back to provide some form of defense against any attacks.


    Tyrier folded the map back and turned to Eagle Company''s CO and said. "Sir, we should be arriving at Sin City in roughly another six hours."


    "Got it, Sergeant," Eagle''s CO replied. "Tell your men to stay alert for any trouble!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold, Command Center


    "What do you all think?" Joseph asked as he entered themand center. "Think they will make good on their word?"


    "No," Dr. Sharon replied as she leaned over the screen studying the Imperials. "Judging by that guy''s micro expressions and mannerisms, there is 80% chance he is lying through his teeth."


    "Mirco expressions?" Joseph rubbed his head. "More hooman science?"


    "Kind of," Dr. Sharon smiled. "It just the study of a person''s behavior. For example, when you just touched your head when I said micro expressions. That tells me that you are confused or unsure what that is."


    "I see..." Joseph quickly snatched his hand down from scratching his scalp. "So, from the way they move you can tell?"


    "Oh, yes," Dr. Sharon replied. "I did take a course before on it but I may not be an expert but it is easily teble with them."


    "There are seven universal micro expressions, disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and contempt," Dr. Sharon exined. "Each expression can take like a split second to appear which we can use to tell the person''s emotions."


    "Ohhh..." Magister Thorn eximed. "That sounds interesting! You got to teach me!"


    "Look here," Dr. Sharon yed back the video of the conference. "See that young Lord''s face when you mention Lady Titanna?"


    "Yea," Joseph and Magister Thorn leaned in to see the zoom in image.


    "See that raised upper lid eye?" Dr. Sharon paused the video and pointed to the face of the young lord of Rothschild. "His nose is wrinkled and cheeks raised. This is disgust."


    "He doesn''t care about his sister," Dr. Sharon said. "Therefore if anything happens to her, he will be happy instead."


    "Now when you are finalizing the deal with that knight captain," Dr. Sharon fast forwarded the video and yed the video in slow motion. "See his face when he is signing the contract."


    She pointed to the side of his mouth which was raised very slightly before returning back to normal. "That is contempt. Basically, he is sneering at the contract but he acted like he was agreeable."


    "He will not honor the contract," Dr. Sharon dered. "I hope you are ready for whatever plots they have nned."


    "Oh yes, I do have some nasty surprises for them," Joseph smiled. "Then again, I did not fully expect them to honor their words either."


    -----


    Kage paced nervously outside the entrance of the Marinemand center as she waited for the meeting inside to end. The guards looked at her with amusement as she walked up and down the hall and snapped to attention when the doors opened.


    "Sir Joseph!" Kage saw the grizzly looking officer walking out with some others and she quickly bounced over. "There is something important to tell you!"


    Joseph nodded to the rest of the officers and he gestured Kage into themand center and led her into a side office. "What is it?"


    "I recognized two of the knights with the Imperials!" She quickly blurted out. "I saw them when I gave the contract to them. You can''t trust them!"


    "Which two?" Joseph asked.


    "Those two standing at the wall!" Kage felt a surge of indignation. "They destroyed my city!"


    "Those two?" Joseph tried to remember how they looked like. "Wait here."


    He went out and took a tablet and returned to the office. He yed back the recordings and asked Kaga, "Is it this two?"


    "YES!" Kaga nodded hurriedly and her eyes watered as she recalled the nightmare. "They killed my friends and all the elders!"


    Joseph frowned as he observed the two knights at the back. One of them worn a full enclosed helm while the other stood with folded arms and had a smirk on his handsome face that was marred with a scar on his cheek.


    Both of them remained as they were while the others appeared agitated when they thought the Lady Titanna was trapped inside the screen.


    The full helm knight remained still like a statue while the smile on the other knight stayed the same as he leanedzily against the wall.


    Joseph could tell that they were very dangerous and mentally marked them to be the first to die if they tried anything funny.


    "Are the measures in ce?" He asked Kaga.


    Kaga nodded and rubbed the tears forming in her eyes off with her sleeves. "Yes, I worked with Liz and Magister Thorn on it."


    "Good, don''t cry anymore," Joseph rubbed her head. "We will take revenge for you."


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Merchant District, Golden Shoe Inn


    Judis carefully honed the de of his sword with a whetstone while the young lord Tidus paced angrily around the guest room.


    "You keep that up," Judiszilymented as he checked for any nicks on his de. "You will burn a hole in the carpet."


    "This is infuriating!" Tidus stopped his paced and spun around. "How dare they! How dare they treat us like this!"


    "Calm down!" Judis sheathed his sword after he finished its maintenance. "There is no point getting worked up over nothing!"


    "Nothing? Nothing!?" Tidus yelled. "That attitude! He thinks he is some noble? He is just a barbarian!"


    "Ten thousand ves! The gall he has to demand ten thousand ves just for ransom!" Tidus continued to rant on. "If it is up to my choice, they can have her. I won''t even pay a single coin for that bitch!"


    "Enough!" Judis snapped. "Your father wants you to learn and to bring your sister back home in one piece!"


    Tidus sneered and sat down on the sofa before pouring a goblet of wine and drowning it down in one go. "That bitch is all father cares about!"


    "He is even willing to pay ten thousand ves for her release!" Tidus poured another cup of wine and drank it. "I will destroy these low lives!"


    Judis walked over and stopped Tidus from pouring another cup of wine. "That is enough, you will need a clear headter."


    "For?" Tidus shook Judis''s hand off. "The dinner party is going to be a bore with all these peasants and barbarians who think they can match us!"


    "Oh, I can assure you, young master," Judis gave a chilling smile. "It will not be a bore to you!"


    "Really?" Tidus leaned back on the sofa and ced his goblet down. "Tell me more about our ns tonight!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Ballroom


    A small army of servants had transformed the once ballroom turned storage back to its prime state. Tables with white cloth and fresh flowers decorated the interior while crystal chandeliers hang from the high ceiling.


    Mills dressed in his best dress uniform watched the ongoings at the side with Drake who was too in his dress uniform with all the medals polished and shiny.


    "Damn, no dance date tonight!" Mills sighed. "Maybe I should ask the good Doctor to be my date?"


    "Seriously?" Drake gave a what the hell look at Mills. "Are you that desperate?"


    "Hey, she has seen me naked before..." Mills grinned. "And she is quite pretty too, just a little short and nerdy... but height doesn''t matter when you in the bed..."


    "Dude... No fraternizing with the officers," Drake shook his head. "And spare me the details!"


    "Hey, the Cap had dropped those rules!" Mills winked. "Oh well, maybe not the Doc. How about the cat girl? She''s pretty cute!"


    "And risk the Jap crews'' wrath?" Drake questioned. "Good luck!"


    "Oh, shit..." Mills rubbed his face dramatically. "How can I forget about those weeaboos!"


    "Ask the Lady Titanna!" Drake suggested coyly. "You two make a good match!"


    "Hell no!" Mills shrugged. "All she talks about is the... Glory of the family! Glory to this, glory to that!"


    "Hey, at least she talks to you!" Drake grinned. "No only girl speaks to you at all!"


    "Ouch, that hurts, you son of a bitch!" Mills cursed. "Alright! Enough of me! Where''s your date you piece of shit?"


    "Don''t be jealous," Drake winked. "She''sing."


    "That''s what she said!" Mills rolled his eyes at Drake''s smug expression. "Gees! I can''t stand you! I going to check the perimeter and the guys on duty. Remember to use protection!"


    Millsughed and walked off as Drake flipped him the finger. He knocked on a side door and looked up at the hidden camera before a click of the door behind unlocked sounded and he entered.


    Two Marines sat behind a steel gate unlocked the gate for him and he walked down the dimly lit corridor and entered the security bunker where several Marines had gathered behind a bank of monitors.


    "All good?" He asked the men as he checked each monitor disy.


    "Yes Sarge," One of the Marines replied. "We have one toon of Marines on the grounds and another on standby next to the ballroom."


    "The secret passages will allow the toon to enter the ballroom should anything happens," the Marine reported. "Good, keep it up. Seen Lieutenant Silverstar?"


    "Yes, Sarge!" The Marine gestured to one of the screens. "He is at the main hallway to the ballroom."


    "Alright, I am going to find him," Mills nodded. "Watch our asses, these blue boys must have a n to save the princess."


    He left the security checkpoint and found Lt Silverstar together with other officers at the entrance of the ballroom. "Sir!"


    "How''s everything?" Lt Silverstar asked. He was decked out in his dress uniform too but did not have as many medals as Mills on his ''fruit sd bar''.


    "Everyone is in position and ready to rumble, Sir!" Mills grinned. "You are looking dashing, Sir!"


    "Save thepliments, soldier," Lt Silverstar grinned back. "I know I am handsome."


    Mills coughed into his hand and winked. "Well, its almost time for the party and the guests are starting to arrive."


    "Yes, its almost time for the party to start..."

 Chapter 288: Party Time

    Chapter 288: Party Time


    Orwell''s Point, Governor''s Estate


    Dozens and dozens ofvishly decorated and ornate carriages drawn bynd dragons decked out in finery took turns to enter the main gates into the estate grounds of the mansion that once belonged to the Imperial Governor in Orwell''s Point.


    Marines in full battle order stood guard and checked each and every carriage and the attendees to the Grand Ball. Almost everyone prominent and influential was invited to the Ball and it was the first ever event hosted by the new lords since the fall of the city.


    With the arrival of the Imperial delegates and rumors of some secret deal to be conducted between the barbarian lords and the Imperials, sparked much interest and debate among the citizens and the invitation cards were sought after greatly.


    As the guests gathered and mingled in the Ballroom, the Imperial carriages rode up and four Marines in dress uniforms and white gloves acting as door openers, stepped forward and opened the carriage doors before saluting.


    Tidus dressed in a dark blue doublet under his silver gold half te trimmed with silver fur, strolled off the carriage with barely a nce at the Marines and headed straight into the mansion.


    Following him out of the carriage, Judis followed behind in a simr outfit. He nodded to the two Knights following him and the trio followed after Tidus''s heels.


    "Wee! Wee!" Joseph stood at the foyer of the entrance and greeted the young master and his escorts. "Tonight we enjoy ourselves! No talk of business or wars! Drink, eat and be merry!"


    "Thank you, Lord Joseph!" Tidus smirked to himself as he smiled with all fake courtesy to the low blood. "We will enjoy ourselves!"


    "Come in,e in!" Joseph gave a half bow and led Tidus into the Ballroom with Judis and his two men following them. "Drink?"


    The Ballroom was crowded with hundreds of people dressed to impress in the local fashion. Soldiers in their dress uniforms contrasted greatly with the locals'' bright and gaudy colored clothing.


    Music provided by a live band that upied an area to the side of the Ballroom while rows of tables sat on the other sidedened with tes and bowls of food and drinks. Round tables filled with tableware and cutlery took up almost two thirds of the Ballroom, leaving an open area while a sea of people could be seen mingling and dancing.


    "Lord Tidus, you and your men will be sitting together with me at this table," Joseph guided the Imperials to the front most table where the decor was more boratepared to the other tables.


    "Refreshments are on the side," Joseph smiled. "Dinner will be served shortly."


    "Now, let me introduce you to some of my people and the local leaders," Joseph gestured towards a group of people.


    "Magister Thorn, my long time friend, and mentor," Joseph started his introductions. "And this is Doctor Sharon, a great and renown healer."


    Judis frowned slightly as he noticed the strangeness of the petite woman''s ears. She was pretty with an umon shoulder length hair and a pair of crystal artifact that covered her eyes, which made her more attractive.


    He stared at her short rounded ears adorned with a pair of dangling earrings and wondered what made her clipped her ears.


    Tidus, on the other hand, appeared taken back at her appearance but he took her hand and kissed it, muttering polite greetings and the two of them started some conversation.


    Joseph continued his introductions with the rest of the people and Judis soon blocked them out as he saw who has walked in from the entrance of Ballroom.


    -----


    Mills tugged the ufortably tight and starched cor of his dress uniform as he waited for the prisoner toe out. The door opened and he paused in his actions, stunned at the sight before him.


    Titanna frowned and checked her self, patting her body hugging dress self conseniously. "What is it?"


    Her two maids smiled at Titanna, "There is nothing wrong with this dress!"


    "Then why is he staring at like me he saw a ghost?" Titanna narrowed her eyes at the open mouthed Mills.


    "O-" Mills snapped his mouth shut. "Nothing, its... just you look stunningly beautiful!"


    Titanna rolled her eyes at hispliment. "Coming from you, I don''t know why, but I don''t feelplimented."


    Mills grinned and struck his elbow out for her to take. Titanna looked at his elbow and raised a questioning eyebrow.


    "Oh, you hold my elbow this way," Mills grinned and put her hands and ced on his elbow. "I will escort you into the Ball. It''s kinda our custom..."


    "Hmmm... what a strange custom this is," Titannamented but she kept her hand on his elbow, allowing him to led her to the Ball with her two maids following behind.


    The two Marine guards grinned and winked at Mills before they pushed open the double doors as they entered the Ballroom, everyone''s attention was turned to them.


    Titanna straightened her pose and gave a shy smile as suddenly everyone''s nce was on her. She wore a sky blue off shoulder evening gown that had her shoulders bared. The leather anti magic cor was reced with a silver cor which acted as an essory and further enhanced her look.


    Her long gold hair cascaded down over her shoulders in wavy locks tickled Mills as she turned her head. Mills''s face turned red when he noticed the number of stares at his way. "Erm, this way, Princess..."


    He led her towards the assigned table and the crowded parted ways for them as they approached.


    "Lady Titanna!" Suddenly a man in half te armor appeared before them and knelt down before taking her hand in his. "It is good to see you are safe!"


    "Lord Judis!" Titanna gave a forced smile before she quickly took her hand back from his. "It is good to see you too."


    "Have they mistreated you?" The Knight asked. "We spoke between that magical artifact but..."


    "No, they did not mistreat me," Titanna replied. "I see my younger brother is here too."


    "Sister," A young man in half armor appeared and gave a crude greeting. "Still alive?"


    "Always..." Titanna smiled coldly.


    Mills looked at the trio and felt like he was watching some soap opera plot in y here. He cleared his throat and asked, "Princess, do you want anything to drink?"


    Titanna red at her brother for another second longer before she turned to Mills and bobbed her head. "Yes please, do you there is that mixed juice punch drink they always serve at the can-teen?"


    "Hahahaha, sure, I get you a cup," Mills smiled and gave a curt nod to the Knight and her brother before he headed off towards the drinks station.


    "Why are you so close with that... barbarian?" Judis asked curiously and reached out to touch Titanna''s face.


    Titanna stepped back away from his touch while Tidus snorted. "Of course she is close with them, she opens her legs for an-! ACK!!!"


    Judis gripped the back of Tidus''s neck tightly and leaned in close to his ear and hissed. "One more disrespectful word from you about Lady Titanna and I will break your neck like a wyvern!"


    "Stop!" Titanna reached out and grabbed Judis''s arm. "People are watching!"


    Judis released his grip on Tidus''s neck and gave a warning re at him. "Stop your nonsense here! We have serious business to do!"


    "Lady TItanna, we will get you back home safely," Judis smiled at Titanna as nothing has happened. "Don''t worry."


    Tidus snorted and walked off in a huff while rubbing his neck. He passed by Mills with drinks in his hands and nearly knocked the drinks off. "What''s his problem?" Mills cursed as he watched the young man head towards the bar.


    "Here," Mills handed Titanna her drink. "Everything alright?"


    "Yes..." Titanna gave a small smile. "Can I have a private word with my people?"


    "Oh, sure!" Mills nodded and off to the side. "Call me if you need anything, I will be around that area."


    "Thank you," Titanna replied and gestured Judis over. "What business are you talking about?"


    Judis reached out and fingered the anti magic cor over Titanna''s neck and whispered. "We will break you outter when there is an opportunity. Just be ready!"


    "It''s too dangerous!" Titanna whispered back. "Too big a risk! And this cor can''t be removed by normal means!"


    "Don''t worry, I will find a way. Your father has promised you to me." Judis smiled and gestured. "And I have brought them along."


    Titanna followed Judis''s gesture and saw two Knights standing at one side by themselves and she drew in her breath sharply. "You n to kill... everyone?"


    "Your Father''s orders and no one touches my property without my permission," Judis''s eyes lingered on Titanna''s cleavage a little longer before he looked up and smiled. "Glory to the Rothschilds!"


    "Glory to the Rothschilds..." Titanna whispered softly back and she sat down on the nearest chair. She turned and looked around and found Mills happily chatting animatedly away with another soldier and ady together near the food table.


    She felt her heart beating very fast and hard and a flood of confusing emotions threatened to break out. She couldn''t put her emotions to words and could only stare sadly at Mills in the distance.


    "Glory to the Rothschilds..."


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Governor''s Estate, Security Control


    As the dinner went into full swing as the guests sampled exotic ''barbarian'' dishes and drinks. Many of the attendees'' impression of the so called barbarians changed for the better as they talked about business ns and exchanged ideas.


    Each monitor inside the Security Control room shows a different location of the Estate''s vast grounds. Suddenly one of the Marines put one of the videos onto the main screen and erged it, "Sarge! Movement on the western fence!"


    "Well, well, well..." The Duty NCO stood over the screen and looked at the approaching ghostly figures enhanced by the harsh colorful red yellow and white of the thermal filters. "One, two, three..."


    "Ten contacts," The NCO hit thems and reported. "Sirs, we got movement on the western fence, sector W3, ten contacts. Over."


    "This is Lord Actual," The Battalion CO voice replied. "Roger, see if you can tag and bag them alive without any rm given off, out!"


    "Well, the Boss wants our friends alive," the NCO sighed. "Let''s get it to him as a present then!"


    "Castle Serria, Falcon Three," the NCO called out. "What''s your sitrep, over?"


    "Falcon Three, Castle Serria, we got eyes on the intruders, please advice over."


    "Castle Serria, Lord Actual wants tangos alive and quiet, what say you? Over."


    "Falcon Three, affirmative, order for ten sleeping beautiesing right up, out!"


    -----


    Under the cover of the night, the ten Knights silently crept across the open manicuredwns of the Estate towards the brightly lit Mansion where sounds of music andughter could be heard when the wind carried them over.


    They had cast Agility Up, Soften, and Cloak spells on themselves, making them merge almost as one with the shadows, allowing them to scale the tall fence of the estate without any noise.


    With barely a sound, they advanced up thewn, keeping an eye out for any signs of the guards patrolling the grounds and failed to notice the manicured bushes that served as a low wall appear to be moving so ever slightly.


    With Agility up, they leaped over the low squarish trimmed bushes only to find themselvesnding among several figures who grabbed them and they felt a sudden shock of lightning coursing through their bodies before their nervous system overloaded and they fainted.


    "All bagged?" A voice asked.


    "Yes, Corporal!" Another voice replied. "These stunners are pretty good!"


    "Alright, enough with the chit chat," The first voice replied. "Cuff them and put the anti magic cors on them!"


    "Yes, Corporal!"


    "Falcon Three Two, to All, tangos secured, over!"

 Chapter 289: Mansion of Madness

    Chapter 289: Mansion of Madness


    Captain Joseph, UNMC, ignored the females trying to get his attention at the Ball as he listened to the radio reports and broke out into a smile before he quickly took a sip of his drink to cover it up.


    "Sir," LT Silverstar, OC of Falcon Company, appeared at his side and spoke in a low voice. "It''s done. What''s next?"


    "Enjoy the party, of course!" Joseph grinned. "They must be getting confused and nervous at this point."


    "Should we evacuate the people here?" LT Silverstar gave a quick nce around their surroundings that was filled with party goers. "If they take action now, it will be... messy..."


    "No worries," Joseph replied. "We have already catered that into our ns."


    "Yes, Sir," LT Silverstar nodded. "When do you think they will act?"


    "Oh, pretty soon, I guess," Joseph replied. "Watch those two, the rest I am not so worried about."


    Silverstar followed Joseph''s gaze to the two Knights lounging at one side. He nodded again, "I have my men surrounding them already. Should they act, they will be taken down immediately."


    "Dead or alive," Joseph took a sip of his drink. "I don''t really care about those two, but the young master and the Knight Captain needs to be alive."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    Tidus made his way back to the round table where his sister and Judis sat, slightly drunk.


    "What is going on?" He hissed impatiently. "Where are our men?"


    "Quiet!" Judis gave a warning look at Tidus. "You want everyone to hear us?"


    "Why do we need to sneak around like rats?" Tidus cursed but in a lowered voice. "Just call the men in and kill them all!"


    "You want to massacre everyone here?" Titanna shook her head. "Use your brains please, you want to turn the whole city against us?"


    "So?" Tidus sneered as he stood wobbly. "Everyone here is in bed with the enemy! Traitorous scum!"


    "You-!" Titanna half rose in fury but Judis stopped her.


    "Sit down, Lady Titanna," Judis smiled. "And enjoy the show!"


    -----


    Outskirts of the Governor''s Estate


    Knight Lieutenant Trello paced worriedly before his gathered men and kept ncing towards the Estate grounds. "Why is there no word yet?"


    "Lord Trello!" A runner came up to him and bowed. "We couldn''t find any traces of the advance scouts!"


    "It''s like... they disappeared!" The knight reported.


    "Heaven''s Gate!" Trello pounded his gauntleted fists together. "No time left, we attack now!"


    "Squad leaders!" Trello spun around and roared out. "Attack now! Sir Bruous, attack the main gate! The rest go ording to n! GO!"


    With that, the Knights of Silver saluted and broke off into action. Knight Bruous lead his charge of thirty Knights and begun his assault at the main gates as a distraction while the rest, leaped over the fences and made their way towards the Mansion with murder in their eyes.


    -----


    Governor''s Estate, Main Gate


    Lance Corporal Ladin stretched his back as he stood with six other fellow Marines of his section in dress uniforms, manning the Main Gate of the Estate. "What do you think is happening in there?"


    His buddy, Private Terry, gave a shrug as he kept watch on the street. "Good drinks, good food, pretty girls, what else do you think is happening up there?"


    "I mean, if the Blue boys started thei-," Ladin paused as he suddenly spotted shadowy figures appearing within the re of the gate lights. "CONTACT!"


    "HALT!" The section leader roared out while his hand flipped open the p of his side holster. "HALT! HALT! OR WE WILL SHOOT!"


    The figures seemed to be running impossibly fast. They closed the distance towards the barricades of the gate within seconds.


    "FIRE!" The Marines quick drew their sidearms and fired upon hearing the order. "Cherry One, gate crash! Repeat, gate crash! GATE CRASH!"


    Ladin cursed as he fired his Single Action service revolver at the armored figure before him. The Knight wore a custom te mail with some decor carved onto the surface and a half helm that exposed his mouth. "FARK!"


    The Knight''s mouth curled in a sneer as he brought the kite shield up to his chest while swinging down with his sword directly at Ladin who emptied his revolver at the Knight.


    The Knight''s expression turned to disbelief and his mouth into an ''O'' shape as five 6.5 mm rounds hammered into his shield. The surface of the shield burst into sparks as the magic protection enchantment overloaded and the remaining mass and kic energy dumped themselves against the Knight.


    He flopped backward as some invisible force hammered him across his chest and the knightid on the hard ground groaning with his shield arm broken.


    Ladin back peddled and ejected the chamber of his empty cartridges and slipped in a fresh five rounds using a quick loader. He snapped the chamber back and aimed at the rest of the charging knights and cursed as he saw how outnumbered they were.


    Suddenly an ear bursting roar of the machine gun hidden on the roof of the gate erupted out. Tracers darted out from over Ladin''s head and he cheered with the rest of his section as the charging knights were knocked over by the heavy fire.


    Ladin fired at another figure and suddenly he felt himself being lifted off his feet, followed by a loud crack and the smell of burnt meat. When he recovered his senses, he found himself lying against the wall of the gate and his whole body felt numbed.


    He tried to raise his hands only to see them ckened and charred. He looked down to his chest to see his body burnt ck and the smell of roast meat made him nausea before he fainted from shock.


    -----


    Governor''s Estate, Ballroom


    "-ATE CRASH!" The earpiece in Mills''s ear crackled and he turned and stared at Drake. "Shit!"


    Drake quickly pushed his date, Irisval towards the exit, "Go take cover upstairs in one of the rooms! And lock the door! GO!"


    Mills turned his attention to the table where Titanna and the Imperial delegates sat and held his earpiece as instructions and orders came flooding in.


    "All units, evacuate the civilians as quietly as possible."


    Already the sounds of gunfire in the distance could be heard. Most ignored it as thunder rumbling but soon the telltale roar of machine guns was too unnatural to be thunder.


    The guests started to sense something was happening and the festive mood started to change. Mills saw the Imperial delegates seemed to rx and evenughing among themselves as they sat there drinking.


    He watched Titanna as he made his way through the crowd, seeing her nervously twisting the folds of her dress. "Raider One to King Falcon, orders?"


    "King Falcon, keep your eye on the prize!" LT Silverstar''s voice crackled from his earpiece. "Escort the prize to safety!"


    "Roger!" Mills flipped his holster p open and loosen his revolver as he approached the table. "Hey, Princess, care for a dance?"


    Titanna jerked up in surprise as she suddenly heard Mills calling her. She turned and saw him standing a short distance away with his hand out towards her. "A.. a dance?"


    "Yes!" Mills smiled. "Come here, let''s dance!"


    "I... I," Titanna cast a worried nce around the table where the eyes of every Imperial delegate stared back at her coldly. The constant thunder over the music and the worried voices of the crowd made her more nervous and she hesitated.


    "Come on, take my hand," Mills winked. "Just one dance!"


    "I..." Titanna bit her lips and stammered, uncertain what choice should she make.


    "No," Suddenly, a hand sped over Titanna''s arm. Judis stood up and hovered protectively over Titanna. "She is my wife to be. I am afraid, no man shall have a dance with her except me, of course!"


    "Oh, that is such a shame," Mills sighed as he took back his offered hand. "Well, since you said it, you do know she is still a prisoner of war belonging to the UN till you paid up her ransom?"


    Judis continued to smile and gently shook his head. "Not for long, my friend."


    "Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please?" A voice sounded over the Ballroom. "If you will all proceed out of the ballroom and into the gardens, we have our second event of the night for you all to enjoy!"


    Hearing that, the curious crowd started to exit the Ballroom while Mills and Judis continued to stare down at each other.


    "King Falcon to Raider One, what''s your sitrep?" Mills''s ear piece crackled. "Is the prize secured? Over."


    "Negative..." Mills hissed under his breath. "Getting cock blocked here!"


    "Roger, standby for diversion!"


    -----


    Lt Silverstar turned to Joseph and shook his head. "Take out that two now," Joseph ordered.


    "King Falcon to ymore Two," Silverstar radioed immediately. "Action!"


    -----


    Sergeant Aztes, 101st ATI, ymore Two, nodded to his men when the order came in. It was a boring deployment for them, as they were reduced to bing nannies watching over the two girls and the Doctor and the Magister.


    Finally, they have some excitement to prove their abilities since ymore One appeared to have been assigned all the ''fun'' stuff.


    Tonight for the Ball, he apanied Liz, acting as her date while another member of his team was with the other girl. He kept watch on the two Imperial Knights that kept to themselves at the side while Liz and Eveyln went and gorged themselves on food and drinks.


    When the ''Action'' order was given, Liz dressed in a pink silver gown, stomped hard on the floor where a hidden magic formation trigger was hidden. She activated an anti magic trap that was powered by four of therge high tier mana stones that they recovered from Titanna''s ship.


    Almost immediately, lines of glowing mana raced out from the trigger and an anti magic formation was drawn out within a split second, preventing everyone still remaining inside the Ballroom from casting or using magic.


    As that was happening, the other members of ymore Two, dressed as locals, whipped out tasers and fired directly at the two Knights that was just being to react to the sudden appearance of a magic circle.


    The two Knights with unnatural superman reaction, managed to drew their peace bounded swords out and shed away the taser darts but they temporarily froze as they tried to draw in magic to enhance their abilities only to find out that the magic in the area was blocked.


    This gave an opening for the ymore Two soldiers to fire again and the taser darts struck against their te mail before discharging 50,000 volts. The metal of the te mail barely stopped the current from flowing out and the electricity flowed through their bodies, overloading their nerve systems.


    Both Knights flopped onto the floor like a fish out of the water as they jerked and spasmed. Yet they still managed to push themselves up and endure the electricity current in their system only to have another half dozen taser darts fired on them.


    -----


    The crowd nearest to the action screamed and the people tried to get away from the sudden fight, making amotion which made Judis turned his attention towards it.


    Mills suddenly darted forward and grabbed a surprised Titanna into his arms and he moved back while other Marines suddenly appeared and aimed their weapons at the delegates.


    "Checkmate, motherfucker!"


    -----


    "FIRE!" The line of rifles erupted at the charging Knightsing out from the edge of the ground of the garden.


    Powerful floodlights installed around the perimeter of the Mansion blinded the charging Knights and provided the Marines easily targets to shoot at.


    The blinded Knights faltered at the charge despite being amped up with magic enhancements started dropped as rifle rounds hammered into their bodies, breaking protective spells, bones, and flesh.


    The crowd of guests stood dumbstruck as they watched a line of twenty soldiers easily killing a force of elite Knights three their strength. It was the first time for most of the people here to witness the power and strength of the barbarian''s might and they were shocked, some even questioning if it was just a show.


    "This is madness!"

 Chapter 290: Double The Fun, Double the Ransom!

    Chapter 290: Double The Fun, Double the Ransom!


    Orwell''s Point, Docks


    "Light ''em up!" The Lieutenant of Falconpany, toon 4, yelled and the powerful floodlight shed to life, its powerful beam bathing the silver Imperial river barge with a glow as bright as day.


    The Imperial Knights and guards flinched away from the sudden re of light beams that covered their ship with surprise.


    "DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND PUT BOTH YOUR HANDS UP!"


    "ANY RESISTANCE WILL BE DEALT WITH LETHAL FORCE!"


    "I REPEAT DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER NOW!"


    The guards and knights looked at each other in confusion but they did not surrender. Instead, they rushed to man the ballistas and armed themselves. "Prepare to repel boarders!"


    "Sir! The Blue Boys are not showing any signs of surrender!" The toon sergeantmented. "And the two ships upriver is weighing anchor and appears to being to support the silver ship here."


    "Take them both out!" The LT of toon 4 ordered. "Boss says dead or alive..."


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Harbour Defense Tower


    "Gunner! Target Bravo One!" The 3" gunmander ordered. "Loader! Give me HE!"


    "Aye!"


    "On!"


    The gunmander peered out of the firing slit of the tower bunker and yelled his order. "FIRE!"


    The 3" gun sited inside the five storey high artillery tower roared as the gunner yanked the firing cord. The gun crew leaped into action before the echoing roar of the 3" gun disappeared and started to service the weapon without even checking where their shot hadnded.


    -----


    The HE shell spiraled out of the five meter long barrel in a shower of fiery sparks, smoke, and gas. It wobbled slightly it tapered nose plowed through the night air with a shriek at a velocity of roughly 800 meters per second.


    Less than four secondster, the shell''s nose impacted one of the river barges designated Bravo One, near the forward quarter top deck. The force of the impact drove the twin fire rune wafers together 0.2 secondster. By then, the shell had punched through the top deck and hit the inner deck before detonating.


    The force of the explosion in the confined space of the barge lifted the stern of the ship upwards while the bow was forced into the river water. The hulls bugled out and splintered as they could not withstand the force of the explosion.


    Immediately, the forward half of the barge vanished into a mess of smoke, fire, and wood splinters. The explosion lit up the river and echoed towards Orwell''s Point''s dock. if the roar of the 3" gun did not wake or scare the people in the city, the dying roar of the river barge most definitely did.


    -----


    The gunmander grinned with satisfaction and turned around, "Good hit! Now target Bravo Two!"


    "AYE! ON!"


    "FIRE!"


    -----


    Knight Seargent Kn turned to look at his men gathered at the open gangway of the river barge. The illumination spells of the barbarians were surprisingly overpowered, as the glow of those spells lit up even the interior of the open hatch, casting a bright white glow.


    "The attack must have gone as nned!" He said to the men. "The signal for our attack hasn''t gone up yet, but since the enemy is alerted, we will fight our way out!"


    "Ready men?" He yelled. "The ships upriver wille down and assist us! We must take the docks for them tond!"


    "FOR THE EMPIRE!" The Knights and men in arms roared as one. "FOR ROTHSCHILD!"


    "Good! Shield bearers to guard our front! Make sure your protection spells are boosted to the maxi-"


    A sudden roar of thunder could be heard, cutting off Kn''s words. He turned his head to the direction of the thunderous roar and wondered what was that when suddenly another thunderous roar could be heard and a sh of orange glow could be seen from the open hatch.


    "What is that?" He and the men peered out from the side hatches at the direction of the rising fireball, "What in the heavens is happening?!"


    -----


    Governor''s Estate, Ballroom


    "-ucker!" That low bred short ears yelled with a triumphant expression on his face while his filthy hands held onto Lady Titanna''s body.


    Judis hissed in anger and drew his sword, ripping the peace bound bindings in a smooth move and pointed his sword at the barbarian''s face.


    He ignored the dozen barbarian that surrounded him and his men. The crowd hushed at his actions and quickly moved away, creating an emptied space for them. "Take your filthy hands off her or I will cut them off!"


    "Na nee na nee boo boo~" The barbarian made a strange mocking sound, and even stuck his tongue out at him, making his anger rise even higher.


    "You asked for it!" Judis roared and he suddenly darted forward with a speed of a striking viper.


    Mills''s mocking smile disappeared as the Imperial before him suddenly appear to vanish. He threw himself backward while hugging the surprised Titanna tightly in his arms. He turned his body just as he felt a stinging bite on his back and hit the floor of the ballroom with a grunt.


    "DIE!" Judis stood above Mills and Titanna and he reversed his sword and stabbed point down.


    "FUCK!" Mills rolled away with a screaming and struggling Titanna in his arms, dodging away from the sword thrust. Once he was clear, he shoved Titanna away from him, making her slide across the ballroom floor.


    "Come on, asshole!" Mills rolled to his feet and put his fist up in a fighting stance. "Dare to fight like a man? Without magic?"


    "Pfft!" Judis stood there cockily, "I am not even using magic!"


    "Really?" Mills whispered into his mike. "He''s not?"


    "The anti magic field is already up!" Came back the reply in his earpiece.


    "Oh fuck me..." Mills cursed softly. He eyed Titanna dusting her self off the floor and grinned wickedly before gesturing Judis toe at him. "Come at me, bro!"


    Judis''s eyes narrowed and he sheathed his sword. "I am going to so enjoy beating you to death!"


    He strolled forward confidentially towards Mills without any putting any defense up. "I shall show you the difference between our strength! And make her watch how you choke in your blood!"


    Judis unbuckled his te mail off and dropped the heavy armor to the side. The armor made a dull thunk as it hit the floor.


    "Oh, sure! Take it all off," Mills grinned evilly before he suddenly straightened up and quick drew his taser out from his holster and fired without a pause.


    The twin prongs of the taser dart dug into Judis''s clothes and bit against his skin with a sharp prick.


    "What is this?" Judis looked down at the small dart on his chest and reached towards it to tear it off. A millisecondter, the dart dumped 25,000 volts of electricity into his body, making him spasm and jerked on the spot.


    Judis stood there with his senses nked in a strange pose. He barely could think and move, finding his body seemed to be locked up and the pain was like liquid fire, coursing through his body. "Y-you... ch- chea-..."


    "Aww fuck," Mills gave a look at his taser. "I identally set it to half power."


    "Now this is the correct setting!" Mills grinned evilly and he emptied all remaining four shots of his taser on the body of Judis.


    "AAAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHGGHHHHH~~~~!" Judis did a sort of dance on the spot as a total of 200,000 volts ran through his body.


    "Oh, he peed his pants," Millsmented as he watched Judis spasming on the floor. "Tech wins, bitches!"


    -----


    Docks


    "Impossible!" Knight Seargent Kn cried out in horror as he saw the burning silhouette of one the river barges. "How did they..."


    "SURRENDER NOW! OR WE WILL USE LETHAL FORCE!"


    "Those heathens!" Kn cursed. "KILL THEM ALL!"


    "KILL!" His men roared out and they charged off the gangway.


    They advanced in a formation, shields to the front, top, and side, simr to the Roman''s tortoise formation. The Knights were extremely confident in their formation, with magic boosting their defenses, this formation was neigh impossible to break unless they have mighter magic or very heavy weapons.


    -----


    "Sir, looks like a free target for us!" The toon Sergeant grinned from behind the sandbagged bunker. "Too bad, we can''t turn the 3" gun on them."


    "We don''t want to destroy the docks..." The LT replied with a smile. "MGs! Make ready!"


    "FIRE!"


    Four MG - 1 and one .50 cal team had set up shop covering the docks for the purpose of the visiting delegates. The men had remained hidden under sandbag bunkers on the roofs of warehouses and fortified buildings around the docks.


    The Imperial formation came forward down the pier in a blistering march only to m into a wall of machine gunfire. Sparks and ricocheting rounds lit up the docks as the bullets impacted the magic barrier of the Imperials.


    The formation came to a slow halt as the force of the bullets hammered the Knights, forcing them to brace against the rain of bullets. One by one, to the Knights'' horror, the magic barrier of protection shattered as the heavy fire overwhelmed the magic.


    Finally, thest barrier shattered into sparks and the .338 and .50 caliber rounds no longer facing any arcane resistance, punched through the shields of the Knights and the whole first rank of bodies starting dancing and jerking on the spot.


    Bits and body parts started flying as the more powerful .50 cal plowed through the Knights, shattering their morale and lives as easy as tearing paper.


    "Cease fire! CEASE FIRE!" The order rang down the line of Marines and thest ricocheting round disappeared into the night sky like a supped up firefly.


    Barely five minutes, on the docks, menid dying among grisly remains, screaming and crying. Further off the river, the burning hulks of two river barges lit up the night.


    -----


    Governor''s Estate, Ballroom


    "Sergeant Mills!" Lt Silverstar gave a frown at the half naked hooman getting medical attention. "You could have given him a heart attack with the number of taser darts!"


    "Well, Sir," Mills grinned unabashedly. "Marine basic 101! Shoot first and sort out the bodiester!"


    Silverstar shook his head helplessly at Mills. "We want him to be in one piece, so we can question him... you know that right?"


    "Sir," Mills gestured with his chin at Judis who was being restrained on a stretcher and carried off to a secured facility. "That asshole is pretty tough. Better be safe than sorry!"


    "Good job, Sergeant!" Captain Joseph suddenly appeared. "You stopped that Imperial and protected the Lady Titanna."


    Mills turned and saw Titanna with the girl mage, Liz at one side, surrounded by ymore Two troops. "We have gotten them all, Sir?"


    "Yes, everyone," Joseph nodded. "But we will need to do a sweep of the city. We do not know how many men they infiltrated into the city."


    "But with this fail attack," Joseph grinned. "We destroyed the main power of the Rothschild."


    "All his Knights that he is so proud of," Joseph gestured to the outside window. "All defeated in one swoop. Now, with all the prominent locals seeing our strength and the defeat of the famed Knights of Silver, our position will be more stable."


    "Even if Rothschild sends twenty thousand troops down, without the support of his Knights," Joseph continued, "He can''t force a siege on us."


    "The only threat that he has against us has been destroyed," Lt Silverstar understanding Joseph''s meaning, said, "What we are worried about is the insertion of his troops under the cover of his Knights'' power."


    "We can stop massed infantry but not tiny pockets of raiders protected by magic," Silverstar exined to Mills, seeing his confused face. "Those Knights will wreak havoc on the city and behind the lines if they managed to break through the defenses. But tonight, we managed to take them all out!"


    "And now, with his youngest son and his only daughter in our hands," Mills grinned and rubbed his hands wickedly.


    "We can double the ransom! HEHEHEHEEHHEEE!"

 Chapter 291: Families

    Chapter 291: Families


    Titanna Rothschild sat on one of the chairs by the Ballroom and stare in dumbstruck at the parties of people clearing the bodies of Knights off the carefully manicuredwn that had been destroyed by the battle.


    It was not even a battle, she thought to her self. Barely a skirmish which saw the lives of over a hundred elite Knights destroyed! She knew these barbarians have powerful magic, but this was out of her expectations totally and she shivered at the fear at the thought of how they could destroy Knights and dragons in lesser time to boil water!


    "Hey," Mills strolled up to her and draped his uniform over her bare shoulders. "Are you ok?"


    Titanna looked up at the smiling soldier who was wearing a grey shirt smiling before her. "Is your... back alright?"


    "Yea!" Mills grinned. "Just a scratch."


    "I, I am sorry..." Titanna gave a low bow to Mills. "I did not expect Judis to attack you..."


    "Save it, Princess!" Mills waved her apology away. "We know he is nning something, and I don''t want him to hurt you identally too."


    Titanna felt torn between duty and loyalty as she heard his words. She knew of Judis''s ns but at the same time, she did not want to see this man killed. But in the end, she chooses to follow Judis, yet when Judis attacked them both, he protected her without any regard for his life.


    "Take it easy," Mills gently pushed TItanna back on her seat. "You just recovered from a gunshot wound and broken arm. Even if you normally wear armor and swing a sword, you shouldn''t move too much!"


    Titanna nodded shyly and sat there watching the bodies of her family''s Knights being carried off sadly. "What happens now? What will you all do to me and my brother?"


    "Oh, we won''t hurt you all," Mills replied. "After all you all still valuable guests! Hahaha!"


    Titanna sighed inwardly. "Is money all you think about?"


    "Money? Hahaha," Mills grinned. "Who doesn''t like to be rich? Besides, its not money we are talking about here, rather, to create a peaceful and stable region here!"


    "How will we be able to do that?" Titanna asked curiously. "This area was doing well, but you all came and took it over! You all started this war!"


    "You sure?" Mills sat down next to Titanna. "At least half of the people here used to be enved by the Empire. Do you think they are happy?"


    "Well, they lost and they should be happy that they were not killed!" Titanna eximed.


    "So the winner gets to control the fates of the losers?" Mills shook his head. "You lost, so are you happy?"


    "I..." Titanna closed her mouth as she couldn''t argue his point.


    "Look," Mills gently exined. "There are good wars and bad wars. We are fighting the good war here, trying to free people from oppression and give them their freedom back."


    "Well it might sound all grand and selfless, but in actual fact, this war is a create a protective line to protect my people," Mills continued. "We know how ruthlessly the Empire can be, you especially since you are at the forefront of it all."


    "Do you think that tearing families apart and selling children and women into very is right?" Mills asked. "Why do you think we even bothered to fight? It is to prevent people like... this, from invading our homes."


    "Do you still understand what this war is all about?" Mills looked at Titanna seriously.


    "This is a war to protect our families!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Two hundred and seventy nine confirmed kills, forty six wounded on the enemy side," The image of Joseph spoke. "We got neen wounded, all in stable condition with Dr. Sharon''s help."


    "Another twenty three in custody, including, the Imperial Head Delegate, the youngest son of Rothschild and other members of the entourage," Joseph continued.


    "Two of the river escorts were totally destroyed with all hands on board," Joseph added to his report. "Unconfirmed number of deaths on those two ships."


    "I have men sweeping the river banks for any survivors and also having the local police sweep the city for any more infiltrators that might be lurking in the city."


    "Any ideas of how they managed to escape the cordoned area and enter the city?" ke asked.


    "No Sir," Joseph replied. "But we suspect it is with the help of concealing magic and the enemy slipped in the Knights in teams from the ships into the city."


    "What of the locals?" ke asked again.


    "No one is hurt but they are highly impressed by our weapons and tactics," Joseph replied. "We have several merchants wishing to acquire our ''spells'' for sale and inquiry of signing on with us has gone up."


    "Good, at least now, the locals know our strength," ke grinned. "How about the prisoners?"


    "We haven''t started the interrogation yet, due to some... issues," Joseph said. "They need some time to recover before we can start, and also we are awaiting Intel to send someone down to do the questioning."


    "But now, we at least have two high value targets in our possessions," Joseph added. "We can ce more pressure on the Rothschild and prevent him from sending in more troops."


    "Good work," ke nodded. "Keep it up."


    "Thank you, Sir!"


    The image of Joseph flickered off and ke turned to Commander Ford at the side. "Our foothold at the North Front is doing good now. We should be able to hold on to the resources there."


    Ford nodded. "With the control of the surrounding trade, farms, and mines of the region of Orwell''s Point, Haven can now direct its resources to other critical projects."


    "Yes, and now with the arrival of a thousand volunteers into Frank and Pike''s boot camp, we can start our next part of our n once they are trained."


    -----


    Sawtooth Mountain Pass, Hell''s Gate


    Ex Knight Captain Gavin stared in wonder at the tower walls and the massive groaning gate that was sliding open. He noted and was amazed by the thickness of the gate that was wider than a man could stretch out with both hands to his sides.


    He remembered the week before when he had gathered with his people outside apound at the city walls. A soldier in that strangely colored and patterned uniformed barked at them and formed them up into groups of fifty men each.


    They were told that they will head off with a convoy to a ce where they will learn to be soldiers, much to the annoyance of the veterans in the groups. The barbarian soldier ignored their cussing and instead told them that they will move out in two waves as there wasn''t enough transport to move them all at once.


    Next came as a surprise to some, as they boarded carriages that moved unnaturally fast and smooth without any dragons pulling. Others, who had experience working before with the Barbarian Lords, showed off their knowledge of these ''trucks'' to the uninitiated.


    Gavin was surprised and worried when they saw they were traveling into the Uncharted Forest and none of the men with him were even armed. There wasn''t even a knife between them all!


    But the barbarian soldiers assured them it was all fine, as the frightened men panicked at the thought of entering the Forest without any weapons.


    Gavin decided to trust his instincts that Lord Joseph would not trick them and kill them. He roared out and settled the fears of the men in his vehicle while keeping his own fears down.


    The winding dirt road that they traveled on was well trampled by the constant transports ferrying materials back and fore between the two cities. They traveled with only a single attack from a pack of owlbears that were taken care of faster than one would reload a crossbow, must to Gavin''s surprise at the weapons and magic these barbarian soldiers wield.


    It was the first time he has seen their weapons and magic in action and he admitted if he has an army of soldiers trained this way, what Lord Joseph said of his skill with ''cold steel'' weapons werepletely useless with this form of warfare!


    Feeling excited from the prospect of learning these new weapons and magic, Gavin greatly looked forward to reaching the end of his destination.


    They traveled in the Forest for almost four days before they reach arge camp where they saw hundreds of workers clearing the Forest andying a road that wasrge enough to have four of the trucks they were traveling on to move side by side.


    Once they moved onto the roads, the speed of their convoy picked up and the men were further amazed by how much faster and smoother the ride was once they were on a proper road.


    Barely a day passed and they reached the chain of mountains and appeared before this Pass that was guarded by a massive gate.


    They had a quick meal and relieved themselves before they were loaded up into another vehicle that looked different from the one they were traveling in. The new vehicles took them to another ce and as they exited the vehicle, they saw several soldiers before them.


    "I am 2nd Lieutenant Arven! Wee to Camp Alpha!" The leading soldier said. "Before you, there are yellow lines drawn on the ground. Each of you is to form up in ranks before them! MOVE!"


    Gavin looked around and spotted the neatly drawn yellow lines on the ground and he stood before one, while the others slowly formed up one by one.


    LT Arven shooked his head at the sluggish movements of the new recruits and he sighed dramatically. "Hello! My grandma can move faster than you!"


    "Nevermind, the whole lot, push up position now!" Arven roared and gestured to his men side him. "If you don''t understand, follow the instructors!"


    Gavin was confused but seeing some of the soldiers performing the action, he followed.


    Soon the whole group on down and grunting in effort to keep in a push up position. Some dropped down to their knees only to get hit by a drill baton, forcing them back to position.


    "Now, I am not a cruel man," LT Arven walked down the lines of the grunting recruits. "I am here to train you into an instrument of death! But before that, you are the lowest life form on this world! YOU ARE MAGGOTS!"


    "The first word andst word out of your mouths will be Sir," Arven continued. "Is that clear?"


    "Huh?" Arven put a hand by his ear and asked. "I CAN''T FARKING HEAR YOU?"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Sir yes!"


    "Oh my heavens!" Arven sighed. "Are you FARKING DEAF? I SAID FIRST WORD AND LAST WORD OUT OF YOUR A HOLES IS SIR!"


    "SIR YES SIR!"


    "Good! You worms are learning!" Arven grinned. "You? What are you doing?"


    "SIR!" Gavin pushed himself up and rubbed his tired hands. "I am a Knight Captain! This kind of treatment belittles my rank!"


    "Oooo..." Arven walked up before Gavin and sneered. "We got ourselves a Knight Captain!"


    "What is your name?" Arven asked gently.


    "Knight Captain Gavin of ckvale!" Gavin proudly stated his lineage. "I am here to learn the ways of war with the blessing of your Lord Joseph!"


    "I see," Arven nodded and suddenly jabbed his shock baton onto the meaty portion of Gavin''s back, shocking him. "YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A RECRUIT NOW!"


    "You wanna learn the ways of war of us Marines?" Arven roared. "Than you better follow the rules of our beloved Marine Corps!"


    "All of you will address yourselves as Recruit from now onwards till you pass out from Boot Camp!" Arven ignored the spasming Gavin on the floor and started to exin to the crowd of trembling recruits.


    "What is your name, recruit?" Arven crouched down next to Gavin and asked.


    "Sir, Recruit Gavin, sir!" Gavin gritted his teeth in pain.


    "BULLSHIT!" Arven screamed in his ear. "YOU ARE NOW RECRUIT BIG FARK! WHAT IS YOUR FARKING NAME RECRUIT?"


    "SIR, RECRUIT BIG FARK, SIR!"

 Chapter 292: No Rest For the Wicked

    Chapter 292: No Rest For the Wicked


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "Is this report true?" ke asked as he read through the paper document with red stamps of ''Top Secret'' stamped here and there.


    Intel Officer Tavor nodded. "As much as info I could gather from the boy."


    "But there is no way for us to verify the truth," He added.


    "If what he ims is the truth," ke put down the report. "It could change the war totally for us!"


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor replied. "But as I said, we can''t deny nor verify the facts. He could be spinning a tale for all we know."


    "Even with a truth stone?" ke asked.


    "If the person under the truth stone strongly believes what he is saying is the truth," Tavor exined. "The truth stone will only show that the person is telling the truth."


    "It is not a fail proof method," Tavor continued. "If the person was subjected to brainwashing... whatever he or she says will show up to be the true cause, he or she has been led to believe in it."


    "And the boy has been working with Raman and his gang for quite some time, we do not know what had done to the boy during their time together," Tavor added. "But we did manage to verify one point of his story, which was the time he spent on board a merchant ship called the ''Wave Dancer''."


    "We managed to rescue one person from thending party," Tavor said. "And that person has now joined us as our shipwright. He verified the part of the boy on board the ship and even recognized him."


    "Interesting," ke rubbed his chin. "Can we use the boy for our own political ways?"


    "Hard, Sir," Tavor replied. "The boy has not much influence with any of the prominent Lords of the Empire as he stated."


    "He does have an uncle that favors him, but he appears to be in the level of a mid bureaucracy role within the Empire," Tavor gestured to the document. "Influence wise, not much."


    "Alright, keep digging," ke nodded. "Find out everything you can on the boy, his rtives and who is sympathetic to him."


    "Yes, sir!"


    ------


    Airspace North of Orwell''s Point


    Blue Thunder gently rode the warm air currents as he and his crew patrolled the region, on the lookout for any Imperials


    Before them, the shoreline of the Source Sea spread out as far as the eye could see. The freshwaterke was massive almost like a sea of its own, sparkled under the sunlight.


    "Boss, boss..." Blue Thunder called out. "Why do you think Ras is ignoring me?"


    "Of course she is ignoring you dense piece of dragon shit!" Flight Sergeant Stamford muttered. "She was expecting you to save her cause you like her or something, not because of duty!"


    "Oh, but I do like her!" Blue Thunder sighed. "Its was a misunderstanding!"


    "Well, tell that to her," Stamford shook his head. "Exin it, with... erm... some gifts that dragons would like!"


    "Eh?" Blue Thunder tilted his head and folded his arms as hezily glided in the air. "What would a red dragon like? Fresh meat? Gold? Monster ivory? FLOWERS?!"


    "Can''t help you there, mate!" Stamfordughed. "I''m not a pro with chasing dragons!"


    "Maybe I find some nice dramas for her," Blue Thunder sighed. "Maybe it will cheer her up!"


    "Sure thing," Stamford patted Blue Thunder''s side. "Okay, focus on the patrol now."


    "Okey dokey..." Blue Thunder sighed. "I think I see something there..."


    "What is there?" Stamford asked, alerted.


    "Looks... like ships!" Blue Thunder moaned. "Why... can''t we have a nice patrol without seeing anything!"


    "Get us closer!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Command


    "So we got a whole invasion fleet just beached offshore north of us?" Joseph rified. "How many troops? Which faction?"


    "Estimated twenty thousand," The operator replied. "Imperial."


    "Rothschild?" Joseph frowned. "Hmmm, how far away are they?"


    "Roughly 2 days march away," The operator reported. "Dragon One reports majority as infantry."


    "Drop an UAV over," Joseph ordered. "And bring the alert level up to orange!"


    -----


    Magister''s Thorn Lab


    "Where is it?" Thorn opened pulled out another drawer and ransacked the contents inside. "Where has it gone to?"


    He searched fanatically high and low, all over his workce, even the sofas were overturned. "How did I misced it?"


    He paused to take a breather as his room was turned upside down by his mad search. "I know! Dr. Sharon was here thest time!"


    Quickly leaving his room, he dashed out towards Dr. Sharon''s workce and found her hunched over some paperwork in her office.


    "Dr. Sharon!" Magister Thorn panted. "Did you take it?"


    "Take what?" Dr. Sharon paused in her work and gave Thorn a quizzed look.


    "The vial blood!" Magister Thorn asked. "Rastraz''s blood!"


    "Huh?" Dr. Sharon gave a confused expression. "I did not touch it at all..."


    "But... but..." Magister Thorn flopped down on one of the chairs in the office and looked deted. "It''s lost!"


    "Are you sure you did not misce it?" Dr. Sharon looked at the disheveled Thorn and asked gently. "Did you put in your room?"


    "No.. no..." Thorn sighed. "I checked and searched everywhere! Someone must have taken it!"


    "But who?" Dr. Sharon asked. "Who has entered your room?"


    "I- I don''t know..." Thorn frowned. "I kept it carefully in myb... I am certain of it. But this morning, it was gone!"


    "When was thest time you were in yourb?" Dr. Sharon asked.


    "Yesterday afternoon," Thorn replied sadly. "After that, I was at the Ball, and only returned this morning to find my vial of dragon''s blood missing!"


    "Do you know who would want a vial of dragon''s blood?" Dr. Sharon continued to ask. "Who will need it?"


    "I don''t know," Thorn rubbed his head. "It has potent magic powers, anyone who uses magic will find it a great arcane catalyst!"


    "So, that means almost everyone here is a suspect..." Dr. Sharon sighed. "Let us go report this and see if there is any security footage of the cameras in the corridor."


    "Let''s hurry!" Thorn quickly dragged Dr. Sharon off to find the guardmander.


    But to his disappointment, there were no cameras installed anywhere way near his door. The only cameras were installed at key choke points only.


    "Now what?" Dr. Sharon asked Thorn who sighed deeply. "We got no clues, and you trashed up your ce."


    They stood inside Thorn''s messyb. "Even if there was a theft, you destroyed all the evidence..."


    "Oh well, I guess... I could try my luck with Rastraz again," Thorn replied. "I just hope that no one used the vial of dragon blood for any evil purposes..."


    "Anyway, I think I better report it to Joseph... just in case!"


    -----


    North of Orwell''s Point, Landing Fleet


    "My Lord," A soldier bowed and reported. "All the troops and supplies have been offloaded from the ships."


    "Good," The Rock nodded. "And the scouts?"


    "They have been deployed already," The soldier replied. "The Fourteen, Sixteen, Thirty Second, Thirty Third, and Thirty Fifth Dragon Corps will join us within the next day."


    "Any word from the Rothschilds?" The Rock asked as they made their way to the front of the gathered troops.


    "Not yet, my Lord," The soldier said. "We expect to hear from them within the day."


    "Ensure they have sent supplies down to us," The Rock ordered. "Also I want you to make sure they have dispatch reinforcements to us too."


    The Rock turned his attention to the score of wagons that carried his Bronze Men. "Does the Rothschild know who we are dealing with here?"


    "No my Lord," The soldier replied. "The Emperor did not deem it fit for the news to spread."


    "Find out what Rothschild knows," The Rock said. "Since the Emperor did not inform him, I see no reason why he needs to know either."


    "Yes, my Lord!" The soldier bowed and headed off to carry out his orders.


    "Order the men to set fore!" The Rock ordered. "I want the men to be as close as possible to the city before they discover our army!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold


    "MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" Marinesdened with heavy gear embarked onto the waiting transports while others moved pallets and crates of ammunition and other supplies on board.


    "Lieutenant Silverstar!" Joseph stood at the marshaling grounds of the Stronghold and called out to the various Companymanders. "I want your Falconpany to take up a defensive position on the other side. You will hold the ground with the river to your left."


    "Dig in and go to ground," Joseph ordered as he gestured to the map of their region. "Eaglepany will hold the right nk."


    "Hawkpany will set up a firebase northeast of the city and provide fire support," Joseph said to Hawk''s OC. "I want one of the MAWs to anchor the center of the line. The other MAW to be stationed at the firebase as support."


    "What is the status of the MAW that was salvaged back?" Joseph asked the 1st Cavalry Commander.


    "It''s still out of service," The 1st Cavalry Commander replied. "But the gun and the turret is still working well, only the legs are out of action."


    "If needed put it on the wall for static defense," Joseph ordered. "No point wasting a good gun."


    "Now I want both PT boats are to patrol the river to prevent any enemy forces from surprising us from the riverside." His finger traced the river on the map. "Cover the nks of Falconpany."


    "Gryphon, I know your men are due for rotation back to Haven, but all leave is canceled now." He addressed Gryphon''s OC.


    "You and your men will hold the city together with 3rd Battalion''s Imp and Jackal Company," Joseph turned to the two new Company Commanders that came with the convoys.


    "I want the local police to be on high alert for any spies or infiltrators in the city," Joseph said to the City''s Police Commissioner, previously the local head watchman.


    "All nes to be on standby as of now," Joseph turned to the Airforce groundmander. "Till we know what is their purpose, have your men on full standby and ready to roll at any moment!"


    ''Is that clear, gentlemen?"


    "Yes, sir!"


    -----


    The hustle and bustle of the Marines readying for war did not go unnoticed to the locals but morale was high as word had spread that the strength of the soldiers was as strong or even greater than the Imperial Knights!


    Hundreds of the citizens turned out to the streets to watch the parade of armored vehicles and transports that rolled out from the castle and out of the city. Children ran alongside the moving vehicles waving at the Marines. While most of the people cheered for the soldiers, some remained reserved as they remained skeptical of the strength of the soldiers and did not want to take a side yet in the war.


    Watching the departing vehicles, Titanna sighed heavily as she wondered if the soldiers were being deployed against her father''s forces and would they face another overwhelming defeat.


    She now fully knew the strength of these barbarian soldiers were way more powerfulpared to her family''s forces, especially now with the total defeat of the Knights of Silver, they wouldn''t even stand a chance.


    If her family forces were destroyed, other lords in the region will no longer listen to her father, and internal unrest will soon follow!


    Titanna banged the door of her room, calling for the guards to bring her to see Lord Joseph. She must stop the battle at all cost or her family will be doomed!


    -----


    Evelyn sat next to the window and watched the rumbling vehicles rolling out of the main gates one by one. She twirled the clear ss vial in her hand and smiled as she felt the magic emitting out from the vial.


    With this blood, she could call upon the soul of Dante back from the abyss! She clutched the vial tightly to her bosom and continued to watch the flow of the vehicles exiting the castle.


    "Soon, my love... Soon..."

 Chapter 293: The City of Sins

    Chapter 293: The City of Sins


    Two Days before the Events of the Ball


    "This is Outrider Two Six, I have eyes on the ruins over." The radio buzzed.


    Tyrier leaned over closer to the operator in themand truck and listened in to the verbal exchange.


    "Two Six, this is Hotel," The operator smoothly replied. "What''s the situation over there, over."


    "Two Six, I got visual on multiple camps around the ruins. Looks like survivors, over."


    "Hotel, Roger, keep observing, Hotel, out."


    "Survivors?" Tyrier turned to Eaglepany''s OC, 2nd Lieutenant Rathia and said in a questioning tone.


    "Not surprising, I guess?" Rathia replied. "There are over fifteen to twenty thousand people in that city. Even a God can''t eat everyone."


    "This mightplicate things for us..." Tyrier said. "If they salvage any working tech..."


    "We cross that bridge when we get there, Sergeant," Rathia patted Tyrier''s shoulder. "We only have a single toon and your section with us. Not counting the support staff, we barely have fifty people who can fight."


    "Let''s not poke the Stinger nest shall we?" Rathia said. "We ess the situation first before we decide what to do next, alright?"


    "Yes, Sir," Tyrier nodded. "We should reach the city within an hour."


    "Okay, get your men ready for anything," Rathia ordered. "And no one fires unless attacked. Clear?"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    The convoy of armored vehicles soon came within sight of the Tent City that sprung up around the ruins of the city. Scores of Men and Orcs armed with crude weapons appeared, jealously guarding their territory and eyeing the neers with suspicion and awe.


    The convoy came to a halt a good distance away from the tent city and half a dozen motorcycles linked up with the vehicles.


    "What now?" Tyrier climbed to the top of themand truck, next to Rathia who was observing their surroundings with high powered binocrs.


    "I say there are, maybe five, six thousand survivors?" Rathia mentally counted the tents and people. "At least half used to be ves. Can''t hide the telltale scars or the different tan from their cors."


    "Interesting," Tyrier frowned as he watched the armed groups. "Seems like they came to an agreement with the Oerkins and freed themselves."


    "I see at least four different groups here," Rathia gestured to onerge group on the left of the ruins. "There''s one, red seemed to be their color."


    Tyrier turned his binocrs towards the group Rathia pointed out. He saw dozens of clusters run down tents and crude shelters made out of salvaged material. Hundreds of red cloth strips fluttered in the breeze all over the tents.


    The men had strips of red cloth tied to their arms or body and they brandished crude weaponry with strips of red cloth tied to the weapons. Most of the people in that group had red paint dabbed over their faces or exposed skin.


    "Hmm, red seemed like their favorite," Tyriermented.


    "Seems like each group has taken control of one of the four gates of the ruins," Rathia added. "The nearest group to us looked like a ragtag band of beggars."


    "On the west side, the Oerkins'' camp is there," Rathia continued to report. "And the furthest on the southern end, the group look more well off."


    "Looks like the leftovers of the merchants or rich people from the city," Tyrier eyed thest group. "They have the smallest number but the guards are well armed and armoredpared to the rest."


    "So we have at least four factions here," Rathia lowered his binos. "If we enter the city, most likely we will have to deal with either one of the factions here."


    "Looks like that is the case," Tyrier sighed. "It''s gonna be so troublesome..."


    "Well, I guess being desperate had them banding up," Rathia replied. "Can''t me them for trying to survive here."


    "Well, looks like we don''t have to choose," Tyrier said. "We got some guests heading our way!"


    "Looks like we kicked the Stingers'' nest!" Rathia chuckled. "Everyone ising to wee us!"


    The group with the better armed and armored guards sent a carriage with a couple of skinny lookingnd dragons that struggled to pull the carriage with its upants towards the Marines.


    The other factions seeing them sending out a party, all scrambled to dispatch their own party to wee and find out who and what visitors hade.


    Other than the carriage, the Oerkins rode their wind wolves over while the rest, ran over as swiftly as they could on foot.


    The Oerkins being nearer to the Marines arrived first. A tall Oerkin with his body skeletal like, wore the skull of some fearsome creature as a helm strolled up to the Marines. "Greeting... soft skins... Why youe?"


    Tyrier nudged Rathia from the side and gestured with his head at the Oerkin and Rathia''s eyes narrowed as he recognized the handgrip of an Oerkin hand cannon sticking out from the hip of the Oerkin.


    "Erm... We came to find... our people..." Rathia said. "We seek safe passage through the city ruins."


    "There is only death here," The Oerkin whizzed. "Leave this cursednd now..."


    "Wait! Waaait!" A voice cried out from a carriage and thend dragons pulling the carriage came to a halt with wheezing coughs.


    A mid aged man, his tailored clothes hang on hisnky frame quickly exited the carriage. "Wait! I can offer you twice times what he offered to pay!"


    Rathia nced at Tyrier who gave a shrug and asked. "What did you think I was selling?"


    "Food of course!" The man panted as he stood next to the glowering Oerkin. "I can pay you twice for what he is paying you!"


    "I think you misunderstand something," Rathia put a hand up to stop the man from cutting in. "We did not sell anything to him."


    "But... but..." The man stammered. "Than sell me all your food! I can give you a good price!"


    "Before we continue," Rathia stopped the man again. "What is going on here?"


    "My name is Kuhm!" The man in the oversized clothing introduced himself. "I used to be a merchant here, and I represent my people to speak here."


    "Turok, Son of Drokk," The Oerkin saluted.


    "We are all starving!" The man exined. "There is no food here! And barely any game to hunt! Even the nearby farms are bare!"


    "Than why haven''t anyone left this area?" Rathia was confused. "Surely there are more ces that can provide food to support the people?"


    "Are you joking?" The man cried. "We are in the middle of nowhere! The Oerkin here is all that remained of their tribes! Even the nearest city is over three weeks walk away!"


    "There is not enough food nor water for people to travel that far!" The man exined. "Only here there is still water for us and some form of shelter. We are too weak to make the trek to the nearest settlements!"


    "I see..." Rathia frowned. "Are there no traders?"


    "They either have all died or fear toe to this area anymore!" The man sighed. "That creature that destroyed the city has scared all the merchants away!"


    "This ce... cursed..." The Oerkin suddenly spoke. "Dead city..."


    "More guestsing!" Tyriermented as the other two groups came panting. To the Marines'' surprise, the Oerkin hissed at the approach of the group with the red banners.


    The group of beggars shuffled their way over to stand together with the Oerkin and the merchant while the group in red stood by their own on the side.


    Rathia observed the neers and realized that the red stripes tied on their arms and legs were actually bandages and the red was actually dried blood.


    "I am Imran, leader of the free people here," A youngnky man with sunken cheekbones spoke up. "We wish to trade with you."


    "I am Yohan, leader of the Pact," Another youngster strangely dressed in white robes appeared among the group of red. "They call me the Messiah, We wee you."


    "Eater of Kin!" The Oerkin growled at the side and spat while even the two other looked ufortable.


    "I do not judge you nor pass judgment on your ways, Oerkin," The guy in the unnaturally white robes gently replied. "Do not presume your ways onto us!"


    "Okay, I think everyone has gathered?" Rathia frowned. He was quite put off by the looks given to him and his men by the men in red. Even the merchant and his men and the beggars appeared to be eyeing them hungrily.


    "Leave this ce, soft skin," The Oerkin spoke again, ignoring the looks from the Pact. "There is much evil and suffering here, do not stay here!"


    "No! Sell us your food before you leave!" The merchant cried out. Even the beggars nodded hurriedly. "We need food!"


    "Enough..." The Messiah softly gestured and Kulm and Imran both halted and backed off hurriedly.


    "What is your purpose ining all the way here?" The Messiah asked in a friendly tone. Rathia suppressed a shiver as he noticed the rest of the Messiah''s men that seemed to have a crazed look in their eyes.


    "We are here to find someone," Rathia exined again. "We do not need any trouble, once we are done, we will leave this ce."


    "Oh, that is fine by me," The Messiah smiled. "We wee you, but you have to forgive us for theck of hospitality. We are quitecking in food and other things..."


    "It''s alright," Rathia gave a smile back. "We are willing to share some of our supplies with you all. We will help as much as we could."


    "That would be wonderful!" The Messiah pped his hands together cheerfully like a child, making Tyrier frowned and gripped his sidearm.


    The merchant and the beggar were delighted of course by the offers of food and their men quickly gathered before the Marines who quickly get them into order. They waited impatiently for the Marines to sort out their share of the supplies.


    "Give them what we can spare," Rathia ordered. "Evenly."


    "Even for the weird red guys?" One of the Marines asked. "They creep me out!"


    "Yes, and the Oerkins too!" Rathia ordered.


    Despite the small amount doled out to the survivors, they thanked the Marines and quickly left, afraid that their share would be stolen by another.


    Surprisingly to the Marines, the people of the Pact were not as excited as the rest as they quietly carried the crates of food away without any hints of happiness.


    Turok bowed deeply in appreciation to the aid given, "I thank you, soft skins. But I warn you again, leave this ce immediately. Do not stay here long!"


    "Wait," Rathia stopped the Turok as he was about to leave. "What did you call that guy in white?"


    "Eater of Kin..." Turok repeated with a growl. "Beware of that soft skin."


    "What is an Eater of Kin?" Rathia asked curiously.


    "They feast on the flesh of their own kind, " Turok exined and climbed on to his wolf before leaving with his men.


    "Did I hear it wrongly?" Rathia turned to Tyrier in shock. "Did he say they eat their own kind?"


    Tyrier nodded and cursed. "Farking cannibals... We got farking cannibals here!"


    -----


    The Messiah smiled as the several women tied up were brought before him. He nodded to his right hand man, who gestured to the side and several crates of supplies with the stencil stamped on the side, "Property of the U.N" were carried out.


    The women struggled desperately against their bonds and screamed in their gags as the Pact carried them away towards the cook tents whererge cauldrons of boiling soup bubbled.


    "Send an invitation to our... new friends..." The Messiah smiled. "We are having a wee dinner for them."


    "Yes, Messiah!" His right hand man bowed deeply while crossing his arms over his shoulders in salute.


    "Tell them... we got fresh meat tonight!"

 Chapter 294: An Invitation

    Chapter 294: An Invitation


    Rathia observed the Pact messenger as he stood at the entrance of the temporary campsite of the Marines. The strips of filthy red cloth tied on his arms and legs had dried blood caking the cloth.


    Rathia gestured to the messenger and asked. "Are you wounded?"


    "No, Lord," The messenger replied. "This is a sign of our faith andmitment to the Pact!"


    "What is the Pact?" Rathia asked curiously.


    "The Pact is a vow we made to stay alive," The messenger replied. "The Messiah told us how to live up and not give up!"


    "How did the Messiahe about?" Tyrier asked from the side.


    "HE came to us when we were in darkness!" The messenger feverishly replied. "HE taught us how to live in this cursednd of nothingness! HE gave us a purpose!"


    "A purpose?" Rathia queried. "What kind of purpose?"


    "Its the purpose of all living things!" The messenger exined. "The cycle of life and death!"


    "I see..." Rathia nced at Tyrier. "So what is it your Messiah sent you here?"


    "Oh, the Messiah invites you over to join Him for a meal tonight!" The messenger said. "When the sun sets, the banquet will begin! You are all hereby invited!"


    "Give my thanks to the Messiah," Rathia replied uneasily. "We thank him for his generosity, but we have to decline his goodwill."


    "You reject his invitation?" The messenger''s bloodshot eyes glowered. "I will return to inform him of your choice!"


    "Thanks again!" Rathia called after the departing back of the messenger.


    "What was that all about?" Rathia asked Tyrier who was deep in thought.


    "Something bad..." Tyrier sighed. "Either we are the menu for dinner or they have some ritual that they want us to involuntarily be involved..."


    "They sound like a cult," Rathia frowned.


    "Maybe, but we have no proof other than an Oerkin calling them cannibals..." Tyrier replied. "And I don''t really me them if they turn to cannibalism... They are just people trying to survive in this ce without starving to death..."


    "Damn... Double the guards on duty and to stay on full alert," Rathia ordered. "All personnel to be armed at all times and no one walks outside the camp alone or without permission!"


    "Yes, Sir," Tyrier acknowledged the order. "It''s better to be safe than sorry."


    "Problem now is how do we get into the city ruins to check if our target is truly dead?" Rathia asked. "Looking at the situation here, everything that could be salvaged would have been dug up by the desperate people here..."


    Tyrier nodded. "It''s a bloody mess here. Hopefully, the food we gave out could buy us some goodwill the people here."


    "I wonder how did thingse about to this stage?" Rathia mused. "It''s barely a month since we bombed the city..."


    "Yea... I was here a month ago," Tyrier shrugged. "The world changes fast..."


    "Who do you think we should work with here?" Rathia asked. "I am leaning towards the Oerkin and the Beggar dudes..."


    "I am thinking the same too," Tyrier replied. "The merchant guy seemed... too sleazy for me to trust him without him backstabbing and robbing uster..."


    "But the other three groups all seemed to be afraid of this Messiah guy..." Tyrier added. "Something is not right here..."


    "I think we better call for more supplies to be sent here," Rathia said. "Can''t have all these people starve to death without helping them."


    Tyrier just nodded silently. "Sir, I think we should invite the Oerkin over for some talk..."


    "About what had happened here?" Rathia asked.


    "Yea, I know the Oerkins are wandering nomads that could live off thend," Tyrier frowned. "But apparently this band of Oerkins is staying here. Something isn''t right."


    "That is true..." Rathia nodded. "Alright, send out a fully armed party and invite the Oerkin Chief over for some talk and I want a small scouting party to keep an eye on the Pact..."


    "Got it!"


    -----


    Camp City of the Pact


    A half naked skinny boy bit down hard on the piece of frayed leather as one of the Pact''s Elders skillfully carved off a piece of flesh off his arm. A bowl collected the dripping blood flowing down the boy''s arm.


    He bravely fought back the pain and tears while the Elder lifted the tray with his flesh and thanked the Messiah while chanting, "We eat to live, Live to be eaten!"


    Putting the tray to one side, the Elder took a roll of bandage and quickly wrapped the wound up and cast a simple healing spell. By the time the spell took effect, the strips of cloth had dyed red with the boy''s blood.


    The boy gave a relieved sigh as the spell kicked in and he bowed to the Elder who rubbed the blood''s boy on his arm over the boney body of the boy. "We eat to live, Live to be eaten!"


    "We eat to live, Live to be eaten!"


    After the boy, left the tent, another stepped in and sat down on the vacated stool and bite down on the piece of leather as the Elder cleaned his tools and repeated the ritual.


    "We eat to live, Live to be eaten!"


    -----


    The Messiah waved the messenger away with one hand and sat down on the spartanly furnished tent. His smiled vanished when he was left alone in the tent, "Damn, Oerkins!"


    He did not expect the Oerkin chief to warn these strangers. He was prepared to share the loot of the strangers with the rest once they were lured into his camp.


    "Messiah, it is done!" A voice called from outside the tent.


    "Enter and speak," He quickly schooled his expression and watched the Elders entering the tent.


    "Messiah," The men and women bowed before him. "We have harvested the flesh of the followers ording to your teachings!"


    "Our people shall not starve," The Messiah smiled. "The strangers has declined our kind invitations to join us for the feast."


    The Elders grumbled in displeasure, "How disrespectful of them! We offer them our precious flesh for them to partake, yet they deny our goodwill?"


    "I am sure they did not want to stress our resources," The Messiah replied calmly. "We shall not judge others unreasonably."


    "Your words shame us," The Elders bowed deeply with their hands crossing their chest. "Your grace shall not be forgotten!"


    "No matter," Messiah said. "We shall flesh and dine on meat tonight! We eat to live, Live to be eaten!" "


    "We eat to live, Live to be eaten!"


    "We eat to live, Live to be eaten!"


    Watching the departing Elders, the Messiah started to make ns for the strangers. He exited his tent and saw his people preparing cook fires and carrying huge cauldrons of soup to ce among the center of the camp.


    The freshly harvested flesh was marinated with spices and whatever little herbs they managed to grow and forage on the side by the cooks.


    Others carried a couple of headless and skinned bodies towards the cook fires and set the over the spit. Before long the mouth watering smell of roasted meat wafted over the camp.


    The Messiah smiled and nodded at his people as he watched the ongoings of the preparation of the feast. He felt his tummy growling at the scent of roasted meat and remembered how he once had starved.


    The Pact was started when he realized that no one will save them, except for themselves. The Gods were selfish and ignored the sufferings of the mortals.


    As a ve, due to his looks andplexion, he suffered under the so called nobles who abused him day and night. He had rejoiced when the Serpent destroyed the city and all that had mistreated him.


    He thought his prayers were unanswered but the destruction spread, the Serpent with its unsatiable appetite, feast upon the people till nothing was left.


    He hid under the rubble of his former Master''s once grand manison in the city, together with dozens of other ves and servants.


    They salvaged whatever food there was but the strange hell fires that could not be put out by rain burnt everything down. In the end, he and countless others went hungry for weeks till he gave up his hope on the Gods.


    He watched his closest friend dead in his arms and his friend said something that changed his life totally.


    "Eat my flesh, so that you may live!" His only friend said as he died from a stomach full of grass. "Do not waste my flesh!"


    With tears in his eyes, he cut off strips of wasted flesh from the body of his still warm friend. He cooked the flesh over a small fire and when the first taste of the meat on his tongue, he felt reborn.


    It tasted heavenly to him after weeks of eating weeds and the rare asional caught mice. The smell of his cooking soon brought others to his campfire and he shared the meat out to the others.


    The people were grateful for his meat butter they found out that the meat came from one of their own, some balked at the thought of cannibalism.


    Others looked upon him for guidance as he preached about the unfairness of this world and how the weak were prey. Soon a small following of the survivors joined him and he created the Pact, a vow to live on regardless of how.


    Flesh from their own bodies was sliced away to feed each other, thus allowing their survival in this cursednd. Parents wanting their children to survive, willingly offered their flesh to him, so that their children have a filled belly.


    Over the weeks, his influence grew and so did his notoriety among the survivors that could not ept cannibalism.


    Despite the city being burnt down, there were still many useful things to be salvaged out and used. This led to multiple territory fights over the rights of salvage in the city and soon, four factions emerged from the ruins.


    One of them was the Pact, whom members feared no death and were physically stronger due to having a constant supply of protein. The once powerful Oerkins had most of their men decimated fighting against the Serpent and their camp was a collection of womenfolk, old, young, and weak.


    In the end, the four factions agreed to split the city up with the Pact controlling most of the city''s salvage rights.


    The Messiah sat down overlooking the circr grounds where hundreds of his people gathered around the cookfires, waiting for his word.


    "As all of you have heard and seen," He spoke and a hush settled over the hungry crowd. "We have new friends from afar. We have extended our friendship to them but they denied our offers to join us here tonight!"


    The crowd growled in anger at the slight to their Messiah.


    "Do not feel angry, my people," The Messiah smiled. The setting sun behind his back made his glow like some kind of God. "We could only help those that are willing to be helped!"


    "Now, let the feast begin!" He rosed both hands into the sky and chanted together with hundreds of hungry mouths.


    "We eat to live! Live to be eaten!"


    "We eat to live! Live to be eaten!"


    "We eat to live! Live to be eaten!"


    -----


    Hitsu, Young, and Wolf dressed in ghillie suitsid prone over a small rise that overlooked to the camp of the Pact.


    They remained unmoving and watched the ongoings of the feast and once in a while, the breeze carried over the tantalising scent of roasted meat.


    "Damn, I am hungry!" Hitsu mumbled as he observed the BBQ partying going on.


    "Seriously?" Young sighed. "You do know what they are cooking down there right?"


    "Meat?" Wolf replied curiously. "Smells good!"


    "Shit..." Young closed his eyes as he swallowed down the bile threatening to spew out of his mouth. "Look at the center of the gather... see those... two... things getting BBQed?"


    "Yea?" Hitsu and Wolf both replied as they tracked their binocrs to the spot Young directed.


    "That my friends, is a person skinned, gutted, and quartered over the spit!"

 Chapter 295: Eaters of Kin

    Chapter 295: Eaters of Kin


    "I''m feeling sick..." Hitsu whimpered as heid t on the grass. "You guys keep watch..."


    "Hey!" Young jabbed Hitsu''s side. "No cking off!"


    "This is that moment that Doctor likes to say right?" Hitsu sighed. "A sanity check moment..."


    "I know its bad..." Young hissed. "But we need to keep tabs on them!"


    "Hey Wolf," Hitsu poked the younger soldier on the side. "You alright?"


    Wolf wiped the sides of his mouth after he vomited out the contents of his stomach. He swilled the contents of his water canteen and spat out on the side. "Damn, I lost all my appetite!"


    Hitsu sighed and poked his head up and continued to observe the ongoings of the party in the camp. The barbecue party was in full swing with the members of the Pact grilling pieces of meat from trays and the grotesque meats being spit roasted slowly over the mes.


    A couple of figures were slowly turning the body over the mes while another constantly applied some kind of sauce over the meat constantly.


    "Damn... I feel sick..." Hitsu gagged as the smell of Wolf''s vomit drifted over mixed with the aroma of the barbecue. "My head hurts..."


    "Shhh!" Young suddenly whispered urgently. "Something is up!"


    "What?" Hitsu and Wolf both jolted alertly and peered over the rise at the camp.


    A group of figures armed with ming brands had left the camp from quietly. "Looks like there roughly, a hundred men in that group!" Youngmented.


    The group marched with a purpose and headed straight towards the trio''s hidden observation post. "Shit... did they discover us?" Hitsu whispered as he readied his weapon.


    "No... they are heading towards our base!" Young hissed. "Call the base!"


    "Outpost to Hotel!" Wolf hurried radioed back. "Outpost to Hotel! You got iing ground forces! Do you copy?"


    "Hotel, confirm hostiles approaching our location?" The radio replied.


    "Outpost, estimated one zero zero tangos heading your way," Wolf peered over the rise to see the torching bearing mob passing their hidden post. "Intentions unknown! Over!"


    "Hotel, roger that," Base replied. "Continue observation, Hotel out."


    "SHhhh!" Young grabbed Wolf and pulled him down lower to the ground. "They spotted us! Turn off the radio!"


    Wolf quickly turned the knob on his radio set, turning the volume off andid still as footsteps could be heard approaching. Soon the glow of several torches lit the area around them as the members of the Pact walked over to investigate.


    "Are you sure you heard something?" One of the Pact asked. "Or is it your stomach growling?"


    "No! I am sure I heard someone talking here!" Another voice cried out. "I am certain someone is here!"


    "But we don''t see anything at all!" A third voice called out. "There''s nothing here!"


    "Spread out and search," The first voice spoke again. "Hurry up!"


    Wolf gently eased his rifle butt to his shoulder and peeked out from under his ghillie suit. He saw two members of the Pact sweeping their ming brands left and right as they tried to see their surroundings.


    He lowered his breathing and stayed still as possible as the two walked closer and closer to their location.


    "You see anything?" One of the men asked.


    "Its darker than a witch''s heart here!" The othermented as they stopped just a foot away from Wolf''s position.


    "Let''s go!" The first man said. "Can''t imagine anyone out here at this time."


    "Wait, I need to go," The other man said while handing his torch over and he pulled down his pants. "Wait for me."


    "Hurry it up," The other said. "The rest are waiting and we have some business to settle with the strangers!"


    The smell of ammonia soon drifted up to Wolf who started to breathe through his mouth. Drops of urine sttered on to him and he kept still, ignoring the smell and the warm wet sensation.


    "Done!" The man shooked himself and pulled his pants up. Suddenly he paused and double checked himself as he stared directly at the bush before him. Something about the bush felt wrong and he felt a tingle of danger emitting out from it.


    "Hey..." The man waved for his buddy toe over. "There is something... str-!!?"


    Wolf suddenly burst up from his prone position and rammed his bay directly into the heart while the other hand covered the mouth. Young at the side, leaped up almost simultaneously and grabbed the falling body to prevent it from hitting the ground and making any noise.


    Together they dragged the body in and rolled it down the rise. "Shit, he spotted me..." Wolf whispered.


    Young raised a hand to silence Wolf as they both waited for the other person''s reaction.


    "Hey? Ruism?" The man called out for his missing friend. "Where did you go?"


    He peered into the darkness and swung both torches left and right, trying to find his friend who had suddenly gone missing. Just as he was about to shout, a shadow pranced upon him and an eight inch de slipped into his heart.


    Hitsu grabbed the suddenly limp body before it hit the ground and gentlyid it down on the grass. "Kill the lights!" He whispered urgently to Young and gestured in the darkness for Wolf to help him with the body.


    Hitsu and Wolf carried the body and set it down next to the other body while Young doused the torches. "Shit, now what?" Wolf asked as he rinsed his arm where he got sshed with urine.


    "I don''t think they know anything yet!" Hitsu replied as he looked over the rise. "Yup, they are moving on. I think they missed them! I don''t think they are able to keep track of everyone in such a big group and in the dark."


    "We need to move the bodies somewhere and relocation," Young said. "Can''t risk them finding us now especially with two of their dead with us and the blood would attract unwanted attention!"


    "Well, at least, there are two lesser cannibals here," Wolf grinned as he helped carry one of the bodies away. "I wonder what they are up to..."


    -----


    Camp Hotel


    "HALT!" The Marine sentry yelled out at the approaching torch wielding group. "What is your purpose here?"


    "We are here to invite your Lords to our feast!" One of the torch wielding men stepped forward. "I am Samu, one of the Elders of the Pact."


    "Wait here," The sentry said before he stepped back and radioed a report to themand vehicle.


    Samu eyed the half dozen sentries visible under the glow of the torches and frowned at the defenses.


    An earthen wall taller than a person had sprung up around the campsite and seemed to have been built with magic. At certain points of the wall, Samu could see the silhouette of a sentry standing watch illuminated by an unnatural glow that wasn''t made by fire.


    Silently, he cursed, wondering if he could seed in luring these group of people out of their camp and into their trap. These strangers seemed to wield strong magic if they were able to construct a wall around their camp in less than a day! He has to be careful with them!


    Not longter, the sentry spoke, "Sir, my Officer is on the way to speak with you."


    Samu gave his friendliest smile and tried to make small talk with the guards, hoping to glean some information about their origins but to his fury, the guards ignored his questions and only responded by telling him to direct his questions to their officer.


    Frustrated, he retreated back to his men and glowered at the guards, while mentally thinking of what recipes to use on them.


    Rathia appeared at the main gate and waved away the salutes of the sentries. "You are looking for me?" He addressed the leader of the group.


    "I am Samu, an Elder of the Pact!" Samu crossed his arms over his chest and bowed. "I like to extend an invitation to you and your men to join us for our feast!"


    Rathia frowned, "Your messenger came earlier today and I have told him to inform your Messiah that we are thankful for the invitation but we have prior matters to attend to hence we could only thank your Messiah for his generous offer."


    "Lord Rathia," Samu stepped forward and lowered his voice. "The truth is that the Messiah wishes to speak privately to you regarding the matters of the area here."


    "If that is so, why the pretense?" Rathia folded his arms together. "Why all the secrecy?"


    "As you have seen," Samu exined. "There are three other factions here not including the Pact. With the limited resources here, we have to ensure we are one step ahead of the others to ensure the survival of our people we have sworn to protect!"


    "That sounds noble," Rathia''s eyes narrowed. "But why should I listen to someone who eats the flesh of his own people?"


    Samu stepped back in surprise but he quickly recovered. "Is it from that Oerkin? How could you trust the word of a ver?"


    "Well, so far all the Oerkins I know are quite honorable!" Rathia snapped. "And I have my sources, I don''t need an Oerkin to tell me what I need to know!"


    "You rather side with the Oerkins than with your own race?" Samu hissed in anger. "Traitors!"


    "I would rather stand with the Oerkins than join you in cannibalism!" Rathia roared. "I give you a chance now to leave now!"


    "TRAITORS!" Samu screamed, his bloodshot eyes bugling out. "SELFISH SCUMSSSS!"


    The members of the Pact suddenly surged forward following the screams of their Elder, brandishing their ming torches and crude weapons aggressively and chanted loudly, "WE EAT TO LIVE! LIVE TO BE EATEN!!"


    Rathia stepped back while drawing his service revolver out, "Men! Make ready!"


    "HAAARR!" The Marines roared aggressively back at the mob while shouldering their weapons.


    For a moment both sides stared at each other in an intense standoff when suddenly an Oerkin appeared from within the Marines'' camp.


    "TRAITOR TO THE PEOPLE!" Samu screamed again when he saw the Oerkin appeared behind Rathia.


    "You have sided with the Oerkins! YOU MUST DIE!"


    The mob charged forward screaming for blood as Samu screamed for them to attack. "WE LIVE TO EAT!! LIVE TO BE EATEN!!!"


    "FIREEE!" Rathia roared as the other side charged forward and almost instantly, he was nearly deafened by the thunderous barks of the Marines'' rifles.


    Flickers of muzzle shes and bullet tracers stabbed out into the night at the frenzied mob and bodies fell. Rathia squeezed off his revolver almost point nk at Samu who toppled down to his knees with a surprised expression as he cupped his chest wound before he bled out.


    Not a single member of the Pact retreated despite the devastating barrage of rifle fire. They screamed wildly and charged into the rifle fire and died where they fell.


    "Cease fire! CEASE FIRE!" Rathia yelled and the gunfire died down to reced with whimpers and cries of pain of the dying. "Check the bodies!"


    "Your weapons... very powerful!" Turok, Chief of the Oerkins, said. "Much powerful than ours!"


    Rathia nced at the unfired hand cannon in Turok''s hand and nodded. "Of course, it was after all one of our own traitor who made and sold that weak copy to you all."


    Turok looked at his own firearm and sighed before sticking it back into his waistband. "With weapons as powerful as yours, the world is in your hands."


    Turok crouched down next to the body of the Pact''s Elder and closed the eyes. He whispered an Oerkin prayer for the Elder''s soul before he stood up and faced Rathia.


    "Your promise..." Turok asked seriously. "Will you truly honor it?"


    "Of course," Rathia nodded. "You have my word and the word of a nation."


    "We Oerkin are willing to serve your... United Nations, if you promised to save my people!"

 Chapter 296: The Night Is Still Young

    Chapter 296: The Night Is Still Young


    The Messiah swallowed the greasy strip of grilled meat offered to him with relish. He watched the squirming female bonded and gagged to a rock stab been carved up by the Elders and grilling the meat over the fire like a live bbq station.


    Some of his people were dancing and singing to the musical instruments either salvaged or handcrafted. He smiled at the scene, totally oblivious to the suffering and dying female before him.


    Suddenly, continuous thunder could be heard rumbling away in the distant. He frowned as he was pretty sure the skies were clear earlier in the evening. He ignored the storm as females members of his Pact invited him to dance with them.


    Just as he was enjoying himself, his men suddenly appeared beside him and whispered the news of his people getting massacred by the strangers.


    He stopped his revelry and stormed off towards his tent with his men in tow. "What exactly happened?" He asked as he entered his tent.


    "Elder Samu left with his cadre to invite the strangers to our feast..." The man reported. "He wanted to trap them here with all our people... but somehow they failed and a battle started."


    "How many people did Elder Samu brought along?" The Messiah was surprised at the turn of events.


    "Over a hundred..." The messenger said. "None returned."


    "Over a hundred of our people?" The Messiah stood up and shouted in anger. "ALL DEAD?"


    "Yes, Messiah," The man replied. "The strangers appeared to either have the help of the Oerkins with their thunder smoke weapons or they possessed simr weapons!"


    "What?" The Messiah paced around his tent as his mind processed the news. "Those savages!"


    "Since they forced our hand..." The Messiah''s expression darkened. "Send word to the other two factions. Tell them to attack the Oerkin and I will cede to them control of a water point each!"


    His Pact has controlled all the usable wells and most of the region of the ruins. All parties must pay in warm bodies and most of the time, they demanded youngsters as their flesh was more tender.


    "Go! Burn and feast on the Oerkins, my children! Destroy them all!"


    -----


    Turok, Chieftain of the Wolfmasters n after the demise of his father, now the leader of all the remaining Oerkin ns, sat on the barricade made out of earth filled sacks and watched the strangers sort out the bodies of the Pact. He came alone under the invitation of these ... Mar-eens as they called themselves.


    The leader of this small but powerful force had enquired about the events that had happened here. Seeing no point to conceal anything, Turok had exined how his nsmen fought against the Great Evil and in return, the majority of their forces had been decimated.


    Least than a tenth of the warriors survived, while almost every shaman had burnt up their life force to find against the Great Evil. Even all the ancestral warriors were defeated by the Great Evil in the end.


    If Turok had not ordered the remaining forces to scatter, he doubts there could be any survivors against the Great Evil.


    What remained of the Oerkins'' major ns were a bunch of young, old, and weak while other lesser ns and tribes were scattered all over the ins. They had banded together under the suggestion of Turok who managed to survive the battle.


    Now, the Head Chieftain of all the remaining Oerkin ns, he was ced in a position of the great responsibility that he once craved for. But he realized with such great responsibility, eery action or order he made could lead to the deaths of hundreds of his remaining kinsman.


    While the scarce amount of resources in the area and the majority of the creatures been frightened off by the great battle that urred here, his people struggled to survive in this cursednd.


    They were better offpared to the soft skins as they knew the ways of the ins. He wanted his people to head off to better grounds, but the travel will kill many of the young, weak and old.


    He did not have the heart to abandon the weak and old even when they volunteered to do so for the greater good of the Oerkins.


    In the end, he and his people stayed on, making the best use of their skills to hunt for food and gather water while defending an uneasy truce with the hostile Pact and the ex ves.


    He was grateful to these strangers who gave him people some of their supplies of food, despite it barely able to feed all his people for a day or two.


    When Rathia the leader of the Mar-eens offered him an option for the salvation of his people, he was worried that it might be a trap by these Mar-eens and their United Nations.


    But after seeing the power of their weaponry, inside his heart, he knew he found the answer for his race survival and he pledged his service to them in exchange for saving his people.


    Suddenly a wind wolf bearing a rider rode up to the gate and the guards stopped the rider. "Halt! State your business!"


    "Me bear critical news to my Chief!" The young Oerkin rider panted as he hopped down from the back of the wolf. "Need see chief at once! Much importance!''


    "I am here?" Turok walked over quickly. "What urgent news you bear?"


    "The Pact and the other factions!" The message bearer cried out. "They are attacking us!"


    Turok jerked his head up and turned to look towards the direction of his people. He vaguely could hear some rumbling of thunder but he hasn''t paid much attention to it before and his face paled. "We need to return at once! Wait here!"


    Turok turned and found Rathia directing his men at one corner. "Lord Rathia! I must leave at once! My people are under attack by the Pact!"


    "What?" Rathia paused at his work and looked at Turok in surprise. "Can your people hold them off?"


    "If it is just the Pact," Turok nodded. "Yes. But if the other two groups join forces with the Pact. Maybe yes, maybe no..."


    "I will send some men to help you then!" Rathia quickly made a decision.


    "But... your men..." Turok eyed the small number of troops in the camp.


    "Don''t you worry about them!" Rathia gestured to his aide at his side. "We are allies after all, and we don''t leave our allies behind!"


    -----


    Oerkin Camp


    BAAAM!


    A mightly sh stabbed out into the darkness followed by arge dirty cloud of smelly smoke. The surprised face of a charging elf was lit up momentarily, his expression showing shock and pain as the bullet of therge caliber hand cannon of the Oerkin mmed into the elf, sending him flying back with arge hole in his body.


    As if the firing of the hand cannon was a beacon, dozens of fist sized rubble were thrown at the muzzle sh hammering at the Oerkin who fired. He yelped in pain as he was peppered with dozens of stone flung by the mob besieging his camp.


    The Oerkin fell back behind the wooden stockade under the heavy rock barrage while other Oerkins bearing shields came up to help shelter their brethren.


    This method of attack continued on, and the Oerkins defenders barely a hundred strong couldn''t stop the flood of elves rushing up to the wooden walls and hacking away with felling axes.


    Soon breaches along the wall appeared and mass of elves cheered wildly and rushed into the camp. The Oerkins tried to stop the attackers and bravely counter charged in the thick of the mob, their heavy melee weapons sending body parts and blood flying into the night air.


    "KILL! KILL! KILL!" The mob screamed for the blood of the Oerkins while the Oerkins gave ground slowly and steadily, reaping a great price against the attacks for each foot of ground given up.


    Bloodstained the grasnds as the people vented all their frustrations, fear, hatred onto the Oerkins. One Oerkin swinging a great ax in the middle of the mob had a rock mming into his left eye, stunning him for a second.


    It gave an opening to the mob as they surged in with crude des and sharpened sticks, stabbing at the bellowing Oerkin till he disappeared under the crowd and someone hacked his head off and leaped upon a pile of logs waving the grisly trophy for everyone to see.


    The mob feeling empowered, screaming in ecstasy at the sight of the Oerkin head and pushed hard against the defenders. "KILL! KILL! KILL!"


    Pressed from all sides, the remnants of the Oerkins fell back to the young and old. The Oerkin young and women folk piled crates and any objects they could get their hands on and created a barely adequate ring of barriers between themselves and the surging mob.


    Surrounded by a ring of crazed bloodlust mob who constantly pelt the defenders with stones gathered from their surroundings, the remaining Oerkin warriors bravely weathered the missiles to protect their families.


    Suddenly the mob parted and person in white robes nked by members of the Pact in red appeared and a hush fell upon the mob.


    "My friends, we now stand at the point in history where we will be remembered by all," The Messiah''s mellow voice spoke clearly and loudly for everyone to hear. Those further at the rear had his words repeated by the persons at the front. "These vile Oerkins has tormented us for years. Treating us like animals and to be whipped and beaten upon their whims."


    "Now we cast off the yoke of their tyranny and reim our pride as people of thend!" His voice rose higher. "Today, we regain our freedom from the chains of Oerkin tyranny!"


    "KILL! KILL! KILL!" The mob chanted as one as they stepped forward with each chant of, "Kill!"


    The Messiah smiled under the glow of the burning brands held by the mob around him and ordered, "Kill them! Burn them! Destroy them! FOR THE PEOPLE! FOR OUR FREEEEEDOOOOM!"


    "KILL! KILL! KILL!" The people filled with bloodlust charged forward and screamed wildly as they ripped the crudely built barricades down with their bare hands, ignoring the hacks and shes of the defenders. "KILL! KILL! KILL!"


    The Messiah''s smiled became wider as he watched the people hurl themselves with care at the Oerkins, dragging any unfortunate Oerkin out from their flimsy ring of defense, where the mob tore the unfortunate Oerkin up.


    He suddenly frowned as he felt a shift in the tension of the air. He turned his head to one side where a different kind of scream sounded and the mob suddenly paused in their attacks as they turned their attention to the cause.


    A sudden thunderous roar erupted from the side and the screams intensified. Panic appeared to spread like ripples on water and the mob pushed away from the source, revealing a pair of monstrous glowing eyes that appeared to lit up the entire area!


    Dozens and dozens of broken bodiesid before the pair of eyes that blinded anyone looking directly at it. Suddenly something growled and rumbled as more pairs of glowing eyes appeared from the dark and they all eyed the frightened mob.


    The mob screamed as they saw more monsters appearing from out of the dark and broke. They dropped whatever they were holding and scrambled away from the monsters in fear, all thoughts of murder gone instantly.


    The Messiah''s eyes widened as he stared at the monster eyes glowing in the darkness. He shivered excitedly and felt his manhood hardened as he stared back at the blinding lights. He spread his arms wide out in wee andughed madly, just as thunderous roars and flickers of fiery darts burst out from the heads of the monsters chasing the running mob and lighting up the entire area.


    "LIVE TO EAT! LIVE TO BE EATEN!"

 Chapter 297: Airdrop supplies

    Chapter 297: Airdrop supplies


    Rathia stepped off the jeep and surveyed his surroundings. Abandoned burning torchesid hap hazardously all around, casting an orange glow to the area while bloodied bodies of people and Oerkins remained where they had fallen.


    "Much thanks, Lord Rathia!" A trembling voice spoke from behind Rathia. "You save my people!"


    Turok cautiously climbed off the wonderous magic carriage and kneeled down before Rathia. "I pledge my soul to your service, Lord Rathia!"


    "Oh, get up!" Rathia tugged at the arm of the Oerkin twice his size. "And stop calling me Lord! I work for a living!"


    Turok stood up and gave a deep bow before he ran off to find his kin as they stood behind the barricades staring the neers.


    "Sir!" A Marine reported. "The enemy is in full retreat!"


    "Have our boys fall back here," Rathia ordered. "And assist the Oerkins. Give them whatever aid we could spare!"


    "Yes, Sir!" The Marine ran and started yelling orders to the rest.


    "Lieutenant!" Tyrier called out and waved Rathia over. He crouched over a body and poked it with his rifle as Rathia came over. "Well, looks like our Messiah has met his match."


    Rathia peered down at the eagle spread figure with a couple of gunshot wounds on his chest. The Messiah''s eyes were open and he had died with a smile on his face. "This guy is crazy, but now with him gone and his Pact scattered all over, they should die out by themselves."


    "Let''s hope they do," Tyrier covered the face of the Messiah and closed his dead eyes. "Problem now is how to deal with the remaining factions."


    "Oh, once they find out that we were involved in saving the Oerkins," Rathia looked out over to the ruins. "They wille running to us without a doubt."


    "Hmmm..." Tyrier nodded. "And the Oerkins? You gonna bring them back to Orwell''s Point?"


    "Why not?" Rathia asked back. "Can''t let them all die here. And besides, their race bing this sad is also in part our fault."


    "You mean those asshole hoomans'' faults?" Tyrier''s eyes narrowed angrily. "We did what we did to ensure our people''s safety in the future!"


    "Well, isn''t that what Turok is trying to achieve now too?" Rathia replied.


    Tyrier kept silent as he considered Rathia''s word. "You are right, but it still wasn''t our fault that all these came about. They had iting when they joined those traitors."


    Rathia sighed as Tyrier walked off and spoke softly, "But we bombed the shit out of this ce and unleashed a great evil here..."


    Shaking his head, he wandered off to find Turok to see what help he needs while the rest of the Marines policed up the area. "How bad is it?"


    Turok was crouched next to one of his dead kinsman whose body was badly mutted by the murderous mob earlier. He stood up and said, "Too many of my kin have died tonight..."


    "But the old, young, and weak were spared," Turok sighed tiredly. "Much thanks on your part."


    "What are your ns for your people?" Rathia asked.


    Turok looked at the tired expressions of his people and he let out a growl of frustration. "My people need food, shelter, and safety..."


    "I had pledged my service to you," Turok said. "But my people need to be safe before I canmit my honor."


    "Why don''t your people follow us?" Rathia directly asked. "Your people will be weed with us, as long as they don''t break anyws."


    "Really?" Turok seemed to hesitate. "But we barely have enough food to travel for even a week!"


    "Don''t worry about supplies," Rathia assured the Oerkin. "As long as you can convince your people to follow us, we can make it back just fine."


    Turok scratched his head and raised his thick fingers. "But we have... six... ten... tens of people!"


    "Six ten ten?" Rathia looked at Turok''s finger gestures. "Six hundred?"


    "Yes, yes!" Turok nodded. "How can you feed them?"


    "No worries!" Rathia grinned. "Let me show you the power of our UN!"


    The next day, as the sun reached the zenith of the sky, a low rumbling could be heard. Rathia stood next to the Marine sentry at the edge of their camp and looked out towards the northwestern skies.


    Next, to the Marine camp, dozens and dozens of leather tents had sprung up overnight as the Oerkin people relocated their base next to the Marines for safety. Turok found Rathia staring out into the sky and wondered what was he daydreaming about.


    "What is that?" Turok asked Rathia who continued to watch the iing aircraft. "Is... that..."


    Turok''s eyes widened as he remembered the same noise was heard before the city was attacked. "We must take shelter! Those flying creatures will burn down this whole ce!"


    "Rx," Rathia stopped Turok from running off. "Those are our people."


    "Those flying creatures are yours?" Turok''s eyes narrow in suspicion. "Did you attack the city?"


    Rathia nodded and started to exin what had actually happened and why the city was attacked. Turok listened quietly at the tale and when Rathia finished, he asked. "Now you know the truth, what will you do?"


    "I have pledged my service to you," Turok gave a shrug. "What has been done, has been done. We no longer have the strength as we once had."


    "And we Oerkin might be stubborn," Turok grinned. "But we not stupid! You have great power, we Oerkin cannot win!"


    "If we cannot win the enemy," Turok gave a bark ofughter. "We join the enemy! Whahahahaa!"


    At this point of time, the droning noise grew louder and two dark silvery appeared in the skies. Their appearance caused some panic among the Oerkin and Turok had to go settle them down.


    The two FB - 1 Mariners, flew past the Marine base and circled around while one of the Marines on the ground popped a red smoke grenade on the t nearby fields. The two bombers turned cargo nes, wagged their wings as in acknowledgment and they flew over the smoke.


    A couple of ck objects dropped out from underneath the aircraft as they flew over the smoke and parachutes appeared. The aircraft continued to circle back to drop more parachutes before it flew over the Marine base and gave a salute by wagging their wings before they flew back to Orwell''s Point.


    A total of twelve pallets of supplies were dropped out from the nes. Triple parachutes deployed out from the pallets gently floated the supplies down on to the ground while waiting teams of Marines secured the billowing parachute silks and ensured the contents of the pallets were not damaged.


    "Sir," One of the Marines jogged up to Rathia and reported. "We got some minor spige on three of the supplies pallets but most of the spilled stuff are grains. If we can get some manpower from the Oerkins, we can secure the supplies in an hour."


    "Turok," Rathia turned to the ogling Oerkin next to him. "Can your people here move the food under shelter?"


    Turok nodded hurriedly and he quickly ran off and bellowed at the gawking crowd of Oerkins for them to go help the Ma-reens carry the food.


    "Sir," Another Marine appeared next to Rathia. "We got some representatives from the ruined city here to see you, Sir."


    "Got it," Rathia nodded. "Let them wait, I will be there shortly."


    In the end, Rathia purposely let the representatives from the two factions sweat inside the tent for over half an hour before he strolled in with Sergeant Tyrier.


    "Good afternoon, gentlemen!" Rathia greeted the red faced merchant and the shallow faced leader of the survivors. "What can I do for you?"


    "We..." Both of the leaders looked at each other and the beggar looking guy quickly said. "We wish to say, we have absolutely no involvement with the attacks on the Oerkins!"


    The merchant bobbed his head rapidly in agreement. "I was asleepst night when the Messiah... attacked the Oerkins! It was tillter that we found out and we decided toe here to rify everything with you."


    Rathia sneered inwardly. It was more like they found out how powerful our weapons werepared to the Oerkins and how we defeated the Messiah and the Pact in one night that they decided toe to beg for their lives.


    "Really?" Rathia put a frown on his face. "But I seemed to recall seeing people from both your factions getting involved..."


    "Impossible!" The two leaders'' faces paled. "There must be a mistake somewhere..."


    "Enough," Rathia was tired of the charade. "Now, I have two choices for you here."


    "One, you continue your pretense that you rule here," Rathia stated sternly. "You can keep on rotting away here in thisnd."


    "Two, you submit to my authority," Rathia stared at the two leaders intently. "And I will bring you and your people out of this hell hole."


    "What will you choose?" Rathia simply asked.


    "I... chose to follow your leadership!" The leader of the survivors quickly submitted and he quickly kneeled down and bowed. "My Lord!"


    "And you?" Rathia turned to the red faced merchant. "What will you choose?"


    "I... shall follow your rule, my Lord!" The merchant too kneeled down and bowed.


    "Good, now return to your people," Rathia stood up. "Gather everything necessary for a long journey over the ins. Abandon everything that is not of use or deadweight."


    "We are traveling across the ins?" Both men looked shocked. "But we barely have any supplies to make the trip!"


    "Don''t you worry about supplies," Rathia ordered. "Gather your people now!"


    It was nearly evening when two groups of elves approached the Marines camp warily. The Marines using powerful floodlights quickly brought the people into order and arranged them into easily manageable groups of a hundred people each with amunity leader in charge of each group.


    Next, each group was told to line up and given a bowl of steaming porridge made from the airdropped supplies where they quickly wolfed down in hunger. Once they finished the food, they were directed to wash the bowls and another group came in for dinner.


    "Tyrier," Rathia sat in themand truck and called out to the ymore One squad leader. "Tomorrow, I want you to take your men and check out the ruins for any tech and whether our missing target is still alive. I can only spare you one section of Marines to help you."


    Tyrier nodded. "Yes, Sir, I will brief the men."


    When Tyrier left, Rathia sighed at the numbers on the paper. It was a census of the number of people here currently. There were one thousand eight hundred and nine elves and six hundred twenty three Oerkins.


    Out of that number, there were five hundred elves and two hundred Oerkins below the age of sixteen. Almost everyone had some form of malnutrition and will not survive the trip back to Orwell''s Point if he returned now. He probably needs a week for everyone to recover their strength before they could make the journey.


    This means the Air Force has to constantly resupply them with food and each aircraft could only drop the most a ton worth of food. A ton of grains could only roughly feed two thousand people for a day. And if the Air Force could only drop two tons each trip, he needs other ways to supplement their diet if they were to travel towards Orwell''s Point.


    Water shouldn''t be an issue now as the Pact has been scattered unless they poisoned the groundwater. But when they start traveling, they too will need water resupplies from the Air Force if they couldn''t find any sources of water.


    I better get Turok to help n the route back to Orwell''s Point, thought Rathia, since they are more experienced traveling and living in the ins.


    And hopefully, nothing major urs back at Orwell''s Point that will force the Air Force to unable to resupply us!

 Chapter 298: Stand Off

    Chapter 298: Stand Off


    Shard River, North of Orwell''s Point


    Dozens of barges nested against the sandy banks of the river as teams of workers unloaded equipment and supplies off the barges while being overseen by Marines. Trucks and jeeps slowly and carefully rolled off the ramps of the barges and drove off to marshaling points.


    Marines with earth affinity rapidly loosen the earth so that the others could easily dig up the soil to create a trenchwork. A small army of foresters fell away the surrounding trees creating clearnes of fire and using the material to create barricades.


    Coils of barb wire originally used to fort the city were deployed in front of the trenches, creating an interweaving barrier of razor wire.


    Marine Signalers installed poles of transmitters and buried hundreds and hundreds of meters of cabling for the army''smunication, linking them all to the mainmand bunker that was being popted with equipment.


    Above the mad frenzy of preparations, a sole dragonzily pped its wings and glided gracefully watching over the area.


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold, CO''s Office


    "Enter!" Joseph replied to the knock on his office door which swung open and two bulky Orc Marines had to lower their heads as they entered the office while escorting the prisoners in.


    Lady Titanna sat anxiously on one of the chairs before Joseph, leaped in hurried as she saw the two prisoners being brought in. "Brother! Judis!"


    The two prisoners were dressed in a striking bright orange prisoner uniform while their hands were cuffed to a chain that further linked to the cuffs on both their feet. They both wore an anti magic cor and under the restraints of the cuffs, they could only shuffle their feet into the room.


    "Sit!" Joseph gestured to the chairs before him and the two Orc Marines shoved them down on the chairs before Joseph dismissed them out of his office.


    "How do you like your amodations?" Joseph teased them as he grinned at the hate filled expressions of the two prisoners.


    "Release us at once!" Tidus roared. "You bastards will gravely regret your actions today!"


    "Enough!" Knight Captain Judis hissed, he was sweating slightly and had a pastryplexion as he just barely recovered from his ordeal two days ago. "What do you want?"


    "Oh, since we now have the eldest Miss and youngest Master of Rothschild," Joseph''s gave a wide smile. "I think the ransom has to be renegotiated!"


    "Pigs!" Tidus sneered as he sat on the chair. He felt deeply humiliated as he was half drunk when he got hit by a lightning spell that made him disgraced himself by urinating over his robes. "You are all a bunch of greedy pigs!"


    "Well, your daddy is the rich one here," Joseph continued to smile and gave a shrug. "Why not?"


    "You!" Tidus rosed from his chair in anger.


    "Sit down!" Judis barked and Tidus gave a humph before he settled down again. "How much more?"


    "Since the asking price for Lady Titanna is at ten thousand ves..." Joseph winked. "Well, he can''t be lower than that right?"


    "Another ten thousand ves?" Judis''s eyes widened. "You really are greedy!"


    "Ten? I was thinking fifteen thousand total," Josephughed. "And that is not counting the rest of the delegation, including your ransom!"


    "Fifteen thousand?" Titanna gasped. "You want to exchange the two of us for a total of twenty five thousand ves?"


    "TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND SLAVES?" Tidus choked. "Why don''t you go and rob the Emperor himself!"


    "Eh.. in a way we are robbing the Emperor," Joseph pointed out. "By depleting the resources of Rothschild..."


    Tidus paused and grimaced and he shut his mouth and returned to ring daggers at Joseph.


    "The Rothschild might be rich, but..." Judis shook his head. "Asking for twenty five thousand ves is impossible. The city and the neighboring region farms and mines will copse due tock of worker ves!"


    "Than," Joseph gave a shrug. "You all will remain as our guests for longer!"


    "Lord Joseph!" Titanna suddenly spoke up. "Please let me negotiate with my father! I can be certain toe to an agreement between us that does not need any more bloodshed!"


    "Hmph!" Tidus snorted. "Thinking of your own skin?"


    Titanna frowned and she ignored her brother''s biting words. "I know the strength of your soldiers. You can easily destroy a force ten, twenty times your size."


    "I do not want more blood on my side," Titanna admitted and she lowered her head. "Please let me talk to my father. People will not have to die needlessly."


    "Where is your honor?" Tidus stood up angrily. "Where is your pride as a Rothschild? Have the dogs ate it? Why are you bowing down to this barbarian?"


    SMACK! Titanna red at Tidus as a palm print slowly reddened on his pale skin. He stared at her and opened and closed his mouth in shock.


    "They can destroy the entire Knights of Silver in one night!" Titanna growled at the stunned Tidus whos cuffed hands couldn''t even reach up to rub his stinging face. "What can twenty or even forty thousand regr soldiers do?"


    Tidus sat quietly as he slowly digested the news.


    "How can you be sure they are all destroyed?" Judis asked in a questioning tone.


    "Because... I have seen the bodies while the two of you were knocked out and tossed into the dungeon!" Titanna''s voice pitched higher. "All the Knights that you are so proud of... DEAD!"


    "What do you think will happen to the region if thend barons and nobles knew that the only power that kept them in line is totally destroyed?" Titanna slumped down on her chair in defeat.


    "My gods..." Tidus''s face turned paler. "They... They will revolt!"


    "YES!" Titanna nodded. "The only force that glues the region together will fall apart!"


    "And if the troops were deployed..." Judis grimaced. "Thend barons will take the chance to grab for power!"


    Joseph gave a polite cough and smiled coldly when the trio had his attention. "Now that is all none of my problems. The issue now is you broke the parley and attempted to murder everyone. So forgive me if I give any balls of what will happen to your home."


    "All I know is that your people will have to pay uppensation and ransom for your safe return," Joseph said coldly. "Now, since the Lady has volunteered to speak with her father, I think we can amodate that request. But only on a ce of my choosing!"


    -----


    0924 Hours, North Defense Line


    A single Imperial cavalry slowly appeared out from the thick fog from the forest edge and paused before a field that had its trees and foliage recently dug up and chopped down. The rider held ance with two gs, one blue and one white tied to the tip.


    He remained motionless as he sat on hisnd dragon and surveyed the area and was surprised when several figures that appeared out of ground slowly walked up to him.


    The Knight frowned at the painted faces and the bits of leaves and other nts stuck on their bodies and inwardly sneered at these barbaric forces.


    "Ie bearing word to this United... Nations... that thisnd and the city of Orwell''s Point rightfully belongs to his Majesty, Rightful Ruler of the People, the Emperor of Bluewood, Varacen Bluewood," The Knight dered smugly. "Return thend and its people to their rightful owners and the Emperor, praise his benevolence, will allow you your lives!"


    The several barbarians in their mud and leaves outfit looked at each other andughed, making the Knight''s face turn red with anger. "Return the hostages you taken with trickery and be good to surrender yourselves quietly!"


    The barbarians seemed not to understand his words as they kept giggling andughing away. "This is yourst chance! Do not take our benevolence as weakness!"


    "Alright!" Suddenly one of the barbarians with a strange ent said and gestured the rest to order. "Well, you can tell your high and mighty Emperor, he cane and kiss my ass!"


    The barbarians hearing theirpatriot saying that, broke out more intoughter.


    "INSOLENCE!" The Knight hissed and bared his teeth in righteous anger. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT INSULT!"


    "Oh, don''t get your underwear wet because of that!" Mills grinned. "We have a message to whoever is in charge."


    "The Lady Titanna of Rothschild wishes to speak with her father in regards to their ransom and otherpensation," Mills enjoyed pissing off the Knight. "ce and time will be set there."


    Mills pointed to a small rise that was in the open and handed a rolled up scroll with fanciful ribbons and waxed seals to the Knight who snatched it and dropped it into a pouch.


    "I will bear your words to the Lords!" The Knight''s eyes shed within his covered helm. "And I will not forget the insult you gave to my Emperor!"


    With thatst words, the Knight wheeled his mount around, the wed hooves nearly stepping on Mills''s booted feet and rode off towards the forest and into the fog.


    "Well, that went well!" Mills grinned at his men. "Let''s see if we can dy them and piss them off more!"


    The men cheerfully made their way back to the concealed trench line and Mills left his squad at the forward trenches while he made his way in the maze like trenches and towards the Command Bunker.


    "Sirs!" He stood at attention inside the bunker as he greeted the officers gathered around the tactical table. "Message delivered!"


    "Good!" Lt Silverstar nodded and gestured Mills over to the table. "We are just discussing the enemy depositions."


    "Looks like they divided their forces into five armies," A Marine with an eye and three lightning bolts shoulder patch pointed to a colored photo of an aerial view taken with infra cameras.


    Five distance blobs of red and white could clearly be seen arranged side by side under the cover of the forest. "The center army looks like their cavalry, while the nks should be infantry."


    "Also we haven''t spotted any air support yet," The Intel officer said. "We believe that their dragons are hidden somewhere at the rear, so far our UAV is still searching the area for them."


    Another photo was ced on the table and this time it was a regr image with the waters of the Source Sea at the background. "This is where their supplies are stored. They are being supplied from theke."


    "If we count roughly the amount supplies that they unload," The Intel Officer continued. "We can roughly estimate the number of troops they should have."


    "Rough estimate at twenty five thousand," The Intel Officer replied. "But that is not all, we have a sighting of another forceing down the Shard River."


    "That force should be Rothschild''s army,ing to reinforce the current army on the ground," Another image was ced on the table. "We estimate another ten thousand mixed troops."


    Mills whistled, "Thrity five thousand troops? Against our single battalion?"


    "That''s like 36 to 1 odds!" Mills shooked his head.


    "Yes," Lt Silverstar nodded. "Hence why we want to dy them as much as possible to enhance our defenses."


    "Can''t we get the PT boats to do a lightning strike against the river force?" Mills suggested. "Cut down their reinforcements."


    "No, the best n is to sneak the PT Boats into the Source Sea and pige their supplies lines," The Intel Officer said. "For troops on the ground, we can hit them easily with our attack nes."


    "Our Marines will hold the ground here to prevent them from advancing while our guns and mortar hammer at them from the distance," The Officer detailed their ops n. "The FB - 1s will link up with the PT boats once they reached the Source Sea for resupplies and they will block off the enemy''s rear."


    "We will force the enemy to break their teeth against our defenses!"

 Chapter 299: Parley

    Chapter 299: Parley


    Orwell''s Point, North Defense Line


    A simple tent with its sides rolled up, sat on the top of the small rise. Inside the tent, a simple table and half a dozen chairs were ced over the night.


    Lady Titanna sat on one of the chairs, nestling a cup of tea nervously as she waited for her people toe. She kept ncing out towards the forest while Millsid on his back at the side of the tent.


    Soon, the thumping of hooves could be felt as a dozen cavalry bearing streamers of blue and silver rode out of the forest edge. They stopped at the foot of the rise and dismounted while three armored men climbed up the gentle slope and stopped before the tent.


    "Lord Father!" Titanna rose up and greeted the greying man in a full set of ornate armor.


    Moel Rothschild''s eyes warmed when he saw his daughter was doing well and ced his full faced helm on the table and locked eyes with the seated soldier at the head of the table. "I havee as you demanded!"


    Joseph nodded and gestured his guests to sit down. "Refreshments?"


    "I am not here to drink with the enemy!" Moel growled as he sat down on the chair which creaked under his weight. "Tell me, what do you want in return for the release of my children!"


    Joseph observed the other two men standing next to Moel and mentally take note of them. Both men extruded a gloomy aura and were dressed in full te mail and helms that covered their features with a motif of a twin tailed scorpion was disyed fully on their chest te.


    "I want twenty five thousand able bodied ves for the release for both your daughter and son," Joseph bluntly stated. "And another two hundred thousand gold crowns for the rest of your people and aspensation for the broken parley."


    "TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND SLAVES?" Moel''s face turned red in anger. "Impossible!"


    "That is the price for the release of your children!" Joseph''s expression remained stern as he stared down at the older man. "Pay up or leave!"


    "You want war? I give you WAR!" The older man mmed his fists on the table in anger. "Do not beg me to kill you when I get my hands on you!"


    "Father!" Titanna cried out. "No! You can''t send the troops in! The Knights are all destroyed and if your troops are destroyed too... The barons will revolt!"


    "Titanna!" Moel shot a warning look at her. "You need not fret about it! I have summoned all the baron lords here!"


    Moel turned to the quietly waiting Joseph and growled. "Release my daughter and son now, and I will give you a chance to run away with your life."


    "Are you deaf?" Joseph sighed. "Twenty five thousand ves, or no deal!"


    Moel''s face turned redder as he red at Joseph. Suddenly one of the Knight in ck armor spoke, "Enough, there is nothing more to be said."


    Moel''s face turned slightly grey and Joseph was amazed that the old man''s expressions could keep changing. He gave another look at his daughter before he stood up and without a word, exited the tent with the two Knights in tow.


    "Father! Do not recklessly attack them!" Titanna called out a warning after her departing father. "They have weapons stronger than what the Knights are capab-!"


    "Hey," Mills mped his hand over Titanna''s shoulder, making her jump. "Stop spilling our secrets!"


    "But!" Titanna looked at her father walking away. "My people will be ruined! My family will be destroyed!"


    "In life," Joseph suddenly said beside Titanna, "You have to make choices, and once these choices are made, you have to keep walking that path."


    "Your father has long chosen his path," Joseph said. "One must be man enough to keep on his path and ept the things he has done."


    "If your family hasn''t suppressed or treated the rest of the baron lords of this region badly," Joseph continued. "Why would you be afraid if you lose the support of your troops and Knights?"


    With that, Joseph left the tent while Titanna muddled over his words in anxiety.


    -----


    "They are purposely forcing your hand," The Rock said as he removed his full face helm. "And you fell for their taunts."


    "Who are they?" Moel hissed as he tossed his helm to a footman. "Where did theye from?"


    The Rock handed his helm to another servant and took a goblet of wine. "My sources tell me that these people might be the remnants of the Goldrose Kingdom."


    "A bunch of defeated peons?" Moel forcefully removed his gauntlets and pped them down on the table. "Yet they have the strength to defeat my daughter''s army and my highly trained Knights!"


    Moel eyed the baldmander suspiciously, "What are you holding back from me?"


    The Rock gave a cold smile, "What I know, naturally I will share. These... people calling themselves the United Nations are a thorn to the Emperor''s will."


    "And I shall destroy them by any means necessary!" He dered and finished his wine in a single gulp.


    "Hmmm..." Moel frowned as he sat down. "I pray that is so, they already proven to have quite the magic power to defeat my Knights."


    "That is why my Bronze men are here," The Rock dered. "With a body stronger than iron, they feel no pain nor fear and they are partially immune to magic attacks."


    "Those... abominations..." Moel shivered as he remembered the ranks and ranks of emotionless eyes staring at him. "Why would the Emperor resort to such creatures?"


    "Efficiency," The Rock simply exined. "They need no food nor water, nor will they tire. Should any part of the Bronze Men is damaged, they only require maintenance by the Organ Mages to repair them and refuel them."


    "Still... those things give me the creeps!" Moel shuddered.


    "Imagine an entire army of Bronze Men," The Rock''s smile widened. "We will no longer need to draft farmers and ves to battlefields, and with a constant workforce without any disruptions, what do you will happen?"


    "With the Bronze Men as a standing army, the farmers and ves need not be drafted away, leaving the farms and mines untended," Moel spoke out his thoughts excitedly. "The farms and mines will still keep producing unlike if the men were drafted away to war!"


    "And the Bronze Men need not be paid a sry nor fed," The Rock added. "All they need is just the arcane fuel to power their bodies."


    "This Bronze Men of yours sounds very interesting," Moel''s mood had lifted by the thoughts of an army that is cheap and efficient.


    "They are still in a testing phase," The Rock admitted. "But so far they are doing quite well and the Emperor is very pleased with their results."


    Moel rubbed his hands together excitedly, "When can we expect the Emperor to start producing more of these... Bronze Men?"


    "That is for the Emperor to decide," The Rock shrugged. "As for us, we have to destroy these rebels first."


    "Yes, yes," Moel nodded. "Once the rest of the Barons'' forces arrive, we can push forward and destroy these upstarts."


    "Good, once these pests are removed," The Rock gave a cold smile. "The Isles will be next!"


    -----


    Upper Shard River


    The sleek bow of the PT boat smoothly cut across the fast flowing river as it came roaring out from a hidden cove by the river bank. The twenty four meter long patrol boat powered by a twin dragonite engine had burst out without warning as a dozen t bottom Imperial river barges passed by its location.


    The Imperials cried out in rm at the sudden appearance of the PT boat at their nks and the ready archers and mages let loose a barrage of arrows, bolts, and spells at the intruder.


    The speed of the PT boat totally exceeded their logic as they failed to hit the faster mover. Sshes and plumes of water sprouts chased the strange watercraft as the Imperials tried to hit it.


    Suddenly, the body of the strange watercraft erupted with mes and smoke and the screaming begun on the Imperial barges.


    -----


    The PT boat, Fast Attack Craft Zero Niner, "Daisy" roared mightly and tossed its secured crew hard against their restraints as the pilot threw the FAC into a sharp spin and throwing a three meter high spray from their wake.


    "ALL GUNNERS, FIRE ON REAR MOST TARGET!" The PT boat''s skipper, a newly minted 2nd Lieutenant Quartz roared out as the boat came to aplete halt in the river.


    Almost instantly, the entire PT boat rocked as all three gun mounts mixed with .50 calibers and 20 mm autocannons fired. The skipper of the Daisy quickly ordered next, "Pilot, nking speed! Keep a distance of two hundred meters away!"


    "Aye!" The pilot replied and he gunned the throttle and the Daisy eagerly leaped forward at his touch.


    The skipper nced out of the narrow view slits of the armored shuttered windows of the wheelhouse of the PT boat and watched the impacts of his gunners'' work.


    The high caliber rounds shredded the starboard side oars of their target. Splinters of wood and unidentified bits flew wildly as the Imperial river barge rocked under the heavy punishment.


    The gunners worked their guns from one end to the other of the barge, sting glory holes out from the hull which leaked blood and turning the river red.


    "RELOADING!" Came the cries of the gunners as they fired all their ammunition and started to hammer in fresh cans of ammunition into their guns.


    "Hold fire!" Daisy''s skipper ordered. "Pilot, bring us to the next barge down the line! Gunners, target the next barge!"


    "Aye, aye!" The men cheerfully chorused as they carried out their orders.


    Suddenly a loud nk could be heard from the hull of their boat and the crew jumped in surprised. "What was that?"


    "Skipper! We took a hit on the port side!" One of the crew on the topside yelled. "A bloody ballista bolt!"


    "Check for damage!" The skipper quickly ordered his engineer who went down under to check the interior of the hull. "Pilot, evasion action!"


    "We got a tiny hole on the port side lower hull!" The engineer reported. "Taking in a bit of water but it''s fixable! Advise not taking any more hits! Our hull is pretty thin!"


    The bolt of the ballista had poked a small hole at the lower hull which can fit two fingers. Water leaked through the torn and splintered wooden hull while the engineer pped a patch over the damaged hull and hammered away.


    "You hear that, Pilot?" Quartz grinned at his man. "Don''t let them take a bead on us!"


    "Lucky shot!" The pilot cursed under his breath as he weaved the Daisy into an ''S'' maneuver. "Coming up on the next barge!"


    "Gunners! You know the drill!" Quartz cried into the mike. "FIRE!"


    The bark of the guns immediately drowned out the constant rumble of the engine as the whole PT boat rocked on its sides as it plowed through the river surface. The Imperial fleet, already alerted to the attacker, had its men, firing their ballistas, bows, and magic at the enemy as fast as they could.


    Yet, despite the heavy barrage from the Imperial fleet, the impossibly fast attacker seemed immune to their attacks as it weaved between bolts and spells while spitting fire back at them and disabling the barges one by one from the rear.


    The Imperial Commander cursed madly at the clearly man made arcane boat as it kept its distance and disabled another of his barges. Suddenly a thick cloud of dark smoke popped out from the cursed boat as it finally suffered the wrath of his fleet and it visibly slowed down.


    "Launch the rowboats!" The Imperial Commander rubbed his hands in glee thinking of the reward he would get.


    "Capture that thing at all cost!"

 Chapter 300: Stand To

    Chapter 300: Stand To


    "Shit!" The engineer cursed wildly as he and the other crew members worked on the busted fuses and melted cables. "Damn, lightning spells fried the power!"


    The crew armed with spare cables started to rip the burnt and melted wiring out from thepartments and circuit breakers boxes while the Daisy''s engineer removed the engine covers and cursed again. "Damn, the belt has melted!"


    "Shut the engine down or we be rowing home!" He yelled up from the engine room hatch.


    Lt Quartz quickly yelled for the pilot to shut down the engines while almost every electronic system failed and the only guns that could bear on the enemy were the .50 calibers as the 20 mm gun turrets run on an electric motor.


    "Pop the smoke generator!" Quartz leaned out of the wheelhouse and yelled at his crew. "Make smoke!"


    The men quickly responded as they made their way to the rear towards arge steel drum mounted at the rear of the boat. The smoke was not true smoke but a chemical mixture under pressure, which when released and poured out over the water, it will hang thick and heavy and evil smelling, a wall of ck smoke.


    "Iing small craft!" A gunner yelled as he spotted dozens of small boats being lowered from the side of the barges.


    Quartz quickly turned his attention to the Imperial fleet, seeing the enemy fleet deploying boatsdened with troops. "Damn farkers, want to board us!"


    "Alec!" He turned back to the engine room and yelled for his engineer. "How much to fix the engine?"


    "Ten minutes to rece the engine belt but we need to rece all the busted fuses and cables!" Alec yelled back as he wielded a wrench. "Or we won''t have the power to jump start the engines!"


    "Fark!" Quartz cursed as he returned to the wheelhouse and ordered. "Get ready to repel boarders!"


    The lucky hit by a bolt of lightning had overloaded the fuses despite the anti static and lightning diffuser and the resulting burst of energy had ripped the belt of the engine, shedding the belt''s tough belt and causing the PT boat to lose speed.


    Now they were dead in the water but luckily they won''t too near the Imperial fleet and the water current was against them, and they were drifting away from therge ships.


    Large sshes of water pped against the hull of the Daisy as the Imperial fleet continued to lose bolts of ballista at them. Just as Quartz flinched from a near missed, billows of thick ck smoke erupted from the rear and soon the smoke blocked his view of the Imperials.


    He exited the wheelhouse and yelled at the crew, "Toss the barrel over the side!"


    The men quickly hoisted the barrel spewing the foul smoke and the barrel hit the water with a ssh while smoke constantly drifted out from it.


    "Grab your guns!" Quartz ordered as stared at the wall of smoke that covered their view. "Any word from Ten?"


    The radioman shook his head as he tried calling for help over the air. "Too much interference! Hopefully, they spot the smoke ande investigate!"


    "Damn!" Quartz took the offered cuss from his crew and went to check on the gunners. "How''re the guns?"


    "Skip! We could only fire the fifties," The gunners reported. "The twenty mikes are locked up, without power the turrets can''t turn and fire!"


    "Okay," Quartz quickly organized his crew, "Keep manning the fifties and the rest grab your guns and provide cover fire for the fifties."


    "CONTACT!" A lookout yelled and everyone spun around at the cry, seeing a shadow burst out from the wall of smoke.


    "Shoot them!" Quartz quickly ordered as the coughing Imperials jerked up in surprise and panic at seeing their enemy so close to them.


    Instantly barks of revolvers and shotguns answered Quartz as the crew of the Daisy fired at the boatload of helpless Imperials who barely resisted.


    "It''s like shooting wyverns in a bloody cage!" Someoneughed as the men reloaded their small arms. "Look! Moreing!"


    Attached the gunfire, the rest of the Imperials paddled into the smoke to investigate and the men of the Daisy eagerly greeted them with gunfire.


    "Sir, at this rate, our ammo won''t hold!" The Daisy Executive Officer reminded Quartz. "They can afford to throw bodies at us but we don''t have the ammo to fight it out with them!"


    "I know, we just need to buy time for Alec to fix the boat!" Quartz replied. "Once we can get moving, we are going to find a hole to hide and wait for them to give up finding us."


    "The Shard River has many smaller tributaries and waterways deep enough for us to get into," Quartz said. "With their slow speed and size, they can''t catch up nor chase us, while we can keep doing hit and runs on them."


    "As long as our fuel and ammo holds up," His XO added. "Provided we fix the engines first."


    Quartz grinned as he watched his crew easily gunning down the Imperials in doves. "Well, looks like we can hold them off long enough for the mechanics to fix the engine and power."


    "Keep an eye on the top side," Quartz said as he returned into the wheelhouse. "I will go check on the engines."


    -----


    Imperial Camp


    Moel Rothschild crushed the roll of parchment into a ball and stood up, his face white in anger, while the messenger who delivered the news quickly retreated out of the tent.


    "What is it?" The Rock asked as he remained seated and sipped his wine.


    "Another Baron Lord has pulled back his forces!" Moel tossed the balled up parchment onto the table for the Rock to read himself. "That is the third Baron giving some excuse to pull back their forces!"


    The Rock''s eyebrow rosed as he read the report. "Than we shall wait no longer and strike immediately!"


    "Traitors! Everyone is a traitor!" Moel hissed and he turned to the Rock and said. "I will have their heads on a tter once we are done with this charade!"


    "Men!" Moel yelled loudly and a couple of his aides entered and bowed. "Inform themanders to prepare for a dawn assault!"


    -----


    UN Forward Trench Alpha Two, 0630 hours


    "Stand to arms! Stand to arms!" Hissed the toon sergeant of Falconpany. He half ran along the trench line and prodded the men awake. "Come on! Stand to! Stand to!"


    The Marines getting roused up, grumpily stood up onto the fire steps and readied their rifles as they took upbat positions. "Damn it, Sarge, why do we have to keep on standing to at this ungodly hour?"


    The toon sergeant halted and smacked the helmeted head of the Marine who asked the question and growled, "Idiot! This is the time when the enemy will most likely attack!"


    "But Sarge, it''s been two days already, and they haven''t even made any move!" Cried another Marine as he yawned. "I need my sleep!"


    "Assholes! You can sleep all you want when you''re dead!" The toon sergeant cussed. "Now keep your eyes peeled wide open! When Ie back and catch anyone of you asleep while you''re supposed to be on stand to, I will make sure you get all the toilet cleaning duties for the whole damn month!"


    "Yes, Sarge!" The men chorused tiredly while the toon sergeant shook his head and ran down the line, checking on the men.


    As the toon sergeant left, the men started to gripe among themselves. "Those damn blue boys must be enjoying their sleep while we have to look at nothing!"


    "Besides, even if theye, how can they beat us with their weapons?" Another Marineughed as he patted his M1 Magelock. "This baby will send them to meet their ancestors!"


    The menughed just as a sudden whoosh screamed out into the dark skies before the tripwire re burst and lit the surrounding area with a red glow.


    "SHIT! CONTACTED!" The Marines yelled in surprised and they quickly peered into their sights while others smacked their buddies dozing off on top of their rifles awake.


    One by one, tripwire res popped into the skies and soon the entire front was dyed in an ominous red glow. "Alpha Two to Firebase, requesting starburst, immediate fire, over!"


    "Check fire! Check fire!" Thepany NCOs ran down the line and roared at the men who fired at anything that moved. "Wait for the damn starburst, you idiots!"


    As the Marines retained their fire discipline, suddenly a couple of shrieks came over their heads and with a dull thud, the starburst shells fired by the mortars sited in the Firebase popped into existence and lit up thend before the trenches, exposing hundreds and hundreds of figures.


    The Imperials were like a deer caught in a headlight as they were blinded by the sudden illumination. They stood brightly lit up in the open area turn kill zone that had been cleared by the Marines days before while hundreds more gathered at the edge of the forest.


    "OWN TIME OWN TARGET! FIRE!" Lt Silverstar of Falconpany roared out as he peered out from the firing slits of themand bunker, staring at the target rich environment before him.


    Almost instantly, the entire Alpha Trench line exploded as every rifle and machine gun that could bear on the enemy fired. Tracers reached out towards the startled Imperials and men fell as they stood.


    "I want a fire mission on the forest edge!" Lt Silverstar turned to his aide and ordered who quickly passed on the mission to the artillery operator. A couple of minutester, the shriek of mortar shells could be heard and shes of light followed by the thud of explosives could be seen and heard from the distant forest.


    "Guess they finally gave up the waiting game," Lt Silverstar grinned as he used his field sses to observe the one sided battle. "Hmmm... looks like they are using mages!"


    Dozens of shimmering domes of arcane protection could be seen, the domes looking like a soap bubble, glowing under the illumination of the starburst shells. Sparks and tracers bouncing off the domes could be seen as the Imperial troops bravely advanced under the protection of the magic spells.


    The semi glowing domes instantly attracted the attention of the heavy machine guns as lines of tracer fire hammered at them constantly, creating an impressive disy of sparks and ricocheting tracers.


    As the protective magic domes came neared to the Marines'' lines, the Imperials'' confidence grew. They cheered and roared loudly as the domes weathered the firepower poured against them.


    Silverstar frowned and without turning away from his binocrs, "Tell the MG gunners to focus fire on the closest dome."


    "And the RPG teams are cleared to fire once any once crosses the hundred fifty mark!" He added to his aides who ryed the message to the men out in the trenches.


    He watched the tracers of the MGs suddenly switch targets and the tracers all converged at the foremost dome, creating another impressive light show. The magic dome held for a short while before it suddenly popped into light motes and bullets suddenly facing no resistance, continued on their journey before meeting the armor and flesh of the cheering Imperials.


    Silverstar shook his head as he watched the formation of Imperials suddenly without the protection of the magic dome fell in disarray. "Brave souls, what a waste of lives."


    The MGs switched target and aimed for another dome and shortly the spell too failed under the concentrated barrage and the MGs reaped the lives of those suddenly without any protection.


    Yet despite the best efforts of the machine gun teams, there were more and more domes of protection approaching the forward lines.


    The Imperials screamed out their defiance as they pushed harder, each step bringing them closer to the shes of spellfire of the detested enemy.


    "KILL! KILL! KILL!"

 Chapter 301: Breaking Point

    Chapter 301: Breaking Point


    0655 Hours, Northern Front


    As the sky started to slowly brighten over the horizon, hundreds of rainbowish hue domes of protection advanced across the battlefield that was lit up by dazzling stars floating in the skies.


    Orange red tracers were like some kind of firework disy burst out constantly creating an enormous light show for everyone to see while the thunder of the guns was the symphony to the grand show.


    Captain Joseph frowned deeply as he observed the light show from a safe distance where the UAV broadcasted everything on the disy screens inside themand bunker.


    "Sir, the enemy is throwing everything at us," The Command Staff officers gathered in themand bunker reported. "We can''t hold the enemy back with our thin numbers."


    Joseph nodded, "Time to bring out the big guns."


    "Throw everything at them," Joseph ordered. "No point keeping anything in reserve."


    He spread his arms over the map table and looked at the numerous red blocks representing the Imperial forces while his smaller blocks of green represent a toon defended a long stretch of defenses.


    Every now and then, a staffer pushed or removed the blocks of red from the table as they updated the situation on the ground.


    "Direct the Cobras to hit that nk," Joseph ordered as he gestured to thergest cluster of red on the tactical map. The staff officer quickly tallied the map coordinates and ry themand over to the fighters being scrambled from the airfield.


    "Damn," Joseph frowned at the map. Despite them having dug in, fortified and holding a superior position, the enemy had enough troops to tie his men down while a substantial portion could still nk around to either attack them or push on to the city.


    "I want the reserve toons to set up here at the extreme right nk," Joseph finally decided and he pointed to the north eastern side of the city. "They are to dy the enemy should they attempt to encircle around the defense lines."


    "Sir, Angel Flight ETA to target, 18 minutes!"


    "Charlie Three reporting a massive wave of infantry, requesting for fire support!"


    "Alpha One, reports movement along the river! Requesting river support to intercept enemy fleet!"


    "Fire mission acknowledged! Time on target, twenty seconds!"


    "Enemy breaching into the first line of defenses!"


    Joseph watched his staff work seamlessly as multiple reports and request kept flooding in from the forward lines and nodded to himself, knowing his staff had fully adapted to the new ways of the hoomans in waging war.


    He turned back to the observation slit of the bunker and looked over the battlefield and smiled. "Time to show them who the barbarians here!"


    ----


    0710 Hours, UN Forward Trench Alpha Two


    The Imperials had learned their lessons and had formed into a column formation with each magic protection dome stacking behind each other.


    The Imperials sheltering under the domes marched forward like a battering ram. When the first dome at the head of the column was destroyed, the men scattered to the sides while the next dome continued pushing forward.


    Using this formation, the Imperials managed to reach the concealed markers indicating the distance. The Imperials seeing their tactics working gave a warcry and charged only toe to a sudden stop as a couple of screaming RPGs mmed against the dome, sending the men inside reeling back from the shockwave of the explosions.


    Mills peeked over the trench and shook his head at the broken bodies lying all over the battlefield as the first rays of sunlight bathed thend. "Damn fuckers have guts!"


    Another shriek of an RPG screamed out and hit another magic shield and the area around the dome burst into a cloud of smoke.


    "Make ready!" Mills yelled to his men around him. "Riflemen! Check your sights! Make sure you are zeroed to hundred meters!"


    The machine gun teams ceased fire as they swap out their glowing red barrel and pped in new belts of ammunition, giving the Imperials a breather and they pushed harder forward.


    "Wait for it..." Mills half raised his hand as he watched the shimmering magic shields appearing before him. "Wait for it..."


    As the Imperials crossed the hundred meter mark, Mills chopped his hand down sharply and yelled, "NOW!"


    A demolition Marine twisted the detonation trigger key and almost instantly the front of the trench erupted into mes and smoke.


    Dozens of ymore mines seeded in the front lines detonated and spewed their deadly loads out, hammering and overloading the Imperials magical shields and the shockwaves rolled over the stunned soldiers.


    When the smoke cleared, several shields before the trenches were totally devastated, leaving the stunned Imperials unprotected by magical means.


    "MARINES!" Mills roared while he leaned into his rifle. "FIREEEE!"


    He put his words into action and held his sights over a stumbling Imperial wearing a simple helm and what looks like skirts instead of pants with a blue shirt under a suit leather and metal armor.


    The kick of his rifle jolted him and he saw the enemy he aimed at clutched his chest and disappeared into the smoking terrain.


    All along the line, the Marines picked their targets, firing at any Imperials not under the protection of the magic domes while the machine gunners and RPG teams hammered at the domes.


    Mortar fire rained down at the rear of the enemy, the rounds air bursting among the forest edge where the Imperial reserves and forces gathered.


    The punishing effect of the mortars took its toll on the morale of the Imperial troops forming up to support the attack on the UN lines. The mages barely had time to conjure up magic barriers to stop the unseen death reaper as lives were harvested without any indication of a magic attack.


    All they knew was when you hear the sharp piercing scream and the thunder that followed, deathes knocking. The soldiers unwillingly to stand still and be killed by the ''Screaming Death'', ran in fear when they heard the mortar shells screaming over.


    As the enemy rear broke and the men in the front edged back uncertainly, even under the protection of the magic shields, they dared not advance anymore as they realized that the reinforcements behind them were abandoning them.


    Thest straw that broke their morale was when several flying creatures dived down from the skies, a loud wailing siren scream came from the creatures as they dived down and the ground beneath them erupted into mes and smoke.


    Unknown to the Imperials, the Cobras were equipped with a propeller driven siren fitted on each undercarriage leg that emitted a high pitch scream when diving down for the purpose of damaging enemy morale and causing physiological damage.


    One by one, the Imperials at the frontlines stepped back and soon the retreat became a rout as the men scrambled to be in the front as they ran for their lives. The mages with their concentration broken could barely sustain the magic barriers and they popped prematurely, suffering from the bacsh of the disrupted magic.


    Soon, the entire line of Imperials withdrew and the Marines cheered as they fired at the running soldiers.


    -----


    Northern Front Central Command


    Joseph nced at the map table as themand staff swept the red blocks of enemy troops away from his defensive line and smiled in relief at the retreat of the enemy.


    Reports starteding in from the front as the groundmanders radio back their situation and requests for new orders.


    Joseph checked his watch and noted that the pre dawn battle actually barelysted roughly forty minutes yet it felt like a lifetime.


    He frowned as he looked at his deployments again before tapping on the map. "Rotate two thirds the men for rest."


    "But Sir, that will leave barely a hundred and fifty men to man the lines!" One of themand staff said. "If the enemy attacks again, we can barely hold the lines!"


    "I doubt they will attempt any attacks soon after this debate," Joseph confidently replied while grinning. "They need time to rally their men, restore their morale, lick their wounds and sort out what the hell had beaten the shit out of them."


    "We should have some time for our men to rest and recover and prep for the next attack," Joseph added next. "We don''t have the men for a prolong siege, so we need our men to get as much rest as possible to fight off the next attack."


    "This will be a battle of endurance and numbers," Joseph gestured to the enemy lines.


    "Will their numbers break first or our endurance breaks first!"


    -----


    Northen Shard River


    "Skipper, think they gave up the search already?" Asked the pilot of the FAC 09, Daisy. "We don''t see any more of their rowboats."


    "Shhh..." 2nd Lieutanent Quartz of the Daisy hissed as he peeked out of the battered armored window slits. "Lower your voice! Sound can travel across water easily!"


    The once pristine PT boat, FAC 09, Daisy, hidden among the river reeds with the low hanging branches sheltering its upper structure. Gouges, nicks, and even burnt marks covered most of its hull and structure.


    Shell casings and broken arrows littered the deck of the PT boat as its crew kept quiet while waiting for the Imperial search parties to pass by their hiding spot.


    Quartz narrowed his eyes and strained his ears to catch any signs of the enemy as they nervously expected any moment the enemy will spot them.


    Quartz caught the sound of sshing oars softly disappearing away and let out a sight. "Damn, that was close."


    "I want a watch party up top to keep an eye out for the enemy," Quartz ordered the relieved crew while he headed to the map room.


    "Where are we at?" Quartz asked the navigator as he entered the tiny cabin. "Think you can find our location?"


    The Daisy''s navigator shook his head, "Skip, we lost ourmunication mast and even the damn radar!"


    "We been dodging and avoiding the Imperials up along the river," The navigator continued. "The only way I am sure is that as long we head southwards, eventually we will get back to the main tributary and find ourselves back home."


    "Got it," Quartz nodded. "Keep trying to see if you can identify our location."


    He next headed down to the engine room where the boat''s engineer and mechanics were servicing the engine. "How is it?"


    "Well, we managed to repair whatever damages we could," The Daisy''s Engineer reported. "And also patched up whatever holes in the hull."


    "But our dragonite fuel is running low," The Engineer warned. "We have been running for more than a day non stop. We going to need to return to base soon or be we dead in the water."


    "Keep up the good work," Quartz nodded and he climbed back up the hatch to the wheelhouse.


    "Skip! A word please!" The Daisy''s XO came over and gestured Quartz into the map room. The XO shooed the navigator out and closed the hatch before saying, "Sir, we really need to get back to base soon."


    "I know," Quartz sighed. "Once we are certain the Blue boys have given up the search, we will make a run for it."


    "Our ammunition for the fifties and 20 mikes are almost depleted," The XO said grimly. "Small arms ammunition is also very low, and I''m sure Petty Officer Alec just told you our fuel situation?"


    Quartz nodded, "Yes, but we can''t go charging out when the enemy has us surrounded. Our boat is fast, but we can''t breach a blockade even with our speed!"


    "The enemy''s ballistas and mages will tear us apart if we rush blindly into them," Quartz said. "We need to wait until its dark and make our way back to our lines."


    "But Skip!" The XO frowned. "It''s hard to navigate through the waters in the dark and we will be spotted hundreds of meters away if we turn on our lights!"


    "No lights, we will be running silent!"

 Chapter 302: Broken and Running

    Chapter 302: Broken and Running


    Edge of the Northern Front


    Moel''s fists whitened with rage as he clenched them tightly against the reins of his war dragon. He watched the defeated elements of his troops retreating haphazardly in a disgraceful and disorderly manner to the rear and swallowed down his rage.


    He tugged his reins savagely and jerked his mount around and retreated away from the front after casting ast look of hatred at the smoke covered enemy lines. "Regroup the men!"


    "Stop their mad retreat!" He ordered his aides. "This is a disgrace!"


    "Commanders! Control your men!" Moel roared at his nearby troops. "Any man who runs will be given twentyshes of the whip!"


    The nearby soldiers hearing his threat paused in their steps and made their stand hesitated. The red faced officers andmanders quickly chided the frightened men and restored ordered in among the ranks.


    Moel fell back to their camp with his mind racing at the power of the rebels that he had dismissed the reports from his executedmanders'' previous encounters as mad rantings and excuses of a defeated soldier.


    Now he knew differently, and hemented the fact he had thosemanders beheaded for their failure. He nced at the routed soldiers and cursed inwardly, knowing it will take some time to gather the men''s courage and reform their ranks for another assault.


    He stormed into themand tent and red at the Scorpion Legionmander and yelled, "Everyone out!"


    The Rock''s expression barely changed and he gave a nod to his aides who saluted and left the tent with the rest of the staff. "You lost?"


    "You long knew this would happen!" Moel roared fiercely as he mmed his helm on the table. "What else do you know and not telling me!"


    The Rock barely showed any reaction at the outburst, instead, he set down his writing tools and leaned back on his chair and studied the red faced Moel intently.


    "Sit down and stop disgracing yourself!" The Rock finally spoke. "I do not answer to you."


    Moel red at the Rock before grabbing a goblet and a jar of wine and sat down. "You better exin yourself! I don''t care how the Emperor favors you! You better tell me everything involving these... United Nations rebels!"


    "There is nothing much to be said," The Rock simply replied. "Just that it appears they came upon some heritage of either the Gods or Demons..."


    "A heritage from the Age of Gods?" Moel''s eyes widened. "If that is true... how can we ever defeat them!"


    "h..." The Rock waved his hand dismissively at Moel''s words. "Its just heritage... we too have some!"


    "Wait... you mean..." Moel suddenly jolted up as he stared at the Rock. "Those..."


    "Yes, the Bronze Men are the results of a heritage from ancient times!"


    -----


    Northern Shard River


    "Fire in short bursts!" Yelled the XO of the Daisy as the fifty cal gunner on the top of the flying bridge let loosen a barrage at the chaotic pping wings hovering over their position. "Conserve your ammo! Don''t bloody waste them!"


    "I KNOW!" Yelled the gunner as he grunted with effort, swinging the twin fifties after the flying dragons, trying to track them as they swooped over and drop firebombs at them. "Bloody dragons are everywhere!"


    The Daisy gunned its engines as it sought to escape the diving Imperial dragons, the pilot running at cruising speed to conserve their limited fuel. As the day dragged on, they were unfortunate to be spotted from the skies from a patroling Imperial dragon and the rest were history.


    "STARBOARD NOW!" Yelled the XO from the flying bridge as he eyed the crew of the swooping dragon that flung a ckish object down.


    The pilot inside the wheelhouse quickly spun the wheel, throwing the whole PT boat to sharp curve as the firebombnded into the meter high water spray and burst into a ball of mes that continued burning even on the water surface.


    Quark yelled angrily into the inte, "Take that bloody dragon down!"


    "Skip!" The pilot said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. "At this rate, we can''t keep going till nightfall! We will run out of fuel if this keeps up!"


    "Shit!" Quark cursed, knowing their game was up. With the Imperials dragons hounding from above, they couldn''t find a ce to hide and wait till nightfall to sneak past the Imperial barges blockading the river.


    "Fark it!" Quark made a split second decision. "Pilot, push out to the main river! Navigator, advise the route to take!"


    Next, he picked up the inte and broadcast to the entire crew, "All hands, brace yourselves! We are breaking out from the blockade! Every man here has already gone beyond the call of duty! Now I ask for you to do so one more time! Man your stations, we will break out from the Imperials and head home!"


    "AYE AYE SKIPPER!" The crew roared out enthusiastically and they quickly jumped to their action stations.


    "Alright! You heard the Skipper!" The XO on the flying bridge yelled out into the wind. "Make your shots count! Twenty mikes are to only engagerge vessels! The fifties to keep the skies clear for us!"


    The Daisy''s armament consisted of a single dual 20 mm electric powered mount forward at the bow and another at the aft. Next to the flying bridge sat a dual .50 cal mount and on both sides of the boat were single .50 cals with a gun shield.


    The Daisy charged down the river tributary as fast as it could, its shallow bottom ripping the low roots of the trees of the river as it raced off with several dragons circling around it.


    They sped from one tributary to another as the navigator used his memory to guide the pilot back to the main river and after an hour of running, they finally saw the river ahead of them erging.


    The Daisy had suffered a couple of near misses from the firebombing dragons which caused first degree burns to some of the top side crew serving as gunners on the gun mounts.


    The pilot skillfully cornered the PT boat as it came barreling out from the side river and into the main river flow and before them, a couple of Imperial river barges with fluttering blue and silver gs sat covering the river.


    "Alright! This is it, boys!" Quartz yelled into the inte, "Its make or break time! BRACE YOUR SELVES!"


    As they neared the two Imperial river barges, the crew onboard the two barges had long been alerted to their presence. The shipboard ballistas were readied and presented at the iing vessel while archers and ship mages prepped their weapons and spells.


    "All the Gods please bless us!" Whispered the pilot as he nervously rubbed his sweaty palms against his sweat drenched naval uniform. "Give us a miracle!"


    He aimed the PT boat right between the two barges where a space barelyrge enough for an Imperial barge to squeeze through. But space was way more than enough for the smaller and slim PT boat to go through.


    "GUN ONE! TARGET THE PORT SIDE SHIP!" The XO roared at the gunners. "FIRE!"


    The forward open turret of the dual 20 mm autocannon manned by the gunner and his assistance, squeezed the butterfly triggers of the guns. The twin barrel autocannon barked one after the other constantly, the muzzle spitting out white tracers bolts and superheated lead directly at Imperial barge holding its station on the left side of the river.


    The distance was around three hundred meters which for the 20 mm autocannon, was well within its effective range. The bouncing of the PT boat spoiled the first several ranging shots and the gunner quickly corrected and the next burst had the majority of the shells impacting against the heavy timbers of the barge, rocking it on its axis.


    "Keep it up!" The XO screamed with tion as he observed the shotsnding on the Imperial barge. As they were charging in a straight line, the aft 20 mm gun couldn''t rotate enough to fire, hence their firepower was halved.


    Despite that, the effects of the 20 mm against the Imperial barges made out of wood were devastating. Rounds that did not prate caused spalling from the heavy timbers, throwing razor sharp splinters as long as a person''s arm into unprotected flesh.


    The crew of the circling dragons seeing the carnage wrought upon the barges cried out in dignified fury and ordered their dragons to swoop down, wanting vengeance for theirrades.


    "Fifties!" The XO seeing the mid weight dragons swooping down to attack, quickly ordered. "Keep those bastards away from us!"


    "Twenty! Aim for any mages you see! Followed by the ballistas!" He yelled next to the 20 mm gunner.


    Quark gripped the armrests of his chair nervously as the distance closed between them and the blockading barges. "Come on...e on..."


    "All hands prepare for evasion action!" He thumbed the inte as he watched the erging shapes of the barges. "BREAK TO THE STARBOARD SIDE NOW!"


    The pilot spun the steering wheel and threw the vessel into a sharp curve as suddenly half a dozen ck ballista bolts impacted near their previous position, throwrge water sshes up.


    Quartz mentally counted down the seconds in his mind as he waited for the next barrage of ballistas, mentally timing the enemy''s rate of fire.


    He guessed that the enemy ballista crew will take roughly a minute to reload the ballistas and in one minute, they can cover a lot of distance!


    Suddenly the skies seemed to darken slightly and heavy thuds could be heard resonating off the hull. The inte squawked and the voice of the XO came in, "TAKING HEAVY ARROW FIRE!"


    "SHIT!" Quartz cursed. "EVASIVE ACTION BETA NOW!"


    The pilot immediately threw the boat into a random maneuver as best as he could. There was only so much room to maneuver in the river and they could only rely on their speed to dodge most of the projectiles thrown their way.


    The barge on the left of the river was badly battered by the 20 mm and the gunner quickly switched target, doing his best to keep his shots from missing the next barge but with the sudden twists and turns, it was hard for him tond his shots.


    As they came closer, the Daisy rocked wildly as a ballista bolt punched into the forward hull, shattering the crew bunks and almost flung the entire PT boat over.


    The crew screamed as they suddenly felt gravity disappearing and the boatnded with a bone breaking m back into the water a secondter.


    Quartz mmed his jaws together from the impact and nearly bit his tongue off. Luckily most of the crew were restrained down if not they would have been flung off the boat from the sudden impact.


    But the support crew under the decks were not so lucky as they bounced against the bulkheads and had items rain all over them.


    And suddenly they were between the two Imperial barges and the river before them was empty! But the PT boat appeared to have slow down.


    "Damage report!" Quartz spat a mouthful of blood out of his mouth and grab his uniform, pressing down against his stinging tongue. "Talk to me!"


    "Top side all green!" The XO''s voice came in from the speakers. "Bruised but all in one piece!"


    "We are losing speed!" The pilot moaned. "I''m seeing lots of red lights on my panel!"


    "Engine room?" Quartz quickly asked next. "Status?"


    "The chief is knocked out cold!" A trembling voice replied. "The engine is making some strange noises and the previous repair patches to the hulls had all came out from the impact! We are taking in water!"


    "Shit!" Quartz cursed just as he heard the aft 20 mm gun firing. "I''m going down to check the damage! Try to get us as far away from the enemy ships!"


    "Aye, aye, Skip!"

 Chapter 303: Home Run

    Chapter 303: Home Run


    Quartz slipped down the steepdder and down into Engine room of the Daisy. He saw the unconscious engineerying against the bulkhead with an egg sized bump on his head and shook his head. He will have to thoroughly ensure everyone keeps on their helmets when they are underbat if they survive this!


    "What''s the situation here?" Quartz asked one of the mechanics who was hunched over the open panels of the boat''s engines.


    "Skipper!" The mechanic replied. "We lost one of the propeller screws from thatnding!"


    "Shit!" Quartz cursed before asking again. "Anyway to fix it?"


    "No, sir," The mechanic mmed the panels close and replied. "It''s a repair yard job!"


    "Damn it," Quartz looked at the puddles of water slowing gathering at the bottom of his feet. "Patch up what you can and get Alec strapped down till we can get medical on him."


    "Aye, skipper!"


    Quartz left the Engine room and went forward towards the crew quarters located at the bow of the boat. He looked at the ugly mangled ballista bolt that had pierced through the overhead of the crew quarters, impaling the starboard side triple stacked bunks.


    Luckily the bolt did not pierce all the way through and holed the boat below the waterline, but the force of the ballista nearly killed everyone.


    He exited the crew quarters and climbed up to the top deck and saw how the ballista bolt had stuck at an angle right at the bow deck, missing the 20 mm gun mount and its crew by a couple of hand spans.


    The XO yelled down from the flying deck, "Skip! We broke through the blockade but the damn dragons are still following us! And we are slowing down!"


    "I know!" Quartz called out. "How''s the ammo?"


    "Last can of ammo for the fifties and the twenty mikes have barely two dozen shots each!" The XO replied. "We are screwed if there is another blockade up ahead!"


    "Keep your pants up!" Quartz didn''t want to make their situation sound so grim. "We made it this far, we can make it home!"


    "We have survived so far with barely anyone having major injuries!" Quartz grinned. "We can do it!"


    "SKIPPER!" The fifty cal gunner yelled out suddenly and pointed ahead. "MORE IMPERIALS!"


    Quartz spun around and stood next to the 20 mm gun and used his binocrs to scout out the river ahead of the Daisy. Immediately, the looming hulks of another two Imperial barges covered his view as the two ships blocked the river further downstream.


    "Shit!" His face fell as he put down his binos and as if on cue of their impending doom, the circling Imperial dragons overhead roared out in unison.


    "What do we do now, Skip?" The gunner crew of the forward 20 mm asked him as he stared silently ahead.


    Quartz nced around and saw most of the crew hade up to the decks and were looking at him with hopeful eyes. Eyes that looked upon him for answers to their predicament.


    He opened his mouth to tell his crew that there is nothing to be afraid of but no words came out and he couldn''t face them for he knew there was nothing they could do anymore.


    The Daisy was running barely at a third of its speed and majority of its hull were badly damaged. It could not suffer another hit like the ballista bolt that was stuck at the bow deck as a grim reminder to their vulnerability. Ammunition was all but used up and the men were all tired and had already put their best.


    The men seeing their skipper looking away knew that they had used up all their luck in their lifetimes and they couldn''t escape their fate anymore. "Hey Skip, didn''t you always say not to give up?"


    "Yeah!" The young crew of the Daisy grinned as they proudly stood with heads high. "We single handed destroyed over half a dozen Imperial barges and killed more enemy to send us on our way to the next life!"


    "What more can a soldier want?" The crew boasted. "The most we go down fighting and show these Blue boys what a true warrior is!"


    "You guys..." Quartz straightened up and saluted smartly at his crew. "You and the Daisy are the finest crew and boat that I ever have the fortune to serve with! I am proud of you all!"


    The crew of the Daisy stood straight and returned their Skipper''s salute solemnly.


    "Action stations!" Quartz barked. "We fight like men and die like men!"


    -----


    Northern Front Central Command


    Joseph turned away from the disy after he finished his report to High Command back at Haven. He rubbed his tired face and turned to the map table and took a break to reorganize his thoughts.


    High Command has decided to send in more guns and supplies in support to the offensive by the Imperials and also what little fighting men they could spare.


    But all that takes time for the war materials to be transported over and he worries that the enemy might decide not to assault his short defensive lines and instead take a detour around.


    And on top of that, there was an exodus from the previous standing Sin City that he has to dedicate a valuable FB - 1 Mariner to constantly supply them.


    And he also has a PT boat and its entire crew gone MIA for two days over the northern Shard River!


    Too many things happening at once and he only has limited resources to deploy. He gave the order to the other PT boat to keep an eye out for the missing boat and its crew as it went on a reconnaissance in force up the river.


    He looked at the UAV imagery of the rows and rows of tents set up just roughly two kilometers away from his forward lines and was very tempted to unleash all his firepower on hitting them.


    But he decided not to, to keep it as a surprise once he was certain that he could catch every single one of those Blue bastards together once their reinforcements have all gathered.


    Besides, he did not want to let the Imperials know his artillery range so early in the game and hitting their camp now will force them to disperse which makes it even harder for his already limited troops to stop any attacks if they decided to attack in small groups from all directions.


    The terrain was just too open, Joseph frowned as he rapped his fingers on the map. Luckily, the Imperials were not trained in modern warfare, if not they would have dispersed their troops ande from all directions.


    Instead, they have continued with the traditional way that won and broke armies since wars were started. If a battle was offered on the field, both sides will mass their armies together and throw at each other till one side remained standing.


    Or, one side digs in and force the other side to crack their teeth against their defenses. Normally, the attacking side with the greater strength will not overlook the defenders and instead will attempt to thoroughly destroy them, least the risk of having an enemy at their rear.


    Joseph was hoping that Moel will not overlook his defending force and keep attacking them instead of taking a detour around. A detour will take days for the Imperials but it could severely threaten Joseph''s position and even the city!


    He knew the enemy will be using the waterways as a supply route, hence he let loose his only two PT boats to raid and ambush their supply ships but he did not expect to lose a PT boat on the first day of the battle!


    He wanted to send out the Cobras to do a search for the missing PT boat but declined it almost immediately as he needed the nes to be his rapid responders to any massed attacks.


    After their first failed pre dawn assault, the Imperials had attacked once again during thete afternoon and it was repelled by thebined efforts of the mortars batteries and the dive bombing of the Cobras.


    And he had assigned his two dragons on CAP (Combat Air Patrol) duties over the city instead of cing them on the front lines as he needed his Cobras on a pure bomber role. And the remaining FB - 1 Mariners are critically needed to run as transports between Haven and Orwell''s Point instead of being bombers.


    "Sir!" One of themand staff suddenly called out. "FAC Ten just spotted our missing FAC Oh Niner!"


    "Where?" Joseph quickly asked.


    "Here!" The staff tapped the map and ced a green boat shaped token on the river. "They are roughly twenty kilometers upstream!"


    "What''s the status of Oh Niner?" Joseph asked in concern.


    "Sir, Ten just reported that Oh Niner is engaging the enemy!" The staff reported. "They are saying they will provide assistance to Oh Niner!"


    -----


    Shard River


    Quartz stood on the flying bridge and watched the distance between their boat and the two enemy barges closing fast. Crew members transferred all the remaining ammo from the aft 20 mm gun to the forward gun and they took up positions on the deck armed with their rifles and shotguns.


    Even the Engine Room''s mechanic was topside armed with weapons as there was no longer any point in manning the engines. Either they made it through the enemy or they all die trying.


    He didn''t bothered to hook a safety line to the deck and instead checked his shotgun and worked the pump to chamber a shell in.


    "Alright, boys! This is ourst fight!" Quartz yelled. "Show the Blue boys how we fight! And make this a fight that people will drink to in the bars!"


    "YAAAAA!" The crew screamed as they readied themselves both physically and mentally. As they neared the blockade, the Imperial dragons overhead swooped down again, trying to disrupt the crew.


    As one of the Imperial medium weight dragons swooped over, the crew fired their weapons at its underbelly and by luck or due to the sheer volume of small arms fire, the dragon suddenly gave a scream of pain before its wings folded inwards and the dragon and its crew dropped like a stone and sshed mightly into the river.


    "YEAAAAAAAH!" The Daisy''s crew cheered madly. "Suck on that!"


    Angered by the loss of one of their own, the rest of the dragons renewed their attack. The dragon crew armed with crossbows fired as fast as they could reload at the Daisy. Luckily their stocks of alchemical fire were depleted or they would have bombed the Daisy.


    The forward 20 mm autocannon roared as it came to range, targeting the leftmost Imperial barge. With the lower speed of the boat, the gun crew was able to urately direct almost all its fire onto the barge.


    Smoke and debris rained down from the attacked barge as the powerful 20 mm shells chewed its wooden hull away. Some of the Imperials frightened by the power of the strange weapon fired their ballistas in panic.


    The hastily fired ballista bolts missed and gave Quartz a sense offort, as he knew that their chances of surviving the charge just went up slightly.


    "Fifties! Sweep the top decks! Clear the archers and mages!" Quartz yelled. "Twenty mikes! Keep aiming for their ballistas!"


    "The rest, shoot at anything thates close to us!" He ordered the rest of the crew crowding the deck.


    A sharp crack followed by a smell of ozone assailed Quartz''s nose. A lightning bolt conjured up by the mages onboard the Imperial barges almost hit the Daisy and the passage of the lightning left a white afterimage in his eyes.


    "Whoever that knows how to cast a bloody magic shield or barrier, better do it now!" Quartz yelled. "Or if you got some magic artifact... Now is the time to use it!"


    None of the crew were proficient in magic, everyone was barely able to even cast a Level 1 spell. The crew could only pray for a miracle as the Daisy entered the ballistas'' range.

 Chapter 304: Battle of Shard River

    Chapter 304: Battle of Shard River


    Rowan of Lockey bared his teeth in a fierce disy of bravado as he worked the wrench with all his might together with the rest of the ballista crew.


    The dark grey silhouette of the demon ship appeared to be charging directing at him with its dagger shaped bow at a speed that was mind boggling to him.


    Over the course of the past two days, he had witnessed how it ambushed a floti of seven Imperial fighting barges each at least ten times its size! Not only did it disabled two of the barges, but it had also ran away while tricking them by releasing arge cloud of smelly ck smoke.


    Next came the reports that it had destroyed the pursuers sent after it before briefly disappearing somewhere in the vast river channels. Following that, reports from the patroling dragons spotted it and it managed to break out of the river blockade and now it was heading straight at him!


    Rowan had stared in awe and shock when he first saw how its mage weaponry tore up the side of the Imperial barge unlucky enough to be in its sights.


    He prayed as he squeezed every ounce of his strength, cranking the loading wrench of the ballista''s arms as fast as he could. He flinched as he heard the telltale thunderous roar of its weapons and shut his eyes, mentally bracing himself for the destructive magic that was surelying to im his soul.


    Only to get a whip across his sweaty bareback from the screaming ballista crew leader, "WHY ARE YOU STOPPING? KEEP WORKING THOSE ARMS!"


    Rowan blinked back the tears from eyes in surprise and took a quick peek out of the firing slot. "I''m still alive?"


    He ignored the stares of the rest of the crew as he patted himself before he turned to help wind the ballista. Rowan let out a relieved sigh as he realized that the demon cursed ship was attacking the other Imperial vessel first.


    Finally, with a loud click, the arms of the ballista were locked back and two hoisted a spear that was as thick as his thigh and as tall as Rowan onto the slider.


    "Stand clear!" The senior most ballista crew yelled at the rest and everyone backed away from the weapon to prevent getting injured when the weapon was fired.


    Rowan stood at the side with the rest, the pain from the whip mark on his back forgotten as he nervously peered out the firing slot at the demon ship rushing to kill them all.


    "TAKE AIM!" The beefy artillerymander strolled down the deck and roared out at the ballista men who tried their best to sight their weapons at the fast approaching ship.


    "WHO FIRED THAT?" He screamed as some fool panicked and released the ballista bolt early, wasting the shot. "Drag them out and give them twentyshes of the whip!"


    "Mercy, my lord! MERCY!" The frightened artillerymen pleaded and begged as they dragged off by the soldiers. "Noooooo!"


    "Hurry up and reload that weapon!" Themander yelled at the stunned crew. "And someone else takes over as the shooter!"


    Suddenly, the hull of the barge shooked and loud cracking sounds and snaps could be heard. Someone gave a cry of pain and copsed down with a puddle of blood that grewrger as Rowan stared in shock.


    The crew became restless and frightened as the loud cracking noises appeared to be something powerful mming against the hull. Once in a while, someone dropped down from where they stood either with a cry of pain or silently as if they had fallen asleep on the spot.


    "Stood your ground you imbeciles!" Themander roared at the spooked crew. "Get ready to lose the ballistae!"


    He bent over to view theing demon ship and raised his hand high, he chopped it down suddenly and yelled, "LOO- URKKK?!!"


    Themander jerked back and clutched his throat, fruitlessly trying to stem the squirting blood from the sudden wound in his neck.


    The men panicked at seeing theirmander injured, froze at their stations and for a second everyone looked at each in confusion.


    Rowan jumped into action quickly and pushed the stunned crew member away from the ballista. He quickly used the simple notches carved into the beam of the ballista to sight in at the approaching ship and pulled the release bar of the ballista.


    Instantly there was a whoosh, followed by a p of air against his body and a loud snap as the arms of the ballista snapped forward. The man length bolt flew out of the slider and whizzed out into the air.


    The loud snap of the ballista jolted the rest out of their surprise and they quickly re-aim their weapons and let loose the bolts.


    Rowan kept his eyes on his bolt and watched it wobble in the air before it mmed tip down directly into the body of the demon ship!


    "YESH!" He cried out in tion and all his pent up fear disappeared as he saw the demon ship swerved away sharply. "I KILLED IT!"


    "THERE.. There... there''s another one of those demon cursed boatsing!" Suddenly a cry of rm came from the open hatch. "It''sing from behind!"


    Rowan tore his eyes away from the scene of the demon ship floundering in the water and raced to the other side of the barge and stared out from the firing slot.


    He could barely see a speck in the distance, but it was obvious that it was another demon ship as it appeared to be moving at a very fast speed on the water.


    Everyone''s attention was focused on the new enemy and themander choking in his own blood was forgotten by all.


    "What are you all doing?" Someone yelled from the hatch. "Why are none of you manning your stations! Where is Commander Rick?"


    The men pointed to the body spasming gently in his death throes and the person who asked cursed. "Man the ballistas! Make ready to fire once that enemy ship is in range!"


    Rowan stood there dumbstruck as he watched the neer approaching at a speed that was way faster than the demon ship he just killed. "We won''t make it -!!!"


    The hull where he stood next to disintegrate into mes and splinters. The high explosive loads of the 20 mm shells detonated as they mmed into the hull, turning Rowan into steaming bloody pulp.


    ----


    FAC - 10, Havoc, flew across the water as the pilot put it on full speed. The forward 20 mm guns kept pounding away at the two Imperial barges at a distance way beyond that of a ballista while the 50 cals threw white tracers at the top decks of the ships, knocking down tiny man shaped figures.


    "Oh Niner,e in!" The skipper of the Havoc called out over the radio. "Daisy! Come in! Over."


    "Damn it!" Havoc''s skipper pped the radio handset back to its cradle and cursed. "Are we toote to save them?"


    "Keep the fire up!" Havoc''s skipper growled. "Kill them all!"


    -----


    Quartz moaned in pain as his vision slowly cleared. He winched in pain and saw a piece of shrapnel sticking out from his left shoulder. He struggled to his feet and slowly crawled up from where he had being knocked off his feet.


    He noticed that the boat was dead in the water and being dragged by the river current towards the Imperial blockade. The sudden impact of the ballista bolt had thrown him off the flying boat and he hadnded at the aft of the boat and hit his head against the rear 20 mm gun mount.


    Luckily he was wearing his helmet and he removed it with great difficulting, seeing the helmet had a crack across half of its dome surface, which most likely saved his life.


    "Skipper! You alright?" Asked one of the 50 cal gunners at the side.


    "What''s the situation?" He asked the gunner.


    "We lost the XO and the pilot!" The gunner replied in a low voice. "We got another two men overboard but we can''t get to them due to current."


    "Shit!" Quartz cursed and shooking his ringing head. "What happened?"


    The gunner gestured to the wheelhouse and said, "Damn unlucky ballista bolt hit the wheelhouse directly and... Johnny is gone."


    "The bolt wrecked the controls and caused the boat to stall," The gunner continued his report. "The impact threw everyone not secured off their feet."


    "The XO and you fell off the flying bridge and... he didn''t make it, Sir..." The gunner said. "And we are out of ammo for all the guns too."


    "Shit!" Quartz repeated again. "Wait a minute! What are the Imperials doing all this time?"


    "I am not sure, Skip," The gunner gave a shrug. "We only heard some explosions going on onboard those two ships but other than that, they are not bothering us..."


    "Explosions?" Quartz made his way unsteadily to the side and stared at the two smoking Imperial barges. He got briefly make out some figures scrambling on the top decks of the vessels but that was it.


    "And the Imperial Dragons?" Quartz asked as he squirmed his eyes at the skies.


    "Gone too," The gunner replied. "I don''t know what is going on, but... we are still alive so far!"


    Quartz slowly made his way into the wrecked wheelhouse, where the internal bulkhead was painted in the blood of the pilot. The ballista bolt had directly mmed right into the pilot and the force of the bolt had turned the pilot into a bloody mess.


    He swallowed his gorge and stepped back out and check on the remaining of his crew. He started off with fourteen brave young men, and now two were dead, two more being carried away by the river current, one unconscious and the rest all had varied degrees of wounds.


    "Grab your personnel arms!" Quartz ordered the gathered crew. "And whatever ammunition we have left. Carry only necessities, like food and water!"


    "We are going to abandon ship!" Quartz said to his crew. "I want all the twenty mikes and fifties destroyed! Whatever guns we can''t bring toss them overboard!"


    "Use the remaining fuel and burn the ship down!" Quartz ordered the mechanics. "I do not want anything salvageable by the Imperials! They must not get their hands on these techs!"


    "Aye, aye, Skipper!" The men quickly obeyed hismands and started to sabotage the Daisy.


    Quartz tenderly rubbed the hull of the Daisy and whispered, "Thank you for fighting this long with us! You are a great ship! I am proud to serve onboard you! Thank you!"


    Sounds of hammering came from the aft as the men started to wreck the onboard weapons. "Make it quick! We don''t know when the Imperials wille!"


    Quartz leaned out from the side of the Daisy and gestured to two of his crew that had fallen overboard, indicating to them to swim to the shore. Both men wearing their life vest waved acknowledgment and headed toward the shore.


    He turned back into the wheelhouse where they had ced the body of the XO who had broken his neck in the fall. He gave a quick prayer to both fallen men, "See you, my friends. You have fought bravely and died gloriously. Wait for us in the Hall of Warriors!"


    "Skip!" One of the mechanics climbed up from the Engine room. "I dumped the fuel out already. Just need to set the timer for the explosives and we can go!"


    Quartz nodded and checked on the rest who had wrecked the guns, leaving the Imperial no chance to study them. "Ready? It''s gonna be a cold swim!"


    The remaining crewughed and secured their gear before jumping off the boat. Quartz remained behind till everyone had jumped off before he took out a grenade from his pouch and pulled the pin.


    "See ya, Daisy!"

 Chapter 305: We Kill and Eat Babies!

    Chapter 305: We Kill and Eat Babies!


    UN Rear Trench Alpha Two, Mess Tentage


    Mills ravenously wolfed down the helpings of fried hash browns and chili over grains before swiping down his mess tin with a hunk of bread. He burped out in satisfaction and dropped the mess tin into the barrel with other used tins.


    Dozens of other Marines on rest rotation were gathered at the Mess tent having their mid day meal. There were also members of the voluntary corps made up from locals and ex ves who worked as support staff like drivers and cooks mixed in with the Marines, chatting noisily away.


    Mills ensured his water canteens were filled up before he exited the tent and headed to his unit''s allocated bivouac. Suddenly as he almost to his unit''s rest area, a siren screamed loud enough to wake the dead, followed by an announcement.


    "Imminent enemy attack! All units to return back to your designated defense zones! Repeat! Imminent enemy attack! All units to return back to your designated defense zones!" The several loudspeakers mounted on poles around the rear zone of the trenches cried out where normally they would be ying some rock and roll music.


    Mills cursed and he ran towards his tent shared with the senior NCOs. Some of his section had already suited up and ran past him without a word towards the entrances that led to the forward trenches.


    He grabbed his body armor and weapon, before running out from the tent, strapping in his armor as he ran.


    He ducked his head low as he entered the trench entrance, following the men in front of him as their boots storming loudly over the duckboardsid on the trench floor. He made a left at the first intersection and while others continued on in the maze of the trenches.


    After another few turns among themunication trenches, before he arrived at Forward Trench Alpha Two, where he and his men were allocated to defend.


    "What is the situation?" He asked as he swept past several Marines already up on the firing steps.


    "Sarge!" A Signals corporal came up and reported. "HQ ryed information that our UAV has observed the enemy is massing for an attack, beyond the forest!"


    "Got it!" He turned to the Marines gathered at the firing trench and called out for a headcount while ordering two of his men to grab more ammunition from the ammo bunker.


    Mills climbed up the firing steps and looked out across the pockmarkednd towards the forest and sighed. "It''s gonna be a long hot day!"


    -----


    Imperial Line


    Moel frowned as several men in richly embroidered tabards over their ornate te mail stood before him with a hint of rebellion.


    "My Lord," One of the men with a hint of haughtiness said. "You want us to risk our troops to save your daughter?"


    The others watched with great anticipation as they knew the power of the Rothschild was waning.


    "You are all powerful and rich," The man who spoke earlier said again. "Why would you need our help? We are just merend barons! Our forces are much weaker than yours!"


    Moel''s face darkened as he red at his barons before him. "You need not know the reason why just follow my orders!"


    "But my Lord!" Another Baron said with a mock distressed tone. "If we lose our troops here, how will we be able to defend thend against the goblins and monsters that threaten ournds?"


    "Yes! How can we protect our people if our troops suffer casualties?" The rest of the watching Barons suddenly cried out in injustice. "How will we answer to our people? Who willpensate us if our beloved homnd is ravaged by those barbaric monsters!"


    "Enough!" Moel roared out angrily, unable to contain his anger. "Who is your liege lord here? You all taken an oath to service me and the Emperor! Are you rebelling now?"


    "Eh..." The Barons looked at each other unease as themander of the Scorpian Legion stood silently beside Moel. "Rebel is too harsh a word!"


    "We are just worried about ournds and people!"


    "Yes! Yes! How can we rebel? We are loyal to the Emperor!"


    The Barons started to mor about how loyal and concerned they are for the Emperor''s subjects. Moel''s frowned turned deeper and deeper and he nced at the silent Rock next to him before he said softly, "I-"


    The Rock raised an armored hand up and took a step forward as he eyed the nervous Barons through his full helm. "You have a turn of the ss to gather your men for battle. Not one sand more! Or face punishment by militaryw!"


    The frightened Barons swallowed back any retort they wanted to say as they sensed the killing auraing out from the Rock. "Y-yes, my lord! At once!"


    Moel watched the Barons scrambled away with a gloomy expression. He needed to show these Barons what happens if they disregarded his authority!


    "You ready the troops," The Rock suddenly said. "I will have my Bronze men support the attack once the enemy''s strength weakened."


    Moel nodded and watched the Rock walk away and whispered to himself. "I will have to deal with you tooter on!"


    -----


    Skies over Northern Front


    The lenses of the Owleye UAV whirled and whined as it focused on the troop build up at the edge of the forest. It hovered in the skies and recorded every move of the unaware Imperials as column after column of armored infantry and cavalry marched into the forest and disappeared from the sensors of the UAV.


    But it was more than enough for the Intel officers at themand bunker to gauge and estimate the strength of the enemy and also their estimated arrival time and direction of attack, allowing the Command Staff to effectively arrange and direct their defense in preparation of the attack.


    The UAV continued to hum to itself happily as it watched everything happening below it, including the new arrival of a contingent of heavily armored troops that was different from the rest.


    -----


    Northern Front Central Command


    Joseph watched the UAV feed on the disy and pointed to the image, "What do we know about this troops?"


    The Intel officer assigned to Orwell''s Point, frowned as he looked at the image. "We have no idea, Sir. We have received no word nor Intel regarding this. Except, that those insignia belongs to the ck Scorpion Legion."


    "I heard of them before," It was Joseph''s turn to frown. "They are considered to be the Emperor''s elite enforcers."


    "Yes, Sir," The Intel officer replied. "From our records, it should be lead by a man known as the Rock."


    "Sadly we do not have any pictures of said person," The Intel officer shrugged apologetically. "But from what we know, he is kinda like the right hand man of the previous Bluewood Emperor."


    "He is known to be ruthless with his enemies hence, he was nicknamed the Rock, for being emotionless," The Intel officer read off the records from his tablet. "His personnel army, the ck Scorpions Legion, is known to be a mobile and elite fighting force. It is highly trained and is very adept at assaults, achieving victory rapidly before the enemy could counter attack."


    "But?" Joseph asked. "I''m hearing a but right?"


    "The tactics of the ck Scorpion employs are mostly what we learned as blitz attacks," The Intel officer exined. "It is effective as long as they don''t overexert themselves or having their supply lines cut."


    "Hence they are not very suitable for long sieges," The officer added. "The Rock will hit us as hard as he could to achieve victory in the shortest time possible and he will use his mobility to overrun whatever that remains."


    "So we hit their supply line and force a drag out war?" Joseph asked in thought. "But we do not have the manpower to sustain a long fight."


    "No sir," The Intel officer smiled. "Instead, I propose we do this..."


    Joseph and the rest of themand staff listened attentively to the Intel officer''s suggestion and son wicked smiles appeared on all their expressions.


    "Heh, it might just work out." Josephughed. "And maybe it will work very well after all!"


    -----


    UN Forward Trench Alpha Two


    "Mills!" Lt Silverstar came running over. "How''s everything?"


    "Sir!" Mills greeted hispanymander and quoted, "God''s in his heaven all''s right with the world!"


    "Huh?" Lt Silverstar frowned. "What is that?"


    "Erm, it means that everything is fine, Sir!" Mills cheekily grinned before he whispered softly. "As long as God doesn''tes down here..."


    The men sniggered as they sometimes called thepanymander as God.


    Lt Silverstar frowned but he choose to ignored theughter the men gave as he saw morale was high. "I gotten word that the enemy is forming up beyond the forest, and this line will be one of their targets!"


    "I expect that the firing will be hard!" Lt Silverstar addressed the troops around him. "But you are Marines! You breath war and shit bullets out!"


    "OORAAAAH!"


    "So what do you do to assholesing here to take what was ours?" Lt Silverstar roared.


    "WE KILL!"


    "WHAT DO MARINES DO BEST?"


    "KILL!"


    "AND EAT BABIES!!!"


    The menughed madly at the joke and Lt Silverstar grinned. "DO YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER?"


    "YESSSSH!"


    "Good!" Lt Silverstarughed. "Kill them before they kill you! Carry on!"


    "Mills," Falcon''s CO gestured him over. "Watch over the boys."


    "You got it," Mills nodded solemnly. "I make sure they all get to go home in one piece."


    "Good. I have tasked whatever avable artillery we have on be on your call," Silverstar added. "Too bad, HQ doesn''t allow us to bomb the shit out of them from afar, if not we won''t even need to be in this shit hole!"


    "Well, Sir," Mills grinned. "You and I know that if the enemy scatters, we will be in a even worst shit!"


    "True," Lt Silverstar nodded. "Well, carry on, soldier! I got to check on the rest."


    Mills nodded and watched Silverstar headed away with his aides to another section of the trenches. "Damn, this waiting is killing me!"


    As the summer sun rose higher in the sky, the temperature rose along with it. The Marines took shelter under overhead cover to escape the sun. Temperature rose as high as 32 degrees Celsius as the men waiting impatiently for the Imperials to attack.


    Finally, an alert lookout yelled, and the Marines jolted awake from their lethargy and watched as hundreds and hundreds of bodies in shiny te mail appear from the forest edge.


    The once blood soaked ground turned into a bloody mud paste had long hardened back as the sun baked the ground. The Imperials banners fluttered weakly in the thin breeze and both sides stared at each other silently.


    "FARK YA MOMMA!" Someone suddenly yelled and his voice clearly echoed across the stretch ofnd between the two forces.


    The Marines burst outughing and started to yell insults at the confused Imperials whom clearly were unable to understand their cursing.


    Millsughed as he watched a ripple appeared among ranks of the Imperials. "Dumb bastards must be cooking in those suits of armor."


    "Keep insulting them!" Mills yelled at his men. "The longer they are in the sun, the more baked they get! HAhahaha!"


    Finally, the Imperial side got back under order and a horn blew a long and mournful cry which signaled the Imperials to advance.


    "Alright, boys!" Mills checked his rifle. "Here theye! Same as before! MGs hit when they are at four hundred out, rifles hold fire till they hit the hundred marker! Clear?"


    The Imperials formed into a long snaking line and the mages started to cast their protection spells, stacking several spells together, strengthening the power of the magic barrier.


    "Give me a fire mission!" Mills yelled at his radioman while checking his map. "Grid Nine Three Seven One Niner Two Zero One Niner!"


    Several secondster, the wee screaming mortar shells came overhead and the dying began.

 Chapter 306: Coming Home

    Chapter 306: Coming Home


    Imperial Lines


    Young Merck was seriously terrified. Just a few weeks back, he was just a normal person, having a normal life as the son of a farmer. He toiled the grain fields diligently with his other brothers and sisters day in day out.


    Life was hard but peaceful and he had noints. Taxes, as usual, were high but still, they had just enough left over for the winter months as long as they do not indulge.


    Suddenly his whole changed when the soldiers arrived with the local magistrate in his shiny carriage. The magistrate gathered all the families at the vige square and made a promation, stating that it was their duty to serve their Lord and Master when he called for them.


    Each family was to send at least one abled man, depending on the number of males, to the city to answer the call of their Lord. Incentives were given that for each male that answered the call will be awarded one gold crown and upon return, another gold crown will be awarded.


    Merck had four younger brothers and two sisters whom they looked after their single mother living in a simple hut and caring for the small parcel ofnd that theirte father owned.


    Being the eldest male in the family, Merck made the decision and stepped forward to answer his Lord''s call. Having a gold crown will enable his younger siblings and mother to livefortably for a few years!


    The next few days he was thrust into a world he had never experienced before. The training was harsh, brutal and surprisingly short.


    He was given a wooden pole and together with hundreds other men of all ages, they practiced march in step together tomands, and followed the call of their sergeants and officers.


    Merck was disappointed as he had envisioned that he would be dded in shiny armor, with a sword and shield of his own and looking heroic and dashing. But in reality, they only practiced stabbing together in a formation with poles before they were marched off and given long spears.


    Leather armor and helms were issued but the amount was barely enough for everyone. Fights broke out and the stronger andrger men took the best of the armor while leaving behind the lower quality to the rest to fight over.


    Merck''s body was lean and tough, having worked in the fields all his life. He managed to grab a suit of leather armor that was slightly oversized to his still growing body and while doing so, he suffered a bruised eye for his troubles.


    But to him, it was worth it. At night, while most of the camp was asleep, he painstakingly poked holes and threaded strips of leather into his armor to make it more fitting for his lean frame.


    The days that followed were an adventure that he knew he could entertain his siblings when he returned or even his children in the future! They were informed that they were to march against a barbaric enemy, that had kidnapped the Lord''s daughter!


    The men filled with anger and heroic thoughts cried out that they will save the Princess! Even Merck felt like he was summoned to be the hero to save the princess from evil and swore he will save the Princess at all cost! He even envisioned himself saving the Princess and her being betrothed to him for his heroic efforts!


    He and hispany of spearmen were formed into apany named, the Neen Spear. There were over a thousand men in thepany and they boarded a river barge and sailed down the river.


    They had to take turns working the oars but to him, it was an easy chore and soon they arrived at their destination a few other barges together. They set off on another long march while bearing loads of supplies before they set up camp.


    That was when Merck firstid his eyes on the ck Scorpions and he was in awe of them immediately.


    The soldiers wore a ck carapace like te mail that covered almost every part of their bodies. Full faced helms covered their faces, giving them a deadly air of mystery and danger while a motif of a twin tail scorpion was embossed on their chest.


    Empowered by such strong looking soldiers, Merck felt like he was invincible and they won''t lose at all. But as fate had it, the first pre dawn attack left the Imperial army reeling back in fear and shock at the powers of the enemy that stole the Princess of the Rothschild.


    Hispany had retreated and he ran blindly in fear and before long, someone came and dragged them all together. He found out that more than half his originalpany were either dead or missing when they gathered under the Neen Spear''spany banner.


    Merck''spany were rotated out of the frontlines as they waited for recements while other freshpanies were thrown at the enemy only to be beaten back in defeat.


    Now, formed into a massive column, with fifty ranks across and two hundred men deep, he marched packed tightly together as every man wanted to be in the middle of the formation. The closeness of each man gave them the courage to face the cursed enemy!


    Everyone felt safe when he was squeezed between so many people and the beating of the drums gave Merck courage to take a step forward while the glow of the multiyered magic barrier covered them.


    Merck''s bravely onlysted until the unearthly screams that came from the skies. Immediately, everyone paused and braced themselves, some praying to their gods while others raised their shields to cover their heads.


    Loud thunderous shes and smoke appeared overhead and the magic barrier groaned and appeared to buckle as the enemy''s deadly magic wreaked havoc before they could even see them!


    Merck felt his legs weakened and could barely move. Roars as orders andmands came from the Officers on mounted war dragons who berated the men and whipped them, forcing them to advance.


    "MOVE! MOVE! KEEP MOVING OR YOU DIE!"


    The frightened men pushed and shoved at each other as the sergeants forced the entire column to advance with threats of death for any deserter.


    Merck could only be helplessly carried forward by the masses as the men quickened their footsteps, hoping to close in with the enemy and get out of the killing magic.


    But as they approached closer to the enemy lines, bright shear bolts of magic hammered against their magic barrier. Merck briefly saw one of the Battle Mages in their blue long coats stumbled down with blooding out of his orifices before disappearing under the mad rush forward.


    Merck scrambled madly to keep on his feet as he did not want to be like trampled to death like that Mage he saw. He gripped the person in front of him for support and keep pace with the crowd trying best to breath as the air around him turned hot, and suffocating.


    "KEEP IT UP! WE ARE NEARLY THERE!"


    As the men heard the cry, their morale rosed and they cheered, thinking that they survived the march across hell. Suddenly, the column appeared to hit a wall as the men in front mmed to a halt.


    Merck was somewhat in the forward third of the column and couldn''t see what was happening and he could only follow the rest in shoving and pushing the men in front of them forward to prevent from being crushed by the men behind.


    "MOVE! DON''T STOP! KEEP MOVING!!!"


    Little did he knew that the men in front had hit the barrier of barbwires that hampered their movements. The coils of razor wire hooked onto the clothes of the Imperial soldiers and sliced any unprotected flesh.


    The men in the first few rows screamed as the weight of the entire marching column shoved them face down into the barb wires and booted feet crashed their lives out.


    More and more soldiers tripped and soon the entire column came to a standstill as the men in front jammed up the entire attacking column.


    -----


    UN Forward Trench Alpha Two


    "Oh, those poor bastards!" Mills grinned not feeling sorry at all. "FUCK THEM UP!"


    He watched the steady approach of a column of bodies which mortars and machine gun fire punished it. The Imperials seemed to have learned from their earlier assaults and had grouped their troops into a battering ram made up of bodies.


    Mills had to admit that the old man of the Rothschild had a good mind, at least in regards to changing his tactics. Instead of having squares of marching men moving like a chessboard and protected by magic shields, he changed his tactics into making a single battering ram of troops.


    Now, half a dozen such columns were fast approaching their forward lines with beefed up magic shields that managed to protect most of the Imperial troops from mortars and gunfire.


    But now, the column that was aiming for Mill''s trench was struck at the second row of barb wires which was deployed at the hundred meter mark. There were threeyers of barb wires protecting the approaches to the trenches, each ced at fifty meters intervals.


    "I WAN AIMED SHOTS!" Mills roared over the din of the machine guns. "GIVE THEM OUR LOVEEEE!"


    RPGs screamed out from their tubes and hammered the stalled Imperial column, crashing their shields and exposing some of the stunned soldiers.


    Rifles barked as the Marines took careful aim and gunned down any Imperial out of cover. The entire column appeared to shake as the Imperial troops started to lose confidence.


    Finally, the multiyer magic barrier dome protecting the entire column unable to hold up against the punishing firepower of the Marines, appeared to shimmer brightly before popping loudly and dissipating into sparkly light motes in the air.


    The entire column reeled back from the sudden loss of their magical protection and bullets started finding flesh and armor.


    Mills gave a bloodthirsty grinned as he sighted his rifle onto an Imperial Officer on a giant alligator raptor like mount and squeezed the trigger, watching his round toppling the Imperial over and the war dragon ran away, dragging the lifeless body with one leg was still trapped in the stirrups.


    -----


    Merck stared wild eyed at the sky when he heard the strange popping sound and felt every strand of his hair raising. The shimmering dome over their heads was gone!


    Many others paused and came to the realization and they turned to flee while others more level headed spread out from the column and charged the enemy, knowing that if they ran back, they would fall victim to the killing magicing from the skies.


    Merck torn between two sides and finally decided to charge at the enemy, thinking that it is safer than running across the death zone again.


    "CHARGEE-!!!!!"


    An Officer screamed at the men to advance but he slowly jerked back, clutching his chest as he toppled off his mount and the spooked creature dashed off across the fields.


    Merck screamed his fear out and he ran, following the broad back of his fellow soldier before him. He gripped his spear shaft tightly and ran with the sharp tip pointing forward as they were trained.


    He kept his eyes on the back of the soldier in front of his when suddenly a dark red flower blossomed from his back and Merck felt something punched him hard in his gut.


    He stumbled to a halt and looked down, seeing a dark stain growing from his hemp trousers. He touched the wet material and his fingers came away red.


    Merck groaned and toppled over as he lost all strength in his body. His vision slowly darkened and he stared limply at the blue skies and suddenly, he saw his family smiling in the drifting clouds.


    "I''m...ing... home..."

 Chapter 307: Dragons Breath

    Chapter 307: Dragon''s Breath


    "Iing dragons!" A warning cry came from the lines and winged serpentine shapes could be seen in the skiesing up in support of the Imperial attack columns.


    "HQ! We got inbound dragons!" A Marine radioman yelled his report over the din of firing guns. "Requesting immediate air support! Repeat we need AA support now!"


    As the dragons drew closer, some of the machine gun teams switch their attention to swatting the big lizards off the sky as they came swooping down.


    "Take cover!" The Marines ducked and hid under overhead protection of the trenches when over a dozen med weight dragons dive bombed their section of the trenches, lobbing sks of alchemical fire down as they flew over.


    Some of the more daring Marines remained on the open trenches and fired at the underbellies of the swooping dragons while crying out profanities at the Imperials.


    The alchemical fire potions made with a mixture of arcane materials burst into mes upon breaking on the surface. Mostnded off target, but a few managed tond right on top of the trenches, causing burns to anyone unfortunate enough to be near it.


    White hot tracers chased after the dragons, and a couple of the dragons cried out in pain as the bullets punched into their underbellies and ripped holes in their wings.


    The injured dragons mmed into the ground as they failed to pull up from their dive, plowing deep crevice on the earth cutting a trench line directly, creating a breach in the defenses.


    The remaining dragons swooped back and instead kept at a safe distance from above for their crews to throw their firebombs which uracy was greatly diminished.


    The attacking Imperial columns having the gunfire ckened against their magical barriers took the opportunity to advance, the soldiers threw their shields over the barb wires to create a path and charged.


    Suddenly, the entire front of the trenches erupted into mes and smoke as ymore mines were set off. The thousands and thousands of deadly ball bearings whished into the Imperials. The sudden damage against the magical barriers, overloaded the mages maintaining them and they felt down, convulsing from the bacsh of mana burn.


    The Imperials suddenly without the aid of their magical barrier recoiled back from the gunfire mming into their ranks. Yet they still gathered their courage and charged directly at the unseen enemy.


    -----


    Moel sat on his mount and watched the attack with a frown on his face. The Land Barons'' forces had performed beyond his expectations. He was only expecting them to weaken their levels of mana before the Rockmits his forces.


    Now, maybe he might not need the Rock''s assistance after all. Moel thought to himself with a small smile. Once the attack was sessful without the help of the ck Scorpions, he will be able to im all credit!


    "Send in the second wave!" Moel ordered. "We will break through the enemy line and on to the city by nightfall!"


    "Lord Rock!" Moel smiled at the ck Scorpion Legionmander. "I think we might not need the services of your Bronze men after all!"


    The Rock remained quiet as he watched the battle urring in the distance while Moel gloated over his easy victory.


    The second wave of Imperials were Moel''s own men, while the first wave consisted of soldiers from the Barons. Several wheeled catapults were rolled forward by teams of toiling ves while soldiers loaded jars of alchemist fire.


    "Kill them! Kill them all!" Moel roared.


    -----


    Mills cursed as a wave of super heated air blew right towards him and made him remember that he once had gotten badly injured by a fireball spell. He cursed at the dragons in the air and turned to his radioman, yelling, "What the fuck is our AA support?"


    "HQ says, ten minutes at least!" The radioman yelled back.


    "FUCK!" Mills swore again before he stood up at the firing steps of the trench and emptied his weapon in anger at the approaching Imperial soldiers. "Order the MGs to ignore the damn dragons! Aim for the infantry!"


    "Yes, Sarge!" The radioman started fiddling with his radio set ry orders to the MG nests.


    Mils reloaded and popped up from his crouch position and fired at an Imperial who had a thick mob of filthy beard. The Imperial soldier fell back clutching his chest and another took his ce. "Why are we always fucking outnumbered! Can we outnumber the fuckers for once?"


    The enemy troops had reached the fifty meter mark and most of them were sheltering behind the bodies of the fallen as anyone that tried to advance without any magical protection, were shot down without mercy from the Marines.


    "Sarge! More enemy reinforcements!" The radioman yelled out. "HQ sent word that we got another mass of infantrying our way!"


    "What the fuck?" Mills cursed. "Tell HQ I want all artillery and air support on our sector now!"


    "HQ says artillery are being tasked for another mission and air support is engaging the dragons!" The radioman reported after a while. "We got no support!"


    "Fuck!" Mills cursed again. "Tell everyone to ready our secret weapon when they breach thest line of ymores!"


    "Yes, Sarge!" The radioman ran off to ry the message down the line.


    Mills returned to fire his rifle at the Imperial scattered before the defense lines, unable to make any more progress forward without dying. He could see a carpet of bodies that stretched all the way to the forest.


    And at the edge of the forest, he could see another half dozen columns of Imperial troops marching forward under the cover the rainbow hue dome of magical protection.


    "Why the fuck we don''t have such shit?" Mills asked to no one in particr. "Why can''t we have magic protection too!"


    "Fucking cheaters!" Mills cursed and ordered, "I need four runners! Go grab more ammo and water over and everyone drink up! It''s gonna be a long hot day today!"


    He nced up to the skies as he heard the drone of aircraft engines. Soon their anti air support came in andid waste to the flying Imperial dragons which scrambled madly away from the deadly machines.


    Mills felt better when he saw the sky raining dragon bodies and he even broke into a smile when he saw one of the bodies of the dragon crasnding onto a pile of Imperials taking cover behind the dead.


    Suddenly a massive ball of fire rosed up from the side and Mills flinched back in surprise. He quickly regained his wits and yelled at his confused men. "Keep firing!"


    "What the fuck is that?" Mills asked the radioman who listened to the reportsing in from themand.


    "Siege weapons!" The radioman replied. "Imperial catapults!"


    "Fuck? How much more shit they are throwing at us!" Mills grabbed his binocrs and searched the battlefield for the enemy catapults. After a while, he spotted the wooden frame of a catapult at the rear, "Tell the Airforce, I want them to destroy those catapults!"


    "On it, Sarge!" The radioman switch frequency and hailed the Cobras overhead. "Angel Flight, Angel Flight, this is Falcon Alpha Two! Request airstrike on enemy catapults. Grid Two Four Two Three Niner Two Zero One Niner! How copy, roger?"


    "Roger that, Falcon Alpha Two, standby for gun run! Two mikes, out!"


    "Two minutes, Sarge!" The radioman informed Mills who nodded.


    The ground shook again as another ball of fire rose up among the defenses and cries of medic could be heard.


    Mills returned to watching the catapults in the distance, "Damn, that shit has a range of over six hundred meters!"


    He watched the easily identified ves pull the ropes to arm the catapults while others hoisted arge jar like object onto the firing cup.


    The catapult''s arm suddenly flung the jar up high and Mills followed the trajectory of the ck jar in the air and he cursed. "SHIT! INCOMING! TAKE COVER!"


    The jar of alchemical fire smashed against the ground just before the trench line and the highly mmable substance burst out before igniting into mes. A couple of Marines hiding behind the trench screamed as superheated air and mes rolled over them.


    Mills stood back up and saw a trio of Cobrasing down in a swoop with their guns zing and almost immediately, the catapults parked at the forest edge erupted into mes as the guns of the nes blew the jars of alchemical fire up.


    "Fuck yea!" Mills cheered with the rest of the Marines as they saw the catapults go up in mes and smoke. "Alright! Get the wounded back! The rest keep killing those Blue bastards!"


    The second wave of Imperial attack columns managed shrugged off the punishing fire of guns as they crossed over the barb wires ttened by the shields dropped by the first wave.


    Suddenly, the Imperials lobbed sks from behind their magical barriers and thick ck smoke erupted before the Marines'' lines, obstructing their view.


    "Fuck me! A smokescreen!" Mills cried out in surprise. "Use the mers now!"


    The Marines hearing Mills''s order grabbed the mers kept in the bunkers and aimed the nozzles out towards the evil looking smoke at their doorsteps. "BURN THEM!"


    The methrower armed Marines squeezed the triggers, spewing out a liquid fuel mixture before igniting the sparker which ignited the liquid fuel.


    Instantly the front line burst into mes as several mers swept their dragon breath like mes left and right and screams echoed out from beyond the smokescreen.


    -----


    Imperial Lines


    Moel grew more agitated as he watched his siege weapons burning away and a great deal of his alchemical fire supplies had been destroyed by those cursed flying creatures.


    Now, with the thick smoke blocking his view of the action on the battlefield, he has no clue how has the attack fared. He could briefly hear screamsing from the distance and consoled himself that those were the dying screams of his enemies!


    Suddenly, he saw figures appearing out from the smoke and more and more followed behind. He then realized that those were his men and they were retreating in a panic!


    "What are you all doing?" He roared angrily at the running men. "Attack! Anyone who dares take another step back, dies!"


    His men too gone in fear, ignored him and kept running. Infultered, Moel drew his sword and shed down at the nearest runners.


    His action made the rest avoid him as they sought to escape the hell they had entered.


    "My Lord!" One of his loyalmanders rode up next to Moel. "We... we had to retreat!"


    "What?" Moel''s eyes turned red as he red at his man. "Cowards! You dare run from the enemy?"


    "My Lord!" Themander jumped down from his mount and dropped to his knees. "The enemy has a terrible spell that destroyed all that came close! We can''t advance!"


    "What?" Moel''s eyes widened as he heard hismander''s exnation. "What spell?"


    "Dragon''s Breath!" Themander replied. "We ordered the retreat to not lose any more men to that spell!"


    "How... how did they have such a high level spell?" Moel frowned. "But that does not excuse your retreat! They the most could only cast it once!"


    "No my Lord," Themander trembled as he recalled the incidents. "They have more than one Dragon''s Breath spell!"


    "What?" Moel was frightened. A Dragon''s Breath spell was rated as high as a Level 8. Its destructive abilities were greater than what their current heavy weight could ever wreak as they bloodlines were not as powerful as the ancient dragons.


    And these rebels not only gotten a Heritage of the Gods that gave them such powerful thunder spells but also Dragon''s Breath? What on else do they possess? Is what Titanna telling him about the power of these barbaric rebels true?


    "Did I bite off more than I can chew?" Moel whispered to himself as he watched his scattered troops retreating in fear and countless wounded being helped by theirrades.


    "No! This war must end in my favor!"

 Chapter 308: Terminator

    Chapter 308: Terminator


    The Rock shook his head at the pathetic disy as the routed soldiers ran away without any sense of dignity. He gave a nce at Moel Rothschild who seemed to be paralyzed with shock as he stood there without any action or expression.


    He raised his hand and gave the signal to his troops, the ck Scorpion Legion to advance. The smoke that lingered over the battlefield will provide adequate cover and shield from the enemy eyes.


    Over two thousand ck armored soldiers and five hundred Bronze Men with their handlers marched forth. The ck Scorpions eyed the fleeing soldiers with disdain, some even cut them down with their swords when they have gotten close.


    "Wha- What are you doing?" Moel jolted out of his thoughts and stared at the Rock. "Why are you sending in your troops?"


    "This is the best time for an attack," the Rock calmly said. "The enemy most likely had used theirst trump card which was the Dragon''s Breath spell."


    "With this attack, my men will be able to break through the enemy lines!" He simply said and he gave his mount a kick and followed after his men, leaving Moel behind cursing.


    The Rock took a deep breath of the battlefield, taking in the scent of iron and death. There was also a hint of something acrid and sour in the air which he couldn''t identify.


    He ordered his soldiers to halt just beyond the range of those screaming killing spells that came from the air. He and hismanders had observed over the past few battles and calcted that the enemy'' spells had a maximum effective range and he had his troops pause just before it.


    Sharp thunderps immediately popped out from the enemy lines and the Rock frowned as it was the first time he came under the receiving end of these thunder magic. He did not belittle these strange magic and he knew that by winning this battle, there was a high chance he could get his hands on this strange and powerful magic!


    Instantly his highly trained troops lifted their heavy shields up and formed into a tight formation. The magically enhanced shields resisted the power of the thunder magic, making sparks burst out from the impact from the spells.


    His Battle Mages without needing any orders silently chanted their magic and created more barriers of protection for the marching Legion.


    "Let the Bronze Men take the front!" Hemanded and not long the ranks opened up to allow the heavily armored Bronze Men to advance forward.


    The Bronze Men were d in thick interlocking tes of metal that amon soldier would have great difficulty moving in. Yet the Bronze Men continued marching forward without any signs of hindrance from their armor.


    They were made out of abination of living flesh and vile magic. Their flesh enhanced to be stronger than iron, veins filled with a concoction of magical elixir and bones strengthened by sorcery.


    Their minds were wiped and souls enved by the process which turned normal beings into a Bronze man, a loyal warrior that was neither living nor dead.


    Used in the ancient times as a soldier of the Gods, they once roamed thend under the directives of their Gods to wage war. Now, lost in time, they now once again walk thends, doing what they do best in battle.


    Despite the best efforts of the Imperial magisters and master mages, they could only replicate just 10% of its true strength yet it was more than powerful enough for their needs. The Rock couldn''t imagine if they could replicate the power of the Bronze Men to even 50%! How powerful will they be?


    Each of them hung a great sword over their backs and carried arge rectangr shield that covered almost their entire bodies. They strolled forward without any hurry nor hesitation into the heavy spellfire of the enemy, while dozens of Battlemages kept pace behind them, shielding them with their magic barriers.


    Some Imperials too frightened to run or advance, trapped in the middle of the battlefield, saw the approaching Bronze Men and cried out in relief, thinking that they were saved!


    But the Bronze Men ignored them and everything in their path. The confused Imperial soldiers watched in horror as they trampled over whoever was in their way. Their weight and strength crushing flesh and bones as easily as breaking straw.


    Terrified, the Imperial soldiers could only try to avoid their approach and risk getting killed by the enemy as they left their cover.


    -----


    Mills observed the enemy gathered at the forest and a block of ck dded soldiers approaching in a steady manner without fear. Mills admired their confidence and the cool designs of their armor down to the man sized shields.


    "Call for some artillery support!" He said to his radioman without taking his eyes off his binocrs. "We got some badassesing right up!"


    "Sarge, HQ says to hold the line at all cost," the radioman replied. "There will be no fire support for the time being!"


    "What?" Mills turned and looked at his radioman in surprise. "Check with Lt Silverstar!"


    After a while, the radioman''s expression turned anxious as he reported to Mills. "Sarge, the OC says the same thing. We are to hold, for now, HQ is nning something big for the enemy!"


    "What the fuck!" Mills nearly flung his binocrs way in anger. "Are they hanging us out to dry?"


    "Dammit!" Mills turned back to watching the battlefield. "All NCOs on me now!"


    After a short while, all the corporals, sergeants and even the toon Lieutenant manning the entire section of the trench line gathered around Mills.


    "Sorry, Sir, for taking charge here," He apologized to the young looking Lieutenant who shook his head and gestured Mills to continue.


    "All MGs and RPG teams are to concentrate fire to take out their magic barriers!" Mills passed on his orders. "I want the rest of the men to wait until the barriers go down before engaging them! Got it?"


    Everyone in the impromptumand meeting nodded, understanding his orders. "HQ says we have no fire support for the time being and they are prepping something big for the Blue boys so we are hung out to dry for now!"


    "The next wave looks tougher than what we had fought off before so keep your eyes open for any surprises they have!" Mills added. "Good?"


    "OOORAAH!"


    "Go!" Mills dismissed everyone and they left hurriedly to pass down his order to the men.


    Once word had passed down, the machine gunners swapped out their red hot barrels with new barrels with the assistant gunners linked boxes of ammunition together.


    Marines armed with RPGs rested theirunchers against the sandbagged parapets of the trenches and waited for the smoke to clear for a shot.


    Between the wisps of lingering ck smoke, glimpses of the approaching Imperial''s magical multi hue dome could be seen. The Marines stacked their five rounds clips of munitions and grenades on the earth shelves they dug in the walls for easy ess when they needed them.


    Runners carrying cases of ammunition and water barrels ran along the trenches, refilling the Marines ammunition and their water canteens.


    Soon a breeze came and cleared the smoke away, exposing the approaching Imperials and without the need for an order, the guns fired.


    Shrieks of RPGs followed the tracers and the magical barrier of the Imperials could be seen flickering under the sunlight. The Battlemages supporting the spells could be seen gulping down potions to restore their strength as their powers weakened.


    With most of the second wave of the Imperials routed and only a few pockets of enemy soldiers cowering under cover of their deadrades, the only enemy left was the third wave of Imperials and their dome of protection attracted always every machine gun along the trench lines.


    Yet despite the best efforts of the guns, the enemy was able to weather on the punishing fire and they made it across the fifty meter mark before their magical barriers broke down.


    Suddenly the Imperial soldiers started jogging forward while drawing their great swords over their shoulders. They menacing at this distance that even Mills fear a tingle of fear down his spine. "Fuck it! Use your nades! mers stand by!"


    The Marines quickly lobbed egg shaped grenades over the trenches directly at the charging Imperials.


    The ck powder packed explosives worked as advertised, spewing out ball bearings out in a spherical effect. Yet the heavily armored Imperial soldiers ignored the shrapnel of the exploding grenades like they were nothing.


    "BURN THOSE BLACK BASTARDS!" Mills yelled as the Imperials came to thest razor wire obstacle that was set barely fifteen meters away.


    The methrower equipped Marines sprayed a gout of mes out from their position, torching the approaching Imperials and turning the entire area into a sea of mes.


    "Burn, motherfuckers! Burn!" Mills cheered with the rest but his expression quickly changed to horror as figure after figure wreathed in mes came walking out from the fire. The smoke and burning figures ignored the razor wire and trampled over them and the Marines at the front recoiled back in fear.


    "What the fuck!" Mills cried out and he fired his rifle at the burning figure before him. He heard a loud nk and the figure dropped its ruined shield down, exposing a ck armor d Imperial. Its armor glowed red in the smoke and steam ran off from the cervices in its armor.


    The soldier dragged his great sword in a two handed stance, its tip scraping against the packed earth. Shots mmed into the soldier, making him jerk and dance on the spot before it copsed down on one knee.


    Holes appeared in the armor of the soldier who stood up and continued forward not heeding the wounds he had suffered. The Marines were dumbstruck at the resilience of the Imperial soldier and they backed off from the trenches in rm as more and more soldiers appeared from out of the mes.


    "Keep firing!" Mills screamed at his men. "They must have some kind of cheating magic to allow them to take damage!"


    The Marines hearing Mill''s orders, returned fire rapidly, barely missing with the close distance. The mers continued to spew mes at those Imperials at the rear, the smell of chemicals thick in the air.


    Mills reloaded his M2 carbine and emptied the whole magazine at the looming figure before him. The Imperial didn''t even bother to block the shots and it just toppled backward into the mes, but it shortly stood up again.


    "What the hell are these guys made out of!" Mills yelled as he pped in another fresh magazine. "More Undead?"


    "Shit at this rate, the forward trench will be overrun!" Mills turned to his radioman and ordered. "Tell HQ and Lt Silverstar that Alpha Two is getting overrun! What are their orders!"


    "Yes, Sarge!" The radioman replied nervously and he quickly ryed the message over.


    "Fuck it!" Mills fired at his original target who walked out of the mes again. "ATTACH BAYONETS!"


    He rammed his sword bay into the lug and clicked it in ce before he aimed at the helmeted head of the Imperial and fired.


    The Imperial helmet deformed under the onught of bullets but it barely stopped its movement. "What the hell? Head shots don''t work anymore? Are they really some kind of fucking Terminator?"


    "Sarge! HQ says to fall back to the second line! Now!"


    -----


    Imperial Lines


    The Rock smiled as he eyed the progress of his Bronze men with a magic telescopic spell. He waved to his aide and said. "All troops to advance! We have broken through the enemy defenses!"


    Moel Rothschild seeing the Rock''s sess quickly rallied whatever troops that still had any sense of order and ordered them to follow the ck Scorpions from behind. He might not have won any merit by breaking the enemy lines, but he shall at least share in some of the glory!

 Chapter 309: Bronze VS Lead

    Chapter 309: Bronze VS Lead


    "Pull all the troops back and attack here!" Moel Rothschildmanded his aides. "There is a breach in the enemy lines!"


    The Imperial runners saluted and hastily rode off to ry the message to the rest of the battlefield. gs and horns were soon waved and blown, redirecting the masses of Imperial troops towards the breach in the UN defense lines.


    "Double time!" Moel yelled. "We can''t let the ck Scorpions take all the credit! Faster! Move faster!"


    The Imperials troops knew that once the enemy lines were breached there were be riches to be looted and women for them to enjoy. They formed up en-mass and charged after the ck Scorpions without any order or formation in their haste.


    Even those with their morale broken rejoined the fight once word spread to their ears. Moel was excited, for he rode alongside his troops, urging them to hurry their paces.


    The troops having advanced halfway of the battlefield without any danger, grew braver with each step and they wanted blood in revenge for the hell they had been put through by the enemy.


    "CHAAAARRRRGEEE!!!"


    -----


    "FALL BACK!" A Marine yelled at Mills''s ear as he fired his carbine at the Imperial soldier that finally copsed face down in the trenches, oozing out some thick and ck substance.


    Mills had realized that these Imperials were not Undead, rather some kind of super heavy armored automata that could absorb a lot of damage before they went down.


    "Back! Back!" Mills turned and pushed his radioman by his radio wore on his back. "Come on, Ted! Told you, you need to stop eating those fries! Hurry up, man!"


    "Sarge!" The radioman panted as he carried the heavy gear, including his weapon and ran, following the trench line. "Not... funny!"


    "Ha!" Millsughed as he took a look behind. He could see some of the mers still at work, they washed their mes over the Imperials who had dropped into the trenches. "Whoops! More Terminators at our ass! Hump it, soldier!"


    Luckily for the Marines, the enemy did not know that they had trenches as defenses, thinking that they only had some form of low wall instead. Hence the great swords of the Bronze Men actually worked against them, as they were unable to swing the weapon in the tight confines of the tunnels.


    Some of the ''Terminators'' as the Marines started to coin them, were standing over the trenches and striking downwards at the running Marines who ducked low and kept falling back. Those that stood on top of the trenches were exposed to the .50 cal machine gun teams sited at the second line of defense.


    The Haven 1 or H1 .50 caliber machine gun variant was designed and developed locally and so far it had proven to be as good as Earth''s version of the simr weapon.


    The high powered .50 caliber round blew the ''Terminators'' away as they stood there in the open. Some of the ''Terminators'' still retaining their great shields, raised them up and tanked the .50 cal rounds for a couple of seconds before the steel of shields were twisted without recognition by the force of .50 cal rounds.


    Armor bits and gore rained down as the Imperials Terminators copsed in an unidentified mess before the .50 calibers switched targets and continued firing.


    "Hold here!" Mills grabbed a couple of Marines and ordered them to make a stand. "We hold this tunnel!"


    One of the Marines was an Orc and he carried the MG - 1 as his weapon of choice. The Orc Marine prone t on the trench floor and deployed his weapon''s bipod while the rest crouched down and aimed their weapons at the other end of the tunnel where they just came from.


    Heavy nks of armor could be heard approached with brief thunderous roars of machine gun fire over their heads. Soon a smoking figure appeared from the corner of the trench tunnel and it turned its head robotically to face the Marines.


    "Wait for it!" Mills hissed. "Wait till that damn Terminatores in full view!"


    The distance between the two was barely ten meters away as the trenches were dug in a zig zag manner with twists and turns, every few ten to fifteen meters intervals. It was to prevent infiltrating enemy troops from simply firing down the length of the trench lines, and it helped prevent any gas or artillery attacks from spreading far down the line.


    The Imperial turned its whole body and entered directly into the line of fire of the waiting Marines. It had abandoned its great shield and instead held its great sword pointing forward like a spear. It''s once pristine ck armor has slightly sagged from the heat of the mers while several bullets covered its chest te.


    Its helmet looked dented and had some sticky substance oozing out its eye slits and bullet holes. The Imperial braced its self as if it was going to make a charge and Mills roared. "FIREE!"


    Everyone fired, including Mills and sparks erupted all over the armor of the Imperial. It took a step back to bnce itself as round after round mmed into its body.


    It managed to take two steps forward before it crumpled down in a heap on the floor. But as the Marines were rejoicing, another ''Terminator'' came into sight.


    "Fuck! Kill it!"


    -----


    UN Northern Front Central Command


    Joseph hovered anxiously over the map table as he looked at the minute updatesing in from the front.


    "Sir, All units in Trench Alpha Two has fallen back to Secondary Alpha Two." One of themand staff reported. "Units at Alpha One and Beta One has been reinforced."


    "Good!" Joseph nodded in acknowledgment of the report. "What''s the ground situation at Sec Alpha Two?"


    "Falcon Company is holding the ground there," Themand staff replied. "But they are encountering a new enemy that appears to be very resilient to our firearms. Heavy fighting amongst the trenches connecting to Sec Alpha Two had been reported.


    "What? New weapons from the Imperials?" Joseph was surprised and turned to the Intel Officer. "What kind? Do you know?"


    "Sorry, Sir," The Intel Officer shook his head. "We are still in the midst of finding out. But what we know as of now is that they are heavily armored, at least with three times the protection of an average full armored Knight and also covered with at least a Level 1 arcane protection at least."


    "Our methrowers are reporting that their mes are not very effective against these Imperials," The Intel Officer added. "And the Marines are dubbing these new Imperials troops as ''Terminators''"


    "Terminators?" Joseph rosed an eyebrow.


    "Yes, Sir," The Intel Officer said. "T-800 ''Terminator'' from the movie, Termi-"


    "I know what it is, Lieutenant," Joseph raised a hand and cut the Intel Officer off. "I''m just surprised that the Imperials had something like this up their sleeves!"


    "How are the preparations for Operation Firestorm?" Joseph changed the topic. "Is everything ready to go?"


    "We need roughly an hour more for the Mariners to be ready, Sir," Themand staff replied. "We have to hold on at least an hour more!"


    "Damnit," Joseph sighed. "We better pray for those in the front!"


    -----


    Several Terminator bodies had effectively blocked off the route in the trenches at Mill''s location. He could still see one or two of those bodies still trying to move but they were trapped under the weight of the rest.


    "Hold here! You go grab more ammo for us and bring some reinforcements here!" Joseph pointed to one of the Marines with him.


    Mills carefully crept forward to the pile of bodies and used his rifle to poke at one of the still twitching bodies. Seeing it not doing much, he bent down and tried to pull the helmet off.


    The helmet stubborn refused toe off, either it had been deformed by bullets or was just too tight, Mills didn''t care. He just wanted to see what was underneath that armor.


    Frustrated with his fruitless efforts, he whistled to the Orc Marine, "You! Come here and help me!"


    The Orc Marine quickly jumped up to his feet and came running over and with his help, the helmet was finally yanked out, exposing a bald elven head.


    Mills frowned and he crouched down to observe the Imperial. He could see the head of the Imperial still twitching slightly and its eyes were half opened with their whites showing. The skin of the Imperial looked shiny dark brown, almost like bronze while a gunshot wound at the left cheek of the Imperial oozed some kind of thick and ck liquid instead of red blood.


    "What the fuck is this?" Mills stood up and frowned. "Seen anything like this before? Is it an Undead?"


    "No undead!" The Orc Marine dapped the ck substance and sniffed it curiously. "No dark magic!"


    "Yucks!" Mills grimaced at the Orc Marine who whipped his hands on his dusty uniform. "Please wash your hands and don''t touch me!"


    "No ck magic, not undead," Mills sighed, "My brain can''t process this! So what the hell is it?"


    "Some kind of meat puppet?" Mills''s radioman and the rest had joined them at the bodies. "Maybe some kind of golem?"


    "Well, whatever it is, as long as we can kill it," Mills grinned. "That all we need to care!"


    The radioman and the rest nodded before one of them yelled, "More iing!"


    Mills peered over the pile of bodies and saw arge group of the Imperial approaching down the trench tunnels toward them. "Shit! Ammo check!"


    The men retreated back to their previous location and make ready, while the radioman received a call. "Sarge, new orders from HQ! We are to hold for an hour more!"


    "What?" Mills blinked his eyes in surprise. "One fucking hour more?"


    "Why don'' they ask me to go take the enemymander''s head and serve it on a silver tter for them?" Mills ranted. "Are they crazy?"


    The radioman ignored Mill''s outburst and added, "Sarge... you are not gonna like this... HQ reports the whole damn Imperial Army is headed our way..."


    "Oh FUCK ME!" Mills hissed. "Urghh! Whatever! We just kill every one of those son of a bitch! You with me boys?"


    "OOORAH!"


    "Good! Now, let me show you how to trigger tripwire traps with these lovely grenades that we have!"


    -----


    The Rock frowned when he saw the exposed Bronze men standing at the crest of the slope went down in pieces. He knew that as long as the enemy can see them, they can hit them with some kind of spell that is invisible to the eye.


    "I want the Battlemages to cast a smokescreen just beyond the crest," He ordered his men. "Once the smoke is up we charge in! Do not stop, keep moving fast! Kill off the enemy mages, left the rest for regr soldiers to mop up!"


    The ck Scorpion Battlemages stood up positions behind the shield wall and started their incantations. Glows of magic circles appeared and formed into a ball of ink. The Battlemages raised their hands up and the balls of ink flew out in an arc and shattered along the crest, spewing out clouds of ck smoke.


    "Good!" The Rock gave a cold smile in anticipation of the ughter toe. "LEGION OF THE BLACK SCORPIONS! FOR THE EMPEROR! ATTACK!"


    "CHAAARGGEEEEE!"


    -----


    Moel seeing the enemy defenses suddenly spewing out smoke and he cursed, knowing that the Rock had started the attack without him.


    He quickly yelled at his men to move faster, "Every man who brings me the head of the enemy gets one gold crown as an award!"


    The soldiers hearing his words were stunned. Normally killing an enemymander or officer would gain them a gold crown for their efforts. Now everymon enemy soldier is worth a gold coin too?


    Greed immediately took over the soldiers as they cheered their Lord and charged forward, each man hoping to overtake the other to kill the enemy so that they would be rich!


    "KILLL!"

 Chapter 310: Operation Firestorm

    Chapter 310: Operation Firestorm


    Orwell''s Point, Airfield


    The heavy rumble of the twin engined Mariners drowned out all noise at the runways. The ground crew madest minutes urgent checks to the two aircraft lined up on the runway before a green g was raised for each of the nes.


    The pilots of both Mariners acknowledged the salutes of the ground crew and pushed the throttle of their engines to the max and released their brakes. Soon both nes took off into the skies with a belly full of napalm.


    As they formed up in the air, a squadron of Cobras joined them as escorts as they headed towards the North Front.


    -----


    Secondary Alpha Two


    Mills forgot how many times he had reloaded and fired his carbine. His shoulder had long gone numb from the recoil of his rifle as he fired at the Imperials that kept crawling into the trenches.


    A sudden yell jerked Mills''s head up and he saw a shadow fall over him. He reflexly stabbed upwards with his carbine equipped with his sword bay and impaled the squirming Imperial in the chest.


    Sticky blood flowed down from the stab wound of the wild eyed Imperial who screamed like a girl. Mills grunted with effort to dislodge the full weight of the Imperial from his bay and the weeping Imperial copsed to join the heap of dead bodies on the trench floor.


    "They keeping!" Mills''s radioman yelled as he fired at another wave of Imperials popping up like rabbits over the trench line.


    "USE YOUR GRENADES!" Mills yelled and he dropped his carbine to its sling and pulled out one of hisst grenades. "READY? THROW!"


    Those Marines still having grenades, threw them over the trenches on Mills''smand. A couple of secondster, several dull thuds popped loudly and Mills felt the air in his chestpress by the explosions of the grenades.


    Screams and cries of pain followed after the explosions, Mills roared out, "Clear them out!"


    The fighting had turned ugly when scores of Imperials reached the trench lines. The ''Terminators'' were mostly stuck in the trenches by the bulk of their armor and those that exposed themselves in the open were gleefully gunned down by the .50 cal machine gun nests.


    Themon Imperials soldiers could only crawl into the forward trenches abandoned by the Marines and they tried to navigate their way in the tunnels only to meet gunfire at intersections.


    The close quarter fighting had rendered spear and halbert armed soldiers useless. Even the Battlemages couldn''t focus enough or had enough space to cast their spells efficiently.


    The Imperials abandoned their polearms and grabbed whatever swords they could find among the fallen. Some even broke their shafts of their polearms to shorten their spears for use in the narrow confines of the trench tunnels.


    Mills watched another group of Imperials attempting to breach his checkpoint by using human wave tactics, in this case, more like elf wave tactics.


    His mouth was parched from the yelling and screaming. His surroundings were hot and the warm blood of the Imperials over his body didn''t help either. Mills growled at the charging Imperials and snapped fired his carbine, his shots toppling the leader of the Imperials and suddenly his carbine locked back.


    He automatically reached for his ammo pouches only to feel them empty. "Shit!"


    The first Imperial mmed into the chest high makeshift barrier of bodies and the Imperial started to climb over the gory barricade. Mills without a thought thrust his bay tipped carbine at the face of the scrambling Imperial.


    The high carbon steel gouged the cheek of the screaming Imperial before it cut upwards and punctured the right eye of the soldier.


    The Imperial screamed and half stood on top of the barrier and clutched his ruined face in pain. Mills retracted back his carbine and poised to thrust again when his radioman appeared next to him and shot the blue jacketed Imperial in the chest.


    With the support of other Marines, they beat off the rest of the Imperial charge, their bodies collecting at the bottom of the trench, seemingly turning into a part of the terrain.


    "Fuckers never stoping!" Mills took a quick swirl of his water canteen. "Any more ammo? I''m out!"


    His radioman shook his head. "Everyone is running out, Sarge!"


    "Where are the ammo runners?" Mills cursed. "Without any ammo, we will be overrun!"


    "You two," Mills quickly pointed to two Marines, "Hand over all your remaining ammo and go back the lines and grab more over. The rest keep holding here!"


    The two passed the scant remains of their ammunition before running off down the line. The rest of the Marines gathered the dropped Imperial weapons and guarding the trench that leads deeper into their lines.


    Overhead, lines of tracers could be seen as the MG nests denied the enemy the chance to cross, forcing the Imperial to crawl on their bellies or move along the trenches.


    "Mills?" Lt Silverstar suddenly appeared with several men. "What''s your situation here?"


    "Sir?" Mills greeted his OC and gave a brief rundown of their position. "We need more ammo and any rifles you can spare!"


    "Those are on its way," Lt Silverstar assured the men. "You just need to hold here a bit longer!"


    "What the hell is going on?" Mills asked Silverstar out of hearing from the rest of the men. "First we lost mortar support, then we gave ground and now this?"


    "HQ got some ns," Silverstar said. "We are letting the Imperials think that they had sessfully breached our lines."


    "Once that happens, they will pull off all their forces and focus all their attention to the breach," Silverstar said. "In that extent, HQ wanted the Imperials to think that they are taking ground from us and our mortars are depleted."


    "Which we do have a limited store of mortar shells," Silverstar added. "HQ wants every fish to be in the barrel before theyunch a counter attack."


    "What? Why didn''t you notified us at the start?" Mills frowned and hissed angrily. "You know how many casualties we took from the breach?"


    "Calm down soldier!" Silverstar sighed. "I know and I too was just informed of this operation by HQ."


    "Those damn pencil pushers!" Mills growled. "Wait till I get out of here, I''ll show them what a pencil can do up their ass!"


    "This op has the CO''s full endorsement!" Silverstar sternly said. "It''s his direct order!"


    "What the hell?" Mills cursed. "FUCK!"


    "Calm down!" Silverstar said again. "I brought some men and mers along with me to reinforce you. Once the bombardment starts and themand is given, we will push through to reim the forward trenches and clear all Imperial elements in this sector!"


    "Fuck!" Mills cursed again and spat to the side. "Damn it, ying with our lives like some kind of chess game here."


    "Cheer up," Silverstar said. "Once this is over, beer is on me!"


    "Yea, if we get to survive this shit!"


    -----


    UN Northern Front Command


    Joseph eyed the clock mounted on the wall of the bunker and nced back to the map while he tapped the table in anticipation.


    "Sir!" Amand staff called out. "Seagull Flight reports time on target, five mikes!"


    "Got it!" Joseph stood straight up and gave the next order. "Order all artillery elements to make ready! And warn all units to get into cover!"


    "Start Operation Firestorm in five mikes!"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    Firebase Georgia


    Four batteries of 120 mm mortar sat surrounded by berms of earth and sandbags cover while the men recalibrate their sights and double checked their range.


    Three mortars teams formed one battery and all twelve mortars teams were sitting impatiently waiting for their orders to resume fire.


    Suddenly, they heard the order they were waiting for and every man jumped into action, grabbing mortar shells and prepping for fire.


    -----


    Skies over Northern Front


    Two seagull shaped twin engined flying boats droned on unmolested with its escorts at a height beyond the range of a ballista or mage''s spell.


    Their escorts peeled off as the two Mariners began its bombing run, their bomb bays opening as they came in directly horizontally of the battleground.


    The nes lined up one before the other and kept a short distance between them before they released their payload of napalm bombs targetted at the forest.


    The Imperials looked up in confusion and wonder at the flying boats and before they could do anything else, gigantic balls of mes erupted out all along the forest, instantly vaporizing anyone that was in its range.


    -----


    Moel jerked around when the sudden roars of exploding fireballs erupted behind him in the forest. He was hunkered down at the strange tunnel with hundreds of other soldiers, his mount had long sumbed to the enemies'' cursed spellfire.


    He looked at the burning forest in shock and wonder what had happened and what caused it. Suddenly, dozens of explosions erupted again and this time from the front. He turned and looked in horror at thend before him and seeing thend bursting up from some spell and it was slowlying their way!


    -----


    The creeping barrage fired by the mortars rained high explosives rounds down almost on top of their positions. Slowly, the explosions moved down as the mortar men increased their range, making the rain of explosions ''creep'' forward.


    The Imperials sheltered in the trenches were greatly shocked and frightened as they have never seen or even heard of such a scary magic spell! As they watch, death ''creep'' forward to their positions and many decided to run away.


    Soon it became a flood as the Imperial soldiers ran back from where they came from, only to see their rear was in mes. They spread out to the side only to get shot down by the Marines that had reinforced the nks of the breach.


    The Cobras standing by in the skies swooped down and attacked the nks of the retreating Imperials, indirectly channeling them towards the burning forest.


    Those that remained in the trenches managed to survive mostly, except for bursted eardrums or inner injuries from the shockwaves, but they were in a shellshock daze.


    The creeping barrage increased its pace as artillery observers ryed information to Firebase Georgia and the mortar barrage chased the fleeing Imperials before overtaking them and blowing hundreds of men into bloody pieces.


    -----


    Secondary Alpha Two


    "-eration Firestorm is a sess!" Came from the radio set. "All units to reim the forward trenches and clear out all elements of Imperials soldiers!"


    "Alright!" Mills yelled, him and his men having resupplied. "Let''s go kill some Blue bastards! mers to take point!"


    They shoved down the barricade made out of dead bodies and quickly advanced forward. The methrowers equipped Marines constantly sent gouts of mes before them and around the corners, sending any surviving Imperial unfortunate enough to catch the sticky mes screaming.


    The mers herded the enemy backward and even the futile attempts at stopping the mes with magic were met with dozens of rifles and machine gunfire.


    Even the remaining few ''Terminators'' still stuck in the trenches were dispatched quickly with heavy concentrated fire.


    Finally, the Imperials, unable to hold back against the counter attack of the Marines, fled from the breach as they found the exploding spells had lifted.


    They ran down the gentle slope that was pockmarked with craters and hundreds and hundreds of bodies. The Marines had sessfully retaken their positions, leaned over the trenches and fired at the routed enemy increasing their fear.


    As the enemy was about to reach the forest enemy, suddenly screams of mortar shell came overhead and the forest edge was nketed with an airburst of fragmentation shells. The deadly shrapnel from the airburst reaped lives like a farmer cutting wheat.


    Mills stood on the firing steps of the trench and yelled, "Cease fire! Cease fire!"


    He watched the bursts of smoke in the air covering over the forest and wondered how many men died here in just one day.

 Chapter 311: Chasing the Scorpion

    Chapter 311: Chasing the Scorpion


    The Rock ripped his dented helm off his bald head and wiped away the dribble of blood that trickled out over his face. He red with unsuppressed anger at the enemy for causing the destruction of the majority of his forces with just a simple ploy.


    Now he was trapped in the enemy''s tunnels with barely a quarter of his Legion still with him. Hundreds of other Imperial soldiers were trapped here and there with his men. He couldn''t advance in the tunnels due to those cursed Dragon''s Breath spells blocking him while if his men were to climb over the tunnels, the enemies'' cursed thunder spells will kill them.


    And retreating wasn''t much of a choice either, as they will be targeted by those screaming death spells in the open. Even the path of retreat towards their camp was blocked off by raging fire that gave off thick ck smoke that covered the entire horizon!


    For the first time in his many years of campaigning, he started to feel a sense of dread and defeat. The cursed Dragon''s Breath was appearing closing to his position. Even his mightly ck Scorpions could not even stand such a fearsome spell at such close quarters!


    Nor his powerful Bronze Men could even break out of this deadlock! And he barely has a dozen left with him now, the rest of his Bronze Men''s conditions were unknown.


    He looked at his loyal troops'' trusting expressions and made up his mind. "Brothers of the ck Scorpions! We fought across many a battlefield together. We drank and bled together! Now we faced the toughest challenge ever!"


    "Beyond that rise is the enemies stronghold!" The Rock pointed over the enemy lines. "We managed to get this far with the blood of our brothers. Do you want to retreat back?"


    "NOO!" The men chorused, their emotions riled up.


    "Than we shall advance! For we, the ck Scorpions have known no defeat ever!"


    "NO DEFEAT!" The soldiers roared out and under the cover of magical smoke and spells, they climbed over the trenches over and rushed out in a mass to attack the enemy lines.


    -----


    UN Forward Trench Alpha Two


    Mills and his men had managed to reim some part of the forward trenches when they heard a loud warcry and he saw from the trench line still upied by the Imperials suddenly broke out like a dam as the Imperial troops in ck armor flooded out from the cover of the trenches.


    For a moment there, Mills couldn''t believe his eyes. The Imperials were charging headlong directly at the machine gun nests!


    "Have they all gone crazy?" Mills asked. "Well, since they are offering their lives to the MGs... Let''s pick up the pace here!"


    The Marines were very familiar with thework of trenches whilepared to the Imperials who stumbled blindly around the confusing turns and bends. Marines armed with mers jogged forward and in pairs, they turned the trenches before them into mes, forcing any Imperials to retreat back in terror.


    Once the mers had done their jobs, a couple of Marines will lob grenades down the trenches packed with panicking Imperials and the st of the grenades will shock and stun those not killed or wounded by the shrapnel.


    Mills urged his men to assault harder as the sudden charge had caught the MG nests off guard. If the Imperials managed to cross the lines, they will get back into the trenches and the Marines will have to backtrack to retake the trenches again!


    The fighting was fierce in the trenches as pockets of Imperials troops and ''Terminators'' made a stand in the narrow confines. Mills had to use his mers to burn down walls of spears and shields in his path and when the mers ran out of fuel, he directed volleys of rifle fire and grenades to break down any resistance he faced.


    -----


    UN Secondary Trench Line


    The .50 cal machine gun nests were sited along the second line of defense, serving as both anti infantry and anti dragon roles. As the gunners stared in surprise at the sudden appearance of smoke cover that came out from the front trenches upied by the enemy.


    "Holy shit!" The gunners stared at the figures appearing out from the dense smoke cloud. "They are charging us! Open fire!"


    Thend between the two trench lines was covered with lines of barbwire that purpose was to channel the enemy into a kill zone. It was only effective against unarmed or lightly armed troops but against the better equipped ck Scorpion Legion soldiers, who had full te mail, the sharp barbs weren''t so effective.


    The ck Scorpions barreled through the barbed wire which only hindered them slightly as they stopped to untangle themselves from the barbs. Others used their shields to create a path among the barbed wire to cross.


    Bolts of red hot tracer rounds stitched across the charging ck Scorpions covered by the smoke cloud. The high powered .50 cal rounds ignored the smoke and the armor of the Imperials, tearing men into lifeless chunks of meat without any regards.


    Those Imperial troops lucky to be behind a Battlemage, managed to survive longer due to the arcane barriers brought up by the mages. They weathered the punishing fire as much as possible as they attempted to cross the hundred meter expanse of killing ground.


    Faced with the deadly gunfire, the Imperials sought whatever cover they could with the terrain. Some even hugged the ground as they tried to crawl amongst the dead and craters filled with bloody mud.


    The desperate Imperials tried to crawl on the ground that turned into mud by the blood the seeped to the ground. Their heavy armor encumbered them greatly, and many soldiers abandoned their armor to be able to crawl faster.


    The ck Scorpions soldiered on despite the horrifying loses they sustained in the charge, their eyes filled with fervent and grim determination to get to their enemies.


    Just as they were about to pass thest fifteen meters to the enemy lines, shrieks came from the skies as the mortar batteries had re zeroed into their positions and the bombardment of hell began again.


    -----


    The Rockid half prone on the bloody mud in a crater made by one of those cursed spells of the rebels. His magnificent armor with all its arcane runes barely protected him from the deadly thunder spells.


    A half dozen of his Life Guards clustered around him protectively, they were his only remaining personnel guards out of fifty. Too many had sacrificed themselves to protect him. Now they stayed low under the scant offerings of cover from the shallow crater, their eyes watching all directions as they tried to spot the enemies'' deadly spells.


    The Rock jerked up as he heard the telltale screams of the spells that came from the skies and he cursed, "All is lost! We have lost this battle!"


    "Retreat at once, tell all the Battlemages still alive to make as much smoke as possible to cover our retreat!" He ordered while his Life Guards prepared to escort him out to safety.


    Thunderps erupted all over the skies and death imed the lives of the men directly under the air bursting mortars while cries of retreat spread among the remaining Imperials and they fell back in panic under the cover of smoke made by their mages.


    The Rock escorted by his Life Guards ran as fast as they could down the slope towards the cover of the forest that was still smoking and burning when suddenly a whizz screamed passed them and the ground before a group of Imperials in front of them erupted upwards with mes and smoke.


    He paused and he turned around to see what kind of mage cast that spell and he was dumbstruck when he saw what wasing out from the enemy lines.


    -----


    UN Trench Charlie Three


    "UP!"


    "FIREE!" Sergeant Sath roared out as he glued his eyes at the sighting device switched to infrared mode. The Manned Armored Walker shook as the 3" turret boomed, sending a shell downrange at the fleeing Imperials.


    Despite the clouds of smoke, the MAW''smander and gunner could see with the infravision onboard their walker.


    Themand was given for them to sally out from their hull down positions and chase down the routed Imperials.


    Sath grinned as he watched his screen sh white and the clump of moving white spots remained still on the ground before hesered another target and sent the info to his gunner.


    The two MAWs trotted out from their positions and easily strolled over the trench lines, their 3" turrets swiveling and erupting with eardrum bursting roars.


    The Imperials seeing two such monsters appearing out of nowhere finally broke down both physically and mentally. They threw away their weapons and armor and ran, ignoring the flying bullets and shrapnel, only intending to put themselves as far as they could from these monsters!


    Other dropped on their knees and surrendered, some even curled up into a fetal position and cried non stop as their minds broke from the horrors they witnessed today.


    "Zero One to Zero Two, over," The radio crackled, interrupting Sath''s thoughts.


    "Zero Two, send,"


    "Zero One, take the left nk and mop up all enemy elements," The voice of Sath''smander came in clearly. "How copy?"


    "Roger, advance left and destroy, out!"


    "Go left!" Sath ordered and tapped with his booted feet on the left shoulder of the pilot who sat in a capsule just located at his feet.


    His MAW, Unit Zero Two, hastily repaired from the aftermath of the fight in the ins, turned slowly as each leg of the spider tank moved one by one to rotate the entire hull. The 3" turret on the top remained its facing at the enemy, firing at targets of opportunity.


    Once in position, Sath ordered the pilot to advance forward and all guns to engage the enemy. Whizz and bangs rang dully against the hull as some brave soul loose arrows, bolts, and spells at them.


    The pilot, Cloveughed at the useless of the Imperial''s resistance. "Our armor has been upgraded since thest time we fought against that damn snake!"


    "Your puny spells and arrows are useless! WAHAHhahaha!" Heughed madly as he aimed the MAW directly at a group of resisting Imperials.


    He grinned wickedly as his sights lined up on the enemy and he squeezed the red triggers on his control sticks. Instantly the blunt nose of the MAW erupted out in twin jets of fires that reached as far as seventy meters!


    The mes washed over the panicking Imperials and when the mes receded, several burning figures danced madly as fire glued to their bodies, turning them into dancing pyres.


    Cloveughed evilly again at the sight, he had the crew reced his twin forward guns with a pair of mers instead. He had seen the Marines armed with mers clearing the cultists'' dens and was very impressed with that weapon. Hence he begged and cajoled hismander constantly who gave in to his request in the end and he happily had the ground crew swap out his guns.


    The Imperials seeing the monsters spewing mes like a dragon ran madly away from their approach, screaming terror.


    "Lord Actual to all sally forces, pred to the enemy encampment, search and destroy! If possible capture the enemy supplies, if not burn them all!"


    The two MAW, together with half a dozen half tracks and jeeps in support, advanced swiftly towards the forest, chasing the Imperials. They skipped the stretch of forest that was burning and charged towards the enemy camp that was boiling in confusion.


    They broke past the fleeing Imperials and came within sight of the enemy encampment that had a wooden log wall for protection which the MAWs easily crashed through the flimsy walls and their 3" guns blew up the defensive ballista and arrow towers lining the perimeter of the camp.


    The demoralized Imperial defenders tried to put up a fight but were swiftly crushed by the firepower of the MAWs and they threw their weapons down and offered their surrender.


    "Clove! Stop burning the damn camp with those farking mers of yours, you manic! They are surrendering! CO wants their supplies!"

 Chapter 312: 312 - Intelligence

    Chapter 312: 312 - Intelligence


    UN Northern Front Command


    Joseph nodded to him ask he listened to theing reports from his staff. He eyed the map, where several red wood blocks listed locations where sizeable pockets of the enemy still resisted.


    "Sir, the sallying force has engaged the Imperial camp!" One of the staff reported. "They are facing light resistance and will shortly clear the threat!"


    "Good! Tell them to secure the area if possible, if not, raze the whole camp down!" Joseph replied.


    "Sir, Angel Flight has rearmed and entered the AO, they are requesting further instructions," Another staffer reported from his station.


    "Get them to support the ground units, harass any enemy that is being rallied," Joseph said. "Destroy anyrge gathering of Imperials they can spot."


    Themand staff hurried off to carry out his orders while Joseph pondered on the Imperial''s next move.


    "Sir, Operation Firestorm appears to be sessful," The Intel Officer suddenly appeared at his elbow. "We estimate roughly 40% of their forces destroyed and the remaining Imperials leadership too fragmented for them to ever rally any threat to us anymore."


    Joseph nodded, "Yes, and at a cost to our Marines."


    "Sir, the loses among the Marines can be considered minor," The Intel Officer said. "We managed to defeat a force 20 times our size with the loss of a few troops, why not?"


    "I understand," Joseph put on a frown as he replied. "But I am wondering if there are other ways to win this battle."


    "Sir, we couldn''t bomb the enemy from afar due to our low supplies for the artillery after the battle with the Serpent," The Intel Officer reminded Joseph. "Also, we do not want them to learn more of our capabilities, as this will not be thest battle to be fought with the Empire!"


    Letting out a deep sigh, Joseph said, "I know, but not informing the ground units of our n and letting them bear the brunt of the attack does not sit so well with me."


    "Sir, this is all about operational safety," The Intel Officer replied. "We can''t allow any word of our ns to be leaked out!"


    "Yet, the enemy has no means of breaking ourmunications!" Joseph pointed out.


    "Sir, we can''t rule out that they will not be able to listen in to our radio chatter," The Intel Officer said. "There might be spies or even magical scrying spells listening in to our ns!"


    "Not to mention we need to start the habit of keepingms secured!" He added. "Sooner orter, this is a practice we need to enforce strictly!"


    Joseph nodded tiredly, "I understand, I better go appease the troops once this is over!"


    The Intel Officer gave a salute before he dismissed himself, leaving Joseph alone with his thoughts.


    -----


    Trism Cott shook his head as he exited themand bunker. He looked up at the dark storm clouds gathering in the skies as if Heaven and Earth were trying to wash the blood away from the battlefield.


    The sharp cracks of the mortars were constant in the background while echoing explosives rolled over from the far distance battlefield. He donned his peak cap and quickly made his way to the motor pool.


    "Back to port," He ordered his driver who started the engine of the jeep and drove him over to the field rig harbor which was clustered with barges and workers unloading supplies to be delivered to the front.


    He got onboard one of the returning barges and after half an hour, he returned to Orwell''s Point and took another jeep ride back to HQ. Along the way he watched the different expressions given to him by the locals here, some smiling and waving, others dark and gloomy.


    He had originally signed up to be a Marine but in his aptitude test and evaluation, He got picked to be in the Intelligence Division. It might be due to his previous life as a street rat in the old capital of Goldrose, where he dealt with the trading of rumors and news on the streets.


    Now, he found a greater calling, he found the ploys, backstabs and politics of the street gangs to be childish in the face of an Empire. Now, using his previous skills, he started the seeds of an informationwork among the street gangs in the city that regr offer useful tidbits of interesting news.


    He passed several checkpoints before returning to his office where he disabled both the arcane and physical security rms systems. After that, he did a sweep of his office for any listening bugs or spells before he picked up the telephone and dialed to his superior to make his daily report.


    A series of beeps and tones sounded on the phone before it connected to the other line. "Tavor here."


    "Sir, Lieutenant Trism reporting, sir!" He replied stiffly.


    "Yes, Lieutenant?"


    "Sir, this is today''s report on the situation at the North Front," Trism said and gave a full rundown of his report. "I have also sent the full report that is being delivered by the next resupply flight back to Haven."


    He had painstakingly typed out and consolidated everything in a document that was then saved inside a tiny nail sized device that amazed him greatly when he first saw it, as it can''t be cracked by anyone unless they have those hooman ''corn pu ers''.


    "Good, now, what is the situation with... Evelyn?" Tavor asked from the other side.


    "Sir, I had two ymore Two members watching her every move ever since she has stolen the vial of dragon''s blood from Magister Thorn''sb," Trism said. "So far, there is no indication of any ns of what she is nning to do with it, but we did notice something strange with her behavior, especially during the night when she is alone in her room."


    "What is wrong?"


    "She seems to speak to someone or... something." He replied. "So we did a search of her room when she was not around and found a palm sized ult idol hidden inside her bed frame."


    "It appears she has stolen one of the cultists'' idols when she was supporting a raid on the cultists," Trism reported. "I have stepped up checks on every item taken and ensured everyone that was involved in any raids did not take any mementos from the cultists."


    "As for Liz, she checks out clean so far," He added. "For Evelyn, we are still keeping her in the dark that we know what she has done."


    "Good, continue to keep tabs on her," Tavor replied. "If she attempts any ritual or dangerous activities, take her out immediately."


    "Yes, Sir!" Trism acknowledged the order. "Sir, do we need to inform the Magister and Captain Joseph in regards to these incidents?"


    "No, they have enough on their te," Tavor said. "They handle the external threats while we handle internal threats, it''s easier for us that way."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Docks


    The high power engine of the PT boat gave a final cough before it died as the navy grey hull with the bold white painted letters ''010'' on the bow. The dock workers and military personnel had gathered at the docks ever since the first sighting of the PT boat was reporteding downriver.


    Behind the FAC - 10 ''Havoc'', the FAC - 09 ''Daisy'' was being towed along towards the dockside. The remaining crew of the Daisy stood proudly onboard the battered hulk of the Daisy as they saluted the light blue UN g fluttering in the wind.


    Rips, tears, burn marks, and even two ballista bolts stuck out of its deck and wheelhouse, covered the battered hull of the Daisy which attested to the fierce battle it had been through ever since it had gone missing a few days ago.


    The military personnel on the docks return a salute of respect to the Daisy crew while some of the workers apuded for their return as they heard the rumor of the missing boat and crew.


    Soon everyone was cheering away at the docks for the safe return of the Daisy despite it being almost destroyed.


    Joseph and hismand staff had hurried over from the front lines when the report came in that the two PT boats were docking. He saluted the fatigued yet exultant crew who returned his salute with pride.


    Teams of paramedics stood on standby and when the crew disembarked, they were swarmed by the medical personnel who quickly saw to their injuries.


    Joseph came up to the skipper of the Daisy and patted shoulder, "Good to have you back, sailor!"


    "Sir!" Quartz tried to stand up but Joseph waved him back down.


    "See to your wounds first," Joseph replied. "Once you''re healed up, report to me. For now, just concentrate on recovering first!"


    The skipper of the Daisy nodded before the paramedics carried him off towards the field hospital.


    Joseph sighed as he watched the two ck body ck being carried off the PT boat. The skipper of the Havoc came up to Joseph and report, "Sir, we managed to find them just shortly before noon."


    "They had run out of ammunition and were still bravely attempting to breakthrough the enemy blockade," The skipper said. "But they took critical damage at thest part before they could make it through the blockade."


    "Luckily we managed to get to them before they scuttled the Daisy," The skipper shook his head at their craziness. "We managed to clear out the enemy blockade and dropped a tow line to them and brought them home."


    "Good work," Joseph nodded absentmindedly as he nced at the battered hulk of the Daisy.


    Currently, 32 confirmed Marine Killed In Actions and another 19 Missing In Actions, while another 83 Wounded In Actions. Joseph took a deep breath in as the short afternoon battle had crippled his fighting strength by almost two thirds!


    Luckily they had managed to break the morale of the enemy forces and even captured all their supplies. Even now as he stood here, dozens of transport vehicles were moving the supplies back while the barges docked at the temporarily berths at the Source Sea where being torched by his troops.


    Even if the enemy has the chance to rally and regroup up, without supplies, they could notst long in the field. Now they are trying to sort out among those who had surrendered, who are themanders and even see if they could find Moel Rothschild.


    At least now, without any leadership, the remaining Imperials were just a rabble, like a wyvern without a head. He just needed his Marines to mop up the remaining threat and the Northen Front could be considered pacified.


    Now, he has the young lord and daughter of the Rothschilds to contend to. He wondered how he could leverage them to the interest of the UN now that their army has been totally destroyed.


    With the standing army of the Rothschild''s destroyed, Joseph was very certain that the news and rumors of unrest within the county would have the Land Barons breaking away from the control of the Rothschild.


    Maybe he could ''lend'' a helping hand to the surviving members of the Rothschilds under his care? Help them pacify the Land Barons as a helpful neighbor?


    Joseph rubbed his chin as thoughts of how to solve the problem of the North ran through his mind. In the end, he gave a long sigh, how he wished he had another battalion or two of Marines and all these problems would be easily solved!


    He returned his attention back to the floating hulk being dragged towards the repair berths by the dock workers to be asserted if it could be repaired or if it is to be scrapped.


    His original n was to have the PT boats travel up the river and towards the ind sea, but without sufficient force, it will be hard for the boats to break through the Imperial blockades.


    "I should really ask for a couple more of these PT boats from Haven!"

 Chapter 313: Sorting Out The Pieces

    Chapter 313: Sorting Out The Pieces


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold


    Titanna Rothschild paced anxiously in herfortably decorated cell. She has heard from the servants, guards, and even that magical entertaining box that yed music and current topics of the city that the Imperial Army had been defeated with over half of its strength destroyed and the rest either surrendered or running.


    She did not believe that this group of barbarians had the power to wipe out her families'' military might in barely a week! It was such an impossible feat that she dismissed the rumors and news that the Imperial Army was defeated as propaganda!


    But a small voice in her head kept telling her that these barbarians might just have the ability to do so and that thought kept nagging her every day.


    She tried to discuss her worries with her brother during the times when they were released for their mealtimes together but he dismissed her worries as womanly nonsense for how could a barbaric force win against the highly trained and disciplined Imperial Army!


    Now, she nced out of her barred window, the constant thundersing from the battlefield had quietened down since yesterday. She did not know if the barbarians had won or did her father won.


    She sat restlessly next to the radio box and waiting impatiently for the gentle tones of music to end. Normally, she could sit there and just immerse herself in the strange but enjoyable music but this time, she wished that it would stop and the daily ''news'' to start its broadcast!


    Finally, after a long agonizing wait, the familiar tones heralding the start of the news broadcast yed from the music box and Titanna eagerly leaned closer to hear the voice speaking.


    The female voice spoke of the usual minor happenings of the city and even some advertising for some pub before the voice spoke of the battle that had urred between the two armies.


    "We now bring to you thetest information from the front lines!" The voice said. "As of today, hostilities have ended as the UN Marines has imed victory over the Imperials."


    "A decisive battle between the Marines and the Imperials urred just yesterday afternoon. And sources from the Marines stated that they have destroyed at least half of the Imperial Army and taken as much as nine thousand Imperial soldiers as prisoners of war!" The voice continued on excitedly. "Casualties among the Marines remained low despite the Imperial Army overwhelming them by at least twenty times!"


    "This calls for a great celebration for the United Nations as the city of Orwell''s Point is no longer under threat of the Imperial Army!" The female voice spoke with great fervor and passion. "The war is over!"


    "Now onto other news, the Riley Mill is looking for fit worki-"


    Titanna fell back against the chair as sheid stunned at the news that reported her father''s army has lost the war. "Impossible! This can''t be true!"


    She stood up and quickly banged against the locked cell door urgently. "I need to speak with Lord Joseph! Please let me speak to him!"


    -----


    UN Forward Trench Alpha Two


    Mills gave a look of irritation at the order he received from the radioman. "HQ wants me to what?"


    He and his men had been manning the trenches since the battle the day before due to shortage of manpower, and they were tired, dead tired. Mills was covered in dirt and dried blood as he hasn''t had the opportunity to change into a new set of uniform as he stayed at the front lines ensuring the remnants of the Imperial Army has truly ran away.


    "Eh... they want you to watch over the prisoner and ensure she does not run away and is kept safe, sarge..." The radioman repeated the order from HQ.


    "What the hell?" Mills red at his radioman. "Is HQ nuts?"


    The radioman gave a shrug, "Orders..."


    "I damn well know it''s an order!" Mills cursed silently. "Where is she now?"


    "HQ wants you to pick her up at the rear," The radioman grinned and gave a wink to Mills. "Have a nice date!"


    "Goddamnit!"


    -----


    Titanna stood uneasily with the two guards watching over her. She managed to get her request to Lord Joseph but only after a day did she receive a reply.


    Now she took a boat ride, followed by the fast moving magic open topped wagons before her escorts stood her here waiting for someone to bring her to the battlefield.


    She ignored the curious stares from the mud covered soldiers and workers around her and her eyes widened as she recognized a muddy soldier appearing before her. "Mills?"


    "Yup, that''s me!" The dirt and blood stained soldier broke into a frown. "What the hell are you thinking of doing here?"


    "I am here to find my father!" Titanna quickly exined. "Lord Joseph gave me permission! Are... are you alright?"


    "Hmph... I''m fine, this is not my blood," Mills gave a grumpy grunt before he waved the two Marine escorts away. "I will take it over from here."


    "Come along now," Mills growled at the girl. "Stay close and don''t run away. I got orders to shoot you if you try to run away or do anything funny!"


    "I- I understand!" Titanna felt a strange sense of ease after seeing the strange barbarian who was always rude and teasing her, still alive.


    Titanna quickly followed Mills as he led her towards the POW zone, where hundreds of disarmed Imperial soldiers could be seen setting up tents and cooking fires or doing some odd jobs here and there. "Have you asked if he has been taken, prisoner?"


    Titanna shook her head, "They told me that my father wasn''t among the names of the nobles ormanders that had surrendered."


    "Damn," Mills gave out a sigh. "Come on, let''s see if he''s hiding with themon soldiers."


    As they approached the gate of the camp, they could see rings of razor wire surrounding the camp, while machine gun nests overwatched the prisoners. Teams of prisoners headed off under overseeing Marines to the battlefields for the grisly collection of remains to working the burial details for the collected dead.


    "Well, if your father is still alive, he should be somewhere in there," Mills gestured to the guards at the gate who allowed them in.


    Titanna stopped the first person she met and started asking if he has seen her father, but the soldier shook his head. Undaunted, she continued asking another person till a couple of hourster, she walked back towards the gate where Mills waited patiently for her.


    "Did you find him?" Mills asked softly.


    Titanna shook her head as she walked out. Mills sighed and gestured her towards another group of tents with bright red crosses on the sides. "Let''s see if he''s among the wounded then."


    They went and asked around at the medical tents, but no one seemed to know nor match the description given by Titanna. "Could he had retreated safely?"


    "Maybe?" Mills gave a shrug. "It''s pretty messy out there, it''s hard to tell."


    "I see..." Titanna gave out a deep sigh and she kneeled down hugging her knees depressingly.


    "Hey cheer up," Mills squatted down next to Titanna. "I''m sure you will find him safe and sound."


    "Thank y-" Titanna suddenly paused in her words as she stared at the pile of discarded armor and items of clothing piled haphazardness in a small mound. She stood up and half ran over to the pile and started to toss aside the broken and blood stained armor pieces before she held one particrly battered and blood caked te mail.


    "This... this..." Titanna''s eyes watered as she stared at the carvings and ornate designs on the badly damaged armor. "This is his own personnel armor!"


    "Oh... shit..." Mills whispered softly at the side as he watched Titanna started crying while hugging the armor against herself. "Goddamnit..."


    -----


    Great Ocean ins, Dead Frontier


    The strange machine rumbled and the leather belt hooked around the wheel of the beast rotated rapidly. The spiked gears linked to the leather belt started to turn and the circr saw spun and bit into the piece of log with a roar and spitting sawdust out from one end.


    The watching carpenters and loggers responded with appreciation by pping and cheering at the effortless of the magical device to cut through the log down.


    Leung smirked at the happy and surprised expressions of the natives. He had rigged up the half track''s wheels to make a sawmill with a few simple adjustments. Since the engine was powered by electricity and he has several square meters of sr film, he could efficiently run the sawmill as long as there was sunlight.


    Wowing these primitives was so simple! By saying he was a Sage and showing them how to do things by making advanced tools, their hostility and suspicions immediately turned into worship! Leung thought to himself as he watched the natives poke around the sawmill.


    "Many thanks for sharing your knowledge! Sage Long," The beefy chief that they called Borse, politely gave a bow to him. "We much appreciate your generous help here."


    Leung gave an expression of indifference as he waved off the words of Borse. "This is just a small matter! What is important is that with a strong foundation, then the people will be strong!"


    Borse nodded at the wise words spoken by the round eared guest that joined their growing town brought back by Taris from his fruitless trip to the City in the ins. The trip to purchase supplies did not turn out as excepted but they managed to recruit someone that held great knowledge and holds strange artifacts!


    "Yes, without a strong foundation, we can''t survive nor grow strong enough to protect ourselves," Borse replied.


    "That is why now, you need to look into improving your agriculture!" Leung said. "Thend here is barren, you need irrigation!"


    "Not only that, you need to introduce basic sanitary!" Leung added. "This will cut down on the diseases and not only that, the night soil that is collected can be used for many things!"


    "Hmmm..." Borse nodded again at the advice given by the Sage. "The soldiers know how to do that but... the refugees that join us..."


    "Than you need to be firm!" Leung stated while he stroked his chin as he gave said some Chinese idioms as bullshit. "As they say, kill one to warn a hundred! It is better for one to die now than when regretter when there is an outbreak of diseases!"


    Borse''s eyes widened as he heard the phrase. "Kill one to warn a hundred?"


    "I understand, Sage Long," Borse''s respect for this strange person grew. "I will have my men implement measures to make sure the refugees follow proper sanitary methods!"


    "Good, good!" Leung gave a small smile to himself. "Now, once you settle these issues, you should look to organizing the refugees to work! If not they are just eating away your resources whilezing around!"


    Borse agreed with Leung greatly as he listened to his advice. He had wanted to the refugees seeking a safe haven to work but the refugees instead camped outside his town and constantly begged and demanded food and water.


    He had given in due to the fact that he knew these people had lost their homes and did not want to be so strict with them. He shared what he could to the refugees but they only grew bolder and demanded more from him.


    "You can''t be soft with them!" When Leung first came, he saw the situation and immediately he understood the problem they were facing. "You give them an inch and they''ll take a mile!"


    "Your words have awoken me!" Borse gravely replied. "I understand what I shall do for the greater good!"


    "Yes, do what you must!" Leung smiled at the retreating back of Borse.


    "Build a firm foundation for me here!"

 Chapter 314: Lend A Hand?

    Chapter 314: Lend A Hand?


    Haven, UNS Singapore, Conference Room


    "Moel Rothschild has been confirmed to be killed in action during the battle of the trenches," Fleet Intelligence officer, Tavor reported at the staff meeting. "We managed to have his next of kin identified his remains before they cemented him."


    "We had yet to located the high value target which is themander of the ck Scorpion Legion," Tavor said next. "I have several analytic teams going over the UAV footage of the battlefield to try to attempt to find out his whereabouts."


    "The 2nd Battalion suffered a 9% loss and another 40% wounded," Major Frank gave his report next. "Also they expended 70% of their remaining reserves of munitions in that single battle."


    "We need to resupply Orwell''s Point ASAP," Major Frank added. "If not, they will be down to sticks and stones if they face anotherrge scale engagement."


    "We need more logistical support for Orwell''s Point!" Major Frank said. "Just two Mariners running resupply by air is not enough for the military needs!"


    "That is true," Commander Tommy injected. "At this constant use of the Mariners, we will run them down before long!"


    "Weid out new hulls for Mariners at the nts but it will still be a month before they arepleted," Commander Tommy gave his estimate. "After that, we need at least a week of flight and endurance tests before they can be dered operational ready."


    "How about the ground routes?" ke asked. "When can the highway be done?"


    "The super highway across the Uncharted Forest is only 60 to 70 percentpleted," Chief Engineer Matt said. "The construction teams are already at three working shifts to try toplete the highway linking Haven to Orwell''s Point but it will still require at least another month before that is fullypleted."


    "And we have justid the beginnings of a railway system at our side," Matt continued. "It will take two to three months to bepleted provided there is no obstructions during its construction."


    ke frowned before he said, "All these are not our solutions to our current problems."


    "And we have a whole exodus of refugees from the city we bombed on the way over to Orwell''s Point," ke looked at everyone around the table. "We need to create a stable supply line to Orwell''s Point."


    ke tapped the keypad before him and the disy screens in the conference room lit up. "The surveying teams under Dr. Sharon just recently shared these findings with me."


    The screen disy showed a topographic map of Orwell''s Point, with sshes of color in red, yellow, and orange.


    "The local surveying team there has discovered several areas of granitic rock which haverge deposits of quartz," ke exined. "The local artisans mine the quartz to make into goblets and other trinkets but the surveying team had a couple of interesting finds."


    "First of all, we found a high concentration of lithium among the granite samples," ke said.


    "Lithium!" Matt jumped up happily. "FINALLY!"


    "What is ''lit-dem'' for? Sherene asked curiously.


    "Oh, it''s a very useful resource!" Matt grinned widely. "We can use it to mix with oil to create high temperature lubricants which will help a lot with our industrialization and running of engines."


    "Not only that, better performance alloys for aircraft can be made too!" Matt exined to the Princess and anyone that was unaware of the uses of lithium. "But most important of all, we can finally make better batteries!"


    "Chill down people!" ke waved for everyone to calm down in the room. "Now, we also have gotten traces of wolframite amongst the quartz samples they recovered!"


    ''WOLFRAMITE!" Matt was totally overjoyed at the news. "YESH!"


    "Huh?" The expression on Sherene''s face almost made ke want to squeeze her cheeks.


    "Tungsten!" Matt''s eyes were glowing. "With it, we can make high speed cutting tools to super heavy alloys! And not only, but our armor piercing ammunition can also be upgraded!"


    "Our current armor piercing ammunition is just made out of full metal jacketed steel alloys," Matt said. "Their performance wise is just barely eptable with the current armor capabilities of our enemies."


    "But with ammunition made with tungsten cores, our firearms abilities to prate tougher armor of creatures or monsters will enable our troops to fight with greater efficiency," Matt exined. "This means riflemen with tungsten upgraded AP rounds will be able to defeat heavily armored monsters without the need of RPGs or heavier weaponry!"


    "Yes," ke nodded. "This is why we need to ensure we hold onto Orwell''s Point and the need for a secured road linking to our main production facilities here!"


    "With the Rothschild''s forces destroyed and shattered, there would be a very high chance of infighting among them over who takes over the leadership of that region," ke said. "And with the eldest daughter and youngest son in our hands, I am sure we could work out some sort of deal with them that will benefit us in the long run."


    "Hell, if we support the eldest daughter onto the seat of the regional lord, we might even get her to be our puppet!" Master Sergeant Pike eximed. "Given time we might even annex the whole damn region our to our side!"


    "If I may add a word on that, Sirs," Tavor suddenly spoke out. "I think we need to reevaluate the potential of the Rothschilds'' children in our hands."


    "They can either be something that will greatly help our cause or mire us down into constant war with the Empire," Tavor said. "We must be very careful how we treat them from now on and who to support should we want to put a puppet government in the controlling seat of the region."


    "I understand," ke said. "Find out everything you can on the Rothschild''s opponents and who else has ims on the region."


    "Yes, Sir!" Tavor nodded.


    "Ok, back to the topic," ke turned his attention back to everyone. "How are we gonna solve our logistical problems here?"


    "Sir, we could start trials on our medium lift helicopter prototype," Airforce Commander Tommy suggested. "But it does not have the range to go all the way to Orwell''s Point. It will need three resupply trips at least."


    "The helicopter is ready?" Matt asked in surprise. "I thought you will need a least a month or two before it can run?"


    "We have already sessfully tested a couple of smaller models," Tommy said. "This particr model uses a tandem rotor system, enabling it to carry heavier loads."


    "We had some issues at the start with the transmission of the two rotors but its all been fixed now," Tommy said. "As of now, we have three prototypes of the helicopter at the base, but they do not have any hull tings covering their bodies."


    "As we wanted to do test runs, hence we did not bother to fully fit the helicopters with any hull ting," Tommy exined. "But with we can easily cover up the whole body of the helicopters within two to three days."


    "What is their performance like?" ke asked.


    "Top speed is clocked at 238 km per hour while cruising speed is around 225 km per hour," Tommy started to upload some files onto the disy screen for everyone to see. "Range is roughly 1020 km, while it can carry a load of up to 3 tons or an entire toon of Marines and their gear."


    "That is pretty impressive," Matt replied as he looked at the specs of the helo. "If it works, it could help ease the burden on the Mariners."


    "Just that we need to clear the forest for refuel bases and also have stores of fuel for the helos..." Matt pondered. "That would stress our limited amount of logistics that we have..."


    "We should be able to wing it somehow," ke smiled. "Have the daily trucks supplying the workers on site to carry extra fuel for future helos operations."


    "Yes, Sir," Matt nodded, "I will have the workers start building fuel dumps and helipads in advance."


    "Ok, let''s stop for the day," ke said. "Keep up the good work everyone!"


    "Dismiss!"


    -----


    North Front, Rear Mess Tentage


    "Hey Mills!" Blue Thunder greeted the Marine at the bivouac area cheerfully. "How''s my man!"


    "Hey..." Mills muttered a simple reply as he kept walking.


    "Are you alright?" Blue Thunder snaked his serpentine head around and stopped Mill in his tracks. "You not well?"


    "Ah... Blue," Mills seemed to notice the dragon for the first time. "What is it?"


    "Are you okay?" Blue Thunder asked in a concerned tone, "You don''t look so good."


    "Oh, I''m fine, just thinking of some things," Mills replied and brushed off Blue Thunder''s concerns.


    "Hmmm..." Blue Thunder wasn''t a dragon that was easily brushed off. He used his head and corralled Mills. "Tell me what''s wrong! Maybe I could help!"


    "I... Ahh... Alright..." Mills gave up under Blue Thunder''s constantly insistence. "It''s like this..."


    Mills filled Blue Thunder in on the situation with the Rothschild''s Princess and how she was so depressed that she barely ate anything since she found out her father has passed away.


    Blue Thunder bobbed his head and sighed, "Oh well, war is like that, friends and families die."


    "But wait a minute!" Blue Thunder scratched his head with one w. "She''s the enemy! Why are you show concern for the enemy!?"


    "See, that''s one part of the problem!" Mills sighed. "Despite we are on different sides, it''s hard to... hate her, you know?"


    "You mean because she''s pretty and totally your type?" Blue Thunder gave a sly grin. "And you want to console her?"


    "Ye- I mean, no not that way!" Mills quicked corrected himself and rolled his eyes. "I mean, you take away the armor and sword, she''s just a girl."


    "Hmmm..." Blue Thunder gave a side eye at Mills. "You sure?"


    "Yes!" Mills''s face turned slightly red as he blushed. "And we are kinda... like friends, you know?"


    "Hmmm... this is tough!" Blue Thunder gave a frown before his expression changed to one of delight. "But I know just the thing!"


    Blue Thunder thumped his chest proudly and said, "Don''t worry, leave it to me! I will lend you a hand in getting the Princess!"


    "Wha- wait, what?" Mills looked at the smug expression on Blue Thunder''s face. "What are you going to do?"


    "Wait here!" Blue Thunder waddled off to an open space before he took off into the skies.


    After a short moment, Blue Thunder returned with one of his ws clutching a pile of foliage. "Here!"


    "What is this for?" Mills asked as he dusted off clumps of leaves off his uniform. "What the hell?"


    "Flowers!" Blue Thunder gave a triumphant smile. "I watched all the dramas and girls like this stuff!"


    "You want me to give her flowers?" Mills blinked his eyes rapidly in surprise. "Are you nuts?"


    "Well, give her flowers, have dinner than make her happy in bed," Blue Thunder ticked off his ws. "Its works all the time! I have seen it in the shows!"


    "Oh, my gods!" Mills rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Blue... stop watching all those dramas! I really need to talk to your handler about your choice of shows!"


    "Well, just try!" Blue Thunder urged Mills, "I gave Raz some of her favorite food and she no longer ignores me now!"


    "Dragon logic..." Mills sighed. "I can''t win it..."


    "Alright, alright," Mills sighed again as Blue Thunder pushed him with his snout at the pile of ripped bushes covered with wild blossoms. Mills picked a few nicer looking blossoms and used a piece of a vine to tie it up into a bouquet.


    "Good luck!" Blue Thunder thumped his tail excitedly against the ground while Mills rolled his eye again and he headed towards the tent where Titanna was in.


    He red at the two Marines guarding the tent who automatically retreated away while he entered the tent clutching the bouquet of flowers nervously.


    "Ahem! Titanna? Hey, are you sleeping?" He asked the figureying on the safari bed.


    "Don''t be sad," Mills cleared his throat anxiously. "Here, something for you."


    He ced the bouquet of flowers beside Titanna and before he left her alone, he said, "If you need someone to talk to, you can always find me."


    "Or if you need a shoulder to cry on, I''m avable too!"

 Chapter 315: Tick Tock

    Chapter 315: Tick Tock


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold, CO''s Office


    Joseph disconnected from the video conference he just had ended with Captain ke and gave off a deep breath as he rxed his body. He started to tidy up his desk as his mind reviewed the meeting he had with ke.


    Six thousand, four hundred and three Imperial soldiers had surrendered or captured. Another two thousand seven hundred and twenty one Imperial soldiers with vary degrees of wounds, from gunshots, shrapnel to burns.


    Intel has estimated another five to six thousand Imperials has fled the battle, leaving behind an estimated five thousand dead. And there was also the matter of the ves brought along by the Imperials as heavybor.


    Another five thousand ves recovered, all in poor health conditions that require medical attention and care which was badly straining his already thinly stretched out medical personnel.


    The Captain had promised to send as much aid as possible, but it would still take a few days for the aid to reach his side. The Captain had said they hade up with some new ways to hasten the logistical problems between the two cities.


    Thankfully, they had taken quite a bit of spoil from the Imperials which was more than enough to sustain the prisoners and ves captured. The carpet barrage had caught the Imperials with their pants down, totally demoralizing and wiping out any concentrated troops in the open.


    And with the sudden blitz attack directly into their camp, they effectively cut off the retreating Imperials and without any supplies, while facing monsters that spew mes and deadly spells, most of the Imperials had surrendered meekly.


    As for materials captured and recovered from the battlefield and the Imperial camp, the logistical departments and quartermasters were still sorting out everything. But they estimated roughly 80 tons of food and another 30 tons in armor and weapons.


    He has ced the prisoners to clear the battlefield of the dead and other mental tasks to keep them off mischief. Looking at the numbers on the sheets of paper, he sighed heavily and spoke to himslef. "How the hell am I going to feed all these people!"


    As he was pondering on his options, someone knocked on his office door. "Come in!"


    The door swung open and the Marine guard ushered in Titanna and Tidus Rothschild. "Sit."


    The two siblings took a seat before the desk and Joseph took the time to observe them both. Titanna''s eyes looks puffy and red while Tidus had a look of indifference and boredom.


    "Now, I have invited you both here to discuss what is next for the betterment of both of our countries and people," Joseph said.


    "Tsk," Tidus gave an irritated click of his tongue. "What is there to discuss! You better release us and surrender!"


    Joseph gave a small sigh and he leaned back on his chair. "You do know your army has been defeated, yes?"


    "Hmph," Tidus gave a dismissal wave, "Just keep believing in your own lies."


    Joseph shook his head as he could not understand how detached from reality the young man was. He turned his attention to the silent Titanna, "I am sorry for the death of your father, you have deepest my condolences."


    Titanna gave a small nod in acknowledgment while Tidus rolled his eyes. "Seriously, you believe their lies and tale of how they defeat our army that easily? Women will always be women!"


    Titanna red at Tidus with her puffy eyes and hissed angrily. "I have seen father''s body and the battlefield! Have you seen the bodies? The dead? The prisoners?"


    "Its just one battle!" Tidus retorted back sharply. "Doesn''t means the war is over!"


    Titanna gave a frustrated sigh and looked after from Tidus, too tired to argue with him. Tidus gave a victorious smirk before he turned to a bemused Joseph and demanded again. "Release me now! You can have this... whore if you want!"


    Joseph leaned forward and said in a very serious voice, "Boy, I think you are the one here that is misguided. As I have said and you have listened to the other Imperials prisoners, that the war is over."


    "We won, simple as that!" Joseph added. "There is no other war or another attackinging for a very long time or at least till after winter."


    "You can keep up the act that you are superior to us or whatever that keeps you happy, but the fact still remains that you are still here breathing is due to the mercy of me," Joseph stated inly. "If you wish to deny yourselves that you will be rescued or someone wille rescue you, please by all means go ahead and keep believing that."


    Joseph gave a smile, "But in the meantime, you are still in my hands!"


    "Yo- you dare toy your hands on me?" Tidus sneered. "When I get out of here, I will make you my ve! I will tear your tongue out! Put your eyes out! I-!"


    Titanna suddenly stood up and gave a hard kick at Tidus, sending him sprawling off the chair. "Enough of your nonsense!"


    "I know that Father and Mother have pampered you, but not to this extent!" Titanna shouted at the shocked Tidus.


    "Do you even know what situation are you in now?" Titanna asked. "He can just kill you as easily as snapping his fingers and no one, I repeat, NO ONE, can do a single thing about it nor help you!"


    Tidus slowly stood up and red at Titanna, "You dare! You are just a bastard child!"


    Joseph''s eyes rosed up as he heard what Tidus said and he whispered softly to himself. "Interesting..."


    "So what?" Titanna''s face turned red. "At least I have more brains than you!"


    "Whore!" Tidus took a step forward with his hand raised.


    "ENOUGH!" Joseph smacked his table hard just as the door to his office opened as the Marine guards heard themotion inside and came in to check.


    "Take him away!" Joseph gestured to the angry Tidus. "Throw him in the cell and let him cool off!"


    "Yes Sir!" The Marine guards quickly grabbed the struggle and cursing Tidus and even after the door was closed, they could still hear him yelling.


    "Sit down," Joseph gestured to Titanna who looked to be on the verge of a breakdown. "Something to drink?"


    Titanna gave a nod as she sat down and tried to calm herself down. She epted a drink from Joseph and without tasting it, she drowned the whole goblet down and she choked from the fiery liquid.


    "Whiskey," Joseph took a sip of his and sighed happily. "The hoomans introduced this drink to me, and I came to enjoy it after some time."


    "Now, I know we are enemies here, you with the Empire, and me with the UN," Joseph said. "Your father and people were even killed by my troops."


    "But because of that," Joseph poured himself another drink, "The situation at your home is now very messy."


    "And by messy, what I meant is civil and political unrest," Joseph exined. "Without the army and the leadership of your father, the nobles are looking to enrich themselves and fill in the vacuum caused by the death of your father."


    "Your family has too much feuds with everything and without the strong backing of the army," Joseph looked at Titanna in the eye. "Your enemies will destroy what is left of the Rothschild."


    Titanna took a deep breathe in as she too knew of the risks and dangers involving her family status now. "We will appeal to the Emperor! He will not tolerate any unrest in hisnds!"


    "Do you think the Emperor coulde save you in time?" Joseph smiled. "By the time, his armyes, what will be left?


    "Now, I have an offer here that will save you and your family from destruction and a lot of future troubles." Joseph dropped his bait.


    "An offer?" Titanna narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What is the catch?"


    "Oh, don''t worry about it! As long you follow our n" Joseph replied. "Your family will retain their position as the Overlords of the South Region."


    "What is the n?" Titanna asked suspiciously. "And what is the cost?"


    "Oh, we won''t charge an arm or leg in helping you." Josephughed at his own joke. "Just allow UN troops to be stationed in the capital city of the South Region and we will help put down any unrest or enemies that threaten your rule."


    "You mean... you want me to rule as your puppet?" Titanna''s eyes went wide. "Impossible! The people will revolt! The Emperor will kill us all!"


    "I won''t say puppet," Joseph made a tsk sound. "Too harsh a word. More like a non aggressison treaty between us."


    "A non aggression treaty?" Titanna frowned. "But you want to station troops inside the capital city!"


    "Oh, that is just a precaution and we can help with whatever threats you face," Joseph grinned. "After the dust has settled down, we will move our troops out."


    "But what is to prevent you from doing a sneak attack on the city?" Titanna objected. "This is like having a sword hanging over my head!"


    Joseph gave a shrug and kept his smile. "Well, either that or have your enemies storm the city with their soldiers and see your pitiful household troops get ughtered."


    "We are not saying that we want to have control of the city defenses," Joseph exined after seeing Titanna''s disbelief look. "Give us anded manor and we will establish an embassy there. Hopefully, over time, we might even be allies in the future!"


    "But... the Emperor would not approve of this!" Titanna urged. "It will be humiliating to him! You stole one of his cities and defeated his Southern Army and now wants to takend for an embassy in his Southern Region capital?"


    "Oh, well, you can slowly think about it," Joseph grinned. "We have all the time in the world!"


    Titanna''s eye twitched at Joseph''s word. "All the time in the world? Are you..."


    "Ha!" Josephughed, "Well, I was hoping you would agree to our offer. I mean, if you do, I could release you now to return to restore faith in your people!"


    Titanna frowned and she seriously considered his words. "If I don''t agree with this?"


    "Well, then, you can enjoy our hospitality for a while longer!" Joseph smiled. "Besides, if you agreed, I would have to release all the prisoners for you to bring back home. No point for me to keep them around any longer than needed, right?"


    "With some troops at your back, your enemies would think twice before they act, yes?" Joseph eyed Titanna who was trying to very hard to look uninterested.


    "If I ept your offer, you would release the soldiers back with me?" Titanna asked in confirmation. "In exchange, you get anded manor for an embassy and permission for troops to be stationed in the embassy. And also a non aggressive treaty between us?"


    Joseph nodded. "We will even throw in weapons, armors, and supplies to send you home."


    "But what if the Emperor wants me to attack you?" Titanna asked.


    "Oh, I am sure you cane up with all sorts of excuses to reject the Emperor''s orders," Joseph smiled wryly. "You are a very smart girl. You would know what to do. Besides, you can''t afford another expensive battle with us, nor would your troops have the guts to fight after this round!"


    Titanna was very tempted to ept his terms right now. If she returned with the portion of the army still intact, she could at least buy enough time for the Rothschilds to reestablish their strength in the city and stave off their political enemies.


    "Could you give me some time to consider your offer?" Titanna asked.


    "Sure, of course!" Joseph winked his eye. "Don''t take too long!"


    "Tick tock, Ms Rothschild, tick tock!"

 Chapter 316: Autopsy

    Chapter 316: Autopsy


    North Front


    "Come on!" A figure in a mud stain white jacket with a red cross patch on his sleeve and chest pocket waved at the group of dirty and tired ves. "Anyone with injuries?"


    "Here!" A couple of hands rose in the air and the doctor with his assistants bearing stretchers came over.


    They loaded the body of the half naked ve onto the stretcher while the doctor checked the patient''s dirty bandages. "Looks like he lost quite a bit of blood."


    He peeled back the sticky blood coated bandages from the ve and grimaced as a waft of rot came out. "Wounds look badly infected. How did he get injured?"


    The surrounding ves gave a shrug, "We found him lying among a pile of bodies, we think he got hit by one of them screaming death spells!"


    "Ahh..." The doctor nodded. "Alright, don''t worry about your friend here, we will heal him back right!"


    With that, the doctor and the assistants carried the wounded away. "Is that bald guy someone you know?" One of the ves asked curiously.


    "Nope, never seen him before!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold Basement, Temporary Morgue


    "Subject Four C," Dr. Sharon spoke into her tablet as she prepared her instruments for the autopsy of the strange bronze colored elfid before her in the basement of the keep filled with blocks of ice to keep the bodies cold. "Also known as the ''Terminator'' by the Marines."


    "Subject is male and looks to be in his middle twenties, bald," Dr. Sharon said and at the same time, she stretched open the closed eyelids of the corpse. "Eyes are... grey?"


    Magister Thorn leaned over and took a look at the milky grey pupils of the body and he frowned. "Strange..."


    "Cause of death appears to be multiple gunshot wounds, a total of thirteen shots to the upper torso and another ten to both arms," Dr. Sharon recited.


    "Subject''s blood appeared to be dark red, almost close to ck and viscous," She said next as she took up a scalpel before she attempted without any sess to make a Y incision on the chest of the corpse.


    "Skin of the subject appears to be artificially hardened to the point that des could barely cut their skin," She returned the scalpel and took aser scalpel instead and started on the Y incision again.


    This time, theser managed to cut through the tough skin and she peeled theyer back and pinning the skin against its own body with a surgical pin.


    A sweet and coy scent came off the exposed breastte of the corpse and Dr. Sharon frowned as she saw the rib cage of the body and its organs appeared to have turned ck.


    She took a bone saw and worked on the edges of the rib cage and with Magister Thorn''s help, they removed the ckened bones and exposed the internal organs. "Subject''s organs appeared to have entered into the ck putrefaction stage."


    "That is mightly strange," Magister Thorn frowned as he peered into the opened chest cavity of the body. "I remember learning that for the organs of the corpse to turn ck it takes roughly ten to twenty days!"


    "But clearly this person died just a couple of days ago!" Magister Thorn voiced his concerns. "What could have made his organs just... rot away in such a short period of time?"


    Dr. Sharon reached into the chest cavity and started to remove the heart, lungs, liver, stomach, and other major organs. "This is why we are doing an autopsy to find out how these people can survive dozens of gunshots!"


    Together with Magister Thorn who took the role of a student and assistant, they weight the organs that they removed and as Dr. Sharon was removing the spleen, she touched something hard. Nudging the overhead lights to shine into the chest cavity, she dug around the slimy insides of the body before she felt something cold and hard.


    She could feel the object toorge to be a bullet and too irregr shaped to be a stone or something. Carefully she held onto it and applied strength as it appeared to be stuck within the flesh of the spleen.


    "What is it?" Magister Thorn asked as he saw the change of expression on Dr. Sharon''s face.


    "I think there is something here," Dr. Sharon frowned. "Help me adjust the light."


    She took a scalpel and under the light, she gentle sliced away the muscles and veins covering the object and some she cut away a fist sized lump of flesh. "Some kind of tumor?"


    Magister Thorn weighted the lump before he gave it a few pokes and was surprised at the hardness. "It weights at 427 grams, seems like something is inside."


    Dr. Sharon took back the lump of flesh and used her scalpel and carefully sliced the muscles and flesh off, exposing an object with a film of pink and veins covering it. She made another incision and after peeled away the film and a finger sized piece of ck crystal were revealed.


    At this moment, the voice in Dr. Sharon''s head hissed in anger. "LUME!!!"


    Dr. Sharon flinched from the sudden psychic st in her head and she cursed inwardly at the entity in her head.


    "Is that..." Magister Thorn''s eyes went wide. "Is that a Dark Stone?"


    "A Dark Stone?" Dr. Sharon handed the stone over to Magister Thorn who carefully rinsed it clean with water. "Is it some kind of mana stone?"


    "Yes!" Magister Thorn held the stone up against the light. A faint greenish glow could be seen from the insides of the jet ck crystal. "This is impossible! How could a person have a Dark Stone inside their bodies?"


    "I remember in your basic magic sses, you said that Light and Dark mana stones are almost impossible to create?"


    "Yes, as you know, mana stones are created in areas where magical elementals are very strong, or in creatures that condenses their magical energy in one ce thus creating a stone." Magister Stone exined. "But in sses for Light and Dark elements, it is almost impossible to have an area with dense Light or Dark energies due to day and night!"


    "But... if that is the case," Dr. Sharon felt amused as she looked at the excited Thorn trying not to hop around in his green sterile gown, scrub cap, and face mask. "How are you sure that this is a Dark Stone?"


    "Ooo... my apologies!" Magister Thorn replied. "I have forgotten you hoomans has no magical senses."


    "How I know this is a Dark Stone is due to the energy it is giving off," Magister Thorn quickly exined. "At first appearance, I could only guess. But by holding it, I could sense the dark energy from the stone, hence I am very sure this is a Dark Stone!"


    "Is it dangerous?" Dr. Sharon asked with a frown. "Will it like... suck my soul or life away?"


    "Hahahahaa, no my dear Sharon," Magister Thornughed. "It is no more dangerous as... say gun powder!"


    "I see..." Dr. Sharon nodded, slightly reassured. "But how did it grow from a person''s body? I remember that only creatures born with a natural affinity with the elements could do that only?"


    "Yes, this is baffling," Magister Thorn ced the Dark Stone down on the sterile tray. "I too have not heard of this before."


    "Could it be this is the source of these, ''Terminators'', powers?" Dr. Sharon questioned. "It somehow... give them supernatural powers?"


    "Maybe that is the case," Magister Thorn turned and looked at the dozens of body bags hang at the side of the ice room. "We just have to open up a few more bodies to be sure!"


    After a few hours with their arms and gowns covered in gore, Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn paused in their work, their expressions grim.


    On the table next to themid several pieces of Dark Stones, glittering under the white light of themps in the morgue.


    "This is bad... The Empire somehow has a way to produce these Dark Stones!" Magister Thorn whispered. "This is very bad!"


    "If they can imnt these into their soldiers... they will have an almost invicinable army!"


    -----


    Joseph followed the backs of his staff as almost every senior officer avaiblie had gathered at the morgue of the stronghold. A st of cold air and a cloying sweet smell assailed his nosrils when the heavy doors opened, exposing dozens and dozens of corpses in ck bags hanging from the ceiling.


    "Good everyone is here!" Dr. Sharon pped her hands to get everyone''s attention. "We uncovered a discovery that is quite crucial to our future ns."


    Themand staff muttered among themselves upon hearing Dr. Sharon words until she gestured everyone to silence. "Now, as you know, the Marines had encountered a new foe."


    She swept away the white cloth that covered the table beside her exposing a bronze colored corpse where the ps of the skin were peeled back showing a cavity in the chest area. Some of the officers stepped back from the sight and covered their mouths.


    "Me and Magister Thorn were attempting to discover what made these soldiers able to withstand gunshots and mes," Dr. Sharon exined. "We discovered that their skin, muscles, and bones were enhanced to around eight to ten times an average person''s."


    "Normal des will barely be able to penerate their skin," Dr. Sharon continued her report. "This also made them highly resistant to fire and even spells."


    "What kind of socery is that?" One of the officers asked. "How could there be such a spell to empower a person to this extent?"


    "That we do not know yet," Magister Thorn replied. "But we do know that, the Empire has found some sort of magic way to strengthen their soldiers but at a cost."


    "By turning them into these super soldiers or what the Marines call them as Terminators," He took over the exining. "The person most likely loses his life."


    "But that is impossible!" Another officer spoke up. "They move and fight with weapons and tactics, unlike zombies or ghouls! Are they some kind of animated death?"


    "I wouldn''t say they are truely dead," Dr. Sharon said. "More like brain dead."


    "Brain dead?" Joseph asked curiously. "What is that?"


    "It is a state when the person''s mind or brain is dead," Dr. Sharon exined. "Your body is still alive, but your brain is just gone."


    "Isn''t it like losing your soul?" An officer asked.


    "In a way, yes," Dr. Sharon replied. "But the control of the body is taken over by the spell."


    "Now, scientifically, when a person is brain dead," Dr. Sharon continued her exnation. "Your body will die without any life support."


    "But the Empire has found a way to not only enhanced the bodies of these brain dead soldiers but also imnt a kind of ''battery'' which powers them to keep them ''alive''."


    She raised a finger length piece of ck crystal up to the gathered officers and said. "This is a Dark Stone, the battery that powers the Terminators."


    "A Dark Stone?" The officers were shocked as they never really heard of such a mana stone. "What kind of power is this?"


    "The power of darkness..." Magister Thorn replied grimly. "And the Empire has found a way to create and harness this power!"


    "So you are saying that the Empire can create an army of ''Terminators'' with these Dark Stones?" Joseph asked as the implications registered. "They will have an army unstoppable by arrows and swords?"


    "Yes, Captain," Dr. Stone nodded. "They can control the whole continent easily without anyone having the strength to oppose them!"


    "And we will need a lot of firepower to stop them if they throw them enmass at us!" Dr. Sharon added. "We need to let Haven know about this as soon as possible so that we can n out a contingency n to fight against these Terminators!"

 Chapter 317: Why Cant We Be Friends?

    Chapter 317: Why Can''t We Be Friends?


    "But you are saying these soldiers are actually dead?" Joseph asked. "Won''t they rot away or something?"


    "I think they are using some kind of arcane blood for them to slow down the decay," Magister Thorn said. "I have some sample of their blood which I will be analyzing it, but my theory is that it keeps them from dposing and also keeping their bodies alive."


    "And the Dark Stone kind of acts as a power source that powers the organs, keeping them working," Dr. Sharon said. "But from the look of the organs of these corpses, we had autopsied, I say, that they will require a constant recement of organs to maintain the bodies at tip top conditions."


    "Wait, are you saying that these soldiers were alive when they turned them into Terminators?" Joseph asked in shock. "For power, how cruel can one get?"


    Magister Thorn gave a shrug, "I am guessing somewhere among the Ioot we had captured from the Imperial''s camp that there will be supplies and organs for these soldiers."


    "I would like to request that they are found as fast as possible so that I can work on my theory involving these, Terminators," Magister Thorn said. "This way, hopefully, we can understand more about how they made these soldiers and stop them."


    "Also, we have no inkling of what spell they are using to animate these soldiers," Magister Thorn said. "None of the prisoners we have taken know anything about these soldiers, except that they were being controlled by the Organ Mages."


    "Even the prisoners seemed afraid of these soldiers," Magister Thorn said. "We barely have gotten any information on their origins."


    "Have you all discovered any weakness of these creatures?" Joseph asked after he gave his orders to his Intel Officer to follow up on the case. "How can we destroy them if they attack us?"


    "Here," Dr. Sharon poked a spot on Joseph''s chest. "The spleen just next to the stomach on the left."


    "The Dark Stone is on located there," Dr. Sharon exined. "Or if you deal enough damage to the body, they will expire too."


    "Good!" Joseph nodded and turned to his officers. "Make sure this information is spread to the men on the ground!"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    Titanna red at the hagged Knight Captain Judis and repeated her words stubbornly, "I want to ept their offer!"


    Judis shook his head. He was tired of all the constant questionings and theck of sleep, yet he kept his calm and said slowly like he was talking to a small child, "Do you know that once you let this... people into the city, you will lose all control? It is as good as ceding your position to them!"


    "I know! But with the situation back at home, it is the lesser evil!" Titanna replied. "We barely have enough troops to hold off our enemies should they choose to band together and uproot the Rothschilds!"


    "Your three other brothers would not agree to this offer at all," Judis gave a tired sigh. "Not to mention the other bas- half brothers of yours."


    "They are all eyeing and fighting over the head position of the family, you know that right?" Judis added. "If you ept these people''s offer, you are giving your brothers a legitimate reason to denounce you and easier for them to take the seat of the head."


    "There is no point in taking over the seat of the family if our enemies destroy everything around us!" Titanna said. "They promised as long as we give them somend for an embassy and peace between our people, they will not control what we do!"


    "As long as it doesn''t bring them deficits?" Judis gave a snort and shook his head. "You might be the most sensible and level headed child of the Rothschilds, but could you take the word of a rebel?"


    "At this point in time, we have no other choices!" Titanna pressed her case. "My other brothers, knowing their personality, the other Houses and Barons would most likely have approached them to offer their help and protection!"


    "True," Judis nodded. "And you do know that returning to Norshelm, there will hundreds of suitors seeking your hand in marriage?"


    Titanna sighed and bobbed her head. "Yes, I know. Everyone will be wanting to take over the Rothschilds'' wealth and power. That is why I need the strength of the... United Nations. This war with them has been too expensive!"


    "We barely fought twice," Titanna looked out of the window while saying. "And one major field battle, and we lost more men than we ever in the whole history of the Rothschilds!"


    "Do you know how much that will set us back in both materials and workers?" Titanna turned back and looked at Judis. "We will take years to recover from this mess!"


    "That is if we can survive the enemies at home!" Titannamented. "We need allies, and the only allies that are willing to help us at this time is unexpectedly our enemy..."


    "Yet, this United Nations wants the same thing as the others," Judis frowned. "Why give power and control to an outsider instead of our own countrymen?"


    "Because, this United Nations, is at least for more honorable and trustablepared to those bloodsuckers at the City!" Titanna exined. "At least we do not need to keep watching our backs from being stabbed by those money grubbers!"


    "So why are you telling me this since you have decided on your next course of action?" Judis asked.


    "I... I want you to lead the army back with me..." Titanna said in a soft voice. "I want you to takemand of the troops!"


    "Troops? Hahaha..." Judisughed. "What troops do we have left? Didn''t the Knights of Silver and even the Rothschild''s army got wiped out?"


    "I was given their word that they will release all the prisoners and also weapons, armors, supplies will be given to us too," Titanna answered. "They will also give us the captured barges for us to return back home!"


    "Hahaha! What is left is a bunch of demoralized peasants ying as a soldier!" Judis clenched his chest as heughed hard, the hardest he hadughed since he became a prisoner. "What can a bunch of rabbles do against the rest of the Barons and Houses'' might?"


    "That is why I need you atmand!" Titanna replied. "I need you to turn that rabble into a force that will give our enemies some pause in their ns."


    "If you give me a few months time," Judis sobered up and said. "I could train them into a decent fighting force, not outstanding but at least they could hold their ground, against... moremon foes."


    "They did say they would send some of their own troops along with us," Titanna added. "Their fighting capabilities are way superiorpared to any army here!"


    "They?" Judis''s eyes widened. "Is it wise? The men had already suffered a great defeat under them, and if they follow us along, what other conflicts would arise between the two forces?"


    "I have full confidence that you will be able to resolve that!" Titanna gave a sweet sly smile at the surprised expression of Judis who gave a chuckle at being outmaneuvered by the girl.


    "Alright, you win," Judis returned the smile, reminding him of her charm of the girl and the reason why he wanted to marry her. "Get me hold of this hell hole and I will do this for you."


    -----


    "WHAT?" Mills jerked up from his seat in surprise after hearing the words from Lt Silverstar. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"


    "Sit down, Sergeant!" Lt Silverstar frowned. "I say again, this is an all volunteers only mission into enemy controlled territory to escort the Rothschild''s Princess back home."


    "But-" Mills sat down with dumbstruck face. "You know damn well, everyone will volunteer!"


    "I know but this is an important mission," Lt Silverstar cut Mills off. "Orders from the top. This mission will be primarily bridging rtions between two sides and at the same time, to ensure Lady Titanna takes over as head of the Rothschilds and maintain control over the South Region!"


    "But... but..." Mills blinked rapidly. "Only one toon? Twenty eight men? Into the enemy city? Without support? No reinforcements? No resupplies? Pardon mynguage, Sir, but WHAT THE FUCK?"


    "I understand these concerns, so does High Command," Lt Silverstar gave a sigh at Mills''s understandable outburst, for even he had raised the same amount of fuss and points at the CO when he heard about the mission.


    "The Hundred and First, ymore One, will be apanying you, together with an Intelligence Officer," Lt Silverstar exined. "You will be given anded manor to which you and your men will fortify the ce up and supplies will be delivered by air."


    "Goddamnit, Spec Ops and an Intel Puke?" Mills cursed. "This is getting better by the second!"


    "Should there be any... unforeseen incidents," Lt Silverstar ignored Mill''s words and continued on. "Extract will be by the ind sea. We will have a constant patrol roving that area by the PT boats."


    "We only blood have one PT boat operational!" Mills whined. "ONE FUCKING PT BOAT! How the fuck are they gonna respond to us in time when SHTF*?" (*Shit Hits The Fan)


    "That is why, soldier," A deep voice suddenly spoke from the door behind. "You have guns!"


    "Sir!" Mills jumped up in attention and greeted the CO.


    "At ease," Joseph gestured him to sit down and he leaned against the table facing Mills. "I understand your concerns and the mission''s tactical options."


    "This mission is very important to ensuring our North border would not be threatened by raids or invasions," Joseph exined to Mills. "If both sides could be friends, even if the Emperor sends troops down to attack us, we would have months to weeks of notice, instead of just days."


    "The first mission is to ensure the safety of Lady Titanna," Joseph stared at Mills who returned the stare unflinchingly. "Second mission is to establish a secured Embassy within the city."


    "Once the Embassy is ready, we will bring in more toons to reinforce your position," Joseph added. "But that can only happen when Haven sends us more troops. As you know we barely have enough men to go about everywhere."


    "But, Sir," Mills objected. "If we do not have troops to send out, why send any at all?"


    "A toon against the whole city?" Mills continued. "With respect, Sir, that is impossible!"


    "I know I am asking a lot from you," Joseph said. "But the sess of this mission will affect the entire war between us and the Empire!"


    "That is why this is a pure volunteer only mission," Joseph gave a sigh. "We will be providing as much support as we can to the troops on the ground once we have the means and the materials."


    "But Sir, still, this is a suicide mission!" Mills grumbled. "I can''t just ask my boys to go throw their lives away in a far off ce!"


    "I understand," Joseph nodded. "If possible I would want to go, but High Command wants me here. I would volunteer in a heartbeat!"


    "And I am asking you because the Rothschild Princess trusts you," Joseph added. "And I know you two became friends despite being on different sides. That is why I hope that we can all be friends and all these senseless war and deaths will be over."


    "Damn!" Mills gave out a deep breath, "Alright, count me in."


    -----


    The next few days, preparations were well underway for the Imperials to return back. The prisoners were at first skeptical of the news till Knight Captain Judis appeared and gave a speech to the men.


    With the fears of the men ayed, the Imperials were reorganized and refitted before they marched back towards the Source Sea where dozens of captured beached barges awaited them.


    Following along them, with nces of suspicions, fear, and hatred, were the Marines, ymore One, and several other tag alongs.

 Chapter 318: The Mission

    Chapter 318: The Mission


    Haven, Camp Alpha, Commandant''s Office


    Frank Lee stood by the windows watching the recruits on their daily morning run on the parade ground. On his uniform shoulder sat two golden globes, signifying his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel.


    His youthful face mismatched his rank as he just turned twenty three years old this year, yet the steel in his eyes wasn''t a lie as the experience he had gone through was a lot morepared to his peers back on Earth.


    "Good Morning, Sir," The door opened and Master Sergeant Pike entered with two mugs of hot tea.


    "Mornin'' Top," He replied the greeting while still watching the recruits. "This batch looks quite tough."


    "Yes, sir," Top nodded as he ced the hot tea down. "Good fighters just needed some more familiarization with our society, and they will be good as gold."


    "We can squeeze out another two battalions from this batch of recruits," Top joined Frank at the window and sipped his tea. "And will have enough leftovers to recover ourbat losses at the North Front."


    "With two more battalions in our pocket, will greatly help us in projecting our force outwards to the region," Frank nodded and took his mug of tea. "Especially sending just a single toon off as a forward party into the enemy."


    "Well, it''s a risky gamble, but one that will reap us a lot of long term rewards." Top grumbled. "Damn, I should be part of the team!"


    "Can''t have you running and doing grunt stuff," Frank replied. "I need you here, too many newbies in the staff and I need you to straighten them out!"


    "I know, Sir. But..." Top made a grimace, "I can''t even trust those little shits to properly tie their booces!"


    "Hahaha!" Franksughed. "Rx, Top, they will do just fine."


    "Shit," Top sighed. "I just can''t believe a bunch of kids with raging hormones and guns to be able to behave themselves properly!"


    Frank smiled and shook his head at the Top, "Don''t worry, Intelligence did send someone along to babysit them."


    "Talking about the Intel pukes," Top frowned. "Heard a fewintsing from the North Front about not informing the ground troops about the ploy to lure the enemy in."


    "Yes, I heard it too," Frank''s expression turned serious. "Can''t say I me the ground troops since they are the ones taking the brunt of the attack and dying for it. But operationmand is under Joseph, and he has the call."


    "I am not gonna assign me here," Frank continued, "For I think he did a great job on breaking the enemy. He and hismand staff have done a really great job."


    "On a higher level, I know all about the need for operational security and stuff," Top replied, "But the ground troops don''t really care about all that! What they care for is why isn''t there any support that was promised..."


    "And now, there is bad blood between the Marines and Intelligence," Frank finished Top''s sentence. "Well, some inter department rivalry is always good. Keeps the troops from being toopliance."


    "Well, I hope that it is just some minor shit between the two," Top sighed. "As long as they start to cock block each other during actual ops."


    "I will speak with Tavor on this," Frank promised. "Make sure everyone knows who the real enemy is."


    "It will be great if you could address the troops when you got the time for it," Top added. "Makes them feel appreciated."


    "Noted," Frank nodded before he turned back to the window where the recruits were doing calisthenics. "Two more months for this batch to graduate, I hope no new armies start popping up and gunning for us."


    "Well, they will grad just before the wedding," Top said. "So what are you nning for the Captain and the Princess?"


    "Hmmm," Frank rubbed his chin before answering. "Well, I did have a talk with Tavor the other day..."


    "And?" Top''s eye narrowed. "On?"


    "Was thinking of annexing away the town of Falledge with the newly graduated boots," Frank winked. "Think that will make a great wedding gift?"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, Airbase


    The loud drone of the twin engine helo made all conversation impossible if not for the radio mikes and headsets. Lieutenant Peter, kept an eye on the instrumental panels of the terrible shaking of the first ever helo built in this.


    The medium lift helo, with a banana shaped hull, the elves do not know what a banana was till pictures of the berry were shown and yes a banana is a berry, not a fruit. The elves shared the same sentiments with the hooman at calling the CH - 1 ''Griffin'' as The Flying Banana.


    Peter wanted to paint his helo bright yellow as a joke but was overruled by Commander Tommy who pointed out that if he wanted his helo shot down, he could ground him right here right now.


    So the best he could get his airforce grey helo painted was just a yellow band at the rear half of the helo. Now together with a sister helo at his nk and a cargo full of supplies, he and the newly graduated co pilot took a twelve hour flight, making three stops along the way to refuel and nap before they finally came within sight of Orwell''s Point airfield.


    The flight characteristics of the Flying Banana were rough, basically, the powerful tandem propeller worked by beating the air into submission and allowing the pig like helo to fly. It won''t win any beauty pageants and it wasn''t fast,pared to the Mariners but its top speed was higherpared to the Cobras which weigh only a fraction of the helo, nor was it very maneuver.


    Its only positive points were that it could carry a lot of cargo in its belly. Peter carefully angled the helo towards the square helipads and reduce his altitude before the beast hovered over the asphalt ground and the rubber slime wheels squeaked when they touched down.


    Powering down the engines and shutting off all systems, Peter climbed out of the cockpit with his co pilot while the chief crewman dropped the ramps of the Flying Banana down and a small army of airforce personnel weed them with pping and cheers.


    Feeling smug, Peter waved and bowed to the crowd before one of the ground crew told him to report in to the Wing Commander of the base. He nodded and gave another bow to the apuse of the ground crew before he and his co pilot headed over to the terminal building.


    "Wee to Orwell''s Point," A stocky medium aged male elf dressed in a dark green flight suit greeted the four pilots with a smile when they entered the office with the sign "Wing Commander" hang on the door. "I am Lieutenant Goldan, and I''m the Wing Commander here."


    "Good to meet you all," He gestured for the newly arrived pilots to their seats after shaking their hands, a custom learned from the hoomans. "Now, we are all very thankful for the supplies you carried over and I know everyone is tired after half a day of flight in the cramped cockpit, so I''m going to keep this short and sweet."


    "High Command has just sent word that you four and your helos will be stationed here for the unseen future till given further orders," Goldan informed the four pilots. "As of such, you will be assisting the local logistics and also rapid troop deployments should there be a need."


    "Now, you all know we had sent off a toon of Marines and delegates towards one of the main cities of the Empire," Goldan continued briefing the pilots. "You will also help in making supply runs or when the Embassy is secured, one helo will be stationed there to support the men on the ground."


    "Questions?" Goldan asked the pilots.


    "Wing Com, we will be deploying to the enemy lines without any onboard weapons?" Peter asked. "I don''t want to be a sitting duck here..."


    "Don''t worry about that," Goldan smiled. "We will be doing some modifications to the helos, like extra fuel tanks and machine gun mounts."


    "Great!" Peter smiled. "Now where do we bunk in?"


    -----


    Source Sea, Outskirts of the City of Norshelm


    The city loomed out from the mists like an apparition as on the second day on the water, the returning Titanna and her Army finally approached the city''s numerous harbors.


    A half dozen galleys bearing banners and gs of the Rothschild''s house came paddling out to greet her and they formed up protectively around the fleet of barges.


    Mills stood next to the gunwale of the barge together with the ymore One team members who had observed the harbor city in the distance quietly. "So what do you think of all this?"


    "This is shit," Hitsu spat over the side of the barge. "We just reached back to Orwell''s Point from bringing home all those people and nooo... Not a word of appreciation or thanks!"


    "It was just new orders!" Hitsu mimicked the tone of the Intel Officer. "You go do escort! No rest!"


    "Alright, you been grumbling about this the whole damn trip!" Youngined. "My ears are dying!"


    "Fark! We didn''t even get a chance to rest!" Hitsu retorted back. "Every since we came here, its been this mission here and that mission there!"


    "Enough," Tyrier suddenly spoke up. "You are soldiers, suck it up!"


    "Well, I can rte to this shit," Mills grinned. "Anyway, what can we soldiers do but grumble andint?"


    "At least do it at a ce when no one could hear us!" Tyrier nodded his head towards the group of Imperial Knights who red at them with fear and hostile looks. "Don''t wanna spoil our good image in their minds!"


    "Ha!" Millsughed. "Well, we are surely fucked when we get in that city!"


    "Mills!" A strong female voice called out from the barge''s castle and Mills turned and saw Titanna dressed up in her armor. "We are reaching the city soon!"


    "Yup, I can tell!" Mills gave a quick roll of his eye. "Big... nice... city!"


    "Thank you," Titanna didn''t get the message Mills was trying to imply, and instead thought he wasplimenting the city. "I grew up here since I was a baby!"


    "Oh, nice!" Mills looked around and found the rest of the ymore One members giving space to them and winking at him. "Hey..."


    "Enjoy your chat," Tyrier winked. "We gonna check on our gear and on the rest!"


    "You... bas..." Mills sighed and turned his attention back to Titanna who gave him a questioning smile. "Ah... nothing..."


    "Are you nervousing back?" Mills asked to break the awkward silence between them. "All your enemies are waiting for you there, right?"


    "I do not know," Titanna pouted. "I guess I am more of anticipating their looks now."


    "Why is that so?" Mills raised an eyebrow at her words.


    "Well, many did not want to seed," Titanna exined. "Even my brothers see me as unfitting to be the heir of the family and schemed many times to take over the position from me."


    "At least, now, I have some means of fighting back," Titanna smiled.


    "You do know that I and my men would not take part in any ns to help you defeat or kill your enemies, right?" Mills narrowed his eyes at the wicked smile. "We only can protect you and that is all!"


    Titanna nodded, "Of course, if I asked for your help, the people will think I am weak and unfit to be the ruler, but... it is nice to know you are here."


    "Ahem..." Mills turned back to look at the city, his face slightly blushing. "Well, I did say you could find me if you need a shoulder..."


    "I know..." Titanna sighed softly as she stood shoulder to shoulder with Mills, watching the city as the barge slowly approached the harbor.


    "Thank you..."

 Chapter 319: Desires

    Chapter 319: Desires


    Orwell''s Point


    A shadowy figure detached its self from the eaves of the roof which it has been hiding on. It skited around the edges of the building, from one roof to another, careful not to enter the light of the full moon.


    Every now and then, it paused and checked its surroundings, to ensure no one was following it before it continued on.


    Finally, it reached the ce it wanted and it stayed on one of the nearby building''s roof and observed the area. After several turns of the ss, it was certain that it wasn''t followed and no one was alerted to her presence, it approached the building warily.


    As the figure slowly emerged from the shadows, the light of the moon highlighted its body, revealing a shapely figure that was clearly a woman''s.


    "One, target reacquired."


    "Two, roger, keep eyes on her!"


    The woman wrapped up in dark clothing, crouched low and slowly approached the house in the middle of merchant''s district. She paused every now and then, staying low before she stepped to the side. Another pause, another turn of her head to check her surroundings, and another step forward like she was walking in a minefield.


    Finally, she reached the three story wood and brick building, and carefully started to climb its walls. She did the same as on the ground, pausing before each grip and changing her direction of ascent till she reached the top floor windows.


    "One, target is attempting to enter the premises, over."


    "Two, continue observations."


    The ck d woman removed something from her belt and did something to the window before she slipped a piece of wire under the window slits and utched the window from within. Shortly after the figure disappeared into the darkness of the townhouse.


    "All units, surround the building!"


    Several figures suddenly emerged out from the shadows just like what the woman did earlier. They approached the townhouse from all directions and kept to the walls and side of the streets despite the ungodly hour, where there wasn''t even a soul out.


    "ce looks trapped to hell!" One of the shadows stated as they crouched next to the townhouse''s low wall. "One, we need a defuser!"


    "Two, standby."


    Shortly after, a window lit up from within the townhouse on the top floor. The men outside the townhouse instinctively crouched lower to avoid being seen. "What in the heavens is she doing?"


    "Two, advance and observe closer!"


    They peered over the fancy railings set on the wall, and they slowly climbed over the railings. As they carefully made they way across the garden, the lead shadow suddenly paused and shot a closed fist out.


    The two other shadows behind him came to aplete halt and they swept their eyes alertly across the entirewn. "Shit! I sense some magical shit all around us!"


    "One! We need the girl mage toe and defuse the arcane traps here!" The lead shadow reported softly.


    "Two, roger, standby."


    As they waited for support, they could see the candle light inside the house moving down from one level to another through the cracks in the window curtains, till it disappeared after the orange glow reached the ground floor.


    A short figurended with a thud followed by a, "Oomph!"


    All three members of ymore Two spun around and hissed at the girl who was rubbing her behind and gave an apologetic bob of her head.


    Liz winched in pain as she fell off the top railing of the wall fence despite someone helping her over and shended on her butt, jagging her tail bone painfully.


    She half waddled and half limped her way over to the three serious looking soldiers before the one in the front which she recognized as Corporal Pokka, whose little brother was killed by her party back when she was still an adventurer with the Hero.


    He gave her a crude nod as acknowledge and jerked his head to the path before him and hissed softly, "Looks like some magical rms and traps here."


    Liz nodded and she crouched next to the beefy soldier and she touched the ground before her with her staff and a soft glow erupted from the crystal tip and the path before them lit up with a couple of magic formations, "Its a level two spell! Very nasty!"


    She closed her eyes and concentrated her will, channeling her mana to the tip of her staff and three magic circles grew out. "Disarm! Disarm!"


    The revealed magical traps flickered and the glow gently disappeared from view and Liz wiped a bead of sweat off her brow. "Phew... it''s done!"


    "Good!" The ymore Two corporal nodded. "Stay here and wait for further instructions!"


    "But I want toe along! I need to know... if... she is still the same..." Liz quickly said. "Let mee! I can help!"


    Cpl Pokka stared at Liz for a moment before he nodded, "Try anything funny and don''t me me for being rude! Stay behind me at all times!"


    Liz nodded hurriedly and stayed as close as possible as they walked towards the front door. "The door is warded but I can disarm it easily! Disarm!"


    The wards on the door flickered again as Liz cast her spell and disappeared. One of the soldiers removed a chainsaw like device and he pressed it against the door hinges. A soft buzzing and sparked popped out from the hinge as the portableser cutter melted the hinges to g. He repeated with the other hinge before keeping the tool away.


    The other soldier applied the end of his crowbar against the door and gently pried it open while the rest supported the now loosen door. Cpl Pokka whispered to Liz, "See if your hand can unbolt the bar inside!"


    Liz quickly stretched her hand into the crack just barelyrge enough for her slim hand to slip into. She fumbled around before her hand touched the bar and she struggled for a short while before managed to flip the door bar out of its socket and whispered with a triumphant tone, "Done!"


    The three soldiers quickly yanked the door away and set it carefully down on the flower bed and they aimed their suppressed weapons into the dark interior of the townhouse. "Sense any more traps?"


    Liz whispered, "No, I don''t sense anything before us, but... I can feel an aura of... something... and it seems to being from below us!"


    "Got it!" Cpl Pokka gestured his men. "Look for any physical traps."


    He next hit his radio, "One, this is two."


    "Two, send."


    "One, we are in, checking for any surprises before entering. Over."


    "Two, roger, we areing up your six, out!"


    "All clear!" His men replied as they carefully examined the entrance of the foyer, only finding a tripwire painted in ck paint set at ankle level. They traced the wire and found it linked to a bell and half a nocked crossbow set on the table aimed at the chest level.


    Carefully snipping the wire and bell, they removed the bolt with the arrowhead with a dark substance most likely some kind of poison that glittered under their tactical lights.


    The remaining ymore Two members led by Sergeant Aztes, joined them inside the house. "Where''s the target?"


    "Seems like they are in the basement." Cpl Pokka replied in a low voice. "And this ce... is too heavily trapped to be normal."


    "I had Command check up on the owners and upants living here," Sgt Aztes replied. "A small time merchant and his family, nothing much stands out."


    "Too strange than," Cpl Pokka frowned. "And why is that girl here for?"


    "Well, we are about to find out!"


    -----


    Eveyln had felt the pull of the idol that she hid in her bed frame for days. The dreams in her sleep were filled with both joyous and also nightmares, as she kept dreaming about Dante. In the happy dreams, she dreamt she had a family with Dante or filled with passionate love making with him.


    In the nightmares, she saw Dante dying in her arms or killed over again and again. Finally driven almost mad, as the idol whispered in her mind that Dante was waiting for her and she sought for the source of it.


    She had sneaked out when she was certain her guards weren''t her watching when she went to sleep. Slipping out of her window was easy for a person with her agility and skills, after which she slipped out of the Keep, bypassing the guards on the walls before she entered the city.


    With the idol carried close to her heart, she could feel it pulsating and pulling her towards one direction which she followed carefully, ensuring no one was watching or following her.


    Finally, she found the ce that was attracting her over and she woke the sleeping upant who tried to knife her but she subdued him easily, before taking the idol out and instantly there was a change in the person''s attitude.


    The chubby male prostrated before her and all signs of hostility were gone. He even helpfully tried to answer her questions and when the questions he couldn''t answer, he led her down towards the basement where the pull of from the idol grew even stronger the closer she approached.


    The chubby male in his sleeping attire lit the torches lining the walls of the basement as they climbed down the stairs. The entrance of the basement was in one of the study rooms under a table and hidden under a thickyer of carpet and a false flooring had to unlock with a key that was hanging around his bby neck.


    As the torches slowly brightened the spacious basement, its size surprised Eveyln as it was asrge as a ballroom of a noble''s mansion! A ring of squarish pirs held up the roof of the basement and in the center of the pir sat a block of old obsidian that glittered evilly from the torches.


    On a closer look, the obsidian altar was in an arched shape and all around the altar were vines and myrtle leaves growing abundantly that spread and entwined around the ring of pirs. The ring of pirs was made out of white marble and had naked figures with wings hugging each other.


    Evelyn could feel the pull of the idol kept next to her chest growing so strong that it felt like the idol would fly out from her clothes. She approached the altar cautiously while the chubby ultist smiled brightly at the side, watching her actions with a hint of amusement.


    "What are you?" Evelyn whispered as she took a step closer and removed the worn idol which looked like two worms entwined together with tiny wings. She noticed a scent that smell like roses was growing thicker as she stood over the obsidian altar.


    "Bend over," The chubby cultist suddenly spoke and unknowingly, he had appeared naked behind her. Evelyn felt slightly dizzy from the sweet cloying scent of the perfume that appeared to being from the burning torches.


    She barely resisted as the cultist bend her over the obsidian altar which seemed to fit her body angle just nicely. She tried to push herself up but her hands and legs appeared to be bound by the myrtle vines that magically held her down.


    With her mind dazed by the scent, she could only struggle weakly in confusion as the cultist behind her ripped her pants off and exposed her. She moaned as hands caressed her body and her clothes were removed piece by piece.


    "What... are... you... doing...?" She cried out in a daze. "Sto...p .... where... is... Dan- Dante...?"


    "I am Dante," The cultist inserted into her with a sharp thrust and she cried out in surprise at the pain.


    She turned her head and saw the person mming against her and her eyes soften as she saw the love of her life grinning at her.


    "Dan- Dante! You... are back!"

 Chapter 320: Sins and Depravity

    Chapter 320: Sins and Depravity


    Liz followed closely behind the ymore Two soldier as they checked each room. The seven ymore Two soldiers split into two teams, with Liz searching the ground floor with one team while the other team headed upstairs stealthily to secure the premises.


    They found the entrance to the basement in one of the study rooms but did not enter it till they ensured the entire building was cleared. Surprisingly, they found no one else living in the townhouse, only a bedroom that looked recently slept in and none of the family members that was said to be living here was found in any of the rooms.


    The whole team by then had gathered at the opened entrance and they cautiously climbed down the wooden stairs that creaked with each step. As they went deeper, a sweet scent drifted up and the smell got thicker as they passed by the torches.


    "Cover your noses!" Sergeant Aztes quickly ordered. "Try not to breath in that... stuff!"


    The men quickly wrapped scarves or used their uniforms to cover their noses while Liz used her voluptuous robes to cover her nose. As they descended deeper, they could hear a rhythmic pping sound, followed by grunts and moans.


    The sounds got louder and louder and they emerged from the stairs into a grand vista with the pirs surrounding an altar in the middle. Two naked figures appeared to be bend over each other and were making out in the middle of the torch lit vista, their cries, and moans echoing loudly.


    "Wha-?" Liz blurted out as she witnessed the scene, her face blushing as she saw the intimate acts.


    "FREEZE!" Sergeant Aztes yelled out as he gestured his men to spread out and cover the area. "Stop what you are doing and put your hands in the air now!"


    The chubby male ignored his words and kept grunting with effort, each thrust of his hips shaking his rolls of fat. The female, which they recognized as Evelyn appeared to be tied down and moaning away in ecstasy with her eyes closed.


    "Stop what you are doing now!" SGT Aztes called out again and being ignored once more, he drew his service revolver and fired a shot into the ceiling.


    The sharp report of the revolver seemed to break the spell as the two instantly froze in their actions and stared at Aztes like he was a ghost. "Wh- Who are you!?"


    "Hundred and First," Sgt Aztes replied and pointed at the naked male to move away to the side. "Stand there and show me those hands!"


    Suddenly a peat ofughter came from Evelyn who was face down on the altar. Herughter seemed to give the naked male some kind of courage and he gave a smile of wonder before he kneeled down and whispered with reverence. "My Queen!"


    The myrtle and vines started to wriggle and Eveyln was no longer bounded by the nts. She straightened up and stretched her body, before the myrtle vines coiled around her naked body, creating some sort of form fitting leafy dress that left none to the imagination.


    "Ahhh... this body is not too bad," She caressed her own body, running her hands over her curves seductively.


    The men all force as they stared at her actions, their weapons lowered slightly as their eyes followed the path of her hands trailing all over her body.


    "Wee my Queen to this realm!" The cultist kneeled and bowed down, kissing her toes fervently. "My Queen!"


    "MAGIC MISSILE!" Suddenly a cry came out from behind one of the pirs followed by a bolt energy that flew towards Evelyn. The cultist kneeling before her suddenly leaped up and blocked the spell with his body.


    Evelyn kicked the smiling corpse away from her feet and sighed. "It''s hard to get good followers, you know?"


    "Who or what are you!?" Liz cried out as she brandished her staff before her, readying her spells to be cast.


    "Me?" Evelyn looked down on her body before she spun around on the spot. "I''m Evelyn! Don''t you recognized me?"


    "NO!" Liz was very close to panicking as sweat rolled down her spine and soaked her robes. She sneaked a nce at the rest of the ymore Two team members but they appeared to be caught in some kind of mor and were unable to shake the effects off. "You look like her and sound like her... But you are NOT HER!"


    "I see..." Evelyn giggled and she even pped, "Well, I must say you are correct!"


    "The soul of this vessel is weak," The Entity possessing Evelyn said. "She desired so hard for the one she loved to return. So I granted her, her desire in exchange for her body."


    "Now, she is forever living in a ce filled with happy memories," The entity smiled. "Forever in bliss! Isn''t that wonderful?"


    "What did you do?" Liz was filled with horror. "Return her soul back now!"


    "Oh, her soul is already damaged way beyond healing," The not Evelyn waved her hand dismissively. "Besides, she can make love with her Dante all day and night long, giving in to their love and desires."


    "Enough!" Liz gritted her teeth hard, "Stop defiling her soul!"


    "Oh? You didn''t know?" The Entityughed at Liz''s expression. "They were making love almost every night when you were all together and poor, Elizabeth, always in the dark about their rtionship. Tsk tsk..."


    "Say, do you desire Dante too?" The Entity suddenly asked while pping hands together. "I can give you Dante too if you so desire for him too! Hehe!"


    "No! Stop!" Liz took a step back as a wave of mental images mmed into her mind, making her see Dante''s charming smile, that handsome face, that white pearly teeth and lips that was about to kiss her. "NOoooo!"


    The Entity controlling Evelyn smiled sweetly as she watched Liz stumbling backward from her psychic attack and she bent down and fished out a vial of dark red liquid from the remains of her clothes. "Now, this, is really useful!"


    She strolled forward towards the nearest of the ymore Two soldier who beamed at her approach, his rifle falling on its sling from his cked hands. She reached out with both hands and cupped the soldiers face and just as she was about to kiss him, a loud metal nk was heard right next to them.


    She looked down in surprise at the dark tube rolling to a stop right at her feet and for a moment her teasing expression changed to a frown. "What is th-!?"


    The tube suddenly popped with an eardrum bursting crack and a sh of light so bright that her eyes were instantly blinded and tearing. She screamed in shock and pain, rearing back in stunned confusion. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"


    Liz spat out a mouthful of blood as she had bit her tongue to force herself out of the entrapment spell. She took the oppunity when that not Evelyn thing was distracted with one of the soldiers to grab the sh bang from the pouch of Corpereal Pokka and from observations, she roughly knew how to use it.


    Put finger into the ring, twist the ring and pull it out. Throw the whole sh bang at the not Evelyn thing and take cover. Liz used the body of Cpl Pokka as cover as she covered both her ears and closed her eyes tightly.


    Even then, the sharp thunder p made her ears ring, but it did not disable her unlike the not Evelyn. The spell struck soldiers all cried out in pain and shock as the effects of the sh bang mmed into them.


    Liz raised her staff and scream chanted her spells, "MAGIC MISSILE!"


    Bolts of pure magical energy eurpted out from the tip of her staff and they shot off at the direction she pointed her staff at which was where the not Evelyn was clutching her face and screaming.


    The bolts of energy mmed into Evelyn and detonated, flipping her backwards and burning off the leaves and vines. Evelynnded on to the carpet of myrtle leaves with a thud and remained unmoving on the spot.


    Liz rapped her staff against the helmeted head of Cpl Pokka kneeling on the ground with each hissed word, "Wake... up! Aren''t... you... supposed... to... watch... over... me?"


    "Alright! Alright! Stop that!" Cpl Pokka growled as he shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears and blinked his eyes rapidly to clear the stubborn white spot in his vision. "What the hell are you hitting me for!"


    Liz gave one finally rap with her staff before she was satisfied, "Your fault for getting charmed by her!"


    "What?" Cpl Pokka stumbled up to his feet and looked around in confusion, barely about to see clearly. "What happened?"


    "Men!" Liz rubbed her sore tongue and cast a quick recovery spell. "Something took over the soul of Evelyn..."


    "I don''t know what but..." Liz gestured sadly to the bodyying on the patch of greenery. "I think I killed her..."


    Cpl Pokka picked up his weapon and gripped it tightly before he gestured Liz towards the rest of the ymore Two troops. "Go check on them, see if they are alright!"


    He approached the body of Evelyn cautiously and saw a couple of burnt marks on her otherwise perfect body. He prodded her still body with his rifle barrel and cursed as he saw her fingers twitched. "She''s still alive!"


    "Shoot or arrest?" Cpl Pokka yelled as he backed off from the body. "Sarge?"


    "Shoot that bitch!" Sergeant Aztes hissed as he being looked over by a startled Liz. "Take her out! NOW!"


    Cpl Pokka whipped his rifle up upon hearing the order and fired his semi automatic M2 ''Mageripper'' carbine, his finger rapidly stroking the trigger and the rifle butt kicking his shoulder with each stroke.


    Smoking rifle casings spewed out and tinked against the cold rock floor as Pokka shot up the body on the patch of leaves. "Reloading!"


    By this time, most of the troops had recovered their wits and senses, carefully surrounded the body at a safe distance. One of the soldiers asked as he eyed the scene and asked, "What the hell happened?"


    "You guys got hit by some kind of charm spell," Liz exined as she peered at Evelyn''s body. "And I think Eve-, Evelyn... has been taken over by something here..."


    "Damn cults!" Another of the soldiers cursed and spat. "We need to burn down all the bloody cults!"


    "I hear you, brother!" Cpl Pokka nodded as he picked up the vial of dragon''s blood from the ground and sealed it into a clear bag. "So... think she is truly dead, wonder what she wants to do with this thing?"


    "Most likely to revive her boyfriend, bitch''s crazy! Anyway, cut her head off, then salt and burn her body," Sgt Aztes said. "Standard operating procedure."


    "Right... SOP for dealing with any godly or ungodly shit..." Cpl Pokka drew out his sword bay and began his nasty work while Liz turned away, unable to bear witness to the demise of her once friend and party member.


    As Pokka hacked the head off, the head suddenly screamed, surprising him and making him stumbled back while the others jumped up in wariness.


    "Silly mortals!" The grotesque head of Evelyn giggled. "I am immortal! Killing this flesh puppet is just a minor inconvenience to me! I have thousands of followers that are willing to give their bodies to me!"


    Sgt Aztes stopped his men who were about to douse the head with salt and alcohol. He leaned forward and sneered, "Well, as long as it inconvenienced you, it makes me happy!"


    "Do it!" Sgt Aztes gestured his men and stepped back while the face of Evelyn contorted uglily with rage. "Enjoy the BBQ!"


    "YOU!" The head could only growl and scream as the ymore Two men dumped packs of salt over the body and head before sks of alcohol were emptied and matches were thrown on the body, igniting the mess.


    "AHHHHH!! I WILL FIND YOOOOU! I WILLLL MAAKEEEEE YOOOUUU PAAAY FOOR THISSS INSSULT!!! AAAHHHHH!"

 Chapter 321: The Jewel of the South

    Chapter 321: The Jewel of the South


    Port City of Norshelm


    Mills woke with a startle, grabbing his service revolver from under his pillow as he sat up straight and scanned his unfamiliar surroundings while breathing heavily. The room was dark, with the only lighting in from the opened window where the breeze from theke blew in.


    He rubbed the sweat off his forehead and pulled his sweat soaked tee off and decocked the hammer of his revolver. Sitting on the edge of the goose feather packed bed, he rubbed his face tired and nced at the time from his watch and sighed.


    It was only 3:13 am local time. Mills shoved his weapon back under his pillow and stood up, using the lighting from the window to navigate in the dark carpeted room. He found the jar of water and poured himself a drink before he took a new shirt to wear and slipped on his boots.


    Exiting the guest room, he found the Marine sentries on alert at the end of the corridor and he waved them at ease before he walked towards the double ss doors leading out to the veranda of the mansion where he was awarded an entire view of the city harbor.


    Twinkling lights from glowing torches andmps dotted the entire harbor and the surrounding ships as theyid tied up to the wharves, creating an orange cast that highlighted the sleeping city. The Rothschild''s mansion was sited on a small hill, that gave it the grandest view of the city and the harbor while surrounded by a blue forest and lush green fields.


    Mills could see pairs of armored guards patrolling the grounds while the private wing of the mansion remained dark. He took in a deep breath of air and sighed, wondering what was that sense of intense unease that woke him up suddenly from his dreams.


    He and his men had settled into the Rothschild''s Mansion just the day before. Commandeering the entire guest wing of the Mansion, Mills had his men ensured that their temporary quarters were well defended and the watchtower at the end of the guest wing was even converted into a radio shack for theirms equipment.


    In the small enclosed courtyard within the guests'' quarters sat two Magic Resistant Ambush Protected all terrain 6 X 6 vehicles or what the Marines referred to as the ''Em Rap''. Two more up armored Jeeps and another pair of open topped trucks were parked together in the ad hoc motor pool with a small mountain of supplies.


    The narrow entrance into the garden courtyard proved no test for the skillful drivers but the garden was all but destroyed by the vehicles. Now a makeshift barrier blocked the way into the courtyard and manned by Marine guards.


    Mills looked at his watch again and let out another sigh, as barely in an hour it will be the changing of the guard and there wasn''t any point in getting more sleep since he has to be up anyway. Maybe he should take a cold shower and wash all the sweat away but thinking about the primitive facilities here, Mills rubbed his head and moaned.


    "I wanna go back to Haven!!!"


    -----


    Titanna Rothschild awoke to the familiar sounds of the maids scurrying around her bedchamber. As she sat up, the maids bowed and greeted her beforeying out a set of clothes for her and preparing warm water for her to wash up.


    She sighed in bliss as her maids brushed her hair and buttoned her formal dress with her needing to move a muscle. Once they were done with their preparations, the maids stepped back and bowed low, while Titanna checked herself in the silver mirror.


    Satisfied, she left her private chambers and headed down towards the dining room where a luxurious spread wasid out. As she was breaking her fast, Knight Captain Judis appeared, wearing his half te and carrying his helmet.


    "You are early," Titanna gestured him to join her for the meal. "How are the situation?"


    Judis ced his helm down and waved away the maid and instead took a pitcher of watered down wine, pouring himself a goblet before finishing it in one go. "The situation is not to our favor."


    "Your two brothers..." Judis poured another goblet of wine. "They have joined hands with House Delfin and House Taron!"


    "What?" Titanna paused in her meal and set her fork down, her appetite gone. "Why... how could they?"


    "House Delfin and House Taron are practically our nemeses!" Titanna pushed back her chair and started paced at the head of the table. "How could they have joined up with them! What benefits were exchanged?"


    "I do not know yet," Judis took a red fruit from the fruit bowl and bit into it. "Rumors were that they promised to give two Houses a stake in the harbor once this is over."


    "A stake with the City Harbor?" Titanna felt a massive headache growing. "That is our main lifeline of the Rothschilds! Are they... stupid?"


    "It would appear that they felt very threatened by your position here," Judis gave a shrug as he spat the pit of the fruit out. "I heard that they are recruiting men and buying supplies secretly too!"


    Titanna slumped back on her chair and covered her eyes. "I want your best men to keep tabs on their every move! Report to me once you have certain information about what deal they both promised with the two Houses."


    "Your wish is mymand!" Judis winked and took another fruit before he left with donning his helm. "My Lady, you watch your back too!"


    Titanna rested her head against her hand as she sat on the chair with the remains of her meal on the table and thought hard about Knight Captain Judis''s warning before calling out, "Steward!"


    "Yes, mydy?" A distinguishing looking old man appeared in a formal dark red uniform from the side.


    "I want you to send out invitations to all the major Houses for a dinner party thising weekend," Titanna tapped the table. "No... send out invitations also to all the Houses both major and minor and even the Guilds as well!"


    "Invitations to all the Houses and Guilds of the city," The steward bowed. "It will be done, mydy."


    "Any important notes for today?" Titanna asked next.


    "You have an invitation to a tea party hosted by the Young Mistress of House Iris today," The steward reported. "And these letters are for you, mydy."


    A silver tter filled with over a dozen perfumed scrolls tied with fancy ribbons and covered with important looking seals and letters were ced before Titanna. She picked one of the scrolls up and ripped the ribbon away, breaking the seal before scanning the contents and tossing the scroll back on the table.


    "Are these all the same?" Titanna sighed as she gestured the tter of scrolls. "All proposals?"


    "I will assume so, mydy," The steward replied with a small bow. "All of these scrolls arrived apanied by many gifts. Also, I have a few of the men down at the grand foyer waiting for your reply."


    "Help me pen back a reply to thank them for their attention and return their gifts back," Titanna replied. "Reject everyoneing to proposal a marriage with me."


    "If anyone is here to talk business, then I''m free," Titanna stated. "And my guests?"


    "They have settled down at the east guest wing," The steward gave a sniff of indignant. "The whole wing has been upied by them like they owned the ce!"


    "Bear with me for a while, my dear old Alfred!" Titanna smiled at the old steward who gave a curt nod. "I need their help for the time being!"


    "They killed the Old Master and now they are treating your house like their own!" The steward sighed. "These are dark times indeed! Dark times!"


    "Yes, Alfred, these are dark times," Titanna lowered her head. "But they are allies now. And we are surrounded by the enemy at all sides now!"


    "Stay strong, mydy!" The steward Alfred said, "This old servant and the rest will always support you!"


    "Thank you!" Titanna smiled gratefully. "So my guests are doing fine?"


    "Yes, mydy," Alfred replied. "They do not allow any of the servants or maids into the guest wing. Saying something about a security procedure."


    A maid entered the dining room and gave a curtsy before Titanna and reported, "My Lady, one of the... guests asked to speak with you. He is waiting outside now."


    "Let him in," Titanna answered and gestured to Alfred to his work. The double doors swung open and Mills dressed in a set of pressed uniform entered. "Good morning."


    "Morning," Mills gave a causal reply, earning the re of the old steward and maid as they exited the dining room. "Am I... disturbing you or something?"


    "No, join me if you haven''t eaten," Titanna replied. "How was your rest?"


    "Okay, I guess?" Mills took a seat directly next to Titanna and he heard a sharp intake of breath from the servants and maids in the room. "Erm... did I do something... wrong?"


    Titanna giggled and waved to the servants to set a ce for Mills. "Ignore them, just sit where you like."


    "Eh... okay, if you say so!" Mills gave a shrug and settled down on the chair, giving the maid a wide smile as she ced cutlery down before him. "Thanks, pretty!"


    The maid blushed and quickly set the ce before scurrying away, afraid she might get eaten by him. Mills unaware of the local customs just ignored the maids'' stares and whispers and started putting food on his te, trying out each dish on the table.


    "Have your men settled down properly too?" Titanna leaned against one hand and watched Mills gorge himself.


    "Oh, yes, pretty well," Mills grinned with a mouthful of food. "Well, something woke me upst night so I didn''t really sleep much actually."


    "But thanks for providing us with a ce to stay and store our gear," Mills spoke and ate at the same time. "My, this ham is good!"


    "Have more," Titanna watched with a small smile, ignoring his manners. "Think you can entertain yourselves and keep out of sight for the time being?"


    "Of course," Mills nodded. "Oh ya, the ''El Tee'' wishes to speak with youter in the afternoon when you''re free."


    "I understand," Titanna nodded. "It''s about the Embassy?"


    "Yup," Mills took a swill of the watered down wine and grimaced. "Damn, you people drink this... bitter watery stuff?"


    "Hehe," Titanna don''t know why, but watching Mills eat had lessened the stress in her mind. "Yes, we do drink this. Do you want anything else?"


    "Yeah!" Mills pushed the goblet away and turned to one of the maids waiting by at the wall, "Any chance of a juice or... even milk?"


    "Mi- milk?" Titannaughed. "Aren''t you a bit old to be drinking milk?"


    "Hey!" Mills turned back and gave an injured look to Titanna. "Milk is good for you! You are never too old to drink milk!"


    "Hehe," Titanna giggled and waved to the maid. "Give him what he wants."


    "So, are you alright?" Mills asked suddenly when the maid left.


    "Am I alright?" Titanna blinked at the question. "Yes... I am alright."


    "What I mean is how are you feeling now?" Mills turned serious. "Emotionally, with your father gone and now you need to protect your home..."


    "Oh," Titanna took a deep breath as the realization hit her. "I... I am fine!"


    "Well, if you need someone to talk to..." Mills awkwardly said while scratching his head. "You know, about stuff... you can always find me to talk to!"


    "I will!" Titanna gave a sweet smile at the careful thoughts of Mills. "Thank you for caring."


    "No problem!" Mills gave a cheerful smile back. "Always a pleasure to help you!"

 Chapter 322: House of Cards

    Chapter 322: House of Cards


    "Look, do we need all three of us out to view the property?" Asked an irritated Mills as he, Sgt Tyrier and the Intel Officer shared a rocky carriage. He eyed their no nonsense working attire with jealousy as he was dressed up like a peacock up by the Rothschild''s Princess.


    A massive amount of fluff seemed to be the clothing of choice among the young nobles as was evidenced by the itchy material bursting out from his cor. He worn a hot and so called fashionably bright blue colored pea coat that ended with a ''V'' shaped tailcoat with another red vest underneath that.


    And to end it off, he had an oversized blue beret that hung down low, covering his ears like those hats of the old Earth artists usually wore. At first, when he came out of the dressing room, he felt like he was some kind of rich flop but theughter that greeted him from the Marines made him change his mind very fast.


    Still, Titanna and the rest managed to convince him that it was the fashion of young nobles and he has nothing to worry about! But still, seeing the rest who wore more sensible items of clothing made him feel overdressed and hot.


    "You are the right," The Intel Officer gave a smile before he suddenly swung the door of the slow moving carriage open. "I should take my leave now and see you all back at the Mansionter in the day!"


    With a small bag in his hands, the Intel Officer gave a nod before he hopped off the carriage and disappeared into the side of the woods.


    "Erm... that was... fast..." Mills reached over and closed the door. "What was that all about?"


    "Intel and their secrets," Sgt Tyrier of the Hundred and First replied matter of factly.


    "Okay..." Mills sighed and stared out of the tiny window, seeing the blue green scenery flowing past their carriage slowly. "Three ces to check out and we will be done for the day!"


    The carriage continued on towards their first destination where it was a manor just on the outskirts of the city just barely within the city walls. It served as the Rothschild''s training grounds for their Knights and during normal times, sat empty with only a small crew of servants maintaining the premises.


    The guards waved them in after speaking with the coachman and seeing the letter with all the important looking seals given by Titanna. Mills nced out of the window as the carriage passed by the gates and gave out a deep breath, "Alright, let''s see if this ce is suitable to be made into a base!"


    -----


    Main Estate of House Taron


    "What is that upstart sister of ours doing now?" Alberto Rothschild, the second eldest, tossed the letter scroll onto the table where several five others sat in high backed chairs.


    Mallot Rothschild, next in line to Alberto, picked up the scroll and spread it out on the table and read it before heughed. "Seems like she wants to gather as much of the nobles and guilds to her side."


    "Yes, your sister appears to be doing that," A deep voice came from one of the two elderly men who clutched a jewel encased cane. He tapped his cane against the tiled floor and shook his head covered with silvery grey hair that reached his shoulders.


    "But it is toote!" Another young looking man with simr features next to the old man added. "We have bribed everyone worth bribing to our side before her return!"


    "Yes, Young Lord Taron," Another simrly aged man leaned forward on the table. "We have more than half the city guards andmanders swearing to our side already. What does she think she can do in this... party of hers?"


    "Steve, enough..." The final member of the meeting rosed his hand to stop the man''s words. "I am more worried about the army that returned with her. Most of those soldiers are Rothschild''s men!"


    "Do not worry, Father," The man named Steve spoke out. "I have visited their barracks, and those soldiers are beaten men!"


    "They have lost the battle and returned with their tails behind their backs!" The Young Lord of Taron quickly added. "The people in the city are already looking down on them for losing the battle! Of course, fueled with a few well ced rumors, those soldiers will not be a threat to our army and mercenaries we have gathered!"


    "Yes!" Both Alberto and Mallot grinned. "Those beaten soldiers will not be a match for ourbined army when we take the walls and the castle!"


    "Of course," Steve Deflin, the heir to House Deflinughed. "The city will be taken for you brothers easily with our support! Once we have her in our hands, do not forget our deal!"


    "That is for certain!" Alberto nodded smugly. "There is so much wealth to be shared here! Why, must we fight each other over it when we can work together to make gold?"


    "Having a woman leading a Great House will lead to its fall!" The older Taron Lord sighed. "We are all old families here and have our own traditions. Where can a woman ever be able to hold on the reins of a Great House?"


    "You are right, my Lord!" Alberto quickly agreed. "But most of the military power is in her hands..."


    "Her military powers have waned," The current Lord of House Deflin smirked. "Even the Emperor will not be involved in the matters of inheritance!"


    "But we lost the fight with those barbarians!" Mallot worriedly added. "Will the Emperor..."


    "She was the overallmander of the army," Lord Deflin gave a sly smile. "That is why she lost the battle!"


    "But our father and even the Lord Rock has failed..." Mallot frowned. "What if the Emperor mes us?"


    "Ha, even the formidable Commander of the ck Scoporians has failed," Lord Deflinughed, "What can the Emperor me you for?"


    "True," Alberto gave a calming gesture to his brother. "Calm down, if the Barbarians can defeat the Rock, what do you think you can do at this point? The Emperor won''t direct his anger at us!"


    "The important thing now is to ensure that our dear sister is uprooted from the family," Alberto gave a wicked smile. "We can present her to the Emperor for failing her duties!"


    "Hahaha! Good!" The young Lord of Taron stood up andughed. He took a goblet of wine from the table in front of him. "A toast! To our sess and wealth!"


    "Hear, hear!"


    Both the Lords of House Taron and Deflin gave a sideward nce at each other and gave a knowing smile before they join the toast.


    -----


    Mills sighed and tossed his oversized gaudy beret onto the seat of the carriage and his outer coat joined the hat. "Goddamnit! I rather wear heavybat armor and full battle order than this shit!"


    The ymore One squad leader gave a grin and said, "Well, you did say you want to dress and act as a local noble..."


    "Fuck this noble shit!" Mills took a canteen from the carriage stores and took a swill of the cooling water. "This shit can kill! Can''t imagine why you people will wear this!"


    Tyrier gave augh and shook his head, "Well, I remember watching that ''Discovery Channel'' documentary about ''pee cocks''?"


    "The brighter and more garnish looking, the better to attract the females!" Tyrier gave a wink. "So how are you and the Rothschild''s girl doing? Need any advice?"


    "Argh," Mills tossed the canteen into the carriage. "Not you too? I had love advice given to me by a damn soap opera addicted dragon of all things, now even Special Forces want a leg in and give me some love advice too?"


    "Hahaha," Tyrierughed. "Seriously? Blue Thunder gave you his wisdom? Hahaha!"


    "Yea..." Mills grinned as he remembered what Blue Thunder advised him. "Cheese fries to keep the gal happy was his words of wisdom!"


    "Pfft!" Tyrier shook his head in mirth. "Those damn dragons just love you hooman''s cheese fries, don''t they?"


    "Yea, of all things..." Mills rolled his eyes. "I mean, pizza is pretty good too!"


    "Well, the trolls love pizzas..." Tyrier added. "And the Orekins love fried chicken..."


    "And you elves love burgers..." Mills finished off the sentence which Tyrier gave a smile and shrug. "Well, enough of talking about food, when we can''t eat them out here!"


    "True..." Tyrier turned his attention to the mansion. "This ce isn''t so defensible... Too near the city walls where they could mount a couple of siege engines and hammer the mansion from afar and they could spy on us easily too from the walls."


    Mills nodded, "Yea... and the distance to the fence is too short, they can overwhelm our small force easily by charging through fences."


    "Also we are not close to the ind sea," Mills pointed out. "Makes it hard for us to resupply or extract by water."


    "So its a no," Tyrier dered, and he gestured their driver to prepare to move out. "We still got two more ces to check out."


    "Damn, why do we need to be posted here?" Tyrier grumbled as he climbed into the carriage. "I mean there''s gonna be a civil war with all the Houses here trying to vie for control over the region right?"


    "Isn''t it a good thing for us?" Tyrier continued to ask. "I mean, I may be just a boot, but letting the Empire fall into infighting is good for us, right?"


    Mills gave a shrug as the carriage started moving, "As you said, we are just boots, can''t see the big picture. Let High Command do the nning, we just do the execution."


    "But, don''t you find it strange?" Tyrier gestured out the window. "Sending a small force out here, without proper supply lines, into hostile territory and all just to help the enemy stabilize the region."


    "Maybe the higher ups want to make friends with the government here," Mills gave a guess. "It might also be a tactic."


    "What tactic?" Tyrier leaned back on the hard seat. "A military coup?"


    "Nah," Mills shook his head. "Well, I learn some stuff from Top that it is always better to have a forward base in the enemy territory than in ournd."


    "Why is that?" Tyrier asked curiously. "There''s no advantage other than an early warning of an attack."


    "Well, in my world, almost everyone has simr weapons, guns, bombs, nes, and missiles," Mills exined. "If your base is in the enemy''snd, and if they attack you, there will be a chance that they are unwilling to destroy their ownnd, hence reduced bombings or targeted strikes."


    "This, of course, increases the troops'' survival rate, and also thend and structures that they bomb belong to the enemy in the first ce," Mills grinned. "So our ownnd and infrastructure remain untouched."


    "Even if we pulled out from the enemynd, their side of the infrastructure would be destroyed and they need to spend time to rebuild everything," Mills said. "It will cost them time, money, and effort to rebuild everything, while our own stuff is untouched."


    "But this n is only useful if the enemy has weapons like bombs," Tyrier said. "I still can''t see any good for us to station out here."


    "Well, maybe it is because there''s a major port here," Mills gave another shrug. "And it is also the main trade and merchant hub here?"


    "If we can control this city, even by having Titanna being our puppet," Mills said. "We could project our presence wider and deeper into the Empire."


    "And, I don''t think we can ever afford a war with the entire continent," Mills added. "I mean we can fight them off, but ultimately they have more bodies to throw at us than we have to block them."


    "Unless we drop a nuke," Mills frowned. "I don''t think we can ever win this war unless one side sue for peace..."

 Chapter 323: Tea Party

    Chapter 323: Tea Party


    House Iris


    An ornately decored carriage bearing the crest of House Rothschild apanied by a dozen mounted arms men rode up before the wrought gates of the estate of House Iris. The guards waved the carriage and their escorts in after recognizing the crest and the whole convoy arrived at the porte cochere where a small army of doormen and butlers quickly presented themselves neatly in two rolls, weing the guest exiting the carriage gratefully.


    Dressed in a velvet red dress that bared her shoulders with a thin shawl to cover her shoulders from the sun, Titanna carefully climbed down the steps ced by the doorman and a bundle of silks rammed into her.


    "Sister Titanna!" A bubbly female a few years younger than Titanna smiled at her with rosy cheeks and eyes shining with excitement. "You are back!"


    "Greetings, Lady Rosette!" Titanna patted the little girl on her head gently. "How are you faring?"


    "I''m good! I''m so happy to see you!" The girl hopped out from Titanna''s embrace and did a little spin on the spot. "Now, that you are back! Tell me all about your adventures and battles when you left to subdue the barbarians in the south!"


    "Rosie!" A regal bearing middle agedy still bearing traces of her beauty rebuked Rosette from the doorway. "How can you greet guests this way!"


    "My apologies, Lady Rothschild," The elegantdy gave a curtsy. "Wee to my humble abode."


    "Lady Iris," Titanna returned her greeting. "It''s alright, you do not have to be so formal. After all, I treat Rosette like a sister!"


    "Still, as the host, we must have manners!" Lady Iris smiled. "Come in,e in!"


    "Hehe," Rosette grinned and wrapped her arms around Titanna. "You must tell me about your adventures over tea!"


    "Yes, yes!" Titanna gave a rare smile as the girl dragged her into the house and towards the garden.


    Arge gazebo sat in the middle of the garden surrounded by flowers and rare nts carefully maintained by magic and manualbor. Snatches of conversation andughter drifted over as dozens of nobledies and theirdy in waiting gossiped over tea and delicacies. Servants stood behind an ornate screen constantly worked a cord linked to a fan hung on the ceiling, creating a constant draft of cool air.


    A low hush descended upon the garden party as Titanna made her entrance as every eye turned to her direction. She paused and Rosette turned around in confusion, "Come on!"


    Titanna gave a small smile at the girl and steeled herself before she resumed her steps. Thedies in the gazebo covered their lips with their hand fans and whispered in low tones to their neighbors as they eyed her entrance.


    "So, you still have the guts to show your face around here?" A sneer came from a group ofdies dressed in thetest society fashion. "After all that had happened, how... carefree can one be!"


    "Of course, now that the old Lord is gone, someone can steal the seat of the Lord!" Another voice from the group added in. "How shameless!"


    "Lady Titanna!" Two fashionably dresseddies appeared from the side and waved at her eagerly. "Over here!"


    "Lady Sophia and Lady Grace!" She sat down on the table with the two who were her ssmates in the School of Magic.


    "Ignore those four!" Lady Sophia who had fiery red hair and freckles fiercely said. "They kept badmouthing you ever since word of your return came!"


    "Yes," Lady Grace who had a paleplex and golden brown hair bobbed her head in agreement. "They just want to make trouble for you!"


    "What are they saying?" Titanna frowned as she took a sip of tea poured by the fawning Rosette.


    "Something about how you betrayed your father and brother," Lady Sophia said in a low voice. "And how you sold them out to the barbarians in return for your life!"


    Titanna sighed inwardly. Part of that was the truth, and she felt a pang of sadness at the memory of seeing the ash grey body of her father. "It does not matter."


    "They are taking this chance to smear your name and your family!" Lady Grace frowned. "And the rest of these... people here love to gossip about such things! I fear, it will not do you good when you formally take over the position as head of the Rothschild!"


    "Did they say anything when I and myte father wasn''t in the city?" Titanna tapped a finger on the table in thought.


    "No," Both girls replied together. "Only after word of your return came, did they start talking about your misdeeds."


    "I see," Titanna took another sip of her tea. "Clearly they are spreading these gossips on purpose."


    "To undermine your authority?" Both girls'' eyes widened. "But... Oh... Deflin and Taros?"


    "I guess it''s a ploy by them," Titanna replied calmly. "Now that the Rothschild is weakened, they want to be in power. What better way to do that then to weaken my influence among the people and other Houses?"


    "Don''t worry!" Lady Sophia patted her chest. "I can ensure House Canda stands by your side!"


    "House Weske will stand by you too!" Lady Grace added. "If my father does... I make him!"


    "Hehe, I am sure my mother stands by your side too!" Rosette raised her hand as she joined in the conversation. "Sister Titanna is so strong! No one can defeat her!"


    "Thank you all!" Titanna smiled warmly at their support and patted Rosette. "But... there will be danger and I am afraid of dragging all of you down with me!"


    "Hey! We have been friends since Magic School!" Lady Sophia held Titanna''s hand tightly. "How can we stand at one side and watch when you need help?"


    "Yes!" Lady Grace and Rosette both dered. "We will do our best for you!"


    "Alright!" Titanna nodded and made up her mind. "I need your influence!"


    "Influence?" The girls tilted their heads in confusion. "What can we do?"


    "Sophia, your family deals with the grain merchants in the market," Titanna said. "I like you to put a good word for me among the merchants. I will talk with the merchant guild leaders another time, but I like toy out some groundwork before our talks."


    "Sure!" Lady Sophia quickly agreed. "That''s simple!"


    "Grace, I know your family deals with textile merchants," Titanna said. "Can you do the same?"


    Lady Grace nodded. "But why the merchants? Shouldn''t the support of the Major Houses to be more important?"


    "There''s nine Great Houses and fourteen Minor Houses..." Titanna exined. "While the Minor Houses provided supplies and gold instead of soldiers. Four of these Great Houses did not send troops down when ordered."


    "I am certain that these four, namely House Deflin and Taros are the main culprits," Titanna said. "They will surely pull the Great Houses who had sent troops out over to their side."


    "Which means they will have more of the Great Houses supporting them," Lady Grace said in horror. "They just need to pull one of the Great Houses over to their side..."


    "Yes," Titanna nodded. "But I hope to count on the Minor Houses instead."


    "But the Minor Houses has no forces for you to draw on!" Lady Sophia said. Both her and Grace''s families were from a Minor House.


    "Wait!" Lady Sophia leaned forward and spoke in a low voice. "I have heard from my father that the Houses are buying a lot of grain and salt. Way more than what they normally buy. Are they...?"


    Titanna hearing the news gave a solemn nod, "I think they are stockpiling supplies for a war!"


    The girls drew in a sharp intake of breath upon hearing Titanna''s words. Unlike Titanna, both of them did not show much interest in fighting.


    "Try to spread the word to not sell to them!" Titanna said. "We can''t let them have their way!"


    "If I can get the support from the Guilds and the Minor Houses who are the ones supporting the entire city''s markets," Titanna gave a predatory smile. "We can cut off the opposing faction''s source of weapons and supplies before they can stockpile enough! We can win this!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "What the hell is this?" ke dropped the tablet on the table. "Are you telling me we have another mad God on the loose?"


    Fleet Intelligence Officer Tavor stood at attention and confirmed by nodding. "Yes, Sir. ymore Two has encountered this Entity and had managed with the help of Elizabeth Regnar destroyed its host before it could create greater problems."


    ke sighed and rubbed his face. "Damn Gods, fucking popping out like rabbits..."


    "How did it came about to this?" ke continued to grill Tavor. "I thought you had eyes on that Hunter girl?"


    "Yes, Sir, it was an... oversight on my part," Tavor admitted his error. "I was hoping to catch a bigger fish..."


    "But not at the expanse of putting people in danger!" ke smacked the table in anger. "What happens if she tried to summon or do some kind of ritual right in the Marine barracks?"


    Tavor kept quiet as ke raged on. "How many lives will be lost if something like another hero appears?"


    "Sorry, sir!" Tavor apologized. "That will not happen again."


    "Make sure it doesn''t!" ke huffed. "I don''t want something like this to happen again!"


    "Any unknown artifact, idol, statue, or charm," ke said. "Are to be secured and tallied by the ult Intelligence section! I do not want you to tread into murky waters, especially with something we do not understand!"


    "Is that clear?" ke red at Tavor who remained at attention.


    "Yes, sir!" Tavor replied.


    "Good, now, what do we know about this new Entity?" ke asked, his anger lessened.


    "As of now, forensics is stillbing the site," Tavor replied. "Statements from ymore Two members and Elizabeth gave us some clues but not much."


    "What we do know is that Entity has an ability that works simrly like the Princess''s Charm effort," Tavor said. "But strength and area of effort are at least a hundred times of hers."


    "What?" ke frowned. He knew how irritating the effects of Charm has since it affected him several times. "So will our anti charm measures work against it?"


    He rubbed the ring on his forefinger as he asked. It was made by Magister Thorn and enchanted with an anti charm spell and he had mandated all senior officers are to wear the ring at all times.


    "I expect that our current anti charm measures will require to be boosted," Tavor said. "We are after all dealing with a God or even a fragment of a God being which powers greatly overwhelms our own magic capabilities."


    ke nodded, "Get Thorn to see if he can upgrade ore out with something."


    Tavor nodded. "Also from the findings of the incident site, we found carvings that greatly resemble greek or roman architecture."


    ke rapped his fingers on the table. "So we are dealing with something from Greek or Roman mythology?"


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor said. "Very high chance, Dr. Sharon is working on it and she has informed me that should involve a female Goddess from either Greek or Roman myths."


    "She is narrowing it down to those Goddess that the myths say that they have the powers of charming people," Tavor continued. "So far, she reported that she has narrowed down a few choices but she needs more time to be sure."


    "Got it," ke nodded and dismissed Tavor. "Report to me once she has something confirmed."


    "Yes, Sir!" Tavor saluted and turned to exit the room.


    "Tavor!" ke stopped the Intel Officer before he left the room. "I don''t want a repeat of what has happened in Orwell''s Point. No backdoors, hidden ops, or department rivalries. Report everything to me or I will find someone else to rece your post. Is that clear?"


    "Crystal clear, Sir!"

 Chapter 324: Stalker

    Chapter 324: Stalker


    Outskirts of Norshelm


    "Another bust," Mills had removed his outer jacket and remained in his inner white silks, totally giving up on looking the part of a noble. "What a waste of time."


    They rode in the carriage out from the mansion which was thest location they came to check out. Tyrier gave a grunt of agreement as he too was disappointed with the choices given. "Too exposed to be properly defended."


    "But it is a given," Tyrier added. "After all, these are all either winter or summer estates for nobles."


    "Wait!" Mills suddenly called out as he stuck his face out of the window. "What is that ce?"


    Mills pointed to a dpidated structure in the distantke where it sat on a small ind by itself with a highway linking it to the maind. Tyrier had the driver halt the carriage and they climbed out to take a look at the ruined structure.


    "Hey there!" Mills stopped a small group of locals. "Could you tell me what that ce is?"


    "Huh?" The locals looked with suspicion at the way Mills was dressed and the strange manner of his speech. "Wha- what do you want to know?"


    "What is that ce?" Mills pointed to the ruins.


    "Oh, that?" The local farmer rubbed the sweat off his head. "It used to be a menagerie for beasts. But a few years back, the beasts broke out and burnt the ce down and killed everyone inside."


    "Now, it''s abandoned," The local said. "No one dares to enter that ce."


    "Interesting!" Mills winked at Tyrier. "Shall we take a look at that ce?"


    "My Lords!" The local farmers looked frightened. "You must not! No one that has gone in has evere out alive again!"


    "Why?" Mills frowned. "Is it that dangerous inside? I thought it was abandoned?"


    "Yes, but it is said that the spirits of the dead haunt that ce!" The farmer said in a low voice. "There are also monsters that inhabit it!"


    "Really?" Mills gave a look of disbelief.


    "Yes!" The locals had at this point gathered around the carriage and started sharing stories of the ruins. "Even the Adventurer''s Guild had given up on that ce! Too many adventurers had lost their lives in that ce!"


    "So there is no way in?" Mills asked.


    "Well..." The locals looked at each other. "I think you need the city''s Lord approval or a letter from the Adventurer''s Guild..."


    "Thanks!" Mills grinned and dug out a silver piece which made the locals smile widely. "Here''s a tip!"


    "What do you think?" Mills asked Tyrier as they returned into the carriage.


    "An ind by itself, plenty of water space for any flying boats tond, and just a causeway as the only way in," Tyrier grinned. "Sure, great spot, except for maybe monsters or spirits inhabiting that ce now. Not to mention how run down it is..."


    "True," Mills took out a pair of binocrs and peered at the ruins. "But if we can restore it to working order, it would make a good base for us!"


    "Well, guess we have to talk to Lady Titannater on."


    -----


    As evening came, a weary Titanna finally returned to her estate after entertaining several notabledies at the tea party. Still, she managed to gather some information on who was mostly neutral, who were friendly, and who were her enemies.


    She knew that cutting off part of the supplies flowing to the other faction only buys her some time. The Great Houses had nned to rebel against the Rothschild''s authority for some time and now with two of her idiotic brothers throwing themselves into the arms of their enemies, it was harder to stop them.


    The other faction now has a legitimate reason to stand against her. Her two idiotic brothers thought that they were smart but in actual fact, they will be dancing in the palms of the two Houses! Titanna knew she was in a disadvantaged position due to her being a woman for one, made a prisoner of war and also the remainingmander of the badly defeated army.


    Despite some women folk being in positions of authority, most old families frown upon such practices as males were generally preferred over women. Even with magic, women could stand toe to toe with men in battles but the culture that males were stronger than females was always there.


    Titanna knew her father was grooming her to be the next head of the Rothschilds and shall he still be alive, his support would silence all those who dared speak against her. His ruthless had passed down to his sons, but only she inherited his intelligence.


    She knew she was borne out of wedlock, her mother a ve, serving as a maid in the manor. Due to the difference in status, her father never married her mother and due to the stress and harassment from others, her mother passed away when she was still a child.


    Her father took her in and started to groom her once he discovered her intelligence. At first, he wanted her to support whoever was the heir but her brothers turned out to be good for nothing. They terrorized the locals and exploited their powers, leading a life of extravagant.


    In the end, unable to reform her brothers, her father decided to pass on the mantle to her instead. When she took partial control of the House, she cut off the amount of money her brothers could draw upon and cleaned up the mess they made, which granted back some goodwill to the Rothschilds.


    Her brothers tried all means and ways to force their father to change his mind, but their father remained unmoved, knowing that if he gave in to their demands, House Rothschild will be destroyed by their hands.


    This made her brothers hate her deeply and with her mother as a ve, they greatly resent her and tried to undermine her at every opportunity.


    Titanna strolled into her room and her maids started undressing her and readying her bath. She slipped into the tub filled with warm water and let her body unwind. One of the maids started to rub her tired shoulders and she sighed in rxation with the skillful massage.


    "My Lady, the... Lord Mills, wishes to have a word with you," A servant reported to her as she closed her eyes while enjoying the massage. "He is awaiting just outside..."


    "Tell him I will see himter," Titanna replied as she leaned back in the tub. "After my shower."


    The servant bowed and left the bath to ry the message, leaving Titanna to enjoy her massage.


    "Ahh..." Titanna sighed. "More to the right."


    The skillful hands suddenly tightened around her throat, squeezing her airway close. Titanna spasmed in sudden fright at the unexpected action and tried to tear the hands away from her throat as she struggled for air.


    "Hush..." A cold voice whispered next to her ear as her face started to turn purple fromck of oxygen. "Rx... just like what you were doing just now. Don''t fight it..."


    Titanna''s vision started to dim and her strength weakened as oxygen to her brain was being cut off. She kicked wildly, trying to escape the iron grip around her throat and by luck or chance, she hit the corner of the bath screen which toppled over.


    The bath screen was made out of jade ivory and when it fell, the screen shattered with a loud crash. The ruckus brought the rest of the maids and servants into the bath and when they saw Titanna being strangled by an assassin, they screamed.


    -----


    Mills rubbed his head as the servant bowed and left after rying Titanna''s words to him. He turned and walked down the hallway when suddenly he heard muffled screams. He turned back in curiosity and saw the two female guards on duty before Titanna''s room rushed in.


    He paused for barely a second before he ran after the guards and he saw several maids standing at the side in fright before he noticed that Titanna was naked in a bathtub with her throat being strangled by someone.


    The two guards jerked to a halt in surprise before drawing their des and rushing forward to save their liege.


    "STOP!" The assassin suddenly shouted. "Or I rip her throat out right now!"


    Both guards paused and looked at each uncertainly. They circled to the sides and kept their swords ready before them. "Release our Lady now!"


    Mills quickly ttened him to the side of the door leading to the bath and gestured the maids with his finger to his lips to keep his presence a secret. He drew his weapon out and thumbed back the hammer, wishing that he was carrying the more advanced and urate Glock instead of this revolver.


    He forced a peep around the corner and into the bath, seeing the female guards were nking the assassin and Titanna''s situation doesn''t look very good. She weakly held onto the hands on her throat and seemed to be at the edge of losing her conscious.


    The assassin suddenly switched her grip to a chokehold and hoisted the limp Titanna up from the tub and stepped back towards the closed windows.


    Both guards were nervous as they saw their Lady at the mercy of the assassin and they pointed their swords at the assassin. "Stop! Let her go now and you will keep your life!"


    "Ha!" The assassin gave a bark ofughter. "We, the Stalkers never fear death!"


    "Nor do we fail in our missions!" The assassin suddenly said in a cold voice which sent chills down everyone''s spine. "For the Shadow!"


    When Mills heard that statement. he knew immediately without a doubt that the assassin will kill Titanna. He spun out from cover with his revolver thrust out, into a perfect textbook two handed Weaver stance. His support hand wrapped around his shooting hand with slightly bent elbows and putting his weight on his left forward foot and he ced the simple revolver sights directly over the head of the assassin.


    His sudden appearance surprised the assassin who turned and faced him directly, giving him a clear direct shot. Without any hesitation, he squeezed the trigger gently, and the cocked hammer snap downwards smoothly and with an angry roar, the Single Action Dragon revolver spat out a 6.5 mm bullet at a velocity of 448 meters per second and shattered the nose bridge of the assassin before the bullet exited out from the back of the skull with a stter of brain matter and blood.


    Instantly the female assassin went limp and her hold loosened and both bodies dropped down on the wet floor. The two guards quickly recovered from the gunshot when they saw Titanna dropping down and they quickly pulled her away from the dead assassin who still had a look of utter surprise.


    Mills lowered his smoking weapon with his ears ringing and suddenly felt his whole body shake as the adrenaline and fear left his body. He stood over Titanna while the maids and more guards appeared and stared nkly at the unmoving body of Titanna.


    Removing his shirt, he draped it over her naked body, the marks on her throat turning dark purple. The guards cast healing spells on her desperately as sheid unmoving on the wet tiled floor. Mills quickly checked her pulse and found a very weak response.


    He quickly stopped the guards from casting more spells and started CPR on Titanna, much to the shock and outrage of the guards and maids who had never seen such a scandalous act.


    "Do you want me to save her?" Mills red at the female guard whose sword tip as posed right at his neck. "Get that thing out of my face!"


    He pumped her chest, before blowing air into her mouth to inte her lungs and repeated while the guards and maids stared at him with uncertainty and murder in their eyes.


    "Come on! Breathe!" Mills desperately performed CPR on Titanna again and again. "BREATHE!"

 Chapter 325: Repercussions

    Chapter 325: Repercussions


    The room was filled with tense silence despite the number of people gathered together. Mills sat on the table, rolling the empty brass cartridge which killed the assassin, to and fore between his hands.


    The door suddenly swung open and a priestess and her assistants entered the room. Almost instantly, everyone''s eyes were on the trio and the priestess was startled by the sudden attention.


    "Oh... Her Ladyship is now resting. She has suffered some bruises to her throat and will not be able to speak properly for a while," The priestess said. "Let her rest as she had suffered a near death experience."


    With that, the priestess and her assistants gave a bow while the head butler saw them off the estate. The tension in the room quickly disappeared, only to be reced with anger and uncertainty.


    Knight Captain Judis mmed his palms hard on the table and growled, "This act must be done by them!"


    "Who?" Mills asked as he slipped the empty cartridge into his breast pocket.


    "Who else?" Judis hissed. "It must be done by her two brothers!"


    The room turned cold as everyone digested the news. Mills raised another question. "Do we have proof?"


    "Proof?" Judis snorted. "Her two brothers were always after the seat of the Rothschild. They had schemed and plotted for so long against her! If she dies, they will stand to profit from this all!"


    "But I thought there are also a few more rival Houses against her?" Mills added. "And what of the assassin? She said something like stalker or shadow..."


    "They are known as the Stalkers," The female guard who earlier pointed her de at Mills said. "They live in the shadows and are a dark guild of assassins and thieves!"


    "Can we find them?" Mills asked. "And find out who employed them to kill Tit- Lady Titanna?"


    Judis shook his head. "It is impossible... No one knows where they gather nor who are the members of the Stalker Guild."


    "Than how do people contact them for a job?" Mills frowned. "If they are so hidden, how do people get them to work for them?"


    "You have to arrange with a middle man and they will bring you to a secret meeting ce," Judis exined. "But you will be blindfolded all the way and until they are sure you are alone, will they then appear to meet you."


    "You sound like you know quite a bit, eh?" Mills said.


    "I- I have used their services a couple of times in the service of the Rothschilds," Judis quickly exined. "Some things are best left for them to do it."


    "You just don''t wanna dirty your own hands," Mills shook his head.


    Judis narrowed his eyes at Mills''s words. "You do not know how much influence they have."


    "Okay, so now, all we know is they want to kill Lady Titanna," Mills ignored Judis. "And they had failed."


    "They will not rest until theypleted the job..." Judis added. "We need to protect Lady Titanna at all costs!"


    "How about..." Mills gave a grin. "We let lose a rumor that Lady Titanna had died?"


    "You want to bluff the Stalkers?" Judis asked. "But they will find out sooner orter!"


    "As long we find out who is behind all this, we can put a stop to it!" Mills said. "Also, I think letting our enemies think they have won, for now, will make them let their guard down."


    "That is... true..." Judis sighed. "But why go to so much trouble? Her two brothers are the culprits!"


    "Well, from what you all been telling me," Mills said. "I don''t think they are that stupid to do something like this now."


    "Than who could it be?" Judis frowned.


    "I might have an idea who sent the assassin," The door opened and the Intel Officer called Trism dered as he entered. His statement had everyone''s eyes following him as he joined them on the table.


    "I''ll was out there gathering some news and intelligence about our situation here and I heard a few interesting bits of information," Trism said. "I hurried back as fast as I could, but I guess you all had the situation under control."


    Both Mills and Judis shook their heads together and realized they did the same thing, they both stopped and quickly looked away from each other.


    "Ahem..." Trism cleared his throat and continued. "We have a few suspects now, like her two brothers, Alberto and Mallot Rothschild."


    "But, I believe there is someone else behind pulling the strings," Trism said. "Because, from what I heard out in the streets, the two brother''s reputation wasn''t any worth mentioning."


    "On the contrary," Trism added. "Lady Titanna''s reputation is pretty good out there. She''s known to be strict but just and fair in her actions and the people actually preferred her to be the next City Lord."


    "Her brothers both know that too, and I am sure they would not want to be branded a kin yer as well," Trism said. "It might cause the local poption to... violently reject their rule if it was known that they killed her..."


    "So who will benefit from all this if it really happens?" Trism poised the question out.


    "HOUSE TARON AND DEFLIN!" Judis banged the table with his fists again. "HOW DARE THEM?"


    "Ok, some exnation is needed," Mills quickly said. "I don''t understand."


    "House Taron and Deflin is the next two Great Houses that held the next greatest amount of strength and influence after House Rothschild," Judis said. "But we the House Rothschild had always overshadowed them!"


    "In other words," Trism exined. "We got two jealous and power hungry Houses wanting to take over the city and at the same time, take some revenge on been suppressed by Rothschild for many years."


    "Yes," Judis nodded. "Something like that I guess..."


    "So this is a ploy to like... kill Lady Titanna, than put the me on the brothers?" Mills scratched his head. "Isn''t it too simple to be discovered by the people?"


    Trismughed and shook his head. "Sergeant, you are forgetting, we do not have the ''tek no logi'' of you hoomans to spread information and finding of the truth!"


    "Oh, right!" Mills gave an awkward grin. "Hehe, I forgot..."


    "Anyway..." Trism continued. "I think before we do anything first, we need to lock down all the information in and out of the Estate!"


    "No one in or out without permission and a full search," Trism said. "And we need to do it now, but someone leaks the news!"


    Judis nced at Mills who gave a shrug, "I''m not fielded in counterintelligence."


    "We have no time!" Trism said forcibly. "We need to stop any chance of someone leaking the news out now!"


    "Alright," Judis finally nodded and gestured his aides to carry out the work.


    "Also, bring back that priestess and her assistants!" Trism called out. "Invite them to stay with us till the whole thing is over!"


    The aide paused and looked at Judis for confirmation who nodded again before he ran off to carry out his orders.


    "What''s next?" Judis asked.


    "Check every servant, ve, maid, guard or soldier. Do a loyalty test with magic or whatever, but make sure there is no one else with utter motives." Trism said. "Weed out the spies."


    "Consider that done!" Judis replied in a dangerous voice.


    "Next, I like you to set up a meeting with the Stalkers for me," Trism said. "I like to talk to them."


    "But..." Judis was surprised. "They might not meet you..."


    "Oh, don''t worry," Trism smiled. "I got something that will make them very interested in talking with me!"


    "I... understand," Judis replied.


    "Please try to get the meeting done before theing ball," Trism added. "Hopefully we can settle everything on that night!"


    -----


    Tyrier stood at a rx pose outside the room and straightened up as people started filing out. He wore abat harness over a set of local clothing with a rifle held at the ready. "How was it?"


    "Not good," Mills frowned. "We need to step up security."


    "How did an assassin sneaked into the Rothschild''s Estate?" Tyrier asked. "I thought they had all those magic formations and guards to prevent such a thing."


    "Seems like that assassin was kinda like a sleeper cell," Mills replied. "She was nted here years ago and acting like a regr person."


    "Wow," Tyrier gave a low whistle. "This... Stalker Guild is really something if they nned something like that..."


    "Yes," Mills nodded. "Now the fun part, we have to find out if there are still more of these Stalkers hidden among the staff here..."


    "Oh, great... that will be fun!" Tyrier sighed. "Know who wanted to kill your girl?"


    "Not yet, but we have some idea of who," Mills said. "Oh, I am going to need you and your boys to help guard Titanna."


    "Sure, no problem," Tyrier nodded. "I will assign them immediately."


    "So how is she?" Tyrier asked after he settled the guard duty with his men.


    "Alive," Mills said soberly. "Thank god..."


    "That''s good," Tyrier grinned. "Heard you blew the brains out of that killer."


    "Yea..." Mills said. "I... just did what I had to do, you know?"


    "Good job," Tyrier nodded understandingly and patted Mills''s shoulder. "You saved her with CPR too."


    "Yea... must to the fury of her maids and guards," Mills grinned. "But thank god, she''s alive... I felt like... something just lifted off my chest... Hell, I didn''t felt this way when I first shot her off her ride!"


    "Some one is in love," Tyrier grinned. "Don''t worry, my boys will keep her safe!"


    "There you two are!" Trism walked over. "Mission briefing at my office now."


    Once the door to Trism''s temporarily office was closed, he jumped straight to the point. "Our mission here is to ensure her safely and our interests."


    "Now, clearly we nearly failed in our first mission," Trism said. "But still good work at stopping the assassin, Sergeant Mills. You saved us a whole lot of troubles. Still, do what you need to protect her."


    "Double the guards, and keep an eye on the Ladyship," Mills said. "Got it."


    "Next, to prevent further such incidents we are going to need to crack down on who is the perpetrator to this," Trism said. "Knight Captain Judis will be arranging a meeting with the Stalkers, and I will personally go meet with them. I will drop a tracker on them and see where it will lead us."


    "You want to find where the headquarters of the Stalker Guild?" Mills asked with raised eyebrows.


    "Yes," Trism said. "Once we identify where their HQ is located. ymore One will infiltrate their HQ and target their leaders and retrieve any critical information back."


    "That is pretty ambitious," Tyrier frowned. "We barely have any intel on their numbers and strength. Not to mention what kind of arcane formations they have protecting their HQ."


    "I know," Trism said. "That is why we need to move as fast as possible. I will continue to sound out more on the capabilities of the Stalkers."


    "But still," Tyrier frowned. "It is risky..."


    "You are trained for this, soldier!" Trism waved away his misforgivings. "I trust you and your team''s skills!"


    "Tyrier... I agree with Lieutenant Trism. I know it''s risky but time is running short," Mills said. "We need to finish this before the ball this weekend and expose the ringleaders during that time. This will put Titanna in a good spot and instantly destroy her enemies of all their creditably!"


    "I will have the Marines support your assault as backup," Mills promised. "Even if we can''t get a hold of anything important, if we can destroy the Stalkers, it could scare off other potential assassins."


    "Why, Sergeant Mills, I didn''t think that you Marines coulde out with such a cunning idea!" Trism sounded surprised. "I am impressed!"


    "Erm... don''t they do this all the time in movies and dramas?"

 Chapter 326: Cloak And Dagger

    Chapter 326: Cloak And Dagger


    Dockside, City of Norshelm


    Trism Cott, formerly a street rat that roamed the dark alleyways of the old Capital of Goldrose, sighed as he took in the stench of the city. He found that no matter which city or town, the same stench was ever present, except for the city of Haven.


    He adjusted his cloak to ensure it doesn''t tangle with the pair of long daggers he kept at his back hip and pushed his way into a pub that had the hanging sign of a fishbone.


    The interior was dimly lit and a mixed smell of piss, vomit, cooked food and washed bodies. Luckily it was just barely midday and the crowd has yet toe in. He let his eyes adjust to the dark before he sat down at a corner bench which earnt him a furtive look from the barkeeper.


    Trism pretended not to notice the look and gestured for the barmaid for some local ale and food. After a while, the portly barkeeper with a greasy apron brought the food over and set it on the table before Trism. "That will cost you a silver piece! Paying upfront or after?"


    "Upfront, I have a friending soon too," Trism said while he slid two silver pieces forward. "You any fine red for sale in that cer of yours?"


    The barkeeper raised an eyebrow. "Sure, we always have some fine red in the cer. I will bring it to you when your... friend is here..."


    With that said, the barkeeper pocketed the two silver pieces with his oily hands and left, leaving Trism alone with his meal. Trism picked at the mixed stew with greasy bits of unidentified meat floating on top. The heel of ck bread was hard but edible when soaked with the stew. The food wasn''t remarkable and the local ale was weak tasting, most likely watered down.


    Not longter, a thin shallow faced male wearing simple homespun sat down right before Trism who barely finished his meal with a dark green bottle of wine. "You looking to buy some red?"


    Trism nodded, "Yes, I am willing to offer a good price if you have what I want."


    "Sure, follow me!" The person stood up and without a backward nce, he headed to the back of the bar, giving a wave to the barkeeper who returned a nod.


    Trism followed behind closely, as they passed the kitchen and into another doorway which led down into the cers. Reaching the bottom of the wooden stairs, Trism found himself surrounded by crates and barrels of supplies and other stuff.


    The man lit a magtern and opened a door at the end of the cer and Trism followed him in. Inside the small room were a simple table and a couple of chairs. The man hung thentern on the side and ced the wine and a pair of goblets down and said, "Wait here."


    Trism sat down and made himselffortable and he observed his surroundings. The small room had featureless walls but he could feel a draft of air from somewhere. He was about to search the room when he heard footstepsing.


    The door opened and a heavy set male dressed like rough clothing came in and sat down before Trism. "What do you need?"


    "I need information," Trism said. "As much as you can possible."


    "What or who do you want to know about?" The information broker asked while he poured the bottle of wine into two goblets.


    "House Deflin and House Taron," Trism said. "And also... what information you have on the Stalkers."


    The broker choked on his wine as he heard thest part. "You want information on the Stalkers? Are you serious?"


    "Yes," Trism''s eyes narrowed. "Everything on them."


    The broker sucked in a deep breath as he stared at Trism in silence. "The information regarding the two Houses will not be cheap."


    "For the Stalkers?" The broker shook his head. "I do not want to make enemies with them!"


    "I will pay you twice the price," Trism offered.


    "If I can''t keep my life," The broker sighed. "Even if you offer me ten times the price, there is no point!"


    "I understand," Trism nodded. "Than let''s talk about the two Houses, this is what I want to know..."


    -----


    Rothschild Estate


    Mills made himself asfortable as he could in his battle gear as he sat guard over Titanna in the adjoining room. He studied the datapiled by Trism earlier over his tablet, reviewing the information regarding House Delfin and Taron.


    Both Houses were bound together by marriage and business interests. House Deflin dealt in the trade of spices and other trade goods while House Taron were in the mining business, owning several copper and iron metals in the metals.


    They even have a tradingpany with equal shares between themselves, owning tworge cargo vessels that shipped their wares to other cities. Of all the nine Great Houses, they own the most wealth after the Rothschilds.


    But they were dependent on the Rothschilds due to the ve trade. Only the Rothschilds controls the entire ve trade in the south, and as overlords of the Norshelm and the surrounding fiefs, they were taxed greatly for the importing and exporting trade goods.


    For generations, they had to pay fealty to the Rothschild which made them bitter. And with the increase of taxes demanded by the Emperor. money was flowing out of their coffers as the taxes were raised, making them even more unhappy.


    Mills rubbed his tired eyes and yawned, earning him disapproving looks from Titanna''s female household guards. He sighed and checked the time, noting it was almost two am local time.


    He stood up and stretched his body, ignoring the female guards at the door when suddenly the door leading to Titanna''s bedchambers swung open.


    Mills saw a pale faced Titanna standing at the doorway dressed in a sleeping gown with a cloak over her shoulders. Her eyes had sunken in and the bruised marks on her throat were visible even under the magic glowmps lined along the walls.


    She gave a weak smile at the sight of Mills who quickly helped her to the chair he had evacated earlier. "Sit! Why aren''t you resting?"


    "Ahh... this- ty," Titanna whispered hoarsely. "Wa- ta."


    "You want water?" Mills asked and Titanna nodded slowly. "Alright. I go get you some!"


    He quickly went and pour a cup of water for her while her guards and maids watched on with surprise and concern, wondering why she did not call for them to serve her.


    Titanna gratefully sipped the cool water which soothed her injured throat. Mills gently asked, "How are you feeling?"


    "Be-ta," Titanna replied slowly. She leaned back and closed her eyes and sighed. "Tan- yu fo savin e."


    Mills smiled, "Don''t speak so much, you take care of yourself first. When you have recovered then we talk."


    He gestured to the maids, "Bring her in and let her rest more."


    Titanna gave a nod and meekly followed her maids into the room much to the amazement of the guards and servants as they had not seen such a sight of their Lady. Mills returned to his seat and continued where he left off his reading, his mood seemingly improved.


    -----


    The next morning, Mills entered Trism''s office and found the Intel officer with the rest of the senior NCOs gathered together.


    "Alright, everyone is here, let''s start the meeting," Trism said. "I am sure everyone has reviewed the information on House Delfin and Taron. So I will not go into details here."


    "Knight Captain Judis has run a thorough check on the entire staff and guards in the Estate," Trism updated the men. "He found two other servants, in the payroll of others, most likely to spy on the Rothschild and he has taken them into custody for interrogation."


    "This does not mean that everyone is clean," Trism said. "We are the only ones without suspicion here. Hence, the Knight Captain has graciously requested us to take over the security of Lady Titanna while we are stationed here, till he can be sure there are no more... spies or assassins in the estate."


    "Sergeant Mills, you will set up a duty roster for the men to guard Lady Titanna," Trism said. "Work with Lady Titanna''s personal guards for a schedule and what are the dos and don''ts."


    "Next, Knight Captain Judis had been kind enough to arrange a meeting for me with the Stalkers," Trism said. "My n is to meet up with the Stalkers and negotiate a cease of the contract on Titanna."


    "The time for the meet will be just before midnight," Trism said. "At one of the alleyways in the old city quarter."


    "Since we have no UAV support here, I will nt an audio tracker on the person who is meeting me," Trism said. "Hopefully, this will lead us to the hidden stronghold of the Stalkers."


    "ymore One will take up positions around the area beforehand and provide overwatch," Trism nodded to Sergeant Tyrier. "They will follow the tracker and see where it leads us."


    "Once we have confirmation of where they are hiding," Trism said. "ymore One will sneak in to collect as much information as we can. Do not let them detect your presence and ensure that the enemy does not find out your identities."


    "Secondary objectives are to kill off the leadership of the Stalkers if possible," Trism continued. "If unable to do so, grab whatever information you can and extract from the enemy''s hideout."


    "Sergeant Mills''s Marines will follow along and create a perimeter and provide cover for a retreat if ymore One gets detected," Trism added. "Hopefully all goes well and we can settle all this before this weekend."


    "It will be interesting if we can gather all the ringleaders at the party and..." Mills gave a savage smile. "Take care of them all at one shot."


    "That''s the general idea," Trism said. "I will brief Lady Titannater on."


    Mills stopped Tyrier when they left the office. "What do you think of this?"


    "Too many unknowns..." Tyrier sighed. "But that''s the only lead we have."


    "Yea..." Mills agreed. "Stay sharp, tonight is gonna be a rough night."


    -----


    Members of ymore One left the Rothschild Estates in three teams as quietly as possible. One team hid in the back of a wagon on its daily supply run to the market, while another team, disappeared through a hidden side gate and made their way through the game forest towards the city.


    Thest team had one of the more trustworthy household guards leading them in a secret tunnel that led to the outskirts of the city. After the teams had left the Estate, they will rendezvous near the location of the meet and settle down to wait for nightfall.


    Tyrier dressed in local homespun clothing wore hisbat harness over them and had a thin cloak to cover his body. His suppressed carbine was hidden in a long case slung over his shoulders and he had a short sword strapped to his side. The rest were simrly dressed and armed like him and they easily merge in with both the locals and foreigners in the city.


    To ensure they were not spotted by the Stalkers, Tyrier and his men had arrived at the location just after the city''s midday bell. The three teams took up three positions in a triangr formation and stayed out of sight of the street and its crowd.


    Tyrier settled down in the shadows of an arch that gave him sight into the alleyway of the meet and he whispered into his throat mike. "One to all, what''s your status over?"


    "Two, to One, in position. Eyes on the other end of the street."


    "Three, to One, in position. Overwatching the entire street. Give a wave."


    Tyrier looked up towards the roof of the building across the street and waved.


    "Three, looking good there, boss!"


    "One to all, go silence. Stay alert, its gonna be a long wait ahead!"

 Chapter 327: Stalking the Stalker

    Chapter 327: Stalking the Stalker


    Time went by slowly and soon the sun sank down and the streets turned dark. Glowmps maintained by the city officials were powered up with magic stones by several men wearing long wooden stilts. They strolled along the streets frommp tomp and inserted the magic stones into crystal like orbs while children ran and yed between their stilts.


    The pale glow of the glowmps and the long stilts made themplighters look like some kind of deformed monster from where Tyrier sat, hidden in the shadows of a building arch. He had his team rotate duties on keeping an eye on the alleyway, making sure to observing anyone suspicious hanging around.


    He forced himself to eat despite not feeling hungry as he knew he will need the strengthter. Soon the skies turned to darkness and the inadequate lighting from the glowmps barely lit the entrance of the dark alleyway.


    He forced himself to be patient and continued to wait until he heard the chatter of hooves. Checking his wristwatch, he found the time to be 11:34 PM local time.


    "Three to all, we got an iing carriage approaching. Should be our own."


    "One, roger. All teams stay sharp!" Tyrier whispered into the squad channel and gestured Wolf and Tavel who readied themselves.


    The singlend dragon pulling the carriage snorted and growled as the driver yanked its reins, pausing the carriage just before the alleyway. The door facing the alleyway opened and a cloaked figure stepped out and the driver hit thend dragon with a whip making it hiss and the carriage rocked forward leaving behind the hooded figure.


    The figure made a slow turn and observed his surroundings before he disappeared into the dimly lit alleyway. "ymore One, this is Origin, I''m in the AO now."


    Trism heard a double burst of static from his hidden earpiece and he nodded to him as he walked alone into the dark alleyway and stopped right next to an upturned crate that had an empty bottle innocently ced in a certain angle.


    He nced back and down the alleyway which both sides were brick and mortar walls, only about 50 paces in length and seeing no one in the alleyway, he waited. Soon, the city''s bell toiled, signaling midnight and he frowned before he whispered in the squad channel and asked. "Origin to ymore One, any sight of our tango?"


    "One to Origin, negative."


    "Two to Origin, negative."


    "Three to Origin, negative."


    Trism paced on the spot and thought to himself that could it be a bust? He decided to wait for another while more just in case, if not, he will recall everyone and call off the mission. Suddenly he heard a scrape of a boot and he spun around in surprise and saw a filthy looking beggar standing behind him.


    "You the client?" The beggar asked in a serious tone.


    Trism nodded and he pretended to adjust his cor while keying his throat mike. "Yes, I am the client."


    "Goode, follow me," The beggar gestured Trism and he walked off to the opposite end from which Trism had entered the alleyway.


    Trism followed the beggar and tried to engage him in conversation but was met with silence. He gave up and followed beggar in silence. After a few twists and turns, the beggar suddenly stopped and took out a ck hood. "Wear it."


    Trism acting as the role of a noble, frowned and hissed in displeasure, "You want me to wear such a filthy item? There are fleas and is that blood?"


    "Put it on, or there will be no deal," The beggar gave a cannot be bothered shrug.


    Trism sighed dramatically and pped the hood a few times to get rid of whatever creepy crawlies that inhabited the hood before slipping it on. Instantly, his world turned to darkness and even the night sounds of the city vanished.


    He panicked as his senses were cut off and he quickly pulled the hood off and gasped in genuine fear. He red at the smiling beggar and pointed a shaky finger at him and cursed, "You dirty low born! How dare you!"


    The beggar gave a grin and said, "Oh, I am sorry. I forgot to tell you this hood is enchanted. All sounds and sight will be blocked off when the person wears it."


    "You!" Trism covered his surprise with feigned anger and was about to throw the hood away when the beggar stopped him.


    "Wear it or the deal is off, Also do not remove it again or the deal is off," The beggar repeated his earlier words. "Don''t worry, someone will lead you to see the meeting."


    "You better not be tricking me!" Trism warned and said. "Or I will find you and you will not like it when I do."


    "Ha," The beggar gave an unbotheredugh. "You are not the first nor will be thest to say that."


    "Hmph!" Trism straightened his cloak and slipped the hood onto his head and wondered if he could still hear the radio. "Lead the way."


    As his sight and hearing were blocked off, he took heart to the fact that the elite team of ymore One soldiers was on his back. Suddenly he felt someone binding his arms together with a rough piece of rope and the hood was tightened around his neck.


    He panicked slightly as he did not expect the constant reports on the squad channel to be cut off too and getting tied up. He felt hands all over his body as someone searched him for weapons. His long dagger was taken away and even the hidden boot knife.


    Once the person was satisfied, Trism felt his bound hands being jerked forward and he could only bite the bullet and soldier on.


    The person led him through another series of twists and turns and he could only blindly and deafly stumble along and with two of his senses blocked, it was hard to gauge time and direction.


    Finally, the person leading him stopped pulling the rope and he also paused in his steps. The hood covering his head was suddenly yanked away and he flinched in the sudden brightness and sounds of his new surroundings.


    As he was recovering from his ordeal, someone removed the bindings on his hands and he quickly rubbed his eyes.


    "Sit." A muffled voice spoke and Trism''s eyes had recovered enough to spot the shape of a chair before him. His eyes finally adjusted to the light and he saw a clearly masked figure before him, silhouetted behind a glowmp that hid his features from Trism.


    Trism slowly sat down and at the same time, he tried to observe his surroundings, finding himself in some sort of room, with rough wooden paneling for the walls. He cleared his throat and put on his best act, "Such treatment to nobles! This is outrageous!"


    The figure did not seem offended and only said, "My apologies, young lord, this is all to protect ourselves and yourself."


    "How do you call this rough treatment as protection?" Trism pped the table and crossed his legs. "I demand some form ofpensation!"


    The figure appeared unfazed and instead continued as if nothing has happened, "What is the nature of your manner which requires the services of the Stalkers?"


    Trism frowned, "Hmph! My cousin was almost killed by your people! I demand you to cease the contract on my cousin and give me the names of those who put such a contract on her life!"


    The figure leaned back on the chair and said, "We pride ourselves to be professionals and we will never fail a contract. Should we fail the contract, we will refund every coin back. And of course, we will never delve any information on our clients nor the details of the contract to others."


    "I don''t care!" Trism continued his act by pping the table. "You better tell me who wants my cousin dead!"


    "Pray tell, who is your cousin?" The masked figure asked.


    "Of course its Lady Titanna of House Rothschild!" Trism replied in a smug voice. "The future Lord and Master of the city of Norshelm!"


    "Hmmm," The masked figure seemed to be contemtingTrism''s words. "And what is your name?"


    "Me?" Trism puffed up his chest and replied. "I am Trism Von Kilmer!"


    "Trism Von Kilmer?" The figure paused for a while. "And you hail from the City of Euthax?"


    "What Euthax?" Trism snorted and said. "I from the Capital!"


    "Ahh, my mistake," The figure seemed to nod. "You say there was a contract on your cousin, Lady Titanna?"


    "Yes!" Trism nodded, feeling that he had passed a small test from the person. He and Titanna had worked out an identity beforehand with him posing as a cousin from the Capital. "Just the night before!"


    "And what happened to Lady Titanna?" The figure asked. "And... the killer?"


    Trism nced around fugitively and gestured the masked figure closer while cupping one hand next to his mouth. The figure leaned forward to listen and Trism used one hand to pull the figure''s shoulder closer and whispered into his ear.


    He had palmed a tiny tracker about the size of arge bean and lightly stuck the tracker''s super adhesive surface against the figure''s clothing as he whispered in secrecy to his ear. "She''s alive, but very badly wounded. As for the killer, she''s dead. Killed by the guards!"


    The masked figure gave a sharp intake of breath as he leaned back, giving Trism a chance to observe his features. The mask he wore was made out of pure ck metal that was molded into a face shape with silver swirling patterns covering its entire surface. The masked Stalker wore a long sleeve ck leather coat and even his hands were in ck gloves and his body size was like a head taller andrger than Trism.


    "Before the killer''s death, she announced she was from the Stalkers!" Trism pped the table again. "Now I want to know who ordered my cousin''s death and cancel the contract! Money is not a problem!"


    The masked figure sat there and kept quiet for a while before he rapped the table once. "We have no idea of such a contract."


    "Do not lie!" Trism stood up and pped the table again. "Offend my family and I will bring the wrath of the Emperor down on you!"


    "I tell you what," The figure seemed to back down. "I will speak with my associates about this issue and give you an appropriate reply within three days!"


    "THREE DAYS?" Trism banged the table again. "I give you one day!"


    "Do not push your luck, boy!" The masked figure stood up, his bulk casting a shadow over Trism as a killing aura radiated out. "Three days and you shall have your answer!"


    "D-done!" Trism did not need to feign his fear as the bloodlust from the Stalker was strong enough to make his knees quake. "I- I will expect to hear from you in three days'' time!"


    "Lead our guest out!" The figure said to someone and the hood was thrown over his head before his hands got tied up again.


    Trism blindly followed the person out and after a while, the hood was suddenly removed and as he reorientated his surroundings, he found himself back at the same alleyway alone. On the upturned stack of crates were his weapons and he used them to cut the bindings off his hands.


    He quickly left the dark alley and hit the send on his throat mike. "ymore One, Origin, what is your status, over?"


    "Three, Origin, we have you in sight. Marines escort on their way to you in five mikes."


    "Origin, what about the tracker? Is it working?" Trism anxiously asked. When he was training in spycraft in Haven, the hoomans had demonstrated the usefulness of such a magic device and he was wowed over.


    "One, Origin, signal strength five by five and the fish has taken the bait."

 Chapter 328: Questions and Answers

    Chapter 328: Questions and Answers


    Tyrier ducked his head into his cloak to checked his tablet when radiomunications suddenly cut off with Trism. By doing so, the glow of the tablet''s backlight could not be seen in the dark alleyways.


    He lowered the brightness and switch the backlight to red instead and he gave out a relieved sigh as he saw the blinking dot indicating the tracker was still working.


    "One to all, Origin must have turned off audio. But the tracker is still going strong. Two on me!" Tyrier said. He velcroed the tablet onto his upper left arm and followed the signal, watching the disy showing the distance shortening. "One to Three, hold overwatch position."


    "Two, roger."


    "Three, roger."


    Still, they had to navigate their way through the unfamiliar maze of streets of the old city district while avoiding being seen by anyone. A couple of times, they met a dead end and had to backtrack their steps and guessing which street to take.


    As the meter distance dropped to ten meters, they heard Trism''s voice over the squad channel again. Tyrier raised a clenched fist and the team halted and automatically covered all sectors with their weapons.


    Tyrier listened to Trism speak to someone and he double checked the tracker. "This way..."


    His team stood as one and they followed Tyrier''s lead and soon found themselves in the middle of the road. Tyrier frowned as the tracker clearly showed they were directly on it, the meter distance was showing zero meters.


    "They must be underground!" Tyrier eximed.


    "What the hell," Hitsu turned around on the spot and eyed the buildings surrounding them. "He could be in any of these buildings!"


    "Damn..." Wolf whispered as he too looked around their surroundings. "How the hell are we going to find which is the correct building?"


    "Well... spread out and keep your eyes open," Tyrier said as he held his earpiece closer. "I think he''s about done and will being out soon!"


    "We just watch where Lieutenant Trismes out from and that is how we find the way in!" Tyrier exined. "Now all spread out and watch every area!"


    The men nodded and spread out, making sure to be able to keep an alert eye around their surroundings. "He''sing out now!" Tyrier hissed and the men quickly kept out of sight while craning their heads left and right to see where will he appear from.


    Shortly after, Wolf whispered into his mike. "Wolf, to all, I got movement on the east side."


    He saw three figures walking out from the side gate and clearly, the man in the middle was hooded. Leaning back into the shadows, he held his breath as the trio walked past him, for fear that they might detect him.


    After they disappeared around the corner, he counted several seconds more before he let out his held breath. "Wolf to all, Origin is being escorted towards the west street."


    "One, roger, hold your position and observe."


    "Roger!" Wolf replied. He leaned out from his spot and eyed the side gate. It was a simple wrought iron gate set against a high wall. The building inside the wall looked to be some kind of three storey townhouse that had seen better days.


    "ymore One, Origin, what is your status, over?"


    "Three, Origin, we have you in sight. Marines escort on their way to you in five mikes."


    "Origin, what about the tracker? Is it working?"


    "One, Origin, signal strength five by five and the fish has taken the bait," Tyrier replied as he checked the interface. "We have identified the building you were in."


    Wolf suddenly had the scrape of leather against the rough cobbled street and he quickly ducked back into the shadows. Under the dim glow of the streetmps, he saw two shadowy figures appear, walking briskly and one of them unlocked the gate before they disappeared into thepound and locking up behind them.


    "Wolf, to all, two Serrias has returned to the nest," Wolf reported.


    "Raider to ymore One, what''s your sit rep?" The voice of Mills came over the channel.


    "One, Raider, we have located the nest, has Origin linked u with you?" Tyrier asked as his team met up with Wolf.


    "Raider, affirmative," Mills replied. "We are inbound to your location in five mikes."


    "One, roger," Tyrier turned his attention to the gate. "They came out and returned to that building?"


    Wolf nodded, "I saw two men bringing the Lieutenant out and after a while, they returned."


    Tyrier eyed the wall which was easily over two meters high and even suspected there might be some kind of arcane rm spells all over the walls.


    "How did the men enter?" Tyrier asked again.


    "Seemed like they just used a key to open the lock before locking it again," Wolf said. "It''s too dark, but I don''t see them do anything special to open the gate."


    "Loke and Hitsu, check the perimeter for any signs of magical readings," Tyrier ordered. "We wait for the Marines to surround the area before we decide what''s next."


    Several minutester, Mills appeared with Trism in tow and they hurdled down by the shadowed side of a building opposite the suspected hideout of the Stalkers Guild. Dark cloaked figures could be seen moving up the street and taking up blocking positions at all the intersections and exits of thepound.


    "Alright, my boys are in position," Mills reported after a while. "How are we doing this?"


    "Wait, I got some of my guys to re the perimeter to see if there''s any magical tripwires or traps," Tyrier said.


    "So I went in and out from that gate?" Trism asked as he used a multi purpose binocrs to scan thepound, switching from night vision to infra and back. "Looks pretty quiet."


    "Boss," Hitsu and Loke appeared like ghosts next to them, startling Mills and Trism. "Found some magical traces along the walls but both the main gate and side gate seemed to be un-warded."


    "Hmmm..." Tyrier frowned. "Think its a trap?"


    "Not sure," Hitsu replied. "But looking at the quality of the gates, I doubt they need any magical rms to warn them if someonees breaking down the gates."


    "Can we pick the lock at the side gate?" Mills asked. "Pick the lock n slip in without them knowing?"


    "We don''t know how they trapped that ce..." Tyrier said. "We don''t even know how many people are inside..."


    At this moment, the side gate suddenly swung open and two figures appeared out. Everyone was surprised and stared at the duo who locked the gate and started to leave. "Grab them!" Mills hissed urgently.


    Instantly, Hitsu and Loke, leaped forward from out of the shadows as the duo came closest to them. They snagged both the men without any noise made and dragged them away into an alley out of sight from thepound.


    The two men stopped struggling when they felt the kiss of cold steel against their throat and stared wide eyed at their assnts. Mills quickly searched the bodies of the two and ced the items he found on the floor. He grinned and held up arge key and said, "Got it!"


    "Take the other to the rear," Trism said from the shadows. "We question them one by one."


    Loke nodded and with the help of Wolf, they dragged the terrified man away. Trism waited till they are out of hearing before he started questioning their captive. "Tell me, how many people are inside thepound?"


    The captive shook his head nervously, and Hitsu impatiently jabbed his sword harder against the captive''s throat. "Think carefully before you speak!"


    "I only have a few coins!" The captive said. "Take it! Don''t kill me!"


    "I am asking how many people are inside that building!" Trism asked again as he came out from the shadows.


    The captive''s eyes widened in recognization but it quickly passed as he shook his head. "I don''t what you are asking about! I don''t have much money!"


    "Well, clearly you recognized me," Trism smiled and held the key up. "Are there any traps behind the gate?"


    "What?" The captive gave a nervous swallow. "I don''t know anything!"


    "Cut his ear off," Trism said. "Since he can''t understand my questions, there is no point in keep a ear, right?"


    Tyrier nodded to Hitsu who balled up a corner of his cloak and jammed it into the surprised man and gagging him. With a quick and sharp action, Tyrier drew his sword and slice off the left ear of the captive in a single sh.


    The captive squirmed in Mills and Hitsu''s hold and screamed into the gag, Hitsu jammed his hand against the gag to prevent the captive from spitting the gag out. After a while, the captive slumped down weakly as tears flowed down his face.


    "I will ask the next question and you better answer truthfully," Trism said. "A wrong answer and you will lose the other ear. Is it clear?"


    The captive nodded weakly in Mills and Hitsu''s hold. "Release him," Trism ordered and both soldiers let the captive go.


    The captive held onto his bleeding wound, feeling the missing ear and hissing in pain. He red at Trism with hateful eyes and Hitsu jammed his leg into the back of the captive''s knee, forcing him down on his knees.


    Trism squatted down next to the person and said, "Tell me what I want to know, and you can leave this ce in one piece."


    The captive suddenly gave a growl and reached out to grab Trism who backed off just in time. Tyrier''s sword shed and the Haven produced Type 1 sword bay that was sharpened till almost a monocr edge sliced off the wrist of the captive''s left hand effortlessly.


    He stared at the gushing slump of his hand in shock and he suddenly gagged as a second sh sliced half his throat open. The man slumped back on his heels before toppling over in an expanding pool of blood.


    "Damn," Trism sighed as he sat on the floor watching the captive bleed out. "Didn''t expect that!"


    "Oh well," He stood up and patted himself clean. "Lucky for us, we still got another person to question."


    Tyrier flicked his sword and cleaned it against the dead''s man clothes. "


    The second captive was just a youngster, and his eyes widened in fear as he looked at the dismembered body of hisrade in his own pool of blood. "Rx, I am not gonna y any games with you," Trism smiled. "Just answer my questions truthfully and you won''t end up like your friend there!"


    "Wha- what do you want to know?" The second person trembled as he asked. "I tell you all I know!"


    Tyrier snapped his fingers sharply at the person, "Any traps behind the gate? How many people inside?"


    "There... are no traps behind the gate!" The youngster replied quickly. "But there is are two guards watching the gate!"


    "Good, go on," Trism smiled happily as he milked all the information he could from the boy.


    -----


    Tyrier bent down and wiped his sword clean off the dark sticky blood against the dead''s clothing while Mills gave a sigh. "The things we do for a better tomorrow..."


    Tyrier gave a raised eyebrow at Mills''s words, "Well if killing gives us a better tomorrow, I''m all for killing everything and anything in my path."


    "At least, now we know what we are facing in there," Trism said as he joined the two Sergeants. "Well, at least some parts of it should be true. I don''t expect that boy to know much, especially from a death guild."


    "Clean up this ce and infilrate the Stalker''s Guild," Trism ordered. "We have already wasted enough time here dealing with these..."


    Mills shook his head and stepped over the blood puddle and walked out from the alleyway where the rest of ymore One dragged two bodies deeper into the alley.

 Chapter 329: Go Dark

    Chapter 329: Go Dark


    The key turned smoothly in the lock and the well oiled hinges barely made a squeak. Tyrier slowly pushed the gate until it wasrge enough for a person''s body to slip in. One by one, the soldiers of ymore One entered the gate and stayed low and within the shadows.


    From the intel given by the youngster, there should be a couple of guards by the tree. Making sure no one could see them, the soldiers hugged the shadows and slowly crawled forward, making sure to make as little noise as possible and keeping low to prevent from being spotted.


    Two figures could be seen sitting behind the tree trunk where they each held a crossbow across theirps. Tyrier closed the gate as gently as possible and gestured with hand signals at the two guards.


    Hitsu and Loke raised their silenced carbines and popped both men, dropping them with single shots to the head. As the guards died, Wolf and Tavel sprint across the grounds and grabbed the two bodies before they hit the floor.


    They rearranged the bodies back to their sitting position and waved for the rest to approach. "Overwatch to ymore One. Hold your position. I see two heat signatures approaching from the right side of the building, it looks like roving guards!"


    Drakeid opposite the building on the roof of another structure. He and Kont and used ropes and climbed up as quietly as possible to the roof without alerting the upants inside. Nowying on their cloaks and overwatching thepound with his sniper scope, they spotted two moving white spots under infra getting closer to their people.


    "One, Three. Take them out quietly," Tyrier ordered.


    Altied and Young were the closest to the approaching guards. Theyid t on the ground, keeping their camoed faces away from the approaching guards. As the two guards passed by them, they both slowly climbed to their feet and rushed the guards, stabbing their sword bays into the unprotected armpits of the surprised guards before Hitsu and Loke ran forward to help carry the bodies and hide them.


    A quick search on the guards found a bunch of keys, which Tyrier handed over to Wolf. "Secure the perimeter!" Tyrier whispered and the men spread out and covered the entire courtyard.


    After making sure there were no more patrols and hidden guards in thepound grounds, Tyrier checked his tracker and nodded towards the building and his men formed up next to the door. Young took out a device that looked like arge twentieth century mobile handset with two stubby ''V'' shape antennas poking out.


    He swept the device all over the door, eyeing the disy on it. After making sure there was no disturbance on the green line on the disy, he nodded to the rest and stepped back. Wolf came up and tested the bunch of keys till the right one unlocked the door and he slowly and carefully opened it.


    "One to all," Tyrier whispered into the squad channel. "Go dark!"


    The ymore One soldiers slipped on their assault helmets and snapped their night vision goggles to the attachment slot on the front of the helmet and one by one they stepped into the building.


    The entryway led into a central passage where there was a flight of stairs leading to the second floor and two doors on each side of the passage with another double door at the end.


    Under the influence of the night vision, thin beams of light could be seen as the spec ops soldiers swept theirser sights left and right, covering each sector. "One to Two, clear the left side. We will take the right. Three hold here and cover the stairs."


    "Roger."


    "Got it."


    The teams split up as they checked each room on the first level while Team Three remained at the central passageway, their weapons aimed at the stairwell.


    Tyrier''s team each took a door and entered at the same time, their weapons sweeping for threats. The first door on the right led to a parlor of sorts with another double door while the second door led to a music room where several musical instruments were stored and a door at the end.


    They push through the doors and found themselves in arge high ceiling receiving room for guests withrge windows all three sides of the wall.


    Hitsu and Loke on the left side found a small study and the dining room. The shelves covering the study were bare of books and even the work table seemed abandon as there was no intel of interest after Hitsu checked the drawers.


    The door in the dining room led to the kitchens and the servants'' bedchambers which had two skinny women sleeping on tiny cots. Hitsu and Loke quickly jabbed both of them with a tranq shot, knocking both servants out.


    "Two to all. Two maids in the kitchen, both knocked out with drugs," Hitsu reported. "Left side all cleared."


    "One, roger. Right side is cleared too. No bodies." Tyrier replied. "Link up back at the stairs."


    Once everyone was back, they checked the double door at the end and found it led to the back courtyard. Retreating back, they climbed up the stairs and continued their sweep. Same as before they split up and checked each door and room, making sure to tranquilize and tied up any sleeping upants from in the bedchambers.


    Young suddenly halt before a door and raised a fist as he ran the device in his over the door frames. The disy on his device was showing a bouncing wavelength which meant that there were some traces of magic residue. This jury rigged device was made by Dr. Sharon to find ''Mu'' particles, which in other words, was made to detect magic.


    She practically forced ymore One to ''borrow'' it to do field tests and review it for her. Luckily it turned out to work quite well as a non magical way to detect magic. "Three, One. I got a magic reaction here." Young reported.


    "One, roger. Clear the rest of the ce first. Leave it for now," Tyrier ordered.


    Another three more males and one female were tranquilized and secured before the whole level two was cleared and the entire team stacked up to thest door with traces of magic. Tavel kneeled before the door as he carefully observed the door and found the entire door frame to be carved with a spell formation.


    "Not good," Tavel whispered. "This seemed like a Level 7 spell that without a proper ''key'', will trigger a me Burst that will torch the whole corridor..."


    "No way to disarm it?" Tyrier asked. "How about the keys from the guards? Or anyone found anything from the people sleeping?"


    "Hmm, we can blow the frame up," Tavel replied. "Or try to interrupt the magic circuits on the carvings..."


    "Can we check what''s behind the door without triggering the spell or alerting anyone?" Tyrier asked again.


    "We can," Tavel replied. "The spell will only trigger if we y with the lock or forcefully open the door."


    "Deploy the eye cam," Tyrier turned to Hitsu who dug into his bag of holding and pulled out a device with wires and cables.


    Hitsu took up a position next to the door and choose a cable that was thin enough to slip under the door crack. He inserted the cable into the controller and turned the spy cam on. The small screen flickered as images were ryed from the pinhole camera at the end of the cable to his screen.


    He tilted the spycam left and right, making sure to observe the entire room and found other than a few chairs and table in the room, there was arge sized bed in the middle where someone appeared to beying on it.


    "Looks like a bedchamber," Hitsu said. "One body."


    "Breach it?" Tavel asked.


    "We still haven''t found the way underground..." Tyrier frowned. "Can you disable the spell quietly?"


    "I can try, but no guarantees," Tavel replied and he took out his tools. "Better take cover, if shit happens..."


    "Just focus on your task," Tyrier cut his words off and gestured for everyone to back off.


    Tavel''s finger traced the carvings of runes along the frame and frowned, trying to find the weakness link in the magic formation. Finally after half an hour when everyone was starting to feel tense, he grinned and gave a thumbs up before he returned to his work.


    He used a small ss dropper and sucked in a few drops of silvery liquid that was made with some arcaneponents and carefully dripped the liquid onto a particr rune. The rune appeared to glow slightly as the silvery drops hardened and erased the rune away from the door frame with tendrils of smoke.


    Tavel took out a set of lockpicks and worked on the door lock, sessfully jimmied the lock and he took a deep breath as he turned the door opened carefully. One second, two seconds, three second. Tavel counted mentally as he waited for any signs of the spell triggering and turning him into ashes.


    Finally, after ten seconds had passed, nothing happened and he let out the breath he held. He turned and nodded, keeping his tools and stepping back as the rest stacked up and entered the room.


    On the bed, arge size male was sleeping when the soldiers entered, but to their surprise, the man suddenly woke up and leaped up from the bed, drawing a sword from somewhere.


    "Take him alive!" Tyrier hissed after the shock of the man''s reaction passed.


    Hitsu and Wolf who were in front of the rest inside the room dropped their carbines and drew out their tasers and fired, aiming at the center of mass. The man expertly parried the taser barbs away which further surprised everyone as they were in a dark room and that person could still wield his sword this well!


    Hitsu and Wolf stepped in more to allow the rest to enter, and everyone fired their tasers. The man finally under the heavy onught of taser barbs from all directions soon convulsed around wildly as thousands of volts of electricity were dumped into his body.


    "Bag him!" Tyrier hissed and the rest quickly disarmed the person and cable tied his thumbs and feet together before dumping him on the bed and lighting the glowmp in the room. "Check the room."


    They found some documents and what appeared to be ount books but the words were illegible. Tyrier frowned as he skimped through the scrolls and books, "Looks like some kind of code."


    "One to Raider and Origin," Tyrier stepped out of the room and gave his report. "Top side and grounds of building secure, we have one HVT under taser. No signs of any way to enter the underground area."


    "Origin, roger. Is it clear to enter?"


    "One. Affirmative." Tyrier replied.


    "Origin,ing in. Raider to take over the premises."


    "Raider, roger that. Marines moving in now."


    Tyrier turned to Wolf and said, "Go down to the first floor and escort the Lieutenant up."


    Wolf nodded and he went downstairs while the rest started dragging the tranqasilied people into one room. Tyrier sighed and returned into the room. "Found anything else?"


    "Found the ''key'' to the spell," Tavel said and held up a ne with a shriveled finger handing on it. He hooked the ne onto the door frame and said. "This will prevent the spell from triggering, in case my disarming skills... is bad..."


    Trism walked in with Wolf behind him and he smiled while rubbing his hands together. "Good work, all of you!"


    He picked up the scrolls and books and flipped through them, "Code?"


    Tyrier nodded and gestured to the gagged male on the bed. "We need to know where is the entrance to the underground ce where they took you to."


    Trism''s smiled widened and he rubbed his hands again. "Not a problem! I get him to sing!"


    "Sing for me, my little bird!"

 Chapter 330: Into the Darkness

    Chapter 330: Into the Darkness


    Trism eyed the tied up prisoner on the bed and smiled while he ced a small pouch on the table. He unrolled the leather pouch with a flourish like a performer doing a performance for the audience.


    He hummed to himself and removed a syringe and a tiny ss bottle with a printed "XP - 117" on thebeling. He ced them side by side and even took the time to slip on a pair of surgical gloves before he poked the syringe into the bottle of clear liquid and pulled the plunger back slowly.


    Trism stood over the tied up prisoner who was staring with anger at him and he flicked the syringe a couple of times, tapped the air bubbles up and pushing them out by squeezing the plunger. "Now we don''t want to have air bubbles in your veins do we?"


    Mills and Tyrier stood at the doorway and eyed Trism''s work. "What''s that?" Mills asked curiously.


    "Truth serum," Trism replied as he patted the left arm of struggling prisoner, finding the vein.


    "Huh?" Mills was surprised. "Does it work?"


    "You asking me when it''s you hoomans who made it," Trism replied without turning his head. "Ahh... hold still, you don''t want this needle to break inside your arm do you?"


    "Take a deep breath, it only going to hurt like a tiny ant bite!" Trism slowly stabbed the needle into the vein of the wide eyed prisoner who stared in fright at the needle going into his flesh. "There... and we are done!"


    He removed the syringe after injecting the prisoner with its chemical contents and packed his stuff carefully back into the pouch.


    "Hmm..." Mills frowned. "I don''t think truth serums work all the time..."


    "Ah... yes, that is true, hence I will also cast charm and confusion on him," Trism said. "With thebination of the drug and spells, he will tell else everything we need to know!"


    Mills turned to Tyrier and raised an eyebrow to which Tyrier just gave a helpless shrug. "You can do that?"


    "Yes," Trism stood over the prisoner started to act intoxicated. "We tested and even had it done on ourselves during training."


    "Damn..." Mills whispered. "I so do not want to know how the hell Naval Intel trains their people..."


    Trism ced his hand before the face of the prisoner and a couple of glowy magic circles appeared and chanted the magic verses, "Lesser Confusion!"


    "Lesser Charm!" He cast another spell after the prisoner was hit with a confusion spell which left the prisoner moaning behind his gag.


    Trism lifted the eyelids of the prisoner and checked the pupils, finding them dted. He removed the gag of the prisoner and the prisoner gave a lopsided smile at Trism. "He''s ready for questions."


    Both Mills and Tyrier walked over and joined Trism at the bedside. Trism gently patted the head of the prisoner and smiled, "Tell me your name."


    "M- my na- name is, Sa... Sam Holt..." The prisoner smiled back. "Y... you are nic- nice...!"


    "Good, good!" Trism praised the prisoner. "Now, tell me, what do you do here?"


    "I- I am... the... Stalker... Branch... Master... of Norshelm..." The prisoner muttered. "I... am in charge of all the... Guild affairs... here..."


    "Who is the masked man?" Trism asked next.


    "He is... an Adjuncator..." He replied with a silly smile. "Hehe... pretty colors!"


    "What does he do?" Trism leaned closer and whispered into the prisoner''s ear. "And how do I find him?"


    "He... judges... which... contracts to take..." The prisoner said. "You... can find... him... here!"


    "Here?" Trism asked. "Where is here?"


    The prisoner giggled and wiggled his hands in an effort to point a direction before he gave up, unable to understand why he can''t move his hands. "He... is downstairs..."


    "How do I go downstairs to find him?" Trism slowly and carefully said each word.


    "In the... salon..." The prisoner turned and looked at Trism with ssy eyes. "Push... the switch under... the second window frame... It will... open the way... hehe!"


    "Any surprises?" Trism asked again. "Traps? Locked doors?"


    "Ye- yes... much... traps! Hehe!" The prisoner giggled again. "Key... will... stop... traps!"


    "Is there another way in?" Trism asked again. "Into the underground where the Adjudicator is at?"


    "Many ways... in and out!" The delirious prisoner said. "Many ways!"


    "Is there a map of the underground?" Trism patted the man''s head.


    "No.. maps!" The prisoner smiled. "All in... head!"


    Trism turned around and Tyrier gave a nod before he left the room and gathered his men with him. "Let''s go, we found our way in."


    "Tavel, is the spell totally disarmed?" Tyrier gestured to the door frame.


    "Yup, while you guys are having fun inside," Tavel grinned and removed the ne off the frame. "I messed up spell''s structure since we have the key."


    "Good, bring it," Tyrier said. "We are going down to the salon!"


    They made their way down past the Marines stationed at the stairs and entered the high windowed salon. "There should be a hidden switch under the second window frame, but which..." Tyrier said.


    The seven of them fanned out and started searching, running their fingers under the window frames and Atiled suddenly called out, "Found it!"


    His fingers found depression and he pushed with his finger. A click sounded followed by a soft grinding sound that came from the other side of the room. A section of the floor had moved away, revealing a hole with a flight of stairs that led into the darkness.


    A pitch ck corridor greeted them as they made their way down but with their night vision, they easily made their way forward. Tyrier checked the tracker signal and found it less than fifty meters away.


    Tavel taking point was reporting traps here and there and he spent time to disarm the magical traps, making the going slow. Finally, they came upon a door at the end of the corridor and discovering no responses from the MU detector, they carefully entered.


    They found themselves in arge anteroom supported by six pirs where several doors could be seen. Fourrge tables and benches were set in the middle of the room with globes of glowmps on the walls lighting up the area.


    tes and bowls were stacked on one side of the tables while one of the benches sat a couple of people who were speaking in low tones and drinking from goblets. Tyrier halt the team and gestured his men to spread out and cover the area with hand signals.


    The two unsuspecting Stalkers continued their conversations without noticing the ymore One soldiers entering the room. "One, Two. Take them out!" Tyrier ordered after everyone was in position.


    Instantly, suppressed puffs of air replied to him. The two bodies slumped down on the table with holes in their heads. "Which way?" Hitsu whispered as he took in the doors around them.


    "Check the doors," Tyrier said. "See where they lead to."


    They slowly checked each and every door and found them to lead off to other rooms or exits. Tyrier looked at the time, seeing that they had spent more than an hour just clearing the entire undergroundplex and had yet even approached their target.


    Along the way, anyone they bumped into was put down swiftly and silently. Even those sleeping in the chambers were neutralized without any hesitation.


    "Alright, stop the clearing of the tunnels," He decided to change tactics. "We grab the HVT first than we return to clear the ce out!"


    Following the tracker, they finally reached the ce where the signal was the strongest. After the usual checks for traps and surprises, Hitsu used the handheld inspection tool and slipped the optiwand under the door crack and saw arge bedchamber.


    After the locked door was picked, the team stacked up and entered stealthily, with their tasers at the ready, learning from their previous lesson. Once they stepped into the room, without any hesitation, the first man fired his taser at the body on the bed, followed by the next man.


    The assault was almost anti climax as the body on the bed spasmed and kicked madly as the electricity coursed through his body without him putting up any struggle. "Tag and bag him!" Tyrier whispered. "Grab everything that seemed to be useful for Intel!"


    The men spread out in therge bedchamber that was decorated richlypared to the others they had cleared. Clearly, the decor was done to be on par with the status of the person living here. Books and scrolls were quickly collected without checking their contents and ced inside Hitsu''s bag of holding to be sorted outter.


    Suddenly, a bell jingled in the room, causing the soldiers to freeze as they looked around in confusion for the source of the sound. "Shit!" Tyrier hissed. "I think we been made!"


    "Three! Contacted!" The squad channel buzzed as Team Three holding point outside the room reported. "Four tangoes down!"


    "One, roger!" Tyrier replied before turning to the rest in the room. "Five mikes! Grab everyone and let''s go!"


    They quickly left the ce and stepped over the bodies of the dead littering the tunnel as they headed towards the exit. The urgent jingling bells and echos of running feet followed them as they entered the antechamber again.


    A small crowd of hooded figures was milling around inside when ymore One suddenly appeared in the room and a hush fell in the room. For a minute, both sides just stared at each other in confusion before someone yelled out. "Intruders!"


    "Engage!" Tyrier yelled at the same time and pops of suppressed gunfire erupted around him. The Stalkers drew their swords out and dropped on the spot as rifle rounds punched through their light armor.


    The Stalkers charged over the tables and around pirs as the men of ymore One held their ground, firing single shots of aimed fire at any threat. The sudden mad engagement barely took a minute to be over. The smell of burnt gunpowder lingered thickly in the room mixing with the iron smell of blood and voided bowels.


    "Clear right!" Hitsu called out as he swept his rifle over his covered sector.


    "Left clear!" Young reported from the other side.


    "Go!" Tyrier said and they hurriedly stepped over the blood and gore, their spent rifle cartridges rattling in the brass catcher attachment to their rifles. As they ran, another ground suddenly appeared from a door. "Contact left!"


    Another flurry of shots brought down the neers and soon they were back in the long corridor that led back to the mansion. As they exited the tunnel, they found Sergeant Mills and a couple of Marines waiting for them. "What happened?" Mills asked.


    "We got made," Tyrier said as he caught his breath. "But we got the HVT."


    "Contact!" Someone still at the bottom yelled. Several muzzle shes lit up the dark tunnel as thest man fired at the enemy. "Clear!"


    "Blow the explosives!" Tyrier ordered.


    Mills blinked widely. "What?"


    A rumble could be heard and the ground shook slightly while the dust rained down from the ceiling. Alited grinned as he kept away the detonator, "Done!"


    "We only manage to mine some of the exits that we found," Tyrier grinned. "That should trap some of them while we go back and root them out!"


    "Seriously have you thought of the coteral damage?" Mills frowned. "Innocents could be killed!"


    Tyrier gave a shrug, "It''s either them or us. Besides, there are no innocents in war."


    "We..." Mills wanted to argue but Tyrier put a hand up forestalling Mills''s words.


    "We are in the old district of the city," Tyrier said. "There are not many people living in these parts."


    "But still!" Mills felt Tyrier''s actions were overkill. "You could still injured innocents!"


    "These exit ces are all controlled by the Stalkers," Tyrier finally snapped. "There are only their people there guarding the exits!"


    "Now, if you excuse me! I got more people to go kill!"

 Chapter 331: Shaking the City

    Chapter 331: Shaking the City


    City of Norshelm


    The dull rumble and quake of the ground had the city residents closest to the source woken up from their sleep. They peered out from their windows and wondered what was happening. Those next to the buildings that copsed down were shocked and they ran out of their houses in their sleepwear, staring dumbstruck at the destruction of their neighboring buildings.


    The city guard raced down to the scene to sort out the confusion and fears of the citizens while checking around the ruins to see if there were any survivors. As the news of the copse of the buildings slowly spread, several other quakes shook the city.


    -----


    Underground Stalker Guild


    Tyrier swapped out his spent rifle magazine with a fresh mag, carefully keeping the emptied mag into his ammo pouches. They had to be careful with littering the ce with any traces of technology. Stuff like spent brass casing was collected by brass catcher attachments strapped over the ejection ports of their rifles.


    The bulky attachments made their carbines slightly unwieldy in the long narrow tunnels but it hardly mannered much as the assassin guild members were quickly dispatched when encountered.


    Due to the number and scale of the tunnels, Mills had to send in two sections of Marines to help clear the ce. They had given up of totally wiping out the entire Stalker Guild in the city as there were too many unknown exits leading out of the underground nest.


    Their objectives changed to search and destroy. Search for any information and destroy any guild members and exits. The whole operation ran until the early hours of the morning before thest report came in that there was no more tunnels to explore and destroy.


    The men set theirst charges and retreated, following the chalk markings drawn on the stone walls to lead them back to their rendezvous location. Along the way, they double checked the area, making sure they did not miss anything and once they exited the tunnels, the remaining explosives nted underground were detonated, shaking the city, adding more confusion and fear.


    The Marines and ymore One all gathered inside the mansion with their prisoners. Trism looked at the men and smiled, "Good job! Despite having some members of the Stalkers escaping, but I am certain at least 90% of the Guild is destroyed here!"


    The men gave a cheer at the news. "Now, we will return! But due to our actions, the city is in an alert state! So, here are some disguises!"


    Tworge chests filled with cloaks and helms were carried in. "Each man to wear a cloak and a helmet, this has the Rothschild''s crest emzoned on its back. You will now take the role of Rothschild''s Household Guards!"


    "The prisoners will be loaded into the two carriages waiting for us outside now," Trism said. "We will be acting as prisoner escorts. Our story will be due to the suddenly strange quaking of the earth to move our prisoners. Is that clear?"


    "YES, SIR!"


    "Good, grab your gear and form up outside!" Trism said.


    "Sir," Mills asked when the men had left. "Can we get past the gate with these disguises?"


    Trism smiled, "Don''t worry. I got a letter from Knight Captain Judis that authorized me to move our prisoners."


    "You had foreseen this?" Tyrier asked from the side in surprise.


    "Well, we do need a way to move any prisoners were got even if the city wasn''t rmed by our actions," Trism replied. "What is a better excuse than to say these are our political enemies and we need to move them to another location?"


    "Nice," Mills nodded. "So with the confusion, we boldly stand out to avoid suspicion?"


    Trism nodded, "And if our enemies are watching, it will make them wonder about the identity of our prisoners too. Makes them sweat!"


    "Haha," Mills grinned. "I like that!"


    "Ok, gather your men," Trism said. "And burn this ce down."


    Two columns of soldiers escorting two carriages slowly marched away from the burning building behind them as they headed towards the city gate. Residents gossiped and spected amongst themselves as they watched the soldiers departing, wondering what had happened at the building.


    The skies were still dark with a slight hint of purple and red clouds yet the citizens of the city were out in full force. Most of them were dressed in their sleepwear, others clutched their most prized possessions, wondering should they run away from the city or not.


    Guards and members of the City Watch were busy trying to calm the frightened masses, while priests and other religious figures were taking the opportunity to preach about their religions and offering divine protections for a small donation.


    Other enterprising merchants started selling food, drinks, and charms that guaranteed to protect them. Some even imed to be a Level 5 protection spells!


    Mills eyed the ongoings nervously, his view of surroundings were greatly hampered by the heavy helm he wore. The eye slits of his helm narrowed his view to only what was in front of him and he forced himself to not jerk his head everywhere as the helm cut off his peripheral vision.


    Luckily the crowd parted before them like waves, allowing them to move unhindered on the streets. Even the local guards and City Watch did not dare to stop them after seeing the Rothschild''s crest.


    Reaching the inner city gates, the guards quickly stopped them. "Halt! The gates are closed!"


    Trism climbed down from the lead carriage and swaggered up to the guards and waved a scroll in the guard captain''s face. "I got a letter here allowing me to move prisoners under the orders of Knight Captain Judis!"


    The guard captain''s expression changed and he quickly gave a salute before he checked the document. Finding no issues with the letter, he turned to his subordinates and quickly ordered. "Open the gates!"


    Trism gave a triumphant grin and returned to the carriage. "Move out!"


    As they returned to the Rothschild''s Estate, Knight Captain Judis was waiting for them at the door. "Let''s go to the chancery now."


    Mills was surprised when he saw Titanna sitting at the head of the desk waiting for them inside the room when they all entered. "Should you be up at this time?"


    Titanna gave a smile and a shake of her head, gesturing them to be seated. Judis stood beside Titanna and said, "How was the... mission? Themotions in the city were caused by you?"


    Trism smiled and said, "The mission was highly sessful and yes, we caused those disturbances."


    "We managed to capture two high ranking Stalker members and also killed an estimated forty of their people and destroyed their base of operations. The disturbances in the city were us destroying their nest."


    "We also gleaned some idea of how their hierarchy works," Trism added. "Leading from the top is the Council Members, which has seven seats followed by Adjuncators than Branch Masters who govern a city''s branch."


    "Their low leveled members consist of four levels, from the most senior Executioners to Enforcers, who carry out the killings," Trism exined. "The other two levels are Initiates and gets promoted from newly inducted Apprentices, who mostly does all the groundwork of collecting intelligence and otheryman duties."


    "We managed to capture the Branch Master and an Adjuncator," Trism proudly dered. "Also documents and books which we have yet to decipher their contents yet."


    "We can surely say that what presence of the Stalkers here in Norshelm, is effectively destroyed," Trism said. "With the Stalkers gone, there shouldn''t be a second attempt at your life, Lady Titanna."


    Titanna nodded and Judis said, "Please inform us immediately should you find any information regarding who paid to kill our Ladyship."


    "That is a given," Trism replied. "Now next thing we need to settle is to weaken the forces against you."


    "Your troops are frankly too demoralized for another battle," Trism said. "I will not be surprised if more than half of them defects over to the other faction."


    Both Titanna and Judis''s face turned ugly at the statement but they too knew there was truth in his words. "I have been trying to gather as many soldiers loyal to Lady Titanna as possible," Judis said. "But you are right, a defeated army is easier to be seduced over, especially with the rumors been spread by our enemies!"


    Trism nodded, "We will need detailed information on their resources and property. If we can disrupt their businesses and revenue, we can buy more time for you to reestablish your authority over the city and the army."


    Titanna bobbed her head vigorously. She had the exact same idea as what Trism was saying.


    "Once we identify their importance businesses and facilities," Trism grinned. "We can create several idents in these areas, which will greatly damage their resources in the city."


    "Burn their business down? Destroy their storehouses?" Judis frowned. "Norshelm is still a city governed byw and if things like that happen, what will be of our Lady''s reputation?"


    "Than find a legal reason to shut down their businesses!" Trism replied. "Anything outside the city will be fair game!"


    Judis gave a bark ofughter, "That is clever! I can think of dozens of ways to impound their storehouses and cargos!"


    "Good," Trism said. "I am sure they have some hidden ces to station their mercenaries and soldiers they are recruiting. Find where their gold and food is going, and we will find where their forces are camped."


    "But at the same time," Trism added. "We need to double the guards on your businesses and properties. We are in the light while they are in the dark, meaning they can strike at us in the shadows while we can only act in the light..."


    "They will not stop at only spreading rumors," Trism said. "If they can create trouble to discredit you, they will do it."


    Titanna nodded at Trism''s advice and a strained voice, she said to Judis, "Do it. Make sure to prevent any unwanted incidents by our enemies."


    "And now, with your Ladyship''s absence from region affairs at the Citadel," Trism said. "I am sure the other faction suspects something should have happened to you by now. Hopefully, it will make them reveal their ns while thinking you are... indisposed... Making them show off their cards in their hands before they are ready."


    "So these three days before the G will be crucial to our ns," Trism said. "When they think they have all the cards in their hands, we will burn the house down around them!"


    "Thank you..." Titanna whispered softly. "Judis will assist you with anything you need."


    Trism and the rest stood up and bowed as they made their exit. "We will start by interrogating the prisoners we got."


    Mills lingered behind and eyed Titanna a few times before she gestured Judis to leave the room and for Mills to stay behind. Judis gave a re and a huff at Mills as he passed by him, "You better behave yourself... barbarian!"


    Mills struck his tongue at the departing back of Judis making Titanna giggle before shepsed into a coughing fit. Mills quickly pour her some water and pat her back gently before her coughs subsided.


    "Sorry... for making youugh..." Mills smiled, taking a seat next to her. "Are you feeling better?"


    Titanna nodded and replied in a soft whisper, "My throat is still slightly sore, but I feel a lot better than before..."


    "Good!" Mills said. "But still you should rest more!"


    "I... I want to thank you... for saving me!" Titanna blushed. "But... you saw me... naked..."


    "Oh..." Mills looked away in embarrassment. "Well, saving you was more important at that time..."


    "You... need to take responsibility!" Titanna red at Mills.


    "Wa- what?!" Mills blinked his eyes rapidly in confusion. "What did you say?"


    "I said, you need to take full responsibility!!!"

 Chapter 332: Enemies At Your Doorsteps

    Chapter 332: Enemies At Your Doorsteps


    Three days passed rapidly and the Rothschild''s Estate was a buzzing hive of activity. Wagons of food and barrels of wine were constantly delivered to the Estate while messengers and couriers shuttled to and fore between the City Citadel and Titanna''s chancery.


    Titanna sighed as another stack of scrolled were ced on her desk, her work seemed to be never ending. She had passed the word that all matters of governance were to be approved by her before they could be submitted.


    She decided on this when they found several clerks had over stepped their boundaries and gave favorable terms and conditions to whoever that paid them the most. Hence she and a few trusty worthly staff were buried deep in work, as they had to screen every document and contract one by one.


    And to make matters worst, she hasn''t appeared in public ever since she was attacked, leading to rumors that she had fallen ill. Her enemies even spread rumors that she had either died or ran away from the city.


    Every day, couriers, messengers, and even the City Ministers and Lords came to beg an audience with her but all were rejected which enforced the rumors that she was gravely ill. Those that stood on her side started to worry if they had chosen the right side to support when they receive no news of her.


    While she was buried under the mountain of paperwork, Intel Officer Trism and Knight Captain Judis had formed an ad hoc working rtionship. Both of them worked together to gather intelligence and information regarding their enemies.


    She sighed as she read through another contract regarding the loan ofnds for farming and logging and rejected it. She suddenly got reminded of Mills and she crumbled the scroll into a ball in anger as he still has yet to give her a satisfactory answer!


    -----


    The coffers of House Rothschild were depleted rapidly as gold and silver exchanged hands. Spies that could be recruited, bought or bribed, while those belonging to the other factions were ced on careful surveince.


    Traitors and those who epted bribes or favors from the other factions were noted down and kept on watch. All in all, it was a fruitful and busy three days for both men as they barely slept.


    "Lady Titanna," Both men had dark eye circles bowed before Titanna seated at the head of the table. "We did our best to get as much information regarding or enemies as we could in this short period of days."


    "Thank you both for your hard work!" Titanna said, gesturing for them both to be seated. "What have you both found out?"


    "Well, we managed to uncover several people of standing in the Citadel staff epting bribes from House Taron and House Delfin." Knight Captain Judis reported. "Very likely, they had been bought over. I have my very best men watching them now."


    "Also, the East Gate and South Gate guardmanders and both inner districts City Watchmanders had been bought over by them too," Judis read off from a list. "The city harbor''s second in charge, seven 100 men leaders from the 18th Spears, four 100 men leaders from 20th Spears, elven Captains from the 33rd, 34th, and 37th Imperial Dragons Corps."


    Judis continued to list out the names and positions and even businesses of those they had investigated to had joined the other faction. The list consisted of names from the City Guards and Watch, to administrators, clerks, Army, Dragon Corps and even the merchants and businesses in the city.


    As Judis continued down the list, Titanna''s facial expression changed from ugly to pale as more and more names were read out. Finally, after over sixty names, Judis finished his report. "These are the only ones we managed to uncover in three days. We suspect there might be more we had yet to discover."


    Titanna leaned back on her chair and gave out a deep breath of helplessness. "If so much of our own have joined them, what are our chances now of winning?"


    "To be frank," Trism answered. "Very low."


    Titanna lowered her head, "Should I just give up the seat if there is no chance of winning? At least, there will not be senseless deaths..."


    "I estimate at least half of your remaining forces have joined the other faction," Trism said with a confirmation nod from Judis. "You have roughly, what? Nine thousand soldiers still loyal to you?"


    "If you include your household guards, the city guards and watch," Trism added. "You probably have fifteen hundred men in total."


    Judis sighed, "Our opponents should have at least three times our numbers..."


    "How can we defeat over forty thousand soldiers?" Titanna looked defeated. "Even if we cut off their supplies and money flow, how much time can we buy for an inevitable oue?"


    "We can still prevent some of those soldiers from joining the other side," Trism said. "Arrest all those people in this name list and promote someone else loyal or not in the pay of the other faction."


    "For merchants and businesses, shut them down till further notice," Trism said. "And the best time I can think of to do this without the Houses from finding out till it is toote... It''s at the Ball tonight!"


    Titanna nodded in understanding before she turned to Judis, "I will need your men to carry out the arrests tonight! I will distract everyone at the Ball long enough for you to do what you need to do!"


    Judis nodded, "I will take my men and execute your order when all the guests have arrived."


    Trism said, "It will also be a good time to target certain businesses of both House Taron and Deflin."


    "And it will be best too to bring in your two brothers if they are not attending the Ball tonight," Trism said. "With them in your hands, the fewer troubles they can make and the other side has one less usation to pin on you."


    Judis shook his head, "I do not have enough manpower, already this list is stretching the limits of my people. If you want to disrupt House Taron and House Deflin businesses and capture your two brothers back, I do not have the troops needed."


    Titanna turned to Trism and asked, "Can you help me bring my two brothers in?"


    "That shouldn''t be much of a problem!" Trism grinned.


    "Thank you for your help!" Titanna replied. "I will not forget this favor!"


    "Hopefully, tonight we can cut off some of their resources," Titanna said. "And give us more time to recruit and train troops! As long as we have time until autumn, after the harvesting season, we can recruit more people!"


    Trism raised an eyebrow at Titanna''s words. "That''s like 3 months?"


    "I doubt the other side will give you so much time!" Trism said. "I suspect they will make their move once they find out you are still alive!"


    "But I need at least three months to gather more troops," Titanna sighed. "Men need to be outfitted with weapons and armor. And even trained! All this needs time!"


    "Well, there is a simpler solution..." Trism smiled. "Use your ves."


    "The ves?" Titanna frowned. "But the ve army has been left behind at Orwell''s Point... Do you want to train another ve army? It will take a lot of gold... "


    "No," Trsim shook his head. "Offer all the ves in the city freedom... In exchange for fighting for you!"


    "What?" Judis looked bugged eye at Trism. "Are you crazy?"


    Trism gave a shrug. "Give the ves a chance. Freedom in exchange for serving you for one or two years."


    "Boom! Instantly, you have thousands of soldiers!" Trism grinned. "And you don''t need to wait a few months!"


    "Do you know how many people will revolt if we did that?" Judis hissed. "All the merchants! The trade ships captains! All of them will be crying for our blood!"


    Trism gave a shrug, "You need troops urgently and you have so many ves here whom at least a third used to be a soldier."


    "Your people might hate you for freeing the ves and taking away their cheapbor," Trism said. "But the freed ves will give you their loyalty forever for their freedom."


    Titanna shook her head, "Impossible... Norshelm''s economy will copse if the ves were all suddenly freed. There will be no one working the docks, mines, farms, and even stores!"


    Trism said, "Well, that is up to you. I know suddenly freeing ves will causing the economy to crash, but you can always do it step by step."


    "Not to mention, sooner orter, the United Nations will require you to stop very," Trism added. "Since it will happenter, why not make sure of it now? Do it step by step and introduce reforms that will please both your people and the freed ves."


    "I need to think about this more," Titanna sighed. "It is not a simple matter, it needs properly nning and discussion!"


    Trism nodded, "Don''t think too long. Your enemies are on your doorsteps already."


    "Thank you for the help and advice," Titanna nodded. "We will talk againter, now I must prepare for the Ballter and you two have your orders and duties to see to."


    Trism and Judis both stood up and bowed before they exited. "Lord Trism, we might not see eye to eye and being enemies before, but I sincerely hope you can help Lady Titanna." Judis stopped Trism and said in a serious voice.


    "I do not wish to see her head in a basket..." Judis said and gave a bow. "So please lend me you and your United Nations'' strength to us!"


    Trism eyed Judis''s bowing down at him and sighed. "Come on, don''t do this. We are here to help so you don''t need to bow or plead, we will do our best to help her."


    "Thank you!" Judis sincerely said. "I shall arrange my men to arrest everyone on this list."


    Trism watched Judis walked away with a double feeling in his heart. "Well, we will do what we can for her, but if worstes to worst, our orders are to fall back..."


    -----


    Dozens and dozens of expensively adorned carriages rolled up one by one into House Rothschild''s Estate. Guests dressed both fashionably and richly strolled into the Estate, escorted by servants into the Great Hall where musicians yed music in the background.


    All the guests were curious as to whether Lady Titanna would make an appearance or were the rumors true, that either she was ill or had run away.


    As all the guests had arrived and the sun set over the horizon, the majordomo ring a bell, causing the voices to quietened down as they turned their attention to the announcement. "Her Ladyship, Countess Titanna Rothschild, Governer Of Norshelm, Mistress of House Rothschild, Overseer of the Southern Territories."


    Dressed in a lc sleeveless spider silk gown that bared her shoulders, her blonde hair pinned up with a crystal hairpin, she walked down the red carpeted staircase gracefully. ps and cheering apanied her entrance as the male guests in the great hall warmly weed her arrival.


    Almost instantly, she was swamped with male suitors and curious guests, who wanted to know what happened to her and if her health was doing fine. She answered the guests'' questions and politely fend off her suitors'' advances.


    As she mingled around the crowd, two pairs of eyes red daggers at her from afar. Lord Taron and Lord Deflin each held a crystal goblet of wine and watched her with barely suppressed hatred and surprise.


    "Didn''t the Stalkers kill or badly wounded her?" Lord Taron whispered to Lord Deflin. "Why is she still here?!"


    Lord Deflin''s wrinkled face frowned as he watched the girl entertain her guests. "Something must have happened! The Stalkers never fail!"


    "Seeing her so energetic, it just meant that they had failed!" Lord Taron hissed.


    "Than, we shall move our ns forward!"

 Chapter 333: The Purge

    Chapter 333: The Purge


    Rothschild Estate''s Marshaling Yard


    Knight Captain Judis eyed the brightly lit windows of the Great Hall where dancing figures and drifts of conversation and music could be heard. "Lord Captain!" An armored soldier stood saluted. "The men have formed up and are ready!"


    Judis turned and faced the neat columns of soldiers, the remaining core of his military strength, as hundreds of his men had perished away at the battle of Orwell''s Point. "Good. Squad leaders, you have your orders! Carry them out!"


    The soldiers saluted as one with a sh of steel against steel and mounted up onto theirnd dragons and headed towards the gates. Judis eyed the soldiers marching away and turned to the group of United Nations soldiers who stood there watching the ongoings.


    "Mills!" Judis gestured to the cocky soldier. "I need a word, man to man!"


    "What is it?" Mills strolled over.


    "You and I..." Judis red at Mills. "We started off as enemies, but now... allies..."


    "Yea... so what of it?" Mills frowned as he braced himself at Judis strange words. "What do you want"


    "I want you to look at Lady Titanna!" Judis gritted his teeth as he forced the words out. "If we fail... her enemies will... not let her live!"


    "Wha? I..." Mills was confused.


    "I want you to take her away from this ce if we fail!" Judis hissed. "Protect her as you did!"


    "O- of course!" Mills replied in a serious tone. He knew Judis was putting Titanna''s safety before his own interest and he admired the man''s heart. "I promise you!"


    "Good!" Judis nodded. "A gentleman''s promise is heavier than the mountains!"


    Mills watched Judis turned away and join his troops as they rode off towards the gate and towards the city with several carriages in tow.


    "What did he want?" Tyrier asked as he rode and dragon over.


    Mills rubbed his face and said, "He wants me to protect Titanna if shit hits the fan and bring her out of this ce..."


    "Will you?" Tyrier asked as he turned to watch the Rothschild''s cavalry.


    "Yes... I promised him..." Mills replied. "And, I have yet to give her a reply..."


    "Reply?" Tyrier asked. "On?"


    "Responsibilities!" Mills sighed. "Enough of that, you also watch yourself out there too!"


    Tyrier grinned, his teeth unnaturally white from the glow of themps. "Don''t worry too much, we should be able to apise our mission sessfully! Your girlfriend won''t be in danger, besides, she is smart!"


    "I hope so too!" Mills replied. "Alright, good luck and godspeed!"


    Tyrier gave a nod and turned to his men, "Move out!"


    The dino like mounts hissed as the riders kicked their nks and they galloped off, following the cavalry into the city.


    The cavalry split up once they left the Estate, with some heading deeper into the Inner City, others headed towards the Inner City gates to enter the city districts. The sparsely popted streets allowed them to rapidly move to their destinations without any incidents and the soldiers dismounted and proceeded to enforce their orders.


    -----


    Norshelm Residental District, Baker''s Street


    Campell Solomon, the city''s watchmander, was happily sipping a goblet of fine red, recently he has gotten a case of wine, courtesy of House Taron. He smiled at the thought of the cooperation with two of the Great Houses of Norshelm and the amount of gold he had epted that sat in his private vault.


    Suddenly, an urgent knocking on his door jolted him out of his dreams and spoilt his mood. "What is it?"


    "My Lord," His manservant bowed and quickly reported. "There are soldiers downstairs that wished to speak to you, they say its a matter of great importance!"


    "Who are they?" Campell stood up and asked curiously, wondering what had happened. "Which unit are they from?"


    "They bear the si of House Rothschild, my Lord," His manservant replied. "As for what purpose, they say it is for your ears only..."


    Campell''s face turned slightly pale as he set his goblet down, wondering if the Rothschilds had found out his involvement with House Taron and Deflin. He shook his head at the thought, doubting that they uncovered his part with them and even so, with the backing of two of the greatest Houses in the city, what can a waning House do to him?


    "Let them in," Campell said after a while. "I will meet them in the study."


    The manservant gave a bow and left while Campell walked over to his study. To be safe, he called his personal guards to be on alert and sat down and waited for what kind of important matters these soldiers came bearing.


    Sounds booted feet could be heard and the door to his study opened. His manservant announced the guests, "Sir Ley, Knight of Silver."


    "Sir Ley, pleased to meet you," Campell stood up and pasted a weing smile on his face. "What matters are that important that can''t wait till the next day?"


    Sir Ley did a quick check of his surroundings before he turned to his men behind him and nodded. His subordinates suddenly sprang into action, drawing their swords and cutting down the guards and the servants without a word.


    Campell''s expression turned into fear as he witnessed the sudden violent deaths of his people and he nearly toppled over his chair. "Wait! What are you doing?"


    "You are under the suspicion of the crime of coborating with the enemy!" Sir Ley said as he stood before Campell. "Surrender yourself! Resist and die!"


    "Do you know who I am?" Campell tried to scare the Knight. "I am themander of the City Watch! I report directly to Lady Titanna! Who are you to use me of such crimes!"


    Sir Ley removed a scroll case and unfurled a document and waved it before Campell''s face. "By order of her Ladyship, Countess Titanna Rothschild. Lord Campell Solomon, is hereby suspended from his duties as Commander of Norshelm''s City Guards for epting bribes and favors from other parties. He shall be detained till his innocence is proven in a court ofw! Any resistance by the suspect will be deemed the suspect guilty as charged and be executed on the stop! Signed Titanna Rothschild."


    Campell''s face fell as he took the scroll with shaking hands and read the contents. "Im- impossible! They promised me! They promised to protect me!"


    "By those words, you just said," Sir Ley sneered. "It means that you truly have taken their gold!"


    Shocked, Campell looked up and quickly said, "No! NO! I was not saying anything at all!"


    "Enough of this nonsense!" Sir Ley snapped and drew his sword. "Follow us quietly, or die under my de! Choose one now!"


    Campell swallowed his saliva nervously as he stared at the tip of the sword at his nose. "I... I surrender... Don''t kill me!"


    "Take him!" Sir Ley ordered his men who quickly tied his hands together and covered his head with a hood. "Let''s go! We still got a few more names in the list to arrest!"


    -----


    All around the city, squads of soldiers stormed into houses, clubs, and even the barracks. Dozens of men were dragged or carried away into carriages. Messengers of House Taron and Deflin raced across the streets in a hurry towards the Rothschild''s Estate to inform their masters of the sudden purge but roadblocks barred their way.


    Those that tried to force their way through were killed on the spot. Some messengers managed to skip around the roadblocks only to be intercepted when they arrived at the Rothschild''s Estate gates, their bodies quietly disposed of.


    Hence the party in the Estate continued on smoothly without any word or news of the purge in the city. Titanna gracefully entertained and epted several dances from prominent heads of the Houses to put up an appearance to the guests.


    "Lady Titanna!" A raspy voice suddenly called out to her from behind. She turned her head around and saw Lord Taron and Lord Deflin, supported by their sons standing behind her. She made an apology to the guests speaking with and braced herself mentally for a face off with her enemies.


    "Wee to my humble ce, Lord Taron and Lord Deflin!" Titanna gave a sweet smile and a curtsy at the two old men. "And of course, the young Masters too."


    "Hmm..." Lord Deflin stood with his crystal cane and returned a smile at Titanna. "You look ravishing tonight, my Lady!"


    "Lord Deflin," Titanna said. "Thank you for yourpliments. I see that both my Brothers did not tag along with you tonight?"


    "Your Brothers?" Lord Taron put on a confused expression. "Why would they be with us?"


    "Oh, you must be joking!" Titanna covered her mouth with a small folding fan and giggled. "Didn''t they join you to overthrow me?"


    Both Lord Taron and Deflin burst out intoughter, making the surrounding guests look at them with curiosity. "Now that is a good joke!"


    Titanna gave a shrug and snapped her fan shut with a crack, "I know what my two brothers are up to, and of course what you did behind my back."


    "Enjoy the night, my Lords," Titanna said before she walked off. "I will repay back your... kindness to me!"


    The four men stood there watching Titanna mingled with the guests and frowned, "Did she know that we are the ones that sent the killer?"


    "It seems so, Father," The young Lord of Taron said. "She knows something!"


    "Push the next step of the n forward," Lord Deflin said. "Start moving the men into the city!"


    "But... we had yet to secure enough ces for our men to hide in yet!" The other young Lord of Taron whispered. "Andtely, there are some problems with food supplies for our warehouses!"


    "Fix it!" Lord Taron said to his son. "Put them in the dock warehouses or even onboard our trade ships! We just need them to be ready to move in an instant! Get all our associates to open their warehouses and storehouses for us to use so that our men could move in immediately!"


    "Yes, Father!"


    -----


    Norshelm, Grand Harbor


    Several soldiers dragged the struggling fat figure of the Vice Harbor Master away and into the ck carriage. The Knight in charge turned to stare at the sweating Harbor Master who bowed his head low in fear. "When is all harbor log?"


    "Here, Sir Knight!" The Harbor Master quickly took out several thick tomes. "All here!"


    "Find all the warehouses and businesses belong to this list of people!" The Knight said and shoved the scroll at the Harbor Master who quickly ordered his clerks to check the books. Due to the fact that their lives were at stake, the clerks worked very fast and soon, they found several warehouses and stores that were under the names of the ones on the list.


    "Sir Knight!" The Harbour Master had one of his clerks copied down the information. "Here is the information you asked for!"


    "Good!" The Knight did a quick check of the list. "You are certain that none is missing from the list?"


    "Yes, Sir Knight!" The Harbor Master swiped the sweat forming on his head away. "My people had checked our records twice!"


    The Knight stared at the sweating Harbor Master for another moment before he abruptly nodded. "Go home. All of you. And if you spread the single word of this incident tonight... Every single one of you will be arrested and thrown into the dungeons!"


    "Tha- thank you, Sir Knight!" The Harbor Master and his clerks quickly replied. "We will not speak a single word of this to anyone! We swear!"


    "Good! Now beat it!" The Knight gestured them to leave which they did so rapidly. After making sure no one was around, the Knight handed the information to another soldier. "Find out where these stores and warehouses are!"


    "Yes, Knight Captain!" The soldiers saluted.


    "And burn them all down!"

 Chapter 334: Retaliation

    Chapter 334: Retaliation


    House Taron Estate


    Several figures silently climbed over the fence of the massive estate grounds of House Taron. They scanned their surroundings and carefully avoid both magical spells and physical guards as they stealthily made their way into therge mansion.


    "Both of our tangoes should be at the guests'' wing of the manor," Tyrier whispered to his men. "We stealth in, grab our two tangoes and exit quietly."


    "Try not to get engaged!" Tyrier said. "We want to scare them and give them the impression we can enter and exit like ghosts!"


    His men nodded as they stacked up against the building''s shadow. "They should be on that floor!" Tyrier pointed to the second floor where the windows were brightly lit. "Let''s go!"


    They sprinted across thewn, keeping low using the manicured bushes as cover once the roving patrol of guards was out of sight. They crouched under one of the windows and used a long flexible piece of metal and jimmied thetch, before opening the window and climbing in.


    Once everyone was inside, thest man closed the window and while the rest spread out and cleared the room. The room was unlit and empty, decored like some kind of study or library. Hitsu opened his bag of holding and took out the spy camera and slipped it under the door crack. He yed around with the camera controls before retrieving the tool back into his bag. "Corridor is clear!"


    "Move! Fast and quiet!" Tyrier ordered and they exited in two rows each hugging one side of the corridor walls. The corridor was lit with glowmps, allowing them to see without the need for night vision equipment. They ignored the doors they found along the way and headed straight for the stairs.


    A pair of guards stood at the main hallway where the double stairs that lead up to the second floor were at. Tyrier gestured to Atiled and Young with hand signals and they both nodded, drawing out their tasers. Tyrier raised his hand up before chopping it down and both men darted out and fired their tasers.


    Both guards jerked and spasmed as the taser barbs punched through their te mail and innerwear. The sharp prongs pierced their skin and dumped fifty thousand volts of electricity into their bodies. As their conscious faded away, Atiled and Young rushed forward to grab their failing bodies to prevent making any noise.


    They stacked both men in an upright position against the wall and removed the barbs from their bodies. The rest of ymore One pushed forward and advanced up the stairs. After ensuring the second floor corridors were clear, they headed towards the room where music andughter could be heard.


    Using the spy cam tool, Hitsu could see dozens of people partying inside the room. He yed with the camera controls before he said, "Found them!"


    Tyrier reached into his pouch and removed a yellow banded canister. "Sleep spell," Tyrier said. "Knocks them out for half an hour or less, courtesy of Magister Thorn and Dr. Sharon!"


    The men stacked against the door and Hitsu carefully checked the doorknob, before he nodded to Tyrier who held the spell grenade in his hands. Tyrier pulled the pin, which held a spring loaded mana stone.


    Hitsu gently turned the doorknob and opened the doorrge enough for Tyrier to fling the grenade in. He quickly shut the door once the grenade flew into the room and mentally counted down in his head. "Five thousand... four thousand... three thousand... two thousand... one thousand..."


    The sudden appearance of the spell grenade barely registered to the people inside the room. The dark olive green canister with a yellow colored band rolled unnoticed on the carpet and came to a halt underneath a sofa before the mechanical clockwork spring snapped down, the mana stone attached to the head of the spring and touched arge circr rune, carved with arge scale knock out spell.


    The mana stone red up briefly as all its magic power stored in the stone was sucked dry by the rune. A split secondter, the mana stone crumbled into dust as all power was drained away by the rune and the rune exploded as the overcharged spell was powered up.


    A sudden magic circle measuring two meters wide erupted out from the canister and surprised some of the more clear headed party goers before the spell waspleted. The magic circle lit up brightly before disappearing and everyone in the room felt their vision darkening and they copsed where they stood or sat.


    As Hitsu was about to open the door and rush in, Tyrier stopped him, with a shake of his head. "Wait another five seconds! Let the spell expire first!"


    Hitsu nodded and waited another five seconds. "Go!" Tyrier said after a while and Hitsu opened the door. He immediately tracked his weapon left, covering the left portion of the room while Loke behind him covered his right.


    He immediately saw the whole ce was in a mess. The room wasrge and a party seemed like to be in full swing when they crashed it. Half naked female bodiesid sprawled all over the ce, where a massive bed was set against one side of the wall. Sofas and tables filled with drinks and foodid scattered all over the ce.


    Several musicians slumped over their instruments while several young males wereid out on the sofas with females in their arms. "There!" Hitsu pointed towards a bunch of tangled up bodies.


    Immediately they started to pull the bodies away and Tyrier whipped out his tablet, cing it next to an unconscious male, physicallyparing the pictures. "Got the eldest brother here! Alberto Rothschild identified!"


    "Here''s the other guy!" Wolf called out, dragging a body out and Tyrier bent over and checked his identity. "Mallot Rothschild!"


    "Alright! Bag them and let''s go!" Tyrier ordered and his men bound their hands and gagged them before slipping hoods over their heads and Alited and Young fireman carried them over their shoulders. "Move out!"


    They retreated in the same way as they came, without meeting anyone. As they reached the Estate''s perimeter fence, shouts and yells could be hearding from the mansion. "Looks like they found out something is wrong!" Tyrier grinned.


    "Toote, suckers!"


    -----


    House Rothschild, Great Hall


    Lord Taron stood with his back straight despite over fifty years old. His long greying hair wasbed and tied in a long ponytail that reached his shoulders. In his hands, he sped a long crystal cane firmly, resting it between his feet.


    He felt a sense of unease as he watched Lady Titanna mingling with the guests before him, yet he couldn''t pin it down to the cause. He eyed his son, Daniel Taron epting a dance from one of the prettier girls while the Young Lord of Deflin, Steve, was nursing a goblet of wine, his eyes fixed on Titanna.


    Lord Taron turned and spoke in a low voice to Lord Deflin who was seated next to him. "Something does not feel right..."


    The old Lord of Deflin nodded slowly as he too felt Lady Titanna''s actions were too... calm. "She does not even show any fear or unease, like... she has some kind of hidden card that we do not know."


    "Impossible..." Lord Taron replied. "I clearly investigated her assets and strength of her forces. She brought back a total of 27,143 soldiers, out of that, 3,378 had deserted or ran away when they returned to the city."


    "We bribed 49 hundred-man leaders and three thousand-manmanders over to our side..." Lord Taron said. "She only has 15,865 soldiers in that army of hers. Even the famed Rothschild''s Knights of Silver barely have 60 Knights left in their ranks..."


    "There was another 52 mercenaries she brought into her mansion," Lord Taron added. ''Which barely up her odds."


    Lord Deflin frowned as he too ran all possibilities through his head. "Wait! Did you see themander of the Knights of Silver?"


    "Knight Captain Judis?" Lord Taron looked around the room. "Now that you mention it... I do not..."


    "Steve!" Lord Deflin hissed at his son who quickly came over. "Have you seen Knight Captain Judis anywhere tonight?"


    Steve Deflin was startled by the question and he jerked his head up and looked around before he replied. "No!"


    "Where could he be?" Lord Taron''s expression turned to worry.


    "He usually likes to stick close to Lady Titanna and chase all the men away..." Steve said. "Curious..."


    Suddenly, amotion came from the crowd and the guests seemed to be pulled towards the windows. "What is happening?" Lord Deflin demanded as he sensed fear and confusion from the mood of the party.


    "Wait here while I find out, Father. Lord Taron," Steve Deflin excused himself and joined the crowd forming at the windows.


    After a short while, he came back in a hurry, "Something is wrong... the city seems to be on fire!"


    "What?" Both the Lords turned towards the windows. "Let us see!"


    They made their way towards the windows and the guests gave way to them due to their lofty positions. They both stared out into the night and saw the city in the distant glowing and hissed. "The merchant and harbor are on fire!"


    The guests were muttering among themselves as they discussed the sudden event that was unfolding in the city with excitement. Some guests, worried about their business in those ces quickly excused themselves from the party and after giving their apologies to Lady Titanna, they left in a hurry.


    Lord Deflin suddenly thought of something he shot a nce at Lady Titanna, to find her eyeing him in return. She gave a mysterious look at Lord Deflin before covering a smile that formed in her lips with her fan.


    "Trouble!" Lord Deflin suddenly said. "We have been had! She outyed us tonight!"


    His son and Lord Taron turned and stared at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"


    "She must have sent Knight Captain Judis to burn down our warehouses and business!" Lord Deflin said in horror. "That is why we did not see the Knight Captain tonight!"


    Lord Taron turned rigid as the realization came to him. "If that is true... she must have found out about... No!"


    "Lord Taron!" A voice cried out from the edge of the crowd. "My Lord! Where are you?"


    A messenger finally spotted his Lord at the windows and he pushed his way through the guests. "My Lord! I bear grave news!"


    "Silence!" Lord Taron hissed as the surroundings guests eyed him with curious eyes and ears. "Not here!"


    The messenger realizing his mistake quickly gave a bow and stepped in and whispered into Lord Taron''s ears. After that, he stepped back as his Lord''s expression turned purple with fury. "Back! We return to the Estate now!"


    "What is the problem?" Lord Deflin asked curiously. "Is it what I fear?"


    "Yes and no!" Lord Taron growled. "We... will speak of this matterter! But I need to return at once!"


    "Lord Deflin!" Another voice called out and another messenger in House Deflin colors appeared.


    "What is it?" Lord Deflin asked while Lord Taron paused in his footsteps as he too was curious about the news the messenger bore.


    The messenger seeing everyone watching him, he leaned forward and spoke in a low voice to his Lord. "Several of our businesses and warehouses are burnt down!"


    "WHAT?" Lord Deflin hissed in anger as the matter he feared came true. "We... return at once!"


    "What appears to be the matter, my esteemed Lords?" A sweet voice came over the whispering guests. "The party tonight not to your liking?"


    Both Lord Taron and Deflin turned their attention and anger at the voice. Lady Titanna stood at the edge of the crowd and fanned herselfzily. "Please tell me what isck, so I can improve my hospitality to you both!"


    "YOU!!!"

 Chapter 335: All Bets Are Off!

    Chapter 335: All Bets Are Off!


    A hush fell among the guests as they eagerly watched the confrontation betweendy Titanna, Lord Taron, and Lord Deflin. Some of the guests started to form up behind Lord Taron and Lord Deflin, clearly showing their stance towards House Rothschild while others did the same for Lady Titanna.


    Her female friends, Lady Sophia, Lady Grace, and the young Lady Rosette from House Iris quickly gathered around her, standing by her side to show their support.


    Soon the Great Hall was divided into three groups, one group lead by Lady Titanna, another group by Lord Taron and Lord Deflin and thest group consisted of neutral parties.


    "If there is anypse in my manners, I apologized," Titanna gracefully gave a curtsy. "I hope this does not strain the rtionship between our Houses."


    "Hmph!" Veins could be seen popping up from Lord Taron''s forehead. "You are too kind, my Lady!"


    "We have some matters of great importance!" Lord Taron hissed. "We shall take our leave first!"


    "In such a hurry to leave?" Lady Titanna purposely stood before him and blocked his way. "The party just barely started!"


    "Enough!" Lord Deflin said from the side. "You are good... You have achieved your goals! We will not stay here any longer!"


    With that Lord Deflin, leading his son, pushed through Titanna''s supporters and left the Great Hall with Lord Taron and his son following behind. The rest of their supporters followed along, casting looks of disdain at the rest.


    Lady Sophia next to Titanna asked in a low voice, "What happened that riled them up so badly?"


    "Hehe," Titanna giggled. "I just dealt a big blow to their businesses!"


    Lady Grace turned towards the window and whispered, "You meant those fires...?"


    Titanna nodded, "Don''t say a word of this to anyone, our fight has just begun!"


    -----


    Mills slowly leaned back and ced his rifle on safe from the hidden alcove on the second floor as the other faction left the Great Hall as an angry mob. He left out a sigh of relief as he watched Titanna giggle away with herdy friends, admiring her looks.


    "Damn it, Mills," Mills spoke to himself. "You are a Marine! She''s some kind of noble on an alien!"


    "Fuck... what should I do?"


    -----


    Lord Taron sat in silence as he pondered on his options while his son watched the glowing city in the distance. "Did they really burn down our warehouses and businesses?" Daniel asked.


    "It will appear so," Lord Taron growled. "Not only that, they attacked our Estate! Both the brothers were taken away!"


    "What?" Daniel''s eyes widened in shock. "How did they managed to do that? Our guards?"


    "Bah! They are useless!" Lord Taron hissed. "No one even knew till the servants found the guards in the guest wing unconscious and everyone in the Rothschild brothers'' room was knocked out!"


    "How could it be?" Daniel sucked in a breathe. "Our household guards are almost on par with the Knights of Silver! Where did they get people more powerful than our guards?"


    "This is an important matter!" Lord Taron said. "Go investigate it with all haste!"


    "How about the matter of our properties?" Daniel asked. "What should we do?"


    "Wait till we return to our Estate!" Lord Taron said. "I wonder why did no onee to inform us till... sote! They must have nned all these for quite some time ago!"


    "And our men?" Daniel asked. "If they hit our stores, how will we feed our troops if we bring them into the city now? And where could we shelter them?"


    "Put that off, for now, let the men continue to camp outside," Lord Taron said. "We find out what our losses are and also what losses did House Deflin suffered. Then we make new ns!"


    "Yes, Father!"


    -----


    Lord Deflin was in a simr state of mind as he rode in his own private carriage with his son. "That little upstart girl has yed us well!"


    "Father, why not we just kidnap her and force her into a marriage with me?" Steve Deflin said with a lustful look in his eyes. "Once she is married to our family, we can control the two Rothschild brothers with ease!"


    "Impossible!" Lord Deflin brushed off his words. "She would rather take her life than be tied to our family!"


    "If we do not try how will we know?" Steve said. "So what if she destroyed our warehouses and businesses?"


    "If she is in our hands," Steve continued. "None of all these will matter! We don''t even need to bring troops into the city! We can control everything if she is in our hands!"


    "That is true..." Lord Deflin said. "But getting close to her is very hard, especially after that attempt on her life!"


    "There are ways to lure her out," Steve smiled. "Don''t she have her good friends?"


    "You mean to take her friends as hostages" Lord Deflin''s eyes narrowed in thought. "But... we will offend the Lesser Houses..."


    "Ha, those low born Houses!" Steve waved his hand in a dismissal gesture. "What can they do to us once we hold all the power in the city?"


    "Even the Emperor will ignore our schemes as long the tributes and ves to the Capital continued without an issue!" Steve said. "And with the army in our pocket, what can the small time Houses do? We can easily crush them with a snap of our fingers!"


    "Let us see what is the extent of the damage to our House before we decide on that!" Lord Deflin dered.


    "Yes, Father!"


    -----


    House Rothschild


    Several ck painted carriages pulled by angrynd dragons rolled up into the side gate and stopped at the marshaling yard with a screech of wood and metal. Dozens of riders apanying the carriages came to a halt as well and the men unmounted. The doors to the carriages were opened and hooded and tied men and women were dragged out from the carriages and dragged off into a dungeon.


    The blind and gagged prisoners could only stumble and cry in their gags as they were roughly dragged into cells before their restraints were removed. Cries of injustice and deres of innocence echoed after the departing soldiers who mmed shut the thick wrought iron gates of the dimly lit dungeons.


    Tyrier jerked his head at the two bodies dumped on the side of a stone guardhouse and said, "I got the two brothers. Both sleeping like babies."


    Knight Captain Judis nodded tiredly as he rubbed his soot covered face. " Great work!"


    "Put them in separate cells," He ordered his men who carried the two brothers away. "Keep them away from the rest of the prisoners!"


    "Hard night?" Tyrier eyed Judis''s appearance. "You look like shit!"


    "Look like shit?" Judis looked down on himself and frowned at the phase. "You mean I look bad?"


    "Yea, something like that... " Tyrier grinned. "Got everyone on the list?"


    Judis nodded. "Some resisted and we kill them. Cost me two men and several others wounded... You?"


    "Bah... Like taking candy from a baby!" Tyrier boasted. "We went in without a sound, knocked out the guards. Found them both in some kind of orgy... knocked everyone out and grabbed them both without alerting anyone."


    "Very nice," Judis nodded in appreciation. "Say, do you want to work for me instead of this... United Nations Empire?"


    "Haha, thanks for the offer," Tyrier smiled. "But no thank you. We are after still enemies, even your Lady is allied to us for now."


    "Such a pity," Judis sighed. "Even if I offer all the power, gold, and evennd if you join me?"


    Tyrier shook his head. "There are somethings that I can''t give in to, especially when it''s your Empire which destroyed my home and made my family ves."


    "I see," Judis nodded in understanding. "Than we shall not speak of it anymore."


    "Well, then, if that is all, I will leave with my men to rest," Tyrier said. "Good luck with your enemies! After what has been done tonight, I assure you, all bets are off!"


    Judis watched the strange soldiers packed up their gear and walked off towards the guest wing and frowned wondering how long will they be House Rothschild''s ''friends''.


    "Judis!" Titanna suddenly appeared with several guards in tow. "How is everything?"


    Judis smiled at the pretty sight of Titanna in her ballroom dress. "We managed to get almost everyone on the list. There were some deaths but we should have dealt a heavy blow to House Taron and House Deflin and their allies tonight!"


    "Good!" Titanna''s eyes glowed fiercely under the light of themps. "And my brothers?"


    Judis gestured towards the dungeon entrance. "We ced them inside private cells. They are still knocked out."


    Titanna nodded. "Inform me when they have woken up!"


    "Yes my Lady!" Judis gave a bow.


    "Good job," Titanna patted Judis''s shoulder. "Thank you for your hard work!"


    -----


    As the rising sun rays cast its light over the city, the night''s destruction of several businesses and warehouses became more apparent in the morning. Charred structural skeletons stood out among other standing structures.


    Dozens of figures could be seen poking around the ruins either trying to salvage or discover something useful or clues of how the fire started. Soldiers bearing House Taron and House Deflin crests stood grim faced as they shooed away any curious gawkers.


    Lord Taron and Lord Deflin stood on the pier where they looked at the remains of one of their trade barges whichid half sunken on its moorings. "She is really vicious."


    Lord Taron nodded at his counterpart''s statement. "My House had six warehouses burnt down with four months of supply and fourteen thousand gold crowns worth of trade goods destroyed."


    "That is not counting the buildings andpensations loses," Lord Taron said. "And also on the damages from your side and our allies! She even had both her brothers taken away under my nose!"


    Lord Deflin''s expression was ugly as he turned to Lord Taron. "We lost a couple of trade ships, two warehouses, and several businesses..."


    "We have to dy the moving of our forces into the city," Lord Deflin dered. "Without adequate supplies to feed the men, our chances of sess has dropped quite a lot."


    "How did she know which warehouses and businesses to target?" Lord Taron said. "We underestimated her abilities."


    "Yes, we did," Lord Deflin said. "Well, take it as a learning lesson. I suspect that it is due to the help of the Lesser Houses since most of them deal with food merchants."


    "What is your n now?" Lord Taron asked. "We can''t let something like this go..."


    "Hmmm... I propose we take care of the Lesser Houses that support her first, to weaken her powers," Lord Deflin said which an evil gleam in his eyes. "Scare the rest of the Lesser Houses. See if they still dare to stand against us!"


    Lord Taron nodded, "Yes, we should have done that at the start."


    "Especially target House Canda and House Weske," Lord Deflin said. "I heard the daughters of Canda and Weske are good friends with her. Take them hostage."


    Lord Taron smiled. "Of course."


    "Without the two Rothschild brothers... we lost our chess piece..." Lord Taron added. "We should find them and ''rescue'' them from her tyranny!"


    Lord Deflin smiled. "Well, my son has this idea, if we hold her friends and loved ones in hostage, we can force to into a marriage with my son. This way, we can control the Rothschilds!"


    "Marriage?" Lord Taron frowned. "It will not be easy to make her ept such a proposal!"


    "I know, that is why we must find her weakness," Lord Deflin said. "We start with her close friends and loved ones first!"


    "That sounds like a n too," Lord Taron nodded before giving a sly smile. "But does your son have to be the one to be married to her? My son can sacrifice himself to take the burden away from you..."


    "Haha!" Lord Deflinughed. "You old forgey! Don''t you dare steal such a position from my son! Hahaha!"


    "Well, it doesn''t really matter who she marries! As long she marries into one of our Houses! Hahahaha!"

 Chapter 336: Undercurrents

    Chapter 336: Undercurrents


    Norshelm, Old District


    Scented candles lit up the hall decored thickly with exquisitely patterned drapes. Pillows and cushionsid scattered all around, where couples of all sexes mingled and enjoyed themselves with drinks, food, and exotic drugs.


    A marble reclining chair was perched on the far end where a female with both stunning looks and figure loungedzily like a cat, with several hulking males fawning over her. She moaned seductively in pleasure as they massaged her body, while one even licked her toes.


    "My most beautiful Queen!" A balding man dressed as a merchant suddenly appeared and he hurried down the richly carpeted floor, ignoring the orgy all around him as his face bore an expression of worry and unease.


    "What seems to be the problem?" The woman on the lounge chair repliedzily, taking a bite of a fruit offered by one of her admirers.


    "My Queen!" The merchant bowed before the woman and kissed her outstretched feet. "I bear the news that the Rothschild''s Brothers were... taken away from House Taron!"


    "Hahaha," Herughter sent tingles of pleasure down the spine of the merchant and the surrounding people, their face expression smiling with rapture. "Who has such guts to such a thing?"


    "It is the young Rothschild miss!" The merchant eyed his mistress with lustful eyes. "They attacked both the Tarons and Deflins'' businesses in one night!"


    "She is daring," The woman brushed off the attentions of her male admirers as she sat up straight and crossed her legs. "And where has she taken them?"


    "They should be taken into the Rothschild Estate," The merchant replied. "And both the Tarons and Deflins are nning to retaliate for the attacks!"


    "Hmmm..." The sultry woman pouted her lips in thought, "Let''s add some spice to the mix should we? I still have not to vent off all my... unhappiness from that unfortunate incident with one of my avatars!"


    "Yes, my Queen!" The merchant''s smile widened as he tried to peek up under the ivory white dress as she uncrossed and crossed her long shapely legs.


    "Go and have fun, my children! Enjoy... life!"


    -----


    Rothschild Estate, Dungeons


    Titanna carefully made her way down the stone stairs deeper into the dungeon with the aid of a glowmp. As she reached the bottom, two guards on duty saluted her and unlocked the iron gates.


    She followed the guards and they brought her to a solid thick iron bound wooden door and into a cell. She eyed the shivering body hurdled at one corner of the cell and waited till one of the guards ced a chair for her to be seated.


    After sitting down did she gestured to the guard who rapped the cell bars separating her and the prisoner with his sword, waking the prisoner up.


    "What?" The prisoner slowly came to his feet and shaded his eyes from the brightness of the glowmp. He cautiously walked forward and his eyes slowly adjusted to the light and he saw who was sitting before him and he cursed madly. "YOU BITCH! THE GODS SHALL STRIKE YOU DOWN!"


    Titanna shook her head sadly at the outburst of the prisoner, "Is this how you greet your sister after not seeing her for a few months, Brother Alberto."


    "You are not even of pure blood!" Alberto hissed from behind the bars. "I don''t know what you did with Father and how you killed him! But I will never give up the fight with you!"


    Titanna sighed at the outburst of Alberto, "Others are making sure of you, yet you are too blinded by the lust for power and greed to see it! If I hand over the reins of House Rothschild to you, you and Mallot both would have destroyed everything Father had built!"


    "Enough of your words!" Alberto tried to shake the cell bars but they hardly bugled. "RELEASE ME!"


    "No," Titanna shook her head. "It is... safer for you down here. Now tell me who else is with you in this stupid scheme of yours?"


    Alberto gave a sneer, "There are forces backing me that you could never dream of! Even the Tarons and Deflins are just small time yers!"


    Titanna frowned at the confidence of his words, "So you meant there is someone else behind you?"


    "HAhahahaha!" Alberto gave off a sinisterugh. "Behind me? Hahahahaha! No no! She is my Queen! My mistress! My love! My desires!"


    "She will grant me all my wishes and desires!" Alberto giggled and sat down on the cot. "You shall feel her wraith soon!"


    "Who is she?" Titanna stood up and red at Alberto. "Did she cause the Houses to turn on us?"


    "No..." Alberto smiled. "She... set us free! To pursuit our desires! Hahahaha! She wille and set us all free!"


    Titanna stepped away from the cell, shivering slightly and feeling ufortable at sight of her brother''s eerie smile. She exited from the cold damp dungeon and felt better as the warmth from the sun, bathed over her body.


    "My Lady!" A soldier with a messager sh came up to her. "The city council begs your presence at once at the Citadel! They have matters of importance that require your presence!"


    She nodded and turned to one of her aides, "Prepare my carriage, it''s time for me to return to the Citadel after being absent for so long!"


    It took her almost a turn of the ss before her carriage finally stopped at the gates of the Citadel where ministers and clerks working under the City Council governor the city and the Southern Trerroties.


    The Citadel was busy as usual, the five story tall stone structure set in the middle of the city, with its own walls, barracks, and armory. It overlooked the city with its towering steep angled roofs and spires.


    As she made her way towards the Inner Sanctum, people bowed as she strolled back, and they were startled that she has suddenly returned. Word soon spread and many people came to take a look at her as they discussed all gossips and rumors that had been floating around for something.


    Her guards paused and joined the Citadel guards at the entrance of the Inner Sanctum as they are not allowed in. She entered the towering double doors and found the entire City Council members seated around the circr tiered hall.


    All conversation died when she appeared at the entrance and she walked down the steps and took her seat at the head of the table as was her right. Everyone stood up and bowed as she appeared and only sat down after she did.


    "What is the issue that demands my presence?" Titanna asked immediately.


    "Ahem..." Lord Taron stood and said, "My Lady, as you know, there have been several... acts of... random destruction and theft in the city just the night before."


    "And we have positive evidence that Knight Captain Judis of the Silver Knights were involved!" Lord Deflin stood up and dered. "We demand that you put him under arrest to answer for his crimes!"


    Cries and yells supporting the demand made by Lord Deflin came from the other tiered ministers as they cast their support to arrest the Knight.


    Titanna''s raised an eyebrow and said. "Positive evidence, my Lords? You meant that the letter I authorized him to act on my behalf was fake?"


    Both Lords looked at each other and gave a small smile before Lord Taron said, "If that is the case, why has my Lady targeted those business and caused such a huge disturbance to the city? What has those merchants done that deserve such wanton destruction of their property?"


    "What are those orders to have dozens of men and women dragged out of their homes and arrested?" Lord Taron asked.


    "Those men and women broke their oath and epted bribes!" Lady Titanna stood up and stated. "Everyone of you has taken an oath! You all swore an oath to be loyal and serve the Emperor! They have broken that oath!"


    "If that is the case, then why is my Lady unpunished?" Lord Deflin stood up and said. "You had lost the battle with those barbarians and failed to recapture Orwell''s Point, making us and the merchants lose thousands of gold crowns every week!"


    "Thousands of men were killed, and who shall answer to their families?" Lord Deflin said passionately. "How do you answer to the dead while you are still alive and well? How shall you answer to the Emperor for your failure?"


    Titanna gave a small suppress growl from her throat and took a deep breath. "We lost the battle? Maybe if your House and Lord Taron had sent your troops and supplies down instead of hoarding them like a miser, we might have won the battle and retaken Orwell''s Point! You should know how the Emperor treats cowards and backstabbers!"


    Lord Deflin frowned and sat down, conceding to Titanna words while Lord Taron continued. "Even so, what about the destruction of property?"


    "We have eyewitnesses who seen Knight Captain Judis pocketing wares before burning down the warehouses!" Lord Taron said with a statesman fervent. "If it was to carry out your orders to arrest those that had abused their powers, in this case, did Knight Captain Judis not abused his powers too?"


    "Why must the properties be burnt down?" Lord Taron turned and asked the council. "Shouldn''t the arrest of its owners be sufficient?"


    "Because of this incident, damages to the city came to a staggering 114,000 gold crowns inpensation and repairs!" Lord Taron said dramatically before throwing a sly look at Titanna. "My Lady, as City Governor, shouldn''t it be your job to put the city''s interest ahead of yourself? Why instead has the city and its citizens suffer for your own... personal vendetta?"


    "Do I need to inform everyone of my actions?" Titanna stood up. "My authorityes from the Emperor! My word is his word! You dare question me?"


    "We do not dare," Lord Taron bowed deeply in apology before he sat down, having achieved his goal as the other council members started to whisper among themselves. "I stand chastised."


    Titanna eyed the tiers and frowned inwardly, knowing that those two old men were ying the council against her and she knew she had to appease them and clear their doubts. "Thepensation wille from Rothschild''s coffers. As for the matter that Knight Captain Judis stealing things, I will personally investigate this matter!"


    "Ahem... My Lady," Lord Taron spoke again. "It might be wise, you might create the impression that you are biased to him... We should instead leave it to a specially formed party to investigate, after all, we don''t want to tarnish the Knight Captain and your good name!"


    Titanna red at Lord Taron who smiled in triumphant as the council members all made agreeing mutters. "Fine! Then I want amittee of five council members to helm the investigation!"


    Lord Taron smiled as he knew as long as he could find ways to influence themittee, Knight Captain Judis was doomed and that was as good as cutting off a hand of Titanna! Now, all they could to do was wait for the next part of their ns!


    Just as he finished that thought, the doors to the Inner Sanctum opened and a messenger came in hurriedly. He bowed to the council before heading straight to Titanna and whispered into her ears. As she listened to the news, her facial expression changed and she stood up with a curse on her lips.


    "I have urgent matters! This council meeting is adjoined!" Titanna dered and she quickly followed the messenger out. She nced angrily at both Lord Taron and Lord Deflin who bowed with an innocence smile on their faces as she stormed out of the Inner Sanctum.


    "Hahahahaa..." Lord Taron gave a lowugh as he stood next to Lord Deflin. "With her distracted now, we can easily destroy those who support her!"


    "Yes, with this, the closing act to this facade will soon be over!"

 Chapter 337: Uprising

    Chapter 337: Uprising


    Titanna stormed out of the Inner Sanctum in a huff and her aides and bodyguards trailed after her. She found several of her men waiting for her at the courtyard in front of the Citadel.


    "What is the situation now?" She asked the group of anxious soldiers and clerks that saluted her when she came up to them.


    "Not good, my Lady! " A portly male replied. He was well dressed and had a look of a merchant. "The ves and monsters had broken free from their pens and had murdered several guards and handlers! W- we think someone inside let them loose!"


    "The ves are also holding hostages!" The manager said. "They have broken out from three pens which make their numbers close to three hundred. And several monsters for are rampaging around the city streets now!"


    "And the city guards?" Titanna asked as they waited for her carriage to arrive. "What have they been doing?"


    "So far the city guard had closed the area into the ve quarters," A soldier replied. "But other than that they are not taking any actions!"


    "What?" Titanna red at the soldier who bowed away from her anger. "Who is in charge?"


    "No one..." The soldier said. "Knight Captain Judis was supposed to be inmand... But some soldiers came and took him away..."


    "Those old bastards sure act fast!" Titanna frowned. "This must be their ploy from the start!"


    "Give the order out to suppress the rioting ves!" Titanna said. "Have the next senior officer take overmand and form a monster hunting party to kill or recapture the loose beasts! And give a bounty to the Adventurer''s Guild for them to help too!"


    "Yes, my Lady!" The soldiers saluted and set off to carry out her orders.


    Titanna turned to her female House Guards and said, "Find out where had they taken the Knight Captain to! And request all the rest of the Knights of Silver to meet me at the ve pens!"


    Titanna looked back at the Inner Sanctum and cursed the two cunning old elves, knowing that the ves escaping from the pens were their work.


    "Let''s go!" Titanna said as her carriage came. "We need to stop the riots fast!"


    -----


    Norshelm, Trade District, ve Pens


    Qiem gave a cheerful smile as he watched dozens of ves armed with weapons taken from their previous guards. He had waited in this spot for a couple of days, just for this exact moment to happen just as oracled by his Mistress.


    The rioting ves rushed another group of guards without fear and both sides shed heavily. Other ves took the opportunity to free the other ves locked in the pens who were awaiting transportation to other markets.


    Qiem giggled as he watched severed body parts and blood flew all over. He thought of how his mistress''s words hade true and he removed a golden idol from his pocket and gently caressed the twin proud peaks of the figure.


    He took a small knife and prickled his fingertip, drawing a bead of blood out before he carefully dripped the crimson drop on the idol''s head.


    He hid the idol into a crevice of the wall of the building he was hiding in and use his blood draw several symbols and runes on the wall while he giggled and started chanted.


    All over the city, dozens of simr rituals were being performed. The sudden riots made it easy for cultists to perform their rituals without interference from the City Guards.


    At three locations around the city, dozens of cultists stood in a circle and without the need for cooridination, the cultists instinctively started theirrge scale rituals.


    Using their own blood, arcane runes andplex spells were drawn. Once the spell waspleted, the cultists disrobed and stood embraced each other naked and started to engage in sexual acts with each other while screaming in ecstasy.


    "Hail Mistress... of Desires! Hail... Daughter of Lust! All Hail... the Queen... of PLEASURE!!!"


    -----


    Norshelm, Rothschild Estate


    Mills stood at the balcony and looked at the distant city. He frowned as he noticed something strange over the skies. Dark stormy clouds appeared to be gathering so rapidly that even ayman to magic like himself, could tell some arcane powers were at work.


    shes of eye searing lightning could be seen flickering among the storm clouds and the clouds spun and rolled in the skies above the city, turning the area dark and gloomy.


    Mills stepped back as a reddish glow appeared to descent from the clouds and encircled the entire city. "Holy... fuck!"


    He flinched back and closed his eyes as the red glow seemed to m over him. After a couple of seconds, he opened one eye cautiously and peeked around, finding nothing out of the ordinary.


    "What the hell was that?" Mills whispered as he looked around his surroundings, seeing the strange eerie glow appeared to be held back by something from the Estate.


    Tyrier and some other Marines suddenly appeared next to him and they ogled at the scene. "What happened?"


    "Hell if I know!" Mills replied. "Some weird mojo shit is happening at the city!"


    Everyone turned their attention outside. "I think the Rothschild''s has some kind of magical ward protecting us from that... Whatever that is..."


    Just at this time, they saw several mounted cavalries rushing in from the gates and headed straight towards the Estate''s barracks where confused soldiers were staring at the spectate happening around them.


    "Don''t think that is a good sign!" Millsmented offhandedly. "Better get the boys geared up!"


    Tyrier nodded in agreement, "Got it! Also, see if you contact Orwell Command!"


    Mills nodded and turned to his men yelling, "Priority One! Fullbat loads!"


    The marines hearing his order ran back towards their temporary quarters yelling, "P One! P One!"


    Those resting in the bunks were roused out by the yells and they quickly donned their uniforms andced up their boots. Grabbing their weapons, armor, and gear, they ran out to the allocated rally and formed up into ranks.


    Mills joined the troops a couple of minutester and did a quick inspection with the other senior NCOs.


    Lieutenant Trism joined the men and he quickly gave a rundown of their situation to the gathered troops. "Alright, men! We just received word that a whole bucket of shit had just spilled over the city!"


    "Seems like Lady Titanna''s political enemies had struck back," Trism announced. "As you know, the Rothschilds primarily deals with ves. Her enemies had just retated by released those ves out into the city, which something akin to a ve revolt is happening now!"


    "We suspect that they will use the giuse of restoring order to the city and let in their own troops to crush the rioting ves and at the same time do a coup and force the Lady Titanna down from her seat."


    "Now, we might not like vers but High Command loves her," Trism stated matter of factly. "So, for now, we will be on fullbat standby. If needed, we will use the MRAPs to extract her out!"


    "Sir! What about the clouds and red... glow over the city?" Mills asked.


    Trism turned to look at the skies and said, "We have no intel on that yet, but it is clearly magical in nature! From what I can see, I suspect it is some kind of spell to obstruct the city defenders, making it hard for them to coordinate or even block their magic."


    "Now, we will coordinate with the House Guards here," Trism turned to Mills and Tyrier. "Support them in defending this ce, just in case."


    "NCOs!" Mills stepped up and yelled. "You heard the man! Double the watch and await further orders!"


    "Sir?" Mills caught up with Lt Trism as he was headed towards the Rothschild''s barracks. "Can we get through to Orwell Command?"


    Trism nodded. "I spoke with them earlier. They are sending in some air support. ETA four hours..."


    "Four hours?" Mills frowned as he eyed the reddish glow outside that had formed a dome around the grounds of the Rothschild Estate. "I don''t like this..."


    "I know, Sergeant," Trism agreed with the hooman. "I will try to get more information regarding our situation."


    As they were speaking, amotion suddenly happened among the Rothschild''s soldiers. It appeared a fight had urred among the soldiers.


    Mills and Trism watched on in confusion as several soldiers being restrained by other soldiers. "What is happening?" Mills asked one of the soldiers there.


    "We do not know either!" The frantic looking soldier replied. "They were reporting about the situation in the city and suddenly they started muttering something and started attacking people!"


    Mills frowned at the scene, seeing five men were needed to hold down one of the crazed soldiers who wasughing madly.


    "Give in to the Queen! The Mistress rewards!" They yelled while foaming at their mouths. "Join us!"


    Trism''s expression slowly changed as he watched the soldiers subduing the crazed elves. He suddenly grabbed Mills by his shoulder and said urgently, "This looks like some cult has taken over their minds!"


    "Brainwashing?" Mills asked in surprised. "How did they do that?"


    "That is your answer!" Trism pointed to the reddish skies.


    "Oh...fuck..."


    -----


    Titanna hissed in pain as she crawled out from the overturned carriage, supported by her personal guard. The first thing she noticed was her surroundings were gloomy and a sharp pain at her side where she hit herself.


    She felt her ne she usually wore biting cold against her flesh and she pulled it out and before her eyes, the charm turned into dust and crumbled away. "A magic attack!"


    Her guards rallied around her while some others checked the wreckage for any survivors. "What happened?"


    Her guys pointed to the dark reddish skies in answer and she looked up and saw a slow spinning vortex of dark clouds above her. "What in the heavens is that?"


    "THE MISTRESS REWARDS!" A cry from the side caught her attention and she saw several townspeople charging towards her. "JOIN US!"


    "Back off!" Her guards drew their swords and brandished them before the gathering crowd. "Back!"


    "What?" Titanna looked on in confusion before turning around in shock as her coachman wrestled against the guard that providing first aid.


    "THE MISTRESS REWARDS!" The elderly coachman who served the Rothschilds all his life suddenly mmed a small knife at the unprotected throat of the guard.


    The guard fell back gurgling and clutching his ruined throat, blood flowing everywhere as he thrashed wildly.


    The other guards with their attention diverted away by the sudden death of one of their own gave the crowd the chance to close in. "THE MISTRESS REWARDS!"


    Titanna drew the sword from the fallen guard and ran the de through the coachman who watched her grow up with tears in her eyes as he tried to stab her with his knife.


    "Their will has been controlled by some spell!" Titanna yelled. She hacked down a matronly looking woman who gave a warm smile at her as she died. "Give in to the Queen!"


    "Retreat to the Citadel!" Titanna ordered as she saw more and more people appeared and her guards were getting overrun. "RUN!"


    Titanna put her words into action and ran as fast as she could in her long silks. She cursed as she wished that she had worn trousers and armor instead of this clumsy dress!


    Her remaining guards acted as a rearguard, fending off the crude attacks from the townspeople.


    As Titanna neared the Citadel, she noticed the people seemed to have gone crazy. Yet there were some still sane but they were getting dragged down and ripped to bloody shreds by the crazed mobs.


    The Citadel guards seeing the strange happenings had barred the gates and bowmen manning the walls. Titanna nearly had an arrow shot through her as a nervous archer released an arrow at her approach.


    "OPEN THE GATES!" She yelled, ignoring the arrow. The small side gate creaked open as the guards recognized their Lady and she quickly entered with the remainder of her guards.


    "OPEN UP!"

 Chapter 338: Working Together

    Chapter 338: Working Together


    "Shepherd Six Four to Advance Party,e in over." Flight Lieutenant Peter spoke over the roar of the helo engines. He could see storm clouds gathering over the city that wasing up rapidly.


    "Advance Party, Shepherd Six Four, send."


    Shepherd Flight en route to your position in five mikes, over." Peter replied as he checked his flight instruments.


    "Roger Shepherd Six Four, weid out the tables and are waiting for you to join the party!"


    "Affirmative!" Peter replied with augh. "Shepherd Six Four, out."


    "Five minutes!" Peter yelled to his crew chief, the goblin Greg who followed Peter as he got assigned to flying the CH - 1 Griffin.


    Greg nodded and easily climbed up stacked supplies secured in the middle of the hold. He used the cargoting as footholds and he stood at the top of the stack, with one hand braced against the vibrating metal roof.


    "DUMB MAR EENS! Five mikes to touch down! Get ready dumb Mar eens!" Greg shrieked at the two rows of Marines strapped to bucket seats at the sides of the cargo hold.


    "ALRIGHT! You heard the green kiddo!" The Marine Sergeant yelled. "Check your gear! No one is to load any live ammunition! If you blow a hole into this bird... I WILL DUMP YOUR ASS OUT OF THIS BIRD WITHOUT A CHUTE! IS THAT CLEAR?"


    "YES, SERGEANT!" The troops'' chorus as they double checked their equipment.


    "Me not kiddo!" Greg cursed loudly. "Me Greg the Great! Two minutes, ya dumb Mar eens!"


    The medium lift helo panned as it bled off speed, swooping in low over the forestednd and came to a hover over a t field where dozens of animals fled in terror from the noisy flying monster.


    Peter expertly aligned his helo''s rear wheels to hit the ground with barely a bump before gently settling the forward wheels down. Beside him on both sides another two CH - 1 came in andnded, theirbined downdraft from their powered down rotors washed away the red smoke signal.


    A dozen men in Marine fatigues came running over while the pilots ran their shut down procedures. The rear ramps of the helos popped out and Marines exited from the transports.


    "Lieutenant Svar, 1st Battalion, Bronco Company, Fourth toon," A beefy Orekin introduced himself to Lieutenant Trism, Sergeant Mills and Tyrier. "I got orders to support your men here. The second wave is enroute by water and they will be here in roughly another a day or more."


    Mills whispered softly to Tyrier after seeing the muscr Orc looming at least a head over them, "Damn... I didn''t know Orcs got the brains to be an officer... Hell... he even speaks like a gentleman!"


    Tyrier gave a grin back and shook his head, deciding not to reply to Mills''s gibe. Both NCOs saluted the Orc Lieutenant who gestured over his own NCOs to be introduced.


    "So what is the situation now?" Svar asked when they entered the mansion.


    "Not good," Trism said. "We got fires raging all over the city, arge number of escaped ves rioting and fighting while there are reports of several monstrous creatures loose on the streets on the Eastern side of the city."


    "What kind of creatures?" Svar asked.


    "Erm... A copper Boa, some kind of giant dragon lizard, and a couple of owlbears," Trism replied.


    Trism led the new arrivals into a library turned Ops room. He gestured to a hand drawn map on a chalkboard set up on one side of the room with several photographs taken from the ground stuck on it. "That''s the Citadel, which is right in the middle of the city where it is our main objective.


    "To get to it from here, we got to enter the Outer City gates, cross one merchant and one residential district before reaching the Inner City gates." Trism briefed the men. "After which you need to cross another residential area and one moremercial area beforeing to the Citadel gates."


    "Thest report we hading from the city is that everyone had turned crazy..." Trism said. "Robberies, murders, ****... all kinds of actoristies were being carried out everywhere in the city."


    "Had the cause to this... madness found?" Svar asked as he rubbed his square jaws.


    "No, but we suspect there is a third party in y here, rather than our objective''s political enemies doing this," Trism said. "Some kind of cult probably... There was a red glow over the city moments before people who were exposed to it, turned crazy..."


    Svar gave Trism a look before he turned and looked at everyone else, "And you all were not affected?"


    "No, there is some kind of ward in this Estate that protected us all," Trism said. "We also confirmed most of the Houses have their own magical protection and any important locations in the city are simrly warded. And the red glow has subsided, two hours ago."


    "This means the people in the Citadel are all safe?" Svar asked.


    "Yes," Trism nodded. "Our objective, Lady Titannast known position is at the Citadel which we know is under siege."


    "So its a rescue mission?" Svar asked to confirm.


    "Yes," Trism nodded. "We were nning to enter the city by our armored vehicles but since we do not have any real time intel on the city, we were waiting for the... helos that brought you here."


    "So far, the unaffected Imperial army has tried to push into the city to retake it," Trism tapped his finger at the South Gate on the map and traced a route. "They were forced to stop here."


    His finger stopped at a crudely drawn rectangle. "This building is a local Church of Healing, they are forming a strong point here."


    "They encountered strong resistance from the crazed people, who still retain enough intelligence to use weapons and some even know how to cast spells even," Trism said. "The Imperials''mander has decided to hold their position there and force the crazed people to attack and break themselves against a fortified position."


    "He has sent the rest of his troops to block off all the exits, and luckily, the city towers and bastions are all warded, so he making sure to retake and link up with those troops still holding out in those defense structures," Trism added. "His goal is to prevent any one of the crazed to break out of the city now, in case it spreads to the countryside."


    "High Command has given their orders," Trism said. "We are to move in and save members of the governing council, and our top priority is saving Lady Titanna."


    "We n to do this in two steps," Trism said. "First we airdrop in a toon of Marines to secure and protect our target at the Citadel."


    "The second step, another toon goes in with an armored convoy with support from local forces," Trism tapped on the map. "The convoy will push all the way in to the Citadel and extract our people out."


    "The helos will provide aerial recon and support in the air, while the operation is in progress," Trism added.


    "n sounds good," Peter asked for the pilots in the room. "Any enemy dragons or anti air threat?"


    "We saw several of their dragons flying off," Trism said. "Other than that, there aren''t any more sightings. The Imperials have been warned that we will be flying in the AO, and theirmander has guaranteed that they will not attack us."


    "Can we trust the word of a Blue Boy?" Peter remarked. "How can we be sure they won''t take a crack at us when we are flying over?"


    "That is something we have to risk," Trism replied. "Besides, they have bigger problems to worry about than us flying overhead with the number of crazed people in the city."


    "Do the dragons go crazy too?" Peter asked, clearly unsatisfied with the reply. "I don''t want my helos to get attacked by any dragons."


    "It''s another risk we need to take," Trism said. "As for fuel, you guys brought plenty."


    -----


    Norshelm, Citadel, Inner Sanctum


    Titanna watched the nervous council members yell and shout at each other as one faction med the other for the events happening outside the Citadel walls.


    "My Lords!" A breathless messenger hobbled into the Inner Sanctum. "My Lady!"


    Instantly all conversation ceased as they turned their attention over to the messenger. "The scouts are back! But... we lost over eighty men!"


    "What happened?" Titanna raised a hand to silence the rest of the council. "What is going on in the city?"


    "The people... they seemed to be possessed or gone mad!" The messenger replied. "They swarmed our troops as they exited the gates!"


    "Children, women, elderly!" The messenger spoke in a voice full of dread. "We cut them down as they rushed us but they use their bare hands... to tear those caught... into..."


    "Enough!" Titanna quickly said as the members of the council started to panic from the news. "Go find the healer and get some rest!"


    She turned her attention and observed both Lord Taron and Deflin and found them to be quite unsettled. "Lord Taron and Lord Deflin," She called out after a moment of hesitation. "A private word with both of you?"


    Both Lords looked at each other but they followed Titanna to the side, out of hearing from the rest of the council.


    "I know the escape of the ves were both your doing," She directly asked without beating around the bush. "But is turning the city crazy part of your schemes?


    "N- no..." Lord Taron replied. "No matter how we won''t turn the city into... that! We are merchants! What good does a city have if it''s in chaos?"


    Ttanna nodded. "I will overlook what schemes and ploys you both side before. But now, we have another yer here, which is unknown to us."


    "This yer has turned the city mad!" Titanna said. "We are lucky because the Citadel is warded, and I and my guards were also protected by magical amulets that is why we are still sane."


    "We are the only ones here still sane while there is most probably a whole city of crazy people beyond the walls," Titanna said. "So I say, we put down our differences for now and work together to survive this. Deal?"


    Both Lord Taron and Deflin nodded, "We too thought of this, and did not expect you to raise this up. Hmmm... Why don''t you marry my son?" Lord Taron gave a sincere smile. "Once married, we are all one family! Our feud will be over and with your outstanding capabilities and our support, we will grow bigger and stronger!"


    "Now, old friend! How could you snatch her away?" Lord Deflin snapped. "My son is a better choice!"


    Titanna shooked her head inwardly. She was amazed how shameless these two old men where. One moment they were plotting to kill her, and suddenly they were asking her to marry their sons.


    "We will talk about thatter, once we have settled this... problem," She gestured around her. "Also I want you to release Knight Captain Judis if possible."


    Lord Taron turned and gestured one of his aides over and spoke a few words with him. "Done! Your Knight Captain is been held in the Citadel''s dungeons, so he shouldn''t have gone mad."


    "Good! We need all the fighting power," Titanna sighed in relief. "How about your troops?"


    "They... shouldn''t be affected..." Lord Deflin threw a look at Lord Taron who gave a slight shake of his head. Lord Deflin understood that Taron did not want Titanna to know about their strength.


    "Hmmm..." Titanna ignored the byy and said. "Other than the Citadel, there should be other ces which are protected or warded with magic."


    "Most of the guilds are protected, the temples and ces of worship too, even the central barracks, and City Guard barracks," Lord Taron said. "And all the Great Houses and some of the Minor Houses should have a magic ward too."


    "If that is the case," Titanna said. "Less than a fifth of the city is protected..."


    Lord Deflin sucked in a deep breath, "This means over eighty thousand people affected at least!"

 Chapter 339: Depravity and Destruction

    Chapter 339: Depravity and Destruction


    Qiem stood on the roof of a store that overlooked the city''s main square where various Guild was headquartered. He smiled as he watched the pitiful fewbined guards of the guilds attempted to fend off wave after wave of crazed townspeople while dozens of other believers stood awaiting hismand behind him.


    "Our Mistress has granted us our desires!" Qiem spoke with a fervent at the followers. "She gave us a chance to be rich and powerful!"


    "So lets us not waste it!" Qiem pointed to the Guilds before them. "Those Guilds are filled to the brim with gold and silver! And it shall be ours for the taking!"


    "THE MISTRESS REWARDS!"


    Qiem gave a smile, savoring the feeling of power as he watched his followers gather in magic power in their hands, his hair tingling in the presence of magic in the air. He remembered how the Guilds has taken everything away from him, house, wealth, and even his family.


    His eyes turned red as hatred red in his heart. Oh, they will pay, and he will regain everything he lost! He raised his hand up, signaling his followers to be ready.


    Bolts of lightning, fireballs and magic missiles shot out as Qiem chopped his hand down and an impressive disy of deadly fireworks mmed into the Headquarters of the Adventurers'' Guild.


    The three storied building that looked like a miniature square castle shooked from the sudden onught of spells. It''s magical ward protecting the building managed to hold against the attacking spells and the adventurers hiding inside the building poured out to the roof and returned spellfire and arrows to Qiem''s followers.


    The exchange of magic seemed to rile up the surrounding crazed people. They charged towards the Adventurers'' Guild, howling and screaming, ignoring Qiem''s followers as they surged towards the Guild, mming bare fists against the stone and wood facade. "JOIN USSSSSS!"


    The adventurers'' actions grew more fantic as the sudden swarm of crazed threatened to destroy the makeshift barricades. The spells and arrows that targeted Qiem and his followers lessened as the adventurers targeted the crazed people threatening to destroy the barricades.


    The other Guilds seeing the attacks hesitated on whether to help the Adventurers'' Guild, leading Qiem tough at their selfish actions. "This is how typical of the Guilds! Only caring for your own selfish gains!"


    "But fret not!" Qiem''s voice was drowned out from the spells and screams of the crazed yet he still shout out. "The Trader Guilds, Magician Guilds and even the Mercenary Guilds shall follow the Adventurers'' Guild''s fate soon!"


    With a collective triumphant scream, the crowd of crazed cried out, "THE MISTRESS REWARDSSSS!" as the barricaded door caved in and the crowd surged into the structure, mming against a thin line of shields.


    Blood spilled and flowed out from the doors of the Adventurers'' Guild. The crazed people threw themselves against cold steel, abandoning themselves in their anger, desires, and their deepest and darkest thoughts.


    The pretty receptionists cowling behind the desks were dragged out, clothes ripped and raped over and over again by the crazed crowd while others vent their bloodlust on the already cold mutted bodies of the adventurers.


    The higher ranked adventurers managed to hold out longer, retreating up the stairs before they were forced onto the roof, defending the only way up. Qiem smiled and with a gesture of his hands, the crazed crowd seemed to pull back from the stairs, leaving the survivors with some hope in their hearts.


    Soon sounds of things breaking could be heard and smoke soon billowed out from the second storey of the Guild building. The crazed crowded retreated out from the building and threw torches into the Guild as they left and they stood in silence watching the building burn.


    The survivors on the roof screamed in panic as they tried to find a way to escape, but with the mes licking the only way down the roof, they could not do anything. Qiem giggled as he saw the roof slowly copsed under the weight of the survivors as the roof supports weaken from the mes, dropped the screaming adventurers into the mes.


    Those that died early and quickly were the lucky ones as the stone structure turned into a massive oven. The trapped adventurers with fire resistance or water magic were slowly baked and cooked inside. Those that managed to find their way out were mercilessly shoved back screaming into the burning building till no one came out anymore.


    The other guilds watched in horror as the crazed crowd turned their heads collectively and smiled as one at the Merchant Guilds. Qiem pointed to the next Guild and whispered, "Kill them!"


    -----


    mes from the burning city lit up the night as crowds of crazed townspeople roamed the streets, engaged in acts of depravity and destruction. The smell of ash and cooked meat was thick in the streets causing the Imperial soldiers trying to reim the city choke and tear.


    Some of the soldiers even went crazy as their willpower was overwhelmed by the constantly cries and screams of the crazed. Theyughed as they ughtered their oncerades causing the Imperials'' morale to fall greatly.


    Unable to withstand the horrors piging the army, the Imperialmander ordered no more advances into the city and could only wait for reinforcements toe from other ces.


    -----


    Rothschild Estate


    "-ection 3 and 4 will fast rope down here," Lieutenant Svar briefed his men. "You will support the local Imperial garrison in holding the Citadel and ensure the safety of Lady Titanna while awaiting for the armored convoy to arrive."


    "LT!" One of the Marines asked. "Why can''t we airlift her out?"


    "Intel has found out there are some elements of cultists in the city that possessed high level magics," Svar replied. "And with that crazy storm floating over the city, the helos could not fly at a safe height. So the helos have to go in low which makes it an easy target, therefore we can''t extract her Ladyship out by air."


    "We will go in with a fast insertion," Svar continued. "Once the helos are over the city, all the crazies will know you are there!"


    "So, its a safer option to move the HVTs out with an armored convoy instead by air," Svar said. "The helos will provide close in air support for the convoy out."


    "Questions?" Svar asked his toon.


    "Sir?" Another Marine raised a hand. "Erm... are those crazies... civilians?"


    "Yes!" Svar said.


    "Can we kill civilians?" The Marine asked.


    "In this case..." Svar replied. "Yes! We will be in hostile territory and those crazies will kill you without a thought! Make sure to protect yourselves and your buddies!"


    "Another heavy reminder!" Svar barked at his toon. "I want no one to remove their helmets unnecessarily!"


    "Your helmets have ward runes engraved on them!" Svar reminded his men. "It will give you some protection against magic that affects your mind! SO DO NOT REMOVE THEM UNLESS THERE IS A VERY GOOD REASON TO! CLEAR?"


    "YES SIR!" The men chorus.


    "Good! If I see anyone removing their helmets with a good reason, I will make you have no head to ever put a helmet on!" Svar growled, showing off his sharp orcish teeth.


    "Draw double the ammunition and water!" Svar ordered. "We are going to need them!"


    Mills stood next to the Magic Resistant Ambush Protection vehicle and eyed the Orc Lieutenant briefing his men in the distance. "Damn, never thought to see a smart Orc."


    "Oerkin always smart!" Lance Corporal Slow gave a toothy grin from the open top gunner protection turret. "Oerkin outsmart dumb people all time!"


    "Yeah right..." Mills rolled his eyes. "I still remember someone who couldn''t even count to three!"


    Slowughed, "Recruits are dumb worms, yes? Me no longer recruit! Me smart Marine now!"


    "Haha!" Millsughed and banged against the armored hatch. "Yea, yea! Get ready to move out!"


    "Sergeant Mills!" The Orc Lieutenant walked over and gestured for Mills.


    "Yes, Sir?" Mills put on a polite expression on his face as he came up to the towering Orc Officer.


    "Are your men ready?" Svar asked in a serious tone.


    "Yes, sir!" Mills gestured to the four armored vehicles and two trucks were idling on the dirt road where the Rothschild''s House guards ogled at them from all angles. "Two em raps, two jeeps, and two trucks with ymore One and my Raiders all good to go."


    "Good," Svar nodded. "See youter then! Don''t bete!"


    "Yes, Sir!" Mills replied as he watched the Orc walked towards the helos that were spooling up their twin rotors. "Good luck!"


    "Alright, boys! Mount up!" Mills turned to his men and ordered. "Move out!"


    Both his men and ymore One mounted into the vehicles with him and Tyrier each taking a jeep. Twenty two men including the drivers were escorting the six vehicle convoy while a toon of thirty Marines took to the skies on two of the helos.


    The CH - 1 Griffins took off and followed over thend convoy, where two of the jeeps led the way while the two up armored trucks took the middle while an MRAP took thest spot. Along the sides of the convoy, rode two columns of Rothschild''s Household Guards onnd dragons, their wed feet racing madly to keep in pace with the already slowed speed of the convoy.


    The Rothschild''s Estate was located within Nobles'' District within the main city walls, where a vast carefully maintained forested area separated the Noble District from the rest of the city. Soon, the outer gates of the city appeared which they have to cross before reaching the inner city gates before reaching the Citadel.


    Over the city, the ominous clouds continued to unnaturally loom over the city, like an executioner ax while plumes of thick ck smoke hovered over the horizons. Fires that still burned cast an orange glow against the dark clouds, making the men feel like they were heading into an inferno.


    "Shepherd Six Two, this is Six Four," Flight Lieutenant Peter called out. "Keep low, stay at two hundred. Those magic clouds will make your day bad if you hit them!"


    "Roger that, Six Four, keeping within two hundred. Out!"


    Peter nced over the city and he could see masses of people looking up at him and seemingly following his shadow as his helo flew overhead. "Damn... this is like so kind of zombie movie!" He said to his co pilot who stared worried over the side at the city.


    "Two minutes!" Peter called out as he looked at the hand drawn map, using the city''sndmarks and memorized photographs to find his way to the Citadel. He could see the distinctive features of the Citadeling up rapidly on his windscreen.


    He ignored the pings of arrows hitting the underbelly of his Flying Banana as he came to a hover over the small park next to the Citadel and kept his rear facing away from the walls. He smiled at the fearful and surprised expressions of the archers on the walls and even gave a cheerful wave at them which he did not know if they could even see him.


    "GIT OFF MY GOD MACHINE, YE DUMB MAR EENSS!" Greg shrieked as he mmed the rear hatch open and kicked the coils of thick rope off the opened hatch. "GOO GOO GOO!!!"


    The first Marine gripped the rope and jumped off, his feet coiling around the rope to control his descent while he flicked off a gloved middle finger at Greg who pouted for not having thest say.


    It barely took twenty seconds to have all the Marines fast rope off and Greg squeaked into the intes, "No more dumb Mar eens onboard, Boss!"


    Peter smiled at Greg''sment and eased his throttle up, bringing his Flying Banana out of the zone and allowing Shepherd Six Two to take over his spot. The other helo came in the same way and disgorged its cargo of Marines.


    "Shepherd Six Four, Command. Operation Gothic Savior hasmerced!"

 Chapter 340: Operation Gothic Savior

    Chapter 340: Operation Gothic Savior


    Norshelm, Citadel, Outer Sanctum


    Titanna wearily dropped her borrowed bow down on the side of the cot and closed her eyes as sheid down. Almost immediately, she was woken up by the endless roar of something unnatural that grew louder and louder.


    She pushed her tired body up and followed the crowd of soldiers as their heads seemed to track something in the skies. She had fought all night on the walls, firing arrow after arrow at the never ending crowd that beat their fists futilely against the stone walls and iron bounded gates.


    She lost count of how many arrows she shot into the crowd, only knowing that her fingers were bleeding and her arm muscles were badly strained. Finally, when the morning sun came up, the crowd of crazed folk had retreated back, she thought she could finally have some rest.


    The loud roaring noise grew louder and louder and seemingly two dark green objects appeared out from the gloomy skies. The defenders cried out in fear and panic as one of the huge wedge shaped objects roared over the walls, prompting some of the archers to let loose their bows at the flying monster.


    It took Titanna a moment for her tired brain to process the flying monsters as some kind of machine belonging to the United Nations before she quickly yelled at the men to stop attacking the machines.


    Even tired as she was, she was still very impressed as two rows of soldiers neatly dropped out at a rapid speed from the noisy flying machine which was blowing sand and leaves everywhere. The first machine after dropping off a dozen of so soldiers turned and let the other waiting machine take over its spot.


    By this time, the noise and appearance of these two flying monsters had attracted attention from the council members and they all stared ck jawed at the scene. Even the two old patriarchs were dumbstruck with the strange flying monsters that carried troops in its bellies.


    "Lady Titanna?" An Oerkin strolled up to Titanna and gave a short bow. "I am 2nd Lieutenant Svar of the Redeyes, United Nations Marines, 1st Battalion, Bronco Company, toon 4''smander."


    "I am dispatched here to ensure your safety and other members of the ruling council," Svar spoke to the group of wide eyed elves looked at him like he was some kind of alien. "We have a convoy on its way to take you and the council members to safetyter on."


    "Do you have any questions, ma''am?" Svar asked politely.


    Titanna instinctively took a step backward from the bulky Oerkin. "A- ah... Wee,e, Lieutenant Svar... you.. what?"


    "We are here to protect and escort you to safety once our support arrives," Svar patiently replied. "Now, I will assign a section to be your security detail. They will be in charge of keep you safe."


    "Wait!" Titanna grabbed Svar''s arm, "What is going on here?"


    "I got orders from higher up," Svar said simply.


    "I... understand..." Titanna realized that the United Nations did live up to its promise of keeping her safe.


    "I need to talk to themander in charge here," Svar said. "So to better understand the ground situation here."


    "Talk to Knight Captain Judis," Titanna said. "He should be at the main gatehouse."


    Svar nodded and turned to his men who were showing off to the Imperials. "Alright, enough of the dick beating, One, Two and Three on me, Four stick to her Ladyship."


    "OORAAAH!"


    -----


    "Shepherd Six Four, this is Raider Actual," Mills keyed thems as he leaned forward and tried to spot the helo in the stormy skies. "How copy?"


    "-eading -ou, -rength on-."


    "Raider Actual, Convoy has just ended the city, looks like the Blue Boys are giving us quite the warm wee, over," Mills gave a wave to the Imperial officer who stared back at them without any expression.


    "Six Fou- roger, - see you, -tandby for aeria- supp-"


    Mills turned his attention back to the road, seeing the sides of the streets lined with bodies of the dead. He shook his head at the scene and started to ry the helo''s direction to the driver. "Go straight and take the next turn left."


    -----


    Flight Lieutenant Peter eased the throttle back and ced the CH - 1 at a slow pace, circling around the city while his co pilot kept his eye on the screen before him. Underneath the CH - 1 Griffin was a camera normally mounted on the dragons for aerial reconnaissance purposes.


    His co pilot carefully watched the route which the ground convoy was using to make their way deeper into the city. "Six Four, Convoy. You have inbound crazies at the next street, over."


    "-ger, Six -"


    "Damn... the radio signal is bad," The co pilot grumbled. "That storm is screwing with the signals!"


    "Yea, I know," Peter replied. "I am taking her down incase the boys on the ground need some support."


    "Got it."


    "Alright, kids at the back," Peter switched hisms to the cargo hold. "Hold on tight, I am bringing the bird down to support the convoy. Watch your zones!"


    "Greg always ready to save dumb Mar eens!" Greg giggled as he sat on the rear deck where an MG - 1 was mounted facing out of the opened rear hatch. The other two Marines snorted at Greg''s word as they each manned the door guns on the side of the Griffin.


    The Griffin roared over the rooftops of the city, drawing stares from the crazed townspeople while the convoy rumbled across deserted streets littered with dead bodies. Peter kept the helo on a low hover, keeping his eye on his instruments, making sure not to hit any roofs while the gunners and his co pilot kept an eye around their surroundings.


    "There! three o'' clock!" The right gunner yelled as he saw a flood of bodies running directly towards the convoy two streets away. "Do I engage?"


    "Fuck me!" Peter cursed as he saw the number of bodies racing across the street like they were running for the Olympics. "Command! This is Shepherd Six Four! We got a shitload of bodies heading towards the Convoy! Do we engage, over!"


    "-mand, -gage!"


    "What the hell did they say?" His co pilot asked in confused.


    "Fuck!" Peter cursed again. "Six Four, Command! Repeatst! Repeatst!"


    "They areing closer!" The gunner''s panicked yelled came through thems. "Hurry up!"


    "-GE, -w co-!"


    "Fuck it!" Peter yelled before switching the channel. "ENGAGE!"


    The Marine had already sighted in with the MG - 1. He flicked the safety with his thumb and held the trigger down, spraying streaks of red tracers into the rushing crowd. The hi powered rounds bored through the crowd like tearing wet paper and bodies piled up wherever the tracers went.


    "BREAKFAST IS SERVED!!!" The Marine door gunner gleefully yelled as he hosed down the crowd. "Wooo hooo!"


    "More craziesss!" Greg yelled from the rear. "Coming from bum bum!"


    After Greg cried out, he joyfully squeezed the trigger of his MG and whooped with joy as he watched his tracers mming into the crowding from another street.


    "Weeeee! THE GOD MACHINE PEE PEE AT YAAA!"


    -----


    Mills jerked his head up as he saw the guns of the hovering Griffin burst out in mes. "Shit, there must be a ton of them."


    "All gunners! Stay sharp! We should get contacts soon!" Mills warned over the radio just as the rear MRAP reported contacts. "Fuck my mouth!"


    The driver jammed the brakes suddenly as the street before were filled up with people, all of them staring at Mills and his men like they were sheep to be ughtered. "Sarge... what do we do now?" The driver asked nervously. He was a veteran and he had never seen anything like this before, which was full of unnaturalness. "Sarge?"


    Mills licked his suddenly dry lips and wondered what should he do. After the people before him were unarmed civilians, despite being mind controlled. Suddenly something mmed against the side of his jeep, making him jump and he saw a person next to his side window.


    The middle aged male, dressed in typical work clothing smiled and mmed his head against the armored ss, making Mills and the rest in the jeep jump in surprise. The smiling worker hammered his fists and repeatedly mmed his head against the window, till a bloody mark was painted on it.


    Another person suddenly appeared and hammered against the jeep from another side while the radio started reporting simr incidents happening throughout the convoy. Mills watched in horror as the worker brained himself against the ultra tough ss while still smile and before the man died, he mouthed, "Jo..in... uss..."


    "Fuck it!" Mills yelled as he jerked back from the scene of leaking brains. "WEAPONS FREE! Driver get us out of this street!"


    The gunners on the turrets quickly responded the .50 cal mounted heavy machine guns roared, therge caliber rounds blowing away the agitated crowd. Mills pped his driver''s shoulder, urging him to drive faster as more and more bodies attempted to pile up on the armored jeep.


    The convoy roared away, running and rolling over anyone before them and they soon came to a rtively quiet street. "Stop the convoy!" Mills ordered. "Unload and secure the perimeter!"


    The vehicles stopped and the men filed out, setting up a perimeter around the convoy. "Check the vehicles for any damages and any bodies still clinging on to them!"


    The men did a quick check and found a couple of still alive, clinging underneath the MRAPs. They were quickly dispatched and dragged to the side. Tyrier came up to Mills and said, "What the hell was that all about?"


    "What do you mean?" Mills asked.


    "You froze didn''t you?" Tyrier asked while gesturing to the helo in the sky. "We should have fired at the start, just like what they were doing up there!"


    "They are civilians!" Mills said angrily. "Even if they are mind controlled or brainwashed, they are still civilians!"


    Tyrier shook his head at Mills''s statement. "You hoomans create mighty weapons yet have no guts to use them?"


    "Tyrier," Mills shook his head. "You and I grew up differently... we have different cultures and were taught differently. Not to mention, we were fighting a war with an alien race for our survival... So excuse me for not wanting to kill normal folk!"


    Tyrier pondered for a moment before he gave in. "Sorry, I get it now. But still... don''t forget the lives of your men here! We are not fighting against those... aliens... now but vile magic!"


    Mills nodded, "Got it, it won''t happen again."


    "Contacts!" Someone yelled out and the .50 caliber machine guns opened fire, their heavy boom boom boom roar echoing painfully loud in the streets.


    "Alright! Mount up!" Mills yelled. "Let''s get back on track!"


    The men quickly load back into the vehicles and they continued their way again. "Shepherd Six Four, this is Convoy, we have detoured from the original route, requesting directions back to original route, over!"


    "Six Fo-, Con-, -and by,"


    "Si- Four, -onvoy, -edure straig- a- -ke a rig- -urn."


    "Go!" Mills ordered the driver. "Keep moving don''t stop!"


    The convoy started up while scores of townsfolk converged towards their location. Stones were thrown from the buildings along the streets as the convoy raced through them. The gunners manning the .50 cal fired at the windows as the stones rained down. Therge caliber rounds blowing holes in the walls and sending masonry down.


    "Where the fuck are we?" Mills cursed as he tried to make sense of the map he had while trying to understand and hear what Shepherd Six Four was trying them. "Come on! This is a real fuck up!"


    "Sarge! I think... we are back in the same ce!" The driver called out and he gestured to a building where the side of the walls was peppered withrge caliber gunfire.


    "We are lost!"

 Chapter 341: Griffin Down

    Chapter 341: Griffin Down


    "Convoy, Six four, you are to take the next left turn!" The co pilot spoke into the mike. "Turn left now!!"


    "Shit!" The co pilot smacked the side of the cockpit. "They missed the turn again! The damnms keep getting messed up by the storm!"


    "-ix Fo-, Conv-, -y aga-? -urn n-?"


    "Damn!" Peter cried out as something bounced off his side. "They are shooting at us with bows and arrows!"


    The gunners swiveled the door guns and engaged at a small group of crazed armed with crossbows on a nearby roof, painting it red. "SPELL! ON THE LEFT ROOFTOP!" The left gunner suddenly cried out as he saw the telltale signs of a magic spell being charged up.


    "FUCK!" Peter jerked his controls, tilting the sluggish helo away from the threat just as a bolt of lightning energy cracked underneath the CH - 1 Griffin just barely a few centimeters away. "Lit up that roof!"


    The Marine manning the door gunpensated for the movement of the helo and fired, using the tracers to guide and adjusted his aim. The tracers glowed brightly under the gloomy skies and the Marine ensured the rooftop where the mage was had a good dose of lead.


    "Damn crazies!" Peter cursed again as he dodged another barrage of arrows. "Six Two, this is Six Four. Taking a mix of ground fire. Watch your tail!"


    "-ix -o, -ger."


    "This problem with thems is giving me a really bad feel," Petermented as he kept his eyes alert for any movement on the nearby rooftops. "There! Two o''clock! Movement on the roof!"


    That set off another heavy burst of fire from the door gunners and Peter saw the roof disintegrate into pieces. "SPELL SPELL SPELL! Five O''clock low!"


    Peter instinctively jinked the helo to the side but he was a bit too slow, the magic missile hammers hard against the rear rotor housing, denting the armor. Almost immediately, blinking lights and rms went off in the cockpit and Peter skillfully brought his helo under control and breathe out a relieved sigh as his co pilot checked their systems.


    "No major damages," His co pilot said. "Think we are good still!"


    "-ix Fou-, -is is Six Tw-, are you alrig-?"


    "Six Four, just some red lights on my panel, controls are still good," Peter replied.


    "Si- -wo, - see so- smoke on yo- tail. -ou sure -rything is ok-?"


    "Six Four, roger. Think I better return to base to have it checked out," Peter said. "Alright, let''s get out of here."


    As he turned the helo''s heading back towards the base, Greg suddenly yelled, "SPELL CASTAS ON OUR BUM BUMSSS!"


    Streaks of arcane energy zed past the Griffin as Peter tried to weave the fat and ungainly helo to dodge the spells but the Griffin was a huge target and flying low. Pongs and pings of spells and arrows shook the hull of the Griffin as Peter pushed the throttle to the max to exit the hostile area.


    Earlier, the magic missile strike on the housing of the rear rotors had actually damaged the swash te assembly of the rotor. A couple of the ball bearings of the rotor were broken up by the arcane attack which was easily grounded into metal dust by the rest of the ball bearings. It shouldn''t affect the rotor much as the rotor shafts were built to be tough, but it was a different story when dozens of arcane spells were randomly hitting the Griffin''s hull and casting the armor ting to crack and splinter off.


    The stressed rotor assembly suddenly failed as a piece of debris from the hull ting mmed into it. The rotor shaft overheating from the damage simply shook loose, the whole spinning rotor folded in and ripped the rear of the Griffin off, making Greg sitting at the rear hatch yelp out in fear as the hull above him disappeared.


    Instantly, the Griffin started to spin in the air as it lost its rear rotors that counter rotated. Peter quickly powered down the forward rotors and tried to feather the falling helo. "Shit shit shit shit shit..."


    "HANG ON TIGHT!" Peter yelled. "We are going down!"


    "May day, may day!" His co pilot spoke in a surprisingly calm voice into thems. "Shepherd Six Four going down. Repeat, we are going down!"


    The helo came to a slow spin as the forward rotors lost power. Peter pulled the helo nose up, to use the remaining thrust from the forward rotors to reduce his falling speed and control hisnding. Luckily they were not too high up in the air, and the Griffin mmed at an angle against the side of a building, toppling it down.


    "Command, Six Two, we have a Griffin down. I repeat. Shepherd Six Four is down."


    -----


    Mills patted the shoulder of the driver to stop the vehicle when he heard the report. "Raider Actual, Six Two, Say again?"


    "Si- Two, Shephe- Six Four is dow-"


    "What the hell?" Mills tried to peek out from the window of the jeep. "Raider Actual, Six Two, any survivors?"


    "Six Tw-, stand-"


    "This is such a fuck up!"


    -----


    Shepherd Six Two came over to the crash site of the Shepherd Six Four, and the pilot did a slow circle around. "See any movement?" He asked the crew.


    "I see some movement!" One of the Marines yelled. "There''s someone still alive there!"


    "Roger!" The pilot replied. "All Stations, Six Two, we have confirmed survivors at the crash site, over."


    "Put us down," Corporal Drake said. "We hold the crash site till rescuees!"


    "Command, Six Two," The pilot radioed back. "Marines requesting permission to secure crash site till rescue arrives, over."


    "Comma-, -egative, area is too h-, -rovide aerial support. Rerout- Convoy to crash -ite."


    "Command says no," The pilot ryed back to the crew. "We re route the convoy over to them while we provide air cover."


    "Goddamn it!" Drake hissed as he vented his frustration at the crowd starting to appear at the fringes of the crash site.


    "They better get there fast!"


    -----


    Another whizz followed by a loud bang rocked the jeep on its suspension. Mills leaned his M2 carbine out of the side window and fired at the whoever that cast that spell at them. The streets were like a maze, made worst by made shift barricades made out of dead bodies or burning furniture which forced them off course.


    He fired at a naked female who suddenly lurched out from a side alley holding arge piece of masonry. His shots sending her crumpling backward as the Jeep rolled past while the gunner on the turret constantly fired in short bursts at anyrge gathering.


    Suddenly the roof of the Jeep shook as somethingnded on top and the gunner cried out in shock before he dropped down from the turret with a broke knife de stuck on his neck. "CAR ONE, CAR ONE! CRAZIES ON YOUR VEHICLE!"


    "Shit!" Mills twisted his body and saw a leering face peering down from the turret opening. He ripped his revolver out and squeezed off two shots and the face disappeared from view. The driver yelled out in pain as the loud reports of the revolver beside his ear deafened him and he jerked the steering wheel, ramming into the side of a building.


    "You okay?" Mills asked on the driver. Thankfully, they were not traveling at a very fast pace. He climbed behind the seat and checked on the wounded gunner who was gurgling in his own blood. The rest of the convoy came to a stop and the men deployed out, creating a perimeter and the medic climbed into the Jeep to assist the wounded marine.


    "This is a FUBAR!" Mills came out of the jeep and said to Tyrier who was observing their surroundings. "They blocked most of the street and we can''t get to where we want to go!"


    "The crash site is that way," Tyrier said. "It will be faster on foot to reach the site."


    "Fuck," Mills spit out a mouthful of saliva and blood. "You want to go on foot to the crash site?"


    "At this rate, we are moving, the crazies will get to them first," Tyrier said. "My men will move on foot, while you get the convoy over to us and we link up at the site."


    Mills looked around his surroundings as he considered Tyrier''s suggestion. He ignored the whizz of a spell that blew a fist sized hole on the wall next to him and finally said. "Ok, you take your men and go by the streets. I try to unfuck this situation here and get to you ASAP."


    Tyrier nodded and gave a sharp whistle. "Alright, ymore One. We are moving on foot to the crash site! Grab water and ammo! Let''s go, let''s go!"


    "You watch yourself out there!" Mills gave a thump on Tyrier''s chest. "You still owe me a drink!"


    Tyrier grinned and followed his men down an alley. "See you when I see you!"


    -----


    "Command, this is Six Two!" The pilot radioed again. "Large gathering of crazies approaching crash site! Convoy is still stuck in traffic and Marines onboard are requesting permission to drop and secure the site, over."


    "-mmand, standby..."


    The circling Griffin could see lines of people moving among narrow streets and side alleys as they converged towards the crash site like sharks sensing blood. The door gunners barely have a line of sight to fire at the crowd as the small alleyway provided cover for the crazies.


    "-ommand, -rmission granted, -ay the gods prote-!"


    -----


    The smoking CH - 1 Griffinid on an angle on the copsed building. There was a small square barely the size of a basketball court before it with a small sad fountain that water barely trickled out from the decorative fixture.


    Greg the Great moaned as he shook himself awake. He felt his bum and feet hurting and saw sharp piece of metal piercing through his left leg. He yelped in pain as he removed his safety harness and tried to stand up.


    "Oh, noes! God machine!" He wailed in despair as he saw the broken wreckage of the Griffin. "NO! Boss Pilot?"


    He half dragged himself through the warped cargo hull, finding both Marines manning the guns dead, crushed into a bloody paste. He reached the cockpit and found the remains of the co pilot underneath a massive b of masonry but the Boss Pilot was still alive, barely.


    As he tried to drag the Boss Pilot out from the cockpit, he heard the familiar roar of the other God Machine and he climbed out of the cockpit and waved madly at the circling helo. "ALIVE! GREG AND BOSS PILOT ALIVEEE!"


    A rope dropped from the side of the helo as it came over to hover and two figures fast rope down one by one. The two Marines ran up to Greg who had tears of joy in his beady eyes, "Never thought Greg the Great will be happy to see dumb Mar eens!"


    Drake rolled his eyes at Greg''s words before he asked. "Who else is alive?"


    "Boss Pilot at the cockpit!" Greg said as he sat down while the other Marine took out his medkit to treat his wounded leg. "The rest all... dead! God Machine too!"


    "Stay here," Drake said and he climbed into the wreckage. He found the pilot barely conscious in his seat and he checked him for injuries before giving him a dose of painkillers.


    "Hey, I need some help to move him out," Drake called out to Kont outside. His buddy quickly joined him and together they as gently as possible carried the pilot out, putting at the rear of the copsed building together with Greg.


    Peter coughed and blinked his eyes as his conscious returned and asked. "Where''s the rescue team?"


    "We''re it!" Drake asked, "You alright?"


    "Yea..." Peter tried to move his legs but couldn''t.


    "You are locked and loaded!" Drake handed over a shotgun and a pouch of ammunition.


    "You watch our backs, and craziese from the rear, shoot them!"

 Chapter 342: The Thin Red Line

    Chapter 342: The Thin Red Line


    Qiem frowned as the strange thunder roars grew louder in the city, wondering what was creating that strange mor. He unceremoniously shoved the limp body of a woman he once had pursued before gaining the favor of his Mistress onto the group of Converts after using her.


    The once lofty nobledy gave out a scream before she disappeared under a mound of naked bodies as they fought to mate with her. Qiem gave a satisfied smile at the scene before he picked up his discarded robes and ced them on.


    He strolled to the opened windows that overlooked a once perfectly manicuredwn, now heavily trampled over by hundreds of Converts. He watched the ongoings of the Converts who based on their deepest desires, loot and pige the Estate, while others murdered and raped the servants.


    Hearing constant rumble in the skies, he finally could not keep his curiosity in check and he gestured to his followers who brought a carriage over for his use. "Come, let us find out what is making all that noise!"


    After entering the city, he made his way towards one of the tallest buildings in the city, and his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of two monsters flying without wings in the skies like some kind of giant insect.


    He noted the streams of fireing out from its nks and rear killing hundreds of his Mistress''s Converts. He frowned before he turned to his followers and said. "Bring that thing down! It is killing our Converts!"


    His followers bowed and headed deeper into the city, preparing to hunt down the flying bugs. He watched from his vantage point from the ruined Trader''s Guild, seeing the noisy giant flying bugs circling the city and raining thin red beams of deadly fire that reaped the Converts like grain.


    He wondered what kind of insects were they and how did the Empire ever tame such a deadly insect. His followers tried their best to bring one of the insects down. He saw them on the roofs throwing spell after spell but the deadly red beam swept over the rooftops and his followers disappeared into pink mists.


    Finally, their valiant effort paid off as one of the flying insects appeared to start smoking and it dived low and fast, chased by several spells. Qiem watched in fascination as it''s back shell peeled off with a puff of oily ck smoke and the giant insect spun round and round before disappeared from sight as it appeared to crash.


    "Go! Bring me that creature to me!" Qiem smiled, knowing his Mistress will award him greatly if he managed to bring such a strange creature to her.


    -----


    Norshelm, Five Blocks away from Crash Site


    Tyrier leaned out from the corner of the building and did a quick check of the street on his blind spot. He gave a wave and his men sprint off from behind him to the opposite side of the street. Once they reached the other side, he patted Wolf''s hand holding his shoulder to signal him and they both ran.


    Suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder and Wolf found himself head over heels beforending on the hard street with a yell of pain. Heid stunned on the floor as he felt his body numb from the effects of the lightning spell.


    He heard his squad return fire with their suppressed rifles and Tyrier''s face loomed up before him. "You good?"


    He coughed and tried to nod but the tingling numbing sensation kept him down. Tyrier grabbed his harness and started to drag him to cover as it started to rain rocks. "Fark..."


    Finding his arms working again, Wolf raised his rifle and fired at the rushing group of crazies, dropping them as they rushed forward with sticks and rocks. The rate of fire picked up as the rest of ymore One focus fired at the crowd and minutester, the whole street was filled with dead and wounded bodies.


    "Go!" Tyrier ordered without sparing a second nce at the scene. He could hear the heavy thumping of the 50 cals of the convoy still going strong from a few streets away. They quickly slipped into a side alley and continued their way towards the crash site.


    -----


    Norshelm, Outer City, Residental District, Crash Site


    Drake took up a prone position inside the wreckage of the Griffin that overlooked the north side of the small fountain square while Kont covered the east side. They managed to salvage a single MG - 1 with several hundred rounds of ammunition which Drake and linked them up into a single belt.


    The first crazy that entered the fountain square that had five entrances in, earned him a bullet in the head fired by Drake''s rifle. His customized suppressed M2 with a long engagement scope easily tagged the next crazy that swiftly followed behind.


    He snapped his rifle left and right as more and more crazies entered into his line of sight but luckily the crazed people seemed confused as they looked around, unsure of what was killing their people silently.


    Kont seeing the numbers starting to pile up, fired his unsuppressed rifle which earned the attention of the crowd. His M2 carbine knocking down one after another crazed people as they tried to swarm his position.


    Drake''s rifle ran dry and he switched over to the MG - 1,ying down heavy fire at the rushing crowd, which to his surprise, the crazed appeared to retreat after taking heavy losses. The crazies returned again after a moment of respite but this time, they were armed with weapons. Swords, knives, bows, sticks and even rocks were held by the crazies and they attempted a second attack.


    -----


    Norshelm, Eight Blocks away from Crash Site


    "Man the fifty! Man the fifty!!" Mills yelled as the gun stopped firing. He turned back and saw the gunner slumped down on the back with half his face still smoking and torn off by a spell. "Fuck!"


    He climbed to the rear and pushed the body aside before he popped his head out of the turret. Almost instantly a missile of arcane energy shrieked past his head, making him duck instinctively. "Fuck this!"


    He swung the .50 cal gun towards the direction where the spell had came from, backtracking the source of the spell from the white trail of smoke and he spotted a robed figure with his hands glowing half hidden on a rooftop.


    He gave the rooftop a good dose of lead, keeping his fire on the rooftop as the Jeep rolled past before he was satisfied that that asshole was dead. He turned and faced the gun forward, firing at the crowd who threw rocks and fired crossbows at him when the Jeep turning to the left jammed the brakes as the street before them was barricaded with burning junk.


    "Shit!" Mills cursed as he saw their way was blocked. Suddenly several spells mmed into the side of the Jeep, causing it to flip over to its side from the force. Training instinctively took over and Mills hurdled down in the turret, gripping the safety bars just as the Jeep hit the sidewalk.


    "Goddamnit!" Mills grumbled as the rest of the convoy deployed its escorts and suppressed the crazies. "Hey man, you okay in there?"


    "Shit my pants, Sarge!" The driver yelled back. "I think my balls had shrunk!"


    "You never even had a pair anyway so it''s fine!" Mills joked back as he crawled out from the turret.


    "You! Grab a chain and a winch!" He yelled at the Em Rap driver. "Hook the winch and pull the Jeep back up!"


    The driver of the Em Rap nodded and ran off to grab the tools and equipment while Mills observed yelled for the medic to check on the gunner.


    "He''s gone, Sarge," The medic of the convoy came up to him. "We got two critically wounded and several others with various degrees of injuries."


    "Sarge, I don''t think we can keep up at this rate!" The medic said. "At this rate, we will run out of bodies before bullets!"


    "Shit is it that bad with the other cars?" Mills asked as he watched the crew of the Em Rap right his Jeep.


    "Yes," The medic said. "Other than the drivers, everyone has some injuries."


    "Got it," Mills nodded and went up to his driver who was checking the Jeep. "Can it still run?"


    "Yes, Sarge," The driver replied. "But the side door is totaled. You can stick your head through the armor!"


    "Fuck this..." Mills cursed as another spell knocked one of the men down, his chest te smoking from the impact. He went from car to car and asked. "How many still can fight?"


    From the reports, each vehicle barely had one man without any injury, even the drivers swapped out with the gunners to man the guns. "How the fuck are we gonna fight against the whole goddamn city with barely a toon? Goddammit!"


    "Mount up!" Mills ordered. "We are fucking sitting ducks here!"


    "Try to find another way to the crash site!"


    -----


    Peter fired his shotgun at the back of a crazy as he ran past him. Greg the Goblin was holding the other side of the building, happily cursing the crazies and dealing death with his saw off shotgun.


    He could hear the heavy gunfireing from outside the copsed building intensifying as time passed and he wondered if help wille in time.


    Drake kept up his gun with the MG till it jammed and he switched over to his M2, firing single shots at any crazies that crossed a line made out of bodies and blood. They had already piled up quite the number of kills, yet the crazies had no signs of stopping. They made probing attacks like some kind of wild animal tactics and even appeared to be nking them from the sounds of the shotguns behind.


    Drake fired at another crazy who rushed forward with some kind of molotov cocktail, which set off a small fire on the square when Kont suddenly appeared. "I''m out!"


    Kont grabbed the MG - 1 and started to clear the jam while Drake provided cover fire. Once the jam was fixed, Kont carried the MG - 1 out and the remaining ammo and returned to his previous spot and engaged with the crazies again.


    Drake kept up his fire, aiming those that posed the most threat to their position, like the robed mages or those with crossbows or even molotov cocktails. He ignored those armed with melee weapons and focus on the ranged attackers, leaving the melee attackers to Kont.


    Suddenly he realized the machine gun fire had ceased for some time and he leaned out to check on Kont, only to see himid t on his face with his helmet smoking and caved in. Drake ran out from his cover to check on Kont and found no pulse.


    He gave a tired sigh and fired at a couple of crazies that crept up too close. He grabbed Kont''s sidearm and ammo before he ran back into the copsed building where Peter and Greg were sheltering in.


    "Hey," Drake called out and he dropped Kont''s sidearm on Peter''s side. "You watch yourself. It''s just me left at the front. Good luck!"


    Peter watched Drake return back to the front and he felt all hope was gone. "Greg!"


    "Yea Boss pilot?" Greg came over.


    "Take this," Peter handed him the sidearm. "You try to find a way out of here."


    "What?" Greg frowned. "You wan me to leave Boss Pilot behind?"


    "No point everyone dies here!" Peter said. "I can''t move and you are small enough to squeeze through the sidewall. Go find a safe ce to hide and link up with the rest when theye!"


    "NO way!" Greg yelled. "I Greg the Great no give up on Boss Pilot! God Machine die! Boss pilot die! Greg die too!"


    "GREG KILL CRAZIES!"

 Chapter 343: Sacrifices

    Chapter 343: Sacrifices


    Norshelm, Two Blocks away from Crash Site


    Specialist Corporal Hitsu peered over the corner, seeing a throng of half naked crazies armed with sticks and stones yelling and screaming something down the street. He raised a clenched fist and the rest of ymore One paused behind him as he observed therge crowd.


    "Too many of them," said Hitsu as he leaned back. "At least fifty or so, right down the street."


    "Any other way past them?" Tyrier asked.


    "I don''t see any other way," Hitsu replied and he gestured to the other side of the street. "The crash site is just down there, about another street or two and we should be able to see it."


    Tyrier nodded, the sounds of gunfireing from the crash site had lessened and he worried that if they don''t move fast, there will be no one left to rescue. "Drop smoke and charge across. Keep moving!"


    Hitsu nodded and he plucked out a smoke grenade from his vest and tossed it to the middle of the cobblestone street. Secondster, the smoke grenade hissed loudly and started spewing a cloud of thick foul smelling white smoke which covered the street.


    "GO!" Tyriermanded and the men sprint across, ignoring the smell and pushed forward as fast as they could.


    Hitsu briefly saw through the cloud of smoke at the crowd of crazies were undergoing some kind of orgy before the smoke obstructed his view. The smoke had gathered a few of the more curious crazed townspeople to investigate but by the time they got there, ymore One had disappeared.


    "CONTACT LEFT!" yelled Hitsu as suddenly a group of crazies appeared out from a side alley to their left. The crazed people gave a cheer and rushed towards ymore One which responded by shooting them down.


    A body taken down by a point nk shot crashed into Hitsu, sending him sprawling on his back. He recovered and shot anotherughing crazy who held a butter knife poised to stab downwards at him.


    Another crazy appeared behind the dying man and Hitsu froze. A little girl with a smile on her face, her tail tied in twin ponytails and a yellow dress dragged a hatchet almost her height behind her. She gave a bright toothy smile as she tried to swing the heavy ax at Hitsu who hesitated at firing at a little girl. "Fark!"


    "HITSU!" Tyrier yelled. "WHAT THE FARK??"


    Jolted awake by his Sergeant yell, Hitsu closed his eyes and fired his rifle. He could hear the bullet fleshly p on the girl''s body before he opened his eyes, seeing the girl with the smile still on her face as sheid dying, her mouth moving as she tried to speak herst words out.


    "Th...e Miss... tess... re..waardss..."


    -----


    Norshelm, Crash Site


    Drake felt he was totally in the zone, as every shot he made, he dropped one of the crazies. He was like an automaton killing machine, nothing could get past his line of defense. Bodies piled up around his killing zone and even the crazies hesitated to cross that zone after witnessing how many had died.


    Drake never felt so calm in his life, even when fighting against the Swarm. He did not even felt sadness nor anger when Kont died, only that if he must kill as much as of these mother fucking crazies as possible to allow the Convoy to arrive.


    A bolt of arcane missile suddenly mmed and hit his right arm, knocking him back. He switched his M2 to his left hand and continued to fight when another Wind de spell shed into his chest, breaking his rifle and the trauma ting of his armor vest.


    The force knocked the air off his lungs and he fell back gasping for air. The crazies sensing blood rushed in and found Drakeying on his back. Drake on seeing the crazies rushing into the building ignored his wounds and painfully drew his revolver out and fired, knocking back the crazies who crowded around the entrance.


    When his revolver ran dry, the crazies flowed into the building, using their sticks and stones to hammer at the limp body till blood stained the entire ce. Drake''sst thoughts were of theughter of the red eyed silver haired witch before darkness and pain imed him.


    -----


    Peter fired at another crazy who found a way in by the back. He worked the pump, jacking in another shell when he heard a collective cheering from the front. "Shit! Greg! They areing in from the front!"


    Greg broke open his double barrel and shoved in the shells before he yelped, "Crazies no kill me! I kill crazies!"


    He grabbed a long knife from somewhere and ran towards the front of the building, firing both barrels at the crowd that was mutting the dead marine. The spray of buckshot tore up the crowd and the crazies fell back in surprise at seeing a goblin appearing.


    Greg shed at their legs and bellies with the long knife and ran between their legs as they tried to hit him. Soon the whole crowd was in chaos as they chased and tried to kill the slippery goblin. Unfortunately, due to Greg''s leg wound, he faltered and a de caught him at his back, making Greg curse.


    It was followed by another blow to his side and soon dozens of blows rained on him and he fell. But Greg gave out a final defiant giggle, "You dumb crazies! Greg no die alone! You alling with Greg!"


    He twisted out the pins from the two grenades he had stolen from the Marines as a joke many weeks ago, and triumphantly show them to the crowd who continued to attack Greg with a fervent. The grenades went off while Greg gave the crowd his broken middle finger and the whole room burst into blood and mes.


    The shockwave from the sudden explosive knocked Peter off his perch. He cried out in pain as his eardrums ringed loudly and as he recovered, he saw a figure standing over him before he knew it, he felt a sharp pain om his head and everything went dark.


    -----


    Norshelm, One Street away from Crash Site


    "Go!" Tyrier ordered and his men frog leap to the other side of the street. He frowned as the sounds of gunfire has died off and he urged his men to move faster. "Nearly there!"


    They entered the debris littered fountain square that was literally filled with bodies. Even the fountain was squirting crimson liquid out from the decorative water feature. A dozen crazies were still loitering around the crashed helo as the soldiers of ymore One spread out. "All stations, ymore One, we have entered the crash site, over."


    "-mmand, roge-"


    "-x T-, rog-"


    "Convoy, -oger!"


    Tyrier chopped his hand down sharply and the special ops troops fired their suppressed weapons, taking down those still standing. He pointed two fingers to the right before doing the same for the left and the squads split up to sides.


    They swept through the square and only found dead bodies and any still alive were taken out silently. "Sarge!" Loke called out as he kneed over something. He lifted up a bloodied Mark 1 helmet and said, "Found of one ours... or what was remained of him..."


    Tyrier came up and saw an unrecognized body, the crazies appeared to have ripped his flesh and skin away, even his genitals were mutted and cut off, shoved into the toothless mouth of the Marine.


    He went down on one knee and removed his helmet before he pulled off the dog tags caked in blood. "May the Gods watch over your soul in the Gates of Heaven, for a great soldier has fallen."


    Tyrier stood up and gestured towards the wreckage, "Let''s go, we bury himter if we have the chance."


    The members of ymore One nodded solemnly and they headed into the wreck. They found two dead Marine gunners crushed under the rubble and the co pilot simrly dead. Another group of crazies was having an orgy right inside the wrecked hull and the soldiers dispatched them quickly with disgust.


    Finding an opening that led into the ruined building, they found another dead Marine inside, his eagle spread body staked against a wooden column, simrily mutted and castrated.


    "Get him down!" Tyrier hissed. "The rest check the building!"


    "Sarge, found another of ours..." Altied called out as he carefully picked up a roundish shape from the bloodied mess in the room. "Its Greg..."


    Tyrier saw Altied holding to the severed head of the cheeky goblin, his eyes were put out and his skulk deformed from the blows to his head. "Find his dog tags..."


    "Sarge, building is cleared," Hitsu came over and in his hand was a pilot''s helmet and shotgun. "Found these at the back, lots of blood but no body, our pilot is missing."


    "Search around these... bodies here..." Tyrier gestured to the body filled room. "If they killed him he must be somewhere here, if not... then they must have taken him somewhere!"


    The men nodded and did the grim job of searching the dead, while Tyrier radioed back to Command. "Command,mand, this is ymore One Actual, crash site secured, no survivors. Over."


    "-mmand, confirm no survi-"


    "ymore One Actual, six KIA, one MIA, over."


    "-man- -ger, s- KIA and one MI-."


    One by one the bodies wereid out onto the square, except for the pilot and two Marine gunners that were underneath the rubble. In Tyrier''s hand, he held a bunch of dog tags coated with blood. "Grab whatever is useful and burn everything."


    Soon billows of ck smoke erupted from the wreckage as the soldiers set off thermite grenades to melt the fusge and other sensitive portions of the crashed helo as well as burning the bodies of their own. The men gave a salute at the makeshift funeral before they left the square of the dead.


    "Let''s go, we will meet up with the convoy at the Citadel!" Tyrier said as he took ast look at the burning pyre.


    -----


    Norshelm, Four Blocks away from Crash Site


    "FUCK!" Mills quickly pped his scorched hands as a molotov cocktail smashed against the side of his jeep, its burning contents sshed over the turret and dripped onto his arm. He barely recovered from that when another molotov cocktail hit the front of the Jeep, causing the driver to swerve and impact against the side of another building the second time.


    Almost instantly, magic spells, rocks, and arrows rained all over the stalled convoy. The gunners kept their fire up till the barrels of the .50 cal guns turn cherry red. "SAAARGGEee!" The driver cried out and Mills dropped down from the turret to see what was the problem.


    He found the driver moaning at the steering wheel, while the armored sapphire windscreen had several fist sized holes. Blood was dripped down from dozens of cuts on the driver''s face. "Saaargee... I... can''t see..."


    "Wait," Mills climbed to the front and took out his canteen of water to wash the blood off the face of his driver. "How is it now?"


    "My eyes hurt..." The driver blinked his eyes rapidly. "I can somehow see... but it farking hurts..."


    "Don''t rub your face!" Mills grabbed the driver''s hands as he reached to touch his own face. "You got ss all over your face... you will make it worse if you touch them!"


    The driver nodded and moaned as heid back on the seat. Mills cursed as he climbed back up to the turret and saw the whole convoy in shambles. Smoke and mes from molotov cocktails and spells sts covered the vehicles.


    He noticed two of the vehicles no longer has any gunners manning the turrets and he sighed, knowing they had been defeated by the city.


    "Command, this is Raider Actual, Convoy unable to advance anymore. We have too many wounded and low on ammo," Mills reported. "We are unable toplete the mission anymore."


    "Requesting to return to base to regroup and resupply."

 Chapter 344: Rage

    Chapter 344: Rage


    UNS Singapore, Conference Room


    Captain ke listened to the reporting from Orwell''s Point with his eyes closed as he sat at the head of the conference table. The rest of the officers remained quiet in their seats but expressions of worry and anger were shown on their faces.


    "We still have a pilot MIA from the crash," came the report from Joseph. "We are having seriousmunications dy, from the ground units to the air units before it is ryed to the Command post."


    "The convoy had to turn back due to overwhelming attacks from the city inhabitants that turned crazy," Joseph continued. "We did not expect the entire city to attack our forces."


    "What about the Rothschild''s girl?" Commander Ford asked. "What''s her situation?"


    "As of now, they are still holding out," Joseph said. "We have our Griffin helos to run supplies to the besieged Citadel. As long as our men''s ammunition supplies are holding, they should be able to hold out."


    "Who, what and how is this caused?" ke finally opened his eyes and asked, staring at the image of Joseph icily.


    "So far, our people there suspect that is it done by a localized cult," Joseph said. "They took the opportunity caused by the chaos in the city to carry out their schemes, which in this case caused the whole city to be converted."


    "Any known ways to save those people?" ke asked next.


    "Not that we know of," This was said by Magister Thorn who was attending the video conference too. "The mages and healers in Norshelm all came to the same conclusion that anyone affected, their will has already given to whatever evil that changed them. It is impossible to break the hold of the affected unless we kill the main culprit."


    "So do we know who is the main culprit that did all these?" ke asked. "Which... god is killing our people?"


    Magister Thorn gave a nce at Joseph before he replied, "We suspect it could be the same one as the one we defeated here in Orwell''s Point... Evidence shows..."


    "That one that possessed that Hunter girl?" ke cut off Magister Thorn''s words.


    "Erm, yes..." Magister Thorn''s image nodded. "We think they have a base at Norshelm..."


    "What assets down we have avable to respond to this threat?" ke asked his Marine Commander.


    "As of now, 2nd Marine Battalion is based at Orwell''s Point, together with the ymore Two and 1st Armored," Marine Commander Lt Colonel Frank replied. "2nd Air Cavalry, 4th Fighter Wing, 1st Bomber Wing and also three PT boats are stationed there. And two heavy weight dragons."


    "We have three toons and ymore One deployed at the city of Norshelm, with a couple of modified river barges en route with apany of the 2nd Marine Battalion to reinforce them," Frank added. "They should arrive by midnight."


    Airforce Commander Tommy spoke up, "We lost one bird from the 2nd Air Cavalry, now they are operating with two helos at Norshelm. If they need to evacuate fast, we might not be able to bring everyone back in one trip. And our equipment will have to be left behind and be destroyed."


    "We only have one helo from the 1st doing runs for Orwell''s Point," Joseph said. "I could send the helo to Norshelm to support them. Our supplies should be able tost us for a few weeks."


    "How about our assets here?" asked ke.


    "We have the 1st Battalion and 1st, 2nd, 3rd Fighter Wings, 2nd Bomber Wing, 1st Air Cavalry and two med weight dragons," Frank said. "2nd Armor is still being outfitted and is the same for 3rd Air Cavalry, they don''t have the spider tanks and helos..."


    "Captain," Master Sergeant Pike spoke up, "We also have an experimental unit sitting around..."


    "What unit?" ke frowned as he did not remember anything about it.


    "Well... since we are changing out the half tracks to the newer vehicles, and they are just sitting around there..." Pike grinned. "And I got dozens of spare 70mm rocket podsying around... So I got the Engineering boys to work on them to convert the half tracks into an SRM carrier."


    Commander Ford gave an appreciative whistle while ke gave a chuckle. "So you meant you have a mobile rocket artillery in your pocket, Top?"


    "Yes, Sir!" Pike nodded.


    "And how many do you have?" Frank asked with a frown.


    "Not much, just barely a dozen," Pike gave a shrug. "Was hoping to convert more, but didn''t have the time to do so..."


    "A DOZEN?" Frank''s jaw dropped. "And how many rocket pods did you strapped onto the half tracks?"


    "Seven each, giving it a 49 tube barrage," Pike said. "Reload is gonna be a bitch, but shouldn''t be much of an issue. It will simr to the Katyusha rocketuncher from world war two. I had the Engineers work out a simple aiming and firing system which works."


    "Did you test it?" ke asked in wonder.


    "Yup," Pike nodded. "uracy isn''t very good, but it totally blows the shit out of anyone within its area of effect."


    "How much crew is needed?" Frank asked.


    "I say about two to three?" Pike said. "Have to work out some SOP for it, but generally a driver, a gunmander, and a spotter should work just fine."


    "Frank, I want you to scrape up some manpower to crew those weapons," ke ordered. "Do it fast."


    "Send out twopanies from 1st Battalion to reinforce Orwell''s Point," ke said next. "I want 2nd Battalion and 1st Armored to push into Norshelm."


    "Pike, once the SRM carriers of yours are fully crew, bring them to Norshelm. I want you to train them on how fire and service those weapons along the way," ke turned to Pike andmanded. "Get Logistic to supply you as much 70mm rockets you can transport and move to support the troops at Norshelm."


    "If that Goddess or God thinks they can screw with the entire city and with us," ke''s eyes glittered. "Then we shall show them not to look down on us! They shall pay for ying with lives!"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    Norshelm, Underground Pce


    Hedone giggled as she watched hundreds of converts kneed down and bowed. She could see their adoration from their eyes, smiles, and worship. "Hehehe... worship me, my little pretties! Hehehe!"


    "I am your Mistress from now on!" Hedone stood up, her shapely figure shown through the thin fabric of her robes. "You can... call me... QUEEN!"


    "MY QUEEN!" The converts and her original followers chanted fervently. "MY QUEEN"


    "Good!" Sheughed, making the closest males swoon at her feet. Herughter was like a drug, and they craved for it. "I shall release you from the bonds of your desires! Go! Have fun! Do what you want! Make love! Eat, drink! KILL! You, my children, are free to do whatever you desire!"


    "THE MISTRESS REWARDS!" The crowd screamed and they fell into their innermost desires. Some started to kiss and made out with their neighbors regardless of gender or age, others strangled each other as they gave in to their violent desires. Others started filling their stomachs with food and wine until their stomachs burst, but they still kept on eating and drinking.


    Hedone smiled and walked down between the spaces of the crazed crowd and soon she came upon a battered male. "Oh how interesting," She traced her finger along the ears of the captive, making the captive moan.


    "It''s been... soon long since I saw one of your kind... The Gods must have granted my wish!" Hedone giggled at her own joke. "I wonder how did you get here..."


    She smiled at the barely conscious human before she turned to one of her followers who knelt and bowed. "This is a great gift, you brought me! This is your reward!" She stretched out one perfectly toned leg to the kneeling elf.


    "Thank you for your kindness, my Mistress!" Qiem crawled forward quickly and licked the toes of Hedone. "Hmmmmmm!"


    After a while, Hedone got bored and kicked Qiem away. "See to his wounds, and when he wakes up, call me!"


    "Yes... my mistress!" Qiem remained kneeling, his head almost touching the ground.


    "And one more thing," Hedone squatted down next to Qiem, her big beautiful eyes staring right into the soul of Qiem, making him light headed with joy. "He. Must. Not. Die."


    "Y- yes! My mistress!" Qiem wiped the saliva drooling out of his mouth and quickly attended to the wounded human he had captured.


    "Remember to call me when he wakes up!" Hedone gave a yful wink at Qiem before she strolled through the crowd engaged in orgy and death. "Hehehehe!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    ke sat down wearily on his chair, while Princess Sherene massaged his neck and shoulders for him. He put a grateful hand on hers and pulled her away. "It''s alright, take a seat."


    Sherene gave a gentle smile and continued to give him a massage. "You need a break!"


    "How to take a break?" ke gave a sigh. "Nine confirmed deaths, and one pilot missing."


    "And one of the dead is a human, while the pilot is also a human," ke closed his eyes. "There''s only so many of us left..."


    "I know you are worried about your people," Sherene started to rub ke''s head. "I too am worried about my people too."


    "Sorry," ke reached up and held both of Sherene''s hands and pulled her to hisp. "I didn''t mean it that way... It''s not like I don''t care for your people..."


    "I understand," Sherene leaned against ke. "You don''t have to exin, I know you care for everyone under you."


    "The stress ofmand," ke hugged the Princess tightly in his arms. "I am not skilled inmanding ground troops and have to delegate it to others but sometimes I really wish they could do better!"


    "I understand that feeling too!" Sherene sighed. "But you have to trust your subordinates!"


    "I do trust them," ke replied softly. "That is why each death is on me because they died under my orders..."


    "Silly, how could you have foreseen such an event from happening?" Sherene cupped ke''s face and stared into his sad eyes. "You are not a seer! How could you know such a thing would happen at Norshelm? No one could foresee that!"


    "But I still think that I could have stopped this tragedy!" ke leaned his head back on the chair. "If I gave the order to Joseph to stop them from using the helos, maybe they wouldn''t have died... killed in such a bad way and we couldn''t even bring them home in one piece!"


    "Captain ke!" Sherene red angrily at ke and spoke in a fierce tone. "Stop second guessing yourself! There is nothing you could have done to prevent that! Stop punishing yourself! Or I swear to god you shall sleep outside!"


    Shocked, ke stared at the angry expression on Sherene''s face, but he suddenly startedughing. "Oh my gods, are you serious?"


    "Yes! Am very serious!" Sherene huffed. "You are the lord and no lord acts as you do!"


    "Hahaha," ke shook his head in wonder. "You are right, I shall stop now. But whoever kills my men, shall pay for what they done, regardless if they are divine or mortal!"


    "Good!" Sherene gave a smile and gave a kiss to ke. "Better! This is the man, I fell in love with!"


    -----


    Norshelm, Rothschild''s Estate


    The badly ravaged convoy slowly rolled to a stop at the marshaling grounds of the Estate. Both Marines and Imperial soldiers stared at the sorry state the once awe looking vehicles had be.


    Mills opened the door and came off, yelling for healers and medics to attend to the wounded. The shocked elves quickly ran over to help, and for the first time, they saw how badly they had suffered under the attack of the entire city.


    Mills sat down on the sidewalk and watched dully as bodies were carried out while others washed the interior of the vehicles of the blood and spent casings.

 Chapter 345: The Last Stand

    Chapter 345: The Last Stand


    "Watch your front!" Lt Svar roared at his men as they manned the battlements when the crazed townspeople rushed the walls again. The Imperial defenders had grown ustomed to the thunder sticks of the strange soldiers who came from the skies after fighting together for two days.


    Svar paced slowly behind his men as they fought against another wave of crazies that kept throwing themselves against the stone walls of the Citadel. He was quite intrigued by the ritual that turned the entire city''s poption into mindless creatures reduced to their basic most desires yet still retain enough intelligence to use weapons and even form simple tactics among themselves.


    The constant attacks were... irritating, thought Svar. He wondered who was the mastermind behind all these, and what was their final objective. After ensuring there were no issues with the troops, he walked down the walls, ignoring the stares and fugitives avoidance of him as he passed by them.


    Hundreds of makeshift tents and shelters covered the small courtyard and gardens, turning the once beautifulndscape that showcased the wealth and power of the city into a refugee shelter. Over the past two days, hundreds of unaffected citizens of the city somehow managed to find their way to the Citadel, where Lady Titanna allowed them in as long as they were affected by the madness.


    Hundreds soon turned to thousands, and there were incidents where a few crazies had slipped in among those seeking refuge. Luckily not much damage was done, yet dozens were killed in the sudden violence.


    Titanna had quickly organized the civilians, putting any surviving adventurer or city guard to hold order among the refugees, while any volunteers were sent to Knight Captain Judis. She even ced her political enemies to handle their food stores, making Svar shake his head.


    He couldn''t understand what politics was all about. If it was up to him, he would have issued a challenge to his enemies and defeat them in openbat as was the way of the Oerkins. But even after adapting to the hooman''s way of life and getting amission with the Marines, there were still many things that befuddled his mind at the way these soft skins did things.


    Still, it was not his ce to judge, he was only to carry out his orders and keep his men and the soft skin Rothschild girl alive. Till then, he just kept to his best talent, which was waging war.


    -----


    Capital of Bluewood, The Pce


    "My Emperor," Rows of minsters stood respectful before their Emperor reported, "News of the ck Scorpion Legion has returned. They... they were defeated by an unknown force in the south together with local forces."


    Emperor Varacen frowned, "The Scorpion King was defeated inbat?"


    "Yes, My Emperor!" The minster who made the report stepped forward and kneeled down. "After he had conquered all the major cities of the Twin Alliance, he moved his force to the south to suppressed a local uprising which had already defeated the local army."


    "But, we just received urgent word that all forces were defeated on the field..." The minister kept his head down low.


    "Impossible!" Emperor Varacen roared and he pped the table before him. "He has the Bronze men as support! Who has the power to defeat them?"


    "My Emperor, if I may," Another minister stepped forward and bowed. "It might be that group of rebels in the South."


    "Them?" Emperor Varacen rubbed his chin. "The ones that Duke Sturm failed to destroy?"


    "Yes, my Emperor," The other minister said. "They must hold some Legacy of the Gods to defeat both Duke Sturm and the Scorpion King. We can no longer belittle their abilities. If they are using their Legacy to expand their powers, we must not hold back and throw everything at them, and if we could take their legacy into our hands..."


    Emperor Varacen nodded at the unsaid words, "Very good... Then, hear my words, send fore the Imperial Army! Crash them once and for all and take over that Legacy of the Gods from their hands!"


    The ministers all kneeled and kowtowed, "Your wish is ourmand!"


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, River Docks


    Dozens of local shipwrights, Haven engineers, and techs worked non stop, modifying the Imperial Barges captured from the previous invasion fleet, turning them into a sort of amphibious vessel. The oars benches were removed, giving more internal space while the under decks were strengthened, allowing the heavy wheeled and tracked vehicles of the UN Marines to be driven into the lower decks.


    The forward square bow of the barges was cut out and turned into a dropable ramp for rapid vehicle deployments. At the rear, a couple of screw propellers were installed with two banks of Haven Heavy Industries "Quad" Dragonite engines that powered the shafts.


    Engine tech in Haven had taken off at a rapid pace as the city''s reliance on engines grew more and more. Dozens of goblins in work overalls shrieked in their own madnguage banged away happily at the screws and nuts of the engines as they did the instation of the engines under the eyes of horrified locals.


    Modifying the barges took a week despite the work went on non stop without stopping. Four of the barges that once carried Imperial troops now were docked proudly in a new coat of naval grey paint, with the white and ck stencils of LCVP 01 to 04 neatly painted on their sides.


    The Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel forward converted ramps were deployed with chains linked to the tops, which worked as a pulley to close the ramps, awaited with their crew impatiently as dozens of vehicles and troops boarded the ships.


    James Bone, formerly just a lowly UNMM Corporal, now holding the lofty rank of a Marine Captain, Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion, stood at the side with his aides watching the boarding of his men into the four barges. He never in his life thought he would make his way up the ranks so fast, and as an officer, no less!


    "Is that shit seaworthy?" James asked offhandedly as he watched one of the SRM carriers'' tracked wheels whined loudly as it tried to find purchase on the slick surface of the ramps. Finally, the driver managed to control the half track and it rolled on board, causing the barge to sink down slightly.


    "Yes, Sir," His aides answered him. "The engineers ensured us they are able to carry all the weight."


    "I really hope so!" James replied. "How long before everyone is loaded up and we can move out?"


    "Another hour at least, Sir!" His aide said. "We still got twopanies yet to embark."


    "Hurry them up," said James. "It''s going to take roughly twenty hours to reach Norshelm."


    They had nned to use the river to travel directly to the city, instead of crossing ovend and traveling by the ind sea as it would make logistics easier. An advance party consisting of the PT boats had gone ahead to clear the river of the wrecks of the Imperial Barges that were sunk in the battle to prevent any mishap from happening to their own ships.


    "We have already spent a week here sitting on our thumbs... It''s time to save our people if there is any left to save!"


    -----


    Norshelm, Rothschild Estate


    Mills banged the table, "When is the rescue forceing?"


    "It''s been over a week already!" Mills gestured out to the windows. "We waited so long and now the damn crazies hade knocking at our doors! And we still have people in the city!"


    Hundreds of figures could be seen trying to force their way through the ornate fences and gate of the Estate in the distance.


    "Calm down," Lieutenant Trism said for the umpteenth time. "That vile storm over the city has grown stronger and stronger, making us lose all forms ofmunication with the city and everyone else."


    "We barely could send in the helos to resupply the Citadel, but now, we can''t even send them in without them experiencing heavy turbulence and risk crashing them!" Mills grumbled. His eyes were bloodshot with ack of sleep and guilt was gnawing away at him for unable to save the people trapped inside.


    "Mills," Trism put his hand on his shoulder, "Go get some rest and stop thinking about this, help wille. It is no use for you nor us if you break down at this point!"


    Mills buried his hands into his face, "I can''t sleep! I keep seeing those faces!"


    Trism sighed and he held out his palm face out and ced it over Mills''s head before reciting a spell. "Sleep!"


    Mills''s head dropped onto the table as he fell into a magical slumber and Trism sighed again before he pushed open the door and called for the sentries to bring Mills into his own bunk to rest. He returned to the window and frowned at the crazies that were attempting to overrun the fences and wondered if they had been abandoned by the UN.


    He had sent a couple of teams out to attempt tomunicate back to Orwell''s Point but they had yet returned with any news and for once he felt naked with any flow of information. He wondered what was happening in the city and if there was anyone left to rescue at this rate.


    He nced at the warp storm hovering over his head and stared at it suspiciously, wondering if it grewrger?


    -----


    Norshelm, Underground Pce


    "MOREEE! Ohhh... More!" Moans and groans came from a tangled mess on the massive bed. "Yeess! yesss!"


    Hedone smiled as she finished and the male slumped over her, nting kisses all over her naked body. Her power was slowly recovering as more and more faith was flowing into her core. The worship given by her new converts were giving back her once lost powers, strengthening her divinity once more.


    Soon, with more time, she will take over this entirend, her worshippers will adore her and only her. It will only be a matter of time before she recovers enough of her divinity to influence the weak willed creatures of this world and once she has enough faith, she can take over this world as its sole goddess!


    She still remembers the many eons ago, when she and the Pantheon of the Gods fled from that world where they lost much of their followers from fighting with the other Gods. Those that remained behind were destroyed, their cores turned into stardust.


    Yet, this world that they found after many many ages of traveling through the cosmos, had their own Pantheon of Gods that did not take well to neers toplete with them. A war was fought, and many fell on both sides, and in the end, both sides lost all their strength and could only hide or retreat into solitude to recover their powers slowly.


    Luckily, the natives in this world had the same basic desires as her original world. These silly creatures were easily persuaded by her charms and promises, making her their Goddess easily. It has taken her many cycles before she could manifest enough of her powers to form her core and ced it into a vessel of her choice, but the creatures of this world could not withstand her power as she was a divinity being of this world, making her having to change new vessels every few years after vessel was burnt out.


    But the Gods of Luck and Fortune must be listening to her! A being from her original world was found! As long as she converts him to be her follower, she could have an evesting body to remain in this ne! Once that happens, nothing can stop her from spreading her influence throughout this world when she walks in this ne!


    She eyed the tied up human on the pir and smiled bewitchingly at him who blushed and looked away. "Hehehehe..."


    "Spread the word..." Hedone giggled in happiness. "We must spread happiness to everyone everywhere! Tell everyone to give in to their desires! Make love and not war! Share the wealth and food! Heheehhee!"


    "The Mistress rewards!"

 Chapter 346: Iron Might

    Chapter 346: Iron Might


    A sharp beam of white light cut through the thick fog and reveals the moorings of the pier before the LCVP. A whistle blew from one of the crew and the coxswain reversed the engines, slowing the approached of the barge.


    The coxswain carefully steered away from the pier and instead aimed at the litter filled banks of the shore, letting the bottom of the barge to scrape across the rocks before he stopped the engines. He yelled at the crew at the bow who hit the release and the chains holding the forward ramp went loose, dropping the reinforced ramp down with a loud ng.


    Instantly a long whistle blew from the holds and two columns of Marines charged out. They ran forward and spread out into a defensive line while vehicles rumbled and rolled off one by one onto the rocky shore.


    Another LCVP grounded itself nearby and with the ramp down, Marines and vehicles quickly disembarked while teams of porters unloaded supplies once the beachhead was secured.


    Captain James stood on the top deck of the LCVP 02 next to a makeshift .50 cal turret surrounded by sandbags. The sun was barely up, and the thick fog covered most of thendscape while the skies were covered in dark and gloomy clouds.


    The city walls could be seen in the short distance, as they had beached just barely a kilometer away on the river banks. The nearby houses, fishing huts, and wharvesid abandoned and Marines could be seen clearing the houses out one by one.


    "What is causing that?" James asked Magister Thorn as he joined him at the gunwale. James pointed to the dark clouds that glowed purple red from the rising sun rays.


    "Hmmm..." Magister Thorn rubbed his chin as he narrowed his eyes at the unnatural phenomenon. "I am not too sure, but it looks like some kind of magic array..."


    "I need to go into it to study it and its effects before I can be certain of what it is or even how to dispell it..." Magister Thorn nodded to himself. "I can''t tell from here."


    "Shit," James cursed. "Magister, you know that that is not an option for you. It''s too dangerous there and we don''t know how will the magic effect you either."


    "I know, I know," Magister Thorn smiled at James. "I will be careful, and if you want to destroy whatever that is, I need to be inside."


    "I get it..." James frowned. "I will assign you a toon to keep watch over you."


    "Thank you, Captain James," Magister Thorn replied. "I got Liz here to help me too, so it shouldn''t be a problem for us!"


    "Alright, be careful!" James repeated. "That storm is making our radios unable to work, so better be safe than sorry!"


    Magister Thorn nodded and gestured to the girl next to him. "Come on, Liz, let''s go see what is making that cloud!"


    "I can find it drawing thend''s magic," Liz said as she slung arge satchel of arcaneponents. "It''s using thend''s magic to sustain itself and even grow!"


    "Wonderful deduction!" Magister Thorn grinned cheerfully. "You surely are the number one graduate from the School of Magic!"


    Liz blushed, "But Magister, what kind of spell could so such arge scale effect that turns people crazy?"


    Magister Thorn paused for a while before he said in a serious manner, "Vile magic... To cast something like this, a price of equal value must be paid in exchange..."


    "You mean?" Liz''s eyes widen. "Live sacrifices?"


    "Yes..." replied Magister Thorn. "And not just one or two... for a spell thisrge, you probably need hundreds..."


    "Sir?" A youngish Marine with the rank of a 2nd Lieutenant approached the two. "My toon has been tasked to escort you two into the perimeter of the city. Whenever you are ready, Sir!"


    "I think we are good to go!" Magister Thorn nodded and they followed the Marine towards a row of vehicles. Once they have climbed into the vehicles, the small convoy rolled out towards the city.


    It took them barely ten minutes to cover the short distance before the walls of the city loomed up before them. Strangely enough, there wasn''t a single soul in sight as the Marines exited their vehicles before the main gates of the city.


    "Where''re the local Imperial troops?" One of the Marines asked nervously as they watched their surroundings. "Thought they were supposed to be holding the gates and walls?"


    "Stay sharp!" One of the sergeantsmanded. "Keep your mouths shut and eyes opened!"


    "Magister?" called out the Lieutenant. "What are your orders?"


    Thorn frowned as he looked around the gate and city walls, seeing them empty and quiet. gs and banners hung limp on their poles and there weren''t any sounds typical of a city and not even any bird wyverns around either.


    "We take a quick look if there is danger we run back," Thorn finally decided.


    The Lieutenant nodded and called out one squad to check out the area, "Sarge Lens! Get your section to re the gate!"


    The sergeant nodded and gestured to his men and seven of them advanced up rapidly with their weapons at the ready. The rest of the toon kept their guard up as they watched their own disappeared into the shadow of the gates.


    Minutes slowly tickled away and just as the Lieutenant wanted to send in another section, thunderous gunfire echoed out from the gatehouse. "CONTACT!"


    The Marines quickly readied themselves, even Magister Thorn and Liz held their staffs out in preparation to cast their spells.


    Rifle fire lit up the gloomy gates as the section that entered the gates retreated in good order. In a perfect textbook retreat, half the section provided covering fire and the other half sprint back several meters before they stopped and kneel to provide fire for the rest.


    Soon, the entire section of out of the gates and the sergeant gave amand, all of them turned and sprint towards the line of vehicles. Behind them, dozens and dozens of figures spilled out of the city gates screaming as they chased after the retreating Marines.


    "GET CLEAR!" The Lieutenant yelled at the retreating Marines who quickly split off to the side after seeing his gestures. "Machine gunners! FIRE!"


    Four Jeeps and two truck mounted .50 caliber machine guns opened up at the order. Bright fiery tracers tore through the mass of rushing crazies as they exited the gates. Liz dropped her staff in shock and covered her ears, half screaming as the thunderous roar of the .50 cal guns nearly burst her eardrums.


    Magister Thorn seeing Liz in pain quickly shove a pair of earplugs into her hands, "I forgot to tell you to wear earplugs!"


    After stuffing the earplugs in, Liz felt better, but there was a whining noise in her ears that made her unable to hear clearly. "My ears!"


    Seeing Liz was fine, Magister Thorn turned his attention back to the gates, seeing the powerful hooman weapons making short work of the rushing horde. The crazed people sensing or fearing the might of those weapons faltered and soon there was barely any appearing from the gates, but the Marines could still hear their screams and criesing from behind the walls.


    "I think we found what remained of the Imperial garrison here..." The Lieutenant said as he ced a helm onto the bo of the Jeep where Magister Thorn was tending to Liz''s ears. "Most of those bodies or whatever that remained were mostly in Imperial armor. So I am guessing they turned too."


    Magister Thorn frowned at the bloodstained helmet before he turned and look at the skies above the city. "Hmmmm..."


    "I need to send word back to Command about this," The Lieutenant had a worried look on his face. "If the other gates are opened and unguarded like this, I am afraid that these... people might escape into the countryside and it can cause a lot of problems to unsuspecting people!"


    "I think those clouds restrict the movement of the turned people," Thorn suddenly said. "Look, the gates are opened but none of them have left, and the storm clouds only covered till the city walls."


    "But to be safe," Thorn said. "Cover the city exits, these people might lose their reasoning but they still can feel fear. And our weapons make them fear us."


    The Lieutenant nodded before he turned to his aide and started issuing orders. Liz asked curiously, "Magister, how do you know that?"


    Thorn smiled and pointed to the clouds, "If the turned people could leave the city, why haven''t we seen any along the way? And they hide in the city, out of the sun, under the cover of the clouds."


    "But of course, its all guesswork for now," Thorn said. "I haven''t experienced nor read such an event from happening."


    "That is why this is so exciting!" Thorn grinned while Liz furrowed her eyebrows. "Oh... I mean, its a tragedy!"


    "Magister!" The Lieutenant appeared and Thorn quickly turned his attention to the soldier to cover up the awkwardness. "I have sent a team back to report about our situation here. But for now, I do not think it''s safe to enter the city. My men will dig in here to prevent any future breakouts from the city while we wait for instructions toe."


    "Of course! Of course!" Magister Thorn replied. "I will take a look around the walls with my assistant here to see if we can find a way to do something about that ominous looking cloud."


    "I understand, Sir," The officer nodded and before he left he added. "I will send some men to escort you while you look around. But do not approach the gate!"


    "Come! Let''s go take a look at this magic array up close!"


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Captain Quarters


    Commander Ford took a sip of locally brewed tea before he said to Captain ke, "Sir, don''t you think this is overkill?"


    ke snorted as he leaned forward from his chair, "I think we made a mistake in sending a small contingent out."


    "I wanted to hurry up and end this senseless war with the Empire," ke continued. "I was hoping that we can create a sort of agreement with that girl Titanna. If sessful, we could have broker some peace treaty through her channels."


    "But now?" Ford asked with a raised eyebrow. "You are sending in an invasion force?"


    "Not invasion force..." ke closed his eyes. "It''s an extermination force."


    "Is it too heavy handed?" Ford asked. "After all, its an entire city of people..."


    "Ex people... If they can be saved, we save them..." ke pointed out. "But at this point, I rather kill off an entire city than let our people die for nothing."


    "We need to find a way to... deal with these Gods and Demons stuff..." Ford sighed. "Too bad we don''t have a nuke on board... Wait... can a nuke kill a God?"


    "Hell if I know! Damn cultists and Gods..." said ke. "I am not that particrly religious on Earth and even after migrating to Himpra Prime. Now I am wishing we had a God that is totally on our side..."


    "That what I was wishing for too," Ford grinned. "Wish we had our own God to look after us!"


    "I am serious," ke leaned forward. "I am wondering how can we pull a God to side with us."


    "Well, we could ask around," Ford said. "We do have some religious humans and elves around here. There are even some temples, shrines and churches in the city you know?"


    "Seriously... I don''t," ke gave an awkward grin. "I had never interfered with civil side of the city. Mostly, it''s Sherene and the city council doing the work."


    Ford shook his head. "Well, you should actually look more into the city nning, I know you are busy with other stuff, but keep yourself updated at least!"


    "Hahaha, ok, my fault!" ke replied. "Now, we need to see if we can find a God to help us, most preferably a God that isn''t into sacrifices..."

 Chapter 347: Escape From Norshelm

    Chapter 347: Escape From Norshelm


    Outskirts of Norshelm


    Linx crept silently forward through thick underbrush and gently parted the thick spiny branches to peek at the strange happenings that were going on outside the city. He, his little sister and other children had run away from the orphanage when suddenly the skies turn red and stormy and the adults started going crazy and even attacked him and his sister.


    He was terrified as he saw people once caring and friendly, turned against each other, tearing their clothes and flesh of each other in a mad frenzy. The other children in the orphanage followed along, and the children used their own secret route which they yed daily in the city, managed to avoid the sudden violence that was happening throughout the city.


    There was even an incident while they were escaping when one of their own suddenly went mad, and leaped onto the back of one of the girls and started tearing her clothes off and biting her neck like some kind of monster.


    The older boys managed to pry the crazed boy away and had to restrain him as he tried to attack the rest while giggling and muttering some nonsense about a mistress that will reward. Frightened out of their wits, Linx did the only thing he could. He picked up a piece of wood and knocked out the foaming boy on the head and everyone ran out of the city.


    For the past several days, they hid outside the city walls, finding shelter in a ruined hut that once belonged to a forester or hunter. They forage wild fruits and berries and even scavenged from the nearby viges which the owners had abandoned after news of a pandemic in the city spread to the countryside.


    Linx at fourteen years old, was the oldest in the group of twenty children, the youngest being just eight years old. He had to step up and lead the rest of the children out of danger and survive out here away from all the craziness.


    Woken by one of the children acting as a lookout, Linx followed the tiny boy and they crawled through the spiny bushes and peered upon an army with strange metal carriages. He watched the carriages lined up in a row and clearly soldiers came out of them, dressed in strange mottled colored clothing and armor.


    He saw a small group entered the gates but thunderous roars could be heard and suddenly the entire line of the strange metal carriages erupted in thunder and mes, shocking both of them.


    The boy beside him yelled out in terror and peed his pants in fright at the sudden eye searing mes and sudden loud roars. Linx quickly cupped his palm over his mouth to prevent the boy from making more noise. He ignored the stench and wetnessing from the boy and he quickly pulled the frightened boy back.


    "Go back to the camp!" He hissed. "Tell everyone to pack up and be ready to run, just in case but wait for my return!"


    The frightened boy with tears forming in his eyes nodded rapidly and shot off into the undergrowth like a little horned rabbit while Linx crawled back to observe the group of soldiers with their terrifying spells.


    The more he watched the more surprise and excitement he felt, as he watched the soldier mages'' spells cut down the hordes of terrifying changed people that flowed out of the city gates. He knew how scary and dangerous those people were as he witnesses the proud Imperial soldiers fighting against them, and one by one they fell and in the end, most of the Imperial soldiers be one of those things!


    Linx debated whether should he approach these soldiers, he was not sure where they came from nor did he recognized their armor and colors. He has never seen a soldier that does not have any bright colors nor shiny armor and these soldiers with their strange metal carriages were clearly not from the Empire.


    In the end, he decided to return to the camp and ease the fears of the others and once he did that, he took some fruits and returned to observe the strange soldiers. When he returned, he saw that the soldiers had apparently settled down guarding the exit of the gates. He noticed a small group of soldiers wandered a short distance away from him and there were two robed figures with them, which he suspected to be some nobles or high ranking mages.


    After some consideration, Linx finally decided to approach that group of soldiers, hopefully, they could save everyone. The most the soldiers could do was to sell them to very which they were bound for when they were in the orphanage once they turned fifteen. The worst, they could kill him right here.


    "No!" One of the older girls who followed him to observe the soldiers pulled his arm as he crawled forward. "It''s too dangerous!"


    "I have to!" Linx hissed. "We have no food and some of the rest are sick!"


    "I know, but we don''t know if they are good people or not!" The girl insisted. "It''s dangerous!"


    "I have to do it!" Linx gently patted the girl''s head. "If anything happens to me, bring the rest to safety!"


    With that said, he gathered his courage and crawled out of the bushes and walked determinedly towards the soldiers.


    -----


    Liz frowned as she tried to make sense of the turbulent energies around her while Magister Thorn was oohing and ahhing away at the corner. Suddenly one of the soldiers snapped his weapon up and yelled, "CONTACT!"


    She turned around in surprise with her staff at the ready to defend her self and saw an unkempt boy standing at the forest edge with his hands out approaching them slowly. She quickly cried out, "Wait! Don''t shoot!"


    The Marines held their fire and yelled at the boy, "Halt! Hands up!"


    The boy looked frightened and confused but he stopped where he was and raised his hands uncertainly.


    "Who are you?" One of the Marine approached the boy warily while the rest kept an eye around their surroundings. The Marine did a quick frisk of the boy behind he allowed Magister Thorn and Liz to approach.


    "My name... is Linx," The boy replied nervously. "I... I cam from the orphanage in the city..."


    "You escaped from the city?" Magister Thorn''s eyes glowed and he sped the boy''s shoulder happily. "Let''s do a check on you!"


    "Magister!" Liz frowned and pulled the Magister away. "Let''s the boy rest first... he looks like he''s going to fall over!"


    "Oh... yes yes!" Magister Thorn coughed to cover his embarrassment. "I was too excited, my apologies!"


    "It... it''s alright..." Linx was used to it, as he has seen some of the nobles that came to the orphanage used to do that to the children. "Do you have food?"


    "Of course!" Magister Thorn quickly agreed unaware of what Linx was had just thought of him. "Come, we get some hot food in you and you tell us what happened in the city!"


    "I... I still have some friends..." Linx spoke in an unsure voice, "My sister too..."


    "Bring them!" Magister Thorn said. "We have enough food for you all!"


    Liz nodded and spoke gently, "Don''t worry, you are safe now!"


    The boy nodded and he turned towards the forest and took off into it while they waited for him to return.


    Not long, a party of ragged and sad looking children appeared from the forest. Liz and the Marines quickly lead them towards the tents that the Marines had set up beforehand. The children huddled together, untrusting and fearful of the strange soldiers but soon their attitude softened when hot stew was feed to them.


    "Strange... hmmm..." Magister Thorn sat next to the children, listening to their ounts of what had happened in the city. "Hmmm..."


    "What is it?" Liz asked, tapping her staff impatiently at Magister Thorn''s way of dragging things out.


    "The children all reported the skies turned red for a moment and people started to go crazy and attacked each other..." Magister Thorn said. "But one point seemed strange..."


    "They only saw adults going mad, rarely a child," Magister Thorn stated. "Does it affect adults more than children?"


    "They also said the affected people kept repeating something about a mistress or queen that rewards..." Magister Thorn added.


    "Wait!" Liz frowned. "A mistress or queen that rewards? It sounds... familiar..."


    Liz suddenly smacked her palm as she realized something, "Its HER!"


    "That bitch goddess!" Liz growled. "At the cultist house were Eveyln was lured to! It''s that bitch!"


    Magister Thorn frowned as he heard Liz''s swear words but he ignored it, "If this is the case, we are dealing with a Goddess with the power to seduce and manipte people''s heart!"


    "Could be why children are not as affected as adults!" Liz said. "Since children are more... innocent and pure hearted... but there are some exceptions I guess..."


    Magister Thorn nodded, "This is not good. We need toe out with a way to protect ourselves against her powers... If not we will could be easily converted over and be one of them!"


    -----


    Marine Captain James rode in the back of themand Jeep and hopped out as it stopped. He walked over to the line of vehicles and greeted Magister Thorn, "How is everything? Heard you found some survivors."


    Magister Thorn gestured to the tents and said, "Yes, arge group of children..."


    "We might have a clue of who and what is at work here," Magister Thorn said as he led James over to the tents. "Seems like the same Goddess we encountered at Orwell''s Point."


    "That mind controlling Goddess?" James asked.


    "Erm... not exactly mind controlling," Magister Thorn sighed. "But close enough and yes, so we might have some troubles ahead if we do not prepare sufficiently for it."


    "Are we safe here?" James looked around their surroundings. "Will we get affected?"


    Magister Thorn gestured to the storm clouds and said, "As long as we are not under those clouds, we should be good, but just to be safe I will ce a protection ward around the camp, so at least we will not be affected in the long run."


    "What do you need?" James stopped at the tents. "I got people makingndlines to the beachhead to create amunication line back to HQ already!"


    "Oh, I need lots of silver, feathers or fur of an owlbear, iron dust-" Magister Thorn started stating out what he needed when James put up a hand to quickly stop Thorn from continuing.


    "Got it!" James quickly said. "Tell it to the operator in themand vehicle, he will arrange what you need!"


    Magister Thorn gave a sheepish smile and walked off towards the vehicle while James felt several pairs of eyes staring at him. He turned around and saw several heads ducked back into the tent and he shook his head at the scene.


    He entered themand tent and quickly got himself and his officers up to date about the ground situation. "Lockdown the two other gates of the city, the harbor side, we can''t really do much till the PT boats join us."


    "Send in A and B Company to probe the city, see if they push to their way to noble''s district and link up with the embassy party there," James ordered as he looked at the crude map they had of the city. "If it fails, wait for the PT boats to arrive before pushing by the river with one of the LCVPs to dock at the Rothschild Estate''s private docks."


    "Sir, what are the ROEs for the men?" One of the staff asked. "And the SRMs?"


    "Rules of engagement are as usual," James''s face darken. "Anyone hostile is to be treated as an enemy!"


    "And for the SRMs, have them on standby," James said to themand staff. "We will only use them as thest resort if all else fails."

 Chapter 348: Out of Space

    Chapter 348: Out of Space


    Outskirts of Norshelm, UN Forward Command


    Marine Captain James stood on the top of an earthen berm built around the sprawling camp of the Battalion, his eyes glued to the pair of binocrs as he scanned the city in the distance. The camp consisted of several tents now turned into a proper base, with ammunition bunkers and even an earthen and sandbagged berms as perimeter defenses.


    Magister Thorn had spent the next half of the day working his magic, creating a ward of protection over the camp and with the help of Liz and other magic capable Marines, they etched protective spells onto the helmets of the Marines.


    The camp was barely even a day old and already scores of fugitives that managed to escape from the city and its surrounding viges had approached his camp asking for refuge. Even the nearby fishing viges and farms had some of its original inhabitants returning and they even boldly came up to the gates to offer a trade.


    It felt surreal, thought James as he watched a party of fishermen and their wives trying to sell their catch at the gates to the Marines guards who were trying to be polite and rejected their offers and turning them away. He turned to his aide and asked, "What is the situation with Apache and Bronco Company?"


    "They encountered serious resistance before they reached the fourth avenue," His aide reported. "After which the crazies seemed to be just staying out of sight of their advance."


    James frowned as he looked at the tablet which showed the lines of advance of both A and Bpanies. "Don''t let them push too forward, they might get cut off from the gate if the crazies surround them."


    He was given a high priority mission by High Command, rescue all UN members, destroy all traces of their technology if possible, and save Titanna Rothschild if she is still alive. And a direct order given by him from Captain ke was to destroy all cult members if it meant burning the city down.


    "The river convoy down to the Nobles'' private docks had encountered more crazies and they are clearing them as of half an hour ago," The aide continued. "Their next report in while be in half an hour. Also, we have roughly a twenty minutemunicationg with the River Recon Force."


    James nodded, "Update me of any changes and push the refugees back another kilometer. I don''t want them so near us nor the city when the shites."


    "Yes, Sir!" The aide replied and disappeared off to carry out his orders.


    "Cap," Master Sergeant Pike appeared at James''s elbow, "Got the SRMs dug in and sited. Just waiting for the word."


    "Thanks, Top," James replied in a respectful manner, after all, he used to be under the Master Sergeant. "Bad business we have here."


    "Hell, I still pick this over fighting the damn bugs," Pike replied grumpily. "At least you don''t see your men and friends getting torn into bits and eaten before your eyes."


    James ceded the point to Pike, "Still killing cives? It''s a career ending move..."


    "You see any UN Senators out here?" Pike gestured around their surroundings. "Any press? Nope!"


    "Fuckers trying to kill us, and they already did to some of our boys!" Pike growled aggressively. "So fuck them! It''s just a fucking target rich environment."


    James nodded, "Fucking cults... I wonder why the fuck are there so many cults out there. I mean it fucking seemed the whole continent is crawling with them after the damn goblins!"


    "Fuck if I know?" Pike took out a rolled up smoke leaf and lit it up, taking a long drag before he blew out a puff of bluish smoke. "Fucking things taste like ass. We are in a fucking alien world... How the fuck do we know how these alien elves fuckers think?"


    "Just follow your training," Pike took another drag of the smoke leaf cig and gave a piece of advice. "Who tries to kill us, we just have to kill them first!"


    "Hoorah!" James whispered.


    "Hoorah!" Pike echoed as he continued puffing blue smoke out.


    -----


    Norshelm, Underground Pce


    Hedone was ying around with the strange weapons brought back by her followers. She peered into the pipe opening that had a strange foreign scent of oil and some sort of burnt medicinal smell. She flipped the strange weapon over and settle her hands over the crossbow like grips and squeezed the trigger but nothing happened.


    She wondered if some kind of spell was needed to trigger the weapon or like a crossbow, it needed to be winded back but she did not see any way to wind it. In the end, she gave up and tossed it to the pile of equipment and gear that was stripped from the strange soldiers.


    Turning her attention to the half conscious human tied to the pir, she was about to wake him up when she noticed one of her lead followers frantically threading his way through the sea of bodies.


    "My Queen!" Qiem prostrated himself before his Goddess. "Therees a new enemy army!"


    He looked up and used one hand to point at the tied up short eared which his Goddess called it as a hooman and said, "More of his unknown faction! Theye with thunder and fire, killing many of our converts!"


    Hedone gracefully spun her body around before sitting down on her throne in a single smooth motion. She blinked herrge almond shaped eyes in mock fear, "Oh dear! My people! We have to make them see reason! If they kill our people, how can we live free of our shackles?"


    "Yes! My queen is right!" Qiem cried out fervently. "We must stop them! I shall lead the converts to show them the error of their boring lives!"


    "Go, my brave knight!" Hedone dramatically waved her loose sleeves at Qiem who puffed up his chest in bravo. "If they choose not to join us... We could only release their souls to be free!"


    Qiem quickly retreated and turned to the sea of converts and called out, "Come! We must show those people how great our Mistress is!"


    "The Mistress rewards!!!" The sea of bodies cried out excitedly.


    The corner of Hedone''s mouth quirked as she looked at her zealous followers, but soon it turned to a small frown. "Who are you and how did youe to this world?" She asked the tied up human.


    Seeing the human not responding to her words, she walked over and ran her slim fingers across his face, making the human moan. "Speak!"


    -----


    Airforce 1st Lieutenant Peter Mitch had a long fever induced dream. He dreamt that he was in the cockpit of a space supremacy fighter, flying escort for the flight of bombers going in for a preemptive strike against a fleet of Swarm Parasite Cruisers and their Parasite Mothership.


    He felt he was riding a rollercoaster ride which he had no control over, watching his fighter ripple firing its chain guns, popping scores of point defense acidic spores as the Swarm responded to the attack.


    He watched bomber after bomber gets taken down by the dense clouds of acidic spores, which melted the bombers'' armor and cockpits, turning the machines into liquid metal and pilots into bloody goo.


    Therge squid like body of a Parasite Cruiser loomed up before him while he emptied all his guns and missile pods along its nk, watching balls of fire ring up briefly before extinguishing in the vacuum just as an acidic spore sshed over his cockpit, making him scream.


    Suddenly he found himself flying over a sea of blue forest, and squares and squares of tiny figures shed at the forest edge. He fired off his rockets at an infantry square filled with tiny blue banners and watched bodies get incinerated by rolling balls of mes.


    "YA GoT TheM GRET, BoSE PiLoT!" He heard Greg caroling behind his back and he turned back to smile at Greg only see a bloodied eyeless goblin head still wearing an oversized flight helmet grinning back at him. "GReT joB BoSE! EhEHHEHeH! BuT BoZE pILoT neDs tO WakEY WAkeY!!"


    "AAHHHH!" Peter moaned and his eyes opened in shock. Instantly, the world swam before his eyes and it took him a moment to get his bearings, only to find himself unable to move his arms and legs.


    As his vision cleared, he saw a female elf standing before him that was so stunningly beautiful that he felt his breath leaving him. "Speak!"


    He blinked his eyes wildly, trying to clear his head and tried to move his arms. He saw the beautiful elf reached out with a perfect arm and touch his cheeks, making him feel a tingle like electricity running through his skin, making him moan and strangely aroused.


    "Who are you and how did youe here?" The elf asked in a soft voice that was pleasant and charming to his ears. "Tell me which faction do you belong to!"


    "I... I..." Peter tried to speak, but his throat was too raw and parched fromck of water. He could only hoarsely whisper, "United... N- Nations... OF... Ma- Man... Spac... Co- mand... Fli- ght... Lieutenant... 1st cl- ss... ID... 2... 9... 1... 1... 2... 0... 1... 9... Pet- er... Mitch..."


    The beautiful elf''s facial expression changed into a confused frown which was also charmingly beautiful to Peter''s eyes. "What?!"


    "How did youe here?" She demanded in a stern tone, making Peter think she sound pretty cute.


    "Cras- hed... here..." Peter replied slowly, pronouncing each word carefully.


    "Crashed?" The elf seemed totally confused. "How?"


    "From... out... of... space..." Peter replied before he lost consciousness again.


    -----


    Norshelm, Outer City, 4th Avenue, Apache Company


    One minute all was quiet and peaceful, next minute all hell broke loose as scores and scores of crazies townspeople rushed out from alleys, streets, and buildings, charging straight for the startled Marines of Apache Company.


    The 1st Marine Battalion consisted of the most veteran Marines, being the first batch to graduate from Camp Alpha and experience in fighting several battles and skirmishes against the Empire, responded instantly.


    The Company''s Officers roared out fire orders while the steadfast NCOs ensured that the troops held their lines. Gunfire erupted and cut down the rushing horde like cutting grain while machine gun teams targeted the heaviest clusters of crazies and mowed them down with heavy fire.


    Further down another two blocks, Bronco Company experienced the same scenario, hordes of crazies attempted to overrun the Marines, but likewise, they held their lines and fought back bravely. As both Marinepanies thought they had the upper hand, suddenly spells started raining down onto their positions.


    -----


    Private Lorner, who used to be the toon''s fireman ducked his head down just as an eye searing bolt of arcane energy blew up the masonry over his head. "WHAT THE FARK WAS THAT?" He screamed over the gunfire.


    "Take cover!" A Sergeant roared out over the dim of gunfire. "Don''t stand in the farking open like a farking new guy!"


    Those Marines crouching or proning in the open quickly scattered to cover as magic spells started striking their positions. Cries for medic started down the line as Marines started to take damage from the magic attacks.


    "Sarge! Howe these crazies still know how to use magic?" Lorner asked as heid his back against a ruined wall of a shophouse. He rosed to a crouch and fired his newly issued M4 battle rifle which looked simr to the M2 carbine, but with a longer barrel,rge magazine size and a higher rate of fire.


    The entire Marine 1st Battalion was issued the new weapon weeks ago and they had trained in it before word came down and they were sent here. The new equipment was ted to be issued out to the rest of the Marine Corps in batches, with the 1st Battalion receiving the new toys first.


    "Fark, Sarge! We are pinned down here! We need fire support!!!"

 Chapter 349: Rocket Symphony

    Chapter 349: Rocket Symphony


    Norshelm, Outer City, 4th Avenue, Marine Defense Line


    The pop of a ranging mortar round exploded into a red smoke over the roof tiles of a nice looking townhouse with balconies filled with wilted flowers and herbs. "Ssh over! Good zero!" The spotter yelled into the radio handset which was linked to a ground line that spun over the rubble covered streets to amunication unit at the rear which ryed the radio messages down another cable that ran out of the city and to the mainmand post. "Fire for effect!"


    Secondster, the shriek of mortar bombs came over the skies and explosions rained across the front of the Marinepanies dug in in the city. Instantly, the pressure from the arcane spells and effects against the Marines lifted and the men raised their heads up over their cover and cheered.


    Yet, their cheers slowly died out as the mortar barrage lifted and hordes of crazies rushed their lines again.


    -----


    Outskirts of Norshelm, UN Forward Command


    "Sir, reports areing from bothpanies that they are at the risk of being overrun," Amand staff reported. "The crazies are rushing our lines and the mortars are not as effective due to the narrow streets and buildings."


    James turned his attention to the map pinned on the board. The map was a mixture of hand drawn and photographs taken by the Griffins before one of them was shot down. "Pull bothpanies back to the Church at 2nd Avenue."


    "Have the mortars cover their retreat as best as they could," James ordered. "And tell Top to get here."


    Master Sergeant Pike, aka Top, came into the tent after he was summoned. "Need me for something, Sir?"


    "I''m having bothpanies pull back from their positions," James gestured to the wall map. "Whole city is throwing everything at them and we risk having the troops being overrun."


    "I am gonna need your new toys," James said. "Are your toys ready?"


    Pike gave an evil grin and nodded. "Yes, Sir, ready when you are!"


    "Good," James tapped on the map. "I want you to put the love of God onto this sector and this sector!"


    Pike nodded again as he looked at the map. "Yes, Sir! I will be sure to give those crazies some T L C!"


    "Go," James said. "Both A and Bpanies are pulling out as we speak and time is of an essence!"


    -----


    Outskirts of Norshelm, UN Firebase


    A dozen matt green painted half tracks were packed into protective earth berms with severalrge cylindrical tubes sticking out, facing the skies. When the order came to the nervous crew who barely had any experience operating these weapons and even lesser drills, nevertheless leaped into action.


    The rocket tubes were alreadyid in and only need some minor adjustments as Pike came yelled out orders and coordinates to the crew. The crew quickly removed the protective coverings of the half tracks turned SRM carriers rocket pods and they ran off under cover once all adjustments were made.


    Pike stood on behind a sandbagged bunker as he waited impatiently for the order to fire toe as Command waited for the Marines inside the city to fall back away from the target area.


    "TOP!" The radioman yelled. "Command is calling for fire support now!"


    Pike nodded and turned to the SRMmanders and snapped. "By the numbers! FIRE!"


    The SRMs were grouped in pairs, each pair formed a battery. Each battery was named and numbered Thunder One to Six and when themand was given. Thunder One''s both SRM salvo fired their rocket pods, 98 70 mm rockets screamed and shrieked like a banshee, leaving behind massive plumes of smoke and mes.


    Secondster, Thunder Two followed suit, another 98 rockets were fired into the city, followed by Thunder Three and so on. In less than five minutes, a total of 588 70 mm rockets carrying a mix of high explosives and thermobaric warheads rained down over the city, lighting up the storm clouds over the city.


    The targeted area for the rocket barrage consisted of one kilometer by one kilometer area. The unguided rockets rained through the warp clouds like giant deadly teardrops and detonated as they mmed onto the ground and buildings.


    Instantly the entire city shook wildly as if a giant was stomping through the streets. Buildings, streets, and bodies were vaporized or blown into bits and pieces from the explosions.


    -----


    Norshelm, Outer City, 2nd Avenue, Ruined Church


    The Marines fell back from the streets in good order, covering each other backs as they retreated down the streets and buildings which they cleared just a day ago, giving ground back to the crazies as those crazies chased them.


    Despite their superior weapons, the numbers of the crazies were almost unlimited. For each they killed, another two or three more took their ce, and even those shot in the limbs carried on screaming and rushing them until they bled out or a shot killed them.


    Mortar support managed to keep the worst out for the Marines as they finally managed to disengage themselves from the crazies. They quickly reinforced the ruined church of some obscured god, ignoring the rotting tore up bodies of those that had sought refuge in the church but were overran by the craziester on.


    "CONTACT!" Someone yelled. "North wall!"


    The Marines quickly took up positions and fired at the approaching horde. Hundreds fell, yet it was like a drop in the bucket. "INCOMING! DANGER CLOSE!"


    Hearing that the Marines'' training took over, and they ducked under what scant cover there was, covering their long ears and opening their mouths when an ungodly roar came from skies. They saw holes being punched through the dark thick clouds and like a kid scribbling with a pencil, thick lines were drawn,ing out from the clouds, with bright plumes of mes that illuminated the dark clouds.


    And the world shook.


    -----


    Unexpectedly, the explosions of the rockets caused a massive shockwave which knocked the warp storm higher into the skies while the updraft of superheated air mmed into the colder storm clouds, creating a violent vortex of wind and lightning.


    The unnatural tornado swept across the city, sucking up the mes and debris, turning into a nightmarish pir of moving mes which was visible even many kilometers away. Eyes from outside the city stared at the horror as the pir of mes entwined with the storm clouds were spinning round and round like some kind of doomsday ritual while lightning shed.


    Pike walked out of the bunkers and joined the other support staff in the firebase as they stared at the unnatural specte in shock. "Fucking hell... did we released another God?"


    He quickly turned to the dumbstruck crew members and yelled, "Reload the SRMs! Stop gawking you dumb asses and get to work or I let you gawk at the toilets for a whole damn month!"


    "I fucking hate this!" Pike muttered to himself as he stole a nce at the unnatural weather in the distant city.


    -----


    Norshelm, Underground Pce


    Hedone was having fun teasing and torturing the poor human''s memories as she slowly questioned the human. She found herself surprised at the speed of development and history of the humans but she did not put them in her eyes as they were still ants to her.


    As long as she gets her powers back, nothing could stand in her way. "Tell me, handsome. About the weapons of your... United Nations of Mankind?"


    She gave a bewitching smile at the ssy eyed human whose a dibble of drool was leaking out from the corner of his ck jawed mouth. "Tell.. m-?!"


    The ground suddenly shook madly and rock dust rained down from the ceilings, followed by a heavy continuous thudding that for a moment, Hedone thought that it was Thor himself hammering her roof with his hammer.


    Cracks broked out among the pirs and walls, while her followers too drunk or absorbed in their desires failed to notice. Those sober enough only stood there in confusion as their bewitched minds attempted to process what was happening.


    The loud booms and thudding continued together with the shaking and Hedone frowned as she nearly fell. Suddenly several pirs supporting the underground pce that was secretly built for her cracked and chunks of white stone fell with a crash that was mildpared to what was happening above ground.


    Bodies were instantly crushed under the falling debris. Those witnessing the incidentsughed and giggled, while others continued on with their revery. Hedone hissed in anger as she dodged a falling pir and as suddenly as the earthquake came, it stopped.


    She quickly made her way to the exit of her pce but found the exit had copsed. She turned around and waved at her converts, calling them. "Come to me, my loveys! Move the rubble away for me!"


    Her followers hearing hermand quickly stopped what they were doing and with a single will, they worked to remove the debris blocking the exit while she waited impatiently at the side. She felt a tingle of fear down the pit of the stomach which she has not felt for many eons. "Which God has revived with their powers? Is it here to kill her?"


    "No!" Hedone muttered to herself. "No God should know I am here!"


    "Hurry up!" Hedone chased her people, ignoring the screams of those that got crushed under the rocks while attempting to move them away.


    I better hide! Thought Hedone. I am still too weak to fight, it was some Goding to take her divine spark which can erase her being totally from this universe and this borrowed body of hers was the only means to move about in this ne.


    If her body was destroyed, the most she will be returned to the void in between of this, where all the other Gods and Demons would be sent to. Breaking the void and getting a host body in the material ne requires immerse amount of energies. She did not want to return to the boring darkness not when she paid a huge price to move her divine spark out from the void and into the material ne.


    Having her divine spark in the material ne gave her some advantages. Her ability to recover her powers was faster and her divinity was more potent. But there were dangers too, should her divine spark falls into the hands of another, they could control her while other Gods or Demons would happily devour her divine spark which could increase their powers while erasing herpletely in the universe.


    No, she will not fight. Hedone tapped her fingers impatiently as she stood on the side with folded arms. I will run and hide, once I am strong enough. Whoever that tried to attack her will pay for it!


    -----


    Outskirts of Norshelm, UN Forward Command


    James watched the ming tornado in the city and ignored the frightened cries of themand staff. "It is just fire whirl!"


    "These things happen when the turbulent wind conditionsbine with the fire to create a rotating vortex of air!" James exined to hismand staff calmly. "It''s not magic, just... meteorology and science!"


    His staff calmed down after hearing his exnation but still kept a wary eye at the scary ming pir. "What is the situation on the ground now?"


    "Sir, A and Bpany reporting the enemy has been repelled," Amand staff quickly reported.


    "Good. Tell them to hold at their positions," James smiled. "And tell Thunder to fire their SRMs at the next sector! Once they are done, they are to target the next grid."


    "Yes sir!" The staffer replied. "Thunder, this is Nova Command."


    "Thunder send."


    "Nova Command, proceed to target next grid with barrage fire, how copy?"


    "Thunder, roger! Firing barrage at next grid! Out"


    James turned his attention away from the city and he took a marker and drew arge ''X'' on the map. "This is for Drake, assholes..."

 Chapter 350: City on Flames

    Chapter 350: City on mes


    Norshelm, Rothschild''s Estate


    Mills and the rest stood behind the barricaded doors and windows, hearing the sudden firecracker like popping in the city. The crowd of crazies constantly battered against the barriers as they tried to force their way in.


    "Yes!" Mills yelled in excitement. "The cavalry has arrived!"


    Seeing shes of light and echoes of explosions, the remaining Marines stationed at the Rothschild''s Estate morale soared and they renewed their vigor against the rampaging crazies before them, using spears and axes instead of their firearms to conserve their ammunition.


    Thest two helos had already returned back to Orwell''s Point for resupply, leaving the Marines and the Rothschild''s Houseguards defending the Estate as their stronghold against the crazies.


    More and more of the crazies flooded into the Noble''s District and attacked the estates and manors over the past few days, depleting the defenders'' will and strength.


    "Sarge!" A disheveled Marine appeared next to Mills and yelled. "There''s a signal reunched from beyond the East walls!"


    "It''s one of ours!" The Marine reported excitedly. "Reinforcements must being!"


    Mills patted Lieutenant Trism''s shoulder and yelled into his ear, "I am going to the East side to check on something! It might be reinforcements!"


    Lt Trism nodded as he concentrated on impaling a crazy with his borrowed spear. "Go! I can look after here!"


    The remaining Marines and Household guards had retreated back into the mansion days before, as they do not have the numbers to cover the entire estate walls and fences. The mansion''s servants had moved all heavy furniture to blocked the doors and windows while the soldiers fend off the probing hands of the crazies.


    Mills rushed to the other side of the mansion, squeezing past the heavily wounded Imperial soldiers that wereid on the sides of the hallway, their blood soaking into the rich carpets while servants and womenfolk tend to their wounds.


    He entered a room that had a balcony facing the east side and just caught the dying red re in the skies. "Fire a red re back!"


    One of the Marines quickly raised a re gun up and popped a re out into the skies in answer. Mills pulled out his binocrs and scanned the forested road, recalling that was where the private docks of the nobles were. As he adjusted his binos, he suddenly saw headlightsing out from the forest road and soon several vehicles emerged out into the open.


    "Yes! Reinforcements are here!"


    -----


    Norshelm, Inner City, Citadel


    Tyrier leaned against the parapet of the stone walls, ncing at the fiery whirlwind several blocks away that was wreaking havoc. He grinned as he heard the telltale roar of more rockets screaming their way down towards the city and secondster, explosions sounding like firecrackers mmed into the city, kicking up smoke and mes into the air.


    "Wee to hell, you sons of bitches!" Tyrier yelled out his frustration at the confused crazies milling around outside the wall. "We areing for you!"


    The stranded ymore One squad and the Marines cheered as they watched the third rocket barragending on another area of the city while the Imperial soldiers stared in fear and confusion at the destruction happening to their city.


    Titanna climbed up to the top of one of the dragon towers of the Citadel as news of a powerful spell that was ravaging the city reached her. Following her were the rest of the city council members and they crowded around the wide circr tform on the top of the dragon tower that purposed was used for dragons and their riders tond on.


    They watched fearfully at the streaks of falling stars dropping from the skies and impacting on the city with huge ear popping explosions. The falling stars seemed never ending, barely taking a turn of a ss before their roars from the skies could be heard and raining down, destroying everything where theynded.


    Only Titanna and those who fought against the ''Barbarians'' knew that those were their mightly war magic. Titanna did not know how she should feel, for she felt hope that the UN did not abandon her, but at the same time, the destruction of her city made her feel helpless and sad.


    She gripped the hem of her sweat and blood stained dress tightly as she watched her city on mes, slowly dying away.


    -----


    Outskirts of Norshelm, UN Firebase


    "Cease reloading!" The order rang out as the hot and sweat crew of the SRMs, stripped down to their pants were standing by to reload the rocket pods. Waves of simmering air, rosed from the superheated rocket pods after the fourth round of firing.


    The crew stood down and secured the munitions as they waited for the rocket pods to cool down before they reloaded them again to prevent premature firing of the rockets due to overheating.


    The men after finishing their duties gathered at the top of the protective berms and looked at their handiwork. Already the ominous storm clouds that hang over the city for more than a week, had been sted away by the rocket barrages to be reced with dozens of thick ck plumes of smoke from the burning city.


    Shortly after, a light drizzle fell, the raindrops hissing as theynded on the rocket pods and the rain helped to reduce some of the smoke and fire in the city.


    "Alright, Thunder boys!" Pike roared at the milling crew. "Check the SRMs! The rain should help cool the pods down faster! Check the temperature, once it is within an eptable tolerance, reload the pods!"


    "The damn fucking city is still standing! We haven''t fucking burn it down yet!"


    -----


    Norshelm, Inner City


    Hedone made her way out of rubble supported by several of her followers. It had taken her people almost half a day to dig their way out of her ruined pce. She frowned at the smell of the haze in the air and gestured impatiently for her followers to fan her.


    Almost instantly, several of her favorites appeared with fans, fanning the air around her as she left the copsed premise of a once prominent merchant''s manor. "What had happened here?"


    "My Queen!" Her loyal follower, Qiem suddenly appeared out from the smoke. He looked worse for wear with his once meticulous robes now dusty and torn. "We are under attack by some... some God!"


    "Who is it?" Hedone asked immediately, her senses in high alert. "Where?"


    "Your servant does not know which God did this..." Qiem knelt down before Hedone''s feet. "But whoever it was, it possessed a power far greater than anything I have ever seen nor heard before! We must leave this city at once!"


    Hedone nodded and quickly said to her followers, "Bring that man along! We leave this city at once!"


    "This way my Queen!" Qiem stood up and quickly led the way for her and the rest of the converts. "We must hurry, for that God might suddenly attack the city again with falling stars!"


    "Falling stars?" Hedone looked up worriedly into the smokey skies. "Zeus? Or is it Uranus or Jupiter?"


    She basically has nobat powers, her abilities instead were more civilized as she liked to think of them. If she met any Gods that could fight, she could only use all her powers to flee! With her limited recovered divine powers, she could feel someone or something seemed to be watching her, making her jumpy, nervous, and wanting to escape from whichever God was attacking the city!


    -----


    Unknown to Hedone, instead of a God watching her every move, it was an Owleye UAV hovering over the city. Its electronic brain humming away as it digested every btye of information flowing in from its multiple sensors and cameras into different tiers of importance.


    Now it had spotted arge cluster of heat signatures on the move within the city and with its current inputtedmands, it highlighted the information beforepressing it into a few kilobytes within a microsecond before it tight beamed the data byser out towards the nearest ry station which will automatically forward the data packet to Forward Marine Command that will call in an artillery barrage.


    Just as it was about to sweep another sector, a sudden signal triggered its priority protocols. The Owleye''s brain chip processed the information and triple checked the data, even pinging the beaconing from one of the heat signatures in the group.


    It was a United Nations of Man Fleet Command transponder signal that pinged the UAV. The Owleye downloaded the transponder signal''s ID code before it tight beamed the data again to the ground with a high priority tag.


    Once it has done its job, the UAV happily turned its sensors to the next grid and started sweeping the area forrge concentrations of heat signatures to call in artillery fire.


    -----


    Outskirts of Norshelm, UN Forward Command


    The operator in charge of screening the information from the UAV that was dispatched just hours ago after the warp storm had blown away, restoring telmunications and telemetry of sensors.


    He watched the video feed showing the cluster of heat signatures which theputer estimated the numbers to be close to a thousand. He tallied the coordinates with the local map grids and was about to call for a rocket barrage on the location when a high priority tag appeared. He watched as one of the heat signatures had a targeting box oveyed over it with a friendly IFF ID code appearing next to it.


    Surprised, he quickly ran the ID code into the military database and secondster, a file appeared with an image of a handsome looking hooman.


    [[[ AIRFORCE FIRST LIEUTENANT PETER MITCH ]]]


    [[[ ID CODE UNMF350512191216AM ]]]


    [[[ RACE - HUMAN, CAUCASIAN ]]]


    [[[ LAST KNOWN LOCATION - BLAKE''S WORLD, NORSHELM ]]]


    [[[ CURRENT STATUS - MISSING IN ACTION ]]]


    "Oh, my gods!" The operator whispered as he read the data streaming out on his screen. "CAPTAIN JAMES!"


    "What is it?" James hurried over to the UAV controller station. "What have you got?"


    "The missing pilot!" The operator replied excitedly. "We found him... or to be exact his transponder!"


    "Where?" James asked as he stared at the UAV feed and at the data shown on the disy. "What is his location?"


    "Here, sir!" The operator took over manual control of the UAV and turned its sensors towards the group of heat signatures moving towards the city walls.


    "Switch to normal vision," James said. "And zoom in, I want to see if it''s our guy."


    The operator quickly tap a few keys and the live feed jumped, the ck and white imagery switched to colors. Drifts of smoke blocked most of the imagery but as the sensors zoomed in, they could briefly see snatches of people moving when the smoke cleared.


    A targeting box highlighted one of the figure that appeared to be carried by some others when the smoke cleared enough to be seen.


    "Freeze the image and zoom in," James gripped the shoulder of the operator who executed his orders and a frozen image was disyed out. "Zoom in more and clean up the image. Sharpen it more... more..."


    The operator expertly cropped the image out and cleaned away theyer of smoke, before sharpening the image, making it clearer. James sucked in a deep breath as the image finally cleared up enough for him to recognize the pilot''s features and uniform. "It''s our man alright!"


    James straightened up and said, "Keep track of where they are heading! I want the UAV to follow them at all times!"


    After that James headed to themunications operator and picked up the handset, "Put me through to High Command."


    After a while of listening to a series of beeps and tones, the line got connected, "High Command, this is Nova Command."


    "High Command, send."


    "Nova, we have found traces of our missing pilot. High chance the pilot is still alive and held as a prisoner. Over."


    "... Nova, this is Captain ke. Rescue him if possible without putting your men at risk. If risk of rescue is too high... You are authorized to drop heavy ordnance on him. Do not let them take him alive! ke out!"

 Chapter 351: Tomorrow Never Dies

    Chapter 351: Tomorrow Never Dies


    Norshelm, Inner City, Citadel, Inner Sanctum


    Lieutenant Svar towered over the Marine signalman as he listened in to the conversation between the signaler and Nova Command while Titanna and her council members stood at one side of the grand table eyeing him and trying to make sense of theirnguage and magic.


    After the arcane storm had blown away, disruption to the radios,sers, and sensors disappeared, allowing the troops inside the city to start receiving and broadcasting again.


    "Sergeant Tyrier!" Lt Svar called out, his orc features twisting in distaste as he called out to the special forces team leader. "Got a mission for you frommand!"


    He gestured Tyrier over to the map spread on top of the table in the Sanctum and he traced his fingers over the map before tapping on a spot. "Here, Sergeant. I need your people here to setup an ambush."


    Tyrier frowned as he stared at the spot on the map,beled in an old script of themon tongue. "Abbey street? Ambush who?"


    "Yes," Svar nodded. "High Command just gave the word that they had located the transponder signal of the pilot of the Shepherd Six Four. Seems like those crazies had taken him for some reason unknown to us. You are to ambush the crazies and save the pilot."


    "Currently they are moving along this street here. Judging by their movements, they should be trying to make a beeline for the North Gates," Svar slid his thick green grey finger down the map to another series of lines. "I will give youmand of a section of Marines too."


    "How many crazies are we looking at?" Tyrier observed the city map, taking note of the streets and buildings.


    "A thousand or two," Svar shrugged. "UAV is keeping an eye overhead and you have artillery support."


    "A thousand or two?" Tyrier snapped his head sharply to stare at Svar. "And not counting the number of roamers between us and the objective... You want just fourteen men to ambush them and save one of ours?"


    Svar lowered his head for a while before he looked up and nodded, "High Command did mention that if all else fails... we are to call in an artillery strike and take out the pilot."


    Tyrier shook his head, "This is a suicide mission... Can''t we just... call a strike now and end it?"


    "High Command wants to know what they did with our pilot," Svar said before he leaned over and lowered his voice. "And its a hooman... one of their own..."


    Tyrier nodded his head in understanding once he heard that information, "I see what we can do... but I doubt we will be able to save him. I will not put the lives of my men before that pilot. Even if he is a hooman!"


    "You do that," Svar''s beady eyes glistered. "And keep my boys safe too!"


    -----


    UN Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    ke rubbed his tired eyes as he finished the report he was reading on. A knock on his door and he looked up, seeing Commander Ford with a te of sandwiches. "Something to bite?"


    ke grinned and gestured Ford in. "Thanks, I was just starting to feel a bit hungry."


    Ford eyed the pile of paper reports that ke swiped to the side of the table and set the te down. "Think we need to rethink our doctrine for ground conflicts?"


    ke took a sandwich and bit into it and chewed in thought before he swallowed and said, "I guess so... At this rate of attractingbat everywhere, we go... We need to rethink our strategies."


    "Well, at least forbat capable manpower we are currently notcking," Ford replied. "With the ongoing training for the next batch of Marines and the new Orc arrivals, we can now have enough manpower assigned to other service branches."


    ke chuckled, "I know you are running a paper navy."


    Ford shook his head sadly, "d that you know! Ever since we got those old boats from the Isles, we were trying to improve our shipbuilding abilities and upgrade our fleet of ocean going ships."


    "But in the end, we invested solely into mosquito boats," Ford sighed. "And the Floatin'' Wreck and the Matador had their crews stripped to man the PT fleet."


    "Our only fleet barely has enough strength to operate in the Goblin Straits for anti pirate operations," Ford grumbled. "All the new recruits were all taken by Tommy into his airforce!"


    ke raised his hands in defeat and said, "Alright chill... Next batch of Marine graduates, you can have the pick of your choice first, alright?"


    "That''s better!" Ford grinned.


    ke looked down at the te of sandwiches and sighed, "I knew that there''s some motive for you to bring me some food..."


    "Well, the Navy literally has nothing to do now..." Fordined. "Other than keeping the Straits clear for the Isles'' merchant ships and shepherding those Ind Whales... We are just sitting on our thumbs..."


    "Well, fret not..." ke took another sandwich. "Once we settle this fuck up at Norshelm... I got a job for you."


    Ford leaned forward, "You know that you are nning on burning down the entire city?"


    "Yup," ke nodded. "No more Mr. Nice Guy here..."


    "And our own too?" Ford frowned.


    "Sadly yes..." ke replied coldly. "He can''t fall into the hands of the enemy. In fact, no humans can ever fall into the hands of the enemy... You know the consequences of it! Everyone signed up on this voluntarily."


    "Yes..." Ford leaned back on his seat. "Still... it''s one of our own people... How many original crew of the Singapore are still alive?"


    "355..." ke said. "Or 356, if the pilot is rescued without harm."


    "356!" Ford hissed. "How many were alive when we firstnded? 400?"


    "424" ke spoke from memory. "Over 70 had died over the year."


    "70 deaths!" Ford shook his head. "I know everything you have done so far had been for our survival. But are we gonna kill off one of our own when we can have the chance to save him?"


    "I know..." ke sighed. "But what would you have me do? Sacrifice others to save him? Sacrifice the elves to save one of the humans?"


    "They are lives too! And they have be our people too! Are you telling me to use them like chess pieces?" ke yelled. "Is that the way you learn in Fleet Command? Sacrifice others to save one person?"


    Ford kept quiet as ke raged on. "I have done it before and I know what it means to sacrifice your own!"


    ke covered his face and said, "No... there have been too many sacrifices going on here. If they can save him, that will be good. But if they can''t, I do not want them to waste lives for one man. Regardless if he''s a human, elf, orc, or goblin."


    "Too many lives had been lost," ke whispered. "It is time we do something about it..."


    -----


    Norshelm, Inner City, Abbey Street


    Hedone ducked her pretty head instinctively as another series of thunderous explosions shook the streets, cracking the cobbled street. She looked up into the skies, trying to catch a glimpse of what was dealing with all that magic and destruction to the city, but she could only see thick ck smoke covering the skies.


    "Hurry up!" She hissed to her followers that surrounded her in the hundreds. They swarmed the streets and rushed towards the Inner City gate that leads to the Outer City, and it will be a straight route to reach the Outer City gates and she will hide and bid her time in the forest.


    Suddenly, a shrill shriek ripped over her head and she jerked her head up and briefly saw a dark oblong object before the air in front of the crowd exploded. A thick cushion of air mmed into everyone and Hedone stumbled in her steps.


    As she recovered, she was the group hundred of paces in front had vanished, reced by a sea of red and unidentified bits and pieces. "Wha- what happened?"


    "Its some kind of deadly spell!" Her follower, Qiem quickly exined. "Hurry, Mistress! We must get out of the city before we get hit by one of those spells!"


    "W- how?" Hedone spun around, trying to find who cast the spell at her followers. "Where is that spell caster? How is he doing this!"


    "W- we don''t know!" Qiem admitted. "But we must hurry! It is too dangerous!"


    Just as he finished those words, another shrill shriek screamed over and this time, it hit the rear of her people, turning those unfortunate enough in the airburst into shredded meat and blood.


    "RUN!" Qiem cried out urgently and he tugged on Hedone''s arm. "Mistress, run!"


    Hedone felt a tingle of fear down her spine as she could not detect any traces of magic or how or where the spell came about. She allowed herself to be led away by Qiem, stumbling after him while her other converts and followers milled around in confusion.


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"


    She snapped back to reality as she heard an unfamiliar yelled, and the whole world around her suddenly turned into mes and smoke.


    -----


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Tyrier yelled as he thumbed hard on the detonator. Instantly, the wired ymores went off, spewing their lethal loads into the crowd of crazies.


    "ENGAGE!" He ordered as he broke cover, bracing his rifle against the low wall and firing at those still standing. Around him, the rest of ymore One and the Marines loaned to him followed hismand and fired.


    "CHECK YOUR FIRE ON THE CENTER GROUP!" Tyrier yelled and the Marines echoed themand while his own men advanced forward down the blood soaked streets.


    The preemptive mortar strike on the group of crazies had mauled their numbers down while the hidden ymore mines further thinned their numbers. Still enough crazies remained to be a threat to Tyrier and his men. So he had the Marine provide suppressing fire at the crazies, hoping to divert their attention to the Marines instead while he and his team move in fast to grab their package and retreat.


    Tyrier knew the crazies do not behave like normal people with fear ormon sense, as these people had their will destroyed and they only follow their basic instincts and needs. He could scare or shock them back temporarily with enough firepower, but after that, they will stille forward once their fear has passed.


    "Move it!" Tyrier ordered as he stepped over a street literally covered with bodies. He ignored those still twitching and only rammed his bayed tipped rifle to those attempting to attack or reach for him. He only fired at those still standing that approached him and his men and ignored the rest, making a beeline for the transponder signal.


    He finally saw his objective, the bloodied pilot being carried by two crazies who stood there in confusion. Tyrier gestured and his men fired, taking down both of the crazies and any surrounding crazies before advancing.


    Young, the team medic, took a kneeling stance next to the pilot and checked his vitals while Hitsu ran up behind him and pulled out the foldable stretcher on his back and deployed it. Young mmed a vial of tranq shot into the thigh of the pilot before with the help of Hitsu, hoisted him onto the stretcher and secured the straps.


    Once done, Hitsu took one end, while Young grabbed the front and they ran as fast as they could back towards the Marine''s line with the pilot between them while the rest provided security.


    "Move move move!" Tyrier yelled. "I''m calling for a rocket barrage on our location to cover our asses! MOVE!"


    As they ran, they could hear the screams of rocketsing from the distance, their fuzzing screams growing louder and louder.


    "INCOMING! GET THE FARK BACK! DANGER CLOSE!"

 Chapter 352: Die Another Day

    Chapter 352: Die Another Day


    Norshelm, Rothschild Estate


    Titanna''s hagged face appeared before an equally tired and blood stted Mills. Without a word, she jumped into his arms, ignoring the decorum and the scandalized looks given to her by the council members and their wives. She did not care and it was a really tough week for her as she sought some form offort from the only man that always tried to protect her.


    "Sorry..." Mills whispered as he held her tightly, his eyes turning slightly red from emotions. "I couldn''t make it to your position, and you had to suffer."


    She shook her head in his embrace, her head buried deep in his smelly armor, her nose already used to the smell of unwashed bodies and death. She closed her eyes, feeling warm and safe as she remembered how the dark menacing looking arcane wagons with more of those deadly thunder weapons rolled up before the gates of the Citadel and how relieved she felt at that time, yet a heavy sense of guilt washed over her for surviving while her people and city burned.


    The silent trip back to her Estate that was asionally punctuated by briefs snatches of conversations by the drivers in front. She looked out of the ss windows, seeing soldiers dressed in thick hooded cloaks and gloves, spraying magical mes left and right, torching the remains of the city and its dead inhabitants as the convoy slowly left the Citadel.


    "I... I want to leave this ce," She whispered in Mills''s embrace. "This ce is... too sad..."


    Mills nodded, his chin resting on top of Titanna''s head and whispered softly back, "I know... I know... Let''s leave this ce..."


    A strong gust of cold wind came, blowing away the stench of death and smoke and Titanna burrowed deeper into Mills''s arm and fell asleep while Mills gently rocked and patted her head as he looked up at the remains of the city. The cold wind cleared the smell of haze and Mills could smell a slight earthly tinge in the air.


    Autumn has finallye.


    -----


    Norshelm''s Inner City, Abby Street, Apache Company


    Private Lorner was humming a tune that only himself encased in the hot sweltering suit could hear. He could barely feel the trigger pipes in his thickly gloved hands as he swept the nozzle left and right, the meters long mes torching anything it touched.


    His vision was narrowed to just what his helmet''s visor slit could see and to keep himself from feeling ustrophobic, he hummed to the chorus of "Eve of Destruction" to himself as he torched the hundreds of putid bodies and parts, thankful that his view was limited, making him able to ignore the gruesomendscape before him.


    As he was working his way through the ruins of what used to be Abby Street, he gave a surprised yelp of fright when a hand burst out from the scorched ground and gripped his boots. He reflectively stomped down at the ckened arm several times before he broke off a couple of fingers, and managed to pry himself away from the hand.


    He stumbled back in warily as he tried to make sense of the situation before him. The hand appeared to be trying to force it way out from the charred ground, and Lorner backed off as another hand suddenly popped out with a crack from the crust like ground.


    A totally naked and hairless body crawled its way out from the crust like ground. Its body red and leaking pus and fluids. Lorner could clearly see it was a female from her breasts that had its skin peeled off, revealing reddish muscles and nerves.


    The female turned its bald scorched head to his direction as he stepped back and snapped a piece of charcoal, her eyes in her empty sockets long boiled and burst away from the heat. She opened her mouth to let out a cry of pain and hate that came out as a hoarse screech from her melted vocals.


    "What the fark!" Lorner gasped at the horror trying to crawl towards him. He drew his revolver one handedly and cocked the hammer back, aiming at the forehead of the poor female. "Rest in peace!"


    BAAAM!


    The shot was simple and true to its target, hitting dead center of the female''s forehead but to Lorner''s surprise, other than leaving a hole in her head, it seemed to be still alive!


    Quickly, he triggered hisms, "Sarge! I got something here! Some kind of mage or undead!"


    "What''s your location?" His Sergeant replied, making Lorner feel some form offort.


    "Erm, I think I''m at the crossroads of Abbey Street!" Lorner reported. "Make it quick!"


    Following that report, he emptied the remainder of his ammo at the undying creature, inciting several unearthly screams from the creature. Not long after, several figures came running over and they surrounded the creature from all sides.


    "What the hell is it?" Lorner asked as he reloaded his revolver. "It ate five shots but still doesn''t die!"


    "Whatever it is..." The grizzly Sergeant hawed and spat to one side. "HQ says burn and kill everything that isn''t normal!"


    "Well, what are you all waiting for?" The Sergeant yelled at the Marines. "Kill it with fire!"


    The Marines fell back to a safe distance while Lorner and another two mers equipped Marines stepped forward and ignited their mer nozzles before the mes red out and covered the screaming body.


    -----


    Pain. Agony. Fear. Darkness. These were what was going through the thoughts of Hedone as she blindly stumbled in the dark. Each movement felt like hundreds, no thousands of cuts on her flesh and bones. It was a feeling worst than being exiled to the void.


    If she knew that carrying her Divine Spark with her would subject her to such torment, she would had hidden her core in the void instead. She heard a noise and tried to make her way towards it, hoping that it was some of her followers who survived the sudden attack that came screaming out from the skies.


    The stars rained down on her and her followers and the next thing she knew, she was buried under hundreds of bodies who used their flesh to protect her while everything burned. Yet it was not enough! Heat like from the forges of Hephaestus slowly roasted and suffocated her and her followers and her insides boiled as she baked, unable to escape the bodies crashing ontop of her before she passed out.


    Unknown how long she passed out, when she awakened, she felt the agony of her wounds and used all her divine strength to crawl her way out. Blinded, she could only stumble around, hoping to find some shelter to recover her wounds with her divine powers.


    To her surprise, she heard a thunderous roar that almost deafened her already damaged hearing and something powerful and small mmed into her head, making her almost faint from the sudden stinging pain.


    She screamed as she felt the pain in her head was about break open her skull and what followed next were a few roars that totally destroyed her hearing and blows that knocked the remaining air out of her host body.


    Hedone''s mind went nk from the pain, and her base instincts took over, as she crawled away from the source of the painful roars and attacks. Tears that could fall would had fallen had it not her tear ducts were melted and fused to her facial muscles.


    She desperately tried to escape as fast as her body could move and when the gush of mes washed over her over and she screamed like she never screamed before.


    -----


    Lorner held down the pressure trigger of his mer, making sure to keep an eye on his nozzle temperature gauge as he was taught. He was astonished as the creature was still alive even after several seconds of super heated mes from three farking mers!


    What in the heavens is this creature? He thought just a sudden sh of eye searing light burst out from the creature and he felt himself being lifted up and with a cry of horror, he and the surrounding Marines were tossed dozens of meters away from the force of the sudden unexpected explosion.


    -----


    Norshelm, Outer City, Shepherd Six Four Crash Site


    James stopped the details who was carrying out a ck body on a stretcher and gestured for them to give him a minute. He unzipped the bag and a once handsome face now disfigured and turned purple looked back at him.


    James let out a long sigh as he sat next to the body, resting a hand on the body''s forehead. He looked around the site, absentmindedly watching the Marines'' clean up details picking through the pieces of the crash site and retrieving the bodies of their own fallen.


    After a moment of silence, James patted the head of Drake Mcguire and leaned down and gave a kiss on his cold forehead. "Go in peace bro. Don''t worry. She will be looked after."


    He zipped the body bag back and stood up, blinking his eyes rapidly to clear the tears that threatened to break out. After he wasposed enough, he gestured the detail to carry the body of his friend away.


    As he turned away, a sudden boom of a massive explosion followed by the earth quaking and shock wave mmed into him and his men, knocking him off his feet. As James recovered and climbed to his feet, he turned to the direction of the explosion and saw a miniature mushroom cloud had formed over the city.


    "What the fuck? Did a goddamn nuke went off?!"


    -----


    Outskirts of Norshelm, UN Forward Command


    The incidents of the day before now sat in a report before James in his tent. He had read through the report twice and was wondering how to exin the explosion that killed three Marine and crippled several more over to HQ when a voice called from the tent''s p.


    "Captain James?"


    "Magister Thorn?" James looked up. "Come in."


    "Thank you," Magister Thorn pushed the p open and entered the tent, bringing in a draft of cold autumn wind. "Well, I have some news."


    "What news?" James gestured to the camp chair for Magister Thorn to sit down.


    "Well, that explosion from before is definitely not from our weapons," Magister Thorn said excitedly. "I caused a Detect Magic spell over the area and found shocking high amounts of magic power, pure magic power that is not of our world!"


    "What are you talking about?" James rubbed his temples at the headache inducing exnation from Magister Thorn. "What pure magic? I thought magic is based on several natural elements?"


    "Yes! But there are some powers that are not of nature and could only be found from one thing!" Magister Thorn grinned like a twelve year old with a new toy in his hands. "Divine powers!"


    "Divine powers?" James blinked his eyes in confusion. "You are saying a God caused that explosion?"


    "Yes and no!" Magister Thorn replied. "I mean the explosion is caused by a God or in this case, a Goddess!"


    "But it wasn''t a spell that made that explosion!" Magister Thorn said. "I spoke with the survivors and they said that they were trying to kill a being that could not be killed with normal means and they were using fire when that being suddenly exploded. And that being was female in nature."


    James leaned forward and narrowed his eyes, "Are you saying this being might be that Goddess causing all the craziness in this city?"


    "Very high probability," Magister Thorn said, mimicking Dr. Sharon''s manner of speech. "What is more interesting was what happened next!"


    "The explosion?" James frowned before his eyes went wide. "Are you saying we killed a Goddess with... me throwers?"


    Magister Thorn nodded excited, "Yes! If we can prove that it was the Goddess... than. YES! We had just killed a Goddess with mortal weapons!"


    "Holy fuck!"

 Chapter 353: No Time to Die

    Chapter 353: No Time to Die


    Norshelm


    It had been a hectic week for Titanna and her reminding council members who still supported her. She had to organize the remaining people and the sudden influx of refugees who came pouring out of the woods, to managing food supplies and scavenge teams.


    Thankfully with theing of autumn, there were plenty of wild fruits and tubers to be foraged for food but also the dangers of goblins and wild creatures. But with the onset of autumn, the colder weather will require her people to have warm clothes and firewood to keep warm in the night.


    And there was the other faction, led by the Lord Taron and Delfin, who advocated against her decision to abandon Norshelm entirely. In the end, the people were split into two sides, with one side wanting to stay to rebuild while the other wanting to leave to find other pastures.


    Luckily for Titanna, Captain James of the UN had stepped in and ''proposed'' to be the neutral party to prevent a fight for resources from both sides. He had leaders from both sides agree to cooperate and share their scant resources here, while the UN prepared to pull its forces back to Orwell''s Point.


    On the plus side, both her scheming brothers had disappeared when the crazies attacked the Estate, most likely dead or converted by the mad cult. She didn''t bothered to spare any effort or energy to find out what really had happened to them.


    Titanna put down the ounting scrolls and left her warm stuffy tent that was heated by a small brazier. Instantly, the cold air hit her when she left the tent and let the cold air refresh herself.


    Hundreds of tents of all shapes and colors stretched out in a haphazard way as the refugees of Norshelm gathered together for protection. She could see Imperial soldiers patrolling around the tents to prevent fights and theft while families gathered together around a campfire or brazier to share warmth and food.


    "Hey," A voice called out behind her and she smiled as she recognized the voice. "Whatcha doing out in the cold?"


    "Clearing my mind," Titanna replied without turning around. "Too many things in my head."


    "Sure," Mills sat down on the ground next to her. "Are you feeling okay?"


    Titanna nodded before she sat down next to him, "Yes, just feeling tired that''s all..."


    "Well, another few more days and we be leaving this ce!" Mills said in a light tone.


    "Yes..." Titanna replied softly, "Just a few more days."


    "Cheer up!" Mills encouraged Titanna. "When we get back, I bring you to see the rest of my gang!"


    -----


    Haven, Sawtooth Mountain Airbase


    The twin propeller engines of the FB - 1 slowly spun down and the side belly hatch popped out. Four Marines in dress uniforms and white gloves climbed into the hatch and reappeared shortly with a casket. One by one, wooden caskets were carefully carried off from the aircraft and into the hangar, it had taxied next to.


    Each casket was then covered in the UN g of white blue and red with gold trimmings where they sat coldly in the hangar waiting for any family members to be identified before they were to be processed to the military cemetery. Captain ke stood with Commander Ford, Colonel Frank, and Intelligence Officer Lt Tavor watching the detail move the coffins off the aircraft in silent.


    "Seventeen dead, fifty six wounded in various conditions." Colonel Frank stated as the Marine detail gave a salute to the officers before the Marine detail marched off.


    "We lost thirteen elves, one goblin, two orcs and one of us," Frank continued as he stared at the caskets. "The most crippling damage the 1st Battalion took was the unexpected explosion that outright killed off ten of our Marines and wounded over thirty men."


    "What is the investigation regarding the cause of the explosion?" Commander Ford asked.


    "Magister Thorn and ult Intelligence both hade to the same conclusion," Lt Tavor replied. "Residue reading of the site had our Mu Senors going off the charts and even the mages'' use of magic detection spells had the same readings."


    "The magic residue left behind is clearly of divine nature," Lt Tavor said. "We are not looking at just a mild concentration like the aftermath of a spell, rather at a reading of over 18, 000 mSv per hour."


    "18k?" ke turned his attention to Lt Tavor in shock. "That high?"


    "Yes Sir," Lt Tavor nodded. "It is higher than the records of the Chernobyl incident."


    "But as it is magic or Mu radiation as Dr. Sharon named it," Lt Tavor added. "There is no risk of acute radiation sickness."


    "But we do not know if it will cause any side effects to the Marines exposed to this amount of Mu radiation," Lt Tavor said. "Dr. Sharon has the exposed Marines ced under quartine and observation for any signs of side effects."


    "Why did Magister Thorn suspect it was caused by the death of a God?" Colonel Frank asked.


    "His words were, the crater left behind by the explosion was simr to the drawings and depictions of the death of a Divine being from his only copy of Chronicles from the Age of Gods," replied Lt Tavor. "And I too have seen and read the Chronicles he mentioned and it does seem simr."


    "So we destroyed a Goddess?" ke asked. "Hedone?"


    "If our investigate are true," Lt Tavor nodded. "Yes, we had killed Hedone, the daughter of the Greek gods Eros also known as Cupid and Psyche. She is a daemones or spirit and was the personification and goddess of pleasure, enjoyment, and delight."


    "Hence with her powers, it was easy for her to control the will of the people," Lt Tavor summarized from his notes. "The citizens in Norshelm turning crazy were caused by her handiwork, stripping them of their inhibitory controls."


    "Inhibitory controls also known as response inhibition is a cognitive process and more specifically, an executive function, that permits an individual to inhibit their impulses and natural, habitual, or dominant behavioral responses to stimuli in order to select a more appropriate behavior that is consistent withpleting their goals," Lt Tavor exined. "In short, she rewrites a person''s self control leading them to act on their base instincts, needs, and desires."


    "An example would be how the Princess affects the Capt-," Lt Tavor was saying halfway when Captain ke coughed loudly and cleared his throat to interrupt.


    "I think we understand that point, Lieutenant!" ke gave a warning look at Lt Tavor who shut his mouth while the rest of the officers snickered.


    "An important question." ke continued as if nothing was wrong. "Does this mean that each God blows up like a micro fusion reactor going critical each time if we defeat them?"


    -----


    Goblin Straits


    The loud snap and flutter of sails were like a melody to Fleet Master Dijon''s ears as his gship, the Talon rose up and down with the waves. He was so bored of his time onnd and was looking forward to making this trip down to Haven again and for the invitation to the wedding of his once love interest.


    He turned behind and saw the dark sleek hull of the triple decker, Heart of Courage, the gship of the First Fleet Master, Kose Torke, following behind. And further back, several more escorts and merchant ships bearing gifts for the wedding followed docilely like chicks.


    The First Fleet Master was very interested in the UN and its ''machine'' magic. He personally wanted to see it with his own eyes at the marvel that was described by the other Fleet Masters and also to personally determine the merits of a long term alliance.


    Hence when the invitation was given out for the wedding, the First Fleet Master jumped at the chance and had Dijon lead the way while the rest remained behind to settle the Isles affairs, especially the new cities they had annexed away from the old Two Nation Alliance that had lost the war with the Empire.


    Owing to the fact that the coastal cities could be reinforced from the Isles and the defeated poption of the Two Nation Alliance preferred the Isles over the Empire. Many towns and coastal cities swore allegiance to the Isles, increasing their influence on the maind.


    While skirmishes broke out among the Isles'' soldiers and Imperial Army, there wasn''t much major push by the Empire, probably due to the fact that the Rock was missing. This allowed the Isles and the remnants of the Two Nations to consolidate their forces and create a defensive border.


    With their navy providing heavy artillery support, the Imperial Army couldn''t threaten the coastal cities at all. And with the flood of refugees providing manpower to thend and people scarce Isles, it was like a blessing from the gods.


    Dijon turned his focus back to the clear seas, noting theck of goblin pirate sights and smiled, knowing that the UN had been busy eradicating the green scourge off the seas. It gave him a sense of security, knowing that once these seas were safe, trade could flourish and make him richer!


    Another two more weeks of sailing and the fleet will arrive at Far Harbor. Dijon grinned. Oh, he missed the ''bur girls'', pizzas, and root beer! He was so looking forward to seeing the stern face of the First Fleet Master changing once he experienced all these new and wonderful things!


    -----


    Outskirts of the Town of Falledge


    A rustle of leaves startled the group of children foraging for wild autumn greens and mushrooms. The eldest of the children, armed with a sharpened wooden spear quickly imposed himself between the rest of the children and the source of the disturbance.


    The children used to the dangers of the forest quickly backed away, using a well worn forest trail that led towards several farms in the distance. Not long after the children disappeared, the undergrowth parted and several figures in blue green digital camo uniforms appeared.


    "Goddamn it, Recruit Clumsy!" A fuming human smacked hard at a helmeted soldier crouching with his weapon aiming out of the security cordon. "My grandma can walk softer than you in a goddamn dragon''s cave!"


    "Sir, Yes, Sir!" The apologetic recruit replied, resisting the urge to snap to attention. If he did that while supposedly providing security, he won''t just get chewed out.


    Freshly minted 2nd Lieutenant Collins shook his head at the antics of the green troops under hismand. This batch was supposed to perform a low level insertion and ground reconnaissance mission to Falledge without alerting any of the locals but it seemed like it was a bust this time.


    "Mission failed!" Collins growled. "Pull back to camp and erase all traces of your passing here!"


    "Sir, Yes, Sir!" The toon echoed and they quickly make sure the disturbed ground was properly messed up to remove any traces of their boot prints before they fell back in order.


    Collins and a couple of the Drill Sergeants reminded behind, double checking the recruits'' work before they followed the toon. Only Collins remained standing at the edge of the forest as he scanned the t farm fields and tiny walls of the town before he followed the rest.


    After trekking for an hour, they reached an open clearing with neat rows of tents and sentries on perimeter duty. Collins had the Drill Sergeants take over as he headed towards the Command tent.


    "Sir!" The recruits acting asmand staff quickly greeted him as he entered and he nodded.


    "Are the men ready?" He asked themand staff.


    Acting Company Commander Recruit Gavin of ckvale, once a Knight Captain turned ve stood at attention and replied sharply, "Sir, Yes! Sir!"


    "Good," Collins nodded. "First Company and Second Company will push forward as nned once we received word from Third and Fourth Company."


    "This will be you and your men''s first actual live firingbat mission! Once the Companies are in position, we will move in and take over Falledge!"

 Chapter 354: Stealing a Town

    Chapter 354: Stealing a Town


    Falledge, North Star Trading Company


    The four business directors of North Star Trading sat around the coffee table of Etoro''s office. Each of them had grim expressions on their faces while their cups of tea had long turned cold in the early hours of the morning.


    A polite knock came from the door of the office and everyone in the room tensed up, some of them gripped and half drew their swords when the door opened, revealing a clerk in the North Star Training uniform. "Sirs, they are here."


    The fat figure of Etoro finally gave out a deep sigh and looked at the rest of hispanions and said, "It''s time."


    The other three nodded and picked up a piece of white cloth from the coffee table and tied it around their left biceps. Etoro stood up and watched the three followed his clerk out and said, "Stay safe, my brothers!"


    The three turned around and smiled, "Wait for us to return in victory! And keep a bottle of your finest ready to be opened when wee back!"


    Etoro smiled back and watched as his buddies went downstairs, joining dozens of others armed with smuggled weapons and a white armband. He returned to his seat and slumped down tiredly and prayed for his brothers to survive.


    -----


    Outskirts of Falledge, 0405 hours


    Figures slowly crept forward out of the forest and fields, heading towards the dark walls of the town. They bypassed the farms and shanties quietly before they stopped before the massive closed town gates and waited.


    Not long, antern shed on the top of the wall and the waiting figures replied with shing light. A set of predetermined light signals were exchanged and Lieutuant Collins hissed, "Take out the guards now! GO!"


    The sleepy guards outside the walls were quickly and quietly dispatched and the recruits pushed forward and waited for the side door of the gates to open. As they waited anxiously, the side door of the gate creaked out and a white arm banded figure with a cloth masked over his face waved the soldiers in.


    The soldier recruits rushed in and under the guidance of the instructors, they spread out and took up positions covering the town. Lt Collins came up to a group of masked elves with white armbands and introduced himself, "United Nations Marines, Lieutenant Collins. Who is in charge here?"


    "Me," A beefy looking elf stepped forward. He held a long handled cksmith hammer in his hands and pulled down the cloth mask covering his face, exposing a face covered in a thick bushy beard. "Ahhh... It''s hard to breathe and talk in these!"


    The beefy elf took a deep breath and exhaled before breaking out in a smile and greeted Collins, "I am called Bock, a cksmith here!"


    "I lead these guys here!" Bock the cksmith gestured to the group of people numbering over twenty. "We all here suffered some grievances from the Empire and are willing to follow your soldiers!"


    Lt Collin nodded and quickly stated his needs, "I need people who know the streets of Falledge inside out. I need them to guide to my men in the town."


    Bock turned and pointed out a few youngsters in the group, "They know the streets pretty well and can lead your men wherever they need to go!"


    "Good!" Lt Collin nodded and called for hispany, toon leaders and NCOs over.


    "I want the Companies to split up and start hitting the barracks, town watch, administration buildings, the Guilds, and localmander and governor''s mansion," Collins eyed eachmander. "As nned before, Apany will hit the Barracks, Bpany to go for the town watch. Cpany to push hold the main za and the Town Hall, D and Epany will take the Guilds and Fpany will take the mansions."


    "These guys here will act as guides," Lt Collins gestured to the elves rmended by Bock. "Each toon grab one guide and move out."


    "And as we have spoken before, a single toon from Gpany is to hold each of the gates. No one in and no one out till this is over," Collins said.


    "Sir, yes, Sir!" Themanders replied.


    "Andst of all, we have friendlies in the town," Collins gestured to the white armband. "I don''t want any friendly fire! Move out!"


    -----


    Falledge, 0500 hours


    Night watchman Ferris was turning forty two this winter. He had worked as a watchman for over ten years mostly in the night shift. Tonight he had broken up two fights in two separate bars and dumped the offenders into the town jail to sleep their drunkness off.


    But he felt a sense of strangeness to the town that night. Something feels off, it was like a gut feeling that something was wrong and something bad was about to happen. Yet he couldn''t tell the rest, as they will just tease him andugh at his worries.


    Therefore he could only force himself to stay awake and as alert as possible. But other than the two incidents with the drunks, the night till morning was peaceful. He yawned and rubbed his tired eyes as he sat on the five storey high watchtower that allowed him a view of the town surroundings.


    As he was thinking to himself that he must be getting old and worrying too much, he spotted several shadows moving along the street. He stood closer to the edge and peered down into the darkness, the street''s glowmps had long dimmed down as the energy in them had depleted hours ago.


    He looked long and hard, but the shadows had stopped moving. He scratched his balding head, wondering if he was seeing things before he returned to his seat while rubbing his tired eyes hard.


    -----


    0515 Hours


    The section''s marksman kept his scope at the watchtower, only calling out to the rest when the head disappeared out of view. "Go!"


    The rest of his section detached themselves from the shadows of the wall and hurried forward again while another section crossed the open street. They were nearly spotted by the watchman in the tower when his section dashed across the street, luckily the lighting was bad or the watchman would have seen them by now.


    He was sure they will get chewed out by the Drill Sergeantter on if they survived this...


    -----


    0530 Hours


    Watchman Ferris yawned again and stood up to stretch his legs, walking around the tower''s small 5 by 5 perimeter. His parax vision spotted some movement and he paused in his stretching and turned to look and this time he was sure he wasn''t seeing things!


    Shadows were moving along the side of the streets, disappearing into the walls and reappearing again. He stared in fright, thinking he saw some supernatural creature of the night but just nice, one of the streets was slightly better lit as the inn along the street had a couple of properly maintained glownterns hanging outside its facade.


    The shadows turned into shapes with arms and legs, and Ferris realized that those were not some unnatural creatures of the dark but were people running around in the cover of the dark!


    What urgent matter requires this many people to be out in the streets at such an ungodly hour? He wondered as he stared at the movement below him. Suddenly it dawned to him that these people must be up to some kind of evil business to be about at such a time. They could be raiders or bandits!


    He quickly slipped on a crossbow belt hook onto his belt and picked up the uncocked crossbow next to him and quickly armed it by hooking the crossbow string with his belt hook and stepping on the stirrup at the head of the crossbow and cocked the arms back.


    He dropped a bolt into the crossbow and leaned over the tower and yelled out loudly, "YOU PEOPLE DOWN THERE! STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!"


    -----


    "-IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!"


    The silent of the morning was suddenly broken by those loud words which froze the entire toon heading towards the town Guilds for a second. The soldier recruits instinctively ducked back into the shadows and raised their weapons up. The marksman paused at the shout and threw him side against the wall and leaned out with his scoped M1, aiming at the watchtower again.


    "YOU THERE! HIDING IN THE SHADOWS LIKE THIEVES! COME OUT NOW!"


    "Shit!" The acting toon leader cursed and he crouched low, keeping to the shadows and ran forward to get a better view of what was going on.


    "Sir!" The marksman called out as his reticle was ced right at the face of the yelling watchman lit up by brazier fire. "I got him in my sights!"


    At this time, some of the windows of the townhouses started to lit up as the upants were roused up by the noise made by the watchman.


    "We have been spotted!" The acting toon leader hissed into the radio set of the signaler. "Orders?"


    "Roger!" The acting toon leader threw the handset over to the signaler and ordered the marksman. "Take the shot! Go loud!"


    The marksman barely responded to his toon leader. He just held his breath and gently squeezed the trigger, feeling the surprise kick of the rifle butt into his shoulders and the head in his scope disappeared.


    The sudden roar of his rifle was like a herald to the sleeping people of Falledge. Curious and angry citizens opened their windows to find the source of the noise while others slept on in bliss, unknown of the changes that wereing like a storm.


    "GO!" The acting toon leader yelled, ignoring all attempts at stealth. "MOVE FAST!"


    His toon''s job was to secure the Guilds, making sure none made any contact andmunication with the outside world and preventing any attempt for the Guilds like the Adventurers'' Guild to form any resistance.


    The men of D and Epany charged forward, following the directions of the guides and quickly came to the street where the town''s Guilds were at.


    -----


    Falledge, North Star Trading Company, O535 Hours


    The sudden thunder jolted Etoro awake from his sleep on his chair. He hurriedly looked around his office thinking that Imperial troops had stormed into his office to arrest him on charges of treason.


    He patted his heaving chest when he noticed he was alone, making him wonder what was that noise. Etoro stood up and looked out of his window worriedly as he wondered how his friends were doing.


    Several months ago, ever since he met up with his old friend Tyrier, he had been working with the rebels to supply them food secretly. As time went on, those rebels started wanting him to do more, like providing information about the Empire, like numbers of the local garrison, who was themander and other details.


    Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a strange short eared man iming to be from the United Nations came to find him and told him the rebels were now part of this new nation. He wanted him to continue to provide information and maps of the Empire and also people who were disgruntled with the Empire and recruit them.


    It was easy to find people unhappy or had a grudge with the Empire, especially in a border town like Falledge where exiles and people with questionable past came to hide. It also helped that Falledge used to be a part of the Goldrose Kingdom. Thus a small group of resistance was formed in Falledge and its members had swelled over the months.


    And now, this. Etoro thought as he looked out of the window. He had spoken with the strange short eared man a couple of months ago about how to capture Falledge rapidly and without alerting the Empire.


    He did not expect this day toe, and now his friends were out there fighting to overthrow the Empire in this town while he stood here safely wishing that he could do more to help.

 Chapter 355: Chicken Power!

    Chapter 355: Chicken Power!


    UNS Singapore, Captain''s Office


    ke''s eyebrows rosed up as he read the report while his senior officers waited patiently with smiles on their faces. "No wounded, zero deaths on our side?"


    "Yes, sir!" Colonel Frank replied cheerfully. "Some deaths and wounded on the Empire side, but basically it can''t be easier than stealing candy from a baby!"


    "Our troops have taken Falledge in barely three hours, of course not counting the time they took to march onto the town," Colonel Frank continued. "Hell, should have seen the citizens'' faces when they woke up in the morning."


    "All of them can''t believe that Falledge is no longer under the control of the Empire," Colonel Frank proudly said. "And all done by our recruits!"


    "Nice," ke nodded and ced the report down. "Very smooth. So now we have another town on the map to pin our g on."


    "So who''s taking over as governor?" ke asked.


    "That will be Etoro, Sir," Lt Tavor said. "He was our first choice and also quite a respected businessman there."


    "The merchant who was doing the trading with us?" ke mentally recalled the name. "And the people in Falledge, how was their response to all this?"


    "Mostly shock and surprise," Lt Tavor replied. "Give them a week, before we can be certain of their mood. But I had the local resistance members to help do some propaganda for us."


    "Ok, good," ke nodded. "Make sure to keep Falledge happy. Also, check for cults and any other threats. I don''t want any more hidden surprises!"


    "Yes, Sir," Lt Tavor nodded.


    "Now, once Falledge has settled down and the new recruits passed out from basic," ke said. "I want a line of defensive pushed out from both Falledge and Orwell''s Point, starting from twenty kilometers."


    "Once we established a perimeter, we push out our defense line more, till we get a defensive zone of at least a hundred kilometers," ke pointed to the map on the wall.


    "So basically, you want to push our borders out by a hundred kilometers?" Colonel Frank asked.


    "Yes," ke nodded. "With the new batch of recruits passing out from basic, we would get another two battalions and any leftover manpower gets redistributed to the Navy and Air Force."


    "With five battalions on hand, we could hold our cities and also maintain a defensive line against the Empire," ke said. "And with the Orcs starting their basic training soon, once they are done, our ground forces will be up to Brigade strength."


    "I want our ground forces to be at least a Divison strong," ke continued. "That''s means at least ten thousand fighting men or women and not counting the support elements."


    Commander Ford gave a low whistle, "Ten thousand troops? Our poption now doesn''t even hit fifteen thousand, if you don''t count Orwell''s Point and Falledge."


    "I know," ke replied. "We will recruit directly from anyone who is willing to give up their previous life and join us. I n to follow what the Romans in the ancient times did, offering anyone who signs up in the military for ten years and get a piece ofnd when they retire."


    "Hmmm, it might work," Commander Ford bobbed his head as he thought it over. "Should be attractive, for the ex ves at least."


    "I''m sure the Orcs will be attracted too," Colonel Frank added. "Theirnds were pretty devasted by the fires..."


    "Well, I hope so," ke nodded. "Now the next thing. I been hearing that there is an upsurge of goblins volunteering for military service?"


    Colonel Frank shook his head in defeat and said, "Sadly yes..."


    "Apparently... Someone spread how one of their own died heroically in battle in Norshelm," Colonel Frank exined. "And with the ceremonial parade of one of their own and being decorated. Greg the goblin was hailed as a martyr for goblins. Now every tom dick and goblin wants to sign up and serve..."


    "Goblins are pretty handy with their hands and machinery," Commander Ford grinned. "They like machines a lot and think of them as some kind of God."


    "Yea, they pretty much integrated well in our heavy industries," Colonel Frank said. "At least a quarter of our mechanics and techs are goblins... Seriously, I don''t really mind, I mean we are desperately short handed for mechanics and technicians!"


    "Recruit who you need," ke finally said. "But don''t take too much away manpower away from our heavy industries, we still need some skilled hands there!"


    "Anything else that''s urgent?" ke asked around the table. "No? Then the meeting is done."


    "Well, next month''s your wedding!" Commander Ford grinned. "How everything?"


    "Ah..." ke rubbed his face and gave a sly grin. "Well... I got wedding nners doing the work for me! I just need to turn up in time! Haha!"


    "Well, we nned a bachelor''s party for you," The officers all gave out a wicked smile. "Before you get tied down, we gonna party hard!"


    "Ha!" ke shook his head. "We are kindcking in the entertainment department here..."


    "No worries!" Colonel Frankughed. "Marines know how to make a good party!"


    "I am kinda worried about that..." ke looked at the expressions of the rest and felt he was going to get pranked badly by them. "I think it''s safer not to go..."


    "Don''t be a chicken!"


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, City Hall


    Sherene stood still before several wall mirrors and was secretly pleased with her dress and looks. She tilt left and right, looking at her own reflection in the mirrors wearing her custom made wedding dress.


    "It''s a little too loose on the waist," The matronly looking seamstressmented as she poked a few needles here and there, tightening the dress. "Better!"


    "Hmmm..." Sherene turned her body to see in the mirror. "I think so too!"


    After the fitting of her dress, her assistants barraged her with a whole lot of questions, like if this color matches that, or if the guest seatings were correct.


    Finally, after an hour of intense discussions with the wedding nners and her assistants, they finally left satisfied and her alone in her office nesting a headache and sore shoulders. She did not know that there were so many details to handle for a wedding and was d that she followed ke''s advice to get some wedding nners to do everything.


    She took a sip of her tepid tea and returned to her work, seeing the charts and reports of the city, no nation. Now the United Nations not only consists of a single growing city, but two and had several small farmingmunities, resource outposts and the newly annexed town of Falledge to govern.


    Not counting the poption in Falledge, the total poption of the UN has jumped from twelve thousand to over sixty thousand. But only the poption in Haven has some of the advanced skills and knowledge to work the science and technology of the Hoomans while all the rest barely even has any basic knowledge or skills of the Hoomans.


    "I need more primary schools and technical schools to be built in Orwell''s Point and Falledge," She mumbled to herself. "And Falledge can be ssified as a city instead of a town, judging by its poption size!"


    Sherene ticked off her fingers as she counted what she needed to kick start the industrial might of the Hoomans. Education for the masses, work, and personal experience, culture integration, andws. At least four items, for now, to get the new poption to understand the new changes.


    And not only that, she thought. We need to improve the standard of living for the people in those ces. Basic sanitation, clean water, housing, schools, medicine, electricity, radiomunications, and proper roads. Ohh... also an airfield for both military and civil use!


    But the problem was how to get electric power to Orwell''s Point and Falledge? Sherene wondered for a while, unable to think of a solution before she picked up the ''telly phone'' and consulting a list of numbers, she dialed for Chief Engineer Matt.


    Barely half an hour which Sherene brewed a new pot of hot tea when her assistant knocked on the door and Chief Engineer Matt walked in. "Some tea?"


    "Oh, that will be great, Princess!" Matt grinned as he removed his coat. "Weather is getting colder and colder."


    She poured a mug of tea and passed it over to Matt who sat down in front of her work desk. "As said over the phone, I have some issues with power generation that I need to discuss with you."


    "Sure go ahead," Matt warmed his hands with the mug before taking a sip.


    "We need to provide power to the new cities we took, especially Orwell''s Point," Sherene said. "Now the military is using portable power generations for their needs. We need something more permanent and enough output for the city''s needs."


    "Hmmm..." Matt frowned as he tried to recall the geography of the terrain around Orwell''s Point. "I would need thend survey data report to see what could be done."


    "We could run a basic coal power nt first," said Matt. "And find other alternativester if we really need the power now."


    "Coal?" Sherene frowned. "But it''s going to be winter in a few months and there is no proper heaters for the people. Coal will be in great demand for heating their houses."


    "True..." Matt nodded. "Well, we can do sr and wind power, but its gonna be a hell of expensive to ship all the parts and technology over. Not to mention we need to station skilled people there to manage all the tech."


    "Yes, we need something simple and easy for the city," Sherene said. "And our coffers are not exactly overflowing..."


    "Ok, I think of something up once I see thend survey report," Matt sighed. "Something good, cheap and fast to learn..."


    Sherene gave Matt an impish smile, "I knew I can count on you!"


    "Arghh... please don''t try to charm me! It only works on the Captain!"


    -----


    United Nations Ordnance Research Divison Facility, Hangar 4


    Spaceman Senior Tae Joon Park and his Japanese buddy, Spaceman Hideo Koichi were hunched over a mechanical contraption inside one corner of the hangar. Four 5 meters tall protective sheets formed a stall blocked all view from any spying eyes while surrounded by severalrge crates further hid it from view.


    Caught up in their work, both men did not notice the side of the sheets being dragged back and Chief Engineer Matt came in. Matt sucked in a deep breath as he saw what mischief the two were up to.


    The three meter mechanical contraption with a pair of backward bending legs was surrounded by scaffolding and its body internals exposed as both men fussed over it. It looked like half the body of abat helo matted with a pair of chicken legs at the bottom.


    Cables, machinery parts were all over the ce as Matt walked around the clearly bipedal walker while shaking his head. He stood below both men who were still tinkering away at some part of the mecha and yelled, "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?"


    Both men jumped in surprise and even Hideo banged his head hard against the frame of the mecha as he ducked his head out. Both men quickly snapped to attention and reported back in unison, "Nothing, Chief!"


    "Nothing?" Matt sneered as he rapped his knuckles against the metal rods on the side of the legs. "YOU CALL THIS NOTHING?"


    "It''s not a Gundam, Chief..." Tae Joon replied stiffly.


    "What?" Matt felt a headacheing. "I don''t what it is, but both of you are working on an unauthorized project, using unauthorized funds and parts for your own use!"


    "But Chief!" Hideo protested. "If we can get this working, it will be useful to us all!"


    "And pray... Please... tell me before I wrangle your necks like chickens... what chicken shit is this?" Matt glowed as he climbed up thedder and stood before the two Asians.


    "Erm... it''s kinda like an AT ST Walker from Star Wars?"

 Chapter 356: City of Haven

    Chapter 356: City of Haven


    United Nations, City of Haven, Hotel De Locus


    Titanna curled up like a shrimp and burrowed deeper into the sheets and pillows. It felt heavenly making her unwilling to get up from the bed despite the bright sunlighting in from the windows was telling her mind that its morning and its time to get up.


    Suddenly, like a switch being flicked on, she jolted up from the sheets and looked around in surprise at her unfamiliar surroundings. She found her self in a huge bed alone with the softest sheets imaginable, and the room she was in had wall windows where clear skies could be seen.


    The decor of the room was strangely alien, filled with sofas in hues of light grey while the walls were ivory. Her cream toned bed sat on top of a thick and rich carpet while the floor was tiled with marble.


    Finally, thest vestiges of sleep left her mind, and she briefly remembered that she got rushed off into something they called a ''pain'', which was surprisingly loud and noisy, but it flew in the air and she was told it was faster than using dragons!


    She was nervous at first but after the frightening shakes and bumps were gone and the novelty wore off, she actually fell asleep on the flight. A few hourster, she was woken up by Mills and was told they have arrived at Sawtooth Mountain Airbase, which they met some high ranking and important people before they were whisked off to the capital of the United Nations.


    By the time, they reached the city, it was already past midnight. She barely saw much, except that the streets were incredibly clean and was brightly lit even after sote. She and her people were brought to this strange tower where she had to crane her neck all the way up but still couldn''t see the roof.


    Despite being tired, she noticed with shock that most of the buildings in the city seemed to have walls made out of ss! And it''s not low quality ss either, unlike the murky or tainted ss of the Empire. To be able to have should crystal clear ss, meaning that this ce was most probably the nobles or the wealthy stayed.


    She was ushed into arge lounge area with a counter at the end and several sets of sofas and chairs formed a resting area. The floor was tiled in some kind of material that glittered under the bright chandeliers andmps, giving the lounge a ssy feel.


    Several smartly uniformed servants bowed as she and her group entered and they led them to a pair of strange golden doors. She heard a ding sound and the golden doors slide open soundlessly, and surprising her and her people. To their confusion, the doors did not lead to anywhere, only a small closet sized room. Mills at her side just grinned and gestured for them to enter, and when they hesitated, he gave a chuckle and entered the closet.


    Titanna felt silly as she stepped into the closet and wondered what will happen as the rest slowly entered nervously. Once everyone was inside, the uniformed servant touched some runes on the side of the door which glowed and the doors slide closed silently, trapping them inside.


    She nervously nced at Mills who gave a reassuring smile back and she calmed down, putting her trust in him not to harm her and her people. A short whileter, there was another ding and a slight shaking of the closet and the doors slide opened again.


    The servant gestured for them to exit and they did in a confused manner as they entered a carpeted hallway with doors on both sides. Mills followed behind with an irritating superior smirk on his face, that made Titanna want to hit him. The servants started to open the doors and Titanna realized these were rooms!


    It was amazing! Did they enter some kind of magic portal or something? She quietly observed each opened room and found that they were all simr, with a set of chairs and a low table, arge bed and some sort of ck painting. The servants were busy exining how everything worked to her people just as Mills tapped her shoulder.


    "Come on, this way," Mills gestured her to follow another servant. "She will bring you to your room."


    They entered the golden closet again and after another ding, they exited onto another hallway which looked different from earlier. "Is this some kind of magic?" She asked Mills in a small voice.


    Instead of answering immediately, Mills giggled and patted her head, "No, silly, we are just on another floor!"


    "But... but..." She wanted to ask more, but felt too embarrassed to, especially seeing Mills''s teasing look, making her cheeks turned warm. "Hmmmph! Fine!"


    The servant led them to the end of the hallway and opened a pair of double doors. She gave a half bow and gestured for Titanna and her maids to enter. After that, the servant started to teach her maids on how some of the things function while she was too tired to listen. She slumped down on the rich looking sofa and noticed that the three sides of the walls had curtains but she was toozy to move.


    Mills shook his head at her antics and gave her head another pat, "You get some rest, I will see you tomorrow morning."


    "Sure..." Titanna mumbled as she sank down into the soft sofa. "See you... tomorrow..."


    Now, she stood on the side of her bed and stared out of the window admiring the view. Her maids must have changed her clothesst night before putting her in bed as she was wearing a sleeping gown.


    She pushed open the balcony door and stepped into the balcony, feeling awe from the city that spread out before her eyes. Dozens and dozens of high rise towers rose up to touch the skies while the streets were perfectly straight, or beautifully curved, making the city looked like it was divided into squares and rectangles.


    Fast moving carriages of the kind she seen the UN soldiers use were everywhere on the streets from the view of her balcony. She suddenly realized that the golden closet she took, must be some sort of magic device which moved people up and down the towers as she was clearly very high up!


    She felt a sense of vertigo as she leaned over the parapet of the balcony before she ducked her head back in and patted her chest. Still, she could not tear her eyes away from the spectacr that was before her very eyes.


    "Is this some kind of Heaven?"


    -----


    Haven, Burger Shack


    Third Fleet Master Dijon was humming a happy tune as he bit into his second ''bur girl''. The soft toasted bun mixed with the juicy fried wyvern patty and the mildly sweet and tangy of the mayonnaise sauce and fresh crunchy greens were like angels singing to his taste buds.


    He finished the wyvern ''bur girl'' in a few mouths and leaned back with a satisfied burp before he took a sip of the refreshing root beer. "What do you think, Boss?"


    First Fleet Master Kose wiped the sauce stains on his mustache with a napkin and nodded, "I am surprised. This is actually very tasty."


    "See, I told you!" Dijon gave a smug smile as he picked up some cheese fries and shoved it into his mouth. "You need to try this too! Dragons love this!"


    Kose looked at the pile of golden sticks with a mix of red, yellow and white sauce stted ontop and frowned. He gingerly picked one of the fries with his fingers and watched as Dijon happily helped himself to some more and eating with relish before he took a nibble.


    "Hmmm..." Kose bobbed his head in agreement. "I can understand why the Dragons would like this."


    "Hahaha!" Dijonughed heartily. "You know, Akron wanted to bring this cuisine over to the Isles! This will make us a lot of gold!"


    "But?" Kose took another serving of fries. "They are not willing to sell their recipe?"


    "No..." Dijon sighed. "They said something about ''fren chsing'', which we pay them an annual fee to use their name, products, and services. We have to sign an agreement if we want to sell food like this elsewhere."


    "Interesting," Kose replied. "And how did the talks went?"


    "Akron says he needs to work out the profit and cost first," Dijon gave a shrug. "With war on the horizon, supplies are in high demand on our side. So we might not be able to afford the annual fee till things settle down."


    "True," Kose said. "We have to focus on pacifying the maind cities first. Once our hold has solidified on the maind, we can then turn to the markets to make more gold."


    "There are a lot of things and innovations here that would interest the markets a lot," Kose''s eyes gleamed as he looked out of the ss walls. "Carriages, ss, food, weapons, and even their magic."


    Kose and Dijon had arrived a couple of days ago with their fleet which remained docked at Far Harbor. They met up with the high ranking officials before they took a fast moving carriage that looked like a giant squashed snake which the locals called a train.


    The ride was surprisingly smooth and fast and made Kose wanting to get his hands on a few of these snake carriages which could not only transport many people but also goods and livestock rapidly over great distances!


    The only thing that disappointed him was that he did not catch a glimpse of the fabled naval iron ships of the UN. He had heard many stories from Dijon and the rest about how powerful and fast the ships of UN Navy were. He did not fully trust the reports from them till he came here and saw all the strange and wonderful devices magically running.


    Kose will need to negotiate a new deal with the United Nations to either build him or sell him their ships. He could imagine if they had a ship made of iron and with a speed several faster than their fastest wave runners, he could send that ship out to the Goblin Sea and cross the Sea of Endless Storms!


    Now, feasting on the cheese fries and drinking root beer, Kose and Dijon started discussing what new deals to propose to the United Nations.


    -----


    Outskirts of Haven, Valley of the Wolves


    A Jeep rumbled up a dirt track and drove under a rustic gate with arge hanging signboard over the gate that read, "Valley of the Wolves."


    Mills stopped the Jeep before the cabin and looked around the ce. Thest time he came here, there was only a single barn and cabin. Now the cabin looked erged and another barn was built.


    There was even a first generation tractor parked under an open shed and bales of hay were stacked in neat blocks, forming a wall. The door to the cabin opened and arge thick set human stepped out wearing a wide brim hat and work clothes. "Mills!"


    "Hey, big guy!" Mills gave a wide grinned and gave Bartley a hug. "Long time no see you!"


    "Yes!" replied Bartley, an ex Marine who got dishonorably discharged from the Marines for disobeying orders and abandoning his post. He was about to ask Mills what he was doing here when he spotted another person on the other side of the Jeep. "This is?"


    "I''m here to introduce you to someone," Mills grinned and reached out to hold Titanna''s hand. "This is Titanna Rothschild. Meet Bartley, my best buddy!"


    "Wow!" Bartley gave a silly smile. "You found someone... finally!"


    "What finally?" Mills growled. "I have a queue back home!"


    "Nice to meet you," Titanna shook hands with the bear like hooman.


    "Hey," Mills''s expression turned serious. "Got some bad news too... We lost Drake..."


    "Oh no..."

 Chapter 357: State of the Game

    Chapter 357: State of the Game


    "To absent friends!" Bartley and Mills tapped their mugs together. They both finished the bittersweet ale and Mills looked out the window, seeing Titanna ying with the wolves pups that had grown up to almost adult size.


    "How''s everything going?" Mills asked.


    Bartley poured another round and took a sip before he replied, "Quiet and simple."


    Mills nodded, "Well, at least it''s safe out here."


    "It''s a crazy world out there," Mills waved his mug around. "Crazy gods and goddess... Warmongering Empires and man eating goblins..."


    "I... kinda wished we were back home," Mills sighed. "At least things are just ck and white. Here, it feels like everything is not so simple. Can''t kill something without it going critical or having some butterfly effect thates back and bite your ass."


    Bartley nodded in silent understanding while Mills rumbled on, "Ever since we came here... how many of us are left? I mean the real Marines, not these elves ying dress up..."


    "It''s just me, you, Koing, and James left in our section," Mills said. "And Collins, Lambert, and Cooper are left in the other section."


    "When we first boarded the Singapore," Mills continued to rant on. "We had a full toon! A GODDAMN FULL PLATOON!"


    "That''s 30 men!" Mills spoke in a low voice. "Now? Only 9 of us remains, counting the CO and Top..."


    "9 out of 30..." Mills sighed deeply. "Granted more than half of us died fighting the Swarm... but still only 9 of us are left!"


    Bartley gently took away Mills''s mug. "You shouldn''t drink too much, you still need to drive back..."


    "I can''t help think of our odds here," Mills covered his face. "Ever since Drake died, I med myself for not getting the convoy to his position fast enough... If we didn''t get cluster fucked... maybe he did not have to die..."


    "You can''t do everything, Mills..." Bartley patted his back and spoke in an encouraging tone. "You are not god..."


    "Fuck gods!" Mills cursed. "If possible, I want to kill off every fucking god out here! Anit gods supposed to help mortals? Why the fuck are they killing us off and treating us like shit?"


    Bartley could only give a helpless shrug. "Maybe this is why our old ancient civilizations fell?"


    "Fuck it," Mills sighed. "After... I broke the news to Irisval, she just froze there. After seeing her like that, you know what was I thinking, Big Guy?"


    "What?" Bartley asked.


    "Her," Mills jerked his head towards the window. "I imagined her face when the next Officer or NCO in full dress uniform knocks on her door saying, Dear Madam while handing a folded up g over..."


    "And tells her how I died gloriously on the field of battle in service of the nation..."


    -----


    UN, City of Haven, Residental District


    Irisval sat unmoving on the couch with the curtains drawn up, leaving the living room dark and gloomy. The only sound came from the ticking of the wall clock and her asional sniffles. She stared nkly at the wall, her mind aplete mess as the words from Drake''s fellow soldier reyed in her head again and again.


    "Irisval... Hi..." The smartly dressed soldier which Irisval recognized as Drake''s friend who was also a hooman. "Can my colleague and Ie inside for a while?"


    She frowned at the strange request but she stepped aside, letting both soldiers who dressed in their formal greys instead of the usual eye blending uniforms. "I have some news for you... but I think you better take a seat first..."


    "What is it?" Irisval asked curiously. "Would you all like something to drink?"


    "No thank you, madam..." The other soldier replied. "I am 2nd Lieutenant Silverstar, the officer in charge of Falcon Company."


    He took out a white envelope with the stamp of the UN Marines and said in a gentle voice, "On behalf of the Commandant of the Marine Corps, I am here to regrettably inform you that of the untimely death of Specialist Corporal Drake Mcguire. He died ten days ago, in the city of Norshelm. As certain operations details are ssified and still undergoing investigation, we could not inform you earlier of his death till now. Additionally, the mortuary officer will contact you regarding his mortuary affairs."


    "Again, on behalf of the Commandant of the Marine Corps and every Marine here, please ept the Marines'' deepest condolences..." Lt Silverstar gestured to Mills who carefully handed over a folded up g of the UN with a red bronze medal pinned on it.


    Irisval remembered she nkly took the g and stared at the bronze medal in confusion. The medal was in a shape of a five pointed star tipped with trefoils containing a crown ofurel and oak. In the center was five stars with an anchor and the English word ''VALOR''.


    "Irisval?" Mills called out gently. "I am really sorry. He was a friend and a brother to me."


    "He... he died?" Irisval''s silver eyes stared widely at Mills, making him unable to look at her in the eye. He could only nod. "How did he... die?"


    "A helo of ours crashed into the city..." Mills replied honestly, ignoring the look given to him by his officer. "Two of the crew were still alive then... but the whole city had gone mad and they were moving in to kill them."


    "He... volunteered to go down to hold off the enemy till rescue came..." Mills took a deep breath and looked into Irisval''s unfaltering ze. "I... I... was the rescue... and I couldn''t get to them... him in time... For his heroic efforts... he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor... "


    "I see..." Irisval closed her eyes. "Thank you... I... I need to be alone..."


    "I... understand..." Mills hung his head down. "If you ever need anything, anything at all... don''t hesitate to contact me or any of the guys!"


    Irisval couldn''t remember what happened after that, just that something broke inside her. There were no tears, just a deep sorrow and she sat there in a daze all day. It was until someone rang her doorbell that she woke up from her daze and she opened the door, finding Billie, Kaga, and Sherene looking at her with concern in their eyes.


    "Are you alright?" Sherene quickly asked as the three girls clustered around Irisval. "I... just received news about it... And I quickly came over with the rest..."


    "I... I..." Irisval felt herself choking up and tears suddenly burst out. She hugged her three friends tightly as she cried her eyes out in sorrow while they tried their best tofort her.


    -----


    UNS Singapore, Conference Room


    The door closed as thest person entered the room and Captain ke stood up and started the meeting. "Alright, everyone is here. Let''s begin."


    "First of all, as all of you have heard, the town of Falledge is currently under our control," ke said. "Now we have basically have two cities to draw resources from."


    "That brings us to the next point," ke continued. "Integration and education."


    "The new poption will not be as open minded or willing like the refugees of Goldrose were," said ke as he looked at everyone in the conference table. "It will take time and effort to win the new poption over and also to have them embrace new ideas, technology, and culture."


    "I will leave this daunting task to City Hall to handle," ke turned to Sherene who nodded in acknowledgment. "They should have some experience in this field."


    "Do you have anything to report or share with everyone?" ke asked Sherene who stood up.


    "As of now, our food production, construction, and mining exceed our basic requirements," Sherene smiled. "The only issues we have are manpower and education. I am hoping to draw from the new poption from the two cities and whatever refugees that want to join us."


    "As for education, it will take some time to improve the level of literacy of the new poption," Sherene stated. "And also, the City Hall is drawing up ns to introduce electrical power to the cities, starting with Orwell''s Point."


    "Yes," Chief Engineer Matt stood up and said. "Working with the Princess''s staff, I havee out with several power nt designs suited for the terrain at Orwell''s Point. Unfortunately, we can''t use wind or hydropower due to the terrain and setting of the city."


    "But we can set plenty of sr collectors since the city sits next to the ins," Matt said. "We can build the sr collectors easily and coincidence with thepletion of the highway."


    "The sr collectors will be easy to maintan and operate," Matt continued. "This way we do not need to station critical personnel there, and instead we can train and teach the locals how to work the collectors."


    "Good," ke nodded. "Do it. If Orwell''s Point is to be developed further, they need electricity."


    "As for the refugees from Norshelm, we are allocating them to settle down in Orwell''s Point," Sherene said. "There are two thousand three hundred and four men and women. As of now, housing is being constructed for them."


    "We also n to develop a town in the middle of the Highway between Haven and Orwell''s Point to exploit the resources found in the forest and also act as a waystation between cities," Sherene added. "When that timees, I n to move people willing to migrate to a new ce from Orwell''s Point."


    "Alright, next, military affairs," ke said. "What is the oue of the cause of the explosion in Norshelm?"


    Magister Thorn stood up and gave a bow before he cleared his throat, "We detected arge amount of divine powers concentrated in the crater."


    "This leads us to be certain that whatever that died there," Thorn gave a pause. "Is a divine being."


    "So for which god that died that," Thorn gave a shrug. "We can only guess it was the goddess, judging by the statement given by the rescued pilot who said the crazies all worshipped her as Hedone."


    "The force of the explosion thankfully is only contained within a sphere of ten meters radius... Or we have more deaths," Dr. Sharon said next. "We theorized that it is probably due to the Goddess''s powers were... weak."


    "So you are saying if a God with his powers at full if he was killed, the explosion will be worst?" Commander Ford asked.


    "Yes," Dr. Sharon nodded. "But as to how many times, I do not know. It can be a hundred times or even a thousand times or a million. We have no gauge to base our findings on."


    "Damn..." Ford gave a thoughtful frown to ke.


    "Alright," ke spoke up. "Try your best to see if we can make use of this information. Come out with a n of action in case we bump into another God. We need some sort of SOP for the troops to tackle in such a situation which I can guess is getting verymontely..."


    "Frank?" ke turned to Colonel Frank who stood up.


    "We will have a few more new Battalions for the Marines in a couple of weeks when the current batch of recruits pass out from basic," Frank said. "Also we n to recruit locally and merge the current militia into a new ground force, called the Self Defense Force."


    "The SDF''s functions will be mostly involved with fixed defense of the cities," Frank said. "We will try to use locals so that there will be less of a hassle to transfer the SDF troops here and there."


    "The founding of the SDF will allow our Marines to be our mobile strike force," Frank exined. "This way, we put more manpower into areas of conflict and not have another incident like Norshelm from repeating due tock of troops."


    "The Marines will be our hammer while the SDF will be our anvil against any threats to the cities."

 Chapter 358: Dignity

    Chapter 358: Dignity


    "Navy''s also nning some new changes," Commander Ford reported. "We are looking at recing our current hulls with all new constructs, which will improve our capabilities on the sea."


    "Not only that, the amount of maintenance, repairs, and a whole of other issues will drastically be reduced," Ford said. "As of now, the main naval fleet is barely mission capable with all its leaks and problems."


    "The main issues being our current fleet of wooden ships are not strong enough to withstand the stress of our weapons and engines," Ford exined. "The keel of the ships we got are not built to withstand the firing of the cannons and even speed our engines are putting them on. They are not like our Age of Sail ships, which was built to withstand cannonade fire, these ships only have ballistas and catapults, which means the keel is structurally a lot weaker and they are breaking apart."


    "So what we got now is just pretty much useless hulls sitting in the docks," Ford said. "Oh, we run drills and training exercises on board the UNS Matador and UNS Floatin'' Wreck but other than that, they are grounded for now."


    "So how will we deal with the Goblin Pirates?" Someone asked.


    "We are using the PT boats to run interference up and down the straits," Ford replied. "The boats only have enough range to cover the Straits, and that''s it."


    "For now they are enough to handle whatever raiders roaming the straits," Ford said. "We just need to hold till winteres and the Straits will be closed."


    "In the meantime, we will try to modernize our fleet ofrge surface ships," Ford sat down after he finished.


    "Alright," ke nodded. "Let''s end it for today. Next meeting in a week''s time. Dismiss."


    As the room slowly emptied out, Chief Engineer Matt stopped by ke and said, "Sir, I think you need to make a trip down to Ordnance for a look."


    "Something interesting?" ke raised an eyebrow at Matt''s words.


    "Yes, Sir," Matt nodded. "I guess so... I can''t make a decision on it..."


    "Okay, I will be there after lunch," ke promised.


    Matt gave a salute and exited the conference room, leaving Intelligence Officer Lt Tavor behind with ke. Lt Tavor closed the door behind Matt and ced a tablet on the table before ke and stood on the side at parade rest.


    ke picked up the tablet and thumbed the security lock and he skimped through the contents. "So the opposing faction against Lady Titanna are headed towards the next Imperial city by road..."


    "Yes, Sir," Lt Tavor replied. "They will be out of our FB - 1s stationed at Orwell''s Point bombing range in roughly six hours."


    "Hmmm..." ke tapped his fingers on the tabletop as he pondered on whether to kill off the Imperial Loyalists.


    "Lady Titanna''s two brothers are also in the convoy," Lt Tavor said. "She let them go in the end and they joined up with the opposing faction."


    "Sir, we have a very small window here," Lt Tavor said. "The bombers will take about five hours to get into position."


    ke frowned as he looked at the top secret report disyed on the tablet. "No... Let them go."


    "Sir?" Lt Tavor was surprised. "They will bring trouble to us in the future."


    "I know," ke sighed and put down the tablet before turning to look at Tavor. "But they also have several hundred civilians traveling with them. And our bombs are not exactly very precise."


    "I understand, Sir," said Lt Tavor. "Then, I will propose we move another Battalion to reinforce Orwell''s Point. It also about the time the Empire will be responding to the defeat of their troops by our hands."


    ke nodded, "Who do you rmend will make a good governor for Orwell''s Point? I can''t keep having Joseph to govern the city and ignore his duties as CO of 2nd Battalion."


    "Hmmm..." Lt Tavor frowned as he recalled the intel of the city. "There aren''t many good choices for the post of governor. Almost everyone in Orwell''s Point is biased to either the pro ves or ex ves."


    "Not to mention, the leaders we are trying to cultivate will happily sell you off in a heartbeat if they can get more benefits," Lt Tavor shook his head. "But... maybe..."


    "Maybe?" ke waited for Tavor to continue.


    "We can try putting Lady Titanna in ce as governor," Lt Tavor suggested. "First, she is well known by the locals. Secondly, she''s quite capable in the management of a city. Third, she''s more or less on our side. Andstly, she is quite fair and won''t y favorites to the factions."


    "And of course, giving her a high ranking position will quiet down any dissent from her people," Lt Tavor said. "Makes it less chance of her people rebelling."


    ke nodded, "Good idea. I will talk to her regarding this and see what is her reaction."


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven


    Titanna felt like she was transported to another world, as she craned her head left and right constantly, trying to catch a view of her surroundings. Towers taller andrger than the Citadel in Norshelm and even the Magicians Towers in the Capital.


    Each square faced tower was covered with dark ss, while the streets were filled with strange carriages that rumbled loudly or move so quietly that it could only be made and powered by magic. Clothes and dress wore by the citizens of the city were so colorful and well made, that Titanna looked upon them with envy.


    And best of all, there wasn''t any sewage smell from a city of this size! Normally therger the town or city, the smellier it is! Magic was used to remove the smell from the streets but still, there will still be a stench remaining behind, but the smells of this city were in fact the other way around! Instead, smells of mouthwatering food and flowers filled the streets.


    Mills sat next to the curious Titanna who was like a cat at this time, as she tried to take in everything at the same time. He kept the speed of the Jeep low, to allow her more time to take in the sights.


    He had taken her to have breakfast at the hotel which was specially built for overseas guestsing for the Wedding. After the breakfast of bread, pancakes, eggs, ham, bacon, hashbrowns, and sausages which she had tried every single item on the buffet table before she''s satisfied, Mills had taken her to meet his old friend, Bartley.


    He purposely drove the scenic route, letting her see the residential areas and farms on the way to Bartley''s ce and now, he took her to visit the city''smercial and business districts. "How is it?"


    "It''s amazing!" Titanna replied in wondered. "How? How did you all build all these? Magic?"


    "Magic?" Millsughed at Titanna''s question. "Well, I guess it can be considered some kind of magic."


    "See!" Titanna said in a smug tone. "I knew you all had very powerful magic! Yet you all keep saying you don''t know magic! If not how can you exin how a city of such magnitude be built!"


    "Haahahaha," Mills keptughing and shook his head. "Well, it''s true we do not know any magic!"


    "Still not telling me the truth!" Titanna hissed. "Whatever!"


    "Hahaha, don''t be angry," Mills coaxed Titanna. "You will understand it in time."


    Titanna rolled her eyes at Mills and turned back to view the magical scenery and ignored Mills.


    "So are you hungry?" Mills finally asked as he was unable to coax Titanna.


    Titanna rubbed her tummy and nodded. "YES! You better bring me to eat something nice! Or I don''t talk to you!"


    "Haha, sure!" Mills grinned and drove the Jeep towards the one ce he was very familiar with and not long, he turned the Jeep into the parking lot of the Burger Shack.


    Titanna nodded in appreciation at the ss walls covering the cheerful decored restaurant, "Not bad, at least this ce looks like it has some ss!"


    Mills kept his expression neutral as he nodded in a wise way, "Of course! How could I bring you to a low ss ce for food!"


    The ss doors automatically slid open on their approach to the entrance, and Mills grinned while making gentleman''s gesture. "After you!"


    Titanna smiled and waltzed in with Mills behind her. She looked around the restaurant and felt something was wrong. There were colorful booths, square tables, and long tables with seats and the entire restaurant were almost filled with people.


    "What is this ce?" Titanna asked Mills. "I thought you were bringing me to some fancy restaurant?"


    "Oh, this is better than any fancy restaurant!" Mills reassured Titanna. "You can''t find anything like this in the entire world!"


    "Come," Mills pulled Titanna to a small square table with two seats and quickly sat her down. "Wait here! I shall order some burgers for you! Trust me, you will love it!"


    "Ah?" Before Titanna could say another word, Mills had already left her alone at the table and headed to a queue that was formed in front of a counter with severalrge signboards disying colorful images of some kind of food.


    She took her time to observe the people in the restaurant and to her surprise, she saw Orcs, Goblins and even some Inders having their meals here! What kind of ce is this?


    Not long, Mills carried a tray stacked with wrapped balls and tworge cups. He triumphantly ced the tray down on the table and started to introduce the strange wrapped balls. "Muffalo, wyvern, fish!"


    She watched Mills unwrap the balls and a kind of bun or pastry was revealed, with a patty of sorts. She followed his actions and took a small bite and was surprised at how tasty the ''bur girl'' was.


    "Good right?" Mills grinned and push a te of cheese fries before her. "You should try this too!"


    Titanna took a mouthful of the fries covered with oozing cheese and bacon bits and felt it was very tasty too. "What is this made of?"


    Mills pointed to the long golden fries and said, "Potatoes and cheese."


    "Po ta to?" Titanna was confused by the word. She had never heard of such food before.


    "Oh, you won''t be able to find this in this world," Mills said. "We brought in from a ce that''s very far away from this world."


    "I se-" She barely finished her sentence when a shadow fell over the restaurant and she felt the ground shake slightly.


    Following everyone''s look, she turned and looked out of the ss walls and saw two massive dragons folding their wings and lumbering their way over like oversized wyvern birds. "Dra- Dragons?!"


    "Wait!" Titanna frowned as she stared at the reddish scales of the red Dragon behind the other blue red scaled Dragon. "That dragon... looks very familiar..."


    "Oh," Mills scratched his head sheepishly. "You... caught her once..."


    "Caught her once?" Titanna blinked her eyes in confusion before realization struck her. "OH!"


    "It''s that red dragon!" Titanna eximed in surprise. "Wait... what are they doing here?"


    "Erm..." Mills gave a dryugh, d that she did not know that Mills was the one who rescued Rastraz and blew up her ship. "Them dragons love the food here..."


    "What?" Titanna looked down at her half eaten burger and cheese fries. "They partake in food like these?"


    "Yes," Mills nodded. "They love cheese fries... I mean, that was how we tamed the Rastraz..."


    "Rastraz is the red dragon?" Titanna narrowed her eyes and gestured to the te of cheese fries. "Are you telling me that you people tamed a red dragon with... this?"


    "Ah huh," Mills muttered with his mouth full. "Yup!"


    Titanna felt like her concept of the world crashing down on her. She could not believe that such a proud dragon was tamed with such a small thing this like! Where has the dignity of a dragon gone to?!

 Chapter 359: Upgrades

    Chapter 359: Upgrades


    As the wedding between the two leaders of the United Nations came closer, the atmosphere of the city of Haven turned into a celebratory mood as the citizens started decorating the city with colorful banners and gs all over the city.


    News and radio stations were full of talk about the uing wedding, and the hype was everywhere on the streets. Representatives from UN outposts and even from friendly viges and merchants arrived from afar and lodged within the Hotel De Locus.


    The new arrivals were shocked and surprised by the strange and wondrous city with all its magical yet not magic constructs. Many merchants new to the city started to reevaluate the potential of the UN as they started making ns to enrich themselves with the ''tek no logy'' of the city.


    -----


    UN Experimental Ordnance Divison


    "So what are the new projects you wanted me to review?" Captain ke asked as he sat down on the head of the conference table.


    "Sir," Chief Engineer Matt, Director of the Experimental Ordnance Divison or ''Exordee'' as they called themselves handed over several old fashioned paper folders to ke. Each folder hadrge bold red fonts of ''TOP SECRET'' stamped on the cover which featured the crest of the redesigned UN logo.


    "And this," Chief Matt hesitatingly handed over another folder which instead of having a TOP SECRET stamped on it, it only merit a CLASSIFIED stamp.


    ke frowned as he picked up the new folder and flipped it open and his frown deepened as he read the introduction. "A walker?"


    "Yes," Chief Matt replied. "Its... erm... a side project of those two otakus..."


    "From my knowledge," ke looked up from his reading and said. "Two legged walkers'' weakness is its legs. Too fragile and easy a target. Take one out and it drops."


    "Yes, Sir," Chief Matt sighed. "That is why I needed you to review this, Sir. I am not sure if we can push it to the military reviewmittee."


    "It might have a serious weakness, but if we put it onto the private sector?" ke made a suggestion.


    "Into the private sector?" Chief Matt frowned. "Which sector?"


    "I can think of a few useful ways to use this walker," ke said as he continued to read the report. "Logginges into mind first. Next, exploration or construction, or even as a heavy lifter."


    "Hmmm..." Chief Matt nodded as he considered the possibilities. "If it''s used in the Uncharted Forest, it will be more effectivepared to tracked or wheeled vehicles."


    "Yup," ke flipped over thest few pages of the report. "Walkers can navigate easier around the massive trees of the Forest better than tracked or wheeled. I can imagine equipping these guys with pincer ws and saw des for logging. Their height advantage will make harvesting the massive trees easier and a lot lesser waste than using explosives to clear the Forest."


    "Give a mounted MG onboard as a self defense weapon against feral goblins and monsters," Chief Matt grinned and rubbed his hands. "I''m sure the foresters and loggers will love it!"


    "Ha!" keughed and shook his head before he picked up the next folder. "New pistol for the military?"


    "Yes," Chief Matt replied. "We have a new pistol and sub gun caliber production line setup. The Single Action Dragon revolvers have too much recoil due to them chambered in rifle cartridges and slow in reloading nor do we have a sub gun for personnel defense."


    ".45 caliber?" ke continued reading.


    "Yes Sir," Chief Matt confirmed. "With our technology and manufacturing capabilities now running at full steam, we are finally able to produce blowback actions for our weapons."


    "We have tested several calibers against known creatures," Chief Matt added. "9mm and 10mm rounds without advanced tech are only capable to wound a ss 2 lifeform slightly."


    Lifeforms on the ke''s World were ssified ording to sses from 1 to 10. 1 being the weakest and 6 the strongest. Humans, elves, goblins and other lesser creatures were on the ss 1 band, while Orcs, Muffalos, and the dino lizards were ss 2. Trolls, Orges, Wind Wolves were listed as ss 3.


    Griffins and the twin tailed scorpion and giant beetle found in the dungeons were listed as ss 4 while Dragons like Blue Thunder were listed as ss 5. Monsters such as the T Rex Godzi, Giant Squid Krarga and the Ind Whales were ced under ss 6. The Hero and the Shadow Serpent Clone were ss 7 and the Gods were ssed higher above.


    "We found that with our current gunpowder tech, .45 caliber strikes the bnce between weight per round and prating power that is capable of wounding up to a ss 3 lifeform.


    "Our pistol design is borrowed off our current Glock 88," Chief Matt exined. "Chambered in .45 instead of 5mm. Also, it will be made out of full metal instead ofposite materials."


    "Also for our sub gun," Chief Matt continued. "We will be using a design simr to the old H&K''s MP5K forpactness. It will also be chambered in .45 and wille along with a folding buttstock."


    ke nodded as he reviewed the contents of the report. "Good, I''m sure the militarymittee will approve of these."


    "Next project," Chief Matt gestured to another file. "We n to rece the Fighter / Attacker - 1 Cobras with FA - 2 Advanced High Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft or Ahc for short."


    "It will be a thirdrger than the Cobra and more than 3 times heavier and seats two, a pilot and copilot / observer" Chief Matt exined. "With the data taken from building the Cobra and itsbat and flight behavior, we came out with a brand new redesign of the Cobra."


    "The Ahc wille with a newly developed turboprop engine instead of the rotary engine currently used by the Cobras," said Chief Matt proudly as he and his team managed to design and produce the new turboprop engines sessfully. "It will be 10 times more powerful than our current gen rotary engines!"


    "10 times?" ke whistled in admiration. "That is very impressive."


    "In addition to the engine upgrades," Chief Matt smugly continued. "The aircraft hull will be full metal and better armoredpared to the Cobras. It will also feature an internally mounted 20mm autocannon and magazine of 950 rounds and six hardpoints capable of carrying either the 250 kg All Purpose bombs or the 70 mm rocket pods."


    "Range wise, it will have four times the range of the Cobras, meaning it can make the trip directly to Falledge without the need to refuel," Chief Matt said. "Speed wise, it will have at least twice the speed and maneuverabilitypared to the Cobras."


    "Very nice," ke nodded. "When can we expect a working prototype?"


    "By mid winter," Chief Matt replied. "Also with the new gen engines, we n to upgrade the existing fleet of FB - 1 Mariners. It will give them twice the range, speed and carrying weight."


    "Also, a second all purpose transport ne based on the legendary C - 130 Hercules is being developed and prototyped," Chief Matt added. "We can expect the prototype to be out by next year,te spring."


    "Good," ke nodded and picked up the next folder and skimped through it. "This?"


    "Upgrade ns for the Spider Tanks and a new 8x8 armored fighting vehicle armed with the new 88mm guns," Chief Matt said. "New armor ting, expanded turret that either house a single 88mm or dual 3" gun with a basic autoloading system which we copied off our main guns."


    "Why AFVs and not main battle tanks?" ke asked curiously. Despite learning groundbat, he was after all more of a Naval Officer rather than a Ground Commander hence he asked the question.


    "We found that the terrain here barely gives the need for tracked vehicles," Chief Matt exined. "First, we are surrounded mostly by thick forest which barely allows vehicles to move. Next, we barely have any open ground more than two kilometers, which means our engagement range is pretty much knife fighting for tanks unless you nned to post tanks at Orwell''s Point to fight in the ins which basically are empty..."


    "Third, barrel length," Chief Matt listed out the cons. "A typical 88mm long barrel''s length is roughly 5 meter long. This makes traversing the turrets in the forest with a long barrel useless, we can equip the tanks with a snub nose 3" gun but it''s just wasteful to put a 3" on the tank."


    "Four, AFVs can fulfill the roles of MBTs easily," continued Chief Matt. "AFVs can travel faster, require lesser maintenance and fuel. Also, we do not need to spend time researching on building techniques and technology for MBTs. AFVs can be equipped with 20mm, or a 3" gun with rocket pods as support while carrying troops."


    "Lastly," Chief Matt grinned. "We already have Manned Armored Walker spider tanks, why waste time and resources to research MBTs?"


    "Point taken," ke nodded.


    "As I said, the 8x8 AFVs will either be mounted with a 20mm with rocket pods or a 3" gun turret and rockets," Chief Matt said. "It will also have the capability to carry a section of troops in the armoredpartment at its rear."


    "It will also be designed with urbanbat in mind," Chief Matt added in view of the recent incident in Norshelm. "Prototyping will be started once themittee gives approval."


    "Now,st item," ke opened thest folder and frowned. "Really?"


    "We noticed that arge amount of Marines has some affinity to magic," Chief Matt smirked. "But they can''t draw upon their own powers without fatiguing themselves. This will be very bad in abat situation."


    "Hence, R&D came out with this idea of giving them... ''Power Fists''," Chief Matt shook his head. "Not my choice of naming, but it stuck..."


    "Anyway, this Power Fist acts the same as how a mage would use a magic staff or wand to power his or her spells," exined Chief Matt. "Mana stones will be attached to the back of the glove which on usual, acts and works as a pair of normalbat gloves for the troops."


    "When the spellcaster Marine wants to cast a spell," Chief Matt gestured to the image of the dark green gloves. "They can draw upon the power of the mana stones instead of using their own body reserves."


    "It could mean the life and death of a soldier if they had such a tool in the battlefield," Chief Matt said. "Medics will be able to cast more healing spells, whilebat troops will be able to cast spells to support himself and his section mates in times of need."


    ke nodded as he understands the implications of such a tool. "This is actually very useful..."


    "Yes, Sir," Chief Matt agreed. "Most of our Elven Marines have the ability to use magic, but their innate powers are not very high, making it useless for them as the most they could only cast a spell or two per day. With such a tool, their magic abilities will improve, making them deadlier in battle."


    "I will give my personnel approval on this Power Fist to themittee," ke promised as he closed the folder.


    "Keep up the good work and tell your guys they did well!" ke praised Matt and his team.


    "Thank you, Sir!" Chief Matt grinned and lead the way out for ke.


    "Say, I have been thinking," ke suddenly said on the way to the parking lot. "I am thinking of recalling all humans frombat posts and putting them into desk jobs or instructor roles. What do you think?"


    Chief Matt frowned, "Sir, this might caused some resentment from the locals..."


    "They will think we are biased," Chief Matt pointed out.


    ke nodded, "Yes, I worried about that point."


    "But we only have so much of us left," ke said sadly.


    "Any more of us die, we will truly be an endangered species on this..."

 Chapter 360: The Wedding

    Chapter 360: The Wedding


    Captain ke put on his dress whites which was had been customized slightly. A gold aiguillette now adorned his uniform together with a pair of golden epaulets sat on his shoulders. He checked himself with the full length mirror before slipping on a ceremonial sword simrly sheathed in a golden coat.


    Commander Ford simrly dressed but without the golden aiguillette gave a grin at as ke exited his quarters. "Uniforms make a man look good!"


    ke rolled his eyes as he returned the salutes of the Marine guards. "Didn''t think you be so chippy in the morning after all that bootleg moonshine you took..."


    "Haha!" Fordughed before he replied in a softer voice. "Well, I have Dr. Sharon''s help in getting rid of my hangover."


    ke shook his head helpless, as he recounted the stag''s night party they organizedst night, which was more like an alcohol drinkingpetition with lots of BBQ and weirdly cheese fries... which he dimly recalled seemed to be ordered by a particr dragon...


    While he had his stag''s night party going on, the girls, on the other hand, had their hen''s night. Which of all people was organized by Dr. Sharon and included all the female crew and their female friends which too included a dragon too...


    ke strolled into the Bridge and waved away the salutes of the duty crew and walked right up to the armored viewports. From his vantage point, he could see the entire city spread out before him, as the UNS Singapore''s bridge remained the tallest structure in the city.


    He could see the city walls spread out in a huge star with many points, while the inner city walls were a circle. sshouses glittered between the outer walls and the inner walls while residential andmercial buildings rosed up behind the inner walls.


    The shape of the city was like a starry torch, with the UNS Singapore was the torch handle, anchoring the star city from one end. ke felt a huge satisfying sense of achievement as he looked over the city, knowing that he was the one that molded it out.


    Over their time crashed here, the UNS Singapore had undergone several renovations and refittings. Gone was the ugly mangled rear section of the ship. It was reced by locally produced steel tings that were bolted over the sections of the ship after the damaged sections were cut away.


    The slight tilt of the ship was also gone, as they had dug away the earth underneath the ship and rebnced it,ying the ship t instead of being nted at a 12 degree angle. The bow of the ship that crashed into the side of a hill cliff was also leveled away, exposing the crushed and dented armor which was also removed and refurbished.


    The City ss ship no longer looked like what its original designers had made it look like after it was rebuilt. Gone was the aerodynamics of the ship, making it no longer look sleek and deadly. Instead, now, it looked more like a futuristic t topped pyramid fortress, with sharp angles and bs of white painted metal and concrete.


    Now what remained of the UNS Singapore''s original arsenal was just the forward facing dorsal dual 155mm rail guns and two 50mm point defenseser turrets, each facing each side, as the rest were stripped down to be stored away as spare parts. It was also useless to have all eight dorsal PDsers running as they do not have the enough power to constantly fire those energy hogging weapons.


    Even the Missile Vertical Launch System was removed and only four VLS remained in service to provide a defensive umbre around the city. They barely had even a hundred missiles left for the tubes and even less after a third of their remaining guided missiles were dmissioned for their onboardputers and smart chips.


    So in the end, ke made a decision to mothball the extra weapons and use them for recement parts that will be almost impossible to be replicated in this world till they managed to develop advanced technology and manufacturing capabilities.


    And he had Engineering rece those removed weapons with ten locally made 20mm manned auto cannon turrets strategically installed onboard the dorsal top to supplement the lost of their firepower.


    As for those weapons that were underneath the ship, they were dug out and used for R&D and also retro fitted and redesigned as fixed defenses on the city''s walls after the sess of the experimental rail cannon at the Defense of Sawtooth Mountain which saw the modded PD turrets with some sess as low powered rail cannons.


    The UNS Singapore was no longer a starfaring ship, capable of travel between the stars. Now, it has turned into a stronghold, acting as the headquarters of the new United Nations. Its holds and facilities were refurbished into barracks for troops and vehicles. Its carrier deck held three full squadrons of twelve fighters while its weapons formed a protective umbre against all that dared approach it with evil intent.


    "It''s time," Ford said as he nced at the clock. "Let''s go wee your bride!"


    -----


    Thousands had turned up for the wedding as three days of holidays were dered. They thronged the walkways and fields while the local Police and Marines kept order and the roads open.


    Celebratory music of all kinds was yed or sted from radios while those lucky enough to stay in residences with a few of the wedding motorcade waved gs and threw flower petals from their balconies. The celebratory noise was incredible, even more,pared to Founding day.


    Mages threw spells into the air, much to the delight of the crowd, especially the children. Colorful illusions spells of animals and creatures floated over the cheering crowd, while spells mimicking fireworks red brightly against the sunny day.


    Sherene was dressed in an ivory satin strapless A-line silhouette style wedding dress with the bodice embellished withce appliques and diamonds. She sat with her back straight as she turned on her ''Princess Mode'', waving at the cheering crowd.


    The glossy ck open topped half track decorated with long white ribbons and flowers rolled forward slowly while escorted by a procession of jeeps and motorcycles. Flower petals rained from the skies while more illusion magic followed the wedding motorcade closely.


    Sherene felt that the hoomans'' wedding culture was strange, yet wonderful at the same time. From her knowledge of wedding customs, her family had to prepare a dowry to the groom but ke not only rejected it, he even said that everything that was his will also be hers which shocked her greatly.


    Even the wedding dress was outrageously low cut! She couldn''t have imagined wearing such a dress in the days of old. Yet now she normally wore causal clothing that revealed her legs and even shoulders during the hot summer days!


    Soon the motorcade stopped before a long red carpet and with the help of Sherene''s bridesmaids, she climbed out of the vehicle trailing behind a two meter long train which the bridesmaids helped to hold up.


    Ex Lord General, now turned Marine Captain, Joseph offered his arm out to Sherene and the whole procession walked down the aisles covered with decorative arches covered in green ivy and flowers. On both sides of the aisles, benches filled with guests cheered and pped loudly at their arrival.


    The opened air wedding venue was set before the UNS Singapore turned super fortress on arge parade square, capable of filling thousands of guests. Sherene smiled as she saw ke standing nervously at the end of the aisle where a simple cloth covered table and a pair of chairs stood.


    An unfamiliar melody was being yed by a small band on the side and the Master of Ceremony was announcing the arrival of the bride. Sherene barely noticed what was happening around her as her eyes and attention was only on the figure in white before her.


    -----


    ke''s eyes twinkled as he smiled gently back at the gorgeous looking elf that was going to be hiswful wife. He stretched his hand out and grasped her gloved hands and held on to her hands as he stood facing her with a deep smile. "Hi!"


    "Hi!" Sherene replied shyly back.


    "So what are you doing here?" ke teased softly.


    "I''m getting... married..." Sherene''s face turned pink.


    "Haha!" keughed and turned his attention to a smiling Magister Thorn who was acting as the celebrant.


    "Ahem," Magister Thorn cleared his throat and gave a small wink to the couple before he addressed the guests. "Can the guests please rise up for the ceremony?"


    "Good, good!" Magister Thorn smiled and said. "Now, I have it on a good authority that everyone doesn''t really want a long speech! So I will make it short and sweet!"


    "Wee family, friends and loved ones. We are gathered today to celebrate the union of Captain Richard ke and Princess Sherene Goldrose. We are all here to support thismitment of love and to share their joy as they choose to spend their lives together."


    "You are creating a new home where love, trust, and loyalty are the foundation. No matter what the future throws your way, rely on those foundations and you shall only see your bond grow stronger and your souls grow wiser.


    Marriage is not easy, but from what I''ve seen in the two of you, I know your rtionship will be an example to follow. You show care andpassion, you trust one another and most importantly, you are each other''s best friend."


    "Now, Captain ke, do you take Princess Sherene to be yourwful wedded wife?" Magister Thorn asked in a solemn tone.


    "I do," ke said.


    "And you, Princess, do you take Captain ke to be yourwful wedded husband?" Magister Thorn turned to Sherene and asked.


    "I do," Sherene replied.


    "Very well!" Magister Thorn''s face broke into a wide smile. "I now pronounce you husband and wife! May the Heavens protect you!"


    "Oh... you may kiss the bride!" added Magister Thorn after he gave a sheepishugh after a short pause.


    ke pulled Sherene into his embrace and kissed her lovingly before the wowing and cheering guests and fireworks, confetti and spells erupted over from everywhere as the nation celebrated the union of the Captain and Princess.


    -----


    "Sob sob!" Blue Thunder sniffed and blew his nose with a table cloth as he watched Sherene toss her banquet of flowers into the crowd of women. "A... this is such a lovely romance!"


    Rastraz next to him rolled her dinner te sized eyes into the sky at Blue Thunder''s antics. "Stop being a pussy, you drama queen!"


    "!!!" Blue Thunder turned his teary eyes at Rastraz. "Where did you learn suchnguage!"


    Rastraz gave a low growl which made Blue Thunder quickly sit up straight. "You want to find out?"


    "Okay, no thank you!" Blue Thunder quickly replied. "Wait! I think I smell cheese fries! See ya!"


    Rastraz shook her serpentine head in defeat as she watched Blue Thunder leaped off into the skies and headed towards the buffet area. "Tsk!"


    -----


    Fleet Master Dijon sighed regretfully as he pped along with the rest of the guests and he headed towards the serving bar for the guests. He nned to drink himself blind for the rest of the day.


    -----


    Titanna watched the couple offering toasts to the guests and she turned to look at Mills standing next to her. She suddenly saw herself dressed in a white wedding gown standing at the aisle and the man before was Mills.


    "Titanna?"


    "Ahh?" Titanna blinked and the vision was gone and reced by Mills''s face. His worried expression touched her heart and she suddenly leaned forward and kissed him in the lips.


    "Huh?" Mills was shocked at Titanna''s sudden action. He touched his lips and Titanna quickly looked away, her face turning red at her bold act.


    "Wow!" Someone sniggered beside him. "Someone is getting lucky today!"

 Chapter 361: We Need Money

    Chapter 361: We Need Money


    Fortress Singapore, Conference room


    "Alright, now that everyone had their fun and our boss anddy boss are away for their honeymoon," Commander Ford gave a mischevious grin to the gathered senior officers. "It''s time for us little mice to start making havoc in their absence!"


    The officers and head of departmentsughed, while Chief Matt growled and said, "Why mice?"


    "Cause in Pinky and the Brain, they are mice!" Someone retorted. "And they always wanna take over the world!"


    Another chorus ofughter greeted that sentence and Commander Ford gestured for everyone to tone down. "Alright, fun''s over! Time to get serious!"


    "I had gone through all the departments and ministries reports and frankly, I am very d to say I have noints nor has any shit came up," Cmdr Ford said to a round of apuse. "Good work."


    "But I have noticed something that''s gonna kick us in the balls," Cmdr Ford paused as he nced at Dr. Sharon. "Erm, I meant our asses if it continued to go on."


    Everyone gave looks of confusion to each other and some even quickly flipped through their tablets and paper reports to check for anything amiss.


    "Well, I give the stage over to our ounts Officer from HR department," Cmdr Ford gestured to a petite female dressed in the ship''s work uniform. "Warrant Officer Jean, please brief the rest."


    The short Warrant Officer stood up and activated the disy screen where a series of graphics were shown. "I will cut things short. In another eight months, we, the UN will run out of money."


    Looks of surprise were expressed on everyone''s face as they heard the news. WO Jean tapped a series ofmands and the disy changed, showing a table of expenses. "Originally, we have abined reserve of 783,234 gold and silver."


    "But with the current actions involving Norshelm," WO Jean highlighted a column on the presentation. "We used up approximately 132,000 gold and silver just on humanitarian efforts after the city was destroyed."


    "Following that, another 60,000 on rehoming the refugees," WO Jean added. "And the military in total expended over 230,000 gold and silver worth of munitions for the entire operation."


    "Now, while Haven will not be affected much due to our use of our own printed currency," continued WO Jean. "We will still see a sufficient increase in the market prices of imported goods and services."


    "Also it will affect our buying power and policies to both Orwell''s Point and Falledge as we will require gold and silver as those two cities still had not converted over to our own printed currency yet."


    "But didn''t we looted quite a bit of money from the nobles and governors?" Master Sergeant ''Top'' Pike asked. "Shouldn''t we have millions instead?"


    "No, that is incorrect, Master Sergeant," WO Jean shook her head. "Most of the items retrieved were only valuable to the eyes of collectors. There is no value to us as no one will buy it from us, even if we trade it away to the Isles, they wouldn''t be worth much."


    "Also most of the recovered treasure was used to pay for construction projects andpensation to the citizens of Orwell''s Point for the release of the ves," WO Jean exined. "After deducting our monthly expenses and setting aside a small reserve for any unexpected events, we only have enough to fund our ongoing contracts and projects for the next eight months."


    "That is of course, without another major incident," added WO Jean.


    "So in short," Cmdr Ford took over and addressed everyone. "We need to make money."


    "Can''t we force the two cities to purchase our currency in exchange for gold and silver?" Chief Engineer Matt asked. "Didn''t we did that with Haven at the start?"


    "No," WO Jean replied. "We printed our own currency at the start is due to us not having any reserves of gold and silver to tap on. Also, Haven has a closed loop of production and sales. Hence we can use our own currency without any issues as we have no external trade."


    "But once we start dealing with free merchants and the Isles'' merchants," WO Jean said. "We need hard currency in the form of gold and silver as our own printed currency has no face value in their markets."


    "Even in our newly acquired cities," WO Jean pointed out. "The locals needed gold and silver to trade with the surroundingmunities and even traders from afar. Implementing our own currency forcibly could cause quite some bacsh among the locals there. We can only do it step by step once our currency achieves recognization among all the trade guilds."


    "How about taxes?" Someone asked. "Increase them?"


    "No," Cmdr Ford replied immediately. "We still need to pacify the locals of Orwell''s Point and Falledge. Increasing taxes will be... bad..."


    "Well, I think there''s only one thing we can do," Chief Engineer Matt said. "Trade our advanced stuff out."


    "Well, that''s one idea," Cmdr Ford nodded. "But we need to set the type of things we want to sell and that it will not give the others a military or technological advantage over us."


    "Well, we can make salt and sell them," Dr. Sharon suggested. "I can think of some trade items that we could produce and sell them. Like luxury textiles or clothes, high quality ssware, perfume, or jewelry. Hell, even our factories can make diamonds out of carbon!"


    "Good idea!" Cmdr Ford said. "I got homework for you all. I want everyone to list out anything that will be received well with the merchants since most of the guests are still in the Haven. You guys got two days max!"


    Everyone nodded and started discussing among themselves about what items will make a good ie for the UN as they left the conference room leaving Cmdr Ford behind who rubbed his head. "Damn... when is ke returning..."


    -----


    Goblin Coast, Rest and Recreation Resort


    Shereneid her head down on ke''s chest as they cuddled together on the beach chair watching the sun setting over the sea while ke unconsciously rubs Sherene''s head.


    "This is nice," Sherene purred against ke''s chest. "Just doing nothing."


    "Yea," ke nodded and rubbed his chin over Sherene''s soft hair. "But... I feel a bit worried about the rest..."


    Sherene shook her head and said in aining tone, "Hey... no work topic allowed! We are here to rx and enjoy ourselves!"


    keughed and gave a squeeze to Sherene until she squeaked. He returned his nce back to the sandy pink white beaches with the seas so clear that it was almost invisible. He purposely had this resort built at this beautiful beach for his crew to get some rest and recreation on this.


    "Hey," ke returned to rubbing Sherene''s head. "I want to ask you something."


    "What is it?" Sherene replied.


    "I... I want to pull my people out ofbat and front line duty," ke hesitantly said. "Do you think it will cause any issues with the rest?"


    "You mean us elves?" Sherene used the term the hoomans called the people on this. "Wel... I guess some people might find it unfair and biased."


    ke nodded and sighed. "That was what I was afraid of."


    "But I think you should do it," Sherene turned her head up and smiled at ke. "You and your people had sacrificed a lot for us."


    "But..." ke sighed. "We are a United Nation. It will really be unfair to those who give their lives for the nation if while my people stay in safe jobs."


    "Silly," Sherene ced both her palms on ke''s cheeks and kissed him. "If your people keep dying... how many of you will be left? Just you alone? How can you live with that thought?"


    ke leaned forward and kissed her back. "Honor, courage, ethics, loyalty, these are the core values taught to me in the Navy."


    "Don''t worry," Sherene assured ke. "Your people have done a lot for us. In fact, you should make them all into teachers! They are more valuable teaching and passing on their knowledge than fighting in the frontlines! You should protect them well!"


    "Thank you," ke smiled lovingly at his understanding wife.


    "Okay, enough of work topics!" Sherene pouted. "We only have two weeks of holiday!"


    "Haha!" keughed. "It''s called a honeymoon!"


    "I still don''t understand why you hoomans'' call it a honeymoon," Sherene sighed at ke. "Is the moon sweet like honey? You hoomans are weird."


    "Well, you married a weird human!" keughed again. "Well, still it''s nice to not do anything for two weeks..."


    "Well, shouldn''t you make good use of these two weeks?" Sherene winked at ke. "After all... we might get too busy when we return..."


    "Hehehe..."


    -----


    Fortress Singapore, Conference Room


    Commander Ford lowered the scroll he was reading and eyed the two burly Isles leaders seated before him. "A technology and magic exchange treaty?"


    "Yes, Lord Ford," First Fleet Master Kose replied. "We are willing to trade our ship building techniques and advice to your shipwrights."


    "We will also provide preferable terms for any trade items you need," Fleet Master Kose said.


    "And in return?" Cmdr Ford asked, secretly excited.


    "We want you to teach us the magic of those moving wagons," Fleet Master Kose stated frankly. "Also those ''trains'' that could carry many people and goods."


    "And also this franchise thing with ''bur girls''," Fleet Master Dijon added at the side.


    "Hmmm..." Cmdr Ford frowned. "You want to learn how to build cars, trains and make burgers?"


    "Yes, yes," Fleet Master Dijon nodded eagerly. "And of course, we will like to also learn how to build ships made of iron!"


    Cmdr Ford tapped the rolled up scroll against the table as he pondered on the terms. "To tell you the truth. Burgers are easy and teaching you about vehicles isn''t the issue here, it''s more on manufacturing them."


    "For example," Cmdr Ford exined to the two confused Isles leaders. "Take a normal carriage. You got skilled carpenters and wheelwrights to build the carriage. How long do you think they take to learn the skills?"


    "One year? Two years?" Cmdr Ford asked.


    Fleet Master Dijon frowned and said, "They will have to be an apprentice for four to six years before they can be considered a full fledged craftsman."


    "Well..." Cmdr Ford interrupted. "You get the idea. Making vehicles is just the same. Look, you need like many years to learn how to build all these things..."


    "I see..." Fleet Master Kose nodded in understanding. "How about we trade for some of those wagons instead?"


    "That can be arranged I believe," Cmdr Ford grinned. "But of this will be purely a trade deal."


    "And the ships of iron?" Fleet Master Dijon enquired. "I know mastery of ship building takes a lot of time. I am willing to bring over two hundred of my finest shipwrights to live here and work here for five years!"


    Cmdr Ford shook his head, "No, I am sorry. We will not teach you how to build ships of iron. It is a military secret."


    He had thought of selling one of the new all steel corvette that was under construction at the moment to the Isles, but rejected the thought immediately as he recalled they were an ocean going nation with lots of skilled shipwrights who can easily reverse engineer the ship if they ever bought it.


    Even if they can''t make the steel frames for the ships, they could still learn a lot from their designs to improve their own ships. As for vehicles, it will be impossible for them to build unless they learnbustion, some form of engineering and even the means and capabilities to build the tools needed to build the vehicle.


    "And what do you want in return for the wagons?" Fleet Master Kose asked. "Food? Ores? Spices? Ships?"


    "Gold," Cmdr Ford gave a sly smile. "I want cold hard cash!"

 Chapter 362: Word of Mouth

    Chapter 362: Word of Mouth


    Outskirts of Bluewood Imperial Capital


    The dragon riders riding into the vige hall was a sight to behold for little Jon. He ran off chasing after the galloping dragons and the armored riders, ignoring the yell from his father at the bakery. He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him, and found the two dragon riders stopping before the vige head.


    A small crowd had already gathered at the small dirt square before the vige hall as they whispered curiously at why the Emperor''s men were here. It was not the time yet for the autumn tax collection.


    Little Jon squeezed himself through the crowd and stood behind a wooden fence, watching the two riders in their silver armor and blue cloaks fluttering in the wind dismount from thend dragons. Thend dragons'' nostrils puffed out smoke as the cold air turned their hot breaths into vapor.


    The soldier with a red plume on his helm unfurled a scroll and addressed the crowd in a loud voice, "Citizens! We are at war! Our southern borders are under attack by barbarians and rebels who worship the demons! Our Emperor has called upon you to help defend our great empire!"


    "Each family has to contribute one male, fit and sound of mind," The Herald dered. "The vige will have to contribute an extra ten stones of grain or equivalent value in gold."


    Instantly the vigers all cried out in shock. Ten stones of grain were equal to twice the amount of taxes they had to pay for each harvest season! And with the draft, who knows how many will return in one piece...


    "Grace to the Emperor! Long Live the Emperor!" The Herald ignored the cries of despair. "By end of the season, the collectors wille for the men and grain!"


    The Herald pasted the decree onto the vige notice board with some sticky tree gum and vaulted back up onto his mount and prepared to ride off.


    "My lords! Please have mercy!" The vige head cried out. "If we give all our food stores away, how will the rest of us survive theing winter?"


    "That is your problem," The Herald said in a disinterested tone. "Not mine. Now, move out of the way or be trampled over!"


    Without giving the vige head any moment to react, the Herald and his escort rode off, nearly trampling over the elderly vige head who sat at the side of the dirt road crying.


    Little Jon did not understand why everyone was so sad and afraid as he was too young to understand what was going on. He ran back to the bakery and found his father rolling the dough in the kitchen.


    "Daa! Daa!" He called out happily. "Soldierse!"


    "So what did the soldierse for?" His father smiled at Little Jon who climbed up the chair to watch.


    "Soldiers said something, but everyone was sad and crying!" Little Jon frowned as he tried to recall all the words said. "Soldier said many words... Say we are at war with barbarians and demons!"


    "Say we go fight war! Need food and gold!" Little Jon said, proud that he managed to recall most of the words spoken.


    His father paused in his work, his expression suddenly dark. He gave a deep sigh and took a cloth to wipe his flour stained hands before he carried Little John in his arms. "What''s the problem, Daa daa?"


    "Nothing," His father gave a sad smile to his son. "Don''t you worry my son. Let''s go find your mother!"


    "Sure!"


    -----


    All around the Empire, messengers, and Heralds visited viges, towns and even cities delivering the decree by the Emperor. Teams of Imperial quartermasters visited warehouses and markets, ordering the merchants to sell their grain at the lowest prices or were given promissory notes, making hundreds of small time traders bankrupt overnight as all their stores were taken away.


    ves were also taken away by the Imperial Army and told that they can have their chance for freedom if they fight for the Empire.


    Armories were emptied and the cksmiths were all drafted to work, making new des, armor and even maintenance of the Imperial Army''s current stockpile. Elsewhere, legions were recalled from their garrisons and ordered to gather at the south staging point of the City of Silverton.


    -----


    Bluewood Imperial Capital, Merchant District


    Potter peeked out from the curtains of his closed store, checking the dark streets for any signs of movement. Once he was satisfied that all was quiet, he went upstairs to the second floor of his study and quickly wrote down several lines on a small piece of scroll.


    Once he was done, he rolled the scroll into a small wooden tube the size of his little finger and ced a small enchantment on the tube, making it glow briefly. He went up to the roof of his store and peered over the roof, double checking again for any unusual activity down in the streets.


    Seeing none, he took out a whistle and blew on it gently and waited in the cold. After a turn of the ss, a dark shadow suddenly descended from the skies andnded on the roof. A long winged wyvern stretched its dark grey green feathered wings out, reaching almost two meters in length.


    The wyvern, looking like a Terran chicken with super long wings and tail, eyed the merchant with its intelligent looking eyes. It epted the morsel of meat offered by the merchant andpped at the bowl of water offered.


    Potter quickly attached the message tube onto the leg of the wyvern while it was feeding. He ced a few more pieces of meat for the wyvern and waited for it to finish its meal. Once sated, the wyvern stretched out its long wings again and with a mightly sweep, it took off from the roof and disappeared into the dark night.


    After seeing the wyvern disappearing into the skies, Potter gave out a relieved sigh and returned downstairs. Once the message was received on the other end, he would get paid in gold for his services. Thinking about the money he was about to earn, made Potter happy as he left his store and returned home.


    Elsewhere, dozens of simr incidents were urring, as merchants and information brokers started sending out word and news of war. Nobles and even merchants guilds paid good money to be informed of such news as it could mean profit or loss for them.


    Knowing where to sell goods at the highest prices was always the Merchants Guilds'' highest priority while the Nobles wanted to know where to avoid and when to stay low to avoid getting taxed or their men drafted into war.


    Part by part, news of the Empire preparing for war was passed down the chain and weekster, word of the Empire''s army mobilizing came to the ears of the UN Naval Intel division.


    -----


    UN, City of Haven


    2nd Lieutenant Tavor started off his day with his usual routine, reading the local newspaper and having breakfast with tea. He missed coffee, even those instant 3 in 1 mix but unfortunately, the UNS Singapore''s remaining stores of coffee and instant powder had run out months again. Those that still have a pack or two were hoarding them more jealously than a dragon and his cheese fries.


    Worst yet, Exploration and Survey had yet to find a coffee substitute here on the, meaning he had to switch his taste to drinking the local tea here, which taste, closely resembles those on Earth.


    After his breakfast and reading were done, he dressed for work and reached his office before 0800 hours and started reviewing all the reports that had piled up on his tray. Most reports were regrading the regional areas of the UN, from the mood of the people, price of markets, attacks or sightings of monsters, to even rumors and fairy tales.


    He had trained a small core of intelligence agents from local volunteers and even a couple of Marines which he poached over. He mostly picked those who were natives of the region and assigned them ordingly to make full use of their familiarity with the area.


    Once assigned to an area, the agents will form a cell to which he buys and collects information of all kinds before transmitting it back with a portable radio. So far, due tock of manpower and resources, his agents had only managed to cover till several kilometers off the borders of the UN.


    Tavor would spend the rest of the morning going through all the reports and filtering them ording to their levels of credibility and threat. Things like stolen items, he would ce them on a low priority list while sightings of monster movements and missing farm animals, he would ce them on a higher priority list to be investigated.


    Once he had sorted out the reports for the day, he would break for lunch. His subordinates will either have their meal or continue their work, filling in reports from his agents or government bodies.


    After his meal, he would visit the holding cells at the prison deck of the ship now turned into a fortress. High level prisoners were kept in specially created cells that both physically and magically restrained them. Next, he went to the VIP cells where the cells were more like rooms,fortably decored as the prisoners were more under house arrest than anything.


    He stopped before VIP CELL 07 and tapped a fewmand keys on the keypad next to the door. Instantly a window next to the wall opened up and allowed Tavor to look into the room. The boy and the ve girl looked up from the books they were reading as the window opacity cleared and they saw their jailer standing there.


    "When are you nning to release us?" The boy yelled as he stormed over to the window. "How long are you nning on keeping us locked up!!"


    "When we full verified your identity and what you said were the truth," Tavor''s voice came in over the speaker.


    "I had told you the truth!" The boy hammered his fists against the armored sapphire ss window. "I am a prince of the Bluewood Empire! I dema-"


    Tavor stepped away from the darkening window as he tapped the controls turning the window opaque again. He hummed a tune as he strolled off back towards his office, ignore the dull thumpsing from the room.


    "Sir!" One of his subordinates greeted Tavor as he entered the Intelligence office. "We have gotten word of something urgent, you need to see this quick."


    Tavor nodded and took the report slip from the operator. He scanned through the contents twice and turned to the ops room filled with intelligence analysts. He pped his hand loudly, gaining the attention of all the intelligence staff.


    "Alright people!" Tavor addressed everyone in the ops room. "We just got word that the Empire is doing bulk purchase of grain, dried rations, iron, leather, arrowheads and all sorts of misc little things needed for an army."


    "Looks like the Empire is preparing for war," One of the intelligence analysts said.


    "Yes," Tavor nodded. "But against who, where, and when?"


    "Now, contact your agents! I want to know for certain is the Empire mobilizing its troops!" Tavor ordered. "I want to know where are the troops headed!"


    "I want to know when!" Tavor continued. "I want to know who are they attacking!"


    ''And I know to know all these facts by yesterday!" Tavor roared. "Go find out what is happening to the Empire now!"


    "Yes, Sir!" All the staff cried out and they returned to their work stations and donned on their headsets and started contacting their ground agents.


    Tavor returned to his office and sat down, holding the slip of report in his hands as he reread it again and mumbled to himself. "Damn... are those blue boys finally making their move now?"

 Chapter 363: Year Two

    Chapter 363: Year Two


    UN, City of Haven, Hotel De Locus


    Rockets whistled into the skies before popping with eye searing colors as fireworks were set off throughout the city in celebration of the Second Founding Day. Everyone was in high spirits and partied away all night long.


    Captain ke and his wife were dancing on the roof of the Hotel while other guests mingled with each other. They only paused to watch the fireworks disy exploding magnificently in the night skies before they resume their slow dance.


    "Two weeks is too short..." Shereneined. "I want a holiday..."


    "Hahahaha!" keughed at Sherene''s antics. "Duty calls!"


    Sherene made an impatient click with her tongue, "Yes... work never ends for us..."


    "When all is over," ke tilted Sherene''s chin up and looked deep in her eyes. "I promise you we go for a holiday as long as you want!"


    "Promise?" Sherene smiled.


    "I promise!" ke smiled back. "Officer''s oath!"


    "Alright," Sherene leaned into ke as they danced slowly. "I heard the rumors from the Isles that the Empire ising again..."


    "Yes," ke nodded. "Intel has already picked up troop movements within the Empire."


    "They areing here?" Sherene asked. "When?"


    "Very likely yes after winter," replied ke. "We got reports of bulk purchase of supplies of food and weapons from merchants. And we should be the only threat left on this continent other than the Isles."


    "When will the war end?" Sherene gave a sad sigh. "It is so silly... Can''t we ask for peace?"


    "Peace through superior firepower," ke said in a wise tone before he gave a grin. "Oh we will have peace, but it must be on our terms and to do that, we need to bloody the Emperor''s nose so badly, that he will think thrice before ever thinking of waging war against us!"


    "But how many will die for that peace?" Sherene asked. "How many must we kill before he is willing to stop the war?"


    "Too many to count, my dear," ke hugged Sherene. "But to protect our people, we must fight..."


    "I... understand that, but I do not have to like it!" Sherene frowned. "I was told too that our treasury is low in funds..."


    "Ahh, yes," ke felt embarrassed. "But do not worry, we worked out a deal with the Isles to sell some of our vehicles."


    "Hmmm," Sherene gave a thoughtful look to ke. "Well, we do have all these wedding gifts from the merchants sitting around just looking pretty..."


    keughed, "Seriously? You want to sell back the wedding gifts to the very people that gifted them to us for our wedding in the first ce?"


    "It''s just a thought!" Sherene gave a naughty smile. "Hehehe!"


    -----


    UN, City of Haven, Residential District


    "WATTZ!" A high pitch shriek pierced through the dreams of Wattz, making his jerk upright from his bed involuntarily. "GETZ UPZ YA LAZY AZZ!"


    Wattz blinked his beady eyes as he stared at his plump green wife in a daze. His wife mmed a pan against his head, knocking him back to his oh so soft and inviting pillows with a loud nk. "GETZ UPZ!"


    That smack with the pan finally knock the sleepiness out of his head but left Wattz with a terrible headache instead. He rubbed the egg sized bump starting to form on his head tenderly and hopped off the short legged bed and walked into the toilet.


    He stared at the mirror and a green yellow face with arge knob shape nose, two sleepy eye browless beady eyes stared back at him. He turned the tap and sshed water on his face before he did his potty business and went to the kitchen where one of his wives was busy making breakfast.


    Both his wives were short, plump and green toned with a mop of hair growing over their oversized heads. One had dark green hair while the other had orange hair. Female goblins generally had hair while males tended to be bald. They both wore an apron over a long tee shirt that almost reached their calves and was busy cooking at the stove.


    The smell of burnt toast, eggs, and fat made him salivate as he sat down. His wife banged a te of brown toast, eggs, and sausages before him. "Eat faz! Youte for workz!"


    Wattz gave a grin and dug in to his breakfast while his two wives shook their heads at him while he shoved all the greasy contents into his mouth. His wives choose not to argue about his tardiness and instead shooed him out of the kitchen. He quickly donned his work overalls and tool belt before he left the apartment to work at the factory nt.


    Wattz took the public bus squeezing together with the other long legs. He had to tiptoe to look out of the windows of the bus to see the scenery outside. He rode in silence and listened to the gossips among themuters. Most of the talk was about the Wedding between the Hooman Boss and the Princess and Founding Day.


    Soon his stop arrived and he hopped out with the rest and headed towards the factory with its tall spires that were belching out thick ck smoke.


    "WATTZ!" A thunderous yell greeted Wattz when he inserted his punch card into the machine that spat the card out with a rattle. Wattz turned and saw the floor manager stomping over towards him, his hobgoblin face red from either the heat or anger.


    "Yez, Manager?" Wattz put on his most innocent face he could. "Whaz can Wattz do for Manager?"


    "Do?" The hobgoblin''s face scrunched up in and he growled. "You can do well not toe inte again! In fact! You can forget abouting here no more! You fired!"


    "Mercy! Boss Manager!" Wattz cried out quickly. "You no fire me! Wattz hard worker!"


    "Hard worker my butt!" The Manager cursed. "Youte, five times this week! Fired! FIRED!!!"


    "But how Wattz supports his two wivez?" Wattz asked in a pitiful voice. "Wattz need credz for food and housing! You no fire me! PLEAZE?"


    "OUT!" The Manager growled and pounded his meaty fist into his palm, making a loud smack. "Or I throw you out!"


    "Nooo!" Wattz quickly turned and ran out of the factory in despair. "Damn! How Wattz look after wivez? Maybe Wattz divorce?"


    He sighed and walked off in low spirits, wondering what should he do next. If he tells his wives, both of them will surely skin him alive for losing his job for the third time this month! "Oh, Machine Gods! Give poor Wattz a sign!"


    He paused before a rumbling truck and as the truck rolled off, he was surprised to see a crude statue of a goblin under a shack right across the road from him. Curious, he wandered over to take a closer look and found that the simple shack was filled with many small trinkets and machine parts.


    There were even a few rotting carcasses of rodents and animal skulls stacked on the side together with the other junk. Wattz turned his attention to the crude looking statue that appeared to be made out of scrap metal and welded together into a form that kinda looked like a goblin with an oversized right arm. He then noticed a small hand made metal que with some scratched words on it and on closer look, his eyes widened in surprise at the written text.


    [ Here stanz da Greatest Gob Hero Evez! Greg the Great! ]


    "It''s a shrine to Greg!" Wattz was pleasantly surprised. He quickly dug into his tool belt and found a few bits of screws and bolts. He ced them down on top of a piece of unknown machine part as offerings and gave a prayer to the Machine Gods.


    "I know!" Wattz suddenly pped his hands together as inspiration hit him. "I shall join the Air Forz! Like Greg!"


    -----


    Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "So, we can expect the Imperials to hit us after winter?" ke asked.


    Lt Tavor nodded and said, "That will be roughly the time table for the Imperials. Currently all intel collected suggests that they are building their stock of food and weapons while their troops gather and training their conscripts."


    "So we have four to five months, give or take," said Commander Ford. "Well, I guess it gives us some time to train up the SDF to be at least apetent level for fixed defenses."


    ke nodded. "Good thing now, it''s going to be winter, it''s a lull time for most traditional farms and business. We can start education sses and training for the new citizens."


    "The Marines will be fully trained and equipped with the new rifles and weapons by then," Colonel Frank added. "And once Intel knows where they are nning to hit, we can move our troops to intercept them."


    "Thank god we made a deal with the Isles," Ford said. "If not, I wonder how are we going to finance this war..."


    ke gave a grin, "Well, all thanks to you, we have some more money now."


    "Shit," Ford sighed. "I just realized this war will drain the military budget away from the Navy..."


    "Hahaha!" Everyoneughed at the Chief of Naval Operations'' luck.


    "Goddamn it!" Ford cursed. "I keep getting the short end of the stick here! I want ships! Aircraft carriers! Battleships! Missile destroyers! AEGIS Cruisers! Arghhh!"


    "Sorry, Ford," ke smiled. "This year Santa lost your wish list!"


    Everyoneughed again and Ford gave up, "I think at this rate, my position will be some empty title..."


    "Rx," ke reassured Ford. "Now is not the time to expand the Navy yet. Once we deal with the Empire and have peace, we will focus on exploration. That''s when the Navy wille in."


    "True," Ford nodded before he turned to the Intel Officer. "So what are the estimated numbers we are looking at?"


    "So far, we have some intel of the troops being pulled out of garrisons," Tavor replied. "Their insignia looks like the Imperial Army which is the Emperor''s main standing army. We had yet to find out how many auxiliary troops will be raised by the Empire''s nobles nor what air assets they will be bringing over as of yet."


    "My agents are still doing their best to collect information," Tavor exined. "Problem is there''s a timeg between each agent and also, our intelligencework is still pretty new and limited."


    "Once we pinpoint the location of their staging area, we can start to estimate the total number of soldiers," Tavor said. "But we identified roughly two approaches that they might attack from."


    Tavor pointed to the map, tapping at Falledge first before he tapped at another area roughly 50 km, west, away from Orwell''s Point. "These two."


    "Falledge originally is the gateway into the Uncharted Forest, which our old friend, Duke Sturm, used as a staging area," Tavor said. "And this point here is also another way into the Uncharted Forest."


    "Unless they n to attack Orwell''s Point," Tavor traced his finger on the map. "The terrain here is most suited for marching troops."


    ke nodded, "Okay, keep collecting as much information as possible. I want to know the enemy''s total strength, fighting powers, and air assets."


    "For the military side," ke turned to Colonel Frank. "Start the SDF problem now. Recruit anyone interested and train them at Camp Alpha. They need not be trained to the level of the Marines but at least trained in the same tactics."


    "Tommy," ke addressed the Air Force Commander. "Work out a n to provide air supremacy and support for the ground forces. Also, start looking for a new ce to construct a new airbase to support Falledge."


    "Chief Matt," ke saidstly to the Engineer. "Get the factories into war footing. Prioritize all military needs first. I want every Marine to be armed with thetest rifles before mid winter and all prototypes weapons to be running and tested."


    "And the highway to Orwell''s Point must bepleted before the end of winter!" ke said. "I also want a permanent road or highway to Falledge once construction of the North East Highway ispleted."


    "Gentlemen, we might have a season to prepare, but still, we are running against the clock now," ke said to everyone. "We need to ensure we have everything we need to fight and protect what we have now. Everyone clear with their duties?"


    "YES SIR!"

 Chapter 364: Winter Plans

    Chapter 364: Winter ns


    Life for the average family before winter was usually spent stockpiling theirrder with winter stores and preparing firewood. Herders will cull their flock, ughtering the old and weak animals that were not expected to survive over the cold months.


    And when the herders did the ughtering, it will generally be a festival for the vige or towns, as everyone will help out. The meat will be salted or smoked and portioned out to the helpers or sold to others. The children, on the other hand, will pick firewood and thest of the autumn berries and tubers while under the watch of the adults.


    As for those that lived in cities, food and firewood were instead purchased from markets. The female folk will spend their time airing and mending winter clothes. Work generally slowed down due to the cold weather and shorter days. Only the mines had increased output as there generally be arger amount of people taking up an extra job during winter.


    Even for Titanna, who had servants and ves in her Estate, experience what generally would bemon for people to do during winter. Yet now hermon sense was overturned again, as she looked at the sight of the bright bustling city.


    Normally in winter, unless there wasn''t any snow, people only venture out to the taverns for a drink to warm themselves up or get drunk. Rarely would anyone with any sense want to walk in the dark freezing cold at all!


    Yet, before her very eyes, she could see drifts of white fluffy snow dropping from the heavens and the crowd of people before her, was something she could not understand. She stood under the cover of an umbre held by Mills who was pointing out to various stalls on both sides of the street.


    "Ohh," Mills eximed. "You need to try that! Their hot dogs are pretty good! And that! Takoyaki!"


    Titanna felt overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, and smell. She realized that her first impression of Mills and his people was so wrong that she felt ashamed for calling them ''barbarians''. She stopped and pulled at Mills''s arm, "Wait! Wait wait!"


    "What''s wrong?" Mills stopped in his tracks. "You want to eat something else?"


    "Yes, no! I mean, no!" Titanna fumbled. "No, I want to ask, why is there a market in the middle of the street and at night when it''s still snowing!"


    "Oh, this is the winter festival street food!" Mills grinned. "They did thisst year and it was very popr! So they organized another food festival this year too!"


    "But why in the cold?" Titanna hissed in the cold.


    "Well, it was to celebrate the hard times had passed, I think," Mills replied. "Anyway,e try this!"


    He dragged a shivering Titanna into arge opened tent where several tables filled with patrons sat around a hot of steaming soup and tes of food. "If you''re cold, you need to eat this!"


    Mills sat Titanna down on an empty table and not longter, a server came over with a wide pot filled with some kind of soup that had ayer of red oil floating on top. The server activated a magic rune in the middle of the table before cing the pot on top of it.


    "This is a spicy hot pot! It will warm you up!" said Mills as he took off his gloves.


    Mills quickly made some orders and tes of raw meat and vegetables were carried over by a server. By that time, the soup had started to boil and Mills taught Titanna how to eat hot pot by tossing in meat and vegetables into the soup.


    Her first bite of the cooked meat left her tastebuds burning from the spice, making her cough. Mills grinned and poured her a cup of mulled wine which she quickly drank and made her already flushed face redder.


    "Take it slowly," Millsughed and took some soup. "Don''t rush."


    Soon Titanna started to enjoy the spicy hot pot, the heat from the spices making her warm while the meat and soup filled her belly. After she was full, Titanna raised a question. "Mills, I will be returning to Orwell''s Point by end of this month to take as City Governor. How about you?"


    "Well, I have gotten my deployment orders too," Mills grinned mischievously. "Guess where I''m posted?"


    "Where? Same as me?" Titanna asked as she eyed Mills''s smile with suspicion. "Really?"


    "Yup!" Mills nodded. "I am being assigned as your military liaison and advisor."


    Titanna quickly hid her smile and said in an indifferent tone, "I see, I guess... We can still see each other than..."


    "Ha!" Millsughed and pour another cup of wine for Titanna. "Well, here''s to our new posting! Cheers!"


    -----


    UN, Orwell''s Point, Marine Stronghold


    Marine Captain Joseph climbed down the hatch of the FB - 1 Mariner and walked over to the waiting Jeeps. "Back to base, and call for an immediate staff meeting!"


    His waiting aide nodded and used the Jeep''s mounted radio and started dialing back to base while the driver started the vehicle. Within seconds, they drove away from the airstrip and into the city, heading back to the Marine Stronghold in the middle of the city.


    Joseph entered the old library turned conference room of the stronghold and found all his staff had already arrived. He nodded and handed a memory stick over to his aide who plugged into the disy and he started the briefing.


    "Alright, we got new intel suggesting that the Imperial Army is on the march," Joseph bluntly said. "Intel has no concrete numbers as of yet but estimates it to be roughly a quarter of a million strong."


    "We got time till the start of spring when the ice thaws for the Imperial Army to advance," Joseph looked at everyone in the eye. "Another thing, Intel has no idea of where they will be attacking from as they are still gathering information of their staging points and supply depots,"


    "So what we can do now is to start nning and preparing for their attack," Joseph said. "And also, all local militia and volunteers are to be shipped back to Haven for training and integration to the new Self Defense Force, HQ hase up with. They will be trained in the tactics of the Marines so to easier fight alongside them."


    "Once their training is over, they will return to take over the garrison of the city and defend it while we the Marines will be the mobile force," added Joseph. "So put in preparations for hand over of duties and responsibilities over to the SDF when they return."


    "Questions?"


    -----


    UN, Falledge


    Arven Silverhand had to endure the ear numbing roar of the helo engine for over four hours as shuttled over by helicopter rather than an airne due to the airstrip in Falledge was barely even built.


    He stepped off the sausage shaped flying contraption and several of the instructions of Camp Alpha waiting for him at the side of thending pad. They saluted him as he approached and broke intoughter when he rolled his eyes at them.


    "Congrattions!" The Lieutenant hooman called Collins said as he shook his hands. "Someone is a Captain now!"


    Arven shook his head, "This promotion should be yours, you know? As CO of Third Battalion."


    "Nah, I''m got assigned to the Governor of Falledge as military liaison and advisor," Collins grinned. "They want me to look after the new Governor."


    "Anyway, I heard you got some militia to train here into a Self Defense Force?" Collins asked.


    "Yes," Arven nodded. "We got three months to get them in shape and ready for the Empire."


    Collins nodded, "Damn Blue boys, they just couldn''t stop..."


    "We have a lot of work to do," Collins said next. "The airbase for the Air Force has to be built quickly. The city walls need to be rebuilt and reinforced. Roads and supply depots constructed too."


    "And all this to be done before spring..."


    -----


    Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "We kind of settled our current money needs," ke said to Sherene. "But that is not a stop gap measure. We need more ways to generate ie."


    "Well, in my time, the kingdom makes money by taxes, tolls, trades and owning gold or silver mines," Sherene replied. "Well, you don''t have any nobles to draw funds from nor any mines producing gold or silver either."


    "We are already doing trade but it''s not very stable ie," ke said. "As for taxes, I don''t want to raise it too high."


    "As for gold and silver mines, we have yet to discover any gold or silver veins yet," ke added.


    "How about selling more of your tek no logee?" Sherene suggested.


    "Hmmm... that is still not a long term option," ke replied. "Maybe... maybe it''s time to reopen the dungeon."


    "Ooo," Sherene tilted her head. "Dungeons make good money! There also have a lot of treasures inside!"


    ke nodded, "I am thinking of unsealing the lower levels and start exploring again. Maybe we might find enough treasures in the lower levels to finance us for one or two years, or at least for thising war."


    Sherene sighed, "I hope this will be thest war we ever had to fight."


    ke shook his head, "It is impossible. Where there is greed, there will be war!"


    "Oh, I also had my men transfers away from the frontlines," ke said. "I hope you can forgive me for this."


    "Silly," Sherene gave ke a hug. "I already gave my consent didn''t I?"


    "Thanks!" ke smiled. "So how is your work with City Hall?"


    "Well, I''m sending teachers over to both Orwell''s Point and Falledge to start providing basic sses to everyone and also building primary schools for the children," Sherene said. "Since it''s winter, most people are generally freed from their usual work and chores, making it a good time for studying!"


    "I also have teams of teachers traveling to the outlying farmingmunities and viges to teach and educate the farmers and their families," Sherene said. "Topics will include all the elementary lessons and for the farmers on the new ways to grow their crops."


    "But I expect there will be some resistance from the people," Sherene gave a sigh. "It''s not easy trying to convince people dead set in the old ways to change, especially when most of the people think that reading and writing is a skill for the rich."


    ke nodded, "But for the nation to prosper, education is a must!"


    "Yes," said Sherene. "Yet, there will be people against it, thinking of it as a waste of time."


    "Well, do what you can for everyone," ke said. "Ensure mandatory sses for the children at least. This way, they at least have some starting knowledge."


    "It will be a very tough challenge!" Sherene said while holding a fist up. "But a worthwhile challenge!"


    ke smiled at Sherene''s gesture before saying in a serious tone. "I am having Chief Matt move his construction machines forward to Falledge. They will begin building a new highway that will link to the North East Highway once work has beenpleted on their current project."


    "We will need ns for the evacuation of the cities should the Empire break past our defense lines," ke said. "City Hall needs a n in ce for a mass evacuation and also a staging point for the evacuees."


    Sherene nodded thoughtfully, "You are right, we can''t leave everything to chance! I will get my people to work out the best evacuation routes for both cities."


    "But, I trust that our people will sessfully defend against the Empire!" Sherene said proudly.


    "Of course!" ke smiled. "Once we have intel on where the Imperial Army is staging their soldiers and supply depots. I will send bombers to hit them. I am gonna fight dirty, no point letting our people getting killed for nothing."


    "I will show the Empire the might of the UN military''s technology and firepower!"

 Chapter 365: March of an Empire

    Chapter 365: March of an Empire


    Hundreds of boots crushed the soft melting ice underneath their feet as lines and lines of blue dded soldiers marched tirelessly forward. Dozens and dozens of covered wagons pulled by beasts followed along behind the soldiers. gs and banners hung limply under the absence of a breeze while drummer boys tapped out a slow beat.


    A dragon cry in the skies caught the attention of the soldiers and officers riding onnd dragons. Heads turned up towards the noiseing from the skies, while a couple of medium weight dragons pped their mighty wings and approached the dots in the skies to investigate.


    Dragon Rider Smerdis, of the Thirty First Imperial Dragon Corps, yanked his reins hard at his dragon, Starlight, a medium weight Silverwing. His dragon gave out a roar of acknowledgment and beat its wings towards the dots slowly appearing before it.


    As the dragon struggled to gain altitude, the rumbling noise grew louder and louder and Dragon Rider Smerdis, using a magic spell that concentrated the air before his fingers, brought the dark dots closer to his focus.


    He frowned as the jerky images showed something like a cross of some sorts and there was not just one of them. By this time, the strange flying crosses where almost directly above his head and yet, Starlight could not reach the same height as them.


    Smerdis could only watch as the strange objects flew past him at a speed far greater than what a Silverwing dragon could achieve, and he and his dragon could only fruitless follow behind. Even his wingmate, could not do anything, and they could only observe the strange flying objects fly over the marching army with confusion.


    "Wait, what are those?" Smerdis cried out as he noticed ck objects dropping off from the flying crosses. He quickly used his far sight spell and saw dozens of egg like objects falling off the flying crosses. "What in the heavens are those things?"


    His eyes glued to his far sight spell followed the fall of one such egg which it turned into a sh of mes and a ball of thick ck smoke as it impacted the ground next to a column of marching soldiers. He saw the toy like figures ttened down next to the st before the smoke covered them.


    Smerdis stared in helpless horror as there was not just one explosion, as more and more of the eggsnded and thend was carpeted with mes and smoke.


    -----


    317 Km from Orwell''s Point


    "Seagull One, RTB," The co pilot''s face, covered by an oxygen mask, spoke mufflely into the radio as the newly upgraded FB - 1B Mariner, with the new and more powerful engines, tilted its wings over and did a long loop over the area of operations.


    Tiny craters of smoke and mes could be seen all over the whitish scenery. The passage of the Imperial soldiers easily left dark lines in the melting snow, making the whole scene look like someone drew lines with a pencil that ended with blobs of ink on the white paper.


    "Dragons, ten o'' clock low!" The nose gunner yelled in thems. "Two of them! Do we engage?"


    Airforce Pilot Goldan leaned over the cockpit to look at the direction indicated by the gunner, seeing the winged serpents easily over the backdrop of snow. "Nah, they can''t catch us at their current speed and heading. But keep your fingers ready on the triggers, just in case!"


    "Aye!"


    "Alright, I think we just made some of the Blue Boys had a bad day!" Goldan grinned as he turned the bomber towards the correct heading. "Let''s go home and pick up more presents for the next group!"


    He checked his fuel gauge, noting down the amount left on his notepad strapped on his knee before double checking his map andpass. "An hour plus and we be home!"


    Goldan wondered when he would get to fly the new heavy transport ne that he and the rest of the pilots had heard rumors of. It was said to berger, faster and has more fuel and load capacitypared to the FB - 1.


    He loved flying the Mariner, it might not be as agile as the F/A - 1 Cobras, but as a bomber, it sure delivers a heavy punch on its enemies! Now, the new rumors were of a new type of ne which will carry 20mm and 105mm cannons on its side! He wondered how it will be fly such a ne!


    The bomber wing droned on and soon they passed over the ruins of Norshelm. Goldan peeked over the snow covered ruins that had thousands and thousands of people burnt and buried in it and also the site of one of worse disasters so far for the Marines.


    He sighed, thinking of the Mad Goddess that caused such cmity. He used to worship some Gods and believed in their teachings. Now, the only thing he believed in was his ne, crew, and mechanics!


    Finally after crossing the dead city, the glittering reflections of the Source Sea came into view. His co pilot started fiddling with the radiomunications, "Dragon Roost, Dragon Roost, this Seagull Flight, ETA to your location in fifteen mikes! How copy?"


    "Dragon Roost, roger, we are picking your transponder on the radar, over."


    "Roger Dragon Roost, Seagull Flight out."


    Goldan reduced the altitude of the Mariner till the belly of the flying boat was just over the waves of the ind freshwater sea, the powerful engines kicking up a small trail of water behind them. Soon the seane tender came into view and Goldan gently eased the flying boat down onto the water and reducing speed.


    The waters were thankfully calm enough to not jolt the rapidly slowing Mariner with much force. Goldan expertly drifted the Mariner, making the flying boat turn and stopped just meters away from the ex Imperial barge turned seane tender.


    Like a floating city, the ex Imperial barges were connected together, forming a sort of floating rig. Cranes and hoists stood out from the hulls to service the flying boats while inside the barges were filled with fuel and bombs.


    The crew on the seane tender started tossing lines over to secure the flying boats while cranes swung out, dropping refueling hoses that Goldan''s crew epted after they climbed out from the top hatches and stood on the wings and the top of the Mariner.


    Arger cargo hatch opened from the top of the Mariner just behind the top gun turret where another crane started hoisting the 250 kg bombs over to the crew to load into the bomb racks.


    Goldan shut down all the systems of the Mariner and stretched his body. A technical rapped on the side of his cockpit window and he opened the top hatch, epting the orders and checklist given to him.


    "Alright, looks like we got three hours of downtime before the next mission!" Goldan read the orders before handing the checklist to his co pilot. "Let''s get the ne rearmed and refuel before we take a break and then it''s back to business!"


    -----


    482 Km away from Orwell''s Point, City of Silverton


    The Governor of Silverton was constantly wiping the beads of perspirationing from his balding head with a scented handkerchief. He kept his head lowed as the Emperor sat quietly on the throne that was brought along with the Emperor''s entourage.


    The silence in the great hall only made the sense of dread worse as the minsters and generals stood silently, waiting on the Emperor''s bidding. Finally, the Emperor spoke, "How... many... times... has it... happened?"


    The unluckymander cleared his throat and nced to the sides but seeing no support from anyone, could only step forward and report, "Nine times, my Emperor..."


    "Nine times?" The Emperor repeated the words softly. "Nine times, yet no one... no dragon... or mage, was able to counter it?"


    "No, my Emperor," Themander nervously said. "It came from nowhere and without warning from the skies. It was faster than our fastest dragons and flew higher than any dragon capable of doing so."


    "The dragon outriders all reported it was some sort of flying cross... that dropped eggs that exploded upon impact on the ground and it was a hundred times more potent than our firebombs," Themander reported. "The magic barriers put up by the mages were barely able to hold off a single one of those fire eggs!"


    Silence reign once again in the great hall as the Emperor fell into silence. The governor of Silverton wiped his sweat nervously again. "How did those things know where to strike?"


    "My Emperor," Themander said. "It is not hard to spot an army of over a hundred thousand moving over thends..."


    "And how many soldiers we have lost?" Emperor Varacen asked.


    "Close to four thousand my Emperor," Themander replied. "We did the best to save as many soldiers and supplies as possible!"


    Themander added. "We have switched the movement of the Imperial Army to the night and in smaller groups to hide from the flying crosses and so far it seemed to work. Our losses have decreased."


    "Decreased?" Emperor Varacen smirked. "I WANT NO LOSSES! Find a way to destroy those things! Or I will find someone else to rece you!"


    "Yes, my Emperor!" Themander and the generals all bowed and quickly departed, leaving behind the Governor.


    "You," The Emperor snapped his fingers. "Bring me some pretty girls! I want virgins! Now!"


    "Yes, yes, my Emperor!" The governor quickly bowed and ran off to do the Emperor''s bidding. "At once!"


    "Cursed rebels," Emperor Varacen hissed. "I must have their heritage of the gods!"


    -----


    UN, Seacliffs Mines, Dungeon Level 4


    Thunderous barks of firearms echoed sharply throughout the stone and dirt corridors. Hitsu took a deep breath of air filled with a bitter chemical smell and grinned as he reloaded the .45 submachine gun in his hands.


    He and the rest of the Hundred and First Arcane Tactics and Intervention, Team ymore One, was doing a weapons test and evaluation inside the depths of the dungeon. The long corridor of the Level 4 dungeon was temporarily converted into a firing range.


    Hitsu stood behind a wooden folding table piled with magazines and spent casing of .45 caliber and was firing at the advancing minotaurs. The horned beast which the hoomans said looked like half cow half man, made Hitsu wonder if the hoomans'' cows were some kind monstrous beast.


    The minotaurs charged over the fallen bodies of theirrades while roaring a challenge. They held double ded moon axes in both hands and their hooves kicked up sparks over the stone floor as they charged.


    Hitsu ced the sights of his SMG directly over the chest of the leading minotaur and fired in three round bursts. The heavy .45 slugs mmed into the minotaur, knocking it back on its hooves and sending it crashing with the others.


    The minotaur shook its head and rubbed its hairy chest where the rounds had impacted and coughed some blood out. But other than that, it doesn''t seem to be badly wounded at all.


    "I got it!" Atlied said as he fired the .50 caliber machine gun they had set up on a tripod. The powerful rounds ripped the minotaurs to bloody shreds and then there was just a ringing silence.


    "Well, the .45 rounds are just so so I guess?" Hitsu said as he reloaded. "But its fun to shoot!"


    "Yeah, especially at Level 3 of the dungeon," Loke said. "Those zombies just went pop pop pop!"


    "Alright, quit clowning around!" Tyrier called out. "Remember to note down your observations andments!"


    He walked over to the mangled minotaur bodies and poked at the corpses. "Well, the new .45 round might not have much pration power, but it sure does stops a minotaur at its tracks!"


    "Make ready! I can hear more minotaurs!" Tyrier yelled. "This time just fire only the .45! I want to see if we can kill a minotaur just using the .45 rounds!"

 Chapter 366: Dance Steps of War

    Chapter 366: Dance Steps of War


    UN, Fortress Singapore, Command Bridge


    "We have several confirmed reports of enemy movement along our Northern borders," Intel Officer Tavor reported to the senior military officers. "Our early efforts in using high altitude bombings of the Imperial troops and supply lines were initially a sess, but the Empire had adapted quite fast, hence theter results werecklustre."


    "The Imperial troops had dispersed themselves smaller units and had spread out instead of clustering them," Tavor continued. "There is good and bad to this. The good is that it slows the Imperial troops down and making their logistic and coordination a nightmare. Not to mention chances of desertion, getting lost or even the troops dragging their feet were high."


    "The bad is that it makes it harder for our bombers to hit them," Tavor said. "And it makes gathering intelligence of their rally point had to predict till they are right in our face."


    "So now we are getting at least nine hotspots of Imperial troops," Tavor gestured to the map on the tactical plot. "Problem here, is some of these hotspots are faked. The Imperials had learned a lot about subterfuge and hiding in this month."


    "We found that they are using glimmer magic to hide the troops in the open," Tavor exined. "They have even resorted to using dummies and supply wagons filled with straw to divert our airstrikes."


    "And we can''t keep relying on our UAVs," Commander Tommy added in. "They are already starting to break down due to we overusing them well over their service life. Not to mention, we have to run the UAVS up and down the border to check out every hot spot and intel of a possible staging area for the Blue Boys."


    "But we have ns to remove the sensor packages from the Owleyes once they reached the end of their service life and install them into the FB -1b Mariners, turning the ne into a kind of reconnaissance aircraft with Airborne early Warning and Control installed." The Air Force Commander said.


    "In other words," Tavor continued off. "It''s a spy ne with AWAC capabilities."


    ke nodded. "I happy to know that you guys are taking the initiative to handle our problems. But the issue now is how do we handle the enemy?"


    ke rapped his fingers on the tactical map, highlighting the areas where sightings of Imperial troops were reported. "They are within the 100 km zone of the Northern Border, with more sightings being reported constantly."


    "Our UAVs can''t be run constantly to investigate all the hot spots, nor can we afford to waste munitions hitting decoy locations," ke said before he pointed to the blue icons next to the city of Falledge. "We got two Battalions already stationed here and another two more at Orwell''s Point."


    "And another two Battalions as the reserve between the two cities," ke traced his finger down. "Our numbers are too low to hold any stretch ofnd. The Imperials outnumber us still and can easily manoeuvre around any fixed defences we have."


    "We need a bait," ke looked up at hismanders. "One so juicy that the enemy has no choice but to bite it."


    "Problem now, is what kind of bait will be so attractive to the Imperials?"


    -----


    Northern Border of the UN


    Thend was filled with clumps of forests and open ground of tall waving grasses. Low rolling hills dotted the scenery and would make a great social media spot for tourists. To the casual eye, thend was empty, except for arge blob of shimmering heat wave that floated on the surface of thend.


    Yet under the shimmering wave, colourful gs and banners fluttered in the wind with blue being the dominant colour. Boots and weapons were bound with cloth to muffle the metal while the drums and trumpets were silent.


    Mages sat on the top of the wagons were sweating under the intense concentration of maintaining the spells that hide the marching army while the sergeants and corporals hissed in low voices to the soldiers to maintain their formations and lower the noise they were making.


    asionally, the soldiers will peer up to the skies, hoping not to spot any flying cross demons in the skies. They prayed feverishly as they marched, praying for the Gods to protect them from the flying demons.


    Some of the soldiers had seen the destruction of the flying crosses while others heard rumours of the flying demons used by the rebels. They felt naked especially since their dragons couldn''t even do anything against them and worse, the dragons had been pulled back from the frontlines.


    The Imperialmanders had learnt a lot after getting attacked and harassed constantly by the flying cross demons. They learnt not to travel in a tightly packed formation. How to hide and camouge the soldiers and even not to set up a campsite in the open.


    At night, having light was dangerous, as those demons will zero in on the campfires and torches of the soldiers. These lessons were learnt in blood and deaths of hundreds and hundreds of Imperial soldiers.


    But this made their campaign timeline a nightmare for the quartermasters andmanders. Soldiers had to be split up into smaller groups as do the supply wagons. Soldiers and wagons got lost or were overwhelmed by mobs of feral goblins or monsters which came out in mass numbers during spring.


    Trying to coordinate and keep track of where everyone was made hell to the carefully crafted ns of themanders. Units were lost and confused as they tried to resupply, only to find out that they were in the wrong camp.


    It messed up the ns of the Imperials but it also reduced the number of casualties from the flying cross demons. The original ns of the Imperials were tomit to a four prong attack. Two armies will move simultaneously down to thest known stronghold of the rebels and stopping to resupply at the border town of Falledge. It was only tillter at thest month of winter that they found out the town of Falledge had fallen to the rebels, making the Imperials change their ns to instead attack Falledge first.


    Another army will straight for Orwell''s Point while a water based fleeting from the Empire''s coastal cities, which willnd its sailors and soldiers and making an ovend march directly and attack Orwell''s Point together.


    Yet, all the ns were dyed but the sudden appearance of the flying crosses which the soldiers all refer to as flying demons. And with the Emperor''s fury mounting, the generals andmanders finally came out with a new n, and that was to split the army into sub armies which arerge enough to hold against the wild monsters and goblins but small enough to avoid the flying demons and attack the two cities held by the demon worshipping rebels.


    -----


    Northern border of the UN, Observation Post #37


    Yak, son of Yar, of the Hand tribe, now an official Marine of the UN, leaned his beefy arms against the lip of the dugout. His non regtion uniform had it sleeves ripped off from the shoulders, leaving his green grey toned arms bare. Yak wore his XL sized standard issue M1 helmet at a jitty angle while his buddy, a soft skin, called Romea was scanning the horizon with a pair of binocrs.


    Yak was bored. It has been days, yet there was nothing to be seen or even heard. The LT gave them a briefing about the Empire sending down thousands and thousands of soldiers to wage war with the UN, yet nothing has happened so far.


    "I bored..." He grumbled to his buddy who sighed back. "No soft skins to kill!"


    "Yes, I know..." His buddy Romea replied in a dead tone. "You have been grumbling for the past two days."


    "Well... they say join the Marines, see new ces, meet new people..." Yak growled. "And kill them! But we join... now in new ce, but meet no new people to kill!"


    "It''s a joke!" Romea sighed. "Anyway, just one more day and our duty are up. You can watch your favourite movies back in camp!"


    "Oooo!" Yak instantly cheered up. "I want watch Lord of the Rings! Heard many Orcs inside!"


    "Hey!" Romea suddenly paused in his actions. "Hey... I see something strange..."


    "Gimme," Yak reached over and took the binocrs from Romea. "You soft skins eyes weak. Orekin better eyes! Prettier too!"


    "Yah... fark you..." Romea rolled his eyes as he went to check on their radio set.


    "Hmmm..." Yak frowned. "See nothing..."


    "Look towards your right more," Romea said. "I thought I saw some gs..."


    Yak slowly scanned his view towards his right. He had been amazed by this device which allowed one to have a sight many many times greater! If previously his tribe had such a far sight device, maybe his tribe would have prospered greatly.


    "I no see nothing!" Yak mumbled. "I- no... wait! Yes... strange... very strange!"


    "You saw it?" Romea asked as he pushed out the antenna of the radio set just as he was taught.


    "Hmmm... it gone..." Yak frowned. "No wait! It back! Yes... its a g... no wait... many gs!"


    "Imperial!" Yak growled excitedly. "Glimmer spell!"


    "OP Three Seven, to Nova Command! We got contact! Repeat, this is OP Three Seven, Imperial troops spotted!"


    -----


    Source Sea, UNS Dragon Roost


    Without the Mariners crowding around the service cranes of the floating tender, the UNS Dragon Roost was actually a pretty rxed posting. Four ex Imperial river barges were interconnected together by a series of steel welded bridges, creating a simple and stable floating tform.


    In the middle of the four hulls, sat a couple of PT boats, with one of them having converted into a passenger transport, with most of it weapons removed and had enough seats to ferry an additional twenty passengers.


    It was dragged over by a PT boat before it dropped anchors and provided a refuelling and rearming station for both ships and aircraft of the UN. Its presence help extends the UN''s ships and nes in the area.


    As usual, the freshwater sea was calm when the wind was down. The flying boats which the UNS Dragon Roost serviced were out on a call to hit some targets and would only return in a few hours. Most of the crew were having their downtime, some were even fishing for their dinner on the side of the hulls.


    Even the lookout on the tower dozed off on his watch as the gently bobbing motion of the waves made him sleepy. The lookout yawned and rubbed his eyes as he leaned against the side of the tower and idly watched the others fishing on the side.


    A sudden draft of strong wind blew and rocked the tower slightly and the lookout quickly held himself stable. As he did that, he caught sight of several white clouds on the water horizon. He picked up his binocrs and his eyes grew in horror as the clouds turned out to sails belonging to dozens and dozens of Imperial ships. "Oh, fark!"


    "CONTACT! CONTACT!" He yelled into the speaker horn on the side of the tower while he jammed his finger as hard as he could into the siren horn. A sharp ear splitting bellow came out from the siren, shocking the rest of the crew as they stared up at the watchtower.


    They saw the figure of the lookout pointing and they turned to look before some senior NCO yelled at them to get to their battle stations. "Stop gawking you pieces of shit! The enemy is here! Get to your stations now!"


    The shaken crew quickly leapt into action and ran off, most of them half dressed as they manned their stations.


    "CONTACT! Imperial ship sighted!!!" The lookout yelled again and started counting the number of the Imperial ships that he could see with his binos. "Oh shit... I''m farking screwed!"

 Chapter 367: Need Prisoners!

    Chapter 367: Need Prisoners!


    The roar of .50 caliber and the deeper boom of the 20 mm guns thundered out constantly as curious Imperial Fleet came within firing range of the surprised floating tender. The tender unable to maneuver could only hold its ground fiercely, forcing the Imperial ships back.


    The crew of the UNS Dragon Roost did not expect to encounter any Imperial presence out here and neither did the mission nners back in HQ. It was an intelligence oversight that the mission nners had not anticipated.


    Thankfully, the dockyard builders had added in several mounts of heavy weapons to repel any air attacks or ships. This decision proved to help the crew fend off the probing Imperial Fleet. The PT boat docked within the connected hulls was quickly released out from its moorings and the PT boat crew quickly added its firepower alongside the UNS Dragon Roost.


    The squadron of curious Imperial ships that were sent over to investigate the strange floating vessel was engulfed in mes as the UN Navy had standardized its ammunitions with more incendiary rounds after its experience fighting with the local powers, that mainly had ships made of wood and cloth sails.


    The .50 caliber guns with its armor piercing, tracer and incendiary mix of ammunition easily broke and ignited therge t bottomed ships of the Imperials while the heavier 20 mm with its mix of tracer, high explosive and incendiary munitions battered down the magic shields of the Imperials till they broke too.


    The five ships of the Imperials slowly burn down to their waterline while the rest of the Imperial Fleet retreated away, unwilling toe close to such a fearsome enemy, giving the crew of the UNS Dragon Roost some respite.


    Their only two recon F/A 1N Sea Cobras were returning with all haste from their scouting mission to provide some air cover while the airbase at Orwell''s Point was mobilizing all its fighter squadrons for an all out attack on the Imperial Fleet.


    -----


    UN Northern Border, OP #37


    "OP Three Seven to Nova! Request fire mission on my coordinates!" Private Romea crouched down inside the fox hole and spoke each word as clearly as possible into the radio while Private Yak remained with his head out to observe the approaching Imperials that shimmered in and out of view.


    "Nova, to Three Seven, standby, directing you over to Fire Control, out!"


    "Fire Control, Three Seven. Send fire mission, over!"


    Romea quickly read off the numbers and alphabets on the grids of the map before he leaned out of the lip of the fox hole which was covered under a camouged. "Battalion size orrger, infantry in the open, under magic! Over!"


    "Fire Control, One five five, in effect, five rounds! Over!"


    "OP Three Seven. One five five in effect, five rounds, out!" Romea repeated while eyeing Yak who gave a happy grin.


    "Fire Control. Shot over." The radio crackled after a moment.


    "OP Three Seven. Shot out." Romea replied as he took his binos and observed the Imperials.


    "Fire Control. Ssh in five! Over."


    The shrills of the Marines'' new heavy arsenal screamed over the two forward observer heads and thend before them exploded into smoke.


    "Three Seven, Ssh, out!" Romea yelled into the radio as the shockwaves of the 155 mm artillery strikended around the coordinates given by him. He recovered and quickly scanned the area for the effect of the artillery strike.


    "Very niceee!" Yak gave a bloodthirsty grin and giggled as he saw the Imperial''s magical spells had broke under the might of the 155 mm guns. Bodies were scattered all over like broken toys while those not killed by the initial bombardment stood or knelt around in shock.


    "OP Three Seven to Fire Control! Adjust fire! Add two fifty! Left one hundred! over!"


    "Fire Control, shot, over!"


    "Three Seven, shot, out!"


    "Fire Control, ssh in five! Over!"


    "Three Seven, Ssh! Fire for effect! Out!"


    Yak hummed a dilly as he watched the plight of the Imperials under the merciless pounding of the one five five guns and felt super satisfied. "This killing... easy business! I like! No marching or sweating! Just like watching show! Very niceee!"


    -----


    Falledge, Northern Front ''Nova'' Command Headquarters


    Colonel Frank frowned as he watched the staffers move wooden markers depicting Imperial troops sightings all over the map table. Several of those markers even had a question mark drawn on a piece of cardboard and ced next to markers, to indicate those sightings as unverified.


    For those with verified intel, numbers and symbols were drawn on the cards, with numbers indicating the number of soldiers while the symbols were the type of troops, like infantry or mounted cavalry. He watched a radio operator handed a note to one of the staff responsible to update the map table and the female staff ced a red numbered card next to one of the Imperial tokens with a ''?''.


    Next, she ced a well carved icon of a fighter ne next to the red card. Frank walked to the side and checked through a pile of records and found the number that matched the red card earlier. He read the report of a sighting of Imperial troops camoed by magic by Observation Point Thirty Seven and the subsequent artillery strike which wiped out the spotted troops, followed by a flight of Cobras performing aerial recon of the area.


    Frank turned to hismand staff and said, "Send in a mechanized toon to check out the aftermath of the artillery strike. See if there are any survivors, especially someone high ranking. Bring them back."


    "We need some live intel!"


    -----


    Source Sea, Imperial Grand Fleet


    The Grand Fleet Admiral was livid as he watched the burning carcasses of five of his fast frigates. He kicked away the kneeling ve mage who provided the far sight spell. He had been briefed with the other high rankingmanders of the Emperor involving the demon worshipping rebels who had gotten their hands on some kind of fragment from the Age of Gods, granting them some kind of thunder and fire magic weapon.


    Yet, hearing it and experiencing its effects in real life was totally different. The Admiral frowned as he watched the strangerge rebel vessel which seemed to be a made out of a few river barges with cranes or towers or some sort sticking out from its many sides.


    Thankfully, he did notmit his entire fleet forward and kept all but that unfortunate squadron back. He wondered should he retreat his fleet more, incase those cursed thunder weapons could hit his fleet which was keeping a distance of over twice the effective range of a heavy ballista.


    There was also a strange small vessel circling around the rebels'' abominating looking vessel that he had read some reports on which said can sail so fast, it could only be powered by some demonic entity.


    Should he order his dragons on board his fleet tounch an attack, thought the Admiral. Or should he probe more of the enemy''s strength, and see if he can find any weakness. After pondering for a moment, he turned to his officers and said, "Launched half the dragons! We shall attack that ship by air! Have 2nd Frigate and the Third on standby to charge in once the rebels'' attention are focused on the dragons!"


    "Try not to destroy the enemy shippletely! I want prisoners! We need to find out how their thunder weapons work!" The Admiral ordered to his officers. "If we learn the secrets to their weapons, we will be invincible!"


    -----


    Source Sea, UNS Dragon Roost


    Lieutenant Tallie was themanding officer and skipper in charge of the Dragon Roost. The Dragon Roost was supposed to be in an area where there was no danger at all, yet an Imperial Fleet suddenly appeared out of nowhere! He had radioed back to Orwell''s Point for help and it will take them some time to scramble the fighters for support.


    As for his crew, there a few naval officers and sailors but the rest were just civilian support staff who was ''outsourced'' as civilian ''contractors'' by the Navy. Thankfully, the were some installed weapons which the limited Navy personnel had trained in.


    He eyed the Imperial ships in the distance. There were over thirty of them, estimated by theirst count. He had ordered the gunners to hold fire against those Imperials as he did not want to expose the range of his weapons and besides, hitting something over half a kilometre away without a proper gun director system was just a waste of munitions.


    He knew despite the limited amount of onboard weapons on the UNS Dragon Roost, it could fend off any attack from the Imperial Fleet. But half his holds were filled with mmable fuel and the other half were filled with bombs and ammunition for refuelling PT boats and seanes. If there was a leak or fire gets into the protected holds. Even if it''s both physically and magically protected, it will still go boom!


    And not only that, the UNS Dragon Roost was just a floating tform. It does not have any propulsion. Its only means of moving in the water was by a tow line to a PT boat and even so, it moves very slowly in the water due to its bulk and design.


    Tallie prayed that the Imperial will not start any attacks till his reinforcement arrives if not, it is gonna be a very bad day. As he was making his prayer, he saw dark dots taking off from the Imperial ships.


    "Oh... fark this..."


    -----


    It was somewhat raining dragons, thought Seaman Apprentice Astus. Astus had remained on the crow''s nest with an old M1 ck powder rifle and a bandolier of ammunition. He felt he had failed in his duty, especially for falling asleep during duty! Therefore to redeem himself, he remained on the tower.


    The constant thunderous barks of the .50 cal guns were sending the lightweight dragons to their deaths in droves. These dragons had only a single rider armed with either a longnce, javelins, crossbow or bow. They swooped down from the skies, tossing javelins or loosing bolts and arrows as they dived down and the heavy spearhead of the javelins had enough force to punch through areas where the wooden decks were thin.


    Already, a couple of javelins were dangling from Atsus''s lookout tower. The hard pyramidal tip of the javelins had a shank of soft iron which will bend after impact. It will render the weapon useless to the enemy and also if struck against shields or the scales of a dragon, it might embed itself and the bending of the shank will cause shields to be cumbersome while on stuck on a dragon, it will hamper the dragon down with the extra weight.


    Astus cursed as another javelin flew past him, and he snapped fired his rifle, the dirty grey gunsmoke, shrouded the tower for a moment before the sea breeze carried the smoke away. He saw the dragon he was shot at was unaffected and he quickly worked the bolt action and took proper aim this time as he was taught in Naval Academy.


    Without anyone throwing dangerous things at him for the moment, Astus could finally concentrate and fired. When the smelly dirty gun smoke disappeared, he saw the dragon he shot at was struggling in the air, blood clearing was dripping off from its nk.


    "YEAH!" Heughed and turned around to acquire another target when he suddenly felt a punch to his chest. He looked down and saw a bent javelin stuck right in his chest, nailing him to the tform. The dragon rider who threw the well aimed javelin cried out in triumphant as the dragon swooped over his head.


    Astus coughed and blood spattered out. He slumped down on the side and watched the dragons in the skies continue to rain down in droves.


    "I... am... sorry..."

 Chapter 368: It is Inevitable

    Chapter 368: It is Inevitable


    Source Sea, Imperial Grand Fleet


    The Admiral stood on the top deck, viewing the action of the dragons and the two five ship squadrons of frigates sneaking towards the rebel''s ship with a frown on his face. Through the use of a far sight spell, he could clearly see the lightweight dragons were dropping like flies from the defensive weapons of the rebels.


    His Grand Fleet had a total of eight dragon ships, each dragon ships could pack a total of either twenty light weights, eight medium weights, or two heavy weight dragons and their supply of food and crew.


    He had six of his dragon ships carrying light weights and one ship each for the medium weights and heavy weight dragons for a total of hundred and sixty light weight dragons, eight medium weights and two heavies along side his thirty six ship fleet of almost eighteen thousand sailors and soldiers.


    Yet, despite this formidable force, it was stopped by a single vessel of the rebels. His Grand Fleet could not advance without destroying or capturing the rebel vessel which single handedly razed down five frigates and dozens of dragons without any signs of damage.


    "Send in the Fifth Heavy Frigate Squadron!" Hemanded. Secondster, a series of drums and horns sounded and the Fifth Heavy Frigate Squadron responded by returning the bellowing of horns and the unfurling of their sails.


    The three ships of the Fifth Heavy had battering rams equipped at the bows of the ships. Teams of ves manned the oars while the ship mages threw wind spells against the sails, propelling the ships forward across the water surface rapidly.


    "Captain!" The lookout on the mast yelled out suddenly. "Look! Flying demons!"


    Everyone jerked their heads up to the direction the lookout called and saw several dots in the skies growingrger by the second. The Admiral turned to his staff and ordered. "Release the rest of the dragons! Fend those flying demons off!"


    Another series of horns and drums were sounded and the dragon ships at the rear slowly responded to themands. The dragon ships of the Imperials were huge, almost twice the size of the Admiral''s gship. It had a series of cage like structure on the decks that were almost to the waterline and a rib like cranes that ran along the middle of the ship facing outwards.


    Inside each cage, housed a dragon and the rib like cranes winched open the top of the cages and the dragons with their crews on board leaped into skies and took off in a charge, straight at the approaching flying demons.


    -----


    Source Sea, Dagger Flight


    "Dagger Lead to all Daggers," The lead pilot of the squadron of F/A - 1C ''Super Cobra'' gunned his throttle to the max as he spotted a burst of activity among the Imperials ships. The older Cobras had their engines reced with a newer more powerful engine while their airframes were reinforced. "Break and engage hostiles!"


    Long leathery wings erupted out from the Imperial ships like monster bats from hell and the supped up fighters of the UN 10th Fighter Wing operating out of Orwell''s Point split into pairs and the skies turned to chaos as beasts and machines fought for supremacy.


    The upgraded Super Cobras proved to be a very efficient dragon hunter, as it had both the speed and agility to outfly the Imperial dragons. Their 20 mm gun pods ripped the light weight dragons apart easily while the weapons of the Imperial barely had any chance to score any damage to the agile bines.


    "O Point to all fighter wings, protect UNS Dragon Roost at all cost! Dagger Flight to escort UNS Dragon Roost, the rest own time own targets!"


    "Dagger Lead, roger!"


    "Knight Lead, roger!"


    "Silver Lead, roger!"


    "Dagger Flight, form up over UNS Dragon Roost! Protect the ship!" The lead pilot ordered and he looped his fighter over the besieged ship. There were several grey green dragons swooped all over the ship and aimed his fighter straight at one of the dragons that were pulling away from the sky after its dive attack.


    He kept his crosshairs in front of the target and squeezed the trigger, sending a short burst of 20 mm shells downrange before his flight speed overtook the target and he had to pull his fighter up. He leaned back and saw the broken dragon doing a small cartwheel among the waves before disappearing under the water.


    "Dagger Lead to all Daggers! Keep rid of all the Imperial dragons around the UNS Dragon Roost!"


    -----


    Source Sea, UNS Dragon Roost


    Lieutenant Tallie nervously watched the approaching Imperial ships that lookedrger than the rest of the ships encircling them and he turned to yell at his bridge crew. "Get the UNS Rider to tow us away from the enemy!"


    Tallie was referring to the PT Boat turned ferry for the crew. "Raise the anchors! Those new approaching ships look like trouble!"


    The small boat crew braved the raining projectiles and quickly started up the engines of the ferry. The barriers keeping the small boat raised up and allowed the boat to scoot out into the open waters. A tow line secured the boat to the floating dock stretched tautly and a cloud of dirty smoke erupted out from the engines as the boat crew gunned the engines to the max.


    The floating dock groaned as the ferry''s engines strained to pull the whole dock along. Lt Tallie turned to his crew and yelled again, "Get the UNS Killer to add another tow line!"


    He turned and looked back at the fast approaching Imperial ships, spotting a suspicious wake before the ships. "Oh shit! They have battering rams!"


    "Tell all guns to engage those ships immediately!" He roared. "Destroy those ships!"


    -----


    Falledge, Some back alley in the Merchant District


    "Pssh," A cloaked figure hissed from the shadows at a potty figure with two hulking guards beside him. "Over here!"


    The potty figure gingerly walked over the filth that covered the back alley and came before a person whose face was covered by a low hood. "You got the goods?"


    "Yes," The hooded figure nodded. "You? The gold?"


    "Here," The merchant gestured to his man who held out a bag and shook it, letting the coins inside jiggle.


    The hooded figure nodded and he furtively nced around their surroundings before he picked up a long object rolled up in an oilcloth. "Here!"


    The merchant took the object was surprised by its weight. He gave it a heft before ripping the oilcloth away and reveal a long metal barrel with a wood stock at the end. "Is this the thunder stick... called a ''rifle''?"


    The hooded figure nodded and held out his hand. The merchant gestured to his man who dropped the bag of coins into his palm and the hooded figure quickly ran off. The merchant ignored the seller and posed with the rifle in his hands. He mimicked the actions he saw of the soldiers doing with the weapon and was quite impressed with the workmanship.


    Now, it was time for him to make a killing at the auction houses!


    -----


    UN Northern Front Command HQ


    Colonel Frank nced around at his gatheredmanders, those not physically able to attend were instead using video conferencing from their respectivemand posts along the Northern Front. "So far, the Imperials had done us a small favour, which is splitting their troops in to smaller contingents."


    "There''s good and there''s bad to it," Frank said. "Good means they couldn''t muster to their strength of numbers to break our fortified positions, but bad means they can slip troops through our Northern Front as we do not have the numbers to cover everywhere."


    Captain Joseph''s image nodded. "Yes, Sir, but we can filter the worse off, and let the SDF settle any leakers."


    "Hell, this is our home ground," Joseph added. "If they can sneak past our defences, let them!"


    "We have the Uncharted Forest to act as a natural deterring force," Joseph grinned. "Unlike us, who we have mapped much of the Forest and now have workingms inside the Forest, the Imperials will be lost and the denizens of the Forest will do the rest for us too!"


    The rest of the Battalions'' COs nodded in agreement, "That''s right!"


    "So our n is to allow the Imperials to leak into the Forest?" Frank asked.


    "We can control the number of Imperials flowing into the Forest," Joseph said. "We hit anythingrger than a Battalion sized force, and let the rest through."


    "But what if the Imperials found a way to link up in the Forest?" Frank asked. "If their numbers arerge enough to threaten any viges or towns at the Forest edge, it will be disastrous for us."


    "Yes, but if we evacuate away the people living around the edges of the Forest, the SDF could deal with any number of Imperials that made it through," Joseph rmended. "Plus with two Battalions of Marines on reserve in the rear, they could mobilise to support any breached areas."


    Frank nodded, "We will follow this n for now, till the situation changes. And speaking about the SDF, the police and Intelligence officers had arrested another ten SDF members including three Marines selling their firearms to both local and foreign traders."


    "These have been going on sincest month!" Frank said in an angry voice. "The local SDF under wartime conditions in your area of operations falls under yourmands!"


    "This has to stop!" Frank hissed. "I can understand it if it was the SDF selling weapons illegally, but we are Marines! We are more disciplined than the SDF!"


    "Thew states that anyone dealing with the sale of firearms without government approval has the punishment of life imprisonment!" Frank said in a serious tone. "And any military personnel found to be selling weapons illegally will face the penalty of death!"


    "It saddened me to say this," Frank sighed. "Those three, once they are convicted will face a firing squad. And High Command wants the death penalty to be broadcasted ''live'' to every armed forces branch in the UN as a lesson! Every Marine must watch it and know the consequences of such an action!"


    "From now on, I want stricter controls and checks on the armory and personnel arms of everyone!" Frank red at hismanders. "Including every single round of ammunition, grenade and RPG are to be properly audited, inventoried and physically ounted for."


    "And also, check every merchanting out from the cities for any weapons, parts or munition," Frank said. "High Command has decreed that no firearms or ammunition must be traded out. They are our highest military secrets!"


    "Yes, Sir!" The Battalions'' COs snapped to attention and chorused together.


    "Dismiss!"


    -----


    Frank sighed after all themanders left the conference area. He recalled the talk with Captain ke regarding the issue of their weapons ending up in the hands of the other nations. Captain ke had said that it is almost impossible to stop any single one firearm to be ''bought'' by the traders and merchants.


    Greed will always overwhelmmon sense and people will take the risks. Captain ke had further said that it is inevitable that their weapons will end up in the hands of their enemies or even allies sooner orter. So the only thing they could do was to dy that inevitability as long as possible.


    Frank was not worried about their enemies from learning the secrets of their firearms. Even if they did so, they will still need years and years of effort to replicate their weapons. And not only that, without industrialization and mass production, no enemy could ever match up with the industrial might of the UN.


    The police and Intel have managed to recover back a few of the sold weapons but still, a few had slipped between their hands and was out there somewhere, to be sold to their enemies.

 Chapter 369: Go Strike!

    Chapter 369: Go Strike!


    United Nations, Fortress Singapore, Command Bridge


    Captain ke stood before the armored viewports of the bridge, staring out at the city frowning. He turned and looked at the tactical plot table which had the map of their current ongoing conflict being disyed.


    Several red icons were blinking currently, which indicated areas that his troops were engaged with the Imperials. The entire UN ground forces had only a single Marine Divison, including all the artillery and support staff, plus another Divison of Self Defense Force trained only in fixed defenses.


    For the strength of the Air Force, there were 110 bines, the F/A - 1 Cobra, which meant ten squadrons, and a third of the fighters still undergoing upgrades to the Super Cobra model. They had double the numbers of the multi role flying boats, the FB - 1 Mariners, from the original four to eight units now.


    As for their helo units, they now had twenty of those beasts, all stationed at the reserve Battalions'' holding area on standby to rapidly deploy the Marines to any hot spot. The highly anticipated cargo nes were still in the trial phase and not in mass production line yet. Several problems hade up over the trials, such as overheating of the engines and heavy vibrations of the airframe.


    The Navy was in a worse position. Manpower was primarily assigned to the Marines first, then the Air Force. The Navy got the remaining dregs and it showed as their presence was weakerpared to the rest.


    Due tock of manpower, Commander Ford has asked for permission to hire civilian contractors to offset theck of manpower which also helped to provide jobs to the poption. But it was just a temporary stopgap measure for the Navy.


    With spring here and the seas once again calm enough, the goblin pirates and raiders will be out in full force. This was the time the Navy was greatly needed to provide a safe zone as the trading season kicks in and they have to protect the Isles merchant shipsing to conduct trade with the UN to provide the ke the much needed gold and silver for all the projects and government policies.


    And because of theck of manpower for the Navy, they got blindsided by the Imperials in the ind sea. Their only floating service tender in the Source Sea came under attack was almost captured if not for the timely arrival of the fighter squadrons from Orwell''s Point.


    Thankfully, the Imperial Fleet got beaten back and they retreated off, while PT Boats tow the fixed tender to safety. It also had gained the Navy some good will between the naval and civilian crew who bravely defended the service tender.


    This incident had forced Commander Ford to reassign his already small fleet to the Source Sea. Meaning he had to transfer a few of his PT boats and transfer them ovend to Orwell''s Point and deploy them in the Source Sea, to provide some naval support.


    The Navy''s sole seane tender was already in a bad shape and it now serves as a floating seane base based off the Goblin Sea for the Navy''s entire two squadrons of Sea Cobras that had yet to receive any upgrades to the ''Super'' model.


    Shall he ask the Isles for support to hold off the Goblin pirates? Wondered ke as he tapped his fingers on the side of the plot table. He cast his eyes back to the thick blue dotted lines that depicted the Northern Front.


    So far the Marines were holding firm, but the sheer number of Imperials kept slipping through the 285 km long Front. One Divison of Marines, over twelve thousand men of seven Battalions with their backs to the Uncharted Forest was covering the 285 km long defensive line with another two Battalions in reserve were just overstretching the troops.


    Nova Command, lead by Colonel Frank had given a n, that ignored any leakers. The Marines will hit any massed concentrated Imperial troops while letting small numbers to leak past the Front and into the Uncharted Forest.


    ke had given his approval for the n, which he knew that any small unit of Imperial troops unluckily enough to wander into the Uncharted Forest was very certain to eat up in the cooking pots of some of the monsters that came out of hibernation.


    Even the Marines'' own supply lines were run by armored gun trucks or done by air. They were all too well versed with the horrors of the Uncharted Forest. As for any Imperials that managed to survive ande within a distance of any settlements or city, the SDF will take care of them. If they were unable too, they have the options of either an airstrike, artillery strike or even the Marine reserve force.


    And thinking of the SDF, ke''s expression turned sour. There were too many disciplinary actions among the SDF. Most of the personnel in the Self Defense Force were remnants of the old City Watch, ex Imperial soldiers, mercenaries, cutthroats, thieves and even adventurers. Oh, there might be a few righteous youngsters wanting to protect their homes, but most of the scum were in the SDF.


    With barely a season to train the SDF, and no time to even filter anyone, the SDF had too many issues once they were deployed. There were some good seeds in the SDF but they were overshadowed by the bad.


    ke frowned as he pondered very hard at the thought of assigning hardcore officers to ensure strict discipline among the ranks of the SDF, kinda like Judge Dredd or Commissar of old. Hell, the rules of wartime allow officers to execute anyone for cowardly conduct, which barely anyone in the UNMMC does. But if he wants to do this hard line tact, he needs to use non SDF officers, incorruptible to really ensure discipline.


    He sighed as he recalled the amount of corruption, abuse of authority, insubordination and many other disciplinary problems that popped up not even two months after the SDF was founded. The worse been the selling of weapons and desertion.


    He really needed to deal with the SDF now before the problems take root and affect the SDF for the future. ke rubbed his face as he wondered who to get to be the bad guy of the UN, "Fuck... Intel has already been doing some shady stuff, I might as well let them be the bad guys..."


    -----


    The Imperial City of Silverton, City Citadel, Great Hall


    Emperor Varacen frowned as he nced at the map filled with colorful gs and wooden tokens. "Why has the First, and Second Army retreated so far back?"


    "My Emperor," A general with his head uncovered by armor stood forward and bowed. "Both Armies have encountered the enemies demonic weapons that fell like rain, killing many of our soldiers. It was till they retreated back to till this far, did the rain of demonic spells ceased."


    Varacen''s frown deepened, "And yet there is no sight of the enemy?"


    "Yes and no, my Emperor," The staff general replied and pointed to the map. "Here, here and here, our soldiers and knights had encountered the enemy. And here, the Grand Fleet too has encountered the enemy."


    "And the results? Why are our troops still not advancing forward?" Varacen asked.


    "Ahem, unfortunately," The staff general rubbed the sweat beading on his forehead and said bravely. "Our forces were repelled by the enemy''s demonic spells and weapons."


    "But we found a w in the enemy''s defenses!" The staff general quickly added before his Emperor could speak. "We found that the enemy was unable to spot small units of our men slipping pass their defenses!"


    "Anyrge force that was gathered," The staff general quickly exined as he saw the raised questioning eyebrow of his Emperor. "was hit by arge number of demonic spells."


    "But we found that if we split our forces into small groups of roughly a hundred, they can slip past the notice of the enemy!" The staff general said. "Themanders have already sent word that they are splitting their troops into small units and try to sneak past the defenses and after gathering together, will send a signal to the frontline soldiers and they will make a pincer attack at the enemy."


    The Emperor nodded in understanding before he gave out a peat ofughter, "Good, good! At least you all are using your brains! If not, you won''t need any brains at all!"


    The staff officers all looked at each other and broke out in uneasyughter with the Emperor''s attempt at a joke. Just at this moment, a young noble in ornate armor spoke out, "My Emperor, so far we witnessed the rebel''s use of their demon weapons mostly targeted our soldiers on the ground."


    "I suggest we make use of our dragons and fly our soldiers across," The young noble said. "This way, we can avoid much of the demonic spells."


    Emperor Varacen paused in hisughter as he considered the suggestion given. "Hmm.. yes, that does make some sense! What do all of you think?"


    The rest of the staff officers looked at each other again before nodded and agreeing. Emperor Varacen nodded and said. "Good, you, whatever your name is, I shall grantmand of all the Dragon Corps and the Third Army! I want you to move the Third across and within the walls of Orwell''s Point by the end of the month!"


    "Your Emperor, this lowly one is named, Alberto, Alberto Rothschild! Youmand and I obey!"


    -----


    United Nations, Far Harbour, Naval HQ, Chief of Naval Ops office


    Commander Ford had a deep crease on his forehead as he had been frowning a lot these past few weeks. Reports after reports of operations readiness were piled on his desk, most of them with problems like not enough crew to full man the ships or this and that ship had sprung a leak or an engine failure.


    He doubled checked the calcted cost of transporting four PT boats from Far Harbour all the way to Orwell''s Point and sighed deeply, as the numbers looked to be cutting into his already very limited budget.


    His Goblin Sea Fleet now had only five PT boats in operation with another two down for an overhaul of their engines. The two supposedly ready gunboat corvettes were three weekste for their sea trials andmissioning.


    The UNS Floatin'' Wreck, was literally a wreck now, due to its structural beam was not even rated for the use of modern engines and worse, 3" guns! The sail boat converted gunboat could no longer withstand any more stresses to its beam and will literally shake itself apart if the ship ever engages inbat again.


    As for the seane tender, UNS Matador which the hulls were sold by the bloody Inders were already old and rotten. It too no longer rated capable to handle the high seas and has to retire as a floating base for the Navy''s seanes.


    Now without the UNS Floatin'' Wreck and the transfer of four PT boats, the Goblin Sea Fleet doesn''t even have a proper surface ship. It only has five PT boats that couldn''t even hit the high seas, only enabling them to operate near the coastline and only supported by two squadrons of old model Cobras to cover a coastline so vast, Ford didn''t even want to think about it.


    Ford leaned back on his chair and puff out a deep breath. "Without the two corvettes... how the fuck am I going to protect the coast?"


    "Fuck it!" Ford stood up and left his office. He nodded to the naval sentries as he walked towards the shipyards where the two corvettes were sitting uselessly on the dry docks. He found the Chief Shipwright arguing with a crowd of goblins at the ramp of one of the corvettes.


    "Get back to work you green scums!" The Chief Shipwright yelled. "You do as I say!"


    "Toopid Chief!" The goblins yelled back.


    "We want pay increase! Or we go strike!"

 Chapter 370: Internal Problems

    Chapter 370: Internal Problems


    Commander Ford frowned and walked up to the group, "What''s the problem?"


    The Chief Shipwright turned and saw who was behind him and he stifled up and quickly threw a greeting, "Sir!"


    He threw a chilly nce at the group of goblin techs who threw up a crude salute before petrifying into attention when they saw who has appeared.


    "So?" Ford demanded as he turned his attention back to the Chief Shipwright.


    "Sir," The Chief quickly replied. "The goblins are on strike! They are not willing to continue to work unless we met their demands!"


    Ford frowned and he turned to the goblins still frozen in their salute pose. "Is that true?"


    "Er... Yep, Sir!" One of the goblins with a welding mask over his head replied. "We work overtime, no extra pay! No fair!"


    "Ya ya!" Another goblin wearing a pair of goggles added. "Orcs getbat pay in Marines! We techies no overtime pay! No fair!"


    "NO FAIR!" Chorused the rest of the goblins together. It seemed like that was somewhat of a slogan to them. "NO FAIR!"


    "Hey!" The Chief Shipwright jerked his thumb behind him, gesturing to the ship and red at the rowdy goblins. "You were supposed to finish her up a month ago! And since you can''t finish your work, you, of course, have to work overtime to finish her up!"


    "NO FAIR!" The goblins grumbled. "Not our fault if toopid elves no deliver steel metal and parts!"


    Ford vaguely understood what was going on between the Chief Shipwright and the goblin techs. "Alright, enough!"


    Both parties stopped their argument and quieten down except for the goblin wearing the welding mask, "Big Chief of Shep Chief! We want justice!"


    Ford sighed inwardly, before he replied, "Alright before we decided anything, let me get this straight."


    "These two ships are unable to bepleted in time is due tock of materials?" Ford asked.


    The Chief Shipwright sighed and nodded together with the goblins. "Our parts and materials we ordered from the factories were dyed."


    "Ya! And not alle!" The goblins injected from the side. "Lousy quality too!"


    "So, why wasn''t this issue brought up?" Ford turned to the Chief. "You had so much time to report this incident to me, why haven''t you done so?"


    The Chief Shipwright''s face turned red, "Er... I had... too many other things to work on... The factories are saying other departments are needing parts and materials urgently and I thought we could pay off the workers in the factories to supply us first... but... we got turned down..."


    Ford sighed, "First of all, you are no longer in whatever ce you came from. This is the UN! Bribes are illegal! And in the first ce, you shouldn''t even need to resort to bribes!"


    "Chief, I don''t care how you used to do things before you joined the UN," Ford said in a serious tone. "I do not want such things to be repeated ever again. Do you understand?"


    "Ye- yes Sir!" The Chief''s face turned pale while the goblins snickered at the scolding he got.


    "And if there are any dys in shipment, you are to report it to your superior or failing that, report it directly to me!" Ford stated. "These issues shouldn''t ever be a problem if you had reported it earlier!"


    "I- I am sorry, sir," The Chief apologized. "It will not happen again!"


    "Make sure that is so, or I will fire you and have someone else morepetent to take over your duties!" Ford warned. "And for you goblins!"


    The goblins quickly hid their glee and giggles as Ford turned his attention to them. "I will not pay overtime this time around."


    The goblins hearing that news immediately was crestfallen. "A..."


    "But, I will give a bonus if you all could finish up all the remaining work within a week!" Ford said.


    Hearing that, the goblins peaked up, "Really?"


    "Yes," Ford nodded. "But... Both ships must be ready for ship trials within the week!"


    "Aye!" The goblins threw another salute. "We get it done in time!"


    Ford shook his head as he watched the goblins drag the Chief Shipwright off towards the ships with great energy and excitement. He frowned as he really needed toin to ke regarding the priority and tasking of resources. At this rate, the Navy will really be picking up the leftovers of the Air Force and Marines!


    -----


    Orwell''s Point, SDF City Depot


    A newly constructed base for the city''s militia was sited just a kilometer away from the city walls. Concrete, sandbag, and razor wire surrounded the green tents and the only permanent structure, a three story concrete building that acted as the local SDF administration offices andmand post.


    The local CO of the SDF was sweating in his uniform as he stared at the Intel Officer seated before him. "I... I can assure you that there are... are no issues with our inventories!"


    Lt Tavor smiled as he propped his shiny ckbat boots on the table. "Well, then there is nothing for you to be worried about!"


    The CO nodded and eyed the four grim looking ck uniformed guards of the Intel Division armed with thetest sub gun which he only heard rumors of. "T- Tea?"


    "No thank you," Tavor replied in azy voice as he nced at his watch. "I think my men are about done soon with their auditing!"


    Just as he finished saying that, a knock came from the door and one of the ck uniformed guards opened the door and admitting in another ck dded officer. "Sir!"


    The newly arrived officer bent over and whispered into Tavor''s ears. The local SDF CO swallowed nervously as he strained his ears, hoping to catch some of the conversations. Tavor''s smile grew wider as he listened to his subordinate''s report. "Well, well, well!"


    "Seems like you have some issues with you record keeping!" Tavor said. "Come, let us see what is wrong with your records!"


    Tavor stood up and gestured for the CO to follow him. He strolled out of the office like he owned the ce, while the local SDF officers gave ground to him as they wondered what was going on. Tavor followed his subordinate to a small mound where a concrete bunker was buried under the earth.


    There were some of his guards and they opened the steel reinforced door for Tavor when he arrived and upon ending, the smell of machine and gun oil assail his nostrils. Rows and rows of rifles neatly racked on wooden shelving lined the interior. Tavor did a quick mental count, as he scanned the guns racks. "So how many missing?"


    ''Eleven M1 Magelock rifles and twenty Dragon Single Action revolvers," His subordinate replied off a list. "All of them registered to non existing SDF personnel."


    "My oh, my!" Tavor shook his head and looked at the trembling SDF CO. "How did this happen under your watch?"


    "I- I swear, I know nothing about this!" The SDF CO said. "I- It must be the armorer! He must have done something!"


    "Interesting," Tavor sighed as he took the list from his subordinate. "I have here your signature and stamp..."


    "N- no! It can''t be!" The SDF CO yelled in his defense. "There must be some mistake!"


    "You do know those trading firearms without prior approval from High Command and falsifying government documents is a very serious crime?" Tavor raised an eyebrow at the CO. "And you as an officer had sworn an oath when you signed up for this..."


    "It''s not me!" The SDF CO fervent denied his involvement.


    "Well, I am sure we will get to the bottom of this in no time!" Tavor smiled. "SDF Major Lockard Ro, you are now hereby requested to assist us in the investigation of the illegal sale of firearms. You duties will be temporarily discharged and till proven guilty or innocence, you will remain in custody without bail."


    "Do you understand your rights?" Tavor asked and when the CO denied to replied, Tavor shrugged and said. "Take him away."


    After the CO and those suspected of being involved in this incident were gone, Tavor sighed and turned the neer who just arrived. "Well, the position of the local SDFmander is now vacant. You want it?"


    Ex Knight Captain Judis, now wearing the khaki brown uniform of the SDF with the insignia of a captain frowned. "So you want me to clean up this shit?"


    "Yes," Tavor nodded. "Since your patron is the city governor here, I thought you might like to take up this offer."


    Judis sighed, "So where do I start?"


    "Well, we start from the top," Tavor smiled. "Find out who is corrupted from the officers and work our way down to the enlisted."


    "You do know this would effectively cripple the SDF?" Judis said. "Especially if arge cadre of officers were suddenly removed, it will leave the SDF without any leadership and also bringing down its morale!"


    "Of course I know this," Tavor replied in a dismissive way. "But we need to get rid of this... corruption first before the SDF can be useful. If not, we might as well disband the SDF..."


    Judis sighed again. "Why did I choose to join the SDF... I shall have applied to the Marines or something else..."


    "Haha!" Tavor grinned. "Well, it''s because you can''t leave your Princess alone..."


    Judis growled, "Enough of that, she is my liege and I had sworn an oath to serve and protect her forever!"


    "Well, if only the officers here take their oaths as seriously as you," Tavor shook his head. "We won''t have this problem!"


    "Anyway, clear out any officers and troops that are corrupted," Tavor reminded Judis. "I will try to chase down those missing weapons!"


    Judis nodded, "Don''t worry, I will find those... traitorous scum and bring them to justice!"


    -----


    UN, Haven, National Hospital


    Dr. Sharon massaged her aching head. Lately, the voices in her head appeared to have stopped, but recently it started back up again. The constant whispers in an unknownnguage seemed to be trying to tell her something, but she could barely understand what they were telling her.


    She had kept a notebook, writing down the pronunciations as much as she could of the words that were spoken. She had shown Magister Thorn, yet he was baffled by the words and her condition as he too couldn''t find anything wrong with her using his magic.


    She decided to ignore the words and went about her day, tending patients and teaching trainee doctors and nurses on the art and science of medicine and healthcare. She even pushed away from the negative thoughts on the deaths of one of the human Marines which she could still remember.


    She sighed, thinking that this might be both wonderful and alien, yet the local conflicts were none the less simr to wars human has waged throughout its history. Luckily there was some good, like the marriage between the Captain and the Princess.


    "Hmmm... I wonder if Princess can bore a baby between a human and an elf..." Dr. Sharon mumbled to theputer. "Since our DNA shares close to 99.93% simrities, almost the same as chimpanzees..."


    "It should work?" Dr. Sharon frowned. "Since we humans and elves both have 23 pairs of chromosomes..."


    "The only issue is that both species can''t donate blood to each other," Dr. Sharon continued narrating to herputer. "But if we take the blood serum protein called albumin which both humans and elves have, we technically can use it to save lives."


    "We could also use sma from both species after all the red blood cells, white blood cells, telets, and other cellrponents are removed," Dr. Sharon said. "But the interesting thing now is to observe if a human can impregnate an elf!"


    "Hmmmm..." Dr. Sharon''s eyes glittered. "It should be interesting to study the effects of interbreeding between two alien species... I wonder how it will turn out in the end?"

 Chapter 371: Fish Bait

    Chapter 371: Fish Bait


    UN Northern Front Command HQ


    Colonel Frank moved the wooden markers of two Marine Battalions back from the west nk of Falledge all the way to the edge of the Uncharted Forest. He wanted to bait and draw in the Imperial Army on the left of the North Front and once the Imperials were lured in, they will find themselves with the Sawtooth Mountains on their right, two Battalions of Marines in their front and the city of Falledge on their left!


    Frank will then throw everything he has on destroying the First Imperial Army which Intel has identified. His strategy now is to defeat the Imperial spearheads one by one, rather than focusing on everywhere. In this end, he has diverted all the bomber wings to Orwell''s Point to hunt down the Imperial Fleet lurking around the ind sea.


    He looked at the map of the Northern Front and anchored on his left was the Sawtooth Mountains, followed by Falledge, than came a stretch of forestednd of almost three hundred kilometers came the river city of Orwell''s Point.


    The rear of his North Front was the Uncharted Forest and the only city in the front, Orwell''s Point was connected to the Capital by a highway through the dangerous Uncharted Forest while the road to Falledge was barely evenpleted, just a cleared pathrge enough for the heavy duty trucks and military vehicles to pass by.


    The stretch ofnd between the two cities was the problem as the entire UN does not even have enough troops to hold the ground against the Imperials. Frank carefully ced a square block on the map where a hill was depicted.


    He nned for the troops to build a series ofrge forts along that stretch ofnd that it will be viewed threatening by the Imperials and forcing their hand to attack those forts. And while the Imperial Armies are busy trying to destroy the forts, he will wipe out the Imperial First Army!


    Now, his troops were solely dependant on two slim threads of supply, which can be easily cut off by any marauding goblins or monsters in the Uncharted Forest. Other militarybat units only controlled the stretch of road within their designated checkpoints and could only serve as a reaction force when the convoy was attacked.


    To protect his vulnerable supply lines, he has taken the liberty of ''requisitioning'' certain materials from the production factories, namely several tons of armor ting that appeared to be for the Navy.


    Frank broke into a mischievous grin as he recalled ''pinching'' the materials that were for the Navy. The Military Logistic department were confused at first when several tons of armor ting arrived at their motor pool until Frank gave them the hint of armoring up their trucks.


    Once the hint was understood, everything else was history. The mechanics of the Military Logistic department welded the ''borrowed'' armor onto the sides of their trucks and mounted machine guns on all sides of the vehicles.


    Thus the Military Logistics'' gun trucks were born and the supply convoys required lesser escorts as the supply convoys could defend themselves. The hardened convoy could protect themselves without the need of pulling valuablebat units out from their stations.


    Frank nodded to himself once he rearranged the tokens on the map and called his staff to gather in the meeting room to discuss the battle n. But by now, Commander Ford should had found out that his materials were missing for his ships! So first, he have to pen an apology mail to Commander Ford for borrowing his materials without notifying him!


    -----


    First Imperial Army


    General Kotor was an old veteran of several campaigns. He was the one who had led the First Army to victory over the beastmen, piging and razing the city down and many prime ves were captured in that campaign. The pacification of the beastmen was also done by him and the First Army, ending them the nickname as the ''Army of the Beast Masters'' for the ves following the First were mostly beastmen.


    He frowned as he looked upon the cloudy skies, for the past two days, there was no sighting for the demonic flying crossesing to drop those demon eggs. "Has those thrice cursed flying demons ran out of energy?"


    His closemanders and aides joined him at watching the skies from under the cover of the forest. The bulk of his Army has scattered into small units and taken shelter under any trees and away from any prying eyes in the skies. His mages had spent much of their power casting glimmer and anti scrying spells all over the Army.


    A blonde hair Knight giggled as he sat next to another Knight wearing a full faced featureless helm. "Say, these rebels are so interesting! Do you think they will be more of a challengepared to those beastmen?"


    The Helmeted Knight gave a wordless shrug while the Laughing Knight sighed, "It''s been so long, my des are rusty! These rebels betterst longer than those kitties!"


    "Right?" The Laughing Knight seated on the back of a ve beastman, jerked hard at the metal chain in his hand which was connected to the ve. The cored beast girl with grey blue ears and tail choked as the Laughing Knight asked again, "How long do you think I can make rebel break?"


    The beast girl on all fours choked back her tears and she cast her eyes downwards, fear gripping her heart as her master used her back as a chair. The Laughing Knight grinned, "Still these rebels have some interesting magic. Think it isparable to the beast city''s magic defenses?"


    "Not sure," The helmeted Knight replied. "Need to witness before judging..."


    "Aww..." The Laughing Knight sighed dramatically. "When are we going to attack?"


    "Soon," The Helmeted Knight said.


    Just as the Helmeted Knight finished his word, a mounted soldier with a messenger g on his back rode past and yelled at the troops. "Break camp! The First will begin marching by the end of the ss!"


    "See?" The Helmeted Knight said again before he stood up and dusted his armor. "Let''s get ready."


    "Urghh!" The Laughing Knight stood up and stretched. Unlike his armored friend, he was dressed in a set of simple robes with a weapon belt on. He kicked the rear of his ve and said, "Let''s go! Go and pack up everything!"


    The beast girl ve bowed and quickly scampered off to do his bid, only to jerk back and fall t on her rear as the Laughing Knight suddenly pulled the chain in his hand whileughing. "Hahahaha, alright, you can go now!"


    The girl only moved off after making sure her master had released the chains. She rubbed away her tears as she ran, thinking that one day how she was going to enjoy stabbing her master to death.


    -----


    Northern Front, First Battalion, ''A'' Company


    Lance Corporal Slow lying prone on the soft grass fired off a burst of aimed machine gun fire at the small cluster of Imperials. The bright red yellow tracers stabbed out into the night and flickered off into the night skies as the rounds bounced off the ground and armor of the Imperials.


    Under the dying glow of the illumination re, Slow could see the group of Imperials dropping like puppets with their string cut but he still gave those bodies another dose of lead, just in case as he found the Imperial soldiers to be crafty enough to y dead.


    "A COMPANY!" A sharp whistle blew before a shout came from the sides. "Prepare to fall back!"


    "Shit!" Slow cursed as he hung the ammo belt over his left arm and griped the bipod of his MG at the same time. He crawled to his feet and ran back as his toon Sergeant yelled at them to double time their asses. "I hate stopping and running!"


    He saw his ASAG - 01 waving its tiny wed arms at him before him, urging him to run faster. Slow ran up the slope and dropped his weapon onto the rear of the ASAG and caught his breath just as the ground they gave up exploded into mes.


    The enemy was learning and adapting rapidly to their tactics and they even took a page of their artillery. The Imperial mages will now lob fireballs over the heads of the infantry like mortars at any position of the Marines once found.


    The fireballs spells will explode on contact and will cause a three degree burn to any exposed flesh and also has a nasty tendency to ignite any ammunition or grenades carried by the unfortunate soldier which sometimes, lightning spells also does the same.


    Due to this, all Marines preferred now to keep a safe distance away from any mer. Even the Marines wielding mers themselves requested to switch weapons which the officers approved. But still, the balls of mes dropping from the skies were a nightmare to all the Marines.


    Slow ducked as the heatwave from the Imperial''s mages washed over him and almost instantly, the telltale shrieks of friendly mortars cracked overhead and the artillery duel began. Slow pushed himself up and followed the ASAG as hispany fell back while Bpany on the nks provided covering fire.


    The Imperials had used the cover of the night to advance forward and they identally tripped a wire whichunched a warning re. After which the night exploded into thunder and mes as the Marines rained lead down at the surprised Imperials.


    But the First Imperial Army were veterans. They recovered rapidly and instead of retreating, they charged instead. The mages quickly supported the troops by throwing protection spells to glimmer spells to aid the troops'' charge. Some of the smarter Imperials threw themselves down t to the ground which saved them when the night suddenly turned to day from the illumination spells appearing in the skies.


    The thunder roar of the Marines'' guns broke the silence of the night as tracers flew towards the Imperial''s positions while the Battalion mortar teams lobbed mortar shells at the enemy.


    Unfortunately. the First Imperial Army was split into small units, making defensive mortar fire ineffective. The Marines had to instead rely on the barbwires and mines nted beforehand and in the dark, these obstacles proved their worth in slowing and stopping the Imperials.


    "A COMPANY... HOLD! FROM INTO A LINE HERE!" Thepanymander blew his whistle and roared and the Marines skidded to a halt and prone down, facing the enemy again. "COVER B COMPANY''S RETREAT!"


    Slow was confused as to why they were retreating as he dropped to his belly. He gave a grunt as a sharp rock dug against his chest and he shifted to a morefortable position while he deployed his MG.


    He loosed off another burst at the moving shadows and glittering armor in the distance, watching more tracers bouncing off into the skies spectacrly. Why give ground when they can hold off the damn Blue Boys easily?


    Yet another whistle blew again, and thepanymander''s shout was heard, "A COMPANY... FALL BACK!"


    -----


    Over the course of two hours, First Battalion fought a fighting withdrawal from the Imperials. There were only a few injuries, mostly from falling in the dark. Only six Marines suffered some burns and arrow nicks from the Imperials, yet they retreated more than five kilometers.


    The men rested and when dawn broke, First Battalion retreated back again, this time they pulled back another twenty kilometers and once they were in sight of the Uncharted Forest, they were ordered to dig in and wait for the Imperials.


    -----


    UN Northern Front Command HQ


    Colonel Frank nodded as he listened to the reportsing in from the Front and he smiled. Now they had lured the Imperials in, will they follow and take the bait?


    He rubbed his hands in anticipation of the First Imperial Army''smander''s move. "Here fishy fishy... says the fisherman..."

 Chapter 372: Disciplinary Actions

    Chapter 372: Disciplinary Actions


    UN, Fortress Singapore


    Captain ke mmed his clenched fist angrily against the table as he red at his officers'' images on the disy. "Stealing from other departments? What the fuck are you thinking?"


    Colonel Frank stood at attention and kept his eyes staring straight over ke''s head in the video call, "Sir, securing our supply lines were of utmost importance, Sir!"


    "Don''t give me this shit!" ke sighed. "Here, I am trying to wipe out corruption among the ranks and you... the Commandant of the whole GODDAMN MARINE CORPS goes off and steal from the Navy!"


    "What fucking kind of message are you trying to send down to the rest? Huh?" ke red at Frank. "Did you think of the consequences when you pulled this stunt?"


    "Yes, Sir!" Frank replied stiffly.


    "Then?" ke scowled. "I am having officers from the SDF court martialed and punished! And my own officers go and do this... and I have to go court martial one of my own who is suppose to set a standard! "


    "Sir?" Commander Ford stepped in. "Maybe we should just cover this up..."


    "Cover it up?" ke rubbed his face tiredly. "And y favorites?"


    "No Sir," Ford said. "We can say there was a cock up with the supply orders and court martialing a high ranking officer and the Commandant of the Marines might have negative effect on the Marines, the people''s confidence in the military and our war efforts!"


    "Despite Colonel Frank''s young age," Ford looked off screen. "He is well liked by the Marines. Procusicating him might get some bacsh from the Marines and especially from the people in the Military Logistic Department since he came up with an idea that ups their rate of survival out there."


    "Next, public confidence will drop, since Frank is one of the humans and senior one to boot," Ford pointed out next. "Already the public is unhappy with the SDF''s antics and corruption and with the arrests, the public is only just gaining back trust in us. So if we air our dirtyundry out, its gonna be bad..."


    "Lastly, Frank is the lynchpin to our current strategies against the Imperials," Ford said. "Removing him frommand and cing a newmander in ce might cause confusion and a change of our current grand strategy already in ce."


    Intel Officer Tavor also stepped in and said, "I concur with Commander Ford''s advice. If we were to do this publicly, it will be bad for all of us. I will advice we settle this issue after the Imperials are defeated and in a closed door setting."


    ke pondered for a while before he nodded and jabbed a finger at Frank''s image, "You! I will deal with you after we settle the Imperials! Master Sergeant Pike will babysit over your actions from now on!"


    Next, in a milder tone, ke said, "I know at the start we all are desperate for any measures to survive in our situation! The ideas and initiatives are good! But there is still a chain ofmand here! I know we had been ck in our discipline among the senior officers here, but this is not an excuse nor a joke to steal."


    "From now on, any new projects or ideas must be approved by either the Committee or personally by myself! I do not want any private pet projects going on behind my back with my approval!" ke red at the gathered officers through the disy. "Is that clear, gentlemen?"


    "AYE AYE SIR!"


    "Good, now what is our current situation?" ke asked.


    "Sir, Operation Mousetrap has begun," Frank reported. "A and B Battalions had fallen back to a defensive line and are just waiting for the First Imperial Army to take the bait."


    "On the middle Front," Frank continued. "Three forts are being constructed by the engineers, these forts will be the distraction lure to the Second and Third Imperial Army in the center."


    "As for our right," said Frank. "Commander Tommy has all his bombers redirected to focus on the Imperial fleet that seriously took us by surprise."


    "Sir, this intelligence is a fault on my department," Intel Officer Tavor spoke up. "There was no indication of any fleet nor news. This is either the Imperial counterintelligence is better than our intelligence collection, or the Imperials had already nned to sneak their ships in, which they kept it a secret till the fleet hasunched."


    "And with the slow speed of messaging currently that is out of our area of influence," Tavor shook his head. "This news of an Imperial fleet will probably be picked up by us in another week or so."


    "We stepped up patrols around the area and Commander Ford has also kindly dispatched a few more PT boats to operate in the area," Frank gave a nod to Ford. "But it will take a couple of days to arrive bynd and another day before the PT boats are operational."


    "Why wasn''t the area around the floating dock patrolled?" ke asked.


    "Sir, we only have three UAVs left, and those three are already on theirst legs," Commander Tommy exined. "And we have a stretch of over 40 000 km2 ofnd and sea to cover with four dragons, three ailing UAVS, and a dozen Cobras on recon duties..."


    "We can only do so much," Commander Tommy said. "We don''t have eyes everywhere."


    ke nodded, epting the limitations of their abilities. "Alright, how about the Navy?"


    "We are down to five boats operating in shifts around the Goblin Sea," Commander Ford replied. "Two down for maintenance and four PT boats are en route to Orwell''s Point to support the three PT boats there and provide security for the floating service dock."


    "Our supposed two corvettes should be up and running weeks ago are still dying in their slips," Ford did not need to mention who dyed the ships''pletion. "But I got assurance from the techs that the two ships will be ready for trials by end of this week and I promised them a bonus if they can do so."


    ke frowned as he tapped a few keys on his keypad and the map of the Goblin Sea appeared on his disy. "Five small boats to cover our entire western seaboard?"


    Ford gave a shrug, "Well, I am seriously low on manpower and hulls, that was one reason why I hired civilians contractors to crew the Dragon''s Roost."


    "I am focusing the Goblin Sea Fleet to focus on the straits," Ford continued. "That is a high traffic area, lots of Isles merchant shipsing to Far Harbor. Also lots of pirates activity too."


    "Isn''t it almost time for the goblins'' annual invasion?" ke asked. "They should be sailing across to raid the coastline by now right?"


    "Yes," Ford confirmed. "It''s about time for that... I am having my nes running recon up and down the coast area to keep an eye out for them goblin raiders."


    ke tapped his fingers on the edge of his table, "Ford, I know you have been getting the short end of the stick constantly, and despite that, you did your best in ensuring the Navy still does its best in protecting our shores and ships."


    "I promise to make it up to you," ke said. "But for now, I still need you to hold the fort with the limited resources you have."


    Ford nodded and gave a salute which the rest followed suit and ke returned their salute proudly. "Go kick some ass!"


    -----


    United Nations, Far Harbor, UN Naval Base, Dry Dock ''B''


    Loud music could be hearding from inside of the dry dock where one of Navy''s newest corvette sat on keel blocks that lined the underside of the ship. Already the ship was fully painted, the bottom half of the hull was coated with an anti foul red paint while the upper hull was painted with a new four color dazzle camouge paint of t ck, haze gray, haze white and ocean gray colors.


    Sparks rained down from the welding tools of the goblin techies as they welded the insides of the ship''s hull while other goblins installed interior paneling to cover the piping and wires. The goblins yelled out in tune with their scratchy voices to the lyrics of ''Right Here, Right Now'' by Fatboy Slim.


    They bobbed their heads to the tune and worked at a speed that was faster than any elf or human could ever manually achieve, while all the way singing along to the song being yed at ear bursting volume.


    The Chief Shipwright gave up trying to get the goblins to turn down the volume as he watched the performance of the goblins. He and the others non goblins donned ear protection instead and continued with their own work onboard the ship and ignored the goblins'' choice of music as long as they perform well.


    "Ritz ere, ritz ow! Ritz ere, ritz ow! Ritz ere, ritz ow! Ritz ere, ritz ow!! ere ere er er er!!!"


    -----


    First Imperial Army


    General Kotor observed the stretch ofnd that his men had bled to take and frowned. The reports that came back from the men at the front were not to his expectations. Firstly, they had found no bodies of the enemy, nor any supplies or camps that usually follows an army. The only baffling items found inrge quantities scattered all over the ground were some sort of tiny brass colored metal containers that had some kind of burnt smell.


    Next, his men had taken too many casualties from the night attack. He had hoped to make use of the moonless night to advance as close as possible to surprise the enemy with a dawn attack which his scouts had reported spotting.


    But the enemy had set up detection spells of some sort which his men triggered and alerted the enemy and the enemy was ingenious to use some sort of illumination spell together with a floating spell to turn the night into day!


    And that cursed light spell nearly doomed his men when the cursed rebels used their demonic thunder magic and wreak havoc among his soldiers from afar. He should really try to capture some of the rebels and force them to spill the secrets of their thunder magic.


    From a military point of view, those thunder weapons will be a great asset due to their destructive powers. But he couldn''t understand how did those rebels were able to constantly cast such destructive spells constantly.


    His healers and mages had examined the bodies of the soldiers killed by those demonic thunder spells and found pieces of lead in their bodies. Some of the mages were theorizing that the rebels were using some sort of slingshot and using some kind of magic to imbue the lead balls with thunder magic.


    Another group was guessing that the rebels were using some sort of ballista weapon. Lead balls were loaded onto the basket and magic was cast on the ballista before the lead balls were released with the roar of thunder.


    As for the tiny brass color metal containers, the consensus was that it must be some kind of demonic potion used by the rebels to give them near limited mana. The mages and healers all said the burnt smell lingering behind has some hint of sulfur which demons were known to smell of.


    General Kotor swept his eyes across the untamednd before him, the long grass ins and clumps of forestednd had clear signs of an army passing through. He looked to his right where the tall jagged mountain ridges that looked like daggers stabbed into the heavens while on the far distance on his left, the tiny looking town of Falledge that appeared to have fallen into rebel hands stood.


    Why did the rebels retreat when clearly they had magic more potent than his. Were the rebels outnumbered and hence frightened off by his soldiers? Or was there some sort of trap lying in wait before him? These thoughts went through his mind as his mind calcted the next course of action.


    Should he focus on the running rebels or head straight for the town and liberate it?

 Chapter 373: The Self Defense Force

    Chapter 373: The Self Defense Force


    UN, Falledge, City Walls


    The city of Falledge, once a simple border town of the Bluewood Empire that adventurers and local residents used as a gateway into the Uncharted Forest were now in a state of high alert. The border city defenses that had stood against countless goblin and monster attacks were upgraded over the winter season in preparation for an invasion by the Imperials.


    A new outeryer of defensives was constructed beyond the city walls, made of concrete and wire. A new berm wall, with fortified bunkers and overhead protection, barely three stories tall surrounded the city, leaving a small stretch ofnd between the new and old walls.


    The local SDF troops were made up mostly of former guards, adventurers, and soldiers. The SDF three month training program was split into two segments. The first segment was the integration ofnguages, cultures, and technology.


    The recruits were ced in a crash course of one and a half months of learning, re education and military conditioning. In that period, they were taught basic English, Maths, and Science and Technology. Those will lower amplitude on certain subjects were pushed into learning how to drive and maintenance of machinery.


    After that period was over, they will officially start their military training for the next one and a half months, learningmands, small unit tactics, fighting from fixed positions and foremost how to operate firearms.


    It was an eye opener for all the new recruits as they had to learn many strange things and even had to curb their urge to charge and rush at an enemy. For those who had fighting experience with swords and spears were mostly slumped by the new tactics they had to learn with firing with firearms.


    Unlike the Marines'' training, the idea was to have a militia force ready to be called up into action at any time. Hence the mentality of the trainers was that these were ''civilian soldiers'' and the discipline was not as highly enforcedpared to the Marines.


    And the weapons and equipment issued with mostly older variants of existing Marine gear. There stillrge stockpiles of ck powder ammunition and the first generation M1 ''BP'' Magelock rifles and these were issued to the SDF troops while the Marines had already switched to the second generation M1 Magelock rifles using smokeless gunpowder.


    Most of the SDF who signed up were based on a twelve year contract which they were required to serve in active duty for two years before they were reassigned to the reserved service for ten years. Once in the reserved service, they are required to report twice yearly for a one month ''reservice'' where they undergoing refresher courses and military training and duty.


    Also during their time in the reserved service, if there was a time war or any emergency, they will be called up to active duty. Other than that, any SDF members not in active duty are free to continue with their normal lives as civilians.


    The Department of Manpower of the SDF will also do its best to ensure they assign the troops to their native cities, so as to easier allow the SDF members to revert back to their civilian lives once their service was over.


    -----


    SDF Corporal Bock leaned his beefy bulk against the parapet of the bunker he was assigned to with his squad. He was a cksmith before signing up to join the SDF after the city was liberated from the Imperials by the UN.


    He was almost part of the local resistance force that helped overthrow the Imperial''s control away from the city and now, he was a Corporal with a squad of six under hismand. He knew his rank was one tier lowerpared to a UN Marine as the SDF was considered a civilian militia.


    He was torn between joining the Marines and SDF when the call for recruitment came from the UN. But in the end, hearing the terms of enlistment from both sides, he decided to join the SDF as it could allow him to remain with his family even when he was in active duty.


    During training, his mind was suddenly exposed to so many new and unconventional concepts and ideas that he was certain no one could ever think of except the Gods. ''Tek no logee'' that makes life convenient for themon people was something that no noble nor king would ever develop in their lifetime!


    He saw the factories producing steel in such amounts that were mindboggling during the orientation tour. The strange wagons and flying machines, even the craftsmanship of tools was so finely crafted that he as a cksmith of many years could never dream ofparing norpete in!


    He loved the town he grew up in, He had seen the golden age when the town was still part of the Goldrose Kingdom where hundreds of adventurers and merchants flooded the town to explore the Uncharted Forest for its resources.


    But the Imperials invaded and the Kingdom fell. In a span of several years, many changes enforced by the Imperials took ce. Adventurers were forced to register with the Adventurer''s Guild introduced by the Empire which then took a cut of any jobs they did. Harsh taxes were enforced, so did the forced conscripting of men from the farms.


    very grew rampant, and it was easy to get lose your freedom forever if you offend someone powerful, and they catch you and sell you off somewhere as a ve. vers hoping to make some quick gold, frequently roamed the night to catch any unwary people and soon the locals were fearful to travel alone in the streets.


    The nobles were worse, as they tantly ignored anyw as long as gold was present. They took what they wanted, destroy things as they wished and treated themon people like dirt. At times, Bock though of the nobles as worse than bandits.


    Thus when someone approached him, asking if he had the power to change his situation, would he take it. And he did, with many others. When the UN came, he was skeptic at first but soon was won over by their weaponry and tactics, but most of all, he was wowed by the fact that the exiled Princess of Goldrose was the wife of the leader of the UN.


    It was still too early for Bock to judge if the UN was a better choicepared to the Imperials yet but after going into the SDF, his hopes of a better future were truly satisfied after witnessing the wonder of ''tek no logee''!


    "Corporal Bock!" Someone suddenly called out, disrupting his thoughts. He turned to see what the issue was and saw one of his men pointing out to the distance. "Riders! Lots of them!"


    -----


    First Imperial Army, Order of Shadows


    A handsome looking knight with azy smile on his face was urging his war dragon to gallop faster as the walls of the city came closer. On one hand, he held a kite shield embossed with the emblem of a grinning skull and in his other hand, he held onto a glowing ball of mes.


    Behind him came the rest of the Order of Shadows, riding their ownnd dragons. The ground trembled as the heavy war mounts pounded the earth with their wed feet as they charged in a spectacr ''V'' formation.


    Each rider had a semi transparent dome covering their bodies as the Knights themselves cast protected spells before attacking the city. The Knight in the lead with a smileughed at the stupidity of the defenders as thend around the city defenses were t and empty, which gave cavalry a huge advantage.


    He wasn''t afraid of any traps by the stupid peasants, as he had a trap detection spell before him constantly checking the terrain for any pitfalls or magic traces. The t terrain made it easy for his war dragon to close the distance towards the first tier of defenses which the walls looked to be hastily constructed by some kind of magic.


    He raised his hand holding the ball of mes and the rest of the Order followed suit and as they were just roughly two hundred paces away, the walls of the defenses exploded into thunder and smoke.


    -----


    "CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE!!" Bock yelled at his men who had nervously fired their rifles at the frightening cavalry chargeing straight for them. Bock could feel the thumping of the hooves resonnating in his chest as the enemy Knights came closer and closer.


    "WAIT FOR THE GOD DAMN COMMAND TO FIRE!" He smacked the helmet of his man who had fired in panic. "Wait till theye closer!"


    Bock could hear the same words being called out from along the walls as some officers with brains were yelling with a loudspeaker device. "Remember your training! Don''t worry about them Imperialsing up the walls! Thosend dragons can''t fly!"


    Just as he finished his words, the enemy cavalry suddenly split into two forces, one going left and the other right and at first, he thought the enemy was holding torches in their hands but now he saw that it was not torches, but fireballs!


    The Imperial Knights seemed to casually wave their hands and the balls of mes in their hands flew into the skies and like arrows, they paused at the zenith of their flight upwards before dropping down like ming raindrops.


    "TAKE COVER!" Bock yelled at his men and he threw himself down into the bunker away from the firing slits of the bunker. A series of loud whoosh mmed against the bunker and screams and cries of panic came from all along the walls.


    Bock could feel the wave of superheated air, simr to the heating from his furnace wash over his back followed by someone screaming in the bunker next to him. He jerked around to the scream and saw one of his dumb ass men did not take cover and had looked out of the firing slits as the fireballs hit them.


    His man was screaming and wing at his melted face and rolling on the hard concrete floor in pain. The others frightened by the sudden supernatural violence stared in shock at the scene. Bock hissed at his men and quickly ordered, "Hold him down! Call for the medic! Stop him from making his wounds worse!"


    His men came to their senses and quickly held down their strugglingrade while Bock took out a canteen of water to wash and hopefully cool the wounds of his man. He could hear rifle barks breaking out all around him as the defenders returned fire at the Knights.


    Finally, the wounded man stopped his struggles as he passed out from shock and Bock yelled to the gawking troops. "Man your guns! Stop staring! GO!"


    A stressed looking youngster came running in with a red cross bordered by white on both sides of his helmet came running into the bunker. He stared at the wounded man on the floor and visibly paled before he bent over to administer first aid.


    Bock sighed and picked up his weapon and joined his men at the firing slits. What greeted him was a scene of smoke and mes. Through the gaps of gun smoke, he could see the Imperials riding off and looping back to begin another magic attack.


    He raised his rifle up and took aim, and fired. Instantly a rotten foul smelling smoke covered his view and he felt the heavy kick of his rifle. He worked the rifle bolt and waited for the smoke to clear just as he was taught and tried to find out if he had hit his target.


    But the battle was too chaotic and messy and with the gunsmoke blocking his view, it was hard to tell what was happening. He only knew that the Imperials cavalry were doing the wheeling sweep again and he yelled, "TAKE COVER!"

 Chapter 374: Orchestra of Death

    Chapter 374: Orchestra of Death


    Falledge, Town Hall


    The atmosphere in the hall was tense as the city leaders and militarymanders stared at the map table covered with green and blue tokens. The Falledge Governor, once a sessful merchant, Etoro Arther stared hard at the map before he asked, "The attack yesterday, was it a probe to our defenses?"


    "Yes," 2nd Lieutenant Collins, military attache to the Falledge Governor replied. He was the only human in the room of elves. "They definitely are testing our defenses."


    "I thought our ns were to pin them between two forces?" Etoro asked. "Why are we facing the Imperial Army alone?"


    Collins cast a nce at the local SDFmander who chose to remain quiet. The SDF officer returned Collins''s nce and gave a tiny shrug of his shoulders. Collins gave a sigh and said, "The Imperial Army we are facing has split into two forces."


    He tapped his finger at the map where their position was and traced his finger down to the western side of the city. "Here is where our Marines are holding."


    "We received word that they are engaging the First Imperial Army somewhere here," Collins moved his finger upwards and tapped at the nearby red token. "It appears the First Army did not fully take our bait and split into two forces."


    "So our n failed?" Etoro frowned. "Should we start evacuating the people?"


    "No, it is not truly a failure," Collins said. "The original n was for them to attack us anyway."


    "We just have to change to n B," Collins gave a smile.


    "What is n B?" Etoro scratched his head as he did not remember any word of n B during the strategic meeting with the higher ups.


    "n B is... just change our current ns but keep the goal the same!"


    -----


    First Imperial Army, Order of the Shadows Campsite


    The Knight with a smile was seated on a fallen log and tore off a piece of dried meat with his perfect white teeth. He sighed and tossed the remains at his beast ve kneeling on the side. "Thos, don''t we have better food?"


    "We were ordered not to have any cook fires to avoid the enemy discovering our camp," Replied the Knight wearing a full faced helm. "Our role is to disrupt the enemy and prevent them from sallying out to reinforce the enemy in the forest were our main force going to destroy."


    "Tch," The Smiling Knight clicked his tongue. "These rebel scums are wasting our time! We can easily go over those pathetic walls and kill all those traitorous scum and dine in fine wine, proper meat, and women!"


    "There is no rush," The covered faced Knight called Thos replied. "We just need to keep the defenders busy and intercept any force leaving the city."


    "This isn''t fun," The Smiling Knight pouted. "Still their thunder sticks are interesting. We should grab some of them to y with!"


    Thos the Knight nodded, his featureless helm bobbing as he agreed to what the other said. "Yes, we should capture some to study!"


    "Than its settled!" The Smiling Knight hopped up to his feet, his expression of that of an excited child. He rubbed his happily in anticipation and said. "Let''s do it now!"


    An aide of the Order of Shadows shook his head helplessly at their childishmander. "Captain, it is wiser if we should wait till it is dark to make our move."


    "No no no," The Smiling Knight tilted his head back and said. "We must strike while the iron is hot! Besides they are just some peasants ying as soldiers. It will be as easy as stealing a toy from a child!"


    He pped his hands happily together and cut off his aide''s protest. "Order the men to assemble! We shall attack immediately!"


    The aide swallowed his words back and thumped his chest in salute, "Yourmand!"


    The Smiling Knight kicked his beast ve who was gnawing over the remains of the dried meat. "Come! Prepare my armor and weapons!"


    -----


    Northern Front, First Battalion, ''A'' Company, Fallback Line


    Slow watched the Imperial infantry marching towards him in a scattered formation. Shrieks of mortar fire screamed overhead andnded among the Imperials with a heavy chest thumping thump. Bodies fell like puppets with their strings snipped off yet the Imperials did not waiver.


    As far as Slow could see, thend was covered with blue and silver. Even the skies were dotted with dragons belonging to the Imperials while a low buzz of their own aircraft circling around their lines prepared for the uing aerial dog fight.


    Like a tide, the Imperials troops marched onwards, enduring the punishing mortar fire with protection spells and guts. A whistle blew and Slow fired his MG, watching his tracers m into a group of Blue Boys. He worked his barrel left and right, sweeping machine gun fire across the featureless grasnd.


    Bullets shattered and deformed against magic barriers and the barriers flickered brightly against the barrage. Sometimes, a barrier went down and the troops taking cover in it dropped like flies as bullets scythed through them.


    "INCOMING! TAKE COVER!" Someone screamed and Slow nced up, and he cursed when he saw dozens of meteors trailing smoke and mes, dropping down from the skies right at his position.


    Slow quickly picked up his machine gun and ducked into the tight confines of the protective dug out of the defensive fighting position dug by when they had fallen back to this location. Slow hugged his machine gun tightly and pushed his body against the earthen wall just as the meteor spellsnded.


    Instantly the whole earth shook wildly. Slow felt like the Earthern Gods were trying to kick him out of his protective dug out and into the fury of the raging meteor shower. Slow squeezed his bulky Orcish body tighter and for the first time in his life, he envied the soft skins for their smaller build. He understood that with firearms, it was best to make themselves as small as possible to avoid getting shot.


    Finally, the shaking and roaring of the earth stopped. Someone yelled something unintelligible and Slow slowly crawled his way out of the dug out and raised his head over the sandbagged sangar. He could feel waves of heat rolling over him and the terrain around him was scorched and burning.


    Small craters pockmarked the Marines defensive works and one by one those that survived the meteor spell popped out from their shelters and continued firing at the Imperials who took the opportunity to advance closer to their lines.


    "SLOW!" Someone yelled next to his ear. "Get that MG up! GET IT UP!"


    Slow turned and saw his toon Sergeant yelling from behind him. His Sergeant crouched low and pointed his finger forward and yelled, "They areing! Shoot them!"


    His training took over and Slow set up his machine gun again, peering past the shimmering hot air around him and saw the Imperials were almost right on top of their barbwires that had been destroyed by spellfire.


    He let his machine gun rock, spewing lead at a rate of 500 rounds per minute. Slow easily ran through the two hundred round boxed magazine in under a minute at the target rich environment. He reached behind his back ammo pouch to retrieve a fresh box of ammo and reloaded.


    "Rowan! I need more ammo!" He yelled to his assistant gunner as he continued his fire at the Imperials. "Rowan?"


    Slow turned to his side where his assistant gunner was supposed to be before he realized that the small fighting position they had dug had actually taken a hit from a meteor. The side where his assistant gunner had taken cover had caved in and Slow could see a charred hand sticking out from copsed earth. "Curses!"


    "YOU KILL SLOW''S BUDDY!" Slow screamed out his anger at the Imperials and fired his machine gun like a mad man. "SLOW SEND YOU BLUES TO COMPANY BUDDY IN HELL! WAAAARGHHH!"


    -----


    UN, Falledge, City Walls


    The sun was setting slowly over the horizon, casting long shadows and a purple glow across the defenses. The once green and nervous SDF troops after experiencing their first battle against the Imperial Knights were more confident and steady as the lookouts sounded the alert for an enemy attack.


    The city''s mortar batteries fired their tubes, sending mortar shells downrange and among the charging Knights that appeared from the forested areas beyond the city walls. ck smoke erupted around the cavalry charge and under the dying light of the sun, the magic barriers of the Imperial Knights shed brightly.


    Most of the Imperial Knights appeared to be able to predict the trajectory of the mortar shells as they came dropping out of the skies and avoid it. The number of broken bodies and mounts was small and as the Imperials hit reached the effective range of the rifles, the order to open fire was screamed.


    All along the walls where the Imperial Knights were attacking, puffs of dirty gun smoke erupted and more magic shields shed and failed. Yet the Imperial Knights urged their mounts faster, wanting to close the gap to the walls as fast as possible. But the closer they came, the rifle fire grew more and more urate and dozens of Knights were knocked off their mounts.


    Some Knights survived the shooting and they climbed to their feet and continued charging while those badly wounded tried to limp their way back to their lines. As the Knights reached spell range, they threw fireball spells, bolts of lightning and magic missiles at the defenders making the enchanted defenses of the city light up like a light show.


    -----


    The Smiling Knight''s smile grew wider as the walls of the city loomed up before him. His magic barrier flickered brightly as a thunder spell left sparks against his barrier and he ignored it. He could smell the sour piss smokeing from the city walls as the defenders cast their demon spells at him and his Order.


    "GO! KILL THEM!" The Smiling Knightughed. "I WANT THOSE THUNDER SPELLS!"


    With a roar, the Order of Shadows spurred their mounts harder. Some started chanting a spell which made the ground right beneath the city walls to glow as magic circles started manifesting. The other Knights quickly threw up more protection spells as the defenders focused their thunder spells right at them who were the closest to the wall.


    The Knights suddenly leaped off their mounts when they crossed the deadly hail of thunder spells andnded right on top of the magic circles. The magic circles glowed brightly and the Knights on the circles were suddenly tossed into the air.


    The spellsunched a dozen Knights into the air and they flew right on to the tops of the wall. They threw another spell to soften theirnding and the surprised defenders on the other side of the wall stared in horror at the Imperials.


    The Knightsughed at the fearful looks in the eyes of their enemies and tore right into the defenders and the killing begun. Some of the stronger willed defenders pointed their demonic thunder sticks and cast their thunder spells at the Knights.


    But the panic among the defenders gave the Imperial Knights the chance and rush in among the defenders and like a wind wolf in a flock of muffalos, they wreaked carnage. Those that rallied were not willing to cast their thunder spells among their own.


    The Smiling Knight stood on top of one of the t topped structures that the defenders of the city hid in and cowardly casting their thunder spells from. He could hear the screamsing from the structure below him as his men broke into the building and ughter those inside, making him giggle happily.


    He hummed a tune and waved his hands around in the air like a music conductor directing an orchestrate, an orchestra of death.

 Chapter 375: The Joker

    Chapter 375: The Joker


    UN, City of Falledge, Forward Wall


    SDF Corporeal Bock grit his teeth hard as he raised his rifle up vertically to parry the downswing of the Imperial Knight''s sword stroke. The impact force between the sword and the rifle''s metal and wood forestock surprised Bock as the weight behind the sword was a lot heavier than he expected from the Knight.


    He strained his muscles trained from wielding a cksmith hammer against the Knight and pushed the Knight to slide a step back. The concrete bunker floor was slick with the blood of his men when the Imperials Knights suddenly leaped over the walls and barged into the bunkers, killing everyone they met.


    Bock took a quick nce around him and saw his remaining two men fending off another Imperial Knight, meaning that no one was free to give him a helping hand against his opponent. The Knight suddenly switched his sword stance and held his long sword single handedly. The Knight threw a punch at Bock''s face with his gauntleted left fist which Bock managed to jerk his head to the side, taking a ncing blow to his helmet.


    The punch made both men step away and they red at each other, trying to find an opening. Bock held his rifle across his chest like a staff. The rifle''s length was too long to fire as his opponent was in close melee range with him while his sword bay hung uselessly at his side. His opponent did not give him any chance to draw his bay out as his opponent constantly stabbed and shed at Bock.


    Bock was at a disadvantage as his opponent was heavily armored from head to toe, while he was just dressed in a cloth uniform and leather load bearing webbing. The only armored part of him was his head!


    The Imperial Knight suddenly stepped back, catching Bock off guard. It was the opening the Knight needed and with lightning speed, the Knight lunged and his sword stabbed into the meaty left bicep of Bock when he tried to twist his way out of the attack.


    Bock could feel the coldness of the steel inside his body before a burning pain threatened to make him drop his rifle. At this distance, Bock could see into the ''T'' shaped opening of the Imperial''s helm and the eyes that stared back out were full of mockery and disdain.


    Bock roared loudly as he ignored the pain and butt stroke with his rifle using all his might at the face of the gloating Imperial Knight. He could see the Imperial''s eyes widened in surprise as his pupils tracked Bock''s movement, following the upswing of the rifle and the Imperial tried to step back.


    But the distance was too close and solid wooden stock mmed into the side of the metal helm with a loud ng. The metal helm dented inwards and the rifle snapped into two from the force of the impact.


    Blood spurted out from within the Knight''s helm and the Imperial stumbled backward. Bock''s hands were numbed from the shock of the impact and blood loss of his wound. He discarded his useless rifle and pulled out his sword bay, ready to go down with a fight.


    The Imperial cursed and pulled his dented helmet off his head and flung the helmet at Bock. The Imperial screamed and charged forward, swinging his sword in an arc that would take off Bock''s head.


    Bock identally parried off the thrown helmet with his wounded arm, making him cry out in pain. He ducked under the swing of the sword and bull rushed the Imperial, using hisrger frame to his advantage.


    The armored Imperial was mmed onto the hard concrete floor with a loud crash while Bock mounted him. Both men started to tumble and wrestle on the blood slick ground. Bock was at least one sizerger than his opponent but his opponent had magic to boost his abilities.


    He angled his bay over the Imperial''s exposed throat and leaned his full body weight down while his opponent strained with all his enhanced strength to stop the bay from going down.


    Both red and struggled without a word, panting and grunting as they exerted all their strength. Bock suddenly gave a yell and used his whole body like a hammer and mmed down on the bay which tip just pierced the skin of the Imperial.


    "NOO!" The Imperial''s eyes turned to fear. "ST...OP!"


    "FA...aa..rk... you!" Bock hissed and jerk mmed his body down again, forcing the bay deeper into the throat of the Imperial Knight.


    "U-rggkk!!" The Imperial coughed and gurgled as blood filled his throat, yet he did not give up his struggle to live. "S- gujggg!"


    With a final m, Bock shoved the entire bay through the soft tissue and bone of the Imperial till the tip hit the concrete floor. He stared back at the grey blue eyes of the Imperial soldier as life slowly drained out of him till the light in the Imperial''s eyes went out.


    Bock sucked in a deep breath as he rxed his whole body. He suddenly jerked up when he heard a cry of pain and a loud thud and saw one of his men had fallen against the fight with the other remaining Imperial Knight.


    He quickly dragged himself over to one of the rifles belonging to the dead and worked the bolt with one hand. Heid the rifle over the cooling body of the dead Imperial and fired one handedly at the other Imperial Knight.


    The sudden crack of the rifle was deafening in the enclosed bunker and the Imperial Knight facing off thest men of Bock''s squad, slumped down against the wall and remained unmoving.


    "Holy heavens!" Thest soldier of Bock''s squad cried out in relief. "I thought I will be seeing the Gates! Thanks for the save, Corp!"


    "Help me... tie... up this wound..." Bock hissed as he leaned his back against the wall.


    "Oh shit!" The private cursed and quickly dig out a roll of bandage and started dressing Bock''s wound. "You need a healer! This wound looks very bad!"


    "No... time!" Bock grimaced from the sense of light headed feeling as he stood up with the help of the private. "We need... to stop them!"


    The SDF private looked around the bunker covered in blood and bodies and swallowed nervously. "How are two of us going to fight against them? Look just what two Imperial Knights did to our squad! We will be just going to our deaths!"


    "Than... you stay... here!" Bock sighed as he felt his strength failing. "I didn''t... save Falledge... to lose it... to the Imperials... again!"


    He pushed past the other and stumbled to the bunker''s exit which the reinforced steel doors were blown open by the Imperial Knight''s spells earlier. A short flight of stairs led up towards the walls and Bock made the climb as fast as he could and as he exited at the top, he saw the rear courtyard behind the walls in disarray.


    Pockets of SDF infantry in their khaki brown uniforms held their ground against the blue silver Imperial Knights. Broken bodies of both sidesid amidst the wreckage of the courtyard while gunsmoke lingered and shes of spells and gunfire flickered here and there.


    The Imperial Knights were ying with the frightened SDF infantry as they dart in and out of the smoke cover. Sometimes an SDF trooper will scream as a sword or spell imed a life and the infantry square will contract even tightly together.


    Bock muttered a curse under his breath, as he could see what the besieged troops couldn''t see. The gunsmoke lingering on the ground hid most of the Imperial Knights from the SDF who thought they were surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of enemies.


    "What is happening?" The private had followed Bock out, carrying his rifle with a determined look on his face. "Why are they falling back?"


    "They can''t see the enemy!" Bock said and pointed. "There''s barely even a dozen Imperials down there! But the troops are too green and frightened!"


    "We need to tell them!" The private said. "We got more men them those Imperials! We can kill them!"


    "It''s too disorganized down there!" Bock replied. "And I don''t see any officers or radiomen around..."


    Bock turned and looked around the wall and saw other bunkers further down the wall were still active as gunfire could be seening out from the gun slits. He looked at his wound, seeing the bandages had already turned dark crimson and he knew he was in no condition to run down to the courtyard to rally any troops.


    "Corp!" The private suddenly yelled and pointed down. "What are they doing? Piging the dead?"


    Bock turned and frowned as he saw several Imperials appeared to be sifting through the bodies. The Imperials could be seen stripping the kit off the dead SDF soldiers and picking up their rifles. "No... they... they are taking... our guns!"


    "Stop them!" Bock hissed and he leaned against the parapet, resting the rifle and using his good arm to shoot. The private next to him follow suit and they fired aimed shots down at the group of Imperials.


    Surprised by the sudden attack, the Imperials immediately stopped their actions and ran, some of them even dropping the items in their arms. Despite having the drop on the Imperials, between Bock and the private, they only managed to hit one of the Imperials while the rest skittered away and the lingering smoke covered their escape.


    At this time, the main gates of the city swung open and arge troop of SDF soldiers rushed out and the tide was turned. The Imperials seeing the reinforcements pouring out from the city, could only retreat and like before, they used spells to leap over the fortifications and grabbed any riderless mounts still pacing around the battlefield and retreated back towards the forest.


    Bock watched the Imperials retreat with a heavy heart and he was about to go look for a healer when a voice cut suddenly spoke. The voice was neither too soft or loud, yet everyone on the walls could hear the person''s words.


    Everyone turned and saw a figure standing on top of one of the bunkers. "Hehehehe... Did you all low lives scum enjoyed today''s activities?"


    The figure was wearing an ornate looking armor without a helmet, exposing his pale smiling handsome face. On his belt hung two daggers instead of a sword. He stood there without a care at the number of rifles aiming at him and he looked to the skies, "The smell of blood and death is... so exciting don''t you all think?"


    "Do you want to know why I use a dagger? Swords are too quick. You can''t savor all the little emotions..." The smiling Imperial said. "You see, in theirst moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did."


    The Imperialughed and cast a mocking nce at the troops below him, "Would you like to know which of them were cowards?"


    His words made the SDF soldiers confused as they looked at each other. An SDF officer pushed his way past the troops and aimed his revolver at the Imperial. "Surrender! Or die!"


    "Very poor choice of words." The Imperial Knight gave a dramatic sigh and there was a sh of silver and a dagger magically appeared in the throat of the SDF officer who clenched his throat, as he gagged in his own blood.


    For a moment everyone just saw in stunned silence at the sudden death of the officer until someone recovered their senses and yelled. "SHOOT HIM!"


    Hundreds of rifles thundered as the SDF troops jolted to action fired at theughing Imperial who jumped backward off the bunker. "Is it just me or is it getting crazier out here?"


    "Hahahahahaa! Remember me! I am The Joker!"

 Chapter 376: Rock and Rumors

    Chapter 376: Rock and Rumors


    UN, Orwell''s Point, Forward Fortifications


    A dragon''s cry attracted the attention of the soldiers under the fortifications. The size of the flying dragon grewrger andrger as it dropped its altitude andnded with surprising gentleness on the paved square behind the lines. The crew unbuckled themselves while the blue red dragonid its whole bulk down t and the crew climbed down the dragon harness expertly.


    "Priority message to the Ground Commander!" A fresh faced lieutenant wearing a jacket over his Air Force overalls jogged over to the guards at the entrance of themand post while the rest of the dragon crew see to the dragon''s needs.


    The lieutenant disappeared into the tent after his identity was verified. Blue Thunder released a tired sigh as he stretched out one wing and gestured with his w to his crew, "Scratch there, please? Ahhh.... yes..."


    "I miss Boss Stamford..." Blue Thunder grumbled. "The new boss is... too easily excited..."


    "You meant eager for action?" retorted Dek the radioman as he used a blunt spear they kept together with the stores for Blue Thunder to scratch his scales. The spear was supposed to be used to kill and remove parasites that leeched on to the dragons'' scales.


    "Ah huh..." Blue Thunder rumbled with his throat, his eyes half rolling upwards. "That''s the spot!"


    "Well, the Chief got posted to Airforce Academy," Barkley said as he appeared with a barrel of water for Blue Thunder. "Actually I am finding it strange... I heard from a friend in the Marines that there seems like there were a lot of transfers and restructuring among the ranks, but most of the transfer orders involved the hoomans."


    "You meant to say that after the fark up at that city," Luth the other crew member added in as he dumped piles of protein blocks into the feed tray for Blue Thunder. "High Command doesn''t want to lose any more of their precious hoomans, that''s why they are all being transferred to a safe and cozy post?"


    "Really?" Blue Thunder hearing the gossip, turned his head and blinked his great big eyes rapidly in attention. "Are they ying favoritism?"


    "Shhhh!" Both Dek and Barkley hissed and looked around their surroundings to make sure no one heard their talk. "Keep it down you big dummy lizard!"


    "This is just hearsay! We don''t know if it''s true!" Barkley red at Luth and spoke in a low voice. "Don''t anyhow spread these rumors! It will affect morale!"


    Luth gave a shrug as he continued opening boxes of protein blocks and retorted. "Well, isn''t it true? Chief Stamford got posted away somewhere safe while we are here risking our lives in the front lines. I am sure the hoomans are protecting themselves while letting us go die!"


    Everyone stared at Luth with displeasure, "You really should keep your opinions to yourself. Don''t forget what they did for us!"


    "Yea," Luth rolled his eyes. "Freeing us from very? Only to fight and die for themter? Should I be grateful for that?"


    Even Blue Thunder felt unhappy at the words his crew member Luth was saying and he spoke in a serious tone. "If you think that way, you should just quit and leave the force!"


    "Yeah," Dek nodded, agreeing with Blue Thunder''s words. "Just quit, no one is forcing you to stay and fight, you coward!"


    "I am not a coward!" Luth paused at his work. "You think it''s fair for us to just die for the hoomans while they sit in their silver thrones?"


    "I don''t know if it''s fair or not," Blue Thunder cut in. "You were given a choice to join the Air Force, and you agreed to the terms and danger that was offered. Yet now, you are grumbling like a child!"


    "Whatever," Luth replied and returned to filling the feed tray. "You just eat your damn protein blocks and watch your stupid dramas. You are an asset to the hoomans, but us? We are just numbers on a piece of paper or in that ''tek no logee, corn put er'' of theirs!"


    "The hoomans won''t care about if we live or die," Luth continued. "See how many Marines had died already? Did they pull our kind out ofbat?"


    "Yet when only one of their own died, what happened?" Luth spoked heatedly, tears threatening to fall. "You see hoomans get pulled out ofbat roles! And we continued to remain to fight!"


    "Hey, chill," Barkley said. "You okay?"


    "No!" Luth lowered his head and clenched his fists tightly. "My brother died in that damn ce! But what did our mother get? Just a piece of useless metal and ribbon!"


    Bek and the rest nodded silently and they patted Luth''s back infort. Even Blue Thunder swept his wing around and rubbed Luth with its tip. "Hey, we all lost something in this war. Some of us, homes, others like you, families. But if you want to me somebody, me the Imperials."


    "I can''t say what the hoomans'' decision was for," Bek tried tofort Luth. "But all I know is that the hoomans gave us a fighting chance to fight for our new homes and families!"


    "Yes!" Blue Thunder thumped his tail in agreement. "Bek family! Barkley family! Luth family! Chief Stamford family! New Boss family too! So don''t be sad! We all grieve together for your bro!"


    Luth nodded as he silently wept in their hurdle. "Thank... you..."


    "Hey?" A voice called from the side. "What are you all doing? Have you all feed and watered the dragon?" The new Lieutenant called out sharply. "Get working!"


    "Okay... new Boss not family!"


    -----


    "Cork! Wake up!" Someone shook the Rock hard, breaking his dreams. "We got to stand to now! Hurry! The Imperials were spotted!"


    The Rock blinked away the sleep and pushed himself up from the duckboard covered trench. His khaki uniform was caked with dried mud and he picked up his gear and follow his buddy towards their bunker.


    "Cork, you okay?" His buddy asked in concern as he eyed the Rock up and down. "You seemed a bit off today."


    "I''m fine," The Rock replied. He used a fake name when he was ''rescued'' by a group of ve warriors after his defeat with the rebels. To avoid capture, he had stripped away his armor and clothes and acted as if he was also a ve.


    After his rescue, he had spent over a month to recover from his wounds in a neat and orderly campsite just outside of the city of Orwell''s Point. After he was able to walk, people came and ask about his past and work experiences. He told the truth that he was a soldier before but he did not reveal his true identity. Afterward, those people told him he was freed and no longer a ve. He could find work in the city if he wants to, he could return home. He was even given enough coins to survive for over a week together with new clothes and shoes.


    The Rock was at first wary, thinking that it might be a trap to expose him when he off guard. But it turned out that was what happened to everyone in the camp. Some decided to stay to find work, others left on their own to return to their homes. For him, he decided to stay and find out more about this enemy that had weapons and spells so deadly on the battlefield yet were naive enough to release so many ves and prisoners!


    Thus he spent the next few months observing and learning from the enemy that defeated his great legion. He was surprised by the small changes andws made to the local poption which appeared to greatly improve the life of the people. Even more surprising were the strange metal wagons that moved on their own!


    He found out that his enemies were a kingdom called the United Nations where all races lived together in harmony, including Orekins, Trolls, and even the hated Goblins! The UN was ruled by a strange race of short ears, which the Emperor had called them as demons. They had some kind of great ''tec no lo gee'' power that enable the metal wagons to move with some kind of magic or even flying constructs that flew faster than any dragon!


    They can control the power of thunder and fire as evidenced by the defeat he had suffered under their hands. The Rock sought hard to find out more about the power of thunder and fire of the hoomans but no one knew how the spell worked.


    Strangely, the local Governor started spreading the word that there were free lessons for anyone willing to attend at night. Children were to startpulsory lessons were ordered too at the new schools that were popping up here and there in the city.


    He took a job as aborer, doing odd jobs and even worked on a couple of schools for the city. At night, he joined hundreds of others in attending the lessons where they were taught how to read, write, count and other basic schrly knowledge.


    At first, he was just curious as to what was the king of the United Nations up to. But after a few lessons, he found that he quite enjoyed learning new things! After he passed the examinations given at the end of the lessons, he was given a certification which he was told that if he wanted to learn more advanced knowledge, he would need this certification to qualify.


    As he was debating whether should he continue his studies, there was an announcement over the  do'', which he enjoyed listening to the music that came out of it, talking about military recruitment for the local militia.


    He decided to take a look to find out more and to his surprise, the recruiter frankly told him that if he joined the Self Defense Force, he will get to learn how to use those thunder weapons he sought for!


    He quickly signed up and a weekter, he and many others were whizzed off onboard one of the moving wagons which was called a ''truck''. At the end of the destination, he and the others came to a camp and there, he trained for three months to be a soldier of the SDF.


    -----


    "Cork!" His buddy shook him again. "Stop spacing out! The Imperials areing!"


    The Rock shook off his thoughts and peered through the firing slits of the covered fighting position dug low into the ground. "Where?"


    "Up in the skies!" His buddy replied and shared his binocrs to the Rock.


    The Rock peeped into the binos, another invention of the UN that impressed him a lot. He swept the binos left and right before spotting a cluster of dots in the purplish skies as the sun was slowing setting down. "Dragons... lots of dragons..."


    "Yeah," His buddy replied. "Our dragon patrol spotted them earlier. Seems like they are nning to transport the bulk of their troops over our lines by flying dragons!"


    "Luckily we got those anti dragon guns!" His buddy jerked his thumb back to the rear of the lines. "They won''t know what they ran into! Ha!"


    The Rock gave a grin and continued to observe the approaching dragons. He could see the colors and trappings on the dragons and frowned as he tried to remember which colors did those gs belong to. "Shit... It''s the Third Army!"


    "Huh?" His buddy who was checking his rifle turned and nced at the skies. "You know which Imperial force they belong to?"


    "Ahh..." The Rock quickly came up with an excuse. "I used to be a ve with the Imperial Army... So I recognized some of those gs..."


    "I see," His buddy returned his attention back to his rifle, unsuspecting of his friend''s past. "I hate the Imperials, I lost a lot of friends to them..."


    "Oh... me too... Me too..." The Rock whispered, his eyes glittering in the setting sun.

 Chapter 377: Danger! High Explosives!

    Chapter 377: Danger! High Explosives!


    Northern Front, ''The Baiting Line'', Marine First Battalion, ''A'' Company


    All along the line of defensive works, Marines slept with their helmets and gear on. Thend between the Marines and Imperials were pockmarked with craters and bodies. The once waist tall wild grasses were ttened and charred from spells and explosives. The Marines named thend between the two forces as the Baiting Line, for once the Imperials crossed an imaginary line, the Marines will attempt to bait the Imperialsin and hit them with massed artillery fire.


    Surprisingly, the First Imperial Army remained steadfast and its men held their discipline, while its auxiliary troops'' morale had long broken from the punishing fire of the artillery strikes. The Imperials had retreated for the third time in good order while the Marines cheered. And now, the Marines were stirring up as the skies slowly brightened up, signaling for another attack soon.


    "New orders!" The toon Sergeant dropped down into Slow''s fighting pit. "We are gonna stage a retreat! So pack up your essentials and left the rest behind!"


    "Huh?" Slow scratched his head. "So we are running?"


    "Yes," The Sergeant nodded as he waved over a couple of guys. "A fake one. The demo boys will be rigging up the whole ce with explosives and mines! So get ready!"


    "We gonna stand on those boom booms?" Slow''s beady eyes erged in surprise as he watched a couple ofbat engineers shoved earth out from the floor of his fortified position while another stacked crates marked with white bold letters ''DANGER! HIGH EXPLOSIVES!'' on the side.


    "Yes!" The Sergeant grinned. "Don''t worry, soldier! Nothing a good dose of high explosive can''t solve!"


    "But... Sarge!" Slow looked worriedly at the pile of explosives being nted around the area. "What happens if one of those fireballsnd here?"


    "That''s why we are baiting them to close the Baiting Line!" The Sergeant replied. "Once they close the line we give them a good volley and we run!"


    "We gonna let them think our weapons are exhausted and let them chase us!" The Sergeant exined while those nearby all listened attentively. "We will stop the artillery fire and let them think we ran out of ammo. Once they reach our lines, we will drop everything on them."


    "And if they take cover in our defensives," The Sergeant gave an evil smile and patted the crates of explosives. "Well... like I said. Nothing a good dose of explosive can''t solve!"


    "So, suck it up!" The Sergeant said. "These babies won''t hurt you! Just remember to run as fast as you can to the fall back lines the engineers are building!"


    "Fark..." Slow sighed as the Sergeant walked off down the lines. He looked at the engineers carefully burying the explosives with soil and hiding the detonation wire. "You sure this won''t go boom?"


    Thebat engineer looked up and gave a shrug. "It shouldn''t... just don''t let it catch a fireball or meteor spell!"


    "Oh, Slow no like this..."


    -----


    First Imperial Army


    The Lord General of the First Army watched as his legions formed up again for another attack on the rebels. The auxiliary forces consisting of ves and penal legions were being whipped into positions before the legions. For the past few attacks, he had used the ves and penal legions as probes, letting them tank all the damage while his hardened troops observed the enemy.


    He had noticed the casting rate of those screaming demon spells that burst in the air had lessened in the previous attack and he nodded to himself, thinking that the rebel mages shouldn''t have the ability to constantly cast those spells with rest.


    Now, it was time for an all out attack. With the mountains on the rebel''s left, the Forest with its deadly monsters at their rear and the order of Knights cutting off the way to the city. Those rebels will be crushed by the end of the day!


    He had his veteran legions, all six of them arranged in two columns, one on each nk. In the middle, were the ves and penal legions, a total of five legions, each legion roughly consisted of ten thousand bodies. At the rear of the main formation, supporting the ves and penal legions were the conscripted troops consisting of another two legions.


    He had no cavalry or Knights with him as he sent them all on a mission to cut off the city and the rebel forces before him. His dragons were badly mauled during the first few encounters by the rebels'' strange demon cursed fliers.


    The weapons of the rebels were also baffling to him, but from experience, he decided to switch his tactics to dealing with a ranged enemy. The thunder weapons were like crossbows, but many more times deadlier and had further range.


    To deal with that, he can only do two things. One was to close as fast as possible and let the useless ves and scum absorb the attacks while letting his veteran troops avoid the brunt of the attacks.


    Once the rebels had deleted their spells and thunder weapons, that was when his veterans'' legions will hit the enemy lines. Too bad, the General thought. His dragons were totally ineffective, if not, he will use his dragons to wreak havoc behind the rebels'' rear.


    "My Lord!" An aide stood respectfully behind the General. "The men have formed up and are ready!"


    The General nodded and turned to hismanders, "Order the first wave to attack! But no drums or trumpets! We want to keep the rebels unaware as long as we could for the first wave! Remember! Keep the men spread out in groups! The most important thing is speed! Speed!"


    Hismanders nodded and left to their posts. Soon banners and gs were waved and thousands and thousands of soldiers started marching. Two ves and penal legions marched forward before the rest. Once they were roughly three hundred paces away, the remaining ve and penal legions started marching.


    The sight of thousands of men marching off into battle made the General smile with excitement. He mounted hisnd dragon and urged his mount forward till he arrived at the edge of the forest when the battlefield spread out before his eyes.


    The ve and penal legions once they had left the cover of the forest, they quickened their pace, moving at double time to traverse the battlefield and close to the enemy. Almost immediately, the cursed screams came from the skies and thick ck smoke erupted among the soldiers.


    Any troops that were bracken by the smoke, fell like broken toy soldiers. There were barely any magic barriers nor mages among the ves and penal legions. They could only soak up the damage with blood and bodies as they advanced bravely under the punishing spellfire.


    Soon, the deadly screaming spells lessened before stoppingpletely, making the General smile. He turned to his aide and said. "It''s time! Order and all out attack! All legions to charge! Any soldier who brings me the head of the enemymanders will earn a hundred gold crowns from me!"


    Horns and trumpets blew loudly as the rest of the First Army readied themselves for the charge. They appeared out of the forest and advanced like a checkerboard across the battlefield littered with dead. The once feared screaming spells of the rebels were missing, making the Imperial soldiers more confidant as they double time across the battleground.


    The first wave of legions soon appeared within range of the rebels'' thunder weapons. The General using a far sight spell could hear the rumble of thunder and see the spell shes along the line. Men suddenly clenched their bodies and jerked before falling down. He could see the first wave legionmanders yelling and shortly after he heard the roar of a chargeing from thousands of mouths in the front.


    The first wave legions charged and fell as the rebels'' fearsome thunder weapons rumbled and spit mes at them. The General smiled as it was going ording to n. The first wave of ves and penal legions were soaking up all the damages and depleting the rebel''s spell power while his true punch wasing into range.


    He shook his head as he was clusters of men from the ve and penal legions breaking off the attack, and running for their lives. Still, he had anticipated that the first wave''s morale will break, but the second wave will soon hit the lines before his veteranse in.


    He suddenly smiled when he saw ck figures from the rebel lines starting to retreat. One by one, the rebels abandoned their lines before the tickle of retreat turned into a flood. "Order the legions to advance with all haste! Destroy the retreating rebels! We must destroy this force once and for all or they will be a thorn in our rear!"


    More signal horns and trumpets blew, signaling to themanders in the front to move with more haste. "Come!" The General said to his aides and guards. "We shall advance to the front and see how the enemy is routed!"


    As the General and his retinue crossed the battlefield, he frowned when the roars of thunder constantly grew louder and longer. His mount soon climbed up the abandoned rebel defense lines and he saw the downside of the slope. Thousands of his soldiers were mired with some kind of obstacles which made the troops bunched up together.


    "NO!" The General stared in horror at the troops and realized that he was tricked. "Order the troops to scatter! DO NOT BUNCH UP!"


    Just as he finished his orders, the screams of spells came overhead and before his very eyes, his men were shrouded in explosions. "NOOO! RETREAT! ORDER THE TROOPS TO PULL BACK! Tell them to take cover in the tunnels!"


    His aide frantically blew the signal horns to order the troops to retreat. Some of the legions heard the orders and fell back. Other legions deafened by the sudden spell barrage tried their best to weather the deadly spells with magic barriers or pure bodies while trying to break through the sharp metal ropes that blocked their way.


    "Back! Back!" The General roared furiously at the surrounding men. "Get into the tunnels!"


    He had noticed the enemy spells were being cast in such a way that it moves up thend! How clever, he thought as he leaped off his mount and into one of the many dug tunnels and holes that the rebels used as a defensive position. He couldn''t outrun the spell and he did not want to risk testing if his mage escorts could protect him.


    He ducked into a hole dug into the side of the tunnels and ordered the mages to cast a protective barrier above them while he cast an illumination spell to see in the dark. He immediately noticed the smell of sweat and unwashed bodies in the tight confines of the hole.


    "Tell the men to hold in the tunnels! I cannot believe that the enemy has so much mana reserves to keep casting those spells!" He said to his aides who nodded and bravely ventured out of the underground cover to ry his orders.


    The earth shook wildly as the rebels'' screaming spellnded above them. The magic barriers held and there was only a slight trickle of earth raining from the earthen roof. The General sighed, thinking that he got outyed by the enemy. He half crouch on the low roofed chamber and noticed the earth seemed to be disturbed next to his sabaton.


    He reached down with one gauntleted hand and swept the loose soil away. His metal gauntlets suddenly hit something hard under the soil and it roused his curiosity. He dug harder and revealed what seemed to be a wooden box.


    He swept as much of the soil away from the box and frowned as he tried to understand the bold white runes writing on the side of the box.


    "What in heavens is this?" He asked but none of his retinues could answer him. "You, dig it up for me to see!"


    "Yes, Lord!" One of his Life Guards bent down and started digging the box with his hands. Once more of the box was exposed, the side with the white runes could be seen more clearly.


    [ DANGER! HIGH EXPLOSIVES! ]

 Chapter 378: Fun and Games

    Chapter 378: Fun and Games


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" The warning was echoed down the Marines line. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"


    Secondster, the abandoned fortifications that the Marines used sweat and blood to construct and defend disappeared in a series of explosions that eclipsed the ongoing artillery barrage. The top of the ridge literally disappeared, as the buried explosives sent tons of dirt flying into the air.


    The explosion caught the majority of the First Imperial Army by surprise, but then again, many died without even knowing what happened. Those lucky enough to be not caught in the trap could only stare with dumbstruck horror at the sudden eruption of the earth.


    Many fell to their knees in prayers as they thought the Gods of the Earth were somehow angered while others ran away screaming in terror. The trap also killed most of the First Imperial Army seniormanding officers leaving the surviving troops leaderless. This crippled the First Imperial Army badly as the troops were confused by conflicting orders.


    On the other hand, the Marines were waiting for their chance. The supporting artillery fire switched their fire pattern to creeping barrage and the orders for the Marines to advance came.


    -----


    Slow walked carefully over the dead andid down fire with his MG - 1 held casually in his hand. On his other hand, he held a small axe covered in gore. On his left and right were other members of his section, armed with the new M4 Magelocks assault rifles. The Marines loaded the 30 round box magazines with 25 rounds instead as the springs of the new box magazine were not very reliable and would asionally fail to load the rounds into the rifle if filled with 30 rounds.


    The magazines were intended to be disposable items but due to storages and needs, the Marine quartermasters and armourers tend to reuse the magazines, thus causing the springs to weaken. Thus the Marines learned to just load 25 rounds into the magazines which extended the life of the magazines.


    Slow stepped over a moving body and toss down his axe down, cutting off the life of the wounded Imperial before he sprayed a burst at a small group of Imperial hurdled inside a magic barrier. The bullet impacts sprayed sparks all over and made the magic barrier glow. The small disy of fireworks drew the attention of the nearby Marines and they fired and advanced.


    Slow dug out his buried axe from the dead Imperial and watched as his toon mates fired single shots at the magic barrier in a steady rhythm. The magic barrier glowed frantically under the steady barrage of lead and the small group of Imperials could only watch on desperately as the barrier got depleted.


    Finally, with a loud pop, the magic barrier overloaded and the mage screamed as he suffered from the magic bacsh. He flopped down in the middle of the ring of Imperial shields. The Imperials soldiers bravely yelled out a challenge and charged at the Marines, only to be gunned down before they took two steps.


    "Dumb bastards!" The Marine next to Slow spat on the ground. "They could have surrendered."


    "Alright, boys!" Slow turned and saw their toon leader call out from the rear. "Mop up the area! We got the Blue Boys on the run!"


    Slow cheered along with the rest and continue their sweep, clearing off pockets of remaining Imperials. By the end of the day, the First Imperial Army had ceased to exist.


    -----


    First Imperial Army, Order of the Shadows, Hidden Camp


    The Joker sat with his legs crossed as he yed around with the strange thunder stick. Around himid parts of several dissembled thunder sticks. "Interesting, interesting..."


    "What is interesting?" Thos the Knight with the full helm walked over with a gon of wine. "Here."


    "Smell this," The Joker tossed a metal barrel over to Thos. "The rotten eggs smell is sulfur!"


    "The stuff of demons," Thos nodded as he dropped the barrel together with the other bits and pieces.


    "Haha," The Jokerughed and said, "Means we are so screwed!"


    "Why?" Thos took a seat and push up his face te till only his mouth was exposed and took a sip from his gon.


    "If a bunch of peasants armed with these thunder sticks can kill us, Knights, from a distance of further than a crossbow," The Joker smilingly said. "What do you think demons armed with these weapons can do?"


    "Damnation!" Thos pped his facete down. "You are right!"


    "Also, if peasants can kill us so easily with these," The Joker continued. "Do you think the people will still fear us any more?"


    "No!" Thos nodded and said. "You are right again! This is bad news!"


    "Well, not entirely," The Joker added. "There are several ways to deal with this."


    "One, crush the rebellion so hard that no one will ever dare to raise up against us ever again," The Joker grinned. "Second, we force out the secrets of making these thunder sticks from the rebels and we crash them."


    "Or thirdly, crush the rebels and find the demons behind them," The Jokerughed. "Maybe we can make out some deal with the demons? Hahaha!"


    "Hmmm," Thos sighed. "So either way we will just crush the rebels..."


    "Hahahahaaha! Yes!" The Jokerughed again. "So did those scum talk yet?"


    Thos nodded and he bent down to a pile of discarded poaches and took out a shiny golden tube. "They say for the ''rite fles'' to work, you need to load this inside."


    "Hmmm," The Joker took the shiny tube and rolled it in his finger. "What exquisite craftsmanship!"


    "You think our craftsmen have this level of skill?" The Joker asked.


    "Hard to tell," Thos gave a shrug. "Maybe?"


    "No..." The Joker sighed dramatically. "You should go out more and look around!"


    "Our craftsmen can''t even make something like this so easily..." The Joker stood up and kicked the pile of gear. "And these rebels have so many of these... How do you think they could have gotten them made?"


    Thos gave a shrug again.


    "That''s is why we need to find out the secrets of these weapons!" The Joker said. "Every part here was made with perfection and they are all identical to each other! Which of our craftsmen has such ability?"


    "None!" The Joker spread out both hands. "Now bring me the prisoners."


    Thos gave a nod and lumbered off. Not longter, he returned with two bounded up rebels. Both rebels looked worse for wear, with various injuries on their faces. The rest of the Knights seeing a good show came over to watch and gathered around. Thos kicked their knees and growled. "Kneel!"


    The Joker took out a dagger and sliced the ropes of the two rebels and smiled, "I am gonna give you two a chance of a lifetime!"


    "Whoever can kill the other with the ''rite fles'' get released!" The Joker''s smile grew wider. "And the game starts now!"


    Both rebels stared at each other in surprise but one of them acted. He bent down and grabbed one of the rifles from the ground and worked the bolt rapidly and squeezed the trigger. But there was just a snap of the bolt and he looked down his rifle in surprise.


    The other rebel with a cut over his forehead threw himself down to the other rifle and worked the bolt to check the chamber. He quickly looked around and saw the pile of load bearing gear on the side. He ran over and started digging into the pouches just as the first rebel who acted did the same.


    The wounded rebel pulled out a stripper of five rounds and pped it into the chamber well as fast as he could. He mmed the bolt forward and fired the rifle from a standing hip position. A thick smelly cloud of smoke burst out and the other rebel was thrown backwards from the st.


    The surrounding Knights roared withughter and excitement at seeing death. Even the Joker''s smile went wider. He pped his hands and waved away the lingering gun smoke. "Good work!"


    The Joker had observed both rebels'' actions in using the ''rile fle''. The surviving rebel dropped the rifle and said, "As per your promise, I am free to go, yes?"


    "Yes, yes!" The Joker nodded and waved his hands, which the Knights opened up a way for the rebel to leave. The rebel looked around him nervously and quickly ran off before the Joker changed his mind. He has yet to take five steps when a sh of silver mmed into his back.


    "YOU!?" The rebel gasped in pain and tried to reach behind his back to the dagger hilt protruding out from his back when another dagger mmed into the back of his neck and the rebel, lifeless, flopped face down.


    "I did say you can leave, but I didn''t say alive or dead! Hahahaha," The rest of the Knightsughed together with the Joker''s joke. "Alright, disperse! Fun is over! Go do your stuff!"


    The Joker bent down and picked up the discarded rifle and worked the bolt exactly like what the rebel had done and a shiny tube spun out followed by a whiff of rotten eggs. He pushed the bolt forward again rested the stock against his shoulder and tracked the barrel of the rifle around, pausing at his beast ve kneeling on the side.


    The beast ve trembled with fear when she saw her Master aiming that dreadful weapon at her and she cowered down. The Joker grinned and squeezed the trigger and felt a powerful kick against his shoulder while the loud thunderous roar of the rifle rang in his ears.


    The tree trunk behind the cowering beast ve exploded as the heavy lead bullet mmed into the tree. The Joker coughed and waved the gun smoke away and strolled forward to check the effects of his shot.


    "Wow!" He gave augh. "This is amazing!"


    The Joker poked his finger into the smoking hole in the tree trunk and dug out a still hot piece of metal. "This is fun!"


    After that, he continued to shoot until the rifle ran dry. He recalled that the rebels had ced the shiny tubes into the weapon and he repeated their actions using his memory. After that, he continued to fire at the tree trunks until he was satisfied.


    He tossed the weapon to Thos and said, "Capture more of these weapons on our next attack! And more of those shiny bolts which are like the ammunition of crossbows! But with more power!"


    "Send a two sets of the weapons and those golden bolts back to the Order!" The Joker ordered. "I want the Order''s Magisters to find out what and how they worked!"


    Thor nodded and left to carry out his orders. The Joker bent over the cowering beastman ve and said, "Don''t worry! I won''t kill you so easily! You have yet to be broken! Hahahahaa!"


    He walked back to the camp and gestured to the Knights in Training. The squires quickly ran over to his bidding. "Yes? My Lord?"


    "Go remove all the golden bolts from the pile of gear there," The Joker pointed. He showed the youngsters the hollowed tube and said, "Put this to one pile and the other into another! And count them!"


    "Yes! My Lord!" The squires quickly jumped to action and started removing the shiny bolts from the pouches. In the end, the squires gathered a total of sixty seven golden bolts and ten empty bolts.


    The Joker nodded and rolled one of the loose golden bolts in his fingers and said to the squires. "Call for a war gathering!"


    "Hehehe... it''s time to go steal more of these golden bolts and ''rile fles''." The Joker rubbed his hands. "I am sure those rebels won''t be expecting these weapons to be used back against them! Heheheh!"


    "This is going to be so fun!"

 Chapter 379: One For The History Books

    Chapter 379: One For The History Books


    Northern Front, City of Falledge, Forward Defense Line


    Heavy gunfire echoed throughout the night. The night skies were lit up by glowing tracers floating into the skies and parachute res. Gout of mes washed over the trench lines as Imperial Dragons swept down low over the SDF positions.


    Men and dragons screamed as they fought while guns thundered and roared. A dragon mmed right into a puff of smoke were an anti air shell detonated in mid air, had hundreds of .50 calibre sized ball bearings ripping through its body and turning its crew and passengers into shredded meat.


    The lifeless dragon dropped like a rock and impacted the ground with a bone breaking crash just before the bunker where the Rock was stationed. Under the illumination of the res, he stared at the bleeding eye sockets of the dragon as it rattled out itsst breath. The unidentified bits and pieces still secured to the dragon''s harness leaked dark red stains that mixed with the dragon''s blood pooling in the crater made by the dragon''s crash.


    The Rock turned his gaze away from the dead reptile and its crew and focused on the moving shadows that were trying to crawl their way forward and kill him. He felt conflicted as to where his loyaltiesid as he fired at the crawling shadows.


    He was a Lord General of the Imperial Army but defeated against the United Nations. Now he joined up as a Self Defense Force soldier and fighting against his very own countrymen. Yet he knew if he returned to the Empire, he has a high chance he will bear all the me for the lost.


    Even if the Emperor acquitted him of his defeat, the other Nobles jealous of his exploits or had bad blood with him will take the chance to pull him down. On the other hand, he could start afresh here, provided that the UN could survive the Imperial forces. And looking at their current situation, it would appear that the UN was winning against the Empire.


    As he pondered about his fate, thend before him lit up as an artillery barrage rained down on the attackers and turned the night briefly into day. Under the sudden shes of light, he saw the skies filled with numerous shapes of flying dragons.


    "Damn," The Rock stared up at the shadowy underbellies of the dragons. "They must be trying to force an aerial crossing!"


    As if to answer him, the .50 caliber machine gun nests and 20 mm guns turned anti air batteries fired fiercely at the fleet of dragons in the air. An air raid siren whooped in the distance and the Rock crawled out of his bunker to watch the light show in the air.


    Thousands and thousands of tracers darted into the skies in long arcing lines. res and a few of the strange magical light beams were shone up into the skies, catching a few of the dragons in the re.


    "Poor bastards," The Rock sighed. "I wonder how many will see the sun tomorrow..."


    -----


    Flight Lieutenant Legos, squadron leader of Gold Wing peered into the darkness before him. He could barely see the terrain before him even with the help of parachute res the ground artillery were lobbing into the skies.


    He knew that the air space was very crowded with lead, artillery shells and even enemy dragons. His wing of twelve was flying the upgraded Super Cobras and keeping station above the night battle when the panicked calls came in from the ground SDF units about sightings of hundreds and hundreds of dragons.


    He looked over the sight of his bubble cockpit and under the brief shes of explosions, he saw the illuminated silhouette of dragons appearing. The next thing he knew was the friendly lines suddenly erupted into a frenzied mess of tracer fire.


    "Shit!" He cursed. "Gold Lead to all! Scatter! Scatter!"


    The flight of twelve Super Cobras broke formation and rolled away from the sudden barrage of deadly ground fire. "Gold Lead to SDF ground units! Check fire! Check fire! Goddamnit! Blue on blue!"


    The number of tracer fire ceased as word got through to the ground units. Yet the problem with the Imperial dragons in the area of operations remained. Legos and his pilots could barely see anything in the dark while several anti air defences on the ground were shooting discriminately at anything in the air.


    "Alright, Gold Group!" Legos finally made a decision. "Low squadron drop to 500 and pop your res over friendly lines! The rest of the squadrons, wait out for lizards! Own time own target!"


    Gold Five, Six, Seven and Eight made up the low squadron and they looped around and dropped their altitude till around five hundred meters above sea level. Gold Five, the squadron leader yelled themand for his squadron of four nes to drop res as they flew over friendly lines.


    The res, used for signalling and battlefield illumination rapid fired out in a ''V'' pattern from the rear of the four Super Cobras. Instantly the skies below the four nes lit up brightly, and several Imperial dragons were exposed, their crew and passengers staring up in surprise at the sudden light.


    "Gold Lead to all! Engage!" Legos yelled into the radio. "Watch out for friendly fire!"


    The other seven nes of the Gold Wing dipped their wings and charged down towards the exposed dragons which were trying to flee away from the res and hide in the dark. More bullet tracers floated upwards the exposed dragons at the same time the Super Cobras dived in for the kill.


    Legos yelled into themand radio, "SDF ground units cease fire! Farking hell! Cease the goddamn AA fire!"


    Thankfully, the anti air fire died down, giving the Super Cobra pilots somefort. They chased the fleeing dragons with ease, as the dragons were overburdened with troops and supplies. Legos managed to keep his eye on one of the heavy weight dragons that disappeared off the glow of the dying res.


    He kept his crosshair at where he guessed the dragon will be at and squeezed the trigger, firing his twin 20mm gun pods. Bolts of fiery red tracers flicked out into the night and for a brief moment, the silhouette of the dragon could be seen from the shell impacts.


    Legos grinned fiercely as he saw a dark shadow fall off the skies and ordered into the radio. "Gold Group! Drop res and engage at will!"


    The pilots of Gold Group obeyed and soon the night turned into a hunting ground for the Super Cobras. It was forever remembered as the worst Imperial aerial defeat in the course of aviation history for barely a third survived.


    -----


    UN, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    ke rubbed his tired eyes as he read the live reports streaming into hisputer. An engagement here, a skirmish there or reports of enemy movements were all being disyed on his screen. He scrolled through some of the reports and read in detail on others.


    "Richard..." Sherene frowned as she entered ke''s office. "It''s sote, why are you still at work?"


    ke looked up and gave a smile to his wife. "The Imperials are attacking all along the North Front. And we don''t know if its coincidence or nned."


    Sherene stood behind ke''s chair and started kneading his shoulders. "You got subordinates to oversee everything. You shouldn''t push yourself so hard. You are the head of the state... If you fall ill... it will not bore well for the Nation."


    "Rx, dear," ke patted Sherene''s hand. "I know what I am doing. I am just finishing up on these reports."


    "Hmph..." Sherene''s frown deepened. "I know its important, but you still need to look after your health!"


    "I know, don''t worry," ke smiled. "Go to bed first, I will join you once I finished these."


    Sherene sighed and nodded, "Make it quick!"


    ke''s smile remained until Sherene left his office. His smile turned to a frown as he returned to the rming reports of the battles at the front. He tapped his keypad and a tone beeped. After a while, the image of Colonel Frank appeared. "Sir!"


    "Did I woke you?" ke asked as he continued reading the iing reports.


    "No Sir!" Colonel Frank replied. "I am going through some reports and strategy with my team."


    "Ok," ke nodded. "I''m reading this report here about the ability of the SDF stationed at Falledge. Their performance isn''t up to any standards..."


    Colonel Frank turned off screen and picked up a report before he nodded, "Yes, Sir... Seems like they got the short end of the stick as they are up against a Knight Order."


    "I see," ke replied. "So what are the counter measures?"


    "I am pushing up Ninth Battalion as support, just in case those supermans like Knights break the SDF lines," Colonel Frank said. "The Ninth should arrive by the morning to reinforce the line."


    "And the eyewitness reports of the Imperials stealing our weapons and gear?" ke asked. "Is that information verified?"


    Colonel Frank reached off screen again to take another report before he replied, "Yes, Sir. We got several confirmed eyewitnesses say that the Imperials had grabbed several old M1 Magelocks of the SDF."


    "So it''s just a matter of time, they learn how our weapons work," ke sighed. "I was hoping we could have at least another season or two."


    Anyway, can the Falledge SDF hold off the Knights before the First and Second Battalions mop up the remaining First Imperial Army?" ke asked.


    "They should, especially with the support of the Ninth," Frank said. "But, all down the line, the Imperials areunching attacks."


    "Is it deliberate?" ke asked.


    "No, Naval Intel has found no indication of such a n," Frank replied. "But at the same time, I ced all units on full alert in case the Imperials had some grand scheme going on."


    "We can''t afford to drag this war," ke said. "Our industry is still in the growing stages and our stockpiled munitions and weapons will not be enough for a prolong war at the rate of munitions and fuel we are burning. And not to mention funds..."


    Frank nodded, "Yes, Sir. The boys at Strategic nning and Command areing out with ns to ensure we do not fall into that pit, Sir."


    "Good," ke replied. "I don''t want to sell more of our tech stuff to the Isles. Nor do I want to ask them for help. I doubt we can afford their services."


    "Understood, Sir. We are already making good progress on the right nk," Frank said. "Once the First and Second Battalions clear all the Imperial forces around Falledge, we can start taking the offensive to the Imperials."


    "Make it so," ke said. "I got goblin raiders spotted along the Goblin Seas, which means they areing for their annual raid along the coast. This shit will drain more resources from the main war at the North."


    "And our navy is severely understrength," Frank added. "I understand, Sir."


    "Good, by the way, get some sleep, you need it," ke said before he signed off.


    He leaned back on his chair as he stared at the map of the New World mounted on the wall facing him. Once all the Imperial Armies were defeated, ke was very sure the Emperor will call for a truce and maybe evene to a peace agreement of sorts.


    If that was the case, just a couple of years of peace will ensure the United Nations solidify its strength to overwhelm the Empire should the Emperor break the peace. And two years will also give the Navy enough time to build up its fleet and destroy Goblin Ind once and for all, making the Goblin Sea free of all pirates and raiders for the future.


    But first, they have to defeat the remaining three Imperial Armies at their doorstep first.

 Chapter 380: Rolling Thunder

    Chapter 380: Rolling Thunder


    Second Imperial Army Camp, ''Centre'' of the Front


    The General in charge of the Second Army paced about his tent in frustration. Braziers of burning coal lit and warmed the tent against the night. His army of a hundred thousand was bogged by the numerous enemy forts and defensivesid before their path of advance! The rebels were like the pesty prairie burrowers, which liked to dig burrows and hunters who hunted the prairie burrowers for their pelt had to stop and check each and every mound.


    And that was not all, the rebels had developed some kind of hit and run tactics,ying traps and ambushes out of nowhere. His best trackers tried their best to track down the rebels but they always came to a dead end as the rebels'' tracks seemed to stop in the middle of a field and vanish into thin air.


    His dragons also fared poorly against the rebel''s demonic flying crosses. The rebel''s fliers could outfly his fastest light weights and even take on the strongest heavy weight dragons in hismand. Thankfully, those thrice cursed giant flying crosses no longer appeared and hound his forces with their egg shaped fire bombs.


    The General paused in his tracks and red at his retinue who shrank back from his fearsome gaze. "Another supply camp destroyed? Was the rebel scums caught this time?"


    The men in themand tent looked at each other sheepishly before the bearer of the bad news bowed and said. "No Lord General..."


    "The rebels had disappeared before our trackers manage to find them..." The bearer said.


    "AGAIN!" The General roared and mmed his fist against the table. "AGAIN AND AGAIN! Are you all fools? How can a small group of rebel scum sneak in and out of our lines? ARE ALL YOUR EYES BLIND?!"


    The men all kept their heads down and remained quiet at their Lord General''s tirade. "How many men do we have? Yet the rebels couldn''t even be caught EVERY SINGLE TIME!"


    "FIND THEM!" The General roared. "USE ALL MEANS... BUT FIND THEM! Or you lot will be hanging by the end of the day! GO!"


    The General''s retinue frightened by his threat all rushed out of the tent to carry out the General''s orders.


    "Damn you rebels!" The General sat down. "Curse you!"


    -----


    3 km From Extraction Point Alpha


    The shadowy figure in the front suddenly froze and shot up a clenched fist. Instantly the men behind him froze as well and ever so slowly lowered to a crouch.


    The point man gave a thumbs down to indicate the presence of the enemy and raised two fingers followed by a fist and pointed. The section leader nodded and spread his fingers before his face and waved the men to deploy on the left and right.


    The glow of several torches slowly came into view as the patrol of Imperial soldiers marched over. The Marines could hear the Imperial''s grumbling as they stumbled in the dark in such an ungodly hour trying to find the rebels that had earlier just burnt down a camp filled with supplies.


    The section leader chopped his hand down and the section of Marines fired their suppressed rifles and secondster, the entire column of Imperial soldiersid dead or dying.


    "Stamp out the fires!" The section leader hissed. "And silence those still alive!"


    The Marine raiders move out of cover and started the grim job of finishing off any wounded or dying. Others stamped on the fallen torches and the area once again was shrouded in darkness.


    "Trap the bodies!" The SL ordered next. A couple of Marines removed the pins of the grenades and carefully rested the bodies of the Imperials facing downwards on top of the grenade'' arming spoon. Should the bodies be turned over, the arming spoon will bounce off and whoever is still standing there will get a bellyful of shrapnel.


    "Hurry up!" The SL checked his illuminated watch face. "Pickuping soon!"


    "Done! Sarge!" The Marines setting the booby traps replied.


    "Let''s go!" The SL waved the men forward and they silently left the area.


    -----


    Arche used to be a hunter until he got caught by Imperial soldiers for poaching inside the Emperor''s forest. He was given a choice, lose an arm, be a ve or serve the Imperial Army. Now, he served the same Emperor as a tracker for the Second Imperial Army.


    He was not the best nor was he the worse tracker in the Army. And tonight, he was roused out of his thin bedding to track a group of rebels that had sneaked past the Imperial lines and torched a camp full of supplies.


    He squatted down and carefully observed the ground under the light of the burning torches. There were a few trampled prints on the soft soil and lowered his head to ground level. "Looks like a small group heading that way, maybe five or eight people..."


    The Imperial Captain nodded and shouted a fewmands to his men who climbed to their feet and got ready to move off. Arche straightened up and followed the tracks while the rest of the soldiers followed behind.


    Arche suddenly stopped and sniffed the air, he touched the leaves of the undergrowth and hissed, "I can smell blood!"


    The Imperials soldiers immediately readied themselves and cast alert nces around their surroundings. Arche crept forward and yelled for the soldiers toe, "We are toote!"


    Bodies of Imperial soldiersid sprawled where they had been ambushed. The smell of blood had attracted a few small night scavengers which scurried off when the soldiers appeared. The Imperial Captain growled at the sight while the other soldiers felt anger at seeing their own dead.


    Arche slowly and carefully bent over the terrain around the bodies as he studied the ground for any tracks of the rebels. He frowned and picked up arge fine ring with a piece of slim two pronged metal attached to it.


    He held the strange ring up to the light and observed its fine craftsmanship and slipped it into his pocket and returned to observing the ground around the bodies. He noticed the bodies were not looted despite the number of tracks around them. "Strange..."


    The Imperial Captain came next to Arche squatting by one of the bodies and asked. "What now, tracker?"


    "Captain," Arche stood up and said, "Their tracks head that way. But I find it strange they did not stop to loot the bodies..."


    The Imperial Captain was a veteran of several wars and he knew that a basic soldier''s instinct was to loot the dead. He too found the words of the trackers to be strange and turned around, to see some of his own men going through the bodies of the dead for coin or food and drink.


    Suddenly, realising something, the Imperial Captain yelled at his men, "STOP! DON''T MOVE THE BODIES!"


    But his words came too slow as some of the soldiers had already rolled the dead over and there was a soft metallic ''PANG'' sound. The soldiers paused at their Captain''s yelled but at the same time they looked down at the cause of the noise. One of the soldiers even picked up the small dark egg shaped object when the triggered grenades blew up one by one.


    -----


    The Marine raiders jerked to a halt as a ripple of thunder echoed down the forest. "Damn! They are almost on us!"


    "Double time!" The SL said. "Ignore stealth!"


    The Marine raiders quickly moved faster through the undergrowth as they head closer to the rendezvous point with their pickup. They only barely travelled fifteen minutes before the explosions behind them came, meaning that the enemy was very close at their tail!


    "Hopefully that trap will slow and confuse them down!" The Marine raider SL yelled. "We are nearly to the extraction zone!"


    The Marines kept up their pace and finally they emerged from the forest and out into arge field of chest height waving grass. The SL turned to the radioman and said, "Call it in!"


    The men spread out in a defensive circle automatically and kept watch of their surroundings while the radioman radio for extraction, "Griffin Six Zero, this is Romeo, do you copy? Over."


    "Griffin Six Zero, read you loud and clear."


    "Romeo, requesting immediate extraction at Point Alpha. Over."


    "Roger that Romeo, standby, five mikes!"


    The Marines remained tensed as they waited for the helo toe in to pick them up. They do not know if there were any Imperial pursuits nearby. Five minutes crawled slowly and suddenly there came the roar of rotors growing loud as the helo came nearer and nearer.


    "Pop the re!" The Marine raid Sergeant ordered and one of the men, ripped the ignition tab of the re stick and instantly an eye searing red glow and sparks hissed out.


    The Marine waved the ignited re at the approaching cked out helo. They saw arge shadow descent over their heads and the tail end cargo doors opened exposing the red lit internal cabin. "Quick it, Mar eens! Quick!"


    The Marines fell back towards the hovering CH - 1 ''Flying Banana'' and quickly boarded. The short goblin crew chief didn''t even wait for thest man topletely get into the helo before he mmed the button to shut the rear hatch. The goblin yelled into his oversized headset, "Mar eens all aboard!"


    The pilot applied power to the rotors and the helo swung forward as it shot up over the treetops and headed back to base while the Marines onboard grumbled as some of them had yet strapped in. "Come on Wattz! Can''t you wait for us to buckle up before you tell the pilot to take off?"


    "Can''t help it if slow Mar eens slow!" Wattz the goblin rolled his eyes behind his cool aviator shades. "You make pick up slow! Get onboard slow! Sit slow! Now tell me to slow down?"


    "Shit, we might have missed Greg but please no, not another wise ass goblin!" One of the Marine raiders mumbled.


    "What? Did you say Greg?" Wattz''s eyes glittered behind his shades. "Greg''s the best! Oh yea! All gobs wanna be like Greg!"


    "PLEASE NO!"


    -----


    Second Imperial Army Camp


    Arche limped his way towards the Lord General''s ornately decored tent as he was summoned by the General himself. Several Life Guards of the General gave way to him as he was brought into the tent. Inside the tent, the interior was even more gaudily decored with therge table being the centrepiece.


    He swallowed nervously as he saw the number of nobles and seniormanders all watching him from all sides while the Lord General sat at one end of the table. Arche went down on one knee and bowed. "Your humble servant, My Lord."


    "Tell me word by word, what happened to the scum that burnt down my supplies!" The Lord General spoke from his seat. "And how did they escape!"


    "Y- Yes, My lord!" Arche nodded fervently and started to narrate everything from tracking the rebels to finding the trap and finally how the tracks just stopped in the middle of nowhere. He did not mention that used the Captain''s body to block the deadly effects of the trap when it when off, thus gaining his life.


    "Again?" The Lord General''s expression was dark as it was always the same. The rebel will disappear in an open field with their tracks stopping there.


    "M- my Lord," Arche spoke. "There is one more thing..."


    "What?" The General''s furious gazended on Arche making him tremble in fright.


    "I- W- We all heard... something loud..." Arche sought the words to describe what he and the surviving soldiers heard. "Like a dragon roaring non stop or... something like rolling thunder that went on endlessly... The sound disappearedter... and when we followed the tracks, we found the rebels had disappeared..."


    "A continuous rolling thunder?"

 Chapter 381: Unexpected Command

    Chapter 381: Unexpected Command


    Northern Front, Outskirts of Falledge


    Mage mes flickered wildly in the wind as the passage of a wounded dragon mmed into the ground and dug a furrow across the terrain. Bangs of rifles and screams echoed out constantly as pockets of SDF continued their resistance against the Order of Shadows.


    SDF Corporal Bock was nursing a bleeding head wound caused by a ncing blow from a sword. He had repaid that attacker with a st of rifle fire in the face. He nced around his surroundings, seeing a few brave souls being besieged by several armored Knights.


    Ignoring his head wound and the stinging pain on his wounded shoulder, he leaped forward at the back of an unsuspecting Knight and rammed his sword bay into the back of the Knight. The tempered steel with the full weight of Bock easily punched through the te mail of the Imperial and making the Imperial arc his back in agony!


    Bock tried to yank his bay out but it was stuck so he squeezed the trigger and blew a fist chunk of guts and flesh out of the Imperial Knight before he managed to retrieve his bay out. With his sudden appearance, the tides were turned but less than half of the SDF soldiers survived against four of the Knights.


    Bock looked around and gestured towards the distant city walls, "Fall back! The lines are overrun!"


    "Gather all spare ammo and weapons!" Bock ordered as he noticed he was the only senior NCO there. "Hurry!"


    The seven remaining soldiers quickly grabbed ammo and weapons from the dead and crawled out of the fighting pit. They crouched low and ran across the battlefield, dodging bolts of spells and tracer fire. "Run!"


    "HEY!" Someone yelled from ahead of them and waved them over. Boch quickly led the SDF remnants towards the waving figures and they dropped down into another line of trenches. Boch found there was another small group of SDF soldiers hurdled along the trench walls.


    "What are you guys doing?" One of the soldiers who waved them over asked. "You could get shot by the machine guns!"


    "Which unit are you all from?" Boch asked. He noted the SDF soldier was ance corporal. His uniform was mud covered and they looked like they had experienced some heavy fighting. "We are from 4th Company."


    "The 4th?" The Lance Corporal frowned. "This is the Eighth! Shouldn''t you guys be in the front?"


    "The front is broken!" One of the survivors of the 4th Company said. "We got overrun and the officers ran! Fought back as much as we could and I think we are the only ones left!"


    Bock noticed that the fighting position was just an ''L'' shaped trench without any tunnels or passages linking to other trench lines and he gestured with his head to the speaker. "Who''s in charge?"


    The Lance Corporal looked around before he turned back to Bock, "I guess you are the boss now! Our Sarge ate a magic missile earlier when the Imperials attacked. And... our LT... went back to the Command Post for orders..."


    "You meant your officer ran too?" Bock shook his head. "How many of you are here?"


    "Just two squads," The Lance Corporal replied. "Twenty men."


    "Ok, that means we got a total of twenty eight here," Bock stuck his head out of the trench to look around. "What''s your name?"


    "Talix," The Lance Corporal said. "And we also got a machine gun."


    Bock nodded. "Any other NCOs?"


    Talix shook his head, "I''m the only LCP here."


    Bock sighed inwardly as he looked at the expectant nces by the men surrounding him in the fighting position. "Alright, we need to link up with another unit if possible. If not we need to support the City Gate''s defenses!"


    "The Knights had moved on towards the City Gates," Bock said. Their position was just South East of the City Gates, half a kilometer away and just at the edge of the Imperial thrust to the city. "No point either to stay here or move towards the East!"


    Some of the men grumbled among themselves, "Do we need to? We just escaped death!"


    "Why did you sign on then?" Bock growled. "Did you not take the coin to fight for the city? Protect yournd and families here?"


    "We got no families ornd h-!" Someone yelled and quickly paused when Bock cocked his rifle at the dissenter.


    "One more word about running away," Bock''s eyes glittered dangerously in the flickering mes said. "And I kill you!"


    "Y- yes, Corporal!" The dissenter nodded frantically.


    "You took an oath to defend thisnd!" Bock growled loudly so that everyone can hear. "You took the gold and your brother in arms had died and bled for it... Now you want to turn coward?"


    He red at each and every one of the soldiers, most of them unable to meet his eyes. "Do you not fear their souls will condemn you for your cowardly actions? How could you sleep at night knowing that you abandoned the rest of your brothers here?"


    "WE ARE NOT COWARDS!" Talix suddenly shouted, surprising the rest even Bock. He pped the shoulder of the soldiers next to him and urged them. "NOT COWARDS!"


    One by one the soldiers rallied to the cry. "NOT COWARDS!"


    "Good!" Bock gave a slight nod to Talix for his help. "How far to the next unit''s trench?"


    "They should be about a hundred meters away to our left," Talix said while pointing off into the darkness.


    "You and you!" Bock picked out to more solid looking soldiers and ordered. "Get to the other trench and see if there''s an Officer there! If not tell them to join us here!"


    "Yes, Corporal!" The two soldiers gave a salute and climbed out of the trench before they disappeared into the dark.


    "The rest of your check your gear and ammo!" Bock ordered.


    "Think they might run?" Bock offhandedly asked Talix in a low voice.


    Talix gave a shrug as he opened and closed his pouches of his webbing. "Hard to tell, everyone is frightened. Some of us are never even seen blood before till today..."


    Talix gestured to the rest who were checking their equipment. "They are all cutthroats, orphans, beggars and even kids with grand delusions of glory. But they are not cowards, just leaderless."


    Bock raised an eyebrow at the Lance Corporal''s words. "Why didn''t you take overmand?"


    "Me?" Talixughed. "I''m just a lowlynce corporal. I know nothing ofmand."


    "Yet, you held them together while your officer ran?" Bock retorted back.


    Talix gave another shrug as he rebuttoned his pouches. "It''s safer for me if there are more people around me."


    Bock shook his head and didn''t continue to press Talix for his reasons. "Alright, help me gather the men. We wait for that two return, if they did note back, then we move out of here."


    Talix nodded and he squeezed past the soldiers and started calling the men to gather up. Bock turned his attention out of the trench. He could clearly see the lights of the City Walls and Gate. Tracers and sparkling trails of spells flew at each other along the Walls and Gates.


    Suddenly there was a scrape and the troops on watch swung their rifles over to cover the sound. Bock also jerked up and aimed his rifle at the direction of the noise.


    "Friendly! Friendly!" A voice came over the trenches. "It''s us!"


    "Hold your fire!" Bock ordered quickly. "Come out!"


    Several figures appeared out of the darkness and they quickly slipped down the trenches. The two soldiers sent to find help reported to Bock, "Corporal! We only found five men at the other positions."


    One of the neers was ance corporal. He came before Bock and said, "Corporal! Reporting with detail of five men!"


    "Where is the rest?" Bock asked as he eyed the neers.


    "Reporting to Corporal! They ran!" The newnce corporal stood there in attention as he replied.


    Bock raised an eyebrow to Talix who was smirking away with the rest at the uptight neer. "At ease,nce corporal. Your name?"


    "Thisnce corporal name is Aveen! Corporal!" Thence corporal together with his men adopted a parade rest stance. "SDF Seventh Company, Second toon!"


    Bock nodded and said, "Rx, we are not in training anymore..."


    "Yes, Corporal!" Aveen and the four others continued to remain at his parade rest position without moving.


    Bock sighed inwardly again, wondering what kind of weirdos did he pick up. Since now he has a total of thirty two men, "Talix and Aveen. Each of you two take nine men each. We form up into three squads and have a three men machine gun team."


    The twonce corporals nodded. "We will push towards the gates. Staying out here means we will be cut off by the Imperials sooner orter. If we encounter any Imperials, we will only fight if we can surprise the Imperials. If not avoidbat unless we really need to. No point wasting lives for nothing. Understand?"


    Bothnce corporals and the nearby men listening in nodded. "Good, form your squads and brief them. We move out in fifteen minutes!"


    Bock eyed his nervous men and gave them an assuring smile as they all formed up and ready to make their way towards the city under siege. "Attach bays!"


    A series of ''shing'' came along the line as the SDF soldiers drew their sword bays out and with a click, locked their bays to their rifles. "MOVE OUT!"


    The soldiers quietly climbed over the side of the trench and advanced in a single line towards the city under siege. They had to cover half a kilometer of pitted and churnednd. They climbed over barbwires, abandoned fighting positions and the dead.


    Bock pointed to the front where he could see arge group silhouetted against the mes and glows of spells and parachute res. "Imperials!"


    The soldiers instinctively bent downwards as they advanced closer to the enemy. A sudden burst of light erupted among the Imperials and fiery ball of mes was tossed into the air, flying off like a meteor towards the city walls.


    "Mages and siege weapons!" Bock hissed to the men who passed the word down the line. "We will attack them!"


    Bock stopped the line just before the edge of the glowing light of the torches. Over thirty pairs of ck powder rifles were raised up and Bock chopped his hand down. The sudden barrage of rifle fire from the rear caught the siege weapon crew off guard, killing half of the crew just from the first volley. "CHARGEEEE!"


    "ARGGGGGGGGGGG!!" The men cried out all their pended up fear and anger at the Imperials as they charged. The shaken Imperial siege crew barely recovered from the sudden attack turned to see a line of savage looking men appearing out of the darkness like some kind of crazed demons.


    Most of the Imperials ran, while those remained behind were stuck down by cold steel. Even the couple of Knights that guarded the siege weapons barely fared any better as Bock''s sole machine gun mowed down their magic barriers till they burst and made the Knights do a little lead dance.


    "Make line! MAKE LINE!" Bock yelled at his eager men. "Hold! HOLD!"


    Aveen and Talix both reined their men in and the men stopped their bloodthirsty charge at the fleeing Imperials and formed up into a clumsy line.


    "TAKE AIM!"


    Rifles raised up and pointed at the fleeing backs of the Imperials.


    "FIREEE!"


    Thunder and mes stabbed into the night and their view was partially blocked by the dirty gun smoke. Bock grinned, feeling the adrenaline rush, "GOOD WORK!"


    "Burn those two siege engines!" Bock quickly ordered. "Then let''s get the hell out of here before theye back with reinforcements!"


    Minutester, the siege catapults fueled by its own incendiaries, burst into mes and Bock and his ad hoc toon vanished into the darkness before the Imperials returned.

 Chapter 382: Article 99

    Chapter 382: Article 99


    UN, City of Falledge, SDF Camp Parade Grounds


    "PARADEEEE! ATTEN... SHUN!" The SDF Regimental Sergent Major roared out. Hundreds of boots stomped down as the gathered SDF troops stood at attention. Over two thousand soldiers gathered at the SDF Camp''s parade square in the morning, save for those on duty.


    The Falledge SDF Commander walked stiffly to the podium set on a stage and cleared his throat while constantly throwing nervous nces to the ck d soldiers on the other side of the stage.


    "A- ahem!" The SDF Commander cleared his throat again and tapped on the microphone before addressing the gathered troops. "Men of the SDF, Falledge regiment. You have performed well and bravely in defense of your city!"


    "A day ago, the evil Imperial Forces attempted to breach the City walls," The SDF Commander spoke in a dramatic way. "But with your bravery and courage! You withstood the enemy''s attack and held the city!"


    The Commander pped his hands to congratte the troops but his apuse quickly ended as only a handful officers apuded with him. The atmosphere turned awkward as he looked over the silence troops at attention before him. "Eh... I also... want to say-"


    At this time, a ck d officer strolled over the stage and took over the podium. "Alright, what your Commander wants to say is good job and keep it up."


    "Now, to more serious business," The ck d officer ignored the embarrassed Commander who stood at the side of the neer. "As you, all know, it was a close one that night."


    "We could have done better, lost fewer men to the enemy," The ck d officer continued. "But... due to some people''s selfishness, we had lost brothers to the enemy that their deaths could be prevented if not for some people."


    "I am First Lieutenant Tavor," The officer d in a ck trench coat said. "I run the Intelligence Division and temporarily assigned to weed out the bad."


    He turned and gestured to his men at the side and a short whileter, a row of people in orange prisoner wear appeared on the stage and the ck d guards forced them to kneel in a row. A low growl came from the soldiers after seeing their appearance on the stage.


    "Behind me," Tavor jerked a thumb back. "Are those officers who should be standing shoulder to shoulder with you on the front lines."


    "They are the officers who should be leading you to victory," Tavor continued.


    "They are the officers who should be giving youmands and looking after your welfare," Tavor said. "Some of them are your brother in arms, yet they too ran when asked to face the enemy."


    "These men have betrayed your trust. By running away in the face of the enemy." Tavor growled. "These men had abandoned their duties and their oath to you and the United Nations."


    "Under the United Nations Code 899, Article 99. Misbehavior before the enemy," Tavor spoke in a solemn tone. "Any member of the armed forces who before or in the presence of the enemy..."


    "One, runs away."


    "Two, shamefully abandons, surrenders, or delivers up anymand, unit, ce, or military property which it is his duty to defend."


    "Three, through disobedience, neglect, or intentional misconduct endangers the safety of any suchmand, unit, ce, or military property."


    "Four, casts away his arms or ammunition."


    "Five, is guilty of cowardly conduct"


    "Six, quits his ce of duty to plunder or pige."


    "Seven, causes false rms in anymand, unit, or ce under control of the armed forces."


    "Eight, willfully fails to do his utmost to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy any enemy troops,batants, vessels, aircraft, or any other thing, which it is his duty so to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy, or,"


    "Nine, does not afford all practicable relief and assistance to any troops,batants, vessels, or aircraft of the armed forces belonging to the United Nations or their allies when engaged in battle."


    "Shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct." Tavor finished reciting the militaryw.


    "Of these ninews," Tavor turned and nced at the kneeling men. "After careful investigate and eye witness reports..."


    "These men are guilty of seven listedws of Article 99!" Tavor mmed his fist on the podium for effect. "Under Wartime Executive Orders granted by the Highest Ranking Officer of the United Nations, I hereby sentence you all to death by firing squad for cowardice in face of the enemy!"


    The kneeling men hearing their death sentence being dered trembled in fear and started pleading for leniency. Tavor ignored their pleas and cries and turned back to face the soldiers on the parade ground. "Let this be a lesson to all!"


    Tavor gestured to the side again and this time, a troop of SDF soldiers in battle gear marched neatly up the stage. The SDF Regimental Sergeant Major marched along side with them. "Squad... Halt!"


    "Squad... Face... Leeft!" The squad turned and faced the condemned men. "Squad... Ready Arms!"


    "Take Aim!" The Sergeant Major barked.


    "NOooooo!"


    "I don''t want to die!"


    "Money! I GOT MONEY!"


    "FIREEE!"


    The detail of twelve randomly selected soldiers fired their rifles at the twelve kneeling ex officers and they screamed as they got shot. "Squad! Shoulder Arms!"


    Tavor strolled over to the slumped bodies and pulled out his newly issued .45 pistol finished in matt ck paint. He dropped the magazine and did a quick check before he pped the magazine back and half pull the pistol slide to check if there was a round chambered in.


    Once he was satisfied, he thumbed the safety off and stood before the first body and fired a single shot into the head before he walked over to the next body and repeated his actions.


    BAM! BAM! BAM! He fired ten times before pausing to reload at the eleventh body who was still struggling for life on the floor. The condemnedid gasping for breath pleaded with his eyes at Tavor who coldly pped in a fresh magazine and squeezed off a shot between his eyes before moving to the next body.


    Once the deed was done, he gestured the men to carry the bodies off the stage and stood there watching with his hands sped behind his back. "Bring the next group."


    Another group of twelve condemned soldiers was brought up to the stage and the execution was repeated. Finally finishing off the fourth group of deserters, Tavor returned to the podium and addressed the soldiers who were fully alert and shocked by the sudden event. "Now, this nasty business is over."


    "I hope that like what your Commander had said earlier that you will continue to bravely and courageously fight the enemy," Tavor said. "I do not wish to see you here and me wasting a bullet."


    "Is that clear, gentlemen?" Tavor asked.


    "SIR YES SIR!" The troops on the parade ground answer as one.


    Tavor gave a pleased nod before he turned and looked towards the VIP viewing stand at the side. He threw a salute at the podgy City Governor watching there with the other VIPs before he patted the SDF Commander''s shoulder and walked off stage with his men.


    The Commander wiped the sweat off his peak cap and tugged at his cor before he stood over the podium. "A- ahem... Erm... Like what Lieutenant Tavor has said... Please do not run from the enemy and abandon your men..."


    "N- now, I will like to give out awards to outstanding personnel for their acts of valor," The Commander licked his lips nervously. He turned to the Regimental Sergeant Major who took out a list from his buttoned pocket.


    "SDF Falledge Regiment, Second Company, Second Squad! Private Menak!" The RSM roared out. "Front and center!"


    The Private stepped out of formation and quick marched over to the stage and stood before his regimental Commander who read out a short telling of his exploits, "Private Menak, single handedly held off a troop of twenty Imperials with a machine gun and grenades when all his squadmates were disabled."


    "For his act of valor, he will gain a Silver Star and be promoted to Lance Corporal!" The Commander dered. The troops on the parade ground burst into loud apuse and cheering, surprising the Commander who gingerly joined in.


    "Next, SDF Falledge Regiment, Fourth Company, Third Squad! Corporeal Bock!" The RSM called out next. "Front and center!"


    Bock was surprised that he was called. The men around him immediately broke out into cheer as they heard of his actions in destroying some of the enemies siege weapons and leading a scattered group of troops together and helped fend off the Imperials heroically.


    He quick marched over to the stage and stood before the Commander who took out a small red box that held a silver star medal. Bock saluted the Commander and stared over his shoulder at the botches of blood already turning ck and sticky on the stage.


    -----


    UN, City of Falledge, SDF Camp Parade Grounds, VIP Stand


    Etoro, Governor of Falledge watched the ongoing execution with a slight distaste on his face. He visibly jerked each time the ck d Intel Officer fired his weapon and he felt a shudder of iciness down his spine when the execution ended and the Intel Officer threw him a mocking salute from the stage.


    "Ar... are you hoomans all like him?" Etoro asked in a low voice to the UN Military attache standing next to him.


    Marine Lieutenant Collins gave a small shake of his head. "Not really..."


    "But... this is military discipline..." Collins said. "I am sure even in the armies of other kingdoms have simr punishments."


    Etoro sighed, knowing that was the truth. He covered his nose with a handkerchief and asked, "But do we need to attend such a bloody event?"


    Collins nodded and cast a side nce to the rest of the invited VIPs which consisted of local prominent merchants and residents. Some of them were showing excited expressions of seeing blood others were pale and frightened.


    "It''s to show the people and troops that we take our duties seriously..." Collins exined. "Thew is thew... no one is above thew. You break it, you pay for it..."


    Etoro followed Collins and threw a nce to the side at the rest of the audience in the VIP stand and shrewdly said, "And also to warn people off from doing what they shouldn''t be doing right?"


    Collins grinned. "Of course."


    "Well, I guess it does make my business of governance easier if the nobles... No, ex nobles... and merchants behave," Etoro smiled. "Hopefully we this act could scare them more into submission."


    Collins gave a sneer as he took another look at the richly dressed audience. "Some of them still think this is a joke. They will happily switch sides to the Empire if they feel our weakness."


    Etoro frowned. "Will the UN win... this war?"


    "This war?" Collins returned his attention to the stage in which they were giving out rewards and promotions. "No, this war is unwinnable for both sides."


    Etoro nodded as he too came to the conclusion long before. The Empire was just too massive to swallow with just a couple of cities of poption of the UN. He just wanted to hear the confirmation from this short eared hooman.


    "But we will never lose the battle," Collins grinned. "As long as those boys below hold their ground. The Imperials will break their teeth trying to eat us."


    Etoro nodded again. He knew that the hooman was right based on the results of their past battles and weapons. "Is this also why you hoomans staged all these to the troops?''


    "Hmmm..." Collins rubbed his chin as he pondered on the question. "I would not say it''s staged. Military discipline, as I said before, must be held, especially in times of war."


    "Now that they know we care and recognized the effects of each soldier down to the lowest ranker," Collins rephrased the words Captain ke briefed him in regard to the ns of the SDF. "They will have a sense of belonging, a brotherhood of warriors."


    "This is how we shall grow the soldiers to have a sense of loyalty and patriotism to the nation!"

 Chapter 383: Downfall

    Chapter 383: Downfall


    First Imperial Army, Order of Shadows Camp


    Muffled screams came from inside the tent in the middle of the camp. The guards ignored the screams as much as they could while the others kept as far away from the tent. Thos wearing his signature featureless helm strolled paused just before the tent''s entrance as another cry rang out.


    He ducked his head into the tent and found the Joker with beads of sweat rolling down his half naked body. The Joker held a whip in his hand as he brought it down on to the naked cowering beast ve''s back, making the girl scream in pain.


    "Lord General Kotor has yet to send any new orders to us," Thos said. "It is highly strange, for the General is not someone who neglects to inform us of the situation."


    The Joker took a pause and threw the blood soaked whip to the side. He picked up a towel and wiped the sweat off his face and body before he turned to Thos. "No word from the General?"


    "No, even our men have yet to return," Thos replied.


    "Stange indeed," The Joker sat down and took a swill off the gon of wine on the table. "Our scouts?"


    "Nothing from them," Thos replied again. "Other than the new force of rebel soldiers that came to reinforce the city the other day, there is no new movement from the rebels."


    Hearing the news, the Joker''s eyes darkened. "Damn those, reinforcements! If not for them, we will be dining and sleeping inside the city by now!"


    "These new troops seemed to be those... barbarian soldiers we heard so much of," Thos said. "They are rumored to be fierce and highly trained."


    "If theye to reinforce the city," Thos''s helm tilt to one side. "We might find it harder to breach their defenses."


    "Hmph!" The Joker spat on the side. "They are just wild people and peasant scum! How can theypared to us Knights?"


    "You seemed to have forgotten about their thunder weapons," Thos gave a remainder. "Those barbarian troops seemed to carry a more powerful version of the thunder weapons."


    The Joker''s expression changed and he stood up suddenly and paced angrily around the table before he stopped next to the whimpering beast ve and kicked her. "Shut your crying!"


    The beast girl covered her mouth with her hands and stifled her tears of pain while the Joker turned to Thos and said, "Double the guards, and have our scouts report in every half turn of the ss tonight."


    "Tell the men we will move out in first and make a new camp," The Joker ordered. "Send more men to General Kotor and find out what is happening on his side."


    "Yes, my Lord," Thos gave a bow and retreated out of the tent.


    The Joker sat down again and his mood sour. "Once the General joins us, I shall paint the walls red with their blood!"


    -----


    Lance Corporal Wolf of the Hundred and First Arcane Tactics and Intervention, Team ymore One turned as still as stone as he hugged the shadow of the tree he was next to when a trio of patrolling Imperials came within a hand''s reach to his position.


    He immediately held his breath and prayed to the Gods for the Imperials to not spot him. He slowly released his held breath once the three Imperial soldiers past by his position without any clue of his presence.


    Wolf waited for the glow of the torches to disappear in the darkness before he crawled his way across the bush trail used by the Imperial sentries. "Four to Three, hold position!"


    Wolf immediately froze as he followed themand.


    "Four to Three, there is a pair of sentries to your left, ten meters away." His radio whispered in his ear piece.


    Wolf slowly moved his head and tried to spot the sentries in the dark but he couldn''t see anything with his night vision goggles. "Move ten steps to your right."


    He followed the orders and carefully stepped ten steps to his right and paused, waiting for the next order. "Move forward and keep the tree to your left. It should cover you from the sentries."


    "Should?" Wolf whispered back his reply.


    "Yes, should..." Came back the reply. "Now move!"


    Wolf sighed as he mumbled to himself, "You''re not the one whose ass is hanging out here..."


    He crept forward to the tree before him and making sure use the trunk of the tree to block his view from the sentries, he peered out of the edge of the foliage and broke out into a grin. "Three, to One."


    "One. Send."


    "Three, I got eyeball on enemy campsite," Wolf reported back his sighting and he slipped off his night vision and used a pair of binocrs to view the campsite hidden in the forest. "Counting at least twenty tents, over."


    Wolf continued to sweep his binos across the campsite. Hidden among the trees and under a thick canopy, he caught glimpses of tents lit by torches and shadows of men. "Three to One, estimate, a thousand or two of Imperials."


    "One, roger, standby."


    Wolf crouched lower and made himselffortable as he waited for the next orders. Not longter, his radio crackled. "Three, this is One, over."


    "Three, send."


    "One, HQ wants you to tag the camp with a beacon. How copy?"


    Wolf cursed inwardly as he heard the order, "Three, confirm tag with beacon? Over."


    "Affirmative."


    Wolf sighed and peeked around his location before he replied. "Three, camp security is too tight, might not be able to drop beacon on target."


    "One, as long beacon is within hundred meters of the camp site. Wait for distraction. over"


    "Three, roger..." Wolf started to crawl his way slowly forward and rolled himself into the next cover as he made his way closer to the camp. He stayed low and wondered what are they gonna do to distract the enemy.


    "One, distraction in... three... two... one... mark!" Suddenly Wolf felt the ground shake slightly followed by a loud boom in the distance.


    Immediately like a hive of angry ants, the Imperials sentries turned their attention to the sudden explosion and Wolf quickly made use of the opportunity to sneak in closer to the camp.


    He hugged the trees and stuck to the shadows as he came to the edge of the camp. He eyed a tree somewhat near arge cluster of tents which the Imperials came boiling out of the tents in full armor.


    "One, second distraction in three... two... one, mark!" Another thunder rumbled in the distance and the distraction had the Imperials upied, allowing Wolf to sneak into the camp and allowing him to reach the tree he judged to be the easiest to climb.


    He quickly climbed up the tree and soon disappeared into the branches. He gently snapped off a long branch and climbed to the top most branch of the tree which can support his weight. He took out the beacon and triggered it before using roped to bound the beacon to the end of the tree branch he broke earlier.


    He pushed the branch with the beacon at the end out of the tree''s canopy before securing it with rope. "Three to One. Beacon up. Please check."


    "One, roger. Standby."


    -----


    Over a kilometer in the air space above the area of operations, an ailing Owleye UAV droned on as performed itsst air surveince mission before getting dmissioned. Its electronic smart brain chip beeped happily as it watched over an sea of featureless forest. Suddenly, a signal appeared and blinked steadily in the sea of forest and the Owleye turned its sensors to cover it.


    It identified the signal and deemed it to be a friendly beacon while it streamed live footage over to its control station, dozens and dozens of kilometers away. A string of binary code was transmitted over from control, telling it to keep eyes on the beacon.


    The UAV chipped and beeped in acknowledgment as it tilted its silent quadrotors and drifted over the beacon and started hovering over the area and streaming all data back.


    -----


    "One, three. Good signal, pull out now."


    "Three roger..." Wolf replied and started his slow climb down the tree. He looked around his surroundings and noticing no one, he dropped softly down from the tree and quickly rolled into the shadow of a nearby tent.


    He waited and observed his surroundings before he made his move again, creeping from one shadow to another. As he reached the edge of the camp, he froze in ce as he heard the stomp of boots approaching.


    Dozens of soldiers were returning from their post after they deemed the sudden explosions in the distance to be unthreatening to their camp. With no cover in sight and only the shadow of the tents, Wolf ttened himself as low as he could. He couldn''t use any magic to hide as it might trigger any form of magical intruder detection spells


    Wolf kept as still as possible and forced his frantically beating heart to calm down as he watched dozens of soldiers walked past him. Finally, what seemed like an eternity, the Imperial soldiers walked by without noticing him and returned to their tents.


    Feeling relieved, he climbed to his feet and as he stepped out between the tents, he knocked into a body. Instinctively, he shot his hand out and gripped the person by the throat in a chokehold. As he held down the person, he felt the person he was grabbing to be very thin and wearing a cor of sorts.


    He quickly dragged the body away into the trees while making sure no one noticed them before he checked who he had grabbed. To his surprise, he saw it was a beast girl with a ve choker. Under the dim torches of the camp, he noticed that the beast ve was all skin and bones, and had wounds all over her body.


    Wolf sighed as he wondered what should he do. He drew out hisbat knife and ced the de against the thin threadbare tunic she was wearing, right under the ribs where the de will strike the heart. He steeled himself for the task but hesitated before he kept his de away.


    "Damnit!" He hissed softly and lifted the unconscious girl up in a fireman carry. He couldn''t force himself to kill an unarmed innocent. "Three to All, on my way out with a plus one, requesting cover."


    "One, Three. Come again? Plus one?"


    "Three, affirmative. Plus one."


    "One... roger. Head to Extraction Point Beta. The others will cover your retreat. Out."


    The girl was surprisingly light as Wolf picked his way across the forest, dodging sentries and trying to stay hidden while carrying another person on his back. He was so going to get scolded by Tyrier once they made the extraction for bringing back extra luggage.


    "One to All. Fire mission inbound in five mikes. Stay clear of target area!"


    "Oh shit!" Wolf cursed as he picked up the pace. He ignored all stealth as he sought to get as far away from the beacon which he had ced as HQ was gonna down an artillery strike right on top of it.


    "WHO GOES THERE!?" Suddenly a voice broke the silence of the night as an Imperial sentry heard his passage in the forest.


    Wolf increased his pace, hoping that the sentry might mistake him for a wild animal in the forest. But his luck failed as suddenly balls of illumination spells burst into existence around him, nearly blinding him with his night vision on.


    He yanked off his night vision goggles and kept on running, as the bright white illumination spells lit his way for him, while the trees cast ominous shadows around. "INTRUDER! INTR- UGKkk!?"


    "Four, Three. Keep running. I got them on my sights."


    With their cover blown, the men of ymore One providing overwatch started sniping at any sentries and Imperials that appeared, covering Wolf''s retreat.


    "One to All, take cover! Iing!"

 Chapter 384: So Interesting!

    Chapter 384: So Interesting!


    Northern Front, 2 Km away from City of Falledge


    The forward Imperial picket jolt awoke suddenly from his sleep and grabbed his weapon in panic. For a moment he was disorientated as he scanned his surroundings before he calmed down. Dell returned his sword into the scabbard and took a sip of his water skin to quench his dry throat.


    Scratching his head, Dell wondered what had woke him up when he heard a low rumbling in the distanceing from the city side and instantly he was on the alert.


    He crawled out of his hidey hole and made his way to the edge of the forest cautiously. He frowned with surprise as he noticed that there was a row of lights beyond the city and those lights appeared to be moving at a rapid pace!


    The more he watched the moving lights the more baffled he became. The lights appeared to be moving in pairs and mounted on some kind of creatureless wagon that was moving quite fast for their size. He managed to catch shadowy glimpses of the wagons when the lights of the wagons at the rear shone on them.


    Dell felt a sense of supernatural unease at the way those wagons were traveling. First, it was those flying crosses that cause fear and confusion with their egg bombs and now these... wagons that could move without the pull of and dragon. He might not be a Knight of the Order of Shadows, but he was still an official member of it. Yet the magic of the Knights appeared to pale inparison to the demonic abilities of these rebels!


    He whispered a chant and curled his fingers up and peered through them as the farseer spell came into effect. The spell immediately brought the moving wagons to his eyes and he counted the number of wagons moving. One... two... five... ten... twelve... fifteen!


    Those fifteen wagons suddenly came to a halt and dark figures illuminated by those strange bright lights spilled out. Dell noted the wagons had formed up in a simple formation and suddenly the lights went out, leaving a blob of white on Dell''s vision.


    Dell blinked his eyes rapidly to clear his vision before he returned to observing the enemy. But without the lights, the rebels had vanished into the darkness. Dell thought for a while before he returned to his hideout and started grabbing his gear. He should go and report this incident back at camp, the rebels must be nning some kind of attack!


    As he started his way back to camp, a loud shrieking roar erupted behind him. He froze in his steps and ducked instinctively from the continuous roaring. It was unlike any beast nor monster cry he had ever heard before. He quickly turned and ran back to the forest edge to see what creature was making the sound.


    Dell''s eyes widened in horror as he stepped out of the forest to see the ''monster''. It was those rebels'' wagons that were screaming and shes of mes and trails of sparks were roaring into the skies! What kind of dark magic was that!?


    -----


    Outskirt of Order of Shadows Campsite


    Wolf panted as he hoisted the unconscious girl tighter to his grip. The Imperial sentries were relentless in their pursuit. In front of him, Hitsu slid to a halt on the dew wet forest floor and smoothly pivoted his suppressed rifle around and there were a couple of thuds from his weapon as heid down covering fire.


    "Come on!" Altied waved them over from the next tree line. "Move it, soldier!"


    "INCOMING!" Someone yelled, Wolf wasn''t sure who it was as his attention turned to the sudden shrieking rockets flying over his head. "TAKE COVER!"


    -----


    Order of Shadows Campsite


    "So the rebels found us?" The Joker slipped on his breastte and frowned when he noticed it was not his usual ve doing the buckling for him. "Where is she?"


    "M- my Ma- master," The ve dropped to her knees and stammered, "I don''t know... mas- master!"


    "Scram!" He kicked the ve away and finished tightening the straps himself. "Find her!"


    "Y- yes, master!" The ve quickly scampered away.


    Thos stood without a word at the side till the ve exited the tent before he spoke, "It will appear so. Our sentries and soldiers are in pursuit now."


    "Tell the men to pack the camp now," The Joker turned and faced the stoic Knight. "We will shift the camp now."


    Thos gave a bow and returned out of the tent to carry out his orders but he suddenly paused and looked up to the skies and tilted his head as he heard something strange. The Joker eyed Thos''s behavior and frowned and his eyes suddenly widened and he yelled. "BRING UP THE BARRIER!"


    -----


    The 2.75 inch or 70 mm diameter fin stabilized unguided rockets screamed happily through the air at a speed of 723 meters per second. Its high-explosive dual purpose warhead were packed with 0.91 kg of high explosives and together with its Haven made MK 6 rocket motor, weighed a total of 4 kg.


    Originally designed for the Airforce''s rocket pods, the 70 mm rocket found itself mounted onto converted half tracks, turning them into a Short Range Missile carrier. It had been proven to be very versatile in its uses.


    The rocket motor spewed mes and smoke out as it consumed the solid fuel, thrusting the eager rocket towards its projected impact zone with a force of 5938.4 N. Unlike the AIM - 32H Space Sparrow multi purpose missiles, the 70 mm rockets do not have a smart chip. The rockets were instead fired based onputer calcted maths.


    The rockets themselves were not every urate despite theputer calcted trajectory. It was calcted that the 70 mm rockets had an error margin of plus minus ten meters for every kilometer. Now they were firing at the target which was roughly three kilometers away, giving the 70 mm rockets an error margin of thirty meters.


    With five batteries of SRMs firing 98 rockets each, a total of 490 rockets screamed madly towards their target area like falling stars in the night skies. In the end in terms of uracy, that did not really matter when 490 rockets volley mmed into the ground within seconds and an entire area of 2 km square exploded.


    -----


    Wolf cursed when he felt like the Gods had unleashed their fury on the earth, as deafening roars and shrieks erupted behind him. The ground trembled madly and the overpressure of the air mmed into their cover as they huddled downslope.


    "Farrrkkkk thissssss!!" Hitsu screamed as he hugged his helmet tightly. Bits and pieces of debris rained down around them and after a short while the shaking stopped but their ears continued to ring.


    "What a rush!" Hitsuughed as he patted himself, checking all his body parts were still intact. "Everyone Ok?"


    Wolf gave a thumbs up as heid on his back. He checked the beast girl and found her still breathing and other than her old wounds she appeared to be fine. He rolled himself up and peered back to the enemy camp and only saw a partially ttened forest devastated by fire and smoke.


    "Well, fark me!" Hitsu cursed as he aimed his rifle down at the site of the camp. "Looks like we go survivors!"


    Wolf frowned and too cursed inwardly as he saw the tell tale glow of magical barriers. "We must have some high level mages down there."


    "Call for another strike," Altied checked his weapon. "I like to see how they can tank another barrage of rockets!"


    "Great idea!" Hitsu grinned back he tapped his radioms. "One, this is Five. Good ssh, requesting another ssh. Over."


    "One, standby."


    "Alright, let''s get the hell out of here!" Altied said before he questioned Wolf. "Why did you bring that girl along?"


    "I... She just appeared before me," Wolfmely replied. "She looks pitiful... So I decided to save her..."


    "Better get her to a mage tech to check her over for any tracking or branding magic when we get back," Hitsu said. "And she''s your baggage!"


    Wolf nodded, as he lifted her up again in a fireman carry and they started their way back.


    "One to All, fire mission in twelve mikes. Out"


    "Well, let''s hope those Blue Boys continue to stay there for the next barrage," Hitsu grinned. "I''m sure they will love it!"


    -----


    The Joker screamed with rage and pain as the healers carefully peeled the remains of the melted spider silk tunic off his back. His torched armorid in a heap on the side while his exposed back was charred red like a side of roasted meat.


    Clear fluid flow off his peeled flesh as the healers quickly cast healing spells that regenerated his cooked flesh. The burnt flesh on his back peeled off bit by bit as the new flesh slowly regrew painfully.


    "M- my, Lord..." The Healer held out a red crystal vial of healing. "Please drink this... It will heal with your internal wounds..."


    The Joker grabbed the vial and snapped off the tip with his thumb before downing the whole bottle. He flung the crystal vial away to the side and hissed at the act, as his back muscles screamed in pain.


    "My lord... you need to be gentler," The Healer quickly reminded him. "You need to rest for at least a week before you can do any vigorous activities!"


    "h!" The Joker stood up and ignored the Healer''s words. "I am fine now! It''s just some pain!"


    "Bu-" The Healer wanted to say more but was cut off.


    "Enough!" The Joker growled. "Go see to the others!"


    The Healer bowed and packed his tools up and left. Thos appeared on his side in a set of new armor, raising the Joker''s eyebrows as he took it in. "How the heavens did you get another set of new armor?"


    "I got spares," Thos gave a simple reply, making the Joker roll his eyes.


    "What is our situation?" He asked as he picked up a bottle of wine from the ruins of the tent and took a swill out of it. He spat the warm wine out and tossed the bottle away. "Urghh... Gross!"


    "Our situation is not good," Thos said. "Our barrier stones are all but depleted from the star fire."


    "More than half of the men were killed and another half suffering from various degrees of injuries," Thos reported. "Also two thirds of our stores were burnt down and all most of our mounts are gone. Those that remain had gone mad and we had to put them down."


    "There isn''t any good news, right?" The Joker made a grimace as he slipped on a rtively unscathed tunic from the remains of his luggage.


    "No," Thos replied. "I advise we left now before the rebels follow up with an attack."


    The Joker sighed. "Alright, let''s go. Make sure to bring the barrier stones along too. Those things cost me a castle!"


    Thos nodded and left to carry out his orders. The corner of the Joker''s lips slowly rosed as he looked around the destruction. "How interesting! This makes me so curious about how they created such a spell of destruction!"


    If it wasn''t for the barrier stones, no one would be alive at all. The power of the stones could actually block dozens and dozens of high level spells before its power depleted. Yet this spell that rained from the skies was a hundred times more potent than any spell he has ever witnessed.


    Too bad his barrier stones had to be grounded on the earth and formations draw around for them to be used. If not he would had used the barrier stone to force his way into the city. Maybe the General was defeated by a simr spell hence there was no news from his side?


    This war is starting to get more and more interesting! Thought the Joker as he smiled. "This is so interesting!"

 Chapter 385: Plans Never Goes As Planned

    Chapter 385: ns Never Goes As nned


    Extraction Point Beta


    The force of the rotor effect whipped the grassed and leaves wildly as the members of ymore One boarded the rear ramp of the Flying Banana. Wolf secured the girl onto the buckle seat while the rest stared at him with smirks on their faces.


    Specialist Sergeant Tyrier walked over and took a look at the unconscious girl before he turned around and addressed the whole squad. "So, is this some kind of tradition we are gonna have for the future?"


    "Picking up girls to bring back on every mission?" Tyrier grumbled. "Are we some kind of damsel in distress rescuers? Or some kind of hero?"


    "Is this gonna be a thing in the future?" He asked again, looking at everyone strapped in, in the bay.


    "You saved that tom boy from the Hero," Tyrier pointed to Histu before turning to Young. "And you picked up those twopanions of the Hero."


    "As for you," He pointed to Loke. "You picked up that boy and his girlfriend from Sin City."


    "Now, our farking new guy picks up a beast girl..." Tyrier growled. "What is it with you guys?"


    Altied giggled as he listened to their squad leader''sint. Tyrier snapped his eyes to Altied and added. "You are worse! You pick up some curse from a goddamn Necromancer! And you still dare tough now!"


    "Who are we?" Tyrier asked.


    "The Hundred and First!" The men chorused loudly over the helo rotors.


    "Good that you know!" Tyrier growled. "Now stop this business of picking up strays! We are killers! Not babysitters! Is that clear?"


    "Yes, Sir, Yes!" The men chorused loudly again.


    As the helo made its way back, the second rocket barrage screamed it ways over and balls of mes and smoke rose up behind them, turning the forest glowing red in the night.


    -----


    Northern Front, Orwell''s Point Defense Line


    The Rock grunted with effort as he and other members of his squad pried loose the dragon''s carcass lodged into the soil. Another group of menssoed the carcass and everyone put their backs into it and dragged the carcass off the trench.


    A wagon called a tbed, reversed it way over and men dragged the dead dragon up before securing it tightly with ropes. The Rock sat down on the side and took out his canteen of water to drink while his buddy also joined him.


    "Looks like lunch and dinner will be dragon sandwiches and stew!" His buddy watched the vehicle drive off with the dragon carcass. "Never expected to see the day of so many dead dragons that they can use them to feed us lowly soldiers, eh?"


    The Rock nodded wordlessly as his attention was instead focused at the rows of stripped Imperial dead each covered in a white cloth or nket. Piles of armor and weaponsid like small mountains of tribute rested next to the dead. Already the bodies were being carried onboard wagons that will bring them somewhere to be buried or burned.


    "Hey, Cork?" His buddy waved a hand in front of him. "You bothered by the dead?"


    The Rock frowned as he considered his answer. "A little, I guess... After all, those men have lives, just like... us..."


    "True, true," His buddy nodded. "Than they should just mind their own business and note try to kill us."


    "If they did not want to kill us, we won''t have to kill them," His buddy simply said. "And we won''t be here in the bloody mud either!"


    The Rock gave a rare smile at his only friend here. "You are right. If there are no wars, there will be no deaths."


    "But, I don''t see how we can stop or win this war," The Rock sighed. "The Emperor... He stops at nothing to get what he wants..."


    "You sound like you know the Emperor himself!" His buddyughed. "We just leave the big thinking to the Lords and Commanders! We just do what they tell us!"


    The Rockughed along with his buddy and nodded, "Yes, we just follow orders and keep our heads down!"


    "Yeah!" His buddy grinned. "Come on, the Sarge is calling us!"


    The Rock nodded and stood up. He took ast look around the battlefield, seeing the destruction wrought by the SDF against the Imperial Third Army and silently gave a prayer to the dead.


    -----


    Falledge, Northern Front ''Nova'' Command Headquarters


    Colonel Frank tapped his finger on the edge of the map table as he watched the Tactical Officers perform a battle simtion representing their situation. After a while, when the end results were clear, he pped his hand and stopped the battle sim.


    "Alright, good work everyone," He said to the staffers. "Take a fifteen minute break and we do a debrief."


    The men all filed out of the room to go to the toilet or get some refreshments while Frank remained behind staring at the map table. "Top, what do you think?"


    Master Sergeant ''Top'' Pike, frowned and he tapped at the icon representing the ruins of Norshelm. "That''s the problem we are facing."


    "The Imperial Fleet hadnded and taken shelter in those ruins," Pike said. "So far our bombing efforts aren''t really doing much, other than forcing them to turtle in."


    "As for the First Imperial Army, First and Second Battalion has them in their pocket already and all remains are just a simple mopping up op,"


    "As for the Second Imperial Army here and the Third here," Pike pointed on the map between the two cities. "The Second Army is bogged down here while the Third just took a heavy defeat in terms of their aerial dragons and troops."


    "All our current forces are engaged with these two Imperial Armies," Pike said. "And we have no troops to check that force the Imperial Fleetnded at Norshelm."


    Frank nodded as the previous few simted war games had shown how the army at the ruined city came smashing its way down to nk the Northern Front before they can move any substantial force to block them.


    The only option was to use the PT boats and hit the Imperial force as they attempt a river crossing and harass them as much as possible. But that was only possible if the Imperials push in the direction of the river.


    "We did not expect this force to appear at all," Frank said. "Intel did not even catch word of it until it was toote for us."


    "And most of our artillery assets are deployed around Falledge and are busy dealing with the First and Second Imperial Army," said Pike.


    "Yes, our original ns was to steamroll their right nk all the way to Orwell''s Point," Frank said. "But this new force puts a dent in our ns. ns never seemed to go as nned."


    "The SDF stationed at Orwell''s Point is already deployed against the Third Army," Frank continued. "If this fourth forcees knocking at our doors, even our reserves cannot reach the city in time."


    "Keep bombing them," Pike suddenly said. "Dy them as long as possible while the reserve Battalion rushes over."


    "Strip the PT boats of their rocket pods and use them as stationary artillery tforms," Pike added. "Get whoever and whatever you can to build a forward fort here."


    Pike''s fingers tapped on a spot of the map where a vige icon stood next to the river, called Twin Fork.


    "It''s near enough to our lines to be reinforced within an hour and also forward enough to watch over the Imperials in Norshelm," Pike said. "If they attempt tond on the marshes to our right, we can use the rockets to bombard them."


    "If they attempt to rush us," Pike continued. "A couple ofpanies stationed there can hold them off long enough to either evacuate by the river or till reinforcementse."


    "We have to strip some troops from the lines and put them forward there," Pike said. "As for how to build the fort under their nose..."


    "There''s piles of prefab concrete that''s supposed to be used for housing and reinforcing the city walls at Orwell''s Point, right?" Pike grinned. "Get the barges to ship them up to the vige and let the engineers build a fort during night time. It will give those Imperial bastards a heart attack when they see a fort suddenly appearing the next day!"


    "Ha!" Frankughed. "You sly old fox!"


    -----


    Northern Front, 37 Km North of Orwell''s Point, Vige of Twin Fork


    The vige was named Twin Fork after the two identical boulders next to the forked road. When the twopanies of SDF and the single Marinepany disembarked off the bargete afternoon, they found the small fishing vige had long been abandoned in face of the Imperial invasion.


    The troops quickly started digging in around the vige while bombers flew overhead and lobbed their bombs down to keep the Imperials busy. When night came, barge after barge came up from the river and started depositing machinery and prefabbed concrete pieces.


    Soon after several hours, a simple squarish fort was established, the thick concrete bs acted as a wall surrounded the vige of Twin Fork. The troops made use of the existing buildings for their lodging and the Officers and NCOs warned the men repeatedly not to steal or damage any property.


    When the first rays of the sun shone down on the vige, it was totally transformed. Coils of barbed wire surrounded the tiny fort and even the tops of the walls. Towers manned by machine gunners had popped up around all corners of the wall while troops manned the two storey high walls.


    Bunkers for ammunition and supplies were still being dug while the PT boats docked one by one and the crew carefully removed their onboard rocket pods that were shifted to dug gun pits. Preparations for the Imperials were underway and with the constantly bombing of ruins of Norshelm, the Imperials were still clueless that a fort had suddenly appeared overnight right under their noses.


    -----


    Third Imperial Army Camp


    Alberto Rothschild was feeling panicky as he paced up and down the richly carpeted floor of his tent. Gold gilded furniture ced around the tent showed off his wealth but he paid no attention to his surroundings as he bit his nails while pacing.


    He did not expect that the rebels had managed to repeal his night attack after he boasted before the Emperor and many other nobles. Now he was wondering how to save his own skin.


    "My lord!" A voice called out from the entrance of his tent. "Themanders are here."


    "Come in!" He replied back as he quickly took a seat and did his best to school his expression to one of calmness.


    Themanders of various legions under hismand entered and they bowed and only sat down while Alberto gave his permission. "My lord... we have suffered great casualties from... the night raid..."


    "I know!" Alberto put on a false bravado in front of themanders. "It was to test the enemy''s power!"


    "But my Lord," One of the legionmanders stood up angrily. "More than half of our troops were destroyed by the rebels! Not to mention almost the entire wing of dragons!"


    "So?" Alberto narrowed his eyes at the flusteredmander as he did not care for his tone. His panic reced by indignant. "This just proves that the enemy has powers far greater than ours! We will move to another location and attack again!"


    Themanders were confused by his words. Even the legionmander standing was taken back by his words, "Attack again in another location?"


    "More than half the army was killed or captured. Morale is all time low in the army!" Themander growled as he tried to keep his temper in check. "All for what? Just to say the enemy is stronger? And now, you want us to attack in another location?"


    "Why are you all so stupid?" Alberto frowned. "If the enemy here is stronger, than of course, we move to attack from another area and breakthrough into their lines!"

 Chapter 386: Troop Movements

    Chapter 386: Troop Movements


    Northern Front


    Marines and SDFpanies were pulled off the lines and hastily transferred towards the east as they hurried to reinforce the eastern nk. Dozens and dozens of trucks shipped men, equipment, and supplies in an almost endless stream as they drove along the edges of the Uncharted Forest.


    Imperial aerial scouts attempted to investigate were instead intercepted by the Airforce''s AF - 1 Super Cobras. But despite all their efforts at keeping the Imperial guessing of their move, the news of the sudden andrge movement of troops in the open towards the east came to the Imperial ears and eyes.


    -----


    Ruins of Norshelm, Admiral of the Grand Fleet Shelter


    The ground stopped shaking and the endless drizzle of rock dust from the ceiling soon came to a halt. The Grand Fleet Admiral dusted his shoulders and sighed, feeling that how could someone of his prestige had to cower underground like rats from the enemy.


    "Is it over?" He asked to the room filled with his Fleet Captains and aides.


    "Yes, Lord Admiral!" One of his aides replied as he went out to check the situation. "The enemy flying crosses are gone!"


    The Grand Admiral nodded and returned his attention to the map on the table. He tapped a spot on the map where a fishing vigeid next to the main river just a day march south of their position. "You certain that the rebels had a fort here?"


    Another aide bowed and replied, "Yes, Lord Admiral! Our scouts had checked three times! They are very certain that the enemy had constructed a fort there!"


    "Impossible!" A Captain of the Grand Fleet spoke out sharply. "The day before there wasn''t even any living in that vige! Now the scouts tell us a fort had sprung up overnight? They need a Tenth Circle mage at least!"


    Another Captain nodded, "He''s right, there''s no way the rebels have a mage above the sixth circle, much more a Tenth circle! Even us, the Empire only has a single Ninth Circle mage!"


    "Could the Elementalists be helping out the rebels?" Another Captain asked. "If they had an earth Elementalist they could do that overnight..."


    "Impossible!" The Captain that spoke first cut off the other''s words. "The Emperor has the Elementalists under his thumb! If any dared to raise their hands against him..."


    He did not need to finish his sentence as everyone knew what will happen to the Elementalists and their families should they turned against the Emperor.


    "Could it be a rogue Elementalist?" The Captains started discussing this topic. "If its a rogue Elementalist, then the Empire''s Elementalists will have to hunt him or her down, to prevent the Emperor''s wrath on their families."


    "Enough of this talk!" The Grand Admiral suddenly spoke out, leading the room to settle down. "We need to find a way to attack the rebels, or it will us to worry about our heads and not those Elementalists'' families!"


    "We need to find a way to avoid those heaven cursed flying crosses!" The Grand Admiral said. "Our mix troops of sailors and soldiers could not even take a shit without those damn flying crosses dropping their firebombs on us!"


    "I suspect that the suddenly increased bombings by those flying crosses are to prevent us from attacking the new fort the rebels had built at that vige!" A Captain voiced out his thoughts.


    The Grand Admiral nodded, "Yes... it must be important if they have to do that... Could it mean that our presence is threatening their nks?"


    The rest of the Captains looked at each other and on the map. "My Lord, that could be true..."


    "If that is the truth, we must make haste to push our men down to Orwell''s Point before the enemy could reinforce their defenses!" Another Captain said.


    The Grand Admiral rubbed his thick beard as he considered his Captains'' words. "But how do we avoid the rebel''s flying crosses? Our dragons are no much for their smaller flying crosses either!"


    "And quickest way down is by the river, which is controlled by the rebels," He added in a sour voice. "And our ships hidden around the coves and marshes would risk getting destroyed by the rebels'' flying crosses once they leave their hiding spots!"


    "We can float the troops down the river in dinghies or small boats?" A Captain gave a suggestion. "Move at night, have the troops row down as close as possible andnd on the shores."


    "But our troops won''t be able to see anything in the dark!" Another Captain pointed out.


    "The rebels will be the same! They won''t be able to see us too!" The Captain argued back. "If not we be forever sitting here at the mercy of the enemy''s flying crosses!"


    The rest of the Captains nodded and muttered agreement to the words. "We can split our troops two ways... Have the soldiers travel bynd while our sailors travel by the river."


    The Imperial Grand Fleet had roughly twelve thousand surviving soldiers and fifteen thousand sailors. They had enough supplies tost them two months and every day spent sitting on their asses was a day of supplies wasted. The Grand Admiral finally made up his mind and ordered. "We move out at night! Have the men build small boats from whatever materials they could get."


    "I want the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Squadrons to set out just before the sunset to lure the enemy''s flying crosses away from our troops!" The Grand Admiral tapped the map of the ind sea. "The three squadrons will be manned by a skeleton crew and basic supplies. Their role is to make the enemy think we are making a break out of the ruins!"


    "Once the enemy has taken the bait," The Grand Admiral eyed the Captains of the three squadrons. "Make the enemy chase you as long as possible! Your ships are the fastest in the Fleet! The more time the enemy spends on chasing you means more time for our men to get closer to the enemy fort!"


    "Your twelve ships will be instrumental in our victory or loss!" The Grand Admiral gave them a grave stare. "Do not fail the Fleet!"


    The Captainsmanding the three squadrons gave a salute to the Admiral proudly, knowing that they were given a great honor to help win the war.


    "Go! We have much to prepare and not much time!" The Grand Admiral dismissed the Captains. "Victory be upon us!"


    "VICTORY!"


    -----


    Northern Front, Twin Fork Fort


    The Rock unconsciously smiled as he witnessed the Imperials approaching from the predicted paths and triggered off the traps that turned the surprised men into minced meat. He kind of understood how he was defeated now by the UN as he was witnessing almost the exact same thing happening now.


    Despite the greatly outnumbered Marines and SDF troops, the Imperials were attacking in the same old fashion way, weathering the gunfire and artillery, hoping to breach the tiny fort''s defenses by the sheer weight of numbers.


    They could have done so except for the ingenious barriers that hindered their movements. Rows and rows of razor wire, which made the Rock wonder who did the craftsmen of the UN ever produce such a contraption so skillfully and in suchrge numbers.


    While the Imperials attempted to navigate through the barriers of razor wire, the weapon that made the Rock very impressed and in awe of was the machine gun. The MG - 1, called the Rocker by the SDF troops due to the tempo of the firing that sounds like some rock music they been listening totely while in the front lines.


    The machine guns cut down the Imperials like paper targets so easily that the Rock had a rare feeling of honorless guilt. Yet at the same time, watching the hundreds of soldiers getting mowed down gave him a sick sense of enjoyment and rush.


    The Imperial soldiers and sailors failed their attack for the fourth time of the day and they beat a hasty retreat leaving bodies scattered behind across the battlefield. The Rock could only shake his head at the way lives were wasted. He suddenly stopped himself and smiled ruefully as that was exactly what happened to him before.


    "Ceasefire! Ceasefire!" The order rang down the line and the Rock took his finger off the trigger. "Ceasefire in effect! We are letting the Imperials collect their wounded and dead!"


    The men around the Rock made noises of relief as it meant they could take a short rest. Surprisingly to the Rock he felt a sense of relief like the rest and he wondered if his heart was now here instead of the Empire.


    -----


    The Imperial City of Silverton, City Citadel, Great Hall


    A body leaking blood was held between two guardsmen as they dragged the corpse out of the Great Hall. The Emperor tossed the blood stained sword to the side and took the scented hand towel offered by his eunuch. He wiped the blood off his hands and tossed the towel back before he sat down on the throne again.


    The kneeling rows of minsters and generals did not dare to raise their heads as awaited their Emperor''s judgment. "The First Army was defeated totally and the Second and Third are still stuck, unable to break the rebels lines?"


    "What joke is this?" The Emperor covered his face as he leaned on one side of the throne. "Close to half a million soldiers... and yet, we could not even break the rebels'' defenses?"


    "Tell... Why should I keep the lives of your generals?" The Emperor growled as he stared down at the group of generals kneeling with their heads touching the floor at his feet. "Useless!"


    "My Emperor!" The generals cried out for mercy. "The enemy employs demonic weapons and powers that are strange and new to us! Their powers are far greater than ours..."


    "ENOUGH EXCUSES!" The Emperor mmed his fists on the armrest of his throne. "I want to see results! Not excuses!"


    "Maybe I should just have all of you dragged off to be a Bronze man..." The Emperor''s eyes glittered dangerously. "By doing so, at least you all can be of some use in the end!"


    "No, my Emperor!" The generals begged as they kowtowed frantically. "We know our mistakes! We shall not repeat them ever again!"


    "Fine!" The Emperor waved off their pleas of mercy. "Last chance! Take two legions of Bronze men! If you all fail this time around... Do not say I have no mercy for you!"


    The generals quickly bowed and retreated just as quick, fearful of the Emperor changing his mind. After the Great Hall was emptied, a dark cloaked figure stepped out from the shadows and bowed, "My Emperor."


    "What news of the war?" The Emperor asked as he took a sip of wine.


    "It is as the generals had spoken," The cloaked figure remains kneeling. "The weapons employed by the rebels are too strange to understand and too powerful for the Imperial Army."


    "We managed to obtain a few samples of their weapons," The cloaked figure gestured and two Imperial Lifeguards each holding a long wooded rectangr box walked up and lifted the lids open.


    The long barreled weapons sat on a red velvet cushion and the workmanship was immediately clear to all that this was made by some god leveled craftsman. The finishes and mold seemed too perfect to be made by mortal hands.


    The Emperor''s eunuch took over the weapon from the Lifeguard and presented it to the Emperor who took it in both hands. He gave the weapon a heft and examined the weapon closely.


    "It is called ''rifle'' by the rebels," The cloaked figure said. "This is but a lesser version of what their barbarian troops are using. It is said that the rebels'' barbarians carry a much powerful version. This is for their militia..."


    The Emperor frowned as he continued to inspect the weapon in his hands. "With this level of workmanship... and its only fit for their lowly rabble?"

 Chapter 387: Espionage

    Chapter 387: Espionage


    The sudden sharp roar of the rifle shocked the people inside the Citadel and the doors to the Great Hall swung open as guards with des drawn and ministers rushed in. The Emperor coughed and spat to the side as the foul smelling smoke shrouded the Great Hall and choked him.


    The cloaked figure waved his hands casting a small spell that blew the foul air away while the Emperor''s men looked at him with worry. "Your Majesty! Are you safe? Is there an attack?"


    "Y- yes, yes!" The Emperor coughed again and took the offered wine from his eunuch to clear his throat. "Nothing to be rmed about!"


    "Leave me," He said next and waved the men away who nced around curiously before they retreated from the Great Hall.


    The Emperor gestured to his eunuch to bring the bronze jar on the far table which had toppled over when he fired the rebel''s weapon. HIs eunuch carried the jar and presented to the Emperor who saw that the jar had a small hole on one side and a ragged hole on the other.


    "This weapon is very fascinating," The Emperor strolled over to the table with the cloaked figure following behind. Soon he spotted what he wanted to find and he poked his finger into the still warm hole on the side of the stone pir. "How fascinating!"


    "And this weapon uses these tiny metal... bolts as its ammunition?" He held up a single rifle round to the cloaked figure who bowed.


    "Yes, My Emperor..." The Spy Master replied. "These rifles rely on these metal bolts just like how a bow needs arrows."


    "And the smell and smoke?" The Emperor turned around asking. "How does it work? What kind of magic does it use?"


    The cloaked figure paused a while before he took out one of the shiny golden bolts and snapped the tip off. He poured the contents out on the white table cloth and pointed his finger to the pile of ck sand and cast a me spell.


    The ck sand caught fire and slowly burn with a sizzling fuss while giving off fumes of grey smoke that smell of rotten eggs. The Emperor stepped back from the smoke and covered his nose in disgust. "Enough!"


    The cloaked figure swept his hands over the burning sand and the smoke was blown away, making the Emperor sigh in relief. "It will appear that the rebels use some kind of alchemical sulfur sand from the demons."


    "As your majesty can see," The cloaked figure gestured to the burnt pile. "Lighting the ck sand will cause it to burn and that is how the rebels ''shoot'' out these pieces of metal at a great force!"


    "And inside the rifle," The Spy Master pulled the bolt out and pointed inside. "There is a me rune engraved on a magic stone inside. The mes created by the rune ignites the ck sand when you pull the trigger."


    The Spy Master held out the tip of the bolt he had broken off earlier to the Emperor who took it and examined it closely. "The mes look... weak and this looks like a tiny little dart..."


    "This weak me and this tiny little dart can kill a fully armored Knight at over two hundred paces!" The cloaked figure reminded the Emperor. "This is what is killing the soldiers..."


    "Fascinating!" The Emperor rolled the dart in his hands before closing over it in a fist. "We must learn how to make such weapons at once!"


    "Your wish is mymand!" The cloaked figure bowed. "I shall inform the Alchemists Guilds to immediately investigate its mysteries."


    "What are the numbers of the rebels?" The Emperor asked offhandedly as he picked up the rifle again.


    "Their numbers ranged from one and a half legion to the most two legions," The Spy Master said. "Between fifteen hundred to twenty hundred fighting men."


    "We have over forty legions..." The Emperor paused in his examination of the rifle and cast a nce at his Spy Master. "Forty legions... and we could not even win a single battle?"


    The Emperor shook his head and gestured to the rifle in his hands. "This is why we need to learn the secrets of this... weapon! Imagine forty legions equipped with these! Who can stop me?"


    "Even the Isles hiding across the sea will not be able to stop me!" The Emperor grinned. "Once we have the rebels destroyed... the Isles will be next! And with their shipbuilding capabilities, we will march on towards the Old World!"


    "My Emperor is most wise," The Spy Master bowed. "Also there is another piece of news..."


    "What news?" The Emperor''s mood was greatly improved as he toyed with the rifle.


    "There seemed to be some Elementalists aiding the rebels," The cloaked figure said. "The rebels managed to construct a fort within the span of a night. We suspect them to be rogue Elementalists as all our Elementalists are under our strict watch."


    "Is that so?" The Emperor smiled as he pointed the rifle around like a child with a new toy. "Send our Elementalists to finish off those rogues then."


    "Continue your stalking of the rebels," The Emperor put down the rifle in his hands and suddenly said in a serious tone. "I want to know everything about their power and the secrets to their weapons! Do not fail!"


    The cloaked figure gave a low bow as he retreated towards the shadows. "Your wish is mymand. The Stalkers live to serve you, my Emperor..."


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "Come in," Captain ke said without looking up from his work as someone knocked on his door. "What is it?"


    "Sir! We got some intel that might be of value at ending the war!" The words of Intel Officer Lt Tavor immediately caught ke''s attention as he jerked his head up.


    "What?" ke ced the report on supplies of the front line on hold and gave his full attention to Tavor.


    "We just have gotten some information regarding the whereabouts of the Imperial Emperor!" Lt Tavor gave a rare smile. "But the information might be outdated."


    "Ok, tell me everything, from the start!" ke said and gestured to Tavor to be seated.


    "ymore One had picked up a beast girl ve from their re mission against the Imperial Knightly Order of Shadows," Tavor exined. "They managed to extract safely after calling a couple of artillery strikes that took out the camp and an estimated eighty percent of the Imperial Knights."


    "When they came back to base, Security took the ve in and ran her through a full course of security and medical checks both physical and magical," Tavor continued. "And it turns out that the beast girl used to serve under that little assistant of your wife."


    "Kaga?" ke frowned as he recalled the little cat girl that was Sherene''s assistant in City Hall. "Have you confirmed her identity?"


    Tavor nodded, "When Security came to me, I told them to prioritize bringing her over here after her security results are cleared. I just came over directly after setting up a meet between Kaga and the beast girl."


    Tavor took out a folder and ced it before ke who opened the folder and saw a dossier of the beast girl they were discussing. "So what valuable information did she provide?"


    "Well, plenty," Tavor smiled. "She was the personnel ve of the leader of the Order of Shadows, a Knight order that actually captured the Beast City."


    "She was privy to much inside information as apparently the leader of the Order of Shadows who refers to himself as The Joker..." Tavor gave an eye roll at the name. "Thinks that she is just a piece of meat that he can kill at any time."


    "So, I got the Imperial numbers, supply routes, rally points, war ns all ready to be given out from the girl," Tavor''s eyes turned into slits as he smiled happily. "And best of all, we know where the Emperor is."


    Tavor stood up and walked to the wall where the map was hung and he tapped on a spot on the map. "Here!"


    ke stood up and joined Tavor at the map wall, looking at where Tavor had pointed. "The City of Silverton..."


    ke turned and started pacing around his office as his mind went into overdrive at the information. "How far is it to our nearest base?"


    "Roughly 500 km away from Orwell''s Point," Tavor promptly replied.


    "500 klicks eh?" ke returned to the map and traced his fingers on the map. "Just within operation range of our fliers endurance..."


    "Any way to tally the information of the Emperor still inside the city?" ke asked.


    "Hard," Tavor said. "The war has cut off all contact between our and their cities. Silverton is out of our influence. My boys on the ground don''t have any contacts there yet..."


    "Hmmm..." ke folded his arms as he took a look at the map again. "How many UAVs still up?"


    Tavor sighed and said, "Just one... the others are already being stripped down for parts... And thest UAV is fully tasked."


    "I think I better call for a general staff meeting," ke said. "We need to know what assets we can use."


    -----


    "Attention on Deck!" The officers both physical and virtual stood at attention until Captain ke called for them to stand down.


    "Alright, I am sure all of you am curious about this urgent meeting," ke addressed everyone. "I let Lt Tavor brief you."


    "As of yesterday 1300 hours, Intel has picked up a piece of reliable information regarding the whereabouts of the Imperial Emperor Varacen." Lt Tavor''s words immediately had the attention of everyone.


    "He is suspected to be here," Lt Tavor pointed to the map. "At this city called Silverton. It''s 490 klicks away from Orwell''s Point."


    "We need to check the information before we decide what to do next," Captain ke added in. "So we need eyes over the city, but we seemed to be currentlycking in any surveince aircraft..."


    Airforce Commander Tommy gave a frown and spoke up, "Sir, the UAVs are being taken down to be reced with the new AWACS FB- 1 Mariners."


    "Still a couple of weeks to retrofit the FB - 1 Mariners into AWACS role," Cmdr Tommy said. "We need to integrate and test the sensors and equipment of the stripped UAVs onboard the Mariners."


    ke shook his head, "Using a conventional aircraft might alert the snake."


    "Do we have other means of surveince?" ke asked.


    "Use the dragons?" Cmdr Tommy suggested. "We can send Blue Dragon and Rastraz over to take a look see and tight beam aserms over?"


    "No, Sir," Lt Tavor replied. "No dragon will be able to make it past the number of aerial defenses of the Silverton if the Emperor is really there. Not to mention flying hundreds of kilometers over uncharted enemy territory."


    "Well, Cap," Chief Engineer Matt suddenly spoke up. "I should be able to squeeze out another mission of thest UAV. Give me two days, no one day. Let me and the boys work the UAV over. It should be enough for it to fly onest mission."


    ke nodded. "Do it."


    "Next, suppose if the Emperor Varacen is really there," ke looked around the room. "What should our course of action be?"


    "Military," Everyone said the same thing.


    "No room for negotiations?" ke asked again to be sure.


    "No, Sir!" Everyone replied in a serious tone even Sherene who remained quiet on the side also agreed by shaking her head.


    "Understood," ke turned to Colonel Frank. "You, get your Strategic Staff and work together with Intel on a n of attack. We shall strike directly at the Emperor and see what he has to say when we are in his face!"


    The men grinned and as one they rose and saluted, "YES SIR!"

 Chapter 388: Elementalists

    Chapter 388: Elementalists


    United Nations, City of Falledge


    Lieutenant Collins. military attache to the Governer of Falledge, watched the rows and rows of Marines carefully packing their gear and parachute silks inside the simple wooden shed while sergeants strolled up and down keeping an eagle eye on their actions. One sergeant paused before an Orc Marine who was busy stuffing the parachute silks into his pack.


    "Private!" The sergeant growled loudly. "What the fark do you think you are doing?"


    "Packing my bag! Sarge!" The Orc shot up to his feet at attention and answered.


    "Packing?" The sergeant shook his head. "Is this how you pack your parachute?"


    "Erm..." The Orc gave a sheepish look at his pack. "Yes... Sarge!"


    The sergeant gave a consolidating pat on the Orc''s shoulder. "If you keep packing it that way, I better bring along XXL body bag for you..."


    The Orc''s expression changed and he looked down at his pack again and gulped. "Sorry... Sarge!"


    "You don''t have to be sorry," The sergeant squatted down next to his pack and started shaking the contents out. "Do it again. After all its, not my life..."


    "Yes, Sarge!" The Orc quickly took the parachute silks out and refolded them while the rest of the toonughed. His buddies on the side quickly helped him with the packing.


    Collins returned his attention to the two Marine Battalion COs who were busy with a pile of paperwork as they amassed over the month. "Captains, the city does not have enough stock of 6.5 mm smokeless ammunition for your requested needs."


    "But we have plenty of BP ammunitions still remaining," Collins said to the unhappy Marine Captains. "Logistics has yet to transfer your supplies over since First and Second Battalion were transferred here instead..."


    "ck powder?" The Captains frowned. "It will y hell with the new rifles! We need smokeless ammo!"


    "I only have limited stocks of smokeless..." Collins replied. "You have to wait till Logisitcs move the supplies over..."


    Both Captains looked at each other and sighed, "How long? The new orders came from the top telling us to shift our asses over here in preparation for a major op... But we don''t have the ammunition for it and we got a dateline to keep!"


    "Look, I can spare you as much of the avable ammo my people have," Collins gave his assurance. "But other than that, there is nothing I can do till Logistics move your stuff over..."


    "Damn..." The Captains grumbled. "If it wasn''t for this sudden order, we would have resupplied at the depot instead of here..."


    Collins gave a shrug, "Well, this op looks big... three Battalions on standby here and all the big nes being diverted over here too..."


    The Captain of the Second Battalion nodded. "We are supposed to hit the city of Silverton. Intel has it that the Emperor is there now. If we can take down the Emperor, this war will be over!"


    "I know..." Collins replied with a helpless look. "But I can''t move supplies with a snap of my finger!"


    "Besides, Intel has yet to determine if the Emperor is really there nor has all the aircraft arrived yet..." Collins said. "And even the troops haven''t even finished packing the parachutes. We got time still."


    "I guess you are right..." The Captain sighed as he looked at the list of task on his hand. "The deadline HQ gave was is pretty tight still..."


    "Without adequate supplies, it will be a disaster waiting to happen," Collins pointed out. "Raise it up with HQ, they are not the ones on the ground, so they don''t know..."


    Collins tapped the stack of forms on the table and said, "Logistics should need a day to transport some of your supplies over. I heard they are running out of wheels and the goblins are out in force in the forest. So expect dys."


    "Alright, I guess that is what we can do for now," The Captains gave in. "Get us as much ammo for the boys ASAP. We don''t know when the order wille in for us to begin the operation!"


    -----


    Third Imperial Army, Imperial Left nk


    Outriders from the Third Army had managed to link up with the remnants of the Grand Fleet and with messagesing from Silverton that reinforcements wereing, boasted Alberto Rothschild''s confidence.


    "Attack the Twin Fork Fort together with the sailors!" Alberto ordered hismanders. The past week of defeats and deadlocks had his temper high as he failed to break through the rebel lines.


    "But my Lord," Themanders showed their displeasure at his orders. "We had been attacking non stop for the whole week! The soldiers are tired and they need proper rest before we can attempt another attack!"


    "They are just lowly soldiers!" Alberto hissed. "Their purpose is to die for us on the battlefield! Why waste our supplies on them? Send them in together with the Grand Admiral''s troops!"


    "That bitch is in Orwell''s Point!" Alberto growled at the unhappymanders. "I must get my hands on her!"


    -----


    Imperial Reinforcements Enroute to the Third Imperial Army


    A silver haired young man dressed in grey robes rode on the back of a massivend dragon. His body swaying in rhythm to the swagger of his mount as he kept paced with the hundreds of other Knights and soldiers. The heavy thumping of iron d boots of the Bronze Men was like a luby as they marched in the night.


    The road was lit up using hoodednterns and the troops no long travel in a long snaking line. Instead, they were broken up into many smaller groups of a thousand and they set off in half hour intervals to prevent the flying crosses from attacking them all at once.


    Riding together with the silver haired young man was two of hispanions, an older bearded male and a female of simr age as the youngster. And surrounding the trio were a squad of Imperial Lifeguards who rode in silence throughout the whole journey.


    "Justze?" The girl called out in worry as she saw the silver haired youngster was almost toppling off the saddle. "Don''t fall asleep on the saddle!"


    "Hmm?" Justze rubbed his sleepy eyes and yawned loudly while stretching out his arms. He had dozed off in the saddle and even had a dream. A dream of better times and of his only family, his elder sister, who had disappeared somewhere out there. They said she died while in service of the Empire when they were trying to deal with the rebels.


    Now he has an opportunity to find out the truth of his sister''s disappearance. He gave a charming smile to the girl next to him and said, "Sorry, Ciel, the ride is making me drowsy..."


    Ciel smiled back and patted the rough hide of the lumberingnd dragon. "I feel drowsy too, but we need to keep our wits on! I heard that the enemy''s flying crosses can see in the dark and they drop egg bombs that can destroy a Level 3 Magic Barrier with a single hit!"


    Justzeughed as he looked up to the star filled skies. "Hahaha! I don''t think they are so powerful to be able to see in the dark! Even dragons can''t do that!"


    "Don''tugh!" Ciel pouted. "They say the strange flying crosses are some kind of demon! So why can''t they see in the dark?"


    The elder male turned around at Ciel''s words and said in a grave tone. "Don''t blindly believe in what others say! You are after all an Elementalist Mage!"


    "Yes, Magister Zinoga!" Ciel replied meekly and struck out her tongue behind Magister Zinoga''s back when he did not notice while Justze giggled softly at Ciel''s antics.


    "Magister Zinoga, than what do you think are those flying crosses?" Ciel asked curiously. "What manner of creatures are they?"


    "Hmmm...." Magister Zinoga stroked his beard in thought before he said, "It might be some kind of monster hybrid... I have to witness it first hand before I can make any correct deductions."


    "Just be on guard,'' Magister Zinoga advised. "We are going into battle and anything can happen. Just focus on protecting yourselves and leave the rest to me."


    "I don''t know why children like you all want to rush into battle always..." Magister Zinoga sighed. "War is nothing but death and suffering."


    "Magister Zinoga," Justze spoke up. "I want to find my sister! She went missing in the battle with the rebels!"


    "And I am following Justze!" Ciel stated. "I can''t leave him alone!"


    Magister Zinoga frowned as he looked at Justze. "Your sister? You''re a Von Aston?"


    Justze nodded proudly. His family lineage was pretty famous among the magicalmunity due to their family bloodline of elemental abilities that were generally higherpared to others.


    "I see..." Magister Zinoga''s forehead ceased further. "She passed away out there right?"


    Justze lowered his head. "I don''t believe their words... I believe she is still alive out there! She might even be taken, prisoner!"


    "And you think this rogue Elementalist that we are going to hunt... might be her?" Magister Zinoga directly asked.


    "I- Y- yes..." Justze replied hesitantly.


    "And if she was, what will you do?" Magister Zinoga asked gently.


    "I will bring her home!" Justze said solemnly.


    "Do you know if you bring her back..." Magister Zinoga lowered his voice. "The Emperor will still execute her for aiding the rebels?"


    "No!" Justze shook his head. "The Emperor is benevolent! He will not kill her just because the rebels forced her to aid them!"


    Magister Zinoga gave a sad smile and decided to change the subject. "Well, if you want to save and protect your sister, then you better improve your abilities!"


    "Yes!" Justze nodded fervently. "I will make sure to improve my powers so I can be the one to protect her in the future!"


    Magister Zinoga smiled sadly as he looked at the hopeful expression on both the youngster''s faces. He couldn''t bear to tell them that the Emperor had order that the rogue Elementalist must be killed or their families will bear the consequences for failure.


    -----


    North Front, UN Right nk, Twin Fork Fort


    "Contactsing on the left!" A yell cried out. The Rock raised his rifle with his tired arms in that direction and took aim. His shot further bruised his sore shoulder as the rifle butt mmed mercilessly against him and dose of smelly gun smoke further dried his parched throat.


    "Last clip!" Someone hoarse yell came down the walls. "I am out!"


    The Rock patted his bandolier pouches and only felt cloth. "I''m running out too!"


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"


    The ground beneath the walls suddenly erupted into mes, smoke, and dirt as the ymores mines detonated, spewing their deadly load outwards at the charging enemy who breached the final razor wire defenses.


    The Imperial troops had the numbers to spare while the defenders numbering only a few hundred could only hold them back for so long. "Fall back to the river! Remember your firearms! Don''t leave them behind for the enemy, you hear?"


    The cry to retreat came as a blessing to the Rock''s ears. His buddy jerked his arm and cried, "Come on Cork! Let''s get the hell out of here!"


    The men following the retreat order quickly abandoned their positions and ran towards the river where several barges awaited them. The Rock and his buddy followed the rest as they climbed down the stairs and followed the men who were forced into lines by the NCOs and Officers. "Line up and get on board in an orderly manner!"


    "Imperials!" Someone yelled and pointed. Heads turned and saw tips ofdders appearing on the bastions of the walls.


    "3rd Company! Form line!" An Officer quickly rallied his men and men already veterans by now, smoothly assembled into a firing line. Some not even of 3rd Company joined in to help provide cover for the rest to board the ships.


    "FIREEE!"

 Chapter 389: Operation Overlord

    Chapter 389: Operation Overlord


    The General Atomics MQ - 242 ''Owleye'' Unmanned Reconnaissance Vehicle was already on itsst legs as it hovered quietly over the city it was assigned to overwatch. Built over forty years ago, it was mothballed together with the aging City ss heavy cruiser Singapore and only taken back into service when the UNS Singapore was retrofit back into active service as an auxiliary ship.


    Without a proper UAV servicing station for the UAVs, the MQ - 242 Owleyes had started to break down with reduced performance. The Engineering team could only make simple maintenance and repairs but with proper materials and how know, they could only prolong the inevitable for only so much time.


    Now for thest time in its active service life, thest remaining Owleye which was long overdue to be dmissioned performed its final data collection mission.


    -----


    Empire of Bluewood, City of Silverton, Citadel, Great Hall


    Over a hundred people dressed in thetest court fashion thronged the Great Hall. Music, conversation, andughter could be heard while a small army of servants waited on the guests.


    The Emperor sat on the throne at the end of the Great Hall and watched the nobles and influential people mingling around before him. He took a sip of his wine and inwardly felt disdain for the fawning faces of the people before him.


    All of them want wealth and power, yet none was willing to pay the price of it. Only wanting to take credit from others without dirtying their hands. These people will only know how to suck the Empire dry of its resources, thought the Emperor. When asked for any contributions to the war against the rebels, everyone gave excuses of all kinds, but when invited to a party, everyone was suddenly avable.


    He kept a smile on his face as he devised a n to wipe out all those unworthy to the Empire. Only the strong shall keep the Empire strong!


    -----


    United Nation, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Naval Intelligence Department


    Lieutenant Tavor broke into a smile as he watched the dyed feed from the UAV cameras. Therge screens taking up one wall of the Naval Intelligence Department''s Ops Room were showing an image that was taken from the UAV currently hovering just over the city of Silverton.


    The screen was showing an image of a stone keep that was brightly lit and through the crystal windows, a part of sorts was going on. As the UAV operator controlled the cameras, the view panned over to thest window which clearly shown a male lounging on a throne.


    The Emperor was dressed in a long blue coat, thick with borate golden embroidery and wearing a simple looking eastern crown with just three spikes on the front. Lt Tavor gestured to the UAV operator to zoom in the camera.


    He walked closer to the screen and nodded in triumphant, "Hello there, Mr. Emperor..."


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, Residental District


    The phone rang suddenly in the middle of the night, jolting awake both ke and Sherene from their sleep. ke gently untangled himself from Sherene''s arms as he rolled himself over to the edge of the bed.


    "Wh- who is calling at such a time?" Sherene grumbled sleepily.


    ke patted Sherene''s head and hopped over to the table where the phone was still ringing. "ke here."


    "Captain, sorry for disturbing you and the princess''s sleep." The voice of Lt Tavor came in clear over the phone. "But we got a situation here..."


    "Got it," ke rubbed the grains of sleep of his eyes. "I will be in the Bridge in... twenty minutes."


    "Yes, Sir," Lt Tavor replied. "A car has been dispatched for you and will be waiting when you''re downstairs."


    ke put down the phone back to its cradle and hopped his way to the side of the bed before strapping on his prosthetic leg.


    "What is the matter?" Sherene rolled over and hugged ke in the middle. "Did something urgent came up?"


    ke nodded and gave Sherene''s hands a squeeze before he turned over and kissed her on the forehead. "Go back to sleep, I need to go to the Bridge for an urgent matter."


    "Is it very serious?" The sleepiness in Sherene''s voice had disappeared.


    "Maybe," ke smiled at Sherene. "Don''t worry, I can handle it."


    "Hmm..." Sherene nodded and got off the bed to help dress ke in his uniform. "Call me if there is anything you need my help, okay?"


    "Okay," ke kissed Sherene and grabbed his peak cap before he left the room and out of the penthouse. He took the elevator down to the ground floor and found a couple of Jeeps with their engines running and waiting for him.


    His escorts saluted and opened the door for him and before long, he was on his way to the tallest structure in the city. The guards stood at attention at his arrival and soon he was stepping into the Bridge and waved the night watch crew back to their seats.


    "Sir!" Lt Tavor was waiting for him at the forward section. Without beating around the bush, he activated the screens and yed back the surveince video feed taken an hour ago. "We got visual confirmation an hour ago that the Emperor is in the city."


    ke watched the video yed at 1.5x speed before the video paused when the camera panned and zoomed in to show the Emperor seated on the throne through the windows. "That''s him, yes?"


    Lt Tavor nodded, "I had his image tallied with several previous ex Empire personnel and our high value prisoners. They all have confirmed his identity."


    "Sir, do we have the green light to start the operation?" Lt Tavor asked in a serious tone.


    ke frowned and rubbed the thin stubble forming on his chin and asked, "How long till we lose UAV coverage?"


    "I say..." Lt Tavor turned to check with his aide before he replied. "40 hours max before the UAV is due to return."


    "We only have enough lift capacity to drop a single Battalion and all its assets in one go..." ke drummed his fingers on the tactical plot table as he checked the map. "Two hours roughly for a single trip... And when we add in refueling and loading time..."


    "So we need roughly fifteen hours to get all three Battalions stationed at Falledge to reach Silverton..." ke did a quick calction. "Are the Marines stillcking in supplies?"


    Lt Tavor nodded, "Only half of the supplies had reached them due to the sudden change in deployment orders."


    "So, they have roughly enough for two weeks ofbat?" ke asked to which Lt Tavor nodded again. "Okay, that should be enough. We will airdrop the rest when they get them."


    "Inform all departments to start Operation Overlord now!"


    -----


    United Nations, City of Falledge, Falledge Airfield, Marine Staging Area


    The turboprops of the FB - 1 Mariners'' propellers spun and roared lustily, throwing out clumps of ck smoke from the engine exhausts as the engines stabilized. A dozen FB - 1 Mariners sat in rows on the tarmac had their engines powered up as lines of troops started boarding the aircraft.


    Further down the row of Mariners, sat two of thetest cargo transport aircraft, the C - 1 ''Sky Freighter''. It had a high wing profile with two turboprop engines and a single pylon on each wing and arge vertical stabilizer at the tail end which housed a tail ramp for loading and unloading of cargo.


    The Sky Freighter was slightlyrger than the Mariner in size and wingspan. It could carry more than twice the cargo of the Mariner and was faster and had more endurance. The two aircraft had their rear ramps down as troops started loaded up with supplies and equipment. Armored Support Autonomous Spider Golems packed to the gills with weapons and supplies obediently rolled up the ramps and allowed the aircrew and their handlers to strap them down to the decks.


    Once all the supplies and Marines were boarded and strapped in, the rows of aircraft taxied to the runway and lined up in an orderly fashion. Twins banks of illuminated spells lit up the runway and the roar of engines grew louder and louder as the lead ne charged up its engines and took off smoothly into the night skies.


    The men stood at the edges watching the aircraft taking off one after another and knew that hourster, it will be their turn.


    -----


    Empire of Bluewood, City of Silverton, Citadel, Great Hall


    The Emperor''s expression suddenly changed and he jerked his head to look out of the crystal windows. He suddenly felt a strange sensation of something was watching him, making him feel a chill down his spine. He unconsciously touched his chest where the fragment of the Sun God was imnted in his body, feeling the warmth it was giving out.


    "What is it, my Emperor?" A voice asked from the shadows behind the Emperor Varacen. "Is there something wrong?"


    "Strange..." The Emperor frowned as he kept his eye out of the window, seeing the darkness outside. "I felt someone peeking on me."


    "Wait for a moment, my Emperor..." The shadow replied and after a while, the shadow spoke again. "The anti scrying spells are still in effect and nothing has breached the magic barrier nor the rms."


    "Hmm..." Emperor Varacen nodded but his expression did not change much. "Has the reinforcements reached the front?"


    "Soon, my Emperor," The shadow spoke. "The Bronze men will be gathering at the Third Imperial Army by dawn and they will storm the lines."


    "Good," Emperor Varacen nodded. "Break the right nk and take the city of Orwell''s Point. They must have more of those thunder weapons there."


    "Yes, my Emperor," Replied the shadow again. "Already we have gathered close to a hundred of such weapons!"


    "And the training?" Emperor Varacen asked. "And has the Alchemist and Mage Guilds found out anything about the thunder weapons?"


    "The men are... learning the thunder weapons fast," The shadow said. "But there is still no word from the Alchemists and Mages regarding the ck sand and how the thunder rifle is made."


    "No matter," Emperor Varacen gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "We have more bodies than they have. I do not believe they can stop all of us with their pitiful numbers even if they are all armed with thunder weapons!"


    -----


    United Nations, Northern Front, Right nk, Orwell''s Point Forward Defense Line


    The Rock watched yet another wave of Imperial troops navigating through the bloody mud, bodies, and remains of razor wire under the illumination spells overhead. The distinctive rat ta ta of the machine guns opened up first followed by the deeper boom of the rifles.


    They had fallen back from the Twin Fork Fort yesterday and traveling down the river and redeployed at the defensive line here, just several kilometers away. To his surprise, the Imperial Army had continued to chase them, making the Rock wonder which ipetentmander was leading the Third.


    Despite the constant attacks, the Rock could sense the unwillingness and low morale of the Imperials as they made a show of attacking the UN lines before falling back again. As if to agree to his thoughts, the Imperials ceased their attacks and retreated back into the night.


    "This makes no sense," The Rock said to his buddy who had sat down duckboards and leaned against the trench wall. "They are just wasting their lives and efforts."


    "Who cares!" His buddy gave a shrug. "They can keep doing that all they want. Just don''te into our lines!"


    The Rock frowned, feeling something was wrong with how the way the Imperials were attacking. There must be something else or they will not be wasting lives like this. Could it be a diversion? Or was he really thinking too much and that the Imperial Commander was really an ipetent fool?


    "I got a bad feeling about this..."

 Chapter 390: Sucker Punch

    Chapter 390: Sucker Punch


    United Nations, Northern Front, Right nk, City of Orwell''s Point


    The War Room was in a chaotic mess as aides and runners ran in and out bearing messages and tasks. Staff Officers updated the maps and tasking on the boards while radio operators sat facing a bank of radio sets ry information back and fore like a tennis match.


    Mills, freshly promoted to take the role of Military Liason with the Governor of Orwell''s Point stood beside his, once enemy and rival, now an ally, Captain Judis watching the chaos in the War Room.


    "Multiple legions sighted along the 2nd Defense Line!"


    "11th Company is requesting for artillery support! They are getting overrun!"


    "7th Company is requesting to fall back to the 1st Defense Line!"


    "2nd and 3rd Company under attack by unknown numbers of Imperials!"


    "Bronze men sightings confirmed! They are attacking the all along the 2nd Defense Line!"


    Mills frowned and said, "Those damn Terminators are back..."


    "You mean the Bronze Men?" Judis''s expression was also bleak as he watched the map getting updated by the staffers. "The 3rd Imperial Army must have gotten reinforcements after their failure with their dragons..."


    "I wonder which idiot ismanding the 3rd Imperial Army..." Mills suddenly grinned. "He is actually helping us a lot!"


    "Why do you say that?" Judis asked curiously.


    "Look at how they attacked us at the start," Mills exined. "Straight up cold steel tactics... Heavy infantry in the front and light troops behind. Very standard Imperial tactics."


    Judis nodded as he was very familiar with those tactics. Mills continued, "Next themander tried some fancy aerial maneuvers with those dragons of his, which I find stupid."


    "How so? If we did not have any of those... ''Eh Eh'' guns," Judis pronounced the letter A as Eh. "Those dragons would havended a few legions behind our lines."


    "The thing is the moreplex an op is," Mills smiled. "The more you will fuck it up."


    "He bought us time to get his dragons and men in order," Mills said. "Which allowed our aerial scouts to spot his ns and ready for it."


    "Which he literally fed them into our meat grinder..." Mills said. "And now, he is throwing his troops constantly at our line for the past few days."


    "Looking at the way the Imperials soldiers are fighting," Mills pointed out. "They are already on theirst stretch."


    "Even with the reinforcements," Mills shook his head. "Oh, they will definitely break through the 2nd Defense Line. But upon reaching the 1st Defense Line and the Final Line?"


    Judis gave a smile and nodded. "Their momentum will die down."


    "Yup!" Mills nodded. "Even with those Terminators, we can bogged them down here for weeks!"


    "Time is something we have and they don''t," Mills grinned. "The middle is still being held strongly by the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Battalion. And the SRM batteries are being diverted to support the middle now that we had won the left nk."


    "HQ wants us to be the bait, to draw all their attention here," Mills added. "And that now we are having all their attention here..."


    "Our sucker punch is going straight for their Emperor!"


    -----


    3rd Imperial Army, 136th Magic Support Regiment


    Justze Von Aston flinched from the sudden explosion of dirt and mes just several feet away from him. He quickly pulled the excited and curious Ciel into his magic barrier and scowled at her, "Stop running out of the barrier!"


    "But! But!" Ciel''s eyes were wide and sparkly as she craned her neck left and right trying to watch the ongoing battle before her. "I want to see!"


    "See your head!" Justze growled. "I promised your parents to bring you back in one piece!"


    "What''s that?" Ciel''s attention was already away, ignoring his words.


    Justze sighed as he made sure to keep Ciel within the effect of his magic barrier. The other mages around them ignored their antics as they were all focused on keeping their own lives. Finally, a gap opened up enough for Ciel and Justze to see the battle before and they were momentarily stunned into silence.


    Instead of those glory scenes shown on paintings and ys, the battlefield before them was totally nothing they could ever imagine. Imperial soldiers were mostly on their bellies, crawling forward either half naked or without armor.


    The ground was a color between a sort of pink and red caused by the dead that turned the trampled soil into bloody mud. Smoke covered the battlefield and when there was a wind or breeze, it brought a tang of rust and rotten eggs.


    Ciel brought a hand to cover her nose from the smell and suddenly she bowled over and vomited out her the contents in her stomach as she saw the gory scene stretched out all over before her view.


    "BARRIER UP!" A mage screamed as there was a strange crying from the skies and the mages around quickly joined together and ovepped their magic barriers together. They ignored Ciel''s mess and squeezed together with the surprised Justze.


    A sudden thunderous p erupted above Justze, Ciel and the mages and a shockwave mmed down, forcing the physically weaker mages to their knees. Justze and Ciel kneeled down on the ground in shock as suddenly all their hearing disappeared.


    Justze could see Ciel''s mouth moving and a mage behind her seemed to be screaming but he couldn''t hear their words. He shook his head in confusion and slowly there was a ringing tone in his ears and he slowly recovered his hearing.


    Ciel was sobbing and screaming something. Justze quickly reached out and helped her up before casting a minor healing spell to recover their hearing. The mages around them continued to jostle about and forced them to stay in a group. "KEEP YOUR BARRIERS UP IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!"


    Justze grabbed the shocked Ciel and hugged her protectively as the world around them exploded into mes and smoke.


    -----


    C - 1 Sky Freighter, Skies over the City of Silverton, 1st Marine Battalion, ''A'' Company, 3rd toon


    "STAND UP!" The toon Sergeant roared over the drone of the engines. The men on both sides stood up and started to check their gear.


    "HOOK UP!" The men snapped their static line to the overhead cable. "EQUIPMENT CHECK!"


    As the men sounded off their buddies gear. The aircrew started releasing the restraining straps to the cargo in the middle of the ne. "FIVE MINUTES!"


    The rear cargo ramp slowly lowered down and thend below could be seen. The sun had gone up just over an hour ago, and the sun rays left long shadows across the farnd and forests. "ONE MINUTE!"


    The cargo master stood on the side of the rear opening and peered out of the ne. The red signal lights suddenly switched to green with a low buzz and the cargo master mmed his fist on the release.


    Immediately, the cargo consisting of supplies and the toons'' ASAGs rolled off the middle track and out of rear ramps one after the other in a mad rush. The pallets and ASAGs onceunched off the ramp, deployed triple parachutes as the static lines ripped the cord of the parachute packs.


    "GO GO GO!" The cargo master yelled at the two banks of Marines on the side. He stood in the middle of the rear opening and waved his hands for the men to move out.


    The Marines on both sides jogged forward and dived off the rear after the pallets one by one. Soon the air was filled with hundreds of parachutes as the air fleet flew over the city of Silverton.


    -----


    Outskirts of Silverton, Marine Field HQ


    "Right on schedule!" Major Joseph grinned as he observed the small fleet of aircraft over the city deploying the Marines. He turned to his aide and ordered. "Tell all the men to attack now!"


    He was pushed to be the fieldmander of Operation Overlord since he had the mostbat experience in city fighting and airborne operations. Now standing in a freshly dug bunker were hismand staff was busy giving his orders to the rest of the units, which they hadnded in the first and second wave, he felt he finally going to get his revenge against the Emperor.


    Marines in digital camo fatigues and face paint slowly emerged out from all forms of cover as the order came down. They advanced in a thin line, surrounding the City still unaware of their presence while other units locked down the roads and bridges leading to the city.


    Overhead, grey green balls of parachute floated down towards the city that will soon be shocked by the sudden unexpected attack. Joseph grinned and turned to the radio operator at the side. "Call in the mortars! Let''s give them a good wake up call!"


    The radio operator grinned and started fiddling with his radio, "Firestorm, Firestorm, Lord Actual is requesting for a mortar barrage on these coordinates!"


    Secondster, the dull thumping of mortars came from over a low rise where the Marines support detachment had dug in the manpack mortars. The mortar teams had long ago sighted their fire with the help of the UAV still circling over the city.


    The unaware city suddenly erupted into explosions as predetermined locations of barracks, stables, any city defenses were hit by a barrage of mortar fire. Sounds of bells being struck could soon be heard from Joseph''s position and his grin widened as he saw the city on fire.


    "All units attack! Take down the Emperor!"


    -----


    1st Marine Battalion, ''A'' Company, 3rd toon


    Slow came to an abrupt stop as his over 160 kg bulk of muscle and gear mmed onto the cobbled street. He grunted loudly as he bent his knees as trained and did a roll to break hisnding, but the hard ground and his gear jabbed him painfully.


    Asagi, his littlepanion spider golem, whichnded just before him, came over to help him up and even rolled up his parachute nicely for him. Slow stood up and looked around his surroundings and to his surprise and glee, the residents who were out in the morning were staring at him dumbstruck.


    Slow gave a cheerily smile and waved at the Imperial citizens who were confused and frightened by the strange face painted Oerkin that seemed to have dropped out of the skies. Slow looked around to see if he could spot any of his toon mates where suddenly there was a series of explosions.


    "Oh, the party has started!" Slow hefted his MG up just as the city bells started ringing. He eyed the frightened folk around him warily, in case they tried anything funny. And as expected, he heard the heavy stomp of bootsing his way. A small troop of Imperial soldiers appeared and they came to a confused halt at the sight of Slow.


    "You there!" The leading Imperial with a red plume on his helm cried out. "Who are you? What is your business here?"


    Slow grinned and replied. "My business is death! Eat lead!"


    He squeezed the trigger of his MG and spewed fire and lead, riddling the troop of Imperial soldiers with bloody holes. The crowd screamed at the fearsome roar of the MG and at the sudden deaths and they dispersed rapidly away.


    "THUNDER!" A cry came from down the street to Slow''s left and he replied, "FLASH!"


    A couple of Marines appeared and they joined Slow, "Heard your gunfire, where is the rest?"


    "Duno..." Slow replied as he checked the gear onboard Asagi. "Inded here with my Asagi but I did not see the rest of my guys!"


    "Well, fark it!" One of the Marines said. "Let''s just head to the ce where the Emperor is, we should be able to find our own people along the way!"


    Slow and the other Marine nodded and they quickly headed towards the tallest structure in the city.

 Chapter 391: Urban Warfare

    Chapter 391: Urban Warfare


    The city of Silverton, Citadel, Emperor''s Quarters


    Emperor Varacen was having a pleasant dream when suddenly he was shaken awake. He blinked his eyes in anger and confusion at the frightened eunuchs next to him, "My Emperor! Wake up! Wake up!"


    "What is the matter?" Varacen sat up and rubbed the sleep off his face. He paused and cocked his head to the side as his brain registered the nking of bells outside the room. "An attack?"


    "Yes, my Emperor!" The eunuchs quickly kowtowed and before they tried to help dress the Emperor. "The City is under attack!"


    Emperor Varacen pushed away his eunuchs'' hands and quickly strolled over to the window. He whipped aside the curtains and daylight flooded into the room. He stared with a bbergasted expression as he saw columns of smoke rising from the distance and strange floating orbs all over the city skies.


    "Who... what is attacking us?" Emperor Varacen stormed away from the window and his eunuchs quickly followed behind him carrying articles of clothing. "Call and assemble the war council!"


    Loud thunder could be heard, which made the ground tremble and the crystal windows and chandeliers rattled. "Who dares to attack us!"


    -----


    The City of Silverton, Marketce


    Slow snuggled into a sitting position next to an overturned stall. He rested his machine gun''s bipod on the side of the stall and watched the main street that led to the marketce which he and a few other Marines had taken over.


    He offhandedly grabbed a piece of fruit off the overturned stall and bit into it, enjoying the sudden sweet and sour tang of the fruit. As he took another bite, the Sergeant yelled, "Contacts! Make ready!"


    Slow tossed the half eaten fruit away and wiped his hand against his uniform and leaned forward into his machine gun''s buttstock. Soon a column of Imperial soldiers wearing blue under silver te mail and lugging along heavy shields and spears appeared around the corner.


    "Wait for it..." The Marine Sergeant hissed to the hidden men. "Wait for it..."


    The tter of steel toed boots grew louder and louder as the Imperial soldiers were rushing towards the city walls to reinforce the defenses. The column of unsuspecting Imperials entered the marketce za and the Sergeant cried out, "FIREE!"


    Slow clenched his teeth hard as he held down the trigger, and the machine gun beneath him started jerking away like it was alive. The Sergeant and the rest of the Marines had set up a kill zone and it caught the surprised Imperials in a crossfire. Tracers from Slow''s machine gun left smoking and burning holes on the bodies as the super hot tracers set fire to the clothing of the Imperials.


    "Cease fire! Cease fire!" The Sergeant roared over the din of gunfire. "Check fire!"


    Bodiesid slurped where the ambush had taken ce, and the blood slowly painted the za red. "Check the bodies!"


    Slow remained in his position as he kept watch on the street and the doorways and windows of the buildings around the za for any threats. The buildings around the za remained quiet and the windows were boarded, most likely the inhabitants were scared out of their minds and were in hiding.


    "Thunder!" A yelled came from a side street and the Sergeant called back the answering code word. "sh!"


    A group of Marines appeared warily, they watched their surroundings alertly and the Sergeant went up to greet them. As Slow returned to helping himself to the scattered fruits, someone called him, "Hey Slow! Is that you?"


    Slow turned around and saw a group of soldiers dressed differently from the Marines. Their armor was ck and they carried arge variety of weapons. "You guys... are ymore One?"


    Hitsu walked over and crouched next to Slow and joined him in choosing the spilled fruits. "Long time no see!"


    "What are you all doing here?" Slow asked curiously as he eyed the ymore One members.


    "What else?" Hitsu grinned and gave a wink. "We are here for the Emperor!"


    "Alright! Change of ns!" The Sergeant suddenly called out. "The El Tee here wants us to support the assault on the gates from their rear!"


    "So pack up your gear! And Slow! Stop eating the goddamn fruits!" The Sergeant growled at Slow who quickly stuffed a few more fruits into his pockets.


    "Wait a minute!" Sergeant Tyrier of the Hundred and First called out. "Lieutenant... I thought you are agreed to provide support for me to the Keep where the Emperor is at?"


    The Lieutenant shook his head, "Sorry, Sergeant... Orders from Command just came in. They want all avable units to support the assault on the walls. If the gates don''t open... we are all screwed."


    "Shit!" Tyrier cursed. "Alright, I guess we are on our own again..."


    "Sorry," The Lieutenant apologized. "I can spare you some men... but not all of them..."


    "Okay, I take all the help I can get!" Tyrier sighed. "I will need the ASAG!"


    The Lieutenant turned and looked at the spider golem following its handler''s actions in picking up the fruits on the ground and stuffing them into any free space on its backpack. "Eh... sure..."


    "Sarge!" The Lieutenant turned to the Marine Sergeant. "See who we can detail to ymore One. And add in the ASAG too!"


    "Yes, Sir!" The Marine Sergeant replied and he turned and eyed the gathered men. "Alright, I need volunteers!"


    "Ok! You, you, you and you!" The Sergeant snapped and picked out six Marines. "And you too, Slow!"


    "You boys will follow Sergeant Tyrier here from the Hundred and First, from now on till further notice!" The Sergeant gave a quick brief to the volunteered Marines. "Be proud! For you guys are going straight for the Emperor! You will all be Heroes when this shit is over!"


    "OOO RAAH!"


    -----


    Outskirts of Silverton, Operation Overlord Command Post


    Joseph scanned the city walls with his binocrs and frowned as he started seeing more and more figures appearing on the top. Already his mortar fire was losing their effectiveness as the city''s magic barriers started to encapste the important structures of the city.


    "The troops need to destroy the magic barriers or we lose our ranged advantage!" Joseph turned to hismand staff. "We need 1st Battalion inside the city to destroy the magic barrier formations! Or they will be trapped inside!"


    "Order the mortars to cease fire and conserve their ammo!" Joseph ordered next as he turned back to view the city. "No point wasting mortars on the shields for now."


    From his vantage point, Joseph could see the tiny figures of his Marines advancing towards the main city''s gates. The Imperial defenders were firing arrows and bolts down at the advancing Marines, now that the mortar barrage had lifted. With the city magic barriers up, the Imperial defender''s morale soared as they no longer feared the strange and deadly thunder weapons.


    "Order 2nd and 8th Battalion to stand down for now," Joseph said. "Wait for the barriers to drop before attacking again. For now, only snipers to engage targets of opportunity!"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    The scattered 1st Battalion inside the city started their assaults. Their original orders were to attack any targets of opportunity. Failing that, they were to either assault the Keep where the Emperor was in or attack the nearest gates.


    Those units with radios responded to the new orders of finding the city''s many magic towers that powered the magic barriers while those without, continued their original orders, ambushing and wreaking havoc inside the city.


    The city inhabitants cowled indoors under tables and beds in fear of the barbarian attackers. They hid the children and womenfolk away in fear of the barbarians eating and raping them. The men armed themselves and prepared to defend their loved ones as they had all heard of how terrible their fates would be if they fell into the hands of the barbarians.


    -----


    The City of Silverton, Moon Gate


    ymore One and the ragtag bunch of Marines quickly advanced up the main concourse of the city. It was literally a highway right to the city''s main Keep, but the only thing was they had to pass through two internal city gates and they were all warded by magic barriers.


    Tyrier leaned out from cover and peeked at the shimmering bubble formed around the gate before them. "Shit.. the magic tower is behind those walls... We need another way in."


    "Blow a hole in the wall?" Slow suggested as he patted the backpack of his ASAG. "Much explosives here!"


    "Really?" Hitsu''s eyes glowed and he quickly opened the pouches of the ASAG and whistled in admiration. "Wow? Boss, we got more than enough explosives here to blow the entire city up."


    "Ok," Tyrier nodded. "Then we nt those explosives at the wall and blow our way in!"


    He quickly gave the orders to the rest who spread out from their cover and headed towards a section of the wall where there weren''t any barriers or Imperials. Once the explosives were nted, they ran back into cover while the Imperial who spotted them started yelling and shooting arrows and bolts at them from the wall.


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" The detonate switch was held down and instantly a thunderous roar erupted and chunks of masonry and stone flew into the skies before raining down. "GO GO GO!"


    The Marines and ymore One troops charged into the smoke, and found themselves in a courtyard were dozens of Imperials soldiersid dazed on the ground. Tyrier quickly identified the magic tower and he yelled, pointed to it. "Take it out!"


    A Marine ran forward and dropped to a kneeling position. He hefted the RPG - 1 tube on his shoulder and took aim at the three storey high round tower with a purplish glowing from the top floor. "ONE ROUND AWAY!"


    The rocket whooshed out and darted right onto the tower and with a dull thump, the rocket mmed into the stone tower before exploding. Tyrier frowned as he saw there was barely any reaction caused by the rocket and was able to yell for another shot, the tower suddenly exploded spectacrly.


    The shockwave fanned out in a wave, knocking everyone within range down and the magic barrier at the inner gate just popped out of existence. Tyrier pushed himself up and shot a nearby Imperial that was recovering from the shockwave. "Okay... next time we hit it from a further distance!"


    Imperial soldiers suddenly appeared and they spotted the UN soldiers next to the hole in the wall and they charged at them directly. "Kill the barbarians!"


    "Contacted!" Someone yelled and the Marines and ymore One troops started to fire their weapons. The Imperials dropped with loud nks of metal as they were shot. They tried to fend off the UN soldiers'' ranged attacks with their heavy shield but they barely stopped the bullets from broking bones and prating the weakened metal.


    "Move! Move!" Tyrier gestured left and right. The troops split up and they advanced tactically across the courtyard, firing single shots at any sword or spear wield Imperial soldier. They could hear gunfire and explosions in other parts of the city as they advanced deeper and know sooner orter, the city will be theirs.


    -----


    Outskirts of Silverton, Operation Overlord Command Post


    Joseph watched as plumes of smoke erupted from behind the city walls and knew his Marines were doing their best at destroying things. He grinned when he saw the telltale barrier bubble covering one of the watchtowers vanished.


    The watchtower had ballista that was constantly throwing bolts at the Marines hunkered down. When the barrier went down, it received no less than three rockets and the whole watchtower exploded into smoke and bits of masonry and stone rained down from the ruins.


    Joseph''s smile widened when he saw the barrier belonging to the main gates flickered and vanished. "It''s time! Destroy that damn gate!"

 Chapter 392: Door Knockers

    Chapter 392: Door Knockers


    The City of Silverton, Main Gates, Lower Bailey


    "Do not falter!" A Knight Commander cried out as he rallied the Imperial troops. He raised his silver de in the air which caught the sunlight, painting a pose of heroism. "We are the Mighty! We are the Shield! We are the Sword! For the Empire!"


    Roused by the Knight Commander''s rally cry, the Imperial soldiers locked their shields together and stood before the huge gates of the city, prepared to hold their ground. Roars of thunder could be heard beyond the walls and screams of wounded and dying could equally be heard.


    Troops rushed forward carrying heavy logs to brace against the gates to prevent them from being hammered open. A couple of trolls with spiked ve cors and their arms and legs dangling thick chains lent their strength against the gates.


    "Ready yourselves!" The Knight Commander called out to the shield wall which had deployed inside the gateway while apany of crossbowmen aimed their crossbows over the wall of shields. The gateway was roughly a hundred steps from the gate to the exit which had a portcullis ready to drop down. And beyond the exit was the lower bailey, an open courtyard filled with Imperial soldiers and another smaller gate barring the way to the city proper.


    But unfortunately for the Knight Commander was unable to predict that the attackers would destroy the city gates in a mere heartbeat.


    -----


    Outskirt of the City of Silverton Main Gates, 8th Marine Battalion, ''D'' Company


    The team of Marines inside a gun pit, fussed over a thick fat tube mounted on the top of a tripod. The short stubby tube looked simr to the Marine''s RPG - 1 except that the tube was fatter, shorter and heavier.


    The maw of the tube was just set over the tip of the gun pit and the gunner sat on the dirt wet with dew, his eye stuck to the targeting scope. The spotter next to him yelled out, "Range, four fifty!"


    The Marine gunner sighted the weapon and ced the dotted sights with the number ''400'' slightly above the middle of the gates in the distance. "Stand clear!"


    "Clear!" The rest of the team scurried to the side, away from the zone of the backst.


    "One round away!" The gunner squeezed the trigger and a massive st of mes erupted from the rear of the recoilless rifle while a dart shed out with a crack. The 88 mm recoilless rifles were a new addition to the Marines, especially air flown to Falledge to support the Marines'' airborne assault on the Emperor. The Marines chosen for the weapon had only a few hours of guidance on the usage of the weapon before they were loaded up and airdropped into enemy territory.


    The 88  246 mm shell screamed out from the tube at a speed of roughly 250 meters per second downrange. Less than two seconds, the Hight Explosive Dual Purpose round squashed its head against the thick weathered gates made out of ironwood and detonated. There was no mes, just a cloud of grey smoke and flying splinters as the gates disintegrated from the 88 mm shell.


    "Reloading!" The assistant gunner cried out as he twisted the rear hinge handle and swung the rear breech out. He extracted the empty shell casing and mmed in a new shell. "Ready!"


    "Stand clear!" The gunner yelled.


    "Clear!"


    "One round away!"


    -----


    The two trolls resting their weight against the gate never knew what killed them as suddenly the gate burst into smoke and splinters. Despite the thick leathery skin of the trolls, the spalling from the gate sent hundreds of wooden splinters into their bodies, but that did not kill them. The resulting kic energy and shockwave from the exploding shell, dumped their energies into the Trolls'' body, turning their internals into jelly.


    The bodies of the Trolls toppled backward, crashing any Imperials that were lucky to survive the initial shockwave and spalling. The st had knocked the shield wall down and in the gateway''s enclosed area, the shockwave had broken many soldiers'' hearing. Some of the weaker soldiers even died from the sudden overpressure caused by the explosion.


    The second 88 mm shell screamed through the shattered gates and detonated against the rear walls of the gateway, blowing away arge portion of the gatehouse and the portcullis. The mangled remains of the portcullis fell down, further crashing more of the Imperials under its weight.


    -----


    "A Company! Advance!" Captain Gavin, once an ex Knight Captain, now Company Commander of Apany of the 8th Battalion, roared out as he saw the city gates disintegrating. His men cried out as one entity as they rosed from cover and charged.


    "WAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!"


    Bursts of machine gun fire covered their charge as the MG teams swept the tops of the wall with tracers and lead, blowing chunks of masonry and any exposed heads off. Apany Marines rushed right up to the walls and stacked up at both sides of the huge gate, waiting for the smoke and debris to clear.


    Gavin ran along the wall, passing by his men and paused right at the edge of the shattered gate. He took a quick peek in and could only see smoke and darkness but he could hear cries and voices of Imperials inside the gateway.


    "Use grenades!" He called out to the nearby Marines who nodded in acknowledgment. Several of them quickly held an egg shaped grenade in their hands and pulled the pins. "Fire in the hole!"


    The grenades were tossed into the gateway, and secondster, several ear bursting thunder cracks echoed out. "GO GO GO!"


    The Marines charged in and saw dozens and dozens of figures milling around in confusion. The light from the end of the gateway was bright enough for the Marines to see once the smoke had dispersed. They fired at the confused crowd discriminately, as they advanced as fast as they could to secure the gate before the enemy recovers.


    -----


    The Knight Commander''s expression was bleak as the sudden explosions broke the gate. He stared open mouthed at the destruction and wondered what kind of magic spell was capable of overwhelming the magic defenses carved on the gates!


    The second explosion shocked him more as it broke the heavy portcullis, sending it crashing down on the side and crushing anyone under it. "FORM UP A SHIELD WALL HERE!!!"


    The confused soldiers stationed at the lower bailey barely followed his orders, making him scream at the men till they presented their shields towards the gate. As the men formed up, they could hear several thunderous cracks echoing out from the gateway, followed by screams. The men''s faces paled as their minds started to wonder what kind of horror was breaking through the gates.


    "Archers! Make ready!" The Knight Commander called out next. The bowmen and crossbowmen quickly stationed themselves on the internal walls, aiming down at the gateway''s exit.


    More thunderous cracks echoed out from the gateway and shes of light could be seen, and the shield wall nervously shifted back. The Knight Commander growled angrily at the men. "STAND FAST MEN! YOU ARE THE SHIELD! THE SWOR-!?"


    Suddenly, fiery red bolts erupted out from within the gateway and the shield wall copsed. Sparks and loud nks burst out from the copsing shield wall as men screamed and dropped. The bow and crossbowmen panickily loosed their arrows and bolts into the gateway in response.


    The Knight Commander in charge of the gate defenses was shocked, uncertain of what could have killed off hundreds of his men in just several heartbeats! His fury rosed when he saw dozens of shabby looking blue green dressed barbarians with paint on their faces fanning out from the gateway.


    They spread out and kneeled down, and those demonic thunder weapons roared and his men died! The Knight Commander screamed out his fury and pointed his sword at the barbarians. "CHARGE! KILL THEM ALL!"


    He charged and held his de in a two handed stance while his retinue and nearby soldiers followed his lead. "KILL!!!"


    -----


    Gavin stepped out from the shadow of the gateway and into the sun. The first thing he saw as the huge pile of dead,ying like discarded armor in a haphazard way on the courtyard. Next, he noticed the archers on the wall tops, which he quickly pointed and ordered, "Clear the tops of archers!"


    The Marines hearing hismand switched their fire to the battlements on the wall. Their urate and higher rate of fire overwhelmed the archers quickly but not before suffering a few casualties.


    "CHARGE! KILL THEM ALL!"


    Gavin snapped his attention to the cry and saw a group of heavily armored Imperials charging their way across the courtyard. He even noted there were a couple of trolls behind them, lugging along a tree log.


    "Machine guns!" He called out and an Orc Marine carried a machine gun came up next to him. "You know what to do!"


    "Yes, Sir!" The Orc gave a bloodthirsty grin and he stood there like that character in that war movie called Lambo or something, hip firing his machine gun like it weighed nothing.


    The charge of the Imperials faltered as they mmed into a wall of lead. The magic barrier they had cast burst into sparks as the bullets hammered into it, depleting the caster''s mana rapidly. Finally unable to withstand the onught of bullets, the barrier popped and without the protection of the barrier, the Imperials barely advanced another step when they were turned into bloody dancing mannequins.


    "RPGs!" Gavin yelled next. "Take out those Trolls!"


    The whoosh of rockets replied to him as bazooka armed Marines fired the shoulder held weapons. The Trolls were easily knocked down and killed by the number of rocket shots. "toon 1! Take the left tower!"


    "toon Two, take the right!" Gavin ordered as the situation within the courtyard was stabilized. "toon Three hold the yard here and Four, secure that gate!"


    Next, he gestured his radioman over, "Chancer Actual to Lord Actual, Gate is secured!"


    "Lord Actual, copy that! Stand by for reinforcements!"


    Gavin returned the radio set to his radioman and turned his attention to the medics. "Can we move the wounded out?"


    "Should not be much of a problem, Sir!" The medic replied. "Once we stabilize them we can move the wounded out."


    "Good! Do it!" Gavin turned his attention back to the courtyard as he could hear gunfire, most likely from the toons clearing the gatehouse and towers of further resistance. Soon after, he could hear their reinforcementsing in as otherpanies started entering.


    "Heh, the Imperials are so farked!"


    -----


    The City of Silverton, Citadel, Great Hall


    The Emperor sat on the throne with his head resting on one arm as he watched the city''smanders and ministers quarrel amongst themselves. The Governor stood below the Emperor on one side, constantly wiping the sweat off his face with a scented hand towel.


    "Enough of this charade!" The Emperor sighed. "Order all your household guards and what other soldiers you have left and reinforce the Citadel."


    "By now, my Army on the North would have been notified by the attack and they will march down to support us."


    Themanders and ministers all bowed to the Emperor and praised. "Your majesty is most wise! Long live the Emperor!"


    "Go and do what you need to do," The Emperor waved the crowd away.


    Once the crowd had disappeared, the Emperor asked, "Who are the attackers?"


    "It would seem to be the barbarians from the... United Nations," A voice spoke out from the shadows.


    "Interesting," The Emperor leaned back on his throne. "How did they get here?"


    "By air, my Emperor," The shadow replied. "They used some kind of magic to drop from the skies... hence that was how they escaped our notice."


    "I see..." The Emperor''s eyes narrowed and he suddenlyughed. "Good, good! Such a wonderful opponent! I will enjoy crushing them even more now!"


    "Order the Bronze men in! We will use this opportunity to test the results of... their new training and crush these... barbarians... here in this city once and for all!"

 Chapter 393: Trapped?

    Chapter 393: Trapped?


    The city of Silverton, Final Gate to the Citadel


    Tyrier reloaded his rifle and took a quick check of his surroundings. His men and the ad hoc Marine support which had grown to almost a small toon as they picked up more waid Marines were currently taking a breather from the close quarter fighting.


    They had encountered the Bronze men which were heavily armored. They wore thick te that protected their vitals and reduced the pration abilities of their rifle rounds. The Marines and ymore One had to use their rocketunchers and heavy machine gun fire to subdue any Bronze men which appeared.


    Luckily for Tyrier, they had a bag of holding which carried plenty of ammunition for their needs so far. Now, thest barrier to the Citadel where the Emperor was in was before them. There were about a hundred heavily armored Bronze men, wielding massive shields and carrying maces stood before the gates.


    Behind them, stood other Imperial soldiers and knights as they nervously guarded the gate. Tyrier leaned back to cover and considered his options. He knew the main gates had fallen by the reports from the radio andpanies of Marines were advancing through the city.


    The city was in a rough oval shape, with the northern portion sloping upwards to a cliff where the city''s Citadel was sited on. It had two main gates, the south which the Marines had broken through and a west gate. The eastern side of the city was the harbor with a wall built out to the sea and had a gate made of chains that was lowered to prevent any ships from sailing in or out.


    Beyond the gates, Tyrier could see the pebbled road that led up the slope of the cliff and to the Citadel which heavily defended by both physical and magic means. To get there, he will first need to break through these gates and its guards first and he didn''t want to wait any longer for the rest of the Marines to catch up.


    "Alright, here''s the n." After making up his mind, he said in a low voice to the NCOs around him. "We hit them with the RPG - 1 and grenades. I want one group to suppress the archers on the battlements while the rest concentrate fire on the Terminators. Questions?"


    "How about the magic barrier?" One of the NCOs asked. "We can''t shoot through that barrier!"


    "Ignore it," Tyrier said. "We kill off the guards than we breach the wall with explosives. Faster and also keeps the Imperial off guard."


    The NCOs nodded and they returned to their men to pass on the orders. Tyrier counted down slowly in his mind and when he judged the rest had enough time to be ready, he patted Wolf next to him who had RPG - 1 over his shoulder. "Do it!"


    Wolf nodded wordlessly and stepped out of the cover while Tyrier made sure to keep out of the backst. "ONE ROUND AWAY!"


    The 70 mm rocket screamed out and mmed right in the middle of the formation of Bronze men. Instantly, there was loud explosion and bits and pieces of metal and flesh rained out. Following that, several other rocket teams fired their RPG - 1 and creating more destruction and death.


    The squad of Marines in charge of covering the battlements immediately fired, dropping helmeted heads as the Imperials peered out from cover. As the smoke clear, more than half of the Bronze men were broken and those soldiers and Knights behind the ranks of Bronze men were also badly injured.


    "Grenade!" The Marines cried out their warnings as they lobbed grenades out and the egg shaped explosives bounced and rolled among the bodies before detonating, ying everyone both living and dead with deadly shrapnel.


    "Fireee!" The Marine machine guns swept fire at those still remaining standing at the gate. The more powerful round hammered the heavily armored Bronze men to their knees. Others started their advance while a demo team taking the opportunity to nt explosives at a section of the wall without any magic barriers.


    The remaining Bronze men still able to move stomped their way forward towards the Marines and ymore One troops under cover. They dragged their long maces and raised the heavy shields before them and tanked their way forward.


    Sparks and dents appeared on the shield and any exposed part of the Bronze men yet they shrugged off most of the small arms fire ignoring the squirts of ck blooding out from their armor.


    One of the Bronze Men reached the cover of a group of Marines. It swung its mace, aiming for the heads of the Marines who ducked and powerful swung smashed the masonry around them. One of the Marine tossed a grenade at the feet of the Bronze Man and the Marines scurried away as fast as they could when the grenade went up.


    The Bronze man toppled over as the shrapnel shredded its legs, ripping away its tendons and muscles. It mmed face down and proceed to crawl its way forward. The frightened Marines spam gunfire at the facete of the crawling monster and under the repeated heavy punishment, its thick helmet cracked and broke, before the rifle rounds punched through its head and blowing out its jellied brains.


    "Back! Don''t engage hand to hand with it!" A sergeant yelled as the Bronze Men hit their lines. "Back!"


    A whoosh and a Bronze man skittled backward from the force of the rocket, its metal boots trailing sparks on the cobbled street as the rocket impaled itself into the chest of the Bronze man. A secondter, the rocket blew up, and a mangled suit of heavy armor toppled backward, it''s inside a mess of gore.


    The Bronze Men swung their heavy weapons without any fitness, shattering walls and furniture as the Marines dodged and ran from the monsters. An unfortunate Marine caught a ncing blow and was flung against a wall, and slumped down unmoving as his bones were broken by the force.


    The rocket teams quickly reloaded and fired at the bare minimum arming distance of the rockets, blowing the Bronze Men to shreds and before long, there was no surviving Bronze Men. The Imperial soldiers remained under the cover of their magic barriers and shot arrows, bolts, and spells at any Marine out of cover.


    Tyrier seeing the Bronze Men taken care of quickly rallied the troops, "Ignore those guards! Get in cover! Smoke them!"


    He dug out a smoke canister and threw it as far as he could in the direction of the barriers. One by one the other Marines and ymore One troops followed his example and soon a screen of smoke cover the Imperial''s position. "Demo! Blow that wall now!"


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" The explosives nted at the walls blew up spectacrly. Tyrier gave the explosion sometime to settle down before he charged. "ADVANCE! MOVE MOVE MOVE!"


    Everyone jumped out of cover and followed the ymore One leader, as they charge into the smoke. The Imperials shocked and stunned by the explosive could barely stop their advance as their positions were filled with thick foul smelling smoke.


    "Go, go, go!" Tyrier hopped over the debris and exited out of the smoke and found himself on the causeway that led right to the castle. He took a knee and fired at some Imperials who came out of their barriers to investigate the explosive, dropping them with well aimed single shots.


    ''Radio!" He yelled at Loke who humped the radio set. Loke took a knee next to Tyrier and scanned his surroundings with his rifle at the ready. "Lord Actual, Lord Actual, this is ymore One Actual."


    "Lord Actual, send."


    "ymore One Actual, we have breached the final gate and now on the causeway to the castle. Requesting fire support to cover our advance! Over."


    "Roger, Standby!"


    -----


    Outskirts of Silverton, Operation Overlord Command Post


    "Get the UAV over to the castle!" Major Joseph called out. "I want eyes over there now!"


    The UAV operator skillfullymanded the UAV to switch its patrol pattern over to the castle. Joseph stood before the banks of monitors and watched the footage being ryed over. He saw the group of Marines and ymore One hurdling behind some ruins beyond the grey stone walls.


    "Damn, they did it!" Joseph grinned. "Now all is left is the castle defenses itself!"


    "Order the nearest Marine units to advance as fast as they could," Joseph ordered. "We got a way in right to the Emperor! It will be thest fight!"


    "Tell support to drop a heavy barrage right at the castle!" Joseph ordered next. "Than switch to smoke to cover our boys advance!"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    The City of Silverton, Causeway to Citadel


    Tyrier leaned out from the ruins of the wall. He saw another group of Imperials trying to advance under the cover a magic barrier, only to be beaten back to the stone guardhouse by their heavy gunfire. "Shit, at this rate we are burning ammo... We won''t have enough to storm the castle!"


    "Loke, call Command and tell them we need resupply! Or we won''t be able to advance!" Tyrier hissed to Loke who nodded and spoke into the radio set.


    "Sarge!" Loke looked up from his radio set. "Command says fire mission inbound, two mikes!"


    "As for resupply, the nearest Marine unit is about fifteen mikes away!" Loke informed Tyrier. "Command is saying they are throwing all units to our location to reinforce our final attack!"


    "Shit, then we hold here till theye and supply us!" Tyrier sighed. He knew they had used up all their rockets for their RPG - 1s. And without any more rockets, if they encountered any more Terminators, they won''t be able to defeat them with just small arms fire.


    As promised, the shrieks of mortars screamed down overhead and the castle in the distance was covered with smoke puffs as the mortar shells airburst over the walls. The castle''s magic defenses shimmered brightly as they blocked the deadly shrapnel from killing the guards.


    Tyrier tore his eyes away from the deadly fireworks and turned to the Marine Sergeant. "Hey, get your boys back out the way we came in. Friendlies should being to join us in about fifteen mikes! We need to hold this bridgehead here!"


    The Marine nodded and gathered his men, and they ran back towards the breached wall to secure it. Tyrier turned back to Loke and said, "Tell Command we are holding the bridgehead here till resupply, our ammo is low and there is no point to assault the castle for now."


    "Got it!" Loke returned to his radio and started to ry the message.


    "Shit, are we trapped behind enemy lines here?" Hitsu asked as he leaned back in to reload his rifle.


    "Trapped?" Tyrier snorted. "We are not trapped behind the enemy... It''s the enemy that is trapped here with us!"


    -----


    The City of Silverton, Citadel, Watch Tower


    The Emperor stood at the top of the tower and looked down impassively at the smoke and mes engulfing the city. "Tsk... ants!"


    The sky suddenly screamed and smoke puffs followed by thunderous cracks abruptly appeared over the Citadel walls. Immediately the Citadel magic barriers shimmered as they blocked the barbarian demonic weapons, and a thick cloud of white smoke covered the walls.


    The Emperor''s Lifeguards quickly surrounded him and raised their shields out to protect the Emperor. He felt the shockwave from the screaming spells and frowned as it made his ears hurt. He waved his men away and sighed. "These barbarian thunder weapons are really chaotic."


    "My Emperor..." The Governor stood behind the Emperor nervously and said. "W- We should evacuate! It is not safe here..."


    "HAHAHAHA," Emperor Varacenughed wildly. "Safe? This is war! There is no ce safe!"


    "Don''t worry," The Emperor gave a chilly smile which made the Governor sweat more. "Let theme... I want to see how they face off against my own!"

 Chapter 394: The Emperors Own

    Chapter 394: The Emperor''s Own


    Hundreds of silver d fully armored soldiers stood before the gates of the Citadel. With their featureless full face helm, it was hard to know what the soldiers were thinking as they stood still like statues as they watched the gates.


    The magic barriers above the Citadel walls flickered constantly, as smoke puff constantly appeared with thunderous cracks over the barriers. One by one the barriers fell as the enemy appeared to concentrate all their power in attacking the barriers and finally with a final pop, thest magic barrier overloaded and the shimmering sphere over the walls disappeared.


    Without the barriers, the screaming spells of the barbarians startednding around the walls. Those caught in the open were fell instantly by the seemingly harmless smoke puffs. The thunder weapons of the barbarians continued for several heartbeats and just as suddenly as they appeared, the spells stopped, leaving behind cries of the wounded and dying.


    The Imperial soldiers quickly came out of cover to man the walls once the screaming thunder spells stopped. They peered over the battlements with their bows and crossbows and were baffled when they did not see the enemy attacking.


    Suddenly, shrieks and screams came from the skies again, and the Imperial soldiers screamed in terror as enemies screaming thunder spells burst over the walls before anyone could take cover.


    -----


    A whistle blew and the Marines roared out a war cry as they charged up the slope. The walls before them were nketed with smoke shells from the mortars, but it was barely necessary as they lifted the barrage to trick the Imperials out into the open before hitting them again with another barrage.


    The walls were already badly battered by the mix of high explosive and airburst shells from the mortars, and several breaches could be seen. The Marines charged towards the breaches among the walls, ignoring the gates totally which caught the Imperial defenders off guard as much of their forces were concentrated around the gates.


    Tyrier ran together with his men, climbing over the debris of the walls and entered into the courtyard beyond the walls. He saw a scattering of Marines crouching, as they fired their rifles at the cluster of Imperials at the steps that lead up into the castle.


    He saw arge group of Imperials in armor that was more ornate than the usual Knights. They held kite shields that had the tell tale shimmer of a magic barrier. But what made him check his advance was when he saw the weapons sticking out from behind the shield walls. "What the fark..."


    "Guns!" Tyrier yelled. "Take cover!"


    He pushed the Marines before him down, and threw himself t, just as the guns of the Imperials fired. Instantly the shield wall disappeared behind a huge cloud of dirty gun smoke and Tyrier heard the whizz of bullets buzzing over his head.


    A few Marines that stumbled out of the gaps in the wall, did not get the warning and they dropped when bullets met their flesh. Those that spotted the danger started yelled for the rest to take cover while others dragged their wounded buddies to safety. "Medic!"


    "How the fark did they get guns?" Hitsu cursed as he leopard crawled on the perfectly manicuredwn of the courtyard. "This is unfair!"


    "Looks like ck powder guns!" Young said as he fired his rifle into the smoke cloud. "Probably they stole them from the SDF or something!"


    "MGs! Suppress those farkers!" A Marine Officer cried out from behind. Tyrier saw a bulky Orc Marine which he recognized as Slow, lugging his machine gun and trying to keep his huge body as low to the ground as possible, sprinting over the ruined walls.


    The Orc Marine ignored the spattered of shots around him as he dropped down to a prone position. Slow braced his buttstock against his bruised shoulder and held down the trigger and swept left and right, sending bolts of red hot tracers directly into the gun smoke of the Imperials.


    Tracers and sparks could be seen bouncing off the shimmering shields of the Imperial Knights as they held their position. Tyrier grinned and gestured to Marine who had an RPG - 1 strapped to his back. "Hit it with the RPG!"


    The Marine grinned back and started fiddling with his rocketuncher. He remained in a prone position and aimed his RPG - 1 at the Imperials covered by smoke. He waited for the smoke to clear a bit, allowing him to adjust his aim and he yelled. "Clear back!"


    "Clear!"


    "ONE ROUND AWAY!" The rocket''s motor ignited and shrieked out, the short distance and speed of the rocket too fast to follow by the naked eye. The sudden ear bursting crack and a puff of smoke was the only indication that the rocket had hit the target and it was not the only rocket fired, as other Marines had the same idea, as several more rockets detonated among the smoke covered Imperials.


    "Move! Move!" Tyrier yelled and pushed himself up off the ground. The troops around him followed suit and they advanced towards the main entrance of the Citadel where a flight of marble white stairs led into the castle.


    As the smoke cleared, the ragged remains of the Imperials could be seen. Most of the Imperial Knights were down, bits and pieced of armor and body parts were everywhere and blood was slowly following down the stairs.


    Those Imperials still alive continued their stand, relying on their still functioning magic barriers and guns to fend off the Marines. But as more and more Marines pour in through the breaches, they added their weight of firepower against the Imperials and a short twenty minutester, thest Imperial Knight dropped to his knees as blood dripped out from the numerous holes in his armor.


    Tyrier climbed up the stairs with his weapon at the ready. The Marines made sure to check each body to ensure no Imperials were just ying dead. They disarmed the bodies and moved the wounded to one side. Tyrier paused and reached down, picking up one of the guns dropped by the Imperial dead and frowned.


    It was a Mark 1 ''Magelock'' bolt action rifle. Tyrier flipped the weapon over and saw the serial numbers engraved on the side and frowned. "This most likely came from the SDF..."


    "Well, we did expect them to get their hands on our weapons," Hitsu said as he stopped next to Tyrier who tossed the weapon aside. "Well, it won''t be a problem anymore if we take down the Emperor now, right?"


    Tyrier gave a shrug as he looked up to therge grandiose doors where the Marines were setting charges, "Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that the Emperor is just after those doors!"


    "Alright, form up," Tyrier gestured his men to him. "We got an appointment with the Emperor to keep!"


    -----


    The Emperor sat in his throne with one arm supporting his head. Before him, stood a crowd of nobles and ministers. They milled around nervously as they could hear the thunder of the barbarian weapons growing louder and louder.


    The doors to the Great Hall suddenly swung open and arge group of Imperial soldiers rushed in. They quickly barred the doors and one of the senior soldiers came up to report to his superior which the crowd silenced to hear the news.


    "T- The... barbarians have broken through! The Emperor''s Own could barely them off for even half the turn of the ss!" The soldier panted. "We tried to hold them off but... their magic is too powerful!"


    The doors to the Great Hall suddenly shattered with a booming roar, mes and wooden splinters exploded out and mmed into the crowd. Screams and cries of fear and pain erupted from the crowd and they melt away from the entrance like ice.


    The Emperor sat up straight and frowned as he saw the barbarians in their ragged blue green clothings flood into the Great Hall. They held their thunder weapons out aggressively and the crowd recoiled from them.


    Instantly, the Emperor''s Lifeguards who stood motionlessly went into action. They formed a protective wall before the Emperor and drew their swords out as one. The rest of the crowd, some of the males wanting to impress thedies, bared their des in a heroic effort against the invading barbarians.


    For a moment, both sides entered a staredown as they pointed weapons at each other. Until someone strolled through the shattered doors like he owned the ce. "My, my, what a crowd we have here!"


    The Emperor narrowed his eyes as he stared at the neer. Unlike the barbarian soldiers which he observed closely, the single barbarian did not wear those pot like helmets nor the strange vest with pouches. Instead, he wore a t hat over his head and had only a small pouch on his hip and he had dark green and ck colors painted across his face in a diagonal pattern.


    "Who are you?" The Emperor growled his question as the hall turned silent at the arrival of the neer.


    "Me?" The neer pointed to himself and gave a short bow, "Greeting your Majesty. I am Major Joseph Tokin, Commander of the UN Marine Expedition Force."


    "Insolence!" A eunuch cried out loudly as he pointed at the Barbarian. "You are before the Emperor himself! Why have you not gone down on your knees? Barbarian!"


    The Barbarian''s starkly eye whites stood out from his face paint as he turned his attention to the eunuch at the side of the Emperor. He broke into a smile which made his teeth strikingly white in contrast to his painted face, made the eunuch felt a chill down his spine and the eunuch unconsciously took a step backward.


    "Let''s not waste each other''s time," The Barbarian said. "You know the reason why we are here."


    "And what reason would that be?" Emperor Varacen remained unperturbed in his throne as he crossed his legs and folded his arms on hisp. "Are you here to give your allegiance to me?"


    The barbarian soldiers hearing his words growled in displeasure while the leader of the barbarians justughed and shook his head. "Nice joke, you should maybe consider a new job as a jester instead."


    "No, your Majesty," The Barbarian''s tone turned sharp. "We are here for your surrender."


    -----


    Tyrier stood at the side with his weapon raised and ready as he listened to the exchange between the Major and the Emperor. He eyed the nobles cowling around the hall with disgust, as they wore rich clothing, jewelry and even indulgence in fine dining at times of war.


    He spat to the side and turned his attention to the Emperor and felt a sense of unease from him. The Emperor seemed too rxed for this situation. Clearly we had the upper hand, yet he remained like he is inmand of the whole situation, thought Tyrier. He said in a low voice to the Major. "Something must be up."


    The Major gave a slight nod to indicate he had heard his words. Tyrier turned to his men and said, "Get ready to hit the Emperor with everyone you got if he tries anything funny!"


    -----


    Joseph kept his smile on his face as he watched the Emperor closely, wondering what other tricks he has on his sleeve. More of those... Terminators hidden somewhere? Or some magic trap?


    "And how will you force me to surrender?" The Emperorughed as he took a goblet of wine from the side. He stood up and pointed at Joseph whose expression turned serious. "You think you pitiable few, with borrowed magic of those thunder weapons could force me to surrender?"


    "Do not think so highly of yourselves!" The Emperorughed. "Kill them!"


    The Emperor''s Lifeguards instantly leaped into action on hismand, crossing the span of the Great Hall in just a few steps, making Joseph hissed in surprise at their speed. The Marines without the need for an order, open fired and the gunfire in the hall was magnified, making the crowd of nobles scream in pain as their eardrums nearly burst.


    "Get the goddamn Emperor!"

 Chapter 395: The Hunger

    Chapter 395: The Hunger


    Bodies d in metal dropped down with loud nks as they were perforated by bullets. Blood spurt out over the crowd of terrified nobles, with some, injured or died due to ricochets and over pration of the bullets.


    The crowd recoil away from the gunfire as the Marines advanced. They ignored the nobles, only targeting those with hostile intentions. The lightning fast movements of the Emperor''s Lifeguards managed to cut down a few Marines before getting overwhelmed by the heavy pouring of gunfire.


    One by one the Lifeguards fell and the once pristine stone floor of the great hall was littered with spent casings and pools of blood. The crowd of nobles retreated in fear to the side of the hall, leaving a clear space right to the Emperor who had a displeased expression on his face.


    Major Joseph pped a fresh magazine into his pistol and racked the slide. He gave a smile and bow to the Emperor and said. "Your Majesty, if you pleasee this way with us."


    The Emperor gave a dismissive snort and stood up. "You barbarians... Do you think your thunder weapons are so strong? Can your weapons kill us, the Emperor?"


    Joseph frowned when he saw the Emperor reached into his voluminous robes and drew out a vial of ck liquid. The Emperor presented the vial like it was some kind of holy artifact. "Behold! The Elixir of the Gods!"


    Joseph''s eyes widened as he realized what the Emperor was about to do. He raised his pistol up in a two handed stance and fired without a pause, aiming for the small vial. His shots missed and instead hit the Emperor in the chest, pping him back down to his throne.


    A shadowy figure suddenly appeared and grasped the vial in the Emperor''s hand. The figure quickly swallowed the contents of the vial just as the rest of the Marines reacted and fired their guns.


    The figureughed as its body suddenly seemed to swell up. Its tattered robes stretched and tore as the body inside expanded to inhuman proportions. The bullets of the rifles left marks of tiny puncture wounds that leaked a foul smelling ck blood that did not seem to bother the flesh abomination which had grew to arge mass of over three meters.


    Its misshapen body wobbled as it stomped its way down the steps of the throne and with a powerful sweep of its oversized arm, it smashed the ground were several Marines too slow to dodge into a bloody pulp.


    Madughter suddenly came from the throne as the Emperor patted the smoking bullet hole over his robes leisurely. Joseph cursed as he emptied his pistol at the hulking mass of flesh wreaking havoc among his troops.


    "RPG!" Some of the level headed Officers and NCOs cried out. Secondster, shrieks of armor piercing rockets burst out of their tubes and hammered the meaty flesh of the abomination in point nk range.


    The once elf could barely make any audible words as it roared its angry at the pain of the rockets that prated its body. It turned to make a move against those insects that tried to hurt it when the rockets dyed fuzes blew.


    One second there was a huge hulk of flesh and the next second, it popped, decorating the entire Great Hall with ck smelly fluids and gore. The entire Great Hall descended into silence as everyone stared in stunned shock at the sudden death of the monster when suddenly the nobledies screamed.


    The screams seemed to jolt everyone awake as they quickly turned their attention back to the Emperor who had a sour expression on his face. "Fine... fine... I acknowledge you Barbarians'' thunder weapons are outstanding... But... can they defeat a... God?"


    With that sentence, the Emperor stood up again and his body started jerking unnaturally. Joseph sighed deeply and gestured for his men to make ready. "Aim..."


    "FIREE!"


    The surviving Marines and ymore One members fired without hesitation at the figure of surprised the Emperor. The Emperor cursed as bullets mmed into his body, forcing him back down to his throne, "W- what? I hav- haven''t change ye-!!?"


    A bullet smacked into his head, and blew out his brains, leaving the Emperor''s words half finish as he slumped down on his bullet ridden throne. "Reload!"


    Joseph gestured to the ymore One leader to check the body as he reloaded his pistol. Tyrier nodded and together with his men, they advanced up the steps and surrounded the throne.


    "Salt and fire?" Wolf nervously asked as he peered at the ruined body of the Emperor.


    Tyrier was about to reply when the body of the Emperor twitched. "Aww.. fark... I knew it won''t be this easy! SHOOT IT!"


    The men of ymore One without any hesitation emptied their weapons at the body of Emperor. When their guns ran dry, what remained was almost unidentified as a body. Yet the remains continued to twitch and suddenly a pair of wrinkled ws reached out from the bloodied remains of the neck cavity and pulled itself out of the corpse.


    "SHIT! BACK IT UP!" Tyrier yelled and before he turned and ran, he purposely lobbed a thermite grenade onto the remains of the corpse where a monster was crawling out. The thermite burst into super heated mes a couple of secondster and the monster that had half made its way out of the Emperor''s remains screamed an unholy scream as mes almost as hot as the surface of the sun ravaged it.


    The throne burst into mes and even the stone floor started to melt from the heat of the thermite grenade. The creature shrieked another unholy cry which would have deafened anyone nearby if they had no ear protection, which the nobles didn''t, making them scream in pain as their eardrums burst and leaking blood.


    The Marines and ymore One troops suffered minor ear injuries despite their ear protection. They stared in morbid fascination at the creature who had finally wed its way out from the Emperor''s body. "What in the Heavens is that... shit?"


    The Creature stood on a pair of short stubby wed legs bent backward. It had the rough shape of a person''s body with a pair of misshapen feathered wings instead of arms. Arge crooked head that looked like some kind of feathered wyvern had a long narrow beak almost as long as its body and a pair ofrge red eyes that was void of the eye whites. Its coat of feathers was glossy with bright radiant colors except for the left side which was marred with scorched marks.


    It shrieked as it spread out its winged arms and lowered its colorful plumed head to looked at the people around it. Surprisingly a shrill voice came out from the winged creature as it spoke, "Behold, mortals! For I, am a GOD!"


    "It''s a bloody hummingbird! Its the Sun God avatar!" Tyrier stared wild eyed at the grotesque mockery of the beautiful avian species. "Fark! Another Hero ss?"


    The members of ymore One and Joseph were surprised by the appearance of the creature. As a Special Ops unit, they had ess to some ssified files and the same for Joseph who was of highmand rank.


    "Marines!" Major Joseph cried out suddenly in the tense mood of the Hall. "Show that fake God some love!"


    The Emperor turned Hummingbird creature pped its wings so fast that they appeared to disappear and the creature floated into the air. "HAHAHAHA! Pitiful mortals! I am a God! I hold the powers of the Sun and Darkness in me!"


    A bubble of magic barrier appeared around the Hummingbird creature as bullets mmed into the invisible wall, making the barrier shimmer in a burst of rainbow colors. The Hummingbird suddenly darted forward towards the nearest person which was one of its eunuchs and stabbed its long beak into the body of the deaf and frightened eunuch.


    Instantly, the eunuch gave out a cry of fear and pain before his body visibility deted away. The Hummingbird made a satisfied noise before he jabbed into the eunuch again and injected dark essence into the deted corpse.


    The corpse of the eunuch ballooned up and like before, it started to develop muscles and bulk at an rmingly rate, bursting out of its robes. The Hummingbird continued its actions on other people including the nobles and before long, a small army of flesh abominations milled around in ssy eyed confusion.


    "Hahahahaha, my pretties!" The Hummingbirdughed as it ignored the small arms and rocket fire. "Kill them all!"


    Joseph''s expression turned dark as he saw the lumbering flesh abominations clumsily making their way over. "Stand your ground! Demo men! Rig this ce to blow! You got five minutes!"


    The Marines with demolition charges nodded and quickly went to work. They tossed their satchel charges at the foot of the pirs quickly inserted fuze lines into them while the rest of the Marines held off the flesh horrors.


    "Sir! Running out of rockets!" An NCO called out and Joseph turned to his radioman. "Call for all units to gather outside this castle with all avable heavy weapons! Now!"


    The Hummingbird ignored the Marines as it flitted around the terrified nobles, hunting them among the pirs and upturned furniture as it sucked their lifeblood out like some kind of giant mosquito before turning them into flesh abominations. The smarter ones ran past the Marines who ignored them in favor of the horrors that storming their way over.


    "Charges set, Sir!" A demo Marine cried out as he held a mess of cables in his hands. "We can only blow our half of the Hall!"


    "Good enough!" Joseph nodded. "All units fall back till the entrance by the numbers! Now!"


    The other Officers and NCOs took over as they did a fighting retreat, which half remaining in their positions and the other half retreating back in a frog leap manner. The Hummingbird spotting the Marines retreatingughed shrilly again and hovered over the heads of his grotesque army of horrors.


    Seeing the troops piling out of the Great Hall, Joseph nodded to the demo Marine. "Set the charge! Two minutes!"


    "SIR YES SIR!"


    -----


    Varacen was feeling intoxicated despite his flesh body had been destroyed. He could always make another flesh bagter, for now, his attention was on the surging power overflowing through his holy body.


    Each time he absorbed the lifeblood of the delicious mortals before him, he felt his senses sharpen and even more power tickling through his veins, making him hunger for more. He watched the pathetic nobles who used to curry favor with him now turned into prey who pleaded for mercy. He loved the feeling as he stabbed his beak into their bodies, especially the dolled up females whose tears ruined their overly made up faces as their eyes widen in fear and horror, making him feel aroused.


    The Barbarians'' thunder weapons could barely harm him now that he had his divine protection of the Sun God, allowing him to enjoy his game of hunger amongst the Great Hall. Finally thest of the nobles breathe out hisst and turned into one of his new born soldiers.


    He turned his attention to the retreating barbarians and gave a hungry smile as much as a bird''s beak could smile. "Go, my children! Kill them!"


    "Run mortals... Run! And let the hunting game be-?!?"


    -----


    Several kilograms of high explosives packed into the satchel charges nted by the demo Marines blew up as the mechanical timer on the detonator switch triggered. The st caught the middle portion of the flesh abominations as they exited the Great Hall, chasing after the Marines when the timer ran down.


    Instantly, the weakened masonry of the Great Hall crushed down as supporting pirs were blown to bits. The initial explosive shattered dozens of nearby flesh abominations and the following resulting shockwave destroyed a few more before the copse of a third of the Great Hall crashed the rest.

 Chapter 396: The Eternal Emperor

    Chapter 396: The Eternal Emperor


    United Nations, Fortress Singapore, Command Bridge


    Captain ke stood watching the UAV feed that was broadcasting the action hundreds of kilometers away attentively. He watched as part of the roof of the castle copsed inwards and the tiny figures of Marines exiting from the castle in a hurry.


    "That doesn''t look so good..." He mumbled as he watched the scene.


    "Nope, it definitely doesn''t look good..." Intelligence Officer Tavor standing next to ke agreed.


    "Damn..." ke cursed before he made a prayer. "Please don''t let it be another God..."


    "Chances are quite high it will be some godlike entity..." Tavor said in a matter of fact way. "Considering all the strange powers the Empire has, they do have a very high chance there''s a God involved."


    "Fuck..." ke cursed as the image show a strange humanoid creature bursting out from the debris of the copsed roof. "It is some kind of fucking god again..."


    "The men on the ground should be more than enough to handle the God or Hero..." Tavor said confidently. "We had the troops trained in dealing with these... crisis... Just in case of another incident of encountering a hostile God or Hero."


    ke sighed as he leaned on the safety railing before the disys. "I pray that will be enough for the men..."


    -----


    City of Silverton, Citadel


    Major Joseph made his way out with the Marines as the explosives went off behind them. They emerged from the smoke and out of the main doors of the castle and quickly turned around to re engage the flesh abominations that had survived and still chasing them.


    The heavy gunfire managed to pop the remaining flesh abominations into bursts of blood and gore before they even managed to exit the castle. The Marines continued to remain warily as they nervously eyed the exit of the castle for the strange featured creature to appear.


    Joseph turned to his radioman and asked, "Check with the other Battalions of their position! We need all the firepower we can get! And tell the reserves to bring up all the heavy weapons and special equipment! We are gonna need them!"


    Suddenly the ruins of the castle roof rumbled and cracked. A feathered creature broke out from the ruins and hovered over the castle before it looked down at the Marines with crazed looking eyes. Its arm wings pped so fast that it became a blur. The creature cocked its head to the side and shrieked, "WORMS! YOU BARBARIAN WORMS! I SHALL FEAST ON YOUR FLESH!"


    The Marines quickly fired their weapons at the creature which dodged nimbly in the air. The few lucky shots only made the creature''s magic barrier re up without any other effects. Joseph cursed as he waited for reinforcements as they need a lot more fire power to break that creature''s barrier and kill it.


    The giant deformed Hummingbird appeared to be warily of their guns as it sought to dodge their attacks. The concentrated gun fire barely managed to keep the creature at bay as it flew around in glee, toying with the Marines as it sought to find a weakness.


    "Tyrier!" Joseph yelled to the ymore One leader. "Any tricks to get that thing down on the ground?"


    "Hold one, Sir!" Tyrier yelled back before turning to Hitsu. "Get the gun out!"


    Hitsu nodded and dug into his bag of holding before retrieving a stubby tube with a pistol grip. "I am gonna need some cover, guys!"


    "Got it!" Tyrier nodded. "Everyone distract that flying piece of shit!"


    "Ready?" Tyrier leaned out from cover and aimed his weapon at the creature who was darting here and there in mid air. "FIRE!"


    The extra fire power managed to distract the Hummingbird as it swerved in the air wildly, allowing Hitsu who carried the gun to approach it. The Hummingbird was flying around the height of roughly 10 meters in the air where Hitsu gauged it was the best opportunity he can make do.


    Hitsu readied the gun which was part of the hooman''s original non lethal arsenal. He raised it as high as he could stretch his hands up and fired as he judged the position the creature would appear at. Like a party popper, except much louder and with a stronger kick, the CO2pressed gas inside the tube tossed the folded out.


    The force of the gas sent the weighted ends of the twirling outwards and the which could cover an area asrge as a jeep spread out. But the missed and it rmed the Hummingbird which swooped away angrily, shrieking. "Damn worms! You barbarians shall never defeat me!"


    With this sentence, the Hummingbird flew away towards the walls at the bottom of the slope. It charged towards the dumbstruck remains of the Imperial soldiers still holding out at the walls and attacked them.


    "After it!" Joseph ordered. "Don''t let it make more of those abominations!"


    The troops ran down the slope hurriedly, but they were toote. The Hummingbird had managed to turn several unlucky Imperial soldiers into more flesh monstrosities, and those monsters were dragging their previousrades out to be sacrificed to the Hummingbird.


    "How many more shots you have for that gun?" Tyrier asked Hitsu as they ran down the slope to join the Marines.


    "Two... more... shots!" Hitsu panted as he caught up with Tyrier. He eyed the creature using its stubby wed feet to grab a iling Imperial before stabbing downwards with its super long beak and drinking the Imperial like some kind of packaged drink.


    "It is moving too fast!" Hitsu stated as he stopped to take a breather. "Hard to gauge where to shoot it!"


    "No..." Tyrier frowned before he pointed to the creature. "There is a way..."


    "How?" Hitsu asked as he checked the load of his gun.


    "We just have to wait for him to grab someone..." Tyrier said in a cold voice. "That''s our only chance!"


    "Wait..." Hitsu looked up and stared at Tyrier. "You mean to sacrifice the Imperials to it?"


    "Yes," Tyrier nodded. "Its the only time it slows down enough for you to hit it with the gun!"


    "Damn... that cold even for you!" Hitsu sighed as he got ready to sprint towards the creature again.


    "You want to use our boys instead?" Tyrier red at Hitsu who bobbed his head to cede the point. "The rest will support Hitsu!"


    "You two know what to do right?" Tyrier gestured to Altied and Tavel who both had an RPG - 1 tube over their backs. "Alright, let''s go!"


    "Shit... you guys better cover me from those... super sized... things!" Hitsu said as he ran across the courtyard to get in range of the Hummingbird. He made a beeline towards a row of small ornamental bushes while praying that no one identally shot him in the back as machine gun tracers and whizz of bullets flew around him.


    The rest of ymore One followed him, keeping their bodies low as they crouch ran across the courtyard littered with debris and bodies. The Marines kept up their fire, trying to tag the Hummingbird and at the same time, shooting at the newly created flesh monsters.


    The surviving Imperial soldiers finally broke as they witnessed the feathered creature turning theirrades into wilted bodies before turning them into some bloated monster. They dropped their weapons and shields, some even tried to shred their armor as they abandoned the walls and strongpoints.


    Some attempted to fight off the Hummingbird, only to get picked up by it and snacked on. The Marines couldn''t really help the Imperials. They instead ignored those running and focused their fire at the Hummingbird.


    Suddenly there was a burst of gunfire from the city as reinforcements from the other Battalions that were pacifying the remaining Imperials arrived. They added their weight of fire at the Hummingbird and its magic barrier started pulsing as more and more bullets hit it.


    The men of ymore One managed to hide among the ornamental nts and theyboriously crawled their way towards the Hummingbird inch by inch. Finally, Hitsu judged the distance to be there, raised his gun up again.


    He followed the darting movements of the Hummingbird and waited patiently for it to swoop down to grab a Imperial hiding within the watchtower. The Hummingbird hovered over an opening of the tower and suddenly dart forward, its long beak piercing through the back of the temail of an Imperial soldier.


    The soldier screamed as he was yanked out from the tower and dangled weakly as his body was sucked dry by the Hummingbird. Hitsu without hesitation, squeezed the trigger and the gun fired, flinging the out.


    The shot was not urate but close enough, as a couple of weighted endsnded over the right wing of the Hummingbird. Due to the speed of its wings, the weighted ends were dragged into and the tangled up its wing.


    The Hummingbird gave out a surprised shrill, dropping the shriveled up corpse and without one wing, it could only drop like a brick. Tyrier pushed himself up and yelled, "HIT IT!"


    Both Altied and Tavel shouldered their RPG - 1 and fired in just a second apart. The loud double thunderp of the two rockets hitting the magic barrier was followed by a chest thumping shockwave. The rest of ymore One joined in by firing their own personnel weapons at the shocked creature.


    The rest of the Marines seeing the creature downed roared out in triumphant and unloaded every arsenal they had in their hands. Rocket after rocket mmed into the barrier while machine gun tracers seemed to converge all at the same spot as the MG teams focused all their fire at the monster.


    Suddenly a glow of light shed out from the downed creature, forcing everyone to cry out in pain as they were nearly blinded. As their vision recovered, they saw the blinding figure of the Hummingbird standing up from within the cloud of smoke.


    "YOU... DARE HARM THIS EMPEROR?!" The Hummingbird stretched its wings and for a moment, seemed to float into the air. The Hummingbird tilted its head up towards the sky and said in a shrill voice, "EYE... OF... THE... SUN!!!"


    A bright sh burst out from the skies as an glowing eye appeared above the Hummingbird. "YOU FILTHY BARBARIANS! YOU DARE DEFILE MY SACRED BODY? YOU ALL SHALL PAY IN FLESH AND BLOOD!!!"


    Those Marine who were further back recovered their sight faster and resume their gunfire at the glowing Hummingbird. The lead bullets appeared to m into an invisible field and glowed cherry red for a second before vanishing. The 70 mm rockets from the RPGs fared slightly better as each hit rocked the Hummingbird.


    Irritated by the constant hits on its magic barrier that made its insides hurt, the Hummingbirdnded on the ground and raised one arm wing before sweeping it down towards a group of Marines. Instantly a glowing orange white sh burst out and mmed into the Marines at a super fast speed.


    Screams and cries were cut short as the Marines were chopped in half by the Sun de. Their uniforms andbustibles burst into mes while their wounds were immediately cauterized by the extreme heat. The Marines seeing their own taken down by that attack quickly warned the rest. "TAKE COVER!"


    The Hummingbird threw out another couple more Sun des, making the Marines scramble for cover. Those that ran too slow died quickly while those that were too close to the Sun des, suffered third degree burns. They rolled and screamed as their uniforms and gear melted over flesh that was sh cooked.


    "Spread out! Don''t cluster together!" The enraged Marines quickly disperse before they heroically stood their ground and returned fire their weapons at the glowing Hummingbird. "KILL IT!"


    "KAKAKAKAKAKAKAA!" The Hummingbird shrilled out in ecstasy at the cries of dying and fear. "FEAR ME YOU BARBARIAN WORMS! BOW BEFORE ME!"


    "FOR I AM THE ETERNAL EMPEROR!"

 Chapter 397: The Power of Exploding Stuff

    Chapter 397: The Power of Exploding Stuff


    The city of Silverton was built over a hundred years ago, its forefathersid each lumber and stone firmly down to create a safe haven for the people. The foundation of the city had protected the people of Silverton from the threats of monsters and wars. Yet today, the once proud walls of Silvertonid in ruins and smoke as figures in camouge ran through the city as they engaged with the forces of the Empire.


    Suddenly everything changed as a bright sh burst out from the city''s clifftop Citadel and the fighting along with the lower city paused as both sides turned to view the phenomenon having. The Marines swiftly disengaged from their confrontation with the dazed Imperials and headed straight towards the phenomenon as they knew that something was very bad was happening there.


    Some of the Imperials even joined the Marines and they ran towards the glowing figure in the sky. Even the residents hiding from the battle crawled out from their hiding spots and stood with their mouth agape as they stared at the glowing being that looked like a God from descending from the heavens.


    -----


    "BOW BEFORE ME!" The shrill cries of the Hummingbird could be heard as it flew around the sky, leaving behind after images which bright tracer bolts chased after it. "I AM THE ETERNAL EMPEROR!"


    Varacen could feel his body growing stronger and stronger. It was power beyond his imagination ever since he had gotten his hands on the artifact. He remembered how many years back, he and Dante were still young and reckless than when they first ventured into an unexplored ruin.


    After finishing off the goblins and denizens living in the ruins, they found a temple that was filled with strange symbols and carvings of strange creatures and beings. An unexpected cave in dropped them both into another stone room, where they found piles of bones and gold.


    An out worldly stone statue with raised crossed legs and its two fisted hands half raised sat on a stone pedestal. The statue''s head was facing upwards to the sky with deep hollowed eyes andrge dangling ear loops and it wore a golden medallion around its neck.


    Varacen and Dante decided to share the treasures they found and for the medallion, they broke it in half and that was when things started to make a change in their lives. Emboldened by their sess, they continued their life of adventuring. They found out that the medallion they each possess of, had the ability to strengthen their powers for each creature they killed.


    At first, they felt like they were heroes to the people, doing deeds in which the grateful people praised them in songs and poems but soon came to the realization that even killing people will also empower them and make them young again.


    Drunk by the power of the artifact, the two of them soon fell into greed and conceit. They indulged themselves in the worship of the people and the wasteful lifestyle of luxury. Varacen decided to join the army of a warlord while Dante continued on his way with his adventures.


    Varacen rosed from the ranks quickly due to his power. He sought to kill as many as possible, which made his strength grew more powerful and finally, he rosed to the top and took the ce of his lord and became the first Emperor of the Empire of Bluewood.


    Over the history of the Empire, he had to feign his age and death, taking over the throne by taking the identity of his sessors and sacrificing them to the Sun God. A bare handful only knew the truth and all of them dead by now.


    In two hundred years of his life, he has never met his match. Even Elder Dragons bowed before his strength and yet, after so many years, this was the second time he ever had to use his Blessing from the Sun God to fight these barbarians.


    He managed to grab one of the barbarians with his wed feet and he jabbed his beak down at the chest of the barbarian. There was a loud snap as the armor of the barbarian broke and his beak entered the soft flesh and he sucked in the sweet life essence of the living.


    His body seemed to erge as he drained the barbarian. His body was had expanded to the size of arge building, towering over the inner walls. He congealed a force of darkness out from his body and pumped the wilted body full of his own blood mixed with dark energy, and the limp body started to wiggle as its body mass and muscles changed and reanimated.


    "HAHAHAHA!" Varacen shrieked happily as he dropped the meat bag down to the ground. With the artifact of the Sun God in his body, he has both the power of light and dark! After many decades of research and testing with his own body, he came out with an ability to transfer his own life force to the freshly dead, turning them into mindless minions.


    His original ns were to unite the New World, but as time went by, he found that he enjoyed the feeling of having god like powers. Hence, he came up with the Bronze Men as he needed an army to rece his potential energy source. The Bronze Men were made from his blood and a concoction of alchemical mixture. It could be mass produced easily with his blood as long as he fed well on life essences.


    Once he had conquered the whole New World, he can easily harvest all the people in the Empire to fuel his transformation into a God! The people will learn their role and how honored they will be to be sacrificed to the birth of a new God!


    Suddenly, a thunderous p knocked him off the skies, making his magic barrier shimmer wildly. Offended, he nced around with displeasure to find the source that interrupted his thoughts. With his superior sight, he spotted a small group of barbarians huddled over a tube like smoking object on a roof many many blocks away.


    Just as he was about to sweep his wings at the barbarians, he caught a glimpse of a sh and smoke and hezily drifted to the side, to dodge the dart like projectile flying to him at a speed that surprised him. He ignored the dart and raised his wing up and was about to fling a Sun de over when something exploded, knocking him down again.


    -----


    "LOAD THE ANTI MAGIC SHELL!" The Marine gunner on the tripod mounted 88 mm recoilless rifle cried out to his assistant. The assistant slipped out the purple tipped round head shell from theid out canvas bag and ejected the spent casing before ramming the shell into the opened breech.


    "LOADED!" The assistant yelled. "ALL CLEAR!"


    "ONE ROUND AWAY!" The gunner warned as he squeezed the trigger. The 88 mm round burst out of the tube with a roar and the stabilizer fins at the rear end of the missile spun out and a secondter, the second stage rocket motor kicked in, super elerating the missile to speeds up to twice its initial velocity.


    The purple color coded warhead was special. It had a guidance system mounted on the warhead and a fluid suspended gyrostabilized system. A magic rune which was used to home in onrge magic signatures was carved into the system. The fluid suspended in the gyrostabilized system was filled with 10 CCs of dragon blood, which responded to the magic rune and served as the ''driver'' for the honing missile.


    The magic rune easily locked on to thergest and ''brightest'' magic source it could sense which was the Hummingbird. The dragon blood which came from Rastraz was attracted to the direction the magic rune was ''pulling'' to, which in turn controlled the fins, swerving the missile towards the direction the Hummingbird and dodged to and detonated when the warhead crumpled against the Hummingbird''s magic barrier.


    -----


    Varacen screamed as the overpressure from the explosion hammered his insides despite his magic barrier was still active. The explosion caused him pain, pain which he hasn''t felt for a very very long time until today. He shrieked out in anger and the unfamiliar feeling and started flinging super heated energy waves all over the city.


    "DIE! DIE! DIE!" He shrilled madly as he destroyed the city around him. "DIEE!"


    -----


    "Holy fark!" Hitsu cried out in panic as heid t on the ground. "He''s going nuts!"


    The Hummingbird screamed wildly as it started its wanton destruction of the city. Tyrier stood up and ran forward, "Come on! You want to live forever?"


    "Fark, yes!" Hitsu hissed as he ran after the rest, chasing after the mad god. "I hate freaking gods!"


    -----


    Major Joseph crouched on the side and peered out at the rampaging creature. "Is the special equipment here yet?"


    "Soon, sir!" His radioman replied as he spoke with the other person on the radio. "They areing! A couple blocks away, sir!"


    Joseph nodded. "Tell them to hit that son of a bitch when they got the range!"


    "And call fire mission to bomb that shit off the skies!" Joseph ordered next. "Try to shepherd that thing into a kill zone!"


    Teams of recoilless rifle begun a game of hide and seek with the Hummingbird as fired their weapon and ran, to prevent getting dissected by the creature. The anti magic warheads chased the Hummingbird as he dodged them. The only issues were that the anti magic missiles had limited flight time and turning radius but when the missile hit, it made the creature shriek.


    "Tell the rocket teams to try to push that thing towards the slope of the castle!" Joseph said. "Tell all units to clear that area now!"


    Joseph kept watching as the Hummingbird was chased by the missiles and rockets. It slowly drifted back towards over the wall and over the slope. Joseph broke into a grin when he saw that. "Call in the mortars! Knock that shit off the skies now! The rocket teams must be running low of ammo soon!"


    Secondster, the shrieks of mortar shells came overhead and sshed over the area the Hummingbird was at. Smoke nketed around the screaming creature as shrapnel yed it. The overpressure from the airburst hammered the Hummingbird all around it and finally, it fell off the air as it covered its head with its wings to protect itself.


    "Good!" Joseph thumped his fist against the wall in triumphant. "Is the special weapons team here yet?"


    "Yes, Sir!" The radioman replied.


    "Call off the artillery and let them get in there to kill that fake god!"


    -----


    Corporeal Lorner half ran across the block of the ruined house, panting with the rest of his section. He toiled a heavy shield andrge tank on his back as he ran towards the explosions with the others. He wore a thick protective armored suit like the rest of his section and paused just at the edge of the explosions.


    "Arty has lifted!" His section Sergeant called out hoarsely from his mask. "GO GO GO!"


    Lorner hefted his shield before him and charged forward into the smoke. As he cleared through the smoke, he saw a huge feathered creature curled up in a feathery ball. Quickly, he raised his shield before him and supported his mer against the side of the shield as he and his section advanced in a line.


    "BURN IT!" The special weapons section''s Sergeant ordered once they are within their mers range. Instantly, ten nozzles dripping mes roared out like a dragon''s breathe and washed over the feathered creature.


    The creature shrieked madly as the air superheated up around it. It''s magic barrier flickered and shimmered in bright colors as it tanked the mes. The Hummingbird whipped its wings at the thin line of Marines and the Sun des mmed into the shields of the Marines.


    The shields flickered and shimmered as the magic barrier enchanted on them held, and the protective gear protected them from the heatwave. Lorner grinned inside his mask as he advanced forward, spraying the creature with his mer.


    "Burn baby, burn!"

 Chapter 398: Number One Gun

    Chapter 398: Number One Gun


    Tyrier rushed up to the edge of the cordon made by the Marines as they surrounded the feathery ball wrapped in mes. He frowned as he looked upon the scene, it was like as if Special Weapons were doing a barbeque instead of killing the creature.


    "I don''t think the mers are working!" Hitsu pointed out as he watched the fiery scene. Searing heat flowed out in waves that kept everyone far back except for the team of Special Weapons Marines who donned protective gear.


    "No shit..." Tyrier turned left and right as he tried to spot the Major. "It''s a bloody champion of the Sun God... The mers won''t hold it down for long! Now where the hell is the Major?"


    He finally spotted the beret wearing Major and he quickly ran over. "Sir! The mers isn''t working!"


    "No shit!" Major Joseph replied in the same manner. "And all our guns are almost out of ammo..."


    "Where''s the damn railgun when you needed one..." Tyrier grumbled.


    "Hell no!" Major Joseph widened his eyes as he stared at the special forces leader. "I don''t want another danger close railgun shot over my position again!"


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Sir, UAV on its final four hours before RTB," The operation said from her station. "We will lose all live feed over the AO."


    ke nodded as he kept his attention on the disy. He pointed to the screen which was showing arge burning blob surrounded by figures. "The mers don''t seemed to be affecting it much?"


    Intelligence Officer Lieuntant Tavor frowned as he considered their limited options. "We need to change tactics, Sir."


    "What options do we have?" ke turned around and asked.


    "Fire the railgun, Sir," Lt Tavor replied.


    "But there is no direct line of sight to the target?" ke said. "No... Do you want to punch a hole through the mountain again?"


    "Yes, Sir." Lt Tavor replied. "Fire a couple of bunker buster prator, followed by a sabot shot to the target."


    ke tapped his fingers on the side of the tactical plot table as he turned his head to look at the disy showing the live feed. "Guns."


    "Sir!" The weapons operator manning the weapons station of the UNS Singapore replied. The weapons station of the UNS Singapore barely had been used for over a year, making manning the weapons station a dull duty.


    "What''s the status of Number One Gun?" ke asked.


    The weapons operator manning the station quickly pulled up the railgun''s diagnostic and readiness status. Despite not been used for over a year, the weapon techs had constantly conducted drills and maintenance. The railgun was even further structurally reinforced after they fully converted the City ss ship into and fortress.


    "All status green, Sir!" The weapons operator replied after a short moment as his eyes scan through the readouts. "Three minutes to power up to full strength!"


    ke nodded and resume his finger tapping on the tabletop before he said to the operator. "Calcte for me a probable fire solution to the target."


    Lt Tavor smiled and slid a datapad over to ke, "It''s already done."


    ke rosed an eyebrow at the smiling Intel Officer and shook his head in defeat, "Howe I got the feeling that you already predicted this?"


    Lt Tavor''s smile widened, "It''s part of the job, Sir."


    ke rolled his eyes upwards, "I feel more like you wanna fire the rail gun more."


    "That too," Tavor smiled. "It reassures our allies and scares the crap out of our enemies, what better a psychological weapon than the railgun?"


    "One shot from the main gun, deres our power to the world," said Tavor. "And a second shot reinforces our power to the mass. The third shot shall make the world fear us."


    ke shook his head at Tavor''s musings as he looked over the datapad, "Estimated one minute forty seconds flight time of the projectile at Mach 18?"


    Tavor tapped on the tactical plot table and expanded the map on the screen, before drawing a virtual line across the map from their current position to the target''s location. He tapped on a spot on the map and said. "The first projectile to tunnel a hole through here, the second shot goes through the tunnel in the rock."


    "Unlike our first firing," Tavor pointed out. "We have to bore deeper through the mountain due to its size. We need to at least two shots to punch through."


    "Sir!" Themunications operator called, "The MEF is calling in to say they are running out ammunition and options, they are requesting further instructions!"


    ke sighed and gave an eye to Tavor before he turned to thems operator. "Tell... tell the MEF to hold off the creature for... twenty minutes before they are to pull back to at least three hundred meters from it. Tell them to evacuate as many people as possible in that time. We are sending a rail gun round their way."


    "Y- yes Sir!"


    ke turned to Tavor who kept his smile on his face. "Happy? How many cities and lives we need to destroy to stop this damn war?"


    "Sir, being happy or not is irrelevant," Lt Tavor replied but he still kept a smile on his face. "It''s for our survival, either them or us."


    "Damn it," ke sighed. "Commander Ford would be happy with this..."


    "Commander Ford is currently out at the Goblin Seas conduction anti goblin shipping operations," Tavor remained ke.


    "Damn it!" ke said again. "Comms! Warn the city, we are firing the main guns in... fifteen minutes'' time!"


    "Weapons!" ke snapped.


    "Sir!"


    "Power up Number One and run the Lieutanunt''s firing solution!" ke ordered.


    "Aye, aye, Sir!"


    -----


    City of Silverton


    Major Joseph cursed as he heard the new ordering in. "Fark!"


    He quickly checked his wristwatch and cursed again before he turned to the radio operator, "Tell all units to start evacuating from the city now! They have fifteen minutes to get the hell out of the city! And they are to help evacuate any civilians out too!"


    "If anyone doesn''t wanna leave the city, ignore them!" Major Joseph said harshly. "Tyrier! You are providing cover for the Special Weapons team! Try to keep that damn creature balled up as long as possible! We are pulling back!"


    "Why, Sir?" Tyrier frowned. "Are they...?"


    "You got it right the first time!" Major Joseph grumbled. "High Command is gonna drop a rail gun round directly on the damn creature! So, while we are pulling out, you get to babysit Special Weapons!"


    "Shit!" Tyrier eximed. "How long?"


    "You got exactly..." Joseph looked at his watch again. "Eighteen minutes and twenty two seconds before itnds!"


    "Fark!" Tyrier cursed and turned to his men. "Follow me!"


    "Tell Special Weapons to hold that thing down as long as they can!" Joseph reminded the departing ymore One team as he yelled after them.


    "Fark..." Joseph turned and looked at hismand staff who looked nervous. "Well, what are you all still doing? Pack it up! And evacuate everyone now!"


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven


    It was a beautiful afternoon in the city. The skies were clear and blue, and the people on their way to their business were suddenly surprised by a wailing siren. People filled out of stores and businesses as they stared up to the skies as a city wide broadcast was announced. "Attention citizens, attention citizens! The main gun will be firing! All citizens are to take shelter and keep calm! Repeat the main gun will be firing in fifteen! All citizens are to take shelter and keep calm!"


    The residents of Haven were prepared as they had performed evacuation drills before. They quickly stopped everything they were doing and headed towards the nearest shelter. The Police also helped with the evacuation as they guided people to safety.


    Some stubborn people still remained in their ces and hunkered down underneath their tables or beds as they prayed and covered their ears while waiting for the rail guns to fire.


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Gun Deck


    xons wailed as yellow warning lights spun wildly along the gun deck. Hydraulics hissed as massive shields were raised up to create a barrier against the shockwave of the weapon. The armored turret came alive as heat dispensing shields popped open and the turret rotated on its axis and its dual barrels raised towards the target. The rectangr barrels appeared to quiver in anticipation and eagerness as power flooded the conductive rails.


    The air before the barrels appeared to still as if the railgun was holding its breath. A massive boom suddenly erupted out from the first barrel, as a super prator round screamed out. The passage of the rail round sliced through the air, leaving a split second of vacuum as it traveled to speeds of Mach 18 in seconds.


    The shockwave barriers rattled wildly as the super boom of the 155 mm round disappeared into the center of the mountain with a dull thud and smoke and debris spat out from the wound. As the smoke and dirt were about to settle down, a second booming roar came from Number One Gun and mmed into the rock smoke which scattered the smoke away before another cloud of rock dust burst out from both sides of the mountain as it was drilled through.


    A third roar followed next and the passage of the rail round scattered all the smoke away as it threaded its way through the tunnel made by the two bunker buster super prators.


    -----


    City of Silverton


    "RUN!" The Marines banged wildly on the doors of houses and stores as they ran down the streets. "GET OUT OF THE CITY NOW! BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!"


    The Marines continued down the city towards the gates, yelling at the bewildered Imperial soldiers who were fighting them earlier and now warning them to run. A majority of the city residents followed the Marines in fear and confusion as they ran towards the exits of the city, spooked by the sudden battle and loud explosions.


    Others remained behind as they prayed to the Gods as they witness the manifestation of what appeared to be a Divine being. The Marines ignored them as they only helped those that were willing to be helped.


    Soon a steady stream of people was running out of the city in panic and confusion.


    -----


    Tyrier quickly checked his watch as he kept one eye to the roasting creature and the skies. The mers were rotating to keep the creature covered in mes as they conserved their mer fuel.


    "Alright! PACK IT UP!" Tyrier yelled to the Special Weapons Sergeant. "We got less than eight minutes to get out of the goddamn city!"


    The Special Weapons Sergeant nodded and he spoke into hisms. The men quickly set their tanks down and taped the mer triggers down as they set wedged the mer nozzles down, keeping the mes spraying over the shimmering feather creature as they prepared to retreat.


    "RUN!" The Sergeant yelled once everyone had finished their setup. He started running with the rest. "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE."


    -----


    Varacen remained in stasis as he felt the heat that covered him was transforming him. He had curved up into a ball, turning into a sort of feathered cocoon as his body started changing as he absorbed the heat, turning into energy for his metamorphosis into another being.


    The me spells that the Barbarians cast upon him was unexpectedly a good harvest for him. The super heated mes appear to mold his body


    He felt the power rising in his body, his bones thickening, muscles growing stronger as his body underwent massive changes. He could feel the heat around him slowly growing weaker and weaker as his body broke out from its feathery cocoon. He hovered out and stood over the raging mes around him.


    He floated with his beautiful colored feathered arms slightly stretched outwards as he took in the burnt smell of his surroundings. He flexed his muscles, showing off his perfectly chiseled body that radiated with a golden sheen under the glow of the mes.


    "HAHAHA! I AM REBORN!" He yelled to the heavens. "I AM FINALLY A GOD-!?!???!"

 Chapter 399: Is It Over?

    Chapter 399: Is It Over?


    The 155 mm rail gun shell traveled over hundreds of kilometers roaring like some avenging god. The passage of the shell shattered roofs and caused panic to all lives. Hundreds of feathered wyverns died beneath the shockwave and overpressure caused by the discement of air by the hypersonic shell while animals, creatures and elves both weak and old suffered from burst eardrums or damaged internal organs.


    Those unfortunate died as their hearts seized up or had ruptured organs as the super boom from the hypersonic shell mmed into them. To those without warning, all they knew was a mightly echoing roar that felt like the end of the world.


    The armor piercing discarding sabot mmed at a slight downward angle right on the right golden chest of the newly born God Emperor as he hovered in the air unmoving. The light weight ballistic cap was crushed on impact and the prating cap then struck against the golden skin.


    The shock of the impact was distributed across the whole surface of the core''s nose, reducing the initial shock experienced by the core. The steel sheath surrounding the core then peeled away, and the core went on to prate the golden skin, punching through the golden skin and muscles of the newly reborn God Emperor.


    The frangible high density alloy of the core fragmented into many high-velocity pieces, shattering the right corbone and severing nerves and piercing through the infraspinatus muscles before exiting.


    But all that doesn''t matter anymore as a split secondter, all the kic energy of the sabot was all dumped into an area norger than a dinner te and everything vaporized instantly. The force tossed the remains of the God Emperor into the sloping cracked cobbled path of the castle and created a massive crater that shook the entire cliff before the cliff shattered and crumbled down together with the castle into the sea.


    -----


    The transcendental eye floating in the skies flickered briefly before vanishing from view. A hush descended upon the city as the roar of the hypersonic shell echoed away. What remained over the city was smoke and dust thrown up by the passage of the rail gun shell.


    The city''s buildings directly underneath the passage of the rail gun shellid broken and shattered. Slowly people emerged out from the ruins as they stared up to the skies and the destruction around them.


    The Marines picked themselves off the ditches and declines where they had taken cover, most of them suffered some form of ear damage but other than that, most of them survived without any other serious injuries.


    They stood around looking at the ruined city while those civilians who escaped with them cried and screamed for help. The medics quickly provided aid to those who needed it, but mostly it was the children who were badly frightened and injured.


    Joseph pinched his nose and blew hard with his nose. His ears popped and he shook his head to clear it the ringing tone. He quickly picked himself up from the ground and started yelling orders at anyone who can still hear. "Start moving the wounded to the side! Those still can fight to gather up! I want a team into the city to see if we killed that thing!"


    The Officers and NCOs started rounding up the scattered Marines and putting them to work. Imperials soldiers and civilians were shepherded to one area while the wounded went to another. Medics and Imperial healers quickly went to work on the wounded.


    Tyrier rubbed his chest as the overpressure from the rail gun shell had made him feel like he was hit by a truck, several times. He coughed and gestured to his team to gather. "Alright, we are going back in to determine the status of the Imperial Emperor!"


    "Man, can we take a break?" Hitsu whined. "I feel like shit! Like a damn muffalo sat on me and farted in my face!"


    "We all feel the same..." Young said as he finished his healing spell on Wolf whose nose had a trail of blood leaking out. "Stop whining!"


    Tyrier shot a warning look at Hitsu who smartly kept his mouth shut and quickly checked his weapon. "Alright, gear up and let''s go!"


    They reentered the city with a small Battalion of Marines as an escort. The city was filled with smoke as shell shocked people covered in grey dust wandered the streets in confusion. Everything seemed to be painted grey as the Marines and ymore One navigated the debris covered streets towards the castle.


    They directed everyone towards the gates, telling them that there were healers and aid. Some of the people that retained some form of sense, nodded dumbly and stumbled their way there. Others remained confused as ignore the words of the Marines, sitting or lying down on the streets.


    The UN troops made good time as there was no one stopping them this time. They reached thest bastion of defense and to their surprise, they found the castle gone, together with half the cliff hill.


    "Ah... Fark..." Tyrier cursed as he stared at the rubble. "How the hell are we going to clear this shit..."


    -----


    2nd Imperial Army, Center of the Front


    "Lord General!" A messenger rushed into the tent panting. "I... I bear... grave tidings!"


    The Commander of the 2nd Imperial Army looked up from the map on the table and frowned. He gestured to his aide to take the message scroll from the messenger. "What grave news?"


    "T- The City of Silverton... h- has fallen!" The messenger gasped. "The Emperor... he..."


    "How about the Emperor?" The General''s face turned pale. "What happened?"


    "The Emperor is missing!" The messenger reported. "The city has fallen to the rebel''s Barbarians!"


    "How is that possible?" The General hammered the table. "How did they slip past our troops? Howe no one saw any army?"


    The messenger couldn''t answer as he did not know either. "The Emperor... he... used some kind of power... and he tried to fight the enemy... but... something struck him down..."


    "When was this?" The General asked quickly.


    "Three days... ago!" The messenger replied. "I came by the fastest courier dragon..."


    "Does the 3rd Army know about this?" The General asked next.


    "They should... couriers were sent to them too!" The messenger replied.


    The General tapped his fingers on the table before he nced down at the map. He waved for the messenger to take his leave and stared nkly at the map before he looked up at his aides. "Pass the order. We are pulling back. All forces to march directly to Silverton! We must find out what has happened!"


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Conference Room


    The whole room was filled with all senior officers of all departments both physically and virtually. The atmosphere was jubnt as the officers all had smiles on their faces. Captain ke tapped a button and the disy lit up. "We now had confirmed reports of the 2nd and 3rd Imperial Army falling back from the center of the Northern Front."


    The officers burst into cheer from the news. ke waited for them to quietened down before he said, "But some elements of the 3rd Imperial Army remain at our right nk. We will need to mop them up before they cause trouble in the future."


    "I will leave that to you, Colonel Frank," ke directed his words to the virtual image of Colonel Frank who bobbed his head in acknowledgment.


    "Now, we still have yet to retrieve the remains of the Emperor," ke said. "But we did found something in the copsed cliffs..."


    Magister Thorn''s virtual image stood up and he gestured to something off screen. The conference room disy switched and an image of a broken golden medallion was shown. "The Marines dug around the area for the past few days and this was dug up from the scene where the Emperor disappeared."


    "It bears striking resemnce to the other medallion we have in our possession which if you remember, was taken from the Hero we killed," Magister Thorn said. "Now, if you look at the two images..."


    The disy split into two, showing both the broken pieces of the golden medallion. "We can match them up together and they form into one."


    The images interset each other and formed aplete medallion. "If following the example of how the Hero died without his half of the medallion... We can safely conclude that the Emperor, without the medallion, has died too."


    This time, the news of the Emperor''s high chance of demise was met with louder cheers and even Magister Thorn cracked a smile. "Now, with the Emperor gone," ke cut through the cheers. "We can take a breather."


    "The Empire will most likely copse into anarchy now that the Emperor is gone," ke said. "This gives us a breather from all the fighting and for us to build."


    The heads of the senior staff all nodded in agreement. "The fastest we predict that the Empire will split up is one year."


    "Even so, we should be rtively safe from any more wars for the next five years at least," ke smiled. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am d to say... We won!"


    -----


    United Nations, City of Orwell''s Point, Command Center


    Titanna watched the men and women in uniform going about their tasks with quiet professionalism and smiled to the soldier beside her. "I really did not expect you all to win against the Emperor!"


    Mills rolled his eyes and replied smugly, "Come on, how can a small time Emperor win against us?"


    Titanna giggled before she said, "You and your nonsense!"


    "Ha!" Millsughed before he whispered. "Well, now that the Emperor is gone... We are going to have plenty of free time... you and I got more time together!"


    Titanna blushed deeply and pushed Mills away, "Behave yourself! You scoundrel! We are not married yet!"


    "Haha!" Millsughed again. "How can you be so old fashioned? Hehehe"


    "Enough of your jokes!" Titanna turned away from Mills. "The Emperor might be defeated but we still have enemies at our borders!"


    "Oh, you meant this group of troops?" Mills shooked his head in pity. "They are so gonna get crushed when the other Marine Battalions get here..."


    -----


    City of Silverton


    The loud roar of a FB - 1 ''Super Mariner'' came over the skies. The flying boat did a loop over the city before it aimed its bow at the sea and smoothly cut through the waves and came to a gentle stop at a makeshift pier where three other Super Mariners were tied up.


    Major Joseph watched as a troop of Marines hurried down the pier to help tie down the flying boat before he turned to his gathered officers. "Alright, most of our wounded had returned. Now all is left is us."


    "The remaining troops are to board the Mariners and head to Orwell''s Point," Joseph briefed his officers. "Any remaining equipment or gear will be destroyed. As for food supplies, give it to the people here."


    The officers nodded. "But, Sir? Are we not going to find the remains of the Emperor anymore?"


    "No," Joseph replied. "No time, since word of the Emperor''s defeat has spread out. The 2nd and 3rd Imperial Army is pulling back from the Front and heading this way."


    "So, we all done our jobs and a bloody good one too!" Joseph smiled. "So let''s go all home!"


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "Sir," Intel Officer Tavor slid a folder over to Captain ke who picked it up and read its contents. "I have a bad feeling about this... artifact."


    "Why so?" ke asked as he continued to read the report.


    "Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn have tried many ways to destroy the artifact..." Tavor exined. "But nothing damages it... Hell, we fired our main guns at it and it barely shows any wear and tear..."


    "Yet... for some goddamn reason, it broke into two pieces..."

 Chapter 400: Rise of A Nation

    Chapter 400: Rise of A Nation


    United Nations. City of Orwell''s Point, Penal Holding Compound


    "TAKE AIM!"


    "FIRE!"


    Gunshots echoed out from the back of thepound while prisoners sat around in defeat, uncertain of their future. They only looked up in surprise at the gunshots before minding their own business.


    The ck dded officer strolled up to the two hooded bodies leaking blood and fired his pistol, the bullet jerking the hood and a dark stain appeared. He repeated his actions to the next body before holstering his weapon and gestured to the group of prisoners to remove the bodies.


    Once the bodies were carried away, he waved to his men and they marched off, leaving bloodstains on the ground behind.


    -----


    Titanna sighed as she watched the disappearing backs of the soldiers from the viewing gallery. "It''s finally over..."


    "Yes," Mills ced his arm over her shoulder tofort her. "Are you alright?"


    "I... I don''t know..." Titanna said in a low voice. "I don''t know how I feel about this..."


    "I know it''s hard," Mills said in a soft voice. "They were, after all, your brothers..."


    "Yes..." Titanna nodded. "I thought they would find something better in the Empire''s Capital... I just did not expect them to return... with an army and under the Emperor''s banner... Just for revenge..."


    "So people''s heart is ck..." Millsforted Titanna. "Look, you had already given them a chance to live, but they did not take it. Nor did they change for the better."


    "There''s isn''t any point to feel sad over them," Mill stated. "You should just forget about them."


    "I- I know..." Titanna nodded.


    "Come on," Mills pulled Titanna away from the viewing stand. "Let''s go back... We still got a lot of work to do, now that the war is over."


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, City Hall


    Sherene rubbed her temples as she viewed the stack of documents on her desk. She sighed as she picked the top document up and briefly flipped through it. It was something to do with the reconstruction of destroyed property and money was needed.


    She let out a deep sigh again as she ced the document back to the table and leaned her head back against her chair. "Money... money... When can I get more money!"


    "Did I hear you need money?" A voice suddenly spoke and startled her, nearly making her fall off her chair.


    "BLAKE!" Sherene growled as she ced a hand over her racing heart. "Why didn''t you knock?"


    "I did," ke gave a smile at his flustered wife. "You just didn''t hear me..."


    Sherene sighed deeply as she must have been too engrossed with her thoughts. "Well... we need money for everything! And we do not have enough of it!"


    ke massaged the shoulders of Sherene and kissed the top of her head. "Post war reconstruction and economy?"


    "Yes!" Sherene replied as she picked up another document. "We have to support a standing army, reconstruction, replenish our weapons, medical payouts, civilian contractors payments..."


    "All these need money..." Sherene said. "And the prisoners of war? That cost us money to hold them too!"


    "I know," ke smiled. "The POWs will be released within the week. As for the money we need, we might need to get a loan from the Isles to recover our economy."


    Sherene shook her head. "Getting a loan from those money grubbing merchants? It''s not so easy..."


    "I know," ke replied. "I am nning on selling them some old tech or offering certain... perks to them in exchange for money or a loan."


    "We can''t afford another war, ke..." Sherene said in a serious voice. "Another war will bankrupt the treasury especially since thews youid down do not allow the troops to plunder the cities..."


    "I know," ke bent down and kissed Sherene on the lips. "We have won already, the Empire will fragment into smaller states in a year or so, since no one is capable enough to hold the entire Empire."


    "Didn''t you send that child who supposed to be a prince of the Empire back to take the throne?" Sherene narrowed her eyes unhappily at ke. "Won''t he be able to unite the Lords and keep the Empire together?"


    "Haha, I purposely had Tavor release him," ke grinned. "I want to stir the pot more, and with a supposed heir to the throne popping up..."


    "The Empire will be too busy trying to vie for the throne and recovering from their losses," ke pet Sherene''s head. "With at least half of the Imperial army dead or wounded, and supplies for a three month campaign for almost three hundred thousand troops captured or destroyed."


    "They will need a lot of time to recover from that..." ke said. "And add on with the Empire nobles eyeing the throne, they won''t disturb us for some time."


    "I won''t be surprised if some of the nobles break off from the Empire to form their own nations or even uprisings among the poption," ke smiled. "The more messy the Empire is, the better for us!"


    "But... many will die if that happens!" Sherene frowned.


    "Yes, many will die," ke hugged Sherene from behind and spoke in her ear. "But it will not be our people."


    -----


    Goblin Sea, Goblin Sea Fleet


    Commander Ford stood at the bridge of the corvette UNS Goblin and watched the white stones of Far Harbor appearing over the horizon. The UNS Goblin''s sister ship, UNS yer kept in formation behind as they approached the harbor to dock after theypleted their patrol of the Goblin Sea.


    The annual Goblin migration fleet was so badly trounced at sea that they barely even came within sight of the coast. The two purpose built warships had exceeded the expectations of Ford as they have proven themselves in a baptism of fire against the goblin ships.


    Supported by the Navy''s fighters, the nimble Sea Cobras helped spot the enemy ships and did their rocket runs, sending at least a third of the fleet under while the rest was taken care of by the new corvettes.


    As they out fighting the goblins raiders, word came in through the radio about the defeat of the Imperial Emperor. The navy crew, hearing the news broken out in cheers and morale was at all time high. The crew performed exceptionally well against the goblin fleet, the guns engaging the goblins well beyond their visual range.


    Commander Ford smiled as the ship slowed as it neared the harbor, a small pilot boat directing the warship to dock at the Naval section. "Finally we can really rx for a while without the worry of some insane Emperoring for us!"


    -----


    The Isles, Council of Masters


    The group of Fleet Masters sat around the table and silently listened to the report being given by one of their retainers. "The forces of the United Nations has pulled back from the city by those flying machines of theirs before the Imperial 2nd and 3rd Army returned."


    "There is still no word of the Emperor," The retainer said. "It is highly believed he is killed when the cliff copsed, burying him under all the rock."


    "And what is the United Nations doing now?" Fleet Master Megan asked as she leaned to one side, showing off her voluptuous figure.


    "Ahem..." The First Fleet Master cleared his throat and the retainer blushed and quickly took his eyes off the female Fleet Master and flipped through the scrolls in his hands.


    "They have sent their forces to chase down any remaining Imperial troops still in their territory," The retainer said. "And appears to be starting the rebuilding of their cities."


    "Just two short months..." First Fleet Master Kose said. "A force of barely ten thousand against three hundred thousand Imperial troops..."


    "And they won against all odds..." said Kose. "They are too powerful..."


    Dijon nodded, "That is why I keep pushing to the Council for us to be allies!"


    "Oh? And I thought it is to impress that sweetheart of yours?" Megan threw a snidement. "Too bad... someone is married now..."


    Dijon eyes narrowed dangerously as he red at Megan who covered her smile with a feathered fan. "If you don''t open your mouth... No one will think you are dumb!"


    "Enough!" Kose hammered the table with his fist and red at the two Fleet Masters. "Behave yourselves!"


    "After this incident," Kose said. "I am more inclined to what Fleet Master Dijon had proposed. Especially with their ''tek no logee'' of their sailless ships!"


    "It will be good to have those ships," Dijon smiled. "Imagine the ability to sail into the wind!"


    "But the most important point is, they have a godly magic weapon that can strike great distances away with a high level spell!" Kose spoke in a serious tone. "We do not fully know what kind of power they even possessed!"


    "It is better to be friends than foe with such an opponent..." The Fourth Fleet Master, Akonmented. "Their thunder weapons or ''Gans'' as they called them, already exceeded our expectations."


    "If just a handful of their troops could defeat the Empire''s armies..." Akon''s voice lowered. "What can we do against them if we ever start a war with the United Nations?"


    The Fleet Masters all nodded in agreement. They had read the reports and was even willing to discard it as fake, but too many of their spies reported the same thing, hence they had to believe the reports.


    "So all in favor of an alliance with the United Nations?" Dijon asked excitedly.


    The people around the table looked at each other before they gave their assent, even Megan gave a slight tilt of her head in agreement. Dijonughed happily "Good!"


    "And what of the Imperials who surrendered?" Kose asked next. "What of their fate?"


    "They have held those that surrendered or wounded as prisoners in several locations," The retainer continued. "We still do not know what the United Nations ns to do with them."


    "Holding them as ransom or a bargaining chip?" Dijon asked while rubbing his chin. "Will the Empire without an Emperor do that?"


    Akon, adjusted his monocule before crossing his hands on the table spoke, "Ransom of the sons and scions of the Nobility has never been part of the Emperor''s duties... I am sure the United Nations will send a demand to the Empire''s Nobility to start ransom discussions."


    "They should be able to make a tidy sum off the prisoners," Akon said. "What a p-?"


    "My Lords!" The door swung open and an aide hurried in. "We got word that the United Nations is releasing all the prisoners!"


    "What???"


    -----


    United Nations, City of Orwell''s Point, Penal Holding Compound


    Justze stood at the gates of the female prisonerpound trying to spot his Ciel who had separated from him when they were caught by the rebel troops. The surprised prisoners including him were released and told to go home. They were handed a bundle of rations and a small dagger before being pointed towards the direction of the Empire.


    After his release, Justze ran over to the other camp where the females were held. He was worried that the rebels might hold the females as ves instead. He waited nervously and finally saw a crowd of females approaching the closed gates. The guards swung the gate open and the prisoners stumbled out, some happy, some in confusion and others wary of a trick.


    As before, several guards started yelling at the prisoners, before handing over a bundle of supplies before telling them to leave. Justze finally spotted Ciel within the crowd and waited till she has gotten her share of supplies before he called out to her.


    Ciel''s eyes teared up at seeing Justze and she rushed over and hugged him in relief, crying andughing at the same time. After they calmed down, Ciel wiped her tears away and asked. "So what now?"


    "Magister Zinoga is nning to return home," Justze said. "He said something about freeing his people."


    "For me... I n to stay here for a while," Justze said as he looked towards the city in the distance. "I... I want to find news about my sister!"


    "Than I shall stay here with you!"


    - - - - - End of Book Two - - - - -

 Chapter 401: A Coming Storm

    Chapter 401: A Coming Storm


    Dense, dark towering storm clouds could be briefly seen in the entire horizon as shes of lightning lit the overcast skies. Creaks and groans came from the strained wooden reinforced decks while the taut sheets of the sails cracked and snapped as the gale mmed against the full sails.


    Another sh of lightning lit up the world followed by a crash of thunder and the girl holding on tightly to the helm wheel turned an anxious face to the stern of the ship. The sh of lightning gave enough light for her to make out the trio of ships pursuing them from behind.


    "My dear, rie!" A voice tingled with excitement called out behind her. She turned around and saw Professor Hamlot in an oversized oil skin, shuffling his way over in the shifting deck. rie reached out and held onto the Professor while he attached a lifeline to the mast.


    "Professor!" rie yelled over the dim of the storm and spat out the rainwater that entered her mouth. It left a slightly unpleasant metallic tang after taste in her mouth. "Why are you doing out here?"


    "The ship is rocking too much!" The greying hair Professor in his fifties cheerfully replied. He tried to rub the beads of water forming on his crystal sses away but gave up after a short while. Instead, he looked around with interest at their predicament before breaking into a smile. "This is more interesting than being cooped up in the cabin!"


    "It''s not safe here, Professor!" rie scolded. "The storm is too heavy! And..."


    "And the Clergy is chasing us," Professor Hamlot finished the sentence. "Well, I doubt they can catch us in this storm. At this rate, its more likely this ship would crash first before they can reach us."


    "Well, they do seem mightly desperate enough to risk their lives for the artifact we dug up, eh?" Professor Hamlot patted his side where a pouch hung there under the oilskin.


    rie tightened her hands on the wheel at the Professor''s words. She looked up at the bulbous leather bags in their cradle which were filled with heated aether which proved lift for the airship which in reality was just a small skiff. It was all they could get their hands on as they ran from the Clergy of the Protectorate when they started appearing at the dig site of the ruins.


    They were having an archeology dig and exploration of ruins at the edge of the world when the Protectorate suddenly appeared with a small fleet and started killing everyone. She, the Professor and a couple of others managed to board the skiff and take off before being chased by the Protectorate forces.


    The small skiff wasrge enough to carry a dozen people. It has two aether cradles on both sides which both housed arge leather dder of heated aetherium. A bronze pipe connected the dders into the bowels of the skiff where a furnace fueled with aether crystals pumped the super heated aetherium gas into the des.


    Another pipe ran off the dders into a condenser which cooled down aetherium gas formed back into crystals, to be reused. The magically treated dders hold the heated gas which created lift, allowing the small skiff to fly in the skies. This magic technology allowed ships to fly in the skies, allowing people and goods to travel from one ce to ce easily.


    Another sh of lightning lit the skies and rie looked up at the sails which pushed the skiff. She wanted to trim the sails but fear that the Clergy ships will catch up to them, hence she left the sail wings open, which made the strong winds rock the small ship madly.


    Unlike the Clergy ships which had spinning propellers powered by steam and muscles, their skiff could only rely on the air currents to move. It was a risk she has to take.


    "My dear child," The Professor suddenly pointed forward. "Those clouds... we seemed to be headed right into them. Do you think we should change course?"


    rie snapped her eyes forward and under the random shes of lightning, she spotted what wasing up directly before their small airship and her eyes grew determined. "No! We are going to use that cloud as cover to escape from the Clergy''s ships!"


    -----


    Straits of The Isles, The Isles


    The knife like bow of the UNS Goblin sliced through the waves smoothly, throwing up a spray of seawater over its bow. Droplets of seawater sshed over Sherene''s bare feet as she stood at the railing on the bow, enjoying the sea and wind.


    Commander Ford stood a small distance away, he naturally adjusted his center of gravity ording to the roll of the ship. He raised his binocrs and scanned the dots of sails over the horizon line, which under the powerful magnification, showed those sailing ships bearing the gs of the Inders.


    "Lady Sherene," Ford called out. "Looks like the Inders are sending an escort over. We can see theirnd soon."


    Sherene turned around and smiled while holding on to her hair that was being blown all over by the sea wind. "Than I shall return to the cabin and get ready to meet our escorts."


    Ford gave a nod and watched Sherene head past the armored 5" gun turret and into the fore superstructure. "From Chief of Navy to baby sitter for the Boss..."


    He gave a chuckle to himself before he headed into the superstructure and climbed the stairs and into the bridge where a Marine stood at attention and announced his presence. He waved the crew back to their stations and sat down on the Captain''s chair. "Status?"


    "Sir," His XO, an elf with a tannedplexion reported. "Radar is picking up four surface contacts on a direct course to our bearing."


    "Lookouts are reporting they are flying the Isles g," His XO continued. "May I suggest we turn out the crew to their battle stations as a drill and precaution?"


    Ford grinned and nodded, "Do it."


    The XO smiled back and he hit a red button. Immediately a whooping siren sounded and the lights all went off and were reced by red lights followed by a canned recording. "Attention, attention! All hands battle stations! Repeat! All hands battle stations!"


    Ford checked his watch and noted the time before he looked out the armored windows of the bridge. The yer ss corvettes had a crew of 42 and 14 Marines serving on board. The off duty crew quickly donned their gear and uniforms, rushing to their stations while the Marines geared up for firefighting duties or manned the various machine guns stations.


    A flustered Sherene appeared at the hatch and Ford waved her over to the spare seat on the side. "An attack?"


    "No... just a precaution..." Ford reassured Sherene who took the seat. "If nothing happens, treat it as a drill for the crew."


    Sherene nodded, "I hope this visit to the Isles will cement our rtionship."


    Ford grinned, "Oh, they want our tech so badly that they will agree to whatever terms we give them."


    Sherene sighed, "It''s been almost a year since the defeat of the Emperor. I really hope there will be peace."


    "We are at peace now," Ford replied. "Aren''t we?"


    "Yes... But there are too many refugees trying to enter ournds," Sherene said. "I really don''t want to turn them away, but... we simply can''t handle such numbers!"


    "And with some remnants of the Empire''s forces running around ying bandit kings..." Sherene sighed again. "There is just too much suffering going around."


    Ford nodded, "Yes, for a few months, it was pretty hairy... Both the Marines and SDF have their hands full doing border patrols and bandit extermination. But its all stable now, didn''t we introduced the Foreign Workers policy for those refugees?"


    "Yes, it gave those people some form of livelihood and shelter..." Sherene said unhappily. "But I feel like we are taking advantage of their situation!"


    "Well, we needed arge unskilledbor force for many of our projects," Ford pointed out. "Its a win win situation for us all."


    "With the Foreign Workers policy, we hire them over as temporary workers," Ford continued. "Food and lodging are provided and they work the farms, lumber mills, mines and construction projects. And if they pass our criteria, they will be granted citizenship."


    "This frees up our more critical skilled and trainedbor," Ford said. "So that our skilledbor force can be focused on more important work."


    "You meant to focus on weapons production? And the military took over more than half of our national taxes to be spent on defense!" Sherene waved an angry fist at Ford whoughed it off. "I know we need manpower for everything... but still taking advantage of someone who is down, just feels wrong..."


    "If you want peace, you should prepare for war," Ford quoted andughed at Sherene''s expression. "Don''t worry about those people, they will settle down and adapt. People always do and our economy is finally picking up from the aftermath of the war."


    "Now, the empire has splintered into dozens of factions," Ford said. "Just as we predicted. If the Isles sign an alliance with us, we will be the strongest force here. I doubt anyone will find fault with us."


    "Hmph!" Sherene was still unhappy about how the military had usurped her budget.


    "Captain!" The XO stepped in. "All stations green. The ship is at full battle readiness."


    Ford checked his watch and nodded. "Good work."


    "Sirs!" Themunication officer called out. "yer, Archer, and Resource reporting battle ready!"


    Ford stood up from his chair and strolled over to the forward windows of the bridge. "How long before the Isles'' shipse into hailing distance?"


    "Within thirty minutes, Cap," The XO replied. "If there are no course changes."


    "Good," Ford replied. He walked over to the side and nced out of the windows, seeing therge cargo freighter, Resource, which they spent more than eleven months to construct. It looked like a minified cross between a 20th century aircraft carrier and ocean freighter.


    Its superstructure and twin funnels sat on the side of the t top deck. Cranes clustered the other side of the deck while massive containers made of wood were stacked on top of one another. The reason for the design for this type of freighter was so in times of war, the ships could be easily converted into a seane carrier.


    nking both sides of the freighter, were the other two yer ss corvettes, UNS yer and Archer, riding the waves as they escorted the freighter from the rear. Sherene came over and joined Ford at the window and looked at the massive freighter and let out a long sigh.


    "So all the funding for the Navy went into that beast?" Sherene shook her head in mock disappointment. "You know you could have built a few more ships with the same amount of resources?"


    "Well, that ''beast'' can transport the entire cargo capacity of the entire Isles''s navy and merchant," Ford grinned. "And even sail twice their speed."


    "You do know we want to show off to the Inders right?" Ford asked with a raised eyebrow.


    "Yes, yes..." Sherene rolled her eyes. "You men always like to show off... to see who has the bigger stick!"


    "Hahaha!" Fordughed. "Well, if my bigger stick gives us the better end of a deal, why not?"


    "Is that why you want to make a pass by of the Inder''s capital before sailing into Port Sanctuary?" Sherene narrowed her eyes suspiciously.


    "Hehehe," Ford winked at Sherene. "This is why you''re the Boss''s wife!"


    Sherene let out a long sigh and gave in. "Well if you to do that, I guess you better make it a grand entrance!"


    "Of course!" Ford patted his chest. "It will be a grand entrance!"


    "Well, I hope so," Sherene gestured to the far horizon where the sky looked dark. "It looks like a storm ising."

 Chapter 402: First City of The Fleet

    Chapter 402: First City of The Fleet


    The Isles


    A low mournful wail broke through the early morning hustle and bustle of the harbor. People stopped their work and looked out to the sea in surprise at the sudden strange cry. People started hollering as they saw the proud sails of the Isles'' warships sailing in and behind them were four sailless ships that had thin wisps of smokeing out.


    One of the strange ships was huge,rger than theirrgest warship, which caught everyone''s attention. Fishermen stopped their work, housewives paused in their shopping and evenborers forgotten about their loads as they stared at the strange neers.


    As the strange ships came closer, the people followed along the harbor edge as they all wanted to catch a glimpse of the grey ships. Children ran and hopped barefooted over the wooden piers and slips, trying to catch up with the sailless ships.


    The children yelled and waved at the white uniformed crew who waved back while lined up along the side of the grey ships. Thergest grey ship''s bulwarks were so high up that the people had to crane their heads up in wonder at the crew.


    They watched in fascination at the shipsing into the harbor and wondered how do these grey ships move without sails. The crowd suddenly eximed as they pointed at the smaller ships as something happened to the three ships.


    The boxy things with a pole sticking out rotated as one from the three smaller grey ships to point towards the open sea. Suddenly, the leading ship''s box with a pole erupted with a thunderous roar and the ship''s rear box followed shortly after.


    The loud booms continued next from the second ship as smoke and mes burst out before it ended at the third ship.


    The sudden loud booms shocked and frightened the watching crowd and they recoiled back in fear, covering their ears while some of the badly frightened children broke out crying.


    -----


    UNS Goblin, Bridge


    "Tell the gunners to secure their weapons and stand down!" The XO ordered the weapons officer who ryed his orders down.


    Ford stood with his hands sped behind his back as he observed the scenery before him. Colorful dwellings built out of wood and bricks covered his view. The city was built on a small mountain andid out on terraces, with steps leading up from one terrace to another.


    At the peak of the mountain, stood arge ancient sailing ship overgrown with vegetation over a waterfall, creating an illusion that the ship was sailing in the air. Its hull was gilded with gold and its bow spirit pointed to the skies proudly while a figure of a mermaid holding a golden sword pointing upwards served as the figurehead.


    Dozens and dozens of slow spinning windmills covered the sides of the mountain city, drawing water up to the peak of the mountain to create the waterfall which runs into the city''s aqueducts.


    "Their city is so pretty!" Sherene at the side said. It was both their first time here to the Isles and it widened their experience at seeing the ind city. "That ship must be their Council of Masters!"


    Ford bobbed his head in agreement as he took in the sights. "It clearly is very exotic!"


    Hundreds of fishermen and dock workers gawked at their passing as they lined the harbor. Most of them had covered their ears due to the unexpected six gun salute given by his ships and stared wide eyed at his ships as they traveled past the harbor to reach the Isles'' VIP docks.


    He could see troops from the Isles pushing their way through the crowd to maintain order and a smile can to his lips. Sherene took a nce at Ford and shook her head, "Got what you wanted?"


    "Hehe," Ford giggled. "Of course! We will be the talk in town for ages!"


    "Well, I hope the Council of Masters won''t be too offended by this... gun salute of yours!" Sherene sighed, unable to understand the military culture of the hoomans.


    "It''s kind of a military tradition..." Ford exined. "Dating way back to a few hundreds of years ago on our world. In the old days, by firing the ship''s cannons, it partially disarmed the ship until it could be reloaded which took some time."


    "So by needlessly firing a cannon showed respect and trust," Ford said. "And as a matter of courtesy, a warship would fire her guns harmlessly out to sea, to show that she had no hostile intent to the port of call they are entering."


    "But of course, the number of guns fired is more," Ford grinned. "We just fire once from each of our cannons as a form of salute and respect."


    The shaken Inder harbor guide who boarded the ship to guide the pilot into the bay cleared his throat and proudly announced, "Wee to the First City of the Fleet!"


    -----


    Sea of Clouds


    A small and slim battered looking airship drifted among the clouds aimlessly. Its crew were currently seated on the top deck and wolfing down a pitiful meal made out of their meager amount of supplies.


    Everyone ate in gloomy silence, each lost in their own thoughts except for the Professor who was happily ying with the artifact in the shape of an icosahedron. rie Banner finished her glop of overboiled grains and salted meat and set her mug down.


    She watched the Profession lost in his fascination with the item in his hand before she turned her attention to the two other students who like her had managed to escape the fate of their ss. She like the rest of ss Two Four, they were second year students from the Arcanum of Steamworks and Magic, thergest and most prestigious academy in the Iron Kingdom.


    She grew up with her two other elder brothers in the steam city of Ashmere of the Iron Kingdom. Her father who used to be a sky hunter ran a small modest workshop that serviced airships and steam jacks when their mother passed away. Together with her brothers, she learned the trade of steamworks and sky fishing from her father.


    When she turned sixteen, she managed to pass the entrance examination that granted her a schrship in the highly prestigious Arcanum of Steamworks and Magic. There she majored in two courses, Steamworks and Archeology.


    ire sighed as she did not know what to do, her two surviving male ssmates, Berringer and Uwen, were pretty useless in her eyes. If it wasn''t for them standing near the skiff when the Protectorate forces came, they probably would have died.


    "So... what now?" Berringer suddenly asked as he looked up from his mug. "Can''t we return home?"


    "We lost them right?" Berringer continued. "Those... murderers are gone right? We can go home now right?"


    rie gave a sigh before she nodded, "I guess so? But... we are lost..."


    "Lost?" Uwen mmed his mug down hard on the decking. "If you haven''t piloted the airship into the clouds, we won''t be in this mess now!"


    Berringer looked embarrassed at Uwen''s outburst but he kept quiet at the side. Uwen continued to rage on, "All this is your fault! You are justmoner trash! Who do you think you are? Taking matters into your own hands! Now see where has thatnded us into?"


    "Enough!" The normally docile Professor suddenly red up. He poked a boney finger at the chest of Uwen sharply and snapped. "She has saved everyone''s lives here from the Clergy! How dare you me her for anything!"


    "What Clergy?" Uwen didn''t want to back down at all. "It''s just some bandits!"


    "Ba- bandits don''t kill everyone in sight do they?" Berringer muttered.


    Professor Hamlot shook his head at his student. "You all clearly saw what they were wearing... Only the Protectorate''s Clergy wear blood red robes..."


    "But why?" Berringer asked, his eyes turning red and tears threatened to spill out. "Why would theye and... kill everyone?"


    "That," rie gestured to the golden object in the Professor''s hand. "They must be there for that..."


    All eyes turned to look at the golden artifact in the Professor''s hand. Berringer sniffled and rubbed his nose before asking, "But... why would they risk... war with the Iron Kingdom?"


    "The Protectorate is a highly religious nation," The Professor exined. "To them, there is only one true God, the God of Law and Creation, Ramuh."


    "If I deciphered these runes correctly," He raised up the artifact which they had dug out from the ruins. "This should be a token of another God... But which God, I am not sure at all..."


    "My guess is they were watching us for some time already..." The Professor frowned. "So when we dug out this artifact belonging to another God... The Clergy took action to try to destroy it..."


    "So? Throw it away!" Uwen yelled. "Why are you still keeping such a dangerous item with you?"


    The Professor red at Uwen and said, "Even if we throw this away... the Clergy will still kill us as to them we are tainted and heretics in their eyes..."


    "What?" Uwen''s eyes widened wildly. "My father is an Iron Noble! We just need to get back to the Kingdom and he will protect us!"


    "But we are lost..." Berringer said from the side. He looked over the side of the skiff and saw nothing but an endless sea of clouds. "We might have wandered into the end of the world..."


    "Yes, that is highly likely," The Professor nodded before turning to look at his most outstanding student. "rie?"


    rie rubbed her chin as she pondered about their situation. She looked up to try to spot the sun, but the clouds surrounding them blocked off all sight of the sun, making her unable to guess their direction. "We can''t see where the sun is, so we have no idea of our direction."


    "As for food and water, we could dive down the clouds to the sea and gather water and fish for food," rie said. "We can use the furnace and crystal condenser to convert seawater to drinkable water. And there is a in one of the chests which we can use catch sky fish or fish from the sea..."


    "Why don''t we just go down to sea level and try to spotnd?" Uwen asked. "It''s better than staying in the clouds!"


    ire shook her head, "If we stay out of the clouds we will be easily spotted by the Clergy... I don''t think they gave up yet..."


    Uwenpsed into silence as he couldn''t think of anything to counter ire''s reasoning, instead, he suddenly dered. "Well, we need a leader! I shall be the one in charge then since I am the only one from a noble family!"


    Everyone raised an eyebrow at his words, even the Professor who shook his greying head in surrender at his attitude. Berringer shyly said, "I think... ire will be a better choice to lead us..."


    "You shut up!" Uwen growled at Berringer who flinched away. "She is justmoner trash! How can she lead us?"


    ire felt a wave of anger rising inside her. She clenched her fists and teeth hard as she tried to calm her anger. The Professor saw the situation, stood up and said, "Enough, I am your professor and elder, so I have the final say."


    "ire," Professor Hamlot said. "You shall be the leader!"


    "What?" Uwen''s face turned ck with rage. "She is just amoner!"


    "So what?" Professor Hamlot red at Uwen. "She is the one who can give us the highest chance to survive out here!"


    "BU-" Uwen wanted to urge but was cut off by the Professor.


    "Do you even know how to maintain this airship? No?" The Professor asked simply. "How about surviving out here? No?"


    "Good, as I thought so!" Professor Hamlot nodded in satisfaction. "Listen to her if you want to survive this!"


    Uwen kept his frown on his face but he sat down and simmered in his anger. ire gave a nod of thanks to the Professor who gave her wink. "Alright, I shall do my best to make sure everyone here survives to go home!"

 Chapter 403: The Alliance

    Chapter 403: The Alliance


    United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore


    "- tomorrow we will head to the Embassy," Spoke the image of Sherene over themunicator. "If all goes well, I will be back by the end of the month!"


    "Okay, please take care! Remember to call me when you''re free!" Captain ke said and waved good bye at the image of his nodding wife on the disy. He stood up and left his office and headed towards the Command Bridge. He waved the crew on duty back to their stations and stood at the forward windows, looking down at the night scenery of the city.


    He leaned against the railing watching the city life going by and thought how far they hade since they crashed in this world. From a band of survivors into a nation that could be considered a superpower on this.


    "Sir," The Officer of the Watch handed a data te over. "Today''s reports for thest five hours ago, Sir."


    ke nodded and took the data te from the officer who stood back a few steps to await further orders. He skimmed through the information, most of them minor incidents in the city and a few reports on the progress of clearing monsters off the highways and farms.


    He finished the report and returned the data te back to the Officer of the Watch and returned to the view. It''s been a year since the war with the Empire and there were many changes to the nation. There was a sudden surge in the number of refugees from the borders between the UN and the Empire.


    Most of these people were from farms and viges piged by the Empire forces as the army retreated back towards the Capital or their own Lord''snd. Alreadycking abled men and ves to work the farms, the vigers and farmers unhappy with the Empire, abandoned their homes to seek a better future with the winning side.


    The months after the war had the main roads leading into the cities of Falledge and Orwell''s Point, choked full of refugees. Without the means to feed and shelter so many people, the SDF and Marines could only cold heartedly turn the people away, until ke implemented the Foreign Worker policy which gave work to those refugees in exchange for basic necessities.


    This greatly increased the number of low skilled workers in the workforce, but still, there wasn''t enough able manpower due to the majority of the refugees were women or the young and elderly. Still, it helped boost production in the textile, agriculture, logging, and mining sectors.


    And Ford got his promised funding, ke grinned at the thought, which Ford spent on recruitment and increasing the number of hulls in the Navy.


    As for the Empire, it was starting to crumble within itself. Riots and uprisings broke out almost everywhere without any significant number of Imperial soldiers. ves rosed up from their previous masters while conquered kingdoms taking the opportunity to break free from the Empire rebelled.


    All in all, it was a crazy mess. ke did not want to bother the Empire''s politics hence he had rejected all offers of diplomacy from them all. He only wanted to deal with the Isles, since they had been on their side all the way. That was why Sherene and his number two man was currently at the ind nation.


    "Any new updates from the Expeditionary Force?" ke asked the officer behind him.


    "No, Sir," The Officer of the Watch replied. "Their schedule remains unchanged. They will arrive at Goblin Ind in three days."


    ke nodded and left the bridge while saying, "Update me immediately if they encountered any issues."


    "Aye, aye, Captain."


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet


    Sherene stood at the balcony of the residence she was being hosted in, watching the night scenery of the city. The view was spectacr, as the residence was sited on the topmost terrace on the mountainside. The roar of the artificial waterfall aqueduct was soothing noise in the background, which perfectlyplemented the view.


    "Come in," Sherene said as someone knocked on her door.


    Her assistant, Kaga, bounced into the room energetically while the newest addition to her retinue, Takao, entered in a more refined manner. "Sherene! Let''s go to the night markets! I heard they have many delicious foods there!"


    Shereneughed and pinched Kaga''s cheek, "So you have fully recovered now?"


    Kaga squeaked and stepped out of reach from Sherene''s hand and rubbed her sore cheek while her silvery fluffy ears ttened down. "We beast folk doesn''t like the sea..."


    Takao smiled as she patted Kaga''s head as Kaga dodged behind her to avoid Sherene''s hands. "Lady Kaga... You still act like a child at times!"


    "Blep!" Kaga stuck her tongue out at Takao while Shereneughed at her antics. "I''m no longer the Priestess!"


    Takao gave a sad smile as she watched Kaga and Sherene heading out of the room. She was rescued a year ago from the hands of the crazy knight who tortured her endlessly and unexpectedly found Kaga to be safe with the same people who saved her.


    She was told by the healers that she was suffering from something called "PTSD" which she totally has no clue what was it and had to attend some kind of counseling for months. Lady Kaga took her in and she has been living with her ever since.


    "Takao!" Takao jerked out of her gloomy thoughts and looked at the door, seeing an impatient looking Kaga who waved at her. "Come on! Don''t stand there in a daze! Let''s go! A new adventure awaits us!"


    Takao smiled and joined them, "A new adventure? You just want to eat!"


    "Hahahahaha!"


    -----


    The Inds, First City of the Fleet, Docks


    The sharp shrieks of the feathered sea wyverns were overshadowed by the roars of powered cranes and the cries of workers. Massive containers were swung over the side of the steel ship since early morning and were stacked in neat rows on the side of the dock.


    The wooden nks of the docks creaked and groaned under the weight of the wooden containers while workers swarm over them, releasing the cables or guiding the dangling containers to another spot on the docks.


    "One hundred stones or fifty tonnes of treated lumber," Said the quartermaster of the UNS Resource to the Isles'' merchant in charge of epting the goods. "Ten steam engines, and their spare parts. Six cargo trucks and their spares and two hundred sets of high grade tools kits."


    "Andst of all, two hundred barrels of refined Dragonite fuel," The quartermaster handed over the manifest to the portly merchant who had a serious expression on his face as he waited for his men to check all the goods.


    Once he was satisfied, the merchant''s expression broke into a smile and gestured to his men who carried several dozen chests filled with gold and silver and handed them over.


    Ford watched the quartermaster with a guard of Marines started to sort the gold and silver bullion before weighing and testing them to confirm their value. The quartermaster looked up and gave a nod to Ford, indicating everything was correct.


    Ford returned the nod and the satisfied merchant shook hands ''hooman'' style with the quartermaster and left with his men who were busy transferring the goods onto carts and wagons.


    The crew pushed the gold and silver onboard the UNS Resource under the watchful eye of the Marines while the other crew members started to load up supplies provided by the Isles.


    The Captain of the Resource standing next to Ford said, "Sir, the ship will be ready to set sail tomorrow on time. Those on shore leave will return tonight."


    "Good," Ford said. "We will leave once the tide is up tomorrow. Port Sanctuary is still waiting for the delivery of our supplies, materials, and workers."


    "Make sure you have a strong guard for the gold and silver," Ford added as he walked towards the gangway. "Contact me immediately if there are any issues!"


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet, Council of Masters


    Sherene sat on a beautifully carved high backed chair, before arge round table. Behind her stood both her assistants, Kaga and Takao. Facing her, seated around the table, was the five Fleet Masters of the Isles.


    The Council of Masters was held inside the ship on the peak of the mountain. Natural light came in from a sky well on the roof and portholes around the hull, which lit the entire interior brightly. The interior was made into an oval shaped terrace forum with the round table in the middle where the Fleet Masters sat.


    "I hope you have enjoyed your stay here, Lady Sherene?" The First Fleet Master, Kose spoke. He wore a gold threaded maroon doublet with his coat of office slung over his shoulders.


    "Thank you for the kind hospitality, First Fleet Master," Sherene smiled and gave a small bow from her seat. "Your city is beautiful!"


    "But not as amazing as yours," Fleet Master Kose smiled. "I still think of those... ''bur girls'' sold there..."


    "Ahem..." Fleet Master Akron cleared his throat as the First Fleet Master started drifting off topic.


    "Ah... my apologies," Fleet Master Koseughed. "Now, to business!"


    "Here is the document detailing our alliance with all the termsid out," Sherene waved to Kaga who started to hand out the stacks of papers to each Fleet Master seated around the table. "Now, I will exin the terms for everyone. If you all please turn to look at page one..."


    -----


    Two hourster, Sherene walked out of the Council and stretched her tensed body. "Wooo! Finally, this is over!"


    "Lady Sherene!" Fleet Master Dijon suddenly appeared behind her. "I... How are you?"


    "I am well," Sherene smiled at the bearded giant. "You?"


    "I am good too!" Dijon smiled back before heughed. "We are now allies! But the terms you gave us... You should be a merchant instead!"


    "Hehe," Sherene giggled. "Still the terms aren''t bad for you all."


    "True be told," Dijon frowned. "If it wasn''t for the steam engines and ''kars'', this deal is truly to our disadvantage!"


    "Are you sure?" Sherene rolled her eyes at his statement. "You do know we needed money urgently."


    ''Ha!" Dijon smiled. "Guess nothing escapes your eyes!"


    "The terms are really generous," Sherene did not bother with Dijon''s teasing. "If one party is attacked or in a crisis, the other will send troops or support to help the other. Trade wise, both sides get priority to certain goods and services."


    "Yes, you do know that now, many... ''countries'' want to ally with us with lesser terms than that," Dijon added. "You might have a strong military but trade and influence wise, we stand at the top!"


    "Your ke should feel honored for us epting this treaty!" Dijon grumbled unhappily.


    "But the best for you is still the technology exchange," Sherene pointed out. "You do know our technology can help your Ind nation grow even stronger?"


    Dijon crossed his arms and gave a dissatisfied humph. "He should have personallye here to sign the treaty! He really thinks he is that great?"


    Sherene sighed and rubbed her head, "So you are just unhappy with my husband?"


    Dijon nodded seriously.


    "Hai..." Sherene felt a headache mounting. "Men..."


    "Well, he''s not here, for that I apologized. He is quite busy back home..." Sherene replied with a pacifying tone. "Next time, I promise, I will bring him over to visit!"


    "Hmph!" Dijon''s scowl disappeared and he nodded again. "Alright, remember! He has to show us some respect! We are allies now!"


    "Yes... yes..." Sherene felt like she wasforting a child, a very big child. "I need to head down to the harbor now this is over, we need to sail to Port Sanctuary."


    "Let''s go!" Dijon gestured down the long flight of stairs. "I shall escort you to the docks."


    "And leave together with you to Port Sanctuary!"

 Chapter 404: Marine Expeditionary Force

    Chapter 404: Marine Expeditionary Force


    Sea of Clouds


    A loud pop went off as the blood red Protectorate ship fired its forward steam cannon at the running air skiff. The stubby cannon rolled back on its wheels along the track while the gunners stuffed arge wooden wad onto the muzzle. Another gunner holding on to arge mallet hammered the wad deep into the muzzle like a bottle cork.


    Once the cannon barrel was stoppered, the gun crew pushed the cannon forward into firing position. A steam man wearing thick leather apron and gloves ensured the leather hose dangling above the rear of the steam cannon was still tightly screwed into the cannon and has no leaks.


    The dials on the pressure valve of the steam cannon started twitching towards the red zone as steam was pumped into the cannon''s air tank. Once the pressure hit the highest mark, the steam man stepped back and pulled a lever which was connected to a steam whistle.


    The whistle hissed sharply, producing a shrill cry. A Deacon in red robes watching from the back of the gun deck nodded to the gun crew who yanked the release cord, releasing the pent up steam stored inside the steam cannon''s air tank.


    The highly pressurized super heated steam burst out and popped the cork off the muzzle with a loud bang, sending the lead reinforced cork shooting off like a cannonball towards the running target.


    The force of the releasing gas sent the steam cannon recoiling back on its tracks, and the half naked gunners leaped forward to reload the steam cannon again.


    -----


    "We need more steam!" rie yelled anxiously into the bronze speaking horn next to the helm. "They areing up behind us!"


    A whizz followed by a dull bang, shot by and rie instinctively ducked her head, as a lead shot flew over their ship. She cast a worried look behind, at the approaching Protectorate ships which suddenly appeared out of nowhere from the clouds and started shooting at them.


    "We are running low on coal!" A hollow cry came from the speaking horn. "There''s nothing to burn!"


    rie muttered a curse under her breath as she peeked at the dials showing the skiff''s steam pressure. There was barely enough pressure remaining to boost their sails, giving them some extra speed.


    Thankfully, the wind was in their favor, allowing the sails wings which, Uwen was desperately putting out to push the ship forward. The Professor stood at her side, eyeing the approaching Protectorate ships with a frown. "I wonder how did they find us?"


    "Uwen! Professor Hamlot!" rie suddenly called out. "Hold on to something! I am going to dive into the cloudyer!"


    With that, she pulled the aether gas release level, releasing the trapped gas back into the reserve tank inside the belly of the ship. Almost immediately, the ship started to drop as the lighter than air gas inside the reserve tank cooled down and crystallized.


    rie sprung the wheel, aiming for thergest cloud she could see and prayed that they will be safe.


    -----


    Goblin Sea, Off the Coast of Goblin City


    A floti of seven ships plowed through the rough seas as they approached the ind with a volcano spewing white smoke from its top. Leading the floti was a yer ss corvette, and with its two other sister ships, they formed a triangle, shepherding the other four ships in the middle of the formation.


    Lt Colonel Joseph,manding officer of the Marine Expedition Force, stood inside the bridge of the transport ship. Smaller than Resource, but longer and wider than the corvette escorts, the Victory ss cargo ships were the first design concept for standardizedmercial merchant vessels which could also be used in wartime by the United Nations Navy as naval auxiliaries.


    The ship''s design was simple and crude, ugly in fact, considered by somepared to the sleek corvettes. Its bow was t and squarish, while its profile was almost like a rectangr block of steel. Two pairs of cranes sat on fore and aft of the ship''s deck and its superstructure and single smoke stack sat in the middle of the hull.


    A small raised tform rose from the stern and the bow of the ship, each carrying a single mount for a pair of 20 mm autocannons. Powered by a dragonite fired boiler and a triple expansion steam engine


    running with a single propulsion screw, it could push the ship to speeds of up to 10 knots.


    Now, all four of the entire merchant ships were riding along with their escorts, their bellies filled with Marines and weapons of war. Joseph watched the approaching dormant volcano with steam rising off its peak.


    He turned to the chart table behind him and looked over the detailed maps taken by the UAVs when they were still in operation, two years ago. Hismand staff crowded around him as they awaited his orders.


    Joseph tapped on the map, at small crescent shaped cove. "As we nned before, the transports will drop anchor just off the coast and deploy thending boats."


    "The Navy willmerce fire support and bombard the beach while the Marines go for a direct amphibious assault," Joseph recapped their ns. He realized he has been learning and using big sophisticated words a lot these two years,pared to when he was just a simple general leading a cold steel army.


    "Once we established a beachhead," Joseph''s finger traced the path the Marines will take. "The First, Second and Third Battalion will spread out and head towards Goblin City."


    "Fourth will hold and fortify the beach to allow the ships to unload supplies and heavy equipment," Joseph continued before he turned to the Naval Liason. "As discussed and nned, the Navy will dispatch two of the corvettes to the entrance of Goblin City and block them in."


    Joseph turned back to the map, where he continued to trace his finger from the beachhead to therge sheltered cove at the foot of the volcano where Goblin City was at. "As the Navy blockades the city by the sea, the Marines will sweep towards the city bynd."


    "Remember," Joseph looked around the table at each officer''s eyes. "We must take the beachhead as fast as possible! Without the beachhead, there are no other ces we cannd our troops."


    The men around him nodded solemnly. Joseph continued, "This is a very simple and straightforward attack. Also, remember to advance together! The terrain is a jungle and it''s easy to get cut off and trapped by the goblins! We are in their territory now!"


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Conference Room


    "Let''s get started," ke said as thest attendee settled down. "First of all, I will like to announce our alliance with the Isles has finally formally signed by both parties."


    The conference room broke into apuse as the news was a weing one. ke smiled to the image of Sherene and Ford. "Now, we are no longer alone in this ce. We have friends."


    "So, now, what do we have?" ke asked the room. "Dr. Sharon? How you start your report first?"


    "Our poption is currently experiencing a baby boom," Dr. Sharon stood up. "With ample food, shelter, security, and proper healthcare, our poption is growing steadily."


    "Which also including our original crew, we have over a dozen confirmed pregnancies among the female crew.," Dr. Sharon said. "We humans will be getting second generations soon."


    ke and the rest of the human staff smiled at the news. Dr. Sharon cast a nce at Sherene who winked back to her before she cleared her throat and continued. "There is an increase in reports of sickness among the refugees, especially with theing of autumn. I will like to propose we set up more field clinics to help with refugees to prevent an epidemic from breaking out."


    "Ok," ke nodded. "Next?"


    Sherene cleared her throat as she started her report. "The next batch of public housing and the new town will bepleted by mid spring next year. It should provide enough housing for the new citizens and provide more jobs for the new poption."


    "We are also allowing anyone under the foreign workers'' scheme to take a citizenship test," Sherene said. "We will be testing basic literacy, skills, and character."


    "If they pass, they will be admitted into the probation citizen scheme," Sherene exined. "If they did notmit any offenses for two years, they can be converted into a citizen."


    "This scheme will allow them to buy government subsidized housing and other grants," Sherene said. "Also, they can apply to have their family live and study here with them."


    "And the refugees?" ke asked. "What are the ns in dealing with them camping at our borders?"


    "There is no local governance around our borders now that the Empire has fractured," Sherene said. "We can''t force the refugees to decamp without the use of force."


    "I know," ke sighed. "But they are draining our resources. We need to constantly have troops to watch over them, and even protect them when feral goblins and monsters attack them. And like what Dr. Sharon has said earlier medical care. Which could be used for our own people..."


    "We already have taken in whoever that needs the help most, but... the numbers continue to grow as word spread that we are some kind of utopia in these times of hardship," Sherene said. "Our cities, towns, infrastructure, and even food production are unable to cope if we let everyone in."


    "We need to find a way to stop the flood of refugees," ke said. "What of the local government in the nearest city?"


    "Sir," Intel Officer Tavor stood up. "The situation at the nearest Imperial city which is Amador is currently... in a mess."


    "The ves and gangs have mostly taken over the city streets," Tavor reported. "Imperial troops mostly have deserted or locked themselves down in the city''s citadel and the governor has retreated to his estate."


    "The gangs and ves are now fighting over the city''s stores and whoever controls the stores, will eventually be lord of the city," Tavor said. "Hence, there is no one to control the poption. Even more so, any refugees."


    "In fact, the majority of the Empire is facing the same problems," Tavor said. "From our intelligence findings shared with the Isles, most of the Empire''s cities are facing total copse, especially since there isn''t enough farmers working the fields."


    "Our prediction will be that if by next year, autumn, the Empire or cities that could not provide enough food," Tavor said in a serious tone. "They will face a massive starvation event."


    "What numbers are we looking at?" Dr. Sharon asked.


    "Two to two point five million deaths, at least," Tavor said. "And not all, if everyone thinks we have food here... We will be facing a horde of very hungry and desperate people at our borders."


    "Aww... fuck..." Someone''s curse broke the silence that followed Tavor''s announcement.


    ke frowned as he turned his eyes to the map mounted on the side of the room. "Other than Haven, which has a natural barrier of heavily forestednd popted by monsters and the ring of mountains will be safe and easily protected.


    "But for cities, like Orwell''s Point and Falledge..." ke tapped his knuckles on the tabletop. "They will be overrun easily by desperate people..."


    Tavor nodded, "And we can''t afford to help or feed anyone at that time."


    "Sir, I will like to suggest that we start our actions to prevent something like that from happening now," Tavor said.


    "What actions are you rmending?" ke asked with a frown.


    "I rmend that with immediate effect as of now," Tavor said in a cold voice. "All refugees must be turned away. A no entry zone must be set up, preferably two kilometers or more."


    "Anyone found inside the zone will be deemed as trespassers and will be shot on sight."

 Chapter 405: Port Sanctuary

    Chapter 405: Port Sanctuary


    Straits of the Isles, Port Sanctuary


    Located somewhat in the middle between the maind and the ind nation of the Isles at 139 km southwest west of the Isles and 287 km east of the continent of the New World was a nondescript featureless ind. A hive of activity was ongoing on that ind for over a month, with sailing ships bringing supplies and materials from the trade ports of the Isles.


    The sausage shaped sand covered ind''s terrain was mostly t, and has barely any vegetation was surrounded by several patches of razor sharp reefs that protruded out of the water during the low tides. The ind had roughly a length of over four kilometers and a width of two kilometers at the thickest section with a small marshy swamp on one tiny corner.


    A deep water cove served as a natural harbor for the few ships anchored within it. Amongst the sailing ships were four ships that stood out. All four ships were grey in color and made out of steel. They docked parallel against one and another while thergest steel ship had a floating dock linking it to the white sandy beaches.


    Hundreds of figures disembarked off the side of the ship while others waited to unload all the cargo. Sherene hopped off the side of the motorboat and sshed into the crystal clear waters. She giggled and kicked the waters with her bare feet before stepping onto the white sandy beach.


    Fleet Master Dijon gave a forlorn look at Sherene before he jumped off the side of the boat and joined her on the beach. Sherene held on to her sun hat and looked around the ind, only seeing a few trees here and there. "This is really an ind that has nothing!"


    Dijon nodded as he joined her side. "Yes, the ground is mostly sand and there are barely any useful trees. There''s only a small waterhole here and this natural harbor."


    "There are too many reefs around here too," Dijon continued. "Making it dangerous for any fishing boats. Our fleet will only use this cove to take shelter from storms and that''s it."


    "I don''t know why you all wanted this islet for," Dijon frowned at the barend while gesturing towards the sea. "There are better inds to make an Embassy."


    "Ahh, but this ind is the most suitable for our needs," Ford suddenly appeared behind them and spoke. "It is a really good ce for us actually."


    Dijon gave whatever shrug at Ford''s word as the islet has no value to the Isles and giving it away to the UN in exchange for their ''tek no logee'' was a damn good deal. "Good for you then!"


    Ford gave a secret smile to the back of Dijon who followed Sherene towards several buildings that had been constructed weeks ago. Ford looked towards the direction of the marsh and a small smile appeared on his weathered face. If you knew what this ind has, you guys won''t be willing to give it up for just a couple of steam engines!


    Dijon nced behind him and lowered his voice so that only Sherene could hear. "Don''t go to the marsh on the east side of the ind! Especially at night! It''s haunted!"


    "Really?" Sherene replied with a surprised tone. "How do you know?"


    "Many have seen it! Spirits that fly around the marsh!" Dijon whispered. "I telling you this is because we are friends! Remember! Don''t wander around the marsh at night!"


    Sherene gave a solemn nod but her eyes tickled with mirth as she stepped onto a simple path made out of crushed rocks and joined the hundreds of disembarked workers, naval and marine personnel as they walked over to the buildings. Two grey rectangr three storied concrete buildings formed an ''L'' shape while another two more square blocks of buildings lined up on the other side, forming an ''n''. Between the buildings was arge square, also paved with crushed rocks. Three g posts were elected on the open end of the square which flew the gs of the UN, the Navy, and the Marines.


    Further off, were mostly empty sheds and dozens of other buildings still under construction and on the other side of the base, was a halfpleted airstrip. Dijon gave a low whistle as he took in the construction. "You people really know how to build things fast!"


    "This ce was barely even handed over to you all for a month!" Dijon sighed in admiration. "Now, a small fortress seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere!"


    "Don''t worry," Shereneughed. "Now that we are allies, we will teach you how to build fast!"


    "That will be great!" Dijon was truly amazed by the skills of the UN. "This is really amazing!"


    Ford ignored their conversation as he looked around the base. The administration and office buildings werepleted and just needed to be furbished while the barracks were the first to be built, allowing the workers and military stationed here to have a roof over their heads.


    The power station bunker was still under construction and power was provided by several humming generators under cover. Sheds for vehicles and building materials wereid out next to the runway and dozens of workers were toiling under the sun as they paved thend.


    "Sir! Mdm!" A senior human engineer wearing a yellow hard hat saluted Ford. He handed over a report to Ford and gave a brief rundown of their progress. "Construction work is on schedule as long as the weather holds."


    Ford nodded as he moved away from Dijon, as he didn''t want the Inder to overhear their conversation. "And the airfield?"


    "It will take another 2 weeks to pave and grade the runway," The engineer said. "Another about a month or so to dig andy down the foundations for the fuel and ammunition bunkers."


    "How about the... oil rig?" Ford lowered his voice as he kept his eyes on the Inder chatting away with Sherene. "What''s the progress?"


    "We have assembled the derrick and pumps," The engineer replied. "And is preparing the drill head and pipes as we speak. As for if it runs as it is designed to... We have no idea."


    "Didn''t your team, tested and modeled it out before building the rig?" Ford asked. "Should there be any problems I need to be worried about?"


    "Sir, please understand this is all kinda new to us, we don''t know if the drill will work," The engineer pointed out. "It looks all nice and feasible on paper, but we need to run it on real world conditions before we know."


    "What we do know is," The engineer continued. "There is a pocket of natural gas, under the murk..."


    "That is what''s causing the ghost fires," The engineer exined. "Most likely lit by a thunderstorm and has been burning on and off ever since. Trapped underneath the gas is what we want most, crude oil."


    "Lucky for us, we have a few amateur geologists among the survey teams," The engineer said. "They took samples of the soil and water and drilled into the marsh. And the samples came up positive for signs of hydrocarbons."


    "But without dedicated equipment, they can''t estimate the size of the oil reservoir," The engineer said. "Even the location of the dig is also based on guesses."


    "But what we do know is, we need to pump out the natural gas before we can start digging into the ground," The engineer added. "Also we need to pump water into the drills when we are digging through the ground. Hopefully, the oil is close to the surface or better, a natural oil seep, that''s held back by the pocket of natural gas."


    "This way, we don''t have to dig much," said the engineer. "The lesser the digging the lesser problems will ur."


    Ford nodded, "Do what you need to do. There is a new batch of workersing off the Resource now. Assign them as you see fit."


    "Yes, Sir," The engineer gave a salute and returned to his work, leaving Ford alone.


    Ford flipped through the report in his hand before he went off to find Sherene and Dijon who were wandering around the base.


    -----


    "Captain," Ford greeted the image on the disy. "Well, work on schedule."


    "Nice to have something going well for a start," ke''s image replied after a second. The image was slightly out of sync with the audio. "We need that source of oil."


    "I know," Ford replied. "Once the rig is up and running, hopefully, we can start shipping crude oil back to Far Harbor to start processing them."


    "Thank god we found that source of oil easily," ke said. "We are running out of dragonite to mine."


    "Yea," Ford agreed. "Well, we do know a few other ces that have pitch and tar, which has a high chance of having crude oil too. But this is the closest to us."


    "Guess Tavor''s intelligencework is finally paying off too!" Ford smiled. "Well, this base will be up and running by next year!"


    ke''s image nodded. "For now, that source of crude oil will be our new lifeline. You make sure the base is fully capable of protecting itself from attacks!"


    "Understood," Ford replied. "Once the basic infrastructure is up, I will get the engineers to work on the next phase of construction."


    "We will blow up the reefs around the cove entrance and widen the channel," Ford said. "This will allowrger ships to enter and exit without danger. Permanent docks and shipyards will be constructed within the cove."


    "It will also be the ce where we trade and exchange technology with the Isles," Ford finished. "This will cut down a lot of the travel time and costs, especially if we use our own ships formerce."


    "Yes," ke''s image replied. "I am actually more worried about theing disaster."


    "You mean the famine that will happen?" Ford asked.


    ke''s image nodded again. "It''s funny how we survived aliens... monsters... enemy soldiers... zombies... Gods and heroes... and now we are gonna face waves of innocent starving people..."


    "The irony of this..." ke''s image sighed. "Have you shared information regarding this to the Isles'' Council of Masters?"


    Ford shook his head before he gave a smirk, "No... not yet. Oh talking about Masters... Dijon is here... He''s been following Sherene around like a lost puppy."


    "What?" ke''s image half stood up. "Why that son of a bi-"


    "Hahaha!" Fordughed at ke''s expression. "Don''t worry! Kaga and that new girl, Takao, both are keeping a sharp eye for you. Dijon won''t steal her from you. I promise!"


    "Goddamn it!" ke''s image cursed. "Look, get that ass hole out of Port Sanctuary ASAP and away from my wife! I don''t care how you do it... JUST DO IT!"


    "Alright! Alright! Rx!" Ford continued to smile. "I just break the news about theing famine crisis! That should get him back on the first boat out of here."


    "GOOD!" ke finally calmed down. "Once the Marines have finished the business with the Goblins. We will start restructuring the military and prepare for another war..."


    "You really gonna fold the Marines into the Navy?" Ford frowned. "I don''t think the Marines will like that much..."


    "Now that the Navy has hulls, you gonna need the Marines," ke said. "And we are going to need an army to protect our borders."


    "The SDF will be the core of the UN Army," ke continued. "Half of the Marines will be transferred to the Army to help form its core."


    "Lots of Marine won''t be happy about the changes," Ford remained ke. "Especially the Orcs..."


    "Don''t worry, they won''t," ke''s image grinned. "I got someone in mind that will make the troops support the Army..."


    "Who?" Ford frowned as he asked.


    "Joseph... I will bump him up to one star and he will be made the Chief of Army!"

 Chapter 406: How Nice of You!

    Chapter 406: How Nice of You!


    Coast off Goblin City


    Corporeal Slow carefully climbed over the side of the metal ship, slipping his booted feet into the cargo as he lowered himself down the. He kept his eyes away from his feet, staring at the grey metal before him and he climbed down to the waiting boats behind.


    Suddenly someone grabbed his back and he looked down, seeing the chasm between the ship and the boat he was supposed to be on. Hands pulled him over as the waves rocked thending craft away from the side of the ship and cold salty water sshed onto Slow''s face.


    Finding his feet on the deck of thending craft, Slow let off the breath that he had held in. He felt his legs turning slightly jelly and quickly found an empty spot to sit down.


    One by one, Marines descended down the side of the transport and into the waitingnding craft. Once full, the pilot of thending craft powered up the engines and made way for the nextnding craft behind to take its ce as more Marines climbed down.


    Once everyone had embarked on thending craft, the waiting started. To Slow, the wait was the worse. He found that they were always rushing here and there, but always, in the end, they had to wait for further orders. To him, it was like they rush to wait and waited to rush!


    "Stand up, yazy shits!" The loud cry of the toon sergeant jolted the men awake and Marines climbed up to their feet on the metal decks. Most of the Marines had huddled together to stay warm from the cold ocean breeze and now they formed up in rows on thending craft. "Check your gear!"


    Slow looked up to the skies and saw the sky starting to brighten as the sun peeked out over the horizon. He checked his gear and his buddies around him and turned behind to look for his little golem which was packed behind the troops.


    Finally, a whistle blew, giving the signal to stop the attack. By then, due to the rough seas, plenty of Marines were seasick from the rocking boats. The navy pilots powered up their engines and as one they mmed through the waves, aiming for the shadowy mass that was slowly being lit up by dawn.


    The Marine Expedition Force has approached the targeted beachhead under the cover of darkness and waited till the wee hours of the morning before having the Marines board thending crafts. After that, they waited for the break of dawn to begin their assault, which was certain to catch any goblins on the ind unaware of an attack.


    The distance between the dozennding crafts and the shore shortened rapidly as the pilots gunned the engines to the max. Suddenly, screaming artillery shells tore overhead and hammered the beach, turning the peaceful beach into hell.


    The three UN Navy corvettes had lined up in a battle line, presenting their broadsides to the beach, fired their 3" guns in rapid session. The artillery barrage bombarded the beachhead with high explosives, sending balls of mes and smoke into the air.


    The Marines on board thending crafts cheered the Navy on as they admired the fireworks disy before them. Even those sick, felt better from watching the forest edge go up in mes. Slow roared out his emotions together with his toon mates as thending craft reached its final approach.


    "GET READY!" The pilot manning the simple open hatched helm yelled out. "We are going to hit the beach!"


    Thending craft was a simple design. Its hull was rectangr, with a basic ''V'' shape bottom to reduce as much drag as possible. The bow was also shaped in a simple ''V'' shape and was able to be dropped to create a ram. The pilot has an open hatch at the port stern next to the engine and simple mount on the starboard stern housed a mounted .50 caliber gun.


    The pilot using his own judgment, powered down the engines, as he did not want thending craft to run aground on the beach and get stuck there. He reversed the engines to kill off their forward momentum just as the bottom hull scrapped onto the sand.


    Despite that, the sudden jolt of thending craft and waves nearly made the Marines fall off their feet. The pilot yanked the release lever for the bow ramp, and with a long rattle of chains, the bow ramp dropped, pping against the water and sand.


    "GO! GO! GO!" The toon Lieutenant and sergeants screamed at the Marines and they charged out of thending craft. They stormed onto the beach and water and raced up the sand while thending craft''s machine gun manned by a goblin happily spewed tracers into the smoking treeline, to provide cover fire.


    Once thest Marine and support golems exited thending craft, the pilot gunned the engine into full reverse and closed the ramp, heading back towards the transport ships to pick up the next load of Marines and supplies.


    Slow flopped down t on the sand and spat out some from his mouth. He tried to rub away the sticky wet sand that had stuck on machine gun grip and gave up as the wet sand stayed stubborn.


    He watched his front, scanning the forest line for any signs of movement, but could only see tendrils of curling smoke and flickering mes left behind by the Navy''s artillery bombardment. There wasn''t even a sign of a single feathered wyvern!


    "toon Four! Advance!" Orders starteding down from the line as the Officers started to organize the attack. "toon Three, hold and cover!"


    Finally, the order for Slow''s toon to move up came. He pushed himself off the sand and advanced with the rest, trying to ignore the wet sand chaffing his body.


    -----


    The lone Super Sea Cobra circled in the air over the city, it''s under belly camera attachment capturing the scenes below it as thousands of riled up goblins shrieked and yelled in theirnguage, shaking crude weapons at it.


    The scouting seane was assembled on the decks of one of the transports and lowered by crane over to the side of the sea the night before. It had taken off in the rough seas, just at the break of dawn, when the Marinesnded. Now it flew over the ind and provided intel for the UN troops.


    -----


    UNS Victory, ''Victory'' ss cargo ship, Command and Control Center


    Onboard the heart of the leading transport, UNS Victory, Joseph stood over a map table surrounded by rows of operators manning radio sets. Banks of disys sat on one side of the bulkhead which thergest disy was currently showing an aerial view of Goblin City.


    "Sir, UNS Warrior, and UNS Spear are leaving the floti and headed to blockade the entrance into Goblin City," One of the staff officers reported as information came in. "UNS Wolf is holding its position to provide fire support to the Marines if needed."


    Joseph nodded as he kept his eyes on the screen, watching tiny dots rushing the fat clumsy looking boats out to sea. "Tell the Navy to ensure that none of the goblin raiding ships leaves the cove. Destroy them all."


    "Sir, Major Lanfort is reporting the first wave of Marines isn''t encountering any resistance on the beach," Another staff reported. "He is pushing the men forward towards the City. He expects contact with Goblin City within two hours if there is no resistance."


    "Tell him to take it slow," Joseph replied. "I want him to sweep the ground thoroughly."


    "Sir, the LCs are back to pick up the second wave!"


    "Third Battalion reports enemy contact! They are engaging!"


    Reports kepting into themand center, giving Joseph a clear picture of what was happening on the ground. He looked at the table where staffers were moving tokens to indicate friendly forces and enemies.


    "First Battalion reports ofrge numbers of goblins pouring out from the west of forest of the beachhead!"


    "Sir! Estimated numbers of goblins are over 9000!"


    "Tell the forces on the ground to hold and engage!" Joseph ordered. "Fall back towards the beach and engage the goblins from range!"


    "Ladies and gentlemen, how nice of these goblins toe to us!" Josephughed as he joked with his staff. "Now our boys don''t have to go murking around to find those scum! They areing straight at us! Tell our boys to kill them all!"


    "Sir, Yes, Sir!"


    ------


    UNS Wolf


    The sleek looking warship remained stationed with its broadsides facing the ind when the sudden calls of fire support came into the bridge. The Captain, an middle aged elf whose previous experience was just on fishing boats stood at the armored windows watching thend with a pair of powerful binocrs.


    He saw the Marines who had entered the forest retreat back out in a hurry before they formed a line of resistance as a horde of dirty green skins erupted out shortly after. The goblins were like a wave as they rushed out in a chaotic mess, throwing themselves without care into the tracer fire that was flickering non stop from the beachhead.


    "Bear all guns to bear!" The Captain snapped. Despiteing from a simple humble fishing family, what he learned from the UN Naval Academy kept him calm. He was proud of hismand, especially his ship. "Show those scum our firepower!"


    The main guns of the UNS Wolf thundered, sending high explosive warheads screaming down range, while both secondary 20mm dual gun mounts on the side of the side joined in shortly after, spewing a storm of death into the goblins.


    -----


    Eternal City of Burns, Pce of the Burning Hill


    Strurruilk, the Mighty King of All Things Under His Feet and Ruler From The Throne of The Burning Hill and Sea Master of Thieves and Giver of All Goblin Life and Conquerer of All Lands and Grand Lord of Magic and Happiness! and the Only Chief of Love and Destruction, was a massive oversized hobgoblin.


    He was bald with a polished shine that caught the first rays of the sun, glittering from the animal fat his servants used. Wads covered his face and he knew it attracted the females most, from their twisted faces of adoration. His chest and arms were bulging with muscles because you can''t be a King without any impressive muscles that can scare silly a goblin just from one look.


    He sat on a throne made from a collection of skulls and war trophies, heavily padded to ensure his butt did not get stabbed or poked by some spikey bits of bones or weapons. His throne room was sited inside a massive cavern that opened out to the main vent of the volcano.


    His throne was ced just at the opening, giving the audience in his throne room a glimpse of his power as the ever burning mes behind him made him glow red. He especially liked to roar loudly, just before the Burning Hill rumbled, a trick he learned how to predict. It made his followers cowered most satisfying as they ttened themselves fully on their bellies and begged forgiveness.


    His subordinates and followersid t on the dark rock awaiting hismands as he could hear and feel the dull thud of thunder even from the depths of the cave. "Summon the horde!"


    "Yes! My Mighty King of All Things Under His Fe-" His hobgoblins and goblins leaders started to recite.


    "Just... go!" Strurruilk sighed as he cut off the of his lists of titles. Normally, if any goblin or hob has forgotten his titles, they would be fed to the Burning Hill to quench his displeasure. But today, invaders were at his doorsteps and he has no mood for such fancy salutations.


    "Nice invaderse to be food! It shall be feast feast time!"

 Chapter 407: Food Concerns

    Chapter 407: Food Concerns


    United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "Three more weeks at least!" The image of Sherene pouted as ke smiled. "I''m turning dark from all the sun!"


    "Haha, remember to use sunblock then!" ke replied. "Wear long sleeves if you stay out in the sun. If not, when you get sunburn, it''s going to be very painful!"


    "Yes, yes..." Sherene meekly said. "Alright, I got a meeting to go soon. I got a surprise for you when I''m back!"


    "What surprise?" ke raised his eyebrows at the grin on Sherene''s face.


    "It won''t be a surprise if I tell you now right?" Sherene rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out. "Be a good boy and wait for my return! Bye bye!"


    ke smiled and shook his head at Sherene''s childish acts before tapping the End Call button. He returned to his work when a knock came from his door. "Enter."


    "Good morning, Cap!" Dr. Sharon poked her head in. Following in behind her was Intel Officer Tavor, Chief Engineer Matt, Colonel Frank and a shy looking human female in a mixed culture business wear.


    "Make yourselvesfortable," ke gestured them to the chairs. "Give me a minute while I sort out my stuff first."


    Chief Matt and Dr. Sharon both gave a grin as they went straight for the coffee pot and poured themselves a cup each. Both of them wore a satisfied expression as they sipped the hot beverage. "Damn... I needed this!"


    ke smirked at them, "Well, rank has its privileges."


    "Coffee has been the most sought after trade good amongst the crew," Lt Tavor supplied his input while the other two were lost in savoring the rare beverage. "It''s current value is almost equal to seventy gold crowns per 100 grams... if anyone is willing to sell their remaining stocks."


    Chief Matt gave Tavor an incredulous look, "My, I didn''t peg you as the type to know the market!"


    "Information is my forte," Lt Tavor gave a chilling smile which made Chief Matt feel cold despite the hot drink in his hands. "I try to collect all areas of information."


    "Okay, all ready?" ke looked up from his desk after he finished sorting out his documents. "I called you over here is to discuss our... situation in the future."


    "Now, on food security. With our current and future food production," ke asked. "Is it possible to produce enough food to be stocked up and sold to the surrounding cities and towns within a year?"


    Everyone turned to look at the neer, who stood to her feet in attention before blushing in embarrassment. "Sir... I am Spaceman Apprentice Alice from Hydroponics or... what I used to be..."


    "I- I am the Minister of Agriculture," She stammered. "Pleased to m- meet you, S- Sir!"


    "At ease," ke gave a disarming smile at the youngdy. "You are no longer in uniform, don''t sweat the formalities!"


    "T- Thank you, Sir!" Alice remained standing stiffly. "In r- regards to your question, Sir... I will like to inform you that, it is impossible with our current production levels."


    "Exin," ke asked.


    "O- Our current farms only produce enough grains, meat, vegetables, and fruits to sustain our total poption, with a 15% surplus which are stored as emergency supplies," Alice''s confidence grew as they started talking business. "And that surplus is also drawn by the military for exercises or campaigns."


    "We can expand the farnds right?" Chief Matt asked. "And fishing?"


    Alice shook her head, "We can''t increase much within one year. Unless you increase the number of farmers to twice our current numbers or rece corp rotation with mono farming which can increase our grain output but will cause the fertility of the soil to be degraded."


    "As for fishing, it''s still a fledgling industry," Alice continued. "Even with attractive grants given out, not many people are willing to take up fishing as most of them are farmers or craftsmen, to begin with."


    "But, I can rmend some measures," Alice said. "Like offering those grants to the Inders, we can invite them over to develop our fisheries here while we provide tech or financial support to their startups."


    "Since our people do not have much experience in this field," Alice borated her idea. "By letting foreign investors into our market, we are letting them teach our people and at the same time boosting our output, since the products will be circted within our country."


    "Next we can switch to canning our food instead of preserving in jars," Alice said. "Itsts longer, is safer, and can be produced faster than jars."


    "Canning is also cheaper to produce since they can be made out of steel and coated with tin to prevent corrosion," Alice exined. "Canned food canst as long as thirty years and are less prone to spill or breakage."


    "Matt," ke frowned as he turned to the Chief. "Do we have a source of tin?"


    Chief Matt scratched his head as he whipped out his tablet and started flipping through its contents. "We do have a small stockpile of tin, roughly a hundred tons, all by products from other ore mines but no mines producing substantial amount currently."


    "But... we do know where there are a few deposits of tin," Chief Matt looked up from his tablet. "It''s just that we have no need of tin at the moment, those deposits were left untouched."


    "Okay, start looking into mining those deposits," ke ordered. "And Alice, start nning to increase our food security. I am sure you read the confidential report regarding the food situation among the neighboringnds."


    "Defense wise, I am very sure, our military can keep them off," ke cast a nce at Dr. Sharon. "But I do not want to kill innocent people who are just hungry..."


    "If we can help by providing food to our neighbors at a reasonable cost without risking our own food supply, I want to do so," ke said. "And I think that we really need to expand our fishing industry. I think its a very huge untapped food resource we are not touching on."


    "Nor, do I want to build a wall to surround our borders..." ke sighed. "Yet, we do need some kind of border security up. We are going to need some kind of Customs and Immigration to handle this in the long run. Tavor, since you are already handling most of the internal security issues, I want you to get together with City Hall and the Chief of Police to set up a new department to handle border security and immigration matters."


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor nodded.


    "Alice, start work on measures to improve our food security," ke added. "Work with the relevant heads. We have less than a year to prevent a mass famine outside our borders."


    "Yes, Sir," Alice replied as she sat down.


    "Dr. Sharon," ke turned to the doctor. "We might need to do some humanitarian aid in the unforeseen future. Do you have any ns in ce?"


    "Yes, Cap," Dr. Sharon replied. "Our ns were to work with the military to dispense aid to any areas that required it. This includes any form of disasters, pandemic or war."


    "The military will provide both security and transport, while on my side we will provide the doctors, nurses and medical aid," Dr. Sharon exined. "City Hall will provide the food, water, and shelter."


    "We have already done this twice during the war," Dr. Sharon said. "but on a smaller scale."


    "Good," ke nodded before he turned to Colonel Frank. "How''s the preparation for the change ofmand and the formation of the new military branch?"


    "Some minor issues here and there," Frank replied. "But shouldn''t be a problem since Top is on it. Once Joseph returns, we will do the switch."


    "We will be processing the switch of the SDF to Army in batches, starting from Falledge," Frank said. "It should not cause any impact to our border security during the change."


    "Okay," ke said. "Looks like all of you know what needs to be doing, so I won''t drag this meeting on any longer."


    "Sharon and Tavor, please stay back," ke said as he dismissed the rest. "I need a word with you two."


    Once the others had left the room, ke looked at Dr. Sharon and asked. "How is the voice in your head since thest time you reported it."


    Dr. Sharon frowned before she answered, "Still the same, ites and goes."


    "No way to find out what happened or what is it?" ke asked in a concerned tone.


    "Nope," Dr. Sharon shook her head. "Magister Thorn and I had been trying both magic and technology to find out what is in my head. But nothing. Nothing on the scans or even magic detection spells."


    "Could it be some kind of God?" Tavor asked as his eyes glittered. "Like what happened to that elf hunter girl, Evelyn?"


    Dr. Sharon shook her head again, "Nope, nothing shows that I have anything wrong."


    "But Magister Thorn dide out with a theory," Dr. Sharon said. "It''s very likely I got possessed by some remnant of a spirit."


    "Spirit?" ke frowned. "Like demons? Or ghosts?"


    "More like a ghost, yes," Dr. Sharon said. "It could be also just a wisp of memory that remained and somehow it got into my body. You know like some kind of memory data."


    "So now you''re haunted by a ghost?" Tavor gave an eerie smile. "Nice..."


    ke rubbed his forehead tiredly, "So now we got ghosts haunting us too?"


    "It would be nice if we could... recruit ghosts..." Tavor continued to smile eerily. "They would make good spies..."


    Dr. Sharon rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, yes... You and your spies... Anyway, I have gotten used to its babbling. It did quieten down a lot in these recent months."


    "No way to decipher what it is talking?" ke asked.


    "Nope," Dr. Sharon jerked her head towards Tavor. "Even our poster boy here can''t make head or tail of anything I narrated out when it spoke. Not even the universal trantors are working. We don''t anymon words for theputer to run its algorithms."


    "Okay, take it easy for now," ke said. "Take some time off and get a break. Inform us immediately if you feel unwell."


    Dr. Sharon nodded and winked at Tavor. "Will do! Besides, Poster boy here is keeping an eye on me!"


    This time it was Tavor who rolled his eyes. "Just to be safe."


    "Ok," ke said again. "Report in if you feel anything unusual! You are our top medical doctor here! I don''t want to lose any more of our people!"


    "Gotcha, Cap!" Dr. Sharon grinned mischievously. "Oh, did Sherene say anything to you?"


    "On what topic?" ke asked offhandedly. "We just spoke earlier before the meeting."


    "Oh..." Dr. Sharon sounded disappointed. "Than nevermind!"


    -----


    Sea of Clouds


    The battered looking skiff slowly skimmed over the tops of the waves and the people onboard dragged a heavy up over the side of the skiff. After a while, only a small handful of small fishes were caught.


    ire sighed as she looked at their pitiful catch, it had been over a week since they escaped from the Clergy and they have been eating nothing but fish. Berringer, looking leaner from his previous chubby frame, was hoisting a bucket of seawater up from the side to be converted into drinkable water from the steam engine.


    The Professor and Uwen were quietly sorting out the small palm sized fish caught in the while ire pulled the rest of the up. They worked quietly and quickly, knowing they had to return back up into the clouds before the Clergy''s ships appear again, or a sudden sh storm might suddenly appear.


    After they had refilled their water barrels and secured the ship, ire went to the steam boiler and injected her magic energy into the side of the boiler. Sweat dripped down the sides of her face as she focused all her power to boil the water inside.


    As the needle gauge of the boiler started jerking as pressure built up, she dragged her exhausted body up to the decks and Berringer took over, continued using magic to boil the water. Once sufficient steam was built up, ire standing by at the helm, pulled the levers to allow the heated aetherium gas to fill up the airbags and the skiff slowly ascended back up into the cover of the clouds.

 Chapter 408: Surviving the World

    Chapter 408: Surviving the World


    Goblin Ind, Beachhead, Marine Expedition Force Defense Line


    The echos of naval artillery fire washed over the tired soldiers as they remained in their dugouts. The terrain before them was originally a thickly forestednd, but now it was reced by charred remains of tree stumps and craters filled with minced body parts and bloody mud.


    Joseph stood on a crate and watched the devastednd, seeing the filthy looking goblins rushing across the pockmarkednd in another attempt to rush the Marines defenses. It has been over a week since theynded and basically, they were just dug in and killing off waves and waves of goblins.


    The number of goblins was unexpectedlyrger than their Intelligence estimates by a lot. Joseph estimated that they had probably killed off at least fifty thousand of those creatures but yet their numbers did not seem to be dwindling any time soon.


    Even the three Navy corvettes had run low on HE shells for their guns and two of the transports had to be dispatch back to Far Harbor to pick up supplies. Now the remaining two transports had anchored off as close to shore as possible to add their two 20mm guns as support to the Marines.


    The killing was easy, as the goblins rushed mindlessly without any form of cohesion. But after days of mind numbing killings, it affected even the most hardened Marines. Joseph had no choice but to rotate the troops to man the killing lines.


    "Thank the Gods, the mission nners had included adequate small arms ammunition..." Joseph muttered to himself. "Damn, goblins must have bred like mad to have such numbers..."


    A series of loud explosions rumbled over the charging goblins, throwing a mist of greenish vaporized blood into the air. Yet the goblins continued their mad peals ofughter and shrieks, climbing over the bodies of the dead to get close to the Marines.


    Joseph watched theughing goblins cross an invisible line and got mowed down by rifles and machine guns. "It''s going to be another long day..."


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet, Council of Masters


    Sherene sat on the high back chair watching the Fleet Masters of the Council in a heated discussion while the First Fleet Master remained quiet, seated with his back straight with folded arms. Today, the meeting was a closed affair and it only consisted of the Fleet masters and Sherene, together with a few trusted aides.


    "Lady Sherene," First Fleet Master Kose finally spoke, causing the chamber to quieten down. His grey eyes locked onto Sherene as he asked. "How certain of this information are you?"


    "Very," Sherene returned Fleet Master Kose''s stare evenly. "We investigated the markets and reports of unrest all over the Empire."


    "The Empire is already fractured," Fleet Master Megan cut in with a scornful voice. "It will be expected to have so... unpleasant effects..."


    "Of course," Sherene gave a sweet smile at Fleet Master Megan who rolled her eyes away. "But the Empire holds a massive number of people."


    "And the majority of those people are ves who worked the farms and mines," Sherene exined. "If the mines stopped working, it will just affect the economy... But if the farms all stop working..."


    "There will be no food," Fleet Master Dijon finished the sentence. "And if there is no food..."


    "People die," Sherene said. "But that is not all, people will flock to hope."


    "And hope will lead them to migrate across vast distances," Sherene continued. "They will be a mob... A mob that will raze thend in search of food and hope."


    "And that hope is your nation?" First Fleet Master Kose asked.


    "Yes, due to rumors and hearsay, they will treat us as their only hope of survival," Sherene gave a nod. "But we can''t save them."


    "And if you save one, thousands more wille," Fleet Master Akron wiped his monocle with a piece of cloth before readjusting it back to his eye. "And your nation can''t afford to do that."


    "Yes," Sherene replied. "We already started some measures to ensure an increase in food production. We n to sell food cheaply to the cities and towns bordering ournds."


    "Hmmm," Fleet Master Akron rubbed his mustard. "But this is just a simple stop gap measure. More needs to be done to prevent a mass exodus to your nation."


    Sherene nodded, "That is why we wished to invite businessmen in the Isles to start up fisheries in ournd."


    "Fisheries?" Fleet Master Akron frowned. "You n to mass produce salted fish for sale?"


    Sherene smiled and shook her head, "Not salted, we nned to do something even better!"


    Reaching her hand out, Sherene took the stack of papers from Kaga behind her. "Here are the ns for an improved method of food preservation. Instead of using ss to bottle food, we will be switching to use cans."


    She then exined the advantages and costs of canning to the Fleet Masters who could easily see the implications as they were all merchants at heart. "With this method, we can store cooked food for up to 30 years!"


    "I am truly amazed by your people," Fleet Master Kose said while shooking his head in admiration. "Using this canning method of yours, it will revolutionize the entire food industry!"


    "Yes!" Dijon was visibly excited as he pounded the table. "No more salted fish or meat! I am sick of eating those on long voyages!"


    "I will like to invest in that canning ''tek no logee'' of yours!" Fleet Akron suddenly said. "I am sure you will needrge amount of capital for workshops, and resources to start up right?"


    "Hey!" Dijon cried out. "Not fair! I will invest too!"


    Sherene giggled as he watched therge framed Dijon trying to pressure the smaller and slimmer Akron into giving in. "Don''t worry, we do wee investors, and we not only have canning as the only business."


    "Remember I said, we were looking to increase our fisheries?" Sherene gave a mischievous smile. "And canning does not need to be limited to only fish. Meat, vegetables, fruits, and even drinks can be canned!"


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, City Hall


    A silver haired young man stood with a girl hand in hand before the grand looking building. Surrounding them were towers made of ss and steel that befuddled the mind, making them feel small and alien.


    Justze and Ciel could not help craning their necks to look around. They had spent a year in Orwell''s Point, earning their keep and taking sses, which felt exotic to them. At the start, there were too many new things they had to learn before they could even be considered to be hired.


    It was a massive blow to their ego as they were elementalists. They were used to be highly regarded and treated with respect in the Empire. But in the city of Orwell''s Point, they were just barely rated one level higher than construction workers!


    Disbelieving that they were not highly sought after, they offered their services to anyone willing to hire them but none was willing to hire their services. It was until more than a monthter, they found out why.


    They saw the magicless contraptions rolling out on fields and in less than a day, the ground was dug up without any effort. Justze couldn''t believe his eyes as he watched those contraptions work tirelessly, toiling the soil and rocks.


    If it was him, he would be required to take breaks to restore his mana and still he won''t be able to manipte the soil as fast as that contraption with any rest! In the end, he lowered his hiring fee and was only able to take up a few jobs, helping the local farmers tilt the soil and make repairs to irrigation dykes and drains.


    Ciel, being weaker in her elemental power, had managed to find a job as a sales clerk in a store. Both of them managed to rent a small ce to stay and they slowly and carefully save every coin they had.


    Justze didn''t give up on the news of his sister. He managed to hear some word that there was a female elementalist working in the Capital of the United Nations. It gave him hope, and he worked hard towards his goal with Ciel faithfully following him.


    Finally, after a year of hard work and saving up, they finally have the funds to move Haven. The iron beast called a train was amazing to both of them. They have never seen should a method of transport. It was like a dozens of wagons hitched together and pulled by a contraption powered by steam! And even more amazing, the train ride took them to the outskirts of the Capital city of the United Nations across a distance that would have taken them at least a month on foot in just a matter of hours!


    A helpful police officer they asked, told them to head to the City Hall to register their identity before they can find amodations and work. They took a bus that brought them into the city and deposited them before the City Hall.


    They had thought in Orwell''s Point, the magicless wagons and strange flying crosses called ''aerones'' were already impressive enough. Buting here really opened their eyes to a whole new world.


    Together hand in hand, both youngsters timidly climbed the steps and headed into the City Hall. A couple grim looking policemen stood at the doors gestured them to the side where a clerk asked them for any identity and if they were carrying any weapons like knives, swords, wands or staves.


    Justze and Ciel handed over their provisional identity cards issued from the Governor''s Office of Orwell''s Point and ced their personnel knives and magic wands on a basket in which another police officer took it and handed over a tag. "When you leave, use the tag to retrieve your weapons."


    Both of them nodded and watched as the clerk tapped away at some runes on the table. They have seen this before, a ''tek no logee'' called a ''corn puter''. After a short moment, the clerk asked them without leaving his eyes off the t screen before him. "State of business?"


    "We want to stay and work here!" Justze replied. "Also I am trying to find news of my sister!"


    "Ok, queue number 273, head straight in and you will see the signs for Citizen Application on your right. Wait for your number to be called," The clerk said in a bored tone. He returned the identity cards of them both and a ticket with some arabic numbers that they recognized and learned in their sses. "As for lost of kin, go to the police post to ask for assistance."


    Justze and Ciel gave a quick bow of thanks to the clerk who waved them off barely before they headed deeper into the building. To their wonder, the halls were like a pce, long and wide. Rows of benches were on one side filled with people of different races.


    Justze could see goblins and Orcs, mixed together with the people all sitting patiently and harmoniously together. In their first encounter with a goblin in Orwell''s Point, they nearly stabbed the creature with their daggers, but luckily they controlled themselves as they found that the goblin wasn''t hostile and the people around weren''t even bothered by the fact there was an elf eating goblin dressed in some kind of jacket was wandering the streets.


    They entered the right passageway, where a huge sign with the ''Engish'' runes, "Citizenship'' was disyed. After passing through the passageway, they entered anotherrge hall were rows and rows of benches were ced neatly and filled with people.


    "Calling queue number 125... Calling queue number 125. Pleasee to counter 2!" A loud voice seemed to appear out of the walls, and both of them looked around in surprise.


    Justze looked down at his ticket number and sighed. "Let''s find a seat, I think we will have to wait some time for our number to be called..."

 Chapter 409: Land Fall

    Chapter 409: Land Fall


    Sea of Clouds


    "Lord Inquisitor," An elf in a gaudy dark crimson uniform greeted the masked man seated behind the desk. "May my Lord be worthy of his Judgement."


    The man seated behind the desk nodded and made his finishing touches to the book he was writing on. On his face, he had an unadorned white mask on and worn a simple white long sleeved silk shirt and ck pants.


    "We appear to have left the Sea of Clouds behind, my Lord," The officer said as he bowed low.


    As the masked man stood up, his servants quickly helped him button and belt up a long red jacket. "Come, Captain."


    The Captain of the ship awaited the Inquisitor at the entrance of his cabin and followed one step behind him. "Has the heretic ship been found?"


    "No, Lord," The Captain replied. "But the Judges are still tracking them."


    The Inquisitor nodded as they entered the helm of the airship. The dark gloominess of the passageway disappeared as they entered the bridge. Crystal windows lined the sides of the bridge, giving an unobstructed view of their surroundings. The pilot and navigator stood on a raised tform while the other ship''s officers and crew manned their stations on a lower deck.


    "May my Lords be worthy of his Judgement!" The bridge crew saluted the Inquisitor and the Captain as they entered the bridge before the Captain waved them back to their duties.


    The Inquisitor stood beside the pilot and zed out of the windows, no longer seeing the endless white clouds. The sea below them stretched out and glittered under the sun''s rays while clear blue skies covered their view as far as they can see.


    "Lord," The Captain said. "The Sinner has safely joined us despite some damages. But I am afraid, we might have lost the Devoted."


    The Inquisitor turned his head to look out the side and saw the stubby knife shape of the Sinner with its sails out and propellers spinning, taking station on their aft. Several scorched storm marks on its iron hull and torn sails were statements of their struggle in the Sea of Clouds for the past month.


    "What happened?" The Inquisitor asked.


    "My, Lord, we lost contact with them shortly after thest storm," The Captain gestured to one of the crew who quickly handed over a long slip of paper. "Theirst light signals reported they lost all propulsion and steam after getting hit by several lightning strikes. After that, we lost all sight of the Devoted."


    "The Judgement shall watch over them," The Inquisitor intoned as he drew a prayer circle with his fingers. "Their fate now lies with the Judge and Creator of All."


    "May they be worthy of his Judgement..." The Captain muttered after the Inquisitor finished his blessings.


    "Where are we now?" The Inquisitor turned his attention back outside the windows of the ship.


    The Captain frowned as he replied, "My Lord, we have no idea. Maybe... the Judges have some idea?"


    The Inquisitor nodded and turned away from the windows, "Let''s go see them!"


    They left the bridge and entered into the belly of the ship where they found four heavily armored soldiers barring their way. The soldiers knelt on one knee seeing the Inquisitor before unbolting the door which looked more like a vault.


    As they entered into the room, the thick cloying smell of incense assailed the Captain''s nose, making him cover his face. The chamber was dimly lit with hanging glowing braziers which swung in a rhythmic way while censers of smoking incense were ced around the circr chamber.


    Three red hooded figures sat facing each other in the middle of the chamber and upon closer inspection, the floor they sat on was covered in runes. A glowing orb sat in the middle of the three Judges, their hooded heads bowed low over the orb and a soft chanting could be as they approached nearer.


    The Inquisitor and the Captain stopped just beyond the circle of runic drawings and the Inquisitor spoke, "Tell me, do you know where are we?"


    The chants paused and as one, their hands paused in their action of counting their prayer beads. The three Judges were like one entity as they tilted their heads towards the Inquisitor. The nervous Captain could see under the hoods of the Judges was a featureless mask, that looked simr to the Inquisitor''s.


    "It does not matter where we are..." The three Judges intoned as one. "For his Judgement is always over us..."


    "What about the heretics?" The Inquisitor asked after a moment of silence. "Do you have their whereabouts?"


    "It calls us..." The trio replied. "It pulls us... It is There!"


    As one, the three Judges raised their arm and pointed. The Inquisitor turned and faced the Captain with his nk mask without a word and the Captain nodded rapidly in understanding. He retreated out of the chamber and picked up a speaking horn on the outside of the vault doors and quickly ry instructions on their new course and heading.


    "What do you see?" The Inquisitor remained behind in the chamber. He folded his arms as he watched the three Judges returned to their previous pose. "What is that... thing?"


    "A fragment of disorder and chaos..." The three intoned raspily. "A fragment of health and weakness..."


    "A fragment of what is and what isn''t..." They continued to speak faster and faster. "A fragment of dark and light..."


    "A fragment of maybe and may not..." The three''s voice grew louder. "A fragment of happiness and sadness..."


    They seemed to grow more and more agitated. "A fragment of misfortune and luck!"


    "THERE ARE SEVEN!"


    -----


    Unknown Ind, ???


    ire felt something wet on her face and her hazy mind slowly cleared. She blinked her eyes in confusion as she was getting drenched and realized that it was raining. She pushed herself up, feeling her joints and muscles were aching and looked around.


    The skies were stormy, dark and forks of lightning could be seen and raining was pelting down hard, the heavy raindrops making drumming sound on the wooden decks. But the thing that made her wide awake was clearly the silhouettes of waving trees in the distance.


    She pulled herself up unsteadily to the side of the rocking skiff and found they hadnded on some ind. The stormy waves mmed into the side of the skiff, grounding the ship deeper into the beach.


    Despite her weakness, she stumbled around the deck, trying to find the rest. "Professor? Berringer? Uwen?"


    She found Uwen tucked away at the prow, weak from hunger. She left him there and slowly climbed down the deck into the lower deck and soon found the Professor in his cabin, delirious with a high fever and muttering some nightmare fueled dreams.


    Berringer was found in the cold boiler room, his once bby body now looked deted as heid curled up on the wooden deck, too sick like the rest to even move. ire suddenly broke down and cried, tears she thought she didn''t have rolled down her eyes as she felt helpless.


    She had held the rest together by the virtue of her determination to live and yet it felt it was for naught. She sank down on the side of the bulkhead and cried her eyes out till she passed out from exhaustion and hunger.


    -----


    Star Ind, Isles gship Fury


    Sherene remained in the VIP cabin as the storm raged on constantly outside. Raindrops hammered against the shutters, while the ship rocked gently in the sheltered cove. She took a bite out of a sour fruit and sighed contently as sheid covered in warm and fluffy nkets.


    "Sister Sherene!" Kaga bounced over energetically and Sherene made space in the small bunk to allow Kaga to snuggle in. "Are you feeling sick again? I see you always vomiting in the morning..."


    Sherene giggled and rubbed Kaga''s head. "Hehe... Well... I am not really sick..."


    "Silly..." Takao carried a tray filled with mugs of hot tea over. "Lady Sherene is not sick! She is pregnant with a baby!"


    "WHAT!?" Kaga''s ears shot straight up and her eyes widen in surprise. "You going to a have baby?"


    Sherene smiled gently and rubbed her belly underneath the nkets, "Yes, I am going to have a baby!"


    "Wow! Wow! WOW!" Kaga blinked her eyes rapidly and was so excited that she bounced under the nkets. "A baby!"


    Takao rapped her knuckles on the head of Kaga and growled, "Stop that! You will disturb her Ladyship and her baby!"


    Kaga rubbed her head while tears formed at her eyes from the sharp pain. "But... but... its a baby!"


    "Hehehe!" Sherene giggled and pinched Kaga''s cheeks. "Well, you will have one yourself next time when you find the man you love..."


    Kaga blinked her tears away and frowned. "But... I don''t find anyone I like at all..."


    "Well... Don''t you have male friends?" Sherene asked. "They are pretty nice to you right?"


    "Erm..." Kaga scrunched up her face as she recalled some of those ''friends'' of hers. "But... they feel so... weird... They keep wanting to take pictures with me... And they keep saying some weird words like... ne- ne ko mi mi mo eh?"


    Kaga shivered as she recalled those people. Even Takao had an expression of disgust on her face as she too was bothered by those weird people.


    "Hahaha, looking at your faces, those friends must be those hoomans right?" Sherene covered her mouth as sheughed at their expressions. "Its some of their culture, I am sure they don''t mean any harm."


    "Forget about them!" Kaga shook her body as she didn''t want to think about those weird hoomans. "When did you find out you got a baby? When is it due? Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me!"


    "Well, it should have been just before we left for the Isles," Sherene ced a delicate finger on her lips as she thought back. "We all had to do that medical examination conducted by Dr. Sharon before we left right?"


    Both the girls nodded and Sherene gave a smile, "That''s when Dr. Sharon suddenly told me I was three weeks pregnant!"


    "She advised me to cancel my trip to the Isles and remain in Haven," Sherene said. "But I told her no. I want to finish this treaty finish and returned to Haven with... good news and as a surprise to Richard!"


    "Hehehe!" Kaga giggled. "Captain ke is so fortunate to have you as his wife!"


    "You little cheeky girl!"


    -----


    Dijon strolled onto the wet decks of his ship as the storm passed and beams of sunlight pierced through the clouds. "Looks like the storm is finally over!"


    "Yes, Fleet Master!" His bosun replied. "Once the tidees, we can leave the cove and continue our journey towards Port Sanctuary."


    Dijon nodded and turned to return to his cabin where suddenly a cry came from the lookout on the mast. "Ahoy, shipwreck! Shipwreck!"


    Dijon paused in his tracks and looked up at the lookout boy who was waving and pointing away. He followed the boy''s finger and snatched the offered binocrs from his bosun. He scanned the coastline and stopped when he saw a boat stranded on its side on the rocks on the other side of the star shaped ind.


    The ship was roughly the size of a sloop, yet its design did not look like anything Dijon has seen before. Frowning, Dijon turned to his bosun, "Send a party over and check if there are any survivors."


    His bosun nodded and turned to scream at the crew to gather a party and ready a rowboat to head over to the ind. The crew responded rapidly and soon a boat was lowered over the side and a party of ten sailors rowed their way towards the beach.


    Dijon remained on the same stop as he observed his sailors made their way towards the wreck and for some reason, he felt a sense of unease at the unknown design of the ship.


    "The Sea Gods better not y a prank on me..."

 Chapter 410: Flying Ships

    Chapter 410: Flying Ships


    gship Fury


    A knock on the door woke Sherene from her nap. She yawned and stretched and teasingly poked the cheeks of Kaga who was sprawled next to her. Takao answered the door and soon appeared next to Sherene.


    "Mydy," Takao said. "The Inders appeared to have found a strange... shipwreck on the ind here."


    "Lord Dijon is inviting you up to the top to take a look," Takao ryed the messenger''s words. "He is on the top waiting for you."


    "Oh..." Sherene frowned. "A strange wreck? Alright, tell the messenger we will be up shortly!"


    Takao nodded and left when Sherene started to pinched the cheeks of Kaga to wake her up, "Hey, you sleepy head! Wake up!"


    "Noo.... my ''bur girls''... Don''t... steal... my ''bur girls''..." Kaga mumbled while chewing a corner of the nket. "Nyaaa..."


    Sherene rolled her eyes in exasperation at the beast girl and shook her wildly, "Wake up!"


    Kaga finally woke up and rubbed her sleepy eyes, "Where''s my ''bur girls''?


    "Rub your saliva off..." Shereneughed at the confused looking beast girl. "Go wash your face and get changed!"


    "Huh?" Kaga blinked her eyes and yawned while Takao dragged her off the bed. "Waaa?"


    They finally left the cabin after changing and appeared at the top deck. The warm sun was a pleasant change from the couple days of cold stormy weather. Dijon stood aloof at the side of the ship and waved them over when he spotted their appearance.


    "Greetings, Lord Dijon," The girls gave a curtsy to Dijon who impatiently gestured towards the horizon and hands a Haven made binocrs over to Sherene.


    "Take a look," Dijon said in a serious tone. His expression was grim as he stood there eyeing the tiny figures moving about the wreck. "Is that one of your ships?"


    Sherene adjusted the binocrs and shook her head, "No... I don''t recognize it. We don''t have ships like that..."


    Despite the wreck was half beached on the sand, she could spot a few features, like the pointy prow of the ship, the unknown barrels like protrusions on both sides and spars that dangle out at an angle from the sides.


    "Are there any survivors?" Sherene asked as she handed over the pair of binocrs to the eager Kaga hopping on the side.


    "Yes," Dijon turned and looked deeply into the eyes of Sherene as if trying to find any falsehood in her words. He looked away after a short moment and said. "We are bringing them on board."


    Sherene sighed and she ced her hand on Dijon''s arm, "What is making you so worried?"


    "I was hoping that ship belongs to you," Dijon said. "But I don''t think you would lie to us, your allies, right?"


    Sherene shook her head, "No, there is no point to lie to you."


    "Than, that''s the thing..." Dijon rubbed his beard. "I am feeling unease. I have never seen such a vessel before in my life, not counting those steel ships of yours."


    "I have no idea where it came from," Dijon said. "And I have a bad feeling about this..."


    "Look!" Kaga suddenly cried. "They found survivors!"


    Dijon turned back and observed his crew bringing some survivors out from the wreck in silence. After a while, the rowboat returned with an additional four passengers on board and they quickly carried on board while the ship''s healer fussed over them.


    Sherene watched from a short distance, thinking about Dijon''s words. She eyed the clothing of the four and found them strange, foreign in fact.


    "They are severely dehydrated and weak fromck of food," The healer reported. "Also they are showing signs of gum rot!"


    "Do what you can to heal them," Dijon ordered. "When any one of them is awake and able to speak, I want to know immediately!"


    "Yes, Fleet Master!" The healer bowed and gestured to his assistants to carry the sick down into the hold.


    "I will like to see the wreck," Sherene suddenly said. "Can you arrange a boat for me?"


    Kaga and Takao both protested immediately, "It is too dangerous for you to climb up and down! What happens if you get injured? Your b-"


    Sherene raised a hand to put a stop to the two girls, "I will be fine. I just want to take a look and snap a few pictures!"


    "Are you sure?" Dijon asked. "The boat is ready to go anytime if you take a look."


    Sherene nodded. Thankfully she was wearing jeans, allowing her to climb over the side of the ship easily. She hopped on board the rowboat with the two beast girls including Dijon who decided to follow along.


    After the rowboatnded on the sandy beach, they had to walk a short distance to reach the other side of the ind where the wreck wasid on its side. A couple of Dijon sailors were rummaging through the ship and they saluted Dijon when he climbed on board. "Found anything of use or clues of this ship''s originals?"


    "We found several tomes and these..." The senior sailor gestured to a pouch on the side together with a small pile of tomes.


    Dijon picked up one of the tomes and filled through the pages and frowned when he looked at the foreign scribbles. He handed it over to Sherene, "Is this somenguage you know?"


    Sherene took the book and nced through its contents before she shook her head. "No... I never saw thisnguage before!"


    While Sherene was checking the books, Kaga took out a camera which was a gift and started snapping pictures of the wreck. "What is this?"


    She carefully poured out the contents of the pouch on a t surface, Several t pieces of silver rolled out including a strange orb like object that had many etched faces on it. Everyone crowded around Kaga as she snapped a few more photos of the items before picking it up and admiring it.


    "Looks like gold but doesn''t weighs as heavy..." Kaga turned the object in her hand left and right. "Hmmm..."


    "Fleet Master!" A sailor called out to Dijon. "You want to see what is this?"


    Dijon left the girls alone and followed the sailor into the bowels of the ship. The sailor led him into a hold and saw a strange piece of contraption which he could roughly guess it was some kind of machinery from his knowledge with the United Nation''s ''tek no lo gee''.


    Pipes of various sized jutted out from the giant kettle like contraption. An opening with a trap door was located in the middle of the iron body. Dijon kneeled down and swept his fingers inside and rubbed his fingers together before taking a sniff. "Coal..."


    "Is this some kind of heater?" The sailor asked as he scratched his head in confusion. "But why would they need a heater so big?"


    Dijon looked around the hold and saw several empty sacks with crumbs of coal and a shovel on the side. He walked around the contraption, finding more pipes were leading out into various spots on the bulkhead.


    "Hmmm... found any more strange things?" Dijon asked the sailor.


    "Ahh, yes!" The sailor said excitedly. "The helm controls seem strange too! Very different from our arrangements!"


    Dijon nodded and followed the sailor out of the dark and gloomy decks and into the sunlight. At the stern of the ship was a raised tform with a wheel. But other than the wheel control, there were several strange dials, which reminded Dijon of the gauges of the steam engines sold by the United Nations.


    "A steamship?" Dijon wondered aloud. He made his way over the side of the ship and checked out the bottom stern, but he found nothing of a propeller or water wheel. "Could the water wheel broke off when they beached?"


    "Lord Dijon?" Sherene called from the side of the ship, looking down at him. "Found anything?"


    "Only more questions then answers!" Dijon replied. "And I do not know where to even start..."


    Dijon climbed back on board the ship and tapped the hull with his knuckles. "I have never seen such a design before. The lines of this ship are all wrong, and not to mention the sails are all over the c-"


    "Fleet Master? My apologies..." The same sailor suddenly appeared, looking nervous. "But what is that?"


    Dijon and Sherene followed the sailor''s raised hand as he pointed out towards the skies over the seas. There were tworge blobs in the air that were slowly descending down from the clouds and were growingrger as they neared.


    "What in the heavens?" Dijon blinked his eyes at the sight. "Are those flying... ships?"


    He could clearly see the rectangr sails that were extended out from the sides of the fat and squat looking oolong object. One of the flying objects remained in the air while the other descended even lower, its body blotting out the sun, and Dijon could even see sunlight shining off the windows at under the prow.


    "Those are definitely not UN!" Sherene said as she stared up at the belly of the flying ship.


    "Nope... Definitely not ours!"


    -----


    The Innocence, gship of the Clergy, Pdin Decks


    "Ready the Pdins!" The Chief Pdin yelled as he stood next to the opening of the hatch. The Pdins in their heavy armor each lined up before the dozen of openings on the side of the hold and attached a line from their backpacks to the deck.


    Each Pdin wore a set of heavy leathers and a backpack that has a spool of cable on the top and a helmet with bug like eye visors. Arge cask was attached to the backpack and had a hose that was connected to a shortnce on the right hip of the soldier and on their left hip, held a long sword in a scabbard.


    Once each Pdin was standing before an opening and had secured a line, they hopped off the edge and a bubble like shield shimmered around them, protecting them from crosswinds. The spools of cable on their backpacks hissed as friction build up from the gearings that slowed the Pdins'' descent from the airship.


    As they neared the ground, the Pdins controlled their speed of descent and with a jerk, they hit the release for the cables and dropped with a ssh on the shallow water. The Pdins whipped out their shortnces that looked like a shortened version of a joustingnce and marched forward towards the wreck.


    -----


    "I think we should leave..." Kaga whispered as she peeked over the side of the wreck. "They don''t look friendly!"


    "Yes..." Dijon answered. "Go! Return to the ship!"


    With that, everyone climbed off the wreck and ran as fast as they could from the approaching soldiers. But to their dismay, they saw the second flying ship hovered closer over them and with several sharp pops, they saw columns of water erupting up around the Fury.


    "They... they are attacking my ship!" Dijon cried out in anger. "Damn you!"


    A gout of ck smoke burst out from the triple funnels as Fury''s steam boilers were fired up to full. The paddle wheels on its sides started rotating as the upgraded ship started to back away from the cove under the sudden barrage of cannon fire from the flying ship.


    "We can''t get to the ship in time!" Sherene panted as she held her belly.


    "Take this!" Dijon shoved a dagger, a revolver, and the pouch containing the strange orb to Sherene. "You girls hide in the forest! We will try to dy them as long as possible!"


    "What?" Sherene cried out. "No! We all can hide together in the forest!"


    "No time!" Dijon gave a cheerful smile. "By now, the Fury should have put the word out over the radio about the attack."


    "If we all hide in the forest together," Dijon gestured to the approaching soldiers. "They don''t need even a turn of a ss to find us all!"


    "We need to dy them as long as possible... So that your Commander Ford can get here in time with his fastest ships..."

 Chapter 411: Bastards Must Die!

    Chapter 411: Bastards Must Die!


    The Innocence, Bridge


    "What g is that ship flying?" The Captain of the Innocence called out to his bridge crew. "Which nation is it from? The Iron Kingdoms? Tri State? Or the Dragon Lords?"


    "Sir, the g it flies bears no resemnce to any known nations!" The First Officer replied. "It could be from some small country under the Loose Confederation. We spotted two demi people below."


    "Then order the Sinner to destroy it!" The Captain ordered without any hesitation. "Let thosewless heretics be judged in the afterlife!"


    The First Officer nodded and ryed the order to the signaller who stood outside the bridge on an open air tform. The signaller used the sun rays and started shing a series of codes with a mirror towards the Sinner.


    A series of shes were replied from the Sinner and it dipped lower as it reduced the amount of aetherium gas in its floatation tanks and the steam powered propellers on its sides pushed it forward towards the ocean vessel sitting in the cove.


    As the Sinner came within its steam cannon range, it opened its cannon hatches and the snorts of its steam cannons poked out and popped sharply, tossing mushroom shaped projectiles wildly at its target below.


    -----


    Dijon watched the girls disappear into the foliage and muttered a prayer for them. He turned to his sailors, two who came on the earlier trip and four who joined him when they saw they had no chance to row back to the ship.


    "We make a stand in the shelter of the trees and rocks here!" Dijon ordered and pointed towards a cluster of rocks and trees. Between them, they had three repeating crossbows, each a hatchet or cuss and Dijon''s remaining revolver which was part of a pair given to him as a gift. He had given one of his revolvers to Sherene and he only has enough for two reloads.


    His sailors took up positions among the trees and rocks and those with the crossbows readied themselves for the approaching enemies. Dijon pointed his cuss at the line of red d soldiers and yelled, "Shoot them!"


    The sailors worked the charging lever back and fore, spitting out thin iron bolts towards the approaching enemy. But to their dismay, the enemy soldiers took out a shield from their backpacks and continued charging forward, the shield on their arms shimmering with the glow of a magic barrier.


    "How in the heavens do they each have their own personal magic barrier?" Dijon cursed. "Concentrate fire on the same target!"


    The enemy started running across the beach, the soft sand making their movements slower, giving the Dijon and his men some advantage as the crossbowmen fired at the nearest target. Finally, after over half a dozen shots, the lead enemy soldier''s magic barrier over his shield shattered and the soldier paused as he braced against the bolts mming into his shield.


    The enemy with the depleted shield raised his shortnce up and pointed towards their positions and there was a loud pop and a gust of steam burst out from the tip of thence. A whizz went past Dijon''s ear and he ducked in reflex and saw a smoking quarrel struck into the side of a tree trunk.


    "Watch out!" Dijon yelled. "They have ranged weapons!"


    -----


    Pdin Rico was in a foul mood. First, the rations on board the ship had been nothing but thin tasteless soup with hardtack and salted meat or fish for over a month. The only saving grace was there were dried fruits and watered down alcohol to break the boring fare. He did not fancy trying to pass out bricks from eating so much hard food.


    Now, finally, he had gotten the chance to really stretch his body, despite the usual exercises performed on the decks. His thick boots sank into the soft sand with his weight and he clumsily ran towards the group of ouws and faithless.


    An order from the Chief had him slipping the attachable shield out from his backpack and clipping on to his left arm. He extended the shield panels and locked them in ce, which also activated the runes powered by a mana stone, creating a small barrier over the runes drawn on the surface of the shield.


    He saw his fellow Pdin in the lead, a guy called Winston, who was always the most enthusiastic fellow of his squad. Always the model Pdin and always the first to get into a fight. Pdin Winston braced himself as sparks erupted from his magic barrier and he fired his steamnce at the enemy.


    Rico paused next to Pdin Winston and raised his steamnce, his left hand gripping the handle just before the wrist guard while his right held on the lower part of the handle where his gloved fingers were covered over the trigger lever.


    He held his steamnce up to the height of his eyes, where there was a notch groove on the wrist guard and aimed down it. Rico squeezed his right hand and the pent up steam inside thence erupted, spewing out a bolt that disappeared somewhere among thewless.


    With a flick of his wrist, he broke the steamnce handle in half and a wooden case popped out with a hiss of hot steam. With his left hand still holding on to thence, he dug out a fresh case the size of his palm and slot it into the opening of the steamnce before snapping the weapon back.


    He twisted a dial at the rear of thence''s handle where a hose was connected to a tank ofpressed steam on his backpack. The air tank magically reinforced to holdpressed steam was only good for the steamnce to fire eight times before it needed to be reced or charged.


    After he reloaded, Rico quickly dashed forward again, using his shield to block the iing projectiles while he waited for his steamnce to charge. Once the steamnce was charged fully, a small bronze lever on the charging dial will snap into ce with a loud click, trapping the steam inside thence and preventing the user to charge thence again till the air inside thence was discharged.


    It was a safety feature introduced as there were many idents of green recruits overcharging their steamnce in the heat of a battle and causing the steamnce to explode. It took the steamnce less than four heartbeats to fill its reservoirs and with the loud click, Rico knew hisnce was ready to be fired again.


    By then he and his squad almost before the cowardly ouws and barely half dozen of his squad were down. He spotted a half naked ouw barely just a stone throw away among the shadows of the trees, the white of his eyes a stark contrast to his tanned features.


    He raised his steamnce to hip level and without needing to aim, he squeezed the lever and a hot gust of steam burst out and the deadly bolt mmed directly into the belly of the ouw, bowling him over.


    An ouw suddenly appeared from the side, swinging a fat looking de. Rico raised his shield in reflex and parried the downward stroke and he stabbed hard into the ouw with the tip of his steamnce. "Die youwless bastards!"


    The sharpened muzzle of thence easily punched a hole into the torso of the screaming ouw and the flesh around the wound sizzled as the burning hot muzzle cooked the flesh. Thankfully, Rico was wearing his helmet which helped to block some of the smells of cooked flesh. He smiled happily, feeling a lot better now that he worked off some steam.


    He pulled out hisnce and gave it a hard flick, tossing out a lump of cooked meat and burnt blood. Rico barely gave a nce at the dying ouw on the ground as he followed the rest of his squad, chasing after the remaining ouws.


    -----


    Dijon cursed as his cuss threw up another shower of sparks from the impact on the enemy''s shield. He twisted his body just in time to avoid a fatal stab of the stubbynce in the enemy''s hands. He could feel the hot passage of air from the tip of thence as he created some distance from the enemy.


    He flickered his eyes around, trying to spot his men, but could only see the enemy which he stopped counting at ten. He still has five bullets left in his revolver, having fired off the rest at the start to little effect on the enemy''s numbers.


    Dijon took a deep breath to steady himself before he broke intoughter, "Oh... I never thought I would die on a bed, old and grey! Come you ass tarts! Your granddaddy here will kill you all!"


    The enemy before him cocked his beetle like head as if trying to understand his words, but Dijon ignored that as his bloodlust rosed. He charged, swinging his cuss down again, forcing the enemy soldier to raise his shield to block. Dijon grinned as he whipped out his revolver just as the magic barrier of the shield popped into sparks.


    He shoved the muzzle of his gun directly at the bug eyed helmet and squeezed the trigger. The bark of the revolver was sharper and louder than the enemies'' strange guns. The bullet drilled through the helmet of the soldier in a spray of blood and brains, yet Dijon did not stop. He bounced to the side directly at another enemy soldier and he did not need to be able to see through the helmet of the enemy to know he was surprised.


    Dijon''s cuss made of tempered carbon steel, courtesy of Haven Armament Works, skimmed over the edge of the raised shield but it was too slow, as the tempered carbon steel separated the enemy''s head from the body.


    Dijon grabbed the still falling body and braced against it as he spotted from the corner of his eye that a couple of the enemy soldiers had raised thosences. Sure enough, two loud pops and the headless body held up by Dijon jerked and Dijon cast a spell on himself, boosting his strength. "Strength Up!"


    He flung the lifeless body towards the cluster of enemy soldiers before him and ducked low as he charged his cuss gouging deeply into a soldier''s shin, creating a cry out of pain. Dijon ignored the fallen soldier and instead used his bulk to m into the shield of one enemy before him and almost gotten skewered for his efforts.


    He felt a tingling sensation from the magic barrier of the shield before both he and his target crashed to the ground. He stuck his revolver under the shield and fired a shot aimed at the neck of the enemy under him and quickly rolled away from a couple of stabs.


    The red d soldiers spaced themselves out as they pointed the sharp ends of theirnces at Dijon who gave a bloodthirsty smile at his enemies. He took in a deep breath and suddenly roared out, making the soldiers surrounding him step back.


    "Come and meet your maker!" Dijon growled dangerously as he raised his revolver and swept it around him. "I let you see your ancestors!"


    The enemy soldiers seemingly outraged by their earlier embarrassment, charged in with war cries of their own. Dijon leaped forward to wee them, swinging and parrying with his de. He emptied his revolver at the group of enemies, killing one and wounding another before he threw the useless weapon at a charging soldier.


    He swung his de endlessly, as the circle of enemies around him shrunk. A wound here and there appeared as he started to tire. Dijon cursed loudly, not giving up despite the odds.


    "Die ya bug eyed bastards! Let me send you to your ancestors! Come and die you bastards! Die!"

 Chapter 412: Oh... Shit!

    Chapter 412: Oh... Shit!


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, UN Embassy


    Commander Ford leaned back on the reclining seat on the balcony of his quarters. He wore a set of sunsses, a pair of shorts and an unbuttoned shirt with his hands sped behind his head. A ss of iced cococane juice and tray of cured meats sat on the side table next to his chair as he rxed in the shade.


    Outside his balcony, he could hear people ying a game of beach volleyball as the off duty personnel enjoyed some R and R after the passing of the storm. He reached out and took a sip of the sweet cooling drink and sighed happily. "This is life... No crisis... no urgent matters... nothing!"


    Just as he was about to close his eyes, urgent knocking sounded from his door. Scowling, he got up from his chair and went to open the door. "What is the matter? I am off duty!"


    "Sir!" A nervous ensign saluted at the doorway and held out a sealed slip of paper. "Priority message from Ops!"


    Ford''s unhappiness faded as he grabbed the message slip and tore the seal up before reading it. His expression froze and he reread the message again before he snapped, "You got a ride?"


    "Yes, Sir!" The ensign replied. "Eh... it''s downstairs..."


    "Good!" Ford slipped on a pair of slippers and pushed the ensign towards the stairs. "I need a ride to Operation Command! Bring me there now! ASAP!"


    He exited the officers'' apartments in a hurry and found the vehicle as the ensign said parked on the side of the road with its engines running. Ford quickly hopped on into the Jeep to the surprise of the driver but was cut off when Ford snapped an order, just as the ensign climbed on board too. "To Ops Com now!"


    The driver recognizing the person was who in shorts and an unbuttoned shirt, bobbed his head and quickly stepped on the pedals. As they were halfway there, the sound of engines hummed overhead as a pair of Navy Super Cobras flew overhead.


    It took them less than ten minutes of fast driving to reach the squat looking structure surrounded by a metal fence and razor wire. Ford waved the Marines away at the checkpoint and the Jeep drove past the gates and started right at the building.


    Without a word, Ford hurried through another checkpoint before descending down a flight of stairs and another checkpoint before finally arriving at themand center. Themand staff paused in their work as they stared in surprised the state of undress of theirmander who normally was neat in his dressing.


    Ignoring their stares, Ford asked, "What''s the situation with the Fury?"


    The Officer In Charge stood forward and answered, "Sir, we received an emergency broadcast from their radio that they were under attack."


    "At where?" Ford asked. "And is there any other news?"


    "Therest known coordinates are here, at Star Ind," The OIC pointed to an ind south of the Isle''s capital. "This ind is amon spot for ships to take shelter from storms."


    "Their previous messages were they took shelter there since the night before to weather the sudden squall before heading towards Port Sanctuary," The OIC continued. "It''s roughly a hundred and ten kilometers from the nearest Isle''s port and two hundred and thirty kilometers from us."


    "Any information about the attackers?" Ford asked as he eyed the map, mentally calcting distances.


    "No much, Sir," The OIC replied. "I have scrambled the alert Cobras and they are en route to the scene to investigate and provide any assistance if required."


    "They should arrive within one hour, thirty minutes," The OIC nced at the clock on the wall. "Also we received word from the Isles that they are dispatching a fleet to assist the Fury. But it will take them hours to arrive."


    "Can we contact the Fury?" Ford frowned. "After that call of an attack, there is no more word?"


    The OIC shook his head, "We been trying to raise the Fury over the radio, but no luck, Sir."


    "Shit..." Ford rubbed his face. He should have the Boss''s wife return with their ships instead of taking the Isle''s ship back. "Fuck... if anything happens to her... The Cap will have my head... Fuck!"


    "Order the fleet to stand to! We will dispatch the fleet!"


    -----


    Star Ind


    The sand crunched underneath the Inquisitor''s boots as he stepped off the ramp of the Innocence. Therge ship had docked on the ground, several spindly legs had unfolded from their cradles and like a malformed giant spider, the ship hurdle closely to the ground, its legs supporting the ship''s weight.


    "Lord Inquisitor Mathias! May the Judge sees you worthy!" The Chief Pdin in charge of the troops mmed his right fist over his chest in salute. "Thewless have been destroyed! We have captured one of them. Judging by his clothing, he appears to be someone of rank among thewless!"


    "And the artifact?" Inquisitor Mathias asked as he followed the Chief Pdin towards the edge of the forest where a group of Pdins was gathered.


    "We found nothing of any sorts on the bodies of thewless, my lord!" The Chief Pdin stopped before the group of soldiers. His blood red armor was crusted with gold which shined brightly under the sun. "Bring forth the prisoner!"


    Inquisitor Mathias watched as the group of Pdins parted and two of their numbers dragged a blood soaked male between them. They dumped the bearded male before Inquisitor Mathias and saluted before stepping back.


    "Wake him!" The Chief Pdin barked and one of his soldiers poured a bucket of seawater over thewless, making him curl up and moan in pain. "Bring him up to face his Judgement!"


    Inquisitor Mathias eyed thewless on his knees before him. Therge sized male was hairy, as it showed on his face and his chest where his clothes were ripped and torn. Blood had caked all over his body, as the Pdins performed some low leveled healing on thewless so that he can still be alive to be questioned.


    "Tell me,wless..." Inquisitor Mathias crouched next to the man. "Where is the item from the ruins?"


    Thewless lifted his head weakly and spat, a glob of saliva and bloodnded right on the mask of Inquisitor Mathias. Thewlessughed and coughed, beforeughing again. He said something but none could understand his words.


    Inquisitor Mathias stood up calmly and the Chief Pdin quickly came over and helped him wiped the spat away. "Did you understand his words?"


    "No, my Lord!" The Chief Pdin replied. "But I recognized some words... I think he is speaking in some form of the ancient tongue."


    "High Elstimar?" Inquisitor Mathias frowned. "No one remembers that ancient tongue no longer... Except for the Grand Librarians... or the Judges..."


    "Bring him to the Judges then... they will force out what we want to know from his mind," Inquisitor Mathias said.


    "Yes, my Lord!" The Chief Pdin nodded and gestured to his men to carry the prisoner back. "Also my Lord, my men arebing the rest of the ind for the rest of thewless."


    "Do it fast," Inquisitor Mathias replied as he looked out to the sea at the smoldering wreck that was slowly sinking into the ocean. "We do not know if they called for help, and that smoke will off our position."


    -----


    Naval Air Squadron 125, en route to Star Ind


    The flight of two F/A 1N Super Cobras were flying side by side as they headed straight for their objective. Unlike the Air Force, the N versions had floats under their bellies and wings. And despite the upgrade of their engines, the single under bellyrge float and wing pontoons degraded the aircraft''s performance by about 20%.


    The ind soon appeared within the pilots'' sight and both aircraft dipped down to get a closer look at the surroundings. As they dropped their altitude, they spotted tworge sailless ships on the ind but no sign of the Fury.


    "Sanctuary, this is Striker Lead," The lead pilot radioed back. "No signs of any Isles ship. But we stopped two unknown vessels on Star Ind. Over."


    "Sanctuary, continue to observe," The radio replied. "Be advised. Unknown vessels might be hostile. Follow the *ROE. Over." (*Rules of Engagement)


    "Roger!" The lead pilot acknowledged. He switched hisms to his second, "Two, you copy?"


    "Two copies!"


    "Good, watch my six, I am going for a closer look!" The lead pilot of Striker squadron dived his ne downwards towards the ind. As he appeared, he could see a hive of activity going on on the ind. Tiny stick figures were scrambling in all directions, some pointed upwards, others were waving or running away.


    As Striker One pulled his ne up, he hit the push to talk on his radio, "Sanctuary, Sanctuary, Striker Lead. Unable to identity unknown vessels! I never seen such ships before!"


    "One! Break! Break! Break!" Suddenly a call cut into hisms and training took over as he jerked his stick, forcing the ne to roll away. "You are taking fire!"


    "What the fark?" Striker One twisted left and right, looking out of his cockpit. He briefly saw a sudden blur shing past under his wing before it was gone as his ne rosed into the air. "What is that?"


    "Two, One," Striker One''s radio buzzed. "They are shooting you with cannons! Engaging with guns!"


    "One, roger!" The pilot looped his fighter back and repositioned into an attack angle. "Sanctuary! Striker Flight under fire! Engaging the enemy now!"


    He could see the sunlight flickering off the ss cockpit of Striker Two as the ne dived down and smoke and casings trailed behind its wings as it opened fire.


    Striker Two up from his attack run and suddenly it was Striker One''s turn. The pilot gripped his stick tightly and lined its guns in the center of one of the dark red ships. He squeezed the trigger and stepped on his rudder controls, yawing his ne slightly as he strafed the deck of the ship.


    He saw brief impacts of smoke and fire before his view changed to the skies as he pulled his ne out from the attack run. "Sanctuary to Strike Flight! Do not engage! Repeat, do not engage! Hold till reinforcements arrive! How copy?"


    "Ah... shit!" Strike One leaned over his cockpit to look at the damage on the enemy. "Two, you heard that?"


    "Two, yea... heard that..."


    "Alright, break off and form on my wing," Striker One said. "Striker Lead, Sanctuary. Breaking off from the unknown attackers. Over."


    "Sanctuary, roger. Continue the search for the Fury and keep an eye on the unknown vessels. Over."


    "Striker Lead, roger."


    -----


    Star Ind


    Inquisitor Mathias stood on the deck of the Innocence, watching the crew prepare the ship for liftoff while other crews were running about preparing other tasks. "Lord Inquisitor!"


    He turned and found the Chief Pdin with some of the men holding two struggling female prisoners in their hands. "My Lord, we captured this woman and this demi being in the forest. There was one more female with her... another demi being... but she escaped."


    The Chief Pdin held out a gloved hand and disyed a golden orb. "We found this on them."


    "Yes..." Inquisitor Mathias stepped forward and gingerly took the orb from the soldier. "Yes... I can find the power... the chaos that is within it!"


    "You said you found it on them?" Inquisitor Mathias turned his nce to the females.


    "Yes, Lord," The Chief Pdin gestured to one of the females, dress in an unusual fashion. "It was found on her."


    "She is not the one that ran from us..." Inquisitor Mathias said after looking at the female features. "A local here?"


    The Chief Pdin nodded. "I think she speaks the ancient tongue too."


    "Intriguing!" Inquisitor Mathias felt very curious. "Who are these people who speak the ancient tongue..."


    "Lord Inquisitor!" The Captain of the Innocence suddenly appeared. "The ship is ready to lift off! We do not know when those strange flying craft will return. Yourmand?"


    "We have gotten what we wanted!" He closed his fist over the golden orb. "Let us return to the Protectorate!"

 Chapter 413: Angel Has Fallen

    Chapter 413: Angel Has Fallen


    United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Bridge


    It was all quiet and tense in the Command Bridge. The lights were switched to operational red levels and everyone was glued to their stations. Senior officers stood at the tactical plot table, looking up at the main screen intently.


    ke stood in the middle of the table, his eyes were up, looking at the main screen too. He folded his arms over his chest and the red lights made him look sinister. The imagery on-screen was showing a top down view of a small city.


    Snatches of conversation between the mission controller and the pilot could be heard in the background. "Eagle Eye, holding station. Keeping at Angels two."


    "Thunderchief, roger. Zoom your cam directly over the main hall, over."


    "Eagle Eye, standby... There... is that the targetpound? Over."


    "Good Lock Eagle Eye. Hold it steady. Intel wants some lights and sound, over."


    "Eagle Eye copy, please remember to call us for all your spying needs, over."


    ke sighed, wondering if all pilots were the same cocky bastards no matter which or race theye from. He returned his attention to the screen, seeing targeting squares super imposing over moving objects.


    "Eagle Eye, no sign of target. Over."


    "Thunderchief, keep watching."


    "There!" One of the officers suddenly called out and pointed excitedly on the screen. "He''s at the top left corner! The guy that just entered the inner courtyard!"


    Hearing his words, the controller immediately spoke into her mike. "Thunderchief to Eagle Eye, shift cam to highlighted area and zoom in. Over."


    "Eagle Eye, roger. Standby."


    The image on the screen panned towards the indicated suspect pinged by the controller before it zoomed in and refocused. "Eagle Eye, how''s the image?"


    "Thunderchief. Looking good. Stay on target."


    ke turned and caught the eye of Intel Officer Tavor who gave a confirmation nod. ke gave out a deep breath and turned towards the mission controller and asked. "How many people are around that area?"


    "Two or three," The mission controller replied. "No children spotted either."


    "Do it," ke sighed after a moment of hesitation. "Keep it clean."


    "Aye, aye, Sir!" The mission controller replied and turned back to her station. "Thunderchief to Eagle Eye, you are cleared forunch. Weapons green. How copy?"


    "Eagle Eye confirms weapons green. Confirm valid target? Over."


    The mission controller turned and looked at ke for confirmation before he replied. "Thunderchief. Target is in thepound. You are cleared to engage. Over."


    "Eagle Eye, roger. Rifle!"


    -----


    Circling high over the city was a 2nd generation 2 seaterbat aircraft, the F/A - 2A ''Viper''. It''s outward appearance looked simr to the old F/A - 1 Cobra but its body wasrger and sleeker in design.


    "Eagle Eye, roger. Rifle!" The co pilot managing the ground attack systems squeezed the trigger and the entire aircraft shuddered slightly as the jury rigged AIM 32H - Space Sparrow under the Viper''s belly ignited and the mps released the multi role missile into the air.


    The missile streaked off in an arc towards the ground as its brain chip guided it towards thesed target set by the co pilot. Secondster, just as it reached a height of two meters from ground level, its brain chip sent out a signal which detonated the missile.


    It''s 15 kilograms of Composite 9 st Frag warhead detonated, sending out a lethal st of 1,150 tungsten ball bearings followed by a wave of super heated energy and shockwave which reduced everything within a 50 meters radius.


    -----


    "- Hit!"


    On the screen, a sh covered thepound and mes and smoke erupted out, leaving behind a mass of debris. The low quality materials and construction methods were unable to withstand the power of the missile.


    "Shut it down," ke sighed. "Tell Eagle Eye good work."


    "Yes, Sir!" The mission controller nodded. "Eagle Eye, Eagle Eye, this is Thunderchief. Good hit, Hotel Charlie says good job. Keep on station for observation. Out."


    The group of officers mumbled amongst themselves over the mission while ke sat down on his chair. The lights slowly recover back to non operational levels and Tavor handed over a report for ke to sign. "Hopefully, all loose ends are tied up."


    Tavor gave a shrug, "Can''t confirm till my man inside Dead Frontier checks it out."


    "Either that airstrike killed him," ke flipped open the dossier and signed on it. "Or somehow he survived, it will be a good warning that we can find him and reach him no matter where he runs or hides."


    "I hope so, Sir," Tavor took the dossier where a photo of an Asian male in fleet uniform filled up arge part of the document. He countered signed below, next to the Captain''s signature before closing the file. "Sir, if there is nothing, I will take my leave now."


    "Dismiss," ke waved Tavor''s salute away. He leaned back looking at the main screen which had zoomed out showing the smoking ruins and a crowd gathering around. He wondered if sacrificing innocents to call in an airstrike to kill one traitor was worth it. "Fuck... My soul is damn already..."


    As he was deep in thoughts, hisms on his chair suddenly beeped. Wondering what was it he hit the answer key, "Captain ke."


    "Cap!" Commander Ford''s tense voice came through. "Sir... we might have a problem..."


    -----


    Straits of the Isles, En route to Star Ind, UNS Goblin, Bridge


    Ford paced around the small bridge, his expression bleak. The bridge crew kept quiet, afraid to attract his anger. The call earlier with the Captain was bad. It was the first time they heard the Captain yell at the Commander.


    "Faster!" Ford suddenly paused and snapped at the helm.


    "Co- Commander..." The helm replied nervously. "W- We are already at top speed..."


    "Damnit!" Ford cursed and he slumped down on the chair. "Argh..."


    "Sir, at our fastest speed we still need five hours to reach..." Helm said. "Only the aircraft can reach there faster..."


    Ford stood up and nodded, "I will be in my quarters. Inform me if there are any changes!"


    "Yes, Sir!" As Ford left the bridge, the crew sighed with relief.


    -----


    Skies over Star Ind


    Striker One was surprised as he saw the ships were actually lifting off! He and the other pilots have learned how a ne could fly and other forms of science behind flight. Yet these ships asrge as a corvette was actually taking off without any means of propulsion!


    "What kind of magic power is needed to do that!" He hissed just as the radio crackled with simr words from his wingman.


    "Sanctuary! Sanctuary! This is Striker One! Unknown ships are flying! Repeat, they are lifting off into the air!" He quickly reported back.


    "What? Striker One please confirm!" The confused tone of the operator on the other side of the radio answered back. "What do you by flying?"


    "Striker One, they are flying like nes! The bloody ships are some kind of flying ships!" Strike One called out. "They are leaving the ind! Orders?"


    "Sanctuary, tail the flying ships and wait for the rest of Striker Flight to link up with you! Over." The radio replied after a moment of silence.


    "Striker One, roger!" The pilot replied before switching channels. "Two! On me! We are following those bastards!"


    -----


    Protectorate ship, The Innocence, Prison Cell


    Sherene gripped the bars of the cell and tried to spot Dijon in the cell opposite her. "Dijon! Are you alright?"


    She called again but gotten no answer before she stuck her face between the bars and called out to Takao in the cell next to her. "Takao? Are you there?"


    "L- Lady S- Sherene..." A small voice came from the cell. "I... I... I don''t k- know!"


    "Strong stay! Takao!" Sherene reached out to the other cell. "Here! Can you see my hand?"


    "Y- yes!" Takao''s frightened voice said and Sherene felt Takao holding on to her fingers.


    "I''m here! Don''t be afraid!" Sherene said. "And Dijon! If you can hear me! Don''t give up! They will find us!"


    -----


    20 km of Star Ind, UNS Goblin, Bridge


    "Anything from the Striker Flight?" Ford asked.


    "Nothing, Sir..." The XO replied. "Striker Flight returned to top off their fuel but when they went back to continue the chase, they reached the end zone."


    "The end zone?" Ford frowned as he traced the route of the unknown ships drawn on the map. "If they continue on in this direction... Does this means they came from the other side of the end zone?"


    The end zone was the boundary covering the seas and skies around the New World. It was said that the ancestors of the elves came from the other side. The seas were unpredictable and filled with monsters while the skies were constantly covered in thick clouds that blot out the sun.


    They haven''t had the resources nor time to explore into the end zone as there were plenty of things requiring their attention. Ford tapped his finger at the line drawn on the map and asked. "Ignore them for now. Tell Striker to return."


    "How goes the search for the Fury?" Ford added.


    "Nothing on the radar, Sir," The XO of the Goblin replied.


    "Sir!" The bridge crew manning themunications called out. "Striker Five and Six returning for refuel is reporting movement on the ind! Might be someone from the Fury!"


    "Tell them to get lower to take a closer look!" Ford ordered as he leaned over themunications station.


    "It''s the crew from Fury!" The radio operator''s excited reply did not make Ford''s mood any better as the news only confirmed his suspicions that the Fury might have sunk.


    "Please... the Princess better be safe!"


    -----


    Slightly half an hourter, the fleet of corvettes dropped anchors just off the coast of the ind. They could see a small crowd of people waving frantically from the beach and several powerboats were speeding over the waves towards the beach.


    As the first of the powerboats slid to a stop in the wet sand, Ford hopped off the side of the boat and nced around, trying to spot Sherene among the crowd of overjoyed sailors. "Princess? PRINCESS?"


    "Sir!" A half naked burly sailor pushed his way through the crowd of sailors. "I am the first mate of the Fury!"


    "What happened? Where is Dijon and the Princess?" Ford asked.


    "We were attacked!" The first mate replied. "They sunk our ship but most of us managed to survive."


    "Those bastards even killed those who swam ashore like they were sealfins!" The first mate''s voice cracked with anger. "We can''t find the Fleet Master or your princess! But... we heard they were captured..."


    "What?" Ford''s mouth dropped in shock. "Oh... fuck... How am I gonna break this news to the Cap..."


    "Commander!" A cry came out from behind the sailors and a small girl with fluffy ears squeezed her way through. She rushed over and hugged Ford and sobbed loudly. "They caught Sister Sherene!"


    Ford patted the crying beast girl on her head before he pulled her arms away from his waist. He crouched down and asked. "Tell me in detail what happened?"


    "Sob! They... suddenly... came from the... skies! Sob!" Kaga rubbed her eyes. "They suddenly attacked us! Sob! Lord Dijon... told us to hide in the trees... while he held them back... Sob!"


    "But... they killed them all! Sob!" Kaga started crying again. "Sob sob! After that... we hid in the trees... but... Sob sob! They found us still... Sister... Sherene pushed me into... a small... gap between... the rocks... and told me to stay quiet... Waa ahhh... ahh..."


    "Alright, don''t cry anymore..." Ford winced as heforted the crying girl, his uniform getting wet with tears and snot. "What happened next?"


    "They took them! Both Sister Sherene and Takao!" Kaga cried louder. "While... I hid and watched... Waaaa... it''s like the same thing that happened to Beast City happening all over again! Waaaa!"


    Fordforted the girl as much as he could while his brain went into overdrive. "Fuck..."


    He gestured to his aide, "Call High Command... tell them..."


    "Angel has fallen..."

 Chapter 414: Taken

    Chapter 414: Taken


    Goblin Ind, Marine Expeditionary Force, 1st Battalion


    Corporal Slow carefully seated the belt of munitions into the feed tray of his MG, as heid prone over the tip of a small rise. Gunfire echoed all around him, followed by shrieks of man packed mortars and naval shells.


    The city or what remains of it was on fire. Crude dwellings made out of wood, mud, and rocksid shattered and broken. Hundreds and hundreds of broken goblin bodies were scattered everywhere as they died while trying to rush the Marine attackers. The haphazard criss cross of piers and docks had long been destroyed by naval artillery and the skeletons of the goblin raiding ships poked out of the waves.


    Slow hummed a tune as he cocked his weapon and peered down its sights, watching the fireworks having over the city. A sudden burst ofughter had him reflectively rolled away to one side as a goblin suddenly burst out from the ground.


    The goblin giggled madly as it shed down with a crude de. A sod of soil and grass was pped on its head like some sort of helmet while turfs of grass were tied behind its back. Slow cursed as he drew out his sword bay and stabbed upwards and skewered theughing goblin as it tried to w its way through the de to reach Slow.


    "Farking... Goblins!" Slow grunted as he kicked the dying goblin off his sword. He saw around him there were holes on the ground where the goblins hadid hidden. Around him, the Marines were engaged in hand to hand with the ambushing goblins.


    "Fire in the hole!" Someone yelled as a grenade was tossed into one of the openings. Secondster, a dull boom followed by shrieks, sent smoke and rock dust bursting out from the hole in the ground. "Blow the holes up! Damn green skins areing out from the ground!"


    Slow ripped out a grenade from his side pouch and pulled the pin before dropping it into the hole nearest to him. He rolled away from the hole just as a goblin climbed out. The grenade went off and the goblin shrieked happily as it flew in an arc out of the tunnel with its legs ruined.


    Slow chopped down with his sword to cease the madughter of the goblin before he crawled back to his MG. Just as he reached his weapon, thousands of goblins poured out from the ruins of the city and charged forward, snickering and giggling all the way. They ignored the punishing artillery, some even stop to roll on the floorughing at the sight of seeing their own getting blown to bits.


    Slow cursed and leaned into his weapon just as themand came in. "OPEN FIRE!"


    -----


    "One farking month..." Joseph sighed as he watched the raging battle, which was more like an extermination instead of a proper battle. His Marines had fought on this ind for over a month as the number of goblins exceeded their imagination.


    Not only were the goblins numerous, but they were also crazed up with some kind of drug, making them fearless. And the goblins had hundreds of tunnels and hidden entrances all over the ind, making it a headache for Joseph and the Marines as they had to ensure each and every tunnel entrance was found and destroyed.


    Or they will have repeated ambushed from their rear which they found out in the first weeks of the battle. Uprooting the goblins and their tunnels were time consuming and dangerous. The goblins fought with goblin wave tactics and surprise ambushes. It was lucky the goblins tend to be unable to hold off theirughter, which the Marines found out, making it easy to bait the goblins in exposing their traps and ambushes.


    "Push the 2nd up to reinforce the 1st!" Joseph ordered as he eyed the battle over a pair of binocrs. "Tell the 2nd to clear the rear of the 1st! Burn out those hidden tunnels!"


    "Sir!" A radio operator suddenly appeared at Joseph''s elbow. "Priority message from High Command!"


    "What?" Joseph found as he took the slip of paper. He read it twice before he red at the operator. "Is this real?"


    "Yes, sir!" The operator nervously replied. "Authentication matches the code of the day. Sir!"


    "Fark!" Joseph read the message again before he crumpled the paper into a ball. "Call the Navy to back off, and the transports to get ready to pick us up."


    "Tell Logistics to start packing up!" Joseph said to his surprisedmand staff. "And get 1st, and 2nd Battalion to fall back to the 3rd''s defensive line!"


    "We are retreating!"


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, Air Field


    Rows of Marines and officers stood at attention under an open hangar as therge cargo ne''s wheels hit the tarmac, kicking up a small cloud of dust and burnt slime. The four heavy prop engines winded down as the pilot followed the blinking lights and parked the cargo ne right before the hangar.


    Techs ran forward and secured the wheels while a couple undogged the side hatch. They threw a salute at the limping figure who climbed down the hatch steps. Ford took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off his head before he donned his peak cap and went forward to meet the Captain.


    "Sir!" Ford saluted a stone faced ke who returned the gesture. "Wee to Port Sanctuary!"


    "What do we know?" ke ignored the greeting as he waved the salutes of the Marines and officers off.


    "Not much..." Ford said as he eyed Lt. Tavor behind ke. "Other than eye witness ounts of ships that fly and... your wife''s assistant seeing they took her..."


    ke paused as he sucked in a deep breath to calm himself. "So... basically we got nothing?"


    "We do know the direction they headed to," Ford said. "And... we might have some clue to who those people are..."


    "Some clue?" Lt. Tavor asked in a curious tone.


    "Yes," Ford replied and they boarded a waiting Jeep. "I will brief you all when we are in a secured facility."


    The trip to Operations Command was made in awkward silence. As they reached the building, Ford called out to ke, "Sir... a word... privately please?"


    ke nodded and gestured for the rest to go in first and walked a short distance away with Ford. Ford took off his peak cap and ruffled his hair before saying, "I am sorry that Sherene got taken... If you want to punish me for derelict of duties... I am prepared for it..."


    ke gave out a deep breath as he looked up at the night skies. "I''m not gonna me you. Shit happens. But whoever took Sherene... will pay for it."


    ke patted Ford''s shoulder, "Come, start the briefing. The earlier we know what we are dealing with, the faster we cane out a response to save my wife."


    Ford lowered his head and nodded before he followed ke into the building.


    -----


    "So what happened to lead to this situation?" ke asked when everyone was seated in the conference room.


    Ford remained standing and he started the report, "As I am sure everyone here has read the report, I am just going to summarize everything."


    "The Fury took shelter during the night to avoid the sudden storm at Star Ind," Ford said. "At roughly 1000 hours, the storm has subsided and the Fury was about to weigh anchor when a lookout spotted a shipwreck on the ind."


    "1040 hours, a party of Fury''s sailors found and rescued four survivors from the wreck." Ford listed out the timeline of the incident. "Roughly 1100 hours, the Princess, her assistants and Fleet Master Dijon departed from the Fury to inspect the wreck, as it was an unusual design, from the statement of the First Mate."


    "The Fury''s crew reported sighting of tworge flying vessels, roughly at 1130 hours which one of them engaged the Fury with long range weapons while the other ship deployed ground troops at the vicinity of the wreck."


    "The first mate ordered the Fury to weigh anchor and into evasive maneuvers to avoid being a sitting target and to return fire," Ford said. "But, the first mate said the Fury took four direct hits through the top decks, and one of the hits holed the ship''s forward decks."


    "The flooding caused the Fury to be unable to back out of the cove, and he ordered the crew to abandon ship as the unknown enemy is able to rain shots down from the air through their thinner top deck," Ford tapped a spot on the map behind him. "This is where the Fury went down."


    "The unknown enemy also killed any sailors who swam to shore to surrender," Ford continued. "Thus most of the survivors remained out at sea, hiding among the reefs and anything that can float."


    "Out of the total crew of 182, only 53 survived," Ford added. "The rest are either KIA or MIA."


    "Well, shit..." Someone whispered.


    "On our side, we have confirmed reports that our Princess and her aide, Takao, was clearly taken on board the airships," Ford said. "Kaga has witnessed the events so for now, we can be certain that Sherene has note to any harm... As for Fleet Master Dijon, they did not find his body, so we can only assume he has been taken prisoner too."


    "Our aircraft have tailed the airships to the edge of the End Zone," said Ford. "As you, all know, we did not explore beyond that area, as we are focusing on our internal problems. Now, there have been multiple reports and tales from the Isles saying that any ship that they sent beyond the End Zone has never returned."


    "Tavor," ke suddenly spoke. "Find out more on that."


    "Yes, Sir."


    "Now we do have a good idea of the direction of where the two airships were headed," Ford continued. "Also... by a stroke of good luck, Kaga managed to slip a tracking talisman onto Sherene. She said it could help track the general direction of the whereabouts of Sherene with it."


    "As for the strange wreckage," Ford said. "We are working out a deal with the Isles on who to look into it. Hopefully, we cane to an agreement soon."


    "Andst of all," Ford leaned forward on the table. "The four survivors from the wreck survived the sinking of the Fury and they are here recovering in Medical."


    "Once Dr. Sharon has cleared them," Ford turned to look at Tavor. "You can go do your thing."


    Tavor gave a cold smile and nod. "With pleasure."


    ke leaned forward and said, "Tavor, collect as much information about the End Zone as possible. And also from the four survivors once they can talk."


    "Ford, drop the base alert levels to yellow," ke ordered. "But I want a constant air and naval patrol around these waters."


    "We won''t let this news about Sherene getting taken to be known to the public till we know more of who they are," ke said. "For now, everyone works for Intel."


    "I have recalled the MEF back from Goblin City," ke said. "They will resupply at Far Harbor before making their way here."


    "Ladies and gentlemen," ke stood up. "I don''t know who they are... But they dare to take my wife... I will find them and I will kill them... if they ever harmed her."


    "I ask everyone here to lend a hand in saving my wife," ke said. "I will be very thankful for your help."


    ------


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, Medical Tentage


    ire blinked her eyes, clearing her blurry vision as saw a white ceiling. She tried to raise her body up but felt too weak to do so. She tried to move her hands before realizing her hands appeared to be bound to the bed she was lying on.


    She panicked in the alien environment and started thrashing her arms, trying to break free from her bonds. And she screamed in fear when a strangely robed short eared female wearing gloves entered.


    "Noooooooo!"

 Chapter 415: The End Zone

    Chapter 415: The End Zone


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, Medical Tentage


    Lt. Tavor sat on a folding chair with his legs crossed and holding a note pad in his hands. He asionally scribbled something down as he watched the girl bbering away on the hospital cot. Once and then, the girl cast a frightened nce at his direction before turning back to say something to Dr. Sharon on her side.


    The universal trantor Tavor was wearing hummed as its program ran algorithms to decipher thenguage spoken by the girl. Already after two hours of hearing her speak and with a simple picture and wordparison, the universal trantor was able to trante at least half of her words.


    With the universal trantor''s help and some guesswork, he roughly has gotten the picture of what happened. Now all he needed was for the rest of the survivors to awaken so that he could tally their story.


    Dr. Sharon gave a reassuring pat on the frightened girl before she left the bedside. She gave Lt. Tavor a jerk of her head and Tavor smiled as he stood up and followed her out of the tent. "At times like this, I wish I have a smoke."


    Lt. Tavor grinned and reached into his coat and retrieved a pack out. He patted it and handed a stick to Dr. Sharon who looked surprised. "I didn''t take it that you are someone who smokes?"


    "Once in a while, like you," Lt. Tavor took out a lighter and lit the stick in Dr. Sharon''s mouth. "Smokeleaf, as they called it. All locally made, not as good as Earth made, but it will suffice."


    Dr. Sharon took a deep draw and coughed, "It''s been quite some time since I had a smoke..."


    "Takes some time to get used to this taste," Lt. Tavor blew out a bluish smoke ring into the cold night air. "Still... it manages to scratch some itch. How''s the voice in your head?"


    "Since the same," Dr. Sharon sighed. "Quieter but still speaking gibberish, thou there are some words I can understand but... its mostly nonsense."


    "Watch yourself," Lt. Tavor said. "Anyway, how is the girl''s condition? And the rest?"


    "Well, for starters, let the poor girl rest for now. She''s still in a state of shock. Let her sleep it off," Dr. Sharon responded. "All four of them are suffering from malnutrition and scurvy. As for the three male survivors, they should be able to make it through. Hopefully they will be awake by tomorrow."


    Lt. Tavor gave a nod. "Sure, I post some guards around them just in case."


    Dr. Sharon took another puff of the cigarette and nodded, "By the way. Did you know that the Captain''s wife is pregnant?"


    Lt. Tavor froze and nearly dropped his cigarette. "What?"


    "She''s is at least two months into her pregnancy..." Dr. Sharon sighed.


    "Wait... Does the Captain know?" Lt. Tavor asked.


    Dr. Sharon shook her head. "Nope... She wanted to surprise him when she returned..."


    "Oh... Fuck..." Lt. Tavor felt a headacheing. "Who else knows?"


    "I think only her close aides know... and me?" Dr. Sharon said. "We need to find her fast... and safe..."


    "Do you n to inform the Captain about his wife''s pregnancy?" Lt. Tavor asked. "Do you think it will affect his decision making process?"


    "I think it''s wiser to inform him," Dr. Sharon said after a moment of silence. "It is his family after all..."


    Lt. Tavor nodded and dropped his half smoked cigarette on the drop before grinding it with his boot and waved his notepad. "Damn... This changes a lot of things! I better go and get this to my people to look through. Hopefully, by tomorrow morning, the Universal Trantor can trante at least 80% of hernguage!"


    Dr. Sharon watched Lt. Tavor rush off and she continued smoking, tilting her head to one side as if she was listening to someone.


    "Well, it will be nice if we can have her back with her baby... I really like to do run some... tests! Hehehee..."


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, Officer Apartments


    ke leaned on the railings of the balcony as he looked out towards the star filled skies. "Where are you... Are you safe?"


    He pushed back his worries and returned into the room, and poured himself a ss of cococane wine. He poured its contents down his throat, feeling the fiery burning sensation all the way to his stomach. The information he has now was dire, especially on the End Zone. ke was not confident that his current navy has the ability to cross that chasm of dangerous seas nor if his nes could even fly across with knowing how far the End Zone stretches.


    He picked up the entire bottle and ced it next to his pile of documents on the work desk as he went through them again. He picked up his tablet where the screensaver showed a wedding photo of him and Sherene and he whispered. "Wait for me! I will find you and bring you home!"


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, Airfield


    The C - 1 Skyfreighter''s four turbo prop engines whined down as it parked on the side of the tarmac, the hatch opened up and Magister Thorn climbed down and stretched his old body. "Ooo... I am getting too old for this!"


    "You are already old before this!" Chief Engineer Matt joked as he came down next. "I wonder why did they call like every senior head over here for..."


    "Must be something urgent, I guess?" Magister Thorn replied. "And wait till you are my age! See if your bones will be like mine!"


    "Hahaha!" Mattughed as he handed his duffle bag over to a porter. "Come on, let''s go."


    "Yes... yes!" Magister Thorn kept an eagle eye on his belongings which consisted of several chests and he warned the porters who came to help carry them. "Be careful with those! There are many precious potions and scrolls inside!"


    "Do you have to bring your whole...b... along?" Matt asked as he entered the Jeep.


    "Well, you will never know if you need something till you need it!" Thorn replied. "So best to bring everything!"


    "You and your logic!" The two bickered over the trip and was greeted by an Ensign who led them through security and into themand center.


    There they were briefed of the situation and Magister Thorn was furious when he found out. "Who are they? Who dares toy their hands on the Princess!"


    "We do not know yet," ke sighed. "But we might have some clues and will need all your help."


    "Just say it, Boss!" Chief Matt patted his chest. "Engineering is behind you all the way!"


    "Yes!" Magister Thorn nodded too, his face flushed with anger. "I will help too!"


    "Alight," ke gave a thankful smile. "I will need Matt to go to Star Ind while Magister Thorn, I need you to find all information regarding the End Zone and thends beyond it."


    As they were discussing their work scope, a knock came from the door and Lt. Tavor entered with Dr. Sharon. "Sir, we managed to get some information which I think everyone here should hear."


    "Go on" ke gestured to the seats.


    "The girl''s name is called ire or sounds something simr," Lt. Tavor said. "She and two of the young ones are students of some sort of school while the elder still unconscious is their teacher or professor."


    "She said something about being chased by a... priesthood or church," Lt. Tavor checked his notes. "Due to them digging around some ruins and finding a golden ball or stone?"


    "An artifact?" Chief Matt groaned. "Another god?"


    "Very likely, I guess," Lt. Tavor said. "Theirnguage whenpared to the Common Tongue does bear some basic root resemnce. If the story involving your ancestors and how they got stranded here from the failed expedition is true..."


    "This means they might be from your ancestralnds..." Tavor conducted. "That is why theirnguage bears some resemnce to the Common Tongue."


    "Interesting!" Magister Thorn''s curiosity was triggered. "I will look into the old journals to see if I can find anything in regards to this!"


    "What we do know is that they spent a considerable amount of time drifting through ''an ocean of clouds''," Tavor added. "She said she lost count but she did mark the days on the ship."


    "Wait..." Chief Matt looked visibly excited. "Does this means... the wreck is some kind of airship?"


    "Yes..." Tavor nodded and looked towards Commander Ford. "Hence, I think it will be wise if we can secure all rights to the wreck."


    Ford nodded, "I will do what I can."


    ke leaned forward and said, "Ignore the Inders for now. Grab the wreck first. We give an apology to the Fleet Masterster on."


    "Matt, depart immediately on the next flying boat and take possession of the wreck," ke ordered. "Ford, send a salvage ship and crew to bring the wreck back for study."


    "Also, fly the R & D guys over here," ke continued. "I want them to start working on the wreck once it is recovered and brought here."


    "Tavor, continue to gather intelligence from the survivors," ke said. "See if you find out who we are facing or will be facing on the other side."


    "All clear with their duties?" ke asked sternly.


    "Yes, Sir!" The room chorused.


    "Captain?" Dr. Sharon remained behind the conference room and called ke as he was about to leave. "A word please?"


    Tavor gave an eye to Dr. Sharon before he left with the rest.


    "What is it?" ke leaned back on the chair.


    "Sherene is two months pregnant," Dr. Sharon said. "She''s carrying your child."


    "What?" ke rosed from his seat in delight and shock. "Is it true?"


    "Yes..." Dr. Sharon confirmed. "I did the tests."


    "Than..." ke looked confused and worried. "But..."


    "She wanted to surprise you..." Dr. Sharon sighed. "We all did not expect something like this to happen..."


    "Oh, my gods..." ke slumped back on the chair. "A child..."


    ke suddenly looked up, making Dr. Sharon feel a sense of dread at the look of anger in ke''s eyes. "If they harm her or my child... I will destroy them all!"


    -----


    United Nations, Sawtooth Mountain Airbase


    Rows of new generation fighter aircraft were being wheeled out from their hangars as techs and service crew busied themselves over them. Trucks and trucks of ordnance were also driven to the hangars where they were offloaded and secured onto pallets for transport on board the cargo nes.


    Blue Thunder leaned his head out of his covered pen and eyed the ongoings with excitement. "Are we going for another war?"


    "Is war all you think about?" Rastraz called out from inside the pen where she waszing away watching CSI dramas. She glued her eyes on the projection on the watch and waved her tailzily. "Please close the doors! The outside light is too ring!"


    Blue Thunder''s tail twitched as he looked at Rastraz procrastinating away while munching on pizzas and sighed, "You are getting fat! That is why a war will be great for you to lose some weight!"


    "What did you say? Care to repeat that again?" Rastraz growled dangerously as she whipped her head to fix Blue Thunder with a deadly re, daring Blue Thunder to repeat what he had said.


    "N- no! Nothing!" Blue Thunder gulped and hurriedly said, waving his ws "I meant you have nice curves!"


    "Hmmph!" Rastraz tilted her head high and returned to her movie. "Stop thinking about going to war!"


    "But... it''s boring..." Blue Thunder sighed and dragged the pen doors closed before making his way next to Rastraz. "You keep watching these crime dramas... I wanna watch my korean dramas..."


    "What''s so nice about those love shows?" Rastraz grumbled. "CSI is so interesting! I like how they solve the crimes!"


    Blue Thunder sighed and he curled up into a ball, but he still kept his eyes on the projection. "Hais... I''m bored..."

 Chapter 416: Confusion

    Chapter 416: Confusion


    Goblin Ind, Eternal City of Burns, Pce of the Burning Hill


    Strurruilk, the Mighty King of All Things Under His Feet and Ruler From The Throne of The Burning Hill and Sea Master of Thieves and Giver of All Goblin Life and Conquerer of All Lands and Grand Lord of Magic and Happiness! and the Only Chief of Love and Destruction sat on his throne full of pokey bits and had a massive grinned on his pockmarked face.


    "MUHAHAHAAHAHAA!" He chortled proudly. "None can stop the might of me! Strurruilk, the Mighty King of All Things Under My Feet and Ruler From The Throne of The Burning Hill and Sea Master of Thieves and Giver of All Goblin Life and Conquerer of All Lands and Grand Lord of Magic and Happiness! and the Only Chief of Love and Destruction! MUHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"


    "Hail Strurruilk! The Mighty King of All Things Under His Feet and Ruler From The Throne of The Burning Hill and Sea Master of Thieves and Giver of All Goblin Life and Conquerer of All Lands and Grand Lord of Magic and Happiness! and the Only Chief of Love and Destruction!" The goblins and hobgoblins chanted happily as they were high on drugs.


    Strurruik leaned back on his throne, winching internally from a particrly sharp poke from a piece of metal on the throne, but he kept his face expressionless, as befitting a King! He reached over and picked up a joint of roasted goblin and ripped the juicy flesh off with his teeth as his people had a celebration feast involving roasting parts of their deceased kin.


    Inwardly, Strurruik let out a sigh of relief. He did not know what kind of powers those invaders used, but they were mighty. If his people were not high on Life Powder, they would have been broken by the invader''s mighty powers long ago.


    He did not know why the invaders suddenly left, if they had continued on, Strurruik himself would have been the one being roasted on the firepits before him now. But since they had left, Strurruik shall use this opportunity to show his people he was the chosen one!


    Thinking how about how this turn of events not only made him stronger in the eyes of his people, Strurruik felt that the Gods were also on his side! He needed to get the shamans to make more Life Powder so that he can fully control all!


    "Muhahahaaaa! I am Strurruilk, Strurruilk, the Mighty King of All Things Under My Feet and Ruler From The Throne of The Burning Hill and Sea Master of Thieves and Giver of All Goblin Life and Conquerer of All Lands and Grand Lord of Magic and Happiness! and the Only Chief of Love and Destruction and Favoured by the Gods!"


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, School of Science and Magic


    The school bell rang and momentster, the doors to the ssrooms burst open as students came flooding out in a chaos of noise and activity. Elizabeth Ragner, once the genius of the Bluewood School of Magic and a high tier adventurer, shuffled her books and papers as she packed up her teaching materials.


    Now as an assistant lecturer on Magic Studies, she had a life that was strangely peaceful. The events of her past with the Hero and her party seemed just like a dream. She waved goodbye to the students and she headed towards the staffroom where she kept her teaching materials away. She chit chat with the other teachers about their sses and students before she left the staffroom to return back to her rented ce.


    Despite living in Haven for over two years, she did not feel homesick. She read and watched the news on the radio and television about the deteriorating situation back in her hometown. Yet, she did not feel any pity nor sadness at the news, which was ounts given by traveling merchants and refugees.


    Having her eyes opened to the realities of the world, she no longer felt any sense of loyalty to the Empire and her House since her family treated her as a bragging object and something to be used in political marriages to improve their power and standing among the Houses, hence it was one of the reasons why she went off to be an adventurer to prove herself.


    To her surprise, after living in Haven for two years, she found she liked the small city nation. It was surprisingly clean and constantly full of interesting little innovations that keep popping up around the city. Crime was low, and discrimination of different races or birth was greatly frowned upon all through a series of government sponsored propaganda promoted to the people.


    She entered a building called a mall by the locals which had many small stalls inside. She bought some packed food and returned home, taking a bus which dropped her off near her house. Liz used to stay inside the School''s dormitory until a year ago when she was given more freedom in her movement after proving herself.


    So she went and rented a simple apartment at the city edge. Putting her food on the table, she turned on the television and started eating while watching the news, which was talking about the signing of an alliance with the Isles.


    As she was putting away the remains of her meal. The phone in her house rang, and she picked it up, "H- hello?"


    "Liz?" Magister Thorn''s voice sounded fuzzy over the call. "I need your help!"


    "Magister?" Liz was confused. "What help do you need?"


    "I need you to go to the School''s Library!" Magister Thorn''s voice sounded excited. "Note these down! I need you to find these..."


    Liz nodded as she wrote down the titles of several scrolls and things she needed to research. "I understand, I will go look for these materials first thing in the morning!"


    -----


    Goblin Sea, UNS Victory, Command Deck


    Colonel Joseph''s expression was grim as he read thetestmunique from High Command. Hismand staff looked at him as he put the message slip down. "HQ wants us to return and resupply at Far Harbor and await further instructions."


    "But Sir!" His officers protested. "We were so close at destroying the goblins! We are right at their gates!"


    "Something must have happened for them to recall us," Joseph calmed the unhappy officers down. "They will brief us when we return."


    "For now, don''t think so much!" Joseph advised his men. "Go look after your boys, and get some rest. If they recall us urgently in the middle of a battle... I am sure there is something major going on that will need us. So tell the boys to get some rest while they can!"


    "Yes, Sir!" The officers replied before they filed out of the Command Deck. Joseph waited till they before he looked at the message slip again.


    "Dammit... who the hell took the Princess?"


    -----


    United Nations, Uncharted Forest, Crossroad Town


    Cork, aka the Rock, ex Legion Commander of the ck Scorpions was now just a three striped Sergeant of the SDF living in Crossroad Town. He took the offer for resettlement in the unimed wildness of the Uncharted Forest, where a working town has grown at the crossroads of the superhighway and train tracks that linked the cities of Falledge and Orwell''s Point to Haven.


    Originally the town was just a series of dormitories for workers that cleared thend and constructed the infrastructures, it grew as refugees from the war were resettled here. Morend was cleared and farms built while apartments and houses popped up around the old dormitories.


    As the town grew, its needs grew too. Soon markets to food stalls and even a proper garrison were needed for the growing town and the SDF volunteers were given an option to relocate if they wished to.


    The Rock took up the offer since he had no family nor ties in Orwell''s Point and he wanted to start anew. Those that took up the offer of resettlement were given a small apartment of their own within the growing town while those moving with families were given arger apartment.


    He was impressed with the amount of effort and care are given to themon people and soldiers which made him did not regret his choice to join the enemy. There was daily news ongoing the situation of the Empire but to his surprise, he felt nothing inside.


    The only thing on his conscience was the deaths of his men, but war was war. There are winners and losers. And his men knew and had epted their fate when they joined the Empire''s legion. He now has a new life and identity which he quite enjoyedpared to his previous role.


    He started his day by reporting to the garrison, check in with his men and duty stations. They rotated duties every three days and had three days off afterward. When on duty, he has to stay inside the garrison, which they ran patrols around the town''s perimeters or perform escort duties to convoys.


    If required, they will also venture into the Uncharted Forest to guard the loggers or surveyors looking for resources. Sometimes, reports of goblins or a monster neste in and they had to respond to that by destroying the nests.


    What he most enjoyed was watching the moving images on the T Vee, which told many interesting stories. He could just sit on his sofa for hours, just watching show after show. The other guilty pleasure he had was driving. The military Jeeps he drove were faster than anything he has ever ridden on other than flying on dragons or the Air Force''s flying machines.


    "Hey, Cork," The Rock''s only friend and buddy he made in the SDF called out to him as he entered the Garrison''s office. "Good morning!"


    "Morning," The Rock replied as he signed in for duty. "How''s everything?"


    "Quiet so far," His buddy who followed him over to this posting said. "Patrols haven''t spotted any monsters when they are out."


    "Good, I like quiet," The Rock said as he poured himself a cup of tea.


    "Hey, did you hear that they recalled the Marines from Goblin Ind?" His friend said as the Rock sat down. "I heard from a friend in the Air Force that they too were in high alert. Think there''s trouble headed our way? Another war?"


    The Rock shrugged as he nced through the reports of the night before. "I''m not sure, but I am sure they will notify us if there is anything major."


    "Yea..." His friend nodded. "Well, we can say goodbye to the SDF soon since Colonel Joseph is returning. I heard that he will be themanding officer of the Army once he is back."


    The Rock gave a raised eyebrow at his friend and asked, "Where the hell did you keep getting these kinds of news?"


    "Hahaha!" His friend grinned. "Well... I have my sources! Its a secret!"


    "Well, it''s just a rumor till its confirmed," The Rock sighed. "Once we get integrated into the new Army... We will know for sure who will be our newmanding officer..."


    "Hmmm..." His friend leaned back on his desk. "I heard that we might need to close our borders..."


    The Rock gave up and shook his head as his friend bbered on about things he heard from somewhere. Still, it felt nice and peaceful as he sat in the office listening to his friend talking about random things.


    "Say, Cork," His friend asked. "Do you think the Empire will ever recover? The news has been saying how there is a lot of unrest and even some cities are breaking off from the Empire''s control."


    "The Empire is definitely breaking apart," The Rock said after a moment of silence. "They won''t be able to recover from this, especially with the Emperor dead. He ruled by fear and now, without that fear, there goes the one thing that held the Empire together."


    "Oh, well... Sucks to be them now..."

 Chapter 417: We Cant Do Shit!

    Chapter 417: We Can''t Do Shit!


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, United Nations Embassy, Conference Room


    The room was crowded yet quiet as a heavy atmosphere shrouded the upants inside the conference. Commander Ford remained standing as he finished his presentation to all that was present which included a delegation from the Isles.


    Second Fleet Master Megan crossed her long slender legs and cast her cat eyes on Ford. She pursed her lips and asked, "Is this information reliable?"


    Commander Ford nced at her and nodded, "Yes, this information is collected from both our libraries and from your records."


    "So you are saying that whoever that took Third Fleet Master Dijon and your... Princess," Megan tapped a finger against the side of her cheeks. "Areing from beyond the End Zone?"


    "Yes, and that area is referred to as the Sea of Clouds by them," Ford replied. "And thatnd there is where your ancestors came from."


    "So, this means rescue is impossible then?" Megan said. "No ships have ever returned nor crossed that zone... ever!"


    "And from those survivors who came in that flying ship of theirs..." Megan shook her head. "It took them more than a month or so of wandering inside!"


    "With no directions or any idea of any dangers," Megan added. "How can we be sure we can make the crossing or if whether those that captured Dijon or your Princess will even make it?"


    "As I have said," Ford interrupted Megan. "We have a tracker on the Princess... We can use it to trace her location, including that of Fleet Master Dijon!"


    Megan shook her head again. "No... this is too risky! I will not send my men to their deaths in a wild dragon chase!"


    Ford cast a look at ke who remained quietly seated on his chair, "If that is the case then we will ask for volunteers among Fleet Master Dijon''s people..."


    "No!" Megan banged the table. "We might be allies but that is overstepping your boundaries!"


    Ford gave a shrug, "We are recruiting adventurers and volunteers. Your people are free men, they can choose what they wish to do and this is not against our alliance nor boundaries!"


    Megan narrowed her eyes in anger and hissed, "If you wish to do that... then go ahead! But expect no help from our side! We will not waste any lives in a futile pursuit of chasing death!"


    With that said, she stood up and stomped off the conference room in a huff with the rest of the Isles'' delegations and escorts hurrying after her.


    Ford sighed and sat down on the table next to ke. "Guess they aren''t so keen on saving Dijon eh?"


    ke leaned forward with his hands crossed over his lips. "Still what she said made sense..."


    "Currently, even with our tech, we might not stand a chance at crossing the End Zone either..." ke stated. "If the words from their records are correct, we need ships that could weather typhoons and giant waves of over 20 meters."


    "Our current aircraft might not even be able to cross the area too..." ke sighed deeply. "But if they can cross that area... We should be able too!"


    "Did the survivors talk on how to operate that flying ship of theirs?" ke asked.


    "The Chief has his team working over every inch of the ship," Ford said. "So far he thinks it simr to our lighter than air tech on Earth, except he is not sure what they use to provide lift. He did found some strange crystals that are not mana stones, so he dumped them to Dr. Sharon to take a look."


    ke shook his head, "You guys do know that Dr. Sharon graduated from medical school and isn''t a scientist right?"


    Ford gave a helpless shrug, "She''s the only one we have that has some kind of science background among us."


    ke shook his head again, "I need to give her some kind of reward for doing extra work..."


    "Good idea. Anyway, Chief Matt''s team also seemed to be using some kind of steam boiler or engine as some kind of power generating device," Ford cleared his throat as he continued. "Concept wise, it is simr to what we know, but the way they build their steam boilers is making Chief Matt''s team go nuts."


    "Chief Matt thinks its a fusion of magic and technology that is why their technology appears to be evolved in a different waypared to ours," Ford added. "But I think after today''s fiasco with Fleet Master Megan, I think they will want to take possession over the wreck..."


    "Dy her as long as you could till we learn all we can from the wreck," ke replied. "I want all our best minds working on a solution that could allow either a ship or ne to travel across the End Zone safely."


    "Yes, Sir," Ford paused as he was about to leave the room. "Cap... You should get some sleep and drink less... You can''t keep this up forever..."


    "Later..." ke waved Ford''s concerns off and once the door was closed. ke took out a sk of distilled cococane spirits and drank it all in a single go. "I will..."


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, United Nation Naval Base, Worker Dorms


    ire stood at the grated windows, looking out to the scenery of beaches and blue seas but she did not have the mood to admire the beauty. She was locked up in this sparsely furnished room that consisted of a double decked bed and a small cubicle that she could shower standing up and also served as an indoortrine which was she taught the usage by a female when she was first locked in the room.


    To her surprise, she was fed three times a day, and even given a change of clothes. She ate her meals on one of the two sets of tables and chairs in the small room. She spent her time looking out of the window and once a day she was given one hour at the beach for her to exercise.


    She was so lonely and bored for someone to talk to that she looked forward to the jailers thate once a day to speak with her. They spoke in a strange tongue but they always have picture books that they used tomunicate with ire.


    But each time she tried to find out about the condition of her friends and the Professor, she was only met with shaking heads. Today she sat impatiently for her jailers to appear, ncing towards the locked door every now and then.


    Finally, she heard the sound of footsteps and she quickly stood up eagerly and waited for her door to be unlocked. The door unlocked and to her surprise, instead of the usual couple, this time it was some different people.


    They gestured her exit the room and ced some kind of metal restraints on her hands before leading her out of the mansion. She was ced in a strange wagon that seemed to be run by magic and traveled smoothly and at speeds faster than a steam wagon!


    ire looked around her surroundings curiously, seeing strange grey colored boxy mansions before she was ushered into one of the same looking mansion. She saw strange colored runes drawn on the side of the whitewashed walls and after climbing a few flights of stairs, she was shown into arge room that had a single long table with soft looking chairs surrounding it.


    Her escorts took up position next to the double doors and stood there like statues while she took a seat and wondered nervously of hering fate. The door suddenly swung open and the guards at the door came to attention as a tall gaunt looking male with white in his hair entered with a limp.


    He looked unkempt, with a day or two worth of stumble on his chin while his uniform looking like clothing was crumpled and wrinkled. Dark circles ringed his bloodshot eyes as he looked straight at her. The most striking feature of the neer was his ears like those ire has seen when she first woke up. It was short and rounded, unlike hers and the guards'' ears which was long and pointed.


    The male sat down and took out a shiny silver sk which he took a gulp out of it and ire could smell a whiff of alcohol. He kept the sk before turning to look at ire, making her swallow her saliva nervously.


    "Your name is i-ee?" The male spoke in a rough voice as he took out a strange t object with a glowing surface. "You said youe from Iron Country?"


    ire nodded, finding the manner of speech from the man strange. "Y- Yes! Ie from the city of Ashmere! I am a citizen of the Iron Kingdom not Iron Country... And I am a student from the Arcanium of Steamworks and Magic!"


    The man frowned as he tilted his head to one side as if he was confused with her words. She noticed something attached to his ear that had a blue light blinking constantly making her stare at his ear in confusion.


    "Speak slower..." The man said as he tapped on the t glowing object. "Iron... Kingdom... Yes? A disciple?"


    ire nodded. "Student... not disciple!"


    "Tell me more about this Iron Kingdom?" The man asked as he took out his sk again and took a drink. "How great is it?"


    "Great?" ire nervously replied. "Eh... Yes... it is one of the seven great Kingdoms of the Old World!"


    "No... not great..." The man scratched his ear before saying and gesturing with his hands, "Large?"


    "You mean how big?" ire asked. "I do not know how to exin..."


    "But it has many big cities..." ire added.


    "How many cities?" The man asked again. "Many people?"


    "Sixteen cities and thirty two towns..." ire replied. "Many many people!"


    The man nodded and he tapped on the glowing surface of the object on the table. ire leaned forward to take a closer look, but she couldn''t understand what kind of magic artifact was it.


    "Fighter?" The man asked again. "Many fighters?"


    ire gave a shrug as she has no idea how many soldiers or fighters the Iron Kingdom has. "I''m a student... I do not know much about the military..."


    The man nodded again, before asking the next question, "Flying boat? How it fly?"


    "The skiff?" ire frowned, wondering which backward country did shended on that knew nothing of this knowledge. She suspected that she hadnded on a ce that has never heard of the Iron Kingdom or the Old World. "It runs on aetherium and steam... Aetherium makes the skiff float in the skies. I told this to you people several times already!"


    "Ethe- rum?" The man tried to pronounce the unfamiliar word. "Where get Ether- rum?"


    ire scratched her head and sighed deeply, "Its mined from the floating mountains..."


    "Floating mountains?" The man took another drink before he continued. "What kind of weapons you use?"


    "Steam cannons? Steam Jacks?" ire answered. "There are other weapons but I am not so sure about them..."


    "Steam?" The man frowned as he seemed to be reading something on the glowing magic artifact. "How did you cross the... Sky of Clouds?"


    "You mean the Sea of Clouds?" ire let out a tired breath. She had this question asked many times till she lost count. "We were chased by the Clergy from the Protectorate..."


    -----


    ke leaned back on the chair as he watched the teenage girl repeated the events that had led her to cross the End Zone. Inside, he had admiration for the bravery and cool headedness of the actions she had shown if her story was to be believed.


    But so far, nothing she had said had answered the most crucial question of all. How to cross the End Zone and reach the Old World...

 Chapter 418: Depression

    Chapter 418: Depression


    Sea of Clouds, The Innocence, Holding Cells


    The sudden brightness of a burningmp made Sherene''s eyes water as she was half blinded by the sudden re. She blinked rapidly but was yanked up by the chains binding her arms together before being dragged out of her cell.


    Takao protested wildly inside her cell, "Don''t take her! Take me! She''s with a child! Don''t hurt her!"


    Even Dijon roared furiously as he tried to move his weakened body, shaking the bars of his cell as they watched the expressionless soldiers dragged Sherene away before their eyes, helpless to do anything.


    Sherene kicked her feet against the wooden deck as she tried to prevent from getting being dragged out. She managed to get to her feet and kept her bnce as the two soldiers ignored her plight. She stumbled out between the two soldiers, trying to see her way as the re of themp left a white spot in her vision.


    She could only remember the confusing dark corridors and steps before being shown into a room that looked like a library or study. The soldiers left her alone and she took the time to observe her surroundings. Shelves covered in tomes and scrolls covered all sides of the room. A desk filled with papers and writing implements sat at the end of the room. The room even had a firece with a fire crackling away merrily, which warmed Sherene''s cold body.


    "Si," A voice suddenly spoke from behind the desk, which made Sherene realize that she wasn''t alone. She noticed a person seated behind the desk, hidden by the shadows. The figure leaned into the glow of the fire and the light revealed a golden haired slim person wearing a white featureless mask.


    "Si," The person repeated his word and gestured towards the chairs before the firece and Sherene gingerly sat down on the edge of the chair, her nerves taut.


    The masked man opened a drawer by the side of his desk and carried out a small chest which he ced next to Sherene on the side table. He opened the chest and inside was a white milky pearl the size of a feathered wyvern''s egg.


    He held the pearl on one hand and held Sherene''s right hand and cing it over the pearl. "-an understand me now?"


    Sherene jerked her hand back in surprise but her hand was held on tightly as the masked man stared down at her. She could hear what he was saying and at the same time in her mind!


    "This is an Orb of Understanding," She could hear his words in her mind. "This is how we use tomunicate with... others... that do not speak ournguage..."


    "I am Inquisitor Mathias of the Clergy," The voice said. Sherene looked up and found a pair of cold grey eyes staring at her from the eye slits of the mask.


    She shuddered inwardly, feeling chills despite the warm firece. "I- I am Sherene Goldrose..."


    "Goldrose..." The man sat down while still keeping his hold with Sherene''s hand over the Orb. "Tell me... Where did youe from?"


    "Me?" Sherene furrowed her brows at the question. "I came from the United Nations..."


    "So... What kind of ce is this... United Nations?" The questions kepting. "What is the name of the continent?"


    Sherene answered as best as she could without giving up any information she deemed to be important. She tried to question the masked man but he ignored her questions, only kept asking her more and more questions.


    "Which Gods do you worship to?"


    "Isw and order important?"


    "How many airships do the United Nations have?"


    "What races are there?"


    "How many other kingdoms or nations are there?"


    "What religions are there?"


    "How did you find the Golden Orb?"


    "What kind of diet people eat?"


    "What is your social standing among the people?"


    The questions kepting, making Sherene panic as she tried to answer them as best as her tired body and mind could. Finally, the barrage of questions ended and the masked man leaned back on his chair and released Sherene''s hand from the Orb.


    He observed Sherene with an intense look that made her feel ufortable before he leaned forward again and ced the Orb on her hand and said, "You are carrying a child, yes?"


    Sherene nodded and caressed her tummy with her free hand gently. "Yes, I am with a child."


    "The most sacred of creation," The masked man whispered. "The creation of life!"


    "I will notify my men to provide better rations for you and amodations," He said. "But do not take my leniency as weakness... In the eyes of the Holy Judge, you and your child arewless... heretics... Do not disobey or you shall face the Judgement!"


    Sherene clutched her belly in panic at his words and nodded hurriedly. "I- I understand! But... Where are you taking us? And my friends? Can you spare them?"


    The masked man took the Orb and ced it back into the chest without a word and called out to the guards outside. He said something to the guards and he returned to his desk while the guards shepherded Sherene out, her questions ignored.


    The guards treated her better this time and led her to a small cabin that even had a small porthole, that allowed some light and air in. A small cramped bunk bed upied one corner of the room and there was a small tiny table with an oilmp and chair on the other side. She sat on the bed and looked out of the porthole, seeing nothing but dark grey clouds and she prayed.


    "May the Gods protect my child..." She whispered to the streaks of lightning. "Richard... Your child and I are waiting for you to us home..."


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, United Nations Embassy, Officer''s Apartment


    ke woke up to a pounding headache and heid on the chair where he had dozed off. He rubbed his head and realized that not only his head was pounding, someone was also pounding on the door.


    He stood up groggily and stumbled his way over to the door, his bare feet kicking away a couple of empty bottles. "Coming... Stop hammering on the door!"


    He unlocked the door and yanked it open, to find Commander Ford, Lt Tavor, and Dr. Sharon outside. ke squinted his eyes as the bright sunshine outside hurt his eyes. "What''s the matter with you guys? Make such a ruckus outside my room..."


    "Sir... You have been not answering our calls and missing from work for days..." Ford said as he frowned at ke. "We... everyone... is worried for you, Sir..."


    "Alright... Now you have seen me..." ke prepared to close the door. "You guys can leave without any worry!"


    Dr. Sharon hissed in displeasure as she saw the condition of ke. She shoved him into the apartment and tsked at the mess that was around the room. She yanked the curtains open, and opened the windows, letting in sunlight and fresh air while the other two officers entered.


    "Oh please... close the curtains!" ke moaned as he slumped down on the sofa, resting his arm over his eyes to block the light. "And get out!"


    "Captain..." Ford shook his head at the wretched sight of the Captain. He felt sorry and sad that the once vigorous Captain was reduced to such a drunken state. "You need to stop drinking..."


    ke waved his hand to shoo them away as hey down on the sofa. He only opened his eyes when Dr. Sharon pped a cold towel over his face and grumbled. "Wipe your face! How old are you already and still can''t take care of your own self!"


    Ford gestured to Tavor to help clean up the rubbish in the room while Dr. Sharon fussed around the Captain. The two officers cleared away dozens of emptied bottles of local liquor and trash while Dr. Sharon shoved a mug of hot tea into the Captain''s hand.


    "If you keep this up," Dr. Sharon scolded ke. "You will kill yourself regards how modified your liver is! I thought you gave up drinking years ago! Why are you starting to drink again?"


    "Can''t sleep..." ke mumbled as he sat on the sofa massaging his own head. "If I am drunk... I won''t see her face..."


    "The drink makes it all go away you know?" ke whispered sadly. "I can''t stop thinking about her and my unborn child..."


    "This feeling of helplessness..." ke''s voice cracked as he covered his face with his hands. "The inability to do anything at all... Yet you know that she is out there... but not knowing if she safe and well..."


    "It just..." Tears leaked out between his fingers. "It just too painful to think about..."


    "Oh... Poor Richard..." Dr. Sharon hugged ke tightly in her arms as he cried. "Cry it out. We are all here for you."


    Ford and Tavor both gave an encouraging pat on ke''s shoulder. ke nodded in thanks and used the wet towel to wipe his face. "Thank you... I feel better now."


    Dr. Sharon shook her head, "When was thest time you had a shower? Or even a meal?"


    ke gave a weak shrug, "What day is it today?"


    "It''s Wednesday!" Dr. Sharon sighed.


    "Oh... I think... four days or was it three?" ke shook his head. "I am not sure..."


    "Get up! Go take a shower now!" Dr. Sharon pulled ke up from the sofa and pushed him towards the bedroom. "And for God''s sake, get a shave too!"


    Dr. Sharon turned and looked at the Ford and Tavor and shook her head sadly. "We need to find a solution... Or it will break his heart... Since he had a history of drinking and depression... He might fall back into depression again and never recover..."


    "You guys need to keep an eye on him!" Dr. Sharon advised. "I got some meds that can help with his sleep... But he has to stop drinking!"


    Both officers nodded as they tidied up the room. After a while, the door to the bedroom opened and ke, freshly showered and in a set of clean clothing stepped out. Dr. Sharon nodded in approval, "Now that is what the Leader of a whole nation should at least look like!"


    "Come!" Dr. Sharon grabbed ke''s arm and pulled him out of the apartment. "I heard there a fresh catch in today! It is a good day for some fish and chips!"


    Ford watched the departing back of the duo and said to Tavor, "Doc''s right... We need toe out with something for the Captain... Or... He won''t recover..."


    Tavor nodded, "I will call for a meeting of all the senior guys of the original crew to discuss this issue."


    "Do it quietly..." Ford said. "And suppress any news regarding the Captain''s condition. If the people know that we lost the Princess... and the Captain is down... We might have some problems..."


    Tavor nodded again. "No shit... I can just imagine those deposed nobles and merchants trying something funny... Not to mention... That bitch Megan might try to undercut us..."


    Ford sighed, remembering how he had to cut a deal with the Second Fleet Master Megan to allow his men to continue working on the wreck of the airship. He was still quite pissed with that satisfied smug face of hers after extorting another couple of steam engines from him.


    "Anyway, our priority now is to make sure the Captain doesn''t go off into a depression..." Ford said. "As for a solution how to cross that End Zone ce... We need to discuss with the rest and see if we cane out with something solid..."


    "Hey! Hurry up!" Dr. Sharon called out from the waiting Jeep. Ford gave a look to Tavor and they both hurried over to the vehicle. "Let''s go... We need to get some food into the Captain!"

 Chapter 419: Coming For You

    Chapter 419: Coming For You


    United Nations, Sawtooth Mountain Base, Command Center


    Joseph adjusted his cor as he entered the Command Center of his newmand. On his cor sat a shiny silver star, denoting him as a general. Since his return from the aborted mission of attacking Goblin Ind, he was given an order by High Command to takemand over the SDF and a portion of the Marines. Those units under hismand will be absorbed under the newly formed United Nations Army.


    His new digital camo uniform was in tones of khaki green and blue unlike the grey blue digital camo of the Marines. The staff inside themander center saluted him as he entered and he gestured them back to their duties.


    He entered his office and looked at the stack of documents and reports ced neatly on a tray waiting for him to go through them and he knew the days of fieldmand was over. He will be desk bound for the rest of his career yet he knew he was holding a critical role in the military.


    Now the critical issues he was facing were theing shortage of food of their neighbors which means the defense nning of the UN falls on his shoulders. But the most important problem now was the issue of the missing Princess and who were the bastards who had taken her.


    He flipped through the documents until he found what he was looking for. He flipped out the document where several photographs of the scene where the skirmish had taken ce on the ind which resulted in the deaths of one hundred and twenty nine sailors of the Isles'' ship Fury and the capture of three persons, the Third Fleet Master Dijon, Princess Sherene and her aide, Takao.


    Criminal and military forensics teams hadbed over the area, trying to reconstruct the skirmish that had happened to find out more information about the unknown enemy, but there had been too much disturbance of the scene by the Fury''s survivors that little of clues could be gathered.


    Yet what little clues that were picked up from the scene gave Naval Intelligence pretty of information. Things like boot sizes, empty wooden canisters, broken pieces of armor, blood, and even the remains of projectiles fired from both sides gave some idea to the capabilities of the unknown enemy.


    Joseph flipped the pages over, reading the detailed analysis of the clues found. He frowned as he read the report further, as the investigations stated that the unknown enemies had a ''very high'' chance of having magic barriers or a very powerful shield for each individual soldier judging from the trails of footprints and scattered remains of crossbow bolts.


    The enemy also had some kind of ranged weapons, judging from the wooden tubes scattered around and projectiles that look like a wooden stake recovered from the dead sailors. Each stake was identical, measuring four inches with a diameter of 50 mm. This means that the enemy might have a standardized industry back home as he knew that in pre UN times, workshops providing ammunition like arrows or bolts, will have a difference in sizes due to non standardize methods of manufacturing.


    The Isles had also sent salvage ships and crews to recover the sunken Fury which the investigators took the opportunity to measure and calcte the damages done by the enemy''s flying ships. The calctions showed that the enemy''s ranged weapons had the simr power of a pre gunpowder heavy catapult, judging from the weight of the projectiles and damage done on the armored decks.


    Dozens of mushroom shaped projectiles were recovered from the Fury and the waters around it by divers and taken apart to be studied. The mushroom head of the projectiles was made out of cast iron, molded over a plug made out of an impermeable buoyant wood type material.


    Joseph frowned as he read the notes added written by one of the investigators on the side report, "Suspects that the enemy uses some kind of air cannon that uses the plugs like wine bottle corks..."


    He continued reading the report and did not really understand the next parts as it talked on about something about Bars of pressure, PSI, etc. Joseph skipped that part to the next section of the report details what findings that came from the Engineering team working on the wreck of the supposed flight capable ship.


    Joseph might not have studied and learned much regarding machines like engines but he understood the concept roughly of how they work. As he read the report his frown deepened as he realized that the airship wreck carried a technology that can be consideredparable to the hoomans'' flying tech!


    "No..." Joseph mumbled as he continued reading. The hoomans'' flying machines use an engine to create wind to push the machine into the air. The unknown flying ship uses some sort of magic crystal called ''Aetherium'' to cause the ship to float in the air. The rune formations found scribbled all over the ship''s hull acted as some sort of membrane over the ship, which the Engineering team is seeking help from the Mages to fully understand their full effects but so far they all agreed that the runes are used to help protect the hull from wind pressure and crosswinds.


    The runes only covered the hull of the ship and not the protruding sails, which works like regr sailing ships, allowing the flying ship to ''sail'' in the air and also steer in the air. It also seemed to have funnels at all sides that act as some sort of maneuvering device usingpressed air or gas.


    The Engineering team had also tested the crystals and found that when heated, it turned into some sort of gas that has the power to lift heavy objects up and when cooled, it reforms back into a crystal. Which answered their question about the boiler in the below decks. They suspect that they boiled water to keep the crystals in a heated state to keep the ship afloat.


    If they want to lower the altitude of the ship, they will stop heating the aetherium gas, letting it form back to crystals and the ship will drop down. The Engineering team also wrote on the report that the whole airbag to the boiler to the cooling tank was a close looped system which means none of the aetherium was wasted.


    But from the statements of the survivors, aetherium was a very valuable and rare resource, only able to be obtained from the floating mountains or sky fishes or sky whales.


    Joseph put down the report and rubbed his eyes. "If we have a source of this aetherium, we could solve the issue of crossing the End Zone..."


    He gave out a deep breath and knew that there was nothing he can do now, but he could still push things forward to help save the Princess. Joseph picked up his phone and waited for it to go through to his aide.


    "This is General Joseph, I want a senior staff meeting within an hour!"


    -----


    Sea of Clouds, The Innocence, Inquisitor Quarters


    Inquisitor Mathias sat on his chair, his mask ced aside on a velvet pillow on the desk. He rolled the strange golden orb with its many faces, twenty to be exactly as he had counted, around his hand before cing it down into a silver ornate box, lined with lead and covered with runes.


    The box snapped shut with a click and Inquisitor Mathias ced his si ring over thetch of the box which gave another click as it locked. He waved his hands over the box and muttered a chant under his breath and the box glowed red briefly before the spell waspleted.


    Inquisitor Mathias stood up and reached for a hidden switch on the side of one of the many bookshelves covering his room. A portion of the shelves slid open, revealing a hidden safe, which he mumbled another chant, and using his si ring, he disarmed the magic traps and locks.


    The hidden safe swung open, revealing its contents. A ckened blindfolded skull sat on one side next to a wrapped bundle and several stacks of old musty tomes. Inquisitor Mathias ignored the skull with appeared to move and ced the locked box next to two other simr boxes.


    He shut the safe door and recast the spells before locking the safe with his si ring and closing the hidden shelf back to its ce. The shelf slid smoothly and with a soft click, and the whole shelf looked as if it was a single piece with no trace of a secretpartment.


    He stood next to his desk and took a sip from the goblet of wine before he ced the white mask back on to his face and slipped on a coat before he exited his room. His guards outside saluted him and followed his down the gloomy passageway as he headed towards the ship''s inner sanctuary.


    The guards opened the heavy doors leading into the sanctuary of the Judges and Inquisitor Mathias entered alone. As usual, the thick cloying smell of incense covered the entire chamber. The three Judges sat in a triangle facing each other were meditating, counting the prayer beads in their hands, as they chanted softly.


    "May the Judgement sees you worthy!" Inquisitor Mathias greeted the three Judges and waited patiently for them to end their mediation.


    The chanting slowly died off and the three spoke as one, "The Judgement sees all and judges all as equals."


    "We have three of the seven," Inquisitor Mathias said. "Have youmunicated with the Court?"


    "The Court has been notified," The three Judges answered in a monotone. "Yet, you have failed to retrieve the Fourth!"


    "The Fourth orb?" Inquisitor Mathias frowned behind his mask. "Are you sure? Where was it?"


    "The power of the Fourth was felt when we were in that newnd..." The Judges intoned. "Its pull was strong but yet now... the pull grows feeble with each passing grain of sand..."


    "And why wasn''t this notified to me?" Inquisitor Mathias asked as he paused in his pacing around the chamber.


    The Judges remained quiet as he stared at them. Finally, he sighed and gave up."Can you feel it again if we return?"


    "The Judgement shall show us the way!" The Judges chanted. "The Judgement has never failed!"


    Inquisitor Mathia nodded, "Inform the Court... We will return to the Court first and resupply... Before returning here for the Fourth!"


    "Tell those... in the Court that, I, Inquisitor Mathias has never failed in a hunt!" Inquisitor Mathia dered before he left the chamber. "Judgement shall be served!"


    -----


    The crack of lightning woke Sherene from her nightmare induced sleep. She jolted up from the cramped bed and pulled away the sweat soaked nkets from her body. She felt slightly sick as the deck beneath her feet seemed to be swaying up and down.


    Looking out of the small porthole, she saw the sight outside waspletely dark, only lit up when brief shes of lightning crawled across the skies while rain pelted heavily against the crystal ss.


    Thankfully, every item was bolted down to the decks, even themp was nailed onto the desk. She pushed the porthole open slightly, and instantly a howl of wind rushed in, bringing a constant spray of cooling rainwater.


    Sherene sat on the chair and let the rainwater spatter over her, cooling her sweaty body down. She had dreamt that her child was taken away from her and when ke finally found her, he had med and discarded her for the loss of their child. When she woke up, she realized it was just a dream and she was in the small cabin.


    She hugged her growing belly which had started to show signs of pregnancy and cried. "My child, mommy will protect you... Don''t worry and grow up to be strong and healthy!"


    "Daddy wille find us soon..."

 Chapter 420: Secret Meetings

    Chapter 420: Secret Meetings


    United Nations, City of Falledge, City Hall


    Titanna Rothschild twirled her hair with her fingers unconsciously as she sat on her desk reading the daily reports of the city. Her expression changed constantly, from frowning to wrinkling her nose as she pondered on the reports. Finally, she pped the sheets of documents down on her desk and stretched her body in an unwomanly manner.


    "Ahem..." Miles cleared his throat as he stood at the half opened door, just nice catching Titanna stretching herself in an unmorous pose. He gave a wink to the startled Governor and waved the assistants at the door away. "Wait a moment outside first..."


    Titanna''s face turned red as she quickly corrected her pose and red at Miles. "Why can''t you knock on the door before entering?"


    "Hahaha!" Milesughed cheerily. "Who would expect you to be doing something else other than working... Besides, it''s just stretching..."


    "But my assistants and aides saw me in an unmorous pose!" Titanna grumbled as she directed all her embarrassment at Miles who kept grinning away.


    "Well... we are all huma-, I mean, people..." Miles said. "Nothing to be ashamed of."


    Titanna sighed, "Sometimes, I just can''t stand your logic..."


    "Well, I grew up in a different culture," Miles grinned as he stood beside her and tried to kiss her.


    "No! Behave yourself! Y- You barbarian!" Titanna blushed and pushed him away. "We are in the office! And there are people outside!"


    "Haha!" Miles gave a wink before he went to open Titanna''s office door. "Come on in!"


    A small troop of ministers and aides entered and Titanna schooled her expression before gesturing them to the table with sofas on the side. She took the seat at the head of the table while Miles settled down on an armchair, yawning.


    Titanna shot a look of warning at Miles before turning to her people. "Let''s start the meeting."


    One by one, the different heads of ministries gave their end of the month reports. Food was plentiful, money was flowing into the government''s coffers and public satisfaction was at an all time high. Employment and homeless was almost none existent due to plentiful job offers on the market.


    But the crime rate was slowly climbing up since the poption of Orwell''s Point suddenly exploded to twice the pre war numbers. The city grew as well, as the need for housing went up. New industries were also popping up with the introduction of new technology and manufacturing methods.


    Fishery farming was introduced to the local fishermen whose livelihood relies on catching the freshwater snakefish which to Miles looked some kind of snake with fins. Other farms like potatoes and strawberries seedlings from Haven were also brought over and introduced to the local farmers. It helped increase the variety of the local diet of the city and provided jobs to anyone willing to work.


    Large swaths ofnd were cultivated in the Great Ocean ins, mostly fielded by ex ves who had rich experience in farm work. There were several shes with the scattered remnants of the nomadic Orekins who had survived the Night of the Great Devourer and returned to their nomadic roots. The SDF now turned Army units patrolled the farms aggressively, to prevent any incursion and raids from the Orekins that did not join with the UN.


    Trade has fallen, due to the ban of ves, while immigration into the city was at an all time high. Thousands wished to enter the city but were stopped at checkpoints and rejected. The newly established Immigration and Customs had their hands full trying to prevent the illegal crossing of the borders until they were deporting hundreds of people each day while construction crews worked frantically to construct a doubledyered fence to protect the borders.


    Titanna raised a hand up to stop the current speaker who was reporting about the situation outside the borders. "Try not to use to much excessive force... They are just trying to find a way to survive that''s all."


    "But, my Lady..." The Immigration and Customs representative spoke up. "The refugees keep attempting to cross the border. They know that even if they get caught they can a meal before we send them out of the nation..."


    "They are abusing our kindness now..." The Immigration and Customs representative said. "If we don''t take a tougher stance..."


    "No..." Titanna shook her head. "I got direct orders from Haven''s City Hall... Princess Sherene herself had stated that we are not to use force on those that try to close our borders illegally."


    "We are not savages..." Titanna said. "Nor are we the Empire who treats their people... unkindly..."


    "Yes, my Lady... We know..." The representation had an unpleasant expression on his face. "But our kindness to the refugees is making the situation worse!"


    "Keep doing your job..." Titanna stared down at the representative. "Once the border fence is up, the refugees will know that they have no chance to try to cross illegally again."


    The Immigration and Customs representative sighed before he gave a nod. "Yes... My Lady..."


    "Now, there is something I want to point out..." Titanna picked up a document from the table and opened it. "Crime rate is going up."


    She turned her attention to the Chief of Orwell''s Point Police Department. "What is your excuse?"


    The Chief of OPPD, a middle aged, quiet looking man, cleared his throat before replying in a soft voice, "My Lady, due to increase of poption of the city, my department is currently short handed."


    "I have already started recruitment but it will be another month before the recruits finish their training," The Chief said. "And my people have something more... worrying to handle."


    "As you know, this city used to be a hotbed for cultists," The Chief pointed out. "There are still several cults running amok around the city, which my people are trying their best to apprehend."


    "The S-, Army, have their hands full with border patrol," The Chief exined. "So we can not expect much help from them."


    Titanna shook her head and raised her hand to stop the Chief from continuing. "I know these problems... But what I am worried about is this..."


    She flipped out the document and tapped a long slender finger on a photograph. "This... drug called Happy..."


    The Chief narrowed his eyes before he nodded. "Ahh... yes... Happy."


    "This drug''s origines from the feral goblins..." The Chief gave a brief summary. "We do not know yet who is supplying this drug and how it could to the city nor where did they make it from."


    "This drug makes any user constantly feel happy," The Chief said. "It also makes them feel nothing else... No pain, no hunger, no fear..."


    "We did narrow it down to a few goblins in the goblinmunity here but so far we have no luck," The Chief admitted. "There is no evidence we could find."


    "This drug is starting to cause some problems among the poption," Titanna said. "I want the source of this found and stopped!"


    "Already, we are seeing dozens of cases among the refugees!" Titanna growled. "This drug is also finding its way into our city!"


    Titanna gestured to the Immigration and Customs representation, "I am sure some of your men had arrested some refugees closing the border dosed on that drug, yes?"


    The representation nodded, "It took us four men to stop one Happy user... That is why we can''t be lenien-"


    Titanna shook her head before turning to Miles and said, "You! I want to request a team of the best troops you can get. They will be assigned to the Police Chief to helpbat this drug!"


    "If it spreads into our city..." Titanna nced at everyone with a serious expression. "I can tell you that all our efforts in building this city will go down the drain..."


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, UN Naval Command Center


    Command Ford, Lt Tavor, Dr. Sharon, Chief Matt and few others in virtual space sat around the conference table. Ford tapped his fingers as he looked at everyone in attendance. All that was here both physically or virtually were members of the original crew, in other ways, they were all humans.


    "You know now what has happened..." Ford said. "To the Captain and his wife..."


    "Who the fuck are they?" Chief Gale of the Airforce growled. "They dare to fuck with us!"


    "At this moment we only know they are some of religious nation," Lt Tavor said. "They worship an entity known as the one true god... The God of Creation and Justice, called Ramuh, also known as the Judge."


    "Anyone that does not follow their teachings is deemed as heretics... Ouws orwless." Lt. Tavor exined. "They are from a fundamentalist theocracy, known as the Protectorate of Ramuh and their citizens are highly fanatical andw abiding."


    "As for their military powers," Lt. Tavor shook his head. "We will not talk about it yet as we can''t verify that information."


    "What we do know is that they came from one corner of the Old World..." Lt. Tavor continued. "The Old World consists of seven Great Nations... Which one of them is the Protectorate."


    "The group found in the wreckes from the nation called the Iron Kingdom," Lt. Tavor said. "The other five nations are the Dragonshire, the Tri State, the Loose Confederation, the Cartel of Amon, and the Suujon Dynasty."


    "The Iron Kingdom would be the closest point to the Isles," Lt. Tavor said. "While the Protectorate borders the north of thends of the Iron Kingdom."


    "I think that''s enough geography for now," Ford spoke out. "Now, I have gathered everyone here is toe out with a solution to cross that End Zone..."


    "What we do know is that the seas inside the End Zone are dangerous..." Ford said. "Whirlpools, water spurts, hurricanes, and even sea monsters are the norm inside."


    "As for the skies, it is constantly covered in a thickyer of clouds which can form into a storm with a snap of your fingers," Ford said. "And for the distance between the End Zone to the Old World, we have no idea, except that it took our friends more than a month of blind travel."


    "Our aircraft might be able to cross the zone, but they definitely will have no fuel to return back," Ford added. "While our current ships are too small to attempt the crossing without high risks."


    "So, all of you here," Ford looked at everyone in the eye and said. "I need you all toe out with ideas that we can use to make a crossing over and back safely..."


    "Well... we do have three Resource ss cargo ship hullsid down currently at Far Harbor," Chief Matt said. "We can stop work and retrofit them be small assault ships..."


    "But the Resource ss ships do not have the speed..." Ford pointed out. "They are too slow and clumsy at manoeuvring."


    "Hmmm... supposed we upgrade the engines?" Chief Matt grinned. "We are starting to get crude oil and gas from Port Sanctuary. We can push out a gas turbine for the ships..."


    Ford nodded, "Okay, that''s something for a starter. What else?"


    Air Force Commander Tommy''s virtual image asked, "What about that... air crystal thingy? Can we make use of it?"


    Chief Matt frowned as he answered, "We are still running tests, but I doubt we have salvaged enough Aetherium crystals off the wreck to be useful. Not to mention, the Isles wants some of it too."


    "Maybe we can use what we have to make some kind of UAV?" Commander Tommy suggested. "We need eyes anyway on the other side..."


    "Ahem..." Lt. Tavor suddenly cleared his throat. "I will like to propose something..."


    "Since we need intel badly on the End Zone and the Old World," Lt. Tavor gave a cold grin and pointed towards the ceiling.


    "Why not we try to take back our survey probe that is still up there."

 Chapter 421: Happy?

    Chapter 421: Happy?


    "What do you mean by taking back the probe?" Ford asked. "Do we have the ability tounch someone up yet?"


    "We don''t exactly need to go all the way up..." Lt. Tavor replied. "The probe should be in a decaying orbit. All we need to is meet the probe when it is at the lowest point of its orbit."


    "Than, we reset itsputers, reestablish itsmand link back to us," Lt. Tavor said. "Than we set its trajectory back to a stable orbit and we change some programming remotely and we will have eyes over the entire."


    "Sounds easy..." Someone muttered.


    "Fuck..." Chief Matt red around. "Easy? You think so?"


    "First we need to make a rocket thruster that can get someone up there," Chief Matt ticked off his fingers. "We need a reentry vehicle capable to withstand the high gees and high temperature."


    "Next, fuel..." Chief Matt sighed. "What fuel to use? We aren''t on Earth or any of its colonies... We don''t have a fuel that safe to use... A rocket to space is basically strapping a shit ton of HIGHLY FLAMMABLE fuel on a thruster and trying to control that burn!"


    "Any tiny mistake and you have the biggest and most expensive fireworks in the skies," Chief Matt shook his head. "And an empty casket funeral for whoever is on board."


    "But is it doable?" Ford asked in a serious manner. "Do we have the capabilities and tech to do get a rocket up there?"


    "Technically, yes..." Chief Matt said after a moment of hesitation. "But chances of sess? I can''t guarantee anything..."


    Ford nodded, "Ok, get your team to work on the idea... See if there is any feasibility to this idea."


    "I will temporarily take charge of all matters until the Captain is back on his feet," Ford said. "All governing issues will be continued to be handled by City Hall and the Princess''s staff."


    "I will hold a closed door meeting with all the ministry heads to inform them of the situation," Ford dered. "Remember... till further notice, this news involving the Princess adduction and the Captain''s illness must not be spread."


    "Until we take control of the situation," Ford added. "I do not want anyone doing anything rash... yet."


    -----


    United Nations, City of Falledge, Faire Street


    Therge wind wolf paused in its tracks, its sharp ws making clicking sounds on the pebbled sidewalk as it bent its head down and sniffled the ground. It gave a low growl and crept forward, heading towards a row of houses. It then paused again as it sniffed around the door and gave a low growl.


    A shadowy figure appeared next to the wind wolf and rubbed its mane before gesturing with some hand signals. Several figures appeared out of the shadows and split up, half went to the back of the houses while the rest stacked up next to the wooden door.


    Bartley, ex Marine gunner, now part of the Falledge Police Department, Special Duties Unit, gestured to his partner, Grey, the wind wolf, to retreat back. He wore a bva, leather vest reinforced with trauma armour tes andrge ''POLICE'' stencil on the back of his armour in themon tongue, a standard issued SDF helmet and thick gloves, all coloured ck.


    The rest of the SDU team readied their stubby sub guns and braced themselves for action. Bartley removed a portable battering ram from his back and posed just next to the door and looked to the team leader to give the go ahead. The SDU team leader raised three fingers up and counted down to zero before chopping his hand down at the door.


    Bartley took a deep breath and he swung the heavy cast iron battering ram with all his might against the door''s lock, shattering the silence of the night. The lock barely survived the hit and a hole was punched through the door. The nearest SDU officer tossed a primed shbang through the small hole just as Bartley took a step back and tilt his head away from the door. "FLASH OUT!"


    A loud pop followed by a sh of light leaked out from the hole. One SDU officer dragged the shattered door open and the rest piled in rapidly, their tactical lights on their sub guns lighting up the dark interior yelling at the surprised upants inside. "POLICE! FREEZE!"


    "ITZ DA FARKING PIGZ!!" A half naked goblin wearing a thick gold ne shrieked madly from the couch of the living room where a table was piled with several paper satchels and vials. A white powdery substance was spread over the surface of the while a small fire on the firece provided some light source to the dirty looking room. "YOU NEVERZ TAKE KAPPA ALIVE!"


    The goblin giggled wildly as he brandished a long knife and leapt over the couch, stabbing towards the closest SDU officer. Instantly several angry barks of gunshots erupted as the SDU officers fired at the crazed goblin.


    The rest of the upants suddenly broke out from their confused states, some of them tried to escape while others rushed the SDU officers, trying to take them down whileughing and giggling madly away. More gunfire erupted as the doped up users attacked the police officers who retaliated in self defense.


    "FREEZE! POLICE!" The SDU officers screamed at the suspects but they ignored theirmands. Bartley threw a right hook at a crazed woman, her eyes bloodshot and drools leaking out of the corner of her mouth as she keptughing and coughing.


    His punch sent the doped up woman crashing into the wall and sheid there unmoving as she was knocked out cold from the punch. A goblin tried to take the chance to slip between the legs of the fighting men and women towards the exit of the house. He crackled happily as he exited the house but there was a sudden growl and he suddenly found himself flying into the air.


    Grey shook the goblin in his jaws wildly, making the goblin puke all over the ce. The disgusted wolf tossed the sick goblin away and stepped away from the flicks of vomits. Several police officers quickly stepped forward and cuffed the dazed goblin while they waited for the action to die inside.


    Bartley saw the situation was under control as the suspects were either dead or cuffed before he followed the rest of the SDU team upstairs. They cleared the rooms, finding several alchemical kits in one room, and boxes of raw herbs and arcaneponents in another. Another three more suspects were apprehended and they were all brought out before hauling them off in a police truck.


    Bartley removed his helmet and bva, feeling the cooling night air. He gave a lovingly rub to Grey who gave a sniff of his sweat soaked uniform and snorted in disgust. Bartley shook his head at the antics of his friend and partner before he joined the rest of the SDU who was listening in to their team leader giving a brief to a group of reporters who god knew when did they appear.


    "We had just broken a drug den!" The SDU team leader was saying. "We arrested nine suspects, seven male and two females. Three are goblins, two Oerkins, the rest are all elves."


    "There is three death among the suspects which can''t be avoided," The team leader continued. "We also found several kilos of the drug called Happy and also the alchemical kits and raw materials needed to manufacture them."


    "This is not only a drug house but also a workshop for making drugs!" The team leader said. "We have yet to find the mastermind, but for every drug den we take out, means lesser people get addicted to this crap that can destroy our society!"


    "That is all I can say for now," The team leader waved away the questions the reporters were trying to get him to answer. "Wait for the official press release! Thank you!"


    The SDU team leader gestures the rest of the team to board the vehicles to return to the station while he came up to Bartley and smiled. "Good work, your buddy helped us tracked them easily."


    Bartley cast a nce at the giant wind wolf that was the same height as him. Grey of one of the pups he had saved and when war came with the Empire, Bartley wanted to do something for the UN. But due to his previous record, the military did not ept him back but yet it was a waste of his skills and abilities.


    Hence, he was instead given an offer to be abat trainer for the police. A yearter, the Special Duties Unit was formed for the police tobat high level crimes like gangs and cults. He brought along the wind wolves to work as police dogs since the cost of raising them was not cheap.


    "But this is not thest bust we will do..." The SDU leader frowned as he watched the FEPD forensics team enter the building to do their work. Theirmotion had also attracted ate night crowd of gawkers as they were awoken by the gunfire and were kept back by several FEPD officers. "We will be counting on your wolves to find the source of all these..."


    Bartley gave a nod as he watched the coroners carry out ck body bags and load them onto the back of their truck. "Yes... we need to stop this..."


    "Let''s go," The team leader said as he boarded the police truck. Bartley nodded and gave a low whistle and Grey hopped on the back of the truck, squeezing in with the SDU team who grumbled good naturally.


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, UN Embassy


    "So what do we know about this drug that has been appearing among the refugees and now in our cities?" Ford asked the images of the two Governors. "How popr is it among the people?"


    The plump face of the Governor of Falledge, Otoro gave a shrug, "We only know there is a mastermind that is controlling the sale and production of this drug, called Happy."


    "My police department has already cracked down six drug dens in the past two weeks," The image of Otoro said. "But they are all small workshops and low level yers. We are still trying to track who is in charge. As for its poprity, it seemed that the disposed nobility seemed to be quite into it so far. Might be due to the street price is not yet easily affordable to the masses."


    "It is not too widespread here yet in Orwell''s Point," The pretty face of Titanna said. "So far, it seemed to be popr among the refugees outside our borders but I don''t see how they can afford that..."


    "Hmmm..." Ford rubbed his chin. "What do you mean refugees outside the borders?"


    "Most of the refugees tried to enter our borders illegally," Titanna rified. "And a lot of them used the drug when they were trying to cross."


    "Did you find anything on their bodies?" Ford asked as he stared at Titanna''s image. "Are they carrying any of the drugs?"


    "No..." Titanna''s image looked down as she referred to her report from the Immigration and Custom. "Other than some personnel belongings, the Customs officers did not found any other things on their bodies after searching."


    "Strange..." Ford frowned and he turned to Otoro''s image. "How about your side? Is it the same with the illegal immigrants?"


    Otoro''s image nodded, "Yes, we found quite a lot of them using the drug but nothing was illegal was found on them."


    "How many refugees on average will make it past the border without being caught?" Ford asked.


    "I said, about a one to two for every hundred caught," Otoro gave an estimation which Titanna nodded in agreement.


    "I think I might know how the drug ising in..." Ford said. "I think they made the refugees swallow sealed packets of the drug in exchange for bringing them to cross our borders!


    "That is why there are so many illegal immigrants high on the drug!"

 Chapter 422: This is Madness!

    Chapter 422: This is Madness!


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, UN Naval Base, Worker Dorms, Canteen


    ire cried as she rushed over to the smiling Professor as he walked into the dining room and hugged him tightly. Professor Hamlot patted her gently, "How are you, child?"


    She sobbed into his clothes and after a while, she calmed down and answered, "I was alone all the time but I am fine..."


    "They did not hurt you?" The Professor asked in concern. "Or ill treated you in any way?"


    ire shook her head, "No... they only kept asking me questions..."


    Professor Hamlot nodded in relief, "It is good that you are unharmed. I wonder how is the other two doing..."


    Just as he finished his sentence, the door of the empty canteen opened and the two boys, Uwen and Berringer came in before the guards closed the door. Berringer, his eyes red, cried out in happiness, "Professor! ire! You all are alright?"


    "Berringer!" ire gave the once plump boy a hug as he ran over to join them. "You are fine too?"


    Berringer nodded enthusiastically, "I wasn''t hurt by these strange people... But they kept asking me questions."


    Uwen walked over and gave a sarcastic smile at ire before taking a seat at one of the long tables. Berringer frowned at Uwen''s behaviour, "Hey Uwen... Aren''t you d to see ire and the Professor?"


    "h!" Uwen sneered. "She got us into this mess in the first ce! Why should I be d?"


    "Now we are in some unknown ce..." Uwen folded his arms. "We don''t even know if we ever be able to return home! Or... even if they will let us live!"


    "We might even be turned into ves," Uwen continued his rant. "I heard some ces even eat the brains of their captives... Well, she might be better off, since they make her into a sex v-"


    "Enough!" Professor Hamlot red at Uwen. "Stop your tantrum, boy!"


    Uwen gave snorted indignantly as he turned away from the Professor. Professor Hamlot sighed and said, "The important thing now is everyone is safe. We will find out what our... saviours and captors want from us soon enough..."


    "We are all in this together..." Professor Hamlot red at Uwen. "We need to stick together or whoever these people are will break us one by one!"


    "Professor, do you know who these people are?" ire asked. "They... seemed to treat us not too badly..."


    "Not too bad?" Uwen snorted as he rolled his eyes. "So what did you do? Spread your legs?"


    A sudden sharp smack surprised everyone in the room. Uwen''s face had a red handprint while ire gripped her hands into fists. She pointed a finger at Uwen''s whose mouth was opened and said, "I had enough of you! Y- you spoiled brat!"


    She raised her hand again to give Uwen another p when Professor Hamlot quickly intervened by grabbing her hand. "That is enough... I think he learnt his lesson..."


    ire sat down with her head lowered and covered her face with her hands. Berringer looked left and right, wondering who should hefort while Uwen had tears forming on his eyes as he massaged his swollen cheek.


    Professor Hamlot turned to Uwen and said sternly, "Boy... You have crossed a line there with your words! I don''t care if you are an Iron Noble''s son! There is something that you should never do or say!"


    "Th- that lowborn bitch d- dared to hit me!" Uwen shook with anger, pain, and humiliation. "I will break you!"


    Professor Hamlot suddenly reached out with surprising strength and gripped the cor of Uwen and pulled him close. "Listen, you stupid boy! This is not the ce nor time for your stupid noble games!"


    "We are all in this together!" Professor Hamlot repeated his earlier words. "She is your ally here in this unknown ce! Do you want to kill us all with your stupidity? Huh?"


    He shoved Uwen back down on his seat and jabbed a boney finger against his chest, "Be a man and do something useful instead of being conceited! The next time this happens again, I will not stop her from beating you up! Do you understand, boy?"


    Uwen turned his ze to the Professor and reluctantly gave a nod. Yet the anger in his eyes did not fade and Professor Hamlot knew that he might give concede now but if they ever return to the Iron Kingdom, he will take revenge on ire. Yet, there is nothing he can do for now as they were all captives in a strange ce.


    Berringer gave a weak smile and hoping to change the tense atmosphere of the room, asked the Professor, "Professor, they questioned me a lot on the geography of ournds and even customs."


    "Did they asked the same of everyone?" Berringer tried to get everyone involved. "They asked me about how we came here and even how our flying ship worked."


    Professor Hamlot nodded, "Yes, I was asked simr questions too. They could be trying to find out our identities."


    "Could this ce be the Loose Confederation?" Berringer asked. "I heard that their understanding of steam works are cruder and lower than the rest of the Seven."


    "I do not know," Professor Hamlot frowned. "But I do know they seemed to speak some sort of archaguage..."


    "Yes..." ire suddenly spoke. She rubbed her face and ignored the hatred look from Uwen and said, "When I first woke up, they spoke in some sort of strangenguage. There were one or two words I think I heard before but... I just can''t ce it."


    "Hmmm..." Professor Hamlot nodded in agreement. "I too seemed to find some of their words familiar..."


    "Of course, you all will find theirnguage familiar," Uwen worked his jaw, wincing in pain. "They are speaking the old tongue. High Elstimar to be exact."


    "Hmmm... yes... Yes!" The Professor bobbed his head in excitement as he thought back to thenguage used. "You are right! Amazing! High Elstimar hasn''t been used for over... a hundred and fifty years!"


    "Wait... this is impossible!" Berringer scratched his head. "Uwen, how can you be so sure they are using High Elstimar?"


    "I''m the son of an Iron Noble," Uwen tilted his head smugly. "I have private tutors who taught me the ancientnguages and history!"


    ire rolled her eyes at Uwen''s words and mumbled under her breath. "And I don''t see you studying so hard in school..."


    "If they truly are speaking High Elstimar..." Berringer''s eyes turned wide. "Could... Could we have gone back in time when we crossed the Sea of Clouds? Is that why ships that entered the Sea of Clouds never returned?"


    "That... might be possible..." Professor Hamlot bobbed his head again as he pondered on the implications. "We might have entered some kind of space magic that carried us to another dimension across time!"


    "How can there be such a thing as time travel?" ire cried out. "This... This is madness!"


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, UN Naval Base, Security


    Lt. Tavorughed as he watched them from behind a camera. "The old guy is pretty smart... Guess that is why he''s a professor. But the kids are hrious. Time travel! Hahaha!"


    "Sir, why are we putting them together?" Lt. Tavor''s aide asked. "If they choose to n to coborate their story...?"


    "No, they are not that smart. We have already questioned them as much as we wanted," Lt. Tavor replied. "The one I want the most to open up is the old man."


    "But..." Lt. Tavor smiled and tapped on the screen of the seated boy. "Now we know who is the weakest link among them. I am sure we can make use of that emo kid somehow..."


    -----


    United Nations, Far Harbor, Naval Docks, Office


    Chief Matt watched his team of engineers, techs and... goblins argue over the set of blueprints. He let them yell at each other for another while more before he banged the table, bringing some order to the room.


    The humans, elves, and goblins stopped their heated argument and stared at Chief Matt who folded his arms at the head of the table as he red at everyone. "This is not a market!"


    "I want ideas!" He growled at his team. "Not arguments!"


    "But Big Chief Boss!" A goblin with a pair of oversized goggles on his bulbous head spoke up in a respectful tone. "Dumb hoomans and elves just wan to put more engines on ships!"


    The goblin''s long pointy ears wobbled wildly as he shook his head, "If water suckeres... ship too small... ship still gets suck into salty water!"


    Chief Matt had to internally trante the goblin''s words, "You are saying unless we build arger ship, it won''t survive the whirlpools?"


    "Yes, Big Chief Boss!" The goblin smiled happily and started to hop on his seat in excitement. "Not just bigger... Many many size bigger!"


    Chief Matt narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the goblins were showing much enthusiasm while the rest of the engineering team groaned. The goblin hopped onto the table top with a roll of paper and spread it in front of Chief Matt. The other goblins ignored the protests from the rest of the team and helped hold down the corners of the blueprints.


    "Looky here!" The goblin with the goggles said as he straightened his back and ced both hands behind his back in an imitation of someone giving a serious talk. He grabbed a long thin stick handed over by another giggling goblin and used it as a pointer as he tapped its point to the drawing on the paper.


    Chief Matt frowned as he looked at the drawings which were surprising drawn quite well. He knew the goblins were quick witted and very dextrous with their hands but he did not know they could draw this well. "Did you all drew this?"


    "Yes! Yes! Yes!" The goblins chanted in a sing song voice. "We dubbed thy The Super Duper Greg!"


    "Oh my god..." The rest of the team moaned and groaned at the goblins who booed them back. "Please stop with the crazy ideas!"


    Chief Matt gave a sigh inwardly, feeling like he was running a ss of kindergarten kids instead of some of the brightest minds in the UN. He toned out the noise and focused on the drawings instead.


    "The Super Duper Greg will have three hulls!" The goggled goblin dered proudly. "One here at each side and one forward! It also has nice... water deck at its butt! We can deploy those fun speedy boats from the butt and butt **** the enemy! Hehehehehee!"


    The corner''s of Chief Matt''s mouth twitched slightly as he controlled his urge tough. He gave a cough to cover his smile and asked, "How much tonnage and what is the size?"


    The goblin raised up two fingers proudly, "Two hundred thousand tons!"


    "What the fuck?" Chief Matts blinked his eyes in shock while the rest of the engineering team shook their heads. "How big you guys are nning this?"


    "Biggest and baddest floating base!" The goblins chanted again before the goblin giving the presentation waved for them to quieten down to allow him to continue his presentation. "Sea too dangerous for anything smaller!"


    "Super Duper Greg designed to ignore bad weather, water suckers, and monsters!" The goblin grinned, showing off his surprisingly white sharp teeth. He tapped his pointer to one spot on the drawing and said. "God killing cannon can be ced here too so that Super Duper Greg can kill Gods!"


    "This... This is madness..." Chief Matt whispered as he looked at the ns which were basically a giant floating city with everything from runways to barracks, to even shopping malls, judging by the big red arrows and text pointing here and there. There was even a supposed figurehead of the goblin Greg at the pow.


    "Madness?" The goblinsughed and they chorused together.


    "THIS IS SUPER GREG! WAKAKAKAKAA!"

 Chapter 423: Hope

    Chapter 423: Hope


    United Nations, Haven


    The market square was packed with shoppers and roadside stores. Everywhere people were buying food or browsing wares at the stalls. Hitsu gave a disgruntled sigh as he carried several paper bags of stuff purchased by Billie who now looked so different from her tomboyish look after she had grown her hair long.


    "Look!" Billie excitedly tugged Hitsu''s arm as she dragged him towards another stall selling some grilled skewers. She happily sniffed the aromantic grilled meat and pointed to the skewers she wanted. "I want four wyvern, four muffalo, and two cheese potatoes!"


    Hitsu shook his head in defeat, wondering how much more can she eat and shop. He found an empty bench and ced all the shopping down on the side and waited for Billie and her friends. He shouldn''t have agreed to her request to go out. He thought it will be a date, but it turned out he was asked to be a porter for Billie and her friends.


    "Didn''t you hear that the ship carrying our Princess was sunk?"


    "What? Seriously?"


    "Yes! That is why we haven''t seen the Princess for over two weeks! And even our Lord ke is missing... No one has seen him for some time!"


    "Wow? How did you know?"


    "I heard it from a cousin of mine who has a cousin living in the Isles. His cousin''s friend has a friend working as a sailor in the Isles'' Fleet..."


    Hitsu was lounging away when he heard the people behind him talking about Captain ke and the Princess. He remained in his rxed pose but he focused on the conversation behind him, wondering how did this news had gotten leaked out.


    As a member of the Hundred and First Arcane Tactics and Intervention, he was privy to certain top secret information. One of them was the missing Princess and Captain ke on medical leave. The Hundred and First had been briefed on the situation and today was actually Hitsu''sst day off before he has to report back to camp to prepare for the rescue mission.


    "No... I heard that the Princess was kidnapped by others!"


    "Really?"


    "So is she dead or a prisoner?"


    "Are we going to have another war?"


    "Hey!" Hitsu jumped as Billie suddenly appeared in his face. She straightened up and frowned at the weird expression on Hitsu''s face. "Are you... thinking of something inappropriate?"


    "Huh?" Hitsu blinked his eyes in confused and seeing the disgusted looked on Billie and her friends, he tried to exin. "Wait... No! What are you talking about?"


    "You must be sneaking looks at girls and thinking lewd things!" Billie backed off from Hitsu, holding up the meat skewers like some kind of talisman. "Pervert!"


    "What? No! Wait!"


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, UN Naval Base


    Commander Ford looked at the ns and proposal of the goblins'' crazy idea of a massive carrier/floating base. He shook his head, "This project will empty our treasury..."


    "Not really..." Chief Matt grinned. "True be, I was sceptic at first, but after considering the design, it could work. But we need time."


    "But the cost, materials, and man hours needed for this project..." Ford pushed the ns away from him. "Impossible."


    "Commander," Chief Matt pushed the ns back in front of Ford. "Listen to my proposal first before deciding, okay?"


    "Make it quick," Commander Ford gave in and nodded. "You got ten minutes to convince me."


    "First, we don''t have to worry aboutbour," Chief Matt said. "We got a small army of refugees at our border willing to work as long they have enough to eat. We can settle them along the coastal region, have them build up a new shipyard and city."


    "It will boost our shipbuilding capabilities in the long run and also create jobs for thousands of people," Chief Matt said. "Next, it will reduce the pressure on Customs and the Police with the reduction of refugees at our borders, especially now that we know the source of those drugs are being carried illegally across our borders by the refugees."


    "As for food, with canning factories being set up now," Chief Matt pointed out. "In another two months, we can expect our food supplies to increase by 50% if not double. And we do need workers for those factories too and the new fishing industries."


    "And the construction for the floating base," Chief Matt said. "Since we n to be usingbour drawn from the refugees, we can even use women to help construct it. It will built in several stages and parts and assembled together once everything is ready."


    "You want to build a ship that is over 600 meters in length with a beam of 440 meters..." Ford shook head his head. "You know that is almost the size of a Zeus ss space battle carrier..."


    Chief Matt grinned, "Yea... I know. But... hell... we are in a fucked up world with fucking magic! We can even use magic to help solve some construction issues. So why not something the size of fucking battle carrier?"


    "Crew size? Support? Power?" Ford asked. "How are we gonna crew and support such a beast?"


    "We will make it self sufficient," Chief Matt replied. "Hydroponics and indoor farms for food. We got desalination nts for water. For the crew, we will definitely need to recruit more."


    "As for power, I nning on stripping our W.T.S generators and installing them onboard," Chief Matt said. "The boys wille out with a hybrid engine that uses electricity generated by the Wind Tide and Sr generators and the new fuel oil being produced now."


    "It will have three hulls, each hull will have its own set of three propulsion screws, which allows us to have redundancy should any engine fails," Chief Matt said. "It will not be fast and probably a bitch to change directions. Hence, I will also install the still functioningpressed air thrusters from the Singapore to aid in manoeuvring, I will convert them into water jet thrusters."


    "Due to its trimaran design, it will be faster than monohulls, and with its wider beam, the ship will also be more stable in strong weather," exined Chief Matt. "And it does not require to have any bast to bnce the ship. To prevent sinking from damages, we will have water tight bulkheads should prevent sinking if the hulls fail."


    "I am also going to strip out most of the UNS Singapore''s capacitors and install them onboard," Chief Matt added. "Also it will have fabricators, mini factories to a dry dock for day to day items, maintenance parts, ammunition production, and small ship repairs."


    "Howrge a crew are we talking about?" Ford asked.


    "I am thinking around seven thousand," Chief Matt said. "Not including, the Marines, the aircrew, and the crew of the parasite ships we nned to have onboard."


    "Seven thousand?" Ford gasped. "You know that roughly the total number of the entire UN Navy now, including the clerks and administrators!"


    "Well... we got time to do recruitment and training while the ship is being constructed..." Chief Matt grinned. "Didn''t the Navy budget got increased?"


    "Even if the budget for the Navy has gone up, doesn''t mean we have to burn it away on some... super project!" Ford grumbled. "This is like putting all your eggs in one basket... If the basket drops..."


    Chief Matt gave a shrug. "Well... you did ask for ideas..."


    "Oh... Fu-" Ford rolled his eyes. "Nevermind... just... continue..."


    "The Marines will have enough space for an entire battalion and all their support weapons and vehicles," Chief Matted grinned. "Which includes the spider tanks."


    "It will have enough hangar space for six squadrons of Super Cobras or Vipers, a single squadron of attack helicopters, two squadrons of heavy lifters and four C - 1 Sky Freighters," Chief Matt tapped on the drawings. "At the well deck, it will have enough berth space for either three Goblin ss corvettes and ten mosquito boats or four transports."


    "For defensive weapons, it will have the usual arrays of 20 mm or 50 caliber point defence turrets," Chief continued. "For offence power, we have the 3" guns as secondaries and the newly developed 8" guns for the main guns."


    "And... the goblins proposed that we put the railgun right in the middle of the ship," Chief Mattughed. "In case we need to kill a god or two."


    "Seriously?" Ford shook his head in defeat and asked, "You really think this will work?"


    "Either this or we can find some way to acquire arge of those Aetherium," Chief Matt stated. "Going over by air is far less risker than by sea. But the goblins did get one thing right... If it''s big enough... nothing else matters..."


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, UN Naval Base, Officer Quarters


    Dr. Sharon removed the blood pressure cuff from ke''s arm and shook her head. "You need to stop drinking!"


    "How did you still get alcohol when I had cleared every bottle away!" Dr. Sharon scolded ke who ignored her. "I have given word to everyone to stop providing you with any drink!"


    "Your blood pressure is 160 / 110!" Dr. Sharon sighed. "Did you even take your medication?"


    "I will like more sleeping pills," ke mumbled. "Can''t sleep."


    "No!" Dr. Sharon snapped. "You have been taking too much of those! You need to stop drinking, for god''s sake, Captain!"


    "If you don''t take your blood pressure meds," Dr. Sharon cautioned in a stern tone. "You sooner orter will get a stroke! Even dumping you in the tank will not heal you back!"


    ke nodded in silence, and Dr. Sharon sighed before speaking in a softer tone. "Richard, please! She won''t want to see you in this manner!"


    "She... won''t..." ke whispered. "She... They are gone... It''s more the two weeks... We won''t be able to catch up with her anymore..."


    "You need to give people time to find a solution to save them!" Dr. Sharon patted ke''s hand. "Ford, Tavor, Matt and everyone else is working their hardest to find a way to get to her and bring her back safely."


    "You need to keep yourself together," Dr. Sharonforted ke. "I know its hard... but... everyone is counting on you..."


    ke let out a deep tired breath and closed his eyes. "I''m tired... There''s constantly always a crisis popping up one after another. We solved one, and another pops up and in doing so, people die."


    "She... she was the support that I needed," ke whispered. "She kept me sane and going. I wanted to build a better world for her, but... It feels like the gods are ying us."


    "Or is it karma?" ke asked. "Many have died under mymand and many others have died by mymand..."


    He opened his eyes and gripped Dr. Sharon''s arm. "There are magic and gods in this world, right? Is it because of my karma that she has to bear all my consequences?"


    Dr. Sharon shook her head, "No! You can''t think of it this way!"


    ke stared deeply into Dr. Sharon''s eyes and he slumped back down. "You don''t even believe in your own words... This must be my fate..."


    "Richard..." Dr. Sharon sighed, looking at the despair in ke''s eyes. "Do not give up. She is still waiting for you!"


    "How do we know if she and my child are even alive?" ke whispered as he stared blindly to the ceiling. "For all, we know they might have perished inside the End Zone..."


    Dr. Sharon felt sad for the Captain. She dug into her doctor''s bag and removed a syringe of tranqshot and pressed the needle against ke''s arm and released the chemicals into his bloodstream.


    She watched ke''s eyelids flutter before closing as he slowly drifted off into a drug induced sleep. She leaned over and whispered into his ear. "Richard, you need to have hope... Just like we all ced our hope on you when we first crashed here."


    "Hold on to that hope, and I am sure Sherene is hoping for you save her and your child..."

 Chapter 424: Commitments

    Chapter 424: Commitments


    UN, Haven, Botanical Gardens


    Cheers and apuse followed the smiling couple as they walked down the carpet of flower petals. Two wind wolves howled in unison as theypeted with the roaring of two dragons trying to outdo each other in their way of cheering. James Bone, ex Marine and now a Major with the newly established UN Army held on to his just wedded wife, Kristine Bone.


    He wore his uniform with all his medals in disy and waved at his friends while his wife dressed in an ivory white dress clutched a bouquet of flowers. Her tummy slightly bugling can be seen under the flowing dress as she threw the bouquet of flowers over her head, a traditional custom hailing from their home.


    "Congrats!" Mills shook his previous section leader''s hand and gave a hug to Kristine before he stepped back and grinned at Kristine''s condition and shook his head at James. "Damn... you dog! How many months?"


    Bartley also gave James his congrattions and a hug to Kristine too while his two wind wolves, Grey, wearing a bow tie and Sasha, wearing a floral ne,id down next to the couple, gnawing away at a giant muffalo thigh bone.


    "Two months," Kristine giggled at the expression on her husband''s face. "I took off my birth imnts... since I wanted him to settle down! Hehe! Nah... its a joke! He didn''t know about me being pregnant when he proposed! It was double surprise for him! Hehehe!"


    "Oh... man! Good for you!" Millsughed at James''s expense. "You finally found a woman to lock you down!"


    James rolled his eyes at Mills''s antics and poked a finger at his chest. "How about you?"


    He jerked his head to the group ofdies ying around with the bouquet of flowers. "When are you nning to get hitched too?"


    "Ehh..." Mills scratched his head and put on a confused expression and looked at Bartley for help. "What? Who?"


    "Tsk..." Kristine shook his head at Mills''s act. "You can''t keep ady waiting for so long! They are not the elves in our fantasy novels or games! Their life span is the same as us! If you are not going tomit to a rtionship, then do not waste the other''s time and youth!"


    "Ahh..." Mills who was chided, gave a sigh and said. "I know... but... I just do not know how to... propose to her..."


    "MEN!" Kristine rolled her eyes like her husband. "You can brave bullets and monsters but the thought of proposing to a girl you like turns you into a coward! Oh, my gods..."


    "Hahahha!" Mills gave an embarrassedugh. "So how did James proposed to you?"


    "Yes yes!" A low rumbling voice came from overhead, followed by a shadow blocking out the sun. Blue Thunder leaned over, his breath had a hint of sour cheese. He blinked his dinner te sized eyes rapidly in anticipation of James answer. "Tell meee!"


    Kristine giggled when she saw her husband''s face turning red at the question. She reached up and patted the snout of Blue Thunder and said, "Well... He brought me to a fancy restaurant..."


    "Oooo!" Blue Thunder thumped his tail excitedly, making the two wind wolves growl in irritation. "Woops sorry! Anyway... Are there candles? A violinist? Or a pianist in the background? Flowers?"


    Blue Thunder''s eyes were like glittering and he had his tongue sticking out from the side of his jaws in excitement, looking like some kind of gossip reporter. Mills sighed in disappointment at the look of the dragon and whispered to Bartley. "Damn... My ideal impression of dragons has just done and gone down the crapper..."


    James cleared his throat and said, "Erm... Mrs. Bone... Why not you entertain the dragons... while I entertain the guys?"


    "Ha!" Mills grinned evilly at James. "Trying to get out of this eh?"


    James glowered at Mills and lightly dusted his shoulder tabs, "Why... there''s dust on my MAJOR rank..."


    "Oooh!" Mills nced at his own uniform rank tabs where he had only the two bars of a full lieutenant. "So you wanna y rank now..."


    "Come on, Lieutenant!" James grabbed Mills and Bartley and dragged them off. "I will be right back honey!"


    "Hehehe!" Kristine shook her head at the antics of James and his friends before she turned to impatient Blue Thunder. "Now... where were we?"


    -----


    "Cheers!" James and the rest raised their mugs. "Congrats on the wedding and your child!"


    "CHEERS!"


    "Didn''t expect you to get married and have a kid at the same time," Mills said as he ced his mug of beer down. "Time... really goes by fast..."


    "Yes..." Bartley mumbled in his mug. "Three years already."


    "Yea..." James nodded in agreement. "I am already thinking of this ce... as... home..."


    Bartley nodded as well. "Here... is a good ce. Good people, goodnd and air."


    Mills shook his head in disagreement. "Hell... no! I still want to return to earth! Powered toilets, twenty four seven temperature controls, VR entertainment... and the food! God... I missed food from Earth! Even from a slum in the big apple!"


    "What about Titanna?" Bartley asked. "Are you going to leave her?"


    "I- I probably will bring her back with me..." Mills hesitatedly said. "Hell... I don''t know!"


    "Hey... This ce isn''t like back home," James frowned at Mill''s words. "They don''t have our ideas and cultures of having flings or short term rtionships."


    "She is a good woman," Bartley added. "Shame for her to meet you."


    "What?" Mills red at Bartley who gave a shrug. "Arghh..."


    James looked over to where his wife was entertaining the dragons and the womenfolk with their romance story, including the subject of their topic, Titanna. "Just tell her you love her and marry her."


    "And have kids," Bartley added. "Many kids."


    "You think making kids is like growing fruits?" Mills rolled his eyes at Bartley. "Besides, from what the Doc has said, us Humans and Elves have a much much lower chance of fertility in making babies."


    Bartley raised an eyebrow at Mills''s word. "Really? That''s sad..."


    Mills sighed, "I guess that is why the Captain..."


    "Shhh..." James hissed angrily at Mills. "Fucking hell, Mills! You are in public!"


    "Oh..." Mills grimaced before he turned to Bartley. "Forget what I just said."


    "Hmmm... Okay..." Bartley nodded stoically.


    "Mills!" Titanna suddenly appeared beside Mills, clutching a bouquet of flowers. "I just learnt something interesting about the bride!"


    "They say that if you caught the bouquet of flowers thrown from the bride, you will be next to get married?" Titanna blushed when finished her sentence.


    "Oh... fuck..."


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, UN Naval Base


    Commander Ford was tired, he was not only running the Navy but also the work from Captain ke, managing the entire affairs of the UN. He picked up the proposal from Naval Intel regarding the ns to secure the probe over the''s orbit.


    He flipped through the documents, seeing the costs, time, and resource projection before closing the folder. Captain ke''s staff had filtered as much as possible before sending the important stuff over for him to oversee but still he was overworked.


    The idea of a supercarrier proposed by the goblins keeps nagging him at the back of his head, making him unable to concentrate on his work. He admitted that it will be awesome if something the concept works, but he was worried that if all the time, money, and resources weremitted to this project and it failed, all the efforts will have gone down the drain and also the lives of thousands of men and women on board the ship.


    He knew that on Earth, no one ever designed something of that size despite being able to since there was no need for such a behemoth. As to service should a behemoth will require dock facilities and portsrge enough to be able to amodate its size. Which meant before the unification of Earth, having such a ship will require the countries'' allies to upgrade their naval facilities which no country will be willing to do so and furthermore, ships of such sizes will not be able to past through canals and certain straits.


    Hence, wet navies on Earth tend to be designed up to a certain size, to amodate passage through canals and usage of port facilities. And of course, with the constant threat of guided missiles and nukes, such a behemoth was just a big juicy target.


    "But here..." Ford mumbled to himself as he reread the report of the ''Super Duper Greg Ship'' or SDGS as the goblins been calling it. "It might be feasible."


    First, there was no missile tech. Even if they had some kind of rocketry or meteor spell, the six month old AEGIS defence project being developed as a shield againstrge projectiles and flying creatures was bearing fruit.


    The R & D team had taken apart the point defence turrets of the UNS Singapore to study and reproduce them. They had managed to do so, but with lower quality materials since the UN has not yet able to produce certain high tech materials for the unforeseen future.


    The prototype Close In Weapon System runs on a dual gun system. Each gun had a six barrel 20 mm gatling cannon powered by an electric motor. It could fire at 2,000 rounds per minute, enabling it to destroy any rapid approaching projectiles or even slow flying monsters, designated by radar or manual controls. It was lucky they had the point defence turrets to study and copy from, if not they would have taken years just to even develop the coding andplex machinery and parts to run the CIWS.


    Ford thought of the next advantage of the supercarrier concept, and that was the inability to support a fleet over the End Zone. The End Zone was still a mass of question marks and dangers. If they send a fleet in and somehow they luckily crossed the End Zone, who knows how vast the distances will be. Which means, they need an exploration ship with the ability to be self sufficient, which means they will need a lot of hull space for supplies and fuel, just like a spaceship.


    But instead of having oxygen recyclers, they will need food and water for the crew and having them all on board the same ship saves a lot of logistic headachespared to have dedicated supply ships. Supply ships can be sunk and simrly the supercarrier, but it does not matter if either were sunk since whoever survived will still be alone and out of supply or protectionter on.


    Ford was worried about the rumours of giant whirlpools and water spurts. But after thinking about it, he wondered if there was a whirlpool that wasrge enough to suck in a two hundred thousand ton ship. Maybe just to be safe, they should make a three hundred thousand ton ship instead?


    "Oh my god..." Ford stood up and stretched himself in the office. "I am getting badly influenced by this!"


    "Oh what the hell..." Ford sighed. "Let''s do this... We don''t have any other ideas to explore either, it''s better to do something than nothing!"


    He picked up the desk phone and dialled to his Naval HR office, "I want HR to open up recruitment for the Navy."


    "Yes... Sailors, techs, mechanics," Ford replied to the HR person on the other side. "Cut off numbers for recruits?"


    "Hmmm..." Ford nced at the SDGS report. "Sev- No... Ten thousand."


    "Yes... you heard me right," Ford repeated to the confused HR person over the phone. "I am looking to recruit ten thousand new naval personnel forbat roles!"


    After answering a few more details from HR, Ford ended the call and returned the phone back to its cradle. He dug out his budget reports and sighed, needing to amend the year end report now that he started mass recruitment.


    "There goes my naval budget for next year..."

 Chapter 425: Adventurers Inc.

    Chapter 425: Adventurers'' Inc.


    UN, Sea Cliff Mining and Dungeon Town


    "Whahahahahahaa!" Boisterous boomingughter greeted Justze and Ciel as they entered the huge barn''s side door. They saw a small group of men and women gathered around a corner of therge barn, seated around a table on sofas and drinking away merrily.


    Justze swept his eyes over the interior of the barn, seeing the centre of the barn was filled with three magic wagons, called ''kars'' in the hoomans''nguage. One was them was almost twice the size of the rest of the ''kars'' and hadrge tes of steel bolted around its sides. Tools and various metal parts were stacked and piled on one corner while a small windowed enclosed room sat on another corner of the barn.


    The people drinking away finally noticed the two neers and one of them approached Justze and Ciel at the door. "Hello! Can I help you two?"


    Justze realised that the person speaking to them had a skin tone of that of charcoal and it was not the trick of the light and shadows. He next noticed that the dark skinned man''s white teeth smiling at him and Ciel and that he was a hooman, due to his short rounded ears.


    "I- I am Justze!" Justze introduced himself. "And this is Ciel, my partner."


    "Hello, Justze and Ciel," The dark skinned man remained smiling and stretched his hand which Justze and Ciel learnt that shaking hands was a sign of friendship among the people of the UN. "I am Karl, Karl Freeman. Boss and leader of the Adventurers Inc."


    "So, what brings you here? Business or?" Karl gestured the two to follow him into the side room where several work desks and stacks of cabs upied the room. He closed the door and the outside sounds were damped away and gestured to Justze and Ciel to sit down.


    "Ahem... We saw your recruitment ad..." Justze said. "We like to work for you."


    Karl''s rosed an eyebrow at Justze''s words. He carefully observed the young man and girl, seeing their neat, but over worn clothes, and slim bodies. He shook his head, "I am sorry, we do not hire children."


    "But we are over eighteen!" Justze and Ciel both pped their ID cards on the desk before Karl who chuckled at their actions. "W- We are legally able to work under thews of the UN!"


    Karl picked up their ID cards and took a quick nce over them before he returned it back. "Tell me, why do you wish to join mypany?"


    "W- We saw your ad looking to recruit anyone that enjoys adventuring and knows how to fight..." Karl replied. "We know magic and are proficient in swords and bows too! And we... we used to be with the Imperial Army..."


    "Do you know what mypany... Adventurers Inc. really does?" Karl asked again.


    "Erm..." Both Justze and Ciel was confused by the question. "Kill monsters?"


    "We do kill monsters," Karl shook his head. "But that is not the true operations of mypany. We are mercenaries..."


    "And not just any normal mercenaries..." Karl said. "We get paid to venture into the unknown regions... Paid to protect goods or merchants that need to cross dangerous territories filled with monsters... Or paid to explore dungeons..."


    "This is our job scope..." Karl replied and he stood up and opened the door of the office. "Mypany dues with death every single time we go on a mission. This is not a ce for ying and kids! My advice to you if you really need a job is to go find one at the Employment Office in the town hall. I am sure they have something suitable for you."


    "Wait!" Ciel cried out. "We can help yourpany be stronger!"


    "Stronger?" Karl frowned. "And how will you do that?"


    "W- We are Elementalists!" Ciel said. "I am a Fire Elementalist and he is an Earth Elementalist!"


    Karl''s gave a grudging nod, "Now that might change my mind on hiring you... But how can that help me and mypany be stronger?"


    "Show him!" Ciel whispered to Justze, urging him from behind. "Go on!"


    Justze gestured to the pile of scrap metal parts and asked, "Can I use those?"


    Karl took a look at the parts before he nodded, "Sure... Go ahead, wow me!"


    Justze dug into his side pouch and took out a piece of chalk mixed with arcaneponents. He started drawingplex runes and diagrams on the concrete floor while Ciel picked through the scrap metal. Their actions soon drew the attention of the rest as they crowded around Karl, sipping their mugs and watching the show.


    "Say, Boss," Arge muscr elf with a bald shiny head asked. "What are they doing?"


    Karl gave a shrug and ced a finger on his lips to hush the rest. "Watch and stay quiet for now."


    Ciel finally gathered what she wanted, had set the small pile of scrap before her and she too started to draw aplex runic diagram but at a much much smaller scalepared to Justze. She finished her magic formation while Justze was still working on his and she waited till Justze finished and gave her a nod.


    Ciel took out a couple of small fiery red mana stones from her pouch, it was thest of their stores and she only briefly hesitated, before she ced them on the formation nodes, and sending in her own mana to power the spell.


    The scrap metal pile inside Ciel''s magic formation started smoking before the metal glowed red hot and Karl and his men watching at the side could feel waves of heating from the spell. Ciel gave a grimace as she injected more of her mana into the formation and the glowing metal bubbled and melted into a small puddle.


    She stopped injecting her mana to support the magic formation and instead, she quickly grabbed a shovel from the tools and scooped up the puddle of molten iron and dripped it onto the centre of Justze''s magic formation.


    The molten iron hissed as it spattered on the concrete, burning the surface and like Ciel, Justze had ced thest of his yellow green mana stones on his formation nodes. He injected his mana into the formation and puddle of molten iron seemed toe alive as it shivered on the surface of the floor.


    Slowly a small thin skeletal form was being sculpted by invisible waves of magical energy. Ciel holding on to the shovel went out of the barn and came back with arge scoop of soil. She dumped the soil inside the centre of the formation and sat down on the floor wiping her perspiration away while she caught her strength back.


    The iron skeletal form finally waspleted and Justze channelled his magic to the soil dumped by Ciel. The earth crawled its way towards the iron skeleton and hardened, turning it into a golem made of metal and earth.


    Finishing the golem, Justze fell back on his buttocks as his legs gave way to a spasm of weakness. Ciel hurriedly came over and helped him steady himself while he wiped his sweat away and proudly presented the golem to Karl and the rest. "We can make golems... This will strengthen yourpany!"


    Karl blinked his eyes in astonishment. He scratched his crew cut hair and nced speechlessly at the rest of his people who were also looking astonished at the golem before them. "Is that... thing a golem?"


    "WAHAHAHAHAAA!" Everyone suddenly burst outughing, much to the confusion and anger of Justze and Ciel. "HAHAHAAHA! This is a golem? HAHahahaha!"


    Justze ground his teeth hard and injected his magic into the golem who started approaching theughing crowd aggressively. "I shall show you what it can do!"


    Therge muscr elf held his belly as heughed the hardest. His mug of beer was sipping all over the floor as he shook uncontroble fromughter. "Oh, gods! A golem! This tiny little wee thing is a golem!"


    Justze''s golem marched up to the muscr elf and it only reached the height of his knees. The othersughed harder at the heightparison between the golem and the muscr elf and even Karl chuckled andughed.


    "It... cause we arecking materials and time!" Justze''s face turned red from embarrassment and anger. "You... Take that!"


    The tiny golem swung its fists and punched the shin of the muscr elf who continued tough and howl with pain at the same time. "Oh, my gods! It''s so cute and funny that it hurts! Hahahhahahaahaha! Help me! Hahahahahaha!"


    "Alright! Leon... Enoughughing already!" Karl had a smile remaining on his face as told off sternly at the muscr elf who was stillughing and rolling on the floor while the tiny golem was mounted on him and trying to punch him without any effect. "You too, boy! We seen enough."


    "Come... into my office," Karl sighed. "And the rest of you, clean the ce up!"


    "You two..." Karl shook his head at the two youngsters as they came into the office with the tiny golem at tow. "I really do not know why you are so desperately wanting to take such a dangerous job."


    Justze was able to open his mouth when Karl shot a palm up to stop him. "I don''t need to know your personnel reasons. Been able to create a golem... no matter how small... or big it is... Is already full marks in my book."


    "There are probably just a few Elementalists in the UN that can be counted in one hand or maybe even less that can make golems..." Karl said. "You could get a job with the government but as I said, I don''t need to know your reasons for wanting to join us here."


    "Three months probation for all neers," Karl opened a drawer and drew out two sheets of paper. "You will get basic pay per week and bonuses for each mission you take andplete."


    "Food and lodging are not provided, but we do have bunks here if you don''t mind cramped and shared spaces," Karl continued. "We will not take any liabilities in the events of you getting killed, maimed, or wounded during work and will only cover basic hospitalization and doctor fees."


    "If you are alright with the terms of the contract," Karl tapped on the paper. "Write down your particrs and sign at the dotted line... here."


    Justze and Ciel looked at each other before nodding and they filled in the form before signing. "Great when do we start?"


    "Tomorrow?" Karl replied. "Get some rest... You two look like shit after having a baby."


    "A.. b- baby?" Ciel stammered in confusion and embarrassment. She covered her face shyly. "We did not such things!"


    Karlughed and gestured to the golem. "I meant that... baby! Hahahaha! Kids!"


    "Oh!" Justze and Ciel''s expressions both turned even a deep shade of red. "Ahh..."


    "Alright! Get out of here and go get some rest!" Karl grinned at the two. "I will see you two tomorrow morning at eight in the morning!"


    "Hahahaha!" Karlughed again at the departing backs of the two embarrassed youngsters. "It''s good to be young!"


    Once the two had left, Karl was left alone in his office. His smiling expression slowly changed to a frown as he looked through the filled particrs. "Two Elementalists from the Empire?"


    He tapped his finger on the forms and read the name, "Justze Von Aston... Why does this name sounds so familiar... I wonder where did I hear this before..."


    "Interesting..." Karl rubbed his chin. "I shall need to make a call to my ex colleagues... Maybe they know something about these two..."


    Karl rubbed his aching knee, where he had once taken an arrow, courtesy of a goblin''s arrow. "Damn... I wonder if my wedding present to James and Kristine had reached them. I hope they won''t be pissed at me for missing their wedding..."

 Chapter 426: To Heaven and Hell!

    Chapter 426: To Heaven and Hell!


    UN, Haven, Research and Development Lab


    Junker the goblin who was once known as Poky the Weakest, before discovering the wonders of the Machine Gods, was now grumbling to himself as he scribbled madly on a sheet of paper. The glow of the wonderful ever brightmps cast an orangey glow over his work desk as he continued to ponder on his designs even after working hours.


    He had changed his name from Poky the Weakest, being physically weakest among his brothers and sisters and when he joined the UN, he changed his name to Junker as he was always fascinated by junk. He was given a job as a technical designer after impressing the recruiters with his ideas at this super duper ultra top secret facility that he was even given a magical geass that prevented him from talking about his work outside.


    The other goblins loved to show off during their mad karaoke and jamming sessions about their work that they do involving machinery while he had to silently endure theughter when he said he worked in a constructionpany as some lowly draftsman making copies and drawings of buildings as his cover story.


    He bobbed his head to the tune AC/DC being yed over the pair of headphones that squeezed his ears t against his skull. His feet kicking to the beat of Thunderstruck as he paused every now and then to perform some imaginary air drumming.


    "Hey, Junker?" A short hooman wearing a pair of sses called over to Junker from behind, making him paused at his work. "What are you still working on at this time?"


    Seeing the goblin not responding to his call, the hooman reached out and tapped the goblin busy imitating some air guitar poses. "Junker?"


    "Oh..." Junker hopped off the tall stool in surprise and yanked off his headphones before he threw an awkward looking salute which was copied from soldiers, which he thought was really cool, better than prostrating at the smelly feet of some hobgoblin. "Hiya, Boss Co-e-chi!"


    Hideo Koichi, once just a lowly ranked naval hand, now the Director for the technical and design team in charge of making new weapons to day to day items, smiled at the way the goblin pronounced his name. "It''s already dark outside. Why have you not returned home?"


    Junker looked at the mad scribbles on his drafting table and Junker gave a big grin. "Me working on idea to go into the heavens!"


    "Well... Isn''t that project under another team?" Koichi frowned. "Why are you wasting your time on it?"


    Junker shook his head, "No waste time! Me spend off time to do!"


    "Other team makes dumb ideas! Junker has the ultimate idea!" He excitedly hopped back on to his tall stool and wiggled his backside till he wasfortable and gestured to his drawings. "Lookee here!"


    "We got some of those flying crystals yes?" Junker asked and did not wait for a reply. "We can use those to lift rocket up to high high beforeunch directly to heaven!"


    "Launch from the ground too wasteful!" Junker said while ticking his long knobby fingers. "Need more fuel and engines to lift off! More fuel and engines mean more weight means need more fuel and more weight and more fuel! Wasteful!"


    "And more fuel means more chance to go boom!" Junker shook his head before he rubbed his chin in thought and mumbled to himself while giggling. "Wait... that makes a nice big boom... ooohhhohoho!"


    Koichi rapped his knuckle on the desk to bring Junker out of his day dream. "Go on..."


    "We can bring rocket up as high as we can with air crystals or big flying machine before shooting the engines!" Junker quickly exined while rubbing his hands in excitement. "Means less weight and less fuel and less distance to travel!"


    "An air to orbitunch?" Koichi rubbed his chin in thought as the goblin''s design made some sense. "Interesting... Go on."


    -----


    UN, Sea Cliff Mining and Dungeon Town, Adventurers'' Inc. Hangar


    Karl ced the phone back on its cradle and stood at the window of his office, looking out at his motley crew who were working on the maintenance of thepany''s armoured vehicles and their personnel weapons.


    Histest two new employees were sweeping and cleaning a corner of the hangar which when Karl had discharged from the Navy, he bought the hangar to set up his own start up idea of dungeoning and exploration.


    He created Adventurers'' Inc. anpany that takes contracts from the government to explore and map out the dungeon and even the surrounding regions of the Uncharted Forest since the military has their hands full against the Imperials.


    Sometimes he even has a few private contracts from merchants to escort their goods or even provide bodyguard services. In other words, he turned into a mercenary and created a privatisedpany that was almost simr to a Guild.


    He had pitched his idea of having a privatised ormercial entity to handle explorations of dangerous territory to the government and they finally gave him permission to do so when there was ack of manpower to handle these matters due to the Imperials.


    With permission to privatize exploration, Karl pushed for more benefits, like having the license to own and purchase firearms, ammunition, and even military grade equipment. Next, he started recruitment among the poption, with the minimum criteria of either being a soldier or adventurer before.


    Now, he has four teams of ex adventurers and soldiers working for him. With the addition of the two neers, he could form a fifth team which will allow him more flexibility toplete hispany''s contracted works.


    He looked at the boy sweeping the ground with an unhappy expression and thought back to the phone call previously he had. "A Von Aston eh?"


    No wonder he felt the boy''s name was familiar as he shared the same family name as their only Earth Elementalist that was working for the UN. The ''Witch'' as they called her and she was pretty famous once in Sea Cliff before it boomed into a town.


    Either he was a younger brother or rtive, judging from the same family name, and he must be here to find the Witch. Karl headed to the door of his office and said to himself, "I need to keep an eye on him, whether if he means harm to the Witch or for some other reason..."


    "Leon!" Karl yelled loudly out of his office door. "Need to speak with you now!"


    Leon, the bald and muscr elf, grunted as he stacked the barbell he was lifting back to its resting spot and wiped the sweat off his face and body before entering the office. "What you needed, boss?"


    "Sit down," Karl replied as he pulled out four documents. "I am forming a new team. You will be the leader of Team Five."


    Leon whistled appreciatively as he leaned forward to pick up the dossiers to read. "Can I choose my teammates?"


    "Nope..." Karl shook his head. "But I am giving you Kat and Yill. So you got a sniper and a healer in your team. But you will have the two newbies under your wing."


    "Wait... you want me to babysit the two kids?" Leon frowned as his carefully groomed moustache twitched. "Damnnit, I am a knight and soldier! Not a babysitter!"


    "I know," Karl replied calmly at Leon''s outburst. Leon''s temperament was generally very easy going but if he got angry, he changes to another personality. "You are good with kids and teaching since you used to teach the sons of nobles right?"


    "Yes, but that was in the past!" Leon grumbled. "I don''t want to look after kids now!"


    "Well, whether you are happy or not about this decision," Karl ignored Leon''sints. "I am putting you in charge of them."


    "Teach them the ropes," Karl ordered. "And watch them closely..."


    "Aww... Boss..." Leon sighed, his temper deted. "Do I really have to?"


    "Yes," Karl repeated. "Go and gather your new team. Get everyone to work together. I will have a mission for you when your team is ready."


    "Shit!" Leon sighed. "I need the extra money!"


    "Then you better teach them fast!" Karl grinned. "Or you won''t get a contract..."


    "Shit!" Leon cursed again before he stomped out of the office.


    Karl watched Leon yelling the names of his new teammates from the window and smiled, knowing that despite Leon''s unwilling expression, he will still do his best to teach the two kids on how to survive. Karl returned back to his desk and started to sort out his contracts.


    "Looks like its able time to explore all the way down to the final level of the dungeon!"


    -----


    "KAT! YILL! CIEL! AND JUSTZE!" Leon yelled in a voice worthy of a parade sergeant. "Front and centre!"


    Leon was once a Knight of Silver serving under the Rothschild''s household. After the war with the so called barbarians of the UN. Barely a fifth of the Knights of Silver survived out of hundreds. He gave up his sword when the war between the Rothschild and the UN was over before signing on with the SDF to fend off the attacking Imperials.


    Heter left the SDF when the Empire was defeated and things became too peaceful for him. Not longerter, he found an ad which was looking for adventurers and warriors and he applied, passed the interview with the Boss and enjoyed his work here.


    Leon pped the dossiers of his new team on a side table and glowered at the two youngsters who wandered over with brooms in their hands. The other two seasoned members paused in their own work and walked over. "What is it?"


    "Boss has just assigned me to be Team Five leader," Leon exined to Kat and Yill. "You two and these two newbies are now part of Team Five. "Yill will be the second in charge of Team Five."


    Yill, was a tall sinewy looking elf, wearing a sleeveless shirt and jeans nodded as he epted the assignment. His shoulder length hair tied in a long ponytail with a headband keeping his fringe in check.


    "So I am getting transferred out from Team Three?" Kat asked. She was a slim looking elf with short hair and a dressed in a baggy tee shirt and shorts that showed off her lean legs.


    "Yes, Boss will inform your Team Leader," Leon replied before he turned to the two youngsters. "And you two will part of Team Five as well."


    "Hello," But Kat and Yill gave a simple greeting as they stared curiously at the two youngsters, having seen their abilities the other day. "


    "H- Hello," Ciel replied shyly while Justze gave a nod of acknowledgement before asking. "So when do we start working on contracts?"


    Leon folded his thick muscr arms before shaking his head. "No contracts until the Boss and me deemed you two ready for scrub work."


    "Scrub work?" Ciel asked in confusion. "What is that?"


    "It means dangerous work," Kat exined with a smile. "You need to learn how to use the tools of the trade or you might die. Worse is... You drag everyone else to die with you..."


    "Oh..." Ciel replied in a small voice. "I- I understand."


    "Good!" Leon said sternly. "Now that you understand, I hope you two will take this seriously! Our jobs are highly dangerous and any mistake can get someone killed!"


    "If you die, that is your problem!" Leon barked sternly. "But do not drag others into your problem!"


    "Now that you know the stakes here," Leon said to the two youngsters. "We will go through the basics of everything!"


    "Kat, you will be in charge of teaching them shooting and identifying dangers and traps," Leon ordered. "Yill, you will teach them basic first aid, magic, and survival techniques!"


    "While I, will personally train them physically and work on their melee weapons proficiency!"

 Chapter 427: Tears

    Chapter 427: Tears


    UN, Haven, City Hall


    Kage Whitetail''s ears were fattened on the tops of her head. Her tailid limp as she sat slouched over her desk, feeling dejected. She would periodically look up at the empty desk of Sherrene and Takao across the room and sighed sadly. A sudden knock on the door made her jumped up in rm, her ears and tail standing erected as she cried out in a panicking voice, "Y- Yes?"


    The admindy looked at her in confusion at her before pushing in a cart filled with files and documents. Thedy handed over a stack of documents to Kaga and was about to leave the office when she paused and asked in a low voice. "Say, Ms. Kaga..."


    "Y- Yes?" Kaga patted her chest, trying to ease her racing heart. "What is it?"


    "I haven''t seen the Princess around for quite some time..." The admindy leaned over and whispered. "Did something happened to her?"


    "T- The Princess?" Kaga stammered. "N- no, no. She is fine... Just busy at with some work!"


    "Hmm... I see..." The admindy gave a shrug. "Well... They are all saying that she was lost at sea or captured by pirates!"


    "T- That''s... crazy!" Kaga felt her face turning red as she tried to deny the rumours. "N- Nothing of such things have happened! Hahaha... I- It''s just rumours!"


    Thedy nodded, satisfied with her answer and waved goodbye as she wheeled the cart out. Kaga stared at the closed door for a moment before she started crying softly alone in the empty cold office.


    She carefully removed a small wooden box from her drawer and slid the lid open. Inside was a piece of yellow paper, drawn withplex runes. The runes pulsed with a faint red glow like a heart beating. Kaga ced her index and middle finger onto the talisman and chanted softly, sending her mana into the rune words, making the runes glow brightly.


    But after a short while, the glow of the runes dimmed till its barely visible. Kage rubbed the tears off her eyes as she could feel the connection between the tracer talisman was growing even weaker than yesterday. She closed the box back and ced back in her drawer and tears fell again.


    "Big sis! Where are you?"


    -----


    The Isles, Port Sanctuary, UN Naval Base


    Ford looked at the estimated figures presented by the shipyard for the construction of the supercarrier and let out a deep breath. The costs,bour, and resources required were staggering, almost amounting to a year of the entire UN spending.


    He essed the encrypted database of the Treasury andpared their current reserves against the figures and his expression nched. The supercarrier would empty the coffers of the Treasury and more. And it''s not even counting the maintenance cost of running the damn thingter.


    Ford couldn''t make such a big decision by himself and he called his aide to arrange for a vehicle while he waited, he tidied up the documents and ced them into his briefcase. His aide knocked on his door to inform him that his vehicle was ready and waiting for him before Ford left his office. "To the Officer''s Apartments."


    The driver parked the Jeep at the corner of the block of apartment buildings for officers and Ford entered the building alone. He reached the Captain''s door and knocked on it. "Captain?"


    The door opened and to Ford''s surprise, he saw the person who opened the door was Dr. Sharon. She gave a smile at Ford and invited him in. Ford entered and asked, "How is he?"


    Dr. Sharon shook her head. "The same. At least he can fall asleep without nightmares now..."


    "You need to get some rest," Ford replied as he noticed dark circles around her eyes. "You have that voice in your head and now you are even looking after the Captain... You need to watch your health too!"


    "I know..." Dr. Sharon gave a yawn. "Since you are here, I will go get some rest then. I will send a nurse over to watch over the Captain."


    "If there is anything," Dr. Sharon said at the door. "Call me. My room is just down the corridor."


    Ford found the Captainying on the sofa with his eyes closed. "ke?"


    ke opened his eyes and took a nce at Ford before he closed them again and spoke in a hoarse voice. "What is it?"


    "We might have a way to get across the zone," Ford said. "But..."


    "Even if we have a way to cross the zone..." ke sighed. "It''s toote now... They are long gone."


    "Richard..." Ford spoke in a soft tone. "They might still be alive and waiting for you to save them. Now we have some solution to finding them... Do you want to give up on that?"


    ke remained silent while Ford sat down and waited patiently. After a while of silence, ke finally spoke again, "Tell me... more of this solution..."


    Ford gave a victorious smile and quickly exined. "The goblins came up with a crazy idea of building a supercarrier, almost the size of a Zeus ss Battle Carrier."


    "It will be evenrger and wider than the size of the UNS Singapore," Ford borated, removing out documents from his briefcase. "It will have aplement of eight thousand, enough berth space for a battalion of troops, fifteen squadrons of both fixed wing and rotor wing aircraft and all their service crew and pilots, and two flotis of corvettes or transports."


    "It will be powered by twenty four water tube hybrid boilers, eight on each of its three hulls, twelve propulsion screws and twelve steam turbines, four on each of its hulls," Ford said. "Calcted top speed at max load will be around 22 knots per hour or 40 km per hour."


    "The design team had been constantly refining the design and its requirements ever since it was proposed," Ford said. "The ship will also have enough firepower to handle any giant sea monsters that get in our way and have enough mass to barrel through all kinds of rough weather."


    ke opened his eyes slightly as he listened to Ford''s words and Ford was happy to see a glitter of lifeing back to ke. He pressed on, "Due to its immense size and scale, we will need thousands and thousands of workers to work on it."


    "If work is done on it non stop on three shifts, the fastestpletion date will be the first month of spring next year," Ford gave the estimated date. "And add in another two months of ocean trials, outfitting, and training... It will be fully operational by early summer."


    "Summer of next year?" ke closed his eyes again as he mumbled. "That is nine months from now..."


    "Eh... Yes..." Ford replied awkwardly. "That is the fastest we can get it built... And... I need your approval for this..."


    "Nine months..." ke shook his head without opening his eyes. "I do not need to see the cost projections to know that this will bankrupt the treasury..."


    "Give it up, Ford..." ke spoke in a heartbroken voice. "She... They are gone... I know everyone is worried and cares for me... But we have to ept the fact that... she is gone..."


    "The UN is not a toy," ke continued in a sad voice. "It is home to thousands and thousands of people... We can''t just use it for something that is lost... Just for... two persons... She won''t have it that way either..."


    "This is my karma... my punishment... my mistake for listening to her whims of not requiring any guards..." ke''s voice broke while he covered his eyes with his arm as tears trickled down the side of his face. "This is suffering is my atonement for my sins..."


    -----


    Ford left ke after he had drifted off in another drug induced sleep, leaving him with the nurse who came over to care for him. Ford sighed, feeling a surge of pent up frustration in his chest. He punched the wall fiercely, feeling the helplessness of their situation.


    "FUCK!" He yelled out his frustrations. "Dammit! If the Captain thinks it''s his fault that the Princess got kidnapped somewhere, then part of it is mine too!"


    He fumed for a while before jumping into his waiting vehicle where his driver who witnessed his boss outburst cowered behind the wheel. "Back to HQ! Fast!"


    "Yes Sir!" The driver jumped into action and drove the Chief of Naval Operations as quickly as he could to the Port Sanctuary Naval Base.


    Ford stormed into his office and snapped his finger at his aides, "Call all heads of departments and Governors for an immediate conference! I want them all in attendance in thirty minutes!"


    The aides seeing the dark expression on Ford''s face quickly started calling everyone without any dy. Ford entered his office and sat down and waited for the screens on his desk to light up one by one as the various heads and Governors starteding online.


    Once all the mini screens on Ford''s disy were filled up with people''s images, he headed straight to the point. "Everyone of you here knows about the situation with the Captain and the Princess, so I will not go into details. Right now, I am holding the highest authority now that the Captain is ill."


    "I call everyone here today is to talk about our current problem," Ford stared at his disy fiercely. "I want to call for a vote to dessify the news lockdown on the Princess."


    The multiple faces on his disy showed various degrees of surprise and confusion. The Governor of Falledge, Otoro''s image, asked, "But why? Won''t it panic the public? This news will push the prices of goods up!"


    "We have a project..." Ford exined. "And this project will take a lot of resources and money toe to fruition. It might bankrupt... the UN..."


    "What?" Otoro''s eyes were wide. "How massive is this project?"


    "Very massive..." Ford replied. "But it is the only way we have to cross the zone to bring back the Princess..."


    "Now some of you might think that the Princess is just one life..." Ford quickly said. "But... To the Captain... it is his lifeline... And you all know what the Captain did for everyone..."


    "That is why the people need to know that Princess was taken..." Ford added. "And because of that, the Captain has fallen ill..."


    "I think... its time for the people to do something for the Captain and Princess after what they had done for them!" Ford said. "If the people are willing to work support this project..."


    "I think it might work," Intelligence Officer Tavor spoke up. "There''s been a lot of rumourstely in regards to the Princess and the Captain''s disappearance from public view. The people are worried."


    "I think so too!" The other heads of departments started voicing their agreements. "I agree!"


    Otoro''s image frowned before he said, "It might cause a recessionter on..."


    "And with the threat of refugees storming our borders..." He continued voicing his unease. "Is this wise to burn all our resources on something that might not... seed?"


    Ford nodded, "I understand your worries. This is already our home... But when someonees to your home and kidnaps your wife or kids... What will you do?"


    "I- I will be willing to use everything to find them back..." Otoro replied in a low voice. "I- I understand... I vote to agree too..."


    "Good!" Ford smacked his fist on his table. "Tavor! I want press releases to be released to the Propaganda and News outlets by tomorrow morning!"


    "Everyone else, brief and prepare your staff for the shit storm that ising!" Ford said. "I want the news to remind the people what the Princess and the Captain have done for them and the nation they are now living in! It''s time they do something for them!"

 Chapter 428: Mixed Emotions

    Chapter 428: Mixed Emotions


    United Nations, Haven, City Hall


    The phone ringed, joining the dozen other phones ringing on the other desks. The harried City Hall staff were besieged by arge number of callers since the news of the Princess had been kidnapped broke over the morning news on the television, radio, and newspapers.


    Hundreds of concerned and angry people called up to enquire about what the government was doing, and why did something like this could even happen. The harried staff did their best to calm the emotions of the callers while arge crowd had gathered outside the City Hall demanding answers.


    Kaga returned the phone to the cradle where it immediately rang again. She let out a tired sigh and picked up the phone and spoke in a polite tone, "Good afternoon, this is Kaga from City Hall speaking, how may I help you?"


    "Are we going to war? Will there be enough food? Will the food prices go up?" The caller fired off her questions rapidly. "Do we need to stock up on toilet rolls?"


    "Madam, please calm down," Kaga replied a calming voice. "There is no need to worry about theck of food or food prices from going up. The nation has enough stores for everyone."


    "Really?" Thedy behind the call sounded relieved. "There will still be bubble tea, right?"


    "Yes..." Kaga gave an inward sigh. "They will still be... selling..."


    "Good! Good!" Thedy replied happily. "Bubble tea is life!"


    -----


    United Nations, Sea Cliff Mining and Dungeon Town, Adventurers'' Inc.


    "- lost off the coast of Star Ind. Officials state that the unknown assants came from beyond the End Zone. An area where it is covered in a permanentyer of clouds and constant storms. The City Hall has issued a state of emerg-"


    "-he sun, the sand, and the sea! Join the Navy n-"


    "- your part! Support your Nation! Buy Government Bonds! For more enquiries cal-"


    "-ther news, there has been a rise in drug rted crimes. Police have arrested dozens of people, involving seven Orekins and five Goblins on charges of possession of illegal drugs, known as Happ-"


    Karl turned off the television after randomly switching through the TV channels. Most of the news was focused on the current case of the kidnapped Princess. He heard a low rumble and the horning of a car and he stood next to the office window and watched as two up armoured Jeeps with trailers rolled into the hangar.


    A dusty looking team climbed out of the vehicles and high fived the rest as the mechanics swarmed over the vehicles. They started to unload crates after crates of equipment and from the trailers, dozens of centipede remains piled in a huge heap were also being unloaded to be stored in the refrigeration units to be further processedter.


    Karl gave a nod from the window when the returned team leader gave a wave to him. The team leader walked into the office and gave off a relieved breath as he stripped off his armour and gear. Karl took out a bottle of local brew from the mini fridge and ced it before the sweaty Orc. "How was the dungeon run?"


    The Orc grunted as he dumped his gear on the side and snapped off the bottle cap before taking a deep swill. He gave a burp of satisfaction before grinning happily at Karl. "Oooh... That hit the spot!"


    "Best thing I ever did was to join you hoomans!" The Orcughed. "All the cold brew you even want!"


    Karlughed and took out another two bottles and ced it before the Orc. "So, Turok, how was the run?"


    "Well, no serious injuries to Turok''s Team," The once chief of the Orekins replied as he finished the bottle of cold brew. "Team made it down to eleventh floor... Where many giant centipedes and carrion burrowers infested the dungeon..."


    "Aith took one nasty bite from burrower, his shoulder armour now have nice airy hole! Hahahaha" Turokughed as he gestured out of the office window. "He should be fine. He only got paralysed for a short while. Had to save him before he turned into food for the burrowers and centipedes! Hahahaha!"


    "Big boss of level is some kind of huge mother farking centipede..." Turok took opened another bottle of cold brew. "Fed it eight bazooka, many lightning spells and fireballs. Turok used up all his armour piercing bullets!"


    "Turok to chop mother farking centipede head off with great axe in the end..." Turok looked to the side where he had dumped his gear. His double ded axe still has some purplish stain on it. "Team salvaged what carapaces not spoiled from the centipedes and mana stones..."


    "Got great harvest!" Turok grinned, showing off his tusks and sharp teeth. "Many stones of centipede te! And stomach juice of burrowers! Also many gold and silver!"


    "But giant mother farking centipede boss dropped nothing..." Turok shook his head sadly. "But the materials of its body are very tough... Great for armour!"


    Karl nodded, unconcerned with theck of loot from the boss of the eleventh floor. "Good... We might need to go down more now... So, get your team rested and healed as soon as possible."


    "Why?" Turok narrowed his thick brows. "Turok''s Team just finished mission! No rest?"


    "Not just your team, Turok..." Karl replied. "All the teams will be working overtime..."


    Karl picked up his remote controller and turned the TV on and switched to a news channel. Turok frowned as he watched the news on the TV. He frowned as the news spoke of the kidnapping. "Princess? Gone?"


    "Yes..." Karl lowered the TV volume. "Some fuckers from somewhere came in, grabbed the Princess and also a Fleet Master of the Isles... and ran away with them, but not before sinking an Isles'' ship..."


    Turok shook his head andughed, "Ooo... Those who took the Princess are going to get butt hurt badly! Hahaha!"


    "Thing is... we do not know where they took the princess to," Karl said. "But... The military is mobilising and doing mass recruitment now... So..."


    "So the prices of monster materials and mana stones will go up!" Turok gave a toothed grin. "That''s why you want all teams to work overtime!"


    "You summed it right," Karl replied. "Demand for mana stones and monster materials will definitely go up at this time. I want to push the teams to harvest more materials to meet the rising demands!"


    -----


    Ciel leaned into the warm stock of the shotgun as she squeezed the trigger, feeling the pain of the recoil mming into her bruised shoulder. A satisfying ''PANG!'' sounded from the metal target as the shot from her weapon hit the target.


    She worked the pump, jerking out the spent shell and pumped a fresh shell into the chamber while she advanced quickly around the obstacles and fired again at another people shaped target board with a loud nk.


    She pumped her shotgun again and spun to the next target and fired before dropping the hot weapon on its sling and quick drew her revolver holstered on her hip. She rapid fired all five rounds at another row of targets and charged forward, her left hand moulding a ball of mes while she chanted a fireball spell.


    Ciel hopped over a low wall and tossed the formed fireball in her left at the target at the end of obstacle course and dodged a sudden sword swing from the side as Leon''s hulking figure appeared from the corner.


    Ciel drew her padded sword and parried and downward sh from Leon''s sword. The force made her hands numbed as Leon only held back his strength slightly, if not, getting hit by Leon''s sword despite it being padded will still hurt a lot.


    She flung her spent revolver at Leon who battered it away with a swing of his hand and she took the opportunity while he was distracted to dash through the small gap between his body and the obstacle wall.


    Leonughed as he saw her actions. He whipped his sword down, aiming at her legs when Ciel suddenly came to halt and tossed the light spell in her hand at Leon''s face. Startled by the sudden appearance of the spell, Leon raised one hand up instinctively to block the spell but he did not stop nor slow his sword swing.


    Ciel bit down a cry of pain as Leon''s padded sword zed her side. She ignored the pain and continued running forward and mmed her own sword down hard at the metal target at the end of the room. As her sword hit the metal target, a loud buzzer rang and Ciel fell t her butt as her strength and adrenaline left her body.


    "Not bad!" Leon grinned as he gave a hand to pull Ciel up from the floor. "Nice trick with the blinding spell. I did not see that!"


    "That''s why it''s called a blinding spell!" Their sniper Kat yelled from the side of the obstacle wall. "It''s supposed to make you not see!"


    Leon gave a finger flip to Kat who booed him back. "What''s her timing?"


    "Five minutes and thirty two seconds!" Yill holding the stopwatch called out. He nced to Justze on the side and said. "She''s faster than your timing, close to a minute!"


    Justze felt a sense of unpleasantness as he watched Ciel basking in the praises by the other members of their team. He looked down at the weapon called a shotgun in his hand, which looked and felt simr to a crossbow except without the wings and the need to string the weapon.


    The strange thunder weapon was loud and heavy, the recoil felt like getting kicked by and dragon. It was also the weapon that destroyed the proud and undefeated Imperial Armies. Justze had mixed feelings using such a weapon. He was told and warned by Leon multiple times that the weapon he was holding on was tightly controlled and illegal use and possession of the weapon will result in the death penalty if caught.


    The Adventurers'' Inc. had a special agreement and license to operate such weapons. While they were waiting for their licenses to be approved, Kat had conducted several sses on the usage and handling of such weapons.


    Unlike Ciel who seemed to had taken upon the thunder weapons called guns like a fish to water. Justze felt these weapons were unfair and ungentlemanly. Combat should be done with des like true men. The use of such barbarous weapons felt like cheating to Justze. Even using a crossbow, bow, or magic felt even more honourable than these barbarous weapons whom a child could even use to kill an adult.


    His marksmanshippared to Ciel was very bad. He could barely hit a target set twenty feet away with the revolver and only barely managed to hit targets with the shotgun. His performance made Kat shake her head with disappointment with Ciel''s above average skills with the barbarous weapons won much praise from Kat.


    Leon came over with a tired but smiling Ciel who excitedly clung onto Justze''s arm. "Justze! Did you see that? Hehe! My timing made it to the top ten rankings!"


    Justze gave a forced smile and patted Ciel''s head, who was unaware of his insecurities. "Well done!"


    Leon grinned and patted his sword, saying, "Justze! Don''t worry! Training makes perfect! I am also not too good with guns!"


    "Yes, Sir!" Justze gave a forced reply. "I will practise more!"


    "Good! That''s the spirit! Hahaha!" Leonughed. "Come! Let''s go refresh ourselves and go have some food! My treat to celebrate Ciel and Justze joining us!"


    "I want to eat spicy spider ant hotpot!" Kat yelled from the side. "Thanks, Boss!"


    Leon gave a pained look at Kat. "Can we have something else? That... is not cheap!"


    Yillughed, "It''s rare we ever get a chance to be treated by Leon! SPIDER ANT HOTPOT!"


    "Argh... alright!" Leon sighed. "Spider ant hotpot it shall be!"

 Chapter 429: Conflicts of Interests

    Chapter 429: Conflicts of Interests


    The Isles, Port Sancautry, UN Embassy


    Commander Ford formed his hands into a tent as he stared coldly at the smug smiles of the Isles delegates. The Fleet Master Megan lounged like a cat on the chair, ignoring the proceedings as her underlingsid out their demands.


    "We want half of those crystals! And the wreck too!" The shrill voice of the Isles negotiator grated Ford''s nerves. "You have all spent more than enough time going over the wreck! Now it''s our turn!"


    Ford shook his head and said, "You have agreed to allow us to spend as much time as we want on the wreck. After which the UN will hand over the wreck to the Isles."


    "That was before we knew the value of the wreck!" The Inder shrilled. "As an ally, how can you withhold such information to us! Do you still treat us as allies?"


    "Of course..." Ford sighed. "We just signed the alliance with you. We had no intention withhold any information to you."


    "Than hand over the wreck and the crystals!" The Isles negotiator demanded. "Or else!"


    "Or else... what?" Ford growled. "You leave the alliance?"


    The Isles negotiator paled as he stammered, "Y- yes! We will le- leave the alliance!"


    "Than do it!" Ford spat, pissed off with the negotiator. "Do what you want! Do you want war? The UN is always ready!"


    The Isles negotiator looked at disbelief at Ford who called his bluff. His mouth opened and closed, gaping like a fish out of the water as he was at the loss of words. "Y- you!"


    "You what?" Ford stormed, his fist banging the table. "Let me remind you! We agreed to be your ally not because you are stronger or equal to the UN! We offered to be your allies cause we see you as friends!"


    "If you think this... wreck is only worth that much of our friendship between the two nations," Ford said as he stared angrily at Fleet Master Megan who was still looking rxed at the chair. "Then break off the alliance! But we will never hand the wreck nor the crystals to you... ever!"


    Fleet Master Megan rosed an eyebrow as shezy unfurled her self from her seat and raised a hand to stop her representative from speaking. She gave a smile at Ford and said, "Why so serious? We are trying to negotiate with you... Why speak of war and breaking of alliances?"


    "This is enough!" Ford growled. "You all are treating this like some kind of merchant deal! But this here is the only clue and way to find the Princess and your missing Fleet Master!"


    "I do not care what politics you Inders are ying amongst yourselves!" Ford red at Megan who remained impervious to his anger. "But the UN needs this wreck and the crystals to find back the Princess!"


    Ford stood up and walked to the double doors of the conference room and opened it. "This meeting or negotiation as you called it is over. The UN will give up the wreck nor the crystals for now till we find out what we need. We will still abide by the agreement epted by you... Fleet Master Megan, and hand over the wreck and crystals to you after we are truly done with it!"


    "If you think this terms which you yourself had epted to be unagreeable now," Ford narrowed his eyes. "By all means... Break the treaty signed between the two nations!"


    "I shall not see you off to your ships!" Ford gave a curt salute before storming away. "Good day!"


    Fleet Master Megan remained seated on the chair, her cat like eyes narrowed with a trace of suppressed anger as she watched Ford walked off without another word. Her people burst into a storm of indignant outrage at the disrespectful treatment given by Ford while the UN guards and aides watched on with coldness and suppressed glee.


    "Let''s go!" Megan snapped her fingers. "Since they want to y hard, then do me me for what is next!"


    -----


    "Arghhh..." Ford growled as he sank into his seat. "Goddamn fucking merchants!"


    "I see the meeting did not go well?" A voice suddenly spoke from the corner of the room.


    "Goddamnnit!" Ford cursed as he jumped off his seat. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"


    Tavor grinned as he uncrossed his legs and stood up. He ced a document on Ford''s desk and said, "Nope... Can''t have you dying before the Captain!"


    Ford shook his head as he patted his raced heart. "What is this?"


    "Some interesting information given by the prisoners from the other side," Tavor smiled. "Still pretty basic but at least we now have some inkling of their military, technology, and society."


    "Their tech level seemed to be at some kind of victorian steampunk setting..." Tavor sighed. "This is why I kinda did not want to explore any more of this... Trying to file all this information... is a bitch!"


    "So the other side is a steampunk setting?" Ford flipped through the document. "Airships and what''s that called... Da Vinci machines?"


    Tavor nodded, "I included a few sketches done by the prisoners."


    "Interesting..." Ford frowned as he looked through the drawings. "So... their society is kinda around our early neen century?"


    "Roughly, with the cultural differences, of course..." Tavor rified. "And their military appeared to be powered with steam tech... Like steam tanks... and cannons..."


    "Wow..." Ford shook his head as his mind tried to wrap around all the new information he just received. "Okay... I will go through thister. Right now I need to issue a nationwide advisory against the Isles..."


    Tavor nodded, "Yes, Sir! My people will also be keeping an eye on the Isles'' responses too. You will be informed immediately if they... try anything funny..."


    "Good!" Ford waved Tavor away and started making calls to warn all departments about the worsening rtions with the Isles. Once he finished the calls, he informed Naval Operations to keep an eye out for all Isles'' ships and be on the alert for any aggression.


    "What a fucking shitty day!"


    -----


    United Nations, Uncharted Forest, Crossroad Town, Army Depot Office


    The lines stretched out till it disappeared around the corner of the street. Hundreds of people of all ages and races had lined up early in the morning, even before the opening hours of the Army depot.


    Cork was surprised as he stood there watching the line of people who came earlier than him to work. He tapped in through the security booth and found the office in a disarray as the soldiers manning the front desk. "What''s going on outside? What''s with all those people?"


    "Sarge!" The corporal at the desk looked flustered as he piled arge stack of forms on the side. "They all want to sign up to the Army!"


    "What?" Cork blinked in surprised. "All of them?"


    "I think so, Sarge!" The corporal dug out another stack of forms and handed it over to a private. "I am going to open the doors now!"


    As the corporal unlocked the doors, the people outside quickly flooded in. They started yelling, saying they want to join the military, wanting to fight and save the Princess from the evil people.


    Cork frowned and roared loudly in his best parade square voice, "GET IN LINE! THIS IS NOT A GODDAMN MARKET!"


    His roar had a positive effect as the people quietened down and stared at him fearfully. They soon formed up in orderly lines and staff at the front desk started to hand out the recruitment forms for them to fill in.


    Cork shook his head at the sudden surge of people wanting to join the Army due to the news on the TV and radio been constantly talking about the missing Princess. Some people were angry at the government for being useless to allow the Princess to be taken, others showed their support by buying government issued bonds and some decided to join the military.


    Still, the numbers of applications were unexpected. The higher ups had warned everyone that there will an increase of applications but this was way over the top, especially in a town in the middle of the Uncharted Forest!


    "Sergeant Cork!" A private suddenly appeared at the office door. "The OC wants to see you in his office now!"


    Cork nodded and followed the private out and headed to a row of squat looking buildings. Just before the entrance of the buildings, stood two g poles, one hanging the UN g and the other the new Army g.


    "Sir, Sergeant Cork reporting, Sir!" Cork stood at attention before the desk of his OC who waved him to the chair.


    "Sit down," The OC was a middle aged elf the look of a school teacher look. Yet despite his looks, he was a veteran in the Imperial War. He pushed a document over to Cork and said, "Sergeant, I am sending you and a few others to a new deployment."


    Cork frowned, "A new deployment? I was under the impression that I will be posted here permanently."


    "Not anymore!" The OC replied. "I am sorry, but you have new orders... In two days, you will ship out with the rest to a new location. Don''t worry this will be a temporary assignment."


    "As you know, the Army iscking on experienced NCOs," The OC said. "I am bumping you up to First Sergeant... Your new deployment will be handing security at a new outpost."


    "A new outpost?" Cork was confused. "Where is this new outpost?"


    "It will be at the coast," The OC replied. "The Navy is building a new port and town there. They arecking manpower, so they will be borrowing some Army personnel to help with security."


    "There will be arge batch of settlersing in to build the ce up," The OC exined. "Most of those people will be the refugees at our borders. The government decided to give them a ce to live and at the same time grant them employment."


    "The new Naval Station will be the new training grounds for the navy and also the new shipyard that will be building the rumoured ''supership'' that will be used to cross the End Zone to save the Princess," The OC added. "Hence, they will need a lot of security there! You are one of my best NCOs, so I am sending you over!"


    Cork left the admin building feeling conflicted. He really enjoyed the peace and quiet here, but now he will be going off to a new ce where thend was untamed. He felt both excited and reluctant to go.


    "Hey, Cork!" His friend suddenly appeared next to him. "Why the grim face?"


    "Hello, Krew," Cork getting his best friend. "I just got redeployed..."


    "Really?" His friend gave a big grin. "Let me guess... Is it to some coastal ce?"


    "How did you know?" Cork narrowed his eyes suspiciously.


    "Hahaha!" His friend grinned. "I got redeployed too!"


    "Really?" Cork felt his mood lightened.


    "Yeah!" His friend, Krew,ughed at Cork''s expression. "You need someone to cover your ass!"


    "More like you need me to keep yours out of danger!" Cork shook his head helplessly at Krew''s joke.


    "Come on!" Krew gave a sad face. "Didn''t I pulled your ass out of that fire that time?"


    "And the other time, you were in that bunker..." Krew started to recollect their times together. "I saved your ass from getting shot..."


    "In your dreams..." Cork sighed as Krew started to rumble on and on about their past adventures, knowing that once Krew started, he won''t stop. "Come on, let''s go get something to eat at the mess hall..."


    "Oh, sure!" His friend hurried after Cork. "Talking about the mess hall... Did I help you get out of that fight with the other toons?"


    "And the other time, that guy tried to punch you in that bar..."

 Chapter 430: Plans in Motion

    Chapter 430: ns in Motion


    A long convoy of trucks and buses followed the winding dirt and mud road, which path curled around the massive tree roots of the forest. The convoy drove carefully as they navigated the twists and turns of the uneven road. A sudden monstrous roar broke over the rumbling engines and giant serpentine beast broke out from the foliage on the side of the road.


    The red bronze scales of the giant boa glittered beautifully under the tiny rays of sunlighting through the thick forest canopy. It yawned its jaws wide open, disying its fangs dripping poison that were as long as a person''s height and a mouthrge enough to swallow an entire Jeep in one bite.


    Screams and cries of fear and panic came from the passengers of the convoy while the dozens of soldiers seated on the tops of the vehicles with their weapons ready responded by firing at the diamond shaped head, towering dozens of meters off the ground.


    Tracers spat out from .50 calibre guns and rifles further heated up the humid air in the forest. Smoke and steam rosed from the guns'' hot barrels and spent brass cartridges. The giant boa shrieked in pain as the bullets shattered its teeth and punched holes in its soft mouth. It curled around a tree trunk tightly in a death reflex as it died from an overdose of red hot lead.


    The soldiers cheered while the frightened passengers stared pale eyed at the death spasm of the giant boa. Soon a group of soldiers climbed off the fighting top of the vehicles and began the process of dismantling the snake''s corpse for its valuable parts and meat.


    Once the corpse was dismantled the soldiers loaded everything into the trucks and the convoy started off again. The passengers let out a sigh of relief as the convoy started moving again but after a while, another monster cry came, followed by the thunderous roars of the soldiers'' weapons and the passengers prayed for salvation they will survive and not be left to die at whatever ce the soldiers were bringing them to.


    -----


    United Nations, Goblin Coast, Site of New Port Facilities


    The ground trembled and ttened by itself magically as dozens of yellow and white helmeted mages crouched in a row with their hands ced on the ground. The uneven terrain was slowly terraformed by the use of magic.


    The construction mages paused in their work and took a break, some took out a mana stone and started to meditate while others drank energy drinks to replenish their strength. Hundreds of other workers were unloading truckloads of cement bags and other construction materials. Further away, a ring of Army and Marine soldiers stood guard, keeping an alert eye to their surroundings for monsters as arge team of workers wereying down the groundworks for a road.


    Trees toppled over as a bright yellow coloured six legged walker golem withdrew its chest mounted giant buzz saw and its pair of pincer arms rapidly snipped off the tree branches and hoisted the tree log over its control cab and dropped the log onto its backpack like cradle, joining the other logs.


    The timber logging unit nicknamed Forest Scorpion had a long ttish body which sat low to the ground. It had two pincer ws for gripping and shredding of tree trunks. It also had a crane at its rear, which made it look like a scorpion. The pilot sat in a protected cab at the ''head'' while the heavy duty saw was located at the ''mouth''. It''s six legs allowed it unparallel movement on rough mountainous terrain and even in mud and snow.


    The pilot skillfully sliced the massive tree trunks that were like ten times its length and twice its width into manageable chunks before hoisting it over to its back and it skittered over the tree roots and offloaded its cargo at the waiting processing stations.


    The original idea of using bipedal walkers to cut down the trees turned out to be a bad idea, as the walkers were easily toppled over by the weight of the trees. Hence the idea was scrapped andter on, from bipedal failure, it gave birth to the Forest Scorpion project.


    Bit by bit, the edge of the forest was slowly cleared back by the men, magic, and machines of the UN as they prepared thend for settlement. Already convoys filled with new settlers, workers and construction materials were arriving daily.


    As for the beach and coast, the surveyors had picked out an area for a deepwater port. The mages and one earth Elementalist were preparing the beach to be filled with pilings for the foundations of the massive dry docks. The dry docks will be onnd while the deepwater port will be built out to the sea, with the dry docks having a water lock, that can flood the dry docks, allowing thepleted hulls to be floated out to the deepwater port.


    To support all these, a city housing the workers, shipwrights, support crew and their families will be built next to the docks. The city will include schools, markets, shopping malls, entertainment, and other facilities to support its poption which was expected to be around thirty thousand and more, almost twice the size of the poption of Haven. The nners calcted it will be thergest city in the UN and expected the size of the city to grow even further once the ports were built.


    A military base and airfield will also be constructed next to the docks to protect protection to the region while the forestnd will be cleared for farming and animal raising to provide food for the people.


    The cost of everything was staggering. Thankfully, many citizens of the UN showed their support by donations, fund raising and buying of government bonds. Many young men and women applied to the military while those that had left the military asked to sign up for another term.


    Every day, the TV channels were filled with news and documentaries about how the United Nations was formed. Patriotic movies and talk on the TV and radios were constantly being yed, fanning the people''s nationalism.


    The people''s anger was fanned and their anger was directed towards the perpetrators that took their Princess, exactly how the Naval Intelligence department wanted them to do.


    -----


    The Isle, First City of the Fleet, Guild of Merchants


    "Wee, Fleet Master!" The Majordomo bowed to Megan who strolled into the Guild of Merchants. Exquisite paintings, tapestry, and carvings decorated the walls of the Guild, making it look rich and grand. "What brings you to our humble Guild?"


    "I''m here to speak with the Guild Master," Megan allowed the Majordomo to take her coat. "Urgent business that can''t be waited! Hurry up and inform him now!"


    "Yes, Fleet Master!" The Majordomo kept a respectful bow and gestured to one of his footmen who ran off to inform the Guild Master. "Will you care for some refreshments while you wait?"


    Megan nodded and sat down on the luxurious armchair made out of the finest fur of some monster. She epted a ss of wine and after taking a sip she made a grimace as she stared at the ss flute in her hand before mming it down on the table unhappily as the ss flute came from the UN, making her remember the hooman Ford''s ultimatum.


    "Is the wine not to my Lady''s liking?" The Majordomo kept a respectful expression on his face as he tried to provide the best service to the Fleet Master. "Will you like something else instead?"


    "It''s not the wine!" Megan sighed and gestured the Majordomo to leave her alone. She stared at the offending ss flute and face of the hooman Ford appeared in her mind. She frowned, unable to understand why her charm skills were not affecting him at all ever since the first time they met.


    She gave a seductive smile at the waiter who just entered and ced a pot of tea and a tray of snacks down. The waiter did a double take and nearly tripped over his own feet and he blushed shyly, casting nces of adoration at Megan as he stumbled his way out.


    "My charm is still working fine..." Megan frowned deeply. "But why did it not affect the hooman... Strange..."


    She decided to test her ability on another hooman when a polite knock came from the door and the Majordono announced. "Master Tediore is ready and waiting for you in his study if you please follow me?"


    She led upstairs, passing more borate pieces of art and paintings before shown into arge study, with a crystal window facing the door, a set of sofa next to the firece at one side of the room and a huge painting that covered almost the whole wall that depicted the Fleet''s firstnding on the ind.


    "Greetings, Fleet Master!" The Guild Master rosed from his seat and gave a deep bow. "And wee! What can your servant do for you?"


    Megan strolled towards the painting and stood there silently as she appreciated the art. The Guild Master joined her and said, "This painting wasmissioned by my great grandfather! His father, my great great grandfather, was one of the founding sailors thatnded on this ind over three hundred years ago!"


    Megan replied, "And ever since, the Isles holds the strongest Navy and Merchant guilds ever!"


    "But now..." Megan turned and put on a sad expression. "The United Nations are overtaking us, in both naval power and trade..."


    She gave a dramatic sigh and sat down on the sofa and crossed her legs, exposing her fine long slender legs. "We no longer dominate the seas... And our people and merchants are all flocking over to the United Nations to invest there... I fear... our once glorious era will be... bleak in the future..."


    The Guild Master''s expression did not change as he kept an amiable smile on his face. But there was a slight narrowing of his eyes that did not escape Megan''s observation. The Guild Master poured ss of wine for Megan and sat down on the sofa next to her.


    "We can''t make money without first spending money," The Guild Master said. "Our people and merchants investment in the United Nations will still benefit us in the future. So... it won''t be as bleak as you make it sound..."


    "Of course, money will still flow... " Megan gave the Guild Master a smile. "But still we will be swallowed up by the United Nations at this rate. And they will be in control of all trade in the future..."


    The Guild Master nodded, "That is true. The United Nations can out produce anything we can produce and at much higher quality and quantity. It is understandable why many are flocking to invest with them."


    "If this goes on," Megan nced around the study and sighed again. "All these will be gone..."


    The Guild Master finally showed a change in his expression as he frowned at Megan''s words. "You are saying...?"


    "I am saying that we need to prevent all these from disappearing..." Megan gestured around the study. "Reduce trade with the United Nations. Impose taxes and tariffs on their goods. Restrict your Guild in making investments to them."


    "But does the Council approved of these methods?" The Guild Master asked apprehensively. "The United Nations are allies after all..."


    "Do not worry! I just want your support on the next Council of Masters," Megan said. "In return, I will allow you to control the taxes on goods from the United Nations."


    "You just have to follow my lead during the next Council," Megan smiled charmingly. "And I promise you, the golden age of the Isles will return again!"


    "We might not win the United Nations in terms of military might..." Megan smiled at the thoughtful look on the Guild Master''s face. "But economy wise... They are still too young to y with us!"


    "We will make the Isles great again!"

 Chapter 431: Foul Motives

    Chapter 431: Foul Motives


    United Nations, Falledge, Border Customs


    Arge crowd of rowdy refugees were trying to force their way through the gates once it was opened. The soldiers and Immigration officers had to impose strict instructions to the jousting crowd before they calmed down and entered the gate without pushing. Therge rolling gate was only opened till enough space for a single person to cross while on both sides of the gate was the border fence made out of thick reinforced concrete bars that were twice the height of an average person and spaced too tightly for even a goblin kid to squeeze through.


    The refugees channelled by waist high barriers were directed to several tents where they waited for their turn to be ''processed''. An Immigration staff sat inside each tent behind a table, where they interviewed the refugees and had them fill out a form of their particrs before taking a portrait picture of them and printing out a temporary identity card.


    Those that failed the interview, which considered of psychological questions and truth stone testing were sent back out of the border and rejected from entry. Those that past were given temporary quarters, clean clothes, basic education and new culture integration courses, before getting shipped off to a developing town or vige.


    Bartley in his ck tactical police uniform and wearing sun shades watched the shuffling line of down trodding looking refugees from behind the barrier. His hand rested over his submachine gun slung across his chest that looked like a toy in his ham sized fist, while his partner, Grey, the wind wolf sat on his haunches next to him.


    The wind wolf''s presence both frightened and awe the refugees as they crossed the gate. The children were especially enthralled and thrilled by the majestic look of the wind wolf when they saw him, while the belief that the United Nations had powers of the demons was further reinforced in the adults'' superstitious minds.


    Grey stared solemnly and asionally sniffed the air around the line of queuing people cowed by his imposing aura. Suddenly, Grey gave a low growl as he sniffed something in the air. Alerted, Bartley gave Grey a pat on his side and followed Grey as the wind wolf sniffed up and down the line of people who tried to back as far away from those fangs of his as they could.


    Grey paused before a frightened man, hunched over with his hands hugging his belly as if in pain. The pale and sweating elf tried to squeeze himself as small as possible away from the wind wolf who growled menacingly at him. Bartley gestured to the rest of the SDU team and Immigration officers as they surrounded the suspect.


    "Hands up!" Bartley yelled loudly in themon tongue, pointing with one hand at the suspect while his weapon was up and ready. The rest of the police officers spread out and covered the suspect while the refugees scrambled as far away from the suspect. "Show me your hands!"


    The suspect seemed to spam and twitch as he crouched next to the concrete barrier. Foam dripped off the corner of his mouth as veins as thick as a finger pulsed hard against his skin. The suspect suddenly threw his head up and screamed while still in a crouch position.


    Bartley felt a chill down his spine as the bloodcurdling scream came from the weak looking suspect and he saw that man''s eyes were bloodshot and veins could be seen appearing all over his body. The suspect''s eyes were unfocused and drool mixed with foam dripped off the corner of his open mouth as the suspect stood up.


    He suddenlyughed madly and started dancing on the spot with jerky movements. The suspect ignored allmands from the police and even Grey the wind wolf who brandished his fangs in a threatening way.


    "What the fark is he doing?" One of the police officers asked as he nervously pointed his gun at the jerky ballroom dance moves of theughing man who seemed to be dancing to some tune only he could hear. "Has he gone mad?"


    "Go take him down!" A senior ranked police officer yelled and the police advanced, hopping over the yellow and ck striped concrete barriers. They drew out batons and reached out to apprehend the suspect when the suspect suddenly leapt at the nearest police officer baring his teeth.


    The surprised police officer raised his arm up and the suspect sank his teeth onto the arm, drawing blood. The full weight and the surprise leapt sent both the suspect and the police officer down in a heap while the other officers quickly rendered aid. They hammered the suspect with their batons and tried to pull him off from their colleague.


    "Get him off! Get him off!" The panicked police officer yelled as the suspect was finally pulled away with the help of Bartley and four others. The suspectughed like a madman with blood and foam dripping off his mouth. He nced around and giggled, "Y- you... all look funny! Hahahah-"


    With ast burst ofughter, the suspect suddenly stiffed up and his head dropped to the side. Bartley quickly checked the suspect''s pulse and breathe before he shook his head at the rest. "He''s gone..."


    "What the fark was that?" The police were confused and angry at the sudden event. The senior officer gestured to the wounded police officer. "You better go get that checked out!"


    The body of the suspect was removed from the scene and the refugees became more subdued as they watched nervously at the police and soldiers around them, wondering if they too will get magicked to death.


    Bartley shook his head as he patted Grey''s fur. "Another died of an overdose... Who the hell is sending in these mules?"


    The forensics team has found several dead refugees overdosed on the drug known as Happy. They had swallowed small pouches made of intestines of some creature that was filled with the drug substance.


    Sometimes the bags leaked out, causing the mules transporting the drugs to get high or even causing death from an overdose when the bag burst. So far, they had not yet found out the identity of who was sending in the mules. The crack houses that the Police had busted turned out to be only ces of storage and redistribution.


    They diluted the brought in drugs with other herbs and ingredients before repacking them to be sold on the streets. The only lead was that most of the elves running the ce were once in the First Imperial Army. All they gave up was that they were contacted by a person to set up and ce to store and sell the drugs and they can have half of the profits.


    Police have noted a steady climb of arrests and reports from hospitals of Happy users which rmed the central government. New teaching materials were being pushed out to schools to educate the children on the harmful effects of the drugs and also an educational campaign for adults on TV.


    Bartley sighed as he watched the shuffling line of refugees, knowing that these people were trying to look for a better life here, but someone outside was making use of them to wreak havoc inside the UN. He might no longer be a Marine, but now he was a police officer and he won''t fail to protect the UN.


    -----


    Seas of Clouds, The Innocene, Prisoner Cells


    "Hmph!" A half naked elf swung his cloth wrapped fist hard against the figure eagle spread across the wall. The elf gave another two quick jabs into the side of grunting figure before a voice stopped him. "Hold..."


    The elf paused and stepped back respectfully as the masked Inquisitor entered the small dark cell, that smell of unwashed bodies, void bowels, and blood. "Has he given in?"


    "The Judgement sees you!" The interrogator greeted the Inquisitor and shook his head as he dripped his fists in cold water. "No, my Lord. He is very tough... But he will break sooner orter, as everyone does before the Judgement!"


    Inquisitor Mathias stood before the bloodied and bruised prisoner. The interrogator carried the glowmp forward and lit up the ouw dangling from the chains against the wall. Fleet Master Dijon''s once handsome roguish face was swollen and covered in blood and bruises.


    His naked body covered in blue ck marks trembled once in a while in the cold and lesions wept blood and pus. He dangled weakly on the chains that held his arms and legs, his body weight adding to the pain of his arms but he was too weak to move.


    "Wake him up," Inquisitor Mathias ordered and the interrogator picked up the bucket of water and ssh the cold water, shocking Dijon awake. The interrogator gripped the dazed Dijon''s jaw and jerked his head up to face the Inquisitor''s questioning.


    "Who are you?" Mathias asked in the halting ancientnguage he picked up from the pregnant woman. "Which kingdom do you hail from?"


    Dijon stared at the white mask in a daze and blinked slowly. He whispered softly, so softly that the interrogator had to lean close to hear his words. When the interrogator was close enough, Dijon suddenly shot forward as far as he could with thest of his strength and bit down hard with his teeth,tching onto the shocked interrogator''s ear and tearing a small chunk of flesh off.


    The interrogator screamed with rage and pain as he jerked back, his hand holding on to his ripped ear. Dijon gave a blood soaked grin and spat the grisly flesh away andughed hoarsely.


    "LAWLESS BASTARD!" The interrogator mmed his fist into the face of Dijon, rocking him back on his chains. Blood flowed out, joining the dried streams of blood and Dijon''s eyes rolled back as the interrogator vented his anger on him.


    "Enough!" Inquisitor Mathias stopped the interrogator''s actions. "Do not kill him yet... Let him recover... You have all the time in the world to break himter..."


    "Yes! Lord Inquisitor!" The interrogator huffed and red angrily at the slumped prisoner. He clenched his bleeding ear with one hand. "The Judgement sees all evil!"


    "Go and get that treated," Inquisitor Mathias said and he exited the cell. He walked down the roll of cages and paused before one and looked inside. A figure was huddled into a tight ball at one corner of the cell tried to squeeze her body smaller.


    "Did she reveal anything?" Inquisitor Mathias asked the wounded interrogator who gave a grim shake of his head.


    "No, like thatwless bastard," The interrogator sighed. "She refuses to say anything... Even after we use the judgement on her..."


    Inquisitor Mathias peeked through the bars of the cage and gave a shrug, "Well... she is just a demi being... a third rate creature... Do... what you wish of her. But it will be nice if she could reveal something of use to us..."


    "Yes, my Lord!" The interrogator saluted the Inquisitor who left the prison cells with his guards before he cast a simple healing spell on his wounded ear.


    He eyed the hopeful expressions of the prison guards and gave a sly leer to them. "Well, boys... the Lord Inquisitor has granted us a great permission!"


    The menughed happily as they turned their lecherous gaze at the huddled figure inside the cell. "It''s been over three months since we have any women!"


    "Take turns!" The interrogator growled at the excited men. "I am first!"


    His subordinates grinned and unlocked the cell and the interrogator entered the cell and the beast girl inside gave a warning hiss. "You shall feel proud to be able to serve us on the Judgement service!"


    Takao screamed desperately as she fought tooth and nail at the hands that grabbed and forced her face down to the dirty straw covered floor. "Noooooo!"

 Chapter 432: Getting Out

    Chapter 432: Getting Out


    The End Zone, UNS yer


    The hull of the Goblin ss corvette moaned painfully as it rode the massive wave that rose taller than its superstructure. The ship''s red painted bottom was briefly exposed as it crested the top of the wave before crashing down in a spray of white water.


    Its twin smoke stacks spewed out thick grey smoke that was blown away by the strong winds as the engine boilers worked frantically to powered its twin propeller screws. The ship rolled and yawed violently as it hit another towering wave.


    Inside the bridge of the UNS yer, the bridge crew were tense as they gripped tightly to their chairs and stations as the ship rosed up like a roller coaster ride before dropping down. Sprays of sea water hammered against the armoured windows, distorting the view of the crew.


    "Captain!" The helmsman called out nervously. "The sea is getting rougher! This ship... we might not make it any deeper!"


    "Keep on course!" The Captain called out as he held on to the sides of the map table for support. "We barely made twenty kilometres into the End Zone!"


    "Captain!" A cry came from one of the watchers. "Starboard side! L- Looks like... some monster!"


    The Captain made his way as fast as he could on the rolling decks to the starboard side and lifted his pair of binocrs hung around his neck. "Six points of starboard!"


    He followed the directions given by the spotter and under the light of the lightning that shed against the dark gloomy skies and briefly saw a mountainous shape with waving tentacles illuminated by lightning.


    "My Gods!" He blinked and rubbed his eyes as he scanned the horizon again. "What in the heavens is that creature?"


    Lightning shed again, and the distant silhouette of the monster was illuminated up again. The ship hit another wave and the view of the monster disappeared under a spray of seawater. The bridge crew watched their Captain as he stood there in silence, wondering what his nextmand will be, "Captain?"


    "Anything on the surface radar?" The Captain asked as he made his way back to his chair. "Is that... monster showing on the screen?"


    "The weather is making hell with the radar!" The sensor tech responded nervously. "Something is interfering with it!"


    The Captain returned his nce to the outside of the ship where the skies were covered in dark grey clouds. He checked the time, and it was just midday but inside the End Zone, it was like night time.


    "Captain!" The sensor tech called out in panic. "Th- There''s something massive on the sonar!"


    "What is it?" The Captain asked as he shuffled his way to the sensor station.


    The sensor tech''s face was pale as he gestured to the green lit screen, which was showing a circr object that was five times the size of the yer. "I... I don''t know!"


    The Captain frowned and he made his way to the front of the bridge and scanned the horizon with his binos. The ship climbed up another massive wave and the Captain froze as he caught sight of what was before them. He spun around and yelled in an urgent voice. "ALL ENGINES FULL BACK!"


    "Adjust course, bearing 310!" The Captain ordered as he stared in horror at the sudden appearance of a gigantic whirlpool. "Shit! We will not make it!"


    The ship groaned as it tried to back away from the whirlpool in their path, but the massive waves continued to push it towards the whirling waters. The currents of the whirlpool caught the struggling ship and started pulling the ship towards its embrace.


    "Give me nk speed!" The Captain changed his order. "We try to ride it out by using the currents to fling us out of its area of effect!"


    "XO!" The Captain turned his second inmand. "Tell the crew to brace for impact!"


    "Aye, aye, Sir!" The XO''s expression was pale and his voice shook slightly as he made an all ship announcement through the PA system. "A- All Hands! B- Brace for impact! I repeat again! Brace for im- impact!"


    The twin smokestacks spewed out ck smoke as its boilers when into overdrive. The once reversing propeller screws slowly came to a pause and spun in the opposite direction, spinning faster and faster as the engines were pushed to the max.


    Instantly, the yer seemed to leap forward in the water, as it rode the currents and the force of the waves. The ship nted to its port side as it entered into the whirlpool. The waters currents were very strong and the ship caught in the current was already making a loop around the whirlpool.


    "Helmsman keep the ship as close to the edge of the whirlpool!" The Captain ordered as held onto the railings and watched the water being sucked into a pitch ck hole in the centre of the whirlpool. "Prepare to hard rubber to the starboard! Wait for mymand!"


    The bridge crew were very tense as they held on tightly to their stations, some praying to their Gods for salvation. The ship had tilted to almost 15 degrees and the only thing that kept it from flipping over was the yer''s speed had reached almost twice its top speed by the pull of the whirlpool''s current.


    The helmsman strained hard against the wheel as he tried to angle the ship towards the edge of the whirlpool. The Captain yelled. "Helmsman! Keep her steady!"


    "NOW! HARD RUDDER TO THE STARBOARD!"


    The helmsman immediately spun the wheel, forcing the ship towards the starboard side. The rudder forced the ship to nt towards the right and suddenly, there was a feeling of lightness as the UNS yer was flung out of the water.


    Some of the bridge crew screamed in fright and the ship was airborne for a brief couple of seconds before it mmed down back into the rough sea. Instantly, xon red as pipes and other less durable equipment broke onboard on the ship from the force of thending.


    The crew who not strapped down was mmed off their feet, hitting the overhead of the decks and loose items scattered everywhere from the impact. The ship groaned even louder and rolled left and right before it levelled out and continued its way forward.


    "Dam- Damage report!" The Captain pulled himself up from where he had fallen. He saw some of his crewying on puddles of blood and he reached for the inte. "I need medics on the bridge now!"


    Most of the screens on the bridge were down, and even the armoured windows had spider web cracks. A smell of burnt metal was thick in the air and the Captain made his way towards the pilot wheel where the helmsman wasying in a broken heap.


    He spun the wheel around, watching the instruments which luckily were not damaged as he plotted a course back out of the End Zone.


    -----


    Skies over the Old World, Edge of the Sea of Clouds, Border of the Iron Kingdoms


    A long billowing was been stretched out from between two longish airships. Their propellers spun rapidly as the crew on the two airships coordinate with each other and a ground team with a mix of light and g signals.


    The half dozen children and adults on the ground had spread out in a long line as they approached arge patch of blue moss. A sh of a mirror from the airships and the children suddenly burst out in a run, yelling and waving their arms as they rushed towards the blue moss patch.


    Startled, the sky fish which feed on the blue moss, took flight into the skies in panic. Silvery scales glittered in the sun as the sky fishes spread their silvery wings and shot into the skies for shelter. Their long fish like slender bodies easily pierce through the air currents and they rose rapidly into the skies while the children panted and yelled beneath them.


    Instantly the two airships rapidly swooped into the school of sky fish which was trying to escape the disturbance. The sky fish tried to escape the sudden appearance of the two airships but many were trapped inside the deploy as they swam through the air in panic.


    The children and adults on the ground cheered and waved to the airships as they could see there was a good haul today. Sky fish were known for their delicious fatty meat and sometimes they even have an aetherium crystal inside their bodies!


    As the fishermen and their families were pulling in the catch, the sun was blocked out, casting a deep shadow over the two ships now docked side by side. The fishermen looked up and paled in fear as they recognized the bloodred hull of the Protectorate ships.


    Dozens of steam harpoons were suddenly fired from the Protectorate ship, those harpoons that hit the sky fisherships, their barbs dug into to wooden hull and dragged the helpless ships over. The frightened fishermen grabbed axes and knives and started to hack and saw at the ropes holding the harpoons, hoping to free themselves.


    But it futile as the distance closed, many more harpoons, more urate than the previous volley mmed into the hulls of the ships. Some even prated through bodies, turning the decks slick with blood and gore.


    The side hull of the Protectorate ship swung open slowly,rge enough to amodate both the fisherships, dragged both helpless ships and crew into its maw before the hull closed with a ng.


    -----


    The Innocence, Bridge


    "Lord Captain!" A bridge crew stood at attention next to the Innocence''s Captain. "We have captured thewless ships!"


    "Judgement be with them!" The Innocence''s Captain nodded. "Take everything of use! And... dispose of the...wless!"


    "Judgement be with them!" The crewman saluted and left to carry his orders.


    "Lord Inquisitor," The Captain turned to the masked man next to him and spoke in a respectful tone. "Once we resupplied, we can be on our way back to the Capital!"


    "Good!" Inquisitor Mathias replied. "We have been away from the Capital for quite some time... I am sure... many are... dying for our return!"


    "But..." The Captain had an unhappy expression on his face. "The Sinner has not appeared..."


    "We wasted enough time!" Inquisitor Mathias turned to face the Captain. His featureless mask was cold and impassionate. "If they made it through the Sea of Clouds, they would have already rendezvous with us already."


    "We can''t spend much time here..." Inquisitor Mathias gestured to thend spread out before them. "The Iron Kingdom will send their forces here, once word of our presence here is known."


    "I- I understand, my Lord!" The Captain sighed. Already two of his ships had fallen and not to thewless but to the Sea of Cloud. "May the Judgement find their souls worthy!"


    "The Judgement will always be fair!"


    -----


    The Innocence, Boarding Deck


    Pdin Rico broke his steamnce in half as he reloaded. He watched till his steamnce had built up enough steam before he aimed and fired at the helpless fishermen trying to use what scant cover they had on their fishership.


    He grimaced as it felt like a massacre, a ughter, rather than an honourable straight up fight. He felt almost sorry for the poorwless bastards.


    "Pdins!" The Chief suddenly yelled and raised a fist up. "Advance!"


    Pdin Rico joined the rest as the half circle of Pdins marched forward. The two fisherships had been grappled and pulled into the Boarding Deck where they both half hung by harpoons ropes.


    "Make it fast!" The Chief yelled again. "If you want to have more time with that demi girl!"


    The Pdins gave a war cry and they charged, wanting to hurry up and finish this bloody business quickly before rushing to queue up to have some fun with the demi being prisoner they caught.


    "Kill the damnwless!"

 Chapter 433: Nominated

    Chapter 433: Nominated


    Airspace over the edge of the End Zone


    A seagull winged twin engined ne buzzedzily in the air just beyond the boundary of a thickyer of grey clouds. The ne kept to its course steadily as it patrolled the edge of the End Zone when it spotted a ship drifting on the waters.


    "Is that ours?" The spotter crew onboard the FB - 1 Mariner trained their binocrs as the pilot brought the ne down for a low flyby of the unknown ship. "It''s the missing yer!"


    "Any word on the radio?" The pilot asked as he circled the ne around the quiet ship when a red smoke trail shot out from the ship and burst into a bright star before fading away. "re!"


    "Nothing! No answer on thems!" The radio operator replied. "I think theirms are down!"


    "They look pretty banged up!" The spotter reported as he glued his face to his binos at the viewport. "I can see the crew!"


    "Alright! Tell HQ we found our missing ship!" The pilot said as he broke off from circling the ship and dropped their altitude and reduce the throttle. "I am bringing her down! Everybody, brace fornding!"


    The flying boat hit the choppy seas somewhat gently as the pilot used all his skill to avoid mming into a wave and flipping the ne and its crew into the water. The flying boat crested the waves as its prop engine pushed the flying boat towards the UNS yer.


    "Ahoy there!" The crew of the yer called out happily at the sight of the flying boat. "Ourms and engines are down!"


    "Do you need any medical help?" The flying boat crew called out back as they climbed out of hatches and exchanged information. "HQ has been informed and they will be sending help!"


    "Thank the heavens!" The Captain of the yer finally gave a rxed smile as he heard that help wasing. They had sprung a leak in the fuel bunkers from their brief airborne adventure but luckily they managed to make their way out of the End Zone before their fuel ran out.


    Furthermore not only did they sprung a leak, but the ship''s hull was so badly shaken that the radio mast broke off too. Without fuel for the boilers, there was no power throughout the ship, meaning that all electronic systems could not function. Things like refrigeration and water converters could not work and even with magic, their food and water could notst for long.


    The Captain watched his crew celebrate joyfully and he turned and looked back towards the dark gloomy End Zone. He could see a small trail of shimmering oil left behind from their wake and shuddered as the horrors of the End Zone has yet to leave his mind.


    -----


    United Nations, Goblin Coast, Site of New Port Facilities


    Arge tent city had sprung up next to the site of the nned city and docks. Every day,nd convoys and transport ships brought in new workers, settlers, food and materials to the site. Alreadynd that has been cleared where being divided up to areas for residential,merce, and industrial.


    "Looks like everything will be ording to schedule..." Letts, the head of Construction and Development said to Ford. They stood at the window of a temporary office building that oversees the city and port construction. "The port will be our priority. Already we are having our smaller yards at Far Harbor working onponents for the supercarrier..."


    Ford nodded as he took in the hive of activity before him. "Twenty thousand men and women, working in three shifts..."


    "It''s just how amazing what people can do with they put their hearts and souls into it..." Ford mumbled. "Are there any issues so far?"


    "Sanitation..." Letts replied immediately. "And ess to clean potable water."


    "Some of the new settlers are crapping all over the ce!" Letts sighed. "I have teams of teaching ambassadors roaming the grounds and trying to teach those people what to do and what not to do!"


    "But still the cleaners areining that there is shit everywhere!" Lettsined. "If this goes on, and the filth gets into the groundwater, we will have an epidemic on the grounds!


    "Do what you need to enforce cleanliness on the grounds," Ford replied. "And what about water?"


    "We have wells dug currently, but with assholes shitting everywhere..." Letts sighed again. "The water is full of harmful bacterial. And most of the settlers are drawn from the refugee pool, so they barely have any knowledge of how to treat water."


    "I already had a couple of treatment nts up and running, but without piping, the settlers are not boiling the water properly," Letts exined. "I am nning to force close all the wells and force the settlers to get water from designated points. Already several dozen medical cases of bad runs are being reported!"


    "As I said, do what you need to," Ford said. "You can make the decisions on these matters yourself."


    "Sure I will!" Letts nodded before he lowered his voice and asked. "So... how''s the Captain?"


    "He''s..." Ford let out a deep breath. "Still not recovered yet... The loss of the Princess... hit him pretty badly..."


    "Damn..." Letts grimaced. "Those fuckers are gonna pay!"


    "Yes... but... we have to wait till the supercarrier is built..."


    "Sir, priority call for you Sir!" Ford''s aide notified Ford from the door of the office. "The call is waiting for you on board the Goblin, Sir!"


    "Got it," Ford nodded before he turned to Letts. "Keep up the good work. The whole nation is watching..."


    He left the office and followed his aide down to the temporary floating docks used by the UN ships for offloading of cargo and personnel. He boarded the corvette to the whistle of the bosun and a small colour party, saluting the g of the UN and returning the salutes of the officers.


    He was led to the Captain''s cabin where theputer disy was already up and running. "This is Commander Ford."


    "Sir," Tavor''s image came into view and he greeted Ford. "Just got a report off an aerial patrol. We found our missing ship."


    "The yer?" Ford asked. "They made it back?"


    "Barely in one piece," Tavor shook his head as he started to read off the list in his hand. "It was found drifting just beyond the edge of the End Zone, with multiple hull fractures, flooding in the below decks, leak in the fuel bunkers,ms mast down, six deaths and every single other crew in various levels of injuries."


    "That bad?" Ford winced. "And how far did they made it through the zone?"


    "Based on ship''s records and ck box," Tavor replied. "Barely sixty kilometres before they encountered a giant whirlpool and I quote the Captain of the yer, barely made it out with the skin of his teeth."


    "And there is also the sightings of giant monsters by multiple crew members, despite nothing being shown on the surface radar which is messed up by a ton of white noise," Tavor said. "Most probably caused by the perpetual storm."


    "And the data sonar suggested that the whirlpool they had encountered had the size of roughly a hundred and seventy meters in diameter..." Tavor continued his report. "From the data gathered from the yer, we estimate the current of the whirlpool to be around thirty kilometres per hour or 16 knots at the edges and probably up to fifty kilometres per hour or 26 knots closer to the epicentre."


    "As for how these whirlpools are formed," Tavor shook his head. "We have no idea without more data or research..."


    "Damn thing is almost three times the length of our corvette and even has a current faster than our top speed?" Ford rubbed his face in disbelief. "What kind of fuck up ce is that?"


    Tavor could only give a shrug. "To that question, not even Dr. Sharon nor Magister Thorn could answer you."


    "Dammit... Send the full report over... I will go over itter..." Ford sighed. "Carry on."


    Tavor''s image gave a salute before the disy flickered to a no signal message. Ford left the cabin and headed up the bridge where the Marine sentry announced his entry. He returned the salutes of the watch crew and went out to the bridge wings where the strong sea breeze immediately tugged at his clothes and hair.


    The cold breeze helped clear his preupied mind, and from his vantage point, he could see hundreds and hundreds of tiny figures working on thend, digging and filling the foundations of what would be the greatest shipyard ever built in this part of the world or even the entire world.


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet, Council of Masters


    "Do we allow our blood and sweat to be just taken away from us?" Fleet Master Megan asked in a passionate matter to the audience. "Our forefathers had spent hundreds of years to ensure our generation and our future generation to have the wealth and prosperity we enjoy today!"


    "But now..." Fleet Master Megan lowered her long eyshes, putting on a sad expression. "Our young and talents are leaving our beloved inds in doves... All seeking new opportunities with our ally, the United Nations..."


    "The United Nations has done nothing wrong," Fleet Master Megan sighed. "It is just that we, ourselves are allowing our young and talented people to leave our inds..."


    "I think we should put an end to this..." Megan said firmly. "At this rate, our economy will be in the hands of the United Nations!"


    "All our hard work will be taken away from us," Megan looked around the Council Chambers. "In no time, we will be ves ourselves! ves to the United Nation''s economy!"


    "Ahem..." The First Fleet Master cleared his throat before he spoke. "I think everyone understands your point."


    "Now, all in favour of Fleet Master Megan''s propose to impose trade sanctions and limitations to the United Nations..." First Fleet Master Kose said in a serious voice as he looked around the chamber. "Please cast your votes!"


    "Wait!" Fourth Fleet Master Akron raised his gloved hands up before saying, "We have one missing seat... I propose we first fill that missing seat first before we vote on Fleet Master''s Megan''s proposal!"


    "Fleet Master Dijon''s fate is yet to be determined!" Fifth Fleet Master Marshal, the eldest among the Fleet Master stormed. "How can you ask to rece him?"


    "I am sorry, Fleet Master Marshal," Fleet Master Akron adjusted his golden monocle before replying. "It has been over a month... I am afraid..."


    "You!" Marshal mmed his fists on the table. "Do not curse his death!"


    "Enough!" First Fleet Master Kose red at everyone. "Well, it pains me to say this... Fleet Master Akron... is right. It is time to find a recement for Dijon!"


    "But!" Fleet Master Marshal did not give up. "He could still be alive!"


    "Could be dead too," Fleet Master Megan said with a sad expression. "Whether he is alive or dead... We shall not forget him! And I believe he will not want us to cause the Isles to break apart?"


    "I say we nominate a new Fleet Master!" Megan dered.


    First Fleet Master Kose nodded, "Than we shall first nominate a new Fleet Master."


    "I shall nominate the Guild Master of the Merchant''s Guild, Mr Tediore Bannerhall," Megan said while Fleet Master Akron gave the same nomination.


    "Captain Goska Even," Fleet Master Marshal growled. "Second in Command of the Home Fleet!"


    The other minor council members started casting their votes and nominations too and before long, the numbers of nominations and votes were tallied up and First Fleet Master looked at the name on the parchment in his hand with a serious expression.


    "For the position of the third Fleet Master seat... Mr Tediore Bannerhall will take over ex Fleet Master Dijon as he was given the most confidence by the Council!"

 Chapter 434: The Iron Kingdom

    Chapter 434: The Iron Kingdom


    The heavy whop whop whop of the spinning aerial screw gently pushed the sleek airship through the air, joining the formation of four other simr ships. The airships kept to a flying ''V'' formation as they closed towards the edge of the border.


    The airships had a shape simr to a Terran swordfish and in ce of it''s ''tail'', where three spiral shaped aerial screws were ced two side by side and one below. The ''nose'' of the airship was the bowsprit which was linked to ''fins'' or sails on both its side and top.


    Their hulls that glittered in the sun was ted with riveted tes of iron where tears of rust could be seen at areas where the paint had peeled off. At their rear dangled a dark blue g with a simple motif of a clenched iron fist, telling people this was a ship of the Iron Kingdom. The entire ship was enclosed, without any open decks except for several open air walkways linked with hatches.


    Dozens of circr viewports covered the majority of its hull, allowing the crew inside to see out. The bridge sat in the front, just below the bowsprit, withrge crystal window panels to provide enough view for the helm man and crew to pilot the ship.


    Along its curved body, were two rows of rectangr gunports for their steam cannons that were covered up currently. The Vise ss air frigates of the Iron Kingdoms carried a total of twenty two five stoner steam cannon. The strength of the steam cannons was measured by the weight of their projectiles fired, which a five stoner steam cannon can fire up to a five stone shot, which equals to a 2.5 kg projectile in Terran measurements.


    Nine steam cannons sat on facing each side of the ship, arranged with four on the upper cannon deck and five on the lower deck. The upper deck gun ports allowed the steam cannons to adjust their firing angles upwards to engage ships of higher altitude while the lower deck allowed their steam cannons'' angles to be adjusted downwards, allowing ground bombardment.


    At the fore and aft of the ship, sat a pair of chase guns each, allowing the airship to attempt to slow down an enemy ship either chasing or being chased when the ship''s broadside could not be brought to bear.


    "Is this some sort of wild wyvern chase?" Lancaster frowned as heined to his friend, whose eyes were glued to the looking ss. "Why would a Protectorate ship y pirate out here? Could it be those vigers have reported wrongly and now we are stuck out here in the cold doing nothing useful?"


    His friend, Grace, remained silent and did not even bother to reply kept her attention beyond the crystal windows. Both of them had just turned sixteen and were working on their apprenticeship onboard the Iron Maiden, a Vise ss frigate, as midshipman which was the lowest of the lowest rank of officers.


    Their duties generally involved cleaning the officer decks, serving the g officers, and standing watch over the bell and wind up clock and performing spotting duties like now. Lancaster sighed at the cold shoulder given by Grace and took up his looking ss and casually looked around the coastline.


    Spotting work was generally boring, just looking out at the endless empty blue skies or clouds and seeing nothing. And they had to do the same thing for hours, just staring out into nothingness! Not only that, but the spotting nest was also sited at the front top of the ship''s hull, in an open air tower.


    They both had to dress thickly due to the cold strong winds and sometimes they even had to put on a leather breathing mask as the air could get very thin the higher the ship was at. Luckily, this time around, the fleet was kept at a rtively low altitude.


    He lethargically fiddled around with his looking ss, swiping left and right and he froze and jerked back his looking ss as he unexpectedly caught sight of something. He focused his looking ss and yelled excitedly, "Grace! Grace! Look there! Is that a Protectorate ship?"


    Grace frowned at the excited cries and motions of Lancaster and sighed inwardly, wondering why is he still so immature even after gaining adulthood. She followed Lancaster''s excited directions and saw what he was excited about.


    The sight of the blood red vessel was unmistakable, even if the view from the looking ss was not all that clear due to the distance and clouds. The blood red hull of the Protectorate ship strikingly stood out against the white and blue skies.


    Grace felt a tingle of fear down her spine while Lancaster excitedly hopped around in the cramped spotting tower. "Aedi''s fire! It really is a Protectorate ship! This is so exciting!"


    Grace ignored Lancaster''s excitement and she flipped the cover off the speaking horn. She covered the sides of the horn and cleared her throat before she reported the sighting to the officer below.


    "Protectorate ship sighted!" She paused as she checked thepass chart glued around the circr railings of the spotting tower. "Compass point... three two zero! Heading on an eastern direction!"


    "You sure up there?"


    "YES!" Grace yelled back.


    "Wait there!"


    Grace covered the speaking horn and Lancaster who was still fantasizing of theing battle asked. "Do you think we will board and capture the Protectorate ship? How many do you think we can kill?"


    Lancaster did not wait for Grace''s reply and he continued on, his eyes glowing with excitement. "I can''t wait to tell the rest of our ss that we encountered a Protectorate ship! We will be heroes!"


    -----


    The Commodore of the Iron Maiden frowned when a crew member handed a message slip to him. He read the message and his eyed narrowed before he looked up and started issuing orders. "Order the fleet to change course and prepare for battle!"


    "The Protectorate ship has been spotted!" The Commodoregrinned in anticipation. "Order the fleet to switch to intercept formation!"


    The Iron Maiden was the gship of the 149th Squadron and once the orders were given, signal gs were flown out and signal lights started shing between the ships. One by one the airships of the 149th Squadron responded as they replied back with gs and signals.


    The ships slowly split into two groups of three and two airships. Therger group consisting of IK Iron Maiden, IK Iron Fury and IK Iron Spirit, increased their cruising speed as they proceed in a heading that will intersect with the Protectorate airship''s path if they kept to their same course and heading.


    As for the smaller group, the IK Iron Duke and IK Iron Will pred on a tail chasing course. It will keep the two ships at the rear of the Protectorate airship while the other three ships of the 149th Squadron cut off the path, allowing the 149th Squadron to effectively pincer the Protectorate airship between them.


    After half a turn of the mechanical sandss, the Protectorate airship spotted the Iron Kingdom''s airships and started to swing away from their interception course. But it did not matter much to the airships of the 149th Squadron as their speed was far superior to the lumbering Protectorate airship.


    "That''s a Penal ss heavy cruiser!" The bridge crew identified the Protectorate airship as the distance closed between the two sides. "I- It''s huge!"


    The Protectorate airship was at least seven times heavier than the Iron Kingdom''s Vise ss frigate and carries five times the crew but on a five versus one match, the Iron Kingdom''s airships had a higher chance of victory.


    "Why did a damn Protectorate ship appear out of nowhere at this ce?" The Commodore of the Iron Maiden cursed as he watched the blood red airship slowly erging on the window. "I have never heard of the Protectorate raiding so far away from the borders!"


    "Captain! We will be within cannon range in another one and a half turn of the ss!" The weapon master reported. "All steam cannons are primed and ready to be steamed!"


    "Good!" The Commodore replied. "Give a ration of Bane''s Fire for every sailor! And get the galley to cook up something hot for everyone before dousing the fires before the battle!"


    The bridge crew cheered at the generously of the Commodore as he allowed the ship''s liquor stores to be issued out. The Commodore ignored their cheers as he turned his attention back to the approaching Protectorate ship, his mind still full of questions of why would such an airship appear here, and if it wasn''t for the reports from the local vige that their fisherships were attacked by a blood red coloured airship, he would still not believe it was from the Protectorate.


    Yet, now the evidence was right before him and the Protectorate airship seemed to decide to stop running as its rudder sails deployed out and it slowly turned, to present its broadside that held four times as many and bigger cannons to his ship.


    The Commodore leaned forward from his chair as he issued his orders to the fleet. "Fleet is to form stack formation! All ships to slow down and engage the enemy at the same time!"


    Slowly, after his orders were given out, the airships of the 149th Squadron slowed down and the IK Iron Fury raised its altitude and ''stacked'' at the top of IK Iron Maiden while IK Iron Spirit dropped its altitude and formed up below the IK Iron Maiden, forming a stack.


    The other two ships did the same as they closed from the rear of the Protectorate airship. The Commodore nodded in satisfaction at the speed of the change of the formation, while despite not as fast as the top elite fleets of the Iron Kingdom, it was still done perfectly.


    "All ships to time their attacks at the start of the new ss turn!" The Commodore ordered again as he wanted his ships to attack at the same timing to hit the Protectorate airship with the heaviest opening to overwhelm its crew.


    Time past rapidly as the grains of sand in the time ss dipped away and suddenly a spotter in the bridge yelled out a warning. "INCOMING!"


    The Protectorate ship with itsrger steam cannons fired first, white steam could be seen covering the side of their blood red hull as the hot and cold air mixed together. Their eight stoner steam long cannons popped like celebratory wine bottles but over ten thousand times sharper and louder which was heard secondster.


    "Iron Fury reports hit on its upper deck! No pration!" Damage reports from the fleet started flowing in as the fleet signalled amongst themselves frantically. "Iron Duke and Iron Will report the same! They suffer hits but no pration! Their crew is shaken but no injuries!"


    "How long more to range?" The Commodore bite down hard on his lip as he watched the side of the Protectorate airship disappeared into a fury of white steam clouds.


    "A quarter turn of the ss more!" The weapon masters reported back nervously.


    "Tell the fleet to keep in formation!" The Commodore barked. "Endure the cannon fire for now!"


    "Iron Will reports its starboard armour te is wrapping and is suffering from pressure leaks!"


    "Iron Duke lost its side rudder sails! It''s turning speed has dropped!"


    "Lord Commodore! Weapons are in range!"


    "Finally!" The Commodore stood up and ordered. "Signal the fleet to present broadside cannons!"


    The anticipating airships of the 149th Squadron swung out as one and the armour gun ports were raised up, exposing the stubby barrels of the five stoner steam cannons. The cannon crews shoved the loaded steam cannons out and the muzzles of the cannons suddenly poked out from the sides of the airship.


    The Commodore smoothly drew his sword out and pointed it directly at the Protectorate airship in his sights and yelled. "All ships... OPEN FIRE!"

 Chapter 435: Glory and Honour

    Chapter 435: Glory and Honour


    Skies between Sea of Clouds and the Iron Kingdom


    Grace held on to the railing mounted on the bulkhead as the deck underneath her feet shook violent. The hull of the IK Iron Maiden seemed to shake and the hammering sh of the heavy shots reverberated painfully to the crew onboard.


    Grace steadied herself and ran down the decks where she could hear the high pitch hiss of escaping steam. As she turned around the corner, she saw a couple of crew members curled up like a shrimp, their exposed skin cooked by the leaking steam from a cracked pipe on the side of the bulkhead.


    Dressed in a set of high resilient leathers, she slipped her heavy iron and leather face protection mask of her helmet down with a narrow slit of clear crystal for her to see. She next donned a thick pair of leather gloves hanging from her belt and quickly located the leak on the pressure pipe.


    She dug out a metal cuff and a piece of leather treated with a special kind of heat resistance oil. Putting aside the fears of getting scalded and cooked like the two unfortunate crew members on the floor, she looped the metal cuff over the pipes and slipped the piece of leather over the leak.


    Using the metal cuff to hold the leather in ce of the leak, she took out a long wrench and started to tighten the bolts of the metal cuff to seal the leak. Steam continued to burst out from the sides of the leather patch and Grace could find the temperature in her suit rising.


    Once in a while, a tiny bit of steam managed to slip through her protective gear and burning her skin through her clothes. She bit back the pain and used all her strength to continue to tighten the metal cuff, till the frightening hiss of steam died down and tiny droplets of condensed water dipped down.


    She let out a sigh of relief and shoved her protective helmet up, her headband wet with her perspiration and her face was red from the heat and stressful moment. She bent down to check the two bodies and found no signs of life and she stumbled her way towards the nearest speaking horn and spoke in a trembling voice to the operator in the signal centre.


    "Th- There is... two d- dead crew on the third deck corridor..." Grace spoke into the horn. "Th- the burst pressure pipe is fixed too!"


    "You said the third deck?" The operator confirmed before saying, "Head to the second deck! They need help here! Hurry!"


    Grace cast ast look at the two bodies before she walked away, slowly at first before her speed turned into a ran as if she was running away from death.


    -----


    The Commodore of the 149th Squadron tried to keep his small squadron of frigates away from the devastating broadside of the Protectorate heavy cruiser. He ordered the airships to keep to the fore and aft arc of the Protectorate heavy cruiser as there are lesser steam cannons mounted on those areas.


    The battle had been raging on for a better part of the sandss, yet despite the battered look of the Protectorate airship''s armour, there was no signs of it giving up any time soon. Yet, his own squadron has already suffered some heavy damages and casualties.


    Already he had ordered the ship mage to contact the nearest garrison, and the mage had burned up several mana stones to send an ''Engaged in Battle'' magic signal. All he now has to do was either duke it out with the Protectorate airship or wait for reinforcements to bring it down.


    Suddenly there was a cry of horror from the bridge spotters and the Commodore looked out of the windows to see what caused themotion. "Commodore! The... Iron Will..."


    Outside the windows, the once sleek hull of the Iron Will was slowly spinning on its axis as its attitude dropped. Thick white vapour poured out from its side as steam and aetherium gases escaped, forming a thick plume of dirty grey clouds in its fall to the ground.


    "No!" The bridge crew was horrified at the sight of their sister ship''s death fall. The Commodore gritted his teeth and yelled. "Back to your stations! Do not let the sacrifice of ourrades be in vain!"


    The sinking of one of the Iron Kingdom''s airships seemed to rejuvenize the Protectorate as it ploughed forward, trying to shake its attackers off and present its broadside.


    The Commodore growled as his whole ship shook from a hit, "Destroy that heaven cursed ship! For Aedi! For the glory of the Iron Kingdom!"


    -----


    United Nations, Goblin Coast, Site of New Port Facilities, UNS Goblin


    "Thank you all for making time for this conference," Commander Ford greeted the faces on the disy screen. "I will try to make this meeting short."


    "Now, a quick recap of what has gone on within our borders," Ford started the meeting. "We now face two things, first, food. The news from our agents and merchants beyond our borders is that the situation is grim."


    "There is barely anyone working on the fields," Ford said. "Most of the lords have pulled their forces in, meaning there isn''t any patrols nor protection for the outlying farms which in turn allows desperate people turned bandits and monsters to freely roam around."


    "And most of the males were conscripted into armies," continued Ford. "Leaving behind only the weak, young, elderly and womenfolk to tend to the farms, which barely could produce any yield at such conditions."


    "There are of course a few cities and nations like the Isles, that are not affected by the situation," Ford added. "Or they have taken steps to prevent such a situation."


    "But Intel is very certain that those ces, barring the Isles, wille into attacks by its neighbours when their food supplies are low," Ford sighed. "And for ourselves, with the intake of over fifteen thousand refugees, we too have just enough for ourselves."


    "Sir," The elven image of the Trade Minister called out. "We are facing some problems with the Isles in regards to the import of food from them!"


    "Lately they have either increased the price of seafood, sugar and grains," The Trade Minister had a frown on his face as he said, "Or they hadpletely stopped supply, stating that there is a shortage."


    "But when I checked with the merchants that owed me a favour," The Trade Minister continued. "They all said that there was a new order past down from the Council of Masters to restrict the trade with us! And it is not due to any shortages, as their warehouses are said to be brimming with surplus!"


    "Sir, my department too, has picked up some rumours in regards to that," Intel Officer Tavor spoke out. "Also recently, they had just elected a new Fleet Master to... rece Dijon... And the new Fleet Master seemed to be on Fleet Master Megan''s party."


    Ford frowned, "So you are saying, Megan is pulling some strings to fuck around with us?"


    Tavor nodded, "Most likely cause of that incident where you offended them..."


    Ford sighed and shook his head in disbelief, "That... bi-"


    He quickly caught himself and apologized to the gatheredmittee, "Ahem... pardon my words... Anyway, if they want to y with us in this way..."


    Ford turned to the Trade Minister''s avatar and said, "Match them in their excuses... Stop all transfer of tech to them... Recall all our people back from the Isles..."


    "Say... we are facing a crisis now," Ford mused. "We need all our people to save our princess!"


    The Trade Minister nodded as he scribbled down notes. "And we will only send our people back to teach and guide them when they resume trade?"


    Ford nodded, "Of course! There is no free lunch in this world!"


    "Now, back to our food situation," Ford continued on where he had left off. "The canning factories are already up and running. We currently only have one factory at Far Harbour which is solely used to can seafood and one at Sea Cliff which cans all the monster meat from the dungeon."


    "We n to open one factory in each city," Ford turned his attention to the governors of Falledge and Orwell''s Point. "I will need the Governors to prep thend and hire workers. The central government will fork out half the construction bill. The rest of the cost is up to the Governors to handle."


    Both Governors nodded as they mentally ran the calctions and other details in their heads. Ford continued on, "Once more canning factories open up, our food stockpile will improve greatly and we won''t have so much worry on that part."


    "As for our borders, recruitment in both military and civil departments has gone up by seventy percent," Ford said. "All new recruits are being trained and will greatly increase our current strength."


    "The Army and Police will help support Customs and Immigration at the borders to prevent any illegals," Ford cast his eye to the Chief of Army and the Police Chief. "We still got someone out there using refugees as drug mules that we have yet to identify."


    "Now, for the second issue, we are facing," Ford said. "And that is money..."


    "Currently all our budget are being invested in building a supercarrier," Ford had a hint of regret on his expression as he spoke. "Schedule of the supercarrier is ted to bepleted in about eight months more."


    "It has been over a month and two weeks since the Princess was... taken," Ford sighed. "And the only trail or clue of her whereabouts is only by the tracing talisman ced by Kaga."


    "We do not have any idea of if she is alive or dead," Ford frankly stated the facts. "The supercarrier we are building now is funded both by the nation''s citizens and the treasury which is starting to look empty..."


    "On a national interest point of view," Ford closed his eyes as he steeled himself for the next words. "It is unwise to continue wasting money on building the supercarrier which will crash the entire UN''s economy..."


    "BUT!" Ford yelled out to cut everyone in themittee off as they started to get rowdy. "On a personal and honour point of view, it is something we need to do to find out if the Princess is still alive and well!"


    "I am sure everyone has their own thoughts to this matter," Ford grimaced as he continued on. "This is not an easy matter to speak off, but it must be done!"


    "We are already at the initial stage of construction!" Someone yelled. "If we stopped now, won''t we be wasting all the efforts and resources put in now?"


    "Yes," Ford agreed. "But this is the final line here... Once we cross this line, there is no going back. No regrets, no what if!"


    "I am asking now before we cross this line of no return," Ford stared at everyone in his disy. "Are you allmitted to seeing this to the end? Even at the cost of the entire UN?"


    "This is everyone''sst chance to voice out their disagreements to the construction of the supercarrier!" Ford took on a serious tone. "If everyone has no disagreements... once we start, I do not want anyone to have any qualms or regrets in the future!"


    "Are you all ready to be fullymitted to this endeavour?" Ford took a deep breath as he asked again. "Even if the Princess... is no longer... alive... We will still do this to the end and find who took her..."


    "Even... if her body... can''t be recovered..." Ford bit his lips hard as he forced out the unpleasant words. "We will still push on..."


    "And pray that whatever gods those bastards who took her has mercy on their souls... For we will have no mercy on them!"

 Chapter 436: A City called Hope

    Chapter 436: A City called Hope


    Skies between Sea of Clouds and the Iron Kingdom


    The skies around the border were filled with plumes of ck smoke and grey clouds as the battle raged on. Steam leaked out from ruptured pipes and armour tes of the airships as they circled around therge red coloured airship, trying to get the upper hand over each other.


    Suddenly, one of the Iron Kingdom smaller airships, too slow to turn or its propulsion systems too damaged, got caught within the firing arcs of the Protectorate''s broadside. Instantly, the side of the hull of the Protectorate ship disappeared into a cloud of steam as its steam cannons fired.


    Caught in the vicious cannon fire, the Iron Kingdom airship shuddered in midair as it suffered several direct hits. For a moment, it seemed that the airship managed to shake off the damage, but suddenly, its middle section bulged out and pieces of armour ting and broken parts rained down.


    Smoke and trails of steam erupted out from the airship as it fell suddenly like a rock and secondster, it smashed into the ground below and balls of mes and smoke erupted out from its crumpled hull.


    The remaining three Iron Kingdom airships, enraged by another death of their own. renewed their fire at the badly battered Protectorate airship. The once smooth and oblong hull of the Protectorate airship was now covered in dents and holes. Weakened tes of armour fell off as wadcutter shots hammered the boltings off.


    The Protectorate airship could barely move as majority of its aerial screws had been shot off. It lumbered on its axis as like a drunken boxer, trying to hit its more agile opponents which constantly danced out of its deadly broadside weapons'' arcs.


    The Commodore of the Iron Kingdom squadron, noting that the Protectorate airship''s armour was mostly stripped off its hull and its wooden innards exposed, ordered his ships to switch to incendiary bolts.


    The cannoneers instead of using iron capped plug shots switched out to plug shots which has a small hole in the middle of its rounded head. The cannoneers next carried over a thick and short ballista bolt. Behind the broad head of the ballista bolt was five y tubes filled with mmable liquid secured around the bolt. A simple spring based flint and striker was attached behind the y tubes, and upon heavy impact, the flint and striker will produce sparks, which will ignite the spilled mmables.


    The base of the incendiary bolt was covered in screw threads and taped down to a point. A crossbar sat above the screw threads, which allowed cannoneers to screw the bolt into the plug shot. Once the incendiary bolt was screwed in, the cannoneers ran the steam cannon out of the gunports as they waited for the order to fire.


    Once all the cannons were ready to be fired, the men waited with anticipation and vengeance in their eyes for the order to fire. The order to fire seemed to take forever to the sweating men as the crouched in the hot cannon decks.


    And finally, the order came down, and the men roared out their frustrations and fears, together with the roaring of the steam cannons.


    Nine incendiary bolts wobbled in the air as they arched over to the target. The crossbars of the bolts acted like vanes as they spun the bolts gently in the air, stabilizing their flight before plunging into the hull of the Protectorate airship.


    Over half of the bolts missed and another half of the remaining bolts that impacted on the Protectorate airship''s hull bounced off the armour tes or shattered their mmables uselessly on the side of the hull.


    Only two bolts managed to punch through the armourless gaps, their broadhead tips nailing the bolts to the wooden structure beneath the armour. The shock of the impact flung the y tubes forward and they shattered over the wood and metal.


    At the same time, the force of the impact rammed the striker against the piece of flint hard, striking a burst of fiery sparks which rained over the spilled mmables. Instantly, the mmables caught fire and a ball of mes burst out from the side of the Protectorate airship.


    The bridge crew of the IK Iron Maiden cheered as they saw the sight. Even the Commodore broke into a fierce grin. The battle hadsted for over a good three turns of the sandss, which finally his squadron had finally dealt a critical hit at the price of two frigates and countless lives of the squadron.


    "Kill it!" The Commodore ordered fiercely. "Revenge our fallen brothers and sisters! For the Glory of the Iron Kingdom!"


    With his order passed down, the remaining airships of the 149th Squadron continued to hound the crippled Protectorate airship, their steam cannons aiming at the exposed internals of the airship. More and more incendiary bolts hammered their way into the Protectorate airship''s innards and finally, after a long and tense battle, the Protectorate ship seemed to give a sigh as it lurched in midair as its boilers blew up, spewing steam, mes and smoke out from its broken sides.


    The once mightly Protectorate airship sank down from the clouds rapidly before it hit nose first to the ground, its full weight without the support of aetherium folded inwards, and more explosions erupted from its crumpled carcass as itid burning on the fields, surrounded by smoking debris.


    -----


    United Nations, Goblin Coast, Site of New Port Facilities, The City of Hope


    kes of snow drifted down heavily and the whole world was nketed in ayer of whiteness. Yet, despite the dark and cold, a city glowed even under the overcast clouds that blocked out the sun. To the new immigrants who once took shelter in the winter months, the heavy snow, cold and dark days were not the time to be caught outside unless having to deal with issues of great importance, as it would mean certain death by freezing.


    But their logic was overturned as the city or what parts of the city that had been constructed was running normally. Stores and markets were still opened, rows ofmps lit up the streets and houses, casting away the darkness.


    People hurried up and down the streets, while others rode on buses and vehicles to their destination. There was a sense of determination and purpose to the people''s action in the city. The once hopeless and dested air around the city had changed, as people started to feel a sense of achievement and hope.


    Thend once wild had greatly changed, the trees and foliage were cut down and a huge stretch ofnd was ttened and quartered out. The tent city which upied one corner of the development was also torn down as the people were moved into rows and rows of apartment blocks just in time for the onset of winter.


    The new immigrants had thought they will be living in the cold in the tents but to their surprise and amazement, the ''kon creed'' buildings were built rapidly. Construction of housing in their knowledge tends to be shabby unless you build it yourself or paid a lot of money to well known masons and carpenters.


    But the use of the strange grey powder that hardens within a turn of ss, bricks, and magic greatly astonished the refugees by the speed the buildings were constructed. They had never seen parts of a house already constructed at another area and brought in ships and transported by thoserge metal wagons.


    The new immigrants consisted mainly of females, the young and the old, as most of the men were either dead in the war or still serving the remaining Lords of the shattered Empire. Yet, there was ample work for them in the strange nation that promised them homes and security.


    Womenfolk were being hired to work in ''factories'' or workshops, which was predominantly a male trade in their previous homes. In their culture, womenfolk was only good for tending the house or working in the farms while the men sought tradecraft or apprenticeship.


    Yet, this strange nation, not only offered them work, and even housing! But the prerequisite was they needed to attend sses which they had to learn some kind of newnguage and other basic knowledge like maths and science.


    Another thing that surprised the new immigrants, was that the young were not allowed to work till they turn sixteen of age. Before that, they were required to attend mandatory sses teaching things that only nobles could ever afford to do so!


    Even the elderly were given jobs from teaching positions to cooks and childcare. Slowly, the once emptynd started to spring up buildings and in a short span of two months, a small city had grown up with straight and neat streets and orderly rows of houses.


    At the water edge, work on the port had alsoe to close as the foundations wereid out and work was going on under the cover of the roofed dry docks. Other areas that require the pouring of concrete was put on hold till the cold winter months were over and work could only be done under shelter from the snow.


    Yet, the massive dry dock that was partiallypleted already had the skeletal frame of the first of the trimaran supercarrier''s hull. The work crew consisting of a mixture of both male workers from Far Harbour and the new immigrants who were mostly female.


    The new immigrants'' workers were taught about welding and basic shipwright techniques which enabled them to work on the hull. Sparks and the music were constantlying from the dry docks as goblin shipwrights yelled and cursed at the stupidly of the elves working non stop in three shifts around the clock.


    The new immigrants'' were once frightened by the goblins but slowly they realised that these goblins were different from the goblins that feasted on people''s flesh. And the goblins themselves were even insulted if they werepared to the feral goblins roaming the Uncharted Forest as they referred to themselves as ''superior civilised enlightened'' goblins that worshipped the Machine Gods, unlike the ferals goblins who worshipped pagan gods of bone and stone!


    Every day, parts andponents for the strange giant ship was being shipped in by transport ships which also brought other materials and resources for the growing city. To the new immigrants'' surprise, there were nond being prepared for farming of crops, and instead food was constantly being shipped in from the ships.


    At first, they were worried about the cost of the food, butter they found out that the food price was strictly controlled by the Government, which eased many of their fears. But still, there was a flicker of unease in their hearts about food to tide them over for winter till the arrival of canned goods totally turned their world concept upside down again.


    Food that can be kept for years in a metal container that cost just slightly more the same as fresh food from the market and can be eaten without cooking? First, to them, the use of metal was already an idea of extreme extravagant and waste! In their lifetimes, if a farm has tools made out of metal, it could be considered as a well to do farm! Yet now, metal containers were used to store food and the price for that was not even anything beyond their means!


    Next, even dried and salted food could the most be kept for a few months or longer in ideal conditions, yet, the food inside a metal container could be held for years and taste good? It was unbelievable as it sounds!


    The new immigrants could only slowly adapt to the fast pace of changes that came into their lives as they struggled to live in the new ce which they were slowly calling home. And this city was their hope.


    A city called Hope.

 Chapter 437: Into The Dungeon

    Chapter 437: Into The Dungeon


    United Nations, Seacliff Mining and Dungeon Town, Level 7 Dungeon


    Leon stood with his greatsword ready as he carefully shepherded his two newbies in the ways of dungeon exploration andbat. Snarls and growls of beasts came from all directions before them.


    His party of five stood their ground at the entrance into a massive great hall that was supported by hundreds of stone pirs that were wider than a person''s outstretched arms could hug. Each square pir was spaced evenly in the hall with orbs of glow lights hanging off their sides that lit the hall up.


    Covering the surfaces of the pirs were decorative etches and even the stone floor had decorative carvings cut into the stone. The surfaces looked as new as the day they were carved despite the age of the dungeons and there were not even any traces of battles once fought here.


    The hall stretched into the distance as far as the eye can see, and shadows of lurking beasts could be glimpsed moving between the pirs. Leon as the party leader stood in the middle of while Ciel was positioned on his left and Justze on his right.


    Behind him stood Yill as magic support with his defensive and healing spells and hanging further back was Kat armed with a long rifle, providing urate and long range fire support. The snarls and growls of the beasts came closer and closer, and the clicking and scratching noises of their ws echoed down the hall.


    "Don''t worry, kids!" Leon had a bloodthirsty grin on his face. "Adventurers'' Inc. has already cleared this level many times! So don''t worry about any mutated monsters appearing!"


    Ciel and Justze both gulped nervously as a beast came into the light. The two headed beast was almost as tall as Leon who topped them both by a head and more! Leonughed as he saw the beast pawing the hard stone floor before them. "Look! Its a two headed beast!"


    The two headed beast had a body of wolf with two heads that eyes glowed with malice as it stared at Ciel and Justze hungrily. "This level is the easiest!"


    "Just a straight hall!" Leon shifted his stance and grip on his greatsword as he readied himself. "No messy twists and turns! Just a straight five hundred steps to the exit!"


    Justze cursed under his breathe as more and more two headed beasts appeared, some of them a totally different species. Two headed long toothed boars, monstrous snakes, owlbears and many other types emerged from the shadows.


    "Hold your ground!" Leon ordered. "They look fierce but can be easily killed! Remember your training!"


    "Here theye!" Kat yelled as the leading twin headed wolf suddenly roared out a challenge and pounced forward. She had supported her long rifle over the back of their porter golem and when the twin headed wolf pounced forward, she squeezed the trigger.


    The hi powered long rifle chambered in .50 calibre barely had any recoil as Kat had enhanced her strength with magic. The muzzle of the rifle erupted into a eye searing sh as the heavy bullet whizzed past her party members and nailed the leaping wolf in the centre of mass. The wolf gave a loud whimper of surprise and pain as the armour piercing round punched through its tough fur and shattered its ribs and internal organs before blowing a massive bloody hole out from its side.


    The half spent .50 calibre round continued its way happily till it embedded itself into the side of a pir, blowing a chunk of masonry and stone dust out. The loud gunshot seemed to shock and freeze the situation, as the beasts paused in their actions and watched their own bleed out before them.


    "Remember, kids!" Leon suddenly spoke out in the silence after the echoes of the gunshot disappeared. "Always wear ear protection! Or you will get deaf!"


    His sudden words seemed to wake up the beasts as they all suddenly roar out together and charged. Leon casually drew out arge revolver from his side and emptied its chamber at the charging beasts, bowling them over before he tossed it aside and swept up his greatsword and received the remaining charge of the beasts.


    Ciel and Justze opened up with their shotguns, knocking the beasts back as they guarded Leon''s nk. Justze stepped back and ced his hands on the floor and concentrated his magic, "STONE WALL!"


    The ground shook slightly as suddenly two grey rock formations slowly raised up on both sides, connecting the entrance walls to the nearest pirs, creating a corridor. The twin headed beasts screamed in anger as their route was cut off and they started to swarm their way over the rock formations which were barely a few meters in height.


    "Good work!" Leon yelled out cheerfully as he decapitated the snarling head of a boar, its other head screamed in pain and it lurched forward, trying to chomp down on Leon whoughed and reverse shed his greatsword, cutting a deep wound against the face of the beast which whimpered back in pain and pawed its wounds. "Now, they can only mostlye from the front!"


    "Recover Stamina!" Yill cast a recovery spell on Leon before he raised his hands up and flung a bolt of lightning at the twin reptilian head of a giant lizard that appeared over the top of the rock formations. "They are climbing up the sides!"


    "On it!" Kat yelled as she sat down on the floor and used the back of their porter golem as support for her long rifle and she fired upwards, blowing off heads that appeared over the wall formations.


    Ciel gathered her elemental powers, and flecks of embers started to cirte around her body. She raised both her hands as the embers concentrated before her hands and she called out, "Leon!"


    Leon hearing her warning, suddenly ducked down and strafed to his right. Ciel seeing that Leon has gotten clear, yelled out, "Fireball!"


    She flung the ball of mes in her hand at the beasts before her and conjured up another ball of mes in her hands and repeated her actions. Unlike normal mages, Ciel had the bloodline of the fire elementals in her veins, which allowed her to control fire in a greater and more efficient mannerpared to others.


    The mana required to cast the fireball spell was a lot lower and also her fireball was twice as powerful aspared to the same level fireball spell cast by other mages. Ciel continued to toss her arcane powered fireballs, which exploded satisfying against the bodies of the twin headed beasts.


    With the pressure away from the front, Leon could hacked and cleaved at any beasts within his reach and with Yill constantly throwing a healing spell his way, a heap of carcass soon piled up before him, the blood of the beasts filling the grooves and carvings on the stone floor.


    "And... that is thest one!" Leon sighed as he nted his booted foot against the body of the headless owlbear and pulled his sword out. They had held their ground and fought off wave after wave of monsters for the past hour. He stretched his arms and rotated his neck and shoulders and smiled at the rest. "Great work! Now what is left is the Boss of this level!"


    Ciel and Justze were both tired as they had burn up most of their mana at the fight and had resorted to their firearms to help kill the monsters. Leonughed at the expressions of the two youngsters and said, "Don''t worry! We will take a break first and recover before we fight thest boss!"


    "Kat!" Leon called out, "Call for the retrieval teams to grab the loot!"


    "Yes, boss!" Kat hoisted her long rifle over her shoulder and ran back into the entrance of Level 7 and climbed up the stairs to Level 6. After a while, she returned with a group of people dressed mostly in leather aprons.


    Ciel and Justze looked over at the neers who started to sort the carcasses of the beasts before they proceed with the gory business of dismemberment of their parts. Leon sat down heavily beside them and handed over a bottle. "Fruit soda!"


    "Not bad for your first dungeon skirmish," Leon grinned. "Eat up and drink up, once rested enough, we will go for the boss and finish up for the day!"


    "Is it always like this?" Ciel asked.


    "Not really," Leon replied as he sipped his drink. "It used to be done by the military. Well, unlike the Marines, we have limited resources."


    He patted his revolver at his side. "Even if we have the government''s support, it still cost money just to fire these!"


    "And the government won''t sell us ymore mines," Leon sighed as he gestured to the pile of carcasses being chopped up. "Justy those sweet babies in a row there, and this fight would have ended at half the time we took."


    "That is why," Leon winked his eye at Ciel. "I still use a sword."


    "I- I see..." Ciel replied while Justze looked down at his shotgun which he had dismantled to clean.


    "Well, we will take an hour break or so," Leon said as he turned his attention to the workers. "They probably need that long at least to finish their tasks."


    "Is there no other way down to the deeper levels of the dungeon?" Justze asked. "It seems like we need to keep clearing each level to go deeper..."


    Leon nodded," Yes, that is the only we know of. That is why the Teams clear the dungeon levels alternately. This way, the workers and other teams can head down the stairs to the next level without any danger."


    "We will clear this level and the next Team will head down to Level 8 tomorrow," Leon added. "The dungeon levels will restore themselves in three days after the defeat of the level Boss, so we still sometime before the upper levels'' monsters respawn."


    "Our Big Boss wants us to attempt to clear thest level of the dungeon," Leon said. "So you guys need to get as much experience as possible! Once the upper levels restore themselves, we will be clearing them out so that the other teams can go down to the deeper levels without any obstructions!"


    With that said, Leon stretched out and leaned back against the rock wall. "Wake me up when they have finished their work, I am gonna take a short nap!"


    Ciel and Justze looked on with amazement that Leon could even sleep in such a ce. He started snoozing after a while Ciel and Justze finished up on cleaning their weapons. Ciel looked at Justze and said, "Justze, a- are you alright? You have been... very distanttely..."


    Justze shook his head, "It''s nothing, just thinking of something..."


    "You can talk to me!" Ciel smiled. "Don''t keep everything inside your heart! I am always here for you!"


    Justze nodded and he took out his rations and shared with Ciel, "Don''t worry, I was just worried that there was no news of my sister at all..."


    "I see..." Ciel replied as she nibbled the honey coated fruit and nuts bar. "Well, don''t lose hope! We can go asking around during our rest days!"


    Justze nodded again as he found it suspicious that there was totally no word nor even rumours of his sister. Some of the locals here had remembered his sister and some even worked with her before, but soon afterwards, it seemed like she disappeared into thin air, with no one ever hearing or seeing her again.


    Is she dead? Killed by this... United Nations once her use and value were gone? Or was it something else... He thought to himself. Yet, the harder he thought, the more unease he felt in his heart, as the thought that his sister was very highly likely dead.

 Chapter 438: Two Face

    Chapter 438: Two Face


    North of the Borders of Falledge, Somewhere in the Hills, Cave


    An illegible squeak of pain came from an old and wilted looking goblin as a pair of steel boots mmed into its side, sending it sprawling across the stone floor of the cave lit by torches fuel by animal fat. The orange glow of the torches made the shadows of the naturally formed cavern look alive as they flickered from the light.


    "Hurry up scum!" The owner of the steel boots yelled and gave another kick at the fallen goblin which curled up to protect itself from the kick before scrambling away to do the tall meat bag''s bidding before it got more pain for any dys.


    The elder goblin hobbled into another opening and the cave had a natural hole in the ceiling which a ray of light shone down, illuminating the dozens of alchemical pots under a fire being silently stirred by several scrawny goblins. A table covered with strange looking herbs and pouches of unknown items stood next to the pots. At the side of the cave wall, two towering meat bag d in that hard metal clothes watched over the goblins in the cook cave and they both eyed the elder goblin with distaste as it entered.


    "Hurry up and do your thing!" The metal d meat bag next to the elder goblin yelled out and kicked the goblin forward again. The rest of the goblins stirring the pots hissed with displeasure and the two guards flicked their whips in response, the wick barbs drawing greenish blood from the goblins who yelped in pain and fright. "Back to work! Scum!"


    The elder goblin struggled to his feet and dusted itself solemnly as it cast a baleful re at its captors. It hobbled over to the nearest pot and gave it a good sniff and imagined the bodies of these metal d meat bags were floating inside the boiling pot.


    After a while, the elder goblin gave a nod and it took a pinch of arcane dust from a small satchel and sprinkled over the pot while chanting in goblin gibberish. The guard standing over him growled and warned, "Remember, scum! Any tricks... And I will enjoy chopping your limbs off one by one and beating you to death with them!"


    The rest of the goblins paused at their work and stared wide eyed at the elder goblin as it continued to chant, constantly sprinkling and dropping one or two differentponents taken from the table next to the pots.


    Slowly the boiling mixture in the pot started give off a sick eerie green yellow glow and the liquid turned into a thick syrupy mixture. The elderly goblin stopped its chants and took another sniff of the mixture and jabbered in some goblin gibberish to the rest before he moved over to the next pot and repeated its actions.


    The goblins received its instructions, carefully poured out the thick mixture out onto a bed of leaves piled over a simple frame made out of twigs. Once the mixture was spread evenly over the leaves, two goblins carried the makeshift frame out and carried it outside of the cave and the mixture joined the dozens of others drying in the open air under the sun.


    Once, properly dried, the mixture will harden into a block and the goblins with tied cloth masks over their faces will pound and ground the blocks into a fine dust. And all these was overseed by a group of armoured elves who did not hesitate to kill any goblins that did not follow their orders.


    -----


    "My Lord!" An steel d soldier saluted as he pushed aside the cloth covering the entrance to the cave. "The goblins have finished the next batch of the powder..."


    "Bring... st in..." A whizzing voice came from the depths of the cave. The soldier gestured to two nervous ves who each held a bowl filled with a white powder that had a greenish glitter. The two frightened elves, once refugees seeking shelter, now turned ves by these soldiers, nervously entered the cave with their heads bowed down lowly.


    They did not dare to raise their heads up and kept their eyes firmly to the stone floor. They quickly ced the bowls of powder on the table and quickly backed away.


    A smooth hand reached out and dipped a finger into one of the bowls, snagging some of the powdery substance on to its fingertips before the hand retracted back into the shadows. A female moan came from the shadows as the figure fondled the female in his arms.


    "Aishhh... yess..." A hiss came from the Lord who sniffled the powder. "Tiss... pain... iss gone..."


    "My Lord!" Another soldier suddenly appeared at the cave door. "Urgent news!"


    "Whatss... iss... st?" The voice spoke with a lisp, air could be heard hissing out from his mouth.


    "We have lost contact with the people we recruited in the city..." The neer replied nervously. "The refugees that we recruited and sent into the city... has not signalled us for days! I... I am afraid... They might have run away..."


    "Imposssible!" The angered Lord shoved the female ve away from his arms and stormed out into the light of the glowmp hanging next to the entrance. "Did they forgetss the livess of their familiess iss in ourss handss?"


    The soldier shrunk back from the fury of his Lord and kept his eyes averted away from his Lord''s face. "I- I have... no idea... what happened... to them..."


    "LOOKSS ATS MEE!" The Lord hissed as he stood before the frightened soldier. "ISS MINES FACE SSO HORRIBLESS?"


    The soldier trembled and forced himself to face his Lord. He swallowed back the averison and schooled his face to be as neutral as possible and fiercely denied his Lord''s words with shaking his head rapidly. "N- No. my Lord! Your face is not horrible at all!"


    Inwardly, the soldier felt his Lord''s face was worse than a demon, a horror that only appears in nightmares. One half of his Lord was normal, even retaining the youthful and handsome looks, but on the other half, it was stuff from nightmares.


    Skin that was once smooth, was instead charred, covered in boils and weeping pus. Half of his face was so badly damaged that the meat of his cheeks had either burnt or melted away, revealing a hole. Half of his face literally was gone, only bits of charred skin and boils sticking to his exposed skull.


    His startling eyeball on his ruined side of the face was yellowed and covered with red veins that barely move correctly. The Lord stared in silence at the soldier with his good eye for a while before he backed off and returned to the frightened female.


    "Kill... theirss... familiess..." He said, air leaking out from the holes in his cheek and mouth. "And... recruitsss... more... people..."


    "Yes! My Lord!" The soldier saluted and made a quick exit as he ran off to convey his orders. There were hundreds of refugees living among them as they sought protection, thinking that these soldiers will protect them, but instead, they were enved and forced to do their bidding.


    The Joker leaned back and wrapped his good arm around the girl, while his bad arm, bearing only bones reached over and cruelly squeezed the breasts of the girl, making her moan and bit back her cries of pain as his skeletal fingers drew blood on her flesh.


    "Thiss... pain..." He hissed to himself as the effects of the powder drug eased off and scorching pain returned to him. He immediately remembered the sudden shes of light, the searing heat and explosions, the screams of his men and his own. His eyes shed with anger and hate as he hissed. "Thiss... woundsss..."


    If it was not for the chance encounter with a band of feral goblins that tried to eat him and the survivors, and the discovery of the Power of Life as the goblins called it, the unbearable pain would had driven him crazy. Even with healing magic, it only saved his life but was unable to heal the damages. In the end, the goblin drug helped him and he changed the name of the drug to Happy as it made him feel happy as the pain from his burnt wounds disappeared.


    Now with the goblin ves, he could create as much of the powder as he wanted as long as they have the raw materials andponents to make it. And not only that, he found out that prolonged use of the drug will make one highly dependable on it, and without taking it for some time, one would suffer even greater pain and turmoil.


    And that was what he wanted his enemies to feel exactly what he suffered from every day of his life, pain and turmoil! He used the refugees as his carriers, sending them across the border of his enemy, telling them as long as they do what was instructed, their families will be safe in his hands.


    Groups of refugees carrying the drug were able to cross the border easily at first, till the enemy started to prevent any crossings and even built a great stone fence that prevented people from crossing.


    So he came up with the idea of having his drug carriers to swallow animal intestines filled with the drug so that they can past through the main border gates. Once those people had sessfully infiltrated the cities, they were to use those drugs to poison the water or sell it to anyone willing to buy at any price.


    Once the people in the city was addicted to this drug, the city will copse as the people will be dependant for the drug and he will have his revenge!


    "The United... Nationsss... shallss... pay..."


    -----


    United Nations, Seacliff Mining and Dungeon Town, Level 7 Dungeon


    "RAAAAWRRR!" The ear shattering roar of the monstrous two headed rock giant mmed into the party as they took shelter behind the pirs of the dungeon. The mighty swing of its crude stone club smashed against the pir and shook the entire dungeon.


    Leon yelled as he took the chance to give a mighty swing of his greatsword at the rock hard leg of the giant. Sparks burst out from the impact and a crack appeared on the shin of the rock giant. The two headed rock giant roared out and mmed its club directly at Leon who dodged away.


    A loud boom and one of the eyes on the left head of the rock giant exploded into dust as a .50 calibre round impacted it. The rock giant tettered backwards and in its fury it swung its club wildly, creating massive airwaves that could knock a person off their feet.


    "Keep it up!" Leon yelled encouragingly. "It''s just a rock giant! Nothing to be worried about!"


    Justze rolled his eyes as he crouched down behind a pir. His hands were on the floor as he channelled his mana and suddenly the ground under the rock giant wobbled and a huge clump of rock formations sealed the rock giant''s legs, making it topple backwards. The full weight of the giant made the entire dungeon level shake, sending rock dust raining down from the ceilings.


    "I can''t use my magic to affect that giant!" Justze yelled. "It is too powerful for my magic!"


    "Nevermind!" Leon yelled back. "Good job with trapping its feet!"


    "Yill! Kat!" Leon turned to their two supports. "Use the bazooka!"


    The two supports nodded and they quickly pulled out the tubed weapon from back of their porter golem which was shivering behind a pir. The two quickly equipped the weapon and they ran out from cover and each took up a firing position at the struggling giant that was trying to regain its feet.


    Both of them aimed down the sights, each targeting a head of the dungeon boss of level 7.


    "EAT THIS! YOU TWO FACED FREAK!"

 Chapter 439: Year 4 Winter

    Chapter 439: Year 4 Winter


    Cracks and bright colourful shes of exploding fireworks erupted all over the night skies as the people of the small but growing nation celebrated the ending of winter and theing of spring. The people of the United Nations ignored the cold as they celebrated and partied away all the unhappiness and worries of the year away.


    Outside the border gates of the UN, dozens of makeshift tent cities had sprung up over the months as they waited for a chance to cross into the border of the mysterious and prosperous nation. The alien looking stone fence that stretched out for thousands and thousands of paces, boggled the refugees minds, as they had never seen a barrier made in such a way and scale.


    Yet the refugees remained hopeful and even showing much respect to the people from beyond the alien wall, as they regr came out and gave out rations and even brought healers to treat the sick and old. Even much of the tents were provided by those people from the mysterious nation. The help and aid made many praying and even begging the citizens and guards of the nation to allow them in which was always rejected despite offers of gold and even flesh.


    But what really surprised the refugees was that they where given tools and given a piece of very simple advice. They were told to clear thend and turn thend into farms or ranches, as "The Gods will not help you if you do not help yourself! So help yourselves to the tools! There is no free lunch in this world!"


    This words made the once desperate people awake, as those with experience with logging started to clear thend, felling the massive trees and slowly bit by bit, people started to lend their hand. Slowly bit by bit thend was cleared, and the people from beyond the borders gave out seeds which the refugees held on, waiting for the winter months to end so that they can start growing their own food.


    It also started to breed a new rumour among the refugees that it like a test to them given by the strange nation. If they passed the test given, they would be weed and able to enter the nation freely!


    Unknowingly, most of the refugees started to treat the strange nation as their benefactor from all the help and aid given to them. Despite the low amount of rations and the biting cold, the majority of the refugees survived and they continued to carve out an existence beyond the borders of the United Nations.


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet


    Fleet Master Megan swirled the ss in her hand, her eyes mesmerised by the red wine swirling inside. She took a gentle sniff of the wine before sipping it, rolling the blood red liquid in her tongue before letting it flow smoothly down her throat.


    She ced the wine flute down and frowned at the new Fleet Master who was pacing before the firece. "Fleet Master Tediore, you are wearing the carpet out with your endless pacing..."


    "Rx, sit down and have a drink," Megan gestured to the sofa where Fleet Master Akron was seated. Ex Merchants Guild''s Master, turned Fleet Master Tediore paused in his pacing and turned around, looking at the other two Fleet Masters seated leisurely while enjoying refreshments.


    He gave a sigh and sat down on an empty seat and finished the entire ss of wine in his hand before he ced it down on the table forcefully. "This is not really the time to be rxed!"


    "Do you know how much gold crowns I am losing every day?" Tediore asked unhappily. "Hundreds!"


    "The amount of traders and merchants using the Merchants Guild has fallen by at least half!" Tedioreined as he poured himself another ss of wine. "Do you know how much profits I lost because of the boycott with the United Nations?"


    "Don''t worry..." Megan gave a dismissal wave. "Business will return to you soon enough. And besides, it is the end of winter and the start of a new year."


    "Besides, soon you will make back all those losses and even profit from it!" Megan smiled mysteriously. "As long as you have followed my advice and stockpiled as much food as you can get your hands on."


    "That, I have done so..." Tediore said heavily. "All the grains, preserved or dried meat and vegetables, and fruit..."


    "All sitting useless in my warehouses!" Tediore sighed. "The investors are hounding me constantly!"


    "Trust us," Megan smiled and nced to the silent Akron. "I- We made you into a Fleet Master, didn''t we?"


    "Food prices have been going up everywhere!" Tediore replied. "It is not that I have no confidence in you and Fleet Master Akron."


    "But my investors are losing their trust in me!" He rubbed the sides of his head. "Even the small time traders and merchants are not dealing directly with the Merchants Guild! They are directly selling to the United Nation trade ships thate here!"


    "Your idea of forcing the United Nations to your agenda is not working at all!" Tediore continued to rant. "Cutting and stopping trade with the United Nations has made them stopped all cooperation with their steam technology in retaliation!"


    "Pfftt!" Megan held back herughter as she sipped her wine. "Their steam technology is not even the best technology they have!"


    "They just offer it to us as some kind of hand out..." Megan shook her head. "Anyway, our own craftsmen and smiths have long understood how to make our own steam engines."


    "What I am really interested in is their weapons..." Megan said. "In terms of military strength, they outss us greatly, but in terms of economical strength, they don''t even hold a candle with us!"


    "And our spies have been watching them," Megan continued on. "They have been building a new city out along the coast... And is building some kind of giant warship that they n to use it to cross the End Zone to find their missing princess!"


    "Such a hopeless endeavour," Megan gave a small smile and gestured to Akron with her wine ss. "They just wasting their time and resources on a futile quest. And..."


    "Once that ship ispleted," Fleet Master Akron continued from Megan''s pause. "Their economy will be in shambles! And from what we know of the maind, food will be in huge demand."


    "With their growing poption and arge army of refugees at their borders," Akron removed his monocle and gave it a good wipe with his handkerchief before adjusting it back to his eye. "The food we stockpiled here, will be worth twice their weight in gold!"


    "And that is when we will..." Megan gave an evil smile. "Benefit from trading with them! And not for some old unwanted technology of theirs, but all of their more... advanced ''tek no logee''!"


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Med Bay


    The white machinery hummed softly, and the bed which Dr. Sharon was lying on smoothly paused as the medical scanning machine swallowed her inside. Sensor rings inside the machine spun rapidly and ran up and down the bed, doing a full body scan of Dr. Sharon who had her eyes closed.


    After a short moment of beeps and boops, the sensor rings paused in their work and retracted back to their default positions and the machine cracked open, allowing the bed to automatically glide out, allowing Dr. Sharon to sit up.


    She held her head that was giving her a very bad migraine and stood up wobblily as she exited the scanning suite. She slumped down on the chair and waited for theputer to finish their analysis of her body condition and massaged her head as she waited.


    The voice in her head seemed to have gone totally silent several months ago. But recently in the past few months, she has been getting very bad headaches, which she felt like a hot knife has been stabbed into her head.


    Even seated now, she could feel the throbbing of her veins and feel the pumping sensation of her blood in her ears. She dug around her coat hung over the back of the chair and took a pill bottle and shook out two tablets before she swallowed the medication.


    After a while, the medication worked its magic and the throbbing head eased slightly, giving her a small sense offort. She looked up at herputer disy and saw the progress filling up and soon the report waspleted.


    She clicked open the report and read it, her frown deepening the more she read on. She checked the CT and MRI scans of her head and her expression changed to shock. She mumbled to herself in disbelief at the results, "It... can''t be..."


    She stood up and started pacing in the room, one hand holding her forehead with the other ced at her waist and kept mumbling to herself. "Its... impossible! Impossible!"


    She paused and took a deep breath before she sat down before theputer and essed her medical files again and startedparing her previous CT and MRI scans results together with her current scans.


    She continued topare her scans and scans of other people. On hertest scans had two yellow spots highlighted by theputer. She leaned over and tapped on the disy and zoomed in the image. Tapping in anothermand, her previous brain scan super imposed over the current image and theputer churned out a list of numbers on the side.


    The 3D imagery has shown her hypothmus region located at the base of the brain, near the pituitary nd has erged, gaining mass and had erged by 0.4 cm in lengthpared to her scans five months ago. It was responsible for the regtion of certain metabolic processes and other activities of the autonomic nervous system and also controls body temperature, hunger, important aspects of parenting and attachment behaviours, thirst, fatigue, sleep, and circadian rhythms.


    She knew that during pregnancy the hypothmus region will erge but she wasn''t pregnant. And not only that, the other highlighted spot shown on the scans was her thmus which was a small structure within the brain located just above the brain stem between the cerebral cortex and the midbrain. Its function was like a hub for of rys sensory information of the body and it also increases the brain''s ability to adapt to new contexts, enabling the use of memory and imagination.


    The numbers disyed next to the arrow that pointed to the highlighted thmus shown that the mass of grey matter in her brain has also grown, gaining 0.7 cm in length. If this data was released to the medical field on Earth, it will cause an uproar!


    She frowned again and started searching for her medical folders and soon opened up several other medical reports of different humans and elves. Shepared the scans from those records and she leaned back in her seat to digest the information she discovered.


    "But how can it be this way?" She mused to herself. "And I have no neuro doctors to tally this data with!"


    The scans of the human crew of the UNS Singapore did not have any changes, but the data she picked out from the elves was that on average, the size of their hypothmus and thmus regions in their brains was more than thrice the size of an average human!


    She stood up and started pacing again, her mind sorting out the information she has. To not have picked up this data was most likely due to her inexperience with neuro medicine and she assumed it was normal for the elves as they were two different species despite having simr DNA.


    "Could this the clue on how they are able to able to cast magic?" Dr. Sharon bit her lower lip in thought. "But... why will my hypothmus and thmus areas expand?"


    "Could it be that... the voice in my head has something to do with this?"

 Chapter 440: How It Feels

    Chapter 440: How It Feels


    United Nations, Seacliff Mining and Dungeon Town, Dungeon Level 12, Boss Room


    The Lich King gave an unearthly cry, sending waves of goosebumps down Ciel and Justze''s spines. They both froze in fear as they stared at the evil purple mes within the eye sockets of the Lich King''s skull.


    Both of them felt their consciousness been suck away deep into the eye sockets of the skull that seemed to pierce right into their very souls. They stood there shaking in terror like two mice caught in the re of a very hungry cat.


    "Don''t stare at it!" Leon bellowed as he cleaved away the row of rotting skeletons before him. He grunted with effort as more skeletons pushed forward over the shattered bones of their brethren. "These... stupid... bones!"


    "Dispel!" Yill chanted and pointed his staff at Ciel and Justze, causing their bodies to glow in white light for a brief moment. He continued pointing his staff at the two youngsters and chanted another spell. "Mind Block!"


    Ciel and Justze suddenly fell t on the floor as their shaking legs lost all strength. Both of them blinked in confusion and horror at the Lich King in the distance and quickly averted their eyes away from the undead creature in fright.


    "Stupid children!" A loud growl of disgust came from behind Ciel and Justze as a shadow loomed over them. They both turned around and stared at the huge Orekin wearing a massive double ded moon axe. The Adventurers'' Inc. Team One leader and leader of the Orekins living in the United Nations swung his axe and shattered away the crowd of skeletons that was reaching for Ciel and Justze while they were frozen with fear.


    "No look at death!" Turok yelled as he continued the frenzy swings of his axe. "Stupid! Idiots!''


    The final boss of the Level 12 of the dungeon stood hunched over its throne made out of yellowed bones. The Lich King wore tattered remains of a once richly embroidery dress tunic, which colour and threads had faded over time. In its skeletal right hand, its sped a bone staff made out from the entire spine to the skull of a person which contained a purple me inside.


    The boss room was some kind of rectangr ancient hall ending at the circr throne where the Lich King stood and an army of hundreds of skeletons warriors stood guard. All four teams of the Adventurers'' Inc. had been dispatched to handle the final boss of Level 12 before they can descent to the final level.


    The two machine guns ttered and the tracers stitched into the tightly packed crowd of skeletons, shattering the bodies of the skeletons whose empty eye sockets were lit by a purple me. They ignored the losses and damages to their bones and rattled their way forward, reaching out with the sharp points of their boney finger tips. Others dragged weapons along and wore old fashioned armour, rattled their way towards the intruders.


    "There''s too many!" Someone from Team Two yelled in panic as he swung a mace wildly before him, smashing arms and cracking skulls. "The guns have no use!"


    "Hold firm!" Turok yelled angrily as he cleaved another group of skeletons into pieces. "Shields! Form wall!"


    Those with shields quickly came together to link their shields together, creating a flimsy defence against the skeletons that surged forward like a wave. The two machine guns of the Adventurers'' Inc. continued their desperate fire, which felt like they were pissing into the sea as the rounds of the guns did not deal as much damage to the skeletonspared to a flesh body.


    "This is crazy!" The men under the shield cursed as the skeletons attempted to rip the shields away. Explosions from grenades hammered the Lich King''s skeletons without much effort and only certain spells were effective.


    Ciel having recovered stood behind the tiny wall of shields, and she desperately tossed fireballs over the heads of the men. Justze also helped by creating a stone barrier on their nks and forcing the skeletons to be able to enter through a narrow opening. Yet despite that, the number of skeletons that were forcing their way through the opening and also climbing over the side of the rock barrier was still too many, not allowing the Teams to catch their breath.


    "No guns!" Turok suddenly yelled. "Useless on these bones!"


    The gunners nodded grimly as they abandoned their weapons and switched to their melee weapons and joined the line, chopping and smashing at the wing skeletons. The spell casters took over the role of long range support and lobbed their spells at the skeletons. Ciel continued with her fireballs while Justze switched to creating spikes that burst out from the ground.


    After almost two hours of intensive fighting, thest skeleton crumpled down with a rattle of bones and suddenly there was no more movement before them. Ciel flopped down on her butt and let out a deep sigh of fatigue, "Is it over?"


    "No, child..." Turok growled as he stared at the Lich King seated on its throne. "Dark Boss left..."


    The Lich King seemed unperturbed as it lounged on its throne. It watched the intruders approach its throne before it raised its staff up and an unnatural cry came from the depths of its dark soul. The skull on its staff red with a purple glow and the entire throne room seemed to pulse.


    The Lich King''s jaws rattled as if it wasughing at the mortals that dared stand before it as dark magic gathered upon its staff. Suddenly, the shattered bones of the defeated skeleton warriors started rattling and one by one, they reformed together and the newly reanimated skeletons pushed themselves up jerkily and red hostilely at the mortals before them.


    "Oh... shit..." Leon cursed as the skeletons surrounded them. "Again?"


    -----


    United Nations, Seacliff Mining and Dungeon Town, Dungeon Entrance, Overseer Station, Ops Room


    Inside the packed Operations Room, were dozens of techs and operators manning the stations filled with monitors and charts. Audio and visual for the Teams down deep inside the dungeon basically was severed each time they went beyond level five, due to the signals distorted by the giant doors, windingbyrinth corridors and stairs.


    Hencemunication between any Teams that ventured beyond the fifth level had to have runners at each entry and exit for any form ofmunication. Now, thest audio report was that the four Teams had entered the final boss area and everyone, including the CEO of Adventurers'' Inc., Karl was waiting anxiously for further news.


    Due to the Dungeon having been buried underground for hundreds of years, the concentration of mana within the Dungeon levels had evolved the monsters and creatures inside, mutating and even evolving the creatures to a higher level.


    It significantly increased the dangers and difficulty of the creatures, like how Dr. Sharon exined it simply by saying it was like ying on Hell mode on Diablo. The creatures in each level differ greatly from one another with the environment mostly being caves or stone dungeons.


    The hostile monsters inside the level were mostly the dominating species, while the other weaker creatures and flora served as a source of food. The Boss of the level will a simr creature but higher level and stronger.


    Level 1 monsters were the spider ants, with a Queen Mother as the boss, Level 2 was upied by dino lizards and Godzi, Level 3 by bat like monsters that feasted on blood and Elder Vampire, Level 4 by minotaurs and a giant minotaur boss, Level 5 by giant snakes and a thirteen headed hydra, Level 6 by zombies and ghouls which mers had to be brought in. Level 7 had two headed creatures of all kinds, ending with a giant two headed golem for dessert.


    The easiest or maybe the hardest for some was Level 8 which filled with nothing but traps and literally mind breaking puzzles, Indiana Jones style. Level 9 only had a bridge spanning overflowingva and guarded by hundreds of living armour that looked like something out of a Qin Dynasty tomb. Level 10 was filled with murderous puppets and a puppeteer with one hundred arms wielding des and also controlled dozens of puppets.


    Level 11 was inhabited by giant centipedes and burrowers and Level 12 was the filled with skeletons and a Lich King, which the Adventurers'' Inc. was trying to defeat now. Level 13 was determined to be the final Level with the use of ground pration radar and information on it was still totally nk.


    Creatures that died in the dungeon will respawn in two to three days time from the magic provided by the Dungeon. Dr. Sharon had once theorized that a Dungeon was like a person''s body, the monsters were the antibodies that attacked anyoneing inside and way in was through the mouth and the way out was through the anus.


    So far, the deepest dive into the Dungeon had reached Level 12, which was where the current Teams were fighting the final boss. No one else has ever reached beyond that and even the final boss on Level 12 was a mutated monster as no one had ever defeated it yet.


    New monsters that spawned back into the dungeon tend to be weaker than the ones that had lived for hundreds of years. Hence, it was always harder to clear a Level that has never been touched before, as the monsters there had many years to grow and even mutate or evolve.


    Karl paced around the tiny space inside the Dungeon Overseer''s office, his nerves tensed. It has been over three hours, and yet there was no news from the Teams. After Level 5, the doors into the Boss area will be sealed after anyone enters and could only be opened again after the Boss has been defeated.


    Hence the only way the Teams to bring fore any news was to defeat the Boss first and send out runners to inform themunication party outside. If the Teams has been wiped out inside the Boss room, there was no way anyone will know and Karl did not want to sacrifice anyone to enter the Boss room to check if the Teams were alright, because if the Teams were wiped out, anyone going in won''t survive to tell the tale either.


    "Boss!" A tech suddenly called out. "Word just came in! The Boss at Level 12 was defeated eighteen minutes ago!"


    The operations room immediately burst out in cheer as the people heard the news. Many started pped and patting each other backs in celebration, even Karl broke out into a broad grin but his expression changed with the next words from the tech.


    "Team Leader Turok is calling for immediate medical assistance," The tech voice trembled slightly as he read out the report. "They suffered nine deaths and five team members are in critical condition... The rest are all wounded too"


    As the next sentence was spoken sunk in, the celebratory mood in the Operations Room died down as the people listened in horror. "That''s... That''s almost half the Team members we sent in... Dead!"


    "Quick! Send in the recovery team to bring the wounded out now!" Karl yelled out. "Don''t just stand there! Hurry up!"


    The stunned operators and techs quickly remained to their stations and started calling the recovery teams to go in to retrieve the wounded and to the Town''s hospital to ready themselves for several critical wounded.


    Karl slumped down on his chair and sighed sadly, "Half the team gone just like that..."


    He clenched his fists tightly, never had such a tragedy urred despite the dangers of the Dungeon. There had been only a total of three defeats since the founding of Adventurers'' Inc. two years ago. To lose almost half of his total manpower in just one run, made him feel terrible despite knowing that deaths will happen.


    "Now... I fucking know how the Captain feels..."

 Chapter 441: Deaths and Drills

    Chapter 441: Deaths and Drills


    Red and blue shing lights covered outside the entrance of the Seacliff Mining Station where the dungeon was located. Already arge crowd of miners and other workers had formed, all watching the ambnces and security personnel waiting at the entrance.


    Shortly after a group of rag tagged medical staff and their escorts came running out with stretchers carrying the critical wounded between them. They rushed up to the waiting ambnces and the crowd parted to allow the ambnces to rush the wounded to the hospital where the emergency rooms were already ready and standing by to receive them.


    Karl watched as the next group of people carried out the bodies of the dead. He looked at the remaining Adventurers'' Inc. members who could still walk, escorting the remains of theirrades out. Karl saw the two youngsters covered in blood and their faces were ashen beingid out by the usually cheerful Leon, whose expression was grim and dark.


    "Turok!" Karl called out at the unmistakable figure of the bulky Orc. Turok paused and spotted Karl and he strolled over, his body covered in blood and wounds. "What happened?"


    Turok gave a sigh and set his surprisingly clean double ded axe down down. "Any drinks?"


    Karl gestured to one of the support staff and the elf returned with several sks of cold water, which Turok gratefully took one and finished it in one go, before opening another bottle and pouring it over his body.


    Turok gave a grimace as the water caused some of his wounds to sting and he sat down. "Dark King... Many bones warriors..."


    "Dark magic very strong..." Turok exined. "Team Two and Three wiped out by dark magic..."


    "Too many bone warriors... Cannot die..." Turok took another bottle of water and gulped down its contents. "Dark magic keep bring back many bone warriors..."


    "We charged to Dark King," Turok said and gestured to the ck body bags beingid out. "Great courage them. Many died to reach Dark King."


    Turok patted his axe beside him and mimicked a chopping motion with his hands, "Smash dark magic with Mooncleaver! Chop, chop, chop, Dark King into many pieces! And level cleared!"


    Karl shook his head dejectedly, "Shit... this mission just effectively crippled two thirds of our teams!"


    "Did you see what was on thest level?" Karl asked.


    Turok nodded in acknowledgement, "Last level covered in liquid fire with long bridge in middle!"


    "Lava?" Karl frowned. "Did you see what monsters were at that level?"


    Turok gave a shrug, "Nope."


    "Alright..." Karl replied and he gestured towards the exit. "Go rest and recover, I will handle the rest here."


    Turok nodded and stood up, swinging his axe over his shoulder and strolled out with a slight limp. He waved away the medical team that approached him and headed towards the rows of body bags and he kneeled down and whispered a prayer in Orekish.


    "Worthyrades! You honour your ancestors! Your ancestors be proud! Your great deeds shall be known to all under the sky! Go with peace and pride!"


    -----


    United Nations, Outskirts of Haven, Research and Development Site, Hangar 9


    The exposed skeletal airframe of the stripped down Valkyrie gunshipid bare as a small group of goblin techies fussed over the machine. Sparks flew as power tools saw through the frame over the background music of death metal.


    The goblins and humans engineers worked for weeks to remove parts of the old Boeing 848 Super Spacebus turned gunship. The trooppartment was removed and the previously stripped off space armour was to be reinstalled. The space armour will protect the crew against heat, cold and radiation from space.


    WIthout the trooppartment, the airframe will be shortened by at least six meters and reced with an airlock and the turbofans removed and reced back with the original thrusters. The reduce in the length of the Valkyrie will also reduce its overall weight.


    Life support systems and other essential systems were also to be reinstalled back and once the Valkyrie was reassembled, it will carry a maximum crew of four and have enough oxygen and fuel to survive in space for roughly fifteen hours which will be more than enough time for them to grab the probe in orbit and reprogram it.


    Two tanks will also be installed on both sides of the airframe just under the armpits of the wings which will run from the cockpit to the tail of the machine. A pump linking to a heating and cooling system will run through both tanks and storage tank for the Aetherium crystals salvaged off the crashed airship.


    The heating of the Aetherium crystals will provide lift for the Valkyrie, thus drastically reducing the need for extra fuel and weight. As the original space shuttle was not rated for atmospheric flight and re entry or orbital insertion, much changes to its external airframe were needed. To achieve orbital insertion, a pair of disposable hydrogen fueled rocket boosters will be strapped on the back of the Valkyrie to give it the extra boost it needed to exit the''s gravity.


    The crew for the mission had already been chosen, which will include one human, two elves and a goblin with the human, Airforce Major Peter Mitch, heading the mission.


    -----


    United Nations, Outskirts of Haven, Research and Development Site, Hangar 11


    Wattz worked the controls on the side of his waist as he was taught, as he half floated inside a massive pond wearing some kind of suit and helmet. Manoeuvring jets mounted on his backpack pushed him forward towards the huge white grey cylinder before him. "Weeeeeeeee!"


    He didn''t really like water that much, especially being submerged in a deep pool. The first he was dropped into the huge pond which he thought the size was ridiculous when he saw it with the rest of his gang. He protested to the instructors telling them that goblins don''t do drowning well nor swim well either, if not why would he sign up with the Airforce instead of the Navy.


    The God like Instructorsughed at him and shoved him into a surprising fitting suit and forced him to memorize all the hundreds of steps of how to wear it and take off all within five minutes. He soon dreaded the suit as it was hot and stuffy inside and it made him unable to scratch the parts that needed to be scratched!


    After weeks of hell of putting on and removing the suit, he and the rest had to cramp their heads full of other ''things'', like how heaven was actually dark and scary, not all golden, white and shiny and was also called space instead. He particrly didn''t like the videos showing what happened to someone who did not wear those hot suits properly when in space.


    But as time and training passed on, he grew confident with himself, including the rest of the gang, the two other long legs that actually outranked him, making him miss his time cursing the ''Mar nees''.


    "Watts! Stop yelling or screaming in the damnms!" A voice berated him sternly in his ear as Watts showed off with his skill with his booster pack. "And stop showing off! Concentrate on your mission! Now!"


    "Yes! Boss!" Watts rapidly replied and eased off the controls and his wild spinning approach towards the simted space probe slowed and he stopped perfectly against the side of the probe. He flicked a thumbs up to the two other elves in their white suits and grinned triumphantly inside his helmet. "Watts is awesome!"


    -----


    Airforce Major Peter Mitch sat inside the control room with several other Instructors and support staff as they watched the simted exercise through cameras mounted on the trainees'' head cams.


    "... is awesome!" The goblin''s voice came through the speakers as the goblin self praised himself through thems.


    Peter shook his head with augh and he turned back to the head instructor and said. "Well, he''s pretty good with the M Pack."


    "Cocky little bastard," Chief Matt who had the most EVA experience and time clocked among the original crew, and now acting as head instructor replied. "As long he doesn''t cock up during the real mission..."


    "Give that little punk a Suit Puncture Drill!" Chief Matt disyed a nasty smile while gesturing to the watching control staff. "See how he react!"


    "Yes, Chief!" The controller grinned back and he tapped a few keys which directly sent a signal to Watts''s suit."Inputting drill... and... done!"


    Watts had tethered himself against the probe''s hull and was about to ess the control hatches when the status panel of his suit started beeping and shing red warning signs. He looked down in rm to his arm where the disy panel was shing red.


    "Warning suit integritypromised! O2 levels decreasing! Immediate action required!" A cold emotionless female voice red at Watts''s ear as he urgently tapped at his status panel to find out the problem, his fingers feeling fat and thick through his gloves.


    "Me suit is leaking!" Watts shrieked in panic into hisms and the two other elves in his team, pulled themselves over to help him. "Where is the toopid leak!"


    "Warning O2 levels reaching critical levels! User has estimated two minutes of O2 reserves remaining. 119 seconds... 118 seconds.... 117 seconds..."


    "FARRKKKK!" Watts shrieked as he heard the announcement and he felt the air he was breathing in the bubble helmet was indeed getting thin. "Where is it?"


    "Got it!" He shrieked in triumphant as the suit''s diagnostic highlighted a patch at his rear end. "Whaaatt? Why is my ass leaking air?!"


    Sniffling back theirughter, his two other teammates removed suit repair patches and had Watts stick his butt out and they pped the patches on his butt. The control room burst intoughter as they watched Watts antics and Chief Matt shook his head as he prayed that the damn goblin will soon take things seriously.


    "32 seconds... 31 seconds..."


    "HURRY UP!!!" Watts stared at his status panel, see the shing red lights and numbers dropping rapidly. "COVER MY BUTT!"


    Chief Matt gestured to the controller who nodded and cancelled the simted drill while the rest keep on chuckling at the goblin''s panic.


    "Leak repaired. Suit integrity normal. O2 levels returning to normal levels."


    "Phew... Thanks for the repair, guys!" Watts let out a sigh. Sweat covered his face and he wondered did he peed himself or was it just his sweat.


    "Alright, continue the mission!" Chief Matt''s voice came through from thems. "Remember, this may be a drill but anything may happen up there! So pay attention and stop clowning around!"


    "Yes, Chief!" Watts chastised, replied in a small voice.


    "Now, return to the mission at hand!" Chief Matt ordered. "You got thirty minutes of air left!"


    "Oh shit!" Watts cursed and he quickly followed the other two towards the maintenance ess hatch of the probe. The training probe was built to a 1:1 scale of the actual probe with all the ess hatches, but the inside was empty and covered up. Only the important systems and area was built as much to as possible to match the actual thing so that the crew can train.


    "Well, other than Watts getting over his head once in a while," Peter gestured to the monitors. "The team''s pretty solid."


    Chief Matt nodded as they watched the image of Watts squeezing into the maintenance ess. "Yeah... As long as that green bastard doesn''t do anything funny, he''s pretty good."


    "Now what we need is the space shuttle operational," Peter said. "And we will be good to grab that probe in orbit."


    "Before that happens," Chief Matt''s expression darkened. "We just have to keep training and training, till these bastards can do it in their sleep!"


    "And is including you too, Major!" Chief Matt red at Peter who grinned back. "Tomorrow, you get into the Tank with the rest!"

 Chapter 442: Mahou... Shoujo?!

    Chapter 442: Mahou... Shoujo?!


    United Nations, Haven, Residental District


    Dr. Sharon peeled off the all natural face mask made out of the skin of local fruits and massaged her face as she sat before the mirror. She continued massaging her face and reached out one hand to grab a bottle of moisturiser when she identally knocked the bottle over.


    She sighed at her clumsiness and reached under the vanity mirror table, trying to grab the bottle that had rolled under the bed. She went down on all fours and stretched out her hand, reaching hard for the bottle that had rolled just out of reach.


    Just as her fingertips were about to touch the bottle, a spark burst out of her fingertips, briefly lighting up the under of the bed and surprising her so hard that she jerked away and mmed the top of her head against the side of the table.


    "OWW!" She squatted on her heels and both hands rubbing the top of her head where a small bump had appeared with tears of pain at the corner of her eyes. After the pain had subsided did she got up and sat on her bed while looking at her fingers with the other hand rubbing her sore head. "W- What was that?"


    Dr. Sharon had grown up in the rim colony of New Australia, a star system that was six jumps away from Earth. There, she grew up watching anime and ying video games with her brothers in the family ranch who reared prime beef and milk from the local highly nutritious meadows. Later she practised medicine in school and when the war with the Swarm came, she signed up with the local recruiters as her bid to help mankind.


    One yearter, after basic training and posted to Navy as a medical officer, she reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander and was posted onboard the UNS Singapore. She was supposed toplete two tours with the UNS Singapore before being posted to the frontlines either onboard a warship or a rear echelon medical ship.


    Crasnding on this was both frightening and exciting at the same time. Her sense of adventure and curiosity only deepened when life and even magic was discovered on this. Slowly her fear was reced with a fascination with the lifeforms they encountered on the. She always enjoyed ying role ying games and magic was something irresistible to her as she always yed a spell caster in games.


    Yet she was disappointed when she found out that human biology seemed unable to handle magic, dashing away her hopes of a day where she could wield a staff in one hand and throw spells in the other.


    She remained seated on the side of her bed, turning her palm over and over again as she tried to spot if there were any physical changes to her hand. Her mind literally went into overdrive as she tried to figure out what had happened just now. She clearly saw the spark that popped out of her fingers and the way it lit up the underside of her bed.


    She reached her right hand out and tried to mimic her previous actions. But no matter how hard she focused or tried, it doesn''t seem to work. Scratching her head, she frowned as she paced around before she paused and looked under her bed, see the bottle of moisturizer stillying there.


    Deciding to give it a try, she went back down on all fours, trying to recreate the earlier scene, putting herself in almost the exact same pose. She reached out had and tried to grab the bottle again and suddenly a spark popped out again. "YES!"


    Pushing her excited self up, she ran out of her room to the study to grab her notepad and she excitedly jolted everything that had happened. She even did a stretch of her pose and wrote down every detail step by step.


    "Hmmm... I am very certain that spark was cast by magic!" Dr. Sharon spoke to herself as she chewed the end of her pencil. "Does spell casting requires you to do certain poses before it works?"


    She tried to recall the actions done by the mages when they cast their spells. "Hmmm... I better write down the questions to ask Magister Thorn tomorrow!"


    After deciding that, she went back on all fours and experimented around with different poses until the sun rose up over the horizon.


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, School of Science and Magic, Headmaster Office


    Magister Thorn sipped a cup of milk tea as he settled in his office to work the day''s work of managing the School. Forms and reports involving all kinds regarding the school''s management piled up high on his IN box, all awaiting his attention.


    He set down his cup and nced at the photo of him and the Princess together during her wedding and sighed inwardly before he picked up the stack of documents and began his day''s work. He had two hours to settle the paperwork before he has two sses in the morning and another ss in the afternoon.


    Just as he was halfway through the stack, amotion could be heard outside his office and his door to his office suddenly burst open. He frowned and looked up at the interruption, only to see Dr. Sharon looking both haggard and excited at the same time. Dark eye circles surrounded both her glittering eyes.


    Magister Thorn gestured to his secretary to leave them alone and he turned to Dr. Sharon who smacked a thick stack of papers on his desk. "Did you... get any sleepst night? Is it the voice in your head acting up again?"


    "No, no, no!" Dr. Sharon started flipping through the stack of notes she brought over and gave a smile of triumphant as she found what she wanted and handed it over to Magister Thorn. "Here!"


    "Now watch this!" Dr. Sharon''s smile did not leave her face and she got down on all fours and stretched one hand out.


    "What are you doing?" Magister Thorn blinked his eyes in confusion at the strange awkward looking pose Dr. Sharon had adopted on the floor. "Please get u-!"


    A couple of sparks popped and fuzzed out from Dr. Sharon''s outstretched hand to Magister Thorn''s surprise. He stared dumbfounded at the eager expression on Dr. Sharon''s face as she bounced up on her feet and her eyes gleamed with excitement. "W- What did you just do?"


    "Magic!" Dr. Sharonughed and pped her hands together happily. "I managed to cast a spell!"


    "What?" Magister Thorn stood up from behind his desk and he walked up before Dr. Sharon and grabbed her hand and checking it over. "How... How is that possible? You hoomans'' body have no mana...?"


    "Wait!" He paused and went to his desk and searched in his drawers beforeing out with a small clear crystal orb, his hands shaking with excitement. "Hold this! Concentrate on the orb! Focus the orb in your mind!"


    Dr. Sharon closed her eyes and held onto the small ping pong ball sized orb. She kept the image of the orb firmly in her mind and slowly she felt the orb heat up. Opening her eyes and her hand, the orb in her palm was glowing a soft rosy red inside the crystal.


    "A- Amazing!" Magister Thorn picked up the magic testing orb from her palm. "How... How did you manage to absorb mana into your body?"


    "The orb shows you can manipte mana!" Magister Thorn ced the orb onto his table as he stared at it intently, afraid that it was not real and just his imagination as he gave an exnation. "Red is the lowest level, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet."


    "Violet being the highest level, which means the one tested has the highest affinity with magic!" Magister Thorn said as he finally took his eyes off the orb when the colour started to fade. "We tested on all you hoomans... but this is the first time the orb lit up!"


    "And when you tested the previous time..." Magister Thorn''s eyes narrowed. "I am very certain you did not pass!"


    "Yes, I know!" An excited smile remained on Dr. Sharon''s face. "I only discovered I can use magic...st night!"


    "How did you find out?" Magister Thorn frowned. "And why the strange... pose?"


    "Oh... How I found out was when I was reaching under my bed to pick up something I dropped..." Dr. Sharon gave augh. "Haha... And identally found out I can make sparks appear from my fingers!"


    "Later, I tried to make the sparks appear again, but nothing works..." Dr. Sharon exined. "Hence I tried to recreate the exact same conditions for it to happen... and strangely enough... seems like only in that pose I can only shoot some sparks out..."


    Magister Thorn covered his face as he recalled the pose Dr. Sharon made and felt embarrassed for her. "Do you... need to pose that way?"


    "AHEM!" Dr. Sharon gave an awkward cough as she recalled her pose. "Ah... It seems like that is the only way I could get the sparks to appear..."


    "No chanting of spells?" Magister Thorn continued to question Dr. Sharon about the way the manifested her magic. "What was in your mind when the magic appear? Did you feel anything different with your body?"


    "No... I did not chant anything..." Dr. Sharon thought back to her actions. "And I had in my mind was to pick up that damn thing... And I did not feel anything when it happened..."


    "Chantless spell casting? AMAZING!" Magister Thorn''s eyes went wide open. "Did you feel like weakness in your hands? Or fatigue after you cast the spell of sparks?"


    "No... nothing of that sort..." Dr. Sharon shook her head. "I experimented the whole night away till this morning... but... I don''t feel any fatigue anywhere!"


    "Amazing!" Magister Thorn repeated again. "Despite your low aptitude with magic... But you can use chantless spell casting! That ability is only written in legends!"


    "Really?" Dr. Sharon felt secretly happy when she heard Magister Thorn''s word. "But... I can only make sparks appear..."


    "Don''t worry about that!" Magister Thorn''s eyes seemed to be burning as he paced around in excitement while tugging his beard. "I can teach you spells!"


    "But... How and why did you suddenly gain magic powers?" He paused and eyed at Dr. Sharon. "Did you do anything... that the Captain told you not to do?"


    "Hahaha..." Dr. Sharon covered her mouth andughed nervously, she shifted her eye away from Magister Thorn. "Well... anyway... I did nothing of the sort!"


    "Anyway!" Dr. Sharon quickly changed the topic and tapped the piece of paper she had given to Magister Thorn earlier. "Look here..."


    Magister Thorn shook his head as he suspected she must had done something behind the Captain''s back. "What is this?"


    "These are brain scans of humans..." Dr. Sharon gave an inward sigh as Magister Thorn did not seem to push the topic. "And these are the brain scans of elves..."


    "If youpare a human''s brain scan and an elf''s brain scan..." She pointed to two regions on the image. "An average human has these two areas smallerpared to an elf''s."


    "These two parts of the brain are called the hypothmus and thmus respectively," She exined. "And an average elf have twice the sizepared to a human!"


    "And these are my brain scans!" She picked up another sheet and handed it over. "Look! My hypothmus and thmus have grown over the past year! And now those two parts in my brain are at least 1.5 timesrger than an average human!"


    "You mean... these ''hypo-ta-mas'' and ''ta-mas'' might be the cause of you having the ability to use magic?" Magister Thorn frowned deeply as hepared the images.


    "Yes! I suspect that... The hypothmus and thmus in the brain are what makes magic possible!"

 Chapter 443: Is It Worth It?

    Chapter 443: Is It Worth It?


    United Nations, Sawtooth Mountains, Haven Armament Works


    A sharp tter echoed out and was swallowed almost immediately by the massive underground hangar and the mix of other bustling sounds. Irisval Von Aston slumped against the unarmoured leg of a spider tank as she stared at the soldier who came delivering a piece of news to her asked in concern at seeing her state. "Madam? Are you alright?"


    Irisval looked down at the message note and crumpled it into a ball in her fist. "I, I am alright... Thank you for delivering the note..."


    The soldier gave a salute before he left and Irisval leaned against the side of the spider tank and slid down to the ground. She uncrumpled the note and reread the message inside before she pushed herself up with a determined expression and ran off towards the office area of the underground hangar.


    She ran past rows and rows of unassembled spider tanks sittings silently with their internal structure made of smooth stone exposed, waiting to be outfitted with weapons and armour. She ignored the safety supervisor cry of warning as she weaved between the tanks and workers before stomping up the steps leading into the offices was situated on the third level.


    "Manager!" She called out at the portly looking hooman seated behind a desk with his back towards a window that overlooked the entire hangar. "I want to take leave!"


    "Leave?" The portly hooman, once a junior engineering crew onboard the UNS Singapore, now the weapons nt manager, looked up in surprise at the sudden appearance of his ''one woman production line''. "Why? What happened?"


    "Family matters!" Irisval curtly replied. "Yes or no?"


    "Of... course!" The hooman bobbed his head hurriedly as he felt the chilly death stare given by Irisval. "But... there''s still ten units of the MAW Mark Three still unfinished..."


    "I will finish them when I return!" Irisval growled as she left the office in a hurry.


    "Wait!" The hooman manager scrambled out from behind his desk as he chased after the Elementalist. "Wait! When are you returning?"


    "When I finish my matters!"


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, XO''s Quarters


    Ford scrolled through the backlogged reports, pausing at each report that had a title marked with ''Urgent - Immediate Attention Required'' and carefully reading them. The UN was flourishing and growing rapidly despite the abrupt ceasing of trade with the Isles.


    He broke into a cold smile at the reports of smugglers and free traders that still came flooding into Far Harbour to do trade with the UN. If the Isles, especially that bitch Megan could force the UN into a disadvantage situation with the looming food crisis, she definitely with be very disappointed!


    Six canning factories were already up and running, each churning out thousands of cans of seafood, meat, fruit and vegetables daily. Supporting those canning factories were hundreds of farms and a small fleet of fishing boats, which industry has boomed when investors from the Isles were invited in. Even when some of those investors pulled out from the UN, mostly deal with some underhanded methods made by Megan, enough facilities and knowledge remained behind to kickstart the industry into high gear.


    Even the food situation with the refugees camping at the borders of the UN was also slightly solved with giving the refugees seeds and tools to clear thend and grow food to make themselves self sustainable.


    But reports of finding camps with hundreds of people starved and frozen to death were still plenty and Intelligence reported the same for the other cities and viges in the fractured Empire. And with the spring already here, monsters will starting out of hibernation, which will increase the dangers out there.


    Ford tapped his finger on the table as he read the next Intel report on the Isles before he shook his head in disappointment. Greed and politics caused the most deaths in human history, and even the elves on this were the same as humans, thought Ford.


    The several images on the report show highlighted warehouses and grain silos, where Intel found them to be stocked to the brim with food, yet the Isle''s excuses in their abrupt stop of food trade were due to theck of supplies.


    For a moment, Ford toyed with the idea of sending in special forces to burn down those warehouses and grain silos, just to teach Megan a lesson. But he gave up the idea, knowing if he did that, it will totally destroy what remaining friendship they have between the two nations. And it might even cause the deaths of thousands of innocents in the long run.


    Sighing, he closed the reports of the Isles and switched to another report which involved the development of the City of Hope. Numbers on the report was looking good, with positive growth in all sectors in the fledgeling city.


    Crime, on the other hand, had a slight constant growth which was worrying to Ford. Other than the Haven, the capital, crime rate generally was higher in the other cities. "We are taking in too many new immigrants..."


    But the situation could not be helped, as the UN requiredrge amount of manpower in all sectors, from the food industry to manufacturing, construction, and even the military and local services, thought Ford.


    Two thirds of the current poption City of Hope was made up of new immigrants while the remaining one third were UN citizens. Despite the majority of the new immigrants were the very young, elderly and female, some undesirable practices were carried over from their previous lives and culture which will be demerit to the future growth of the city.


    "I guess education is the only way to go about this," Ford spoke to himself and he noted down to himself to forward this report to City Hall to handle.


    Next, he read the report regarding the progress of the space shuttle, which the nners had estimated another week before the space shuttle trials were to go live. Training for the astronauts was also progressing without any hitches.


    As for the progress of the supercarrier, already the hulls had beenid out. The modr top deck produced separately was also in the final stages ofpletion. Once the top deck waspleted, it will fit over the hulls and be welded in together with the instation of the ship''s systems.


    "Three more months before the supercarrier''s hull is fullypleted," Ford mumbled as he read the report. "Another two months of outfitting and another month of sea trials and debugging before the supercarrier can be dered operational..."


    "I hope the Princess will still be safe after all this time..." Ford leaned back on his chair. "She better be safe, or... I don''t know what the Captain might do to those who harmed her..."


    Thinking about the Captain, Ford was feeling helpless. The Captain has been closed up in his room ever since he returned from Port Sanctuary. Dr. Sharon and some of the other officers had been regrly checking up on the Captain who seemed to be slowly getting over the loss of the Princess.


    Ford was not sure if the Captain has epted that the Princess and their child was gone or that he still held some hold that they were still alive. Either way, the only way to find out was to first build the supercarrier and cross the damn ocean and find their whereabouts.


    Still even with a workforce of close to nine thousand people working nonstop in shifts, day and night, every day, it would still take a few months toplete the mammoth project. And the military branches had all finished their recruitment and training, preparing for the voyage to cross the ocean.


    The main concern for the supercarrier was how to power it. Sr and wind turbines will help to reduce fuel consumption but they can only be relied upon for so much. The supercarrier''s fuel bunkers could only carry so much fuel, and once depleted, they would not have a way to refuel on the other side.


    Talks of using nuclear power to power the supercarrier had been raised up but without any source of uranium or even knowledge of nuclear physics, it was an impossible task. Even the UNS Singapore''s remaining reactor was not viable due to theck of Helium 3 fuel, which what scarce remains were being diverted to the space shuttle program.


    In the end, the idea was to strip off all but a few of the UNS Singapore''s capacitors to be installed on board the supercarrier. This will allow the supercarrier''s hybrid drive system to run on electricity powered by wind and sr power and also refined fuel.


    Part of the UNS Singapore''s flight deck will also be stripped down and theunch catapults installed on board the supercarrier. The supercarrier top decks will be divided into three sections, the outer left and right ''wings'' of the supercarrier will serve as theunch and recovered decks while the centre deck where the superstructure and bridge of the ship were located will be solely for helicopters usage.


    Ford felt amazed by how creative the minds of the goblins which were bloodthirsty and cruel was. Once they get exposed to an idea or concept, they easily came up with ways to make it work by their own methods which seemed crazy at first and still feels crazy to Ford.


    Yet, without the goblins'' help, the supercarrier will only be a concept on paper rather than a reality that was being constructed in the drydocks right now. And once the goblins get really enthusiastic about the supercarrier, their speed and workmanship greatly reduced the man hours needed to build it.


    Ford shook his head as he closed the file. To think he once thought of the goblins as dangerous creatures that could only contribute nothing except death and suffering. But over time, the efforts by the goblins greatly changed his perception of their race.


    He scrolled down the lists of reports and paused at another with an Urgent tag. Opening it, he saw it was a report regarding the Dungeon. He felt that the exploration of the Dungeon needed to be shut down totally drained too many valuable resources and manpower away from other critical areas.


    The only viable resources that came out of the Dungeon were the raw materials for gunpowder, monster materials, and medical herbs. The few rare pieces of ore and even edible portions of monsters were not at a level that was productive or even profitable for the Government.


    Hence a reason why the exploitation of the Dungeon was outsourced to a private militarypany. This freed up valuable military resources from the Dungeon that could be used somewhere else. And from what he read on thetest report on the Dungeon, the number of deaths involved in thetest dungeon raid only proved his point.


    But yet still, he was curious to the final level of the Dungeon, as he recalled Magister Thorn once said that the dungeon was made by the Gods and powered by a magical core. If clearing the final level of the Dungeon revealed the magical core, could we use it as a power source to power the supercarrier and hence solving all its power needs? Ford pondered as he reread the report again.


    A dungeon core has the ability to draw in mana from the natural surroundings and constantly create matter out of nothing. Monsters and creatures that were killed will be automatically spawned out again in a matter of days. With a power like this, Ford thought. Powering a ship the size of a city will be a piece of cake!


    But, removing the core will destroy the dungeon, he recalled Magister Thorn''s words. And the few resourcesing out of the Dungeon will be gone forever. Does giving unlimited power to the supercarrier be worth it over losing the resources that came out of the dungeon? Ford wondered to himself.


    "Is it worth it?"

 Chapter 444: The Protectorate of Ramuh

    Chapter 444: The Protectorate of Ramuh


    The Old World, Protectorate Territory, Ramuh, Capital of the Protectorate, Halls of Judgement


    The towering spires of the Halls of Judgement pierced into the dark and gloomy clouds which threatened to break into a storm. The Grand Jury, mandated by the God of Creation and Justice to govern all of its creation under the sky, ruled thends of the Protectorate from within the Halls of Judgement.


    Inquisitor Mathias paused at the foot of the stairs that led up to the Halls which had ny nine steps and every ninth stood a pair of Guardians in red heavy armour with a steam ive and tower shield resting before their feet. Mathias looked up at the Halls which always made him feel a sense of dread, making him feel small and like a child which hadmitted a crime and he was to be punished by the Head Master.


    "Inquisitor Mathias!" An ignorant voice called him from behind him and Mathias turned around, his eyes narrowing beneath his white mask as he recognized the voice. "What a pleasant surprise!"


    A masked figure dress in a crimson long form fitting coat stood behind him, nked by two assistants who lowered their head to Mathias. The colour of his coat matched Mathias exactly, with the same blood red hue. A person''s rank within the Protectorate was by the hue of red. The darker and deeper the colour meant the person''s rank was higher.


    "Judgement be with you, Inquisitor Rism," Mathias replied coldly. All in all, there were ten levels of ranks and both Mathias and the neer was the same hue of blood red, at rank 9, just a step below the members of the Grand Jury. "Such an... coincidence!"


    "Ha!" Inquisitor Rism''s mask wobbled as heughed. "Coincidence? I think not, my old friend!"


    "We are not friends!" Mathias coldly replied and he turned and started climbing the steps, showing his back to Rism.


    Inquisitor Rism''s eyes glittered dangerously as he stared at the Mathia''s back. He whispered softly to himself, "Enjoy all you can for now... Soon... You will be Judged! Hehehehe..."


    -----


    Mathias strolled into the Halls, his steps quickening as he sought to avoid meeting Rism again. They were rivals ever since they first met, with Rism constantly making troubles behind his back. He was certain Rism came to the Halls today was not a coincidence, as Mathias had received a summon to appear before the Grand Jury.


    He ignored the murals of torture scenes of sinners that covered both sides of the massive hallway. Round arches and pirs supported the entire roof of the Halls that was also covered in murals depicting scenes of Ramuh the Judge, creating life and order to the world.


    Hooded figures looking for the redemption of their sins, kept the halls clean and bowed deeply as Mathias swept past them. A giant hooded statue of Ramuh stood at the end of the hall with hundreds of lit candles and burning incense at his feet. Other souls seeking redemption kneeled in rows before the giant statue of Ramuh and two Redeemers walked up and down, using a short barbed cat o'' nine to whip their backs while chanting.


    Mathias turned into a corridor and entered into another area of the Halls of Judgement. The cries and chants of the devoted disappeared and the Halls was reced by alcove after alcove of shelves filled with ancient scrolls. More Guardians stood guard at intervals and they lowered their helmeted heads as Mathias walked past.


    Another few more turns and climbs of stairs, he reached the waiting room of the Grand Jury. The clerical assistant bowed deeply and gestured to Mathias to a seat, assuring him that the Grand Jury will be informed of his presence and will he like some refreshments?


    He waved the clerk away as he sat down and the clerk quickly departed to inform the Grand Jury of his arrival. Not longter, the clerk appeared again and gestured for Mathias to follow him, leading him to a pair of double doors, glided with gold and covered with a mural of Ramuh the Judge bringing light to the world.


    The Guardians opened the doors for him and Mathias entered into a chamber where floor to ceiling windows covered all three sides of the chamber. A horse shoe shaped table sat in the middle of the spacious room where nine figures wearing exquisite dark red coats that looked closer to ck, oveid with silver.


    A single chair sat before the horse shoe shaped table and Mathias walked up before the chair and bowed to the Grand Jury. "The Judgement sees the Grand Jury! Your humble servant awaits your Judgement!"


    "Be seated, Inquisitor," A deep rumbling voice came from the centermost member of the Grand Jury. The speaker had a thick silvery beard that reached his chest and a grey hair that was bound into a long ponytail. A pair of clear and sharp eyes stared directly at Mathias who nodded and sat down.


    "Now, Inquisitor," The junior most Grand Jury seated on the extreme left side of the table spoke up. "Before we start, is there anything you would like to address to us first?"


    Mathias frowned inside in mask as he rotated his head like cannon, turning his attention to the speaker. "Esteemed Jury, I do not understand your question."


    "Have you reported every truth, nothing but the truth since your return..." The Jury member looked down at his notes. "From the sea of clouds? Did you left out anything?"


    "Are you doubting my abilities as an Inquisitor?" Mathias''s voice had a hint of anger. "Be careful, Esteemed Jury, doubting the Inquisition... bears... serious consequences!"


    The junior Jury member swallowed nervously as he felt a chill down his spine from the cold stare of Inquisitor Mathias boring into him. He shifted himself ufortably in his seat and cleared his throat uneasily as he changed the question. "W- We are not doubting the Inquisition, nor y- you abilities!"


    "B- But we have credible information that you, Inquisitor Mathias..." The junior Jury member paused and nervously tugged at his cor. "Ah... Might have forgotten to... inform us of some... minor details?"


    "And does the business of the Inquisition ever been the concern of the Grand Jury?" Mathias turned his ze to the senior most Jury member who sat in the middle. "What the Inquisition does... Is none of the business of the Grand Jury! Unless... the Grand Jury wants the Inquisition to be involved with the matters of the Grand Jury too?"


    "Enough!" The elf in the middle of the table spoke loud enough that the rest of the Grand Jury settled down as they were incited by the words of Inquisitor Mathias. "We shall no longer talk about this..."


    Inquisitor Mathias gave a bow as he ceded the issue. The elf stared at Mathias for a while before he said, "In your report, you said that the Judges have sensed the presence of the other artefact, yes?"


    "Yes, Grand Lord Luthor," Mathias replied. "I have requested for a fleet to be assembled to cross the Sea of Clouds to retrieve the artefact."


    "There are people living in thends there?" Grand Lord Luthor asked again."Your theory was that those people are the descendants of our ancestors that had crossed the ocean over three hundred years ago?"


    "Yes, Grand Lord," Mathias replied. "From... evidence we had gathered. There is a high chance that that is true!"


    "Interesting..." Grand Lord Luthor looked down at the scroll he was holding. "From what was written in your report... You had stated that their fighting strengths seemed to be below that of even the weakest kingdom here. Yet, you requested for a full fleet of twelve battleships! Please exin."


    "First, the reason is due to the size of thend," Mathias replied calmly. "Even with the Judges'' power, it will take too much time and effort to scour thend for the artefact if just a token force was dispatched."


    "Secondly," Mathias continued. "We only encountered a sailing ship of the natives there''s and some strange small flyers that were faster and more nimble than our own small flyers. Hence we do not know the full extent of their might. I might be wrong that they are weak, therefore, it is better to be safe and have more ships at hand."


    "Third, distance," Mathias added. "It will be a journeysting for months, and there are risks involved in crossing the Sea of Clouds. Like the loss of two of the Inquisition ships."


    "But news of one of the Inquisition ships was destroyed by the Iron Kingdom!" The Junior Grand Jury member remarked from the side. "While we do not look into the affairs of the Inquisition... But we do need an answer for that as it draws valuable resources away from the nation!"


    "The Iron Kingdom and the Loose Conferedation are always looking for weakness with us!" The Junior Jury member said hotly. "With the loss of one of our ships, we, not only lose prestige, our people''s lives... We made the infidels believe they can bewless and disrespect our God!"


    "Our God has decreed that we must bring backw and order to thends!" He spoke in a fervent voice. "These infidels have all forgotten who gave life and order to this world! We must bring thewless to heel!"


    "I do not disagree with your words, Lord Turner," Mathias replied coldly. "It is the duty of the Inquisition to bring those who betray God''s teachings to his Judgement."


    "And to the fourth and final reason," Mathias turned his attention back to the Grand Lord Luther. "It is to bring those who have been lost across the sea into the Judgement!"


    "If we can seed in making thosewless who had gone so long without the Judgement of our God," Mathias said. "We can raise another force beyond the Sea of Clouds to serve as Pdins!"


    "It will raise our strength and bring us closer to Judgement Day!" Mathias exined. "Our righteous Pdins will bring back order to this world! And the unworthy will be judged and purged!"


    Grand Lord Luther stood up from his seat and he walked to the windows, where the skies were overcast by storm clouds. He sped his hands behind his back and looked out to the city, seeing the hundreds of fluttering red prayer gs that people hung from the numerous roof spires that covered the city.


    "Your words ring true..." He said after a moment and turned around. "We will greatly consider your proposal. Now leave us!"


    Mathias stood up and gave a low bow. "The Judgement sees all!"


    As he exited the Grand Jury''s chambers, he spotted Inquisitor Rism with his legs crossed on top of each other, lounging away in the waiting room''s sofa. He paused slightly before ignoring Rism and walked briskly off while Rism remained seated as he watched Mathias walked off with a cold ze.


    "That bastard must have tipped the Grand Jury off..." Mathias said to himself in a low voice as he exited the Halls of Judgement. The skies suddenly opened up and raindrops fell, slowly soaking his blood red coat.


    A steam carriage rumbled and puffed to a stop before him and the footman quickly hopped off and opened the door and set down the steps for Mathias to climb in. Once he was inside and away from the rain, the driver cranked the boiler up and the steam carriage lunged forward on its fourrge wheels.


    "To the Inquisition Hall!" He ordered the driver and sat back, pondering on the meeting earlier. He was very certain that Rism must be up to something with the Grand Jury. He knew that Rism was a person who always prioritises glory over his duties as an Inquisitor. Yet he could not find any evidence to Inquisition Hall, as Rism was always very careful to leave no clue behind, as his victims tend to have grisly endings.


    "Could he have found out about her?"

 Chapter 445: Funny Business

    Chapter 445: Funny Business


    United Nations, Sawtooth Mountain Airforce Base


    The break of dawn cast an orange glow on the runway as the sun peeked out from the peaks of the mountains. Dozens and dozens of dragons of all weight sses had lined up in an orderly manner on the runway, snapping and growling amongst themselves impatiently.


    Suddenly a flutter of wings came overhead andrge shadow descended down from the skies. Blue Thunder''s size and weight was clearlyrger than thergest dragon standing by on the runway. Hended with a heavy thump and folded his wings before standing before the gathered dragons with his head held high.


    "Attention!" The dragon acting as the right marker in the formation roared out and the other dragons silenced up and straightened their spines before saluting with their right wingtips to their raised serpentine heads.


    "At ease!" Blue Thunder returned their salutes and strolled down the line of the formed up dragons. "Squadron leaders! Report strength!"


    "Squadron A! Strength ten! All present! Sir!"


    "Squadron B! Strength nine! All present! Sir!"


    "Squadron C! Strength ten! All present! Sir!"


    One by one the heavyweight dragons reported the strength of their formations which they led. In total there was six heavyweights, ten medium weights and thirteen lightweight dragons split into three squadrons.


    Majority of the dragons were from the Empire, either emancipated from their service,directly recruited or willingly defected over after the war. Now they stood in three rows awaiting Blue Thunder''smands, who was made Wing Commander of the Air Force Dragon Wing.


    Blue Thunder cleared his throat and ordered, "Spread out! Maintain one wing tip distance from each other and one tail length from the one in front of you!"


    The dragons quickly fanned out, stretching out their wings and tails to measure their distance between each other. Once satisfied, Blue Thunder strolled down the line, inspecting hismand before he returned to the front.


    He reached into his belly pouch and removed an audio yer and ced it on the floor. Using his pinky w, he poked the y button and turned the volume up to the max. Almost instantly, the music of Survivor, Eye Of The Tiger yed.


    "Ready?" Blue Thunder asked as he bobbed his head to the beat. "One, two, three, RAWR!"


    "Two, two, three, RAWR!"


    "Three, two, three, RAWR!"


    The dragons started stretching out their wings and arms, doing some kind of weird exercise dance. The Air Force techs and even the air traffic controllers inside the Air Traffic Control tower watched andughed, unable toprehend what the dragons were up to daily.


    Finally, after a few more workouts apanied by songs, the daily morning exercise ritual ended and Blue Thunder dismissed them. The dragons started to get rowdy as they chatted and gossiped among themselves, leaving the runway in groups of twos or threes, some returning to their hangars, others flying off to have breakfast at Burger Shack.


    Blue Thunder took out a nket sized towel and wiped the sweat off his face before he gathered up his audio yer. "Oh... I need to grab breakfast for Raz..."


    He gave a friendly wave to the guys inside the Air Traffic Control tower, and with a might bounce, he leapt into the air with his wings spread out. He did a loop around the airbase as he orientated himself before he headed towards the city.


    The flight took him half an hour, and as he approached the city, the air traffic controllers in Haven pinged him, diverting his approach to another vector. He switched his flight path, following the directions given by ATC and glided into the city, his passing over the buildings made the children squealed in excitement.


    He red his wings and came to anding near arge open air market. Arge field was set aside for dragons tond, and this market for specially designed and catered to dragons and otherrge species, under the Greater Species Co Inhabitation Act which dragons fall under.


    The market stalls had wide spaces between each other, to allow a dragon asrge as Blue Thunder to be even able to squeeze between them. Unlike the normal markets, these stalls sold items in bulk and even packed them properly for easy transport! Hence, Blue Thunder enjoyeding here, other than going to Burger Shack for his usual orders of cheese fries.


    Other than him strolling through the wares in the market, there were a few Orcs, a troll and even some elves who wanted to do bulk purchases. He even spotted a few other dragons who did not sign up with the Air Force but were working in other branches or services doing their morning shopping.


    Finally, after getting what he wanted and paying them, he watched the workers packed all his purchases into crates andshed them all up before they helped attach the lines to his belly harness. Once done, he gave his thanks and took off, returning to the airbase where he shared a hangar with the red dragon, Rastraz.


    After clearing hisnding with the base''s ATC, he waddled his way to his den and crawled on all fours into the hangar/den that was half buried under a pile of earth with only the hangar doors exposed. "Ras! I''m back!"


    "mmmm..." Rastraz mumbled in acknowledgement. She had curled into a ball and was watching some Korean drama being projected on the wall. In her ws, she was holding arge metal barrel of pickled fish in oil. She poked the barrel that looked like a soda can with her ws and worked the lid off, before using her long tongue to slurp up the mess of fish and oil. "Mmmm..."


    "Seriously..." Blue Thunder looked at the mess of emptied barrels at one side and at the sight of the Rastrazzing around. "You should join me for the daily morning workouts! You have been keeping yourself inside all day long! It is unhealthy!"


    "Mmmm..." Rastraz replied without looking at him as she continued her drama. Blue Thunder sighed again and removed the sweatband from his head and arms. He hung them outside, under the sun to air it before he packed the groceries he bought, stacking the crates and barrels he bought onto the metal shelves on one side before he started tidying up the hangar.


    He tsked as he picked up the emptied barrels of pickled fish and set them outside their den at the designated collection area for recybles where every alternate day, someone wille and collect and recycle them for use.


    "Mmmm..." Rastraz mumbled again as her eyes were glued to the scenes being yed out. "Did you buy me any sour appleberries?"


    "Yes... yes..." Blue Thunder sighed, thinking that Rastraz seemed to be gettingzier and fatter as all she did was justy there, eating and sleeping and watching her dramas!


    "Here!" Blue Thunder took out a sack and handed it over to Raztraz who happily ripped the sack open with her ws and speared the tiny purple plum looking like fruit with her ws and sucked them off, her face scrunching up when the sour juices of the fruit exploded in her mouth. She spat the tiny seeds off to the side of the hangar where the seeds ricocheted all over the interior.


    Blue Thunder shook his head at her antics and wondered which God did he offended to suffer such injustice. He grabbed a dragon sized mop and started to clean up the areas dirtied by Rastraz, wiping away the oily stains and sweeping away the seeds.


    As he kept away the mop and wiped his brow with his ws hands in satisfaction at making the whole clean and tidy again, he noticed Rastraz had curled up and fallen into slumber again. He smiled and shook his head before he picked up a nket and covered Rastraz''s body to keep her warm. "What will I do with you... Hmmm"


    "Is she getting fatter again?"


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, XO''s Quarters


    "She what?" Commander Ford shot up from his chair in surprise as he stared at the image of Magister Thorn on his disy. "Where are you guys now?"


    "Oh... We are at the School..." Magister Thorn replied. "She-"


    "Got it!" Ford cut Magister Thorn off in mid sentence. "I am on my way over now!"


    He left his quarters and headed straight down to the vehicle bays and grabbed a driver to send him to the School of Science and Magic. Once he reached the School, he stormed into through the main doors, surprising the students at the hallway and he grabbed a nearby student and asked, "Where is the Magic Arena?"


    "Eh... Down that hall and turn right..." The student replied. "Its the big round building..."


    "Thanks!" Ford replied and followed the student''s instructions.


    "Is that a hooman?" The other students whispered as they watched the uniformed soldiers ran down the hall. "Is something bad going to happen?"


    Unknown to Ford, the students who rarely seen a hooman except for some of the teachers, had their curiosity roused up and they started to follow after Ford and his escorts. They reached the Magic Arena and found the entranced blocked off by a couple of soldiers and the students could only try to find some windows to peek inside.


    "What is going on?" Ford asked as he can before Magister Thorn and Dr. Sharon who both stood in the middle of a huge colosseum like arena. "Is it true that you can use magic?"


    "Yes!" Dr. Sharon looked ted as she replied. "For some reason... I suddenly could!"


    "How is that possible?" Ford frowned. "Didn''t you and Magister Thorn found it impossible for humans to wield magic? But now you can?"


    "I think it is due to the voice in my head!" Dr. Sharon exined. "It seemed to have evolved or mutated my body..."


    Ford''s eyes narrowed as his expression turned grave. "Do you know how dangerous that is?"


    Dr. Sharon gave a nod, "Of course! I have been monitoring my body with medical checkups constantly!"


    "And with Tavor and his spies watching my movement," Dr. Sharon added. "If there is anything wrong with me, we would know!"


    Ford shook his head, wondering if that if these issues where what the Captain faced every day, no wonder he got depression! "No matter what, I want you to be on full twenty four hours surveince!"


    "What?" Dr. Sharon pouted. "That is too extreme!"


    "How do we know if that voice or whatever is inside you that changed you did not change your emotions or thoughts?" Ford shot back. "What if it can control your body without you knowing?"


    "But!" Dr. Sharon tried to argue back.


    "No buts!" Ford cut off her words and he took out hismunicator. "Tavor! Get a team and your ass over here to the School of Science and Magic ASAP now!"


    "Yes, Sir!" Tavor''s cold reply came back instantly without any questions.


    Dr. Sharon looked crestfallen as she stood there and Magister Thorn patted her shoulder infort. "You do know its just a precaution! We do not even know what kind of spirit or force has possessed your body."


    "But if it can adapt your body to the use of magic..." Magister Thorn frowned. "I think it might be some Greater spirit or even some kind of minor Deity!"


    "Now, what kind of magic can you use?" Ford put away hismunicator and stared at Dr. Sharon like so was some naughty child caught red handed with her hand in the cookie jar.


    "Erm..." Dr. Sharon''s face turned red with embarrassment as it was one thing to show to Magister Thorn her ability, but the thought of showing it to her fellow colleagues in such an embarrassing pose made her regret her decision. "Its... Its... just some sparky sparkly stuff..."


    "Sparkly stuff?" Ford''s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "Huh?"


    "Show me!"

 Chapter 446: Reunion

    Chapter 446: Reunion


    The muted roar of the prop engines was like a luby to Hitsu and the rest of the passengers as the heavy transport ne flew towards its destination. Seated on both sides of the cargo bay were members of ymore One and a toon from the Army''s, First Rifle Regiment. Heavy equipment and gear were strapped down in the middle of the cargo bay while most of the men dozed off or made small talk.


    Hitsu gave a yawn and grumbled, "I thought we no longer need to return to the Dungeon... Why are we heading there now?"


    "Orders," The leader of ymore One, Tyrier, now spotting the rank tabs of a warrant officer, had his eyes closed as he replied curtly.


    "But didn''t some adventurers took over the duty of clearing the dungeon?" Hitsu pressed on. "Why the hell are we going back again? I hate that ce..."


    "Did you notined that you had nothing to killtely?" Altied retorted from the side. "Now you could your chance! Why so manyints?"


    "But... Isn''t it strange?" Hitsu grumbled. "Didn''t they were doing well? Why suddenly they had to call us and a toon of troops and heavy weapons toe?"


    "Don''t you guys think something is wrong?" Hitsu asked. "Feels like we are here to clean up their shit..."


    "Isn''t that our job?" Wolf mumbled under his breath. Thankfully the roar of the aircraft engines covered his voice or he will get ''nket partied'' by the rest.


    "You guys signed up and get paid for this..." Tyrier snapped. "Stop your whining!"


    Histu made a face and sighed, "Oh well... at least we do have something to kill... It''s been boringtely..."


    -----


    United Nations, Seacliff Mining and Dungeon Town


    Irsival peeked out from the corner of the store at therge hangar like building. She could see some movement inside the opened sliding doors. She ducked her head when someone exited from the building and leaned against the wall of the store, one hand pressed over her beating heart.


    Ignoring the stares of passersby, she timidly peeked out from the corner again and saw a young man that brought tears to her eyes. The image of a young boy that remained in her heart had grown up to a fine looking young man.


    She wiped her tears as she dared out reached out to the young man, despite knowing that the young man was her younger brother who had in the past few months been looking for her. She had told the authorities to not disclose any information about her when they informed her about his presence and his search for her.


    Hence, her brother did not find any information from the government, only what was passed down from the people''s memories in the town of Seacliff. She was afraid to face him, as in a moment of weakness, she had abandoned her family and people to the Empire, by giving up on her life.


    Even when her life was saved by Drake, who hadter left her to enter the Gates of Heaven. She did not actively seek out her family and instead, had adopted to a carefree life. Now her brother hase to the United Nations to find her and she did not know what to do.


    Will he feel that she had betrayed them by living a carefree life while they were constantly oppressed by the Empire? She felt frightened by that thought and she felt that the only thing she could do was just to watch from afar.


    The news of him getting injured, made her drop everything and rush over. Now seeing him fine and all grown up, bittersweet memories surfaced in her heart and mind of happier times.


    "Miss?" A voice called out from behind Irisval suddenly, startling her. She turned again and saw a short haired girl who eyed her curiously. "Are you looking for someone? Do you need any help?"


    "I... no..." Irisval replied hurriedly. She recognized the girl before her from the file given to her. She was her little brother''spanion, Ciel. Irisval quickly backed away, "I''m just passing by!"


    She quickly walked away and disappeared around the corner of the street, trying her best to calm her rapidly beating heart, hoping that the girl did not recognize her. "I shouldn''t havee..."


    -----


    "What a strangedy..." Ciel mumbled to herself as she watched the white haireddy walked away. "But she looked kind of familiar... hmmm..."


    "Good morning, Justze!" Ciel called out as she spotted Justze doing some workout outside the Adventurers'' Inc. building. "I saw someone strange earlier."


    Justze paused in the swinging of his sword and wiped his sweat off his brow. "Strange?"


    "Yes...e to think about it..." Ciel frowned as she stared at Justze''s sweat stered hair. "Her hair and eye colour looked like yours..."


    Justze froze and he quickly turned to face Ciel. "What did you say?"


    "I said a silver hairdy was just acting strange just across the street there," Ciel pointed to the ce where she had bumped into thedy. "She went off after I asked if she needed help."


    "Where?" Justze dropped his sword and grabbed Ciel. "Where did she go?"


    "Ow!" Ciel flinched back. "I saw her walk down Seventh Street!"


    Without another word, Justze ran off, heading towards Seventh Street, leaving behind a confused Ciel who hesitated for a moment before she dashed off after him. He paused at the intersection looking up and down the street, trying to spot the person Ciel had seen.


    Just as Ciel caught up with Justze, he sprinted off again and Ciel barely had any time to catch her breath as she followed after Justze down the street. He paused again at the end of the street looking left and right before asking someone walking down the street, "Did you saw someone where hair like mine?"


    The passersby briefly nced at Justze before giving a shrug and continuing on with his way. Ciel stopped next to Justze and asked, "I- Is that person... the one you have been looking for all these times?"


    "Yes!" Justze eximed as he looked around frantically. "It should be my sister!"


    "Really?" Ciel replied. "I... I am sorry! I should have stopped her!"


    Justze waved away her concerns, "It''s alright... you didn''t know..."


    "Wait!" He suddenly said, "Do you know if there''s a river bridge nearby?"


    "I think there is one on the other side of the town..." Ciel replied. "Why?"


    "I remember since young if she was sad or need a ce to hide..." Justze exined. "She will always hide under the bridge at our hometown..."


    Ciel''s eyes glowed and she grabbed Justze''s hand. "I know where it is! Come on!"


    -----


    Irisval squatted on the bank of the small river with her back leaning against cold lifeless concrete bridge. She pucked a round pebble, which she could feel a slight warmth of the energy of the earth inside. With a flick of her wrist, the pebble was spun onto the surface of the river and it bounced three times before sinking in.


    She sighed and picked up another pebble when there was a crunch and she saw a pair of boots appear before her. "Come on, sis... Is that the best you can throw?"


    She froze at hearing his voice and uncontrobly, tears spilt out from her silver eyes. The young man standing before her flung another pebble out across the river and said, "Remember? You taught me how to bounce rocks off the water!"


    "Justze..." Irisval buried her head into her knees as she cried. "I- I am so sorry..."


    "Did you know I was looking for you?" Justze sat down next to Irisval and continued flicking pebbles into the river. "Do you how hard I tried to find you for all these years?"


    "The Empire said you went missing fighting demonic worshippers up there in the mountains..." Justze said. "I didn''t believe it..."


    "So I volunteered myself with the Imperial Army and came all the way here to find you..." Justze stared at the ripples made by the bouncing stones. "We nearly got killed a few times, but luckily we managed to made it and when the Emperor died, we stayed back to find news of you..."


    "But why?" Justze asked. "You knew I was looking for you... Why did you not let me find you? Why?"


    Irisval looked away and said in a soft voice, "Because... I abandoned you and everyone else..."


    "Abandoned?" Justze sighed. "After you sacrificed everything to keep us safe from the Emperor?"


    "Did you think that I was too young to know what the Emperor did to us?" Justze said. "No one mes you back home..."


    "Noo..." Irisval replied. "I got too much blood in my hands..."


    "Even so..." Justze said in a soft voice. "You are my sister... My only kin left in this world..."


    His words made Irisval cried even harder and Justze clumsily embraced his elder sister which he had not seen for several years. "We are family... And family do not give up on one another!"


    -----


    "Woah! Look at that public disy of affection!" Hitsumented as he marched across the bridge, seeing a couple hugging away at the river bank. "Damn... I feel jelly!"


    "Don''t you have that Billie girl?" Young said as the group of soldiers marched across the bridge. "Hey... that girl looks familiar!"


    "She''s that hooman Drake''s girl," Wolf said as he took a look over the railings. "Yup, that''s her alright..."


    "Wow?" Hitsu said in wonder. "She got a new guy now?"


    "Looks like siblings to me!" Altied said. "Same hair colour and looks..."


    "Hey, Irisval!" Hitsu broke formation and yelled over the railings. "Irisval is that you?"


    The two broke their embrace and looked up in confusion and Hitsu grinned, "Remember me? We the ymore One guys!"


    "Oh?" Irisval was surprised as she recognized the soldiers crowding at the railing. "It''s been a long time!"


    "Heh," Hitsu turned to the toon sergeant of the First Rifle Battalion and said. "Hey, we will link up with you guys in a while! You guys carry on!"


    The toon sergeant could only shake his head as he had nomand over the spec ops soldiers. He turned to his men and coldly gestured them onwards towards the town while Hitsu and the rest climbed down the river banks.


    "Hello! Long time no see!" Hitsu said as he stood before Irisval. "Are you here to join us into the dungeon again?"


    "Into the dungeon again?" Irisval was confused. "What do you mean?"


    "Oh?" Hitsu grimaced as he scratched his head. "We have gotten orders toe down here to clear the dungeon''s final level. I thought you will be joining us as support..."


    Justze and Ciel both frowned at the soldier''s words. "What do you mean you got orders? The Adventurers'' Inc. is in charge of the dungeon!"


    Both of them after experience life and death situation with the Adventurers'' Inc. inside the dungeon had grown a sense of belonging and pride of their roles. When they heard that someone else wasing to take over the dungeon, especially the final stage where the way was paved by the blood of their fellow adventurers, they felt indignant.


    "This kid, your little brother?" Hitsu probed Irisval. "Well, when the man upstairs tells me where to go, who to kill, then that''s my job!"


    "Kids like you should just stay home and go to school," Hitsu eyed Justze up and down and gave a chuckle. "Don''t waste your lives!"


    Justze felt his face turn red with fury and he took a threatening step forward. Irisval quickly stepped forward and grabbed Justze. "He... He is right... You should quit as an adventurer..."


    "Why?" Justze looked at Irisval. "I am a grown up now! I can protect you now!"


    "I... I had... lost someone precious to me..." Irisval said and even Hitsu who heard her words bowed his head low. "After what I heard had happened inside the dungeon... I rushed over here to... see you..."


    "I do not wish to lost another person that is important to me!"

 Chapter 447: A Call to Arms

    Chapter 447: A Call to Arms


    United Nations, Seacliff Mining and Dungeon Town, Adventurers'' Inc.


    Karl had a frown as he looked at the people crowded in his office. He looked at one group on the right which consisted of his remaining adventurers, on the middle was the military and on the left was the Witch, who hase for her brother.


    "Mr Freeman, I am sure you received the government''s letter regarding the management of the dungeon," Warrant Officer Tyrier said. "Due to your current situation, we are here to help."


    Karl gave a snort ofughter as he recalled a phrase from back home. He said in a mocking voice, "Don''t worry folks! I''m from the government and I''m here to help!"


    Tyrier had a frown on his face and he nodded, "Yes that is right, I am here to help."


    "Oh never mind," Karl waved his hand dismissively as he realised none of the elves had gotten the joke.


    "Well, I can''t really stop you guys from doing what you want since the dungeon is not my property..." Karl gave a sigh. "And my manpower has been badly depleted in the recent dungeon incident..."


    "But, Boss!" Karl''s people protested from the side. Leon who had his wounds wrapped up in bandages stood forward and said, "This isn''t fair to our brothers and sisters who died clearing the dungeon!"


    "Yea!" The rest of the people from the Adventurers'' Inc. yelled out. "How can theye and take away all the credit and the hard work and blood we spilled to reach the final level!"


    Tyrier raised a palm up to quiet down the room, "Calm down... We are not here to steal your credit or what so ever..."


    "Still this doesn''t mean you can just walk in here and take over everything?" Justze snapped, feeling unjust. "We fought so hard to reach this point..."


    "I understand," Tyrier cut him off. "First, we are not here to take over anything."


    "We are here to support you in clearing the final stage of the dungeon."


    -----


    The Old World, Protectorate of Ramuh, City of Ramuh, Clergy of Ramuh


    The usual toiling of prayer bells in the early morning woke Sherene from her sleep. She carefully climbed out of bed and stretched her heavy body. Petting herrge tummy she stood next to the long rectangr windows and watched the sunrise.


    The window gave her a view of the city, as the prison she was in was sited just at the edge of a cliff, with a sheer drop to the dark green water of a running river. The sun''s ray slowly crept over the roofs of the city buildings that architecture seemed to involved many spires and towers. Thousands of red and white prayer gs fluttered in the weak breeze and would make a spectacr view if she wasn''t locked up in a prison cell.


    Her cell was spartanly furnished, with only a small cot, a table and chair. She sat down on the rickety chair as her feet hurt and waited patiently for the morning priest that came every morning to deliver food and also a sermon to her.


    As if on cue, the light scrape of slippers could be heard and the lock of the heavy door turned. A soldier wearing the strange beetle like helmet swung open the door and bowed to a red robed bald priest. The priest held a tray which contained a bowl of porridge and a thick booklet and he carefully set the tray down before opening the booklet.


    Sherene quickly went down on her knees and bowed low as she was taught, cing her hands together in the proper praying manner. "The Judgement see you."


    "Today, my child. We shall talk about the Coming of the World," The priest spoke in a soothing tone in their ownnguage which Sherene had been forced to learn, under the punishment of cutting her food rations. She had to give in due to her unborn child and she did not dare to offend the people here.


    "He moulded the Earth in one hand, and cast away the Shadows with Fire and whose Breath brought the Wind of Life while in His other hand, He formed Water!" The priest recited from the Writ of Creation. "Next, He created Hearts and life was born."


    "With the Prime Elementsbined, We were formed in His holy Image," The priest continued. "We became his children to protect the World and His Teachings. Laws he set to in Stone to prevent his Children from losing their Ways in this World."


    The priest droned on for a better part of an hour before he finished. "We the Children will meet our Judgement when our lives end... For He is the Judge."


    "He is the Judge..." Sherene mumbled after the priest who gave a nod and carefully kept the Writ away.


    "Eat now, my child," The priest gave a smile as he eyed the belly of Sherene. "Your child needs nourishment."


    With that said, the Priest knocked on the door and it opened, allowing him to exit before it was mmed shut again. Sherene painfully got up from the floor and sat on the edge of her bed and massaged her aching legs.


    She sighed deeply and picked up the bowl of cold meat porridge and quickly filled her stomach. She rubbed her belly, humming a tone she barely remembers from a movie she watched with ke and looked out of the window, seeing tiny dots of airships floating amongst the clouds. "Baby, be strong! Daddy will be here soon!"


    -----


    The Old World, Protectorate of Ramuh, City of Ramuh, Inquisition Halls


    "What?" Inquisitor Mathias cried out in disbelief. "This is my quest! Why am I not inmand?"


    The Head of Inquisition stared at Mathias from behind her desk, her eyes shone coldly from the eye sockets of her white mask which unlike the rest of the Inquisitors'' featureless white mask, she had a red teardrop below her left eye socket.


    "The Grand Jury''s condition for marshalling a fleet was that Inquisitor Rism be inmand of the expedition," She said in a stern voice. The Head of Inquisition flicked her long ck hair over her shoulders and continued to stare at Mathias. "Any other questions?"


    "But... I spent half my life finding the Seven!" Mathias said unhappily. "Why?"


    The Head of Inquisition grabbed a scroll and tossed it over to Mathias. "You have severalints involving your... zeal in preforming your Inquisitions duties..."


    "These... reports are not true!" Mathias unfurled the scroll and read through it in disbelief, "I always been true to the Clergy and the Inquisition!"


    "I know," She replied as she took back the scroll. "That is why I did not do anything to you..."


    "I know of the pregnant woman you had kept at the Clergy," She said as she tapped the scroll against the palm of her hand. "And I know that you have been picking upwless children and putting them into the Clergy..."


    Mathias bowed and quickly exined himself, "The sins of their parents shall not be carried by the children!"


    "I have thewless children ced with the Clergy in hopes that they could be converted over to the teachings of the Judge!" Mathias said. "Their minds are young and their hearts uncorrupted by the evils of people!"


    "I approved of that," The Head said as she stood up and circled around her table to stand next to Mathias. She ced a cold hand on Mathias''s shoulder and whispered into his ear. "But there are many other Inquisitors and Jury members that think that all the Lawless and Infidels must die, regardless of their age or sex."


    "Stay low for now!" She advised as she patted Mathias''s shoulder. "The Inquisition does not y politics but politics does not care for what we want or wish for."


    "We are the Clergy''s Sword," The Head continued on. "The Grand Jury wants to weaken the Clergy''s power and we do have some Inquisitors that are more inclined to the Grand Jury''s ideals."


    "You, unfortunately, has be a target for those people," She pointed out. "Hand over all the Seven you had collected to the Clergy. Do not do anything to make our enemies have an excuse to use it against us!"


    Mathias sighed inwardly and he bowed in acknowledge, "Yes your Grace! It shall be done."


    The Head of Inquisition turned her back to him and waved him out. Mathias walked through the hallowed halls of the Inquisition with a heavy heart. He had normally spared any child during an Inquisition, sending them to the Clergy, in hopes that the children could be saved and find their way back to the Judgement.


    Now, there were people, colleagues using that as an excuse to attack his faith! He gritted his teeth and clenched his teeth in fury as he walked faster and faster down the halls. He stormed his way out of the Inquisition Halls, ignoring the Guardians who saluted him and looked up to the skies, where several airships were slowly gathering


    "Rism! You bastard!" He growled softly to himself. "The Judgement will find you unworthy!"


    -----


    Inquisitor Rism loungedfortably with his legs crossed onboard his personnel air yacht. The air yacht was small and can carry up to ten passengersfortably and a small crew of four. He took a sip of the finely aged wine and leaned back on the soft leather chair.


    The air yacht was a prize he has taken from a merchant suspected of trading without Holy Sanction from the Grand Jury. Most of the merchant''s wealth and assets went to the Grand Jury and Clergy while a small portion was appropriated by Rism for further investigation.


    He still recalled the screams of merchant and all his family and servants being burnt on the stake while he watched from onboard the very vessel that belonged to the condemned.


    "Lord Inquisitor," His aide bowed respectfully from the hatch. "We have arrived."


    "Good!" Rism put down the goblet and adjusted his mask before he stood up. His booted feet barely making any noise on the rich thickly carpeted decks as he made his way up to the open deck.


    Rism''s face broke into a wide smile underneath his mask. The majestic sight of the warships gathering together made his heart skip a beat. The sense of power from the vessels that floated neatly in formation was enough to make him feel hard.


    "My Lord," His aide spoke again. "The captains of the fleet are all waiting for your arrival on board the gship Aggression."


    Rism nodded as he continued to admire the ships that would bring dread and fear to any corner of the Old World. His air yacht drifted closer and the pilot expertly docked the yacht into the massive hangars of the Inquisition ''Overlord'' ss battleship, Aggression.


    Roughly twice the size of the ''Penal'' ss heavy cruiser, The Innocence, which Inquisitor Mathias rode in, the Aggression was one of the Inquisition''s mightiest airship. It had a contoured and ttened hull with two distinctive bumps like two ttened oval bumps merged halfway with one another.


    Stubby wings and sails protruded from its sides and it had eight gigantic aerial screws serving as propulsion. It carried twice the guns of The Innocence, and had more troops capacity and even have enough interior docking space to carry a dozen steam powered ornithopters.


    Gusts of steam vented out from the exhausts of the air yacht as itnded on the hangar deck on stubby legs next to several ornithopters that had their wings folded up. A ramp slowly lowered down from the rear and the Pdins formed up in neat formations snapped to attention.


    Eight red coated Guardians marched down the ramp and formed up in two rows as Inquisitor Rism strolled down leisurely, with his cloak swirling around him from the warm air currents. Two rows of Protectorate Captains standing before him saluted and greeted him as one.


    "The Judgement sees you!"

 Chapter 448: Working Together

    Chapter 448: Working Together


    Streaks of light covered the noon sky as a rain of meteors entering the atmosphere in a spectacr disy of fireworks. The ss paused and everyone crowded at the windows, wooing and awing in appreciation of nature''s fireworks.


    ke stood behind the girl he has been dating for the past few months and smiled with her as sheughed and pped joyfully. Despite the lighting from the G type main sequence star that hung over the skies in an orange glow, the meteors burning up in the atmosphere was bright enough to be seen with the naked eye against the backdrop of the turquoise green of the atmosphere of the colony world.


    Suddenly the cheers of the students turned to cries of terror when the meteors mmed into the polytechnic buildings and the surrounding areas. ke hugged his girlfriend protectively in his arms as he tried to squeeze his way out of the ssroom with the other panicking students. A weather siren red out and aputerized voice started advising people to pred into the storm shelters in a calm and orderly manner.


    The building shook again and the fleeing students cried out in fear. ke looked out of the cracked window and saw a teacher who taught astrology standing frozen with his recording gear at the carport. He remembered that teacher had the days before, sent out a social media post regarding the meteor shower that had been detected by deep space sensors and was excited telling anyone who was interested that it will be a chance in a lifetime to witness.


    ke flinched back in horror when a streak of eye searing light mmed directly onto the carport and instantly the area went up in mes and smoke. The shockwave from the impact shattered the remaining windows and sent the scrambling students flying.


    When ke recovered, he saw the carport where the teacher once stood had turned into an inferno. Arge chunk of space rock asrge as a double decker bus glowed cherry red in the impact pit and smoke constantly billowed out from its surroundings.


    "Come on!" ke called out to his girlfriend and pulled her to her feet. He ignored the cries of help from the wounded students around him as he cared only for himself and the girl next to him. He suddenly paused when a strange cracking sound was heard from the meteor. The noise was loud enough that it piqued his curiosity and he turned to look out of the destroyed windows.


    The glowing meteor rocked violently on its side, while its outeryers peeled off or crumbled away. Suddenly, its sides cracked open and some wet and sticky mass popped out, sizzling as it came in contact with any hot surfaces. Several long slim spiny looking appendage appeared from the cracks and a creature unlike any ke has ever seen crawled out.


    ke stared in horror as more and more of those alien creatures crawled out and he turned to his girlfriend, wanting to tell her to run. Instead, he found himself holding the scythe ws of a Swarm drone. Its opened mouth consisting of sharp cutting beaks loomed up over him and swallowed him into darkness.


    -----


    ke jerked up from his bed in shock, his heart pounding rapidly. He blinked his eyes and looked around his surroundings, finding himself in his room. The nightmare of the Swarm invasion which he had not dreamt for many years had returned to haunt his sleep.


    Holding his chest which his heart was still racing rapidly, he climbed out of his sweat soaked sheets and entered the bathroom. His hollowed face in the mirror no longer look familiar to himself under the glowlights and he turned the shower on.


    After a quick cold bath, he changed into a new set of clothing and stood before the wedding portrait hung on the wall. His once form fitting clothes now hung loosely over his thin frame, having lost over ten kilos in the past few months.


    After a moment, he sat down on his work desk and powered up theputer and keyed in his credentials. ke took a deep breath and clicked on the unread reports in his system and started to immerse himself with everything that had happened in the past few months.


    -----


    United Nations, Seacliff Mining and Dungeon Town, Dungeon Final Level


    Two Armoured Support Autonomous Golem MK IIs made their way slowly across the long expanse of the bridge side by side. Their forelimbs carrying ballistic shields were deployed facing forward while the gunners in mounted armoured cab manned the 50 calibre heavy machine guns on their backs.


    Two sections of Army soldiers hurdled behind the moving ASAGs, using them as cover as they made their way cautiously across, towards therge tform at the end of the bridge. The level was hot and lit up by glowingva. Severalvafalls flowed down from the ceiling, the bright cherry red of molten rock sshed into the sea ofva underneath the stone bridge.


    Massive chains thicker than a person''s body supported the bridge at regr intervals, holding the bridge dozens of metres above the bubblingva. As they advanced forward, the bridge and the chains will sway slightly, making them pause to steady themselves before they move forward again.


    Behind the advance party, the Adventurers'' Inc. survivors and members of ymore One followed on. Further back, the remaining soldiers brought up the rear with another two ASAG MK IIs, acting as the rear guard. Both the Adventurers'' Inc. and military hade to an agreement to work together to finish the final level.


    Karl had only allowed his people to volunteer to enter the dungeon, while those unwilling, he did not push nor pressure them to do so. In the end, except for the heavily wounded, everyone volunteered to go, including Justze and Ciel, which made Irisval quarrel with her brother and in the end, she lost the argument and came along, to protect him.


    The bridge seemed to stretch on for over a kilometre with no monsters in sight, not even traps of any kind. Finally, they reached a huge tform that appeared to be supported by more massive chains. The tform was diamond shaped which connected the bridge to one of its pointed edges.


    At the end of the tform, was a simple stone pedestal which an orb floated and radiated a golden glow. The advance party paused as they observed their surroundings carefully and Tyrier gestured the advance party to spread out to the sides and be on the alert.


    "Watch your surroundings and don''t get too close to the edge of the tform!" Tyrier warned the men. "If you fall down... Not even the gods can save you!"


    The unadorned tform which appeared to be carved out from a single piece of rock was asrge as a football field. The men of the advance party cautious moved to the sides of the tform, their weapons pointing in all directions.


    Hitsu sighed as he looked at the glowing orb, "Damn... this looks like that game which I yed the other day... A perfect stage for a boss fight!"


    Seeing that nothing has happened after a while, Tyrier turned to the Oerkin in charge of the Adventurers'' Inc. He gave nod to the ex Oerkin Chieftain and together they entered the tform and headed straight to the glowing orb.


    As Tyrier and the rest stepped onto the middle portion of the tform, the entire level suddenly rumbled. Pockets ofva erupted upwards while the chains holding the bridge and the tform rattled, knocking the expedition force down to the ground as the tform shook wildly.


    Just as it suddenly started, the sudden quake stopped and swinging tform slowly settled down. The ceiling rumbled and red hotva fell from down directly at the centre of the tform.


    "Get away from the centre!" Someone yelled and everyone retreated as fast as they could from theva raining down. The moltenva pped hard against the surface of the tform and strangely it did not ssh or flow away, instead, it seemed to congeal together into a lump.


    When theva stopped pouring down from the ceiling, a rough humanoid shape had formed from theva, standing at over three storey in height. It flexed its crude hands that had three stubby digits and lumbered towards the closest soldiers, leaving behind burning rock prints.


    "Fark you and your farking big mouth!" Altied cursed Hitsu as he fired his weapon with the rest. Impacts from bullets broke the cooler outer rockyer and exposed moltenva that sshed out like blood.


    "It''s a Fire Elemental!" Irisval cried out in warning. "We need water or ice magic!"


    "Ice spear!" Those adventurers proficient with magic started tossing ice or water attribute spells at the creature. The ice spear instantly vapourised into steam upon impact and the area of the effect hardened the fieryyer of the Fire Elemental. It seemed to give a noiseless roar as it turned its attention to the spellcasters, ignoring the bullet impacts.


    "Bring out the cold gear!" Tyrier yelled at the rear support troops. The soldiers of the rear guard quickly pulled out heat protection wear from the storage bins of the ASAGs while others grabbed tanks of liquid nitrogen out.


    Knowing beforehand that the final level was a level set inva, the operation nners guessed that they were highly likely to encounter fire attribute creatures, hence they came loaded out with equipment especially aimed at defeating any fire attribute creatures.


    "Keep that thing busy! Hold it off for five minutes!" Tyrier yelled at the rest before turning back to the support troops. "You all better gear up in five minutes!"


    Loud harsh barks from anti tank rocketunchers echoed out as the soldiers did not hold back with their firepower. The explosions caused by the AT rockets staggered the Fire Elemental and sent scorching jets ofva spilling out from its body but other than enraging the Fire Elemental, it seemed to due no other damages.


    Ciel with her magical abilities being fire based, could only uselessly fire her shotgun which the lead pellets seemed to melt before they could even touch the Fire Elemental. Even Turok and Leon, who wielded a great axe and sword respectively, could not even approach the Fire Elemental due to the heat radiating off its body even with protection spells.


    Justze and Irisval faired no better, as their elemental powers seemed unable to affect the rock tform. Even the bits and pieces of rock that hardened from the drippingva of the Fire Elemental were either too hot or too little to cause any damage or effect to the Fire Elemental.


    The Fire Elemental swept its arms wildly, sending waves of scorching heat and mes. The troops and adventurers scattered as far as they could from its lumbering attacks. Those too slow to avoid its attack, screamed horribly as they were roasted alive.


    The fight with the Fire Elemental soon turned into a deadly game of cat and mouse. Those closest to the bridge fell back to the bridge while the others sought for a way to dodge its deadly sweeping arms.


    Finally, the support troops at the bridge had loaded up their gear. They advanced forward in teams, giving their spray nozzles a few experimental squirts and waited for and opportunity to get close to the Fire Elemental. But with the sweep attacks of the Fire Elemental, the support troops could not get close without getting crashed or smashed away.


    "Get ready to distract it so that they can spray it with that cold liquid!" Tyrier yelled at his men before instructing the support teams. "Go for its legs once it''s distracted!"


    Hitsu looked at the rest of ymore One and sighed, "This is why I did not wannae into the Dungeon!"


    "ymore One!" Tyrier took a deep breath and yelled. "Do you want to live forever?"


    "FARKING YESSS!!!"

 Chapter 449: Dungeon Cleared!

    Chapter 449: Dungeon Cleared!


    Waves of scorching heat spread over the tform, forcing both groups of soldiers and adventurers back. Turok gritted his teeth as he braced against the heat of the Fire Elemental and growled at the support mages. "Up our resistance to heat more! More! MORE!"


    The mages quickly switched their spells, and blue aura shimmered over the adventurers. Turok raised his double ded ax and pointed towards the Fire Elemental. "Chargeeee!"


    The adventurers with their fire resistance upped, rushed forward, following the footsteps of ymore One as they desperately tried to grab the attention of the Fire Elemental. The weaker adventurers could not approach nearer while Turok and Leon with their stronger abilities managed toe with melee range of the Fire Elemental.


    With a mighty roar, both Turok and Leon swung their great axe and sword at the leg of the Fire Elemental. Their weapons hammered hard against the cherry red surface causing liquid rock to spray out everywhere. The Fire Elemental bent down and swung its mighty fist down to swat away the irritating creatures at its feet.


    Both Turok and Leon dodged the attack, but the heatwave followed behind the swing caused their exposed skin to blister and turn red. The Fire Elemental raised its arms up again and mmed down towards the running adventurers.


    Tyrier seeing the Fire Elemental had turned its back towards the support troops, turned and quickly ordered, "Go for the knees!"


    The support troops in their silvery suits and heavy tanks rushed forward and they hosed the back knees of the distracted Fire Elemental. The spray of the liquid nitrogen instantly started boiling when it exited the nozzle turning in clouds of white vapour.


    The freezing cold vapour sted against the ming surface of the Fire Elemental caused its surface to cken and the flickering mes disappeared as theva crusted over quickly. The Fire Elemental sensing the attack from behind switched its attention around.


    As it turned its huge body around, the formed crust around its knees crumbled and ked away. The support troops in their cumbersome gear started to retreat in panic as the Fire Elemental raised a mighty fist and hammered down, crushing an unfortunate soldier who was too slow to run.


    The tanks ofpressed liquid nitrogen wore by the crushed soldier burst from the impact and a cloud of vapour burst out and the mes on the hand of the Fire Elemental dimmed. It reared back as if in surprise and shook its hand in confusion.


    Tyrier seeing it had paused, turned to soldiers manning the heavy machine guns and rocketunchers. "Aim for its knees now!"


    Almost instantly, tracers popped from the heavy machine guns and converged towards the knees of the Fire Elemental, causing the formed crust to shatter into shards, leaving behind a thin mass of burningva. The mages seeing the opening renewed their ice magic, aiming at the exposed portion of the knee while the support troops carrying the liquid nitrogen tried to nk the enraged Fire Elemental without getting its attention.


    "Come on!" Tyrier yelled to the rest. "Get its attention so that the cryo boys can do their work!"


    Gunfire resumed as the soldiers tried to get the attention of the Fire Elemental while the adventurers with only melee weapons waved and yelled at the sides. The Fire Elemental became confused with the yelling and the pinpricks of bullets hammered its body and its legs did not seem to work well.


    Its turned its featureless stubby head together with its whole body left and right as it could not make its choice to attack who for the moment. Its moment of hesitation allowed the support troops to reposition themselves behind the Fire Elemental and they repeated their attacks at the knees again.


    This time, the support soldiers were smarter as they gave the triggers of their spray guns a good squeeze of a couple of heartbeats before they scrambled back away in retreat. Predictably, the Fire Elemental turned around again. swinging its ming arms, but the soldiers had already retreated to a safe distance.


    The Fire Elemental tried to chase after the running soldiers but it suddenly paused as it tried to raise its legs forward. Shards of basalt and tiny crystals broke off from the hardened crust and after a short pause, the Fire Elemental ignored its damaged legs and stormed after the running soldiers.


    Tracer fire and trails of rockets chase after the Fire Elemental, as the gunners tried to destroy its legs. The Fire Elemental only seemed intended to attack those closest to it as its attack patterns started to be more predictable, allowing the adventurers and soldiers to work together, distracting and nking it.


    Suddenly with a loud crack, the knee of the Fire Elemental broke and its upper body appeared to hang in mid air for a second before it dropped heavily down and snapping its other weakened knee. mes and smoke erupted from its body as it mmed face down and the adventurers and soldiers cheered.


    Without its mobility, the Fire Elemental could only crawl about with its arms as it tried to destroy those who torment it. Working together as a team, the adventurers taunted and attracted the Fire Elemental''s attention while the support soldiers spray clouds of liquid nitrogen over its body.


    Turok and Leon would then rush in and smash apart any areas that had turned into ck basalt and bit by bit, the Fire Elemental was broken up into chunks of hot rocks. Finally, what remained of the Fire Elemental was just arge lump of hardened crust the size of a small wagon. The mes had all disappeared and bits and pieces of cooled basalt and rocks littered the tform.


    "HAAAH!" Turok yelled as he swung his axe down and cracked the hardened remains of the Fire Elemental in half. A piece of ming orange crystal the size of a football rolled out and thest embers of fire faded away from the lifeless rock.


    "It''s dead right?" Hitsu asked as he took a sip of warm water from his canteen. "That''s dead right or do we need the ice boys to spray more of their white stuff at it?"


    "Orcs smash!" Turok growled as he raised his axe over his head to chop down at the burning crystal.


    "No!" Ciel cried out as she rushed over to stop Turok. "T- That''s the heart of a fire elemental! I- Its... priceless!"


    Turok paused in his actions and stared suspiciously at the crystal which had mesing out. "Priceless?"


    "YES!" Ciel repeated as she leaned close to the burning heart. "I read about it before! It can grant a fire Elementalist great control over fire and its mes will never extinguish even in a thousand years!"


    "Wow!" Hitsu gave a low whistle of appreciation. "That is pretty cool!"


    "We deal with itter!" Tyrier said as he eyed the burning heart warily. "We still have unfinished business!"


    Tyrier''s words made everyone turn their attention to the pedestal with the glowing orb hovering over it. Turok gave Tyrier a knowing nod before he turned to his people and growled, "Spread out!"


    "Grab the wounded and move them back to the bridge!" Tyrier ordered his men. "The rest spread out and keep your eyes peeled!"


    Both adventurers and soldiers cautiously advanced forward and this time around, they avoided the centre of the tform as they did not want another Fire Elemental or some other thingnding on their heads from the ceiling again.


    "Looks clear!" A soldier outfitted in a thick turtle vest armour reported as he put away several gadgets both electrical and arcane after ensuring there wasn'' any traps or surprises on the pedestal. "But that thing''s magic power is way over the charts!"


    "It must be the Dungeon''s Core!" Someone yelled from behind.


    "So what now?" Irisval asked as she leaned close to the floating Dungeon Core. She could feel the surging powering from the core even from a small distance away. "Do we destroy it or take it?"


    "We take it!" Tyrier said as he pushed his way forward. He carried a thick matt ck case in one hand. He ced the case down and started to put on thick gloves made out of dragon hide and lined with lead before he reached out to grab the glowing orb.


    Surprisingly, as his gloved hands closed over the glow, the object inside was actually smaller than expected. Tyrier carefully retracted his hand and ced the object into the case while the rest crowded over curiously to see what was inside the glow.


    A golden pyramid shaped object about the fist size of a childid on the lead lined cushion of the case. The once bright glow had vanished and itid there inert with runes of some sort covering its sides. "Is that the core? It looks... normal?"


    "Better be safe than sorry!" Tyrier said as he closed the lid and secured the case. "Let''s check if there is anything else here..."


    Just as he finished his sentence, the entire level started quaking. Rock dust started raining down from the ceilings and theva started bubbling violently. Bits and pieces of the ceiling started crumbling down andva started to drip down from the cracks.


    "Oh shit..." Hitsu moaned. "Is the level copsing?"


    "OUT!" Tyrier roared urgently. "Get the hell out of here now! GO!"


    Both the adventurers and soldiers started running towards the bridge. Ciel paused in her footsteps and she ran towards the ming heart and using her fire elemental powers, she grabbed the heart with her bare hands. Despite her heightened resistance to mes, the scorching heat and power from the heart burnt her hands, making her grit her teeth in pain as she endured her burns.


    "Ciel!" Justze stared at her in horror. "What are you doing?"


    Irisval stopped next to Justze and she used her powers, picking up the scattered pieces of basalt and created a bowl which she yelled at Ciel. "Drop that thing in here! Quickly!"


    Ciel with tears streaming down her eyes quickly dropped the burning hot Fire Elemental heart into the thick bowl which Irisval quickly sealed it up, creating a ball with the heart inside. Even with the thickyer of basalt, the ball of basalt started to feel warm and growing hotter by the second.


    "Hurry up and run!" Irisval yelled as she focused her magic to protect her hands as she carried the ball. Justze supported Ciel and they ran after the rest who had already crossed a third of the bridge.


    The quake grew stronger, andrger chunks of the ceiling fell down, followed by streams ofva. Everyone ran as fast as they could, avoiding the falling rocks and sshes of fallingva and finally the massive double stone doors appeared before them.


    As they pass through the doors, the shaking of the level did not seem to cease much. They could still feel the ground and the walls around them trembling. Tyrier cursed and yelled, "Keep running! The whole dungeon is copsing!"


    "Fark... do we have to run all thirteen levels to get out?" Hitsu panted as he followed the rest.


    "Dump your gear!" Tyrier ordered as he realised they might not be able to make it. Everyone quickly followed his order, dropping their armour and weapons. "Grab onto the sides of the ASAGs!"


    The wounded had already been piled onto the back of the ASAGs. Now everyone squeezed in and held onto what footholds they could. The six overburdened ASAGs deployed their all terrain wheels and started zipping forward at a speed faster than what one could sustain on their two legs.


    Along the way, they only paused to pick up themunication runners and support staff left behind each level and any stairs, which everyone climbed off, allowing the ASAGs to climb the stairs before boarding again and dashing off towards the exit. The quakes and rumblings grew louder and more violent as time went by. Cracks chased after the fleeing ASAGs and holes appeared behind them as the floor copsed inwards.


    Finally, they reached the first floor of the Dungeon, just barely ahead of the copsing dungeon and emerged out in a cloud of rock dust as the Dungeon was buried forever under tons of rocks and earth.

 Chapter 450: State of Panic

    Chapter 450: State of Panic


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom Border, Mountain Fort Bast


    Steam whistles shrilled long and sharply, more than enough to wake the dead inside the Fort which was carved out from the side and peaks of the mountain range. The frightened lookout who saw the dark red dots appearing out of the clouds jerked thenyard to the steam whistle in panic.


    The Fort Commodore was enjoying tea with the other senior officers in the tea room which was built into the side of the mountain, which had floor to ceiling crystal windows allow natural light to flood the room. When warning whistles screamed, they paused in their actions and looked up towards the ceiling in confusion.


    The door leading into the tea room suddenly burst open and a panting aide yelled, "My Lords! T- The Pro- Protectorate!"


    "What of them?" the Fort Commodore asked impatiently as he stood up. "Speak man! Don''t speak in riddles!"


    "Th- They are invading!" The aide finally gasped out in terror. "Ships... many many airships! At least forty ships!"


    "Forty ships?!" The expressions of the senior officers in the tea room paled when they heard the count. "Are you certain?"


    "Yes, my Lords! The lookouts are very certain!" The aided panted.


    "S- Send word back to the nearest garrisons and to the Admiralty!" The Fort Commodore yelled as he grabbed his coat and rushed towards the war room of the fort. "What are you all still doing here? Get to your posts!"


    The rest of the officers quickly followed behind, donning their coats as they headed off towards their areas of responsibilities. The soldiers manning the fort rushed along the corridors as NCOs yelled orders at them.


    The once tranquil fort was suddenly roused up. Steam cannon muzzles were rolled out from their covers one by one and loaded before their fat barrels protruded out from mountainside as teams of gunners frantically readied themselves for war.


    A steam elevator nked its way up to the top of a ttened mountain peak and the crew shoved the scissor gate of the elevator doors open and once the doors were opened, they started to push the two ornithopters that had their wings folded for easier storage out of the elevator.


    Once cleared, the techs and crew frantically unfold the wings and bolted them, locking the wings in ce. A portable steam boiler the size of a wagon was hooked up to the ornithopters'' internal pressure tanks, while its internal boiler was lit. A couple of ground crews carried arge screw and inserted it into the side of the ornithopters and started turning the screw, winding up the clockwork mechanism inside.


    The ornithopters had a long narrow rigid body with a sharp nose and tail end with a multi ne tail stabilizer. Four pairs of wings connected to a series ofplicated looking gear mechanisms and pipes sat on the spine of the hull. The head area had an open cockpit for two pilots and the whole contraption was supported by tworge spoke wheels.


    Majority of the hull housed an enclosed boiler and pressure tank with enough fuel for the ornithopter to fly and glide for distances over a hundred kilometres or further depending on weather conditions at speeds up to 28 kilometres per hour.


    The two pilotsid down almost t, facing forward in the cockpit saddle and strapped themselves in while the aircrew pushed the ornithopters towards the headway and hooked the wheels to a dolly linked to a thick rope. Once pressure onboard the ornithopters had reached critical mass, the steam techs removed the pipes and quickly retreated to a safe distance.


    The clockwork mechanism once winded up fully was locked in ce by the two ground crews who removed the key screw. The pilots waved a salute to the ground crews who returned their salutes. The pilots released the lock to the winded up clockwork engine and the wings started to p, slowly at first before gaining more speed.


    The rope hooked to the ornithopter stretched tautly in ''V'' shape and a ground crew waving a red g switched to a green g and waved it up and down, signalling to the pilots. Almost instantly, the lock to the dolly under the ornithopter was released, and the stretched rope flung the ornithopter forward towards the edge of the mountain peak like a ballista bolt.


    The ornithopter shot forward and dropped off the edge of the mountain peak and shortlyter, it reappeared as it rode the winds, its four pairs of wings pping madly in the air. The second ornithopter was also flung off the edge of the mountain and it too reappearedter, the pilot adjusting its direction as it headed off in another way different from the first ornithopter, both bearing news of an invasion.


    -----


    One by one, airships bearing the Iron Kingdom''s insignia floated out from massive cavern openings dug out from the side of the mountain fort. Ships of various sizes crawled out in a maddeningly slow pace as they had to avoid collisions with one another and the mountains.


    The Fort Commodore paced frantically in the war room while observers lined the upper tforms, using spysses and magic to observe the Protectorate ships. The war room was built in one of the tallest mountain peaks. The circr war room had tforms on the upper levels, with slits cut out, allowing observers to see a 360 degree view of their surroundings.


    A table with the terrain model of the fort''s surroundings had several tiny stands holding red wooden rectangles representing the Protectorate, ced at the approximate locations of the Protectorate''s fleet.


    "My Lord!" An aide stood at attention next to the Fort Commodore. "The Protectorate fleet still remained fixed on their path! There has been no deviation to their course as of yet!"


    "Where are they going?" The Fort Commodore mumbled, his forehead covered in sweat. The Protectorate fleet had over forty vessels, and at least twelve battleships sized airships while he only had twenty two airships with the majority destroyers or small vessels and not even a battleship to match them!


    Even adding the fort''s super steam cannons, the Protectorate can easily bombard their fixed defences with their mobile fleet or even ignoring the fort after destroying the small defensive air fleet and striking directly into the territory of the Iron Kingdom!


    Yet, so far, the Protectorate fleet seemed to not moving into engagement range, as they kept on a constant course. The Fort Commodore rubbed his chin restlessly, "Could it be a ruse? Or some kind of fleet exercise?"


    "I- I am not sure, my Lord!" His aide replied nervously. "If they are trying to scare us... I am sure they seed, my Lord..."


    "Once the fleet has formed up," The Fort Commodore said. "I want them to tail them at a safe distance! Do not at any point offerbat with them! I want to know what the damn crazy fanatics are up to!"


    "Yes, my Lord!"


    -----


    Edge of the Sea of Clouds


    Flickers of purple lightning and rumbles of thunder could be seen and heard from the dense clouds that covered the entire horizon and sky. Rain felling over the sea under the clouds and the waters churned constantly, and visibility was so poor that one could not even see beyond a few meters.


    The Protectorate fleet formed up before the Sea of Clouds and seemed to take a collective breath before they moved forward as one and merged into the dark and forbidding clouds, disappearing from view in just a matter of seconds.


    The trailing Iron Kingdom fleet observed the Protectorate fleet disappearing in the Sea of Clouds from distance. The crews onboard the airships made protective signs of their gods and shook their heads in the craziness of the fanatics willingness and fearless will to die.


    After waiting for several hours to see if the Protectorate fleet will show up again, the Iron Kingdom fleet slowly turned around and headed back to base with their reports.


    -----


    The New World, United Nations, Fortress Singapore, XO Quarters


    Ford stood up from his seat and stretched his body, feeling his muscles crying in protest. He sat back down and was about to return to his reports when a knock came from his door. "Come in."


    "Sir," Chief Matt entered and ced a stack of reports on his desk. "Something happened down at the dragonite mines."


    "What happened?" Ford asked as he looked up. "Is it serious?"


    "I am not so sure about how serious it is at this point of time yet..." Chief Matt replied in an uncertain voice. "But... we lost ess to the dungeon... permanently."


    "I see..." Ford did not seem surprised. "How about the mines?"


    "There are a few copsed shafts but its easily fixable with time," Chief Matt replied. "No one trapped or hurt only for the team that went down the Dungeon."


    "Sir... you don''t seem surprised at the news?" Chief Matt enquired.


    "To be frank," Ford said. "I know about the Dungeon."


    He tapped a few keys in hisputer and continued, "6 KIAs and 15 WIA from the Army. 3 KIAs and 7 WIAs from the Adventurers'' Inc."


    "Sir, did you order them to remove the Dungeon''s Core?" Chief Matt''s eyes narrowed. "I remembered Magister Thorn''s once said if the Dungeon''s Core is removed... the Dungeon will copse and disappear..."


    "Yes, I did it..." Ford admitted.


    "But why?" Chief Matt gave a frown. "It is our only stable source of mana stones and nitroshrooms! And also a source of food and materials!"


    "Now... you have a bloody sinkhole over the cliffs!" Chief Matt groaned. "And the loss of a good source of materials! Why?"


    Ford stood up and tapped the wall disy, before bringing up the blueprints of the supercarrier. He gestured to the screen and said, "How do you propose we power this ship? By dragonite? Oil? Sr? Magic?"


    Chief Matt''s frown deepened as he replied, "Aren''t we proposing to use hydrogen?"


    "How safe is hydrogen fuel?" Ford asked. "How confidant you and your team are at getting a zero ident rate from using hydrogen fuel?"


    Chief Matt''s mouth opened and closed before he shook his head and sighed, "With our current manufacturing capabilities, technology and quality control... It''s hard to guarantee zero idents because of its low ignition energy and highbustion energy of hydrogen, and because it tends to leak easily from tanks..."


    "If a hydrogen tank explodes on board the supercarrier..." Ford continued, "And in the rough seas..."


    "We will be screwed..." Chief Matt sighed again. "But still... what does this get to do with the Dungeon''s core..."


    "Wait..." Chief Matt''s eyes widened greatly. "You... you meant to use the Dungeon''s Core as a power source?"


    Ford gave a nod, and he tapped on the disy showing the blueprint again. "If that idea works... It will be like a nuclear reactor."


    "We won''t need to have so many boilers for the supercarrier," Ford said. "And fuel will no longer be an issue nor worry!"


    "But we have no idea how such a thing works!" Chief Matt replied in shock. "Its... too dangerous!"


    "I think we are past the time of being cautious..." Ford reminded Chief Matt. "Powering this behemoth will use at least eighty percent of all our reserves of fuel. It is better to sacrifice the few resources put out from the Dungeon... And besides... if... if the Dungeon Core works... it is also a chance we have to return home..."


    "Home?" Chief Matt shook his head. "Well... There is some sense to this madness... If it works..."


    "Don''t worry," Ford added. "They also retrieved an unexpected bonus too from the Dungeon before it copsed..."


    "We got the heart of a fire elemental..." Ford said. "ording to Magister Thorn and any mages, it''s fire can literally burn for hundreds of years, making it useful to power boilers."


    "That''s n B if the Dungeon Core can''t be utilized..."

 Chapter 451: One Big Jump for Gobs!

    Chapter 451: One Big Jump for Gobs!


    United Nations, Fortress Singapore, Command Bridge


    Themand bridge was exceptionally crowded as VIPs and senior officers of all branches stood watching the disy screens attentively. Low voices of the operators and mission controllers could be heard in the background as the screens disyed an image of a stubby aircraft outfitted with fourrge rockets slowly crawling its way into the sky.


    "Crossing sixty kilometres..." A voice came out from the speakers. "Shutting main engines and switching to boosters!"


    On the screen, the image of the modified Valkyrie''s engines cut off and the four rocket boosters ignited, creating a long exhaust tail of bluish white mes and lots of white smoke. On another split screen disy, the facial cameras of the four astronauts could be seen grimacing as the G force pressed down on their bodies.


    Even the normally wise cracking goblin was quiet, his face looking hideous as he bared his sharp teeth, enduring the gravity crashing down on his body. Despite the G force on Major Peter''s body, he broke into a grin as the long forgotten orbital flight memories came back to him.


    The top brass inside the Command Bridge continued to stare at the disys with various expressions. Despite the briefings given, some of the elves remained sceptical of the mission, while others were concerned with angering the Gods as the disy showed the small shuttle piercing straight into the heavens.


    -----


    One minute and 17 secondster, the first stage booster burned out and the system automatically ejected spend fuel tanks and the tail and wing stabilizers away before the second stage booster ignited.


    At this point, they were travelling at hypersonic speeds and another one minute and 18 seconds, the second stage booster burned out and the rocket booster fairing splits and fell away, uncovering the payload and third stage rocket. By then they had entered the thermosphere, crossing the 100 kilometre altitude mark.


    The non human crew for the first time in their lives saw the curvature of their home. The blue green sphere covered with patches of white glowed magnificently from outside the cockpit. They stared wide eyed at the scene despite having seen videos and movies of depictings.


    "This is ck heaven?" Watts gulped as he stared out at the darkness that surrounded the entire. "Tis where the Gods live?"


    "Wee to space, gentlemen!" Major Peter grinned as the Valkyrie system showed the gravity had disappeared and they had reach vacuum. He took over the controls and fired up the manoeuvring jets, killing their velocity."Check the ship! See if there are any leaks or any system failures!"


    The rest of the crew quickly returned their attention back and started running through the Valkyrie''s systems against a checklist to ensure everything was in proper working order. "Major, all systems green!"


    "Find the probe''s location!" Peter ordered as he brought the Valkyrie into a stable orbit. "Watts, go check your suit and equipment!"


    "Aye, May jar~" Watts cheerfully replied as he unstrapped himself from his seat. He gave a whoop of joy as he did a backflip over his seat in the zero gravity and grabbed the handholds before he pulled and half swam his way to the airlock.


    "Major! Picking up the probe''s signal and location!" The crew member manning the sensors called out from his station. "Disying tracking data over to your disy!"


    A blinking green diamond appeared over Peter''s HUD ovey within his helmet visor followed by numbers and projections. Peter gently goosed the Valkyrie until it faced the direction of the blinking marker and powered up the rocket boosters which kicked the Valkyrie forward.


    "Seven hundred metres... six fifty... six hundred..." The co pilot read off the chart on his visor. The crew were equipped with space faring gear from the UNS Singapore that had been carefully stored away to prevent the high tech equipment from deteriorating away. Now they had been taken out from storage and the entire crew trained in them extensively for the past three months.


    As for Peter, it was mostly a refresher course for him. The grey white object slowly appeared over the horizon just over the edge of the''s curvature, gently spinning in its axis. The Valkyrie''s sensors lit up the probe and the crew member running thems pinged the rectangr probe with two sr panels extended out in an angle.


    Almost instantly, the probe responded with a request for authentication. The crew member tapped a few keys before sending out amand handshake protocol to the probe but was rejected. "The probe is rejecting our authentications!"


    "Send the virus over!" Peter ordered as he matched velocity with the probe. "Hopefully the IT team and the damn trolls'' slice ware works!"


    The crew member fired up the program for the hack and transmitted it over to the probe and he stared at the screen impatiently for the progress. "This better work or we need to break out theser cutters!"


    Under the skilful piloting skills of Peter, the Valkyrie managed to match velocity with the probe. The other crew member and Watts stationed at the side airlock opened the hatch and fired maic grappling hooks onto the side of the probe and tethered both vessels together. "Tether secured!"


    "ONE SMALL HOP FOR WATTS!" Watts yelled out excitedly as he hooked up to the tether lines and hopped off into the emptiness of space. "ONE BIG JUMP FOR GOBS! WEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeee!"


    Watts fired his suit boosters and propelled himself across space and with unnatural agility, hended feet first on the hull of the probe. He removed the tether cable from his backpack and snapped the industrial grade hook onto one of the many thimbles dotting the hull before he plucked out the maic grapples. "Wattsnded on probe! Heading to hatch now!"


    "Roger!" Peter replied. "Still waiting for the slice ware to hack the system! Standby!"


    "Rogeer!" Watts cheerfully replied back as he space walked across the hull happily as he was in ck heaven and ontop of that, standing on a machine god! How great was that for a gob!


    "Come on...e on..." The crew member tapped his finger impatiently over his console as he waited for the slice ware to do its job. Suddenly his screen jumped and the probe authentication screen changed as the probe''s security system unlocked. "Yes! We got ess to its external systems!"


    "Unlock the maintenance hack so that Watts can get in!" Peter said as he watched his disys and sensor readings of the surrounding space alertly. For in an expected event of any space debris, they might need to cut the tether line off to manoeuvre away or risk hitting the debris or even worse, pull the probe along and either ripped the probe or their ship apart.


    The hatch before Watts''s feet suddenly slid open with a groan. A thinyer of ice and space dust broke off from the hatch and revealed an opening that was dimly lit by hundreds of tiny red, green and yellow blinking lights. "Hatch is open! Watts going fix Machine God!"


    Watts climbed into the tightpartment, his small size having an advantage over an average human or elf. His helmet''s lights lit up the interior and after a quick search, he found the data port exactly at where it was in the simted training. He unzipped hisrge front tight pocket and extracted out a tablet and plugged it into the probe''s operating centre.


    Following what he was taught and having repeating the same process for dozens and dozens of time, he tapped control screen of the tablet, resetting the probe''s administrative controls and password to factory setting.


    Once that was done, he sent a ping down back to the where the mission control was waiting. He looked at the unresponsive status screen and prayed, "Machine God bless us all!"


    [[[ Retrying Connection. .. ]]]


    [[[ Retrying Connection. .. 2nd Attempt. .. ]]]


    [[[ Connection Detected.. . ]]]


    [[[ Connection Established.. . ]]]


    [[[ Awaiting Password.. . ]]]


    [[[ Administration ess epted.. . ]]]


    [[[ Connection epted.. . ]]]


    [[[ Connected to United Nations of Man Hull Designation CC 9A-1965 SINGAPORE.. . ]]]


    [[[ Warning! Memory Banks 93% Full. .. 185.372 PB / 198.47 PB. . .]]]


    [[[ Beginning Data Dump.. . 0.01%.. .]]]


    [[[ Warning! Network Connection Slow! ]]]


    Watts looked at the rows of text appearing on the screen and gave a shrug. All he knew was that as long he saw the line that said it was connected to the Singapore meant that hepleted his job here.


    "Boss! Machine God beeping back to base now!" Watts reported as he unplugged the tablet and kept it away before he crawled deeper into the maintenancepartment until he reached another area where dozens of blue, red and yellow pipes covered almost the entirepartment.


    At the centre of the pipes was arge panel with many yellow and ck warningbels which made Watts''s hands itch. He curbed his impulse to y with those cool looking warnings panels and instead pulled a red lever which made him giggle excitedly in his suit.


    "What is it, Watts?" Peter''s concern voice came in through the suit''sms. Watts swallowed the remainder of his excitement away as he pulled the open the unlocked panel.


    "Nothing boss!" Watts replied as he removed two tanks half the size of him from his suit''s backpack''s internal storage. "Just feeding the Machine God now!"


    He removed the two simr looking propent tanks from the panel before he installed the two fresh tanks. "Boss! Machine God fed! Coming back now!"


    He reappeared at the maintenance hatch and gave a wave to the long legs waiting for him at the airlock of the Valkyrie. For a moment, Watts felt disappointed as he thought back to the amount of painful training he had gone through just to have everything proceed so smoothly.


    Where were the suit leaks? The explosions? The sudden spin? The runaway suit or even the sudden dpression that he had been drilled so many times? Watts wondered unhappily. He was hoping for something exciting but it turned out to be pretty boring in the end. Well except for the fact he was standing on a Machine God and looking at the huge glowing blue green pearl and ck heaven all around him. It was pretty... disappointing, thought Watts.


    He gave a sigh as he unhooked the tether and attached it to himself and jumped off the probe. The long leg at the other end started reeling him in and Watts suddenly had an idea. He squeezed his suit thrusters and spun off wildly into space, crackling madly withughter and joy. "Woooooo Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Watts spin you right round baby right round like a record round round ~~~"


    "What the fark are you doing!!!" The crew member at the airlock screamed into thems as Watts went into a spin like a top with his thruster squirting out propent.


    "WAKAKAKAKakakAKAKAkakakakAKAKaa!" Wattsughed madly. "Right round round round!"


    "MAJOR! THE GOBLIN HAS GONE MAD!!!"


    -----


    United Nations, Fortress Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Sir! We established an uplink with the probe!" A human operator cried out excitedly. "The probe is requesting a password!"


    "Enter the factory password!" Ford replied calmly as he stood there looking at the screen which just showed a trail of a white contrail in the skies. The chaser ne following behind the Valkyrie had long lost sight and camera as the Valkyrie entered into the mesosphere.


    "Finally!" He muttered as he waited for the operator to establish back control of the probe. He said without turning his head to Tavor standing next to him, "Looks like it is a sess!"


    "Yes," Tavor nodded as he smiled. "With the probe, we can have almost real time surveince andmunications over any part of this!"


    "Sir! The probe has acknowledged the password!" The operator excitedly reported. "It is requesting a data dump of the past three years of data!"


    "ept it!" Ford grinned as the rest of the mission operators broke out into cheers at the sess of the mission. "Good work everyone!"


    Tavor nodded to himself as he continued staring at the disy. "Now... we will know who else we will be facing in theing future..."

 Chapter 452: Inside the Storm

    Chapter 452: Inside the Storm


    Haven, Capital of the United Nations, First General Hospital


    The corridor lights flickered for the third time in the night and the trainee nurse looked up from the nurse station with annoyance. "What is the matter with the lights tonight?"


    "What day is it today?" The other senior nurse asked from her desk.


    "It should be the fourth day of the week..." The new nurse replied. "Why does the day has to do with the lights?"


    "Oh... it''s that time of the week..." The other nurse said in a low mysterious voice. "You are new... so you don''t know about this..."


    "What is it?" The new nurse asked.


    "This... hospital... is haunted..." The other nurse answered. "Especially after the clock strikes twelve on every fourth day of the week..."


    The new nurse looked at the wall clock nervously, seeing the time was actually ten past twelve. She hurriedly said, "There... can''t be things... such as ghosts here right?"


    "Ohhh..." The other nurse replied with a serious expression. "This hospital was built over an ancient ritual site of the goblins... Many... people died here!"


    "You can hear the cries... and their footsteps at night... if you listen carefully!" said the nurse with her eyes wide open. The lights at the time flickered again, making the trainee nurse jump in fright.


    "Are... are you sure?" The trainee nurse asked timidly, she looked around the hospital ward which only the corridor lights were lit and everywhere else the lights were turned off. She hugged herself as she suddenly felt cold.


    "Shhh..." The other nurse ced her finger to her lips. "Listen..."


    The trainee nurse nervously strained her ears and suddenly she heard heavy footstepsing closer and closer. She shivered and hid behind her colleague in fright and nearly cried. "S- something ising!"


    "What are you two doing!" A stern voice came over the counter and the older nurse giggled. "Any patientints?


    "Nothing, Head!" She lowered herughter and nudged the trainee nurse and whispered in a low voice, "It''s just the Head Nurse on her rounds! Hehehe!"


    The trainee nurse stood up wobbly, after getting a bad fright. She took a deep breath to calm herself and leaned over the counter at looked at the Head Nurse who was a short dumpy looking goblin. "A- All is well here..."


    "Good!" The female goblin head nurse nodded and left the nurse station after signing the chart to continue her rounds and her heavy footsteps slowly faded away into the corridor.


    "You are so bad!" The trainee nurse pouted. "How can you scare me!"


    "Hehehehe," The older nurse giggled. "But... you are so cute! Hehehe!"


    "AHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHahahahahahahahahahaahahahaa...."


    Suddenly the lights flickered again and long eerieughter echoed down the hospital corridors. The two nurses expressions paled as the unnaturalughter sent chills down their spines and they both gasped in fright at the same time.


    "AHHHHHhhhhhh!"


    -----


    Dr. Sharon smirked to herself as she put her hands down. The thick target board which she smuggled with some difficulty into her office had a small cken patch that was smoking slightly. The smell of burnt wood hung thickly in her office despite the opened windows.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAA!" Dr. Sharonughed joyfully. "I DID IT!"


    She raised her right hand up with her palm facing upwards and using her left hand to support it, she visualised a ball of mes in her mind and concentrated hard, like she was trying to force her bowels or fart, but instead with her hand.


    A ball of mes the size of a tennis ball slowly materialised over her open palm and with a victorious cry, she flung the fireball at the target board, scorching the target with a shower of sparks and smoke.


    The lights flickered and she did a victory pose andughed again. "I finally mastered the Level 1 Fireball spell!"


    "AHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!"


    -----


    "Captain?" Ford knocked gently at the door of the Captain''s house. He pushed the door wide open and stepped in, seeing the Captain seated at the patio overlooking the city.


    "Is that you Ford?" ke asked in a low hoarse voice.


    "Yes, Sir," Ford stood next to ke. "How are you, Sir?"


    "Feeling like shit," ke replied curtly. "But thanks for asking."


    "Take all your time to recover, Sir," Ford advised. "I... still can handle themand..."


    ke nodded and after a moment of silence, he asked, "I am sure you are not here just to chit chat with me with your busy schedule?"


    "We had sessfully regained control of the probe orbiting overhead," Ford gestured to the skies with one finger. "But... upon reentry, the Valkyrie picked this up..."


    Ford handed over the tablet to ke who took it slowly. "This is what they snapped with their sensors on their return trip..."


    ke looked at the image on the tablet and his expression changed into a deep frown. The image showed a lone continent. "This is the New World, yes?"


    Ford nodded, "Sir if you zoom out more..."


    ke pinched out the image and the view expanded showing a thick ring of storm clouds surrounding the continent. "This..."


    "We... seemed to be located inside the eye of a super cyclone..." Ford exined. "Except for some unexined reason... the super cyclone seemed to be anchored to the New World..."


    "The eye of the storm which we are inside," Ford let out a deep breath and continued, "Is estimated to be around 14,000 kilometres in diameter."


    "The New World as we know is roughly 4,000 kilometres wide and 3,600 kilometres in length," Ford said. "It is roughly the size of Australia on Earth."


    "But this super cyclone covering this continent is estimated to have a diameter of over 45,000 kilometres!" Ford eximed. "If we deduct the eye of the storm... It means the thickness of the cyclone is roughly 15,500 kilometres wide!"


    "That is almost the distance from Singapore to New York on Earth!" Ford dered. "It means..."


    "This means... we are covered with over 15,000 kilometres of a super cyclone at all sides..." ke finished the sentence.


    Ford gave a nod, "Yes... Our people are trying to understand why and how such an unnatural weather phenomenon could even develop..."


    "And judging by the old records... this never ending super storm has been there ever since the first people had ever stepped foot here..." Ford added. "Literally for a few hundreds of years..."


    "When theputer plotted the course tond the ship..." ke sighed as he recalled that moment he drove the cruiser to crasnd on the. "It didn''t show up on the sensors... I don''t recall anything..."


    "Strange..." Ford frowned. He saw the After Action Report but there wasn''t any mention of the storm either. "Anyway, we might get some answers after we finish downloading the data from the probe."


    ke nodded uninterestedly as he stared nkly at the city. Ford sighed inwardly and stepped back, "Cap, I take my leave now. You... get some rest..."


    Ford looked back at the lonely figure of the Captain sitting alone at the patio before he closed the main door. He looked up to the skies before he walked towards the waiting vehicle with determination in his steps.


    "Another couple more months before the supercarrier is ready!" Ford said to himself. "We can do this!"


    -----


    Somewhere in the Sea of Clouds, Protectorate Fleet


    Under the dark gloomy skies, a tornado suddenly formed right in the path of one of the smaller escort airships. The airships in its path quickly responded by changing their course but the lead airship was drawn into the fury of the tornado and started spinning wildly.


    Pieces of armour and hull tes were ripped out and flew in the whirlwind. More and more debris joined the wild dance and even figures of screaming crew members could briefly be seen before they disappeared in the maelstrom.


    Gouts of mes and smoke erupted from the sides of the sickened airship as its magical barriers copsed and failed under the fierce onught of nature. The hull unable to handle the stress crumpled like paper and ripped apart in pieces, tossing the crew and debris out.


    As if sated, the tornado eased off and disappeared, leaving behind trails of falling debris and screaming bodies. The rest of the Fleet continued on without any attempt to rescue the lost crew.


    "Lord Inquisitor," The Captain of the gship Aggression bowed and reported in a respectful tone, "We lost another escort ship to the storm. This is the fourth vessel in just a week, my Lord!"


    Inquisitor Rism took a sip of sweetened tea and ced the delicate teacup down as he turned away from the crystal windows. The loss of the escort airship did not dampen his mood as the people of the Protectorate were honoured to die for the Judgement.


    "Their souls are with the Judge," Rism gave a dismissive wave to the Captain''s worries. "If fate takes their lives, it means the Judge has decreed it! We are not ones to question His ns!"


    The Captain bowed and returned to his station unconvinced. Despite his unwavering faith to the Judge, he still leaned over to his crew and gave the order for all ships to strength their magic barriers and be on the alert for any sudden dangers.


    A knock came from the ornate doors and the guards opened the door leading into the airship''s bridge. A trio of soldiers dragged a bloodied and chainedwless in and they saluted before forcing thewless to his knees before Rism.


    A stench of rot, blood and voided bowels rose out from the chainedwless kneeling before Rism. He furrowed his brows in displeasure and took out a scented silk handkerchief and covered his nose and waved the stench away.


    "Lord Inquisitor!" The lead Pdin bowed. "The Judgement sees you!"


    "Thewless has been brought here as per your orders!" The Pdin reported.


    "Has he confessed?" Rism asked in azy voice as he took another sip of his tea.


    "Eh..." The Pdin looked uneasily at the prisoner before he lowered his head and said, "No... my Lord..."


    "Really?" Rism used the tip of his boot and jerked the chin ofwless kneeling before him and looked into his eyes. "So stubborn and such strong willpower... and so much hatred..."


    Thewless jerked his head away from Rism''s boot and spat at him. The bloody spitnded a short distance and left a stain on the rich carpet. Rismughed as he leaned forward and shook his head at thewless futile actions.


    "So much fire in you..." Rism tsked. "I don''t understand why you infidels have so much pride. When in the end, all of you will stand before the Judge, who shall judge you ording to your sins!"


    "But not to worry!" Rism stood up and smiled. "As long as you repent! Pledge your soul to the Judge and He shall show leniency in His Judgement!"


    "And... it doesn''t matter if you don''t yield..." Rismughed as he continued to cover his nose with his scented handkerchief. "How He Judges you are up to Him, but to send youwless up to Him... is up to me! Hahahaha!"


    "Even if you do not confess now," Rism whispered in a low voice. "You can''t stop the Judgementing for your pitiful Godless people... We will find them... one by one... and if they do not repent before the Judge... than... they shall be sent to the Judgement... by the Holy Fires of Creation!"


    The prisoner roared with anger and squirmed against the guards holding him down. His toothless gums making smacking noises as he roared with his parched throat.


    "Even if you can''t see," Rism ignored the prisoner''s struggles and stared into his bloodied empty eye sockets where his eyes had been put out by a red hot brand. "I will still make sure you can hear their screams!"


    "For I shall bring them all to be Judged before Him!"

 Chapter 453: The Law Of The Strong

    Chapter 453: The Law Of The Strong


    New Kingdom of Ma, Port City of Hensink, East Coast of the New World


    Life was hard, at least for the vigers outside the city walls. The war with the Empire had rolled over the Kingdom of Ma and its allies and under the upation of the Imperial invaders, the people of Ma had suffered as the majority of themon people were enved.


    But with the death of the Emperor, the Imperial invaders took everywhere they could, from food to gold and even some of the enved people. With the sudden withdrawal of Imperial troops, the once oppressed citizens of the Kingdom rosed up against the Empire and dered themselves as the New Kingdom of Ma after much bloodshed in regards to the session of the Throne.


    With the surroundingnd ravaged by constant war, the farnds, roads, bridges, wells and even orchardsid in ruins. The port city of Hensink managed to recover faster due to their mostly intact fleet of fishing boats surviving the war.


    The bounty from the sea and the few farnds beyond the city walls provided enough for the citizens living in the city. The city guards had their hands full dealing with bandits and refugees seeking safe haven.


    It was just like any typical day, a small column of soldiers departed the gates to guard the farms, farmers toiled the fields, weavers spun thread and cloth, masons and smiths worked their trade andbourers sweated for their work.


    The Lassie was a small simple fishing trawler that had been run by four generations of the same family of fishermen. The fishing trawler wallowed in the calm seas as its small crew of five tossed and reined ins weighed with the catch of the day.


    The youngest crew member, a small boy of ten summers helped hit the heads of the squirming fishes with a short wooden stick before kicked them into the opened cargo hull. His uncles and father finally finished bringing up all thes and helped store the catch into the cargo hull.


    "Father! We caught a lot of fishes today!" The boy grinned happily. "Mother will be proud!"


    "Yes, son!" The father ruffled the hair of his son and looked up to the cloudy skies. "Looks like its time to return. Those clouds look like rain."


    As the adults brought up the anchor, the boy suddenly called out. "Look, Father! What are those things in the skies?"


    The men paused their work and up towards the direction the boy was pointing and saw tiny ck dots highlighted before the clouds. "Some kind of wyvern or some wild dragons?"


    But their curiosity so turned to surprise as the growing dots turned into some kind of flying objects as they came out of the clouds. The boy cheered and waved frantically at the flying objects as they flew over their heads, theirrge size blocking out the sun.


    The men stood dumbstruck as they stared at the underbellies of the strange flying objects and prayed to the sea gods. One of the child''s uncle said. "I- I think we better hurry back to the city! Those things... look like they are heading straight there!"


    They quickly recovered their anchor and let lose the trawler''s sails. After a while, the flying objects disappeared from their view as they travelled at a much great speedpared to their small trawler. It was almost sunset when the Lassie came in sight of the coast and the men stared in horror at the scene.


    Thin wisps of smoke could be seen in the distance and an orange glow covered the city that was barely visible. "Is the city under attack?"


    "What do we do now?" One of the men asked. "Those... flying things are some kind of invaders?"


    "Our homes!" The father cried out in panic. "We... We need to find our families!"


    "But to return now... could be very dangerous!" Another one spoke up. "We have to wait till nightfall when it is dark!"


    The boy stared hard at the burning city, his eyes blinking in confusion as he did not understand what the adults were arguing about. "So... pretty!"


    -----


    A chorus of hymns floated down the streets of the city mixed with the sh of steel and screams. A phnx of red and ck coated soldiers donning insect like helmets marched forward relentlessly towards the city guards holding their ground behind a hastily erected barricade.


    The red and ck coated soldiers paused just beyond bow range and the singing behind from a group of red and white robed choir grew louder and stronger. A yelled order came from a soldier which had two thick white stripes over his right shoulder pauldron.


    The lines in the front opened up as the soldiers each took a step to the right and another line ofrge sized soldiers that towered over the rest marched forward. This new group of soldiers wore red and gold vestments over their bulky armour and carriedrge metal barrels on their backs. In their thick gauntlet hands, they held a long thick copper tube holding an axe bay at the muzzle and had a leather pipe linking to the barrels on their backs.


    They advanced forward towards the barricades without fear, singing and humming to the hymns along with the choir. The city guards loosen off their bows and crossbows at their advance, turning the leading invaders into pincushions. But that did not stop them as they pressed forward without care, singing and humming, trusting in their faith and heavy armour to stop the arrows.


    When they reached a distance of roughly twenty steps away from the barricades, they pulled a cord linked to a friction ignitor at the rear of the copper tube several times, creating sparks which lit up an internal torch inside the tube.


    They braced against the onught of arrows, their heavy armour managed to prevent most of the arrows from dealing wounds and squeezed the pressure level. Gouts of mes burst out from the muzzles and sshed over the barricades and archers hiding behind. Screams joined the singing of the hymns as dozens of city guards did the burning ritual dance and the red coated invaders charged.


    -----


    The New World, Protectorate Fleet, gship Aggressor


    Rism, Inquisitor and General of the Protectorate Missionary Army, looked down at the burning city from the crystal windows of the gship. He smiled as he turned to his aides and staff awaiting his orders and said, "This is such a primend... fertile, rich, untainted by the other... infidel nations..."


    "Our holy mission here... Is to bring thesewless into our fold!" Rism dered. "Those that do not see the greatness of our Judge, shall be sent to Him to be Judged!"


    "Yes, my Lord!" His men echoed as they left to carry out his orders, leaving Rism alone in the viewing gallery.


    He turned back to stared down at the bursts of cleansing mes cast by the Immtors against the resisting infidels and smiled again. "Thisnd will be mine! All its riches mine! And all these glories shall belong to me and not to that third rate Mathias! Especially after I find the missing god artefact!"


    -----


    It barely took a day and night to pacify the infidel city. Hundreds of frightened people were forced into city squares were blood and remains of the dead were still present. Judges and scribes stood on erected stages spoke in the local''smon tongue, albeit in a strange dialect and ent, but still understandable by the masses.


    The Judges dered the city to be redeemable to Ramuh, God of Creation and Justice. Its people will be spared from heresy if they renounced their current faith and wholeheartedly ept Ramuh to be their one and only true God. Those that do not will be sent to be Judged by Ramuh himself!


    The city''s governor, citymander and many others were disyed hanging on crosses, their wrists and ankles nailed to the cross. The Protectorate soldiers stacked pieces of wood under the crosses and Immtors used their mers to turn the crucifix people into screaming pyres under the horrified eyes of the masses.


    The frightened masses all screamed that they were willing to renounce and take on Ramuh as their only faith and god. What came next was not what they expected, as they were led into rows, queuing for their turn to be baptised by whipping.


    One by one the people were brought before a Redeemer priest who spoke of the trials and judgements one must take before they can be worthy of the Judge. The frightened people were forced to kneel down and the Redeemer priests holding nine tailed whips, yed the backs of the screaming converts with mercy, be it the old or young.


    Only babies and those children that had note of age yet were spared. Blood flowed, as the Redeemer priests yed the flesh off the backs, chanting prayers as they did. Those that tried to resist were dragged off and nailed screaming to crosses that were made from torn down houses to be burnt as hereticster.


    Those that had been baptised, were allowed back to their homes but with the guarantee, they will returned to the nearest city squares at the first morning bell and thest evening bell for prayers. The people could only endure as much as they could for survival and agree to all the demands given to them by the new invaders.


    As full control of the city was achieved, the support vessels of the Protectorate Missionary Fleet gentlynded at the docks. Hundreds of Protectorate settlers disembarked and started to make this newnd their new homes. The warships of the Fleet remained floating ominously over the city, like an executor axe over the heads of the people.


    The new settlers with the help of the soldiers evicted anyone from their homes and businesses whenever they fancy the location. Some houses and stores were even torn down to be rebuilt into the needs of the new settlers and soldiers. New industrials and steam tech was also started up to support the Protectorate with their weapons and needs.


    Temples, churches and shrines were torn down within a day, and new churches honouring Ramuh were built over them. Redeemer priests roamed the streets constantly, preaching and educating anyone they find to the greatest of Ramuh.


    The people mostly remained in their homes in fear, only appearing to work and in the first morning bell andst evening bell to attend the mandatory mass held by the Redeemer priests. Once the mass ended, they either rushed off home or after buying what they need for their families.


    During mass, they had to remember all the teachings of Ramuh or risked being interrogated by a wandering Redeemer priest in the streets and get whipped for failing to answer correctly, or worse, hang for being a heretic! They were even forced to learn thenguage of the invaders and had to bow to the soldiers or settlers where they met them.


    The people were also forced to give up their wealth, all in the name of Ramuh, to build his temples and fund the great missionary work of the Protectorate and most of the times, the people were forced to work for free, restoring the city infrastructure. Food was greatly rationed and controlled and the people had to resort to ways to curry favour with the Protectorate soldiers or priests for some benefits.


    And the people meekly followed the new order, as they in every war after losing. It was the way of life of themon people and they were powerless to do anything in face of total annihtion. That was the way of the strong and weak, the normal order of this harsh cruel world.


    But in doing so, they can survive and people can always adapt to any hardship when there was a will to live on. This is thew of the strong.

 Chapter 454: Conquest Of The New World

    Chapter 454: Conquest Of The New World


    United Nations, Fortress Singapore, Naval Intelligence Department


    The office to the Naval Intel was buried deep within the bowels of the crashed ship. One has to clear several strict security checkpoints before they can gain ess into the most secretive department of the entire UN military.


    Yet despite the ultra secretive nature of Naval Intel, the office was surprisingly normal. Rows of desks and filing cabs reintroduced to the department to help cope with the numerous amount of paperwork which made the office look like very normal, just like any other offices. Each desk was upied by an information analyst as they pour through each article of data or rumour, determining their authenticity.


    In another room, it had dozens of monitors and disys and a crew of operatives watching and reviewing more data. And the only differencepared to other departments was that the entire Naval Intel office was staffed purely by human only. The Intel office was the only part of the entire Naval Intelligence department to be staffed by the human race, the rest of the Naval Intelligence, be it field agents or its security forces, were the mix of other races, predominately elves.


    First Lieutenant Tavor sat in his office cubicle going through the photos and data downloaded from the probe. He was the only one out of the original crew that did not want to get promoted but was the only one with the lowest rank to run one of the most feared departments within the UN military.


    The three years worth of meteorological data downloaded from the probe was baffling and scary to Tavor at the same time. What made him feel a sense of unease was the unnatural ring of storm clouds surrounding the New World which they were in. No one could exin it with science, not even Dr. Sharon with her extensive knowledge beyond her own field of studies.


    What Tavor could only theorize was that the ring of storm clouds was an event caused by some power very arcane methods or even by some God. And that thought made him very ufortable as he did not know why was the New World surrounded by the ring of storm clouds.


    Could the storm some kind of barrier to protect the continent or worse could it be used to keep something in?


    -----


    The Old World, Capital of the Iron Kingdom, Royal Pce


    The group of old men seated around the long table had grave expressions as they waited in silence for the person seated at the head of the table to speak. The person at the head of the table had worn a in iron circlet on his shortly cropped greying hair. He had a look of a griffin, his green eyes still sharp and clear despite his age of over fifty, looking over his sharp nose at the scroll held before him.


    His once handsome features had sagged due to age and wrinkles covered his leathery face. Finally, he set the scroll on the table and gave a sighed as he looked around the table at his ministers and asked in a tired voice. "What do you all think the Protectorate is nning?


    "My King," The minister of war was a grizzly looking bear of an elf. He had a ck leather eye patch covering his left eye, which was lost in the course of his service to the Iron Crown. "The damn religious fanatics must have found something beyond the Sea of Clouds for them to send in such a massive force!"


    "We agree too!" The rest of the ministers muttered their agreement. "They must have found a way through!"


    "In our records, we do know that beyond the Sea of Clouds, lies a virginnd..." The Royal Historian replied in a wheezy voice. The Royal Historian stroke his long white beard and said, "Over three hundred years or so ago, our ancestors disembarked on an ocean voyage together with five allied nations to search for newnd and resources!"


    "But as fate would have it," The Royal Historian sighed deeply. "They vanished and none returned... Since that incident, no other efforts nor attempts had been sent into the Sea of Clouds ever again..."


    "Especially after aetherium was discovered, interests in the virginnd and its resources waned" The wizardly historian exined. "Shortly after... the First Aetherium War started and everyone forgot about the fleet..."


    "With all nations and kingdoms vying for the resource..." The Royal Historian continued. "No one paid any more attention to the New World, named by the explorers. And it was also then the term Old World was given to ournds..."


    "Does this means..." The King narrowed his eyes, "The Protectorate has discovered a way through the Sea of Clouds and is aiming for the unimed New World for themselves?


    "Sire, that is highly possible!" A minister eximed. "W- We can''t allow the Protectorate to take over the New World! The status quo of the Seven Great Nations are barely maintained on a fine bnce!"


    "If the Protectorate acquires what resources andnd on the New World..." The minister paled. "The status quo will be broken! War will engulf the Old World again!"


    "He is right!" The War Minister pounded his fist against the tabletop. "We must immediately dispatch ships to the New World to prevent the spread of those crazy judgement lovers!"


    The King frowned and said in a deep voice. "If we send our ships into the Sea of Clouds... What are their chances of making it across without harm?"


    The ministers looked at each other before they turned to the War Minister who turned red with embarrassment. He looked around for help before he hung his head low and replied in a low voice, "Eh... this, my King... I... am not sure..."


    The King sighed inwardly before he leaned forward from his Iron Throne. "Go find out!"


    "Order all our spies within the Protectorate to find out what they are nning!" The King ordered. "Also ready our troops, but do it quietly!"


    "Have the rest of our spies to watch what the rest of the Seven are doing!" The King added. "This matter might lead to another great war..."


    -----


    The New World, upied City of Hensink, Protectorate of Ramuh


    Red gs and banners adorned the city walls and roofs of the entire city. Gangs of workers worked on the city walls under the direction of the Protectorate, reinforcing the walls to the specification given. Dozens of wooden framed cranes were constructed on the wall tops, hoisting strange contraptions formed out of strange pipes and barrels.


    Protectorate cavalry, riding horned drake mounts which looked like horse sized rhinos, patrolled thend beyond the city inrge troops, capturing any locals they came across. The captured people, be it, bandits or innocent people were all brought back to be converted by the Redeemers and Judges. Those that reject the teachers of Ramuh were disyed and burnt at stakes.


    The converts after getting baptized and indoctrinated to the teachings of Ramuh were then made to work in whatever the Protectorate wanted them to do. Bit by bit, all vestiges of the previous regime was wiped out and a whole new look appeared over the city.


    Just beyond the city, arge swath of forest was being chopped down, the wood was taken back to be processed into charcoal for the furnaces and boilers of the Protectorate. At the same time, a strange structure was slowly being constructed by the Protectorate''s settlers. A tall grain silo like structure that towered over the city walls easily was slowly being erected up by the Protectorate.


    The locals clearing the forest could only steal fugitive nces at the strange structure from afar but dared not raise any questions nor curiosity, in case their curiosity caused the Protectorate soldiers to whip them, or even worse, they get sent to the Inquisition!


    Back at the docks, a dozen support airships filled with tribute, rose up one by one from the ocean as hot aetherium gases floated their float tanks. Seeing the airships floating in the air, the local poption could only cower in fear and prayed hard to their new God for salvation.


    The dozen support airships once assembled, turned north east and headed away. The airships slowly made their way towards the Sea of Clouds for another month of travel back to the Protectorate to pick up more supplies, settlers, and soldiers.


    Inquisitor Rism lounged on a sofa, drinking the finest wine offered up from the previous city lord''s cers. He half listened to his aides reporting their progress of their conquest of the New World, before he waved his hand to pause his aides. "Enough, just tell me how long more before The Reckoner besplete?"


    "It shall take another four days, my Lord," The aide replied.


    "Too slow!" Rism grumbled. "The reassembly of the Reckoner must bepleted within two days!"


    The aide stammered in protest, "My Lord! Th- That is impossible! It-"


    "It shall be done!" Rism flicked a dismissal wave of his hand at the aide. "Make it so, or you can join them..."


    "Y- yes my Lord!" The aide gave a quick frightened bow before he retreated in panic.


    Rism sighed as he nced out the windows of the castle. "Such a waste, that we did not find out about thisnd..."


    "Oh well, I guess that Mathias did me a favor after all, by discovering thisnd!" Rism grinned. "Too bad, he isn''t here to enjoy all these!"


    Rismughed as he leaned back on the sofa, his soft leather boots scattering the stacks of fat gold coins on the low table as he propped up his feet. The mountain of gold and silver ware, jewellery and coins covered the entire room. All the wealth was ''donated'' to the Protectorate by the locals for their missionary efforts.


    "The stupidwless still do not what hase to theirnd! Once the Reckoner ispleted... they shall know the holy power of Ramuh!"


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, Captain''s House on the Hill


    ke sat on the edge of the bed, staring nking at the bottle of pills on his table. Slowly, his eyes flickered over to the stack of photographs and documents left behind by Ford on his visit a few days ago. He took a deep breath before he stood up and picked up the bottle of anti depressions and with a determined hand, he opened his drawer and dropped the bottle in before closing the drawer firmly.


    He decided toy off the anti depressions as it fumbled his mind. The pills helped numb the pain and memories but left his mind slow, making everything seemed ''floaty''. For now, he needed his wits and mind to be alert to digest the information on the documents.


    With a shaky hand, he picked up the photograph showing the ring of storm clouds surrounding the New World and he frowned before he set it down and turned the pages of the report. After read through the reports twice, he rubbed his tired eyes and exhaled out deeply, thinking of all the changes that had urred since he was incapacitated in the past several months.


    He took a nce at the wedding portrait of him and Sherene and feel a pang of pain in his heart. Maybe deep inside, he had already given up hope on finding her alive after so long. Or maybe, he did not want to face the truth nor the reality that she might no longer be in this world, hence he did not give any support to the super carrier project.


    But looking at the hopes of the entire nation working tirelessly on the super carrier for they still believed Sherene was still alive, made his eyes watered. He blinked his tears away and sat down before his work desk and logged in to the system and started checking on the reports on the super carrier.


    Looking at the progress made on the super carrier slowly gave him hope again, maybe, just maybe he might find an end to the darkness growing inside his heart.

 Chapter 455: Hymn For a Battle

    Chapter 455: Hymn For a Battle


    The New World, New Kingdom of Ma, 40 km away from City of Hensink


    Four squares of infantry paused at the peak of the hill that looked down to arge stretch of abandoned fields. The fertilend was once rich with grain fields but nowid abandoned after the war with the Empire. Wild grasses and weeds had sprung up to almost the height of a small child in the fields. Several run down sheds and the remains of farmhouses dotted thend here and there.


    Just beyond the overgrown fields, a mass of tiny red armoured figures could be seen marching slowly forward. Red gs fluttered in the wind and snatches of singing could be heard, brought by the wind. The General of the Army of Ma sat on his war dragon and watched the marching enemy through a farseeing spell.


    "These... enemy does not seem that impressive..." He said to his staff officers. "I wonder where did theye from?"


    "Lord General, we only received word of their... invasion just a week ago!" One of his aides reported. "No one knew where they came from but the refugees that reported this... said they came out from the skies!"


    "The skies?" The General frowned. "Like that demon possessed United Nations?"


    "W- We do not know..." The aide replied. "But the city of Hensink was said to fall within a day under their hands..."


    "Could they be from the United Nations?" One of the General''s officers said. "Could they be trying to take over the entire world... Just like what the Empire tried to do?"


    The General frowned as he narrowed his eyes in thought. "Whatever the case is, what we need to do now are those soldiers in red bearing down on us! Once we defeated them... We will know the truth!"


    "Yes, my Lord!" His officers echoed.


    "Good!" The General replied and started giving orders. "Have the foot soldiers hold the centre! Have the spears from on both nks!"


    "Seeing they have no form of cavalry... I want the White Riders to form on the left nk! You take your Purple Riders to the right nk!" He ordered his cavalrymanders. "Keep your cavalry hidden behind the hill and wait for themand to circle out from the hillside and hit the enemy at its nks!"


    The cavalrymanders bowed and headed off to their men with their orders. "Archers to form behind the centre. I want the archers to rain arrows down on them when they get in range!"


    "Bring the dragon cannons forward!" He ordered next. "They can fire once the enemy is in range!"


    Once the orders were given, the soldiers marched to their positions, following g bearers and yelledmands from sergeants and officers. Two dragon cannons, made from a hollowed out tree trunk secured by metal bands were wheeled forward in a carriage. The muzzle of the cannon had a metal muzzle piece depicting a dragon head with its jaws wide open that reinforced the wood together.


    The gunners started unloaded cannonballs made out of stone from the wagons and stacked them up on the side before they started loading the cannons made out of wood. Sacks of ck powder were shoved down the muzzle followed by a stone ball and the gunners used a crude wire sight as guidance for the cannons.


    The introduction of the wooden cannons was given by a wandering Sage and the new King of the New Kingdom of Ma quickly embraced the idea due to the simrities with the rumours of the United Nation''s thunder sticks.


    Wood was used as iron was much needed resource. The New Kingdom of Ma could not spare much iron, but wood and stone were plentiful and easily avable and cheap, despite the high chance of the cannons breaking after a few shots. Now two of these dragon cannons were deployed to fight against a strange invader and they started the battle with a roar like a dragon.


    -----


    The Chief Pdin marched and sang hymns alongside his men whose spirits were high. The infidel army on the hilltop remained unmoving and the Chief Pdin smiled, thinking those infidels thought they had the advantage just by taking the high ground? Soon they will find out the folly of their ignorance!


    "Advance! Show thosewless scum how Great the Judge is! For Justice!" He encouraged his men when suddenly two small clouds of smoke appeared over the hilltop followed by a crack of thunder.


    A shrill whistle cut through the air and suddenly several men in the front screamed they were cut down by a ball which bounced into the air beforending down among the soldiers again. Yet the advancing Pdins did not falter in their steps, nor even their singing of the hymns even when theirrades went down screaming with a missing body part.


    They stepped over the dead and wounded and continue marching towards the hill where the infidel army stood. Redeemer priests marched behind the army and they gave their blessings to the fallen while acolytes dragged the wounded away to the healers.


    "Strange kind of cannon they have..." The Chief Pdinmented as he watched the pencil line trajectory of the shots hitting the fields and ploughing through the tall grass before bouncing into his men. "Doesn''t seem like they use steam..."


    "Order the men to spread out!" Hemanded his subordinates. "Don''t bunch up!"


    "Yes Chief," His subordinates replied. "Their cannons are noisier and fire slower... And if our troops spread out thinly... they are not as effective as ours!"


    "Than shall we show them the Glory of the Judgement?" The Chief Pdin gave a bloodthirsty grin. "Deploy the steam bombards!"


    -----


    The men in thick leather aprons dropped the contents of their bags down. Short pipes were screwed together tightly and wrapped with leather to prevent leakage. A simple metal ''A'' frame provides support for the tube and a small air canister containingpressed steam will be installed at the bottom of the tube.


    An oil filled mushroom shaped projectile was then slotted into the muzzle and twisted to fit snuggly. Each canister has enough steam to fire three projectiles before needing to be reced. The steam bombards were simr to the steam cannons except it was smaller and man portable, and was fired at a high angle. It was a rtively short ranged weapon, but it was lightweight and deadly, especially against troops hiding behind fortifications, as the projectiles can arc over them.


    The canisters used to power the weapon was standardised across the Protectorate''s forces. The canisters for the steamncers were the same and they could be refilled on the battlefield by teams of steam masters who operated portable boilers.


    The portable boiler was divided into two parts, the bottom part was like a stove with a grill opening where fuel was ced and burnt. The upper part was a water tank and once the water was boiled, a leather hose channelled the steam to another barrel that stored the steam with the help ofpressing magic.


    To provide enough water to fuel the steam boilers, teams of water wagons had to follow behind in a safe distance or they had to deploy near water sources. The ammunition crew of the steam bombards each carried two canisters of steam and six projectiles on their back. Once the bombards were set up, they will drop their load and run back to the rear to collect more canisters of steam and projectiles.


    "FIRE!" The order was called out and the weapon crews yanked thenyards of the bombards, releasing the pent up steam which forced the projectiles out of the spigots. The mushroom shaped projectile wobbled in the air and as it reached the apex of its flight, gravity pulled it back down, the heavy head of the projectile pointing downwards as it dropped down.


    Upon impact with the ground, the mushroom head cracked and the fire rune etched on its head burst into mes, violently igniting the mmable oil that spilt out and a ball of me and smoke rose up.


    -----


    The loud whoosh of mes made the Man General jerked his head in surprise. "What is that?"


    "Reporting!" A messenger suddenly appeared just as the General was wondering what was happening. "The enemy is using some kind of fireball spell or weapon and is hitting our centre!"


    "Impossible!" The General stood up on his stirrups as he surveyed the enemy formation. "We are still beyond the range of the mages! And they do not have any ballistas or siege weapons!"


    Several more fireballs erupted amongst the troops, making the men panic as they retreated away from the mes and burning men. Order started to break down and the officers and sergeants started chiding the soldiers to get back in formation.


    The General cursed and quickly gave newmands, "All infantry to advance at double time! Close with the enemy! Now!"


    His dragon cannons were no longer effective as the enemy had spread out and the opportunity to send his cavalry out to trample and harass the spread out enemy has passed when they started hitting his packed infantry with fireballs.


    He wanted to force the enemy to spread their formation to avoid the dragon cannons'' fire so that he can dispatch his cavalry to hit them while his infantry held the lines. The enemy either has to form a square to fend off the cavalry which made them juicy targets for the dragons or allow the cavalry to sh into their lines.


    He did not expect the enemy to start tossing fireballs at a range that no mage could ever do so. Now he has no choice but to send his infantry forward while holding back his cavalry till the infantry has engaged the enemy.


    He cursed again as his ns were foiled by the unexpected attack and he prayed that the opposingmander does not have more hidden surprises up his sleeves!


    -----


    "PALADINS..... HALT!" The order rolled down the line. "PRESENT!"


    The line came to a halt and shields mmed down into the earth and steamnces were braced against thence rest on their shields. The infidel mob were rushing down the gentle slope in a disorderly manner as balls of mes burst randomly at their rear.


    "STEADY... STEADY..."


    The distance shortened rapidly as the infidel mob broke into a headlong charge and screaming some heathens war cry. The hymns sang by the choir at the rear grew louder, steeling the pdins'' resolve and nerves.


    "FIREEE!"


    The front row erupted with loud hisses and gusts of steam. Almost instantly, the charging and screaming infidels toppled over as wooden stakes mmed into them, causing the charge to slow down. The front row pdins rotated ny degrees on the spot, allowing the second row of pdins to step through the gaps.


    "PRESENT!"


    "... FIREEE!"


    Another series of loud hisses and the infidels'' charge faltered. "PALADINS... CHARGEEE!"


    "FOR THE JUDGEMENT!" The pdins roared out as they charged forward. They mmed into the disordered infidel mob whose morale has fallen after taking two volley fire. The infidel mob met the Protectorate''s Pdins half heartedly and the Pdins impaled the screaming men with their steamnces. "KILL THE LAWLESS! KILL!"


    The Chief Pdin expertly wielded his steamnce like a mace, smashing faces and helmets. Wounds inflicted on him were ignored as his faith in the Judge was strong, making him seemed like a demon from hell by the infidels. He waddled into the thick of the action, stabbing and mming his way through the infidels while singing together with his men.


    "Our Creator,


    Who art in Heaven. Amen!


    Our Creator,


    Hallowed be thy name.


    Give us this day our daily bread,


    To Judge us of our sins,


    As we absolve others,


    Who trespass against us,


    Lead us not into temptation,


    But deliver us from the evil one forever.


    Thy Judgement hase, thy will be done


    On Sinners and Disbelievers as it is in Heaven."

 Chapter 456: Double Dragon

    Chapter 456: Double Dragon


    United Nations, Sawtooth Mountain Airbase


    Blue Thunder came to a running halt as he glided down the runway. He gave his usual wave to the Air Traffic Control tower before lumbering off towards his hangar. He squeezed into his den and poked the quick release on his chest harness, dropping the crates and barrels of food he bought for the day. "I''m home!"


    Silence greeted him, making him frown as usually Rastraz would be up and watching those cringy Korean dramas of hers. Yet this time, there was barely any sound, not even from the audio speakers. "Ras? Are you there?"


    He crawled deeper into the hangar and soon found Rastraz asleep, curled up into a ball, hugging two barrels. Soft snores rose from her body and Blue Thunder shook his head and sighed. "I really wonder what I shall do with you!"


    But just as he turned away, he paused and did a double check, for he spotted something not quite right. Under the dim light, his eye pupils erged and his eyes went wide as he froze in shock. For at the first nce, he had mistaken the two barrels Rastraz was hugging were the remains of her favourite pickled fish in oil. But on closer inspection, it turned out to be tworge eggs!


    "OH, MY GODS!!!"


    -----


    The airbase was suddenly in a hive of activity as arge group of visitors descended down. The basemander gave salutes till his hand went numb as nearly the entire entourage were all senior officers or holding posts as ministers. They all gathered at the dragon hangars which had anotherrge group of curious dragons crowding over them.


    Dr. Sharon, Magister Thorn, and the airbase''s dragon veterinarians fussed over the clutch of eggs. Dr. Sharon used a measuring tape to measure the eggs while Magister Thorn held the other end. "The egg with the bluish speckles has a height of roughly a metre..."


    "The other egg with the reddish speckles is almost the same at ny seven centimetres," She dered as she scribbled down her notepad excitedly. "The eggs are around forty five centimetres in diameter..."


    Magister Thorn held a shlight and shone it against the leathery shell, and on the other hand, he held a magnifying ss. "Hmmm... interesting... mmm... I see... Hmmm..."


    Rastrazid curled up around her eggs and she gave a sleepy yawn, "Are you all done yet? I wanna watch my shows!"


    Blue Thunder anxiously hovered over Dr. Sharon, Magister Thorn and the vets and asked in a worried voice, "Are the eggs alright? There are no issues with them, right? And is Rastraz ok?"


    Magister Thorn threw a nce at the yawning red dragon and shook his head, "Rastraz is well... And your eggs seemed to be fine too."


    "Hmm... but looks it is interesting that the eggs have different colours..." Magister Thorn stared at Blue Thunder''s red bluish scales and then at Rastraz''s red scales. "Should not be an issue... Just, I am not sure what kind of crossbreed whelps wille out from the eggs..."


    "As long as they are fine... then it doesn''t really matter!" Blue Thunder replied happily. "Oh oh! If both are boys... We should name them Billy and Jimmy! Or Ryu and Ken! Right, dear?"


    Rastraz yawned again and used her tail to curl her eggs closer to her body. She suddenly narrowed her eyes and red at Blue Thunder, "Wait... Did what did you call me?"


    "Erm... dear?" Blue Thunder scratched his chin. "What''s wrong?"


    "What''s wrong?!" Rastraz growled. "We... We haven''t even gotten married!"


    "OH!" Blue Thunder''s eyes blinked rapidly in enlightenment. "OH NOES!"


    "You can''t call me dear till we are married!" Rastraz growled. Her yellow eyes narrowed angrily. "Y- You didn''t even propose to me! And... this happened! You... you... monster!"


    Dr. Sharon and the rest felt the situation had turned awkward and funny at the sudden turn of events. She suddenly broke out in giggles and said, "What are you still waiting for? You big dummy!"


    "Ah?" Blue Thunder seemed confused before he smacked his head. "Y- yes!"


    "R- Ras..." He stammered nervously as he crouched down before Rastraz. "W- Will you marry me?"


    "NO!" Rastraz humphed and turned her head away. "You are not romantic at all! No sincerity! I don''t want you!"


    "W- Whaaat?!" Blue Thunder was stunned. He looked around at Dr. Sharon and the rest helplessly and whispered as soft as he can.


    "Help!!!"


    -----


    United Nations, Research and Development Site, Hangar 4


    The water inside the tank boiled vigorously and clouds of steam rose up, turning the des of the turbines. Dozens of yellow and orange coated human, elvish and goblin engineers fussed over therge silver tank covered in pipes and valves.


    Others checked the readouts and scribbled down their notepads as the efficiency of the boiler was measured and tested. Once the engineers were satisfied with the tests of the new boiler, they shut the whole system down and at the top of the tank, a crane arm slowly withdrew a glowing red nugget, the size of a football out.


    The object pulsed unnaturally as if it was still alive and the water that clung on it turned to steam as it was lifted out of the water tank. The robotic arm gently set it inside a case which was covered entirely in runes and as the case was shut, the temperature inside the hangar dropped back to normal levels as the heat given off by the object was cut off.


    "Alright! Pack it up! The reactor is good to go! Prepare to ship everything over to Hope for them to install into the supercarrier!"


    -----


    United Nations, Fortress Singapore, Naval Intelligence Department


    Communications officer Petty Officer 1st ss re frowned as she flipped through a few sheets ofmunique between several merchant houses. Before she was a bridge bunny, a term they used to call the girls permanently stationed inside the Command Bridge of the UNS Singapore. Later on, she was roped into Naval Intel by Tavor himself and approved by the Captain, to help sort out and analysis themunications intel of the locals and foreign kingdoms gathered by Naval Intel''s agents and information brokers.


    She ced each sheet ofmunique neatly in a row andpared the contents before summarizing the information. Once she hadpleted the summary, she printed out the document out and headed straight to Tavor''s office.


    "Sir?" She knocked on the opened door. Tavor looked up from his work and gestured her in and close the door. "I got something strange here, thought you might want to have a look."


    "What is it?" He took the offered document and started to read through it.


    "Well, I found several notices and letters from over a dozen different trading firms and merchant houses saying to avoid the New Kingdom of Ma," ra replied. "They first started appearing a month ago until now."


    "Strange indeed..." Tavor frowned as he read the document. "And when was thetest notice?"


    "Yesterday," ra replied. "One of our agents stationed at Frontier City of the NKM send a radio report yesterday and it was ryed to another agent before reaching us."


    "Another internal conflict over session?" Tavor made a guess.


    "No word on that yet," ra gave a shrug. "Nor was there any indication of Frontier City mobilising its forces. We have to wait for more news."


    "But..." ra handed out another sheet to Tavor. "There is something mention here as a rumour... which I find it unsettling..."


    Tavor''s eyes narrowed as he read the highlighted text on the document. "A religious faction going around killing people?"


    "Yes..." ra nodded. "And that is not all... There were rumours of flying castles..."


    "!!!"


    -----


    New Kingdom Of Ma, Capital of Ma


    The dragon cannons roared and spewed their load out at the approaching metallic monster. The stone cannonballs impacted the metal hull of the giant with loud gongs only leaving behind tiny dents.


    In reply, the steam cannons of the giant walking siege machine popped, the mushroom shaped projectiles exploding upon impact against the stone walls. The giant, which towered over the city walls, reached almost thirty meters in height.


    Eight mechanized pickaxe like legs held the silo like structure up and on the sloping roof of the siege engine sat a church edifice that had the statue of Ramuh mounted on it as if looking down on all creation. The siege engine''s circr body had over a dozen of gun ports which cannon barrels poked out.


    Prayer banners and gs decorated the hull of the siege engine as its eight legs moved it closer towards the city walls. At the lowest level of the siege engine, carried ground troops and its hull had firing slits for the troop''s steamnces to fire out from.


    The defenders of the city desperately tried to stop the approaching nightmare with their new dragon cannons and ballistas but the armour and magic shielding of the siege engine proved too tough to be defeated.


    Inside the church at the top of the siege engine, Inquisitor and General of the Missionary Army, Rism sat on a chair on an elevated tform that had amanding view of the entire surroundings. Floor to ceiling crystal ss windows covered the walls bisected by pirs. A statue of Ramuh stood behind Rism''s chair with a choir singing hymns and below him, the operators andmanders of the Protectorate manned their stations.


    With each step of the Reckoner, Rism could feel the powerful vibrations as he sat on themand chair. He watched the pitiful disy of defiance against the might of his God and shook his head at the waste of his time.


    "Destroy the walls!" Hemanded. "Once the walls are down... Deploy the Pdins and sweep the city of itswless away!"


    "Are the blocking troops in ce?" He asked hismanders who stood around the map table below his feet.


    "Yes, Lord General Inquisitor!" Themanders bowed. "Once the city walls are breached, the Pdins deployed to block the enemy will advance forward and cut off their escape at all the gates!"


    "Good!" Rism nodded. "This is taking too much of our precious time!"


    "Show them our power!" Rism said. "Quickly cleanse thisnd with the blood of thewless!"


    "The Judgement is wise!" Themanders chorused as they acknowledge the order.


    "Full speed ahead!" The captain of the Reckoner ordered and the pilot pushed the speed of the Reckoner to the max. The legs of the huge lumbering siege engine hastened, its pickaxe like feet gouging deep holes in the ground.


    The defenders seeing the metal monster looming up before their very eyes, screamed in terror and some even abandoned their weapons and flee off the walls. The Reckoner finally reached the walls and the captain yelled for the pilot to halt.


    The Reckoner came to a rocking halt and hot steam burst out from pipes in its middle section. The steam scalded and burnt the defenders that remained on the walls. A section of the Reckoner''s hull opened out with a mechanical nk and a ramp dropped down heavily on the city''s wall.


    A troop of Pdins charged down the ram and jumped onto the walls which were cleared of any defenders by the earlier burst of steam. The defenders on the other sections of the wall, seeing the Pdins appearing, started to retreat in fear.


    More steam cannons hissed and oil filled projectilesnded amongst the panicked defenders, turning them into ming torches. As more and more Protectorate troops entered the city, the panic and fear turned the retreat into a rout and many tried to desert from the gates, only to find the roads blocked by more enemies.


    Rism watched it all from the Reckoner''smand church, his eyes glittering in satisfaction. He weaved his head to the hymns sung by the choir behind him and hummed along, as screams filled the streets of the burning city


    "FOR THE JUDGEMENT!"

 Chapter 457: Hymns for The Judgement

    Chapter 457: Hymns for The Judgement


    Buildings copsed and burned as Immtors marched through the smoke filled streets, singing and praising their God. Bodies littered the streets and valiant soldiers tried to make a stand against the invaders, trying to buy time for the civilians to escape. But it proved futile as the gates were surrounded by the enemy and they were slowly herded towards the city centre.


    The First King of the New Kingdom of Ma stood on the courtyard of his castle surrounded by hundreds of soldiers. He wore a set of golden te mail and a snowy white cape over his shoulders. His expression on his young looking face was pale as he nervously gripped his sword as the screams of terror and death came over the walls.


    The ground shook as if something heavy was storming its way forward. The archers on the inner castle walls were yelling in panic and they loosed their bows at the attacks. Some copsed backwards and remained unmoving as the unknown enemies weapons knocked them down.


    Mages constantly tossed spells out beyond the gates, and the once highly praised dragon cannons that helped the young King win the Session War did not even faze the enemy. The air crackled and the intense amount of magical energies running rampant in the surroundings by the mages spells, made one''s hair stand. Some even felt a tingle of electricity course through them as they touched any metal as static in the air charged their armour and des.


    Suddenly, the defenders on the walls yelled something and the beautiful ornated double bronze gates shooked as if something had smashed against it. There was more yelling and panic cries from the defenders at the wall. Other soldiers supporting wooden beams braced hard against the double gates, to prevent the enemy from battering their way in.


    "A golem!" A messenger kneeled down before the First King. "The enemy has some kind of giant golem and it is attacking the gates!"


    "My king! You must retreat at once!" The First King''s loyal ministers and soldiers urged him. "You must not fall to the enemy!"


    But the young king shook his head resolutely. "No! I will not abandon our people!"


    The courtyard and gardens of the castle and even the interior was already pack filled with crying and frightened citizens of the city. His strong sense ofpassion and duty to themon people had won him great support among the people, which helped cement his ims to the Throne.


    Now at such time, despite the fear in the young King''s heart, he would still stubbornly stand his ground against the invaders of hisnd and people. His ministers and generals looked at each other helplessly before they made up their minds to save their King. As they were about to move in to grab their King to bring him to safety, the double gates of the castle suddenly gave a massive groan and arge crack as the bronze and wood was shattered and smoke and steam billowed in through the opening.


    The fearful screams of the soldiers behind the gates abruptly cut off as the heavy remains of the gates crushed them into a bloody pulp. Others that avoided the unfortunate fate, scrambled away in fright. Smoke and steam covered the gateway, blocking sight of what had destroyed gates.


    The soldiers forming thest stand quickly readied themselves as officers yelled out orders. The First King shoved his men away from him and he bravely held himself and stared at what was toe.


    There were a loud nking noise and a long hiss which more steam erupted out, making the men of Ma tensed up. Slowly the steam and smoke dissipated and a giant stepped through the remains of the gate. As it exited the gate, the golem''s body gleamed under the sun. Its bulk was as wide as two wagons, and its full height was also as tall as the ruined gateway.


    The golem had a fat body, two jointed arms and thick stubby legs. Armour ting covered its body that was hunched forward with two thick pipes that were puffing out white smoke from its back while an effigy of the enemy rest between the two pipes. Its head wearing a vertical bar grill helmet about the size of arge barrel was centred to its torso had steam hissing out from the openings every once and then.


    The red and ck armour ting covered every part of the golem and prayer gs and banners hang off its massive shoulders. In its two articted arms, instead of having hands, the right arm ended in a massive spiked ball, like a morningstar while in the left arm, it had held a hollow tube with pipes and hoses leading to the rear of the golem.


    As it moved, loud nks and clicks could be heard. Its stubby armoured feet cracking the beautiful pebbled pavement with each step. It halted after several steps, white smoke spewing out from its armpits and the young King felt like he was staring at a demon lord risen from hell.


    Enemy soldiers started flooding in from behind the golem, their insect helmets looking bothical and hideous. The young King noted that the enemy did not wear much metal armour and seemed to prefer leather of some kind for protection.


    Some rushed up the stairs of the walls and started massacring the archers and mages on the walls, while the rest formed up on both sides of the golem. The civilians recoiled back from the enemy as they entered the castle grounds, panic spreading through the people as they sought to distance themselves as far away from the cold blooded enemy.


    The young King''s eye narrowed angrily as he could only helplessly watched his people on the walls get massacred. Despite his soldiers outnumbering the enemy, the enemy appeared to be superior in magic, each enemy soldier carried an artefact that created a magic shield! Such an item like that was unheard of even within the Empire who has collected a massive amount of magical items over the years. It would be an epic ranked item or even a legendary ranked item! Yet now,mon soldiers were carrying such mystical equipment, had totally boggled the mind of the young King.


    "My King! You need to go! Now!" The young King''s men pulled at his armour, trying to drag him away to a secret escape tunnel. "We will handle the rest here!"


    The young King remained stubborn and growled, "Stop! I must witness this!"


    "But..." His men protested.


    "Do it now!" He ordered at his men who nodded. "Let them feel our anger!"


    As the order was passed down, a magic circle erupted out from the ground just before the castle''s gateway and luck has it, the spell formation was directly underneath the golem. It spanned out over a dozen metre and for a moment the enemy seemed confused. The magic trap glowed red and without warning, it activated, mes spewed up like a ming volcano eruption, followed by a massive thunderous explosion as over two hundred casks of ck powder each containing five kilos, stacked under the magical trap in tunnels dug by the Man soldiers was ignited by the magic mes.


    The magic trap took them over a day toplete and countless lives of soldiers to dy the enemy. Finally, using the King himself as bait, the Mans lured the enemy right into the trap. For a moment, the King and his men were worried that the weight of the unexpected enemy golem would copse the tunnels with the buried explosives but thankfully, the tunnel''s supports held.


    "KILL THEM!" The young King roared as he pointed his sword forward at the thick cloud of smoke that covered the confused enemy troops. "FOR MECCA!"


    "FOR MECCA!"


    -----


    Inquisitor General Rism smashed the crystal wine goblet down on the floor when word came in of his troops getting caught in the trap. "Is the Avatar of Justice still functioning?"


    "Yes, Lord Inquisitor General!" Themander replied as he and the rest remained in a bowing position. "It is still moving but it has gotten stuck when the ground copsed!"


    "The Chief Pdin of the Second has reported, over a third of his men have gone to the Judgement!" Themander continued his report. "Another third of his men are badly wounded and unable tomit to the repentance of thewless!"


    "Good...!" Rism growled as he stood up from his chair and he climbed down the steps to the crystal windows. "Very good...!"


    "Kill them!" Rism snapped. "Kill them all! And show this world what will happen to those who spills the blood of Ramuh''s most devoted! Let their screams be the hymn to the souls of those gone to the Judgment!"


    -----


    Air Space Over New Kingdom of Ma


    Flight Sergeant Dane of the UN Airforce checked his surveince instruments carefully as the pilot''s voice came over in his headset, informing the crew that they had just entered NKM air space. He adjusted his oxygen mask that was hooked up to the FB - 1R Mariner''s internal oxygen tanks as they were flying over four kilometres over sea level.


    Dane powered up the sensors and cameras that were mounted on the belly of the modified FB - 1 Mariner. Unlike the other variants of the same aircraft, the R series was especially for reconnaissance and surveince.


    The bomb bays were reced with sensors and camera and the majority of the internal space was filled with life support and fuel tanks. The top, bottom and tail ball turrets were all removed, its engines upgraded, giving the aircraft more speed and endurance.


    The aircraft had taken off from Orwell''s Point Airbase, and after a five hour flight, theynded on the waters of the Source Sea where a UN floating base was stationed. There they refuelled their tanks and took off again, taking another three hours before flying over the Frontier City of the NKM.


    Disy screens flickered to life as the cameras under the belly of the aircraft rolled and Dane adjusted the zoom and fine tuned the rity of the images. They will take a long loop over the NKM''s territory and return to refuel at the floating base before heading back home.


    Dane leaned back on his chair and flipped the record switch, "Alright, cameras rolling! It''s gonna be a long boring four hours!"


    -----


    "Dane! Wake up, Dane!" The urgent voice came loudly in Dane''s headset and he jolted up in his seat. "Check your cameras!"


    "Huh?" Dane rubbed his tired eyes and changed the time, which barely two hours has passed. He tapped the controls on his station and asked, "See wh- !"


    His eyes grewrge as the camera had picked up an image of a smoking city beneath the clouds. He quickly adjusted the zoom and the powerful lenses of the surveince systems stripped from the dmissioned Owleye UAVs zoomed all the way down to the city that was over four kilometres below them.


    "What in the Gods names has happened here?" He muttered as he stared at the screen showing the devastated city. Images of copsed buildings, and bodiesid everywhere. "You guys seeing this?"


    The rest of the aircrew had gathered behind Dane''s shoulder and was staring with unease at the destruction. "What city is this?"


    "It''s supposed to be the Capital of the NKM..." The navigator replied as he double checked his charts. "Who... invaded them?"


    "What is that?" Someone suddenly called out as he pointed to the screens. "There! At the top right corner!"


    Dane panned the camera gently and the view moved towards the location pointed out. "What is that?"


    The top down image showed many strange statue like in rows. As Dane was about to zoom in more, the shadow of the clouds over the objects moved away and sunlight caused shadows to appear. "Oh... my... gods..."


    The image quality was sharp enough to see the shadows of dozens and dozens of bodies impaled onto spears. Dane swallowed nervously and panned the camera more before he zoomed the camera out. Immediately, the camera showed a field dotted with hundreds of simr bodies and when he panned the camera more, there was not just a single field of impaled bodies, but it contained an entire countryside.


    "How... how many dead are there?" The aircrew mumbled in horror. "Who... the hell has put to death so many people?!"

 Chapter 458: Demons in the Heart

    Chapter 458: Demons in the Heart


    United Nations, Fortress Singapore, Conference Room


    Commander Ford sat at the head of the table quietly watching the yback of the surveince video taken by the recon flight with the rest of the senior staff officers. Intel Officer Lt Tavor stood at the side of the disy and pointed out various details as he briefed everyone.


    "We ran a cross calction of the images of the impaled bodies with theputers," Lt Tavor said. "And the numbers the system crunched out, put the death toll to approximately eighteen thousand..."


    "That is literally, almost the entire poption of the Capital of the NKM," Tavor stated in a serious tone.


    Mumbles of disbelief broke out among the senior officers as they voiced out their opinions. "Are you saying that this enemy not only did not invaded the Capital of the Mans but also put to death their entire poption?"


    "Yes," Tavor replied. "While we do not have any ground assets to verify the situation, we now do know from the refugees streaming towards the other cities within the NKM territory that they are expanding at a rapid speed."


    "Who are they?" Another officer asked. "Imperialists? Cults?"


    "No... Something even better..." Tavor gave a cold smile. "The assholes that took the Princess!"


    Instantly the atmosphere within the conference room changed. The officers especially the elves felt their blood boiling in rage as they heard what Tavor said. "Is that true?"


    "Yes..." Commander Ford replied with a simple yes and the entire room broke into dishevel as the officers volunteered to lead a force to take down the enemy. The noise grew louder till Commander Ford had to bang the table with his fist to restore order to the room.


    "Enough!" Commander Ford growled. "You are all officers! Not a bunch of recruits!"


    "Now, I understand everyone''s emotions here," Ford said. "As much as I want to, we can''t just send a force into the NKM''snds without raising rms to the other kingdoms and even the Empire!"


    "Such an act might cause another massive war to br-" Ford paused when the door to the conference room opened and an excited Marine came in and stood at the side of the door.


    "Attention on Deck!" The Marine cried out and gave a salute as a haggard looking ke stepped in.


    Instantly, the entire conference room rose up as one and everyone stood up at attention as the Captain joined them. "At ease, gentlemen."


    The officers remain standing, their faces breaking into smiles as they stared excitedly at the Captain who had looked pale and haggard yet clean shaven and wearing a properly ironed uniform. Commander Ford stepped away from the head of the table and offered the seat to the Captain, smiling, "Ready?"


    "Ready..." ke nodded and sat down, gesturing the rest to be seated while Ford remained standing at his shoulder. "Tavor, brief me again on this enemy that is sweeping across thends of the Mans."


    "Yes, Sir!" Tavor replied crisply and said, "Over two months ago, Intel has picked up word amongst the free merchant cartels and houses to avoid the northeastern territory of the New Kingdom of Ma."


    "But at that time, no one paid it much attention due to the fact that suchmunique wasmon during the monster seasons," Tavor exined. "What changed was the fact that the frequency and urgency increased between the merchants and traders... And that caught our eye."


    "Four days ago, a recon flight was dispatched over to the NKM to investigate this matter," Tavor said. "The mission was to get in, take some videos and images of thend to get some idea of what was happening."


    "But when the recon flight flew over the Capital of the NKM," Tavor gestured to the big screen. "This was picked up by the surveince crew."


    "The recon flight retreated after spending all its fuel over the area and rendevous with the floating base off the coast of the NKM," Tavor said. "And the reports started flooding in."


    "I had the recon flight stationed at the floating base and had them repeat their missions to other major cities of the NKM," Tavor said. "In the past few days, with the effort of both air and ground assets we have within the NKM, we gathered enough intel to plot a rough map of invasion by these... Protectorate forces..."


    "Here is what we know so far," Tavor continued, the disy switching images. "This invasion force definitely came from overseas, but where their beachhead and direction we still have no idea yet."


    "Can''t we use the probe like a UAV to scout the area for us?" General Joseph raised the question.


    Tavor shook his head, "There are some limitations to the probe''s usage."


    "We only have a fixed window of time each time the probe passes over us to do any live coverage within its sensor''s range," Tavor exined. "Each windowsted roughly 4 hours before the probe goes out of range of ourmunication arrays and takes another twelve hours before the probees back in range."


    "The probe will do an automated data dump each time it passes overhead," Tavor said. "And I got a team of analysts sifting out thousands and thousands of images downloaded to the system manually."


    "This means, it takes time, a lot of time to find the information we need out of thousands of others," Tavor said. "Even if the manpower of the team were doubled, it will still take time."


    "Of course, I am not only looking a single source of intel," Tavor added. "I am having our ground agents within the NKM to find out more information, but as usual, we only have a limited amount of agents there."


    "I see," General Joseph nodded. "So what else do we know about this enemy?"


    "They are definitely the Protectorate of Ramuh," Tavor said. "I have images of their gs and uniforms tallied with the group we picked up and they clearly recognized them."


    "Also, this..." Tavor changed the disy and a top down image of a sort of fat looking ship clearly floating in the air was shown. "On the previous recon run, the surveince flight picked up this image."


    Tavor switch the disy and a map of the region appeared with several red dots. "These red dots indicate cities, towns and viges fallen to the Protectorate in the northeastern region of the New World."


    "These yellow dots," Tavor pointed out to a dozen more yellow blinking dots that appeared on the map. "Are unconfirmed reports of the Proetectorate''s presence."


    "Judging by the pattern shown here," Tavor tapped the map, tracing his finger southwards along the Eastern Coast. "They appearing to be spreading to this direction towards the cities of the old Foral Kingdom..."


    Tavor tapped his finger back up to the northeastern coast and said, "And we suspect that they hadnded around this region, as if we draw a straight line across the End Zone, directly to the Old World..."


    "This is the closest distance between the two continents!" Tavor stated but he mumbled in a low voice. "Would be nice if we could capture one of those airships to see how they cross the End Zone safety..."


    Captain ke nodded and he turned his attention to the gathered officers. "First of all, before we go on to the next steps..."


    "I would like to thank Commander Ford for his dedication and support," ke said in a hoarse voice. "And also everyone for holding the fort while I... am... not around..."


    "Sir, it is good that you are back!" Airforce Commander in Chief Tommy dered. "I- We are all d, you are here!"


    The rest of the officers gave their agreement and they started pping. ke raised one hand up to stop their cheering and he looked at everyone with his bloodshot eyes. "Thank... you."


    "I know everyone has put in their best efforts into the supercarrier project..." ke spoke in a low voice. "For that, I am very thankful for your hopes."


    "But..." ke paused and signs of struggle appeared on his expression. "I believe their chances of rescue to be very low."


    "Realistically, once twenty four hours have gone," ke closed his eyes as he faced his demons. "Chances of a rescue dropped drastically... and after every hour, the chances of rescue will be even lower as time goes by..."


    "In my heart..." ke had balled his fists tightly, gripping his trouser pants under the table. "I know they are gone..."


    The conference room turned deadly silent as the joy of the Captain''s return disappeared. Everyone''s head was lowered as they too had thought of the chances of finding the Princess was extremely low after so much time.


    "That is why..." ke said after a moment of silence. "I thank you all for your support and concern."


    "Now..." ke''s eyes flicked to the map. "The culprits to the demons in my heart has appeared..."


    "We should, of course, give them a big wee..." ke''s hoarse voice held a hint of anger. "Don''t you all agree?"


    The officers all nodded solemnly as one, except for Commander Ford who frowned. "Sir, with due respect, but sending our troops into another sovereign country could lead to some bad consequences with the rest of the nations!"


    "It would create an impression that we can disregard all agreements and treaties by breaking them," Commander Ford warned. "It might cause them to band against us in the future!"


    "So what?" ke replied in a cold manner. "We have the might and power to crush any force in this world!"


    "But!" Commander Ford spoke again only to be cut off by a raised palm from ke.


    "Enough," ke said hoarsely. "We have been ying too nice with everyone. Now, we are ying by my rules!"


    "General Joseph!" ke called out. "General Frank!"


    "Sir!" Both Joseph and Frank stood up and snapped to attention.


    "What is the readiness of the Army and Marines?" ke asked.


    "All 100% and ready to go, Sir!" Both officers reported the status of their troops.


    "And the Airforce?" ke turned to Tommy who stood up in attention.


    "Sir, all assets ready to deploy within six hours!" Tommy replied. "We will need a forward operation airfield within the NKM if we want to hit deep into thosends."


    ke nodded before he turned his head and looked up at Commander Ford. "And the Navy?"


    Commander Ford let out a deep sigh before he replied, "3rd, 4th, and 5th Corvette Squadron stationed at Port Sanctuary can be deployed within four hours. Longer if you want to switch the transports into seane carrier roles..."


    "Good, that is enough for now..." ke replied as his eyes stared at the map on the disy.


    "Ford, start deploying two squadrons to head up along the eastern coast," ke ordered. "Find out where the Protectorate hasnded... And start the conversion of the transports to carrier role."


    "Do not engage, do a quick sweep and see if you can find out their entry point from the End Zone..." ke said before he turned to Frank. "Start moving your Marines to Port Sanctuary."


    "Joseph and Tommy, start a n of action to secure an area for an airbase within the Man''s territory that will give our aircraft enough reach to hit anywhere within the north and eastern regions."


    "Logistics, start nning how to supply our forces," ke said. "On bothnd and sea."


    "Tavor, keep digging out more about the enemy," ke added. "I want numbers, force depositions, weapons, magic, supply routes, morale and so on! You know what to do!"


    "I want an action n up and running within twenty four hours!" ke ordered in a cold voice. "I should see everyone here again tomorrow at the same time! Is everyone clear?"


    "SIR, YES, SIR!" The officers their orders acknowledged loudly.


    As the room emptied, Ford stood hesitated at the door, wanting to speak to ke who remained behind, his head and shoulders hunched over the table. Tavor ced a hand on Ford''s shoulder and silently shook his head and both officers closed the door behind them, leaving behind the lonely figure of their captain.

 Chapter 459: Awaking the Dragon

    Chapter 459: Awaking the Dragon


    East Coast of the New World, UN 3rd CorRon


    The setting sun cast a purplish orange glow over the three ships with knife like bows that sliced through the waves smoothly. Further back, two supply transports another three more simr ships of the 4th CorRon followed behind in a single file.


    The Captain of the leading ship of the 3rd CorRon, UNS Adventurer was staring out of the windows of the bridge. The colours thrown on the sea by the setting sun was a beautiful sight if one has the mind to appreciate which the Captain did not.


    The two squadrons station within the docks of Port Sanctuary were suddenly rousted intobat alert just several hours ago. Urgent orders were dispatched to the ships'' captains and he was ced inmand both squadrons by merit of seniority as they all held the same rank.


    Orders were to make their way along the coast towards the east coast and after crossing the waters of the Isles, he was to break open the sealed orders. Now holding the envelope of sealed orders in one hand and looking at the map, he let out a nervous breath and torn open the envelope.


    His eyes darted left and right as he read the orders carefully twice before he leaned over the map inside the chart room, using his finger to trace their route. He checked his watch and started calcting a course with the map. Once he was satisfied, he left the chart room and reentered the bridge and announced to the bridge crew the new course heading. "Comms!"


    "Send word to the rest of the squadrons!" He said. "Give them our new course and heading! All ships to go dark! No running lights to be used!"


    "Aye aye!" Thems operator replied and he started rying orders to the rest of the ships.


    "Pilot! Notify me once we crossed into the Old Foral Kingdom''s waters!" He ordered next as he retreated back into his own cabin.


    He sat down in the small cabin and unfolded the orders again, his hands shaking slightly with excitement as he read it again. "About damn time for some payback!"


    -----


    United Nations, Port Hope


    The pitch of the Mariner''s engines died down as the pilot powered down the throttle after bringing the flying boat to a perfect stop against the seane docks. Crews on the docks started securing the flying boat before the side hatch opened and a tall, pale looking hooman step out followed by several soldiers.


    The men paused in their work and gaped in surprise before a senior NCO roared out, "Attention on deck!"


    The surprised crew snapped to attention and saluted, as the tall hooman saluted back before he headed with a limp in his steps to the shore. The crew only recovered when the new arrivals had left their hearing and they started whispering amongst themselves.


    "Back to work, you crabs!" The NCO growled. "You never saw the Big Boss before?"


    -----


    ke wore a long dark grey military trench coat despite the warm season, left the docks and the engines and headlights of a row of waiting vehicles came to life. Several prominent people, both civilians and military greeted ke as he approached them.


    After the quick greeting and salutes were done, ke ignored everyone and entered one of the vehicles and told the driver to head to a hotel, leaving the local government officials feeling awkward. ke''s aides started to appease the confused officials when the cars drove off.


    "So the link is truly gone?" ke asked the cat girl seated beside him in the car.


    The cat girl''s ears were ttened down and with her head lowered, she gave a couple of sad nods. Seeing the confirmation, ke let out a sigh and leaned back on the car''s posh leather seat, and turned his attention outside of the windows.


    Rows of warehouses andrge sheds passed by as they drove through the Port before the convoy of vehicles left the Port. Soon lights from the city came into view, buildings both residential andmercial rosed up from the sides of the streets, all lit up brightly under the night skies.


    The vehicles soon came to a stop at the bright entrance of an upscale looking hotel. Smiling doormen approached the vehicle to open the doors of the vehicle but were stopped by several ck coated soldiers. The doormen seeing the bold red ''MP'' on the white armbands of the soldiers stepped back in worry as the brutal reputation of the military police was well known.


    An MP opened the door for ke and he exited, only giving his surroundings a quick cold nce before he walked into the hotel''s entrance. Two rows of ck coated MPs blocked off the entrance and kept the hotel guests and other people away.


    The hotel manager saw themotion and he hurried out to the entrance, thinking it might be the usual high ranking Army officer that usually gets drunk and make a scene. But to his fright, the tall and slim looking officer that stepped into the hotel foyer was not who he expected.


    The officer wore a long dark grey coat and a peak cap that did not cover the sunken eyes and the pale gaunt cheeks of the hooman. His cold dark eyes seemed devoid of life as he coldly observed his surroundings. Behind him stood four ck coated soldiers and a forlorn looking beast girl that barely reached the officer''s shoulders.


    The hotel manager gave a bow and greeted ke with a smile despite sweat forming on his forehead. "Esteemed Sir! How can we be of service?"


    "Just get me your best suite..." ke replied in a hoarse voice that sent chills down the manager''s spine. "And does this hotel has a conference room?"


    "Yes... yes!" The manager gave another bow while wondering who was this, as he did not recognize his looks and his uniform. He knew the Army officers usually wore a khaki green buttoned blouse, while the Navy wore light grey and the Airforce wore blue. The guards behind him, he recognized their ck military police uniform. "This hotel has tworge halls, great for balls and parties! Each can hold well over two hundred people!"


    "Esteemed Sir, if you could just wait for a moment while my staff ready the suite for you..." The manager quickly said. "Or would you like some refreshments at the bar?"


    "No, I will wait here," ke replied and he sat down on one of the posh looking sofas. "Kaga, handle the booking with the hotel."


    Kaga nodded and followed the manager away to handle the paperwork while ke picked up a copy of the daily newspaper provided by the hotel. The news reported were mostly minor stuff, making him feel as if things had been too peaceful.


    As he was reading halfway through the newspaper, there was amotion outside at the lobby. His guards tensed up immediately, their submachine guns up and ready. ke frowned as gestured them to lower their weapons before he turned his attention to themotion.


    A group ofughing officers in Army uniform surrounded a couple of soldiers and a worried looking woman. One of the soldiersid sprawled on the floor with blood on his face with the girl fussing over him worriedly.


    ke frowned at the scene and he stood up with his guards at his heel. He exited the hotel and stood at the shadows and watched the event unfolding out before him silently, together with a growing crowd.


    -----


    "Cork!" The girl tried to rub the blood off his nose as gentle as she could. Tears appeared at the corner of her eyes as she looked up at the group of soldiers. "He''s one of your own! How can you punch him?"


    "He''s just a lowly sergeant!" One of the drunken officers spat. "Come over here, girl! We can show you a good time! Hahaha!"


    The restughed and Cork''s buddy balled up his fist angrily. He rushed forward and wanted to punch the cocky face of the officer before him but Cork suddenly yelled out. "Krew! Stop!"


    Krew paused in mid stride, and red at the officers taunting them. "Oh, so you want to attack an officer of superior rank? Hahaha!"


    "Don''t do it!" Cork hissed as he pushed himself up. "It''s not worth it to get court martial!"


    Krew made a growl and helped Cork to his feet. Cork rubbed his nose and snort out a glob of bloody mucus. "Let''s go!"


    "Wait a minute... Sergeant!" An officer bearing the three bars of a full Captain stopped them. "You two can scram... but the girl stays!"


    Cork turned and looked at the frightened girl clenching his uniform who shook her head at the words. She looked around twenty and had a head of raven ck hair that reached her shoulders and wore a long white dress.


    He and Krew were on their way back to the base after dinner when there was a scream and this girl came barreling into them. Following behind her were three officers which they recognized from the 3rd Rifle Regiment on the base.


    Seeing the pleading look in her eyes, Cork and Krew stepped forward to help her, only to get punched by one of the officers. Cork gave a sigh, "Sirs, you are drunk and in uniform... This isn''t good for the image of the Army..."


    "So what?" One of the red faced officers snapped. "You are just a lowly three stripe! You dare get in our way?"


    "You better hand the girl over!" Another officer said. "She supposed to apany us to drink! How dare she p the Captain?"


    "Know your position!" The officerughed. "Or..."


    "Or what?" A cold voice suddenly spoke up from the side. Cork and Krew and the officers all turned around and saw a tall figure in a military trench coat and peak cap standing behind a small crowd of onlookers. "Tell me... or what?"


    His cold andmanding tone made the officers paused for a moment but after seeing no ranks tabs on his uniform, they felt relieved and fueled by alcohol, the captain within the group puffed up his chest and growled, "I am Captain Jonil of the 3rd Rifles! You! Report your rank and affiliation!"


    The neer''s eyes glinted as he stepped into the street lights and stood before the 3rd Rifle''s Captain. "Remove your uniform now..."


    "What?" The officersughed as they heard his words. "Who do you think you are?"


    "I say it again..." The tall stranger said again in a chilling tone. "Remove your uniforms! You are all not fit to wear them!"


    "Haha!" The officers continuedughing, "Or what? You report us to the military police? Hahaha!"


    "No..." The stranger''s eyes hardened and Cork felt a killing aura rise from the stranger. Without another word, the stranger reached into his coat and drew out a pistol and fired at the face of theughing captain.


    The sharp crack of the gunshot shocked everyone in the streets. A collective gasp came from the watching crowd before it turned to screams of horror and fright. The body of the captain flopped face forward as his legs gave out and a small puddle of blood that looked very dark slowly pooled out.


    The girl gave a squeak of fright at the sudden murder and Cork pushed the girl behind him, shield her from the body. The other two officers froze and blinked stupidly at the stranger holding the smoking gun. "STRIP!"


    Jolted awake by the gunshot and the sudden death of theirpanion, they hastily unbuttoned their uniform, fearful of triggering the madman who just murdered someone. The stranger tilted his head to the side and spoke in a cold voice as he reholstered his weapon. "Take them away!"


    "Yes Sir!" Four ck d soldiers suddenly appeared and they cuffed the two confused officers while another group of soldiers started to disperse the curious crowd.


    "Take them and execute them for abuse of power and conduct unbing of an officer!"

 Chapter 460: Mobilization

    Chapter 460: Mobilization


    Cork watched the tall hooman walk away without another word towards the brightly lit hotel as if everything that had happened here was nothing to him. The ck coated soldiers dragged the confused officers off towards a vehicle while the local police who just arrived were briefed by other MPs.


    "S- Sir!" Krew suddenly called out and saluted the tall hooman who paused. "Sir, thank you for your assistance, Sir!"


    The hooman just gave a brief nod of his head and he walked off, leaving behind an excited Krew and the girl with Cork. Krew grinned as he eximed, "Damn! That was so cool!"


    "We should have asked for a transfer into the MPs instead!" Krew mimicked a shooting action. "He just shot that asshole in the face, just like that! Bam!"


    "And you... littledy!" Krew turned to the thankful looking girl. "You shouldn''t be in ces like this!"


    "Its... work..." The girl said with a lowered head. "I work as a bar girl there..."


    "And your boss doesn''t protect you?" Cork asked as he looked away from the disappearing back of the hooman.


    The girl turned her head away before mumbling softly, "No... he... actually encourages us to... serve the customers... more... But I do not do it..."


    "Damn!" Krew growled. "You should find another job!"


    The girl gave an embarrassed smile before she bowed and said, "Thank you for both your help today! I... I need to return to work!"


    "Take care of yourself!" Krew gave a wave before he groaned slowly as two MPs approached them. "Oh.. shit..."


    "You two! And the girl!" The two MPs called out sternly. "Stay here! I need to record your statements!"


    Cork gave ast nce in the direction of the hooman before he turned his attention back to the MPs asking questions. He had clearly felt a strong sense of killing rage from the hooman and he wondered who that person was to hold such anger inside.


    -----


    ke returned to the hotel and found Kaga and the hotel manager waiting for him at the reception. "All done?"


    Kaga nodded and the manager brought them upstairs to the suites. Both suites were connected and each had two bedrooms and a living room. ke and Kaga took one suite while the rest were upied by the guards provided by Tavor.


    After a quick shower, ke sat at the sofa and spread out a stack of documents while Kaga sat timidly at the edge of another sofa. She has not seen this side of ke, only remembering him to be very patient and friendly, not this cold and silent.


    She had med herself all the while since Princess Sherene and Takao was taken away. She and Takao were supposed to be protecting Sherene but in the end, she was the one being protected. And worst still, the power of her tracking talisman has vanished months ago, deepening her guilt more.


    "How do your talisman work?" A cold voice suddenly broke through her thoughts, making her flustered. She looked up from her hands and locked eyes with ke and felt her soul falling into an abyss of guilt and she quickly averted her eyes away, unable to meet his eyes again.


    "It... my... magic allows me to sense its direction..." She replied timidly. "I can... feel its... pull... the closer... I am to it..."


    ke gave a curt nod before he slid a small map across the table to her. Two lines were drawn with the centre originating from the Haven. "So you feel the pull roughing in this direction?"


    Kaga shuddered as she recognized the map, as it was the work done by the scary hooman, Tavor, who grilled her for many many hours. "Yes... but four months ago... the pull of my magic... vanished..."


    ke took back the map and started sorting through other documents in silence. He flipped through the data provided by Tavor''s Intel department and finally paused at the data from the probe. Images of the New World covered by a ring of clouds and even the Old World filed the folder.


    He drew out an overhead snapshot of the Old World, where areas were highlighted showing cities, presumed borders and dozens of other information. Thends of the Old World were almost as big as Europe and Asia put together and the estimated territory of the Protectorate that was highlighted in red was about half the size of Europe.


    ke looked at another sheet of data which had some estimated numbers of poptions and force depositions. He crunched the numbers in his head and leaned back on the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. The poption numbers were very much on the high side, which surprised ke. He knew the data Intel has gotten came from three youngsters and an old man, which had to be taken with a pinch of salt.


    But knowing Tavor, the numbers he proved meant that there was a very high chance to be urate, plus minus 10%. ke let out a sigh as he considered the options in dealing with a new enemy that outnumbered his total poption by over 1000 times. The current poption of the entire UN was holding just barely over 65,000 with a third serving full time in the military.


    20,000 men and women of the armed forces spread out within three main branches against the Protectorate which can throw at least a hundred times or more manpower with technology simr to the steam age of Earth and magic knowledge vastly superior to the inhabitants of the New World.


    Weapon tech wise, ke was very certain the UN was far more superior, but even so, overwhelming numbers have its own advantages when they can fire back. Unlike the war with the Empire where the majority of the deaths and injuries of the ground troops were taken from magic attacks rather than melee weapons, or from supped up overpowered artefact wielding madmen, facing a force that has weapons simr to guns will drastically increase the number of casualties with the UN forces.


    "Should I get Matt to start on a nuke?" ke mumbled under his breath as he pondered the ways to counter the enemies number. "Or intercontinental ballistic missiles?"


    He let out a deep breath before realising that Kaga was still perched on the sofa like a frightened cat. "Go get some rest... Tomorrow will be a busy day!"


    "Y- Yes!"


    -----


    Sea of Clouds


    Lightning shed within the clouds and dark shapes pierced out from the wall of storm clouds one by one, leaving behind wisps of clouds and streaks of lightning arcing over flickering shields in their wake. One by one the airships formed up and headed towards the direction of the New World under the moonlit night.


    -----


    United Nations, City of Hope, Hotel Crown, Ballroom


    The ballroom was in a frenzy as dozens of hotel staff moved tables and chairs in from the stores. The hotel manager anxiously checked his staff''s work as he wanted to leave a good impression on the VIP that appeared the night before.


    Finally, the setting of the ballroom was done and the manager let out a sigh of relief but it soon changed with the storming of boots. He paled when he saw a small troop of soldiers carrying cases appearing at the ballroom and they ced the cases down on top of the carefully set tables.


    A soldier came up to the manager and said, "Sir, we are here to use this room. We will appreciate if you do not let any guest or persons without authorisatione to this level."


    "Guards will be ced at all points at this level," The soldier continued saying. "So please inform your guests not toe here or... they might be arrested."


    "How about the food?" The manager asked, "The servers will have to set up the tables..."


    "Inform us when the food arrives and we will direct you ording," The soldier replied. "Now, if you please could excuse me, I got work to do."


    The manager bobbed his head and wondered what gods did he offend to have such a big event appearing at his hotel before he hung his head and left the ballroom.


    Not long after, ke came down from his suite with Kaga in tow. The guards snapped to attention and cried out, "Attention on Deck!"


    The soldiers paused in their work and stood at attention until ke waved them back to their work. He sat down on the head of a long table and looked at the banks of disy screens and turned to Kaga. "Who will be joining us today?"


    "Y- You have a meeting with the Chiefs and Heads of department at 0900 hours..." Kaga checked her tablet. "After that at 1200 hours, a meeting with the Mayor of Hope... Then an hour break... after that..."


    "Ok," ke nodded and checked his watch, seeing there still sometime before the meeting with his staff. "Go get something to eat first."


    When the time for the meeting came, the disy screens lit up one by one and all his senior staff appeared online and they saluted ke. "All here? Good, let''s start. What is the n of action everyone came up with?"


    General Joseph cleared his throat and said, "Sir, our n to push into the Eastern Coast will involve two stages."


    "First, elements of the Army will be airdropped into the vicinity of the NKM''s Frontier City," Joseph''s image was reced by a map with the city being highlighted. "The first wave of Army units will make camp outside the city while heavier units of the Army will be transported by water across the Source Sea."


    "The Army will push in 50 kilometres ind here, to this area the locals called... Reachfield," Another location on the map was highlighted. "This location is rtively t, perfect for an airbase."


    "Once the Army has secured the area, engineers will move up and start constructing the base," Joseph said. "We expect the runways to be operational within the month if there are no problems."


    "While that is going on," Joseph gestured to Commander Ford. "The Navy will push up along the Eastern Coast."


    Commander Ford''s image stood up and he said, "The Navy will conduct armed reconnaissance along the coast for any Protectorate presence."


    "Intel believes that they had to be reinforcing their people here through the Dead Zone," Ford said. "If we can find the path they take through the clouds, my ships and aircraft will be able to take them down or capture them with the Marines."


    "To facilitate all these, we n to enlist the help of the Isles to provide resupply with their merchant fleet and their harbours," Ford added. "But... the rtionship between our two nations had deteriorated over the months after the... incident..."


    "Ignore the Isles," ke said. "We don''t need their help. But if they stand in our way... Allies or not... we will destroy them!"


    The officers looked at each other ufortably before they slowly nodded in acknowledgement. ke continued on as if he did not just dere war on another nation. "And the second stage?"


    Joseph stood up and cleared his throat, "Erm... Once thend base is up, the Airforce will have enough reach to strike literally anywhere within the East Coast."


    "The Army will push into with the Airforce in support, and we will clear the Protectorate forces whenever we encounter them."


    ke nodded, "Simple but I like it. Start mobilising the men!"


    "We are going to war!"


    -----


    United Nations, Fortress Singapore, Conference Room


    Commander Ford had a deep frown on his face as he felt unsettled by the feeling he had from the Captain''s change of character. He felt that ke has suddenly changed too much, till the point of being cold and unfeeling.


    He looked down at the mobilisation orders and sighed, thinking how many will die again this time due to the Captain''s vengeance.

 Chapter 461: 1st Army Rifle Regiment

    Chapter 461: 1st Army Rifle Regiment


    The New World, Source Sea, Beachhead Alpha


    Sounds of retching came from the holds as thending barge pitched up and down in the rough waters. Curses broke out among the men as they avoided the mess while goblins skittered down the decks cursing and swearing at anyone in their way as they rinsed off the mess.


    Outside the barge, the skies were dark and grey with heavy rain pelting down as if the Gods were baptising the first major operation of the UN Army. Eleven converted Imperial barges refitted with steam engines brute forced through the rough waters with another six Navy PT boats as escorts.


    The eleven barges carried the entire 1st Army Rifle Regiment and all their organic support, a total of over two thousand elves, orcs, goblins, and dozens of armoured vehicles and supply trucks. The journey had taken the slow barges over two days of travel, cutting diagonally across the freshwater Source Sea to finally be able to seend on the other side.


    Even under the heavy torrent of raindrops, the t bottom barges beached against the coast and the heavy forward ramps fell down, pping hard against the wet mud and sand. Soldiers of the 1st Rifles charged out into the rain, many of them d to be out of the stuffy transport and onto the ground that was not moving.


    The soldiers spread out as they were taught and covered the beachhead while rumbling roars of engines came from the interiors of thending barges. The goblin cargo master wearing a bright orange vest over a child sized set of ''H'' harness, blew his shiny whistle sharply at the ramp.


    Headlights shone and a boxy vehicle with sloping armour at all sides rumbled forward. Eight massive wheels almost as tall as an average elf rolled the infantry fighting vehicle forward. A fat turret with a single stubby four barrelled 20mm gatling gun, sat on the top and grey smoke blew out from the rear exhaust pipes as the IFV rolled off the ramp.


    The IFV - 1 Hunter, was the UN''stest vehicle to roll out of its factories. Powered by a dragonite engine, the twenty ton vehicle could carry up to twelve infantry inside its armoured chassis. Crewed by amander, a driver, and a gunner, it carried a 20mm quad barrel gatling gun housed within an enclosed turret with a 6.5 mm coxial machine gun and a seven shot 70 mm rocket pod mounted on the turret''s right side.


    Another .50 cal machine gun was mounted on the top hatch of the turret, allowing themander to fire if needed, provided some air anti protection. The armoured vehicle can hit top speeds of 40 kilometres per hour over rough terrain and up to 70 kilometres per hour on t terrain.


    The goblin cargo master excitedly gave another few more blows of his whistle, as another IFV followed from behind. The IFVs that rolled out of the barges made their way off the mud and sand, their engines huffing and growling as the drivers pushed them over the wet slope.


    After the IFVs exited the cargo bay, trucks and jeeps followed out and soon the whole beachhead was a hive of activity as supplies and other essentials were offloaded.


    -----


    "Sarge!" An officer yelled out and gestured to Cork and his men. "Mount up!"


    Cork gave a nod, his pot like helmet dripping water down. He stood up and yelled over the rain, pointing to their waiting IFV. "2nd Section, mount up!


    The wet and cold soldiers happily picked themselves off the ground and climbed into the rear hatch of the IFV. The interior of the IFV was cramped and the hull was lined with lockers and bins, filled with extra ammunition and supplies.


    The ten men section, including Cork squeezed in and thetest man, pulled the rear hatch close, and the sounds of the rain ceased. Unlike the Marines, the Army usesrger sections consisting of ten men instead of seven men. One toon has forty men and apany has four toons. Two infantrypanies, one mechanizedpany and one artillerypany made up one battalion. An Army Rifle Regiment was made up of two such battalions and consisted of over 1,400 men.


    The mechanized toon Cork was in, consisted of four IFVs, and four infantry sections were attached to one vehicle each. Now they sat inside the belly of the metal beast, sharing the odour of wet uniform and socks as the olive green and blue camo vehicle raced off in a single file with the rest of its sisters heading towards their objective under the cover of the storm.


    -----


    The New World, East Coast, UN 3rd CorRon


    The captain of the UNS Adventurer leaned over the shoulder of the radar operator. The light from the green pings and beeps on the screen highlighted both the captain and the operator''s features as they stared at over twenty blinking blips from the radar returns.


    The radar operator looked nervous under the green glow and he asked the captain, "Sir... twenty seven confirmed aerial contacts on the radar... and their size is at least triple that of our ship..."


    "Thirty klicks away and heading in a south west direction..." The radio operator reported. "Moving at a speed of 24 knots!"


    "Pilot, try to keep pace with the radar contacts!" The captain called out. The Goblin ss corvettes could push up to a max speed of twenty eight knots at the cost of overheating the engines and using up all their fuel reserves, but with radar, they could still ''see'' where the enemy were.


    "Signal the rest of the squadron! We will follow them and see where they are heading!"


    -----


    The New World, New Protectorate Territory, City of Tena


    The monstrous battle engine stood towering over the crumbled walls of the city. Hundreds of red coated Protectorate soldiers marched through the rubble strewn streets with hulking war jacks lumbering between them. The arrival of the Reckoner instantly broke all forms of resistance from the city as they surrendered, barely taking the Protectorate two turns of the ss to take over the city.


    The citizens and soldiers of the surrendered city kneeled along the streets as they weed their new overlords and the schrly looking Governor of Tena awaited the arrival of the invaders nervously at the courtyard of the city''s castle. He had decided to surrender to avoid as much bloodshed to the people as he had heard the rumours of the massacre of the Capital and especially seeing the giant golem that appeared over the horizon.


    The red coated soldiers continued their march as they entered through the opened gates of the castle, and soon the governor and his retinue were surrounded. The ground rocked as two massive war jacks stomped and puffed their way over with several figures walking before them.


    The two war jacks paused at the gate''s entrance and the several figures continued their way forward until they reached the governor and his men. The lead figure wore a set of red robes and had a in white mask that covered his entire face, but the mask did nothing to hide the contempt and arrogance beneath the mask.


    "Greetings... most... powerful one..." The elderly governor bowed as the masked man stood before him. "We... are willing to surrender the city to you, as long as the citizens will not be harmed..."


    Another red robed figure spoke something to the masked man on the side before the masked manughed and replied in a strangenguage. The governor felt himself sweating as he awaited the oue of their fate.


    Finally, the red robed figure next to the masked man said in haltingmon tongue. "You... all put down weapons... gather all at the square!"


    The knights next to the governor hearing that they need to give up their weapons felt their honour insulted as they had to give up their swords when they had surrendered. It wasmon sense that the knights could keep their swords even when they surrendered as they were oath bounded to their words.


    Their actions drew the red coat soldiers attention and they lowered theirnce like weapons, pointing at the governor and his retinue. The governor quickly tried to defuse the situation by raising his hands and gesturing to his people to stand down. "Give up your swords!"


    "It''s better to live another day than die uselessly for honour!" He spoke in a low voice to his people. "Do not forget your duty to your people!"


    The knights seeing the cold expressions of the red coated soldiers and the pleading looking of their lord gave up their resistance and removed their weapons, dropping them on the ground. All the while this was happening, the masked man did not even move nor show any changes in his posture.


    Once thest weapon nged on the floor, the masked man snapped his fingers and the surrounding soldiers closed in and started to usher them forward. Arms reached out and grabbed the governor and his protesting men and they were stripped of their armour and dragged out of the castle''s courtyard.


    The governor and his retinue were dragged to the city''srgest square where hundreds of the city''s poption were squeezed in and in the middle of the square was a simple tform. The governor was dragged up the tform first and forced to kneel down.


    A red robed priest started preaching about the evils of the world, about how the people in thisnd have fallen and how they had lost the guiding light of justice. For the people to be judge worthy by the god Ramuh, one must give up their sins and put all their faith and heart to only God in this world.


    As the priest continued his preaching, two soldiers hoisted the confused governor up and lifted him up. Horror and realisation soon came to everyone as they watched their beloved lord screaming as he was being impaled with a spear from his rear. He screamed and struggled wildly when the soldiers released him, his body weight and struggle further forcing the spear through his bowels and deeper into his insides.


    Finally, the governor''s gurgles and struggles grew weaker as his lifeblood bled out. The crowd and his loyal retinue cried out in anger and fear at the brutal execution of their lord. Yet the red coated soldiers ignored their cries and one by one the rest of the governor''s retinue was dragged up and simrly impaled right before the horrified crowd''s eyes, and all the while, the priest continued his zealous preaching of sins andwlessness.


    Rism smiled as he listened to the screams of the dying and the terrified looks of thewless citizens. The conquest of the new world was easier than he had expected, his initial force of five thousand pdins and a hundred war jacks had swept through thends easily. Thewless soldiers were weak and undisciplined, their magic not even worthy to be mentioned.


    Barely a quarter of his soldiers were wounded or dead and one thousand settlers that came along had quickly built up an industrial base to supply his missionary efforts. Now, the expected arrival of the second wave of soldiers and supplies would arrive in another few more days which would further strengthen his force against the weak infidels.


    With each city, town, and vige captured and converted to the glory of Ramuh, meant more resources and faith to their God. Rism''s smile widened as the thought of the power that will be his from taking over the entire New World.


    By then, even if the remaining six nations banded together against the Protectorate, they will still not be able to stop the Protectorate. And soon the Judgement wille and He shall rise again in this world, granting His power and Justice to those that were worthy!


    "Convert everyone to the Teachings of Ramuh!" Rism ordered as he turned away from the scene. He walked towards the castle with his guards in tow. "And send those unwilling to the Judgement!"

 Chapter 462: Nice View

    Chapter 462: Nice View


    United Nations, Haven, First General Hospital


    Commander Ford knocked on the office door of Dr. Sharon and waited for a moment till a voice answered him. He pushed the door open and found Dr. Sharon seated behind her work desk, her attention focused on theputer.


    "Hey," Ford called out as he closed the door. "Busy?"


    "Always!" Dr. Sharon replied and saved her work before turning her attention to Ford. "What brings you here today? Sick? You need a medical cert for a couple of days rest?"


    "No..." Ford replied as he sat down. "I... want to talk about... the Captain..."


    "ke?" Dr. Sharon frowned. "What about him?"


    "His mental state..." Ford sighed. "He... seemed to be a changed man... The loss of his wife and kid had changed him a lot... His actions might lead to a downfall of the UN..."


    Dr. Sharon looked down to her desk as she contemted her answer. "Military decisions wise, I have no say as I am not a fighting officer. As for his mental state, I can only do so much too."


    "I am not a psychologist," Dr. Sharon continued on. "But personally, I would prefer ke to use his energy in pursuit of vengeance rather than shutting himself in."


    "As to the right or wrong decisions he makes," Dr. Sharon stared deep into Ford''s eyes. "Isn''t it, your job and duty to guide him to the correct decisions as XO?"


    -----


    United Nations, Fortress Singapore, Naval Intelligence Department


    The static on the screen flickered as a ''No Connection Link'' remained blinking on the centre of the screen. "Probe enteringmunication range in... 3... 2... 1..."


    A bar appeared next to the triangle icon on the right corner of the operator''s screen before the signal strength filled up to the max as the text on the screen changed.


    [[[ Establishing Connection.. . ]]]


    [[[ Handshake Established.. . ]]]


    "Sir, we have a connection with the probe," The operator replied. "T minus Four Hours and Twenty Eight minutes and counting down before the probe exits our signal range."


    "Alright! I want eyes over sectors L2, L3, N2 and N3 now!" Tavor ordered as he stood behind the row of operators.


    After a short moment, the main disy on the wall flickered and the green blue and browns of the top geographical view of the continent of the New World appeared. The camera panned as operatorsmanded the probe''s sensors and the view zoomed in more and more. Undefined masses of green blue turned into forests and browns and greys turned into mountains and hills.


    Finally, the image was clear enough for man made structures to be seen. Tavor frowned he looked at the image. "There, that city along the edge of the coast! Zoom in more!"


    The camera panned and the view zoomed in, turned the image into rough pixels for a moment before the high powered lenses onboard the probe adjusted and the pixels cleared up. "That''s their main base... just where the Navy has reported them..."


    Tavor straightened up and pped his hands sharply to gather everyone''s attention. "Alright, people! I want eyes on that city and everything up to a hundred klick mark!"


    "Start gathering intel on the enemy''s movement''s, airships, areas of interests, their logistics, supply storage, barracks and so on!" Tavor ordered. "Find out everything you can! Even better if you pinpoint out theirmanders ormand centres! Dig everything out! Find out everything!"


    "Clear?"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    United Nations, Port of Hope, Dry Dock 01


    ke stood at the edge of the dock, looking up at the chopped up section of the towering hull covered in red anti rust primer. Eye searing sparks of welding torches zed all over the hulls as workers welded metal together.


    "How long more before it is ready for sea trials?" ke asked without turning.


    The shipyard master checked the clipboard of the schedules and replied. "If all goes ording to the schedules, in two months."


    "Block A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 are already in the finishing stages," The shipyard master said. "Once Block A3, B3, and C3 have finished the instation of the upper decks, assembly of the supercarrier will then begin."


    "Once the three hulls have been assembled together," The shipyard master continued. "The power reactors will be filled in and then the top decks and superstructures will be installed, followed by weapon systems, and outfitting the interior of the ship."


    The trimaran supercarrier''s hull was designated A, B and C and further divided into three sections or blocks for construction. The main dry dock isrge enough that it can amodate the entire supercarrier but at the moment it was partition off into three areas, with the massive blocks of hulls being constructed inside.


    Further behind the main dry dock, was three smaller dry docks, each with a section of the supercarrier inside. Once the section of hull waspleted, gates that linked to the main dry dock will open up and thepleted section of the hull will be rolled forward and join up with thepleted hull sections.


    Once all nine main blocks of the supercarrier werepleted, the partitions dividing up the main dry dock will be removed and the hulls will be assembled together. The instation of the top deck and superstructure of the supercarrier will be carried outst with the help of massive cranes that will lift up the top decks and superstructures that were being constructed in Far Harbour before getting shipped over.


    ke gave a nod before he turned around, "What is the expected lifespan of the hull?"


    "Erm... five years," The shipyard master replied. "Best case scenario... Eight years before their condition deteriorate to the point that expected maintenance costs will be too high to justify keeping the ship."


    "Five years?" ke mused.


    "Due to the urgency of the project..." The shipyard assumed that ke was unhappy with the news. "It is the best we can do with most of the new workers, unfamiliar construction techniques, and manufacturing methods..."


    "But with the experience gained from this project..." The shipyard master hurried assured ke. "The next ships we can build will not only have a longer life span but we will also be able to build them faster and more efficiently!"


    ke gave another nod, "That''s good enough... for now..."


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Reachfield, UN Forward Operating Base


    Sawdes whined and trees cracked as they toppled down with a mighty crash. Over a dozen of quad legged tree harvesters of the Army''s Combat Engineers were hard at work cutting down trees and using the logs as materials for building the camp''s perimeter walls and buildings.


    Other Combat Engineers were both ttening andpacting the terrain for the usage of aircraft while teams of goblins carried metal mesh mats to carpet the ground for the runways. Soldiers dugs trenches and pits to store ammunition and fighting positions for the IFVs to go hull down.


    Further out the perimeter of the base, more soldiers patrolled the area and one group had stopped the approach of curious local farmers who came to investigate the activity.


    Cork shook his head as he pointed in the opposite direction, "No! Go back to where you came from!"


    The farmer with bad teeth and breath instead gave a wink and held up a y jug of sorts, "Sir soldier, I got me here some sweet wine! Share me some news will you in return for some of this wine?"


    "No!" Cork replied the same word for the fourth time. "Go away! This ce is dangerous!"


    "You boys from the... Oh or Uh.. An?" Another farmer asked as he turned to peer over Cork''s men shoulders. "Is there war again? We heard something bad has happened up north!"


    Cork sighed inwardly and he gestured to his men, "Get them away from here! No one is to cross over this area!"


    The farmers started protesting as Cork walked away, leaving the troublesome handling of the locals to his men. Command had long known that their presence will incur the curiosity of the locals and even the local lord''s investigation. There was even a high chance that they might have to fight off the local forces here as they were uwfully upying thend which amounted to an act of war.


    So far, only the nearby farmers hade to investigate but it was just a matter of time before the word was passed on to the local lord here. And once the runway was up and running, their presence will also no longer be a secret as it was hard to miss and ignore the flight of aircraft.


    Cork walked around a mound of dirt that was covered with twigs and leaves. The lowered hull of the IFV came to almost his head as the vehicle had rolled into a fighting position dug out by the engineers. The turret with the stubby gun barrel poked out just beyond the mound of dirt that covered it front and sides.


    "Hey, Rich," Cork called out to the vehiclemander of Hunter Two Two as he climbed up the sides of the IFV and joined the short elf inside the gun turret. "The boys have set up a checkpoint just up the road. You see anyone else further away?"


    The concealed position of the IFV was dug next to the slope of a gentle hill, its firing arc covering the thickets of forest and rolling fields. A checkpoint roughly sixty metres away was set up and on the crest of the hill, the section''s light machine team had dug in and set up their weapons overlooking the area before them.


    Roughly two hundred metres away on their left and right nks, the other sections and IFVs had dug in too and watching their sectors. The short vehiclemander wearing a head protector over a set of oval shaped headset that just barely managed to cover his long ears punched a few keys into the turret controls before him.


    The turret whined and the elf flicked a switch and the small disy before him jumped, bringing the view closer. He held the twin stick controllers and turn left and right, rotating the turret as he scanned the horizon. "Nothing except for that group of farmers still with your boys!"


    "Got it," Cork replied as he climbed back off the vehicle. "Keep watching! Pretty sure the local knights wille checking in soon!"


    He next climbed up the slope of the hill and found the remainder of his section busy fortifying their position. Arge pit had been dug out and some of the men were filling bup sacks with earth to reinforce the walls of the fighting pit. Over the pit, camoting had been raised up, covering the pit from eyes in the sky and provide some form of shade and shelter from the elements.


    A small table and chair were ced at one corner with a radio set and boxes of ammunition and other supplies were stack at another. The sections'' automatic weapons were ced at the corners of the pit, which allowed them to provide sweeping fire against any enemy that attempted to break through their lines.


    Looking out of the position, Cork could see a river glittering under the sun rays half hidden by thick forests. Tiny farms that looked like toys dotted thendscape amongst fields of unripened grain, made the whole scene seemed so rxed and peaceful.


    "Nice view we have here," Krew said as he joined Cork. "Doesn''t seem like they are having a famine here."


    Cork was about to reply when the loud roaring of rotor engines broke over their position and four sleek looking attack helicopters charged overhead. The long slim olive green bodies of the attack helicopters did a loop around the base before one by one they came to a hover over apleted section of the helipads andnded.


    "Yea..." Cork replied. "Nice view here... better enjoy the view while itsts..."

 Chapter 463: A Slice of Pie and Beggars

    Chapter 463: A Slice of Pie and Beggars


    The Old World, Capital of the Iron Kingdom, Royal Pce


    A heavy fist hammered the table as the one eyed Minister of War emphasized his point forcefully. "We need to dispatch our fleets to the New World now! The longer the Protectorate has their ws on the New World, the more we stand to lose!"


    "Our spies within the Protectorate had sent word that part of that fleet that entered the Sea of Clouds had returned!" The Minister of War said. "Nine airships! Each ship''s cargo hold was filled to the brim with treasure!"


    "And most importantly..." The Minister''s voice lowered. "Magic crystals! Hundreds of stones worth of magic crystals!"


    The words of the Minister of War roused the rest of the ministers and advisors. "As you all know, the amount of magic crystals within the Old World is in decline! We are getting lesser and lesser of these crystals annually from magical monsters due to overhunting!"


    "That is why the ancient great mages developed steam power to ensure the future of the Iron Kingdom!" The Minister of War added. "Should the Protectorate gain such an abundant supply of magic crystals from the New World... This would mean that they will have the magic crystals to power their magical artefacts!"


    "My King, for once I agree with the... Lord Ableman..." The slim looking Minister of Finance spoke out. "What resources within the Old World has already been divided up among the Seven Great Nations..."


    "This has ced everyone on the same ying level," The Minister of Finance said. "But... if the Protectorate is able to exploit mass amounts of magic crystals from the New World... It will greatly unbnce the power between the Seven Great Nations... And... they might emerge as the leader... which is something no one wishes to see..."


    "Yes! Those damn Ramuh loving bastards will be shoving their love of their God right down our throats!" Lord Ableman''s single eye glittered dangerously. "And if we do not start sending our forces... Other Nations will do the same too!"


    "And even with the risk of losing one ship out of every three," The Minister of Finance cut in. "The value of the magic crystals would still make it worthwhile for the losses!"


    "We must take the risks! The rest of the Seven has already started their mobilising their forces!" Lord Ableman hammered the table again. "The slice of the pie will be even smaller!"


    "Royal Father..." A tall young man seated next to the Iron Throne suddenly spoke up. "I think the advice of the Ministers has merit...


    "It will be wise to listen to your advisors..." The crown prince added. "As you have wisely taught me!"


    The King nodded as he looked at the crown prince with a soft expression before his expression turn firm. "Than it shall be done!"


    "The Crown Prince shall lead this expedition into the New World!" The King dered. "He shall takemand of the Iron Fortress and the Third Iron Fleet!"


    "Lord Ableman!" The Kingmanded. "You shall take charge as the Second of Command after the Crown Prince and I expect you to guide the Prince along the way!"


    "Yes, my King!" Lord Ableman the Minister of War stood up and bow, his right fist reaching over to his left shoulder in a salute. "I shall guide and protect Prince Yemen with my life!"


    "Good!" The King nodded before he turned his attention to the Crown Prince who was keeping his excitement in check. "And you, my son... Listen to the advice of Lord Ableman! I expect great things from you!"


    "Iron Lords heed my call!" The King stood up. "The expedition fleet shall disembark within the month!"


    "By yourmand!"


    -----


    The New World, New Kingdom of Ma, Reachfield, United Nations Forward Operating Base


    "Sarge!" The radioman called out. "See pee one is reporting that the local lord has finally turned up with a bunch of tin cans cavalry!"


    Cork grunted in acknowledgement as he lifted the cap that covered his face and sat up from theid out foldable stretcher that doubled up as a bed for the troops inside themand bunker on the top of the hill.


    He stood up and stretched before donning hisbat harness and grabbing his rifle and helmet. "Tell CP One, I am on my way."


    "And inform X Ray!" He reminded the radioman, using call sign for the FOB''smand centre. "You two on me!"


    The two single out privates joined Cork as they came out of themand bunker, a pit dug on the top of the hill. Cork returned the wave given from the hull down IFV''smander and made his way over to the checkpoint where he could see dozens of armoured cavalry with their fluttering gs formed up in a short distance away from the checkpoint.


    The checkpoint after having time to be fortified now had barriers of barbwire and barricades covered the nks. Two sandbagged bunkers sat on both sides of the dirt path that had alternating barriers setup that forces one to take a snaking path before crossing the checkpoint.


    A simple makeshift watchtower was erected one side and a couple of tents were ced behind the shelter of a row of sandbag walls. Half of Cork''s ten men section upied the checkpoint while the other remaining men were positioned up on the hilltop. Normally, refugees tonged the checkpoint hoping for handouts and safety. But today they had all disappeared rapidly with the appearance of the riders.


    Cork made a quick nce around the checkpoint, seeing his men were already inbat positions, one up the watchtower, one each in the sandbagged bunkers and two crouched behind a row of sandbags at the checkpoint entrance. "Sarge! Its the NKM tin cans!"


    "What have you got?" Cork joined the corporal at the row of sandbags.


    "Lookout spotted their dust earlier," The corporal replied. "Then they came appeared out from behind that bend of trees. Looks like they used the forest to mask as much of their approach as possible."


    "After that, they just sat there," The corporal jerked his helmeted head towards the NKM troops. "Waving their fancy red gs and looking pretty."


    "No other movement from them?" Cork asked as he took out his binocrs and swipe his view over the formed up cavalry. The NKM soldiers sat on their war dragons motionlessly while the sun glittered off their te mail and their red gold gs fluttered weakly in the breeze.


    As he was observing them, suddenly the leading rank of war dragon cavalry started forward. Five soldiers urged their giant lizard dragons forward, the leading soldier had a white plume on his helmet. They stopped short of shouting range and one of the soldiers carrying a g rode up and yelled. "Who are you trespassers that dared to upynd belonging to the Silver Lord of Clearfield?"


    Cork frowned as he recollected knowledge from his time as an Imperial Commander in regards to the Kingdom of Man. He vaguely remembered that the Man Lords were divided into different ranks from the lowest at ck, Grey, White, Silver, and finally Gold.


    Cork stood up from behind sandbag cover and yelled back, making up a story, "We are the UN! Uh... here on a mission to help the Golden Lords!"


    The herald was taken back from Cork''s replied. He turned in askance to the soldier with the white plume on his helmet who rode forward until he stopped his mount at the edge of the barriers and dismounted.


    "Which Golden Lord has asked for your help?" The white plumed soldier asked.


    "Erm..." Cork cursed inwardly before he replied. "This is a matter between the Lords! I am just a lowly soldier here following my orders!"


    The white plume soldier gave a nod, seemingly satisfied with his words. "Are you here to fight against the menace that had appeared out of nowhere?"


    Cork nodded, as there was no need to keep that portion of their mission a secret. "Yes, we were... um... invited to fight against them!"


    "Good!" The soldier removed his helmet and revealed a young pretty woman''s sweaty face. She had a heart shaped face and clear deep blue eyes. Her hair was tied up in a bun and covered over by a fine silver coif with tendrils of golden hair peeking out. "My name is Jeanne von Iris, I am a Knight,manding these soldiers under the banner of the Silver Lord of Clearfield."


    Cork was surprised by her gender and momentarily stunned by her looks until the corporal gave a smirk at his expression. Cork made a cough to cover up his embarrassment and his men sniggered behind their gloves, making him blushed further.


    "My name is R- Cork!" Cork replied, nearly using his real name. "I am Sergeant Cork of the UN 1st Army Rifle Regiment."


    The female soldier gave a slight nod of her head in acknowledgement. "And where is your lord? I wish to speak to him!"


    Cork turned to his man manning the checkpoint''s radio who raised up five fingers. He nodded and turned back to the female Knight and said, "They will be here very soon!"


    She nodded again and turned to her men and yelled out a couple ofmands. One of her men rode back to the waiting cavalry and soon they started to settle down to wait while the female knight and her escort dismounted and waited patiently while ncing around at the checkpoint''s defences curiously.


    "What is this?" The female Knight suddenly asked as she pinched the barbwire curiously.


    Cork stood opposite her, separated by ayer of barbwire and he slightly lost himself as he observed the delicate arch of her eyebrows as she poked around the wire. "Eh... oh... this is a kind of barricade..."


    "Hmmm... such a waste of valuable metal and craftsmanship..." Jeanne replied with some scorn as she gave a flick of her gauntleted fingers against the wire. "I have heard of the ''Un An''... But I did not expect such... disy of waste..."


    "And does not your lords equip themon soldiers properly?" She asked again as she looked up and down, checking out the dirty outfit of Cork. "Just a simple chest piece of... leather?"


    "Erm... this is much is enough..." Cork replied with some heat in his voice. For some reason, despite her looks, her words were full of arrogance.


    "Well... I can see that..." The female Knight gave a dismissive shrug. "Since your lords appear to waste their resources on making these... metal wires instead of properly outfitting their troops..."


    "Not even a proper sword too!" She gestured to the bay at his side. "Well... I had heard many stories in regards to those thunder sticks of the ''Un An''... But... looking at you... you look more like a beggar in these strange rags..."


    Cork looked down at his gear. He wore a dark olive green standard issuedbat vest with trauma tes at the front and back that protected his vitals from arrows, magic, shes and stabs. Six pouches sat in the front, allowing him to carry twelve 30 rounds mags of 6.5 mm ammunition with another four smaller pouches holding two grenades, one smoke and one shbang.


    On his back, a foldable entrenching tool was hooked up and another pouch rested against his spine, holding some rope, a poncho, and a cleaning kit. Two water bottles were belted to the side of the harness and a sheath carrying a Model 1 bay rested on his right hip.


    His mud covered uniform was in the Army''s digital camo scheme of a mixture of dark green, blue, grey and ck. His M4 Magelock was clean despite the muddy uniform was slung in front of his chest, allowing him to ready his weapon at any time. All in all, he thought he looked pretty cool in his uniform.


    The female Knight gave another dismissive nce over his uniform and said, "Well... I really hope the rumors about the ''Un An'' powers are true!"

 Chapter 464: Unicorn Rising

    Chapter 464: Unicorn Rising


    "Rotors turning," The pilot spoke to the ground crew over the radio. "Engine oil pressure is up, transmission pressure is up..."


    "Temperature all in the green, we got a good start!" The pilot continued down the checklist in his hand. "Fox Tango, this is Unicorn One One, are we cleared for take off?"


    "Unicorn Flight, you are cleared for take off," The flight control tower of the FOB replied. "Skies are clear and windy with sustained speeds of 10 metres per seconding from north north east, over."


    "Roger that, Fox Tango," The pilot of Unicorn One One replied and he leaned over the armoured ss and gave thumbs up to the ground crew. "Unicorn One Two, how copy?"


    "Unicorn One Two, all green. At your lead."


    "Roger, on my lead," The pilot seated at the rear of the tandem cockpit opened up the throttle and the powerful downwind of the quadrotors pushed the entire airframe off the tarmac. "Unicorn Flight, lifting off!"


    The long sleek and predatory lookingpound helicopter floated up off the ground and turned towards the north before its pusher propeller at its tail end pushed the attack helicopter away. The design of the AH - 1 ''Unicorn'' was unlike any conventional helicopters, as it incorporated both technology and magic in its design.


    It had low mounted wings, that jutted out from its side in an angle, a rigid main rotor, the traditional tail was pointed downwards instead of up and both a tail rotor and pusher propeller at the end which provided thrust. An experimental magical wind rune derived from the natural wind barrier of the Wind Wolves was etched into the nose of the attack helicopter, providing a small pocket of air around the helicopter''s cockpit, which increased its aerodynamics and provided some protection against projectiles to the pilots.


    At high speeds, the amount of lift provided by the wings, along with thrust from the pusher prop, reduced the aerodynamic loading of the rotor, allowing bursts of speed of up to over 200 knots or 370 km per hour. At such speeds, the rotor produced up to 20% of the lift, which could be adjusted by collective pitch control changes.


    The Unicorn had a two seater tandem cockpit and had a 20mm weapon turret mounted below the gunner''s seat. It further had six hardpoints, two under each wing and one at the wingtip, allowing it to carry either 70 mm rockets in 7 cell pods, 20 mm cannon pods, or fuel pods. It also had two fusge mounts just above the wings joints that were dedicated to carrying external fuel tanks.


    Ceramic armour ting provided protection to the vital portions of the helicopter together with magical runes that created small bubbles of barriers. As magic protection barriers would interfere with the rotors and air pressure, the magic barriers could only be created small enough to not interfere with the helicopter''s performance but enough to help reinforce vital portions.


    "Fox Tango, Unicorn Flight, heading towards patrol sector Juliet Four," The pilot radioed back to base as the two AH - 1 ''Unicorns'' roared towards their mission area.


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, 415 km South South West of the UN FOB


    The small town was called Turnstead, it had a nice stone and wooden wall surrounding it, providing it more than adequate protection against monsters and bandits. Surrounding the town, were dozens of fields of green unripe grain and cultivated greens.


    Despite famine raging across thends, the people of Turnstead managed to hold out, with a diet of monster meat and greens while they carefully cultivated and husbanded their fields. The hope of the starving people remained on the green grain stalks waving gently in the breeze that would soon ripen in weeks.


    But today, hope was not on their side, as the walls of Turnsteadid in ruins. ck oily smoke bleached out from gutted buildings as a small troop of red coated soldiers watched andughed as the town burn. A flying ship stood watch over the town, stubby barrels pointed downwards and vomited out shells that blew anything up into mes.


    The remaining people of Turnstead were herded out and they hurdle down in the trampled fields that they once spent much effort and care for. Robed priests wielding whips strolled down the screaming people, whipping their sins off in preparation to be reborn.


    -----


    "Unicorn One One, Two Two," The forward gunner held a binocrs to his eyes called out. "You see that smoke in the distance? Two O'' clock low."


    "Yup, we see that," The radio replied. "Check it out?"


    "One One roger," The pilot replied. "Let''s take a look."


    Both attack helicopters tilted and changed their heading towards the wisps of smoke in the horizon. As the distance closed, they spotted the very obvious red airship hovering above a small burning settlement.


    "Is that the damn Protectorates bastards?" The gunner of Unicorn One One called out.


    "X Ray! X Ray! This is Unicorn Flight!" The pilot grabbed his radio and reported in. "Protectorate forces spotted! NKM settlement under attack!"


    "Unicorn Flight, X Ray," The calm voice from the FOBmand centre came in. "What''s your position and enemy force depositions? Over."


    The pilot quickly read off his position with the help of his map chart. "One airship, and unknown number of ground forces! They looked like they have all the ''see vees'' in one ce!"


    "Oh shit! Taking fire!" The pilot jerked his controls as suddenly the Protectorate airship started spewing white smoke and ck dots zipped passed the cockpit. "Damn farkers are shooting at us! X Ray! Permission to engage? Over!"


    "Unicorn Flight, you are weapons free! Repeat weapons free! Watch out for the civilians!"


    "Roger that!" The pilot grinned as he yelled, "Guns hot!"


    He threw the attack helicopter into a loop, and rotated its facing towards the airship that was climbing up to meet them, bringing the rotorcraft into a strafing glide with their nose pointed at the airship.


    "GUNS GUNS GUNS!" The gunner yelled excitedly, his gloved finger squeezing tight on the red trigger. Instantly the dull thumping of the 20 mm autocannon underneath their seats shook the airframe.


    Flickers of yellow white tracers darted out and inserted against the airship. On the other side, Unicorn One Two simrly came to a strafe and the nose turret spat bolts of tracers out too. Smoke appeared from the side of the airship as the heavy rounds impacted against its armoured hull.


    The air around the airship suddenly shimmered and a semi transparent bubble appeared over the airship. The pilot of Unicorn One One cursed as he saw the enemy''s had raised its protective magic shields. "Going for rockets!"


    "Rocket! Rocket!" He squeezed his trigger and the rocket pods on the wings red to life, streaking mes darting forward and within seconds, the dual purpose rocket warheads exploded on the magic barrier, making it flicker harder. "There''s more where this came from!"


    Both AH - 1 Unicorn salvo fired their rocket pods while the gunners continued to y the airship with 20 mm cannon fire. Both Unicorns were in standard mission load outs, carrying six 7 cell rocket pods. In barely a minute, both gunships had fired off half of their rocket pods, sending a total of 42 High Explosive Dual Purpose rockets screaming down to the Protectorate''s shields.


    The force of the explosions actually knocked the Protectorate airship downwards, causing it to stall in midair. It''s top facing firing steam cannons tried to shoot down the gunships, the Protectorate gunners valiantly sang hymns as they loaded and reloaded their steam cannons. Suddenly the magical barrier popped, and like without the protection offered by the barrier, 20 mm shells and 70 mm rockets mmed against its hull again.


    "Aim for the propellers thingy!" Unicorn One One yelled to his gunner as he volley fired off his remaining rocket pods. The gunner grunted in acknowledgement and he swung his sights over to the spinning airscrews, using the impacts of the 20 mm shells to guide his aim and working the cannon over the target.


    Metal screamed and twisted as they could no longer take the relentless punishment. Mixtures of 20 mm shells of HE and AP, punched holes through weakened armour and mangled whatever was behind them. Pipes carrying steam ruptured as high velocity shells shredded through everything in their path. Steam and hot aetherium gases started leaking out from cracks and broken pipes.


    Crews within the hull screamed and died as shards of metal and steam sprayed over them as they worked their stations. The airscrews propelling the airship snapped like a twig under the heavy barrage of 20 mm shells and spun off, leaving the Protectorate airship without any means of propulsion.


    Suddenly a massive groan came from the shell and the top armoured decks of the airship bugled outwards before the airship started falling towards the earth. The top deck was suddenly ripped out and a bulbous looking tank trailing pipes and streaming gasses burst out and started to floating upwards into the air.


    With the loss of one the aetherium flotation tanks, the Protectorate airship fell faster towards the ground and impacted with a loud crunch that the Unicorn pilots and gunners could even hear. Thick clouds of white smoke billowed out from the wreck before mes erupted from the sides and the field of green grain stalks burned.


    "Holy hell!" The gunner of Unicorn One One mumbled. "That... was fun! Let''s do it again!"


    The ground troops of the Protectorate stared up in horror at the loud buzzing flying machines which brought their first defeat of the New World. Commanders started yelled and the soldiers started retreating towards the nearest grove of trees for some form of cover.


    The bloodied people of Turnstead on their knees, looked up to the skies, hope slowly returning to their hearts as the Protectorate started retreating, no longer having any interests in them.


    -----


    New Kingdom of Ma, Reachfield, United Nations Forward Operating Base, Command Center


    General Joseph rubbed his chin as he read the incident report of Unicorn Flight. "Has the wreck of the airship been secured?"


    "Yes, Sir!" His aide replied. "Able and Bravopany of the 1st had been airlifted in with an attachment ofbat engineers to the site."


    "We have informed the Silver Lord of Clearfield regarding the attack and he has agreed to send his men to help the survivors," His aide continued. "The Protectorate appeared to have retreated ten klicks into the forest to lick their wounds or await reinforcements."


    "Get the Air Force nes up to start bombing those farkers," Joseph ordered. "I want to put the fear of the UN up their asses!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Joseph stood up and stood before the map mounted on the board inside themand centre. He traced his finger from the Man Capital and paused at the site of thetest engagement. He tapped his finger at the town and frowned as he was certain that the Protectorate was just advancing in a straight direction.


    Now twopanies of the 1st Army Rifle Regiments had been airlifted over as a blocking force while other elements will be pushing up to reinforce them once the matter with local lords had been settled. That quick thinking sergeant who came out with the reason of why they were here, should be rewarded, thought Joseph. And for some reason, he thought the sergeant looked quite familiar but he could not remember where he had seen the sergeant before.


    The problem now Joseph was facing was that the number of enemy troops still remained unknown, but Intel had estimated that they should not more than ten thousand troops. The weapons of the Protectorate were also unknown, with Intel only having a vague idea of their steam weaponry.


    "Guess we will find out soon now that we had poked the razor''s nest," Joseph wondered out loud. "I wonder what their response would be like..."

 Chapter 465: The Dragon Lords

    Chapter 465: The Dragon Lords


    The Old World, The Domain of the Dragons, Dragon''s Peak


    The solitary towering mountain loomed up high into the clouds, its surface ck and glittering under the sun. Clumps of white snow covered its peak, while dozens ofrge cave openings dotted its side. All along the mountain sides, were stone houses and streets, built on terraces. And at the foot of the mountain, were farnds and orchards that were walled by a ck ring of obsidian stone.


    Dragons and drakes circled the air, riding the warm thermals with their outstretched wings, while people toiled the fields and tend to the animals. Under the falling snow, the farnds and orchards were covered by a magic barrier that trapped the heat and steam given off from the dug vents of volcanic hot steams.


    Nets covered the crops and orchards that helped channel away the droplets of melted snow as they formed on the magic barrier''s surface. The melted snow was in turn fed into aqueducts and reservoirs which provided the people with water.


    Deep inside the obsidian mountain, hurried footsteps echoed down the massive cavern as a portly figure dressed in gold and red made his way across the smooth ck obsidian floor. He held on to his round cap with two jutting horns on the side as he spotted the massive gold gilded obsidian stone doors with depictions of soaring dragons carved on the door''s surfaces.


    He paused at the door where several guards in golden robes stopped him, and he bowed, retrieving a golden rolled up scroll and the guards stepped back, returned his bow and pushed open crackrge enough for him to past with the heavy doors.


    The space behind the doors stretched out into a huge yawning cavern. The space wasrge enough to amodate an entire Dragon ship and vent holes alongside the obsidian floor spewed out warm air from the pools of naturally urring hot springs.


    Two rows of standingmps stood in the middle of the dark cave, creating a lighted path, which he headed down. The air smelled strongly of the demon''s breath and was warm enough that the thick silk robes he was wearing started to feel ufortable despite the evesting winter of thend.


    Abruptly the lighted path stopped and an expanse of ck pitch darkness appeared before him. He quickly went down to his knees and took out the scroll, cing it before him and kowtowed to the darkness and called out.


    "Hail the Dragon Matriarch! Queen of all Dragons!" He remained prostrate with his head touching the smooth obsidian stone. "This servantes bearing grave news!"


    "Raise... and speak..." A deep disembodied voice came from the depths of the shadows. "What news... have you brought before We..."


    "This servant thanks the Matriarch!" The portly elf stood up and unfurled the golden scroll. "Our spies have watched thends beyond the Domains and found out that the other nations are moving their air fleets!"


    "Has war broke out again?" The disembodied voice sighed. "Such short lives... yet none treasure them..."


    "My Matriarch..." The messenger exined further. "War has not broke out, but... it seemed the other nations are moving their forces to cross the Sea of Clouds..."


    "Oh?" There was a loud grinding and scraping noise and suddenly, a huge serpentine head appeared in the glow of the litmps. Golden scales stained with a hint of red glittered against the light, as the Dragon Matriarch crawled forward. Her massive head with two pairs of curling horns was twice the size of the messenger who quickly prostrated himself again at her appearance.


    Golden w guards studded with precious stones rapped loudly against the smooth obsidian floor as the Dragon Matriarch stopped just at the edge of themps'' glow. Tassels woven out from golden thread dangled down from her curled horns with more precious stones essories adorning her horns.


    A pair of huge golden irises glowed as the Dragon Matriarch looked down at the trembling servant at her feet. "They have crossed the Sea of Clouds again? Did they not learn the mistakes of their past?"


    "Y- Yes, My Matriarch!" The portly elf nodded hurriedly with on the floor. "Already the Protectorate has set foot on the New World and the Iron Kingdom is following them next!"


    "Fools!" The Dragon Matriarch hissed. "That is... a forbiddennd! The Gods put up a barrier... is to prevent any fools from entering thatnd!"


    "Now... these fools have broken through the barrier..." The Dragon Matriarch sighed and mused to herself. "Will our erae to an end... Just like the Era of the Gods?"


    She was youngling when the Era of the Gods had ended, with heavy casualties on both sides of the New and Old Gods, not to mention the number of deaths among the mortals. She remembered the time when the party of Heroes gathered the nations to venture fore into the Sea of Clouds to explore the forbiddennd but after many years, not one single ship returned from the Sea of Clouds.


    At that time, she was still not the Matriarch. The previous Dragon Matriarch warned the Heroes not to go and denied any assistance to them when they approached the previous Dragon Matriarch for help. Undaunted, they took the risk, wanting to find out the mysteries of the New World.


    Now, hundreds of years have passed, the songs and mysteries of the Era of Gods have faded, only the eldest of all species remembered and the foolish mortals were embarking on a path that could spell doom to all.


    "Summon my generals!" The Dragon Matriarch ordered. "We must prepare for war!"


    -----


    The New World, The New Kingdom of Ma, Town of Turnstead


    Cork gave a silent signal to his section, as brief snatches of singing floated over with the wind. He carefully shifted a piece of stone rubble from his position as he peeked out from the ruins of a building that appeared to be some kind of shop selling everyday items. Most of the store''s waresid ckened or broken, mixed together with the copsed roof and walls.


    "Why are you hiding like a coward?" A soft feminine voice with a hint of disapproval spoke next to his ear, her breath tickling his ear.


    Cork sighed inwardly and turned his helmeted head over and stared at the pretty face framed by a steel helm. "Lower your volume! We are about to ambush them!"


    "But why?" Thedy knight asked in a lowered voice. "Where thou your honor?"


    "Shhh!" Cork hissed and pushed her lower to the ground as dozens of red armored soldiers appeared beyond the ruined walls. Cork and hispany were deployed forward to this ruined town, where days ago, their gunships had engaged and even brought down an enemy airship.


    With the 2nd Regiment reinforcing and taking over the FOB back at Reachfield, the 1st Regiment was pushed forward to secure the crash site for studies and intelligence gathering. The idental ruse given by Cork was used to great effect by High Command and the local lords made way for the 1st Regiment, allowing them to cross theirnds.


    But with that privilege, came responsibilities, one of which was to allow the local forces to apany the 1st Regiment to the front, which they knight decided to tag along with Cork and his men.


    Now, hiding in the ruins and outskirts of the town of Turnstead, were the men of UN 1st Army Rifle Regiment, mixed in with local forces. Cork''s section, had taken up positions inside two ruins, that over watched a copsed section of the town''s wall. Their Infantry Fighting Vehicle had burrowed inside another ruin, it''s quad barrelled 20 mm gatling gun aimed at the gap in the walls.


    The singing got louder and louder as gs and banners started appearing. The ground shook every now and then, and the section''s sharpshooter cursed and reported in. "Sarge... I am seeing some kind of heavy golem! The big nasty kind! And there is more than one!"


    "How many?" Cork whispered back in his sectionms.


    "I am seeing more than a dozen!" The sharpshooter replied. "And four of them are heading our way"


    "And infantry?" Cork asked as he made a signal to his men carrying the RPG - 1. "How many?"


    "Enemy infantry is spread out, roughly five zero also heading our way!" The reply came into his earpiece. "In total, looks like a battalion size at least!"


    "All units," Suddenly a voice cut into thems as the CO of the 1st Regiment spoke. "Make ready! Enemy forces on approach with heavy golems in support! Wait for themand to fire!"


    Cork turned over to the female Knight and said, "They areing! Whatever happens, do not rush out! You and your men are to hold their positions!"


    "I know what to do..." The Lady Knight frowned and pped down her face shield of her helm and left to join her troops


    "Damn... what a waste!" Krew grinned from the side as he watched the female knight made her way across the rubble. "I think she likes you!"


    "Keep that up and you will be single forever," Cork growled as he readied his rifle. "And keep your voice down!"


    "Haha!" Krew gestured to the gap in the walls and said, "When them singing whatever they are singing, I doubt they could even hear my fart!"


    "Just get ready forbat!" Unable to refute his buddy word''s, Cork sighed.


    "Where is the damn air force when we needed them?" Krew peered over his sights at the approaching banners. "They sure do know when to attack when the damn air force isn''t around!"


    The approaching Protectorate soldiers confidentially climb over the ruined walls, singing and humming along. Cork eyes narrowed and he tightened his gripped on his rifle as he ced his rifle sights at the center mass of one of Protectorate soldiers.


    "Cocky bastards, aren''t they?" Krew hissed as he leaned into his rifle.


    More and more Protectorate soldiers entered the town filling up the streets closest to the walls and gates. The massive golems with smoke puffing out their backs held back beyond the walls and stood there towering over the other Protectorate soldiers.


    "LIGHT THEM UP!" The order came down from the CO.


    Instantly, when the order was given, the hidden soldiers of the 1st Army Rifle Regiment open fired. Tracers from light machine guns spat out from concealed positions pped into the surprised Protectorate soldiers, dropping them like flies.


    Instantly the golems outside the walls jerked into action. They raised their shields and stormed their way forward, with both the golems'' physical shield and magical barrier flickered and deflected tracers into the air.


    The hull down IFV at this moment, chose to open fire. The quad barrel spun up and with eardrum shattering ripping roar, a line of tracers spat out like a beam ofser. Firing at 1,500 rounds per minute, the 20 mm gatling hosed the Protectorate golem that showed up at the wall gap.


    Under the sudden surprise hail storm of shells traveling at 1,030 km per hour. The magical barrier of the golem barely held up for two seconds before popping like a bubble. Its massive tower shield fared slightly better, as the barrage of 20 mm shells hammered the shield into a unrecognizable mess of mangled metal.


    The golem toppled backwards and out of sight of the IFV, its arm and frontal armor banged up from the 20 mm shells. Cork let out a sigh of relief as he saw the enemy golem was stopped by their guns, as he was worried that they might need more firepower to take those giant golems down.


    He peered over his cover and saw the Lady Knight and her men crouching behind their shield wall in shock and fear at their disy of firepower and he felt oddly satisfied with their reaction.


    "Come you bastards! Kill those Beetle heads!"

 Chapter 466: Battle of Turnstead

    Chapter 466: Battle of Turnstead


    Pieces of stone and wood rained down as the heavy morning star the size of wrecking ball came mming into the hull down position of the Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Vehicle Commander Sergeant Rich cursed as he ducked his head from the flying debris. He slipped back into the armoured turret and buttoned up the hatch and yelled to the driver.


    "Reverse now!" He peeked through the viewports at the giant morning star that was been dragged back by a thick chain. "Get us out of here now!"


    The dragonite engines roared and spewed smoke as the driver put the IFV in full reverse. The massive wheels spun wildly, kicking up bits and pieces of rock and smoke as it shot backwards out of its hidey hole.


    The turret shook as the gunner ced a long burst of 20 mm at the enemy golem that had mmed its morning star at their position. Sparks and smoke erupted out from the golem''s magic barrier and shield as the shells mmed into it.


    "Pull back to the second line!" Rich yelled as he held on for his life as the driver drove the IFV in reverse.


    The appearance of the IFV seemed to attract all the attention of the nearby golems, as giant morning stars almost the height of the IFV mmed around it, further smashing apart the already ruined buildings.


    "CORK!" Rich yelled into the radio over the dim of the 20 mm cannon, "We arepromised! Pulling back to the second line now!"


    -----


    "-o the second line now!" The voice of the vehiclemander of the 1st toon, Section 2 came into Cork''s ears.


    "Fark!" Cork leaned on his side as he looked up into the air. He could see the underbelly silhouette of the attack helicopter hovering overhead, its guns firing at some distant target. He pushed himself up to his feet and took cover again as a massive enemy golem stormed past his position.


    A whoosh followed by a trail of smoke mmed into the side of the golem which barely rocked it as the golem''s magic barrier shimmered. It paused and turned its body with a nk and raised its left arm that had a massive ass shield.


    A burst of white steam erupted out from pipes attached to the left arm of the giant golem. It sprayed steam across the ruins and the hot gas flushed out the anti tank team. They yelled and cursed as hot steam sh burn their exposed skin as they fled to get out of range of the golem''s steamthrower.


    "Fark!" Cork cursed again as he saw another golem appearing through the gap of the wall. The golem stormed over the carcasses of three other of its brethren without pause and behind the golem, more Protectorate soldiers followed behind.


    "How many farking golems do they have?" Krew yelled as he fired at the enemy soldiers.


    "Last report, two dozen!" Cork replied as he too joined in firing at the enemy infantry. "We need more AT support!"


    "All units! Fall back to the second line!" The order came in from the CO. "Air support is running dry! They will cover your retreat before they return to rearm!"


    "Now that is bullshit!" Krew cursed as he reloaded.


    "Section Two!" Cork rosed to a half crouch and yelled out while using one hand to gesture. "Fall back now!"


    Krew grunted as he ran, with Cork following behind him. The surviving members of Section Two fell back as well. They were not worried about the enemy infantry, but more of the giant golems that could take a lot of punishment before dying. "Damn Beetle heads!"


    -----


    Avatar Kruther was in a stage of adrenaline and rapture as he was fully encased inside the control cocoon. His vision was hazy but clear enough for details like shapes and colours to be interpreted. With each step he took, the ground shook and each squeeze of his hands triggered the godly weapons mounted on the Warjack.


    He flung the morning star mounted on his right fist at the infidel wagon that spewed unholy death to his faith. The giant morning star shot out with a geyser of steam and unfortunately missed, only smashing apart the building that was in the way.


    With a mental thought, the chains attached to the morning star tightened and started to retract the weapon back to his fist. He felt like a god with the power in his hands and for that, he was ever grateful to Ramuh for giving him the power to judge those unworthy.


    There was a sudden loud bang, and Kruther''s vision flickered. He looked towards the direction the attack came from and raised his left arm and squeezed, spewing steam out in a wide area. He saw the unworthy heretics fleeing like the cowardly scum they were.


    He ignored them, leaving them for the Pdins to clean up, his focus on the fleeing wagon that downed so many of his brothers. As an Avatar, he finally found something worthy of his skills, for so far, thewless were barely even a match to the Protectorate''s power.


    He will keep killing and destroying until all thewless were brought before the Judgement!


    -----


    "Unicorn One One, One Two," The radio crackled. "Cannon is almost dry! Rockets are out!"


    "Shit!" The pilot of One One cursed. "Lem, ammo?"


    "Disappearing as fast as a whore takes gold!" The co pilot yelled back. "Nearly out!"


    The pilot looped the gunship around the town, seeing several fallen golems spewing white and ck smoke into the air dotted all around the town. He estimated they had in total taken out at least a dozen of those things, yet there appeared to be more concealed in the forest edge just a kilometre or two away.


    The golems were harder to killpared to the enemy''s airship as the targets were smaller and they can move surprisingly fast for their weight. And not only that, the gunships had to take out the clusters of mortars lobbing bombs at the dug in troops and anti air projectiles in the skies, and break up any concentrated blocks of enemy infantry.


    "dius Actual! dius Actual! This is Unicorn Flight, over," The pilot finally spoke into his mike when his co pilot indicated the guns were dry.


    "dius Actual, send!" The voice of the 1st Army Rifle Regimentmanding officer came in.


    "Unicorn Flight, we are bingo on ammo," The pilot reported. "RTBing for refuel and rearm, over."


    dius Actual... roger that..."


    "The heavens protect! Out!"


    -----


    Skies over the New Kingdom of Ma, C - 1 Skyfrieghter ''Carrie Zero Niner'' enroute to UN FOB


    The radio chatter between the Army and Air Force over the frontlines could be heard by everyone in the cockpit. The pilot of Carrie Zero Niner, gave a sigh and turned his head back towards the vehiclemander andmented, "Those boys sure had taken the short end of the stick!"


    "No shit... they need more firepower," Warrant Officer Sath, vehiclemander of the Manned Armoured Walker replied in a serious tone. "Hey... how long does it take for this bucket to reach their position?"


    "Hmmm?" The pilot nced at the map strapped on his thigh and did a quick mental calction. "I say about forty five mins to an hour roughly."


    "Wait..." The pilot frowned as he turned around and looked at Sath in the eye. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"


    Sath gave a nasty smile and said, "Why don''t we redirect towards the front and drop my boys off there?"


    "Are you serious?" The pilot asked, "We can''t just redirect the flight without authorization!"


    "Come on!" Sath persuaded, "Our boys are in deep shit and my unit might change the tide of the war!"


    "Shit!" The co pilot cursed. "He''s mad! There is no ce tond this transport!"


    "Nah..." Sath grinned. "You guys don''t need tond this bucket... just get us over there and we do the rest!"


    "Fark... Are we really doing this?" The co pilot asked the pilot, who had a deep frown on his face. "Seriously?"


    "Ahh... Fark it!" The pilot gave a grin. "Let''s do this!"


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Town of Turnstead


    The golem toppled back with a heavy crash, and steam burst out from cracks in its armour. The golem''s body spasmed for a short while before it curled up and remained still. The turret of the IFV that had taken out the golem twirled and locked on to another golem and let loose another long burst ofser like tracers at the target.


    Cork hefted the heavy RPG - 1uncher onto his shoulder, the weapon picked up from some fallen soldier. He aimed down the sights and squeezed down the trigger and the weapon banged loudly and spat out a dark projectile that vanished from his sight.


    A sh and a small cloud of smoke was the only indication the rocket had struck something. When the smoke cleared, he saw the golem still standing amidst the ruins. Tracers bounced off its shimmering magic barrier as the golem turned its attention towards the IFV.


    "Victory One Two! Fall back!" Cork yelled into hisms at the IFV. "That golem is targetting you!"


    Victory One Two''s turret spat out another burst of 20 mm fire, which the enemy golem dodged by hopping to the side, its barrier flickering as it took some hits. The golem smashed through several ruined buildings like paper and it charged forward.


    More tracer fire chased the golem, most of it missed, but enough hammered against the golem''s barrier bringing it down. Victory One Two''s eight wheels spun rapidly as it reversed to avoid the charging golem and managed to barely avoid getting hit by the swinging morning star of the enemy.


    Once to a safe distance, the rocket pod mounted next to the turret roared, dumping all seven 70 mm rockets point nk at the centre of mass of the golem, instantly shrouding it with explosions and smoke.


    "FARK!" Cork yelled as his ears rang painfully from the explosions. He stumbled to his feet and dragged himself further away between the fight of the two beasts.


    A shadow burst out from the dirty grey smoke and the enemy golem, missing its shield arm and its once shiny red and ck armour now looking mangled charged out. White smoke hissed out from cracks and torn hoses and pipes, and its red eyes beneath the grill style face shield glowed brightly.


    Victory One Two continued its reverse as it put more distance away from the golem and itself. The gun turret continuously firing, shredding the golem''s heavy armour until suddenly the golem tripped as its internals were shredded by the mixed AP and HE rounds, no longer able to function.


    Cork let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the downed golem. The enemy had been throwing golems at them like they were candy. The enemy seemed to have better magic protection spellspared to Empire, as each individual enemy soldier had some form of personnel magic barrier.


    But the worry wasn''t on the enemy infantry, but more on the giant golems that were able to take a heavy beating and break through their lines. The IFVs each carried 700 ready rounds and a further 500 rounds stored in internal lockers. They could take on the golems but once their ammo ran dry, they need time to reload.


    And during reloading, the enemy golems took the chance to push in. The otherpanies holding the nks outside the city fared better as they had the range and open ground to engage the golems. The reason why the Army was holding inside the town was to minimize the destruction of the grain fields around the city. High Command wanted the grain fields as it will provide a source of food once the grain ripens.


    And due to that decision, Cork and his men were fighting for their lives inside the ruins of the town.

 Chapter 467: Care Package

    Chapter 467: Care Package


    Pdin Rico remained crouched low among the stalks of green grains with the rest of hisrades. He could hear the thunderous roars and explosionsing from within the toppled walls before him. For the first time since stepping on this virginnd, he felt a sense of fear and unease, but the hymns sung helped eased his troubled mind as he waited patiently for the order to advance with the rest.


    A Justice ss Warjack puffing steam stormed past his position, the massive war machine trampling the stalks of grains into dust as it marched forward with several other Warjacks. The sudden appearance of the unknown flyers has halted the Protectorate''s advance after a light escort airship was taken down, forcing them to change tactics.


    Following that, more of the unknown flyers had approached over the week, raining mes down with those incredibly noisy weapons. To evade the unknown flyers, the Protectorate forces in charge of subduing this region had to deploy illusion spells, that allowed the troops to mimic their surroundings under a mirror shield, allowing them to evade the detection of the hostile flyers.


    The cost of using such spells was immense, an extravagance that was almost impossible in the Old World with the number of magic crystals that was required. But with the abundance of magic crystals found in the New World, it was actually cheap to cast such a spell over each individual soldier, even the spellsted for less than a quarter turn of the ss.


    And the locals captured or converted over, were interrogated vigorously by the Inquisition, as they sought to discover the identity of those flyers, but what information given was sparse and fragmented. What information that could be pieced together was that the flyers were most likely from a demon worshipping nation seemingly very powerful in certain ways of the magicks, hidden all the way in the south west corner of the New World, called the ''Un An''.


    With word sent back of their defeat, the Lord Inquisitor General dispatched more forces forward from the reinforcements sent from their mothend. The original force of two thousand Pdins, one thousand auxiliary soldiers, and a hundred Warjacks were reinforced by twice the amount.


    Specialized anti air Warjacks and steam coaches were also deployed, to provide some form of anti air cover for the ground troops while a Penal ss heavy air cruiser with two escorts was also dispatched. The airships hung back low to the ground under the cover of illusion spells, as they observed the ''Un An'' tactics.


    Pdin Rico felt a sense of pride and joy as he watched the backs of the Warjacks smashing down what remained of the walls of the town as they pushed in to drive the heretics out. He sang joyfully with the rest as themand to advance came down and just as he stood up, there was a low rumbling that grew louder and loudering from skies.


    He turned his nce upwards like many others, and saw a huge dark green wyvern like flyer, doing a loop overhead before it seemed to descend downwards towards the grain fields. "What is that thing doing?"


    -----


    United Nation Air Force, C - 1 Skyfrieghter, Callsign ''Carrie Zero Niner''


    "Coming down for drop off!" The co pilot intoned as he kept a strict eye on flight instruments. "150... 100... 50..."


    "Hold on tight!" The pilot yelled into thems as he aimed the nose of the transport at the patch of grain fields. "We only have a limited window!"


    "Wakakakakakaa!" The goblin cargo master at the rear tail hatch crackled wildly in reply over thems. "Crazy! Me sa love CRAZY! WEeeeee!"


    The bulky aircraft came down low, its underbelly just barely eight meters off the ground, its powerful propellers shredding the tips of the green grain as it came barreling down. Its rear cargo hatch had swung open, exposing the cargo inside.


    "NOW! DROP IT NOW!" The pilot yelled and the goblin cargo master crackled wildly once more and ripped off the parachute cord that was attached to the cargo and a massive triple parachute system burst out. Instantly, the pallet holding the cargo was dragged out by the force of the wind, sliding the entire pallet with its cargo out of the rear cargo hatch with a piercing shriek of metal and wood.


    "Wakakakaaa! Care package for you Smelly Boys!" The goblin yelled into the wind as the C - 1 Skyfreighter pulled up towards the skies. "Enjoy it, suckers!"


    "HQ is gonna have my ass for this shit..." The pilot sighed as he leaned over the side to look out of the cockpit, seeing the results of the drop off. "Ah... Fark it... this will be worth it!"


    -----


    United Nations Army 1st Armour, Unit Zero Two


    "HOLD ON TIGHT!" Warrant Officer Sath yelled to his crew as they all felt the sudden jerk. It barelysted for a few seconds before a mightly crash followed by the wild shaking ride as the MAW they were ploughed through the grain field after being dropped off the rear of the transport ne.


    "HOOOOOOLYYYYY SHIIIIIIIIT!" The driver, Corporal Clove screamed as he held on to the hand bars tightly for his life. "THIS ISSS SUUCCCH AH BAAAD IDEAAAA!"


    Finally, the mad shaking came to a halt and the crew let off a relieved sigh. Sath quickly ordered, "Damage report!"


    "All green expect the forward left two''s suspension in yellow!" Clove replied as he ran a systems check. "Detaching parachute!"


    "Weapons all green!" The gunner yelled. "Ready to rock and roll!"


    "Bring her up!" Sath replied as he looked through the viewing monitors. "Let''s kick some ass!"


    -----


    Pdin Rico stared in confusion at the strange object that fell off the rear of therge flyer. The anti air steam coaches spewed dozens of bolts from its multi pipes, hoping to hit the enemy flyer that offered itself to their Judgement.


    Meanwhile, the strange object that fell off, torn through the stalks of grains, kicking up dirt along its path of destruction within the grain field beforeing to a stop. The billowing balloon like bags trailing behind the object was carried away by the wind and all eyes were on the object that came to a sudden halt.


    Rico squinted his eyes as he spotted some movement from the dull green object. He frowned, feeling a sense of unease again when a brief sh appeared from the object and the next thing he saw was a brief sharp tipped conical shadow that hung in the air by the shimmering magic barrier just a hand spun away from the back of the Warjack.


    His mind was barely able to register the strange image when he found himself tumbling away in the dirt by a sudden explosion.


    -----


    "Load HEAT!" Sath yelled as he aimed aser pointer on the nearest enemy golem. "On my marked target!"


    "UP!" The loader replied back as he mmed in a blue banded shell into the breach of the 88 mm gun.


    "FIRE!" Sath yelled and the gunner using Sath''sser indicator fired the cannon directly at the rear of the enemy golem.


    "HIT!"


    "Again!" Sath ordered, seeing the telltale flickering barrier around the golem. "Sub cannon! Own time own target! Engage!"


    The Manned Armoured Walker was an MK IV variant, unlike the old MK I which Sath and his crew piloted a couple of years back. The MK IV carried a 88 mm long barrel cannon in ce of the standard 3" cannon (76 mm) stub nose barrel. The side .50 cal ball turrets were removed and the hull of the MK IV was longer by a metre, allowing the addition of a forward mounted 20 mm autocannon turret next to the driver / pilot seat. It also carried two nine shot 120 mm mortar pods on its rear, providing it with indirect fire support.


    "Get us out of here!" Sath ordered as he spotted the rest of the enemy golems turning around. The second HEAT round had knocked the golem t down, while the 20 mm and driver controlled .50 cal guns were chewing up the dazed infantry. "Keep moving!"


    The strapped and mps holding the MAW to the pallet snapped as the driver applied power. The MAW unfolded itself from its crouch like a spidering alive. Its eight multi jointed legs unfolding and stretching out while the gyro stabilizers and heavy duty suspensions carried the main hull upwards.


    Rectangr blocks of armour ting covered its entire hull and certain portions of its legs. The t rectangr turret spun smoothly and let loose another roar and high velocity round hammered another golem too slow to react, sending it crashing down in a cloud of mes and smoke.


    Sath had a fierce grin on his face as he tracked the enemy golems which had fanned out. The golems speed surprised him for a moment as they rushed forward to engage his MAW. "Circle right around the bastards! Gunner! Hit them when you have a shot!"


    "Think you pieces of metal are faster than us?" Clove hissed as he engaged the drive system of the MAW. With the brakes and cramps released on the wheeled feet of the MAW, the wheels drove the MAW to the side, dodging a couple of giant spike balls tossed by the enemy, further smashing up the already torn up pallet.


    Pushing the MAW to a circling dash, the 88 mm gun turret swivelled around, the long barrel was like a finger of death as it pointed towards the enemy and spat out shells at them. The MAW ploughed through the grain fields, while the enemy golems tried to chase and encircle it, but the MAW was faster its eight wheeled legs, allowing to move across the rtively t terrain with ease.


    The MAW charged straight into a retreating wagon that looked like a boiler on wheels with many pipes sticking out, that fired off dozens and dozens of bolts at it. The bolts bounced off the thick sloping armour and the MAW t boned the wagon, the force and weight of the MAW, crumpled the wagon and steam erupted out from the broken boiler.


    "Infantry in the open! Two o''clock!" The driver called out as he spotted the enemy mass.


    "Roger!" Sath replied and he flipped the safeties off the mortar pods. "Engaging with mortars!"


    The two nine tube mortar pods at the rear of the turret popped as Sath fired off a volley of six mortars, three from each pod, at the enemy infantry. The shrieking mortar sshed over the enemy, exploding into grey smoke puffs overhead, as the mortar bombs air burst, ying the infantry with red hot shrapnel.


    "Looks like the boys are finallying out to join the fun!" Sathmented whenser beam like tracer fire came flying down at the enemy golems. "Damn... they are KSing our frags!"


    The previously retreated IFVs had rolled forward after the MAW hadnded and disrupted the enemy golems'' advance. With the pressure taken off and enough time was brought for the IFVs to reload, they charged back into the battle with their 20 mm gatling guns zing, ripping the golems that had pushed them back to shreds before pushing forward to assist the lone MAW that was single handedly engaging over a dozen enemy golems.


    Now that the tides had turned, the remaining Protectorate forces beat a hasty retreat, abandoning their wounded and downed golems in the fields.


    Sath popped themander hatch open and poked his body out as he took in the sights and smell of the battlefield. He took a deep breath and coughed, shaking his head. "I wonder why those hoomans always like to say they love the smell of napalm or whatever after a battle..."


    "Maybe, they have different tastes?" Clove joined in as he appeared from his driver hatch.


    "It always smells of metal, shit, and piss after a fight," Sath sighed. "And now, this god awful stench of cooked flesh and chemicals!"


    "I guess... they love war and bloodshed?"

 Chapter 468: The Un An

    Chapter 468: The Un An


    The New World, City of Hensink, New Protectorate Territories


    Inquisitor General Rism smashed the golden goblet in his hands to the ground as he watched the disgraceful retreat of his men from the crystal recording. The other officers flinched as blood red wine sttered over the rich carpets and sweated nervously as they awaited the outburst from theirmander.


    "These... heretics!" Rism fumed. "How dare they! How dare they strike against our holy warriors doing Ramuh''s justice on thisnd! Heresy!"


    "What do we know of them?" Rism asked in a cold voice to his gathered officers after he had calmed down. "Why had we not encountered this... demonic force?"


    "Lord Inquisitor General," An officer stepped forward and said, "The localwless seemed to know them as the Un An... A force that is also deemed heretic by the standards of the locals here."


    "A heretical force among the heretics?" Rismughed. "What a joke!"


    "Find out everything you can of this... Un An..." Rism growled. "They dared raised their hands against us not once but twice!"


    "My Lord," Another officer stood forward. "These Un An appeared to possess weapons that... uh... might be superior to own our..."


    "Be careful with your words... Colonel Acolyte..." Rism warned. "sphemy will not be tolerated!"


    The colonel acolyte bowed his head in apology and changed his words, "The enemy possess weapons of unholy powers, especially in the air. Their flyers are fast and deadly. Our ships are slower and... more likely to be hurt by the heretical flyers."


    "So?" Rism asked. "Can they stop our Will? Our Faith?"


    "No, Lord," The colonel acolyte continued. "Thewless and heretics cannot stop our Will and Faith, but we are on theirnd now..."


    "We have limited troops and weapons," The colonel acolyte exined. "While they have an entire nation or kingdom of people and resources to draw upon."


    "In this manner, we are...cking..." The colonel acolyte nervously said. "We do not have the numbers to win if they can call upon such unholy powers on our warriors."


    Rism gave a unhappy grunt, as he too know this was a fact. "What do you propose than?"


    "We... need to pull back our forces..." The colonel acolyte said. "Dig in and hold out while building up our strength and with one decisive action, we bring Judgement to the heretics!"


    Rism frowned as he did not like give up things that belonged to him. "We will be aughingstock to the other Great Nations if they knew we retreated before a bunch of heretics and barbarians!"


    "My Lord, we have to think of the bigger picture!" His officers advised him. "Once the fleet returns with the third wave of reinforcements and supplies, our position will be stronger!"


    "As the Judge had once said," The colonel acolyte added. "One can run from his sins, but no one can out run the Judgement!"


    Rism gave a curt nod, "Alright! Pull back all our forces! We shall build a stronghold here!"


    "Start transporting all the new converts and sinners here!" He ordered. "Put them to work in the mines and farms!"


    "Gather all the magic crystals we can!" Rism said. "I want every single piece of crystal in our hands!"


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Town of Turnstead


    Sergeant Cork closed his fist over the dog tags in his hand with a deep sigh before he shoved them into his breast pocket. He turned his attention to the small crew ofbat engineer goblins and elves who were all over the husk of a downed golemying on its side.


    A goblin in a kid sized overalls wielded a crowbar and had one end of it inside the cracks of the frontal armor. He leapt off the golem and dangled at the other end of the crowbar, trying to pry open the armor ting. Other goblins giggled andughed at his antics and joined in, climbing over the golem and one by one they added their weight to the crowbar.


    The weakened armor ting with dozens of fist sized holes gave way with a moan of twisted metal and the rivets popped off. The goblins fell off the end of the crowbar with cheers andughter as they swarmed over the removed ting to stare at the golem''s innards.


    Cork feeling curious, went up to join the small crowd of soldiers who were watching the engineers take the golem apart. Suddenly, the goblins who were fiddling with something inside the golem''s innards, caused a hatch opened up just behind the head and a thick viscous smelly fluid spew out from the opening.


    The goblins cheered again and they ignored the smelly fluid and gathered around the opened hatch. This time, they dragged something or someone out and dumped it on the ground without ceremony. A twisted figureid curled up in a fetal position with tubes and hoses sticking out of it withered body.


    Cork went closer to examine the body, and the sour stench of decay and rot grew stronger. The body thatid twisted in death did not seemed to have passed away just recently. Instead, the naked body looked like someone who had died months or even years ago. The skin was grey and leathery, muscles and flesh had atrophied away, while the some sort of leather mask was sewn over the mouth and nose with two hoses that stretched into the hatch.


    The eyes of the body was stitched shut, including the ears. Two more hoses were attached in a row at the upper spine, one hose each at the elbows and back of the thighs and even the privates. Cork stood back in disgust as the body remained him of the Emperor''s experiments in making the Bronze men.


    The goblins chatted excitedly over the discovery as they continued digging about the golem while Cork gave a sad shake of his head and went off to find his surviving men.


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Reachfield, United Nations Forward Operating Base


    "How long more must we wait?" The Silver Lord asked as he stared down at General Joseph. "It has been many five days! Yet there is still no word from the King!"


    "I understand you concerns," Joseph replied. "But from what we know, the Royal Capital had fallen weeks ago! It is not umon to not have any news!"


    "I do not trust you!" The Silver Lord said, which the other gathered local lords nodded and yelled their concerns. "You must leave thisnd at once! This is not yournd! Not you... Un An can juste in as you please!"


    Joseph sighed as he looked at the group of local lords who had gathered here. Fear, greed, and confusion filled their eyes as they put up a front. Joseph knew that they had received word that the King had mostly perished with the rest of Golden Lords in the Capital, making the Silver Lords the next highest nobility in the kingdom and also the fact that the Protectorate appeared to be retreating.


    This made the local lords greedy for the power vacuum within the kingdom and also the fear of the UN as they had the strongest military currently inside the kingdom. Joseph was very certain that despite the bluster they were showing off here, once the meeting was over, some of the crafty ones will approach him secretly for some under table deal to help push them to power with some agreement.


    Just Joseph was to open him mouth to dismiss the meeting so that they can get on with the fake show. The ps of the meeting tent opened and a tall coated figure limped in. Joseph seeing the figure quickly snapped to attention and saluted. "Sir!"


    Captain ke waved away the salute and took off his peak cap and asked, "Are all the lords of the surroundingnds here?"


    "Yes sir! Except for a few lower ranked nobles, majority of the east, south and western NKM nobles are all gathered here!" Joseph replied while the Silver Lords stared at ke with curiosity and confusion.


    "Good," ke put down his cap on the table and stood in the front. His appearance made some of the Lords gasped in surprise.


    "A short ear!"


    "Demon!"


    "I am Captain ke," ke introduced himself. "Some of you may have heard of me, some don''t..."


    "I am the highest ranking officer of the United Nations and also its king, governor or whatever you want to call it..." ke said as he eyed the gathered Lords with a cold re. "In other words, I am the UN!"


    "Now... I got two choices for you all..." ke tapped his fingers against the table top as his earlier words had gain the full attention of the Lords. "One... submit to the rule of the UN immedately without any demands..."


    The tent erupted into chaos as the Lords protested at the absurd demand. "What right do you have to force us to submit to you?"


    ke continued on as if he did not hear the angry protests given by the Silver Lords. "Or I will kill everyone single one of you right here right now and take yournds by force!"


    He snapped his finger and a dozen ck armored soldiers entered carrying sub guns all aiming at the indignant Lords. Even Joseph was surprised by this move, as he stood there watching in silence.


    "What right I have is the ability to dictate whether you live or die now..." ke coldly said. "Do not waste my time... Yes or no?"


    "Never!" A more fearless Silver Lord yelled out as he stood forward. He tugged loose his peace bonded sword and drew it out, pointing the sharp tip at ke. "You demon worshippers shall never take ournds away!"


    ke gave a nod in appreciation and drew a pistol out from his coat in one smooth move before firing it point nk at the Lord that stood to him. His gunshot rang out loudly within the confines of the tentage and it was also the signal for the rest of his guards who open fired at the group of Lords.


    Joseph let our a deep sigh and gestured his men away when they came rushing into the tent with weapons. Outside there was more gunfire as ke''s men executed the guards of the Lords. ke reholstered his pistol and turned to Joseph and ordered in low voice. "Take control of everything."


    Following that, ke turned on his heels and headed out. Joseph frowned at the carrage and called to the Captain, "Sir... is all this worth it?"


    ke paused without looking back and said, "Like I said, don''t waste my time... Send your men and secure their treasury! Loot all their valuables!"


    Joseph watched ke leave the tent and he sighed again. The smell of gunpowder, blood and voided bowels hung thickly inside the tent. He sat down heavily on one of the chairs and stared nkly ahead until the tent ps opened and one of his aide popped his head in. "Sir? What now?"


    "Clear the bodies," Joseph said. "Get them all a decent burial. And call 2nd Battalions senior officers in for a brief."


    "A brief here, Sir?" The aide''s face was pale at seeing the leaking bodiesying crumpled together.


    "Of course not!" Joseph cursed. "We do it in another tent!"


    "Oh... Yes sir!" The aide quickly left to carry out his orders.


    Joseph stood up and packed up his stuff, thinking that it was really a waste of time to have the meeting with the local lords if the Captain was just going to kill them off in the end. In the end, while he might not approve of such cold hearted methods, these executions were actually quitemon in the past before he joined the UN.


    He also understood the rational behind the Captain''s choices, as it was the fastest way to secure funding. Ultimately, won''t wars waged to make money?

 Chapter 469: Magicks, the Gathering

    Chapter 469: Magicks, the Gathering


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Frontier City


    The stout city gates erupted into mes and shattered pieces as a barrage of 70 mm rockets mmed into it. The city guards knocked off their feet could only watch with stunned fear at the metal wagons rolling into the city as if they owned it. Ballista towers and dragon cannons that tried to return fire were hit with explosions, turning them into ciders and mangled metal.


    Strangely enough the metal wagons did not stop to attack anyone. They ignored the guards and city folk in their path and instead headed straight for the castle and the estates of the nobles. There, the rear of the boxy wagons opened up and soldiers in strange and ugly multi colors stormed into the estates and castles, subduing the guards. What further shocked the people was that these soldiers started to carry out chests of gold, silver and other valuables.


    But despite their protests, the people could only kept quiet as they watch these strange soldiers with their powerful thunder weapons loot the city treasury and the manors of their lords.


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore


    Ford was angry as he red at ke''s image on the disy, "With all respect Sir, this is daylight robbery! How could you approve such measures!"


    "You said we needed money," ke''s tone was cold and uncaring. "Now you have the money to fund everything you needed."


    "Not by robbing others and killing people!" Ford growled. "Captain... Richard! Stop this madness!"


    "Madness?" ke shook his head, his tone soft. "We had been kind enough to these... people..."


    "This world has taken too many of our people away already!" ke spoke forcefully. "No more... enough is enough!"


    "They want war? I shall grant them their wishes!" ke said. "And besides, I am only taking the wealth from those corrupted nobles who squeezed themon people dry! And since the nobles are already dead... I see no reason why not to take over their wealth andnd."


    "Under our rule," ke''s eyes glittered with steel. "This world will be a better ce! Famine... war... sickness... inequality... All... shall... be... gone!"


    "But Richard!" Ford shook his head. "There are better ways in doing this!"


    "I agree there are better ways," ke ceded the point. "But it takes too much time!"


    "Understand this, Commander!" ke said. "We are at war! The enemy beyond the End Zone is right here in our yard! The nations and kingdoms of this continent are still fractured and in conflict!"


    "You want to be Emperor?" Ford hissed. "Just like that Bluewood Emperor? Is that it?"


    "If bing an Emperor can solve all these problems we face..." ke softly replied. "Than I shall raise up to be the Emperor..."


    "Richard!" Ford was shocked. "Do you realized what you are saying? Are you even hearing your own words? You want to be a despot? A military dictator?"


    "What happened to your values?" Ford snapped. "Your integrity? Your honor? How will Sherene felt if she knew how you changed?"


    "ENOUGH!" ke roared. "Do not speak of her name! They took her away from me! THEY SHALL PAY IN BLOOD!"


    "CAPTAIN!" Ford yelled back. "You are breaking the code! Come to your goddamn senses!"


    "Kevin..." ke closed his eyes as he spoke in a mild voice. "Either you stand with me, or... you can step down from your position."


    "This is something that I need to do..." ke continued on. "Don''t worry... Either way, I will see this through to the end!"


    Ford red silently at the disy as ke terminated the connection. He mmed his fist down hard at the table top, "FUCK! He has gone mad!"


    -----


    New Kingdom of Ma, Reachfield, United Nations Forward Operating Base


    ke slumped back into the field chair and closed his tired eyes. He reached down to his boots and slipped a hold out revolver from his ankle holster. He opened his eyes and flipped the revolver chamber out and dumped out all five rounds onto the folding table. Slowly, he picked up one round and inserted into the chamber and spun it before flicking his wrist to snap the chamber back and ced the muzzle into his mouth.


    He took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. There was a sharp snap as the hammer hit the empty chamber. "ARGHhhhhhhhhhhh!"


    ke flung the revolver away as he bent down over his knees in frustration and pain. It was another day, and yet another failed attempt to die. He remained bent over his knees until he gotten his emotions in order before he straightened up and packed away his weapon.


    "If luck does not want me dead..." ke whispered to himself as he put on his coat. "Then others shall die in my ce... till I die..."


    -----


    The Old World, At the edge of the Sea of Cloud


    A massive shape blotted out the sun, casting a deep shadow across thends. The people in towns and viges, toiling in fields and forests, all paused their work to stare up at the object covering the skies. The simple folk started cheering as they recognized the banners trailing underneath the flying object while excited children tried to chase the flying ind.


    Dozens of fish shaped airships escorted the flying ind that span almost a kilometre in length and four hundred meters in width. Jagged upside down mountains poked down from the ind base with banners and gs fluttering from the sharp points. While on the topside, an iron castle with walls and even clumps of forest took up the entire surface. The castle and the walls were made up of riveted armor ting and steam cannon turrets were all over the ce, their barrels pointed out at an angle. Even underneath the ind were turrets mounted all over.


    At the rear end of the flying ind, there were over a dozen giant air screws that provided the needed propulsion to push the ind. Giant smoke stack puffed out steam as the flying ind and its convoy slowly made their way towards the Sea of Clouds.


    Scores of colorful sky fisherships surrounded the flying ind, the fishermen and crew cheering and waving colorful gs in pride. The fisherships broke off when the escort ships startednding on the flying ind as it approached the Sea of Clouds. The fishermen and their families watched and prayed from the brave men and women onboard the flying ind as it disappeared into the thick clouds.


    -----


    Half a dayter, in another region of the Sea of Clouds, dozens of grey fat teardrop hull shaped airships with smoke puffing out from funnels mounted along the topside of the airships. Rectangr armor skirting covered most of it sides including the vulnerable air screws. Circr view ports lined the sides while the noses of the airships had drill like protrusions jutting out.


    The group of airships silently disappeared into the clouds and very quickly, all traces of the Cartel of Amon disappeared with the wind.


    -----


    Several hourster, another group of airships appeared, this time in two distinctive fleets. One of the fleets had dragons dragging long slender hulls that designs looked ancient. Some of the slender hulls even have row wings, that were muscle and steam powered. The colors of the hulls were mainly in a mix of white and ck, making the dragon ships of the Dragon Lords look grim.


    The other fleet was the total opposite of the dragon ships. Vibrant colors and banners covered the rakish open totaled ships that looked simr to the sky fisher ships. Cheerful music andughter could be heard from the ships of the Loose Federation as their ships formed up in a hap hazardous manner.


    On the other hand, the dragon ships were like a funeral, as they silently beat their wings to enter the cloud wall. The ships of the Loose Federation happily followed behind the dragon ships as the two allies ventured to cross the Sea of Clouds.


    -----


    At roughly the same time, at another location of the Sea of Clouds. A fleet of resplendent looking airships of iron grey and silver appeared. The new arrivals have ornate aesthetic designs and decor covering their hulls. Motifs of beasts, monsters and nts covered almost every inch of the ships.


    Blue gs fluttered all along the vessels, each disying a crest of three downward pointing silver triangles on a field of blue. The Tri State''s airships maintained perfect formation as they wheeled as one and entered the Sea of Clouds.


    -----


    Two dayster at another region of the Sea of Clouds, another group of airships appeared. This group of airships wererge and were in segments. The hull were segmented, the blockish body slowly taping out, creating an look like a pagoda on its side.


    The air ships of the Suunjon Dynasty were thest to depart from the Old World and into the New World. Unlike the rest of the Seven Great Nations, the Suunjon Dynasty were sited at the East most regions of the Old World. Hence their fleet did not join the rest in entering the Sea of Clouds from the West borders but instead, the Suunjon Fleet reached the Sea of Clouds from the eastern side,


    Same as everyone else, the Suunjon Fleet took a moment to gather its courage, but the airships dove straight into the clouds.


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet


    Fleet Master Megan smiled like cat as she clinked sses with Fleet Master Akron and Fleet Master Tediore. Fleet Master Tediore''s face was turning red from the alcohol he had consumed, "I did not expect you to be so far sighted, Megan!"


    "The price of food had since tripled from this month!" Tedioreughed joyously. "We are rich!"


    "Of course!" Megan snorted as she sipped her wine. "The price will go up higher now that this new religious faction that was said to have appear from the Old World keeps the war going!"


    "Yes..." Fleet Master Akron nodded. "But the UN seemed not to care about this... I am surprised that they send their troops up to help the New Kingdom of Ma..."


    "Doesn''t matter," Megan replied. "In fact, they help prolong the war!"


    "Gentlemen," Megan stood up and said. "Now is the time for us to make money!"


    "With the UN putting troops into Ma," Megan had a sly smile. "War will bring up prices of all goods!"


    "This time, we will make gold like we had never do so before!" Megan dered. "Wood, metal, oil, grains, and many others... We have plenty stockpiled away for such a moment!"


    "But the religious fanatics?" Tediore suddenly asked. "What if the UN can''t stop them?"


    "If the UN can''t stop those fanatics..." Megan sighed, "Than there is no ce we can run away to..."


    Tediore red face stared at Megan in surprise. Megan gave augh and shook her head. "Do not worry about the religious fanatics... We have a surprise of our own if they dare to set their eyes on us!"


    "What surprise?" Tediore asked curiously.


    Megan gave a nod to Akron who stood up and disappeared behind a curtained room. Shortly after he returned with a long wooden box. After cing the box down on the table, Akron opened the lid and Tediore gasped in shocked happiness. "You found out their secrets?"


    "Of course!" Megan started smiling like a cat again as she picked up the long barrel rifle cast in steel and polished wood. "We had our eye on their thunder weapons for years!"


    "We managed to... persuade some of those people in the UN to sell us their thunder sticks over a year ago..." Megan''s smile deepened as she expertly worked the bolt of the rifle. "Our smiths had long since learn the secrets of their thunder sticks!"


    "Incredible!" Tediore stared in wonder at the rifle in Megan''s hands.


    "Not only these type of thunder sticks..." Akron added. "We can make thoserger weapons... called cannons!"


    "We can now make thunder weapons on our own!"

 Chapter 470: Awe And Respect

    Chapter 470: Awe And Respect


    The low rumble of engines came down the paved path that was overgrown with weeds. Four armoured vehicles came rolling down cautiously, the lead IFV''s gun pointing forward, while the rest had their turrets facing left, right and thest vehicle''s gun covering their rear. Along the sides of the IFVs, were two rows of archaic cavalry riding war dragons, making the scene look surreal.


    Some infantry were seated on the hull while others remained inside the trooppartment, those outside kept their eyes open for any trouble. Suddenly the lead Infantry Fighting Vehicle came to a halt, which the rest of the column followed. The lead vehiclemander called out to the troops. "Dismount! Dismount!"


    The infantry hoped off from the sides of the vehicle and those inside the trooppartment rushed out too. The soldiers automatically spread out to the side of the road, taking a stance as they scanned their surroundings with their weapons at the ready.


    The vehiclemander raised his binocrs and observed the remains of the ruined city that appeared entered their visual range, trying to find signs of life. But all he can see around the once proud city was the vast rows and rows of dried and rotted corpses that was left impaled on the fields. The only signs of life were the hundreds of cawing scavenger wyverns that pecked at the corpses.


    "Advance!" Thepanymander called out to the troops and vehicles. The men started moving forward in two rows, while the vehicles gently rolled forward in support. The archaic cavalry consisting of a mixture of different local lords'' soldiers and household guards that tagged along the UN forces, moved with practised ease with the rifle toting soldiers'' advance as they spread forward to provide a screen for thepany.


    Cork followed along with his men as they advanced towards the ruins that were once the royal capital of Ma. Memories of a past life came shing across his eyes as he remembered how he once did the same, following behind hundreds and hundreds of ck d Imperial soldiers and banners.


    Now, he has returned with a very much smaller force that could easily raze down the heavens and kill gods! He looked up as a low droning noise came overhead and saw the underbelly of two attack helicopters circling above as they provided close air support for the scoutingpany.


    Sticking close to Cork''s elbow was the pretty female knight. Her armour nged with each step she made as she followed Cork closely behind. She had be meeker after the battle of Turnstead and no long acted superior to Cork and his men. Now she listened to Cork''s instructions like as if she was just a lowly private instead of a proud Knight.


    Jeanne Von Iris was a proud woman, hailing from a proud lineage of Knights. She had once looked down upon the world from above her mount even where men and women worshipped her strength and station. Even with the loss of the Old Man Kingdom, the Empire still treated her house with due respect as Knights were revered regardless of which master they served.


    When the Empire pulled back their forces after the loss of their Emperor, her services were immediately sought after by the different factions seeking to reunite thends under the banners of the Man Royalties. A short bloody civil war boasted her reputation among the people and when the new King was crowned, she returned to her home and the local lord hired her as the local bailiff to oversee the security of thend.


    It was hard at first with the defeated remnants of the previous order turned bandits and insurgents, especially with a low season of harvest. It took her much effort before the bandits were subdued and peace reimed thends.


    When rumours came of an invasion from the northern coast, she readied her men for battle, just in case of a summon from the King. But instead, weeks passed without a word, only to suddenly have some unknown soldiers appearing inside theirnds like magic!


    She quickly sallied fore with her men to confront the unknown force, only to find that they had even constructed a fort and that the uninvited guests were from the Un An which she had heard so many rumours about.


    To her surprise, the so called warriors of the Un An seemed so disappointing. Her expectations were dashed when she met one of the leaders of the Un An soldiers. Despite his muscr frame and somewhat good looks, his dirty clothes like the rest of the Un An soldiers, looked like they were scavaged and stitched together in azy way.


    There wasn''t even a piece of proper armour issued, as she noted the Un An soldiers wore some kind of light leather chest piece, shoulder guards, helmet and a crossbow like weapon. How could the Un An that was rumoured to be about to defeat the Empire looked so shabby be something that she could not conform?


    Her disappointed in meeting the Un An made her irritated as she followed around the familiar looking small unit leader, making captiousments to soothe over her disappointed heart. She had imagined the Un An troops to be riding on powerful mounts and heavy armour, wielding thunder weapons that can smite down monsters and demi gods.


    But reality showed her otherwise, making her very disappointed. When she found out the Golden Lords had invited the Un An in to help with the invasion up north, she did not doubt their words, as she did not think one would ever dare lie to a Knight. She even volunteered to her Silver Lord to follow the Un An when they started heading towards the enemy, wanting to see how powerful the shabby looking soldiers were, and if they were weak and useless, she nned to expose them for being a fraud.


    But when she followed along with the Un An soldiers, she slowly realised a few points. The soldiers despite lookingid back and carefree, were extremely quiet and fast on their drills or reactions. At first, Jeanne assumed that they were trying to impress her at first when the small leader Cork gavemands with just wordless gestures, but soon it turned out to be natural to them.


    The way the men move and responded surprised her too as they seemed to know what they were doing without needing someone to supervisor them or remind them. And unlike the foot soldier tactics, she learned and knew, the Un An seemed to prefer a loose formation and loves to prone or crouch. She questioned the rationality of such tactics with the small leader Cork, who replied that it made the soldiers hard to spot or get hit and she did realise that the shabby uniforms did a good job of blending the soldiers into the background if viewed from a distance.


    She argued that if the loose formation were to be hit with a square of charging foot or cavalry, the line will be broken and overwhelmed. People will always feel safer standing together than alone facing the enemy. By having the men spread out thinly in a line or column, the men''s'' morale will break easily if they encountered a charge.


    The small leader Cork sitting by the campfire shook his head and replied to her , "Those tactics you spoke of are only suited for a cold tactics army, and not against an army trained in modern warfare."


    She did not ept his vague exnation, thinking he was just blowing her off. She fumed and waited to see what will happen to his men when they encountered such a situation in the future. She was pretty sure she had to save them with her own troops if that happened and she certainly will gloat over it.


    It all changed when they arrived at the ruined town. Seeing the way the Un An soldiersid out the wasteful rolls of metal wire and hiding like rats within the buildings, holes in the ground and trees, she felt scorn for their cowardly methods.


    If one were to face his enemies, they should do it face to face! She thought. The opponent must be treated with respect and not with cowardly tricks. Yet none of the Un An soldiers listened to her, some evenughed at her antics, making her angry.


    In the end, she gave up and deployed her men in a line behind the hidden Un An soldiers, with the ns to save the day as she judged from the cowardly tactics they used, the Un An soldiers will break if any of the enemies made it through the ruined walls.


    But when the enemy came, the thunderous roars of the rumour thunder weapons nearly made her own men break instead. She stared in wide eye astonishment at the thunderous roars from the Un An soldiers'' thunder sticks felling the enemy in droves without them even knowing nor seeing what killed them from distances that were even further than crossbows or bows!


    The enemy''s giant golems that appeared scared her despite her abilities as a Knight. She judged that she as a fifty fifty chance of bringing one down with her magic and skills but seeing the dozens of golems appearing in the front made her lose all hope. She was about to yell at the small leader Cork to ask his men to retreat and run when the magical metal wagon snuggled inside a ruin spat out a beam of fiery bolts that mmed down an enemy golem with ease!


    The ripping roar of the magical metal wagons continued, again and again, each time a golem will either be felled or knocked back. She and her men could only stare at the battle as their swords and magic would be useless against such a battle with these monsters.


    When she thought she couldn''t get more shocked or amazed, in the skies, came another magical flyer. Like some kind of flying insect, it hovered in the air and the same ripping roar came from it cast beams of mes down from the skies, creating rolling balls of mes and smoke among the enemy, like a fire breathing dragon.


    While she hurdled with the ruins in shock, another event nearly broke her mind. A monstrous metal flying contraption dropped off a huge scorpion golem down. And that scorpion golem almost single handedly took down a dozen enemy golems without even taking a scratch! It easily weaved around the enemy golems that were trying to encircle it without any effect, and each time the long barrel on the back of its body roared, there will be a sh of mes and smoke when the spell impacted. Looking at such a monstrous weapon, Jeanne realised that just one of this weapon, the Un An could have conquered the whole world!


    To hermon sense, the strength of a nation involved the number of flying dragons and Knights, followed by spell casters, cavalry then foot soldiers. Yet, the weapons and magical contraptions of the Un An showed otherwise. A smallpany of roughly fortymon men could defeat numbers many times greater, just like what a Knight could do while a single magical wagon could down giant golems that would require a heavy weight dragon.


    One after another shock shattered her conception of the Un An. When the battle was over and she looked at the bodies of the Un An soldiers being carried out and ced respectfully aside, she felt it was funny that she had ever thought of these people as cowards when not one of her own men could even stand up and face off a single golem.


    She joined the small leader Cork, watching him removed pieces of metal off the bodies of the dead, her haughtiness gone and reced with respect. In her heart, the disappointment was totally gone, only to be reced with awe and respect.

 Chapter 471: Warjacks

    Chapter 471: Warjacks


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Reachfield, United Nations Forward Operating Base


    Power tools whined and sparks sprayed out from the mangled corpse on the centre of the makeshift hangar. Both goblins and elves fussed over the Protectorate golem that had beenid out carefully on the ground as they tried to piece back the destroyed golem from the shattered pieces taken from the battlefield.


    Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn both entered the hangar and stared excitedly at the half dozen or so more intact golems the Army Engineers had retrieved back from the front while anotherid on the floor. "Oh... my... gods..."


    "Giant robots!" A voice yelled out from the back, startling both Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn. They both turned back to see several crewmen from the UNS Singapore, their ent and features ced them to be of Japanese or Korean descent. "We need to start to build some Gundams!"


    "Oh, herees the nerds!" Dr. Sharon teased the Asian crew whoughed back. She was quite close to them, as she had borrowed quite a bit of anime and games from them. "Your dreams areing true!"


    "Yes, yes!" Ex Senior Spaceman Tae Joon replied as he stared at the spoils of war with a silly smile on his face. Now, head of Robotics Science, he together with his team and other experts, like Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn had arrived at the front to see the marvels of the enemy.


    "You know," Tae Joon said to Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn as they walked among the carcasses of the golems. "There used to be projects in the UNM in regards to making abat mecha..."


    "But, theplexity of the machinery, weight and size," Tae Joon continued as he watched the engineers do their thing. "Made it obsolete against railguns and kic kill missiles."


    "Their size makes it hard for them to make use of the terrain for cover, unlike armoured or tracked vehicles," Tae Joon exined. "More armour on the mechs to protect them against railguns would mean more weight and even arger cross section."


    "To power, all that would almost need near capital sized reactors," Tae Joon added. "Which further meant higher costs and weight!"


    "Compared to the simplicity of a tank hunter or even an armoured fighting vehicle," Tae Joon gently stroked the shell of the golem before him. "It made no sense to even consider building a mech in the first ce due to the cost. Only the rich had them custom built for fun and sport!"


    "But here... on this," Tae Joon grinned. "The locals have no concept of anti tank tactics! And with the use of living rock for its internal structure, this cuts down both the manufacturing and maintenance cost by ny per cent!"


    He used his knuckles to rap against the metal shell of the golem and said, "In this, the Old World seemed to use these like heavily armoured infantry, using their weight and size to smash through shield walls and ranks of soldiers."


    "Works pretty well with cold steel armies, but against our weapons?" Tae Joon shook his head sadly. "It''s just a big fat target for us to shoot at!"


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Outskirts of the Royal Capital of Ma


    Cork tossed his entrenching tool to the side as he and the others finally finished covering the mass grave. For the past two days, he and the rest of the 1st Army Rifles had taken turns taking down the corpses from the pikes, digging graves and filling them up.


    The locals that survived the massacre had appeared timidly when they arrived and was pressed into service by Lady Jeanne who used her status to get the people to help in burying the bodies. The CO of the 1st Army Rifles wanted to burn the bodies, but Lady Jeanne had said that it was against their customs, so Cork and the rest had to work their asses off.


    The men were unhappy and angry, not because it was a hard detail, but due to the cruel of the deaths. The bodies had mostly dried up or had scavengers feasted upon them. But the small bones of children was apparent among the impaled, making the men cursed the Protectorate about their vile deeds.


    The bodies were removed from the stakes and counted before buried into dozens of mass graves as no one could recognize nor identity who was who. Even the nobles and the king could be identified as their bodies had dposed too much, leaving behind just torn and weathered silks. In the end, only a simple carved headstone stood over the graves as a monument to their deaths.


    Cork shook his head as he remembered his past life. Even if the Emperor was mad, he did not wantonly kill children like this. Krew joined Cork and tossed a bottle of juice over, "Man, this is bad business here..."


    "Yes... very bad..." Cork agreed as he took a sip of the cold fruit juice that had been shipped over from the UN. "This religion of theirs... does not see life as precious..."


    "Yea... from that briefing we got... I did not think it was this bad..." Krew replied. "To think that all their actions are on the side of righteousness and justice... Even killing like this isn''t even moral anymore!"


    "I don''t know why would these people whomit such acts think they are in the right..." Krew sighed. "Man... this is crazy evil..."


    "If one grows up being taught that killing is good," Cork said. "Then he will never think that killing is evil..."


    "That is some fark up teaching there!" Krewmented. "What kind of God tells people to kill is good?"


    "Oh... you be surprised how many Gods love killing things..." Cork replied. "But from what I read from the briefing files... this God of the Protectorate is the God of Justice and Law... My guess is that it takesws and rules very strictly..."


    "So if you vite any of itsws and rules..." Cork continued. "You are a sinner..."


    "These people were most likely killed because they do not follow thews of the Protectorate''s God..."


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Reachfield, United Nations Forward Operating Base


    "These are the two days results of our findings," Dr. Sharon started the meeting inside the tent with the rest of the senior officers. "This is not a golem..."


    Dr. Sharon pointed to the picture projected against the tent wall. "These are called Warjacks as identified by the intel we have."


    "It is powered by a fusion of magic and steam technology," Dr. Sharon said. "There seemed to be three variants from the wreckages we picked out, each having its own characteristics."


    "We ssed these three variants ording to weight, like how dragons are ssed," Dr. Sharon exined. "Light, medium and heavy. They are not golems as they use clockwork mechanisms to run while real golems using magic, like living stone to move. These warjacks are more like robots..."


    "First the light weight ss," Dr. Sharon switched the image on the projector. "The team had managed to sort what piece together a light weight. This ss weights in the range of around three to five tons."


    The image changed to show a 3dputer imagery of a bulky antiqued hunchback suit of metal armour. It had pipe like arms ending withrge fists like boxer gloves while its pipe like legs ended withrge pointy boots that supported the entire weight of the Warjack. Short funnels jutted out from its hunchback rear and it had a neckless head in the form of a grill style helmet.


    "The primary weapon for this Warjack, which we code named it as Stickman, is a long heavynce," Dr. Sharon said while she switched the images again, showing several longnces that were almost twice the height of a standing elf that stood next to stackednces. "Secondary armament appears to be a weighed steel."


    "Armor is pretty thin," Dr. Sharon pointed out its characteristics. "Our small arms fire are capable of damaging it. Its role appeared to be a scout or a light nker. Reports from our units said that it moved a lot fasterpared to therger and heavier Warjacks they have seen."


    "Next is the medium weight ss we identified, weighting around the eight to twelve ton range," She changed the image again and this time a simr looking Warjack appeared. It looked stouter, had a thicker armour shell while its arms and legs were also thicker and shorter. "This appeared to be their standard model, as there are more of these bad boyspared to the rest we recovered."


    "We are calling these as Wreckers," Dr. Sharon pointed to the arm. "Due to these nasty spike balls in their right arms which can be shot out usingpressed steam and also retracted back by the chains attached to it."


    "It has decent armour and speed, anything below 20 mm cannons barely fazes it," Dr. Sharon pointed out. "It also has a magic barrier and a huge ass physical shield for extra protection in its left arm."


    "It also has a nozzle that it can shoot out hot steam," Dr. Sharon tapped the image. "Making it very deadly if any unprotected troops get within the attack radius of its steam bursts."


    "Finally, we have the heavy weights," Dr. Sharon said. "We only recovered two of these in quite a bad condition which I could say, the new 88 mm cannon for the MAW is working perfectly."


    The next image Dr. Sharon showed was a bulky armour that looked like a gori standing upright on it two hind legs. Tubes jutted out on its back while it had a simr armament to the Wrecker, a spike ball in one hand and arge tower shield in the other.


    "We call this the Big Nasty," Dr. Sharon said. "It weighs an estimated fifteen to twenty tons... Too much damage to both of the samples hence we couldn''t get a good estimation of its weight."


    "Same weapons with the Wrecker, except for the six barreled explosiveunchers on its back," Dr. Sharon said. "Armour thickness is almost twice of that of the Wrecker and we are seeing a lot more protective runes carved on it."


    "Now, what we do know of these robots or Warjacks, are they are piloted by someone..." Dr. Sharon exined. "But it would appear that piloting such a behemoth would drain their vitality. As for how long it takes to burn away the vitality of a pilot, we do not know..."


    "Next, physically, trying to run and power these Warjacks are close to impossible due to the weight andplex joints and other things," Dr. Sharon frowned. "But we found out that they are using Aetherium as a way to keep the machine light."


    "We found hollow tubes and pipes all over the internals of the Warjacks with traces of Aetherium crystals," said Dr. Sharon. "Our hypothesis is that the steam boiler in its back works to power the clockwork like mechanisms and also to heat up the Aetherium crystals into gas which cancels the weight away. Next, using the lifeforce of the pilot and some kind of magic, it allowed the Warjack to move and fight!"


    "As of now, Magister Thorn and the other mages are still trying to figure out the magic behind the Warjack," Dr. Sharon added. "What we do know is the mechanical part of it but still not fully either."


    "What I am more interested in, is what is the best way to defeat it?" General Joseph raised a question from the side.


    "Hit its rear," Dr. Sharon answered back. "We found that it has lesser magical protection runes and thinner armour at the rear."


    "If not... hit it with massed firepower," Dr. Sharon said. "Overwhelm its shields and use armour piercing munitions to rip its armour apart."


    "Without its magic barrier... it is just a walking target!"

 Chapter 472: New World Order

    Chapter 472: New World Order


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Reachfield, United Nations Forward Operating Base


    rie Banner of Ashmere stood with her mouth gaping at the giant construct that was held upright by chains and scaffolding. Beside her stood Professor Hamlot and her two ssmates, Berringer and Uwen who too like her, were all stranded in this strangend.


    They had been rescued and also imprisoned for a while before they were granted limited freedom. Now, their rescuers had brought them on a ride onboard a very fast and noisy strange airship that was totally unlike anything they had ever ridden nor seen to another ce.


    All four of them immediately recognized the colours and markings of the Protectorate war jack before them. The condition of the war jack surprised them was how badly beaten up the war jack was, with many holes and twisted metal on its body.


    In their time under the watchful eye of their rescuers and jailers, they hade to learn their localnguages and vice versa. Their overseer started asking them questions in regards to the Protectorate''s war jack which they could only answer vaguely. Even rie with her knowledge of steam jacks from her time working in her father''s workshop could only answer what she knew.


    What further surprised them more was the wreckage of a Protectorate airship! From crumpled hull, to the ripped out hole where the internals could be seen, to the many holes and mangled ting, made them realised that these people were not simple despite their low knowledge of magicks and they don''t even seem to use much steam technology at all.


    rie had no idea what kind of weapons the people of this forgottennd has that could inflict such horrifying wounds on the Protectorate''s airships. She like the others could only stare in awe at the sight of the mangled hull that had been painstakingly transported and pieced together at one ce.


    -----


    "Captain? A moment of your time?" Dr. Sharon had a worried frown on her face as she entered the tent and found Captain ke seated behind the folding table. "I heard what happened to the Man nobles and the looting of the cities..."


    "Ford told you?" ke asked coldly. "It''s just war..."


    "No... he didn''t..." Dr. Sharon gave a sigh. " And I don''t need to hear it from him when everyone knows about it..."


    "I see..." ke replied. "So what of it?"


    "Don''t you think your methods had overstepped thew?" Dr. Sharon asked. "Why did you make such an order? This is a war crime!"


    "War crime?" ke shook his head. "Only if you lose..."


    "What happened to your ethics?" Dr. Sharon growled. "Have vengeance made you mad?"


    "Mad?" ke shook his head again. "The ones that are mad here are the locals... Killing, piging, **** and destruction!"


    "What I had done is barely even a scratch off the surface of their foul deeds!" ke said while he clenched his fists in anger. "If you want topare war crimes, you are barking at the wrong tree!"


    "Captain!" Dr. Sharon smacked the table with her palms. "You know fully well what is right and what is wrong here! Don''t shift the me!"


    "What me?" ke retorted back. "I am going putw and order to this whole world filled with murderers and rapists!"


    "You want to rule the whole? There is a limited to your vengeance!" Dr. Sharon was shocked. "How much bloodshed do you want to see?"


    "Vengeance?" ke growled. "Yes... I have vengeance in my heart! I want to hang those bastards by their balls and peel their skin off!"


    "The time of being meek is over..." ke stood up and turned away from Dr. Sharon. "We had yed the fool for the most part. And these... people... really think of us as fools to be yed!"


    "Even so, how many lives do you want to sacrifice for your personnel vendetta?" Dr. Sharon''s eyes narrowed in anger. "How can you use the lives of your people so selfishly?"


    "Lives? What about our own people''s lives? It is high time these elves do something for their own!" ke''s voice lowered. "The elves'' blood shall be the foundation of a new world order!"


    -----


    The New World, New Protectorate Territories, City of Hensink


    The outlyingnds around the coastal city of Hensink had changed drastically over the time it had been upied by the Protectorate of Ramuh. The nearby forests had been chopped down, the wood used as fuel to fire up the dozens of y kilns that had popped up all around the city to produce charcoal.


    Protectorate prospectors using both magic and physical means further scouted out the surrounding terrain for resources and minerals. The new local converts were ced into existing mines to boast their output while the spoils of war of metal armour and weapons were melted down into various metalponents.


    The walls of the city had been broken down by steam jacks, the construction worker robots variant of the war jack. The lumbering metal beasts tore the old stone walls down to their foundations, and beams of metal were hammered into the ground, creating new foundations. Metal ting formed the outer shell while the internal were filled with packed sand, creating a wall of iron.


    Weapons onboard the airships were offloaded and installed all along the iron wall. Towers blistering with steam cannons popped up all over the city''s perimeter as the Protectorate forces dug in. The offloaded airships picked up the packed crates of resources and started their perilous journey back to the Old World.


    -----


    Sea of Clouds


    Arcs of lightning lit up the protective runes of the flying ind fortress. The bubble barrier flickering wildly as each bolt of lightning crawled over its surface like a crackling snake. The magic barrier powered by thousands of magic crystals plowed through the storm with ease while hundreds of magic crystals crumpled to dust with each strike of lightning.


    Dozens of airships hurdled within the protective confines of the flying fortress''s barrier as they traveled through the dangerous weather unimpeded. Within the flying fortress, inside a massive tower that overlooked the entire surroundings, sat the Iron Lords, Commanders, Captains and the Crown Prince of the Iron Kingdom around a long table.


    "Prince Yemen," Lord Ableman, advisor and second inmand of the expedition fleet tapped on a piece of scroll on the table. "These are the estimated figures of supplies and other necessities the fleet would require per month of operations."


    The Crown Prince barely took a nce at the scroll and instead, he asked. "How long more before we leave this... unpleasant ce?"


    Lord Ableman kept his displeasure away from his expression and instead he turned to look at the fortressmander who stood up and bowed, "My Prince, we estimate another week or so before the fleet exits the Sea of Clouds."


    "Can we hurry it up?" The Crown Prince asked. "There is nothing but clouds and more clouds. It''s either dark and cloudy or raining just every other day! The more time we waste here, means the more time the Protectorate has toy im on the New World!"


    "My Prince," The fortressmander replied. "The fortress could only travel so fast in the storm..."


    "How about the Fleet?" The Crown Prince pointed out. "Can''t we send the faster ships out first to secure a foothold for our arrival? You old men are just wasting precious time sitting here doing nothing!"


    The Iron lords andmanders looked at each other unhappily before the senior most of all, stood up and answered stiffly, "My Prince, the fortress could only move so fast... and the fleet requires the magic shields of the fortress to protect them from the raging storms outside."


    "If weunch the air fleet," The senior Admiral had an unhappy frown on his face, said. "We could lose as much as half the fleet to the unstable weather!"


    "Tsk!" The Crown Prince sighed before he turned to Lord Ableman, "So what now? Are we just all going to sit here and just wait?"


    "No... my Prince..." Lord Ableman sighed inwardly. "We will continue your studies... Now, if you look at the scroll before you..."


    "Leave this matters forter!" Prince Yemen snapped. "What I am concerned about is the Protectorate having a head start of months before us! You do know how in dire need of magic crystals every nation are?"


    The lords andmanders all nodded their heads in agreement. The resource situation in the Old World had reached a point that over usage of magic crystals had caused the demand to soar and led to over hunting of monsters and over exploitation of dungeon resources. The reason why steam technology managed to rise was also due to the rising cost of magic crystals within the Old World as the nations scrambled to find an alternate source of power.


    The cost of running the Flying Fortress was exorbitant, especially the need to maintain the magic barriers that protected it. Magic crystals was required to power any magical runes, devices and spell formation. Without magic crystals, all things magical would not be able to run, hence the nations jealously stockpiled all the magic crystals they could get their hands on, as they had be a strategic resource for their magical artifacts.


    Now with news of the Protectorate airships returning from the New Worlds with hull brimming with magic crystals. It led the other nations into a mad rush for to cross the dangerous Sea of Clouds to grab the riches before the other nations imed them.


    Prince Yemen wanted to grab as much of those resource as possible. He wanted to show to his Royal Father that he was someone destined to be great, that was why he was feeling very impatient. The Protectorate of Ramuh had been a torn in their sides as they shared a border, which constant raids from the Protectorate leading to piracy, to kidnapping of vigers or stolen life stock.


    Yet, his Royal Father had not retaliate and instead chose to be passive over the incursions from the Protectorate. He had once said that the Protectorate of Ramuh was not a nation, one that could fight single handedly as the citizens were all fanatics.


    But none of the other Great Nations wanted to wage war as they knew if they did so, their stocks of precious magic crystals will dwindle and making them weaker before the other Great Nations. The Great Nations were all adopting a policy of ousting one another out or until their people came out with a new energy source that could rece their reliance on magic crystals.


    Even the dungeons were jealously guarded and husbanded by each Great Nation as it became their only reliable source of magic crystals, but even so, the quality and quantity of the magic crystals that came out of the dungeons were dropping, making the Great Nations nervous.


    The news of the New World was a pleasant surprise to the Great Nations as they knew who could control the most out of the New World, meant their rule would continue while those who failed, would see their reign disappear into the dust of time.


    This was a reason why the Iron King had sent fore one of the Iron Kingdom''s greatest military asset, the flying ind called the Iron Fortress and the crack Third Iron Fleet. The flying ind with natural veins of aetherium was dug out from the ground and reinforced with magic and iron to create the ultimate fighting fortress to rule the skies.


    Networks of pipes running hundreds of meters were dug within the ind and linked to veins of aetherium. Once heated, the aetherium trapped in pockets of reinforced earth and iron, carried the ind into the air whilerge bunkers of fuel and magic crystals and water reservoirs ensured the ind could fly near infinitely.


    "The New World must fall into the hands of the Iron Kingdom!" The Crown Prince dered. "There can only be one master! And it shall be me!"

 Chapter 473: Rock and Stone

    Chapter 473: Rock and Stone


    The New Kingdom Of Ma, Ash Mountains Pass


    "Watch your steps people!" A sergeant cried out as he stood near the edge of the road, his back against the sheer cliff drop. The sergeant ignored the vertigo inducing view as he directed the troops and vehicles as they made their way across the beaten path on the side of the steep slopes of the Ash Mountains. "No one is gonna go down and pick up your smelly ass if you fall down!"


    Infantry fighting vehicles rumbled slowly and carefully along the narrow path just enough for therge vehicles to traverse. Behind the vehicles came Logistic supply trucks and the Engineers'' support trucks. The UN 1st Army Rifle Regiment troops followed behind on foot, eating the dust kicked up by the wheeled vehicles before them, while the ragtag band of local soldiers and cavalry led their mounts together with the UN soldiers whom they had formed a kind of friendship.


    "Once over the mountains," Jeanne panted as she marched beside Cork and his men. "We shall be able to see the sea!"


    Cork nced at thedy knight who was stubbornly keeping pace with the rest despite wearing cumbersome armour while leading her skittish mount to climb the slopes. Cork nodded and looked at the meandering path that led to a pair of giant statues depicting two soldiers carry a shield and spear that was carved into the mountain face.


    The Mans had carved and built the pass over hundreds of years ago after they had settled down along the North Eastern coastal line on the other side of the mountain range. When the Kingdom grew, they cut a path through the mountains which allowed them ess to the fertilends of the inner regions.


    There on the fertile ins next to the rivers, the Royal Capital was built and the people of Man enjoyed prosperity for many years. But now, itsndsid ravaged by wars, famine and now the Protectorate.


    The men who just a year ago barely even left their viges or town now stared up at the massive rock statues as they marched passed between them. The veteransughed at the rookies as they travelled to many ces ever since they had joined with up the UN, but after crossing the pass, the view that appeared before their eyes took their breath away.


    Blue green foliage stretched as far as the eye could see, with several squarish patches of cultivated fields and tiny dots of huts. At the far horizon, the sea could be seen as a line of deep blue grey while the blue skies with several clumps of clouds driftedzily by. Viges and towns could be seen as tiny little blocks and circles.


    The vehicles had paused and the order for a break was passed down the line. The men sat at the rocks and watched the scenery from the top of the pass as they ate a cold meal. Jeanne joined Cork and his men,ying her mount down at the side, which the war dragon tried to take a bite at one of the men''s meal, making them cursed at the grouchy creature.


    "You Un An does not seem to be worried about this... beetle heads?" Jeanne asked Cork who gave a shrug of his shoulder while he wolfed down a pack of cold rations. "What... are you eating?"


    Cork paused in his chewing and looked at the wording on the pack which a line of text was stencilled on its side. [ Property of the UN Army - Ration Set A - Slime Bolognese ]


    "Slime and some sort of meat sauce..." Cork said as he slurped up more of the chewy goo marinated in bolognese sauce.


    "Slime!?" Jeanne''s face turned green as she stared at the pack in Cork''s hand. She felt like vomiting after hearing what he was eating and spoke in a low voice to herself. "Are... are... the Un An so... bad to even mistreat its... soldiers by... feeding them slime?"


    "It''s nice... you want to try some?" Cork offered her out of politeness and Jeanne quickly shook her head rapidly. Cork shrugged again and went back slurping his rations. "Okay~"


    Jeanne looked around her surroundings and realised that all the Un An people were eating from the same dark green packets. She swallowed nervously as she stared around, "Everyone from the Un An... gets fed... slime? Is this how they train their soldiers...?"


    "Hmm?" Cork looked at Jeanne who looked green. "Are you alright?"


    "Y- Yes!" Jeanne sat up straight as she replied. "Erm... what do you think of the... the Beetle Heads?"


    "Hmm..." Cork put away his finished ration and opened another pack of dessert. "Fighting strength wise... I say they are stronger than anymon kingdom soldier here. Kingdom knights can be on par with one of their smaller golems... but in a straight up fight... none of the kingdoms here can withstand their armies."


    "But the Un An can stop them, yes?" Jeanne asked. "You all defeated them with much smaller numbers!"


    "Yes," Cork nodded. "Only the weapons of the UN could stop them. But still, I doubt we have even seen the full strength of the Protectorate."


    "We have intel that the Protectorate had pulled back all its forces towards one city at the coast," Cork continued. He gestured the pack of dessert to Jeanne, "So now we are moving to that city. You sure you don''t want to try some of this?"


    Jeanne shook her head and quickly left Cork. She shivered as she thought of the food he was eating and even offered her! Of all creatures to be eaten, they actually eat slime! What kind of scary ce is the Un An?


    -----


    Sea of Clouds


    A whirling scream almost as loud as the raging storm pierced through the clouds, wind and rain. A line of airships pierced through the storm as if it was just a clear day. Each of the rectangr airships had a massive spiral drill at its nose and the drills were spinning rapidly.


    The leading airship''s spiral drill was running at the maximum power as it created a magical wind tunnel. Runes on the spiral drill glowed red hot, which under the spinning spiral looked like a red light band. Exhaust pipes sticking out at the rear of the drills puffed out smoke constantly that was swept away by the wind.


    The rest of the airships made use of the slipstream created by the leading airship, their own powered drills creating more wind tunnels that negated the force of the storm as they manoeuvred at dangerously close distances. If any of the airships slowed or speeded up, they would crash either into the airship in front or behind them.


    A stocky being stood with his thumbs hooked on his thick belt. He wore a green military styled buttoned jacket and white pants that stretched itself tightly over his muscr frame with a pair of ck leather boots. A mop of thick red bread dangled down his face while his shoulder length red hair was pulled into a ponytail over his long ears.


    "Lord Copperstone!" Another stocky being appeared behind him and he thumped his chest with his fist in salute. "The other Lords of the Cartel had sent word that they are pleased with the Storm Piercer is working as it was advertised."


    Lord Copperstone did not react to the news as his beady eyes were staring out of the crystal viewports at the raging storm. The airship shook wildly every once in a while as the pilot fought the controls to stabilized the airship from the wind that some times broke through the magical wind tunnel. Finally, he shook his head and sighed, "The device is still not perfected!"


    "But, my Lord," The aide said. "Your invention has allowed our Cartel Fleet to travel unimpeded through the Sea of Clouds!"


    "Even so" Lord Copperstone''s eyed glowed gestured outside the crystal windows. "We must seek perfection! This device is only barely passable! If it wasn''t for the dire need of its abilities... I would not have even allowed the Cartel the use of it till it is perfected!"


    "But nevertheless," Lord Copperstone smiled. "This environment is a great ce to test and improve the Storm Piercer!"


    "Rock and Stone! My lord!" The aide praised Lord Copperstone. "Rock and stone!"


    "Rock and Stone, brother!"


    -----


    New Kingdom of Ma, Reachfield, United Nations Forward Operating Base


    "Captain," The stiff image of Commander Ford spoke from the disy. "We have received several letters ofints of our incursion into the NKM."


    "Two from the new Emperor of Bluewood, two from Foral, and surprisingly one from the Isles..." Commander Ford said without any change in his expression. "All of them were saying that they strongly want us to retreat our forces as our presence in the NKM is uwful and is an unprovoked act of war... especially with our troops currently holding a few of the NKM''s cities and towns."


    "Ignore them..." ke coldly replied. "What other news?"


    "The Navy is ready to strike from the coastal at any moment''s notice," Ford replied. "The Marines are standing by at Port Santacury, ready to board the transports once the order is given."


    ke nodded, "Hold them first, Intel has said the enemy''s air fleet has just left the area right?"


    "Yes sir..." Ford replied. "Our scouts have observed them leaving the area and entered the End Zone, at 1437 hours today."


    "We wait for them to return," ke said. "I want to catch them all at the same time..."


    "You want to capture their airships?" Ford guessed.


    "Yes," ke nodded again. "Their airships seem to be of use."


    "How goes the work on the supercarrier?" ke asked.


    "Final instation of critical systems is underway," Ford said after a moment of pause. "Another couple weeks of internal refurbishing, the first of the carrier''s trials soonmence."


    "Good," ke said. "The supercarrier will be the key to our victory here."


    Commander Ford sighed before he added, "The Isles has been rising the price of food and ores again."


    "Ignore the Isles," ke shook his head. "They are just trying to fish in troubled waters... In fact, we do not even need to trade with them anymore... Once our hold on the cities and towns of the NKM is fully in our control... There is no need for such an unstable alliance with the Isles."


    "You want to break the alliance with the Isles?" Ford did not seem to be shocked by the news.


    "It''s just a matter of time since the Isles has been trying to climb over our heads ever since... that incident..." ke closed his eyes and sighed. "Let them do what they want now... The priority now is with the Protectorate up north..."


    "Yes sir..." Ford replied. "Captain..."


    ke raised a hand up to forestall Ford''s next words. "I know what you want to say... In fact, Dr. Sharon hade to talk to me too."


    "My goal is still the same," ke said as he stared directly at Ford''s image. "The Protectorate shall pay. And all the murderers and unjust too! I will make this world a better ce for our people!"


    "But Captain... at what price are you willing to pay for all this?" Ford sighed as he tried to persuade ke. "This is not you!"


    ke gave a sad smile and said, "Follow your orders, Commander."


    The disy flickered as ke cut the connection, breaking up Ford''s protest. He stared at his clenched fists before him, feeling a sense of helplessness. He whispered softly as if trying to convince himself. "If I kill off all the murderers and rapists in this world and reform the entire... then no one else will have to suffer what I had suffered right?"


    "This is justice right?" ke whispered. "Justice for... me... all those who... were killed..."

 Chapter 474: Different Goals

    Chapter 474: Different Goals


    New Kingdom of Ma, North Eastern Region


    In the past few weeks, Jeanne Von Iris had experienced almost every emotion there was, from anger, to fear, to sadness to joy. Now as she rode her war dragon alongside the Un An soldiers, she saw the devastated viges and towns that had been abandoned or its people killed and taken. Green yellow stalks of ripening grains and fruit orchards wereid untended with overgrown weeds and vermin taking over the farms.


    She sighed deeply as she thought of how much blood had stained thend and even with the onset of famine, the people had not given up. They spend much sweat and tears tilling thends and in the end, their efforts were all for nought.


    As she rode her mount with a heavy heart, amotion came from the head of the column. The men broke their lines and rushed up to the front to see what was going on. Jeanne could only dismount from her war dragon as she did not want to trample anyone and she carefully led the skittish creature forward and joined the men at the edge of the forested path.


    Before her eyes, she first spotted the metal wagons of the Un An parked in a row. Next, she noticed was therge swath of forest had been cleared, leaving behind ugly stumps. Then her eyes fell onto the city that had been transformed into monstrosity in her eyes.


    The once pretty looking coastal city with white stone walls, red roofs and tall spiral towers with docks that should be filled with trade ships or fishing boats, now looked totally different. The white walls were gone and reced by ugly grey bs with pipes jutting out from its sides. The spiral towers were gone and reced by some kind of tall chimneys that were spewing ck smoke out.


    The green ins and farms around the city had turned into a muddy paste that had spike barricades surrounding the area that could be seen from afar. A sort of permanent greyish haze seemed to have set over the city and its surroundings.


    "What in the Gods...?" Jeanne was shocked. She hade to this city a few times in the past and what she remembered was totally gone. She conjured up a far seeing spell with both her forefinger and thumbs, forming two ''O''s and ced her hands one before the other and peer through her forefinger and thumbs.


    Seeing through her spell, the view was ''pulled'' forward allowing her to better see the city at the distance. Tiny figures of golems stood all around the city grounds and wall and red banners and gs were almost everywhere in her view. As she turned her view to observe the changes, she saw even tinier figures toiling on the mud fields. An extremely massive airship surrounded by four more ships floated just above the sea behind the city.


    "Are... are we at the correct ce?" She was confused and frightened. Cork who stood next to her was also observing the city with a pair of tubes that she knew was some kind of magical artefact with a far seeing spell on it. "Did we make a wrong turn somewhere?"


    "No... That''s the city of Hensink alright," Cork confirmed. "Looks like those beetle heads had settled in for the fight..."


    -----


    New Kingdom of Ma, Reachfield, United Nations Forward Operating Base


    General Joseph stood next to the pinned map on board and pointed to the city of Hensink. "1st Rifles has reached the outskirts of the city. They are reporting what we have seen from the skies."


    He gestured to another board filled with aerial images taken by their recon aircraft. "The Protectorate has dug in around Hensink and fortified its position with trench works and guns."


    "As for their air fleet, only therge airship and its escorts had remained as they were," Joseph said. "The rest had left heading towards the End Zone two weeks ago. We are expecting them to return in a month or so."


    "1st Rifles will dig in around the city to prevent any Protectorate forces froming out of their city," Joseph exined the tactical n. "Shipments of anti tank and anti air weaponry are already on the way to the 1st Rifles. Also, 1st Armour and 1st Artillery will be joining them with the next supply convoy support the 1st Rifles."


    "A second smaller FOB will be constructed at Turnstead," Joseph added. "This will be the forward supply depot and also a refuel and rearming point for the helicopters and fighters. Once that is up, we can start to establish air superiority over the region."


    "Next part of the operation is for our naval fleet and Marines to arrive," Joseph said. "Once they are within striking range, Airforce take down the enemy airships and any defensive positions."


    "The Navy and Marines will begin an amphibious assault directly at the city while the Army pushes in from the front," Joseph tapped on the map, using his finger to draw imaginary lines. "That is the n."


    ke nodded and said, "Good, have the Army dig in first... We will hold our positions for now."


    Joseph frowned as he heard the order. "Sir, shouldn''t we take the enemy out as fast as possible and before their reinforcements arrive?"


    "No, we wait... Especially for those reinforcements toe!" ke dered, making Joseph confused.


    "Why, Sir?" Joseph asked. "We can easily sweep in while their numbers are still low and their position not fully fortified!"


    "Let them fortify as much as they want..." ke gave a dismissive wave. "I want to catch as much enemy troops at once since this is our home ground..."


    "You mean you want to deplete their strength in the Old World by wiping out as much of their troops here?" Joseph raised an admiring eyebrow. "That works too... Better we take out as much of their strength here rather than when we go over there to their territory!"


    "Yes," ke nodded, d that Joseph caught up with his idea. "Since they are offering themselves into our guns, why waste the chance?"


    -----


    Sea of Clouds


    Two distinctive groups of airships were bunched up together in the swirling storm. One group of airships was colourful and gaudy looking, while the other looked ancient and gloomy. The mboyant decored airships belong to the Loose Confederation which consisted of armed merchantman, mercenaries and warships, all of them different in designs and looks.


    Both groups took turns to take the lead and project a massive barrier to protect each other from the weather. The two allied powers worked together to travel through the Sea of Clouds by mutual agreement.


    The Loose Confederation was a group of nations and kingdoms that had banded together for protection from the other Great Nations. Most of the citizens of the Loose Confederation were of mixed blood or beast people. Great Nations like the Protectorate actively waged war against any demi or beast people, making many flee from the Protectorate.


    As thews of the Loose Confederation were more about freedom, many adventurers, merchants, nomadic tribes and even criminals make up the majority of the poption. With over a dozen small nations and kingdomsbined together, the military might of these small nations were no longer weak. And with the backing of an unlikely and very rich ally, further helped to make the rest of the Great Nations think twice about swallowing the Loose Confederation.


    The Loose Confederation mostly conducted trade and provided mercenary services to other nations. Arge number of famous adventurers also came from the Loose Confederation that was underemployment by the other nations in clearing dungeons and exploring ruins.


    The influence wielded by these adventurers among themon people were very high and were simr to a Terran superstar, making them near untouchable by any Great Nation, allowing the Loose Confederation to make use of this fact to rub in the faces of the other Great Nations.


    On the other hand, the grim ck and white airships of the Dragon Lords were are total contrast from the Loose Confederation. The airships of the Dragon Lords were crafted from the bones of dragons, and each airship was highly revered as each housed the final remains of an ancient dragon.


    The dragon ships used the spine of an ancient dragon as the main keel as their bones were the toughest. The ribs formed the frame of the hull, while the other bones formed the beams of the decks. Ironwood was used to lighten the weight of the airship, with the air dders of the dragons were used to store aetherium. ck armour tes were bolted onto the hull, and treated wing membranes of dragon wings and bones were used as pusher sails together with propulsion air screws powered by steam boilers.


    Larger airships used two or more dragons'' bones to be constructed and could even carry two to three dragons onboard. And if there was the need for extra speed, the dragons could carry chains to help pull the dragon ships along. Each dragon ship was uniquely built and had long histories.


    Historically simr to the situation of the Loose Confederation, the ancestors of the Dragon Lords were once hunted and chased from their homes by rival nations. The people fled to the northern frozen wastnds of the Old World before finding a massive mountain with natural hot springs that was inhabited by dragons.


    The desperate people without any hope swore loyalty to the dragons in exchange for their protection. The dragons which long had retreated to the frozen wastnd due to the encroaching nations and even hunted or enved epted the pledge of loyalty.


    With the backing and power of the dragons, the nations that chased the fleeing people were cut down, their bodies forever frozen in the wastnds. The refugees forever grateful to the dragons started to worship the dragons as divine beings.


    Using the hot springs providing warmth against the frozen wastnd, the refugees built a great city around the mountain. To support themselves with food, magic and ingenious methods were required, leading to the development of greenhouse like magic barriers that trapped the heat from the hot springs and blocked off the snow and cold.


    Over time, the refugees be known as Dragon Lords as they were the only nation that field dragons in their armies. Dragons in the Old World had mostly vanished from overhunting and envement. Efforts to breed dragons domestically by the Suugon Dynasty were not very sessful, instead, a smaller variant was breed, called drakes which the true dragons looked upon.


    The Suugon Dynasty regrly shed with the Dragon Lords as they highly sought after a pure breed dragon. But with the natural barrier of a frozen wastnd, allowed the Dragon Lords to fend off the advances of the Suugon Dynasty.


    Because of the simrity between the two nations, the Dragon Lords allied themselves with the Loose Confederation which they were very happy to do so. Because of the alliance between the two powers, the Dragon Lords were no longer isted within the frozen wastes, allowing the small but powerful nation to extend its influence into the world with their near infinite riches from the dragons'' hoard that had been gathering since hundreds of years.


    With the alliance between the two powers, trade goods and news flowed in and out. The Dragon Lords invested heavily on businesses outside their region and in doing so, they were able to have some influence in the merchant world.


    Now, with the rumours and spies spreading the word about the riches of the New World, both the Loose Confederation and Dragon Lords could not just sit back and watch the other nations try to conquer the New World. The Loose Confederation wants the resources from the New World to staypetitive with the other Great Nations while the Dragon Lords wishes to ensure what was sealed away reminded sealed away.

 Chapter 475: Mission Planning

    Chapter 475: Mission nning


    The New Kingdom of Ma, North Eastern Region, UN Outpost Charlie One


    "Why are we constantly either digging or marching?" Krew grumbled as he shoved dirt out from the marked ground. "Shouldn''t the engineers be doing this kind of shit?"


    Cork paused and wiped the sweat off his head. "Don''t worry, you are not the only one digging here."


    "The entire A Divison is digging with you," Cork said as he rammed the de of his entrenching tool in the hard soil. "But... I don''t mind a few mages with earth magic to help loosen up the ground a bit..."


    As if God answered his wish, the ground around Cork and his men suddenly gave off a dim yellow green glow. Specks of mana started appearing from the earth and floated up before vanishing and the hard packed earth suddenly crumbled.


    "Is this alright with you all?" Jeanne dropped her outstretched hands and asked. "I am not that well verse in earth magic..."


    Krew gave the soft dirt a few stabs of his entrenching tool and gave a wide grin. "Oh... this is great! Thanks Pretty Knight!"


    Jeanne blushed as she heard the soldier nicknamed her Pretty Knight. She gave a self conscious check of her attire that consisted of an heirloom te mail over leather and padded armour. "Just.. call me Lady Jeanne!"


    Krew continued to grin as he started shoving dirt in a rapid pace. "Sure thing, Pretty Knight!"


    Cork shook his head as he watched his men tease thedy knight. "Alright, enough of your jokes you rascals! Since Lady Jeanne has so helpfully worked her magic to help you all, I want the fire trenches to be done before dark!"


    "A..." The men gave a grumble as they return to work, but this time they were more energized.


    "Hi," Cork greeted Jeanne as he climbed out of the trench. "What brings you here?"


    "Greetings!" Jeanne replied. "I was wondering what is everyone doing. I saw you all digging away..."


    Cork turned around to look at their surroundings and gestured to the city in the distance and exined. "High Command has passed down the order for us to dig in here."


    "We will build small bases all around the city and then we wait for the orders to attack," Cork gave a simplified exnation.


    "We will not attack anytime soon?" Jeanne frowned. "What are we waiting for? Reinforcements?"


    "Eh... something like that," Cork replied. The Army''s A Divison, which the 1st Rifles was under, had been given orders to dig in around the city. They were to hold their positions and keep the Protectorate forces boxed in the city. Two out of three Rifle Regiment that made up A Divison were deployed to encircle the city.


    1st and 2nd Regiment had roughly 800 men each, which they do not have enough manpower to fully encircle the city, hence the tactical decision was to create supporting outpost around the city outskirts. Should the Protectorate attempt a breakout, each outpost could provide support fire for each other and the mechanizedpanies serving as rapid reaction force will move in as reinforcement.


    Further back along the line of outposts were the firebases that held the artillery and rocket batteries of A Divison which will provide fire support. Fighter and helicopter gunships were also at the standby at the new forward supply depot just over the mountain range.


    "They purposely ced us here," Cork said as he gestured to the open terrain that stretched all the way to the smoke shrouded city that was roughly two kilometres away. "Our guns have the range to gun anything down if they attempt to rush at us."


    "This time around, it won''t be like Turnstead!" Cork growled. "If they dared toe out, they won''t be able to evene close to our lines!"


    -----


    The New World, New Protectorate Territories, City of Hensink


    "What are these... heretics are trying to do?" Lord Inquisitor General Rism asked his gatheredmanders and advisors as they watched the ongoing efforts of the localwless working thend by means of an optical spell that broadcasted the images on the surface of a pinkish crystal that was almost two meters tall and over a meter wide and thick.


    "My Lord, they appeared to be digging trenches..." Amander replied. "Like the defensive lines of our Pdins..."


    "They wish to besiege us?" Rism asked in a mocking tone. "Hahahahaha! Truly are a bunch of backward heretics andwless!"


    "My Lord," Another advisor spoke up. "They must be awaiting reinforcements toe. We should take the initiative and attack before their numbers grow! We must not let thewless think they can get away from Justice!"


    Rism''s eyes narrowed as he remembered the enemy''s strange weapons and spells. "Hmmm... despite their heretical ways. They do possess power that could threaten our faith!"


    "As much as I want to send thesewless to confess their sins to Ramuh..." Rism had a thoughtful frown on his face. "We do not have the numbers on our side! We must make careful ns to engage them!"


    "Come out with a proper attack n!" Rism ordered hismanders and advisors. "I want to see it by tomorrow morning!"


    "Yes, Lord Inquisitor! Justice shall prevail!"


    -----


    United Nations, Sawtooth Mountain Air Base, Hangar Three


    Rows of foldable chairs wereid in neatly on one side of the hangar space with a couple of whiteboards at the front. The side doors of the hangar suddenly opened and a group of soldiers entered their posture exude confidence and strength.


    Bit by bit, more and more soldiers entered the hangar until all seven rows of seven chairs were fully upied. The soldiers greeted each other and some even attempted to challenge others with bone crushing handshakes.


    "ATTENTION!" Suddenly one of the soldiers called out and the friendly bickering among the soldiers ceased immediately. They shot up to their feet and stood at attention as the squeak and footsteps of boots came from the door.


    A slim hooman with exotic features in a set of full ck uniform appeared at the front. Two aides in the same uniform each carried a thick stack of documents and files stood beside him. "At ease, gentlemen. Take a seat."


    The soldiers rxed slightly before sitting down and the aides of the hooman started handing out the documents down the rows. The hooman started pinning pictures and maps on the whiteboard and once he was satisfied with his work, he turned around and greeted the patiently waiting soldiers.


    "Good afternoon to all," The hooman gave a smile as he introduced himself. "Some of you may know me some of you don''t. But don''t worry, all of you will soon know me well enough!"


    "My name is Tavor," Tavor said to the crowd. "I am the head of Naval Intelligence of the UN military."


    "You can call me Sir, or Lieutenant Tavor," Tavor gave a smile to the soldiers. "Now, I gathered you all here today is for a mission of great importance to this nation!"


    He gestured to the file each soldier held in theirps. "Go on, open them up."


    "As you can see," Tavor tapped against the photos on the whiteboard. "An enemy has crossed the oceans and arrived here on thisnd. Not only had they taken the Princess, but now they are here to conquer thisnd."


    "Both satellite and aerial surveince has shown the location where this enemy lies," Tavor said. "This enemy is known as the Protectorate of Ramuh. I am sure all of you has heard of it before."


    "As for where theye from and what is their agenda and goals," Tavor continued. "That is not important now."


    "As of now, the city where the Protectorate had withdrawn into is being encircled by the UN Army''s A Divison," Tavor added. "The navy is also holding a blockading position to prevent any of their airships from leaving the encirclement."


    "These matters not to you all. The important thing is this!" Tavor tapped on a photo which showed a top down image of a ship. "We believe this is the gship of the Protectorate."


    The photo showed a huge airship and two smaller ships at the side. "As of now, we have totally no intelligence regarding the inner workings of the airship at all."


    "This will be your mission," Tavor''s eyes glittered. "Your mission is to capture and secure the Protectorate''s gship!"


    The soldiers broke out into an excitedmotion as they heard about their mission. A soldier raised his hand and asked, "Sir! What are the estimated numbers of crews or soldiers on board the ship?"


    "As I said earlier," Tavor replied. "We have zero intel on anything on this ship."


    "But what I can tell you is that based on the photos," Tavor tapped on the photo again. "It has a length of roughly two hundred and fifty meters, and almost a hundred meters wide."


    "Numbers of troops and sailors onboard should be only a skeleton crew," Tavor said. "As the Army will conduct decoy attacks to force the Protectorate tomit its forces on to the ground."


    "The Air Force will ensure that Protectorate''s Airships has no chance to take off," Tavor smiled. "The city is certain to have been reinforced with many anti air weapons, and the Air Force will feign that they fear those weapons and it should make the enemy think their airships are safer within their anti air coverage."


    "Sir!" Another soldier raised his hand to ask a question. "How will we insert in?"


    "Good question!" Tavor''s smile grew wider. "You will do a High Altitude Low Opening drop or what we call HALO insertion."


    "A transport will bring up over the city at night and you will be dropped over the target," Tavor said. "Once yound on the top deck of the airship, you will have to find some way to enter the airship."


    The front row of the group of soldiers gave out a painful moan which Tavor ignored. "As you all had practised and learned before. A ship has three important stations, one, the brains, which is the bridge. Two, the heart which is boilers. And finally, the legs, which is the engines."


    "Control any one of these, you can cripple the ship," Tavor said. "As we have no fucking idea what is theyout of the Protectorate''s gship, you guys have to improvise once you infiltrated the vessel."


    "I will be very frank," Tavor said in a serious tone. "Chances ofing home from this mission is very low. But you men are the only ones who can pull this off. This mission is very crucial to gaining the technology of the enemy and will turn the war!"


    "I expect you all the memorize all the information in the documents given to you," Tavor said. "Once you finish memorizing the information, the documents are to be destroyed! Team leaders are to ensure that!"


    "Mission training will start tomorrow at 0900 hours!" Tavor smiled again, especially to the front row. "I expect you all to be able to pull this off! For you, all are Hundred and First, Arcane Tactics and Intervention! The best of the best!"


    -----


    Hitsu moaned as Lieutenant Tavor gave a nod towards them and exited the hangar. He looked down at the file and sighed deeply. "Why can''t we have like normal missions just for once?"


    "Now we got to jump off a ne at what heights?" Hitsu flipped through the file and moaned. "Five thousand meters?"


    "Then they expect us to perfectly time our parachute openings just before wend on the hull..." Hitsu grumbled more as he read the mission brief. "Find a way in, hopefully without alerting any of the thousands of possible crewmembers onboard... Find either the bridge, boiler, or engine room and take control of the whole ship?"


    "And with just 49 people?" Hitsu eximed loudly. "Oh well... I am getting boredtely..."

 Chapter 476: Merits

    Chapter 476: Merits


    Dr. Sharon stared at the disy filled with text and diagrams of her portable workstation as she reviewed through the data collected. Seated with his back next to her, was Magister Thorn, simrly bowed over a portable workshop, his forefingers tapped gingerly on the keyboard. The only sounds in the research tent were just the tapping of keys until Dr. Sharon let out a loud yawn.


    "Tired?" Magister Thorn asked without turning his attention away from his disy.


    "I have been up looking over these data for the past week," Dr. Sharon replied. "I didn''t get much sleep at all..."


    "The voices in your head no longer disturbing you?" Magister Thorn asked again.


    "Nope... It does feel strange now that the voices are gone..." Dr. Sharonmented. "Feels... kinda quiet and... empty..."


    Magister Thorn paused in his work and gave Dr. Sharon a once over, "Are you sure you are fine?"


    "Yes... just tired..." Dr. Sharon replied. "Looking at all these information is killing my eyes!"


    "It''s really amazing!" Magister Thorn''s eyes glowed excitedly. "These runes! Aetherium! Their magic is way more advancedpared to ours!"


    "The way theypress multiple runes into a single magical formation is short of genius!" Magister Thorn paused the enemy''s enemy. "Even their golems are more advanced than the simple golems we use!"


    "Should it be our technology is better?" Dr. Sharon said. "What is see is mostly clockwork mechanism!"


    "Ah... of course, they can''t bepared to your hooman''s tech no lo gee!" Magister Thorn grinned. "Butpared to our standards... its really amazing work!"


    "Their golems uses a mix of magicalponents, steam, clockwork and of course, aetherium to work!" Magister Thorn said. "Not counting the need of a life source of a being to control it. Butpared to our golems made out of living stone... as long one has the skills, they can make it! While our golems rely solely on earth elementalists to be produced!"


    "In the long run, our golem tanks will be outproduced if wepare each other," Magister Thorn said. "Our golem tanks are too dependent on earth elementalists... if one day... we have no earth elementalists... that means there will no longer be any new golem tanks!"


    "True," Dr. Sharon bobbed her head in agreement. "That is why they are not focusing on just the production of the golem tanks!"


    "And more importantly," Magister Thorn gestured to the disy where it showed a diagram of a molecr structure. "This aetherium is what made it possible for their golems and airships!"


    "Without this magical element..." Magister Thorn sighed. "Those machines would be impossible!"


    "Yes..." Dr. Sharon replied. "Aetherium is like a whole new element!"


    "Its density when heated is four point five per cent of air!" Dr. Sharon said. "That''s even lower than the density of hydrogen against air!"


    "Not only is it non mmable, its molecules are not small either!" Dr. Sharon added. "It can be stored in metal containers without it diffusing through the container!"


    Magister Thorn understood the bare basics of the elements and building blocks of life. He had read and studied molecules and atoms hence he could still understand what Dr. Sharon was saying. "I learn about the periodic table of elements... But there''s no such element as Aetherium!"


    "Yes... Its atoms share a covalent bond," Dr. Sharon said and she pointed to the diagram on the disy. "Only helium and oxygen atoms were identified, while there is two unknown atoms..."


    "What is more strange is that Aetherium molecules are heavy, but when exposed to high temperatures of up to a hundred and twelve degree celsius, its bonds break apart from solid to liquid to gas very rapidly!"


    "Once in a gaseous state, it can produce a lot of lift!" Dr. Sharon exined. "For every kilogram, only 0.002 grams of aetherium is needed!"


    "That means to provide lift for 100,000 kilograms or 100 tonnes of weight..." Dr. Sharon did a quick calction with herputer. "That means only 200 kilograms of processed aetherium is required!"


    "This means ships like our Goblin ss corvettes which weighs around 950 tonnes," Dr. Sharon did another round of calctions. "We will need 1,900 kilograms of processed aetherium just to bnce its weight!"


    "The recovered wreckage of the Protectorate''s airship is estimated to be only 90 meters roughly and 18 meters wide," Dr. Sharon pulled up more data on her screen. "The weight from the wreckage is roughly 745 tonnes... And Naval Intel says that this is most likely just a frigate or escort sized vessel..."


    "We recovered just a bare 400 kilograms of aetherium from the wreck... A ship of that size would at least carry two tonnes of aetherium..." Dr. Sharon said. "The rest of the aetherium would have escaped as gas when the holding tanks were ruptured... Most likely they would have solidified into tiny particles and scattered all over thend when the escaped gas cooled down."


    "And the destroyed golems'' aetherium tanks too were mostly destroyed..." Magister Thorn sighed. "I doubt the engineers could be able to scrape out much from there..."


    "I guess so..." Dr. Sharon gave a shrug. "I might not be an engineer, but I can say that there is no merit in recing or upgrading our existing aircraft designs..."


    "Why?" Magister Thorn had a confused expression on his face. "Why so? Wouldn''t the addition of the aetherium allow the aircraft to fly further?"


    "Well... it alles down to practicality, I guess?" Dr. Sharon started exining her thoughts. "Our fixed wing aircraft designs are all fine and doing well for hundreds of years. The wings already provide lift, and fuel is needed for the engines yes?"


    Magister Thorn nodded in response.


    "So why do we need to add in more stuff like aetherium?" Dr. Sharon asked. "There is no practicality in doing so. You need a full redesign of the hull, add in tanks and heaters and more fuel... which in the end does not really affect anything except make an already perfected design moreplicated."


    "I see," Magister Thorn nodded again. "Since aetherium only provides a lifting force... So adding aetherium into a fix wing aircraft is just redundant you mean?"


    "Yup!" Dr. Sharon nodded back. "I can only see using it forrge transports or even warships... Our aircraft designs are already good enough!"


    "True..." Magister Thorn replied before he rubbed his palms together. "But we can make Gundams right with aetherium helping to reduce weight right? Hehehe!"


    "Did you borrow my anime collection without asking again?!"


    -----


    Sea of Clouds


    A massive green barrier covered a fleet of airships. The source of the barrier came from thergest splendid looking airship in the middle of the formation. The curved hulls of the airships were painted grey and had silver trimming.


    The gship was instead painted glossy white and had gold trimmings all over the ship. A golden figurehead of a maiden embracing a long sword was mounted at the curving bow of the gship. Blue gs with a motif of three down pointing triangles covered both sides of the ships, disying their allegiance to the Tri State.


    The gship had sloping superstructure in the middle of the hull, where the bridge was sited. Inside the bridge, on a raised carpeted tform, was a chair that seated a middle aged woman. She wore a form fitting blue double silver buttoned jacket and blue loose silver striped pants that were tucked into a pair of polished calf boots.


    She lounged against the chair as she stared out of the crystal windows of the bridge of her gship while her crew stood over their stations. A sh flickered over the green barrier and adjutant standing behind her chair wiped the sweat off his face nervously.


    "Rx..." She said in a deep voice as she sweep her brown fringe with streaks of grey over her ear. Crow feet appeared next to her green eyes as her eyes narrowed with mirth at her nervous adjutant who flinched each time the barrier flickered. "Its noting out of your pocket!"


    "My Lady Manarva..." Her adjutant sighed. "I am not worried about the cost of... running the fleet shield..."


    "Its more of what if the shield copsed before we make it out of the Sea of Clouds?" Her adjutant grumbled. "Many lives depend on the shield of the gship Victoria!"


    "Aulus, you are just stingy that''s all!" Duchess Manarva, Grand Admiral of the Tri State Exploration Fleet teased her young aide. "I doubt you even think of whose lives would be in danger at all..."


    "You tease me, my Lady!" Lieutenant Aulus cried out in mock despair. "I know Ie from amoner family and grew up poor... But still..."


    Another sh and flicker of the shields made Aulus paused in his sentence and winced again. Truthfully, he did felt pain each time he saw the shield flickering as it meant hundreds of magic crystals had turned into dust. "Erm... still its quite the waste of our highly limited magic crystals..."


    "Hahahaha!" Duchess Manarvaughed and shook her head. "I should leave you behind my duchy to run the books! You probably help me save hundreds of gold coins every month with your misery thoughts!"


    "Ahem... Mydy, that won''t be a wise decision..." Aulus quickly said. "You do need someone to help you handle all the paperwork and chores, yes?"


    "You just want toe out on an adventure and get rich!" Duchess Manarva snorted. "I have known you since you were a small kid!"


    "Yes, and I thank my Lady for picking me up from the slums!" Aulus gave a perfect gentlemanly bow. "Hence it is my duty to stay with mydy..."


    "Yes, yes!" Duchess Manarva shook her head good naturally. Aulus had been by her side for many years ever since she brought him out from the slums and gave him an education. Now he served as her trusted aide and she knew that his misery ways were to save as much money for his family back in the Capital of the Tri State.


    The Tri State was once ruled by three kings in the past until an incident had two of the kings passed away from old age before a sessor for each was found. Hence it soon became ruled by a single King ever since. It was formed from three different countries which all had blood ties among the royalty.


    When wars raged against the Old World, the three Kingdoms decided to band together to survive and the Tri State was formed. It was the only nation to be bordered by five of the Seven Great Nations, only the Loose Confederation did not share a border with it.


    Yet despite its disadvantageous location, itsnd were fertile and rich in minerals and resources, gaining it the economical might it needed to build its military. It was a militaristic nation, with much gaining nobility through merits in fighting against the nations that bordered itsnds.


    As it was the same with all the other nations, when word spread of the discovery of a trove of resources in the New World, the King immediately summoned the Duchess Manarva who was also an aplished admiral to gather her fleets and depart for the New World.


    Over thirty airships and transports of various sizes now huddled under the protective umbre of the gship Victoria''s capital ship ssed shields, which the Tri State had developed from an artifact excavated from some ruins. The Tri State''s signature shields were also the reason why a Nation surrounded by five other Great Nations could survive till this day.


    "Don''t worry, little Aulus..." Duchess Manarva said as she stared out of the crystal windows. "Soon, we will exit this... boring scenery..."


    "And then, you won''t worry about the shields burning a hole in the treasury!" Duchess Manarva smiled. "You can find all the treasure you want and get all the merit you need!"


    "For the New World is waiting for us!"

 Chapter 477: Operation No Fly Zone

    Chapter 477: Operation No Fly Zone


    The New World, New Kingdom of Ma, City of Hensink


    The helicopter gunship levelled out and the six rocket pods under its wings burst into smoke and mes as rockets screamed out of theunchers. About another hundred meters away, another gunship volley fired its rockets as well, sending them streaking towards the smoke shrouded city.


    Secondster, the defensive works beyond the walls erupted into smoke as the 70 mm rockets rained down on them. Explosions rippled across the face of the earthworks, copsing tunnels and destroying entrenched guns.


    "Unicorn One One to One Two," The pilot spoke into hisms as he looked out of his cockpit to his left where the other gunship was hovering. "Operation No Fly Zone is go!"


    "Roger, One One."


    The pilot pushed his stick forward and thepound helicopter gunship dashed forward towards the city while the co pilot cum gunner started engaging targets that Intel had deemed weapons or important. The nose mounted 20 mm autocannon spat out bolts of deadly ordnance, hammering identified gun pits, barracks, stores and any exposed Warjacks.


    The mix of high explosive and armour piercing rounds yed any Protectorate soldier out in the open or burying them under copsed tunnels. Steam cannons erupted as their pressure tanks burst, the hot steam scalding anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby without any protective wear.


    Supplies stored under bunkers were buried when the bunkers could no longer hold under the heavy fire of the 20 mm shells. Warjacks in the open quickly retreated towards the city walls as they were one sidedly hammered from the air. Boilers for the cannons and recharging stations exploded intorge clouds of white smoke as the hot steam escaped into the air.


    -----


    Steam cannons that survived along the trenches were quickly swerved upwards and the ready boilers pumped steam into their pressure tanks. Shortly after, puffs of smoke popped out and mushroom shaped projectiles started flying into the air in an attempt to knock the enemy''s flyers down.


    Hidden among the trenches under mounds of dirt, were several anti air steam ballistas. The rectangr boxed shape weapons were pushed out from their protective bunkers and hoses connected the weapon''s tanks to the battlefield boilers that half naked elves were desperately shoving fuel into their hungry furnaces.


    Once the tanks were filled and pressure built up to the required levels, the gunners who aimed the weapon with crude sights at the enemy flyers jerked the release levers, and the whole steam ballistas rocked back on its wheels, as it spat out sixteen bolts into the air with arge crack of escaping steam. A gunner quickly turned a nk with opened a seal at the end of each tube, allowing hot condensed water and gas to drip out.


    The men ignored the hot muzzles of the steam ballista as they sought to reload the weapon by shoving in meter long bolts into each of the sixteen slots of the boxy weapon. A ring of rubber like material made from saps of the trees covered the shafts of each bolt. It was to ensure an airtight seal within theunch tube of the steam ballista and it also made reloading the bolts harder as the men had to shove the bolt in.


    Once the bolts were all inserted, one of the gunners turned a nk which effectively sealed all theunch tubes and they aimed the weapon into the air again. The gunners estimated the range and trajectory of both the enemy flyers and their bolts before releasing the lever and throwing another storm of bolts into the air.


    Onboard the gship Aggression, the underbelly of the metal beast opened and two red quad winged machine dropped out, their leathery wings pped frantically as they fell towards the ocean, gathering enough lift just as they were about to hit the waters and charged off into the air. Following that, another two more flyers were dropped off and they repeated the same manoeuvre to gain altitude.


    The quad winged ornithopters angled straight for the pair of flyers that were wreaking havoc over the city. The Protectorate''s ornithopters was basically just a double pair of wings fitted over a steam boiler and a spiral airscrew for its tail. The frame of the ornithopter was mostly just beams and bars, except for the cockpit, boiler, and wing mechanism that were covered in metal ting.


    It carried a crew of three, one pilot, one gunner and one engineer. The pilot is seated in a soap bubble canopy forward of the ornithopter while the gunner manned a repeating crossbow powered by steam a turret located on the top of the craft right before the water tanks. The engineer was position inside a cab where he faces the boiler and feeds and control the pressure.


    The beams and bar frames were hollow and heated aetherium gas is fed into them and controlled by the engineer. The wings act as both a gliding tool and means of directional control while the main propulsiones from the single airscrew at the rear, making the whole contraption look like a tear drop with wings.


    Under the armpit of the wings, the ornithopters also carried four single shot ballistas that were powered by steam. Once fired off they would have to return back to the gship to rearm. Now four ornithopters pped their wings as they readied their steam ballistas.


    -----


    The pair of gunships charged over the city, their 20 mm autocannons coughing destruction all over the city while the air started to get heavily cluttered with projectiles and magical spells. The two AH - 1 Unicorns made a feint towards the hovering airships parked just over the original docks of the city while braving the air full of dangerous flying ballista bolts and spells.


    "Contact!" The pilot of One One yelled out as he spotted four red dots in the air. "Enemy bogeys!"


    He quickly pushed the AH - 1 Unicorn engines to the max, and the nimble gunship charged forward, its speed surprising the four insect like flyers. He pulled the stick back and reduced his engine power, allowing the helicopter to continue on its path but at the same time, he twisted the hull of the Unicorn, turning the cockpit to line up directly at the scattered Protectorate''s flyers.


    The co pilot grinned as one of the red insect flyers caught his attention. It tried to follow their gunship with its slow turning radius and speed. He put his crosshair sights just a centimetre forward of the flyer and squeezed the trigger, causing the hull of the Unicorn to shudder slightly as the 20 mm nose mounted auto cannons spat out shells at 800 rounds per minute.


    The tracers of the 20 mm shells shed over the panicked flyer as the enemy pilot must have noticed that he hase under fire. The insect flyer seemed to jink up and down unpredictably in the air while the co pilot of the Unicorn One One cursed as he corrected his fire.


    Suddenly there was a burst of white smoke and the red and ck wings of the insect flyer broke off and the insect flyer went into a death spin and shortly impacted with a ssh into the ocean, trailing smoke and raining debris.


    "Good kill!" Unicorn One Two congratted the kill over thems.


    Seeing one of their numbers down, the remaining three insect flyers seemed to be enraged as they came barreling straight at the Unicorns. Both sides charged straight at each other, like knights on a jousting tournament, only to have the AH - 1 Unicorns suddenly banking away and unnaturally as their noses could still point at the insect flyers, their nose auto cannons zing away.


    The brief exchange brought down another two of the Protectorate''s insect flyers, leaving thest one to turn around and trying to take out the Unicorns in a desperate bid of defiance. It fired its steam ballista off in a puff of white smoke, only for the bolts to fly nowhere even near the nimble Unicorns and it went down in a trail of mes and smoke as 20 mm shells punched holes through its unarmoured hull.


    "Good work One Two!" The pilot of Unicorn One One yelled. "Go straight for that escort airship!"


    Both AH - 1 Unicorns formed up again and flew over the city, their sights aimed at the rightmost escort that was hovering next to the massive gship of the Protectorate.


    Due to their speed, which made judging their trajectory hard, allowed them to avoid all the anti air fire and spells at them. Both the AH - 1 Unicorn actually had the ability to engage targets well over a thousand meters but instead, for the sake of misleading the enemy, they had to get in close.


    Both gunships volley fired off their remaining rockets at one of the smaller escorts which looked tiny whenpared next to the carrier like sized gship of the Protectorate. The rockets made the magical barrier of the escort re up brightly as balls of explosions rolled over the barrier.


    They did a single pass before they broke away and dash off away from the range of the enemy''s anti fire coverage.


    "X Ray, this is Unicorn One One," The pilot called out after they put some distance between the city and his helicopter. "We are bingo on guns and mission ispleted. RTB over."


    "Roger, Unicorn One One, good work. Out."


    -----


    The New World, New Protectorate Territories, City of Hensink, gship Aggression


    Rism was in a sour mood. His aide had presented him the butcher''s bill and damage report on the city just earlier. He stood facing therge crystal windows that overlooked the city below him. Tendrils of smoke not from the forges and furnaces rosed up from the walls while the defensive works of trenches and bunkers were covered in grey and white clouds of smoke.


    Dozens of soldiers were dead or missing, most likely buried alive under the tunnels and earthen bunkers, while another hundred or so were wounded. And that was not counting the priests and other Protectorate citizens! Five steam guns were destroyed and at least ten battlefield boilers were too damaged to be salvaged!


    Thankfully the damage to the Warjacks was all repairable with no longsting damages to the Avatars inside. Even the attack on the escort, Angst only cost them some magic crystals and scorched paint on its hull. But four of the ornithopters out of twenty onboard the Aggressor were downed just by two of those heretical flyers!


    Rism felt a chill down his spine. The sense of fear was something he was unused to and it made him angry, especially at the thought of the heretics andwless here might be a force that was greater than his own or worst... the entire Protectorate!


    Just two heretical flyers could cause so much damage and chaos, what if thewless has even more of those weapons? If the next time, theye in arger group, his once formidable forces that could easily sweep across thesends that could not even make a single scratch to those heretical flyers, would be all massacred!


    Rism took a ss of wine swallowed the whole contents in one good and frowned. "Could this be a trap to lure us into thinking thewless and heretical people here are weak?"


    "And once we took the trap... the real poweres out and destroys us all?" Rism whispered to himself. "Should I pull back and cut my losses now?"


    Rism pondered his tough situation. He enjoyed the feeling of holding power over the weak but he was not stupid to fight against someone who obviously was stronger than him. And in this case, he realised that there was more to this Un An than what thewless here know about.


    He gave a deep sigh, knowing that he was in a disadvantageous situation now and it was time to cut his losses. He turned to his aide who was seated at a work desk at the corner of the room and said, "Call for an immediate general meeting now! And start packing up everything!"


    "It''s time to leave this... godlessnd!"

 Chapter 478: HALO

    Chapter 478: HALO


    The New Kingdom of Ma, 5,000 meters over the City of Hensink, C - 1 Skyfreighter


    "One minute!" The announcement came over the worn headsets of the gathered soldiers. Each soldier carried a variety ofbat gear from the main and spare parachute to a small tank of oxygen linked to their face mask, weapons, armor, and life vest and a bag of spare equipment.


    The interior of the cargo ne was lit up with a green glow while the tail end of the cargo hatch had swung open, exposing the inky darkness of the night. The temperature drastically plunged when the hatch was opened and the goblin cargo master shivered, snot slowly dripping out from his sharp nose.


    "30 seconds!" The goblin cargo master squeaked. "Get ready to jump to your deaths! Ahah- Choooo!"


    Hitsu of ymore One strike out a middle finger at the sneezing goblin who wiped the snot up with his gloved hand and licked it clean. "Oh... that is farking gross! I''m not going to touch anywhere that has buttons on this bucket!"


    Tyrier stood at the edge of the cargo hatch and looked down at the ground where several tiny pricks of light could barely be seen from their height. He turned to his team who had formed up in a row and waited for the order from the pilots.


    "5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" The countdown switched the red jump lights to green and Tyrier waved his hand forward, and Wolf standing first in the row took a hesitant step before getting shoved off by Hitsu behind. "JUMP JUMP JUMP!"


    One by one the rest ran out, with ymore One leading the jump, followed by ymore Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven. The teams barely evenpleted five practice jumps before being whisked over and told that the mission had been brought forward. Already they were down by two men from having their legs shattered when theynded badly during one of the practice jumps.


    Now forty seven bodies pierced through the air, reaching terminal velocity, and the only way to spot each other was from the weak glow of light sticks mounted on the back of their helmets. They could only guide their bodies towards the tiny pinpricks of light that flickered randomly on the pitch ck terrain that was UN artillery firing at the city.


    Tyrier had his arms and legs spread out as he fell. His eyes covered by a pair of goggles narrowed as he tried to spot his own men falling in the darkness. He could just barely glimpse the glow of their light sticks at the backs of their helmets. He checked the glowing green digits of his altitude meter and watched the numbers drop rapidly.


    He looked back to the ground, the shes of explosions of highlighting the city and its surroundings. Their target lit up briefly under the barrage of explosions, the massive airship looking like a tiny golden egg from the height he was at.


    The golden egg grewrger andrger as Tyrier''s altitude dropped lower and lower until his meter started beeping. He yanked his parachute cord and felt a heavy punch as his main parachute deployed, forcefully slowing his speed down.


    He stopped several rectangr chutes below him, silhouetted against the backdrop of mes and explosion. Tyrier exchanged his goggles with night vision and quickly spotted the infra red marker that was beingsered onto the target airship by a spotter ne.


    The size of the airship grewrger andrger until it covered Tyrier''s entire view. He kept his knees slightly bent and secondster hended running on a section of the top deck without incident. Quickly, he tossed out an infra beacon, to further mark thending zone for the rest of the 101st ATI that was still falling down.


    "ymore One all here?" Tyrier did ams check with his team who started replying.


    "Altied has taken a badnding," Young radioed back. "Hended on some pipes and sprained his ankle!"


    "Roger!" Tyrier replied. "Everyone form up at Young and Altied''s position!"


    Following the instructions given by Young and their memorization of the photos of the top section of the Protectorate''s gship, they made their way towards Young and Altied. In the background, thump of explosions continued on as more and more 101st ATInded on the deck of the unsuspecting gship. Yet not all the 101st ATI managed tond safely on the target. Some missed the airship totally andnded in the sea while others like Altied, misjudged theirnding on the cluttered deck, and injured themselves.


    101st ATI now with only 38 abled men and six injured, formed up before heading towards the suspected entry hatches that were identified by Intel. The wounded were given painkillers and magical healing by medics before they hobbed along. Tyrier leading ymore One, headed towards a suspected observation hatch. They managed to find the hatch but it was locked.


    "Breach it!" Tyrier ordered and Wolf started removing a breaching charge from his pouch. Wolf pped the charge down against the hatch before tearing the friction tab off the breaching charge and igniting the fuze.


    "Fire in the hole!" Wolf yelled and he rolled into cover with the rest. A chest thumping crack followed by a tremble of the decks signaled the breaching charge had ignited. "Go!"


    The men bounced out from cover and rushed towards the destroyed hatch. Hitsu peered into the hole and found a dimly lit tunnel leading down into the airship with adder. Tyrier gave him a nod and Histu quickly climbed down thedder, using the sides of his boots to grip against the sides of thedder as he slid drop.


    When Hitsunded at the bottom of thedder, he quickly drew his silenced pistol out and checked both sides of the corridor ensuring the way was clear. "Area clear!"


    "Go!" Tyrier ordered the rest down before he contacted the rest of the 101st ATI. "All Stations, ymore One has secured a beachhead over."


    "Roger!"


    Tyrier joined his team who was covering the tunnel ess. Hitsu asked when Tyrier joined them, "So which direction?"


    "We wait for the other teams to join us!" Tyrier replied. "Watch your sections!"


    Just as he finished saying that, a couple of crew members of the airship dressed in red jackets appeared around the corner of the corridor. For a moment both sides stared in surprise at each other, before a fury of suppressed pops knocked both Protectorate crewmen down.


    "Shit," Hitsu hissed. "If they don''t know anything is wrong... Now they do!"


    "Hold the breach!" Tyrier ordered. "The rest of the ymores areing!"


    "Grab the bodies!" Hitsu gave Wolf a nudge. "Come on!"


    The two ymore One members ran forward and checked their corners before dragging the bodies out of sight. Finally, the other members of the 101st came sliding down thedder and Tyrier met up with the team leaders. "Is that all of you?"


    ymore Four and Five nodded. "The rest found another way in."


    Tyrier nodded back, theirms were cut off when they entered the airship. "Alright! Then each team picks one way! We need to move fast, soon, someone will be would be looking for the missing crew!"


    -----


    gship Aggression, Stateroom


    Rism was frowning at the scenery outside the crystal windows. The heretical enemy has weapons that were beyond their own weapons from the way the heretics were bombing the city, while his troops could only suffer.


    He had already ordered an evacuation from thisnd and the evacuation was just about to bepleted when the damnwless started their heretical bombing of the city, halting the loading of the supplies and goods. The sense of unease in his heart grew stronger as he stared out into the night, making him wondered if he should give up on all the remaining materials and leave now.


    Another sh of an explosion flickered in the night, followed by a dull thump that could even be heard from the airship. There were still over five thousand Protectorate soldiers and two dozen Warjacks still in the city, including the massive siege engine, Reckoner.


    Rism knew that the men of the Protectorate will give their lives for Justice but leaving behind the Warjacks and the Siege Engine would not sit well with the Grand Jury.


    "Damnation to thesewless!" Rism cursed as he felt trapped. He left his stateroom and headed towards the bridge. "It''s time to leave!"


    -----


    gship Aggression, Unknown Deck


    "Move!" Tyrier gestured as he took a kneeling stance, his weapon covering the dimly lit deck. His men ran past his back heading towards another entryway. Suddenly a troop of red coated Protectorate soldiers came marching in. "Oh fark! Contact!"


    Pops of suppressed gunfire rang out, the empty cartridges almost louder than the suppressed shots as they hit the metal decks. Bodies danced and dropped like puppets with their strings cut off as Tyrier ran through an entire magazine.


    The loud cries and tter of Protectorate gear seemed to draw all attention as crew members and soldiers came out to investigate. Suddenly the narrow deck ways became flooded with dozens and dozens of Protectorate forces. The Protectorate soldiers rushed over the bodies of their fellows with both raised magical and physical shields until bullets overwhelmed their defenses and punched through their light leather and metal armor.


    "Fark! More Beetle headsing this way!" Hitsu yelled as heid prone on the decks, his assault rifle popping single shots at any approaching enemy. "How many farkers are there?"


    "Break out the heavy weapons!" Tyrier ordered calmly as he shot down a couple of charging half naked crewmen. The Protectorate seemed unfearful of death as they continued leaping over the dead that piled up along the decks, and with the dim lighting, made the whole scene appeared to be one out of hell.


    Taylor and Wolf unslung the weapon packs behind their backs and removed a light machine gun. They quickly p in a box magazine into the LMGs andid down suppressing fire down both sides of the corridor and turned any unprotected flesh into a bloody pulp.


    "Fall back!" Tyrier ordered after seeing the Protectorate forces were gaining ground. "Wire the ce to blow!"


    Hitsu quickly dug out explosives and dumped them behind him before he frog leaped back. "Back!"


    "Go!" The rest bounced back in pairs as they gave ground to the Protectorate. Once Tyrier judged they were far enough, "Blow it up!"


    Hitsu pumped the friction lever before twisting the ignition plug. Instantly the decks shook and a massive roar mmed into their bodies, followed by the moans and screams of twisted metal. Hitsu grinned and touched knuckles with Young. "That should give them something to think about! Wahaha!"


    -----


    gship Aggression, Bridge


    "What was that?" Rism and hismanders all looked around as they all felt a quiver beneath their feet.


    An aide instantly appeared and he whispered some words to the Aggression''s Captain. The Captain''s expression changed several times from shock to anger. He stood forward and reported to Rism, "Lord Inquisitor General, we... seemed to have been boarded!"


    "The Aggression is boarded? By thewless?" Themanders and even Rism were surprised by the news. "How is this even possible?"


    The Aggression was currently floating even higher than the city''s walls which were over five stories in height. Yet now, word came that the Aggression that was the pride of the Protectorate''s fleet was boarded and bywless and heretics!


    "How did thewless enter the gship?" Amander roared. "What are the escorts doing? Are they all sleeping?"


    Rism mmed his fist on the table and growled. "This is a disgrace to our God! How dare the filthywless step onboard our sacred ship? How dare they defile this holy vessel?"


    "FIND THEM AND KILL THEM ALL!" Rism roared. "CLEANSE THIS HOLY VESSEL OF THE FILTH!"


    "NOW!"

 Chapter 479: Aggression Fighting

    Chapter 479: Aggression Fighting


    The decks shook again as another thunderous roar echoed down the passageway. Cries and yells followed behind the st while more footsteps stormed down the passageway and figures in red erupted out from the swirling smoke.


    Puffs and pops of suppressed assault rifles greeted the charge of the Protectorate forces. Spent casings bounced off the metal decks as the men of the 101st ATI advanced through the Protectorate''s decks in search of the airship''s critical systems.


    Tyrier''s ymore One had appeared at the upper levels of a cavernous hangar. Several strange teardrop shaped machines with folded wings sat at intervals all along the hangar bays. Dozens of bodies wereid out all over the deck in their own pools of blood as ymore One took out any hostiles.


    "Goddamn, this ce!" Hitsu cursed as he retrieved a couple of boxes of cartridges from his backpack and started reloading his emptied magazines. "This ce is a bloody maze!"


    "Quickly refill your ammo!" Tyrier ordered from the side as he stood sentry. "We need to keep moving! Bastards won''t be so nice to let us enjoy some peace and quiet!"


    As if on cue, a group of Protectorate soldiers appeared from the other side. Tyrier hissed as he ducked behind some stacked crates. "Stay under cover!"


    The group of soldiers wearing their trademark beetle like heads made a quick check of the dead before they rushed towards another hatch at the other side of the hangar, leaving ymore One undiscovered. Suddenly, there was a shudder throughout the airship, and a strange wailing cry resounded through the decks, speaking in a strangenguage.


    Tyrier and the rest looked up and they cursed as they recognized some of the words spoken. They had taken a crashnguage course by the Old World Professor. Tyrier quickly refilled his magazines and stood up, "Come on! The damn ship is taking off! We need to disable it now!"


    -----


    Protectorate gship Aggression, Bridge


    The bridge crew manned their stations nervously as the Lord Inquisitor General was in a very foul mood. Already a couple of their colleagues had met unfortunate ends in the hands of the agitated Lord Inquisitor General. The Lord Inquisitor General paced around the bridge while hismanders and aides stood at one side awaiting his orders.


    "Cast off immediately!" Rism suddenly halted his pacing. "Order the ground troops to fight to their ends! Justice shall prevail to the valiant!"


    The Captain of the Aggression quickly turned to his crew and passed on the order. "Make steam! Cast off the lines! Prepare forunch!"


    The bridge crew jumped to their orders, passing the word down speaking trumpets, and orders to the entire ship started to be announced throughout the ship. Engineers in the boiler rooms started to shove fuel into the furnaces while water was pumped into the tanks. Clumps of processed aetherium were filled into the heating tanks while engineers start to check the valves and dials.


    As steam built up and aetherium started to melt into gas, the manoeuvring airscrews on the nks of the Overlord ss battleship also started spinning, shifting the massive airship''s facing. The escorts airships parked next to the Aggression were slower in making steam as the order came too sudden. Luckily the Aggression evaded the smaller escorts as it made its turn and its altitude rose higher.


    Rism watched the view before he started to change as the gship did a hundred and eighty degrees turn. The Aggression''s main engines started spinning, the massive spiral airscrews started turning faster and faster. Slowly bit by bit, the airship started drifting forward.


    -----


    Protectorate gship Aggression, Unknown Deck


    "Which way now?" Wolf asked as they secured a crossway. The dimly lit passageways looked the same no matter which direction they looked at. Somewhere in the airship, came echos of fighting. "The ship is starting to move!"


    Tyrier crouched down and ced his ear against the bulkheads. "This way!"


    He gestured to the left of their position, "The sounds of the engines seemed to being from there!"


    They started advancing cautiously towards the direction where the noises made by loud machinery was the most prominent. Along the way, they took down groups of patrols and crewmembers who charged at them without any regard for their lives. After several twists and turns, the sounds of heavy machinery grew louder and louder and the appearance of the passageway changed with more and more pipes appearing on the bulkheads.


    Wolf came around a corner and was nearly shot by another 101st ATI member. The two special operatives stared at each other with relieved expressions on their faces as they lowered their weapons. "ymore One here!"


    "I''m with ymore Six!" The other 101st ATI operative replied before he gestured behind him.


    Tyrier shook hands with ymore Six''s team leader and the two leaders exchanged information. Theirms with other units were blocked off by the maze of passageways, and only short distancems among the teams were working properly, hence all the teams have no idea of one another''s situation.


    "You are bringing your guys to the source of the heavy machinery noises?" ymore Six team leader asked Tyrier who nodded. "Same here!"


    ''Alright, let''s work together!" Tyrier said. "We need to stop this ship from leaving this ce!"


    The two teams started working together, as they continued their attack towards the bowels of the airship. The further they advanced, the more and more guards and soldiers they encountered and suddenly the passageway widened out and the way ended in a massive vault like door.


    The dozens of guards went down under the barrage of heavy gunfire and blood pooled around the thick bands of pipes that protruded out from the vault like doors. Hitsu stared up at the circr doors that were almost twice his height. "So... are we at the right ce?"


    Altied rapped his knuckles against the vault doors, hearing the dull nk from his knocking. "Seems pretty thick and the source of machinery noises appeared to being from behind the vault doors."


    "Any way to enter?" Tyrier asked as he used the tip of his boot to flip over a body.


    "The side door appeared to be bolted from inside," Altied said as he inspected a side hatch next to the vault doors. "Breach it?"


    "Breach it!" Tyrier replied and Hitsu dug out a breaching charge from his bag. He pped the charge against the hinges of the hatch before backing off to a safe distance.


    "Fire in the hole!" Hitsu yelled and he ignited the charge. Instantly the side hatch vaporish into mes and smoke.


    -----


    Kosom was a junior engineer of the gship Aggressor. He was a faithful believer of Ramuh, performing his day and night prayers devotedly. He was inside the main boiler station when the rm went off, and his superior gathered everyone and informed them that the ship has been boarded.


    Weapons were issued out and the main boiler station was locked down. Not longter, another set of new orders came from the telling trumpet, and the superior ordered all the boilers to be lit, and make steam as the ship was leaving.


    The junior engineers including Kosom pushed carts of coal along tracks towards the waiting boilers. There, other teams of junior engineers shoved the cartloads of coal into the hungry maws of the furnaces. As Kosom stoked the mes, an engineer priest walked alongside the carts of fuel and chanted, giving his blessings to the fuel and sanctifying the boilers.


    Kosom chanted with the rest as they worked in tandem, shoving coal when suddenly the side hatch exploded. The thick metal hatch flew back as the hinges shattered and dropped with a loud nk that bought an instant halt to all work inside the main boiler station.


    All eyes turned to the smoke shrouded hatchway as they stared in confusion at themotion. Suddenly several ck canisters rolled out from the smoke. Kosom''s eyes followed strange objects and screamed in pain with the rest as the strange objects suddenly gave off a thunderous crack that magnified within the enclosed deck and the blinding white light that burned his eyes.


    "AHHHHHHHH!!"


    -----


    "GO! GO! GO!"


    Both ymore One and ymore Six rushed into through the breached hatch when the shbangs thrown inside went off. They split off left and right, sweeping their weapons to cover their sectors and dropping anyone in their sights with a single well ced shot.


    "Clear left!"


    "Clear right!"


    "All clear!"


    Tyrier lowered his smoking weapon and observed his surroundings. Eight huge ball shape structures with lit furnaces covered both sides of the cavernous deck. Carts full of ck coal were parked before the open grates of the furnaces while pipes thicker than a person''s body ran out in all directions from all the giant boilers.


    "Secure the hatch!" Tyrier yelled to ymore Six. "ymore One, sweep the whole ce! Make sure there are no surprises!"


    ymore Six members took up positions and guarded the breached hatch while ymore One spread out and started checking the bodies and surroundings. Pops of gunshots came from deeper down the deck as surviving Protectorate crew were flushed out.


    Tyrier walked up a raised tform that was located in the middle of the deck between the giant boilers with what looked like a control panel. Rows and rows of meters and gauges covered the panel with dozens of levers and dials attached.


    He looked at theplicated and unknown controls with a frown, wondering which lever should he pull to shut down the entire contraption. Hitsu joined Tyrier at the tform as he came to report, "All clear, found two other hatches in and out of this ce. The rest are blockading those hatches."


    "Good," Tyrier replied before he asked as he stared at the numerous levers and dials. "Know how to shut this down?"


    "Blow it up?" Hitsu suggested.


    Tyrier raised an eyebrow at Hitsu''s suggestion and shook his head. "I don''t want to identally vent the steam out into this deck and cook all of us!"


    "Oh..." Hitsu gave an awkward grin. "How about putting out the mes in the boilers?"


    "Works too," Tyrier nodded. "Do it."


    Carrying a bucket filled with water taken from a water tank. Hitsu and the rest took several trips to put out the mes of each boiler and the heat and humidity increased further inside the boiler station.


    Seeing all eight of the boilers turned cold, Tyrier grinned as he could felt the slight trembling of the decks had ceased. "Looks like its working!"


    "Contact!" ymore Six''s team leader yelled out as figures started to appear at the breached hatch. "Beetle heads!"


    "Engaging!" ymore Six''s operatives hidden behind overturned carts and machinery fired at the Protectorate forces that forced their way through the hatch, the enemy''s magical barrier flickering madly as bullets impacted the lead enemy''s barrier.


    The barrier popped and the enemy soldier fell back with a hole in his back while another took his ce. The hatch was onlyrge enough for two people side by side to pass through and with bodies starting to litter and block the hatchway, the Protectorate could only fall back to ren their attack.


    "We need to hold this location!" Tyrier said. "This should either the main boiler room or one of them."


    Tyrier pointed to his men, "You and Hitsu cover the rear hatch."


    "Young and Altied, take the second storey hatch," Tyrier ordered. "The rest will support the breached hatch with ymore Six!"


    "Yes Sir!"


    -----


    Protectorate gship Aggression, Bridge


    "What is happening?" Rism pointed to the outside of the crystal windows of the bridge. "Why have we slowed?"


    "M... My Lord Inquisitor General..." The Captain nervously made his report. "We lost contact with the rear main boiler station... Steam levels have fallen..."


    "W- We suspect that... boarders have overrun the boiler station..." The Captain said.


    "OVER RUN?" Rism''s expression was a mix of anger and disbelief. "WHAT IN THE JUSTICE ARE THE PALADINS DOING?"


    "A BUNCH OF USELESS FOOLS! YOU ALL SHALL FACE THE JUDGEMENT!"

 Chapter 480: Marines Lead the Way!

    Chapter 480: Marines Lead the Way!


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Coastal Waters off Hensink, UN 1st CorRon, UNS Goblin


    Commander Ford stood outside the bridge''s open air walkway and observed the dark vessel under a pair of night vision binocrs. The dark silhouette of the Protectorate airship had started moving under its own power after the 101st ATI had inserted on board the ship thirty minutes ago.


    "Sir," The Captain of the Goblin appeared at the hatch. "The enemy gship is turning directly towards their predicted course."


    "At their current speed," Reported the Captain. "They will enter the boundary of the End Zone in three hours. By then, the fleet will lose contact with the enemy gship."


    "Move the fleet within main gun range," Commander Ford ordered as he kept his eyes glued to his binocrs. "No running lights."


    "Aye, Sir!" The Captain replied and returned into the bridge to ry the orders.


    Suddenly the enemy gship seemed to hit a snag as its speed dropped. Commander Ford broke into a smile as he whispered to himself, "Those damn bastards did it!"


    "Sir!" The Captain reappeared at the hatch. "The enemy ship-"


    "I know!" Ford cut off the excited Captain''s words. "Tell the marines to stand by for action!"


    "Yes Sir!"


    -----


    Protectorate gship Aggression, Rear Main Boiler Station


    "Reloading!" A ymore Six operative yelled as he ducked back into cover to reload. Tyrier crouching next to the ymore Six operative covered him, snapping aim shots down into the breach where bodies had piled up two deep around the entry hatch.


    "Boss!" Tyrier''sms red. "They are storming the rear hatch!"


    "Shit!" Tyrier cursed before he yelled at ymore Six''s team lead. "Harman! We got contacts at the rear! I''m bringing my men to support the rear!"


    "Got it!"


    "ymore One! Fall back!" Tyrier yelled to his men. "Support the rear!"


    -----


    Thetched hatch shook with each heavy ng with dents appearing on the inner surface. Wolf and Hitsu looked at each other, before turning back to the hatch. Hitsu pressed hism''s transmit button and said, "Boss! They are storming the rear hatch!"


    The hatch shook again with a mighty ng and a hook was punched through the thick metal door, leaving arge jagged tear. Hitsu removed his magazines and stacked them on the cart he was behind, for quick ess. The tear on the metal hatch was erged further by another mighty ng, the torn metal screaming as another spiked hook appeared.


    "Oh, fark..." Wolf hissed. "Is... that... a bloody Warjack?"


    "Who the fark uses a Warjack in such tight... confines..." Hitsu''s voice trailed off as a red pair of glowing eyes peered through the torn opening of the hatch. "Oh... ok.. we are farked... So farked!"


    "What have we got?" Tyrier suddenly arrived behind Hitsu who gestured the torn hatch. "Oh... fark..."


    A pair of hooked spike appeared in the torn metal and with a loud groan of twisted metal, the remains of the hatch were ripped apart. The pair of glowing red eyes disappeared and a muzzle appeared at the ripped hatch.


    "BACK!" Tyrier roared and everyone fell back when the muzzle spewed out a dense cloud of superheated steam into the boiler room. The temperature instantly spiked up as the Warjack''s steam thrower cleared the area for its soldiers to storm into the boiler station.


    "Where the fark did that came from?" Tyrier cursed as droplets of hot water scalded unprotected parts of his body. He popped up from cover and saw beetle headed soldiers rushing through the hatch. "Iing contact!"


    A barrage of gunfire hammered the neers, their magic barriers flickering as bullets greeted them. Hitsu tossed a hand grenade perfectly into the cluster of Protectorate soldiers and the resulting explosion shattered most of the enemies'' barrier, allow bullets to travel unimpeded into their bodies.


    The flood of enemy soldiers was temporarily halted allowing the ymore One operatives some breathing room to regroup and hold the point. Wolf hissed in pain as Tavel cast a healing spell over his scalded face and made him swallow some painkillers to take the pain away. The patch of skin peeling off Wolf''s cheek started to scab over under the healing spell. Tavel further pped a patch of band aid over his wound and gave him a pat of encouragement on his shoulder.


    "Anyone remembered to bring along some anti tank weapons?" Loke asked as he shot down another Beetle head.


    "Nope!" Hitsu yelled back. "But I still got several demo charges!"


    "That thing can''t get into the boiler room!" Tyrier said. "Unless..."


    "Unless they open that massive vault doors!" Wolf hissed in pain. "If they blow the locks to the giant doors..."


    "The bloody Warjacks will have ess in!"


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Coastal Waters off Hensink, UN Fleet, UNS Resource


    The converted merchant transport nested in the middle of the Fleet under the protective umbre of several escorts. The converted transport hosted a t top like a modern day aircraft carrier, and half a dozen CH - 1 transport helicopters had their rotors spinning up.


    Marines in their multi cam uniforms andbat gear appeared from a sidedder as they assembled on the top decks. Officers and NCOs yelled orders and the Marines split up into rows as they ran towards the waiting transports.


    As thest hatch of the CH - 1 Griffin closed, one by one, the transport helicopters rosed up and headed under the cover of the night towards the unsuspecting airship in the far distant under escort by four of Marines Unicorn gunships.


    The trip barely took the helicopter transports fifteen minutes to arrive when suddenly, illumination spells burst out from the Protectorate Fleet, turning the night into day. The fleet of helicopters was illuminated immediately and the pilots quickly went into evasive maneuvers. Protectorate escort airships maneuvered to ce themselves between the helicopters and the muzzles of steam cannons started to stick out.


    The night skies suddenly started to be filled with projectiles as the Protectorate Fleet fired their steam weapons. The fleet of Marine helicopters dived and zig zagged around, as each pilot took independent action. The marines on board the Griffins yelled in panic as the ride turn rough, while the goblin aviation crew giggled madly as they thought it was fun.


    The Marine Unicorns charged forward and ripple fired volleys of rockets into the sides of the Protectorate escorts. The sh of explosions illuminating the night further and nking out the pilots'' night vision. Numerous res erupted out from Marines'' Ah - 1 Unicorns'' re dispenser as the gunships sought to draw fire from the enemy away from the transports by lighting themselves up.


    "Shit!" The lead CH - 1 Griffin pilot yelled into thems. "All units break! BREAK! Enemy gship''s shields are up!"


    "Abortnding! Abort! Abort!"


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Coastal Waters off Hensink, UN 1st CorRon, UNS Goblin


    "Target the gship!" Commander Ford roared out as he stared at the fireworks in the distance. "Take its shields down or the helicopters can''tnd! All ships... OPEN FIRE!"


    "Aye aye! Firing!" The weapons officer cried out. Almost instantly, the number one and number two gun roared in response, spewing out a two meter long cloud of mes. The rest of the fleet almost fired in unison, and one could spot the pinprick dots of trailing sparks from the fired shells.


    Secondster, reports from gun observers started flooding in and the gun crews readjusted their firing solutions and the 3" guns of the corvettes roared again.


    The size of the Protectorate''s gship made the shells hard to miss, causing the magical barrier of the gship to flicker madly in the night. The valiant Protectorate''s escorts that stood between the volley of naval shells unwittingly took some of the shelling.


    One unlucky Protectorate escort, Enforcer, took the brunt of the shelling and its weaker shields vapourised when several shells smashed into the escort. Without any shields, the escort took another two direct hits on its side in the next volley and immediately lost power. The Enforcer''s altitude dropped rapidly as aetherium gas and steam escaped out from its ruptured hull, the crew struggled desperately to save the dying airship.


    The UN Fleet consisting of three squadrons of four corvettes and two converted merchant ships continued to fire shell after shell at the enemy gship, wanting to knock down the shields so that the Marines helicopters couldnd.


    The Protectorate gship''s guns attempted to counter fire back at the UN Fleet but was severely outmatched in terms of firepower, range, and uracy. The fleet of Marine helicopter transports could only circle just out of range of the Protectorate Fleet''s weapons.


    The UN Fleet kept up its heavy barrage aiming at the gship''s shields, creating flowers of mes to appear several meters away from the hull, the heat and shockwave scorching the paint and creating stress on the armor tings.


    Finally, after almost fifteen minutes of heavy shelling and running through two quarters of the UN Fleet''s ammunition. The semi transparent magical barrier popped like a soap bubble, the bacsh of magical energies made the runes etched on the barrier nodes to burn out and melt the surrounding metal into g.


    "Shields are down, Sir!" The Goblin''s Captain excited cry reached Ford''s ears.


    "All ships! Ceasefire!" Ford quickly ordered. "Tell the Marines the way is clear again!"


    "Aye, aye, Sir!"


    -----


    Corporal Slow gripped his light machine gun tightly as the helicopter transport suddenly dived downwards, making him feel as if the seat and deck at his feet had disappeared. The helicopter suddenly rose up again, making him m against the deck again when the pilot''s voice came over the cabin. "The farking shields are down! We are going back in!"


    The fleet of helicopters loitering beyond the range of the enemy weapons charged back in towards the enemy gship. They flew in a random flight pattern to avoid the anti air fire but one helicopter carrying half a toon of Marines suddenly faltered in the air as dozens of bolts passed through the same airspace.


    Smoke and sparks erupted out from the sickened helo and it disappeared into the inky ocean with a ssh. The pilots who witnessed the crash quickly call for rescue for the downed helicopter but they knew it was toote for its crew and Marines.


    "Get ready to dismount!" The pilot called out. "One minute!"


    The officer in charge of his toon climbed out of his seat and yelled at the men, "Alright, you punks! Are you ready to die?"


    "Hooraah!" The Marines chorused in reply. "Marines lead the way!"


    The helicopter suddenly rose up again and immediately did a ny degree turn to cut its rapid airspeed down. The rear cargo hatch of the CH - 1 Griffin swung open and the goblin aircrew started yelling at the Marines to get out. "Get ya fat asses off my baby! Dum ma reens!"


    The relieved Marines dly hopped off the transport as the ride was too harrowing for them. The men spread out on the deck of the airship and the helicopter lifted off again, braving the anti air fire again as it returned back to the carrier.


    The Marines spread out along the decks, securing the area as more and more Marine helicopter transports touched down on the deck and Marines started to unload out. Suddenly hatches on the top decks opened up and scores of red uniformed soldiers rushed out and the decks turned into a battleground.


    Slow braced his LMG''s bipod on some unknown structure''s surface and fired in bursts at the Beetle heads that appeared. The personnel shields of the Beetle heads flickering under the dark night from the sparks and glows of the kic energy of the bullets.


    The numbers and ranged advantage of the Marines very quickly took a toll on the enemy even with their advantage of having personnel magic shields. The one sided firefight soon came to a halt when no more red uniformed Protectorate soldiers appeared from the hatches.


    "All units move in! We are taking over this piece of shit!"

 Chapter 481: What Went Wrong?

    Chapter 481: What Went Wrong?


    The passageways within the Protectorate''s ship was dark and warm, and the thunderous echoes of the Marines assault rifles ear shattering loud in its confines. Roughly a hundred Marines from the first wave that hadnded on the top of the Protectorate''s airship from seven heavy helicopter transports with the loss of a single helicopter and its cargo, had stormed into the airship.


    The remaining seven helicopters dodged the barrage of anti air fire as they returned to the converted freighter turned troop carrier. The Marine insertion mission was supposed to be done quietly before the Protectorate''s gship raised its shields or defenses, but unfortunately, the air fleet was discovered and now, the night skies were aze with tracers and illumination spells.


    Commander Ford quickly scrambled his naval fighters, which were dropped over the side of the seane carrier by cranes, where the pilots used the rocking sea as their runway, the floats of the little fighters allowing them to bounce off into the air from the waves when their airspeed was sufficient for them to take off.


    The Unicorn helicopter gunships dumped all their remaining res as they worked to draw the enemy escort''s cannon fire to them as the helicopter transports made a dash out of their weapons effective range. Once the Unicorn pilots noted the CH - 1 Griffins were safety out of the enemy''s weapons range, they broke their attack and diversion tactics and formed up around the retreating Griffins, while the Sea Cobras came roaring in, underneath their bellies from the waves.


    The single squadron of twelve F/A - 1N Sea Cobras which were all ''donated'' from the Air Force as the Air Force upgraded to the newer F/A - 2 Vipers, were converted into the naval variant. The Navy''s ageing fleet of F/A - 1N Sea Cobras came roaring in over the tops of dark waves as they made use of the dark surface of the ocean to mask their silhouettes from the light of the illumination spells that was randomly being fired off by the Protectorate''s Fleet.


    The glowing red yellow shells spat out from the three single 3" turrets of the UN fleet of corvettes dart rapidly towards the enemy escorts. The rate of fire from the UN corvettes had dropped due to their ammunition limits and instead they proceed to harass the enemy. The Protectorate Fleet sought to gain altitude but with their gship running on half power and depleted shields, they could only attempt to support the gship instead.


    Two of the small escorts that were almost twice the size of the UN Goblin ss corvettes, led by a evenrger airship, changed course and headed directly towards the UN Fleet, attempting to close in to their effective weapons range. The remaining three escorts and tworge transports that remained next to the gship proceed to transfer their troops over to the gship via zip lines to help fight off the UN boarders.


    Commander Ford watched the change in the enemy fleet formation on the radar and started passing out orders, "Designate new enemy squadron as Beta, targets One to Three!"


    "Order the Fleet to hold the engagement distance!" Ford ordered hismand staff as he remained seated in themand chair while the Captain of the UNS Goblin stood in front of him. "All ships to switch target to Beta One!"


    "Aye!" Hismand staff quickly started ry orders while the Captain ordered the UNS Goblin to turn and hold the engagement distance. Before them, outside the armored windows of the bridge, the two stacked single 3" enclosed armored gun turrets ceased their fire momentarily as they swung their barrels to target the approaching enemy squadron.


    "Captain!" The weapons officer of UNS Goblin gave his report. "All guns locked on target Beta One! Orders?"


    The Captain turned to Commander Ford whose eyes remained fixed on the radar screen. Ford waited for a moment as he watched his own Fleetpleting a ny degree turn. "All ships, open fire!"


    "Open Fire!" The Captain repeated the order to the weapons officer who quickly spoke into the handset, rying themand down to the weapons stations. Secondster, the Number One Gun of the UNS Goblins thundered, followed by Number Two Gun, than finally Number Three Gun at the rear.


    The night sky lit up again as 36 spinning shells fired by a dozen corvettes converged onto the approaching Protectorate''s lead airship. A third of the fired shells missed, over or under shooting the airship, while 24 shells mmed right on target. The Protectorate airship''s magical barrier briefly suspended the 24 shells in midair just a meter from its hull and 0.32 secondster, the fire rune impact fuzes of the shells crumpled from the shock of the split second impact and detonated, creating a ripple of thunderous explosions all over the side of the Protectorate airship.


    The airship shook violently under the barrage, and despite the magical barrier stopping the shells, the hull nearest to the explosions visibly buckled under the shock waves. But before the airship and its crew could even recover themselves, another volley of 3" naval shells came screaming in.


    -----


    "Swordfish Lead to all Swordfish," The leading pilot of Swordfish Squadron radioed to hismand. The dark shapes illuminated by both star shells and illumination spells hung above his cockpit, growingrger andrger. "Ignore the enemy ships that has split off. Continue on to mission!"


    The squadron of F/A - 1N Sea Cobras had formed up in three diamond attack formation, as they made a beeline straight for the unsuspecting Protectorate Fleet. The Navy was considering to scrape off the old F/A - 1N Sea Cobras as the new AH - 1 Unicorn attack helicopter had proved to be more capable to the older bine in terms of performance and even armament.


    But several factors kept the Navy from removing the Sea Cobras from active service. The cost of each Sea Cobra was lower than a Unicorn, including the cost and ease of maintenance. The bine was also very rugged and could easy to fly for beginner pilots while the Unicorn requires a more skilled pilot. Therefore, the Navy decided to hold off dmission the Sea Cobras and instead use them as fast attack bombers.


    The twelve Sea Cobras of Swordfish Squadron were specially loaded with aunch rail on each of its four hard points where two 5" or 127 mm high explosive rockets were inserted. The new 127 mm rockets were designed to be ship killers, after the UN''s experience with the goblin pirates, they realized that the standard 70 mm rockets were not enough to outright destroy a goblin raiding ship, hence the 127 mm ship killer was born.


    The 1.7 meter long unguided rockets has a effective range of 900 meters and the warhead carrying 3.9 kilos of high explosive was as devastating as a 155 mm artillery strike. Tests has shown the degree of uracy obtained from the rockets depended upon the altitude of the ne, dispersion of the rocket afterunching and aiming error of the pilot. Inuracies, however, decreased as the speed of the ne increased, so that speeds of up to 300 kilometer per hour, a trained pilot could put half his rockets in a 5 meter circle from a range of 350 meters.


    "All Swordfish engage!" The squadronmander ordered as he aimed his sights over one of the dark shapes. The other attack formations each made a beeline without reducing their speed as they too lined up for their attack runs. "FOX FOUR! FOX FOUR!"


    The entire dark shadow of the Protectorate airship had filled up his cross hair when he squeezed off the 127 mm rockets mounted onunch rails. His light fighter shuddered violently and ming tongues roared past him cockpit and his fighter immediately lightened up. His attack formation simrly volley fired off their rockets just as the others did, the rockets lighting up the night sky with trails of mes and thunder.


    The sudden appearance of rockets shocked the Protectorate Fleet as the airships quickly tried to maneuver out of the fast approaching mes. Even if they did not know what those mes entailed, they were wise enough to know getting hit by those mes would be bad, very bad. As the panicked Captains tried to move out of the way, the zip lines that anchored the airships to the gship snapped under the sudden stress and those soldiers that were still being transferred screamed as the cables snapped and they dropped into the inky darkness.


    The 127 mm high velocity aircraft rockets mmed into the sides of the escort airships, and balls of mes covered them under the flickering shields. The shields barely held for five seconds before failing and popped out of existence as if running away from the explosions that ravaged the unprotected nks of the airships.


    The rockets that missed, some mmed into the side of the gship and silenced gun ports and melted armor while other rockets detonated over the ocean. The Sea Cobras continued through the Protectorate Fleet and once sufficient distance was achieved, they looped back and built back speed for another attack run on the now unprotected escorts.


    -----


    Protectorate gship Aggressor, Bridge


    The glow of the burning airships around the Aggressor was reflected on the face of Inquisitor General Rism''s featureless mask through the crystal windows. His lips under his mask twitched in anger as he watched his another of his airship suddenly broke into two halves as an internal explosion blew it apart and both parts of the hull even gently float down to the ocean, trailing mes and smoke.


    The bridge crew and themanders and aides were all dumbstruck by the one sided battle that was raging outside. They stared in horror at the airships that were dying without even catching a glimpse of the enemy that was killing their people with impunity.


    "Lord Inquisitor General!" A panicked aide saluted as he made his report. "More boarders were reported on the upper decks! The Chief Pdin is requesting reinforcements! The Pdins could not hold the upper decks any longer!"


    "TRASH!" Rism suddenly yelled as he spun around at the frightened aide. "All of you are trash!"


    "All of you!" Rism red at hismanders. "GO TAKE BACK THE REAR BOILER STATION! NOW!"


    The shakenmanders and generals quickly left the bridge as they summoned their personnel guards as they obeyed Rism''smands. Rism''s eyes narrowed as he watched them depart from the bridge before he gestured to his personnel guards. "Attend to me!"


    Eight red coated masked Guardians stood fore in a straight row before Rism. Without a word, Rism left the Bridge and headed in another direction towards the hangar decks with his aides and personnel guards following behind. "Go! Go get my personnel ship ready!"


    "You two, get my luggage and all the important items in the vaults!" Rism ordered his aides as he walked down the passageway which shook even now and then with a loud thud. A rain of metal dust dribbled down the overhead. Half of the Guardians immediately took the lead of the party, their hands on their weapons.


    Just as they turned around the corner of the passageway, they bumped into a group of people dressed in strange clothes. For a moment both sides stared at each other, before the Guardians leaped into action, drawing out a pair of fat looking swords that were connected to hoses that ran all the way to their backs. Two of the Guardians charged forward while the rest pushed Rism and his party back the way they went. Another two Guardians remained behind to support their fellows against the boarders.


    Thunderous roars broke out behind Rism as his guards fought against the boarders. Rism cursed inwardly as he quickened his steps, taking another path towards the hangar where his private ship awaited. As he retreated, he wondered where did everything went wrong. The natives on this New World should not have such weapons and power!


    "There must be some secret in the New World!"

 Chapter 482: Fighting Fit

    Chapter 482: Fighting Fit


    Protectorate gship Aggressor, Rear Boiler Station


    A dense cloud of steam flooded through the breached hatch and melted the barriers of thin ice cast by ymore One and ymore Six operatives as they hurdled behind cover. The humidity was thick and the temperature rising every minute as the besieged soldiers were being slowly cooked by the Warjacks steam throwers.


    Cooked Protectorate bodies littered the entrances, while spent brass casing littered the ground around the defenders. Hitsu ignored the drops of warm condensed water dripping down his helmet and into his sweat soaked cor as he quickly thumbed cartridges into his emptied magazines. Spent magazines and several discarded cardboard boxesid sodden by the humidity in the boiler room at his feet.


    "How long are those ass holes just going to keep this up?" Hitsu yelled out as he slipped the reloaded magazines into his pouches. "Are they really trying to cook us?"


    The Protectorate forces were unable to force their way in had fallen back when the enemymander in charge realised sending in any more troops would just be wasting bodies. Instead, the enemy forces had stopped forcing the breaches and instead had their Warjacks to spray hot steam into the breaches to superheat the interior of the boiler station.


    With the venttion vents closed off, the hot steam flooding into the room made the humidity and temperature rise. This causes the soldiers inside the room to be unable to sweat off the heat of their bodies which over time will lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke.


    The ymore One and Six operatives could only cast ice spells to help cool their bodies down, but with the rising temperatures and humidity taking a toil to their bodies, their spells could only so do much.


    Tyrier sat next to ymore Six team leader and discussed their options. Both leaders were worried that if they do not break this deadlock, most likely they won''t be able to go home. ymore Six team leader said, "We blow up the boilers and break out from one side?"


    "The Warjack with the damn steam thrower will cook us before we even take a step out of cover," Tyrier shook his Head. "And we have nothing to punch through the armor of the Warjack either."


    "How about tossing all our explosions out of the breach?" ymore Six leader suggested. "Several kilos of high explosives should be enough to cover our escape. We use the moment of confusion to break out..."


    "I guess that''s the only option we have other then waiting to be cooked alive here..." Tyrier sighed and gathered his men over. "Alright, boys, we got ourselves a n..."


    "This is going to be a suicidal break out..." Tyrier quickly briefed both the ymore One and Six operatives about their n of action. "We throw all the explosives and sh bangs out of one side and blow it. The st should disorientate anyone outside and hopefully the damn Warjack! Then we pray and run! Alright, any questions?"


    "Boss?" Wolf raised his hand. "Erm... why don''t we try blowing up the pipes and using it to escape instead of going out by the main hatch?"


    "I am pretty sure the pipes of the boiler room isn''t as armored as the the entire ce," Wolf raised his point. "Also... without the boilers running... the pipes should be safe enough for us to... erm... use?"


    Tyrier nced at ymore Six leader and they both let out a bark ofughter. "Goddamn it, why didn''t we think of it?"


    "Alright! Set the charges on the boilers!" Tyrier ordered. "The rest start finding us a pipe that leads out of this death trap!"


    -----


    Protectorate gship Aggressor, Forward Decks


    Aegeus was Protector of the Justice Order having grown up within the Order ever since he could remember, learning, and training skills. Once he came of age and passed the Final Examination, he was promoted to the ranks of a Protector.


    He could not speak, as all the tongues of the Protector of the Justice Order were removed since young. What he learned was that their existence was absolute obedience to the Order and their mission. He grew up being taught how the Protectors stood next in the ranks of the God of Creation and Justice and when he finally received his Judgement before Ramuh, he will rejoin the holy ranks beside his God once again.


    And now, he and his brothers'' mission was to ensure the safety of the Inquisitor General. The enemy that appeared before him were just beings that needed to be sent to the Judgement for their affront to his beliefs and creed.


    The twin steam des appeared in his arms like magic, his blood red cloak sweeping back as he charged forward towards the group ofwless. As he closed the distance, he pointed each of his steam des at the closestwless and squeeze the finger length lever.


    Two sharp pops of steam burst out from a hollow tube that ran along the short length of the de and two stake darts shot out. The expression of the twowless turned to shock and pain as the stake darts hammered into them, and by the time they toppled backward, he was within the group ofwless.


    He swung his steam des with fitness, feeling the short sword like weapon humming as steam was pumped into the weapon, heating the des and recharging the four shot chamber of the mini steam cannon. Any sh or cut with his steam des would leave behind scorched flesh and burns.


    Within seconds he had shot twowless and cut down another two. The remaining three at the rear raised their long ck crossbow like weapon and the thunderous roar and sh of the weapon left his ears ringing and a blob of white on his vision. Still, he twisted his body as he sensed the danger from the weapon, just barely avoiding the deadly projectile that torn a ragged hole in his cloak.


    After a moment, with his ears still ringing painfully, he stood in the middle of the group of fallenwless, the blood cooking and turning ck on the edge of his des while his battle brother finished off those that still had breathe in them. He gave a prayer in his heart for the brave yet weakwless and was about to leave to join the Inquisitor General when another party ofwless appeared.


    -----


    Slow was covering the rear of his section when they came to an abrupt halt. He took a nce and found a section of Marines dead, their blood, and bodies spayed out along the passageway while two Beetle Heads in red armor stood over the dead.


    "CONTACT!" The point man dropped to a crouch, his shotgun up and thundering, spewing a small cloud of lead out while the others took up firing position.


    The passageway immediately descended into chaos as the Marine section engaged the two red Beetle Heads. Unsurprisingly, both red Beetle Heads had magical shields, as a flickering rainbow hue appeared under the barrage of lead. To their surprise, the red Beetle Heads did not retreat but instead charge forward.


    The lead point man yelled out in pain as he raised his shotgun up to block a downward stroke of the shiny de in the red Beetle Head''s hand. A severed gloved hand went flying off with blood squirting all over the passageway.


    The passageway was wide enough for only three men to walk side by side and the short engagement distance was disadvantageous to the Marines once the enemy got into melee range. The long barreled assault rifles were dropped on their slings and sword bays came out as the men huffed and grunted in the fight.


    Slow dropped his LMG and drew his short battle axe and waded into the melee, the Red Beetle Heads surprisingly managed to held off his section and even downed two more Marines in melee. Both sides red at each other, four on the Slow''s side and two on the Protectorate. Slow noticed that despite their heavy breathing, the red Beetle Heads did not suffer any wounds.


    "Grab the wounded!" Slow hissed as he noted his section Sergeant was one of the downed ones with a nasty belly wound. "I hold them back! GO!"


    With an Oerkish war cry, he leaped forward, swinging his hand ax down while in his other hand, he held a sword bay. Despite his size and nickname, Slow was anything but slow. He used his bulky frame to block and push the two red Beetle heads back and matched their shes and stabs.


    Taking the opportunity Slow had given the section, the rest quickly dragged the wounded back. After several shes of steel, both sides stepped back and reassessed their opponents. Slow had several burnt wounds on his arms and legs, but already his natural healing ability has started work, but the scorching pain that remained made Slow grit his teeth with pain and anger.


    The two red Beetle Heads suddenly moved together, one sought to tangle with Slow while the other went in for the kill. Slow could only roar out in anger and use all his strength, mming his ax down, forcing the red Beetle Head that faced him to drop back while Slow suddenly threw a side kick at the other red Beetle Head that tried a sneak attack.


    For his efforts, he took a bad stab in his thigh. Grunting in pain, he hobbled out of reach of their des when suddenly a yelled call out from behind. "SLOW! GET DOWN!"


    Quickly, he dropped prone just as his returning section mates open fire at the two red Beetle Heads whose magical shields started flickering wildly again but popping. The two red Beetle Heads dodged as much as they could and their des popped, tiny gusts of steam erupting out and cries of pain came from the Marines.


    Slow rolled to his side and drew out his service revolver and snapped off all five shots at the closest red Beetle Head who was barely even three meters away. The red Beetle Head jerked as his soft leather armor was unable to withstand the punishing fire of the revolver, sending him crashing on his back.


    -----


    Aegeus was enraged as he saw his battle brother fall. He screamed in his heart and red at the lesser being who killed his brother. He leaped forward, ignoring the rest of thewless with their thunder spells, his only intention was to get justice for his fallen brother.


    The damned demi being managed to evade his attack by rolling on the passageway like some slimy snake. His magical barrier finally depleted by the endless barrage of thewless thunder spell, made the dozen magic crystals on his magic barrier formation crumple into dust, yet he ignored it, and followed up on his missed attack, his steam des going straight for the back of the neck of the demi being.


    To his surprise, the demi being rolled over and a tube appeared in its hands aimed at him. The pitch darkness within the tube seemed to be infinite when the demi being yelled out something, and the tube red into eye searing brightness.


    -----


    "FARK YOU!" Slow pumped the action of the shotgun, spitting out a red shell and shoved the muzzle up at the face of the red Beetle Head, and squeezed the trigger. The loud boom that followed was the most satisfying noise Slow has ever heard.


    The red beetle like helmet of the Protectorate soldier vanished with a puff, and the bulkheads were immediately riddled with holes and painted with blood and brains. Slow dropped the smoking shotgun and slumped on his back in pain as his adrenaline wore off. The burn cuts all over his body both hurt and itchy as heid there while the rest of his section that was more able came over to drag him to safety.


    "Ow... this farking hurts... I wonder why did I wanna be a Marine..."

 Chapter 483: Diversion

    Chapter 483: Diversion


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Coastal Waters off Hensink, UN 1st CorRon, UNS Goblin


    The guns of the corvette finally fell silent as thest of the enemy force designated Beta drifted down to the ocean trailing mes and smoke. Commander Ford listened to the reports flooding from the Fleet and the airstrike against the remaining escorts with an expressionless face.


    "The second wave of Marines is ready to depart, Sir," An aide reported. "Swordfish Squadron has justnded and is being recovered."


    "Send in the second wave," Ford ordered. "Have the Unicorns disable the remaining airships."


    Under the watchful eye of Naval Intel, they had managed to pick out which ships werebatants and which were carrying cargo or troops. This allowed Commander Ford''s ships and pilots to know which target was the priority.


    "Tell UNS Firefly to arm Swordfish Squadron for aerialbat instead of anti ship and be on standby," Ford added, referring to the Sea Cobras'' loadout which currently was in anti ship configuration. He wanted them to switch all their armament to 20 mm gun pods. "And move our supply ships forward to restock the Fleet''s ammunition!"


    The collective roar of rotors swept over the UNS Goblin, as the second wave took off from the decks of the converted merchantman. Ford nced out of the armored ss and only managed to briefly catch a glimpse of a flying V of dark shapes before they vanished into the dark night skies.


    "This battle is as good as ours!" Ford mumbled to himself before he turned to hismand staff. "Send Third CorRon to fish out any survivors from the water!"


    -----


    Protectorate gship Aggression, ???


    The pipes that carried steam out were justrge enough for a grown person to carry inside. Both ymore teams were now crawling and making their way through the pipes without any idea where they were heading.


    Moments earlier, they had blown open thergest pipe in the boiler room, and after setting the timers on the demo charges and some nasty surprises behind for the Protectorate, they all started crawling in the pipe.


    As they crawled within the pipe, they could hear gunfire rumbling outside. Tyrier pressed his ear against the walls of the pipe and listened, "Looks like the Marines hasnded!"


    "Great!" Hitsuughed. "Now the Beetle Heads are truly screwed!"


    "Won''t they screwed when wended?" Altied pointed out. "The Marines are just here to mop up the remains!"


    "Well, I still prefer to have apany of Marines for backup!" Hitsu argued back. "It''s better to have more gu-"


    A loud series of thuds followed a shock wave that nearly knocked the men t, suddenly mmed into them. As they recovered from the st, Tyriermented, "Looks like they triggered the surprises we set for them before the timer on the demo charges went off..."


    "Alright, I think we traveled far enough!" Tyrier said. "Wolf! Move your ass forward more and set a breaching charge!"


    "Yes, Boss!" Wolf replied and he crawled forward roughly twenty meters away from the rest of the group. Along the way, he used the butt of his revolver to tap the walls of the pipe, trying to see to find a section that sounded hollow. Finally, he heard what he wanted and he started pping the sticky pads of the breaching charge on the pipe''s wall and quickly back crawled to a safe distance.


    "Fire in the hole!" He yelled back and tucked in his head as he squeezed the trigger of the detonator.


    A dull thud followed by a loud shriek of metal echoed painfully loud within the confines of the pipe. The men were shaken again by a shock wave and once everything settled down, Wolf crawled forward again to check the jagged opening, finding a passageway beneath the hole made by the breaching charge.


    "We got a way out!" Wolf yelled and waited for the rest to join him. Tyrier gave him a nod and he hoisted himself down the hole, carefully avoiding the sharp jagged edges. The drop down was not too much, just roughly three meters. Wolf boots nged hard against the metal passageway and he found himself at one corner of the cavernous hangar which they had passed by earlier.


    "We are back at the hangar!" Wolf reported as he did a 360 degree sweep of the area with his rifle. "All clear!"


    One by one the 101st ATI operatives made their way down and they all let out a sigh of relief as the air was cooler and not as stuffypared to the insides of the pipe. As they took a breather, suddenly at the other end of the hangar, a hatch opened and a group of four people appeared.


    They rushed towards a rather nice looking flyer, that screamed expensive to the 101st ATI operatives. The length of the small red and gold airship was roughly twenty meters, the shape of its entirely enclosed hull looked like a hammer with four air screws at the end of the ''handle''. Severalnding studs held the airship high up and in the middle section of the airship were two stubby wings on both sides in a shape of a ''X''.


    Underneath its belly, was a ramp that led up into the airship and the group of four rushed up. All four were carryingrge cases in each hand and it made the 101st ATI operatives very curious of what they were up to.


    "Think they are running?" Someone whispered as they observed the small airship. "The senior officers abandoning ship?"


    "Very likely," Both Tyrier and ymore Six team lead nodded. As if on cue, smoke started appearing from a couple of exhaust funnels at the rear. "Looks like they are starting up their boilers!"


    "Ship looks too ornate for any tom, dick, or harry," Tyrier said. "High chance it could be some High Value Target..."


    "So we ambush them?" ymore Six team leader gave a nasty smile.


    "We ambush them," Tyrier grinned back. "You take the left side with your men, I take the right side."


    ymore Six team lead gave a nod of acknowledgment and his team started making their way down the tform walkway while Tyrier led his men to the other side, making sure to kept as quiet as possible even though the hum of machinery from the airship was even louder.


    Both teams spread out as they approached the airship cautiously. They ducked in cover when suddenly one person came down the ramp and he stood at the ram looking around nervously.


    "One to All units, hold tight!" Tyrier whispered into hisms. He observed the behaviour of the young elf in a form fitting red uniform and was certain he was waiting for someone. "Wait for my signal!"


    They did not have long to wait when another group appeared from another hatch. The group of neers was evenrger, with over a dozen people. Tyrier''s eyes narrowed as he observed one of the elves that wore a white mask and the way he held himself oozed importantly.


    "One to All, do not engage the masked fellow!" Tyrier whispered into thems. "He''s the HVT! We want him alive!"


    A series of clicks answered Tyrier''sms. "One, Six, disable the engines, the rest engage the enemy... NOW!"


    At hismand, ymore One and Six popped out from cover and started servicing the targets with single aimed shots. The suppressed rifles popped and bullets mmed into the unsuspecting Protectorate.


    The nervous young elf who had a relief expression when the group he was waiting for arrived, had a look of surprise as a well aim shot drilled a hole through his ear and out from the other side of his head instantly flopped down.


    More suppressed gunfire yed the neers and four others in the group including one of the red coated soldiers went down before the remaining three red Beetle Heads throw up their magical barrier and stood protectively over the elf in the white mask.


    Sparks and dirty ck smoke spewed from two of the engines that were facing ymore Six as they concentrated their firepower on the engines of the airship before switching over to engage the party of neers.


    The party of Protectorates ran behind cover while two of the red Beetle Heads split up, one heading towards Tyrier''s group while the other towards ymore Six. The remaining red Beetle Head continued to protect the white masked elf only as he ignored the rest. Under the heavy suppressing fire, the remainder of the Protectorate could only hunker down behind cover while the two red Beetle Heads tried to get within melee range.


    "sh them!" Tyrier yelled to his men. Secondster, a couple of shbangs flew over the heads of the Protectorate and detonated with an ear shattering crack and a bright sh. Surprised cries came from the Protectorate and without the need formand, ymore One pushed forward.


    Suddenly, from behind a winged flyer, a red Beetle Head charged out and in each hand, held a short de angled towards the closest ymore One operative who was Hitsu. Hitsu gave out a cry of surprise and threw himself backwards just as the twin des sliced his back armour.


    Hitsu fell to his side and rolled over, his suppressed assault rifle up and he squeezed the trigger, emptying his magazine at the red Beetle Head who seemed shocked that his des did no damage. Shields flickered wildly from the joined gunfire from the rest as the red Beetle Head tried to retreat but before he could, his shields were depleted and he did a short death dance as bullets perforated his body.


    A loud crack of lightning and the smell of ozone filled the air as one member of ymore Six sted the other red Beetle Head with a high leveled lightning spell, sending the Protectorate soldier with his shields flickering, flying and mming against the hull of a parked winged flyer.


    That red Beetle Head then came under concentrated fire by the rest of ymore Six till heid in a puddle of his own blood. Wolf gave an appreciative nod of his head, "Damn, that''s some good magic there!"


    Hitsu rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, "I can do that shit too!"


    As they advanced forward, they found the red robed Protectorate with a white mask wiping a long sword that had a fat back de and a tube like object for its pommel. The masked elf stood over several bodies of his own men and casually dropped the blood stained handkerchief on the floor.


    He stood in a rxed pose and gestured to ymore One and Six in a provocative manner as if daring them toe. Tyrier frowned, his instincts were telling him that this was a dangerous opponent. For some reason, this white masked elf had killed his own people and was now challenging them to a fight.


    "Switch to taser!" Tyrier ordered the men. "sh him too! Do not get too close to him! He''s dangerous!"


    Those armed with tasers dropped their rifles down on their slings and whipped out their stubby shock pistols. With a puff ofpressed air, darts holding a concentrated electrical charge shot out and flew towards the masked elf who seemed to slightly vanish from his spot as he dodged the taser darts.


    shbangs tossed out from the rest bounced on the metal deck before bursting into a bright light and an ear shattering roar boxed the masked elf in as he tried to evade the attacks. The sonic and blinding attacks managed to disorientate him for a moment as his shields flickered wildly caused by the taser darts dumping all their energy out when they hit his shields.


    Suddenly, thest remaining red Beetle Head appeared from ymore Six side, the dual des spewing smoke and projectiles, dropping one of the operatives. Immediately, the attention was switched over to the new threat and Tyrier cursed as he watched the red Beetle Head entered melee with ymore Six.


    "Goddamn it! It''s a damn diversion!"

 Chapter 484: The Inquisitor General

    Chapter 484: The Inquisitor General


    Rism was surprised when a group ofwless heretics suddenly appeared inside the hangar. He was more amazed at their steam guns that could shoot faster and further than anything he knew existed in the Old World. Within seconds of the ambush, almost half his party was down in their own pool of blood.


    His Protectors stepped in and activated their magic shields, which flickered madly under the insane rate of fire of the heretics'' weapons. He frowned as he stepped behind arge stack of crates thinking hard about the abilities of these heretics. He knew he had underestimated them greatly but he still could not understand why this particr group was so powerful.


    "Why did they have not taken control of the entire New World if they had such weapons?" Rism stood there wondering without a care of what was happening around him. "How peculiar..."


    "Lord Inquisitor General!" One of his aides called out, breaking Rism from his thoughts. "The- They disabled the engines of the Lord''s Blessing!"


    "We... we can''t escape any more!" The aide whimpered in fear. Rism threw a nce of disdain at the group of cowering aides and he drew his steam de out and without hesitation, he cut down the group of surprised aides around him. "W- why...?"


    "Cowards!" Rism hissed with disdain. "You should give your lives for the Judgement! Yet all of you cower like sinners! Now be Judged by Him!"


    "Go around and attack them from the side," He snapped an order to his Protector. "I shall distract these... heretics!"


    The Protector gave a curt bow and he slipped off behind the stack of crates, circling around the parked flyers. Rism took out a handkerchief and started to wipe off the blood on his steam de. His steam de was simr to the Protectors, except his weapon uses small disposable canisters powered by magic crystals to create steam, instead of hooking to a steam tank.


    As he wiped his de clean, a dozen heretics surrounded him, their strangely powerful steam guns pointing at him. Rism eyed the weapons held by thesewless with great interest. He watched as a one of thewless yelled something and two others in their full ck attire befitting of a heretical godless nation dropped their weapons down and switch to a smaller version.


    Time slowed as Rism cast a Speed Up and Focus Up spell. He could see every single detail of the twowless from their gloves to the ck and yellow rectangr muzzle that was slowly rising up as everything seemed to move in slow motion. A puff of smoke erupted out from the tiny steam gun''s muzzle and a ck blurry dart spat out towards Rism as he stared directly at it.


    He took a step to dodge the darts flying towards him and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the rest of thewless were digging out something from their vests. The two darts buzzed past him and flew off somewhere. He next stepped away from the ck canisters that thewless tossed at him but the canisters suddenly erupted in a blinding sh and a loud crack that left his ears ringing loudly.


    For a moment he was confused and blinded by the attacks and he felt his magic shield taking damage. Rism could only stumble blindly backwards while he cast a recovery spell that managed to helped cleared his blindness and ringing in his ears. As his eyesight recovered, he noted that hisst Protector had engaged thewless, drawing at least half their attention away from him.


    He raised his steam de and aimed at the closetwless and squeezed the lever on his grip. Instantly a puff ofpressed steam burst out and a small wooden stake shot out. Rism gripped the back of his de and pumped the lever which rotated a four round cylinder and at the same time charging the internal steam tank.


    Rushing forward and dodging the shots from thewless, he closed the distance rapidly. He fired another shot off at thewless who got knocked back and swung his de two handedly down at the nextwless. Thewless brought his weapon horizontally up to block his de and Rism gave a bloodthirsty grin behind his mask as he cast a spell just as his de impacted thewless''s weapon. "Wind sh!"


    His de glowed blue for a split moment and a sharp hiss of wind erupted out from his de. The razor sharp sh of wind split the weapon in half and dumped its remaining power vertically down on thewless whose mouth was opened in a surprised ''O''. "Judgement be upon you!"


    -----


    Hitsu cursed as he saw Wolf being flung off his feet from the impact of the shot from the masked elf. The masked elf''s movements were very fast and the next thing, Hitsu knew, the masked elf was in front of him and chopping his de down at him.


    In reflex, Hitsu raised his rifle up to block the chop but to his shock, he saw the de glowed for a moment and heard the cast of a spell from the masked elf. "Oh, fark..."


    A gust of sharp wind sliced his assault rifle in half and sh continued on, mming in his helmet and chest, sending Hitsu tumbling back. The force and sharpness of the wind spell split his ceramic helmet and chest trauma te in half. Blood spurt out from his wounded face as Hitsuid on his back gasping for air as the spell had also knocked the air out of his lungs.


    "F- arker..." Hitsu half blinded from the blood on his face, gasped as he drew his pistol out and took aim at the masked elf that stood arrogantly before him. He snapped fired his pistol with shaking hands, missing most of his shots but managing to force the masked elf back as he dodged the attacks.


    "Wolf! Hitsu!" Young and Altied advanced towards the masked elf, their weapons up and firing as they tried to take down the masked elf who nimbly avoided their shots with ease. Loke and Tavel rushed forward and they each grab Wolf and Hitsu by their harness and dragged them to cover.


    "Slippery mother farker!" Altied cursed as he reloaded a fresh magazine and continued to fire at the dodging masked elf. "Bastard just won''t stay still!"


    "Box him in!" Tyrier ordered as he noted that ymore Six had finished dealing with thest red Beetle Head. "Keep a safe distance and engage him from range! Deplete his shields!"


    Young ran a quick check on Wolf, seeing a stubby bolt had embedded in his upper chest. He unfastened Wolf''s armoured vest and found the bolt had been stopped by the mithril trauma te and a big nasty bruise was on his upper chest. He pressed gently around the bruise and cast a healing spell before injecting painkillers into Wolf. "Looks like you have some broken ribs! Wait for the meds to kick in before you move! I going to check on Hitsu!"


    Wolf grunted weakly in acknowledgement as heid back on the floor, his breathingboured. The st from the enemy was surprisingly powerful. If it wasn''t for the steel te and strips of mithril inserts and tough spider silk, the wooden bolt would have punched through his chest.


    Hitsu''s injuries were not too serious either, most of the force of the spell had depleted itself against the mithril inserts within the trauma ting. The only serious injury was the cut on his face and cor that went to the bone. Young tossed a couple of healing spells that closed up his wounds, leaving behind a thin pale scar. "Now you look like a half breed!"


    "Fark you..." Hitsu wheezed as he raised a middle finger at Young''s teasing. "When I get my hands on that farking masked dude..."


    "You stay down first and wait for the meds to work before you start moving!" Young hissed as he jabbed a syringe of painkillers in Hitsu''s thigh. "Take it easy for now!"


    "Grrr..." Hitsu growled as he sat up and wiped the blood off his face. "Mother farker!"


    -----


    Rism felt his shield draining as it flickered when thewless''s attacks hit it. A magic crystal slotted on his belt crumpled as the magic within was depleted. He took cover behind a stack of crates and dug into a pouch, removing a magic crystal and he inserted it into a groove in his belt. Theplex runes on his belt of shielding glowed slightly as the mana from the magic crystal was absorbed into the spell formation.


    Next, he twisted the gas canister off the pommel of his de and reced it with a new one before he flipped out the cylinder of his steam de and started loading the empty chambers. With a jerk, he snapped the cylinder back into the steam de and worked the lever, charging a fresh shot into the chamber.


    "Stamina Up!" Rism crushed a magic crystal in his palm as he cast another spell, using the magic crystals to replenish his mana as his own reserve of mana had long depleted. "Ramuh''s Blessing!"


    His body glowed briefly as one after another enchantments spells were stacked on himself. He brushed the dust of depleted magic crystals away from his hand, his pouch of high quality magic crystal now lighter than before. Once he regained his mana and stamina, he stepped out confidently to face thewless.


    "Come! You godless heretics!" Rismughed, not caring if they understood him or not. "I am Inquisitor General Rism Trett! It''s Judgement time!"


    Pops of the heretics'' maddening powerful steam guns answered him as he dodged and weaved between cover, returning fire with his steam de. ck canisters bounced towards him and he turned away from those annoying weapons as they erupted in blinding sh and noise. Despite his efforts to avoid those weapons, it still disorientated him when it detonated near him.


    Despite his magical enhanced abilities, he was unable to gain any advantage against the heretics as they shameless kept at a distance from him while using their overpowered steam guns to peck away at his magic shields. Rism crushed another handful of magic crystals as he recovered his mana while considering his options. He couldn''t escape with his private airship since the heretics had disabled the engines and the only other way was to escape the Aggressor was to take one of the troop carrier airships at the other side of the hangar.


    He eyed the open hatch at the side of the hangar before he made up his mind. Rism knew he was outnumbered and outmatched and he needed more bodies to distract the heretics so that he could make his escape. And the only way lies in getting more bodies was to find out and that he needed to get out of the hangar first.


    He rubbed the dust off his palm and rushed out again, tossing a spell at the heretics, "Fist of Heaven!"


    A bolt of lightning crackled across the hangar and upon impact, balls of lightning burst out in all directions before fuzzing out after travelling a short distance. Cries of pain could be heard in the aftermath and Rism knew he had shattered the enemy.


    Using the remaining of his mana, he sted another First of Heaven spell out and taking the opportunity, he dashed with all his speed towards the exit of the hangar to find more troops and someone to crew his escape airship.


    -----


    The loud crackle of lightning made everyone''s hair stand on ends as it erupted. Those too close to the point of impact yelled out in pain as the lightning spell overwhelmed their magical resistance granted from the mithril in their armour. Tyrier spotted the masked elf suddenly making a sprint for the exit and he persisted but another powerful lightning spells knocked him off his feet and by the time he recovered, the prey was gone.

 Chapter 485: Sky Pirates

    Chapter 485: Sky Pirates


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Reachfield, United Nation Forward Operating Base


    Captain ke silently stood staring at therge screen set up with his hands sped behind his back. His once form fitting uniform now slightly loose on his frame as he lost several kilos over the months. The disy showed a greenish top down view taken from a circling reconnaissance FB - 1 Marine over the area of operations.


    Blops of bright luminous re asionally colored the grainy greenish disy and brought the outline of the focused image clearer. shes of light sprinkled on and off along the sides of the fat oval shape of the Protectorate gship as the Marine helicopter gunships strafed the hull with their guns destroying any exposed weapon ports to disarm its teeth.


    Bright streaks of tracer fire flickered all over the airship while several transport helicopters with blinking infrared beacons came hovering over the deck of the Protectorate airship. ke watched the grainy images of Marines storming out of the transports and formed up before they headed into the ship through hatches.


    "Sir, Marine Ops reports the second wave of Marines hasnded," An operator gave his report. "They have a fullpany of Marines on board the enemy airship including onepany of 101st. Wounded and the... dead are been transferred onboard..."


    ke nodded in acknowledgement as he kept his eyes on the screen. "Sir, the Marine Griffins will be after the loading of wounded and returning for the third wave of reinforcement. ETA of third wave... forty five mikes!"


    "CNO further reports all enemy airships destroyed," The operated continued. "Remaining enemy cargo airships are disabled too. Fleet is switching over to rescue and recovery operations. CNO is asking if there any further instructions in regards to any prisoner taken?"


    ke''s eyes twitched slightly as he heard the report. He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath topose himself as a surge of anger rose from the depths of his soul before he answered in a coarse voice. "Let... Commander Ford... decide how he wants to deal with any... prisoners... he has taken..."


    "... Yes sir..."


    -----


    Protectorate gship Aggression, Upper Decks


    Slow drained the whole packet of fruit juice before slipping it back into his pant''s pocket. "Ahh... I am healed!"


    The medic rolled his eyes and replied, "You lost some blood and the good thing about you green skins is that you recover fast! I gave you a minor healing spell already so you should be more than able to get back in the fight."


    "Thanks, doc!" Slow grinned, happy to go back into the fight. But his smile soon faltered as he gestured around the cabin turned temporary aid station where several bodies wereid out on ponchos and stretchers. "How about my guys?"


    "Danner lost his right hand, but with some high level healing he should be able to get his arm put back with a minor lost of function, hopefully..." The medic replied without looking up as tied up the loose ends of the bandage on Slow''s thigh. The medic paused for a moment before sighing and said in a low voice, "Potae has gone to the gates. Ten is in critical condition... he might or might not make it"


    "And all the guys from Section Three," The medic added in a grim voice. "Those farking Beetle Head''s weapons are farking cruel... The stabs and cuts are bad enough... but still... they had to cook and burn the internal organs up..."


    "Without getting any of the critically wounded to a high level doctor," The medic clenched his fists in helpless anger. "We can''t do much for them... except to end their suffering..."


    "The bloody Blue Boys weren''t even as cruel as these farking Beetle Heads!" The medic cursed. "And you were lucky! Your wounds weren''t anywhere near any of your critical organs! And damn green skins always heal fast!''


    Slow let out a deep breath and gave a heavy assuring pat on the medic''s shoulder. He stood up and collected his weapon and said, "They will be avenged."


    With that said, Slow walked out of the cabin and past the Marine guards who helpfully pointed the way to the sounds of battle. Slow gave a nod and made his way down the passageway his blood lust up. The sounds of gunfire grew louder and louder and bodies of red coated bodies were piled up along the passageway the closer Slow reached the front.


    Slow saw the backs of his fellow Marines holding an intersection of the passageway. One group wasying suppressing fire into a hatchway where bodies were piled up like cordwood, yet there was no sign of the enemy''s attack lessening as the fanatical enemy kept attempting to rush out.


    After getting directions from the group of Marines holding the intersection, he continued deeper into the airship, looking for the rest of his men. Soon he found himself entering an area that looked vastly different with the remainder of the airship. The bulkheads were no longer in the ugly grey metal or wood and dimly lit.


    Instead, the bulkheads in the new area were covered in polished dark wood panels, the decks were covered in a deep crimson carpet and glowmps in crystal holders lit the way brightly. Slow was certain he has entered what they called ''officernd'' as the decor was rich and beautiful, unlike the gloomy decks of the enlisted.


    His footsteps were muffled by the soft carpet and because of his intent to reach the sounds of battle, he unexpectedly mmed into a body just as he turned around the corner. He was barely shaken by the impact as he weighed almost twice as heavy as the person who went sprawling back on the carpet.


    In his surprise, he spotted a white masked Protectorate in a fancy looking long red coat. The white masked elf shook his head as he recovered from the impact and scrambled straight for his fallen de. Slow recognizing the cruel sword was simr to the red Beetle Heads that dealt horrific wounds to himself and his fellow Marines, let out an angry growl.


    He quickly stormed forward and stamped down hard with his size seventeen Made in Havenbat boots onto the wrist of the masked elf. The weight of over a hundred and fifty kilos of pure muscles made a loud snap of broken bones and a cry of pain followed next.


    The screaming Protectorate curled up in pain and suddenly he shot out his good hand and tossed out a spell. A loud thunderous crack of lightning burst fore and mmed into Slow, sending the shocked Oerkin flying backwards and mming into the bulkheads, smashing the wooden panels.


    Slow coughed as the thick smell of ozone, burnt flesh and charred fibres overwhelmed him. He got on to his feet groggily, shaking his head and waving away the smoke around him and stepped forward shakily. Waves of searing pain rippled through his body and he felt some of his old wounds reopening and turning his vision red and hazy.


    As he stepped out from the smoke, he endured the pain that was threatening to shut down his body. In his red vision, he saw the cursed masked elf struggling to his feet while cradling his broken hand. Slow let out a growl of pure anger and pain and he forced himself to take one step after another forward.


    The masked elf seemed to sense danger and he turned his head around. Despite the mask on, Slow could feel that the masked eyes were actually wide in fear and shock. The masked elf quickly scrambled to his feet to escape but Slow was not going to let him run away. He hoisted his LMG up one handedly and let the light machine gun loose.


    The 8.6 mm rounds spat out from the muzzle of the MG - 1 ''Mage Breaker'' at 500 rounds per minute at a speed travelling at 807 meters per second did not even take a second to m into the running Protectorate''s back.


    In barely nine seconds, the 75 rounds drum magazine ran dry and the weapon lived up to its name of Mage Breaker as the masked elf''s magical shields barely held up at all. The surrounding carpet and wooden panelled bulkheads were totally shredded by the fierce barrage of gunfire.


    Slow limped forward heavily, dropping the spent drum mag and pping in a fresh mag. He grunted in pain and stood over the masked elf who had curled up with his arms protectively over his head. A small pooch of shiny mana stones had scattered out on the ring of undamaged carpet around the masked elf.


    Despite not having any visible injuries, other than the broken hand, blood seeped out from under the chin of the masked elf, the blood merging with the same blood red color of his red coat. Without another word, Slow nted his size 17 boots into the mask of the elf, sending him mming onto the carpeted decks like a broken doll.


    The mask cracked and Slow decided to vent his anger and pain on the limp body a few more by kicking and storming before pain and exhaustion overtook him. He spat out a mouth of blood and slumped down against the destroyed wooden panelled bulkheads and cursed again. "I hate... mages..."


    -----


    Tyrier stepped out from the corner of the passageway smoothly, his weapon covering his sector while Altied did the same on the other side who gave report. "Clear!"


    "Medic!" Tyrier called out as he spotted the destruction of the passageway and the two bodies, one broken on the floor, clearly, the masked elf which they were tracking and a blood covered familiar looking Oerkin in Marine fatigues.


    They cleared the passageway before Young rushed forward with his medical satchel out and checking the condition of the Oerkin. "He still got a weak pulse."


    Young started treatment of the Oerkin while Tyrier and the ymore Six team lead crouch over the broken body of the masked elf. They could see the lumbered rising and falling of the masked elf chest as they bent over him. "Still alive, I see..."


    Tyrier shook his head, thinking of how much firepower and bodies they had spent to try take down this masked elf and in the end, it just took one Oerkin at the right time and ce to take all the credit. Releasing a deep sigh, he just let out a smile as he saw how messed up the masked elf''s condition was and said, "Don''t screw with the Oerkin... especially a Marine!"


    -----


    Dawn broke out over the horizon, the warm rays of the sun slowly covered the smoke shrouded city that had suffered a night of bombardment and brought a new day. The massive fat Protectorate airship remained floating in the air a fair distance away from the besieged city with few of the disabled escorts and transports meekly clustered around its hull under the watchful guns of circling Unicorn gunships.


    Dozens of smaller blue water ships surrounded the floating airships on the ocean''s surface while a frenzy of activity of flying transport helicopters moved up and down among the ships in the air and water. Further away, a couple of ships and small watercraft scoured the water surfaces and floating debris and wrecks for any more survivors.


    Commander Ford stepped off the ramp of the Griffin, the powerful whopping helicopter des forcing him to bend his body to remain stable on his feet. The flight to the airship rework some sense of nostalgia of the UNM''s space ships as he ordered the pilot to circle around the Protectorate''s gship for him to take in the sights.


    Now stepping out of the downwash of the rotors, a couple of Marinemanders including General Frank approached him with a wide smile on his face. "Sir! Wee onboard the Aggression. We are now officially sky pirates!"

 Chapter 486: The Reckoner

    Chapter 486: The Reckoner


    The New Kingdom of Ma, City of Hensink, Protectorate Trench Line


    Whistles blew hard down the line as thend before Cork was smothered in a dense cover of smoke rounds. shes of explosions from 155 mm heavy artillery guns continued to thunder behind the smoke cover and the men of the United Nations Army 1st Rifle Regiment charged forward towards the enemy defensive works.


    Further back under the cover of earthen works, mortars and artillery guns roared in support of the attack. A mixture of white phosphorous and high explosive shells nketed the Protectorate''s defensive works, keeping its defenders pinned down. The heavy artillery barrage seemed redundant and more of a gesture as the enemy lines had already been hammered repeatedly by artillery for a better part of the night.


    The heavy barrage lifted just as the men entered the smokescreen. Cork emerged from the smokescreen to find an alienndscape that brought back memories of his time as an Imperial General attacking the UN. But the scene before him was a hundred times more devastedpared to his time.


    The once pristine greennds that under the Protectorate''s hands had turned into ugly trenches of earth and mud with metal reinforced defensive works were all now even made into a scene of absolute destruction. The overturned brown grey ground was pockmarked with hundreds of craters amidst debris and shattered defensive works.


    Mud was everywhere, made from the morning dew and blood of the dead. Cork ran forward, kept his body low as the men advanced alongside him. He reached the lip of a trench and with a countdown gesture to his men, they popped up with their weapons, ready to shoot any defenders, only to find it filled several dead.


    A private coughed and puked at the side as he could not handle the gory scene. The bodies had their flesh charred and white bone could be seen as the enemy had died from the deadly effects of white phosphorus. The deadly white chemical had eaten through any exposed and unprotected flesh till the bone and through the screaming mouths, noses and lungs of any unlucky souls to be caught in the barrage.


    "Move! Move!" Cork shoved the retching private away and towards the city. "Keep moving! We still got a city to take!"


    The men steeled themselves as they advanced rapidly forward, stopping now and then to check and secure any intact trench or bunker. Sporadic gunfire could be heard along the attack line as unsurrendering enemies were encountered.


    Cork hopped down into a half buried trench where there was an obviously raised bump of the ground that clearly was a hidden bunker. His men formed upon him without a word and they stacked up next to an entryway into the bunker. Cork gave a nod to Krew across who dug out a grenade from his pouch. Krew pulled the pin and let the spoon of the grenade to sprung out as he cooked the grenade for a second before he tossed it into the dark entryway.


    A heavy chest pounding thump hammered the men and they entered the bunker. Lights mounted on their harness lit the way for them as they swept the area of enemies. The bunker was surprisinglyrger than expected and deep too, as Cork found out as went down the sloping passageway while sweeping his torch left and right, the smoke and dirt kicked up from the grenade making visibly low.


    As the smoke slowly cleared, his beam of light shone onto a dark red surface that seemed to upy the entire area before him. Cork paused and stared at the surface that seemed to tower all the way up to the roof of the bunk and it also extended further then what his light beam could prate in the darkness.


    He walked closer to investigate and realised that strange thing before him was actually inside a massive pit and the surface seemed to be made out of metal and has streak marks of rust and chipped paint.


    "Sarge," One of his men called out. "There''s a way down here!"


    Cork frowned as he joined his men in their discovery. Another slope led down into darkness and Cork was very certain they had already gone down at least two stories. Someone asked the question that was in everyone''s minds aloud. "What in the heavens is this thing?"


    "I don''t know..." Cork replied before he waved his light beam down the slope. "Let''s go find out..."


    Just as he said that sentence, a series of loud ratcheting noises seemed to erupt from the depths of the pit. Hisses and shrieks of metal followed next and the packed dirt ground beneath their feet started shaking. The roof suddenly copsed, exposing the sky and creating shafts of light piercing down.


    "OUT!" Cork yelled over the dim of noises that sounded suspiciously of heavy machinery. "GET OUT NOW!"


    The men ran back towards the way they came in as quickly as they could and as they exited out of the entryway and back to the trench line, the bunker behind them finally copsed and arge sunk hole appeared. Screams of panic echoed out amidst the sounds of heavy cranking and hissing as an entire section of the city wall seemed to protrude out from the ground.


    Cork stared in stunned fascination at the massive set of skeletal pickaxe like appendage rosed over his head and stabbed down on the cratered ground behind him. The ground shook as the appendage pulled the rest of its body out, and Cork saw a massive tower like structure supported by several of the pickaxe like legs, making its way out from its hiding space.


    "What in the holy heavens is that?" Krew craned his head up high, his mouth and eyes wide open like the rest of the 1st Rifle Regiment. Massive cogs and wheels could be seen turning and spinning under the ''skirt'' of the tower. Tubes that looked suspiciously like cannon muzzles extended out from all over the surface of the walking tower and hissed loudly as they shot off their loads towards the UN artillery at the rear.


    "Its... its... a farking giant golem!"


    -----


    When the word of a retreat was imminent, the Protectorate war engine, The Reckoner had hidden its self next to the city walls with its lower body and legs buried underground. The metal ting of the war engine blended itself easily with the newly armour ted city walls and the crew was careful to not expose itself by firing any weapons.


    Toorge and time consuming to be dismantled and loaded back onboard the Protectorate''s airships, the Inquisitor Generalid down amand for its crew to bid its time to cleanse thend of all thewless that had wantonly challenged the Protectorate. The crew knew their holy deeds would earn them a ce next to their God, Ramuh made theirst rites and prepared to fight to the bitter end.


    The massive tower like behemoth remained silent, and with the church like structure on the top, made it seemed innocuous and harmless, hence none of the UN mission nners had selected it to be hit by artillery or airstrikes. It only raised its magical barriers against any stray or random artillery shell but remained patiently waiting for its turn to unleash its Judgement upon the filth that dared raised their heretical hands against the Protectorate.


    The Captain Bishop of the Reckoner, seeing the Protectorate Fleet falling off the skies and the gship Aggression was most likely lost too, called upon his men to perform their final sacred duty against thewless. He knew thewless would attack now that the Protectorate Fleet has fallen and sure enough, at the crack of dawn, a heavy artillery barrage that made him and his crew feel like Ramuh himself hase to thisnd to deliver His Judgement swept through the city''s defences.


    Thankfully, the Reckoner has ample reserves of magic crystals, allowing it to withstand the explosions seemed to be the work of an angry god. Tiny figures and boxy wagons came out from the screen of white smoke and the Reckonermander knew it was time. He ordered all the boilers to make full steam and all weapons to be ready.


    He timed it just as the tiny figures of the hereticalwless troops crossed the defensive line and reached the walls, ordering the Reckoner to emerge out from its hiding space and towards the rear of the enemy lines where those heretical weapons that caused so much destruction were sited.


    Once those cannons were silenced, thewless troops would be easier to be dealt with! Thought the Captain Bishop of the Reckoner. He stood with his feet apart and his hands sped behind his back, staring out of the crystal windows of themand temple."Full speed ahead!"


    The massive war engine lumbered across the devastatedndscape, its magical barrier flickering as thewless''s heretical weapons hammered it. The Captain Bishop eyed the enemy guns at the rear that sat so enticing and exposed but yet so far that his own steam cannons were still out of range.


    "Faster!" He urged his people, despite knowing that the Reckoner was already moving at its fastest speed. The Reckoner shook wildly as the enemy''s cannons fired at it, making its magical shields flicker and shimmer. Finally, the Reckoner cannons were in range and the Captain Bishop yelled with glee. "ALL STEAM CANNONS... FIRE!"


    The view before him vanished briefly as dozens of steam cannons spat out their loads towards the rear of the enemy line, the warm front creating wisps of white clouds in the air. The Captain Bishop raised his hand out and yelled as a ripple of thunder of echoed, "JUDGEMENT HAS COME!"


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Hensink, United Nation Fire Base Delta


    Private Gouda was having the best time of his life of twenty two summers. Once a ballista crew, he always had the fascination about siege weapons. When word came of the forming and recruitment of the Army. He quickly signed up and when asked what was his choice of service which he said he wanted to be a ballista crew member.


    The recruiter had smiled and asked him why and after getting to know his interests, the recruiter rmended him to join the artillery unit instead. And there his life changed totally once he was introduced to the world of big guns and big booms.


    In the end. he managed to get into the UN Army and was even assigned to the artillerypany where he serviced the massive Haven Armament Works H100 155 mm ''Thunderer'' howitzer which he recalled his trainers saying that artillery was the king of the battlefield and it showed!


    The massive artillery and unlike a rifle, which Gouda scorned at, was capable of reaching distances that no rifle could ever achieve and the H100 Thunderer he was part of had been roaring for over twelve hours! It was beautiful, watching the red hot trail of the shell spiralling into the night skies before detonating hundreds of meters away with a burst of mes and sparks like fireworks.


    "INCOMING!" Gouda was bending over a case of 155 mm shell when someone suddenly yelled out in rm. He froze briefly as he stared up into the skies, wondering what wasing when his sergeant dragged him into a dugout. "GET DOWN!"


    The ground suddenly shook wildly as a series of thunderous ps hammered Gouda inside the cover of the shelter. His ears rang loudly and the air was filled with smoke. The sergeant that saved him was yelling something which he could barely hear. "Out! Out! Man your guns!"


    Finally, his hearing came back, and he crawled out of the pit and saw in the far distance a massive tower with several legs making its way towards him spewing smoke. "What in the heavens?"


    "Oh... you son of a bitch... you wanna y with cannons? I show you who has the bigger cannon!"

 Chapter 487: Artillery Duet

    Chapter 487: Artillery Duet


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Several Kilometers of the Coast of Hensink, Protectorate gship Aggression


    Commander Ford and General Frank stood inside the secured bridge of the enemy gship looking out of the crystal windows at the airships floating next to them. Both men ignored the blood covered consoles and walls paired with bullet holes and instead were concentrated on the reports from the radio operator who had stuck a receiver out from a shattered window.


    The expressions on both men where dark as reports of a massive war machine had appeared unexpectedly during the Army''s assault. Ford nced at Frank before he turned to the radio operator and said, "Order the 4th CorRon to start to make preparations to set sail and blockade the city''s harbor."


    "Do you need me to pull back some Marines to support the attack on the city?" Frank asked. "I could take out a battalion or so..."


    "No..." Ford shook his head while gesturing around them. "We have yet fully secured nor swept the airships clean of any enemies! There are a thousand and one hiding spots all over the ship... We barely have enough Marines to cover the airships we have taken."


    "The Army can handle it..." Ford added. "We still got plenty of our own problems here!"


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, United Nations Firebase Delta, 2km away from Hensink


    The ground rumbled heavily again as the massive war machine inched its way closer towards the UN Firebase. The rows of steam cannons along its nks hissed mightily, spewing steam and projectiles that created balls of explosions rolling across the besieged UN base.


    "Switch to direct fire!" The artillerymander ordered his men. The 155 mm guns sited behind berms of earth were aimed at the city two kilometers away. Now the frantic artillerymen rushed out of cover and spun the traversing wheels, turning the howitzers towards the lumbering metal giant that moved way too rapidly for its size.


    The giant walker towered over several stories and loomed over the trees and appeared so unexpectedly that it caught the troops off guard. Each stride of its eight legs carried it forward dozens of meters across the devastatedndscape and over the UN Army lines.


    Lines of tracers chased after the war machine as the hull downed IFVs'' gun turrets tracked after it, spent 20 mm shell casings cascading down into collection bins inside the IFVs'' hull. Smoke and rainbow shimmer shrouded the giant walker as it ignored the clumps of trees barring its way. Trees were uprooted as hundreds of tons of metal dug into the soil, gouging out holes meters deep.


    Private Gouda of the UN Army 1st Artillery Battery rolled the over 40 kilograms heavy 155 mm shaped in a cone dark green shell into the loading cradle where another member of the gun battery shoved the shell into the breach together with a cake of propent. The breach was mmed shut and secured as the gunnery sergeant madest minute adjustments through the open sights at therge war machine that loomed over the defensive berm of the Firebase.


    "Gun One Ready!" The gunnery sergeant yelled out and a red g was raised up which allowed the batterymander on the spotting tower to see which guns were primed and ready to fire.


    The gunnery sergeant kept his eyes on the tower where a soldier held up another red g. The soldier started waving the g and suddenly snapped it down sharply. The sergeant turned to his team and yelled, "GUN ONE... FIRE!"


    The firer yanked the firing cord while everyone faced away from the howitzer with their mouths opened and ears covered. The 155 mm Thunderer howitzer roared like a raging monster, the shock wave hammered the artillerymen, and the long barrel mmed back along with the recoil mechanism with a hiss of well oiled tubes.


    The shell fired at almost point nk range for a howitzer, whizzed directly at the center of mass of the Protectorate''s war machine. The nose of the shell mmed against the magical barrier and crumpled before shing into a ball of smoke, mes, and violent energy, momentarily creating a dent on the magical barrier''s surface amidst a shower of sparks and violent rainbow hued magical energies.


    Each artillery battery held four howitzers and the Firebase hosted three batteries of the UN Army''s 1st Artillery. The sudden attack from the Protectorate''s war machine had damaged and shattered almost a third of the guns and crew, leaving behind nine howitzers functioning.


    Now the nine howitzers roared back in defiance against the war machine that tried to destroy them. Each shell unable to miss at the short distance, exploded all along its nks creating colorful shimmering hues and smoke. The force of the impacts actually forced the war machine toe to a halt, its hooked skeletal legs digging in deeply into the soil as it recoiled back from the attack.


    Private Gouda cheered along with the rest as they serviced and reloaded the howitzer again, readying the cannon to be fired again. In a matter of seconds, the red gs of the gun rosed again.


    -----


    The Reckoner, Command Church


    The Captain Bishop held on tight as the siege engine shook violently, sending half themand crew falling down. Despite knowing how powerful the heretical weapons were, he still did not expect the force of the weapons to be so overwhelming.


    "Lord Captain Bishop!" A franticmand crew called out. "The magic shields are nearly depleted! The magic crystals are unable to restore the shields fast enough if we get hit again!"


    "Damage?" The Captain Bishop strolled forward and stared out of the cracked crystal windows. "Why aren''t our steam cannons firing?"


    "Lord Captain!" The crew replied as reports came flooding in from speaking trumpets. "Boiler stations One and Two are reporting cracks appearing on the main pipes!"


    "Four cannons on Deck Two and Three were overturned by the attack!" The reports continueding in. "Leg Six has a misaligned cog!"


    "Bring those cannons back! I want them to start firing immediately!" The Captain Bishop ordered. "And increase the conversion rate of the magic crystal to the shields or we won''tst long another volley!"


    Just as he finished his orders, a thunderous ripple covered the Reckoner and this time, the Captain Bishop and his crew were all knocked flying off their feet as the shields copsed almost instantly, exposing the hull of the Reckoner to attacks.


    The Captain Bishop crawled to his feet and yelled, ignoring the blood on his face. "Full speed forward! If we are to fall against thesewless scum... We should bring them down together with us for the Judgement!"


    "For Justice!" The Captain Bishop roared as he shoved dazed crew member against and push the engine speed lever forward, prompting violent shaking and loud machine noises from the depths of the Reckoner.


    "FOR JUSTICE!"


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, City of Hensink


    Cork and the rest of his men could only stare silly at the rear of the smoking war machine as it passed by them. "So what now, Sarge?"


    Cork gave a shrug before turning to his radioman. "Any word from Command?"


    "Command says to continue the attack..." The radioman replied. "The rear will deal with that thing!"


    "Iing contacts!" Krew yelled as he spotted dozens of red coated figures swarming out from the ground and holes in the walls. Therge hulking shapes of Warjacks could further be seen lurking around the areas behind the enemy infantry. "We poked the Beetle Head''s nest and now they are angry!"


    "Make ready!" Cork ordered and took up a ready position by the trenches. His men took up positions and readied their weapons. The Protectorate forces swarmed out en mass and charged towards the waiting UN Army that took over the ruins of the previous defensive works. Gunfire erupted out as the singing Protectorate forces came into range and bodies fell.


    "FIRE!" Cork shot a ragged looking Beetle Head who had his mouth open and singing some sort of weird song. He was surprised when his shot knocked the soldier off his feet without the usual re and glow of a magical shield. "Have they ran out of magic?"


    "Keep up the fire!" Cork called as more and more red coated bodies poured out from the city wall cracks. He frowned as his sights came over a group of shabby looking people who scrambled madly towards the UN lines. The new group was formed by a mixture of all ages and sex, their eyes were wild and red and their hands crooked into ws. "Those... those are civilians?"


    "Sarge!" The men yelled out. "Do we engage the civilians?"


    "Keep firing!" Cork replied angrily. "They are hostiles!"


    The men could only hold back their unhappiness and gunned down the crazed people mixed together with the Protectorate soldiers. The Warjacks following behind the soldiers ignored the local converts as they charged through their lines, theirrge and heavy feet crashing their lives away as the Warjack stormed towards the UN lines.


    Anti tank rockets streaked out from their tubes and mmed into the Warjacks, some directly exploding against their hull while others impacted against those Warjacks still have power left for their shields. Cork turned to his radioman and yelled, "We need some artillery support now!"


    "Sarge... Command says... artillery support is temporarily unavable!"


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, United Nations Firebase Delta, 2km away from Hensink


    The ground shook again as smoky trailsnded all around the Firebase, creating balls of fire from the impact of the oil filled projectiles. The war machine now stood barely two hundred meters away from the walls of the Firebase, its remaining muzzles of steam cannons looking ominously down at the guns of the UN.


    Fist sized holes appeared and shredded armor ting rained down, creating a trail of debris and destroyednd in its wake. Sparks and smoke spewed out from the ripped armor and holes all along the nks of the Protectorate war machine. Surprisingly, even with more than half its skeletal wed feet having ripped off by gunfire, it still managed to drag itself almost to the walls of the Firebase.


    With a mighty groan and shriek of metal tearing, the war machine stood tottering like on the brink of destruction before the Firebase. Smoke and mes continued to spew out from its damaged nks, yet the remaining Protectorate crew continued to fight on.


    The gunners onboard the Reckoner shoved the muzzles of the loaded steam cannons out just as the artillerymen of the UN 1st Artillery finished the loading of their guns. "FIRE!"


    The guns of both sides erupted simultaneously together at point nk range, 155 mm shells and mushroom shaped projectiles flying past each other in unison. Rolling balls of mes covered the UN Firebase while massive explosions covered the entire front of the Protectorate war machine.


    The war machine snapped in half as its hull no longer was able to hold its weight and crumbled inwards. Smoke and mes burst out while metal groaned and shriek as the explosions tore it apart from within. With the ruptured aetherium tanks and pipes, the remaining legs of the war machine could no longer support its weight and the whole machine crumpled and thend shook.


    As for the UN side, the guns were shattered by the balls of explosions. The artillerymen of the 1st Artillery crawled out from their dugouts and stared at the burning wreckage just beyond the base''s walls. The men had after firing their howitzers and quickly rolled into the dugouts just as the enemy return fire exploded around the gun sites.


    Private Gouda dusted himself off as he crawled out from his shelter. He patted the half melted barrel of the Haven Armament Work''s 155 mm Thunderer howitzer with affection as he stared at the burning wreckage, feeling a great sense of pride. "Now... this is a true cannon!"

 Chapter 488: Taking Mecca

    Chapter 488: Taking Ma


    A solitary figure walked down off the edge of the helipad amidst the strong downwash of the retreating helicopter''s rotors. Captain ke walked up to the row of senior officers waiting for his arrival and returned their salutes.


    "Is everything settled?" ke asked as he took in the sights of the smoking city against the background of floating airships over the ocean.


    "Sir, the city and outlying areas have been secured by the Army," General Joseph of the Army stepped forward and gave a brief report. "The death toll on the other side is... staggering huge..."


    "Not one of the Protectorate had surrendered even when we offered them," Joseph said. "Thankfully, the majority of the original inhabitants of the city had surrendered, except for a few too brainwashed by their doctrines."


    "We also were unable to recover any intact Warjacks or any of their more advanced equipment, except for a couple of boilers that gotten buried under the artillery barrage," Joseph added. "As for the casualties on our side, the 1st Regiment suffered over a hundred casualties with thirty deaths caused by the sudden appearance of the giant war machine."


    ke gave a curt nod, before asking, "And those airships?"


    "One suspected battleship ss and one suspected destroyers ss and two cargo airships were taken," Commander Ford said. "We lost one of the destroyers by internal sabotage by the Protectorate''s crew before the Marines could subdue them, luckily the Marines managed to evacuate before it went down into the water."


    "The battleship serving as the gship of the Protectorate''s fleet is mostly intact, despite the fierce fighting onboard," Ford read his report out. "We lost two 101st ATI operatives and almost an entire toon of Marines, most of which came from the crash of one of the Griffin transport helicopter after it got shot down."


    "Marines are still doing ab of all the parts of the airships, in case there are more Protectorates hiding somewhere on board," Ford said. "Our engineers and techs are still figuring out how to run the airships, and we might scuttle the destroyer we taken since its practically a wreck from the amount of damage we gave it."


    "For now, we are stilling out with a method to tow the airships since we don''t know how they work and most of their engines were disabled by gunfire." Finished Ford while gesturing to the skies. "Until then, hopefully, they will still be floating there."


    "But we do have some good news," Ford''s serious face broke into a small smile. "We did manage to grab the head honcho who was identified by the locals as the one the Protectorate called Lord Inquisitor General..."


    "Good," ke suddenly cut short Ford''s report. "I want to see him."


    "Erm... It might take a while before we can interview him..." Ford replied sheepishly.


    "Why?" ke frowned as he stared at Ford.


    "He''s too banged up for the moment," Ford replied. "Multiple fractures in his arms, legs, and ribs... Two gunshot wounds, one in the chest the other in the right shoulder. Serious mana burn and depletion... He would need a least a week before he regains rity from all the drugs the docs are pumping into him now..."


    "Don''t worry, Cap..." Ford added before ke could say anything. "Lieutenant Tavor had already dispatched a team down to take custody of the prisoner."


    ke did not look happy but nevertheless, he could only give a grudging nod in the end.


    "The other piece of good news is we gain quite a bit of magical artefacts the Protectorate ground forces uses to create a personnel shield," Ford said. "If Magister Thorn and his team could reverse engineer the magical artefacts, it would increase the survivability of our forces on the battlefield."


    "Yes... this would be very useful for our troops..." ke nodded in agreement. "This magical ability is something we are sorelycking in. Expedite this matter."


    "Understood, Sir!" Commander Ford replied.


    Joseph cleared his throat and reported, "Sir... now that our campaign has been sessful and we have more or less cleared the easternnds of the NKM of the Protectorate... What should we do with Ma?


    "We now have at least three of the Man cities and dozens of viges and towns under our control or influence now," Joseph pointed out. "The Man King and any known sessor is dead and I rmend we shoul-"


    "No!" Ford growled as he cut in. "This would be an act of a tyrant!"


    Joseph shook his head as he exined himself. "Not really the case..."


    "The Mans are now leaderless and our forces are poised and in the best position to take over the running of this kingdom!" Joseph said. "We can do much good here!"


    "Already Imperial and Floral troops have gathered at the borders of the NKM..." Joseph continued. "If we pull back all our forces, those rend beasts will move in and take over thisnd and more blood will be spilled!"


    "Even so! This goes against our ideals and honour!" Ford argued. "How can we exploit the people here?"


    "If we dere the NKM as a vassal under the UN, we can prevent more bloodshed and at the same time, take over control of the entire NKM!" Joseph insisted. "In the end, we would be saving more people!"


    "Enough," ke raised a hand to stop bothmanders from continuing their argument. "Joseph has a good point and is also in line with what I am thinking."


    "But Captain!" Ford immediately protested. "This will be an act of tyranny!"


    ke gave a deep sigh and shook his head, "Enough!"


    "General Joseph!" ke barked as he turned to the Army General. "You will start moving your forces to the western borders and take control of the western cities along the way."


    "Prevent the Imperials from crossing into the NKM," ke said before he turned to Frank. "General Frank, start moving whatever avable Marines you have to take over the southern and eastern regions of the NKM. Go block off the Kingdom of Foral troops at the southern border."


    General Frank gave a quick worried nce to Commander Ford as he acknowledged the order.


    "Commander Ford..." ke turned his attention to his unhappy Chief of Naval Operations. "Dispatch what ships you can to support the Marines at the south."


    Commander Ford took a deep breath and said, "Sir, can I have a private moment of your time?"


    ke raised an eyebrow to the rest of the officers who tactfully stepped away to give them both some privacy. "What is it?"


    "Richard!" Ford hissed. "How far do you want to bring this whole... vendetta to?"


    "I do not understand what you are implying... Commander..." ke red angrily at Ford.


    "This isn''t you at all!" Ford ignored ke''s tone. "Have you lost all your principles? Where is the man who led his crew and a ragtag band of rebels to victory? Where is the man with his pride and honour?"


    "He... is no more..." ke whispered as he looked away. "Times have... changed... The old ke is too soft for this harsh world..."


    "That is not the man I know!" Ford snapped. "Come on! We all suffered a tragedy in our lives one way or another... You are stronger than this!"


    "Stronger than this?" ke growled. "What do you know? What do you think I have suffered?"


    "How many people had died under mymand and hands..." ke''s voice grew louder. "How many more times I have to grief for deaths of people I know and care?"


    "But this does not excuse you for making badmand decisions!" Commander Ford protested. "You can''t just keep making these excuses!"


    "Getting married to Sherene was the best thing that ever happened to me in this godforsaken world!" ke hissed while he jabbed his finger against Ford. "And this fuck up world has taken her from me! Don''t tell me I am making excuses nor bad decisions! And I do not have to exin my decisions to you either!"


    "Commander Ford! You will carry out your orders!" ke snapped as he stepped back andposed himself. "If you are unable to carry out your orders, I can relief you frommand!"


    "And do not think of throwing the UNM naval regtions at me..." ke said as he turned away. "This is not Earth or any of its colonies! This isn''t the United Nations of Mankind!"


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma, City of Hensink


    Sergeant Cork took a swill of cheap wine that one of his men had scourage out from somewhere in the ruins of the city. He let out a sigh as he watched the sun setting over the harbour of the city. "What are you thinking about?"


    Cork silently held out the wineskin to the female knight who sat down beside him and joined him watching the sunset. "Taking a break while we can..."


    Jeanne took a sip of the wine and she wrenched from the taste, "Yucks... How can you drink from this? Now that we chased the Protectorate out, you shoulde to my estate! I shall treat you to a really good fine wine, a hundred times better than this!"


    Cork gave a shrug as he took another pull of the wineskin. Jeanne shook her head at Cork and asked, "So what now?"


    "We will be heading towards the west once things settled down here..." Cork replied. "Seemed like we will be here to stay..."


    "What do you mean?" Jeanne frowned as she asked. "Isn''t the Protectorate defeated?"


    "High Command just past the word down... that we will be taking control of Ma..." Cork said without any intention of hiding anything from her since she will found out sooner orter. "And the Protectorate would be back..."


    "What did you say?" Jeanne shot up to her feet in shock. "You... the UN want to rule Ma?"


    "Are you all taking advantage of Ma now that itsnds are in disarray and there is no more a King at its throne?" Jeanne''s face turned red as she was worked up by the words. "I thought we were allies! Now you are backstabbing us?"


    "Calm down..." Cork sighed as he saw how worked up Jeanne was. He did not have the heart to tell her that she had been fooled since the first time they met. "You do know that something like this is inevitable..."


    "Your armies are in disarray... You have enemies at your borders...." Cork started listing out the important points. "Your granaries barely even filled and not only is your King and any noble of standing is dead or missing... There is not even a functioning government!"


    "Even if we the UN pulls out from Ma..." Cork reasoned. "How long do you think your neighbours will start to eye yournds? It would be just another war... and by then... Ma and its people would be no more..."


    "Imp- impossible!" Jeanne stammered uncertainly. "W- We Mans has always withstood all our enemies! We will rebuild without a doubt!"


    "As a former gene- I mean," Cork coughed to cover his mistake. "Having the UN take control of Ma would be the best option for Ma and its people!"


    "The UN has no very... has tek no lo gee that can solve the food crisis of Ma," Cork said and he gestured around. "And not to mention... These... Beetle Heads... Protectorate would definitelye again when this fleet of theirs did not return..."


    "Do you think any kingdom other then the UN can stop them?" Cork asked a subdued Jeanne. "What would happen here if we the UN isn''t here?"


    "This city that you once had fond memories of..." Cork gestured around again. "The Protectorate will destroy it all again..."


    "Having the UN take the reins of your nation isn''t necessarily a bad thing..." Cork tried to assure Jeanne. "In fact, it could probably be the best thing ever for the people of Ma!"

 Chapter 489: Sneaky Attacks

    Chapter 489: Sneaky Attacks


    The New World, Goblin Sea, Eternal City of Burns, Pce of The Burning Hill


    Strurruilk, the Mighty King of All Things Under His Feet and Ruler From The Throne of The Burning Hill and Sea Master of Thieves and Giver of All Goblin Life and Conquerer of All Lands and Grand Lord of Magic and Happiness! and the Only Chief of Love and Destruction and Favoured by the Gods! was sitting on his skull throne enjoying being fed by several particrity fat specimens of a female goblin.


    He chomped down noisily on squirming firervae dropped into hisrge mouth by his handmaidens as he lounged without a care on his throne. Just as he was about the savor another morsel when a hobgoblin came lumbering in, his fat meaty arms waving frantically in panic.


    "My Mighty King of All Things Under His Feet and Ruler From The Throne of... erh... burning hill to the seas... and... and... erm... ah! Master of thieves and goblin lover and conquerer!" The hobgoblin scratched its balding head and paused as he tried to remember the correct greeting. "Great magic and much happy love of destruction!"


    Strurruilk frowned as the greeting was all wrong and made him feel he lost his mojo. His expression darkened and his serving maids eyed each other with knowing looks as they saw the change of expression of their master.


    Strurruilk sat up straight in his skull throne and puffed up his chest trying to parody a bearing of majestic awe. As he was about to open his mouth to berate the hobgoblin, the very hobgoblin yelled out, "Flying ships! Many flying ships!"


    "Whaa?" The rebuke was lost as Strurruilk''s mouth opened and closed in confusion. "Flying ships?"


    "Yes, Mighty King!" The hobgoblin replied with a grave nod while pointing outside. "Up there!"


    Strurruilk had to wiggle his fat ass off the skull throne with the help of his maids, his folds of fats had imprints of skulls and other bones from sitting too long on the throne. With the support of his maids, Strurruilk waddled his way to the nearest opening in his throne cave and struck his head out.


    He blinked his beady eyes against the bright sun and as his sight adjusted to the outdoor brightness, he saw a dark rectangr shadow right over his head. He blinked rapidly again, thinking it was just a trick of the sun, as he had stayed too long holed up in his pce.


    But not only was one but instead, there were over a dozen dark floating shadows hovering overhead. Strurruilk stared in wide eye wonder at the scene over his ramshackle city that had been rebuilt again after the invasion of the long legs. As he tried to count the numbers, suddenly many winged shapes burst out from the flying objects and Strurruilk cursed as he recognized the winged shapes as dragons. "Its... its a sneaky attack!"


    -----


    Nhak rode the screaming drake off the side of the aviary airship together with the rest of the fifty man troop. The drakes shrieked and screamed excitedly as they spread their wings wide open, catching the warm air currents that rose out from the smoking semi active volcano.


    Three other aviary airships of the Suugon Dynasty Fleet started dropping their winged units as the Suugon Fleet shook itself into a fighting formation against a ground target. Nhak followed the bright yellow banner trailing behind the tail of the wingmander as the whole winged unit went screaming over the shabby looking city underneath their bellies.


    Nhak frowned and spat over the side with disdain as he saw the condition of the city they were nning to capture. Not only was it filled with demi beings and monsters, but it also looked so rundown that it made Nhak wonder if the New World was filled only with savages and barbarians.


    A red g was raised by the wingmander, giving the order to attack. Nhak yanked his reins and kicked the nks of his drake who responded to hismands by swooping down towards the city. His drake''s armoured tail shed through the roof of one of the ramshackle huts, scaring the green inhabitants out.


    His drakeshed out with practised moves, each hind w griping one of the screaming creatures and tossed their broken bodies away. All over the city, Suugon Royal Wing Warriors attacked the city, while the goblins attempted to shoot the small flying dragons down with ballista and crossbows.


    The Suugon Fleet fired off its fiery cannons, sending gouts of mes gushing down over the city, bathing thend in mes. Steam ballista popped, throwing steel and wood spears the length longer than a person down.


    The airships'' me weapons soon turned the majority of the area around the city into a ming wastnd, before troop ships startednding and disgorging hundreds and hundreds of armoured soldiers wieldingrge sabres and shields to finish mopping up any survivors.


    -----


    The New World, The Isles, First City of the Fleet


    Fleet Master Megan lightly ran her fingers over the long smooth iron cylinder tube that sat on a wood carriage on tworge fat wheels. She frowned slightly as she tapped the cannon and turned around to face the anxious craftsmen who had gathered around with smiles on their faces.


    Megan schooled her expression as she smiled back and asked, "Is this all?"


    "Yes, yes! Fleet Master!" The master head craftsman stood forward and replied with pride. "We have thirty of these! Another thirty can be made in another four weeks!"


    Megan nodded, opening her fan to cover her disappointment at the quality of their work from showing from her lips. She hoped to at least be able to match the quality of the weapons of the United Nations by half, but realistically she knew it was beyond her craftsmen to fully grasp their knowledge of the thunder weapons.


    Already, the Isle''s craftsmen could produce something like this was already amazing enough, yet that did not make Megan feel any assurance if she wanted the Isles to be able to at least match the United Nations in naval might.


    "How powerful are these?" Megan asked as tapped the cannon with her folded fan.


    "At least twice the range of our best ballistas!" The master craftsman said. "It fires a cast iron ball weighing 10 stones."


    "It has better pration capabilities than our ballista bolts of the same weight," The master craftsman exined proudly. "But uracy... the further away, the thunder cannons'' uracy drops... a lot..."


    "How would this weapon fare against those of the United Nations?" Megan asked.


    The master craftsman looked at his team uncertainly and Megan sighed, "Just say the truth..."


    "Fleet Master..." The master craftsman swallowed and nervously answered. "Truth is... if judging by the ounts of thete Fleet Master Dijon and other... reports..."


    "The United Nations'' thunder cannons would be at least ten times more powerfulpared to ours..." The master craftsman replied. "We can''tpare to them at all..."


    "But... against any other kingdoms or the goblin pirates..." The master craftsman perked up slightly. "Our thunder cannons will make short work of their navies!"


    "So... against the United Nations navy, we are far behind?" Megan summarized. "But against the rest of the world, we are the strongest if our ships are equipped with these?"


    The craftsmen all nodded their heads eagerly while the master craftsman quickly added, "There''s is one more issue, Fleet Master..."


    "We... have to rebuild all our current ships... Or at least reinforce their keels and main structure..." He said.


    "Why?" Megan frowned as rebuilding the entire Isles'' fleet was something that would require tens of thousands of gold crowns,bor, and time.


    "Our ships are built to withstand the recoil and bnced to the weight of the ballistas," The master craftsman answered. "These thunder cannons produce a lot more recoil and stress to the beams and keel of the ship..."


    "If we mount these weapons onboard our existing fleet..." The master craftsman exined. "Repeated firing of these weapons would break the ships apart almost instantly!"


    "I see..." Megan tapped her chin thoughtfully with her fan. "Is that why the United Nations build their ships out of iron?"


    The master craftsman gave a nod, "That could be one reason other than having the iron as protection."


    "Are you able to build a ship out of metal?" Megan asked. "Just like the United Nations?"


    The master craftsman turned to the rest as they debated among themselves in regard to Megan''s question. Megan leaned against the cannon waiting patiently for the answer from the craftsmen.


    Finally, the master craftsman turned again and said in a solemn tone. "Fleet Master, we... we believe it is doable! But... we would need time and... many resources to experiment if we are to seed!"


    "If your craftsmen can create and produce an iron ship for the Isles..." Fleet Master Megan gave a charming smile. "Money will not be a problem!"


    -----


    The New World, United Nations, Hope Naval Station


    "Shhhh!" A small shadowy figure hissed at the rest as the figure stuck his head around the corner of the warehouse. The figure watched the beam of light from the guard tower sweeping across the fence, illuminating the gravel ground brightly before the beam moved to the other side of the warehouse. "Go! Go! Go!"


    "Hehhehehe!" A short burst of giggles burst out from the group carrying a wrapped object many times their size over their shoulder. "SHHHHH!"


    "Woopsie! Teehee!" The group quietened down as they rushed across the dark ground, keeping to the shadows. "One two! One two!"


    "Quiet!" The front most figure hissed again as they came towards the dry dock area. Here the streets between the warehouses and workshops were brightly lit and there were more people moving around. "Act natural!"


    The group came out of the shadows and the light from the streetmps revealed them to be a group of goblins in work overalls carrying arge object wrapped in white cloth. The seven goblins started whistling nonchntly as they walked the guard post, waving their base passes at the Marine guards.


    "Kekeke! That was easy!" One of the goblins giggled as they headed towards the massive ship that sat in the middle of the dry docks. They marched up the cargo gangway, their actions barely brought any attention to themselves despite the constant giggles and stiffenedughs.


    The group of goblins wandered through the countless passageways and decks before arriving at the bow of the forward hull. There they carefully ce the object they were carrying down to one side and started removing tools and ropes. One of them secured one end of the ropes and threw the remainder over the bow. Others grabbed the ropes and started climbing over the rails of the bow and lowered themselves down.


    The wrapped cloth was finally removed, revealing a crude looking statue of a grinning goblin poised with one hand at the hip while the other hand was held up showing a middle finger. At the feet of the goblin was a que that had cut out strips of metal welded and bolted together, forming the words, "Greg de Great"


    The goblins carefully lowered the statue over the bow and the goblins that had already climbed down caught the statue and started welding the statue of Greg over the prow, creating a figurehead for the massive super carrier.


    "Kekekekeke!" The goblins giggled as they worked, forgetting to keep their volumes down. Along the sides of the dry docks, workers paused at their work or errands and looked up at the bright sparks trailing off the welders and the giggles of the goblins.


    They shook their heads at the antics of the goblins and returned to work and when the group of goblins finally finished their handiwork, they proudly high fived each other and quickly cleaned up the scene before giggling their way off the ship, thinking that they hadpleted their task without anyone noticing.


    "Hehehehe! Oh boy, how surprised they will all be when they see Greg the Great up there! Hehehehehehe!"

 Chapter 490: Teamwork and Beer

    Chapter 490: Teamwork and Beer


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Hensink


    Four airships, one massive, the other three barely half its size were floating somewhat forlornly over the ruins of the city''s harbor. cken stumps covered with molluscs jagged out from thepping waves remained of what was once the busiest harbor within the north eastern region of the New World.


    Now steel chains were wrapped around these foundations as they tethered the airships like balloons, preventing them from being blown away by the wind. Ropes and winches ran off the sides of the airships, their ends secured to several pairs of two story high towers and pulleys set up over a rtively t space that had been cleared and constructed by Army Engineers.


    ke stood on top of a ruined light tower, its roof long blown away by a 155 mm artillery shell, leaving behind justrge circr tform with broken walls. Arge crate wrapped in cargoting came sliding down a pair of ropes from the side of an airship. It smoothly rode the ropes down as it zipped down before slowing down after passing by several of the towers that held the ropes horizontally, using friction to bleed off its speed and allowing the work party to safety catch and secure the cargo at the end of the line.


    "How goes the salvage operations with captured airships?" ke asked, his gaze never leaving the ongoing of the working party. "Is there anything of value and use to us?"


    Chief Matt cleared his throat as he stepped forward from the group of officers and gave his report. "We only have a bare minimum understanding of the operations of the airships and we estimate we have roughly nine hours before the airships start losing buoyancy one by one..."


    "By fourteen hours, all the airships would no longer be floating in the air..." stated Chief Matt who had taken the earliest flight over to look over the airships once they were dered cleared for nonbatants. "The boilers are losing steam and temperature and soon the cooled aetherium would no longer provide any form of buoyancy."


    "We also have no idea if the hulls are seaworthy and judging by the images from Intel, they seemed to use some kind of tower and elevator to load and offload cargo and personnel." Chief Matt pointed out. "Which unfortunately did not survive the artillery bombardment..."


    "So... what is the final verdict?" ke frowned as he has not gotten his answer yet and asked in an impatient tone.


    "No... the airships are worthless..." Chief Matt dered. "Their weapons, power systems, armour, and propulsion systems are all not worth salvaging... Hell... even the construction and quality of the hull is much... much lousier than what we can produce!"


    "The only of valuable items are its magical arrays for shielding and some kind of mana stone converter that''s making the mages wet their robes in orgasm," Chief Matt said. "The other thing is the aetherium which we are carefully draining away."


    "Is there no way to get these ships over to a controllednding?" ke asked as he gestured to the surrounding fields.


    "Well..." Chief Matt scratched his head. "We could try that, but we barely know how to operate them... And the instructions that those Old World kids and history teacher we picked up only know how to operate a small boat..."


    "These airships required like a hundred crew or more to man its systems..." Chief Matt exined. "Especially that big ass there... It would need hundreds of crew..."


    "Hell even the USN Singapore needs almost a thousand crew members even with automation!" said Chief Matt. "We simply do not have the manpower nor expertise to run those airships with putting the crew at risk..."


    "Duly noted," conceded ke. "Can we salvage what we need before they go down?"


    Chief Matt nodded, "We are taking most of the useful stuff, like food, clothing, meds, and even gold and other resources they plundered off the Mans... We did also found quite a number of young Mans hold up in one of the transports."


    "Young?" ke'' frown deepened. "For very?"


    "Maybe," Chief Matt gave a shrug. "Most of their ages range from literal babies to the oldest at twelve years old..."


    "How many?" ke turned around and stared at Chief Matt with a fierce look in his eyes.


    "Erm..." Chief Matt checked his data tablet before answering. "Last count, five hundred and forty three..."


    "From statements of some of the freed locals," Chief Matt read the report out loud. "The Protectorate had gathered all children from babies to thirteen summers and carted them off somewhere... Anyone who dared to object was cut down on the spot."


    "The medics are looking over the kids and once dered healthy," added Chief Matt, "They will be shipped back to an orphanage in Haven."


    ke let out a small sigh as he turned back to face the ocean, veins popping out from the side of his head as he suppressed his anger. "Continue with the report."


    "Eh, where was I? Oh yes, by removing cargo helps lighten the airships, giving us more time to extract the magical arrays and other important items..." Chief Matt responded. "We are also dumping their cannons off the ship to give us more time..."


    As if in reply to Chief Matt''s words, severalrge bulky objects were dropped off from the side of escort airship, the impact against the surging waves creatingrge water sshes. Chief Matt gestured to the action and said, "Those weird cannon of theirs... is... pretty badly by our standards... but we did find some interesting munitions which are being brought back for R and D to look over them."


    "As for their steam boilers, we are having them fired up still... but how to redirect, open or closing of the valves or even refill the water tanks..." Chief Matt gave a helpless shrug. "It''s all guesswork... We can only try to keep them lit as long as possible to heat the aetherium."


    "Once we could all we want from the airships," Chief Matt added. "We will start cooling the boilers and extract the aetherium by bleeding them off the pipes..."


    "We should be able to get a sizeable amount," A smile broke out on Chief Matt''s face as he rubbed his hands together happily. "We can make ourselves our very own flying ship! Hehehehe!"


    "We shall see..." ke answered dryly. "If we can''t bring those hulls away... Is it worth it to break them down and recycle them?"


    "Well... not really... I checked... Most of them are made out of wood and iron..." Chief Matt replied. "Some parts are steel... but really bad quality steel... I just think that breaking them down is more time consuming and wasting manpower..."


    ke nodded. "Then we shall ignore the hulls for now... maybe use them for target practice for the Navy or Air Force in the future."


    "Is that all?" ke asked as he turned around.


    "Yes sir..."Chief Matt replied. "Oh yes, what about this city?"


    ke ran his hand over the crumbled brick wall of the lighthouse and said, "Fortify this ce up..."


    "I want AA guns... rocket batteries, anti tank guns... naval cannons... airfields... bunkers..." ke listed out each word one by one. "Bring out all the works... Make this... ruined city into a fortress..."


    "And it shall greet the next wave of airships from the Old World..."


    -----


    The New World, 562 kilometres East of the Isles, End Zone


    A fleet of airships burst out from the greyish colours in twos and threes, leaving behind tendrils of grey clouds that seemed unwilling to release them. The spinning spiral before the noses of the long rectangr hulls slowly came to halt as the airships formed up. Blinking lights came from thergest airship as messages were ryed throughout the fleet.


    Momentster, small barrel like aerial crafts started to detach themselves from each airship, the twin propellers pushing the small crafts towards the gship. The sides of the gship swung open and the small transportsnded inside one by one.


    The barrel like transport hovered gently over the deck of the gship''s hanger and dropped down with a hiss of steam and a loud squeak of springs on a pair ofnding skis. The twin propellers powered down while the side hatch swung down and formed a flight of stairs.


    Stout figures started to climb down the hatch and an ensign approached the lead figure. The ensign wearing a dark green double button jacket thumped his fist over his chest in salute. "Rock and Stone, my Lord!"


    "Rock and Stone!" Lord Copperstone replied. "Has the rest of the Cartel Lords arrived yet?"


    "No, my lord," The ensign replied. "You are the third to arrive, Lord Hammerfall is awaiting all of your arrival in the Great Hall."


    "Lead the way," Lord Copperstone said while gesturing for his aides to follow.


    They walked passed dozens of small barrel shaped aerial crafts parked side by side and secured by ropes to the deck. Mechanics and crew paused in their work and saluted the party as they went past them. The ensign led them through the hangar and into a steam powered elevator.


    The ensign worked the levers and switches and with a loud whistle and hisses, the elevator made its way up noisily. The elevator brought them out of the hangar and into the upper decks. The ensign led the party through a series of passageways before stopping at two sentries d in te mail and full face helms each carrying a long blunderbuss like weapon that had a wicked looking half moon axe as a bay.


    The sentries stood at attention while the ensign gestured for Lord Copperstone and his men to enter the Great Hall before departing for other duties. Inside the Great Hall, two rows of tables were ced on the side, leaving the middle of therge cabin clear. Chairs were on one side, facing inwards while a throne like chair sat on a raised tform facing the entire cabin, simr to one would find in a castle hall.


    "Lord Copperstone!" A loud boisterous voice came from the ming red haired person seated in the throne like chair. "Wee brother! Take your seat! The rest shall be here soon!"


    "Rock and stone, my Lord!" Lord Copperstone gave a low bow before he took his ce, while his men took up positions behind his chair. Soon the seats were filled up one by one by the other lords and an aide whispered into the ear of Lord Hammerfall.


    "Rock and stone, my lords!" Lord Hammerfall stood up and raised a goblet in salute to the gathered lords. Copperstone and the rest stood up and raised their goblets in respond. "Rock and Stone!"


    Copperstone noted that there were three ces empty, out of the ten seats, which meant those three were lost somewhere within the Sea of Clouds. Lord Hammerfall gestured for everyone to be seated and spoke in a grave tone, "We have some brothers that had fallen..."


    "But this was a risk we all had chosen to take!" Lord Hammerfall boomed loudly. "Now! I have here a tallied report given by each Lord here..."


    "Out of a total of fifty ships..." Lord Hammerfall''s brows narrowed. "Nine did not make it..."


    "Lord Kimber, Lord Ator, and Lord Wicton sadly did not make it to join us here today!" Lord Hammerfall said. "Their ships will be reorganized to rece losses and bring your fleets to full strength!"


    "And all of you shall thank Lord Copperstone for his Storm Piercer!" Lord Hammerfall raised his goblet in salute of his invention. "His invention has improved our odds in crossing the Sea of Clouds! Or more ships and lives would have been lost! To the Fallen!"


    "To the Fallen!" The rest of the Lords chorused and raised their goblets towards Lord Copperstone.


    "Now... we are finally here in the New World! We need a n of action! Remember! Teamwork and beer will keep us together!"

 Chapter 491: Greed

    Chapter 491: Greed


    Fluttering blue gs and banners followed the snaking lines of marching soldiers and cavalry as they crossed the ins towards the onlyndmark in the area. Their appearance had long been observed by the inhabitants of the city and the defences were manned days before. The Imperial forces halted in a small distance away from the border and started setting up camps while the other stared at them.


    Simrly, on the other side of the kingdom, an army in orange trappings moved and set up camp beyond the walls of the southern border cities and forts as the Kingdom of Foral dispatched their troops to the border, their motives unclear.


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore


    Intel officer Lieutenant Tavor was having a field day, as intel after intel came flooding into his In tray. Every several minutes, he would call for one of his operatives in and hand over a report to be dispatched out immediately to the indicated department.


    Once he sorted out the reports, he left his office and stood before a wall where a massive strategic map of the New World that included the End Zone ring around it. Coloured maic tokens were ced all over the map, some representing UN troops, others representing other kingdoms and nations troops positions, types and numbers. Intel staff members constantly updated the tokens and markers on the map


    This allowed Tavor and other senior officers to have an understanding of their situation on the New World, enabling them to make ns and counter ns. Now, two new red markers had appeared, one marker over Goblin City, another just at the east of the Isles. He ignored the recently updated movements of the Empire of Bluewood and the Kingdom of Foral along the borders of the New Kingdom of Ma which was going to be part of the UN.


    He gestured to ams tech and ordered him to connect him a secure line to the Captain. After a moment, the image of Captain ke appeared at the disy. Thems tech made way for Tavor and stepped aside to allow the two officers to have a private talk.


    "Sir," Tavor greeted ke. "Have you received thetest intel report?"


    ke''s image nodded after a second, "Yes, I was just about to read it. Is there something important I need to know?"


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor replied. "We have two unknown contacts appearing, one over the Goblin City, the other just at the edge of the End Zone, east of the Isles."


    A secondter, ke''s image replied, "Do we have any idea who are they?"


    "I suspect that they are most likely one nation or another from the Old World," said Tavor. "The probe just dumped a couple of days of surveince data before it went out of range and our data analysts just spotted them."


    "Hmmm..." ke''s image flickered slightly as the connectiongged. "Ignore the unknowns nearest to the Isles and focus on those at the Goblin City. What the estimated time of arrival to our borders and projected course?"


    Tavor picked up a copy of the report he forwarded over to ke and said, "Sir, if you look at page four, we have three estimated course projections for that unknown force. Estimated time of arrival to our borders is between three days to one week."


    ke''s image looked down as he read the indicated document. "Have Haven and Far Harbor on DEFCON Orange and the rest on Yellow. We shall see what is their course of action before deciding to raise the DEFCON or lower it."


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor nodded and he gestured to one of his staff as he quickly scribbled down orders. He handed the slip of paper to the staff who read the note and her face paled slightly before professionalism took over and she hurried off to High Command with the orders.


    "And the other unknown?" Tavor asked. "What do we do? Shall I inform my counterpart in the Isles?"


    ke''s image seemed to freeze for a moment before ke spoke in a soft voice, "No... Do not inform them of anything... yet... Keep tracking the neers, inform me when they reached the borders of the Isles."


    Tavor nodded again before he asked, "What of the movement of troops at the borders of Ma?"


    "Let them be," ke replied. "We have a couple ofpanies of Army units garrisoning the border cities. They won''t dare to make any moves as long as they see our troops unless they wished to be wiped out..."


    "Understood, Sir," replied Tavor. "Will you be back in time for the first of the super carrier trials?"


    "Shit, is it time already?" ke sighed as he checked the date. "I will try to make it back in time if possible... But no guarantees..."


    "It would be good for the people to see... you again," Tavor hinted. "You know, morale and all..."


    "I will try," ke sighed again. "Once things in the northeast have settled down I will return immediately."


    "Sir, the trials are in two days time..." reminded Tavor. "I doubt things would settle down so fast up there..."


    ke shook his head and gave a small wave of goodbye before he cut off the connection, leaving Tavor staring at a nk screen. He stood up from thems console and turned to his staff and pped to get their attention. "Alright, people! The boss wants eyes on both the unknown contacts that appeared in the past twenty eight hours! DEFCON Orange has been dered for Haven and Far Harbor! The rest of the United Nations are to remain in DEFCON Yellow till further notice!"


    "Now, I want our scout nes up and running recon ops over this area here and here!" Tavor stepped up before the strategic map and used a pointer to tap the sections he wanted eyes on. "Satelite team! Double check the map data downloaded from the probe! Make sure we did not miss anythinging through the End Zone! Clear?"


    "Yes Sir!"


    -----


    The New World, Suugon Exploration Fleet, 17th Suugon Royal Wing Warriors


    Nhak Tong spat out the foul tasting water he found inside a ramshackle hut with a loud curse, earning himughter from the rest of the soldiers. He sighed as he looked at the meagre scraps of food he had salvaged was barely even edible. Finding no other loot or useable, he gave up his search inside the hut.


    He exited the hut with the rest and wrinkled his nose at the smell of unwashed bodies, death, and voided bowels. The goblins here were nastier and crazier, unlike the more cowardly cousins of their kind found in the Suugon Dynasty and the rest of the Old World. These goblins here seemed not to fear death, as they giggled and rushed in massive numbers into the waiting maws of the frenzied drakes.


    His me talisman, a long metal staff that was covered in runes, hung over his back as he joined his mount which was still feasting on the mound of goblin bodies. He flinched from the grisly sight and turned to join the other Warriors when suddenly a war horn blew again followed by the telltale giggles and shrillughter of the goblins as they poured out from another unknown hiding space.


    The Warriors quickly formed up into a semi circle, facing the direction of the goblins charge. Nhak raised his me talisman and injected a silver of mana into his hands which carried the magic charge into the runes of the staff. The magic crystal slotted at the end of the staff flickered slightly and the rune engraved at the tip of the staff red up, and two magic circle forming out of thin air and created a fist sized ball of mes, while the other magic circle created a sudden burst of air half a secondter, which spat the ball of mes out towards the screaming goblins.


    His fireball mmed into the face of one of the many screaming goblins which one did not have to aim to hit. The spell exploded with a small boom and incinerated the entire face and half the remaining head of the goblin away. The corpse of the goblin flopped down and immediately disappeared under the stampede of many green grey feet.


    More fireballs spat out from the Suugon Warriors'' me talismans, each fireball iming a life easily. As the distance closed to melee range, the Suugon Warriors armed with shields stepped forward with a loud roar and tanked the charge, their curved sabres shing and chopping.


    The Warriors fought in a formation of ten men in three ranks. Three Warriors armed with shields was the vanguard and behind them were four spearmen who took the opportunity to stab over the shoulders or shields of the warriors in front while at the rear, were three ranged supporters which Nhak was positioned at.


    His role was to soften up the enemy first with ranged attacks and cover the nks of the formation. His me talisman was versatile enough to help cover the spearmen nks in front of him. The formation leader was positioned between Nhak and another ranged Warrior. He too carried a me talisman and directed the entire squad as they fought off the goblin charge.


    The drakes, about half the size of a New World light weight dragon, stood up on their two stubby hind legs as they smell fresh blood. Their winged arms spread out and waddled forward in a frenzy to join in the fight with their riders, their long necks easily reaching out to snatch up a giggling goblin before snapping and swallowing the remains of theughing morsel.


    Suddenly, just as the charge appeared, there were no more goblins before Nhak and his squad. Hundreds of dead goblinsid all around the Suugon Warriors. Someone started cheering and soon, all the Warriors including Nhak cheered as well. The drakes ignored the cheers and continued to happily nose around the goblin dead and snack on them.


    Nhak let out a deep breath after the yelling all his frustrations away. He wondered why did theye to such a godawful ce when suddenly there was a ruckusing from the entrance into the ming mountain. He made a sign of the fire god before he followed the rest towards the entrance where he saw a huge grotesque goblin tied up like an animal to be ughter being rolled out of the entrance.


    The giant and fat tied up goblin squeaked painfully in its ownnguage as it rolled down the uneven ground and the watching Warriorsughed at its plight. There were more shouts and some Warriors carried out leather bags filled with glittering magic crystals of all sizes! The sight of the magic crystals made the Warriors stared wide eye with astonishment and greed.


    "There''s more!" Someone yelled and the Warriors all roared out as one as they surged forward to rush into the ming mountain to make themselves rich. Even Nhak was affected as he jousted with the rest,ughing madly along as they were all going to be rich if they present these spoils to the Court which will greatly reward them for their merits!


    Officers yelled angrily at the rowdy men who lost all discipline, their whips cracking and leaving behind torn flesh. Yet the majority of the Warriors ignored the officers as they knew that if they can achieve enough merits, they too could be promoted to be an officer too!


    The poor forgotten fat goblin rolled unsteadily on his fat tummy, tried to jerk himself to a sitting position but failed miserably could only squeak for help.


    "H- Help me! I am... S- Strurruilk, the.. Mighty King of All Things Under My F- Feeeet... and... and... R- Ruler From The Throne of The Burning Hill... huff huff... and Sea Master of T- Thieves... ahh... G- Giver of... Aaaa... Goblin Life and Conquer- er of All Lands... and... and... Grand Lord of Magic and Happiness! and... th- the... Only C- Chief of Love and... D- Destruction and.. and... Favoured by the G- Gods!... Pheew..."


    "A- Anyone? Help?"

 Chapter 492: Deals

    Chapter 492: Deals


    A shadow darker than the grey clouds slowly emerged through the clouds with lightning crackling all over the shimmering bubble around the shadow. The shimmering bubble flickered and vanished and a huge floating ind appeared under the sun. Several oblong airships slowly float off the floating ind and formed a protective cordon around the ind.


    A mass of white clouds slowly grew out from underneath the rock spires of the floating ind and created the illusion that the ind was floating in the clouds. Crown Prince Yemen stood at an open balcony and took a deep breath while stretching out his arms in delight, "Finally! We are out of that cold dark gloomy ce!"


    The other Iron Lords andmanders stood respectfully behind the Crown Prince all had pleased looks of relief as they stood under the sun. The Crown Prince spun around and pped his hands happily, "A party! That is what is needed now! We shall celebrate our sess in crossing the Sea Of Clouds! Tonight we shall feast and dance!"


    Some of the Iron Lords quickly praised the Crown Prince''s marvellous idea while Lord Ableman let out a sigh of disappointment. He hid his disappointment and instead said, "My Prince, there are still many matters we need to tend to, I feel it would be... inappropriate to host a party now... especially without a secure source of supplies."


    "No matter!" Crown Prince Yemen waved away the advice of Lord Ableman. "The troops are tired from their journey! This party should boost their morale and spirits!"


    "But, my Prince, I would advi-" Lord Ableman continued to speak but a staunch supporter of the Crown Prince, cut him off in mid sentence.


    "Lord Ableman! The Prince wants to raise the morale of the troops!" The Iron Lord spoke in a scalding tone. "Did you not always teach the Prince about how important keeping the morale of troops high? Now he is putting to good use of your teaching! Why do you find the Prince''s concern to themon soldiers so uneptable?"


    Lord Ableman frowned at the tone and choice of words and he was about to retort the noble when the Crown Prince let out a dramatic sigh. "Enough... Lord Ableman is right... we shall not waste our supplies until we can find a way to replenish them."


    The Crown Prince adopted a sad bearing, "I only hope the troops will understand!"


    Looks of displeasure were cast upon Lord Ableman by the Crown Prince''s supporters who surrounded him and gave words offort and other flowery praises. Lord Ableman shook his head in disdain at the nobles when suddenly a soldier came running over.


    "My Lords!" The soldier went down on one knee and said, "Lookout reports an air fleet exiting the Sea of Clouds from our left! What are your orders?"


    Lord Ableman quickly walked over to the side of the balcony and an aide automatically ced a seeing ss in his hands. He looked over the horizon and said, "Order the rest of the fleet to light their boilers and be ready for battle!"


    The Crown Prince came over and jousted Lord Ableman''s elbow as he too raised an ornate seeing ss. "Is it the Protectorate?"


    "No... it looks like ships from the Tri State..." Lord Ableman replied as he set down his ss and ordered. "Send a courier ship over and hail that fleet!"


    "Why don''t we just blow them off the skies?" The Crown Prince suggested. "It would be one less contender in this ce..."


    "And risk a war back home if word of our actions were to be reported?" Lord Ableman shook his head. "Besides... it is better to have one more friend here, than an enemy..."


    -----


    Duchess Manarva, Grand Admiral of the Tri State Exploration Fleet, frowned when a missive arrived from the small courier vessel flying the colours of the Iron Kingdom which had parked against an aerial boarding scaffold. She could see the infamous flying fortress of the Iron Kingdom against the backdrop of the Sea of Clouds and its escorts from her vantage view in themand bridge.


    Her aide, Aulus, expertly sliced the wax seals off and read the contents of the letter. "Hmmm... The Crown Prince of the Iron Kingdom invites whoever is in charge of the Tri State Fleet to a dinner and dance party tonight..."


    "h h h..." Aulus continued reading before he handed the letter over to the Duchess. "In short, they are inviting us over for a party and we can bring our senior officers over to mingle with theirs and they hope to talk about some kind of coboration or alliance here..."


    "The Iron Kingdom''s Crown Prince is here?" Duchess Manarva was surprised. "No wonder that misery old thing is willing to dispatch his flying fortress here! Hahaha! So it is to protect that useless son of his! Hahahaha!"


    "So... Are we epting their invitation?" Aulus asked as he took out a sheet of parchment, anticipating the Duchess''s reply. "Yes? No?"


    "Of course we will attend!" Duchess Manarva gave a wide grin. "Why should we reject a free meal since they are so... generously offering their supplies to feed us? Hahaha!"


    "And I want to see how useless that son of the Iron King is!" Duchess Manarva gave an evilugh. "Write my reply and summon our senior officers! Tonight we dine in style!"


    -----


    The New World, ???, Third Iron Fleet, Iron Fortress


    Lord Ableman had a grimace on his face as he watched ship after ship of the Tri State Fleet approached the Iron Fortress andnded inside its cavernous hangars. He knew that offering the Tri State Fleet an alliance here would help increased their odds in this unknown world against the other Great Nations but at the same time, they have to be on guard against the cunning Thunderbolt Duchess, who was well known for her aerial tactics which he recognized her house crest on the sides of the docking airships.


    He took a deep breath to steel himself, and quickly headed off towards the reception area for the arriving guests, hoping that the Crown Prince would not create a scene and make a fool out of himself and shame the royal family.


    Arriving at the reception area just in time, he saw the Duchess''s own private air yacht making a perfectnding right at the edge of the strip of the red carpet in a spray of hissing steam as the pilot cooled the aetherium and the skis of the yacht touched the deck gently.


    The side hatch swung out and a ramp was extended down. Two rows of Tri State soldiers wearing morion style helmet and silver cuirass with a white puffy sleeved uniform that ended in red ck pants with silver stripes at the side, stuffed in silver sabatons. They carried a two meter long gun pike hooked up to a steam tank at their backs and also a sheathed sword on their belts.


    On the other side, forming an honour guard for the arriving guests, stood several neat ranks of Iron Kingdom soldiers. They wore a ck chest te over a dark blue uniform and carried long steam guns simr to the Tri State soldiers. As the Tri State soldiers formed up, both sides stared at each other fiercely, trying to intimidate each other.


    At this time, a woman in her mid forties dressed in a white long military style coat and adorned with a simple silver medal in the form of a seven pointed star over her left chest appeared at the hatch. Her brown hair with streaks of grey was cropped short above her shoulders and she held a long silver cane in one hair.


    With a military bearing, she strolled down the ramp, ignoring the sparks of rivalry between the soldiers and walked over to Lord Ableman confidentially. She smiled and gave a gentlemanly bow, "You must be Lord Ableman?"


    "I am truly honoured that the Duchess know of this humble person," Lord Ableman returned her bow and offered his hand to her. "I wee you on board the Iron Fortress as an honoured guest!"


    The Duchess had a smile on her face as she took Lord Ableman''s offered hand who press the back of her palm to his lips. "This Iron Fortress of your King is truly a marvel!"


    "It pales inparison to the wonders of your Nation''s magical barriers," Lord Ableman replied smoothly before gesturing towards the gathered nobles. "Let me introduce you to the other Iron Lords..."


    "Wee! Wee!" A loud greeting suddenly came from behind and the Crown Prince dressed in a dazzling white and gold uniform covered with medals and jewellery appeared with an entourage at tow. "Duchess Manarva! How pleasure it is to see you! Wee to my Iron Fortress!"


    Duchess Manarva could not help curling the sides of her lips in mirth as she cast an eye at Lord Ableman and whispered, "When did that misery king give his favourite toy to his son? Hehe!"


    Lord Ableman coughed to cover his embarrassment and he quickly stepped back, allowing the Crown Prince to escort the Duchess to the ballroom while he greeted the rest of the Duchess''s people.


    Inside the ballroom, which wasrge enough tofortably hold the two of the Duchess''s private yacht, was filled with music andughter. Nobles and Officers from the Tri State mingled with their counterparts, and unlike the Iron Kingdom, the TriState has arge proportion of females serving in their fleets, leading to many of the male dominated Iron Kingdom air navy to ask the female Tri State Officers for a dance.


    The Duchess sat next to the Crown Prince at a raised balcony that overlooked the entire ballroom. Their tables were filled with many different dishes and the chefs won praise from the Duchess for being able to turn normal rations into such exquisite meals. The Crown Princeughed happily at the praise and even offered to send some of his chefs over but the Duchess politely rejected.


    Lord Ableman sighed inwardly as he spotted the look of mirth in the Duchess''s eyes, knowing that shended a barb on the Crown Prince, yet he did not get it. Finally, the slightly tipsy Crown Prince said, "Duchess Manarva, I would like to propose an alliance between us! Me and you... We can do many great things here!"


    "And what kind of great things is the Prince proposing?" Duchess Manarva asked in an innocent tone that did not befit her age. "What kind of alliance?"


    "Here... lies many many resources!" The Crown Prince replied clumsily. "We share the resource between us!"


    Lord Ableman quickly cleared his throat and stood before his Prince and the Duchess. "What my Prince is offering, is an equal alliance between our nations here."


    "As you know, getting through the Sea of Clouds is a dangerous and expensive affair," Lord Ableman said while the Crown Prince nodded in a drunk manner. "Supplies, manpower, ships... all will take time to cross the Sea of Clouds... To be frank, all of us do not even know if we can ever get resupplied out here!"


    The Duchess tilted her head in silent agreement while the Crown Prince kept nodding away. Lord Ableman continued, "That is why an alliance between us, would benefit us all!"


    "And how would you propose we go able this alliance?" Duchess Manarva asked with a small smile.


    "We shall offer the Iron Fortress as a base of operations," Lord Ableman said. "Repairs, storage, rest and recovery for the troops and crew."


    "And?" The smile on the Duchess''s face did not fade away. "What do you require from my side of the bargain?"


    "All loot and resources taken..." Lord Ableman listed out the requirements. "We will take two thirds of it all!"


    "Half!" The Duchess''s kept smiling while shaking her head and gestured around her. "My ships and my men would be the ones braving all the dangers while you sit here enjoying all this... luxury..."


    "We will add part of our fleet under yourmand," Lord Ableman had long anticipated her response and counter offered."We take three parts, you take two parts."


    "Deal!"

 Chapter 493: Our Vengeance

    Chapter 493: Our Vengeance


    The New World, United Nations, City of Hope, Hope Naval Station, Super Dock One


    A trio of thetest F/A - 2 Vipers screamed overhead the sea of cheering people. Smoke trails of white, red and blue followed behind each of the second generation aircraft and the formation split off into three directions and spitting res to the enjoyment of the crowds.


    The massive triple hull of the newlypleted supercarrier took up the entire length of the super docks which was almost half a kilometre long. Crowds thronged the side of the docks, waving gs and cheering at the fireworks and aerobatic show put up by the UN Airforce.


    Sailors in white uniforms lined up in ranks all along the bulwark of the supercarrier waving back at the excited cheering crowd. For most of the people who did not work on the supercarrier was stupefied by the sheer size of the ship that was made almost entirely out of iron and steel. The sense of pride in seeing such a vessel that came out of their nation made the people wild with ecstasy, hope, and confidence in the small growing nation they were part of.


    As the crowd enjoyed the entertainment and sights of theunch ceremony, a trio of helicopters came in low over from the other side of the docks. A CH - 1 Griffin came ring up, cutting off its airspeed as it slowed to a hover over the central t top of the supercarrier while its two AH - 1 Unicorn escorts peeled off.


    A green jacketed flight deck crew directed the Griffin down with his light wands and the heavy lifter helicopternded. Before the dual rotors of the helicopter even start to power down, the rear ramp hatch swung down and Captain ke strolled off the transport copter.


    "Sir!" Commander Ford threw a salute and lead ke towards the central ind, where the bridge, flight control tower was located. The superstructure was shaped like pagoda mast, a resemnce of old World War Two Japanese battleships.


    The ind sat in the middle hull overlooking the entire vessel with two forward facing turrets and another two at the facing the rear. The main guns were thergest calibre ever built by the United Nations at this point, at 14", the supercarrier mounted twelve of these on four triple gun turrets, each capable of firing a shell weighing 673.5 kg that has an effective range of up to 35 kilometres. Connected on its sides were the t flight decks with aircraft elevators and rows of 20 mm point defence turrets and dual 3" all purpose secondary gun turrets.


    All in all, the supercarrier looked like a battleship with two carriers glued together on its sides. ke looked out from the bridge at the crowd thronged along the docks before he turned to Ford, "Is the ceremony starting?"


    Ford nodded, "Chief Matt rushed back from the north yesterday just to oversee everything is going smoothly."


    "Than, let''s get it started!"


    -----


    A famous celebrity singer sang a native song of love and war which the crowd chorused along. Once the song was over, a motorcade drove off the cargo ramp from the side of the supercarrier and stopped before the raised tform where the celebrity weed the arrivals.


    ke and Commander Ford stepped out under the thunderous cheering roars of the crowd. ke nodded while Ford made a small wave with his hands before they walked up the tform. Ford took over the microphone from the pretty singer and addressed the waiting crowd. "Hello, everybody!"


    "HELLOOOO!" The crowd roared back. Many hade from other parts of the UN to attend this momentous event.


    "I''m d everyone is so excited about this!" Ford spoke over theughing crowd. "As you can see behind me... that''s where all your tax money is at..."


    The crowd cheered, pped and started chanting, "UOO ANN! UOOO ANNN!"


    Ford raised his hands to quiet down the crowd, his image being broadcast across dozens ofrge projector screens across the docks and all over the nation, where others sat in front of their televisions or watched the event throughrge disys on storefronts.


    "It has taken us many months, of sweat, tears and... money to build this ship," Ford continued, this tone turning serious. "And as you all can recall, the reason this ship was built... Was to find news of our missing Princess."


    The crowd turned silent as the mood turned heavy. ke lowered his head down, the feelings of anguish threatening to spill out. Ford looked over the silent crowd and said, "As you all know, the enemy that took the Princess has returned here, and we recently won an overwhelming victory over them..."


    "But still... They will be back!" said Ford. "Already we have word of a fleet of flying ships just days away from our borders!"


    "This ship might seem like a waste of time and resources..." Ford made a confession. "I had spoken against the building of it, as I think our resources and time could have gone into something else!"


    "But... yet, this ship is something this nation needs!" Ford''s voice rosed. "This ship is built by not one or two of us! It is built by every one of you! This ship is the symbol of our Unity! Our Might! OUR VENGEANCE!"


    The crowd being roused up by Ford''s words roared out their support. Ford gave a nod before he turned to ke who took over the microphone. The crowd was hushed as they looked upon ke with awe, for he was the man who seemed to make everything possible in this harshnd.


    "I thank you all, first for your support, and efforts both physically and mentally," ke said in a cold tone. "The Princess... My wife... my child... who was taken away... and many many others that gave their lives for the UN..."


    "Their efforts and sacrifice shall not be forgotten," ke promised. "I shall make thisnd... this world a better ce. A peaceful ce for you and your future generations. A world where children and the elderly do not starve or freeze in the cold. A ce where wars were a thing of a past, and injustice a myth!"


    "A world where people are not toys for the Gods'' whims," dered ke with a fierce glow in his eyes as he nced over the hot blooded crowd. "And of freedom, peace, and prosperity!"


    "UOO ANN! UOOO ANNN!" The crowd roared. "BLAKE! BLAKE! BLAKE! UOO ANN! UOOO ANNN!"


    "But before we get to that stage..." ke''s voice full of steel rolled over the roaring crowd. "We must destroy those who want to destroy our ideals and peace!"


    "I give you... the supercarrier UNS Vengence!"


    -----


    "HELLLOOOO!" Blue Thunder happily hugged the two eggs that were each secured in a specially designed pouch on his body harness as he cheered along with the chanting crowd. Rastraz, on the other hand, was more interested in the food stalls lining the corner of the warehouses.


    The crowd gave way for the two dragons who watched the ceremony at a specially designated area for Creatures of Exception Sizes, so as not to identally trample someone to death. Rastraz hissed at Blue Thunder, her eyes narrowed as she berated him. "Stop drumming your ws on my babies! And your ws are so dirty!"


    "Oh?" Blue Thunder froze as he stopped his ws from twitching to the tune of the music. He looked down at his ws and gave them a good sniff before he rubbed his ws along his nks. "Hmmm... Sorry... Tee hee!"


    Rastraz growled and shook her serpentine head, wondering why did she ever do such a stupid thing to bore his bloodline. She prayed silently to the dragon gods that hopefully her children will not inherit the dumb genes of their father.


    "Ooo! Raz! Raz!" Blue Thunder gestured to the supercarrier. "Do you think we should apply to serve onboard the ship?"


    "Why would you want to do that?" Rastraz stared at Blue Thunder in shock. "We are doing fine onnd, why do you want to go out to sea?"


    "Ohh... I just want to see what is it like on the other side," Blue Thunder confessed. "You know, the sense of adventure... I can smell it in the air!"


    Rastraz suppressed the urge to give Blue Thunder a good mighty wack on his head, due to him carrying their eggs. "Do you want the children to grow up without a father figure?"


    "No! no no!" Blue Thunder quickly replied sheepishly. "I did not mean it that way. Just saying! Just saying..."


    -----


    The pretty celebrity released therge bottle of champagne which swung down a rope and struck against the prow of the UNS Vengence in a shower of shattered ss and foamy alcohol. ke stared at the grotesque figurehead of a goblin welded at the prow of the middle hull and a rare smile appeared on his lips.


    "Haven''t seen you smiled for quite some time," Commander Fordmented as he stood beside ke looking at the figurehead. "That is the ugliest representation of Greg the goblin..."


    ke''s smile vanished just as quickly as it appeared and he handed over a stack of sealed documents. "Here are your new orders."


    "So fast?" Ford frowned as he took the thick envelope and ripped the seals off. His frown deepened as he read the documents. "The Vengence hasn''t even started its ship trials!"


    "Do it together," ke said. "The unknowns are setting up shop over at Goblin City. Which Intel has reported that yesterday the Goblin City were totally defeated."


    "Commander Tommy will be delivering three squadrons of Vipers to supplement the current navalplement of fighter craft you have now," ke added. "It should bring you up to sixty birds."


    "That''s not the issue!" Ford sighed. "We have two thirds of the crew green and an experimental power nt using the heart of a fire elemental, for god''s sake! Not to mention a thousand and one other things that could go wrong either!"


    "Good," ke replied with a change of expression. "Trial underbat conditions, which is even better."


    "I kinda am getting the feeling that you are trying to get me killed..." Ford rubbed his eyes tiredly.


    "No, I am not," ke replied coldly. "You are very useful, why do I wanna have you killed?"


    -----


    Blue Thunder''s eyes were glistering with tears and excitement as the speech ended and the supercarrier was named. "The Vengence!! How... Exciting!"


    "You... Will... Not... Run... Off... To... Some... Stupid... Adventure... And... Leave... Me... And... The... Kids... Alone!" Rastraz snapped each word fierce and pinched Blue Thunder''s wing, making him squeak in pain and causing the crowd around them tough at their lover''s antics. "Do... You... UNDERSTAND IN THAT SMALL BRAIN OF YOURS?"


    "YES! YES! OW! YES MADAM!" Blue Thunder moved out of reach from Rastraz sharp ws and curled his pinched wing protectively over and he blew gently on the spot that was starting to swell and turn red. "Violence is not good..."


    "Grrrrrrr..." Rastraz bared her teeth threatening at Blue Thunder who flinched back in horror.


    He thrust his chest out and used the eggs he was carrying on his chest rig as a deterrent against Rastraz. "Look, kids! Your, mommy, is so fierce! When you two grow up, you must not learn to be like her!"


    "Oh?" Rastraz''s eyes glowed and the temperature around her started to rise as she stared angrily at Blue Thunder. "How do you want to die? I can fulfil your death wish right here, RIGHT NOW!"


    "Peace! peace!" Blue Thunder gulped nervously, thinking that maybe his joke has gone too far. "I was just teasing you!"


    "Hmph!" Rastraz turned her head away in angry before she said in a low voice. "If you want to go see the othernd, you better bring us along!"


    "Huh? What did you just say?" Blue Thunder blinked his eyes innocently. "I did not catch it."


    "GO AND DIEEE!"

 Chapter 494: Alive?

    Chapter 494: Alive?


    The UNS Vengeance rode the waves majestically as it pushed a modest speed of twenty one knots or thirty nine kilometres per hour steadily. Waves taller than a person parted before its three prows and the supercarrier barely even roll with the ocean. On both sides of the flight deck, two squadrons of Navy and Air Force aircraft were being readied forunch by a colourful group of crew hands.


    Despite its seemingly stately presence, it was chaos inside the bowels of the supercarrier. Petty Officers and Boatswains yelled at the harried ratings and seamen as problems urred here and there. A burst pipe here, rattling noises in the vents, lost of power in sections, blown fuses, clogged toilets and dozens of other problems.


    At the main boiler room, Chief Matt watched nervously at the monitoring disys and dials of the experimental arcane reactor unit. The agitated heart of the fire elemental bubbled wildly within its containment tank, turning the water around it boiling and produced steam which turned the power turbines and generating electricity which powered the entire ship and its twelve propulsion screws.


    Each hull also contained two secondary steam turbines as redundancy and provides additional power if required. Chief Matt gestured to the UNS Vengeance''s Chief Engineer and said, "Bring her up to max power!"


    The Vengeance''s Chief Engineer nodded and he worked the lever up to the red zone. A current ran through the heart of the fire elemental, agitating it more, making its temperature raise. The engineers and techs overseeing the arcane reactor started calling out numbers and data as they monitored the ship''s systems.


    Chief Matt picked up a handset and connected to the bridge where his call was routed to Commander Ford. "Sir, the arcane reactor is holding fine. Power output is holding at expected levels."


    "Keep on monitoring," Commander Ford replied. "There''s multiple reports of burnt fuses and wiring... Hell, even the mess isining their drains are overflooding!"


    "Well, Sir... That''s why we run ship trials to find out all the things that went wrong during construction!" Chief Matt grinned. "Once I am confident with the boys in Engineering, I will go take look around the ship to see where I can help out."


    "Thanks, Chief!"


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Prisoner Deck


    ke stood silently behind the one way ss, watching the unconscious elf hooked up to a series of monitors, his hands and legs cuffed to the solid steel bed frame. Magic runes and circles covered the floor and ceiling, creating a magical null field within the medical cell.


    Bruises turning yellow covered part of the once handsome looking elvish face, which was covered in ritualistic scars. Every surface of his face has been burnt and branded into some kind of pattern whose meanings only the people who did it knew.


    ke picked up a sealed bag holding the remains of the elf''s broken white mask and turned it over, seeing the hundreds of tiny cruel barbs within it. He shook his head, wondering what kind of sick culture these people have.


    "This will be a hard nut to crack," Lt Tavor spoke up from the side as he noted the Captain''s interest in the mask. "People who ritually scar themselves and submit to pain constantly tend to be more resistant to torture and interrogation."


    "Not to mention a religious fanatic," Lt Tavor added as he handed a file over to ke. "Survivors from the local''s IDed him to be some kind of... inquisitor type among the Protectorate."


    "They say even his own troops feared him," said Lt Tavor. "And the number of atrocities he hasmitted among the local poption would guarantee him a personnel spot in hell if there is a hell."


    "Never judged you to be religious," kemented as he flipped open the file, skimming through statements from survivors. "Use any means you need to get any information out from him..."


    "Any means?" Lt Tavor repeated. "You sure, Sir?"


    ke nodded as he turned away but Lt Tavor stopped him. "Sir, there is another matter I think you need to see."


    -----


    Half an hourter, ke stood behind the windows of an intensive care unit in the First General Hospital. Dr. Sharon stood beside him and gave him a quick brief, "The Marines found him inside one of the cells onboard thergest airship."


    "He has suffered burns over 80% of his body," Dr. Sharon said. "And over two thirds of his body has his skin yed away."


    "His eyes were gouged out, tongue burnt off and ears cut off..." Dr. Sharon took a deep breath before she continued. "Even his genitals were cut off and all his nails removed."


    "78 fractures and broken bones..." Dr. Sharon closed her eyes and put down the medical report. "It''s surprising he''s still alive till now..."


    "Do we know who he is?" ke asked as he looked at the bandaged figure that looked like a mummy on the hospital bed hooked up on life support.


    "Well... we did a blood test and..." Dr. Sharon stared at ke and said. "It''s Dijon... We had taken his blood thest time he was here to test him for any virus or illness."


    "Dijon?" ke was surprised. "He''s still alive?"


    "At this stage, he''s actually better off dead..." Dr. Sharon sighed. "The things they did to him... its... not just torture anymore..."


    ke turned back and stared at the figure of Dijon on the hospital bed, an unspeakable sense of hope surging up from his chest. "What are his chances?"


    "Particrly none," Dr. Sharon said. "He''s still alive now is due to a mix of magic and modern science..."


    "Unless..." Dr. Sharon hesitated. "We put him in the regen tank..."


    "BUT!" Dr. Sharon cut ke off before he could say anything. "The chances are still fifty fifty!"


    "If you want information about... Sherene..." Dr. Sharon stared into the eyes of ke. "You might not get it in the end, as his mind might be destroyed by the... things they have done to him..."


    "Also..." Dr. Sharon gave a warning. "Our regen fluids are nearly depleted... We only have enough for a couple more uses..."


    "I understand..." ke replied in a low voice. "Put him in the tank. W- I need to know..."


    Dr. Sharon gave a nod and patted ke''s shoulder before she left to carry out her orders to move the patient to the advanced medical bay on Fortress Singapore. ke turned his attention back to figure inside the ICU and whispered a soft prayer. "Please let her not suffer such a fate!"


    -----


    The New World, Goblin Sea, UNS Vengeance


    The re of sirens faded off and the announcement that followed roused the crew out of their bunks and rushing to their stations as fast as they could. Both males and females from elvish, goblin, orc, and even trolls moved with familiarity through the numerous passageways and decks to their stations as they had drilled constantly in the past two days.


    Already, the majority of the problems in the sea trials were fixed or marked for dock repairs in the two days they were out in the sea. Now the crew were roused up by sirens and they hurried with a sense of purpose which was not evident at the start of the voyage.


    "All hands battle stations! This is not a drill!" The announcement ended as Commander Ford stared out of the armoured windows with a pair of binocrs. Radar has spotted fourrge objects in the air previously, and already two recon aircraft had been dispatch to investigate.


    The Captain of the UNS Vengeance, an elf who captained the seane tender UNS Matador and now the new captain of the UNS Vengeance after the UNS Matador was scrapped. He had ordered an intercept course along the predicted course of the radar contacts, and using updates from the recon aircraft, adjusted their heading until they are now barely twenty kilometres away.


    On both sides of the ''battleship deck'' which the crew started calling the central hull, the flight decks were crowded with waiting Vipers and Cobras. The aircraft line up to the steam catapultunch and deck crews hooked the aircraft onto theunch cradle before stepped back before the goblinunch chief happily fired the aircraft into the air.


    The Navy Sea Cobras, evident in their coat of navy blue colours, carried a pure anti ship loadout of 127 mm heavy rockets underneath their wings while the Air Force Vipers in their sky grey colours carried a mixture of 70 mm rockets and 20 mm gun pods. The roles of the Sea Cobras were the bombers while the Vipers were fighter escorts.


    The four radar contacts were positively identified as airships of an unknown affiliation and the order from Captain ke was to force their surrender or destroy them if they resist. Now, all three Sea Cobra squadrons and two Viper squadrons hadunched off the dual decks of the Vengeance with one squadron of Vipers remaining above the supercarrier performing air patrols.


    With two flight decks, theunch of all sixty aircraft was done quickly and the circling aircrafts formed up in their squadrons once all nes were up in the air. The fighter escorts took the front while the escort ''rode'' above the three bomber squadrons formed in a chevron formation as they heading towards the unsuspecting air fleet.


    Ford turned to the captain and said while tapping on the chart table. "Bring the ship towards Goblin city. If they show hostility to us, than those on the ind would most likely be the same."


    "We don''t know which Old World Nation this fleet belongs to," Ford said. "If they are smart, they will follow our directions and return to Goblin City and stand down... for talks... If not... we can test our guns on them."


    "Give word to the Marines to start prepping for an amphibious assault!" Ford added. "Now we wait and see what the other side will do!"


    -----


    The New World, ???, Suugon Exploration Fleet, The Swordsman


    Vice Admiral Zheng Sun was seated before acquer table that faced the crystal windows of his grand cruiser called The Swordsman. A hand written calligraphy scroll by the Emperor himself hung in a ce of honour behind him with the words ''The Way of The Sword'' written in a firm and bold brush strokes.


    He could see the other two smaller cruisers beside his ship from the windows with thest vessel at his rear. His floti was dispatched out from the main fleet to scout around of the area and to find the maind as clearly that ind was just a very very small part of the New World.


    He shook his head and stroked his long ck beard as he recalled the minor unrest among the troops when they found a source of magic crystals, which caused infighting among them. In the end, the troops had to be punished severely for their loss of discipline and theirmanding Lords admonished sternly by the Great General himself.


    "My Lord!" A soldier appeared and ced his fists together and bowed. "Look out reports, a group of fast approaching flyers! The men have no idea what they are!"


    Zheng Sun frowned and stood up, following the soldier out of the bridge and into the top open decks where the wind was negated by a simple magic barrier. He took the far seeing ss and followed the pointed hand of the soldier and focused on the group of flying objects with wings.


    "What in the heavens are they?" Zheng Sun mumbled to himself, for they do not look like a drake nor even a dragon. "Are they from the Cartel?"


    The flying cross shapes roared over his floti and some soldiers on the deck ducked reflexively as they came flying fast and low over the airships. Zheng Sun frowned as he stared at the ends of the fast flyers. "How can they fly so fast?"


    "Lord!" Another flustered soldier came running up and held a long grey tube with a long piece of white colour dangling off one edge in his hands. "One of those flyers dropped this! It appears to be a message tube!"


    Zheng Sun impatiently gestured the soldier to open it and he took the rolled scroll that was inside and read the barely eligible script written in the Iron Kingdom''snguage.


    "Turn - ships back - ind now - treated like - enemy - be destroyed immediately!"

 Chapter 495: Bug Out

    Chapter 495: Bug Out


    The New World, ???, Suugon Exploration Fleet, The Swordsman


    Vice Admiral Zheng Sun torn the parchment up with fury. He spun around on his heels and stormed back into the bridge while throwing out orders. "Release all the Warrior Wings! Get ready for battle! Order the rest of the floti to form into the Sweeping Dragon''s Wing position!"


    Bells nged as The Swordsman readied itself for battle. Signals and gs were exchanged between the four airships and the one by one the smaller cruisers formed up on the port quarter of The Swordsman, creating an echelon. Weapon ports were opened and muzzles of dragon cannons were run out as the Suugon airships took an aggressive stance.


    Zheng Sun returned to themand pavilion and sat down back down on his seat before picking up a feather fan and he thrust it out, "Shoot those insects down! No one threatens the honor of the Suugon Dynasty!"


    Following his orders, officers wearing coinme armor and red helmets yelled out orders to the gun crews manning the dragon cannons. The airship looking like a blockish pagoda on its side with raised ramparts on the top front and back leaving the middle section open. Muzzles of dragon cannons jutted out from the ramparts while two pairs ofrge heavy ballistas sat in the middle section.


    A loud crack of the ballista sent a basket of stones out like a shotgun st towards the flying crosses, followed by another loud crack as the other ballista released its load of stones out. Large hatches pulled chains opened on the underbellies of the airships and dozens of dark shapes swooped out like angry bats out of hell.


    The drakes of the Suugon Dynasty roared and shrieked as they glided and pped their long wings, their riders orientating themselves before they guided their mounts towards the enemy. Unlike true dragons, the drakes were a lot smaller than a New World light weight dragon with two hind wed feet and a pair of long winged arms and they were unable to use breath attacks.


    The drakes and their riders took up a protective position around the fleet, to prevent the flying crosses from approaching while the airships'' cannons sought to shoot them down from a distance.


    "Order a Wing of the Warriors to find where they came from!" Zheng Sun ordered from his seat. "Those flyers must havee from some where! There must be an enemy fleet nearby!"


    -----


    Airspace over Goblin Sea, Skull Flight


    "Oh, ok... So they are pissed" Air Force Lt Foy Rockerughed to himself as he watched the enemy airships formed up in attack formation. "Venny, Venny, this is Skull Leader. Airships appeared to be unwilling to stand down. Over."


    "Vengeance, copies. All Flights, stand by."


    As he turned his head back to observe the enemy airships, he spotted dark winged shapes dropping from the hostile airships. "Skull Lead to All! Bandits! Bandits in the sky!"


    "Skull Lead, Venny! Enemy airships dropping bandits! Lt Foy reported back. "Looks like they are firing at us too!"


    "Vengeance to All Flights, weapons free, engage the enemy!"


    "Skull Lead, roger that!" Lt Foy replied before switching the channel and asking. "Alright, boys! You heard the boss! Weapons free!"


    "Skull Lead to Vermilion Lead," Lt Foy called next. "You watch the kids! I''m bringing my boys to engage the bandits, over!"


    "Vermilion Lead, copy that! Good hunting!" Came back the replied in his helmet.


    "Skull Lead to Skull Flight! Stick to your wing mate and engage the bandits!" Lt Foy ordered his flight. "And watch out for the airships weapons!"


    Calls of confirmation came flooding back to hisms. "Skull Two, let''s go!"


    The Haven made F/A - 2 Viper was powered by a fourth generation pusher prop engine, set in a simr position as the older Cobra. The Viper was almost a thirdrger and heavier than the Cobra, carried more hard points and even had an internal integrated 20 mm vulcan cannon.


    Skull Flight, each ne painted in sky grey and ck themes had a white image of a skull and cross bone emzoned on their tails split off into pairs as they dived down away from the rest of the formation. Lt Foy frowned as he saw the winged creatures appeared to be dragons, but slimmer and a lot smaller than what he was used to seeing. "Bandits are small dragons with riders!"


    The small dragons'' wings beat hard as they sought to gain altitude toe into grips with Skull Squadron. Lt Foy grinned as he opened up his speed, which all along they had tried to match speed with the airships, leading the enemy to think they were not that fast.


    The dive and increase in speed caught the dragons and their riders in surprise as the twelve Vipers from Skull Squadron roared through their formation with their guns zing. The skies were suddenly raining blood, broken bodies, and spent shell casings.


    -----


    Goblin Sea, UNS Vengeance, Bridge


    Commander Ford erged the high resolution imagery that was sent over by the recon Mariner circling above the clouds over the goblin ind. He tapped the disy and said to the Captain of the Vengeance standing next to him, "Seems like they made camp here, away from the Goblin City..."


    "I doubt anyone can stand the stench of thousands of unwashed goblins..." The Captain muttered under his breath before he pointed to several block like shapes. "Those looks like the tops of airships..."


    Ford nodded in agreement, "There''s another camp here and here... Judging by its size and the number of tents... I say each camp can hold around three to four thousand troops?"


    "And here," The Captain pointed out another area. "Looks like dragons of some sort... And a lot of it..."


    "Just like what Skull Flight reported..." Ford said as he gave a nce at the tactical plot table. "They have engaged the enemy fleet for... ten minutes already?"


    The Carrier Air Wing Commander or as the crew usually referred to as CAG, looked up from the tactical plot table and said, "Yes, Sir. Starfish, Shark, and Sawfish Squadrons are forming into attack vectors with Vermilion Squadron covering them."


    "Skull Squadron is currently engaging the bandits," added Peter who now bears the rank of a Navy Captain. He was the other human in the bridge other than Ford, and serving in the position of CAG onboard the UNS Vengeance.


    "Update me of any changes," Ford said before he turned back to the Captain. "I think we are close enough to the ind..."


    The Captain nodded before he issued out orders, "Left full rudder!"


    "Aye, left full rudder!" The helmsman called out as he spun the wheel, bringing the super carrier turning.


    "Stop ahead all engines!" The Captain ordered next once theypleted the turn. He and Ford looked out from the starboard windows and the ind of goblins covered their view. "Batten down the hatches on Flight Decks B for imminent broadside firing of main guns!"


    "Aye aye! securing Flight Deck B!" The XO of the Vengeance replied. " Attention all hands on Flight Deck B, secure the hatches for main guns firing! Repeat, all hands on Flight Deck B, secure the hatches for main guns firing!"


    Peter also started issuing orders to the Air Boss of Flight Deck B who on the flight deck started yelling for all crew to enter into the ship and lock down the deck. The crew quickly moved all equipment back and locked them down while others secured the armored hatches and any loose items.


    "All main guns to target Goblin City!" The Captainmanded and the Weapons Officer issued the orders down to the four turrets. Slowly one by one, the massive armored turrets started rotating, their triple barrels soon pointed right at the ind like a fingers of death.


    The XO left the bridge and headed off to the Combat Information Center to oversee the crew there. The Weapons Officer soon reported that all main guns green and ready for firing. The Captain nodded and waited for the rest of the departments to report in. When Flight Deck B was secured and locked down, he nced to Ford who gave a confirmation nod for him.


    "All main guns... FIRE!"


    -----


    The triple 14" naval guns covered in an armoured casement were pointed directly at the ind when the order came in to fire. The firing solution and coordinates had already been given and calcted by a mixture ofputers and elven minds. The powder crew loaded bags of powder from the magazines into a hoist which brought the powder bags up to the gun room.


    Inside the projectile room, another crew busily loaded massive High Explosive shells, each weighing 578 kilograms into another hoist which sent the shell up to the gun room. Once the projectile arrives, it stopped at the cradle and the gun captain opened the breach of the 14" gun.


    The cradle with the projectile was then tipped into the breach and the rammer operator rammed the projectile into the breach before the rest of the gun crew removed the bags of powder off the powder tray and rammed them into the breach.


    The gun captain pulled a lever which signals the gun was ready to fire to the turret officer. The turret officer in turn signalled to the CIC and Weapons Officer that the turret was ready to fire. Hence when the order to fire was passed down, the turret officer squeezed the trigger and triple barrels of Number One Gun roared.


    -----


    Airspace over Goblin Sea, Skull Flight


    "Break! Break! Break!" Lt Foy yelled at his squadron mate who nearly collided against the swarm of flying dragons. Tracers darted out in strobes and any unlucky dragon and rider caught in the path of 20 mm shells exploded into a burst of blood, flesh and bones.


    Despite their small size, they were fast, faster than the fastest light weight dragons and almost on par with the Cobras. Most of the dragons charged towards the attack formation but Skull squadron dive attack had managed to scatter them, only leaving a small group of dragons to close in towards the Cobras which Vermilion squadron could take care.


    The fight was confusing as the dragons darted here and there, some hovered in the air, their riders shoot balls of mes here and there while Skull Squadron did their best to dodge, some of the nes still suffered random hits.


    Just at this point, there was a sudden ripple of thunder and one of the airship staggered as dozens of heavy rockets mmed into its shields causing it to flicker and popped away before the second volley of rockets mmed into its unprotected hull.


    The airship''s hull crumpled under the heavy barrage of armor piercing rockets which blew their warheads inside the hull after punching through a good meter in. The Cobra pilots had stagger fired their rockets in two volleys, the first volley to smash the shields down and the second volley fired seconds behind to damage the airship.


    So far the theory worked out for the Cobra pilots as the first squadron broke off and the two other squadron copied the tactics of the first squadron. Streaks of rockets screamed out of their rocket pods and mmed into the airships that tried to evade but where too slow.


    The pilots purposely held back their fire until they were literally so close that any mistake, the pilots could crash directly into the airships or eat a st of cannon fire. As such there were two nes that mmed directly into the shotgun st of the enemy airships, their fiery remains smashing against the dying airship which imed their lives.


    "Vermilion Lead to Skull Lead! The Cobras are RTB!" The other Viper squadron leader radioed over. "Missionplete! Ssh three Sierras! We are bugging out!"


    "Roger that!" Lt Foy replied. "Skull Lead to Skull Flight, break off the attack! It''s time to bug out!"

 Chapter 496: Mighty Venny

    Chapter 496: Mighty Venny


    Three 14" projectiles burst out of the 18 meters long barrels in a cloud of smoke and thunderous roar. The turrets mounted in the middle of the ''Battleship'' section of the tri hulled super carrier was a level higher than the cleared and secured armored flight decks. All four turret''s barrels were over Flight Deck B which was the starboard side of the super carrier and firing over the reinforced decks designed to handle the shock waves from the guns.


    After Number One Gun fired, Number Two followed, and so on. In a matter of seconds, twelve 14" high explosive projectiles weighing 578 kilograms of pure destruction were travelling at velocities of over 860 meters per second spun their way across the expanse of the ocean, taking 7.2 seconds before mming down to the unsuspecting encampment.


    From the distance, the gun observers on the pagoda bridge could see clouds of smoke and dirt erupting into the skies before the thunder of the explosions came rolling over. Secondster, Number One Gun roared again, followed by the rest and the ind was carpeted with explosions.


    -----


    17th Suugon Royal Wing Warriors Camp


    Nhak was spooning out a bowl of hot soup mixed with bits of unidentified meat, greens, and grains from themunal pot. The higher ups had finally distributed the rations when the camp was built. Now together with dozens of others, Nhak finally managed to enjoy a hot meal instead of cold and foraged rations.


    As he was enjoying his meal, a shrieking cry grew louder and louder, and like many others, he tilted his head up to the skies in confusion as he sought the source of the sound. A sudden massive boom shattered the camp and flung Nhak forward and face down into the dirt. The ground shook as if the Gods were stomping thend and Nhak no longer could hear anything as heid t down on the ground his the air in his lungs knocked out.


    -----


    Goblin Sea, UNS Vengeance, Bridge


    "Sir!" An observer called out. "We got movements from the parked air fleet! They are starting to move!"


    "Direct the guns to the airships!" The Captain replied. "Destroy their airships and they will be stranded on the ind with nowhere to run!"


    "Aye, aye!"


    The Weapons Officer quickly ryed the orders down and guided by the recon ne circling above the clouds which helped spot the guns. The turrets slowly and majestically turned their barrels towards the far distance and seemed to quiver in excitement before with a mightly roar, all the guns fired a salvo together.


    Commander Ford standing behind a mounted pair of high powered binocrs could barely track the flight of the projectiles until they hit something. He saw the telltale rainbow glitter from the distance before balls of mes appeared over the ind.


    "Dragon Eye reports direct hit on enemy airship!" A radio operator called out. "Secondaries explosions spotted!"


    "Switch target!" The Captain ordered. "Keep pounding them!"


    The guns made adjustments before thundering again. The power of twelve guns firing salvos at the same time barely rocked the super carrier due to its tri hull stability, but tremors could be felt. Again, the projectiles took over 7 seconds to reach their target, and the enemy felt the effects of their power.


    "Commander Ford!" Peter called out from his tactical plot table. "Attack squadrons are en route back for resupply. They report mission sess, three airships down, one crippled and over thirty confirmed dragon kills. We lost two nes to anti air fire, no survivors."


    "Damn it..." Ford let out a curse. "Alright, get them back onboard than rearm for anti shipbat and be on the standby to chase down any runners."


    "Aye, aye!" Peter returned back to his station and started issuingmands to the deck crew to began recovery operations.


    The port side of the super carrier, Flight Deck A, started clearing as crew members made way for the returning aircraft. Arresting wires were deployed while Landing Signals Officers started to guide the aircraft in one by one.


    Soon, a dot appeared over the horizon and grewrger andrger until the winged shape of a Sea Cobra appeared. The pilot dropped its speed and red the aircraft, an arresting hook dangling off its tail, snagged the first arresting cable deployed across the flight deck and was brought to a violent halt.


    Deck crew quickly rushed over and moved thended aircraft away, making space for the next in the line tond while the main guns in the central ''Battleship'' section continued its salvos at the enemy.


    -----


    Skull Squadron


    Lt Foy kept his eye on the side of the fast approaching flight deck, while the Landing Signals Officer gave instructions over the radio, guiding him in. The Optical Landing System that Lt Foy had his eye on was showing an amber light and in line with a row of green lights. This meant that his angle of approach was correct.


    The OLS consisted of a series of lights and fresnel lenses mounted to a gyroscopically stabilized tform. The lenses focus the light into narrow beams that are directed into the sky at various angles. If the amber light appears above the green lights, the ne ising in too high; if the amber light appears below the green lights, the ne ising in too low. If the ne ising in way too low, the pilot will see red lights.


    As his aircraft hit the decks, Lt Foy pushed his engine power to full power instead of reducing power. This was to allow him to continued to have enough speed to take off again if his tailhook miss to snag any of the four arresting wireid out across the flight deck.


    Luckily, his tailhook snagged one of the arresting wires and he gritted his teeth as his Viper mmed to a halt. He let out a sigh as his ne came to a stop without any incident and he powered down his engines while the deck crew started moving his aircraft to the side to be secured and rearm and refuelled for the next mission.


    -----


    17th Suugon Royal Wing Warriors Camp


    Nhak crawled to his feet, his ears ringing and his vision blurry. He rubbed his ears, trying to rid the ringing and found his hands covered in blood. He struggled to his feet and found the camp in a state of chaos and fear.


    The cooking pot where he had earlier scooped his bowl of soup had long been knocked over from its stand, the contents of the pot seeping into the dirt. He looked up from the pot and saw the rest of the camp or what remained of the rest of the camp.


    Several massive smoking craters had appeared out of nowhere. The storage tents where he went to collect his allocated supplies and equipment were no longer in sight. The rows of tents where he and many other warriors spent a quarter of the day setting up were gone. Themander''s tentage with the proud Dragon g of the Suugon Empire was gone.


    Gone were the wooden barricades and towers. What remained were confused warriors wandering around lifelessly and covered in ayer of grey dirt and ash. The ringing in his ear slowly disappeared and what reced the ringing were screams of pain and suffering. That was when he noticed the ground around the craters were littered with bits and pieces of body parts. There were also many bodies littering the remains of the camp, their cause of death unknown as they seemed to have no sign of injuries on their bodies.


    "RETREAT! RETREAT!" A rider on a clearly spooked drake waving a yellowmand g came soaring over the camp. "TO THE CAVES! NOW!"


    Most of the warriors stared dumbly at themands, their minds too shell shock to respond when another ripple of explosions shook them out of their daze. Frightened out of their wits, the soldiers turned into a mob as they rushed away screaming in fear towards the fire mountain.


    Nhak stared dumbstruck at the balls of mes rising from the moored airships in the distance, the bright flicking shields and explosions catching his attention. "Wha- What kind of forbidden magic is this?!"


    -----


    Goblin Sea, UNS Vengeance, Bridge


    "Enemy airships are scattering!" The reports came in from the crew as Commander Ford continued viewing the battle from the observation deck. "Six, no, nine... Sixteen airships have split up into four groups!"


    "Designate them, A to D!" The Captain of the Vengeance ordered. "Guns to target Group A!"


    "Aye, aye! Designating enemy groups A to D!"


    Commander Ford stepped away from the binocr stand and asked the CAG, "How long more for the squadrons to rearm and refuel?"


    "Another 20 minutes," Peter replied as he checked the board. "Then another 15 minutes tounch and regroup."


    Commander Ford nodded before he turned to the Captain. "Keep taking out those airships... We don''t need to capture any intact!"


    The Captain nodded back before he turned and yell at his crew. "You heard the CNO! Blow those airships off the sky!"


    20 minutester, the fighter and attack squadrons formed up on the flight deck again and wereunched off in pairs, clearing the flight decks of aircraft rapidly. The Sea Cobras carrying the same loadout and even the Vipers had swapped out their 70 mm rocket pods for 127 mm heavy rockets.


    The circling fighter attackers circled in the air until all nes had taken off before forming into their attack formations and charged off towards the airships that were trying head towards the UNS Vengeance in several directions.


    "The enemy airships seemed to have found our position," Commander Fordmented as he watched the movements of the enemy via radar. He tapped on the screen and said, "That group of four there must be either supply ships or the ships of the fleetmander."


    "CAG, direct two squadrons to take down that group," Commander Ford ordered as he pointed out which target he wanted. "If it''s just supply transports, destroy them all the same."


    Peter nodded and he started giving orders over to the pilots. Ford rubbed his hands together and said, "That leaves us a dozen of airships to kill."


    "Eleven, Sir," The Captain grinned. "We took down another one."


    "Good, good," Ford smiled back. "Eleven airships in three groups against our one ship. I like the odds."


    "We are about six kilometres away, so judging by their speed and heading, they will reach the range of our secondaries in roughly half an hour or less?" Ford made a rough estimation. "Plenty of time for our gunners to bring down the numbers more."


    "Shall we keep the engagement distance?" The Captain asked. "We got the range to take them down, no point letting them get close to us."


    "No point," Ford shook his head and smiled. "Let theme to us, after all, we should be the ones weing them to the New World."


    -----


    The Swordsman


    The raging fires were thankfully put out, but the damage from the cursed flying crosses has destroyed four of its six aerial screws and many of the steering sails of The Swordsman. Two gaping holesrge enough for a drake to fly through covered one side of the hull while ck smoke and steam escaped out from the holes.


    Vice Admiral Zheng Sun gripped the handrails as he looked down at the ruined decks of his warship. Wounded were being carried away while the dead were stacked at one side, to be sorted outter. Repair parties ran up and down, carrying buckets of sand and water. Some even carriedponents and parts to repair damages.


    About a dozen badly winded drakesid curled up on the open decks as their mother ships had long fallen down from the skies and disappeared into the ocean. Now, his crippled ship could only slowly limp back to base to quickly report their situation and warn them of a powerful foe.


    "A- Admiral!" A warrior appeared before Zheng Sun and saluted. "Th- The base camp... It''s burning!"


    "WHAT?"

 Chapter 497: We Come With Beer

    Chapter 497: We Come With Beer


    The Isles, The First City of the Fleet, Council of Masters'' Chamber


    The atmosphere was heavy as each Fleet Master was trying toe out with a n to the recent news. The reports of sightings of a fleet of flying ships by merchants and fishermen had rattled the people and now all the Fleet Masters and anyone of importance had gathered in the Council Chamber toe out with a course of action.


    First Fleet Master Kose Torke pulled his long jacket of office over his body as he felt cold. Recently the sea breeze has made his old bones ache easily and with the death of Dijon, made him age greatly. His greying hair and beard had now turnedpletely white in less than a year and his eyes sunken in. He looked to the side where Fleet Master Marshal, who too was already old and had already nned to retire in a year or so after grooming a sessor to his seat.


    Next, he turned to look at the other side of the table, where Fleet Master Akron and Fleet Master Tediore sat, clearly on the side of Fleet Master Megan. He knew without Dijon around to curb the ambitious Megan, and with his failing health, sooner orter, the seat of First Fleet Master would go to Megan.


    He let out a soft sigh as clearly those two Fleet Masters were waiting for Megan to speak and support whatever scheme she came up with. Rather than drag things out as he was feeling tired and wanting to return to his own estate to rest, he started the discussion. "So... no one has any idea or ns of how we should respond to this... flying fleeting towards us other than preparing the people for an event of war?"


    "We all know what happened to the Man city up north..." Fleet Master Marshal spoke in a raspy voice. "There is a very chance the flying ships are hostile... I said... we ask the United Nations for help... since they managed to defeat those flying ships..."


    "Hahaha!" Fleet Master Megan let out a mockingugh as she snapped her fan open and covered her lips. "Oh... How the mighty has fallen..."


    Fleet Master Marshal''s eyes narrowed as he red at Megan. "What do you mean?"


    "Nothing," Megan gave a shrug as she fanned herself. "Just that... the once mightly Isles'' navy could no longer even protect the Isles without needing the help of outsiders!"


    "We are allies!" Marshal growled. "And that is a force with magic and tek no lo gee that out surpass our very own!"


    "That is why I said how the mighty has fallen..." replied Megan nonchntly. "We were once great... but now... any forcees up to our doorsteps we run off to our ''ally'' to ask for help..."


    She let out a dramatic sigh and shook her head, "And what has our ally done for us?"


    "They taught us tek no lo gee!" Marshal answered fiercely. "Engines! Making our ships able to travel against the wind! Medicine! New ways of farming! Education!"


    "HAHAHAHA!" Meganughed loudly in response to his answers. "Those are just... the dregs they gave to us... and even at a cost of our produce! And yet... you sound so grateful for picking up their discards? Does getting old make you be a scavg hound?"


    She referred to the four legged beasts that looked like a cross between a Terran rat and dog which scavenges midden heaps and trash. She cast a look of scorn at Marshal whose face turned red with fury. "Do you think we would need their help if they had actually shared their REAL tek no lo gee with us?"


    "Weapons that could shoot well over twice the range of crossbows and urately..." Megan''s eyes narrowed as she stared unflinchingly back at the red faced Marshal. "Cannons that could sink ships with a single shot!"


    "Their flying... aerones..." Megan continued as she nced around the chamber. "Ships made out of metal!"


    "They have all these... yet they only shared a measly few tek no lo gee that isn''t even worth a gold crown in their eyes!" Megan''s voice rose higher. "Yet they demand food and resources in exchange for all that... junk of theirs!"


    "I am not a scavg hound!" She spoke in a loud and strong voice and pointed at the gathered council members. "Are you one? You?"


    "NO!" The council members yelled out angrily back at her, their moods roused.


    "So why must we bow and go scrapping before the United Nation for the scraps they throw to us like its a great favor?" Megan asked the council members who had their blood up. "Why not we grasp our own future by our own hands?"


    First Fleet Master Kose watched silently as Megan roused up the fighting spirits of the council. He knew she was right in a way that relying on the United Nations would not benefit the Isles in the long run. They must be strong enough so that the United Nations properly would treat them as equals rather than just paying them lip service.


    He felt tired to the bones and cast a nce at Marshal who eyed him back with a sad smile on his wrinkled face and thought that maybe it is time to step down and allow the young to rece the old. He and Fleet Master Marshal both sat quietly in the midst of cheering and spirited calls and cries of the council as they supported Megan''s words.


    -----


    The New World, ???, Cartel Expeditionary Force, The Acumen


    "My Lord!" An aide appeared beside Lord Copperstone who was dining with the rest of the senior officers. "gship Hammer of Resolute has sent a message, my lord!"


    Copperstone put down his utensils and wiped cleaned his beard before he took the sealed scroll. He tore the wax seal away with his finger and read the message twice before he cleared his throat loudly, gathering the attention of all the officers in the dining room.


    "Outlying scouts have picked up a small fleet of water sailing ships before the fleet, seems to be natives of thisnd," Copperstone informed his officers. "Roughly one turn of the ss away."


    "Finish your lunch and get to your stations," Copperstone said as he stood up from the table. "I will be at the bridge."


    Copperstone reached the bridge of The Acumen and looked out from the looking sses, seeing a trio of ocean going ships had lined up a row and seemingly waiting for their approach. There were sailing ships in the Old World, reserved mostly for the poorer ss and nations. The Cartel uses steamships that were faster and more efficientpared to sailing ships for those who could not afford an airship.


    "They seemed to be waiting for us, my Lord," An aidemented and joked as Copperstone observed the construction style of the ships with a critical eye. "I hope they came with beer."


    "Interesting," Copperstone ignored the joke his aide made as he focused his attention on the ships'' lines. "They seemed to have a solid foundation in building ocean faring ships..."


    He had picked up some interest in oceanic shipbuilding sometime back and knows some of the ins and outs. He only shook his head after he spotted the ballista mounted on the ships in slight disappointment. "But their designs and weapons seemed quite antiqued in this age of steam..."


    "My Lord," The aide pointed to the side as a small frigate detached itself from the fleet and went fore to meet the natives. "Lord Ender has sent his scout ship to greet the natives under the High Lord Hammerfall''s orders."


    "Do you think these natives will be hostile?" Copperstone mused as he watched the air frigate approached the water bound ships. To his slight disappointment, the natives did not seem to engage in any aggression and instead, Copperstone could see the small figures of the locals boarding the air frigate and momentster, the frigate rosed up to the skies and returned to the fleet.


    "Lord Copperstone," A bridge crew with a thick beard and oversize headphones spoke respectfully. "High Lord Hammerfall is requesting all the Cartel Lords'' presence onboard the Hammer of Resolute immediately for a council."


    Copperstone took the offered slip of parchment that was sent over by a series of beeps and tranted out into words. He read the tranted message and nodded, "Ready myunch for departure!"


    Momentster, his booted feet touched on the hangar decks of the Hammer of Resolute and found the rest of the Cartel Lords grouped together at one side awaiting the arrival of the frigate bearing the natives.


    "Ahhh, Lord Copperhead," A Cartel Lord greeted him with smiles. "Rock and Stone my brother!"


    "Rock and Stone, Lord Ironmore," Copperstone greeted and returned the salutations of the other Lords. "What do you think of all this?"


    "Most likely the natives are offering their surrender?" Lord Ender cut into the conversation. He had his long brown hair tied up into a long ponytail and his beard was braided neatly. Yet it did not cover the sly look of his sharp face and eyes as he stood before Copperstone and Ironmore. "They must be in awe of our power!"


    "Hmmm..." Copperstone frowned and gestured to the frigate hovering next to the opened hangar hatches and a smallunch detached from its side, traversing the small span of emptiness beforeing to a halt in a midst of hissing steam and rattling engines. "We shall see if your guess is right or not, my Lord."


    The side hatch opened and a couple of stocky stormtroopers led by a young beardless ensign stepped down. Behind them several tall and slim beings had to lower their heads at the hatch, to prevent hitting their heads and they climbed down the short steps awkwardly.


    The natives looked verymon, thought Copperstone as he eyed the neers. They had the same long ears of the people and the same features and height as the rest of the other Great Nations. The natives were dressed in short white coats with yellow facing and carried curved swords at their polished belts. It seemed to Copperstone that they had nned toe to meet them, judging by how polished and ornate their uniforms were.


    The ensign from the Hammer of Resolute took over the guests and brought everyone including the Cartel Lords to the Great Hall. The natives looked around their surroundings with curious eyes but none had the look of awe and bewilderment on their expression. Copperstone felt theirck of feelings to seeing something much technologically advanced to their primitive ships to be disconcerting.


    "Lord Ironmore..." He whispered to the stocky Lord walking next to him. "Do you feel something is wrong with... these people?"


    "Hmmm..." Lord Ironmore frowned as he stroked his beard. "Yes... something is off... But I just can''t put my beard to it..."


    "Their reaction... is too calm," Copperstone answered. "Either they are putting up a very good show of keeping calm... or they know something we don''t..."


    "Rock and stone!" Ironmore smacked his fist on his meaty palm in realisation. "That was what''s bothering me! I assumed they are in shock from seeing all this... but... now that you pointed it out..."


    "This all smells like some kind of set up..." Copperstone hissed as they reached the doors of the Great Hall. "Something is wrong with this group..."


    "Could they be killers of some kind? Sent to kill the High Lord?" Ironmore had an rmed look on his face as he stared at the backs of the six natives."We should warn the stormtroopers!"


    Copperstone felt doubtful that they were some kind of death squad as he watched the natives hand over their weapons and submit to a body search. Still, he went forward together with Ironmore and whispered some words into the ear of the storm captain whose face changed as he stared at the natives.

 Chapter 498: Next Steps

    Chapter 498: Next Steps


    Fleet Master Akron eyed his surroundings with interest at first when he first boarded the flying ship. He had set sail out under Megan''s orders to meet and secure a cooperative treaty with the neers. But after boarding the flying ship, he was disappointed with how the interior of the ship was despite the proud bearing of the short captain, who was clearly showing off even if they do not understand each other words.


    The only thing that surprised him when he and his aides first encountered the neers was that their heights just barely reaching his chest, simr as a goblin but looked like some God had squashed a normal person down till they were all short, stocky, and hairy. Their features looked like people with long ears but their facial features were more rugged, unlike the people''s smoother features.


    In the short tour of the airship which he and the neersmunicated using a series of hand signs and drawings, Akron found the parts of the ship that was shown was uparable to the iron ships of the United Nations. The ship of the neer was hot, and the stench of sweat and oil was everywhere. Rust strains covered the walkways and bulkheads, machinery and pipes looked crude and messy unlike the clean and finely machined equipment of the UN.


    And the brief flight on the flying ship was noisy and full of turbulence, making Akron wonder how much advanced their tek no lo geepares with the UN. He only noticed that the flying ship does employ more advanced magics and runes which he did not need a magister to know their knowledge of magic was above theirs.


    When he boarded the smaller vessel which dropped him and his aides off inside the interior of the massive flying ship, he admitted for a moment the size of the massive flying ship awe him. But after looking around his surroundings, he noticed it was simr to the smaller flying ship, the difference being in size only.


    Even the weapons held by the guards and soldiers of the short people looked crude and clumsypared to the sleek no nonsense look and feel of the UN thundersticks. In the end, he just let his aide do themunicating with the other side as he let his eyes wander around the airship, keeping his expression neutral as he felt these neers'' tek no lo gee was just so so.


    Next, he observed the group of important looking people dressed in buttoned jackets and despite him towering over them, those people cast him dismal looks, like as if he was nothing worthwhile in their eyes. Akron covered his frown as he adjusted his monocle and wondered what race were these short people from and gged those people as eithermanders or nobility.


    Following the gestures of one of the young looking squat people, they walked through winding passageways, thankfully most of the hatches were tall enough for them to walk through, most likely to ease the handling of equipment and cargo. And finally, they stopped before a pair of double doors that were only possible in a ship of this size and handed over his belted cuss over when the guards gestured for them. Suddenly, one of the short soldier with a red plume on his helmet yelled something and the soldiers around them reacted by lowering their strange looking horn with an axe at them.


    Surprised by the sudden hostility, Akron and his men could only raise their hands up helplessly as his man tried to reason with stirred up guards. Even the short nobles stepped back their indifference changed to looks of wariness and suspicion. The desperate attempts atmunicating with the other side were making his man frantic as he gestured around seemingly like a mad person.


    Just as things were escting and Akron was cursing underneath his breath, the double doors swung open and a stocky being splendidly armoured in gold appeared. He yelled something loudly and the gathered soldiers backed off reluctantly.


    Akron let out a sigh of relief but soon turned cautious as he eyed the golden armoured person. The golden armoured looked like he could single handed take out an adult wind wolf despite his short stature. His shoulders were as broad as his waist and even under all the armour ting, he could tell his arms and legs were heavily muscled.


    A mop of thick beard that ended in braids covered his entire chin and the neer radiated out amanding presence. The group of nobles thumped their chest with their fists and yelled something in greeting after which they all turned around and faced Akron and his men.


    The golden armoured person made a gesture and led everyone through the double doors and he sat down on a throne raised on a tform and before he said something which Akron and the rest could not understand. Akron''s man, stepped forward and started making gestures and even showing some drawings from the notepad which seemed to draw their attention the most.


    After a moment of discussion among the short people, the Golden Lord said something and a well dressed stepped fore and gestured to the notepad held by Akron''s man. Akron gave a slight nod when his man nced to him for permission before handing it over to the short noble. The group of short people gathered around the notepad and seemed to be in some kind of serious discussion of sorts before the Golden Lord broke out inughter.


    He walked down and headed straight to Akron and reached up and pped his shoulder, seemingly in an act of friendship which Akron gave an awkward smile and copied his gesture, making the restugh loudly. Another yell from the Golden Lord and suddenly, servers appeared from the side and started putting out trays of food and tankards of drink.


    The Golden Lord gestured Akron and his men to a table and shoved a tankard of strong smelling alcohol into his hand and banged his own tankard against Akron''s, spilling a great deal all over the ce before the Golden Lord tipped back the entire contents into his mouth.


    Akron started at the tankard in his hands and under the stares of the short people, he could only helpless swallow the bittersweet contents that burned down his throat and threatened to knock him out. "C- Cheers..."


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "Sir!" Lt Tavor knocked on the hatch and stuck his head in with an urgent look on his face. "This just came in!"


    He ced a stack of papers down before ke who put aside his own work and picked up the papers given to him. "What is this?"


    "Latest intel we have on the New World borders!" reported Lt Tavor. "We got new contacts here."


    He pointed to the printout of a map on one of the documents. "North of us, a new group of contacts. This group so far is thergest we picked up from imagery taken from the probe. It''s projected course seemed to be towards the Empire."


    ke flipped through the papers, looking at the numbers and enhanced imagery. He tapped on one of the images which showed some kind of blob with what looks like a castle in the middle and clearly surrounded by airships. "What is this?"


    "We think it is some kind of floating base," Tavor replied. "No way to tell until we send some nes over to eyeball it."


    "But it will be hard," Tavor added. "We do not have any aircraft with such endurance... And we have to cross through hundreds of kilometres of Empire territory... I doubt the Empire will give us permission to set up a forward operating base in their territory..."


    ke shook his head, "No... Let it be for now."


    Tavor nodded before he gestured to another set of documents. "We have been monitoring the other fleet at the Isles'' borders... Seems like the Isles has sent a wee party to meet that fleet... As for what purposes... We have no idea..."


    "Did the Isles request for any support recently?" ke asked as he looked at the captured images of the small Isles vessels meeting an airship from the unknown fleet. "Did they ask for any military help?"


    "No Sir, nothing from the embassy," replied Tavor. "Which is strange, considering we are allies... They would, no, should ask for our help since they clearly know we managed to defeat the Protectorate up northeast... There is no reason why they did not request for our help... unless..."


    "Unless?" ke prompted Tavor to continue. "What do you think they are up to?"


    "Well... Fleet Master Megan is pretty much against us..." Tavor said. "And my sources tell me that the First Fleet Master is in ailing health, and will most likely step down soon..."


    "It might be a power grab from her..." Tavor frowned as he tried to ce the pieces together. "She has been pretty much bitching about how we are shortchanging her by not giving her some of our technology... especially gunpowder and aircraft."


    "I can see this as an opportunity for her to gain ess to Old World tech, especially if she could get this group to trade or support her," Tavor said. "Despite the fact of what we know of the airships from the Protectorate... Old World tech seemed to be around the early stages of steam power."


    "Weapons wise, we still hold a vast superiority, including material science and aerial propulsion," Tavor added. "The only thing they clearly have an edge over us is magic knowledge... in fact, their magic is far superior to anything the New World has... words from Magister Thorn, by the way."


    "So other than the fact they have better magic," ke summarised. "They have nothing else?"


    "Erm... Aetherium," Tavor corrected. "This stuff doesn''t seem to be able to be found here, as it seems no one even heard or seen something like this before."


    ke leaned back as he digested the information given. "Let the Isles do what they want now..."


    "Let''s see what is their next steps," ke said darkly. "Before we respond in kind..."


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma (Annexed), North East Region, Fort Hensink


    Sandbags and reinforced concrete walls had sprung up all over the cleared ruins of the once beautiful coastal city. A concrete pier now sat over the remains of the original harbour and a couple of fast transports were tied up on the dock, with dozens of workers offloading supplies and materials with machinery. In the distance coastline, another couple more fast transports could be seen with smoke spewing out of their funnels.


    On the other side of the city ruins, tracked machines with bulldozer des cleared the rumbled and shoved down walls and ruined houses to one side while trucks carrying rubble rumbled over to a makeshift cement factory. The trucks dumped their loads before heading back to pick up another while workmen sorted out the rubble and carried the raw materials to be processed into cement powder.


    UN soldiers and engineers in army camouge were busy setting up weapon posts and guns. Large squat and ugly looking reinforced concrete gun houses built along the new wall around the fort and 88 mm dual purpose guns were being mounted with cranes. Further back under the protection of the new wall that was still under construction, was the beginnings of an airfield with armoured hangars, bunkers and housing.


    In just barely two weeks, shipments of weapons, building materials, the construction crew were shipped over and the ruins cleared and turned into a fort blistering with weapons. The soldiers and workers knew that the Protectorate would return, but when was a question on everyone minds. They could only expedite their work and hopefully, when the Protectorate returned, they will face the might of the United Nations with all their guns waiting for their arrival.

 Chapter 499: Deal Or No Deal

    Chapter 499: Deal Or No Deal


    Fleet Master Akron woke up groggily with his head feeling like it was hit by several goblins or trolls many times. It was the third day of heavy drinking since he came onboard the short people''s flying ship. Since the first drinking session, he understood that these short people loved to drink and he got his man to attemptmunications with these people and had all the cococane liquor onboard his three ships brought over.


    What followed after was a three day drinking fest, which the short people rotated in and out of the Great Hall, and Akron and his men being forced to drink. He looked around the Great Hall where his people and the short people wereid out snoozing in puddles of vomit and drool. He stumbled his way out of the Great Hall where the guardsughed behind his back at his state.


    Finding an opened viewport, he vomited out the contents in his stomach when someone handed him a towel and y jar of water. He muttered his thanks and used the water to wash his face before taking a gulp to clear sour taste in his mouth.


    "Feel better?" The helpful person asked as Akron nodded gratefully in reply. He wiped his face with the wet towel and froze, turning around in surprise at the short person grinning next to him.


    "H- How?" Akron was in shock. He groped around his suit vest, finding his monocle and fixing it to his eye as he took a good look at the person. "You?"


    The grinning person next to him was the Lord in the golden armour that appeared the other day and started the drinking fest. Now, he was dressed in a dark green double buttoned jacket and ck pants and boots. His mop of ming red hair wasbed back and held by a simple gold circlet while his long bushy beard was braided up.


    "I am Grand Lord Hammerfall of the Silver Mountains!" The squat person said in a strong voice while he held up a glowing pendant, clearly magical. "This here is a Pendant of Understanding!"


    Grand Lord Hammerfall handed over a simr pendant into Akron''s hands and patted him on his back. He tapped the side of his head as he exined its usage. "Just wear it andnguages you do not understand will be tranted in your mind. It uses magic to convert words into something you can understand, as long the magic of thenguage is recorded in the stone."


    "But... How can I understand my words if... you all came here for the first time?" Akron was shocked still as he wore the pendant.


    "Hmm... good question," Grand Lord Hammerfall rubbed his head as he pondered on Akron''s question. "It will seem like yournguage used toe from the Old World... Not surprisingly... As most of your ancestors should be from the Old World!"


    "I- I see..." Akron can see Lord Hammerfall''s lips moving and the strange tongue he was speaking in but in his mind, he could understand what he was saying. "Then... I thank you for this precious gift!"


    "Hahahaha!" Lord Hammerfall''s smile turned widened. "You can send us more of that... sweet nectar!"


    "Cococane liquor?" Akron was about to agree but his merchant mind took over, overriding the pounding in his head. "Ahh... it is possible... maybe we can work out a deal?"


    -----


    United Nations, Hope Naval Station


    ck smoke huffed out from the smokestacks of half a dozen tug boats as they pulled the massive supercarrier into Super Dock One. Lines and chains were transferred over to the ground crew and they took over the tug boat roles, dragging the ship snuggly into the docks.


    Side hatches opened up and ramps were deployed. Waiting sailors started marching off the ship and formed up at the docks as officers debriefed the sailors. Commander Ford remained on the bridge with the rest of the senior officers of the UNS Vengeance as they had many things to do to ensure the Vengeance remained fully operational.


    "All department heads, please ensure you submit your departments'' report to the yard boss," finished Commander Ford. He left the bridge and headed down to the deck and crossed the linkway connecting the central battleship hull to the carrier hull. The crew saluted him as he walked past, and Ford found Captain ke waiting for him inside a waiting Jeep at the end of the exit ramp.


    "How''s the ship?" ke asked when Ford entered the Jeep. "Up to expectations?"


    "Well... Better than I expected," Ford replied. "Except for the plumbing..."


    "How long before the ship can leave the dock?" ke asked again as the driver started the engines and drove off the docks.


    "Two weeks?" Ford made a guess. "There''s quite alot of things needed to be fixed. Why?"


    ke silently handed over a stack of documents which Ford took and started reading. After a while he frowned and said, "Another force in the north?"


    "Yes," ke replied. "Seems like everyone wants toe here for vacation..."


    "Some kind of vacation," Ford snorted. "So... I am guessing that you want the UNS Vengeance to head up north?"


    "No..." ke shook his head. "I want the Vengeance to head towards the Isles..."


    "The Isles?" Ford was surprised. "Why?"


    "Continuing reading the report," ke suggested and Ford returned to the documents.


    "Hmm..." Ford frown''s deepened as he read through the report. "Seems like they want to make some kind of deal with this force?"


    "Yes," ke nodded. "As to what kind of deal, we have no idea yet."


    "Judging by Megan''s character," Ford shook his head. "Most likely something that will grant her an advantage over us..."


    "She has shown to be very clearly wanting our gunpowder tech for so long..." Ford said. "Now, if she can secure a friendly deal with this group, she might get some tech or magic that can increase the military strength of the Isles."


    "And you want the Venny there as a show of strength?" Ford asked. "To remain them of our alliance?"


    "Yes, and no," ke replied. "I want the Vengeance there to show to the neers that there who is the boss here. And to show our... allies our support against a possible invasion from an unknown enemy..."


    "After all... we do not wish to see the tragedy that had happened to the New Kingdom of Ma... to befall the Isles..."


    -----


    Sea of Clouds, ???


    Flying shapes emerged in a cluster from the wall of storm clouds without any warning. A riot of colourful airships trailing smoke formed up in a messy cluster while another group of ck boney airships lined up one after another. Dragons appeared from the dark airships and they circled the air, find the opportunity to stretch their wings after weeks and weeks of confined travel.


    The cries of dragons covered the skies as the two very distinct fleets set fore to explore the New World.


    -----


    Waters off the Border of The Isles, The Cartel, The Hammer of Obsidian


    The Great Hall was silence as every Lord and Officer inside listened to the words of the tall native called Akron. He told a tale of how a small powerless ind nation, that had to fend off goblin pirates, dangerous monsters both onnd and sea, and even feral dragons.


    They cheered when a victory was told and sighed in deeply when a defeat came. Now they listened to how their small ind nation was forced by another vastly superior nation to give a tribute of food and other resources in exchange for some pitiful tools and equipment that were considered junk.


    Lord Copperstone remained expressionless as he listened to the words of the one named Akron. He had woven a fine tale, but how much was it truly was another thing. But the others, drunk in the new alcohol made by these natives were sympathetic to the supposed gue of the tall native''s nation.


    The words of the tall native, resonated with the others, Lord Copperstone himself too find it simr to how it was for their people before the Cartel was founded. Their short stature and hairy faces were shunned by many others, treating his folk as half people, or demi beasts. After many wars and years of their ancestors proving themselves to the rest of the world, they finally had the recognition from the other races.


    Even the Grand Lord himself was reacting to the words of the tall native. Lord Copperstone remained sceptical but he remained quiet, after all, he was just an entric artificer. Finally, the tall native finished telling his tale of how his enved nation had cooperated with the other nation and now, he under the behest of his leader, hade to request a peace treaty.


    The other Lords called out for the Grand Lord to ept and help the ind people of the exploited nation. The tall native had even expressed their nation was willing to trade any goods they needed, food, alcohol, precious metal and even magic crystals!


    If they could trade for all these goods without even the need for bloodshed, it would be a great aplishment back at the Old World! And if they cany im as allies or trade partners with this native ind nation, they will have an unending source of resourcesing from the New World. And the other Great Nations have to either step back or dere war which currently, none of the Great Nations in the Old World were willing to do so... yet.


    The Grand Lord waved his hands and everyone quietened down. "What do you need in exchange for trade? An alliance? Military support?"


    "Ah..." The tall native cleared his throat as heid out his terms. "What we request is only the exchange of your magic, tek no lo gee of your flying ships... and weapons..."


    His words made a small uproar from the gathered Lords. While weapons and flying ships were traded and sold amongst the Great Nations for many years, it was generally done secretly as it was actually treasonous to sell weapons to other Nations.


    Lord Copperstone frowned as he stared at the smiling native face, as he made the requests. The tall native continued on as if he did not hear the mutter of disapproval from the Lords nor seen the frown on the Grand Lord''s face. "Ad you all have heard the plight of my beloved nation, we need weapons to be able to make a stand against our oppressor..."


    "You all will not be here forever," The tall native said. "While I can request for military support from your... great flying fleet... but ultimately... You will return to yournds."


    "With you gone, how will we be able to defend ourselves?" The tall native spoke in a convincvingly to the Lords. "If you teach us... Provide weapons for us... We will be able to protect ourselves and in the many years to follow... You will have a staunch ally and trade partner here in the New World!"


    "Isn''t this course of action benefit not just my people and yours at the same time?" The tall native adjusted his single round ss on his eye. "I am not just looking at short term goals... but the future of my nation!"


    Some of more hot headed Cartel Lords started banging their gons against the table. "Hear! Hear! He speaks the truth! If we leave, their nation will be swallowed up by their enemies! Then we will lose a trading source!"


    "But we can trade with the other nation instead since they are more powerful?" Another Cartel Lord pointed out. "Why help this small nation? Won''t the stronger nation be able to provide even more trade opportunities?"


    The Grand Lord''s expression was like a stone as he considered the words of the native and his Lords. He tipped back his gon filled with the local brew down his throat and wiped away the foam on his beard and mumbled to himself.


    "Hmmm... Deal or no deal..."

 Chapter 500: Hell Hole

    Chapter 500: Hell Hole


    Several fat sausages looking and fish shaped ships floated leisurely over the crude settlement which could barely be even called a town. Surrounded by a ring of sharpened logs, the small town was popted by barely three thousand people. Mud and thatch houses were hazardously built on the dirt ground filled with puddles of mud and waste.


    The only proper looking building that was made out of stone and logs belonged to the town''s overseer and garrison, an Imperial noble called Wickebine Osthan. It was a small stone keep and sited on a small slope at the east corner of the walled town and he was the Lord and Master of the people on this ind of exile.


    Located north of the Empire of Bluewood,id arge untamed ind. The Empire named the northern ind as Exile Ind where certain people of noble birth who hadmitted crimes against the throne was thrown there to live out their lives in exile. The settlement was run by Wickebine and a small detachment of Imperial soldiers and it was a ce where no one leaves once they step foot there.


    The people no matter what their previous lives were had to work to eat, or they can starve to their deaths and no one will even care. Scions and princess that never had to work or do anything ever once in their lives had to toil the fields, chop trees, mine ore, and even hunt or capture monsters, especially young wild dragons or eggs in this untamednd, to be send back to the Empire.


    Now, Wickebine Osthan stood on the only tower of the stone keep, half naked and wearing a pair of well worn leather breeches and stared up at the underbellies of the floating ships in awe and shock. He had seen many things in his life but this was a first time seeing a ship that could fly. And he was not the only one, as the whole settlement had stopped whatever they were doing and stared with different expressions on their faces.


    "Lord Osthan!" His second inmand, a once promising young officer in the Imperial Army but had the unfortunate luck to have incurred the jealously of some of his more well connected peers and ultimately, he was sent here to watch over the exiles. "W- What are those flying things?"


    Wickebine could only stare in surprise as he too had no idea what they were, news from the maind to Exile Ind was not really frequent, with only a shiping once or twice a year. "Mata! Order the guards not to do anything stupid! Tell them to stand down if they want to live pass the day! Send my orders, now!"


    "Y-yes, at once!" The youngster ran off down the tower and soon his voice rang out in the tiny courtyard, ordering the soldiers to stand down.


    "Could this be the Un Ann?" Wickebine wondered as thest news he heard many months back was that there was a demonic rebel nation that killed the Emperor. "Have they conquered the entire New World?"


    -----


    Tri State Exploration Fleet, gship Victoria, Command Bridge


    Duchess Manarva had a bored look on her well maintained face as she leaned on one hand on her chair, watching thebined fleet of both Tri State ships and Iron Kingdom ships slowly descent over the ind. She could see the blurry outline of the maind in the far distance on the magical viewing crystal and on another viewing crystal, the poor and rundown looking walled town was disyed.


    "This... ce looks no different from the slums I grew up in," Her personnel aide, Aulus, remarked as he eyed the viewing crystal. "How can such a ce be rich in resources if even its town looked so barbaric?"


    "Oh, little Aulus, don''t judge a book by its cover," Manarva said in azy voice. "Why, did you not notice the trophiesid out on the gates of the town?"


    "Hmmm?" Aulus took another closer look before his eyes widened. "Oh... is that... what I think it is?"


    "Yes," Manarva sat up straight and leaned closer to the viewing crystal. "It''s the skull of a dragon... and not just one!"


    "H- How are they capable to hunt down a dragon?" Aulus had a look of disbelief on his face. "Could it be a mutated drake breed?"


    "Well, we will find out when we question the people down there!" Manarva said with a smile and she stood up. "Order the ships to deploy thending ships... And prepare myunch! We will go down and take a look at these... barbarians!"


    -----


    Sleek looking Tri State troop barges and the boxy shaped Iron Kingdom transports hissed out from the respective airships and theynded on partially harvested grain field. The farmers working on the fields fled in terror at their approach, dropping their tools and ran towards the walls of the settlement.


    Soldiers rushed out from the transports and barges as theynded, the hatches dropping down and forming ramps. Tri State soldiers were dressed in silver cuirass and morion style helmets over a set of white puffy sleeved uniform and red ck pants with a silver stripe. A steam tank was strapped to their backs with other equipment and hoses were connected to long poleaxes and the soldiers formed up into a phnx of blistering spears.


    The Iron Kingdom soldiers were dressed in ck te mail over dark navy blue coats and wore ck shakos on their heads. They carried a simr tank ofpressed steam that was hooked up to long rifle like weapons that ended with a sharp spike. After forming up next to the Tri State soldiers, an officer from the Tri State gave out and order, and both forces started marching across the grain fields towards the settlement.


    -----


    Wickebine scratched his balding head as he watched the two phnx of soldiers trampling over the grain fields outside the town. He stood on the wooden walls, with the rest of his detachment of a hundred odd soldiers, and wondered what was their purpose ining to this godforsaken ce.


    "Leave the gates open!" He yelled down from his perch on the wooden walls which served to keep out the lesser creatures of the ind. "And no one touches their weapon! I want to live till tomorrow at least!"


    The soldiers hurried removed their hands from the hilts of their swords and tried to not to fidget as they watched the unknown soldiers bearing two distinct gs, one silver with three golden triangles forming into arger triangle and another in ck or dark blue with two silver fists holding on to rod or spear, the details too far away to be clearly identified.


    A bugle came from the unknown force as they stopped just beyond the walls and for a moment both sides stared at each other. A small group of soldiers with marks of leaders on their armor and helmet walked forward and stopped just beyond the opened gates. Wickebine let out a deep breath he was holding in before he climbed down the ricketydder and cursed, nning to chew out whoever was the one that built thedder but stopped when he realized that it no longer mattered.


    He walked out to meet the waiting soldiers with a small group of close aides. He adjusted his rarely worn armour which seemed too small for his size and forgoes his red plumed helmet which he was certain would no longer fit his head. Thumping his chest in salute to the unknown soldier, he asked in a firm and polite tone, "Greetings strangers! What brings you here to my humble town?"


    A grizzling looking soldier with scars on his face stepped forward and made a salute of sorts, but the words that came out of his mouth were illegible to Wickebine''s ears. Both sides stared at each other silently as they wondered how tomunicate with each other when an ornate flying boat appeared overhead.


    Wickebine stared with his mouth open as the grey silver shipnded behind the phnx of soldiers and a group of people appeared. The most eye catching of the group was a middle aged woman wearing a white uniform. A rich looking cape was dangled over her shoulders and a long silver hilt sword hung off her belt.


    She led the group forward, removing her ck gloves along the way and handing them over to an aide behind her and she stopped before Wickebine, the corner of her lips slightly raised in a smile. She was not pretty, but her looks were striking enough to make one unable to forget her. And her eyes were sharp and piercing despite the small smile on her lips as she looked up and down Wickebine, making him feel conscious of himself.


    Seemingly satisfied, she snapped her long fingers and a cloaked member of her entourage stepped forward and gave a bow to her before he reached out to tap Wickebine on his forehead, making him jump back in surprise. He felt a chill down his spine from the light tap and goosebumps rose as the cloaked person started mumbling and chanting.


    "Magic!" Young Mata reached for his sword as he sensed the cloaked figure chanting but he froze when he met the cold piercing eyes of the woman whose smile widen. "I- Ah... I... erm..."


    "Stand down!" Wickebine stretched out his arm to stop his men from drawing their weapons. The phnx of soldiers dropped their spears as one when they saw the hostile movements. "Peace!"


    Mata dropped his hand away from his hilt and his faced flushed as he looked away in embarrassment. For a moment, he felt a sense of danger when he looked into the eyes of the noblewoman and fear took over his mind, making him froze in fright. He just realized that despite her age and looks, she was a very dangerous person!


    The woman made a dismissive gesture and the soldiers once again raised their spears back up and she gave an appreciative nod to Wickebine who felt he just barely picked up his life. Finally, the mage finished his strange incantations and he handed a pendant to the woman before shoving another pendant with arge blue crystal towards Wickebine.


    Following the actions of the noblewoman, he wore it over his head and suddenly, he felt he could understand what the other party was saying! "T- This level of magic?"


    "Can you understand me now?" The woman asked and Wickebine jerked his head up in surprise. He could hear her words, but was unable to understand her words, but yet, in his mind, he could understand her at the same time! The woman gave the pendant a shake before turning to the mage and asking, "Is this magic even working?"


    "Y- Yes!" Wickebine replied, his mind racing as the implications of such magic meant that whoever this person was, her prestige must be very high up to have such a powerful mage serving by her side. "I hear and understand your words, my Lady!"


    "Good!" The nobledy nodded once before introducing herself. "I am Duchess Manarva of the Tri State! General of the Air and Commander of the Combined Forces of the Tri State Air Navy and the Iron Kingdom Forces on... this side of the world!"


    "I- I wee the Duchess here," Wickebine felt a trickle of cold sweat down his spine. What was the Tri State and Iron Kingdom? He has never heard of such nations or kingdoms before in his entire life. If they were not the Un Ann, has another power house on the maind emerged while they on this ind remained ignorant of the happenings outside world? Wickebine wondered before he asked in a polite tone. "What may this... lowly one be of service?"


    "Now, tell me..." The Duchess gestured around her surroundings. "What kind of hell hole is this?"

 Chapter 501: Influence

    Chapter 501: Influence


    Crates and crates of magic crystals were stacked up everywhere inside therge cave the locals used as storage. Duchess Manarva''s eyes glittered under the lit torches held high by the local guides who brought them here. She cupped a handful of the glittering magic crystals which were the size of a fingernail and allowed them to trickle off her palm, the crystals making tinkling sounds as they rolled back to the pile.


    The local Lord, Wickebine, hovered anxiously at the side of the Duchess, a worried expression on his face. "M- My Lady... We have a few morerger stones, these are just rejected stones... They have not much value on the maind... Hence we kept them store here... they are only good to power some basic spells and artefacts only!"


    His words made Duchess Manarva freeze but she quickly recovered and she straightened up with a smile on her face, as she schooled her expression, yet in her racing mind, she was shocked. Rejects? The value and amount of magic crystals here were almost as much as that of the entire Tri State reserves of magic crystals! She turned to the nervous Lord and spoke in a disinterested tone, "Show me!"


    "At once!" Wickebine bowed and quickly led them towards the rear of the cave where an iron door was set into the stone walls. Duchess Manarva cast a warning look to her people as their eyes were wide with wonder and greed. The local lord fumbled around with arge key and unlocked the door and he gestured a couple of his soldiers with the torches and they entered the darkness.


    After a while, the two local soldiers reappeared with Wickebine and they each carry a chest in their arms. Unlocking the chests with another key, Wickebine lifted the lid back and a dozen fist sized magic crystals in various colors glittered beautifully under the light of the torches.


    This time, no one was able to hold back their shock as a sharp collective intake of breath was heard in the cave. Even Duchess Manarva could not hold back her shock as she stared at the lumps of semi translucent magic crystals. She reached out with unsteady hands and pick a red crystal the sizerger than a feathered wyvern''s egg.


    The ruby red magic crystal felt warm in her hands and she could feel the raw magic energy that was trapped inside the crystal when she concentrated her magic. "Amazing!"


    She carefully returned the crystal back to the chest and snapped her fingers sharply, snapping everyone back from their daze. "Is this all?"


    The local lord eager to please his new master bobbed his head and said, "There are another two more chests... All this is supposed to be a tribute to the Emperor..."


    "No longer!" Duchess Manarva cut him off. "These are now the property of the Tri State!"


    "Take them all away!" She turned and ordered to an aide at her side who bowed and started directing their troops to move everything out of the cave. The Lord Wickebine could only stand at the side helplessly watching as the invaders started cleaning out the cave. Duchess Manarva''s mood was high after having acquired such easy wealth and loot. She gestured to Wickebine and ordered him to follow her.


    Once out of the cave and under the sun, Duchess Manarva eyed the surrounding forests with a more positive look. "Tell me, these... stones. How do you get them?"


    "Erm..." Wickebine frowned as he thought the Duchess was testing him or something. "Monsters has these stones inside their bodies... Only therger stonese from high level creatures!"


    "Interesting..." Duchess Manarva mused. "What kind of monsters?"


    "Eh... Wind wolves... giant snakes... demon ants..." Wickebine started listing out the moremon monsters that the hunters would encounter when they entered the forest. The Duchess nodded her head, encouraging Wickebine to continue as her mind processed the information. In the Old World, the monsters no longer produce any magic crystals in their bodies, which lead to massive depletion of magic among the people. What magic crystal that could be rarely harvested from monsters was barely even half a fingernail in size.


    Even newly borne children were starting to be magiless, unable to cast nor harness magic naturally. Now it has be normal to just have only one out of every ten children has the ability to use magic, while the others were magiless. Magic was fast fading away in the Old World but yet, it was not the case on the New World, as evidenced by the abundance of magic crystals still found onmon monsters!


    Duchess Manarva kept her face expressionless as she eyed the wilnd around her, knowing in her heart, that they must hold on to thisnd with everything they have if they want to retain even a measure of their nation''s magical powers. She turned to her aides and snapped an order, "Start deploying the rest of the fleet here... And tell the prince... that we found a suitable ce for a base..."


    -----


    Waters off the Border of The Isles, The Cartel, The Hammer of Obsidian


    Grand Lord Hammerfall stood at the massive opening of the hangar doors watching the sights of the departingunch that was heading towards the trio of wooden sailing ships drifting on the waves. "You think his words are trustworthy?"


    Lord Copperstone shook his head as he stroked his thick beard. "I would not say it is all false... But he isn''t telling all the truth..."


    Lord Hammerfall nodded in reply, "I suspect as so..."


    "Still... he has his uses... For now," Lord Hammerfall continued as he turned away from the sights. "Giving up a few of our boilers to them will not lessen our abilities... As long as he delivers what we requested for."


    "Do you think... this... United Nations as he has called their enemy, will not be a threat to us?" Lord Copperstone asked in a worried tone. "I think there is more then what he is letting on... And their reaction when they first came..."


    Lord Copperstone gestured around the interior of the hangar, "They don''t seem impressed at all..."


    "I got a feeling they... seen airships before..." Lord Copperstone said. "Could they have met the Protectorate and worked some deal with them too?"


    "That could be a possibility too," Lord Hammerfall replied with another nod. "Let''s see what they do... if they try to y us... Well... we can let everyone let off some steam!"


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet, Merchant Guild


    "Tsk!" Megan clicked her tongue in annoyance as she read the missive that was just delivered. She crumpled the scroll up and gestured her waiting adjutant over. "Go double check this report if it is correct! There must be no dy! Go!"


    The adjutant picked up the crushed parchment ball and gave a bow before he retreated out of the room. Megan snapped her fan open and fanned herself in exasperation. Fleet Master Tediore frowned as he noted Megan''s irritation. He poured a ss of wine out for the both of them and sat down opposite her and asked curiously, "What news did the courier bring?"


    "Tsk!" Megan clicked her tongue again before she snapped her fan shut and picked up the ss of wine and took arge sip. "It''s about the UN!"


    "Apparently, the new port city was not the only things they were building!" Megan hissed. "The rumours about some kind of super ship we have heardst year... was not just rumours anymore!"


    Tediore''s eyes rose as he digested the news, "You meant to say they really build something that is like ten... twenty times the size of ourrgest ships? Its... impossible! How much metal... how much gold crowns are needed? And... and..."


    "That''s the thing!" Megan cursed under her breath as she cut off Tediore''s shocked tirade. "It is impossible! That was why we discounted those rumours in the first ce!"


    "Our spies now tells us that the super ship sails!" Megan said in an angry tone. "This... super ship... can disrupt our ns!"


    Tediore stood up and started pacing around the room. "Akron is still negotiating with the Outsiders... Hisst report was that he was making progress... and the Outsiders are willing to trade their weapons and magic with us in exchange for supplies and mana stones..."


    "The United Nations'' stance against these... Outsiders are pretty hostile due to the incident with their Princess..." Tediore paused in his pacing and turned to stare at Megan. "They will find out of our dealings with these Outsiders sooner orter..."


    "I know!" Megan hissed back. "I am not expecting their Fleet to return to Port Sanctuary until the end of the season since they are still tied up north with the aftermath of those Outsiders..."


    "By the time the UN Fleet returns, our new... iron ships would have beenmissioned and with the support of the Outsiders!" Megan let out of sigh of exasperation. "The Outsiders can help us deal with their flying machines... while our new iron coated ships can dy the UN Fleet!"


    "IF... the Outsiders could deal with their flying machines..." Tediore pointed out. "We do not know if they could even win, just look at what happened up north!"


    "Those Outsiders lost due to facing the entire United Nations ground forces..." Megan dismissed Tediore''s concerns. "Here, they need their fleet to cross the ocean... and our spies report they just only have the most twenty of their iron warships in their entire navy."


    "And six of those ships are based around their port at Far Harbour..." said Megan. "Another three at Port Sanctuary... while the remaining ships are all up north..."


    "But they now have that super ship..." Tediore pointed out again. "It will... hamper us greatly..."


    "Should we..." Tediore hesitated for a moment before he continued. "We should just stop our n first? After all... we did sign a treaty with the United Nations... Even if they reject our offers regarding purchasing their tek no lo gee... Our people are still flourishing in doing trade with them..."


    "How long do you think this will go on?" Megan replied in a curt tone. "One year? Two years?"


    "Once the United Nations pacify the Mans... They will be even more powerful!" Megan said. "And when that happens, not only the Isles... even the Empire and Kingdom of Foral will be swallowed by them!"


    "Even if they honour our treaty of alliance..." Megan tapped her hand across the palm of her hand repeatedly. "We the Isles will be reduced to be a vassal... We can not expect to be even on equal grounds with the United Nations! Our people will be bullied... and we will forever be under their shadow and bowing before them!"


    "No... we need to have the strength to be able to make the United Nations view us as equals..." Megan smacked her fan hard against her palm, her fingers closing around it tightly as she said in a firm and determined tone. "And we will need the help of the Outsiders... If not we will never win against the... tek no lo gee of the short ears..."


    Megan got up from the sofa and stood before the huge ss windows that were imported in from the United Nations, looking out to the harbour where dozens of ships of all types weighed anchor. Hundreds of tiny figures scaled the ships and the docks, moving goods on wheeled carts called dollies yet again introduced by the United Nations.


    She let out a sigh as she realised that almost everything affecting the economy was all imported from the United Nations, even the wine ss in her hand was from the United Nations. At this rate, Megan was very certain that the influence of the goods and tek no lo gee of the United Nations will ovee the influence of the Isles and their culture and identity will forever disappear in this world.

 Chapter 502: Efficiency

    Chapter 502: Efficiency


    United Nations, Hope Naval Station, Super Dock One, UNS Vengeance


    "Boss! We no can do this in three days!" A cry of protest came from the group of goblins in oil and smoke stained overalls. "We need... more days!"


    The protesting goblin raised up both his hands with his fingers spread wide. "We need... ten... ten days!"


    "Twenty days?" Chief Matt shook his head, "No can do, boys! The Big Boss wants this ship to set sail by the end of this week! Which means... three days is all you have!"


    "But... deck warped! Support beams creaky!" The lead goblinined as he stomped his booted feet against the top of Flight Deck B. "Big boom boom guns damage deck!"


    "Yes... I know..." Chief Matt let out a sigh. They had reinforced the flight decks of the UNS Vengeance to allow the 14" guns to fire over them with the armour ting recycled from the UNS Singapore. Test firing onnd with the 14" guns over the armour ting showed minimum damage or effects to the tes, which the armour ting was used to cover the areas directly below the effects of the main guns.


    Yet, despite careful calctions, the shock wave of the 14" guns had buckled the surrounding flight deck not using the armour ting from the UNS Singapore. This had lead to the suspension of operations of Flight Deck B for safety reasons. And now, the dry dock''s goblin boss wanted to rip out all the armour and rece them with the same armour from the UNS Singapore.


    "Boss! Armour tes must be removed!" The goblin insisted as he hopped up and down, barely even jumping high enough to reach Chief Matt''s chin. "Another boom boom... no t space for flying god machines tond!"


    "Hai..." Chief Matt sighed again, as he knew it was the truth. "Alright... I talk to the Big Boss and the CNO about this screwup..."


    "In the mean time!" Chief Matt gestured around the flight deck. "Start tearing the deck up!"


    "Sir yes Sir! Chief Boss!" The goblins happily threw a salute at Chief Matt before they scampered off to their stack of tools at the side and started yellingmands to the rest of the goblin work gangs that were enjoying the ocean breeze. "Get working youzy gobz! We got permission to rip the decks up!"


    The goblins hearing themand, let out a happy squeak before someone turned up the volume on some portable music yer and some heavy metal music started echoing down the flight decks as they went to work.


    Chief Matt shook his head as he watched the goblins threw themselves joyously on their task. Once he had been wary of the goblins but over the years, he actually found the goblins to be very hardworking and focused on their tasks especially if it involves machinery. He walked towards the central battleship sector and entered the pagoda like superstructure and headed up the steep stairs and into the Bridge.


    The Marine on duty stood to attention and undogged the hatch for him and Matt found the CNO busy with some paperwork at the separated admiral''s bridge. "Sir?"


    "Come in, Chief," Chief of Naval Operations, Commander Ford said after ncing up briefly before returning to his work. "What is it?"


    "Well... the dry dock''s goblins are saying they gonna need twenty days to fix the flight decks," Chief Matt reported. "The warped deck tes will be reced with the tes from the Singapore."


    "Twenty days?" Ford looked up from his work. "The Captain did say he wants the Vengeance to head over to the Isles to see what mischief are they up to."


    "Well... either you don''t fire the main guns directly over the flight decks and risk flight operations or you sacrifice Flight Deck B... if you need to broadside something..." Chief Matt suggested. "Then at least you still can run flight ops off Deck A..."


    "Hmm..." Ford reached for a stack of documents and dug around before he came out with a folder. "Alright, I will talk with the Captain with the dy. At the same time, we can move another four squadrons of Cobras and Vipers onboard while the decks are being reced."


    "Thank you, Sir!" Chief Matt let out a relieved sigh. "I shall go oversee the goblins on their work."


    "Go," Ford waved Chief Matt off and called out to his staff. "Start reassigning these squadrons over here. Looks like we will be stuck in the dock for a few weeks..."


    -----


    The New World, Empire of Bluewood, Exile Ind, Third Iron Fleet, The Iron Fortress


    "Why are we still hanging back here?" The Crown Princeined. "The Tri State is taking all the good loot!"


    "My Prince, you safely is our utmost importance," Lord Ableman calmly reminded the Prince. "We and the Duchess hase to an agreement, and she will handle all the fighting for us."


    "But still!" The Crown Prince was bored and unhappy. He wanted to do down with his armour, sword and air rifle, killing the hordes of monsters that popted therge ind. "Think of the hunt! The glory of killing a high level monster!"


    "There is no glory in killing... monsters," Lord Ableman sighed. "Its not even a hunt to begin with... It''s a massacre!"


    On the block of viewing crystal before them, was a view showing hundreds of beasts trampling through the undergrowth, drove mad by the low flying frigates of the Combined Air Fleet. The frigates flew at tree top levels, the mages onboard dropping spells that made loud noises that drove the monsters out.


    The maddened monsters stampede towards the waiting steam cannons of the rest of the Combined Air Fleet and were cut down by clouds of flying steel balls and bolts. Lord Ableman watched the scene from the viewing crystal and shook his head at the sight. "The Duchess is quite ruthless in her n..."


    A massive four headed hydra stormed out of the trees, its many heads whipping about in a frenzy as it tried to seek out the source that was making it angry. The blood and gore of the surrounding dead monsters drove its rage up further and it eyed the row of airships directly in its path.


    It rushed forward, its many heads trying to reach out to snap at the only things in its path only to have a volley of grapeshot mming into its body. It staggered back as it''s body leaked blood from its many wounds and copsed in a lump when another volley of hundreds of steel balls ripped through it.


    "It''s over," Lord Ableman turned away from the massacre. He admitted that the Duchess''s n in harvesting magic crystals this way was simple and brutally efficient. Yet, there was a feeling of unease at the cold blooded way the monsters were killed.


    -----


    The ground was churned into the mud and the stench of iron and void bowels was thick in the air. Duchess Manarva stood at the opened ramp hatch of the transport, watching the hundreds of soldiers waddling through the bloody mud and harvesting the carcasses of the monsters strewed all over the open field.


    Carts pulled by domesticated four legged beasts with thick stubby horns growing out the side of their heads were filled with skin, bones, meat, and other harvested parts back onto board the waiting transports. A cart filled with chests of harvested magic crystals came rumbling up the ramp where the Duchess stood with dozens of soldiers helping to push the cart up which left behind trails of bloody wheel tracks and boot steps on the ramp.


    Duchess Manarva took a deep breath in and let out her breath before grinning at her aide at her side. "Nothing smells as good as a field full of the freshly killed!"


    "My Lady," Aulus had his nose covered by a piece of cloth, replied in a stoic tone. "I think your nose needs to be checked... Shall I summon the ship''s healer?"


    "Tch!" Duchess Manarva clicked her tongue. "You are no fun! Look at the scene before us! We have harvested more than a year''s worth of magic crystals in just half an afternoon of work! Can''t you just enjoy the moment?"


    "I would certainly like to enjoy the moment," Aulus replied back. "But in a ce that doesn''t smell so bad and... with a less gory view..."


    "Ha! But this is the sight of victory!" Duchess Manarva smiled. "Still you are right, we should go report our progress to our... sponsors, shall we?"


    "Yes, that will be definitely a good idea," Aulus agreed immediately as he felt sick from the sight of the piles of dead monsters and smell. "I shall inform the pilot to bring us to the Iron Fortress at once!"


    The hatch ramp hissed as steam powered hydraulics pulled the ramp close and the Duchess and Aulus both entered the forward cabin and sat down on the cushioned seats. The air transport trembled as the twin boilers were stroked and pressure built up, the heat generated heated the aetherium in the flotation tanks and gears and nks turned the air screws.


    The air transport slowly rose up as the heated aetherium disced the weight of the entire transport and the air screws drove the transport forward. Looking out of the view port, the Duchess could see another of the air transport raising up into the air, its hold full of loot from the monsters.


    "My Lady, I have been thinking..." Aulus said from her side. "Now that we foundnd... And a source of food, fuel, and water... We can establish our own base. Why do we still need to work with the Iron Kingdom? They take a part of any of the loot we get!"


    "Now is not the time yet, my dear," Duchess Manarva replied with a smile. "We have yet to meet any... enemies, yet. Do not forget that the other Great Nations has dispatched a fleet here too!"


    "Sooner orter, a sh between the other forces will be inevitable," The Duchess said. "In that time, having an ally with us will be to our advantage."


    "Besides, the Iron Kingdom assigned some of their ships under mymand..." Duchess Manarva''s smile grew wider. "They will make good cannon fodder!"


    -----


    The New Kingdom of Ma (Annexed), North East Region, Fort Hensink, Forward Radar Post


    Specialist Lenora was enjoying a sandwich of salted meat, cheese, greens and ketchup, with his booted feet up on the console. He took arge bite of his lunch and chewed slowly, savouring the saltiness of the meat, the smokey cheese and the sour sweet taste of the ketchup when the disy screens on his console started blinking.


    He frowned and set his half eaten sandwich down and eyed the green circr disy, his eyes following the bright green, almost white wand, spinning in a clockwise direction. A white mass of blobs appeared on the screen and he grabbed his headset, hearing the beep, beep, beep of the radar.


    ying with the controls, he fine tuned the radar frequency to ensure the system was working perfectly. Grabbing the operational chart of the day, he checked the chart for the scheduled flights of the day and found no entry matched the timing nor direction of the contacts. He quickly tossed the chart to one side and grabbed the red handset and hit the dial for the officer on duty. "Sir! FRP here! We picked up a bunch of unknown aerial contacts bearing south east east! Heading three one zero! Range thirty thousand!"


    The officer on duty quickly ry the report up the chain ofmand and he dropped all his work and rushed down to the radar post where he hovered over Lenora''s shoulder and watching the blinking blimps on the radar disy before he picked up the phone and dialled to Fort Hensink''s CO.


    "Sir! We got unknown aerial contacts approaching the maind!"

 Chapter 503: Unknown Contacts

    Chapter 503: Unknown Contacts


    "Thunder Lead, this is Seer Two One Two, Contact, thirty klicks," The radio buzzed in the headset of Thunder Lead. "I have an unknown number of flights. Angels Two, South East of your location. Turn to heading one five zero."


    "Thunder Lead copy. Heading one five zero. Angels Two," Flight Leader, First Lieutenant Rhinstar of Thunder Squadron replied the surveince aircraft guiding them in. "Thunder Flight, turn now!"


    The twelve Vipers of Thunder Flight turned smoothly together, keeping in formation. They had taken off from the partially constructed airfield at Fort Hensink and were now being vectored in by the reconnaissance aircraft sent to investigate the reported radar contacts.


    Thunder Flight was on alert duty when the call came in and the pilots on stand by rushed out from the ready room, buckling up their parachutes and helmets as jeeps ferried them to the waiting aircraft sheltered under squat rectangr armoured hangars.


    Ground crew spun up the engines and preflight checks werepleted within seconds before the pilots goosed their nes out of the hangars and lined up alongside the runway before the leading aircraft charged off into the air from the airstrip in pairs.


    "Hotel Sierra, Thunder Flight," The radio buzzed again. "You are to investigate unknown contacts and determine their identity. Mission tomunicate as nned. Only to engage the contacts upon fired upon. How copy?"


    "Thunder Lead copy. Eye Dee unknown contacts. Only engage upon fired upon." The flight leader replied back before switching to squadronms. "You all heard the man! Check your master arm."


    The flight of Vipers entered into a cloudyer and just as suddenly, they broke out of the clouds and instantly they spotted the ck dots on the horizon. "Hotel Sierra, this is Thunder Lead! We have visual on unknown contacts!"


    "Roger! Proceed with caution!"


    "Thunder One One and One Two," Flight Leader Rhinstar called out on thems. "Buzz over the unknowns and check their gs! If its the Protectorate or taking fire, break off!"


    "The rest climb to Angels Three and go into a holding pattern!" Flight Leader Rhinstar ordered. "Let''s see who the hell are these people!"


    He pulled out a message canister which had a letter written in thenguage of the Iron Kingdom in the Old World from the case next to his leg. He was told to drop the message tube on the airship if they did not turn hostile on their approach and now he pulled his nimble fighter up into the air as two of his subordinates continued their same heading towards the unknown air fleet.


    As both sides drew closer, Flight Leader Rhinstar could make out the fleet of airships were arrayed in a messy formation. Details once too far away to be seen turned into a riot of colours and shapes while one group of airships were coloured in ck and white stripes and arranged in a neat formation.


    The colourful airships did not appear to be uniformly simr with one another, sails of bright colours and shapes jutted out in various angles were spread out all over the ce while the ck and white ships followed from behind.


    The approach of Thunder Flight seemed to be noticed by the airships as their speed slowed and the once dispersed formation contracted as if the colourful airships sought protection amongst themselves. Bat like wings from the ck and white ships folded away as they too changed their formation, forming into a three by three square.


    Thunder One One and One Two continued on their heading, aiming above the cloud of airships. They buzzed over the airships and pulled up, leaving the airships confused and a flock of leathery wings pping after the faster aircraft.


    "Bandits! Bandits!" The panicked voice of Thunder One One came in shrilly in thems. "Dragons on my tail!"


    "Shit!" Flight Leader Rhinstar craned his head over his cockpit as he spotted the winged serpentine shapes boiling out from the ck and white ships. "Hotel Sierra! This is Thunder Lead! We got small dragonsunching off the airships! They look smaller than our lightweights! It''s the same type of dragons reported by UNS Vengeance!"


    "Hotel Sierra, Thunder Flight." The calm voice of the operator from Fort Hensink replied shortly. "Weapons free! Go defensive!"


    "Roger! Defending!" Flight Leader Rhinstar replied before switching hisms and ordering. "All Thunders! Engage! Engage! Stay on your wing man!"


    The flight of loitering Vipers suddenly broke into action, pairs of Vipers tilting over and barreling down from the sun as the pilots flicked their master arm on, removing the safeties from their onboard weapons. The sun glittered off the cockpits of the diving fighters and flickers of smokey tracers stabbed out, blowing any unfortunate dragon caught in its fiery path out of the sky in a shower of blood and meat.


    The sudden engagementst barely ten seconds and the flight of diving Vipers were through the airships. Specks of blood rolled across the Flight Leader Rhinstar''s cockpit, the wind tearing the red sticky droplets away. "All Thunders, mark your own targets and watch your wing man!"


    He pulled his ne back in a long loop, his wing man following closely behind him. "Zero Two! Follow my tracers!"


    "Roger, Boss!" Came his wingman reply as Flight Leader Rhinstar aimed for a particrly brightly coloured airship that was at the edge of the fleet. He squeezed his trigger and his fighter shuddered as smokey tracers spewed out from the integrated 20 mm gatling nose gun and the two 20 mm auto cannon pods mounted under his wings.


    The mix of armour piercing and incendiary tracers intersected against the bright yellow, green, orange and red sails and hull of the airship and to Flight Leader Rhinstar''s surprise, he noted the puffs of splintering wood and metal, followed by copsing sails which the airship seemed to be covered in. He expected it to have a magic shield up at least but did not expect the colourful airship to be unprotected.


    He put his fighter into a loop and managed to catch sight of his wing man, Zero Two, strafing the same airship with his guns and a volley of rockets, which only scored a single hit. But that hit seemed redundant as the colourful airship''s sails were all on fire from the incendiary shells. It struggled to keep pace with the turning fleet before seemingly losing all strength as its attitude dropped and suddenly, it''s rear portion bugled out and balls of mes erupted out from busted hull ting.


    Spewing thick ck oily smoke, the doomed airship fluttered down towards the dark green blue waters of the ocean with a massive ssh, before tilting over and sinking underneath the waves. Flight Leader Rhinstar felt a sense of panic as he wondered did he and his wing man just shot down an unarmed civilian ship when the radio started flooding with calls of return fire.


    He put the thought of shooting down a civilian ship behind his mind as hemanded his squadron, ordering them to break away and make use of their range advantage against the unknown invaders.


    -----


    The New World, Loose Confederation and Dragon Lords Fleet


    The sun was setting over the waters and its colours painted the sky a crimson purple as if mourning the countless lives and ships lost in the sudden flurry of violence. Onboard thergest dragon ship, a massive ck dragonid prone on the dark sticky pool of blood on the smooth ck ironwood deck. It''s body heaved up and down and a small army of servants and caretakers were working frantically over the wounds it had suffered from the strange flying attackers.


    Blood seeped out from holesrger than fists or even the heads of the servants, covered all over the dragon''s body. Its once glossy wings were tattered and wing membranes were torn and ripped. Shattered scales dangled off its wounds and the dragon''s chest heaved mightly for a moment before it no longer moved.


    "Nooooo!" A wail came from the servants and caretakers as they cried out, seeing the dragon breathed itsst. "My Lord!! Nooooooo!"


    The servants, caretakers, and soldiers all went down on their knees and kowtowed to the dead dragon while crying. Finally after grieving for their lord, the people of the Dragon Lords wiped their tears and swallowed away their sorrow as they continued to tend to the other wound dragons and drakes.


    "Lord Vasuk..." A dragon crept forward from the adjoining chamber and it dipped its head down, paying its respect to its kind. The dragon''s scales were ck hint with a undertone of purple that was reflected by the glowmps around the chamber. Several spots of soft scabbed scales covered one side of its body, wounds healed by the healers where its armoured dragon mail did not cover its long serpentine body. "We shall revenge your death... My teacher...!"


    "Lady Saphia!" A servant came rushing over. "Your wounds have just healed! You must not anyhow move!"


    "Come! We need to remove your armour too!" The servant gestured to another group of bowing servants and maids who tried to move the dragon that was at least three times their height back into the adjoining chamber. "Please... leave the Great Lord alone... We shall grieve when it is time to grieve! Right now, your health is utmost importance!"


    The dragon named Saphia could only bow her head again, paying herst respects to the ck dragon before allowing herself to be dragged back to her chamber where the servants started to remove the remainer of her armour. Once the heavy armour was removed, the servants startedbing every inch of her body carefully, trying to find if she has any more wounds.


    "How bad is it?" She suddenly asked the head servant whose shoulders slumped down sadly. "Tell me... Please?"


    "Your Highness..." The elderly servant gave a sad smile. "Please... do not worry yourself over these... details... The other Lords will see to the fleet..."


    "Please tell me!" She turned her bright teary eyes at the old servant who could not bear to look at her sad eyes. "Please! Lord Vasuk was my teacher!"


    "Too... too many..." The old servant sighed sadly. "At least half the Lords and Lesser Dragons were... lost..."


    "And the Loose Confederation... they too suffered much... They lost several ships to the deadly magic attacks of those flying things!" The old servant said. "The Lords are looking for a ce for shelter and allow us to recover while they n what to do next."


    "I must see the Lords at once!" Saphia pushed her body up and turned towards the sliding doors leading out of her chamber. The servants around her quickly formed an elven wall to prevent her from leaving her chamber. "Get out of my way!"


    "Your highness, please stay!" The servants all kneed down and kowtowed. "We deserve a thousand deaths!"


    "Why are you all blocking me?" Saphia nearly roared out in frustration as she turned her long neck to the head servant. "Why? Everyone suffered such a unjustified death!"


    "My princess..." The old servant patted the side of Saphia''s great body. "Please calm your anger. The remaining Lords has decreed that you are to remain in your chambers for now..."


    "It is for your safety!" The old servant tried to cate the angry princess. "You nearly caused this old servant of yours a heart attack when you sneaked out with the others when the attackers came!"


    "Thankfully you suffered minor injuries!" The old servant let out a relieved sigh. "Or even a thousand deaths will not be enough for this old servant."


    Letting out a growl of frustration and helplessness, Saphia could only stamp her hind legs before she settle back down on all fours. She nced over the other side of the closed sliding doors and let out a mournful cry and closed her eyes in sadness, as the loss of her teacher and the pain of her wounds came crashing down on her.

 Chapter 504: Elf Machine

    Chapter 504: Elf Machine


    When conscious slowly returned to the mind, the man floating inside the tank of green fluids cracked his heavy eyelids open slowly. The sting of the fluid against his eyeballs jolted his mind further awake and panic rose in his heart as the man found himself submerged in a strange environment.


    Yet his body did not respond to hismands, his hands and legs felt like they were weighed down with lead. Even turning his head felt like he was trying to move a mountain, and he could only suck in air through a pipe that was stuck in his mouth.


    He stopped trying to thrash around as his mind processed the information around him. He realised that he was in some sort of giant ss container and could see vague blurry images of figures that were moving about in a room. A blurry figure stepped close and he could see the palm print of the person as he or she pressed against the ss and he tried to mimic the person''s actions but found his hand was not moving as he liked.


    The strain of trying to move his limbs tired him and slowly, his eyelids feeling heavy, closed again and his conscious returned to the darkness.


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Med Bay


    A whirl of motors whined as the robotic arm raised up and five stubby digits stretched out as if trying to grab hold of something. The grapple digits twitched and the hand turned into a w like gesture before the robotic arm swung down as if losing power.


    Dr. Sharon turned her attention back to the figure floating inside the regen tank and removed her hand from the ss. She felt a mixture of emotions at the broken figure that was slowly recovering inside. Anger at the people who could do something so cruel to their own kind, sadness for the victim and helplessness for the culture and situation they were in.


    "How is he?" Magister Thorn popped out from behind Dr. Sharon as he joined her at the regen tank, looking at the sleeping figure. "Will he recover?"


    Dr. Sharon shook her head sadly, "Even with our advanced medical facilities, it is impossible to bring someone back fully from the amount of damage he has suffered, especially his mental state."


    "His nerves had been damaged too severely and too much time has passed," Dr. Sharon added. "If we have a neurologist... he might be able to recover the full use of his body... but now, we could only repair the damage to his body and organs... and keeping him alive..."


    "Is that why you wanted these?" Magister Thorn gestured to a half body robotic skeletal frame on the other side of the med bay. The skeletal frame which resembled that of a Protectorate War Jack had cables growing out from the frame and several magic formations and runesid around it with glowing mana stones. "You want to... put him inside that?"


    "It is... probably the only way for him to survive now..." Dr. Sharon sighed. "The tank is the only thing keeping him alive now... And we can''t keep him inside forever!"


    "The fluid we gotten from the Protectorate War Jacks were able to keep a person alive inside for ages..." said Dr. Sharon as she picked up a small tube of the said fluid. "We have salvaged enough to immerse him inside a tank... and if we hook his body up to the controls of a War Jack... He could at least still move and... function..."


    Dr. Sharon gestured weakly at the framework of metal skeleton and exposed cables. The technology of the Protectorate''s War Jacks was barely even fully understood, but enough was learnt to allow cing a live subject inside the ''controller tank'' of a salvaged War Jack.


    "As an elf machine? A... A guinea pig?" Magister Thorn struggled with the English word before he shook his head sadly. "What kind of life is that for a person?"


    "Better than death or as a vegetable!" Dr. Sharon hissed angrily with tears forming on her eyes. "Did you think I want to do that to him? I am not the one who tortured him... who pried his nerves out and burn them one by one!"


    Magister Thorn reached out and pat her shoulder gently as Dr. Sharon removed her sses to wipe the forming tears away. "I am sorry... I was too harsh."


    "It''s not your fault!" Dr. Sharon sniffled. "Its... this world... Everyone thinks that killing and torture are normal and eptable! I... I am tired of all this shit!"


    "Hush... hush... cry it all out, my dear," Magister Thorn hugged Dr. Sharon as she started crying in his embrace. He patted her back gently like a grandfatherforting his granddaughter who cried out all the unhappiness and pent up stress in his arms.


    Dr. Sharon whispered softly as she rubbed her tears away. "I guess... this is why I am putting all my hopes on Captain ke... to turn this world into a better world..."


    -----


    United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    Captain ke looked through the reports on his desk while Intel Officer LT Tavor gave a run down of their situation. "The UNS Vengeance will be dyed for at least two weeks for repairs before running the sea trials again."


    "What happened?" ke asked as he signed some documents. "The UNS Vengeance is supposed to leave the docks by end of the week yes?"


    "That was supposed to be the schedule, Sir," LT Tavor replied. "But Chief Matt and the Dock Master deemed it unfit forunch till they reced the flight deck tings."


    "Why?" ke stacked the signed documents on his out tray and looked up. "Were there battle damage that severe?"


    "No sir," Lt Tavor said. "The recement is for all the deck tes that were locally produced... As they could not hold up to the firing of the main guns over the flight deck."


    "Didn''t we used the Singapore''s hull tes for the flight deck?" ke asked in surprise. "Should those be enough to withstand the shock wave?"


    "Yes and no, sir," Lt Tavor started exining. "The hull tes from the Singapore can easily withstand the guns'' shock waves, its those that were produced locally, that could not. They did not line the entire flight deck with tes from the Singapore, rather only certain areas were ted that way..."


    "So... this means that other areas were affected?" ke getting the picture cut in. "So now they want to rece the entire flight deck? Both flight decks?"


    "Yes Sir," Lt Tavor nodded. "Or risk losing flight operations or limiting broadsides to the starboard side only."


    "Can they finish in two weeks?" ke frowned. "Including other fixes and changes internally?"


    "That is what the goblins promised." Lt Tavor answered.


    "Oh, that is good enough, I guess..." ke gave a grudging nod, knowing the goblins would deliver what they promised before he turned to the quiet Kaga working in the corner. "Kaga, push the Vengeance''sunch schedule back."


    The beast girl gave a nod before she returned to her work, poking away at the keyboard of herputer to update the orders. Lt Tavor scrolled through his tablet before continuing on his report. "The new contacts South East of Fort Hensink were beaten back. Our surveince and reconnaissance aircraft are keeping an eye on their movements for now."


    ke nodded, as he looked at the war map mounted behind his desk. "One group up north... designated Alpha... Another group roughly same area as the Protectorate designated Bravo, and fielding the same type of dragons the Vengeance has encountered at Goblin Ind, Group Charlie... And the final group in contact with the Isles... Group Delta."


    "Sir, Intel''s understanding is that each Group is from a different nation, due to the differences in ship design and colours," Lt Tavor said. "We have visual on Group Bravo, Charlie and Group Delta from our recon nes."


    "Group Bravo which was beaten back consisted of two vastly different groups..." Lt Tavor exined as he pointed out on the disy which showed images taken from gun cameras and recon flights. "Our own sources have informed us that the colourful ships are from the Loose Confederation while the ck and white ships are most likely their ally, the Dragon Lords..."


    ke nodded as he took in the information. "And Group Charlie?"


    "Group Charlie should be from the Suugon Dynasty who fields dragons simr to the Dragon Lords," Lt Tavor said while switching the images, showing two top down images of airships, one looking jagged and segmented brown green hull while the other hull looked more organic with giant bat like wings as sails and in ck and white tones. He next switched the images to the dragons both sides used.


    "These dragons, are a lot smaller in both size and weightpared to our lightweight ss of dragons," He pointed out the differences on the disy. "Here you can see a saddle like mount which carries one rider, armed with those... steam powered pop guns of theirs."


    "They have longer wingspared to our lightweights but their estimated weight is half roughly of them," Lt Tavor said and yed a video showing a crosshair chasing a winged lizard. The crosshair overtook the frantically pping dragon before video shook wildly and white shes flicked out. "Their speed seemed to be faster as well from this video taken by one of the Viper''s gun camera."


    "Have you shown this to Blue Thunder? Rastraz?" ked asked as he hit the rey on the video.


    "Yes and to the other dragons in the Dragon Air Corps as well," answered Lt Tavor. "They have no knowledge of such species of dragons at all."


    "Interesting," ke rubbed his chin, feeling the day old hairs growing on his chin. "So maybe the dragons evolved differently on the Old World."


    Lt Tavor nodded and continued, "That might be the case here. As for the Group Deta, their airships appeared to have rams mounted on their forward prows. Our source identified them as ships of the Cartel, a race of short people which the elves called them as Dwarans or half people in theirnguage."


    "Dwarans?" ke shooked his head as a small smile appeared. "Let me guess, Dr. Sharon is calling them as Dwarves?"


    "Erm... Yes Sir," Lt Tavor said. "She insisted I changed the Intel report of their English naming to Dwarves..."


    "Let her be," ke''s smile widen. "Let her have her small pleasure."


    "Sir, I would like to rmend a new course of action for the UNS Vengeance." Lt Tavor suggested.


    "Speak," ke gestured Lt Tavor to continue, curious of what rmendation he has.


    "Sir, instead of sending the Vengeance to the Isles, why not instead move the Vengeance north instead towards Group Alpha?" Lt Tavor pulled the map onto the disy screen. "First, theyplete their sea trials along the way and if any repairs or fixes are needed, they can do that in Far Harbour."


    "But Far Harbour does not have a dockrge enough for the Vengeance''s size," ke pointed out.


    "It should be fine," Lt Tavor replied confidently. "By this time, the Vengeance would not need a dock to make any repairs or changes. They can also stock up on their supplies, pick up a few more squadrons of aircraft and hit Goblin Ind again, taking out thest airship there."


    "After that they can head up north, skipping over the Empire''s water ande in contact with Group Alpha," Lt Tavor''s finger traced the path the super carrier will be taking on the disy. "Group Alpha seemed to have settled down on the Northern Ind, and we will need the super carrier if we ever nned to... take care of them."


    "And the Isles?" ke frowned as he considered Tavor''s n. "The Vengeance is supposed to our show of force to them."


    "We ignore the Isles for now," Lt Tavor said. "News of the super carrier would have spread by now, now that we are no longer keeping it secret."


    "They would be panicking now," Lt Tavor had an evil smile on his face. "But if we move the super carrier up north..."


    "What do you think they would do?"

 Chapter 505: United Nationers

    Chapter 505: United Nationers


    Professor Hamlot was feeling mighty fine at the moment as he had a huge stack of books and materials involving all kinds of exciting topics from basic mathematics to sciences and even a couple of novels involving a strange genre called Sci Fic! Ever since that ill fated excursion with his ss of students to some old ruins at the edge of the world, he did not expect to have survived and evene to a strangend filled with a trove of strange knowledge and culture!


    He had originally taught History and Ruins Delving in the Arcanum of Steamworks and Magics, a prestigious university within the Royal Capital of the Iron Kingdom. Everywhere, thousands of applicants from all over the known world came to apply for a spot in the university as it had the best teachers and professors in both steamworks and magics.


    Hamlot was once an adventurer, achieving a mid rank with the guilds and in his interests in the ancient ruins, he managed to make a name in the Historical Society regarding ruins and their histories after spending over thirty years diving into dungeons and ancient ruins.


    After his bones got too old and tired to go exploring ruins, he retired from being an adventurer and instead, he started writing several theses on the history of the known world, which gained him some recognition from several universities and intellects. And it was his penned work that caught the attention of the Arcanum of Steamworks and Magics, which he epted to be a professor teaching history.


    Despite his interest in history, he was a person who has a high sense of curiosity which was why ruins interested him so much. Now, sitting in the library of the School of Magic and Science, in the strange New World of a highly interesting kingdom called the United Nations, he felt he has finally found his true ce in this world.


    He was shocked when he first woke up in the hands of these United Nationers, seeing the strange medical artefacts around him. Even the alien white environment of the healing ward he was in was so out of ce, it took him quite some time before he got used to his surroundings.


    What further surprised him more was the neat streets and uniformly simr looking squat architecture of the people who saved him. And thankfully he knew some of the archaguages spoke by the people, allowing easiermunication. His saviours, those in the strange coloured and patterned military styled uniform tended to asked questions mostly in regards to weapons and their airships.


    The worst questionings came from the strange short eared in a pitch ck uniform. He could not remember how many times he had answered the same questions over and over again and at different hours of the day and night. Thankfully, the scary emotionless looking short eared soldier seemed satisfied after questioning him after an unknown period of time which Hamlot was certain itsted weeks, before being allowed some small measure of freedom which reunited him with his scared students.


    What happened next was a mixture of culture shock and wonder as him and his students were exposed to the technology of the United Nations. At first, they felt their rescuers were backwards in steam power as it was barely seen. Only magic seemed to be a lot more prominent and advanced, judging from the magical iron carriages, lights that glowed brightly at night, and the amazing idea of having hot or cold water magically appear out of a pipe and cleantrines that could be magically flushed without having one to clear them regrly!


    And the smooth ride of the iron carriages was unlike the big, clunky looking and noisy carriages back home that required one to lit up the boilers and wait for the steam reached certain pressures before they could be driven. Here, one could just hop into an iron carriage and turn a key and it could start moving immediately!


    It was a process which he took many observations and notes whenever he could and he would have dismantled the entire contraption if given the chance, just to see how everything works. Even the smooth edges to the almost perfect flush of iron tes were mindblowing as it all looked like the iron carriage was forged by a master, yet he knew it was not true as there not one but many more other simr looking carriages just as identically made as one another!


    Compared to the ugly shapes and unaesthetic looking steam carriages back home, it was heaven and earth! But that was not all, Professor Hamlet only noticed there were a few irond ships in the harbour of the ce whichter he found out it was a naval base, that there were no airships of any kind. The only machines or ships that flew were strange looking sausage shaped objects with long t wings and tails.


    He recognized the propellers on the long wings as a kind of aerial screws, but not the contemporary designs of the known world. He and his students were ushered onboard the strange contraption, and his eyes wandered about, the girl, rie, had mumbled something about theck of space for steam boilers and aetherium tanks, making him feel nervous.


    Yet, the strange propellers spun up that could barely be heard within thefortable rows of forward facing seats. The few local people who joined in and took seats in front seemed uncaring of the fact that in Professor Hamlot and his students'' minds that a flying machine needs more than just two wings and a few propellers!


    He had to calm his panicking students down while keeping his fears down, and the next time he knew, he felt the machine moving and from the view out of the tiny viewport on the side, he could see thendscape flowing past rapidly. A momentter, he felt a slight feeling of weightless before his weight returned and was pressing against the seat and everything returned to normal.


    Joining in the surprised stares of his students at the viewport, he saw the ground falling away and the ocean with ships filling up the view. The fear inside disappeared as shock and amazed overwrote his fear, and his curious mind booted up. In the next few hours of flying in the air, he and his students barraged their guards with hundreds of questions about how could a heavy iron machine flying without aetherium.


    Despite the amazement and excitement of learning that flying was not limited to just requiring the need of heated aetherium, they fell asleep in the long journey and was only shaken awake by their amused guards. Excitedly, the children and even Professor Hamlot, crowded around the viewport and saw thend beneath them, arge city that sprawled out in a star shaped design built next to a ridge of cliffs. Many tall blockish towers covered the city, with a massive angr structure that appeared to grow out from the natural sea cliffs overlooking the city, its massive size almost half asrge as the entire city.


    The machine bearing themnded smoothly on a long ck strip and anotherrge magic wagon took them and their guards off. Professor Hamlet realised as he stared out of the crystal clear windows that therge blocks which he saw in the air were actually some kind of residence for people!


    He had assumed them to be some kind of fort walls or even decorative sculptures. Seeing them close up, he found that his sense of scale was wrong as the towering blocks were massive, rising up into the skies as tall as the walls of the Iron Kingdom''s Royal Capital and filled with people living inside! Even the hundreds of crystal windows on the surfaces of the housing blocks were stunning as they reflected the sun rays, making him wonder how rich these United Nationers were.


    The city was bustling with people dressed in all kinds of colours, and the streets filled with more magical carriages and wagons. The magic carriage they were in brought them to an estate like ce where they were informed that it was a school of sorts.


    Professor Hamlet met the Headmaster, a simrily aged magister who both of them hit off quickly. Picking up thenguages of the locals here was not a problem for Hamlet as he knew some of the archaic tongues they used here from his travels and study of ruins. He learnt from the Headmaster that he will be staying here in the dorms as a guest and still be watched by guards.


    And it became the greatest time in his life as the books in the library was things that no one has ever thought possible before! Professor Hamlet spent his time reading and was even invited to give several lectures on the history of the Old World as a guest lecturer. And when he had free time, he conversated with the Headmaster on all sorts of topics that kept both chattingte into the night.


    But that all changed today when the dreaded ck uniformed short eared officer appeared again. He beared a cold smile as he greeted the Headmaster before gesturing Professor Hamlet onboard the ck coloured magical carriage, called a car in their ownnguage.


    The ck coated officer made some light conversation during the trip, asking about how was he adjusting to life here and other minor topics. Finally, the vehicle came before the massive structure that overlooked the city, which Professor Hamlet had learned that it was a fortress of some kind of the short ears.


    His curiosity grew as the vehicle they were in drove up the sloping entrance and into a massive opening at the side of the fortress. He wondered what kind of monsters was this massive fortress supposed to defend against as the vehicle entered a huge cavernous area.


    Several simr vehicles sat in a row on one side with more evenrger vehicles and machines were parked here and there. The ck coated officer called Tavor gestured Professor Hamlet to follow him and they entered a tiny room which hummed slightly and on one side of the wall was red runes that he recognized as numbers used by the locals here, changing rapidly.


    Looking at the strange glowing numbers, he realised that he must be inside the very depths of the fortress and as the doors of the tiny room opened, he found himself in another ce. Here, dozens of soldiers in their strange coloured dots uniform stood guard behind clear crystal screens which made him wondered what were they guarding behind the windows.


    The ck coated officer gestured again without a word, and they walked down the brightly lit featureless corridor. The walls and floors were panelled with some kind of grey and white material that did not look nor feel like wood, metal. nor carpeted as their footsteps echoed loudly down the corridor.


    Passing another pair of guards seated behind a crystal window, the ck coated officer paused before some unknown wall markings and touched the side of the wall which lit up, showing several runes which Professor Hamlot looked on curiously. He was startled when a hole opened up in the wall before them with a soft hiss and revealed a room.


    He followed the officer in cautiously as he nced around the doorway which appeared to be integrated seamlessly into the walls. He followed the officer deeper into the room and to pause before a dark crystal window that covered the entire side of the room.


    "What is this ce?" He asked the ck coated officer curiously as he tried to peer through the dark window.


    Suddenly, the window cleared and Professor Hamlot could see through the window where another room was. Another brightly lit crystal like room sat in the middle room in the other side and looked suspiciously like a prison cell from the sparse furniture and the only upant was curled up in a feral position on the bed dressed in an orange suit.


    "That... is our real interrogation room," The ck coated officer gave a wink to Professor Hamlet who turned pale at the coldughter that followed after. He shivered and saw the conditions of the brightly lit cell and realised how lucky he and his students were when they were held by these... United Nationers.

 Chapter 506: Unfolding Events

    Chapter 506: Unfolding Events


    Rism crack an eye open when a disembodied voice came from the ceiling. He felt his throbbing headache growing worse as he squirmed his eyes against the searing brightness that seemed never ending. He pushed himself up to a sitting position on the bed covered in an unknown leathery material that served as the only piece of furniture in the mirrored prison he was in.


    When he first woke up in this ce, his faith was nearly shattered as he thought he has died but the Judgement did not judge him worthy, cing him in this ever bright hell. Yet, he could feel pain and even now, his tongue probed the empty spots in his teeth where those teeth were knocked out by that heretical demi person.


    He looked up and the hollowed face with hundreds of scars covering his face stared back at him, stretching out to infinity, making him feel giddy each time he looked at the reflection on the walls.


    "What is your name?"


    Again that disembodied voice asked, again and again, day after day, the exact same questions at the exact same time, as suspected by Rism. He ignored the voice as he covered his ears, "The Judgement shall judge me, for He shall guide me to salvation!"


    "Who are you?"


    "He is the One God above all Gods!" Rism mumbled underneath his breath.


    "Where did youe from?"


    "I am his Sword! He is my Shield!"


    "Your God has abandoned you!"


    "The judgement sees me! I FOLLOW HIS WORD!"


    "YOU ARE EVIL! KILLERS OF INNOCENT AND A PLAGUE TO THIS WORLD!"


    "I AM THE LAW!" Rism screamed towards the ceiling as he jerked up to his bare feet, both his fists and even his teeth clenched tightly. "Do not seek to sway my thoughts! The Judgement wille and all who are unworthy shall be judged by Him!"


    -----


    Professor Hamlot stared dumbfound at the multiple small windows that each showed a different angle of the ongoing in the other room behind the clear crystal walls with stunning rity. Even every word uttered by the scarred person inside could be heard clearly.


    He sucked in a deep breath of air when he saw the ck uniformed soldier ced a white mask that was wrapped inside some kind of transparent bag. "An... an Inquisitor?"


    The officer called Tavor gave a nod, "Yes, an Inquisitor of the Protectorate."


    Professor Hamlot turned his eyes towards the tiny windows, where the Inquisitor was now holding his head with both hands and mumbling prayers. "What... Why am I here for?"


    "Well, as you know, we do not have much... knowledge of the Old World," Tavor exined with a cold smile. "And you are our... next best thing we have as a friend..."


    "I would like your help in interrogating our guest there," Tavor waved to the person inside the white cell. "Of course, you can reject this, and we can all forget that you have ever came here."


    Professor Hamlot felt a chill down his spine as he looked at the ck coated officer''s smile when he finished his sentence that came out more like a threat. He swallowed nervously as he carefully picked his next words, "I... shall be happy... to help in any way..."


    "Hahaha," Tavor''s smile widened as heughed. "Good, good! I knew you will be cooperative!"


    -----


    The New World, Empire of Bluewood, Exile''s Passage


    The fat merchant ship wallowed slowly behind its smaller yet sleek looking escort. The merchant ship''s sails were all puffed out, as the ship''s mage under the urging of its captain, had filled the sails with wind. The Captain worriedly nced behind him again into the skies at the ominous flying shapes that were asrge or evenrger than his merchant ship.


    Their only escort, an Imperial war sloop had turned tail and ran with all its sails ran out at the first sight of the strange flying ships that appeared out of the clouds. The unexpected appearance of three flying ships on the uneventful route to the Exile''s Ind, caught the cking crew of both ships off guard.


    The merchant ship carried dozens of exiles bound in chains beneath its holds, and supplies for the ind''s garrison. The trip rated an escort as its returning cargo would consist of tribute from the ind and maybe valuable dragons'' eggs.


    Now both ships were fleeing, seeking to turn back towards the maind but to their dismay, the grey silver flying ships moved faster than they could sail, even with the ships'' mages casting wind spells constantly.


    The escort war sloop, Sea sher, tilted its ballistas up and flung two meter long bolts out in an attempt to frighten or damaged the fast approaching flying ships. But their efforts were in vain when none of their four top decks mounted ballistas could even hit the flying ships. In return, the forward ''nose'' of the leading grey silver flying ship erupted into a cloud of white smoke that was rapidly carried away by the wind, exposing four ck muzzles.


    Tall plumes of water sshed around the Sea sher, and its captain yelled frantic orders, and the ship swerved around in the ocean waves. Before the crew could reload the ballistas, another burst of white smoke shrouded the nose of the grey silver flying ship and this time, sharp splintering cracks came from the hull of the Sea sher, followed by cries of pain and death as the projectiles hammered into the Sea sher.


    The leading grey silver flying ship drifted away to the right, and the nosed of the second flying ship behind erupted into smoke, sending more heavy projectiles flying towards the stricken sailing ship. The second flying ship split off to the left, and thest flying ship in the line opened fire, and water plumes and shattered wood flew.


    Now all three ships formed ranks side by side, their forward guns mounted in the prow cracked sharply, and before long, what remained of the Sea sher was a trail of floating crates, barrels and shattered wood.


    Seeing the fate of their escort, the merchant ship raised its sails in a gesture to surrender, the crew staring fearfully at the unknown enemy that could easily sink one of their own without effort. One of the flying ships hovered over the merchant ship and dozens of ropes dropped on to the deck. Soldiers in grey armour rappelled down the ropes and the surrendered crew was forced to sail towards the ind under the watchful eyes of their captives.


    -----


    Eastern Border of the Isles, No One''s Ind, Cartel Expeditionary Force


    Majority of the Cartel''s airships were beached and tied down across the vast stretch of white sandy beach. The remainder, remained hovering in a protective cordon around therge ''L'' shaped ind, serving as sentries. Already tents and other makeshift facilities were set up on the ind. Large copper tanks with aplicated array of pipes were built along the beaches, with some pipes sticking into the sea.


    A simple dock had been constructed on one end of the ind and there, docked several sailing ships bearing the g of the Isles. Goods were being transferred out one by one by gangs of tall and short workers, making the scene lookical.


    "Here is the promised supplies you have requested for, Great Lord Hammerfall!" Fleet Master Akron gestured to the offloading work in progress with a flourish. He had to look down at the short hairy person who had his thick arms folded as he too was observing the ongoing work. "I have delivered the end of my bargain..."


    "And as a sign of goodwill..." Akron tilted his head to the side where one of his aides opened up a crate and under the wood shavings, were dark green bottles of aged cococane liquor. "A small courtesy from Fleet Master Megan who regrets unable to meet you here in person."


    The short outsider lord picked up a dark green bottle and a smile was hidden under his thick beard broke in his stern face. "Good! Good!"


    "I like very much!" The outsider lord eximed, the trantion jewel glowing around his neck. "Come! Come! We feast tonight!"


    "My Lord!" Akron gave a weak protest as he was dragged off towards thetest tent in the distance. "How about our deal?"


    "Hahaha!" The outsider lordughed as he popped a bottle of liquor. "We talk businesster! Now we enjoy first! Drink and be happy! Come!"


    Unable to convince the outsiders, Akron could only smile as he took a mug filled with potent cococane liquor and he made a silent prayer to the Gods of the Sea before drinking it all up.


    -----


    The New World, Loose Confederation and Dragon Lords Fleet


    A meeting between the Loose Confederation and the Dragon Lords was underway when Princess Saphia sneaked out of her chamber. Despite her size, she can be very sneaky and quiet when needed, especially if supplemented by her innate magic and honed by the days when she wanted to sneak out to y without the servants finding out.


    The meeting was taking ce onboard the inner grand chambers of the Great Dragon Ship, Eternal Song, which Saphia was onboard. A dark cluster of misty shadow slowly crept over the dragon guards on the ceiling as Saphia, cloaked in her shadow magic, climbed on the walls and sneaked into the chamber.


    The chamber was in a square, with seating spaced evenly in three sides of the chamber, all which were filled by people in colourful clothing. The side without seating was instead covered in three humongous cushions sewn in gold thread to which two were upied by dragons.


    One dragon wasrger in sizepared to the other and both had ck glossy scales and a jagged ridge running down the back of their heads and spine to the tail. Their wings were both swept back, as theyid down with their arms and feet tucked underneath their bellies and their tails curled up. Their heads were raised up in a dignified manner befitting a Dragon Lord as they listened to the meeting.


    And in the middle of both dragons,id an empty spot which used to be upied by thete Dragon Lord Vasuk, the mentor to Saphia. She pushed away her unhappy thoughts and crept close, mentally forcing herself to remember not to gouge the pirs and walls with her talons.


    "- an unprovoked attack! We must retaliate to these... barbarians!" A brightly clothed official from the Loose Confederation was saying. "If not how can we answer to the families of those who has died without just?"


    The representations from the Loose Confederation and even some officials from the Dragon Lords mumbled their support. The official continued on, "Even the Great Lord Vasuk, whose passing sorrows us all has fallen prey to the barbarians... How can we all not be angered? How can we not seek payment in blood?"


    "Blood for blood!" The Loose Confederation representatives yelled. "They must pay the blood price!"


    "Lord Yates," A fully armoured Dragon Lord soldier stood up from his seating and bowed with both fists together. "Lord Jesper speaks the truth. This is a blood debt! Our Great Lord has fallen, and many others along side him! I beseech the Lords to allow us to revenge the Great Lord!"


    "Allow us to revenge the Great Lord!" The rest of the Dragon Lordmanders and generals stood up from their seats and hurried forward before the dragons and kowtowed, chorusing the same statement to the two Dragons.


    "Raise!" Therger dragon let out a deep sigh as he ordered his people up. "This is a blood debt... But, can we win? How many did we lose to just a handful of fliers?"


    The dragon''s words seemed to cause a rippled in the grand chambers as the people hesitated. They nced at each other as their confidence waned after being reminded of their defeat by a handful of flying machines.


    Lord Jesper stepped forward and said in a sneering voice. "They strike us with underhanded methods!"


    "Thus we shall do the same!"

 Chapter 507: Ploy

    Chapter 507: Ploy


    The Empire of Bluewood, Royal Capital, Imperial Pce


    The frown on the young man''s face mirrored the expressions of the others seated around the long table. The young man finally gestured for the kneeling messenger to take his leave and leaned forward, addressing the rest. "These... attacks... all along the northern coast, we can be certain it is not the work of the United Nations?"


    "Who else can it be besides the United Nations?" A noble cried out. "We all know they are the only ones to have flying machines!"


    A mumble of assent rosed around the long table as the others agreed. The noble fueled by the agreements of the others continued on, "We all know that the Emperor was saved by the United Nations, but they have been aggressively expanding theirnd! Look what happened to the Mans!"


    "And the reports of them intervening to help destroy an enemy from beyond the ring of clouds?" The noble shook his head in mock disappointment. "How do we even know if it is true?"


    "That report has been verified by not one but all our spies and even the Kingdom of Foral and the Isles!" A young noble wearing te mail raised his voice out. "If their testimonies can are faked..."


    "Why not?" The noble challenged the knight''s words. "We were after all at war with them all previously!"


    "If the United Nations has coborated with the rest of the world to pull such an borate scheme..." The youngster on the throne finally spoke and directed his question to the smirking noble. "Why do you think they would do such a thing, Lord Dietrich?"


    "Isn''t it obvious?" The noble called Dietrich swept his hand around the table. "Look at the Mans! Now they have be theckeys of the so called honourable United Nations!"


    "I say this is a plot!" Another noble yelled out his thoughts. "The United Nations wants to scare us! They know our military strength is uparable to their thunder sticks and strange machines!"


    "If we cave in like the Mans..." Another noble on the table said. "Would we all be like the Mans'' nobility that disappeared overnight?"


    "So you all agree the attacks all along the northern coast are raiders from the United Nations?" The young Emperor asked which most of the nobles seated along the long table nodded in agreement "Alright, dismiss. I need to think about this."


    The nobles all stood up and bowed deeply to the young Emperor who remained seated at the head of the table. "Attend to me. Chancellor!"


    The Chancellor, a tall thin middle aged elf wearing a pair of crystal sses paused in his exit and remained behind, while the rest of the nobles cast looks at the Chancellor who ignored them as they left the room.


    "Lord Quaren..." The young Emperor let out a soft sigh and gestured to the rolled parchment which was brought in earlier by the messenger. "What do think of all this? Do you think these raids are done by the United Nations too?"


    "It is hard to refute the evidence, my Emperor," The soft spoken Chancellor replied as he stood before the Emperor. "There are many eyewitnesses of flying... ships and machines and also spells that make the sounds of thunder, which are all the trademarks of the magic of the United Nations..."


    "But I do not believe the United Nations will attack us!" The young Emperor insisted as he looked away towards the tall windows as if searching for some signs of the infamous flying machines. "They saved me... and I have seen their ways! There is no way they would do something this... dishonourable!"


    "People change, my Emperor..." The Chancellor said. "One must change ording to the situation, like you, my Emperor, you too have changed."


    "I..." The young Emperor who was once exiled and sold off to be a ve before being taken captive by a team of United Nations adventurers. The leader of the United Nationster released him and the ve girl who now became his queen, back to the Empire and he regained his rightful ce after several battles with loyalists.


    Trying to prove his identity and bloodline was surprisingly easy, as all it took was for him to drip his blood onto the magical stone set on the royal sceptre that was kept in the throne room. But getting into the Imperial Pce was the hard part, having to fight and convince his way in. Thankfully, he managed to recruit several disgruntled nobles and knights who were unhappy with the way the Empire was ruled.


    The Chancellor was one of the earliest to bend his knee before him, and for his loyalty and nimble mind, An granted him one of the highest position of the Empire after the Emperor. Of course, without the rest of the nobles knowing, other than the Chancellor, the United Nations had secretly helped the young Emperor behind the scenes during his rise to the throne, providing funds if somewhat limited and even intelligence reports that were almost always urate that at the time made the young Emperor and the Chancellor suspicious of their source.


    "What do we do?" The bearing of the young Emperor changed, turning back to the young boy he was. "Another war will have the entire Empire copsing! We have not enough people for the fields, let alone another war! The people are hungry and restless and the treasury isn''t what it used to be..."


    "Send a petition to the United Nations," The Chancellor advised. "Find out their motives and at the same time, start pulling some of our forces away from the Man borders and reinforce the towns and cities of the northern coast."


    "Our new thunder weapons might not be as powerful as the United Nations, but we do have a lot..." The Chancellor said. "It should give them some pause and enough time for us to get a reply from the United Nations."


    "Yes! That''s it!" The Emperor suddenly yelled. "The Sage! We can ask the Sage for his help!"


    -----


    52 km Off the Coastal Waters of Fortress Hensink, UN CorRon Two, UNS Rambo


    "Sir!" The radar tech yelled out excitedly as blips started appearing on his screen. "Multiple new contacts! Bearing zero eight zero!"


    "What''s their heading?" The XO jolt out of themand chair and hurried over to the radar station in the bridge. "And someone go wake the Captain up!"


    "They are heading in a west direction! Distance one four and closing!" The radar tech replied excitedly. "They areing straight for us!"


    "Bring the squadron up to condition red!" The XO ordered quickly and a piercing siren red out. "Why didn''t we see them earlier!"


    "They must have kept low to the waves!" The radar tech said. "And maybe used some magic to mask their presence too!"


    "Whatever!" The XO snapped. "Weapons! What''s your status?"


    "Gun crews still reporting for Number Two, Three and Four guns!" The Weapons Officer reported back. "Secondaries too! Only Number One is ready to fire on your mark!"


    "What''s going on?" The Captain of UNS Rambo appeared on the bridge. "Report!"


    "We got iing contacts!" The XO quickly gave a summarized report of their situation. "UNS Giant and UNS Danger have reported the same and is going to battle stations!"


    The Captain gave a nod and sat down on themand seat, "I have the conn."


    "Aye, Captain has the conn!" The XO replied as he took up position beside the captain''s chair.


    "Order the squadron to go line!" The Captain said. "Switch heading to three five zero!"


    As the orders were transmitted to the other two ships of CorRon Two, the squadrons quickly shook themselves out into a battle line, their starboard side facing the iing unknowns that were skimming the waves.


    "Captain! All guns green!" The XO reported as each station readiness report came in. "All stations manned and ready for battle, sir!"


    "Sir! Contactsing into main gun range... now!" The radar tech reported excitedly. "We got two two bogies!"


    "Give me one starburst directly over the iing contacts!" The Captain ordered. "See if we can have some visual over them!"


    "Aye! Fire one round of starburst!" The XO repeated themand to the weapons officer who ryed the order down to the gun crews. Secondster, the four 3" guns of UNS Rambo positioned in the middle of the formation roared, the muzzle shes left a searing blob of white in anyone''s vision who was looking at that direction.


    The Captain peered out from the armoured window shutters of the bridge, following the thin streaks of light that was arcing across the night skies and suddenly they burst into a tiny artificial sun, illuminating the night and exposing the dozens of winged shapes and t pancake like objects skimming the waves.


    "There!" The Captain yelled. "Can we ID them?"


    "Its... too dark still!" The XO next to him with a pair of binocrs replied. "Do we engage?"


    "They can onlye from the force we are tailing..." The Captain said before he turned to the Weapons Officer. "Pass the order down to the squadron... All guns... fire!"


    -----


    Lord Jester of the Loose Confederation was onboard one of the many skimmer craft that looked like a round tbread. A bulwark ringed the skimmer while at the centre sat a Confed boiler with aetherium filled pipes extending out like a spider web underneath the wooden deck of the round skimmer.


    Two airscrews at the rear propelled the round skimmer which typical roles were for the transporting of goods and people between floating cities or airships. Each of the open topped round skimmer wasrge enough to hold a hundred people with all their gear and were coloured in bands of yellow, white, red, and other colours.


    Escorted by dozens of drakes of the Dragon Lords, the small raiding party made off under the cover of darkness towards the trio of grey ships that they had spotted tailing them for the past few days. He had managed to convince the Council to attack the grey ships with a small party, in part for their blood debt and also to gather intelligence. The small raiding party kept to the waves and guided by the drakes'' superior night vision, they set off towards the direction of barbarians who had hurt them.


    Lord Jesper wore a suit of high cored leather armour studded with steel stripes over his set of colourful robes. A sword hung on his side while a square tank was slung behind his back with a hose connected to a pistol like weapon holster. Leather greaves and gloves covered both arms and he kept a firm grip on the railings set on the side of the round skimmer.


    Like the rest of the passengers, he stood with his feet apart as they braved the wind as the open topped round skimmer was unprotected from the weather. He yelled over the wind at the pilot controlling the skimmer. "How far?"


    "Not much further!" The pilot yelled back. "The dragon riders have just informed us that they are just ahead!"


    Lord Jesper squirmed his eyes in the darkness, trying to spot the barbarian ships that were following them when suddenly there was tiny sh in the far distance, and four very tiny pinpricks of light seemed to float into air towards him.


    Surprised and curious by the floating tiny dots of light, Lord Jesper leaned forward and craned his head up, following the trail when suddenly they burst into tiny suns that seared his eyes and blinded him like so many others.


    Screams of pain and panic rose from hundreds of throats both elven and beast as they were blinded. The formation of drakes and skimmers shattered as pilots blinded by the sudden illumination turned their wheels in reflex and others soughed to dodge crashing into the sudden out of control skimmers and drakes.


    Lord Jesper wiped tears of pain away from his blinking eyes and he quickly yelled to the pilot, "Shatter the party! Shatter now!"


    Just as he finished hismand, red fiery streaks shed through the raiding party and the dying began.

 Chapter 508: Toxic Culture

    Chapter 508: Toxic Culture


    The New Kingdom of Ma, Frontier City


    Sergeant Cork, once a General of the Empire of Bluewood, stood on the parapets of the sandbag reinforced city walls of Frontier, watching the fluttering blue gs in the distance. Memories of a past life shed across his eyes, as he recalled that once, he was standing on the other side watching the city walls which he now stood on.


    He shook his head to clear his thoughts and let out a snort ofughter and mumbled, "How ironic life is..."


    "Hmm?" A dulcet voice answered him from his side and he turned to see a female knight armoured full in te mail standing next to him and grazing out to the Imperial camp in the distance. "What did you say?"


    Cork shook his head again, thinking that this prettyss was not suited to be in armour despite her fighting powers. No, her close quarter fighting powers, he mused as an afterthought. "Nothing... Just admiring the view here..."


    "Well... I am d actually for... you and your men''s presence here," Jeanne said in a soft voice as she leaned on the sandbags. "If not, the Empire would have invaded us again... and this time around, there might be nothing left to rebuild..."


    Jeanne had followed the UN Army''s march west and using her influence and charisma to pacify the locals, allowing the UN to establish their influence over the people. Now, both of them had arrived at the border between Ma and the Empire, which helped settle the locals'' fear of another war.


    Cork remained tactfully silent as he continued to stare at the fluttering gs in the distance, recalling that he did cause the fall of the Man Kingdom in the first ce, and now indirectly he was also involved in the bringing the Kingdom down again after it rebuilt.


    "I am sure we will be alright," Cork finally gave a simple reply. "Supplies has beening in from the air and the people around here are getting some food at least."


    "Yes, that is why I am thankful," Jeanne said in a grateful tone. "Honestly, I do not know what will happen to Ma now..."


    Cork shrugged as he too has no idea what the higher ups were nning. Both of them enjoyed a moment of peace when suddenly there was a movement in the Imperial camp. Cork dug out his field sses and scanned the camp and said in surprise, "They are leaving!"


    "Leaving?" Jeanne took the offered binocrs and observed the Imperials. "You are right... But... Where are they going? Have they given up?"


    "I am not sure," Cork frown''s deepened as he stared at the gs and wagons rolling out of the camp with blocks of infantry following. "They must have really given up or something big has happened back home..."


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Conference Room


    ke looked around the room, seeing both virtual and physical bodies around him, recognizing most of the attendees and seeing some new faces. Most of the senior staff were humans like him, while others like Joseph and Magister Thorn hase a long way. His expression darkened slightly as he nced to the usual spot where Sherene used to sit, except now, it was reced by another elf who used to serve under Sherene.


    He took a deep breath and push away his unhappy thoughts and gestured for the room to settle down. Once he has the room''s attention, ke addressed everyone, "I am sure many of you have questions in regards to our next steps."


    "As you all know, we have taken the New Kingdom of Ma under our wing, due to the total decapitation of their leadership," ke stated in a cold tone. "The NKM will be granted some autonomy but under the direction of our leadership."


    "I am sure there will be some dissatisfied nobles trying something funny," ke said. "Internal Affairs and Intel will deal with them as they see fit."


    Tavor gave a slight nod of his head in acknowledgement while otherwise remaining silent as the rest of the room. ke continued on, "Aid will continue to pour in, and I want to pull as many people into a central area as possible."


    "Viges and settlements less than two hundred people are to be moved to the nearest town or city," ke said. "Or merged with nearby viges."


    "A full census of the poption must be done," added ke. "And proper mapping and standardisation of names and roads are to be implemented."


    "Once we have the Mans concentrated in towns and cities, we will establish public works like schools, health care and so on," ke said. "It will be a massive project, to reform and rebuilt the NKM but it must be done."


    "Captain," Commander Ford raised a question. "You do know how much money is needed for rebuilding an entire country?"


    "Our funds are not unlimited!" Commander Ford''s image rubbed his face. "And we have our own projects costs here to settle too!"


    "No matter what," ke waved away Ford''s protests. "It is something that must be done."


    "But Sir," The female elf who took over Sherene''s position spoke up. "The Commander is right... We simply do not have that much money to rebuild a country that has at least twenty times our number or more!"


    "I am not asking you all to rebuild the country in a day or two..." ke raised his palm up to forestall any more objections. "We n now andid down the foundations!"


    "But, Sir," The new head of the civil affairs administration objected again. "We do not even have a direct route into the Man kingdom! All supplies now either go by air or water!"


    "And transporting supplies or anything will cost more this way!" The elf exined. "And not to mention the time needed to move those goods!"


    ke nodded in agreement at the valid points given. "Yes, I know. That is why we have to teach and train up the locals there! We have to make them self sustainable!"


    "Food, production, education, health care," ke listed out some major points. "These will ensure that Ma will have a future!"


    "I know many of you all have your own views in this matter," ke spoke over the mumbles of conversation that erupted. "Two years. In two years time, Ma must be self sufficient!"


    "But... but..." The civil affairs head stammered. "Its... impossible! The costs,bour, materials..."


    "Than you better start nning or I find someone else who can," ke said sharply, making the female elf shut her mouth in fright. "You have a whole department of people to call upon toe out with a solid n! Do it!"


    "Y- yes, sir!" The female elf could only dejectedly agree as she shrunk down in her seat.


    "Now, with that out of the way," ke looked around the table, especially towards the military side. "We all know that the Old World is throwing troops through the clouds and trying to get a beachhead here."


    "What their objectives or motives for each nation are unknown," ke said. "And frankly, I don''t really give a damn."


    "But when a nation like the Protectorate are willing to do things... that no intelligent life should do to another..." ke''s eyes glinted as he recalled the reports on the audacities done by the Protectorate. "They have crossed a line that must not be crossed."


    He sucked in a deep breath, trying not to think of Sherene. "I can be pretty sure that if the other nations in the other continent can bear with such neighbours than they too have questionable morals."


    "I n to destroy all forces trying tond and take advantage of thisnd," ke dered over the noise of the surprised officers and staff. "If they surrender, fine, we take prisoners. If not, then tough luck."


    "The UNS Vengenace will continue with the new n of attack up north and also allow the crew familiar themselves more with the ship and also to kink out any other issues onboard," ke looked pointedly at Ford who nodded. "Clear the north, by force if require."


    "Following that the Vengeance will proceed along the northern coast and link up with the rest of the corvette flotis based at Fort Hensink," said ke. "The Vengeance will resupply before turning south and head towards the Isles to see what the fuck are they ying at."


    "Captain," Ford frowned as looked at the map. "Such a round trip would take two months or even more, depending on the situation up north..."


    "Yes," ke nodded. "It will be good training and live exercise for the crew."


    "In the meantime," ke turned to Magistar Thorn and Dr. Sharon. "I want those magic shields that allow these... invaders to be deciphered and usable by the time the UNS Vengenace returns. Is it possible?"


    "Two months?" Magistar Thorn frowned as he stroked his long greying beard. "It should be possible."


    "Good," ke nodded, his stern expression softening slightly. "Now, while that is ongoing, are the stuff we salvaged from the enemy of any use to us?"


    Chief Matt''s virtual image stood up as clearly the question was directed to him. "We are still experimenting with the stuff we have gotten."


    "I can only say this is that if the testing goes well," Chief Matt grinned. "We might have a cheaper alternative in air travel!"


    "Good, keep up with the work," ke said before he stood up. "Alright, that''s all for today. Return to your work. Tavor, on me!"


    "Yes, Sir!" The attendees stood up and saluted while ke made his way out followed closely by Tavor as they headed towards ke''s office.


    "Did the prisoner say anything?" ke asked as he walked briskly along the empty hallway with Tavor in tow.


    "No, Sir," Tavor replied. "We are still... trying to break his faith to his God..."


    "Hurry it up," ke hissed in anger. "And... what of Dijon?"


    "He is still under treatment in Dr. Sharon''s hands," Unaffected by the angry outburst of the Captain, Tavor replied smoothly. "Dr. Sharon says he will not have at least 80% body function."


    "Even with the regen tank?" ke frowned.


    "Yes, the regen tank can regrow lost limbs and organs, but not enough to heal back nerves that had been damaged severely and scarred over," Tavor exined. "She says that we will require a lot more of the regen chems and also a neurologist. The ship''s medical facilities arecking in this field."


    "But can he talk still?" ke asked. "Can he speak?"


    "Dr. Sharon says, it shouldn''t be a problem, with therapy..." Tavor had disgusted expression on his face as he said. "They purposely did not destroy his vocals, as... I guess they wanted to hear him scream... Fuckers..."


    ke shook his head, as he ignored the vulgarity which Tavor rarely used. "This world... and its toxic culture must be erased..."


    "I agree, Sir," Tavor replied in a determined voice. "I may have done some things that no one can be proud of, but these... savages goes beyond the line. Even beasts are way better than them!"


    "I know," ke nodded as he patted Tavor''s shoulder. "Now go break that bastard''s faith and dig out every bit of information you can!"


    "Yes, Sir!" Tavor snapped to attention, saluted and left, leaving ke alone in the hallway.


    ke rubbed the side of his head as a migraine threatened to crack his skull. He made his way into his office, waving the salutes of the guards away and stumbled into his chair. He reached into his drawer and took out a small leathery pouch and hesitated for a moment before he pulled the drawstrings and took a pinch of the greyish white powder with a hint of greenish glitter.


    His hand trembled slightly before snorted the powder through his nose and the sudden kick of the drug instantly dispel his headache and unhappy thoughts away. ke leaned back on his chair with a satisfied smile as the pain and sadness ebbed away and before he fell asleep, he dreamt of a smiling Sherene.

 Chapter 509: Prep Work

    Chapter 509: Prep Work


    United Nations, Hope Naval Station, Super Dock One, UNS Vengeance


    "Damn...I like the smell of the sea!" said a grinning Mills as he stepped up on to the gangnk. "How does it feel to be back in uniform?"


    "Itches," Bartley growled as he scratched himself as he wore a neatly pressed Marine uniform. "And the sea smells like dead fish and rot..."


    "Nice to know that you are still the same kill joy self," Mills chuckled. "Still this ce smells better than hay and giant dog poo!"


    Bartley gave a curt nod at that as he boarded the super carrier and saluted the officer at the end of the boarding ramp. "Sir!"


    James Bone, once their section 2nd IC had a big grin on his face as he returned the salutes of the two human Marines before he scribbled something down on his notepad before he. He now had the rank tabs of a Major on his shoulders,


    "Wow," Mills wiggled his eyebrows at James''s rank as he shook hands with him. "Someone has a crab on his shoulders!"


    He referred to the Major rank as the rank insignia was simr to the United Nations of Man''s emblem with the only difference was thendmass depicted on the emblem was not of Earth but of the New World. From far, the roundish shape of the rank tabs looked like the body of a crab while the wreath of crossed olive leaves were the ws.


    James took a nce on his shoulder and puffed up his chest dramatically before he dusted some imaginary dust off his shoulders. "Oh well, they can resist my manliness, so much so that they had to make me a Major."


    "Yea right!" Mills rolled his eyes in reply. "Well, don''t worry, I reach your level soon."


    "Sureee... First Lieutenant Mills," James winked as he eyed the two gold bars on Mills''s shoulder. "Maybe in ten years?"


    Mills snorted as he did another eye roll while Jamesughed. He turned to Bartley who remained silent at the side and shook his hand. "Nice to see you too, Bartley."


    "Yes, Sir," Bartley replied. "It is nice to be back, Sir."


    "Yes," James nodded. "You are pretty lucky they took back the dishonourable discharge charges off your file."


    "You better keep your head clean, Private!" James reminded Bartley. "High Command only give you one chance, and don''t screw it up!"


    "Yes, Sir, I won''t," Bartley promised.


    "Right," James nodded and his serious expression faded into a smile. "Get to the Marine decks and settle down, I find you guys after I checked everyone in."


    Mills and Bartley grabbed their duffle bags and headed off, following the instructions of a navy ensign and after some wandering, they found the Marine decks. Mills separated from Bartley as he headed towards officer country while Bartley settled down with the men.


    "Well, well, look who has just wandered in," A cocky voice said as Mills entered the officer bunks. He turned around with a look of annoyance which quickly faded into a grin when he saw who it was. "Collins! You son of a bitch!"


    "Hahaha!" Collins, one of the remaining human Marine, stepped forward and gave Mills a brotherly hug. "Good to see you are still alive!"


    "Haha you too man, I thought you were dead! Haha!" Millsughed happily at seeing another old face. "So you made Captain huh?"


    "Yup," Collins grinned back. "The rest of the old gang is all here too!"


    "Holy shit! Really?" Mills raised a questioning eyebrow. "And High Command approved all this?"


    "Shit must be really going down!" Mills shook his head. "If they need us... the REAL Marines here!"


    "Hey, that is offending!" Silverstar, Mills''s previousmandeering officer in the 1st Marines, now a Captain too, stuck his head out of his bunk and yelled. "And I still outrank your ass!"


    "Damn," Mills covered his mouth in mock panic andughed. "Just joking, Sir! Nice to see you are still alive too!"


    "Still the same asshole!" Silverstar threw out a retort. "So how''s are things between you and the Rothschild''s Princess?"


    "Ah..." Mills mmed down. "Eh... okay? I guess?"


    "Hahaha," Collinsughed while shaking his head. "I think this little fucker just ran away from her!"


    "Noo... I did no such thing! That would be such a bastard thing to do!" Mills hurriedly said. "I... just said I got recalled back... you know, duty calls and all that..."


    "Did you get her pregnant and then you ran?" Silverstar shook his head alongside Collins. "You bloody bastard!"


    "No! She''s not pregnant!" Mills insisted. "It''s just... she wanted the marriage thingy and me out of the Marines... Wanting me to y Lord next to her, running Orwells'' Point..."


    "Hahahahaha!" Both Captainsughed at Mills''s sodden expression. "So you ran?"


    "Well... You guys know I''m not into all that Lordy stuff," Mills sighed. "I''m just a kid who grew up in a rough neighbourhood! I am not cut out to be some Lord! Fighting... and killing is all I know and good at... Not... looking after a city and people, you know?"


    "Well, I guess everyone has their problems," Collins patted Mills''s shoulder in sympathy. "But... You got to man up, don''t waste thedy''s time. You know, as they say, a woman''s youth is precious, if you are unwilling tomit to her, tell her straight up! Don''t let her wait for you and waste her time!"


    "He''s right, you know," Silverstar chipped in. "I do know other than you shitty ass, there are probably enough suitors for her to form a line all across the entire Uncharted Forest Expressway!"


    "I know..." Mills replied in a grim tone. "It''s just... I am not ready yet! I''m just twenty four this year! I... still want to see the world!"


    "Even so, don''t keep ady waiting!" Silverstar joined Collins in patting Mills''s shoulder. "In fact, most males at your age have already started a family."


    "Damn..." Mills sighed. "Alright, mommy and daddy, I know what to do..."


    "Good boy!" Collinsughed. "Your daddy is proud of you!"


    "Hey wait a minute!" Silverstar blurted out. "Whose your goddamn mommy?"


    -----


    The Kingdom of Foral, East Coast, mcaster Vige


    The beach was covered with mshells, picked cleaned by the vigers from the nearby settlement which got its name from the cast off mshells. The vigers made a simple living off picking the abundant ms and fishing off the coast, sometimes selling their stock to passing merchants.


    Today there was a big ruckusing from the rickety low docks of the vige as the vigers crowded the returned fishing boats. The fishermen had caught and towed back a huge dragon in theirs, its wet midnight ck scales glittered under the sun.


    Not long, word had spread to the fort overseeing the coastal region and the local garrison was dispatched to investigate. Riders onrge alligator like mounts and bearing gs of green and yellow descended upon the sleepy vige. The vigers lined up alongside the only roughly paved street greeted the soldiers and the vige head led them to the dragon.


    The knight captain seeing the ck dragonying on its side in the middle of the vige centre was surprised greatly. He circled the dragon a couple of times poking and examining its swings. "What a beast! Where did you find it?"


    The fishermen who caught the dragon stepped forward hurriedly and bowed. "Lord Knight! We found the dragon floating out in the open sea when we were fishing and we saw it was motionless, we used ours to bring it back."


    "This beast is still alive?" The Knight Captain turned back to face the dragon which did not move at all.


    "Yes.. my Lord," The vige head bowed as he replied. "It has many wounds... and we do not know magic to heal it..."


    "Never mind about that!" The Knight Captain waved away the vige head''s grovelling apologies. "Anyway, you all have done a good deed in finding this dragon!"


    The Knight Captain pulled a small coin pouch out and tossed it to the vige head who caught the tossed pouch expertly. "This is your reward!"


    "Men! Start moving the dragon back to the fort!" He snapped to his soldiers who hurried forward with ropes. The Knight Captain smiled to himself, thinking that such a rare specimen of a dragon would be well received by the Duke and if he gifted the Duke with this dragon, he will be greatly rewarded.


    The Knight Captain remounted his war dragon and left the vige behind, where the vigers started a small fight over the coin pouch containing a handful of gold crowns.


    -----


    Eastern Border of the Isles, No One''s Ind, Cartel Expeditionary Force


    Fleet Master Akron let off a sigh of relief when the crates of the boilers and steam cannons were loaded onboard the merchant ships. He had felt like crying as the Dwarans which he hade to know of their race, kept dying and inviting him to drink constantly until he cked out. Finally, after several firm rejections, the Dwarans gave in and now, with two boilers of Dwaran made were being shipped back alongside with several of their steam cannons.


    He was pretty sure the smiths and craftsman would find them interesting but most of all, he hadplete a part of his quest given by Megan. He turned back towards the fishhook shaped ind and frowned, seeing the strange unrecognisable structures being built. He made a mentalparison with the UN base at Sanctuary Ind and couldn''te to a conclusion of what structures were being built.


    In the end, he gave up and gave a bow to the group of Dwaran delegates at the dock and boarded his ship to return back to the Isles with news of his sess.


    -----


    Grand Lord Hammerfall''s beady eyes watched the local fleet of merchants and escorts leaving by the tide and wind before he turned away with a smug smile underneath his beard. He led his followers down the wooden track and towards the hive of activity in the middle of the ind where a massive structure was behind constructed.


    Coils of pipes as thick as the waist of an average Dwaranid half unburied on the soft topsoil and Hammerfall made his way over them carefully. Workers paused in their work as he passed them by to salute or call out a greeting before returning to their work.


    He soon found Lord Copperstone standing on the top of a small tform and busily directing a small crowd of workers. He waited until Lord Copperstone dismissed the workers before stepping forward. "How goes the work?"


    "Rock and Stone, my Lord!" Lord Copperstone thumped his chest in salute. "The work goes smoothly except for the soft ground and sand."


    He thumped his feet hard against the ground as he continued. "We need to dig deep and reinforce the foundations, which dyed construction for a while."


    "Other than that," Lord Copperstone nced up with a fond expression at the structure that looked like an observatory. "The Lightning Thrower will be ready soon once we hook up all the boilers and magic convertors."


    "Good," Grand Lord Hammerfall nodded andughed. "I just sent off the slimy long legs off with some of our old boilers and cannons. That should keep them happy for a while."


    "I yed with him for so long that I felt sorry in the end for him," Grand Lord Hammer gave a chuckle. "Anyway, I have dyed them as long as I could. You better finish up the other two towers in time too and I pray that your inventions will be able to stop those... United Nation of theirs."


    "Oh..." Lord Copperstone patted the side of the rock tower. "My inventions rarely has failed, I promised it will work as stated!"


    "Good! If that United Nations were as powerful as that slimy one eyed long leg has said," Grand Lord Hammerfall''s expression changed grim. "We need all the ale on the table to get through this!"

 Chapter 510: Scum and Villainy

    Chapter 510: Scum and Viiny


    The Empire of Bluewood, Exile''s Passage, Port Of Sunder


    Many years back. the Port of Sunder used to be a small fishing town, sited at within the northern fringe of the growing Empire. Over the years, it grewrger andrger as the closest gateway to therge ind that was known as Exile''s Ind as escaped ves sought a safe haven away from the Empire and the straits between the two became known as the Exile''s Passage.


    Now, the bustling coastal city was filled with criminal scum, syndicates, vers, escaped ves, pirates, and other viins or anyone with the need to escape thew. The Imperial governor closed both eyes over thewlessness of the city as long as his and his soldiers'' pockets were filled with gold and only stepping in if things might catch the attention of the Throne.


    Illicit trade andmerce flourished within the Port, and soon even became a known secret of the Empire, with even the previous generations of Emperors and the Court knew of the ongoing activities of the Port there but chose to let it be. Instead, the Port was even used by the Emperors themselves to fund piracy, smugglers, and any illicit activities that needed to be done for the Empire.


    The inhabitants of the Port woke up as usual from the sleep and began their day with their usual activities except found an army of Imperial soldiers bearing down onto the Port in long lines. The Imperial Governor who was still in his bed hugging two ve girls on both sides was rudely woken up by his servants.


    His initial anger at the disturbance of his beauty sleep faded rapidly when he heard the reason. His pudgy face changed colour several times like a chameleon before he shrieked for his servants to dress him, kicking the two ve girls off his bed in his panic and haste.


    Finally dressed eptably, he huffed and puffed his way behind his retainers and rode his carriage to the main gates of the city''s walls. Already the way was cleared by his soldiers and the streets were already lined up with curious gawkers and onlookers. Dozens of unsavoury characters spat and cursed under their breath at the sight of the Imperial soldiers that appeared at the gates.


    The Governor''s carriage came to a screeching halt and he wobbled slightly down the steps let down by the footman. The Governor sucked in a deep breath before he came before the group of mounted Knights that was looking around their surroundings with keen interests.


    "Wee to Port Sunder!" The Governor put on his best smile as he observed each person before him before facing the Knight Colonel whose rank was disyed on the side of his chest te. "What bring you esteemed Knights to... this side of the Empire?"


    Typically, an Imperial Governor would outrank most Imperial Knights unless he or she holds a General rank and in this case, he outranked the Knight Colonel that was before him. Yet, he kept his tone as friendly as possible as he did not want to create unnecessary troubles, especially with someone that has an army behind his back that outnumbered his own troops.


    The Knight Colonel pushed his face helm up and revealed a frowning warrior''s face. He stopped his observation of his surroundings and turned his attention to the fat smiling Governor and handed him a scroll case which he retrieved from his saddlebag. "I am Knight Colonel Sander! Here on the behest of the Emperor! May he live for a thousand years!"


    With a smooth motion, Knight Colonel Sander swung off the saddle of his reptilian mount and waited with an impatient frown as he watched the shaking hands of the Governor open the scroll case. The fat Governor''s expression was interesting as his face seemed to change colours a couple of times before turning pale. "This... this..."


    "Now you know why we are here!" Knight Colonel Sander said curtly. "My men will need billeting! And also the walls..."


    He gave a sneer at the condition of the walls before continuing, "They need to be fixed and strengthened!"


    "But... but..." The Governor stammered as his mind seemed to be overwhelmed. "This... this..."


    "Hurry up my man!" Knight Colonel Sander gave a smack on the Governor''s shoulder which knocked him back slightly and bringing him out of his daze. "Another fivepanies of foot will arrive in three days!"


    "In this time, my men will start fortifying the city!" The Knight Colonel said in a tone that blocked all objections. "As you have read in the letter, the Emperor has deemed me to be in charge of the defences of Port Sunder until furthermanded!"


    Without waiting for a reply from the stupified Governor, Knight Colonel Sander turned to his retainers and started issuing orders. Thepanies of soldiers shook their formations out and started marching into the city.


    The Governor remained dumbstruck as he watched block after block of marching soldiers came through the main city gates and beasts of burden dragging dozens of ck iron tube on wheels.


    "My Lord?" The city''s Guard Commander stepped up next to the Governor and urgently pulled his sleeves. "What is going on? Why... is the Imperial Army here?"


    "All is gone!" The fat Governor stammered in a frightened tone. "War ising..."


    "War?" The Governor''s retainers all stared at each other in confusion. "With who, my lord?"


    "I don''t know!" The Governor hissed in despair. "The Emperor wants me to give all support to the Knight Colonel... the upgrade and repairs of the city wall, recruitment, weapons and supplies... All of it to be out of my own pocket..."


    The Guard Commander cast fugtive nces with the rest of the Governor''s staff as they turned nervous at the words of the Governor. They like all the others had clearly pinched money here and there off the coffers or some done other things to line their pockets.


    The Governor suddenly seemed to panic as he realised something. He hurried back into his carriage and snapped at his footmen. "Hurry! Back to the estate!"


    He sat back in the thickly cushioned seat thinking hard of how to hide his wealth and not let the Knight Colonel find out! He must rush back quickly to save his money!


    -----


    United Nations, Hope Naval Station


    "What in the world is that?" Mills asked as he, Bartley, Koing, and James, all four of them from previous UNS Singapore''s Marine Detachment Section Two were walking down neatly arranged streets of Hope Naval Station after having a meal outside the base. Mills gestured to a small rectangr single storey building on the side of the street that he suddenly spotted.


    The building in question had what appeared to be three olive green 155 mm artillery shells with a single yellow band were stacked side by side together and were fixed onto the facade of the structure right above the doorway. A pair of iron sculptures that looked suspiciously like the monstrosity that was welded onto the bow of the UNS Vengenace sat on both sides of the doorway, like some kind of guardian.


    A small group of goblins and even several elves all in various work clothing and naval uniforms were gathered before the doorway. Curious, Mills joined the group to listen to what the goblin standing on arge crate was saying and the rest joined him.


    "Praise tee Faith, Brothers!" The goblin dressed in a robe that seemed to patched from several different uniforms cried out. As Mills got closer, he realised the robe the goblin was wearing was actually an old k jacket that someone or goblin had cut and sewed some old SDF trousers onto the sleeveless jacket to create sleeves and also sewn the back of a SDF uniform to extend the jacket, creating something like a robe that was toorge for the goblin.


    "Wee ar tee Faith of Superior Firepower!" The robed goblin crowed. "No ting can beat tee Firepower!"


    "Ploys! Schemes! Tricks!" The goblin seemed very agitated as he hopped about on one foot to the other on the wobbling crate. "Ay shall bee useless in the Face of Superior Firepower!"


    "HMMMMM..." The gathered goblins bobbed their heads as if they agreed to the statement spoken by the robed goblin and a couple of elves appeared interested as well. Mills leaned back and whispered to James. "What the hell is this? Some kind of... morale talk?"


    James gave a helpless shrug as he replied in a low voice. "The goblins came out with some new religon... again..."


    "This time its called the Faith of Superior Firepower..." James shook his head in helplessness. "They worship... guess what...?"


    "Guns?" Mills made a guess while rolling his eyes. "Firepower?"


    "Yup!" James nodded. "They go around preaching about Firepower... how great a boom can be... and nothing can stand in the way of a great boom or bang..."


    "What kind of insane shit is this?" Mills sucked in a deep breath in disbelief. "And the higher ups allow it?"


    "Well... it''s not a cult nor some kind of harmful... thing..." James gave a shrug again. "Besides, it seemed to be gaining traction with the people here... especially the goblins AND orcs..."


    "What the fuck?" Mills cursed. "I thought goblins and orcs don''t mix well together..."


    "Yes..." James nodded and seemed to be either nodding or shrugging at Mills. "That''s one reason why we don''t see any orcs as sailors nor airmen... And rarely any goblins in the Army or Marines..."


    "So... this religion..." Bartley suddenly spoke. "Many has joined?"


    "Well... I guess so?" James shugged again. "I think its harmless and... It is good to have something for our people to believe in... other than other Gods, I guess?"


    "Hell..." Mills watched the crowd that was interested in the Faith of Superior Firepower raise their right hands up like some kind of scout''s salute, their thumb and little finger touching each other while the other three fingers were spread wide, mimicking the three artillery shells on the facade of the building. "Better a religion we called our own than the crazy Gods on this!"


    "Seriously," Koing spoke up. "I think I can understand their thinking..."


    "The goblins?" James asked as he watched the new converts of the Faith filed in one by one into the building which he guessed must be some kind of church, or temple or shrine.


    "I mean, we soldiers are taught the rifleman''s creed right?" Koing exined. "It''s beaten into us to hold our rifle dear, and if you see it in another way, isn''t that considered firepower?"


    "Didn''t we defeated all our enemies with superior firepower?" Koing added. "Killed that hero dude and that Emperor with railguns?"


    "We razed an entire city with rocket batteries..." Koing continued listing out their achievements. "And our aircraft bombed cities and shot down many dragons?"


    "Yea, and we burnt that snake god too," Mills chipped in. "And kicked the Protectorate''s butt! Damn... I wished I was there... I mean they had a super giant robot! I always wanted to shoot a super giant robot..."


    "And now we have a super carrier," Bartley said in a monotone.


    "Yes, and now we have a super carrier," Koing repeated Bartley''s words. "Isn''t all these... superior firepower?"


    "Well... I guess so..." James conceded the point before he let out a smallugh. "This world is fucked up."


    "Yup," Mills nodded. "We live in a fucked up world but at least... It''s more fun here!"


    "Fuck the fun, man!" James shook his head. "We lost friends alright?"


    Mills gave an embossedugh as he scratched his cropped hair awkwardly. Bartley stepped forward and suddenly said, "I would like to listen to what they are preaching inside."


    "Oh shit, not you big guy!" Mills was surprised. "You want to join this weird shit goblin craze?"


    Bartley gave a shrug and walked up to the robed goblin, "Don''t know, might be good."


    "Oh fuck..."

 Chapter 511: The Master Plan

    Chapter 511: The Master n


    United Nations, Hope Naval Station, UNS Vengeance, Marine Deck


    "Attention on Deck!" The Marine closest to the hatch yelled as he stood up to attention when a group of officers entered. Marine Major James headed straight for the podium at the front of the briefing deck while the other officers took up positions at the front row.


    "At ease, people," James said as he cast an eye around the seated marines, noting some familiar faces among the twopany sized attendees seated in the briefing deck that could hold an entire battalion if needed. "I am sure all of you have a lot of questions in your minds, and I will answer them or most of them as much as possible."


    "I am sure, most of you know each other here," James smiled as the gathered Marines started cracking some jokes about how intimate they knew each other. "Than it is easy for you guys to get integrated."


    "Wee to the 1st Marine Raiders!" James said as the projector screen behind him lit up, disying a blue shield with a single white star on the top of a red diamond bordered by white and a grinning white skull inside. "Most of you are from the original raider toons of the Marine battalions which have now been disbanded."


    "Now some of you might wonder what is so special about a Marine Raiders that it is rated a new battalion for it," James had a big smile on his face as he stared at the Marines. "All of you here, are hand picked here, which means, you are one of the best of the best within the Marines!"


    "As a Marine Raider, your roles will no longer be simr to that of regr Marines!" James exined, his smile and tone turning serious. "You will be involved in special operations missions, going behind the enemy, conducting high risk reconnaissance, assassinations, kidnappings, and a whole lot of other dark... dark missions that can NEVER see the light!"


    "Your mission... your work will be highly ssified and any leaks will result in an immediate summary execution!" James said in a stern voice which the Marines had over the course of his briefly sat straighter up, their faces turning solemn at his words. "The Marine Raiders are not line infantry! Like the Hundred and First Arcane Tactics and Intervention... which is now part of the Army, the Marine Raiders will fill in the role of special operations!"


    "And like someone pointed out," James''s dropped his serious face and grinned at Mills at the front. "We are Ninjas! Marine Ninjas!"


    -----


    Mills had a frown on his face as he sat opposite James in his office, reading a file. "So all this recalling us back to the fight is about this?"


    James nodded, as he plucked the folder from Mills''s hands. "We will follow the Vengeance on her two to three month voyage around the New World..."


    "In that meantime, the men will be trained intensively on spec ops procedures," James said. "High Command expects plenty of fighting with the New Enemy when we encounter them up north. Which judging from the way things are going currently... I concur too."


    "So just twopanies of marines?" Mills frowned. "Isn''t that too little?"


    "We will be joined by 4th Battalion at Far Harbor when the carrier sails over," answered James. "We will also be picking up some new equipment and a whole lot of new toys, which... will be more than enough to entertain everyone for the months long trip!"


    "Really?" Mills rubbed his chin as he digested the news. "Damn... At least three months hmm... Why are we wasting time doing this?"


    "I can only assume that THE Captain wants to ensure all the crew and Marines are fully trained before sending us to cross the End Zone and bring some good ole love and destruction to the Old World," James gave a shrug. "Also the recall of all the humans back to field... I think he''s really nning to put all his cards out..."


    "Like an all out show hand or gamble?" Mills frowned. "Damn... If he needs us here... It must be pretty bad over the End Zone..."


    "That I do not know as of yet," James replied. "But I will see if I can ask some questions to the right ears and see what they can tell me."


    "So... three months eh?" Mills sighed deeply.


    "Yes, might be more, depending on the situation on the ground there," James smiled. "Have you settled your affairs?"


    "Ah..." Mills blinked rapidly. "Shit..."


    "You better settle it," James shook his head at his friend. "And also, I am putting you in charge of B Company."


    "Huh?" Mills was startled by the news. "Aren''t apany supposed to be run by a Captain at least?"


    "Well, I''m bumping you up to Captain," James grinned and reached over to grab Mills''s hand and gave it a rough shake. "Collins will take A Company and you will run B Company. Congrats! You are now a Captain!"


    "Oh... OH! Fuck!"


    -----


    United Nations, Hope Naval Station, UNS Vengeance, g Officer Quarters


    Commander Ford stared at the disy screen before him, which had been stripped from some console onboard the UNS Singapore and transnted onto the quarters which Ford now sat in. The hallowed face of Captain ke looked back at him and Ford asked, "Sir, is it wise to put the humans... our original crew back to the field?"


    "We need their expertise and skills," ke''s image replied back. "Their experience serving onboard the Singapore will help steady the green hands of the Vengeance."


    "And the Marines?" Ford asked. "Surely... the elves can do the same job too right?"


    ke''s head shook on the disy, "I want them there... for a reason... I am issuing them our advanced firearms."


    "Why?" Ford frowned and asked in a worried tone. "Is there something I do not know?"


    "No, I just want to end this stupid situation as fast as possible..." ke''s face seemed to shag and Ford found him suddenly looking very old and tired. "So that we can move on to... more important work..."


    "If that''s your order..." Ford sighed. "Well, repairs on the flight decks will bepleted in a couple of days more. The goblins are running tests now."


    "Good," ke replied with a nod. "Find out what''s happening up north and resolve it."


    "I am counting on you, Kevin," ke suddenly said, using Ford''s name. "Put an end to this conflict!"


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet, Megan''s Estate


    "Is this news true?" Megan asked as she ced the scroll down on the fine ckwood table. "When was it delivered?"


    "Less than a quarter turn of the ss, Fleet Master," The messenger said while remaining in a respectful bowing position. "It came immediately from the harbor when the courier docked."


    Megan waved her hand to dismiss the messenger who backed out of the study, leaving Megan alone inside. She picked up the scroll and unfurled it, rereading the contents again. "So... the great iron ship of the United Nations has sailed... But towards the west..."


    She mentally calcted the distance and time travel of the report and ced the scroll down. She reached over to pick up a bell and rang it summoning her retainers. "Send our fastest couriers ships to follow the UN''s great ship! I want to know its whereabouts and heading!"


    The retainer bowed and quickly departed, and Fleet Master Akron suddenly appeared at the door. "Fleet Master Megan, what has happened that made you all flustered?"


    "Akron! Just in time!" Megan looked from her desk and gestured towards the scroll. "Here, read this."


    Akron took a few short breaths to finished reading the contents and he frowned. "If this is correct, where can they be sailing to?"


    "That''s the hundred gold crowns question, yes?" Megan hissed. "I have already dispatched some of our fastest ships to tail that ship!"


    "Fleet Master Megan... I..." Akron had a hesitant expression as he wondered should he say what he wanted to. "I... don''t know if I should say this..."


    "Just speak your mind here!" Megan waved her hand irritably. "Stop acting like a fool!"


    "Yes... yes... of course..." Akron cleared his throat and said. "I think we shouldn''t anger the UN..."


    Megan red at him and remained quiet, prompting Akron to continue. "The short Outsiders at our borders... The Dwaran as they called themselves... I doubt their tek no lo gee canpare to the UN..."


    "I have seen their weapons and machines..." Akron shook his head. "Impressive as it may seem, but I find them...cking, ifpared to the UN."


    Megan''s re softened and she broke into augh. "Hahahaha! My dear Akron... After so long, did you just realized this fact?"


    Akron was confused as he hurried exined himself, "No... I mean, I find allying ourselves with the Outsiders might... not be a good idea..."


    "Of course, it isn''t!" Megan said with a small knowing smile. "The UN could destroy an Outsider force that had effectively destroyed an entire Kingdom! Why would I be stupid enough to believe that another Outsider force could win against them?"


    "But... but... I followed yourmands to reach an alliance with them!" Akron was shocked. "And we constantly disrupted trade with the UN!"


    "Hahahaha," Megan shook her head, "Akron, Akron... That was to pressure the UN into exchanging their precious tek no lo gee with us! But now an opportunity hase! Don''t you see?"


    "I am sorry, I am not sure I follow," Akron had a confused look on his face. "What are you trying to do?"


    "It is true that the UN has been trading their trash with us," Megan sighed. "If this goes on, we will forever be begging for their scraps just to survive under their shadow."


    "For us to break out of our reliance on their influence, we needed something to be able to bring us up," Megan exined. "A weapon, magic, trade good, something, anything that can reverse our fate of being swallowed up by the UN."


    "That is one reason why I wanted the Council to restrict the trade and dealings with the UN," Megan said. "But those money hungry idiots think otherwise."


    "But didn''t we do the same previously? By holding back food stocks and waiting for the war to drive the food prices up?" Akron asked curiously. "Isn''t it about money too?"


    Megan sighed, "Yes, I needed the money. Did you think that making iron ships and fire cannons are cheap?"


    "I needed the funds to make those weapons!" Megan said. "The Council would, of course, approve its costs, but at the same time, it would tip the UN of our intentions... Which they will know we had stolen some of their thunder weapons! And in retaliation, they would stop all trade of their tek no lo gee no matter how... trash they are, we needed it then!"


    "Now the alliance with the Outsiders...? The Dwarans?" Akron''s eyes narrowed as he wondered if he was just a chess piece to her.


    "I wanted the Dwarans to think they are saving us from the UN..." Megan revealed her ns. "While at the same time, force the UN to send their fleet over..."


    "But we could have asked them for help?" Akron said before he paused and his eyes widened. "Oh... you wanted to control the information the Outsiders would have of the UN!"


    "Yes... If the UN had met the Outsiders first..." Megan shook her head. "They might establish friendly contact... and where does that leave us? Picking up their scraps again?"


    "This way, we can control information about the UN to the Outsiders..." Megan smiled. "Creating an unfavourable impression of the UN to them..."


    "And when the UN sends their fleet over..." Megan''s eyes hardened. "We can create a ''misunderstanding'' between the two forces... while we watch from the sides."


    "And reap the rewardster!" Akron smiled excitedly. "Like the hunter stalking the peco and the wyvern!"


    "Yes... but I did not expect the UN to have a great ship..." Megan hissed. "That might upset my ns!"

 Chapter 512: The Sage

    Chapter 512: The Sage


    The Empire of Bluewood, Exile''s Passage, Port Of Sunder


    The once disused and poor maintained city walls were transformed in a just span of a few days. Hundreds of ves andbor gangs now toiled on the city walls, covering it with scaffolding and cranes hoisting stone and other materials. Gangs that were once prominent in the city, had now all retreated in the face of the hundreds of Imperial soldiers patrolling the streets.


    Strange long ck iron tubes were carefully emced around walls made out of sacks filled with sand on sections of the city wall that had been restored. The locals were curious, but none could approach the walls to see the strange objects as dozens of soldiers had cordoned off the areas off.


    The arrival of the Imperial Army had mixed feelings from the inhabitants of the city. The more timid denizens started fleeing the city in droves while others seeking opportunities, moved into the city and opened new stalls, offering goods and ves to the soldiers.


    Knight Colonel Sander twirled his neatly waxed moustache as he stared out of the murky windows of the Governor''s Estate that overlooked the city on a hill covered with perfectly maintained gardens. He stopped his actions and spun around, casting a look of contempt at the cowering figure of the Governor seated at the edge of the sofa before heid his eyes on the cloaked figure sipping a cup of hot beverage.


    "Esteemed Sage," The Knight Colonel gave a respectful bow to the cloaked figure and asked, "The dragon cannons are being sited on the walls. Will they be enough?"


    The cloaked Sage continued sipping his tea for a moment before he set the cup down, letting the Knight Colonel wait. "Hmmm... to tell the truth? No!"


    Knight Colonel Sander frowned and he questioned the Sage with some heat in his tone, "We have followed your instructions, still it is not enough to fight against the unknown enemy?"


    The Sage nodded, his hood bobbing up and down, and the Sage seemed to pause halfway in his nod to pull his hood down further. He spoke again in his strange ent, "Too little cannons... Lousy workmanship and inexperienced gunners."


    The Knight Colonel rubbed his moustache again as he mused on the Sage''s words before he gave a grudging nod of agreement. He let out a sigh and changed the topic, "Esteemed Sage, do you think it is the United Nations doing the raids?"


    The Sage put down his cup of tea and spoke with his head bowed, "The United Nations... I do not think so..."


    "Why?" The Knight Colonel was curious. He leaned against the writing table and folded his arms. "They are the only nation known to have those flying machines."


    "These flying ships," The Sage gestured out of the window. "Are not of the UN origin, that I am very sure. It should be the same enemy or simr that attacked the Mans..."


    "I see," The Knight Colonel nodded. "If that is the case, those rumors of... flying ships and giant golems... are true?"


    The Sage gave a small nod as he refilled his cup of tea. The Knight Colonel suddenly broke into a big smile and said in a confident tone, "Well! We have you the Great Sage here! I am sure we will be victorious!"


    -----


    Leung Chun Kok was secretly terrified of his current situation. He felt like he was on a boat adrift in the endless ocean, unable to steer and control its headings. He grew up in the gang controlled lower ie urban area of the densely popted city state of Hong Kong. Without knowing who his parents were, the orphanage he grew up in, provided the standard government mandate amount of schooling and care before he came of age and was released into the streets of Hong Kong.


    Armed with a small number of funds issued under the Global Orphan Act and basic education, he soon fell into the wrongpany and worked as a runner for a local gang boss. The work mostly involved him moving certain goods around made him just enough money to rent a shoebox apartment in the New Territories, Sha Tin District.


    There he lived his life without any goal and ambition and just following the flow, one day at a time. When the Swarm invaded and suddenly the government started announcing all able men of age were to serve, he was at a loss. Some of his gang buddies wanted to hide away from the conscription and urged him to go into hiding with them.


    But he was torn between wanting to go do something different, rather than just hanging around, ying games and working as a delivery boy for the Boss who had long gone into hiding from the conscription.


    In the end, in his hesitation, he got swept up by a random police patrol and his name was found to be in the conscription list. Next thing he knew, he was cuffed and dropped off at the nearest processing centre in Shenzhen, China, with arge group of other recruits and his nightmare began.


    Life in the Chinese military camp was very strict and especially for someone who was thought to have tried to run from serving the human race from an alien invasion. The Instructors there paid special attention to all those who tagged as a runaway, ensuring they get all the TLC the Instructors dished out.


    Leung tucked his head in and tried his best to not stand out to the Instructors, but it was hard. Eventually, the other recruits also vented their unhappiness and amusement on him, making his time in basic training a hell.


    Yet, he managed to survive, as even the Instructors did not want to create a serious case of having deaths or overly injured recruits to give the press ammunition to further criticize the unpopr conscriptionw. Once hepleted Basic Training, he was posted off to Fleet, where he began his next part of the training.


    After being posted to Fleet, his life changed for the better, there was no more harassment from the trainers and fellow trainees. At this point in his life, he felt that things were finally turning to be better for them when he and his ss was assigned to the UNS Singapore for a two week on the job training.


    And events, as usual, became out of his control as the remaining hull portion of the crippled UNS Singapore crashnded onto an alien. For a moment, he thanked the Gods for allowing him to survive thending and even be on a that they could breathe! But his fate has yet changed, when they were suddenly embroiled in a war with the native alien race here.


    In his heart, he cursed and chide the higher ups for being a busybody and getting themselves involved with more problems when they themselves cannot even settle their own problems. It was then, he had gotten close with the others down at Operations. The Indian Marine had said something about grasping their own destiny that sounded really good after that fifth shot of distilled spirits the Russian from Auxiliaries had cooked up.


    After that, it was another whirlwind of events that swept him along with the others. By then, it was toote to back out, and he could only grit his teeth and join in with the rest. It had seemed they had broken away from the military as they drove off into the thick snowstorm but only to be swallowed up by evils of the.


    Leung was superstitious as it was a big part of his life growing up in Hong Kong. While not religious, he believed there were spirits and Gods. When the Snake appeared before them, he was shocked and he knew he was in the presence of an unworldly being, a God of sorts. Unlike the others, he embraced the Snake God willingly, feeling its oily presence in his mind.


    When the UN suddenly attacked Sin City, Leung was in the factory, tinkering with the fabricator they had stolen out in parts. He only felt a sudden sh of pain throughout his body before the pain turned into a bone deep chill and he cked out.


    When he finally woke up, the oily presence in his mind appeared to have shrunk so much so that it was almost gone. He knew then that the Snake God must have somehow been defeated by the UN. Knowing he couldn''t stay at the destroyed city, he made a deal with a group of traders and joined them at their small settlement.


    There he kept a low profile as he did not want the UN to find him. But months of peace and quiet, he had lessened his guard and somehow the UN found him again. Again the attack was swift and unexpected, but this time he could feel his body burning and reforming at the same time and he knew that the warhead of the missile must be something special.


    He managed to crawl away and hid under some debris and it had taken him two days to recover enough for him to limp away from the ttened street. Following that attack, he decided to hide forever and with a tattered robe, he started wandering off.


    But yet again, fate forced his hand. In his travel, he encountered a few nobles who were happily had him sold off as a ve or taken his life, had he not bullshit him way out of trouble. Unexpectedly, he had enough knowledge of science to help bluff his way through, even making him some coins for his travels.


    With a few advice here and there, he was soon known as a wandering Sage. His exploits among themon people became known to rulers and worse still, they were over exaggerated by the retelling which led to one trouble after another for him.


    In the end, the drunken gibberish he spoken to one Lord at a weing feast about the thunder weapons of the UN, turned out to be the form for ck powder. The Lord had the form tested and it turned out to be true, despite some minor mishaps and instantly, Leung found himself to be the centre of attention again.


    He quickly escaped and started wandering again and before he knew it, he found himself at the Empire. Fate yed him again, as he was stopped and he had to reveal his identity as the Great Wandering Sage or he would be either put to death or taken as a ve.


    To prove his identity, he gave up the form for ck powder and it worked. He was treated like royalty and even asked for advice on certain matters. When he first met the young Emperor of Bluewood, he was shocked as he recognized the boy. Luckily, he was wearing a cloak which he quickly pulled the hood down to ensure he was not recognized by the young Emperor.


    His ent, unfortunately, was harder to change but he still managed to bullshit his way out with his encounter with the young Emperor and his court. Now, he served as a guest advisor of the Empire''s court and was now dragged to the northern coastal region of the Empire to advise the Knight Colonel in charge of the new dragon cannons that were his ideas.


    Leung picked up the warm cup, his hands scarred by the airstrike were covered by a pair of soft leather gloves and sipped the warm tea. He nearly spat the tea out when he heard what the Knight Colonel said and instead he changed his actions to a wise sounding cough.


    "Lose the battle, but win the war," Leung said wisely as he picked his mind for idioms. "Remember, we are here for the men to learn new ways of war."


    "Yes, Esteemed Sage! You are right!"

 Chapter 513: Strange Times

    Chapter 513: Strange Times


    Goblin Coast, UNS Vengeance, En route to Far Harbor


    "Good FUCKING morning gentlemen!" Master Sergeant, ''Top'', Pike yelled at the assembled troops that had formed up on open decks of Flight Deck ''A''. "Seems like you boys have been having a good time of your lives, yes?"


    "NO, MASTER SERGEANT!" The Marines roared out as Pike walked down the line doing an inspection.


    "Holy fuck, boys!" Pike shook his head dramatically. "You lot look like you need some exercise to trim those beer bellies!"


    Pike nced up to the sky and broke into a nasty grin. "We got clear blue skies, nice sea breeze and even a fucking fantastic view of the ocean! So give me twops around the flight deck! MOVE!"


    The Marines groaned inwardly as the toon leaders faced them to the side and they started jogging in step with Pike running along with the Marines and singing cadence in step. On the flying bridge, Commander Ford smiled at the sight of the fearsome orcs turned into little mice under Top. But his smile faded as his thoughts turned grim, that how many of these ''men'' were going to die in theing weeks.


    "Sir!" A naval aide appeared behind him and handed him a report. "The captain says the schedule is proceeding as nned. The Vengeance will dock on time on Far Harbor within two hours."


    Ford nodded, "Tell the captain to have the crew pickup the cargo once we docked."


    He turned back to watching the Marines running around the flight deck and despite his misgivings, he felt a sense of pride at the men and women putting in their best in their jobs.


    -----


    The Kingdom of Foral, East Coast, Caster Castle


    "What a wonderful specimen this is!" The Duke of Caster said admiringly at the chained up dragon inside the sand pit. His thin frame was dressed in a luscious dark blue coat that shimmered under the sun rays as paced around the dragon. "Look at its scales! Such a rare ck color! Just the color I like!"


    "What breed is this?" He paused in his examination as he turned around to the Knight down on one knee. "Where did you find this creature?"


    "My Duke," The Knight Captain quickly replied in a respectful tone. "This creature was fished up by vigers along the East Coast of yournds. "Seeing its color, I was certain that you Excellency will be delighted by it. Hence, I took the liberty of bringing this creature to you!"


    "Well done!" The Duke reached out to touch the dragon which reared back as far as the chains allowed it to and hissed fiercely through the iron muzzle attached over its snout. Fiery sparks hissed out from the gaps of its teeth but the iron muzzle prevented its mouth from opening fully to breathe mes out. "You will be greatly rewarded!"


    "Thank you, my Lord!" The Knight Captain hid a satisfied smile as he bowed his head and only when he was out of sight did he break into a big smile.


    "Such a magnificent color!" The Duke stared hungrily at the glossy midnight ck scales of the dragon, which reflected his own image. "I wonder how will I look wearing it..."


    The chained down ck dragon suddenly felt a chill down her spine as she saw the hungry look reflected in her captor''s eyes and a deep fear griped her heart despite not understanding the words spoken by her captor.


    "Don''t worry, my beauty," The Duke continued as he eyed various parts of the dragon like a butcher eyeing a b of meat. "I will turn you into something of such beauty that all across thends will know of it! Hahahahaha!"


    -----


    Off the Coastal Waters of Fortress Hensink, UN CorRon Two, UNS Rambo


    "Foxtrot Hotel, Foxtrot Hotel, this is UNS Rambo!" Thems specialist on the bridge called out. "We are engaged with the enemy! Requesting aerial support!"


    "Foxtrot Hotel, copy. Stand by!"


    "nk speed!" The Captain of the Rambo ordered. "Tell the rest of CorRon to pull open the range as well!"


    The corvette''s twin screws spun madly, digging deep in the water and kicking up foam as the whole vessel charged forward, its single 3" gun mounts belching mes and smoke out, sending shells shrieking across the skies and detonating in an air burst over the flock of airships and dragons.


    The other two sister ships of the UNS Rambo, followed its lead, their engines pushed to their endurance as they put a distance between the rapidly approaching fleet of air ships that they were trailing.


    Group Bravo, the designation given by High Command on the unknown enemy contacts had been quiet even after the fiasco with the night raid. Therge fleet of airships hovered over a couple of islet and seemed to be contend to just float around when suddenly, there was a hive of activity.


    The entire Group Bravo suddenly seemed like a stirred up beehive as the air ships started moving and heading towards CorRon Two rapidly. Using some kind of magic or devices, the colorful airships of Group Bravo suddenly elerated to speeds that were on par with the fastest aircraft of the United Nations Air Force.


    The three ships of CorRon Two immediately turned and put out as much speed as possible to keep the distance. Urgent radio messages started transmitting to and fore from the small floti to Fortress Hensink and other naval ships at the fortress lit their boilers and scrambled to sail in support of CorRon Two.


    Alert aircraft standing by at the airstrip of Fortress Hensink were rolled out of their protective hangars andunched off into the skies. The sleek pusher prop monones formed up before charging over to CorRon Two''s reported positions.


    The order to engage soon came down from the very top through the radio and the Captain of the Rambo let out a relieved sigh as he ordered his crew and the squadron to engage. Almost immediately, the tense of the crew lessened as the four 3" dual purpose guns in single mount roared, as if the guns released their pent up tension.


    Puffs of ck grey smoke carpeted the fast approaching colorful airships while therge and more solemn looking ck and white air ships hang at the back, trying to keep pace with the faster ships. The 3" dual purpose guns spat shells fuzed to explode in the air, that upon exploding, shattered out a cloud of deadly shrapnel.


    The three UN ships were putting out k into the air at a rate of 15 rounds per minute, at four guns for each ship. The result was for each minute Group Bravo was chasing the three UN ships, 180 smoke puffs covered the air fleet and thousands of deadly shrapnel shed into Group Bravo.


    Flying ships without magic protection soon felt the toil of damages umting as crew, not under protective cover were cut down by clouds of shrapnel. Sails were ripped and air paddles crawling the air were shattered together with unprotected air screws.


    One by one, airships started falling out of formation or too crippled to maintain their mad headlong rush. Brightly colored debris and blood twinkled under the reflection of the bright sun rays as they trailed down behind Group Bravo like some sort of morbid celebration confetti.


    The airships spread out which reduced the effectiveness of the k thrown by the CorRon Two which in turn, the corvettes started independent targeting, spamming their guns at one target until it retired or was shot down. Yet, the air ships showed no signs of stopping their mad charge, infact it seemed they were even more determined as they controlled to weather the punishing AA fire from the three UN ships.


    "Have they gone mad?" The captain of the Rambo hissed as he watched another two burning air ships dropped down onto the waves, the ck inky smoke spewed out from their hulls looked like someone drew a couple of ck lines down on the horizon.


    "Sir!" Thems specialist called out, "Inbound fighters! ETA two minutes!"


    The captain nodded as he turned back out of the armoured window shutters of his bridge to observe Group Bravo chasing them through a pair of powerful binocrs. He shook his head as he saw another colourful dot shuddered through several ck puffs before seeminglying apart at its seams. Bits and pieces and what looked like cartwheeling figures rained down from the shattered ship as it lost aerial buoyancy.


    "Poor farking bastards..."


    -----


    The one sided battlest barely three hours and the surface of the ocean was littered with debris and bodies. Monstrous sea monsters reached from beneath the ink depths of the ocean with their tentacles to drag the dead and sometimes still screaming bodies down into their maws.


    The captain of the UNS Rambo shuddered as he saw the carcass of a ckish dragon being drag under by tentacles that were thicker than the dragon''s neck and the carcass disappeared from the sight soon after.


    Recovery and rescue were well underway at the moment, as the ships and sailors of the UN Navybed the debris coated ocean for any sights of life or scrap worth salvaging. But the blood from the dead had roused the appetites of the surrounding sea monsters and predators, making recovery and rescue difficult.


    A loud muffled roared broke out some distance away and arge spray of water jetted up into the air, as one of the corvettes dropped a depth charge off the side to scared away the ocean predators, to allow the small motorunches to rescue a couple of people hanging on to their lives on some debris.


    Overhead, a flight of the Air Force''s Vipers roared by, their grey fusge glittering under the sun. CorRon Two had been reinforced by CorRon Three and Five, including an two entire squadron of Airforce Vipers dispatched from Fortress Hensink. The Vipers came in first, fast and hard, their 20 mm guns easily chewing up the flock of dragons that swarmed out from the slower ck and white air ships.


    By the time CorRon Three and Four linked up with CorRon Two, most of the dragons were down, and the nine ships'' AA fire fired from beyond Group Bravo''s engagement range was its doom. Group Bravo''s remaining air ships suddenly split in all directions as they sought to escape destruction.


    But the UN Air Force and Navy did not let them go as they too split up and hunted down all the ships one by one. The colorful air ships seemed to have depleted whatever ability that allowed them to achieve sprinting speeds. Like exhausted animals, some surrendered while others remained headstrong, trying their best to evade and run, but only to get shot down by rocket barrages loosened off by the Air Force F/A - 2 Vipers.


    Now, UN ships, once enemies with Group Bravo, scoured the waves for any signs of survivors to be rescued. The captain shook his head as a small cheer floated over the breeze as a motorunch picked up half a dozen shaken and sodden survivors off a wreck. He found the whole scene strangely ironic as just a couple of hours ago, they had been trying so hard to kill those people, yet now, they were trying so hard to save them.


    "What a strange time we live in," The captain mumbled under his breath as he watched a dozen air ships were clustered together and being lead away by CorRon Four like some kind of floating pet. A flight of Vipers buzzed over them like flies, keeping an eagle eye out for any signs of mischief.


    A volley of cannon fire roared and the captain turned just in time to see arge tentacle vanishing under the waters, nearly dragging a nearby motorunch and its crew under in its angry retreat. A dark slimy substance oozed up to the surface and the water bubbled as the sea monster was injured.


    "Farking strange times indeed..."

 Chapter 514: Extreme Reactions

    Chapter 514: Extreme Reactions


    United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "So what did the survivors say?" Captain ke asked without looking up from hisputer, his fingers dancing on the keyboard.


    "The survivors picked up by the Navy and the surrendered crew all thinks that somehow we have killed one of the heirs of the Dragon Lords..." Lieutenant Tavor reported. "They are iming some sort of blood debt with us or some kind of vendetta as tranted."


    ke paused in his work to nce up with a raised eyebrow at Tavor before returning to his work. "Blood debt? So did we took out the heir? Is that why their reaction is so extreme?"


    "Not to our knowledge, Sir. The incident they imed urred was during the night attack by them, which is hard to tell in the dark." Tavor replied. "Investigation is still ongoing to find out if it was true. From their statements, the heir is supposed to be some dragon princess called Saphia the Thirteen Princess. She is supposed to be easily identified as she is a ck dragon which made investigations... somewhat challenging."


    "How many surrendered and survivors did we picked up?" ke asked as he leaned back in the chair to hand a stack of documents over to the small beast girl behind her own work desk, nearly buried behind a small mountain of paperwork. "And what is our butcher''s bill?"


    "We only lost a single fighter in the entire engagement, the pilot has ejected safety and picked up by search and rescue," Tavor checked his tablet. "As for Group Bravo, eleven airships has surrendered and taken into custody while an estimated forty six ships destroyed in that single engagement."


    "We estimated they suffered over sixteen thousand KIAs and MIAs," Tavor read off the numbers without a change of expression. "And that is not counting the early two engagements."


    "In total, we estimated we destroyed a total of sixty five ships and over twenty three thousand casualties," added Tavor. "And we took around three thousand five hundred captives. Which are now currently being held at Fortress Hensink."


    "That many ships?" ke was surprised as he remembered that the Protectorate Fleet have the most like twenty ships or so."


    "Most of the airships of the Loose Confederation are unlike the Protectorate or the Dragon Lords..." Tavor exined as he gestured to ke''s disy. ke opened the file forwarded over by Tavor and aerial images of the colourful airships of the Loose Confederation appeared. "The Loose Confederation''s airships designs seemed to favour speed over armour and size."


    Images of colourful needle nosed trireme like ships appeared on the screen. Colourful sails, some kind of air propulsion oars and air screws covered the hulls. No two ships were the same other than the needle nose of their prows. Some of the hulls were slim and slender, others were fat and some were even in the circr UFO like shape.


    "Interesting designs," ke scrolled through the images beforeing to the ck and white airships of the Dragon Lords which thergest like twice the size of thergest Loose Confederation ships. "So... I am guessing the majority of the destroyed hulls belonged to the Loose Confederation, rather than the Dragon Lords?"


    "You are correct, Sir," nodded Tavor. "But out of the eleven surrendered ships, only two belonged to the Dragon Lords... And there isn''t a single dragon that had surrendered..."


    "The crew of the dragon ships said their lords, which is, surprise, a dragon..." Tavor read from his tablet with a wry smile forming on his lips. "Told them to surrender upon their deaths..."


    "Wait," ke frowned as he raised a hand up to stop Tavor. "You are saying this... group of people called the Dragon Lords are governed by dragons?"


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor replied. "It was briefed to you before, sir."


    "I know... But I assumed it to be like the dragons was some kind of worshipped being or something... And not directly in the role of leading... people or elves in this case..." ke answered. "I did not expect to have a dragon directlymanding them!"


    "From what I know from the captives is that each dragon ship is captained by a dragon," Tavor said. "Dragons are the ruling ss within the Dragon Lords''nds."


    "I... really can''t imagine a dragon doing that..." ke shook his head as an image of Blue Thunder lording over the people came into mind. "That... is interesting..."


    "Have you forgotten that Rastraz once demanded us to serve it?" Tavor smiled as if he read ke''s thoughts about Blue Thunder. "I think that she might have some connection to the Dragon Lords..."


    "Hmmm..." ke nodded in agreement. "Send her over to see if she can do anything about the Dragon Lords'' people... See if she can find out anything more of their culture and their princess."


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor made a note in his tablet.


    "Oh, and send Blue Thunder along too... Just in case..." added ke. "And how goes the resupplying of the Vengeance?"


    "They should be finished by evening today," Tavor said. "Then they will proceed up north."


    ke nodded, "Good, the Vengeance will show the g to the Empire... and at the same time, deal with whatever is making trouble up north. Hopefully, we can resolve everything smoothly."


    "The Vengeance presence up north will definitely cower those that still have any doubts or intentions against us," said Tavor. "I do not know why, but some people are just too... trapped in their own delusions. They need to see power... Real power with their own eyes and feel it before they realize that whatever delusions or bad intentions they have, are just useless."


    ke nodded, "Yes... People can be blind even with the truth before them. I expect the Vengeance''s trip up north will open up many eyes and quench any protest about the annexation of Ma."


    "And if Group Alpha turns out to be hostile, it will a good live demonstration of our might," ke said. "After that, I am sure no one in the Empire will dare have any motives against us!"


    -----


    United Nations, Off the Coast of Far Harbor


    Dozens of motorunches sped back and fore between the super carrier anchored offshore and the port facilitates. In the meantime, hundreds and hundreds of gawkers lined the docks and beaches, staring across the ocean to see the massive naval might of the United Nation''s Navy.


    The UNS Vengeance had dropped anchor offshore from the port of Far Harbor as its size was too massive to fit alongside its docks. It could only stay offshore while smaller ships ferry supplies and materials over, making the progress painfully slow.


    The Marine''s Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel, or LCVP for short, carrying an entire battalion of Marines and all their support and supplies, motored across the surging ocean waves in pairs as they navigated to the aft of the super carrier where two well decks received them on each aft of the carrier hulls.


    The flight decks were busy too, as another six flights of aircraftnded, adding another three Cobra squadrons, one Viper squadron, one Mariner flying boat squadron and a C - 1 Skyfreighter squadron converted for carrier ops. Furthermore, over the course of the day, flights of heavy lift helicopters bringing in new crew members and the Unicorn attack helicopters were dispatched over, further increasing the aircraftplement of the UNS Vengeance.


    But the most anticipated event was from a single C - 1 Skyfreighter that came fluttering down at a slow speed out of the skies. Commander Ford and all the senior officers of the Vengeance had their eyes locked on the C - 1 Skyfreighter which wheels hit the flight deck with a screech of burnt sap rubber. The pilot had pushed all its four engines to the maximum power as he brought the heavy cargo ne down as it was to allow him to take off again without dropping into the sea, should he fail to be caught by the arresting gear.


    The cargo ne shuddered as its tail hook caught the arresting cable and mmed the ne to a sudden halt, after which the pilot shut all power down to the engines. Instantly a troop of armed Marines jogged out from the central superstructure of the ship and took up positions at the rear of the cargo ne.


    The rear hatch slowly opened up and another group of Marine escorts pushed severalrge containers out which they moved towards a waiting elevator at the flight deck. Commander Ford kept his eyes on the containers as it disappeared down the deck elevator with its Marine escorts before returning to the g bridge.


    After a moment, the Captain of the Vengeance appeared at the hatch of the g bridge and reported, "The cargo has been secured and around the clock, guard has been posted to keep watch over it."


    "Got it," Ford nodded. "How long more?"


    "Once they topped off our fuel bunkers we can raise anchor in, another half hour," The Captain answered as he checked his watch. "Our escorts will be joining us once we leave the harbour limits."


    "Good, the faster we sail, the faster w return home!"


    -----


    The Empire of Bluewood, Exile''s Passage, Port Of Sunder, Sea Walls


    A cloud of dense dirty grey white smoke erupted from the sea walls over watching the entrance to the port of Sunder. The cannoneers, once dressed in te mail and leather, had long stripped off their armour and instead donned tunics or remained half naked in their breeches as the armour proved too unwieldy for them to service the great dragon cannons.


    Faces and arms turned ck from the smoke, the cannoneers sponged the barrel out of any lingering sparks, before ramming in bags of coarse grained thunder powder, before an iron ball was shoved in. Once loaded, the cannoneers ran the great dragon cannon out on its wooden wheeled carriage and aimed to the skies at the flying ships that came out of the clouds to attack the city.


    With a roar as great as a dragon, the dragon cannons vomited out a mighty cloud of dirty smoke and mes, followed by a sh of a dark projectile towards the closest flying ship. The air around the flying ship flickered and shimmered as the cannonball hit its magic barrier and seemingly in retaliation, the sides of the flying ship exploded into a cloud of white smoke and whistles of mushroom shaped projectiles mmed around the sea wall.


    The Empire mage beside the battery of two dragon cannons gave a painful groan as the magic barrier he was maintaining crumbled under the might of the enemies'' return fire. Bright red blood jet out from his orifices as he stood there with his both hands clenching a staff and raised to the skies before he copsed backwards from the bacsh of his magic overloading.


    An acolyte quickly rushed over and starting healing the copsed mage while another robed mage braved stepped forward and quickly cast another magic barrier over the dragon cannons.


    All along the city walls, simr scenes were ying out the same way, as mages protected the dragon cannons, creating pockets of area undamaged from the aerial bombardment. The city''s buildings suffered in result as the Knight Colonel ordered all mages to protect the dragon cannons, leaving the city unprotected.


    Roofs were shattered and buildings burnt as the group of five flying ships suddenly appeared over the horizon and demanded tribute or be destroyed. Knight Colonel Sander rejected the demand and the initial volley from his dragon cannons scored a surprise against the flying raiders which had not raised their magic barriers due to arrogance.


    What followed was an exchange of cannon fire between the city''s defenders and the flying raiders. The raiders swooped down from the skies to fire off their steam cannons before retreating out of range as fast as their flying ships could, while the defender''s dragon cannons timed their fire just as the raiderse close in.


    Finally, finding the battle a stalemate, the flying raiders retreated, leaving behind a cheering yet devastated city.

 Chapter 515: Battle Tested

    Chapter 515: Battle Tested


    "Great Sage!" An Imperial soldier with a bloodied bandage over his head rushed down the flight of stairs of the dungeon that were lit brightly by glowmps. The messenger came to a knee before the cloaked figure standing at the head of therge dining table that had some time during the siege made its way down into the Governor''s stone dungeons.


    Originally, the Imperial soldiers had scorned the need to hide underground like rats but after experiencing the first bombardment of the city from the flying ships, the senior officers had wisely followed the advice of the Sage and moved their entiremand staff down underground. Most of the officers were new to this kind of warfare as not much officers survived the war with the UN. Now they all surrounded the table covered with maps of the city and its surrounding areas under the light of dozens of glowmps.


    "Report! The sky raiders have returned!" The messenger cried out. "Two fleets! One from the north west and another from the north east!"


    "So they split their forces to attack the city... hmmm..." Knight Colonel Sander rubbed his carefully maintained goatee as he stared down at the map of the city. "The north sea wall wille under attack here and... here?"


    The cloaked Sage leaned forward, his cowl hiding his features in the shadows as he replied. "This round... I guess they will just attack us from range... Have the cannoneers take cover and the mages continue to protect the guns."


    "Why?" Knight Colonel Sander asked a simple question as he gestured the messenger off to carry out the orders.


    "In the first attack, they know that our cannons can sting..." The Sage replied in his strange ent. "Now they will kept away from the range of cannons... They will just keep to beyond the range of our cannons and drop plunging fire down onto our defenses."


    The Knight Colonel had a deep frown on his face as he digested the information. "So they will randomly bomb the city? But won''t they destroy the city? Don''t they want to raid the city for supplies and gold?"


    The Sage nodded, "I guess their intentions now are no longer about raiding the city anymore. It should be a matter of pride for them."


    Seeing the Knight Colonel nodded as if enlightened by his words, Leung let out a small sigh of relief. He had beening out with random nonsense all along and so far, he has been lucky as most of his predictions or advise as he constantly called them to be, came close to hitting the mark.


    "This kind of war is confusing," The Knight Colonel confessed. "Even with dragon warfare, it always has been simple, clearing the skies, and dropping firebombs to troops..."


    "Now, we have to calcte the effective height and range of the dragon cannons to hiding underground..." The Knight Colonel sighed as he confided with Leung. "Gone were the days of a good straightforward charge into the enemy. Now our infantry and even bowmen are all useless in such a battle!"


    "Thankfully, you are here to led us into the new age!" The Knight Colonel grinned, looking like a certain someone''s kindly uncle. "Or this city would have fallen long ago!"


    Leung nodded sagely and racked his brain for a quote he read from his many E novels during his time as a recruit trainee.


    "War never changes... Only the weapons changes... Yet it is not the weapons, but the men who handle them, who win victories... And now we are battle tested!"


    -----


    Off the Western Coast of the New World, UNS Vengeance, g Bridge


    Ford was seated behind his desk at the spacious g Bridge which a tactical plot table upied the center of the bridge together with a small staff that manned the various stations around the bridge.


    He set thetestmunique down as his mind raced. High Command, in other words, Captain ke, had sent word that the Empire of Bluewood, their enemy ever since theynded on this cursed, was asking with somewhat polite words if they were attacking and raiding their northern shores, which struck Ford as ironic.


    Must be the new child Emperor that Tavor had propped up there, thought Ford who brought up an image of the northern coast of the Empire on his disy. "Wait a minute... That bastard!"


    "He knew something like this would happen!" Ford eximed to himself as he came to a realization of why Tavor wanted the UNS Vengeance to head north to the Empire instead of heading towards the Isles. "That sneaky bastard!"


    He shook his head in admiration at the devious mind of the Intelligence Officer. Tavor must had foreseen the Empire would assumed and put suspicions on the UN if they were attacked by the Old World force, dubbed Group Alpha since flying ships and aircraft would seem simr to the locals here, as they do not have the knowledge to tell the different apart.


    Tavor must had wanted the Vengeance conveniently nearby for the young Emperor to request for our help when they realized that it is not the UN attacking them. The Vengeance''s actual mission was not to show the g to the Empire, but to offer an option to defeat the Group Alpha for the young Emperor! Not only it will disy the United Nations'' military might to the new nobles, it will increase the UN''s influence greatly among the Empire!


    "Fucking hell," Ford hissed with admiration as he stood up from his desk. He strolled out of the g bridge and headed outside to the open air flying bridge and watched the scenery around him. Apany of Marines were doing calisthenics on Flight Deck A while the other flight deck was upied by a couple of F/A - 2 Vipers that were spooning up their engines as they readied to beunched off the deck.


    Stretching beyond the tri prows of the UNS Vengeance was a formation of three escort corvettes that were considered tinypared to the hull size and tonnage of the Vengeance. At the aft were another three escort corvettes and five oilers and supply ships and surprisingly, a pod of several ind whales faithfully trailing behind, which acted as a sorts of temporary water resupply as the whales had fresh water holes on their ''ind backs''. Unfortunately, they had yet to find a way to control or influence the ind whales to their bidding, or they would make a great floating supply depot for naval fleets.


    The fleet named Task Force g has departed from Far Harbor two days before and has streamed past the city of Haven the day before. It would take the entire Task Force another three days to reach the northern tip of the New World and another day or so to enter the straits between therge ind named Exiles'' Ind and the maind ande into contact with the Empire.


    "Four more days of peace and quiet..." Ford mused to himself as he enjoyed the breeze. The Vengeance still has teething problems popping up here and there, that Chief Matt who demanded to be onboard, and his division worked tirelessly to remedy.


    There were also several new equipment that were not battle tested mounted onboard the ship, one of them being the salvaged magic barrier equipment of the Protectorate. Preliminary tests showed that a magic barrier worked the worst with water, especially for ships if the barrier covered even the underside of hull.


    The constant contact with running or moving water, causing a huge drain on the mana stones that was fed into aplex system of runes and magic circuits known as a magic convertor. Mana stones ced inside the magic convertor drains the stones, turning them into mana which to Ford''s understanding, sounds kinda like electricity being pulled out of batteries.


    The mana was than used to power the arrays of moreplex runes and crystals which projected a bubble of semi permeable magic barrier which allowed air to pass through, allowing whoever was within the barrier to keep breathing. The magic could even be adjusted, increasing or decreasing the size of the permeable spores of the barrier.


    The magic barrier as Ford was briefed on, was actually made up of thousands and thousands of tiny mana spheres that can be as tiny as a molecule which of course needed a lot of mana to maintain to the sizes asrge as a dinner te. These mana spheres were held together by theplex arcane workings of a Magic Crystal Node which felt like some kind of ma to Ford. The size of the barrier was controlled by the barrier nodes which required massive amount of mana that was provided by the magic convertors.


    The tiny mana spheres making up a magic barrier shatters upon impact with a high speed object, for example an arrow or bullet. Like a kind of reactive armor, the tiny spheres explodes, to dampen away the kic energy of projectile, thus negating the attack. And each time the tiny spheres were destroyed, more were created, hence draining mana.


    A person or slow moving object could enter through the barrier without getting stopped, as the person or object pushes the tiny mana spheres away which the spheres quickly return and reform their shapes again. But constant contact with water will drain additional mana as the spheres have to keep trying to reform the bubble shape, which burnt mana.


    On the other hand, fast moving projectiles from inside can be shot out of the barrier. The tiny mana spheres have two opposite charges, the side facing outwards of the barriers prevent fast moving projectiles or spells while the inner side allowed them out by being repelled away, allowing projectiles and spells to be shot out.


    The magic barrier can cut through solid objects without any effect, as the spheres could not be created inside a solid object. Like light waves, the Magic Crystal Node projects out mana waves, and creates the magic spheres at the end of the waves. Mana waves unable to pass through a solid object would not be able to have a magic barrier created.


    The magic barrier could even be tuned to deflect away heat, cold, lightning, and other elements by creating the opposing element of the attack. The weakness the magic barrier was the massive requirements of mana needed, especially the need to counter elemental attacks and shock waves created by explosive weapons which barely any of the New World natives has the concept of.


    Despite having misgivings on such an alien arcane technology which his people barely has any understanding of, including the local mages, Ford still allowed the instation of the magic barrier onboard the Vengeance.


    Dozens of Magic Crystal Nodes or MCN for short, were installed at critical locations such as magazines, fuel bunkers, and ordnance stores for the aircraft. They had tested the magic barrier several times before instation but still the entire system was not battle tested and might fail when they least expected it.


    Ford prayed that it would of course work with a hitch, but in battle, anything that could fuck you over will attempt to fuck you at anything, as he had learned in the hard way. Still, it could save lives and even the ship if it worked.


    "Fucking magic..." Ford sighed as he stared at the closet MCN, a thin rod of a grey brown wooden material with the head of the rod carved into a holder for a purple glowing crystal. Runes and strange arcane wiggles were further carved, onto the decks and bulkheads, and led into the depths of the ship to be connected to the several magic convertors shattered throughout the ship.


    The single flimsy looking rod provided protection for the entire upper pagoda superstructure of the Vengeance with another installed at the rear as redundancy. A further couple more protected the lower portion of the superstructure, the rods blending into theplex arrays ofmunications masts and antennas.


    "This shit better work when we need it," Ford cast ast nce at the MCN rod before he retired back into the bridge. "Where we are going to go in the future... We are sure gonna need it..."

 Chapter 516: Intentions

    Chapter 516: Intentions


    The New World, Empire of Bluewood Territory, Exile''s Passage, UNS Vengeance


    Professor Hamlot watched the crew of the massive ocean going ship that seemed more like a small ind instead of a ship, navigate the behemoth into the channel. The loud roar of the single winged flying machines the crew called Vipers and the double winged machines called Cobras, came overhead from the open air observation deck, he was at with a few others.


    The machines known as ''er kaft'' in the locals''nguage had roused Professor Hamlot''s curiosity greatly as whenever he had the time, he woulde to the observation deck and watch the crew in colourful jackets work the machines on both sides of the long t decks. He found the machines and weapons used by the United Nationers were seemingly more advanced and even superiorpared to what knowledge he has of the Old World''s steam weapons.


    Even the massive ship he was on board now, serving as a consultant for themand staff, might seem to be primitivepared to an airship, the ship actually had much more advanced technologypared to the Old World''s steam tech!


    The only fields the United Nationers seemed to be weak in was in certain elements of magic and aetherium research. Yet, despite that, the United Nationers were highly innovative as he already spotted some magic equipment that was clearly Protectorate in origin being installed here and there.


    The trio of flying machines that had turned into tiny specks in the distance had returned, and following behind them were a couple of winged creatures which turned out to be actual dragons. Professor Hamlot shook his head in amazement as he saw the graceful serpentine shapes of the dragons covered in blue trappings came pping down andnding on the top of the t deck easily.


    In the Old World, the only chance one would be able to see a real dragon was only from the Dragon Lords. Even for dragons in the wild, were so rare that one might not even catch any news of one in ten years! And most of the nations, especially the Suugon Dynasty uses a lesser creature called a drake, which might look simr to a dragon but were not true dragons at all.


    Wars had been fought over the nest of wild dragons for their eggs over the history of the Old World regrly when they were found, but most of the time the eggs did not survive the conflicts. Nations had been trying to breed dragons, but with the Old World''s magic getting weaker and weaker, it was getting harder and harder for dragons to breed.


    In the short year or so of time the Professor had been in the New World, he has seen more dragons in the New World than he could possibly see in more than three lifetimespared to living in the Old World! How exciting! Thought Professor Hamlot as he made some notes on his notepad, writing on the once again, smooth and beautifully white crafted paper bound ingeniously together with tiny metal rings, of all things, into a handy little booklet!


    And the ballpoint pen, without the need to constantly dab into an inkwell, nor does it scratches and breaks the paper easily, as it could write on the paper without damaging it, oh so smoothly and dries almost instantly! The more the stayed in the United Nations, the more he felt himself getting pampered by the tiniest conveniences that he did not even notice at all on the other side.


    Invited by the scary United Nationer to act as their consultant on matters involving the Old World, Professor Hamlot has gotten a summarized briefing of the current situation in the New World. Apparently, the Seven Great Nations has managed to cross the Sea of Clouds in search of the vast amounts of magic crystals in the New World and encroached on the territories of the kingdoms and nations here, waging war on the locals.


    He had since met the strange tall and handsome admiral of the United Nationer''s ocean going fleet, whose short ears made the historian inside him screaming inwardly about finding out this strange short eared races'' origins. But he kept his curiosity in check as he bowed and made the correct noises to the gathered officers which he found out to his greater surprise that none of the senior officersmanding the ship or troops was even part of the nobility!


    After some discreet questions, he came to the realization that unlike what the norm for nations and kingdoms, the United Nationer''s does not have any nobility! Yet there was the Princess which he heard so many people mentioned, even on the amazing ''rad dio'' and the magic box disys. And the King of the United Nationers must be a noble too, if not how would themon people know how to rule?


    Professor Hamlot felt that each time he gained an understanding of the United Nationers, another two questions will appear! But the questions in his heart only made him more excited as seeking knowledge was the path of all schrs!


    When briefed about the quest of the great giant ship, in his heart, there was a sense of excitement and hope of being able to find his fellow citizens of the Iron Kingdom and return back home to the Old World, but yet there was also the yearning of adventure to remain with the United Nationers in the New World, whose nation appeared more than it seemed.


    A naval aide assigned to him found him deep in his thoughts at the observation deck and informed him that his presence was required at the meeting room. He lingered on the observation deck for a while more, watching the dragons being groomed before he followed the aide into the ship.


    -----


    Dragon Rider Eutex was just about to end the day''s patrol when he spotted a trio of fast moving objects that turned out to the highly feared flying crosses of the Un An. While he was too young to be deployed and in the battle against the Un An, he had heard many stories from other dragon riders and soldiers who survived the war.


    All told tales of how much faster, deadly, and manoeuvrable the Un An''s flying crosses were. They could out turn and outfly even the fastest dragon in the Imperial Dragon Corps. The flying crosses looped around in sharp turn and came up next to Eutex''s lightweight dragon which was flinching away from the roar of the Un An''s flyer.


    He struggled with his reins and managed to subdue his Razor Wing as it panicked with the noisy flyer close by. Eutex turned his attention to the flyer which appeared to be made out of painted metal and wood, and a figure sat behind a crystal canopy. The figure waved and made some gestures that to Eutex as if wanting him to follow the flyer.


    For a moment, Eutex wanted to send a crossbow bolt over to the Un An flyer as rumours that they were the cause of raids along the coast was made by them. He also briefly entertained the thoughts of escaping them, by dropping into a dive and flying away at top speed, but he remembered that either choice he made, he and his wing dragon would never make it out alive as they were outnumbered and easily out manoeuvred.


    He waved back in acknowledgement, wondering what did they want and where did theye from. He shed a couple of signals to his wing dragon whose rider signed back and they fell back obediently behind the Un An flyers which appeared to have slowed down in consideration of their dragons'' speed.


    After roughly half a turn of the sandss, Eutex''s eyes widened in shock as he spotted the dark smudge on the ocean beneath him. For a moment, he felt confused as he did not recall the area of the ocean ever having an ind or reef. The trio of Un An flyers made a direct beeline for the shape that looked like a grey ind but as the distance closed and more details became apparent, Eutex realised that the ind they were approaching was not an ind at all!


    It was a giant sailing ship made out of iron!


    -----


    Professor Hamlot managed to join the conversation between the dragon riders and the United Nationers'' officer in time to catch word of the situation along the northern coast. He could still understand what the Rider was saying despite the ent and local dialect as the young Rider went on about huge flying ships raiding and terrorizing up and down the coast.


    From his bodynguage and tone, Professor Hamlot suspected that the young dragon rider was putting the me on the United Nationers for their plight or even thought they were even the culprits behind the attacks.


    The short eared hooman officer, the Professor recognized as the hooman called Ford, speaking with dragon riders had replied in a calm tone as if unbothered by their hostile stance, reassuring them that they were here to investigate the rumours and also to offer their help should the Emperor requests them for it.


    He then next handed over a pouch that had a letter addressed to the Emperor and his court and offered the dragon riders food and drink. The officer told them to deliver the letter to the Emperor and the ship would be anchored here awaiting their reply and that reassured them again that the United Nations has no involvement in any attacks against the Empire.


    The two dragon riders seemed taken back by his friendly gesture and news. The two young riders discussed among themselves and in the end they still denied the offer of refreshments, instead, wishing to depart at once to return the news of their intentions to their Lords. The hooman Ford nodded in understanding and wished them well for their return journey and even personally saw them off at the top deck of the ship.


    Momentster, the two winged shapes disappeared into the sky with an escort of the United Nationers'' flying machines and the hooman Ford turned to Professor Hamlot.


    "Professor Hamlot," The hooman Ford gave a warm smile as he greeted the Professor as they returned into the ship. "I have here something I would like you to take a look at and please give me your thoughts on it."


    He handed over a thin stack of paper documents that Professor Hamlot took and started to flip over the pages. After a moment of reading the contents, Professor Hamlot had a deep frown on his face. "Judging from this... It would appear that these flying ships from either the Tri State or the Iron Kingdom!"


    Ford nodded as he took a can of sweet cococane juice and offered it to Professor Hamlot. "Yes, just as we suspected."


    "You knew long ago?" Professor Hamlot was surprised as put down the notes.


    "More or less," Ford did not go into further details. "The Empire''s dragon scouts and your words just confirmed our guess."


    "They should have been here for a month already, I guess they are raiding for supplies and materials to build up a base," Ford said. "Our intelligence reports tell us that construction materials, food, tools, and even people were taken from each raid."


    "All these would be essential if they are looking to build up a base of operations within the area," Ford said. "This means they will be here to stay for long."


    "I... I apologize on behalf of the people of the Iron Kingdom," Professor Hamlot gave a heartfelt bow to Ford who waved it off. "I am ashamed that my countrymen would do such atrocities to this beautifulnd!"


    "There is no need for any apologies," Ford let out a deep sigh. "If there is a need to apologize, it would be me..."


    "If the Emperor asks for our aid against them, or if we were attacked by them," Ford gave a grim smile. "Many will die... Many of your countrymen will die."

 Chapter 517: Balloons

    Chapter 517: Balloons


    The New World, Port of Sunder


    The city shook under the bombardment of the guns of the raiding airships. Two distinctive looking groups of airships came swooping in over the city walls, the ck muzzles of their steam cannons jutting out from under their bellies and spewed steam and iron down.


    Having given up the high altitude bombardment, which not only burnt more fuel to keep the aetherium heated up, the uracy of their steam cannons drop drastically the further they were from their targets. Now the raiders were reinforced by another three ships, that unlike the blocky shape of the original raiders, the new flying ships looked more ornate and sleeker in design.


    The raiders came charging in like a rapier, aiming for one point of the city defences, and dropped off barrels of incendiaries and their steam cannons raised hell to the defenders. The defenders frantically returned cannon fire back with their crude ck powder cannons which scored a few hits on the raiders but were deflected away by their magic barriers.


    The attacks went on constantly, leaving the area around the city walls badly damaged and any nearby buildings in ruins. Those that could flee the city had already done so in the first lull in the siege, while the rest without any means of escape could only hunker down at whatever shelter they could find.


    After over a week of bombardments, the majority of the city wallsid in ruins, only sections that held the only weapons that could fend off the flying ships remained standing, protected by a smallpany of mages. Even so, those sections were in a bad shape as the foundations surrounding the walls were on the brink of copse as where the Imperial mages as they valiantly protected the dragon cannons.


    Leung peeked out from the ruined entrance that led into the dungeons which had been turned into amand bunker for the defenders. He saw the airships in the skies forming up and he turned to the Knight Colonel. "Looks like they will be attacking the same way today."


    Knight Colonel Sander nodded as he put away his spyss. "It''s time?"


    "It is time," Leung nodded and the Knight Colonel started giving out orders. Coloured gs were raised and defenders still on the wall replied by raising a confirmation g. Satisfied, Knight Colonel Sander asked the Sage in a worried tone, "Will it be sessful?"


    "Hopefully," Leung replied in a confident voice despite not feeling confident at all. He lowered his hood to prevent the Knight Colonel from seeing his nervous expression on his face and instead directed his attention to the approaching airships. "We will know soon."


    The group of six flying ships had formed up in a column, and like a battering ram, they charged straight towards the wall, nning to fly over every cannon position and dropping incendiaries to burn the guns down. Like clockwork, the flying ships came in, repeating the exact same attack manoeuvre for the few days, the only difference was which direction and section of the wall they aimed at.


    This time, the column of flying ships aimed for the western walls. The remaining dragon cannons were already turning to face the approaching attackers while mages started to chant and conjured up protective barriers for the guns. The dragon cannon crews by now were well versed in operating the cannons and also getting better inying the guns.


    The dragon cannons roared just at the veryst moment when the flying ships came over them, the heavy iron balls shattering against the forward most flying ship''s magic barrier, creating a bubble of rainbow shimmers over the ship. The gunners after firing the cannons, rushed to reload their weapons, ignoring the falling barrels of incendiaries that were dropped by the flying ships over their positions.


    The barrels exploded over the magic barriers thrown up by the Imperial Army''s mages, creating balls of mes gusting into the skies with oily ck smoke. Some of the mages quickly conjured up ice spells to prevent the heat from the mes from injuring anyone. But despite the best efforts of the mages, one section of the wall crumbled as the foundations finally caved in under the constant bombardment.


    The entire dragon cannon crew and the several mages and soldiers disappeared in an instant under a cloud of dirty brown smoke. The raiders seeming appeared bolder upon seeing the sess of their attacks, looped around and reformed its formation again before charging towards the walls again.


    As they lined up directly over the walls and dived down, dozens of floating balloons appeared in their path. Unable to fully evade the balloons without ruining their bombing run, the airships continued straight on, disregarding the balloons which the leading airship was wreathed in balls of fire and explosions.


    The leading airship, Iron Warrior''s captain yelled outmands to break off the attack as their view was suddenly nketed by thick ck smoke. He realized that the floating balloons in his path were some kind of explosive device and hurriedly ordered the crew to turn away from the balloons.


    But it was toote, as the leading airship mming into one after another balloon mine, which explosive charge of ck powder exploded on contact. The shockwaves shook and rattled the airship and its crew heavily and with the panicked sudden sharp turn to evade more of the floating mines, something broke inside the flying ship and blinded by the clouds of burnt ck powder, the helm''s man could not judge the ship''s bearing.


    The second airship, Iron Fist, had pulled away from the attack when its captain witnessed the predicament the lead airship was in. He had ordered the helm''s man to steer away, and reduce speed to prevent any unforeseen idents, but he did not expect to have turned his airship directly into the same direction the leading airship had gone.


    The blocky rectangr fish shape of the Hardy ss Iron Kingdom destroyer, Iron Warrior, suddenly burst from the cloud of ck smoke without any warning and prow of IK Iron Fist, smashed against the starboard side of IK Iron Warrior. Both helm''s man without the need of their screaming captains, sought to reverse the situation by steering away from each other.


    Both Iron Kingdom ship''s magic barrier flickered wildly in a riot of colours as both ships rubbed against each other. But the IK Iron Fist''s several thousand tons of inertia force traveling at over forty kilometres an hour continued forward, and before both ships could separate, their magic barrier overloaded and the metal met metal with a grinding scream.


    The sudden impact of both ships knocked the majority of the crew off their feet and befitting the name of the ship, the IK Iron Fist punched the IK Iron Warrior off its course, causing both ships to further grind against each other and crashing all the side airscrews, rudders, armour ting and sails into scrap metal.


    Any steam cannon barrel that was deployed out were mmed back into their gun ports and were overturned, crashing anyone unfortunate to be nearby. Explosions rocked the ships as a couple of floating balloon mines drifted into their path.


    The other airships broke their formations to evade running into each other and they pulled back to a safe distance from the deadly balloons that appeared over the city walls, helpless as they watched the city defender firing their cannons at the sickened airships.


    Cheers erupted from the defenders and the city as they saw mes and smoke brewing from the two flying ships that appeared to have glued together. Both ships were losing altitude rapidly as white and blue smoke erupted out from their sides.


    It was not long before both ships, hugging each other, came crashing down on the outskirts of the port city and started burning. The air raiders watched from the distance before they fell back and disappeared into the clouds, and the city cheered again at their retreat.


    "Great Sage..." Knight Colonel Sander had tears in his eyes as he watched the air raiders retreat. "You are the great saviour of Port Sunder!"


    "Ah... it was nothing," Leung looked away in embarrassment, but to the worshipping eyes of the soldiers around him, it felt like a humble action instead.


    The Knight Colonel went down on one knee and bowed his head in respect to Leung and the rest of the people and soldiers in the room did the same. "The Great Sage is wise! Hail the Great Sage!"


    Leung felt even more embarrassed and he quickly pulled the soldiers up to their feet. "No. no, no! I''m not some great being... Get up!"


    The soldiers stood up and cheered, and even the Knight Colonel had arge grin on his face. "Great Sage, no matter what you say, you will always be the Great Sage in our eyes! Without you, we would have lost this battle!"


    The Knight Colonel gestured around the city, "Can you hear the cheering?"


    Leung nodded, and for once in his life, he felt like he has done something worthwhile. But his mood soon turned bleak as he gestured to the broken walls. "We wouldn''t be able to hold out a second siege if they return..."


    "Great Sage, with you here," The Knight Colonelughed boisterously. "I am confident you will find a way to stop them!"


    "Like those... hot air balloon mines that you came out with!" Knight Colonel Sander shook his head in wonder. "Who would have known that burning coals inside bags of canvas sails can make them fly into the air!"


    The float balloon mines were miniature hot air balloons devised by Leung by using the stocked up supplies of ship parts. People still in the city were gathered by the soldiers and using cers as underground workshops, the ves and womenfolk cut rolls of canvas that were used by ships as sails and sewn them into bags.


    When the sewing was ongoing, cksmiths created a simple metal holder for the burning fuel. The metal holder was than tied to the bags and a barrel tightly packed with over a hundred kilos of ck powder were rigged under the holder.


    Next, the Imperial Army mages crafted a special rune trap powered by a single tiny mana stone. The magical trap was then carefully installed onto the top of the ck powder barrel. Once the trap was armed, any shock to the trap would cause it to activate and create a small burst of sparks. The sparks would, in turn, ignite the barrel of ck powder and anything within a radius of several meters would be blown to bits.


    Leung''s n was to have the hot air balloons up into the air and into the path of the flying ships. The hot air balloon mines would be tethered to the ground by ropes to prevent them from behind blown away.


    He barely expected it to work with any results, but to his surprise, when the airships returned for the second attack run, the floating mines created more chaos than expected. It was a gamble as they only have so much supply of ck powder for the cannons, and taking them away to make the mines that might not work and probably blow themselves up instead, turned out to be a well ced bet.


    But now, seeing the worship and excitement in the eyes of the soldiers around him, Leung felt uneasy as he has no idea what to do next. He was certain that the enemy will return and with an even bigger force, which he was sure that they will surely lose and even die!


    The Knight Colonel said, "Great Sage, what are our next ns?"


    Next ns, your head! Leung cursed inwardly as he stared nkly at the Knight Colonel. With his hood down, the people around him assumed that he wasing out with an amazing n. Finally, Leung sighed and made up a lie, "I think we should start evacuating the people... We have held out long enough, and the Emperor will deal with this... problem personally."


    "REPORT!" A messenger suddenly arrived, panting as he came to one knee. "Priority message from the Emperor!"


    Knight Captain Sander frowned as he took the offered scroll. He quickly removed the ribbons and unrolled the scroll and started reading. His frown suddenly disappeared and changed to surprise before he excitedly eximed. "My heavens! Did you predict this?"


    Leung was confused as he looked at the Knight Colonel beaming at him again. He took the scroll and read it and he choked inwardly as he digested the news. The Knight Colonel turned to the surrounding soldiers and said, "The Great Sage is wise! He must have predicted that the Emperor is sending reinforcements to fight the sky raiders!"


    "What the fuck?"

 Chapter 518: North Sea Imperial Fleet

    Chapter 518: North Sea Imperial Fleet


    Knight Colonel Sander stood on the crumbled sea walls that overlooked the port of the city, seeing workers and vesboring away at the broken ships and harbor debris. Sea worthy sailing ships were swarmed with a small army of carpenters and ship wrights as they made repairs and reced broken masts and sails.


    "How can we win with these ships when the enemy flies in the air?" Knight Colonel Sander asked in a respectful tone to the Sage beside him. "Won''t we be throwing away the lives of the crew?"


    "I am certain that the Emperor has found a way to fight the enemy if he gave you such an order," The cloaked Sage replied in a distracted tone. "Since he ordered any ships capable of crossing the channel to be repaired and readied."


    Knight Colonel Sander let out a sigh as he returned his attention to the ongoing repairs. "We do not have much ocean going ships here."


    As there barely was any coastal cities other than the Port of Sunder that served as the only harbor with facilitiesrge enough for regr ships, in the northern region, hence the need of sailing ships was very low. The mostmon type of ocean going ships in the region were mostly small merchants ships that travel around the fishing viges and small towns along the northern coast.


    The North Sea Imperial Fleet could barely even be called a fleet, as it only had a total of eight small frigates, and were old and badly maintained. And the only most sea worthy had gone missing weeks ago, while escorting a merchant ship over to Exile Ind which was suspected to have been sunk or captured by the sky raiders.


    It might be due to the sad appearance of the ships, that the sky raiders did not even bothered to fire a volley at them, hence the remains of the North Sea Imperial Fleet luckily remained wholly intact in the siege. But as to their seaworthiness, it was something else to be said about it.


    Casting an eye over the sad looking ships, Knight Colonel Sander let out another deep sigh as he wondered how was he going to repair those neglected hulls in time for the crossing of the channel. And he was very tempted to just abandon those ancient frigates and instead justmandeer all the small merchant and fishing vessels instead.


    "Is there any point in repairing those ships?" The Sage suddenly spoke out as if he knew his thoughts. "Feels like a waste of time and money."


    "We need ships to be able to carry all the soldiers to Exile Ind by the order of the Emperor..." Knight Colonel Sander exined. "And we only have those ships... able to transport soldiers across the channel..."


    "Can''t we use all the other ships there?" The Great Sage gestured towards the other ships docked at the harbor. "Even if they are small, I am sure they can transport soldiers easily."


    "Even if we use all the ships there," Knight Colonel Sander replied. "There are barely even a dozen small merchants that can go out to deep sea... How many soldiers can they carry per trip? A hundred? Two hundred? I am no sailor... But from what I understand, the winds and water currents in the channel are unpredictable, which means it would take days and many trips to just move the entire army across the ocean..."


    Leung frowned under his hood as he mentally tallied the numbers. He remembered the Knight Colonel saying something about 5th Imperial Army having roughly six thousand soldiers and the Emperor in hisst missive had stated reinforcements of another five thousand soldiers were marching over.


    To move the entire 5th Army, on just the ten merchants ships or so would need at least four to five round trips with each round trip taking at least a half a day or more. Meaning it would take roughly three days at least to move six thousand men over. Leung understood why the Knight Colonel was unhappy with logistics as taking three days to making the cross with no doubt invite the sky raiders toe and destroy all the vulnerable ships as they sail across the channel.


    He looked over the neglected frigates of the North Sea Imperial Fleet from the distance and shook his head. Even ayman like him could tell how bad the condition of the frigates were. Their design looked simr to an old 17th century ''galley frigate'', small two decked sailing cruisers with a set of oar ports on the lower deck.


    Heavy ballistas sat on its top deck, but without maintenance, the heavy weapons had deteriorate under the weather, its two masts looked forlorn and sails had rot and worm eaten. All the eight simr looking frigates were listed to the side as if water had flooded some of theirs.


    "Why build them at all in the first ce if they are going to be neglected?" Leung asked the Knight Colonel who gave a shrug. The knight gestured to his staff and a mid aged weather beaten elf shuffled forward in azy carefree manner.


    The sailor had a dark weatheredplexion from being out in the sun all day and worn a thick messy beard. He had a blue scarf tied over his head and wore a simple white long sleeved tunic and trousers in Imperial Blue, while a pair of leather boots covered his feet. An officer sword adorned his belt was the only article indicting he was an officer of sorts.


    "First Sea Lieutenants of the Lieutenants," The sailor cheerfully introduced himself as he gave a salute, Imperial navy style, to the Knight Colonel. "Sea Lieutenant Aerin of the North Sea Imperial Fleet, reporting!"


    "Tell us, why is the North Sea Imperial Fleet in such a dreadful state?" Knight Colonel Sander growled as he stared at the sloppy manner of the Lieutenant. "Has discipline fallen so much in the navy?"


    "No, Lord," The Lieutenant replied in a nonchnt manner as if he was unconcerned by the Knight Colonel''s temper. "The fleet has no funds. No funds means no crew. No crew means no maintenance."


    "How can there be no funds?" The Knight Colonel cursed. "Where did all the money, Lord Keaten, your admiral, was given to maintain the fleet?"


    The Lieutenant gave a shrug as he drawled, "Haven''t seen the admiral for ages... Sea Captain Pn was running things for a while... until he disappeared at sea one day."


    "Now, without the captain around, and with only ship still ocean worthy gone with him, may the heavens protect his soul, " The Lieutenant made another shrug. "No one is getting paid, so they all left."


    "Desertion!" The Knight Colonel hissed angrily as he turned to his aides. "Go find those sailors who deserted! Bring them to me!"


    "Wa!" The Lieutenant was surprised by the order. He quickly imposed himself in front of the Knight Colonel, a pleading tone in his voice. "My lord, I released the men! It is unfair for them to do anything without getting paid! And... without an ocean going ship, there is nothing we can do!"


    "Let it be," Leung suddenly spoke out on behalf of the Lieutenant as he felt the elf was loyal to his men. "We can''t solve anything even if we bring those sailors back."


    "Lord Keaten should be here to oversee the Fleet!" Knight Colonel Sander turned his anger to the Admiral instead since the Sage has spoken. "Have you informed the admiral about the condition of the Fleet?"


    "Yes, Lord," The Lieutenant''s carefree tone was gone as he did not dare offend the Knight Colonel and drag his men down. "Captain Pn had written to him many times, but his replies were always the same, saying he was busy and funds are on the way. But after months of the same replies, Captain Pn gave up and he started prioritizing. He released most of the sailors of the Fleet and kept one ship running to stretch out our funds..."


    An admiral was supposed to oversee the entire North Sea Imperial Fleet but the admiral post of the North Sea Imperial Fleet was more of a token rank that was sold to the highest bidder who would just wear the uniform and parade around in society to show off. With the loss of the second in charge of the North Sea Imperial Fleet to the sky raiders, the remains of the Fleet regressed even more and all the sailors was released their duty and only the Lieutenant remained behind.


    "This is treason!" Knight Colonel Sander raged as he stomped around the walls. He finally vented his anger by hammered the stone walls for a while before he cooled down. "I shall inform the Emperor of his deeds!"


    "Now, First Sea Lieutenant!" The Knight Colonel turned around and faced the naval officer. "Tell me! Are those ships still sea worthy? Are they repairable?"


    "If we have the funds and manpower to work on the hull," The Lieutenant rubbed his chin as he considered the needs of the ships. "They should be usable... But, I won''t take them out to face goblin pirates even if they are repaired..."


    "Why?" The Knight Colonel asked curiously. "First you say they can be ocean worthy, next you say you would not take them out... What is it? Make up your mind!"


    "They should be able to still sail across the channel if that is where you want to go," The Lieutenant exined. "But if you want to use them to fight something, that can''t happened."


    "The wood has probably rotted inside," He continued. "Getting hit by ballista bolts or catapult balls would shatter the weakened hull."


    "And, even using it to cross the channel, we have to see what the carpenters say about the ships'' structures first..." The Lieutenant said. "So don''t get your hopes up as in the end, they might be too rotted to do anything either."


    "Well... we can copper sheath the ships..." Leung suddenly said. "Should help protect the underwater portion of the hull."


    "Copper sheath?" Both the Knight Colonel and the naval Lieutenant was confused by the term. "What is that?"


    "Well, like this," Leung gestured to the sword hung on the Lieutenant''s belt. "Your sword is covered in a sheath, right?"


    "Yes..." The Lieutenant nodded. "But what does it got to do with ships?"


    "Let me finish exining..." Leung sighed as he cracked his brain. He had read about copper sheathing ships in some isekai novels before and was trying to exin what it does. "Your sword is protected by the rain and other things like mud with the sheath."


    "So even if you drop your sword and into water, your de does not get damaged, right?" Leung said. "Imagine if you cover the bottom of the ship with a thinyer of copper..."


    "My heavens!" The Lieutenant''s eyes lit up as he understood the meaning. "Yes... yes it would work! But... isn''t metal heavy?"


    "A thinyer will do," Leung smiled to himself in relief as he did not have to exin everything to the naval officer as he also did not know much on the topic. "Just enough to cover the bottom."


    Knight Colonel Sander frowned as he looked at the excited Lieutenant and the the Great Sage. He did not understand what copper sheath would do to ships but he do know that so far the Great Sage''s advise has not fail. He only raised up the issue he thought that was important. "How long will it take? We can not dy too long to cross the channel as the Emperor has stated!"


    "We won''t fully cover the entire bottom of the hull," Leung said. "Also, I got an idea to add in man powered paddle wheels to rece the oars..."


    "Paddle wheels?" Both the Knight Colonel and the naval Lieutenant repeated his words again in harmony. "What is that?"


    "Oh... it is something like this..."

 Chapter 519: Freedom!

    Chapter 519: Freedom!


    The New World, Exile Ind, Combined Fleet of the 3rd Iron Fleet and the Tri State Exploration Fleet


    Rows of airships were parked parallel to each other with ample distance between each ship to prevent any idents or fire from spreading, were docked to a series of towers. Dozens of metallic leg beams extended out from the bellies of the airships and supported the entire weight of the ships as the ships'' boilers went cold and the aetherium cooled down to a solid state.


    Only the airships on dutyzily circled around the camp as they patrolled the perimeter. The massive flying fortress of the 3rd Iron Fleet had toonded, but unlike the airships, its size, shape and weight were not suitable tond on the ground, instead, the ind fortress hadnded into the deepest portion of ake, the flying ind''s reinforced bottom dug into the soft mud and sand of theke and disced theke''s water, forcing the water levels to rise and flood its banks.


    When the muddy waters of the stirred upke finally settled down, an ind with a castle appeared on the middle of theke and the rest of the Combined Fleet settled down along the shore of theke. Over the course of a month, the region around theke the locals called the Sword Lake, due to theke looking like a sword, changed drastically.


    A wood and stone wall and numerous wooden buildings were erected along theke together with docking towers that serviced the docked airships. A bridge also made out of wood, extended from the shore and connected to the ind fortress. It wasrge enough for five steam wagons to steam through side by side and traffic was constantly moving up and the bridge.


    Work on these structures was still ongoing by a mixed workforce of locals and soldiers. Every few days, loads of new workers joined the construction work, all of them taken in raids along the coast of the maind. Day by day, the defences of the Combined Fleet grew stronger and stronger and the confidence of the ounders grew as well as they barely faced anyone able to resist their attacks.


    Unknown to them, all their ongoings were being recorded and spied upon by a United Nation Navy, FB - 1S2, a brand new redesigned variant of the flying boat medium bomber, FB - 1 Mariner. The Mariner S2 was the first purpose built tactical airborne early warning and surveince aircraft of the UN, fully taking over the role of the older S variant which was just a converted bomber turned surveince aircraft. The Mariner S2 was also intended to fulfil the role of the hi tech but ageing Owleye UAV which had reached the end of its service life over a year ago.


    It has a dedicated sensor blister protruding out just slightly behind the cockpit and a rotating radar dome mounted above its fusge and wings. Operated by a crew of five, including the pilot and co pilot, the Mariner S2 operating from a high altitude, thanks to its new fully enclosed fusge which the original Mariners does not feature, it could detect and track targets and distinguish between friendly and hostile flying contacts much farther away than a simr ground or sea based radar system.


    Now, one such aircraft was circling in the skies in an altitude so high that even if one was to stare up directly at the aircraft, they would not be able to even see even a speck of it. The powerful sensors and cameras on board the Mariner S2 were trained directly over the Combined Fleet''s camp, every detail recorded and transmitted over to the UNS Vengeance''s CIC many many kilometres away.


    -----


    Entrance to Exile''s Passage, UNS Vengeance, Command Information Center


    Data streamed into the Vengeance''s CICputers that once adorned the insides of the space cruiser, UNS Singapore. Unlike the crudeputers systems produced locally, theputers of the UNS Singapore that were deemed obsolete by the standards of the United Nations of Mankind was still vastly powerful, with processors that were still unreplicable yet by the current production, technology and education level of the still growing UN.


    The operators patientlypiled and updated the data flowing in from the Mariner S2 into intelligence reports which currently, Commander Ford in the g Bridge was reviewing. He sat behind his work desk, his eyes glued to the scrolling disy of images and reports of Group Alpha.


    He has ordered Taskforce g to sail north again, returning to the mouth of the channel between Exile Ind and the maind when the Imperial messengers and envoys returned andnded. The envoys had stated the Emperor was willing to ept their assistance with the sky raiders and also help clear up any misunderstandings between the UN and the Empire.


    Since the envoys had so kindly provided a map of the region and even marked the coastal regions where the raids urred, it allowed him and his staff to determine where the Old World airships raiding routes begin and end. To prevent getting spotted and losing the elemental of surprise, Ford''s Taskforce has anchored off in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the ocean.


    The map provided by the Imperial envoys did not fully list out each and every vige or settlement along the coast, as only towns, cities or viges with strategic or mary value were listed. Hence, there were actually many other viges that had been raided without the Empire knowing.


    Almost every hour or so, a courier wyvern or dragon woulde fluttering into anding on the carrier deck where the Imperial envoys had set up shop at one corner of Flight Deck A. Cages of courier wyverns had been delivered from dragons were stacked together and a simple awning covered and provided shelter for the feathered animals.


    A crystal mounted on a wooden tripod served as a magical homing beacon for the courier wyverns, which they were trained to hone into the magical signature, allowing messages to be delivered. Ford had been half tempted to just loan the Empire a radio set for faster and easiermunications but gave up the idea as he did not want some unforeseen consequences to ur in the future.


    "Sir," An aide appeared and handed a note over. "Word from the Imperials has arrived."


    Ford nodded and read the note, which said of an invasion force was being readied to make an attempt to cross the channel and march towards the sky raiders'' camp. Ford frowned as he finished reading the note and he asked his aide, "That''s all? Nothing else?"


    "Yes, Sir," The aide nodded. "The Imperials handed the message to me just now."


    "How the fuck are we going to coordinate such an attack if they just give us such a half assed message!" Ford cursed. "Tell them to give us more details! Timings, dates, locations all this information!"


    The aide saluted and left the g bridge to carry out his orders. Ford shook his head in defeat the way ofmunications between his Taskforce and the Imperials. "Maybe I should just blow the shit out of Group Alpha instead of working together with the Imperials... Fucking waste of time..."


    -----


    Skies over the Great Ocean ins


    Blue Thunder leisuely pped his wings as he flew at the head of an arrow formation of dragons. He felt free and rxed atst after leaving the borders of the UN and Rastraz behind with the eggs. He hummed to himself happily, enjoying his newfound freedom.


    "What the hell you so cheerful about?" UN Air Force Captain Stamford asked as he sat on the back of Blue Dragon. hooked up to his harness. He had returned with a promotion and to captain Blue Thunder after a year, joining him on his mission to Fortress Hensink to speak with the survivors of Group Bravo.


    "No Rastraz! No eggs to look after!" Blue Thunder rumbled. "Heheheheehe!"


    "You are lucky Rastraz did not want to go and leave her eggs behind to be watched by some other dragons!" Stamford kicked the nks of Blue Thunder''s neck. "I thought you like being henpecked?"


    "Henpecked? Me? Nooooo!" Blue Thunder raised his head indignantly. "I am the alpha of the brood!"


    "Hahaha, sureee!" Stamford shook his head at his old friend. "You wish!"


    "Hey!" Blue Thunder craned his head over and jerked towards the formation of four dragons around him. "I am inmand of all the dragons in the Air Force!"


    "But not your home," Stamfordughed as he teased the dragon. "Oh, well, I can guess why you are happy. No chores, no looking after the kids..."


    Blue Thunder bobbed his head in agreement happily. "Yess! No looking after the eggs! You don''t know how much work there is!"


    "You have polish them... turned them every hour andy on them to keep them warm..." Blue Thundermented. "And if youy down on them, you have to be careful to keep your weight away from them... I had woke up in shock several times thinking I had identally crushed the eggs when I fell asleep over them! My poor heart andck of a good sleep can''t handle such stress!"


    "Silly dragon!" Stamford shook his head at Blue Thunder. "Those are your kids, for god''s sake!"


    "I know..." Blue Thunder said in a low tone. "I do care about them. But... it is good to be free from looking after them..."


    "Alright..." Stamfordughed again at the sight of Blue Thunder''s wounded expression. "Take this as a vacation than and recharge yourself. Once we return, you gonna be a full time daddy again!"


    "Of course!" Blue Thunder grinned, showing off his sword length teeth. "This is what they call taking a break, yes?"


    "Yea," Stamford replied. "But remember, we are on a mission to get information out of those Dragon Lords."


    "Why would one call themselves as Dragon Lords?" Blue Thunder mused. "Hmmm... Maybe I am a Lord too? Should I call myself as a Dragon Lord too?"


    "Dragon Lord your head!" Stamford kicked against Blue Thunder''s side with his heel. "You think you have the quality to be a Lord? A noble? You glutton!"


    "Hey! I am an officer now, okay!" Blue Thunder hissed with pride. "OF FE SER!"


    "And yet, I outrank you still, First Lieutenant Blue Thunder," Stamford grinned. "You still have to salute me!"


    Blue Thunder growled something underneath his breathe that no human could make with their vocals and Stamford''s eyes narrowed as he kicked Blue Thunder again. "Cursing me in draconic?"


    "Nope, I did not say anything!" Blue Thunder put on an innocent expression, as he kept his head forward and pped his wings. "Must be the wind..."


    "So you picked up draconic eh..." Stamford shook his head at Blue Thunder''s antics. "Rastraz taught you?"


    Blue Thunder bobbed his head and his shoulder''s and wings shagged for a moment. "You don''t understand what I went through to learn how to speak draconic..."


    "Hahahahaa!" Stamfordughed at Blue Thunder''s misery. "Well, hopefully, that bit of draconic Rastraz taught you would be helpful when meeting the Dragon Lords..."


    "Oh... it better be useful..." Blue Thunder sighed in defeat before his mood changed again. "Well, no point worrying about that now! I''m free now!"


    "Maybe those Dragon Lord people seeing me would start to worship me since I''m a dragon?" Blue Thunder started to daydream. "Maybe they treat me better in theirndspared to here?"


    "Maybe the name Dragon Lords meant the people are the lords of dragons!" Stamford snapped. "Maybe they take dragons and turn them into ves!"


    "ah..." Blue Thunder huffed in a dismal tone. "You just jealous!"


    "So you want to give up cheese fries to go be some lord?" Stamford asked in mock surprise. "I am pretty certain the UN is the only nation that knows how to make cheese fries..."


    "What Lord? I''m just joking! Who wants to be a Lord when there are no cheese fries to enjoy!"

 Chapter 520: The Magic Converter Array

    Chapter 520: The Magic Converter Array


    One week ago, UNS Vengeance, Battleship Central, Magic Converter Array Room


    "Be careful!" Magister Thorn resisted the urge to hop around as he nervously watched the group of mages handled the metal crate with its edges painted with yellow and ck stripes. The group of Marine guards continued to remain on guard after they delivered the package but upon seeing the nervous Magister, the Marines instinctively edged as far to the bulkheads as possible.


    The junior mage techs who had recently just graduated from Haven''s School of Science and Magic, and signed up with the UN military''s ult Division, still jumped to Magister Thorn''s orders as if they were still kids in school. Hence it was a chaotic scene as Magister Thorn half directed and half yelled at the mage techs as they carefully opened the thick crate and revealed a palm sized golden pyramid with ancient runes etched on all its sides.


    The mage tech wearing thick dragon hide gloves lined with lead gently lifted the core of the Seacliff dungeons with a nervous Magister Thorn hovering over their shoulders. The mage tech set the pyramid shaped core onto a triangle slot in the middle of a massive magic array filled with hundreds ofplex runes.


    The dungeon core fitted into the indent with a tiny click and the once inert core immediately lit up and glowed with a bright golden sheen. The magic array slowly lit up, golden arcane energy tracing the runes andplex lines, spreading outwards until the entire magic array was glowing.


    The mage techs and Magister Thorn stepped back from the magic array as they watched in awe, seeing the tiny core powering an array that would take hundreds of high grade mana stones to do the same. Once the magic converter array was fully activated, more glowing lines spread out and disappeared into the wall conducts and powered up the Vengeance''s scavenged magic barriers.


    Reports starteding in from observers stationed at each magic crystal node, the mage techs recorded the power levels and other readings. MCNs that did not respond had their magic lines traced and checked, the mage techs crawling into tight maintenance ducts and corridors looking for any broken lines.


    The tracing and testing of the MCNs took over the entire time it took the Vengeance to reach the territorial waters of the Empire before the entire system was functioning correctly. Magister Thorn had stayed mostly buried deep in the bowels of the super carrier, never leaving the ult Division as he watched over the dungeon core''s operations, so much so that his newly made friend from the Iron Kingdoms, Professor Hamlot, did not even know he was on board!


    Magister Thorn was finally satisfied when there were no anomalies reported after days of testing and he finally pushed his old tired body out of the armoured hatches of the Converter Array Room and waved off the salutes of the Marines. Behind him, as the hatch mmed close, the dungeon core pulsed gently with a rhythm like a heartbeat.


    -----


    Somewhere Northwest of Exile Ind, UNS Vengeance, g Bridge


    "Sir, we dallied long enough on these waters..." The Vengeance''s Captain said sullenly. "The Imperials are clearly wasting our time, we have already marked the targets and our guns have long calcted firing solutions! All we need is just your order!"


    Captain Nimo was feeling impatient with the Empire, despite knowing he needed to calm down and be patient, yet the hold ups and slowmunication between the UN and the Empire were slowly testing his patience. He had learned from Commander Ford since the days of the first converted seane carrier, UNS Matador as acting Captain. When the UN Navy first came about, they needed people with naval experience, but the most experienced personnel they could find were fishermen.


    He started off as a fisherman who did not even experience the sea as he pried his trade within the ind sea, which unlike the ocean, did not have waves taller than an Oerkin. Like many others, confused and overwhelmed by the whole situation, a whole new series of studies that, he and the others had never even heard of were crammed in their heads.


    Open water navigation, astrology, marine engineering and systems, maritime operations, logistics and many other topics were taught to them, including naval tactics and operations, flight ops and navalbat!


    Nimo felt like his head was about to explode as daily he was taught by different instructors, and the worse of all, most of the topics were new and even being constantly revised. Physical training and exercises were included as well, including firearms andbat were taught. Other training included simted exercises onboard mock up vessels and many failed to meet the requirements.


    At the end, where the training ended, only a handful out of the already small ss of sixty candidates was deemed eptable to captain the UN''s fledgeling naval fleet. After that, even when they passed out from the Naval Academy, training has not ended.


    Nimo was one of the few who managed to get a passing grade on most of the subjects and was awarded an acting Captaincy position after several interviews with Commander Ford and The Captain, he was posted on board the UNS Matador when itpleted its retrofitting.


    Now, having a couple of years of real naval experience, he was ced as Captain of the UNS Vengeance,manding the super battle carrier vessel and he, his ship and his crew were itching for a fight.


    "Commander," Nimo pressed on, "We do not know what tricks both sides are doing. The longer we sit here, the higher the chances of being spotted by Group Alpha''s patrols."


    Commander Ford had a frown pasted on his face as he replied in an unhappy tone. "Yes, I understand the risks we are taking in sitting here wasting time."


    "Than give the order to engage the enemy!" Nimo requested. "We can bombard Group Alpha from here and our aircraft can move in to mop up the remnants!"


    "No..." Commander Ford suddenly broke into a smile. "The Captain said he wants us to show the g here right? I got a better idea..."


    "Give the word to the Imperial envoys... Tell them we would like to invite the Emperor on board the Vengeance for a tour of the ship!" Commander Ford''s smile deepened. "I am sure word of the Vengeance by would have spread among the high ranking nobles in the Empire. They will be very curious to find out of the words of their messengers are true!"


    "But Sir," Nimo asked. "Why invite the Imperials at all? Isn''t this our secret weapon?"


    "We can''t hide the ship due to its size, and besides, their dragons have already reported our presence," Commander Ford said. "And we restrict certain areas of the ship, only allowing them to view what we want them to see."


    "We can seriously impress them if they can see with their own eyes rather than reading reports on paper!" Commander Ford added. "And when they are here, we can pressure them to act too... If they still want to drag on, we just take matters into our own hands then... by giving them a live demonstration of the Vengence''s firepower..."


    "Ohh... that sounds mightly fine, Sir!" Nimo broke into a nasty grin. "I want to see their faces when we engage the enemy!"


    "Haha! Yes... but now is to see if the Emperor is willing toe to visit us or not..."


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Battleship Central, Crew Quarters, Shrine of the Superior Firepower!


    "The Firepower protects!" The members of the Faith of Superior Firepower! echoed after the head goblin priest who started preaching about how to blow up your opponents andbat tactics. "Thy sha remember to return Fire to thy enemies thrice fold!"


    The shrine was in a cleared out cabin used for storage. After gaining permission from the higher ups, the members of the Faith of Superior Firepower! moved the stores to another storage and built a shrine dedicated to Firepower!.


    Makeshift benches were stacked in two rows in the cabin which wasrge enough to hold over sixty peoplefortably. One side of the bulkhead was stacked with photos and etched out names of fallen soldiers which the goblins painstakingly carved out on the metal bulkheads, which became a sort of memorial for the fallen.


    Unsurprisingly, a mug shot of Greg the Great in uniform was thergest sized photo and took up the head of the memorial wall. At the other end of the cabin, was a simple raised tform made out of wooden pallets and the altar was just several stacked ammo crates and cans. Three 155 mm artillery shells formed the Faith''s symbol and empty shell casing emitted out thin wisps of slow burning ck powder mixed with some other ingredients like some kind of incense.


    The shrine was packed full of followers and curious onlookers. The goblin priest, whose real name was Ratchet, a mechanic from Engineering, was reading phrases out from a worn book which if one looked closely, it looked like an infantry tactics manual.


    "If thy find oneself, surrounded by enemies... who do thy call?" The goblin priest suddenly asked one of the seated Oerkin in marine greys.


    The Orc marine rubbed his head, and made a guess, "Eh... an airstrike? Artillery support?"


    "YESSSH! CALL DAT FIREPOWER IN!" The goblin priest hopped happily on the ricky tform as he yelled. "HAIL FIREPOWER!"


    "HAIL FIREPOWER!" The members of the Faith cheered. "HAIL THE FAITH!"


    "Remember! Nothing kanot be solved without a dose of firepower!" The goblin priest solomnly reminded his followers. "Have faith in firepower and it sall protect you!"


    "Tank you all for joining us today!" The goblin priest ended the session and started to pack up his things as the members started to leave. "Advice of the day! Always bring more ammo! More ammo... MORE FIREPOWER!"


    The members gave onest chorus as they raised their fists up into the air and yelled, "MORE FIREPOWER!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Battleship Central, Magic Converter Array Room


    Magister Thorn came rushing in through the armoured hatchways as he had been notified that something unusual was urring with the Magic Converter Array. As he entered the room, he noticed the golden pyramid was pulsing strongly behind the armoured ss, its glow brighter than usual. Even the arcane markings inside the array were pulsing along with the dungeon core.


    "What happened?" Magister Thorn quickly asked the mage techs behind the control board of the magic array. "Why is it reacting like that?"


    "We do not know, sir!" The mage techs replied in a panicked tone. "It was fine all the way and just then, and suddenly it started giving off high magical readings!"


    "Any magical feedback from the MCNs?" Magister Thorn joined the mage techs at the control board which was made out of both technology and magic fused together. Dials were twitching while arcane runes were glowing madly on the panel. "Are there any mana leaks on the ship?"


    "No, sir!" The senior mage tech replied as he monitored the radio chatter. "Damage parties are not reporting any damages or leaks!"


    As Magister Thorn was thinking what could have caused the dungeon core to start acting strangely, the pulsing glow from the core suddenly appeared to calm down and returned to its previously gentle soft pulse. "Is it back to normal?"


    "Yes sir!" The mage techs checked their instruments, seeing the needles in the dials returning to safe levels and the arcane runes started to dim down. "Magic readings are dropping back to normal levels!"


    "How long did itst?" Magister Thorn asked as he stood right next to the armoured ss and stared at the dungeon core.


    "About thirty minutes!" A mage tech replied to him.


    "Strange..." Magister Thorn frowned as he could not think of anything that could have caused the core to go wild. "Check with the bridge and see if they had been doing anything that might have triggered such a reaction from the core!"


    "Yes, Sir!"

 Chapter 521: State Visit

    Chapter 521: State Visit


    Emperor An Bluewood was feeling a sense of wonderment as he saw the massive ''ind'' like ship seemingly made entirely out of metal or at least grey painted wood. But wood did not have the sharpness nor the hard edges the massive ind ship had as details appeared the closer the dragon he was riding on got.


    Like the rest of his court, the nobles all had their heads stuck out of the pavilion that was mounted on the backs of the heavy weight dragons. The flight of nine heavy weight and their escorts of dozens of medium weight dragons were proposed by many of the nobles who wanted to awe the UN who had brazenly extended an invitation to the Emperor for a state on board their ship.


    Many of the Imperial Court refused to believe the words and reports of the couriers who had first hand experience of the size of the UN ship, thinking them as fallen under the enemy''s ruse and spells. Hence when the invitation came, even before the young Emperor could consider anything, the majority of the nobles were mouring to take up the invitation as they felt it challenged their honour and pride of the Empire.


    In the end, half the Imperial Court departed towards the location of the United Nations ship while the other half including the Chancellor remained behind to oversee the Empire. The entire party spread across seven heavy weight dragons and they boarded the blue pavilions decorated with gems, silver and gold.


    An equally massive escort of medium weight dragons carrying the best knights of the Empire followed along and the pping of leathery wings drew the entire Imperial Capital eyes into the skies at their departure.


    After travelling for hours, a couple of the United Nations flying crosses joined them and escorted them towards their ship. The strange flying crosses flew close enough for the Emperor and his Court to observe the details of the strange machine. It had two long t surfaces stacked on the top and bottom of a ham shaped body and a noisy spinning windmill like device at its tail.


    Its body had a mottled dull grey blue colors and light grey white on its belly. A circr crest was painted on its side and its t rectangr tail fins hadrge bold runes painted on them which none of the Imperials could understand its meaning.


    The size of the flying cross was almost asrge as a medium weight dragon and a person could be seen covered inside some kind of clear crystal bubble at the head of the flying cross. Emperor An could even vaguely see the person waving at them and he resisted the urge to wave back.


    Finally, they spotted their destination, and the twin escort of the flying crosses noisily broke away from the formation. There had been talk and fear of a sneak attack by the UN, but Emperor An dismissed their fears and worries, instead, he looked forward to seeing the giant ship from the UN. Despite the treatment he once endured from the UN when he was taken prisoner, which was considered prettyfortablepared to what he had experienced ever since he was taken as a ve, he held no ill will towards the United Nations.


    Now seeing the looming ''ind'' ship growingrger andrger in his sights, Emperor An realised that the descriptions and reports did no justice to its immense size! He had once served as a ve mage on board a merchant ship and if hepared the two, one was like a tiny insect, while the other was like a dragon!


    As they approached the ship the size of a tiny ind, Emperor An noted the symmetrical look of the ship, and it was unlike any ocean going ships he had ever seen. First, it appeared to be made up of three portions, the centre portion had a tower that appeared like boxes stacked on top of each other and had two raised forecastle with many bowsprits or jibbooms pointing out. On the side of the centre portion, was twopletely t rectangr open decks that he suspected was used to allowed dragons and flying crosses tond on.


    He wondered if the United Nations ind ship ran on steam as word of a new ship design that could sail without the wind has long made its way to the Empire from merchants and traders. He did notice there were some masts on the central portion but they looked too thin nor had any spars to carry sails.


    Several figures in white and yellow jackets were waving green gs on one side of the huge t and open deck and the courier dragons leading the formation had experiencending on the United Nations waved the rest of the dragons to follow their lead and they came down with their wings red on a runningnding.


    More yellow jackets appeared and started to direct thended dragons to the side and quickly the huge open deck was filled up with dragons. Those that could notnd was waved on to the other open deck and one by one thest of the tired dragons finallynded.


    Still despite the chaos, the Imperials managed to arrange themselves in a grand formation on the deck, and with much fanfare from several trumpeters, an Imperial herald announced the presence of the 7th Emperor of Bluewood, Protector of the People and a whole list of other inherited titles.


    Emperor An had during that time changed into a more formal state wear while his escorts formed up in formation with the help of his servants inside his own private pavilion on the back of the dragon. When the Imperial herald finished his announcement, his head eunuch parted the golden spider silk coverings aside to allow the young Emperor made his entrance.


    Before him stood two grand rows of Knights in heavy armour, they each held a great sword with its tip down on the deck and between them was a carpet in rich blue rolled out for him to walk while the heavy weight dragons too had formed up in a row behind the knights. Several maidens stood on the side and started to scatter flower petals into the air as his head eunuch held his left hand and led him down the carpeted steps on the side of the dragon and towards the waiting United Nations party.


    -----


    "ATTEN - SHUN!" Master Sergeant Pike roared out as the young Emperor dressed in blue and gold appeared from the covered howdah on the dragon. "PREE - SENT... ARMS!"


    The Marines honour guard dressed in whites snapped to attention and raised their rifles in salute smartly. Mills in his stiff whites drew his ceremonial sword out with a flourish and raised it to his lips before lowering it down to his side and keeping the sword at an angle pointed to the deck.


    He viewed the gaudy entrance of the Emperor with flowers and dragons and knights and felt that those historical and fantasy dramas did not justice to the real thing. He resisted his urge to smirk at the group of pretentious nobles gathered at the side that was trying very hard to not gape at everything.


    Wanna impress us with just some tin cans and fat oversized lizards? Dream on! Thought Mills as he waited for themand to order arms. He knew there soon will be a good show to watch!


    -----


    Commander Ford and Captain Nimo both saluted at the Emperor and when the young Emperor stood before them, they both dropped their salutes and greeted him. "Wee on board, Emperor An, to the United Nations super carrier, Vengeance."


    Ford observed the confident strides of the young Emperor but couldn''t help but noticed the young boy inside the Emperor robes were itching to turn his head to take in the wonders of the super carrier. The frightened boy that was once interrogated by Lieutenant Tavor had matured into a handsome young man.


    "Greetings, Lord Ford and Lord Nimo," The young Emperor replied as he stood ramrod straight before the two UN officials with an old eunuch holding his hand. "It... has been a long time."


    "Indeed, it has been." Ford chuckled to himself and swept his hand around, allowing the young Emperor to follow his gesture as he showed off the Vengeance. "Come, let us give you a tour of the ship. Or does your Majesty wishes to refresh himself first and do the tourter?"


    The young Emperor''s eyes visibly glowed with excitement and awe as he followed Ford''s hand gestures, looking around his surroundings while the group of Imperial Court nobles leaned closer to try to catch their conversation.


    "Lord Ford, this Emperor is not tired," Emperor An quickly replied. "This Emperor would like to view your ship!"


    Ford chuckled again and he gave a nod to Captain Nimo who led the Emperor and his entourage away towards the hatch that led into Battleship Central with him following beside the Emperor. Along the tour, the young Emperor had plenty of questions, as he and his court were shown parts of the ship.


    Captain Nimo sought to answer as much as possible without giving away any sensitive materials, and finally, they ended up in the massive cavern like hangars of Flight Deck B. Rows of fighters were tucked in their own alcoves while goblin and elf mechanics stood in attention as the royal party walked past.


    Emperor An and his Court had long known of the Goblins and Oerkins were employed by the United Nations. But still, most of his Court sneered at the short goblins in work overalls and thought of them as pests and scum. They mumbled disapprovingly in low voices among themselves but suddenly a particrly loud voice came from one of the nobles.


    "Tsk, and I thought how great the United Nations was... I guess I was wrong... if the so called United Nations meant being united with Goblin scums and Oerkin barbarians!" A mocking voice said out loud. "They must like sleeping with Goblins and Oerkins! That must what ''united'' meant! Hahaha!"


    Commander Ford frowned as he paused in his steps and turned around to see who had spoken so brazenly. His eyes tracked onto a beefy Imperial with a goatee that had a smirk on his face. "What did you just say?"


    At this time, the entire tour had halted and appeared to be split into two factions, one side was the Emperor and some of his more loyal followers and the United Nation officers, and on the other was a group of Imperial nobles.


    "Lord Dietrich!" The Emperor''s head eunuch hissed in warning at the discourtesy shown to their hosts. "Watch your words!"


    "Who are you? You old ball less creature to tell me what to do!" Lord Dietrich growled as he stared daggers at the angry old eunuch.


    "What did you just say?" Commander Ford stepped directly before the Imperial noble and asked again in a soft manner while staring into his eyes. While Ford had a slim build, he was taller than the Imperial who had to look up back at him.


    "I- I," For a moment, the Imperial was pushed by the deadly re given off by the tall hooman and he stammered. Embarrassed by his show of weakness, Lord Dietrich''s embarrassment turned to anger as he red back in challenge. "I''m just saying that Goblins and Oerkins are vermin, they are a blight to this world!"


    As his words echoed down the quiet hangar which work had stopped as all the crew was focused on them, a growl of anger rose from the throats of many of the crew. Many of the crew had formed friendships and even respect among the Goblins and Oerkins and hearing someone, especially an Imperial speak such disrespect of theirrades made them angry.


    Even the young Emperor was displeased with the way, Lord Dietrich''s manners were. He pointed at Lord Dietrich and snapped, "You shall shut your mouth or I find someone to do so!"


    Ford''s frown deepened as he stared down on the Imperial whose face was turning red with anger. He raised a hand up into a fist and the angry noises from the hangar crew died down. "Is that so?"


    "Well, then, let me show you the ability and power of the so called... pests and blights to this world!"

 Chapter 522: Plan Alpha

    Chapter 522: n Alpha


    Emperor An had an uneasy feeling in his chest as he looked around the dimmed room. He was seated on a veryfortable chair before a magical table which surfaces were glowing. White lines and runes of some sort glowed and changed constantly on the table''s surface. More simr magic covered the rest of the room''s walls and tables in front of a group of United Nations soldiers.


    His Court stood behind him, the nobles hurdled together unconsciously as they stared around their surroundings in awe and dread of the unknown magic. Soft hums and voices came from the soldiers seated with strange devices covering their ears as if they were chanting some kind of magic. An wondered if these were the source of all their ''demonic magic'' as he looked around.


    The tall short eared hooman and the Captain of the ship were conversing in low tones in front of the magic table with some of their staff before the short eared hooman turned around to face them. The glow of the table reflected upon his face appeared to give him a demonic visage as he leaned over the table and smiled.


    "Your majesty," The face of the hooman Ford, appeared to be leering evilly from the shadows cast by the soft glow of the table. "As we had agreed, the UN, will provide military aid against the Sky Raiders that appeared on the ind of Exile."


    A huge ck surface behind the hooman suddenly lit up, and for a moment, Emperor An and his Court blinked their eyes as they adjusted to the images that appeared. An frowned as he tried to figure out how and what he was seeing and the hooman Ford stepped to the side to allow everyone to view the magical images.


    "This is the enemy camp we are seeing," He said as he gestured to the screen. He snapped something to one of the seated soldiers and the view suddenly zoomed in, and the images became clearer. Rows of strange looking ships appeared to be beached along the shores of ake mixed together with wooden buildings. "Those parked ships are all airships of the sky raiders."


    The image zoomed in again, and to Emperor An and his Court, they could clearly see the views of people, moving around transporting goods while others half naked were logging at the side of a forest. Emperor An sat upright in the chair and spoke out the thought that was in everyone''s minds. "What kind of magic is this?"


    "A... far scrying... spell..." The hooman Ford said after a moment of thought. "It allows us to see what is happening far away."


    "Is... this happening now?" Emperor An asked as his Court mumbled in shock and appreciation of such magic. His mind raced as he thought back. Was this how the United Nations defeated the Imperial Armies?


    "Yes, this is in real time," The hooman Ford said a strange phrase which Emperor An did not understand fully. "Everything is happening as we speak."


    "Now, moving on," The hooman Ford gestured to the screen again and the view rolled outwards, and soon turned into a dragon eye''s view of theke and the Sky Raider''s base. "Your Majesty''s troops were supposed to havended on the south eastern portion of the Exile Ind to advance into the enemy base."


    "But... so far, we have not seen any of your troops'' movements at all," The hooman Ford''s tone seemed to turn cold. "Hence, we decided to invite your Majesty here, as a sign of friendship and also to discuss a n of attack."


    "The troops wille where theye!" A rude voice came from behind Emperor An. He did not need to turn around to know it belonged to Lord Dietrich. "We are not in a rush, why are you, just supporting our attack to be so impatient!"


    "Impatient?" The Captain growled at the side. "We have already given you enough respect and face to help you in this attack against the Sky Raiders!"


    "Do you really think we need your help?" Lord Dietrich argued back. "If it wasn''t for the benevolence of the Emperor, your ship will not even be able allowed into our waters!"


    Emperor An felt a pair of eyes on him and he looked up to see the hooman Ford watching him with a small smile on his lips, yet his eyes did not much the smile on his face. Feeling a tinge of cold down his spine, he raised his hand up to cut off Lord Dietrich before saying, "So what are your ns now? My troops still need time to gather ships to make the crossing, are you proposing to use your... ship to ferry my troops across?"


    "No, no..." The hooman Ford shook his head before he continued. "It will be wasting our time."


    His words made Emperor An and his Court frown as it indicted that the UN''s time was more preciouspared to theirs. Lord Dietrich growled as he said, "If you think that is the case, then you can leave! We do not need your support now that we have dragon cannons!"


    "Dragon cannons?" The hooman Ford and the Captain looked at each other with a confused expression on their face before they gave a shrug. Seeing their actions, made Emperor An and his Court feel a sense of aplishment and pride as they had something the United Nations did not know of.


    "Well, to be frank, we do not really want to be here," The hooman Ford confessed with a tight smile. "But since we are here, we might as well help you as... good neighbours!"


    Lord Dietrich made a snort of disdain when he heard what Ford said. The hooman Ford continued on as if he did not notice Lord Dietrich''s disdain and said, "We will attack the enemy now, right this moment."


    "Now?" Emperor An was as surprised as the rest when he heard it. "How? We are days of travel away from the enemy base! Even with your flying cro- ar kaft... they will not be enough to defeat a force of that size!


    "Oh, don''t worry about it, we will be destroying all the aerial units of the Sky Raiders and leave the ground forces for you!"


    -----


    The New World, Exile Ind, Combined Fleet Base


    Duchess Manarva was frowning as she looked down on the crudely drawn map of the surrounding areas. She traced her finger along the drawn coastline of the maind and paused her finger on a fingernail sized piece of red magic crystal that marked the location of a particrly stubborn city that had fended off several attacks and even sessfully caused the destruction of two Iron Kingdom airships.


    Around her stood the various airshipmanders and captains as they waited for hermands. She tapped her finger on the red crystal before she straightened up, and tossed her braided up hair behind her back. "Has our patrols picked up anything around this city?"


    "Reporting to the Duchess," A slim officer in Iron Kingdom uniform stepped forward and said, "There has been an increase of ground troops moving around the city. Also, we observed them working on several sailing ships."


    "So they nned to sail across the waters tond their troops here?" Duchess Manarva mused as she continued to stare at the map. "Well, if that is the case... 5th Squadron Commander, you shall take your ships and prepare a weing party when they make the crossing."


    "If there are any prizes of opportunity," Duchess Manarva tapped on the map where she wanted 4th Squadron to be posted at. "Use your own discretion."


    "Yes, my Lady!" Themander of the 5th Squadron saluted before leaving the room to carry out his orders.


    "My Lady, should we continue to raid the maind for more supplies and ves?" One of the Captains asked. "We need more people to process the magic crystals and clearing of the forests."


    "Hmmm..." Duchess Manarva shook her head. "We have already raided the coast clean, there isn''t any point in wasting fuel for scant pickings. I am only concerned with this city here."


    "It is just a barbarian nation," The captain sneered. "What can they do to us?"


    "This barbarian city has managed to take down two of our airships!" Manarva frowned. "Even if the weapons they use are crude, but it is still deadly if we fall into their tricks!"


    "My Lady, let me lead a force over!" Another captain hollered. "I will take the city!"


    "No point now," Duchess Manarva shook her head again. "There will be nothing of value there by this point. What we want is nice and easy picking..."


    She traced her finger downwards beyond the coast and into the maind. "I am pretty sure the cities and towns ind will be fat for the picking, yes?"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance


    The parked F/A - 2 Viper jerked and elerated across the flight deck as the steam catapult fired, sending the second generation fighter into the air in a rush of screaming steam and rubber. Secondster, another Viper was tossed into the air and the aircraft joined the massive air formationzily circling around the task force in the air.


    Finally, thest aircraft roared off the flight decks and six squadrons of Vipers and Cobras wheeled around task force for onest time before they headed towards Exile Ind. 72 aircraft carrying ship killer loads and cannons swiftly disappeared into the horizon.


    The Emperor and his party were subdued as they were ushed back into the g bridge after witnessing theunching of the Vengeance''s air power. There they watched in silence as a staff briefly exined what was happening.


    "Captain Nimo, activate n Alpha," Commander Ford said in a formal tone. "Weigh anchor and take us within firing range!"


    "Aye! Activate n Alpha!" Captain Nimo echoed with a grin on his face. "Weigh anchor! Helm! Take us to waypoint Charlie!"


    Echoes of confirmation came back from the crew as the ship''s hull groaned when the engines started up. Orders were transferred over to the escorts and the entire task force slowly and majestically started sailing closer towards the dark blotch in the horizon.


    Shortly after, reports started filtering in from Carrier Ops. "Enemy air patrol at E4 destroyed!"


    "E6 air sentry destroyed!"


    "F2 patrol destroyed!"


    "Attack Squadron on approach to G5!"


    "F4 air patrol down! New heading F5!"


    "Captain! Point Charlie reached!" Helm reported as the fleet reached the designated location.


    "Helm, stop all engines!" Captain Nimo ordered before he ryed their position to the g Bridge. "Commander Ford, the Task Force has arrived at Point Charlie."


    "Go for Fire n Alpha!" Commander Ford replied.


    "Aye aye! Fire n Alpha!" Captain Nimo replied and hang up the call. "Weapons! n Alpha!"


    Moremands were ryed down and the massive four 14" gun turrets nked cheerily as they turned they''re facing towards the ind on the nk. Sirens red, warning of imminent main gun firing and the flight deck beneath the guns were quickly cleared for action.


    "Captain! Decks cleared and guns ready for firing!" The weapons officer at his station reported. "All green! Sir!"


    Captain Nimo picked up the phone and said, "Commander, weapons all green and awaiting yourmand!"


    Commander Ford inside the g Bridge gestured to his aide to shepherd the guests out to the observation deck for a live fire viewing and waited until his aide gave him a thumbs up before he said, "Give them hell!"


    "Aye aye!" Captain Nimo''s grin went wide and he turned to his eagerly awaiting bridge crew and snapped. "ALL GUNS... OPEN FIRE!"


    -----


    The salvo buzzer for the guns went off like a loud angry creature. For a moment, the gun barrels appeared to be taking a collective breath before erupting mightly in mes and smoke. Dark dots of the shells could briefly be seen for a moment before vanishing towards the ind as they went screaming happily towards death and destruction.

 Chapter 523: The Faith of Superior Firepawer!

    Chapter 523: The Faith of Superior Firepawer!


    UNS Vengeance, Forward Main Gun One, Projectile Handling Floor


    The biceps of the Seaman Broken Tooth bugled as he and the other Oerkin manhandled the massive shell that was almost as tall as the goblin hoist operator in the hoist. The shell weighed as much as over five times his weight, at five hundred eighty kilograms, was harnessed to a chain and pulley system which he and his buddy was pulling to transfer the high explosive shell into the waiting jaws of the elevator hoist.


    Once in ce and secured in the sectioned elevator hoist, the goblin hoist operator gleefully pulled the lever and the shell was pushed up into the waiting gun crews above. The Projectile Handling Floor was packed with sweat bodies and Oerkin, goblins and elves moved shells endlessly into the hoists to feed the three guns above.


    The goblin hoist operator stuck his head after the shell went up the hoist chute and yelled after it, "The faithful send their regards!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Observation Deck


    The powerful thump and aftershock of the forward two main guns mmed into the unsuspecting Imperials as they were totally unprepared for the effects of the 14" guns firing, despite being warned by the UN aides. Some of the Imperials even disdained the offer of ear protection and just stood there impatiently looking at the long spars pointing to the ind.


    The salvo buzzer red out a warning and the UN aides quickly covered their ears and opened their mouths. Emperor An had a set of ear mufflers and he stood surrounded by a loose ring of his Life Guards. He mimicked the actions of the UN aides curiously, just as the main guns roared.


    The stwave mmed into the Imperials without warning and the thunderous roar was like hundreds of times more powerfulpared to the dragon cannons, that An had witnessed many moons back. For a moment, he nearly bit his own tongue in fright and he could literally feel his inside shake.


    His Head Eunuch had let out a cry of shock and fell down on his butt including some of the Imperials when the thunder and shockwave rolled over them. The Imperial Life Guards was stunned momentarily by the st but they quickly recovered and closed in around their young Emperor.


    Emperor An blinked his eyes rapidly, as a botch of white covered his vision and tears threatened to leak out. He took a deep calming breath and pressed his hand against his heaving chest as he felt like someone had hammered a drum inside his body! His Head Eunuch had quickly climbed up to his feet and felt all over An, making sure he was unharmed.


    Yelling could be heard from outside the tight ring of his Life Guards and An impatiently ordered his Life Guards to loosen up. When his Life Guards reluctantly opened up their ranks, he saw the members of his Court were threatening the UN aides who were desperately trying to exin the situation.


    "Enough!" An yelled, working his jaw as he felt his ears were blocked. "Where is your dignity as an Imperial Noble? You all are like a bunch of market wives!"


    "Your Majesty!" Lord Dietrich hurriedly stepped forward. His clothes were messed up and hisplex was pale. He rubbed his ears and yelled, "Treachery! They nned to murder us all here!"


    "This is a trap!" Lord Dietrich pointed a finger at the small group of UN aides. "They -"


    A loud buzzing noise red again and cut off Lord Dietrich''s usations. The UN aides quickly yelled for everyone to cover their ears and open their mouths and An followed, including everyone else and just in time when the second powerful roar of the main guns went off again. This time around, the Imperials were better prepared and did not embarrass themselves too much.


    The UN aides seeing the group of Imperials were more or less in a better shapepared to the first firing, quickly ushered everyone back into the g Bridge where the short eared hooman had an amused expression stered on his face. As An sat down, he realised that the demonstration just now was just a warning of telling them that the UN has weapons that far exceeded their expectations.


    He cast a nce at the red faced Lord Dietrich who was clutching his chest and working his jaw. Should he let Lord Dietrich continue to edge the United Nationers on and see how would they respond or should he reprimand him? Hmmm...


    -----


    Deep inside the bowels of the UNS Vengeance, a heartbeat echoed after the thumping of the main guns.


    Da dum... Da dum...


    -----


    Area of Operations over Exile Ind, UN Navy 7th Strike Fighter Squadron, ck Knights


    ck Knight Six had recently been posted onboard the UNS Vengeance, he and his squadron having shipped over from Fortress Singapore. The journey was pretty much just flying drills, flying patrols, and more drills and lessons.


    One day, by chance, he was wandering around the ship, exploring the maze like deck ways and he came upon arge gathering in the central crew decks. Curious, he joined the crowd and found a short goblin giving a speech of sorts. At first, he dismissed the words of the yapping goblin but to his surprise, the more he listened, the more the felt the words of the goblins made sense!


    Not long after, the Faith of Superior Firepower! found a new convert. Now, ck Knight Six flipped his master arm switch and thumbed down firmly on the firing button. Streaks of burning rocket fuel shot out from under his Viper''s wings, the contrails headed strike for the slow moving Ounder airship that was turning to face the sudden threat.


    "For superior firepower!"


    -----


    Dozens and dozens of white smoke exhaust in the skies were drawn upon the skies and at the end of their journey, they turned in balls of mes and inky ck smoke. The ring of airships that patrol the perimeter of the ind dropped from the skies as if they were toys with their strings were cut.


    The airstrike punched through the unsuspecting western cordon easily as the Captains of the picket airships maintained the usual protocol of not leaving their shields powered up to save their stores of magic crystals. Even when the airships now has a massive stockpile of magic crystals, old habits and doctrines were hard to forget.


    The result of their doctrine cost the Combined Fleet four frigates, two destroyers and two light cruisers in the opening attack. The rest of the picket powered up their magic barriers and alert res were fired into the skies, but it was toote a twelve shot 14" gun salvo came screaming over the UN aerial strike group.


    The 14" shells bracketed over the packed airships that were being scrambled into action. The bombardment caught most of the crew in the open as they rushed to board their ships. The airships of both the Iron Kingdom and Tri State were built, designed and armoured against solid mushroom projectiles and ballista bolts.


    The high velocity 14" HE shells simply ignored their wood and metalminate armour, which quality was considered subpar whenpared to the ironworks of the UN. Each shell weighing at 580 kg and filled with high explosiveposite fillings, blew massive holes into the ground, the shockwaves snapped the backs of the nearby airships and their service towers like twigs.


    Direct hits on an airship, just simply gouged out a massive portion of the airship as well as crumpling its remaining structure like paper. Bodies dozens of meters away from the sts were tten or blown away from the shockwaves.


    A ringing silence descended upon the Combined Fleet base as the survivors stared in shock at the sudden violence. Momentster, whistles and cries started to ring out, as people regained their wits. Officers and NCOs yelled at the shellshocked men to help the wounded while others continued to board and ready the rest of the airships forbat.


    Unknown to the base, a second salvo was on its way, twelve more 580 kilograms of pure destruction was screaming across the skies, the 14" shells slowly spinning in the air, and at one of the leading 14" shell''s nose, a message was scribbled in chalk.


    "IF YA KAN READ TIS... YA AR FARKED!! HAW HA!!! LOVE FROM GOBS AN AW HAIL FIREPAWER!"


    -----


    DA DUM! DA DUM!! DA DUM!!!


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Battleship Central, Magic Converter Array Room


    "Heavens!" A mage tech yelled out in shock as the dials and magic loadouts started to go crazy on the board. "It''s happening again!"


    "Disengage it out from the main array!" Another mage tech hurried yelled as he ran out. "Rip it out now!"


    The dungeon core''s pulsing suddenly became stronger and stronger, the radiance grew from a weak glow to a bright almost eye searing light inside the containment unit. Hisses came from nozzles as fire retardants were activated as the temperature inside the containment unit started spiking.


    Conduits connecting the Magic Converter Array started splitting away from the Array as the mage techs yanked the emergency levers that broke the magic circuits of the Array. The glowing Magic Converter Array instantly dimmed down until it became inert, but the dungeon core set in the middle of the Array continued to pulse brightly.


    DA DUM! DA DUM!! DA DUMM!!!


    The mage techs could only helplessly stare into the containment unit that was covered in fire retardants as they had no idea what to do. They all could feel the thumping of a heart as they stood there, making goosebumps and fear tingle down their spines.


    DA DUM! DA DUM!! DA DUMM!!!


    -----


    Area of Operations over Exile Ind, UN Navy 7th Strike Fighter Squadron, ck Knights


    "GUNS GUNS GUNS!" ck Knight Six cried out as he held down on the trigger. Bolts of fiery tracers flickered out in an arc and impacted against the iridescence barrier of the airship in his sights. Following behind his strafing run was the rest of ck Knight Squadron which hammered the airship with more gunfire.


    Calls of brevity codes informing friendlies of live ordnance in the air were traded to and fore between the pilots and radioed back to the UNS Vengeance''s Flight Ops. The pilots trusted their machines and weapons to perform as it should as their lives depended on it, called out brevity codes as if they were chanting.


    In return to the pilots'' faith and trust, the F/A - 1N Cobras and F/A - 2 Vipers performed splendidly, the aircrafts responded to touch of the pilots as if they were of one mind. Weapons functioned without jams and shotsnded urately at where it was aimed at.


    "GUNS GUNS GUNS!"


    -----


    DA DUM! DA DUM!! DA DUMM!!!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, g Bridge


    "Sir?" An aide suddenly appeared next to Commander Ford''s elbow and he spoke in a low voice. "ult Divison is reporting irregrities down at the MCA containment unit again..."


    "What''s the problem now?" Commander Ford stepped away from the Imperials bickering with Captain Nimo and his staff.


    "The dungeon core is reacting strangely by itself..." The aide replied. "The tech mages have cut it off the main array systems."


    "Will it be a threat to the ship?" Commander Ford asked as he kept one eye on the Imperials. "What is Magister Thorn''s rmendations?"


    "The Magister has no idea, Sir..." The aide had a concerned look on his face. "He... is still observing the situation."


    "Tell him, if he thinks the dungeon core at any point threatens this ship and all its crew, to dump it into the sea immediately!" Commander Ford ordered. The reason why the ult Divison''s MCA containment unit was constructed deep inside the bowels of the Vengeance was that there was a trap door mechanism that allowed the mage techs to eject the entire containment unit into the sea if it became a danger to the ship and its crew.


    "Tell him not to fool around with everyone''s lives!"

 Chapter 524: The Core

    Chapter 524: The Core


    Crown Prince Yemen Winterborne, Duke of Warren, Supreme Commander of the 3rd Iron Fleet was enjoying a splendid lunch of roasted local game and greens when ear shaking thunderous roars made him jump in shock and he dropped the piece of perfectly grilled meat on to his pristine clothes, leaving a stain of meat sauce.


    The crystal chandeliers swung wildly above him as the ground shook underneath his feet and his personnel manservant and steward rushed in, half dragging him out of his chair with the help of his guards. Crown Prince Yemen was half angry and surprised by the sudden actions and as he turned around to voice his displeasure, he saw out of the crystal windows, balls of rolling mes and smoke covering the docked airships.


    His mouth remained wide open as his earlier protests were forgotten, allowing his manservant and guards to drag him away from the windows and out of the dining halls. When the doors of the dining halls mmed shut, the sound and actions shook him out of his shock. He pushed the hands away from his body as he demanded, "What is happening? Are we under attack?"


    "Yes, my prince!" His Chief Guard gave a bow. "We need to move you away from the windows and towards themand throne now! It is the safest location in the Fortress!"


    "Who has such guts to dare directly attack us?" Crown Prince Yemen regained his pose and angrily swept at the stain on his clothes. "Get me a fresh set of clothes! These are ruined! Take them away and burn them when I have changed!"


    "My Prince..." His Chief Guard restrained the urge to groan as he urged his prince with a worried tone. "We need to get you to safety now!"


    "I am very safe now!" The prince growled back. "This Fortress has a level ten magic barrier! And I have you all around me! What do you think your sries are being paid for?"


    "I need to change!" The prince snapped as he stormed off towards his bed chambers. "This is totally unpresentable!"


    The guards could only resign themselves as they hurried after the prince back to his bed chambers to change. Prince Yemen impatiently gestured his guards to leave him as they entered his chambers first and checked around for any intruders.


    As he was halfway deciding on which clothes to change into, more thunderous roars broke out and the ground shook again. Prince Yemen frowned at the interruption and finally settled on a martial looking set of clothes. His manservants with a worried expression quickly helped dressed him before they exited his chambers, finding his guards has doubled.


    Under the harried urging of his Chief Guard, he finally made his way into the Command Throne room, where most of the senior nobles and their staff had gathered. The gathered nobles bowed and saluted the Crown Prince as he settled down on the throne that overlooked the throne room.


    Large ground to ceiling crystal windows covered the U shape of themand throne room, and the crew were busy as they manned their stations. Outside the windows, the view was slightly distorted by a rainbow shimmer as the magic barrier was engaged and the shores of theke which the ind fortress hadnded in were on fire and covered with smoke.


    "What is happened? Who is attacking us?" Crown Prince Yemen demanded as he red at themunication crystal which a floating image of Duchess Manarva could be seen. "What are your pickets doing?"


    "Dying, I am afraid," Duchess Manarva''s distorted image snapped back. "We do not know who is casting these spells! I have already put out the order for all ships to be on battle alert!"


    More thunder rolled over and the ground shook once more, making the chandeliers and crystal windows shake and creak. Crown Prince Yemen''s face turned dark and he yelled, "I gave you themand of my ships! Now do your job! Find the enemy and destroy them!"


    Duchess Manarva''s eyes turned cold and she threw a deadly stare at the Crown Prince. She spoke in a frosty tone, "I know what to do... You do not have to teach me... boy!"


    With that, the image of the Duchess fizzled away as she cut off themunication magic leaving the Crown Prince speechless with anger at the slight he has taken. "That... bitch! She dares look down on this prince?"


    "My prince!" Lord Ableman suddenly appeared next to his prince. He quickly calmed his lord''s anger down. "We should depart immediately! We do not know what spells are those and when will they target us!"


    "Why run like a coward?" Crown Prince Yemen sneered, as he directed his displeasure onto Lord Ableman. "Who even has the ability to even scratch this Sky Fortress?"


    "We must prepare for all kinds of scenarios!" Lord Ableman did not give up as he urged his Prince with his advice.


    "Stop being a defeatist!" A follower of the Crown Prince''s faction said from the side, loud enough for everyone to hear. "The Crown Prince''s bravery is something we all should aspire to follow!"


    Lord Ableman sent a warning re to the noble who spoke out. The noble instead rise his head back and send a stare back in challenge. The Crown Prince bobbed his head as if in agreement. "He is right! We just can''t run like cowards!"


    "We must stand and show whoever is attacking us the iron in our resolve!" The more the Crown Prince ranted on, the more confidence his tone and bearing became. "And show that bitch how the Iron Kingdom fight!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, g Bridge


    The Imperials has finally quietened down as their eyes and ears were glued to the main disy on the g Bridge that was showing a rain of destruction being visited upon the Ounders by the main guns.


    Even the constantly criticizing Lord Dietrich had nothing to say as his mouth hung half opened and closed like a gold fish after witnessing the destruction shown. Emperor An''s eyes were too glued to the view as his mind tried toprehend the might of the United Nations was shown.


    If he was to take the dragon cannons forparison, which he had felt was already very powerful, almost equal to a level seven spell, then, the twelve thunder pipes of the United Nation''s ind ship was at least a level ten or more each!


    The pride of the dragon cannons he has gotten from the Great Sage has totally melted and sted away after witnessing the real thunder weapons of the United Nations. Yet a part of him wanted to deny the images that were being shown were fake but he knew after witnessing the power and shock of the thunder weapons, it was just him trying to run away from the truth.


    He cast a nce at the tall short ear hooman whom he was certain must beughing at their shocked reactions but instead, he saw a worried frown on his face. Was there something else that could make the United Nations worried if they had such powerful weapons?


    As such thoughts went through his head, the young Emperor An felt a chill down his spine as he felt like the world he knew has gotten bigger and more unknown to him.


    -----


    DA DUM! DA DUM!! DA DUUM!!!


    "Why is it still beating?" Magister Thorn had a worried frown on his face as he watched the group of volunteer mage techs sealing the dungeon core into the magic cancelling case. "What is triggering it?"


    "Magister!" A mage tech called out and he pointed to a disy dial on the control panels. "MU readings are off the charts! It is currently giving off more than fifty times its usual magic radiation!"


    "Get them out of there!" Magister Thorn yelled in an urgent voice as he reached one bony hand over to the red switch inside a yellow and ck striped coloured box. An hooman English text was printed boldly above it, [ EMERGENCY JETTISON ].


    He disengaged the safeties and flipped the clear cover off the button and poised his hand over the button as he urged inside his heart for the mage techs still inside the containment unit to quickly exit. "Come on! Faster!"


    "MU readings rising to over sixty times!" The mage tech reading the dials yelled out, his voice cracking under pressure. "Temperature rising to above three hundred forty degrees celsius and still climbing!"


    Finally, the mage techs in their cumbersome protective suits stumbled out from the hatch. They mmed the hatch closed and spun the hatch wheel to secure the hatch. The mage techs shoved a thumbs up towards Magister Thorn in the control room, who was watching them through the armoured windows.


    Magister Thorn lifted his palm up and was able to smash down on the jettison button when the mage tech beside him yell out in surprise. "MU readings dropping! Core temperature dropping! It... It... is stabilizing!"


    Magister Thorn''s hand shook slightly as he hesitated over whether to eject the containment unit out into the sea or left it be and further observe the situation and try to find out what was going on. From what he knew and studied on dungeon cores from ancient texts, they should not be going crazy like what this particr core was doing.


    But as there was only so many dungeons and cores to be studied, there wasn''t actually a lot of knowledge on the workings of dungeon cores except for what texts and ancient scrolls spoke of. It was still a field that wascking a lot of knowledge on, at least on the New World, thought Magister Thorn. And not many kings and Emperors were willing to destroy a resource making dungeon by removing its core for studies, no matter how low level the dungeon was.


    "MU levels dropping back to normal!" The mage tech reported excitedly. "Temperature at two hundred eighty degrees celsius and still going down!"


    So far, Magister Thorn has not found out what was the cause of the dungeon core overloading. He had reviewed all the reports on the previous event that happened but he did not find anything to suggest the cause nor foul y and this time around, the situation was gotten worsepared to the previous incident.


    He took his trembling hand away from the button and wiped the sweat that collected on his palm against his robes, his mind racing as he tried toe out with an answer. "What could be causing it?"


    -----


    The main guns of the Vengeance had fallen silent as Captain Nimo ordered a new firing solution to target the other side of Group Alpha''s base. The turrets slowly rotated several degrees to the starboard side and the barrels changed angles. The gunnery crew reloaded the guns and waited for new orders while the weapon officers keyed in new firing solutions and ryed their guns readiness up the chains ofmand as they too waited for the firing orders.


    -----


    "Sir!" The flight ops officer called out. "Carrier strike group is returning to base! Bingo on arms! ETA ten minutes!"


    Commander Ford nodded to the report. He turned to the ult officer and said, "Suspend all ult systems until we know what is happening!"


    "Yes sir!" The ult officer turned back to his station and ryed the orders down.


    "Sir, Captain Nimo has the guns ready for fire on the second set of coordinates," Another staff reported. "He is waiting for your orders."


    Commander Ford turned to look at the tactical disy of the circling recon ne over Group Alpha''s base. He observed the reactions and damages done to the target''s base before he turned back to the waiting staff. "Tell the Captain to continue the bombardment."


    "Aye, aye, sir!"


    -----


    The order to resume firing was passed down and the great guns of the Vengeance spewed out mes and smoke again. The guns fired at two shells per minute and in a short span of three minutes, sixty high explosive shells were lobbed across thirty kilometres towards the helpless ground targets that could only endure the one sided shelling.


    DA DUM! DA DUM!! DA DUMM!!!

 Chapter 525: IT

    Chapter 525: IT


    UNS Vengeance, Flight Deck A, Munition Stores


    Racky the goblin was a red jacket, an Ordnanceman onboard the Vengeance. He was also the head priest of the Faith of Superior Firepower!''s chapter onboard the Vengeance. And now, wielding a mighty piece of white chalk, he was blessing the racks of 127 mm heavy anti ship rockets that were being transported up the armoured elevator to the top decks to be loaded onto the returning aircraft.


    He scribbled phrases from the Faith''s canon onto the sides of the deadly rockets while chanting along with a few other Ordnance men of the Faith. "Hail Fire Pawer! The More... the Merrier! Hehehehe!"


    The rest of the Ordnance men on the elevator watched their antics with interest, some even nodding in agreement to their chants. The armoured roof slowly swung open as the elevator reached the top and sunlight flooded in. The red jackets started to wheel and push the racks of rockets to their holding areas but suddenly, Racky paused in his actions. Hisrge puffy eyes bugled out as if he was suffering from a heart attack as he clutched his chest, crumpling his jacket and shirt.


    The others halted in their actions and quickly ran over in concern and supported him against the rack of rockets. "Racky? You okay?"


    "My... chest!" Racky gasped in pain. "I... I can feel it!"


    "Feel what?" The rest of the Ordnance men was confused. "You need a medic?"


    "No!" Racky stood up wobbly. "I have to find it!"


    "Find what?" Racky''s words were confusing everyone. "You better get to the med bay for a check up!"


    "No check up! Racky fine!" Racky started heading towards the central superstructure. "It''s calling me! I got to go!"


    With that Racky ran off towards the hatch leaving behind the rest scratching their heads. "Goblins... crazy as always..."


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Battleship Central, Magic Converter Array Room


    Magister Thorn hammered the red button hard, but something was wrong. The supposed ejection mechanism did not work as the containment unit was still sitting inside the sealed room. The mage techs all had a look of terror in their faces as they watched Magister Thorn mashed the button again and again.


    Sweat dripped down from Magister Thorn''s head as he gave up trying to jettison the containment unit. Instead, he turned to the mage techs around him and quickly ordered. "Use whatever ice spells you all know to quickly cool down the dungeon core! Or it will cause a catastrophic disaster to the ship!"


    The dozen mage techs inside the Magic Converter Array Room quickly followed Magister Thorn''smands. The fire retardant was still spraying a cloud of foam which barely slowed the fast rising temperature of the dungeon core. The sealing case has long melted away and revealed an eye searing glow from within the cloud of foam.


    The mage techs surrounded the containment unit and started chanting spells. Magic circles appeared before the mage techs as spells of cold elements started forming and hot air inside the room started to cool down.


    Ice crystals started to form in the air but they quickly turned into pools of warm water, yet the mage techs did not give up as they continued to recast their spells. Magister Thorn assisted as much as he could, channelling spell after spell to keep the heat at bay.


    Damage control parties came rushing in to support, carrying rolls of hoses that were connected to water pumps and started hosing the containment unit and the decks started to get flooded with warm water.


    Mage techs dressed in protective gear started heading towards the manual overrides for the jettison mechanism under the spray of seawater and ice spells. Using socket wrenches, they worked the cranks, turning the ejection bay doors under the containment unit open inch by inch.


    -----


    For an unknown amount of time, It has known darkness. The once bright and beautiful surging mes and heat had disappeared when It was cast into the between with the Others. It had embraced the cold and darkness, unlike the Others whose rage It could feel even in the void. But time won in the end, and even emotions turned cold in the darkness.


    It slept, conserving what remaining power It has left and over time, It was forgotten as It drifted in the void. But suddenly, It had woke up. Something stirred in the void, calling It and as It slowly regained rity, It found a tiny thread of divinity had burrowed into its divine spark. Something was calling It and the power was tickling into Its divine spark and nourishing it.


    The amount of power was masculine, like a tiny drop of water in a dried up ocean, but divine power was power, no matter how small the offerings were. The tiny drop of divinity had made Ite out of Its deep sleep. The cold and darkness of the void made It scared as It was blind and It''s power depleted and the long sleep had made Its memories too fragmented for It to understand and remember anything.


    Like a newborn baby, It reached out to the only thing that gave itfort and warmth, the tiny thread that was linked to its divinity. It followed the thread blindly, wanting to depart from the cold and terrible void. Suddenly, It felt something blocking its path, making It unable to follow the link.


    It could feel a soft barrier blocking Its way and no matter how hard It tried to w or rip at the barrier, It could not remove it. For the first time after aeons, It found frustration. It continued to try to force Its way through, clutching as hard as It could to the only lifeline It had.


    The tiny flow of divinity within the link suddenly increased a tiny fold and that amount of power actually gave It enough strength to actually break through the barrier before It! Suddenly, It found Itself able to continue on, and It hurriedly followed the link.


    Faster! It urged Itself, as It sped through the void and slowly, a glow appeared before It and suddenly, It found Itself in a world of brightness and warmth.


    -----


    The Magic Array Converter room was sited right beside the twelve inch thick high tensile steel belt armour near the middle port side of the central hull. A sloping chute with armoured doors was connected to the Magic Array Converter room right underneath where the containment unit was.


    The containment unit was suspended over a series of supports held with explosive bolts that will st the containment unit down once the quick drop trap door was triggered. The containment unit will slide down the sloping chute and out from the side of the hull and into the sea.


    Technically, this was ast minute addition to the ship''s ns and was a job done in a couple of days by the highly motivated goblin technicians who viewed the whole contraption as funny. They did test the jettison mechanism several times by volunteering themselves to be sted down the chute and off the ship. The mechanism was rated to work and supposed to work, but for some reason, it had failed and the mage techs in protective suits were sweating bullets as they worked the manual overrides in the broiling heat.


    Finally, the trap door underneath the containment unit had opened up and the air within the room instantly cool slightly. Magister Thorn quickly yelled at the mage techs, "Get back! And hit the support with a fire spell! Now!"


    Just as a mage tech raised his palms up to conjure a magic circle for a fireball spell. A small figure in a red Ordnance jacket rushed into the room squeaking loudly. "STOP! STOP! YAaMERUUU!"


    Surprised by the sudden appearance of the goblin, everyone paused in their actions as they stared at the small figure who had rushed out in front of the containment and raised his short stubby hands up to block everyone despite the broiling temperature.


    "STOP YOU FOOLS!" The goblin hopped wildly on the spot. "It''s here! YOU NO THROW IT AWAY!"


    Magister Thorn stepped forward and quickly said, "Leave at once! The dungeon core has gone out of control! If we do not drop it out of the ship... It will damage the ship greatly!"


    "NO! FOOLS!" The goblin yelled back. "It is here! So says the Faith of Superior Firepower!"


    "What is here?" Magister Thorn suddenly felt a chill down his spine despite the boiling hot temperatures. "Did... something by mistake got summoned here?"


    "The Faith of Superior Firepower! make no mistakes!" The goblin yapped on. "Our Faith has been answered! HAIL FIREPOWEER!"


    Just as the goblin finished his salute, the temperature in the room suddenly disappeared, returning back to normal in an instant. The warning sirens instantly quietened down and everyone''s attention was at the glow inside of the containment unit which was covered in foam.


    The sudden change in temperature made the crew shiver as they stared in confusion and fear at the unknown event that was happening before their very eyes. Only the goblin seemed to be excited as he kept hopping around and chanting, "Firepower is the greatest! Nothing can defeat Firepower! If ya fail, it means ya had not brought enuff Firepower! Hail Firepower!"


    Magister Thorn wiped the cold sweat that had formed on his face and inched closer to the containment unit, his palm readying a spell to hit the explosives on the supports. The glowing light inside the containment unit slowly died out and nothing could be seen from the window ports.


    Magister Thorn hesitated as he wondered should he just st the whole thing away into the sea when the goblin ran forward. The goblin went up against the containment unit''s hatches as he tried to undogged the hatch, but his strength was not high enough.


    Finally, curiosity overwhelmed Magister Thorn''s mind and he gestured to the mage techs to help the goblin open the containment unit to see what was inside. The mage techs lent their strength to the goblin and together, they swung opened the unit and peered cautiously inside. Magister Thorn joined them and stared into the hatch and only saw arge strange floating orb which surface looked likeyeredva rock.


    "What in heavens is this...?" Magister Thorn blurted out just as the goblin ran into the containment unit and touched the floating orb that wasrger than him. "STOP HIM!"


    -----


    It finally feltfortable after a long long time, something which It did not expect to. The link to its divine spark was stronger and the flow of divinity was also thickerpared to before, making It feel alive again.


    Its surrounding was no longer dark, cold and silent. It could hear sounds for the first time after aeons, and the sounds felt so strange and alien at the same time. It could sense life energy surrounding It and something that felt reallyfortable right before It.


    It could sense a small being touching It, whose touch made It shrunk back from the unfamiliar feel but also It could sense a kind of closeness to the small being as if the divine link was connected to this being. It sensed Its surroundings which appeared in tones and hues of bright colours and found Itself in some kind of enclosure.


    More alien voices could be felt from the Its surroundings but at this time, It did not feel threatened and in fact, It felt It has finally broken free from the void. It decided to settle down here and regain Its strength with the help of the divine link and also if possible Its memories that had eroded away over the course of Its time trapped inside the dark and cold void.


    Hence, It ignored the life forms around It and concentrated on absorbing more of the divinity from the link and It fell into a deep sleep again.

 Chapter 526: Fast Travel

    Chapter 526: Fast Travel


    A series of ear shattering booms shook those inside the throne room wildly and balls of mes and smoke could be seen in the air where a dome of shimmering magic barrier held off the attacks. Yet despite the protection of the magic barrier, those soldiers and servants that were out in the open of the flying fortress and closest to the attacks, had their eardrums ruptured and inner organs damaged from the shock waves.


    The magical barrier extended out to roughly twenty meters around the flying fortress was currently wreathed in balls of rolling smoke. The surrounding shore of theke which the flying fortress was in was burning or covered with smoke after the bombardment.


    Only a lucky few airships on the ground had managed to take off with a bare minimum amount of crew, thus evading getting blown up helplessly. Yet, those airships'' joy in evading destruction soon came to a halt as soon after, streaks of exhaustsing from the rocket motors of 127 mm anti ship missiles came smashing into their sides, overwhelming their shields before more anti ship rockets mming into their hulls and breaking them apart.


    Even the returning picket airships came under attack by the tiny fliers which both the Iron Kingdom and Tri State''s steam ornithopters that were hastily deployed could not match up against those unknown flyers which easily swatted the ornithopters down from the skies like flies.


    Finally realizing his mistake, Crown Prince Yemen had turned pale as he and the rest watched the surprise attack unfolding around them. Magicmunication had been cut off with the Duchess and normal visualmunication was not working at all. His previous swagger gone as he yelled in panic, "Take off now! Take us away from here now!"


    The crew in the control throne quickly followed his owns, throwing switches and levers which sent instructions down to the bowels of the fortress where the massive steam boilers operated. Steam was released into the aethurium pipes, super heating the arcane mineral until they started melting and turning into a lighter than air gas which took slowly lifted the entire flying fortress out of the middle of theke.


    As the sky fortress was lifted out of the waters which everyone inside the throne room thought it was agonizing slow, its magic barrier took several more hits and each time, the attacks came close enough to cave the barrier in, but the magic crystal bunkers inside the flying fortress were filled to the brim and rows of ves using shovels shoved magic crystals into waiting carts that were than pushed to the magic converter arrays which sucked the mana out of the crystals to be channeled to the magic barriers.


    Finally, the sky fortress broke out of theke, trailing waterfalls as it rose over the shores ofke. Immediately, calls from surviving airships flooded the sky fortress, all asking to be docked, as the captains panicked and wanting to be under the cover of the more powerful magic barrier.


    Crown Prince Yemen rejected all pleads as to allow any airship into the cavernous holds inside the sky fortress, it must first shut down its magic barrier or risk an ident. He did not want to even the barrier to be down for even one drop of sand in the sand ss as he was afraid of the unknown enemy''s powerful spells.


    Seeing the once powerful fleet of airships getting destroyed by spells far greater than any he has know, Crown Prince Yemen felt terror in his heart. He no longer opposed Lord Ableman''s cautious advice to fall back to safety.


    "Get us out of here! Retreat!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, g Bridge


    "Sir! Enemy is retreating from the AO!" Thems operator ryed the information to Commander Ford. "Ops is asking do we pursuit?"


    "What our aircraft ammo and fuel status?" Ford asked as he left the group of Imperials to view the disy screen.


    "All squadrons reporting yellow," Thems operator replied.


    "Tell them to finish up all munitions or dump them off before returning," Ford ordered as it was to prevent idents from urring with live munitions whennding. A unloaded aircraft crashing against the side or the flight deck of the Vengeance was a lot less damagingpared to an aircraft still carrying bombs and rockets. "Tell recon to continue to keep eyes on the retreating force."


    Next, Ford gave the order to another operator to inform the Vengeance''s Captain to stand down frombat operations as the enemy was moving out of its effective main gun range. He did not want to chase the enemy for now, as the enemy was badly decimated by the bombardment and airstrikes.


    His objective was to disy their power to the Imperials and it has beenpleted. He shall leave the mop up to the Imperials and if they had the need to fight the sky raiders again, then negotiations were open on the table, after all, rockets and fuel were not cheap!


    On the other hand, there was still a critical issue ongoing within the Vengeance and Ford wanted to resolve thatplication before doing any more fighting. He turned away from the consoles and faced the Emperor seated behind the tactical plot table and gave his friendliest smile.


    "Now, as you all can see, my forces has totally routed the enemy..."


    -----


    The New World, Port of Sunder


    A small fleet of ships with usual looking wheels had just departed off the Port of Sunder. White water was churned up underneath the paddles sticking out of a pair of wheels at each side of the ships. The strange contraption allowed the ships to move at a steady pace despite theck of winds as evidenced on the limp sails.


    This idea of course came from the Great Sage, who had proposed the use of paddle wheels linked to a series of gears and what he termed as a ''by si kel'' on which a person or ve sits down with their legs on a pair of pedals, that looked like some sort of work out machine.


    It was easy to get the carpenters to build the parts of the paddle wheel out. The only issue was getting the cksmiths toe out with the gear and chain system. But once that was solved, time was just was needed to have everything built and assembled.


    With two pairs of paddle wheels powered by leg power, which was far more efficientpared to oars, the small fleet carrying the first troops of the Imperial Army departed the port, headed straight for Exile Ind.


    -----


    The New World, Kingdom of Foral, Castle Wand


    A crowd spotting colorful wear had gathered around the top of the dragon tower. The crowd had their heads craned up high as they viewed the ck dot slowly erging in skies until the shape of a massive winged dragon appeared.


    The blue and red speckled scales of the heavy weight dragon glittered under the sun as the dragon spread its wings out to slow its speed and descent beforending with a surprising soft thud on the squat looking tform for dragons.


    "Ha! I practiced!" The CO of the UN Air Force Dragon Division, Blue Dragon holding a rank of 1st Lieutenant to reflect his position, proudly dered as heid down on his hunches. "So that I won''t rattle the eggs too much when Ind!"


    "Yea, good for you!" UN Air Force Captain Stamford shook his head in mirth as he detached the safety lines off and climbed down the side of Blue Thunder''s harness. He came to an attention and saluted a cheerful looking plump middle aged elf who stepped out from the crowd. "Greetings, Lord Wernburg, I hope we did not disturb your peace."


    "Nonsense!" The Lord of Castle Wand which Blue Thunder hadnded on replied with a weing smile. "House Wenburg and Castle Wand greatly wees you from afar!"


    Word and notice from the UN Embassy in the Kingdom of Foral had already informed the Foral Nobles along the travel route of Blue Thunder well ahead of time. Many had replied with fast wyvern couriers that they would be honored to host dragon and its UN passengers. The UN Embassy which was mostly staff with the Intelligence department people had also secured a Writ of Passage for them, which was like a kind of passport for them to travel across thends and skies of Foral.


    Now after a tiring several hour flight, the tired crew led by Captain Stamford was invited in to the castle hall for some refreshment andter in the evening a weing feast was prepared for them, to which was greatly protested by Blue Thunder who wanted to join in the fun too but the castle hall was neitherrge enough to amodate his size nor has any openingsrge enough for him to even stick his head in.


    In the end, during the evening, he could only sulk at the squeezy courtyard, as he curled up and peered into the colored crystal windows at the party going on inside while a couple of frightened cooks roasted a whole horned beast for him. asionally, he rumbled some pointers to the terrified cooks on the proper cooking methods and types of spices to be used on the barbecue.


    Captain Stamford, dressed in a his formal dress uniform, shook his head at the sight of Blue Thunder grouchily teaching the cooks how to do a proper BBQ before turning his attention back to the small crowd of worshiping local unmarrieddies dressed surprisingly provocatively.


    He smiled and made all the right noises to the nobledies around him before he excused himself, leaving his crew to enjoy the attention of the fairer sex while he sought out the castle lord. He found the Lord seated at the head of table, enjoying a ss of carbonated fruit drink, which a couple crates of the gassy drink was gifted to the Lord by the UN Embassy.


    Stamford chuckled to himself inwardly as he had the thought of diplomacy and spy work was supported by soft drinks running in his mind. He gave a salute and the Castle Lord invited him to sit down beside him.


    "I must say, this drink made by your nation..." Lord Wernburg smacked his lips in appreciation. "Tastes amazing! It is better then wine!"


    Stamford smiled and replied politely, "Lord Wernburg, I am sure to have the Embassy send you a few more crates if you so enjoyed it!"


    "Oh, than I shall greatly ept!" Lord Wernburg happily said as he took another sip. "Are you enjoying yourself? Is there anything you need?"


    Lord Wernburg gestured to a group ofdies sneaking looks over their feather fans at Stamford''s direction and smiled. "Tell me and I shall ensure you shall be greatly taken care of!"


    "Ahem..." Stamford coughed to cover his embarrassment. While he was attracted to the women here, he did not really dare to do anything funny as he was on a mission. He had already warned his crew to not misbehave and also, he did not want to think what kind of diseases the women around here might carry even though he had his shots. "We are on official business..."


    "I understand!" The Lord nodded, "Well, tell me what you need and if I can help, I will dly do so!"


    "It''s is nothing much," Stamford replied. "We just some supplies for our journey. And we would like to know if there any dangers or interesting to look out for on our way."


    "Consider it done!" The plump Lord replied before he rubbed his double chin. "Hmm... You will be heading up to Lord Cotaro''snds next right?"


    "There shouldn''t be any dangerous beasts along the way," Lord Wernburg said after a while. "Oh and there is word of something interesting that came the other day."


    Lord Wernburg gestured towards the crystal windows to the shadowy shape of Blue Thunder in the courtyard and said, "It seemed they caught a wild fellow of yours."


    "They say it was a dragon of a kind unseen before in this world," Lord Wernburg leaned close to Stamford and said in a lowered voice. "It has pitch ck scales and a fierce fighting spirit!"


    "But too bad as it is too wild to be domesticated and Lord who caught it, is nning on holding an auction at the Old Capital to sell it to the highest bidder!"

 Chapter 527: Good or Evil

    Chapter 527: Good or Evil


    The New World, Exile Ind


    Duchess Manarva gripped the armrests of themand chair tightly as she red out of the crystal windows of her gship out to the skies. Plumes of grey smoke rising into the skies covered her view, each smoke plume signifying the death of an airship.


    "Any more of those flyers in the skies?" She asked the spotters armed with far seeing spells and eye sses posted on the observation decks above her.


    "Aft clear!" The spotters yelled out as they gave their reports. "Starboard clear! Port side clear!"


    "Order all surviving ships to make full steam! Use the smoke as cover!" Duchess Manarva ordered. "Set course to the northern mountains! Observers continue to keep watch on the skies!"


    "Yes my Lady!" The bridge crew followed her orders and shortly after, the pride of the Tri State Air Fleet rose up from its hiding spot that was over a thick canopy of leaves. Branches snapped and leaves fluttered off its hull as the gship broke through the disturbed canopy which had been covered up by magic after the airship was forcednded into the forest.


    "My Lady!" An observer yelled out from the observation level. "The Iron Kingdom Sky Fortress! It''s retreating!"


    "What?" Duchess Manarva climbed up the steps to the observation level and took the eye ss. She peered through the eye ss and saw under a screen of ck smoke, the unmistakable shape of the Iron Kingdom''s Sky Fortress was flying away. "What is that bastard doing?"


    "My Lady! Hails to the Sky Fortress are not getting through!" The mage manning themunication crystals called out behind. "But we are able to hail other ships!"


    "That bastard must be ignoring allmunications!" Duchess Manarva let out a coldugh. "That spineless coward!"


    "Ignore that coward!" Duchess Manarva leaned over the railings and yelled down. "Send my order out to all survivors to rally with my ship! We will reform and gather the fleet!"


    One by one, surviving airships joined the gathering of airships led by Duchess Manarva''s gship as they headed towards the tall mountain peaks of the ind. Airships that were badly damaged had their crews and as much supplies transferred over to other airships before they were scuttled.


    Duchness Manarva continued to re at the fast disappearing dot of the Crown Prince''s Sky Fortress with angry as the Crown Prince had abandoned everyone, including his own people. Thankfully, as the remnants of the Combined Fleet gathered together and rescued their people off the ground and air, neither the deadly flyers nor the terrible spells of thunder appeared again, allowing them to retreat unmolested.


    Yet, unknown to them, a tiny dot in the sky slowly circled the area, watching and reporting every bit of their actions and followed them as they retreated towards the mountains for shelter and concealment.


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, g Bridge


    Emperor An was raised a hand to cut off Lord Dietrich''s tirade as he and some others remained unconvinced of the United Nation''s supremacy. He has been going on over again and again about how it was all a trickery and the scenes shown on the wall was all illusion magic.


    In the end, even Emperor An felt a headache after hearing Lord Dietrich whiny voice repeating constantly. "Enough! We will know once our troopsnded on Exile Ind!"


    Chastened, Lord Dietrich finally quietened down, but it did not stop him from throwing haughty res at the United Nationers. Emperor An let out an inward sight and said to the smiling short eared Commander. "We apologize for any disrespect shown."


    "None taken!" The short eared replied with that smile still on his face. "I know it is hard to believe this, but as you said, once your men hasnded on the ind, the truth will be out."


    "Than it shall be so," Emperor An nodded. "If the sky raiders have truly been beaten back, than the people of the Empire will be forever grateful for your help."


    The short eared hooman gave a small bow before he said, "Good, now, I am sure Your Majesty is tired? We have prepared a suite for you to rest. How about all of you take a rest and once refreshed, we shall speak again?"


    Emperor An knew it was a polite dismissal from the ship''s bridge and he did not make a fuss out of it. Instead he nodded again before allowing his chief eunuch to take his hand and led him out of the bridge, following their host.


    Once retired into the huge and tastefully decorated cabin that was given to him for his usage, heid down on the soft bed and started to make ns for the future of the Empire. An knew that the Empire no longer has the trust of any of the others, and now, after witnessing firsthand the might of the United Nationers, he knew that the Empire was no longer strongest in the New World.


    And with the addition of the neers that was rumored to hade from beyond the End Zone, the military might of the Empire was not really a match against their flying ships. If only they had met the Great Sage months earlier, his troops would had enough time to be outfitted with dragon cannons and thundernces!


    Even if those weapons were not even on par with the United Nations'' mastery over thunder weapons, it would still be of use against the Sky Raiders and he would not be forced to request for help from the United Nations, making the Empire indebted to them!


    This debt would be very heavy, and the Empire will no doubt be overshadowed by the United Nations in the future! Emperor An sat up from the bed and decided that he must recruit the Great Sage no matter the cause if the Empire were to be able to still have some standing in the New World in the future!


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, ult Division, Magic Converter Array Room


    Commander Ford, Captain Nimo, and other senior officers of the UNS Vengeance stood gaping at the aftermath of the dungeon core going out of control. Remains of foam, puddles of water from pumps and ckened paint covered the room. Teams of damage control parties and mage techs were checking the room for damages and recing melted wires and damagedponents.


    What took the officers'' attention was not the damages caused by the dungeon core but the fact that arge stone ball was floating over the magic converter array formation. Ford walked around the room, carefully stepping over the runes, cables and puddles of water as he observed the floating stone ball that was like the size of a yoga ball from all directions.


    "What is that?" He finally asked. "What the hell happened down here?"


    "Well..." Magister Thorn rubbed his head as he replied. "I- We all have no idea too..."


    "No idea?" Captain Nimo growled. "This thing nearly burnt a hole through the hulls! We shall just dump it overboard to be safe!"


    "No! No! Dum- Captain Sir!" A squeaky voice came from one side. Everyone turned to identify the speaker and found a goblin wearing a red Ordnance jacket. "Erm... Sirs! We no throw Orb away! It is alive!"


    "Alive?" Ford was curious and confused to why there was a flight ops Ordnance techie here in the central hull when they should all be at carrier hulls. "What do you mean?"


    "Touch it, Sir!" The goblin gestured to the ball. "You can felt it!"


    Ford nced at Magister Thorn who gave a helpless nod before he stepped forward and gently ced his palm on the surface of the stone ball. Its surface felt like smooth despite looking rough and felt warm to his touch. He jerked his hand back when he suddenly felt a heart beat like sensation.


    He threw a questioning look to Magister Thorn who said, "We do not know why the dungeon core became this way... And like what the goblin said, it seemed alive. What you felt was its... heart beat."


    The other senior officers took turns to feel the floating stone ball while Magister Thorn continued his report. "We could detect simr magic waves to the dungeon coreing off it, but we have no idea why it became this way. It had started acting weirdly for a few times but never at such scale."


    "So what you are saying is... no one knows what is going on here?" Ford summarized to which Magister Thorn gave an embarrassed cough. "But ultimately... is it dangerous to us all?"


    Magister Thorn silently gave a shook of his head to indicate he has no idea either.


    "No, Sirs!" The goblin suddenly called out again. "Ah know what it iz!"


    "Who are you?" Ford asked as he turned his attention to the goblin.


    The goblin snapped to attention and even threw a salute, "Seaman Racky the Goblin of Flight Ops, Ordnance Department! Also part time Head Priest of da Faith of Superior Firepower!"


    "Faith of superior... firepower?" Ford frowned as it was the first he had heard of such thing. "Is... that some kind of cult?"


    "No cult!" Racky hopped on one foot. "We believers of firepower!"


    "It''s a religion of sorts..." Magister Thorn helpfully exined from the side. "They worship guns and bombs..."


    "And you know of this, Captain?" Ford turned to Captain Nimo who gave a nod. "And you approve?"


    "Sir, as long as they don''t damage the ship and it helps to keep morale up," Captain Nimo gave a shrug. "I see nothing wrong with regtions."


    "So this means this faith has quite a following?" Ford frowned deeper.


    Captain Nimo gave a nod, "Around a hundred or so followers as we know of."


    "We have one hundred and three!" Racky proudly dered and poked two fingers out in a V pose. "Also there is more believers back at Hope! Me Head Priest Number Two!"


    "Ok... ok..." Ford felt a small headacheing and gestured to the goblin. "What does all these has to do with the dungeon core?"


    "It is theing of a God!" Racky eximed excitedly, "It shall led us to peace through superior firepower!"


    "What?" Ford almost couldn''t believe his ears when he heard the goblin speaking of peace through superior firepower. "A God?"


    "That is what the goblin has been stating all day long..." Magister Thorn sighed. "I do not know how Gods are borne and while I do not believe it to be a god... but it definitely is alive..."


    "It is our faith of superior firepower that called it here!" Racky fidgeted around. "It responds to ourbat ''bre vee ly'' chants!"


    "Bre vee ly?" Ford felt it was very confusing to speak with a goblin. "What do you mean?"


    "Fox one! Guns guns guns!" Racky replied in a chanting tone. "Blessings of firepower!"


    "Brevity codes?" Ford felt like he had fallen deep into a rabbit hole and he couldn''t make any sense of what was going on.


    "I think it might be due to the faith one has," Magister Thorn mumbled out loud his thoughts. "The stronger one holds of their faith... the stronger the connection to the their deity..."


    "Do you hoomans have any gods... of firepower?" Magister Thorn suddenly asked Ford who scratched his head in confusion. "Maybe... the Faith of Superior Firepower might... really bring forth a God with their deep faith... in our weapons..."


    "I... don''t know of any Gods of Earth that is worshiped for firepower..." Ford helplessly said. "I probably need to check with the rest..."


    "But if what you said is true..." Ford turned to the floating stone in the center of the room. "Will it be a good thing or bad thing for us... if it hatches ores out?"


    Ford''s words had everyone turning their attention to the floating stone ball as they pondered on his words. "Will whatever thate out be good or evil?"

 Chapter 528: Good Will

    Chapter 528: Good Will


    The New World, Kingdom of Foral, Castle Wand


    "Ooooo!" Blue Thunder grinned happily as he listened to Stamford''s retelling of the events that had happened during the weing dinnerst night. His previous grouchiness gone as he leaned closer to Stamford and said, "Let''s go! A ck dragon? I never saw one before!"


    "You do know that we have to get to Fortress Hensink to speak with the prisoners right?" Stamford shook his head at Blue Thunder''s suggestion. "We got no time for sightseeing!"


    "But... it''s a ck dragon!" Blue Thunder gave his best puppy eye look at Stamford. "And an auction! I read about those but never been to one before!"


    "There will be hidden passages leading to the underground auction... secret passwords and we need to wear masks to hide our identity!" Blue Thunder started fantasizing about the auction. "And there will be some rich arrogant young masters ordies that will show off their wealth but we will outbid them all in the end!"


    "What the hell have you been reading?" Stamford gave a warily look at Blue Thunder who was still ticking off his fingers. "Rx! I didn''t say we are going!"


    "Hohoho!" Lord Wernburg suddenly appeared in the courtyard and heughed as he overheard the words of Blue Thunder. "Amazing! A dragon with such imaginations! This is truly a wonder!"


    "No wonder they say the United Nations is and of freedom and wonder, if even dragons that lived there could so freely express their thoughts and speech!" Lord Wernburg gave a pat against Blue Thunder''s fore legs. "Well, my big draconic friend, the auction isn''t that mysterious as you had imagined, but it is an exclusive event and only those with invitations can attend only. And of course, you will also need to have put down a deposit of gold before you are qualified to make any bids!"


    "Oooo..." Blue Thunder hummed and he rubbed his ws together, mimicking the way a merchant rubs their fingers when talking about gold. "So how much gold is the basic requirement?"


    "Hahaha! Not much..." Lord Wernburgughed at seeing Blue Thunder''s gesture. "Just around a hundred thousand gold crowns!"


    "Ha! Just a hundred thousand..." Blue Thunder paused in his statement as his mind processed the information. "A HUNDRED THOUSAND GOLD CROWNS?"


    He started to count his ws as he made the conversion of UN credits to gold crown and his face nched. "That''s almost... a ten million creds!"


    "How... many cheese fries set is that?" Blue Thunder felt his brain melting as he whipped his long serpentine head over to Stamford and the rest of his crew. "My super sized dragon set cost about eight creds! Guys! Help me count!"


    "You will never be able to afford that much cheese fries!" Stamford shook his head and felt embarrassed for Blue Thunder''s antics. He turned to Lord Wernburg and smiled politely and shook the plump elf''s hand. "I hope we did not cause any bother to you, Lord Wernburg."


    "No, no! The honor was mine! Youring will be the talk of the castle and town for years toe! Hahaha!" The Lordughed warmly. "I only hoped I have been a good host!"


    "Yes! On behalf of the United Nations, we thank you for your kind and warm wee!" Stamford smiled. "We had a good time despite just one night here."


    "Hahaha! Good good!" Lord Wernburg smiled back. "Since we are friends now, I hope you do not reject this small gift of mine!"


    "Gift?" Blue Thunder''s interest was immediately piqued as gave up calcting how much cheese fries he could get with ten million credits as he scratched marks on the dirt. "Hehehe! Why thank you, Lord Wernburg! Hehehe!"


    "Stop being so thick skinned you fat greedy lizard!" Stamford snapped at Blue Thunder who twiddled his ws with an innocent look on his face.


    "I am sorry you have to see this..." Stamford quickly apologized to theughing Lord Wernburg. "He can be disrespectful and act like a child at times!"


    "Hahahaha! No worries!" Lord Wernburg smiled. "Here, this gift isn''t really much. It is just the invitation to the Auction at the Old Capital."


    "Unfortunately, I do not care to be shaken about in a carriage all the way here to the Old Capital!" Lord Wenburgughed again. "So, rather than waste the invitation and our big draconic friend here has such interest to the Auction, why not let take the invitation and enjoy the sights of the Old Capital?"


    "OOOO!" Blue Thunder butted in and gave arge toothy grin. "Yes! Please... Captain... Can we go? Pretty please, please? I promise to fly faster so that we can still get to Fort Hensink in time!"


    Stamford let out a sigh, wondering how the hell did such a big baby like Blue Thunder could even be a father yet did not mature at all. "Alright, alright!"


    "Then I shall thank you, Lord Wernburg for this generous gift!" Stamford gave a salute. "Your kind gesture shall be remembered!"


    "Hahaha! This is a small matter!" Lord Wernburg waved away Stamford''s salute. "I am d that we can be good friends now!"


    Stamford nodded but inside his mind, he was thinking that the jolly Lord was actually quite cunning. Most likely he wanted to make a good impression and even foster a good rtionship with us so that if ever in the future, the UN marches into Foral, hisnds would most likely be untouched by us.


    After exchanging another few pleasantries, Blue Thunder''s crew had finished securing his harness and rig together with their travel supplies with the help of the locals. Stamford gave another handshake and salute before he climbed up the side of Blue Thunder and hooked himself in.


    Blue Thunder gave a cheerful wave of his wing before he took a running leapt into the skies under the waving goodbyes of the locals and circled the castle twice before their navigator gave directions and with a mighty p of his wings, they headed towards the inner regions of the Kingdom of Foral, directly towards the Old Capital.


    -----


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    Captain ke sat without moving as he stared nkly at the small photo frame on his desk. Traces of a green white glittery powder coated his nostrils. A knock on his door woke him up from his trance and he wiped all traces of the powder away before heposed him. "Enter!"


    "Sir?" Dr. Sharon poked her head in through the sliding doors and asked. "Got a minute?"


    "What is- *cough!* mm..." ke picked up the cup of cold tea on his desk and downed it, wetting his dry throat. "What is it?"


    "It''s regarding Dijon..." Dr. Sharon frowned as she stared at ke''s face. "Are you alright? You look a bit pale..."


    "Yes... Must be theck of sleep," ke rubbed his face and quickly asked. "What about Dijon?"


    "Well, we managed to hook him up a mobile life support system..." Dr. Sharon narrowed her eyes suspiciously at ke''s mannerism. "He woke up just a while ago. I thought... you might want to speak to him..."


    ke nodded and stood up, "He has gained rity?"


    "As long as the painkillers keeping..." Dr. Sharon let out a sigh. "Them bastards really know to damage a person''s body..."


    ke kept quiet as he followed Dr. Sharon towards the med bay level. Next to the med bay was arge room which was converted into a sort of treatment centre for Dijon''s injuries. Stepping into the room, ke was hit with the smell the strong chemicals of antiseptics and bleach cleaners.


    He swallowed the bile that was forming in his throat as the after effects of the drug he took earlier threatened to make him vomit. He reached out and supported himself against the wall to let the moment past and Dr. Sharon quickly came out to support him.


    "Richard!" Dr. Sharon quickly gestured one of the medical attendants in the room to bring a chair over. She carefully set ke down the chair and checked his pulse. Just as she was about to shine a penlight into ke''s eyes, he pushed her hands away.


    "I am okay!" ke said as he stopped Dr. Sharon from conducting a check upon him. "Just tired."


    "Hmmm..." Dr. Sharon frowned. "I better give you a full body checkup just to be safe!"


    "It''s okay!" ke pushed himself up from the chair and changed the subject. "Where is Dijon?"


    Dr. Sharon sighed, thinking why always those at the top were always so stubborn. "He''s in that room."


    ke nodded and walked over to the windowed door and waited for Dr. Sharon to open the sliding doors. Inside, he saw a body submerged in a tank of unknown fluids with many cables sticking out of the body that was connected to the top of the tank. A clear mask covered Dijon''s nose and mouth that was connected to a respirator outside the tank that was constantly inting and deting with hissing sounds.


    "He is awake?" ke asked as he stood before the tank.


    Dr. Sharon walked up and lightly rapped against the tank before saying. "We suspended him in the tank with our own cocktail of science and magic..."


    As she was speaking, Dijon''s eyes slowly twitched and opened up. His once steely graze was gone and reced with a fierce burning nce. His re softened slightly when he saw who was here and for a moment, he exchanged stares with ke. But in the end, Dijon was the first to look away as a look of guilt past through his eyes.


    "Dijon..." ke took a deep breath as he readied himself to ask him the one question that had been eating him since Sherene was lost. "Did... Did... did she... suffer?"


    "I..." A rough raspy voice came from the set of speakers on the table next to the tank as Dijon spoke. "The...st... I saw... her... She... was alive... together... with that... beast... girl...."


    ke closed his eyes and lowered his head as emotions buried deep in his heart threatened to spill out. He had heard that she was alive and something heavy was lifted off his heart and he almost went weak at his knees. He supported himself against the ss walls of the tank and whispered to himself over and over again. "She... is alive! She is alive!"


    But like a bucket of cold water that had sshed over him, he felt a chill strike his heart as he realized that Dijon''s words were thest he saw her. He looked up with a fierce fire in his eyes and almost yelled. "WHEN? When was thest time you saw her?"


    "I... don''t... remember..." Dijon''s face grimaced up in pain and confusion. "I... where am... I... I... ARRRHHHHH!"


    He started to hyperventte inside the tank and his body started thrashing violently. Warning beeps started to sound from the array of medical monitors set on the side. Dr. Sharon quickly rushed over and yelled at the medical attendants and nurses. "Five CCs of tranq! Stat!"


    The nurses quickly took out a tiny bottle of clear liquid and Dr. Sharon snatched it and using a syringe, she withdrew out the liquid before injecting it into one of the many tubes hooked up into Dijon inside the tank. Dijon continued to thrash about in the medical tank while his lifeless arms and legs yed about in the liquid.


    ke stared at the scene and a sense of deep anger and hate ate his soul. Without another word, he turned away from the tank where Dr. Sharon and the nurses were urgently attending to Dijon''s sudden mental breakdown. He walked out of the treatment room and stood silently outside the long corridor as he controlled himself to notsh out all his frustrations.


    When he finally has gotten his emotions under control, he opened his eyes and took a deep breath before he headed towards the detention level.

 Chapter 529: Bad Luck

    Chapter 529: Bad Luck


    Emperor An stood before theke with its surroundings totally devastated. Trees were unrooted or shattered into many pieces and the earth was churned up and filled withrge ugly mud filled craters. Wreckages of buildings and airships were scattered all over the ce, including bodies and bits of unidentified parts. Finally, he understood the meaning of seeing is believing as he stood before the aftermath of a one sided attack.


    Even his Imperial Court who flew over from the United Nations'' ind ship was dumbstruck at the scene. Lord Dietrich who had been the most vocal about the trickery of the United Nationers was actually now at a loss of words as he stared at the destroyedndscape.


    Imperial troops were moving around the devastatednd, picking through the bodies and wreckage while An and his Court stood up wind from the smell yet they could still catch a whiff of burnt meat, ashes and charred wood.


    "Your Majesty! May you live for a thousand years!" A Knight in full te armour went down on one knee before An. "Knight Colonel Sander of the Fourth Imperial Army reporting!"


    "You may rise!" The old eunuch next to An intoned after An gestured for the Knight Colonel to do so.


    "You have performed very welltely, Knight Colonel Sander! We are very pleased with your results!" An said. "We shall reward you greatly!"


    "Many thanks, your Majesty!" Knight Colonel Sander quickly bowed. "But much of the credit goes to the Great Sage''s advice! If he was not by my side, sharing his wisdom, we would not have performed as well!"


    Emperor An nodded as he had seen both the reports of the defence of Port Sunder and also the ingenious paddle wheel designs powered by leg power at the beach. The Great Sage''s idea had taken three days to be implemented fully to all the avable ships and allowed the entirending fleet to cross the channel within a couple turns of the sand ss instead of requiring half a day or more of sailing.


    "Yes, We need to reward the Great Sage too!" An quickly said as he also wanted to recruit the Sage to be the Court''s Grand Advisor position. "Where is his Greatness?"


    Knight Colonel Sander frowned as he turned and looked around in confusion. "He... He was just right next to me just now!"


    -----


    Leung ced a gloved him over his racing heart to calm himself as he peered from the corner of the tree he was currently hiding behind. When he firstnded with the rest of the Imperial Army, which he was cajoled along by the beefy Knight Colonel despite his excuses and reasons for staying behind at Port Sunder.


    He saw the devastatedndscape and the obvious bomb craters dotting all over the area and he knew the UN was here. His suspicions were further confirmed when he slipped away from the Knight Colonel and the escorts when their attention was on the young Emperor, and he had overheard the nobles surrounding the Emperor talking about a ship the size of an ind and flying crosses.


    He immediately knew that the UN must have somehow constructed a carrier of sorts and has bombers simr to those that hit Sin City and nearly burying him forever under a pile of rubble. Leung decided it was time to run and at all cost avoid getting the attention of the UN and now it would appear that the UN has somehow formed some kind of alliance with the Emperor!


    This meant that by staying around, there was a very high chance he will get exposed and he really did not want to die.


    "In the thirty six stratagems... Its time to run!" He mumbled to himself as he sneaked off into the forest. "Why the fuck is my luck so bad?!"


    -----


    The New World, Old Kingdom of Foral, Outskirts of the Old Capital


    A city slowly appeared before the eyes of Blue Thunder and his crew as he dropped out of the clouds. Colourful spires and conical towers dotted all over the city which was surrounded by a grey city wall and a moat, its green algae filled water glittering under the noon sun. Tiny banners and gs could be seen fluttering in the wind all over the city.


    As Blue Thunder approached closer to the city, a trio of smaller dragons appeared and formed up around Blue Thunder. The smaller dragons had yellow brown scales and wings and a rider sat on a saddle just forward of the shoulder des and was decked out in orange trappings.


    "HOY!" The leading rider yelled using a spell to broadcast his voice across while he gestured with a crossbow. "LAND AND BE IDENTIFIED!"


    "Do it," Stamford ordered Blue Thunder who tilt over and dived down towards the ground. The three Foral Draconic Corps followed closely behind and Blue Thunder came to a halt just before touching down on the ground by beating his wings furiously to reduce his speed.


    As theynded, a troop of cavalry came riding over while the smaller Foral dragons continued to circle overhead, ready for any hostile actions by the unknown dragon and their crew. Stamford and the rest remained on Blue Thunder and waited for the Foral cavalry to pulled up next to Blue Thunder.


    "Greetings!" Stamford greeted the lead cavalryman and he took out a scroll case which contained their Writ Of Passage and handed it over to the cavalryman. "Wee in peace!"


    The cavalrymen eyed Stamford''s short ears with suspicions and the leader took the Writ out and gave it a look over before his expression softened. "And what is your purpose here?"


    "We have an invitation to an auction," Stamford took out a perfumed scroll tied with an exquisite silk ribbon.


    "Oh!" The cavalryman''s manner changed to be even more respectful as soon as he saw the invitation. "My Lord, other than official businesses, dragons are not allowed to fly over the city, you have tond and enter at the East Gate if you wish to enter the city."


    "Okay," Stamford nodded as the cavalry leader gave him more directions and lodgings rmendations. "Thanks for the information!"


    Stamford flicked a gold crown over to the pleasantly surprised cavalryman leader who grinned and saluted. "Get a drink for you and your boys!"


    "Thank you, Lord!" In the end, the cavalry troop walked them to the East Gate where under the escort of the cavalry troop, they skipped the queue of merchants, couriers and other bureaucratic requirements. The cavalry leader gave ast salute before he and his men returned to their duties after seeing Stamford and his crew off at the East Gate.


    Unlike the rest of the city gates, the East Gate was massive as it was catered to the needs of dragons and other massive beasts of burden. The concourse was wide enough for three dragons of Blue Thunder''s size to waddle through and was lined with warehouses and custom houses.


    Teams of children carrying shovels, buckets and coarse bristle brushes came running up next to Blue Thunder and started to call out their services. "We do scrubbing! Washing! Waste clearing! All for onerge copper!"


    "Fine fodder for your dragon, kind Sir?"


    "Best lodging in the East Gate with feathered beds and pillows! No lice!"


    "Need porters? Warehouse space?"


    "Best prices! Buying premium leather and ores!"


    The street was blustering with activity, hawkers and vendors yelling out their wares while others trailed after the traders'' dragons and beasts of burdens offering services. Blue Dragon blinked his eyes in fascination as waddled along the wide street, following behind a couple of winglessnd dragons that were carryingrge parcels of goods on their backs.


    He kept whipping his head left and right as he took in the smells and sights until Stamford snapped, "Stop swinging your head left and right, you dumb lizard! You are making us all giddy!"


    "Ooo, sorry!" Blue Thunder gave a cheeky grin. "I never have seen such a busy market ce before!"


    "You better watch where you are going..." Stamford warned as he gestured before them. "Look out!"


    "Huh?" Blue Thunder paused in his movement and lifted one wed forefoot up. He looked at the gooey mess caked on his ws and took a quick sniff before he roared out, frightening the surrounding people. "EEEEEWWW!"


    "HEY YOU!" A troop of City Guard came running up to Blue Thunder and pointed at Stamford. "YOU! KEEP YOUR ANIMAL UNDER CONTROL! OR WE WILL THROW YOU INTO THE DUNGEONS!"


    "Sorry!" Stamford quickly called out in apology before he smacked Blue Thunder on the side of his neck. "Keep it down you bloody country bumpkin! If you don''t feel embarrassed, I do, ok!"


    The rest of the crew snickered as Blue Thunder lowered his head down dejectedly and tried to scrape the crap off his ws. "Yucks..."


    "Look, there it is," Stamford gestured to the right at arge building with a neat looking facade. Arge sign with stylized wheel and pickax hang above a set of double doors and beside it was an alley that wasrge enough to allow a dragon like Blue Thunder to enter. "That should be the Pioneer Inn as rmended by the cavalry boys!"


    "Good sir, are you looking for lodging?" A blonde boy no older than twelve came running up next to Blue Thunder and addressed Stamford. "We have the finest bed and dining! The best stables and hay for your beast! Our service is guaranteed!"


    "Alright, lodging for four and one dragon for two nights!" Stamford said as he looked at the boy who cheerfully guided them into the alley next to the Inn. There, the alleyway opened up to arge courtyard where several massive stalls were lined on in rows with at least two thirds upied by a dragon or some other beasts.


    Stamford and the rest started to climb down from Blue Thunder who looked around his surroundings with a sense of dread. "You are not seriously letting me sleep here?"


    "Stop being a baby!" Stamford hissed in a low voice. "Soldier up!"


    "But... but..." Blue Thunder took a peek into the stall and took a sniff. "It smells like piss and shit! There''s not even a nket!"


    "And..." He gestured around the courtyard which was just ttened earth with suspicious stains covering the yard. "I..."


    "Just endure it," Stamford grinned. "After all you wanted toe to the auction!"


    "But... but..." Blue Thunder was crestfallen as he squeezed into the stall. "Its... not fair..."


    "Chin up soldier!" Stamford shook his head at Blue Thunder''s expression. "I see what good food they have around here and send you some ok?"


    "Really?" Blue Thunder immediately perked up. "Just now I saw there was a stall selling some sort of roast!"


    Stamfordughed as he knew as long as that glutton have some food to think about, he will be alright. "Alright, I get you some!"


    "Sir?" The small boy reappeared next to Stamford with a middle agedy who was carrying a thick tome and feathered quill in her hands. "Two nights for four person and onerge dragon?"


    "That will be a total of onerge and two small silver!" Thedy had simr blonde hair as the boy tied up into a bun stated in a business tone. "One small silver per night each and two small silver per night for therge dragon!"


    "Food is provided for breaking fast only," The Inndy said. "Additional meals at two coppers each!"


    Stamford nodded and handed over tworge silvers and gotten his change. "We are from out of town and is new to this ce. Can you tell us anything about this city?"


    "Here for the auction?" Thedy raised an eyebrow at Stamford. She did not seem too concerned about his ears.


    Stamford nodded and gestured to Blue Thunder who leaned over to listen. "My dragon wanted to see this auction as we heard that there is a rare ck dragon there."


    "Oh," Thedy peered over Stamford''s shoulder before she said in a matter of factly way. "You do know that dragons aren''t allowed in to watch the auction?"


    "WHAAAAAT?"

 Chapter 530: Future

    Chapter 530: Future


    The New World, Exile''s Passage, UNS Vengeance, Admiral''s Quarters


    "Recon has lost contact with the remaining airships of Group Alpha when they entered the mountainous region of the ind," Commander Ford spoke to the disy on the desk. "We suspect they went into active magical camo protocols as we lost track of their positions shortly after. And the mountain peaks are causing radar interference. Unless we send in the recon nes into the mountain region, we won''t be able track anything."


    "No, don''t expose the recon nes. Will the remains of Group Alpha still be of a threat?" Captain ke''s static filled voice came out from a tiny speaker. "And the flying ind?"


    "Tactical does not think so," Commander Ford replied. "And I concur with their report. As for the flying ind, we are still tracking it. It is headed for a direct course into the End Zone. It appears to be in full retreat."


    "Keep watching that thing..." ke said before he asked. "And the Imperials? What is their response?"


    "Well, the young Emperor seemed to favor us more, but some of the older factions in his Court still seemed against us," Ford said. "But after our little demonstration of our capabilities, most of that faction is staying quiet or rethinking their ns."


    "The Vengeance has shown them our ability to wage wars and project power across vast distances," Ford continued. "When the Imperial Court returns to their Capital, I am certain there will be changes within their ranks and motives."


    "Good," ke''s image nodded. "Proceed to Fort Hensink and pick up the rest of the fleet."


    "It''s time to deal with the Isles and the Group Delta..."


    -----


    The New World, Exile''s Passage, UNS Vengeance, Battleship Central, Observation Deck


    Professor Hamlot took a deep draw of the smoke pipe before puffing out a cloud of bluish smoke that got carried away by the sea breeze. He stared silently at the distant shores of the ind called Exile''s Ind and tried to imagine how many of his countrymen had died on these unknownnd.


    He couldn''t see the battlefield from his vantage point at the observation deck which he now frequently came to take a breather but his mind involuntarily recalled the images of the destruction he saw shown in the briefing room.


    Two of the finest fleets of the greatest nations of the Old World was just destroyed without even catching a glimpse of their attackers. He did not expect the United Nationers to follow the gentlemanly rules of war of the Old World, but he totally did not expect the brutal efficiently of their ability to wage war.


    It felt to him that barely even a turn of the sand ss before it was over and they were packing and cleaning up, as if they did not just killed off hundreds or even thousands of soldiers and sailors with the coldness of their actions.


    Suddenly to him, these United Nationers felt alien to him and that in the future, wars will no longer be waged face to face but over vast distances that one does not even need to see each other before the dying began. He felt a chill down his spine as he pictured the future and took another deep draw of his pipe to calm his nerves as he turned his thoughts to his students thatnded here with him. What will happen to them and how will they see this fast changing world in the future.


    "Professor Hamlot!" A cheerful voice broke him out of his mncholy thoughts and he saw Magister Thorn standing next to him with a mug of steaming tea. "How fare youtely?"


    "Headmaster," Hamlot greeted the cheerful mage with a smile and gestured to the chair next to him. "Have a seat."


    "Thanks!" Magister Thorn sat down and took a sip of his tea before he leaned back and sighed. "I hope you are doing fine because for me, it has been an eventfully week!"


    "I see," Hamlot politely nodded. "Well, I hope it all be resolved well for you."


    "No..." Magister Thorn shook his head with a dejected sigh. "I doubt it will turn out well in the turn, that is why its such a big headache!"


    "I am sure you heard of the problem with the magical convertor array," Magister Thorn said. "Damn goblins can be worse than gossiping market wives!"


    Hamlot could only smile and nod in agreement. He had heard of the rumors about the magical convertor array, some of the rumors even said it had somehow summoned in a demon or higher being from another realm!


    "Did something came through from... another realm?" He asked curiously. "I heard some rumors... Everyone is talking about it..."


    "No point to even try to keep a secret onboard a ship... Everyone knows in the end..." Magister Thornmented. "Well... I myself isn''t too sure either... In fact, we do not even know if its the problem with the array or the core..."


    "And now we have this new religious group iming its theing of their God!" Magister Thorn rubbed his face in defeat. "They think it responded to their calls..."


    "The Faith of Superior Firepower?" Professor Hamlot asked as he had heard of this faith when he came onboard the ship. "Does it has a lot of followers?"


    "Mostly the goblins and some Oerkins..." Magister Thorn replied. "But also quite a few others are into this new Faith... I don''t even know if its good or bad..."


    Professor Hamlot leaned back and took another puff of his pipe as he wondered if the Faith could answer some of his questions about the future of war. Maybe he should take a look at this Faith to see what the future holds?


    -----


    The New World, The Old Kingdom Of Foral, Old Capital, The Pioneer Inn


    "I don''t care! I don''t care!" Blue Thunder grumbled as he stuffed a whole roasted wyvern down his throat. "I wanna go!"


    "Stop acting like a goddamn baby!" Stamford growled back. "For god''s sake! You are a bloody father already! What would your kids think if they ever saw you acting like this!"


    Blue Thunder let out a deep sigh as his shoulders drooped down. "But I wanted to see the Auction... That''s the whole point of this detour!"


    "Hey Chief," Dek, their radio operator held up a bunch of electronics and grinned. "We could rig up some kind ofms with sight and sounds so that Blue can watch in his cozy hotel room!"


    "What cozy hotel room?" Blue Thunder growled before he lowered his voice under the withering re of Stamford. "Its a... dump!"


    "Is it possible?" Stamford turned his re away from Blue Thunder and asked Dek who nodded.


    "Yup, we just hook up a receiver on the roof..." Dek started exining. "And Blue should be able to watch through this camera here and listen in to our conversations."


    "Oooo!" Blue Thunder rubbed his head against Dek tenderly. "You, my man!"


    "Alright," Stamford sighed as he could not bear the childish antics of Blue Thunder. "Hook it up for Blue. We can do a testter when we go out for dinner."


    "No problem!" Dek grinned as he grabbed his bag of gadgets. "The Auction''s tomorrow evening and we have plenty of time!"


    "I want more roasted wyverns! Honey vored!" Blue Thunder called out after Stamford who entered the side entrance of the Pioneer Inn.


    -----


    The New World, The Old Kingdom of Foral, The Old Capital, Venna Auction House Dungeons


    The sound of metal chains been jerked against their wall anchors and deep beastly growls came echoing out of the stone cells. A flicker of torch light suddenly appeared in the dark and damp coldness of the dungeons followed by footsteps caused the rattling of chains to silence.


    As the glow of orange light came closer to the cell, a deep throaty growl could be heard and a group of people dressed in finery stood before a massive iron grated cell. Snarls and hisses greeted the arrivals as one of the keepers holding a torch lit the wall braziers and illuminated the cell.


    "Magnificent!" A young male leaned closer to the metal bars of the cell as the creature was lit up by the light. "How beautiful!"


    The speaker had a long blonde hair tied up into a long pony tail behind with a thin gold band. His looks would cause manydies to swoon on his feet and his clear green eyes glittered under the torch light as he stared wonderingly at the chained ck dragon.


    The ck dragon in response, hissed and growled through the magical metal muzzle that prevented it from using any kind of breathe attacks. It could only fruitlessly strain against its chains and growl uselessly at the people that captured it.


    "Such a beauty!" The youngster said as he slipped through the bars of the cell and fearlessly stood before the growling dragon. He stared without fear into the huge angry yellow eyes of the dragon and even reached out to touch its shiny ck scales. "I have never seen a ck dragon before!"


    "Thank you for your kind words, Master Lazarus," The Duke of Caster gave a short bow. "My men had found it and captured it along the coast."


    "Thising auction will be going to be so exciting!" The youngster called Lazarus said as he smiled at the dragon. "Hush... my beauty, in the future, you will bow before me!"


    -----


    Stamford and the rest of the crew except Blue Thunder had an enjoyable time wandering around the Old Capital of Foral as they went sightseeing. They blend in with the hundreds of many other traders and merchants by wearing long cloaks which covered their flight suits and weapons, while Stamford even wore an ushanka like fur hat that helped hid his short rounded ears.


    The Old Capital used to be the center of governance for the Kingdom of Foral but a hundred years ago, the King decided to move his pce to the more fertilends north, building a new Capital. Many had said it was due to his Queen being from the North and was homesick and as an act of love, he decided to build a new pce. Overtime, due to the romanticism of the rumors, the people generally epted it as the truth and even till now many ys and stories were still told of the love between the King and his Queen.


    But as many nobles had their roots still in the Old Capital, its influence did not lessen even when the seat of authority had moved. In fact most of the oldest noble and merchant houses had such deep connections in the Old Capital so much so that even the current King and his Court has to return to the Old Capital each year during autumn to appease them.


    Unlike the New Kingdom of Ma, the Kingdom of Foral was established longer and was not as badly affected by the war with the Empire despite losing. It''s merchants had a closer tie with the merchants of the Isles due to being neighbors and with the Isles trading goods and food made from the UN directly to Foral, their economy recovered faster and were not as badly affected by famine.


    Now, Stamford and his crew heading to the Auction house located in one of the wealthiest merchant district of the Old Capital while Blue Thunder could only huddled sadly in a smelly hay filled stall watching from a small disy screen while he stuffed his cheeks with honey roasted wyverns. Blue Thunder sighed loudly as he realized that he has finished all the roasted wyverns and yet the rest were not even at the Auction house yet and he has nothing to left to eat.


    "Oh well..." Blue Thunder let out another sigh as he curled up into a ball and gently used both his fore and thumb ws to hold the small tablet upright before his snout. "At least... Rastraz isn''t here... Or she will be nagging about all these bad conditions more than me!"

 Chapter 531: The Auction

    Chapter 531: The Auction


    Stamford stood before the brightly lit facade of the auction house which the address of the invitation had been written. The auction house was like an estate by itself covered by a perimeter wall artfully disguised by lush bushes. Lavish looking carriages were rolling in one after another through the wide wrought iron gates where a team of smartly dressed muscles were guarding.


    A self important looking steward stopped Stamford and his men as they walked up to the gates. He cast a dismissive nce at their clothes before pping his hand at them. "Go away! This is not a ce for your kind tonight. All other businesses will be resume in the next day."


    Stamford and his men were dressed in a set of nondescript uniform without all the ranks and markings and strapped to their hips and shoulders were ck concealing holsters and pouches for their sidearms and ammunition. Their look made them look like mercenaries or guards of sorts.


    The style of the UN uniform and fashion had recently been all the rage throughout the areas where merchants of the Isles plied their trade and many of the rich scions that were attending the auction dressed in simr if not more mboyant styles. Hence, the in looking style of Stamford and the rest were mistaken to be a cheap copy instead of the actual uniform design.


    "We have an invitation for the auction tonight," Stamford remained unfazed by the steward''s tone and handed the scroll over.


    "Hmph!" The steward took the scroll and gave it a quick nce before he said with a frown. "This is addressed to Lord Wernburg of Wand. Which of you is... the Lord?"


    "Lord Wernburg has kindly extended his invitation to us," Stamford exined. "We are here on his behalf..."


    "Tch!" The steward made a clicking sound with his tongue as he cut off Stamford''s sentence. "You must have stolen his invitation! Guards!"


    "Hey wait a minute!" Dek cursed as he stood forward with the rest as the guards came forward to chase them away. The slim radioman only came up to the shoulder of the beef guards as the dragon airmen were mostly chosen from the smaller and lighter members of the UN Airforce to save weight. "We are not thieves!"


    "Well..." The steward threw a sly nce to Stamford and rubbed his fingers. "If you can prove you did not steal..."


    "They are with me!" A silvery voice suddenly called out. Stamford turned around and saw arge all glossy ck carriage pulled by four raptor like dragons. The windows of the carriage were all covered up by aced curtain and only a shadow could be seen from within. "Let them in."


    "Ah! Lady Mona!" The steward''s face paled and he quickly gestured the guards to make way for Stamford as he bowed and scraped before the carriage. "My... greatest apologies! This lowly one has no idea they were your guests!"


    "Come on board," The light voice said and a footman of the carriage opened the doors and lowered a folding step and bowed as he gestured for Stamford and the rest to enter.


    Stamford feeling confused, gingerly boarded the carriage which was surprisingly spacious. The cushioned benches lined inside the carriage was more than enough to amodate at least another half dozen people. He was further surprised when he saw a grinning elf seated next to a beautiful looking middle ageddy who looked very familiar. "You are...?"


    "Captain Stamford," The grinning elf dressed in a stylish coat next to thedy raised his ss of wine in a salute. "I am Trism, from Foreign Affairs."


    "Foreign Affairs?" Stamford frowned. "You are an Intel puke!"


    "I have to deny that," Trism gave a wink and gestured to hisdypanion. "Mypanion for tonight, Lady Mona, which you have met before... She''s the boss of Pioneer Inn which you and crew are staying at now."


    Stamford did a double take and realized that the nobledy next to Trism was actually thedy boss of the Pioneer Inn. No wonder, he found her so familiar looking. "Why would a nobledy be running an Inn by herself?"


    "Oh, ever since my husband has passed away in the War," Lady Mona poured a drink for Stamford and the rest. "It keeps me busy."


    "And rich," Trism grinned again and touched his wine ss with Lady Mona whoughed back. "Lady Mona... is a good friend of the Embassy."


    "I see..." Stamford inwardly shook his head as he auto tranted the unsaid words. This meant that the Pioneer Inn and Lady Mona was actually an intel source for the UN Intel Division! "So what are you here for?"


    Trism nced out of the curtains as the carriage slowly rolled forward towards the main building of the auction house before he said, "Well, we are here on a date... You know, auctions can be so exciting!"


    Lady Monaughed at Trism''s bold words and she berated him gently. "You are so bad. You are here for that dragon!"


    Stamford frowned as Trism gave a wink and was about to speak when the footman outside announced their arrival. Trism gave a slight shake of his head while keeping his smile and he hopped out of the carriage before offering his hand to Lady Mona.


    When they all had exited the carriage, Stamford found himself standing before arge stone courtyard that had stone braziers at intervals lighting up the evening. A small army of servants was arrayed at an entrance greeting guests and ushering them into the building which design looked victorian in design except for the spires and towers.


    The servants bowed and epted their invitation scrolls and they were led down a thickly carpeted hallway. Trism fell back to Stamford''s group and warned in a low voice, "Don''t make a scene here, just enjoy yourselves."


    Trism pointedly nced at their concealed holsters before he gave another wink and quickened his pace to join Lady Mona. Stamford let out a small sigh before he turned to his crew and said, "Well, you heard the man, just enjoy the evening and don''t make any trouble."


    His crew of three nodded in unison and Dek gave a grin and spoke into the mike attached to his cor. "You heard that, Blue? Just enjoy the evening! Hehehe!"


    -----


    "-njoy the evening! Hehehe!" Blue Thunder had his eye glued to the small tablet held up with his ws inside the dark stall. He hissed angrily at Dek''s words and promised himself that he was going to make him vomit in the next flight!


    -----


    They had separated from Trism and hispanion and the servant led Stamford and his crew into a small butfortable balcony which even had a few maids that served them refreshments and any other needs. Sofa like chairs was set at the balcony, allowing them to view therge stage below, which resembles some kind of opera theater.


    As time went by, more guests were seated until the whole auction house was fully filled. The magical glowmps slowly dimmed and avishly dressed male came on the stage. He seemed to glow as he was illuminated by some sort of spell, making him extremely eye catching in the dimmed lights.


    "Wee, Lords and Ladies!" The elf''s voice magically boasted, allowed everyone to hear him clearly no matter how far they were seated. "Wee to the Venna Auction Event!"


    "I am Heyle Venna and will be your guide to tonight''s wondrous event!" The elf gave a dramatic bow to the round of apuse. "Now, as I am sure, all of you are excited and impatient to see what marvelous items on auction tonight! So without further ado, I dere the start of the Auction!"


    More apuse followed his statement and he stepped to the side of the stage and the glowing spell on his body dimmed down. The stage was suddenly illuminated and a couple of pretty looking servants pushed a covered cart onto the middle of the stage.


    "Now for the first item of the Auction," The MC gestured to the servants who removed the coverings and the revealed item shocked Stamford and his men. The unmistakable shape of a revolver that had been polished until it gleamed under the lights sat on a stand. "A weapon of the myths... A harbinger of death and thunder! A thunder weapon that can kill from dozens of steps away and no armour can stand against its roar!"


    "That''s a goddamn Single Action Dragon!" Dek hissed as he stared at the weapon being auctioned through a helpful magical orb that was ced before the chairs. The magical viewing orb allowed one to view the stage from afar. "How the fark did they get their hands on a revolver?"


    "Must be someone had stolen it or smuggled it out of the UN... Or someone looted it off the dead before our side could im the bodies..." Stamford shook his head. "I am not surprised if some weapons did get out of the UN."


    Arge bang echoed through the auction house as the MC fired the revolver at a dummy target dressed in te mail. He showed off the weapon''s might and the damage done to the wooden dummy before one of the servants took over the weapon and started to carefully clean it.


    "Starting bid of this wondrous weapon will start at one hundred gold crowns!" The MC continued at the stage after describing its abilities. "Each bid will be ten gold crowns!"


    "Two hundred crowns!" The bidding immediately started off when the MC mmed a hammer on the stand. "Two hundred ten!"


    The bidding for the revolver was fierce as they saw the effects of the weapon and everyone all wanted to possess it. Finally, after a long round of bidding, the price of the revolver ended at five thousand five hundred gold crowns.


    The winner of the weapon was a young handsome elf who sat at the VIP side of the viewing gallery. The MC mmed his hammer down happily as he announced the winner of the bid and gave a bow in the direction of the young lord.


    "Oh my gods..." Dek blinked his eyes wildly as he saw the ending bid. "Over five thousand gold crowns?"


    He nced down at his shoulder holster which hung apact sub gun and swallowed nervously, "Say... If I auction off my machine pistol... How much do you I will get?"


    "Don''t you even think of it!" Stamford warned in a stern tone. "Or you might find someone from next door paying you a visit!"


    "Oh..." Dek felt a chill down his spine. "Yes... You are right... Fark..."


    "Trading weapons is a serious offense..." Stamford remained them. "It is death offense!"


    "Well... I am just curious about the bid... Haha..." Dek gave an awkwardugh. "I will never dare to do it!"


    "You better!" Stamford sternly warned him. "There''s an Intel puke next door, and I don''t want to be ordered to hunt you down!"


    Dek quickly nodded and they returned to watching the auction which continued on. Other than the revolver that appeared, other less technological weapons like steamnces from the Protectorate also made an appearance which ending bid was a lot lowerpared to the revolver. Other then weapons, magical items were also auctioned off and their value was no lower than the revolver.


    Magical cores and stones the size of a football were fiercely bid on and finally, thest magical item found a new owner, the servants started to clear the stage for the final item for the night. By this time, the mood of the auction was at all time high, as everyone was waiting for the final auction.


    The MC smiled as he sensed the mood of the crowd and he yed it to his best. He made a mboyant and dramatic gesture as the sounds of something heavy was being pushed onto the huge stage. "Lords and Ladies... The finale hase! The one thing everyone is waiting for..."


    "Let me present to you... A never before seen creature on ournds! A creature of pure beauty! A ck Dragon!"

 Chapter 532: The Black Dragon Princess

    Chapter 532: The ck Dragon Princess


    Saphia was in a state of desperate panic as she woke up in an unknown environment. Thest thing she remembered before her memory became fuzzy was that she had sneaked out from a side hatch of the ship and followed behind the raiding force at a distance.


    The next thing she knew was seeing dazzling orbs darting towards the raiding force and bright bursts of light that left white spots in her eyes. She saw mes and smoke as the force led by Lord Jesper came under attack from an invisible attacker.


    She saw one of the skimmers closest to her was suddenly covered in a burst of mes and the whole boat wobbled wildly in the air as the pilot and the controls disappeared. She heard screaminging from the survivors and she steeled herself and dove down as fast as she could and using her hind ws, she grasped a corner of the out of control skimmer.


    "Hurry! Get on me!" She yelled at the survivors who quickly scrambled on to her back. Just as thest survivor hanging on to her sides, the skimmer suddenly gave a violent shake before a thick cloud of ck smoke that darker than the night erupted out from its side and the next thing Saphia knew, she was flying in the air with her ears ringing.


    She felt the coldness of the sea and her consciousness slowly faded away. When she regained her consciousness, she had found herself chained up against the cold hard stone floor. No matter how she struggles or how she tried to use her magic, nothing seemed to work. Her consciousness slowly faded away again as her wounds and tiredness caught up with her.


    The next time she woken up, she found herself surrounded by people wearing strange clothing. She tried tomunicate with those people, but none could understand her. Despite being chained up, her wounds and needs were properly taken care of and despite the food being foreign, it at least ptable and helped keep her strength up.


    There were a couple of people that made her felt a sense of danger from the way they eyed her like she was some sort of object. Their scrutinizing and hungry looks made her felt naked and she growled to warn them, but they appeared to not take notice of her words. In fact, one of them even smiled back to her and the smile made her felt a chill down her spine.


    The next days were a blur, as she locked up inside a dungeon of sorts. She did not know how much time has passed until one day she was dragged out of her prison and loaded onto a carriage which was pulled by some kind of wingless lesser dragons.


    For the first time since her capture, she finally saw thends of the New World. On her unknown journey, she saw many viges and towns which looked simr yet foreign to hernds. Children dressed in rough homespunughed and ran along with her prison cell while adults filled the streets gossiping and staring at her.


    In hernds, no one dared to point nor stare at her with such rudeness. The people of hernds would kneel down and kowtow at her and the Dragon Lords'' passing. But here, the people were showing such disregard for her status, which after all, it was not to be unexpected as she was now a prisoner.


    Finally, as all journey has a start, it has an end. The convoy of archaic armour wearing soldiers escort her reached arge walled city. There, Saphia saw a walled city, built in an ancient style architecture that was no longer seen in the Old World. Hundreds of spires bearing fluttering yellow and orange banners covered the city roofs while arge green moat surrounded the city.


    The convoy joined the queue of merchant wagons and her captors to prevent prying eyes, covered her cage with a cloth which helped provided some form of shade as they waiting for the long queue to slowly inch its way through the gates of the city.


    Once inside the city, Saphia found herself brought into another underground cell where her chains were hammered into the walls and once again she was left in the cold and dark. Her conditions changed to the better as a small army of servants appeared and started bushing and polishing her scales. Her nails were even filed and clipped neatly and her horns polished until they gleamed under the mage lights.


    Such treatment actually made Saphia afraid as she felt that they were making her presentable for something, but what it was, she did not know and did not think it would turn out well for her. She tried to break her bonds and use her magic, but the chains were too strong for her to break and something was suppressing her ability to use magic.


    Soon after, the time which she was dreading of came as arge group of servants came in. They started hoisting her chains and dragging her cell out. For a moment, Saphia was blinded by a bright glow of lights and when her eyesight recovered, she found herself being disyed on a huge stage.


    A small person dressed colourfully stood at the side and was speaking into the air. His words made no sense to Saphia and she made a desperate bid to escape as she knew that this was herst chance for freedom.


    -----


    A hush came over the crowd as the grinding of metal wheels came to a halt. The stage was brightly illuminated by glowmps and spells, which further highlighted the beauty of the chained creature that was being disyed.


    A dragon with ebony scales that glittered like ck gold was sprawled out on the stage. It''s body was unlike the thick and muscr built of themonly seen dragons and were instead sleek and aerodynamically proportioned. It was slighter smaller than a medium weight Razorback and instead of having razor like ridges along its spine, its spine was smooth all the way to the tip of its tail.


    Two horns that gleamed under the lights jutted out from its brows giving the dragon a noble bearing. It tilted its head high up and thrashed against its restraints as if showing off its strong will and unbroken pride. It''s midnight ck wings stretched out and blocked out the lights, giving it a frigid aura of the shadows.


    -----


    Blue Thunder gasped as he tried to squeeze one of his eyes as close to the tablet''s screen as possible as he looked at the scene through the camera mounted on Dek''s shoulder. He was stunned by the beauty of the ck dragon and if he was topare Rastraz with the ck dragon, it was Rastraz was like a pure ruby while this dragon was like pure obsidian!


    "Oh, my heavens!"


    -----


    "Lords and Ladies!" The MC had purposely kept silent for several heartbeats so as to let the hype build up. "Now, as you all can see... This is a being of uttermost beauty and rarity! No one has everid eyes on such a creature!"


    "Starting bid for the ck dragon starts at one hundred thousand gold crowns!" The MC dered. "Each bid goes for one thousand!"


    "A HUNDRED AND TEN THOUSAND!"


    "ONE HUNDRED TWENTY THOUSAND!"


    "ONE HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND!"


    The auction hall suddenly became rowdy as the crowd started throwing bids out. In a matter of seconds, the bid for the ck dragon hit over half a million gold crowns! Such an amount was enough to purchase at least three heavyweight dragons, yet the bids continued on!


    Finally, the bidding slowed down and was contested by only three parties as the bid went beyond the financial capabilities of the rest. "Six hundred thousand!"


    The handsome young elf seated at the VIP row raised his hand and raised the bid, "Seven hundred thousand."


    The auction crowd gasped as they heard the bid made by the young elf. Many did not know who and where did such a young persone from and what background does he have either. The other two parties who wanted to contest the bid gave up as the price went over their expectations.


    "Seven hundred thousand once!" The MC was grinning widely at the audience as he called out. "Seven hundred thousand twice..."


    "Seven hundred fifty thousand!" A clear voice called out suddenly much to the surprise of the entire auction. Even the MC was surprised but it onlysted a mere second before he gleefully started yelled out.


    "Seven hundred and fifty thousand!" He yelled excitedly and he cast a meaningful nce towards the direction of the handsome young elf at the VIP stands. "Is there a higher bid than seven hundred fifty thousand?"


    "Eight hundred thousand!" The handsome young elf snapped as he red at the person who dared challenge his bid.


    "One million!" The clear voice spoke again and a sharp intake of breath could be heard from the whole hall.


    "O- One million!" The MC gasped excitedly. "We have a bid of one million here!"


    The young elf gave a displeased hiss as he dropped out of the bidding. The MC yelled, "One million... once!"


    "One million... twice!"


    "One million... SOLD!"


    -----


    Trism leaned back with a small smile on his face as Lady Mona took the offered contract served on a silver tter by a steward. When the servants left the room, Lady Mona let out a sigh as she yed with the contract. "One million for that dragon... Is it worth it?"


    "Oh, yes, of course!" Trismughed as he gently plucked the contract from Lady Mona''s hands. "This is worth it!"


    "Enough so to make some... enemies?" Lady Mona raised an eyebrow towards the VIP stands.


    "Well, he is just the third prince..." Trism said dismissively as he unrolled the contract and quickly read through it. "And from a concubine, no less."


    "A very favoured concubine..." Lady Mona added as she took a sip of wine. "The King does dote on the third prince a lot..."


    "Well, then, I better make some preparations!" Trismughed as he leaned forward and kissed Lady Mona deeply. "And I just know who to ask for help!"


    -----


    "Wow," Dek whistled as they watched the auctione to an end. "One million gold crowns! We can buy a lordship with that amount of money!"


    "I got a bad feeling from this..." Stamford had a frown on his face as he watched the dragon being transported away.


    Just as he finished speaking, a servant knocked on the door and bowed. "My Lords, your presence is requested by Lord Trism and Lady Mona..."


    "Well... shit..." Stamford let out a sigh. "I knew we should get close with any Intel pukes..."


    The group followed the servant out and into another room where Trism and Lady Mona was seated and waiting for them. Trism had a wide smile as he weed the Air Force crew to be seated and he came straight to the point. "Well... I am sure you had seen what happened earlier!"


    "Congrattions for winning the bid, sir, madam," Stamford said politely. "It... was exciting."


    "Ha!" Trismughed and he tossed the contract scroll to Stamford who fumbled his catch. "Take it!"


    "I got a mission for you," Trism gave a wink. "I want you and your team to... escort... the ck dragon to Fort Hensink."


    "What''s with the ck dragon?" Stamford was unsurprised by the request as he sought some answers from the Intel Officer. "Why the need to spend so much money to obtain it? What''s so special about it?"


    "Well..." Trism gave a look to Lady Mona who started chanting a spell. The air shimmered blue for a moment before Lady Mona nodded and Trism exined. "She just cast a spell to prevent others from listening in."


    "The ck dragon is from the beyond the End Zone... And its presence will help you with your mission at Fort Hensink!"

 Chapter 533: Handsome

    Chapter 533: Handsome


    Blue Thunder circled around the growling ck dragon who was curled in a defensive stance in the middle of the courtyard of the inn. Stamford and the rest had returned with arge wagon which carried the ck dragon and now with its restraints off, it stared at Blue Thunder and her surroundings cautiously.


    A magical ve cor ensured the ck dragon does not misbehave or threaten its new owners was worn around the base of its long serpentine neck. A crystal controller sat inside Stamford''s pocket ensured that he could send shocks of pain cruising through the ve cor should the ck dragon attempts any mischief.


    Everyone including the patrons of the Inn had came out and were admiring the ck dragon from the sides, kept back by guards employed by Lady Mona. Even Stamford admitted that seeing the ck dragon from a distance did not do it justice as from close up, it looked even more majestic. If Blue Thunder was like a muscle car, the ck dragon would be a sleek racing car.


    "No one will try anything funny tonight," Trism said as he stood next to Stamford. "But once you leave the city walls, its open season..."


    "Damn..." Stamford let out a sigh. "What do we know about who will target us?"


    "Over the ck?" Trism gave a grin. "Well, plenty of people want it just for its rarity... For instead the Third Prince of Foral which lost the auction to us..."


    "What? A royal?" Stamford snapped his eyes on Trism who gave a shrug. "So how the hell will we be able to get out of Foral if one of their princes is after us?"


    "Just fight your way through," Trism''s expression turned serious and he slipped a note into Stamford''s breast pocket. "Do not perform any stops of your original itinerary. Head straight for the borders of Ma. You will have an escort waiting for you here."


    "Coordinates for the rendezvous point is there," Trism added. "As for the prince, I can distract him for one day, the most two days before he takes action."


    Stamford took out his map and checked the coordinates while making some mental calction in his head. "It will be a three day journey if we head in a direct path... four if we add in other factors..."


    "The Third Prince has a couple of squads of dragons, mostly medium weights," Trism said in a low voice. "He also has a legion of his own personnel army and guards consisting of around two thousand."


    "Shit," Stamford rubbed his face. "Why did we ever meet you here..."


    "Well... it IS because we met that I can put this n in action," Trism grinned and patted him on his shoulder in a brotherly gesture. "If not, I would not have Lady Mona fork out a million crowns to get our hands on this."


    "You sure it is from beyond the End Zone?" Stamford shook his head in defeat. "Could it be just some... random mutated local breed here?"


    "You have to trust my intel on this," Trism replied in a confident tone. "This dragon is definitely from the Group Bravo."


    "If you say so..." Stamford gave a nod before he turned back to eye the ck dragon facing off with Blue Thunder.


    "So now, your new orders are to get to the rendezvous point with your new charge safe and sound!"


    -----


    Saphia was finally free in a way as the heavy chains and restraints were removed, only leaving behind an ufortable cor. She had experienced the pain of the magical cor when it was first ced on her and she knew that if she disobeyed, she would surely experience the pain again!


    Once again, she found herself been transported and now, for the first time after so many years, she met another of her kind face to face, apart from the rest back in the Dragon''s Peak. She stared at this giant brute of a dragon with blue scales speckled with red who rudely eyed her back.


    "You impudent beast!" She couldn''t help but hiss out at its rudeness. "I am Princess Saphia of the Dragon Domain! A Dragon Lord!"


    -----


    "Oh?" Blue Thunder reared back in surprise as the ck dragon hissed in anguage that was kinda familiar. He scratched his head in a humanoid like manner as he tried to make sense of thenguage before he hammered his ws against his palm as he realized it resembled the draconiannguage that Rastraz once spoke and had taught him some.


    "Ahhh, did she just call me... a handsome... beast?"


    -----


    Saphia narrowed her eyes in wariness as the big brute before her started prancing around like an idiot. She looked around her surroundings and saw she was surrounded by many of the people inside this dirty looking yard covered by buildings and stables. The only way in and out was through an alley or flying up into the skies.


    Shepared her size to the brute and knew that if she tried to fight her way out, she would not be a fight against it, especially with her magic being suppressed by the cor. She wed at the cor only to feel a jolt of shock zapping her and she quickly stopped as she did not want to experience any pain.


    Ever since she could remember, she did not experience any form of pain in her life. She was always sheltered and kept inside the warm volcanic chambers of Dragon''s Peak and read tomes or listened to take spoken by chroniclers. She only heard of the life outside the Dragon''s Peak and for the first time in her life, she was finally about to step on an adventure of a lifetime after endless begging and pestering to the Matriarch until she gave in.


    But as life has it, the adventure to the New World turned out to be more of a tragedy and in a short brief period of time, she experienced many things that she only had heard or read before. Despite the fear in her heart, she always remembered that she was a dragon, an ancient race that was closest to the Gods!


    Despite her situation now, seeing one of her kind, even if its bloodline was not pure made her rx slightly. She leaned forward and asked in as soft as possible, "Can... Can you help me? Can you free me and let me find my people? I want to go home!"


    -----


    Blue Thunder cocked his head to the side as the ck dragon leaned forward and whispered to him. He blinked his eyes as he tried to trante as much of its words as possible and scratched his head again before he jerked back in confusion. "Kiss you? You want me to kiss you and give you a home and... make babies!?"


    "What the hell is going on?" Stamford stormed over as he saw Blue Thunder and the ck dragon appeared to be having some kind of conversation. "You can understand her words?"


    "Erm... I think so?" Blue Thunder mumbled in a low voice. "She is not making sense to me..."


    "Whatnguage is she speaking?" Stamford demanded as he stood before the ck dragon and tilting his head up to look at it.


    "Well... I think she is speaking some kind of draconic tongue..." Blue Thunder said as he adopted a pose that he thought made him look wise. "Rastraz taught me before..."


    "So what has she been saying?" Stamford whipped around and red at Blue Thunder.


    "Eh..." Blue Thunder turned embarrassed. "I think she says I am handsome and wants me to... erm... kiss her and make a family..."


    "Fuck!" Stamford cursed as he gave a look of disbelief while the rest of the crew and even Trism and Lady Mona giggled andughed at the side. "Are you fucking serious?"


    "Well... I... am... not sure... I think?" Blue Thunder mumbled as he looked bashfully to the side. "Her ent and I am not fluent with draconic..."


    "You think, I thought, who confirm? Do not assume, you fat lizard!" Stamford scolded as he shook his head helplessly at Blue Thunder''s antics. "Or you will make an ass out of you and me!"


    "You better not do anything stupid!" Stamford warned. "Your job now is to keep an eye on her! Do not let her escape nore to any harm! She is our VIP and we are to send her across the border and to Fort Hensink in one piece! You clear?"


    "Sir, yes, sir!" Blue Thunder snapped in attention before he slumped down again and sighed softly. "Well... I am handsome..."


    "Alright," Trism pped his hands and grinned. "It''ste and I will take my leave with Lady Mona. It has been a long night and you guys should get some rest and prepare for your journey tomorrow."


    "Lady Mona''s guards will help keep an eye for you tonight," Trism continued. "But still, keep your guns ready for anything. I will see you tomorrow morning."


    With that, Trism led Lady Mona away and they left the yard while the crowd also started to disperse away. Stamford looked around and saw at least a dozen guards in a livery bearing the Inn''s symbol around the yard before he felt some reassurance.


    "Come on," Stamford gesture his team and both dragons towards their stall. "Quick mission brief!"


    Once everyone including the two dragons was crowded into one stall did Stamford started speaking. "New updates to our current mission."


    "Our job now is to get our new friend here across the borders and to Fort Hensink," Stamford spoke to the group. He cast a nce at the ck dragon who seemed clueless but obedient so far and continued. "She should be part of Group Bravo which we are heading to speak with."


    "Ooo..." Blue Thunder eyed the ck dragon next to him and said, "So... shes the enemy? Did she lose her memory? Like in the shows and novel? Will she be like those heroines whoter get torn between her new friends and her homnd?"


    "Oh shut it!" Stamford shook his head while the rest snickered. "Believe me... I will have a word with Rastraz about your behaviour if you keep this shit up!"


    "Yes, boss!" Blue Thunder froze when he heard the threat. "I promise to behave!"


    "Alright back to business," Stamford took out the note and handed to their navigator. "Coordinates that we will be heading to."


    "We will not be making any more stops, only for rest and recovery," Stamford said. "From now on, we will be on Condition Red!"


    "There is a very high chance that we will be targeted because of her!" Stamford gestured to the ck dragon. "Someone with...rge pockets and even a personnel army will be highly likely engage us to capture her."


    "Also others might attempt to rob us," Stamford added. "You all saw how much she is worth, so be on alert at all times."


    "No bed tonight, boys," Stamford ordered. "Rotating guard detail for tonight, from now onwards, we are on high alert!"


    "Shit," Dek cursed. "And here I thought we are having a holiday!"


    "This holiday just went into the dumps!" Stamford growled. "Check your firearms and break out the heavies. I want Blue harnessed up and ready to go at a moment''s notice!"


    "Urghh... Do I have to sleep in that harness?" Blue Thunder moaned. "It is so ufortable!"


    "Stop your whining!" Stamford ignored Blue Thunder''sint. "And keep an eye on your new girlfriend!"


    Blue Thunder sighed and he tried to speak to the ck dragon with what he could remember of the draconic tongue with some exaggerated gestures. "You sleep here tonight, next to me. Yes? Do you understand?"


    The ck dragon cocked her head to the side before she snuggled down into a ball at the corner of the stall while keeping her eyes at him. Blue Thunder let out a sigh of relief before he stood outside the stall and allowed his crew to prep his harness on him.


    Once the harness was secured albeit a little too tight around his joints, the crew broke out the machine guns and started mounting them on his back and loading with live ammunition. After that, he curled up before the entrance of the stall to act as a barrier while having to sleep t on his belly to prevent damaging the weapons on his back.


    "Is she staring at me because I am so handsome? This is making me feel so awkward..."

 Chapter 534: Long Distance Flying

    Chapter 534: Long Distance Flying


    UNS Vengeance, Command Bridge


    Commander Ford stood next to Captain Nimo as they stared out of the armoured windows of the bridge to the port side of the ship. The Task Force was currently travelling through the middle of the channel between the ind and the maind which the locals called Exile''s Passage, en route to Fort Hensink.


    Ford could see the sandy beaches piled with dozens of wooden ships that had what appeared to be paddle wheels constructs on their sides bearing Imperial gs and colours. He put down his binos with a frown and said, "I am surprised the Imperials'' tech is improving this fast..."


    "They have ck powder cannons, albeit very crude designs and now paddle powered ships..." Ford said. "I wonder how did they get their hands on such ideas..."


    "Could it be the Isles?" Captain Nimo suggested. "We do know they started ying with ck powder a few months ago."


    "Well, I will not be surprised if Megan sold the technology to the Imperials," Ford shook his head. "But the thing is, why will she do that?"


    "Money? Resources?" Captain Nimo guessed. "The Empire might have been beaten back, but still they control plenty of resources..."


    Ford could only nod grudgingly in agreement. "Well, at this point in time, nothing out of that woman will surprise me anymore... Still, selling ck powder weapons and paddle ships to the Empire will not bore well for any of us in the long run."


    "We really need to have a good chat with that woman soon..."


    -----


    The New World, The Old Kingdom of Foral, 237 km North of the Old Capital


    "Six O clock low!" Dek manning the ''tail'' gun yelled and he squeezed off a burst of .338 downrange at the winged shadow tailing them. White wiggly tracers darted off towards the dragon but Dek was unable to see if he has hit his target due to the erratic movement of Blue Thunder. "They are still at our six!"


    Stamford leaned back from his bucket seat and tried to spot their pursuers which had attempted to ambush them earlier. Luckily, Blue Thunder did not disappoint as he reacted almost instantly, dodging the half dozen bolts of magic missiles that targeted his weaker belly.


    Blue Thunder broke away from the ambush with the ck dragon called Saphia following closely. She had been so far quite obedient in tagging after Blue Thunder despite themunication barrier and his weird trantions which Stamford totally did not believe was correct.


    It has been a day since they departed from the Old Capital and just barely an hour after they left their campsite for the night, they were set upon by a group of unknown assants. Stamford had hoped to travel as far and as fast as possible, but Saphia was not in the best condition nor did it appeared she was experienced in long distance flight.


    Her wing tempo was all wrong and she did not have the endurance nor stamina either, probably from her long imprisonment but soon Stamford realized that the ck dragon was just not versed in long distance flight.


    Hence, they had to take a short break every hour or so, and Blue Thunder used a variety of gestures and draconic,mon, and english to try to teach and guide the tired ck dragon on the proper methods for long distance flying. Finally, with night having fallen, theynded near a river and rested, the crew preparing arge cook pot and Blue Thunder leading Saphia into the river water to cool their bodies down.


    Once their muscles had cooled down, Blue Thunder and Saphia returned back to the campsite and feasted on the pot of high calories stew. Stamford had crew including Blue Thunder draw lots for guard duty except for Saphia who he wanted her to rest and also she was not trained for this.


    The next morning, the crew cooked up another tworge pots of stew for the two hungry dragons. Stamford did not want Blue Thunder to go hunting as he wanted them to keep moving to put as much distance as possible away from the Old Capital.


    But to his dismay, the attack came much quicker than expected. Blue Thunder had dodged the magical ambush but what followed was a dozen medium weight dragons rising up from forest around Blue Thunder and Saphia to surround them.


    Blue Thunder gave out a mighty roar of challenge and spat a ball of mes at the direction Stamford indicated. The medium weight Razorwing gave a squawk of surprise as the mes exploded and super heated air warping around it.


    "Breakthrough it!" Stamford yelled as he pointed to the distracted enemy dragon. Blue Thunder gave a loud roar and charged straight at the Razorwing. Stamford turned and saw, surprisingly, Saphia was following closely behind them. He gave a wave of acknowledgement to the ck dragon before he turned his attention forward.


    Blue Thunder using his mightier weight and size, barreled straight into the Razorwing in his way. The surprised Razorwing and its small crew could only scream in terror as Blue Thunder mmed into them with his armored tail, snapping bones and wings. The broken Razorwing screamed as it toppled downwards after its wings had snapped. It futilely tried to beat its useless wings to slow their fall but was unable to and its screams ended abruptly with a bone crunching thud.


    Seeing the sudden death of one of their own and the escape of their prey, the rest of dragons roared out angrily and chased after them. The crews on dragons tossing spells at Blue Thunder every once in a while Dek manning the rear gun returned their gestures with streams of tracer fire.


    -----


    Saphia was expecting the worst to happen to her after been seeming traded away like an object. She knew that she was a ve now and had read and heard many horror stories of very. But the strange low breed dragon was surprisingly gentle to her and even her ''new'' owners seemed to treat her with some care.


    The leader of the people appeared to be a tall and thin person with surprisingly round and short ears. He had appeared to asked her for her name as he repeated some words while pointing to himself. Saphia soon learnt that the short ear person was called ''Sam fort''. The friendly one with a silly smile on his face was called Dek, while the short and stubby was ''Barkly'', and thest skinny people were called Luth.


    The big low breed was called Blue Thunder seemed to be low in intelligent as he made some very badly pronounced words which did not make any sense to her at all. But she could understand some of their gestures easily as the one thing she could be very proud of, was her intelligence and sharp mind!


    She was turned off in the morning when a big pot of some kind of greasy and thick stew filled with unknown meat and things was offered to her. The big oaf had bared his teeth at her which she suspected was not an aggressive act, more like what the people would call a smile. It was something strange about the culture of the dragons here who seemed to try to imitate people instead of the other way around! And also, she noticed that he has very white and nice teeth.


    In the end, she could only force herself to eat a few mouthfuls of the thick greasy stew which was totally different from what she would usually have. Porridge made out of the finest grains and cooked with dried shellfish or dried flying fish fins was what she normally was served back home.


    Next, they hooked her up in some kind of barbaric harness that dug into her insides and loaded her back with several crates like she was some kind of low born mule! Following that came the most physical exertion she had ever done in her whole life! At first, she could keep up with the pace set by the big oaf and they made some distance. But to her horror, they did not appear to seem to n to stop at anytime soon as they kept heading into a direction which she has no idea of.


    Her wings started to tire and her shoulders started aching. Even the cargo on her back started to feel very heavy. Her breath came out burning hot as she felt her insides warming up and making her whole body very ufortable. Even her belly started growling as hunger set in. The short eared Sam Fort had constantly turned around to keep an eye on her seemed to finally notice her distress and he made some motions, pointing down to the ground.


    Obediently, she followed the big oaf down and theynded near a river. She felt grateful when they removed the cargo off her back and the big oaf gestured her to follow him. She at first did not want to move as she was too tired until the tall short eared Sam Fort gave her a smack on her side and gestured impatiently at the river.


    Finally understanding their gestures, she followed the big oaf into the river where heid down in the middle, letting the cooling water wash over his body. She gingerly followed his example andid down in the water and felt the ufortable heat in her body and headache started to fade away as if it was washed away. Shepped the cold water in an udylike manner and blushed when she caught the big oaf staring at her with that silly open mouth toothed smile of his. And really, his teeth do look very nice...


    After a moment of cooling down, the big oaf came over and started speaking his barbaric tongue and even started to p his wings around like some kind of mating ritual that she read before. It was only after a while did she understood what he was trying to do. She turned embarrassed again and focused on his wings movement as he showed her how effective use her wings.


    Over the course of the day, Saphia found herself doing endless flying and having short breaks in the middle where they found either a river or ake for them to cool down. Finally, the sun came down and they stopped for good and Saphia found herself licking clean the bottom of the cook pot after they made camp.


    After the meal, sheid stretched out on all fours as she was too tired and full to move. The big oaf seemed tough at her udylike posture and she ignored it as she was too tired to keep up with appearances taught to her in the Dragon''s Peak. She fell asleep with her tongue hanging out at where sheid and was oblivious to her surroundings as for the first time since she was captured, her sleep came easily and without any dreams.


    The next morning, she woke up feeling as if she had a fight with the big oaf as her muscles hurt all over her body. Even ces that she did not know were hurting and having learnt her lesson, she finished the entire cook pot of greasy stew when it was offered to her.


    The crew started dismantling the camp and Saphia let out a sigh as she obediently allowed the people to put the barbaric looking harness upon her. The big oaf''s harness looked way fancier and nicerpared to hers, making her feel a sense of self consciousness.


    As they took off into the skies, Saphia sighed again as she beat her sore wings after the big oaf. She was half dozing off when suddenly the big oaf gave out a mighty roar and shocked her awake. It was then that she realized that the big oaf was actually not clumsy despite his size and in fact quite nimble as he dodged the spells out of nowhere that was aimed at him.


    The big oaf gave another mighty roar and she watched as he spat out a ball of mes that covered a smaller dragon in his path before he cunning whipped his long thick tail downwards and knocked the dragon screaming off the skies.


    Saphia felt her heart beating rapidly as she watched Blue Thunder''s heroic fighting abilities in the skies and realized that Blue Thunder was actually quite valiant! That knowledge actually made her feel safe and she swooped in after Blue Thunder, her tiredness forgotten.

 Chapter 535: No

    Chapter 535: No


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    Lieutenant Tavor returned the salutes of the two Marine guards and knocked on the closed hatch. The hatch slide opened and Tavor entered to see ke seated behind his desk. His eyes were reddish and covered with dark eye bags and he seemed to have been wearing the same uniform for the past few days.


    "Sir, are you alright?" Tavor asked in concern as he gave a once over on the Captain. The Captain looked terrible and Tavor wondered when was thest night he had properly slept.


    ke waved Tavor''s concerns away and instead asked, "What is it?"


    Tavor took out a file which from his briefcase and ced it on the desk. "Sir, this is the current report of the interrogation regarding the Old World prisoners we have in custody."


    ke picked up the file and started flipping through it for a short moment before ced it back down on the table and rubbed his tired eyes. "Give me a summarized brief."


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor replied before he started his report. "The Protectorate prisoner appears to be some kind of high ranked religious officer. Their goal here appears to be recruitment and gathering of resources."


    "Forced recruitment to be exact," Tavor added. "As for resources, they seemed to be very interested mana stones."


    "Mana stones?" ke frowned. "They want more magic?"


    "From what Professor Hamlot had told us of the Old World," Tavor shook his head. "Magic is a dwindling resource. If we are topare it to our history, mana stones are like Earth''s crude oil."


    "They are facing a massive shortage of that resource," Tavor exined. "Just like Earth during the 2070s, when both the Middle East and Russia''s oil fields dried up creating conflicts and global recession on Earth before being reced by a hydrogen economy."


    "The Old World is simr, but in this case, they were more reliant on magic than fossil fuels," Tavor said. "And the results of our investigation into their level of technology in steam shows that they are only in the very early stages."


    "That is the main reason why Chief Engineer Matt finds no use for the airships we captured," Tavor pointed out. "To even convert those airships to our standards and technology, it is basically a full rebuild project."


    ke nodded, "So in short, these assholes came here to grab mana stones?"


    "Yes," Tavor nodded. "This also exins why all seven nations of the Old World dispatched a force over regardless of the dangers of crossing the End Zone."


    "So, we are the pie that they want to carve up?" ke let out a sigh. "A free for all for the Old World..."


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor nodded again and he hesitated before he steeled his heart and said. "Using the prisoner''s belief against him, we managed to gain some insight into their thinking..."


    "We also found out who... took the Princess..." Tavor said in a hesitant voice. "The person who took her was a Protectorate Inquisitor called Mathias."


    ke jerked his head up and stared with bloodshot eyes at Tavor who shifted ufortably from the stare. "And?"


    Tavor took a deep breath to settle his nerves before he continued. "From what the prisoner said, he appeared to be a rival of his and that Inqusitior has a habit of taking children and pregnant woman to be converts to their faith."


    ke felt a chill down his spine and an unspeakable feeling pushed down on his chest. He slumped back in his chair and closed his eyes before he asked in a low voice. "So... there is a chance she is alive and well?"


    "Yes, Sir..." Tavor replied hesitantly. "But the info has not been verified nor do we have any way to verify it yet..."


    "The info might... be false," Tavor added weakly. "We have no way of confirming the info..."


    ke let out a deep sigh and sat back up straight. He nodded and waved Tavor away, "Alright, thanks for the report. You can go now."


    Tavor gave to attention and gave a salute. But as he was about to exit, he paused and said, "Sir, you should get your hands bandaged."


    ke looked down to his clenched fists, seeing the bruised and scabbed skin on his knuckles. He forced himself to rx his fists and opened and closed them several times, feeling the dull ache of his scraped knuckles.


    "Sir, assaulting a prisoner isn''t the right way..." Tavor sighed softly. "But if you want to let off some steam... Please remember to wear some gloves at least..."


    ke gave an absent nod as he returned to his work, "Point noted."


    -----


    The New World, The Old Kingdom of Foral, ???


    "Ow!" Blue Thunder hissed out in pain as Stamford yanked a nasty barbed crossbow shaft out from his side. A few pieces of his ovepping scales were ripped out together with the arrow and dark blood oozed out. Stamford poured some antiseptic over the wound before he dosed the wound with clotting powder and stuffed a tampon like plug into the wound.


    "Alright," Stamford gave Blue Thunder''s plugged up wound a pat to ensure it was fitted tightly. "Stop your whining!"


    "But it hurts..." Blue Thunder bent his body and stretched his neck over to try to lick his wound. "Youe and try getting shot by an arrow and having it ripped out!"


    "Stop licking your wounds!" Stamford smacked Blue Thunder on his side. "I just disinfected it!"


    Blue Thunder let out a deep sigh and nced around their surroundings. They were currently hidden under a thicket, having dived into the trees to evade their pursers. Saphia was curled up next to arge tree and her dark scales easily blend her to the shadows of the trees, making tworge yellow eyes staring unblinkingly at Blue Thunder.


    "Cold rations," Stamford ordered the rest. "No fires!"


    "I hate cold rations..." Blue Thunder sighed again as he tested his wing that a crossbow bolt had left a hole which was patched up by duct tape. "It makes my belly ache..."


    "You want to bring down the whole world on us?" Stamford hissed. "You have forgotten how you just got shot?"


    "Just saying..." Blue Thunder mumbled and he eyed the blocks of dry rations behind unwrapped out sadly. "Please not ration pack B..."


    Stamford walked over to the ck dragon coiled up around the base of a massive tree. He paused before it and called out, "Saphia? I need to check you to see if you have any wounds..."


    The ck dragon looked down at him and cocked her head to the side as if it was trying to understand his intents. Stamford started gesturing for it toe and stand up while pointing to his eyes and moving his hands all over his body.


    Saphia eyed Stamford''s actions before looking at Blue Thunder who was busy picking through some square blocks of rations. She had seen they were treating Blue Thunder wounds and she knew the ''Sam Fort'' person wanted to check her for wounds from his gestures. She stretched to her full length and stepped out from the shelter of the tree and allowed him to check her body.


    Stamford walked around the ck dragon, checking her body, belly, wings and tails from all sides to ensure she did not suffer any wounds. Sometimes, an arrow or crossbow bolt might not fully prate a dragon''s armoured scales and instead leave its barbed head wedged between their scales which might cost injuriester on. So, they had to check all crooks and crannies where sometimes they find giant ticks feasting on the dragon''s blood too, which of course they have to remove those ticks.


    Stamford finished his check and gave a pat on Saphia''s side which made her flinched away. He could only shake his head at her skittishness as he knew she did not fully trust them yet. He gestured to the unhappy ck dragon towards Blue Thunder where he had the ration blocks separated into several piles. "Go and eat something."


    Saphia eyed the short eared person with less coldness as she knew he was trying to help her. But she could not allow herself to trust these people who had bought her for their own purposes. She looked at the big oaf who seemed to be enjoying himself as he was humming some strange tune despite having survived a fierce battle earlier with overwhelming odds and even getting wounded.


    "What is this?" She asked the big oaf as she joined him, looking at the strange dark brownish blocks. She gave a sniff and they smelt like dried meat to her. "Food?"


    "Food!" The big oaf showed his white teeth, which she came to recognized as a smile. A really silly looking smile. "This food, that no no food!"


    "No no food?" Saphia had trouble trying to understand his brokenmand of high speech. She gave a cautious sniff of the pile and frowned as it still smelt like some kind of dried meat to her. "Eat?"


    "Eat!" The big oaf picked up one of the blocks and started chewing it. He made a distasteful face which Saphia had to suppressed her urge tough at his expression. "Urgh.."


    "If I throw this at the enemy... I can kill him with how bad it tastes..." Blue Thunder sighed as he picked up another ration block and started to slowly chew the rations. "My jaws hurt... Can Iint?"


    The crewughed while Stamford ignored him, making Saphia realised that they all actually had a very good rtionship, that did not seem like a master and ve contract. She reached a w up to scratch at her skin under the heavy ve cor and wondered what her future will be like.


    She sighed deeply and bent down to gently pick up one of the ration cubes and started chewing. She made a face and spat the rubbery cube out in disgust and quickly swallowed a few mouths of water from the barrel next to her to wash the taste away.


    The taste was horrid and chewy. She shivered as she saw the big oaf giving her his dumb grin again while still chewing away at the cubes. "No no food!"


    -----


    The New World, Eastern Border of the Isles, No One''s Ind, Cartel Expeditionary Force


    "Haaa hoooy!" A bunch of Dwarans pulled at thes, muscles on their short and thick arms bugling as they fought against the desperate struggling winged dragon caught in the into the cell. "Haa hoooy!"


    Surrounding the were other Dwarans armed with shock bidents, the twin ponged tips of the pitchfork like weapon had copper wires attached to crystal charger which looked like a fishing reel. The user just had to spin the handle and it charges the crystal up, giving it a bluish glow. The brighter the glow, the more shock energy will be discharged when the twin pongs touched anything.


    The shock bident armed Dwarans poked their charged bidents against the nk of the struggling dragon, shocking the beast, making it scream in pain and temporary disabling its movement, allowing the rest to pull the dragon into the waiting cell.


    Once the thick wooden cell door was secured, the Dwarans let out a heartily cheer as they had sessfully caught another winged dragon. Dozens ofrge iron and wood cages held various dragons and creatures thought to be mythic or extinct. The Dwarans were in high mood as they knew if any one of these creatures were to be sold back in the Old World, they would be set for life!


    Grand Lord Hammerfall had a big smile pasted on his bearded face and he took a swig from the wine skin in his hand as he watched his men celebrating the capture. He took in the entire ind from his perch on the mechanized tower where a pair of windmills were slowing turning in the sea breeze.


    Already the ind had been transformed, steam and wind towers together with smokestacks from boilers and factoriums covered the growing settlement. ck spouts of steam cannons poked out from entrenched positions and forts while the airships that carried them through the Sea of Clouds were being loaded up with their spoils, ready to depart back to the Old World once they were full.


    Grand Lord Hammerfall took thest swill of his wine skin and hopped off the battlement, satisfied that they, the Cartel has established a firm foothold in the New World and that it would take a mighty force to dig them out.

 Chapter 536: Trust

    Chapter 536: Trust


    The New World, The Old Kingdom of Foral, ???


    Blue Thunder was enjoying the look on Saphia''s face when she tried the dried rations for the first time. Suddenly, he jerked his head around, his nostrils sniffing the air suspiciously before he roared out a warning, "CONTACTED!"


    Stamford and the rest were taking having their rations when Blue Thunder''s warning came. They dropped whatever they were doing and whipped out their weapons, each one of them taking aim at four directions. "Where?"


    "We are surrounded!" Blue Thunder whipped around and growled at the trees while Saphia looked around in confusion. Blue Thunder seeing Saphia''s confused reaction, quickly shoved her to a tree that could give her some cover. "Saphia, stay down!"


    Suddenly dark crossbow bolts came piercing through the foliage at Blue Thunder who quickly rolled over, showing his armoured spine and tucking in his wings and head. The crossbow bolts harmlessly bounced off his most armoured part of his body and the figures in leather and te mail came screaming out of the trees.


    "CONTACT LEFT!" Stamford yelled as he snapped his submachine gun at the charging enemy. Hispact weapon rattled loudly as he fired in short controlled bursts. The heavy .45 rounds of the SMG easily punched holes through the leather mail armour wore by the assants and lifeless bodies toppled down. "Blue! Hold the right!"


    Blue Thunder gave a roar of acknowledgement, as he used the bulk of his body as a barrier. His deadly spiked tail whipping in a low arc and smashed away half a dozen enemy warriors who came into his range. More crossbow bolts came shing towards Blue Thunder and crew, most of which missed or were unable to pierce through Blue Thunder''s thick scales, but still some managed to prate Blue Thunder''s defences which blood slowly dripped out.


    A crack of lightning mmed into Blue Thunder''s neck, making him yelp in pain as the magic melted his scales and scorched the flesh underneath. Blue Thunder roared out in anger and sucked in his tummy before he breathed out a column of mes right back at the mage.


    The crossbow wielders and the mage screamed as Blue Thunder''s ming breathe washed over them and ignited the surrounding foliage. Blue Thunder''s rage attack stunned the rest of the assants as they paused in their attack and stared aghast at the carnage.


    Suddenly, draconic roars burst out from above and half a dozen Razorwing dragons broke through the canopy of the thicket. Blue Thunder faced up and answered back their challenge by spitting a fireball right into the centre of mass of one of the medium weight dragons as it struggled through the thick branches and trees.


    It screamed as the force of the fireballs mmed it back into the canopy and smashing through some of the thinner branches. The rest of the Razorwingsnded and under the urging of their riders, they charged at Blue Thunder.


    Stamford and the rest ran out of the way of the dragons and continued to engage the rest of the assants who had renewed their vigour. Bodies dropped as bullets found their target and the attacked faltered and the survivors'' morale broke.


    With the enemy forces in retreat, Stamford turned his attention to Blue Thunder who was facing off five Razorwings. The trees around their battle long been smashed off their roots, and the earth churned up by the massive beasts. The battle was like some kind of Jurassic movie with the dragons snapping at each other, whipping tails and shing with their ws and wings.


    Blood spattered across the destroyedndscape as a Razorwing took an opportunity attack at the back of Blue Thunder. Its dagger length ws ripped a patch of scales and flesh off Blue Thunder, making him roar in pain and anger. In response, he flicked his mighty tail at the attacker, smashing the Razorwing into the stumps of a broken tree, dazing it.


    The rest of the Razorwings leapt in at this moment of distraction. Their powerful jaws attaching themselves onto Blue Thunder''s nks and neck. Despite the differences in their weight groups, thebined weight of four Razorwings was enough to pin Blue Thunder down. The five dragons tumbled onto the ground and Blue Thunder fought tooth and w for his life.


    Stamford seeing the situation turning sour, quickly ordered, "Engage those dragons! Keep them off Blue Thunder!"


    The .45 rounds were not powerful enough to outright kill the Razorwings, only enough to cause pain and annoyance. A couple of the Razorwings were even too enraged and frenzy that they ignored the shots fired by the UN aircrew. They continued their attacks on Blue Thunder while the rest turned their attention on the aircrew.


    Stamford raced across the ravagedndscape and thankfully found their heavy weapons still in one pieced, removed from Blue Thunder''s harness mounts andid out on an oilcloth ready to be cleaned when they had made camp. He quickly grabbed a can of ammunition and pped it into ce and racked the bolt back.


    He braced the MG - 1 against the top of a fallen tree trunk and squeezed the trigger, sending a long burst right at the trio of dragons chasing after the rest of his crew. Red hot tracers intersect the leading Razorwing and bullets riddled its nks, blowing bits of flesh and blood all over the forest.


    The Razorwing stumbled down and thrashed about in pain while its rider who had climbed off its back before the dragons'' fight, came running over, screaming something incoherent. Stamford gave him a short burst of .338 and the rider slide to a halt next to the dying dragon.


    He switched targets, giving the other two dragons a hearty dose of lead before he grabbed another can of .338 ammunition to reload. By this time, Blue Thunder had more or less emerged the victor in the rumble. He had one of the Razorwing''s neck in his jaws and with a mighty jerk, he snapped the vertebrae of the crying Razorwing and tossed its limp body to the side.


    The remaining Razorwing limped back weakly from Blue Thunder''s stare as its natural survival instincts took over. It ttened both its body and wings on the ground in submission to Blue Thunder''s strength, while its frightened rider screamed for it to fight.


    The distinctive rattle of a SMG ended that rider''s tirade and Dek and rest, covered in leaves and soil joined Blue Thunder at staring at the prostrating dragon. Saphia sneaked a peek out from behind a tree from which she had been hiding and watching the battle, let out a soft sigh of relief. She slowly joined the group surrounding the trembling dragon.


    "What now, Boss?" Dek asked as he gave the huffing Blue Thunder a once over of his wounds. "We got a dragon prisoner..."


    "Finish it," Stamford ordered coldly as he carried the MG over. "It''s crippled and we have no room for prisoners."


    Blue Thunder growled and he suddenly snapped his jaws forward, gripping the wounded dragon by its neck and breaking it. Once the deed was done, he slumped on his hindquarters and let out a loud groan. "Ow... I am bleeding..."


    "Of course you are, you big pussy!" Stamford let out a relieved sigh. "Dek, set up a MG and keep watch. Luth, check the bodies! Barkley, tend to Blue Thunder. I doubt those assholes will be back for another round but still keep alert!"


    "Yes, Sir!" The men called out as they got to work. Blue Thunder had plenty of wounds, mostly caused by bites and shes. In many ces, his scales were torn off or broken, exposing bloodied flesh underneath. Stamford quickly found Blue Thunder''s aid kit and carried it over to Barkley who was shaking his head at Blue Thunder''s wounds. He was thankful that they had taken off the aid kit and was treating his injuries before, or the first aid kit would have been likely destroyed in the fight.


    Already, Blue Thunder''s harness was shredded and broken straps dangled here and there. Pouches holding spare equipment were ripped and its contents either damaged or thrown off somewhere. Stamford gauged that they had to take out the spare harness and make repairs if they were to ever safety ride on Blue Thunder.


    Surprisingly, while they were treating Blue Thunder''s wounds, the quiet ck dragon hade up next to Blue Thunder and was even licking at some of his wounds. Stamford sighed and pushed away Saphia, "Don''t let his wounds, it might cause infectionter!"


    Barkley carried over a few ration cubes that did not get destroyed in the fight and piled them next to Blue Thunder. "Eat some, and r regain some of your strength!"


    Blue Thunder gave a weak grunt as heid down with his body spread out. He picked up one of the ration cubes and started chewing softly, his eyes closed as fatigue swept over his body. As Stamford and Barkley worked on Blue Thunder''s wounds, Saphia crept over closer to Blue Thunder until she was leaning against his nk which Stamford shooed her away as she got into their way.


    "How did they find us?" Barkley asked as he rolled duct tape over a bandage patch to keep it in ce. "They clearly knew where we are if they could ambush us the first time."


    "And now, they could even find us so quickly in this thick forest!" Barkley remarked. "Something isn''t right! Could... it be that Intel guy sold us out?"


    "Possible, but unlikely..." Stamford shook his head as he washed the wound. "Intel won''t spend a million gold crowns just to pull something off like this."


    "I suspect..." Stamford stopped his work and looked at Saphia who was hovering nervously over their shoulders. "Our culprit is right here..."


    "Her?" Barkley frowned as he too stopped his work and stared at Saphia who gave them a confused look. "How?"


    "They must have put a tracking spell or something on her," Stamford said as he stood before Saphia. "As for what spell..."


    "It''s the damn cor!" Barkley hissed. "It''s the only thing that came along with her from the auction house!"


    "Yes," Stamford nodded as he stared at the crystal encrusted ve cor at the base of Saphia''s neck. "The auction house has no qualms in selling us out..."


    "Shit!" Blue Thunder let out a curse as he tilted his head over. "Those bastards will pay for this treachery!"


    "Don''t waste your strength!" Stamford shook his head at Blue Thunder. He dug inside his pocket to remove the crystal controller for the cor around Saphia''s neck. When Saphia saw the controller in Stamford''s hands, she flinched back and even tucked in her tail in fear.


    Stamford frowned as he weighted the controller in his hands before he gestured to Saphia. "Stay!"


    He approached the clearly frightened dragon and hesitated for a moment before he inserted the controller into a slot and turned it like a key. With a loud click, the ve cor snapped out and fell off. He backed off quickly, unsure if the ck dragon without the control of the ve cor would attack them or take the opportunity to run away.


    Stamford kept his hand close to his weapon as he eyed the ck dragon and watched her closely for her reaction. To his relief, the ck dragon appeared to be delighted at the removal of the ve cor as she reached up to give her neck a good rub and did not show any intent in attacking or running away,


    Instead, she waddled her way andid down next to the napping Blue Thunder, and even took a few bites of the ration cubes. Stamford gathered up the ve cor and controller and ced them inside a bag. "Alright, if they have some kind of tracker, this would be the culprit."


    "We better hurry up," Stamford added. "It''s best we find another spot to rest... The enemy will be back and the stench of blood here will draw more trouble to us if we linger longer!"

 Chapter 537: The Stand

    Chapter 537: The Stand


    Stamford nced back to see dozens of tiny figures appearing at the distant forest edge from which hours ago, they hade out of. Blue Thunder was too hurt to be able to take into the skies, and hence, they could only trek across the forest and grasnds, heading towards their destination.


    Seeing their pursuers hot on their heels, Stamford could only increase their pace. There wasn''t any point in keeping stealth nor hiding their tracks as it was almost impossible to hide the tracks of two dragons that weight as much as a tank! At least the skies were clear as there no longer was any more flying dragonsing to pester them, thought Stamford. They must had decimated all their enemies'' dragons in the previous fight.


    "Boss, they are roughly an hour distance behind us," Barkley, their navigator said as he measured the distance between them with his thumb. "They will gain on us sooner orter."


    "We are too exposed here," Barkley continued as he gestured around their surroundings which consisted of a hilly grasnd. "We need to get into some kind of cover!"


    "I know," Stamford replied as he pointed to the dark blue trees in the far distance. "We can lose them once we get into that forest."


    "It''s still two hours or more of travel for us," Barkley pointed out. "They will overtake us by then!"


    "Leave me here and ride on Saphia''s back!" Blue Thunder sighed. "I will catch up with you guys once I feel better..."


    "Shut it!" Stamford snapped as he ignored Blue Thunder''s words. "We are all sticking together! And Saphia isn''t trained nor has the endurance to carry anyone in flight!"


    Blue Thunder lowered his head as he aimlessly plodded forward, "Sorry guys, I can''t carry you all out of here..."


    "I said shut it!" Stamford growled at Blue Thunder. "Save your damn energy and keep moving rather than whining!"


    With that said, Stamford turned to the rest and asked, "Any ymore mines?"


    "Nope," Luth replied as he was in charge of logistics. "We did not expect to be doing any ground humping..."


    Stamford frowned as he looked around before picking out a site. "We can drop an ambush on them at that hill..."


    "We hit them hard enough for them to scatter and buy some time for Blue Thunder," Stamford said as he looked at the two dragons trudging side by side, cutting a trail through the knee length grass. "They going to need to rest for food and water soon or they won''t be able to keep their pace..."


    The rest nodded as they knew what Blue Thunder needed most right now was food and rest to recover his wounds while Saphia was too out of shape due to her long imprisonment and generalck of exercise and training. Even the crew was tired as they were not trained like the Army or Marines to continuously trek long distances.


    They continued trek behind the trail made by the dragons and slowly climbed up the small hilltop. Large rocks formations littered the rtively t summit and offered an uninterrupted view of their surroundings. Blue Thunder flopped down tiredly in pain as his breathing becameboured after climbing the slope. Saphia followed his lead andid down albeit in a more refined manner.


    Stamford wiped the sweat off his head and slipped his cap back on. His legs were burning from the climb and he could see everyone was spent. Quickly, he made a decision, "Break out the heavy weapons! We make a stand here!"


    The rest nodded and they started unloading the weapons off Blue Thunder''s back. Stamford carried one of the MGs and set it down on stone outcrop while Dek dropped cans of ammunition down and calling out, "Conserve the ammo! We only have so much left!"


    "Luth, Barkley! See to the dragons'' need!" Stamford ordered as he loaded the MG. He removed his binos out from and scanned the figures following their trail. He made a mental count before he lowered his binos and eyed the skies. "Dek! See anything in the air?"


    "No, boss!" Dek called back from the other side of the summit. "Only saw some movement at the forest edge but nothing moving near us!"


    Stamford brought his binos up and watched the approaching force. They were dressed in leather mail and carrying long spears and shields with belted swords. Some carried bows and crossbows hung behind their backs and there were even several riding those half croc half raptors like mounts.


    "I count about eighty," Stamford called out. "How many you see?"


    "Make it a hundred!" Dek yelled back. "There''s another group of twenty on my side moving through the grass!"


    Stamford hurried raised his binos and scanned Dek''s sector. After a quick scan, he spotted another group pushing through the knee length ss, moving in parallel to the main force about two hundred meters away. He frowned and he started scanning his side, checking if there''s another small party pushing the same way. "Shit..."


    "I got another party of twenty or so moving to our right nk!" Stamford said. "We need to suppress the main group and also prevent those two parties at the nks to nk us!"


    "Luth! Barkley!" Stamford turned around and called out. "You guys done?"


    "Almost!" Luth replied back. He unwrapped the wax paper protecting the ration cubes and piled them before Blue Thunder and Saphia while Barkley worked on some of the reopened wounds and recing soiled bandages on Blue Thunder''s body. "Eat up, big guy! You too, girl!"


    Too tired toin, Saphia picked up a ration cube and slowly chewed. Blue Dragon did so with more gusto as heid there t on his belly sharing a meal with Saphia. Seeing both dragons eating, Luth let out a sigh of relief and he started unloading the casks of water for them to drink.


    "Hurry up!" Stamford called out again. "The party is about to start!"


    Barkley ripped the roll of duct tape and pped it against Blue Thunder''s wounds, making sure it was firmly stuck to his scales and holding the gauze in ce before he dropped everything into the first aid box and rushed over to the edge of the hill.


    Stamford gestured to the remaining machine gun and ordered, "Grab thest MG and cover our centre!"


    Barkley nodded and he picked up the machine gun and ammunition can with each hand and half ran forward to a rocky outcrop. He dropped the machine gun andid prone next to the outcrop and started fiddling with the weapon.


    "Done, boss!" Luth came running over next, his submachine gun out and ready. He came to a crouch next to Stamford and awaited his instructions.


    "Take over here," Stamford pushed himself up before he made a chopping gesture in front of the machine gun. "That''s your firing arc! You are covering the right nk! Got it?"


    "Yes, boss!" Luth took over the spot vacated by Stamford and snuggled the machine gun close to his body as he checked his firingnes.


    Stamford ran over to Barkley and repeated his orders, "You are covering our front!"


    Next, he went over to Dek and said, "You''re covering our left nk!"


    The position of the three machine guns formed a triangle shape, each covering their own sectors. Once satisfied that the men knew what they needed to do, Stamford returned to Barkley and climbed up the rocky outcrop and took out his binos.


    "Guys! Make ready!" Stamford called out as he observed the ambush ground. The enemy was about three hundred meters from the mil dot reticle shown. He waited until the majority of the main force was closer before he ordered in a surprisingly calm voice, "Barkley, you are cleared to engage!"


    Barkley snapped the safety lever with his thumb and squeezed the trigger without hesitation. He had kept the cross hair of his 1.5x reflex sights on one of the figures sporting a red feather on his helm. The MG - 1 jumped in his hands and mmed painfully against his padded shoulder as it roared thunderously.


    Stamford caught brief snatches of tracer rounds flickering downrange into the main group which was caught t footed. The sudden thunderous roar of the machine gun rolled down the hill and flocks of feathered wyvern and animals were frightened out of their habitats.


    The enemy surprised and confused, remained rooted on the spot as they tried to make sense of what was happening, allowing bullets to mow them down easily. Inexperienced and untrained to deal with modern firearms, the enemy trained in cold steel tactics, hunkered down as if facing arrows and spells instead.


    They raised their shields up and the mages in the group threw up defensive spells out. The two smaller scouting parties at the nks came rushing forward towards the source of the thunderous roaring and spellfire, only to meet a storm of lead fired by the other two machine guns.


    The two scouting parties at the nks did not fare as well as the main force as they had no mages in their parties and like the main force, they rushed forward, not thinking even once toy down prone for cover and instead charged forward to close with the enemy as fast as possible as they were trained, resulting in both parties getting decimated.


    The main force protected by magic had formed into a square and was making its way up the slope. The single machine gun was unable to deplete the magic barrier fast enough and the distance between the two forces closed. Stamford seeing the situation not good, yelled a warning to Dek and Luth while ordering Barkley to cease fire as not to waste ammunition.


    Stamford drew his sword bay out and held it reserved gripe in his left hand while holding his submachine gun in his right and braced himself for the melee toe. Barkley had scrambled up to his feet and held the MG - 1 by hip, his left hand holding on to the bipod stand like a forward grip as he readied himself.


    A victorious cheer came from the slope as the first heads appeared over the ridge and bodies started scrambling to the top. Stamford stepped back as he saw the telltale shimmering magical dome still protecting the climb enemy. "Fuck!"


    An overzealous soldier charged forward upon spotting Stamford and the rest. He came running out of the magical barrier and Stamford smiled as he popped a single shot right at the soldier, sending the soldier sprawling down before his feet, dead before he hit the ground.


    Seeing one of their own dead just like that sent the rest of the soldiers into a rage as they all charged as one. Barkley went down on one knee as he braced his elbow on his knee to support the weight of the machine gun and let it rip.


    Men screamed as bullets cut them down while the magic barrier flickered wildly in a mad disy of shimmering colours. A bolt of lightning cracked across the knife fighting range and Barkley went flying back with a groan, his chest smoking. Stamford roared out angrily as he saw Barkley went down and all hell broke loose.


    He parried a spear with his sword bay and blew the owner''s handsome face away with his SMG before he shot down another assant behind the faceless soldier. His mind barely registered the magic barrier disappearing as his whole focus narrowed down to just a few feet around him.


    Spearheads were thrust at him from all angles, some he managed to block or dodged but one thrust hammered against his side, his trauma ting blocking the stab painfully. He emptied his SMG at his assants, granting him some breathing space as he gasped in pain.


    Somewhere, he noticed the sounds of gunfire and he knew the rest were still fighting. He stepped back from the semi circle ring of spears aiming at him and he did a quick reload of his weapon when a draconic roar broke out behind him.


    An angry Blue Thunder came out roaring and a spew of mes burst out from his gaping mouth like a mer and turned the hilltop into a screaming inferno.

 Chapter 538: The Second Wave

    Chapter 538: The Second Wave


    The New World, Ma, North East of Fort Hensink, The Atoll


    Roughly two hundred kilometres offshore from the beaches of Hensink, lies a small archipgo of inds and reefs formed from volcanic rock. The inds have steep slopes densely covered in vegetation and trees and were devoid of people. Wild animals and monsters roamed the inds surrounded by steep rocky cliffs and at the highest peaks of one of the inds, dozens of wild winged dragons flocked around the peak.


    In the midst of these inds and reefs, lies arge atoll. The waters around the atoll were crystal clear and covered in white sand. Dense trees covered parts of the atoll and one was to take a closer look, one particr area had an olive green paintedrge curved te sticking out between the trees.


    The radar instation was slowly rotation on its mount, the rest of its body covered in camougeting. A short distance away, a simrly camouged and hidden bunker sat facing the open sea. At this moment, a very bored Oerkin Marine named Yak was staring out of the narrow firing slits of the bunker, eyeing the gathering storm clouds in the far distance.


    On a clear day, the End Zone could be seen despite being hundreds of kilometres away as a wall of grey on the horizon of the blue sea. Yet today, the storm clouds that appeared suddenly had covered the entire horizon and did not appear to stop growingrger. Even the winds had picked up as Yak could see the trees waving in the strong wind and the howl of the wind through the firing slits.


    "Yak!" A yell woke him up from his daydream and he found his fellow marine calling him from behind. "Come on! The LT wants us to help move the ne in!"


    Yak, happy to do something rather than just staring out at nothing, grabbed his rifle and slung it behind his back and followed his buddy out. They left the shelter of the hidden bunker and kept to a well beaten track through the foliage and soon emerged out to thergegoon with clear green blue waters in the middle of the atoll.


    High Command had chosen the atoll to be a forward observation post aspared to the other inds, the atoll was rtively t and also has a source of fresh water. And having arge shelteredgoon allowed flying boats like the FB - 1 Mariners or F/A - 1N Sea Cobras tond and take off safely, as the rest of the inds were surrounded by dangerous reefs and rough seas.


    Construction of concrete bunkers and the radar station soon took ce and the unnamed atoll was soon known as The Atoll by the workers and marines stationed there. The site was heavily camouged and all other traces of habitation was wiped once the workers left the atoll.


    Now arge sea gull winged twin engined flying boat was beached on white sands of thegoon. The seane''s crew and several other Marines were at the tail end, standing half deep in the clear waters. A pulley system of sorts was rigged to the trees on the beach and other Marines and Navy personnel were pulling on the ropes.


    The flying boat rolled up the sandy beach while the rest helped push the ne up. A couple of the aircrew rolled chocks behind the wheels to prevent therge seane from rolling backwards and injuring anyone behind.


    "Come on!" Someone yelled over the roar of the engines. "We need to get the ne higher up or theing storm will blow it away!"


    Yak stripped his gear off and dumped it on one side and rushed forward to help and little by little, the flying boat was rolled up to the trees. Its crew and the Marines quickly started to secure the aircraft down with ropes and camos.


    After they were done, the skies were dark as the storm clouds had crawled over their heads and the wind picked up even more. "Secure everything that is loose!"


    Yak grabbed his gear and followed the rest, some headed to dismantle the radar dish andmunication antenna and rys, others started to move misceneous stuff let out in the open back into the bunkers.


    As outpost readied itself for theing storm, pea sized raindrops started falling from the skies, and not long after, the end of summer storm broke out and autumn has arrived.


    -----


    The blood red coloured airship shuddered as a particrly strong gust of wind mmed into its side, the magical repelling runes shed continuously as it countered the crosswinds. A bolt of lightning arc across the skies as rain pelted down against the magic barriers heavily enough to have water dripping through.


    Inquisitor Mathias sat quietly before a glowmp, his attention solely on the sheets of parchment in his hands, a report detailing the first expedition to the New World. He has reread the report multiple times throughout the month long journey.


    The first expedition has returned to the Protectorate with holds full of precious magic crystals, gold, silver and many new converts to the faith. Over forty airships had departed in the first wave and over the months, just twenty four airships had returned.


    In the report, five airships were lost crossing in the Sea of Clouds and nine remained, including Inquisitor Rism''s gship, the battleship Aggression. The other twenty six airships made the trip back in two batches and each batch lost one ship in the return trip. The resources brought back made waves throughout the Old World despite the fact the Protectorate has done all to ensure there were no leaks of the news.


    But still, there were still heretical spies not weeded out among the faithful as word had gotten out to the other Great Nations, resulting in a mad rush to the New World. The Grand Jury having seen what the truth of the New World has to offer, has mobilized a second force, greater than the first expedition to further expand their influence and foothold in the New World, as they did not wish thend to be tinted by the other heretical Nations.


    Inquisitor Mathias was appointed to lead the second wave as he had some experience travelling to the New World by the Grand Jury. Now holding a rank of General, he led a massive air fleet of over seventy airships with over half of those were lightly armed transports. Mathias had made use of his new authority to force several new changes to his fleet.


    Using the experience and reports from the returnees, Mathias had his fleet undergo refits at the Protectorate yards. He implemented both new arcane measures and hull reinforcements to the airships to increase their survivability through the Sea of Clouds.


    With the influx of magic crystals, Mathias can afford his ships to use the magic crystals to power their magical barriers. He also had new crystalmunication devices and newer more advanced signalling systems installed to all the airships so as to improve theirmunications abilities when inside the Sea of Clouds.


    It had taken him months and all his connections and favors to have all his implementations and expenditure to be approved by the Grand Jury. Finally, his fleet fully outfitted and loaded with troops, weapons, supplies and new colonists, the second wave of airships departed directly for the New World.


    After a month of travelling in the dangerous and unpredictable Sea of Clouds, Mathia''s air fleet exited out from the Sea of Clouds and into a gathering storm. Butpared to what they had been through in the past month, the storm before them felt trivial and the best part was only a single airship was missing from his fleet of seventy!


    Granted over two thirds of his fleet had suffered some form of damage but none where crippling. The measures he had implemented had helped cut down loses by a massive margin and his poprity among the airships'' captains and crew grew.


    Mathias put down the well worn report when someone knocked on his cabin door. "Enter!"


    "Lord Inquisitor! May Justice be on your side!" An aide saluted as he entered. "The fleet is formed up and ready to proceed fore to the New Protectorate Lands!"


    "Good, pass on the order to the fleet!" Mathias replied as he stood up. "The fleet will make haste to the New Protectorate Lands!"


    -----


    The New World, The Old Kingdom of Foral, ???


    Blue Thundershed out with his hind ws as he came shing down from the trees and snatched at the started herd of horned deer. The unicorn looking creature caught in Blue Thunder''s ws let out a squeal of fright and pain as it was lifted up into the skies in a violent way and its lifeblood slowly drained away from the sharp ws pierced into its body.


    Blue Thunder had a smug grin on his face as he came to a glide over the camp. He dropped the dying animal like a bomb and came to hover by beating his powerful wings beforending on all fours. "And... I am fully healed!"


    "Fully healed your head!" Stamford growled as he poked at one of his wounds that had reopened on his shoulder. "You have just torn your wounds open again!"


    "But they don''t hurt anymore!" Blue Thunder said indignantly. "And I can fly again!"


    "I thought I told you not to go flying until your wounds have closed up!" Stamford frowned. "Now look at what you have done!"


    "Sorry... mom..." Blue Thunder gave his best innocent smile and giving the wide eyed Saphia that was watching at the side a wink. "At least I brought back some dinner!"


    Stamford shook his head in defeat as he gave up in trying to control Blue Thunder who was like a kid diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, "Yeah, yeah... good work..."


    They had set up camp near the edge of the forest by a watering hole. The brutal fight the other day had exhausted them greatly with everyone suffering one form of injury from the mad melee. The only being that did not suffer a scratch was Saphia who had kept herself hidden from danger.


    Blue Thunder''s timely breath attack had turned the tides and like a mer, the enemy was burnt off the hilltop. The enemy''s mages already weakened from the burden of maintaining the magic barrier was easily defeated by Blue Thunder''s attack and they were hit by the magical rebound, dropping down unconscious to the ground.


    Seeing the appearance of an angry dragon, the surviving assants'' morale broke and they fled down the slopes to escape with their lives. But Stamford gave a cold blooded order to kill them all as he did not want any enemies to report back their failure. His tired and wounded crew lugged the machine guns back to the edge of the hilltop and started mowing down the running enemy until none remained moving.


    Pushing themselves, Stamford and his men cleared the battlefield, ensuring no one remained a threat by putting an end to anyone still alive. After that, they finally dropped down to rest, in the hilltop covered with bodies.


    Once they had recovered, they started looting the bodies for anything of use such as items like food and water supplies were taken. Once they had enough supplies, the group of four and two dragons started trekking again until they came upon a watering hole.


    Stamford checked his watch and looked up to the darkening skies before he announced to the camp. "We have rested long enough here and Blue Thunder seems fit enough to fly again! We will set off tomorrow morning!"


    His crew let out a small cheer as they were tired of living out in the wild. Their spirits rose as they started cheered up from the news. Stamford went to the luggage packs and dug out a small but heavy bag. He checked the contents and seeing that they were all there before he walked over to the edge of the watering hole and tossed the heavy bag into the centre with a loud ssh.


    "Let''s see how you can track us from now onward!"

 Chapter 539: Out of the Storm

    Chapter 539: Out of the Storm


    The New World, Ma, Fort Hensink


    The storm shutters rattled hard against the windows from the typhoon raging outside the squat concrete towers and buildings. The off duty personnel of the UN fortress kept warm and dry inside the buildings ying cards games or watching shows while those unlucky enough to be on duty, worn ponchos and had to weather the heavy storm at their watch posts.


    The storm had been raging for three days and yet still showed no signs of stopping but from what the locals had said, the storm would past soon and autumn will be here as the winds carried away the summer heat. The troops stationed at the fortress could only listen to the locals'' advise and hunkered down until the storm has passed.


    True to the local''s knowledge, the rain and wind soon died down, leaving behind grey skies that sunlight slowly peeked out, creating rays of light shining down like some kind of heavenly oracle. The UN personnel cooped up far too long indoors, all came out to watch the beautiful scenery of the sun rays shining down through the clouds into the sea.


    "Hey..." Someone suddenly called out as he pointed to the skies. "What is thating out of the storm?"


    The people nearby followed his gesture and they could spot dark dots scattered amongst the grey clouds from the direction of the ruined city. A ray of sunshine suddenly shone down on one of the ck dots as if weing it, made those wielding binocrs to cry out in surprise. "Airships! Red airships! It''s the goddamn Protectorate!"


    Just as the person yelled out, sirens started wailing throughout the fortress. The startled personnel rushed off towards their duty stations as drilled. Army personnel donned their gear and weapons and scrambled out of their barracks to man fixed weapons tforms. The storm covers of the mounted weapons were ripped off and ammunition cans rammed into feeding trays,


    Other soldiers carried the .50 calibre heavy machine guns out of the weapon lockers and armouries and set them up behind sodden sandbags. The fortress was located a short distance away from the ruined city of Hensink while a smaller and growing new town was being developed further down the coast. A small airstrip sat within the rectangr shaped fortress with towering bastions made out of sandbags and concrete surrounded the fortress.


    At this point when the sirens were ring away, the pilots on alert duty rushed out of their cosy barracks towards the protected hangars where their waiting aircraft was being spooled up. Ground crew hurriedly pushed open the hangar doors while others madest minute checks on their aircraft.


    Further down the fortress''s docks, the secured corvettes and PT boats were being manned and their boilers fired. Other personnel rushed out of armouries carrying ammunition for the defensive bunkers and AA sites along the docks and building roofs.


    As the defences were being manned, the first group of the red airships came within the fortress''s port limits and tracers started floating upwards towards the approaching airships.


    -----


    The Protectorate 2nd Missionary Force, gship Lord Justice


    Mathias was surprised as he saw the farseeing spell projection of the ruined city on the viewing crystal when they hade out of the storm. In fact, everyone on the bridge was surprised as well as they saw the image and the Captain of Mathias''s gship Lord Justice mumbled out, "Its... impossible! Navigator! Check the sailing charts!"


    "What is the meaning of this?" Mathias demanded in a cold voice to his Captain whose face turned pale. "Are we lost?"


    "Reporting to my Lord Inquisitor!" The Captain bowed and his voice trailed off as he replied nervously. "There must be either a mistake in the charts... Or... or the New Lands had been... destroyed..."


    "My Lords! Lookouts have spotted another settlement!" A cry came from a bridge officer.


    "Let''s see it!" Mathias turned his attention away from the pale faced Captain. "Put the view on the seeing crystal!"


    A short momentter, the seeing crystal glowed gently before the view changed to that of another settlement. From the aerial view, the small settlement looked astonishingly neat, tiny grey white buildings and streets wereid out neatly in rows and there was even a very long and wide ck road behind the rows of buildings and a port with several piers and ships jutted out from the coastal side of the small neat vige.


    The view changed again and Mathias found himself looking down with a wyvern eye view of the coast. The unknown vige was further down south along the coast from the supposed captured city of the New Lands. The ruined cityid between his fleet and the strange vige and what appeared to be another settlement further down south which was too far for their farseeing spells to pick up any details.


    "My Lords!" A nervous looking navigator came saluting before Mathias and the Captain of the Lord Justice. "May you be worthy of-"


    "Hurry up with your report!" Mathias gave an impatient wave of his hand, as he cut off the navigator''s greetings.


    "Erm... My Lords..." The navigator swallowed his fear back and said, "We consulted the charts multiple times and... we are at the correct course and position... This... is the City of the New Lands..."


    The Captain wanted to curse out but with the Inquisitor seated before him, he kept his mouth shut and instead demanded the charts to be brought to him while he checked their position personally.


    Mathias frowned as he heard the report and he tapped a finger against his white mask before he ordered, "Send in two squadrons of ships to that... vige... to find out the situation here."


    "As for the rest of the fleet, order them to prepare to disembark and unload everything here," Mathiasmanded. "We set up a base here by the ruins!"


    "At once, My Lord!" The Captain saluted and started rying hismands out. Soon, two squadrons of frigates detached themselves from the fleet''s formation and headed towards the strange settlement, flying over the ruins of the city that was supposed to be the New Lands.


    As Mathias watched the airships leaving the formation, a shaft of sunlight broke out from the grey clouds as if His Lordship was blessing his airships. Underneath his mask, he broke into a smile at the thought but his smile froze shortly after when streaks of red yellow lights came arcing out from the strange settlement towards his airships.


    Are they under attack?


    -----


    "Reload! Reload!" The 20 mm gunner yelled at his assistants who ripped therge rectangr magazines off the feeding wells and another assistant pped another giant magazine into ce. The gunner racked the charging handle, loading in the 20 mm shells into the breech before he peered through therge double O gun sights and he squeezed the butterfly triggers.


    The heavy cannon shook as it angrily spat out fiery shells into the air, the tracers flying in an arc that seemed to slow down the further they flew. With the overcast skies and a slight ongoing drizzle, the glow of the tracers were very easy to spot. The gunner made use of the tracers to readjust his aim and fired off the rest of the magazine at the iing airships.


    Elsewhere, other 20 mm cannons and .50 calibre guns were simrly spitting fire at the airships, turning the gloomy skies into a sort of fireworks show.


    -----


    Mathias spun around as he snapped an order, "All airships are to start deploying their troops now!"


    "Once the troops are unloaded, all ships except the transports are to engage the enemy!" Mathias added. "Transports are to hang back and unload everything off their hulls!"


    The Captain nodded and soon his ordered were passed down through the entire fleet. Airships built forbat started to line up and form up into a fighting formation while the transports hang back and started to descent to the ground.


    The warships including Mathias''s Lord Justice, advanced in a massive inverted ''T'' formation. They swept down low to the ground while the earlier two squadrons of frigates were keeping the vige busy, and started deploying their troops.


    Massive hatches swung open slowly from the sides of the airships as the ships slowed down and descended low over the ground and cables were rolled out. Protectorate Pdins fullydened inbat gear and supplies lined up to the cables and attached special arrestors to the cables before an order was given. They stepped out of the hatches using the built in brakes in the arrestors, they slowed their descent once neared the ground.


    The Pdins snapped off their arrestors from the cables and moved out of the way for the others to drop down. Soon,panies of Pdins were deployed onto the ground and next came the heavy War Jacks that required four cables to hold their weight as they too came sliding down.


    Once the airships finished disgorging theirplements of troops, they elerated forward and reformed intobat lines, clearing the area for the other airships to take over their earlier positions to drop their troops. The emptied airships having reformed their lines started advancing forward towards the enemy that dared to defy the authority of the Protectorate.


    -----


    "INCOMING!" An Army sergeant yelled as he ducked down behind the thick row of sandbags. A massive quake and roar rocked his position and a wave of heat rolled over. Second Sergeant Bock, a survivor of the Empire War and now a senior NCO of the UN Army 2nd Rifle Regiment stationed at Fort Hensink peeked up from over the sandbagged walls and saw the scorched ground just before him.


    "Man that fifty!" He yelled at the men taking cover next to him. "Take out those flying wings!"


    He looked up at the storm clouds that covered the skies and currently filled with tracers and ''flying wings'', some kind of aircraft that had fluttering red wings like an insect buzzing around. The .50 calibre suddenly started firing, the thunderous bark still loud enough to hurt his ears despite the earplugs.


    He watched the tracers chase after one of the flying wings and appeared to go through the machine before it burst into a cloud of white smoke and broke into pieces mid air. The men cheered loudly as they witnessed the kill, "YESSSS!"


    "Keep firing!" Bock yelled as he took in the situation around them. It felt like it was some kind of apocalypse, as the skies were overcast with low storm clouds coloured red from raging fires of destroyed airships and buildings. Insect like aircraft buzzed around dropping or spitting out ming bombs, while tracers from the ground defences were drawing fiery lines everywhere in the skies.


    A massive boom shook the air and Bock whipped his head around, seeing another airship in Protectorate colours breaking apart into two pieces while a trio of Air Force Vipers screamed across the skies with rocket smoke trails underneath their wings as they volley fired at an airship in their sights.


    Balls of mes covered the side of the targeted airship while its magic barrier shimmered brightly. The Air Force Vipers broke off the attack as they rolled away to dodge anti air fire before making a tight loop to reform their attack. The Protectorate airship tried desperately to shoot down the fast and nimble attackers in vain and in the second pass, another volley of rockets streaked out from the Vipers'' wings and shortly after, the magic barrier of the airship crumble under the might of modern explosives.


    The airship defenceless without its magic barrier, went down on the third rocket pass, the rockets leaving massive gaping holes in its side hull and leaking aetherium and steam, it slowly sank down to the ground, crashnding on the beach with a mighty crash.


    "FIREPOWER FOR THE WIN!" Someone yelled out from the side. Bock turned to see one of Army soldiers punching a fist into the air. "HAIL FIREPOWER!"


    Bock gave a small smile as he too whispered to himself, "Hail firepower!"

 Chapter 540: Misery

    Chapter 540: Misery


    The New World, Old Kingdom of Foral


    "How persistent are those people!" Blue Thunder panted as he used every ounce of his strength to fly and dodge the attacks aimed at him. He turned his head back and yelled, "Don''t you know that girls do not like over persistent people!"


    "Save your goddamn breath!" Stamford cursed as he fiddled with the radio set. "Unicorn, Unicorn, this is Dragon One. Do you copy, over?"


    "Fuck!" Stamford cursed again as no one replied to him on the radio. "We should be at the border soon!"


    A fire bolt trailing sparks streaked overhead making Stamford duck his head while he checked his charts. From behind, Dek squeezed off a long burst back at the mage who tossed the spell at them. They had taken almost a week to reach the border without any sight of their pursers, allowing Blue Thunder and the rest to recover some of their stamina.


    But when they were about to reach the border, magical res burst out into the skies and attracted several dragons. It appeared that their enemy had lost their tracks but instead of searching blindly, they had ced lookouts along the way to the border and upon sighting them, theyunched magical res up to alert the others.


    Now groups of dragons swooped in from different directions, aiming to cut them off and force them away from the border. With wounds barely fully recovered, Blue Thunder could only endure as much as he could as he weaved around the air with a frightened Saphia following his tail tightly.


    "I''m out!" Dek suddenly yelled from behind. "Gun is totally empty!"


    Stamford made another curse as he ordered, "Work on radio and see if you can raise our escort on the channel!"


    "Yes, boss!" Dek replied and he took his own radio set and started ying with the dials. Stamford looked down behind them and saw they had left the forest behind and arge grasnd stretched out beneath them.


    He calcted that they would still have another twenty or so kilometers to fly and the terrain beneath them was too open for them to hide and take cover. He could see Blue Thunderboring hard away, knowing his wounds were taking a toil to his stamina. Looking behind, he could see the winged figure of Saphia following closely behind them and for the umpteen time, he wondered if it was worth the trouble to keep that ck dragon with them.


    Another spell whizzed close enough for Stamford to feel the heat of its passing. Blue Thunder made reflex dive, trying to shake off the attackers when he suddenly gave a yelp of pain and everyone on his back felt a shudder underneath their seats.


    "Blue is hurt bad!" Dek yelled from behind. "He''s leaking blood!"


    "I... fine!" Blue Thunder growled through gritted teeth. "We are almost to the border city!"


    Stamford peered over the side of Blue Thunder and saw a trail of dark droplets being blown off by the wind. He cast again nce at Saphia whose eyes were wide as she could see Blue Thunder''s injury from behind them and he really wanted to abandon Saphia to their pursers who seemed dead set after them.


    Just as he was making his decision, there was a sudden loud boom and everyone jerked their heads towards the sound, seeing a small ck ball of smoke in the air and a med weight dragon missing some parts of its body trailing smoke and blood, dropped off the skies.


    "Dragon One, Dragon One, this is Unicorn Four, how copy?" Thems suddenly red out much to everyone''s joy and relief. "We see you have some flies on your tail. Will clean the skies for you, over."


    "Dragon One, Unicorn Four! You guys are right on time!" Dek replied excitedly on the radio. "Will be mightily kind of you to clear our tails! Be advised ck dragon on our tail is friendly! Over."


    "Roger that Dragon One," The rotor drone of the two attack helicopters soon could be heard as two sleek looking shapes appeared over the horizon. A puff of smoke erupted from the stubby wings and the new wire guided missile came screaming out of itsunch tube trailing behind a wire.


    The co pilot of the AH - 1 Unicorn gunship, Unicorn Four, controlled the TOW, Tubeunched, Optically tracked and Wire guided missile towards one of the surprised dragons. The TOW missile traveling at over 250 meters per second was guided directly into the body of the dragon. The co pilot briefly saw the shocked looks on the dragon and its passengers before the disy screen on his console fuzzed out.


    Another ck ball of smoke erupted out in the skies followed by a loud and sharp crack and the remains of another dragon dropped down to the ground. The rest of the dragons seeing the situation changing, scattered in all directions as they tried to regroup against the new adversary.


    Chin mounted 20 mm guns roared and chased after the dragons trying to evade the fiery thunder spells but their speed was no match for the high velocity shells, and chunks of flesh were blown off their bodies and the screaming dragons fell. Seeing death appearing out of nowhere, the rest of the dragons turned tail and beat their wings madly to escape death.


    Blue Thunder spread his wings as wide as possible as he glided tiredly towards the grey blot of the Man border city in the distance, happy to let their escorts clear the skies of enemies. He let out a deep sigh and mumbled to himself, "Next time, I am not going traveling!"


    -----


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Sir!" The bridge duty crew snapped to attention at the arrival of Captain ke. He waved the crew down and stood before the tactical plot table and nced at the data disyed.


    "What''s the situation now?" He asked themand staff gathered around the table."Why didn''t we have any advanced notice?"


    General Joseph straightened up and said, "Sir, the Protectorate appeared under the cover of the seasonal typhoon. We did not expect their timing to be so... lucky... Our advance warning outposts were all blinded by the storm, allowing them to travel so close unnoticed..."


    ke let out a deep sigh as something like this was something that no one other than a God could predict. He shook his head before he asked again, "So what''s the situation now?"


    "Fort Hensink is still engaged with elements of the Protectorate airships and ground forces," The Army general reported. "But... the typhoon is picking up again and once that happens, we will lose the advantage of our air power..."


    "And at the same time, the Protectorate will also be in a simr position as our forces," He added. "Unable to advance forward or attack with their airships."


    "What are the enemy numbers we are looking at?" ke asked next. "Can the Fort hold?"


    "Intel suggests over fifty to sixty airships at least," General Joseph replied. "The storm is making it hard for our radar and sensors. They estimate at least forty thousand ground troops."


    "Fort Hensink if supported by air power will definitely be able to hold," The officer said. "But with the storm all along the coast, we can''t dispatch any reinforcements nor air support from other bases due to the weather..."


    "I have dispatched reinforcements by ground to support Fort Hensink," General Joseph tapped on the map disyed on the tactical plot table. "But depending on the weather, they might get bogged down. We are expecting the typhoon tost at least another three days..."


    "What about the Vengeance? Can we get Ford on thems?" ke asked next. "What is theirst known location?"


    "Sir," Another officer replied instead of General Joseph. "The UNS Vengeancest known position is three hundred twenty kilometers off the coast of Hensink. They were expected to reach Fort Hensink within a day."


    "Theirstmunique was that they were experiencing strong weather, and their arrival might be dy due to the storm," The officer reported. "We lostms with them at 1342 hours when the typhoon broke across the North East seaboard."


    "Inform them of the situation whenms is restored," ke said. "Inform the Vengeance to make full sail to support Fort Hensink when possible."


    "Joseph. do what you need to reinforce Fort Hensink and destroy the Protectoratending force," ke ordered. "They had dealt enough damage to thend and the people already. Once is enough, they will not get a second chance to do it."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    The New World, Ma, Fort Hensink


    Dark ominous storm clouds gathered across the skies, their underside lit up in reddish pink from the dozens of fire and tracers flickering everywhere. The Protectorate airships unable to gain an advantage over the Fort had pulled back from its umbre of deadly AA fire, leaving behind at least ten airships carcasses burning on the beaches and surroundings of the fort.


    More wreckage of ornithopters covered thend mixed with a few UN aircraft wreckage. Thunderous booms continued to erupt out from the fort followed by blinding shes and echoing explosions on the surrounding terrain.


    Dark monstrous shapes lumbered across thend, their thick metal armored bodies briefly lit up by tracers or explosions as they slogged through the mud. Rain fell down heavily, further turning the battlefield into a scene of suddenly bright shes and darkness.


    Even with illumination spells, parachute res and powerful spotlights, both sides could barely see a few meters before them in the heavy rain and for a moment both series came to an unspoken cease fire and the Protectorate forces dug in as they waited for the storm to pass while the UN forces conserved their munitions until they can see what they were shooting at.


    The remaining ornithopters of the Protectorate retreated under the storm with the UN aircraft doing the same, as the weather was more of a danger to the aircraft than the enemy. The soldiers on both sides hunkered down miserably on whatever cover they could find as the rain pelted them mercilessly.


    Both sides could only endure the wet and cold, cursing and channeling their hate to the other side for their current miserable situation. They fingered their weapons, doing their best to keep them dry and waited for the storm to pass as once that happens, they can vent their hate and misery.


    -----


    The New World, Empire of Bluewood, Imperial Capital, Pce


    Emperor An stood behind the ss windows that were imported at a great cost from the Isles, staring out at the distant mountain range, deep in thought. He barely moved when one of his aides came in and kowtowed behind him. "Greetings your Majesty! May you live for a thousand years!"


    "Did you find him?" An asked without turning around, his eyes glued to the view outside.


    "Your Majesty, we have scoured everywhere, but... there is no news of the Sage..." The aide nervously replied. "It... seemed like... he has vanished from this world!"


    "Could the United Nationer had taken him?" An asked as he finally turned away from the window. "Is that why he could not be found?"


    "That is impossible, your Majesty," The aide replied. "As far as we know, none of the United Nationers had even stepped foot on the ind... And there were many eye witnesses that saw him that day together with your Majesty before he suddenly disappeared!"


    "How can one suddenly disappeared into the thin air when there''s an entire army around?" An snapped angrily. "Did you all searched everywhere?"


    "Y- yes, your Majesty!" The frightened aide answered quickly. "We searched the surrounding forest and even all the ships! We even spoke to all the guards and soldiers... But no one had any idea where the Sage has gone to!"


    "I do not care!" An yelled. "FIND HIM! YOU MUST FIND THE SAGE BACK!"

 Chapter 541: Unknown Magic

    Chapter 541: Unknown Magic


    UNS Vengeance, Bridge


    Endless sheets of rain pelted against the armored windows of themand bridge, leaving visibility virtually impossible for watch standers in the bridge. The massive trimaran''s hull groaned under the surging waves and the crew onboard constantly had to hold on to railings or something firm as the decks underneath their floor rose up and down,


    The storm had hit them just as they reached the north cape of Hensink and the fleet had to take shelter from the strong waves and wind. The UNS Vengeance was naturally capable of withstanding the storm as it was built so, but the tiny Goblin ss corvettes had no chance to survive the storm.


    Hence the Vengeance''s escorts had to find a sheltered cove to weather the storm while the Vengeance itselfid offshore as it was toorge to evere close tond for fear of running aground. As for its aircraft inside the hangars, they were all tied down securely to prevent the expensive equipment from getting damaged.


    Commander Ford sat over the map table as he mentally calcted distances from their position to Fort Hensink. He looked towards the nearest view port and seeing the dark grey view, he let out a soft sigh before he turned to themunications operator and asked, "Still no luck over thems?"


    "No, Sir!" The operator replied stiffly. "Allms are down due to the heavy weather..."


    "Keep trying to raise Fort Hensink," Ford said as he grabbed on to the side of the map table to steady himself when the deck underneath his feet rose at a nt as a massive wave carried the ship up and down. "This storm had better past soon so we can get out of here!"


    Commander Ford had a feeling of unease as he said that. For some weird, he felt something was wrong and he checked the ship''s condition status constantly, worried that something might go wrong. He turned to the XO of the Vengeance and reminded the second in charge, "Make sure all departments report in their status every thirty minutes!"


    As he stared out of the view port again, thunder cracked and lightning bolts shed across the skies and lightning bolts started to hit the tallest mast of the Vengeance, creating showers of sparks from the impacts. The lights and power flickered briefly with each lightning impact as the lightning rod installed on the mast channelled the lightning to the metal hulls of the Vengeance and dissipated the lightning into the sea.


    "This storm better end soon!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Battleship Central, Cargo Hold


    At one corner of the central hull''s cargo hold, a cage hold sat isted by its self next to the hull. Inside the cage was a ck case that was secured on a pallet on a rail track that led to a cargo hatch. The dungeon core which went haywire was stored away inside the ck case, a magic restraining and contamination case to prevent it from causing any mischief, under heavy protests from the members of the Faith of Superior Firepower!


    A small watch of mage techs and Marines guarded the case at all times and at this moment, the overseers were preupied with not getting swept off their feet from the pitching waves. Their attention was caught by the overhead flickering lights and they failed to notice the magic restraining contamination case shaking each time the lights flickered.


    As the lights stabilized, the guards nced over at the case and seeing it still at its ce and the MU detector did not give out any unusual readings, they did not take any more notice of it. Unknown to them, when the lights flickered, the MU detector also went unpowered for a second, which made the detector unable to pick up the sudden surge of magical energying from the case.


    The clueless watchers and guards did not notice a small ghost like figure appearing out of the thin air next to the case. The ghostly figure looked around in confusion before it went through the cage as if the metal bars of the cage were nonexistent! It drifted around looking at everything with great confusion and curiosity and hid away in the shadows when anyone came close or would have spotted it.


    It slowly spent its time wandering around the massive cargo hold, exploring and examining everything curiously as if it was a newborn child.


    -----


    The New World, Fort Hensink


    Lightning shed across the skies and briefly illuminated thendscape, casting deep shadows across thend. A parachute re shot into the air and burst into an eye searing re only to drop rapidly to the ground under the heavy rain and wind.


    But the brief illumination was enough to lit up the hundreds of dark shapes hurdled to the muddy ground. Instantly, spurts of red fiery tracers erupted out from the fortress across the killing ground which had been cleared and ttened when the fort was built. Shortly after ripples of mortar explosions shed all over the terrain around the fort.


    A hymning from hundreds of throats could be heard over the storm and thunder of firearms, as the Protectorate troops sneaking forward under the cover of the rain and night started singing. They rose up and started charging across the wet muddy field, their magic barriers shimmering like soap bubbles covered the north and western side of the fort.


    "OPEN FIRE!" Themand was screamed down the line and repeated by the UN soldiers hunkered behind the HESCO sandbags. Rifles were raised over the parapets and thundered, the rain turning to steam on the hot barrels of the weapons.


    Yet, the glow of the shimmering arcane shields did not stop advancing despite the heavy gunfire. The glow of the arcane shields allowed the UN soldiers to roughly gauge the location of the enemy and at the same time, they could see the enemy approaching closer and closer.


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Another cry rang out down the lines. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"


    And suddenly the front of the sandbag walls erupted in one blinding sh as buried ymore mines were triggered. The sh of exploding ymores illuminated the stormy night like shes of a camera and the UN soldiers could see brief frozen like images of the enemy across the field before a keening cry broke out from them.


    The suddenness of the death of hundreds of their own soldiers shocked the Protectorate forces on the field. The stench of gunpowder and rust was quickly washed away by the rain and wind but the wide gaps that opened up in the ranks and the pitiful cries of the wound broke the Protectorate forces'' will and they fell back in disorder despite the efforts of the devout choir that was trying to boost their confidence and morale.


    Soon, the ck mass of soldiers disappeared off into the storm while artillery and mortar chased after them without mercy, reaping more lives off the battlefield.


    -----


    Lord Inquisitor General Mathias stood under a ruined tower that had been hastily covered up and stared out in the dark stormy night, his ears twitching slightly each time a thunder rumbled over his position. He could not see anything in the dark, but the shes and fiery bolts of fireing from what was now known as a fort of sorts, was enough for him to know that his attacking forces were taking a huge toil from the defenders.


    He had personally gotten off his gship to view the battlefield, despite the heavy rain and advice from his staff. He wanted to see what this unknown force that was not written in the reports of the first wave was capable of and so far, he was astonished. Over ten airships destroyed or lost in the surprise opening by the enemy and over another dozen airships were badly damaged or crippled.


    The number of deaths among the Pdins was staggering and not to mention the scores of sky wing flyers that did not return. Luckily, he had the foresight to order his fleet to unload all their supplies and troops before moving in to engage the fort, or his losses would be higher. Now, the majority of his ground forces had taken over the ruins of a city which his staff was certain was the city that Rism had captured in the report and were fortifying the ruins.


    Mathias continued to stare out at the shes flickering randomly in the dark when a red coated Pdin bearing a messenger g secured over his back appeared and went down on one knee, "Greeting Lord Inquisitor! May the Judgement give you justice!"


    "Report! The Pdins has fallen back from the attack!" The messenger said. "Lord Bishop General Atlos reports that his men were repent back some unknown heretical magic and his forces had suffered massive casualties!"


    "He dares to show cowardice before thewless?" A high ranking aide blurt out in anger. "How dares the Lord Bishop General run from thewless! Lord Inquisitor! He has to be Judged!"


    Several other ranking staff and aides mumbled their agreement. To them it was shameful to run from the sinners and more so by heretical heathens in an uncivilizednd! "Lord Bishop General Atlos must be Judged for his actions shows ack of justice!"


    "Silence!" Mathias snapped at his men who bowed their heads in submission. "Whether or not the Lord General has to be Judged will be solely decided after he gives his report! Understood?"


    "Yes, Lord Inquisitor General!" The men replied obediently as they saluted. "Justice will be served!"


    "Good!" Mathias replied in an annoyed tone before he turned to the waiting messenger. "Order Lord Bishop General Atlos to attend to me at once!"


    "Yes, Lord!" The messenger gave a curt nod before he left the shelter of the tower and ran out into the storm. After half the turn of the sand ss, the messenger returned with a bulky and old looking soldier. He saluted and stepped aside for the veteran to enter.


    "Greetings, Lord Inquisitor General!" The grizzly veteran took a knee down and saluted. "May the Judgement give you justice!"


    "Rise!" Mathias turned around and faced the old soldier who despite his greying hair and beard, still looked fit and energetic in his heavy steam powered armour. "Tell me why have the Pdins retreated in the face of thewless?"


    The General''s expression turned ugly as he gave his report, "My Lord, the enemy uses an unknown kind of magic! Its spell range is at least three times ours or even more!"


    "Not only that, it is very powerful and also capable of multiple rapid castings!" Lord Bishop General Altos said in a helpless tone. "My Pdins even with their magic barriers are unable to stop several of such spells before their barriers are broken!"


    "And that is not all," The general inmand of the Pdins continued. "The enemy has some kind of invisible screaming spell that could kill with a loud thunder p and also invisible fireballs that are ten times deadlier than what the Suugon Dynasty uses!"


    "Impossible!" Amand staff cried out. "You have failed your duties and areing out with excuses to not face the Judgement! Your faith is broken! You must be Judged!"


    The old general ignored the words of the aide and instead faced Inquisitor Mathias with a resolute expression. "My Lord Inquisitor! I ce my soul before the Judge and Creator and swears that all I have said and done is true and for the Justice of the Protectorate!"


    Mathias frowned underneath his mask as he stared at the unwavering eyes of the general before he let out a sigh and nodded, "I trust you..."


    "Now go attend to your soldiers," Mathias said. "Regroup your Pdins and prepare another n of attack on that... fortress! If we are to establish ourselves here and also to find out what has happened to Inquisitor Rism and the others... We must first crush all resistance!"


    "Yes, Lord Inquisitor General! Justice is on our side!"

 Chapter 542: The Unrepentant

    Chapter 542: The Unrepentant


    The New World, The Isles, First City of the Fleet, Rocky Reef Shipyards


    Fleet Master Megan entered the giant barn like structure that was built along the beach of a deep water cove. As she stepped out of the rain, she dumped her wet coat to one of her aides and cast her eyes upon a strange looking ship sitting on wooden supports inside the dry dock.


    The strange ship appeared to be made out of two materials, the upper half was covered in bs of ck iron and was prism shaped with a sharp angled bow where a barbed metal tip jutted out. The other lower half of the hull was the simr to the bilges of the wooden sailing ships Megan was familiar with. The only difference was the appearance of two holes underneath the bilge at the centre of the hull with what appeared to be part of two paddle wheels sticking out.


    The metal angr sloped hull had no open decks and instead of having the traditional cloth sails and masts, two fat stubby smoke stacks poked out from the centre. Several squarish port holes ringing the metal hull were opened at this moment. Several workers could be seen hammering away at some tasks all over the strange ship.


    Seeing the arrival of Megan, a small group of people came hurriedly over and they bowed before her. "Fleet Master Megan! Wee!"


    The person who spoke was middle aged with a rough leathery face that had turned to a dark tan from long exposure to the sun. He had bugling arms and hints of a pot belly and was dressed in a leather work apron with several tools hang on a belt. He eyed Megan with a proud look and gestured to the ship on the dry dock, "Your timing is just right!"


    "Is this the iron ship?" Megan asked as her eyes glittered at the sight. "It looks so... t and ugly..."


    The master shipwright frowned slightly at her words but did not let it bother him. Instead, he went on to proudly showcase his finest creation. "Yes, this is the iron ship you wanted! It is armoured from the waterline to the covered top with iron ting and powered by steam!"


    "Unlike our other double decker sailing ships," The master shipwright exined. "This is a single decker, with six thunder cannon ports on each side and two more at the bow and stern of the ship!"


    "We decided to build the iron ship as a single decker is due to the heavier topside weight and by keeping the topside lower, the ship will not be easily capsized by the rough seas." The master shipwright continued. "It takes a crew of two hundred forty to run and is expected to be faster by at least two wind levels of our sailing frigates!"


    "How long before it can bepleted?" Megan asked as they took a tour around the docked ship.


    "We are finishing up on most of the major needed work," The beefy shipwright said. "Once the summer storm passes, the iron ship will be ready to be tested!"


    "Very well! Continue with your work! If it pleases me, you and your workers will be greatly rewarded!"


    -----


    The New World, Fort Hensink


    The storm has lessened as the sun rose behind the storm clouds. The rain no longer fell in blinding sheets but had dropped to a drizzle. The UN soldiers taking this opportunity had sent several parties to check the bodies littered outside the sandbag bastions of the fort. Enemy wounded were carried back into the fort for treatment and those too far gone were given grace.


    Equipment and gear were also looted and dead bodies were piled off one side to be buried in a mass grave once hostilities or the rain has ended. The soldiers also quickly took the opportunity that the enemy had no movements toy new ymore mines to cover their positions.


    While the rest of the fort was busy at work, the Base Commander of Fort Hensink too had been busy having a conference call with his superior, General Joseph over thendline. ns were discussed and finalized before the Base Com ended the conference. He quickly gave orders to his staff and his orders were further passed down to the troops under hismand.


    Soon, one of the grounded FB - 1S2 Mariner S2 recon ne rolled out of its sheltered hangar and took off into the skies under the light rain. The recon ne circled low under the storm clouds as it performed its mission to scout out the surrounding areas for the location of the enemy.


    Not long, its belly camera started whirling and clicking away as the aircraft passed over the city ruins that was just barely five kilometers away. The pilot suddenly swerved the ne around as he saw the outlines of dozens of airships in the distance and he quickly fled to prevent putting his ne and his crew at risk. The quick actions of the pilot saved his ne as several winged shapes came fluttering behind from under the ne, their intentions clearly hostile.


    The Mariner S2 quickly retreated away from the enemy''s small flyers and after a short tense chase, the short range flyers had to give up, allowing the UN recon ne to escape. After this, it became a game of cat and mouse as the faster UN recon ne continued to probe the enemy lines, beaming as much live fed imagery back to the fort and running when chased until the weather started to turn for the worse.


    The daring crew returned victoriously having performed their mission of scouting for the enemy. The collected images and videos of the enemy concentrations were studied extensively by themand staff and mission nners. With better knowledge of the enemy''s depositions, new orders were given and the defenders of the fort were rearranged.


    The few heavy 155 mm artillery batteries were repositioned and their long barrels now pointed towards the enemy several kilometers away. Coordinates were rechecked and guns rumbled one by one, each spitting an over forty kilogram shell of high explosives towards the unsuspecting enemy. Many secondster, the first echos of thunder rolled back over the fort as the UN forces struck back.


    -----


    The New World, Protectorate Camp


    Inquisitor General Mathias was in a dilemma as he and hismand staff gathered around a map drawn by the previous expedition force. New markings had been added to the map and small gs representing Pdinpanies and War Jacks dotted the map.


    Many found Lord Bishop General Atlos''s battle report and description of the unknown heretical force blocking their way to be too incredulous to be believed. But the numbers of the dead and wounded could not be faked. This enemy unreported by the first wave was far superior to anything military force Mathias have ever seen.


    And the other mystery of the remaining missing airships of the first wave led by Inquisitor Rism was also making Mathias worried. He could only think of two situations that happened to the remains of Rism''s fleet. One, he has retreated safety and was still traveling within the Sea of Clouds back to the Protectorate. The other was that his fleet had encountered this unknown enemy had was totally wiped out, just like the city which ruins he was camping in now.


    Either way, both conjurations were unfavorable to him, as that meant that the enemy he was facing now was too strong to be defeated with his limited forces. His next reinforcements were months away and even if they came right now, it would still take a month for them to arrive, which by then, his forces will either be totally defeated or scattered and in hiding if he could not defeat the locals here.


    Retreating back to the Sea of Clouds was also not really an option as majority of their stored magic crystals and supplies were used up. They had expected to refuel and resupply with Rism''s forces, but now, they had no way to resupply unless they take out the local garrison.


    As he was deep in thought, he was suddenly shaken by a series of thunderous booms. The ground shook wildly and everyone had panicked as they did not know what happened. A guard rushed in and quickly reported, panic evident in his voice, "My lords! We are under attack by some kind of long range magic attack!"


    -----


    The shelling continued on for a couple of hours until the storm resumed its fury. The 155 mm ''Thunderer'' howitzers'' red hot barrels hissed loudly under the rain, the raindrops turning into steam instantly as they touched the barrels. The gun crews drenched in the rain quickly secured their howitzers before retreating under cover.


    The n was for the artillery to pause until the storm lessened enough for the recon nes to take off to assess the damage and situation before the higher ups decide what''s next. The storm was like a stage curtain, signalling the start and end of the battle and despite being cold and wet, the soldiers were in high morale as they knew that the other side was having it worse than them.


    -----


    Inquisitor General Mathias stepped out of his headquarters and into the rain. An aide immediately carried an umbre over him to shelter him from the rain. He briskly strolled through the ruins towards the rows of tents of his force and even with the heavy rain obstructing his view, under the dim daylight, he could see chaos reigning across the camp.


    Large craters had appeared over the camp and anything even remotely nearby had been shattered or blown away. He could see dozens of soldiers struggling under the rain, moving wounds or unidentified parts as they searched the attacked camp for survivors.


    "This is... impossible!" Someone gasped as they followed Mathias out and saw the scene. "What kind of weapon or magic could do such a thing?"


    "Did anyone witness anything?" Mathias asked one of the guards.


    "No, my lord!" The guard nervously replied. "There was only arge flyer flying around earlier but it was chased off by our Sky Wings!"


    "My Lord, the localwless might have some kind of weapon or magic that we do not know of," An aide said. "If we can capture such a weapon or magic... It will be advantageous to our cause!"


    "Use a heretical weapon?" Another person spat. "Heresy! The Judgement will not stand for such sphemy!"


    "Enough!" Mathias stopped the argument. "We must be wary of thewless power! They might be the cause of Inquisitor''s Rism missing force!"


    Hearing this, the officers and aides paused in heavy thought, their faces showing ugly expressions. Mathias ignored them and felt a creeping unease as he stared at the rainy skies. He had a suspicion that the storm was currently their saving grace and once the storm has truly lifted, a Judgement unlike any wille fast and swift!


    "Install the magic barrier generators and steam cannons!" Mathias ordered hismand staff. "Take half the troops and supplies back onboard the transports! I want a new base at another location!"


    Mathias at that moment decided to split his forces and not keep every egg in one basket as he was worried about the unknown power disyed by the locals. If the localwless were so powerful, how did Rism managed to capture an entire kingdom as written in the reports?


    There was something unnatural about the ability disyed by the localwless, there must be something of great power hidden within the New World! It might even have to do with the Seven Fragments which he had once pursued a rogue Iron Kingdom airship across the Sea of Clouds and which incident now led to the mass expeditions to the New World.


    If thesewless heretics had truly obtained the power of one of the Fragments than they must be purged from this world for the Judge and Creator had decreed, that none of the Fragments must fall in the hands of the unrepentant!

 Chapter 543: A Glitch

    Chapter 543: A Glitch


    UNS Vengeance


    Commander Ford waited impatiently for the escort ships to catch up with the Vengeance that was sailing at a quarter of its speed. The storm had finally broken andmunications restored, allowing Ford and the rest of themand staff to find out that a new Protectorate force had appeared over the coast of Hensink.


    With the storm receding away as sunlight peeked out from the gaps of the dispersing clouds, Ford hadmanded Captain Nimo to raise anchors and have the escorts sheltering in the nearby cover to form up on the Vengeance. Their new urgent task now was to get to Hensink and assist Fort Hensink against the Protectorate that appeared under the cover of the storm.


    The crew which majority had been cooped up inside their cabins due to the storm, were very d to be let out and they manned their stations with a vengeful purpose upon hearing the Protectorate hase. They all had heard and seen atrocitiesmitted by the Protectorate and many were appalled by the cruelty. The only race that did not bat much of an eye was the goblins as they only thought it was a waste of good meat.


    The decks of the Vengeance was once again filled with the presence of its crew as they went about their ship duties. Inside the central hull, an apparition ducked into the countless piping and wiring and peered out curiously at the appearance of the crew. It hid amongst the pipes as it watched the crew and listened to their strange speech.


    "Hey, that number two is leaking again!"


    "Protectorate beetle heads needed to be taught not to mess with us!"


    "Fark! The damn sewage pipes are clogged up again!"


    The strange apparition floated around from one part of the ship to another, observing and listening, not daring to make its presence known to these strange looking beings. The mostmon looking beings It noticed appeared simr to the beings that had worshiped it many eons again, except they had long and pointy ears, or did those beings before was the same? It could not remember well. The other lifeforms it spotted was the tinier and hairless grey green beings that ran around doing an odd variety of chores.


    It only once spotted a rare fearsome looking being that was taller and bigger sizedpared to themon long ear beings. That creature had teeth or tusks protruding out from its lower jaws and was such a strange creature that It could only stare at that creature in confusion.


    In It''s jumbled up memories, that creature vaguely appeared to look like some kind of four legged creature that used to be offered to it, but except these creatures walked on two legs like those who worshiped it. It felt very confused and did not know where It was as the ce It re woken at was very strange and devoided of the Sun God''s power.


    The walls were not made out of dirt nor stone and seemed to be made out of a type hard rock that was very umon. It only knew that this kind of hard rock was able to withstand high amounts of heat before turning into a beautiful golden red liquid that warmed its core. Its exploration of Its surroundings during the long time It was awaken, It had realized Its body appeared bounded by thews of this ce, as It could no longer pass through any object. The only powers It had now was that It could float and It could vaguely feel a sort of connection to Its surroundings.


    A strange wail suddenly broke out and that sound frightened It as It retreated deeper into the darkness. It slowly recovered Its curiosity when It noticed none of the beings seemed to be afraid, some even stopping in their chores to stare up at the narrow passageways.


    It flinched back into Its hiding ce when a strange voice thundered loudly in Its head. Unable to understand thenguage, It panicked as It sought safety among the darkness.


    -----


    The Vengeance''s rudders suddenly jerked sharply and locked up to the side and its main propellers panicky spun with irregr speed, putting the entire battle carrier into a dead turn. The goblin ss corvettes escorting the battle carrier frantically steer their ships out of the way of the out of control battle carrier.


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Bridge


    "HELM!" Captain Nimo of the Vengeance yelled out as the ship made a sharp swerve. "What are you doing!?"


    "Captain!" The helmsman''s face was pale as he reported back. "I lost all ship''s control! The rudder has locked up!"


    The XO of the Vengeance rushed forward to help with the helmsman. He spun the wheel to counter the turn but there was no response from the rudder. Captain Nimo seeing the situation going bad, quickly ordered, "Cease all power to engines! Bring the ship under control!"


    "Aye!" The XO called out as he pulled the lever of the engine power down. But seeing there was no response, he started at the lever in his hand for a confused moment before his face turned anxious. "Captain! Engines have no response either!"


    "What is going on?" Commander Ford stepped into the Bridge in a hurry as he looked around the crew. "Report!"


    "Sir!" The captain quickly gave a report of their current situation. "We lost rudder and engine control!"


    "Tell Engineering to pull the plug on the engines!" Ford''s earlier unease came back. "Get damage crews down and see what is going on!"


    "Tell the rest of the fleet to back off to one kilometer radius!" Ford continued his orders before he assured the bridge crew after seeing their nervousness. "The rudder and engines might have been damaged by the storm! We can fix this once the ship stops!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance


    The group of elves and goblins inside the Engine room was in a state of confusion as they started to shut the engines down. Already several colorful cables as thick as an arm wasying on the deck like dead giant snakes, yet the power of the engines was still not going down!


    The Vengeance continued to turn in a wide aimless circle, thankfully they were far enough from the coast or they would risk running it aground to a reef or something. More and more damage control parties came into the Engine room to help figure out the situation.


    Suddenly, the engines died abruptly and the rudder controls unlocked, leaving the damage control parties relieved as the ship came to a gentle stop after running out of speed. Anchors were dropped to prevent the ship from drifting and damage control parties donning diving suits dropped off from the side to inspect the damage to the rudders while others attempted to figure what went wrong.


    Inside one of the maintenance ducts, a small figureid curled up in one corner as It quickly fell asleep as Its energy had been used up unknowingly. As It fell asleep, fragments of Its memories appeared and faded away and It dreamed of an angry sea of liquid fire that made It felt warm and at home.


    Unknown for how long It had slept, It woke up again by a strange loud voice in Its head. This time, It did not panic as before, and instead, It tried to make sense of thenguage but failed to do so as none of the sounds were familiar. It was confused as to why who and what could be spoken into Its head but at the same time, the same sounds echoed out from Its surroundings.


    With no clue of what of going on, It started to wander around the long narrow tunnels and soon came upon some voices. Curiosity took over and It followed the sounds echoing through the tunnel and for some reason, It felt something of powering from the sounds, making It feel refreshed.


    It quickly flew through the tight tunnels and came upon several slit openings that allowed It to see who or what was speaking. It saw one of the short skinny beings wearing some oversized coverings and standing on a box. The short skinny being was hopping around while waving some kind of object in its hand, making It recalled some old memories of his worshipers doing a simr ritual.


    There were many other beings packed together in some of hard rock room and they all seemed to be listening to the sounds made by the short tiny creature who appeared to be doing some ritual dance. Could these beings be having a ritual worship to some Divine Being? Though It as It continued to watch and listen.


    For some strange reason, It felt tiny whispers of divine power following into Its body, making Its body more corporeal and whole. It felt surprised as It observed Its body, seeing Its once shapeless form appearing to look simr to the beings below It. But soon It''s astonishment disappeared as It remembered It once took on the forms of the beings that worshiped It many eons back.


    It was only surprising that to which Divine Being were these creatures worshiping and why was It able to absorb their faith to that Divine Being. In the end, It did not wander off to explore other ces and instead remained huddled up in the vents as It slowly absorbed the power of the faith given off by the worshipers.


    Finally, the creatures below appeared to have ended the ritual ceremony and started leaving one by one. It watched them leaving and raised It''s ''hands'' that had formed from absorbing their faith and saw the long slender digits in each of It''s ''hands''. It curiously tested Its hands, opening and closing Its fingers and touching the cool hard rock walls of the tunnel around It, feeling the sensation of touch.


    It raised Its fingers and touched Its body and ending at Its face, feeling Its nose, eyes, and the soft lips and the insides of Its mouth. It opened and closed Its mouth as It tried to mimic the sounds that seemed to provide It with the most strands of divine power.


    "Haal... Fira- pa- wa?"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Bridge


    Commander Ford paced around the map table as he waited for the damage reports toe in. The unease in his heart grew stronger with each passing minute. He kept ncing at the clock in the bridge before resuming his pacing until Captain Nimo presented himself before Ford. "Sir, damage control reports that nothing is damaged or wrong with the rudder and engines..."


    Ford paused in his halt and frowned as he replied, "Yet, we lost control..."


    "Yes, Sir..." The Captain had a frown on his face too. "That is what''s baffling... The damage control parties and repair crews had gone through everything, several times, but they can''t find out what went wrong..."


    "They even checked all the wiring and controls in the Bridge all the way down to the rudders and engine, but everything checks out!" Captain Nimo said helplessly. "Whatever went wrong, it might be a yard job to find out more."


    Ford''s unease grew deeper as he listened to the Captain''s report before he made up his mind. "We wasted more than a day of time here. Resume course to Hensink and order the escorts to keep a safe distance from us, in case, we lose control again."


    "There is a yard at Fort Hensink that could look into the problem," Ford said. "We will go there for repairs. But before any repairs, we need to clear out the Protectorate!"


    "Have the damage parties to stay on alert for any abnormalities with the ship''s systems! We will be going intobat when we reach Hensink and losing control of the ship is thest thing we need!" Ford ordered with a worried heart. "Continue to monitor the situation... I hope this was just a one time glitch..."

 Chapter 544: Among Us

    Chapter 544: Among Us


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Command Bridge


    Captain ke was watching the dyed telecast of the ongoing battle over at the other end of the New World. The bird eye view of the battlefield was being broadcast over by a Mariner S2 recon ne circling around the area and the signal was being ryed by a chain of receivers giving a slight dy in the streaming.


    He could see tiny figures scattering as artillery shellsnded over the Protectorate camp and the hulking shapes of Protectorate heavy armour, Warjacks storming across the fields only to be met with contrails of rockets and recoilless anti tank rifles.


    As far as he could tell, the battle was one side and in favour of the UN forces at Fort Hensink. And for the battle in the air, the superior firepower of the UN Air Force was taking a massive toll on the Protectorate airships, especially with the cover of the storm gone.


    He turned away from the battle and epted a report from Kaga, his current assistant. He took a nce at the report before asking the tiny image of General Joseph on the screen, "Are there any important other urgent matters?"


    "The 1st Army are currently bogged down while en route to Fort Hensink due to the weather turning the roads into mud," General Joseph said. "Much of the roads are flooded and the rivers are swollen with rainwater. They also have encountered a lot of refugees asking for aid."


    "Sir, the local Mayors and Governors are seeking help from the 1st Army with the flooding," General Joseph added. "And several groundmanders are also requesting permission to dispatch part of their troops to aid the flood victims..."


    "And?" ke replied in an unconcerned tone as he continued to read the report.


    General Joseph''s image looked aghast as he heard ke''s reply before he gave an embarrassed cough. "Sir, the people need our help... They might be Mans, but now they are part of the UN..."


    ke put the report down and stared at General Joseph''s image for a minute before he gave a curt nod, "You are right, what was I thinking... Dispatch half the forces en route to Fort Hensink to aid the flood victims."


    "Kaga, inform City Hall toe out with a n for the Mans dealing with flood," ke added in an afterthought. "See to it that additional food and medical supplies are to be dispatched to the General Joseph to aid the flood victims."


    "Thank you, Sir!" General Joseph let out a relieved sigh as he gave a salute. "I will get to it at once!"


    ke waved the salute away as he stood up and announced to his aides, "I will be returning to my quarters, do not disturb me if there is nothing urgent."


    With that said, he left themand bridge under the salutes of the bridge crew and headed back to his cabin. When the doors to his cabin slide shut with a soft hiss, he copsed onto his chair tiredly and recalled the surprised expressions of the bridge crew and the aghast face of Joseph when he did not expressed any interest in helping the Mans.


    "Have I lost all faith in... this world?"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Battleship Central


    A sudden series of ring cries woke It up from its slumber violently. For a moment, It thought that It had returned to the cold of the void as It could feel the sharp icy tingle on It''s body before It recalled that It has gained just a physical body!


    It rubbed Itself in an unconscious manner as if to warm It self up and those actions made It feel the smoothness of It''s skin and the two lumps of flesh protruding out of It''s chest. Strangely enough, despite being a divine being, It felt cold in It''s current environment and the loud strange echoing cries of the mortal beings were not helping It''s mood either.


    It peeked through the slits on the floor and saw that the chamber was dimly lit and empty. It suddenly missed It''s previous form as it will be easy for It to slip through the slits and float down into the chamber. But now, with a physical body, It could not do so and It pounded the slit floor in frustration, only to feel the ground underneath it suddenly giving way.


    With a cry of surprise, It dropped right down into the chamber with a loud thud. A mangled square piece of the slit hard rockid next to It, the hard rock clearly dented by It''s fist. It stood up with a new kind of feeling that It had never experienced before as It nced around Its surroundings with curiosity. It could feel It''s face was feeling warm and something akin to being unsettled in It''s heart.


    It quickly brushed it off as the price of having a physical body. The fall did not hurt It much, only causing It to be surprised. It looked around the chamber and saw the wooden tform were the strange short being had conducted its ritual. Feeling curious, It took It''s first awkward steps forward as It has not adjusted to It''s new body, as It has been crawling on all fours. After a few stumbles, It managed to somewhat walk on two legs like what It had observed those beings did.


    As she stepped up the podium which reached just to It''s eye level, It saw the strange oversized coverings folded neatly on the wooden stand together with a roundish cover. It recalled seeing the beings here wearing coverings and some even wore the simr looking cover on their heads. It looked down at It''s body, seeing It''s skin was dark toned and hairless, only It''s head had those soft curls of hair.


    Thinking that without It''s previous form, It could no longer fly and hide in those tight narrow secret passages, It needed to blend in with the other beings here and find out more about where It was. Without further ado, It put on the oversized coverings and using It''s previous impression, It struggled to wear it. The strange coverings reached just halfway to It''s shins and It''s hands disappeared into the parts where It assumed the hands go. To finish off It''s disguise, It donned the round covering like how It saw those who wore it.


    The strange coverings had a scent of ck water and burnt mes, which gave It a sense of familiarity. Once It''s disguise waspleted, It felt a sense of pride and happiness which It had never came to feel before. The strange unfamiliar feeling make It uncontroble make a bubble of noise out of Its throat and It headed to the exit of the chamber, pushing open the roundish gate and into the unknown.


    -----


    "ALL HANDS ACTION STATIONS! REPEAT! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ALL HANDS ACTION STATIONS!"


    The all ship announcement system red loudly and apanied by a siren that was rumored to be able to wake up the dead with its unbearable whine. Flight Lieutenant Foy, leader of Skull Squadron had suited up and was half running from the Central Hull to the port side Carrier Hull A.


    He kept to the right of the passageway and like everyone else, kept their bodies half turned as they moved at a quick pace to their stations so that no one will bang against anyone going in the oppose direction in the tight passageways.


    To his surprise, as he stepped over a hatchway and entered a passageway, he spotted a jam before him. Thinking there might be an ident among two crew members in their rush to their stations, he continued on and squeezed in with the others and saw a strange scene.


    A tiny figure, just slightly taller than a goblin was standing in the middle of the passageway, looking confused and frightened. He noticed that it was a young girl wearing some kind of old olive green army uniform and matching beret. On second look, he realized that girl was naked under the oversized patched up uniform as she did not button any of the buttons, exposing her nakedness.


    The rest of the crew were ogling at the strange girl as they squeezed around her to get to their stations. Foy seeing that there was no NCOs nor Officers around except him, stepped in and started yelling in his bestmand voice. "CREW... ATTEN- SHUN! Where''s your damned discipline? We are at battle alert now! Stop staring and move your asses!"


    "Sir, Yes, Sir!" The chastened crew quickly stood at attention before scrambling away to their stations.


    Foy seeing the jam easing as the crew got moving again quickly pulled the girl into a side cabin and kneel down next to her. On closer look, he realized the girl was actually very pretty with a dark healthy tanned look andrge innocent looking eyes framed by a heart shaped face and long slender ears more like a goblin than the people''s.


    He frowned slightly as wondered who brought this child onboard before his expression softened and he asked in a gentle voice, "Who are you? Where is your charge? Can you button up your uniform properly?"


    The young girl tilt her head silently to one side as she looked at him with those impossiblerge doe eyes, making him feel like he was looking into the mysterious of the stars. He caught himself staring like a fool before he quickly recovered and he looked away in embarrassment, wondering why did he get so attracted by a little girl.


    "Do you know which section and cabin they assigned you in?" Foy tried asking again, feeling that this young girl must have some kind of abilities that High Command assumed to be useful in to their cause. But seeing the girl did not respond to any of his questions and feeling the urgent need to report to his station, he quickly helped the girl button her uniform up and held her hand before giving her an assuring smile. "Come on, I shall bring you to the flight deck and have someone look after you!"


    To his surprise again, the young girl gave a goblin like giggle, but unlike the crazy goblins, it sounded way more cuter!


    -----


    It felt confused by the strange looks that the beings in this ce was giving It as It roamed thebyrinth made out of hard rock until the strange loud cry of some creature screamed in It''s head again, forcing It to cover It''s ears as It waited for the strange cry and sounds to disappear.


    When It recovered, It noticed that It was surrounded by many of the beings in this strangebyrinth. For a moment, It wondered if It''s disguise had failed and these beings will turn hostile to it. Suddenly, a loud voice was heard and the voice seemed to have some kind of magic power as the beings surrounding her suddenly froze up like rock statues before hurrying off somewhere.


    A tall being wearing some kind of even stranger coverings stood before It and took It''s hand, guiding It into some small chamber. It stared at the strange being that was taller than It and It could only helplessly try to guess what the sounds the being was making to It. The tall being seemed to give up after a while and reached out to her coverings, and yed with some strange round object.


    It soon realized that It must had donned the covers wrongly and that was why the other beings were giving It strange stares! It let out an uncontroble bubble of noise at the thought of it. It looked up at the tall being as it held It''s hand again, wondering where was this tall being going to bring It to next.


    Strange, why would this mortal being face turn red? It wondered curiously as It stared at the face of the tall being holding her hand. Is it some kind of racial ability?

 Chapter 545: Anomaly

    Chapter 545: Anomaly


    The New World, Protectorate Camp


    Inquisitor General Mathias''s expression of shock and fear was concealed under his white featureless mask. He stood underneath the protection of his Protectors'' magical barriers as he watched the destruction of his forces. A mighty force that could put a halt to any of the other Seven Great Nations, but now faced with this unknown heretical force which was systemically destroying his forces piece by piece, leaving him greatly rmed.


    He felt that the theory of the previous forces led by Inquisitor Rism was most likely defeated and Rism himself had either retreated or was in hiding. The earthshaking impact of yet another Redemption ss air cruiser knocked him out of his thoughts and he quickly turned to face his frightened aides and staff.


    "Order the fleet to retreat towards the mountains!" Hemanded under the echoes of explosions. "All ground forces are to scatter and head towards the mountains as well!"


    He took ast look at the burning fields which could barely even be called a battle, more like a one sided pounding of his forces and ordered. "Send back a squadron of our fastest airships! They must report to the Grand Jury about these heretics'' powers!"


    -----


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "We arrested fourteen suspected spies working for information brokers and foreign powers," Intelligence Officer Tavor reported. "Six of them suicided by poison when cornered while the rest were taken into custody and being questioned."


    "Which location did they spy on?" ke asked as he did a perfunctory scan through the documents of the suspects.


    "Majority within the dry dock perimeters of Hope Naval Base," Tavor replied. "And under questioning on some of the suspects, we arrested the rest in two locations in Hope city."


    "What are your orders in regards to the spies?" Tavor looked up from his tablet and asked. "Do-"


    "Handle them using your own discretion," ke replied without interest. "What''s next?"


    A small voice spoke up from the side, as Kaga made her report, "Sir... The Ma Administration is overwhelmed by the floods and with major roads flooded, food and other supplies needed by the Man people are stalled."


    "Themon people are already badly affected by the famine and now without food..." Kaga using the document folder to hide her face as she timidly reported. "There... might be an increase in unrest... especially in the Man regions that are cut off by the floods..."


    "At this rate... Trying to... mor... ''more dernize'' Ma will be even difficult..." Kaga added. "The Ma Administration is asking for more help... especially on soldiers and means of transportation..."


    "Hmmm..." ke frowned as he supported a finger against his temple as he turned to the screen and asked. "What''s the situation with the Protectorate?"


    "Elements of the 1st Army Rifles are still en route," General Joseph''s tiny image replied on the screen. "I have already split off a third of the 1st Army to assist the local governance in flood control efforts."


    "As for Fort Hensink, with the skies and weather cleared," General Joseph continued. "Their artillery and aircraft have been sessfully in hammering the Protectorate forces that took up a defensive position north of the fort."


    "The Protectorate forces appeared to be scattering their forces and are in force retreat," General Joseph said. "We suspect that they had suffered close to forty per cent casualties under our guns."


    "My carrier air wings are being deployed in support of Fort Hensink," Commander Ford''s image on the screen added in. "And the UNS Vengeance''s guns will be within range in two hours."


    ke nodded before he decided, "General Joseph, send more troops from the 1st Army to support the local government and deploy more air transports to help transport food and supplies to the more heavily affected areas."


    "As for the Protectorate," ke said in a tired voice. "You guys know the drills, do what you all do best. Dismissed!"


    "Yes, Sir!" One by one the images on themunication screen flickered away as the meeting came to an end. Lieutenant Tavor gave a salute before he left the cabin with Kaga whose height barely reached his chest followed closely behind, leaving ke alone in his quarters.


    Once the hatch slide closed with a soft hiss, ke pushed back with a tired sigh on his chair. He rubbed his eyebrows as he felt frustrated at the seemingly slow pace of everything in this world. The flicker of hope of knowing that Sherene and his child might still be alive in this world burned in his heart but yet he, as the leader of a fast growing nation of both technology and magic, was helpless in crossing an ocean that on Earth or any colonizeds, was as easy as boarding a shuttle and done in a matter of minutes.


    He wanted so desperately to cross the ocean and find for any news of Sherene''s whereabouts but yet, he was not only restraint by the technology limits of this world but also, problems and events that appeared to be working against his ns. Despite theck of interested in anything other than finding Sherene, a small part of him still called for him to be responsible for his duties and he knew that Sherene wouldn''t want it any other way, forcing him to attend to these troublesome matters.


    A sharp piercing pain stabbed into his head as a migraine threatened to split his head open. He opened his drawer with shaking hands and took out a pouch of glittering powder and took a pinch of the stuff out of the almost empty pouch.


    Instantly after taking the drug, the pain magically vanished and his mood lightened, removing the brooding thoughts and worries away, making him feel optimistic and happy again.


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Carrier Hull A, Hangar Deck 2A


    It stood on tiptoes as It stared out of a clear wall from inside a small chamber of sorts, staring with curiosity at the ongoing chaos outside. It had tapped hard against the strange clear walls when It first saw them and even bounced with delight at the soft benches and seats that looked different yet familiar at the same time.


    The strange tall being had brought It here and said something to It and another being before he left with an expression of having his lips turned upwards. It guessed that expression might be of something of assurance and It practised the expression against Its reflection on the strange see through walls.


    Out of the clear walls, It saw dozens of other beings of various sizes and races. All of them were moving with urgency and strange massive stubby objects with long t surfaces were moved onto certain tforms whichter rosed up into an opening that clearly showed the outside world.


    Excited and curious, It wanted to go on one of the tforms and leave this ce to see the outside world, but one of the beings inside the chamber with It stopped It from going out. It decided to wait instead until the being was upied before It made Its escape.


    As It was nning Its escape, It suddenly felt a masculine strand of divine faith gathering around It. The tiny strand of divine faith was easily absorbed by It and to Its surprise, It sensed more and more divine power gathering around It until motes of light were gently circling around It.


    It did not notice the cry of shocking from the beings around It as It happily absorbed each strand of faith and started to refine the faith into divine power. It ignored the chaos It caused with Its shy appearance as It wholeheartedly went into a deep trance to refine the sudden surge of divine faith that appeared.


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Carrier Hull A, Security Station 14A


    Three Beast of the Stonepicker n was a United Nations Marine Private and was bestowed with a proud new name from Basic. Now he was known as Marine Private Cockeye and stationed onboard the UNS Vengeance which was like a vessel he has never known nor seen before in his whole Oerkin life until recently.


    Life has been good for him and the other Oerkin Marines. Food was good and plentiful, there were soft bedding and shelter, no more cold nights under the stars and no more constant wandering in the Ocean ins ever since he joined up with the Marines.


    Even with the tough training, he enjoyed most of his time and even getting paid to kill things with great weapons called guns! Now, he was exchanging some banter with the others in his section as they sat around inside a cabin on standby.


    Suddenly, a siren mounted inside the cabin went off which a shriek that momentarily sent a shiver of fear down his spine as his body reflexly recalled some unpleasant memories of training with the siren and the wail jolted him and the others up from their seats. The siren wailed loudly, "Priority One! Priority One!"


    A Sergeant rushed in and yelled, "We got a person using some unknown magic at Hangar 2A! Grab your gear now!"


    Private Cockeye and the rest had already started pulling their vest on and donning helmets and weapons when the siren wailed. With more information now, once they were ready, they rushed out towards the reported location. Their role as a Quick Reaction Force was to respond immediately to any security incident that might cause damage or harm to the ship and its crew.


    In a short five minutes, Private Cockeye and the rest of the QRF reached Hangar 2A and a crew office on one corner of the hangar was glowing brightly. Thankfully the majority of the aircraft inside the Hangar had already beenunched or was sitting on the flight deck. Dozens of the hangar crew were watching in confusion and a few officers and NCOs had even broken out the arms locker and were armed, staring tensely at the strange scene before them.


    Private Cockeye was not very religious before, despite his n prays to the sky gods for fair weather. But ever since he joined the Marines, he had found a new calling in his life and even a new belief. As they advanced forward into the office unit, Private Cockeye unconsciously whispered under his breath a small prayer to his new faith.


    "May Firepower protect us!"


    -----


    "Is this ship cursed?" Commander Ford sighed as he followed behind several escorts and aides down the long maze like decks.


    "I pray not, Sir!" Captain Nimo replied beside him without any humour. "I am mightily fond of this ship!"


    Both senior officers entered the hangar and found a security cordon had been formed around the anomaly. The hangar crew had been hard at work clearing away any hazardous materials and munitions and even the remaining few aircraft had been moved up to the flight deck.


    "What is going on?" Commander Ford asked the only person who knew the most about magic onboard the ship.


    "I have no idea." Magister Thorn had a deep frown on his face as he answered. "There''s a person inside that strange orb of lights... A child in fact, if my eyes did not fail me..."


    "If you do not know..." Captain Nimo''s expression was dark. "How else can tell us what kind of magic is happening on board my ship?"


    "This phenomenon is the first time I am seeing..." Magister Thorn did not take offence at Captain Nimo''s impatient tone. "I will need some time to investigate..."


    "Do we know who is inside?" Commander Ford asked as he took a close look at the strange scene. He felt like he was in some kind of VR mystery game or interactive movie. "Any eye witness?"


    "Sir!" A crew member was ushered over by some aide. The crew member saluted and stood at attention before the crowd of senior officers. "Petty Officer First ss Ryens reporting, Sir!"


    "You saw what happened?" Captain Nimo asked as he gestured to the ball of floating lights.


    "Yes, Sir!" The sailor replied. "Flight Lieutenant Foy of Skull Squadron brought a child over. A small girl. He said he found the girl lost and told me to watch over her and find out which department''s civilian specialist is she. Sir!"


    Commander Ford, Captain Nimo and Magister Thorn looked at each other with confused nk looks as they did not recall the ship''s crew ever having a child as a civilian specialist onboard.


    "A small girl?"

 Chapter 546: Your Most Explosive Holiness

    Chapter 546: Your Most Explosive Holiness


    "Wait! These readings! Its..." Magister Thorn took the boxy device from his assistant mage tech and took a look at the readings. They stared at the boxy devices in their hands which they waved over the glowing sphere of light trails and gasped in shock. "It''s divine power!"


    Commander Ford and Captain Nimo both stared at Magister Thorn as he yelled out in surprise. "What? That is some God in there?"


    "This readings can''t be wrong!" Magister Thorn cried excitedly. He waved the bulky rectangr Mu reader that Dr. Sharon had devised out over the light sphere for another reading. "Yes! It''s divine power! The readings are totally different from magic!"


    "Shit!" Commander Ford cursed as he turned to Major James, the CO of the Marines on board the Vengeance. "Deploy mers and heavy weapons!"


    Major James''s eye twitched when he heard the given order but he quickly acknowledged before speaking into hisms. Captain Nimo had a worried look on his face he stared at the light sphere, "How the hell did a Gode onboard?"


    Commander Ford shook his head as he could not provide an answer and even Magister Thorn seemed at lost. In the end, Captain Nimo ordered the hangar deck to be sealed off and a heavy guard to be ced to watch the light sphere at all times.


    "Can we move this off the ship?" Captain Nimo asked Magister Thorn. "I don''t feel it is safe to leave it on board my ship... Especially in one of my hangars!"


    "I need some time to look into this," Magister Thorn replied with a hint of excitement in his voice. "We never have any records of Divine Beings being born or appearing like this..."


    "Let the Magister do his work," Commander Ford finally said. "We still have a battle going on over at Hensink. And the faster we reach Fort Hensink, the more options we have to deal with this..."


    "Yes, Sir," Captain Nimo nodded in agreement. "We better return to the bridge. I shall leave this matter in your hands, Magister!"


    Magister Thorn gave an absentminded nod as he wandered around the light sphere, trying to probe its secrets. At the same time, heavily armed Marines came stomping their way into the hangar. Soon, metal shield barricades were deployed around the brightly glowing office with machine guns, rocketunchers and methrower equipped marines nervously watching over the anomaly.


    -----


    Skies over Hensink


    Flight Lieutenant Foy was focused on his gun sight, totally oblivious to the happenings caused by the little girl he helpfully brought to the hangar. The crosshairs on his gun sight intersected therge unwieldy dark crimson coloured airship that was trying to turn and present its broadside to his fast approaching squadron of Vipers.


    Seeing the ungainly airship so helpfully turning itself to present arger target for him, Lieutenant Foy broke into a savage grin as he flicked his master arm to active for his ship killer rockets. Using his own experience and feel, he held off his fire until his gut feeling told him it was the right time tounch his munitions.


    All around his nimble fighter, puffs of smoke and sprays of near invisible metal tore through the skies as the Protectorate crew onboard the targeted airship sought to shoot down the heretical flyers. Foy thumbed down hard on his flight stick, and he could feel the airframe shudder slightly and lightened up as the four 127 mm rockets screamed off itsunch rails with a mighty torch of mes and smoke.


    Foy immediately flipped his Viper over into a looping dive to evade the anti air fire in his path. Once he was out of the deadly cloud of metal, he looked around to see dozens of white grey contrails stretching out towards the airship which he was certain that the Protectorate Captain was regretting his action to present its nk.


    Balls of mes erupted at the end of the contrails all along the rainbow shimmer covering the airship like an eggshell. The rainbow shimmer only managed to hold on for a few seconds when the second volley of rockets mmed into the magic shield before it copsed. Foy grinned widened as he turned his fighter around and came up from beneath the airship where he could vaguely see piping and cannon barrels jutting out in all directions.


    He fired off his remaining ship killer rockets together with his faithful wingman and chased after his rockets with 20 mm cannon fire that blew metal off the bottom of the airship. Secondster, his rockets mmed into the mangled armour and further wrecked the airship.


    As he pulled away from the burning airship, he saw the skies were filled with smoke and burning airships. What remained of the Protectorate air fleet had turned tail and was running, leaving behind those badly crippled airships which sought to dy the attackers to buy time for the rest to escape.


    "Superior firepower is the way!" Foy grinned as he formed up with his squadron. He could not imagine if they do not have weapons like these, the Protectorate would have long conquered the New World. Without firepower, no one would be able to stop these invaders from beyond the clouds!


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Carrier Hull A, Hangar Deck 2A


    The strands of faith swirled round Its body, making It feel at ease. As each strand of faith was absorbed, It could vaguely hear the strange words spoken before the strand of faith was refined into divine power that increased It strength bit by bit.


    Despite not understanding the spoken words, It could sense the emotions, trust and belief in each strand of faith. It weed the strange feelings without any hesitation into Its embrace and acknowledged the faith put fore by these beings that offered their prayers.


    Slowly the spinning strands of faith were all absorbed and It opened Its eyes feeling satisfied, only to notice that It appeared to be surrounded by the beings inside this strange dungeon like ce. It looked around, trying to recall where the opening that led out to the outside was and ignored the sudden flurry of noise and activity.


    It finally found the tform that led outside and as It walked forward, It suddenly noticed that the beings around It appeared to be yelling at It. Feeling confused, It looked around to find beings wearing some kind of coverings that covered their heads and body and pointing short spears at It.


    Feeling rmed, It wondered if Its disguise had failed and these beings wanted to attack It. Just as It was pondering to run or fight, amotion urred and a strange very short and ugly looking green grey being appeared. It recognized that small being as some kind of priest from the day before which the being was holding some kind of ritual in the small temple chamber.


    The small being shrugged off the hands of the taller beings around it and it said something before giving a bow. To Its surprise, a strand of faith appeared and flew straight before It and the strand of faith circled around Its body. The beings around It seeing the strand of light appeared to be shocked as they started speaking in theirnguage.


    For the short creature, it appeared to be very excited as it hopped around and started waving its short limbs wildly and spat out more strange words which created more tiny strands of faith that flew over. It finally realized that this small being must be a priest of It''s divine Order!


    -----


    Seaman Racky the Goblin of Flight Operations, Ordnance Department and part time Head Priest Number Two of da Faith of Superior Firepower! was overwhelmed with exultation as he hopped around squeaking in joy. "The Firepower God... Erm... God Girl has arrived!"


    "ALL HAIL SUPERIOR FIREPOWER!" He yelped in glee and was even further excited when a very tiny mote of light appeared before the Firepower God Girl wearing his oversized vestments and a beret. "HOLY SHITS!"


    He quickly went down on one knee and bowed with reverence, "Me, Racky the Nambar Two Priest of da Faith of Superior Firepower! greets your most explosive Holiness!"


    Nearby, some of the Marines who were members of the Faith, too dropped down on one knee to wee their God after seeing their Head Priest doing so. "ALL HAIL FIREPOWER!"


    The other crew and Marines stared at each other dumbstruck while the white haired Magister was also visibility excited as he swept arge ck boxy device over and over the girl who was termed to be a God by the followers of the Faith of Superior Firepower!


    The God Girl wearing the oversized coat looked around with a confused expression but she happily reached out to grasp the strands of light that appeared before her, drawing them into her embrace. She walked forward and stopped before Racky whose head was bowed down and she reached out to pet his bald head.


    Suddenly, Racky felt the temperature heating up but in afortable way. He looked up with surprise and puzzlement to see the darkly tanned God Girl had her eyes closed while her warm hand remained on his head. "Erm... wacha doing, your most explosive holiness?"


    "Aw... ty un... stan yo... words!" The God Girl suddenly spoke in a halting sentence as she opened herrge red irises eyes. "Aw yo mos ex poo see ho le less?"


    "Youring shall bless us all with more firepower!" Racky felt a surge of devotion and happiness flowing out of himself as he heard her first words to him before his face winced up. "Wait, ya reading ma mind?"


    "Aw no... yo... words..." The God Girl struggled to speak the unfamiliar tongue. "Many... words.. no un stand..."


    "Erm... Your most explosive holiness..." Racky had an embarrassed expression on his face as he scratched his head shyly. "Aw think ya shall read from others better... Racky''s mind not too good with many words!"


    The God Girl frowned and looked up, her eyes picking out arge Oerkin Marine who stood out among the others due to his size. "Him?"


    "Oh noes! That''s worse!" Racky quickly said. "Worse to pick Oerkin''s brains... an even more worse... A dumb Marine Oerkin!"


    "Erm... Pick... The Magister!" Racky advised as he ignored the unhappy growls from the Marine Oerkin. "The Magister smartest! Magic, science! All good!"


    Magister Thorn blinked his eyes rapidly as he heard what the goblin said and he let out a cough, "Racky... you sure this is the God of your Faith?"


    "Magister Sir! You saw we pray and God Girl get power!" Racky proudly puffed up his chest. "We get our own God now! More firepower more luck!"


    "God Girl no evil!" Racky added. "God Girle help us kick butt! Make enemies fear our superior firepower! Bim bang boom!"


    The strange girl giggled as she mimicked the Racky''s words, "Bim bam boom!"


    Magister Thorn stroked his long beard as he eyed the strange girl who was giggling away with the goblin and made up his mind. He took off his long pointy hat which Dr. Sharon likes to called it a wizard hat and went down on one knee before the girl whose height only reached his chin. "Ohh... I''m getting old!"


    "Magister!" Marine Colonel James stepped forward to stop him. "We do not know what she is and what is she capable of! How can you allow her to do something so dangerous like reading your mind!"


    "Well... You are right..." Magister Thorn sighed as he was actually quite excited to experience having his mind read by a supposed Divine being! "So..."


    Colonel James looked warily at the girl with innocent eyes and frowned. "Let''s move her somece more secured before anyone does any mind reading tricks!"


    "Yes, yes!" Magister Thorn stood up again before he asked the Divine being. "You wanted to read minds to understand ournguage?"


    The girl nodded as she stood her with a calm expression. Magister Thorn nodded too before asking, "Are you a God?"


    The girl tilted her head to the side as if pondering on the question before she gave an uncertain nod.


    "What is your name?" Magister Thorn asked next.


    "Pe... Plee?"

 Chapter 547: Gluttony

    Chapter 547: Gluttony


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Conference Room


    Everyone was quiet in the room as they watched and listened to the ongoing conversation on the disy screen. In the image, a small doll like child wearing an old oversized uniform coat sat with her feet dangling off the chair with her tiny hands held onto a mug of beverage. The girl finished the drink and held out the mug with both hands to Magister Thorn at the side as if asking for more.


    "Do you recall anything else?" Magister Thorn asked as he took the mug and handed it over to another person to have it refilled with more soda juice.


    The girl shook her head, strands of curly golden hair poking out from the sides of therge beret on her head. "Dak... dakkness an... cold!"


    She reached to ept the refilled mug and happily slurped the sweet drink only pausing to add, "Many many lights! Wakey here!"


    Dr. Sharon at this point stood up and paused the video on the screen. She had a frown on her face as she said, "This was sent to us an hour ago from onboard the UNS Vengeance. As you all have seen the earlier two footage of the dungeon core meltdown and the sphere of lights, I am sure everyone hase to the conclusion that these events are linked."


    "Somehow or rather, our... goblins... have managed to summon an astral being over from somewhere," Dr. Sharon said. "As we had once theorized that Gods are powered by faith... I think the goblins'' new religion... The Faith of Superior Firepower... has brought in a God..."


    "As to how this could have happened," Dr. Sharon ignored themotion that broke out among the officers in the meeting. "I, Magister Thorn and a few senior mages and researchers havee to the idea that the dungeon core is some kind of catalyst of power..."


    "As you all know, a dungeon core has the ability to create living matter out of magic..." Dr. Sharon said. "This is already going against thews of physics. But... even with using magic to exin how a dungeon core works, is also something that is hard to do so."


    "Magic requires mana to function, but a dungeon core can create mana just by itself!" Dr. Sharon switched the disy to show a blown up image of the pyramid shaped dungeon core. "ording to Magister Thorn, this would be simr to how a person could generate mana, but the amount of mana generated by the dungeon core is millions of times the amount a person can ever do so!"


    "So it is like how we generate body heat?" Someone asked.


    "Yes... But the simrities end there!" Dr. Sharon said. "We eat food to power our bodies. But the dungeon core clearly has no such need!"


    "Could it be like some kind of nuclear material?" Another person suggested. "It decays and gives out energy?"


    "No... We ran some tests before and our findings came out as nothing," Dr. Sharon exined. "Nor do we know what is it made out of. Our equipment can''t identify the material nor its origin. The only theory we now have is that a dungeon core is something not from the mortal universe!"


    "So you are saying its from another... dimension?" Captain ke asked in a surprised tone.


    Dr. Sharon nodded. "That is the only conclusion we cane out with. And this incident further proves our theory."


    "I suspect that the dungeon core is made from some... Godly divine stuff..." Dr. Sharon exined clumsily. "It exins why it does not follow thews of magic in this world and also how... It could create a God with nothing but the faith of some goblins..."


    "This is all just guesswork..." Dr. Sharon added. "We totally do not know if this is true or have any way to test it..."


    "Thank you, Dr. Sharon," Captain ke said as he gestured for the lights toe on. "Now, the problem is this... God... How do we deal with it and is it a good thing or a bad thing for us?"


    "Sir, I think if we can befriend this God... It would be greatly advantageous to us!" An elvish officer said.


    "Exin!" ke gestured for the elf to continue.


    "Sir, as you know, the people''s belief in Gods have waned over the generations," The elf officer said. "Even then, there are still many who still pray and honour some of the Gods their ancestors had once prayed to but not as fervent as before ever since the Gods had vanished."


    "Our military had several shes with opponents of the divine nature and this led to a surge in the people''s belief of the Gods again." The elf officer pointed out. "And in the recent year, there has been a new belief that is fast growing within the nation, especially among the military forces."


    "The Faith of Superior Firepower?" ke made a guess.


    "Yes sir!" The elf officer nodded. "The Faith has taken hold among the armed forces and I find that it is a good thing."


    "Soldiers need to believe in something and having some form of religion would help boast the troops'' morale!" said the elf. "And now, a being has appeared who exhibits divinity and is closely rted to the Faith. I think we should recruit this God to be on our side, it will be a blessing to our nation!"


    ke frowned as he considered the words of his officer. "So, having the blessings of a God is a good thing?"


    "Of course!" The native officers nodded and gave their assent. "A God''s blessings will usher in a golden age!"


    "But do we know who or what this God is?" ke asked. "What is the price we need to pay for this God''s blessings?"


    The excited mour around the table quietened down as the gathered officers considered the question, none able to answer. Finally, Dr. Sharon spoke up, "We do have a small clue on who this God may or may not be."


    "Magister Thorn had said that the being had said its name was something like Plee," Dr. Sharon said. "We ran checks through all our database and local libraries. And we managed toe out with something interesting."


    "The closest match we got was a Goddess called Pele," Dr. Sharon switched on the disy again. "She is the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes as well as the creator of the Hawaiian inds on Earth."


    "So our special friend here is a God from Earth?" ke''s frown deepened. "And a Goddess of fire and volcanoes?"


    Dr. Sharon nodded, "Yes, in Hawaiian mythology, she is known to have a fiery temper and is somewhat capricious. That''s all the data we have on the ship on her..."


    "So we have a Goddess with a bad temper and unstable?" ke sighed as he rubbed his face. "I know I did ask for a God to be on our side... but this..."


    "But we can be said to be lucky!" Dr. Sharon gave a grin. "From what Magister Thorn is telling us, she appears to have amnesia. Only then a few minor things, she could not remember anything else!"


    "And her childlike appearance seemed to indicate that she is like a child now," Dr. Sharon''s grin went wider. "This means we can teach her and hopefully guide her in the right direction."


    "Teach a God?" ke''s frown returned. "What happens if she ''grows'' up and realized that we are making use of her?"


    "Well, I would go as far as to say making use of her," Dr. Sharon''s smile faded. "Rather it will be more like teaching her moral values!"


    "Alright," ke sighed. "Than, this matter I will leave it to you, Doctor!"


    "Me?" Dr. Sharon pointed a finger to herself. "You want me to go teach her?"


    "Yes," ke gave a rare smile. "You and Magister Thorn!"


    "Oh boy!" Dr. Sharon''s eyes glittered with excitement. "This will be fun!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance


    She took a bite of the soft brown round offering that the beings, no, the people here, called a ''bur girl''. The multitude of different tastes and feelings exploded in her mouth, and greasy juices erupted down the sides of her mouth.


    It was her first taste of food, as the words and thoughts she read from the small being, known as a gob or goblin, came to her. And it was delicious as much so as the strange bubbly sweet fruit drink she had several cups of.


    She quickly finished the rest of the ''bur girl'' and licked her fingers clean, even using the back of her hands to wipe her greasy mouth and further licking her hands. Letting out a satisfied burp, she felt had not had such a pleasant sensation before.


    A brief sh of memory, had her recalling she had eaten food offered by mortals before, but in her memory, they did not evolve any feelings of enjoyment. She turned to the people beside her, a female like her, and asked, "Pee wan more bur girl! Yummy!"


    The female''s lips stretched into what was called a smile and the female left the chamber or cabin only to return in a short while with another tray of ''bur girl''. She joyfully picked up the ''bur girl'' and attacked it, savouring the taste and describable emotions in her heart.


    The door soon opened and the white haired being with the funny pointy hat came in who was called Thorn. She copied the female''s expression and stretched her lips into a smile before finishing off the rest of the bur girl and started licking her hands.


    "I see you greatly enjoyed that!" The white hair funny hat Thorn said and he reached over with a white cloth and wiped her hands.


    She frowned but allowed him to wipe her hands and once it was over, she brought her hands to her nose to sniff them, unhappy that he had cleaned away the tasty scent and juices. "More eat?"


    "Later," Magister Thornughed at her sulky expression. "Too much might make you unwell..."


    "Than again, I don''t know if you can even get sick!" Magister Thorn mumbled to himself. "Well, I like to ask you something."


    "Ask, ask!" She pouted unhappily, wanting to have more of the ''bur girls''. She looked at her fingers and raised three up before hesitating and showed all five fingers. "Aw wan fi- hive ''bur girls''!"


    "Hahaha! Ok ok!" Magister Thornughed again at her childlike innocence. "Deal! You can have five burgerster!"


    "Good!" She smiled happily and patted her tummy. "Bim bam boom!"


    "I like to ask if you are willing to stay here with us?" Magister Thorn''s tone turned serious. "In exchange, we will teach you ournguage and culture. And in the future, if you wish to leave, we will not stop you. You have your own freedom to do whatever you want, as long evil is notmitted!"


    "E- evil?" She frowned at this strange word. "Fe- dom?"


    "Evil is to do bad things, hurtful things... Like I steal your burgers away," Magister Thorn exined. "And freedom means the ability to do what you want without a care."


    "Nooo!" Her eyes grew wide with horror before she asked timidly. "Fee dom? Like, eat many many ''bur girls''?"


    "Yes! As much as you want! Hahaha!" Magister Thorn could not help grinning as hepared the tiny Goddess here with Blue Thunder''s mannerism. Both of them appeared to be gluttons for food! He briefly wondered why historians used to say getting a God''s or Dragon''s favour was hard when all you need to do was to offer them hooman fast food!


    "Aw agree!" She quickly epted without any hesitation. "Hive ''bur girls! And drink! Bu- bubble drink!"


    Magister Thorn inwardly shook his head as he felt like he had just tricked a little girl with food into some sort of under table deal. "Alright, you get your burgers!


    "Yiss! Bim bam booom!"

 Chapter 548: Potatoes

    Chapter 548: Potatoes


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Med Bay


    Captain ke entered the dimly lit room and waved away the medical attendant inside. The attendant left and ke remained alone with the figure floating inside a tank filled with medical fluids. He eyed the figure inside the tank and let out a deep sigh, before reaching out to tap against the ss.


    The figure tilted his head slightly to the side and a dismembered voice came from a set of speakers on the side table, "Ca- Captain... B- ke..."


    ke picked up a handset on the side of the tank and replied to the figure inside. "I''m here, as you requested."


    "I- I am... so- sorry," A hoarse trembling voice came from the speaker which was connected into the tank and attached to the figure''s scarred vocal cords. His empty eye sockets appeared to be staring directly at ke through the medical fluid. "I... did... not keep... her... safe..."


    ke shook his head as he did not want toment on anything. Instead, he said, "Keep your strength, you still have a long road to recovery."


    "I- I know... my body... condition..." Dijon sub vocalized slowly as he stared at ke. His lips still as his tongue was removed and vocal cords were badly damaged. He could only hum onto the vocalizer attached to his throat to make words. "I... will not... be... able... to recover..."


    "I said... nothing to... them..." Dijon''s voice grew heated. "No... matter... what... they did... to me..."


    "You done great," keforted Dijon. "You should rest..."


    "No... no rest..." Dijon''s voice dropped. "I... I want... to... fight... I want... revenge... a- against... those... who did... th- this... to... me!"


    "You are in no condition to do anything now," ke said as he shook his head again. "Rest and recover and we will talk about thister!"


    "N- NO!" Dijon''s voice trembled loudly. "I- know... you ho- hoomans... have... great ma- magic... and tek- no... log lee..."


    "He- help... me!" Dijon''s voice cried desperately from the speaker. "P- Please!"


    "We are already destroying all the Protectorate thatnded on the New World," ke replied coldly. "There is no more revenge to take!"


    "No..." Dijon''s voice replied quickly. "She... is still... not found... On... my honor... I will... find her... for you and... return her... to you..."


    "Even so, you are still in no condition to do anything!" ke snapped impatiently. "You can''t even speak without a device in your throat and you eat and shit out of a tube in your belly!"


    "I... kn- know..." Dijon''s tone turned sorrowful. "But... I know... you hoomans... have... the ability... to help me! Make... me... into... a weapon..."


    "If... not... kill me..." Dijon added in a determined voice. "I would... rather... die... than... live... like th- this..."


    ke remained silent as he stared back at into the empty eye sockets of Dijon through the ss and fluids. After a moment, ke nodded and before he returned the handset, he said, "I shall see what I can do..."


    "Th- thank... you..."


    -----


    ke left the medical room and leaned against the door as a storm of emotions raged within his heart. He had wanted to me Dijon for not protecting Sherene and yet after seeing his current state, all his anger and resentment have disappeared.


    He took a moment topose himself before he headed towards Dr. Sharon''s office that was at the same level. ke found her busy buried in her work and he waited at her door until she noticed him. "Captain! What wind blew you over?"


    "I just visited Dijon," ke said as he took a seat while Dr. Sharon cleared her messy table. "And... He wants us to help him..."


    "Help him?" Dr. Sharon paused in her cleaning and frowned. "Aren''t we helping him now?"


    "He wants revenge," ke exined. "He wants to fight the Protectorate."


    "Fight? In his condition?" Dr. Sharon shook her head as she mumbled. "War addicts!"


    "Didn''t you say that we can cobble together some suit for him using those Protectorate''s War Jacks?" ke asked.


    "Well, yes, we have it..." Dr. Sharon replied. "But, it''s for him to function as a person again... Not to go off into war or some personal vendetta!"


    "And he needs constant pain medication or he might go mad from the pain!" Dr. Sharon added. "It''s too dangerous for his condition! We might as well kill him now if he wants to go running off to be robocop or something!"


    "How about this?" ke took out a small pouch and ced it gently on the cleared table.


    "What is this?" Dr. Sharon picked up the pouch with curiosity and opened the drawstrings to find a glittering green white powdery substance inside. "This... this drug is Happy!"


    "Yes," ke admitted as he took the pouch back from her hands. "This will take the pain off his mind."


    "But this is highly addictive and damaging to health!" Dr. Sharon was shocked. "How-"


    "We have ample stocks of this drug in locked storage," ke brushed away Dr. Sharon''s words. "Dilute this drug and let Dijon take it to manage his pain. And he will be able to function on the field!"


    "But this is hical!" Dr. Sharon protested. "It''s..."


    "It''s his wish," ke cut Dr. Sharon off. "He requested for this... He would rather die than live like that... And I... Am willing to grant him his wish!"


    -----


    The New World, Ma, Fort Hensink


    Stamford had a frown on his face as he observed the terrain around Fort Hensink from his vantage point on the roof of the barracks. Fields filled with mud filled craters carpeted the surroundings and dozens ofrge mass burial mounds upied a field on the other far side of the base.


    He let out a soft sigh and turned to spot Blue Thunder and Saphia huddled up to some mischief inside a sandbagged pit next to the runway with the rest of the crew. And towards the sea, he spotted the colossal silhouette of the tri hull battle carrier anchored offshore.


    Fort Hensink had a festive feeling as the soldiers manning the base had not only sessfully smashed the enemy apart but there were also rumours of a holy being granting its favour to the United Nations. In a sparse couple of days since Stamford and his team has arrived, he has heard dozens of rumours floating around regarding a saint, a goddess or a holy spirit appearing onboard the UNS Vengeance.


    As such the troops in the fort seemed to have gained a new belief as Stamford could see the halfpleted temple of sorts that was being built by volunteers with donated or reappropriated materials on one quiet corner of the base.


    But to Stamford''s eyes, the temple seemed to look more like a heavily fortified ammunition dump as evidenced by the plentiful amount of spent artillery shells stacked neatly around the site. There was even a couple of aircraft drop tanksying there to be part of the construction.


    Stamford shook his head, feeling the locals were too enthusiastic with their hands and time. He climbed down the roof hatch and went down to find out what mischief the two dragons and his crew were up to.


    -----


    Blue Thunder had put on expression mimicking that of a wise person, as he strolled his chin with his ws. Saphia at the side was staring wide eyed at him with anticipation while the rest of the crew were fussing over arge oil drum over a small bonfire.


    Steam rose up into the air in the cold autumn air and Blue Thunder took in a deep breath before letting out a soft ''ahhh''. His eye widened and glowed excitedly and he said in a serious tone, "It''s... Ready!"


    Barkley stopped smashing the potatoes in the barrel and Dek and Luth carried a bucket of locally made butter andrd, before tipping it into the barrel. Barkley continued to stir and mix the fast melting butter andrd into the mashed potatoes while Blue Thunder loomed over head and let out a satisfied hum.


    Saphia also leaned over to sniff at curiously at the steam and found the smell to be very exotic and enticing. Her belly let out an uncontrolled growl and she embarrassingly rubbed her belly. Blue Thunder put on arge smile as he too rubbed his belly andughed, "I''m hungry too!"


    "Yes, yes, I know!" Barkley let out a snort. "You are always hungry!"


    "What is going on?" Stamford suddenly appeared and stared at them with a frown on his face, yet his eyes had a hint ofughter in them. "What is this? A mash potato party?"


    "Erm..." Blue Thunder quickly used his wing to try to block Stamford''s line of sight to the ad hoc cook pot. "It''s just... normal rations!"


    "Do you know how manyints I got just now?" Stamford stated in a fierce tone. "I got quartermasters and even the damn MPs telling me that some dragon was sighted stealing and threatening cooks for potatoes!"


    "FOR GODDAMN SACKS OF POTATOES!" Stamford roared loudly and the two dragons flinched back in fright while the crew held back their giggles. "And you three should know better to let this... overgrown lizard with the brains of a three year to run amok around!"


    Dek, Barkley and Luth quickly chorused, "Sir... He outranked us!"


    "And I outrank you all!" Stamford shook his head in despair at his team. "My orders trump over his!"


    "But... we haven''t had any potatoes for weeks!" Blue Thunder moaned. "And... like they say... Once the rice is cooked, it''s already been done!"


    "Which goddamn drama did you get this from?" Stamford let out a sigh. "Do you even know what that shit means?"


    "I think its some asian drama..." Blue Thunder frowned. "I can''t remember the name..."


    "Oh you damn lizard!" Stamford smacked the side of Blue Thunder. "You are beyond hope!"


    "So does means we can eat already?" Blue Thunder smacked his lips. "There are already done! While these are not as good as cheese fries... But as field rations...They will do!"


    Saphia sniffed cautiously at the steaming pile of golden yellow gooey mess offered to her on a round metal lid by one of the ''crew'' called Dek. She raised her eyes just to see Blue Thunder wolfing down his share with gusto and she timidly took a small lick at one corner.


    Her eyes went wide at the rich, buttery vor and creamy texture which was something she did not expect. It was unlike anything she had ever eaten and she had tried a lot of food in her life. She took the next lick before savoring the taste again and started to takerger bites and before long she was licking the remains off the metal te.


    Blue Thunder had long finished his share and was holding the hot barrel and licking out the remains before he put down the barrel and rubbed his belly. He looked a little forlorn as he eyed the rest still eating their own share of mash potatoes in their tiny mess tin and he let out a sigh, "Aww... Wish we had more potatoes..."


    "You better not go steal or coerce any more cooks for potatoes!" Stamford sternly warned. "MPs have their eye on you already!"


    "Damn..." Blue Thunder did not even had a trace of remorse. Instead, he rubbed his chin, thinking of ways to get his ws on more potatoes. "Hmmm..."


    "Don''t bother trying anything funny!" Stamford remained Blue Thunder. "Ma is now facing both a shortage of food and destruction ofnd from the floods!"


    "The amount you eat per meals is enough to feed an entire vige for a day!" Stamford said. "You two dragons are more of a liability now, rather than a help!"


    "What you need to do now is to interrogating the prisoners and finish our mission and return ASAP," Stamford added. "This way, we won''t drain the disaster efforts in this region! This means no more potatoes for now!"


    Saphia finally finished cleaning her te and she looked up with shock as she heard their conversation. "No... more potatoes?"

 Chapter 549: Refuge

    Chapter 549: Refuge


    The New World, Empire of Bluewood, Exile Ind


    Leung picked up the small furry creature that fell into the pit trap he dug with a wide grin on his gaunt face. Since hiding out deep inside the forest of Exile Ind, he hasn''t been eating regr meals and his once well filled out body had now be thin.


    He tied the legs of the rabbit looking like creature and slung it over his shoulder after he covered up his pitfall trap and returned to his camp. His camp was sited in a massive tree hollow and covered with branches and foliage to provide some form of protection and concealment.


    After putting away his tools, he headed towards the nearby river to wash and clean his kill. It had been a couple of weeks since he had ''disappeared'' from thepany of the Imperials and he had been living off thend using the few basic survival skills taught during his military training back on Earth and what he could remember from reading from novels.


    He had even managed to snag a crossbow, a spear, a sword, and a small bag of supplies when he made his n to disappear. Using his clout as the erratic Sage, it was easy to grab what he needed from any Imperial soldiers he bumped into as he made his nned escape.


    For once, he felt really carefree, despite missing some of the modern conveniences and even the local''s low standards of hygiene. He had once thought of signing up as a colonist and be sent off to some rim world to escape the life he had on Earth but without sufficient capital, he could only remain in the low slums of Hong Kong.


    As he was skinning his kill, he heard a snap of twigs and he jerked his head up and reflexly grabbed the crossbow by his side. He had encountered several feral goblins in the past week and really hated those creatures.


    But to his surprise, instead of goblins appearing, several figures in silver te mail, morion styled red helmets and had white puffy sleeves and ck pants, though the sleeves were no longer white and badly stained with mud and dirt.


    "Oh... fuck..."


    -----


    The New World, Ma, Sky Mountains


    Inquisitor General Mathias watched the volunteers of his air fleet fleeing north to act as decoys to lure the heretical forces that hounded them constantly away with a brooding face. He finally looked away when thest of the airships disappeared into the clouds and nced around to his weary troops.


    His mixed mash force of soldiers and settlers had fled to the mountain range and now they were all huddled down tiredly around the massive trees that were so prominent in this newnd. Mathias could tell that his men''s morale was devastated by the one sided massacre and only the tiny faith and belief of His Judge Ramuh was holding them up together or they would have deserted already.


    Standing on a rocky outcrop, he looked around his surroundings. They had stopped at the edge of the giant forest next to the slopes of the mountain range, using the thick canopy to hide their movements. From the previous reports and maps of the former expedition, he knew they had reached the foot of the Sky Mountains.


    Mathias knew that they had no chance to win against this overwhelmingly powerful force and at the same time, trying to escape back to the Old World was impossible for now with the enemy aerial fliers patrolling the skies.


    The pitiful few remaining airships hadnded within the forest to hide and escape the powerful enemy flyers. Several airships were badly damaged as they tried tond in the forest, the thick canopy and branch ruptured the hull and shattered air screws and otherponents. Some were even trapped within the canopy and the enemy flyers sted those helpless airships with their deadly magic.


    Only five airships had reported in that they managed tond safely without major damages, their crew now busily chopping canopy to cover and hide the ships. In total, Mathias estimated he has roughly four or five thousand men, the most, seven thousand if counting thended airships'' crew when they join up.


    Now, he needed to find a defensible location for his men to shelter and store what supplies they had. Next, the damaged airships had to be checked to see which can be salvaged or repaired as they needed every airship if they were to escape from thisnd. For now, he will bid his time, once the enemy has lessened their wariness, he willunch his airships and leave this cursedwlessnd!


    -----


    The New World, Ma, Fort Hensink, UNS Vengeance


    Commander Ford put down the reports in his hand and listened to the g officer narrating the current status of the fleet. He raised a sceptical eyebrow when the officer started reporting on the Vengeance''s operational status after the yard hands at Fort Hensink had run checks all over the ship and found nothing out of the ordinary.


    "So they are saying there is nothing wrong with the ship?" Captain Nimo frowned as he felt uneasy at the report. "But the ship controls did lock up at that time without any reason! Are you sure they did a full check of the systems?"


    "Yes, Sir, our team of engineers ran the checks and diagnostics together with the team from the yard." The officer answered. "They ran the checks twice but all results came back clean."


    "Run diagnostics again!" Captain Nimo ordered unhappily. "I don''t want to take any chances of my ship going out of control in the middle of an action!"


    "Yes, Sir," The officer noted down themand before moving on to the next topic. "The being that is known as Pele has been integrating well with the crew, especially members of the Faith of Superior Firepower. So far she has not stated any conditions or her intentions."


    "Also there has been a rise in the number of followers to the Faith," The officer added.


    "Will it affect ship operations?" Commander Ford cut in and asked. "Is there any cause for concerns?"


    "No, Sir," The officer looked up from his reports. "In fact, division heads are reporting higher efficiency and motivation among the crew."


    "Well, if there is no interference with the crew''s morale and ship operations," Ford said despite some misgivings in his heart. "But, I am worried about the agenda of this... Goddess..."


    "Will this Goddess be like what happened to the city of Norshelm?" Ford addressed his concerns to the g officers in the meeting. "Will our crew be brainwashed by this Goddess into mindless zombies?"


    "More importantly... What is this Faith of Superior Firepower?" Ford raised several points. "What is their agenda? Their end goal? How does this... Goddess tie in with them?"


    "Also, will this Faith turn into some kind of evil cult?" Ford added. "We have many questions and no answers."


    "I may be able to answer some of those points," Magister Thorn stood up and said. "I have been speaking and working with both the Goddess Pele and members of the Faith."


    "While I do not im to be an expert regarding these two," Magister Thorn quickly added to prevent any misunderstanding. "I do have some understanding."


    "The being calling itself Plee, appears to have lost her memories of being a Goddess," Magister Thorn said. "She possessed some memories but none of the importance as far as I know."


    "Currently, she exhibits a mentality like that of an eight year or so, and whether if it is an act or the truth, we do not know," Magister Thorn professed. "We can only continue to stay vignt and observe her behaviour to see her true nature..."


    "That sounds like we need to take a risky chance here..." Ford frowned. "I do not want to risk this crew, the ship and the UN on a fifty fifty chance..."


    "That is true, but we have no other way to understand her nature nor whims at this point..." Magister Thorn gave a helpless shrug. "I have been teaching her both the Common Tongue and English currently. And also on basicmon sense."


    "She soaks up the lessons like a slime," Magister Thorn had a hint of pride in his voice. "Once Dr. Sharon arrives, we will be teaching her more advanced stuff and more of our culture."


    "Alright," Commander Ford knew that it was already hard to understand human nature, much less that of a Goddess with amnesia. "Stay alert and don''t put yourselves in danger! And do not let her read anyone''s mind!"


    Magister Thorn nodded in acknowledgement. "As for the Faith of Superior Firepower, I find it to be a very interesting belief!"


    "What they believe in and worship in is the might of our weapons!" Magister Thorn started exining. "They believe that the firepower of our weapons can protect them against others and they put their faith in the weapons and machines they wield."


    "This is crazy," Ford shook his head in disbelief. "I can understand people worshipping something more... Godly... But worshipping science?"


    "This is where you are mistaking something," Magister Thorn quickly exined. "To most of the people here, the might of our weapons is akin to magic, very powerful magic."


    "It is like how cultists and some people would worship and practise dark magic," Magister Thorn said. "To the followers of the Faith, they see the firepower of our weapons as magic worthy to be worshipped."


    "And the fact is that these weapons could only be created by the UN," Magister Thorn continued. "This... Faith of Superior Firepower... is unique... and solely only able to exist in the UN... If any other nations or kingdoms try to replicate such a feat, it would be impossible!"


    "But what does this Faith got to do with this Goddess Pele?" Captain Nimo asked. "Did they really call upon a God into our realm?"


    "Yes and no," Magister Thorn replied. "I got a theory that the dungeon core is a sort of gateway into another realm where mana is taken from that realm and released by the dungeon core when it is used."


    "It might be just a lucky chance or coincidence that the divine spark of Pele was nearby and got attracted to the Faith of Superior Firepower''s faith, bringing her into our realm in the process."


    "Hmmm, if that is the case." Ford''s frown deepened as he worried asked, "Will more Gods or Goddess travel into our world through the dungeon core?"


    "No," Magister Thorn shook his head. "The dungeon core has lost it power. It is now just a piece of powerless relic."


    "But..." Magister Thorn quickly added with a grin. "I found out about something surprising. It seemed that Goddess Pele is bounded within the confines of the ship!"


    "What?" The officers around the meeting room were surprised by the news.


    "We had tried to take some time off on the shore, but surprisingly, after the fast boat we were in travelled less than five minutes away from the Vengeance..." Magister Thorn''s eyes glittered withughter as he recounted the strange incident. "She started to feel ufortable the further she was away from the ship until such a point, she jumped off the boat and started trying to swim back!"


    "After that, we did a few more tests. It seemed as long as she does not leave further than two hundred meters from the ship, she is fine. But after crossing that mark, she starts to feel ufortable." Magister Thorn said. "So this is one way we could control her if she ever turned out to be evil or something..."


    "And the other method I did discover was that she is pretty much a glutton..." Magister Thorn shook his head. "I do not know how, but the cuisine you hoomans introduced appears to have a huge attraction not only to dragons it seems."


    "Our Goddess here appears to be hooked to burgers..."

 Chapter 550: Frenemy

    Chapter 550: Frenemy


    The New World, Ma, Fort Hensink, Hangar Five


    The side door of the cavernous hangar swung open to admit several UN Army soldiers in fullbat gear. They stood by the opened door and ushered in a small group of cuffed prisoners wearing bright orange into the hangar.


    The soldiers escorted the prisoners over to the middle of the hangar where a row of chairs was ced. The prisoners paused in surprise when they spotted a massive dragon with blue and red scales was down on all fours at the rear of the hangar. The soldiers roughly shoved the prisoners down onto the chairs and took up positions on the sides.


    Blue Thunder put on his best serious face and red as hard as he could until he felt his eyeballs were about to pop out before he coughed into his ws and in his best draconic which he had further polished with Saphia, demanded, "Ack- hen! I got questions for you so you all better answer me truthfully!"


    The seated prisoners suddenly got out of their seats and went down on their knees and started kowtowing while the soldiers had their weapons raised warily. "Great Ancestor! We greet you!"


    Blue Thunder had aical look on his face as he blinked his eyes in confusion while he looked down to Stamford and pointed to himself with one wed finger. "Me? A great ancestor?"


    Stamford rolled his eyes at Blue Thunder as he tapped the universal trantor earpiece to ensure if the trantions were correct. "Well, if they think you are some kind of big shot... Then act like one!"


    "Ahh..." Blue Thunder quickly recovered from his surprise and nodded in a sagely way just like all those Asian period dramas depicting royalty did. "Raise, my subjects!"


    "We thank the Great Ancestor for his kindness!" The kowtowing prisoners remained on their knees with their foreheads touching the cold hard concrete floor. "We deserve a thousand deaths! We lowly ones dare not sully the Great Ancestor with our eyes!"


    "I grant you all permission to raise!" Blue Thunder growled in a convincing manner. "Dare you reject my kindness?"


    "No! No! We are honoured by your greatness!" The frightened prisoners quickly raised up but kept their heads bowed low. "We dare not reject your kindness!"


    Blue Thunder let out a quick wink at Stamford who rolled his eyes again and crossed his arms over his chest as he eyed the prisoners warily. Blue Thunder cleared his throat and asked again, "Why did you alle to thisnd?"


    "Replying to the Great Ancestor," One of the prisoners with a mop of white hair that was tied into a bun and sporting a simrity long white beard bowed even deeper and said. "We heard stories of riches in thisnd and sought to bring those riches back to improve the lives of our people in ournd!"


    "We did not know the Great Ancestor was the protector of thisnds..." The white haired prisoner said. "We beg forgiveness for our children and their children''s children for offending Great Ancestor!"


    "Are there many dragons in yournd?" Blue Thunder asked curiously.


    "Replying to the Great Ancestor." The white hair prisoner who became the spokesperson for the rest quickly said, "No... There remained less than a dozen... and led by the Dragon Matriarch."


    "Tell me more of yournds.. and the Dragon Matriarch," Blue Thunder ordered the bowing elf.


    "My people settled thends around a fire mountain in the frozen north of the Old World," The white haired prisoner answered. "The Dragon Matriarch and her children provide protection and wise consult to my people and in return, we serve the Dragons."


    "The Dragon Matriarch and her children are thest lines of pure blooded dragons back in the Old World," The prisoner said proudly.


    "Last line of pure bloods?" Blue Thunder mused as he gave Stamford a quick nce. "What kind of dragons are they?"


    "The Dragon Matriarch and her children are all ck Dragons!"


    -----


    As the sun set over the horizon, Blue Thunderid sprawled out on the hangar floor tiredly. He closed his eyes and grumbled, "Finally the interviews are over..."


    "Hmmm..." Stamford frowned as he read through his notes on the interviews of the prisoners thatsted the whole day. "So there are two distinct groups here..."


    "One consisting of people under the rule of the Dragon Lords," Stamford flipped his notes. "Another is some nomadic kind... Called Free... Allies?"


    "Loose Confederation..." Blue Thunder corrected Stamford. "My head and jaws hurt from acting like some pompous ass... Acting is hard... I am gonna appreciate the actors in movies and dramas more!"


    "Everyone ising here for mana stones," Stamford said to a figure wearing a ck coat. "All the major yers in the Old World wants mana stones as magic is depleting rapidly there. This kinda makes sense..."


    "And Saphia is linked to the Dragon Lords..." Stamford sighed. "No wonder you Intel pukes wanted us to bring her back at all cost..."


    The figure in the ck coat smiled before he stood up and kept his own notes in his coat. "Thank you for your help, Captain Stamford and you too, Lieutenant Blue Thunder! Your help has provided a lot of important intel and also cleared up some matters!"


    "So Saphia is a Dragon Lord..." Blue Thunder mumbled as the Intel Officer departed. "Wait... Doesn''t this mean we are enemies of her people? I mean... our forces destroyed her fleet.. and... and... even her family!"


    "I... guess so?" Stamford replied in a distracted tone as he watched the Intel Officer leaving the hangar. "They are all our prisoners now, even Saphia."


    "But... I... we became friends!" Blue Thunder sighed deeply. "Erm... We are frenemy?"


    "Maybe," Stamford snapped his notepad shut and stood up. "Go get something to eat and check on Saphia while I go report to HQ."


    "Okie..." Blue Thunder pushed himself off the hangar floor and carefully navigated his bulky body around the hangar and gently pulled the hangar doors open with his ws, before squeeze his body out into the night.


    Stamford followed behind and gestured at some of the loitering ground crew to close up the hangar before he headed towards the Fort''s HQ with a worried look on his face. He wondered what would happen if the other side became so desperate for the need of magic resources, how much will they be willing to sacrifice just to get their hands on the abundant magic here.


    -----


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain''s Quarters


    "Sir!" Lieutenant Tavor''s flustered image appeared at ke''smunication disy. "We just got some important intel that I think you needed to know immediately!"


    ke rolled off his bed and rubbed his tired eyes before checking the time. He limped over to his desk and keyed in themand to unlock the hatch to his quarters before sitting down on his chair.


    Tavor entered, still looking smart in his pressed uniform as if he did not sleep even when its in the early hours of the morning. He snapped off a crisp salute before he handed over the file. "My team just finishedpiling this information."


    "It seems our conjunction on why the Old World are sending so much of their power over here is wrong!" Tavor said, "New information just came over from Fort Hensink, where we sent Blue Thunder over to interview the prisoners."


    "From what the Group Bravo prisoners said over at Fort Hensink and from bits and pieces of information from other the Groups prisoners we taken," Tavor started making tea for ke after he gestured to the Intel Officer to do so. "We found out that the situation on the Old World is more serious than we thought..."


    "At first, we assumed it was like a gold rush for all the big yers on the Old World," Tavor said as he poured out two mugs of hot tea. "All of the big yers wants a piece of the New World, that is why they are sending so many ships over."


    "That part is real," Tavor continued. "But the underlying reason is... The Old World is running out of magic..."


    "This would also exin why their steam technology feels so... clunky... as how Chief Matt would say," Tavor said. "They must have rushed out some kind of alternative power development to rece their depleting magic resources, thus their steam technology is still very inefficient."


    ke rubbed his eyes once more and took a sip of the hot tea before he said, "So in short, what is happening now is a mad rush to secure a desperately needed resource for them?"


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor nodded. "Now we know the underlying reason, we can be better to deal with them."


    "True," ke took another sip of his tea. "I can understand how the Isles is dealing with the Group that settled near them. They must be trading resources in exchange for some kind of technology."


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor nodded again. "My people had been keeping tabs on the ongoing of merchant ships travelling to and fore between the Isles and Group Delta."


    "Cargo of food, mana stones, limber, coal, iron, and lot stocks of cococane wine was reported being loaded onto the ships sailing off the docks of the Isles," Tavor said. "But none of those ships were reported to dock in any known docks along the coast."


    "Means those ships are heading to Group Delta," ke finished the sentence. "Alright, pass down this information to all relevant department heads. Especially to Ford''s department."


    "Once Task Force g has finished resupply and repairs," ke stare down into his tea and said, "They will sail down towards the Isles and settle with them once and for all..."


    "Yes, Sir!" Tavor threw another salute before he left, leaving ke alone, staring nkly into his tea.


    -----


    The New World, The Isles, First City of the Fleet


    Megan was enjoying a traditional breakfast of fish stew and thickly buttered freshly baked bread when her butler came in and bowed, admitting Fleet Master Akron in. She paused and patted her lips with a cloth and gestured for him to join her at the table. "Care to break fast with me?"


    "No, I have eaten," Akron replied. "But I have some tea."


    Megan and Akron waited for the servants to fill their cups and once they were alone did Akron speak, "Those shorties want more mana stones!"


    "More?" Megan frowned as she mindlessly tore the piece of bread in her hands. "How much more?"


    "At least another five ship holds full!" Akron stated. "We already provided them with ten ship holds full already just for some steam engine which are cruder than the ones the United Nations traded with us!"


    "Such greediness?" Megan did not have any other reaction except a slight rise of her finely arched eyebrows. "Tell them unless they provide us with ten steam engines, they will not be getting another mana stone from us!"


    "As for other trade," Megan gave a slight shake of her head as she nibbled a small piece of bread. "We will stop all trade if they do not agree to our deal."


    "Won''t we anger them?" Akron asked nervously. "They have airships that are still more powerful than our iron ships!"


    "I know," Megan replied. "I never really expect our iron ships to do much. They are just a dying tactic..."


    "A dying tactic?" Akron was shocked. "So much gold crowns and resources were put into those ships just to be used as fodder?"


    "Rx, wealth can be always made back," Megan smiled as she licked the butter off her fingers in a seductive manner. "What I need now is the right tide and winds!"


    Akron frowned before he gave nod, "Alright, I trust your... n. I shall send word to the Dwarans about our conditions."


    "Good," Megan looked out of the windows and her smile deepened. "Soon the right winds and tide will bring the perfect opportunity for us!"

 Chapter 551: Cyborgs and Gods

    Chapter 551: Cyborgs and Gods


    The New World, Flight 114 en route to Fort Hensink


    Dr. Sharon tuned out the excited exchange of conversation between the passengers onboard the C - 1 Sky Freighter and reread the report in her folder. The information in the report was mostly transcripts of interviews between Magister Thorn and the God girl entity called Plee.


    A picture of a young looking dark toned girl withrge red eyes wearing an oversized beret was clipped onto one of the pages. The God girl had both goblin and elfin features which surprisingly made her look very cute, though Dr. Sharon. She wondered if this being was a true god or just some kind of avatar like some of the divine beings they had encountered before.


    A chorus ofughter made her look up from the report and she shook her head as she recalled the otaku part of the original crew had somehow found out there was some kind of loli ship girl goddess appearing onboard the UNS Vengeance. There had been a minor uproar among them as many of them all volunteered to be transferred over to the Vengeance.


    In the end, only ten slots were avable for the crew to transfer over and the otaku gang drew straws for the slots. Only then was the matter settled with those transferring promising to send pictures and video back to the rest. Those ten crew members were now huddled together in their seats devising some kind of n to get close to the loli goddess.


    She smiled quietly to her self, thinking how wonderful this was, with all its strange and amazing things yet to be discovered despite the brutal wars andck of basic human rights. Her smile soon faded as her thoughts wandered off to Dijon''s request to be a cyborg.


    His agonized face and silent screams were still fresh in her mind. Under his request, she and her team of medical techs and doctors and moved him out of the medical tank and into a salvaged and repurposed Protectorate War Jack pilot pod that was surprising magically advanced. The original pod was filled with some kind of concoction that kept the pilot''s body alive and allowed some kind of telepathy together with the magical mending of the pilot''s nervous system into the War Jack''s controls.


    But instead of using both magic and the pilot''s life force to operate the War Jack, the pilot pod was remodified to work with neuro sensors that were stripped off an Xbox X90''s full body virtual reality dive kit, much to the disgruntled of the crew and its owner. It would enable him to move the War Jack as if he was moving his body once he fully mastered it.


    Breathing tubes, feed tubes and waste tubes were surgically attached into the body of Dijon while he was under anesthesia. But the calibration of the neuro sensors required him to stay awake and seeing his heart rate and breathing spiking on the monitors, she knew he was in great pain despite being submerged inside the pilot pod in a medical fluid.


    The temte used for Dijon''s cybeic body was salvaged from the lightest Protectorate War Jack ss code named, ''Stickman'' by the military. Much of its clockwork mechanism and internals were redesigned, remodified, and miniaturized by Chief Engineer Matt and the Robotic Science, Korean and Japanese duo team, Tae Joon and Koichi.


    Standing at a towering 2.4 meters tall, almost a third shorter than the War Jack''s original height, the cybeic body housing Dijon''s medical pilot pod was encased in a 20 mm thick heavy duty ative heat resistantposite steel ting stripped from the hulls of the UNS Singapore. Unlike the rtively skinny look of the Stickman War Jack, Dijon''s War Jack was two times bulkier with protrusions on its shoulders and back, to allow ample storage of Dijon medical pilot pod, power generator, mana converter and both fuel and mana reserves.


    To be able to wage war on the field, the War Jack had been modernized with a mounted 6.5 mm MG on its right arm, and an integrated mithril shield on its left with a retractable sword. On the right shoulder sat a 88 mm recoilless rifle system with a four shot revolver magazine while mounted on the left shoulder was an experimental magic weapon, the Magic Missile Repeater. Single shot grenade dispensers were also mounted on the outside of itsrge bulky feet with options of smoke, sh or explosives rounds.


    The MMR on its shoulder looked like a mini railgun with its rectangr barrel. It had been nicknamed as the Gauss rifle from the way the weapon looks and fire. The weapon had aplex series of magical forms etched into a circuit like board and lined up within the barrel. The spell form was that of a Level Two spell, the Magic Missile, which had been developed by the mage girl, Elizabeth Regnar, formerly a party member of the Sun Hero.


    She had worked out the form of her most proficient spell and turned it into a spell formation. The Magic Missile spell was etched into an arcane material and installed into an elongated rectangr barrel with directing lenses to adjust its uracy. Using the idea of a triggered trap, a pull of the self cocking trigger will snap an activating hammer forward which in turns sets off the Magic Missile spell ''trap'', causing the spell to ignite.


    To power the weapon, mana stones are used and experiments had found out that grinding the mana stones down into balls would not affect the amount of mana stored within the stones much. Hence,rge mana stones were ground down into a standard 40 mm ping pong ball size and the mana dust used in other applications. The MMR uses a horizontally mounted feeding system where up to twelve processed mana balls stored in a detached box magazine slotted into the feed tray on the top of the weapon.


    Using a spring loaded system, the mana balls will be pushed down into a cup where a small scale mana converter draws the mana out and powers the spell formation. Each mana ball had enough magical power to fire three to four shots before depleting and a pump action system will eject the spent magic ball away, allowing a fresh ball to drop into the cup.


    For Dijon''s shoulder mounted MMR system, a feeding hose was installed instead, granting him near infinite shots as long as his mana reservoir holds. The firepower of the magic missile spell was simr to a .50 calibre round but with a lot lesser pration capabilities.


    Dr. Sharon recalled the grueling process and time they took to ensure Dijon was properly calibrated and functional both physically and mentally before they allow tests to be run. He also had to relearn how to use his legs, hands and body from scratch again.


    With his medical pilot pod unplugged from a main power source, Dijon''s life support could function up to two days, or more as long as the portable power generator was fueled. But the use of his neuro sensors caused him extreme pain which drugs were needed to block it away. Dijon''s first steps were wrought with many pains as he pushed himself to the limits. Each step of his feet that were asrge as a fully grown elephant sent tremors down the earth and each fall shook the rehab site.


    Only after Dijon had made progress in walking and picking up things with his massive three thumb digits did Dr. Sharon felt assured to depart on a flight to Fort Hensink to deal with the God Girl. She felt that her life had been too exciting ofte, dealing with cyborgs and gods.


    -----


    The New World, Ma, Fort Hensink


    Saphia poked her head out of therge round roofed structure timidly as she felt unustomed to the people here who had weeks ago, killed many of her people, including her uncles. Her emotions and feelings were in a mess, as she did not know whether to hate these people or to continue to be friends with Blue Thunder.


    She crawled out on all fours and looked around, trying to spot Blue Thunder in the area. Many people wearing strange mottled green and some with bright strips of yellow and orange ogled at her appearance, making her feel a tingle of unease and fear.


    She quickly retreated back into the structure she recalled, Blue Thunder and the fierce short eared people calling it ''Hangar Six'', and hid at a dark corner with her tail and wings tucked around her.


    "Oh... Mother... what should I do?"


    -----


    Blue Thunder having finished the day''s interrogation of the prisoners came poking his head into the hangar and found Saphia sniffing away at one corner. He felt rmed and quickly crawled in, crouching low beside her and asking in a concerned voice. "Saphia? Are you alright? Are you not feeling well? What happened?"


    Saphia sniffed louder in response as she cuddled up tighter into a ball, her wings covering her whole body. Blue Thunder was rmed and he quickly scooted out of the hangar and found a passing jeep filled with the ground crew. "You there! Help me contact Captain Stamford and any of my crew if you see them! It''s urgent!"


    The ground crew waved back in acknowledgement before speeding off while Blue Thunder crawled back into the hangar. "Are you hurt somewhere?"


    "N- no!" Saphia''s crying voice came from under her wings. "G- Go away!"


    "How can I leave a crying girl?" Blue Thunder quickly replied. "Tell me what happened? Maybe I can help?"


    "Y- You can''t help!" Saphia replied as she cried harder "N- no one can help me... Mommy!"


    Blue Thunder sighed as he realised that she must be homesick and missing her family. He settled down next to her and started thinking of something funny to make her feel better. "What do you call a blind dinosaur?"


    Saphia poked her head out from underneath her wings and had a confused look in her crying eyes, "A what?"


    "A do you think he saurus?" Blue Thunder started guffawing away at his joke. "Ahahahahahaha!"


    Saphia stared at him with confusion until Blue Thunder let out an embarrassed cough. She blinked her red eyes and frowned, "What is a dinosaur?"


    "Oh! oh!" Blue Thunder realised his mistake as he smacked his own face. "I forgot that you do not know what is that creature!"


    He started to get excited as he exined what a dinosaur was as it was one of his favourite hooman creatures. "Let me tell you! A dinosaur is a creature that lived millions of millions of years ago! Some look like us dragons but without wings!"


    As he continued on, Saphia''s sadness and pain in her heart slowly faded away as she listened in rapt amazement of the strange creatures that lived at an age that was beyond anything she knew of. With her attention focused on Blue Thunder, she soon was oohing and ahhing at the tales told by Blue Thunder who got very animated and slowly, she felt her eyes tired from crying, drooping down and she fell asleep listening to the words of Blue Thunder.


    Only after a moment when Blue Thunder realised that Saphia had fallen asleep, did he pause in his talk about dinosaurs. He let out a yawn as he too had a long day interrogating prisoners and he rested his head down next to Saphia and he soon fell into a deep sleep.


    It was this scene when Stamford and the rest came rushing into the hangar as they were informed that Blue Thunder said there was a very urgent matter. Stamford eyed the two sleeping dragons with a frown and cursed. "What the fuck is this? His urgent matter is to make us feel jealous he found another girlfriend?"


    "Wait till I tell Raztraz about this! See if he still dares to show off!"

 Chapter 552: Offerings!

    Chapter 552: Offerings!


    The New World, Ma, Off the Coast of Fort Hensink, UNS Vengeance


    "So... there was nothing wrong with the ship''s systems?" Commander Ford asked Captain Nimo. "Everything checks out?"


    Captain Nimo nodded, "Yes, Sir... even after they did another round of tests and checks..."


    "I am thinking it might have something to do with that God Girl down in Arcane," Captain Nimo said with a frown. "Might be her magic causing some problems with the ship..."


    "If something can''t be exined by science and technology..." Commander Ford mumbled to himself. "Just me magic!"


    He shook his head as he nced out of the armoured window ports of the bridge and saw a cargo lightering in to dock with the Vengeance. "Oh? It seems like our guests havee!"


    Captain Nimo joined Commander Ford at the windows and he said, "Yes, the Doctor and a few specialists are onboard that lighter."


    "Then I guess it''s about time for us to depart," Commander Ford said as he headed towards the exit hatch. "Once the crew returns from their shore leave, we can make sail."


    "Yes, Sir!" Captain Nimo replied. "I have them expedite the loading of stores too."


    "Good," Commander Ford waved away the Marine''s salute at the hatch. "I will be down at the cargo bay to wee the doctor''s arrival."


    -----


    Dr. Sharon carefully climbed over the side of the lighter and walked up the gangway that led into the side of the carrier hull''s cargo bay. A smiling Magister Thorn together with Professor Hamlet stood there waiting for her and he greeted her warmly like as she was his granddaughtering for a visit. "Wee wee! Doctor!"


    "It''s nice to see you, Magister!" Dr. Sharon smiled at the excited Magister before turning to the moreposed Professor. "And you too, Professor Hamlet."


    Professor Hamlet gave a gentlemanly bow and Dr. Sharon had the impression that he would sweep his hat off if he had one. "The pleasure is mine, Madam Doctor."


    A couple of naval seamen took over Dr. Sharon''s luggage and she rubbed her cold wind swept hands together to warm them and was about to speak when an excited Japanese ent voice cut in. "Where is she?"


    Ex Spaceman Hideo Koichi, now the Head of Ordnance Research, appeared next to Dr. Sharon in a fluster and asked Magister Thorn in an overly excited manner. He looked excitedly around but was unable to spot anyone that fitted the description of the God Girl and he turned his attention to the Magister and the Professor.


    "This is Hideo Koichi, Head of the Ordnance Research Department," Dr. Sharon inwardly shook her head at his enthusiasm as she introduced him to Professor Hamlet. "This is Professor Hamlet, hailing from the Old World. He is from the Iron Kingdoms. He specialized in the study of ancient civilizations."


    "Konnichiwa!" Koichi reached his hand out which Professor Hamlet shook, as he had learned the customs of the United Nations people, but he couldn''t understand the strange greeting made by the short eared neer whose facial features contrasted greatly with the Doctor.


    "She isn''t here?" The rest of the crew that came along asked as they joined up with the group. "Aww..."


    "Ahem..." Magister Thorn coughed to cover up theughter threatening to spill out. He quickly reassured the neers who started behaving like forlorn puppies, "Don''t worry, she is at one of the guest cabins. Later she will join us for dinner, then you all can meet her during that time!"


    "YESH!" The neer crew let out a chorus of excitement as they heard the news. Even Dr. Sharon broke into a grin and she quickly shooed the rest off to go report to their new superiors onboard the UNS Vengeance.


    "Looks like everyone is in a good mood!" A voice cut through the conversation and everyone turned to look before they all snapped to attention while the civilians watched on.


    "Good Afternoon, Sir!" The new arrivals quickly saluted Commander Ford who had appeared. Ford returned their salutes and gestured for them to be at ease.


    "Doctor," Commander Ford smiled and gave a nod of greeting to Dr. Sharon who smiled and replied back. "Commander."


    "Wee onboard the UNS Vengeance," Commander Ford said as he gestured with one hand around the cavernous hold. "Hope your journey over wasn''t bad."


    "Urgh..." Dr. Sharon sighed as she replied. "It would be good if we have a faster way of air travel... Sometimes I really feel homesick... Guess I got too pampered with technology..."


    "We will get there," Commander Ford replied with a helpless smile. "Sooner orter..."


    -----


    "Dragon One, you are cleared for an approach to Deck Alpha," Thems crackled in Stamford''s helmet. "Keep your tail straight and your speed low."


    "Roger that, Victor Control," Stamford replied as he watched over Blue Thunder''snding approach to the massive tri hull carrier that was looming up rapidly before him like an ind in the middle of the ocean. "Blue! The carrier might be big... but don''t overshoot or undershoot it! Or we be swimming with the fishes!"


    "And I heard there are some nasty fishes around here!" Dek helpfully yelled ament over cheerfully.


    "Ooooh! Can we go fishing?" Blue Thunder asked hopefully. "It will be nice to do some bbq!"


    "You wish!" Stamford shook his head. "You only know how to eat and eat! Better watch yournding! Saphia is following behind you and she has no experience!"


    "Oh!" Blue Thunder took a quick nce behind to see Saphia following his tail with Barkley and Luth riding on her. He turned his attention back to hisnding approach, his long wings pping powerfully against the wind, and soon his massive bulk came hovering over the long rectangr t top. He beat his wings harder as the ocean wind threatened to blow him off course and under the eyes of the flight deck crew, he dropped down heavily on the deck. "Sess!"


    The flight deck crew cheered and pped as Blue Thunder proudly unted himself, Saphia came swooping down to the deck before she did a sharp re of her wings andnded gracefully on the deck. Blue Thunder''s jaw opened and closed wordlessly as the flight deck crew cheered even louder at her gracefulnding, making Stamford and Dek snigger at Blue Thunder''s crushed pride.


    "I- She- How did shend so well?" Blue Thunder was aghast. "She seemed so natural!"


    "You seemed to have forgotten that Saphiaes from a ce where airships aremon..." Stamford grinned. "She of course would know how tond on a ship... And I would assumending on a ship is way easier thannding on an airship!"


    "Oh!" Blue Thunder''s depressed mood disappeared as he hammered a fist into his palm. "You are right! Hahaha!"


    "Dumb dragon..." Dekughed at the side as he unhitched himself off the dragon harness. "Come on! The deck crew is calling us to that elevator!"


    "Okie! Let''s go! I want to see a Goddess!" Blue Thunder replied cheerfully, as he realised that he did not lose out to Saphia. "Hey Saphia,e on! Follow me!"


    The two dragons with their crews headed to an elevator at the side of the flight deck under the directions of a flight deck member and soon they entered the belly of the carrier.


    -----


    Plee was bored. She was alone inside a cabin, seated on a soft bed with a couple of books filled with pictures and words. The old wizard wasn''t around topany her nor was the goblin called Racky who always made her giggle.


    As she grew tired of looking at the things called books, she swung her tiny feet at the edge of the bed in boredom. As she sat there feeling bored, her tummy growled and she rubbed her t belly. She hopped off the bed and looked around the room, especially at the table but found nothing edible. The interesting box that made anything ced inside turning cold was empty, except for a few bottles of in water. Even her favourite bubbly sweet drinks were all gone!


    For the first time since awakening in this ce, she felt a sense of dread as there was nothing left for her to eat or drink! She spotted the unwrapped wrappers and torn packs filling a small bin and realised that she must have finished everything that was offered to her from the followers of the strange faith that pulled and anchored her into this world which she had no idea of.


    "NO!" She called out in horror as she rubbed her growling tummy. "I need more offerings!"


    "Must find offerings!" She dered after barely a moment of thought and headed to the door which they gave it a funny name, ''hatch''. She turned the circr handles and swung the door open, and found two fearsome looking beings wearing some kind of thick padding that was covered with many many pouches looking down at her.


    "Need offerings!" She eximed as she held out her palm towards the two beings who had confused expressions on their faces. She had learnt how to read facial expressions recently and she frowned, wondering why were they confused when she demanded offerings. "OFFERINGS!"


    One of the beings which she assumed were some kind of guardians, scratched under his helmet before he dug into his pocket and took out a small thin blue square piece and dropped it onto her stretched out hand.


    She eyed the thin blue coloured square piece in her hand in with narrowed eyes before she took a bite, much to the shock of both the guards. They both stopped her one step toote as her teeth broke the stic credit chit and she spat out the fragments with distaste. "Yucks! What offering is this?"


    "It''s not food!" The Marines halfughed half helplessly exined. "Here, if you want something to eat... have this instead!"


    The Marine guard dug out a dark green packet and he made sure to rip the paper off the fruit bar before handing it over to the scowling girl. Plee took a suspicious sniff of the offered item and smelling the sweetness before she took a hesitant bite. "Hmmm!"


    "This offering is good!" She spoke between mouthfuls and in a few bites, she demolished the entire bar before she stretched her hand out again. "More offerings?"


    In the end, the two Marine guards could only helplessly give up every edible they have on them, from dog biscuits to sweets as she seemed to be able to know if they were still hiding some food on themselves. Finally, she was certain that they had run out of ''offerings'' did she let them off.


    She decided to go find that ce where there seemed to be unlimited food and offerings but the two guards quickly stopped her. "Erm... Goddess Plee... You can''t run around the ship without permission..."


    "But I want offerings!" Plee rubbed her belly which was no longer t. "Need offerings!"


    "Why don''t you wait for a while inside?" The other guard suggested as they understood what her meaning of offerings was. "Soon, it will be dinner and Magister Thorn will be here to bring you to eat."


    "Hmm..." She pouted unhappily before agreeing since both of them were quite nice to her having given her offerings. "Okie... I wait..."


    Both Marines watched her disappear back into the cabin and only after the hatch closed did they both let out a deep breathe of relief. "She just ate all my snacks!"


    "Yea..." The other Marine gave a shrug. "Didn''t know Gods like to eat... Man... I hate those dog biscuits but she chowed them down like they were some kind of delicacy!"


    "Hey... you think that if we bring her more food as offerings..." The Marine who gave her a single credit chit asked. "Do you think she will grant us some kind of divine blessing?"


    "Really?" The other Marine gave his partner a look suggesting that he''s an idiot. "You really think that would happen?"


    "Ah... One can try, right? After all... Its offerings to a Goddess..."

 Chapter 553: Playing Games

    Chapter 553: ying Games


    The New World, Eastern Border of the Isles, 73km off No One''s Ind


    A mournful wail came from the ind whale calf, as the giant sea turtle looking like sea creature had a dozen harpoons pierced into its body. The harpoons had thick magically strengthened ropes attached to their ends and the ind whale calf was desperately trying to dive into the safety of the deep waters in vain.


    It''s family nearby was crying out in rm horror as they circled around the struggling calf, uncertain of its despair and pain. The air was thick with the scent of salty air and rusty smell of blood and the struggles of the calf dyed the sea around it red. The ind whale calf with a barely formed ind on its back, the few sparsely growing nts and trees on its back the indication of its growth, started to grow weaker in its struggles as blood gushed out from its torn wounds.


    The culprit of the ind whale calf''s plight was hovering dozens of meters in the air, the ropes of harpoons anchored to the fat cigar shaped airship. Funnels spurted out jet ck smoke as the boilers worked overtime powering the aerial screws that hummed loudly as they struggled to keep the airship afloat and from being dragged into the ocean by the screaming ind whale.


    "Fire the noisemakers!" Grand Lord Hammerfall bellowed at his men manning the steam cannons. He was not wearing his golden armour and was instead stripped half naked like the rest of the excited crew. The order was passed and loud pops ofpressed steam erupted from the half dozen steam cannons aimed downwards at the pod of ind whales, each spitting out a stubby barrel like projectile out and smashing into the ocean.


    Almost instantly, the barrels exploded with a thunderous bark, creating shockwaves of ripples across the surface of the ocean. The pod of ind whales screamed and wailed in pain and fear as they fled far away from the sharp sounds that pierced their hearing, the dying ind whale calf temporarily forgotten.


    "Batten up the lower hatches! And bring her down!" Grand Lord Hammerfall ordered next as he leaned over the open tform under the belly of the airship. "GENTLY! Or I dump you kravens overboard!"


    The crew hurried off to lock down the lower portion of the airship as the water capable airship slowly descended until its lower hull sank into the ocean and the aerial screws powered down. The forward nose of the cigar shaped airship, cranked open like a mouth and exposed its inside. Gears started rolling and a ramp slowly extended out into the waves and dwarvans and other races started working on the cranks of harpoons, reeling in the dying ind whale calf. "Heee... Hoooo! Heee... Hoooo!"


    Grand Lord Hammerfall joined in one of the giant cranks and he put his muscles to work together with another taller person. The crew was a mix of races, as The Cartel hires many other races to supplement its workforce and military. The ind whale calf made ast attempt to break free, but with massive blood loss, it could only struggle futilely before it could only allow its self to be dragged up the ramp that had rollers fitted for easier reeling.


    Once the entire ind whale was on board the air trawler''s belly, Grand Lord Hammerfall started bellowing again, "Alright! Bring her out of the water now before the blood starts attracting sea monsters! The rest start harvesting!"


    The crew hurried off to do his bidding. The boilers were stroked, aetherium were heated up and ck smoke rose out of the funnels while the aerial screws started spinning rapidly and the air trawler slowly pulled itself out of the ocean, trailing seawater and blood. The ramp was reacted and the armoured prow of the airship slowly folded itself back to position.


    "HAHAHAHA!" Grand Lord Hammerfallughed happily as he stared greedily at the fat ind whale calf stranded inside the cargo hold of the airship. Already his crew had picked up butchering tools and some started sharpening them on grindstones.


    Therge panicked filled beady eyes of the ind whale calf flickered around in fear as it eyed its strange surroundings and smelling the scent of death in the air, it gave onest desperate cry for help when the crew descended upon it with knives.


    -----


    Lord Copperstone stood at the airship docking tower''s loading deck and waited patiently for the crew to depart out of the just arrived airship. He finally spotted the Grand Lord appearing at the cargo hatch and he approached him. "Rock and Stone, Grand Lord!"


    "Rock and Stone, Brother!" Grand Lord Hammerfall smiled as he wiped his blood soaked arms with a wet cloth. "I need a shower to get all this blood off!"


    "Your servants have already prepared a hot bath for you, Grand Lord." Lord Copperstone replied. "We have just gotten word from the locals, that Fleet Master Akron has increased the price of the mana stones yet again."


    "Again?" Grand Lord Hammerfall''s good mood vanished and his expression darkened. "Those greedy bastards! What do they want now?"


    "More steam engines," Lord Copperstone replied. "Or they will cease all trade with us, including food supplies..."


    "Did they think they could threaten us with that?" Grand Lord Hammerfall growled angrily. "When will our supply ships return?"


    "At least another two weeks at least," Lord Copperstone answered. "Three weeks the most."


    "Grand Lord, I think they know our food supplies will notst that long..." Lord Copperstone added. "That is why they are putting this demand out now. Quite a bit of our stored supplies were ruined by the recent storm... And with what we have now, we barely had enough supplies tost two weeks at the rate we are eating..."


    "We sustain ourselves easily!" Grand Lord Hammerfall grumpily gestured to the crew that was moving harvested crates of the butchered ind whale meat and parts out. "We will not be intimidated by some puny uncivilized nation!"


    "Yes, Grand Lord," Lord Copperstone nodded his head in agreement. "But, still, thisnd has no source of wood and other resources we need to grow and expand! We either have to find a new trade partner or settle in other more fertilends!"


    "Since we been acting so friendly and amodating with this... Isles..." Grand Lord Hammerfall frowned deeply. "They think we are meek and easy to bully right?"


    "Are you suggesting we take over some of theirnds by force?" Lord Copperstone frowned.


    "Why not?" Grand Lord Hammerfall replied. "Since being diplomatic with them has failed and they think they can push us around. We shall show them that we The Cartel are ones not to be bullied!"


    "We have endured discrimination for so long in the Old World and finally managed to rise above that, why would we endure to be pushed around in the New World?" Grand Lord Hammerfall growled. "Once we show them our strength, I am very certain that these... Inders... will bow before us!"


    "But a deration of war would require the other Cartel Lords'' approval..." Lord Copperstone reminded the Grand Lord. "And we have less than a third of our original fleet here... The rest has returned back to the Cartel and it will take another two weeks or more before the ships returned!"


    "It will be enough!" Grand Lord Hammerfall dered. "They don''t even have any flying ships. Our airships will dominate the skies! Who controls the skies will dominate the battlefield!"


    "Then, I shall call for a gathering of the rest of the Cartel Lords!"


    -----


    The New World, The Isles, First City of the Fleet


    "As expected, the dwarvans did not take the news of the change well," Fleet Master Akron reported. "They were pretty angry about the rise of the price..."


    "Ignore them," Megan smiled as she sipped her wine. "Immediately cease all forms of trade with them."


    "I don''t understand why do you want to anger the dwarvans?" Fleet Master Akron asked with an unhappy tone. "They possessed a military that is stronger than us despite their low numbers..."


    "I am afraid they will attack us," Akron voiced out his concerns. "And now you want to cease trade with them totally..."


    "Enough," Megan cut Akron''s sentence off. "I know what I am doing. It''s all part of the n! And what of the other news I wanted?"


    "The giant United Nations ship has departed Hensink a day ago," Akron replied unhappily. "Our informants report that they are sailing south and will arrive within a week to our waters."


    "Good! Very good!" Meganughed happily. "Now everything is falling into ce! Now we just have to wait!"


    "What is this... n of yours exactly?" Akron was unhappy. "We risked many enemies out of two powerful nations! What are you exactly ying at?"


    "Don''t worry, poor Akron," Megan smiled as she gently patted Akron''s cheek, making him blush. "Soon you will find out and the Isles will be stronger than ever once this is over!"


    "Now, go pass down the order to cease all trade with the dwarvans! No one is to trade with them from now onwards!"


    -----


    The New World, Off the Coastal waters of Ma, UNS Vengeance


    Blue Dragon peeked from behind a parked F/A - 2 Viper at the tiny figure surrounded by an excited group of people. Behind him sat Saphia who was zing at him with a confused expression. She poked him at his back, making him jump up and nearly crashing the parked Viper, much to the annoyance of the Viper service crew who started scolding and shooing him away.


    "Why did you do that?" Blue Thunder scratched the spot where Saphia at poked him. "Now I got scolded for nothing..."


    Saphia was eyeing the service crew who dared to scold a Dragon with shock before she turned back and replied sheepishly, "Well, I called you but you seemed engrossed at something..."


    "Oh..." Blue Thunder quickly waved her over as he crouched down behind another parked aircraft. "I''m looking at that God Girl!"


    "Who?" Saphia struck her head up and looked around curiously. "A God?"


    "Keep your head down!" Blue Thunder urgently pushed Saphia''s head down with his wing. "I heard from Raztraz that we Dragons were once servants to the Gods..."


    "And?" Saphia asked curiously. "What does it have to do with you sneaking around?"


    "I don''t wanna be soul bonded to a God!" Blue Thunder replied nervously. "You know, freedom and all that..."


    "I see..." Saphia nodded as she tried to recall some ancient history told to her by the Dragon Matriarch. "I don''t remember anything about this subject..."


    "Well, better safe than be sorry..." Blue Thunder mumbled under his breath.


    "But... I think she has long spotted us..." Saphia said as she pointed her ws in front.


    "Ohh... shit!" Blue Thunder followed Saphia''s w and gasped. "We are screwed! I don''t wanna lose my freedo- soul!"


    The tiny figure had walked over and she looked up at the two dragons that were looking back at her, therger blue dragon''s eyes were panicking while the other smaller ck dragon had a curious light in her eyes.


    "What are you?" The tiny God girl asked as she peered up at the dragons.


    "We?" Saphia answered as she noticed Blue Thunder acting as he had not noticed the girl. "We are dragons. I am called Saphia... And this brute here is called Blue Thunder."


    "Nooo!" Blue Thunder quickly covered his face and said in a hoarse voice, "I not Blue Thunder, I- I am... erm... Quicksilver! Yes! Quicksilver!"


    He gave the name of another dragon who was part of the UNAF and deepened his voice more. "I got work to do! Got to go! See ya!"


    "Hey wait!" Saphia frowned as she saw Blue Thunder trying to run away. "I thought you said you want to show me something called a ''moo vee''?"


    The God girl''s eyes glittered brightly as she heard a new term. "Moo vee?"


    "Yes, do you want to join us?"

 Chapter 554: Expansion

    Chapter 554: Expansion


    Dr. Sharon was listening to a progress report with several senior officers in a meeting room onboard the UNS Vengeance. The report was detailing the growth, interaction, behavior, and performance of the God Girl being who called herself as Plee.


    She had done a full medical or as much as she could with her limited resources on the girl and unexpectedly, her health was top notched. The only thing that was beyond strange was her blood which appeared to possess some unidentifiable elements and properties.


    She wondered if like in Dungeon and Dragons, the blood of Gods tend to be omnipotent, with the ability to change or modify a person or item''s properties, would her blood be simr. Yet, to do tests with the blood of a Goddess felt like sacrilege to her.


    And no one could tell if she was feigning memory loss and bidding her time tomit some kind of evil nor could one know what her alignment leaned to. The only guesswork here was that she most likely was Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes who was known for her temper. So far their experiences with Gods all did not end well, and now such a hot potato hadnded in her hands.


    Her first few interaction with Plee were interesting, and it was almost very certain that Plee had the mentality of a ten or twelve year old at the moment. Her curiosity was unbounded as her appetite for food, especially burgers and her ability to learn and pick up new knowledge andnguages was extraordinary! If one were take away her divine identity, she could well be a someone''s cute little genius sister.


    The fanboys had their opportunity to have a meet and greet session with her and Dr. Sharon felt that Plee might have gotten corrupted by those fanboys as she seemed to start getting an interest in finding what anime was. And of course, the fanboys were more than willing to indulge in her interests. She turned her attention back to the meeting when they started talking about the dungeon core.


    "After further tests on the inert dungeon core, we discovered some magical fluctuations that matches the magic signature given off the Goddess Plee," The officer doing the report said. "As we had earlier discovered, Goddess Plee appears to be bound to this ship, but that is not the case as we discovered wrongly."


    "It would be more urate to say, she is bounded to the dungeon core!" The officer stated. "This means that there is a high chance that the dungeon core is her weakness."


    "How can be sure about this?" Captain Nimo asked. "Can we use it to control her?"


    "More tests would be required at this point as we are still clueless with the workings of a dungeon core. As to controlling a divine being? It is something we have no experience or idea on," The officer replied frankly. "But to be safer at this point, a fail safe device has been installed onto the dungeon core and it is currently being held in the most secured location onboard the Vengeance."


    "If she shows any signs of harming the ship or any member of the crew," The officer''s expression turned grim. "The fail safe device can be remotely detonated from anymand console even from Haven with the codes that would be held by certain senior officers."


    "But can we be certain that destroying the core would disable Plee?" Commander Ford asked.


    "We can''t be sure as there this is first for us," The officer replied in a flustered tone. "But it is the best we can do to have some reassurance now..."


    The rest of the officers in the meeting started mumbling their concerns among themselves while Commander Ford leaned back and rubbed his brows as he frowned worriedly. "Just... Do what we can for now..."


    "Just keep observing her behaviour," Commander Ford said as he looked towards Dr. Sharon who nodded. "We will be handing her over to a more secure location once we return back to UN territory. But before that happens, she is our responsibility, and I do not want the ship and any crew members be threatened by her! Especially if the previous loss of control of the Vengeance is linked to her!"


    "Yes, Sir!" The officers in the meeting chorused.


    "Speaking of her," Commander Ford frowned as he asked. "What is she doingtely?"


    "She has been hanging out with the dragons..." The officer replied.


    "With the dragons?" Commander Ford was surprised. "What is she doing with them?"


    "Last we heard... they are watching the ship''s entertainment library of dramas and movies..."


    -----


    The New World, Eastern Border of the Isles, No One''s Ind, Cartel''s New World Outpost


    The ind was in a frenzy of activity as a dozen parked airships were all spooning up their aerial screws. Thick ck ink smoke spewed out from the airships'' funnels as boilers were fired up. On a viewing tform, the Cartel Lords and Grand Lord Hammerfall were watching the airships lifting off the docking towers.


    Determination and fierce pride were shown on their faces as they saluted the airships forming up into formation before departing off into the skies. Grand Lord Hammerfall raised his mug up as he turned around to face the other Cartel Lords awaiting their turn to depart. "For rock and stone, brothers!"


    "Rock and stone!" The rest replied with a salute with their mugs and downed the contents in one go before mming their emptied mugs down on the ground. "The Inders will learn not to y games with us!"


    "To victory!" Grand Lord Hammerfall saluted the Lords who departed to board their waiting airships. Soon the roar of aerial screws and hiss of steam boilers grew louder and the second wave of airships took off into the skies.


    A day earlier, the Cartel Lords had gathered and they voiced their approval of finding newnd to colonize as the Inders had ceased all forms of trade with them. Much needed resources like wood, coal, iron, food, water, and many others were needed to sustain the Outpost. Their current location barely has any of these resources, prompting them to push their forces out to find a better location for expansion.


    "We need not fear these Inders and their so called United Nation allies!" One of the Cartel Lords growled. "Strength is the only thing they know and fear! Once they witness our power, they will all fall in line under our banner!"


    Grand Lord Hammerfall nodded in agreement and said, "From now onward, all ships out there is fair game for our fleet!"


    Excited, almost all the Cartel Lords all volunteered to lead their own n airships out, as they all want to gain riches. In the end, Grand Lord Hammerfall assigned them different missions, some were to raid along the coast, others to patrol certain routes and also to search for newer resource richnds.


    A small handful of the Cartel Lords and their airships were to remain behind to provide protection to the Outpost, much to their disappointment. But they knew they had their own roles and duties to perform. Among those left behind, Lord Copperstone was one of those that remained as he preferred to work on his inventions and prototypes.


    In roughly a turn of the sand ss, the airship docking towers were deserted, only a few airships remained behind while the rest had taken off or were on a mission. Grand Lord Hammerfall descended down the viewing tform and soon found Lord Copperstone tinkering with some device in his workshop in the underground town they had dug on the ind.


    The underground town was dug in a very simple design. A central cave was dug and passageways linked to other rooms, from workshops, barracks to warehouses. As the ind was not very big, they could only dig to a certain degree.


    Much of the Cartel lived underground, only those working on the surface lived in crudely built huts ormunal houses. Much of the Cartel industry was sited underground, while the surface was covered with wind towers that generate wind energy to power the billows and workshops underground.


    The Dwarvans felt more at ease underground then having an open sky above their heads as they were used to living inside mountains. Those other races that were employed by the Dwarvans preferred to live on the surface instead, thus the Cartel Outpost upied not only the surface of the ind but also underneath the ground.


    Grand Lord Hammerfall stood silently behind Lord Copperstone as he watched him work on a massive steam cannon that was almost twice the size of a regr steam cannon. Rows and rows of runes were etched on the surface of the barrel that had a muzzlerge enough to fit a single dwarvan inside.


    "You are still working on this project?" Grand Lord Hammerfall finally spoke as he eyed some of the rune works that Lord Copperstone had just finished engraving onto the barrel.


    "Yes," Lord Copperstone nodded as he pushed his crystal magnifying goggles up and put down his engraving cutter. "Once it is finished, we would have no fear from any other fleets of the Great Nations!"


    "If it works," Grand Lord Hammerfall grinned. "So far, it hasn''t worked yet..."


    "Ha!" Lord Copperstone let out augh. "That''s the fun part of invention, right?"


    "It''s a waste of resources and time!" Grand Lord Hammerfall shook his head. "Still if this weapon of yours really works as you stated, our position within the Great Nations will be stronger!"


    Lord Copperstone nodded, "We just need more magic crystals for the Aetherium Cannon to work! Thank the Mountain Gods that thisnd has an abundance of magic crystals!"


    "Using aetherium to rece steam," Grand Lord Hammerfall let out a chuckle. "Who would have thought of it but you!"


    "Hehe," Lord Copperstone smiled at thepliant. "It takes too much coal and time to heat and build up steam!"


    "But with aetherium, it is faster and requires lesser time to heat it up!" Lord Copperstone said as he gestured to the breech at the rear. "My new breech loading design will also reduce the time needed to load the cannon, unlike the steam cannons which is muzzle loaded."


    "The ze rune etched at the breech just needs to be powered by magic crystals," Lord Copperstone excitedly exined his design. "It can produce enough heat that is hot enough to sh boil all the aetherium stored inside this capsule into gas in a heartbeat!"


    He pointed to a shiny golden cylindrical tank on the side. "The aetherium gas will also not be wasted as it will be collected in this pipe here!"


    A pipe could be seen running underneath the barrel of the cannon and into anotherrge tank. "Water will cool the hot aetherium gas back to crystal and it will be reused to fire the cannon!"


    "Compared to traditional steam cannons." Lord Copperstone proudly dered, "It should have four times the firing rate and twice the range, prating power, and uracy with this fin projectiles!"


    An coned shaped projectile sat next on the floor next to the aetherium capsule. The head was taped and the bottom had four stubby fins, looking almost like a bomb. He gestured to the fins and continued exining, "Those fins will stabilize the projectile like how fins work on arrows and bolts."


    "Interesting," Grand Lord Hammerfall nodded with some appreciation. "But will it work? All this is untested!"


    "I know," Lord Copperstone let out a heavy sigh before his expression lightened. "Well, we will know once Ipleted the rune works on the Aetherium Cannon!"


    "This will be a revolutionary weapon if it works," Lord Copperstone said excitedly. "It will turn warfare as we know, up side down!"


    Grand Lord Hammerfall shook his head as he smiled at his friend''s enthusiastic deration. "Than I shall wish you the best!"


    "The Gods of the Mountains be watching over you, brother!"

 Chapter 555: What The Fuck?

    Chapter 555: What The Fuck?


    Fleet Master Megan was sorting through several administration documents when the doors to her office chamber opened. Her aide bowed and ushered in a youngster who went down on one knee as he saluted her.


    "Fleet Master! I came bearing urgent news from the docks!" The messenger quickly said and presented a couple of scrolls from his sling bag. "We have reports of flying ships raiding the Eastern Inds!"


    Megan''s aide took the scrolls and handed them over to her where she ripped the binding cords off and quickly scanned through the written contents. She nodded to herself before she said to the waiting messenger, "Order all the Inds and ships to be on the look out of raiders at once!"


    The messenger gave a hurried bow as he left the chamber to carry out her orders. In his haste, he did not notice the trace of a smile appearing on Megan''s lips.


    "The Krarga has taken the bait!" Megan happily mumbled to herself as she looked out of the windows. "Now, let''s see how will the United Nations respond..."


    -----


    Bells were ringing throughout the Inds of the Isles, as word came of an attack from the group of Outsiders that rode flying ships into thisnd. Ships of war were being loaded with supplies while merchant ships that served as auxiliary ships had bolt throwers and other weapons installed. Young men and even women volunteered themselves at the military docks to fight against those treacherous Outsiders who broke their bond of peace and trade with the Isles.


    Defences for the inds were each readied and manned by militia while food and other supplies were collected from each household to be stored in a central storehouse. Carpenters and cksmiths stopped all their existing work orders to switch to the production of weapons and munitions for the bolt throwers.


    Those inds with arge treasury started recruiting mercenaries and ships to prepare for the fight with the Outsiders. Rumours started spreading of the short Outsiders'' bloodthirstiness and savagery, making the people of the Isles more determined to protect their homes.


    At a secretive dock on the edge of the First City of the Fleet, a small squadron of four armoured steamships came puffing out from the hidden docks and made its way towards a waiting fleet of sailing ships. Once the ships had rendezvous together, they departed off towards the Cartel outpost.


    -----


    Lord Ironmore of the Cartel stood inside the under bridge watching the process of offloading of goods off the captured prize. Armed sailors watched over the rows of squatting prisoners that lined up on one side of the prize ship while other prisoners moved goods off the cargo and onto the waiting air barges that floated next to the prize ship.


    "Do we have a manifest of the prize''s cargo?" Lord Ironmore asked and an aide handed over a crudely scribbled note. He scanned the tranted list before his stern expression broke into a smile. "Hmmm... over ny barrels of local liquor! Brothers! Tonight, everyone shall have an extra ration of liquor!"


    The crew manning the under bridge gave a cheer and the mood lightened up immediately. Lord Ironmore continued to read the badly scribble words and nodded to himself as the haul this time was pretty good, especially with the several lots of food and grains that would help the Outpost greatly.


    Taking of the prize was easy, the fat unsuspecting merchant shipdened with goods was most likely making its way back to its homeport when Lord Ironmore''s airship, the Rammer, came plunging down from the skies like a griffin going for its prey. Dwarvan shock troopers descended from a couple of air barges upon the unsuspecting crew from the skies, the tubby looking flying hauliers used for both cargo and troop transport, dropped the shock troopers down into the middle of the deck of the surprised crew.


    Arcs of lightning crackled out from the long shock staff of the shock troopers, zapping away any resistance among the crew. Many seeing the charred remains of their fellow shipmates quickly surrendered and the subversion of the crew was quicklypleted.


    Lord Ironmore rubbed his calloused hands together happily as he as the Captain would gain a fifth of the prize''s total value while the rest of his men will gain another fifth of the prize, split among everyone, with the officers taking arger share. But even after splitting everything, the remaining prize money for the lowest ranked sailors would still be more than what they made in a year of service!


    Hence, the crew of the Rammer acted quickly and withoutints as they stripped the captured prize ship of all valuable items and the fate of the captured crew would be turned into ves or indentured workers. Those who were willing to switch allegiance were even given the chance to join the Cartel.


    "Lord!" An aide reported. "All items of value and use has been removed and is now being transferred onboard the Rammer!"


    "Good!" Lord Ironmore nodded with delight. "Once everyone is back on board... Raze the ship down to the water!"


    "Yes, Lord!" The aide replied and orders were sent out. In a turn of a sandss, thest flying barge docked onboard the belly of the Rammer and two stubby cannon barrels poked out from their armoured gun ports.


    With a loud hiss crack, both cannon barrels erupted into a burst of white steam and two dark projectiles mmed into the thinly armoured top deck of the stripped prize ship. The steam cannons were fired at point nk range, making it impossible to miss and the alchemical substance stored inside both the projectiles broke free from its confinement when the body of the projectile broke up.


    Instantly, the alchemical substance sprayed out and upon contact with any material, the substance started smoking and soon, flickers of mes grew out from the coils of smoke and secondster, fire engulfed the ship from its insides. As the Rammer made its way back towards the Outpost, what remained of the prize ship was just a pir of ck smoke on the horizon.


    -----


    The New World, East Coast, UNS Vengeance


    Commander Ford looked at themunique suspiciously as Captain Nimo and a few other senior officers waited patiently at the Admiral''s Bridge. Ford put down the note after reading it thrice, to be certain and a deep frown appeared on his face. "Is this urate?"


    "Yes, sir!" The UNS Vengeance''s Intel Officer replied. "A call for help came from the Isles just an hour ago. My department has verified the report with Navy Intel and it appears to be real."


    "The Isles asking us for help?" Captain Nimo let out a snort of displeasure. "I didn''t know the day woulde!"


    "What does High Command has to say about this?" Commander Ford asked hismand staff. "Are there any new orders?"


    "Well, High Command''s new orders are to investigate and support the Isles if possible..." Captain Nimo replied unhappily. "I say it serves them right if they get backstabbed by those Outsiders!"


    "Regards of what game Megan is ying here," Commander Ford reminded the Captain. "We still have some obligation to our... ally."


    "But something is strange here," Commander Ford added. "I would expect Megan to have a backup n if their deal with those Old Worlders went sour..."


    "Something just doesn''t seem right here..." Commander Ford mused as he checked the charts. "How long more before we reached the waters of the Isles?"


    "Another two days of sailing," Captain Nimo quickly replied. "One and a half day if we push it..."


    "Proceed as normal," Commander Ford said after a moment of consideration. "Gives us more time to gather intel."


    "I want all intel we have on the isles, especially information on Group Delta," Commander Ford said to the Vengeance''s Intel Officer. "Including anytest satellite or recon ne photos of the area."


    "And double the air patrols," Ford turned to Captain Nimo and Commander Peter who was the CAG of the Vengeance''s carrier wing. "I know it will be hard on the pilots and machines, but it''s better to be prepared."


    "Yes, Sir!" The senior officers saluted before leaving to carry out their orders. Commander Ford waited until everyone has left before he entered his office, and dial a connection back to Haven.


    It did not take long for his call to connect and the image of Captain ke appeared on the corner of his screen. The image of ke gave a nod of acknowledgement as he greeted Ford. "How''s everything on your side?"


    "Other than that unknown God Girl and two dragons demolishing my food stores like termites on wood..." Commander Ford grinned before he gave a helpless shrug. "Morale is pretty high and everyone is ready to get into the fight with the Old Worlders."


    "Good," ke replied without a change of expression. "You know your orders?"


    "Find the Old Worlders and hit them hard," Ford said. "If they do not surrender... Hit them harder."


    ke''s image nodded while Ford asked again. "How about the Isles? What are we gonna do with them? I smell some kind of plot cooked by Megan here..."


    "Ignore her," ke said. "This... fight between the Isles and Group Delta... We can make use of it force the Isles to cede some concessions over to us. If they are not willing... I got another option here... standing by..."


    "Hmmm," Ford frowned as he made a guess. "You mean, Dijon? Isn''t he totally out of the fight?"


    "Not really," ke replied and seemed to fiddle with something off screen. A secondter, an iing file notification started blinking at the corner of Ford''s screen. "I just sent you his report. Take a look at it and if the situation calls for him... I got a transport standing by and in five hours, he will be dropped off at Port Sanctuary."


    "Okay," Ford nodded. "I will take care of the Isles and Old Worlders. Get some rest, you look like shit."


    The image of ke made a nonchnt gesture before signing off leaving Ford alone staring at the screen. He clicked the blinking file notification and waited for the data to be downloadedpletely before he opened the document. He shot up straight as his eyes widened in shock at the contents in the document and he let out a curse. "What the fuck?"


    "Is he mad?" He mumbled to himself as he continued reading the file. "Are they all crazy to allow this?"


    Finally, he finished reading the entire file and he sat back in his chair brooding away as his mind was filled with thoughts of how many illegal body modifications and medical hicalws they had broken before he let out a sigh. Ford could understand why Dijon wanted this and he could feel his pain and fear of being a cripple bound forever inside a tank.


    He closed the file and shook his head, thinking of how much they had changed since crashing onto this. Everyone has changed, some for the better, others for the worse, while some would never see their homes again.


    "Damn!" Ford was feeling mncholic and felt he needed some fresh air to clear his head. He stepped out of his office and felt the admiral bridge under the salutes of the Marines guards and headed down to the officer''s mess to grab some tea.


    As he walked past the connecting passageway to the carrier hangar, he paused in his footsteps and decided to look at what the two dragons and the God girl had been up totely. He had heard many reports and rumours that those three seemed to be up to some mischief, together with that Faith of Superior Firepower cult nonsense.


    He entered the hangar deck and waved away the salutes of the deck crewmen and headed straight towards a cordoned off corner of the hangar that was set aside for the dragons. Several pieces of marine tents had been tied together to form onerge sheet and it was draped over two support beams, creating a sort of cover.


    He could hear someughter and noisesing from behind the makeshift wall and he ducked under the covers curiously and found himself in some sorts of home theatre as a projector was projecting some kind of war movie against the hangar hull and dozens of crew members, two dragons and one god girl was seated down watching the movie.


    "What the fuck?"

 Chapter 556: For Rock and Stone!

    Chapter 556: For Rock and Stone!


    The New World, East of the Isles, First Fleet of the Isles


    It was dark and hot inside the wheelhouse with the only source of light and venttioning from several tiny slits along the armored hull. The air was humid and stank of sweaty bodies as crew members were stripped down to their waist worked the controls of the fat and ungainly steamship.


    The interior was also noisy as the boilers and paddlewheel mechanism cranked loud enough to turn the crew half deaf and words had to yell to be heard over the engine noise. The captain of the leading steamship had to peek through a pair of periscope to see their direction and heading and yelled orders to the sweating helmsman.


    The steamship was terribly ungainly in the open sea, capable of making even the most hardened sailor seasick. The paddle wheels of the sharp dagger like shape of the steamship constantly spun and pushed the steamship forward together with two of its sister ship following behind with dirty smoke puffing out of its sole funnel, surrounded by several more sailing ships as escort and support.


    Already one of the four steamships had broken down before they even came into contact with the enemy and a small force of sailing ships had to remain behind to provide cover for the floundering ship as it made urgent repairs.


    Flying overhead of the First Fleet, was a dozen lightweight dragons that spread out over a great area, acting as pickets and scouts. One of the lightweight dragon and its rider suddenly spotted dark dots in the horizon and he leaned forward in his saddle as his dragon dove downwards to gather speed as they rushed over to investigate the sightings.


    Word soon came back to the First Fleet in the form of signal gs and shing lights from the scouting dragon that a fleet of five flying ships had been sighted in the distance. The First Fleet quickly shook itself into a battle formation as they turned their heading towards the Outsider''s flying fleet.


    The three operational steamships took up the middle in a single file, while the rest of the sailing ships broke up into two squadrons at each nk. The steamships made a beeline straight for the approaching flying ships and both sides readied themselves for the long wait before the shipse intobat range.


    As the grains of the sand in the ss slowly tickled down, both fleets came closer to each other and the superior range offered by height advantage of the Cartel''s airships fired first. White balls of clouds appeared around the Cartel''s airships as their steam cannons erupted. Secondster, the shrill of projectiles screamed across the skies and kicked up towering sprays of seawater around the leading Isles'' steamship.


    Cries of dragons answered the echoing cracks of the Cartel''s steam cannons and the dragon riders of the Isles dove straight down at the Cartel''s flying ships. sks of alchemical fire carried in bulging saddlebags were tossed down at the Cartel''s flying ships'' decks while the Cartel''s rapidly steam crossbows spat anti air fire at the dive bombing dragons in an attempt to take them out.


    Steam mortars fired bursts of shrapnel into the air like massive shotguns, swatting down several dragons with each st. Yet despite the losses, a portion of the alchemical fire sks smashed across the decks of the flying ships and the alchemical form burst into mes. As the smoke cleared, bubbles of shimmering colors covered the flying ships while tickles of mes flowed off the sides of the magic barrier.


    The survivors of the dive attack broke off the attack as they returned tond to lick their wounds, having unsessfully dealt any damage to the magic protected flying ships. The retreating dragons riders could only rely on the ships of the First Fleet to deal damage to the flying ships instead. Long ck barrels poked out from revealed gun ports and tilted up as high as the cannons could elevate. The steamships of the First Fleet turned to present their broadsides to Cartel''s flying ships which were mirroring their manoeuvres.


    Having weathered the Cartel''s steam cannons, the steamships surprisingly held up against their projectiles. Except for a few warped armor ting and snapped wooden structural beams, the steamships suffered no critical damages to its fighting abilities. Sailors wounded by sprung bolts, spalling, or scalding from ruptured steam pipes were left where they had fallen groaning and screaming in their agony as the healers tried to save as many as possible.


    The newly forged cannons roared as the crew vented their fear, angry, and blood lust back at the Cartel''s flying ships. Streaks of ck lines slowed down into visible ck dots as the cast iron cannonballs found against gravity and mmed against a rainbow bubble, creating a visible rippled of colourful hues on the magical shields.


    Both sides exchanged fire as the distance closed up until they were just several ship lengths away from each other. Three steamships of the Isles fighting against five Cartel flying ships with both sides forming a battle line. The remaining sail rigged Isles ships had sped forward and attempted to encircle the flying ships, their ballistas lofting off long spears filled more alchemical fire.


    -----


    Lord Ironmore shook his head as he looked the view ports of the under bridge sited underneath his gship, Rammer. The pitiful token of resistant made by the local inders wasughable as none of their weapons had the power to prate their protective barriers.


    Yet, he could not fault them for their courage as he watched the slow unwieldy ck ships that formed a battle line to challenge his airships. He could only imagine how horrible conditions were onboard those fat tubby ships and if whether those ships could even survive rough weather out in the open sea.


    "Switch to armor piercing bolts!" He passed on the order to the gunnery officer who transmitted his ordered into a speaking horn. "Put those poor bastards down!"


    The tone of the steam cannons changed as they discharged piercing bolts instead of projectiles in the next volley. The bolts were fired with a sharper crack hiss instead of the duller bark of projectiles and Lord Ironmore tried to trace the trajectory of the bolts in the air.


    White pirs of water sshes appeared around the leading steamship and shortly after, the side of the steamship burst into a cloud of dirty smoke and a few heartbeatster, the magical barriers of the airship in front of the Rammer flickered with a rainbow shimmer.


    "Their weapon knowledge seemed cruderpared to ours," Lord Ironmore mused. "But they are surprisingly urate!"


    "Maybe I should capture a few specimens and let Lord Copperstone take a look?" Lord Ironmore pondered as he stared at the t ships below him.


    "That would call for a boarding party, my Lord," An aide said from the side. "It would be unwise to bring the gship down to their level..."


    "I know," Lord Ironmore replied with a wistful look on his face. "Oh... How I wanted to ram those ships with the Rammer''s drill! Hahaha!"


    The Rammer like many of the Cartel''s airships had a giant power drill for ramming and cloud piercing installed in the prow. It was a new weapon and system that enabled the Cartel to cross the Sea of Clouds by creating a magically induced slipstream that lessened the effects of the deadly storm. It could also double up as a ramming weapon and allow boarding actions.


    But as the opponent was using ocean going ships, it made ramming tactics useless for the Cartel''s airships as water would cause more trouble than its worth to ram the enemy. Lord Ironmore finally made up his mind and said, "Pass the order to the fleet."


    "Target the first and second ship of the battle line," He ordered. "For thest ship of the line... Launch the boarding barges and capture it!"


    "And the rest of the sailing ships that is attempting to surround us?" The aide asked. "Do we ignore them?"


    "Ignore them for now," Lord Ironmore replied. "They pose no threat to us!"


    "Rock and stone!" The aide made a salute before he hurried went off excitedly to ry the orders.


    Lord Ironmore grinned at the enthusiasm of the youth before turning his attention back to the battle unfolding before him. In the past few days, already several ind settlements have fallen into the control of the Cartel. Butcking sufficient ground troops, they only upied the inds with richer resources and only raided the rest.


    This was the first major action between the two nations and Lord Ironmore did not want to screw anything up as it could affect morale to locals if they lost heavily and allow the Cartel to dictate more favourable terms of surrender. His grin grew wider as he saw the first inder ship of the line suddenly skewering out of formation under a barrage of steam cannon fire.


    "Rock and stone! Rock and stone!"


    -----


    The under belly of the Cartel airships cranked open one by one and barrel shaped flying barges came buzzing out from the holds. The barrel shaped barges looked like a huge wine barrel with two smaller barrels on the side with aerial screws jutting out. Two umbre like rotors provided lift from the side barrel while a drill poked out from the nose of the flying barge.


    Four boarding barges came out from each airship and all of them charged down towards thest ship of the line. The Inder captain must have suspected something as the steamship suddenly swung inwards, presenting its stern to the fast approaching boarding barges. The long barrels also changed their directions, turning to aim at the flying barrels.


    The boarding barges ignored the sudden anti air fire and lined up directly towards the evading steamship. Purple mes suddenly burst out from the rear and threw the boarding barges forward like giant rockets that mmed with a might boom against the metal hull of the steamship.


    Some of the boarding barges missed or simply ricocheted off the angled armor of the steamship. But enough had their ramming drills pierced into the hull, some broke off and the boarding barges dropped into the ocean and floated like a barrel in the waves. Those with their ramming drills caught in the hull started spinning and drilled deeper, further securing the barges against the hull like leeches.


    Each boarding barge had enough space for eight seated dwarvans, one pilot and one engineer. The seated dwarvans were held down by restraint bars, belts and neck braces. Once the toughly built boarding barge mmed against the hull, the shaken dwarvans spat out thick leather strips that they bit down hard to prevent biting their tongues during impact.


    The engineer after he recovered from the impact would activate the drill''s gears to the boiler to force their way through the hull. He would then discharge the remaining built up steam out through the drill head to flush away any enemy that attempts to ambush the exiting shock troopers, only then he will pop the head of the drill away, exposing a circr hatchrge enough for a Dwarvan shock troop in full armor to climbfortably through.


    One by one the Cartel''s shock troop exited the boarding barge, found dead crew scattered before them, killed by either the sudden impact and steam. The teams of shock troopers started to advance forward, their shocknces held out before them.


    Fighting was brutal in the tight confines of the steamship for the Inders but not the Cartel as their size was almost half of the Inders. The shocknces charged by hand cranking a reel like device that was linked to spell rune, threw arcs of chain lightning out, shocking the resisting crew in twos and threes.


    Despite the low numbers of Cartel shock troopers that had sessfully boarded the steamship, the Inder crew were unable to fight them off and slowly, resistant crumbled deck after deck.

 Chapter 557: For the Isles!

    Chapter 557: For the Isles!


    The New World, First Fleet of the Isles, Steamship Indomitable


    First Fleet Master Kose was old and his health was ailing but that did not take the fight out of him and the love for his nation and people. Hence despite his ailing health, he still heldmand of the First Fleet of the Isles. And when the Outsiders started raiding his beloved Isles, he immediately stepped forward to lead his fleet against the enemy and defend the inds.


    To his surprise, Fleet Master Megan had actually offered him four new vessels. The ships were unlike any he has ever seen and the designs remained him of an ind whale. The entire vessel was encased in ck iron armour ting and long barrels of thunder weapons jutted out from all sides. A fat funnel sat near the middle portion and spew thick ck smoke that came from the pair of boilers burning coal, which heated up a water tank and the steam used to power the two paddle wheels on each side of the steamship.


    Aplicated system of pipes and tanks collected and turned the steam back into water to be reused. At first, Fleet Master Kose was unwilling to takemand of the four steamships offered to him by Megan as he was not familiar with their capabilities and he did not fully trust Megan''s intentions.


    But in the end, the need for more ships to fight against the Outsider''s flying ships overweight his concerns and he grudgingly epted the four steamships into hismand. He made one of the steamships as his gship and brought together on board with his own loyal crew who watched warily over the steamship''s crew and its captain.


    Along the way to Eastern Inds, he familiarized himself with the operations and abilities of the steamship and ran both shipboard and fleet wide drills to integrate the use of the steamships with the other sail rigged ships. He had some experience with paddle wheel ships that were converted by the United Nations but it was his first time on a fully armoured steamship.


    He found the steamships to be very perilous in open water where waves as tall as a person were constantly crashing against the hull of the top heavy ship. Its gunwale rode almost as low as waterline and sprays from waves constantly drenched the sloped hulls. Many of the crew were constantly sick from the rolling decks and worse before they even encountered the enemy, one of the steamships had broken down.


    Having no choice but to leave behind a few of his sail rigged ships to protect and tow the disabled steamship, he pushed on with the fleet to rush to the Eastern Inds'' defence. Now, seeing first hand the might of the Outsiders'' flying ships which both traditional and new cannon weapons did nought to their shields, he knew he has been yed by Megan.


    The steamships were too slow to escape while the sail rigged ships were too fragile to withstand a few hits. His First Fleet actually outnumbered the flying ships four to one, five to one if including the broken down steamship and its escorts, yet even an encirclement attack against those five flying ships couldn''t even break through their magic shields.


    Fleet Master Kose slump down on his seat as loud nks reverbed throughout the entire steamship and a short momentter, a sailor manning the ship widemunications, a console covered with over a dozen speaking horns turned around with a panicked look on his face. "Fleet Master! Captain! We are being boarded!"


    "Repel boarders!" The captain of the Indomitable immediately ordered as he heard the report. "All hands to repel boarders!"


    "Aye, Captain!" The sailor replied and turned to the speaking horns before him and he started yelling into each and every one of them. "ALL HANDS REPEL BOARDERS!"


    Kose''s frown deepened and he suddenly ordered. "Order the First Fleet to break off the attack rush to the Eastern Inds! They are to beach their ships and get everything of use off the ships and fortify the inds!"


    His sudden orders made everyone inside themand cabin to stare at him in surprise. The captain of the Indomitable quickly voiced his confusion out, "But Fleet Master! We have encircled the Outsiders'' flying ships! It is just a matter of time before we wear their magic defences down and victory will be ours!"


    Fleet Master Kose shook his head, "Our weapons cannot deal enough damage to their magic defences even if we have another twenty steamships!"


    "It is better to preserve the lives of my people by having breaking off the fight!" Kose exined. "Our ships are no much against their flying ships! But onnd, the additional sailors might give the Eastern Inds a fighting chance!"


    The captain of the Indomitable finally nodded in agreement before he asked, "Than what about us?"


    "We will be the bait to keep those flying ships from chasing the rest!"


    -----


    Grothem was a Cartel shock trooper, hailing from one of the seven mountain peaks of the Mithril Mountains. Since young, he had inspired to see the world outside, rather than confined within the ever darkness of the undercity''s tunnels and mines. Once of age, he signed when the recruiters came down from airships looking for new blood.


    What followed was months of training and he was granted his wish of seeing the world. Fights against air pirates, monsters, and even with other nations soon taught Grothem the harsh reality of the world and turned him into a veteran.


    When the boarding barge mmed against the target, the force of the impact jarred him hard enough to break his teeth if he hadn''t been biting down hard on the piece of leather in his mouth. He spat the leather piece that was covered with his teeth marks and bloody saliva before pulling the strapped off the restraining bar that held him in his seat.


    He ripped the neck brace off and together with the rest of his shock team, they readied themselves for the fight toe. Weapons were taken out from racks and holsters and they piled up before the nose of the barge. A muffled hissing scream came from outside the barge and an opening appeared. Grothem followed the battle brother before him, crawling through the small opening that dripped with warm water.


    Soon he appeared at the other side, his feet armored in thick swabs of leather and iron strips stepping on puddles of water on the wooden deck. He hoisted his shocknce before him, giving the arcane weapon a few charging spins and seeing the needle on the tiny gauge quivering over the red band before he felt assured.


    "Stay together!" The shock trooper leader called out as they stepped over bodies curled in up fetal positions around the decks. "Kill any thates in our way! For Rock and Stone!"


    "Rock and Stone!" Grothem echoed with the rest as they advance down the hot and dimly lit decks which looked like some kind of storage hold. Crates and barrels were stacked neatly all over the hold and many pipes of all sizes covered the walls and floors.


    Suddenly, the loud hurried patter of footsteps could be heard over the sound of gears and several half naked figures appeared at one side of the hold. The defenders seeing the short dwarvan yelled out an alien war cry and they charged over, brandishing thick swords and axes.


    "Kill them! Kill the damned savages!" The shock leader yelled and the rest of the shock troopers wheeled around to face the defenders. Arcs of lightning snapped out like whips and yed those closest, scorching their half naked bodies and leaving behind burnt marks and the stench of cooked flesh.


    Grothem squeezed the lever on his shocknce and the spell runes glowed brightly and with a loud crack, an arc of lightning whipped out like a snake. The lightning arc crawled across a short distance before dispersing into the air but those nearby fell back from the arc of lightning, writhing away in agony. The needle on the gauge of his shocknce instant flickered down to the middle, meaning that it had roughly two more charges left.


    He repeated his action over another group of defenders, sending them shattering back from his lightning spell before he charged over the stacked crates with a war cry. His shocknce mmed into the belly of a screaming savage who was bowled over by his charge and the pointy end of his shocknce burst out from his back. "For Rock and Stone!"


    With a mighty flick of his arms, he tossed the dying barbarian to the side before he rejoined the battle. Despite the numbers and height of the defenders, Grothem and his battle brothers'' height and sized actually became an advantage in the tight narrow confines of the ship''s hold. And with superior armor and spell weapons, Grothem and his battle brothers managed to cut down any foolish enough to challenge them.


    Soon, the hold emptied, leaving only Grothem and his battle brothers standing in a sea of bodies. Blood pooled and slowly dripped through the wooden cracks of the decks while the dying and wounded moaned and cried. Grothem ripped the dangling shoulder te off his armor, dropping the mangled ting on the deck with a dull thud before he rotated his sore shoulder. He had taken a downward chop from either a sword or axe and his armor saved him but he knew a nasty bruise will be waiting for him if he ever survived the day.


    "Keep pushing!" The shock leader ordered as he stepped away from a body of one of their own. "We will grieve and remember himter! For now, we must take this ship!"


    -----


    The face of the captain of the Indomitable turned angry by the minute as report after report of nothing but bad news came in through the speaking horns. Some stations had even gone silent which likely the crew were killed or disabled. The sailor manning themunication trumpets was getting nervous as his voice grew more and more pitched with each report.


    First Fleet Master Kose let out a deep sigh before he stood up from his chair. He reached to the side and drew two small exquisite looking hand axes that glittered under the glow of themps. "Fight your ship, captain! I and my retinue shall deal with the boarders!"


    "But...!" The captain of the Indomitable wanted to protest only to be cut off by a shake of Kose''s head.


    "Buy as much time for the rest of the Fleet to disengage, Captain!" Kose said as his aides helped him into a set of light armor that protected his vitals. "I will do the same!"


    With that, he left themand cabin followed by his loyal men, and they headed towards the closest location where sightings of enemy boarders had been reported. His retinue silently followed him as they formed up into a protective phnx around Kose. Soon, sounds of fighting came to their ears and they formed themselves appearing behind several crew members whose backs were facing them.


    Before them, a small shield wall of short beings which called themselves Dwarvans had formed up. Piles of bodies littered the passageway around them and they advanced forward with their shields and shortnces pointing out. Despite their short stature, the Dwarvans looked confidant and wore heavy armour covering almost all parts of their bodies. Their determined eyes stared out from the tiny slits in their full faced helmets and they even had the discipline to advance in order in the tight confines of the ship.


    "Back!" A frightened sailor cried out in fear as he swung his sword wildly before him at the approaching shield wall. "S- Stay away!"


    "Hold your spirit, sailor!" A loud bellow came from behind the frightened sailors as Kose came thundering forward. He stood tall and proud despite his ailing condition and he strolled forward with his retinue closely around him. "Stand and fight! Fight for your friends! Your brothers! Your sisters! For the Isles!"


    "FOR THE ISLES!"

 Chapter 558: Bad Business

    Chapter 558: Bad Business


    First Fleet of The Isles, Steamship Indomitable


    The thunderous roar of the revolver within the tight confines of the steamship''s passageway deafened everyone within earshot. First Fleet Master Kose stood firmly with both feet apart as he cradled the fancy silver gilded revolver gifted to him by the United Nations with both hands as taught.


    Despite the deafening boom of the revolver, Fleet Master Kose continued to squeeze the trigger at the cluster of boarders until his weapon went dry. He handed the emptied weapon to his aide at his side who exchange it with a twin of the silver revolver and hurriedly reloaded for his master.


    Kose epted the fresh revolver and fired over the shoulders of the crew whose hearing was long gone due to the working with the new cannons and steam engines. He fired at the shield wall, knocking one of the short Dwarvans off his feet as the heavy round punched through the wood and iron of the shield.


    Invigorated by the presence of the First Fleet Master, the crew of the steamship Indomitable roared as they charged forward, throwing themselves against the tiny shield wall with a frenzy, and the tables were turned. The once confident Dwarvan shock troops reeled back from the charge and gave way to the sudden reversal of the situation.


    Fleet Master Kose followed grimly behind his crew and fired at any opportunity he could see among the melee. Soon the fight ended with the Dwarvan dead or dying, and the survivors started sorting out the dead and wounded. As Fleet Master Kose organized the survivors, a runner came running and panting over, "Fleet Master! Report from the Bridge! Enemies reported on the forward deck!"


    Fleet Master Kose nodded and he quickly ordered those still fit and able to advance to the next portion of the steamship that was still under attack. The crew roused by their victory picked up their weapons and quickly followed the First Fleet Master to the next fight.


    -----


    Grothem hissed with distaste as he ripped his shocknce out from the half naked youngster who was making meowing noises as the boy clutched his disembowelled belly tightly, trying to hold his guts in. Grothem stepped back and watched grimly as the boy slumped down and the light in his eyes faded.


    "Gods of the Mountains!" He spat as he broke his shocknce open and inserted a fresh magic crystal in before snapping it back in ce and started winding the charging handle. Once he was satisfied with the charge holding in his shocknce, he joined the rest of his squad who had finished up cleaning the remaining resistance at their level. "This is bad business!"


    "What bad business?" Grothem''s friend and battle brother, Uthern asked as he ran practised hands over the trousers of the dead and pocketed anything of value or interest into his own. "This is easy work! Good business in fact!"


    Grothem shook his head as he took a sip of his waterskin, wetting his dry throat. "Killing a boy child? Beh! Bad business!"


    Uthern gave a shrug as he stood up. "They are barbarians, who cares?"


    "Still..." Grothem wanted to voice his displeasure when the Shock Team leader yelled at them to form up. He gave up hisints while Uthern gave him a smile and wink and tossed over a pouch of jingling coins.


    "Not gold, just silver," His friend said as they hurried over to join the rest. "Low quality too, but silver is still silver once you melt them down!"


    "You found it... You should keep it!" Grothem tried to hand the pouch back. "I-"


    "Come on," His friend grinned as he shoved the pouch into his side pockets. "Keep it for your younger siblings! They need you to support them!"


    "But-" Grothem tried to protest but his friend just shook his head and moved out of reach. "Alright... I''ll keep it, by the Gods. I will remember your kindness!"


    "Hurry up you curts!" The Shock Leader yelled again. "We got a ship to capture!"


    "Why the courtesy?" His friend grinned as he pped Grothem''s shoulder. "We are battle brothers!"


    The squad of shock troopers started advancing again as they headed towards the loud thunderous thumps that reverbed throughout the ship constantly. Finally, as they turned around the passageway, they found arge open deck that was filled with rows of long ck tubes and a whole lot of enemy crew who seemed too busy working those loud weapons to notice them yet.


    "Take them out!" The Shock Leader hissed as he made his way forward, his shocknce stabbing out at the nearest enemy whose back was to him. His shocknce punched through the enemy who stared down with confused shock at the piece of metal jutting out of his chest.


    The rest spread out and made their way from one long weapon to another, killing the crew as fast as they could without alerting the rest. Some of the enemy crew spotted them and yelled out warnings but the noise was incredible on the weapon''s deck, making the cries of warning moot.


    But their luck finally ended when their presence was finally known as the crew of the next long weapon spotted them killing their friends. They fled away and started yelling, prompting a cascading effect that soon alerted the remaining crew. Some held their ground as they grabbed whatever was at hand as weapons while others ran off to alert the rest.


    Grothem braced himself as the enemy charged screaming across the cluttered deck, he and the others raised their shocknces up and with an electrifying crack, bolts of lightningshed out towards the charging enemy. Bright bursts of sparks and arcs of lightning snaked across the long ck barrels and the charging enemy. Grothem briefly saw a sh of mes when the rain of sparks scattered across a stack of barrels that appeared to be filled with some ck powder like stuff.


    Suddenly, Grothem heard a massive roar that seemed as if the Gods themselves were shouting in his ear and he found himself flying backwards before everything went into an eye searing brightness before turning into darkness and emptiness.


    -----


    Fleet Master Kose and his ragtag force encountered another small group of Dwarvan warriors blocking their way. Bodies littered the passageway when they finally finished off thest Dwarvan warrior and the number of fighters in Fleet Master Kose''s force has dropped by a third. So far, they had the momentum and had managed to overwhelm the boarders with their numbers but at this rate of exchange, soon there will be no one to fight the enemy.


    His people were too lightly armed and armoured to fight against the heavily armoured Dwarvan boarders and the ammunition of his revolvers were running low. Kose did not know how many more Dwarvans were onboard the Indomitable and all he could do was to head towards any reports of boarders that were brought to him by runners.


    Yet Fleet Master Kose knew that he cannot stop. If the enemy takes over the steam engines, they will be stranded and be an even easier target for the enemies flying ships to shoot at. He cursed softly to himself as he took a breather. "Damn that bitch, she knew how powerful these Outsiders are, and yet she kept that information from us!"


    "Hahahaha...This steamship is a death trap..." Koseughed bitterly to himself. "She must have nned this... Just to kill me off... She must n to use my death to further her ambitions!"


    "What a fool have I been..." Kose shook his head sadly as he stood up. "And I yed into her hand! I should have called for the council to ask for help from the United Nations... I have gone weak and senile..."


    Just as he finished berating himself, he suddenly felt a bad premonition. Before he could do anything, the deck underneath his feet suddenly swell up and then he no longer felt anything.


    -----


    Fourth Cartel Raiding Party, The Rammer


    Lord Ironmore of the Cartel had a frown on his face as he watched the sail rigged ships that encircled them suddenly broke off their attack. The constant flickers of light of the magic barrier of the Rammer eased down as the weak ballistas fired by the sail rigged ships ceased. He walked around the viewports of the under bridge as he observed the surrounding waters under the airship Rammer.


    "Are they retreating, my Lord?" An aide asked as he saw the white sails appearing on the enemy ships around them and those ships started to sail away.


    "It would appear so," Lord Ironmore nodded before he gave a new order. "Order the Crusher and the Digger to split up and pursuit those ships."


    He turned his attention back to the three ck ships that were spewing steam out of their single funnel. Already the leading two ships looked like some kind of porcupine as dozens and dozens of piercing bolts were sticking out from its armour. Steam was clearing leaking from the ships as the speed of both ships had fallen and the fire of their weapons was lessening.


    And thest ship in the line was currently surrounded by boarding barges, looking like fat ticks feasting on the blood of their prey. Just as he was about to give another order, the boarded ship suddenly erupted into a ball of mes, a shockwave expanding out across the ocean and in a couple of heartbeats, the boom of the explosion was heard.


    "Rock and stone..." Lord Ironmore stared with incredulity at the sudden death of the enemy ship. "They... blew themselves up?"


    His disbelief soon turned to anger as the ship that blew up also killed over a hundred elite Cartel shock troopers. Ever since the conflict started between the Isles and the Cartel, this was the first battle that the Cartel had suffered so many casualties in a single action!


    "Ba- barbarians! The Gods of the Mountains curse you!" Lord Ironmore growled, his eyes glittered angrily. "DESTROY THEM ALL! LEAVE NONE BEHIND!"


    -----


    Skies over the ocean of thest known location of the First Fleet of the Isles


    A lone lightweight dragon flying the colours of the Isles was riding the warm air currents with its wings spread out. The dragon rider peering hard down around the endless waters, looking for the First Fleet that had gone missing for two days.


    The dragon suddenly squawked as it spotted something with its superior eyesight. Its rider leaned down on the saddle and both dragon and elf dove downwards towards the ocean. Soon the dragon red its wings as it came to a glide over the ocean waves. The rider gasped as he saw the pieces of floating wreckage littering the ocean''s surface.


    Pieces of wood, barrels, crates, sailcloth, ropes. rubbish and even bodies were bobbing up and down the waves. The rider urged his dragon downwards towards a particr object in the distance and the dragon obliged, flying as low to the waves as possible. The rider leaned down towards the waves and snatched up a piece of cloth as the dragon flew past.


    The rider carefully spread the piece of tattered and burnt cloth wide and the g with the crest and colours of the gship of the First Fleet of the Isles was exposed. The rider gasped in shock and he quickly wheeled the dragon around, and both of them headed back towards to report the shocking find.


    The dragon and its rider soon reached the sole steamship and its escorts, thest steamship finally havingpleted its repairs and was trying to link up with the First Fleet. As the dragonnded on one of the ships, the rider rushed forward to report to themandore of the squadron, showing the tattered g to the shocked senior officers.


    "The First Fleet is... gone! And the First Fleet Master''s ship... has been sunk!"

 Chapter 559: All The Little Things

    Chapter 559: All The Little Things


    The New World, The Isles, Eastern Inds, Cartel upied Territory


    Grand Lord Hammerfall expression was dark as he listened to the report being given to the gathered Lords. The rest of the Cartel Lords were grimed face, some even showing anger as the aide continued the report of Lord Ironmore''s battle with the Inders.


    "One hundred and twelve dead..." The aide read from the scroll. "The boarding party was totally wiped out when the Inder''s ship exploded."


    "They rather kill themselves?" One of the Cartel Lords mumbled angrily. "Savages! Same like those cursed Protectorate zealots!"


    "If they have such convictions..." Another Cartel Lord spoke up as he faced the Grand Lord. "This means they would not surrender easily... And this may turn out to be against our favor..."


    Grand Lord Hammerfall nodded in silent agreement as the Cartel Lord continued. "They can trade casualties with us and in the long fight, we will lose out as we only have so many troops!"


    "Our next reinforcements are still weeks away!" The Lord added. "If they do not fear heavy casualties... We cannot win this war!"


    "Than we shall change our way of war!" Grand Lord Hammerfall suddenly dered. "We have superior weapons and magic! Surrender for the enemy will be thest resort! No boarding actions are to be made from this moment onward!"


    "We shall pound their ships and any ground defenses from afar!" Grand Lord Hammerfall stated. "All Lords are to take great caution in approaching any Inder ships or fortifications! These... people are sly and cunning! They must have a lot of tricks up their sleeves!"


    "Continue to fortify the inds we captured!" Grand Lord Hammerfall added. "Watch the local poption carefully for any treachery! Do not let your guard down! The Gods of the Mountains shall protect us!"


    "For Rock and Stone!"


    -----


    The New World, The Isles, First City of the Fleet


    Fleet Master Megan had a happy smile on her face as she listened to Fleet Master Akron''s report. "Several dragon scouts have scoured the sea and have found no signs of the First Fleet Master''s steamship."


    "Only a handful of the First Fleet has survived and they had beached themselves at the Eastern Inds," Fleet Master Arkon said. "The surviving crew had joined up with the local militia in their defense against the Dwarvans."


    "Poor old Kose..." Megan shook her head when her smile remained on her lips. "He tried so hard to protect what he holds dearly but still..."


    "Oh well, at least now with Kose and his First Fleet gone," Megan turned to Akron and her smile widened. "The old is finally gone and now... New blood shall take over the council and bring the Isles a fresh start to this... exciting age!"


    "Congrattions, the post of the First Fleet Master will surely be yours!" Akron gave a bow to Megan. "But it is such a pity to have three steamships destroyed..."


    "It''s a small cost to pay for greater things," Megan waved away Akron''s concerns. "Also, those steamships are not really worth mentioning in a fight, they are after all... failures..."


    "Failures?" Akron was surprised. "But..."


    Megan gave a smile that made Akron shiver inwardly. "I never expected those slow and unwieldy ships to ever content against the Dwarvans'' flying ships nor the United Nations'' iron ships... But building they allowed our shipwrights to learn ande out with a masterpiece!"


    "But... I did not foresee that... giant ship the United Nations made!" Megan hissed. "It made me having to change some of my ns, but still, it should not cause much of a difference in the end!"


    Akron nodded, "What about the people of the Eastern Inds? What should we do?"


    "Keep sending them supplies," Megan replied. "I need them to hold the Dwarvans'' attention while my n goes into action!"


    "Where is that giant ship of the United Nations at now?" Megan asked as she sat down before her desk.


    "It wasst seen sailing towards the United Nation''s Port Sanctuary," Akron replied before he continued hesitated. "Is... it wise to go against a ship that huge?"


    "We will not be the ones to attack the United Nations," Megan replied with a smile as she strolled to the exit. "Don''t worry so much! I am leaving to board the Sea Shadow!"


    "You shall remain here to take care of the little things!"


    -----


    The New World, Off the Coast of Port Sanctuary, UNS Vengeance


    Several cargo lighters were busily motoring across the choppy waters between the anchored UN battle carrier and harbour. Arge floating tform was deployed next to the anchored ship and a small army of naval personnel and machinery were moving supplies off the docked lighters and into the open cargo bays of the Vengeance.


    Commander Ford watched as a massive cargo container was been craned over the deck of one of the docked lighters and into an opened side cargo hatch of the Vengeance. A naval crew quickly swarmed the cargo container, removing cables and using machinery to shift the heavy container deeper into the cargo bay.


    "So he''s here," Dr. Sharon suddenly appeared next to Commander Ford''s elbow as she joined him at the observation deck, looking down at the ongoing cargo transfers.


    Ford gave a curt nod as he remained silent, his heart feeling heavy. Dr. Sharon sensing his dark mood gave him a heavy pat on his back and said, "Don''t worry too much about ethics. We have long gone past those lines ever since the war with the Swarm began!"


    "Since having ethics and principles is what make us human," Ford stated. "I always believe that one must stand to his beliefs and principles... Even if it isn''t the right choice at times..."


    Dr. Sharon shook her head helpless, "You and your principles... You do know what the crew calls your behind your back right?"


    Ford gave an embarrassed smile as he let out a deep sigh. "Yeah... The Ironman..."


    "Hahaha! Ironman..." Dr. Sharonughed. "Hard and inflexible as iron!"


    Ford''s smile widened as he looked down at the ongoing work at the floating docks. "Haha, am I really that bad?"


    "Yes!" Dr. Sharon said with a hint ofughter in her voice. "Even the Captain can''t stand your stubbornness at times!"


    Ford let out a chuckle and shook his head. "I guess I am that bad, huh?"


    "Still, I guess that isn''t such a bad thing," Dr. Sharon said with a smile. "It''s rare these days to have someone with such firm values..."


    "You make it as if it is a good thing," Ford grinned. "But I do find myself starting to question if there are really such things as good or evil."


    "We would be branded evil if ever half of the things we did here were known to the people back home," Ford said. "Yet, the people here on this, think that we are angels for the things we do..."


    "Hell, there even a goddamn new religion that started to worship guns and bombs for crying out loud..." sighed Ford. "I guess I should notin so much about what is being brought on board now..."


    "Give that poor man a break will you?" Dr. Sharon advised. "Their way of thinking is unlike us, and even if such a thing happened to us back home, they would still get bionic recements..."


    "Yes, but turned into a war machine..." Ford argued. "But I guess it''s not my ce to say anything, since he wanted it himself..."


    "Come on," Dr. Sharon tugged Ford''s arm. "Let''s go see him. You haven''t seen him since... Sherene was taken..."


    "You... are right," Ford let out another deep sigh. "It''s time to face my demons..."


    -----


    Blue Thunder poked his head over the parked aircraft in the hangar as he peeked at the fenced off area that had just popped out. Several tractors had moved a couple of shipping containers over and many people were busy setting up something there which caught his attention, including the tiny God Girl Plee that was seated on his head as they curiously stared at themotion.


    "Wads that?" Plee asked as she stuffed her cheeks with a piece of sweet cake that was her offerings of the day.


    Blue Thunder let out a soft sigh as he wondered when has he be the mount of the God Girl. "I have no idea!"


    "Let''s go nearer and see!" Plee demanded. "Go, go, go!"


    "But..." As Blue Thunder hesitated, he suddenly spotted Dr. Sharon and Commander Ford. An idea immediately sprung up and he quickly made his way carefully around the parked aircraft least he earned massive reprimanding from the deck boss. "Good day, Sir! And madam!"


    Dr. Sharon eyed the big dragon with a goofy grin on his face and she knew he was up to no good, especially with Plee riding on the top of his head. Lately, the two had been up to many mischiefs for the past few days, with manyintsing from the cooks in the galley.


    Between the two of them and one more dragon, they had nearly demolished all the food supply of the ship''s stores with Plee demanding tribute and offerings from the members of the Faith. Yet, unlike Blue Thunder who grew fatter, Plee still appeared to have the looks and figure of a small child despite eating enough for an entire family per meal each day!


    Dr. Sharon gave a smile to Blue Thunder while Ford let out a snort of displeasure, which made Blue Thunder drop his grin. Blue Thunder stood straighter as he came to attention before Ford and Dr. Sharon hide herughter behind her hand. Ford stared at Blue Thunder and said, "Shouldn''t you be disembarking and reporting back to Haven?"


    "Erm... Sir... I would like to... stick around..." Blue Thunder replied in his more polite voice. "I-"


    "You do know you have orders right?" Ford frowned as he looked up at Blue Thunder and spotted Plee peeking out from the back of his head. "And the ship can''t support two dragons and a... God..."


    "Not with the amount of food you two eat!" Ford said sternly. "And the whole damn crew treats... the Girl... it''s unbing of the Navy!"


    Dr. Sharon finally started giggle as she could not hold back herughter, "The way you are saying about Plee is like she is some kind of pet!"


    "Aren''t they treating her like one?" He glowered. "Sneaking food out of the galley... Hosting bbq and movie parties in the hangar?"


    "All the discipline of the crew has gone down the drain!" Ford snapped. "This is getting ridiculous!"


    "And we just talked about how inflexible you are..." Dr. Sharonughed as she remained Ford who rolled his eyes at herment. "I guess as long as such activities don''t affect ship operations, they should be fine..."


    Ford let out another sigh before he gestured to Blue Thunder, "If you want to stay, your rations will be cut! And I don''t want anotherint from you from the cooks! Is that clear?"


    "Aye aye, sir!" Blue Thunder snapped a salute with his wing before his mouth opened with a grin. "Can I go fishing for my rations?"


    "Whatever, as long it does not interrupt ship operations or your duties!" Ford had given up as he replied. "Just... stay out of trouble..."


    "Yes Sir! Thank you, Sir!" Blue Thunder was joyous as he got to stay on board the Vengeance. "I will be a good dragon!"


    "Hahaha!" Dr. Sharonughed as Blue Thunder made his promise. She shook her head helplessly at the dragon before she asked, "So what are you doing here?"


    "Oh, we want to know wad is that?" Plee suddenly poked her head out and said while pointing to the fenced off area in the hangar. "Wad are they doing?"


    "Well, since you are curious let''s all go see," Dr. Sharon''s tone suddenly turned serious as she eyed the setup. "It''s something sad yet necessary in these times..."

 Chapter 560: Under The Water

    Chapter 560: Under The Water


    The hum of the Cartel flying frigate''s aerial screws was overshadowed by the louder hiss bark of its steam cannons as the flying ship came down swooping parallel to the Isle''s battle line. The sides of the rectangr shaped frigate with a nose drill vanished in a cloud of white steam and the crack of projectiles whished across the air and the waters around its target churned wildly with massive plumes of water sshes and splintering wood.


    The Isles ship under the heavy bombardment of the Cartel''s steam cannons, had its rigging smashed and its hole ridden sail toppled down, dragging the ship out of the line of battle. Another volley of steam cannons hammered it and the sickened ship slowly drifted off course as the majority of its crew were dead or dying, its weapons and rigged all smashed apart.


    The fate of the rest of the Isles'' battle line was the same as their weaponscked the prating power to destroy the Cartel''s magical defenses and their ships mostly still used ballistas and catapults which were greatly obsolete in the current battle. Some of the Isles'' ships suffered too heavy casualties attempted to surrender but the Cartel''s flying ships gave no quarter. They held their range and pounded the Isles'' battle line until what remained was just wrecks that barely floated.


    The sea soon turned red with blood and the waters churned wildly as sea monsters ravaged the dead and those in the water. The Cartel''s flying ships having victory over the Isles, soon departed away leaving the survivors to their fate.


    -----


    Fleet Master Megan waved off the scrying spell before her as she leaned on her fur covered seat. Surrounding her was a mass of machinery and crew members manning several control stations. She made a gesture and a member of her crew quickly came before her and saluted, awaiting hermands.


    "Bring us away from this... depressing ce..." She sighed softly. "Make haste to the Cartel''s base... Once it is destroyed, those that have died here will have their rest!"


    "Yes, Fleet Master!" The crew member saluted again and hurried off to pass on her orders. A short momentter, Megan could feel a shudder from the metal decks behind her feet and the hum of machinery grew louder.


    Arge barrel sized tube slowly retracted away from the waves and disappeared into the dark ocean, unnoticed by the Cartel flying fleet. A massive shadow slowly moved forward underneath the waves propelled by several trails of bubbles. The massive oblong shape moved away from the departing Cartel flying fleet as it headed towards the ind where the Cartel had first settled in.


    -----


    The drone of engines filled the cabin where several of the specialist crew sat manning the banks of surveince and reconnaissance equipment. Wearingrge bulky headsets, the specialists flipped and pushed buttons and switches as the FB - 1S surveince flying boat patrolled around the ocean in altitudes way above the reported operating altitudes of any flying airships.


    Cameras and sensors salvaged from the retired Owleye UAVs and refitted under the bellies of the FB - 1S took in the sights underneath them. Clumps of inds, tiny dots of ships, and even pods of sea monsters were picked up by the cameras and erged onto the screens for the specialist crew to view and filter the information.


    And meanwhile, another specialist manned the radar station, watching the pings and beeps on his screen. Once aerial contacts were picked up, the pilot was informed and he turned the aircraft towards the sightings to confirm if they were just a flock of dragons or airships.


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, En route to the Isles'' First City of the Fleet


    "Do you think the Isles will officially request our help?" Captain Nimo of the Vengeance asked.


    "Maybe not," Ford replied as he handed over a report to the captain. "With First Fleet Master Kose missing in action... I am willing to bet they will dy us with some excuses."


    "But it does not make any sense," Captain Nimo replied with a frown as he nced through thetest Intel report of the fate of the Isles'' First Fleet. "Aren''t they crippling themselves this way?"


    "It should be some kind of power y that is going on here," Ford said. "Megan has gained quite the following and holds the majority of the Council in her pocket. But the older council members like the First Fleet Master Kose are more conservative and they lean towards us."


    "Having Kose disappear is the best scenario for Megan," Ford continued. "If I guess correctly, she most likely has some kind of scheme to deal a massive blow against the Cartel, which would cement her position within the Isles for eternity..."


    "Would she be so vicious to do that?" Captain Nimo''s frown deepened. "Using the lives of her people and even thousands and thousands of gold and materials?"


    "Maybe," Ford gave a shrug. "I always have the feeling she is like a snake."


    "If this was true," Captain Nimo shook his head. "Won''t such action cause the Isles to lose out in both people and resources? All those ships and crews sent to die against the Cartel..."


    "Most likely, those ships and crew belong to the opposing faction," Ford said. "She can kill off those that opposed her legally."


    "So she is making use of her own people for her own agenda?" Captain Nimo felt a chill down his back. "She is one vicious bitch!"


    "Well, it''s only my conjunction..." Ford gave another shrug. "It might not be the truth..."


    "But I am guessing..." Ford''s eyes narrowed. "That they when they request for our help, they will pull something off behind our backs..."


    "We better keep our eyes open and our guns ready when we are within their waters!"


    -----


    The Sea Shadow


    Megan lounged on her fur lined chair as she stared out of the view ports into the dark murky waters outside her ship. She took a sip of wine and a small smile yed on her lips as a crew member reported that they will arrive at their destination within two days.


    She stood up and walked up to the thick crystal view port that separated her and the waters of the ocean and she briefly spotted a shing tail of some sea monster disappearing into the inky darkness. The ship she was inside was unlike any that has been seen in this world, as it traveled underwater!


    The underwater ship was built in a fat oblong shape, like a ttened sausage with arge bugle on its back and bottom. The ship was almost twice the size of thergest Isles warship despite only having three decks. Fins covered its four sides like some kind of fish monster and a massive tail fin powered by mana stones acted as propulsion pushed the ship through the waters.


    For air, arge barrel fitted with a hose will asionally be released to float up to the surface where the crew below will work several pumps to exchange the air inside. The whole underwater ship was built in secret, using the construction of the iron steamships as cover. Megan knew that the Isles'' ships were no match against the United Nations'' thunder weapons and would only be tinder for their cannons.


    Hence she came out with the idea of underwater ships after charming some of the hoomans and hearing them speak of fully enclosed ships traveling through the void or something simr. Using the construction of the iron steamships to prototype and test construction methods, the shipwrights under Megan''s employment were able toe out with both the design and construction of the Sea Shadow.


    But several limitations were inevitable, such as the underwater ship could only travel slowly, leaks constantly and could only stay a few cable lengths underwater. It also had to be heavy enough to prevent the ship from floating onto the surface and air needed to be constantly pumped to prevent suffocation of the crew. There was also the constant danger of a sea monster mistaking it as prey and taking a bite out of it.


    The Sea Shadow ran on both mana stones and steam, which thetter would built up a lot of heat and poisonous smoke which required constant pumping and venting through a series of hoses connected to floating barrels. Magic runes inscribed within the hulls of the underwater ship served as a way to prevent air from leaking out of the ship.


    The massive tail fin at the rear worked like the tail of a whale, moving up and down, pushing the ship through the water. Dozens of experimental runes powered by mana stones were etched on the body of the ship to reduce water resistance, increasing its speed and ease of movement through the water.


    For underwater weapons, a steam ballista enclosed in a turret sat on both the top and bottom of the ship. The weapon mechanism was taken from the steam weapons traded with the Cartel and retrofitted onto the Sea Shadow. As the ballista bolt''s power traveling through water was greatly reduced, it was mainly used as a means of protection against any curious sea monster that came close.


    Against targets on the surface, the Sea Shadow would either sail very close to its target and fire its ballistas at close range or it will float to the surface where its back would open up, exposing a dozen cannons and giant mortars. It would then fire off its weapons before the deck closes up again and the Sea Shadow would dive back underwater to avoid return fire, using the ocean as armor.


    Megan''s original n was to build a fleet of Sea Shadows so that she can dominate the seas against the United Nations and regain control of the seas. But the appearance of the Cartel and the super ship built by the United Nations was unexpected and she had to change her ns.


    Now her n was to use the Sea Shadow as a way to stealth carry troops and attack the Cartel Outpost when it least expected it. She nned to bombard the outpost andnd troops onto the ind to deal a decisive blow to the Cartel and slip away before they could respond.


    Knowing that in doing so, the Cartel will respond in force against the Isles, especially on the capital. Hence, Megan had to wait for the United Nation''s super shipe sail over to the First City of the Fleet before she can put her n into action. She knew that if the city everes under attack from the Cartel''s flying ships, the United Nations will not close an eye and will send its forces to help defend the city.


    Her n would allow her to move unmolested and hidden from the Cartel''s flying ships, allowing her to strike at any of their bases or inds they had taken over while the United Nation''s presence around the Isles'' main inds would deter the Cartel and even weaken them if they choose to face off against the United Nation''s strange machines.


    As for the Isles'' fleet defending the Eastern Inds, most of them were from the Old Guard, loyal to the First Fleet Master Kose and even the dead Dijon. With them gone, she now holds the most authority and power in the Council. As for the lost of the ships, it was no matter as sooner orter, those outdated wooden sailing ships would be scrap wood, good only for tinder as iron steamships and flying ships were the future!


    Megan''s lips widened as she smiled at her own reflection on the crystal view port. Soon, her name will be known to all as the one who saved the Isles and defeated the Outsiders! She will take up the position of First Fleet Master and she will reform the Isles and make the Isles great again!

 Chapter 561: Raid

    Chapter 561: Raid


    The New World, The Isles, First City of The Fleet


    Commander Ford was inwardly shaking his head as he watched Fleet Master Akron''s patronizing smile from the other side of the council room that was filled with other influential and wealthy members of the Council. A fat richly dressed merchant came up next to Ford and smiled, taking his hand enthusiastically and asked when would the United Nations forces act to protect his assets from the evil invading Outsiders.


    He gave his best neutral smile and made some politically correct answers before pushing the elf off to one of his aides to handle as he made his escape. He soon found himself next to Captain Nimo who had a constant frown on his face.


    "Sir, this is a waste of time!" Captain Nimoined. "What are they trying to do?"


    "As I said before," Commander Ford took a drink from a passing waiter. "They are dragging their feet waiting for Megan''s n toe into action."


    "I don''t see her anywhere, sir," replied Captain Nimo. "Do they really think we are fools?"


    "Fools or not," Commander Ford took a sip of his drink before replying. "We are here, and we are part of her ns."


    "Half of the Isles'' Council want us to provide military assistance against the Cartel," Captain Nimo said. "And the other half seemed to be on the fence as if the attacks on their Eastern Inds has no effect on them..."


    "From what Intel has provided us," Commander Ford replied. "The Eastern Inds are not as rich as the Western and Main Inds..."


    "It''s mostly inhabited by fisherman and sea monster hunters," Commander Ford continued. "And the Eastern Inds are not as fertile as the rest of the Isles."


    "Most of them here can afford to lose the Eastern Inds to the Cartel," Commander Ford added as he cast a disdain nce around the chamber. "They live for profits and gain only... And those that truly sought to protect the Isles... Are all probably sleeping with the fishes by now..."


    "And yet here we are," Captain Nimo growled. "Do we really need to provide help to these... people?"


    "As much as I despise them," Commander Ford lowered his voice down. "There are still innocents among civilians. They are the ones that really need our help."


    "Damn," Captain Nimo looked around the council chambers, seeing the smiles andughter. "Their people are suffering and yet they all look so happy and carefree as if war is not knocking at their doors..."


    Ford nodded in agreement, "I wonder won''t Akron''s jaw get a cramp if he keeps smiling away like that..."


    Captain Nimo chuckled as he nced over to the Fleet Master entertaining some council members. "He has been avoiding our questions for quite some time. Thankfully, we still have some intel on the situation."


    "Two major fleets defeated," Captain Nimo said in a low voice. "One belonging to the First Fleet Master Kose, and the other fleet that used to bemanded by Dijon... when he was still a Fleet Master..."


    "And the appearance of those armored steamships," Captain Nimo added. "Megan has been busy..."


    "Yes, she has," Commander Ford agreed. "And I think its time we push Intel to find out her whereabouts. I don''t like to be in the dark!"


    "Also, get our surprise onto the shore," Commander Ford ordered. "And a detachment of Marines too. I got a feeling we might need some boots here..."


    -----


    The Sea Shadow, Off the shores of No One''s Ind


    The Sea Shadow silently emerged out from the dark green waters like some kind of deformed sea monster. Its metal back swung open slowly like a blooming flower and exposed a metal skeletal frame. Crew members guided by coveredmps quietly rotated the fat stubby tubes that pointed to the skies towards the ind and crane and hoists lowered bags of ck powder and huge cannonballs into the waiting muzzles.


    On the further end, a dozen light weight dragons shook themselves as they growled and snarled, unhappy to be cooped up inside the small enclosed pens. Their riders hushed their mounts and the impatient dragons soon took off to the skies, finally d to be out in the open again. The dragons had been drugged and sedated to keep them quiet and docile as the ship was underwater.


    The dragons carried two barrels filled with ck powder tied on each side of their nks and sks of alchemical fire in the saddlebags of the riders, quickly swept over the short distance to shore where the Cartel outpost was at under the guidance of the moonlight.


    The riders saw the dark walls of the outpost and towers, outlined by torches and the light of the moon highlighted the dark roofs of the buildings inside the walls. The dragon riders flying over the outpost yanked the quick release cords holding the barrels of ck powder and the heavy barrels dropped down.


    When the barrels smashed to the ground, the y sk of alchemical fire attached to the barrels, shattered alongside and erupted into mes and spontaneously ignited the spilled ck powder with a loud fuzz, followed by a massive boom that woke the outpost up.


    More thunderous booms erupted on the ind and the dragon riders using the bright glow of the explosions, tossed down more sks of alchemical fire, further setting the outpost on fire. At the same time, the waiting gun crew on the Sea Shadow used the light of the burning structures and fired their mortars, adding more thunderous roars into the night.


    Hallowed balls of iron filled with more alchemical fire shrieked as they traveled in a parabolic arc before falling back down to earth and exploding upon impact. Bursts of mes and hot shrapnel yed anyone in the open and screams of fear and pain joined in the loud cacophony.


    The dragon riders having dropped their loads jerked their mounts back towards the Sea Shadow. Some of the dragons overshot the deck andnded in the water and the dragons had to waddle their way up the slippery hull. Once the dragons had boarded, the cannoneers ceased their fire and Sea Shadow made its way back out to the open sea, while the hatches closed back up, before diving back under the waters to escape the Cartel airships that came charging back from their patrols to seek out their attackers.


    -----


    Grand Lord Hammerfall was fuming mad as he stood in the middle of the street surrounded by burning buildings. People all around him were carrying buckets and trying to put out the mes and as he watched, one of the guard towers copsed with a loud groan, kicking up embers and clouds of soot.


    "My Lord!" An aide came rushing over and started reporting. "The attackers... There is no sight of them! They have disappeared! None of our flying ships has spotted them at all!"


    "How is this possible?" Grand Lord Hammerfall roared. "Are you telling me the attackers can vanish into thin air?"


    "There were dragons and cannons!" He roared again. "How can they vanish into the air?"


    "Find them!" He spun around angrily and snatched a bucket filled with water off a nearby person and angrily flung the contents into the burning building. "I do not care how... FIND THEM!"


    "Yes, Lord!" The aide frightened by Grand Lord Hammerfall''s outburst, quickly saluted and ran off.


    Without another word, Hammerfall joined in with the rest of his people and helped to douse the fire that raged on the ind. Finally, when the first dawn of light broke out from the horizon, the fires were under control and he sat down on one corner of the street, his strength gone.


    "My Lord," Lord Copperstone suddenly appeared next to Hammerfall. He looked tired and his face and clothes were soot covered. "I bring bad news..."


    "Say!" Hammerfall snapped as he closed his tired eyes.


    "The sneak attack had destroyed over two thirds of the outpost buildings and several of our stores on the surface," Lord Copperstone reported. "One of the docked airships had taken damage and would be out of action until repairs are done. And another two more airships suffered from some fire damage but are still in action."


    "The attack further imed a hundred and seventy lives," Lord Copperstone said solemnly. "But thankfully, most of our people and supplies were underground."


    "But the burnt down buildings are mostly servicing towers and repair tforms for our airships," Lord Copperstone added. "Until we rece the destroyed service towers, resupply and refuelling our airships would take much longer time."


    "Have the dastardly attackers been found?" Grand Lord Hammerfall demanded as he stood up. "They must pay for their despicable attack!"


    "None of our patrolling airships have spotted anything," Lord Copperstone frowned as he said. "We found no trace of the enemy!"


    "Impossible!" Grand Lord Hammerfall snapped. "I do not believe they have some kind of invisibility spell that can cover an entire raiding force in this... backwardnd!"


    "They must somehow manage to sneak past our patrols..."Grand Lord Hammerfall frowned in thought. "It must be a small raiding force... They must have a mother ship somewhere for their dragons tond!"


    "Yet we must take that possibility of them possessing a type of mass invisibility spell into ount..." Lord Copperstone replied. "There is still much we do not know of the New World... And this will not be thest of their attacks..."


    "Yes... you are right!" Grand Lord Hammerfall nodded. "Send word out to all our forces! Double the guards and lookouts!"


    "And for this... despicable attack... they must pay the price!" Grand Lord Hammerfall gritted his teeth in anger. "Assemble a strike force! It seemed that we had been too patient and kind to these people!"


    "It is time to end this facade once and for all!" He growled. "We shall take their capital and end this war!"


    -----


    The Sea Shadow


    Megan''s smile widened as she savoured her victory. She had viewed the entire attack by magical means, by using a scrying spell that allowed a dragon rider circling the air to use a crystal ball like a camera to broadcast the spell vision down. She had borrowed the idea from the hooman''s camera and tee vee, and incorporated it into a spell.


    The night attack was a sess, as they disappeared into the waters, they left the outpost in mes while they suffered zero casualties. The attack was carried out so sessfully that none of the Cartel defenses was activated, which made Megan greatly pleased as it turned out more than she expected.


    There were several hups to the attack, mostly, the crew were still green despite several drills. The dragons were irritated and some even dazzled from the drugs to keep them cated and quiet underwater. And keeping the ck powder dry at the covered deck was also a challenge. But ultimately the challenge was keeping the Sea Shadow from running aground as it crept as close to shore as possible.


    She had the crew post lookouts to watch out for any Cartel flying ships that were desperately trying to find the culprit of the sneak attack to their outpost. The lookouts sat inside a tiny floating barrel that was painted in dark colors to blend in with the ocean. Theymunicated with a cup and line that goes down a hose to the Sea Shadow, and once theypleted their shifts, they will reseal the barrel and it gets winched back down underwater to dock into the Sea Shadow.


    Megan stood over a map of the Eastern Inds region and drew a cross on the dot representing No One''s Ind. She traced her long fingers along the map before stopping at another ind and her eyes glittered. She tapped the map and turned to her first mate and ordered. "Set course to this ind! We will repeat our attack!"


    "For the Isles!"

 Chapter 562: Duty

    Chapter 562: Duty


    Fourrgending craft emerged from the rear of the UNS Vengeance and bashed through the waves, headed straight for the docks of the city. Onboard one of thending craft, First Lieutenant Mills walked between the row of Marines strapped down against the hull and the hulking shape of a MAW MK VI spider tank.


    He checked his men condition as he walked down to the front of thending craft and climbed up the flight of steps that led up to the observation tower, where a goblin swinging his feet happily sat on a tall stool manning the twin linked .50 caliber machine gun. Mills ignored the spray of seawater and instead focused on the other threending craft that was paralleling the one he was riding on.


    Seeing the other three ships pushing across the ocean gave him an oddly satisfying feeling of pride and power. Sail rigged merchant ships of the Isles avoided their approach and even the few coastal patrol ships made way for them. He nced back to the rear of the open deck of thending cargo, pass the curled up spider tank.


    A dark olive painted container box sat at the very rear on the t bed of a transport truck. He knew who was inside and in fact almost everyone knew despite the contents were supposed to be top secret. Mills smiled to himself as he wondered how the Council of the Isles will respond if they knew who wasing back.


    -----


    The Sea Shadow


    Another ind was left aze behind the retreating shadow of Fleet Master Megan''s Sea Shadow. It was the third ind hit by the Sea Shadow in two days, and now her underworld ship was headed to rendezvous with a hidden resupply ship.


    The crew and even Megan were thrilled by their sess and evasion of the Cartel''s desperate patrols. So far, her forces had targeted the Cartel''s flying ships servicing towers within the region which will implement the Cartel''s resupply and logistic efforts. While the Cartel''s flying ships could restock and repair without the service towers, it would take more time and effort to move supplies onboardpared to having dedicated service towers.


    It took the Sea Shadow two turns of the sand ss before the ship arrived at the rendezvous location where two sail rigged ships were hidden in a deep water cove of a tiny ind. The Sea Shadow started to dump its bast tanks, pumping in air into the tanks and the underwater ship slowly rose to the surface.


    Once it was floating on the surface, the two waiting ships started lowering long boats filled with supplies and rowed over to the Sea Shadow. The crew worked hurriedly as they knew the longer they remained on the ocean surface, the higher the chance of getting spotted by a Cartel flying ship.


    Fresh water, food, ammunition, coal, mana stones, and other essentials were moved onboard in crates and barrels. The loading of the supplies took slightly over a turn of the sand ss which in meantime, Megan was reading the long list of reports that had umted over the past few days.


    She smiled as she saw what she was waiting for, the news of the United Nation''s super ship appeared at the First City of the Fleet and also the reports of a massive Cartel fleet forming up at one of the Eastern Inds. Now, all her chess pieces were in ce and now all she has to do is wait for the Cartel tounch a full scale attack on the First City and her hidden fleet will move out to reim those inds lost to the Cartel in one fell swoop!


    Quickly, she drafted her orders out and handed them over to the two supply ships whose captains further transferred the orders to waiting courier dragons that hopped off into the air to deliver them at the fast speed possible to her hidden fleet.


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Bridge


    "Unknown Contacts!" The radar operator at his station suddenly yelled out. "Bearing zero five zero! West bound!"


    The XO of the Vengeance, standing in on duty at the bridge when Captain Nimo and Fleet Commander Ford was away attending some diplomatic mission at the Isles'' First City of the Fleet, quickly stepped over to the sensor station. He leaned over the shoulder of the radar operator and frowned as he peered at the screen showing the blinking blimps appearing at the very edge of their sensors.


    "Direct AWACS and a patrol flight over to see if they can ID the contacts!" The XO ordered. "Put all aircraft on standby! Bring the ship to orange alert! And inform the Cap and Commander!"


    A circling FB - 1S recon aircraft was redirected from its patrol route within seconds along with four F/A - 2 Vipers that were up in the air on patrol. The Vipers kept back while the FB - 1S recon ne took point high above in the clouds and swept the iing unknown contacts with beams of its powerful radar.


    Soon information started to flow back to the bridge and Combat Information Center of the Vengeance. Confirmation of sightings of neen airships on a direct approach to the Isles'' First City was ryed to Captain Nimo and Commander Ford via radio.


    Both senior officers were grim faced as they were seated down in a conference room of the UN Embassy in the Isles''s First City of Fleet listening to the report. The radio operator had the handset on loudspeaker and the room was warded by magic to prevent any magical spying.


    "Neen Cartel airships," Commander Ford frowned. "Seems like a full invasion force..."


    "Intel has pegged the Cartel''s total air fleet at forty one ships," Captain Nimo said. "Fourteen had left the New World over a month ago, leaving behind twenty seven ships."


    "They must have left eight ships behind to guard their outposts while the rest got deployed..." Commander Ford pointed out. "Megan must have kicked the ho''s nest hard for them to deploy two thirds of their remaining air fleet!"


    "And just nice, we are here..." Captain Nimo said. "She must have timed the attack to take ce when we are here..."


    "Yes," Commander Ford nodded. "She is taking such a risk... If we did not n to make our way here..."


    "The First City would have nothing to stop the Cartel from razing their city down..." Commander Ford said. "What a crazy n..."


    "Do we deploy our forces?" Captain Nimo frowned. "I don''t really feel like doing so..."


    Commander Ford sighed as he gestured out of the window to the city. "We can''t ignore the people here... They have nothing to stop an aerial attack..."


    "Damn..." Captain Nimo cursed. "I really want to have Megan''s ns fail..."


    "At the cost of our morals and duty?" Commander Ford shook his head. "If we do that, it would pull us down to her level..."


    "Yes, Sir..." Captain Nimo nodded in agreement and stood up, throwing a salute. "Than I shall order the fleet to mobilize."


    Commander Ford waved Nimo off before he gestured to the waitingmand staff in the room. "Order the Embassy to go into condition red! We are in a state of war now! And inform the Isles'' Council that we have urgent matters to discuss!"


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet, Council of Fleet Masters


    Commander Ford strolled through the massive ornate double doors that led into the chamber of the Council. There inside, he noticed that the Council chamber gallery waspletely empty and of the five seats on the round table at the centre of the chamber, only two were filled.


    The head of the table where the First Fleet Master sat was empty, while the chair for Fleet Master Megan and Fleet Master Marshall was empty too. Only Fleet Master Akron and Fleet Master Tediore was present and seated down. Commander Ford came to a stop and stood at the end of the table facing the two smiling Fleet Masters.


    "Have a seat," Fleet Master Akron smiled and gestured to Ford to take a seat. "What urgent matters have you summon us for?"


    "No thank you, I shall stand, this will not take long!" Commander Ford rejected Akron''s offer. "I came to warn you that we have detected arge fleet belonging to the Cartel is on approach here."


    The elf''s smile faltered slightly before returning with full force. "Are you certain?"


    Ford nodded, "Very. At their current speed, they will arrive in five hou-, roughly six turns of the sand ss. Or less."


    Akron turned to nce at Tediore whose expression remained the same. Akron let out a deep sigh before he gave a nod, his voice trembling slightly. "I shall call upon the citizens to find shelter... But with six turns of the ss, it is almost impossible for our people to escape this cmity..."


    What great acting! Thought Ford as he eyed the resigned expressions of both the elves seated before him. They could win a couple of Oscars for best performance!


    "We can only plead for your help in taking as much of our people to safety if possible..." Fleet Master Tediore said in a sorrow tone. "Or protect our civilians'' ships from the Outsiders..."


    "I am certain our allies will do their best to help our people in this crisis," Akron said as he assured Tediore with a sad smile, their performance nearly making Ford roll his eyes. "Our friends and allies will not abandon us... Right?"


    Ford let out a sigh, before he said, "We can try to buy as much time for the people to evacuate from the city."


    Akron let out augh as he pped his hands happily. "Thank you, my friend! We shall not forget your kindness!"


    Commander Ford left the Council Chambers feeling drained. The shameless of the two Fleet Masters had left him bbergasted despite having some inking of their plots. Yet, he could not turn a blind eye to the real gue that will befall themon people in the next five hours.


    "Back to the Embassy!" He told his waiting aide by the jeep. "It''s about time to spring our own surprise!"


    -----


    The Cartel, New World Exploration Fleet


    Grand Lord Hammerfall stood inside the bridge of his gship, Hammer of Resolute, staring out for the crystal view panels. He could see the rest of the fleet formed up in twos and threes around his gship. The navigator was calling out coordinates and timing to the helmsman while several crew members armed with long sses were observing their surroundings.


    Hammerfall had gathered two thirds of his air fleet together to strike at the Inders'' capital which information and maps they had carefully acquired over time from the drunken crew of the trade ships andter from the forts, towns and viges of captured inds.


    He had been very patient with Inders but their actions had crossed the line. With the deceitful raids against their outpost, especially with the deaths of his precious people, had enraged him greatly. He decided to end this facade of a war as quickly as possible and show the backward ind natives the true strength of the Cartel!


    The inders will soon see the might of his air fleet and will tremble under his feet! He believed that they will choose to surrender after a few bombardments of their steam cannons. They will be taught to respect and obey the Cartel and once the inders were subdued, the rich resources here will be a lifeline to Mountain Cities of the Cartel back in the Old World!


    And no longer will the Cartel be looked down on and bullied by anyone. Not from the Old World and definitely not from the New World. Hammerfall tightened his fists as he barked out orders.


    "Inform all Cartel ships! Be ready to fight! The Cartel expects that every brother will do their duty! FOR ROCK AND STONE!"

 Chapter 563: 563 - Beach Action

    Chapter 563: 563 - Beach Action


    UNS Vengeance


    The whine of steam catapults and roars of idling engines were loud on the flight decks of the Vengeance. Ear muffler armed deck crews in different coloured jackets moved around the waiting aircraft with a purpose on the deck while more and more aircraft were being elevated up to the decks from holds blistering with munitions.


    Pair by pair, the Cobras and Vipers were lined up onto catapult tracks and hydraulic st shields rosed up behind the aircraft. The yellow jacketed catapult officer waved his light wand and kneel down low as he snapped his light wand forward and aircraft locked on the catapult rocketed off the flight deck with a whoosh of steam.


    Once the pair of fighters wereunched, the next pair of aircraft quickly moved to take their ce as the catapult piston retracted back into position to be locked onto the forward carriages of the waiting aircraft. The process was repeated again as the aircraft wasunched off until the flight decks were cleared.


    The ck dots of circling aircraft soon formed up into formations of diamonds and they sped off towards the east, leaving behind the waving crew of the Vengeance.


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet, UN Embassy


    The Marines''nding crafts came to a grinding halt against the white sandy banks of the beach next to the UN Embassy walls. The Embassy building provided by the Isles'' facing the sea and was located along a wealthy stretch of walled mansions. A neat cobble paved street ran between the mansions walls and the white sandy beach and a fewvish looking carriages pulled by raptor like dragons paused as the loud and crude looking Marines''nding crafts ran up on the sand.


    The outward nted ramps of thending crafts swung down with a loud ssh against the shallow waters and two rows of Marines in each craft came charging down the ramps. Two MAW Mk VI spider tanks followed between the Marines and came rolling out from two of thending crafts while Magic Resistant Ambush Protected trucks came from the rest.


    The sudden appearance of the troops made the passing carriages and people stare in surprise. Some ran away in fear while others gaped in shock at the Marines as they advanced up the beach, dripping seawater and sand all over the beautifully cobbled street. The Marines in dress uniforms guarding the UN Embassy opened the main gates for the newly arrived Marines while the spider tanks and armored vehicles took up positions outside the Embassy walls.


    More fully armed Marines spilt from a side entrance of the UN Embassy building to reinforce the walls while heavy weapons were taken from the Embassy armoury and set up into defensive positions on the roof and walls. Non essential Embassy members and workers were ushered down to the cers to take cover while others packed sensitive materials and documents to be transported away if there was a need.


    Within minutes, the Embassy was locked down and ready to repel enemies. The people of the neighbouring mansions looked over curiously from their windows and walls, wondering what was happening. Some curious Inders attempted to ask questions but were politely turned away by the Marines on guard.


    Marine Captain Mills found himself standing in parade rest inside the study before a pacing red faced Ambassador for the UN to the Isles. The pudgy Ambassador finally stopped in his steps as he turned to Mills and asked in a worried tone, "Will there be an invasion here?"


    "As far as I know, Sir, the Cartel''s air fleet are on the way here..." He raised his arm up to check his watch and continued. "We got roughly two hours, Sir!"


    "Two hours?" The Ambassador let out a sigh, "Do we have time to evacuate?"


    "It''s safer here, Sir," Mills assured the Ambassador before he gestured out the window. "And I brought two additional toons of Marines and two spiders. It will double the troops here."


    "And the Fleet is manoeuvring to a better position to intercept the iing Cartel''s air fleet," Mills added. As he said that, the drone of a lot of aircraft could be heard and the Ambassador pushed open the balcony doors and looked up to see many dots of aircraft in diamond shaped formation zooming overhead.


    "They haveunched their air interceptors," Mills said as he joined the Ambassador at the balcony. "We will be fine."


    -----


    The Sea Shadow


    The top bulge of the underwater vessel silently rose out of the waves half a kilometre away from No One''s Ind where the ckened remains of the Cartel Outpost stood. The Isles'' underwater ship sailed as close tond as possible before the rest of the ship emerged from the water. Hatches swung open and dragons took off and longboats were pushed out into the water.


    Troops and sailors quickly filled up the longboats and they rowed against the short span between the ship and the beach. In a short time, the longboats were beached and the Inders rushed out towards the startled Cartel Outpost. The Inders easily slipped through the gaps in the wooden walls and they mmed with a fury into the surprised and retreating Cartel workers.


    An Iceling, heavyweight dragon, with white blue scales, came swooping down from the air. It was the only heavyweight dragon that Megan picked up from the supply ships to bolster her forces. The Iceling roared out and a breath of freezing cold air covered the manned watchtowers of the Cartel, instantly turning the towers into giant icicles.


    A loud hum suddenly could be heard over the battle followed by an ear shattering crack of a thunderbolt. The arc of lightning crawled across the skies faster than the eye could see, leaving behind a white after vision to whoever saw it. The thunderbolt mmed into an attacking lightweight dragon and instantly, the dragon let out a brief death scream before any mmables onboard burst into mes and the charred dragon and its rider dropped off the skies.


    Seeing the spelling from one of the strange looking towers that has a ball on its roof, the attacking Isles'' dragon turned their attention to those. Balls of mes rose from the dropped alchemical fire and ck powder bombs over the shimmering glow of magical barriers protecting the spell towers. The Iceling roared again, its ice breath spraying over one of the spell towers causing its magic barrier to flicker colourfully and creating a circr sheet of ice over the barrier.


    The Sea Shadow''s deck mortars roared and incendiary cannonballs rained down in front of the attacking Inders, the explosions rolling over the shocked Dwarvans. Megan stood on the top of the Sea Shadow''s top bulge as she watched the battle with a far seeing spell. She gestured to one of her aides and said, "One more volley with the cannons and prepare the ship to return into the water!"


    Megan nced up to the skies before nodding to herself, "The two Cartel flying ships would still need some time to return! We have at least one turn of the sandss to totally raze this outpost down once and for all!"


    She and her crew had spotted the departure of the massed flying fleet of the Cartel from the main outpost of the Cartel here at No One''s Ind, only leaving behind two flying ships as guards. She waited until the two flying ships left to patrol the sea around the ind tounch a sneak attack. Previously, the raid on the ind was to destroy their infrastructure to service their flying ships and the defenses of the outpost.


    Now, with the departure of the majority of the Cartel forces, Megan knew that the chance for the final part of her ns was here and she ordered an attack. Knowing that once the attack on the outpost has started, the two flying ships would return immediately, but by then it would be toote for the Cartel.


    They had long known that the Cartel had been digging underground for each time, Akron and the other trade ships that came calling, they had observed workersing in and out from certain structuresdened with soil. After a few weeks of observations, they came to the conclusion that the Dwarvans were digging some kind of base underground as it would match all the evidence they had spotted.


    Now, thending force of Isles'' soldiers and sailors smashed through the small garrison of Cartel soldiers easily despite their heavy armor, steam, and shocknces. A shock trooper of the Cartel was knocked down by charge and fell under a barrage of axe blows from several berserking Isles'' sailors. The Isles suffered heavy casualties but their numbers were still enough to overrun the Cartel garrison and soon the Inders broke into the underground tunnels.


    There they faced grim faced workers armed with a variety of weapons and another bloody melee broke out. As the Isles ground forces were pushing the Cartel deeper into the tunnels, the Isles'' dragons finally managed to silence the remaining spell towers at the cost of half of their numbers. Even the Iceling suffered a couple of heavy injuries and itnded on the ind and angrily vented its pain at the remaining Cartel holdouts, even turning any unlucky Inders too close to its ice breath into ice statues.


    A small group of dragons came fluttering down tond and the cargo they carried were offloaded rapidly after which the dragons all returned to the Sea Shadow. An Isles'' officer yelled at his men to move the offloaded ck powder barrels down into the tunnels as fast as they could. The fight underground at this time had turned into a stalemate as the remaining Cartel had holed up and barricaded the way down into the underground town.


    The Isles'' groundmander seeing the way blocked and a charge would bring even more casualties to his troops quickly ordered his men to fall back. The ck powder barrels carried down were instead rolled down to the barricades and Cartel, sensing some kind of dangerous ploy, tried to remove the barrels were met with crossbow fire.


    Their n was simple, it was to use the barrels of ck powder to blow up the underground tunnels and force a copse. By doing so, the remaining Cartel would be buried underground and the underground base was as good as gone.


    The Isles forces retreated and only a team of volunteers remained behind. They carried torches and counted until a hundred heartbeats before casting balls of mes and tossing them down at the piled up barrels of ck powder rolled up against the barricades. The spilt ck powder instantly fuzzed and clouds of suffocating piss smelling smoke rose up. The volunteers abandoned their crossbows and ran for their lives and the ck powder finally ignited.


    The ground shook not once but four times as clouds of dirty smoke erupted out from four entrances to the underground works of the Cartel. The bloodied and tired Isles'' soldiers let out a rousing cheer as the ground rumbled with some parts copsing in, creating rifts to appear.


    The Isles'' troops under the orders of theirmander quickly gathered their wounded and returned to the waiting longboats when two dots appeared over the horizon. The troops, including the wounded, numbered less than two hundred, a quarter of the original attack force, paddle as fast as they could to the waiting Sea Shadow.


    Yet as they approached the Sea Shadow, they could see the dark hull slowly dipping under the waves and disappearing from sight. The abandoned Isles'' soldiers'' shock turned to anger and fear as they screamed at the Fleet Master who had abandoned them.


    Therge rectangr shaped flying ships of the Cartel quickly overtook the dozen longboats and long dark muzzles poked out from its underbelly. The screams of anger and betrayal were soon overtaken by the sharp hiss crack of the avenging Cartel flying ships'' steam cannons.

 Chapter 564: Welcome To My House

    Chapter 564: Wee To My House


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Command Bridge


    ke was standing with his hands sped behind his back as he stood in the middle of the Command Bridge. Arge screen was ying live imagery from a circling recon FB - 1S over the area of operations with smaller portraits of other senior Officers lined up on the side.


    "How long until the naval strike groupes into contact with the Cartel air fleet?" ke asked one of the portraits on the screen.


    "Sir, another forty minutes and twenty... two seconds," Reported Captain Nimo of the Vengeance who had rushed back onboard. "Task Force g will also arrive at Point Gamma in ten minutes."


    "Sir," Commander Ford''s image spoke. "These events were most likely the results of Fleet Master Megan''s ploy... Are we going to y into her hands?"


    "Ignore her," ke replied coldly. "Destroy the iing Cartel air fleet."


    "Are there no other options?" Commander Ford asked. "We could force their surrender..."


    "Destruction or surrender," ke shook his head. "Do what you wish, as long as they no longer pose any threat to us."


    "Yes, Sir!" Commander Ford nodded. "And how should we deal with the Isles?"


    "Have Dijon despatched to the Council," ke said after a short moment. "He will know what to do!"


    -----


    The New World, The Isles, First City of the Fleet, UN Convoy


    Two Magic Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, followed by an armoured truck towing a cargo trailer and finally a MAW Mk VI spider tank with its turret facing the rear was rolling slowly along the cobbled streets. Many carriages and people had to stop to give way for the huge menacing vehicles and the pedestrians stared curiously at the rumoured magic carriages of the United Nations rolling pass.


    Mills rode on the vehiclemander seat of the second MRAP of the convoy headed along the coastal road towards the city proper. The ride and scenery would have been enjoyable if not for the fact they were most likely trying to create a coup with a super small force of Marines. Behind him, seated in the passengerpartments were filled armed and armoured Marines bantering among themselves.


    Mills leaned out of the window and yelled into his radio at his sergeant in the lead MRAP as they slowed down behind a particrly slownd dragon carriage hogging the road. "Get those people out of the way! We are moving at a damn slow pace! Hell! Slow''s grandma can walk faster than this shit!"


    The sergeant in the lead MRAP hopped out of the vehicle with a couple of Marines and they ran up to the ornate carriage, startling the upants inside. By then the whole convoy had halted and everyone was sticking their heads out trying to see what was the hole up. The upants of the ornate carriage were clearly not amused by the choice of colourful words spewed by the Marine sergeant as evidenced by their facial expressions.


    But soon under the loud horns of the lead MRAP and the cussing of the sergeant, the cowed driver of the carriage moved the carriage to the side and the convoy hurriedly squeezed through the street and overtook the carriage with its angry upants. The convoy paused again to pick up the sergeant and his men before continuing on at a faster pace.


    The convoy made faster speed along the coastal road and soon came up to the outer walls of the city. As the paved road, they were using was the main street leading to a wealthier district, there was not much traffic at the gates. The carriages and wagons belonging to the lower sses would enter another gate, and word of the Marines arrival had long spread to the city and its guards.


    Their arrival at the gates seemed to have knocked a ho''s nest as guards in the livery of the Isles came pouring out from somewhere. They formed a shield wall at the gates, blocking the way as several guards with more fluff on their uniforms came over. Mills let out a sigh and he hopped off the MRAP with his toon leaders.


    "State your reason for entry!" One of Isles'' officer guardsman demanded as he red at the Mills and his men suspiciously.


    "We are from the United Nations," Mills put on his best boyish smile as he dug out a letter. "We are headed to Fleet Master Dijon''s docks on behalf of a request from his family."


    "Fleet Master Dijon?" The Isles'' officer guardsman frowned as he took the tied up scroll and unfurled it. Mills leaned over slightly and took a peek, seeing lots of borate writing and impressive looking seals stamps here and there. The officer''s frown deepened as he retreated back a few steps to consult with the rest of his party before he cleared his throat and said in a stern voice.


    "This document appears to be in order! But be known that thete Lord Dijon is no longer a Fleet Master!" The officer then made a gesture to thepany of guardsman at the gate who parted to make way for the vehicles and handed the scroll back to a grinning Mills. "Your... your magic wagons are not to enter the market streets nor the side roads! Head straight to the docks and conduct your business! Do not block the road!"


    "Thank you, Sir!" Mills''s grin widened and he pressed a gold crown into the officer''s palm. Immediately, the officer''s stern expression changed to one of happiness before returning to normal. The coin also disappeared as fast as it appeared and the officer gave an understanding nod to Mills and waved them forward.


    Mills walked up to the lead MRAP and banged the side before he returned to his vehicle and climbed in. The convoy shook out as the vehicles rolled slowly forward through the gates that were just wide enough for the width of the MAW Mk VI spider tank to pass through. The pilot of the spider tank had to contract its legs down so that its height was able to clear the gate''s ceiling.


    Once through the gates, they passed through a za lined with fruit trees and the terraces of the city lining the mountainsides could be seen. The First City of the Fleet was constructed around the fertile slopes of a dead volcano. The terraces grew a variety of crops including their regional speciality, cococane grass.


    The convoy passed through the za and reached the inner wall where they passed through another gate before entering the city. Immediately, all eyes on the street were on the convoy as they rolled slowly through the packed streets filled with people, wagons, and beasts of burden.


    The Inders had known of the marvels of the United Nations'' ''tek no lo gee'' magic for years. Yet, it was the first time for many of its citizens toy their eyes on the magical wagons that required nond dragons to pull! They had heard and even seen steam engines and steamships but wagons moving on their own power without the aid of steam engines was something new for many.


    There were some merchants who had seen such vehicles in their dealings with the United Nations before and they started to brag about what they know. Soon crowds gathered another of those merchants as they proudly brag of their tales. On the other hand, crowds pushed closer to the convoy, many reaching out to touch the mystical magic wagons while some of the naughtier children even tried to climb up on the sides.


    Seeing the situation getting out of hand and their progression halted, Mills popped out from the top hatch of the cab and started ordered his men to deploy to keep the crowds away. Marines climbed out of the passengerpartments and started yelling and shoving people back to keep them away from the convoy.


    Mills felt a sense of deja vu as he watched the excited crowd surging around the convoy. It recalled him of the time he was in the city of Norshelm where he led a convoy in to rescue Titanna from the spell crazed citizens of the city. For a moment, he almost yelled out for the gunners to open fire before catching himself. Taking deep breaths, he mentally counted to ten before he picked up the radio and spoke in a surprisingly calm voice.


    "Maw Three Seven, this is Raider Actual" He turned to face the spider tank. "See if you scare the crowd a bit."


    "Roger that, Raider Actual," The spider tankmander replied and the spider tank bringing up the rear suddenly gave out a loud whine of machinery as its legs extended outwards, pushing the MAW to its full height.


    Its sudden movement shocked the crowd and they pushed back away from the spider tank flexing its armoured legs. The rectangr turret whirled to the left and right as if tracking the crowd and its height and alienness intimidated the crowd more. The crowd backed away from the mechanoid tank, giving space for the deployed Marines to clear the way for the vehicles to move.


    The MAW followed behind the convoy using its mechanized legs instead of deploying its wheels. Each stomp of its rubber lined feet could be felt by the paralysed crowd as they watched in awe at the mighty ''tek no lo gee'' wonders of the United Nations.


    Shortly after, squads of Isles'' guardsman came to help restore order and they cast looks of envy and wonderment at the Marines as they continued their way to the private docks belonging to Dijon''s family. Their speed through the streets increased with the help of the Isles'' guardsman and soon the convoy found themselves before an ancient gateway.


    A grated moss covered wall sectioned off a part of the docks at the western side of the city. A crest bearing the coat of arms of a kind of sea monster imposed over three harpoons hang over the low gateway that was the entrance into Dijon''s family dock and estate. The house guards of Dijon''s family quickly stopped the convoy and Mills had toe out again to present the letter before the guards allowed them entry except for the spider tank as it was toorge to past through the gates.


    Mills passed on his orders to the MAW Three Seven''smander before he joined the rest of the convoy, leaving the spider tank to take up position next to the gate and folding its frame down and turning into a sort of gun bunker. After passing through the gate, they came into a stone causeway that was connected to another small ind.


    The height and pirs between the causeway were enough for a sailing ship to pass unhindered under the causeway as witnessed by Mills. The waters underneath the causeway had several ships of all sizes slowly paddling past as the convoy drove over the bridge, taking up bothnes.


    Another ancient looking gate appeared at the end of the bridge, which Mills gauged to be over half a kilometre long. He could see an ind surrounded by a stone wall and facing the open sea, was a port and shipyard that appeared to be quite empty, judging by the number of empty slips. The convoy rolled through the gate and came to a halt in the middle of a huge za that was by walls on all sides.


    A group of people came forward as Mills and his toon leaders hopped out of their vehicles. He took a nce around the three story high walls that surrounded them and judged that they were on some kind of parade ground that wasrge enough to hold over two to three thousand soldiers.


    "Sir!" A Lieutenant called out to Mills, "Someone wants to see you!"


    Mills turned his attention away from his surroundings and rested his eyes on the leading figure of the group waiting at the side. His eyes were immediately caught by a middle age woman dressed all in ck mourning colours.


    "Her Ladyship of House Portia wees you."

 Chapter 565: Firepower!

    Chapter 565: Firepower!


    "I am Lady Gloria of House Portia," A woman looking in her mid forties and covered in an all ck gown and a weird looking head scarf stepped forward with a curtsy and said in a soft tone. "I am currently the Head of the House."


    "I hear you bear news of my deceased son..." Lady Gloria asked as she measured up Mills who gave a salute. "You are?"


    "I am Captain Mills of the United Nations, 3rd Marine Battalion," He introduced himself and his officers. "In regards to your son, Lord Dijon..."


    "I think it is better if we speak in a more... private setting and time is of the essence," Mills said as he took a quick nce around, seeing a small crowd forming around them at the square.


    Lady Gloria gave a nod and was about to show them the way when Mills gestured to her instead towards one of the magical wagons that had a huge long box on it. "This way, my Lady."


    Mills gave a bow that would not look out of ce in a royal''s court, courtesy of Titanna''s coaching. He inwardly grumbled to himself thinking that was why Major James had sent him here but he did not let his emotions show on his face. As they came to the side of the container truck, a Marine unhitched a set of steps and opened the armoured hatch.


    Mills gestured for Lady Gloria to enter while stopping the rest of herdies in waiting and guards, making them start a fuss. Lady Gloria silenced her retinue with a sharp nce before she gave Mills an inquisitive look. Mills gave her an assuring smile and she let out a soft sigh before she steeled herself and climbed up the metal steps and into the strangely lit unknown interior.


    Mills jerked his head at his men who took up positions outside the entry hatch to prevent the incensed and worrieddies in waiting and guards from forcing their way in before he and some of his toon leaders climbed into the container truck.


    -----


    Lady Gloria had been heartbroken ever since her eldest son was lost against the Outsiders that heralded the start of the current conflicts around the New World. House Portia had long been established itself as one of the more influential Houses in the Isles.


    An outpouring of sympathy and condolences had flooded in ever since her eldest son, Dijon was presumed dead. But once his title of Fleet Master was taken over by another, those voices of support disappeared as fast as gold vanishing in a gambler''s hands.


    It was not all that bad for House Portia as they still retained arge number of trade houses and merchant ships, which would ensure their legacy to continue on for another few hundred years. But when the Outsiders called the Cartel appeared and suddenly invaded the Eastern Inds, several House Portia''s interests were affected.


    The Third Fleet which used to be led by Fleet Master Dijon, had been handed over to the ex master Guild Master, Tediore who was voted to the position of Third Fleet Master. The Third Fleet had been dispatched after the loss of the First Fleet to reinforce the Eastern Inds but the majority of the Fleet had sunk after several heroic encounters with the Cartel''s flying fleet.


    Most of the Third Fleet used to be trained and financed by House Portia when under Dijon''smand. Arge part of House Portia was effectively wiped out by the loss of the Third Fleet and one of the ships that sunk had carried the younger brother of Dijon.


    Hence, Lady Gloria, mourning another son, was devastated. But some form of hope for Dijon came from a mysterious messenger from the United Nations that imed to have news of Dijon''s fate and that he was still alive. Badly hurt but still alive. This news gave Lady Gloria hope again and she agreed to meet up with the United Nations, giving them a letter permitting them entry to House Portia.


    When the convoy of magic wagons came knocking at her door, she hurried down to meet the visitors, her heart beating frantically for the hope of seeing her son alive. Hence she agreed without a question to enter the strange box shaped wagon alone without any regards for danger, just to know if her eldest son is still alive or not.


    Once inside the strange wagon, the bright white glowmps lit up the interior as brightly as a sunny day. Rows of strange arcane runes glowed and emitted low hums covered one side of the boxy interior. At the furthest end, a huge bulky statue with dozens of hoses of some sort appeared to be being worshipped by some of the strange green wearing soldiers.


    The tall short eared soldier called Mills appeared behind her with a few other of his simrly d soldiers. The door closed with a hiss mp and the soldier Mills with his courtly etiquette gestured to the statue at the rear.


    Lady Gloria took a deep breath to calm herself and walked towards the statue. The interior wasrger than she imagined as she followed the soldier to the end. She wondered if the rumours from the past were true, that the hoomans of the United Nations were demons and practised sacrificial and dark magic.


    They stopped before the strange statue that appeared to be squatting down and what appeared to be hoses poked out from various parts of the statue. The statue looked to be shaped crudely, its surfaces were squarish and boxy looking, and it was painted in a deep crimson red, like dried blood.


    It did not appear to have a head and only a sort of thick slit on the upper portion of the chest area and also only has three or four giant fingers and toes on its strange thick limbs. Lady Gloria frowned ask she stared at the statue, wondering why did these strange soldiers bring her here when all she wanted to know was news of her eldest son.


    Suddenly a strange disembowelled voice came from the statue before and its words surprised her more as she stared in confused shock at it.


    "Mo... Mother, i... it is good... to see you... well..."


    -----


    "Skull Lead to Venny," Flight Lieutenant Foy hit hisms as he spotted the dots lining up the horizon of the sky in the distance. The current generation aircraft stillcked a radar system and required the FB - 1S loitering in the skies above to provide radar coverage for the Cobras and Vipers. But he heard rumours of the next generation fighters would boast radar systems and higherbat abilities and manoeuvrability. "Contacts spotted!"


    "Roger, Skull Lead," Came back the cool reply. "Engage the enemy!"


    "All Flights!" Foy switched hisms to squadron wide. "Form up to the attack n!"


    Replies of confirmation returned in thems and the carrier strike wing shook itself into an attack formation with the Viper squadrons taking up both the lead and rear with the Cobras armed ship killer rockers in the middle. Fuel tanks fell off the aircraft to reduce drag, weight, and increase manoeuvrability inbat as they readied for action.


    "Iing!" Someone yelled out in thems and Foy spotted even more tiny dots that suddenly appeared from beneath the fast approaching Cartel air fleet. "They are deploying interceptors!"


    "Alright, boys! They spotted us!" Foy spoke into hisms. "All fighters to cover the strike bombers! I heard they got a new shipment of cococane wine at the flight mess tonight!"


    The leading Viper squadrons roared in and rapidly closed the distance to the Cartel''s air fleet and they suddenly veered off course. The Cartel''s tiny ornithopter interceptors broke formation and chased after the veered off Vipers in hopes of shooting them down and gaining glory. The distraction tactics had sessfully drawn off arge portion of the Cartel''s protective air cover.


    Seeing the air cover thinned out, Foy gave the order for the rest of the Viper squadrons at the rear to engage the remaining Cartel''s interceptors. The pilots acknowledging the orders pushed their second generation fighters to the max and overtook the slower and heavilydened Cobras and engaged inbat with Cartel''s ornithopter and screamed. "HAIL FIREPOWER!"


    The once clear skies were suddenly crisscrossed with fiery tracers, smoke trails and thunder as pilots from both sides wrestled in the air. The UN Airforce with its superior machines quickly had the upper hand as bolt after bolt of incendiary and armour piercing rounds punched holes in the slower Cartel''s ornithopters, shredding metal and wood as easy as tearing paper. Boilers burst and escaping steam cooked the four man crewed ornithopters, sending many of the barrel shaped machines spinning out of control to ssh down at the dark ocean waters.


    The Cartel''s ornithopters were seriously over ssed by both speed and weaponry as they carried only a single steam cannon. The entire ornithopter was built around the steam cannon, the single pilot cockpit was housed above the barrel of the cannon. The boiler, water, coal and aetherium tanks sat right behind the cockpit crewed by an engineer, and rear, shaped like a giant barrel housed the gears and aerial screw engines, including the two gunners.


    The short barreled steam cannon once fired, can be retracted in and the two gunners would proceed to reload the weapon. Like a rifle grenade, they will plug the muzzle with a harpoon or canister containing dozens of fisted sized lead balls.


    The slow rate of fire and including the need to keep the craft stable in flight for both the boiler and steam cannon meant the Cartel ornithopter could not engage in crazy manoeuvres, making them easy kills for the more agile Vipers.


    The Cartel air cover was soon reduced down to just barely a handful of survivors who attempted to escape death and return to the protective magic barriers of their motherships. The UN Navy Cobras with the way cleared, broke off into pairs as they began their attack runs on the capital airships of the Cartel.


    Bursts of white steam shrouded the Cartel''s airships as their steam cannons open fired at the fast approaching attackers. The Navy Cobra pilots were well known to have balls of steel as they had to stare at deathing at them and not flinch in their attack runs. Dark blurs whirled past the Cobra pilots as they finally came within range of their ship killers.


    Fiery roars rocketed off underneath the wings of the Cobras and the pilots veered off their aircraft as the airspace was suddenly filled with streaks of dirty grey contrails of heavy rockets screaming to their targets.


    The Cartel airships captains sensing danger from those fast approaching streaks of smoke quickly ordered their ships to turn. Ailerons were deployed and aerial screws on one side stopped turning and the huge heavy airships turned ever so slowly to evade the smoke streaks.


    Balls of mes and inky ck smoke exploded against the magic shields of the evading airships. Not all the airships managed to dodge the rockets and the surrounding skies were suddenly coloured in flickering rainbow glows and thunderous roars.


    Shields failed as they were overloaded by the might of superior firepower and hulls were suddenly exposed to the elements. The mages onboard the airships scrambled urgently to restore the magic shields but they were toote as the second wave of ship killers rockets came screaming in and impacted against the naked hulls.


    Airships engulfed in mes started to fall out of the skies mixed with thick streams of ink ck smoke, white steam and faint blue white aetherium gas escaping from the breached hulls. In barely ten minutes ofbat, already a third of the Cartel air fleet was lost in the opening of the air action.


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Hangar Deck A


    Plee paused in the chewing of her burger as she suddenly felt a surge of divinity emerging out from beyond the iron ship she was in. She turned her head to face the direction where she could sense the surgeing from and her eyes started to glow orange in colour as she stared off into the distance.


    "Fire... power!"

 Chapter 566: Take Over the World

    Chapter 566: Take Over the World


    The Cartel Expeditionary Fleet, gship The Hammer of Resolute


    The decks shook with a loud metallic moan and tilted wildly to one side. Screams and cries of panic came from the crew struggling to stay upright as the airship''s magical barrier went down and the second wave of ship killer 127 mm rockets mmed right against the exposed hulls. Metal shrieked as explosions covered the sides of the airship.


    Grand Lord Hammerfall griped the nearby railings as the decks underneath him shifted sharply, throwing many of the bridge crew off their feet. He steadied himself as well as he could and yelled loudly, "Bring back the shields! Shut engines two and four and rebnce the ship!"


    "Shut the aetherium off the starboard side!" He continued calling out orders as the bridge crew recovered. The airship started to restore its equilibrium as the aetherium gas was shut off on the starboard side. Damage control crews carried out repairs and wounded were carried to healer stations.


    Mages reced burnt out mana stones and restored damaged magic circuits and runes as they raced against time to bring back the magic barriers protecting the ship. Grand Lord Hammerfall''s face was grim as reports after reports came in flooding in. Each report told him the situation facing his fleet was getting worse and worse that he did not even need to listen to see the scenes of sinking airships.


    The loss of the entire fleet''s steam flyers had already shaken him up and he quickly came to the conclusion that these enemies must be the rumoured powered United Nations. He watched with helpless fury as the nearby Overseer tumbled off the skies when its crew failed to save the ship.


    The shock of just seeing the enemy''s tiny flyers deal so much damage to his fleet in barely half a turn of the sand ss had caused Grand Lord Hammerfall to feel fear. He watched as the fast ck dots of the enemy flyers flew off after mauling his fleet.


    Grand Lord Hammerfall was torn between chasing the retreating flyers and destroying them as they refuel and rearm. He knew that the locals here possessed no flying ships and he suspected that the flyers hade from a ship or somend base. If he pushed the remains of his fleet in pursuit of the enemy flyers, he could destroy them before the enemy rearms.


    Or, he could retreat his fleet ande out with a method to defeat the enemy flyers and take the safer choice of retreating. As he was debating to himself on what should he do, a crew member called out and handed Grand Lord Hammerfall a message scroll."Grand Lord, a message from Lord Copperstone!"


    He unfurled the message scroll with a frown and quickly read through the contents and his frown turned into a smile as he crumpled up the scroll in his fist with his mind made up. He turned to his bridge crew and yelled, "Order the fleet to pursue the enemy! Ships too damaged to move are to return to the nearest outpost for repairs!"


    "We will pursue and destroy the enemy as theynd and reservice their flyers! For Rock and Stone!"


    -----


    Task Force g, UNS Vengeance


    "Order the fleet to ready for surface to airbat," Commander Ford ordered as he eyed the radar disy. "Have air patrol stand by to intercept the approaching air fleet."


    "Sir, the enemy fleet is still an hour out at their current speed and heading," Captain Nimo reported before asking. "Is there a need for the Task Force to engage the enemy fleet?"


    "Yes, I want the Task Force to put the fear of the UN into their minds forever," Commander Ford replied as he continued looking at the radar screen. "Using aircraft to destroy the Cartel''s air fleet will not be as effective as letting them watch a good ole fashion fleet blowing them off the skies."


    "This way we can defeat them both physically and mentally," Commander Ford said. "We can force a surrender faster this way by making the survivors fear us."


    "Will it work?" Captain Nimo asked. "The use of attack aircraft to destroy them will not put risk to the fleet..."


    "I know, we will keep the engagement distance with the enemy at one point five kilometres," Commander Ford said. "It is enough distance for the enemy to see us and far enough for their weapons to be ineffective."


    "It could work," Captain Nimo nodded.


    "And we want to put a show of force to the Isles," Commander Ford added. "What''s better than a live show of fireworks right on their doorstep!"


    "They wanted us to engage the Cartel air fleet here at some secluded reef just beyond sight of any habited inds..." Commander Ford''s finger tapped on the map on the tactical plot table. "But..."


    With a wicked grin, Commander Ford traced his finger along the map to another location on the map and said, "We will instead move the Task Force here just off the north eastern coast of the First City, right where their entire city can see us. Then, all we need is to wait for the Cartel air fleet toe!"


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet, House Portia


    Lady Gloria was seated on a chair that was helpfully provided by Mills as she tried to understand what happened to her eldest son. The knowledge of finding out that her son had turned into a statue of sorts had shaken her to the core. She was both horrified and happy at the same time, as she sat there dumbfounded staring at what was supposed to be her eldest son, Dijon.


    "Dear... mother," The disembowelled voice came from the hulking statue. "I... know... this might... be hard to... ept..."


    "But... I... am truly... your son... Dijon..." Dijon''s voiceing out from two external mounted speakers on his midsection. "My... body... my soul... has been saved... by them..."


    Dijon''s mother stood up at gently touched the thickly armoured carapace surrounding Dijon''s life support and a host of other electronics and mechanisms. High powered lenses behind a slit of armoured sapphire ss whirled as they focused on the wrinkle covered face of Lady Gloria.


    A soft whine of machinery sounded as Dijon moved a three digit w to gently wipe the drop of tear off his crying mother''s face. "Do... not... be... sad... Mother... I am... fine and alive... despite... this appearance..."


    "My son! It''s really you?" Lady Gloria stared at the t surface of the statue and at the w that appeared. "You... can move? You are still alive!"


    "Yes, Mother," Dijon replied as he demonstrated by moving his arms, "I still live."


    "But... why have you be like this?" Lady Gloria asked as she looked up and down Dijon''s metal body. "What happened?"


    "It... is a long... story..." Dijon replied. "I... will exinter... Now... we have... no time..."


    "Yes, madam," Mills stepped in. "We would need your help in getting your son into the Council Chambers."


    "Why do you need to enter the Council Chambers?" Lady Gloria looked at the featureless statue that was her son and to the short eared soldier.


    "It is best for you not to know... yet," Mills said mysteriously. "We know all the Houses have warehouses located within the walls of the Council Chambers, storing weapons, grain, and other essentials in the case of a siege."


    "We just need your token of authority to let the guards allow us to enter through the Council Chambers'' walls," Mills exined as best as he could without leaking too much operation information.


    Lady Gloria looked at Dijon''s nk features before she nodded and stood up, "Wait here, I shall ask my servants to fetch what you... require!"


    "Thank you," Mills said gratefully before he made a turn to his officers. "Get the men ready!"


    After a moment. the container truck rumbled out of the gates and once again entered the city streets. The driver sounded its horn impatiently as he navigated the truck through a curious crowd before finally arriving before a set of impressive looking stone gate where dozens of Isles guardsman stood sentry.


    A token was disyed followed by a letter covered with more impressive looking seals followed by an exchange of words and a small bag of gold coins disappeared into the guardsmen hands, the gate leading into the city''s granary and warehouses opened.


    The truck drove into a tunnel that was lit by scores of glowmps that led deep into the mountains where the Council Chamber was located at the peak. It soon came to a halt inside a massive cavern with elf made caves filled with barrels and crates of supplies.


    Several guards and workers looked at the truck with curiosity as Mills hopped out from the truck cab. "Alright, we are here! Time to take over the world!"


    -----


    The Isles, The First City of the Fleet, Council of Masters'' Chamber


    Fleet Master Akron nced at the handcrafted wooden timepiece hanging on the side of the Chambers, which was a gift to the Isles. The timepiece was a marvel of an artefact as it told time more urately and efficientlypared to a sand ss.


    Akron had always admired the timepiece but at this moment, he only had worrying thoughts as he constantly checked the time. Fleet Master Megan''s n was in full swing and now the only final piece was the giant ship of the United Nations doing its part in the grand scheme.


    Earlier in the day, when Commander Ford of the United Nations came to the Council requesting an audience told the Council of the impending arrival of the Cartel invasion fleet, Akron had managed to convince the hooman to take his fleet out to meet the iing Cartel fleet, and help protect the ''defenceless'' Isles'' city as the majority of the Isles'' fleets were out there fighting against the Cartel and will not be able to return in time to protect the city.


    He had even handed over the Home Fleet garrisoning the City under themand of the hooman to show his trust in him and finally managed to persuade the hooman to help the Isles. Akron even pressed on the urgent need to the hooman that they needed to defend a region that was about half a day of sailing time away from the city, citing that location was the best ce to respond to any course changes of the Cartel air fleet.


    Now, he nced at the clock again, counting the time for all sides get into position, from the United Nations'' fleet to Megan''s hidden fleet and finally the Cartel''s flying fleet. Once the United Nations and the Cartel started fighting, Megan''s hidden fleet will move out from its hiding locations to reconquer back the inds taken by the Cartel.


    Over fifty ships of various sizes and abined total of nearly two hundred dragons, Megan''s fleet had hidden in sheltered coves and sea caves waiting just for the right opportunity. With the majority of the Cartel flying ships away from the conquered inds, the overwhelming number of dragons and ships will be more than enough to defeat any remaining Cartel flying ships.


    And Megan''s underwater ship will lurk right where the United Nations'' Fleet will be headed to and most likely Megan will strike when the United Nations'' attention was focused against the Cartel!


    He shook his head thinking how devious Megan''s scheme was. To be able to force the Cartel out and attack its bases when it was undefended and next using the United Nations to destroy the Cartel before stepping in and quietly dealing a sneak attack at the United Nations without anyone knowing the truth!


    And even if the giant United Nations'' ship survived the sneak attack by Megan''s underwater ship, the me will never fall onto the Isles'' shoulders as who would have thought that there was such a thing as a ship that could sail under the water!

 Chapter 567: Battle of Wind Coast

    Chapter 567: Battle of Wind Coast


    "Fleet Master!" A frantic messenger came panting into the Chambers. His hurried foot steps making a series of squeaks on the polished marble floor of the Chambers as he came to a knee before Akron. "An urgent message!"


    Akron frowned and he gestured the messenger over, ignoring the inquisitive looks cast his way from the other Council members including Fleet Master Tediore. The messenger bent over Akron''s ear and started whispering in a low voice. "The Home Fleet reports the giant ship has veered off course and instead sailed to the Wind Coast!"


    "What?" Akron jerked up from his seat in shock. "Why?"


    The messenger could only give an apologetical shrug as he stepped back from the enraged Fleet Master. Akron pushed him out of the way as he rushed to the viewing balcony on the upper levels of the Chamber and stared out to the distance and sure enough, the unmistakable shape of the United Nation''s giant ship could be clearly seen just off the coast in full view of the entire city. "No!"


    "Signal the Home Fleet!" Akron yelled at his aides in frustration. "Tell them that no matter what, they must force that... damn ship to the Seabone Reefs!"


    His outburst and actions had attracted the entire Council to join him at the balcony and they too saw the United Nations'' giant ship in the distance. Many of them rejoiced to see the ship as it was their only hope of winning the war with the Outsiders while those in the know regarding the ns of Megan had their faces turn pale.


    "Do we still not inform the people of theing attack?" A Council member asked the visibly furious Akron. "The giant ship of the ''Un An'' is already here. The people will soon find out if the battle starts here and the city will be in chaos!"


    Akron grounded his teeth as his mind raced toe out with a counter n to the unexpected actions of the United Nations. He grabbed another aide and said in a voice as calm as possible, "Send a message to the giant ship of the ''Un An''! Further, exin to them they need to sail to Seabone Reef to block the Cartel flying fleet instead of waiting here!"


    "If the Cartel flying fleet changes course to attack other of the home inds, they will not be able to intercept if they sit here!" Akron spoke as clearly as possible to the aide, making sure he was very clear of the message before he sent him off. "Remember! Tell them to sail immediately!"


    Those not in the know of Megan''s ns frowned as they heard Akron''s orders. They quickly question Akron''s action. "Why must the ''Un An'' ship leave? The other inds can fend for themselves!"


    "We can''t let the First City fall!"


    "The Council is more important!"


    "Enough!" Akron yelled over the din of questions, and the Council quietened down. He quickly came out with an excuse. "We must not let the battle ur in sight of the city! Imagine the trust of the people in us falling! The traders and merchants will flock to the ''Un An'' for their protection in the seas if think we could not protect them in the seas!"


    "Your business interests will be affected! The people trust in us will drop! Your influence will be affected forever!" Akron''s words seemed to strike a chord among the Council members as they mumbled agreements. "Do you want to lose everything to the ''Un An''?"


    "No! They... they must not battle here!" An ''enlightened'' member of the Council suddenly cried out and soon his cry was taken up by the rest.


    Akron let out his breath which he had held in and watched as the Council members started ordering their aides to send messages to the damn shipmander, demanding them to move their fleet away from the city.


    "Damn the Un An!" He cursed under his breath. If the Un An remained here, their ns to ambush the Un An fleet with the Sea Shadow would fail and with everyone in full view of the battle, it would be hard for them to im any credit for destroying the Cartel''s air fleet even if they recaptured their lost inds!


    -----


    The Cartel Expeditionary Fleet, gship The Hammer of Resolute


    Grand Lord Hammerfall nced out of the bridge windows at the tiny dots in the distance, his eyes trying to making out the details without sess. He was impressed and afraid both at the same time at the speed and power of the small flyers of the enemy. Such a small flyer was able to fly so fast, far, and also had such powerful magic attacks that could cripple his airships!


    If they could capture those flyers and make their own versions of it, then their hold in the Old World would be even stronger and even possibly allow them to expand theirnds and influence! Such thoughts crossed the Grand Lord''s mind as the air fleet chased after the retreating flyers.


    "Grand Lord! Land ahead!" An observer yelled out from his station. "The enemy flyers appear to be heading there!"


    "Atst!" Hammerfall stepped over to the observer''s station and peered through the far seeing sses. "This stupid chase has gone on for far too long!"


    "Order the fleet to ready for battle! We will win this war once and for all!" Hammerfall ordered. "For Rock and Stone!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Bridge


    "Sir, we are being hailed by multiple light signals from the First City," The XO of the Vengeance called out to Captain Nimo. "It seems they want us to sail out of sight of the city."


    Captain Nimo had a smile on his face as he turned to hismander who was bent over the tactical plot table. "Sir, the Isles want us out of this area."


    "Ignore them," Came back the reply as Commander Ford continued his work.


    "Sir, the Isles escorting fleet is also hailing us and their ships are cutting into the path of our ships," Captain Nimo said. "And the Cartel air fleet ising into the one point five kilometre range."


    "Ignore them," Came back the same reply. "Order the fleet to hold their position and prepare forbat!"


    "Aye aye!" Captain Nimo''s smile widened as he carried out the orders given. "All hands battle stations! Repeat this is not a drill!"


    Sirens wailed throughout the fleet as each ship in the task force went intobat. The Isles'' Home Fleet by this time had also spotted the approached flight of returning aircraft that was being followed by a more ominous looking cloud of airships. Most of the Isles'' ships quickly fled the area only a few more courageous captain remained behind to defend the First City.


    The chopped off roars ofnding aircraft soon filled the air as the air wing returned. Commander Ford finally left the map table and came into the bridge. He watched the bridge crew going on with their work in a professional manner and he smiled inwardly to himself feeling proud of the men and women here.


    "Enemy fleet entering task force engagement range in... three... two... one..." The weapons officer intoned as his eyes were glued to his screen. "Enemy fleet has entered preset weapons range!"


    "All ships..." Commander Ford had picked up thems that was set to the fleet wide channel where all the ships'' captains were waiting with anticipation for hismand. "Open fire!"


    There was a brief moment of silence before the harsh barks of 3" guns erupted throughout the fleet. Task Force g consisted of nine Goblin ssed corvettes, three having joined them in Fort Hensink and another three oilers and two supply ships hurdled behind the Vengeance.


    Flickers of red hot shells floated off into the skies towards the approaching Cartel air fleet as the entire Task Force fired their main guns. Even the auxiliary supply ships each carried a couple of 3" guns for self protection joined in enthusiastically. The sudden disy of firepower was quickly noticed by the inhabitants of the First City when the rumble of cannon fire rolled over the city.


    -----


    "NOO!" Akron yelled as he hammered his fist uselessly against the balcony railings as he saw the damn Un An fleet started firing their cannons. He quickly calmed himself as his eyes followed the floating glowing dots that seemed to travel at a slow speed in the skies.


    He turned to another aide and whispered into his ear, "Tell Megan that the n has failed! The Un An did not take the bait and are fighting the Cartel right at the First City! Go!"


    The aide nodded and silently slipped away without anyone noticing as all was watching the spectacle happening just off the coast. Akron turned his attention back to the battle and prayed silently. If Megan could return in time, she might still be able to deal a blow to the Un An before the battle was over!


    -----


    The Cartel Expeditionary Fleet, gship The Hammer of Resolute


    "ALL MAGIC POWER TO SHIELDS!" Grand Lord Hammerfall yelled as he stared in horror at the glowing lines of magic spells mming against his ships. "All ships to spread out!"


    He could see the small blobs of ships in the distance glittering under the sun rays. One appeared to be extraordinaryrge but he did not give it another thought as his entire fleet had suddenlye under a barrage of a new type of long range magic attack that they had never seen before!


    Loud booms and rumble of thunder surrounded the Cartel fleet as the spotted enemy fleet before them, spat bolts of magic at them from a distance that boggled the mind! "What in the Mountains are those magic they are throwing at us?"


    As he was trying to understand the situation, the ships bearing the crest and g of Lord Copperstone suddenly surged forward. Strange apparatus appeared from openings along the hulls of those ships and suddenly arcs of blue white lightning crawled between the tips of the tower like apparatus. The airships took up a formation before the fleet and took the brunt of the long range magic bombardment as Grand Lord Hammerfall feared the worse for Lord Copperstone, the enemy spells exploded against the arcs of lightning and the shields of those airships just flickered briefly and held.


    "By the Mountains!" Grand Lord Hammerfall yelled in glee. "That old bastard did it! His lightning shield finally worked!"


    The airships of Lord Copperfield were covered with ayer of crawling lightning arcs and worked as a crude kind of point defence system. Any projectilesing into contact with the lightning arcs were burnt and destroyed as was the case of the 3" shells. The 3" shells harmlessly exploded against the lightning shields before the resulting explosion rolled over the magic barrier at a strength that did not overload the magic barrier allowing the barrier enough time to recover its power.


    Seeing its sess, the rest of the fleet quickly formed up behind Lord Copperstone''s ships using them as a shield against a storm of arrows and the fleet pushed on, trying to close the distance to the UN fleet. Grand Lord Hammerfall''s eyes shed with anticipation as the distance between the two fleets closed. "By the Mountains! We must capture these!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Bridge


    Commander Ford frowned as he watched the imagery shown by a circling recon ne above the battle. Captain Nimo gesture to the bluish lighting at the front of the enemy fleet and asked, "What kind of magic is that?"


    "Looks like some kind of magical point defence... " Commander Ford guessed before he shook his head. "Let''s see if they handle something bigger..."


    "Order the 2nd Air Wing to engage the enemy," Commander Ford said. "And ready the main guns."


    "Aye!" The orders were passed on and the loitering 2nd Air Wing in the clouds came swooping in using the sun as cover as they began their rocket runs. In the meantime, the waiting gun crews of the 14" gun turrets leapt into action, more than eager to show the Cartel the might of the Vengeance.

 Chapter 568: Bim Bam Boom!

    Chapter 568: Bim Bam Boom!


    The battle between the two fleets was fully viewed by thousands of people. The fantastic disy of firepower and magic was so intense that the people were totally absorbed by the light show and fireworks that they had did not even felt fear or any danger as they cheered on the sidelines, totally blissful of the fact that the lives were lost and that whoever won would have control of their fates and future.


    -----


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Command Bridge


    "Captain..." Lieutenant Tavor appeared beside Captain ke who was standing in the middle of the bridge staring at the main disy. "Are you sure we are not to inform the Commander about..."


    "No," ke replied without turning around as he continued to stare at the screen. "There is no need to."


    "It would not change anything at this point of time," ke added after a pause. "Dijon will handle Megan and Akron''s ns. He just has to focus on fighting his fleet."


    The Head of Intelligence gave a nod before he said, "Megan is one tight lipped person... Even with the bugs we have in her estate and the Council Chambers, we couldn''t get much intel..."


    Ever since the first trade contact with the Isles, Intel had long inserted listening devices within the Isles. The bugs were hidden inside specially made clocks that were gifted to powerful individuals of the Isles. And one of such clock was currently decorating the insides of the Isles'' Council of Masters'' Chambers.


    The nted bugs gave Naval Intel many insights to the Isles'' ns and agendas with credit going to the hardworking intel analysts who had to suffer through the constant ticking of the clock''s mechanism and filter out important information from thousands of conversations.


    Yet despite that, Intel only managed to gather hints and rumors of Megan''s ns as she did not share much information to her subordinates. But still enough data was collected for Intel to conclude some part of her ns, one which was to pit the UN against the Cartel and im all the credit for Cartel''s defeat.


    As for disputing the UN''s credit, it would be easy as information would be controlled solely by her own people. She could spread what news or lies as she wanted especially if certain members of the Council were not around to challenge her ims and it would greatly increase her standing among the people of the Isles.


    "Let''s Dijon handle it," ke said. "He has been briefed on what we know of Megan''s ns and also the cause of Fleet Master Kose''s death."


    "Sir, we could had prevent Fleet Master Kose''s death if we sent a task force over," said Tavor. "Than we would have another supporter on the Council on our side."


    ke shook his head before he answered, "No... This way would be the best..."


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Hangar A


    The ship shuddered constantly as dull thuds of cannon fire echoed through the cavernous hangar. Seated at one empty aircraft bay, was two dragons and a god girl. All around them was organized chaos as goblins in red munition jackets moved bombs and ammunition out from the bunkers to the waiting elevators.


    "What happening?" Plee asked curiously as she looked around at themotion around them. "Why they busy?"


    Blue Thunder stretched his body out on the cold metal decks and mumbled sleepily, "Just some fighting... Yaaaawn..."


    "R- ready?" Saphia poked her head out and looked around. "Don''t we need to be worried?"


    "Nah..." Blue Thunder replied confidently as he closed his eyes. "It will be over soon."


    "Oh there you are!" Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn suddenly appeared and she smiled at the god girl who had a confusion expression on her face. "What is the matter?"


    "What fight here?" Plee asked in a clumsy manner as she sat down before Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn with Blue Thunder and Saphia clustered behind. "Many many boom booms ah hear!"


    "It''s... a battle," Dr. Sharon replied. "Some... bad people are out there..."


    "Bad people?" Plee''s eyes widened. "What bad people? Why they bad?"


    "They want to take... things from us..." Dr. Sharon exined as simple as she could. "Like... if you have... burgers and I take it away from you without permission..."


    "Will you like that?" Dr. Sharon asked with a smile at the cute pained expression disyed on Plee''s face.


    "No!" Plee quickly replied. "My burger!"


    "They... are doing something like that to us..." Dr. Sharon said while Magister Thorn halfughed and coughed into his beard. She red at Magister Thorn who covered his mouth but did not hide the grin shown on his face and eyes.


    "Ooo... I see..." She bobbed her head before she asked again. "So they want take burgers from us?"


    "Eh... yes... and also we want to protect the other people''s... burgers... here..." Dr. Sharon saidmely.


    "Yes yes! We protect people and their burgers... and cheese fries!" Blue Thunder cracked an eye open and said in a very smug tone. "We are protectors of burgers and cheese fries!"


    "And freedom!" Saphia butted in shyly from the corner.


    "Are you sure you are teaching the right... things?" Magister Thorn asked in a low tone from the side to Dr. Sharon.


    "It''s more or less correct... right?" Dr. Sharon said weakly. "I mean... I... don''t know..."


    "Hahaha," Magister Thornughed before he turned to Plee and said in a gentle tone. "Plee?"


    "What Dr. Sharon here was teaching you was about right and wrong..." He started his lecture mode. "Stealing is not good as we had exined."


    "When peoplee to steal something from others that is not theirs, it is not right," Magister Thorn eyed Blue Thunder when he said that. Blue Thunder quickly averted his eyes away to stare at the bulkheads and whistled innocently. "In this case, these people areing to takends and property that do not belong to them and we are here to help protect those too weak to protect themselves and their property. Do you understand?"


    "Hmmm..." Plee frowned hard as she tried to understand Magister Thorn''s words. "Steal other people burgers bad? Protect other people burgers?"


    Dr. Sharonughed in glee as she saw Magister Thorn''s face turned red. "Hahaha!"


    "Anyway," Dr. Sharon said before Magister Thorn could put in another word. "We do our best to help people in need. But sometimes, peace can''t be achieved without war..."


    "Bad people want steal burgers?" Plee frowned as she tried to understand the situation. "Bad people want steal our burgers?"


    "Bad people no steal burgers!" Plee growled. "Plee protect burgers!"


    Her eyes suddenly lit up with an orange glow. surprising Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn. Plee jerked her head around and stared off into the side of the hangar bulkheads as if she could see through them. She raised one hand and pointed off to the bulkhead and the air suddenly seemed to crackle as the surrounding magic surged.


    "What the?" Dr. Sharon felt the hairs on her body raising as she stared in shock at the serious expression on the god girl. "What are you doing?"


    "Stop the bad people!" Plee hissed as she suddenly clenched her fist and the Vengeance trembled as the heavy boom of its main guns shook the entire ship.


    "BIM BAM BOOM!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Bridge


    "Sir!" The Vengeance weapons'' officer suddenly called out. "Gun One, Two, and Three are reporting loss of control of the turrets!"


    "What?" Captain Nimo shot out of his chair as he joined his XO at the weapons station. He nced the weapons disy before he rushed forward to the forward view ports and saw the heavily armored box shaped turrets of Gun One and Two rotating and the gun barrels pointing towards the enemy air fleet in the distance. "Cut all controls to manual!"


    "Sir! Guns are on manual but the gun captains are reporting they have no control over them!" The weapons officer replied in a panicked tone. "The guns... they are moving by themselves! No one is controlling them, Sir!"


    "Cut all power from those guns!" Captain Nimo ordered. "Are they loaded?"


    "Yes, Sir!" The weapons officer hurried replied. "Guns are loaded!"


    "Wha-" Commander Ford entered the bridge and was about to ask what was happening when all three 14" gun turrets fired simultaneously with a mighty boom. The ship rocked from the force and there was a moment of silence before thems started ringing as the other departments called in to find out what was happening.


    "Damage report!" The XO called out as he held against a headset to his ear. "Flight Deck B reporting several injuries from the unannounced main gun firing!"


    "Shut the main guns down!" Captain Nimo yelled. "Find out who stole control over the weapons now!"


    Commander Ford stepped over to the forward view ports and watched the wisps of gun smoke ejecting out from the 14" gun barrels. "What the hell just happened?"


    -----


    Nine 14" shells spun slowing as they cut through the air, joining many of its smaller caliber brothers and sisters shells already in the air, heading towards the approaching Cartel air fleet. The impacts of the 3" shells were tinypared to the monstrous 14" shells as all the shells were intercepted by a screen of lightning arcs as they attempted to m themselves against the Cartel''s hulls.


    The 3" shells upon contact with the magical lightning screen exploded as the lightning ignited their fuzes, regardless if the shells were armor piercing or high explosive. Holes temporarily were created in the lightning screen but were quickly closed up again. A few unlucky explosions managed to knock down the projecting apparatus and holes appeared in the screen, allowing a very small handful of 3" shells to slipped pass.


    But the Cartel''s magical barrier held against the 3" shells that managed to slip through the holes. The sporadic shelling was not powerful enough to overwhelm the magic barrier thus the Cartel air fleet advanced with more confidence.


    When all nine 14" shells impacted precisely right in the center of the lightning screen put up by Cartel airships, the force of the resulting explosion was something no one could ever imagine, at least not by the Cartel. The five airships creating the lightning screen disappeared under a massive ck cloud of smoke and mes.


    The lightning screen simply vanished and 0.07 secondster, thebined shock wave of nine 14" shells each containing almost half a ton worth of high explosives mmed into the magic barriers of the airships and the magic barriers barely held for half a breathe and the shock waves continued on to m into the metal and wood of the airships, snapping them like twigs.


    Broken airships dropped like a rock from the skies trailing smoke and mes. Many died without even knowing what killed them and those that survived the initial attack could only scream as gravity imed their lives.


    Grand Lord Hammerfall and his entire bridge crew stared with wide eye horror at the spectacr explosion that wiped out Lord Copperstone''s entire force faster than a heartbeat. "D- Di- Disperse the fleet now!"


    His sudden yelled shook the shocked crew awake and they hurried to carry out his orders. Slowly one by one, the remaining eight airships broke their tight formation and they emerged out of the giant drifting smoke cloud that imed so much of their brethren only toe under fire again.


    "Grand Lord! The Sulkier reports her engines are overheating! She is losing power and altitude fast!"


    "Falchion reports heavy damage to its lower decks and is requesting permission to retreat!"


    Grand Lord Hammerfall cursed under his breath as more and more requests for retreat came from his surviving captains. "Cursed Mountains! All ships to fall back! Produce smoke to cover our retreat!"


    As he yelled out themands, an panicked cry came from the observation deck, "Gra- Grand Lord!"


    "What is it?" He growled at the frightened observer who pointed off to the distance. He followed his arm and looked out of the view ports and his face paled as he saw a swarm of tiny ck dots approaching their nk rapidly.


    "By the Mountains..."

 Chapter 569: PAC Man

    Chapter 569: PAC Man


    Fleet Master Akron, Tediore and the rest of the Council sucked in a collective breath as they witnessed the side of the Un An giant ship belched mes and smoke. Several heartbeatster, the boom of the explosion rolled over and a shocked outburst of conversation erupted from the Council members as they discussed what just happened.


    "What happened to the Un An ship?"


    "Did they blew up?"


    "The Cartel won?"


    Akron ignored the snippets of debates around him as he frowned in confusion wondering if the Cartel had some unknown powerful weapon or spell. Suddenly a cry of surprise came out and everyone''s attention was caught by a massive shockwave expanding out from the leading flying ships of the Cartel. The boom and rumble like thunder followed shortly after and they all could clearly see ships falling off the sky like kites with their string cut.


    Akron''s face paled as he realised that the Un An was actually the ones with a super thunder weapon that was powerful enough to destroy several ships with a single attack! How could Megan ever hoped to even ambush such a ship was beyond his understanding. He stepped back from the balcony railings and pushed his way through the crowd to leave the ce as Megan''s schemes involving the United Nations had all failed.


    First, the n for the Un An fleet to be defeating the Cartel out of sight of the city did not happen. Secondly, the Un An fleet was not where it was supposed to be and they defeated the Cartel fleet not even within half the turn of a sandss! Thirdly, with the own city witnessing the might of the Un An''s power, Megan could not take the credit for defeating the Cartel and rally the citizens behind her.


    And finally, without Megan able to im any credit for the Cartel''s defeat, the discontent among the families of the sailors and soldiers lost to the Cartel will spill over and many would question the Council and the Fleet Masters for not requesting help from their allies, the United Nations!


    He wasn''t so worried about thest point as gold could easily cover up the discontentment, but it would set them back for several years. At least the secret of the underwater ship must be kept and in the future, if a fleet of such ships were further improved and built to sail these waters, the Un An might in the oceans would be overshadowed by the Isles!


    As he pushed his way through the balcony''s double doors, he sensed the ground tremoring. A heavy thud followed by another grew louder and louder while the floor trembled with such heavy thud. The guards at the Chambers appeared to be on alert as they held their polearms nervously as shouting could be heard beyond the heavy double doors leading into the Chambers.


    The guardsmen stepped away from the barred double doors and readied their long halberds. Those carrying shields took up position in front and linked their shields together, creating a shield wall facing the barred doors.


    At this point, the Council members had noticed themotion and they edged away from the main doors, finding spots to hide among the furniture and viewing gallery of the Chambers. Others tried to squeeze into the side chambers, offices, and document rooms and barred the doors from inside.


    The noiseing from outside the main doors suddenly disappeared and the moment of sudden silence made the guardsmen nervous. Akron hissed at the captain of the guards," Go find out what is happening!"


    The captain of the guards shoved two of his troops forward, "Go see what''s going on!"


    The nervous guards stepped towards the ornate gilded double doors and leaned their ears against it, trying to hear if anything was outside. The guards shook their heads at their captain, indicating they did not hear anything when the doors sudden lunged backwards with a loud bang and the wood and metal groaned.


    The iron bar held but the wood of the main doors started cracking and splintering by the force of whatever was behind it. The frightened guards scrambled back as the doors were attacked again, the hinges around the stone of the walls cracked and popping rock dust. Another loud bang shook the doors and the iron bar groaned, its once straight shape now slightly bent.


    The brackets holding the iron bar finally was unable to weight the force of the attack, broke off as the wood around it splintered and the securing nails were ripped off from the wood. The heavy iron bar hit the marble floor with a loud crack as the edge broke the polished floor.


    A crack appeared between the double doors and those insides could see a dark crimson shadow before it vanished and the doors were mmed ajar by a mighty force, sending one part of the door flying off its hinges to crash onto the floor.


    Akron stared at the hulky shape standing at the doorway and when the dust settled, its shape was more evident. "A golem?"


    "A Warjack!" Someone suddenly cried out as it was recognized by those who had seen the Outsiders'' Warjacks before. "The Cartel is here!"


    Akron frowned as he eyed the looming golem pushing its way through the ruins of the once beautiful and expensive doors. It was unlike any he had ever seen from the Cartel whose Warjacks looked more roundish while the one leaving cracked marble tiles before him was more box shaped and was coloured in crimson red instead of the Cartel''s silver and gold scheme.


    Instead, the crimson red of the golem reminded him of the Protectorate instead. By now, the massive Warjack had cleared the doorway and Akron frowned deeply when he saw several figures stepped through the doorway behind the golem.


    "Ah... Greetings and salutations?" The hooman wearing the mix patched colouredbat uniform of the Un An said as his face broke into a wide smile. "I think that is how it goes right?"


    -----


    Fifteen Minutes Ago,


    "Ai, you!" A trio of Isles guardsmen came over to the side of the truck parked in the middle of the underground silos that were filled with grains, water, and other preserved food. "What is this?"


    Mills let out a sigh as he leaned out from the corner of the vehicle and saw the trio carrying glowmps walking over. He turned to his small force of Marine Raiders and ordered, "Knock them out fast!"


    The men nodded and Mills stepped out into view, his hands out showing that he was unarmed and he smiled, "Greetings gentlemen!"


    "Ai! What are you doing here? This ce isn''t for such like you!" The lead guardsman demanded he stood before Mills and shone the glowmp at him and frowning. "You... What is this thing?"


    "Ah... It''s carrying grains, donated by Lady Portia to the Council!" Mills lied easily while taking a scroll out to show the guard. "All signed and stamped! The guards outside let us in here and told us to unload here!"


    "What?" The guard frowned as he eyed the important looking scroll. "No unloading here! You need to go to the quartermaster! He will tally the grains and get workers to move the grai-?!"


    The eyes of the guard bulged out as a shadowy figure appeared behind him and held him in a chokehold. He struggled while staring terrified at a smiling Mills who stood before him calmly rolling up the scroll as if nothing was happening. Slowly, the sight of the guard grew darker and darker as oxygen was cut off to his brain and he passed out.


    The Marine Raider released his chokehold and dragged the unconscious guard off to one hidden corner and dumped him together with the rest of the guards. Mills picked up the dropped glowmp and waved it around before saying, "Alright! Unload PAC Man and let''s get the show on the road!"


    Secondster, outriggers were deployed from the trailer and the sidewall of the trailer hummed as hydraulics folded the sidewall up and exposed the Power Armour, Cybeic, or PAC for short, waiting patiently in its cradle. Servos whined as the cradle extended out thebat walker beforetches were released and the PAC walker lumbered out from its crouched pose.


    Mills stood before the PAC and stared into the sensory slits on the upper part of the nk chassis. The troops nicknamed Dijon as PAC Man from its ssification acronym, drawing the name from some ancient game about some round ball eating pills and ghosts. "Good to go?"


    Dijon gave a bare nod, which the gesture barely showed up in the armoured carapace. He moved forward, each step ending with a heavy crunch on the rock floor. The mission nners had chosen the underground silos to insert in as the ce was used to handlerge cargo, meaning there were ramps and passagewaysrge enough for the PAC to manoeuvre.


    It was hard to conceal the appearance and the noise of a multi ton monster makes when it was moving. Workers and guardsmen could only stare wide eyed in shock and confusion as Dijon controlling the PAC made its way through the underground storage and appeared in the courtyard on the side of the mountain.


    Mills and his Marine Raiders followed closely, having to half run at times to keep up with the pace the PAC was moving. Despite its 2.8 meters tall height and weighing over four tons, the PAC could move rapidly with its two stubby feet in a lumbering gait.


    Guardsmen finally responded in force against the unknown intruder and they formed up around the PAC and Marines, demanding their identity and surrender. Dijon ignored them as he cast his electronic eyes at the grated gate of the walled off courtyard where thevishly decorated main concourse into the Council Hall could be seen.


    With a thought, the legs of the PAC lumbered forward and the Isles'' guardsmen fell back with fear. Bolts fired from crossbows bounced off harmlessly against its armour and barely scratched the heat resistant paint on its surface. Dijon walked past the guardsmen without raising a hand against them, the guardsmen could only helplessly allow him through if they did not want to get crushed under his weight.


    The wrought iron gates barely provided any resistant against Dijon and it flew off the walls tond somewhere on the stone concourse with a loud ng. The guardsmen could only chase after Dijon and the Marines as they made their way up the wide steps of the Council Hall where its main doors too proved to be helpless in stopping Dijon''s path.


    Any foolish guardsmen were knocked out of the way by Dijon''s bulk and even magic spells tossed by mages barely slowed his determined advance. Mills and his Marine Raiders quietly followed along while keeping their heads down, letting Dijon attract all the attention away while the helpless guards could only get out of his way.


    Using footage recorded by UN state officials and Dijon''s memory, they found their way through the Council Hall easily and came upon a set of huge double doors that were gilded in gold and had ornate carvings of trees and animals. Guards stationed outside attempted to stop Dijon but with a flick of his arm, the guardsmen were sent flying.


    Dijon leaned forward and like a charging bull, he rammed the double doors, cracking the walls around the hinges with his first try. After several rams, the battered doors copsed and he strolled into the Chambers with Mills and his men to face the Council.


    -----


    Mills waved the dust away from his face as he stepped through the wrecked doorway behind Dijon and found a shield wall blistering with spears facing him. He gave a grin when he spotted two of the Fleet Masters standing at the rear and said, "Ah... Greetings and salutations?"


    "I think that is how it goes right?"

 Chapter 570: Irony

    Chapter 570: Irony


    "What is the meaning of this?" Akron snarled as he red at the Un An soldier. "Are you attacking your own allies?"


    "No..." A disembowelled voice came from the crimson War Jack. "It is... I... Dijon... Here to... im my... dues!"


    "What?" Everyone present in the Chamber was dumbstruck as they stared at the huge metal golem. "But Lord Dijon had disappeared for over a year already!"


    "Don''t worry, we rescued him from the Protectorate who taken him and our Princess as prisoners!" Mills stepped in and said. "It''s a long story so don''t ask!"


    "Ho-?" Akron''s mouth hung open as he was about to ask how he was saved. He shut his mouth and ogled at the towering metal golem that was supposed to be Dijon and wondered should he believe them or not.


    "Impossible!" Fleet Master Tediore yelled as he pushed his way to the front. "There is nothing to even prove... this... thing is even a person!"


    Dijon shifted his chassis and looked at the speaker and certain information appeared within his mind. He stared at the Fleet Master for a moment in silence before he turned his entire metal body to face the Council members. "Lord Urthom... me and my... brothers... used... to sneak... into your... shipyard... to y... and you scolded us... for it..."


    "Master... Beckett... You asked... for a favour... two summers ago..."


    "Lord Agnes... Your son... served... in... my fleet... ever since... he was... of age..."


    One by one, Dijon pointed out to members of the Council and said things that only they knew. Fleet Master Akron and Tediore''s expression turned darker the more Dijon listed things out with people who knew him.


    Mills checked his watch and frowned as Dijon continued to drone on and he rapped against the armour skirt of his legs and cut in, "Dijon, I think it is enough to convince everyone here of your identity..."


    "Well, for one, I am really surprised and happy to see Dijon still alive!" Akron suddenly said with a wide smile on his face while he gestured to the metal body of Dijon. "I am sorry for not recognizing you, old friend."


    Mills rolled his eyes at the change of tone of Akron and stepped back, letting Dijon handle his own affairs. His job was to escort Dijon to the Council Chambers in one piece and allow Dijon to take over the Council or at least bring them to the UN side and disrupt whatever ns Megan has.


    "Enough... with the... act," Dijon replied without bothering to turn and face Akron. Akron''s smile dropped and he gave an awkward cough. Dijon continued on without skipping a beat, "I know... what you... and Megan... nned..."


    "You nned... to use... the Cartel... to kill off those... against you and... Megan..." Dijon said in an emotionless tone. "The First... Fleet Master... Kose..."


    "The... Fifth Fleet..." Dijon added. "And those... still loyal... to me... in the Third Fleet."


    "This way... there would be no one... able to... stand against... you and Megan..." Dijon finally turned around to face both the Fleet Masters, Akron and a pale faced Tediore. "No one will have... the power... to oppose... your rule..."


    "N- nonsense!" Akron snapped angrily. "You can''te in here and nder me! This is an outrage!"


    "Furthermore... You all want... to im that you were... the ones... that defeated the... Cartel..." Dijon said as he stood there unmoving. "And... take... all the credit... from the ones who truly... defeated... the Cartel..."


    "Guards!" Akron turned to the rows of idling guardsmen. "Remove them away, this instant!"


    Dijon remained at his spot unmoving as the guardsmen nervously advanced forward while Mills smiled. The dozen Marine Raiders readied their weapons as the guardsmen approached. Suddenly another voice came from Dijon, "- wanted the Dwarans to think they are saving us from the UN-"


    Megan''s voice could be clearly heard saying. "-hile at the same time, force the UN to send their fleet ove-"


    "-ut we could have asked them for help?" Next Akron''s voice was heard saying, "Oh... you wanted to control the information the Outsiders would have of the UN!"


    "Yes... If the UN had met the Outsiders first... They might establish friendly contact... and where does that leave us? Picking up their scraps again?" Megan''s voice replied. "This way, we can control information about the UN to the Outsiders. Creating an unfavourable impression of the UN to them-"


    "And when the UN sends their fleet over..." Megan''s voice resumed. "We can create a ''misunderstanding'' between the two forces... while we watch from the sides."


    "And reap the rewardster!" Akron''s voice said again. "Like the hunter stalking the peco and the wyvern!"


    The entire Chamber was in silence as the audio recording spoken by Akron and Megan was heard by all. All eyes were on Akron and his face turned ashen. "How... wait! That''s not true! This must be some kind of trick or magic!"


    "The words spoken... by... you... and Megan... and the ns..." Dijon''s tone did not change but there clearly a hint of threat in his tone. "You both... instigated the... Cartel into... a war with the Isles..."


    "You both... caused the deaths... of thousands..." Dijon took a heavy step forward, his feet cracking the polished marble underneath with a mighty thump. "And caused... the deaths of... both Fleet Master Kose... and Marshal..."


    "Do... you dare... swear... upon... the Sea Gods... that... this... is false?" As Dijon step forward to stand before a trembling Akron, the guardsmen between the two parted to give space for Dijon. "Do you... dare...?"


    Akron stepped back nervously as he looked left and right, trying to find some help or way out of the situation. But all the people edged away from him, none wanting to have anything to do with him. Even Fleet Master Tediore stepped away from him quickly and he tried to hide behind the crowd.


    "You!" Akron cursed Tediore who had ran away before he turned back and faced Dijon and sneered, "You know nothing! You only know how to kiss the asses of the Un An! We are doing things for the betterment of the Isles!"


    "But you?" Akron spat to the side. "You only know how to bootlick the Un An! Did you do anything for the Isles?"


    "What we are doing here, will make the Isles greater and stronger than ever!" Akron snapped. "Kose, Marshal, you... You all have no ambition... No dreams of a great future! All you do is fawn upon the Un An... Making them throw scraps at your feet! And like gnawers... you pick up the scraps and tter the Un An!"


    "But... to sent... thousands to... their deaths...?" Dijon asked, his tone unchanged. "And... those... whose homes... destroyed... by the Cartel...?"


    "NO! We have ns to be a nation that no one dare treats us like dirt!" Akron''s was almost particrly screaming. "To be strong! There will of course be sacrifices! They will be forever remembered as the ones who gave their lives for a greater future!"


    "You... are crazy..." Dijon said simply. "The Isles... do not... need to kill... its own... people to... be strong..."


    "The strong will always eat the weak!" Akron growled. "This has always been the truth of the world! If we do not be strong and beckeys of the Un An... One day, I guarantee... one day... The Un An will eat us! And the glorious history and culture of the Isles will be gone... FOREVER!"


    "I heard... enough..." Dijon replied. "Take him away... and all his... aplices..."


    The guardsmen hearing the deeds done by Akron, grimly stepped forward and grabbed him. Akron struggled in their grasp yelling, "I am the Fourth Fleet Master! Unhand me at once!"


    "Take him away and lock him up for trial!" Suddenly a member of the Council shouted out which soon was followed by many others, all mouring for Akron to be locked away. "Lock him away!"


    Mills shook his head as he watched Akron get dragged away from the Chambers. He gestured to his radioman who hurried over and he said in a low voice. "Tell Venny that the matter with the Council has been settled."


    "Yes, Sir!" The radioman nodded and he started fiddling with his radio set.


    Dijon walked until the head of the table that was for the five Fleet Masters and he stood at the head. Suddenly with one might swing of his arm, he smashed the thick table to pieces. "From now on... The Council... of Masters... will be... disbanded!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Admiral Bridge


    "Sir! Magister Thorn is on the line!" Thems operator called out to Commander Ford and handed the handset over. Ford took the handset and answered the call, "Magister?"


    "Ah, Commander!" Magister Thorn sounded joyful over the phone. "I got a great discovery to inform you!"


    "What is it?" Ford frowned as he knew that any great discovery by the entric old mage usually does not end well in the end.


    "Oh... We found out who was controlling the ship!" Magister Thorn said excitedly. "It was Plee all along! She somehow has the ability to affect control of the ship!"


    "What?" Ford was shocked. "You mean before when the ship''s controls were locked was done by her?"


    "Yes!" Magister Thorn sounded pleased. "And just now, she took control of the ship''s guns!"


    "Fuck me..." Ford hissed as the words hit him. "I am really hating gods more and more..."


    "Huh? What did you say?" Magister Thorn asked. "Anyway! Plee''s power is amazing! She can-"


    "Hold it, Magister!" Ford quickly cut him off before he started ranting on. "Where are you guys now?"


    "Oh, we are inside the hangar deck A," Magister Thorn replied. "Together with the dragons and Dr. Sharon."


    "Stay there! Do not let Plee out of your sight!" Ford ordered. "I am sending some people down now!"


    "O-" Ford tossed the handset back to thems operator and hurried to the Command Bridge and gestured for Captain Nimo over to one quiet corner where the crew could not hear their conversation.


    "It''s that little god girl taking over the controls of the ship!" Ford told Nimo. "And that time when the ship changed course and the controls were locked!"


    "She can do that?" Captain Nimo was very surprised. "How? This is an object of steel... How can she control it? Isn''t she a god of volcanoes or fire?"


    "I do not know!" Ford answered. "Anyway, she is being watched over by Magister Thorn and Dr. Sharon down at Hangar A. I am going to send some more people down to watch her and make sure she does nothing again! Once we hitnd, she will be getting off this ship as fast as a bloody cannon shell!"


    "Hmmm..." Captain Nimo frowned before he made a suggestion. "Sir, do you think we should consider letting her stay onboard instead?"


    "What? Why?" Ford was surprised at Nimo''s suggestion. "We can''t let something like that taking control over the ship without any reason or warning! It not only jeopardise the ship and also the crew!"


    "But Sir," Captain Nimo gestured out to the viewport at the dying air fleet in the distance. "She can fire the main guns at such uracy that all nine shellsnded right together is something super amazing!"


    "If she can undergo training..." Hinted Captain Nimo. "I believe she can make an awesome gunner..."


    "You want her to be your gunner?" Ford blinked rapidly in surprise. "You want to put your trust, including the lives of your men and this ship in her hands?"


    "Yes, Sir," Captain Nimo nodded. "I believe if we trained her and given the proper guidance, she will be a valuable asset to the Vengeance! Sir!"


    "Oh my god..." Ford mumbled to himself. "I know we did pray for a god to be on our side... But having a small girl who is still an unknown to be the gunner of the most powerful warship in this goddamn world..."


    "The irony..."

 Chapter 571: Defeat

    Chapter 571: Defeat


    The battered airship came drifting down from the skies to the beach and for a moment, the airship appeared to hover just off the crashing waves before dropping down with a mighty ssh on the water. The airship''s forward momentum ploughed its hull through the wet sand beforeing to a halt. Smoke and steam hissed out from cracked piping and armour tes while hatches sprung open on all sides.


    The weary and injured crew of the airship stumbled out from the wreckage and they joined arge crowd just off the sandy beach who had been gathered there by soldiers wearing a strange uniform that appeared to be a patchwork of colours.


    Another airship came sliding to a halt on the beach and more Cartel sailors poured out of the beached ship. Overhead, there was a constant drone of aircraft circling in the air and finally, thest of the Cartel airshipsnded on an ind.


    UN Marines ushered the Cartel prisoners off the beach on to a gathering point while the local fishermen and farmers watched. Many of the locals were cheering the UN Marines and they spat and kicked at the short Outsiders that came off the airships.


    Grand Lord Hammerfall stumbled over the sand together with his crew and some soldier in a strange uniform yelled at them, gesturing them to sit down. He joined the earlier groups of crewmen already seated down on the warm sand and looked around. He could see hundreds of his crew sitting on the sand and dozens of locals in that strange mottled uniform walking among them.


    Looking at the small number of soldiers guarding them, he toyed with the idea of ordering his people to rush the guards. He was certain their numbers would overrun the guards but he gave up on the thought when he stopped what looked like an eight legged War Jack half hidden in a grove of trees.


    And also the loud roar of the fearsome flyers that forced his surrender could be heard flying overhead and Hammerfall knew that they would be ughtered if they made an attempt to breakout. He gave up any thoughts of escape and concentrated on making sure his wounded were given care.


    The defeat was shocking and at first humiliating to him especially when thinking how backwards the locals were in the New World in terms of magic and steam. But the more Hammerfall thought about it, the more impressed and amazed he was of the United Nations'' magic and steam!


    He regretted greatly not having the first contact with the United Nations! If they had met the United Nations first, things would not have gone this way and they might in fact benefit even more! As he thought more about this issue, he started to question the information told to him by the Isles. Could it be that they were yed by the Isles, by that soft looking long legs Akron?


    "My Lord!" A weary looking Lord Copperstone suddenly appeared next to him, his hair, eyebrows, and beard were singed. He was also covered in cuts and bruises and walked with a limp. "You are well!"


    "Rock and stone!" Hammerfall broke into a genuine smile as he saw his old friend still alive and grasped arms with him. "I had assumed the worse when your fleet was destroyed!"


    "It was a really close shave there!" Lord Copperstone rubbed the ends of his singed beard and sigh. "Thankfully my invention saved me! The magic saving pod protected me when my ship blew up!"


    "But s, it saved only me and none of my crew..." Lord Copperstone said dejectedly. "May their poor souls return to the Mountains!"


    "The enemy fished me off the waters," Lord Copperstone continued after a moment of silence. "And here I am!"


    "These United Nations have very powerful magic and weapons!" Lord Copperstone said in a low voice. "Their steam works is also beyond what we are capable of! When they picked me up, I have seen their work up close!"


    "I have a feeling that our old friend Akron has deceived us..." Grand Lord Hammerfall replied in a grim tone. "He had spoken nothing of the magic and steam works of the United Nations! I have a feeling he led us on, on purpose!''


    Lord Copperstone nodded, "Aye, I think so too, now that you mentioned it. There is something more going on here! To think we were ying these backwardnds, but in truth, we were the ones being yed!"


    Grand Lord Hammerfall nodded too, "We had been too confident andcent! Now I worry about our people left behind in our outposts! And theing reinforcements!"


    "We need to find the ones in charge here!" Lord Copperstone hurriedly advised. "We must make peace at once or all our peopleing to the New World will perish!"


    -----


    Further out of the ocean from the ind turned prison, the UNS Vengeanceid anchor while a detachment of the Task Force was coasting around the battle flotsam and searching for survivors.


    "Captain, in total, twelve of the Cartel Air Fleet were shot down," Commander Ford reported to ke inside the Admiral''s Bridge. "Of neen airships, only seven survived, with different degrees of damages. Four were forced tond here and another three heavily damaged in the opening airstrike from the 1st Carrier Wing had retreated while the rest where all shot down in one way or another."


    "Casualties sustained by the opponent is estimated to range between seven to nine thousand," Commander Ford continued as he read off a document. "Numbers are still being tallied from the prisoners, but we expect to have around two thousand in custody. As for the wounded, we have over seven hundred being treated by field aid stations set up on the ind."


    "And ours?" ke''s image on the screen asked. "Any damage taken?"


    "Two deaths," Commander Ford replied. "Both pilots and the loss of one Viper and three Cobras to anti air fire. The rest of the pilots had managed to eject safely and Search And Rescue had picked them up. Other than that, there are no other damages or casualties."


    "SAR operations are also still ongoing around the site of the battle," Commander Ford added. "We are working with the ships of the Isles'' Home Fleet atbing the waters for any more Cartel survivors."


    "And thest three retreating airships, they are too crippled or damaged to pose any threat for now," Ford said. "But the Cartel still has around eight airships of various types still scattered around the Eastern Inds."


    "Ignore them for now," ke said. "What is the situation with the Council now?"


    "Dijon had Fleet Master Akron and a few other aplices arrested," Ford reported. "And he also disbanded the Council and has taken solomand over the entire Isles."


    "Help him consolidate his power over the government," said ke. "Once the shock and momentum run off, the disbanded Council members will start to question and things might get messy for Dijon."


    "Yes, Sir," Ford nodded. "As for the whereabouts of Fleet Master Megan, she should be lurking around the Eastern Ind onboard some special ship."


    "As to what kind of ship that is..." Ford frowned as he said. "No one knows, and those that know are too loyal to Megan to tell us..."


    "I hadunched all my AWACS birds out tob the area, especially at that Seabone Reef which Akron so wanted my fleet to head there," Ford said. "It shouldn''t be hard to find Megan unless she''s in hiding..."


    ke nodded, "Do what you need to do to stabilize the region. Leave the Cartel to Dijon to handle."


    "Yes, Sir," Ford replied. "Ah... Sir, there is also a tiny problem here..."


    "What problem?" ke''s eyes narrowed.


    "We found out what caused the Vengeance''s controls to be lost," Ford said. "It turns out that the Vengeance''s controls were hijacked by the god girl, Plee..."


    "Apparently, so how or rather, she has the ability to take control of certain aspects of the ship," Ford gestured around. "Like the engines, rudders, and even the guns..."


    "Seriously?" A surprise was shown on ke''s stoic expression. "How is that possible?"


    "Well, Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn havee out with plenty of guesses," Ford sighed. "One of which would be that either the dungeon core which became her divine core, had somehow made the Vengeance into a type of dungeon, hence the ship could be manipted in certain ways..."


    "Another was that due to her summoning into our world, the ship might have been influenced by her divinity, turning it somehow a part of her," Ford started listing off some of the guesses. "Also another guess was that she is a god and her godly powers allowed her to do... god things?"


    "So... no one knows?" ke cut in. "Did she say anything?"


    "Not even Plee knows..." Ford replied with a shake of his head. "She said she could just... do it and she did it just like that..."


    "Can she control other ships?" ke mused. "She''s like some autonomous ship AI...


    "We haven''t tested it yet," Ford said. "I will get Magister Thorn and Dr. Sharon to run some experiments."


    "Good, but first things first, pacify the region!"


    -----


    Plee sat sulkily on top of a crate as Captain Nimo stood before her with both an angry and helpless expression on his face. "No! You are not allowed to take control of this ship without any permission from ME or Commander Ford! Do you understand?"


    "But they want take burgers!" Plee stubbornly replied. "I protect burgers!"


    "But you endanger the lives of the crew onboard this ship in doing so!" Captain Nimo replied angrily. "You are lucky that the flight deck was cleared of any aircraft at that time but still a few crew members were wounded by the shockwave!"


    "But... burgers... I protect..." Plee meekly said in a small voice.


    "This is the reason why permission must be gained!" Captain Nimo sighed. "Selfishly controlling the ship can lead to people getting hurt! And you know how they all worship you! And you hurt them!"


    "I... I sorry!" Plee started sniffed and Dr. Sharon stepped in.


    She gave the captain a withering re and hugged the crying god girl. "Hush hush. Alright, Captain. You made your point. She still doesn''t understand a lot of things!"


    "I know, but this is important!" Captain Nimo stood his ground against Dr. Sharon. "Plee! Your rations of burgers will be cut... For two weeks for your recklessness!"


    "No!" Plee cried even harder. "I really sorry! No... my burgers!"


    "And you are to apologize to the wounded and the crew for your actions!" Captain Nimo firmly said. "Do you understand?"


    "Sob... sob," Plee nodded when sobbing on Dr. Sharon''s shoulder. "Plee... understands... sob sob..."


    "Good!" Captain Nimo let out a deep sigh, feeling like he had just bullied a child. "Now, you must also undergo training if you ever want to take control over the ship! You must go to the Naval Academy!"


    -----


    Somewhere around the waters of Seabone Reef


    Megan frowned as she read the urgent message sent by a courier wyvern that came from the First City. Her ns to ambush the Un An''s giant ship had to be changed as the Un An''smander did not take the bait. But it was of no matter, as she ordered the helm to make course changes back towards the First City.


    The Un AN will never see hering, thought Megan as she smiled to herself. The Cartel''s major outposts were in ruins and the Un An fleet will be destroying the Cartel''s flying ships. Once all that was done, all she has to do was to put a couple of holes into the Un An''s giant ship and sink it!


    "Since you wanted to have an audience for the battle," Megan sneered. "I shall let you have an audience of watching your precious ship sink! Hahahahahaa!"

 Chapter 572: Making Waves

    Chapter 572: Making Waves


    Task Force g, 3rd Floti, UNS Braveheart


    The 3rd Floti of the Task Force had been assigned to SAR duty and the UNS Braveheart, a goblin ss corvette wasbing the waters for any signs of survivors on the flotsam that covered the greater part of the ocean around the ship.


    All avable hands onboard the ship was lined up along the railings and were trying to spot any survivors while the ship cruised along slowly. Pieces of wreckage bumped gently along the hull and once every while, a cry sounded and one of the two motorboats dropped by the corvette would roar across the waves and a body would be recovered from the water.


    Some survivors were picked up from the waters but most of the time, it would be a dead body with missing parts. Despite that, the UN sailors continued to bring the dead up to be identified and ounted for before given a proper burialter. The rescued and retrieved bodies were transferred to the waiting ships of the Isles'' Home Fleet to be taken to a nearby ind turned prisoner holding area.


    The crew of the 3rd Floti knew they were working against time in finding any survivors as the dead would attract sea monsters and chances of fishing survivors out would drop drastically. Inside the small bridge of the corvette, the sonar operator had his ears glued to the headset as he listened hard for the approach of any sea monster.


    "Cap!" The sonar operator of the UNS Braveheart suddenly called out while the adjusted the dials and settings on his station. "I got something on the sonar!"


    "... Contact! Bearing starboard zero one two, range five hundred meters!" The sonar operator reported.


    The Captain scanned the water surface with his binocrs before he ordered. "Weapons! Standby with a medium pattern of depth charges!"


    "Aye aye! Medium pattern attack!" The weapons officer intoned. He past on the order to his men who rushed to man the ''Y'' shapedunchers mounted in the middle and also the depth charge racks mounted at the stern.


    "Contact bearing port zero zero one, range four hundred, Sir!" The sonar operator called out. "Contact dead ahead!"


    "All ships," The Captain picked up thems and sent a broadcast to the ships of the 3rd Floti. "Braveheart has picked up a sea monster contact! Heading over to chase it away, over!"


    "Roger that, Braveheart!" The 3rd Flotimander replied over thems. "Good hunting!"


    "Contact bearing starboard zero zero one, range three hundred, Sir!" The sonar operator continued to call out as the UNS Braveheart charged forward. "Contact inside minimum sonar range, sir!"


    "Can you identify what kind of sea monster is that?" The Captain asked as he continued to scan the waters with his binocrs.


    The sonar operator switched out to hydrophones and he frowned as he tried to identify the type of sea monster from the noises it would make. The UN navy had collected underwater recordings of known sea monsters around the waters of the New World and sonar operators were required to study them when they were in training.


    "Hydrophone loud! Very loud!" The long ears of the operator twitched as the noise made by the sea monster was unlike anything he heard before. "Sir, unable to ID the contact!"


    "A new type of sea monster?" The Captain put down his binocrs and frowned when the operator suddenly called out again.


    "Sir! Machine! It''s some sort of engine noise!" The operator was shocked as he finding recognized some of the noise the sea monster was making. When he first heard the racket underwater, he was confused as it did not sound like anything a living creature would make, yet the noises sounded familiar to him.


    "Sir, contact is some kind of underwater ship!" Finally, it hit him that the noise the sea monster was making sounded like steam engines! And as the UNS Braveheart came even closer to the contact, he clearly heard illegible conversation underwater! "We are right over it!"


    "What?" The Captain and the bridge crew was as surprised as the sonar operator. The Captain hesitated only for a second as he did not know whether the underwater contact was a friend or foe before he made up his mind. "WEAPONS! NOW! DROP THEM!"


    The weapons officer holding his handset calmly ordered his crew to open fire. "Roll and fire! Medium pattern! Roll and fire!"


    Hearing the order to fire, the gun crews manning the pair of Y gun depth charge projectors jerked the firingnyard and the fuze set barrel shaped depth charges fitted to the ends of the Y were propelled out with a st. Meanwhile, at the stern, another crew pulled a lever and dumped several depth charges with their fuzes set off the stern racks.


    The Captain rushed out of the bridge and he looked to the stern, just in time to watch the depth charges hitting the water with a ssh. Secondster, several pirs of waters behind the UNS Braveheart shot up into the skies in sequence with loud thunderous booms.


    "Hard right rudder!" The Captain returned to the bridge and ordered before stepping out again to scan the waters with his binocrs where the depth charges had detonated.


    The UNS Braveheart turned around and suddenly a crewmember yelled out, "Debris! Starboard side! Range two hundred!"


    Quickly, the Captain looked towards the direction given and he saw what appeared to be an even darker patch appearing on the already dark ocean surface. "Bring us about next to that! See if we find out what the hell is that thing we just blew out of the water!"


    -----


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet, Council of Masters Chamber


    Pain. There was pain everywhere. Dijon jolted up from the pain in his slumber and slowly information flowed into his brain. His electronic eyes saw that he was inside the Council chambers, the metal shell that covered his body was seated on the edge of the raised dais.


    There were dozens of people moving around inside the chambers and already the debris and damaged doors had been swept and cleaned. As if nothing had ever happened, even the round table in the centre of the chamber had been reced. The only signs of damage were the cracked marble tiles that had yet to be reced.


    Several pages carrying handfuls of scrolls were running here and there and he saw his mother with her salt and pepper hair, having aged greatly since thest he saw her, standing together with the hooman, Mills, was conversing with several Council members, no, ex Council, he corrected himself.


    "Mother..." He called out and the people around were startled by his voice. They did not realise that he was watching them as he had remained sitting there dead as a statue for quite some time.


    "My son!" Lady Gloria stepped away from the ex Council members with an apologetic smile. "You have awakened?"


    "Yes... How long... was... I... asleep?" Dijon asked as his electronic sight ''looked'' around him. He could ''see'' a couple of thick hoses were connected to his back to arge unidentified object that had glowing lights and strange noisesing out of it which he knew was something that kept his metal body alive.


    "Almost two hours," Lady Gloria replied with a sad smile. "They... say you need something for your pain... Are you alright now?"


    "Yes..." Dijon lied. He could still feel fire coursing through his veins but thankfully, his electronic vocals could not pick up tones and pitch hence he was always speaking in a monotonic voice. Nor could his expression be seen, since he was encased inside a tank filled with medical syrup and covered by thick metal ting.


    "We have been trying to unscrew the work did by Megan and Akron," Mills said as he joined their conversation. "While you are out from the meds they gave you."


    "We set up a docking station here for you," Mills said in a lowered voice. "Where you can recharge your power cells and administer your meds."


    "Also, we will be training a core of people," Mills nced to Lady Gloria before he added. "Your own trusted people, on how to work these machines that will keep you alive."


    "For now, your mother has taken over the running of the Isles," Mills summarized. "Fleet Master Tediore has also been arrested for his involvement with the conspiracy with Akron and Megan."


    "Word has spread to the citizens," Lady Gloria said with a smile. "They now know of the evil doings of Megan. Families of the First, Three, Fifth Fleet and the Eastern Ind merchants were up in arms once they heard that the lives of their husbands, fathers and sons were used as chess pieces for Megan ns..."


    "Many are calling for her to answer for her evil deeds," Lady Gloria sighed. "But no one knows where she is..."


    "Akron... did... not tell?" Dijon asked.


    "Nope," Mills replied. "Him and Tediore are being interrogated still. So far we did get some useful intel from Tediore but Akron was surprising tight lipped."


    "But we found several interesting things among the property of Megan." Mills grinned and he gave a wink to Lady Gloria who blushed, "Your mother led a group of guardsmen to raid Megan''s properties and we found out Megan has several secret docks hidden in caves."


    "There we found out that Megan was stockpiling dozens of steam engines and boilers..." Mills continued, his smile turning to a frown on his face. "There were even cannons, barrels of ck powder and even some type of musket."


    "I think she is experimenting secretly on how to make weapons like ours," Mills exined to the nk face shown by Lady Gloria. "I have some of my men going over the stuff there and should get a more detailed report once they are done."


    "All... that... in two... hours?" Dijon was surprised. He did not expect his gentle and quiet mother had such capabilities to aplish so much in that short period of time. "W- Wow..."


    Lady Gloria gave a sad smile and she said, "I have to learn how to run the House and businesses that you left behind! Even the affairs of the Third Fleet fell into my hands! And your brothers..."


    Dijon hearing that felt his pain worsen, "I am... sorry... for causing... you... pain... mother..."


    "It''s alright, as long as you are back!" Lady Gloria smiled warmheartedly at Dijon. "Despite you looking like this... as long as I know you are inside and we can always talk!"


    Mills felt embarrassed by the situation and he stepped away quietly, giving the mother and son a moment of privacy. He walked over to the group of ex Council members who had disgruntled expressions on their faces and smiled cheerfully at them. "Well, gentlemen. What do you think of the UN proposal?


    "Bing a vassal of the UN?" The ex Council members were unhappy and some even had looks of anger in their eyes. "Are you threatening us?"


    "No, no," Mills continued to smile as he sped his hands behind his back. "You guys got screwed over by Megan. Now, you have left with what? A part of the Home Fleet and Third Fleet?"


    "Majority of the Fourth and Fifth Fleet are still loyal to Megan," Mills pointed out. "Which means they outnumber you, at least, ten to one!"


    "And there is still the matter with the Cartel..." Mills continued to point out. "If you drag this on... It will not only be civil war... But when the Cartel returns... they will look for revenge among you... Cause... we won''t be here!"


    Hearing his words, the ex Council members were silenced. They nced at each other, knowing that they were powerless to resist any form of invasion. Mills sighed seeing the uncertainty among the Inders and he decided to throw out a bone to them.


    "You do know that if you be part of the UN... You get ess to our technology and knowledge..."

 Chapter 573: Project Icarus

    Chapter 573: Project Icarus


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore


    "So until now, Megan still can''t be found nor does anyone know of her whereabouts?" ke seated behind the conference table together with the other senior officers, asked the image of Commander Ford on the disy. "Not even one person in the entire Isles has any clue?"


    "No, Sir," Commander Ford replied. "We are currently tracking the ships of her loyalists. But so far, we have not spotted her yet."


    "How big is the force still loyal to Megan?" ke asked as he flipped through a stack of reports.


    Intel Officer Lieutenant Tavor stood up and replied in the ce of Commander Ford. "Sir, Megan''s forces consist of elements from the Isles'' Second Fleet, Third and Fourth Fleet."


    "Some of the captains and their crew remained behind but not much," Lieutenant Tavor reported. "The Second Fleet whichmand belongs to Megan has at least fifty ships of various sses, out of which, twelve are rated ships of the line."


    "The Fourth Fleet which is under Akron has forty ships of various sses with ten ships of the line," Lt Tavor continued. "The Three Fleet which used to be under Dijon but themand of the fleet waster transferred to the new elected Fleet Master, Tediore, has only thirteen ships, out of which three are ships of the line."


    "So there is a rough total of a hundred ships and twenty five of those consist of battleships?" ke summarized.


    "Yes, Sir," Lt Tavor nodded. "Including the crew and soldiers on board those ships, we estimated their numbers are close to around forty six thousand."


    "What about their families?" One of the senior officers asked. "They won''t be so stupid to revolt and left their families behind?"


    "Most of the sailors do not have families," Lt Tavor exined. "For those that have families, well, either they are located somewhere safe or out of the way."


    Tavor tapped a few keys on the screen and a top down image of an archipgo could be seen. "This is the Northern Inds region. It consists of threerge inds and a chain of six smaller inds and surrounded by reefs."


    "It looks like a hell of a vacation ce to be!" Chief Matt joked.


    "These three main inds are moderately popted, each having a poption close to fifty thousand," Lt Tavor ignored Chief Matt''s jest. "The smaller inds are also hosts to several fishing viges and ind farms."


    "Megan''s Loyalists are all headed to this region," Lt Tavor continued his report. "As to why..."


    He tapped a few more keys and another image was shown. A zoomed in picture of a coastal city could be seen with many thick white lines stretching out on the waters. Tavor gestured to the white lines and said, "This is the City of Loto, those white lines are piers and from this image alone, it has the capability to allow the entire Isles'' Second Fleet to dock while still having plenty of dock space for other ships."


    Another tap of the key, another simr image was shown. "Reefstead, also the same."


    "And the city of Quayward," The image was changed to show another city. "All three inds have the capability and capacity to service Megan''s loyalist fleet."


    "We suspect that this region has the facilities and resources that would allow Megan''s Loyalists to cater to their needs," exined the Intel Officer. "The Northern Ind''s defence fleet would not be able to hold out against the Loyalists'' Fleet."


    "How far is your task force away to the North Inds region?" ke asked Commander Ford''s tiny image on the side.


    The image of Ford frowned and he looked off screen before he faced the screen to reply, "If we set sail now, it would take us roughly six hours."


    "How long more before Megan''s fleet reaches the North inds?" ke asked again. "Can your task force intercept them before they reach the inds?"


    "Four hours for them to reach, sir," Commander Ford replied after a short pause. "We can close the distance tounch air ops against them within three hours."


    "Alright, your new orders are to chase them down..." ke ordered. "Destroy them or force them to surrender, your choice. But stop them before they get to the North inds! Go!"


    "Yes, Sir!" Ford''s image saluted and winked out.


    ke red at Tavor and said, "Find Megan!"


    "Yes, Sir!" Tavor replied smoothly. "It will be done!"


    "Chief Matt, what have you got for me?" ke next turned to his Chief Engineer and asked. "What is this Project Icarus listed in this meeting''s agenda?"


    Chief Matt stood up and fiddled with the disy which switched to a blueprint and started its introduction. "Project Icarus is the codename for the research and application of aetherium we collected from the ships of the Old World."


    "As you all know, aetherium is an entirely new element discovered on this. In room temperature, aetherium exists in a solid state," Chief Matt gave a quick brief to the room. "Crystalized aetherium has a low melting point, at 78 degree celsius. Upon reaching that temperature, it melts rapidly into a gas."


    "Further heating expands the aetherium molecules, allowing it to achieve ultra lighter than air state," Chief Matt said. "Upon cooling, aetherium will recrystallize back into a solid state."


    "It''s ultra lighter than air capabilities appear to be able to negate gravity, making it somewhat anti gravity like," Chief Matt grinned as he continued on. "Which the engineer in me is loving this shit more and more!"


    "As you all know, a massive amount of energy is needed to lift something off the ground," Chief Matt exined. "Spaceship thrusters, rockets, helicopters, jets, all require a tremendous amount of ''lift'' to get off the ground. In the past, our ancestors brute forced space shuttles into space by means of massive rockets and thrusters."


    "Same for helicopters and VTOL drones, they use rotors to brutal force themselves to stay afloat," Chief Matt said. "And for fixed wing aircraft, wings are used to provide lift together with either a jet engine or prop engine."


    "Aetherium on the other hand can help save a lot of the required energy needed to produce ''lift''," Chief Matt switched the image on the disy. "In our experiments and tests, we found out that the use of aetherium is best used for heavy lifting."


    "Using aetherium on fighter craft would reduce their manoeuvrability greatly as aetherium needs to be cooled and heated to change altitude," Chief Matt exined. "For heavy cargo lift aircraft or even heavy bombers, aetherium will be more suitable."


    "So it is not wise to outfit fighters and attack helicopters with aetherium?" Air Force Commander Tommy asked from the side. "Does this means we still have to rely on prop engines?"


    "Yes," Chief Matt nodded. "Also we do not have an unlimited source of aetherium, hence it is pointless to design or even mass producing aetherium powered aircraft."


    "What we can do," This time Chief Matt''s smile widened until he looked like a chester cat. "Is to build airships!"


    "Wasn''t the airships we captured unsatisfactory to our standards?" ke asked curiously. "What changed?"


    "Oh, no," Chief Matt shook his head while still grinning ear to ear. "Those ships are junk! They think its good, but h... If they don''t have those cheat barriers... A single 3" shell would blow them out of the skies!"


    "Gentlemen! Let me present Project Icarus!" Chief Matt gestured to the disy which changed to show a 3D rendering of a space ship like vessel. "Built with our very own designed aetherium heating, cooling and holding systems."


    "It will be ten times more efficientpared to the system used by the Old World nations," Chief Matt proudly showed off his creation. The 3D rendering showed a rectangr vessel that looked more like a space ship with a blunt nose and edges. "Lift is provided by four main lifting pods and two back up pods, spaced around the main structure of the airship. These lifting pods will hold the heated aetherium in them and lift the entire airship."


    "For propulsion, it will be powered by four locally made prop engines and encased in armoured box housing. Two in the front and two at the rear." Chief Matt tapped on the four rectangr shaped engines on the screen. "It will be crewed by a hundred and forty hands, with space for two hundred,"


    "We calcted that burning 2 tons of aetherium crystals would provide enough lift for a thousand tons," Chief Matt started to list out the airship''s specifications. "The entire ship''s empty weight is around 1.4 k tons. Fully loaded, would be just below two thousand. Estimated range would put her around twenty thousand kilometres."


    "Its top operating ceiling height would be around seven kilometres." Chief Matt continued. "For weapons, it has three mounts, it can be equipped with either the 3" guns or the 88 mm / 3.5" gun turrets. Two on the top side and one ventral facing forward. Secondary weapons include 20 mm turrets and .50 cal mounts."


    "At the stern, it will boast a helicopter hangar andnding pad for helicopters like our AH - 1 Unicorns or CH - 1 Griffins," Chief Matt pointed to the stern where it was recessed downwards. "Also the belly of the Icarus would be modr, allowing it to swap its space for any mission modules."


    ke nodded as he was impressed with the design as were the others. "How long will it take to bepleted?"


    "I already had my boys work on a design ever since we found out that crashed Iron Kingdom airship before all this shit happened," Chief Matt replied. "And only really started working on a prototype once we started having aetherium to salvage from all those wrecks. So the design part had already been done months ago..."


    "What is needed now is producing the hull but should be easy as the factories and workers already had experience in building the UNS Vengeance and our goblin ss corvettes," Chief Matt said. "The Icarus size isn''t that big, just about a thirdrger than the goblin ss corvettes at 94 meters in length and with a beam of 18 meters, not counting the wings and engine pods."


    "Already the hull and structure are done," Chief Matt said. "The aetherium system and


    "The yard goblins had assured us that the internal outfitting work would be done quickly as long as we allow them to bless it in the name of the Faith of Firepower... and other gobliny stuff..." Chief Matt added. "Weapons, we already have lots of spares lying around..."


    "We just need time to put everything together and running trials," Chief Matt reported. "If all goes well, within three months followed by another month or two for trials."


    ke frowned, "Any way to push that dateline forward?"


    "Well, if they work full shifts," Chief Matt mentally did some calctions. "Should be able to cut a month off the schedule but for the trials, that''s gonna be hard to cut down."


    "Hmmm... Ford should be able to pacify the Isles and return to Hope Naval Station within a month," ke said. "After that, the Vengeance will undergo servicing before it heads off towards to cross the End Zone towards the Old World."


    "Two months," ke said sharply to Chief Matt. "You have two months to get your airship up and running, or the Vengeance goes with or without your airship!"


    "Damn..." Chief Matt cursed to himself inwardly. "That''s kind of hard... It would take a miracle to get everything working within two months!"


    "Boss! Do you know the story of Icarus?" Chief Matt blurted out.


    ke paused in his exit and without turning around, "Find that miracle, Chief!"


    "And higher the son flew with his feathered wings of wax..." Chief Matt mumbled to himself as ke left. "Until the sun''s heat melted the wax away and down he fell from the sky..."

 Chapter 574: Sea Devils

    Chapter 574: Sea Devils


    Task Force g, 3rd Floti, UNS Braveheart


    The small corvette bobbed up and down among the wreckage spewed all over the ocean together with its motorunches. A shimmeringyer of oil covered the water''s surface as the crew of the UNS Braveheart dredged the waters for survivors and anything that could provide a clue to what they had just blown up underwater.


    "Attention all ships! This is the gship Vengeance! All Floti except the 3rd and the 5th are to form up with the Task Force immediately!" Thems red out from inside the bridge. "The 3rd and the 5th are to continue rescue efforts and support the Marines on the ground! Vengeance out!"


    The captain frowned as he turned his binocrs out to the distance, where the main task force lies. He could see the other corvettes speeding off from the white waves covering their bows and not long after the entire task force except for the 3rd and 5th were left behind.


    "Cap," The XO of the Braveheart asked. "Do you think we should have reported this?"


    The captain of the Braveheart shook his head, "No, not yet. We don''t even know what it is... Whether it is really a sea monster or some kind of... ship, we don''t know yet!"


    "Continue to dredge the waters!"


    -----


    Task Force g, UNS Vengeance, Command Bridge


    The tactical plot table was covered in scribbles as the tactical officer and his team worked out an intercept course for the task force against Megan''s loyalists'' ships. Another officer made constant updates to the chart as new informationing from the AWACS recon ne shadowing Megan''s fleet came in.


    "They had a good head start," Captain Nimo said. "But our reach is longer."


    "Yes," Commander Ford replied as he checked the updated charts. "A hundred ships... It will take at least three to fourunches to take them all out."


    "Launch both air wings?" Captain Nimo asked. "It would cut down the number ofunches..."


    "We only have two attack wings," Commander Ford replied. The Vengeance''s aircraft were group into three air wings, the 1st and 2nd Attack Wing each consisted of four mixed squadrons of F/A-1N Sea Cobras and F/A - 2 Vipers while the 3rd Support Wing consisted of the attack helicopters, transport helicopters and aircraft. "I want to hold back one air wing just in case something unexpected pops out."


    "Yes, Sir. But they do seem to be running pretty fast," Captain Nimo added. "Could Megan be hiding in the North Inds?"


    Commander Ford looked at the disy showing an aerial view of thebined fleet of Megan''s loyalists and frowned. Even him ayman with magic could tell that the fleet was sailing with the help of magic. "I don''t know by they do seem to be in a hurry."


    "Still no word on Megan?" Ford asked his intel officer who shook his head. "Damn... Where could she be hiding?"


    -----


    The Isles, Ind of Sando


    Major James ''007'' Bone was frowning and looking down on two stout and scruffy looking dwarves. Both of the dwarves were covered with thick brushy hair, eyebrows and beard, except for the one wearing some kind of crystal sses that had cracks on the ss whose hair was mostly singed.


    "What can I do for you two gentlemen?" Major James politely asked using the New Worldmon tongue as he epted a report from one of his aides and nced through the papers, his attention clearly not on the two dwarves.


    The dwarf without the sses seemed to puff up like a pufferfish, his expression turning reddish while the other dwarf said some words in his ear, making the angry dwarf calm down. "I am Grand Lord Hammerfall! Commander and Chief of all the Cartel forces in the New World!"


    Major James put down the report in his hand and tilted his head as his universal trantor device in his ear got to work. They had updated itsnguage database with the help of the stranded Iron Kingdom Professor but there were still some words that did not make it into the update, hence the program had to learn.


    "Are you the... long leg in charge of these... troops?" The really short dwarf demanded, his arms stabbing into his sides. "We demand to see the Great Lord!"


    Major James turned to the Iron Kingdom Professor, Hamlot who had been attached to hismand to act as a trantor as he knew how to speak themon trade tongue used by the people of the Old World. Professor Hamlot gestured to James and answered in trade tongue."This hooman here is the one whomands the soldiers here, he holds the highest authority."


    The dwarf nced at James before he gave a sort of salute bow and said, "We surrender and want no more war! Peace between us!"


    Professor Hamlot turned to Major James and said, switching to the Old Worldmon tongue, "They want to end this war."


    "I know," James replied while shaking his head. "But they started all this."


    Seeing the shake of his head, the dwarf gritted his teeth and growled out, "We givepensation! Peace between our nations!"


    Once again, Professor Hamlot turned back to Major James and said, "They are willing to paypensation..."


    "Of course they have to paypensation!" Major James chuckled. The humans had long learned to collectpensation and the ransoming of prisoners from their defeated enemies. "They will be billed!"


    Professor Hamlot held back his smile and schooled his expression before he told the dwarves that they were expected to paypensation and a bill ofpensation would be given to themter. His words made the expressions of both the dwarves ugly, making Major James''s smile all so wider.


    "Now, since you guys wanna surrender," Major James squat down until he was around the dwarf''s height and said, "Give me the locations of all your bases and codes or letter to tell your troops all to stand down!"


    -----


    Someone was shaking her, the action making pain re up all over her body. She cracked an eye open and the light stabbed into her eyes, making her squirm further in pain. "Fleet Master!"


    Megan blinked her eyes as the fog in her mind cleared and she found herselfying against the bulkhead and everything appeared to be nted to one side. As rity came back, she recalled what happened. There was suddenly several loud thuds and she remembered the ship shaking wildly before everything when dark.


    The face of her aide hovered closely next to her and he gestured to the healer. "Heal her! Quick!"


    Megan pushed her self up, while her worried aide supported her. She shooed the healer away and said, "I don''t need a healer! Go help the others."


    "What... happened?" Megan looked around the nted decks that were littered with odds and ends. Some puddles of water could also be seen pooling at the decks. "What is the damage?"


    "We lost the tail section!" The aide nervously reported. "Also leaks were reported along the central hull! And... we lost the air pumps!"


    "Where... is helm?" Megan asked as she tried to make her way across the clutter collected at the nted deck. "Why have we not returned to the surface?"


    "There... is no controls left!" The aide blurted out. "We are sinking down!"


    "Release the bast!" Megan ordered as she stared at the panicking aide. "Hurry up!"


    "Fleet Master!" Megan''s First Officer appeared. Blood caked his face from a head wound he suffered. "We are taking in too much water! The pumps can''t keep up!"


    "Release the basts! Megan repeated as she stumbled her way over to the helm controls. "Bring us up to the surface now!"


    "We are trying!" The First Officer replied helplessly. "But we are too heavy!"


    "How deep are we now?" Megan asked as she finally reached the helm controls.


    "At least seventeen cables and increasing!" The First Officer replied. "Fleet Master... The crew... they are frightened!"


    The sound of metal groaning and splintering wood grew louder and Megan frowned. "Dump all unneeded weight!"


    "The cannons, ammunition, supplies... the dragons!" Megan ordered. "We need to lose weight if we want to float back up!"


    "But... the dragons..." The First Officer hesitated for a moment before he nodded. "Yes, Fleet Master!"


    He started barking orders to the crew still able to function and ordered them to start dumping the dragons and unnecessary things off the underwater ship. The crew with their lives on the line did not hesitate to follow the orders. They rushed as fast as they could along with the nted decks and reached the gun decks.


    Mortars, cannons, and ballistas were shoved into the side lock, where the chamber was flooded with water and the heavy weapons sunk off the nted side. Another group of crew members hurried over to the dragon pens where the frightened and agitated dragons were herded towards the cargo hatches.


    The dragons already ustrophobic and frightened screamed and snapped at the crew. The desperate crew attacked the dragons in return. Most of the dragons were either restrained and hooded or even sedated to keep them calm, could not put up much of a fight. Their riders bravely tried to defend their mounts and many were cut down without mercy.


    The crew ignored the pleads of the dragon riders and dragged the dragons towards the locks. Blood covered the decks and both the dead and live dragons were dumped into the locks. In the end, some of the dragon riders too loyal to their mounts joined their dragons inside locks.


    When the locks were sealed and water flooded in and the dragons and their riders struggled on the other side until they drowned. Some tried to swim to the surface but they were too deep and they too drowned in their futile attempts while the crew inside continued dragging more of the dragons to the locks.


    Finally, after two turns of the sandss, the ship was lightened enough that it no longer was sinking. Repairs had also plugged most of the leaks and the water pumps finally managed to pump water out faster than it is taking water in. With all the cannons and ammunition dumped off the ship and without the dragons, the Sea Shadow managed to ever so slowly float towards the surface.


    The air pump used to exchange the air inside the Sea Shadow was also reced and the barrel holding hose was released, allowing it to float to the surface and the crew inside the Sea Shadowboured at the bellows, pumping in air to the Sea Shadow. By now, the Sea Shadow was no longer nted to the side as much as before.


    Megan let out a relieved smile as reports of the repairs came to her. The Sea Shadow''s cmity had passed and they were only about twelve cables of length to the surface. Just as she was about to give out more orders, there was a sudden mighty shake that knocked many off their feet. Even Megan, seated in her chair, nearly fell off too.


    Metal groaned and wooden beams cracked loudly. Megan cried out, "What was that?"


    The ship shook again as if something had rammed it from the side, shaking the crew once again. A crew suddenly cried out, "Sea monster! It''s a Sea Devil!"


    The sea devil was a sea monster that looked simr to a Terran Plesiosauria. It had a thicker neck and its body was covered in hard scales. The sea devil was attracted by the scent of dragon blood in the waters. It gouged itself fully with the bodies of the dragons and in doing so, further spread the blood scent in the waters.


    More and more sea devils were attracted and they noticed the strange creature that had some scent of blood on it and they started to investigate the creature. One by one they came, using their powerful heads to ''bump'' against the creature, before long one started nipping the creature and soon, the whole horde joined in to nip away at the unknown creature.

 Chapter 575: The Business of War

    Chapter 575: The Business of War


    Task Force g, UNS Vengeance, Command Bridge


    Commander Ford watched themand staff move tiny figurines representing different squadrons of the Vengeance''s 1st Attack Wing on the tactical map against the cluster of figurines representing the ships of Megan.


    "1st Attack Winging into attack range of the enemy fleet," Amand staff recited from the side as information was passed on from flight ops. "1st Attack Wing beginning their attack runs."


    As the minutes ticked by, figures representing Megan''s loyalist fleet were removed off the board and amand staff reported, "1st Attack Wing returning to base. Munition zero."


    "ETA 34 minutes," The staff added as another wrote on the chalkboard detailing the time of arrival next to the 1st Attack Wing. "Sir, CAG is asking if you want tounch the 2nd Attack Wing?"


    Commander Ford rubbed his chin in thought as he looked at the remaining survivors of Megan''s fleet. An estimated seventy nine out of a hundred and three ships remained, their estimated numbers written on a card set next to red painted tiny wooden pieces carved like ship hulls on the table. Arge disy screen on the side was showing footage taken by the shadowing recon ne was showing thick smoke covering the enemy fleet, making it almost impossible to see anything.


    "Anything on our radar?" Ford asked. "In the air? Surface?"


    "A couple of surface contacts, AWACS is tracking them," His aide reported back. "AWACS thinks they might be merchants. The air is clear except for a flock of dragons nine klicks out heading in a south east direction."


    "Alright, tell CAG tounch his nes," Ford replied. "Let''s get this chase over before sundown..."


    -----


    The 2nd Attack Wing pilots that were on standby were chit chatting inside the hangar bay rushed off to their aircraft when the order came down, leaving Plee, Blue Thunder and Saphia behind. All three of them stared wistfully at the pilots as they climbed on board their nes while flight crew in colourful jackets fussed over their machines.


    Tractors started towing aircraft to the waiting elevators while the trio watched on. Blue Thunder sighing as he felt left out of the action, Saphia staring wide eyed with excitement at all the tek no lo gee and ''magic'' happening all around her while Plee watched grumpily as she could not y with her powers at all.


    "I could boom boom every bad burger thief from here!" Plee dered. "No need to vroom vroom over!"


    Blue Thunder broke into a grin as he replied, "Yea kiddo, sure you do! Hehehe!"


    "How I wish I could fly in one of those... fighter nes!" Saphia mumbled at the side as she watched the aircraft being sent to the upper decks. "They all can fly so fast!"


    Plee let out a sigh, "I bored... Everyone busy... No offerings... No burgers..."


    "Let''s go watch the nes take off andnd!" Blue Thunder suggested. "They say you can''t leave the hangar but we could still see the nes fly!"


    "Really?" Plee perked up and Blue Thunder allowed her to climb up onto his head. "Let''s go!"


    Once he was certain she was seated properly on his head, he and Saphia made their way across the hangar decks, making sure not to get into any of the hangar crew''s way and they came up to the side of the hull facing the sea. Several hatches were opened at the side, which a cooling sea breeze was blowing in. The hatches wererge enough for Blue Thunder and Saphia to poke their head and necks out. Both dragonsid on their backs so that they canfortably stretch their necks to see what was happening above.


    "Oh god damn it!" A startled yellow coated deck crew yelled out when suddenly next to him two dragon heads and a smiling god girl appeared on the side of the flight deck. "You guys scared me!"


    "Don''t mind us," Blue Thunder replied cheerfully over the incredible roar of engines powering up on the flight deck.


    "OOOO!" Plee eximed excitedly as she watched the winged machines roar off the decks one after another. "I want to fly in one too!"


    Saphia bobbed her head in agreement as her eyes shined brightly. "I want to fly in one too!"


    By one, the heads of the two dragons had been spotted by many of the deck crew who ignored their antics as they were used to them. The pilots on the other hand cheerfully gave Plee a Faith of Superior Firepower! salute with three fingers opened out which represented their holy trinity symbol of three artillery shells.


    The effect of the salute made Plee''s body glow softly, which made Blue Thunder giggle, "Ooh ooh! Divine manifestation!"


    "Ummmmmmmmmm!" Blue Thunder closed his eyes and hummed as he put on an expression of enlightenment. He cracked an eye open and asked Saphia, "How do I know? Like some dragon god with a halo on his head?"


    "Hahahaa!" Saphia giggled at the side while Plee poked Blue Thunder on his head.


    "I God! You mount!" She dered angrily, stamping her small feet on Blue Thunder''s head, making him giggle as her feet tickled his eyebrows.


    "Hehehe!" Blue Thunder giggled. "I''m a dragon god!"


    -----


    Commander Ford shook his head as he watched the antics of the trio from the viewport of themand bridge. "I seriously do not know how to feel about this..."


    Captain Nimo joined Ford at the viewport and he looked down, seeing the orange glow fading away on the body of Plee. "Well... The crew really loves her and she... does boast morale a lot..."


    "This feels like aedy show," Commander Ford sighed. "We are a fighting outfit but... here these... jokers... just make everything seem... surreal..."


    Captain Nimo could only give a helpless shrug as he too did not know how to handle the situation. In the end, Commander Ford gave up and he returned to serious business, the business of war and killing.


    -----


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore


    ke pushed aside the pile of documents and stood up, facing the map of the New World on therge disy on the wall. His hands trembled slightly as his body craved for a dose of the drug Happy, but he forced his urge down. He needed his mind to be clear at least for now as he digested the earlier reports that came in.


    Sixty per cent of the ex Council of the Isles had expressed their wish to be part of the UN while the remainder were still hesitating or against the merger. A new Council will be reformed at ater date but in the meantime, the governance of the Isles was being run by Dijon''s mother, backed by the power of the UN.


    And in the other report, the captured Cartel''s Grand Lord was offering terms of surrender. ke was greatly interested in some of the Cartel''s technology, especially after reading the after action report of their ability to block their 3" guns bombardment. But with the airships using that technology destroyed, there wasn''t much he could do about that now unless he forced the Cartel prisoners to cough up the technology.


    One good thing that came out of the surrender of the Cartel was the amount ofpensation, but ke was suspicious as to whether they had the ability to pay. In any case, if they can''t pay up, they would make good workers in the mines, since they seemed to love mining so much, though ke.


    Finally, with the Cartel surrendering, he could atst cross over to the Old World to search for Sherene and his child. His child should be born by now and the thought of that made him felt a stab of pain in his heart, as he wondered both mother and child were safe.


    He closed his eyes, letting the pain in his heart run its course. When he reopened his eyes, they were filled with determination. He nced back to the map and tapped at a couple of locations and asked the waiting figures standing patiently behind him. "General Joseph, the reports say that there are still defeated remnants of the Old World forces here and here, yes?"


    "Yes, Sir," General Joseph replied. "We know of the Iron Kingdom and Tri State forces are still hiding around the mountainous regions of the Ind called Exile within the borders of the Empire."


    "And here," He reached out and pointed to another spot on the map. "We have more Protectorate forces that came in another wave also hiding among the mountains within the vicinity of Fort Hensink."


    "We can''t send troops to Exile Ind but our troops at Fort Hensink has been constantly sending outbat patrols to sweep the Sky Mountains where the remains of the Protectorate is hiding at."


    "So far, we managed to destroy a few camps and hidden airships here and there," General Joseph said. "And we also managed to capture two airships that they hid in the forest around the Sky Mountains."


    "But... It''s like trying to dig for gnawers..." General Joseph sighed. "The Protectorate has adopted a guerri style warfare. They had been hitting viges and travellers around the region."


    "Do what you need to flush them out once and for all," ke replied. "They have limited supplies and only so many bodies. And I doubt the locals would help them."


    General Joseph nodded, "The locals hate them to the core as they had been kidnapping people and livestock."


    "We are evacuating the viges and relocating them further away, but there are some people that do not want to leave their homes," General Joseph said helplessly. This kind of battle was something new to him. "We n to ambush any Protectorate forces by having our troops hiding in those viges that still have people unwilling to leave."


    ke nodded before he turned to Intel Officer Tavor and said, "Continue to monitor the situation in the Empire on those Old Worlders."


    "Yes, Sir" Tavor replied.


    "What of Megan?" ke asked as he sat down back at his table. "Any news?"


    "No sir, but my agents had uncovered something interesting," Tavor said and he handed over a file. "ording to my agents inside the Isle''s First City, they dug around the secret docks uncovered by the Isles'' guardsmen when they stormed Megan''s Estate and found these."


    ke looked at the ck and white photos inside the file and frowned. "What is this?"


    The photo showed a partial drawing of some kind of sea monster''s tail. Another photo showed more drawings of the tail but what appeared to be gears and some kind of machinery drawn inside. Tavor exined, "These are some blueprints of a mechanized sea monster we suspected that Megan had built."


    "A mechanized sea monster?" ke was surprised. "What does this even do or mean?"


    "From the bits and pieces of drawings my agents found inside the firece, and the rolls of sea dragon skins. We suspect that it could be some kind of submarine built like a sea monster," Tavor said. "But, I would hesitate to call it a submarine as it should be more of a crude submersible instead as I doubt they have the technology and know how to even build a sub..."


    "Sea dragon skins?" ke asked as he did not know what was that. "A submersible?"


    "Sea dragon skins are known locally to be waterproof and it is mostly used as a form of raincoat or even coat the hulls of ships to prevent any leak," Tavor exined. "Looking at the pieces of clues, we can more or less guess what the drawings and the skins do."


    "But to further confirm our suspicions, my agents arebing the First City to find the workers that worked in that secret docks," Tavor said. "But if my guess is correct, this is why we have not found Megan yet..."


    "She is hiding under the water that is why we could not find her at all!"

 Chapter 576: Merger

    Chapter 576: Merger


    The throaty cough of the engines died down as the flying boat wasid next to the pier. Waiting deckhands quickly secured the lines and stood at attention as the side hatch cracked out and a soldier in a ck military trench coat stepped out. He gave a quick scan of the area before he moved aside for a tall gaunt looking hooman to exit.


    The neer walked with a slight limp and the deckhands saluted as one as soon as he appeared. Captain ke returned the salutes and stared at the towering face of the extinct volcano that wasyered by rows and rows of terraces and stone dwellings. He would have enjoyed the scenery in other times but not today as he stared up at the ship like structure on the peak of the volcano.


    "Sir," Lieutenant Tavor handed a file over as they entered a Marine MRAP waiting at the end of the pier. "This report just came in from my agents here."


    ke started to flip through the report as the driver took the MRAP towards the Council of Masters'' Chambers. The crowd were no longer as curious as before as the novelty of seeing the strange magical iron carriages of Un An has worn out. Only children happily tried to catch up with the vehicles as they ran alongside the vehicle.


    "So... Megan really built a submersible?" ke frowned as he read the report. "I am amazed by her intelligence and the ability of the elves with their hands."


    "We suspected that Megan has been sunk around the Wind Coast region," ke read out the report. "UNS Braveheart has unconfirmed reports of depth charging an unknown underwater contact that did not sound like a sea monster."


    "If this is true," ke turned to face Tavor, saying, "Then, that would make some sense as to why the ships and captains loyal to her would head off towards the Northern Inds in such a rush without even attempting a fight in the Home Inds..."


    "Once her ship went down and contact lost, her people must have fallen back to a contingency n of sorts," ke mused. "I do not think she would give up without a fight if she is able to, especially having over forty thousand sailors and soldiers in that fleet of hers."


    "Yes, Sir, that is my conclusion too," Tavor replied. "My agents had managed to find several workers that had worked inside her hidden dock at some point."


    Tavor gestured to the report in ke''s hands and said, "We found out that her submersible is called the Sea Shadow. Not many know of its existence and even most of the workers working on it were either bonded kinsmen or silenced in the end."


    "The few workers we interviewed did not exactly work on the Sea Shadow but they all had seen some part of its construction at some point, as it was too big a project to be totally kept hidden among the workers," Tavor said. "They heard of the project from those that worked on it and the project actually started more than a year ago..."


    "Over a year ago?" ke repeated as he looked through the report. "So she has been nning all these for over a year?"


    "That would be correct," Tavor replied. "Initially, we assumed that she is trying to copy our weapons but in failing to do so, only managed toe out with ck powder muzzle loading guns, after we traced some of our guns that being sold hadnded in the hands of the Isles."


    "That was when we decided to present clocks as state gifts to the Isles fitted with listening devices which my agents would regrly download and transfer the data over to us for analysts," Tavor said. "We found out of them attempting to build crude ironds, which I am now assuming is just a smokescreen to cover up their real objective... The construction of the Sea Shadow..."


    "But I think her ns did not expect theing of the Old World and the UNS Vengeance," Tavor added. "If her Sea Shadow can function simrly to a World War submarine and has underwater weapons capable of prating the belt armour of the Goblin ss which has rtively thinly armoured hulls, it would present an extremely nasty surprise to our Navy."


    "Of course, with our fledgeling sonar tech and depth charges, it would still be enough to tackle Megan''s Sea Shadows, no matter how many they throw at us," Tavor continued. "But if she mounted a coordinated surprise attack on our Fleet, we would have suffered heavily in terms of having our most experienced and skilled sailors lost."


    "Hulls can always be built but experience and skills would take a much longer time to rece..." Tavor said. "The loss of the majority of our ships and experienced crew would push us back, two, three years while the Isles with their superior ocean faring knowledge would emerge the victor."


    "We would be ying catch up with them, despite having superior technology and weapons," Tavor gave his analysis. "In the end, we would win, but in doing so, Megan would have solidified her hold in the Isles and weaken our influence."


    "It would be either war or having to deal with Megan at her terms," Tavor said. "While we can ignore the Isles'', we cannot ignore the fact that we need their markets and reach."


    "Most of the major trading and merchant housese from the Isles," Tavor said. "Without the approval of these trading or merchant houses, we would lose a huge market and also they would force prices to their advantage."


    "Even if our Fleet presence increases over the region, the Isles'' merchants do not only deal with ocean trade..." Tavor exined. "Trading overnd and the inner Source Sea is almost controlled by most of the Isles. We would be at a huge disadvantage against the merchants..."


    "So to summarize, if Megan''s Sea Shadows managed to destroy our Navy presence around the waters of the New World," ke frowned as he said. "She has a high chance of taking over the Council and dictating her control over the Isles?"


    Tavor nodded as ke continued. "And then she can pressure the top merchants in the New World to put us on an economic strangle despite us having goods that they so desperately want?"


    Tavor nodded again and ke let out a sigh, "Well, she is swimming with fishes now..."


    "That is the current highest probable assumption, Sir," Tavor replied. "But we can''t rule out the possibility of her been somewhere else and alive..."


    "Find it out," ke snapped. "I do not want assumptions!"


    "Yes, Sir!" Tavor nodded. "Sir, if I may, I have a suggestion to add."


    "Speak," ke replied as he put aside the file.


    "I suggest that we do not let anyone know if Megan is dead or found, especially to the Isles," Tavor said. "The Isles need a newmon enemy, now that the Cartel had surrendered."


    "In doing so, it would allow the people of the Isles to direct their anger at something, in which this case, being Megan," Tavor exined as ke frowned. "This way, Dijon can control the new Council once it is elected and we as the Isles'' Allies, can position more of our forces within key areas of the nation and expand our influence more."


    "But most of the Isles'' wished to join our banner," ke said. "Why go through with so much trouble? Putting troops in foreignnd eats up a lot of funds."


    "Yes, but sir, not all the Isles support the decision to join the UN," Tavor replied. "We still to show the people of the Isles'' our strengths and having our troops on the ground would give us a market to expand into the Isles!"


    "You want to use our troops to win the hearts and minds of the people?" ke asked.


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor nodded. "And also an excuse to import our own items into the Isles..."


    "Currently the Isles'' taxes on importing of goods is unfavourable to us," Tavor said, "While it might change after the new Council steps in, but having some insurance is always good."


    "But if the Isles sessful join the UN," ke pointed out. "Than there won''t be a need for all these, right?"


    "No, Sir," Tavor shook his head. "Unlike what happened in the New Kingdom of Ma, we would still need troop presence within the Isles even after they joined us. One, it is to ensure the smooth change of governance... There would be nobility against such a chance, and second, we would still need to deploy troops to take over the security duties of the current regime until local troops could be trained up."


    "Andst of all, our troops here are to pressure the local rulers!"


    -----


    ke stepped through the main gates leading into the Council Chambers under much fanfare. Guardsmen dressed in borate ceremonial uniforms formed up in two lines coupled with colourful banners and trumpeters heralded his arrival under an astounding cheerful chorus.


    Lady Gloria waited at the bottom of the marble steps with her entourage of other senior officials with a smile. Commander Ford, Major James and Captain Mills were also standing at the side wearing their dress uniforms. Lady Gloria took ke''s outstretched hand warmly and even gave him a hug and said, "Thank you for saving my son''s life!"


    ke replied softly, "It''s the least I could do for a... friend."


    Lady Gloria smiled warmly and introduced him to the rest of her officials as Ford and the rest formed up behind him. Finally, after the introductions were done, Lady Gloria wee them into the Council Chamber where ke saw the hulking shape of Dijon seated on the end of the Chamber plugged into his life support and power array.


    "Cap.. tain," Dijon greeted ke as he stood next to him. e..."


    ke gave a nod in reply and he took the seat offered to him by Lady Gloria at the head of the table. "Thank you, this is the first time I came here and I must say, your city is beautiful."


    "Oh, it not as beautiful as yours," Lady Gloria smiled and said. "My son, Dijon, he always speaks highly of your city!"


    "Then, I shall wee you to visit our city," ke smiled politely back as he made some polite talk while the rest of the officials and influential people gathered inside the Chamber.


    Finally, whoever was supposed to be in the Chamber has settled down and Lady Gloria addressed the Chamber. "First of all, I wish to wee the leader of the United Nations into our nation."


    The Chamber broke out into apuse and ke stood up and gave a bow to the gathered. Lady Gloria continued and said, "Today we are gathered here to decide the future of our beloved Isles."


    "All of you know that there is talk of joining the Un An and bing part of them..." Lady Gloria said to the quiet Chamber. "Some are against this idea, while others support this decision..."


    "Now, before we start voting... I would like to say something first," Lady Gloria paused as she nced around at every member of the Chamber. "Our military is in ruins! The Fleets needs to be rebuilt as basically, none exist now! Also, the Eastern Indsy in ruins and many of our people need help there!"


    "The Cartel might have surrendered today, but what of tomorrow?" Lady Gloria asked. "What if another Outsider Nationes? The Un An has been gracious enough to protect us at our weakest point ever since the Isles founding!"


    "As merchants, you all know the meaning of nothinges free but with a cost!" Lady Gloria gestured to ke and said. "The Un An... will not be able to protect us forever and they have offered us a path... Which I think would take us to greater heights!"


    "Now, members of the Chamber, will you please cast your vote to decide should we, the Isles, join up with the Un An, as a member state, or remain independent?"

 Chapter 577: New Member

    Chapter 577: New Member


    ke sat silently in his seat as he half listened to the members of the Council argue their points and views. Some were against bing a member of the UN, while others pushed for it. Finally, the time to cast their votes came, several officials, wearing some fancy red yellow coat carried in arge wooden box together with a tray filled with wood tokens and Lady Gloria announced the voting to begin.


    One by one, the Council members came up to the box ced on the table in the middle of the Chamber and put in their votes. Each member selected a piece of the wooden token on the tray and dropped it into the ballot box. Once thest member of the Council ced his vote in, the officials stepped forward again and in front of the whole Chamber, they started counting the votes by cing each token that had been marked with a simple ''For'' or ''Against'' on the table.


    The Chamber was quiet as everyone stared at the counting, the only noise was made by the clicking of the wooden tokens as they were taken out from the box and ced on the table. Even ke was affected by the tense mood in the Chambers as he nced at the counting.


    Finally, thest token was removed and the officials in charge of the counting dered, "With a vote thirty one to twenty eight... The majority of the Council voted for in joining the Un An as a member nation!"


    A chorus of excitement and disappointment came from the Council members. Those who voted for the move, congratted themselves while those against the vote cast dark looks at ke who smiled politely at Lady Gloria who came over who said, "From today onwards, we will be under your care!"


    ke nodded, "Representatives from the central government will meet your governing council at ater time to introduce the new form of governance."


    "Also, UN troops will take over security and your current military forces and militia will be disbanded once the transfer of duties ispleted," ke added. "Anyone wishing to continue their military service will be weed and undergo training."


    Lady Gloria nodded as she let out a soft sigh, "I truly wish that our decision is correct in entrusting the future of the Isles to your hands..."


    "Don''t worry about the future," ke replied with a grim smile. "I promise to make this world a ce where everyone has a future!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, off the Coast of the First City of the Fleet


    "Officer on deck!" The Marine guard snapped to attention and saluted as ke entered themand bridge. The bridge crew all came to attention at once as ke returned their salutes.


    "At ease, people," He replied as he walked over to the admiral''s bridge and joined Commander Ford at the map table.


    "Good morning, Sir," Ford greeted ke as he joined him. "You look terrible... Did you not sleepst night?"


    "Not really," ke replied as he gratefully epted a mug of hot tea from an aide. "Was up working on the merger of the Isles into the UN structure."


    "You should leave it to your subordinates to do it," Ford shook his head. "You need the rest."


    "Can''t sleep, so I decided not to waste time," ke replied as he sipped his tea. "And I want to get this over with so that we can move on to... the Old World."


    "Alright," Ford said as he knew what ke wanted to do. "Well, the Isles has voted to join us, but how many will be willing to follow? And we have yet to find Megan, I fear the more conservative members of the Isles would join up with her once she crawls out from whatever hole she is hiding in..."


    "That is why I am moving troops into the Isles," ke replied. "They will be here to keep public order and take over the duties of the local troops."


    "And once the local troops get retrained in ourbat standards," ke gestured out to the city in the distance. "They will here to resume duty."


    "But that is gonna take plenty of time, months of training and the cost..." Ford frowned as he imagined how much resources were needed to train tens of thousands of troops to modernbat standards. "How are we gonna support this many troops?"


    "Don''t worry," ke said as he patted Ford''s shoulder. "The Isles will pay for some and also... I will be calling for volunteers soon... When the timees, there would be no need to worry about the cost..."


    Ford took a deep breath as he asked cautiously, "Richard, you are really dead set on this path?"


    "Yes," ke nodded. "Once the Vengeance gets refitted, I will call for volunteers and I will cross the End Zone into the Old World..."


    "You do know it has been over a year and a half since she was taken..." Ford reminded ke. "She could be..."


    "One year, seven months, and eleven days," ke said softly. "And I know the chances... But even if it is just a tiny chance, I still wish to find out what happened to her and my son!"


    "And if you do find her..." Ford asked. "What will you do if she is no longer in this world?"


    "Then, the Vengeance shall live up her name, yes?" ke whispered coldly in reply, sending a chill down Ford''s spine.


    "Sir... I..." Ford hesitated before he gave up. He felt guilty as at that time he had failed in his duty. "I understand, I will expedite the refitting of the Vengeance once we depart these waters."


    ke nodded as he stared quietly out of the viewport at the city. Ford let out a soft sigh and changed the subject, "Sir, would you like to meet the God Girl and the ck dragon since you are here?"


    ke turned his attention away from the viewport before he gave a nod, "Sure, why not? I have never seen a God in the flesh before."


    Ford quickly made some arrangements to hismand staff before he led ke out of the bridge and down into the belly of the Vengeance. They crossed the connecting corridor that linked the central battleship hull to the carrier ''A'' hull and entered the hangar deck. Inside the spacious hangar deck, aircraft were parked diagonally in their bays and many of them were being serviced by the deck crews.


    As they walked down the rows of parked aircraft, the deck crews paused at their work to render salutes to ke and Ford. At the end of the hangar bay, ke spotted a dragon tail sticking out from one of the aircraft bays, swishing around the deck. Ford sighed as he too spotted the tail, and said, "They must be watching some kind of movie or drama again..."


    ke smiled as he recalled the dragons being movie buffs and he carefully pushed aside the camoting covering the aircraft bay and stared inside. He saw Blue Thunder and the ck dragon, called Sophia curled up against the corner of the bay, while a small girl which looked around ten or twelve seated on a cushion and leaning against the belly of Blue Thunder.


    And surrounding the group, was over a dozen crew members with the majority being goblins. Their attention was all fixed to the moving images projected by a projector on the bulkhead of the bay. A speaker was ring out some audio from the movie which was showing a huge dinosaur chasing a green yellow car, much to the excitement of the audience.


    "Ahem!" Ford cleared his throat to catch the attention of the crowd but they were too engrossed in watching the movie to notice them. In the end, Ford gave a light kick against the nearest seated elf who turned around to re at the person who kicked him.


    The elf''s re turned to horror when he recognized who kicked him and the person beside Ford. He quickly shot to his feet like an arrow and yelled, "ATTEN- SHUN ON DECK!"


    The other crewmembers hearing the yell turned around and spotted the two highest ranked officers in the whole of the United Nations standing there, their expressions of confusion turned to horror and they all leapt to attention.


    Blue Thunder seeing who came was shocked as well, as he scrambled to attention too and in his haste, he knocked Sophia against the bulkheads with a loud groan of metal and sent Plee bouncing off his belly. "Woops..."


    Ford closed his eyes as he heard the metal bulkheads groaning under the impact of a ten over ton dragon as a dazed Sophia tried to get back on her feet after denting the walls. She copied Blue Thunder''s stance and looked curiously at the person next to Ford who she has not met before and was wondering why everyone seemed both excited and afraid at the same time.


    Plee grumbled as she dusted her backside after being sent flying by Blue Thunder. She gave a withering re at Blue Thunder but found him staring pointedly at a spot in the air and she wondered what happened. She then noticed Ford and another tall cold looking short eared hooman standing quietly at the entrance of the bay.


    "At ease," ke said before dismissing the crew. "Carry on with your duties. I need a word with the dragons and... the Girl..."


    "Aye aye, Sir!" The crew members saluted before they hurried out of the aircraft bay, casting apologetic looks towards Plee who was shocked.


    "Who are ya?" Plee curiously asked as she was a bit unhappy that her followers seemed to fear and admired him more than her and she wanted to know his identity.


    "I am Captain ke," ke simply replied. "And you are the divine being, called Plee?"


    Plee nodded as she haughtily crossed her arms across her chest. "Yes! It is I, Plee!"


    ke entered the bay and looked around, seeing articles offort decorating the bay, making the ce cosier. "So how have you been settling in?"


    Plee frowned as she nced at a nervous looking Blue Thunder who quickly gave her several fast one eyed blinks as if hinting at something. But she did not understand Blue Thunder and she replied, "Me good! But sad now... no burgers for me..."


    ke gave an amused look to Ford who grinned back. "Well, you did something without asking for permission and injured... your friends..."


    Plee pouted as she replied, "But I God! Offerings is a must!"


    "Even if you are a God," ke''s voice suddenly turned cold as he stared sharply at Plee. "Even if a God makes an offence, that God must be punished too!"


    Plee felt a sudden stifling presence emitting out from ke as she stared wide eyed with fear at the words of ke. She gulped nervously and shyly stepped back from ke and hid behind the arms of Blue Thunder. She mimicked the responses she has constantly seen the people around do and replied in a trembling voice, "A- aye Sir!"


    "Blue Thunder!" ke turned his attention to the dragon who visibly seemed to grow even straighter.


    "YES SIR!" Blue Thunder replied smartly as he kept his head straight and eyes up in a parade square worthy pose.


    "I have heard quite a lot ofints on you..." ke said as he stared at the dragon who was supposed to be known as fearsome creatures but was now like a mouse. ke shook his head as he continued, "I do not want to hear moreints about you! Or I bust your ass back to a private!"


    Blue Thunder trembled at the thought of getting de promoted which meant his pay would be cut, meaning that he would no longer be able to afford his cheese fries! It would be like cutting his flesh out!


    "Oh- NO, SIR! I- I mean, YES SIR!"

 Chapter 578: Prisoners

    Chapter 578: Prisoners


    "And you must be the Dragon Princess, Sophia?" ke said after he was finished with Blue Thunder who was trembling together with Plee. His sudden focus on Sophia made her turned pale with fear and it clearly shown on ck scales.


    ke and Ford were both surprised by the colouration as the timid dragon seemed to shrink into herself as she replied in a very small voice, "Y- yes"


    "Who he?" Plee whispered behind Blue Thunder. "He feel... scary!"


    "Erm..." Blue Thunder leaned his head down and whispered back. "He''s the big boss of the boss!"


    "Biggest boss?" Plee whispered back in awe. "Is that why all follow he words?"


    Blue Thunder bobbed his head. "Yes! He the one making cheese fries... burgers... alle true!"


    "Really?" Plee''s eyes glowed as she stared at ke speaking with Sophia.


    Finally, ke ended his conversation with the ck dragon who let out a breath of relief as he turned his attention back to Blue Thunder and the god girl, Plee. "Plee, I heard that you have the ability to control this ship, is that true?"


    Plee nodded her head, "I think I can control this ship somehow..."


    "Good, now, I know Captain Nimo has given you a choice to either join the naval academy or be let off the ship," ke said as he eyed Plee and for a moment, he wondered if his child next time would grow up like her if he had a daughter.


    "I stay in ship!" Plee replied quickly. "I... like here!"


    "That means you will be going to the naval academy!" ke nodded before informing her. "You only have so much time to learn the basics..."


    "If you do not make the mark, you will be removed from this ship!" ke sternly said. "I- We do not have much time to cuddle you! And you as a divine being, I am sure you will be able to learn things very fast!"


    "Plee learn fast! Plee wants burgers and... followers! Followers of the Faith!" Plee dered. "Plee stay on ship!"


    ke stared at the determined look on her face before he gave a nod and exited the bay. "Behave and I shall allow your burger rations to be continued!"


    "Thankee!" Plee hopped joyfully when she heard his promise.


    Ford caught up with ke and asked, "You sure about letting this loose cannon... loose on board this ship?"


    "If she can finished basic training in the naval academy before we depart," ke replied as he paused in his steps to look at Ford. "Why not?"


    "Seriously?" Ford frowned. "As much as I liked having a godly being in our ranks... but isn''t her mental age too low for this kind of work?"


    "Have you seen the cement of the shots made by her?" ke asked as he resumed walking. "All nine 14" shellsnded more or less within a meter of each other."


    "I saw the video taken from the eye in the sky," ke said, referring to the recon ne circling around the area of operations. "They had analyzed the video and calcted that all nine 14" shellnded within a second of each other and less than a meter apart."


    "If she can do that without any training," ke halted in his steps again and gestured towards the bay. "What can she do with proper training?"


    "So you want to make her into some kind of super AIputer for this ship?" Ford frowned. "But what if she turns against us? With her ability and the firepower of this ship... she could literally level cities with just a thought!"


    "That is why the dungeon core is currently covered with enough thermite to melt a hole through this ship!" ke answered coldly. "And if she fails or could not grow to our required standards, the dungeon core gets off the ship."


    "But we need the dungeon core to provide mana power to the arcane systems of this ship..." Ford replied. "Removing the core means we will need to rely on mana stones which is kind of like removing a nuclear reactor and recing it with a coal burning reactor!"


    ke shook his head as he answered, "As you have said, she will not do any good if she just remains onboard. Everyone works, there are no freeloaders in the UN! If she can''t grow up, she gets off the ship!"


    "Then she has to grow up pretty fast..." Ford sighed as they continued their way back to the bridge. "There isn''t much time..."


    "Yes," ke replied coldly. "Returning to Hope station, plus refitting, resupply and taking new crew and troops would take the most one month..."


    "I have waited patiently enough already," ke said. "It''s time to go find my wife!"


    -----


    The Isles, Ind of Sando, UN Prisoner Holding Area, Interrogation Cell 9


    Intelligence Officer Tavor was enjoying himself as he sat with both feet propped on the wood table while leaning back on his chair and chewing on a sandwich of fried fish. With his free hand, he flipped the file on hisp while ignoring the looks of anger and fear cast his way by the orange suited prisoner cuffed to the chair in the middle of the cell.


    "So, you are telling me you have no idea at all of what Megan''s end game is?" Tavor asked in between mouthfuls of his sandwich. "And here I thought you were her most trustedpanion!"


    "The Sea God spat upon your souls!" Akron growled as he struggled futilely against his restraints. "Release me at once! I am a Fleet Master of the Isles! This is not the Un An but the inds of the Isles!"


    "Well, I guess not so trusted after all," Tavor smiled as he dusted his hands after finished his meal. He closed the file in hisp and took his feet off the table and stood up. He picked up a ck cloth hood and a piece of cloth off the table and stood next to Akron whose eyes turned to fear at the sight of the hood in his hands. "Oh, before I go, there is something you might be very interested to know!"


    With a sharp yank of Akron''s hair, he jammed a piece of cloth into his mouth as Akron''s mouth open to shout but ended up muffled. The ck hood was quickly slipped over Akron''s head and with practised hands, he deftly tied drawstrings tight but enough to allow some air in. Akron screamed muffled and his struggles increased.


    Tavor''s smile grew wider and he leaned next to Akron''s ear and whispered gently like a lover. "Your beloved Isles is no more... It is now part of the UN! Your title as a Fleet Master... is nothing here!"


    With that said, he straightened himself and picked up his files before leaving Akron screaming inside the cell. Tavor gave a nod to the waiting guard who locked the cell door behind him and he headed off to the next area where he has more people to question.


    His long ck trench coat attire and appearance had frightened many of the inmates on the ind holding them. At first, no one knew who he was, but now, the inmates hearing the echoing boots shivered in fear and they prayed that the scary ck coated hooman would not appear before them.


    Tavor ignored the fearful looks cast to him by the prisoners as he whistled a cheerful tune. He headed straight to the holding area for the members of the Cartel and the guards there saluted him, their eyes betraying fear at his appearance.


    Once into the holding area for the Cartel, which looked very different from the previous lock up area he came from. Here, the Cartel was given tents and they were lined up neatly in rows while being ringed in by a wooden fence and guarded by watchtowers.


    The earlier lock up area was more like a jail with buildings built out of wood and steel as the ind was used to be a temporary holding area. Inside the Cartel holding area, his appearance has attracted a group of short beings over. When Tavor had firstid his eyes on the Cartel, his first impression was that they were dwarves that came out of the 2D movies he has seen.


    Like the elves, they had long pointy ears while their bodies appeared to be squashed t down until they came up to his belly. Gic maniption over the years has made humans taller, faster, stronger, and even in some cases, smarter. And all military personnel has to undergo some gic modification to their systems. Marathon Imnts for thebat troops which increases their stamina and strength, Anti Gravity Imnts for Fleet to counter efforts of space sickness, muscle and bone atrophy and many others.


    For Intelligence officers like Tavor, Langauge Imnts were the norm, which allowed him to learn and speaknguages easily. Higher security cleared Intel and g Officers even had kill switch imnts, enabling them to kill themselves without leaking any secrets.


    Tavor stopped at a gate which was used for visitors and patiently for the group of short legged beings who themselves called Dwarvans and not dwarves toe up to the gate.


    "Greetings," A fierce looking dwarvan with a shaggy beard that looked like it needed a really goodb grunted out. "What you want this time?"


    "Your outposts are all in ruins," Tavor replied with a cheerful smile as he replied in the trade tongue of the Old World. "And the few remaining airships had surrendered quite quickly..."


    "So?" The once Grand Lord of the Cartel replied unhappily. "We have surrendered already!"


    "But you did promise topensate for losing and the release of your men," Tavor replied. "But none of you are capable to pay the fee..."


    The dwarvan turned red under his beard as he looked away. "Erm..."


    "Nevermind, since you lot can''t pay..." Tavor rubbed his hands together happily. "We just get you to work your debt off!"


    "You scoundrels shall never get us to make steamworks for you!" The dwarvan growled while as the rest called out their agreements. "By the mountains! You can kill us all but we will never make steamworks for you!"


    Tavor was stunned for a moment before he burst outughing, which surprised the dwarvans. "Hahahaha! What are you thinking?"


    "No one wants you to make what you call this... Steamworks?" Tavor shook his head helplessly. "We are not even thinking of that! Your level of technology pales inparison to ours! Why do we want your stuff?"


    "Now see here!" The dwarvans seemed even more riffed up. "We shed blood and sweat to make our steamworks and you here look down our us?"


    "Hahahaha!" Tavorughed again. "You do know how you got defeated, right? If your steamworks is as powerful as you imed... We wouldn''t be speaking here between this gate..."


    Tavor''s words shut the dwarvans up as they looked at each other sheepishly. The Grand Lord finally let out a deep sigh and asked, "So what you want?"


    "How good are you guys in... digging and mining?" Tavor asked with a smile.


    "Digging? Mining? Rock and Stone!" The dwarvan cried out. "By the mountains! We are born to dig and mine!"


    "Good!" Tavor''s smile widened as he looked down at his file. "Since you lot can''t pay for your freedom... You will work to pay your freedom off!"


    -----


    "Grand Lord!" A dusty looking dwarvan asked. "Do we really have to work for this... Un An?"


    "We can''t buy our freedom out!" Grand Lord Hammerfall snapped. "We have not enough gold!"


    "Do you think it is true the rest of our outposts has fallen?" Another dwarvan asked. "It could be lies..."


    "We will know if it is a lie soon enough!" Lord Copperstone replied for the Grand Lord. "I am only worried about the resupply fleet that ising!"


    "By the Mountains! There is nothing we can do for that fleet!" Grand Lord Hammerfall replied with a sigh. "We are trapped here..."

 Chapter 579: My Part

    Chapter 579: My Part


    United Nations, New Kingdom of Ma, Sky Mountains Valley


    The sun has dipped behind the mountains and the valley was cast into darkness as night came. A shepherd retreated back into his hut after securing his flock of cloud deer, and a warm glow came from within the hut as a fire was made. All around, light could be seen from the few scattered huts around the vige.


    Many of the houses in the vige had been abandoned as the new government soldiers came to evacuate the surrounding viges around the Sky Mountains due to the increased raids from a force of Outsiders called the Protectorate that had made the Sky Mountains their base. Over the past weeks, several viges were hit, with people, livestock and supplies taken away.


    Those that remained stubborn and stayed behind were mostly the elderly could regrly hear echos of thunder rumbling down the mountains at all times of the day and even the night. The old prayed and ced offerings at altars and shrines around the viges in hopes to appease the angry gods of the mountains.


    As the remaining few vigers prepared their night meal, a group of shadowy figures emerged from the edge of the Sky Mountains. Moving under the cover of darkness, the figures moved as fast as they could without tripping down the gentle slopes of the valley, using the light of the vige as a waypoint.


    Harsh whispers came from the figures as they came upon a low wooden fence at the edge of the vige. Just as the figures spread out, there was a loud crack that broke the silence of the night followed by a hissing whizz before another loud pop came from the re in the sky and the night was illuminated.


    Under the illumination of the re drifting down from the sky, the figures caught in the harsh white glow froze as their cover and night vision was blown. The light revealed them wearing dark red robes and light armor and wielding shortnces and swords. A shout came from one of the hut at the sight of the revealed figures, "Protectorate!"


    "Engage!" Flickers of red yellow tracers spat out from the huts in the vige and caught the Protectorate raiders in a crossfire. Bodies toppled backwards from bullet impacts while the raiders hesitated before they charged over the fence with a war cry.


    Sergeant Cork of the UN Army stroked the trigger of his rifle and briefly saw the target he shot at stumbled down and he switched targets. Another re burst into existence in the sky, further illumination thend, allowing the ambushing troops better visibility against the raiders.


    Not long, the order came down to cease fire and Cork yelled at his men, to fan out into the open and clear the area. Cork checked the time piece in his arm and shook his head. The one sided fire fight felt like hours but in fact not only ten minutes has passed.


    "Clear!" A yell came from the point men of his squad as they swept the area around for more enemies. "We got wounded here!"


    "Medics! Up front!" Cork ordered. "Move the wounded back!"


    The medics hearing the all clear, came running out of the huts carrying stretchers and they started checked the enemy wounded. Cork checked his men and found no one was injured when thepanymander came over and said, "Good work men! This shall teach the Protectorate not to raid the viges here!"


    "Sergeant Cork!" Thepanymander walked over to him. "What''s the situation?"


    Cork looked to the medic who handed over a slip of paper and reported, "Forty seven enemy dead and neen wounded."


    "Zero casualties on our side, Sir," Cork said as he handed the butcher''s bill over to thepanymander who nodded. "Most of the enemy wounded wouldn''t make it without a proper medical facility..."


    "Have the medics do what they can," The CO replied as he watched the bodies being carried away. "Anyway, good work! With this, we wilted down more of the enemy numbers and denied them vital supplies!"


    "Sir, why aren''t we taking the fight to them?" A nearby soldier asked he spotted Cork and the CO. "We can end this if we move our troops into the mountains!"


    "Too many caves and tunnels up there," Cork replied for the CO. "We do not know where they are hiding..."


    The CO nodded in agreement, "Yes, that is why High Command has us sitting here and ambushing any Protectorate that dares to poke his head out!"


    "Cut of their supplies and sooner orter, they wille out on their own," The CO grinned before he said to Cork. "Good work again! Clear the area and get the men some rest."


    "Thank you, Sir!" Cork replied and watched the CO and his staff walked off towards the quiet vige.


    "Sir Cork," Jeanne Von Iris suddenly appeared out of nowhere, startled Cork. She looked at the bodies being moved away and sighed, "How much longer will... this war continue?"


    Cork looked at Jeanne, her pretty features highlighted sharply against the lights of the working parties and reached a hand out and patted her shoulder. "I do not know."


    "It feels like war is never end... And there is no peace..." Jeanne said in a tired voice. "When will all these bloodshed end?"


    "I... do not know..." Cork replied weakly as he did not know what to say. "It... should end soon... Once we starve the Protectorate out from the caves..."


    "And after that?" Jeanne asked softly. "There will be another war waiting for us..."


    "It''s an endless cycle," Jeanne said as she held onto Cork''s hand on her shoulder. "We will never stop fighting and killing..."


    "No, we will," Cork tried to assure Jeanne. "The... UN... has the power to unite this world... And once the world is united, there will be no more wars..."


    Jeanne remained in silent as the two of them continued watched the work going on. After a while, she said in a determined voice, "I have decided... I shall sign up with the UN army..."


    "What?" Cork was surprised. "But..."


    "I trust in your words, Sir Cork," Jeanne said as she stared with resolve into Cork''s eyes. "I believed in your words that the Un An would save us and they did. Now, I shall put my trust into the Un An to end all wars!"


    "And to do that, I shall fight to do my part!"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, En route to Hope Naval Station


    ke stared at the stack of documents awaiting his attention and sighed. He ignored his work and stood over the view port and looked nkly out at the view. In his heart, he felt a tinge of fear as the time has finallye for the push into the Old World. The fear in his heart was of finding out Sherene and his child was no longer in this world and the feeling was driving him mad.


    A sudden knock on the hatch broke him out of his moody thoughts and he sighed deeply before he called out, "Come in."


    "Sir," Lieutenant Tavor came in and he ced a file on the table. "We found more traces of Megan''s ns and ex Fleet Master Tediore has gave us some information in regards to Megan."


    "Just tell me," ke said as his mind was too tired to read anything.


    "Megan has plotted to sink or disable the Vengeance during the Battle of Wind Coast," Tavor said. "From Tediore''s words, her ns was to have the Vengeance sail to this ce called the Seabone Reefs."


    "Her ns would be to strike the Vengeance while it was busy with the Cartel," Tavor continued. "By means of a sneak attack."


    "But what weapons does she has that is capable of piercing through the belt armor of the Vengeance?" ke asked curiously. "Do they even have torpedoes?


    Tavor shook his head and said, "No, it would be more of a ramming attack."


    "She intends to ram a battle carrier?" ke was surprised but felt that it was also a logical method.


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor replied. "Her submersible ship should have some kind of ram that could tear the bottom hull. And by doing so, she can put the me to the reefs in the area."


    "That is also due to the fact that no one knows we have sonar," Tavor added. "If used against any one else, her submersible would be a great headache and danger. But only if they do not have sonar and depth charges..."


    "So is that report of one of our ships sinking her confirmed?" ke asked as he shook his head at Megan''s devious mind.


    "I checked with the crew and I am even more certain that the UNS Braveheart has indeed encountered Megan''s submersible and depth charged it," Tavor replied with a small smile on his face. "The crew had tried to dredge more of the wreckage or ship up as they assumed it might be a weapon of the Cartel but other than a few floating debris, they found nothing else."


    Tavor gestured to the file on ke''s table before he continued. "Some of the retrieved debris was taken and analyzed by my team and the results was that it matched the rolls of fish skin we found in Megan''s secret docks."


    "I also had ships pinging the area for the past few days with sonar, but nothing was found," Tavor said. "And as it is not a true submarine, it would need to surface to replenish its air or resupply."


    "Recon flights has spotted nothing within a hundred and twenty kilometer radius around thest known location of the debris and no support ships of any kind was found, " Tavor added. "It is very highly probable that Megan''s ship had been sunk!"


    ke took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. He closed his eyes as he pondered on the report by Tavor before he said, "I think so too judging from all the evidence and searching done."


    "I guess we can close our file on Megan," ke said. "And keep it under wraps. No one is to know she is dead."


    "Yes, Sir!" Tavor nodded before he asked. "How shall we handle Tediore and Akron?"


    "Confiscate all their assets," ke replied coldly. "And put them away for now... Once the new government for the Isles is up, then let them decide what to do with them."


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor replied again. "And the Cartel prisoners?"


    "Have they told us about how they made that electric shield thingy?" ke asked.


    "No, Sir," Tavor shook his head. "They were quite adamant about it."


    "Since they can''t pay for their freedom," ke said. "Trade it for some of their debts. If not, put them to work in the mines."


    "Sir, the Cartel has a second Fleet that should arrive anytime to resupply their outpost at the Eastern Inds," Tavor said. "We now barely have any ships in the Isles."


    "Don''t worry about that," ke waved away Tavor''s concerns. "Ford has already sent word to the fleet at Port Sanctuary to sail at full speed to support the Isles."


    "One converted merchant carrier and three corvettes would be more than enough to force their surrender," ke said. "After that they will be supporting the ground forces within the Isles."


    "Yes, Sir. Regarding the Isles, there are quite a few discontented with the move to join us," Tavor said. "Do we..."


    "As long as they do not disrupt public order or the government," ke sighed. "Take care of them discretely."


    "Yes, Sir. I will notify my agents." Tavor replied as he dismissed himself.


    ke closed his tired eyes feeling the urgent need to take a dose of Happy to make the dark thoughts in his mind to go away. In the end, he let out a growl of frustration and headed for the shower and let the cold water wash over his whole body and shocking his system.


    "Just a little more..."

 Chapter 580: Anarchy

    Chapter 580: Anarchy


    The Isles, First City of the Fleet, City Guard Barracks


    The parade square was lined up neatly with hundreds of Isles Guardsmen, each wearing a light blue armband over their left biceps. A raised tform was setup in front of the waiting soldiers and not long, a Un An soldier wearing a mottled uniform climbed up the steps of the tform and addressed the crowd.


    "Good morning, gentlemen!" Mills greeted the Isles'' Guardsmen. "I am Captain Mills of the UN Marine Corps."


    "All of you have gathered here because you chose to remain in service," Mills''s voice came over the loudhailer in his hands. "Now, I shall brief you what will be next."


    "First, most of you will be sent off to Port Sanctuary to begin eleven weeks of military training!" Mills said and the Guardsmen started mumbling among themselves. "Quiet! You will have a chance to ask questionster!"


    "Once youpleted your basic military training, you will be posted to different units, depending on your aptitude!" Mills continued. "You will be posted either to the Air Force, Army or Navy, where you will undergo further training to familiarized yourself with your unit and new duties!"


    "Now before any answering any questions!" Mills nced at the confused looks on the soldiers before him. "Look at the pamphlet that was issued out earlier!"


    "In case those who cannot read," Mills said as he opened a printed pamphlet. "On page three, there is a section for the mostmonly asked questions and their answers!"


    "Question One!" Mills started reading from the pamphlet. "I am a seasoned veteran of dozens of battles and campaigned in several wars! Why do I need to go to Basic Military Training?"


    "Answer!" Mills barked at the soldiers who were nodding at the question. "The UN military is a fighting force, unlike anything any other nation has! Weapons, tactics, and strategy are all different from what you all had learnt and know! That is why Basic Military Training is required to learn NEW FIGHTING SKILLS!"


    "Question Two!" Mills continued down the list of Q and A on the pamphlet. "I am a noble or hold a high rank. Will I retain my rank?"


    "And the answer is... NO!" Mills answered. "All former ranks and nobility titles are NOT recognized in the UN! If you want rank, you need to work for it! Everyone starts from the bottom and everyone has equal chances to be promoted!"


    "Question Three!" Mills continued on the Q and A until all themonly asked questions had been answered. Then he proceeded to answer some of the questions and concerns not addressed on the pamphlet. By the time the guardsmen were dismissed, they had all gained a clearer idea of what their future paths would be like.


    A tired Mills retreated back into the barracks which they had taken over while the government was in the middle of been handed over to the UN government. Already there were several cases of reported protests that turned violent all over the city. Marines dispatched from Vengeance and local guardsmen had been busy enforcingw and order throughout the city as news spread of the sudden change of governance.


    Many confused Inders went out to the streets to demand answers, which heralds under the employ of the government stood on stands and proimed the changes and answered questions to the people. Many epted the changes helplessly while the merchants were excited about the new areas ofmerce and opportunities.


    The ones that were unhappy were either Megan''s supporters or traditionalist who did not want changes and those unsavoury characters who took the opportunity to loot and pige during the period of unease within the Isles. As news spread out to the other regions, simr events urred and the civic order broke down.


    When Mills entered the barracks, he saw harried looking staff as they were swamped with reports and requests for support all over the city. The radio station was wild with calls while other units without radiomunications resort to using messengers and carrier wyverns. Mills spotted James leaning over a map of the city that was covered with dozens of colourful markers.


    "Hey boss," Mills greeted James. "How''s the situation?"


    "Bad," James sighed as he gestured to the tokens scattered all over the map. "Robbery, protests, fires, looting, murder... Take your pick..."


    Mills shook his head as he took a look at the map. "Damn, I thought they would love us."


    "Oh, they love us..." James replied sourly. "The merchants to be exact. But themon people? Most of them just want to have a stable and peaceful life..."


    "But here," James pointed to the red markers. "Many are uncertain of their future and they just want some reassurance. But we got some troublemakers within the crowd..."


    "Megan''s supporters?" Mills asked as he looked at the locations of the markers.


    "Maybe, or some Inders that really do not want to lose their independence..." James replied. "I mixed the local Guardsmen with our boys and have them secured key points of the city. Luckily most of the disturbance takes ce in the poorer districts of the city..."


    "The market districts were not that affected while the wealthier districts had been locked down to prevent looting," James gestured to an empty area on the map. "I have troops holding the major roads in the city open for movement of goods, especially foodstuff. I dread to think what would happen if the markets had no food to sell to the people..."


    "Looks like a cluster fuck," Mills grinned. "Well, I guess many aren''t taking the change of government that well..."


    "Mostly the poor districts," James answered. "Problem now is theck of manpower to keep the disturbance from spreading to the other parts of the city... And don''t let me start on the other regions of the Isles..."


    "The Eastern Inds had just been reimed from the Cartel," James added. "And they are too busy rebuilding to think of the change of government."


    "But the regions not affected by the Cartel," James gave a helpless shrug. "I pray they do not revolt or something..."


    "Nah, they won''t," Mills replied. "Once they see the money rolling in, every one of them will line up and offer to be a citizen! Ha!"


    "I pray you are right..."


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Flight Deck A


    Blue Thunder nervously pawed the flight deck as his flight crew double checked his flight harness and riggings. Finally, the check waspleted and one by one they climbed up the rigging and buckled in. Blue Thunder turned his head back and spotted Saphia behind him and gave her a reassuring smiled despite his nervousness.


    "Dragon Flight to Venny Control, ready to take off," Stamford said over the radio as he looked over to the Flight Deck A''s control tower.


    "Dragon One and ck Diamond, you are cleared forunch," The control tower replied. "Good winds!"


    "Roger!" Stamford leaned back and made a winding up gesture with his hand at Barkly riding solo over Saphia. "Let''s go!"


    Blue Thunder took a deep breath before he made a running jump off the edge of the flight deck, his wings pping strongly and rode the wind into the air. Saphia followed shortly behind, feeling uncustomed to the harness and rigging over her body. The two dragons rosed into the air rapidly and turned towardsnd with a couple of F/A - 1N Sea Vipers as escorts.


    "Do you think... she... is there?" Blue Thunder asked in a timid tone as he tried to peer through the skies at the approaching coastline. "Anyone... see her?"


    "Heh," Stamford grinned as he watched Blue Thunder turning his head left and right. "I think there is a high chance she is waiting for you at the docks..."


    "R- really?" Blue Thunder felt a chill down his spine. "Er... Do... you think she... is happy to see me?"


    "Of course!" Stamford smirked as he imagined what Raztraz would do to Blue Thunder when she found out about certain things. "And your kids too!"


    "Oh," Blue Thunder let out a sigh of relief. "I think so too!"


    "Look, there''s the base!" Stamford pointed forward to the dark smudge on the horizon. Blue Thunder aimed straight at it and he pped his wings harder, putting on speed. Slowly, the details of Hope Naval Station appeared and the city next to the naval base appeared to have grown evenrger.


    Large swaths ofnd had been cleared around the city, pushing back the forest. Much of the clearednd had turned into farms and grazingnd for livestock. The city''s docks had expanded slightly with many cordoned areas that were under construction as the city''s fishery industry grew in the short month.


    "Finally! We are back!" Blue Thunder let out a bark of excitement. "CHEESE FRIES! Woo!''


    As the dragons came down over thending strip inside the naval base, a frightening aura burst out from one of the hangars. Blue Thunder sensing the aura, immediately froze on the tarmac as his dinner te sized eyes widened in panic. "O- oh... Oh... no..."


    A dragon with dark crimson red scales just a head shorter than Blue Thunder came hissing out of the hangar. She stared daggers at Blue Thunder who had his head ducked down and stormed over, leaving behind prints of fire on the tarmac. The ground crew stared in both dismay and mirth at the damaged runway and also at the clearly frightened Blue Thunder who was trying to find a ce to hide.


    Stamford and the rest of the crew pulled their quick release buckles and hopped off the back of Blue Thunder as Rastraz came storming over. They gave their prayers to him and quickly ran offughing, "Good luck, Blue!"


    "W- Wait!" Blue Thunder stood there in panic as he watched the rest run away. "Y- you all have no camaraderie!"


    The ground crewughed as they watched Blue Thunder scolded his crew and the emergency services even arrived and they too hang back to watch the show. Blue Thunder gulped as he turned to Rastraz with a big smile on his face and said, "H- Hello! I''m b- back!"


    Rastraz growled as she stood before Blue Thunder and said in a very cold tone, "So... you are willing toe home already? DID YOU ENJOY YOURSELF?"


    "Eh... yea- I mean no... no... I was busy! Busy with... work!" Blue Thunder stammered with trying not to look guilty. "A- After all, it was a mission..."


    "Oh, really?" Rastraz raised an eyebrow in a very people like expression. "And who is that behind you?"


    "Behind me?" For a moment Blue Thunder was confused before he remembered about Saphia. "Oh... OH!"


    "Ah... She... Ah... Is... From the... Old World..." Blue Thunder''s eyes were spinning in panic. "She... erm... I... Ah..."


    "Who. Is. She?" Rastraz''s eyes narrowed dangerously and everyone watching the drama could feel the temperature rising. The fire emergency guys quickly grabbed their hoses and readied themselves for the explosion.


    "I am Princess Saphia, Daughter to the Dragon Matriarch of the Domain of Dragons!" She puffed out her chest as she stood up to Rastraz and pushed a surprised Blue Thunder back. "And WHO ARE YOU?"


    "I... I am Rastraz the Red! Pride of the Volcanic Dragons!" Rastraz growled back before she red at Blue Thunder and hissed. "And this thing... is my brood mate!"


    "Br- Brood mate?" Saphia was shocked. She turned her serpentine head around and stared with hurt filled eyes at Blue Thunder. "Y- You didn''t tell me!"


    "Eh?" Blue Thunder scratched his head in confusion. "What does it got to do with anything?"


    Stamford and the rest of the crew facepalmed when they heard Blue Thunder''s reply. Rastraz growled as she pushed Saphia aside and addressed Blue Thunder directly, "You better exin everything to me properly or once the eggs hatched... You will never get to see your children!"


    "Y- You two... even have eggs together!!!"

 Chapter 581: This Is An Order!

    Chapter 581: This Is An Order!


    "Wait!" Saphia cried out as she ignored Blue Thunder and instead she came up close to Rastraz who backed away from her. "You have two eggs?"


    Rastraz nodded, her eyes narrowed in suspicion at Saphia''s sudden excitement. "Yes! With that... thing!"


    "Really?" Saphia suddenly reached out and grabbed both Rastraz hands making the red dragon rear back in surprise. "That''s wonderful!"


    Rastraz tried to back away from Saphia but Saphia seemed determined to stick with her. Saphia''s eyes glowed with adoration as she stared with adtion at Rastraz, "This is marvellous! There hasn''t been an egg for many years after my birth!"


    Rastraz was confused and frightened by the sparkling intense eyes of the strange ck dragon, "What?"


    Blue Thunder poked his head over and tried to exin, "She is from the Old World... And from what we know, dragons are almost gone there..."


    Saphia bobbed her head excitedly as she stared with adoration at Rastraz, "Yes! And to have two eggs! Can... Can I see them?"


    Rastraz''s anger seemed to be forgotten by the infatuation given off by the ck dragon as she did not know how to respond. In the end, she stammered, "O- Of course... They... are here..."


    She led Saphia into the hangar which she had earlier stormed out of and inside, arge crate previously used to store ship killer rockets was padded thickly with Navy issued nkets where two eggs asrge as an Orekin''s head poked out from more nkets.


    Saphia oohed and ahhed the moment she saw the eggs and she as gently as she could for her size and weight, came up to the eggs that were being warmed by a heatmp hooked up to the hangar beams. She curled around the crate and stared with wide eyes at the eggs and she sighed in wonder. "This is the first time I have seen eggs of our kind!"


    Blue Thunder followed into the hangar and looked over the shoulder of Rastraz and whispered, "How are the kids?"


    "They are fine!" Rastraz growled as she shifted away from Blue Thunder. "Better if their father is dead!"


    "Don''t be like that..." Blue Thunder sighed. "I''m back!"


    "I thought you don''t ever want toe back any more!" Rastraz growled. "And when youe back... You bring back another... female?"


    "Ahh..." Blue Thunder gave an embarrassed cough as he tried to exin, "We... erm... saved her from very!"


    "She... is actually a very poor thing!" Blue Thunder quickly added. "We... erm... destroyed her... friends and family... andter she was captured by those barbaric Foralians who tried to sold her off in an auction!"


    "And... since she has no home now and no way to return to the Old World..." Blue Thunder gave his best apologetic smile at Rastraz who was ring at him all the time. "She erm... will be staying with... us for now... until we... er... go to... the Old World?"


    "Oh...I see!" Rastraz gave a smile back which made Blue Thunder shiver. "So... she became your little girlfriend now?"


    "Er... er..." Blue Thunder scratched his head and replied, "Technically... She is a girl and we are friends?"


    "OUT!" Rastraz roared as she shoved Blue Thunder out of the hangar. "You shall sleep outside!"


    "Waa?" Blue Thunder blinked his eyes in confusion as the sliding doors of the hangar were mmed shut before his face. The ground crew hanging aroundughed at his predicament and they returned to work, leaving Blue Thunder gently tapping against the hangar doors with his w and asking in a small voice. "Hello? Ras? Let me in?"


    -----


    United Nations, Hope Naval Station, Docks


    Grand Lord Hammerfall was feeling awe at his surroundings as they were led down a bridge ontond. The size of the docks was staggering and at the same time excited his mind. When they were transferred on board the giant ship, he didn''t even feel that it was that impressive as anyone with skills could build arge ship.


    Lord Copperstone had expressed his opinions but the ship when they were aboard with praises in regards to the structure by examining their surroundings as the ship sailed off to somewhere with them inside a massive hold. Lord Copperstone was impressed with the quality of work done by the Un An''s metal wrights while Hammerfall felt that only theirbat magic was what won the battle.


    If the Un An does not possess such powerful magic, the Cartel would not have lost the battle! But now,ing to this strangend, Hammerfall saw the massive base and in the distance, a sprawling city that was filled with towers that he could not even count!


    As he and the rest of his people had all disembarked the ship, he saw more of the swift magic wagons that moved here and there on wide ck paved roads. The Un An guards herded them towards a row of long wagons and they boarded the wagons to find the insides were wide enough for two people to sit on the benches ced on both sides that faced forward.


    Once the wagon was filled up, the door on the side of the wagon magically closed by itself by folding outwards in such a way that made Lord Copperstone excited at the sight. "What sorcery is that?"


    "Ingenious!" Lord Copperstone excited, his face bright with excitement, nearly matching the startling orange of their clothes that they were forced to wear. The material was thick yetfortable which Hammerfall had first assumed would be rough and coarse by his first impressions. Lord Copperstone rapped his knuckles against the side of the wagon before banging his sandaled feet against the floorboards. "Metal! All metal!"


    "How much metal is there?" Hammerfall was surprised as he looked out of the barred windows that covered the sides of the wagon. "First... that giant ship... And now these..."


    "The Un An must have highly skilled metal wrights to produce all these metals!" Copperstone replied as he gave a lick at the metal walls trying to taste the iron. "Could be why they want more miners..."


    "If they spend so much iron at everything," Hammerfall shook his head. "It''s no wonder they need more miners."


    As he finished his sentence, the wagon seemed to shudder and a strange demonic growl came from beneath their feet, making the prisoners nervous. "What was that?"


    "A monster?" A dwarvan in the front yelled out in panic. The wagon made another shudder with more growling sounds and suddenly started moving. The prisoners looked around in panic and realized that other than moving, there was no monsters or demons appearing.


    Hammerfall looked at Copperstone and whispered, "Are they using some kind of monster to run the wagons?"


    "I... Don''t know!" Copperstone replied as he looked around wildly. "There is no boiler that I could see, so this wagon is not steam powered..."


    "The growls we heard," Copperstone continued as he stared at the floorboards at his feet. "They could be using some creature to move the wagons..."


    "So for all their strengths," Hammerstone let out a satisfied sneer. "They are actually not that powerful!"


    Hammerstone felt a small sense of relief as he was actually frightened by the thought that the Un An not only possessed superior battle magic and even steam and ironworks. If such a nation had such frighting knowledge and power, it would mean the end for the Old World, especially since the Seven Great Nations had been sending in their forces into the New World for resources.


    If they can some more ovee the Un An''s battle magic, then the Old World would have a chance against the Un An, thought Hammerstone. He turned his attention out to the barred windows and took in the sights, curious with how thends of the Un An looked like while Copperstone kept looking around the wagon in his seat.


    -----


    Dr. Sharon led Plee down to the dock where arge crowd had formed up on one side that was clearly waiting for her. Dr. Sharon smiled and ruffled Plee''s hair before she said, "Alright, you will be taking a special ss from tomorrow onwards!"


    "Listen and ask questions when you do not understand, okay?" Dr. Sharon said to the God Girl who nodded. "Be a good girl and obey your instructors. I wille to visit you when I can."


    "Do you have to go?" Plee asked as she looked around her new surroundings. "Can''t you teach me more?"


    "Not the new subjects you will be learning and training with," Dr. Sharon gave her an assuring smile. "Don''t worry, Plee is a very smart girl!"


    "Now, go," She gestured to the waiting goblin at the side. "Your followers of the Faith are dying to meet you! I hear they brought many offerings for you!"


    "Offerings!" Plee squeaked happily before she gave Dr. Sharon a tight hug. "Thank you, Doc!"


    "Take care!" Dr. Sharon waved goodbye to Plee who waved back as she followed the goblin Racky who was the head priest of the Faith''s Chapter onboard the UNS Vengeance. Dr. Sharon watched the two walked to the waiting group who started cheering and yelling slogans. She shook her head at the sight before she headed towards the base''s HQ to get her new orders.


    -----


    Plee could feel a refreshing warmth flowing throughout her body as chants from the waiting group swept over her. "Hail Firepower! Hail Firepower!"


    Racky was very excited as he hopped around and did aplicated handshake with another goblin that was dressed in an old oversize military coat that was festered with colourful ribbons and medals. "Our Most Explosive Holiness has arrived!"


    "She shall bless us in war and grant us the power to blow the shit out of our enemies!" Racky dered proudly. "Also... she can give us fire support when we needed it the most!"


    "Oh yea!" An Oerkin marine cried out. "Fire support is good! I like fire support!"


    The followers of the Faith of Superior Firepower crowded around Plee who was basking in their worship and faith. Finally, Racky said, "Let''s go to the Church! And celebrate!"


    "Ooo! It''s BBQ time!" The followers cried out excitedly as they shuffled off to their makeshift church at one corner of the base. Plee looked worriedly to the UNS Vengeance and Racky said, "No worries, your most explosive holiness. You will be in the range of your core! And we will bring you back before lights out!"


    With that, Plee nodded and she followed curiously after her followers as she took in the sights, no longer feeling lonely after the dragons and Dr. Sharon had left her.


    -----


    Captain ke and Commander Ford walked off the gangway and saluted the waiting honour guard. ke came to a halt as he looked back to the docked UNS Vengeance and said, "Get her refitted for the journey."


    Commander Ford nodded as he too nced back at the ship. The battle carrier stretched from one end to the other and took up his entire view. "She will be ready for the journey."


    "It is built by the hopes and wishes of the people here," Ford said with a fond tone. "She will carry us across the End Zone without fail."


    ke nodded before he said, "I hope so. I''m heading to HQ. There will be a lot of things to handover to the staff before the departure."


    "Yes," Commander Ford replied and he followed ke towards the waiting vehicles. "I too have to hand over my duties before we leave."


    "No," ke suddenly paused in his steps and he turned around and faced Ford. "You will not be going on this... trip."


    "What?" Ford was surprised. "No, I will be going with you!"


    "No," ke shook his head as he denied Ford. "You will remind behind here."


    "But-" Ford wanted to argue when ke put up a hand to stop him from continuing.


    "I need you here!" ke said firmly. "You are to keep the UN running!"


    "This is an order!"

 Chapter 582: Invite to Party

    Chapter 582: Invite to Party


    The City of Hope was the secondrgest popted city of the UN. The majority of the inhabitants were refugees from the surrounding kingdoms that flooded into the UN for safety. Those same homeless refugees were also the ones that built up an entire city from the ground up and now living in high rise apartments or houses.


    The refugees who were mostly farmers was once unskilled and uneducated, had under a forced program of teaching and learning, became literate and skilled in various industries, especially with working with heavy machinery and construction. Hence many heavy industries were zoned out around the city and the industries superseding the factories of Haven.


    Almost everything needed by the people of the UN was produced here, or some of its parts. With the mega shipyard that was used to build and assemble the Vengeance, it also became the primary production of naval and merchant ships of the UN, over taking the yards of Far Harbor. These industries furthered increased the poprity boom for the city as more and more new immigrants that were granted citizenship sought to move into the city for its wealth and opportunities.


    Captain ke stood at the airport VIP terminal looking out of the ss walls at the blustering city as he waited for his ne that was taxiing towards the passenger boarding bridge. For a moment, the thought of Sherene''s smile upon seeing the flourishing city shed across his mind and his eyes misted, only quickly to snap out of his thoughts when his aide informed him that the ne was ready for boarding.


    He rubbed his eyes and gave the city onest nce before he boarded his flight back to Haven where some matters needed to be addressed before he could set off to find Sherene.


    -----


    United Nations, Hope Naval Station, UNS Vengeance, Flight Deck A


    "Attention!" A drill instructor in navy blues yelled across the flight deck at the squares of newly signed up recruits for the navy academy. Over seven hundred recruits mostly young adults except for one small girl stood at attention that was taught and drilled into them a couple of days ago.


    The basic navy training was for the first time, strangely conducted onboard the UNS Vengeance and the recruits were given berths to stay inside the ship, instead of having the training course on the base itself. The new recruits were both excited and in awe of the great ship that they now stood upon while the Instructors were having a headache trying to coordinate the course''s curriculum using the shipboard facilities.


    Thankfully, most of the crew were granted shore leave nor were many Marines onboard as they mostly dispatched to the Isles. This allowed the Naval Academy''s instructors to make use of the Marines'' facilities onboard the Vengeance. But the true headache was the small girl who the instructors knew was an actual god. It was like andmine as no one knew whether would Plee be about to handle the stress of being ordered around, verbally abused, and physical training during the course.


    In the end, the captain of the Vengeance and Plee herself had assured the instructors that she was willing to take the course and would not be offended in any way. The captain of the Vengeance,ter on, had exined the circumstances of her situation which did not make the instructors any more happier.


    The captain had also warned Plee not to use her powers at any cost and she needed toplete the entire course without her powers. Plee without knowing any other options, agreed to the conditions and did her best to blend in with the rest of the recruits. Now, she stood with her feet slightly apart in a crisp uniform and her hair neatly cropped and tucked into a jockey cap with her tiny fists clenched to her sides.


    The morning parade continued on as the CO of the Navy Academy made a speech and after it was over, the instructors dismissed the recruits to their lessons for the day. Plee rubbed her growling belly as she still felt hungry despite having arge breakfast of buns, eggs and sausages. She sighed as she followed behind her new friends, her short legs jogging to catch up with them as they went down the hatch to their next ss.


    "I want some offerings..."


    -----


    United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore


    "Attention On Deck!" The Marine guard called out at the door as Captain ke entered the conference room.


    "At ease," ke waved the gathered officers and civilians back to their seats. "Alright, let''s get this meeting started."


    "Now, as you all know, my next n is to send the UNS Vengeance across the End Zone and into the Old World," ke said. "We all have been nning for this day for a very long time!"


    The people inside the room nodded and mumbled their approval. ke looked around the room and continued. "The Vengeance has docked for a week and is now undergoing refits and some upgrades to its systems. Estimated time for the ship in dock would be three weeks to finish all the repairs and refits."


    "So baring any hups or incidents," ke said. "The Vengeance will depart for the Old World."


    "Sir, the Icarus still needs more time..." Chief Matt frowned as he replied. "We can''tplete ship trials within three weeks."


    "Than it will not join the Vengeance," ke simply replied. "Anything else?"


    "Yes, Sir," Chief Matt added. "We came up with a n for a balloon assisted low orbit satellitemunications array for long distancemunications between the two continents."


    "We nned to use the helium which we had collected from our mines of natural gas and petroleum, to float high altitude balloons up to the stratosphere," Chief Matt said. "After which a small booster rocket will boost themunications satellite into orbit."


    "If sessful, we can create awork of satellites formunications," Chief Matt said. "And maybe even having cameras for a real time surveince system to rece our single probe in orbit."


    "But, it would need time and resources for tests and trials..." Chief Matt listed out the needs of the project. "It would take months to implement the whole array in orbit."


    "Do it," ke nodded as he gave his approval. "If we can have somems between the New World and the Vengeance, it would greatly help in many ways."


    "Yes, Sir" Chief Matt nodded.


    "Next?" ke looked around.


    "Sir, we need more troops in the Isles within the week if the Marines want to make the three week deadline of the Vengeance..." General Frank the Commander of Marines said. "We need Army units to take over my Marines at the Isles before they can be pulled back to man the Vengeance..."


    "The unrest in the Isles is growing and we can''t pull the Marines out without any recements," General Frank said as he nced over to General Joseph. "Three weeks is a very tight schedule to hand over all the duties..."


    General Joseph nodded as he said, "My men are boarding the transports as we speak now and some units are already en route over."


    "I do not know if it would be enough," General Frank said. "We can hold the capital of the Isles, but overall, the Isles has many, many scattered inds. Inds under the influence of Fleet Master Kose, Dijon and Marshal are generally more orderlypared to the inds of Tediore, Megan and Akron..."


    "And with Tediore being the former Merchant Guild''s Master... maybe it even moreplicated with those Guilds or Houses that still support him..." General Frank let out a deep sigh. "Basically it''s a mess there now..."


    "The only good news is that we sunk most of Megan''s faction''s ships and troops..." General Frank said. "Which effectively destroyed their only chance of an uprising."


    "You can''t rebel if you don''t have troops and ships..." General Frank gave a shrug. "And we still need to train the existing Isles Guardsmen into our fighting standards and fold them into our ranks..."


    ke nodded as he considered the time and resources needed before he suggested, "Or I could take Joseph''s Army units onboard the Vengeance instead?"


    "What?" General Frank had a horrified look on his face. "Let those doggies trample all over the Marine decks? It would be bad for morale..."


    General Joseph had a confused look on his face as he nced at Frank who smiled and exined, "It''s a branch thing... Just like we Marines don''t shit in your base..."


    "Ahh..." General Joseph nodded in understanding. "I think I understand."


    "I guess that is not a choice then," ke shook his head before he continued. "We should still n on a three week deadline but n for the worse. In the meantime, expedite the movement of your Army units to the Isles."


    "Tavor," ke turned to the Intel Officer who was seated quietly at one side. "I want your people to work with Commander Ford''s staff on best point of entry into the End Zone and anding spot for the Vengeance on the Old World once we crossed the ocean."


    "Also gather all data on what we will encounter or need once we reached the Old World," ke added. "Work with the Professor on that."


    "Yes, Sir," Tavor replied as he noted down his tasks.


    "Now, I need to select who will be staying and who will be on these expedition," ke said to the room. "Commander Ford will be remaining behind and he will be in charge when I am not here!"


    Everyone nced at the Ford who gave a dissatisfied nod. "I understand, Sir."


    "He will be fully in charge of running the UN in my absence," ke gave his order. "And I expect those staying to give him your full support at all times."


    "Chief Matt," ke turned to the Chief Engineer. "You will be staying too."


    "What?" Chief Matt was surprised. "If I do not go, who will run the Vengeance''s engineering department?"


    ke shook his head. "I need you to work on yourmunications satellite array and any other projects you have at hand."


    "These are more important than being the Vengeance''s Chief Engineer!" ke said. "And besides, the Vengeance''s current Chief Engineer is doing well so far..."


    "But..." Chief Matt disappointingly protested but was cut off by ke''s shake of his head. "I- I understand, Sir!"


    "Tavor, you will stay too," ke said next. "I need you continue to run Intel and the best ce you can it is here..."


    "Yes, Sir" Tavor answered without any change in expression as if he had expected the oue.


    ke turned next to face the three branchmanders of the UN. "General Joseph, General Frank and Commander Tommy, you three will remain behind tomand your respective forces."


    "Continue on the recruitment, training and the defense of the UN," ke ordered. "Once a beachhead has been established and we have further means of crossing the End Zone, reinforcements would be greatly appreciated in the future."


    "Yes, Sir!" The threemanders replied at the same time.


    "Dr. Sharo-" ke turned to the medical officer who quickly stood up and cut the words ke was about to say.


    "No, I am tagging along and nothing you say will stop me!" Dr. Sharon snapped. "There is no one else more qualified to run the med bay AND, the Gods forbid if anything happens to Sherene... I may be the only one will the medical skills to help her!"


    "And I had even learnt some basic healing magic!" Dr. Sharon proudly said. "So, whether you approve or not, I aming along!"


    ke stared at Dr. Sharon''s determined eyes before he sighed and nodded. "Alright, you will be part of the crew."


    "Ahem... If I may," Magister Thorn suddenly spoke up, clearing his throat. "I too will like be part of the crew."


    "I am will be certain that you will require my expertise in the knowledge of arcane matters," Magister Thorn smiled. "And I am very worried about Lady Sherene."


    ke nodded before he started listing out names of the officers who had volunteered to go but was rejected. When it was over, over half the list of volunteers were rejected as ke deemed them too vital to the UN to go on a high risk mission.


    "Thank you all for volunteering. All of you have received your orders, go do what you need to do... I will see you all again before we depart."

 Chapter 583: Travels

    Chapter 583: Travels


    United Nations, Sawtooth Mountain Air Base


    Air Force Commander Tommy held on to pair of binocrs as he tracked the airship drifting across the runway of the airbase. Spectators lined the hangars at the side as ground crew and servicemen paused at their work and stared in wonder at the massive ship made out of metal doing its aerial trials. Fire and rescue teams in their ck and yellow uniforms were also on standby on the side just in case of any idents.


    The hundred and fifteen meters long rectangr boxy airship looked naked without its armour ting and totally unlike the designs of the Old World''s nations'' airships. Its quad propeller engines with its internals could be seen and its underbelly was currently exposed without its mission module attached. Dozens of circr holes could be seen lined along its hull as its weapons were not mounted yet.


    The Icarus came to a hover over the runway, all of its four massive prop engines powering down and hydraulding struts extended out from its hull as it slowlynded on the tarmac. Commander Tommy smiled as the crowd broke out in cheers and apuse as the flight trials had been sessful. "Chief, everything looks good."


    Chief Matt nodded with pride as he stared at his project. "I never doubt it would fail!"


    "Still, those magic runes giving it resistance to crosswinds are truly something of a marvel!" Commander Tommy said. "Now we just need to outfit it up and another few more of trial runs, and it would be operational!"


    "You meant basic trials, right?" Chief Matt raised an eyebrow at the Air Force Commander. "We only ran some basic trials here..."


    "Well, we are really running short on time," Commander Tommy replied with a helpless shrug. "We can''t just let the Vengeance go in solo..."


    "I know," Chief Matt sighed as he watched the testing crew disembark from the airship. "If only we got a month or two more to run full trials..."


    "The Boss isn''t gonna wait that long, you know?" Commander Tommy replied. "Keep running the trials once the Icaruspletes its full fitting... If the Icarus can''t clear its trials, then the Vengeance will have no choice but to cross the End Zone to the Old World alone..."


    "That is why my guys are working overtime these few weeks!" Chief Matt nodded in agreement. "We can''t let the Boss himself go in there without any backup!"


    "We don''t know what other surprises they have in the Old World..." Chief Matt added. "So the Boss is gonna need all the firepower we can get him."


    "Alright, I am going over to see the boys working on the balloon satellitems array," Chief Matt said before he left the control tower. "It will be their lifeline..."


    -----


    United Nations, Hope City, Train station


    Lord Copperstone was astonished by what he had seen in the past few days in his ''indented'' service so far. The architecture, metalworks and magic was something that was alien yet opened his mind to so many new possibilities and made him so excited that he almost could not fall asleep.


    And now, he stared at this great giant iron snake that stretched from one end of the tform to another and the number of people and cargo that was being loading into each of its sectioned metal body! He mentally counted the number of crates that were been loaded by some sort of magical wagon that seemed to be specially built for the work of moving crates into the belly of the iron snake.


    He estimated that the number of goods carried was almost equal or morepared to the two cargo holds worth of weight of a medium airship! And he hasn''t even counted the number of people boarding it! What an amazing creation, thought Lord Copperstone, his eyes staring hungrily at the train.


    "The Un An is a ce of wonders!" He mumbled next to his Grand Lord who was less impressed with the train. "And I have never seen a city so brightly lit up at night! It was even brighter than our under cities!"


    "Yes..." Grand Lord Hammerfall could only grudgingly agree as they saw the lit up city during the nights they were held inside apound just at the outskirts. "It was like some celebration or festival with all those different colours..."


    The dwarvans had at first assumed the city was celebrating their victory over the Cartel which made them indignant. But over the course of the few days, they were held as prisoners, the colourful lights of the city did not lessen nor seemed to go away. Their guards continued with their vignce watch and did not seem to resent the dwarvans for not having the chance to go join in the festivities unlike what the dwarvans would have expected the guards would do.


    Even without going into the city, Lord Copperstone could tell that the Un An possessed methods and knowledge that was totally different from the nations of the Old World. He wondered could it be due to the differences in resources and geographical environment that the strongest nation in the New World has such different schools of thought.


    In the Old World, cities would be filled with thick smog that came from industrials. Coal works, forges, steam nts and many other heavy industrials would spew out endless clouds of filthy smoke that over time, would cover the entire city in ayer of soot and dust while a fog of dirty air would wrap around the city.


    Most nobles and the wealthier sses would have their estates in the cleaner areas of thend which was either far away from the industrial areas or was covered by a barrier of forestednd. For of the rich and nobility that had to live in the cities, their mansions were either built above the dirty smog cloud, living in tower mansions or for the ultra rich and powerful, a floating mansion powered by aetherium that were anchored to the city by massive iron chains.


    For the Cartel who lived inside the mountains, they had to dig massive tunnels to ventte the air, or have their heavy industrials built on the sides of the mountains which made them vulnerable to raids. Therefore, many of the Cartel mountain holds would instead choose to build aplex system of venttion tunnels and steam powered fans to clear the air. If not, the residents of the mountain holds could well suffocate inside the mountains from theck of fresh air.


    This made Lord Copperstone wonder what kind of energy source does the United Nations uses as it was clearly not steam as he has observed many of the wagons and even the iron snake called a ''train'' which he was currently waiting to board. There no signs of any boiler that was required of a steam work nor was there any fluctuations of magic at work.


    All these points made him confused and extremely curious. It was like an unscratchable itch in his mind and the questions he directed to the guards yield no results as the guards were unable to exin or too unbothered to reply. He squatted down next to the crack between the iron snake and the tform and stared curiously into the dark at the massive wheels underneath the iron snake.


    His suspicious looking actions were caught by the guards and they hurried over and dragged him off to the side. Feeling disappointed for not having more time to look at the inner workings of the iron snake, he obediently returned in line next to Grand Lord Hammerfall who shook his head at his antics. "Is the ironworks of the Un An so fascinating?"


    "Why yes!" Lord Copperstone replied. "Take a look at this iron snake! If we can implement this into our mountain cities and mines, think of the increase in efficiency of transporting goods and people from ce to ce!"


    "True, it does seem that way," Grand Lord Hammerfall nodded as his interest was piqued. "But our airships could do the same."


    "Yes, but operating airships are expensive..." Lord Copperstone said. "And if we could find out how these iron snakes work... It might provide us with a better way to move arge number of goods and people at a lower cost!"


    Grand Lord Hammerfall ceded the point to Lord Copperstone by shrugging. He gestured to the orange clothing they were wearing and said, "Before we go into all that... We still need to find a way to escape and also a way back home..."


    -----


    The Empire of Bluewood, Exile''s Ind


    Leung sat squeezed between two locals hugging his knees to his chest. The hold he was inside was crowded and filled with many people that he found out were taken from viges and towns here and there along the coastal areas. He was unfortunately caught by a patrol of Outsiders'' soldiers as the people here called their captives for quite some time ago.


    He knew the true identity of his captives as the Tri State and Iron Kingdom as he had helped the Bluewood Empire fight them off and witnessed the one sided bombardment provided by the UN ships. He hadter taken the opportunity to slip away from the Imperials and disappeared into the forest. After hiking deep into the forest for many days and certain he was untrackable by the Imperials, he settled down to a hermit''s life only to encounter a wandering patrol of Outsiders.


    He was next taken to their camp, a series of caves by the side of the mountain range but not before his meagre supplies and gear scavenged by the patrol. The soldiers questioned him and he lied as best as he could before he was thrown to work on clearing the nearby forest for wood with many others taken like him.


    As time went by, Leung had long lost track of time, only following the harsh orders of forcedbour. Those that cked off were whipped by the watching soldiers and forced to continue working. They were just fed enough, only enough to keep them working. From the break of dawn, Leung shuffled out with the others and received their first meal, some sort of grain porridge and meat scrapes before handed tools to cut down trees.


    During midday, they were given a turn of the sand ss to rest. Most copsed where they worked and slept while others took out the wild fruits, mushrooms and tubers that they foraged while working and made a meal out of those. Once the rest time was over, the soldiers forced them back to work until the sun dipped below thend and they received thest meal of the day which was the same as breakfast.


    But today was different, the soldiers herded the Leung and the rest into the hold of an airship that was hidden in a huge clearing. The huge airship was covered with a glimmer spell to prevent anyone from spotting it in the sky. Leung knew that there were more airships scattered all over the area, all hidden simrly from sight, from listening to the others talking about it.


    He was too tired to feel worried or nervous and only mindless followed the harsh orders of the soldiers. Now he was squeezed with dozens of others in a tiny cell and many took the chance to rest, as did he. His eyes closed for a moment before he was suddenly rudely awakened by both a loud rumble and shaking of the decks.


    Instantly, the people inside the cell started crying out in panic and fear, only to have the guards yelled at them to quiet down. Leung shoved his way through the tight confines and made his way towards the tiny viewport that was their only source of light from outside. He peered through the hole which was only the size of his head and briefly saw the blue green canopy disappear and reced by the blue white skies.


    "Where the fuck are we going?"

 Chapter 584: Unrest

    Chapter 584: Unrest


    United Nations, Hope Naval Station, UNS Vengeance


    Dozens and dozens ofrge cargo containers upied both the flight decks of the Vengeance, so much so that they prevent the decks fromunching and recovering aircraft. The stacks of cargo containers were further strapped down and secured with steel cables to prevent them from slipping or falling overboard in bad weather.


    The Vengeance with both its flight decks covered with cargo containers looked more like a cargo ship rather than a warship and yet still, cranes were continuing to load more cargo containers on board. Each cargo container contained crucial supplies, from essentials like fuel, food, water, and medicine, to weapons, ammunition, spare parts, vehicles, and even a couple of industry grade fabricators.


    While such a decision rendered the entire carrier''s fixed wing aircraft totally useless but without a support fleet or any form of resupply, the Vengeance had to bring everything they would need to establish a forward base in the Old World. Hence, after filling the Vengeance''s internal holds to the brim, the rest of the needed supplies were stacked on the flight decks.


    The loading of the cargo containers had taken almost a week while the Vengeance underwent some repairs, maintenance, and refits. A small army of technicians and engineers which arge majority of consisted of goblins went through the entire ship, recing worn parts and other required maintenance.


    On the side of the carrier air wing, the old first generation F/A - 1N Sea Cobras were also swapped out with the newer F/A - 2 Vipers, upgrading the Vengeance''s air power. The Vengeance''s 3 inch guns were also reced with the newer 3.5 inch (88mm) calibre guns further increasing its firepower.


    Six brand new Mechanized Armoured Walker MK VIII were also loaded onboard with another twenty Infantry Fighting Vehicles and a host of other light vehicles, trucks and MRAPs. In the aft of the ship where the well deck was, eight PT boats were suspended with steel cables securely in the air, while another four troop barges were secured to the well deck.


    Captain ke watched the ongoing work from the top floor of the naval station''s headquarters. Behind him, seated behind the desk was Commander Ford who had a thick pile of documents stacked on his desk. "The Vengeance would be ready to set sail by the end of the week."


    "What is left is to pick up the Marines from Port Sanctuary and the First City," Ford added as he scribbled his signature on one of the documents. "You should have plenty of time before winter hits and closes the sea."


    ke nodded as he continued to watch the work on the Vengeance. Ford let out a sigh and said, "I will have a fleet to escort the Vengeance into the End Zone. After that, you and the Vengeance are on your own..."


    "Thank you," ke said as he turned away from the window. "I know I had been... not myself for quite a while..."


    Ford kept quiet as he waited for ke to continue. ke took out a small brown pouch from his pocket and seemed to sagged visibility as he bounced the pouch in his palm before he ced the pouch on the desk. "This... is a drug called... Happy."


    Ford was surprised as he picked up the pouch and opened it. A fine white powder mixed with a green glitter poured out on to Ford''s palm. "This!"


    "I got it from a group operating just beyond our borders," ke confessed. "It... kept... me sane..."


    "But... now, I have no need of its use anymore..." ke said as he took a seat before Ford. "It does not excuse the use of drugs."


    "You could have died!" Ford hissed in anger as he dumped the pouch into the bin. "You know how many people''s lives were ruined because of this drug?"


    "I know," ke replied calmly. "I will step down frommand once this... is over..."


    Ford stared in silence at ke after hearing his words, uncertain what to reply. ke let out a sigh, "I''m tired, and whether if we find her or not... I think it''s time for me to rest."


    "You will take over me when that timees," ke said as he headed for the exit. "I think this is the best for everyone."


    -----


    Ford watched ke exit and a sense of disappointment and dismay weighed deeply in his heart. He recalled back to the first time he read ke''s resume records and the first meeting with him. His feelings now were exactly the same as before, after meeting the man which was unlike anything written in the naval records.


    In ke''s records, there were severalmendations and citations for valor under fire but Ford''s first impression of the man was disappointing. The man he saw was nothing like the record stated and he seemed more like a washed out old man instead. But when the Swarm came and crashnding on this had changed the captain a lot and it seemed ke had returned to his former self.


    Now, it appears that ke was returning to his previous washed out state and that made Ford feel a sense of loss that he could not exin. He leaned back on his chair and stared at the ceiling thinking that a few years ago, he would have been happy to be in charge but now, the responsibilities ofmand was no longer as attractive as before.


    Letting out a deep sigh, Ford looked at the pile of paperwork and shook away his brooding thoughts and decided to put his whole focus in ensuring that ke and the crew of the Vengeance would stand a fighting chance in the Old World. Once they had settled that problem, then he shall focus on ke''s problems.


    -----


    United Nations, The Isles, First City of the Fleet


    A stone hurling across the air struck with a loud nk against the raised round shield of a shield wall. Facing the shield wall of Marines and isles guardsmen were an angry mob who wielded stones and crude weapons, The mob rife up by rumors and uncertainty of the merge with UN were mostly the uneducated and of the lower ss.


    Mills had a frown on his face as he watched the mob shing with his troops. For the past couple of weeks, there had been an increase of unrest throughout the Isles. But the First City was rtively quiet until now just when there was a court hearing of the two disposed Fleet Masters.


    The Marines were scheduled to be rotated out with Army units and board the Vengeance but with things looking so bad, the Marines might not be able to pull out at all. There was a loud crash as the shield wall charged into the mob, the Marines and guardsmen wielding batons and scattered the rioters.


    Unlike the New Kingdom of Ma where the people were war weary and in poverty, the Isles boasted the densest cities and vigespared to the other kingdoms asnd was scarcer. The people of the Isles in general were also more well to dopared to the rest due to their flourishing trade andck of wars.


    This made pacifying the people of the Isles harder as many were still grieving with the loss of their loved ones from the betrayal of Megan. Efforts that seemed to pacify and calm the popce seemed to have failed suddenly, made Mills suspicious of some underlying scheme.


    "Raider One, this is Ind Command" His earpiece called out. "Pull back your men to the Wheeler''s Street. Over."


    "Raider One copies!" Mills yelled over the noise. "Squad leaders! Rally your men! We are falling back!"


    His squad leaders quickly rallied the men and they fell back in good order. The mob seeing the soldiers retreated cheered in victory as they chased after the soldiers, throwing stones at their retreat. Mills gestured to his radioman over and said, "Get me Major James!"


    "Yes, Sir!" The radioman fiddled with his radio before handing the handset over.


    "Major?" Mills held the handset to his ear. "What the hell is going on here?"


    "Mills! Pull your men back and hold that street!" Major James replied. "The unrest is a ploy to distract us!"


    Mills''s suspicion was correct. "Anything to do with those two assholes we are holding?"


    "Very likely!" James''s worried tone could be heard over the radio. "Reinforce the guards there! Do not let anyone without authorization through! Out!"


    Mills cursed as hurried his men down the street. Their new position was right where the House of Law for the hearing of the two Fleet Masters was being held today. They reached the street where both ends had checkpoints set up. The Army units and guardsmen had been warned of their arrival and they allowed them through while the senior most officer spoke with Mills.


    "What is going, Captain?" The Army Major asked as he looked around nervously. "Are we expecting an attack?"


    "Very likely!" Mills replied. "My boys are the nearest unit here, so they diverted us over to support you!"


    "Oh fark..." The Major cursed as he saw the approaching crowd behind Mills''s troops. "Form up! Form up!"


    Mills eyed the approaching mob and hesitated for a moment before he grabbed the Major by his arm. "Sir, we might need to go live here..."


    "Live rounds?" The Major''s eye widen in surprise. "Fire at civilians? You want this whole shit to go out of control?"


    "We might need to!" Mills said firmly. "This mob is clearly incited by someone... And that someone wants to break out those two inside the courthouse!"


    "Even so, there are civilians there..." The Major hissed. "This is such a fark up! I better check in with Command!"


    "And before I get further orders!" The Major gestured to the line. "No one fires at the crowd without my order!"


    "Yes, Sir!" Mills sighed as he ran over to join the shield line. His men had been fending off the crowd with non lethal means as to not escte the conflict. He knew that if civilians were gunned down the situation will turn for the worse, but if the plotters behind this managed to steal the two disposed Fleet Masters out of their hands, it surely would turn into civil war.


    "Shatter the crowd!" Millsmanded from behind the troops. "Hit them with res!"


    The troops with re guns aimed at the crowd and fired, sending streaks of fiery sparks flying into the crowd. The unlucky crowd in the front was knocked back as the res mmed into their lines and the hot sparks and choking smoke broke the crowd, buying more time for Mills''s troops.


    "Captain!" The Major came running over. "Command... gave us permission to go live... ONLY IF, our men lives are in danger!"


    "And reinforcements will being... but no ETA yet," The Major said as he stared at the crowd splitting around the burning res. "This is going to be tricky!"


    "Major, the House of Law?" Mills asked as he gestured to the grand looking building built into the side of the mountain which the locals used to conduct trials, signing of contracts and other legition stuff.


    "I had the entrances locked down when reports of riots had broken out," The Major said. "There''s both an Army and guards toon holding inside."


    The House of Law was sited with its back against the dead volcano with an open za lined with fronds and the za was surrounded by buildings. The only way into the House of Law was the street running across the front of the za. Both ends of the street had a checkpoint which was currently held by the UN troops and facing them was arge angry mob.


    "It would be some time before reinforcementse," Mills said to the Major. "If I guess correctly... There would be riots everywhere... And everyone would be too busy toe support us..."

 Chapter 585: 585 - Inciter

    Chapter 585: 585 - Inciter


    United Nations, The Isles, First City of the Fleet, House of Law


    Disposed Fleet Master Akron was standing next to a shaken Tediore in the middle of the arena like chamber. A row of seven magistrates sat on a raised tform that looked down at Akron and Tediore who had their arms and legs in heavy chains. The entire House of Law was dark and only Akron and Tediore were lit by a beam of sun ray that was reflected by mirrors and left the magistrates in the shadows.


    This arrangement was done so to protect the randomly selected magistrates to prevent any cases of revenge from the used and also made bribery harder. Bathed in the light, Akron and Tediore could barely see anything and the acoustics design of the House of Law made the magistrates'' voices sound different and a lot overbearing.


    "By these documents and statements from witnesses," One of the magistrates spoke. His voice echoing over and over again in the chamber. "Do you acknowledge their contents are true?"


    Akron, his hair and clothes dishevelled, only red silently at the shadows in the balcony above him. Tediore on the other hand was visibly shaking causing the chains to rattle together softly. After a moment of silence, the magistrate spoke again. "If you think that by remaining quiet, Megan wille and save you. You two can give up that thought, for she is now a fugitive!"


    "Hahahaha!" Akron broke out in suddenughter when he heard the magistrate''s words. "Knowing her, she would nevere to save us!"


    "But..." Akron smiled as he said. "I have my own backup ns!"


    His words made the magistrates frown and they started to confer between themselves in low voices. Hearing the soft mumbles from the magistrates, Akron''s smile widened, as he knew he had rattled the magistrates. Suddenly, there was amotion among the magistrates as their voices were raised. Akron caught a few words like riot and trouble from the murmurings.


    "Take them away!" A magistrate suddenly ordered the guards. "This hearing will be dyed... for now!"


    Akron continued smiling as guards arrived to bring him and Tediore away to the underground cells. He followed the guards docilely and as the cell doors closed behind him, he sat down on the straw bed and settled down to wait for what was about toe.


    -----


    "Push!" Mills yelled over the crazy mour of the mob shing against the shield wall. The frenzied mob was shoving hard against the shield wall of the Marines, Army and guardsmen of the Isles and some time ago, a group of masked men had appeared out of nowhere and they were armed with crossbows and swords.


    Mills did not even notice the masked assants arrival until one of his Marines fell back with a crossbow bolt in his throat. The Marine''s feet thumped the ground hard as he crutched his pierced throat and blood gurgled while his buddy tried to stem the bleeding. "Medic!"


    "Fuck!" Mills nced at the wounded Marine and tried to look over the shield wall and the mob''s heads. He yelled into hisms as he alerted his men. "Raider One to All! We got an active shooter! Snipers! Check the area!"


    "Contact! Crossbower on the roof!" A Marine sharpshooter called out from his overwatch position. Mills and the Army Major had worked out a n to use Army and Marine sharpshooters or snipers to provide overwatch with live ammunition while the rest of the troops attempt to control the unrest with non lethal means.


    "Shoot that son of a bitch!" Mills snapped at hisms. Almost immediately, there were not one but two loud cracks that simultaneously thundered from behind. The gunfire rolled over the mob, stunning them and giving a moment of respite for the troops behind the shield wall. The assant armed with a crossbow on one of the street building''s roof toppled off the side andnded in the middle of a crowd, inciting screams of surprise and horror.


    Mills frowned as he looked back, knowing that both his Marine sharpshooter and the Army counterpart had both shots the same tango. He keyed hisms and sternly said, "Snipers! This is not the time forparing dicks! Cover your own sectors!"


    Clicks of acknowledgement came back over the toon channels and Mills turned his attention to the fallen Marine. Two medics hovered over the Marine and another two pale faced Isles'' guardsmen were holding a stretcher between, waiting for the medics'' instructions. Seeing there was nothing he could do for the downed Marine, he turned to the mob who had pulled back behind the body.


    Already quite a few enterprising youths and people had swarmed the dead body and looted its body of anything of value. Mills shook his head as he watched the scene feeling some pity for the still warm body which nowid naked in his own blood.


    The aggression of the mob had cooled down after seeing someone had been killed. No one wanted to rush forward and be the next to be the next body to be looted clean. Mills grinned seeing the mob hesitating and he took his whistle out and was about to order a charge to break the mob when suddenly, a masked person yelled.


    "Look! They just killed one of us!" The masked person shouted out in the middle of the crowd. "Tyrants! They are tyrants! We must take back the Isles!"


    "Make the Isles great again!" The inciter yelled out and his yell was echoed from more masked persons. "Make the Isles great again!"


    The mob riled up by the unknown masked men gathered their courage as they stormed forward again. Mills seeing the change in the mob''s demeanour cursed and he yelled, "Stand fast! They areing again!"


    The mob shed again with the troops but this time around, masked figures suddenly darted out from the crowd by leaping over the crowd''s shoulders and heads like some kind of martial artists. The masked men tossed out sks of alchemical fire directly over the shield wall and the deadly arcane molotov devices exploded over the clustered troops.


    Screams erupted from those covered in arcane fire and the shield wall broke. Mills was forced back by the sudden wave of super heated air and he stared in shock and anger as the men under hismand pped around covered in mes. Thunder boomed as the sharpshooters without the need of an order opened fire at the masked assants.


    Mills drew his newly issued service P1 FNIX .45 pistol and fired at the nearest masked figure who was attempting to skewer an Isles'' guardsman in the back, dropping the attacker with two shots in the arm and chest. His previous old service revolver had been swapped out with the new Ork friendly 15 rounds semi automatic heavy pistol. The sudden explosions of arcane fire and the eruption of gunfire rocked the mob back again and once again they paused in their charge.


    The smell of cooked and burnt flesh hung thick in the air and not even the smell of gunpowder was able to cover it up. The Marines and Army seeing their own being burn before their eyes, switched out their truncheons to their rifles and fired at the masked assants. The hi powered rifle rounds easily punched through the leather and steel armour of the attackers and further indiscriminately mmed into the mob behind, causing coteral damage.


    Bodies dropped and more screams rang out. The mob seeing people getting killed and wounded around them, panicked and those in the front shoved the people behind them, waiting to escape death. In moments, those in the middle were trapped by those pushing in at the back and a stampede broke out and the unlucky ones were trampled to their death.


    Mills ignored the screams and actions of the mob as he focused on the enemy before him. Already a dozen of the masked assants were down in their own pool of blood but there were still plenty more. He ducked behind one of his Marines who had his shield up when he heard a yell of warning. The riot shield armed Ork Marine let out a colour curse as a crossbow bolt mmed into it and he hoisted up his rifle one handedly and gave the rooftop where the crossbower was, a good dose of lead.


    Mills ced his left hand onto the shoulder of the Ork Marine and fired his heavy pistol one handedly at another assant who was also targetted by a few other troops. Already the initial confusion had faded as the Marines and Army soldiers distance themselves as much as possible against the melee wielding masked men that entered their ranks. Only the Isles'' guardsmen without any modern weaponry and tactics training milled around and fought hand to hand against the masked attackers.


    The masked attackers fought fiercely as they tried to enter melee range with the UN troops. More arcane molotovs were thrown and spells zapped across the streets while the UN troops return fire back at the attackers in point nk range. Already the majority of the masked attackers were down, only those still hiding inside the buildings and roofs remained as a deadly annoyance.


    "All units fall back to the za!" Mills ordered the troops around him before switching hisms channel and informed the Army Major of their fallback. He had spotted more movement along the street buildings'' roofs and if those were more crossbowers, he needed his men to get off the killing ground that was the street. "Grab the wounded!"


    He took a quick nce at the end of the street where several bodies of the mobid unmoving on the hard pebbled street and he turned away from the sight. Thest of the masked assant fell, his body covered with bullet holes. The UN troops quickly moved their wounded and dead while others took cover behind the short palm fronds decorating the za leading to the House of Law.


    "Iing!" Someone yelled as a small cloud of crossbow bolts shed across the air. There was cries and curses of pain as some of the troops were struck by the crossbow bolts. Almost instantly, the long rattle roar of a MG - 1 rocked the za as one of the machine gunners let loose on the windows of the shops facing the za.


    "Back!" The Army Major who wasmanding the other side of the street suddenly appeared next to Mills and ordered. "Fall back to the House of Law! We will dig in there!"


    Mills nodded and started passing orders. The Major''s orders made sense as there was almost no cover on the za and they were better off using the facade of the House of Law to dig in. The za would make a good killing ground from its openness and the Hosue of Law would also provide cover against crossbow bolts and spells.


    The troops carried the wounded and dead up again and started running across the za to the main entrance of the House of Law. The troops holding the municipal building rushed out to help with the wounded and Mills took a break behind one of four massive pirs that held up the facade of the courthouse.


    "Gods!" The Major let out a relieved sigh as he joined Mills. "Who the hell are those masked attackers?"


    Mills shrugged as he took a sip of water, "Whoever they are, they seem too highly skilled to be part of the mob..."


    "Could they be here for..." The Major gestured behind him to the courthouse. "Those two that are inside now?"


    "If they are for them," Mills peered around the pir and said in a gloomy tone. "Then those masked dudes would only stop by either having sessfully breaking those two out of the jail... Or until they run out of bodies to throw at us..."


    "Wanna guess which one will happen first?"

 Chapter 586: The Mist

    Chapter 586: The Mist


    UN Army Major Stephan was a veteran of the Empire War and also took part in the reiming of the New Kingdom of Ma from the Protectorate. He and his battalion of the 1st Rifles had been shipped off from the NKM and dropped here to the Isles to perform peacekeeping operations. Upon arrival, his first important mission was to secure and provide security for the House of Law, where an important closed door hearing of two former Fleet Masters was to be held.


    He had worked out the assignments with the Marinemander, Major James whose Marines were going to be pulled out to join the UNS Vengeance once the battle carrier makes a port of call at the city. Today, he headed down to oversee the security at the House of Law only to be caught up in the sudden unrest that broke out throughout the city.


    High Command had already informed him of the situation and that reinforcements were fighting their way towards his position. But suddenly, they were attacked by arge gang of masked men. Thankfully, he was reinforced with a Marinepany and an auxiliarypany of local troops, boasting his own twopany of riflemen.


    An unexpected sneak attack of firebombs had shattered his troops and they fell back from their exposed positions and now his Army boys and the Marines were holding the entrance into the House of Law when something expected happened again.


    The unnatural mist appeared out of nowhere and it rolled over the za quickly before pausing just at the steps of the House of Law. Its appearance spooked the troops and they nervously watched their firenes while the guardsmen locked shields and found courage in their close numbers.


    He frowned at the sight and he quickly ordered both the Marine and Army toon''s machine gunners. "SAW gunners! Give me suppressing fire into that mist!"


    The gunnersying prone on the side of the pirs swept their muzzles left and right as they fired in controlled bursts into the mist, hoping to suppress or kill anyone in the bullets'' path inside the mist. Tracers spat into the mist and shadows lit by the glowing tracers flickered wildly from within the mist. Strange cries and roars echoed out from the mist and the smoky tendrils recoil back slightly as if the mist was a living creature and the gunfire was hurting it.


    "Fix bays!" Major Stephan ordered next as he drew his pistol and bay sword out and readied his weapons. Clicks and snaps answered the Major as the troops locked their sword bays in ce. "They areing! I can hear them!"


    "How I wish we had a couple of mer units!" Mills let out a sigh as he watched the strange mist. A sudden shower of crossbow bolts rained upon the entrance into the House of Law. The metal of the bolts kicked up sparks upon impact against the stone works and Mills watched one of the crossbow bolts skittered past his position behind the stone pir.


    He leaned out of his position and saw a roughpany sized masked group rushing out from the cloud of dark inky magic mist that allowed them to advance across the open za. The mist had paused at the steps of the House of Law which meant Mills and the attackers were only separated by a short flight of stairs.


    "CONTACTED!" The cry came from several troops as they spotted the masked attackers. Rifles barked and bodies fell. Mills fired his pistol at a charging masked man and his shots connected, sending the dying man tumbling down the stone steps. Gunfire erupted from across the front of the courthouse and bodies fell before it suddenly became a mad melee.


    "Guardsmen!" Mills yelled and pointed to the front. "FORWARD!"


    "AHHH!" The shield locked guardsmen let a roar as they advanced forward to support the line. The Marines and Army soldiers quickly took the opportunity to disengage from the masked attackers and allowed the more melee proficient guardsmen to handle the masked men. The fight was quickly over and the UN troops gathered themselves and the medics became busy again.


    "They should give up by now?" Major Stephan asked as he watched the troops searched the dead for any information and usable before piling them into a sort of grotesque barrier. "We must have killed over two or threepanies worth of these guys..."


    "I doubt it..." Mills shook his head as he gestured to the mist. "Damn magic is there."


    "Fark..." The Major cursed as he too noticed the magic mist was still not dispersing, meaning that whoever that cast the spell was still feeding it with mana to keep it sustained. "We better be ready for round two!"


    "We need to ration our ammo," Mills added. "We do not know how long we have to wait here until our reinforcements arrive."


    The Major nodded and he started to give out orders to consolidate and redistribute their ammo. "Check and see if our boys found anything to ID these attackers."


    "Yes, Sir!" Mills replied before he headed over to the pile of items that had been retrieved from the search of the enemy''s dead. "Anything?"


    The sergeant in charge of consolidating the loot shook his head as gestured to the separated piles of equipment. "Nothing, Sir."


    "Nothing to identity any of them, except for this tattoo found on their bodies," The sergeant handed over a piece of paper that was torn off from a notepad. Mills saw a simple ''X'' was drawn on the paper and his eyebrows rose in surprise.


    "A x?" He asked in surprise. "Some kind of organization?"


    "We found this ''x'' tattoo on their bodies," The sergeant said again. "Other than this mark to identity them, there is nothing else."


    "Even their weapons has no marker''s mark," The sergeant pointed to the piles of equipment that had been sorted by type. He picked up a short sword and gave a flick on the de, creating a ringing sound. "I been a cksmith''s son before signing up and I can tell you, these weapons are of a high quality!"


    "Usually, weapons and tools have a marker''s mark," The sergeant continued as he handed the sword over for Mills to look over. "I found nothing on it, so we can''t even identify where these weaponse from."


    "How about the design or style of these weapons?" Mills asked as he gave the short sword a few experimental swings. "Surely the style of these weapons can be identified?"


    "No, Sir," The sergeant shook his head as he replied. "These were all made in the mostmon design and style of the entire New World! There are thousands of smiths and armouries that use these swords make!"


    "Someone must be really not wanting us to know who they are working for..." Mills mused as he tossed the sword back to its pile. "Anything else?"


    "No, Sir," The sergeant gave a shrug. "Not even a piece of silver or any jewellery..."


    "Get the guardsmen leader," Mills said as he pointed to the pile of crossbows. "Equip them with the crossbows and any weapons they need orck here."


    The sergeant nodded before he called a runner over to pass on themand. Mills stared at the piles of cold steel weapons for a moment longer before he went back to find the Major to make his report. As he was moving across the entrance, there was a loud screech that broke out from the magic mist. He turned in surprise and noticed the mist seemed to be quivering and another screech could be heard.


    "Make ready!" Mills could hear the Army Major calling out to the troops whose weapons were already up and ready aiming at the mist before them. The Isles guardsmen hurried into formation and this time the back row was armed with crossbows looted from the masked dead.


    Mills hurried over to the field aid station where the heavily wounded were overseen by the medics. He grabbed one of the rifles of the wounded stacked on the side and ran over to an Army sergeant that was redistributing ammunition.


    The tense silence was broken by another ear piercing screech and sounds of something very heavy moving could be heard in the mist. Major Stephan raised a hand to stop the machine gunners from firing and hissed in a low voice, "Wait... wait..."


    Suddenly, a massive shadow burst out from the mist. A giant long necked avian appeared, it had grey bat like wings that ended in vicious ws, with a huge dirty yellow cruel looking beck and feet while its body was covered in golden brown feathers and it had a yellow green lizard like tail.


    It cocked its chicken like head and its red beady eyes locked onto the troops holding the entrance before it let out out a mighty screech of challenge. The sharp sound battered the UN troops, forcing them to cover their ears despite the use of earplugs.


    "A- A cock- Cockatrice!" Someone stammered out in panic. The cockatrice cocked its head towards the sound, its body standing at almost twice the height of the tallest Ork in the line.


    "OPEN FIRE!" Major Stephan yelled once he recovered his senses and putting action to his words, his service pistol roared continuously as he ended his magazine at the monstrous beast. He yelled at the machine gunners "Pour it on!"


    Mills cursed as he felt his eyes watering as the effects of the sonic attack faded. Thank god he worn his earplugs or he would be like that twitching soldier passed out on the ground with foaming out of his mouth. The familiar thunderous roars of guns calmed his heart as he raised his rifle and joined in the fight, and for the moment wondered if he should join the Faith of Superior Firepower.


    The cockatrice screamed as bullets found their marks on its body and thick almost ck crimson sshes of its blood burst out. It suddenly swerved its body, dodging the gunfire and charged up the stone stairs, its sword like wed feet leaving long gouges on the stone surface as it scrambled madly up to its tormentors.


    "Ahhh!" The troops cried out in panic as the full body m of a cockatrice weighting at almost a ton, mming against one of the stone pirs and cracked it. The troops nearby fled away from the enraged cockatrice as it used its powerful beak to peck at the retreating troops. An unlucky soldier was pecked into bloody pieces as the cockatrice leapt on his back and trapped him under its wed feet.


    "KILL IT!" Major Stephan roared angrily as he witnessed the death of one of his men. He reloaded and fired. "Farking kill that damn oversized wyvern!"


    Tracers from machine guns chased the screaming cockatrice and its feathers caught fire from the burning tracers. It pped its bat like wings angrily and charged the UN troops again. For its size, it moved surprisingly fast and its beak attacks were lightning fast and deadly.


    A retreating Marine thought he had dodged in time only to find his arm missing from his shoulder. The cockatrice let out ast defiant dying screech which knocked the wounded Marine out and stunned those in the path of the sound wave before it faltered under the barrage of heavy gunfire and it toppled down onto the smooth stone floor leaking blood everywhere.


    "Watch your sectors!" Mills yelled at the curious troops who wanted to check the cockatrice. He shooed the troops back to their lines. "There might be another attack!"


    As if hearing his words and granting his wish, a loud screech broke from the mist, followed by another and another. Large shadows could be seen moving from inside the mist and Mills''s face turned pale as he turned to look at Major Stephan whose expression mirrored his own.


    "Oh fuck..."

 Chapter 587: War Machine

    Chapter 587: War Machine


    Four more cockatrice appeared bobbing their heads like terran chickens as they walked out of the mist. The lead cockatrice had a spinyb on its head, indicating that it was a male and the alpha of this pack of cockatrice. Their appearance stunned the UN troops and Mills whispered to the Major, "Sir, I think we should fall back into the building..."


    "The doors and walls won''t be able to hold them off for long!" Major Stephan whispered back. "But, good call!"


    "All units..." Major Stephan hissed in a low voice. "Ready your grenades and shbangs!"


    "On mymand... we throw everything at them and fall back into the building!" Major Stephan''s orders were passed down rapidly down the line and the troops readied themselves.


    The Isles'' guardsmen edged back nervous as the cockatrices cocked their heads at the body of one of their own lying unmoving on the stone floor. The male alpha let out an angry screech as it smelt the scent of blood in the air. It started making aggressive chucking sounds as it stepped up the stone steps to investigate its brood.


    "NOW!" Major Stephan yelled and every soldier with either a grenade or shbang pulled off the pin in the explosive devices and lobbed that at the four creatures. Once the devices left their hands, everyone turned and made a mad dash towards the ornate double doors of House of Law.


    Behind them, the frag grenades and shbangs rippled exploded with a roll of thunderous cracks and booms. The cockatrices had looked down with curiosity at the strange dark objects when they blew up in their faces and the results were devastating for the cockatrices.


    Shards of shrapnel designed to kill or wound the enemy yed the faces of the cockatrices and if that was not deadly enough, over a dozen sh bangs had blown up in their faces too. One of the female cockatrices too close to a couple of grenades had its face shredded and it screamed in pain and shock as both its eyes popped and even its tongue was blown into bloody ribbons.


    It rolled on the floor, blinded, deaf, confused and in agony as it could not understand what caused its pain and suffering. Another cockatrice had half its face blown away and the remaining cockatrice suffered lesser wounds. The brood of cockatrices started screeching and screaming as they rampage around the entrance, smashing up the stone steps and even breaking the remaining pirs.


    The troops retreated inside the House of Law quickly moved any furniture from the side offices and waiting areas to barricade the main doors. Mills stood on the second floor and looked out the arrow slit like windows at the crazed creatures outside. "How the hell did they get these creatures in?"


    "They must have smuggled them in somehow..." Major Stephan guessed. "There are particrly not enough ships to patrol the water of the Isles now with the loss of all five fleets..."


    "And our ships are busy fleeting Army units from the maind to here and back," Major Stephan continued.


    "And all our remainingbat ships are at the Eastern Inds dealing with the second Cartel fleet..." Mills added. "But still... Five fucking giant chickens!"


    "Chickens?" Major Stephan was not that familiar with the animal as there were no chickens in this world. What he knew of chickens came from the movies and dramas. "You breed such monsters for food in your world?"


    "Hell no!" Mills shook his head and gestured to a nearby Oerkin Marine and exined, "Chickens are just like the size of Private Fingers''s boots."


    "Oh," Major Stephan eyed therge boots of the Oerkin Marine and shook his head. "We need to barricade ourselves in. Those things can easily break through the doors..."


    "Any chance of dispelling the mist or something?" Mills asked as he gestured outside. "It is giving us a tactical disadvantage here."


    "No, sir!" A stocky soldier in Army fatigues and wearing two silver bars on his shoulders replied. "Only way that mist is going away is by taking out the spell caster or the caster cancels the spell."


    The Army magetech gave a shrug and said, "It''s gonna be very hard to find where he or she is hiding out there."


    "But the spell caster will be required to remain roughly fifty meters of the mist to maintain the spell..." The Army magetech gestured out to the mist. "If I had to guess where the caster is hiding, it would most likely be in one of the buildings opposite the za."


    "Great..." Mills sighed as he said. "We just have to somehow kill those four outside... navigate our way through a magic mist with god knows what other surprises are hidden and find the enemy spellcaster from the row of buildings!"


    "Did I miss anything else?" Mills asked in a sarcastic tone.


    "You got it all right," Major Stephan grinned as he pped Mills''s shoulder before his expression sobered up. "Better tell your boys to make ready... Those damn cockatrices seemed to have found us!"


    The wounded cockatrices had finally calmed down enough to direct their pain and angry towards the nearest suspect source which was the sweat and blood scent from the UN troops barricaded behind the doors. A half blinded cockatrice rushed across the broken stone steps and rammed against the wooden doors with any care for its wounds, its impact cracking the wood.


    The sharpshooters manning the arrow slit like windows fired at the crazed cockatrice that was tearing its way through the splintered wooden doors. The noise quickly attracted the rest of the cockatrices including the blinded female. All four cockatrice threw themselves against the doors and walls in a mad rush to vent their pain on the tiny creatures.


    "Fuck!" Mills stood at the rear of the guardsmen shield line and cursed when he saw a bloodied chicken head popping through the tall double doors. He mumbled to himself as he checked his rifle, "Note to self... Never design and build doors that arerge enough for a monster to fit through!"


    "Aim... FIRE!" Major Stephan''s parade square worthy voice cut through the din and a thunderous volley of gunfire that was greatly magnified by the cathedral like structure answered him. The monstrous chicken head disappeared from the broken door as hundreds of bullets peppered it, its fate unknown.


    Suddenly the door splintered apart and the few flimsy furniture used to barricade the doors was knocked away as two cockatrices tumbled in, spilling blood all over the floor. They barely shook themselves up to their feet before dying under the endless onught of twopanies of Marines and soldiers.


    "Cease fire! Cease fire!" Major Stephan yelled while waving his hand. "Watch your ammo!''


    The shots died down and the two bullet holes ridden cockatrices remained on the ground twitching in their death spasms. The troops cheered as they saw both creatures dead and their morale rose. Just as they were celebrating the kills, another cockatrice burst through the door and those closest to the creature dove for cover as it smashed through the pirs of the courthouse.


    The alpha cockatrice did not only stop in the open, it cunning used the pirs as cover, darting from one pir to another as it dodged the gunfire thrown its way. The nked troops scampered back as it came pecking at them, like a chicken pecking seeds from the ground.


    The narrow indoors hampered the giant cockatrice''s movement but also boxed the UN troops in. The alpha cockatrice registering the tight confines it was in, did what its instincts told it and that was to move upwards. It smashed its body through the wooden floor of the second storey and the UN troops on that level retreated in panic.


    The cockatrice fell down back to the ground floor as it was unable to make its way through the second storey due to its size. It swiped its scale covered tail like whip and its tail smashed apart a stone pir causing a section of the second storey to copse down on the nearby troops causing confusion and panic.


    Mills was knocked off his feet by the sudden copse of part of the building. A wooden beam hadnded on him, knocking the air out of his lungs. As heid half buried under the rubble, the mangled head of the alpha cockatrice suddenly appeared before his eyes. The cruel beck dripping blood looming up over him and Mills cursed.


    He tried to reach for his sidearm but was unable to due to the wooden beam trapping his right side. He stared at the massive beck rising up and he turned away with his eyes squeezed tight unable to stare at death when there was a loud continuous roar of a machine gun.


    Mills opened one eye warily and saw the cockatrice had disappeared from his view. Hands suddenly appeared and helped move the heavy beam away from his body and he was dragged to safety. "Sir, are you ok?"


    "What happened?" Mills asked as a medic fussed over him. "I thought I was a goner!"


    "PAC man saved your ass, Sir!" A Marine crouching next to him replied with a grin. "He tore that thing like paper!"


    "What?" Mills pushed himself over to see and just in time he caught the hulking box shape of a Powered Armour Cybeics giving the cockatrice and right hook against its face.


    The alpha cockatrice smashed back against the side of the House of Law with a mighty tumble. The building shook from the impact and before the cockatrice could rise, Dijon rammed the muzzle of his integrated machine gun in his right arm into the screeching beck of the cockatrice. The alpha cockatrice automatic mped down with its beck, trying to bite Dijon''s mechanical arm away.


    The 6.5 mm machine gun rattled and the throat of the alpha cockatrice bulged out, the thickness of the hide of the cockatrice was able to resist the armour piercing 6.5 mm rounds but its soft insides were unable to. Dijon''s w hands squeezed tight and with a wet tearing pop, he ripped the tongue of the cockatrice out in a shower of blood and gore.


    The dead alpha cockatrice flopped down with a wet smack and bled out all over the ce. Dijon turned around and the blood of the cockatrice seemed to blend in with his crimson red hull. Dijon''s body tracked left and right like a gun turret as he took in the surroundings before asking in a monotonous voice, "Am... Ite?"


    -----


    The mopping up of the courthouse did not take long. With the support of Dijon, Marines and Army soldiers advance through the mist. The Army''s magetechs detected arge magic signature emitting out from one of the buildings before the za. Dijon lumbered forward and his shoulder mounted 88 mm revolver cannon roared.


    The building''s facade exploded and the second 88 mm shell further blew another massive chunk of the building out. The magetech gave a thumbs up when the magic signature was suddenly cut off from his detect magic spell and the mist started fading away. With the mist disappearing, fiverge animal drawn wagons were exposed on one side of the street.


    A group of masked men were milling around the wagons and when they noticed the mist disappearing and the appearance of the UN troops. They scattered and ran off while the UN troops open fire at them.


    "Cease fire! Cease fire!" Major Stephan roared at the troops. "Do not pursuit!"


    "Clear these buildings!" He ordered the troops. "The rest hold this position!"


    "Thank you for your help," Major Stephan addressed the war machine standing like a statue at the street. "You help saved a lot of lives."


    "There is... no... need for... any gratitude..." Dijon mumbled softly in his electronic voice. "I live... to bring... death to my enemies..."

 Chapter 588: Working Hard

    Chapter 588: Working Hard


    It was pitch ck in the streets after an uneasy peace that had settled over the First City of the Fleet after a chaotic day of rioting. The streets were sewn with litter and even a couple of naked bodies that had turned blue in the cold. None of the city workers dared toe out and light the glowmps and even the rows of buildings along the streets did not even leak a sliver of light as they were all closed and shuttered up as the frightened inhabitants shut themselves in and hopefully the trouble out.


    "Go!" The darkness seemed toe alive as figures flowed out from the street alley. Hitsu taking point crossed the street swiftly, his soft soles of his boots made no noise against the cobblestones of the street. He reached the other side of the street and he scanned his surroundings, his view under the night vision goggles turning his surroundings in a white green hue.


    "Clear!" He mumbled into his throat mike and took up a holding position while the rest of the ymore One of the 101st Arcane Tactics and Intervention team crossed the street silently.


    "ymore Two, this is ymore One, what''s your status?" Tyrier asked softly as his team had formed up next to the wall of the target building.


    "ymore Two,ing up on the rear," Thems replied after a short pause. "In position. Over."


    "ymore One, standby to breach!" Tyrier informed the other squad leader at the rear. He switched channels and ordered, "Form up and breach!"


    The silent figures of ymore One detached themselves from the shadows and stacked up next to the front door of the wood and stone building. Wolf quickly determined the hinges of the wooden door and pped an explosive charge on them. He leaned back and raised his trigger hand up and waited for the order toe down.


    "ymore One, ymore Two," Thems spoked. "Ready to breach to yourmand!"


    "ymore One, breach in three... two... one... now!" Tyrier counted down the timing and the silence of the night was shattered by a series of loud ps that echoed down the street and waking up the fretful people of the city.


    The area around the hinges and the lock disintegrated into atoms as the charges blew, leaving the door dangling in its frame unsteadily. Wolf pulled the broken door out and the team charged in, their weapons up and scanning for threats in their area. "Clear!"


    "Moving up!" Once the ground floor was cleared the two special forces team advanced up to the second floor. As they went up, a side door on the second floor opened and a confused middle aged male stepped out, only to be tasered on the spot without any warning. The tasered elf spasmed on the floor and was swiftly restrained and a gag forced into his mouth to prevent him from casting verbal spells or biting his tongue before a hood was slipped over his head.


    Doors were kicked down and every inhabitant was restrained, gagged and hooded before they were led downstairs where a waiting truck had driven up to collect the prisoners. Following that, a team of Intelligence agents came over and canvased the entire building for intel and other useful things.


    Throughout the night, simr raids were being conducted through the city and further creating fear and panic. Before long, the locals referred to the incident as the Night of the Restless.


    -----


    United Nations, Have, Fortress Singapore


    "Sixteen dead in total, with another forty two in critical condition," The cold tone of Lieutenant Tavor was the only sound in the room. "And seventy eight more with various degrees of injuries."


    "Three hundred and ny one rioters were arrested," Lt Tavor continued. "Fourteen suspected instigators of the riots and unrests were separately arrested by raids conducted by the 101st ATI."


    "We suspect that these riots were conducted with the intent to distract and split our forces in the First City," Lt Tavor said as he showed a few images on the screen. "At fourteen hundred hours, a substantial mob advanced along the eastern city highway towards the location of the House of Law."


    "This is the courthouse where a closed hearing involving the two former Fleet Masters of the Isles were being conducted that day," Lt Tavor switched the images, showing a top down photograph with coloured arrows indicating the direction of the mob. "The mob shed with elements of Marines, Army and local guardsmen resulting in several civilian casualties."


    "During the sh, a group of masked individuals lobbed firebombs at our forces, causing casualties and they attempted to force their way through the roadblocks," Lt Tavor once again switched the images on the screen, showing the aftermath of the action. "Our troops fell back to the perimeter of the House of Law and held it while enduring an attack which the unknown entity employed several magical creatures which was ultimately defeated with the timely arrival of Dijon."


    "After which they counter assaulted through the mist and took out the spell caster which was the origin of the mist and dissipated it," Lt Tavor switched the image of a blown out building''s facade before switching the image to a row of wagons. "They found five wagons that carried in the creatures thatid siege to the House of Law. My people are still working on it to find out who it belongs to."


    "But all evidence shows that the masked assants were there for Akron and Tediore," said Lt Tavor. "We had dispatched additional forces to watch over them and yesterday''s night raids were to capture the instigators and ringleaders involved with the city''s unrest."


    "Further information will be updated and provided once our investigation has beenpleted," Lt Tavor finished.


    ke nodded absently as he was more engrossed with the stacks of maps on his table. He had been pouring through the maps and background information gathered by Intel on the Old World for weeks. "Hand over all the information to Commander Ford. He will be the one to handle it."


    "Yes, Sir," Lt Tavor said with a hint of reluctance.


    ke paused at his work and looked up to Lt Tavor with a pair of tired eyes and said, "He is still your superior officer and the XO of this ship!"


    "You will listen and advise him as you did to me!" ke snapped. "Understood?"


    "Yes, Sir!" Lt Tavor snapped to attention as he replied smartly.


    "Good," ke satisfied with Lt Tavor''s reply, waved him away. "Go dig out all those loyalists of Megan''s faction."


    Lt Tavor gave a wordless salute before he exited ke''s office. ke watched Lt Tavor''s disappearing back and let out a sigh before he returned to the maps and documents on his desk. He had been familiarizing himself with what information they had of the Old World, from each nation''s culture, technology, strengths, weaknesses, to politics.


    Next on his mind was which location to establish a beachhead on the coast of the Old World. He toyed around with several ideas and ultimately chosen anding point that was within the influence of the Cartel. There were several factors for his decision, some of which was the obscured location, the avability of resources, a deepwater shelter for the UNS Vengeance, and also the distance between the New World and the Old World.


    He needed their presence to be hidden as much as possible until their base was firmly established before the UNS Vengeance sails away either to the Protectorate or back to the New World. Because of these factors, he had to review all the rmendednding locations that the Intel team had provided which included thousands of possible points as the continent of the Old World was so massive.


    He dropped back on his chair sweating as a painful muscle spasm tore through his body. He took a bottle of pills from his drawer with some difficulty and popped one of the pills prescribed by Dr. Sharon to help him with his withdrawal symptoms. He forced back the pain and the urge to dose on Happy until the meds kicked in, which was barely enough to dull the withdrawal symptoms.


    In the end, after what seemed to be an eternity, he poured himself a ss of cold water and drank it. Pale faced and his whole uniform was soaked with sweat, ke entered the attached shower in his office and took a cold bath, letting the cold water shock his system. Once he changed back to a set of clean clothes, he returned to his desk and started pouring over the data again.


    -----


    United Nations, Hope, Hope Naval Base, UNS Vengeance


    Chief Matt bent over the exposed internals of the engine and checked the insides with a shlight. Once he was satisfied with his inspection, he scribbled onto a notepad and handed it back to a grinning goblin wearing an oil stained work overalls. "Good work!"


    "Thankee Chief!" The goblin gave a high pitched squeal and saluted before he scampered off. Chief Engineer Matt shook his head and headed to the next section of the Vengeance to continue his inspection tour. The UNS Vengeance would depart in the next few days once every inspection in all departments had beenpleted and signed off.


    He returned the salutes of the crew who gave way to him along the narrow passageway as he went deeper into the ship. Stacks of crates filled with supplies or spares lined the passageways and even every nook and cranny making the already narrow passageways even narrower.


    He crossed into the Alpha carrier deck and paused for a moment as he spotted a group of navy cadets doing callisthenics in the only avable space between the parked and tied down aircraft. The drill instructor was standing on adder and staring at the cadets. The most eye catching cadet among the group was a tiny figure simr to the size of an adult goblin.


    "Why I be damned," Chief Matt mumbled to himself as he watched the girl who was supposed to be a god, willing to be subjected to military discipline and training. "Never thought I see such a thing in my life! Ha!"


    He shook his head before he headed off to inspect and certify the carrier decks'' equipment and aircraft, leaving behind the sweating cadets in their workout.


    -----


    Commander Ford was busy as document after document requiring his attention kept flooding into him. His office door was never closed as he gave up having to tell his secretary to let people in. Issues throughout the UN flooded him, the New Kingdom of Ma needed more funds tobat the floods and requests for more food aid. Immigration policies from City Hall, military funding, insurgents from the Old World, expansion of resources, and even the unfolding situation within the Isles all took up his attention ever since ke handed everything over to him.


    After all that, he still has to oversee the affairs of the Navy, including the UNS Vengeance and even after that, he has to attend meetings with the regional leaders and city administrators to discuss and set their government policies.


    Now, he reviewing the ns of a supergiant delta wing proposed by the UN Air Force''s R & D department. The concept was to use aetherium to create a hybrid hi altitude long range multi role flyer that could carry everything from troops, aircraft, tanks to cargo. The Air Force was feeling salty as Project Icarus, the designed airship was deemed to be a ship and fell under the Navy.


    Hence they came up with their own aetherium hybrid designs which approval of the project now rested solely on Commander Ford''s shoulders who was also the Chief of Naval Operations. He broke into a rare smile and shook his head, wondering were those Air Force pukes tearing their hair off if they knew beforehand that he would be in charge of approving their project.


    His smile slowly faded as he signed his approval on the project and whispered to himself, "Well as long as it can provide support to the Captain and the rest in the Old World... Anything is fine!"

 Chapter 589: A Long Boring Trip

    Chapter 589: A Long Boring Trip


    The entire area around the naval docks was jam packed with people. Banners and gs fluttered in the sea breeze while sounds of a concert could be heard over the din of the crowd. Stalls lined the streets of the naval docks and merchants hock their wares to the crowd. Colourful balloons drifted into the skies where a dozen VF - 2 Vipers buzzed overhead with streams of coloured smoke trailing behind.


    The UNS Vengeance sat next to the docks decked out in festive banners and gs while its crew had dressed up in their finest uniforms. They mingled with their families, loved ones and friends on the docks. Most of them queued up next to the photo booths to take a picture of remembrance before their journey into the unknown.


    Both of the UNS Vengeance''s flight decks were stacked two high with containers, only the aircraft elevator tforms and the helipads were empty of containers. During her month long refit, she had gained over a dozen new tform for dual 20 mm gun mounts that were welded into ce along her hull. Additional heavy machine gun mounts were also installed to boost its anti air arsenal as the Vengeance will only have dragons for air support and no fixed wing aircraft until the containers were removed from the flight decks.


    Her secondary armament consisting of 3" guns were also upgraded to the new 3.5" (88 mm) guns further increasing her firepower. New radar systems were also installed onboard, including back upmunications arrays on both superstructures. The mission nners hade up with spares for everything they could think of and fit onboard the battle carrier, just in case.


    Finally, the singing ended and a military band took up the cue. A motorcade drove down a cordoned street next to the UNS Vengeance and the senior officers of the ship and VIPs exited the vehicle under a soul shaking cheer from the crowd. The officers saluted and waved to the crowd before they climbed up the linking bridge and boarded the UNS Vengeance.


    The crew gave their final farewells to their loved ones and formed up in their respective units before they too boarded the UNS Vengeance. Many returned waves and kisses to their crying yet proud families on the docks as the crew members disappeared into the giant ship. The military band continued to y as the boarding continued and the people remained waving and cheering for the brave crew of the Vengeance.


    Once thest crew had boarded, the link bridges were detached and the mooring lines cast off, the Vengeance gave a st of its foghorn. The mournful cry rolled over the docks and the waiting tug boats roared as they strained their engines to pull the massive battle carrier out of the docks under it can move in its own power. The crew of the Vengeance crowded along the hull and any open area of the decks and waved back to the shore where the shore defence guns fired off a twenty one salute.


    The UNS Vengeance gave onest st of its foghorn before her lines are released from the tug boats and under her own power, it fell into formation with a dozen escorts waiting out in the open sea.


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Admiral''s Stateroom


    Grand Lord Hammerfall and Lord Copperstone were both standing before a tall tired looking short ear who was seated behind a desk. The cabin they were in wasrge and spacious even with the presence of armed guards standing next to them.


    Grand Lord Hammerfall took the opportunity to observe the short ear person whose race seemed to be referred to as hoomans and sensed that despite the sickly outlook, the person oozed an aura ofmand and cold anger.


    Lord Copperstone on the other hand upied himself with the decor of the cabin, his head turning around curiously as he took in his surroundings. Finally, the hooman set down his writing apparatus and looked up at the two Cartel leaders before he opened his mouth, speaking in near perfect trade tongue. "We have not met but I am Captain Richard ke of the United Nations."


    "Grand Lord Rugatus Hammerfall, hailing from the Silver Mountains, Leader of the people of the Cartel!" Grand Lord Hammerfall replied. making their own introductions. "This is Lord Copperstone, hailing from the Fire Mountains."


    "I am sure both of you are curious about why are you here, on board this ship," ke said simply, going straight to the topic. "After all that trouble to transfer from the city to the mines and back."


    Both the Cartel Lords nodded their heads and wondered who this Captain was but politely waited for their host to exin himself. ke continued, "We are heading to the Old World."


    "What?" Both the dwarvans were very surprised. Grand Lord Hammerfall had a few guesses but he never thought that they will be brought back to the Old World. "With this ship?"


    "Yes," ke nodded. "It will also be our first time to cross the Sea of Clouds as you all called the unnatural barrier that surrounds this continent."


    "By the Mountains! But to cross the Sea of Clouds on board an oceangoing ship... is madness!" Grand Lord Hammerfall eximed in shock. "No matter how powerful your steamworks is, your ship can''tpare to the forces of nature!"


    "We know," ke replied with a soft sigh. "Still there shouldn''t be much to worry about."


    "Rock and stone! It''s... its suicide!" Grand Lord Hammerfall insisted. "The only way across is by flying through! The sea monsters, whirlpools, and waves will destroy this ship!"


    "Yes, there is that chance," ke replied calmly as if he was not bothered by the thought of dying. "You two have experience in crossing that barrier. This is the reason why you are here instead of digging rocks in some hole."


    "And both of you do not have a choice," ke added quickly, cutting off whatever protests the Grand Lord wanted to say. "Remember, both of you are still considered prisoners of war!"


    "I shall provide any assistance you require!" The quiet Lord Copperstone suddenly dered. "On one condition!"


    "State your condition," ke leaned back on his chair and crossed his fingers together.


    "I... I will like to have a chance to study your nation''s steamworks!" Lord Copperstone said, his eyes glittering with excitement. On the side, Grand Lord Hammerfall cursed as he wondered what situation was he dragged in.


    "That is possible," ke said after a moment of consideration. "But nothing of military nature!"


    "I will not presume to do so," Lord Copperstone gave a modest bow.


    "Cooperate and I will allow both of you some degrees of freedom," ke said coldly. "Try anything funny... Well, I got plenty of cells here..."


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Brig


    Four bulky Marines waited for the duty officer to unlock the security gate of the brig before they entered. One of the Marines carried a food tray and they strolled past the empty cells until to came upon one that was locked. The locked cell had scribbles of rune words covering the hatch to the surrounding bulkheads.


    A constant thudding could be hearding from inside and the Marine In Charge tapped a few keys on amand panel and the screen lit up, disying the insides of the cell. He nced at the screen, seeing the prisoner crouching on his haunches at the far side of the cell and rhythmic banging the side of his head against the padded cell walls.


    The Marine IC gave nodded to one of his men who took out a set of keys and unlocked the hatch. He remained outside while the rest entered the cell, his hand on his sidearm, ready to use it if there was a need. The walls of the entire spartan cell was padded without any furniture yet there were smudges of dried blood here and there on the padded walls.


    The Marine with the food tray quickly exchanged the emptied tray on the floor for the one in his hand while the Marine IC watched the prisoner. Once they were done, the Marines left the cell and locked it back up before exiting the brig.


    The prisoner whose entire face was covered with ritualistic scars did not even seem to register the Marines entering and exiting as he banged his head against the padded wall all the while mumbling softly to himself.


    "I am justice. Justice is me. I am justice. Justice is me. I am justice. Justice is me. I am justice. Justice is me."


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Mess Deck ''C''


    "Professor!" A joyful cry came from the hatch and Professor Hamlot who was nursing a cup of hot tea on one of the long tables turned around in surprise at the cry. He spotted three youngsters rushing over towards him from the entrance and he broke into a warm smile as he recognized his students.


    "rie! Uwen! Berringer!" He stood up and gave a hug to his three students which he had not seen in months. "How are the three of you doing?"


    He looked at the three youngsters who seemed to have grown taller. He remembered their once thin and weak frame after surviving for over a month on rainwater and whatever they could catch in the sea. After getting rescued by the Un An, they were ced in a school and he joined the UNS Vengeance as a civilian advisor ever since.


    "We are well, Professor," rie beamed happily. "We were hoping to see you onboard."


    "It is nice to see all of you, doing well!" Professor Hamlot wholeheartedly replied. "But... this journey... It is very dangerous, we might not be able to make it across..."


    "Professor," Uwen, his once snotty demeanour no longer present, said, "We all missed home... and our families and friends too!"


    Berringer the quiet and soft boy who now had seemed to grown more muscles and confidence nodded, "Yes, We were told the risks. But I miss my family. I am certain they are worried sick about our disappearance!"


    "Well, if you all know the risks then I shall not say more!" Professor Hamlot smiled. "Come tell me what happened to you three! How was life in that school?"


    The three youngsters happily joined the Professor and started telling their own experiences and adventures they had when they at the School of Science and Magic. Their stories made the Professorugh or shook his head at their silliness.


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Hangar Deck A


    "CAN YOU STOP SHIFTING YOUR BIG FAT ASS?" Rastraz growled as she stabbed the fleshly side of Blue Thunder who let out a yelp of pain. "Go and curl up at that corner!"


    "But... this is my corner..." Blue Thunder mumbled sadly as he shuffled over to the other end. He slumped down and coiled his body up, resting his head on his tail and watched the two female dragons hurdled over the eggs.


    Rastraz and Saphia let out a giggle as they watched the projected images on the bulkhead while keeping the eggs carefully pressed between themselves. Shockingly to everyone, the two dragons seemed to hit if off and they became best friends ever since which made Blue Thunder grouchy as he was cast aside.


    Blue Thunder sighed softly to himself as he watched the two hog his projector which he had saved up by not having his cheese fries to purchase. Now he was ignored by the two dragons, his eggs taken away, his projector and movies taken over, no cheese fries for the unforeseen future, no ymate since Plee was always busytely, and very soon, no chance to spread his wings.


    He sighed again as he tried to peek over the bodies of the two dragons but he couldn''t see the projected korean drama that they were watching and gave up. Heid down again and closed his eyes.


    "This is gonna be a long boring trip..."

 Chapter 590: Rough Seas

    Chapter 590: Rough Seas


    "Attention all hands! Attention all hands! Entering the End Zone in five minutes!" The public announcement system red out. "All hands to secure themselves in their designated locations! Repeat! Secure yourselves for rough weather! Entering the End Zone in four minutes and... forty five seconds counting now!"


    The excited and nervous crew and passages had long prepared themselves for this moment. For the past few hours, division heads and leaders had ensured all loose items and every box, crate or container had been securely tied or locked down. The crew had checked, double checked and triple checked to make sure nothing was loose.


    Now after that announcement, the crew and passengers had settled down in either their action stations or bunks and strapped themselves in. They waited nervously as they listened to the countdown as the UNS Vengeance approached the border that separated the light and the dark.


    "All hands! Brace for rough weather in... Three... Two... One... BRACE!"


    Captain ke watched the view from inside the bridge, seeing the wall of the dark cloudsing closer and closer. The forward decks vanished into the clouds and very quickly, the pagoda bridge mmed into the clouds too.


    The view immediately turned dark and nothing could be seen except for swirling clouds that were illuminated by the lights of the UNS Vengeance. For a moment, the UNS Vengeance appeared to be still sailing on calm seas and suddenly, the entire ship tilt madly upwards at almost a forty degrees angle and the crew and passengers cried out in panic.


    ke bit down a curse as he gripped the support bars of his chair that had been installed everywhere for the crew. The decks tilted backwards rmingly as if they were riding a roller coaster going up a ramp. Suddenly, the tilting and the clouds disappeared and what the ke and the bridge crew saw was an ocean very different from which they came from.


    Lightning forked across the skies and illuminated the low stormy clouds. What looked like tornado could be seen between the storm clouds and the surface of the ocean was filled with giant walls of waves. Before everyone could even admire the view, there was a moment of weightlessness before the decks seemed toe rushing into everyone faces.


    UNS Vengeance dropped from the crest of the wave before smashing into another rising surf. Tons of seawater sshed over the ship''s top decks and it continued up over another wave of water. Metal moaned and groaned loudly as the UNS Vengeance rode a wave that was almost twice its height. The heavy duty straps holding down the containers in addition to twist locks, strained hard against the winds and strain of the shifting gravities. Tons of seawater, sshed over the ship as waves smashed against its hulls.


    Captain ke stared out at the gloomyndscape that covered the viewports of the bridge while automatic wipers struggled madly to wipe the collected raindrops off the armoured ss. The skies shed with unnatural lightning, briefly illuminating thick low lying storm clouds for a moment before the roar of angry thunder rolled over the ship.


    The UNS Vengeance hadid anchor off the coast of the First City of the Fleet to pick up the Marines and for the first time, the city had fallen peaceful after seeing the mighty ship. The inhabitants had recalled the scene where the battle carrier had fired its cannons and blew several airships off the sky.


    The sight of pure destruction had been burnt into the minds of the people and seeing the giant ship within sight of the city had made them all quiet and obedient even the unruly ones tucking their tails between their legs as they did not doubt the fearsome power of that ship.


    The loading of the Marines and their equipment took half a day of shuttling from the shore and to the ship. Dijon and his equipment took up almost the entire cargo space of anding craft and more time to unloadpared to the rest of the Marines.


    Following that, they set sailing, taking a week to reach the borders of the End Zone. The unnatural ring of clouds covered the horizon and the once massive battle carrier became like a tiny speck before such a spectacle, the smaller escorts even more so. Their escorts blew their foghorns and flooded thems with farewells and well wishes before thems got cut off abruptly when they ended the End Zone.


    "Damage report!" Captain Nimo called out from his seat. Like everyone else, he was strapped in tightly to his seat. "Navigator! Check for any dangers in our heading!"


    ke left the Captain to run his ship while he continued to observe their surroundings outside. Despite having read multiple ounts from both ancient journals entries and recent exploration reports about the conditions of the End Zone, it still did not prepare one enough for the experience.


    Already, he noticed some of the strapped down crew nursing a head injury from the sudden and violent ride as they hit themselves in the head against equipment. He wondered how the sailing ships of the Old World in the past managed to cross this violent sea and survive on the New World. He felt a sense of admiration for those sailors who must have balls of steel to endure crossing these waters as he thought about it.


    A sense of doubt crept into his mind as he saw their situation did not seem to improve. The waves taller than the Vengeance kepting and the hull of the Vengeance groaned louder. He wondered if they will get capsized and his one sided quest would kill the thousands that put their faith in him before they even started.


    As fear took seed in his heart, a voice in his head said, "If three hundred years ago, wooden sailing ships with the aid of magic could do it, why not the UNS Vengeance with modern technology and magic?"


    ke''s momentary nervousness disappeared as determination overtook his mind as those words were echoed in his mind. He whispered softly to himself as he steeled his heart and mind for theing days. "Yes... We shall not fall here! Now, it is our turn to make the crossing!"


    -----


    Millsid strapped down on his bunk. He moaned loudly as the ship tilted wildly and he wondered if the ship was going to capsize and this would be his final tomb. "Oh my god... Is the whole trip gonna be like this?"


    "I pray not!" His bunkmate, a first lieutenant called out. "This is worst than hell''s week!"


    "How long did they say this trip would take again?" Mills asked as he popped a few seasickness pills down his mouth.


    "Eh... one month?" The reply came from below him.


    "Ahhhhh... fuuuk thissssssssss..."


    -----


    Blue Thunder''s wings had spread wide open and was using them to cup both Saphia and Rastraz as the two dragons were moaning from seasickness. The up and down motion of the ship had made them both feel sick except for Blue Thunder was actually quite enjoyed it.


    He patted with his wings as all three of them had donned their dragon harness and had locks with quick releases securing them onto the decks so that they do not slide off and crash or damage the tied down aircraft in the hangar.


    The precious eggs were secured in a thickly padded reinforced case and were within reach of the dragons. Blue Thunder sighed as he lifted up his wings to find vomit on them and wondered how long before the sea calmed down enough for them to get a water pump over to spray the mess the two dragons had made in their bay.


    -----


    Dijon''s internal gyroscope told him that the decks were tilting up and down. His metal body was firmlytched onto the servicing bay, preventing his locked down body from moving. His electronic eyes scanned the empty bay before he shut his visuals off.


    The scalding pain his physical body constantly endured was a reminder for him of his failure to protect Sherene and the endless suffering he had under the hands of his captors. His current goal was to find Sherene and redeem his mistake and wreak vengeance upon the people who destroyed his mind and body.


    One by one, he shut down his systems only leaving behind his life support running and set a boot up sequence once they arrived in the Old World. He knew the journey would take roughly a month and he when he woke up from his electronic sleep, they would have reached the Old World.


    -----


    Dr. Sharon sat strapped in her chair as she monitored the medical alert channel for any emergencies. There were some calls iing in, but so far, nothing critical which required her expertise. The up down motion of the ship did not affect her much, in fact, it shouldn''t affect any of the humans as they all had space and motion sickness imnts.


    She only worried for the native races, as sea sickness could hamper the entire ship''s operations if too many crew members were affected by it. She had expected wild and violent weather but not at such scale. As she sat there worrying about the journey, the medical alert channel shed red and she tapped the message and frowned.


    Quickly, she unbuckled herself from her seat and said to her assistants, "There''s a medical emergency down at deck four C two! A container had broke from its lock and crushed a crew member! We are the closest medical unit and we need to get down there ASAP!"


    "Yes, madam!" Her two assistants unbuckled themselves and grabbed their gear while trying to keep bnce. Once they were ready, they follow Dr. Sharon out of the med bay and they moved as fast as they could across the shifting decks to save lives.


    -----


    One Week Later


    A ray of sunshine stabbed through the lowying storm clouds in a rare moment of calmness. The mighty tsunami sized waves had died down and everything was peaceful. The whirlpools, tornados, and thunder and lightning had vanished, their only traces in the far gloomy distance in the horizon.


    Hatches opened and for the first time, the ship was no longer rocking up and down. The grateful crew and passengers spilled out to the open decks and open passageways to take in the views and fresh air after being cooped inside for a week.


    They had suffered the mad pitching of the ocean for a week now and many had ustomed themselves to the pitch and roll of the sea. There were injuries and even some damages to the ship which the engineers and techs worked under dangerous conditions to repair and fix.


    Now, as the crew and passengers spent a well deserve break from the calm of the sea, the public announcement system and an emergency siren started ring. "All hands! Action Stations! This is not a drill! Repeat! All hands action stations! Sea monster on approach! This is not a drill!"


    The crew and passengers barely rested ran back into the ship and the hatches were secured forbat. Gunners donned on life vests and helmets, grabbed cans of ammunition for the defensive guns ran out to their stations and removed the weather protection covers off the gun mounts.


    Ammo cans were slotted into the guns and belts of ammunition were pulled out and loaded. The guns of the battleship section could not be used to fire port or starboard side only forward or aft. Only the weapons mounts of the carrier sections could fire port and starboard side.


    Depth chargeunchers mounted along the sides of the carrier hulls roared as they were tossed out in an arc. The barrel shaped depth charges hit the calm waters with a heavy ssh and seconds slowly ticked away before they blew up columns of water in sequence.

 Chapter 591: Leviathan

    Chapter 591: Leviathan


    Artificial thunder rumbled out from the patch of calm in the middle of the field of endless storm clouds. The port side of the UNS Vengeance was in a hive of activity as her crew manning the guns sent shell after shell towards the giant wiggling sea monster that was forced to the surface by a barrage of depth charges.


    The open mounted 3.5 inch guns barked as the firingnyard was jerked. The breech popped open and a smoking shell casing was ejected out by the recoil andnded right into a collection bin. The loading crew without missing a beat shoved the 9 kg, 355 mm long fixed type High Explosive shell into the tray and locked it in ce.


    The gunner peered over an open sight and turned a couple of flywheels to adjust their firing angles before stepped to the side holding the firingnyard. The rest of the gun crew turned away from the cannon and the gunner yanked thenyard and the cannon roared. The gun shield provided some form of protection from the shockwaves of the expanding gases as the barrel recoiled backwards on its hydraulic shock absorbers.


    The sea monster, an eyeless squid like leviathan had a wide grinning jaw that was covered with vicious looking sharp teeth on an oval dome head. The waters around its massive body churned madly as its many tentacles dug into the ocean''s surface as it pulled its way across the water. Flickers of shell fire flew towards the giant that was almost asrge as the UNS Vengeance.


    Water columns spurted up around the sea monster as shells missed or bounced off its thick scale armour covering its body. Those shells that did not miss, exploded satisfactorily with a meaty p against the leviathan''s body, blowing chunks of flesh and dark blood everywhere.


    "Give me full speed to engines!" Captain Nimo ordered. "Than hard starboard! Turn and face our stern to that creature!"


    "I want my stern guns to be ready to fire once that sea monster is its line of sight!" He said to his weapons officer.


    Crew members in charge of the stern 14 inch guns had earlier rushed out to remove the muzzle caps that protected the barrel from storms. Now, inside the turret, loaders were moving heavy shells from the heavily armoured munition bunker onto elevators that sent the shells up to the waiting gun breeches.


    The UNS Vengeance, unlike normal operations, could not rotate its main guns as they were locked down. Broadsides could not be fired as both the flight decks of the battle carrier were stacked high with cargo containers. Any firing of the guns directly could potentially damage and ruin the important cargo inside from the shockwaves and this configuration, the secondary weapons of the battleship section also could only fire in a forward and rear arc or function as point defence.


    Hence, the main gun turrets had been locked and the UNS Vengeance could only fire her main guns at a fixed angle, either forward or rear and that was what Captain Nimo was trying to do. He wanted the Vengeance to turn to face her rear guns at the sea monster and at the same time to put as much distance away from it.


    The distance between the man made leviathan and nature''s own leviathan was less than a short kilometre away. The gunners desperately sent shell after shell at the rapidly gaining sea monster whose tentacles constantly whipped around and smashing white walls of sea water up when they impacted the ocean''s surface.


    Suddenly, a wall of white water appeared from the surface of the ocean seemed to rush towards the UNS Vengeance as a tentacle that was thicker than the barrels of the UNS Vengeance''s main guns whipped down towards the ship. The tentacle tip loomed over the side of the rear port side of carrier ''A'' and was able to smash the onto the deck when the fleshy appendage pped against the UNS Vengeance''s magical barrier.


    A rainbow sheen flickered wildly and like an invisible wall that extended several meters out from the ship''s hull, preventing the tentacle from hurting the ship. The frightened crew could clearly see the underside of the tentacle, its suckers opening and closing like so many demonic mouths as the tentacle slide down the magical barrier, drawing angry rainbow shimmers in the air along the way.


    Another tentacle came whipping across the ocean''s surface, its arrival heralded by a wall of water and the UNS Vengeance shook and even dipped slightly into the water as arge portion of the tentacle and not just the tipnded right over the ship. The rainbow bubble covering the UNS Vengeance could be seen deforming under the weight of the gigantic tentacle that was trying its best to wrap around the magical barrier but was unable to do so as there was no fiction to hold onto the projected shimmering arcane energy.


    The mana crystal set on the tips of the MCAs or Magic Converter Arrays glowed brightly and started smoking and a hint of burnt ozone could be smelled in the air around the long magic wood poles. Several magic circuits and runes even started fuzzing out and left scorched marks on the metal decks and bulkheads as the magical barrier was heavily strained.


    Magetechs with equipment pouches were filled with mana stones ran around the ship, their radioms constantly busy updating and informing them of which locations required magic repairs for the blown out arcane circuits, runes and recement of depleted mana stones.


    The sea monster sensing it had caught its prey, let out a keening cry of excitement as it pulled itself closer to its prey. More and more tentacles came whipping over as it sought to wrap its prey into its embrace and drag it down into the depths of the inky waters to slowly feast before the calm ends and the storm resumes.


    The UNS Vengenace finally turned enough that its stern was facing directly at the sea monster. The triple barrel 14 inch cannons adjusted slightly and roared with the voice of a god. The three 14 inch shells spun out in a shower of sparks and smoke and in that super short distance, which was like knife fighting range for a battleship ssed guns, the three shells easily punched through the slimy scale covered leviathan before detonating outside its body.


    The leviathan seemed to freeze up as three holes appeared in its body and it even felt its internal organs quaking painfully when the shockwaves of the 14 inch shells exploding behind its back. It let out another keening cry, this time of pain and shock and coughed out blood that fell like rain over the UNS Vengeance, dyeing its decks purple red.


    It gave another keening crying as its tentacles unwrapped its self around the magical barrier and it turned and dived under the sea, its passage creating massive surges of waves that rocked the UNS Vengeance. In its wake, a dark stain spread out across the ocean''s surface and the crew cheered.


    -----


    The rain and wind came again and helped scrubbed the gore and blood away from the ship''s decks and hull. Already the sharp fishy smell had disappeared only to be reced by the smell of rain and salt. Crew and magetechs in storm gear braved the storm and waves as they reced the burnt MCAs and redraw ruined runes and arcane circuits.


    "I would guess that it is very likely we will encounter more and more sea monsters the deeper we go," Dr. Sharon said as she peered out of the viewports through the storm to see the shadowy figures working on the dangerous decks. "And chances are, those sea monsters use the lull and calm patches of the sea to feed."


    "So you are saying we can''t get any rest?" Captain Nimo asked as he stood with his feet apart and his hands holding on to the support bars over his head to keep himself stable under the pitch and roll of the sea.


    Dr. Sharon tried to give a shrug as she held on tightly as the deck suddenly tilted sharply to the side. She waited until the pitching of the deck ended before replying, "I really have no idea... No one has ever studied the ecosystem of this ce before!"


    "We will proceed as normal and deal with it step by step," ke suddenly said from his seat. "There is no turning back now!"


    Captain Nimo nodded as the statement was true. They had already sailed more than a week into the End Zone and there was not really any point to turn back.


    "By the Mountains! You long legs are crazy!" A growl came from the side. Grand Lord Hammerfall was strapped into a seat and looked like a small grouchy grizzly teddy bear. His thick beard and hair finally had the chance to be oiled andbed properly but still, with his hair tied back and his beard covered half his face and body, he still looked like a teddy bear. "No one is able to cross these waters on an ocean faring ship! It''s a death wish!"


    "Yet, their ancestors made the crossing," ke replied icily. "Your point?"


    "Bah!" Grand Lord Hammerfall spat to the side. "Magic was a lot more powerfulpare to today!"


    "Toote toin now," ke gave a shrug at the grouchy dwarvan. "We already almost half way across..."


    "Urgh! You short ears are even worse!" Grand Lord Hammerfall shook his head. "I don''t know why I agreed to this madness!"


    ke ignored the dwarvan''sints and turned to Dr. Sharon and Captain Nimo. "If Dr. Sharon''s theory about the sea monsters is correct..."


    "Captain Nimo, the Vengeance will go into condition red every time we enter a calm," kemanded. "If there is no attack, half the crew will be rotated out for some R and R, while the other half stand watch."


    "As for the rough part," ke gestured out of the viewport. "We can only endure it. The Vengeance is built to handle rough weather. And our systems can detect dangers both on the surface and underwater."


    "Unless-" ke''s sentence was cut off when the bridge navigator suddenly yelled out.


    "Captain! Whirlpool detected straight ahead!" The navigator called out. Conversations quickly ended as everyone turned their eyes out to the main disy screen on the bridge which was showing a view from a camera mounted at the middle prow of the trimaran battle carrier.


    The image showed churning waves rotating in a circr motion that was slowly but visibility gaining speed. Dr. Sharion worried expression eased off as she saw the image and said, "That should be a newly formed whirlpool."


    With the size and mass of the UNS Vengeance, whirlpools unless spinning at speeds of over 20 knots an hour would not pose a threat to the ship. The UNS Vengeance could easily power pass the turbulent waters with some effort but otherwise, it would not endanger the ship.


    "Entering whirlpool effect in... three... two... one..." The navigator called out in a cool voice as the prows of the Vengeance disappeared in a spray of water as it hit head on against a wave. The helmsman spun the wheel as he countered the effects of the spinning waters as he kept to their heading.


    The speed of the ship dropped slightly as the water currents attempted to drag the Vengeance with a discement of over 120,000 tons away from its heading. Twelve massive powerful propulsion screws spun rapidly as they countered the power of the water currents and pushed the Vengeance out of the effects of the newly formed whirlpool.


    Grand Lord Hammerfall let out his breath as he unconsciously held it in after he witnessed the image of the whirlpool on the big magic screen. He shook his head at the attitude of the long legs around him who seemed not even fazed by their lucky escape and wondered why was he so stupid to agree to join on this crazy ship for the hundredth time.

 Chapter 592: Landfall

    Chapter 592: Landfall


    The Old World, ???


    A head burst out of the ocean''s surface and the boy shook the water from his head sending drops of water glittering under the scorching sun. He heaved a small woven made out of grass onboard the tiny catamaran canoe that was filled with his harvest of the day''s shellfish and seaweed.


    The boy climbed onboard his body lean and tan from the constant toil under the hot sun and paddled his way back to shore towards several huts made out of straw and wood at the bottom of a sheer cliff wall. That was the simple fishing vige the boy grew up in.


    He dragged his canoe up the white sandy beach and tied it off to a nearby tree before excitedly carried his catch of the day to a small dpidated hut. "Sis! Look what I have caught!"


    The boy showed off his small of seafood and ced it down on a wooden top before he sat down next to the straw bed where his sister was lying down covered in a thread thin nket. He checked her forehead to see if she was feverish and smiled back at her. "I will make some soup for you! Just wait!"


    His sister gave a nod and the boy rushed off to prepare the fresh seafood he caught. After a while, the smell of cooked seafood filled the tiny hut as the boy stirred a pot of soup. Once the soup was done, he carefully tore out the meat from the shellfish into smaller and brought it over to his little sister and carefully fed her.


    As he fed her, he told her made up tales of monsters and adventurers of the outside world. His sister listened to his tales excitedly and before long, she slipped back into sleep. The boy carefully wiped his sis''s face clean before he went out again to the sea.


    The boy had sought help with the vige''s only herbalist but no medicine seemed to work. The elders and vige chief spoke of a rare magical pearl that could be found out in the deep waters that could cure a hundred different illness but no one has ever see such a pearl before.


    Undaunted, the boy kept diving and searching for a cure for his little sister that was just five years younger than himself. As usual, he paddled out far into the ocean, around the bend of the cliffs and beyond the safe limits which the vigers warned him about, towards a reef shelf that he discovered a few weeks back.


    The reef shelf jutted out of the ocean floor and the reef was teeming with life as it was never discovered by the other vigers. The reef provided rich harvests for the boy as he swam around the reef shelf. He avoided the darker areas as he knew that was not areas he could enter without endangering himself.


    Armed with a blunt knife, he pried away a few shells off the rock reefs and shoved them inside his bag before swimming up. As he burst out of the water, he let out his held air and suck in a breath of fresh air and he suddenly froze. He stared at the strange giant object that appeared out of nowhere that seemed to cover the entire horizon.


    "What... is that?"


    -----


    The side cargo hatch groaned as it was lowered down. Almost instantly, Saphia and Rastraz both threw themselves off the edge of the lowered hatch and dropped like a stone into the ocean. Blue Thunder and the rest of the hangar crew poked their heads out of the hatch and watched the two dragons swimming in delight.


    "Erm... sorry guys," Blue Thunder mumbled an apology. "I think they got too cooped up inside..."


    Two crying screech came from his chest and he looked down onto his harness where two tiny dragonlings, one red and one blue were bobbing their heads up and down in excitement. Their tiny eyes still closed and they wagged their wings adorably. "A... my tiny babies are hungry?"


    Blue Thunder shuffled back to his bay where he had an industrial fridge that had been customized for dragon sized creatures and opened it where he pulled out a trolley that had been stacked with bs of frozen fish and meat. He carefully picked up a fish that was super tiny in his two ws and he breathed out some hot breathe to defrost the tiny fish.


    He carefully fed the fish to one of his kids before repeating the process and fed the other. Once fed, both dragonlings mew happily before dozing off again. The two dragonlings had hatched just a week ago and Blue Thunder was so proud of himself that he wanted to show off his kids to everyone.


    "Ahhh... I feel alive again after a shower!" Rastraz sighed blissfully as she waggled in with Saphia behind her. "The air in here is starting to get bad!"


    "If you two did not keep vomiting..." Blue Thunder mumbled under his breath as he gently swagged himself to make the twins sleep. "And I had to clean up all your mess..."


    "What?" Rastraz frowned as she gave a suspicious re at Blue Thunder. "Did you say something?"


    "No- Nothing!" Blue Thunder quickly replied with a panicked grin. "I- I was whispering to the twins!"


    "Hmph!" Rastraz tilted her head away and ignored Blue Thunder as she leaned over to check on her two younglings and unstrapped the carrier away from Blue Thunder''s chest harness. She took her children into her embrace and cooed over them.


    Saphia also came over and the two dragons started ying with the sleepy dragonlings, leaving Blue Thunder ignored. He gave a sigh and wandered off to find someone who knew what was the situation now.


    -----


    "Sir,nd sighed," Captain Nimo of the Vengeance reported. "ording to satellite images, we should be along the coast of the Great Hignds. Cartel territory."


    ke nodded as he nced at the magnified image of the coastalnds. Captain Nimo continued his report, "We will reachndfall within four hours at our current speed and heading."


    "Have the ship ready forndfall," ke ordered. "Bring our status up to condition yellow."


    "Aye aye, Sir!" Captain Nimo replied. "Status to condition yellow!"


    The captain turned and issued ke''s order. Almost instantly, the public announcement started addressing the crew. "Attention all hands! Set condition yellow throughout the ship! Repeat! Set condition yellow!"


    The crew hearing the address, ran off to their stations. With condition yellow in ce, the crew was expected to enterbat at any moment. The crew having survived the End Zone, moved with professionalism and skill as they squeezed past each other in the narrow confines of the ship''s passageway that was filled with supplies.


    "Marines are to ready themselves forbatndings," ke turned to Major James who was standing over the map table. "Secure thending zone and prep the ground to receive supplies and construction of a forward operating base."


    "Yes, Sir!" Major James replied and he left the admiral''s bridge to attend to his troops. ke turned to Commander Peter who was the CAG of the Vengeance. "Once the flight decks are cleared for operations, startunching birds into the air for recon and aerial coverage."


    Commander Peter nodded and he too left the bridge. ke turned to the rest of the senior officers and department heads and said, "All of you should know what to do next. Prepare your men, we have six hours beforendfall."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    The massive grey object turned out to be some sort of massive ship that does not have any sails. The boy assumed it was some kind of steam ship and he waved excitedly at it. He had once seen an airship flying overhead the vige but it was just only a tiny dot in the sky. His parents had pointed to it and told him about the flying vessel and he had dream for months of riding such an amazing flying ship.


    Now this ship that appeared was like ten ten times the size of any ships he had ever seen before. He saw figures moving around the decks and side of the ship and he waved harder in excitement. Before long, it appeared he was spotted as something was came out from the side and it came towards him at an unnatural speed.


    -----


    Senior Seaman Leo hang on to the safety bars around his turret as FAC - 04 ''Mozzy'' went flying over a wave. The high powered fast attack craftnded smoothly and was on its way again without any pause in its speed. The motorboat swept through the waves and did a beautiful powered loop around the small canoe beforeing to a halt and Leo could see the boy giving them a starry eyed stare of amazement.


    Leo wondered if the pilot did that loop just to mess with the kid. The Lieutenant popped out from the pilothouse''s hatch and yelled over in the new Trade Tongue they had to learn, "Hey boy? What is this ce called?"


    The boy''s mouth opened and closed like he was in shock but he recovered when the Lieutenant gave a p with his hands. "Oh, Ah! M- My Lord! This is Sharp''s Coast!"


    "My vige is just beyond that bend!" The boy excitedly pointed. "Who are you, my Lords?"


    The Lieutenant gave a grin at the boy''s enthusiastic reply and said, "We are not Lords."


    "Is there any soldiers or Lords around?" The Lieutenant asked as the boy paddled his canoe closer. "How big is your vige? Any other towns nearby?"


    "Oh... my Lord, I am not sure..." The boy shook his head and gestured down the coast. "I have never been out of my vige... I only heard there is another vige down yonder, just two days of walking or sailing..."


    The Lieutenant nodded and leaned into the hatch to give instructions while the boy stared around the sleek looking motor craft. He has never seen such a steamboat before that could sail so fast that it can fly across the water! The boy caught the eye of Leo who was staring down at him and the boy blushed as he quickly looked down to his feet.


    "Think you can be our guide to your vige?" The Lieutenant asked the boy suddenly.


    "My Lords! I will be happy too!" The boy replied excitedly. "Ah... my, my Lord?"


    "Yes?" The Lieutenant looked at the boy. "You don''t have to call me Lord, just called me Sir..."


    "Ah yes.. My Sir..." The boy fidgeted nervously as he wondered should he be so daring to request something from these people who obviously must be very powerful and wealthy. "M- my sister..."


    "My sister... she is very sick..." The boy stammered. "Do... do you have a... pearl of recovery-?!"


    The boy cut off mid sentence as he stared at therge approaching fleet of steamboats that appeared. He suddenly felt a cold chill down his spine that was caused by the cold ocean waters and he instantly regretted agreeing to guide these strangers.


    -----


    The well deck of the carrier had been carried for action ever since the order was passed down. Landing crafts had been released from their moorings and the small crew had checked the engine and the hull for any signs of damage from the crossing of the End Zone and found none.


    Waiting Marines boarded the waiting LCVP together with armoured vehicles and spider tanks. Once fullydened, the LCVPs motored out of the well deck and formed up alongside the Vengeance while keeping a safe distance. Getting smashed against the hull of the Vengeance was something an LCVP could handle.


    Once all the LCVPs had loaded up and formed up, they charged against the ocean with a couple of PT boats as an escort, heading towards the lone PT boat and canoe that was bobbing on the waves.

 Chapter 593: Banished

    Chapter 593: Banished


    Steel crunched against white sand as the Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel with UNMC in white bold letters emzoned on its side ran up the beach. The forward steel ramp dropped with ng and Marines double time out and quickly held the beach around the sleepy fishing vige.


    Vigers do their daily chores around the vige paused in their work and stared in fright at the sudden intrusion of strange soldiers that had demi people in their ranks. Mothers grabbed their children into their bosoms while the men picked up whatever tools at hand as makeshift weapons, prepared to defend their families.


    Mills carefully avoided the surf as he took a jump over the ramp. He hated having sand in his boots especially wet sand and he made sure to avoid getting wet. He strolled up the white sandy beach as if he was on vacation as he took in the sights of the sheer cliff walls that covered his view.


    "Sir! All units have disembarked and have secured a kilometre radius around the vige!" A lieutenant reported to him as he continued his leisurely stroll towards the vige. "The LCVPs are returning for the second wave."


    The vige the Marines had secured was backed against a towering cliff face, hundreds of meters high and spread out across hundreds of kilometres of coastline. The sandy beach spread out for half a kilometre on both sides before disappearing into the cliffs and reefs. Palm like trees grew in abundance beneath the cliff walls provided a source of wood for the vigers.


    There was a simple low fence made out of straw, most likely used to block the wind that surrounded the vige which consisted of just a dozen or more straw huts, arranged in a haphazard manner. A row of catamaran canoes pulled up beyond the tide line was parked at the edge of the vige together with racks of fish left drying out under the sun.


    Mills stepped through an opening in the fence and saw the vigers had all gathered together in the middle of the vige where arge fire pit sat. He ignored the improvised weapons pointed his way and nced around the vige in silence. His arrival and silence made the vigers even more nervous as the woman and children hurdled closer together while the men nervously held their weapons at the ready.


    Finally, the silence was broken by an elderly elf who stepped forward and addressed Mills directly, "My Lord, we... are just simple fisherpeople... We are willing... to give you everything you need... But please spare our lives..."


    Finishing the sentence, the elderly elf went down on his knees and kowtowed to Mills. The rest of the vigers hesitated briefly before they ced their improvised weapons down and kowtowed like the elder. "Please spare our lives, my Lord!"


    Mills wrinkled his brows as he saw the actions of the vigers and a hint of mischief glittered in his eyes. He let out a cough and replied in a lordly tone which he had learnt from Titanna who forced him into some etiquette ss. "Stand up, there is no need to bow."


    "Thank you, my Lord!" The vigers quickly replied and they stood up, their heads bowed and unclearly frightened and uncertain of their fates.


    "Do not worry," Mills grinned as he assured the vigers. "We are not here to steal or kill you folks."


    "Unless... you possessed a threat to me, my men, or my mission," He stated directly. "In fact, we might pay you for your services if we require any help."


    The vigers after hearing his words let out a breath of relief and some even showed an eagerness to serve. Some of the younger females were even throwing provocation winks at Mills and at some Marines, hoping to attract their attention. For they knew if they managed to catch the grace of even one of the lowly ranked soldiers, they could leave this vige or gain a better life.


    "My Lord! Sir!" A boy suddenly appeared from somewhere and ran over to Mills and looked at him with pleading eyes. The elder reached out to prevent the boy from going close to Mills for fear the boy might offend Mills and be punished or worse killed.


    "Child! Do not disturb the Lord!" The elder pulled the boy back before he whispered in a low voice. "Do you want to die? Do not show disrespect!"


    "But... The Lords had promised to help..." The boy stammered as he tried to wiggle out of the elder''s grip. "They are my sister''s only hope!"


    Mills stepped forward and gestured to the elder to release the boy before he squatted down to the boy''s height and asked, "What is the problem?"


    "My sister! She is very sick! She needs a pearl of recovery!" The boy cried out. "One of the other Lord promised to help if I brought you to our vige!"


    "What?" The elder and the nearby vigers who heard the boy''s words sucked in their breath in surprise and anger. The elder''s face turned red and his clenched fists shook by his side, but he was too afraid of Mills to strike out at the boy whose stupidly nearly caused their whole vige to be destroyed if Mills and his men were marauders.


    "Can you save my sister?" The boy did not know his actions had caused the irk of the entire vige. Many of the vigers were casting looks of hate and anger at him while those that were close to the boy shook their heads in pity.


    "Let''s take a look at her shall we?" Mills stood up and gestured for a medic over. He followed the eager boy towards his shoddy hut and found his sisterying on a straw bed with a high fever. The Marine medic bent over the small child who looked like skin and bones and checked her body while Mills looked around the hut.


    "Are there many visitors to this vige? Traders?" He asked the elder who followed in. The hut was sparsely decorated with a table, some chairs and a small hearth at one corner that strangely had an ''I'' shape icon hanging over it. "Are there any roads?"


    "No, my Lord," The elder replied. "There is only one way in and out of this vige."


    The elder pointed out of the small window towards one side of the cliff wall and said, "When the tides are low, a path will open and it is the only way towards the Hignds."


    "The sea path only opens for as long as the tide lowers," The elder continued. "As for traders, maybe once when the two moons are high, there might be a trading ship thates by. It brings us news of the world and we trade for some basic tools with our catch."


    Mills nodded before he said, "This seemed like a very closed off ce for a vige to be built..."


    "Our ancestors had no choice but to live here after their ship got wrecked at the reefs," The elder quickly exined in a nervous manner. "My grandfather told me they were seeking passage to the other side of the world when the ship was caught up in a storm and they were stranded here."


    "Did no one decide to leave this ce?" Mills asked as he could not imagine anyone wanting to live here at such an isted location for their entire lives. He did not quite trust the exnation of the elder who seemed ufortable by the question.


    "None could afford to pay for passage on board any of the ships that passed by," The elder replied with a sigh as he held on to his ne with both hands. "And the sea path to the Hignds is wild with monsters and dangerous. It was only a few summers before the path to the next vige was slightly safer to travel."


    "But it is dangerous to travel the Hignds without iron weapons or escorts," The elder added. "And we nay could afford any..."


    Mills nodded again as he recalled the improvised weapons wielded by the vigers. It would be really dangerous to attempt to travel through monster infested areas with wooden weapons if the monsters here were as deadly as those on the New World. He changed the topic, "How about the rulers of thisnd? Do theye to tax you or something?"


    "The Lords?" The elder frowned before he replied hesitantly, "No Lords evere... you are the first we have seen in many summers..."


    "Interesting..." Mills mumbled to himself. "So there are no other soldiers nearby?"


    The elder shook his head and said, "My Lord and his soldiers are the first I haveid eyes on this vige... Other than some... pirates thate here every twin moon..."


    "Pirates?" Mills was intrigued. This location appeared to be a very isted corner of the Hignds. It would be a great location to set up their base and dig in before anyone even knew they were here. The only problems that might leak their presence were passing merchant ships and pirates.


    "Yes... pirates!" The elder started to tensed up when he spoke of the pirates. "They pige the coastline and every vige has to pay them tribute every month..."


    "Are there many viges along the coastline?" Mills asked as he led the elder out of the hut. He wanted hismand staff to be briefed on the pirates too. He waved hismand staff over and gestured for the elder to continue. "Do you know where the piratese from?"


    "The pirates call themselves, The Hungry Hands," The elder said and he held up his left hand that had a missing pinky finger. "They took my finger when I was younger as punishment... For not giving them their tribute in time..."


    "They arrived in their ships and took me to their hideout," The elder trembled slightly as he recalled his past. "There I was met with eight other vige elders..."


    "They, the Hungry Hands..." The elder closed his eyes as he said. "Chopped my finger off before everyone... As a warning for disobedience..."


    "My Lord... can you...?" The elder suddenly opened his eyes and stared fiercely at Mills. "Can you destroy them?"


    "My people... we are willing to give you everything we have..." The elder kneeled down as he begged Mills. "Please save us! My lord!"


    Mills let out a sigh and pulled the elder up on his feet. "First before we decide anything... Can you tell us more of the pirates, their numbers, and their hideout?"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Admiral Bridge


    "So there''s a hideout of pirates," ke leaned over the map table and traced his finger along the coastline. "Hiding here... with a force of five ships... Sailing ships..."


    "Yes, Sir," The intel officer assigned to the UNS Vengeance replied. "Their numbers are believed to be between two to four hundred strong. They are called The Hungry Hands and from the vige elder, has been terrorizing this coastline for over five years."


    "Hungry Hands eh?" ke shook his head and he turned to the short stocky Dwarvan at the side and asked. "And the Cartel has not sent any anti piracy force to suppress them?"


    "h..." Grand Lord Hammerfall shook his head. "Tis may be the borders of the Cartel, but no Cartel cities in the area! No cities, no troops!"


    "Those viges... They are Banished! Outcasts, exiles!" Grand Lord Hammerfall growled. "No nation will take those Banished in!"


    "Why are they banished or outcasts?" ke asked curiously.


    "They are Banished because either they or their ancestors hadmitted taboos or grave sins that no nations could ignore!" Grand Lord Hammerfall said. "No nations or kingdom is willing to take them in! Hence these Banished can only form hidden viges."


    "What taboos or sins did they do that warrant such treatment?" ke asked, his curiosity rising.


    "Oh, they betrayed their own Gods and worshipped foreign Gods!"

 Chapter 594: The Cove

    Chapter 594: The Cove


    Raucousughter echoed out from the ship that was slightly listed on one side. The lights from the party that was ongoing on the ship were enough to highlight the other five simr sized sailing ships that were anchored next to each other bobbing gently to the waves in the dark.


    Several dark shapes slowly drifted into the cliff cove where the walls of the cliff formed a ''U'' shape. The lead Marine onboard the dinghy raised a hand up and the rest stopped paddling as he scanned the area for any signs of enemy sentries being alerted. But thankfully the soft sshes of paddles were covered by the merry making onboard the half sunken ship turned pirate base and a waterfall at the end of the cliff cove.


    The Marine scouting the way looked around carefully, slowly turning his head from left to right as he carefully scanned his surroundings in a hue of green white of his night vision goggles. Finally, satisfied that the way was clear, he gestured for the rest to start paddling again but more gently.


    Once the dinghy gently bumped against one of the anchored ships, the Marine Raiders threw padded grappling hooks and the most nimble of them scaled up the rope rapidly like a monkey. The Marine Raider scanned the deck for any enemies before he unrolled the ropedder he carried up and secured its ends before dropping over the side.


    After the rest of the Marine Raiders had climbed up the ship, a signal using an IR shlight was shone towards the opening of the cove. Shortly after, under the assistance of night vision goggles, several more dinghies paddled in softly.


    With two toons of Marine Raiders silently infiltrated the pirates'' ships, they started clearing the ships of any hostiles. But it seemed their caution was unrequired as there was barely even a standing watch on each ship. The pirates that were supposed to be on guard were either dozing off or drunk, making it super easy for the highly trained Marine Raiders to silence them.


    With all five pirate ships secured and the pirates gagged and tied up locked in one of the ship''s hold, the Marine Raiders regrouped and quietly surrounded the half sunken vessel. Sounds of singing,ughter and other noises continued to erupt from the pirate base, that even the noise of creaking wooden nks made by the Marine Raiders couldn''t even be noticed.


    The Marine Raiders crossed the conveniently ced nks that bridged the anchored ships to the ad hoc pirate base and quickly secured the upper decks. The half sunken ship once a merchant''s pride and joy looked like a galleon of sorts with all three of its masts gone. Itid slightly tilted in an angle after having struck a reef or rock and had remained stuck ever since.


    Another IR signal was given, and the Marine Raiders tensed up as they readied their weapons, as the engines of two PT boats could be heard briefly over the raucous noise. The two PT boats had powered their engines and charged in before cutting off their engines, making use of their inertia to drift in close to the ad hoc pirate base. The two boats ran without lights instead they relied on night vision goggles to observe their surroundings. The pilots kept his hand on the power as they nervously scanned their headings, ready to power up their engines to avoid any collusion or worse, running into an underwater obstacle and ripping a hole in their hulls.


    "Go!" The order came down to the Marine Raiders and they already anticipating the order, burst into action almost immediately. Hatches leading into the sterncastle, forecastle, and the top hatch at the main deck leading into the middle decks were assaulted simultaneously.


    Their sudden entry did not attract much attention at first as the majority of the pirates were either too drunk and passed out, too high or was indulged in some carnal acts. Their presence was only noticed after the scantily d women that were dancing and singing for the pirates paused in their performance as they stared in confusion at the dark clothed and covered faces of the Marine Raiders.


    Those pirates still sober cursed at the women and some of them rushed up the makeshift stage, threatening to whip them when they too paused in their actions as they stared with confusion at the neers. "Waat?"


    "Gas them!" Mills ordered, his voice muffled under the mask he was wearing. He ripped out a new toy from his pouch. The new toy was a metal canister that looked actually the same as a smoke grenade but its internals was arcane in nature. A spell scroll was wrapped around several arcaneponents that were required for a sleeping spell. An activation rune was etched onto a stamp that held a mana stone which will trigger the spell when the arming pin was pulled out.


    The arming pin held back a spring when removed will push the mana stone against the activation rune which in turn power up the single use spell scroll which was being mass produced for non lethal usage for the military and police back in the New World. The spell scroll containing the sleeping spell will burn away together with the required spellponents that were wrapped inside. Smoke instantly fills up the canister and the building pressure will pop out a tab holding the canister sealed and the sleeping gas will burst out.


    Mills and a few other Marines casually tossed the sleep grenades into the middle of the cabin. The pirates addled by their drinks stumbled over each other as they tried to attack the Marine Raiders before a thinyer of smoke covered them. The pirates shambled a few feet more before their eyes rolled up and they copsed down in a heap, including the dancing girls, and started snoozing.


    Simr actions were performed throughout the ship and once the ship was totally secured, the Marine Raiders called in for more support. Instantly, the two PT boats roared to life as they motored over to the pirate''s base. More Marines onboard the PT boat transferred over and the sleeping pirates, ves, servants, and captives were sorted out and kept in different holding areas until they woke up and be questioned.


    -----


    ke watched from the open air observation deck as the UNS Vengeance slowly sailed into the opening of the cove. He stared awestruck at the two towering rock formations at the entrance that jutted out like two horns towards the sky.


    Slowly, the UNS Vengeance passed through the rock horns of the cove and ke saw the captured pirate ships had been towed to the side. The cove was deep andrge enough to park two Vengeance side by side and at the end, a majestic waterfall hundreds of meters high fell from between the jagged cliff.


    Sandy beaches covered the base of the cliffs where trees and foliage grew. Above the cove, rising over a few hundred meters, rock spurs pointing to the skies provided some form of overhead cover. All in all, the cove was a perfect location for the UN to establish a base of operations and hide the UNS Vengeance.


    ke nodded with satisfaction as the UNS Vengeance dropped anchor in the middle of the cove. Since two days ago, the pirates'' base had been identified, ke had dispatched the Vengeance''s small detachment of PT boats to locate the other viges and verify the truth about the pirates. Once he was certain the vige elder did not pull any tricks, he had the pirate base under observation and found that the pirates seemed to be overlycent, only partying all night and sleeping the day away.


    From information gathered by Marine recon, ke realised that the cove the pirates used as a natural hiding space and appeared to berge enough for the UNS Vengeance as a safe harbour. Hence, an operation to assault the pirate base wasunched right at the dead of the night when most of the pirates were intoxicated in their drinks.


    Once the pirates were subdued, surveying teams entered the cove and measured the entrance and depth of the cove to ensure the cove was enough for the Vengeance to enter without running around. A couple of reefs was mapped out that would damage the Vengeance''s hulls had divers nt explosives and the dangerous reefs were blown away.


    Once the waterways around the cove were safe, the UNS Vengeance then made its way in. ke looked up above the cove where the rock spurs looked like fingers and made a note to have teams erect some camoting over the openings to prevent anyone flying above from spotting the Vengeance.


    "Sir," Captain Nimo appeared behind ke. "We are still not getting any word from ourms... The techs think that we might have fried out externalmunications equipment..."


    "It would take them another two more days before they rece all themunications arrays," The Captain of the Vengeance reported. "In the meantime, we can''t contact Haven, yet."


    "Trysering the satellite probe when it passes overhead," ke suggested. "We can do message dumps to the satellite and see if they on the other side can receive ourms data..."


    "I... I shall inform thems officer to do so," Captain Nimo nodded, his face slightly red as he did not manage to think of such a method. "I shall do so immediately!"


    "Before you go, get the engineers to start prepping thend for a base of operations," ke ordered. "Have the crew start unloading the heavy machinery and construction equipment."


    "Yes, Sir!" The Captain gave a salute and left ke standing alone on the observation deck.


    ke let out a sigh as he took in the sights and wished that Sherene was here next to him.


    -----


    Major James climbed down the creaking steps of the deck hatch and frowned at the stench of unwashed bodies and rot. He let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting and made his way over to the cries of pain. The two Marine guards saluted James as he reached a hatch and he climbed in and found Mills standing over a half naked person tied to a chair.


    Mills stepped back from the moaning pirate and rubbed his gloved hands and gave a grin of greeting to James. "Hey, Boss! Need some exercise?"


    James shook his head at Mills and went to check the prisoner. "What do we know?"


    "Well, our tough friend here told us that there is another fleet out there collecting their monthly tribute up north," Mills replied coldly. "Four ships, all old retired Cartel steamrollers that they gotten from some scrapyard... Each ship has around a hundred crew or so."


    "So another four to five hundred pirates?" James straightened up. "When are they expecting that fleet to return?"


    "In another week or so, apparently, that fleet is led by some tough guy called Crazy Dan," Mills flexed his fingers and said, "Well, these Hungry Hands pirates aren''t so tough after all!"


    "Still torturing prisoners isn''t part of the job scope..." James replied as he made certain that their prisoner was still alive. "Hand him over to Intel."


    "Aww... Me and the boys are just starting to have some fun with these big bad pirates!" Mills grumbled as he lurched forward at the clearly frightened prisoner. "Fucking scum!"


    "Hey! Captain!" James snapped as he gripped Mills. "Behave yourself!"


    "Goddamn fuckers!" Mills spat to the side. "We should just line them up by the side and shoot them!"


    "Chill out, Marine!" James growled. "While I do not like them as less as you, it is not our duty to judge their crimes!"


    "Fucking child rapists and murderers!" Mills cursed as he jerked James''s arm off. "Fuck this shit! I hope Naval Intel would make them suffer first!"


    "Don''t you worry about Naval Intel''s interrogation methods," James sighed as he pushed Mills out of the cabin. "I am very certain they know how to make one wish they were dead..."

 Chapter 595: A New Home

    Chapter 595: A New Home


    "Git outta ma God Machine!" The goblin helicopter crew hissed at the Marines who hurried off the rear ramp of the hovering Griffin. The cargo helicopter was hovering at the edge of a jagged shard of rock, its pilot expertly hovered the Griffin''s tail end just a foot off the edge. The Marines quickly disembarked and fanned out to cover their sectors.


    The Marines had ridden the helicopter up the coastal cliffs and was deployed to re and secure the surrounding areas of the hidden cove. All day, Marines had been deployed all over the surrounding areas by helicopter as no way was found leading up the cliff wall that looming hundreds of meters overhead.


    Engineers dug tunnels and hollowed out chambers inside the rock cliffs, creating living quarters, workces and storage facilities. Cranes were deployed from the side of the carrier decks and started transferring the containers down to the beach and clearing the flight decks for air operations.


    Another team of engineers surveyed the area around the waterfall for possible sites of hooking up a hydro generator. Divers continued to scour the waters around the cove for more hidden and dangerous reefs that might damage ship hulls and blew them away with nted explosives.


    Naval Intel happily took over the captured pirates and started their interrogation, squeezing intel out from the pirates regarding the region and political situation. The ves the pirates taken from the surrounding viges were set aside for the moment, awaiting their turn to be questioned, cleared, and sorted out ording to their origins.


    The remaining crew of the Vengeance were also kept busy as they had to service and conduct maintenance on the battle carrier from its month long journey through constant heavy weather. The Vengeance had suffered storm damage and the constant stress of rough weather had put a strain on its hulls andponents.


    ke nced down at the list of ongoing projects and tasks requiring his attention and put all his energy into the tasks. In the past two weeks, he was constantly overseeing the construction of the base that was being dug. Communications between the two continents were sporadic, only possible throughsering the passing satellite probe that passes overhead twice a day which limited the amount ofmunication data being uploaded to the satellite probe before the window disappeared as the satellite probe dropped over the horizon.


    ke had assigned Dr. Sharon as an ambassador for the UN and she had been busy as she visited the surrounding viges that had been piged by the pirates. She negotiated with the vige elders and chiefs, for supplies and information and she also provided free basic medical services to the viges, which granted her much goodwill. In her visits, she found out that these isted viges were all of the Banished, but despite the vigers liking her, they all remained tight lip in regards to their Banished sins and past.


    "Sir," Intel Officer Rism knocked politely on the hatch of ke''s office. Rism originally assigned to the Kingdom of Foral''s UN Foreign Affairs department had requested a transfer on board the UNS Vengeance when the call for volunteers came out. "We have sightings of the rest of the Hungry Hands'' fleet."


    "Deal with it," ke replied without looking up from his work. "Update me when it''s done!"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    Lond Coast


    Four hybrid steamships were sailing in a ragged formation, their single smokestack puffing out ck smoke while its soot stained double sails were billowing in the wind. There was an image of a clutching hand was painted red on their sails which identified themselves as members of the Hungry Hands.


    In the middle of the four steamships was another steamship except it did not have sail masts, making it a pure steamer. A pair of exposed paddle wheel sat in the middle of the colourfully painted ship and its size was almost twice that of the pirate ships.


    Crazy Dan, ranked third on the Hungry Hands'' captains was grinning from ear to ear as he squeezed the soft bouncy chest of the new ve girl in his arms. Their voyage to gather their monthly tribute from the Lond viges had an unexpected surprise. A merchant vessel of the Loose Confeds had fallen into their hands and he knew those group of people and their mixed bred kind will pay a lot of ransom for the return of the ship and its crew!


    In another week, he will return back to Waterfall Cove and with the merchant prize, his ranking and influence among the captains and crew would rise! He might even take second ce! Crazy Dan thought to himself as he knocked back a bottle of local brew in high spirits.


    "Captain!" A ragged crew member suddenly appeared before him and reported, "Lookout spotted something out in the horizon... It is a boat... yet not like any we seen before!"


    "A boat?" Crazy Dan frowned and shoved the frightened girl off hisp. "Where?"


    He was handed a looking ss and he pointed it towards the direction indicated. He scanned the waters and soon spotted what the lookouts were saying. A boat was moving along the water with no sails nor smokestacks, making it strange as the speed it was moving at did not look like someone was paddling.


    Crazy Dan estimated the size of the boat to be justrger than theirrgest longboat and wondered if it was some new toy the rich hade out with. It has neither sails nor smokestacks, hence it might be powered by magic which only the very rich could afford. He scanned the waters around the boat and saw it was alone and the skies were empty of any airships.


    "It must be some wealth folk out on some joy ride!" He lowered his looking ss and another wide smile broke out on his filthy face as he yelled down the decks. "Alright, boys! Looks like the Gods are on our side today! We got ourselves another prize!"


    The pirate crew let out a joyous whop as they heard their captain''s shout. The merchant prize which they had capture had already guarantee each and every one of them a share which would be more than enough for a few weeks worth of whores and drinks. Now with another prize, they would get even more shares!


    "Signal to The Harlot and The Naked Dame to remain with our merchant prize!" Crazy Dan ordered. "The Damned and The Anger shall advance full speed on to our little prize!"


    The pirate crew hurried manned their stations as the two leading pirate ships turned and headed straight for the boat that appeared to had spotted them. The boat too turned around and headed towards the shore while two pirate ships that were five times its size chased after it.


    The distance between the ships closed rapidly as pirates'' steamships made full steam towards the boat. The boat disappeared around the bend of the coastal line and the two pirate steamships followed eagerly until they too disappeared from sight from the rest of the pirate fleet.


    -----


    UN Expeditionary Force, FAC - 04 ''Mozzy''


    Senior Seaman Leo watched the two fast approaching pirate ships following them around the bend and he grinned. He ducked down from his perch on the twin fifties mount and yelled excited into the pilothouse. "They areing!"


    The skipper nodded and picked up a handset and ordered, "All hands! Make ready forbat!"


    Outside the pilothouse at the prow, the gunner manning the twin fifties gun turret, racked the bolts back, chambering a pair of .50 calibre cartridges into the weapon. At the same time, the rear twin 20 mm gun turret, the gunner did the same and turned the turret to track the approaching pirate ships. Leo returned to his gun mount and racked the bolts. He turned the gun sights and aimed the ''O'' at the unsuspecting pirate ships and waited for the order.


    Suddenly, from a hidden position on the coast, two more PT boats suddenly burst out of hiding. They skimmed across the waves like rockets as they charged towards the two pirate ships.


    "Light them up!"


    Leo already anticipating the order, squeezed down hard on the butterfly triggers of the twin fifties. Harsh yellow red tracers flickered out apanied by loud thunder as all guns onboard the Mozzy opened up. The tracers seemed to converge towards the lead pirate ship and several tracers could be seen floating off into the skies as they bounced off the metal armour of the steamships.


    The other two PT boats added in their firepower and the confused pirates milling around the top decks were mowed down like wheat from the sweeping fire from six pairs of fifty calibre guns. The 20 mm guns had better pration and they punched through the metal woodminate armour of the obsolete steamships that were originally bound to be scraped.


    Sparks and blood flew as the forecastle of the leading pirate ship disintegrated into mangled metal and splintered wood. The pirate steamship continued in its headlong course as the helm was totally destroyed and there was also no one left to even steer the ship, ran aground with a wrenching groan of metal before its internal paddlewheels still turning at full speed, smashed themselves to pieces against the wet sand.


    The second pirate steamship, seeing the unfortunate fate of its sister, tried to quickly turn and get out of the ambush zone. It even gave off a panicked volley of its steam cannons when the PT boats of the UN Expeditionary Force turned the attention of their guns at it.


    It suffered the same fate, gaping holes appeared along the side of its hulls from the 20 mm guns and the decks were swept clean of anything living. The forecastle was chopped into pieces by hi powered armour piercing shells and the ship, helmless, followed after its sister as it ran aground shortly after.


    Waiting Marines emerged out from the cover of the foliage along the coast and advanced towards the stranded steamships. They tossed grappling lines up the side of the ships while concealed snipers on the treetops engaged any threats on the deck and covered the assault of the Marines.


    The three PT boats formed up and headed out towards the open sea. They rounded the coastal bend and spotted the remaining pirates at the same time those pirates spotted them. There was an attempt from the pirate ships to hit the PT boats with their steam cannon fire but the agile and fast PT boats were just impossible to hit without modern guidance or gyroscopes.


    20 mm cannons and fifties barked and roared spitting death at the pirate ships. The forecastle where the helm was located was targeted followed by the paddlewheels inside the hull. Once the pirate ships'' movement were disabled, the steam cannons were targeted next. The UN gunners were careful to not sink the pirate ships as they do not know if they were carrying any innocents turned ves onboard.


    Hence, the pirate ships could only be disabled and Marines will board to clear themter. The one sided battle was over quickly and the frightened pirate prize crew on board the Loose Confederation trade ship quickly surrendered after witnessing the overwhelming power of the three small boats.


    The PT boats kept their guns trained on the disabled pirate ships and awaiting the troop transports bearing Marines to board and take over the ships. It took them the better part of the day to transfer all the captured pirates, ves, goods and other useful items onto the merchant prize before the two pirate ships were scuttled by nted explosives on the bottom of their hulls.


    It was night when the twice captured merchant ship and its unusual escorts of three boats that were just a fifth or less smaller but possessed enough firepower to sink the ship a hundred times over, headed back to their new home on this new continent.

 Chapter 596: 596 - Tales of Myth

    Chapter 596: 596 - Tales of Myth


    The Old World, UN Expeditionary Force, Forward Operating Base, UNS Vengeance


    "There are a total of twenty two micro viges scattered along the coastline within a hundred kilometer radius of the cove," Dr. Sharon addressed the meeting room. "Majority of them are sustaining themselves from fishing while the rest which has more ess to forest regions survive more on hunting and small scale farming."


    "I call them micro viges there are only several families to the most a dozen, in each vige," Dr. Sharon said. "I had initiated contact with these twenty two viges and established a friendly rapport with the majority of them."


    "Of course, defeating the local pirates who were the overlords here helped a lot," Dr. Sharon grinned before her expression turned serious. "Each of these viges is what our Cartel friends called Banished viges."


    "From what the Cartel Grand Lord said, their ancestorsmitted taboo against the Gods," Dr. Sharon exined. "This caused the people to be banished out of their nations."


    "Why won''t they killed formitting taboo?" Someone from the meeting asked. "Isn''t execution amon punishment?"


    "Yes, execution is the norm for punishments," Dr. Sharon replied. "But in this case, the taboos appeared to be changing their religion and believing in their other Gods."


    "They were banished instead of being executed is due to them being granted protection from the Gods they switched their worship to," Dr. Sharon said. "This made the people unable to punish them by death, for fear of getting retribution."


    "At least this was the history known to the Old World," Dr. Sharon added. "Therefore we have these micro viges that existed for centuries all over the coastline where the local government ignores their existence."


    "Do we know what kind of Gods they follow?" ke asked. "Are they a threat to us?"


    "I do not believe they are a threat," Dr. Sharon replied. She keyed in somemands into the keypad and the disy screen changed, showing several images. "I have observed some religious icons scattered and hidden around the viges I went."


    "They do not speak of the taboos that their ancestorsmitted but I managed to secretly take a few photos," Dr. Sharon gestured to the screen and continued. "I found religious symbols of Greek mythologies and the most prominent symbol was that of the thunder god... Thor..."


    "There is a brief on the thunder god Thor inside the briefing handouts." Dr. Sharon gestured to the handouts on the table, more for the benefit of the other races who have no knowledge of Earth''s mythology. "Thor is part of an Old Norse religion from our homeworld. He is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, destruction, fertility, healing, and the protection of mankind."


    "Thor bears at least fourteen names, is the husband of the golden-haired goddess Sif, and is the lover of the Jtunn Jrnsaxa," Dr. Sharon briefed the meeting. "He is the son of Odin, who was known as the All Father and oversees Valha, where he receives those who had died in battle, who will rise to fight again during Ragnarok or the end of an age."


    "There are, of course, many other interpretations," Dr. Sharon added. "Since all this information were myths or stories passed down from thousands and thousands of years ago.


    ke''s frown deepened as he eyed the capital ''i'' shaped symbol of Thor on the screen. "Do we know if Thor is still active with his followers?"


    Dr. Sharon shook her head. "So far none of the vigers speaks of their religions or Gods..."


    "So we do not know if Thor is friendly or hostile," ke said. "And the vigers? What are the chances of them willing to work for us?"


    She gave a shrug before saying, "It''s still too early to say anything... We just establish friendly contact..."


    "But I think once we return those vigers taken as ves by the pirates to their vige, it should improve our influence greatly," Dr. Sharon replied. "Also providing some medical aid to them also helps a lot."


    ke nodded before he turned to the chief engineer. "How goes the construction?"


    "The basic works have all been set up already," The engineer said. "We installed a hydro generator using the force of the waterfall to provide energy and also as a source of clean water."


    "Explosives are being used to blow caves and tunnels within the rock walls," The engineer continued. "A temporary storage site inside the cliff has already been opened up and our people are moving our supply containers into them for storing."


    "We are also reusing some of the emptied containers as offices and barracks," The engineer said. "They will also be used temporarily as a defensive wall around the entrance of the FOB. We estimate it would take two months of digging to create a baserge enough to house the entire crew of the Vengeance and space to store all our supplies and equipment."


    "Put the captured pirates to use," ke ordered. "You can put them on hardbour details as punishment for their crimes."


    "Yes, sir," The engineer nodded.


    "What intel we have of our location?" ke asked Intel Officer Trism.


    "We have been working with the Marines to map the area out in detail," Trism replied. "The coastline we are at is known as the Londs."


    "Above the cliffs, thends are called the Hignds," briefed Trism. "As Dr. Sharon has said earlier, there are twenty two small viges along the Lond coastline within a hundred kilometre radius."


    "On the Hignds, there are three farming vige or towns, and a city within a hundred kilometre away," The Intel Officer said. "I already have teams of intelligence operatives on their way to investigate those locations."


    "There is currently no ess down from the Hignds to the Londs as far as we can find and it has been confirmed by the Banished viges we visited," Trism said. "For now the only way is by helicopter, and I will assume it would be the use of airships for the locals."


    "There is also a clear distinctive status gap between the those living in the Londs and the Hignds," added Trism. "From the information provided by the Cartel, those living in the Londs are either the Banished or people without citizenship."


    "Only those who live on the Hignds are considered citizens of the Cartel," Trism said. "And the true ruling elite lives inside the Mountain Cities."


    "We are located in an area which the Cartel barely cast an eye on," Trism continued his brief. "Hence, this region is rife with bandits and pirates. Basically, it''s and where the strong rule the weak..."


    "In my opinion, this works well for us," The intel officer said with a smile. "First, we can remain hidden while building up our foothold here."


    "Secondly, we can establish friendly trade rtionships with any opposed vige, towns or cities once we expand out," The intel officer ticked off his fingers. "Third, the people here have no loyalty to the Cartel, allowing us to recruit them as auxiliary forces if required."


    "Andstly, we can take over the region once we defeat the pirate overlords without worrying the Cartel will get involved," Trism closed his fingers and held his fist up. "We can turn thiswlessnd into part of the UN!"


    The officers around the staff meeting nodded and mumbled their agreement. ke too gave a nod before he said, "Do not forget our primary mission here."


    "Once we establish our FOB here," ke gestured out of the viewports towards the sea and said. "We will sail up north towards the Protectratends!"


    "Yes, Sir," Trism replied. "But my rmendation would be to continue to establish ourselves here and at the same time gather maps, regional intel, and more forces before we head to the Protectorate..."


    "Your advice is noted," ke replied with an impatient wave of his hand. "Now, we will concentrate on the construction of the base."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    The ground shook as explosives gouged out chunks of rock from the tunnel. Powerful fans sucked the dusty air out and shackled prisoners shuffled their way into the tunnel. They hoisted chucks of rocks onto wheelbarrows and dumped them onto carts before pushing those carts out to be used to make concrete.


    Lord Copperstone was happily directing a group of prisoners to attack the rock with power tools. The power tools provided by the Un An was fascinating and powerful! As were those ''ex po sleeves'' used by the engineers to blow the hard rocks. When he first witnessed the tunnelling and mining methods by the engineers, he was blown away by their skills!


    If using Cartel mining standards, which Lord Copperstone was certain ranked the top among the Seven Nations, to dig a massive cavern which he stood inside now that was brightly lit by glowmps, would have taken them months of hard work and hundreds of miners.


    Yet, the Un An has used barely a hundred men and those wonderous ''ex po sleeves'' and taken just a week to create this cavern that was thousands of steps wide and several dwarven heights tall! And the strange boiler less magic wagons that effortlessly moved the massive iron containers and stacked them neatly in rows all along the incredibly smooth stone floor!


    He had observed them spreading a thick grey paste over the uneven flooring just the other day and when he returned a day after, the rocky ground turned t and smooth as if by magic! He was very certain that he had not picked the wrong choice in offering his services to the Un An if he could just learn even a tiny portion of their magical abilities!


    He felt honoured when the Un An engineers came to him to ask about mining and even assigned a group of prisoners which he had found out were pirates that were terrorising the local region, to work. Like all the others, he despised pirates for their cruel and wanton ways, hence he was more than happy to put them to hard work. If one or more of them died in their work, it was nothing off his skin and even a blessing to the world.


    The sharp crack crack crack of the power tools wielded by some of the prisoners started up again and Lord Copperstone shook himself out of his thoughts. Next to the prisoners, a Un An engineer drove some kind of special magic wagon that had an arm with a spike driver like weapon. The spike hammered hard against the rock wall and easily shattered the rock with its power.


    Once again, Lord Copperstone found himself lost in the ''tek no lo gee'' of the Un An, as he stood there deep inside the side of the rock cliff.


    -----


    The boy watched his sisterugh as she ran towards the surf, her tiny feet kicking up clumps of fine white sand. The worry and stress that gued him for months had finally disappeared like the sea breeze as he watched his sister y in the waves.


    He reached to his cor and held on to the crude carving that was tied with a piece of string around his neck and gave a prayer of thanks. The strange magic of the strangers had saved his sister from certain death and he was determined to pay his debts to repay them for their kindness.


    Yet the strangers who came in their strange ships were like the old tales once told to him by his parents during the nights when he couldn''t sleep. He could tell that they were warriors from the way they held themselves and it made him recall the words of his parents.


    Warriors whoe from the distantnds of ice and snow. From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow to fight the horde. Oh, how they calmed the tides of war and became the Overlords...


    To Valha, they areing!

 Chapter 597: A New Adventure Awaits

    Chapter 597: A New Adventure Awaits


    The antlered beast came to a crashing halt as inertial carried its weight sliding across the forest foliage. The giant wolf deer with a pair of impressive looking antlers let out ast grunt before the light went out of its eyes. Blood seeped out from its side and soaked into the forest floor as heavy footsteps approached the hunted beast.


    "Nice shot!" A happy cry came from the female toting a long rifle over her shoulder. Dressed in a set of ''tiger stripe'' blue woond camouged hoodie and equipment vest, she kneeled down next to the beast and deftly cut at the neck. Sharp stainless steel cut through the thick fur and parted neck muscles and she dug her hand into the wound and felt around.


    "Anything?" A bald muscr elf wearing a dark set of te armour festooned with equipment pouches with arge broadsword and scabbard at his back asked as he and another girl wielding a long rifle who looked no more than twenty came out of the foliage. Both of them were wearing simr woond camo clothing under their armour and vests.


    "Nothing!" The short haired female girl replied as she pulled her hand out of the cut. She grimaced at the gory mess on her and epted the canteen of water offered to her by the tall muscr elf and washed her hand. "Thanks."


    "Well, this is the fourth monster we took down without any results," The muscr elf let out a sigh. "It seems that it is true that there is very little magic left here..."


    "The amount of mana in the air is depressingly little," Another pair of elves appeared from the trees. One of them was carried a wooden staff said. "I need like three times the focus and effort to just draw upon the magic of thend..."


    The other, a youngster who looked simr in age to the girl, gave a grin and said, "Your marksmanship is getting better, soon, you be overtaking Kat as the party''s sniper!"


    "Hey!" The woman who was washing her hand growled, "Disrespectful punk!"


    Ciel giggled as she gave a friendly pat to the youngster, "Hehehe, maybe in another year or more!"


    "Alright, kids," The muscr elf pped his hands and ordered everyone over. "Kat, dress the meat, no point letting it go to waste. Yill, take Justze and find us a ce to camp for the night."


    "Ciel, keep watch for Kat," The muscr elf, clearing the leader ordered. "Let''s get everything done before it gets dark!"


    "Yes, boss!" The party members replied as they went upon their duties.


    "Leon," Kat called out to the muscr elf. "This ce has no magic... Thend is dead... Why did we ept this quest?"


    "Than what did you want to do in the New World?" Leon asked as he helped to portion out the carcass that was twice his size. "The pay is good, once wepleted our jobs, we can settle down to retirefortably."


    "Provided we survive!" Kat hissed in a low voice. "I don''t why did I agree to join you guys here..."


    She shivered slightly as she recalled the crazy journey crossing the End Zone and how helpless she was inside the small cabin she shared with Ciel. She gestured around themselves and said, "Thisnd is dead! There is no magic... There is no future for thesends!"


    "I know and you know that," Leon sighed as he expertly quartered the meat and started to skin it. "It''s toote to regret now..."


    "Tch!" Kat let out a growl. "I shouldn''t have epted this quest!"


    "Oh,e on!" Leon grinned. "We are adventurers! It''s an opportunity to adventure! And get paid!"


    Kat rolled her eyes and returned to cutting the beast up. Leon continued to say, "We just need to cross this forest and investigate the towns and viges beyond."


    "And for once, I am d monsters have no magic..." Leon poked the wolf head of the creature. "This means killing them is easy!"


    They continued their work in cutting up the beast and hang it up to drain it of its blood. When Yill and Justze came back, they took the choice parts and left the rest of the animals of the forest and headed to the campsite. There they settled down for the night, and when dawn broke, they broke fast and cleared up the campsite before heading off into the forest again.


    Justze and Ciel both had grown into their roles as adventurers and they had matured a lotpared to the days when they were still trainees with the Adventurers'' Inc. The Adventurers'' Inc and other private militarypanies were offered to join the UN Expeditionary Force in exploration and security contracts on the Old World.


    The pay was more than enough for any of the PMCs'' adventurers to retire in luxury should they return alive to spend the money. The offers had attracted several PMCs to follow the UNS Vengeance across the dangerous waters and now, the adventurers were tasked with scouting and reconnaissance of the local terrain and settlements.


    "This is why I hate this ce," Kat sighed as the party emerged from the edge of the forest. She looked up to the gloomy skies at therge shards of rocks floating unnaturally in the air. "Thend has no magic... Yet those things are floating in the air..."


    Leon removed his binocrs from its case and stared at the floating rocks for a moment before he put away the binos. "Damn... those rocks are big!"


    "How do they even stay afloat?" Ciel asked as she and the others continued their way across the tall grass. "When thisnd has no magic."


    "They should have aetherium ore inside," Justze replied as he hacked at the tall grass with a long de called a machete by the UN.


    "But I thought aetherium needed to be heated for it to float?" Ciel frowned as she kept half her attention on the terrain and the half on the floating rocks. "How are they floating then?"


    Justze gave a shrug while Yill said with a grin as he snapped a photo of the floating rocks with a small camera. "That is why we paid to find out!"


    "Shh!" Kat suddenly raised a fist up and the whole party moving in a file halted and crouched low in the tall grass except for Kat who was on point. They switched to alert and weapons came out at the ready, each scanning their areas of responsibilities.


    "What is it?" Leon whispered as he cradled his shotgun across his chest.


    "I spotted the grass moving when there is no wind!" Kat whispered back and gestured to the side. "That way!"


    The rest of the party remained quiet as they strained both their eyes and ears, checking their surroundings for any threats when Justze heard a crunch of something moving to his right. He raised the shotgun in his hand up as slowly tracked his barrel towards the noise when suddenly somethingrge pounced through the tall grass directly at him.


    Reflexly, he spun his weapon directly at the dark mass and squeezed the trigger. The shotgun equipped with arge suppressor gave a loud burp and the attacker let out a yelp of pain and surprise as it was flung back into the grass.


    Justze quickly worked the pump of his shotgun and followed after the attacker he just shot. He found the attacker to be a kind of feline monster with a pair ofrge oversized fangs sticking out. It was covered in a thick matt of yellow green fur that seemed to mimic its surroundings, making it a deadly predator within the grass ins.


    As Justze stared at the dying creature, there was another suppressed bark at the rear followed by another and another. He spun around and ran back to his party cursing, "Shit!"


    "All clear!" The call came in just as Justze linked up with his party just to see Leon shoving a feline beast away with his booted feet. "That was close!"


    Kat scanned the area before she nodded and repeated, "All clear, I don''t sense anything around us at this point..."


    "What kind of creature is this?" Leon bent over the beast he just rolled over with his foot. "Never seen anything like this back home..."


    Yill whipped out his camera and started snapping more photos from all angles. "Hmmm... Hmmm..."


    "No mana stone either," Kat said as she dug around one of the carcasses. "These are just normal beasts..."


    "I was hoping for more of a fight," Leon sighed as he shoved his shotgun back into its holster. "Easy kills..."


    Yill nodded as he crouched closer to one of the carcasses and snapped photos of the gunshot wounds. "Bullets can easily kill these beasts, unlike those back at home."


    "Oh, I found something," Kat suddenly said as she dug around thest butchered carcass. She gave a grin and pulled her hands out covered in gore and held a tiny sunflower seed sized mana stone up and tossed it over to Leon. "Here, catch!"


    Leon caught the tiny mana stone and rubbed the thin blood membrane away from the mana stone and sighed. "This is really tiny..."


    "How do they survive without magic?" Ciel asked in wonder. To her magic was part of life even with the advances of ''tek no lo gee'' from the UN. Without magic would be like losing a hand or leg.


    "Steamworks?" Justze said. "The briefing said the people here are using steamworks to rece magic."


    "Well, whether they have magic or not," Leon slipped the mana stone into a pouch and said. "We will know once we reach the nearest settlement!"


    "And this would probably sell for a pretty good amount of gold or silver!" Leon grinned. "I heard the Cartel have the best breweries in the Old World! Can''t wait to try it!"


    The party had been issued funds for their exploration of the local region. Their funds were the local currency that was taken from the Cartel prisoners and captured airships. The local silver and gold currency was simr to what was used in the New World, except for the difference in weight, purity, and stamping.


    Under the interrogation of Cartel prisoners, they had a rough idea of the standard of living and the costs of basic living necessities. They also learnt that hunters and adventurers were verymon in the Old World, as monsters were hunted for the rare mana stones or dungeon and ruins diving for magical items and artefacts.


    Hence, the party would easily fit in as adventurers and hunters. Leon gestured to the dead beasts and said, "Well, take their skins... and fangs... I guess they will provide good cover for us when we reach a town."


    They spent an hour skinning the carcasses of the beast before they headed off again. The remains of the beasts were quickly swarmed by scavengers and other creatures while overhead, the floating rocks wobbled in the wind, some of the smaller rocks even smashed against therger ones and breaking into smaller fragments which were then blown away by the wind.


    After another few hours of trekking through the grass, they finally came upon a dirt track that clearly was made by people. They followed the track and set up camp again when the sun dipped down and when morning came, they resumed their journey and the sights of tillednd and signs of people appeared.


    Leon''s mood increased greatly as he hummed a tune of sorts as they followed the path. They had switched out of their blue tiger stripe camo hoodies with clothing that was less eye catching and before long, the walls of a small town could be seen, surrounded by more farnd that was readying for winter.


    "Alright, my fellow adventurers!" Leon let out an excitedugh as he pointed to the gates of the town. "Onward my friends! A new adventure awaits us!"

 Chapter 598: No Doubt

    Chapter 598: No Doubt


    A harpoon hissed out from theuncher and with a sharp shriek, it pierced into the side of the floating chunk of rock that was almost asrge as the airship next to it. Several more harpoons hissed out from the steamunchers and attached themselves against the floating rock''s surface and the crew put their muscles onto the cranks and reined in the ropes attached to the harpoons.


    Once the floating rock was snuggled up tight against the air harvester, the four powerful aerial screws started spinning and the airship attempted to drag the chuck of floating rock behind it. For a moment, the floating rock seemed to resist the efforts of the airship before it ever so slowly shifted away from its original position and obediently followed behind the airship.


    Leon put down his binocrs as he turned his attention to the bustling town below him. The balcony of the inn they were staying at had quite a view of the aetherium mining town. A couple of airships that looked like skeletal arms dragged chunks of floating rocks towards the breakers where the floating rocks dragged down to the ground by muscle and steam power before broken down into smaller manageable sizes to have its aetherium ore extracted.


    The mining town was called Ethan''s Edge and they had stayed in this town for over two days and had learnt much. The people were of mixed races, from Elves as the hoomans called the people, Oerkins or Orks, Beastmen, to the short people called Dwarvans. There were more Beastmenpared to the rest and the Dwarvans seemed to prefer to keep to themselves up on the mountain cities.


    The modest town boasted a permanent poption of roughly half a thousand, while another thousand or two, were mostly hunters, contract miners, traders, and wanderers who came to the town of Ethan''s Edge for opportunities. Smokestacks poked from almost every roof in the town and spewed dirty grey smoke out. The forests around the town had long been cut down and turned into farms or justid bare with the remains of tree stumps with more logging camps further out.


    Ugly mine dotted the sides of the hills where the trees had been cut down together withrge mine pits where animal carts and steam powered carts moved resources up and down the well worn roads towards the town. All the resources that came out from the ground including the chopped trees were all feed into the town''s hungry furnaces and resource ingots and charcoal were rolled out on the other end.


    The town also had an Adventurers'' Guild equivalent, called the Hunter''s Association which deals solely with materials and parts harvested from monsters. The tiny seed sized mana stone was well received by the Association''s appraiser who offered a price that was more than the total of the skins and other monsters parts'' valuebined.


    "Leon, we got the location for the pickup," Yill said as he put away the radio set. "They are sending a dragon in tomorrow after nightfall to take the package from us."


    Leon nodded as he gestured to the rolls of maps and scrolls, "Make sure you guys wrap those up properly!"


    The maps and other information gathered from the town were packed carefully into a waterproof bag. Leon sneezed as he returned into the room and closed the balcony doors, and blew his nose hard. "The air here smells!"


    "Not surprised if they had been constantly burning coal and wood," Kat replied as she carefully cleaned her disassembled rifle. "Seems like they like to burn things around here."


    "Different cultures, different ways of living," Yill cut in. "But in the end, everyone is just trying to live."


    Kat gave a shrug as she wiped down her weapon while Leon asked, changing the subject. "Where are the kids?"


    "They should be walking around the town," Kat said as she reassembled her weapon.


    "Call them back," Leon said. "We need to start nning for tomorrow!"


    -----


    The Old World, Cartel Hignds


    "Weeeee!" Blue Thunder let out a gleeful cry as he swerved between the floating chunks of rock in the air. The floating rocks were covered in lichen and vines and were so surreal that even Stamford felt like they were in a dream.


    Small colour wyverns clustered around the rocks and used them as nests, burst out and cackled angrily at Blue Thunder as he swooped over the rocks and even at times he halfnded half hopped off the rocks, causing them to wobble wildly in the air from his weight. "This is fun!"


    "Too fun for my heart!" Dek called out from the rear. "Please stop ying around!"


    "Spoil sport!" Blue Thunder humphed and he flew out from the floating maze of rocks and rosed above them. "I shall bring Rastraz and Saphia here to y!"


    "y y y!" Stamford sighed. "All you can think of is y!"


    "We are on a mission now," Stamford added. "I only approved you to use the floating rocks as cover and concealment!"


    "I know..." Blue Thunder mumbled. "I haven''t had any fun since those two taken over my projector!"


    "Who asked you to start a harem?" Stamford teased. "Besides, you are the envy of many!"


    "I... I assumed it would be like in those mangas and dramas..." Blue Thunder confessed. "Urgh..."


    "Hahahaha!" The aircrewughed at Blue Thunder''s distress. "Those are fantasy you know?"


    Blue Thunder let out a deep sigh and remained quiet while his crewughed again. "Anyway, keep your eyes open for any trouble!"


    "There shouldn''t be any monsters here that could rival me!" Blue Thunder replied grouchily.


    "Not monsters," Stamford replied. "More like the locals here! I don''t want them being alerted that there is a dragon in their backyard! And dragons are worth damn a lot to them in the Old World!"


    "If you don''t mind getting hunted down and either bing a ve or having your body parts harvested," Stamford said. "Then by all means show off more!"


    "Yes, dad..." Blue Thunder sighed again as he verve off into the cover of the clouds. They had been doing resupply and intel collection runs for over a week all over the region to the scouting parties scattered all over. It was just a matter of time, before some local spotted Blue Thunder and report it up to the authorities and from what the UN knew, dragons and magical monsters were in high demand to the locals for their magical parts and mana stones.


    It was a sore point for Saphia as a Dragon Lord, as the other Great Nations were constantly trying to find excuses to ''steal'' one of the Dragon Lords. This matter for generations had forced the Dragon Lords to migrate into the frozennds which held no value to the other great nations for them to finally stop their excuses.


    War had broken out several times as the other Great Nations attempted to force the Dragon Lords out and capture them for their own needs. But the frozennds acted as a deterring factor for ground forces and the Dragon Lords'' air forces were more than capable to repent any invading air fleet.


    Stamford was afraid of the greed of the locals of the Old World. If they were willing to go into war for a magical beast then Blue Thunder or the other UN dragons would be most likely be targeted. They currently would not use any of their helicopters or cargo nes to resupply the teams out in the field as the engine noise would draw too much attention despite airships beingmon here.


    There was still a need for stealth and the dragons fit the mission role, hence they had no choice to continue to use dragons as resupply birds. It would still be a while before the secondary base on the top of the Waterfall Cove waspleted with heavy duty elevators from the bottom to the top.


    Once those facilities were up,nd convoys could be dispatched and the ground team would have better reach. Hopefully, by then, they would be self sufficient enough to hold the region.


    "I see the town and the rendevous point!" Blue Thunder called out, his eyesight twenty times better than anyone else on his back. He tilted his body down and soared towards a clearing in the middle of a forest that was several kilometres away from the town.


    Blue Dragon came down swiftly and disappeared into the forest before anyone who was paying attention to the skies even spotted his shadow. The aircrew climbed off his back and stretched themselves before they prepared to dig in until nightfall where they were supposed to link up with a group of adventurers who called themselves, the Adventurers'' Inc.


    -----


    The Old World, Waterfall Cove, UN Expeditionary Force, Forward Operating Base, UNS Vengeance


    ke read thetestmunique downloaded from the passing satellite probe and handed it over to Captain Nimo. "Our first resupply from Haven will be arriving within two months or earlier."


    Captain Nimo read the message and said, "So the new Icarus ss airships are finally ready?"


    "Hopefully," ke replied. He traced his finger on the map and said, "Sailing up to the Protectorate with just a single ship is nearly impossible no matter how powerful the Vengeance is..."


    "We will more weapons and troops to face against the Protectorate," ke said. "And more intel of the region... The more we know, the better we can n for a rescue mission!"


    "Yes, Sir... Still, Intel''s proposal of using a small covert team to infiltrate the Protectorate for intel gathering and if possible to extract the Princess and the heir quietly out is a good idea," Captain Nimo gave his advice. "It would cut down on the number of resources and troops we need to put against the Protectorate..."


    "I know," ke replied. "Having more troops will never be a bad thing... I do have to n for a n B..."


    "Besides, if the nations of the Old World know we are here," ke''s eyes darkened. "I am certain they will not forget the defeat of their forces in the New World... And we might find theme knocking at our doors!"


    "We still need to journey up north to the Protectorate borders which will take us roughly, ten days to two weeks by sea," ke tapped the map. "Or a week or more by air, if the Icarus ss airships can perform as stated."


    "Along the way, we will be passing by or crossing directly into the Iron Kingdom''s territory," ke''s finger drew a circle on the map. "I doubt they will give us diplomatic immunity to cross theirnds after we destroyed a majority of their airships in the New World."


    "Nor can we expect friendly rtions with them, unless we pay a hefty price which I doubt, I will ept or even afford to," ke said while shaking his head. "Hence there are two options left..."


    "We blitz through the Iron Kingdoms and enter the Protectorate borders..." ke said as he drew a line across the map highlighting thends of the Iron Kingdom. "And risk having enemies to our front and back..."


    "Or we make a detour around the Iron Kingdom''s waters," ke said as he drew another line along the coast. "We avoid the Iron Kingdoms'' forces as much as possible and enter the Protectorate''s borders."


    "But once our presence is spotted, the Iron Kingdom will not sit still..." Captain Nimo pointed out. "They will certainly dispatch their fleets after us..."


    ke nodded, "That is why Intel''s idea of putting a small covert team into the Protectorate is not easy..."


    "In the end, no matter what action we take," ke frowned. "The Old World will not forgive us so easily for destroying their troops!"


    "Whether with the Protectorate, Iron Kingdoms, or even the Cartel..." ke balled his fist and said. "There will be war!"


    "There is no doubt at all!"

 Chapter 599: The Floating Market

    Chapter 599: The Floating Market


    The New World, Waterfall Cove, UNEF FOB


    Grand Lord Hammerfall set down the emptied pitcher of fermented cococane wine and let out a deep sigh. He sipped his drink moodily as he watched the people of the Un An enjoying themselves inside the canteen and unwillingly recalled such an experience of his own, when his forcesnded on the New World.


    "By the mountains... Oh how have the tables has turned..." He took another sip of the wine and sighed again. "I am home... yet not home..."


    "My Lord," A familiar voice greeted him and Grand Lord Hammerfall saw Lord Copperstone behind holding on a tray of food. "Are you alright?"


    "Ahh, Lord Copperstone!" Grand Lord Hammerfall gestured his friend to take a seat. "I have not seen you around for quite some time!"


    "My apologies," Lord Copperstone set the tray down and had to use the provided step stool for the shorter races to get up to the seat. "I had been preupied ofte."


    "There is just so much to learn from the Un An!" Lord Copperstone exined. "And I was not sure where to start at first!"


    "Did you know there are four main methods of mining?" Lord Copperstone said excitedly. "And there is even such a thing called... Environmental study and the impact of mining on the environment!"


    Grand Lord Hammerfall shook his head and cut in before Lord Copperstone could continue. "What do you think of the Un An?"


    "What do I think?" Lord Copperstone frowned at the sudden question. "I say they have a lot more knowledge in how the world workspared to us."


    "No, what I meant is, do you think they will be a threat to our people?" Grand Lord Hammerfall lowered his voice as he asked. "Either now or the future?"


    Lord Copperstone''s frown deepened and he too replied back in a lowered voice. "I think if we choose our actions wisely, they could be a great and powerful ally instead..."


    Grand Lord Hammerfall nodded. "That was what I am thinking about... But those stubborn old bastards... They might not ept this course of action!"


    "Than, my lord..." Lord Copperstone''s voice turned deadly serious. "It is your job to make sure we remain as friends and not enemies!"


    -----


    The New World, Entrance into Waterfall Cove


    A strange sight greeted ke as he stood on the flying bridge of the PT boat. There was a floating contraption anchored just at the side of the entrance into the hidden cove. Several boats and wooden tforms wereshed together like a giant raft and what appeared to be colourful stalls and tents covered every avable surface of the makeshift raft.


    Smaller boats and canoes were docked next to it and there was arge crowd of people crowded on the giant tform. ke put down the binocrs in his hands and asked the skipper of the PT boat. "What the hell is that?"


    "Sir, that... is a floating market," The Lieutenant in charge of the PT boat replied. "It had popped up a few days back and the locals all flocked over to trade their goods there."


    "I know!" ke frowned as he had read the report earlier about the floating market from Intel.


    "Yes, sir," The Navy Lieutenant replied apologetically. "The owner of the floating market has requested an audience with you..."


    "Bring us next to the market..." ke ordered after a while. "Let''s take a look at what stuff they have and why they want to see me."


    The PT boat motored over and the pilot brought the PT boat to a halt with a gentle bump against the side of the floating market. The people nearby cheerfully reached out to grab the mooring lines tossed over and secured the PT boat and greeted ke and the crew warmly.


    The floating market was big, almost asrge as a Terran ser field and any area that could be used had a simple tent or stall set up. Others justid out their goods on a piece of cloth, ignoring the hot sun over their heads. There were many people, most of the local vigers that took days to paddle over to peddle their wares, others were traders from afar that seemed to be naturally attracted over.


    "How the hell do these people know there is even a market here?" ke''s frown deepened. "And where did they alle from?"


    The Lieutenant and the guards apanying ke could only shrug as they too had no idea where all these people came from. Wares of all sorts were out on disy, from dried seafood to fresh butchered game, to even metal tools. There was even someone trying to sell some kind of sheep looking like livestock at another corner.


    Suddenly the crowd parted before ke and a group of Beastmen appeared. A gaudy dressed Beastmen, his face covered with grey white fur and sporting a pair of rabbit like ears gave a bow to ke and introduced himself. "Greetings and wee, my Lord!"


    "This lowly one am called, Ait," The rabbit man bowed again. "You must be Great Lord ke of the giant steamship and the scourge of pirates!"


    "Ait give many thanks to Great Lord!" The rabbit man called Ait said. "Pirates want Ait''s goods for free!"


    "Now no more pirates!" Ait smiled, showing off a row of sharp teeth. "Ait can do business!"


    "Erm... okay..." ke replied uncertainly as he eyed the rabbit man''s teeth. "But why here?"


    "Here very safe!" Ait gestured around. "Great Lord scourge of pirates! No pirates daree make trouble to Ait! Many peoplee for trade and business!"


    "Oh Oh!" The rabbit man suddenly called out and he gestured to one of hisckeys behind. Theckey nodded and disappeared into one of the colourful tents while the rabbit man gestured ke to an open tent. "Comee! Great lord! Ait treat you drink and food!"


    ke hesitated for a moment before he nodded and followed the rabbit man into an opened tent with all its sides rolled up. A rich and thick locally woven carpet covered the floor and a low table was ced in the middle. Cushions covered the floor and the table was filled with silverware mixed with either gold or bronze ware, as ke couldn''t tell the difference.


    As ke sat down on one of the offered cushions, a group of female Beastman came in, each carrying a tter. ke observed each person that entered closely and noticed most of them had rabbit ears and fur on their faces. There were a couple of theckeys that had round ears poking out from their shaggy hair and he wondered what kind of beastman were they.


    The only Beastman he saw was Kaga and Takao who were both cat people and the asional dog person at City Hall. The beastman in the New World was a rtively small race and with the capture and destruction of their city, many were killed and those captured were mostly sold off as ves, making their already small numbers, smaller.


    "Eat! Drink! Enjoy!" Ait pped his hands or paws and the female beastmen started dancing as music started ying from somewhere. ke nodded politely and epted a few pieces of sweet meat, fish and fruits on the tters.


    "How did you know about us?" ke asked in between mouthfuls. The taste of the food was interesting and not too bad for his tastebuds. "How do news travel around here?"


    "Oh, many people talk of Great Lord''sing!" Ait said, his teeth rapidly shredding the piece of fruit in his mouth. "When Great Lord defeated the pirates, those you saved spread the world and Ait hears things!"


    As he said that, his ears twitched. "And Ait can hear a good business from far far away!"


    The earlierckey returned and set a small chest down on the table facing towards ke. The rabbit man excitedly rubbed his hand paws and gestured for ke to open. "Open and see! Tribute and payment for the Great Lord!"


    ke curiously utched the chest and opened it. The glitter of mana stone was bright inside the tent and for a moment ke was surprised as he looked at the gift. "Mana stones?"


    "Magic crystals!" Ait proudly gestured. "Payment and gift to Great Lord! For protection and business!"


    ke picked up one of the tiny grain sized mana stones and shook his head. For a moment, he wanted tough but with respect to his host, he forced the urge down. In the end, a chuckle still escape his mouth as he shook his head and closed the chest. He pushed the chest of mana stones or magic crystals as they were known here back to the rabbit man.


    "No, I do not need these..." ke said.


    Everyone inside the tent except for ke and his men were shocked as they saw him reject the chest of magic crystals. The value of the magic crystals in the chest could buy an entire airship or feed thousands of people! Ait''s eyes were wide with surprise as he stared at ke, "Great Lord... unhappy with... gift? Is gift... not enough?"


    "No, no," ke quickly assured the rabbit man. "These might be valuable to you, but to me, it is not what I want!"


    "Oh..." The rabbit man let out a sigh of relief. "Ait thought Great Lord displeased with gift! Ait see Great Lord is people with a goal!"


    "Tell me what Great Lord wishes for payment and gift for allowing Ait''s market to keep business here?" The rabbit man gestured for the chest of magic crystals to be kept away. "Ait do best to meet Great Lord''s expectations!"


    ke frowned in thought before he said, "You do have trading connections right?"


    Ait''s ears bounced up and down as he nodded. "Ait has many trading friends! Know many people!"


    "I want information regarding the region," ke said. "And... I want to trade for resources!"


    "Information?" The rabbit man frowned before he said. "There was another Lord who came to ask for information and he offered me some trade for it."


    "Ahh, then never mind about the information," ke replied as he could guess who had done so. "I want resources! Food, metal... and aetherium!"


    "Food and metal are easy!" Ait proudly said before he deted a bit. "But aetherium... is expensive!"


    "Ait can get aetherium! But..." The rabbit man had a sly look on his face as he tried to look dejected.


    "For aetherium, we will trade at market prices for it!" ke said shaking his head.


    "Ait no ept barter for aetherium!" Ait quickly added slyly. "Ait can barter for food and metal but not aetherium! Must pay in gold!"


    "How about payment in magic crystals?" ke asked as he gestured to his men. One of ke guards dug into his ammo pouches and handed over a small cloth pouch.


    "Ohh! Of course!" Ait replied cheerfully. "Magic crystals, gold or silver!"


    "Will these do?" ke asked as he poured out the contents of the pouch onto the table.


    The pebble sized mana stones rolled out and once again, the people other than ke and his men were shocked. Each magic crystal was at least ten to twenty timesrger than what Ait had attempted to gift ke and the soft glow and rity were higher too which meant the magic crystals so causally poured out were of top quality too. Each magic crystal here was more than enough to feed an entire family for a year!


    "Ah... uh... ah..." Ait''s mouth filled with sharp teeth was opening and closing in shock as he stared dumbly at the magic crystals. It took him a moment before he regained his wits and picked up one of the magic crystals that wasrger than his thumb. "This...!"


    "So, do we have a deal?" ke asked as he picked up his te again and started eating.


    "Of course! Of course!" Ait bobbed his head up and down as he appraised the magic crystal in his hand paws. "How... How much aetherium Great Lord wants?"


    "As many as you can get your hands on..." ke said in between mouthfuls. "I shall take them all!"

 Chapter 600: Allegiance

    Chapter 600: Allegiance


    The Old World, Entrance to Waterfall Cove


    The air around the opening into the cove shimmered and the air turned thick, so thick that the air turned distorted. The distortion turned the air dark grey, like the color of the rock cliff around the cove. Under the watch of thousands, the entrance of the cove vanished to be reced by a distorted arcane optical camouge of the surrounding cliffs, effectively hiding the entrance from prying eyes.


    Magister Thorn let out a breath of relief as he shagged backwards from the effect he had put into the magical spell. The other mage techs on both sides of the cove entrance gave out a cheer as they congratted themselves for sessfullypleting the masking spell that hid the cove.


    Runes and arcane circuits covered the sides of the entrance all the way to the top with dozens of mana stones glowing in their slots as they powered the spell. It had taken a lot of time for Magister Thorn and the mage techs toplete the spell formation and finally, it waspleted and working.


    "Sir, with our supply of mana stones, it should be enough to keep this spell running for months," Magister Thorn said to ke who was watching at the side. "It should be enough to fool anyone from a far distance... But..."


    Magister Thorn gestured to the distorted air and said, "As you can see... If onees close enough, they could see there is a spell at work here..."


    "It will be enough," ke replied. "But for our supply of mana stones, we might not have as much as you like..."


    "Hmmm, if that is the case," Magister Thorn frowned. "It would affect a lot of our magical capabilities... For the magic is very weak here... Even trying to draw upon the magic of thend to cast a spell takes a serious amount of effort..."


    "Get some rest," ke said as he finally noticed Magister Thorn''s pale expression. "You and the rest have done well."


    Magister Thorn gave a nod before he left with the rest of the mage techs. Kaga at the side stepped forward and gave ke the details of his next appointment. "Sir, your next appointment starts in about twenty minutes... Already the representatives of the Lond Viges are awaiting your presence on the Floating Market..."


    ke nodded and he headed to the waiting PT boat by the rocks. Once everyone was on board, the PT boat slowly powered away from the rocky shore and prated the masking spell. ke felt as if someone poured a bucket of cold water over him as they touched the spell and suddenly, the feeling was gone once they left it.


    The semi translucent rock face before them vanished and the open sea appeared before their eyes. Therge disorderly Floating Market sat a couple of kilometers away on their left and the pilot turned the wheel and powered through the waves towards it.


    Their arrival was warmly weed by the people on board and ke was led to the same open tent where hest met Ait the rabbit man, who was the leader of the merchants of the Floating Market. ke found the tent this time was filled with people of all races. Ait came over with a wide smile that showed off his shark teeth and gestured him to the guest of honor cushion while the waiting vige representatives rose up and bowed.


    "Greeting Great Lord ke!" The representatives greeted ke as he sat down on the cushion. "Health and Happiness be upon you!"


    "So what is this meeting about?" ke asked straight to the point once everyone had sat down again, surprising everyone by his direct question.


    For a moment the representatives looked at each other in awkward silence before Ait pped his hand paws and said, "Why Great Lord so hurry?"


    "Ait toast to Great Lord and everyone!" The rabbit man picked up a goblet from the table and offered a toast to ke who grudgingly epted. The rest of the representatives quickly followed suit and gave their praise and ttering words.


    ke waited impatiently for the sweet talk to end before he asked again, this time his impatience shown. "What do you all want? Hurry it up, I have many other things to attend to!"


    "Erm..." One of the older representatives with a head full of white hair nervously stood up and said. "G- Great Lord... It... It is our wish that... we would like... To fall under the protection of your mightiness!"


    ke frowned as he rapped his fingers on the table. "Let me get this straight... You want to be my... people?"


    The rest of the representatives all stood up and bowed, "Yes! Great Lord! We wish to be your vassals!"


    ke sighed as he rubbed his head feeling a headacheing. "How many viges and people?"


    "Fourteen viges..." Ait helpfully provided the number. "Over one thousand people."


    "Why me?" ke asked as he stared at the hopeful grazes of the representatives.


    "Great Lord helped us defeat the pirates and did not request any rewards or conditions..." The representatives said. "Great Lord also provided aid to our viges and saved our sick..."


    "No other Great Lord has ever done such selfless acts for us," Another representative said. "For we are the Banished... We are the Untouchables..."


    After a moment of silence, ke reluctantly nodded despite smiling inside. "Alright... I shall lead your people!"


    The representatives cheered and quickly fall on their knees and gave their allegiance. "We shall pledge our lives in your service!"


    ke waved for them to get up and said, "Stay here for the time being... My people wille find you to make arrangements regarding your vige governance and other details."


    "Your wish is ourmand!" The representatives replied as they bowed again. "Health and Happiness be upon you!"


    After that the representatives left, leaving ke alone with Ait who was showing a shark grin on his fur covered face. "Great Lord, this truly is an event for celebration!"


    "Why do I feel that you had a hand or a paw in this matter?" ke frowned suspiciously at the grinning rabbit man. "Did you facilitate this?"


    "Great Lord is most wise!" The rabbit man''s grin widened. "Ait just made some pushes here and there..."


    "And why would you do that?" ke asked as he stared coldly at the rabbit man. "For what purpose?"


    "Ait''s hearing the best! Ait hear Great Lord will be Greatest!" The cold stare made Ait feel a chill down his spine and he wondered if he made the right choice here. "Ait gamble on Great Lord! Ait think Great Lord ke will be the Greatest Lord ever!"


    ke shook his head and demanded in a stern voice, "Than dere your allegiance to me! Swear to me upon your very soul to serve me faithfully and you shall be rewarded for your loyalty!"


    "Ait?" The rabbit man was shocked. He did not expect that this short eared lord would ever demand such a thing upon him. "Great Lord wants Ait to be his ve?"


    "Not ve!" ke growled as he stared deep into the rabbit man''s wide eyes. "Work for me! And you shall see a whole new world you have never see before!"


    "A whole new world?" Ait was intrigued.


    "Where do you think those magic crystalse from?" ke dropped a hint to the merchant.


    "Great Lord means..." Ait''s eyes grew wider as he came to the conclusion. "The New World! Great Lord is from the New World?"


    "Yes," ke confessed. "And I shall turn this world upside down to take back what was taken from me!"


    -----


    The Old World, Waterfall Cove, UNEF FOB, UNS Vengeance, Conference room


    "So we have achieved a part of our objective here," Intel Officer Trism said to the room. "Fourteen viges within fifty kilometers radius have pledged their allegiance to our cause."


    "And also a local well connected merchant," Trism added. "Who is also providing us the majority of our much needed resource to start up a manufacturing base here."


    "To better make use of our current resources and manpower, I propose we move all the viges to one location," Trism said. "This will allow us to easier manage, train, and educate the new citizens."


    "But we will have to build our new industrial city at the Londs," Trism continued. "This will still allow us to remain under the radar of the Great Nations and allow us to make us of the sea for trade and food source."


    "There isn''t any suitable arearge enough to house a thousand or more people," Dr. Sharon pointed out. "I have been travelling up and down the coast to these viges but I don''t recall any suitable site."


    "No there isn''t," ke spoke up. "Therefore, we will dig a city out in the cliffs."


    "An underground city?" Dr. Sharon frowned. "It would work... but our experienced workers are already busy digging an underground Forward Operating Base already... Do we have the manpower to spare?"


    "Not yet," The engineer in charge replied. "Project estimatedpletion date is at least another four months."


    "We need to find a new location for the vigers," Dr. Sharon said. "If not it will be hell for logistics and training..."


    "We can have them living in the surplus cargo containers..." ke suggested. "There is enough space within the cove... We can line them up along the rocks and beaches, add in power and water, designate toilets, and areas of washing and cooking."


    "That could work..." Dr. Sharon said. "As long as there is proper sanitary facilitates and hygiene, plus proper education, we can control spread of diseases and other illness."


    "Than we shall do so," ke said. "All departments are to n out the inclusion of new migrants into work ns."


    "Dr. Sharon, I will task you to continue to be the ambassador for us," ke ordered. "Work together with Engineering to create a workable n for the relocation of the vigers into the cove."


    "Now, for our main objective," ke said as he tapped on the map on the screen. "I have decided our next n of action."


    "Rather than forcing our way through potential enemies," ke drew a straight line across the territory of the Cartel, the Iron Kingdoms, and stopped at the border of the Protectorate. "We will go incognito."


    "With the help of Ait, we will pretend to be merchants..." ke gave a cold smile. "We will acquire some airships or wait for our reinforcements for Haven to arrive... and bluff our way through the enemy!"


    "Q ships," ke continued referring to the heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry. "We will retrofit any airships we can get our hands on into Q ships."


    "Airships will be refitted with concealed weaponry and pose as merchant ships," ke said. "Ait will get us papers and identifications to cross borders.


    "This course of action has the highest chance of sess," Intel Officer Trism took over. "As long as our cover isn''t blown, the Q ships can travel openly and in the direct most way to our objective!"


    "Once we reached the borders of the Protectorate," Trism tapped the map between the Protectorate and the Iron Kingdoms. "A small team will be inserted stealthy into the Protectorate."


    "That team will investigate and find any information regarding the Princess and the heir apparent," Trism said. "Once we have confirmation, that team will make the call to either request for more reinforcement or attempt to extract them safely."


    "Once safely extracted," Trism gestured to the map again. "The Q ships will make full speed back through Iron Kingdom airspace. If the Protectorate attempts to pursuit hopefully, the Iron Kingdom forces will intercept the Protectorate for us while the Q ships make their escape."


    "Questions?"


    -----


    High above the skies, a dark shape pped its wingszily as it circled around the skies above the coast lines. A massive raven with jet ck feathers circled above the clouds, its single eye watched thend beneath it with a hint of satisfaction.


    It let out a caw and vanished into the clouds, its lonely cry echoing across thends.


    -------------------- End of Book Three --------------------

 Chapter 601: Phoenix Arriving

    Chapter 601: Phoenix Arriving


    It was quiet except for the asional beep of the instrumental panels inside the dark cockpit. Flickers of lightning lit the interior of the cockpit where the two pilots sat in a side by side configuration. Thunder rumbled shortly after while the massive wingship sandwiched between twoyers of endless clouds continued its journey through andscape no mortal being has everid their eyes on until now.


    Flying at over twelve thousand metres above sea level, the UN Airforce newest wingship, the WSC - 1 ''Phoenix'', powered by six massive contra-rotating propeller engines, was cruising at speeds of over four hundred kilometres per hour. The tailless flying wing with a span of three hundred metres flew above the sea of clouds while above it was another ceiling of endless clouds.


    Constant streaks of purple white lightning shed between the twoyers of clouds as if the Gods were trying to sew the cloud together with lightning. The clouds were so thick that it was impossible to tell if it was day or night. The only source of light was from the ever active bolts of lightning crawling across the skies.


    "Coming to Point Echo," The co pilot said as he checked his instruments. "And... we should be exiting the End Zone... in about thirty mikes!"


    "Order the crew to get ready for the exit," The pilot replied. "Get them to check everything is secured and strapped down."


    "All hands, the Phoenix will exit the End Zone in T minus thirty mikes." The co pilot made an announcement. "All crew chiefs are to ensure their departments are secured for exit!"


    The wingship continued to plough through the clouds and lightning bolts constantly struck the wingship causing arcs of lightning to crawl along its insted hull. The Phoenix punched through the dark wall of cloud that suddenly loomed up before the wingship.


    "All hands! Brace for exit!" The co pilot hit thems and broadcasted to the entire wingship crew. "Exiting End Zone in... Five... four... three... two..."


    "ONE!" There was a violent shake as wingship burst into the cloud wall. The strapped in wingship crew shook in their seats and equipment rattled in their bins from the sudden turbulence. As sudden as the turbulence, it became calm as the wingship burst out of the clouds.


    Instantly, the dark gloomy weather disappeared before the pilots'' eyes and they had to screen their eyes as bright sun rays flooded into the cockpit. "Sess!"


    Letting out a breath of relief, the two pilots congratted themselves and they peered out of the cockpit windows, happy to see blue skies and normal clouds after a gruelling thirty seven hour flight through dangerous unnatural weather. The crew crowded around the viewports as they stared out at the scenery.


    The Phoenix dipped down and slowly the terrain beneath the wingship became clearer and more detailed. An expanse of the ocean could be seen and the dark smudge in the horizon soon turned into andmass.


    "Heading to Point Foxtrot," The co pilot intoned. "Fort Anchorage, Fort Anchorage, this is UNAF Phoenix, over."


    "Fort Anchorage, Phoenix, can you hear us? Over." The co pilot repeated into thems after a moment of static silence. "Fort Anchorage, this is UNAF Phoenix, do you copy? Over."


    "This is Fort Anchorage, we hear you Phoenix! Congrats for crossing the End Zone!"


    Both pilots grinned as they heard the reply. "Phoenix, we are en route to your location, ETA, three hours."


    "Fort Anchorage, copy that! Wee to the Old World!"


    -----


    The Old World, Waterfall Cove, UN FOB, Fort Anchorage


    Carts of broken rock and stone rolled out from the bowels of the man made cave along tracks to a sorting area where workers sorted out the materials out. Ore was separated into bins to be refined into metal while the other rocks were to be used in the onsite cement factory.


    In the six months since the UNS Vengeance had arrived at the Old World, the deepwater cove had changed drastically. Multiple caves were dug and turned into bunkers and underground facilities all along the cliff walls. Several massive cargoes and dozens of smaller passenger elevators lined the sheer cliff walls, providing a means of transport up the side of the hundreds of metres tall cliff.


    The UN Forward Operating Base had been expanded aggressively both on the top of the cliff and under. Important facilities like storage of munitions and fuel were dug into the cliff walls while barracks and housing for workers were built on the top of the cliff. Concrete walls surrounded the base on the top of the cliff with more concrete defence towers spaced evenly along the walls.


    Dozens of micro viges dotting the coast of the Londs had been sessfully transported and migrated over to the UN town base where the once Banished vigers worked in agriculture, fishing, mining, and the metal industry. The forestednd around the UN town base had been cleared back, providing clear fields of fire and also several squares ofnd growing grain and greens.


    So far, the UN FOB appeared to have not been discovered yet despite the increase in their construction activity and the teams of adventurers and Marines sent out to recon the Hignds, together with the two Cartel dwarvans'' intel, had greatly expanded their knowledge of their surrounding area of the Cartel Hignds. Magister Thorn and his mage techs had alsoe to a conclusion that the magic in the Old World was as reported, severely depleted.


    ke, standing at the sandbagged railing of a gun tower on the top of the cliff. watched with his arms behind his back as the wingship Phoenix dipped down the horizon and hit the surface of the ocean. The nose prow of the wingship churning the water white as itnded on the ocean. The massive wingship came to a majestic stop just beyond the opening of the cove that was protected by an illusion magic array, looking like a monstrous bird of prey.


    The wingship slowly turned around and faced its rear to the cove while boats looking like tiny toys came alongside it. The Phoenix''s rear slowly opened up to reveal its interior cargo space and the unloading of cargo began.


    "Sir, with the Phoenix, sessfully crossing the Sea of Clouds," Intel Officer Trism said from the side. "We can now make use of the two Icarus ss airships here for our operations."


    "Both the Icarus airships would provide a much greater use to our main objective rather than having them perform supply runs," Trism said. "The Phoenix with its faster speed could resupply us ten times faster!"


    "I know," ke replied with a nod. "I do intend to have both the Icarus to stop their supply runs. But they will not be used to insert into the territories of the Old World.... They are too eye catching..."


    ke turned his nce to therge airshipnding pads where the boxy shape of both Icarus was parked next to a mboyant airship. The fifty two meter long and sixteen meter wide mboyant airship looked like a mid 1700s sailing ship with a bloated bulge on its sides and instead of vertical sails, its sails were ced horizontally on the sides like wings.


    The airship was painted in a riot of bright colours and multiple patches were made to the hull. It was clearly the old Loose Confederation airship that had seen a lot in its days and had been patched and repatch over the years. Tiny figures could be seen putting the final touches on the hull of the airship, christened the Old Ugly.


    Its original airscrew had been swapped out with a spare pair of F/A - 2 Viper''s push prop engines. The old coal fired aetherium boiler updated with a modern boiler and pressure tanks. All the internal aetherium tanks and pipes had been further ripped out and reced with new and better tanks and pipes.


    In the end, the only original part of the Loose Confederation airship was its shell, decks and bulkheads. Its interior systems had beenpletely rebuilt by the goblin engineers and techs. 3" cannons and rocket batteries were hidden behind hull ting and the old steam cannons remained as purely camouge. Some of the goblins had even tinkered with the old steam cannons in an attempt to make them fire modern shells.


    It had taken over two months for the merchant Ait to procure and transport the airship over and another four more months to rebuild the decrepit airship into fighting standard. Rism had discovered why the rabbit man merchant Ait had been so friendly to the UN at that time. It had appeared that they had saved his wife and child from the pirates and he was returning the favour back.


    "But that... old thing is not reliable!" Trism said in a worried voice. "No matter how it had been rebuilt or refitted, it could notpare to an Icarus airship!"


    "We do not want to bring attention to ourselves..." ke replied. "I just want to get this done over with quickly!"


    "Any tangles with the locals here will further cause us more time!" ke snapped. "Already we have been here for six months! Six fucking months! And we are still nowhere even close to the Protectorate!"


    "No..." ke sighed. "We will go in with a single ship, the Icarus airships will park somewhere nearby and remain in hiding while we make our way to the Protectorate!"


    "Yes, sir," Trism conceded. "The operation can begin once the final checks arepleted on the... Old Ugly..."


    "Good," ke nodded. "It''s time."


    -----


    The Old World, The Iron Kingdoms


    A shadow cast over the mountain border fort had its guards raised their heads up high to see a massive floating ind drifting over their heads. Panicked cries came from the guardsmen and the rm went off. Airships pushed to the skies and headed straight for the drifting ind, only to find the floating ind was flying the colours of the Iron Kingdom.


    When the mountain fort''s airshipsnded on the floating ind and the soldiersbed the castle and the entirely of the ind, and could not find a single person. The strangest thing they found was that things had been left as if the owners would return. Rotted food and cutlery remained on the tables, work tools left next to their stations, and even clothes that appeared to be half washed was left just as they were.


    The soldiersbing the ind felt a sense of fear as they searched the ce and when they opened the vaults and the warehouses, the Iron Kingdom soldiers found hundreds and hundreds of crates filled with magic crystals of all types of elements. Seeing the treasure, the higher ups of the fort came to the conclusion that the floating ind had toe from the New World and their im was further reinforced when they found the colours of the Crown Prince and identified the floating ind as the IK Iron Fortress that left with the Third Iron Fleet into the New World.


    Word was sent out by the fastest courier airships to the waystations where they switch ships and continue down repeating at each waystation until the courier reached the Capital. The Iron King and his Iron Lords upon hearing the news were shocked and confused. Word was sent back for the IK Iron Fortress to return to the Capital so that they could safely store the magic crystals and also to find out what had happened to the people of the flying ind, especially the Crown Prince.


    The Iron King paced around his throne while his ministers and Iron Lords awaited his instructions watched his pacing. Finally, the Iron King came to a halt and he spun around, his eyes wild with anger, "I want the best people to find out what happened to the Iron Fortress!"


    "Whoever finds the whereabouts of my son... The Crown Prince..." The Iron King stared down at his retinue and said. "I shall award him greatly!"


    "Find. My. Son!"

 Chapter 602: At What Cost

    Chapter 602: At What Cost


    The Old World, Mithril Mountains, The Cartel


    "We can no longer support any decision to send more convoys of airships into the New World!" A dwarvan announced from his seat. The stout red faced dwarvan hammered the stone tabletop with a clenched fist andined. "These expeditions are wasting our resources! None of the previous expeditions had returned! We might as well throw gold away to the londers!"


    Mumbles and choruses of agreements broke out around the table as the rest of the assembled Cartel Lords sat. The red faced dwarvan raised his voice louder and continued, "How many airships had we sent in total? Fifty three!"


    "Fifty three airships!" The dwarvan roared. "In just two seasons, fifty three airships wasted and thousands of lives gone!"


    "We do not know if they truly were lost!" Another dwarvan retorted and earned a sharp re from the red faced dwarvan. "They... They might be bogged down in the New World..."


    "By the Mountains!" The red faced dwarvan roared. "What kind of illusion spell are you under or are you too drunk to even face the simple truth?"


    "It has been TWO SEASONS!" The dwarvan roared at the gathered Lords. "Other than the first two convoys that returned with the resources of the New World... No other airships have returned ever since from that... Godforsakennd!"


    "Even a newbie miner knows when to stop when the rock walls start to crumble!" He added while ring at the Lords. "Have greed overtaken your senses, you bunch of wastelings?"


    "Rock and stone! Lord Rubystar! That was uncalled for!" A dwarvan with a pair of waxed moustache stood up and banged the tabletop with his fists. The term wastelings was normally used for waste rock and tailings from mines and calling others a wasteling was an insult to their being.


    "So what are you gonna do about that, Lord Greenmane?" The red faced dwarvan called Rubystar challenged the other Lord. "If I recall, you made a lot from the outfitting of those expeditions! Am I right to say, if the expeditions were to stop, your main source of ie will vanish like the wind?"


    Lord Greenmane growled as he red at Rubystar and replied in an icy tone, "I am thinking of the greater good!"


    He turned and addressed the assembly and said, "Did none of you benefit from the resources that came back from the convoys?"


    "Did none of our mountains prosper which the magic crystals that filled the holds of the returned airships?" He swept his arms around, gesturing to the assembly. "Did our Cartel defence not grow stronger with the increase of magic crystal to our arsenal?"


    Again, the gathered Lords bobbed their heads and mumbled their agreements to the statement. Lord Rubystar''s face grew redder as he growled, "Yes! That is true! But by the Mountains! At what cost? Is that cost still worth it? How many airships and people we have lost in these two seasons?"


    "You do not know if they are truly lost," Lord Greenmane injected with a smirking tone. "All we know, they could be enjoying their lives in the New World!"


    "Rubbish!" Lord Rubystar yelled. "This push for more expeditions into the New World is folly and a waste of Cartel resources and people power!"


    "Bless the Mountains!" The hosting Cartel Lord stepped in and said, "We shall take a recess and assembly in two turns of the ss!"


    The gathered Lords rosed from their seats with relief as they filed out of the Assembly. Lord Greenmane smiled back at Rubystar as he cast an angry re in his direction before stomping out of the Assembly. He shook his head at the departure of Rubystar and mumbled under his breath, "Amateur!"


    "Congrattions, my Lord," The supporters of Greenmane toadied up to him as he strolled out of the Assembly. "Majority of the Cartel Lords are in favour of sending another expedition into the New World to bring back more magic crystals!"


    "Of course!" Greenmane replied confidently as he twirled his waxed moustache. "Who can resist the lure of more magic crystals!"


    "Lord Greenmane!" An aide appeared next to Greenmane and saluted. Greenmane nodded and waved his supporters away and followed his aide into a private chamber.


    "Report!" He ordered as he sat down on the cushioned seat.


    "Silver Mountain and Crimson Mountain are mostly against the expedition," The aide reported. "As for Sky Mountain and Bronze Mountain, majority of the Cartel Lords are in favour of the expedition, while the Mithril Mountain remains neutral."


    "So this means, we must get the Cartel Lords of the Mithril Mountains on our side..." Greenmane frowned as he twirled his moustache in thought. "Arrange a meeting with the Mithril Mountain''s Cartel Lords at once! We have barely two turns of the ss to win them to my side!"


    "At once my Lord!" The aide saluted and was about to leave when he turned back and said. "My Lord there is another issue that might be in need of your attention!"


    "What is it?" Greenmane frowned deeper.


    "The... Hungry Hands pir-" The aide let out a hasty cough and continued, "The... eh... mercenaries, that are ced in charge of the Londs have not sent their seasonal... dues yet... They arete half a season in payment..."


    "Those lowlives dare to bete?" Greenmane growled. "By the Mountains! Dispatch a force down, and teach them the errors of their ways!"


    "Yes, my Lord!"


    -----


    The Old World, Waterfall Cove, UN FOB, Fort Anchorage


    "The Old Ugly will first need to pass through the Hignd regions of the Bronze Mountain before reaching the borders of the Iron Kingdom," Intel Officer Trism tapped on the map as he briefed the senior officers. "The sociology of the Cartel is split into something like this, from the highest, the Mountains, where the Cartel elite and powerful live in megacities inside the mountains."


    "Next is the Hignds, where the middle and rich lived," Trism added. "Finally the Londs, where the undesirable or Banished live."


    "The Mountains typical have the most resources avable, followed by the Hignds, where the majority of the Cartel steam and iron industry and farms are clustered at," Trism exined. "And finally the londs with the least amount of development and desirable resources."


    "The journey to the border will take two weeks of flying," Trism returned to the map. "At the mid point of the journey, the Old Ugly will resupply at this Hignd city called Mallodge Hills."


    "There, we will gather more intel and restock what is required before continuing to the joint border city of Iron Gate."


    "There the Old Ugly will resupply again and make another week journey to reach an Iron Kingdom city called Ashmere," Trism tapped at a spot on the map. "More resupply and another week''s journey to the border of the Iron Kingdom... here!"


    "This border town called Ironshire is thest stop before we enter into Protectorate territory..." Trism said. "There we will be needing to hire a runner... or a smuggler to be our guide through the mountain border forts and outposts."


    "Hopefully, our friend Ait," Trism said, "Still have good connections to thework of runners and smugglers between the border."


    "Once we acquired the services of a guide," Trism continued his briefing. "The Old Ugly will make its way across the mountainous border without alerting any sides and enter the Protectorate."


    "Now, what we know of the Protectorate is not much," Trism admitted. "Even the locals have not much idea of what they know inside the Protectorate other the areas next to the borders of the Protectorate."


    "This means we have no intel inside the Protectorate nor do we know where the Princess is being held..." Trism said. "But... We do have an ace up our hands..."


    "The Prisoner..." ke said.


    "Yes, the Protectorate prisoner who holds the rank of an Inquisitor..." Trism nodded. "He is our only link and way to find the Princess now that the tracking talisman has lost its magic..."


    "We will be bringing him along," ke said as he stood up. "The crew will also include our two dwarvan friends, Professor Hamlot and his students, and the ck dragon, Sophia."


    "Apany of Marines will also apany us to provide security, including a stripped down transport helo and both its flight and ground crew," ke said to the officers. "The Old Ugly has limited space and carrying weight, so the total number of crew will not be much."


    "As for the two Icarus," ke gestured to the map and draw a curved line along the shore of the continent and said. "They will keep to a low profile along the coastal lines and travel along the londs towards the borders of the Protectorate."


    "They will remain hidden on standby here," ke tapped a spot on the map. "Which would be our bug out point if the shit hits the fan..."


    "The Old Ugly has two dual 3" guns on each broadside and eight dual 20 mm turrets covering all points of the airship for offence and a magic shield for defence," ke said. "It also still runs on coal to ease resupplying out there as we would not have any chance of any form of logistics out there."


    "As for our cover," ke looked over to Trism who took over the briefing again.


    "As for the Old Ugly and its crew''s cover," Trism said. "It would hold a merchant license from the Loose Confederation. The crew''s identity would alsoe from that nation to easier exin our diversity with the races."


    "The license and identity papers are all provided by Ait," Trism added. "For their authenticity, it is hard for us to determine as no one has any idea how these official papers should look like. It would be a gamble..."


    "A gamble that we can only take..." ke replied softly at the side.


    "The cover story would be that we are merchants seeking to make trade deals with traders inside the Iron Kingdom for iron products," Trism continued. "We will be carrying several chests of jewellery and samples of trade goods along with us, just in case we needed to fool any inspection."


    "And a word of warning..." Trism nced around the table. "No magic must be used when we are out there!"


    "Not even a simple light spell must be chanted or used!" Trism warned. "The people here have not used magic for a very very long time, and even the rich and nobles rarely even has the ability to cast magic."


    "Only kingdom or national level entities and organizations have ess to mana stones or magic crystals here," said Trism. "Word of any use of magic would quickly spread and if the news falls onto the local governments, there might be trouble!"


    "We must not expose ourselves to the attention of any of the kingdoms and nations here!" Trism gestured to the map. "Hence all magic is to be banned and onboard the Old Ugly, all mana stones would be kept and their use controlled by the Captain."


    "Remember to drill into your men about the use of magic!" Trism warned again. "We do not want unwanted attention upon ourselves until our objective has beenpleted!"


    "Does everyone know what their duties are?" ke asked the room before he dismissed the meeting. "Good, then the Old Ugly will depart for its mission at 0500 hours tomorrow!"


    "Sir," Only Trism remained behind after everyone left the room. "I still think we need more airships for escort! It is too risky to make fly with only one airship and apany of Marines!"


    ke shook his head, "We make do with what we have."


    "But Sir," Trism frowned. "We still do not know what is inside the Protectorate nor do we know if Ait is really true to his word..."


    ke let out a sigh as he patted Trism''s shoulder and said, "We will find out once we reach that point won''t we?"

 Chapter 603: The Old Ugly

    Chapter 603: The Old Ugly


    "Pressure is up," Acting XO, Trism said. The Intel Officer had been assigned the position of Executive Officer of the Old Ugly listened to thems as reports came in from all the departments. "Aetherium temperature is holding."


    "Release the mooring locks," ke ordered from the side as he stared out of the forward viewports.


    "Aye! Releasing the locks!" Trism repeated and the order was passed down. Almost immediately, there were several nks as the mooring mps holding the hull of the Old Ugly was released.


    "Altitude increasing," The helmsman intoned out. "Two meters... Three... Five meters..."


    "Keep her steady," ke ordered as there was a slight tilt on the decks. He kept his eye on the attitude indicator, watching the ''wing dials'' level out as the helmsman corrected the aetherium volume in the tanks.


    "Hold her at one fifty," ke ordered next. "Then have all departments run a full status check."


    "Aye, Captain," Trism replied.


    ke returned to the viewports and stared out at the base bing smaller and smaller beneath him. He watched the small bridge crew skillfully handled the converted Loose Confederation airship as the ship rosed into the skies. He knew the crew chosen for the mission had spent the past few months familiarizing and being drilled on the operations of the airship until they know it like the back of their hands.


    "Captain, we have reached one fifty," Trism reported from the side. "Orders?"


    "Bring her over to form up with the escort fleet," ke said. "XO, you have the conn."


    "Aye, I have the conn!" Trism replied as ke exited the bridge. The moment ke stepped out of the bridge, strong winds baffled him and he grabbed onto the railings to keep his bnce. He made his way across the quarterdeck towards the forecastle in the wind.


    Crew members manning the wing sails were unfurling the sail cloth out to catch the wind and they paused to salute as ke walked past. A trio of giggling goblins was fussing over one of the steam cannons on the main deck and they threw a salute at ke. "Kap pe tan!"


    There were two rows of steam cannons wereid out in the open on both sides of the main deck, four on each side. The huge wine bottle looking like contraptions had been tweaked by the goblins and they promised that the steam cannons would be usable in a fight. How much that was true, ke did not know, but in his experience working with the goblins, they had so far not disappointed him with their promises.


    He returned the salutes and climbed up the short flight of stairs onto the fore castle and took in the view. The wind blew strongly against him, with most of its force weakened by the numerous magical runes etched onto the hull itself. The view of the sun rising up from the horizon was spectacr and for a moment he lost himself to the scenery before he turned away and headed down below decks to continue his inspection.


    The lower decks were brightly lit with glowmps and the space was a premium. The passageways were wide enough for arge person to walk and most of the time, the crew had to squeeze past each other. The crew also have to share bunks, four to each cabin with barely enough space for them to even stand at the same time. The officers'' bunks were only slightly better with two sharing a cabin while ke had a cabin all to his own.


    Much of the internal space waspartmentalized to the 3" cannons and 20 mm turrets hidden within the hull. The bulkheads had to be even covered up with the original bulkheads to match their surroundings to prevent them from being discovered.


    ke walked through the decks, pausing for a moment to speak with the crew here and there before he entered the cargo hold. Other than the usual wooden crates of supplies and samples of trade goods, there were two massive crates sitting side by side at one end. A group of mechanics and flight crew sat around a makeshift table chatting and they came to attention when ke appeared. "Sir!"


    "At ease, people," ke returned their salutes before asking. "How long will you take to reassemble the helo if needed?"


    "We can do that within an hour, Sir!" An Oerkin with the cor tabs of a senior mechanic replied. "Eh... not counting the unloading time, Sir!"


    "Good," ke nodded and waved them back to their activities. "Come on."


    Next, ke headed to the boiler room where the noise of machinery was deafening. He could see a couple of goblins shoving shovel loads of coal into the open maw of a furnace while doing some kind of dance and singing. When he walked past the goblins, he could actually hear some kind of heavy metal music ying over the roar of machines.


    Shaking his head, he found the chief engineer, a goblin called Rotor, together with one of the dwarvans. Both of them were yelling over the noise enthusiastically over something as they gestured here and there to the boiler before them.


    "Ahh! Boss Ka pe tan!" The goblin engineer cried out excitedly as he saw ke. "Nice ta see ya, Boss Kap pe tan!"


    The dwarvan, ke recognized as the schrly Copperstone, gave a bow of greeting. "Greetings, Lord ke."


    "How are you doing?" ke asked Copperstone.


    "I am well, my Lord," Lord Copperstone replied heartily. "My meals and needs are all generously fulfilled!"


    "And I have such an honour to make acquaintance with Chief Rotor here," Copperstone smiled. "I have never imagined such ingenuity from being of his race before and I truly am regretful!"


    ke made some politements before he turned to the grinning goblin chief engineer. "How''s the boiler and engines holding up?"


    "All green, Boss Ka pe tan!" Rotor replied cheerfully. "Rock and roll ready!"


    "Alright, keep up the good work," ke said before he left the two back to their discussion. He returned to the bridge just in time to witness the Old Ugly taking formation between the two boxy Icarus airships.


    "Order the fleet to proceed to Waypoint Alpha."


    -----


    The Old World, Bronze Mountain 281st Cartel Air Fleet, The Bronze Picker


    Cartel Lord Boldstar let out a yawn as he shifted to a morefortable position on his seat. The morning was here and soon his shift on the bridge would be over and he could get some sleep in his cabin. He was mulling over breakfast or sleep when one of the bridge watchers called out suddenly. "Ships sighted! Four points to the side!"


    Jolted wide awake by the cry, Lord Boldstar sat up from his seat and called out, "Where? What kind of ships?"


    "Looks like one of those old colourful Loose Confed merchant ships!" The watcher called out. "But.. for the other two... I... wait... they are gone?"


    The watcher rubbed his eyes as he peered into the pair of giant binocrs mounted on a stand. He was very certain he spotted three ships, but upon a closer look, two of the other airships had disappeared!


    "One... One Loose Confed merchant ship!" The young dwarvan called out after a moment of hesitation. "Four points off the side! Distance... two turns of the ss!"


    "A Loose Confed merchant here?" Lord Boldstar frowned as he rubbed his beard. "There is nothing here except for the Banished and Londers... An illegal runner?"


    "How far are we to the Hungry Hand''s base?" He called out to the navigator.


    "Roughly one and a half turn of the ss more..." The navigator replied after he did some calctions on the map. "That Loose Confed merchant runner is roughly two turns of the ss distance away from us."


    "If we close up to that runner," The navigator said after he made more calctions. "Intercept distance would take about one and a half turn of the ss at our full speed if it continues at the same speed and heading and..."


    "It would add another half a turn of the ss in distance to our original journey time, my Lord," The navigator reported.


    Lord Boldstar nced out of the viewports to see the sun having just rosed above the mountain peaks in the distance and nodded to himself, "Rock and stone! Chase that runner! We might as well make some extra money for ourselves by catching that runner! Full speed!"


    "Yes my Lord!" The excited bridge crew cried out in unison. The helmsman turned the speed crank up that was apanied by the ringing of a steam bell while another bridge crew started to roused the ship''s crew to action.


    Steam bells rang throughout the ship and woken up the remainder of the crew that was on sleep rotation. The awakened crew quickly dressed up and rushed to their stations while the Bronze Picker changed its course heading and the six airscrews propelling the Hammer ss air cruiser powered up and therge airship''s increased.


    Lord Boldstar left the bridge and refreshed himself and even broke fast with a hearty meal before he returned to the bridge in a set of clean uniform. His First Lieutenant was already on the bridge and waiting for him with the current report of the Bronze Picker''s status.


    He sat down on hismand chair and listened to the readiness report of his ship and watched the tiny speck in the distance slowly greatrger andrger until clear details of the Loose Confed airship could be seen with just the naked eye.


    The Loose Confed merchant airship was painted a colourful array of colours, from green, blue, yellow, to red, orange and even pink. The only normal coloured parts of the airship were its white sails. Patchworks of hull ting covered the majority of the merchant''s hull and Boldstar do not even need to know the exact model of the airship to know it was a design that was at least two models old.


    "Hail that ship!" Lord Boldstar ordered with a smile. "Order it to heave to and prepare to be boarded for an inspection!"


    The message was passed on to the signaller who started to sh a series of lights, mirrors, and gs at the merchant ship. Lord Boldstar turned to his First Lieutenant and said, "You shall take a strong detachment of shock troopers with you when you board that ship for inspection."


    "Take overmand of the ship and arrest its crew," Lord Boldstar said. "I will transfer some of the Bronze Picker''s crew over to you so you can crew it."


    "If any of that ship''s crew causes any trouble..." Lord Boldstar''s eyes glittered. "Just toss them overboard."


    "Will there be any trouble with the Loose Confed...?" The First Lieutenant asked in a worried tone. "If they found out took one of their ships..."


    "By the Mountains!" Lord Boldstar red at his First Lieutenant and shook his head. "This is why you will never be promoted! There is nothing here and this means they are mostly doing something illegal! This is our territory! We have all the right to protect ournds!"


    "We don''t need any evidence to hold them ountable!" Lord Boldstar said. "Just charge them with illegal smuggling and running of illicit goods!"


    "If they resist, kill them!" Lord Boldstar added.


    By this time, both airships hade within shouting distance between each other and Both airships hung in the air, wobbling under the crosswinds. The Bronze Picker was almost a quarterrger than the colourful merchant and arge cargo hatch swung open slowly from the side of the Bronze Picker.


    Lord Boldstar watched with a smile as a couple of steam barges left the side of his ship and came to dock against the merchant. He watched the decks filled with the merchant''s crew and his eyes drifted to the side of the hull where he could barely make out the name of the merchant airship among the riot of colours.


    "Hmmm... The Old Ugly?" He let out a bark ofughter and shook his head in amusement. "Ha! That thing is truly ugly!"

 Chapter 604: Illegal Actions

    Chapter 604: Illegal Actions


    "Captain! Aerial contact bearing one sixty!" The sensor officer called out from his station. "Distance sixty klicks! Speed... fifteen knots!"


    "Do we have visual?" ke asked from his seat while Trism stood over the sensor station staring at the screen.


    "Eh... Yes Sir!" Trism replied and a disy screen mounted forward on the bridge ceiling switched to disy a fat cigar shaped bronze painted airship captured by a set of high powered camera. "Its disying Cartel markings, Sir."


    "Tell Icarus and Daedalus to go into active camouge immediately!" ke ordered. Thems officer quickly ryed ke''s orders and the two Icarus ss airships that were nking the Old Ugly went into stealth mode.


    Runes that were etched all over the hull ting of the Icarus ss airships glittered unnaturally before the air around the airships shimmered and both airships vanished into a cloud that appeared out of nowhere.


    The mist spell that Magister Thorn once used to hide the Isles'' shipwreck many years ago had been recreated into a spell formation that served to act as a camouge cover for the Icarus airships. As long as one does not look too closely at the clouds that hid the airships, the Icarus airships for all purpose were hidden in in sight.


    ke watched the boxy two Icarus with a counter shaded paint scheme, air force grey on the upper surface and pale underside to match sky glow, slowly gets covered in a thin mist as the runes on their hulls glowed and before long, both Icarus airships were wreathed in a clump of clouds.


    The magical optic camouge was not perfect as ke could clearly see several exposed shipponents sticking out here and there or at some areas, the cloud cover was too thin and the hull could be seen. But it was enough for both airships to bend into the skies and the magical optic camouge worked best in cloudy skies.


    Both cloud camouged airships started slowing down as moving at too fast a speed would make the ''clouds'' appear unnatural and also cost some of its cover to trail away. ke turned his attention back to the bridge and said, "Maintain speed and heading. Let''s see what that ship will do."


    Minutes tickled by slowly and the sensor officer called out, "Contact''s speed is increasing and on direct intercept course with us! ETA one hour forty minutes!"


    "Set condition yellow," ke ordered.


    "Aye!" Trism replied and soon the whole hands announcement red throughout the ship informing the crew to be on standby. The blimp on the radar screen gradually came closer and closer and soon therge airship spewing steam came into view.


    "Captain! They are hailing us with lights and gs!" A bridge crew called out. "They are saying to heave to and stop for a boarding inspection!


    "An inspection?" ke shook his head and turned to Trism. "Tell the crew to make ready for it. Everyone is to act ording to the script!"


    "Also have our guests moved into the concealed cabins," ke said, referring to the Iron Kingdom Professor and his students, the two Cartel Lords, and the ck dragon.


    "Aye, aye!"


    -----


    The Old Ugly, Gun Deck 2


    Marine Captain Mills stood at the open air passageway and stared out of the viewport at the approaching Cartel airship and spat overboard. He ignored the wind ruffling up his civilian clothes which consisted of a simple leatherwork jacket, jerkins and rough leather trousers.


    "Major!" A Marine in simrly dressed clothes handed him a shoulder holster and sidearm which Mills epted. He held the rank of Captain but there could only be one Captain onboard the ship, hence he got bumped up a grade to Major.


    "Tell the boys to y it cool," Mills said as he wore the holster under his work jacket. "The Captain wants us to keep our heads down and not rouse any suspicions. We are acting as a merchant crew now!"


    "Got it Major!" The veteran Marine grinned. "Act normal!"


    "You got that right!" Mills grinned back. "Also just to be on the safe side, have the boys standby near the big guns..."


    The Marine nodded and ran off to spread the word while Mills checked his sidearm before returning to view the fast approaching airship. "Looks like a fucking giant shiny turd..."


    -----


    With a loud nk, the grappling ws of the Cartel steam bargetched onto the boarding bars along the side of the main decks. The forward hatch fell down into a ramp and several short and heavily armored dwarvans poured out before forming up in a semi circle with their bidents facing outwards.


    ke eyed the twin prongs of the Cartel''s soldiers pointing his way warily as he knew how much damage those short ranged lightning guns could do to unprotected flesh. He watched as Trism dressed in bright dandy clothes stepped forward with a smile on his face and greeted the dwarvans.


    "Greetings my Lords!" Trism gave a courtly bow to the dwarvans. "Wee onboard the Old Ugly!"


    "By the Law of the Mountains! We have suspicions that you are carrying illegal cargo!" A dwarvan dressed like an officer said as he stepped between his guards. "This ship shall be impounded and seized under the authority of the Bronze Mountains of the Cartel!"


    Trism''s smiling face dropped as he gave an expression of shock and horror. "But... but... my Lord! We have cleared customs when we entered Cartel skies! I have the customs scrolls and letters for it!"


    He leaned forward and a heavy pouch magically appeared in his palm. "I hope this helps clear up some misunderstandings! We are just a small humble merchantpany..."


    "Heh," The short dwarvan bounced the pouch in his hands, feeling the weight and hearing the sound of coins clinking against each other before it disappeared just as magically as it had appeared. "Order your crew all to fall in on the deck now!"


    Trism gave a pleading look to the dwarvan officer but was ignored. He let out a helpless sigh and turned to ke and gave out the order, "Tell the crew to assemble on the deck now."


    ke nodded and he went below decks and informed the waiting crew. "Assemble up top! Be prepared for anything! Go!"


    The waiting crew nodded nervously and they left their stations and appeared on the top deck. By the time they assembled on the deck, another huge barrel shaped steam barge had attached its self alongside the hull and more weapon wielding dwarvans came out.


    "Is this all?" The dwarvan officer asked impatiently. He gave a nce to the departing Cartel airship before turning back to Trism who nodded in confirmation. "Go search the ship now!"


    His shock troopers saluted and stormed off into the airship, checking every cabin and hold for any one hiding away before they returned to the decks. "All clear, my Lord!"


    "Officers on one side," The dwarvan officer gestured to Trism. "The boiler crew on another side, the rest in the middle!"


    The crew and officers grumpily shuffled to position and the dwarvan officer nodded before he said, "I am Sub Lord Whitmore! This ship is now under themand of the Bronze Mountain of the Cartel!"


    "You all will obey my orders as you have previously to the Captain of this ship!" Sub Lord Whitmoremanded. "Any resistance or disobedience shall be punished severely!"


    His words made the crew growled angrily as they red at the dwarvans who barely came up to their chest height. The dwarvan shock troops quickly raised their weapons up threateningly at the crew. Sub Lord Whitmore continued on without a pause as if he did not notice the angry reactions of the crew. "Officers and crew for now shall be confined to their cabins and only the boiler crew to continue their duties inside the boiler room!"


    "Once we returned to port, rest assured that an investigation of illegal smuggling will be carried out!" The dwarvan officer dered in a bored tone. "For now, you all except the boiler crew are to be confined in their cabins! Troopers!"


    The shock troopers started gesturing a group of crew back towards their cabins. Sub Lord Whitmore let out a sigh of frustration as he watched the Cartel airship leaving in the distance and snapped to one of his men. "Hurry up and get this piece of junk running! Or we will miss out on the good stuff with the Hungry Hands!"


    ke frowned as heard the short exchange of the dwarvans and he nced at the Cartel airship that was already a small smudge in the distance and formted a n of action. He gestured Trism with his eyes and activated his throat mike, "All hands, make ready."


    The angry crew hearing ke''s words in their concealed ear pieces momentarily paused in their grumbling made the dwarvan officer took notice. He stared at the crew sudden change of behavior with confusion and suspicion when ke ordered, "Take out the soldiers first!"


    Almost instantly, Marines hidden behind concealed bulkheads eased their way out stealthy and suppressed weapons puffed. Bullets mmed into the helmeted heads of the Cartel, most of them punched through the metal while some unfortunately ricocheted off and injured the nearby crew. The sudden ambush surprised the Cartel forces and the waiting crew charged into the remainder of their ranks.


    Concealed daggers, knives, truncheons, pistols and revolvers were pulled out and the crew of the Old Ugly mmed into the short dwarvans with overwhelming numbers. The still standing heavily armored shock troopers were piled on by several crew members and dragged down to the decks where daggers and knives prodded the weak spots in the armor causing blood to spill on the decks.


    ke''s revolver roared and the short armored dwarvan before him pitched backwards from the powerful point nk shot in the chest. ke preferred the old 6.5 mm revolver over the newer .45 caliber pistols as it had more stopping power. He stepped over the curled up dwarvan gasping in pain and went straight for the dwarvan officer that was panicking and retreating towards one of the steam barges.


    Trism followed along side wielding a long thin dagger and a smoking pistol in each hands, providing cover for the Captain as they strolled through the one sided fight. ke''s revolver roared again and the retreating Sub Lord Whitmore screamed as the hi powered round blew a hole in his shin.


    The dwarvan fell down and he clenched his wounded leg, cursing and screaming in dwarvan tongue. ke stood over him while Trism disarmed the downed dwarvan and asked, "Now, before you bleed out to death on my decks, I got a question to ask you."


    "I heard you saying something about the Hungry Hands," ke squatted down next to the wounded dwarvan, "What rtionship do you have with them?"


    "The mountains curse you!" Sub Lord Whitmore spat at ke. "You shall nev-"


    Trism kicked out at the wound of the dwarvan officer, cutting off his words as the dwarvan screamed in pain. "Do not disrespect the Captain!"


    ke wiped the spit off and rubbed it against the sweat stained uniform of the dwarvan before he nonchntly gestured to his wound. "Well, I have plenty of time. You... not so much... So... If you want to have more time or less time in this world..."


    ke gave a shrug as he straightened up and prepared to walk away, "Its up to you..."


    "WAIT WAIT!" The dwarvan called out between clenched teeth. His bearded face was already turning white from loss of blood. "We- We are dispatched to collect the seasonal tribute from th- the Hungry Hands!"


    "So the pirates work for you? The Cartel?" ke frowned as he squatted back down next to the dwarvan.


    "N- No, the Hungry Hands are not pirates!" Sub Lord started trembled as his body was starting to go into shock. "The- They are part of the Bronze Mountain Cartel Air Fleet!"

 Chapter 605: Murder

    Chapter 605: Murder


    The Old World, Bronze Mountain 281st Cartel Air Fleet, The Bronze Picker


    Cartel Lord Boldstar turned his attention away from the boarding action of the Loose Confed merchant airship and gave an order to the helmsman. "Bring us away from this ce! Resume course to Waterfall Cove!"


    "Yes, my Lord!" The helmsman replied as he spun the wheel. The heavy sky cruiser turned and pointed its nose towards the direction of the cove and its air screws powered up, pushing the heavy sky cruiser forward between the clouds.


    "Inform me when we reach our location," Lord Boldstar yawned as he left the bridge. "I shall be in my cabin!"


    The bridge crew saluted and returned to their duties while Lord Boldstar went into his cabin to get some much needed sleep, totally unaware of the situation that had befallen his crew onboard the merchant ship.


    -----


    Pn was a skywatcher onboard the Bronze Picker. He had just turned fifteen summers this year and was proud of the fact that he had made junior sky hand and was posted as a skywatcher whose job was to watch the skies surrounding the airship.


    He was also proud that his performance was highly praised by his team leader and this morning, he was the one that spotted the merchant airship. Lord Boldstar had even given a rare word ofmendation to him earlier and he saluted him like the rest when he left the bridge.


    He returned to his job of scanning the skies with the huge farseeing device when he passed over a cloud before he jolted in surprise. He looked closely at the cloud again that was just several ship lengths of distance away and to his horror, he realized that something was hidden inside it.


    "Sir!" He called out quickly. "Th- There''s something in that cloud! Six points to the helm!" He cried out. "I do not know what is it!"


    The Second Lieutenant who was inmand of the bridge stepped over with a frown. He wanted to berate the skywatcher but he kept it down as he recognized the boy as one of the morepetent crew. "What is it?"


    "Look sir!" Pn gestured to the cloud. The Second Lieutenant bent down and looked through the bulky farseer and a confused expression appeared on his face.


    "What in the mountains..." The Second Lieutenant barely finished his sentence when there was a mighty boom and the whole ship shook violently.


    "Rock and stone! We are under attack!"


    -----


    The Old World, UNS Icarus


    "Tango Alpha holding steady," The weapons officer intoned. "All guns ready and awaitingmand."


    "UNS Daedalus reports guns ready and locked on," The XO reported next. "They are waiting for your lead, Sir!"


    "All guns..." The Captain of the Icarus snapped. "Fire!"


    "Aye, aye!" The weapons officer replied before he spoke into hisms. "All guns open fire at Tango Alpha!"


    Almost instantaneously, the two turrets housing a pair of 88 mm long guns thundered. The shock wave of the cannons, blew off part of the cloud cover, exposing the gun turrets. The UNS Daedalus''s guns followed a short moment after and shells mmed into the side of the Cartel airship without any warning.


    The 88 mm shells designed to be able to punch through magical monster hides and armored steel, easily ripped through the iron armor of the Cartel airship. Balls of explosions rolled out from the nks of the airship as it was bracketed by shellfire.


    The Cartel sky cruiser was a symbol of absolute might on the skies of the Old World copsed from the skies on the fourth volley, the crew barely even able to power up whatever magical defenses they had nor even fire a shot back in retaliation.


    "Old Ugly, Old Ugly, this is UNS Icarus," The captain of the Icarus keyed thems and made his report. "Tango Alpha has been destroyed."


    "Roger that, Icarus," The reply came back a momentter. "Check for survivors. Out"


    The captain of the Icarus turned to the disy screen where the image of the Cartel airship was shown shattered all across thend below. He sighed and ordered, "Send a Search and Rescue party down to see if there are any survivors."


    He shook his head as he looked at the shattered remains of the Cartel airship and mumbled to himself, "How can there still be anyone surviving in there after getting blown to pieces..."


    -----


    The Old World, The Old Ugly


    ke turned to Trism and asked, "Any wounded?"


    "Surprisingly there were only a few bruises and minor cuts on our side," Trism replied. "I think we really took them by surprise."


    "And the Cartel?" ke asked next.


    "Twenty six KIA and fourteen wounded and captured," Trism reported. "All fourteen are currently recovering in the brig."


    "Interrogate them once they are health enough," ke said when there was a knock at the bridge hatch and a Marine dressed in a civilian wear stepped in.


    "Sir, the dwarvan specialists are requesting an audience urgently," The Marine said as he saluted.


    "Let them in," Trism said after seeing ke gave a epting nod.


    Grand Lord Hammerfall and Lord Copperstone entered the bridge shortly after. Hammefall had an unhappy expression on his face with Copperstone was seemed uncertain.


    "Lord ke!" Grand Lord Hammerfall puffed. "Why have you attacked and killed soldiers of the Cartel? By the Mountains! I demand an exnation!"


    "An exnation?" Trism stepped forward and growled. "Do not forget you status here!"


    "Rock and stone!" Grand Lord Hammerfall red at Trism before storming over to ke seated at themand chair. "Why are you murdering my people?"


    "Murder?" Trism snapped angrily as he intercepted Hammerfall''s path. "You-"


    "Enough," ke gestured Trism to step back before he spoke directly to Hammerfall. "We did not want to do this, but the situation forced my hand."


    "By the Mountains! This is not an excuse for murder!" Hammerfall was angry. He, Copperstone and a few others were suddenly told to move into a hidden cabin and keep really quiet. There they stayed for several turns of the ss before they allowed out again. By then, he found out that a small Cartel force had docked with the Old Ugly for a custom check but the whole party was killed off instead.


    "I do not have to exin my actions to you," ke said in a cold voice. "But as basic courtesy, I shall inform you that Cartel airship was in cahoots with pirates."


    "Pirates?" Hammerfall was surprised. "Rock and stone! That is impossible!"


    "Whether it is true or not, you shall hear of it very soon," ke said. "Now, this shall be the first andst time I take such behavior from you!"


    "Do not forget that you are a still a prisoner of war!" ke snapped. "Now get out of my bridge!"


    Red faced, Hammerfall could only be allowed himself to be led out by Copperstone. The Marines guarding the bridge hatch saluted ke before they shut the hatch. ke let out a sigh and turned to Trism. "Look for a ce tond. We need to get rid of those two boarding... barrels on our nk..."


    Within the next hour, the Old Ugly descended down from the skies andnded on a grassy clearing. The goblin engineers and techs came out in force and they undogged the two Cartel boarding barges and striped them down to theirponents before loading them into the hold.


    The Marines took the chance to do some hunting in the nearby areas and returned with some game and once the loading waspleted, the Old Ugly rose into the skies again and took up formation between the two UN airships that still had wisps of clouds wreathed around their hulls.


    -----


    Somewhat in the center of the continent of the Old World, sat a sprawling city that was built on a in. A snaking river cut through the middle of the city, splitting it into two and a huge white pce cathedral stood out in the city center.


    An unusual thing about the city was that there was no city walls surrounding it and the gs of all the Seven Great Nations and many other minor kingdoms and nations were flown at different districts of the city and along the white pce cathedral''s walls and towers.


    The city was known as the Free City of Ender, where the embassies and councils of all nations and kingdoms gathered at. A neutral city where Kings, Emperors and Rulers came to discuss trade, treaties, and wars. The Free City of Ender was built several hundreds of years ago by the greatest kingdom at that time and had ever since served as a ce for diplomacy among the kingdoms and nations of the Old World.


    The white Ivory Pce sat in the center of the city and from the skies, looked like a blossoming flower with nine ''petals'', with each ''petal'' belonging to one of the Great Nations and the remaining two ''petals'' shared by the remaining minor kingdoms and nations. The Ivory Pce constructed entirely out of white ivory stone, was the ce where intrigue, secrets, and backdoor deals of national level were made among the ambassadors of each nation and kingdom. Spies were everywhere and one could even barely trust their own subordinates in this ce.


    Today, inside the Domain of Dragons'' wing of the Ivory Pce, a group of delegates from the Suugon Dynasty strolled down the richly carpeted hallway and reached a set of massive ornate doors that lead to the chamber hall of the Dragon Lords.


    The person leading the delegates stared at the massive doors depicting dragons soaring in the skies with appreciation before the doors need several guards each to push, swung open silently. The dragon guards gave their salutes to the Suugon delegates before returning to their posts.


    The delegates strolled through the opened doors that was more like a gate used in city walls and found themselves in a spacious hall supported by massive pirs that were wider than several people joining hands around. The ceiling was so high up that a drake could fly around easily and the whole hall was flooded with natural light that came from floor to ceiling window like openings.


    At the end of the hall was a raised tform which an obese green dragonid on a dragon sized mattress sewn from the finest spider silk and filled with the softest of griffin feathers. The hall was so long that the Suugon delegates had to walk for almost a quarter of the sand ss before they came within talking distance.


    "Greetings Dragon Lord Alder!" The person leading the Suugon delegates bowed while the rest of the delegates went down on their knees and kowtowed to the green dragon.


    Dragon Lord Alder cracked out an eye and let out a yawn before hezily reached out to a dragon sized bowl made out of pure gold and picked up a morsel of sweet meat and snacked on it. He sucked his jeweled decorated ws clean before he turned his attention to the Suugon bowing before him.


    "Oh, why its Lord Lei!" Dragon Lord Alder gave azy smile at the Suugon. "What honor do I have to owe for your visit?"


    Lord Lei straightened up and smoothed out his long jacket that had golden dragons embroidered onto his sleeves and smile back at the green dragon whose scales were colored in a dark emerald green. "I have word that the Iron Kingdom''s flying ind fortress has returned."


    "And?" Dragon Lord Alder let out another yawn, showing off his dagger sized teeth. "What of it?"


    "I also heard that its holds were filled to the brim with magic crystals..." Lord Lei lowered his voice as if sharing a secret.


    "And?" Dragon Lord Alder did not take the bait. "I have already heard of that too!"


    "Well, but did you hear that the Crown Prince is missing too?" Lord Lei gave a small smile.


    "Oh?" Dragon Lord Alder''s serpentine head rose up in surprise as he was intrigued by the news. "Really?"


    "Yes and that is not all..." Lord Lei''s smile widened as he knew he caught the full attention of the overweight dragon. "The entire flying fortress has returned... void of life!"

 Chapter 606: Where Are You?

    Chapter 606: Where Are You?


    Dragon Lord Alder eyed the Suugon ambassador warily as he rolled his impressive bulk over. He knew the Suugon ambassador was a snake, in fact, all the Suugons were snakes to his reckoning. The fact that the ambassador came over and disclosed such news meant that the Suugons were up to something again.


    "Why does it even matter to me?" Dragon Lord Alder repliedzily as he picked up another piece of sweet meat. "The Iron Kingdom''s session will not affect the Dragon Domain."


    "It might not now," Lord Lei replied with a smile. "But it might change when they announced the next sessor to the Crown Prince''s position..."


    Dragon Lord Alder paused in his action and narrowed his eyes at the Suugon Ambassador and growled, "Do not speak in riddles! Speak to the point!"


    "Of course, great one!" Lord Lei gave a bow of apology before he continued. "The Third Prince seemed most promising to be the next in line of the session."


    "The Third Prince?" Dragon Lord Alder frowned as he scoured his memories of the Iron Kingdom Prince.


    "The Prince of Fire," Lord Lei helpfully added. "The Prince who supports the Industrialists and thinks that... dragons and magic are relics of the past... Only worthy to be adorned as trophies on his wa-"


    "Enough!" Dragon Lord Alder reared up to his full height in anger as he recalled the person. The Suugon delegates stepped back in fright at the sight of his oversized bulk towering over them. "That... That... beast!"


    "That... beast killed so many of my peers!" Dragon Lord Alder growled angrily. "He is the enemy of all dragons!"


    "And we the people and the Emperor of the Suugon Dynasty agrees with you," Lord Lei bowed deeply.


    The Iron Kingdom Third Prince born from the second Queen of the Iron Kingdom was a person who greatly embraced the modern ideas of steamworks and clockworks. He had pushed for many reforms within the Iron Kingdom, changing old and obsolete customs to a new age of radical ideas and thinking.


    His modernization and industrialization reforms earned him the moniker The Prince of Fire among the people and he was also a vivid hunter. In his pce, he had a museum filled to the brim with stuffed carcasses of every known monster or creature. But his prized collections were dragons.


    This earned him both the enmity of the Dragon Domain and the Suugon Dynasty. It was only after a few years of conflict between the Dragon Domain and the Iron Kingdom did the Iron King of the Iron Kingdom ceded an apology and agreement that the Third Prince shall never hunt a dragon ever again. Despite that promise, the hatred of the Dragons did not vanish.


    "That beast must never be the next Iron King!" Dragon Lord Alder snapped. "If it happened... that beast will dere war on the Dragons!"


    "The Eternal Emperor is worried about this too," Lord Lei said and bowed. "The Eternal Emperor sent word to me to assist you and the Dragon Matriarch against the Iron Kingdom to prevent the Third Prince from bing the Crown Prince!"


    Dragon Lord Alder took a deep breath as he stared at the bowing Suugon Ambassador. He do not believe that the Suugons were so kind to willingly offer their help. There must be a catch to all these but now it was not the time to find out for this news must be sent to the Matriarch immediately!


    "I shall call upon you once I informed the Matriarch of this!" Dragon Lord Alder said and he rang a bell. A small troop of maids entered and they bowed to Alder. One of the maids held a tray with a pure white jade phial. Dragon Lord Alder impatiently gestured the maid to bring the jade phial over and he used his sharp ws to pierce the underside of his wrist and allowed the thick ruby red blood to drip into the phial until it was full.


    The rest of the maids quickly came over and wrapped the puncture wound on his wrist while the jade phial was sealed and the maid carried the tray over to Lord Lei who was staring greedily at the jade phial filled with dragon''s blood.


    "Take it!" Dragon Lord Alder growled. "We shall speak again!"


    -----


    The Old World, Protectorate of Ramuh, Capital of Ramuh


    The chorus of bells and hymns woke the sleeping child and it let out a cry of hunger. The woman paused in her farm work and quickly hushed the child that was wrapped in a piece of cloth around her scrawny body. She mumbled to the hungry child in her arms and gave an apologetic bow to the Overseer who was frowning at the sudden halt of work.


    She lowered her robe and allowed the child to suckle on her nipple and the baby finally calmed down and happily fed away. The Overseer walked over, a sneer on his scarred face and he leered lechery at her exposed body. The woman cast her eyes down and turned away from the Overseer and allowed the baby to have its filled before she covered herself up and returned to work.


    "Back to work youwless!" The Overseer cracked his cruel whip. "Bast in the glory that your deeds here today shall restore the order that you have lost!"


    The Overseer cast onest lecherous look at the woman before he walked off to another area of the farm. Hundreds of repentanters toiled the fields around the farm, all seeking penance from their crimes and seeking redemption from their sins. For their dutifulbours and penance, the toils of their efforts will be used to pay off their sins.


    As they work, the church bells and hymns song could be constantly heard. Finally, the sun dipped down below the mountains and soon it was too dark to work, only then the Overseers reluctantly released the repentanters back to themunal shacks.


    The woman carrying the baby quickly slipped off into the darkness doing her best to avoid the Overseer who had his eye on her. She merged with the others heading back and hunched her body down to avoid being recognized and soon under the light of a single torch, made her way back to themunal shack that she and fifteen other women shared.


    The uneven boards creaked loudly as she stepped into the shack and she gently ced the child down on the straw cot. Her baby giggled and grabbed her hand as she unwrapped the cloth and she smiled warmly at her two year old son. "Ma- ma!"


    "Here, you need to eat something," A bowl of gruel was handed over to her by one of the women in the shack and Sherene thanked her for her kindness. "Hello, little one!"


    "Ah lo!" The child giggled as the woman yed with him. Sherene smiled and took a few bites of the gruel before she spooned some to fed her son.


    "Here, have some more," The woman handed half her share of the gruel over to Sherene. "You need more food!"


    "Thank you, Sister Oriana," Sherene pushed away the offered bowl. "This is enough for me, you need to eat to keep your strength too!"


    "I am not the one having to look after a child!'' Oriana waved away Sherene''s protests and dumped the rest of the gruel into her bowl. "Eat! I am going to draw some water to wash up!"


    "Thank you!" Sherene gave her thanks again and she fed more to her son. Ever since she was moved out of that cathedral, she was sent to this farm, known as the Redemption Farm. Shortly after, she gave birth to her son and since then, two years had passed.


    Every day, before the sun came out, they woke up and gathered together and headed towards the church on the other side of the farm which took over an hour to walk to. The Priests would ensure all were present before they started preaching. There, they listened to the Priests speak of the Laws of Ramuh and prayed to Ramuh before they had to walk back to the farm.


    Once they returned, the Overseers will arrive and the work on the farm started. Thend had to be tilted, crops watered and weeds removed. When the sun was overhead, those in charge of cooking meals would carry buckets of gruel over and more Priests would arrive. Food would be doled out with the Priests'' blessings and more preaching.


    Work would then continued after they had eaten, all the way until the sun went down when it was too dark to see anything. After they returned to themunal shacks, there they will have their final meal of the day and they were free to do what they wanted.


    The people here were mostly captives taken from raids or were guilty of some sort of sins. Like Oriana, who Sherene knew was taken captive from a crashed Iron Kingdom airship. Therge framed woman had befriended Sherene when she first came here a year ago. The two quickly became friends and helped and supported each other through the tough times.


    Some had attempted to escape the farm but in the end, they were always caught. The farm was in the middle of Protectorate territory and surrounded by overly zealous believers of Ramuh. The believers of Ramuh would not hesitate to turn in any escapee or suspicious person and at times even participate in manhunts if news of someone hadmitted a sin without even the thought of a reward. Those caught and taken back were crucified to crosses and whipped until they died while a Priest preached non stop of Ramuh''s sins andws. The bodies were then left to rot on the crosses as a warning to the rest which many took the warning to heart.


    "I''m back," Oriana walked to her cot that was next to Sherene''s. She wiped her face dry with a towel and said. "I left a bucket of water for you outside. You can go take a wash too, I help look after the little boy!"


    Sherene nodded and she picked up the bowls before she said to her son. "You be a good boy, Mommy will be right back! Big Sister Oriana will be here with you."


    "Ba Si taaa!" The boy giggled as Oriana tickled him.


    Sherene went out of the shack and picked up the bucket of water. She carried it to a bathing area which was just a few pieces of wood and cloth to provide some basic form of cover and starting cleaning the sweat and dirt off her body when a shadow suddenly loomed up behind her.


    She let out a startled cry but a hand covered her mouth, stiffing her voice. Her eyes went wide as she recognized the Overseer that had leered at her in the day earlier. "Hello, beautiful!"


    "Shhhh!" The Overseer smiled as he pressed against her body. "Let''s not make too much noise!"


    Sherene felt a chill down her spine as she stared at the lecherous glint in the Overseer''s eyes and she snapped her knee up directly between his legs. Despite theck of proper meals, two years of toiling in the farms and the bony portion of her knee was more than enough to bring pain and suffering to the Overseer.


    He let out a cry of pain which caught the attention of the others. Many wandered over to see what was happening and saw Sherene running out of the shower area with an Overseer moaning on the floor. A Priest came up to the Overseer and started to berate him and even began to preach about sins andws.


    Sherene returned to the shack, her body trembling in shock and fear. Oriana seeing her state was not right, quickly came over and asked, "What happened? Are you alright?"


    Tears spilled down her face as she hugged her son tightly to her chest. "ke... where are you..."

 Chapter 607: Worries

    Chapter 607: Worries


    Weighted lines fell off the side of the Old Ugly as it came to a low hover over the open field. Workmen reached out grabbed the lines and secured the dangling ropes to iron pegs hammered deep into the ground. More workmen and beasts of burden pushed over mooring towers for the airship to dock on and slowly the airscrews and boilers winded down.


    The belly cargo ramp dropped down with a rattle of chains and the crew of the Old Ugly stepped off. ke stood at the top of the ramp and looked around the busy airship field. Several airships other than the Old Ugly were docked on the mooring towers and streams of wagons filled with cargo were moving up and down the ramps.


    "The Mountains bless you. Wee to Mallodge Hills," A dwarvan smartly dressed in a rich looking coat and robes strolled up to ke. "You must be the ship''s captain?"


    "ke," ke wearing a set of prosthetic ears to hide his alien looks, made a bow in the way of the local customs as he introduced himself. "I am the captain and owner of the Old Ugly."


    "Ha!" The dwarvan let out a loud guffaw of amusement when he heard the name of the ship. "By the mountains! That is a good name! Haha!"


    "I am Turner Roc!" The dwarvan introduced himself. "My people called me Master Turner. I am one of the merchants providing supplies and services here. Anything you need, fuel,bourers, wagons, supplies, I can provide them."


    "It has been a while since Ist saw a Loose Confed here," Master Turner mused. "Well, the rules are simple here, no killings permitted anywhere within the city. No stealing and no trading of ves."


    "As for the docking fees, it would be fifty gold crowns per day! The Field Overseer wille to collect the fees at the end of the day," Master Turner continued to list out more rules to ke. "Well, if you do not pay or could not make payment, they have the right to confiscate your ship, so my advice is to pay up on time."


    "What about entering the city?" ke asked. "Is there a toll or fee?"


    "Well, entering the city will cost you a gold crown if you have no trader''s pass. If not it would be a silver to enter." Master Turner exined before he gave a wink. "Well, to be honest, there isn''t much to see in the city. Unless you fancy one of those high ss bordellos where they have all those different races..."


    ke frowned at the merchant''s words but the merchant did not seem to notice ke''s change of expression. "There''s enough pubs, inns, and brothels right here at the field. And if you want to find merchants or markets, the major guilds and trade houses have branch stores here at the field too."


    ke looked towards the city walls that were a few kilometers away. The airship field was situated at the eastern outskirts of Mallodge Hills. A road that was crowded with traffic led out of the airfield towards the city walls. Under the midday''s sun, the city looked bright and pretty with all those red and blue roofed houses and towers.


    He turned back to Master Turner and said, "I would like to restock my ship''s supplies and fuel. My quartermaster will give you a list of our needs."


    "Of course, of course!" Master Turner rubbed his hands happily. "Since this is our first meeting, I shall give you a good price, unlike the others!"


    "Thank you," ke smiled back and he returned inside the ship. He found Trism and the ship''s quartermaster at the tiny cubicle that served as an office at one corner of the cargo hold. Both of them were going through their list of needed supplies when ke knocked on the door and entered.


    "Sir!" Both of the officers came to attention when he entered. ke gestured them to continue as he squeezed a spot for himself in the tiny office. Trism held out a roll of a scroll and sighed, "Here is the revised list of supplies we need to restock. I really missed proper writing tools..."


    ke let out a small smile as he unfurled the scroll and scanned through the items written in ink. "We can''t use printers and paper out here. They don''t have such technology and it would only make us targets."


    ke rolled up the scroll and handed it over to the quartermaster, "Looks good, settle it with Master Turner, he is one of the suppliers here. He promised me a discount earlier."


    "Trism, inform the crew that no one is to leave the boundaries of the airfield here," ke ordered. "No one is to leave and enter the city today. They can go visit the stores and pubs here if they wish during their free time."


    "It would probably take a couple of days to restock on our supplies," ke continued. "Arrange a schedule for any of the crew who wishes to visit the city tomorrow. Must sure that an officer sticks with them and they must travel in groups and no one is to get into any trouble!"


    "Have the officer carry a copy of our trader''s pass when they enter the city," ke said. "Or it''s going to cost us a bomb! The docking fees per day here is already fifty gold crowns!"


    "So, the intel Ait has given is pretty solid?" Trism asked as he and ke walked out of the office.


    "Yes," ke nodded. "The city of Mallodge Hills is pretty much an upscaled city for the rich."


    "I noticed there was no smoke from factories around the city," ke added. "And the trade markets and fewer desirables were at a location outside the city at the airfield."


    "Could be that it makes it easier for the merchants to do their trade, rather than having to travel in and out of the city?" Trism suggested. "Would save a lot of time."


    "I doubt that," ke said as he shook his head. "From what I can see, that is a city for the elitist..."


    -----


    The Old World, The Domain of the Dragons, Dragon''s Peak


    A loud angry roar echoed through the many tunnels and caverns of the highest mountain on thends of the Domain of the Dragons. The many servants covered their ears until the roar dissipated away and hurried on nervously with their duties.


    "The Dragon Matriarch''s temper has worsened a lottely," One of the female servants whispered to herpanion who nodded in agreement. "Her health and mood are also not so well too..."


    "Yes! It has been ever since they lost contact with the fleet to the New World," The servants gossiped in low tones. "She must have missed her Ladyship Saphia a lot..."


    "If you lot have time to gossip..." A sharp voice cut through the servants'' gossip. The servants jolted in shock and they quickly bowed and apologized. "Get back to work! Do not let me catch you all cking away!"


    The servants quickly scampered away and the old minister shook his head. He let out a deep sigh and walked briskly down the tunnel and soon came upon a massive gate that the guards admitted him in. He entered the gate and came into a cavern that was the heart of the fire mountain that provided the warmth for the people living in the frozennds of the Domain and for the crops growing on the mountain slopes to flourish.


    "Hail the Dragon Matriarch! Queen of all Dragons!" He kowtowed into the darkness and waited.


    "Raise..." A deep growl rumbled out from the dark. The Dragon Matriarch walked out from the darkness, her golden scales glittering under the torchlight. "Do you know of this?"


    The old minister nced at the scroll ced on a table at the foot of the tform and lowered his head, "Yes, My Matriarch..."


    "First my daughter goes missing... and now news of the Prince of Fire bing the next in line for the Iron Crown?" The Dragon Matriarch growled. She let out a defeated sigh and closed her golden eyes in sadness before she spoke in a softer tone. "Does this means the end of the dragons?"


    "My Matriarch! No!" The old minister let out a cry of shock. "The line of dragons shall never fall!"


    "Day by day, our numbers dwindle," The golden dragon said softly. "The world''s magic is getting weaker and weaker and soon, it will all disappear... And when that timees..."


    "There must be a way!" The old minister was horrified at the Matriarch of speaking of such things. "We wille out a way to prevent the Prince of Fire from bing the Crown Prince!"


    The Dragon Matriarch shook her head and said, "Who else has the qualifications to be the next in line of the Iron Crown? The second prince is still a small child!"


    "The fourth? Or the Fifth?" The Dragon Matriarch sighed. "Both of them are known to be useless and only seek the pleasures of the flesh!"


    "The Iron King might be an old miser, he is still not stupid!" The gold dragon said. "The only w of the Third Prince is his love of hunting dragons!"


    "The Third Prince must never be the Crown Prince!" The old minister dered. "The peace between our two nations will... be destroyed if hees to power!"


    "The Suugon''s Eternal Emperor wishes to form an alliance with us regarding this issue," The Dragon Matriarch gestured with her serpentine head to the scroll on the table. "He has sent word to our embassy at the City of Ender about forming a treaty with us."


    "The Eternal Emperor?" The old minister frowned. "Why would they want to help us? That fox must be up to something! What did he ask for this time?"


    "He wants one of the Mothers," The Dragon Matriarch sighed again. "They want our bloodline."


    "Has he not given up on the bloodline of dragons after all this time yet?" The old minister grumbled. "They have tried for generations but they were only sessful in breeding a lesser dragon!"


    "Yes, the abominations that they called drakes..." The Dragon Matriarch shook her head helplessly. "Unlike a true dragon, those poor creatures can only live for a bare twenty winters or lesser..."


    "And their bodies are deformed, with wings growing from their arms instead of separately," said the Dragon Matriarch as she flexed her golden wings. "Nor could they even form words nor possess intelligent thoughts..."


    "Their experiments are an atrocity!" The old minister grumbled before he asked in a worried tone. "How about the Loose Confederation? Or the Cartel? Will they help us?"


    "The Loose Confederation are our allies, they will of course help us if we requested it," The Dragon Matriarch said confidently. "But they are too scattered andcked the political power against the Iron Kingdom..."


    "As for the Cartel... They are the Third Prince''s greatest supporters..." said the Dragon Matriarch. "I believe they are the ones providing him with all kinds of support behind the scenes... I highly doubt they would cease their support to the Third Prince for us."


    "Then will you agree to the Eternal Emperor''s terms?" The old minister helplessly asked. "Is there no other options?"


    "I will have to discuss with the Mothers on this matter..." The Dragon Matriarch said after a moment of silence. "We shall talk about itter once we havee to a conclusion."


    "Now leave me be and prepare the Domain for war," The Dragon Matriarchmanded. "Those religious fanatics will no doubte into ournds once they smell blood! We must be prepared to protect our people and our future!"


    The old minister bowed and left, leaving the gold dragon alone in the chamber. The Dragon Matriarch let out another deep sigh as she slowly and tiredly made her way back into the darkness.


    "Where are you, my child?"

 Chapter 608: The Future

    Chapter 608: The Future


    Dr. Sharon was having the time of her life as she browsed through the dozens of stores and markets at the airfield. The items and strange steam gadgets on disy were like out of some video game. Hawkers cried out their wares and gestured to any potential customers walking by. She paused every once in a while to peer at the wares disyed while Magister Thorn had an unhappy expression on his face.


    "Cheer up friend!" Professor Hamlotforted the crestfallen Magister who so far has not found any magical items at all. "Magic has faded from the daily lives for many many years."


    Dr. Sharon wearing a set of prosthetic ears in disguise,ughed as she tossed some strange gadget to one of the Marines to carry. She had already bought quite a few items that caught her fancy while Magister Thorn could barely even find anything that even remotely rted to magic. "Yes, cheer up! Hehe!"


    "Here, try some... roasted shrooms?" Dr. Sharon gestured to a stall selling sticks of meat and vegetables that were slow roasted over hot coals.


    "I''m just sad that there is nothing of magic around!" Magister Thorn let out a deep sigh. "I was so looking forward to studying the magic of the Old World..."


    "Haha, don''t pout my friend!" Professor Hamlotughed. "When youe to the Iron Kingdom, I shall bring you to the Arcanum of Steamworks and Magic!"


    "There in the department of magic, you can read all the magic scrolls as much as you want!" Professor Hamlot said and proudly boasted. "The Grand Library in the Arcanum has one of thergest collection of tomes and scrolls on magic in the whole Old World!"


    "Really?" Magister Thorn perked up immediately, his mood better. "That I must see!"


    Dr. Sharon shook her head at both the old men and continued to browse the wonders of the market. She picked up another few more trinkets and shoved them all to the Marine whose arms were already full with her shopping.


    "It''s been so long since I get to do some shopping!"


    -----


    "What do we know of this mountain border city, Iron Gate?" ke tapped the hand drawn map where a city was marked.


    "Iron Gate is run by Greenrock n of the Bronze Mountain," Grand Lord Hammerfall said. "The n is led by a dwarvan called Greenmane."


    "The Greenrock n is a bunch of greedy ore stealers!" Grand Lord Hammerfall mumbled his displeasure. He had watched the interrogation of one of the Bronze Mountain officer confess about their involvement with the Hungry Hands. "They will not hesitate to even sell their mothers for piece of gold!"


    "The White Mountains splits and marks the borders of the Cartel and the Iron Kingdom," Lord Copperstone cleared his throat and covered for Hammerfall. "The skies around the White Mountains are constantly covered in powerful gales or heavy snow and only the skies above the pass where the border city of Iron Gate is built are calm enough for airships to cross."


    "The White Mountains continues on all the way to the northern region where thends of the Crimson Mountain," Lord Copperstone said. "If we were to avoid crossing the border from Iron Gate, we can continue another week or less of travel along the White Mountains and into the Crimson Mountain''snds and cross into the Iron Kingdom."


    ke nodded at the information, "So is it hard to cross into the Iron Kingdom?"


    "Hmmm..." Grand Lord Hammerfall frowned as he considered the question. "If you have all the proper identity and able to pay the tolls and fees... It should not be hard to cross."


    "But... that was a few seasons ago..." Grand Lord Hammerfall added. "Thews might have changed since thest we heard..."


    "So in general, if we passed the custom inspection and paid the correct people," Trism cut in. "We can cross into the Iron Kingdom without any troubles?"


    "Eh, yes," Grand Lord Hammerfall nodded. "Provided that there are no conflicts urring within the Iron Kingdom..."


    ke turned to Trism and said, "Find out if the borders are closed."


    Trism nodded and ke said, "Any ces we need to avoid?"


    Both Hammerfall and Copperstone shook their heads, "There shouldn''t be any troubles along the route."


    "Good," ke stood up and said. "We will set off once the supplies have been loaded."


    -----


    The Old World, The White Mountains


    "AHHHH!" A shout echoed out followed by the sounds of metal hitting against something hard. Angry hissing and shrieks could be heard and more sounds of grunting and shouting. Under the light of the steam poweredmps, a massive Roc pped its battered feathered wings that were dozens of meters long.


    Individual feathers floated and the stench of blood was thick in the air. The Roc let out a cry of anger at the intruders that invaded its nest and stood protectively in front of its younglings. The intruders spread out in a semi circle and readied themselves for the Roc''s charge.


    The massive cavern had a hole on the roof which allowed the Roc to fly in and out but currently, the hole was covered in a mesh of strong iron chains and bolted down, preventing the Roc and its younglings to escape.


    A handsome golden haired elf wearing a huge strange armor that had moving gears and clockwork at its back stepped forward. Steam hissed out from several vents from his armor and he flexed his armored fist where a steam powered spring de was equipped on his arm. On his other arm, he carried a great shield that was three finger thick.


    "Come on!" He shouted as he clenched his hand into a fist. "Do not be afraid of its magic! It has been greatly weakened already!"


    Hispanions gathered their courage and hefted their weapons up. They grimly stepped over the bodies of their oncepanions that littered the rock floor and puddles of blood. The handsome elf snapped his hand and pointed two fingers at the Roc and shouted, "Shoot it!"


    Hearing hismand, those armed with steamnces and steam bolters, fired off iron bolts at the Roc. The Roc instinctively used its wings to kick up a strong gale of wind. The bolts wobbled in mid flight from the powerful winds and the hunters had to brace themselves against the winds to prevent getting knocked off their feet.


    The handsome elf let out a mad roar ofughter as he charged into the wind using his great shield to tank the wind and sharp rocks that were carried by the wind. He closed the distance rapidly, his steam clockwork armor hissing and ticking madly as he forced his way through the gale.


    The Roc having spent its attack, snapped forward with its beck, aiming to peck the puny intruder to death like so many of the rest. With a mighty boom, the elf surprisingly blocked the Roc''s attack with his shield. The attack left a deep gouge on the surface of the great shield but the elf ignored it but gave a wildugh instead.


    Before the Roc, which was almost three times his height could retract its head back, he punched out with his right arm and squeezed the trigger tes on his fist. A loud explosive hiss erupted out and the meter long tempered iron de shot out in a cloud of white steam.


    The razor sharp de punched into the eyeball of the Roc and popped the soft jelly like surface. The Roc screamed in pain and it reared up, ripping the de out of its copsed eye, spraying eyeball fluids and blood everywhere.


    "HAHAHA!" The elfughed wildly. "Not so tough after all?"


    "Keep up the barrage!" He ordered. "The rest nk it from both sides! I will take it head on!"


    The rest of the hunters seeing the mighty Roc taking a severe wound sensed that victory was in their grasp. They surrounded the Roc as ordered while the barrage of bolts and arrows continued, pelting the tough feathers of the half blinded Roc.


    The de was retracted back into itsuncher sheath with a loud click and the handsome elf hefted his shield up, a crazy grin on his face. "Ready? CHARGE!"


    Together with the rest, he charged forward with his shield up. The half blinded Roc screamed in anger and swept its wings, sending razor sharp des of wind that mmed into the charging hunters, leaving gouges on armor and shields. Any unprotected flesh was immediately sliced and bones were broken.


    Screams and grunts once again echoed out from the cavern as the hunters fought against the desperate Roc. Finally, the Roc let out a death shriek as a steam powered de punched through its chest and directly slicing into its beating heart. The Roc crumpled down, its wings twitching in its death throes.


    "WAHAHAHAHAHAA!" The handsome elf with a face covered in blood let out a shout of whoopingughter. "SUCCESS!"


    He reached over to one of his people and borrowed a great axe. He stepped over the head of the dying Roc and raised the great axe above his head and grinned. "Now... what a fine trophy this shall make on my walls!"


    The great axe dropped with a meaty wack and after several chops, the head of the Roc rolled on the rock floor. He picked up the Roc''s head and showed it off to the rest and heughed. "Hahahaha! Everyone who survived shall be awarded a thousand gold pieces!"


    The hunters all let out a cry of joy and they cheered the elf. The elf grinned and secured the head to his armor and turned to look at the nest where three Roc younglings were chipping and trembling in fear.


    "Congrattions to Prince Herod on your victorious hunt!" A dwarvan hobbled over and greeted the blonde elf. "It was a heroic battle! One worthy of a thousand drinks!"


    "Haha!" The Prince of Fire, Third Prince of the Iron Kingdom and future Crown Prince, Herod Skystarughed and patted his grisly trophy. "This hunt would not be possible if it wasn''t for your Greenrock n!"


    The dwarvan from the Greenrock n gave a smile through his thick beard. "Still it was your Highness''s great strength that in the evil beast!"


    Apuse and cheers broke out when Prince Herod and the Greenrock n dwarvan exited the cave. Arge crowd of nobles and soldiers that tagged along with the Prince was waiting for the results of the hunt and when they came out, they cheered and the nobles'' daughters made flirtatious gestures to the Prince in hopes of catching his eye.


    The Prince raised the huge decapitated head of the Roc, earning him more cheers and cries of adoration from the crowd. Heughed and shouted, "Tonight, we shall dine and celebrate!"


    "Your Highness?" One of the Prince''s huntingpanion asked."What shall we do with the younglings?"


    "Bring them back," Prince Herod replied. "I shall raise them and... when they have grownrge enough... it shall be another great creature to be hunted, yes?"


    "Hahaha!" The Greenrock n dwarvanughed. "Your Highness has a great eye for the future!"


    The Prince paused in his steps and turned to the dwarvan whose smile froze as he saw the change of expression on the Prince. "Y- Your Highness?"


    "An eye for the future?" The Prince mumbled in a soft voice. "What nonsense!"


    "But..." The Prince''s lips formed a small smile. "The deal to train my people in the skills of steamworks... Now... that is the future!"


    The dwarvan let out a relieved smile and said, "Of course, of course! Steam is the future!"


    "Magic is no longer dependable... Yet those old fools still cling on to their failing magical spells and enchantments..." The Prince sneered. "A kingdom''s strength judged by the number of magic crystals they hold in their old dusty vaults? HA!"


    "Steam is the future!" The Prince growled as he flexed his steam powered armor. "And the future has no need of magic!"

 Chapter 609: 609 - Foul Deals

    Chapter 609: 609 - Foul Deals


    Sea of Clouds


    Several oblong airships shot out of the dark clouds one after another. The outward appearance of the airships was all worse for wear, with peeling paint and visible damage to their hull and leaking smoke from broken funnels. If one were to observe the ships closely, they would notice that there were two distinctive designs, one of which resembled the ships of the Iron Kingdom and the other was that of the Tri State.


    Duchess Manarva let out a breath of relief when she saw clear skies and sunlight. Her once form fitting uniform now hung loosely over her body and she swept her hair that had grown long over her shoulder. "Finally! We have returned home!"


    The crew cheered and some even cried tears of joy. They had been lost and wandered in the Sea of Clouds for many months, Duchess Manarva had stopped keeping track of time once it passed two months. Thebined fleet of Iron Kingdom and Tri State ships that escaped from the disastrous event in the New World had dwindled down from twenty two ships to just a mere eight ships.


    The fate of the fleet that disappeared after a fierce storm was unknown, other ships were struck down by lightning or strong winds and the remaining ships had system failure resulting in the transfer of the crew and supplies in dangerous weather.


    Water was in abundance but food was heavily rationed. Thousands of stones worth of weight of magic crystals and other non essentials were dumped over to reduce weight while the rare creatures that were caught alive to be brought back to the Old World were ughtered for their meat.


    They had some rare opportunities to attempt some fishing when the storms had receded and the Sea of Cloud was unnaturally calm. A couple of airships were lost in those attempts as they floated over the ocean''s calm surface, only to have a massive sea monster leapt out of the water and bite chunks off the airships.


    Morale had broken down several times across the Fleet, resulting in riots and mutiny among the crew. More ships were lost to infighting and the Duchess had to abandon those ships and their loyal crew to their fate as there was no way to provide any support in the treacherous weather.


    She had to resort to extreme measures to the mutinous crew onboard her gship, by bounding the mutineers outside the boundary of the magical shielding of the airship on the spars of the wing sails and letting the vicious storm tear their bodies into bloody strips. They suffered for days until the flesh on their bodies were stripped away to the bone by the razor sharp winds. The lucky ones were the ones that died quickly under the relentless strikes of lightning.


    Duchess Manarva let out a rare smile as she watched her crew broke out in celebration. She quickly ordered the navigator to locate their exact position and for the fleet tond on the ocean''s surface for fishing. The crew cheerfully carried out their orders, happy that they had survived the hell like journey through the Sea of Clouds.


    -----


    The Old World, The Free City of Ender, Ivory Pce


    "Have your Greatness decided?" Lord Lei, Ambassador of the Suugon Dynasty asked. This time, he was seated on a cushion before a table filled with delicacies and wine. The green dragon of the Dragon Lords was lying on his usual spot on the cushions and seemed lost in thoughts.


    "Hmmm..." Dragon Lord Alder scratched his chin in thoughts before he said in a grave voice. "Lord Lei... My Matriarch... She has agreed to your Emperor''s terms!"


    A smile blossomed on Lord Lei''s face immediately after he heard the announcement. He rose up to his feet and bowed deeply, "Her Matriarch is most wise for epting this alliance! Long live the Emperor! Love live the Matriarch!"


    Dragon Lord Alder stared gloomily at the bowing Suugon. He did not like the fact that the Matriarch has epted the terms offered by the Suugon. The terms which he thought was ridiculous! Sending one of the Mothers to the Suugon Dynasty to be used in blood refining? It angered the green dragon that their kind was being reduced to such a humiliating state!


    "But!" He continued reluctantly. "The Matriarch will only ept your Emperor''s terms only if your Emperor ensures that our Mother will not be harmed in any way nor will she be treated badly!"


    "Of course! Of course! Rest assured!" Lord Lei''s smiled grew even wider as he promised the Dragon Lord. "She will be treated like royalty! And we will not strain her body when taking some of her blood!"


    Dragon Lord Alder gave a curt nod before he asked, "What ns does your Emperor have in dealing with the Third Prince?"


    Lord Lei''s smile vanished and looked around the massive chamber before stepped closer over to Dragon Lord Alder. He spoke in a lowered voice that was only loud enough for the green dragon to hear, "We have word that the Third Prince is currently in the Cartel. Specifically, along the border at this ce called the White Mountains."


    "What is he doing there?" Dragon Lord Alder asked in a simrly lowered voice.


    "The Greenrock n of the Cartel appears to be offering him some deal involving a new steam and aetherium boiler invention and he is there to talk about the deal," Lord Lei said. "But in actual fact, he is there to do some hunting!"


    "Hunting?" Dragon Lord Alder''s eyes narrowed dangerously. "That beast!"


    "The Greenrock n has found a nest of Rocs on one of many caves of the White Mountains and they used the talks of the deal to cover up for him," Lord Lei said. "They used the hunt to bribe him over, knowing that he could not resist the lure!"


    "Will we disrupt his ns with the Cartel?" Dragon Lord Alder asked. "Wreck his influence with his Cartel supporters?"


    "Haa! No no," Lord Lei''s smile returned. "We will not be doing such... things! Instead... we will destroy him by his roots!"


    -----


    The Old Ugly


    Once the initial adventure and the sights of the Old World had faded, the endless puttering of the engines and the monotone journey made the crew of the Old Ugly restless. They had carried out constant shipboard drills for over a week when the announcement of their next stop came over the system.


    Those off duty rushed off to the viewing galleries or even crowded outside the open decks braving the strong and cold winds. Before the battered airship, a mountainous range has appeared and from the distance, it looked like a wall, colored entirely in white.


    ke watched the view from inside the bridge. He turned to themunications officer and said, "Tell Icarus and Daedalus to proceed with their orders."


    "Aye, Captain!" Thems officer replied and sent off the message to the two escorts. Shortly after, both ships broke formation and headed off in another direction. "Sir, Icarus sent. The Heavens watch over us. And the Daedalus sent. Good luck and Firepower protects."


    ke nodded and said, "Tell the crew to prepare fornding."


    Several hourster, the Old Ugly came to a low hover at the foot of the mountain where the earth had been ttened next to dozens of other airships docked on the ground. ke stood at the open deck of the Old Ugly and stared up at the massive White Mountains that seemed to tower into the heavens and watched a couple of airships slowing passing between two mountain peaks and crossing into the Iron Kingdom through the Iron Gate''s Pass.


    "Wow," Dr. Sharon appeared out of nowhere and gasped as she saw the majestic view. "This is amazing! How tall do you think those mountains go? Taller than the Sawtooth Mountains? The Himyas?"


    "Tall enough," ke replied softly. He gestured to the parked airships around them and said, "We have to queue and wait for our turn to cross the Pass. It would take about three days or more, from what the Field Master said. The queue is quite long..."


    "Hehe! So I can go shopping at Iron Gate?" Dr. Sharon grinned.


    "Knock yourself out," ke sighed. "Remember to keep some of the Marines around you!"


    "Yes, Boss!" Dr. Sharon gave a mock salute and went off to gather the Marines for a shopping trip. ke turned his eyes back to the majestic mountain range and his knuckles turned white from gripping the railings really hard as he tried to control his impatience.


    -----


    Iron Gate


    The shadow released a groan and slumped down weakly to the ground. Prince Herod let out a grunt as he jerked the short sword out of the dead killer''s chest and turned to face the rest. His guard had dispatched several more shadowy killers that ambushed him when he and his people left the pub in the middle of the night.


    The alley fight in the darkness was quick and brutal, both sides grunting and cursing as they traded des. Bodies littered the cold pebbled street as both sides fought each other. Patrons from the pub ran away when they noticed the fighting and suddenly just as quickly as the attackers came, they finished into the night, leaving Prince Herod with cuts and some of his guards dead.


    Prince Herod cursed as he helped dragged one of his badly wounded guards back into the pub and yelled at the owner to bring hot water, alcohol, clean cloth and a sewing kit. He allowed one of the waitress to help clean and stitch a stab wound on his back and waited for the city''s watch to arrive.


    Barely half a turn of the ss went by, the doors of the pub mmed open and several city watch soldiers stormed in. The city watch soldiers wore metal and leather armour and wielded long iron capped staves. A dwarvan that held himself with an air of importance stood forward and his eyes fell on to the Prince''s group and he dered, "Lock those troublemakers up!"


    "You dare?" Prince Herod stood up suddenly with an angry growl and nearly ripped off the half done stitches by the serving wench. "Do you know who I am?"


    "I don''t care who you are!" The city watch dwarvan snobbishly replied. "Murder has beenmitted! By the Mountains! A crime most foul! All of you should be locked up and interrogated until we find out who the real culprits are!"


    The city watch soldiers fanned out around the Prince and his wounded guards. His remaining five guards grabbed their weapons and prepared to fend off the city watch and protect their Prince. But the soldiers outnumbered them four to one and Prince Herod raised a hand up to stop his guards. "Fine! We will follow you!"


    "Take them away!" The dwarvan sneered.


    As the Prince and his retinue were being led away, the Prince paused just before the dwarvan and looked down at the being who was just half his height and he said in a cold voice, "I shall remember this!"


    He looked up and gave a nce at the pub owner who gave a brief nod of acknowledgement before the Prince allowed himself to be escorted away in chains. The dwarvan let out an unhappy snort and turned to the pub owner and the people still in the pub and said in a threatening tone, "All of you shall keep quiet about this incident or you all can join them troublemakers in the cells too!"


    The Prince and his guards were loaded up into a waiting steam wagon. The steam boiler hissed and puffed, the gears and wheels groaning and nking as the driver set the wagon moving. Several city watch soldiers clung onto the sides of the wagon as it noisily made its way down the streets. Unknown to the Prince and his retinue, the city watch wagon did not head towards the city watch''s garrison but instead took a turn that headed towards the other side of the city.

 Chapter 610: Stuck

    Chapter 610: Stuck


    Iron Gate Border City, South Gate


    "Whaaaaat?" Dr. Sharon wailed as she saw the main gates shut tightly and the short dwarvan guards shaking their heads at her and waving her away. She nced at her watch seeing the time was barely after eleven pm. "Why do they close the gates so early?"


    "Well, strangers from afar." One of the dwarvan guards helpfully advised, "You can head down to the eastern side gate of the city if you wish to leave the city. That gate normally doesn''t close at night is only for people to enter and exit. No wagons or transporting of goods allowed. Or you can rent a room in one of the inns here for the night."


    Dr. Sharon quickly thanked the helpful guard and she turned around and faced the rest. "Alright! Let''s hurry over to the other side of the city! We got less than an hour to return to the ship!"


    Magister Thorn and Professor Hamlot both let out an amused chuckle at Dr. Sharon''s frantic gestures. Her shopping and dining had made themte and when they rushed to the main gates, it was closed for the night. The Professor''s students giggled causing Dr. Sharon to glower at them while the four Marine escorts let out a sigh of helplessness.


    "Madam," Marine Private Bartley spoke up, cutting Dr. Sharon antics with the students. "If we want to make it back on board the Old Ugly before 2359 hours... we need to move now..."


    "Yes, yes!" Dr. Sharon pped her hands as if she was like a tour guide and started shooing everyone. "Let''s go! Chop chop!"


    The whole group consisted of Magister Thorn, Professor Hamlot and his three students, rie, Uwen, Berringer and four other Marines with Private Bartley leading the escorts. The whole group hurried along the streets lit with gas lighting ced at regr intervals along the cobbled street. The weak glow of the streetmps was barely enough to lit the dark streets for the whole party as they followed road signs and directions from some locals still out.


    As they approached the street that will lead them to the gate, they heard a rowdy steam wagon huffing and puffing away drawing closer. They paused and automatically shifted to the side of the street to allow the wagon past to prevent any idents as the streets were not brightly lit. The steam wagon appeared around the corner of the street but suddenly as it made the turn, the entire wagon tilted dangerously to the side and fell over on its side with a mighty crash!


    -----


    "Your Highness!" Prince Herod''s Life Knight leaned over with a frown. He did not even need to lower his voice as the racket made by the steam boiler was loud enough to drown out his words from the city guard soldiers. "This does not look like the way to the cathedral or the garrison!"


    Prince Herod peered through the barred windows and tried to identify the streets outside. He had a rough idea of the city''syout when the representative from the Greenrock n gave him a tour of the city when he first arrived. Now, he could barely recognize anything as everything looked the same in the dark night but he trusted his head knight.


    "What is going on?" Prince Herod mumbled to himself before he said to his knights. "First we were attacked by killers and now this?"


    "We need to find a way to escape!" Prince Herod said. "Something is wrong here!"


    At this moment the wagon made a turn and everyone could feel the weight of the wagon tilting to one side. The Life Knight instantly said, "Your Highness! This is it!"


    "We have to wait for the wagon to make a turn again! Once it does all of us will shift our weight to one side and we should be able to tilt the wagon over!" The Life Knight suggested. "This is our only chance to escape!"


    Prince Herod gave a nod to his knight and he looked at the critically wounded and said. "I am sorry but I will remember your service to the Skystars! If I make it out alive, your families will be taken care of for life!"


    The seriously wounded knights gave their salute and steeled themselves for their duty to the Prince. The rest kept watching outside the barred windows, waiting for the next opportunity to present itself. "Everyone get ready! Brace yourselves!"


    The wagon made a turn around another bend and the Iron Kingdomians shoved themselves against one side of the wagon causing the vehicle to suddenly shift off bnce. The wagon tittered dangerously on two wheels and Prince Herod let out a shout as he gave another shove against the inter side of the wagon and the wagon tilted over to its side together with cries of panic from the city guard soldiers.


    -----


    The crash of the wagon was louder than the screaming steam boiler and its cranking gears and wheels. Immediately, the noise woke up the neighborhood and windows of the surrounding buildings swung open and curious heads popped out.


    Dr. Sharon stared at the moaning bodies that were scattered around the smoking wagon and her first instinct was to help the wounded. She ran over to the wagon whichid broken on its side with the steam boiler cracked and steam leaking out dangerously.


    As she checked the first wounded on the ground, banging sounds came from the wagon and the rear doors mmed open. Several figures climbed out wobbly and there copse to the street coughing and moaning. By now, more and more people had appeared and they too came to help the wounded.


    "Madam!" Private Bartley appeared next to Dr. Sharon and he pulled her back just in time when the steam wagon''s boiler sudden let out ast cough of steam before it cracked and boiling water and steam burst out, scorching anyone that was too close to the wagon. Screams came from the dazed and wounded passengers who were unable to move away in time as they cooked in the steam.


    Dr. Sharon stared helplessly at the screaming bodies that were being boiled alive before her eyes. She closed her eyes to shut off the horror scene and when she reopened them, her eyes were filled with determination. She rushed over to the other side of the flipped wagon to help the wounded that did not get hit by the steam.


    To her surprise, she saw a short city watch dwarvan being dangled in the air under a choke hold by a tall handsome blonde elf. The dwarvan''s eyes rolled up and the blonde elf released the chains on the dwarvan''s throat and dropped the body down. The blonde elf stared directly at Dr. Sharon and the murder lust in his eyes froze her to the spot.


    The blonde elf made a menacing step forward but quickly retreated when he heard someone calling out. He cast warning re at Dr. Sharon before he turned and ran off, pushing his way through the crowd that was forming and disappeared into the night.


    Dr. Sharon jumped in surprise as Private Bartley called out to her. She blinked her eyes rapidly feeling that she had just had a close brush with death itself. Private Bartley stood next to Dr. Sharon and asked in a concerned tone, "Madam? Are you alright?"


    "I- I am... I am fine!" Dr. Sharon replied. "I- The wounded! Help me move them to one side!"


    Together with help from the locals, they managed to move and perform some form of basic first aid to the crash victims. Those unfortunate dead were left where they had fallen to await the city watch toe collect themter. By now, the street was brightly lit by the watching crowd with torches and gasmps. The city watch soon arrived and took over the scene and slowly the crowd was dispersed as they returned to their homes.


    Dr. Sharon stood at the side of the street and a frown was on her face. She had tried to listen in to the city watch soldiers talking about the cause of the crash but from what she heard, she found there were many doubtful points.


    Firstly, there was no mention of any prisoners being transported nor escaped. But she was clearly certain she saw the blonde elf were d in chains and even saw a dead body inside the wagon that too was cuffed in chains as well.


    Secondly, the city watch that arrived seemed too unbothered and hurried with their investigations and questions. They barely even asked anyone what happened but instead just condoned off the area and shooed everyone away.


    Thirdly, the street which the wagon had turned into leads directly to the side gate where the guards had earlier told them that no wagons were allowed as it was purely a pedestrian gate only. Unless there was a barracks there or something, Dr. Sharon felt the wagoning here was strange.


    Fourth, the city guard that arrived surely knew that some of the guards on the wagon were murdered by the escapees. Yet they did not speak of it but their bodynguage were clearly nervous and agitated.


    Based on these few points, Dr. Sharon found the whole incident fishy. She shared her doubts to Magister Thorn and Professor Hamlot, who both nodded in agreement to her points. Magister Thorn stroked his beard in thought and said, "This... blonde elf seems dangerous! We better leave the city now and not get caught up with this nasty business!"


    "I agree!" Professor Hamlot nodded. "This is a incident with the localw. Let them handle it, it has no dealings with us."


    "Madam, we really need to get going," Private Bartley added. "We are alreadyte to return and they would surely be worried about our situation if we do not report in."


    "Alright, let''s head back!" Dr. Sharon replied as the incident truly does not involve them and getting involved in unnecessary problems could break their cover. "Radio back to the Old Ugly and tell them we met with a small ident but is on our way back."


    "Yes Madam!" Private Bartley nodded and he gestured the Marine with a portable radio to make the call. The Marine radioman wearing the portable radio in a bag quickly made the call while making sure no locals spotted his actions. In the dimly lit streets, it was easy for the radioman to do so.


    "Madam, Old Ugly has received our sitrep," The radioman said. "They are asking if we need backup?"


    "No, we should be fine," Dr. Sharon replied as she gestured to the front. "Look, we can see the side gate already. We should reach the Old Ugly within half an hour."


    The radioman repeated Dr. Sharon''s words into his handset while everyone headed to the well lit gates. There was a short line before the gates and when they came closer, they could heard loud angry conversation among those people before them.


    "Why are the gates close?"


    "We need to leave now!"


    "Open the gates!"


    "What happened? Are the gates closed?" Magister Thorn asked a person before him.


    The elf dressed in a well worn set of traveling leathers let out a helpless sigh and said, "The gates were suddenly closed! The guards are not allowing anyone to leave tonight!"


    "Why?" Magister Thorn continued to inquire about the situation. "Don''t this gate always remains open for travelers to enter and leave?"


    "Not tonight, friend!" Another person cut in. "I just heard the guards say that all the gates were to be closed! We cannot leave here the city tonight and have to wait until sun rise!"


    "There rumors about some dangerous murderer is on the loose in the city!" Yet another person added. "The city watch do not want that murderer to escape the city!"


    "Oh dear..." Magister Thorn turned and faced the rest of the party. "Looks like we are stuck here tonight..."

 Chapter 611: Mad

    Chapter 611: Mad


    Prince Herod stretched his arms out and allowed one of his surviving knights to pick the lock of the iron cuffs. He took a quick check of his surroundings and cursed as he spotted several patrols lit by steammps moving up and down the streets. One of his knights said quietly, "We need to find a safe ce to hide and recover."


    He nodded in agreement but he did not know where to find a safe spot. The Prince has some contacts in the city of Iron Gate but he did not know if they will turn against him. The sudden appearance of killers and the strange movements of the City Guards meant that there was a conspiracy against him.


    He did not know if the Greenrock n was the mastermind, but if they were, it would be puzzling as the amount of effort and resources they had used to support him was not small. Unless there was something major happening, the Greenrock n would not burn their bridges with him.


    "There must be a third party out there manipting things..." Prince Herod mumbled to himself. "But who will benefit the most from my death?"


    "Your Highness!" A knight hissed and he gestured to the alley entrance. The telltale glow of an approaching patrol could be seen entering the dark alley. "They areing!"


    "Hide in the shadows!" Prince Herod whispered and he crouched low against some rotting crates. The rest of his knights followed suit and they watched tensely as the patrol shone beams of light down the dark alley.


    "Come on," A dwarvan could be heard saying. "Let''s go, there''s nothing here!"


    "Hold on for a moment," Another dwarvan said. "Let me check the alley real quick!"


    "What for?" The rest grumbled. "We are not getting paid enough for this! I should be in bed nice and warm and not freezing in my leathers!"


    "Hold your rocks will you?" The dwarvan mumbled as he strolled down the alley, sweeping his steam powered gasmp left and right. "It will jus-!"


    A fist shed out and connected against the dwarvan''s face with a loud crunch of breaking bones. The punch sent the dwarvan flipping backwards and knocked out cold. Cries of rm came from the patrol when they witness one of their own getting attacked and they charged into the narrow alleyway.


    Prince Herod feinted a retreat down the alleyway and lured the rest of the angry patrol after him while his knights remained hidden against the shadows. As the patrol ran past them, they tripped the dwarvans or hammered them with pieces of rotting nks. A one sided melee broke out and in just a span of several breathes, the dwarvan patrol was neutralized.


    "Grab anything of use and go!" Prince Herod ordered quickly as he went forward and stripped a dagger off one of the dwarvans. The earlier shouts of rm had already attracted more patrols over and the Prince and his men could see the bobbing glow of lights approaching them from the alley entrance. "GO!"


    -----


    "Shopper copies," The Marine radioman released the transmit button and turned to the rest. "The Captain says we are to find an inn or somewhere safe and stay the night in the city. A quick reaction force has been dispatched and will be standing by outside the city just in case."


    "Great!" Dr. Sharon sighed. "Where can we find a ce to stay at this time?"


    Magister Thorn nced around the unhappy crowd growingrger andrger at the closed gate and said, "We better go find an inn fast before they run out of rooms..."


    "We saw some inns back that way!" rie helpfully said from the side. "We can see if they have any rooms left?"


    Dr. Sharon nodded and they headed away from the gates. Many other people were doing the same as they too left to look for a ce to sleep for the night. Anyone that tried to sleep next to the gates was kicked and forced away. The Iron Gate''s city guard does not allow begging nor sleeping on the streets, hence many of the people that were nning to leave by the side gate were in a dilemma as many of them could not afford a ce to sleep.


    After an hour of scuttling up and the dark streets did they finally found an inn that only offered them space at their empty stables. The rest of the inns were all fully packed and even their stables were rented out. Without much choice, Dr. Sharon and the rest epted the arrangements and they settled down to rest in one corner of the stable that was thankfully filled with fresh straw.


    "First of all, I like to apologize for tonight..." Dr. Sharon said sheepishly. "If I did not get sidetracked with all the shopping... We would have been back in ourfortable bunks instead of sleeping out in the rough..."


    "No sweat madam!" One of the Marine grinned as he set down the parcels and bags of purchases. "This is better than being cooped up on board the Old Ugly!"


    "Yes!" The Professor''s students all agreed. "We have been stuck on board for so long... Even sleeping out here feels so much better!"


    Everyoneughed and they settled down asfortably as they could with the straw filled floor while the Marines arranged a watch. It did not take long before the rest of the stables were filled with people who like everyone else were trapped in the city for the night. After a night of excitement, everyone quickly dozed off while one of the Marines stayed on watch inside the stable.


    Dr. Sharon suddenly jolted awake from her sleep that was invaded by restless dreams. She kept seeing the handsome elf staring at her with murder in his eyes in her dreams. She wiped the sweat off her face and decided she needed some fresh air. She waved the Marine sentry back to his post and walked out of the stable and headed to the well in the courtyard and drew some water.


    The cool water refreshed her and her military grade medical nanites worked overtime to clear the water of any harmful bacteria. She stood next to the well lost in thought when suddenly a scrape of a shoe startled her. She spun around and saw the elf in her dreams and for a moment she thought she was still dreaming when the elf stepped into the light.


    She stepped back in fright and fumbled for her concealed sidearm, her suppressed pistol pointing directly at the centre of mass at the elf who shambled forward and paused at the well. He picked up the bucket with both hands and finish off the water and that was when Dr. Sharon noticed the sticky dark stain on his side.


    "You are wounded?" Dr. Sharon''s doctor brain took over when she noticed the blood, her fear temporarily forgotten.


    The elf cast an unhurried nce at his side and made a grimace before he turned and headed towards the shadows. Dr. Sharon lowered her weapon and called out, "Wait! Your wound!"


    She hurried over to his side and pulled him to one side of the stables and said, "Wait here! I got a med kit!"


    ------


    "Med kit?" Prince Herod furrowed his brow at the unfamiliar words but he allowed himself to lean against the side of the building. The fighting earlier against the City Guard had taken a deadly toll on his body especially with the wound on his side. His valiant knights had remained behind to decoy and hold off the city guard while he escaped.


    He was surprised to meet the strange female again when he stumbled into the courtyard. The female clearly recalled him and despite being frightened of him, she had an innocent look of pure concern in her eyes. Maybe that was why he allowed himself to listen to her. It has been such a long time since hest had someone expressing concern for him.


    The strange female came back apanied by arge bulky male. The male ced a bucket of water down and the female that wore a set of crystal sses on her face peeled his shirt that was sticking to his side off. Prince Herod kept a wary eye on the male servant and his hand on his dagger just in case but the male servant just quietly stood at the side and shone a light at his wound.


    "What a nasty wound!" The female tsked as she started cleaning the wound. Prince Herod watched her actions, seeing her take some bandages and some kind of poultice out. She tenderly cleaned his wounds and said, "Endure this, it will sting a bit!"


    Prince Herod sucked in his breath when the female poured some clear fluid on his wound. It felt as if his wound was on fire. He threw an annoyed re at the female but she seemed to not notice his anger. Instead, she gently patted his wound dry and applied some poultice before using a needle and thread and sewed his wound up quickly.


    The speed and skilful manner she sewed his wound made him reassessed her in another light. She ced a square piece of cloth on his wound and miraculously, the piece of cloth stuck to his skin like glue! She gave a nod of satisfaction and took his hand and poured out two small white beans. "Swallow this, it will help heal you and reduce the chances of you getting an infection!"


    Prince Herod stared at the strange white beans on his hand and wondered if it was some kind of poison before he gave up the distrustful thoughts. This strange girl has helped him despite earlier he had been so close to killing her. He tossed the beans into his mouth and swallowed them as he decided to trust her.


    "So, Mr. Criminal, what are your ns now?" The girl asked as she started packing up her ''med kit'' while her male servant watched him like a griffin. "You can''t keep running like this, sooner orter, you will get killed and for what?"


    "As they say, as long as you are alive, you can still rebuild everything!" The girl stood up and gave him an encouraging smile. "But everything will be gone if you are dead!"


    Prince Herod felt likeughing out loud when he heard her words. Him a proud Prince of the Iron Kingdom, the next Crown Prince, a wanted criminal? He wondered if there was such an innocent person in this world still. He shook his head and said a small bow, "Thank you, miss, for tending my wounds."


    "But I am not a criminal," He decided not to exin the entire truth to this simple girl and also not to drag her into his troubles. "I am being framed for something that I did not do."


    "Oh well, if you say so," The girl clearly did not believe his words. "Well, I can only help you so much... You take care now!"


    With that said, she carried her sling bag and walked off with her male servant who continued to keep an eye on him. Prince Herod hesitated for a moment before he called out, "Wait, miss!"


    The girl stopped and turned around with a frown and Prince Herod couldn''t help noticing the cute way she furrowed her brows and nose. "I- I, ah... can you help me get out of this city? I can promise you a great reward!"


    "Me? Help a criminal escape out of this city?" The girl pointed a finger at herself with a shocked look. "You want me to help you escape?"


    "Are you serious?" The girl blinked her eyes rapidly behind her sses. "Wait, are you stupid or what?"


    "Do you take me for a fool?" The girl angrily stomped her feet and stabbed her hands to her hips. "I have already broken thew by helping you and not reporting you to the authorities and yet now you want to climb over my head and help you escape?"


    "Are you mad?"

 Chapter 612: Assassination

    Chapter 612: Assassination


    The Old World, The Cartel, Iron Gate


    "How is he still alive?" A masked figure standing in the shadows snapped angrily at the two bowing dwarvans in the uniform armour of the city guard. "It was supposed to be done quietly! Look at the mess you all made!"


    "Since you have paid us... He will be found!" One of the dwarvan promised. He was the same dwarvan who had ordered the arrest of the Prince of Fire in the tavern. "Our people arebing the streets and had closed off the city gates! He cannot escape!"


    "Complete your task before dawn breaks!" The masked figure said coldly. "Do not let the Greenrock n find out about this matter..."


    Both of the dwarvan city guardmanders watched the masked figure disappeared into the shadows. "By the Stone, this person must be someone important if they are willing to pay so much gold for his head!"


    "Shh!" The snobbish looking dwarvan hurried silenced hispanion. "Keep it to yourself! Just do as we are paid!"


    "Fine!" The other city guardmander grumbled and he waved his troops over. "You lot of rock shitters! Find the escaped prisoner before dawn or I will hang you up by your balls!"


    -----


    The City of Ender, Ivory Pce, Annex of the Suugon Dynasty


    The inner chamber was lit by scented candles and gentle notes of a string instrument could be heard. Lord Lei sat on a cushion pouring a cup of wine from a sk that was set on a long table before him. The translucent curtain that partitioned off the chamber was lifted as a servant entered and kneeled before Lord Lei.


    "My Lord, this servant has received word from our agents by voice talisman..." The servant kept his head low against the wooden panelled floor. "The Prince of Fire has escaped from members of the Underworld Chapter."


    "This lowly servant is willing to ept punishment for his failure!" The servant pressed his head down against the floor. "Please punish this lowly servant!"


    Lord Lei took a sip of wine and savoured the fiery liquor in his mouth before he turned to look at the kowtowing servant. "Rise..."


    "What happened?" Lord Lei asked.


    "The hired killers had failed to ambush and kill the Prince," The servant exined. "Our agents have also bribed the local city guard to catch the Prince and even had him in their custody but he managed to escape!"


    "The local city guard has closed the city and our agents are searching everywhere for him! He is also injured!" The servant hurriedly added. "He will not escape for long!"


    "Leave me," Lord Lei sighed as he poured another cup of wine for himself. The servant bowed and retreated leaving him alone in the inner chambers.


    Lord Lei picked up a delicate looking bell and rang it gently and the soft chimes brought a maid in. She carried a small tray that had a piece of magic crystal and yellow parchment on it. The maid gave a bow and ced the tray down before she left the chamber.


    Lord Lei picked up the yellow parchment that was covered in red scribbles of runes and ced the magic crystal on the activating rune. The magic crystal glowed brightly and the runes on the yellow parchment red up. "Underworld Chapter Master..."


    "Greetings Lord Lei..." A low raspy voice sounded in Lord Lei''s head as themunication talisman was used. "Something major must have happened for a being of your courtly status to contact this lowly one... What can the Underworld Chapter do for you?"


    "The Underworld Chapter consisted of the deadliest killers and agents of the Suugon Dynasty," Lord Lei sighed softly. "All which were raised and trained from birth to serve the Eternal Emperor in the dark. Never will they ever see the light in their lifetime..."


    "I have need of the services of the Underworld Chapter," Lord Lei said. "There is a person... who must die!"


    "If Lord Lei wishes it so," The raspy voice in Lord Lei''s head replied. "This lowly one shall send his best disciples to this matter!"


    Lord Lei quickly gave the details and instructions to the Master of the Underworld Chapter. He watched as the glow of the magic crystal turned dull and lifeless while the yellow talisman slowly ckened and crumbled into ashes in his hands.


    He dusted his hands clean and picked up his wine again and savoured it together with the soothing melody in the background.


    ------


    The Old World, The Cartel, Iron Gate, The Silver Moon Inn


    "Urkk!" There was a sh of silver and the shadow fell back with a soft gurgling cry. Dr. Sharon spun around in surprise and saw a body flopping on the ground behind her. The handle of a dagger struck out from the masked man''s throat which clearly was thrown by the wounded elf.


    Private Bartley pushed Dr. Sharon back and covered her with his bulk. He drew a sword bay and his pistol out and braced himself as several more masked figures detached themselves from the shadows. "Get back madam!"


    Three of the figures rushed towards Bartley and Dr. Sharon while the rest aimed for the wounded elf. Bartley frowned and his suppressor pistol popped three times and knocked the assants down easy. On the other side, the unarmed wounded elf faced off against four masked assants. He dodged the sh of a sword and instead of backing up, he stepped forward and mmed his knee upwards and grabbed the sword arm of the attacker.


    A sharp twist and a snap of breaking bones could be heard, the attacker''s sword magically wound up into the wounded elf''s hand. He smoothly parried the attacks of the other three attackers and seemingly effortlessly cut one of his attackers down.


    The noise of the fighting woke the people resting in the stables and they watched in awe at the expert way the handsome elf dispatch the other two masked beings. Finally, thest attacker was disarmed, his sword sent flying off on the courtyard, the handsome elf pointed his de at the disarmed attacker''s throat. "Speak! Who ordered you?"


    The masked attacker suddenlyughed and started coughing and gagging. Foam and blood leaked out from his mask and he flopped lifelessly on the ground. Dr. Sharon rushed over and ripped off the mask, revealing a scarred face and blood everywhere. She checked the pulse of the person and shook her head sadly. "Dead..."


    "Who are you?" Dr. Sharon stared at the elf who was casually wiping the blood off his new sword. She could tell from his bearing and the way he handled a sword that he was not just a simple criminal. "Clearly they were after your life!"


    "I told you I am not a criminal!" The elf replied with a chuckle. "And yes, they want to kill me. That is why I wanted your help to leave this city..."


    "We better find somece else to talk," The elf said as he nced around their surroundings. Already a crowd had formed and the staff of the inn were starting to poke around the bodies. The manager of the inn came over and started demanding answers all the while gesturing to the dead bodies that littered his courtyard. "Handle this!"


    Seeing the nonchnt attitude of the elf, Dr. Sharon felt angry. She heatedly turned to the manager and snapped angrily, "Thieves and murderers! How can such an inn like yours be so dangerous? If we were not alert, we would be robbed or worse murdered!"


    Her words heard by the crowd, sided with her and started to me the manager for not providing some security for their guests. The manager could only open and close his mouth in shock as he was at a loss of words to refute anything.


    "We are leaving this inn! We do not feel safe here!" Dr. Sharon red at the elf. "Let''s go! We will not stay at such a ce ever again!"


    "Wait!" The poor manager was confused and in a panic as more and more guests started to dere their intent to leave and were calling for refunds. Magister Thorn and the rest gave curious looks at the elf while Dr. Sharon hurried everyone to pack up and leave.


    "Don''t ask questions for now," Dr. Sharon whispered to the rest. "Let''s us get out of here first."


    Just as they left the inn, a small troop of city guard soldiers arrived and they stormed into the courtyard. The party causally joined dozens of the other guests that decided to leave the inn in the middle of the night and slipped away into the dark.


    Finding a tavern still opened, the party crowded into it and took over two tables. Food and drinks were ordered and once the serving wench had left, all eyes turned to stare at Dr. Sharon and the elf, waiting for them to exin.


    Dr. Sharon seeing everyone looking at her, let out an ufortable cough. She turned to the elf and said, "Alright, why don''t you start to introduce yourself and tell us what the hell is going on here?"


    "I am the... Iron Kingdom''s Third Prince Herod... Chief Knight... Greyer," Prince Herod used the identity of his Chief Knight. "There is... a plot on my Prince and I am being hunted for finding out about the plot."


    "Really?" Dr. Sharon did not feel that he was speaking truthfully while the rest seemed excited to be involved in a plot to murder a Prince especially the students.


    "Greetings, Knight Greyer!" Professor Hamlot quickly gave his salutations. "I am Professor Hamlot from the Arcanum School of Steamworks and Magic!"


    "Chief Knight!" One of the students, Uwen cried out and he saluted in the custom of the Iron Kingdom. "I hail from the line of the Lockrich, my father is Iron Lord Lockrich! I shall do everything in my power to help you and the Third Prince!"


    "So what is the n now?" Magister Thorn asked. "We can''t leave the city now and it is still a few hours before dawn..."


    "We could get to the city''s Cathedral?" Professor Hamlot suggested as he looked at Prince Herod. "We can get help from the city watch?"


    "No... Some of the city watch have been bribed too," Prince Herod shook his head as he rejected the idea. "I do not know who is in the pay of the plotters!"


    "The safest way is to leave the city and cross the border into the Iron Kingdom!" Prince Herod said. "But first... I need to leave the city and find passage with an airship to cross the border!"


    "We should get some rest here now," Dr. Sharon suddenly said. "I think we are safe enough here in the tavern so many people around. At least for now, the guards have said the gates will reopen in the morning."


    "We just let tag along in our group and leave the city together," Dr. Sharon suggested. "His enemies should be on the lookout for a single person and won''t think twice able checking arge group of people..."


    "But before that, we might need to do something about that blonde hair of yours!" Dr. Sharon gestured to the golden hair of Prince Herod and pushed him towards the firece. "Grab some soot from the firece and rub them into your hair. Your hair is too striking and recognizable!"


    Prince Herod looked at the firece and he hesitantly rubbed some soot onto his hands. Dr. Sharon shook her head at his reluctance and she grabbed some of the soot and started rubbing her hands through his hair, much to his annoyance.


    After a moment, his once golden hair under the vigorous application of soot had turned dull and dirty. Dr. Sharon gave a smile of satisfaction and patted her hands clean and said, "Finally, that is less eye catching!"


    "Now, let''s see what we can do about those clothes of yours!"

 Chapter 613: Leaving the City

    Chapter 613: Leaving the City


    "I understand the risks," Dr. Sharon spoke softly into the radio handset. She was seated hidden at one corner of the tavern with two Marines covering her. The rest were purposely speaking loudly to mask her usage of the radio to the public''s eyes. "But if he truly is part of the Third Prince of the Iron Kingdom''s retinue, it would be a lot easier for us to travel within their territory. Over."


    "I am still worried about the dangers that he would pose to everyone there," ke''s voice came through clearly in the radio''s headphones. "And the QRF would not be able to force their way through into the city fast enough if shits happens. Over."


    "We know," Dr. Sharon peeked a nce over at the elf iming to be the Chief Knight of the Third Prince of the Iron Kingdom. "But having an ally in the Iron Kingdom would help our mission a lot. And I think we can fool the guards here. Over."


    There was a moment of silence on the radio before ke sounding exasperated came through. "Alright, do what you want. But stay safe! QRF will be standing by at the city''s gate to escort you guys once you can leave the city. ke out."


    Dr. Sharon shook her head as she returned the radio set to the Marines. She quickly addressed the rest and informed them of their current situation and ns. The Iron Kingdom Chief Knight had a permanent frown on his face but he mostly kept his silence throughout the discussion and nning, only pointing out some errors in their ns once or twice.


    In the end, everyone agreed that having the Chief Knight blend in with their group was the best way to get out of the city once the gates were over. The guards would be on a look out for a golden hair male and would not expect finding in thepany of children and a female.


    As dawn slowly approached, soldiers of the city guard stormed into the tavern twice. They made a ruckus and searched the entire premised all the while question and threatening the customers and owner of news of an escaped convict.


    With cloth hat and golden hair darkened by soot and a set of dirty work jacket, Prince Herod no longer looked like a noble, instead he looked like a drunk tired worker from the steam factories or mines. The city guard soldiers came over and questioned the party and seeing a female and children there, they did not bother them for long before they left.


    Seeing the soldiers leaving, everyone let out a a relieved breathe. The once sleepy atmosphere of the tavern changed to excited talks of the escape prisoner and wild rumors and gossips were exchanged. Drinks started flowing again as the once sleepy customers ordered drinks from the happy owner and the tavern turned rowdy again.


    Finally after all the excitement, dawn broke. Most of the customers left the tavern and while others ordered breakfast from the morning staff. Dr. Sharon and the rest followed suit and ordered something to eat while the Marine radioman made a quick sitrep back to the Old Ugly. While they were halfway through their meal, the doors of the tavern swung open and a person excitedly shouted, "The gates are open! They are allowing people to leave the city!"


    Dr. Sharon exchange a look with everyone and they hurriedly finished their meal before leaving the tavern. The streets were still dimly light as the sun had yet rise over the towering mountain peaks but already people were up and around. Some sweeping the ground around their store fronts, others carrying pails of water drawn from the wells and wagons rolled noisily down the streets filled with cargo.


    "Let''s leave by the main gate," Dr. Sharon suddenly said. "It should more crowded and will allow him to hide in the crowd!"


    "Good idea," Magister Thorn nodded. "Let''s go!"


    They changed directions and headed towards the main gates and before long, they arrived at the gates and found arge crowd of people waiting for their turn to leave or enter the city. There were also many soldiers milling around the gates and inspections of everyone leaving the city were carried out meticulously.


    "Alright, game face on!" Dr. Sharon took a deep breath to calm her nerves and she led the way forward. Despite the strict checks, the crowd passed through the gates quickly and soon it was their turn. Dr. Sharon suddenly found Chief Knight Greyer right beside her and hugging several shopping parcels.


    He kept his posture low and used the shopping parcels to partial hide his features, making him look smaller and shorter. The city guards stopped them and they looked at every male before they waved them away with disinterest. And with that, they walked out of the gates unscathed much to surprise of everyone.


    "Isn''t this too easy?" ire asked as she scratched her head and sneaked looks behind at the guards. "I thought we would be caught or something!"


    "Something must have changed!" Prince Herod said suddenly. "If not they would not just put on a show..."


    "So who could be the ones plotting against your Prince?" Dr. Sharon asked curiously. She and the others had raised this question a few times but the Chief Knight did not answer anything. "Could they have seed in their plot?"


    "I have no idea," Prince Herod replied. "But whatever it is, it gave us an opportunity to leave the city."


    "I would also be grateful if you could introduce the Captain of your ship to me," Prince Herod said. "I would like to buy passage into the Iron Kingdom onboard your ship."


    "Well, I do not know if he would agree to your request," Dr. Sharon frowned. "But I wouldn''t mind introducing you to him."


    As they heading down towards the air field, several bulky people appeared and formed up around them without a word. Prince Herod caught sight of therge servant gave a nod to one of the neers and he realized that they were guards of some kind just judging by their build and the way they held themselves.


    He cast a look at the female called Sharon and wondered if she was some kind of nobledy. He knew the men around her deferred to her words and also treated her with a great deal of respect while she herself seemed to possess a whole lot of knowledge that only one could only afford with a noble background. And there was this aura around her that felt unworldly to him. It served to make him very curious and interested in knowing her more.


    Finally, they reached the air field after a good amount of walking done. He stared up with undisguised horror at the ghastly painted abomination of an air ship that stood out brightly among the other parked ships.


    Dr. Sharon seeing the Iron Kingdom Chief Knight''s mouth hanging out, let out a giggle and said, "Wee, Sir Knight... To the Old Ugly!"


    -----


    Captain ke observed the tall handsome looking elf that stood before him. ke narrowed his eyes at the elf who called himself Greyer, under the service of the Iron Kingdom''s Third Prince.


    The knight spoke a whole of things involving a plot against his Prince and honor and duty that ke barely even listened with half an ear. Finally, the knight finished his words and eyed ke with a expectant look which made ke feel like kicking him off his ship for some reasons unknown.


    It must be the aristocratic arrogance that oozed out from from his every gesture and posture, though ke. Or was it that smirk on his face?


    "Ahem..." Dr. Sharon cough lightly into her hand and quickly covered up the awkward silence. "Well, Captain, what do you think? Since we are going into the Iron Kingdom to look for business opportunities... Maybe...?"


    "I wouldn''t brag but if you help me return to the Capital," The Chief Knight patted his chest as a gesture of promise. "I can provide you with connections to the trader guilds and middle people. And of course, I am certain that... my Prince also greatly reward you for your help."


    ke rubbed his face as he considered the Knight''s words. He noticed Dr. Sharon giving him the ''please agree'' look and wondered if she somehow had fallen for this elf to be taking his side. He shook his head and sighed before he said, "Alright, but you will be confined to your quarters for the entire journey except for meal and exercise times."


    "I do not want you running around the ship and interfering with the crew!" ke stated his conditions. "If there is a need to move around, you will be escorted at all times by my guards."


    "If you can''t agree to these terms, than feel free to find another ship to travel," ke said bluntly. "My ship, my rules."


    The Chief Knight''s face turned slight red with anger but he suppressed it in and forced a smile instead, "Of course, Captain, your ship, your rules. I humbly agree to your conditions."


    "Good," ke nodded and gestured to a Marine posing as a crew member. "Take him to one of the empty cabins and keep an eye on him."


    "Yes sir!" The Marine caught himself from saluting which made Prince Herod raise an eyebrow at the strange actions. "This way, sir!"


    After the Chief Knight left the bridge with the Marine escorts, ke turned and faced Dr. Sharon and asked. "What is this all about? Aren''t you too old to go swooning around like a little girl?"


    "Nonsense!" Dr. Sharon blushed. "Oh well, he is good, no, great looking! But I still am a professional! I know when is work and when is y!"


    ke shook his head and said, "That guy is more than what he say he is."


    "I know," Dr. Sharon grinned. "In fact, I think he is the Prince himself!"


    "No shit?" ke grinned back. "What makes you think so?"


    "Oh, the way he speaks and holds himself," Dr. Sharon shook her head. "If he is an actor, he probably won''t make it big any time soon."


    "I thought you would be blinded by his... great looks," ke continued to smile. "And yes, I do think he is the Third Prince. Is this the real reason you want to help him?"


    "Yup," Dr. Sharon nodded. "Getting the good will of a Prince... It sure can open many doors for us."


    "That is true," ke conceded the point. "Still, if someone is plotting against him, we might get caught up in something that we do not want to be entangled in."


    "If they know he is here," Dr. Sharon replied.


    "That is a big risk we are taking..." ke frowned. "But still I trust your judgement."


    "Thank you, Richard," Dr. Sharon replied. "I am doing this because, I trust that with the Prince''s help, we can cross the border into the Protectoratends easier... Or even gather news of Sherene''s whereabouts with his help..."


    ke nodded. "That I didn''t thought of. Hmmm... We shall see what is his help is worth once we cross the borders."


    ke checked his time piece and said, "We still got six hours before our turn to cross the Pass. Get some rest, you got panda eyes already."


    "Oh dear!" Dr. Sharon quickly pat her eyes. "Alright, I shall go get some rest. Ganbatte!"


    ke shook his head at the doctor and turned to stare out of the view ports towards the city of Iron Gate. He thought of the plot against the Third Prince and wondered if he made the correct choice in agreeing to ferry him to the Capital of the Iron Kingdom.


    "Trism," ke called out to his XO cum Intelligence Officer. "See what you can find out about this plot against the Third Prince."


    "And also... Keep a close eye on that guy... I don''t trust him at all!"

 Chapter 614: Politics

    Chapter 614: Politics


    "BY THE MOUNTAINS!" An angry roar shattered the quiet evening inside the great hall. Grand Lord Greenmane red at his n kin who delivered a piece of most unsettling news to him. "The Third Prince has gone missing? And unexined murder everywhere in Iron Gate?"


    "What of his knights?" Grand Lord Greenmane paced around the smooth stone floor of the great hall. "Who are the assants?"


    "The city guard has no idea who the assants were..." The messenger''s voice trailed off. "But... the Prince''s knights... were all among the dead..."


    "No!" Grand Lord Greenmane came to an abrupt halt in his pacing. "The Prince must no die!"


    "Do you understand the consequences if he were to die inside the Cartel?" Grand Lord Greenmane roared. "And under our n''s protection?"


    "He is to be the next Crown Prince!" Grand Lord Greenmane hammered a fist on the armrest of the stone throne. "The Iron King has already lost a son! Now to lose another? It will be war!"


    "And we lost the prince under our watch! We will be the ones taking the fall for this!" Greenmare cursed. "Rock and stone! Our enemies will no doubt force this down our throats!"


    "Find him! I don''t care what resources you use! FIND HIM AND MAKE SURE HE IS SAFE!"


    -----


    Border of the Iron Kingdom, Combined Expeditionary Fleet of the Iron Kingdom and Tri State


    "What is the meaning of this?" Duchess Manarva demanded as Iron Kingdom soldiers levelled their weapons at her people and her. Even to the crew of the Iron Kingdom ships that had returned and docked on the air field. "I am Duchess Manarva of the Tri State! This-"


    "My apologies, Duchess, for this disrespect," An Iron Kingdom officer stepped forward with his retinue. The rank bars on his shoulders identified him holding the rank of General and the officer waved his troops forward. "Search the ships!"


    "All of you will be confined for the time being under investigations arepleted," The Iron Kingdom General said. "Or until proven innocent."


    "What is going on?" Duchess Manarva frowned as several soldiers surrounded her and led her away. "I demand an exnation for this!"


    The General let out a sigh and gestured his troops to back off. "The Crown Prince Yemen... is missing and assumed to have perished. All of you are now suspects in his mysterious disappearance!"


    "Impossible!" Duchess Manarva protested. "That spineless little shit ran and left us all to die!"


    "Please," The General gestured for the Duchess to quieten down. "The investigators will ask the questionster."


    "For now, can you please tell your people to stand down?" The General asked politely. "I am just doing my duty."


    Duchess Manarva turned around and saw all those ships and the crew who had followed her through hell and back waiting for her order. If she gave the signal, there was no doubt that they will rebel and fight against the soldiers here. She took a deep breath and said, "Stand down... We made it through... that hell... and are finally back to the Old World..."


    "Don''t waste your lives!" She firmly said. Her crew hearing her words lowered their weapons and allowed the Iron Kingdom soldiers to disarm them. "Cooperate with them! We have nothing to fear for we did no wrong!"


    "This way please," The General said with more respect. "I will make sure your crew will be treated fairly."


    Duchess Manarva gave a snort and she raised her head high as she was escorted away towards the airfield barracks together with the rest of the crew of thebined fleet.


    -----


    The Old World, The Cartel, Iron Gate


    ke watched with a critical eye at the dwarvan pilot who took over the helm of the Old Ugly. The dwarvan pilot from Iron Gate drove the Old Ugly with casual ease through the windy peaks of the pass. The Old Ugly was smoothly navigated through danger zones and winding passages before the view abruptly opened out and the narrow mountain walls disappeared, revealing open green ins ahead.


    "Yaah! We crossed safely!" The dwarvan pilotughed. "By the Mountains, and here I thought this old ship was junk! But the way she moves! You must have a great master steam work engineer to fine tune thisdy till it runs so smooth!"


    "Why this olddy might be old, but she still has plenty of life in it!" Trism smiled as he replied cheerfully to the dwarvan. He took out a small pouch of coins and gave it to the dwarvan. "Here a small gift for your help!"


    "Rock and stone! Thankee sir!" The dwarvan happily epted the gift. "Next time when you need to cross the pass againe look for me! I shall ensure your ship gets through the pass swiftly and safely!"


    The dwarvan pilot ced extra care onnding the Old Ugly at the Iron Kingdom border air field to await the customs officers'' checks. The dwarvan pilot departed the ship while customs officers from the Iron Kingdom arrived and they did a quick inspection of the ship''s manifest and cargo. As the inspection was going on, Trism stood beside ke and gave a quick report of what he found out in a short amount of time.


    "Seems like the Prince is here on a business deal," Trism nced over at the inspectors, making sure they could not hear his words. "He went out a hunt and talked some business with the local Cartel n before he left to visit taverns to get drunk."


    "There was a report about a case of fighting with several dead and wounded outside a tavern," Trism added. "The local city guard arrived and took away everyone involved in the fight... But strangely enough, there weren''t any arrests recorded."


    "I''m guessing that that incident involves the Prince and his men," Trism said softly enough only for ke to hear. "They failed in killing him and the city guard came and took him away."


    "Some of the city guardmanders must be part of the plot on his life," Trism continued. "They must have tried to take the Prince somewhere out of the city, most likely to kill him off silently... But somehow he escaped."


    "After his escape, the city was locked down, I guess to prevent him from leaving the city," Trism said. "But they have to reopen the city in the morning to prevent the higher ups from finding out about the murder attempt."


    "From what I found out, the higher ups and the local Cartel n here are highly supportive of the Prince," Trism said as he looked out of the viewport to the deck where the Prince was standing hidden in the crew. "If they know that the Prince being chased, they would do everything to protect him."


    "So why did he not find help with his allies?" ke asked. "They will do anything to protect him."


    "I guess he does not know who to trust... yet," Trism gave a shrug. "And somehow he came to contact with Dr. Sharon and the rest."


    "What do we know of the Prince?" ke asked.


    "Hmmm... He''s the third son of the Iron King, born from the Second Queen," Trism handed a file over. "Herod Skystar, aka the Prince of Fire, age twenty five. He took his mother''s maiden house name instead of the Iron King''s Winterborne surname."


    "His title of Prince of Fire was given to him due to his support and aggressive promotion of steam works and industrialization to the Iron Kingdom," Trism said. "Hmm... recent reports have rumours of him being the next in line to the Iron Throne as Crown Prince."


    "Could the assassination attempt have something to do with this rumour?" ke asked. "His other brothers wanting him dead to prevent him from getting the throne?"


    "It is possible," Trism replied. "The current Crown Prince might be afraid of getting ousted out of his position."


    "Well, if that is the case, this is gonna be messy," ke sighed. "I rather not get involved with a country''s political struggle... Especially at this time..."


    "I understand, sir," Trism nodded. "But like what Dr. Sharon had pointed out, this is really a good opportunity for us to gain some allies within the Iron Kingdom."


    "Against the Protectorate, we might be superior with our firepower, but numbers and resource wise, we are still severelycking," Trism said. "Also we need intel on the ground which the only way I could think of is to enlist the locals of the Iron Kingdom to help us gather."


    "With the support of a Prince, the difficulty of getting intel from within the Protectoratends will greatly lessen," Trism said. "After all they have been facing the Protectorate for generations, so I am pretty sure they have spies inside the Protectorate."


    "Rather than us blindly inserting into the Protectoratends in search of information on the Princess," Trism continued. "The Prince''s influence and help would greatly elerate our mission in locating the Princess..."


    ke closed his eyes and lowered his head before he nodded, "Yes, you are right. Trying to find Sherene in the Protectoratends is like finding a needle in a haystack... We totally have no idea where to look for her..."


    "Continue to gather more intel on the political scene here," ke said with a sigh. "Find out who are the major factions and yers, who are against or with the Third Prince..."


    "If we are to protect him... at least we must know who our enemies are!"


    -----


    The talisman red into blue mes and ckened before crumpling into ashes. The robed male seated in a lotus position dusted his hands clean and slowly rose up. He walked to one side of the chamber and picked up the sword from the sword stand. He drew the sword out of its scabbard in one smooth move and gave it a few experimental swings before he kept the sword back in its scabbard.


    He left the chamber and tossed a bronze token with a red tassel to the male servant kneeling on the side, "Tell the thirteen disciples of the Dark Moon Hall to assemble at the ancestral hall!"


    The slim elf headed straight for the ancestral hall. He sat down in the only chair in the hall and closed his eyes in mediation as he waited for the people he summoned to arrive. A board carved with the flowing words of the Suugon tongue hang above the seat, reading "Dark Moon Hall" in bold.


    Tapestries of poems and ink paintings decorated the rest of the hall and a long table filled with spirit tablets of past ancestral warriors of the Dark Moon Hall behind the chair with fragrant incense smoke that slowly coiled into the air. The incense slowly burnt until half when there was a whisper of wind and the soft fluttering of cloth.


    "Greetings Hall Master!" Thirteen shadows suddenly appeared from nowhere and together as one they kneeled down and ced their fists together and bowed. "We have assembled as summoned!"


    The mediating elf opened his eyes slowly and nced over the gathered warriors. "Rise..."


    "Thank you, Hall Master!" The thirteen shadow warriors replied.


    "The main branch has issued down a decree..." The Hall Master said. "There is a person that must be removed from the existence of this world..."


    "Give us the order and it shall be done!" The shadow warriors chorused.


    "The Third Prince of the Iron Kingdom..." The Hall Master frowned. "Herod Skystar... must disappear from the face of this world!"


    "The Prince will be a hindrance to the Eternal Emperor''s ns!" The Hall Master said. "The decree has been passed down from the Master of the Underworld Chapter personally..."


    "Find him... and remove him! Failure is not an option!" An intense aura of bloodlust burst out from the Hall Master as he gave hismand. "For the Eternal Emperor!"


    "We hear and obey!" The shadow warriors bowed and saluted. "FOR THE ETERNAL EMPEROR!"

 Chapter 615: Useless!

    Chapter 615: Useless!


    The Old World, Capital of the Iron Kingdom


    "Based on the bookkeeping records and the crew manifests of the nine air ships docked within the flying ind''s hangars," An elf wearing the military uniform of the Iron Kingdom and holding the rank of a General reported. He remained half kneeling before the Iron Throne where the Iron King stared at him with bloodshot eyes.


    "Over eleven thousand soldiers, sailors, servants... including the Crown Prince and his retinue are believed to have disappeared on board the Iron Fortress," The general spoke in a calm steady voice. "But it is believed that the numbers might be higher."


    "As for the cost of their disappearance... there isn''t anything we... could find," Only at this point did the voice of the general cracked slightly. He took a deep breath before continuing, "Your Majesty... We have no idea had what happened to cause the entire poption of the Iron Fortress to vanish..."


    The Iron King red at the general in silence until the atmosphere was thick and heavy. Finally, he asked with barely suppressed anger, "What about those... recreants that left him alone to escape in the Sea of Clouds?"


    "The... The Duchess of Thunderbolt ims that the Crown Prince abandoned them instead," The general said in a nervous tone. "She imed that she thus gathered up the remains of the Iron Kingdom expeditionary fleet together with hers and fought a fighting withdrawal from the enemy..."


    The general cleared his throat and added, "Her ounts, reports and statements from seven thousand members of the fleet with three thousand Iron Kingdom soldiers and sailors, all state the same th-"


    "Enough!" The Iron King smashed his fist against the Iron Throne''s armrest. "I care nought for those damn fake upstarts!"


    "But what about our soldiers in the expeditionary force that survived?" The general asked imperturbably. "Shall I release them and allow them to return to their families?"


    "No!" The Iron King gave a casual wave of his hand. "Throw them to the mines or factories... Those useless bastards failed to protect the Crown Prince! They no longer have any value!"


    The general nced around the throne room to the rest of the officials and lords but none dared to return his look. In the end, he let out a defeated sigh and saluted, "By yourmand."


    When the general left, one of the ministers stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, it would seem that sending any more expedition into the New World would be foolhardy, the survivors spoke of an enemy with magic so powerful that they barely could even see them before the Third Fleet got wiped out!"


    "Yet, the magical resources recovered from the Iron Kingdom''s vaults showed that the New World is a ce rich with countless magical resources which we desperately need to ensure the strength of our kingdom!" Another minister spoke out. "The rewards outweigh the risks!"


    "The Third Iron Fleet is effectively wiped out!" One of the military officials bluntly stated. "That''s almost a tenth of our nation''s power!"


    The officials and ministers started arguing and debating about the pros and cons of sending in another fleet to bring back more magical resources. The Iron King sat there impassively as he watched and listened to the points raised by both sides when suddenly, the double doors leading into the throne room swung opened and the harried looking major domo entered with a messenger in tow.


    "Your Majesty," The major domo gave a deep bow. "There is an urgent report..."


    The Iron King waved the messenger forward and the once lively debate quietened down. The nervous messenger went down on one knee and saluted, "Your Majesty! Reporting!"


    "The Third Prince has gone missing in the border city of Iron Gate!" The messenger cried out. "His retinue and guards were reportedly killed or gone missing too!"


    "What?" The Iron King jolted up straight in his throne. His face turned red with shock and he started coughing madly. His servants quickly came to his aid and the Iron King slumped back to his throne, hisplexion turning worse.


    "Your Majesty!" The officials and ministers rushed over to the Iron King as he clenched his chest. "Call the healer!"


    "I am fine!" The Iron King pushed away the hands of his ministers and pointed to the messenger. "You!"


    "Who dared to make a move on the Third Prince?" He demanded from the frightened messenger. "Speak!"


    "We... we do not know..." The messenger replied nervously.


    "Useless fools!" The Iron King cursed and raged. He swept a trembling finger to everyone in the throne room and snapped. "Useless! Every! Single! One! Of! You!"


    With that outburst, the Iron King clenched his chest and with a loud gasp of air. He slumped down , limp on the throne, his breathing rattling weakly.


    "Your Majesty!"


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Old Ugly


    ire Banner was bored despite looking forward to returning home to see her brothers and father. She had been gone for over two years and finally, she was returning home. But after all the adventures she had, the current monotonous journey was boring.


    She thought back to ever since she and her fellow ssmates were being chased by the Protectorate and entering the Sea of Clouds, to surviving the dangerous journey and ending up in the custody of the Un An. And now, returning back to the Old World and encountering a plot involving the Third Prince.


    She assumed that the plotters against the Third Prince would attack the Chief Knight onboard the Old Ugly but so far, after crossing the border into the Iron Kingdom and leaving the border city of Iron Gate, nothing had happened. She helped with shipboard duties, continued her studies, socialized with the others and like now, staring nkly out of the viewports.


    The others, Berringer and Uwen were ying some card games at the same table in the cabin. They wereughing as they threw cards down and yelling, "I choose you!"


    Finally unable to bear the stiffing moment, ire whipped around and mmed both her palms on the table and nearly send the cards depicting monsters flying. "We need to do something to help the Chief Knight!"


    "Waa?" Both the boys nearly jumped out of their seats by the suddenness of her actions. They looked at her and sighed. "Aren''t they bringing him to the Capital? What else can we do?"


    "But... but..." ire frowned. "There must be something!"


    "We are dealing with cold hearted killers and murderers!" Uwen warned. "Backed by people with great power and wealth. What can we do? Let the adults handle it!"


    "But... it''s so... quiet!" ire moaned. "I am getting bored out of my mind!"


    "We will reach Ashmere soon," Berringer said as he kept his cards. "Isn''t that your home city?"


    ire nodded, "Yes... I... should be getting off there to return home..."


    "Isn''t that great?" Uwen smiled warmly. His arrogant attitude had been tempered away in the years away from home and even formed a close friendship with ire who he used to look down at her birth. "Both our families are at the Capital."


    "I know..." For a moment, ire looked lost. She felt left out of the action and at the same time, homesick. "We are finally home. But..."


    "Don''t you worry," Uwen reached out and pat her head. "Go home to your family! Don''t get involved with politics! It does not bore well formoners to y with politics!"


    "I know..." ire replied again in a small voice. "I know..."


    -----


    Third Prince Herod on the other hand was enjoying a rare quiet moment by himself. Being kept in a cabin all by himself was something novel to him but also a rare opportunity for him to sort his thoughts and rx.


    Heid on the cramp but surprisinglyfortable bedding with his feet propped up over each other and his hands crossed behind his head. Ever since they entered the border, he had been sorting out all the potential rivals that were willing or desperate enough to kill him.


    When Crown Prince Yemen, the eldest of five princes, pushed the nobles in a bid to support the expedition into the New World for magical resources, Prince Herod was gathering support with the steam merchants and ironmongers. For a while, his progress was blocked by the poprity and news of the abundance of magical resources that could be found in the New World.


    But he did not stop his lobbying of the progress and improvements of steam works, much to the annoyance of several old blooded noble houses who wished for the era of magic to return. He made friends and enemies on both sides and he even sought the help of the steam masters in the Cartel.


    Some of the nobles called him a traitor behind his back for turning to the Cartel but the blueprints and ideas he brought over from the Cartel soon transformed the steam industry and like mes hungry for fuel, the steam industry of the Iron Kingdom grew and grew, bringing a massive industrial and economical change to the people.


    His achievements soon outweigh the other Princes, especially that of the Crown Prince who had no news for months after crossing into the New World. The Second Prince, who was born from amoner woman, had no noble lineage to be on the line of session. The Fourth and Fifth Princes were too young to even be considered, hence, when news of the Crown Prince has disappeared, rumors sprung up that the Third Prince would be the next in line for the Iron Throne.


    "Got it be the Crown Prince''s faction?" He frowned in thought as he mumbled under his breath. "Would those Iron Lords be so crazy to make an attempt on my life?"


    "Or the Cartel?" He asked himself. "Someone who doesn''t want the Greenrock n to work with me?"


    "The Protectorate''s Clergy?" The more he thought, the more people he came out with that had a reason to kill him. "Those crazy cultists surely would not want me alive..."


    "Argh!" He scratched his head in frustration as there were too many people that wanted him dead. "Even the damn dragons want my head!"


    "By the gods... There is no point worrying about this!" He suddenly said with a smile on his face. "Whoever dares toe to block my path... I shall crush them all!"


    Feeling better he sat up from the bed and decided to grab something to eat at the galley. The food onboard the Loose Confed ship was surprisingly unique and good, but something was off with the crew. He had met a few people hailing from the Loose Confed before, but the entire crew of this ship did not even sound nor acted like they were from the Loose Confed.


    He wisely kept his peace, as the saying goes, one does not bite the hand that feeds you, since he was counting on their goodwill to get him to safety, he should not grumble too much on it. He slides the hatch open and found two bulky sailors standing guard outside. He gave a grin and said, "I am going to get something to eat!"


    Both the sailors nodded and they gave way for him and followed closely behind him. Herod was at first unimpressed with the ship, but after traveling on it for a few days, he came to a realization that the ship was not as noisy as other air ships that he had traveled on were. He also noticed that the ship seemed a lot faster than it looked and while it looked rundown and old, it was actually a disguise!


    He had tried to gather information from the crew by making small talk but to his surprise, the crew were surprisingly tight lipped and polite. And that was not all, he seemed to notice that there were goblins working deep inside the ship as every now and there, he caught a glimpse of the small creatures darting behind the maze of pipes.


    Yet, when asked, no one gave him any concrete answers to his questions. "What a fascinating ship!"

 Chapter 616: Excuses

    Chapter 616: Excuses


    The Old World, Tri State, Imperial Capital of the Trinity


    Streamers of blue and silver gs fluttered gently in the breeze while the golden towers of the Trinity Pce glittered until the afternoon sun. The Grand Chamber where the most influential and powerful nobles madews and govern the entire Tri State was in session. A massive ring table sat in the middle of the Chamber with exactly fifteen seats.


    Only one chair which was more ornate andvishly decoratedpared to the rest was ced on a higher tform. On it sat a powerful looking one eyed elf, wearing a long silver powdered wig. A silver eye patch with the house of arms of a three headed dragon adorned on it covered his left eye but it did nothing to hid the long white scar that ran from his left eyebrow all the way to his lip.


    "Is the Iron King crazy?" A Tri State noble banged the table with his fists, his wig shaking wildly. "He dares take the Duchess of Thunderbolt as prisoner?"


    "If they want war! They shall have it!" Another noble cried out while those not on friendly terms with the Duchess frowned. "We must bring the Duchess back!"


    The one eye elf nced at the pale young noble sitting in the seat held by the Duchy of Thunderbolt and he wondered what the young Duke who inherited the Duchy when his aunt, the Duchess has disappeared for over a year would do.


    Sensing his nce, the young noble turned and looked back, only to duck his head down as he did not dare to meet his eye. The Grand Marshal of the Tri State shook his head inwardly, feeling sad for Duchess Manarva to have such a weakling to inherit her Duchy.


    "Grand Marshal! We need to show the Iron Kingdom that we are not ones to be pushed over!" The earlier noble who had advocated rescuing the Duchess, banged the table again to emphasize his point. "Give the word! And my forces will be at the Iron Kingdom border within a week!"


    "Lord Dica, this is crazy!" Another nobleughed. "You would risk a generation of peace and prosperity over that old woman?"


    "We do not even know if she really has nothing to do with the disappearance of the Iron Kingdom''s Crown Prince!" That noble sneered as he said. "I say we should offer her up to the Iron King to appease his anger for losing his son instead!"


    "You!" The noble called Lord Dica red daggers at his opponent. He and his House had been a staunch ally of the Thunderbolt House for many generations and with the new Duke who was barely fifteen summers, he had to step in to help the Thunderbolt House to face this crisis.


    "Enough," Grand Marshal Highborn said. His tone soft but powerful and immediately, the nobles shifted their attention to him, meek as a baby horned rabbit. "Duchess has given her life to the Tri State and made a great many achievements."


    "In her time of need," Grand Marshal Highborn''s single eye fell once again on the young Duke who clearly was ufortable in such a ce. "We shalle together to help her."


    "The honor and pride of the Tri State cannot be tarnished and even if she did have a hand in the disappearance of the Crown Prince..." The Grand Marshal leaned forward on the table and inteced his fingers together before covering his small hungry smile that appeared with his hand, "No one... I say... No one... has the right to keep our people in custody... And a noble!"


    "Ring your bells! Muster your men! Raise your ships!" The Grand Marshal dered to the shocked Chamber. "If they do not return the Duchess back to us... We will take her back by force!"


    -----


    Grand Marshal Highborn stood at the balcony, watching the activities going on at the courtyard. The nobles departed on board the waiting chariots and wagons while servants tended the gardens and soldiers patrolled grounds.


    "My Lord, the word remains the same, the Iron King has not been seen since that incident that day," An aide reported. "Multiple healers and priests have been sighted entering and leaving the Iron Pce constantly. It is as you suspected, my Lord."


    "Hahahahaha..." Grand Marshal Highborn let out augh. "Of course... That senile old thing should have long passed on! It is just a matter of time!"


    "With the disappearance of the Crown Prince and news of the plot against the Third Prince being known," Grand Marshal Highborn continued to chuckle. "That old thing will not be able to withstand this news!"


    "And the Duchess?" His aide inquired. "Is she really this important?"


    "Well, they gave me a reason to rescue her didn''t they?" The Grand Marshal smiled. "Taking a portion of theirnds is justpensation for her mistreatment and the disrespect of our Tri State... Well, maybe more than just theirnds..."


    "The Grand Marshal is most wise!" The aide bowed. "I shall give word to prepare for the invasion of the Iron Kingdom."


    The Grand Marshal waved his aide away and he turned to the view outside. With the Duchess in the hands of the Iron Kingdom, he has a legitimate reason to send his forces into the Iron Kingdom. Paired with timing and information of the Iron King''s illness and the plot on the future Crown Prince, it was the perfect chance. With both the more capable Princes out of the way, The Second, Fourth and Fifth Prince would not be a foe to his forces.


    "But who is the one plotting against the Third Prince?" Grand Marshal Highborn frowned as he wondered who was ying behind the scenes. He did not want something unexpected to happen while he swallows as much of the Iron Kingdom as he could and knowing the rest of the Great Nations, they too will want a bite of the pie.


    "Well... whoever it is... The more chaos they make... the higher sess my ns will be! HAHAHAHA!"


    -----


    The Old World, Protectorate of Ramuh, Capital of Ramuh, The Halls of Judgement


    "We are justice!" The members of the Grand Jury intoned and prayed, bowing to the giant statue of Ramuh. "We obey thew!"


    "Today we shall speak of the Crusade into the New World!" The speaker banged a hammer on the table. "It has been over one winter, but the Second Crusade has not returned. We can presume the Crusade has gone to meet their Judgement."


    "Shall a Third Crusade be made?" The speaker asked the assembled Grand Jury gravely.


    "Objection!" Cries of disapproval rose from the seated Grand Jury. "We can''t let thewless taint our faithful!"


    "But it is our destiny and calling to bring thewless to justice!" Some of the Grand Jury dered back. "They need to be brought to Judgement!"


    "At the cost of countless faithful and resources?" The opposition cried out. "You will be Judged for being wasteful!"


    "sphemy!" The Jury member who got called out stood up red faced with anger. "Your sins will be Judged by Ramuh!"


    "Order! Order!" The speaker banged his hammer a few times before the Hall quietened down. "Both sides have their points! We shall take a vote!"


    "All in favour of the Crusade shall raise their hands!" The speaker called out.


    There was a mumble of voices as several hands were raised but the majority of the Grand Jury remained still. The speaker nced over the raised hands and mentally calcted the numbers before he continued. "And those not in favour?"


    More hands were raised and the Speaker nodded before he dered, "To waste is a sin... The Crusade into the New World shall be halted at once."


    "Your Excellency!" A female voice suddenly spoke out. Heads turned and they saw a female wearing the mask and robes of the Inquisitor standing up and addressing the speaker. "I have a confession to say."


    "Go on," The speaker waved his hammer at the Head of the Inquisition. "Confess."


    "I have received word that the Iron Kingdom... Iron King," She grimaced at the title as if they were distasteful to her tongue. "Has fallen ill..."


    "Life and death," The speaker shook his head. "All is part of the cycle of Judgement. What of it?"


    "The Crown Prince is missing and the next most likely sessor is being plotted against and also currently missing," The Head Inquisitor said. No one could see her expression behind her mask but everyone could feel she was smiling. "Word hase to my ears that the Tri State is rallying an invasion force in response to having their Duchess of Thunderbolt being held captive without reason."


    "What do thesewless infidels have to do with us?" The speaker frowned.


    "The dragon abominations and their heretic worshipers are also on the move..." The female inquisitor added. "And that most foul creature of the Suugons... All their eyes are on the Iron Kingdom!"


    "Interesting..." The speaker''s eyes glittered with curiosity. "But why should we be interested with the infidels from the Iron Kingdom?"


    "Because of what is inside the vaults of their flying ind that had returned..." The head inquisitor''s eyes turned to crescents as she giggled. "There is enough magic crystals inside to meet our needs for Judgement Day!"


    Her words seemed to send a bolt of electricity through everyone. Fervent eyes stared at the inquisitor and even the speaker who was close to seventy summers suddenly seemed to have reborn and filled with energy as he jolted to his feet. "Truth?"


    "Truth!" The head inquisitor replied calmly. "My people have seen the vaults with their own eyes and sworn to be Judged if they were found false!"


    "With our own stored amount of magic crystals and together with what is inside that flying ind," The head inquisitor smiled underneath her mask. "It is more than enough to bring Judgement Day down!"


    "Finally!" The speaker started shaking with excitement. Heughed wildly as he cried out, "By the Judgement! Finally! Judgement Day shall be upon us! All the sinners andwless shall be judged by hising!"


    "Ramuh watches over us!" The speakerughed. "Once the otherwless start their little fight, we on the side of Justice shall bring them all into our fold to be Judged! Our days of being sinners shall be over!"


    "All of you!" The speaker stared at the feverish faces of the Grand Jury. "Ready the faithful! We must get those mana crystals! Judgement Day muste!"


    "FOR JUSTICEEE!"


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom


    Several dark figures stealthy sprint across thendscape, their footsteps barely making tracks or noise on the undergrowth. They darted from one tree branch to another in the forest and kept to the rocks in the open.


    The leading figure suddenly paused and raised a hand, which caused the others to halt too. He took out a scroll from his slung bag and apass like device that had hundreds of characters drawn in a circle around the needle in the middle.


    He ced thepass over the scroll and started chanting beneath his breath before his eyes snapped open. The needle spun wildly before it stabilized and pointed firmly in one direction. The scroll on the other hand crumpled in ashes as its magic was used up.


    The robed elf with a sword slung over his back stood up and looked in the direction of the needle. He followed the direction and saw in the distance in the skies, an airship painted in an eye catching rainbow of bright colors. He kept thepass and dusted his hands off the ashes of the scroll before he made a few quick gestures and pointed at the airship.


    Without a word, the others sprint off towards the colorful airship in the sky. The elf nced around his surroundings before he too took off after the airship, his speed and stamina almost inhuman.

 Chapter 617: The City Of Ashmere

    Chapter 617: The City Of Ashmere


    "Home!" ire Banner cried out with tears of joy as the recognizable silhouette of the city appeared over the horizon. The city of Ashmere, ringed within an imprable wall of iron and topped with hundreds of chimneys and smoke stacks spewing smoke and steam, was shrouded in a grey haze.


    Dozens of freighter airships buzzed around the city''s air space, marking the busy city as a vibrant and important manufacturing hub of the region. As a testimonial of the city''s brutal efficiency, permission for the Old Ugly to dock at one of the fields was handled smoothly and before the air ship''s docking legs touched the field, several customs officials were already waiting for the Old Ugly to began inspections and payments of taxes and services.


    The customs officials did their usual checks and collected the fees before departing. ire stood at the edge of the Old Ugly exit ramp and felt tears gathering in her eyes. Professor Hamlot and the rest stood behind her and they wished her well as she gave a deep bow of goodbye to everyone.


    ke watched the on goings from the bridge, seeing the young girl apanied by the Professor leaving the ship. He shook his head, thinking back about how this mess got started but he knew that the girl, the Professor and the two other kids were not at fault for Sherene''s abduction.


    "Start working with the local merchants for resupply," He ordered after casting ast nce at the girl. "Our next stop will be the Capital of the Iron Kingdom. It will be just a two day detour but make sure all our coal bunkers are filled up."


    -----


    ire stepped through the wide iron gates of the city and waves of nostalgia hit her. The soot stained walls, the loud hissing and whistles of steam and the sharp acidic smell mixed with scents of burnt fats and ash in the air all brought back memories of her childhood. Professor Hamlot escorted the girl while he nced around curiously at the stores and houses that lined the main street.


    She saw the familiar little steam workshop tucked away at one corner of the busy street. Piles of discarded machine parts and junk formed a small mound next to the rusted steam jack that somehow still remained discarded at the same spot all these years. She recalled working on that steam jack with her brothers and learning the basics of the trade.


    A tall muscr elf wearing a leather apron stood behind an anvil and pounded heavily at a piece of machine part. The rhythmic pounding brought tears to ire''s eyes as she race into the shop and hugged her father. "Father! I am back!"


    ire''s father dropped his hammer in shock and the surprise turned to happiness as he hugged his daughter back. "My Gods! My child! You are alive and well!"


    "Father I missed you!" ire cried out in happiness.


    "Where have you been for the past two years?" Her father asked. "Your school said something about an ident and everyone in your ss was dead or missing!"


    "Its a long story!" ire replied and gestured to the patiently waiting Professor Hamlot. "This is my Professor from the school."


    "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mister Banner," Professor Hamlot greeted and introduced himself. "I am Professor Hamlot, her teacher in the studies of history."


    "Come ine in!" Mister Banner quickly invited the Professor and the daughter which he hasn''t seen for two years into the shop. "ire! Your brothers are working at the airship factory and won''t be back until night falls."


    Both ire and the Professor sat down in the tiny kitchen while ire''s father closed the shop. When he returned, ire and the Professor gave an exnation regarding ire''s disappearance and the events afterwards. ire''s father nearly fell out of his chair when he heard of the adventures and the dangers his daughter had been through. He hugged his daughter tightly and promised ire that he would make sure she will not disappear again from his life again.


    Professor Hamlot soon bid farewell to the father and daughter and he left to return to the ship which would depart to the Capital the next morning. After witnessing the touching reunion, Professor Hamlot felt a sense of loneliness in his heart as he has no family or much friends to return to. With a heavy sigh, he headed back to the ship with his escorts, unknown to him that several figures hidden in the shadows were eyeing the shop.


    -----


    "Go!" Themand came sharply. Instantly, the figures around the person giving the order seemed to half vanished into the air and they reappeared several feet away before the front of the steam workshop. Breaking quietly into the close shop was easy for these people and restraining the father and daughter couple inside, easier.


    The leader of the thirteen shadow warriors of the Dark Moon Hall stepped into the store and looked upon the horror stricken faces of the father and daughter. He turned his attention to the girl and asked, "Is the Prince on board the ship you just left?"


    "I- I don''t know!" The girl cried out. "I- I am... just a passenger! I know nothing of the Third Prince!"


    Dressed in a grey white simple martial robe, he looked like a soft student schr of the Suugon Dynasty. His soft features made him looked harmless, except for the sword carried on his back and the smile on his face that did not match the murderous intent in his eyes. After a moment, he dropped his frown and smiled instead, "I believe you!"


    "But... I did not mention which Prince it was..." The soft schr looking leader said with a wide smile. "Well, it doesn''t really matters... You will tell me what I need to know... and don''t worry... Everyone always tells me what I need to know in the end!"


    The girl opened her mouth to scream but something hit her at her back and she felt her muscles cramp up and cutting off her off before she could even start. Her father roared and tried to get between the shadow warriors and his daughter but was knocked out with a swift blow to his neck.


    "Now tell me... all about the Third Prince! Everything... Little... Thing!"


    -----


    The mood on board the Old Ugly was low after the departure of the girl, ire. In the short time on board, she had bonded with the crew, especially the goblins in the under decks. Dr. Sharon had even cried and dumped a whole of farewell presents onto the girl before she retreated into the medbay to cry some more.


    Even the few Oerkin Marines were affected by her departure. Only ke and the Third Prince seemed untouched by it all, continuing on with his duties andmand of the ship. The Third Prince had been quietly nosing around the areas he was permuted to go and doing his best to gather information from the crew.


    Trism had ced several of his Naval Intel spooks to watch and report his actions and the report nowid open on ke''s office table. He left the report on the table after finishing it and wondered how to make use of this person. Clearly the Third Prince was smart enough to have suspected that the Old Ugly was more than what it seemed. Would the Third Prince even cooperate with them after they delivered him safely to the Capital or would he negate on his promises and even steal the Old Ugly away.


    "What do you think?" ke asked as he gestured to the report. "Will he keep his promises?"


    "So far from what limited information I have gathered," Trism replied. "The Third Prince does have a reputable character of honoring his promises. There barely are any bad rumors of him indulging in vices, but he is known to be an ardent big game hunter."


    "A few years ago, he had incur the wraith and hatred of the Dragon Lords for hunting dragons," Trism said. "He is also known to strongly advocate strongly industrialization of steam power on a national level which seemed to offend most of the older more tradition magical lineages... Other than that, there isn''t other negative rumors on about him."


    "So we can ce our bets on him?" ke mused out loud to which Trism gave a hesitant nod.


    "Well, I do not fully trust the Third Prince," Trismmented. "But he is the fastest way for us to get information within the Protectorate and also support within the Iron Kingdom."


    "How about the Dragon Lords?" ke asked. "We do have Saphia in our hands. Will they cooperate with us if we return her?"


    "Maybe," Trism frowned. "But... we did destroy an entire fleet worth of their people and ships, not to mention their allies'' fleet too..."


    "Even if we returned Saphia to them, I doubt she has any decision making power nor influence among the Dragon Lords," Trism confessed. "I wouldn''t take that risk and also, we need to travel an extra month or so to even reach the borders of the Domain of the Dragons... And top off another couple of weeks to get to their Capital..."


    "Too much wasted time to get an unknown reaction from the Dragon Lords," Trism finished it off. "The better and more logical choice to bet on, will be on the Third Prince..."


    ke nodded before he said, "Take precautions still, we have been betrayed and careless before... Let''s repeat our mistakes."


    "Yes, Sir!" Trism saluted. "I will ensure that the crew knows the risks and will be ready for anything!"


    -----


    The field housing the airships docked was cloaked in darkness with spots of light spaced far and wide between. Bored and sleepy guards hurdled around the fire to keep warm while sounds of revelry could be hearding from the nearby taverns and pubs.


    Over a dozen shadows seemed to ooze out of the darkness and attach themselves against the hull of the gaudy colored airship parked on the field. Only a few ship board lights lit the external of the ship but the figures kept well in the dark.


    They bounced up the side of the ship with superhuman agility and made their way up the decks. To their surprise, they found no guards were outside on the decks and the hatches all seemed to be locked up tightly. Frowning, the leader of the Shadow Warriors hesitated in using force to break through the metal hatches for it would surely gather unwanted notice.


    But they were alreadymitted to their mission and they must kill the Third Prince before he returned to the Capital. The leader made a gesture and the other twelve Shadow warriors split up to search for more ways to enter the ship. After half an incense worth of time, the warriors returned and conversed in low voices. They had found another way in at the other side of the ship, through unlocked view port.


    The leader nodded and everyone headed straight to the unlocked viewport which barely allowed a slim person to slip into. One by one, they squeezed their way through the tiny round hole and found themselves in a dark cabin filled with a whole range of unknown items. They sneaked towards the cabin''s hatch under the guidance of a small glowmp and tested the hatch, finding it unlocked.


    Just as the leading warrior was about to open the hatch, a small sliding hatch on eye level suddenly slide to the side and two dark objects were tossed through the hole. The hatch slide shut with a loud nk followed by loud clicking sounds of the hatch being locked. The warriors surprised but on alert, leapt back away from the unknown objects just as they went off with a thunderous bark and shes of eye searing light.


    Instantly deaf and blinded, the warriors cried out in shock and pain as they were hit by two sh bangs and the concussion effect, amplified by the small cabin overwhelmed their senses, that a few of the warriors were knocked out cold.


    The hatch was undogged and several Marines poked their heads in andughed, "Looks like we caught ourselves some rats!"

 Chapter 618: Path to the Throne

    Chapter 618: Path to the Throne


    ke strolled into the interrogation cell and found Trism bent over one of the captives. The tied up prisoner vomited and gasped for air as Trism stepped back before he violently aimed a punch at the side of the prisoner, knocking the air out of his lungs.


    "Sir," Trism greeted the Captain while one of the Marine medics checked on the prisoner. "They are definitely here for the Prince."


    "The security detail picked up their movement on the infrared cameras and had been watching them nose around the ship," Marine Major Mills reported. "My boys have been watching them running around the outer decks trying to get in. And the way they are moving around, I doubt they are simple thieves..."


    "So we dropped them a red herring," Mills grinned. "A small entry in but no way out."


    "Gave them the taste of a couple of sh bangs," Mills continued grinning. "Easiest capture ever!"


    "Good job," ke replied with a smile. "So who are they and what do they want?"


    "As I said before," Trism dropped the cloth which he used to wipe his hands on the table and said. "I suspect that they are for the Prince, but looking at their facial features and dressing, I say they are from the Suugon Dynasty."


    "Why would the Suugon''s send killers after the Prince?" ke frowned. "Aren''t they like thousands and thousands of kilometres away on the other side of the continent?"


    "Well, I guess the Suugons are part of the plot against the Third Prince too..." Trism gave a shrug. "I work the prisoners overnight and hopefully, by morning we can have a clearer idea of what is going on here..."


    "Find out what their objective is," ke ordered. "And what is the target of their objective doing all this time?"


    "He''s hanging out at the officer mess ying cards with the rest," Mills replied. "I have also double the guards and patrols in the internal decks."


    "Continue to keep the ship on full lockdown," ke said to Mills before he turned to Trism. "I want a report in the morning on... this."


    "Yes, Sir!" Trism replied and he turned to the prisoner on the chair with a sigh. "Well, you made me have to work overtime and without sleep tonight... I hope you all will be ready for what is toe!"


    -----


    Third Prince Herod frowned as he threw the rectangr pieces of extremely firm and perfectly cut parchments on the table. Called cards, He could not identify what the pieces of parchment were made out of. The cards had exquisitely painted surfaces on both sides and the paintings were painted so vividly and exact that he could not tell the difference once all the cards were ced faced down and shuffled!


    On the other side of the cards were painted shapes and symbols, which he recognized as a form of arithmetic. And the fascinating game he was had learnt to y called Big Two, was something that required much thinking, bluffing, strategy, and even luck to win! If he could bring this strange and wonderful game to the masses, it surely would rece knuckle bone guessing and overturn the entire gambling industry!


    "Hehehehe!" Dr. Sharon giggled happily as she swept up the pot while the rest groaned.


    "Please go easy on us," Magister Thorn shook his head as he gathered the cards and started shuffling them with practiced hands. "We got a newbie with us!"


    "Well, take losing as paying school fees!" Dr. Sharon gave a wink to the Third Prince. "You will get better at the game and earn back those fees! Hehehe!"


    Prince Herod shook his head in amusement, he never met a female like this ''Doctor'' before who seemed to do things beyond traditions and norms. He gave his best charming smile and spread his hands wide open, "Well, I do beg the kinddy to be forgiving... My purse is not as heavy as I wish now... If this goes on, I might have offered my services as a Knight to the Lady!"


    "I don''t mind keeping a Knight," Dr. Sharon giggled. "Maybe I can start my own reserve harem! Haha!"


    "I think you have a bit too much of a drink," Magister Thornughed as he started handing out the cards. Laughter continued on around the table as the card game continued, none of the yers even knowing that an incident had happened until the next day.


    -----


    The City of Ashmere, Banner Steam Workshop


    Professor Hamlot knelt down next to the thin body covered by a blood soaked nket that had long turned ck from the dried blood and held the hand of the girl that was once full of life. He closed his eyes as he forced back the tears. He stood up and bored city guard soldiers came over and carried the bodies of the father and daughter away to the funeral furnaces.


    "Those bastards!" A raging me erupted within the heart of the Professor as he stormed back towards the airship. "They shall pay for this!"


    He made his way up to the bridge of the airship and met with ke. "Captain... Those... Monsters! What will you do with them?"


    "We are still gathering information from them," ke replied. "I understand your fury and rest assured, they will get what they deserved."


    "How could they do this to a child?" Professor Hamlot groaned at his anger and helplessness. "She... She survived all this to return home to her family and it''s... just gone!"


    ke ced aforting hand on the mourning Professor''s shoulder and said in a determined tone, "This is why I want to change this world... There is too much sadness and despair here..."


    "Get some rest and steel your heart, Professor," ke added. "This won''t be thest tragedy you will experience!"


    ke left the grieving Professor and found the incognito Third Prince waiting for him outside the Bridge. The Prince paused in his pacing and spoke in a low angry voice, "Captain? A moment of your time?"


    ke nodded and they stepped to an empty passageway. The Third Prince towered over ke by almost half a head and had body of muscles that was twice the size of ke''s thin frame. His aggressive stance made the Marine escorts growl in warning and the Third Prince stared deep into the disinterested eyes of ke before he let out a curse under his breath and backed off.


    "Give me those you captured that had hurt the girl!" He spat with barely suppressed anger. "I will avenge her soul!"


    ke shook his head and before he replied, "Take a queue number."


    "What?" Prince Herod frowned, his handsome features turning deadly still. "What did you say?"


    "You are not the only one who wants a piece of those scum," ke exined, unfazed by the level of fury directed his way. Any lesser being would had long submitted to the fury radiated by the Third Prince. "And... her and her father''s blood is in your hands."


    The Third Prince paused in his retort as he stared at ke, a sense of guilt creeping into his heart. He knew he was the cause of her death and he wanted to channel all that guilt and anger into the ones that killed her. He just did not expected to be confronted directly and by the Captain of the Old Ugly no less.


    He found the Captain ke of the Old Ugly to be a cold uncaring person that seemed to have no emotions, yet the crew seemed to worship him. Facing him now, Prince Herod felt the person staring back at him was staring right into his soul and a shiver went down his spine.


    "If you were more truthful and open to us, her tragedy could have been resolved," ke continued on. "If you want to me someone, me yourself and your enemies for this."


    "You..." Prince Herod was surprised. "What do you know?"


    "At least, I know your identity isn''t what you imed," ke replied. "As for why these people came here, we are certain they are clearly after you."


    "You... are right," Prince Herod seemed to dete as all the anger dispersed. "I am the Iron Kingdom Third Prince, Herod Starsky."


    ke nodded and Prince Herod shook his head as he asked, "So you knew?"


    ke nodded again, "Of course, if not, why would we even allow someone who just ims to be the Chief Knight of the Prince on board the ship without any questions?"


    "I- I see..." Prince Herod replied in a small voice. "I wanted to keep my identity a secret."


    "Apparently, not secret enough," ke cut in. "These group we caught came from the Suugon Dynasty... But who are they and why they were sent, we still have no idea..."


    "But what we do know, they have the ability to track you even doth when we are traveling in the air..." ke said. "These means they have some means to track your whereabouts."


    "Still, to be truthful, her death is something no one has expected," ke gave a rarefort to the Prince. "We do not know how they tracked you... But they must have been following us for sometime since we left the borders..."


    "The Suugon..." Prince Herod frowned before he said. "I read of a Suugon spell that could track a person''s rough position by magical means."


    "But... You would need something like blood or hair of the person," Prince Herod said. "The Suugon clearly tracked me by this method..."


    "Wait..." ke''s dead eyes suddenly red with life as he grapped the Prince''s arm, the strength of his grip surprising the Prince. "Did you say there is a magic that can track a person?"


    "Yes..." Prince Herod nodded. "I read it somewhere in the sealed library vaults of the Arcanium of Steamworks and Magicst time..."


    Hope ignited in ke''s heart as he heard the Prince''s words. "I see..."


    ke''s mind raced as possibilities and ns started to form and fall into ce in his head. After a moment of silence, he turned around and faced the Prince and said, "I will like to suggest an alliance between us."


    "An alliance?" The Prince was surprise for the word used was alliance rather than a deal or promise. An alliance would meant that this Captain ke was someone high up belonging to a powerful faction or nation. His surprised turned to suspicion as he asked. "What kind of alliance?"


    "One that will ensure you onto the throne of the Iron Kingdom," ke replied. "And of course, an alliance with me, will also ensure the prosperity of your nation for the next hundred years!"


    His big words made the Prince dropped his jaw, "Prosperity for the next hundred years? What kind of power is that? Who are you truly?"


    "Soon, in time, you will know," ke said. "For now, it is still too early to tell you. So... Are you in or out? This will be a one time offer..."


    Prince Herod rubbed his unshaven chin in thought and wondered what kind of backing does this weak looking Captain has. He thought back on the capabilities of the unassuming airship and wondered if they had steamworks equal to the best steam smiths of the Cartel to boast that way. But even so, to promise one a hundred years of prosperity was like casting a long forgotten divine blessing over thend which he would never believe one has the power to do so.


    He observed the Captain, seeing him more animatedpared to earlier after he mentioned the tracking spell of the Suugon and wondered could he be searching for someone. Finally he asked, "Could that tracking spell be some important to you?"


    "Yes," ke replied without hesitation. "For that spell, I shall ensure your path to the throne!"


    "I... I agree!" Prince Herod finally gave in, knowing that he has no one to trust in the Capital as he did not know who his enemies were, now that even the Suugons were thrown in. At least, he trusted the cold blooded Captain. "I agree to an alliance with you!"

 Chapter 619: Invading the Iron Kingdom

    Chapter 619: Invading the Iron Kingdom


    ke stared at the te sized object in his hand. It looked like some old Chinese Fengshuipass except it had multiple needle hands instead and covered with runes and scripts of arcane nature. He turned it left and right, but thepass needles remained unmoving. Finally, unable to decipher the arcanepass, he ced it back down into a foam lined case.


    "Did they say anything about this?" ke asked Trism who carefully secured and closed the case. "Like how to use it?"


    Trism shook his head, "The interrogation is still ongoing."


    "Already, five of the thirteen had killed themselves," Trism sighed. "There were no signs of poison or anything, but Dr. Sharon''s autopsy showed massive internal injuries, their hearts and veins ruptured... Somehow, they could use some kind of magic or ability to self destruct themselves..."


    "The remaining eight, we put them on a numbing agent, which keeps them sedated and confused," Trism exined. "While it is slower in extracting information, it at least keeps them alive for now..."


    "What we can be sure of, is that they are Suugons," Trism said. "And what little they revealed under interrogation tells us that the Third Prince is their target. As for the reason why, so far, no one is saying anything."


    "Keep at it and also find out what you can on this..." ke gestured to the case. "It might be the key to helping us locate my wife without the need for boots on the ground inside Protectorate territory."


    "Yes, Sir!" Trism nodded before he added. "Sir, is it wise to reveal our hand to the Third Prince so early?"


    "He is the fastest way into that restricted area inside the Grand Library of theirs," ke said. "And with a formal alliance, we can move openly within the Iron Kingdom."


    "Only if he survives and bes the Crown Prince..." Trism shook his head. "We still don''t even know who the major yers of this plot are."


    "It doesn''t really matter," ke smiled coldly as he quoted, "In face of superior firepower... All plots and schemes are moot!"


    -----


    The Old World, Capital of the Iron Kingdom,


    "Lord Uncle!" The chubby faced elf with arge potbelly greeted the new arrival when the doors opened. The fat elf was dressed in soft rich clothes and jewellery that showed off his wealth. His elegant long golden hair bounded up with a golden sp did not match the folds of fat around his round face and small beady eyes.


    "Prince Najja!" An tall elf with a dignified bearing strolled through the opened doors had greying hair and despite the wrinkles on his face and hands, each step he took was full of vigor. "How is my royal nephew doing?"


    The Second Prince of the Iron Kingdom beamed happily until his eyes were nearly covered by the fats on his face. He patted his belly andughed, "Lord Uncle, I am doing well as you can see!"


    Lord Sincia shook his head at the sight of his nephew''s body shape and turned to greet the rest of the nobles in the chamber one by one. After the traditional greetings werepleted, he sat down on the head of the table with the Second Prince on his right.


    "Now, as you all know... The Third Prince has either gone into hiding or someone got to him before us," Lord Sincia''s earlier jovial countenance has changed. Now he was all business like as he addressed the nobles around the table. "Now, we need to ensure two things."


    "First, we need to find out who made the move against the Third Prince," Lord Sincia stated. "And secondly, if the Third Prince has gone into hiding, we must find him first before his own people find him."


    "But if he could be hiding anywhere!" One of the nobles pointed out. "And if we move our forces, the other side will surely know something is up!"


    "h!" The Second Prince sneered as he stuffed some sweet nuts into his mouth. "That is easy, just let the word out about our royal father''s current condition. He will surely rush to return to the Iron Pce to see him!"


    Lord Sincia nodded and said, "That is one method to get him out of hiding."


    "I will spread the word out," One of the nobles quickly volunteered. "As long as he is alive and in a city or town, he will surely hear of the Iron King is ill!"


    "We will post our people around the Gates and the Iron Pce to watch for the Third Prince," The other nobles quickly promised. "He will not slip in without us not knowing!"


    "Make sure you intercept him before he gets into the Iron Pce!" Second Prince Najja added. "There must be no witnesses too! Handle this well... And when I sit upon the Iron Throne, all of you shall be greatly rewarded!"


    "Yes, your majesty!" The nobles bowed and saluted. "By your Iron Will, we obey!"


    "Go! Your future Iron King has spoken," Lord Sincia waved his fellow conspirators away. "Prince Herod must die!"


    -----


    The Eastern Border between the Iron Kingdom and the Tri State


    Silver glittered under the moonlight as ship after ship floated silently towards the forts lining the border of the Iron Kingdom. The airships artistically built and shaped like ornate swords, made use of the wind to silently approach the border under the moonlight.


    As the fleet of airships approached the forts, just barely ten ship lengths to the nearest watchtower, there was a sudden sh as an illumination ballista was fired into the night skies. The fuzzing glow of the burning ballista bolt illuminated a pair of Tri State airships as the bolt passed between them.


    Almost instantly, bells started ringing and the rm was passed down the border. The Tri State fleet as if angered by the discovery, let out a series of loud hiss cracks and the sides of the airships were immediately covered by arge of white puffy clouds as steam cannons were discharged.


    Unlike convention gunpowder cannons, the steam cannons when discharging released no mes, making it hard for the gunners on the watchtower to return fire. Instead, themps and torches of the watchtowers were like beacons for the Tri State airships, giving them a point of reference to fire on.


    Steam heated projectiles mmed through wood and shattering into deadly shrapnel against stone and metal. The Iron Kingdom border guards were mostly unprepared for the sudden invasion and years of peace between the Tri State and the Iron Kingdom further made the guardscent.


    Ballista towers were systemically demolished one by one, most of them not even fully manned. The squadron of Iron Kingdom airships barely even put up a fight, with most of the Commodore ordering the ships to scatter and bring word of the treacherous attack to the other garrisons. Many of the guards fled in panic from the aerial bombardment and just two turns of the sand ss, an entire twenty kilometre stretch of defences was shattered and broken.


    Like a broken dam, airships from the Tri State 18th Fleet and 22nd Fleet burst through the border, the 18th wheeling left while the 22nd wheeled right to widen the gap. By the time dawn broke, the breach in the defence line extended until fifty kilometres, with only nine ships out of eighteen of the 18th and seven ships out of seventeen of the 22nd falling out due to heavy battle damages.


    On the Iron Kingdom side, a gap of fifty kilometresid wide open, with over five hundred dead and three thousand soldiers in retreat. Over a hundred ballista towers were destroyed, thousands of stores and supplies were captured or destroyed including seven airships captured on the ground intact, eleven disabled and two destroyed during take off. Over sixteen IK airships had shattered, bringing word about the invasion, but the lightning fast attacks of the Tri State had forced the Iron Kingdommanders to respond toote.


    Tri State ground forces swept in after the breach was made, capturing supplies and taking prisoners. Workers swarmed over the captured bases and repairs were made to damaged or destroyed infrastructure, to be used by the Tri State forces. The captured airships were repainted and reserve manpower used to crew them, while the damaged and repairable ships underwent repairs. Those captured IK ships wouldter be used to defend the captured bases.


    Furthermore, the captured supplies would be used to supplement their own, reducing the strain on their own supply lines. The Tri State''s 25th, 28th and 31st Fleet, each with a size of sixteen to eighteen fast attack sky cruisers, became the main thrust into the Iron Kingdom, aiming straight for the location where the Duchess of Thunderbolt and her people was being held.


    The sky generals of the Tri State knew that the rescue of the Duchess was secondary and just a cover for the Emperor to expand into the Iron Kingdom. The main objective was to grab as muchnd as possible and hold it before suing for peace!


    -----


    News of the invasion spread rapidly throughworks of fast courier airships. Despite the Iron King being bedridden and ill, the topmanders and the Chancellor of the Iron Kingdom quickly deployed their forces to counter the Tri State. Some of the nobles argued amongst themselves, pushing me of the invasion onto one another while some called for the release of the Duchess of Thunderbolt to appease the Tri State''s Emperor.


    Others were baffled by the speed and quietness of the preparations made by the Tri State as none of the spies nor were there even rumors of the massing of supplies, troops and ships of the Tri State. Normally, any movement of any one of these items would send trigger merchants and rumors flying faster than a steam projectile. Yet, all was quiet and the invasion took them by surprise.


    The Iron Kingdom shared its borders with four nations, The Protectorate to the North West, the Domain of Dragon on the North, the Tri State on the West, and the Cartel to the South. Due to this, its defences had to split into four major areas, with the majority of the Iron Kingdom''s forces allocated against the Protectorate.


    The defence strategy of the Iron Kingdom is simple, the border defence lines were not designed to stop an invasion, merely to slow the invasion. It also served to deter illegal migrants during peacetime. In theory, should the linee under attack, relief forces will be activated behind the lines, and reinforce the border defences where they were needed.


    In practice, it did not work as nned. Years of peace, friendly rtions with the Tri State and rising maintenance costs had themanders rebased the airships and their crews together with the border defence''s troops, to cut costs. Common operating procedure was to have ready boilers on a third of the fleet, but further cost cutting measures brought that number down to just a pitiful two ships.


    And with the border guards turning ck over the years, even standing watch duties were reduced. Not only that, with the Protectorate constant skirmishes on the North Western borders, more and more troops and materials were diverted away towards the more troubled border.


    Now dozens and dozens were airships stored in hangars of regional Lords were towed out and the militia hastily assembled. Merchant crews were also conscripted directly to crew the airships while the call of arms for troops was being sounded throughout the kingdom. In the days toe, the price of food and other necessities immediately rose and royal highways became clogged with both fleeing people and the military.


    In the skies, airships formed into formations and sped off towards the east to block the invasion. And in the midst of all these events, an old and gaudy painted airship was heading to the Capital of the Iron Kingdom, still blissfully unaware of the war.

 Chapter 620: The Seven

    Chapter 620: The Seven


    The Old World, Protectorate of Ramuh,


    The female masked Inquisitor paused in her steps and looked over the battlement at the field packed with soldiers and airships. The field was outside the church walls wasrge enough to hold an entire fleet of airships and it was not the only field to do so. All over the country, simr scenes were unfolding as more and more ships and troops were marshalled.


    "Chief Inquisitor Nerissa! Justice be upon you!" A pdin gave a prayer salute to the Chief Inquisitor and handed a scroll over. "A message from the highest order!"


    Chief Inquisitor Nerissa nodded and epted the scroll. She unfurled it and scanned through its contents rapidly before she tossed the scroll to one of her aides. Sheughed as she turned her attention back to the field and said, "Send the order down, it is time to assault thewless ones!"


    The message which informed her of the current state of affairs in the Iron Kingdom made her mood extremely good. The whole Protectorate has been waiting for this moment for generations. Supplies and weapons have been stockpiled while troops were constantly trained and warships built just for this day.


    A tremendous amount of magic crystals was required to empower the Grand Array to bring about Judgement Day and due to this reason, the will of the faithful could not bring justice to the entire world. But now, there was hope, and that hope was found inside the flying ind of thewless kingdom of iron! There was something more important and powerfulpared to the magic crystals found inside.


    But the Grand Jury only have eyes for magic crystals and the Judgement Day Grand Array. The Chief Inquisitor smiled to herself as she knew if she released news of the magic crystals, the Grand Jury would surely move all their forces to take those magic crystals. What she was after was beyond that, for the flying ind brought back something else, unknown to all except for the Inquisition Judges has foretold it. There was a piece of the Seven there!


    Inquisitor Mathias had brought back three of the Seven, and with the Inquisition holding another three, they have a total of six of the artefacts. Too bad about the fate of Mathias and Rism, both were exceptional Inquisitors and she watched and pitted them against each behind their backs to simte their growth but both have gone missing in the New World. It was a real pity, but talent could always be trained and the matter of the Seven was greater than anything.


    The Inquisition Judges had suddenly felt the pull of the final piece and with great cost and difficulty, located the final pieceing from the direction of the Iron Kingdom. Inquisition spies that lurked outside thewlessnds, had gathered enough intelligence to pinpoint the final piece of the Seven was actually on board the flying ind that returned from the New World.


    The disappearance of thewless has to be something to do with the piece of the Seven as, without proper seals and handling, its power was deadly to the arrogant. The Grand Jury has no idea of the Seven Artifacts, for it was only mentioned in sacrilege texts confiscated by the Inquisitions over the years.


    The Seven Artifacts came from the period of the Age of Gods where Ramuh the Just was the only Greater God that survived. The deeds of the other Old Gods were sketchy, only with bits of records still surviving spoke of many who had fallen in the war with the New Gods. The Seven Artifacts seemed to be rted to the Seven Old Gods, as discovered by the Inquisition, many generations ago.


    There were eight Greater Gods that watched over the Old World in the past. Ramuh the Just was the God of Creation and Justice, Aster the Beautiful was the Goddess of Love and Wisdom, nes the Heavy was the God of Mountains, Halea the Warm was the Goddess of Spring and Nature, Ultron the Fierce was the God of Summer and Fire, Morgen the Sad was the Goddess of Autumn and Light, Nader the Cold was the God of Winter and Water, and finally, Kragon the Grim, was the God of Death and Promises.


    Each of the Greater Gods has its own domain and worshipers, and not only that, the Gods jealously guarded their own followers and waged religious wars to gain more converts. After the war with the New Gods that came from another realm, all the Greater and Lesser Gods seemed to fade away into history and only Ramuh the Just remained prominent in the Old World.


    But Ramuh the Just had fallen silent through the ages and each generation of the Grand Jury believed that the Grand Array will bring about Judgement Day which will rekindle the fires of justice into the entire world. The Protectorate would then march across the entire known world and bring thewless into the fold of Ramuh and with the surge of faith, Ramuh the Just would be awakened from His slumber!


    The Chief Inquisitor knew deep inside, that such a move was not guaranteed to seed as she knew the will and faith of thewless were weak. Even if they repent and devoted themselves to Ramuh, their ingrained greed and gluttony would only taint the true followers of Ramuh!


    After rising to the position of Chief Inquisitor, Nerissa was given ess to all the secrets of the Inquisition and the Protectorate. The previous Chief Inquisitor personally handed over a sacred duty and the secrets of the Seven Artifacts were passed on to her.


    For each generation that took on the role of Chief Inquisitor, he or she would take over the sacred duty of finding the Seven. Only each Chief Inquisitor knew that the Seven Artifacts were not just a powerful divine artefact, but were actual containers that imprisoned the other Greater Gods!


    Seven Artifacts, one for each God and Goddess. Ramuh the Just was the only God that remained in this realm, but the war with the other New Gods has damaged His divinity. The previous Inquisition''s Chiefs had all came to the same conclusion was that Seven Artifacts could be used to restore the slumbering Ramuh with the divinity of the imprisoned Gods.


    "Just a little time more!" Chief Inquisitor Nerissa whispered to herself. "Soon the all mighty glory of Ramuh shall shine upon the world once again!"


    -----


    The Old World, The Free City of Ender, Ivory Pce


    "We demand an apology andpensation for the lives and destruction wrought by your fleets!" Veins could be seen popping out from the side of the Iron Kingdom Ambassador as he shouted at the representative of the Tri State. "And an immediate retreat of all your forces or face the wrath of the Iron Kingdom!"


    "Release the Duchess and her ships!" The Tri State representative shot back. "We will not yield to your threats!"


    "So be it!" The Iron Kingdom Ambassador roared angrily, "War it is!"


    "Calm down, calm down!" The Ambassador for the Loose Confederation tried to appease both sides at the table. The rest of the representatives and ambassadors for the Great Nations remained quiet, watching the showdown between the Iron Kingdom and the Tri State. "We can work something out that benefits both sides and end this war!"


    "Sure! As long they return our Duchess, our people and ships," The Tri State statesman said sternly. "And a thousand stones weight of magic crystals! Then we will pull our forces back!"


    "HMPH!" The Iron Kingdom Ambassador let out a snort of disdain. "Your Duchess is involved in the disappearance of our Crown Prince! She must be investigated properly before her fate is to be decided! And a thousand stones weight of magic crystals? You must be dreaming!"


    The fat Green Dragon from the Domain of Dragonsid on his cushions and watched the argument with interest. His mouth never stopped moving as he threw piece after piece of sweet meats into his jaws. He nced over to the Suugon side and saw Lord Lei sitting calmly and sipping tiny cups of wine. Lord Lei seemed to noticed his nce and he looked back to the Green Dragon and gave a small barely noticeable nod.


    Dragon Lord Alder gave a small nod back in return before he turned his attention back to he bickering, but in his mind, he was trying to figure what the Suugons would gain by inciting a war between the Iron Kingdom and the Tri State. The current events were certainly caused by the plot against the Third Prince and the Duchess taken by the Iron Kingdom was just an excuse the Tri State used to mobilize their fleets.


    In fact, the Green Dragon was certain everyone here knew that, but were just keeping quiet. The true reason was for the invasion was the magic crystals found inside the flying ind! Despite all the efforts made by the Iron Kingdom to keep the contents inside the vaults of the flying ind hidden, the influx of magic was too strong and like a mighty beacon in the darkest of nights, everyone with even a tiny bit of magical ability could feel it in their blood despite the vast distances.


    This in turn made the Iron Kingdom the focus of interest by every nation. ns and plots were hatched, every nation wanting to get their hands on the horde of magic crystals. Out of the Seven Great Nations, only the Protectorate and the Cartel were sessful in gaining some resources from the New World. Suddenly now, the Iron Kingdom came into a great fortune that could tip the bnce of power in the Old World. This made the other nations jealous, worried, and greedy.


    "War it shall be!" The Tri State representative smiled coldly, but in his heart, heughed. His objective to gloat the Iron Kingdom into war has been sessful. "The Tri State hereby issues a formal deration of war with the Iron Kingdom!"


    The Iron Kingdom Ambassador''s eyes narrowed and he frowned, knowing that he had fallen into a trick of the Tri State. But nevertheless, he banged the table with his fist and said, "We ept!"


    He turned to the Cartel diplomat and asked, "Will the Cartel stand together with the Iron Kingdom?"


    The Cartel diplomat rubbed his thick beard before he shook his head, "Rock and stone! This is bad business! We want no part of this!"


    The Iron Kingdom Ambassador angrily turned his nce to the Suugon envoy who continued to sip his wine. He ced the wine cup down and gently shook his head, "The Eternal Emperor has no wish for wars to befall his subjects. We will not take any sides."


    The Green Dragon licked his ws and said, "The Domain of the Dragons will not join this folly either!"


    "Erm... the Loose Confederation will also be not involved in this... matter..." The Loose Confederation representative looked away from the re of the Iron Kingdom Ambassador in embarrassment.


    "Good! Very good!" The Iron Kingdom Ambassador red at everyone on the table before settling his re at the smiling Tri State representative. He jabbed a finger at the direction of the Tri State representative and growled. "I hope your damn Grand Marshal is prepared for this treachery!"


    He stormed out of the chambers. headed towards the Iron Kingdom wing of the Ivory Pce to ry the results of the meeting back to the Iron Kingdom through a very expensive magicmunication array.


    The only person that did not speak throughout the entire session was a crimson robed delegate from the Protectorate of Ramuh. He watched the entire fiasco without interest and kept chanting under his hood. He ignored everyone and the others also happily ignored him back, unwilling to have any contact with the fanatic Protectorate envoy.


    The Protectorate envoy only raised his head when the chamber emptied, leaving him alone inside. He mumbled another prayer to the Judge before he smiled, "These infidels shall soon be judged and justice shall once more prevail in this foulnd!"

 Chapter 621: Iron for Iron

    Chapter 621: Iron for Iron


    The view outside the Old Ugly was extraordinary as ke and the rest stared out from the bridge. Despite having heard of the Capital''s description from Professor Hamlot and his students, it did no justice to its grandeur. The Capital of the Iron Kingdom was three to four times the size of Haven back in the New World. Suburbs after suburbs spread out from the Iron Pce which was sited on a small hill that overlooked the entire sprawling city.


    A snaking river cut through the centre of the city and massive waterwheels could be seen here and there. Thousands of smokestacks from factories to workshops and steam boilers pointed to the skies and spewed out steam and dirty smoke while in the skies, there were hundreds of airships of all sizes, further cluttering the air.


    What made ke amazed was actually the several giant floating inds that was anchored to the ground by massive chains. Mansions and gardens could be seen on the top while some others were military in nature, judging by the number of watchtowers and airships parked on them. There were even some floating inds that were covered in a thick fog, their purpose unknown.


    The Iron Pce on the hill had walls of grey, even the towers and roofs were in grey and the streamers of gold, white and red flew from the tops of the spires stood out strikingly. Simrly, the perimeter wall of the city was grey and covered with gs and streamers of gold, white and red, the colours of the Iron Kingdom.


    Dozens and dozens of stub nose steam cannon barrels could be seen poking out from various points of the walls. As the Old Ugly approached the city, a couple of Iron Kingdom airships closed in and an officer from one of the ships using a speaking trumpet ordered the Old Ugly to heave to for boarding and inspection.


    ke nodded to the pilot while the Third Prince beside him was clearly impatient and worried. Ever since they picked up news of his father''s illness and of the sudden attack by the Tri State, he had been urging ke to sail faster to the Capital. As they approached the Capital, they spotted more and more airships in the air, and the highways below them were clogged full of people and wagons.


    The appearance of the Third Prince has changed too, no longer sporting his signature golden locks, instead, his hair had been dyed a simple dark brown. Under the skilful hands of Dr. Sharon, she used some simple makeup to turn the looks of the Third Prince to be more normal, even adding a mole on his cheek, causing his original good looks to drop a few points.


    The two Iron Kingdom airships came up next to the Old Ugly, one of them sliding up next to the ship while the other hovered nearby, its steam cannons out and ready. Boarding bridges were deployed and a troop of Iron Kingdom soldiers came on board. The officer in charge politely exined to Trism about the need for all these and apologized for any inconvenience caused.


    After that, the soldiers conducted a quick search of the airship and finding nothing out of the ordinary, the officer apologized again and warned them to avoid heading to the east where the Tri State were invading. After the two airships departed, the Old Ugly continued its way towards the Capital.


    "This is inconceivable!" Prince Herod frowned as he watched the departing airships. "Why would the Tri State attack us?"


    "It could be due to news of your missing brother, plus the health of your father and also you being missing," Trism said. "With all this going on, this is the weakest time for the Iron Kingdom."


    "Curse their ancestors!" The Third Prince growled. "When I takemand of the fleets, these Tri State upstarts will pay!"


    Prince Herod turned to ke and said, "Our alliance still holds? Will your backers move?"


    ke sighed softly before he said, "As long as we get what we want, you can rest assured we will keep our word."


    "Good!" Prince Herod nodded before he turned his attention out of the bridge towards the dull grey pce in the far distance. "We must hurry!"


    "Yes, we need to hurry," ke agreed softly, his eyes staring at the Prince''s back intently.


    -----


    The Old Ugly docked on one of the many fields outside of the city walls. Non military airships not belonging to the Iron Kingdom was not given permission to fly into or dock within the city walls, any ship breaking thatw would find itself blown out of the skies. Once all the usual fees and procedures were done, two parties departed the Old Ugly and entered the city.


    The party was made up of the Third Prince, ke, Dr. Sharon, Magister Thorn, Professor Hamlot and his remaining students and a dozen heavily armed Marines wearing unmarked temail led by Mills. The second party members consisted of Trism and his intelligence agents, who entered the city separately to gather intel.


    Their numbers did not even raise any eyebrows from the guards at the city guards as almost every group entering and leaving the city was apanied by arge retinue of guards. The only issue was therge entry fee needed as they did not have any Iron Kingdom identity passes, only the fabricated passes of the Loose Confederation.


    After the stricter checks than usual, they finally entered the city. Under Professor Hamlot''s advice, they hired three carriages pulled by horse like creatures to carry them into the inner city. Despite the clean and neat cobbled streets and housing, the air smells thickly of ash and burnt fats.


    The wide streets were packed with vehicles of all kinds, fromnd dragon carriages to steam wagons and even pedal powered carts. People hurried up and down the streets on their business and there was a tense mood in the air. Prince Herod was quiet throughout the journey, while Professor Hamlot and his students'' mood improved greatly now that they had returned home.


    They excitedly introduce ces they recognized to Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn while ke watched on, his thoughts unknown. Finally, they reached the inner gates and the remaining two students of the Professor bid farewell to everyone as they returned home. ke dispatched a pair of Marines to escort each of the youngsters and the party became smaller.


    "Another gate and we will reach the Royal District," Prince Herod said as he pointed towards the hill. "There, I can gather my men and Lords loyal to me and advance into the Iron Pce!"


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Iron Pce


    "My Lords," The Second Prince had a regretful expression on his pudgy face as he dramatically swept his arms around the council table. "With my beloved First and Third brothers missing, and with my two younger siblings still not of age yet..."


    "And my dear Royal Father''s health weakening," The Second Prince paused for a moment as if to control his emotions. "And now our enemies taking this opportunity to attack us..."


    "Our great nation can''t have no one to lead them at times of trouble!" He said with a rising voice while he pped his chest. "I, Prince Najja, shall take on the role of Regent, until the time my dear Royal Father recovers from his illness or my Royal Brother, the Crown Prince returns!"


    The gathered Lords and ministers mumbled among themselves while those of the Second Prince''s faction quickly agreed and called out their approval. As the neutral Lords and ministers of other factions debated among themselves, the Second Prince''s uncle and the younger brother to the Iron Throne stood up and dered, "I too, think that we need a leader and Prince Najja is of royal blood. He is the most candidate as Regent and Crown Prince!"


    "Nonsense!" Some of the factions hostile to the Second Prince''s cried out their objections. "Prince Herod has been nominated as the next sessor to the Crown Prince position!"


    "And where is Prince Herod when the kingdom is in need?" Lord Sincia asked with a frown. "Our great kingdom cannot be without a leader! Our King is ill, the Crown Prince is missing and enemies attacking us!"


    "I, Lord Sincia shall nominate the Second Prince, as the next Crown Prince!" He dered loudly. With this deration, the other Lords and ministers supporting the Second Prince stood up to dere their nominations. Despite his age, Lord Sincia red at those still seated and hesitating and roared at them, "What are you all waiting for? Waiting for our great kingdom to be swallowed up by those invaders?"


    One by one those still neutral, slowly stood up and gave their blessing to the Second Prince. Only those of the Third Prince''s faction remained in their seats, unease and worry on their faces. Lord Sincia red at those still seated,mitting their faces to memory before he smiled and went down on one knee, saluting the Second Prince. "All hail the Crown Prince! Iron for Iron!"


    "We salute the Crown Prince! Iron for Iron!"


    -----


    After the carriages cleared the inner gates, Prince Herod removed his disguise with the help of Dr. Sharon. Once more, his striking golden hair and good looks were revealed and he directed the carriage drivers towards the gates of the Iron Pce.


    The guards seeing the rental carriages approaching the gates haughtily stopped them and swaggered over, only to jump to attention when Prince Herod leaned out of the window and roared "Open the gates!"


    The guards recognizing their Third Prince both had looks of joy and horror as they leapt to hismand. "Yes, your Highness!"


    The drivers of the carriages were amazed and in awe when they realized who they were transporting. They drove the carriages with more care and came to a gentle stop at the main porte cochere. The royal doormen frowned at the scene and stepped forward to chase the dirty and shabby looking carriages away, "Servants and goods are to use the back entrance!"


    "Out of my way!" Prince Herod hopped out of one of the carriages, followed by the rest. "And pay them a gold crown each!"


    The stupefied doormen gaped at the Prince while the drivers cheered their luck and saluted the Prince, "Long live the Prince of Fire!"


    "Where are Lord Teller and the others?" He asked the first servants he bumped into inside the Pce. "Are they in the Governance wing?"


    "My Prince!" The maids bowed hurriedly. "All the Lords and ministers are in the Council Chamber..."


    "The Council Chamber?" Prince Herod had a feeling of unease. "Who else?"


    "T- The Second Prince is there too..." The maids replied softly, knowing that the two Princes were not on good terms. "And... Lord Sincia as well..."


    "Damn it!" The Third Prince cursed. He waved the maids away and turned to the rest who were watching and waiting behind. "We might have trouble..."


    "Who is this Lord Sincia?" ke asked calmly, his hands sped behind his back as he viewed the collection of artwork hanging on the walls.


    "He''s my Royal Father''s younger brother," Prince Herod replied. "He always had his eye on the throne and he is the one supporting and controlling my fat and useless Second Brother..."


    "I see," ke turned his eyes away from the painting. "I think you best hurry to this meeting..."


    Prince Herod gave a nod before he stormed off towards the Council Chamber with a deep frown on his face. In his heart, he got roughly guess what his royal uncle and his second brother are nning. He quickened his footsteps as he hurried down the corridors, ignoring the calls of greetings and salutes from the pce staff and guards.


    Finally, he reached the Council Chamber doors, the guards actually dared to block his path with halberds but they soon retracted their polearms after a sharp look from the Prince and with any pomp, he pushed the doors open, just in time to hear the Council''s salute.


    "We salute the Crown Prince! Iron for Iron!"

 Chapter 622: The Healer

    Chapter 622: The Healer


    Prince Najja was basking under the glow of the Iron Lords and ministers'' salute. He was finally beat all his brothers to the throne despite his half blood lineage! He stepped forward to the head of the chamber and exchange a knowing smile with his royal uncle and was about to give a rousing speech that was prepared for him to the entire Council when the doors mmed open.


    A figure stood at the doors, his golden hair glowing under the sun rays that shone through the windows. Despite the anger on his face, it only served to make his handsome look more defined. Recognizing the figure to be his third brother, Prince Najja''s jaw dropped and he stared in surprise and resentment.


    "What nonsense is this?" The powerful voice of the Third Prince echoed down the chamber. "Who is the Crown Prince?"


    Lord Sincia stood up and smiled in a grandfatherly way, "Prince Herod! It is good to see you are well! Your disappearance has greatly worried us all!"


    Prince Herod ignored his royal uncle words and instead he walked towards the head of the chamber and stood before his second brother. "You want to be Crown Prince?"


    Prince Najja''s face turned red with anger and he snapped, "The Council has voted me to be Crown Prince! I am the Crown Prince now!"


    "Tsk," Prince Herod shook his head and sneered. "A half blood wanting the Iron Throne?"


    He turned and faced the Council, "You all wish to put a half blood on the Iron Throne?"


    None of the Lords and ministers that voiced their support could meet his eyes. Prince Herod sneered again and shook his head, "I thought so."


    "You! Guards! Guards!" Prince Najja cried out as he hopped in anger, looking like some oversized balloon bouncing. "Take this disrespectful lout away!"


    The guards that entered paused in surprise as they saw who the Second Prince was pointing to. They hesitated on what to do and even nced at the nearby Lords and ministers for help but all of them averted their eyes away, not wanting to offend any party. Prince Najja''s face grew redder by the moment as he screamed at the guards, "What are you doing? I am the Crown Prince! Take this lout out and whip him a hundred times!"


    "HAHAHAA!" Prince Herod let out a peal of amusedughter and he stepped forward and grabbed the cor of his second brother before he half threw and shoved him to the ground. "Do you really think you have the abilities to lead the Iron Kingdom?"


    "O- Of course!" Prince Najja sputtered. "I can surpass you all! I will bring glory to the Iron Kingdom!"


    "Shut up, you worm!" Prince Herod hissed. "Or I will break every bone on your... body!"


    Prince Najja seeing the blood lust in his brother''s eye quickly kept his mouth close. Lord Sincia stepped forward and said with a frown, "Prince Herod, this behaviour of yours is unbing of a Prince!"


    "Prince Najja is now the Crown Prince, your actions are treasonous!" Lord Sincia added. "Guards! Take the Third Prince away!"


    Prince Herod red at the guards who hesitated again before turning to stare at Lord Sincia and he hissed, "I got no time to waste with this charade!"


    He turned to his supporters and asked, "Who is at the front lines?"


    "Sky Admiral Feth and Sky Admiral Rand, together with the 4th and 7th Iron Fleet," One of the Iron Lords wearing a military uniform quickly replied. "The 5th Iron Fleet is still been assembled at the rallying fields."


    Prince Herod nodded before walking away, ignoring the Second Prince and Lord Sincia. The red faced Second Prince cried out angrily at the insult, "Y- You! Stop him! Someone stop him!"


    A couple of the Second Prince''sckeyse over to block Prince Herod''s path received broken noses and bruised eyes for their loyalty. Prince Herod paused at the doors and nced back, giving a venomous re that made Prince Najja shivered and unconsciously take a step backwards. Prince Herod shook his head andughed before he walked off, heading towards the inner pce where the private chambers of the Iron King.


    ke and rest quietly watched the happening with interest and they followed the Prince out. The Third Prince''s supporters too left the Council Chambers and hurried after their Prince while those neutral also left, leaving the Second Prince, Lord Sincia and their supporters fuming alone in the chambers.


    "W- wait! I have not dismissed you all!" Prince Najja''s cries could be heard. "I am the Crown Prince!"


    As they walked down the hallways, Prince Herod suddenly slowed his steps and turned to Dr. Sharon and asked in a surprisingly humble tone, "Lady Sharon, your healing skills... Do you think you can heal my royal father?"


    Dr. Sharon gave a look at ke who nodded, before she replied, "I have to see what his condition is like first before I can say anything. No promises!"


    Prince Herod gave a nod and set off at a brisk pace again while his aides appeared around him after getting news of his return and started briefing him on the current situation of his businesses and affairs. Dr. Sharon fell back next to ke and whispered in a low voice, "The current situation doesn''t bore well for our Prince..."


    ke gave a small shrug before he answered, "A desperate man or elf will grab onto anything for help. And we are that help now."


    Dr. Sharon frowned at ke''s words. She leaned over and replied, "Still, would it not be dangerous to us if the Second Prince attacks us?"


    "I doubt he would do that in public," ke said before waving off her concerns. "See if you can heal the King, in the meantime, I will bring the rest to see if we can get what we want from the Grand Library."


    Prince Herod came to a halt before a pair of beautiful ornate doors and the guards saluted before pushing the heavy doors open. The hallway before them waspletely different from the ones they had just passed, as the decor was richer and more borate. The marble floor tiles changed to thick silk carpets and golden framed artwork and sculptures lined the hallway together with pairs of guards.


    "They are with me," Prince Herod spoke to the guards as they stepped forward to bar ke and his people. The guards gave a quick look over them before they stepped aside to allow them entry. The Third Prince turned to his own people and said, "Prepare our forces and start calling all favors owed to us."


    "Use whatever resources we have to pull those still neutral over to our side," Prince Herod quickly passed on his orders to his people. "And prepare a fast ship for me."


    With his orders given, he led the way towards the King''s private chambers. The King''s private chambers were even morevishly decorated but there was an air of gloominess inside. Several clerics and healers surrounded the huge golden bed and incense of some kind was burning, together with a couple of braziers and the firece. The cloy smelling increase smoke and the closed windows with covered curtains adding to the gloominess.


    The clerics and healers bowed to the Third Prince as he rushed over to the side of the bed. The King once full of vitality was now a former of his old self. He seemed to have more wrinkles, hisplexion pale and his face twisted as if in agony. Even his golden hair was turning white at the roots andy limp around the pillows.


    "How is he?" Prince Herod gently held the cold hand of his royal father into his and he tried to warm his royal father''s hands with his. "What happened?"


    "Reporting to your Highness," The senior most cleric gave another bow and said. "His Majesty has been overworked and with the disappearance of the Crown Prince and the news of plot against you... His royal body could no longer take the burden... Thus allowing evil spirits to possess his body..."


    "What can be done?" Prince Herod asked softly. "Can he be healed?"


    The clerics and healers looked at each other before the senior cleric said, "We havepleted the rituals to cast the evil away. Now it is up to the Gods..."


    "Rubbish!" Dr. Sharon hissed under her breath as she rolled her eyes at those quacks. She stepped forward and took out her medkit which she always carried around in a sling bag. "Your Highness? If I may?"


    Prince Herod quickly made way for Dr. Sharon. Seeing his royal fatherying all wilted up on the bed had made him forget about her. He hovered over her shoulder and asked in a worried tone, "Will you be able to cure him?"


    "Let check his vitals first," Dr. Sharon replied as she took out the tools of her trade from her kit. She pulled away the thick nkets covering the King and held the medical scanner over his chest and allowed the device to do its thing. Her actions made the clerics and healers gasped in shock at her disrespectful manner.


    "You! What do you think of are doing?" The senior cleric stepped forward to stop Dr. Sharon, only to be blocked by Prince Herod. "Your Highness? What are you doing? Who is she?"


    "She is a healer too," Prince Herod quickly vouched for Dr. Sharon''s identity and skills. "I brought her over to check on my royal father."


    "Even so, how can we allow someone of dubious skills to touch his Majesty?" The senior cleric was adamant in his stand. "What if she harms his Majesty?"


    "Let her check the condition of the King," Prince Herod shook his head at the clerics and healers'' protests.


    The medical scanner beeped softly and Dr. Sharon checked the screen before she kept the scanner away and ced a watch like device over the wrist of the King. Another few more series of beepster, she checked the stats on the screen before she nodded to herself and dered, "I can heal him."


    "You can?" The clerics and healers cried out shocked disbelief while Prince Herod was pleasantly surprised.


    Dr. Sharon nodded, "It will take some time, but I can heal the King, but he will need time to recover and a lot of rest."


    "Please save my royal father," The Third Prince took Dr. Sharon''s hands into his own and requested sincerely. "I will forever be in your debt!"


    "B- But your highness!" The clerics and healers quickly objected. "What can this young girl do when the entire Royal Apothecary couldn''t? Don''t be fooled by her!"


    "As you have said... The entire Royal Apothecary could not heal the King!" Prince Herod''s voice was soft but his re wasn''t. "This is a disgrace!"


    The clerics and healers lowered their heads at the rebuke. Prince Herod turned to Dr. Sharon and gestured for her to do her work. Dr. Sharon called over one of the Marines who was abat medic to assist her. An IV drip was set up to deliver essential nutrients and fluids into the King and Dr. Sharon took one of her few precious remaining few medical nanite shots out.


    The clerics and healers stared at the clear bottle of fluid with suspicious frowns and nearly rioted when they saw they poked a needle into the King''s arm. Only under the direct order of Prince Herod did they settle down nervously.


    Ignoring the looks of outrage from the clerics and healers, Dr. Sharon looked at ke for permission, and seeing his nod, she pressed the nanite injector against the neck of the King and jabbed him. Next, she directed the Marines to draw the curtains aside, open the windows to air the chamber and remove all the incense censers and the braziers which made the room overly warm.


    Again, the clerics and healers were affronted but without the Third Prince saying anything, they could only simmer their anger in silence. Finally satisfied with her work, Dr. Sharon stepped back and said, "The King''s body is weak now, that fluid will help recover some of his health. He should be able to wake up by tomorrow orter."

 Chapter 623: The Grand Library

    Chapter 623: The Grand Library


    "This is outrageous!" The senior cleric nearly screamed as he finally couldn''t control himself. He pushed Dr. Sharon away from the King''s bed and pointed a shaking finger at her. "I do not know what witchcraft you have used to bewitch the Third Prince, but you shall not harm the King!"


    Dr. Sharon''s face flushed red with anger and as she was about to retort, the doors of the King''s private chamber swung open. Prince Najja and Lord Sincia entered the chamber just in time to hear the usations of the senior cleric.


    Prince Najja quickly made use of that statement to denounce his brother. "Brother! How could you? Do you want to kill our royal father?"


    The clerics and healers quickly bowed to the Second Prince and Lord Sincia as they entered. Lord Sincia put on a worried look on his face as he looked over the King. He turned and gave such a fierce re at Dr. Sharon that she felt a chill down her spine. "You! What have you done?"


    Lord Sincia reached for the IV drip and was about to rip the tube off when Prince Herod grabbed his hand to stop him. Lord Sincia was no match for the iron grip of Prince Herod on his arm and he stepped back, rubbing his arm where red hand prints were forming. He red at Prince Herod and used, "Are you plotting treason against the King?"


    "I am trying to save my father!" Prince Herod growled as he stood between his uncle and the king. "Unlike somebody''s scheming for the throne when father is ill!"


    "Enemies surround us!" Lord Sincia calmly replied back. "And unlike someone who went off on a leisure hunt and disappeared... All this wouldn''t have happened!"


    "You know damn well what happened!" Prince Herod stepped forward in a menacing manner until he towered over his uncle. "Hiring people to kill me? Too bad, I survived!"


    "I have no idea what you are talking about!" Lord Sincia frowned. "Y-"


    A cough stopped Lord Sincia''s sentence mid way as his eyes went round with surprise. Prince Herod turned back and saw his royal fatherying on his bed awake and coughing, "Father!"


    The clerics and healers all were shocked as they no manner what kind of healing or medicine they used, even draining dozens and dozens of magic crystals for healing spells, they were unable to heal the King. Now, an unknown girl with unknown background could so easily heal the King''s illness made them all speechless.


    The King gave another cough before he had the strength to speak, "What is going on here?"


    He tried to get up but was too weak to do so. The clerics, healers, and servants quickly fussed over the King while Dr. Sharon watched from the side. Both Prince Najja and Lord Sincia had an uglyplexion which they quickly hide while Prince Herod had a look of joy.


    Finally, the senior cleric stepped forward after a long discussion with his colleagues and the healers. He bowed to the two Princes and Lord Sincia before he said, "The King is weak but his heart is strong, we do not know what methods that girl used... But... The King should be able to recover fully after a month of rest and proper food."


    Prince Herod turned to Dr. Sharon and bowed, "You have my deepest gratitude for saving my father! The Royal Family owes you a debt!"


    "Oh, you just have to allow Captain ke into the locked archives of the Grand Library," Dr. Sharon smiled. "That is part of the deal, remember?"


    "Yes! I will do so at once!" Prince Herod gestured one of the servants over and gave him some instructions. "Please wait, he will bring a key and a seal that will allow you all to enter the locked archives."


    ke who was watching everything quietly at one corner nodded and said, "Dr. Sharon will stay here to keep an eye on the King. Mills, take three guys and stay close to the doctor."


    Mills nodded and picked three of his Marines to stay behind while the rest will apany ke. While they waited for the servant to return, Prince Herod and Prince Najja started another round of argument next to the King''s bed until Dr. Sharon snapped at them to shut up. She pointed towards the door, "Get out of the room if you all cannot keep quiet! The King needs his rest!"


    Speechless, the room of Iron Kingdomites quietened down and they could only stare at her boldness and fearlessness to royalty. Dr. Sharon did not let up as she pushed Prince Herod and the rest out of the room. "Out! Shoo shoo! Don''t disturb the King!"


    Before they could process anything, both Princes, Lord Sincia, ke and the rest were shooed out of the King''s private chambers, leaving behind only the clerics, healers and the Marine guards. The royals looked at each other with expressions of disbelief and were about to start another round of arguments when the servant came back.


    ke stepped forward and took the key and a scroll case from the servant who got confused. ke smiled and patted his shoulder, "Prince Herod is busy now and this is what he asked you to bring to me."


    "Come, my friend, can you lead us out of the Pce?" ke turned the servant towards the hallway. "Now, I don''t want to get lost in this ce."


    -----


    The towering metal gates of the Arcanium of Steamworks and Magic were wide open. A wall of bricks, topped with elegant metalworks ringed the entire school which size was almost like a small town. The hired wagons rolled down the cobbled streets that were adorned with decorative trees and a statue of some ancient schr holding a scroll and a wrench was the first thing the passengers saw when they reached the main entrance of the school.


    The hired wagons came to a halt at the entrance of an impressive building. Professor Hamlot hopped off the wagons and stretched his back beforementing to Magister Thorn, "After riding those, kars of your Un An, I am really spoiled for a smooth ride!"


    Magister Thornughed as he rubbed his behind. "Me too!"


    "Professor Hamlot?" A middle aged female wearing a set of loose robes called out. "You are back!"


    "Oh, Schr Kalena!" Professor Hamlot stepped forward and bowed. "It is good to see you!"


    "Where have you been?" Schr Kalena asked. "We... heard what happened to your ss..."


    "Yes... that was a real tragedy..." Professor Hamlot let out a soft sigh. "Only... me and three... no... two other students survived..."


    "There are other survivors," Schr Kalena said gently. "Half of your ss managed to escape... but the other half..."


    "I see..." Professor Hamlot nodded before he turned and introduced the rest to his colleague as he changed the subject. "This is Magister Thorn and Captain ke. They are the ones who saved me."


    "Greeting, on behalf of the Arcanium, thank you for saving Professor Hamlot," Schr Kalena gave a bow. "I am Schr Kalena and wee to the Arcanium!"


    "We would like to visit the Grand Library," ke said and he handed over the scroll case.


    Seeing the crest on the scroll case, Schr Kalena was surprised as it has the royal seal on it. She opened the case and read the letter inside before she returned the letter into the case. Her expression turned stern and she said, "Follow me!"


    As they headed towards the Grand Library, Professor Hamlot gave a small tour of their surroundings. He pointed out the numerous ssrooms, dormitories, workshops, and magic research towers. Along the way, students dressed in uniform robes bowed and greeted Schr Kalena and some students recognizing Professor Hamlot, pointed at him and whispered among themselves.


    After crossing several parks and the school''s training arena, they reached the Grand Library. Built out of white stone, the dome roofed library sat in the middle of a small thicket. Guards patrolled the premises, making ke raised an inquiring eyebrow at the books stored inside.


    Schr Kalena seemed to have noticed ke''s action and she politely exined, "There are many precious and ancient manuscripts stored inside the Library, hence the guards."


    ke nodded and wordlessly followed her into the Grand Library. Schr Kalena waved the guards away and led the group in. Thousands of scrolls and parchments were stored in rows and rows of pigeon hole shelves. An old musky smell of books was thick in the air and the tables and chairs were all upied by students studying or doing research.


    Magister Thorn kept looking here and there as he clenched his robes in excitement. "Are there any scrolls or books on magic?"


    "Yes," Schr Kalena replied with a smile. Despite the dwindling magic in the Old World, there were still many people interested in magic. "Magic studies are on the second floor."


    "Great!" Magister Thorn rubbed his hands together. "That I need to see!"


    "Later, when we are done with our business," ke reminded the Magister who nodded vigorously.


    They went up three flights of stairs beforeing to a simple double door that had more guards on duty. Schr Kalena turned to ke and asked, "Do you have the key?"


    ke nodded and took out the in looking brass key and handed it over to Schr Kalena. She took the key and inserted it into the only keyhole in the door and turned it. There was a loud click and she pushed the doors open.


    To everyone surprise, except for Schr Kalena, there was only a single long table with chairs in the middle of the chamber. A crystal chandelier powered by gas hung right above the table and on one side of the wood panel wall was several pipes and tubes.


    Schr Kalena led them inside the room and she pointed to the pipes on the side and exined, "Those are message pipes."


    "All you need to do is take one of these," She took a capsule like tube from one of the brass pipes and twisted it open before cing it on the table. "There is writing materials in the drawer of the table. Write down what you want to view. Then put it back into the pipe and put that lever."


    "The message will reach the Library''s vaults and the librarians will sort out your request," Schr Kalena continued. "Once they collected all the research materials rted to your request, it will be sent up by the tube."


    ke nodded and he took the quill and parchment from the table drawer and scribbled down what he wished to view. He rolled the parchment up and slipped it into the capsule and screwed it shut and he inserted it into an opening on the pipe before he pulled the lever on the side.


    A bell softly buzzed followed by a loud hiss and the capsule disappeared. Magister Thorn bend over the pipe and examined it carefully while the rest waited. "What an interesting contraption!"


    "Not many people can get a royal seal and key to enter here," Schr Kalena probed ke. "You must have made some great merit to the Iron Kingdom to be allowed here."


    "Last I heard, only six people in the past few years had gotten permission to open the Library vaults!" Professor Hamlot excitedly said. "This is the first time I have ever been in here!"


    "Yes," Schr Kalena proudly nodded. "The vaults are not for anyone to view. Only the Royals and a few prestigious people have ess to the vaults."


    There was a sudden soft chime and next to pipes was a small door. Schr Kalena opened the small door and there was a stack of scrolls on a tray. She took the tray out and ced it on the table before ke and stepped back. "I will leave you all alone. Once you finished your work, just pull that cord and a servant will bring you out."


    ke did not seem to hear her words as his attention was focused all on the pile of scrolls before him. His hands shook slightly as he reached out to the first scroll, "Finally... I can find her!"

 Chapter 624: A Match

    Chapter 624: A Match


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Iron Pce, Pce wing of the Second Prince


    "He was not supposed to wake up!" The Second Prince cursed under his breathe as he paced around the room. "The healers were certain that old man had finally reached the end of his time!"


    "Where did he get that witch from?" The Second Prince vented his anger by sweeping the items off his desk. "What do we do now?"


    "You are already the nominated Crown Prince by the rest of the Iron Lords and ministers!" Lord Sincia frowned at the Second Prince''s violent outburst. "Even if my Royal Brother has woken up from his deathbed... He wouldn''t recover his health any time soon!"


    "But... He might revoke my nomination!" Prince Najja yelled, the fats of his chin wobbled as he gestured around wildly. "It''s all his fault! Why can''t he disappear for real! We should finish him off now!"


    "He has gained some unknown allies," Lord Sincia said, ignoring the Second Prince''s words. "Anyway, now what you should do is to gain more support!"


    "With his return, Prince Herod should be re consolidating his power with the steam merchants," Lord Sincia mused. "We must take steps to prevent them from supporting him again!"


    "How?" Prince Najja grumbled as he finally stopped pacing and sat down on his chair. "He advocated so much for the steam merchants!"


    "Start offering the steam merchants more grants and other privileges as long as they support you," Lord Sincia sighed. "It might use up more of our funds... But it can''t be helped! We just have to ask for more aid from the old families of magic descent..."


    "Those old geezers just aren''t willing to give up their power after all this time!" Prince Najja shook his head. "Their time is over, yet they still want to remain in power!"


    "The era of magic might be over, but still those families possess enough ancient magic powers that we cannot ignore!" Lord Sincia warned. "And they also possess generations of umted wealth!"


    "Hmm... But still... I think you arecking something..." Lord Sincia frowned as he walked to the map on the wall and tapped on it. "This!"


    He pointed to the area of conflict with the Tri State. "You need a decisive victory against the Tri State... Only than you can establish your ce as the true Crown Prince!"


    "But... but..." Prince Najja''s face turned pale as he stammered. "I... You know I am not good with fight and all that..."


    "Steel yourself!" Lord Sincia snapped angrily. "You are a Winterborne! You have blood of iron in your veins! Act like one!"


    "I... I..." Prince Najja swallowed nervously before he puffed up hisrge belly. "I understand!"


    "Don''t worry, I will assign a great general to assist you!" Lord Sincia said as heid out his ns. "All you need to do is look confident and act the part of amander!"


    "Once you have a few victories under your belt, your reputable will be enough to ensure your position as Crown Prince!" Lord Sincia traced his finger on the map. "And as long as you outst my royal brother... You will be the next Iron King!"


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Iron Pce, Pce wing of the Third Prince


    Prince Herod was seated behind his desk which was filled with dozens of scrolls all requiring his immediate attention. His door was permanently open and aides and messengers constantly entered and left.


    "Your Highness," An aide bowed and reported. "The Tulner Mercantile has reconfirmed their support to your cause if you agree to their terms."


    Prince Herod frowned as he took the scroll and looked at the terms before he mmed it on his desk in anger. "Those damn greedy leeches!"


    "A quarter of the merchant taxes to be cut?" Prince Herod hissed, nearly picking up the scroll again to rip it apart. "Those bastards!"


    "The Tulner Mercantile has informed us that the Second Prince has offered them a simr deal..." The aide quickly added. "They want to know if you can match the Second Prince or better..."


    "I hope they steam in hell!" Prince Herod cursed as he rubbed his brow in frustration. "Who else has the Second Prince approached?"


    "Almost everyone..." The aide reported. "But only three of the steam merchants has not turned their offer down..."


    "Dammit!" Prince Herod cursed again. "Have we managed to contact the Cartel?"


    "Yes, your Highness," The aide replied. "We are awaiting their reply."


    "My brother has the support of the damn old conservatives and if three of the major merchants join his side..." Prince Herod stood up and paced around his office. "He will have at least half the support of the entire Iron Kingdom..."


    "What of the neutral Lords?" Prince Herod asked his aides. "What is their replies?"


    "The neutral Lords are... saying they will only consider support after the end of hostilities with the Tri State..." Another aide reported. "They say they are busy defending their borders to provide any support for the Throne..."


    Prince Herod paused in his steps as he stared at the region map on his wall. He walked up to it and tapped on the red tag pinned on the map and dered, "Then... I must go defeat the Tri State!"


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Iron Pce, Private Chambers of the Iron King


    Dr. Sharon checked the IV drip rate hung on one of the iron poles of the poster bed of the King before she looked down to find the King staring at her. She gave a smile and made a bow in the local way, "Greetings, your majesty."


    "I... heard... you are... the one... who saved Prince Herod..." The Iron King said in a soft weak voice. His face no longer as twisted as before. "Thank... you..."


    "It''s my honor," Dr. Sharon quickly replied and she helped the King sit up on the pillows. "It was a coincidence... So I helped."


    "You... are very... kind..." The Iron King sighed. "And thank you... for curing... this... old person..."


    "But... It is... a waste..." The Iron King continued. "For... I... have... not... much... time..."


    "Nonsense!" Dr. Sharon shook her head as she checked his pulse. "With me here. I can guarantee you have at least ten more years or more!"


    "Hahaha..." The Iron Kingughed weakly. "Young... Lady... you sure... know how... to make... an old person... happy..."


    "I know... my health..." The Iron King said. "And... I heard... the healers... They say... my awakening... is a small miracle... but... my body is... too weak... tost..."


    "Those quacks!" Dr. Sharon rolled her eyes before she patted the King''s hand. "Don''t worry, your majesty. Trust me, in a week, you will be hopping out of this bed, as good as new!"


    The Kingughed again and coughed, before he said, "I... can... see my third son... holds you... in great esteem..."


    "Oh?" Dr. Sharon brushed it off. "We barely even know each other!"


    "I see the... way... he looks at you..." The King smiled. "He is a very rough person... as he grown... up... in the.. borders... But... his heart... is in the... right ce..."


    "Please... help me... look after... him..." The King said. "He... is... a good person..."


    "Haha..." Dr. Sharon felt embarrassed. She wondered if the King was trying to be a match maker when he should be resting. And all the talk about him not going to make it made her a bit pissed off as if her skills as a modern professional doctor was just a joke to these medieval mindset people. But she knew they had no medical knowledge like hers and normally getting a stroke in a medieval setting was as good as death to them.


    The precious medical nanite she injected into the King were busy working their techno magic in repairing damaged cells and tissues. Damaged nervous systems were repaired and reconnected, reversing the damaged caused by the stroke. But to do so, the nanites required building blocks which were taken from the host''s fats and in doing so, the host would feel weak and tired.


    Hence, the IV drip was filled with a high electrolyte solution designed to power the nanites and provide the host with selected vitamins and nutrients. Without a dedicated medical station to monitor and control the nanites, she has to ensure that the King gets enough nutrients in his body or the nanites might kill the King instead by '' over eating'' the insides of the Host to repair the internal damages.


    Unable to exin such a phenomenal ability to the locals, Dr. Sharon can only let out a sigh as she reassured the King once more, "Your Majesty, trust me! You will recover in no time!


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Arcanium of Steamworks and Magic, The Grand Library


    "This is amazing!" Magister Thorn repeatedly said for the umpteen time as he buried his nose into the pile of scrolls. "Amazing!"


    ke put aside the scroll which he was reading and rubbed his tired eyes. They had been going through the pile of materials nearly the whole day but so far they haven''t found the spell they needed. But that did not dampen their spirits as they found records and mentions of the spell they wanted on the materials brought up from the library vaults.


    If it wasn''t for Schr Valena''s thoughtful gesture of sending attendants with food and refreshments over, the whole group would have gone hungry for the day. Even the Marines were helping by sorting out the scrolls and reading materials for the rest.


    "I found it!" Professor Hamlot suddenly cried out excitedly. Everyone quickly rushed over to see as he carefully spread out the scroll made out of some soft hide on the table. Suugon characters and arcane symbols were scribbled in a circr pattern on the middle of the scroll with more of the flowly Suugon words on the side.


    "Look!" Professor Hamlot traced the flowly Suugon characters on the side of the scroll and tranted the Suugon text. "This says here, to seek one''s soul, put an offering of the soul."


    "I guess this means to find the one you want, you need to give some form of offering," Professor Hamlot made a guess. "Than this line here, "It says, blood shall lead to the soul and blood shall show the way."


    "Hmm... I am not too sure about what this part means," Professor Hamlot shook his head. "Then here says, the needle will find the way and the lost will be found."


    "Is there a professor or schr in the school that knows how to use this spell?" ke asked.


    "Yes, there is," Professor Hamlot nodded. "I can ask him for help."


    "Please," ke replied. "Magister Thorn will you follow along?"


    "Of course!" Magister Thorn grinned. "I wouldn''t miss it for anything!"


    "Good," ke gestured to the Marines. "Take two of the Marines as escort."


    "We will meet back here in a day," ke said as he pulled the cord to called for an attendant. "Damn, its night already!"


    An attendant knocked on the door shortly after, he bowed to the ke and the rest and said, "Esteemed guests, please follow me, rooms have been arranged for your stay."


    "Alright, change of ns," ke said as they left the room. "Everyone get some rest for the night, we continue tomorrow."


    As keid down on the bed in the guest dormitory room, his thought back to the days when he first met Sherene. She carried the entire fate of her followers on her small frail shoulders and despite the uncertainty and fear in her eyes, she chose to ally with an unknown alien race just to save her people. He respected her a lot for her decision andter even started to admire her for her positive outlook on life.


    He took out his tablet and started scrolling through all the images and videos of the time they had together and slowly, he fell asleep with tears in his eyes.

 Chapter 625: Intel

    Chapter 625: Intel


    The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore


    "Commander!" Intel Officer Tavor barely finished his knock on the door before he stepped into the office of Commander Ford. "We got a issue!"


    "What is it?" Commander Ford put down the report he was reading and took the file given. "What the... How long has this been going on?"


    "We spotted a massive build up of Protectorate forces along their cities!" Lieutenant Tavor tapped a few keys at the wall disy and brought up a satellite map of the Protectorate region. "We spotted movements of their ships two weeks ago. But only until now, we can be certain they are massing for something."


    "Two weeks?" Commander Ford frowned. "Why until now then it was reported?"


    "The Protectorate routinely move fleets around their cities," Lt Tavor replied. "As to what purpose, it could be anything from military exercises to duty rotations."


    "But normally, not more than one or two fleets sized forces would ever be stationed at any city," Tavor said and he tapped on one of the dark blobs on the map and zoom in the image. "Here, you can clearly see at least dozens of airships parked at the fields. The numbers here are equal to at least four fleets worth of ships under the Protectorate force organization."


    "And not only that," Tavor swept the image and jumped to another location. "Here and here too."


    Each image showed the typicalyout of a walled Protectorate holy city and the fields around it were covered in dark dots. Further zooming in of the image showed rows after rows of blood red colored airships. Tavor panned the image and continued, "At least another four cities and three towns shown simr build up."


    "And here," Tavor panned the image again and jumped to another location. "They are mobilizing their ground troops too."


    Commander Ford''s frown deepened as he furrowed his brows at the image. He saw the neat rows of War Jacks lined up on the field and hundreds more of steam wagons and other weapons of war. He gestured to the image, "So they are going for war... But who is the target? The Iron Kingdom?"


    "Most likely," Tavor said as he panned the image out. "Their military build up is just within their own lines. This means that unless the Iron Kingdom has spies that were able to prate past the Protectorate''s border cities... They have no way of knowing of such a mass build up of troops."


    "The Protectorate must be making use of the Tri State''s invasion to strike at the Iron Kingdom..." Commander Ford theorized. "Oh fuck... The Captain''s is at the Iron Kingdom''s Capital now!"


    "We need to warn them!" Commander Ford said. "Shit!"


    "Sir, do you want to call General Frank to mobilized his troops to reinforce our base in the Old World?" Tavor asked.


    "No... Yes! Inform him and all relevant divisions too!" Commander Ford ordered. "Shit... we need more hulls not bodies!


    "Call for an immediate general staff meeting!"


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Arcanium of Steamworks and Magic, The Grand Library


    "So ording to the trantion done by the Schrs and Professors here," ke tapped the neat writing on the scroll. "We would need something that belonged to the Princess, like her hair, or blood."


    "We got some strands of her hair with me," Dr. Sharon''s voice came from thems speaker.


    "And the te of Finding, which we have," ke patted the fengshui likepass on the side.


    "And I am learning the Suugon spell! " Magister Thorn added from the side. "That is, once I master the Suugon tongue..."


    "How long do you think you need?" ke asked as he push away the scroll. "And the materials stated, do we have them?"


    "We also got more than enough mana stones to power the spell..." Magister Thorn replied. "As for the rest of the arcaneponents... we have some, others, we might have to ask around and see they can be purchased off the market..."


    "As for thenguage..." Magister Thorn frowned before he said, "Give me a week... It should be enough time for me to be fluent with the spell and also to gather all the materials for the spell."


    "One week eh?" ke closed his eyes and sighed before he nodded. "One week it shall be!"


    There was a knock on the door and an attendant appeared. The attendant gave a bow before he announced, "His Royal Highness, Prince Herod, has requested your presence at the drawing room."


    ke gestured for the rest to continue with their work and he followed the attendant out and found the Third Prince seated with a tray of refreshments on the table. Prince Herod stood up and greeted ke warmly, "Captain! How is your research going?"


    "Greetings your Highness. We have some results," ke politely bowed and epted the cup of tea the Prince offered him. "I have some materials that might require your assistance to obtain..."


    "Not a problem!" Prince Herod gestured to his aide. "Tell him what you need and he will do his best to procure it for you as long it is avable in the market."


    "Thank you," ke replied before he asked. "How are... things... on your side?"


    "Not very good," Prince Herod shook his head. "They have... quite a bit of financial backing..."


    "But... as long as I prove my worth in the fight against the Tri State..." Prince Herod took a sip of his tea before he continued. "I can garner enough support to overturn the court''s decision and take the position of Crown Prince."


    "What about your father, the King?" ke asked. "Can''t he overrule the court''s decision?"


    Prince Herod shook his head again. "No... He is too ailed to influence any of the decisions made by the court."


    "Hmm... but isn''t he recovering?" ke was surprised as from the report given by Dr. Sharon, the King should be in full recovery.


    "I am very thankful for Lady Sharon''s help..." Prince Herod let out a deep sigh as he turned to look out of the window. "Lady Sharon has done a great service to the royal family for waking him up... But... Even with her skills, my royal father has suffered a demonic possession... And no one has ever recovered from such a condition..."


    "Trust Dr-, Lady Sharon," ke said with a smile. Dr. Sharon had diagnosed the King with stroke and it seemed the physical symptoms made the locals think it was some kind of demonic possession. "Your father is strong, he would go down so easily, especially with Lady Sharon looking after him."


    "I hope so..." Prince Herod replied before he stood up. "Will you be continuing to stay here for your research?"


    "Yes," ke nodded. "At least a week more."


    "Hmm... I see..." Prince Herod suddenly asked. "Will your ship be avable for hire?


    "My ship?" ke rubbed his chin before he asked. "Why?"


    "I wish to hire your ship and crew..." Prince Herod replied. "As I said before, the only way for me to win against my opponents... I need clout and the only way is to win the war against the Tri State."


    "But my ship is just an old junk," ke shook his head. "What do you need it for? Transport of supplies? Troops? I am certain you have dozens more capable shipspared to mine."


    "Haha! Your ship looks unremarkable from outside..." Prince Herodughed. "But for some reason, I am certain that your ship is more than it seems! I want to hire your ship to be my g ship!"


    "Still, I am certain you have better ships," ke replied with a frown. "No matter how you think my ship performs... It still can''t match a real warship! The most we have is speed."


    "Precisely!" Prince Herod said with a wide smile. "I want that speed! I don''t want to ride a warship into battle! I want to lead from your ship! And with how... striking it looks... It will leave a great impression on everyone!"


    "I am willing to pay you and your crew handsomely for your services!" Prince Herod added. "What say you?"


    ke shook his head as he firmly rejected the Prince''s offer. "No, I am sorry, Your Highness. But I can''t have my crew and ship take the risk on the battlefield."


    "But we are allies yes?" Prince Herod knitted his brows. "How can you reject my offer? Is the rewards not enough?"


    "No," ke continued to shake his head. "Your Highness, please understand this point. We are not mercenaries! We formed a contract with you because it mutually benefits us both... But I will not risk my people lives unnecessarily."


    "Than what can you bring to our alliance now?" The Third Prince''s demeanor changed and his voice carried a hint of anger. "I demand for your assistance in this war!"


    "How about intelligence?" ke suggested, unfazed by the Prince''s displeasure.


    "Intelligence?" Prince Herod''s frown deepened. "What is that?"


    "Oh, what I meant is information..." ke sighed at his mistake. "Troops movements... enemy numbers... and so on..."


    "Hmm... That would be helpful..." Prince Herod''s temper simmered down. He let out a deep sigh and asked again, "Can you reconsider o-"


    "Your Highness," ke cut him off with a wave. "My answer is no. Please do not make it difficult for me..."


    "I see..." Prince Herod shook his head regretfully before he walked towards the exit. "Then, I hope to see this... ''Intelligence'' information of yours soon."


    ke stood up and gave a bow, "Of course, Your Highness..."


    He watched the Prince and his entourage depart and frowned before he keyed hisms and said, "Pack it up, we are falling back to the ship!"


    -----


    The Old World, The Free City of Ender, Ivory Pce


    "He is still... ALIVE!" Dragon Lord Alder growled as he red at the tiny figure before him. "Our deal was that he was to die!"


    "You have taken our blood! Taken our mothers!" Dragon Lord Alder bared his fangs at the Suugon envoy before him. "And he is still alive!"


    "Already my people have infiltrated into the Iron Kingdom," Lord Lei replied calmly. "They are just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike."


    "It is taking too long!" Dragon Lord Alder sunk back his neck and said grumpily. "He must be taken care of before he bes the Crown Prince!"


    "It''s better to make slow progress than no progress at all," Lord Lei said with a confident smile. "And I have received word that the Second Prince has been nominated as the Crown Prince instead of the Third."


    "The Second Prince? The fat and useless one?" Dragon Lord Alder mused. "Someone must be controlling him from behind."


    "That is a fact," Lord Lei replied. "The Second Prince is not known... for his intelligence..."


    "Even better! The Third Prince must still die, even if he doesn''t be the Crown Prince!" Dragon Lord Alder dered. "He hasmitted too much sins against my kind!"


    "He shall meet his end," Lord Lei smiled. "I am just waiting for him to appear at the front lines against the Tri State."


    "The Tri State..." Dragon Lord Alder frowned. "What are they thinking... Suddenly invading the Iron Kingdom..."


    "It should be due to the amount of magic crystals they brought back from the New World," Lord Lei replied. "They do not want the Iron Kingdom to grow stronger and upset the order of things..."


    "But isn''t what they doing now, upsetting the bnce?" Dragon Lord Alder sighed. "And the crazy fanatics... They certainly wouldn''t sit still..."


    "The Protectorate?" Lord Lei gave a shrug as the Protectorate did not matter to the Suugons as they do not share any borders. "They certainly would take advantage of this mess to spread their chaos..."


    "No matter," Dragon Lord Alder waved the issue with the Protectorate away. "Kill the Third Prince as per our agreement! Or return the mothers to us!"


    "Do not worry," Lord Lei gave a bow. "We will see to it!"

 Chapter 626: Communications

    Chapter 626: Communications


    Electromaic waves, directed towards a particr location, raced through the atmosphere, only to be weakened by the barrier of storms and unnatural weather before being picked up by receivers on floatingmunication balloons powered by hydrogen that were anchored to the ocean at the edge of the End Zone.


    The chain ofmunication balloons started rying the data back towards the base where thems servers started downloading the data and reconstructed the message in the streams of electromaic waves. The full message took a short while as the signal was weak and the distance vast before the server forwarded the message automatically onto the Duty Officer of the day''s console with an urgent beep.


    The DO was already notified of an iing message but had to wait for the download toplete, bent over his desk and read the message dump before his eyes widened in surprise. He shot to his feet and picked up the wired phone on the side and hit the speed dial for the Base Com.


    "Sir! We got a priority one situation here!"


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Airfield outside the Capital, The Old Ugly


    ke''s unease deepened as he looked out at the city walls in the distance. He did not fully trust the Prince and had ordered the retreat of all his crew back on board the Old Ugly just in case. He was worried about Dr. Sharon who was inside the Pce and did not know if she would be stopped from leaving.


    Her team''s previous message said that they were on their way out but until now there was still no reply despite repeated attempts to hail them over the radio. Just when ke was about to order for the QRF to deploy when thems crackled and Dr. Sharon''s team reported in. "Old Ugly, this is Remedy, ETA three zero mikes, over."


    "Send the QRF to escort them in," ke ordered, his worries still strong. "Is the ship ready to depart at any moment?"


    "Yes, sir," Trism replied. "Ship is on condition red."


    "I hope my worries are for nought," ke said softly as he returned to stare out of the viewports.


    "Old Ugly! This is Remedy! We picked up a few admirers on our tail!" The marine''s voice sounded calm, even cool over thems. "Two zero cavalry. Over."


    "Is that the Third Prince''s people?" Trism frowned as he leaned closer over thems console. "Is he trying to stop Dr. Sharon from leaving?"


    "Tell them to be alert! If they make any funny moves, they are cleared to go hot," ke quickly ordered as he cursed under his breath. "And check with the Third Prince''s liaison outside the ship! See if he knows anything!"


    "Yes, sir!" Orders were passed down and Quick Reaction Force manning a couple of jeeps that were disguised with wood and metal tes, looking like the local equivalent of a steam wagon, rumbled off with a full load of heavily armed marines.


    "Sir, the Third Prince''s liaison has no idea of the current situation, he said his orders were to assist you in procuring what materials and supplies we require," Trism informed ke after his men reported back. "Either he wasn''t informed of his Prince''s change of mind... Or... someone else is trying to cause trouble..."


    -----


    "Lady Sharon?" The leading cavalryman expertly came to a halt, forcing his croc raptor to turn a circle on the spot. "I am Knight Lieutenant Chas. Under orders from his highness, the Crown Prince, ask that you follow us at once!"


    Dr. Sharon frowned as she stood her ground against the growls and rancid breaths of the dragon cavalry. Her Marines escorts had formed a protective barrier around her, their modified rifles tipped with bays and pointing outwards. "What does the Crown Prince wants from me?"


    "That is His Highness''s business with you, I have no inkling," The Knight replied in a detached tone. "Pleasee along with us now."


    "And if I refuse toe with you?" Dr. Sharon asked as her hand touched the reassuring feel of the coarse anti slip surface of her concealed pistol.


    "It is not your ce to refuse the Crown Prince''smands!" The Knight snapped and he waved his hand towards Dr. Sharon. "Bring her!"


    The cavalry which had spread out to surround the team surged forward as one. The croc raptor like mounts growled and bared their jaws menacingly and the Marines raised their weapons, waiting for the order. Mills cursed as he watched the situation turning into shit. He drew his weapon out and removed the suppressor before firing a single shot into the air, hoping to scare the cavalry.


    Thend dragons reared up in surprise at the sudden sharp thunderous crack of the pistol but their riders quickly brought them under control. The Knight pushed his mount forward and stared at Mills, "You! Do you think that loud toy of yours will stop us? Are you all going against themands of the Crown Prince?"


    "Doc," Mills reced his suppressor on his pistol and asked. "Do we take them on? The Captain has given us permission to go hot..."


    "No!" Dr. Sharon silently cursed in her head. "If we kill them... It is going to bring a lot of trouble to us! We are in the middle of the Iron Kingdom!"


    "But we can''t let you follow them to the Second Prince..." Mills raised his arm up, ready to order his men to open fire. "I doubt he has good intentions!"


    "HOLD!" A cry broke out from beyond the ring of cavalry. Heads turned and another cavalry troop appeared, their colours and insignia on their uniforms slightly different. "Cease your actions!"


    Prince Herod charged right into the surprised cavalry with his mount, using his muchrger and fiercernd dragon to bully the cavalry soldiers aside. He wheeled his mount around and blocked off the cavalry of the Second Prince. "Prince Herod!?"


    "Why had you all not dismount and greet me?" Prince Herod red at the soldiers while his troops quickly formed up around him, creating a wall between Dr. Sharon and the Second Prince''s troops.


    The Second Prince''s troops quickly dismounted while the Knight Lieutenant reluctantly went down on one knee and bowed. "Greetings, your Highness!"


    "What business do you have with one of my guests?" Prince Herod growled at the Knight.


    "Your Highness," The Knight Lieutenant replied with a hint of insolence. "My master, the Crown Prince has summoned Lady Sharon to his presence!"


    "But she dared to show disrespect to the Crown Prince!" The Knight Lieutenant pointed at Dr. Sharon. "She dared go against a royal order! This is a crime against royalty! Even you, your Highness, can''t protect her from this crime!"


    "Nonsense!" Prince Herod''s temper red up. He jabbed his riding crop at the Knight and snapped. "She is my guest and she even treated the King! If anything else... It''s you that is disrespectful to her!"


    "Your Highness! This is a serious matter with the Crown Prince!" The Knight frowned. "Please do not make it difficult for this servant!"


    "You-!" Prince Herod raised his riding crop and was about to sh down at the Knight when a loud rumble was heard. He turned around and saw a couple of steam wagons that moved far faster and unnaturally smoother than he known them to be,e barreling in right into their midst.


    The mounted soldiers cursed and they made way for the steam wagons that came to a screeching halt around Dr. Sharon''s team and what appeared to be armed guards spilt out, forming a protective cordon around Dr. Sharon. Mills grinned as the QRF formed up around him, boasting his numbers and confidence. "Doc, I think it''s time to bug out!"


    Dr. Sharon nodded before she stepped forward. She gave a curtsy to Prince Herod and the Knight and said, "I am sorry, but it is time for me to leave this ce!"


    "Oh, Prince Herod," Dr. Sharon paused at the door of the modified jeep. "Don''t worry about your father. He will be fully recovered in a couple of days."


    Prince Herod''s eyes widened in surprise before they softened as he beamed at her, "Thank you!"


    "Do you have to go?" Prince Herod asked. "Why don''t you... stay a bit longer? Didn''t Captain ke said he would stay here for a week?"


    "Something urgent must havee up," Dr. Sharon replied. "I would like to stay but... I guess, another time."


    "Then... Please take care!" Prince Herod gave a bow to Dr. Sharon. "If fate allows, we shall meet again!"


    Dr. Sharon gave a wave and boarded the jeep while the Second Prince''s Knight cried out in anger, "Wait! You cannot leave! Your crim-"


    "Enough!" Prince Herod spun his mount around and red at the Knight, cutting his words off. "Tell your Prince to find me if he wants to find someone to me!"


    The disguised jeeps rumbled to life and they reversed back before turning away and sped off far quicker than a usual steam wagon. The dust they kicked up left Prince Herod frowning as he stared suspiciously at the disappearing wagons. He mumbled to himself, "They really have more secrets hidden..."


    "Let''s return!" Prince Herod called out to his troops and ignored the fuming yet helpless Knight and his troops. Prince Herod''s troops quickly formed up around the Prince and they headed back towards the city, while the Second Prince''s troops hesitated, wondering if they could still catch up with the steam wagons or return to report their failure to their lord and master.


    -----


    The Old World, Border between the Protectorate and the Iron Kingdom


    The two Icarus ss airships of the UN were both snuggly parked at a clearing inside a forest next to the channel of seawater that ran between the Protectorate and the Iron Kingdom. The river channel effectively split both nations and was the border between them.


    Camos were thrown over the decks of both ships, further hiding them from view in the air. The off duty crews of both ships were having a rare downtime from their duties as both ships were on standby until summoned.


    It was at this moment when the afternoon was zing down overhead and the off duty crew were rxing and sunbathing under the sun when sirens went off on both ships. The rxing crew froze for a moment before they ran back on board the ships and ship wide announcements broadcasted orders and informed the crew of the situation.


    The Captains of the Icarus and Daedalus convened a quick meeting over a secure channel as they discussed their options. The urgent message from Fort Anchorage spoke of an overwhelming force of close to three hundred airships were amassing by the borders of the Protectorate with a clear intention of invading the Iron Kingdom.


    A priority one message was ryed out to the Old Ugly almost immediately when they themselves received the urgent message. Both Captains agreed that they should bring their ships up to battle readiness and be prepared tounch and follow the ind channel as nned to reach the Iron Kingdom border town of Ironshire, where both ships could still remain hidden.


    It would also bring both the airships closer to the Old Ugly, allowing them a faster response time if their support was needed despite the overwhelming numbers. But to proceed so, they required Captain ke''s approval and they did not have to wait long when new orders were issued from the Old Ugly. The crew had taken the time to keep the camos and the power nts and boilers were already standing by.


    Powerful rotors roared as the tilt engines forced air downwards, pushing the aetherium powered warships into the air. Flocks of colourful feathered wyvern burst out from the trees as they cawed in panic from the suddenmotion. Once enough lift was achieved, the tilt engines pivoted to forward positions and UNS Icarus and the UNS Daedalus took off into the skies, racing into the sea channel canyon.


    Both Captains of the Icarus and Daedalus held onto a pendant shaped into a design of three bullets in a row and they prayed. "Firepower shall protect and defeat our enemies!"

 Chapter 627: SHTF

    Chapter 627: SHTF


    "For Justice! For Justice!" Ecstatic cries rose from thousands and thousands of throats as hands waved red gs at the enormous fleet in the skies. Blood red airships of all sizes were formed up neatly and trailing streamers, they paraded over the holy cities and towns as they headed towards the border.


    Sherene paused in her work and looked up as a massive shadow carpeted the farm and saw the underside of a low flying airship. Together with dozen others, the fleet of airships made a show overhead as they headed somewhere. She wiped the sweat off her gaunt face and mindlessly cheered and shouted praises to the God of Justice and Creation as the overseers cracked their whips and the zealous priests took note of which worker was not ardent enough in their praises.


    The fleet of airships slowly disappeared into the horizon and the cheers and praises died down. The priests satisfied with the workers started giving sermons and promised extra rations for dinner tonight. Sherene dropped her tired arms down and made her way to the shared bucket of water and queued up for a small sip of tepid water to quench her parched throat.


    She gave a sip of water to her child who had woken up from all themotion and had stared innocently with wide eyed wonder at the departing airships. Sherene yed with her son for a while before she headed back to the fields together with everyone else as the overseers appeared again.


    Hefting the hoe in her hands, she hammered away at the hard dirt and like all the others, thoughts of the massing fleets quickly disappeared behind their minds as they toiled the fields.


    -----


    The Old World, The Iron Kingdom, The Old Ugly


    The cabin remained quiet as Trism finished his update to all the senior officers and members of the crew. He had briefed everyone of the impending attack of the Protectorate and everyone was in their own thoughts.


    Finally, the silence was broken when Mills spoke up, "Well, that was to be expected... I didn''t think those justice loving fanatics to just sit still when they can do a low blow to the Iron Kingdom."


    "We foresaw such a situation." Trism said, "Captain, we should take this opportunity to sneak into the Protectorate. With the bulk of their forces busy with the Iron Kingdom, we can get in and out easier!"


    "We should inform Prince Herod about this!" Dr. Sharon cut in. "We can''t just let them be unprepared. A lot of people will die!"


    "If we dy any longer in this ce," Trism shook his head as he disagreed with Dr. Sharon''s words. "We will get dragged into this! Captain, I suggest we depart immediately! And it would not be toote to inform the Princeter!"


    "Ahem... We still have yet procured the arcaneponents for the tracking spell..." Magister Thorn chipped in. "And... Professor Hamlot is still in the Capital... the school to be exact."


    "Hmm..." ke stroked his chin as considered their options. "What is the estimated time of arrival of the Protectorate fleet?"


    Trism quickly replied as if he memorized the reports. "Intel back home has estimated they will attack within the week. It could be now, tomorrow, or a weekter. But I suggest we move the Old Ugly away from the Capital."


    "If the Protectorate faces no challenges from the border and advances directly to the capital," ke frowned as he looked at the map on the table. "How long will they arrive here?"


    "Simtions show that they will take four days to reach the vicinity of the Iron Kingdom Capital if they face no opposition," Trism answered. "If they face a blocking force and is able to defeat them with a crushing victory, it only adds half a day or so to the timetable."


    ke''s frown deepened as he traced his finger along the map before his finger paused at the other side where the Tri State were supposed to have invaded. "What of the situation with the Tri State?"


    "They punched a straight corridor through the Iron Kingdom''s border," Trism said after he checked the reports. "Their aim seemed to be the Capital but is currently stalled six thousand kilometers away here."


    Trism point to the a particr spot on the map. "We suspect that they are consolidating their forces for another push. I guess the the Iron Kingdom knows this too hence why Prince Herod wanted to... hire us to get to the front faster."


    ke shook his head, "From his words, the Second Prince is nning to do the same. If the Second Prince takes a fleet and Prince Herod takes another, how much forces do they have to prevent the Protectorate from steamrolling them?"


    "The most is two or three fleets left," Trism replied. "But those fleets even with the ships of the border defenses cannot be everywhere at once. They cannot block all of the Protectorate ships from entering the Iron Kingdom."


    "The numbers in the report are toorge for just a simple skirmish or raid..." ke tapped the map where the borders of the Iron Kingdom and Protectorate met. "This numbers look more like an all out invasion!"


    "Is Prince Herod''s representative still here at the field?" ke suddenly asked. "If yes, call him in. I think we do need to inform Prince Herod about the threat of the Protectorate."


    "But Sir, if we are to take advantage of theck of Protectorate troops within their territory, we must act now and meet up with our two escorts!" Trism urged ke. "We don''t have a lot of time."


    "No," ke shook his head. "First we need stillck some of the materials Magister Thorn needs for the spell. Even if we infiltrated the Protectorate, we still have no way to find Sherene."


    "And we did form a sorts of alliance," ke added. "I will still do my part for it and he did help saved Dr. Sharon and the rest."


    "Yes sir..." Trism sighed before he passed on orders to find the representative of the Third Prince. "In this case, I would like to rmend some changes to our deployments and measures."


    ke nodded as Trism started toyout some measures the crew needed to take and what their next steps should be. ke listened with half an ear as he stared at the map before him. After a while, there was a knock on the door and a Marine brought the Third Prince''s representative in.


    The representative was a young looking elf wearing a junior officer uniform of the kingdom. He gave a bow to the gathered in the room and looked around curiously. ke gestured for the elf to take a seat before he gestured to Magister Thorn who hurriedly dug out a scroll filled with a list of materials hecked. "Can you help us gather these materials? Preferably as soon as possible, we need them urgently."


    The elf took a quick look at the list of materials and his face nched as he recognized some of the listed materials were quite rare and used in magic. There barely was any magic in the world now and only ancient families or certain magical schools doing research were use the materials listed. It meant that the materials listed would be hard and expensive to get but his Prince hadmanded him to cater to all the needs of these strange mercenaries regardless of the cost.


    He only let out a sigh inwardly before he stood up and bowed again, ready to carried out the orders of his Prince to help these people procure the materials. But as he was about to leave, the stern faced leader of these people stopped him. "Wait. There is still one thing..."


    "I need you to pass a message on," ke said and he scribbled down something on a book which he then ripped a page off. "Hand this over to your Prince immediately. Tell him this is urgent and..."


    As the representative left, ke looked at his gathered officers and sighed deeply. "Well... Shit has just hit the fan..."


    -----


    The New World, United Nations, Sawtooth Mountain Air Base


    Former Flight Lieutenant UNMSC pilot Tommy Kanzy stood inside the air traffic control tower and watched the row of four V - 1 Phoenix, wing ships taxiing onto the runway. The giant contra propeller engines of the boomerang shaped flying wings were loud, their heavy drone heard even when separated by hundreds of meters of distance and thick ss and concrete.


    "Commander! The V Ones are requesting permission to take off," The flight controller said from his station.


    Commander Tommy''s youthful face did not reflect the weight ofmand on his shoulders as Chief of Airforce. Instead of replying to the flight controller, he asked his adjutant, "How many Icarus airships are making the crossing?"


    "The Navy has only two Icarus airships that could only make the crossing," HIs adjutant reported. "The rest are still on the factory line or undergoing trials."


    "What is theunch schedule for the Navy''s airships?" Commander Tommy asked.


    "By end of the week," The adjutant replied. "Two more days."


    Commander Tommy shook his head as he mentally calcted the travel time, "It would take them at least two weeks to arrive at the Old World... By then, it might be toote for them to do anything..."


    The armament factories of the UN had produced the first pair of Icarus airships which was now operating in the Old World. The first pair of airships provided valuable raw data on their performance, quirks and a hundred other things to be improved or fine tuned on. The second pair of Icarus airships were then produced with the data gathered from the first pair, improving the UN''s first series of airships.


    And in the meantime, theunch of the Wing Ship Cruiser ''Phoenix'' or the WSC - 1 for short, exceed expectations and was deemed superior to the Icarus in terms of speed, ease of production and cost. Due to the report made by the Weapon Evaluation Committee, production orders by the Navy of the Icarus dropped from a nned sixteen hulls for a total fleet of twenty hulls changed to a mere six.


    The reason being that while the Phoenix could only carry a third of the capacity of an Icarus, it was many times faster and has a way higher operational altitude. It could also make the Crossing within half a day instead of a couple of weekspared to the Icarus airships, but ultimately, for each Icarus, two Phoenixes could be built for the same cost. High Command mission nners had deemed that with the Phoenix''s speed, troops and supplies could be rapidly transferred over to the Old Worldpared to the slower airships.


    Hence the WSC had its production model redesignated as the V - 1 Phoenix and forty were ordered came into operation. Out of the forty hulls nned, six werepleted while another ten were in various stages ofpletion in the factory lines. With the original Phoenix already in operation, this gave the UN Airforce seven wing ships to y with. Commander Tommy had nned to assign two wing ships each as logical support for the New Kingdom of Ma and to the Isles.


    But the sudden notice of a massive military buildup in the Old World had him changing his ns and in the next few days, the techs and mechanics of the entire airbase had no sleep as the six Phoenixes still in the New World were refitted forbat.


    Gun gimbals and turrets were fitted into their modr slots along the under hull of the flying wings. Armoured partitions were installed into the cargo spaces, creating protected munition bunkers for the newly fitted 20 mm autocannons and 88 mm cannons. Four retractable 20 mm dual autocannon turrets were installed on each side just above the waterline of the amphibious wing ship with another two more 88 mm mounts on each side.


    Four of the Phoenixes were refitted with weapons while the remaining two remained as they were. The unfitted Phoenixes and the single wing ship still in the Old World would continue to run logistics while the armed wing ships would be going to war.


    "Order the V Ones tounch," Commander Tommy said with a soft sigh. "We will be leading the war this time!"

 Chapter 628: Coup

    Chapter 628: Coup


    "Is this news true?" Prince Herod asked anxiously to Captain ke who was seated in his usual chair. He had rushed over to the Old Ugly as soon as he read the message and demanded to meet ke. "How did you get this information when our own spies and scouts have not even spotted anything?"


    "I have my means," ke gave a shrug and replied. "I have done my part for our alliance. It is up to you to believe it or not."


    Prince Herod slumped down on the chair behind him, his mind racing as he sought out possibilities and answers. Finally, he stood up and said in a tired voice, "If this is true... I have to warn the court..."


    "For all our sake, I hope that your information is false..." Prince Herod paused at the door and said before leaving. "If not... This might be the greatest disaster the Iron Kingdom has ever faced..."


    Prince Herod swapped out a fresh mount as he rushed back to the Iron Pce with his guards. Not long after, nine strokes of a bell resounded from the Iron Pce and echoed throughout the Capital. The Iron Lords and ministers hearing the nine strokes of the bell came rushing into the Iron Pce as the ringing of the Iron Pce''s bell nine times in the Pce meant something on a kingdom level had urred.


    The seats inside the Chamber for assembly of the Iron Lords and ministers was quickly filled up. The first thing any of the Lords and ministers saw was the Third Prince seated at the head of the Chamber, looking impatiently at the giant iron steam powered sand ss on one side of the Chamber.


    The Lords and ministers whispered amongst themselves as they inquired about the sudden urgent summons. Many rumors were spread but most of the Lords and ministers were thinking about one thing, that the Iron King has passed away. As the buzz continued, the Second Prince entered along with Lord Sincia and they took the seating for royals next to Prince Herod.


    A look of barely suppressed glee was on the Second Prince''s face as he sat down and nced around the Chamber triumphantly. On the other hand, Lord Sincia preserved an aura of calm as he sat down and folded his hands on hisp and closed his eyes. Finally, unable to wait no longer, Prince Herod stood up and addressed the assembled court.


    "I have called for an urgent assembly of the court as I have just received a piece of urgent news..." Prince Herod spoke out. The assembled court had quietened down when he stood up and now everyone''s eyes and ears were on him. "I have received word that Protectorate forces are amassing their fleets for an attack on our borders!"


    His sentence caused an uproar among the court. Some let out sighs of relief for they had assumed the worse for their King, others panicked as it would mean their territories would be ravaged by the Protectorate. Prince Herod banged the table with his fist and the Chamber quietened down again before he continued. "I will be leading my personnel troops and taking the 9th Fleet to support the border."


    "All other Iron Lords not in assigned to the Tri State front are to return to their fiefs and raise all their troops to defend against the Protectorate!" Prince Herod ordered. "We have not much time! The Protectorate will attack us anytime soon!"


    "Wait!" The Second Prince stood up and yelled loudly over the din of discussion that broke out after Prince Herod''s announcement. Prince Najja red at his brother and said, "On what basis are you ordering the Court to move their troops?"


    "I have reliable information that the Protectorate are attacking!" Prince Herod growled. "Is that not enough?"


    "Reliable information?" Prince Najjaughed, making his fats wobble. "Has our spies spotted anything?"


    Prince Najja directed the question to one of the Iron Lords in the crowd. The Iron Lord who handled the spywork of the Iron Kingdom, stood up and bowed before he said, "No, your Highness... I have not received any news about any troops movements of the Protectorate."


    "See?" Prince Najja dered triumphantly. "You have no right!"


    Prince Herod''s eyes red murderously at Prince Najja who coughed nervously as he backed away from his brother''s re. Lord Sincia suddenly stood up and he shook his head sadly. "Prince Herod... I know you wanted the position of Crown Prince... But how can you use such a scheme against your own brother?"


    "What scheme?" Prince Herod frowned as his eyes narrow suspiciously. He felt something was not right with the way his royal uncle was acting. "What are you talking about?"


    "Clearly this is a scheme to gain military strength from the Iron Lords!" Lord Sincia sighed. "With at least half of our military facing off against the Tri State... You nned to make use of this... so called invasion by the Protectorate, so that you can gainmand of the remaining military forces for your own use!"


    "How could you?" Lord Sincia''s shoulders slumped down and he sighed deeply again. "I know you could not bear the fact that your second brother has surpassed you and became the Crown Prince... But how could you make such a scheme?"


    "Even if he is your half brother..." Lord Sincia shook his head sadly. "He is still your family! How could you pretend to say the Protectorate are invading and n a military coup after seizing control of the border troops?"


    "How could you betray your royal father? Your family? And the Iron Kingdom when it needed your talents the most against the Tri State?" Lord Sincia''s words made the entire court re at the Third Prince, many of them started to believe Lord Sincia''s words.


    "NO!" Prince Herod roared angrily. "I am not scheming nor nning any coup! The Protectorate at going to attack us and all you can do is still y politics?"


    "Brother!" Prince Najja cried out, tears forming on his eyes and his chubby hands clenching his chest in shock. "H- How could you? Even... if we do not see eye to eye.. How... How could you wish me dead? If you really want to be Crown Prince... I... I can give you the position!"


    Prince Herod cursed at the acting of his royal uncle and brother. He knew he had been outyed by his royal uncle''s wits and nothing he said could prove his innocence. Even if the information provided by Captain ke was true, there was nothing he could do to prove it until the Protectorate attacks and by then, it would be toote to do anything!


    "FINE!" Prince Herod mmed his fists on the table and the whole Chamber was silenced. "Since no one believes me... I shall take my own forces to the border!"


    "And I hope all the Lords here to return to theirnds and make all preparations for the Protectorate!" Prince Herod growled and he walked towards the exit. "When theye... I hope none of you cowers behind your walls and pushes with all speed to block the Protectorate from breaking throu-!"


    "AHEM! Your Highness..." Lord Sincia cleared his throat loudly to cut off Prince Herod, not giving him time to finish his words. "I think... It is best for you and all of us... that you remain behind in your chambers..."


    "What?" Prince Herod scowled. "You want me to remain in my chambers while the Protectorate attacks?"


    "It is only your word that the Protectorate will attack," Lord Sincia said with a small smile. "While all of us would dare doubt your Highness''s words... But it is still too far fetched for everyone..."


    "If the Protectorate is really massing their troops, why has none of our spies and scouts even noticed anything?" Lord Sincia pointed out. "We have been fighting and defending against the Protectorate for many generations! Any move they make, we would know about it!"


    "That''s the problem!" Prince Herod snapped. "Generations of fighting but the tactics remained the same! The Protectorate has changed its tactics this time!"


    "Those fanatics?" Lord Sincia shook his head. "Even so, moving troops of any size would be easily spotted by our spies, yet we received no word!"


    "I am telling you, it is true!" Prince Herod insisted. "They did not mass at the border towns but in their inner cities! Of course our spies could not find out about them!"


    "Then, how did your Highness find out about it?" Lord Sincia smiled further making his wrinkled face crinkle up. "Why none of our spies could find out?"


    "I-" Prince Herod hesitated before he answered. "I have my own people in there!"


    "Haha!" Lord Sincia gave out a bark ofughter before he shook his head. "Your highness... Do not treat us all as fools! We all know that no one... no one can infiltrate into the innernds of the Protectorate without being discovered by those crazy fanatics!"


    "Enough of this charade!" Lord Sincia said sternly. "Guards! Escort the Third Prince to his chambers and make sure he does no leave his chambers without instructions from me or the Crown Prince!"


    The guards only after seeing the rest of the Iron Lords and ministers quiet approval, stepped forward and surrounded Prince Herod who glowered at them. "Damn it! If you do this, the Iron Kingdom will fall!"


    "Take him away!" Lord Sincia gestured for the guards. "Make sure he stays in his room!"


    "Lord Kiln! Lord Saber!" Prince Herod called out to his allies. "Do something! The Protectora-!"


    The doors of the chamber mmed shut and Prince Herod''s words were cut off. Lord Sincia let out a breath of relief before he turned to the court with a smile. "Please do not take this incident to heart... His highness, the Third Prince... is... suffering from over anxiety... With the war and the King..."


    "Now, since everyone is here," Lord Sincia gestured around the chamber. "Let''s not waste precious time! The Crown Prince shall be leading a fleet to the front against the Tri State and..."


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom''s Capital, Iron Pce, Prince Herod''s Chambers


    "Damn the gods!" Prince Herod flung another vase off the table. The vase shattered and its pieces joined the hundreds of other broken fragments all over the floor. He stormed up and down his room before he sat down behind his work desk and took out several scrolls.


    He quickly penned several messages on the scrolls and stamped them with his seal. After sealing them, he ced them into a scroll case and went out to the window balcony that overlooked an inner garden courtyard. The scroll case was dropped into a hollowed rain gutter and he stealthily reced the cover before he returned to his chamber andid down on his bed.


    Thankfully, he had this method of sending out orders to his people secretly. The message would be picked up and delivered to those he addressed to. Hopefully, word of the impending Protectorate attack would spread and the orders he gave to his people, would have ready his ships for battle.


    As heid on his bed thinking, a sudden thought crossed his mind. Could the news from Captain ke be false? But what reason does Captain ke has to provide him with false information. Could it be that Captain ke had been bought by Lord Sincia and the earlier farce was a plot against him and he had blindly fallen into their trap?


    The more he thought about it, the angrier he got until he could not stand it anymore and he stormed to the doors and banged hard against them. The barred doors remained stubborn against his fists and kicks as he vented all his anger at them. In the end, as heid panting against the doors, the guards outside could only tell him to calm down.


    "Calm down? Curse you all! Let''s see how calm you all be when I am done with you all!"

 Chapter 629: Simple

    Chapter 629: Simple


    Word of the Third Prince being incarcerated in his chamber spread throughout the Iron Kingdom''s Capital quickly and in the meantime, another more scandalous rumour apanied the news. The Third Prince had been enthralled by a witch that had used some dark tricks to pull the Iron King''s soul from the abyss!


    While some of the poption did not believe in the rumours but there were many others who did. Those jealous and enemies of the Third Prince quickly used this rumour to their advantage which was actually what Lord Sincia was nning for and the reputation of the Third Prince plummeted in the minds of the citizens.


    -----


    ke sat in his chair and silently appraised the young elf standing before him who was clearly ufortable in his presence from the way the elf was trying not to fret. The feminine looking elf was the adjutant of the Third Prince and in the past few days, he had been constantlying over bearing messages from the Third Prince.


    "Young Master Aeguil..." ke finally broke the silence as he gestured to the opened letter on the table. "Is Prince Herod not nning to uphold his side of the bargain?"


    "Lord Captain," The adjutant quickly replied, d that the stiffing silence was broken. "My Prince has instructed me to inform you that once he is freed, the materials and items you wanted will be delivered immediately to your ship."


    "So he wants to ckmail me?" ke''s eyes grew cold. "I do not take kindly to such... ways..."


    "Please, Lord Captain!" Aeguil who came from a noble family went down on one knee and bowed his head low. "Please help us save the Prince!"


    ke''s anger dissipated as the young elf on his knee begged him to save his prince. He no longer felt any anger but only difort at the situation. "Alright! I will try to help him!"


    "Thank you, Lord Captain! The heavens bless you!" The adjutant wiped away tears of joy from his face. "His Highness will be saved!"


    "But!" ke interrupted the elf''s self celebration. "I will only do my best to help him and only if the materials I needed are delivered to me by tomorrow!"


    "B-but but..." The adjutant stammered in surprise. "The deal wa-"


    "ept my terms," ke cut in again. "Or you can get out of my ship... right now!"


    "I- I..." Aeguil calcted in his mind the amount of time needed to return to the Capital, sneak a message to his Prince and wait for his reply and back to here. He shook his head as the time needed would be too much and there was always the chance of the messages getting intercepted by the Crown Prince and his faction. Such a message would spell doom for the Third Prince and everyone involved.


    "It is a deal!" Aeguil sucked in a deep breath and made his decision. To him, his Prince was more important than the strange arcane materials that were mostly useless to anyone without arge supply of magic crystal. "But on one condition!"


    "Oh?" ke leaned back on his chair and gestured to the young elf who was trying to prove himself. "Go on. State your condition."


    "I will deliver the goods... But I and some guards will be apanying along!" Aeguil dered firmly.


    "You don''t trust me?" ke shook his head.


    "No! Until I see the Prince is well and freed!" Aeguil replied firmly. "This is a deal!"


    "Alright, fine," ke gave in. Securing the materials for the tracking spell was more important. If needed, his Marines were more then capable of defeating anyone brought along by the young master Aeguil. "Tomorrow by the time the sun is overhead, I expect to see my goods here."


    Aeguil gave a stiff nod before he gave another bow and left the cabin. ke sighed and shook his head at the back of the elf before he picked up the handset on his desk. "Comms, tell Lieutenant Commander Trism to find me in my office."


    "Yes sir!" The operator over the line replied and not longter, there was a knock at the hatch and Trism entered. "You called, Sir?"


    "Send word to the Vengeance," ke said without looking up from his paperwork. "Order them to set sail forbat. I want them to take up position at the mouth of the Border Straits."


    "Aye aye, Captain," Trism replied. The Border Straits was the massive dividing ind saltwater river that ran between thends of the Protectorate and the Iron Kingdom. "Shall we order the Icarus and Daedalus to link up with the Vengeance?"


    "No, leave those two airships where they are for now," ke said before he pushed the letter from the Prince to Trism. "What do you think?"


    "Prince Herod wants our help to rescue him?" Trism frowned. "And he is holding the stuff we want as hostage..."


    "I changed the deal," ke smiled. "Our items will arrive tomorrow with a small group of... overseers... while we think of a way to get the Prince out in one piece."


    "Sir, I know the items are important for the spell," Trism''s frown deepened. "But is it worth risking for the Prince?"


    "The Protectorate will be invading soon and this... this could spark off a civil war with us right in the middle!" Trism warned. "We only have one ship and a crew of just two hundred..."


    "I know," ke replied. "That is why I changed the deal. If they do not follow through, then, I have no obligation to remain here. The items weck for the spell... We can get them in other ces... Like the Cartel."


    "That would mean pushing back our schedule by weeks..." reminded Trism. "And we would need to make a big detour to avoid the attacking Protectorate fleets..."


    "Yes," ke nodded. "Still this spell will save us time and effort in finding her. If not, just blindly searching through the Protectoratends would take up even more time and lesser chance. Anyway, I will decide after we see if we can have a feasible n to get the Prince out or not."


    -----


    On the next day, a steam wagon escorted by a dozen mounted soldiers made its way noisily over to the side of the Old Ugly. ke strolled down the cargo ramp and watched as several small chests were carried out and set aside with Magister Thorn excitedly checking their contents.


    This time, feminine looking adjutant wore a half te over his usual set of uniforms. Over a dozen simrly armed soldiers stood in a row behind him. A short sword rattled against his thigh as he came up to ke and bowed. "Lord Captain, I have brought what you requested... Is this... enough?"


    ke turned to look at Magister Thorn and waited until his inspection was done. Magister Thorn shed a thumbs up that he picked up from the goblins to ke and he grabbed the chest containing the most exotic item and personally carried it up into the ship.


    "Come, we shall speak of that matter inside," ke said and he led the way inside. Once inside the cargo bay, ke brought the whole lot to a small cleared area of the bay. Several foldable benches and tables had been set up in that small space and ke gestured for everyone to be seated."Now we can speak."


    "I have brought along some of Prince Herod''s most loyal and strongest fighters," Aeguil said. "We enter the Pce and bring the Prince out but we need your help to get him out of the city!"


    "Oh?" Mills standing quietly at the side suddenly stepped forward as he assessed the Iron Kingdom soldiers. "Not bad, not bad, all looking fit."


    "This is Major Mills," ke introduced the Marine. "Hemands the... troops on board the ship."


    "Let''s hear you n," ke said as he sat down on one of the benches.


    "It''s a very simple n," Aeguil took out a scroll that had a roughly drawn map of the Pce. "As I can enter freely into the royal wing. I will bring half of the soldiers here into the royal wing of the Pce. The other half lead by Sir Raylot here will clear the guards in the main wing of Pce and rece them with his own troops."


    "While that is being done," Aeguil pointed to a spot on the map and said. "We will overwhelm the guards outside the Third Prince''s chambers and quickly leave the Pce before any rm is sounded."


    "That is sure simple..." Mills shook his head as hemended on the side. "Hopefully it is as easy as it sounds..."


    The soldiers brought by the adjutant gave Mills an unhappy re but he just shrugged them away before he tapped the map. "There so many things that could go wrong here... And you even want to overpower the guards inside the Pce with just a few of you?"


    "I have another fifty soldiers waiting!" A bald beefy elf with scars on his face stated. "They are all elites and veterans of many battles! Overpowering some ceremonial guards is easy!"


    "But still, you n to clear a path through the main pce and escape out from the main gates?" Mills shook his head. "I am pretty sure it would be anything but simple!"


    "Then what do you suggest?" Aeguil''s face turned red as he folded his arms unhappily. "We can''t just escape from the sky!"


    "Oh of course we can!" Mills gave ke a wink, to which ke let out a helpless sigh before he nodded approval.


    "Here," Mills shoved the crudely drawn map to one side before he pped a muchrger and highly detailed printed map of the pce on the table. The details and quality of the map made the adjutant and his soldiers hissed in shock and wonder.


    "How did you get this?" Aeguil''s red face turned white with shock. He had used his own memory and years of familiarity in the Pce to draw out the map. But yet, these mercenaries had onlye to the Pce a couple of times and yet they had somehow gotten their hands on a map that detailed the interior of the Iron Pce! "This is a capital offence for anyone not of the Iron King to have!"


    "And yet, you have a map yourself too!" Mills grinned, totally unfazed by the hostile stares of the soldiers. "Anyway, we are not interested in invading your Pce, and don''t worry, we won''t spread this map out either."


    "There must be a change in the deal!" Aeguil turned to ke. "T- This map! It must be destroyed once we saved the Prince! And whoever that made this... You must hand over his identity!"


    "Sure," ke quickly agreed. The map of the Iron Pce was generated by echo mapping which was used in the dungeons and caves by the Marines and explorers. When they were in the Iron Pce, the simple echo mapping tool had been activated and it constantly pinged the surroundings as ke and his team were led through the Pce. "The map will be destroyed and the person who made this will be handed over to you."


    Mills raised an eyebrow at ke''s words and coughed to cover give hisughter. "Alright, this is my n. It is much simpler than yours and the risks are lower. But still, there are risks!"


    "See this," Mills pointed to a rectangr spot on the map that was next to the Third Prince''s window. "This is an inner garden right?"


    Aeguil frowned as he racked his mind before he nodded, "Yes, that should be the Emerald Garden..."


    "Howrge is it?" Mills asked as he took out a marker and wrote on the map. "Is it as big as the cargo bay here?"


    "Erm..." Aeguil closed his eyes as he tried to recall. "It should be slightly wider..."


    "Great! Hehehe..." Mills snickered to himself as he made a few more markings on the map. "This will be simple as hell!"


    "We wille from the skies and save your Prince! Simple as that!"

 Chapter 630: Escape

    Chapter 630: Escape


    The Old World, UN Forward Base, Fort Anchorage


    The dull grey walls of the sea cliff suddenly flickered and a pair of sword shaped bows emerged seemingly from out of nowhere. The objects continued toe out of the cliff wall, growing longer andrger until the entire mass of the ship had exited and the grey cliff wall gave ast flicker.


    The tri hull ship continued its way out to the open sea before it swung to the starboard side, leaving trails of white wake behind. Overhead like a flock of sea wyverns, two patrols of fixed winged aircraft escorted the massive carrier.


    Unlike when the first time, the UNS Vengeance arrived in the Old World, its decks were no longer cluttered with cargo containers and crates instead of aircraft. Now, with its decks cleared, the flight decks were once again operational and ready forbat. A huge blue white g was hoisted up as the UNS Vengeance proudly disyed its colours and it sailed towards their objective.


    -----


    The Old World, The Iron Kingdom, Border between the Protectorate and the Iron Kingdom


    As the sun set over the horizon, hundreds of glowingmps and fires appeared, dotting the mountain range. If one were to view thendscape from the skies, one could easily differentiate thends of the Protectorate and the Iron Kingdom.


    On the side of the Iron Kingdoms, one could see hundreds and hundreds ofmps or firelight centred around towns and cities across thendscape, while on the Protectorate side, there were only a few pinpricks of light to be seen.


    Sited over the mountain range were several forts built into the mountains and one of them wasrger than all others, serving as the border defences centralmand headquarters. A door banged as the angry officer stormed off and the Commandant of the border defence shook his head as he heard the curses outside his office.


    "Lord General," An aide quickly fawned over the unhappy general. "How can the Protectorate move so many ships and troops without us even finding out?"


    "The Third Prince must be plotting something I think," Another aide spoke up. "He must be thinking of moving the fleets away so that he can take over the Capital easily."


    "We should not worry," The aides quickly reassured their general. "The Protectorate won''t invade us, if they dare to, our forces are more than enough to destroy those fanatics easily!"


    "Hmm..." The general stood up and looked out of the window carved out from the side of the mountain. "Double the guards... Just in case."


    The door to the office suddenly banged open and the general turned around with anger, wondering if everyone has started to disrespect him. But froze in his actions when the soldier that came in panting and shouted, "T- The Protectorate! Th- They are attacking!"


    "What?" The general and his aides were shocked by the news. "The Third Prince was right?"


    "Lo- Lord General! All the defence bastions are reporting sightings of a massive Protectorate force!" The messenger reported. "


    "All the bastions?" The general was even more shocked as his face paled. Each bastion typically held two squadrons of fast attack airships and had dozens and dozens of heavy steam cannons. There were a total of fourteen Bastions along the border and the three military border towns housed heavier sses of airships in reserve. "How many ships do they have?"


    "Each bastion reported at least a fleet or more!" The messenger nervously replied. The general took a moment to recover himself before he pushed his aides aside and rushed towards themand centre just as the base siren wailed.


    Along the way, another messenger came rushing over and gave another report. "General! We lost contact with Bastions Four, Seven and Eight! One, Two, Five and Nine are requesting immediate reinforcements!"


    The enemy must have at least fourteen fleets or more which meant roughly four hundred hulls! The general thought to himself in fear. It would mean that the Protectorate must have thrown all their forces in this attack! He barely has a hundred three ships and most of them were small destroyers or frigates sses, good for patrols and against raiders but against a stand up fleet battle, they were like throwing eggs against rocks!


    And the three reserve fleets each consisting of a mix of light and heavy cruisers and a single battleship had a portion of their ships transferred away to support the battle against the Tri State which meant he barely has another fifty ships in reserve.


    "Have the reserve fleet mobilized?" He called out as he entered themand centre. Two rows of magic apprentices who were groomed by the military to operate the few magical artefacts were each seated before a shard of pink white crystal the size of a person''s palm. The magic apprentices had their eyes closed with their hands touching the crystal shard that had a magical array draw on the table. A magic crystal sat in a specific slot of the array and powered themunication tool.


    Such a magical tool allowed an almost instantaneous transfer of messages between paired crystals. It was very costly to operate for sending messages would burn up thousands of gold worth of magic crystals. Hence only the Iron Kingdom military and some other important families with ancient lineages could afford the cost uses such a system but there was a restriction to its uses as themunication crystal could only transfer messages between paired crystals and once paired, it will not function with any othermunication crystals.


    The general already saw three of themunication crystals had gone dark, their once vibrant pinkish white glow had disappeared and he knew that they must have been destroyed. One of the apprentices opened his eyes and scribbled something down on a piece of parchment before one of the staff took the parchment and handed it to the general.


    The general frowned as he read the message before crumpling it into a ball. "Order all the Bastions'' airships that are able to, to fall back here!"


    "Tell the reserve fleets to assemble here once they are underway!" The general paused for a moment before he made a hard decision. "And order the troops... to hold... the Bastions as long as possible..."


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Iron Pce


    The ride in the CH - 1 Griffin was surprisingly quiet. Mills constantly force a yawn and blew his nose to clear his ears as the noise suppression spell blocked his ears. He nced at the Iron Kingdom adjutant who was buckled in and staring around with curiosity.


    "Rx," Mills grinned at the adjutant. "We will be reaching soon."


    The adjutant gave a nod before he returned to gawking at his surroundings. Mills turned and checked on his men who were all dressed in ck uniforms and wearing ck armour simr to the locals. "Alright, boys! You know the mission! We go in grab the Prince and get out. No fuss no mess! Clear?"


    "Sir, Yes, Sir!" The section of Marines cried out, their voices sounding strangely muffled under the spell.


    "Two minutes!" The goblin crew chief cried out, the noise suppression spell making him sound like a squeaky toy. "Mek ready!"


    Aeguil turned his head and frowned at the goblin who just spoke. He did not knew of any goblins being domesticated or tame enough to be even able to take servile roles. Suddenly before he could pay any more attention to the goblin, he felt the floor behind him disappear and his stomach seem to fly up to his mouth as everything turned weightless, in his shock, he let out a cry of panic.


    Mills grin turned evil and while the Marines controlled theirughter. Only the goblin snickered loudly and hollered excitedly as the helicopter went into a steep dive. "One minute!"


    "Gek up!" The goblin cried out as the helicopter came to a sudden hover and pped the rear hatch controls. With the rear hatch opened, the goblin crew chief leaned out of the rear and looked down. "Aw clear!"


    Mills helped Aeguil out of his restraints and patted him on his shoulder and lined him up behind his men who were already at the rear jumping off. "Just as we practised!"


    Aeguil nervously followed behind his men, watching them disappear one by one out of the gaping hole of the wondrous flyer. Finally, it was his turn, he paused and peered over the edge, seeing darkness below. The goblin giggled as it called out a challenge, "Girly boy scared? hehe!"


    "Come on! It''s just a short jump!" Mills encouraged the elf. "We need to hurry!"


    "Wait! Give me som-" Aeguil started to have doubts about this but Mills just shook his head and pushed him out.


    "Ya bastard!" The goblin peeked over the edge and shook his head. "But I likey! Hehe!"


    "Hahaha!" Mills leapt off the hatch andnded with a thud on the hard stone. Once on the ground, he checked around his surroundings, seeing the adjutant had been helped up by one of his men while the rest had fanned out on the balcony. The helicopter powered away and the gale from the rotors disappeared and blended into the darkness of the night sky.


    "You good?" Mills checked on the adjutant whose face was white as a sheet. "Come on! We got a Prince to save!"


    Aeguil took a deep calming breath as pressed a hand at his chest armour, trying to calm his frantic heartbeat. He cursed silently under his breath at the tall soldier called Mills for pushing him off the flying machine without any warning.


    The balcony doors were jimmied open and the Marines stepped through on alert, their night vision goggles down and scanning the room. Aeguil and Mills followed behind once the all clear was given. Aeguil hurried over to the Prince Herod''s chambers and woke the sleeping Prince whose reflexes nearly sliced open the throat of his adjutant. "Aeguil? Wh- What are you doing here?"


    Prince Herod put away the dagger and rubbed his eyes as his mind cleared. "I nearly killed you! You shouldn''t sneak up on me this way!"


    "Shhh!" Aeguil hushed his Prince. "Your Highness, please keep your voice down!"


    "What is going on?" Prince Herod suddenly noticed several more people in his chamber, speaking in a lower volume. "Whose are these people?"


    "They are Captain ke''s soldiers, here to help you," Aeguil replied. "We must go now before they notice something is wrong!"


    "How are we escaping?" Prince Herod asked as he quickly grabbed some clothes for travel and dressed.


    "This way, your Highness!" Aeguil led the Prince to the balcony where Mills was waiting.


    Mills gave a short bow to the Prince and called in the helicopter for extraction while a couple of Marines carried arge chest over and set it against the railing of the balcony. Mills gave an exnation at the looks of the two Iron Kingdomites. "Makes it easier to climb up."


    "What are we waiting here for?" Prince Herod asked as he peered over the balcony. "Are we going to climb down?"


    "No, something even better," Mills grinned as a dark shape suddenly appeared. A muffled growl could be hearding from the dark shape that came with a frightening gale of wind. There was a soft nk of metal on stone and a squeake from the strange dimly lit red interior. "Quickie! Quickie! Ya making mate for ma game with ma gang!"


    "After you, your Highness," Mills gestured to the ramp. Prince Herod nodded and used the chest as a step and climbed into the helo under the urging of the goblin.


    In barely five minutes, everyone was back on board and the rear hatch mmed shut. Themotion caused by the downwash of the rotors and the strangely muffled growl of engines finally caught the attention of the guards.


    They rush out to the garden and looked around in confusion and even in the dark, they could see the once beautiful and meticulously tended garden in a huge mess. But no matter how they search the surroundings, they found no clue of what had happened.

 Chapter 631: A Favour

    Chapter 631: A Favour


    Distant shes of explosions lit up the clouds while raging fires and burning airships turned the night skies blood red. Rumble of things blowing up rolled over thend and the crew of the two UN Icarus ss airships watched the ongoing battle silently whileying hidden under the cover of the trees.


    From their vantage point, they could see the entire mountain range was on fire and the mes lit up the countless airships in the skies that were constantly throwing shots after shots down at the forts. The much smaller and faster airships of the Iron Kingdom could barely even hold off the first wave of attacks and many fell.


    In the end, the airships of the Iron Kingdom could only retreat leaving behind the ground defenders to their fate.


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, The Old Ugly


    The CH - 1 Griffin hadnded on a small clearing not far from the Old Ugly that had a group of Marines providing a security cordon to keep away any prying eyes. A group of eager goblin techs barely waited until the rotors stopped spinning before they started to dismantle the transport helo and stripped it down to store into crates.


    "Why do these goblins work for you?" Prince Herod looked around with curiosity and pointed to the goblins, "How did you all tame these dangerous creatures?"


    "Good food and work benefits?" Mills gave a shrug. "They like us I guess?"


    "Stranger and stranger," Prince Herod frowned as he observed the goblins'' work. "Maybe I should see if I can tame some... They look quite useful with their hands..."


    Mills gave a polite smile and gestured to the waiting officers at the edge of the clearing. "The Captain is waiting for you, your Highness."


    "Captain ke!" Prince Herod gave a bow. "I thank you with all of my soul for your help."


    ke waved away his thanks before he dropped a bomb to the Prince, "The Protectorate has invaded... And the border defences won''t be able to hold..."


    "What?" Prince Herod sighed before he said, "I had expected we have a bit more time..."


    "But how did you get this news?" Aeguil was surprised.


    "I have my means," ke replied before he asked the Prince. "So what are your ns now?"


    "I need to get to my troops and organize a blocking force against the Protectorate," Prince Herod said. "Has my troops mobilised?"


    "Yes, your Highness... But... we have some issues..." Aeguil replied. "Some of the noble officers and families are rejecting your orders and also not allowing our troops to cross theirnds..."


    "Curses on their families!" Prince Herod growled. "How many ships have rallied under my banner?"


    "Just eighteen, your Highness..." Aeguil replied nervously. "The rest have yet to arrived..."


    Prince Herod kicked against a tree root to vent his anger before he spun around and faced ke, "What do you want for lending your strength to the defence of my kingdom? I am willing to pay any price you ask for!"


    "We only have a single ship," ke replied, unsure why the Prince kept wanting to hire him and his men. "We won''t be able to influence much to this war..."


    Prince Herod hung his head down as he contemted his options before he said, "I need ast favour from you... Can you bring me to my gathered ships?"


    "What''s the point?" ke asked curiously. "Your fleet is seriously outnumbered and the best course of action now is to get them to fall back to another holding point while gathering more forces to fight off the Protectorate."


    "If I do that, many will die under the cruelty of the Protectorate!" Prince Herod helplessly replied. "I as their Prince, I cannot see them die!"


    "Good intentions, but still wed logic..." ke sighed softly. "I can get you to your ships, but after that, you are on your own."


    "You are a good person, Captain," Prince Herod gave ke a salute. "And I cannot thank you enough for your help..."


    "Brave and stupid..." ke shook his head at the back of the Prince as he walked through the forest towards the parked airship. He suddenly had a shback when he was once the same, sacrificing his ship, crew and eventually his leg for the greater good.


    He decided to help the Prince onest time before he continued his search for Sherene and his child.


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom Border, Bastion Eleven


    Dozens and dozens of crimson red airships pushed through the burning forts and defences of the mountain border. To the surviving defenders'' surprise, the Protectorate airships did not even bother tond troops after they silenced the bastions'' steam cannons and instead continued to push forward.


    But the number of Protectorate ships left the survivors in fear as they peeked out from their hiding ces, seeing countless ships. They realised that the Protectorate was going for an all out invasion as ship designs not seen for decades were included in the attack.


    The first line of defences was overwhelmed quickly by sheer numbers. Even with the powerful super heavy steam cannons that could sink airships with a hit or two, the sheer numbers of enemies were too much for the defenders. Volleys after volleys of explosive projectiles hammered the mountain walls until they crumbled and even buried some of the cannons, trapping the defenders under tons of rocks.


    The Protectorate''s doctrine for their airships was all about faith and brute belief in their strength, hence their fleets were mostly heavily armed and armoured. The fast attack airships of the Iron Kingdom were more than capable of going toe to toe with the archaic Protectorate heavy airships but the sheer number of projectiles filling the air made any mistake a costly one.


    The squadrons of fast attack airships deployed almost instantly, a testimony of their capabilities but even against the numerous Protectorate''s decades old cruiser and battleship designs, they were hopelessly overwhelmed. The brave crews knew that they were using their lives to buy time for theirrades to mobilise and they fearlessly threw their ships into the fray.


    Sub Lieutenant Kasi was one suchmander of the Iron Kingdom''s 187th Sky Squadron. Her Rapier ss fast attack destroyer, the Iron Needle, was one of the many defending the border and when the siren bells went off, she reflexly shoved her naked partner off the cosy bed, dressed and was gone before her partner even woke up.


    Like all others, she had first assumed it was the usual raid by the Protectorate. They loved to conduct night raids into thends of the Iron Kingdom to kidnap people to convert to their faith. But when she boarded her airship, her second inmand had handed her a scrap of parchment, his face pale and his hand trembling.


    She read the note and froze before she ordered her ship to make all haste tounch. Already, the heavy thud of steam cannons could be heard inside the cave where the airships were parked as the cannon crews served their weapons. The temperature inside the cave grew hotter and hotter as the boilers from the rows of park airships were fired up.


    Soon one by one they hovered up and airscrew pushed the airships out from the rear of the mountain where Bastion Eleven stood. Kasi ordered her ship to form up with the rest of the 187th. When her ship rose up above the peaks of the mountain range, there was a collective intake of breath from the bridge crew including her as they stared out of the viewports at the numerous shadows highlighted by res and explosions.


    "It''s... not a raid!" Someone cried out in shock. "I- It''s an invasion! We are doomed!"


    "Silence!" Kasi snapped angrily. "Next one who makes a noise, I will throw him overboard!"


    The small bridge crew quieted down but the tension rose. Her good friend Kragen who was the second inmand, whispered softly, next to her, his eyes filled with fear and doubt, "What do we do?"


    "We wait for orders from the squadronmander!" She replied back before calling out. "Signaler? Is there any signals from the gship?"


    "No, Sub Lieutenant!" The signaler kept casting nervous nces at the Protectorate fleet and back to the squadron''s gship. "Nothing at all!"


    "Hail them!" Kasi ordered. "Request for orders!"


    The signaler officer uncovered a speaking horn and passed on themands to the g and signal crew on the top of the airship, who used abination of lights and gs to request orders from the gship. It was a momentter, when the signaler officer replied, "The...mander''s orders are for all ships to engage... the enemy... We are to buy as much time for the second line of defences to mobilise!"


    The orders from the squadronmander effectively sentenced everyone to their deaths. Kasi turned to her good friend who had closed his eyes and was muttering a prayer to his god before he opened his eyes and gave a shaky nod.


    "All hands, prepare for battle!" Kasi''s voice barely trembled under the stress and fear she was holding back. "For Iron!"


    "For Iron!" The bridge crew screamed out as they vented their fear out. Orders followed down to the crew and the Iron Needle charged forward together with the other ships of the 187th. The squadron of twelve ships shed through the dark masses from the top, firing broadsides as they passed between the Protectorate ships.


    Once the squadron broke through the Protectatore fleet, two ships were missing and one ship hadgging behind, trailing smoke and steam. In one pass, a third of the 187th''s strength was gone but in their wake, they too left behind their mark as a couple of Protectorate cruisers fell back smoking.


    The squadron reorganized themselves and once the steam cannons were reloaded, they made another attack run. Utilizing their fast speed and narrow profiles, the 187th targeted the edges of the Protectorate fleet, their attack runs shredding metal and depleting magic barriers.


    The Iron Needle shook violently when one errant projectile smacked right into the side of the ship. Almost instantly, the magic barrier dimmed as the kic energy from the mushroom shaped projectile drained the majority of the ship''s magic reserves. Knocked off course, the cannon crew missed their opportunity to fire their volley and the helmsman fought to bring the ship back to control.


    "Bring us back to formation!" Kasi nearly screamed her order out as the Iron Needle fell behind the squadron. Any ship that was out of formation was certain to be targeted as it was easier to aim at a single target as there was no other ship to help use their magic barrier to protect each other. "Hurry!"


    The Iron Needle shook again as another projectile hammered against their barrier and effectively shaking it. Motes of magical energies dispersed into the air leaving the Iron Needle without protection. Kasi cursed as she ordered her ship to turn away from the Protectorate fleet and keep out of range until their magic barrier was powered up again.


    From a safe distance, Kasi and her crew watched the entire mountain range burn. Airships dropped like shooting stars in the night skies and went up in spectacr balls of mes when they hit the ground. A spotter suddenly cried out in shock and fear as he pointed to the far distance. "An- Another fleet! They have another fleet!"


    Kasi climbed up thedder to the observation deck where the spotters were manning and peered through the far seeing ss. Even in the darkest, the glows of fires were enough to highlight anotherrge group of dark shapes approaching from the Protectatore side of the border.


    "Could it be transports?" Kasi asked the spotter next to her.


    "They are toorge to be transports!" The spotter nervously replied. "And so far we only spotted ships that are as old as my grandfather!"


    "They must be sending the old ships to clear the way..." Kasi whispered under her breath. "The fleet behind... that is the real invasion fleet!"

 Chapter 632: Change of Plans

    Chapter 632: Change of ns


    The Old Ugly barely managed to take off the field when soldiers came storming in. The urgent ringing of bells had echoed out from the Iron Pce prompted the goblins stripping down the helo to quicken their hands and they finally managed to pack the entire helo up for transport and tow it into the Old Ugly when the earth started rumbling.


    Companies of cavalry and steam wagons came rolling out of the city walls with orders to prevent any docked airships around the surrounding airfields from leaving but the urgent ringing of bells in the middle of the night had awoken the city and crew of the ships. The captains and merchants seeing the soldiers and military airships swooping down to impose a lock down, panicked as it would mean they might be trapped and their goods would be left unsold.


    Crew members roused out of taverns and pubs while those ships having a majority of their crew quickly made steam to leave the capital before they were trapped here and profits lost. Following that, word of an all out invasion spread and in moments, chaos descended on the city as people came out on the streets and others sought to leave the city when the skies were still dark and dawn hours away.


    All the chaos helped the crew of the Old Ugly, as the huge hull of the CH - 1 Griffin was covered up and towed on its own wheeled carriage by a disguised truck. While it was huge, the other ships'' crew were too busy with the chaos to pay attention to the oversized cargo. When the Old Ugly rose to the skies, she joined the few other airships that scrambled away into the skies with the warships of the Iron Kingdom Sky Fleets swooping over to stop them.


    Using their superior speed, the Old Ugly gave a burst of speed that left the pursuing military airships in wonder and helpless to catch up. After a token chase, the Iron Kingdom ships could only give up as the distance between them drew so wide, that made it a waste of time to continue the chase, allowing the ugly looking airship to disappear into the brightening horizon.


    -----


    The Old World, Capital of the Iron Kingdom, The Iron Pce


    Prince Najja still half dressed in his sleepwear with just a coat over his shoulders, paced anxiously around his study chamber as he awaited for Lord Sincia to arrive. Earlier his servants had woken him up from his sleep and informed him of the invasion of the Protectorate and that was not all, his thrice cursed brother had escaped from his confinement!


    His half brothers had always been dominating and overachievers since young. And he, the son of a favored concubine, grew tired of trying to outdo them to gain their approval, instead sought to enjoy life instead. But when his eldest brother, the Crown Prince vanished, and him not even considered to be the next in line, a proposal from his royal uncle greatly tempted him.


    It was to take over the Crown Prince position and rise up to be the next Iron King! Oh, how wonderful it would be for him if he was the King. Able to indulge in all fine things in life, from women to delicacies to endless wealth and power. But now, it seemed like nothing nned has gone right for him!


    The door to his study chamber opened and an impably dressed Lord Sincia entered. Despite his age, the old man still maintained a strict bearing befitting of royalty. Once the servants in the room had departed, his calm demeanor changed and he frowned at Prince Najja. "Did you look at the mirror? As the Crown Prince and future King, you must always look after your public appearances!"


    "Yes, Royal Uncle," Prince Najja felt like a child again and chided by the Royal Tutors. "But the news of the Protectorate! And that muscle brained brother of mine!"


    "I know!" Lord Sincia sighed before he helped himself to the hot tea on the table. "It would seem that he was correct but that is not important now. What is important is your actions next!"


    "My actions?" Prince Najja frowned as his pacing halted. He quickly sat down before his uncle and asked, "What should I do? Call up all the soldiers?"


    "Of course, but not just that!" Lord Sincia took a small sip of the hot tea before saying. "You will lead the fleets to fight against the Protectorate instead of going against the Tri State."


    "A- Against the Protectorate!?" Prince Najja was shocked. "B- But they are not civilized people! They are fanatics and savages! What about our ns against the Tri State?"


    "Don''t worry, it is just a change of our original ns," Lord Sincia waved Prince Najja''s concerns. "You will have more ships under yourmand and in fact, this situation might turn out for the better for us!"


    "H- How so?" Prince Najja felt a deep seated fear inside. He had grown up hearing about the atrocities done by the Protectorate against heretics and non believers. Like many others, the Protectorate were like a bogeyman and deep seeped into the regions'' superstitions and myths, despite the constant conflicts.


    "Think about it! What better to push your poprity by being the defender of the people?" Lord Sincia replied with a smile and under themp light, it made his wrinkled face look hideous. "The people will rally behind you!"


    Prince Najja suppressed a shiver as he looked away before he said, "B- But how can we defeat the Protectorate? The reports I received spoke of hundreds and hundreds of ships!"


    "You do not need to win," Lord Sincia replied. "Aren''t you good at sweet talking to people? Just rally the people and leave the real fight to my generals!"


    "Pack your stuff," Lord Sincia finished his tea and stood up. "I took the liberty to assemble the fleet while on my way over."


    "Despite the fleet still being outfitted, it would still have a good thirty fighting ships," Lord Sincia said. "The fastest ship will arrive to pick you up at the royal airfield with the turn of a ss."


    "W- What?" Prince Najja was surprised. "Isn''t that too fast? I am not ready yet a- and..."


    "You have only until the turn of the ss to pack your stuff!" Lord Sincia snapped. "I expect you to be at the field in that time!"


    Prince Najja trembled as he watched the door close before him and he seemed to lose all energy as he slumped deeper into the sofa. "It''s... all his fault! If he only had... died! I won''t need to risk my life out in these stupid battles!"


    The angry rant gave him strength and he stormed off towards his bed chambers and he rang the bell, shouting for his servants. "HURRY UP! Pack my clothes! I am going for war!"


    -----


    The Old Ugly


    Prince Herod shook his head slightly as he eyed the quiet Captain seated on his usual chair in the bridge. As usual, the crew seemed too professional to just be a group of merchants as he observed their work. And as the surprise of seeing tamed goblins as part of the crew, which they seemed to have disappeared somewhere in the ship, hidden from view once more, he felt the gut feeling about the Captain and this ship was truly more than it seemed.


    "That was a spectacr run," Prince Herod spoke up finally, unable to keep silent. "My Iron Kingdom ships could not even match half your speed!"


    ke gave a disinterested grunt of acknowledgement while his eyes remained closed. Trism standing by his side turned to Prince and smiled, "Your Highness, the one thing the Loose Confederation can boast of, its the speed of its ships!"


    "Are you all really from the Loose Confeds?" Prince Herod frowned. "I never knew the Loose Confeds know how to tame goblins!"


    "The Loose Confederation is made up of many tribes, nations, and kingdoms," Trism remained smiling at the Prince. "We have many races working together, so of course... You would see goblins."


    Prince Herod''s frown deepened. He did not know if it was the truth but it sounded usible. From his diplomatic rtions with the Loose Confeds, he knew that they were a mixed cluster of tiny powers that banded together to face off the greater powers of the world. Demi humans scorned by were treated as equals there and it was possible that a savage race such as goblins could be part of them.


    "Anyway, I give my thanks again for bringing me to my fleet," Prince Herod decided to change the topic. "As always, I am in your debt."


    "Your debt appears to be growing bigger and bigger," A voice suddenly said from behind him and he turned around to see Lady Sharon standing behind him with a grin and her arms folded across her chest. "How are you ever going to repay it at this rate?"


    "Lady Sharon," He gave a bow and smiled helpless back. "That... appears to be true..."


    Trism sighed and rolled his eyes as he turned away from the two and returned his attention to the operation of the ship while ke appeared to have started snoring. Dr. Sharon gestured the Prince to one side and said, "Why are you so stupid to expose your cards to the enemy?"


    "What do you mean?" Prince Herod scratched his head. He had learnt how to y cards with Lady Sharon and the rest and only vaguely understand the term she was using.


    "What I mean was why are you telling your enemies about what... weapons or skills you have!" Dr. Sharon sighed. "You should not tell them and keep your abilities hidden! You should not have told them about the information about the Protectorate!"


    "But, they are nning an attack into my Kingdom!" Prince Herod protested. "It is my duty to warn my people!"


    "Yes I know!" Dr. Sharon shook her head. "But... you...ck tack! You shouldn''t just announce it like that... Who would believe you without evidence?"


    "But... I believed in your Captain..." Prince Herod frowned. "And I needed the Lords to dispatch their forces."


    "Argh..." Dr. Sharon felt like punching the Prince''s handsome face. "Yes! But you should inform your allies first! Not everyone at once and allowing your enemies to twist your words against you!"


    "But it is my dut-"


    Dr. Sharon raised a palm up to stop Prince Herod''s words. "I know it is your duty! But look what happened? If you moved with more tack, you wouldn''t have been locked up and eventually... dy any form of defenses that you could have fielded if you were free!"


    "You... mean I caused this?" Prince Herod felt a cold shiver down the pit of his belly. "I..."


    "Yes!" Dr. Sharon did not let up. "If you were not locked up, think of what you could have done to help bolster the border defenses?


    With his head lowered Prince Herod felt his world crashing down. He had sought to make the lives of themon people better and always ways to bring the Iron Kingdom to new heights. His passion for hunting monsters, especially dragons stemmed from the need for their magic crystals which ultimately would benefit the growth of the kingdom.


    But over time, he realized that even if killing all the dragons or magical monsters in the Old World, there would not be enough magic crystals to achieve anything. Hence he turned to steam power and sought an alliance with the Cartel who were famed for their steam works. If he could not use magic to strengthen the kingdom then he would use steam power!


    But now, his confidence was shattered by this small woman that barely reached his neck. As she had pointed out, if he had not been so reckless and thought it through, or consulted with his followers and allies, the situation at the border would not have been so dire. Was he really suited to be the Crown Prince? Would his actions cause the fall of the Iron Kingdom in the future?

 Chapter 633: The Weight of Leadership

    Chapter 633: The Weight of Leadership


    Even as dawn broke out, the smoke from the burning ships and defencesid thickly around the border like a storm cloud. Other than the thick oily smoke in the air, there was nothing in the air, not even the curious feathered wyverns could be seen.


    Survivors from the attack crawled out from the rubble and all they could see was smoke and ruins. Broken airships dotted thendscape and from the amount of smoke around the location of the border towns, the survivors were certain that those towns were attacked as well.


    The surviving Iron Kingdom soldiers cast looks towards their homnd before the more sensible ones started rallying everyone up and started looking for more survivors in the rumble. As they put their backs to work, rumbling echoes of thunder in the distance rolled over.


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Rashard Military Outpost


    The Old Uglynded amidst a field of chaos. Soldiers, crew and tenders were running all over the ce as the Iron Kingdom airships were being mobilised to join the growing fleet forming in the air. A field marshal came running over and screaming at the crew of the Old Ugly when the side ramps came down.


    "What are you doingnding on my field? This is a military field!" The overly flustered field marshal who directed the air traffic, came storming up the ramp with a couple of soldiers. "Take your ship and leave this ce at on-!"


    "P- Prince Herod?" The marshal in charge of the airfield stammered when he recognized the Third Prince in the party before him. He quickly saluted and made way for the Prince. "I- It is good you are released!"


    "Where is the basemandant?" Prince Herod asked as he walked down the ramp. He could see only a few ships still docked on the field, the majority of the warships here had already made steam and was in the air. "What are those ships still on the ground?"


    "Themandant is in the war chamber with his staff," The field marshal replied before he gestured to the four ships still on the ground. "Those ships were undergoing maintenance when news of the Protectorate invasion came... the crew and the tenders are rushing to bring those ships into action!"


    The Prince nodded and he paused at the foot of the ramp. He turned and faced Captain ke and gave a grave salute, "Captain, as always you will always have my eternal gratitude for your help."


    "I would really like to offer the finest of what the Iron Kingdom could offer to you and your crew," Prince Herod said while gesturing around. "But regretfully, the Kingdom is in a dire situation now..."


    "I understand, Your Highness," ke replied with a nod. "I just have a small request, I would like to make use of the facilities here."


    "Of course!" Prince Herod turned to the field marshal next to him and ordered. "They are to be given the finest treatment as royal guests of the Kingdom! Understand?"


    "Y- Yes your highness!" The field marshal quickly saluted.


    Prince Herod gave a bow to ke before he was rushed off by his retinue to the fort. He paused briefly and turned back to look up to the top deck of the ship and gave onest bow to the figure watching him depart before he turned away with a determined stride.


    -----


    Dr. Sharon watched the Prince walked away towards the fort and she shook her head sadly, wondering if he would be able to survive the war. From the reports she could ess as a senior officer, she knew the situation was a lot worse than what the locals'' were reporting.


    What a pity! Dr. Sharon thought to herself. The Third was such a hunk!


    -----


    ke returned to the ship but instead of heading to the bridge or his cabin, he entered deep into the bowels of the vessel. Coming to an unmarked hatch, he waved off the salute of the two Marines on duty before he entered.


    Inside, he found Magister Thorn leaning over arge table in the middle of the spacious cabin and surprisingly Professor Hamlot, who he thought has returned back to the Kingdom. Instead, here he was still with them. He greeted the two academics as he came up to the table that was covered in scrolls, parchments and paper, all filled with strange words and drawings. "Magister, Professor."


    "Ahh, Captain!" Magister Thorn absentminded replied when he finally noticed his presence. "Hmmm.... this circle here I think is wrong... This link should be connected to that..."


    "How is the progress of the tracking spell?" ke asked as he tried to make sense of all the notes and drawings on the table.


    "It''s almost ready," Professor Hamlot replied in ce of the Magister as the Magister was too focused on his work. "We are now finalizing the spell''s construct, once it is done, we can start crafting the magic circle."


    ke nodded and he watched the Magister work for a while silently before he spoke again, "Professor Hamlot... A moment of your time please."


    "Yes, Captain?" Professor Hamlot halted his work and he followed the Captain to a quiet corner of the cabin.


    "Professor," Captain ke studied the greying Professor before him for a moment before he frankly. "There is no obligation for you to join us from this moment onwards. There is a high chance that one could die and now you have returned to your home."


    "I understand the risks, Captain," The Professor smiled. "But I have encountered more dangers than I ever have for my entire life in these few years already!"


    "And... I have no family," The Professor''s smile dropped. "And after away for two years, so many things have changed..."


    "Besides, I made good friends here and it''s an adventure I always wanted!" Professor Hamlotughed as he gestured to Magister Thorn still pouring over his notes. "And who else can read ancient Suugon as well as me?"


    "I thank you for your service," ke said simply before he left the cabin.


    "Don''t worry, Captain!" Professor Hamlot called out after ke. "We will find the Princess back for you!"


    -----


    Prince Herod stared at the numerous reports on the desk and the frantic expressions of the officers around him. Arge table covered in the map of the border region was currently filled with red markers and unsurprisingly little silver markers.


    The Rashard Outpost was filled with soldiers loyal to him and was the seat of his military power. It was also the location where he had previously given out orders to all those who followed him to rally at. But with him being outyed by the Second Prince and the Royal Uncle, his followers were blocked or hindered in many ways, thus the forces gathered here was barely enough to form a single fleet.


    "The Protectorate has pushed seventy kilometres through the border!" An aide reported. "The border towns have all been overrun..."


    "The 19th Scout Squadron has reported sightings of the Protectorate forces headed to Hasta county!" Another aide came reporting.


    "Where are Iron Lord Hasta''s forces?" Prince Herod asked. "And where is the border militia''s rallying point?"


    "Eh..." One of the officers'' faces turned pale as he reported. "L- Lord Hasta has abandoned all his fortresses! He has pulled back all his forces to his castle!"


    "What?" Prince Herod was shocked. "He is hiding like some rock turtle?"


    Administration of border regions was held the Iron Throne with each Iron Lord providing either troops or materials in support. Thends of Hasta were right next to the Protectorate Iron Kingdom Border and under tradition, the people and Iron Lords of Hasta have always risen up to aid the border defences when required.


    Yet now, the current Iron Lord of Hasta has tucked in his head like a coward! Prince Herod cursed inwardly. "What about the militia?"


    "W- We have no word about the militia, your highness..." The officer replied nervously.


    "Keep trying! And keep calling for reinforcements!" Prince Herodmanded. "Is my ship ready?"


    "Your highness," The fortmandant stood up and said. "It will be wise for you to remain here to takemand of the entire situation! We can''t lose you to the Protectorate!"


    "It takes too long for orders to get passed down to the front," Prince Herod waved away the concerns of the general. "And ourmunication mages can not keep up with the heavy demands of the spells."


    "But your Highness, we barely even gathered a fleet!" The general protested. "The Protectorate forces outnumber us by at least fifteen to one!"


    "We don''t have time!" Prince Herod growled. "If that spineless piece of meat had held his forces in ce... It would buy us more time to gather more troops!"


    "Then let me go in your ce!" The general saluted. "I will buy your Highness as much as time as I could!"


    The rest of the officers in the war chamber stood up and saluted, "We will be willing to go in your ce!"


    "Y- Your Highness!" An aide from themunication mages came rushing into the chamber and halted in surprise, feeling like he had interrupted something important. "An urgent missive from the Iron Pce!"


    Prince Herod gestured for everyone to return to their duties and he took the note from the aide. He frowned as he read the message and handed it over to themandant. "It would appear that my Second Brother has managed to assemble two fleets and is calling for all soldiers... loyal to the Iron Kingdom to rally to his g..."


    "This..." The general frowned as he read the message. "What do we do now, Your Highness? Do we join up with the Second Prince?"


    "His forces have departed from the Capital and is making for a straight line to the border," Prince Herod took back the note and reread the message. He stood over the map table and took tworge silver markers, each indicating a fleet sized force and ced it down on the map. "The message said to rally here."


    Prince Herod tapped at another spot on the map which was at the Hasta Castle and an aide ced a small g there. "It would take us at least six turns of the ss to reach the rally point."


    "Your Highness, are you thinking of joining the Second Prince?" The general and the other officers were unsettled. "The Second Prince will surely ce your Highness in the riskiest positions!"


    "What would you have me do?" Prince Herod retorted helplessly. "Send my understrength fleet to face the Protectorate and sacrifice everyone just for a few turns of the sandss?"


    "Iron Lord Hasta must have received word from the Second Prince beforehand..." Prince Herod pointed out. "I think my Second Brother is nning to use thends of Hasta to slow the Protectorate down..."


    "I never knew the Second Prince to be tactical of mind," The general frowned. "He has must someone strategically strong supporting him..."


    Prince Herod nodded, "I guess so... Still the best option for us and the Kingdom is to join up with his forces..."


    "My Prince," The general bowed and said. "I still advise your Highness to remain here and... organize another force..."


    "This lowly one will lead your Highness'' forces to join up with the Second Prince..." The loyal general said. "Your life is too important to be on the front lines!"


    Prince Herod felt apprehensive as he recalled the words from Lady Sharon. He looked into the eyes of his loyal troops, each willing to risk their lives so that he could live on and keep the Kingdom and their families safe. He was suddenly uncertain about what to do now as he realised his next orders would send thousands to their deaths.


    All the while he had been on the forefront of his battles, fighting monsters and dragons but now, the weight ofmand rested on his shoulders with thousands of lives in his hands. He whispered softly to himself, "Lady Sharon... is this what you meant by the weight of leadership?"

 Chapter 634: Not the Time

    Chapter 634: Not the Time


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, 19th Iron Fleet, IK Iron Regent


    The hundred and eight meter long airship, IK Iron Regent, serving as a gship was surrounded by dozens of other airships as the entire 19th Iron Fleet made their way majestically across the skies. The steam and aetherium powered airship was one of the only three Monarch ss battle wagons ever built by the Iron Kingdom.


    The Monarch ss looking like a very fat cigar was lined with four rows of thergest caliber steam cannons ever carried onboard an airship in the Old World, each row held ten cannons. Forty steam cannons each firing a projectile of 16 stones worth of local weight which was almost equivalent to a 17th century 18 pounder shot, gave it the heaviest throwing weight of well over 360 kilos or 720 pounds per broadside of the entire Iron Kingdom airships.


    And the thickness of the hull was almost twice thicker than most of the other warships surrounding the battle wagon. Eight massive air screws propelled the airship and were encased in more armour ting to protect the vulnerable screws. Stubby observation blisters covered various locations around the hull, providing ''eyes'' for the bridge crew to pilot the huge airship.


    As the 19th Iron Fleet came over Hasta Castle, numerous dark dots appeared in the skies over the horizon. A small fish like courier ship came buzzing over the nose of the Iron Regent where the forward bridge was located. The courier ship dragged a line of colored gs behind as it flew across the nose of the Iron Regent and the signalers in the bridge quickly tranted the g codes into text and an aide rushed over to the Second Prince seated in themand chair of the bridge and handed the parchment over with a bow.


    Prince Najja, took the note and skimmed through it before he sucked in his breath through his teeth and thrust the note to the general standing next to him. "The Protectorate forces has been sighed... They are just within two turns of the ss away!"


    The general''s expression remained calm as he read the note before he handed it over to an aide who carefully arranged the note together with other messages in an orderly manner. The general remained standing ram rod straight as he replied in a deep and confident tone, "We have still plenty of time to arrange the fleet, Your Highness."


    "Sky General Bundberg, what are... our chances...?" Prince Najja asked in a nervous soft voice. "The enemy... they outnumber us by several times right?"


    "Do not worry, your Highness. His Lord has ordered to keep you safe regardless of the oue of the battle," Sky General Bundberg reassured the nervous Crown Prince. The Sky General was a veteran of many battles over the many years of his career in the Iron Kingdom Sky Fleet. He had retired a couple of years ago with full honors and only taken up an instructor role offered by Lord Sincia to train several promising talents.


    His once golden hairs now more silver than golden was cropped short regtion style and he kept a perfectly manicured and oiled handle bar mustache. His neat custom tailored dark green uniform was up to regtion standards to the serving uniforms worn by active soldiers but without all the fancy decorations and unit insignias on thepels and sleeves. Only a pair of golden crown with wings depicted his rank was worn on his cor.


    "Even as we sit here, more and more ships are reinforcing the 19th," Sky General Bundberg said. "And below us, is Castle Hasta with its walls lined with anti air steam cannons."


    Lord Sincia had promised a reward to Bundberg if hepleted his mission well and the reward was too attractive for him to remain an instructor. He agreed and epted the sudden summons in the early hours of the morning and had rushed till dawn to bring Lord Sincia''s private fleet to action. Now, he stood next to the pudgy Crown Prince who knew nothing of aerial war and has to be his nursemaid, directing the battle in the name of the Crown Prince.


    Yet, he did not care, for the rewards would ensure the next few generations of his line to prosper even when he has left this world. Thankfully, the Crown Prince knew his part and allowed him to do his work without any interruptions. As he studied the formation of his fleet, another courier ship came buzzing across the view ports of the forward bridge bearing a line of colorful gs.


    The aide hurried over and handed another message to the Crown Prince and Sky General Bundberg noticed a change came over the seated Crown Prince as he read the message. "Your Highness, what news is it?"


    "HAHAHAA!" Crown Prince Najjaughed happily as he banged the arms of the chair in delight. "That fool! I have him now!"


    Sky General Bundberg took the note thrust to him by the Crown Prince and he quickly read the message without a change in his expression. Only under a careful observation would one see the slight twitch on the corner of his eyes and mouth. "The Third Prince is joining us with his fleet."


    "Yes!" Prince Najja pped his hands with delight. "Oh, I can think of so many ways to ensure he would not see the end of this fight!"


    Sky General Bundberg nearly broke into a frown but he schooled his expression before the Crown Prince noticed anything. Instead, he lowered his head next to the Crown Prince''s ears and said softly, "Your Highness, that would not do... If you make the Third Prince into a martyr... It might... affect future ns..."


    "Why do I care?" Prince Najja pouted. "Once he is gone... Who cares if he bes a martyr!"


    "Much of the military supports the Third Prince..." Sky General Bundberg answered. "They will not see your Highness in good light if he dies under yourmand..."


    "They are just peasants!" Prince Najja hissed unhappily. "If they don''t obey, we can just chop their heads off!"


    "That would not be wise..." Sky General Bundberg suppressed the urge to sigh. "There will be severe... consequences if that happens and... Lord Sincia... will not be pleased..."


    "Hmmm..." Prince Najja frowned before he waved his hand and asked. "So what do you suggest?"


    "Order the Third Prince to present himself on board the gship," Sky General Bundberg suggested. "Have him under your eye and let him see your greatness in this battle while limiting his chance to earn merits. Isn''t the goal ofing here is for your highness to earn merits to win the people''s hearts?"


    "That is a great idea!" Prince Najja smiled widely. "Good good!"


    He pped loudly, summoning one of his aides over. "You! Go inform my Royal Brother, the Third Prince to present himself before me at once!"


    "Yes, your Highness!" The aide bowed and hurried off to the signalers to send out the order.


    Sky General Bundberg straightened himself and stared out of the view ports into the far distance and softly whispered to himself, "My King... This is thest thing as a friend, that I can do to help your son..."


    -----


    Prince Herod stepped out of the docking hatch and instantly felt the rush of hot air against his skin. The hangar of the Iron Regent was hot and humid and the air was filled with the scent of burnt oil and aetherium. An aide sweating in the humid air saluted him as he stood next to the courier ship that carried him over. "Your Highness? Please follow me."


    The aide, a young noble who was clearly eager to get out of the loud hangar that smelled badly of steam and sweat, waited impatiently as Prince Herod looked around with interest. He had never been onboard a Monarch ss battle wagon and this particr vessel that belonged to Lord Sincia had a long distinguished history behind it.


    He finally acknowledged the aide and together with his retinue, they followed the aide through the spacious hangar that was filled with humming ornithopters, courier ships and even dozens of boarding craft. The aide visibly rxed once they returned to the well carpeted and decorated hallways that belonged to the higher ss and soon Prince Herod found himself before a pair of ornate doors with a pair of knights on guard.


    The doors opened smoothly and soundlessly and Prince Herod entered. He looked around the bridge with interest and found at least more than half the walls were covered in thick crystal, providing a near uninterrupted view for the crew. The crew sat on stools behind banks of widgets and instrumental panels that ticked and whistled every now and then.


    And in the rear of all the busy stations sat his half brother on a raised dais. He unconsciouslypared the way his half brother sat on themand throne to Captain ke and felt his half brother wascking in many areas to the Captain.


    There was none of the rxed professionalism in his seated pose, as the Captain seemed to do easily, instead it felt more like the Second Prince was putting on a show of false bravado. On the other hand, the figure with a military bearing standing beside the Second Prince appeared to bepetent.


    He followed the aide and came before his Second Brother, having to look up as the dais and chair was set up in such a way. Feeling a sense of irritation at the smug smile on his brother''s face, Prince Herod stood straight and stared back at his brother, unwilling to give that prick any victory.


    "So, my Brother," Prince Najja kept a smile of superiority on his face. "How nice of you to have you join me... under mymand! Hee!"


    "Well, I would have charged at the enemy myself if you haven''te," Prince Herod gave a shrug before he gave a sly smile back and said. "But since you did not even bother to join me, I can onlye myself to see what are you trying to do... ying at soldiers here..."


    "Since we all know how bad you are with all things fighting and killing..." Prince Herod''s sly smile widened as he snickered. "I was afraid you would find yourself in circles even trying tomand an airship! So I came to help! Hahahaha!"


    "You!" Prince Najja''s face turned red as he half raised from his chair in anger but Sky General Bundberg ced a restraining hand on his arm to stop him. "Hmph!"


    "Your Highness," Sky General Bundberg gave a bow to Prince Herod. "I am Sky General Bundberg, once a general serving under your father, now a retired general... and answering the call to defend our homnds."


    "General," Prince Herod nodded back. "So, you are the one in charge of the 19th?"


    "Yes," Sky General Bundberg replied honestly. "I am."


    "Good! I trust your skills!" Prince Herod nodded again before he cast a side nce at the Second Prince. "My Second Brother here... isn''t that smart in fighting!"


    "Y- you!" Prince Najja growled with barely suppressed anger and embarrassment. "I am the Crown Prince! You should show proper respect here!"


    "Sure, if you win this battle all by yourself," Prince Herod snapped as he walked towards the map table on the side. "If not... you should keep quiet and let your betters handle this battle. General, if you don''t mind?"


    Prince Najja rose up and pointed a shaking finger at his brother, "Y- you! G- Guards!"


    "Your Highness... Now is not the time..." Sky General Bundberg shook his head and pushed the Second Prince''s hand down. "As you have said, we are facing a threat that are several times our size... We need each and everyone to stand together to fight off the Protectorate! Now is not the time!"


    Prince Najja sucked in a deep breath, "Good... Good... I shall see when is the best time once this is over!"


    "Of course, your Highness," Sky General Bundberg bowed deeply, hiding his expression from the Prince. "Of course."

 Chapter 635: The Only Clue

    Chapter 635: The Only Clue


    Prince Najja was feeling left out and confused as he remained seated on themand throne. Before him, the bridge crew of the Iron Regent was busy at their stations while the senior officers andmanders were gathered around the map table with constant aides rushing back and fore between the signalers andmunication mages.


    He kept a jealous eye on his royal brother who at first stood at the side but gradually became part of themand staff, helping the older general control a portion of the battle. But yet, no matter how he tried to make sense of the situation on both the map and viewing crystal of the battle, he couldn''t understand anything.


    Themand staff were moving tokens and markers here and there while calling out orders to the runners. It dropped his self esteem and he wanted to ask questions but he had enough sense to keep quiet as themand staff had either the time or the mind to reply as he knew that eachmand involves the lives of hundreds and thousands of people and breaking their concentrate could make them lose the battle.


    So he could only sit stiffly in the chair and watched the tense atmosphere of the bridge and the battle that was raging in the distance. Without anyonementing or describing the action, he could only try to guess what was going on without falling asleep on the chair.


    -----


    The once cloudless morning skies over Hasta County was now dotted with numerous balls of grey white clouds and dark dots. Airships both bearing the crimson colours of the Protectorate and the blue grey colours of the Iron Kingdom shed across a massive stretch of the skies.


    Steam cannons fired with a sharp hiss pop and the super heated gas was rapidly cooled down by the cold air before small tendrils of dirty white clouds were formed. Rumble of thunder and lightning could see heard and seen as the air was ionized by the fighting ships'' magical barriers rubbing against the air.


    Two opposing airships came so close to one and another that their magical barriers barely a hand span away causing arcs of lightning to be seen snaking between the barriers of the two ships. But none of the crew cared as they served their weapons and screamed orders, each side trying to kill the other even the hand on their bodies stood up from the amount of static electricity in the air.


    All across the skies, ships of both sides could be seen dropping out of formation, the columns of steam, aetherium and smoke making their fall as they crashed onto the fertile fields. And on the ground, the defences of the Hasta Castle were pointed to the air, but they could not fire into the melee for fear of hitting their own. Instead, the steam cannons on the ground could only target the tail end of the Protectorate formation without much effect due to the distance.


    Much of the county''s soldiers and militia had fallen back to the Hasta Castle where the seat of governance for the region was located. Dozens of War Jacks and counter siege weapons wereid covered under earthen bunkers to protect them from aerial bombardments, waiting for the evidenting of the Protectorate ground forces.


    Despite the fear in the air. the defenders continued to toil, water from the rivers was diverted into holding tanks for the steam boilers, heavy projectiles were carted out from underground storage and soldiers stripped down to their trousers held massive spanners and tightened bolts to prevent steam from escaping the tanks and pipes.


    The Iron Lord of Hasta could only helpless clench his fists as he watched the battle in the skies. At least half of hisnds had been put to the torch by the Protectorate as the ground forces of the Protectorate that had been airlifted across the mountain border marched towards his castle. He knew if the battle in the air was lost, his remaining defenders would be helpless against the Protectorate ground forces that were a day or two behind.


    He started wondering if he should take his family and flee now.


    -----


    "Order Squadron Six, Seven and Nine to converge at this point! They are not to allow the Protectorate ships to advance!" Sky General Bundberg snapped as he looked at the constantly changing map. Markers and counters representing both sides were centred at the one area of the map, with stands of various heights to indicate their altitude. "I want Fast Attack Squadron Two and Three to go higher! They are to harass the enemy''s nk from the top side while they are distracted with the battle line!"


    The runner nodded as he scribbled rapidly on a piece of torn parchment and ran off to the signalers andmunication mages to ry the general''smand. Sky General Bundberg turned to the crystal viewer where several slightly blurry views of the battle could be seen.


    As he watched on, a group of airships that were hanging back from the main battle line slowly dressed its formation before gaining eleration. The two fast attack squadrons consisting of patrol craft and light destroyers rose up above the Protectorate''s formation before shing down over the Protectorate''s nks.


    Puffs of white clouds appeared in a line as the fast attack squadron swooped in and released their steam cannons over the top of the Protectorate ships. As they broke away from the harassing attack, a group of Protectorate ships rose up to challenge them but the smaller faster ships soon broke contact as they raced out of range of the enemies'' guns.


    "Now! Squadron Fifteen, Sixteen and Seventeen are to focus on that group!" Prince Herod suddenly yelled out as he leaned over the map while pointing to the crystal viewer. "Do not let that group rejoin the formation!"


    A runner hurried off to pass on hismand. Sky General Bundberg nodded inwardly thinking that he did not make a mistake in allowing the Third Prince to takemand of a portion of the fleet. He nced over to the Crown Prince who was sulking away on themand throne and sighed softly before turning his attention back to the battle.


    The three cruiser squadrons under the Third Prince''smand responded sluggishly at first, as themunicationsg from signal res and gs had to be ryed by the brave little courier ships charging into the thick of the battle to disy the coded gs and signals across to the ships'' observers. Not all shipse crewed with amunication mage as they were bing increasingly rare, like magic in general, despite all royal efforts in training and grooming them. What little amount of trainedmunications mages could only be assigned to important posts or locations.


    Nine Penal ss heavy cruisers, the mostmonly seen warship of the Protectorate air military was currently out of formation, rising above the battle line out attempt to chase away the Iron Kingdom''s fast attack squadrons of destroyers and frigates was soon locked by Sixteen Anvil ss heavy cruisers and seven Hammer ss light cruisers under Prince Herod''smand.


    648 steam cannons pointed towards that patch of sky upied by the nine Protectorate heavy cruisers, went off in tandem and that particr patch of sky was soon filled with 648 mushroom projectiles and rainbow shes from the Protectorate ships'' magical barrier could be seen.


    Suddenly as if like a signal, more and more of the Iron Kingdom''s battle line turned their steam cannons at the out of position Protectorate ships. 648 projectiles soon turned to 840, then 1260 and continued to climb. Under the heavy barrage, even with ovepping their magical barriers to withstand the bombardment, the nine Penal ss heavy cruisers'' defences were quickly overwhelmed.


    Soon pieces of armour started falling off, followed by ruptured steam and aetherium gases before entire ships started falling off the skies. However, it was a small victory as the Protectorate still outnumbered the Iron Kingdom at least five to one and they were able to take such casualties.


    "We won did we?" Prince Najja mumbled as he stared at the viewing crystals. "We won, yes?"


    "No!" Sky General Bundberg frowned at the sudden interruption that broke his thoughts. "This loss is nothing to them."


    "I noticed that they are using old ships in the forward lines..." Prince Herod said as he pointed to the markers on the map. Both sides had formed a wall in the air, ships arranged staggered on top of each other and trading fire at their opponents. The staggered formation allowed ships that lost aerial buoyancy to fall through the formation without crashing on top of each other or giving ships more time to respond.


    Sky General Bundberg nodded in agreement, "They are using their old ships to deplete our strength before bringing their newer ships forward..."


    "At this rate, we will not be able to sustain our magical barriers..." Prince Herod frowned. "Even with all the magic crystal reserves, I brought along... It won''tst once the Protectorate send their main battle fleet forward..."


    "W- Wait!" Prince Najja blinked rapidly as he injected him into the conversation. "T- This is not the main battle fleet?"


    Both the Sky General and Prince Herod turned and looked at him with a hint of pity in their eyes and said together at the same time, "No..."


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Rashard Military Outpost


    "An na no to yo shan ni wor to ka e..." Magistar Thorn intoned with his eyes closed as he stood over thepass on the table while holding arge pair of mana stones that wererger than his fists in each hand. A lock of pink golden hair was ced in the middle of a small magical formation with rune words drawn in a circr format. An eerie purple glow lit up the rune words and the lock of pink golden hair suddenly wiggled before turning into smoke that drifted up unnaturally.


    The smoke tendrils coiled around the air and like with a life of its own, it snaked across the air and entered thepass causing the needles to spin wildly. "NE TA TO E WOR CAE!"


    Magister Thorn''s shoulder''s slumped down tired as he wiped the sweat off his face. His sweat strained robes stuck to his skinny frame ufortably and he dusted his hands clean from the crumbled rock dust from the depleted mana stones. "It''s done."


    "That was amazing!" The two dwarvans on the side watched the magic ritual were both shocked and impressed. "We haven''t seen magic being used this way for ages!"


    In fact, many of the crew that had gathered in the hangar to watch Magister Thorn perform the magical ritual was impressed and excited. The goblins and Orekins were torn halfway between their faith of firepower and magic and were arguing amongst themselves on with was more superior.


    Dr. Sharon handed a towel over to Magister Thorn who thanked her and epted a cup of iced water from a grinning Professor Hamlot. She bent over thepass and saw the two needles were pointing in one particr direction and she asked while pointing to thepass. "Is this the direction she is at?"


    ke stood silently as he stared at thepass while Magister Thorn replied, "That would be so if I presume from the texts."


    Trism helpfully brought over a map and he set it on the table and quickly charted out an estimation of their position and the direction thepass was pointing to. "We need to head in a north west west... Wait... If we continue on this course..."


    ke let out a deep breath he was holding in and he tapped on the map and cut off Trism''s words, "We will pass by the current battle between the Protectorate and the Iron Kingdom here..."


    "But this doesn''t make any sense..." Dr. Sharon said. "At this heading, either Sherene is in the Iron Kingdom... Or she is at the far western ocean border of the Protectorate..."


    "Either way," ke picked up thepass carefully and said, "We just have to follow in the direction pointed by thispass."


    "It is now our only clue now to find where Sherene is!"

 Chapter 636: Falling Back

    Chapter 636: Falling Back


    The decks underneath Prince Najja''s feet shook wildly. He held on to the armrest of themand throne in panic as crew members were thrown off their feet from the sudden violent movement. Sky General Bundberg recovered himself quickly and he started yellingmands, "Order all ships to keep their ranks and ovep their magic barriers with ours! Now!"


    The remaining ships of the 19th Iron Fleet tightened their ranks, their checkered cube formation shrinking smaller and smaller as magical shields were overloaded and overwhelmed. Ships of the same squadrons attempted to rotate out of the firing line once their magical barriers were depleted had some sesses, but less than half barely managed to retreat with heavy damages while the unlucky ones suffered crippling damages and fell out of the skies, forcing ships to evade the falling hulls and further shifting the formation out of control.


    The Iron Kingdom forces had been hammered back after half a day of constant fighting without any chance of rest and resupply. The Protectorate constantly threw fleet after fleet against the dwindling Iron Kingdom fleet without a care of their casualties. The troops of the Protectorate staunchly sang hymns as they went to their deaths, having absolute faith in their God.


    Tired and with their ships magazines running critically low, the rate of fire of the fleet dropped as Sky General Bundberg had tomand the ship captains to conserve their munitions for urate fire. This allowed the Protectorate to push the defending fleet back several kilometres and no longer the skies above Hasta Castle were under Iron Kingdom control.


    Protectorate airships behind the fighting line quickly turned their attention to the defences of the castle. The castle defenders retaliated back, sending super heavy projectiles several times more powerful than what an airship could carry, that popped through magical barriers like bubbles and smashing unprotected hulls like paper.


    But unlike a mobile air fleet, steam cannons and walls on the ground could not move nor evade attacks. Bubbles of magical barrier fueled by all the remaining reserves of Iron Lord Hasta''s magic crystal cache, popped when they no longer were able to handle the increasing amount of projectiles that drained away magic power like water.


    Magical runes and formations that were etched and updated over the generations upon the walls that had stood for centuries exploded and burned out as they overloaded from the intense demands of the battle.


    The super heavy steam cannons built inside dome shaped towers that looked like Terran observatories sheltered underneath the barriers required dozens of people to operate. Cranes had to lift the massive iron spear projectiles that were several meters long and as thick as a fully matured tree. Once the bolt was in the barrel, the loaders had to screw the bolt tightly in to prevent any leaks. Several tanks ofpressed steam had to be filled at the same time and once the pressure was up to the right levels, several more gunners had to manually rotate the huge flywheels to turn and aim the super heavy steam cannon.


    Each firing and reloading took almost a quarter of the sandss, which ensured that each of the four super heavy steam cannons had only gotten the chance to fire twice before they were buried under a mountain load of projectiles. Only one super heavy steam cannon had the chance to fire the third time and scoring a hit on the enemy before it was wiped out from the face of the earth.


    The steam cannons on the castle walls and towers fared a little better as they did not attract as much attention as the super heavy steam cannons. But still, the walls were turned to rumble quickly once the priority targets were taken out.


    -----


    Iron Lord Hasta leaned out of the shaking carriage drawn by fournd dragons and cursed the Protectorate as he escaped out of his castle with a retinue of knights that escorted his family and what remains of his fortune. House Hasta which had ruled over thesends for several generations had just fallen in barely a day in his time and he had to run away with his tail between his legs.


    He even abandoned his troops and people, the shameful act would have his title as an Iron Lord stripped off. But he did not care, as his life was more important than those peasants. Hence beforehand, he had already gathered what fortune could be carried away and nned out an escape if the defences failed.


    He nced at the aerial battle and cursed again, but this time at the two Princes that were retreating in their airship. He could see the edges of the fleet surrounding the Princes'' gship crumbling under thebined fire of the Protectorate fleet hounding them close at their heels.


    A hull spewing thick dirty smoke and steam grewrger andrger overhead and the Iron Lord cursed again as he directed his party to evade the crashing airship. The ground shook wildly as the disabled airship crashed on the ground and anything that was mmable and explosive went up at once.


    The Iron Lord''s family cried out in fear as they huddled inside the carriages when the incredible noise and shockwaves washed over them. Iron Hasta coughed as he cleared his lungs of the smoke that swept across the air. He urged his footmen to drive the mounts harder and out of the way of more falling debris.


    After the fell of an airship in the vicinity, visibility on the ground lessened as smoke and dirt swept across thend. It turned dark and gloomy for those caught inside the smoke cloud and the air was hard to breathe. Iron Lord Hasta''s party quickly tied pieces of cloth over their noses and mouths as they tried to navigate out of the smoke cloud.


    Unfortunately, as they raced across the roads, the smoke covered thend around them suddenly turned dark and Iron Lord Hasta looked up to the smoke and dust covered skies, only to see a huge silhouette that grewrger andrger blocking out what remaining light in the skies.


    He had time for onest round of curses before a second massive boom rumbled across the earth and another massive smoke and dirt cloud was raised up into the air.


    -----


    "The Iron Monger is showing engine failure!" A signaler cried out, his voice cracking slightly under the stress and fear. "Iron Shield is signalling that they are abandoning ship!"


    Sky General Bundberg stared out of the viewports at the messy skies filled with oily ck smoke and bluish white clouds of escaped aetherium gasses. The 19th Iron Fleet was retreating in an as orderly manner as possible, the entire fleet still facing their forward prows to the enemy while all airscrews were spinning in full reserve.


    The Iron Regent shook slightly as the entire forward prow of the battlewagon disappeared in a cloud of rapidly condensing steam. Eight massive projectiles spat out and disappeared into the enemy fleet, inciting flickers and shimmers of magical barriers being impacted. Other ships of the 19th fired as well, their current retreating formation only allowed their forward facing steam cannons to be able to bear on the enemy, which reduced the entire firepower of the fleet by 80%.


    "Tell the fleet to tighten the formation! The heavy cruisers and ships of the line are to protect the smaller ships of the fleet!" Sky General Bundberg ordered. The 19th Iron Fleet was no longer capable of holding a battle line against the overwhelming numbers of the Protectorate. The 19th had already bought a day''s worth of time for the Kingdom, and it could no longer present battle to the enemy.


    The Protectorate was chasing them and likewise, was unable to present a battle line. If they stopped to turn their ships to present their broadsides, the distance between the fleeing 19th Iron Fleet and the Protectorate forces would open even more.


    What Sky General Bundberg now could do, was to put as much distance as possible between the two fleets if he wants to save his remaining ships. And to do that, they need to hold out for another turn of the sandss as the sun was dipping down over the horizon. Once it was dark, it would be a lot easier for the 19th to break away from contact with the Protectorate.


    The Protectoratemander must have guessed his ns as the ships of the Protectorate continued to hound them, pushing hard with their superior numbers. In a fair fight with equal numbers, the Iron Kingdom''s airships were more than capable of triumphing over the Protectorate'' ships of the same sses. But now, outnumbered by several times, the already badly depleted 19th could only run or face total destruction.


    "Reinforcements will be waiting for us after Hasta?" Crown Prince Najja asked nervously. His eyes were bloodshot and his once pristine and overly decorated uniform was now half unbuttoned and sweat stained. He looked at the Sky General even his royal brother for some form of assurance. "At Mortling''s Hold? Unc- Lord Sincia has promised that he would send forces there!"


    "Half of the ships won''t make it to the border of Hasta," Prince Herod ignored his brother and addressed the Sky General. "The ships don''t have the steam to make the distance."


    At another time, the travel time from Hasta Castle to Mortling Hold would take about half a day of air travel at the slowest speed. Now, with the conditions of the fleet, at least a third of the remaining ships would fall out, too damaged to continue flying. And in the same time, Protectorate forces would continue to chase them.


    "We have no choice," Sky General Bundberg replied. "Those that fall back have to find their own chances."


    "Can we not send word for a supply fleet to meet us halfway?" Prince Najja asked timidly from the side.


    "It would not be wise, Your Highness," Sky General Bundberg replied. "If we got caught in the middle of a resupply, the entire fleet could be wiped out."


    "I see..." Prince Najja swallowed nervously. "What about the Iron Regent? Do we have enough supplies to make the journey?"


    "It has," Sky General Bundberg said while he nodded towards the viewports. "The sun ising down, we will soon have room to breathe."


    "Thankfully, the Protectorate did not throw their full force against us..." Sky General Bundberg added. "Strange..."


    "There will be bound to be a lot of idents in the dark especially with the tight formation the fleet is in," Prince Herod said. "Should the fleet disperse now since there is still some light left?"


    Sky General Bundberg shook his head, "The Protectorate are still on our heels, scattering the fleet now would allow them to hunt us down one by one."


    He checked the sun''s position again and gave amand, "Once the sun sets, all ships are to remain dark! When the signal re isunched, the right nk is to turn to starboard!"


    "The left nk is to turn to port!" Sky General Bundberg ordered. "The centre will stop all engines and turn 180 degrees!"


    To prevent midair collisions and confusion, Sky General Bundberg has to specifically assign orders to the entire fleet. "All ships are then to head towards Mortling''s Hold and rally there!"


    As the sun disappeared across the horizons, the purple red skies transited into pitch darkness, only punctuated by tiny pin pricks of stars. Prince Najja finally let out a sigh of relief when darkness enfolded the ship and the constant crack hiss of steam cannons disappeared. "We are finally safe! We escaped from the Protectorate!"


    "HAHA!" Prince Herod shook his head as he let out augh at the naivety of his brother. Under the dim light of the shroudedmps, the smile on his face made his features looked demonic, making Prince Najja swallow nervously at the sight. "They know our heading... So there is no point for them to chase us so hard..."


    "Enjoy while you can, Brother... For tomorrow will be another day in hell!"

 Chapter 637: Judgement

    Chapter 637: Judgement


    The first streaks of orange slowly spread out across the skies as the sun slowly peeked out. For many, dawn was the time of a new beginning, the start of a new day and the light that drove away the cold and darkness. Yet, for some, dawn spelt another meaning for them as frantic reports came flooding into the bridge of the Iron Regent.


    Observers nervously scanning the horizon with their far seeing devices spotted the dark crimson dots glowing under the orange rays of dawn. Reports were instantly sent down to the runners and speaking trumpets and like an awakening beast, information flowed and Sky General Bundberg and hismand staff were able to piece together the situation of their surroundings.


    "Neen ships failed to remain in formation," A senior staff officer reported. "19th Fleet has only twenty seven ships reporting in."


    "H- half gone?" Crown Prince Najja appeared at the hatch. He heard the report just as he entered the bridge and he waved away his servants fussing over him. "W- What do we do now?"


    Seeing the Crown Prince enter, Sky General Bundberg and the rest of the bridge bowed and saluted. He noticed the puffy and dark eye circles around the Crown Prince''s eyes and was certain that the Crown Prince did not manage to catch any rest. Unlike the Crown Prince, the Third Prince standing over the map table seemed fresh as he listened attentively to the reports being given.


    "Your highness, we will continue heading to Mortling''s Hold as nned," Sky General Bundberg simply replied. "We shall be arriving soon."


    "Has the enemy discovered us?" Crown Prince Najja''s mood improved on hearing that they will reach Mortling''s Hold soon. "We escaped them, yes?"


    A veil of silence descended upon the staff officers as they avoided the Crown Prince''s eyes. In the end, Prince Herod sighed and he said, "They are massing just a turn of the sand ss away."


    "W- What?" Prince Najja felt a chill go down his spine. "H- How many?"


    "Too many," Sky General Bundberg replied. "Five fleets at least."


    "W- What do we do now?" Prince Najja quickly asked. "W- We need to fall back!"


    "And Mortling''s Hold is where we will fall back to," Prince Herod said with hint of mockery. "What are you so afraid of? Death?"


    "Y- You!" Prince Najja''s already pale expression had turned flushed as anger reced his fear. "T- This is not about f- fear! The fleet is already depleted! We need to find another ce for supplies and recover!"


    "And allow Mortling''s Hold to die like Hasta Castle?" Prince Herod shook his head. "Than after we recover where do we retreat next? To the Iron Pce?"


    "Your Highnesses," Sky General Bundberg stepped in. "I will arrange for a courier ship to bring both Your Highnesses to safety."


    "I will stay," Prince Herod replied. "You need apetentmander to helpmand the troops."


    Sky General Bundberg nodded before he turned to the Crown Prince who had range of emotions on his face and said, "Your Highness, once we arrive at Mortling''s Hold, a courier ship will take you back to Lord Sincia."


    "I- I see," Prince Najja gave a nod. "I shall be in my room! Inform me once the courier ship is ready!"


    With that sentence, Prince Najja cast onest look at his brother whose attention was back to the map and he stormed off back to his cabin. Once the Crown Prince was gone, the reports started again and themand staff continued their work again.


    -----


    The Old World, Iron Kingdom, Hasta County, The Old Ugly


    "Contact Group Alpha bearing zero seven zero!" The sensor officer called out. "Distance, two fifty and closing."


    "Sir, are we engaging?" Trism asked as he frowned over the sensor officer''s shoulders. "We could evade them."


    "Keep her on course, XO," Captain ke replied. His attention fixed between the magicpass and the map of the local region.


    Trism gave a shrug as he turned to the bridge crew and ordered, "Set condition red throughout the ship!"


    They had spotted therge group of contacts on the radar more than an hour ago that was in the path of their way and designated that group of contacts as Group Alpha. Without any outsiders onboard the Old Ugly, they could fully utilized their superior technology to the fullest.


    The siren went off, the wailing and screeching designed to awaken one even in their deepest sleep. Crew members donning protective gear, helmets and parachutes, rushed off to their battle stations. Hidden weapons were cranked out into the open as armor ting folded away to review cannon turrets.


    Ammunition was carried out by runners from the bunkers to the mounted 20 mm tforms on the open decks. The 20 mm tforms were hidden in in sight, disguised as cranes and equipment. Now those disguises were moved away and the weapon mounts exposed. Gun crews scrambled over the weapons doing another round of checks to ensure the weapons were working and within minutes, the Old Ugly was fully ready forbat.


    Below decks, Dr. Sharon headed the medical team of the Old Ugly. Helped by Professor Hamlot and the medics from the Marine contingent who were drafted to hermand. They quickly erged the med bay by removing the partitions of the cabins next to the med bay while medical supplies and stretchers were stacked on one side, ready for use at any emergency.


    Magister Thorn ran the small crew of mage techs onboard the ship. He stood over the core of the magical barrier with a couple of chests filled to the brim with mana stones, readied to be used to rece any depleted crystals that power the ship''s magical barriers.


    Down in the engine and boiler rooms, two dwarvans yelled over the dim of heavy metal music and sounds of heavy machine and steam. The two dwarvans were Copperstone and Hammerfall, both ex Lords of the Cartel, who in the end decided to stick around with the Un An, as they both got captivated by the smell of machine oil and the beauty of well running parts.


    The goblins normally hidden out of sight, ran and maintained all the machinery and equipment onboard the Old Ugly. The two dwarvans constantly got into arguments with the goblins soon epted the goblins'' superior training and knowledge and they fell into line with the goblins dering victory.


    "Captain, the ship isbat ready," Trism reported, just as two heavily armed Orcs in Marine uniforms and armor came in and took up positions by the entry hatch. "All departments reporting green."


    "Time to engagement?" ke asked as he finally set the magicpass down and walked over to the front of the bridge, staring out of the viewports.


    "Group Alpha wille into our maximum engagement range for the main guns in T minus... twenty," Trism replied as he checked his watch. "Thirty minutes to be in full optimal engagement range of all weapons."


    ke nodded, "Hold the weapons for now until we get positive ID on Group Alpha. Also... set a course parallel to Group Alpha... I want to check if thepass points in their direction... If so, we might need to identify if... the Princess is onboard anyone of those ships!"


    "Yes, sir," Trism replied before he gave out another series ofmands to the bridge while ke kept his eye on the clock as the distance between the Old Ugly and Group Alpha shortened.


    -----


    "Lord Bishop!" The aide saluted as he handed over a message slip. "The judgement sees you!"


    The Lord Bishop,mander of the 84th Righteous Fleet of Ramuh, took the message and read it twice before hezily ordered. "Send a squadron to capture thatwless ship."


    "At once, Lord Bishop!" The aide bowed and hurried off, passing themand down while the Lord Bishop returned to his praying. Thick coils of incense floated up from burners set around the raised tform in themand altar. The Lord Bishop himself knelt on a cushion, facing a man sized statue of Ramuh and he closed his eyes as he prayed, both his hand clutching a string of prayer beads.


    Six Rector ss light cruisers slowly broke formation from the 84th and headed straight for a tiny dot in the skies, the crew happy to be doing something rather than remaining in the rear lines escorting the ground forces.


    -----


    ke narrowed his eyes as he brought the magicpass to his eye level. "The needles don''t seem to be pointing in particr to any ships in that fleet..."


    "Captain, are we maintaining our course change?" Trism asked at the side.


    "No, return to over original course," ke sighed as he put down thepass. "Besides, some unwanted guests are headed our way. We need to show them some courtesy..."


    "Aye, aye!" Trism grinned bloodthirsty, eager for some action. "Weapons! You heard the Captain!"


    "Aye!" The Weapons Officer replied before he ordered his gun teams. "All mains, fire!"


    Six gun barrels sticking out from the hull of the Old Ugly roared and the ship shuddered slightly despite the dampened recoil mechanisms of the 88 mm main guns. The three unarmored main gun turrets were installed in oneyer of the deck that when the side concealment hulls were up, looked like a sort of flight deck onboard a spaceship.


    The distance and t trajectory of the high velocity shells meant the cannon barrels need not be fired upwards at an angle. It took less than four seconds for the shells to travel 4 km to their targets. Out of the six shells, only four hit the leading target, while two shells, over or undershot their target. The unsuspecting Rector ss light cruiser did not even have its magical barriers up and despite having a 200 mm thick wood and metalminate belt armor that could provide more than adequate protection against steam cannon projectiles up to 10 stone heavy.


    But unfortunately, the 9 kg High Explosive 88 mm shells made by the UN Haven Armament Works were designed to punch through 80 mm thick rolled homogeneous armor at a thirty degree angle pration from a range of five thousand meters and the ships of the Protectorate have neither the technology nor angled armor.


    The ignition runes crumpled upon impact but not before smashing through two thirds of the wood andminate airship armor from sheer velocity and mass before exploding. The force of four massive explosions, capable of levelling bunkers smashed the lead Protectorate airship off the skies as if an almighty invisible hand pped it downwards.


    One moment, the six ships were flying through the skies and suddenly loud thunderous booms were heard and a massive ball of ck clouds appeared right at the lead ship''s position. The other five ships'' captains were shocked and confused, their confusion further heightened as they spotted the falling remains of the leading ship.


    By the time the captains of the remaining five ships could respond to the strange events, another ship went up simrly to the first and that was then, they realized that they were under attack. The ships shattered, causing the third volley to miss. The HE shells announcing their end with explosions that kicked dirt and smoke hundreds of meters into the air.


    "Watch your fire!" Trism roared at the Weapons Officer. "We are engaging well within optimal ranges for the guns!"


    "Yes sir!" The red faced Weapons Officer bent over his station and berated his gun teams for their uracy.


    ke sat quietly as he watched the action in his chair, his thoughts unclear. Trism sneaked a nce at his Captain before he turned forward and added, "And keep the coteral damages down!"


    -----


    The string suddenly broke and the ck prayer beads slipped through the hands of the kneeling Lord Bishop as his eyes snapped open in surprise. The ck prayer beads bounced loudly on the floor while the Lord Bishop stared at the bouncing beads without moving.


    A deep sense of unease suddenly enfolded his heart and he looked up at the statue of Ramuh and mumbled softly, "Is Judgement finally here?"

 Chapter 638: To Sacrifice

    Chapter 638: To Sacrifice


    When Crown Prince Najja saw the number of airships that greeted the 9th Iron Fleet upon arriving at Mortling''s Hold, he had a sinking feeling in his belly. Sky General Bundberg shook his head in silence before he turned away from the view ports.


    "Ready a courier ship for his Highness to depart immediately," Sky General Bundberg said to his staff. "And call for themander of Mortling''s Hold and all the senior officers for a meeting."


    "My Brother..." Prince Najja paused at the hatch and said. "G- Good luck..."


    He gave a nod to the Sky General as well before he scurried off with his followers. Sky General Bundberg turned to Prince Herod and said, "This would be thest chance for you to get to safety, your Highness."


    Prince Herod shook his head and replied, "You are pretty decent for someone who took Lord Sincia''s gold..."


    "I might be old and serve a different lord now, but my heart is still loyal to the kingdom," Sky General Bundberg sighed. "It doesn''t matter who sits on the throne in the end, if the kingdom falls here."


    Prince Herod gave the Sky General a deep look before he gave a nod in acknowledgment of the Sky General''s honor. After that, he stood at one side and waited for the localmander and officers to arrive. It did not take long before courier ships dropped off themander and officers and they entered the bridge with barely suppressed anxiety on their faces.


    "What numbers are we looking at?" Sky General Bundberg barely even waited for the new arrivals'' salutes and greetings. "How many ships have gathered?"


    "M- My Lord," The Mortling''s Hold''smander was a bony middle aged elf, with long silvery green hair tied into a pony tail. He cast a nce at his officers before he answered, "Forty airships, but only ten cruisers, the rest are all patrol or escorts..."


    "Are Lord Sincia''s reinforcements arriving any time soon?" Sky General Bundberg asked with a frown.


    "We have received no word from Lord Sincia," Themander looked confused as he checked with his subordinates. "Is he sending help over?"


    Sky General Bundberg shook his head and asked another question, "What are Iron Lord Costa''s orders to you?"


    "Thestmand sent by my Lord Costa''s courier is that we are to dy the enemy as long as possible while the people, the young and elderly heads for the hills..." Themander said. "I have send whatever merchant airships that I could get my hands on to move as much people to safety."


    "He did mention that he is gathering what ships he could," Themander added. "But if we are unable to hold on anymore before his arrival, we are to pull back to Castle Chancey..."


    "That''s less than half a day of flight away," Prince Herod spoke up as he leaned over the map table. "But I doubt our current forces could not make the trip."


    "The Prince is right," Sky General Bundberg frowned as he looked out of the view ports at the direction of the approaching Protectorate ships. "We have the most, two turns of the sand ss or less, before they arrive."


    "The 9th has suffered heavy damage and are badly in need of supplies, from projectiles to refined aetherium, coal and water for the boilers," Sky General Bundberg listed out the urgent needs of the fleet. "The 9th cannot handle another sustained fight with the Protectorate..."


    "B- But the people has yet to evacuate!" Themander hastily replied. "We cannot leave them to the Protectorate! We all know what they do to those they deemed as thewless ones!"


    "I... We know..." Sky General Bundberg let out a deep sigh. "But... we need to save as much ships as possible if we are to face off the Protectorate in a decisive battle!"


    "At the cost of the people? Our families and homes?" Themander and his officers were incensed at the thought of abandoning their people.


    Sky General Bundberg shook his head sadly, "If our forces get defeated by the Protectorate piecemeal by piecemeal, we will not have enough ships in the entire Kingdom to stop them!"


    "But still!" Themander protested. "How could we abandon our people to those savages!"


    "Lord Roeg! Sacrifices must be made to save the entire Kingdom!" Sky General Bundberg met themander''s re without flinching. "How many ships do you think your Lord Costa could scrape together?"


    "Fifty? Or Sixty?" Sky General Bundberg asked angrily. "How many of those would be ships of the line?"


    Lord Roeg looked down to his feet, unable to answer the question thrown in his face. Sky General Bundberg paced around the bridge and continued, "What we need now is to save all these ships! The people here... t- they will serve to slow down the enemy for us!"


    "What!?" Lord Roeg and his officers were shocked. "H-?"


    "Without these ships... How many more people do you think will suffer the same fate here?" Sky General Bundberg looked red harshly at themander and his officers before his tone softened slightly. "Do you think I wish for such a thing to our people?"


    Prince Herod clenched his fists tightly as he knew the Sky General''s actions were right. Without enough warships and weapons, they could not stop the enemy. Sacrificing themon people to slow Protectorate was also a way and it proved that their situation was very dire.


    "We will depart within one and a half turn of the sand ss!" Sky General Bundberg dered, ignoring the pleading looks of the localmander and officers. "Load up all the supplies the ships could carry and those that have to be left behind, destroy them!"


    "You all have that much time to bring your families onboard the ships!" Sky General Bundberg said. "Only bring your direct families!"


    "The fleet will depart whether or not the supplies or your families are onboard!" Sky General Bundberg said coldly. "Go! Time is of the essence now!"


    -----


    Metal shredded while wood splintered as a mighty boom shook the skies. The Penal ss heavy cruiser of the 84th Righteous Fleet of Ramuh spun slowly in the air as its starboard aerial screws had turned to mangled metal, its crew desperately trying to restore controls.


    The single unknown ship, painted in a riot of colors that would made a pious devotee of Ramuh wept in horror, looked so close, yet kept away at a tenderizing distance. No matter how much steam the 84th Righteous Fleet put in or prayed, they were unable to close in to effective steam cannon range.


    And all the way, the single ship spew heretical magic and destruction at the ships of the 84th. The enraged Lord Bishop, fleetmander and shepherd to the righteous, dered that the single ship was the spawn of all evil and ced an emunicate extermination order upon the ship and all its crew.


    -----


    Marine Private Bartley, formerly of the United Nations of Mankind Marine Corps, braced against the C shaped shoulder supports of the quad fifty caliber weapon mount and squeezed the butterfly triggers. The entire weapon shuddered on its mount together with loud booming roars as bolt after bolt of tracers spat out towards the strange reversed dragonfly like flyers that attempted to swarm the Old Ugly.


    He chased one of the winged mechanical flyers, using the tracers of the quad fifty to guide his fire until he saw the tracers intersect his target. Smoke and debris erupted out from the flyer and it death spiraled off down to the featureless ground.


    He switched targets, his tracers chasing another flyer and suddenly, the weapons locked back. He did a quick check and found the box magazines had emptied. "AMMO!"


    An ammo bearer hearing his cry, came running over. The Orc''s chestdened with belts of fifty caliber and both his hands carried a can of ammo each. Bartley quickly helped himself with the ammo belts and together, the two reloaded the quad fifty. He returned to firing while the Orc ammo runner disappeared off somewhere.


    The decks shuddered slightly as a dragon fly like flier spat a projectile and the ship''s magical barrier intercepted it. The semi transparent bubble shimmered with a rainbow disy of colors as it blocked the projectile. Streams of tracer fire chased after the flier and soon it went down trailing dark smoke.


    Bartley frowned as he noticed a cluster of fliers forming up above the airship. He raised the weapon and sent hot lead towards the group and his frown turned to surprise and he gripped the quad fifty handles hard as he aimed the cross hair at the fliers that charged towards the ship.


    -----


    Keta was a proud member of the Winged Order of Ramuh. As part of the Winged Order, he flew a Soarer, a small winged airship with a crew of four, including himself. The Soarer airship was actually built around two steam cannons with gave it an insect like appearance.


    The control cabin was set at the rear of the steam cannons, with the boiler and aetherium dders mounted on the side. Two pairs of wings, forming a X shape, red out from the clockwork mechanism next to the aetherium dders. The two bulbous looking boiler and aetherium dders made the Soarer looked like a Terran dragonfly, but flying in reverse.


    Keta as the pilot, sat on a saddle like seat and was leaned forward, his body weight supported by the leather padding. The controls were simple, two handle bars on both sides which controlled the turn and pitch of the Soarer. White, his co pilot, sat on a raised tform directly behind him and he controlled the steam powered repeating crossbow.


    In apartment below them, the other two crew members were the steam engineer and his assistant who oversee the boiler and pressure tanks. The Soarers'' dual steam cannon were both single use and required the Soarers to return to their mother ship to reload once their steam cannons had discharged.


    And Keta, like many of his other fellow apostle of the Winged Order of Ramuh, had discharged both the steam cannons to no visible effect on the heretic ship. And he saw how the once majestic and grand looking formation of an entire fifty Soarers getting decimated into barely a dozen or so.


    Unable to ept such sphemy to his faith, he ordered his co pilot to signal those few remaining Soarers nearby and together, they formed up once more, their numbers a pitiful few. Keta lined up his Soarer and he prayed and recited from the Book of Law and Order. "Thewless shall be Judged by their sins!"


    He aimed his airship at the top decks of the heretical vessel and pushed the aerial screws to maximum power. He briefly saw streaks of light that left a searing light spot in his eyes and saw one of the Soarer flying before hime apart under those streaks of light. The sickened Soarer broke into smoke and rained pieces of debris downwards.


    Yet Keta felt no fear as he closed his eyes. All emotions disappeared as he felt himself getting embraced by Ramuh''s righteousw and order. He took his hands away from the control handles and prayed to Ramuh, once more pledging his life and very soul to be Judged. "For Justice!"


    -----


    Streaks of tracer fire mmed into the rapidly approaching flier. Bartley gritted his teeth hard as he sent round after round at the fliers clearly trying to kamikaze themselves onto the Old Ugly. His efforts were awarded when thest kamikaze flier broke up into pieces just before impacting the magical barrier of the Old Ugly, therger portion of the flier missing by mere centimeters.


    The raining debris made a spectacr show of rainbow colored circr waves all over the magical barrier. When the colors dissipated away from the barrier, there wasn''t any more fliers around the Old Ugly remaining.

 Chapter 639: Waste

    Chapter 639: Waste


    Standing with his hands sped behind his back and staring out of the viewports, Captain ke shook his head at the sights of ongoing destruction and death. He watched a sh of fire and smoke erupt from the long barrel guns that were sited down below the decks and turned away. "Has the triangtion beenpleted?"


    "Yes, Captain," Trism replied and handed over a data te. "Analysts shows a 92% chance that the Princess is not located inside the Iron Kingdom."


    The decks shook slightly and a rainbow sheen distorted the view for a moment. ke nodded and he waved at the distant dots on the horizon and said, "This is taking too long and wasting our time."


    "Order the Vectors to clear the path for us," ke said as he turned back to the view.


    "Aye, Sir!"


    -----


    "Vector Lead, this is the Old Ugly," Thems crackled over the humming of electronics and muffled engines. "Requesting for fire support, over."


    "This is Vector Lead," The flight captain replied as he sat on themand seat of the tiny nose bridge with four other crew members. "Roger!"


    "The Captain wants the path cleared before him, cleared," Thems crackled loud enough for everyone in the tiny bridge to hear. "Requesting Vector to grant his wish. Over."


    The flight captain of Vector Lead grinned as he replied back, "Vector Lead, roger! Tell the Captain to enjoy the light show! Out!"


    "Alright, you heard the boss!" The flight captain said as he rubbed his hands together. "Tell Vector One Zero Three and One Zero Four to target the starboard side. Vector One Zero Five will take the port side with us."


    Orders flowed out towards the other three V - 1 Phoenix flying in formation that was circlingzily in the air like vultures. Their operational altitude was so much higher than what the Old World airships could ever imagine that none of the observers or spotters even noticed the wing ships above them.


    Armoured ting slid open on the side of the hulls painted with non reflective coating. Cannon barrels of 88 mm calibre poked out from the exposed weapon ports and tilted downwards at the unsuspecting fleet of airships. Autoloaders cranked noisily inside the hull as shell after shell in the ready racks were connected to the feeding trays. Gun crews fussed over the weapon systems as they checked to ensure everything was running smoothly and operational before stepping back.


    The weapons officers and specialists onboard the wing ships sat behind the weapon controls, noted the lights of their weapons readiness turn green and they waited impatiently for themand to fire. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, thems in their headset crackled.


    "All Vectors, you are cleared to engage!"


    -----


    84th Righteous Fleet of Ramuh, gship Valor


    "L- Lord Bishop!" A senior officer went down on one knee and reported. "T- The heretic ship has... has destroyed more than half the fleet with its wicked magic!"


    "Anymore... the 84th will cease to function as the Judge''s arm of justice!" He made his protest. "We must fall back and request for more reinforcements to fight against this evil!"


    "Retreat?" The Lord Bishop flung the Book of Law and Order in his hand at the officer. The thick tome smashed into the face of the shocked officer and blood dripped down from his broken nose. "Cowards! Your cowardness shall be a sin upon your very soul! How dare you face the Judge once you enter his Halls of Judgement?"


    "This shall be your first and final warning! Do not dare speak of retreat against evil! We are his Sword! We are his Shield! We are his Law! We are his Order!" The Lord Bishop roared and the crew chorused after him. "We are his Judgement!"


    Suddenly, there was a mighty boom and the decks shook wildly causing many to stumble and fall. Sirens and steam whistles went off and the entire ship suddenly lurched to one side again with a loud boom, forcing the crew to fall off their feet again.


    "What is the name of Justice is going on?!" The Lord Bishop demanded as he supported himself to themand throne. The decks were nted to an angle, making it difficult for one to stand.


    "W- We are under attack!" A bridge crew cried out. "The magic barriers are failing!"


    "Impossible!" The Lord Bishop half crawled and climbed his way across the nted decks and stared out of the viewports. What he saw made him shocked beyond words. Streaks of fire could be seening from the heavens and they struck down on his ships. The magic barriers of his ships could barely even hold out for a while as he saw how the beams of heavenly mes melt the magic barriers as if they were wet parchment.


    He watched as one by one, the remaining ships of the 84th Righteous of Ramuh being smitten down until a ray of mes came shooting down from the heavens at his ship. The decks shook wildly again and he ignored the urgent cries of his crew and officers and instead, he knelt down and ced his hands together in prayer and looked up.


    "How beautiful!"


    -----


    The Old Ugly


    ke turned away from the view and returned to his chair and asked, "Damages to the ship?"


    "Minimum, Sir," Trism replied and handed over a report. "Several injuries to the crew, mostly due to falls and unsecured equipment."


    "The enemy did not even manage to breach our magical barriers," Trism added. "And... the way is clear again."


    "Good, bring us down to Condition yellow and have the crew rotate out for some rest," ke ordered. "Continue with our current heading and speed."


    "Yes, Sir!" Trism replied and carried out his orders.


    ke looked at the tablet in his hands, scrolling through each department''s action reports and by the time he finished the reports, the Old Ugly had departed the region of the aerial battle.


    "Captain, we are approaching within visual range of Group Bravo and Charlie," The sensors officer reported from his station. "Both groups are headed towards our location."


    "Order the Vectors to clear them out," ke replied. "We have no time to deal with them!"


    "Yes, sir!" Reports soon starteding from the sensor operators as radar readings changed. The Protectorate airships attacked from above were confused and their formations disrupted as shells after shells obliterated their barriers and hammered their hulls to scrap.


    "Captain, UNS Icarus and UNS Daedalus are just an hour away from rendezvous," Trism reported. "They are not encountering any resistance at the moment but are seeing a lot of Protectorate movements on the ground."


    "Ground troops?" ke asked as he stepped over to thems station.


    "They got ground troops and what appears to be civilians or prisoners," Trism replied as he transferred the transmitted imagery and data over to his tablet. "Seems like they are moving people across the borders to theirnds."


    "But the scale of this attack is just toorge to be just a simple snatch and grab of resources," ke mused. "This is more than just an invasion."


    "I agree, Sir," Trism nodded. "Intel has estimated there are as many as four hundred ships involved from the Protectorate side and close to a half a million ground troops."


    "The Protectorate seemed pretty serious," ke frowned. "I wonder what made them go all out..."


    "The Iron King''s illness maybe?" Trism suggested. "Or the missing Crown Prince and the resulting power struggle causing the split?"


    "Could be, but then again, the King is more or less healed by Dr. Sharon," ke''s frown deepened. "But why is there no news of him? If he makes an appearance, it would be easy to rally what remaining forces and stop the advance of the Protectorate."


    "Hmm..."


    -----


    The Old World, The Iron Kingdom, Mortling''s Hold


    The reorganized and resupplied 9th Iron Fleet slowly departed away from the walls and towers of the abandoned Mortling''s Hold. Thousands of stone weight of supplies and equipment that were unable to be moved, were put to the torch. The columns of smoke heralded their departure and even provided a form of concealment for the Fleet as they continued their retreat deeper into the Iron Kingdom.


    The surrounding towns and viges had slowly emptied and a small number stubbornly remaining as many fled on merchant and sky fish trawling vessels that were press ganged by the local Iron Kingdom army. Others that fled on foot, headed towards the nearby forested hills to hide in caves, escorted by whatever remaining ground troops that were unable to board the airships while the rest travelled down the royal highway on carriages or on foot.


    Prince Herod stared out of the viewport at the snaking lines of people below. Despite having been warned beforehand, there were still many people on the roads. Too many people in fact, that he was certain that they could not outrun the approaching Protectorate.


    Many would die and those would be the lucky ones, for those captured alive by the Protectorate would have to undergo a cleansing of their souls by appointed priests. They would be whipped, forced to recite their Book of Law and Order by heart and undergo redemption rites after rites, until the Priests deemed their souls no longer tinted with sin and disorder.


    The rites ensured many would perish in suffering in the process. It was a form of torture, made famous by the Protectorate, that many of the other nations scorned on. As he thought of this, he wondered what the other nations were doing.


    "You there," He called out to an officer of themand staff. "Are there any news regarding the other nations and kingdoms?"


    "There are some troop movements from the Cartel along their borders," The staff officer replied after checking with his subordinates. "There is no news of any kind from the other nations."


    Prince Herod frowned as he thought in his mind. Why would there be no news regarding the other powers? Such a big attack by the Protectorate would have prompt the other nations into action against the theological nation! They would not allow such a thing to happen as it would change the power bnce and allow the Protectorate to increase their strength!


    As he was absorbed in his thoughts, there was a suddenmotion. Reports from the observers on the top decks hade down and suddenly everyone in the bridge was all tensed up. "Protectorate ships sighted on the horizon!"


    Sky General Bundberg appeared shortly with some of his senior officers in the bridge. He looked refreshed as if he had gotten some sleep and even a shower. He stood calmly at his usual spot and looked out of the viewports while listening to updates from his aides on the current situation.


    "How far out are the Protectorate to reach the rear of the people?" He asked his staff.


    "Less than half the turn of the sandss, my Lord," The aide replied. "I- If they ignore them, at their fastest speed, they woulde into cannon range in three turns of the ss..."


    Sky General Bundberg nodded before he issued his next orders, "Have all ships steam ahead full."


    "Prep theunch of all our remaining Fairies forbat!" He referred to the tiny reverse teardrop shaped attack ornithopter in service by the Iron Kingdom forces. "Ask for volunteers to crew them..."


    "Are you nning to stall the Protectorate with the Fairies?" Prince Herod asked as he stood next to the Sky General having heard his orders to the staff.


    "Yes, your Highness," Sky General Bundberg replied. "It might buy a little more time for... everyone..."


    "The crew of those would not return..." Prince Herod pointed out. "Did you not abandon themon people to save our weapons and soldiers? Why now?"


    Sky General Bundberg let out a soft sigh before he replied, "It''s the least I can do for themon people.."


    "And the Fairies... they are expendable..."

 Chapter 640: Destruction

    Chapter 640: Destruction


    Mushroom shaped projectiles whizzed across the skies between the groups of airships. The Protectorate fleet, three times the size and having heavier shipspared to the retreating Iron Kingdom fleet, seemed like a wave as they advanced confidently in a checkered formation stacked four high.


    Below the shadows of the war machines, thousands fled in terror. Spent projectiles or projectiles that missed their mark, came whistling down like bombs and bombarded the fleeing people. The Iron Kingdom, Iron Runner, Rapier ss destroyer with leaking aetherium tanks dropped down over the horizon, the helmsman desperately trying to avoid crashing into the mass of refugees underneath the failing airship.


    The helmsman managed to sessfully avoid the majority of the refugees as its underhull, snapped the tops of the trees before ploughing through the trees and rocks, crashing whatever underneath into unidentifiable bits. The airship rolled to its side and its heavily strained pressure tanks storing superheated steam ruptured, spraying clouds of steam all over the area.


    Hundreds of crew and soldiers ferried on board the ship died instantly as they were sh boiled by the steam. Others trapped in their cabins andpartments were slowly baked alive, unable to scream as the air around them rose to boiling temperatures. None of the two hundred crew and over five hundred soldiers cramped onboard survived.


    Those refugees on the ground closest to the crashed airship that had avoided getting pancaked by the crash, were sted by a cloud of steam that cooked them alive. Those further away, received a brief wave of the steam, suffered horrific burns and injuries.


    The crash made the fleeing refugees even more desperate to escape and created a trample among the people, increasing the causality count. In theter years, historians estimated close to twenty five thousand civilians died that day.


    -----


    9th Iron Fleet, gship Iron Regent


    "Your Highness," Sky General Bundberg addressed Prince Herod with a serious expression on his face. "It is time to leave."


    Prince Herod sighed as the bridge crew andmand staff saluted him. In the short two days, they had berades in arms and Prince Herod did not wish to abandon them to their fate. Sky General Bundberg ced aforting hand on his shoulder and said, "It''s alright, we all have sworn to do our duty for the Kingdom."


    "You, your Highness, had done more than enough to stand by our side..." Sky General Bundberg said. "This ship... and the 9th Fleet can no longer outrun the Protectorate..."


    "But your Highness," Sky General Bundberg stared into Prince Herod''s eyes and solemnly said. "You still have your part in this war to y! Your life is more important than any one of ours! You must leave at once!"


    Prince Herod stood rooted as gritted his teeth in helpless anger. Sky General Bundberg let out a soft sigh and he nodded to two of the Prince''s aides to bring him away. Prince Herod closed his eyes for a while before he opened with, this time with a determined light in them. He straightened himself and saluted the Sky General and the crew before he turned away walked away without another word.


    The waiting courier ship was already fully steamed up and ready to depart at any time. The hangar once filled with dozens of Fairy ss ornithopters, courier ships and steam barges were now emptied, with only two other courier ships parked at one side. The ornithopters had all been spent and their volunteer crews sacrificed to slow the Protectorate while the steam barges and courier ships carried away the families of officers to safety.


    Prince Herod paused at the boarding ramp of the courier ship and looked around. While the hangar was emptied of its small craft, it was instead filled with soldiers and stores picked up from Mortling''s Hold. There was even a portion of the hangar converted into a hospice for the wounded. The feeling of helpless anger rose within his chest again and he turned away from the scene and boarded the courier ship.


    The side hull of the hangar swung open, creating a strong draft of wind that blew through the hangar. The courier ship slowly rose up off itsnding jacks before it flew through the opening. Prince Herod watched from a view port inside the courier ship, seeing the scenery change. The skies outside the safety of the hangar were filled with grey and white smoke.


    Shimmers of magical barrier lit up the air constantly and the captain of the courier ship hastily put the bulk of the Iron Regent''s hull between them and the Protectorate. The air was filled with cannon projectiles which could easily destroy the courier ship with just one hit.


    Prince Herod watched as the 9th Iron Fleet slowed down as they changed formation. No longer running, the majority of the fleet shift their heading and turned raggedly to face their broadsides at the Protectorate. The other ships of the fleet that carried nonbatants and civilians continued at their fastest speed as the rest of the fleet offered battle to the Protectorate.


    "May Aedi protect their souls!" The captain of the courier ship prayed to the Goddess of Fire as the Protectorate fleet closed in. "Those brave souls shall need them!"


    -----


    Seventeen destroyers and escorts, nine light cruisers, three heavy cruisers and one battlewagon, stood their ground. Dozens of smaller craft could be seen departing from those ships as non essential personnel were evacuated off.


    Volleys of steam cannons erupted out, as Sky General Bundberg wanted to deal as much damage to the enemy''s T before they turn. His ships formed up in three lines, one on top of each other, with the Iron Regent right in the middle, which seemed like a flimsy wall easily broken, whenpared to the solid column of airships advancing straight at them.


    The head of the Protectorate column soaked up the projectiles thrown by the 9th Iron Fleet. Ship after ship fell out of formation as they lost steam, had aetherium tanks ruptured or had their aerial screws and steering ps knocked out.


    Yet the Protectorate fleet continued on, enduring the punishing fire until they reach their own effective range of their steam cannons. Unlike the Iron Kingdom''s steam cannons, the Protectorate mainly fielded a heavier and lower range and uracy steam cannon.


    The column of Protectorate ships split up, their checkered formation allowing them the flexibility and change of movement. The first wall of ships came to a halt and rotated, presenting their broadsides to the Iron Kingdom ships that were just 200 meters away. As they formed up, the 9th Iron Fleet broke their own formation as they went into evasive.


    The first wall of Protectorate ships'' steam cannon erupted almost as one and a hail of deadly projectiles nketed the evading 9th Iron Fleet. Weakened magical barriers shed and popped upon impact as hundreds of projectiles were thrown in their direction. The weaker destroyers went down rapidly in balls of leaking steam and mes while the heavier protected cruisers managed to hold out against the enemies'' fire.


    The ground behind the 9th Iron Fleet rippled with explosions as the shots that missed rained down on thend. The Protectorate fleet seemed indifferent to the destruction wrought by their weapons as another broadside crashed out. The Iron Kingdom ships tried to evade and fight, others ovepped their magical barriers to hold out longer, but the sheer number of cannons throwing projectiles their way, quickly decimated the much smaller 9th Iron Fleet.


    -----


    Prince Herod''s fists had turned white as he stared out of the rear viewports at the diminishing view of the 9th Iron Fleet being decimated. "Curse the damn Protectorate!"


    "Y- Your Highness!" A cry of surprise came from the captain of the courier ship as he pointed to the front of the bridge. Prince Herod let out a growl as he turned away from the rear viewports and looked at what the captain was pointing at. He froze at the sight before he covered his eyes and startedughing madly as tears of relief flowed down.


    -----


    Strength and energy that he had never thought he would ever have, flowed through his entire body. Even the heavy te mail and belted sword that he was wearing now, felt light as if he had returned to the days of his younger self.


    He stood with his arms crossed, staring out of the battlement of the castle, his cape fluttering gently in the wind. Everything was clear to his eyes and he no longer had to squirm his eyes to even read all the missives and reports. He smiled, as he recalled the words of the girl healer telling that he would be well once again and that his health would return.


    "Your Majesty," The row of Sky Generals and soldiers standing behind him saluted. "The 1st and 5th Iron Fleet have assembled."


    "Good!" The Iron King lifted a gauntleted hand and pointed to the distance. "Is the spell ready?"


    "Yes, your Majesty!" A hooded figure bowed. "The mages are awaiting yourmand!"


    "Cast the spell!" The Iron King, once bedridden and dying, now stood tall and strong in full armour. His loud voice radiated strength and confidence and his bearing noble and regal. His subordinates bowed and hurried off to his bidding. "Destroy everyone that dare tramples our Kingdom!"


    A hum that could be felt in one''s bones grew louder and louder and a massive magical circle suddenly formed in the air right before the flying ind''s castle. The purplish glowing magical circle expanded as more and more runes materialized into being around the spell. In the tower, several hooded mages each stood behind an altar that had a bowl on the top and chanted as one.


    Magic crystals of all types were filled to the brim on the bowls and visibility, the crystals could be see corroding as the mana stored inside were absorbed by the spell formation in the air. Acolytes dressed in simr robes hurried from one bowl to another and refilling them with more magic crystals from the dozens of storage chests on the side.


    The sudden surge of magical energies in the air created an abnormal storm to form. Dark clouds circled around the flying ind and despite a magical barrier dampening the strength of the winds, those outside of the castle, could feel the force of the gale. Purple and green lightning crawled unnaturally across the skies as the magic circle solidified into being.


    "ARCANA LIGHTNING BALL!" The chanted mages suddenly, yelled loud out the spell as they activated the Level 10 magic circle.


    A pure white ball of energy covered in purple lightning snakes erupted out of the centre of the magic circle and sizzled out in an arc. The diameter of the ball of lightning was dozens of meters wide,rge enough to engulf amon airship whole.


    It soared through the skies, leaving behind trails of lightning and pure magical energy until it impacted the Protectorate fleet with a blinding sh of light and ear shattering boom. It was like the birth of a new miniature sun and for a moment, everyone was blinded by the harsh light before the shockwaves spread out and mmed into the nearby ships and ttened the ground.


    When everyone recovered their eyesight, a massive hole had formed in the middle of the Protectorate fleet and the remains of the fleet were disorientated by the affect effect of the spell. Some ships were even spinning around lifelessly and the fleet was totally shattered.


    The Iron King opened his eyes and nodded to himself after seeing the destruction wrought by the spell. The mages had copsed from overtaxing themselves with the spell. In total, for the Level 10 spell to be cast, over thirteen million gold crowns worth of magic crystals, a tenth of the stored magic reserves were used which equalled two and a half years worth of taxes of the entire Kingdom!


    "All ships... Advance!"

 Chapter 641: Rescue

    Chapter 641: Rescue


    Prince Herod stepped off the courier ramp and ignored the salutes and bows presented to him by the knights and officers. He impatiently gestured for the aides to lead the way and entered the castle through a noisy steam powered elevator. The rock walls of the cavern hangar soon changed to grey dressed stone and as the elevator came to a halt, two rows of knights stand at attention outside the elevator doors.


    The rows of knights raised their steamnces in salute as Prince Herod stepped out and followed behind as an escort. After passing through several grandly decored hallways, he arrived at the great hall. The first time he saw when the servants pushed open the great doors was his royal father seated on the throne in the rear of the hall.


    Standing beside the throne was his fat second brother and the tall slender figure of his uncle while dozens of other ministers and Iron Lords stood on both sides of the main aisle. Prince Herod strolled forward with a small smile on his face as he saw how healthy looking his father was and he came to one knee before the throne.


    "Greeting, your Majesty!" He said as he bowed. "Long live the Iron King!"


    "HAHA!" The Iron Kingughed as he got up from his throne and helped his son up. "My son!"


    The once weak and feeble looking King had changed, while still gaunt looking, the Iron King now stood tall and strong. His grey and silver hair and beard remained the same, but the King had a healthy rosyplex and his voice was loud and filled with strength.


    Prince Herod could even feel the strength of his grip as his father pulled him into an embrace. "I have recovered! That healer girl of yours is a miracle!"


    "Your Majesty," Lord Sincia cleared his throat and said. "You should rest more and have the royal priests and healers to check your health!"


    "Sincia... I feel fine!" The Iron King said as he turned around. "I had never felt better! Like I was reborn!"


    "My royal brother..." Lord Sincia sighed. "I am afraid it might be some kind of witchcraft that is affecting your health temporary!"


    "I do not really care if it is just temporary!" The Iron King growled as he sat back on his throne. "If it gives me enough time to settle the crisis our Kingdom is facing now!


    "Yes... my brother..." Lord Sincia bowed and backed down, his expression was unreadable.


    "Now, for more pressing matters!" The Iron King addressed the whole assembly. "The 1st and 5th Iron Fleet is cleaning up the remains of the Protectorate force that had pushed all the way here, but still there are several more Protectorate fleets and troops trampling all over ournds!"


    "Thankfully... my royal brother has the mind to gather his forces," The Iron King gave a smile before he continued. "His 6th Fleet will join us here at Mortling''s Hold."


    "The 2nd Iron Fleet will remain over the Iron Pce and protect the capital," The Iron King continued giving orders. "The 3rd, 4th and 7th Fleet will remain to hold the south borders against the Tri State for now."


    "The 8th is also to remain, holding its position on the Suugon borders but I want the 10th Iron Fleet on the borders of the Dragons to raid the Protectorate''s nk," The Iron King said. "Looking at the number of ships they have sent against us... The 10th Fleet will have an easy time!"


    "Lord Kiel and Lord Polman, both of you shall takemand of the 2nd Army and retake ournds," The two named Iron Lords bowed in acknowledgement. "The rest of you... gather your soldiers and militia. I want all your granaries opened! ept and shelter all refugees that enter yournds!"


    "Go!" The Iron King said. "And drive those worshippers of Ramuh away from ournds!"


    "IRON FOR IRON!" The ministers and Iron Lords called out and they dispersed.


    "Herod, attend to me!" The Iron King said as he walked into a side chamber. Lord Sincia gave him a cold look before leaving while his second brother cast a fearful look in his direction before he hurried after their uncle. Prince Herod frowned at their exit and entered the side chamber where his father waited.


    "My son," His father already seated on a sofa, gestured him to sit down. A set of tea and small bites had been set out on the table. "You have performed well."


    Prince Herod sat down and helped himself to the food. He hasn''t eaten anything since yesterday, too nervous and anxious with the battle to do so. Now, with all the stress and tension gone, his stomach rumbled and he quickly stuffed himself.


    "I have heard of what Sincia did," The Iron King said as he watched his son stuff himself. "I will retract the nomination of Crown Prince from Najja and nominate you as Crown Prince instead!"


    -----


    The Old Ugly


    "Satelite imagery shows some kind of farm here," Trism said as he expanded the downloaded image on the screen. "This is the only area with any signs of people nearest to the triangted spot within a ten kilometre radius."


    "Looks like a prettyrge farm," Major Mills said as he took in the details. "I say, two hundred or three hundred people at least?"


    "Intel estimated at least seven hundred from several previous satellite takes," Trism corrected the Marine. "All of them cramped within these buildings here, here and here."


    "These buildings here are suspected to hold the guards and administrators running the camp," Trism added. "This structure here is the farm''s house of worship where everyone goes to in the morning for prayers."


    "It''s a forcedbour camp..." Dr. Sharon let out a soft sigh. "The conditions for the workers don''t look good from here..."


    "Yes, we believe so," Trism nodded. "As for the conditions..."


    "Can we do any verification?" ke suddenly asked. "Does our satellite imagery able to pick up faces?"


    "Erm... No sir," Trism shook his head. "Lieutenant Tavor said something about the quality of the cameras and how the satellite originally was a ''n-- early'' probe and not a spy satellite..."


    ke nodded and he pointed to the coast, "The UNS Vengeance is around here, correct?"


    "Yes, sir," Trism replied. "They are currently holding at the mouth of the straits."


    "Have them dispatch the Hundred and First," ke said. "I want eyes on the ground and confirmation."


    "And in the meantime, we continue on our course," ke added. "It would take us about ten days or so to reach the triangted location if we do not encounter any obstacles."


    "Have the Hundred and First scout out the area, and we will pick them up when we arrive," ke said. "And if they find the Princess and have the confidence to extract her... do it!"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    -----


    9th Iron Fleet, gship Iron Regent


    Sky General Bundberg helped lift the unconscious bridge crew out of the wreckage and allowed the healers to carry the wounded away. He braced himself against a pir as a wave of giddiness assailed him and his hand came away slick with blood when he rubbed his head.


    Looking out of the cracked viewports, he saw dozens of airships bearing the 1st and 5th Iron Fleet pennons and streamers surrounding the survivors of the 9th. On the Protectorate side, the enemy fleet had been shattered by a powerful spell that could onlye from a sky fortress.


    The sky fortress of the Iron Kingdom had the ability to cast ancient powerful spells provided that they could afford to power the magical arrays of the spell. In ancient times, it was a simple matter for the Kingdom and mages to do so, but after hundreds of years, and with magic disappearing from the world, it became a limited weapon of deterrent.


    And this weapon of deterrent had saved the 9th Fleet, or what was left of the 9th. He could still see signs of battle still urring in small pockets in the skies as ships of the 1st and 5th chased down the survivors. The Iron Regent had suffered heavy damage once its magical barriers were down, the Protectorate had been relentless in their attacks as they focused all their cannons on it.


    Sky General Bundberg did not know yet the casualties of the 9th, but he could roughly guess the numbers. Suddenly feeling very tired, he sat down on a stood and felt his age. The close brush with death had finally drained thest of his strength.


    -----


    Off the Mouth of the Border Straits, UNS Vengeance


    The waiting CH - 1 Griffin had its tail ramp down, and extra pods of fuel attached on its sides. The cocky goblin crew chief wearing aviator sses and a flight jacket was hopping up and down impatiently as he yelped at the approaching soldiers.


    "Comee! Fast fast! Before bad winde!" The goblin hollered loudly over the din of the roots.


    "Chill down!" Hitsu shook his head at the antics of the goblin as he and the others went on board the Griffin. Bags of equipment were ced down in the middle of the spacious interior and secured. An Armored Support Autonomous Spider Golem, or ASASG, painted in digital night pattern of greys and cks, followed onboard and the pony sized spider like golem folded its leg up as it settled down in the middle and allowed members of the Hundred and First to secured it to the decks.


    "All onboard!" The goblin crew chief yelped and he shut the rear ramp. As the ramp shut, the roar of the rotors changed in pitch and everyone could feel the Griffin lifting off the flight decks of the UNS Vengeance.


    As the Griffin carrying the Hundred and First took off, another two AH - 1 Unicornsdened with extra fuel pods took off as well as they flew escort. The three helicopters formed up in a ''V'' and headed towards thendmass in the distance.


    "Alright, all of you heard the brief earlier, but I am going to remain you all again!" Specialist Sergeant Tyrier shouted over the muffled roar of the rotors to his team after he came back from talking to the pilots in the cockpit. "Our mission is simple, we go in, dig around, see if we can get any confirmation of the Princess and young prince!"


    "If we got eyes on them, we are to call in it," Tyrier continued. "And depending on the situation, we on the ground will decide if it is prudent or not to go in and extract them!"


    "The Old Ugly, wille and pick us up," Tyrier added. "But they are around ten days or more away!"


    "No other support?" Wolf asked. "Airstrikes? Gunship? Or even a nice 14" barrage from the Venny?"


    "There will be some support but don''t count on it!" Tyrier answered. "We will travel most of the journey by helo, andplete the rest on foot, which will take us roughly five days to reach our target objective."


    "We will only have support if and when only our flyboys enter the area of operations, if not, any request for support will take too long toe to do any good!" Tyrier said. "We might get some dedicated aerial support in a week when those Vee Ones enter the AO, but before that, don''t count on them!"


    "Nice season for a hike and rescue," Hitsu grinned as he leaned back in his seat. "As usual no support and all alone, what could go wrong in this simple mission?"


    "Don''t curse it," Altied snapped. "You and your damn mouth!"


    "Remember, this will be a sneak and peek mission!" Tyrier reminded his team again. "We are only to go in and assert the situation!"


    "Alright, get some rest for now," Tyrier said as he made his way forward to the flight cabin. "It''s going to be a long ride."

 Chapter 642: Observation

    Chapter 642: Observation


    The skies had turned dark when ymore One and Two of the Hundred and First Arcane Tactics and Intervention were dropped off. The transport helicopter and its two escorts disappeared rapidly into the darkness as the two special force teams prepped their equipment for their mission.


    Earlier in the day, the transport helicopter and its escorts had infiltrated into the airspace of the Protectorate. High above them, a FB - 1S Mariner, running AWACS, guided them as they prated over a thousand kilometres into the maind.


    The flight was rtively uneventful as they barely even encountered any airships. Thends below them were mostly shrunds with the asional region of savanna surrounding rivers or bodies of water. With active avoidance of any popted centres, which were sparse and spread far apart, the small group of helicopters managed to evade any notice.


    The transport helicopter having finally reached the limits of its fuel had dropped off its cargo. The two teams of special forces operatives divided up the small pile of supplies between themselves. Two ASAGs, each assigned to one team, carried the bulk of the supplies.


    Casting strengthening and stamina spells on themselves, the two teams started off across the dark drnd with the help of dark vision spells, as they saved on the batteries of their night vision goggles, to be used only duringbat.


    The first night, they made forty kilometres over the rtively bumpynd. When the sun rose up, they saw and filled with shrubs and sad lonely looking trees that dotted thendscape sparsely. A break was called and the soldiers took a break under the shade of a rocky outcrop. The soldiers rested, fed and relieved themselves for an hour before they continued their journey.


    At first, there was banter between the soldiers as they march across the barrennds, but after a while, conversations died off as the silence of their surroundings crept up to them. They barely spotted any animals and only the asional feather wyvern circling high in the air.


    After two days of marching. they came upon some ruins. As the senior most operative andmander of the mission, Tyrier ordered both teams to halt and set up camp within the ruins of a vige. The soldiers swept through the ruins, ensuring it was safe from threats before they settled down. Most of the crumbling mud structures had been worn down by ages and none of the dozen or so structures had any roofs left.


    Firewood had to be chopped from a nearby petrified tree and carried back, as the wood in the ruins had mostly rotted away in the weather. There was even a broken well still functioning provided a source of water for them. A small fire was soon made under the cover of the mostplete ruin and for once, the soldiers had some warm food for the night.


    "Hey boss," Hitsu called out as he spotted Tyrier walking past their small campfire. "Something hot to drink?"


    Tyrier epted the warm mug filled with sweet tea. He took a sip of the beverage and sighed as it warmed his body from the inside. "How is everything?"


    "Doing fine," Wolf replied from his spot. He had his weapon stripped and was cleaning it meticulously. The rest mumbled out their responses too as well before Tyrier left them to their rest.


    After checking in with ymore Two''s operatives posted around the ruins, Tyrier returned to his men and sat down before the campfire and warmed himself from the cold night. He looked at his men who had all snuggled up asleep in their coats before he too wrapped a coat around himself and closed his eyes to catch some sleep before his turn on guard duty.


    The following days were monotonous, with the same one tone colouredndscape of shrubs and single trees. They passed by many dried out ruins of viges and camped in them during the night. Radio reports were exchanged with a surveince aircraft that hung high in the skies for every few hours each day before they returned to refuel.


    Finally, on the fifth day, the lead man suddenly raised his fist up and everyone stopped in their tracks and crouched down, their weapons up and scanning their sectors. Even the two ASAG squatted down, folding their legs outwards, to reduce their profile.


    Tyrier and ymore Two''s team leader crept forward next to the pointman who had crouched behind arge shrub. Both of them silently observed the direction pointed by the scout and spotted a crude fence surrounding arge patch of farnd. Clusters of dusty looking buildings could be seen on the far side of the farm with a single huge structure standing out.


    "That must be their supervisional church," ymore Two''s team leadermented in a low voice. Tyrier gave a grunt of an acknowledgement as he swept the farm with his field sses, bringing the tiny dots in the distance to finger sized figures in his vision.


    "There''s a lot of workers down there..." He said as he observed the farm. "There are guards overwatching them too."


    He turned around and made a couple of hand gestures to the rest, who fanned out and crept forward, taking positions behind cover and concealment. Tyrier pointed to a small row of hills in the North and said, "Take your team and set up over there while my team will take that ridge on South East side and observe."


    The two team leaders started discussing their mission objectives and divided the farm into four zones from A to D. Zone A, facing North West, consisted of the farnd and a handful of buildings that appeared to be dwellings for the guards. Zone B, facing North East, consisted of the church and several structures that were built with higher quality materials and aesthetics. It was highly agreed that those buildings were mostly for the higher ranked and priest. There was even arge t area that was suspected to be anding pad for airships.


    Zone C, facing South East, covered the vige where all the workers lived. Dozens and dozens of rundown buildings were cramped together in a disorderly manner. It appeared that the houses had been built and rebuilt over the years from scavaged parts and wood scraps. Zone D, facing South West, simrly like Zone A, covered the other half of the farnds, including severalrge barn like structures, most likely to be storage and warehouses.


    Surrounding the entire farnd, was a simple crude wooden fence and two dirt roads leading out of the farm from the North and East part. As it was still midday, figures could be seen working on rows of thorny bushes while others were transporting buckets of water from somewhere.


    Both teams separated as they headed closer to the farm for their mission. Tyrier led his people towards an inclined area that was a couple of meters high and just over four hundred meters away from the farm''s perimeter fence.


    Breaking out their entrenching tools, the small team started digging into the hard ground and by nightfall, they had dug a couple of fighting positions out and covered their positions with camoting and decorated with shrubs to further conceal their positions.


    A couple ofrge telescoped cameras and binocrs were set up as the ymore One members set up their observation equipment. The ASAG supporting them seemed d that it was no longer carrying any cargo on its back, dug a small pit like some sort of crab with its legs and settled down, humming happily as it went into standby mode.


    Once everything was in ce, Tyrier organised a rotation of duties and the first group made themselvesfortable as they used the observation equipment to scan Zones C and D while ymore Two were responsible for Zones A and B.


    Taking the first watch, Hitsu and Altied sat down before the observation equipment and powered up the portableputer and tablet. Keying in a fewmands into the tablet, the cameras whined as the program overtook and soon, theputer started humming as the facial recognition program started running in full power.


    -----


    The Old World, The Iron Kingdom, Protectorate Grand Inquisition Fleet, gship Ramuh''s Judgement


    Chief Inquisitor Nerssia stared hungrily at the image of a floating ind flickering on the viewing crystals. The Inquisition Judges had divined thest piece of the Seven Artifacts was onboard the floating ind at great cost with a third of the Judges dying from mana burn just for this bit of information.


    "Inquisitor!" An aide dressed in a long crimson red jacket saluted. "The Fleets have formed up and are awaiting yourmand!"


    Chief Inquisitor Nerssia seemed to not have heard the words of the aide as she continued to stare at the magical projection of the floating ind. The aide kept his head lowered as he waited patiently for one of the highest authorities in the whole Protectorate to respond.


    Finally, with a yful smile underneath her white inquisitor mask, she pointed at the image of the floating ind and said, "Go! That floating ind must be captured at all cost! For Justice!"


    "For Justice!" The aide saluted again and hurried off. Soon a slight shudder could be felt on the decks as powerful aerial screws were engaged. The massive gship Ramuh''s Judgement shaped like an arrowhead surrounded by hundreds of cruisers and battleships slowly edged forward, its size four times asrge as thergest battleships of the Protectorate.


    She half heartedly listened to the reports streaming in from her aides and officers as the entire Protectorate fleet advanced like an unstoppable wave. Despite the losses suffered by the Protectorate in the past few days due to the appearance of the Iron Kingdom''s floating ind and reinforcements, she was not bothered by it at all.


    For those that died, died for Justice! Their sins will be cleansed by the sacrifices they made for Justice and Order. They will be awarded the deserving Judgement by Ramuh himself when they ascend to his Holy Kingdom of Law and Order.


    And the ships that were sacrificed were all ageing ships which losses are negligible to the overall strength of the Protectorate. Arranged around the gship Ramuh''s Judgement, one can see that the total fighting strength of the Protectorate has not diminished much were the thoughts of Chief Inquisitor Nerssia.


    She thought of the foolish Judgement Day nned by the members of the Grand Jury and wondered how did they ever think to achieve such an undertaking. Using numbers to overwhelm the entire Old World and enforce Judgement on all thewless? Those self centered old idiots kept looking down and underestimating the resolve and strength of the other Old World nations and kingdoms to such a point that even thinking that Protectorate''s military strength was the strongest in the entire Old World!


    Still, with their unrealistic n of unleashing Judgement Day upon the Old World, she managed to get her only chance to grab thest Artifact of the Gods! Once with all Seven in her hands, she can bring Ramuh back to this ne and the whole world will truly be Judged!


    "Inquisitor! We are almost upon thewless ships!" A report snapped her out of her thoughts. She walked across the carpeted floors of the bridge and stood right at the ceiling to floor windows to personally observe the enemy. Already, she could spot the white puffs of steam cannons discharging their loads in her direction.


    "All ships... Full steam ahead!" Chief Inquisitor Nerssia snapped. "Bring our steam cannons to bear!"


    Bright rainbow shes erupted all around the windows as projectiles from the Iron Kingdom fleet smashed against the magical barriers of the Protectorate ships. The Protectorate ships charged forward while they endured the heavy fire from the Iron Kingdom as they closed the distance to their own steam cannon range.


    The magical barriers shimmered and shed non stop as if it was an umbre blocking the rain. Finally, the report of the fleet was in position rang out and hidden under her mask, a bloodthirsty expression formed on her face. "Show those heretics the way to Judgement! Destroy them all! FOR JUSTICE!"


    "FOR JUSTICE!!!"

 Chapter 643: War of the Old World

    Chapter 643: War of the Old World


    A massive ball of energy lit up the skies and the resulting explosion epassed over a dozen of airships. When the eye shearing light vanished, those airships had vanished and those caught at the edges spun out of control. The magical barriers of Ramuh''s Judgement shimmered colourfully as it resisted the attack of the Level 10 spell.


    It was the third casting of the ball lightning spell by the Iron Kingdom. The Protectorate had spaced its fleet out both vertically and horizontally which managed to reduce their losses to the Iron Kingdom''s powerful spell. Yet, despite the losses in hulls and lives, the Protectorate ships continued advancing steadily without wavering, the crews singing holy hymns as they manned their stations.


    "Encircle them from the top," Chief Inquisitor Nerissamanded without any emotion in her voice, despite the gship having taken a near miss hit from the level 10 spell. Almost instantly, a quarter of the magical barrier of the gship was drained as the outer edges of the ball lightning brushed against the magical barrier.


    "Keep shooting the steam cannons," She added as she continued to stare out of the crystal windows. The officers saluted and ordered the fervent crew to their duties. A chorus of hymns could be heard in the background as a small choir sang motivational hymns to the crew while a couple of priests performed blessings and recited verses from the bibles in their hands, the cloy of holy incense covering the sweat, blood and smoke.


    A portion of the Protectorate fleet detached itself from the main group and their altitude rose. Ships in the rear reced the emptied space in the formation and added their weight of fire against the Iron Kingdom forces ahead. In response, Iron Kingdom ships rose up as well to counter the new threat and exchanges of steam cannonry raged on.


    -----


    The Iron Kingdom, The Iron Fortress


    The frown on the Iron King''s face deepened as he watched the ongoing battle with the Protectorate. Despite inflicting high losses to the Protectorate forces, they had yet to break and their number of ships still far exceed his forces. The casting of the Level 10 Ball Lightning spell had taken a huge toll on the Iron Mages, which forced the mages to deplete their already low mana reserves, forever crippling and dropping their levels.


    "Who is inmand of the Protectorate?" He called out to his advisors andmanders. He wanted to know his opponent so that he coulde out with ns to counterattack.


    A short momentter, a Sky General came forward and saluted before he reported, "Your Majesty, our spies report that the enemymander should be the Chief Inquisitor of the Church of the Protectorate, Nerissa Red."


    "Her true age unknown, but estimated to be of thirty nine summers. She was an orphan taken in as a baby by the Church and groomed by the Inquisition," The Sky General read off a scroll. "Known to be highly intelligent and relentless in her pursuit of the teachings of Ramuh the Judge."


    "Nine years ago, she rose up in prominence in the Massacre of Lochfield which ended in the defeat of the Dragon Lords and was promoted to the position of Grand Inquisitor," The report went on. The Massacre of Lochfield between the Protectorate and the Dragon Lords was the worse disaster for the Dragons for over a century. The battle took ce in an isthmus, a strip ofnd between the ocean and argeke, which connects the Protectorate maind and the frozen wastes of the Dragon Lords.


    The Protectorate imed that Lochfield was their territory for centuries and border skirmishes wasmon. But the skirmishes never escted beyond a few hundred casualties per side. It was Nerissa Red, who was newly assigned to that region, had escted the fight, iming that the people willing to be ves to the Dragons were a sphemy to Ramuh.


    Using her status as an Inquisitor, she dered Holy War and tookmand of the Protectorate forces stationed at Lochfield and managed to break through the defenses of the Dragon Lords. Thousands of Protectorate soldiers were killed, yet she stubbornly pushed on and whipped her troops to a frenzy.


    Finally, when the small border city of Lochfield fell, thirteen thousand soldiers, twelve thousand civilians and two dragons were captured. Of that number, twenty thousand soldiers and civilians were executed, including the two dragons, under her order for heresy. The heads of the two dragons, including five thousand children that were deemed reformable, were brought back to the Protectorate''s capital and paraded through the streets. The deeds that day brought the enmity of the Dragon Lords and gained her recognition within the Inquisition.


    "What we know of her tactics is that she favours pure strength," The Sky General gave his analysis. "She normally employs simple but effective fighting tactics, should as wave tactics to crush her opponent with overwhelming numbers and sheer will."


    The Iron King gestured out the crystal windows and said, "So, she is nning for a simple straight attack with numbers?"


    The Sky General nodded before he added, "Her forces under her are known to be highly devoted to her cause, unafraid of death and would die on her word."


    Hearing that, the Iron King''s face darkened. "Order the fleet to extend our distance between the enemy! Do not let theme close!"


    "Yes, your majesty!" The Sky General bowed and rushed off to pass down the orders.


    The Iron King let out a sigh before he turned to his two sons standing beside his throne. "Najja, you will take a ship and depart to the Free City of Ender immediately!"


    "You are to call for the Assembly of the Seven Great Nations and gather allies to our cause!" The Iron Kingmanded. Prince Najja, who lost the title of Crown Prince, could only give a sullen bow before he stormed off wordlessly.


    The Iron King shook his head at the departure of his second son before he said to Crown Prince Herod. "You shall depart immediately back to the Iron Pce! I shall pass you the Iron Seal!"


    "The Iron Seal?" Crown Prince Herod was shocked. "But the Iron Seal could only be held by the King!"


    "You are the King now!" His father shoved a silver grey object into his hands. "Take it and go! The future of the Kingdom is in your hands now! Be a wise king for your people!"


    "But Father! The battle is not lost yet!" Crown Prince Herod protested. "A- And you have fully recovered!"


    "No, the battle is not lost yet but I am not a seer! I can''t predict the future!" The Iron King sighed. "Leave now! I will still step down from the Iron Throne sooner orter and you shall secede the Throne. It''s just a matter of when."


    "The Iron Throne cannot be left empty for long," The Iron King said. "My illness has left the Kingdom''s affairs in a mess and for that, I am sorry my son! You must make things right again!"


    "Leave now!" The Iron King raised a hand to forestall any words from his son. "I need to concentrate on the battle here and your presence is disturbing me!"


    "Your highness, please?" An old aide of the Iron King politely pulled the Crown Prince away. "His majesty needs to focus on the battle."


    Crown Prince Herod was escorted out of the control cathedral with his mind in a mess. He looked down at the Iron Seal which bored the royal crest of the royal family. With the Seal in his hand, all matters both civil and military would be his to control. He cast ast look at the doors of the cathedral before he gave a salute and headed off to the hangar caverns.


    -----


    The Old World, Border between the Protectorate and the Cartel


    Horns red across the Border Straits, the mournful moan echoing down the mountain range. Battle cries and explosions joined the cacophony of echoes as the dwaravans of the Cartels and their allies faced off a massive fleet of crimson red ships that appeared right at the border.


    "The Protectorate scum are here!" The defenders cried out as the forts were roused. Steam cannons were pushed out of their protective shelters and boilers heated. Hundreds of short dwaravans worked the cranks and pedal generators of the lightning towers, causing lightning to arc and crackle across the orb shaped throwers.


    Across the border mountain range, explosions threw up clouts of snow and rock while arcs of lightning snaked across the air and impacted the crimson airships of the Protectorate causing magical barriers to shimmer beautifully and pop loudly when overloaded. In return, the steam cannons of the Protectorate rained projectiles down, smashing cannon barrels and lightning towers, and causing many dwaravans to be buried under tons of rock and snow.


    Dozens and dozens of dwaravan drill nose airship were dispatched from the mountain hangars of Green Mountain to support the standby fleets stationed along the border. The Cartel had bolstered up their defenses when word of the invasion of the Iron Kingdom spread, but they did not expect that the Protectorate has so much strength hidden that they could afford another war front!


    As Cartel Mountain Lords and Grand Lords were notified and discussing the situation against the Protectorate, another shocking news arrived. The peace between the Tri State and the Cartel was broken by an invading Tri State force!


    The news of the Tri State sudden attack along the eastern borders of the Tri State shocked the entire Cartel and the relief forces were immediately dispatched to counter the attackers. It was just at this moment, a small floti of several Cartel airships dispatched to investigate the missing airship of the 281st Cartel Air Fleet, the Bronze Picker, turned back from their original mission when the local city the ships were currently being resupplied at, was informed of the attacks.


    The floti was actually just a day''s journey away from thest known location of the Bronze Picker which had been destroyed by the UN, almost a month ago. And just two days journey away from the UN forward base at Waterfall Cove. The crew grumbled about the change of orders and the scums that attacked the Cartel, unknowingly escaped death for the time being.


    -----


    The Old World, The Free City of Ender, Ivory Pce


    Soft music was yed behind several beautifully crafted screens and thin muslin drapes. Lord Lei of the Suugon Dynasty had his eyes closed and was enjoying the music with wine. He sat in his flowly grey robes on a cushion and sipped wine from a small jade cup.


    A loud snap and crunch of bones broke the ambience as a fat green dragonying on the opposite side of Lord Lei, bit into a chunk of roasted ribs. Dragon Lord Alder spat out a piece of rib bone and grinned at the expression on Lord Lei''s face.


    Lord Lei let out a sigh and ced his jade cup down carefully. His brows narrowed as he watched the way the fat green dragon feast on the ribs and he lost all interest in the wine and music. A servant came rushing in and kneed down next to him and offered up a scroll. Lord Lei smiled as he read the scroll, his earlier foul mood gone.


    "Lord Alder!" Lord Leiughed out loud as he stood up and refilled his wine. "The Protectorate and Tri State have attacked the Cartel as well! The Old World is in chaos now!"


    "The Tri State?" Dragon Lord Alder was surprised by the news that he had forgotten to chew. He just swallowed the meat and bones together before he looked to the side where his own attendants came rushing over and whispered into his ears. Dragon Lord Alder sat up, his food forgotten as he roared, "Are the Protectorate and the Tri State in an alliance?"


    "Are they trying to start an all out war in the Old World?"

 Chapter 644: It Is Time!

    Chapter 644: It Is Time!


    As word spread across the Old World about the possible alliance between the Tri State and the Protectorate of Ramuh, the Iron King of the Iron Kingdom listened to thetest report about their dwindling stores of magical crystals left onboard the Iron Fortress. The mage tower where the ball lightning spell had fallen silent hours before as they could not keep up with the demands needed.


    The ball lightning spell tower had burnt through enough magic crystals to bankrupt the Iron Kingdom twice over in just a day and thankfully, the huge stores of magic crystals stored onboard the flying ind all came from the New World, or the Iron Kingdom would really be facing a magical energy crisis despite the majority of their industry had been converted to steam power.


    "Reserve the rest of the magical crystals for the magic barrier and arcane cannons," The Iron King ordered as he turned his gaze upon the viewing crystals. The crystal showed a blurry view of the Protectorate fleet as they continued their mindless chase after the Iron Kingdom forces. He nodded to himself and with a grim smile, said, "Now is the time!"


    Over the course of the day, the Iron Kingdom''s airships had fought a running battle with the Protectorate, using great use of their range and uracy advantage against the enemy. And with home ground advantage, the military airships could even rotate out with the dozens and dozens of militia merchant ships for resupply as the entire Kingdom responded to the invasion.


    On the other hand, the longer the battle dragged on for the Protectorate forces and the deeper they entered the Iron Kingdom, their supplies lines became overstretched and with each steam cannon fired and each coal burnt, it depleted the Protectorate''s supplies. The Iron King having the knowledge that the Chief Inquisitormanding the war, was a stubborn and die hard fanatic of Ramuh, which meant she would not stop in her holy duty to Ramuh even at the expense of her followers'' lives. And after leading her deep into the skies of the Iron Kingdom, even if she wanted to retreat, it was far toote for her to do so!


    The Iron King stood up from his throne and unlike the weak and il bedridden old man he was just a few days ago, walked forward with firm steps and stood at the dais with a proud bearing. He looked down at his subjects hard at work, seated behind rows and rows of arcane controls that piloted the flying ind and shouted, "My soldiers! It is time! We have suffered long enough for all the atrocities caused by the Protectorate and their God!"


    "Our people have died and bled from their actions which they justified asw and order..." The Iron King''s words resonated throughout the Iron Fleets by the use of expensive magic. Every soldier and crew paused temporarily in their duties as they listened to the words of their King. "Now it is time for us to take part ournds, our blood debts, our pride and our freedom from the deranged followers of the Protectorate! IRON FOR IRON!"


    "IRON FOR IRON!" The soldiers and crew members roared out after their King in tion. "IRON FOR IRON!"


    "All ships are to stop falling back!" The Iron King ordered his Sky Generals andmanders. "The enemy supplies should be low on fuel and water! We shall start our counter attack!"


    "Yes, your majesty!" The Sky Generals andmanders saluted and soon, themand cathedral of the flying fortress turned busy, asmands were ryed out by both magic and physical methods.


    The Iron Kingdom''s airships slowly halt their fighting retreat and started to rearrange themselves into a fighting formation. The Iron Kingdom forces had been reinforced by forces of the local lords, adventurers with their private armed vessels, militia airships and even armed merchants which boosted the fighting numbers of the Iron Kingdom.


    On the Protectorate side, their numbers had dwindled caused by 8 level 10 ball lightning spells and the brief exchanges of steam fire when both sides offered battle. Heavily damaged Protectorate ships were left abandoned on the ground as the Protectorate mindlessly rushed the Iron Kingdom''s forces. But with their heavier hulls, the Protectorate were unable to close in enough to force a battle, as the faster and lighter airships of the Iron Kingdom, seemingly danced out of the way each time.


    Now, seeing their enemies suddenly slowing down and forming a battle square, the once orderly lines of the Protectorate fleet slowly dissolved as each individual ship rushed forward at their maximum speed, breaking their formation as the crew sought to vent their pent up frustrations on the heretics of the Iron Kingdom.


    -----


    Protectorate Grand Inquisition Fleet, gship Ramuh''s Judgement


    Chief Inquisitor Nerssia''s expression under her featureless white mask remained still as she watched the ships under hermand break formation. Instead of feeling anger at the loss of discipline, she in fact felt proud of her soldiers'' eagerness to punish thewless heretics.


    Seeing thewless heretics had finally given up running and were turning to offer battle, she felt a rush of anticipation to the fight. Already over a third of her fleet had been destroyed by the heretics'' magic but that did not weaken their morale, for it only made their resolve firmer to bring thewless heretics to be judged by Ramuh for their sphemy of magic!


    She waved away the concerns of hermanders about their supply issues as her focus was on gaining thest of the Seven at all cost. Strolling to the front of the bridge, she gestured for her people to broadcast her voice throughout the fleet with magic.


    "My devoted brothers and sisters of Ramuh!" She spoke into a piece of yellow crystal that magically transmitted her voice to the other ships. "We have endured much toe this far in our crusade to bringw and order to the world!"


    "Many of our brothers and sisters have long departed to the Halls of Judgement... To be judged of their sins and their worthiness... By Ramuh himself!" She orated to the fleet. "Those deemed worthy would be able to stand side by Ramuh and raised to be Angels of Order!"


    Hearing her words, the soldiers and crew members of the Protectorate fleet cheered as their lifelong desire was to serve Ramuh as an angel. With their mortal shells discarded, the worthy would be Angels while thewless and sinners will suffer eternal torture to strip away all their immorality before they could be absolved of their sins and be reborn again, gaining another chance to prove their worthiness and ascend as Angels.


    Chief Inquisitor Nerssia pointed right at the ships of the Iron Kingdom and said, "It is time to prove to Ramuh himself with your resolve and piety! For His enemies stand right before you! FOR JUDGEMENT!"


    "FOR JUDGEMENT!"


    -----


    The disorderly lines of the Protectorate forces suddenly surge fore without any tactical sense. Like a dam breaking, the crimson red ships charged as fast as their aerial screws and fuel allowed, straight at the Iron Kingdom''s ships in the midst of forming into a fighting screen.


    Steam fire erupted from the Iron Kingdom''s ships in ragged volleys, the projectiles hammering away the Protectorate''s ships defences. Yet the Protectorate ships threw themselves into the fray without regard for their lives. Ship after ship fell off the skies as they were pounded to scrap, their propulsion systems destroyed, but the Protectorate crew still alive onboard the dying airships sang hymns and recited prayers until the crippled airships smashed onto the ground and snuffed their lives out.


    With the sacrifice made by the charging Protectorate airships that soaked up most of the steam fire, it allowed the other airships following behind toe into range of their heavier steam cannons. Those airships survived long enough to release their steam fire back in vengeance for their lost brethren and the dying began on the Iron Kingdom lines.


    -----


    The Iron Kingdom, The Iron Fortress


    "T- They have all gone crazy!" An Iron Kingdom Sky General hissed out with shock as themand staff watched the ongoing battle, seeing the mindless way the Protectorate ships threw themselves into the steam fire of their ships. "It must be theirst desperate attack!"


    "Y- Your Majesty! H- Heavy cruiser Iron Hammer... Is lost!" A young soldier cried out from his station as he read out the report. "I- It was rammed!"


    All eyes turned towards the young soldier''s direction and the sudden attention made the soldier nervous. "W- We are getting reports of ships getting rammed!"


    The report made themand staff and the Iron King uneasy about the suicidal tactics being utilized by the enemy. The Iron King turned to his advisors andmanders and asked, "Is the Chief Inquisitor known for such methods?"


    "Suicidal ramming tactics?" The Sky Generals looked at each other before they shook their head. "We have no such records of such tactics used by her..."


    "Y- Your Majesty!" A cry of rm came from themand cathedral lookouts. "Enemy ships heading straight for us!"


    "Evad- No!" The Iron King quickly replied back. "All steam cannons and arcane cannons to destroy those ships! Magical barriers to be overcharged!"


    "Yes Your Majesty!" The crew responded and soon the light hazy bubble of the magical barrier surrounding the flying ind became more distinguishable as if the air had thickened. Stubby barrels rotated and prism towers crackled with magical energies before discharging spells at the fast approaching Protectorate warships.


    Airships escorting the Iron Fortress immediately manoeuvre into blocking positions and added their own weight of steam fire at the fanatic airships attempting to ram the flying ind. The die hard fanatic airships ignored the punishing steam fire and spells as they charge straight at the flying ind. In the end, all but two of the Protectorate airships managed to break through the barrage and their crippled hulls mmed right against the strengthened magical barrier of the flying ind.


    The magical barrier blended slightly at the impact points before the barrier reformed back to its original bubble shape as the two crippled hulls with knocked away to the side, their mass and speed too little to cost much strain to the magical barrier.


    But the actions of the suicidal airships of the Protectorate made the Iron Kingdomites fearful, for facing an enemy without the fear of death and with the intention to die together was something one could not stand up against, no matter how brave one was.


    The captains of the Iron Kingdom''s ships started to waver, causingmand decisions to be second guessed. It quickly showed in the formation and the coordination of the airships, making the Iron King curse under his breath. But before he could rally his people, the cathedral spotters cried out again, this time, the panic was evident in their voices.


    "Y- Your Majesty! T- They are all trying to ram us!" The report sent shivers of fear down the spines of everyone in the cathedral. The Iron King stood up from his throne and rushed forward towards the crystal windows to see with his own eyes. "They have all gone mad!"


    And the scene before him made his eyes widen in shock as he saw wave after wave of Protectorate ships ignoring damages was just ploughing through the screen of Iron Kingdom airships. Many of the Iron Kingdom airships had gone into evasion actions and opened up holes in the formation, allowing more and more Protectorate airships to slip through, causing confusion and panic in the second screen of airships.


    But what made him sweat was the huge dart shaped crimson red airship trailing behind under the cover of the other airships. Like a released arrow, the gship of the Protectorate charged through the opening made by the sacrifices of their brethren, aiming straight for the flying ind!

 Chapter 645: Mud and Blood

    Chapter 645: Mud and Blood


    When two opposing magical forces collided against each other, they apply forces to each other of equal magnitude and opposite direction, just like Newton''s Third Law. The magical barriers of the Protectorate''s Inquisition gship and the flying ind of the Iron Kingdom ttened against each other as the full mass and eleration of the arrow shaped gship rammed right the cathedral of the flying ind.


    It became a battle of magic attrition as neither airship or the flying ind''s magical barrier was breached. Cartloads after cartloads of magic crystals were dumped into the magic barrier formation arrays where the magic was leeched off the crystals and once drained, they turned into useless pieces of stone and ash.


    The escorts of the Iron Kingdom immediately redirected their focus onto the Protectorate''s gship. Steam fire rained down from the airships as they sought to destroy the aggressor trying to attack their King. But such actions created an opening for the remaining ships of the Protectorate, allowing them to continue unhindered in their mad ramming attacks.


    In the end, the battle in the skies turned into a sorts of mutual destruction, as Protectorate airships continued their ramming attacks while the Iron Kingdom ships attempted to evade and at the same time protect their king who was onboard the flying ind. But to the dismay of the Iron Kingdom, the magic barriers of both the Protectorate gship and flying ind suddenly burst at the same time by announcing to the world with a shattering of tiny light motes of a variety of rainbow hues.


    No longer hindered by a magical barrier, the gship Ramuh''s Judgement finally was able to move again. It picked up speed slowly, slow enough for most ships to evade its projected course, but the flying ind of the Iron Kingdom was not most ships. Its mass and size was far too great to move out of the way of slowly elerating Protectorate airship.


    Just over a third of the size of the flying ind, the gship Ramuh''s Judgement''s pointy nose crunched against the stone walls of the cathedral fortress in the center of the flying ind, crushing stone, wood, metal and bodies. The grinding noise of stone and metal seemed to be extraordinarily loud in the battle skies and the entire flying ind shook and tilted sideways slightly by the mass and push of the Protectorate airship.


    The airship finally came to an halt with a quarter of its arrow shaped nose buried under the rubble of the cathedral fortress walls. The Protectorate pilot had attempted to ram the central towers of the cathedral but missed as the flying ind barely managed to shift away, causing the airship to ram the outer perimeter walls instead.


    Hatches mmed open and hundreds and hundreds of crimson coated soldiers leaped out. Purifying mes washed over the ruins where the wounded and dying of the Iron Kingdom soldiers wereid and buried. Immtors carrying pressure tanks of holy fire strolled forward in rows, their mences cleansing the way for the Pdins marching behind. Hymms of Ramuh grew louder and louder as a choir dressed in resplendent robes of crimson and gold, followed behind the soldiers, their heavenly voices bolstering the faith of the soldiers.


    The shaken Iron Kingdom soldiers fell back in disorder until they were rallied by their officers. With the Protectorate forces pouring in from the breached walls, the rallied Iron Kingdom soldiers presented a defense line at the very doors of the cathedral. Steamnces hissed from both sides and both the shipboard steam cannons and the steam cannons inside the cathedral reaped hundreds of lives with each st.


    The battle in the skies was quickly forgotten as the soldiers of both sides were now solely focused on the battle for the cathedral where the main leaders of both sides were at. Screams and cries rang out from the courtyard as thousands of soldiers and crew fought desperately. The once manicuredwns soon turned brown from the churned soil where mud and blood had mixed.


    -----


    "Your Majesty! You need to leave at once!" A Sky General pleaded as he bowed before the Iron King. "The enemy has breached our defences and are headed this way!"


    The Iron King stood at the highest tower of the cathedral and looked out from the crystal window at the sh below. The arrow shaped gship of the Protectorate was like a dark stain against the once beautifully maintained gardens and buildings of the cathedral fortress, which had been gouged out by the crude destruction.


    "My sword and armour!" To the surprise of the Iron King''s retinue, the King demanded his armour and weapon instead. The Iron King red at his attendants with displeasure as he berated them. "Go fetch my equipment! We are the people of the Iron Kingdom! We have iron in our blood! Why should my people remain behind to fight while I the King run?"


    "The battle shall end right here!" The Iron King dered as his attendants reappeared with a set of ornate armour. It took a small army of attendants and armourers to have the Iron King fully decked out. The bulky armour encased the Iron King under a multitude of hoses and pressure tanks under the armour ting.


    Once encased in the armour, the King stood taller than his generals. He reached out and sped a great sword with one armoured fist. An attendant quickly attached a hose lined with chainmail into the pommel of the great sword that was linked to the pressure tank inside the armour. The Iron King held the sword up with both hands before triggering a lever causing the de of the great sword to split open from the fuller of the sword.


    Steam hissed out from the gap between the des and air shimmered from the heat given off. With another squeeze of the hilt, the des retracted back together and the Iron King gave the great sword an experimental swing, dispersing the heat from the sword. Once satisfied, the Iron King looked at his generals andmanders and gave them a knowing look before he strolled off towards the exit.


    His generals andmanders seeing their King heading for battle quickly donned their own armour and weapons. Their armour was less impressive than the King''s, but never the less, with dozens wearing heavy steam armour, it proved to be an intimidating sight.


    The appearance of the Iron King and the generals turned the tide in favour of the Iron Kingdom instantly. Near immune to the darts shot out from steamnces, the Iron King and his generals mmed into the front and crushed any Protectorate soldier in their way. With each swing of his greatsword, the air shimmered and steam sprayed out in an arc, scalding unprotected flesh and scorching nostrils and lungs with superheated air.


    Personal magical barriers were useless against steam and hot air. They were designed to deal against physical objects and magic but not steam. Hence with the fast development of steamworks, steam became the primary method for the Old World to deal with personal magic barriers.


    As the Iron King and his retinue pushed the Protectorate forces back, the Iron King''s lifeguards suddenly dashed forward and raised their tower shields up just in time to intercept a barrage of fist sized pellets. The region around the lifeguards and the Iron King was bracketed with smoke and churned mud.


    When the smoke dispersed, the surrounding soldiers saw the bloodied mangled bodies of two lifeguards crumpled behind shattered shields while the rest of the surviving lifeguards shred their broken shields. All around the group were bits and parts of unidentifiable meat and gore, the remains of any soldier unfortunate enough to be in the way. As for the Iron King, he stood unharmed behind the glow of a shimmering magic barrier.


    A Protectorate steam cannon had shot off a load of grapeshot directly at the Iron King, under the orders of the Chief Inquisitor, Nerssia. A crimson red War Jack with markings of the Inquisition lumbered forward and at the head area, was the exposed head of Nerssia. She red at the Iron King and pointed directly at him and spat, "Lawless heretic! Your judgement is here!"


    With that said, she ducked into the War Jack and helmet head closed up. The lumbering War Jack was twice the height of the Iron King even in his steam armour. It carried a tower shield on its left arm and dragged a chained spike wrecking ball on its right. Steam hissed out threateningly as the Inquisition War Jack stormed forward, causing the ground to tremble with each step.


    Iron Kingdom soldiers cried out in fear and terror as the war machine powered by steam swung its heavy wrecking ball. The wrecking ball swatted a bloody passage across its path, sending mud and blood flying. Steam cannons of the cathedral quickly swap out for anti war jack projectiles and the cannon crews worked quickly to aim their cannons at the walking disaster.


    The Iron King wanted to rush forward to attack the War Jack but his retinue quickly restrained him and dragged him back to safety just in time. A whoosh of superheated steam suddenly erupted out from the Inquisition War Jack and forced the surrounding soldiers to retreat further. At the same time, the steam created a screen, hiding the Inquisition War Jack from the sights of the cannon crews.


    The tide of the battle changed once more with the momentum of the Iron Kingdom forces halted. The choirs of the Protectorate sung once more with greater zeal and the Protectorate troops marched forward once more. With the steam cannons swapped out for anti war jack projectiles, the Protectorate forces were able to advance forward without much punishing steam fire.


    Seeing the current situation, it made the cannonmanders seething with helpless anger. Orders soon came down to swap half of the steam cannons out for anti infantry to support the defenders while the rest were to watch out for the enemy War Jack. The Iron King having been dragged into the safety of the cathedral cursed the gods angrily as they did not have the foresight to bring along War Jacks of their own onboard. In fact, no one would have expected the need for War Jacks in an airship battle and the fact that they had to fanatically scramble their forces for battle.


    Seeing the situation turning worse, the Iron King called out as he pointed right at the cloud of steam, "Order the steam cannons armed with anti jack projectiles to fire into that cloud!"


    Several heartbeatster, the tell tale hiss pop of steam cannons could be heard and dark streaks of armour piercing ripper bolts hissed into the cloud of steam. The Iron King pointed at the cloud of steam and roared, "Again!"


    "Again!" He called out after the second volley mmed through the steam cloud. "Again!"


    Finally after the fifth volley, did he stop hismands. Yet, the cloud of steam did not appear to be dissipating soon and the morale of the enemy was still high as they threw themselves against his soldiers. Just as he was about to order another volley just in case, a massive dark red figure burst out of the cloud of steam and charged straight towards the cathedral doors!


    The crimson painted Inquisition War Jack had a couple of splintered bolts struck on its tower shield and another broken bolt in its right shoulder armour ting. The War Jack smashed right through the bodies of both sides as if they were just tall grass, turning them into gory mush in the mud. The Inquisition War Jack mmed right against the half closed doors that were as tall as it was, sending the dozens of soldiers that were trying to shut the doors flying like wet broken dolls.


    The War Jack squeezed its way through the shattered doors and steam hissed out as a loud hollow sounding voice crackled out from its chest. "Herectic King! I havee to adjudicate you for all the sins you havemitted against Law and Order!"

 Chapter 646: Face Off

    Chapter 646: Face Off


    Eye shearing blue white lightning bolts arc across the hall and struck the hulking War Jack. Sparks sprayed out from the impact of the spells, leaving behind scorched marks from the armour ting. Valiant soldiers rammed dragonnces against the War Jack, but their efforts were for nought as they could barelye into reach to stab their weapons into the rampaging steam golem.


    "Do not fear death! For death is the only way for thy sins to be Judged!" The hollow voice of the Chief Inquisitor red out from the helmet head of the Inquisition War Jack. The War Jack was like a painter as Nerssia swept the spiked wrecking ball around which torn up the exquisite carpets and marble floor and sent gore flying everywhere, painting the walls with grotesqueness art.


    An Iron Kingdom general armed with a dragonnce in each hand, timed his charge just after the sweep of the spiked ball. With support spells cast by the few mages still standing, the general weaved his way through the soldiers and leapt over their heads. He dodged the returning backhand sweep of the spiked ball and rammed both dragonnces into the right leg just below the knee.


    The three and a half meter long spears with a yellow white spearhead crafted out of a dragon''s fang and enchanted with sharpness spells that were originally used to hunt dragons sank smoothly all the way into the wings. As the general was about the pull the dragonnces out, a massive fist came flying right at him.


    The general dodged backwards but was too slow to avoid the fist. A rainbow bubble surrounded the general as he was sent flying back and crashing into the rows of soldiers behind. Nerssia pulled the dragonnces out and snapped them like twigs. Steam hissed out from the ripped in the armour and some ck fluid oozed out as well.


    She stormed over angrily to the downed general and mmed the wrecking ball downwards continuously as she vented her anger, the force of the impacts popped the already weakened magic barrier and shattered the steam armour of the general, yet she did not as she continued pulverizing the body. "HERETIC. SCUM. DARE. TO. SOIL. ME?"


    Her crazed actions caused the Iron Kingdom soldiers to back away from her, as fear gripped their hearts. Already she had killed hundreds and many of those that died in her hands do not even have enough recognizable parts to even fill a bag. Even the Iron King felt a deep sense of foreboding as he stared at the War Jack.


    He took a deep breath, smelling the iron and sweat in the air as he held his great sword vertical to his body. He had a sudden feeling that his second lease of life was just for this very moment to face off against the Protectorate. Steeling his nerves, the Iron King strolled forward with his retinue alongside him. "For my sons and for the Iron Kingdom!"


    Seeing the Iron King approach, Chief Inquisitor Nerssiaughed as she turned to face him. "Have youe to beg for your sins to be judged, my patheticwless king?"


    "No! I havee to stop you!" The Iron King growled and without more words, he charged forward, his greatsword hissing as he activated the heat de.


    "FOOL!" Nerssia blocked the sword with her mangled shield and knocked the Iron King back with her sheer size and mass. She stormed forward and swung her il downwards at the Iron King with full force only to be blocked by a pair of ovepping shields of the Iron King''s lifeguards.


    With a mighty boom, both shields were bent beyond use and both lifeguards were knocked off their feet. Nerssia cursed as she drew back her chained spike wrecking ball when several of the Iron Kingdom generals suddenly nked her from behind. Metal moaned and steam hissed as dragonnces pierced the armour of the War Jack. Some of the spearheads missed vitals, while others sliced into pipes and clockwork.


    Instantly, Nerssia could feel her controls be sluggish. Yet that did not deter her attacks, as she whipped her il around her, creating a lethal zone around her. Those too slow to dodge were sent flying back, their magical barriers flickering wildly. She raised her shield arm and white steam burst out from two hoses in a mighty stream at the dodging enemy, "DIE YOU HERETICS! I SHALL CLEANSE YOU FILTH FOR JUDGEMENT!"


    The Iron King and his retinue in steam armour quickly mped down their helmets to protect themselves from the super heated gas, while themon soldiers without the benefit of the heavy armour could only fall back away from the steam. Instantly, the perimeter between the two sides was widened with the Inquisition War Jack doing a sort of dance alone in the middle of the cathedral hall surrounded by soldiers as it attempted to remove thences that jammed its clockwork gears in its back.


    "How long more before the steam cannon is moved here?" The Iron King asked softly as he was helped up. Despite recovering to the prime of his life from the witch''s magic, his body and bones still ached from the impact. He rotated his shoulders and raised his greatsword up again, ready to battle the mechanical monster that was thrice his height and size.


    "Your Majesty," One of the generals with blood on his lips replied. "They need at least another quarter of the sandss to get here!"


    The Iron King took a quick nce at the rear of the hall where he had quietly sent orders to move a steam cannon down from the nearest battlement to be set up and took another deep breath. "Then we shall buy as much time as we can!"


    "Launch the dragonnces from far! Quickly while that monster is still distracted!" He ordered as he stepped forward, his regal bearing not diminishing. The soldiers and generals in heavy steam armour quickly picked up the dragonnces and braced them over their shoulders. Pressure tanks in their armour drained rapidly as the steam was gathered into the arm. "LOOSE!"


    "HAA!" The soldiers cried out in unison as they flung the dragonnces out. Pressurized steam popped and hissed out from arm joints as they boosted thences into the air.


    Over a dozen dragonnces shed out and mmed into the Nerssia''s War Jack. Some dug deep into its armour and further caused damage to its systems, others were bounced off by its iling shield. "Again!"


    Nerssia finally gave up, the War Jack''s ape like arms was not designed to reach behind its back to pull people sized spears out. She sensed the danger of the dragonnces and knew if she failed to kill the Iron King right now, it could mean her defeat!


    She urged the suspended husk piloting the War Jack to charge forward. The former zealot turned zombie pilot, suspended inside a tank of soup of alchemical concoction groaned bubbly as it followed the orders. The War Jack stormed forward but was clearly slower as the toil of damages and leaking steam was starting to show.


    Shield walls formed bymon soldiers were once again proven to be ineffective and a waste of lives as gant soldiers attempted to stop the War Jack that was at least five times their size. Even shield walls formed by heavy steam armour were at best barely about to hold against the charge of a War Jack, the soft bodies of the soldiers were sent flying like broken dolls.


    Another volley of dragonnces shot out from behind the dying soldiers. The War Jack halted momentarily to raise both arms and shields to protect its vital parts before it continued forward, ignoring themon soldiers, all the while dragging the chained spike ball along the blood stained floor, leaving behind a line of grooves.


    "nk it!" The Iron King ordered as he stepped forward to face off against the War Jack again. His retinue spread out in a circle, carrying thest of the dragonnces. The Iron King leapt forward with his greatsword raised over his head and brought the de down with all his might. The War Jack would have stepped away if it was still in prime condition, but now it could only bring up its battered shield to block the strike.


    With a mighty ng, the attack was blocked. The War Jack threw a fist in response, only to be blocked by the shields of the Iron King''s lifeguards once more. Frustrated, Nerssia screamed at the pilot husk to destroy them all. Super heated gas burst out from the steam thrower underneath the fist and the steam washed over the two lifeguards.


    Doing their best to block the heat, both lifeguards were still forced backwards as their shields and armour were quickly overwhelmed by the direct heat. Finally unable to take the heat anymore, both lifeguards crumpled down screaming as they were slowly boiled alive in their armour. The Iron King cursed and mouthed a quick prayer for his loyal guards before he charged forward again, sweeping his greatsword in an arc and chopped through the armour ting housing the steam throwers in vengeance causing steam to rupture out uncontrobly.


    The others also took the sacrifice of the two lifeguards in good use as they once again nked the War Jack from all sides. They aimed at the leg joints of the War Jack and seed in dealing enough damage in the right knee to force the War Jack to kneel down heavily. Seeing victory at hand, the soldiers charged in, as they attempted to swarm the War Jack.


    The Iron King also charged in, his greatsword trailing heat pierced right into the mouth grills of the massive helmet head of the War Jack. As he drew his de out, ck fluid spurt out in gushes and his eyes suddenly widened in shock. He stared into the cold and triumphant eyes of the Chief Inquisitor Nerssia who had wielded a heatnce and the weapon was currently punched deep into his armour.


    He coughed out blood and copsed as Nerssia ripped her heatnce out with a shower of steam and blood. Nerssia ignored the shock that rippled through the Iron Kingdom soldiers who witnessed the fall of their King as she climbed out from a small hatch just below the helmet head of the dying War Jack.


    "Your time for Judgement is at hand, old man!" Nerssia dered as she stood over the Iron King. Seeing the Iron King no longer able to respond, she turned her attention away and looked around her surroundings with an unafraid smirk and shouted, "JUDGEMENT IS HERE!"


    "KILL HER!" The angry soldiers cried out as they swarmed forward. "Revenge for the King!"


    "What a disorderly mob!" Nerssia still unafraidmented as she climbed up back into the downed War Jack before she ordered the husk. "You! Hurry up and move!"


    The War Jack groaned and hissed as it limped its way towards the cathedral doors. The normal weapons of themon soldiers barely even left a dent on its armour, while the dragonnces used by the heavy infantry were depleted. The soldiers could only helpless watch the viiness who had killed their King made her way slowly away.


    "Clear the way!" Suddenly a shout came from the rear of the hall and the soldiers parted, revealing a snubby nose cannon that looked like a wine bottle. Pipes and hoses covered its rear were fussed over by a group of cannon crew while an anti armour projectile was already loaded into the muzzle. "Clear the way!"


    With a loud hiss pop and a great cloud of steam that scalded anyone too close, the projectile bolt shed across the two hundred meter hall and smashed through the side of the limping War Jack, gouging out a massive chunk of metal and fluids, sending the remains of the War Jack crashing into the side of the cathedral doors.


    "IRON FOR IRON!"

 Chapter 647: The Fallen

    Chapter 647: The Fallen


    "The Iron King is dead! Long live the Iron King!" Word spread fast through the Iron Kingdom soldiers and the sudden news sapped their final strength and morale. They turned around to look towards the cathedral numbly as Protectorate soldiers rushed forward, demanding the beaten soldiers toy down their arms.


    At the ruins of the cathedral doors, the wrecked Inquisition War Jack gave a final feeble jerk before steam burst out from its boiler. The chest hatch of the War Jack swung open and a shaking female dropped out onto the cracked floor, coughing madly as she stumbled to her feet. Seeing the armoured body of the Iron Kingying on the ground and surrounded by his people, Nerssia let out a victoriousugh as she stumbled forward.


    "Heretics! Hear me!" She roared out at the grieving soldiers. "Your false king has fallen! Renounce your heretical ways! Return to the Law and Order of Ramuh!"


    "Kill her!" An Iron Kingdom general ordered as he carried the body of the Iron King. "Do not let these fanatics defile the body of the Iron King!"


    The chain of emotions of the Iron Kingdom soldiers was visible on their faces as anguish and fear turned to anger and determination. The once disciplined soldiers turned into a mob as they rushed straight at the Chief Inquisitor who felt fear for the first time underneath her featureless mask. She gave a baleful re at her surroundings before she leapt down from the carcass of the downed War Jack and disappeared quickly from view.


    -----


    IK Iron Teeth


    For some reason, Prince Herod had an uneasiness to his chest as he could not keep himself still in his chair. The Iron Lords and officers assigned by his royal father to help him manage the kingdom was briefing him with many of the important workings of the Kingdom''s governance yet, Prince Herod could not concentrate at all in the meeting.


    As he half heartedly listen to a fat Iron Lord''s briefing about taxes and duties, he noticed the ne which held a keepsake pendant suddenly slipped off his neck andnded on the soft carpet with a soft thud. Seeing the frown on the Crown Prince''s face, the fat Iron Lord paused halfway in his sentence as he nervously wondered which words had offended the future Iron King.


    Prince Herod did not even notice the awkward silence that befallen the cabin. Instead, he bend down from his seat and picked up the pendant and stared at the silver chain that suddenly broke by itself. The sense of unease in his heart deepened and he flipped open the pendant. The inside of the pendant housed a tiny family painting of his royal father and mother when she was still alive.


    He closed the pendant carefully and felt a deep sorrow settled over his shoulders. Without another word, he gestured the waiting fat Iron Lord to continue and slipped the pendant into his chest pocket. Inside the pendant, the crack of the crystal cover of the family painting widened more.


    -----


    The Protectorate, Site Gamma


    "Damn... the Big Boss would be heartbroken if he saw the Princess now!" Hitsu sighed as he packed away theptop. "And his kid..."


    It had taken them roughly thirty hours to positively ID the Princess by using facial recognition software. At first both ymore One and Two teams were sceptical about results given by the non living device as the person in question looked totally different from what they know.


    Dressed and covered with rags to protect themselves against the sun during the day, they were only able to catch a glimpse of her face during the evening when the dwellers of the work camp gathered to collect their evening rations.


    Her long gorgeous glowing golden pink hair that was the envy of many women now looked like dirty straw and was cropped short and tucked under a sweat stained bandana. Her skin was no longer smooth and unblemished, was now sun beaten and rough, traced with lines of pain and worry. Her heart shaped face was now sunken in and her once full figure was now just skin and bones due to the limited rations and hard work.


    "Boss, can''t we just go in and sneak her and the kid out?" Hitsu asked. "We can do a quick grab and run and no one would know she is gone until morning!"


    "Our orders are to observe," Tyrier replied coldly. "The Old Ugly is still at least forty eight hours out! We will hold and observe for now... Unless something threatens her and the child''s safety!"


    "Erm, like now?" Wolf hissed as he was prone down in a concealed shell scrape. He adjusted his binos against the setting sun beforementing, "She seemed to have encountered some trouble!"


    -----


    The Protectorate, Work Camp Redemption


    Having been posted here after offending one of the Overseers in her previous work camp, Sherene''s health had deteriorated due to the harsher conditions here. She developed a persistent hacking cough, which the medical nanites originating from the UNM and injected by Dr. Sharon as a precaution and health measure, worked overtime to restore her health. But due to theck of nutrients and proteins, the medical nanites could only do so much.


    She tiredly joined the growing queue at the camp square where cauldrons filled with steaming soup and grains were served. By the time her turn came, the sun was already setting and it was getting dark. The Overseers here were too unbothered to waste good fuel or wood to light the square for the repenters here and the only source of light came from the dying coals of the cookfire.


    Taking both her and her child''s share of the evening rations which was just thin soup with a small handful of overboiled grains, she hurried back to her small hovel where she shared it with her son which was actually just a tiny squarish hut. But as she hurried down the row of ramshackle huts, she broke into a coughing fit and identally knocked into someone.


    The chipped bowls holding the thin soup sshed over the person and when Sherene recovered, she froze in fear as the person she had identally knocked and spilt soup over was a person wearing the crimson stole of the Church! And he was not just a normal Priest, but a Bishop of the Church of Ramuh from the gold trimmings on his crimson robes!


    Quickly, she dropped to her knees and touched her head to the dirt floor and begged for forgiveness. "Y- Your Holiness! T- This repenter is truly sorry for her sins of soiling your Holiness!"


    A kick from a Priest sent her flying back and she bit down the urge to moan in pain as she scrambled to kneel as fast as her weak body could and bowed with her head touching the ground again.


    "Stop!" The Bishop raised a hand up and the priest next to him paused in his action to kick her again. "My child, you are here to repent for your sins..."


    "Y- Yes! Your holiness!" Sherene quickly replied, her head still down. "This sinner is deeply sorry for her actions!"


    "Raise, my child," The Bishop smiled as the priests around him wiped his robes as clean as they could. "You have not sinned against me!"


    "T- Thank you, your holiness!" Sherene let out a soft sigh of relief.


    "But... you have sinned against Ramuh!" The Bishop''s smile widened as he stretched his hands out. "You shall be Judged and your... Sins cleansed!"


    Sherene''s eyes widened in fear and panic as she stared at the smiling face of the Bishop. "M- Mercy your holiness!"


    "Don''t worry child!" The Bishop had his robes removed by the priests to be cleaned. Dressed in a simple white tunic underneath he held his hand out and a priest ced a barbed whip on his hand. "A few dozenshes shall cleanse your soul of sins!"


    -----


    "Boss?" Wolf called out as he watched the scene from less than half a kilometre away. "What do we do?"


    "Loke, you got a clear shot?" Tyrier asked softly as he too watched the events unfolding with his binocrs.


    "Clear as water..." Loke replied with hisms as he wasid out in another concealed shell scrape, a suppressor M4 Magebreaker .50 calibre right snuggled tightly against his shoulders and his arms wrapped around it. "On your order."


    "ymore Two!" Tyrier radioed the other team. "Angel in danger! Starting intervention!"


    "ymore Two rogers!"


    "Loke! Take the shot!"


    -----


    The smiling Bishop raised the cruel whip high up and Sherene closed her eyes and reflexly curled and hugged herself and gritted her teeth for the anticipated pain. But all she heard was a wet p and some cold liquidnding on her back. She waited for a moment and yet there was nothing and she tensely cracked open her eyes to look.


    The first thing she saw was the body of the Bishopying before her. She stared confusingly at the Bishop, trying to understand what she was looking at, for the top part of the head of the Bishop was missing, leaving only the lower jaw with a swollen looking tongue dangling out. Blood had formed a puddle and seemed to be merging into the lengthening shadows cast by the setting sun.


    Finally, she took her eyes away from the morbid scene and stared at the three priests who were frozen and horrified. A head suddenly vanished from one of the frozen priests and Sherene blinked in a daze as the headless body squirted blood from the remains of its head as it was sent flying from its position.


    "AHHHHHHH!" One of the remaining priests screamed in terror and he turned to run, but something seemed to snatch him, throwing him across the street. What looked like an arm went flying off somewhere and the broken body tumbled down the street.


    His scream was like a cure and both thest priest and Sherene jolted to their senses and for a moment, their eyes met each other. The eyes of the priest were filled with terror while the eyes of Sherene were calm and knowing. Thest priest tripped on his feet as he scrambled to get away from Sherene, his eyes wide with terror. "W- WITC-!!!"


    Thest priest was spun away by the force of therge calibre round, his body rolling a couple of times before stopping, leaving behind a trail of glittering darkness. The scream of the priest earlier and roused some of the Overseers and repenters as they poked their heads out to see what was happening, but with the darkness creeping up, all they saw was a woman kneeling on the floor with four bodiesid out in various poses.


    Uncoiling their whips from their belts, a couple of Overseers bearing a lit oilmp came storming over. They stopped next to Sherene and growled, "What is going on he- AHH??"


    Under the dim glow of themp, the light was enough for them to notice the priests'' robes, blood and their headless bodies. Both burly elves swallowed nervously as they turned to stare at the kneeling woman who had remained unmoving all the time. "Y- You! W- Who killed them?"


    Sherene felt a sense of relief wash over her as a heavy burden seemed to vanish. Despite being appalled and nauseous by the sudden violent deaths before her, she had long had her mind and soul steeled by the tortures and countless deaths in the past year. Tears slowly trickled down from her face as hope was reignited in her heart.


    "He''s finally found me! Finally, he''s here!" She whispered to herself as she wiped the tears of relief and joy away. She turned and faced the two Overseers who stood there looking at her nervously and smiled as she answered them back, "Who killed them?"


    "You did... You the Protectorate... Has killed them all... For he is finally here!"

 Chapter 648: Emotional Trauma

    Chapter 648: Emotional Trauma


    Protectorate / Iron Kingdom Border


    Blue green camoed Marines d in battle armour patrolled the perimeter of the Old Ugly as teams of crewmembers worked pumps and hoses, refilling the water tanks of the airship. Others moved carts of chopped wood onboard via the side ramp and a bunch of goblins were fussing over an exposed innard of an engine. ke watched all these from the cooling sanctuary of the bridge viewports. Despite being nighttime, summer has arrived and the parties working out there were sweating in their work fatigues in the warm night air.


    "Sir?" He turned his attention away from the viewports and spotted Trism with an anxious expression on his face. "We are getting some information from Beholder One Two and... it is not good news..."


    ke''s face changed as Beholder was the general callsign for the surveince wing ship assigned over the special operations operatives as support andmunications. The V - 1 Vector wing ship serving as a ry was the sole means ofmunications between the 101st ATI on the ground and with Operational Command as they stillcked a satellitemunication ry system.


    "At an hour ago, ymore One of the 101st has engaged with the local Protectorate forces at Site Gamma," Trism reported. "The Princess has been located, but her situation was not good, hence the localmander of the 101st has broken cover and is now currently extracting her out."


    "Why now at all times?" ke hissed angrily. "How long more before weplete resupply?"


    "At least an hour more," Trism replied. "But Sir, even if we hurry off immediately at full speed, it would still take us at least 48 hours before we reach the AO."


    "What reinforcements do we have near Site Gamma?" ke asked as he slumped down on his chair, lines of worry visible under themplight.


    At the moment, we have two Vector wing ships en route for support," Trism said. "But if we start dropping troops into Protectorate territory... We might rattle the entire nest..."


    "Fuck them..." ke growled. "Send in everything we got!"


    "Get them out safe at all costs!"


    -----


    The Protectorate, Site Gamma


    "Clear!" The 101st operative Tavel hissed as he leaned around the corner of the ramshackle hut. Smells of unwashed bodies and shit wafted over but he ignored the smells as he covered thene. Thin green rays swept across his night vision as the other members of ymore One appeared behind him, their IRsers ying around, only visible to the night vision goggles donned by the UN special operations soldiers.


    "Move!" Tyrier ordered and half the section broke off, as they sprint across the rows of huts. For once, the uncaring attitude of the Protectorate helped the UN soldiers as there was not a singlemp or torch lighting the streets or even the huts. And under the draconic treatment andws of the Protectorate, none of the inhabitants dared venture out of their huts for fear of inciting punishment.


    This meant that the enemies were easy to identity, as only the Protectorate Overseers, soldiers and Priests would carry amp or torch to light their way. And with so few light sources, the rudimentary night vision goggles of the UN was a cheat that no one from the Old World knew about.


    Tyrier watched as a green white glow appeared from one end of the street and he aimed his green lines over and waited. Soon, shadowy figures highlighted by a flickery glow ofmps and torches appeared in his sight. He waited for a moment, allowing the party of Protectorate soldiers and priests to walk into the middle of the open street before he hissed out, "Engage!"


    Almost instantly, Tavel next to him squeezed the trigger of their suppressed magelocks. The gunshots sounded like soft ps in the warm quiet night. Spent cartridges clinked softly together as they fell into a cloth collector attached to the side of the rifle, which further reduced any traces of their presence there.


    Bodies flopped down and Tyrier patted the armoured shoulder of Tavel and together, they walked down the street at the ready. The rest followed each one covering a different sector. Tyrier put a round into the head of each body and had the torches andmps extinguished before they continued on. Reaching the end of the street, he paused and triggered hisms, "Beholder One Two, this is ymore One, where is Angel?"


    "ymore One, Beholder, Angel is just a hundred steps North of your position," The voice in the sky replied. "Angel is still in the same position, not moving."


    "Roger," Tyrier replied. "ymore Two, what''s your sitrep?"


    "Two Lead, lots of tangoes gathering at the square, over." The other team leader on the other side of the camp replied. "Waiting for HVTs."


    "Roger, out,'' Tyrier gestured for the rest to continue on. He knew ymore Two was nning to take out all the Protectorate leaders or High Value Targets to cripple the localmand structure. The intel they had on the Protectorate was that they had a very strict hierarchy that relies greatly on leaders to lead. Having indoctrinated in such a manner, themon soldiers would be headless once their leaders were dead.


    "ymore One, this is Two Lead," Thems crackled again after they travelled down another street. "Engaging HVTs... now!"


    "Beholder One Two to ymore One, Angel is right ahead on the left side of the street," The eye in the sky reported. "Angel is currently alone."


    "Roger!" Tyrier replied and their pace fastened. Turning around the corner and under their night vision, they spotted the Princess hugging her knees as she rocked to and fro. "Princess Sherene!"


    Hearing her name, Sherene stopped her rocking motions and turned to stare at the dark suited soldier that appeared out of the shadows. "Y- You are finally here..."


    "Come, we need to move now!" Tyrier said as he helped the Princess up. "Where is your child?"


    "T- This way," Sherene swallowed the urge to flinch away as she stood up. "I- I have been waiting for some time..."


    "My apologies, mydy," Tyrier replied as he took a protective position in front of the Princess. "We... arete..."


    "I- It''s... alright..." Sherene let out a soft sigh. "Y- You all are here now..."


    "D- Do you have any food?" Sherene suddenly asked, sounding embarrassed as they came before a rundown shack. "M- My child..."


    Without another word, the ymore One operatives all quickly handed out protein bars, ration packs and even packet juices. Sherene seeing the food, felt a prickle in her eyes and she covered her face as she whispered her thanks to the soldiers. Bringing the food into the hut which was home for her, she found her child lying asleep on a pile of rags.


    With the help of a redmp, she woke her son up and offered him some of the protein bars. Her son''s eyes lit up at the sweet and nutty taste of the protein bars and nibbled away happily. Seeing her child enjoying the protein bar, she felt a sense offort.


    "My Lady," Tyrier stuck his head in, his sudden foreignness scaring the small child. "We need to go... now!"


    Sherene nodded as she carried her child up andforted him. She grabbed a strip of cloth and expertly tied a sling around her child, allowing her to carry him easier. Without a second look at the ce, she called home for half a year, she walked out with her head high. "L- Let''s go!"


    Tyrier nodded and with a few quick hand signals, the rest formed up a protective perimeter around the Princess and her son. He keyed hisms to inform the rest of the situation, "All stations. ymore One. Angel is in custody."


    "ymore One to Beholder. Requesting an extraction route. Over." He asked the wing ship in the air for assistance.


    "Beholder. Proceed South West from your current position," Beholder One Two started directing their retreat. Rejecting their offers to help her carry her child, the Princess and the special operatives quickly made their way out of the vige without any additional trouble.


    "Two Lead to One Lead," ymore Two called in. "Enemy is in disarray, disengaging and will link up with you at Rendevous Point Beta!"


    "Roger, see you at RP Beta!" Tyrier replied as they crossed the cultivated cactus field. The guards manning the few towers along the perimeter fences had long been neutralised, allowing them to escape the camp undetected. All along the way, the small boy carried on the back of his mother stared in wide eye wonder at the strangely d soldiers running alongside them that sometimes would disappear and appear like magic!


    As they ran, the church''s bell suddenly started ringing, the loud dong of the bell echoed across thend and seemed to be able to wake even the dead. Sherene panted as she ran and faltered when she heard the ominous tolling of the bell. For her and those sent to repentation camps, the tolling of the supervision church''s bell was a grave and ominous matter those always foretold something bad was to happen.


    She froze in terror from the bell''s tolling, catching the ymore One operatives by surprise. Instantly, they crouched down, making themselves harder to spot and scanned their surroundings as Young, their section medic rushed over with Tyrier to check on her. Young was about to reach out to check her condition when she flinched back from him, causing Tyrier to frown at her reaction.


    But Young instead crouched down next to the trembling Princess and asked in a gentle voice, "Princess? Are you alright?"


    "Can I help you carry your son?" The medic asked in a soft gentle voice. He and the other medics had gone through a course about PTSD and emotional trauma and he recognized some of the symptoms here. "Boss, we need to take a break!"


    Tyrier''s frown deepened as he looked around their surroundings. They were still out in the open among the rows of cactus like nts and could be easily found if they stayed here too long. But seeing the situation and the look on Young''s face, he knew something was wrong with the Princess right now. "Alright, we take ten! Alright people, stay alert and check your sectors!"


    Young handed over a pack of juice to the shaking Princess and tried to calm her down while trying to help her. He wanted to cast healing and restoration spells on her but seeing how she flinched away from his hands, he knew that she must have psychological trauma and he knew enough to not push it. So, for now, he could only gently coax her to drink some of the juice and to see if she is willing to allow others to carry her son for her.


    "I- I am feeling better now," Sherene replied slowly after she forced the fear that threatened to engulf her entire soul down. She epted the pack of juice and instead allowed her son to drink first before she took a sip. The sweet sour taste of applethorne brought memories of her past that made tears flow once more. Finally calming down enough to stand up again, she finished the remaining juice and felt better. "I can move now... Don''t worry, I can carry my son, as long as we don''t travel too far..."


    "Can I cast a restoration spell on you?" Young politely asked once more, his hands held up in a non threatening manner.


    Sherene stared at those hands for a moment before she nodded and closed her eyes tightly, clearly controlling her emotions. Young quickly cast the spell with the aid of a mana stone and some strength and colour returned to Sherene. Young gave an apologetic exnation as he kept away his equipment. "My Lady, it is done. We can only do so much for now, but once we are in a safer location with more time, I can cast a higher level recovery spell on you."


    "It is fine for now," Sherene replied quickly as she checked her sling bindings. "We must leave now... That bell is not something good!"

 Chapter 649: Murder Most Foul

    Chapter 649: Murder Most Foul


    Gentle waves broke against the dark grey hull of the anchored UNS Vengeance, creating glowing blue green sprays of seawater. Bioluminescence painted the surrounding ocean waters beautiful, but no one onboard the UNS Vengeance had the mind to admire the night view as the flight decks of the tri hull carrier were being prepped for a major operation.


    Elevators hummed as transported aircraft with their wings folded to the flight decks. Crews wearing different coloured jackets were busy with their duties, green fussing over the parked aircraft with their engines powering up, yellow directing aircraft newly exited from elevators to theirunch positions, purple running around with fuel hoses and red working with munitions.


    A pair of aircraft,rger and looking very different from the usual UN Navy''s F/A - 2 Vipers were already stationed at theunch positions of Flight Deck A. st shields deployed behind the aircraft that each had a pair of pusher prop engines housed inside an armoured duct. It had a pair of straight wings that was longer than its body and an H shape tail.


    In the front of the aircraft was forward facing goldfish bowl like bubble canopy that was protected by a pair of magic barrier runes. Yet that was not the most striking feature of the new aircraft. A pair of quad barrel 20 mm gatling gun was mounted into the fusge of the aircraft. The newly developed A - 1 Warboa , simr to thete twentieth century A - 10 Thunderbolt, was built over a pair of 20 mm gatling guns.


    To carry the internal 20 mm twin gatlings, its 3,200 rounds, four pylons of munitions each on each wing, engines, fuel and other avionics, aetherium was used in the construction of the airframe. Simr to the UNAF''s Vector wing ships, aetherium was used to offset the weight of the entire aircraft, allowing the ground attack aircraft to carry an impressive amount of ordnance.


    The squadron of A - 1s, were ferried across the End Zone by the Vector wing ships a couple of weeks ago and on this night, it was the 501st Attack Wing firstbat op. The yellow jacket crew standing forward of the leading A - 1 Warboa, made a couple of hand signals with his light wand before he crouched down.


    The pilot seated inside the goldfish bowl like cockpit gave a salute as confirmation and permission for theunch was given. The brakes holding theunch crate released and the steam catapult threw the whole aircraft forward, sending it up to speeds of 270 km per hour with seconds. The A - 1''s twin push prop engines roared as they took over the duty of propelling the aircraft.


    Following that, the next catapult down theunchne, roared, sending the next aircraft of the 501st into the air. Soon, in the short span of ten minutes, all six A - 1s of the 501st Attack Wing was in the air and headed straight into the Protectorate airspace.


    -----


    The Protectorate, Rendezvous Point Beta


    The suppressed M3 sneezed, kicking up dirt and dust in the process as Loke sent another .50 calibre round downrange. Secondster, under the night vision of his scope, the high powered round blew the upper torso of a priest away. Loke could still see the target''s right hand still raised up, holding a tome.


    "How many attempts is this?" Loke asked as he worked the bolt of his rifle. He swiftly rechambered a fresh round into his rifle as he returned to sight down at the confused mob in the distance. Beside him,ying down in the shell scrape was Altied who was spotting for him.


    Altied gave a shrug as he scanned the mob for another priest. They were easy to spot as they carried torches which literally screamed out to the UN special forces their location. "They are die hard fanatics... Be d that they are stupid and sending themselves into your sights!"


    "Yeah..." Loke grinned as he spotted another Protectorate in that very distinguishable priest garb. "Gonna be morning soon..."


    Another powerful sneeze, the recoil mming into his shoulder pads and kicking up more dirt and dust and another dead priest sent to meet his God. "Easy, easy!"


    -----


    The rising sun slowly peeked out from the horizon and turned the cloudy skies red with its ray. The six Warboas remained in formation as they cruised across the skies until suddenly a massive shadow appeared through the clouds above them.


    The shadow materialized itself out from the clouds, turning into a delta shaped wing ship. The 501st Attack Wing obediently fell in behind the massive Vector wing ship. Refuelling hoses were slowly released from the wings of the Vector wing ship and the first trio of A - 1s carefully manoeuvred themselves into position, their nose probe aiming for the shuttlecock like drogue at the end of the hose.


    Once mated, the A - 1s greedily sucked fuel to refill their emptied tanks. Once the first three had their fill, they broke off from the drogue, allowing the remaining three to take over their positions. The whole procedure was repeated once more and the fuels tanks of the remaining Warboas were filled. Having refuelled, the 501st Attack Wing broke off from the refuelling Vector wing ship and continued on their journey while the wing ship rose up into the clouds and quickly disappeared from view once more.


    -----


    The Protectorate, Rendezvous Point Beta


    "Alright, we just kicked the entire murkling''s nest!" Hitsu sighed as he looked at the approaching airships. "Seriously? Two Penal ss heavy cruisers?"


    "We could call for aerial support from Beholder," Wolf suggested as he double checked his gear. "We should be d they don''t have fast ships..."


    "Well, I am disappointed at them for only sending two heavy cruisers..." Hitsu replied sarcastically. "I was hoping for a full fleet!"


    "People! Gather up!" Tyrier called for attention. He looked around the gathered group and paused at the Princess and her son for a moment before he said, "Our primary objective is to ensure the safety of the Princess and the Grand Prince at all costs!"


    He gestured to the two airships in the distance and continued, "We made a mess of the enemyst night and knowing these Beetle Heads, they can be very stubborn!"


    "Expect trouble at all times!" Tyrier warned. "We will now head to RP Charlie where we will be linking up with some reinforcements that are on their way."


    "I will hope to avoid the eyes of the Beetle Heads but there is not much cover out here," Tyrier gestured around them, thend being sparse and barren. "The longer our presence is undetected the higher the chance we can all go home!"


    "I want all our tracks and traces to vanish from this moment onwards!"


    -----


    The Protectorate, Work Camp Redemption


    "A bunch of useless fools!" The Bishop Major red at the kneeling Overseers and soldiers. "All of you shall be sent to be Judged!"


    The Bishop Major ignored the cries for mercy as he turned away from the condemned. Pdins stepped forward and surrounded the condemned and their steamnces hissed. The Bishop Major was disturbed but not by the deaths of the ipetent, but those of his fellow clergy. He saw the bodies, many if not all had chunks of their bodies missing,


    They recovered some of the limbs but still, there were too many missing parts, yet no bite marks, making him discount the thoughts of some wild beast. Their deaths seemed too violent as if they imploded themselves. Could it be some spell? Thought the Bishop Major. But magic was something not everyone has ess to.


    The next strange thing was there were several bodies with holes in their bodies, the holes were not asrge as those that imploded but he felt that they were simr to an extend. He stood in the middle of a street where there were four spots stained with a massive amount of blood. He bent down and picked up a y fragment that came from a broken bowl and frowned before he took a sniff. Next, he picked up a set of robes adorned for Bishops and looked over.


    "Lord Bishop Major, that set of robes belonged to thete Lord Enu, who is the Supervisory Bishop of Work Camp Redemption," An aide quickly reported. "He was... erm... only identified by the ring of office in his hand..."


    "Who dares to kill a baptized Bishop of the Clergy!" Lord Bishop Major Zakhi growled. He was bald and his current angry expression made him look older than his age of thirty five summers. He wore the crimson robes of a Bishop together with the gold rank braiding of a Major sewn on his shoulders and a sword belt that right hand was gripping tightly onto the hilt of his steam sword.


    "Someone else was here!" He dered as he tossed the fragment of the broken bowl to his aide. "Find out who!"


    The bell of the supervision church of the work camp had sounded once more, calling for a general gathering. Yesterday night it had tolled an rm and soon word of the Bishop in charge and Priests were being killed by an unknown hand. The incident quickly raised rm bells in the local Clergy''s military order leading them to dispatch him here. This case made Bishop Major Zakhi angry for it took him away from his orders of reinforcing the attack on the Iron Kingdom.


    His anger only rose more when he arrived, finding the majority of the dead were from the upper echelons of the Clergy while the ipetent remained alive and failed to apprehend the murderer. He suddenly spun around and snapped his fingers at his aide. "Order the Promise and the Tenacious to patrol the perimeter of the work camp! They are to report any suspicious activity!"


    The tolling of the church bell ended and he headed straight for the supervision church, finding the square before the church filled with kneeling repenters. His Pdins stood silently at the perimeter of the square, watching the crowd for any form of discontentment.


    Lord Bishop Major Zakhi climbed up a flight of steps and stood on the balcony built over the doors of the church. The balcony served as both a preaching tform and a stage for judgement of sins. Without further ado, he speak loud and clear, "Last night... There was a Sin most foul!"


    "Lord Bishop Enu and Priests of the Clergy..." He stared down at the crowd, trying to see if he could spot the real murderer. "Have been murdered with vile sorcery!"


    "The Sinner has no regard for Law and Order!" He continued. "I know the Sinner is among you... Anyone here... who could point out the Sinner... will have his or her term of repentance cleared! For good deeds shall not go unrewarded!"


    His words made the crowd astonished as they started to look at each other with suspicion. He gave the fidgeting crowd another once over before he said, "I will be waiting inside the Church! You all have one hour!"


    With that, he walked away from the balcony and entered the Church. To call it a church was a stretch as its interior was more like a chancellery as work desks and racks filled with scrolls took up all its space. Only at the front, there was a small area with several pews and an altar with a life sized relief of Ramuh was made for worship.


    He did not enter the work areas and instead sat down at the front pew and stared up at the relief of Ramuh. The relief depicted his selfless acts of granting Law and Order down on the people and saving them from chaos. As he stared at the work of holy art, a Pdin escorting a person came in and bowed before stepping back.


    The person dressed in rags fell down on his knees and kowtowed, "Y- Your Holiness! I- I s- saw the murderers!"

 Chapter 650: Claymore Two

    Chapter 650: ymore Two


    "Here!" The Protectorate handler mounted on the snarling warg as the huge beast wed the hard dirt called out. He jerked the reins hard to control the wolf like beast and kicked its side before the warg calmed down. The leather d handler hopped off the back of his warg and looked over the spot where his beast had dug the ground with its ws and found a scrap of rag. He held it to the dripping nose of the warg and snapped, "Track!"


    The warg growled as it sniffed the piece of rag before it licked out and swallowed it. The handler satisfied that the warg has the trail, climbed back on its back and settled down on a saddle mounted on the warg''s back. Once securedfortably in the saddle, the handler kicked his heels against the nks of the warg, urging it forward. "Haa!"


    The warg shot off, its sensitive nose picking the scent of the mother and son murderer that had escaped from the work camp and was headed into the dustnds. The red g attached to the back of the handler fluttered wildly in the wind and was the beacon for the two Penal ss heavy cruisers following at a leisurely pace behind.


    -----


    "Boss," Wolf said as he gestured to the rear. "We gotpany!"


    The two crimson airships had been constantly in view at their rear. Tiny dots of mounted infantry could even be seen and headed towards their direction. Tyrier paused and looked back, mentally calcting distances between the two sides. "They must have some magic to track us..."


    "At our current speed," Hitsu said in a low voice as he nced towards the Princess and the Grand Prince. "They will catch up with us within an hour or two..."


    "Take ten!" Tyrier called out to everyone before he gestured for ymore Two leader over for a quick discussion.


    ymore Two''s Leader Roast Tanner was an eight year veteran of the old ways of war in histe twenties with a steady look on his rough face. Originally part of the Bluewood Empire''s 2nd Imperial Army, having been defeated and captured as a prisoner of war, he joined the UN after the war. Having no other skills, other than the family trade of tanning monster skins and war, he signed up immediately to the UN military when they were recruiting.


    His experience as a small unit leader and possessing certain aptitudes that matched the UN military''s strict requirements for a special operations operative after he hadpleted basic, he was fast tracked into the 101st training program.


    Now, he stood beside the legendary Tyrier of ymore One, whom even with much information of their previous missions still ssified even among the team leads of the 101st, he knew enough to know ymore One was The team thatpleted the hardest missions. Hence, he generally deferred to the majority of the overallmand decisions made by Tyrier despite having the same rank.


    "We are still an hour away from RP Charlie, where reinforcements will be waiting," Tyrier said. "They might catch up to us before that..."


    "How about dying them somewhat?" Roast suggested. "Lay some ymores here and there... It should slow whoever is tracking us down and teach the others to be more cautious, further slowing their pursuit?"


    "No, that would work only against a ground force," Tyrier shook his head. "They have airships and it would only give them confirmation that they are on the right trail..."


    "The problem is those airships," Tyrier said. "Unless we can distract them long enough to link up with our people..."


    Roast stared at Tyrier for a moment before he nodded, "I will take my boys and lead them on a wild wyvern chase."


    "We just need fifteen minutes." Tyrier ced his hand on Roast''s shoulder and said, "Get out of there once you dy them long enough and link up back with us!"


    Roast nodded and he walked over to his team and quickly briefed them on their new mission. After that, he came before the Princess and crouched down before her. "Your Highness, if I may, I would like some of those strips of cloth you used to carry the Grand Prince."


    She looked down at the tattered strips bound around her body and she quickly removed them and handed them over to the soldier. She watched them curiously as the soldier handed out the strips of cloth to the others and watched them bind them over their boots.


    Once ready, the soldiers exchanged a few words amongst themselves before they separated from the party. She turned to look at Tyrier who had a grim expression on his face and she decided to keep her questions to herself as she hugged her son. Tyrier watched the departing ymore Two team for another moment more before he pped his hands and said, "Alright, let''s continue!"


    "Your Highness, we need to move fast," Tyrier said. "It would be best if you allow my men to carry your son for you."


    Sherene reluctantly gave in and handed her son over to the medic who was supporting her with recovery spells all the way. She anxiously watched the soldier carry her son on his back while another soldier rigged up some sort of carrying harness for the boy. Her son giggled happily as he was bounced up and down. Seeing her son enjoying himself, some of the anxiety in her heart disappeared.


    "Let''s go!" Tyrier said. "We need to get to those ruins before the Beetle Heads catch up to us!"


    -----


    The warg snarled as it pawed the terrain before it. It raised its head sniffing the air left and right while its handler waited. Finally, the warg turned to the trail that had a stronger scent and rushed forward. The scent grew stronger and the warg''s wild hunting instincts took over. It suddenly came to a stop before a petrified tree and tried to paw at the fluttering strip of dirty cloth.


    The handler frowned as he reined in the agitated warg and he reached out to the fluttering cloth strip that appeared to be tied to the lower branch of the petrified tree. He pulled the strip of cloth off, not noticing the thin near invisible spider ant silk thread attached to the cloth strip. The handler felt some resistance from the cloth strip and without any further thoughts, gave a hard yank and finally managed to pull the cloth strip out.


    He barely had two seconds to even know what mistake he did when the ymore tapped and hidden on a crook of the petrified tree detonated at above head level. 700 steel ball bearings fanned out at a velocity of over a thousand meters per second and instantly, the handler, his warg and two other trackers and their mounts following along were sent to the Halls of Judgement.


    -----


    Roast looked up from his position when the boom of the ymore echoed over. He cast a knowing nce to the rest of his team who were setting up an ambush spot. He returned to what he was doing, carefully stabbing the pongs of the ymore into the hard earth. He attached a det cord to the ymore before he retreated back to his team, uncoiling the det cord as he rejoin them.


    The ambush position he picked was an outcrop of boulders sticking out from the earth like some sort of monstrous growth. It provided ample overhead protection against any light artillery and also concealment from the air. The detonation of the booby trap meant that they had sessfully lured the Protectorate trackers to their location. Now all they had to do was to hold out for at least fifteen minutes before beating a retreat.


    It did not take long before the two Protectorate airships came hovering close. Both airships came low to the ground and from their concealed position, ymore Two could see the trademark beetle helmets of the Protectorate Pdins rappelling off the underside of the airships.


    "Fifty... Sixty..." One of the ymore Two operatives counted the number of enemy soldiers being deployed. "At least twopany sized troops..."


    "Do not engage until they are right on top of us!" Roast ordered as he wanted to lure the enemy close so that they will hesitate to deploy their steam cannons against their own troops. "We do not want to get bombarded by their airship guns!"


    The twopanies of Pdins spread out into two long lines. They marched across the barrenndscape,bing the terrain for any sights of the enemy. Roast cursed softly as he saw how disperse the enemy lines were. It meant that there was a high chance that they woulde under bombardment if they prove somehow hard to handle.


    "Hold your fire!" He hissed into the teamms. He decided to distract the enemy instead of directly engaging them at this moment. He nked the detonator in his hand before he squeezed the trigger and within a half second the ymore detonated.


    The ball bearings yed the Pdins, outright killing two Pdins closest to the st. But as they were too spread out, only another one other Pdin was injured. The injured Pdin copsed down with a wail of pain. The sudden unexpected explosion froze the Pdins as they raised their magic barriers and looked around, trying to spot the source of the attack.


    Yet, no matter how they search they could not find the attackers. Themander leading the Pdins could only point towards the outcrop where ymore Two was hidden as the only most likely ce where the enemy was. The Pdins quickly reform up and this time, they marched straight for the rocky outcrop.


    The second ymore detonation was less effective against the approaching Pdins as their personal magical barriers had been deployed. Other than shattering the shields of a few Pdins, the Pdins barely suffered any injuries. They advanced even more cautiously towards the outcrop.


    Roast waited until the enemy was within charging distance before he snapped out orders. Seven suppressed rifles popped, all aimed at the enemymander. Faced with another unknown attack the enemymander''s magical barrier was quickly overwhelmed and his bullet ridden body flopped backwards.


    The Protectorate soldiers seeing theirmander falling, let out a prayer cry and charged straight at Roast and his men. The fury of suppressed gunfire intensified as one of the ymore Two soldiers swapped out his rifle for an LMG. Smoke started spewing out from a couple of canisters as Roast had his men deploy a smokescreen to cover their positions from the enemy airships.


    Magical barriers red and fuzzed out with bodies toppling lifelessly back and suddenly it turned into a melee in the smoke. The ymore Two operatives donned masks and pped down their vision goggles, switching to infra and the hindering smoke turned to their advantage as the enemy became blind in the choking chemical smoke.


    Monomolecr sword bays shed and easily passed through magical barriers that were designed against magic and ranged attacks. The de, less than a molecule wide on its cutting edge sliced through armour and flesh as if they were magically enhanced. The Protectorate Pdins were suddenly likembs to ughter as the ymore Two operatives ran wild in their ranks.


    A deep silence seemed to settle over the site of the skirmish before being shattered by the hiss pop of steam cannons fired from both the Protectorate airships. Heavy projectilesnded all over the rocky outcrop, smashing up corpses, earth and rock. The two Protectorate cruisers hovered above in the skies, their forward mounted steam cannons fired volley after volley, bombarding the area until nothing but craters and smoke remained. A momentter, more lines were dropped and another twopanies of Pdins were deployed down again.


    Roast and his men having decimated the enemy had fled under the cover of smoke andid t in their earlier hasty prepped shell scape a short distance away. Using only a sheet of smart camo to conceal their positions, the operatives of ymore Two huddled down in their shallow graves as they weathered the bombardment urring just a few dozen meters away.

 Chapter 651 Defense of the Ancients

    Chapter 651 Defense of the Ancients


    Tyrier snapped his head back when the distant rumble of thunder rolled across the barrenndscape. Princess Sherene looked up to the cloudless skies and asked hopefully, "It is going to rain?"


    "No," Tyrier replied grimly. "That''s not thunder..."


    Sherene''s expression as she understood the unsaid words. She nced over to the direction where the rumbles of thunder came from and vaguely spotted dark clouds lingering over the horizon. "Will they be alright?"


    "It''s up to their skills and training now," Tyrier said. "And luck... Lots of luck..."


    "Come on, we need to hurry!" Tyrier turned back and pointed to a cluster of ruins visible in the distance. "We are nearly there!"


    It took them another twenty minutes before they came to the outskirts of the ancient ruins. What used to be a thriving vige in its prime were now just crumbling walls and forgotten memories. Dested buildings with just their foundations remaining were aligned to faded roads and the only church in the centre of the vige had its roof long worn down by nature and stone walls fallen from age.


    "There''s no one here!" Hitsu said as he scanned the gloomy ruins. "Where the fark is our reinforcements?"


    "Fark!" Altied cursed as he climbed up a partial wall to look around. "Where''s the damn Army when you need them?"


    "Alright! Enough chatter!" Tyrier growled. "Clear out the ruins and dig in!"


    The rest of the ymore One operatives grumbled as they quickly cleared the ruins, ensuring that it was free of any threats before Tyrier allowed the Princess and the Grand Prince into the ruins. They entered the ruins of the church and Tyrier ordered Young to watch over them.


    The interior of the church had long been emptied by either the migrating vigers or time. The ce where the altar and stature of Ramuh were usually ced, was empty, most likely removed by the priests. Remains of rotting pews were shattered all over and stone tiles were cracked and covered with sand. Young removed his foldable stretcher on his backpack and deployed it, allowing the Princess and the Grand Prince a ce to sit and rest while he peeked out from a gap in the crumbling stone walls.


    Tyrier had stepped out of the ruined church and looked up to the skies. "Beholder, Beholder, this is ymore One, where are our reinforcements? Over."


    "Beholder, stand by."


    "Beholder to ymore One, please be informed reinforcements are still on their way. You boys are early to the RP. ETA two five mikes. How copy?"


    "ymore One, situation is not good here, under heavy enemy pursuit! Requesting immediate support! Over!" Tyrier snapped unhappily.


    "Beholder, we copy that, seeing the action from up here. Over."


    Tyrier looked up to the skies again and sh his finger at the skies before he sighed and changed the radio channel, "Two, this is One, how''s your situation?"


    "Two, not g- good! Everyone from their brothers to third cousins is chasing us!"


    "One, what''s your ETA?" Tyrier frowned worriedly as he headed to the perimeter of the ruins.


    "Two, t- two zero mikes out!"


    "Roger," Tyrier acknowledged the reply before he turned to the rest of ymore One that was prepping the area for defence. "Alright, boys! We got iing in two zero mikes! ymore Two is bringing a party with them!"


    "We are going to hold the area for at least five, ten mikes before the Army arrives!" Tyrier shouted out to his men. "It''s going to be a big party!"


    Hitsu cursed as he dumped out everything he had stored into his bag of holding. Belts of ammunition, magazines, explosives, snacks and even a pillow littered the area around him. He had picked a position on the roof of a half copsed house that provided a nice view of the direction where ymore Two wasing from with a whole bunch of targets to shoot.


    Below him, the rest were either digging a shell scrape or fortifying their positions with dug earth and spells. The two ASAGs were running about, their carried equipment and ammunition being collected and deployed by the defenders.


    Princess Sherene and her son watched silently as Loke came running into the ruined church and started climbing a part of the wall still rtively intact as he sought for high ground to deploy his sniper rifle. Young, on the other hand, hailed one of the ASAGs over and rummaged through its contents beforeing out with two spare sets of protective vests and he handed the armour to the Princess and the Grand Prince.


    "Your Highness, put this on!" Young helped the Grand Prince into the oversized vest. The boy gave a bright grin toothless grin and Young smiled back before he unbuckled his helmet and put it over his head. "Wear this, little one!"


    He handed over a couple of spare sets of earplugs that he kept in his medical bag to the Princess. "To protect your hearing."


    Sherene nodded and helped her son wear the earplugs. The boy giggled as sounds seemed to be muffled and Sherene smiled at his antics. Young continued to dig into his bag and handed over a small pager like object after fuddling it for a moment. "Attach this to your body. This is a personnel magic shield generator."


    "It can stop any ranged or magic attack up to a certain degree," Young exined as he took out another small pouch filled with mana stones. "Press here to activate it. Once activated, it draws energy from this mana stone located here."


    He showed the Princess how the device worked and how to rece the mana stone powering the personnel shield. "I have set it to the highest setting. It will create a protective shieldrge enough to cover both of you. Just remember to feed it mana stones once it starts beeping."


    Finally, he handed over a gun belt loaded with a pistol and spare ammo. "Do you remember how to use a gun?"


    Sherene drew the pistol out and frowned, in her memory, she did not have the chance toe in contact with the semi automatic, only familiar with revolvers. Young quickly demonstrated how to operate the slide, safety and magazine release. As she was practising with the pistol, thems suddenly red, "One Three to ymore One! ymore Two in sight!"


    "One Lead to All. Get ready for action!"


    "They are here!" Young said to the Princess as he took up a position next to the ruined wall. "Stay here and keep your magic shield up!"


    -----


    Roast, Team Leader of ymore Two, panted as he ran. Slung over his shoulder was a wounded brother, who has currently had his body twisted at an angle as he covered their backs. The suppressed rifle in the wounded operative popped continuously as he fired at the chasing enemy. Behind them, loomed two giant crimson airships that appeared to be waiting for something as, after the initial bombardment, they had ceased their fire and instead followed the chase.


    "Farking Beetle Heads want us alive!" The wounded operative growled as he swapped his emptied mag. "They are toying with us!"


    "N- Nearly there!" Roast panted. Already the ruins where they were supposed to rendezvous with their reinforcements could be seen. He knew the ymore One team has already set up some defences and were waiting for them to get clear.


    His personnel magic shield suddenly red up as a random bolt from a steamnce struck him. The damn Beetle Heads were firing their steamnces constantly and treating the chase like some kind of hunt, forcing them to use up their stamina and magic before pouncing on them.


    As he approached the ruins, he saw a hand wave in his direction and he increased his pace, ignoring his burning leg muscles and strained lungs, pushing himself to cross thest few meters. And suddenly, he found himself within the ruined walls of the vige. Putting his wounded man down, he took several deep breaths to feed his starving lungs.


    "You good?" Tyrier yelled out from a hidden position nearby.


    Roast gave a thumbs up before he dragged his tired body against a wall and did a quick check with his team members. Once everyone reported in, he let out a sigh of relief and peek over the wall to see what the Beetle Heads were up to.


    -----


    Protectorate Penal ss Cruiser Tenacious


    "Lord Bishop Major," The Chief Pdin saluted the Bishop Major standing at the forward view gallery as he entered the bridge of the Tenacious. "As your holiness has seen, thewless perpetrators has entered the ruins."


    "Yes..." Bishop Major Zakhi''s eyes narrowed dangerously. "Deploy your troops, Chief Pdin!"


    "I want those hideous sinners in the Clergy''s hands within a single turn of the sandss!" Bishop Major Zakhi growled. "Try not to kill them all... We need live bodies to appease the anger of the Clergy!"


    "And... also the Inquisition would love to know the secrets of their demonic witchcraft!"


    -----


    Row after row of Pdins d in crimson red and silver armour marched forward towards the ruins. The second Protectorate airship, Promise, has taken up a nking position behind and deployed its own contingent of shipboard Pdins and together, the Pdins created an encirclement of the ruins.


    As they approached closer, loud thunderous rattles erupted from within the ruins, and instantly, the groups of approaching Pdins had their magical barriers red up and popped. Cries of the wounded and dying came from those Pdins as streaks of fiery beams perforated their bodies and decimated magical barriers like wet scrolls.


    An order came down for the Pdins to charge and singing praises of Ramuh, they charged without fear of the heretical magic. More and more bodies fell until there was nothing left to feed the death spells of thewless heretics.


    The Chief Pdin''s face turned pale at the sight. They had lost over fourpanies of Pdins, a little over a hundred and fifty loyal and steadfast soldiers in barely even a quarter of the sandss! Even the Bishop Major had an unpleasant expression on his face. The Chief Pdin turned to the Bishop Major and bowed, "Y- Your holiness... D- Do we deploy the remainingpanies?"


    "WHAT DO YOU THINK?" Bishop Major Zakhi shouted angrily. "T- Thosewless creatures! They must pay the ultimate price of desecrating our holy warriors andnd!" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Order the forward steam cannons to bomb them!" Bishop Major Zakhi changed his tactics. "Send down the War Jacks too!"


    -----


    "FAAAAARRKKKKK THISSSSSSSS!" Hitsu screamed as he hunkered down on the broken ground. When the bombardment began, it had copsed the remaining portion of the already broken roof, sending him crashing down in a cloud of sand and dust. He quickly recovered from the bone jarring drop and scrambled against the wall as shock waves rolled over his position.


    The shimmering bubble of the Defender MK I portablerge scale magic shield managed to hold out against the steam projectiles. The ASAG equipped with therge cylinder shaped device squeaked nervously as did its best to tether itself to the ground, it''s programming in its tiny mechanical smart brain chip telling it to obey its orders to keep the shield in ce, overriding its sub programming of self preservation.


    When the bombardment lifted, what remained was just a bubble of shimmering rainbows, shrouded by ayer of dust and smoke. A perfect circle encircled the remains of the ruins, while outside that ring, everything else had been pulverized.


    "Ahahaha!" Hitsu coughed andughed as he climbed up to his feet and shed a middle finger at the crimson airships overhead. "Fark youuuu!"


    "Oh..." He suddenly paused in his cussing as he felt the ground shake. He peered deep into the smoke and cursed. "Oh... Fark..."


    The hulking shapes of two War Jacks lumbered through the smoke, both wielding massive tower shields and dragging their signature chained morning stars along the ground, heading straight for them.

 Chapter 652: Aarborn Gobs To Dee Res-Kill!

    Chapter 652: Aarborn Gobs To Dee Res-Kill!


    "ONE ROUND AWAY!" Hitsu vaguely heard some one scream out the warning and the whoosh of a rocket torn through the air, followed instantly with a deep heavy boom of an explosion. He ignored the effects of the RPG and instead focused on the rows and rows of red coated infantry wearing that ridiculous looking helmet.


    The LMG in his arms rocked hard against his padded shoulders, as if patting him with solid assurance of its superior firepower. Streaks of tracer fire could be spotted here and there, too fast for the eye to follow, only when the rounds impacted against magical barriers did one could see its effects. Fiery firework like sparks burst from bullet impacts against the magical barriers. The barriers shimmered with a rainbow of colors before popping like soap bubbles when kic energy overwhelmed the ability of the magical barrier to sustain its form. Following that disy of fireworks, it was time for the bodies behind the shattered barriers to start the dance of death.


    Bodies jerked and twisted around under the influence of the 8.5 mm ball rounds, doing the macabre dance of death. Yet, the Protectorate Pdins continued to bravely push forward in face of such firepower that one has still yet to even see the enemy! Their singing of hymns could be heard in between gunfire and explosions as they marched into charging distance.


    Hitsu and the rest couldn''t care less if they marched to their deaths as long as they die obediently to their guns. He mumbled a curse when bluish white screen shimmered when the enemy airships lobbed another volley of steam fire at them, testing the strength of their defensive shields. Hitsu grinned as the enemy would had never thought that they would encounter such a powerful magical shield out here.


    Both the ASAGs had hunkered down in the middle of their defensive position where the ruined church was located as they ovepped the magical shields projected overhead, only possible by using the same magical frequency. The crab like utility support golems were both busy feeding the hungry hopper of the Defender Mk I Portable Magical Shield projector with mana stones to supply it with magical power. The shield strength of the PMS was rated to beparable to majority of the Old World''s magical barrier carried by cruiser ssed airships.


    The only setback to thepact design was that it was three times more magic hungry whilepared the magical formations and runes equipped on airships as its magical formations and runes were miniaturized. Hence, for the PMS to output a simr magical barrier strength, it would require a lot more magical energy to power it. And for such a feat, only the UN was rich enough in mana stones to do so.


    With a pair of cruiser strength magical shield and further more ovepped to increase their strength, it would take both the Protectorate airships at least twenty minutes of bombardment to overwhelm the shield at least. Despite that, Hitsu did not feel very secured as from his corner of his eye, he spotted the hulking shape of a War Jack bursting out from the cloud of ck smoke.


    "Scan its shield''s frequency again!" This time, Hitsu recognized the shouting voice of Altied. He took a quick nce to see Wolf fumbling with a boxy device in his hands and aiming theser at the fast approaching War Jack.


    "G- Got it!" Wolf yelled out after a moment. He grabbed a oval shaped device with a ring at the tip from his pouch. Marked on the body of the small fist sized egg was rows after rows of tiny etched rune words. He twisted each row and aligned the rune words up before twisting the ring out from tip of the egg.


    Instantly, a soft hum could be heard and a small magical barrier appeared around egg. He quickly screwed the armed Anti Magical Prober into the head of the rocket and Altied got into a firing position by hoisting the RPG - 1 over his shoulder. Wolf slotted the rocket into theunch tube and set the igniter before mming hard on Altied''s shoulder and dodging to the side. "LOADED!"


    "CLEAR BACK!" Altied quickly yelled as he rested the simple sights right at the center of mass of the War Jack barely fifty meters away. "ONE ROUND AWAY!"


    The 70 mm rocket whooshed out, streaking across the air and touched the magical barrier of the Protectorate War Jack. Instead of exploding upon impact, the magical barrier armed rocket shed through the War Jack''s magical barrier without stopping and mmed against the lower right side of the heavy thick chest armour ting of the War Jack before detonating as intended.


    The shape charged warhead spewed a hyper sonic knife like jet of super heated explosive kic gases and cut its way through theyers of ironminate armour, gouging deep into the War Jack''s innards, slicing vital mechanical clockworks, cogs and copper piping for steam and aetherium. The impact stumbled the War Jack forcing it to halt. Steam instantly leaked out from the hole in its chest and its movement turned sluggish.


    "Good hit!" Wolf cheered as he dug out another Anti Magic Prober and set its magical frequency to match that to the War Jack''s magical barrier which he had earlier used a Magic Frequency Scanner to pick up the magical frequency given off by its magical barrier. Once, the scanner found the matching frequency, all he had to do was to set the AMPer to the correct frequency, activate it, which created a small magical barrier and attached it to the rocket''s head. It allowed the rocket with the matching magical frequency to pass through the magical barrier in a simr concept of ovepping barriers to strengthen their power, but instead, this became a loophole for the UN to exploit.


    The War Jack''s movement were now like a drunk, as it lumbered forward on uneven steps, both its arms swinging around to keep its bnce. Altied felt the p on his shoulder and Wolf''s yell of loaded. He steadied himself as he took another shot at the War Jack. This time the rocket mmed right into the midriff of the War Jack and with a loud thudding boom, smoke mixed with steam burst out, including fluids of sorts and with a loud groan, the War Jack toppled face down with an earth shaking crash.


    "Fark! Get out of the way!" Altied suddenly cried out and he threw himself to one side. Their fighting position suddenly exploded into dust as a massive spiked morning star smashing through their position. Wolf having rolled out of the way at thest minute was still stunned by the near miss.


    The other War Jack had made its way through the shield and into their position at the expense of itspanion and dozens of soldiers. It retracted the chain, dragging the morning star back before swinging it up and flinging it down, forcing the two ymore One operatives to run for their lives.


    Hitsu swung his LMG towards the War Jack and fired a long stream of bullets at it. Bright sparks erupted from impact points on the magical barrier of the War Jack. It turned towards the direction of Hitsu and steam hissed out from the sides of its bucket helmet. Having seed in gaining the attention of the War Jack, Hitsu grabbed his heavy weapon and quickly evacuated from his fighting position as the War Jack wrecked it way towards him.


    Overhead, the two Protectorate airships as if knowing that they could not defeat them on the ground, increased their bombardment intensity. The two ASAGs started whining as they too increased the pace of their w arms and continuously feed the PMS projector on their backs. Finally, one of the ASAG made a shriek of warning as its pouches of mana stones had ran dry, while the other ASAG started to panic as well as its reserves started to run low too.


    "Beholder to All ymores! Watch the skies for iing reinforcements!"


    "Finally reinforcements!" Hitsu panted as he ran through the ruins with a War Jack behind him. He sneaked a peek to the skies, but could only see smoke and the weird translucent blue white shimmering of the shield. "Hurry the fark up!"


    -----


    V - 1 Wingship, Victory Two One One


    The massive rear ramps of the Vector wingship was opened. The opening wasrge enough to allow two MAW spider tanks to enter side by side but at this moment, a huge armored cylindrical pod was parked right at the opening.


    A group of excited goblins stood behind the drop pod chatting away as they waited for one of their own to give the word. The group was decked out in camouge overalls and helmets. Each carried a bag that was almost asrge as them and each were armed with a variety of weapons, but most were sporting a shotgun of sorts.


    "Oneeee mi nuts!" The goblin crew chief shrieked from the side. He giggled as he waved the goblins forward. "Makee ra deee!"


    The armed goblins became even more excited as they lined up at the tail ramp. The other aircrews checked the drop pod oncest time and waited until the yellow light turned green. One of the aircrew yanked a cord from the drop pod and a triple parachute burst out. The drag of the parachute dragged the drop pod off the ramp and out into the skies.


    The goblins gave a high five to the crew chief as they ran eagerly after the drop pod and threw themselves off the wingship. "Woooo weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Look! No wingsss!"


    The goblins started spinning and zooming all over the ce in the air as they sky dived after the drop pod which was falling at a rapid pace despite the triple parachute system. The goblins'' parachutes deployed one by one after they had their fun and they could see the ongoing action below them. Above them, more parachutes appeared as the 1st Army Rifle Regiment dropped as well to support the operation.


    -----


    Protectorate Penal ss Cruiser Tenacious


    Lord Bishop Major Zakhi stared in shock and surprise at the sky raining some sort of balls. He pushed aside one of the bridge observers and peered through the far seeing tubes to see what in the heavens were those things.


    What he saw only made him more bbergast as he rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating. "Are... those goblins?"


    The observers all nodded as they replied to the Lord Bishop Major. "Y- yes your holiness! Those... appear to be goblins..."


    "Goblins... falling from the skies?" Lord Bishop Major ZaKhi mumbled as he took another look. "What in Ramuh''s Hall is going on?"


    -----


    The drop pod suddenly shook and braking ps deployed from its side, slowing its speed substantially. As it came to roughly ten meters to the ground, the walls of the drop pod suddenly broke apart and a hulking figure dropped down with a loud boom. Before the smoke even cleared, the metal body of Dijon came bursting out as he ran into the UN defensive shield and right into the Protectorate War Jack, sending it crashing across the ruins.


    He stormed over the War Jack that was attempting to climb to its feet and mentally deployed his shoulder mounted recoilless rifle. He rammed the muzzle of the 88 mm revolver cannon through the magical barrier of the War Jack and point nk pointed it right at the bucket head and mentally squeezed the trigger. The recoilless rifle cycled itself with a thunderous roar, the bucket head instantly deformed as a hole appeared in its ce.


    Dijon did not even need to fire a second shot as the first had already shattered the internals of the War Jack, effectively destroying the war machine. His bulky chassis turned as he scanned the area for other War Jacks to engage and stormed off to the other side of the ruins once he found his targets.


    The apanying goblinsnded with a soft thud and they detached their parachutes with pride and started dering to the shocked 101st ATI operatives. "Wee ar dee 1st Meekanical Suppoot Componyee!"


    "Aarborn Gobs to dee res-kill!"

 Chapter 653: All Hail Firepowaar!

    Chapter 653: All Hail Firepowaar!


    "ymore One, this is Beholder, you have air support in the AO," The surveince wing ship circling above the battle reported. "Callsign Warrior. Channel Four. Over."


    "Roger!" Tyrier yelled back over the din of the battle to hisms. His rifle locked back as he fired emptied his remaining magazine at a screaming Beetle Head just several meters away, shredding his magic barrier and turning his scream into a dying gurgle. "Reloading!"


    He ducked down behind the crumbling wall and quickly reloaded and at the same time, he reached over to Tavel and pped his shoulder, and yelled into his ear, "Air support be here in five! Callsign Warrior on channel four!"


    "Copy that!" Tavel replied without taking his attention away from the fight. His suppressed rifle popped mechanically as he serviced his targets. He only did a quick check of his wristwatch when he dropped behind the wall to reload and manually counted the time.


    "Get them to kill those damn airships!" Tyrier added as he popped back up and added his firepower at the enemies. "Our shields are not gonna hold for much longer!"


    "All stations, this is Warrior Flight, we have entered the AO." The five minutes felt like an eternity to the defenders as finally the weing words were heard over thems.


    "Warrior, warrior, this is ymore One," Tavel quickly dropped behind the wall and used his radio. "Airships in the open! You are cleared hot! Over."


    "Roger ymore One, weapons hot, standby!"


    -----


    The three A - 1 Warboas split their up formation, with one remaining on station while the other two dived downwards each aiming at their own target. The targets in question were easily spotted, both big, red and ugly, standing out like a sore thumb over the yellow brown terrain. The smoke and the flickering magical afterglows did not help in concealing the airships at all.


    The twin chin gatlings of both attack craft burped for exactly three seconds, each firing at over 3,000 rounds per minute. In that three seconds, 300 rounds of what the armament ground crew joking called the ''Send with Love Blend'' which consisted of a mix of armor piercing, incendiary and high explosive rounds, was spewed out by each attack craft.


    The deadly mix of firepower rained down on both unsuspecting airships which did not even have their magical barriers up. The results were spectacr as metal and wood were exploded and turned into many many tiny pieces. And as if to add insult to the injury, both A - 1 Warboas, added in another barrage of ship killer rockets as they roared past the wounded airships.


    The effects of the gun runs were like a disy of firecrackers, except many times louder and deadlier. After which came the deep BRRRT of the twin 20 mm gatlings of the A - 1 Warboas. Steam and mes burst out from blown pipes and mangled decks. And before the Protectorate crews could respond, anti ship rockets mmed into their midsections and detonated deep inside the holds of the airships.


    -----


    "HAAAIL FIREPOWAAAR!" The goblins crackled with joy when they saw both airships being crippled by the airstrikes. "Where ya stinky God now?"


    "Rush them!" A beefy goblin bearing a triple striped chevron on his sleeve yelled as he pointed his saw off shotgun at the group of Protectorate soldiers. The rest of the goblins whooped and hollered excitedly as they rushed headlong into the fight.


    The Protectorate Pdins seeing the mass of goblins charging their way, let out sneers of disdain as theirmander pointed to them and shouted, "Kill those unclean vermin!"


    Shotgun sts boomed out in close quarters, shedding magic barriers and flesh. Steamnces stabbed and jabbed back in retaliation as the nimble goblins weaseled around chaotically, some even leapt up into the faces of the Pdins, ripping their helmets off and digging in with ws and teeth into the fleshy parts.


    The mad frenzy of the battle crazed goblins forced the Pdins back and the goblins quickly learnt how to exploit the weakness of the magical barriers of the Protectorate soldiers by leaping right onto the soldiers as their magical barriers only block projectiles and magic. Like monkeys, they giggled and jumped through the barriers and sted their shotguns pointnk into the faces of the Pdins and mock chanted in their sing song voices, "BIM! BAM! BOOM! BIM! BAM! BOOM! "


    Behind them, elements of the UN 1st Army Rifle Regiment engaged with the rest of the Protectorate soldiers as the goblins tore into their nks. On the other side, Dijon in his Power Armor (Cybeic) stormed across the dusty terrain, his arm mounted 6.5 mm machine gun spewing red hot tracers, as he charged towards one of the two remaining War Jacks.


    The Protectorate War Jack raised its tower shield up to block as its magical barrier started depleting. The other War Jack charged as it sought for a nking position against the strange War Jack painted in a simr crimson red coat. Dijon sensing the enemy trying to nk him, came to a halt and he lowered his shoulders, bringing down his twin revolver cannons and with a thunderous boom, he fired at the defending War Jack, the force of the explosions knocking it off its feet.


    Next, he spun around quickly, as quickly as a multi ton machine made of metal could move, his mounted MG tracking the thrown morning star flying in his direction. Red hot tracers beamed out, chasing the wrecking ball of destruction and catching it in mid air. Lead bullets shattered and bounced off the surface of the morning star until the amount of kic energy dumped upon it cracked its surface and the morning star broke in three pieces.


    The Protectorate War Jack appeared surprised as it seemed to pause to stare at the remains of its weapon, of which remained a piece attached to the chain. Using the moment of confusion, a retractable mono de shinged out from a integrated sheath inside the right arm of Dijon and he charged.


    The Protectorate War Jack raised the remains of its morning star and attempted to block the ramming attack of Dijon. There was a shriek of metal against metal and the stubby ws of the Protectorate War Jack flew into the air and the mono de continued unimpeded and buried all the way to Dijon''s fist.


    He jerked and dug the de upwards, slicing vital cog works and severing control cords. The War Jack spasm and jerked underneath Dijon for a moment beforeying still. Dijon stood up and turned to the other War Jack that he knocked down. That War Jack had managed to climb back to his feet only to get hit by another two sts of Dijon''s shoulder cannons.


    It flopped back on its back, dazed as Dijon made his way next to it and finished it off by emptying the rest of the shells in his shoulder cannons. For a moment, he stood there unmoving, before he let out an electronic cry of rage and turned to face the remaining Protectorate soldiers still fighting.


    The battle soon wind down as the Protectorate ground troops lost all support from their wrecked airships and War Jacks. They simply could not win against the superior firepower of the UN troops and very quickly the sounds of battle ceased. Themanders of the 101st ATI, 1st MSC and the 1st ARR soon gathered inside the ruined church with the exception of Dijon.


    He had walked away without a word to the outskirts of the ruins after the battle and remained there unmoving ever since, with a small group of goblins fussing over his metal body. None of themanders said anything about Dijon''s behaviour as they stood before the Princess. "Your Highness, once the goblins have assembled up the transports, we will depart from this area immediately."


    Princess Sherene nodded tiredly. She was d to be done with this nightmare and have her child in safety. "I- Is B- ke on his way here?"


    "Yes, your Highness!" The CO of the 1st ARR replied. "His Excellency is still roughly a day of travel away. We will meet up with the His Excellency at another safer location."


    "G- Good..." Princess Sherene smiled with relief, the weight in her heart slowly dissolving away. "t- thank you all... for rescuing us..."


    "Kekekeke, tis our jobs, Princess!" A skinny goblin wearing Army camouge overalls, a set of resized body armour and a jockey cap giggled. "We here to Res-Kill! Rescue and kill things! Kekekeke!"


    -----


    Outside the ruined church, the goblins of the 1st MSC was busy dropping bags filled with parts onto the ground and dragging drop pods filled with machinery and wheels. Very quickly, the skeletal shape of a dune buggy appeared. Parachute fabric became lining for the simple seats and overhead cover while the rest of the buggy, made out of rods were exposed to the elements, only a few simple tes of metal served to protect the more vital electric engine and batteries.


    The goblins worked quickly and in barely an hour, over a dozen buggies, each enough to ferry seven adults were almostpleted. Tyrier watched the goblins cheerfully bolt another buggy together and shook his head, thinking that previous, they were still locked in a hard battle against these creatures. But now, here they were working on machines without a care in the world.


    "Ten more mi nuts!" The goblin chief called out. Tyrier noticed that the goblins were even mounting weapons on the top of buggies. Apleted buggy hummed its way up before the doors of the ruined church where Tyrier was standing and the goblin behind the wheel threw a lopsided salute and drawled, "The Princess''s personal ride is here!"


    Tyrier nodded and he entered the church and reported to the seated Princess who had her child asleep on herp. "Mydy, we can depart now."


    Sherene nodded and she carefully held her sleeping son in her embrace and followed the soldier out where a barebones looking vehicle awaited. The sight of the makeshift like vehicle brought tears to her eyes as she suddenly recalled seeing something simr many years back when she was leading her people to safety and now, the almost exact scene appeared.


    "Mydy?" Tyrier frowned when he saw the tears and wondered if the Princess was unwell or something.


    Sherene shook her head and with the help of Tyrier she climbed on board at the back where a simple bench heavily padded with rolls of parachute silk was prepared for her and her child. She gratefully sat down and the goblin helped buckle her up grinned and said, "Its ah bumpy ride!"


    Soon the vehicle quickly filled up, with most of the ymore One operatives on board and the rest on another vehicle, the impromptu convoy quickly rolled out of the ruins. Sherene watched as the ruins slowly disappear from view before a hulking crimson red War Jack catch her eye. She gasped in shock but quickly calmed down when she noticed the rest was not worried.


    "W- What is that?" Sherene pointed to the rear. "Is that one... of ours?"


    Tyrier looked back and realised she was pointing to Dijon and for a moment he wondered what to tell her. He knew Dijon felt responsible for having failed to protect the Princess and leading her to end up in the Protectorate''s hands. He could also guess the reason why Dijon did not appear before the Princess as well hence when she asked who or what was following them, he did not know what to answer.


    "Eh... that is one of ourtest... fighting golems!" Finally, Tyrier replied awkwardly. "We... converted some of their golems into our use."


    "I see," Sherene nodded. "I... thought it was one of theirs..."


    Tyrier let out a soft sigh as he stared at the PAC run behind them at a steady pace and said softly over the wind, "He can never be one of them..."

 Chapter 654: Ticket to Freedom

    Chapter 654: Ticket to Freedom


    "This is preposterous!" A crumpled scroll pped against the head of the kneeling messenger. Standing behind a wide writing desk, the Grand Bishop of the Clergy red at the bearer of ill tidings. "This messagees from within ourwful and orderlynds?"


    "Y- Yes, y- your Greatness!" The messenger replied in fear, his head ttened against the glossy red marble tiles. "I- It was sent by a Judge!"


    "And where is the reminder of this message?" The Grand Bishop settled back down on his chair, his face full of anger. He had been looking forward to the day''s menu, for his chef hade upon some rare cuts of Tarragons, but now, his luncheon was disrupted.


    "The magicalmunication was had been severed..." The messenger quickly replied. "We have tried to reconnect to the Judges on board but our Judges could only sense a void..."


    "What in Ramuh''s Halls are those two ships doing there?" The Grand Bishop interrupted unhappily. "Who is theirmander?"


    "I- It''s Lord Bishop Major Zakhi..." The messenger continued. "H- He had received word that a Lord Bishop and several priests from Work Camp Redemption have been murdered!"


    "Murder?" Instantly, his bad mood vanished as he shot to his feet. "Who dared tomit such foul sins against members of the Clergy and why is Zakhi doing there? Was he not assigned to the front?"


    "L- Lord Bishop Major Zakhi''s force was nearby when the incident happened..." The messenger quickly rified. "Hisst message to the regional Clergy was that he was chasing after an escaped repenter from the work camp who was very likely to be a witch..."


    "And.. did the lot of you deemed that such a foul sin be not reported to me?" The Grand Bishop growled at the two lines of Vice Bishops and aides standing with their heads bowed down like chastised children on the sides of the room. "I am the regional Clergy''s Grand Bishop!"


    "How dare you all hold back such details from me!" The Grand Bishop cursed at his people. "An Inquisition shall be Ordered!"


    "Find out what happened to Bishop Zakhi and his troops! And find the murderer!"


    -----


    The cries and sounds of fighting had ceased for some time before the figure finally gathered enough courage inside the dark cell dared to push the cell door which he had picked open earlier. He looked around the darkness, hearing the moans and nervous panting of his fellow prisoners all around him and he carefully made his way in the darkness towards the thin ray of lighting from underneath a door.


    He pulled gently at the door, both relieved and frightened at the same time as the door gave way with a soft squeak of its rusty hinges. He paused and waited, peeking through the crack and praying that there were no guards out there. He couldn''t see anyone from the crack nor the dreaded crashing of iron shod boots on stone.


    The door creaked loudly as he pulled it open wider and found himself in a stone chamber with a set of chairs and table at the far corner. He quickly closed the door behind him as the light roused up the prisoners behind him and started making noises.


    There was amp that burned on the middle of the table surrounded by abandoned cutlery and tes, the food half eaten. There was another closed door on his left and a flight of stone steps leading up on his right. Across him, a rack hung certain tools of interrogation that took up the majority of the wall next to the table and chairs, faced him coldly.


    He took a quick peek up the stairs to make sure there was no oneing down before he fell upon the tes of half eaten food. He stuffed the cold mess into his mouth and washed it all down with a goblet filled with watered wine before he checked on the other door. Simr to where he escaped from, it appeared to be filled with prisoners locked in cells. Themplighting from the room agitated the prisoners and so he quickly closed it.


    Grabbing a long tool that looked like a short pike and plier from the torture rack, he climbed the flight of steps and found himself in another room simr to the one he came from except there was moremps lit and no torture tools in view and only one door and another flights of stairs leading up.


    He pushed the door open and peeked in and to his surprise, the cells he was expecting turned out to be different but were still cells. Instead of the dark and cold cells he expected, what he saw was a proper bedroom, filled with furniture and there were even carpets inside the cell!


    The person inside the cell stared back at his confused expression and said in a cold tone, "Are you here to torture me?"


    "Ahhh..." He was surprised by the person inside the cell and quickly wanted to m the door shut. Then he realised what she was saying when he looked down at what he was handing in his hands. "N- No!"


    "WAIT!" The person with a noble bearing stood up and held onto the bars of the cell. Her cold voice with a hint of panic called out, "Let me out! Help me escape and you shall be richly rewarded!"


    "Ehh..." He paused in his actions in closing the door and took another look at the beauty ring at him. "I..."


    "Hurry up and open the cell doors!" The female with her untied long brown hair and dressed in a set of loose white robes snapped. "Find the keys!"


    "Where are the keys?" He asked as he looked around the cell. He did not notice any keys anywhere.


    "With the guards of course!" She rolled her eyes at him as if he was an idiot. "Find them!"


    He took a nce at the room outside and sighed before he bent over the locked cell doors and started fiddling it with a broken piece of metal wire that he managed to acquire. He had learned how to lockpick a lock in his younger wilder days and very quickly the primitive set of locks clicked open.


    The female inside give an impressed nod at his skills and she grabbed a coat before stepping out of the cell. "You, what is your name?"


    "Erm... I... am... Ahh... Just call me Leung..." Leung replied, unable to think of an alternate name for himself at that moment.


    "Long?" The female nodded and she walked into the room with the stairs. "I am Duchess Manarva of the Tri State! Follow me!"


    "Erm... Okay..." Leung gave a shrug as he followed the noblewoman out. Under the brighter lighting, he noticed that she was actually older than he assumed. The two of them made their way up the stairs and soon found themselves in a long deserted corridor filled with rooms.


    "Do you hear any fighting?" Manarva asked as they made their way cautiously down the stone corridor, checking each room as they went. The rooms were mostly sleeping quarters for guards and both of them quickly found a pair of suitable boots for their bare feet while Leung switched out his tattered prison garb for a simple tunic and pants.


    "No..." Leung replied dully as he had miscalcted. He was wary of this beauty as he recalled she was the leader who had forcibly captured him and many others from the New World and had to endure months of suffering as they crossed the Sea of Clouds. In his mind, he was cursing himself for getting blinded by beauty and releasing her. He should have ditched her and escaped himself and now, he was stuck with her!


    Finally, thest door at the end of the corridor led them outside into the sun. They exited into a small courtyard and saw the ce in partial ruins. The roofs of the buildings nearby were shattered and pieces ofrge masonry and stone littered the area. Looking cautiously around, Leung asked in a low voice, as if afraid of speaking too loudly, "What happened here?"


    "I do not know!" The cold beauty snapped as she walked without fear towards the exit of the courtyard where sounds of fighting could be heard.


    "Why are you going that way?" Leung panicked. "Shouldn''t we go the other way? Away from the fighting?"


    "Because I want answers!" Manarva shook her head at his obvious signs of cowardice. "Just follow me!"


    Leung unwillingly followed after the Duchess but just as they left the courtyard, a figure mmed into Leung from the side, sending both of them crashing down onto the floor. Leung let out a yelp of fright and raised the torture tool he still carried as a defensive weapon up to hit the person. He only stopped when he noticed the person in his arms was another female with striking looks. Only that she was covered in blood and blended in with the crimson red uniform she was wearing and in her hands, she clutched onto a shard of mana stone.


    "A Protectorate Inquisitor!" Duchess Manarva hissed in shock she recognized the uniform. "We must kill her!"


    "But..." Leung hesitated as he looked at the pretty face. "She''s wounded and... helpless..."


    "You!" Duchess Manarva rolled her eyes once more and grabbed the tool from Leung''s hands. "I will do it! An Inquisitor is bad news!"


    "Over here!" A cry of rm came from behind and a small troop of Iron Kingdom soldiers appeared with weapons drawn. "More Protectorate! Kill them all!"


    "Oh, the curse of the Gods!" Duchess Manarva groaned as the Iron Kingdom soldiers rushed over with blood in their eyes. She blocked a sword swing with the borrowed torture tool and rammed the blunt end into the face of the soldier she was facing and in a swift motion, disarmed the soldier.


    She gave the appropriated sword in her hands a few experimental swings before engaging in melee with the rest of the soldiers. Unlike Leung who was jailed in poor conditions, Duchess Manarva had better living conditions and food as she was after all, a noble despite a prisoner. Her body had long regained most of her muscles and strength after living on half rations when they were lost in the Sea of Clouds and her expertise in swordsmanship, easily allowed her to fend off the attacks ofmon soldiers.


    "We need to run!" She snapped at Leung who was still carrying the unconscious Protectorate Inquisitor. "Throw her away and run! I can''t hold off so many enemies at once!"


    "Okay!" Leung quickly agreed but he continued to carry the unconscious Protectorate Inquisitor and ran back the way they came. His actions made Manarva fumed with anger and channeled it to her fight instead and slowly retreated back to the courtyard.


    The sounds of fighting started to attract more attention and suddenly a group of red coated Protectorate troops appeared and they charged into the melee singing and praying. The sudden turn of events gave Manarva a much needed respite and she took the opportunity to escape. She chased after the running peon who released her and a hundred curses ran in her head as she imagined herself strangling the cowardly person with clipped ears.


    They ran back into the building and blocked the door before Manarva turned her re at Leung. "You! Are you trying to get us all killed?"


    "But... it was you who wanted to go out there..." Leung felt wrongful by her usation. He flinched back at her murderous look and lowered his voice, "It''s not my fault..."


    "Than why did you bring her along?" Manarva gestured to the unconscious female. She raised the sword in her hand but Leung stopped her.


    "Don''t! She... ah..." Leung scratched his head as his thoughts were that it was such a waste that beauty would be killed just like that and quickly came out with a lie.


    "She is the ticket to our freedom!"

 Chapter 655: Family Reunion

    Chapter 655: Family Reunion


    Leung Chun Kok, of Terran descent, formerly a member of the United Nations of Man Fleet Command, now deserter and a cursed apostle of Apep, nervously watched the two women of opposing hostile ideology face off against each other.


    One dressed in form fitting crimson and gold jacket, ending in long pants and boots. The ritualistic scars marking her face did not take away the beauty of her looks and instead gave her a sort of wild primal beauty. She defensively stood there holding a dagger that appeared out from nowhere and in her other hand, she tightly clutched onto the shard of mana stone.


    Facing her was the Duchess and despite her age, she still possessed striking features. Her stolen sword was held out in abative stance as she stared down warily at her opponent who had awakened. Leung staring at the two women felt a headache as he did not know what to say to defuse the situation.


    They had barricaded themselves inside one of the prison buildings and he had hoped to use the Protectorate girl as a means of cover to escape the Iron Kingdom. But he had failed to anticipate one thing was that the Protectorate were too rigid and stubborn in their ways. Anyone not a follower of Ramuh was branded awless heretic and were unwee, less they get tainted by their sins.


    That was how the situation became this way when the female Protectorate woke up. Despite her injuries, she let out a growl and a dagger suddenly appeared from somewhere. Seeing the situation in a stalemate and the sounds of fighting getting louder once more, Leung stepped in with his hands half raised as he tried to smooth things down.


    "Rx! We are not enemies here!" Leung said as he inched his way forward. "Please put down your weapons! We... We are all... on the same boat here!"


    "Same boat?" Duchess Manarva spat. "She''s an Inquisitor! She will kill us all without even blinking an eye! It''s what they do!"


    "R- Really?" Leung faltered as he looked at the girl whose pretty face was covered in scars, feeling pity for her. "E- Even after we saved you from those soldiers?"


    "Youwless scum!" The Protectorate girl shifted her stance, pointing her dagger at Leung. "You darey your filthy hands on me? I shall send you to be Judged!"


    "Wait, what?" Leung jumped out of the way of the shing dagger. "For God''s sake! I just saved your life!"


    "sphemy!" The Protectorate girl hissed. "Ramuh curse your false Gods!"


    "Can I kill her now?" Duchess Manarva mocking asked as she watched from the side with amusement. "Is she still your ticket out?"


    "Stop it!" Leung groaned as he dodge another sh from the Protectorate girl. If not for her wounds, she would have sliced Leung up several times already. He wanted to make use of the Protectorate to escape from the Iron Kingdom soldiers, but it didn''t turn out the way he wanted. "Wait! Stop! Listen to me!"


    "Lawless! Nothing you say shall prevent Ramuh from Judging you!" She made a lunge at Leung. "You sinner!"


    "Wait! I- I understand Law!" Leung made a desperate attempt to pacify the Protectorate girl. He quickly thought up some Chinese quotes, "Laws control the lesser people!"


    The Protectorate girl paused in her actions as she heard his words and she repeated them softly, "Laws control the lesser people?"


    "Yes! A... ah... Right conduct controls the greater one!" Leung squeezed his brains for more quotes that he know and once again, greatly regretted that he did not study hard enough when he was young. "To vite thew... is ah... the same crime in the emperor as in themon people!"


    "Your words..." The Protectorate girl frowned as she listened to Leung''s quotes. "They are not from the Book of Law and Order!"


    "Ah... No!" Leung wondered what the hell was the Book of Law and Order. "I... I believe in Law and Order! "


    "Your words are profound," The Protectorate girl eyed him suspiciously, "Yet... Which Bishop taught you?"


    "I... I have no teacher!" Leung quickly said. "I... ah... came to enlightenment by myself!"


    "Eh... L- Laws are useless when... when the people are pure... But unenforceable when the people are corrupt!"


    -----


    The Protectorate, RP Delta


    The overly painted hull of an airship came to a slow hover over the dusty ground, its aerial screws and hidden propellers winding down, spinynding legs extended out jerkily from its undersides before touching down. Overhead, two other blocky airshipszily drifted among the shrieking feathered wyverns, watching the area.


    The airship settled down on itsnding jacks with a strained metal groan before the side cargo hatch swung down and the boarding ramp ran out. ke ran out as before the ramp was even fully deployed and he came to a halt before a waiting group of people.


    Tyrier made a wordless gesture to the soldiers and they stopped their gawking and busied themselves, giving the Captain some private space but still sneaking peeks. ke continued forward in shaky steps until he stopped before the figure wrapped in a hooded cloak and carrying a bundle in her hands.


    "S- Sherene?" He asked in a hoarse and uncertain voice. The woman before him had aged and looked haggard. It hurt him so much when he saw she had suffered so much but at the same time relief flooded his veins to have her back safe and sound.


    Sherene nodded, her body shaking as tears spilt out from her eyes. "Y- yes, Richard..."


    "I- I am... sorry... for beingte..." ke cried as he reached out to touch his wife who had been separated from him. He paused in his actions when he saw how she flinched away and the guilt pierced his heart. He dropped his hands down to his side and smiled underneath the tears, "I am sorry..."


    Sherene shook her head as she saw the look of guilt and pain in his ears. She quickly stepped forward and hugged him fiercely before gently transferring the bundle in her hands to him. "It''s... alright dear... Here... meet your son!"


    "My son?" ke looked down at the bundle in his hands, seeing the baby for the first time. The child was asleep with his tiny thumb in his tiny mouth. He had a mop of ck hair like ke''s and the facial features of his mother. But the striking thing of the child was his ears, on his right, it was pointy like the elves and on his left, it was short and rounded like the humans.


    "What is his name?" ke''s coldness and harsh expression had softened as he looked at his wife and child.


    "His name... is Coa..." Sherene blushed in embarrassment. "I... named him... after cocoa which... you taught me where chocte came from... and his hair is dark like chocte... and it makes me think of the first time we met... and and..."


    ke smiled as he hugged his wife and child fiercely, listening to her bbering. The soldiers cheered and apuded as they witnessed the scene, happy to see their Captain and the Princess reunited.


    "Princess!" Dr. Sharon cried out from behind as she came barreling over with a whole suite of medical equipment. She grabbed Sherene before she could react and hugged her tightly, crying with joy. "My poor princess!"


    "Oh! Your son?" Dr. Sharon''s eyes glittered as she looked at the cute child. "I need to do a medical checkup on both of you first!"


    "Get on the stretcher!" She shooed ke to one side as she helped Sherene up onto a stretcher pushed by two medical attendants, before adding, "You can continue your family reunion after I finish checking both mother and child''s health!"


    ke nodded as he wiped off the tears on his face and with his son in his embrace, he followed alongside the stretcher. Stopping at the top of the ramp, he turned to look at the hulking war machine that was looking back at him with its electronic eyes and gave a nod before issuing an order to the waiting officers.


    "Expedite the boarding... I don''t want to stay here another minute longer!"


    -----


    The Old Ugly, Med Bay


    Dr. Sharon suppressed the urge to cry out when she saw the naked body of Sherene who was seated on the medical bay. Crisscrossed scars could be seen on nearly every part of her back, some clearly just recently from the coloring of the tissue.


    She gently attached the medical sensor leads on Sherene before helping hery down and covering her with a thick nket. She gently patted Sherene''s head and resisted the urge to cry and instead, she asked, "How are you feeling, Princess?"


    "Tired," Sherene smiled. "And... safe..."


    "Don''t you worry, we will keep you safe!" Dr. Sharon dered as she checked Sherene''s vitals. "We... We will do something about these scars..."


    Sherene cast her eyes down in anguish as she recalled the memories of her time in the Protectorate. "T- They forced me to learn... their ways..."


    "Any mistake... no matter how big or small..." Sherene started crying as Dr. Sharon did her best tofort her. "They will punish us... We must always follow thew and there can never be any disorder..."


    "Hush, my princess!" Dr. Sharon wiped her tears away. "You are safe now! We are going home! Magister Thorn, General Joesph, Blue Thunder, Rastraz, Kaga and many others are waiting for you!"


    "Y- Yes! I... miss them all..." Sherene finally calmed down. "I miss... home..."


    "I know. Now I am going to draw some blood from you," Dr. Sharon said gently as she took some blood from her arm. "Oh, Blue Thunder and Rastraz had a pair of babies too or eggs?"


    "Really?" Sherene smiled, it was the first true smile she had after so long. "I like to introduce my child to them!"


    "Alright, we are done," Dr. Sharon helped Sherene up and pointed to a side cabin. "Go take a long good shower while I check on the health of your child."


    Sherene nodded obediently and she disappeared into the cabin while Dr. Sharon printed out the results of the test. She opened the cabin hatch and called ke to enter with his son, gesturing him to ce the boy down on the examination bed.


    "Sherene''s healthwise is still ok, as long as she gets proper rest and nutrients," Dr. Sharon said. "Her nanites are working at below efficiency levels, but once they get topped up with some proteins and nutrients, they will start working to help Sherene recover fully."


    "Now here," Dr. Sharon smiled at the boy ogling his surroundings curiously. "What is this little handsome''s name?"


    "Coa," ke smiled as he watched his son make baby noises. "She said it reminds her of chocte..."


    "Foodie..." Dr. Sharonughed as she distracted the child and quickly drew blood for tests. The child was shocked by the sudden prick but ke patted him and calmed him down. "I will run some tests for the child. Looking at his size and weight, the Princess must have given all her food to him."


    "Even so, the child will becking in certain nutrients and vitamins which I will only know after the results are out..." Dr. Sharon said. "And it would suggest that cross breeding between two different... species... Homo alfus and homo sapiens are... possible..."


    "But we do not know what kind of gic troubles may arise in the future," Dr. Sharon warned. "So you better be mentally prepared!"


    "And as for Sherene..." Dr. Sharon gestured to the side cabin. "She is both mentally and physically scarred. So you need to put in your all to ensure both her mental and physical health!"


    "I don''t want to see you go off into a blender anymore!" Dr. Sharon warned.


    "Yes, I understand," ke nodded. "I will make sure nothing will ever happen to them again."


    "Just get us all home, Captain!"

 Chapter 656: Fight Your Battles and I Fight Mine

    Chapter 656: Fight Your Battles and I Fight Mine


    Leung followed behind the girl Inquisitor while being surrounded by a bunch of ultra fanatics dressed like some 21st century B grade Japanese action hero flick. Next to him was the Duchess whose expression was unreadable as she followed along, her hands empty after being disarmed by the Protectorate soldiers that found them.


    "Rx," Leung said in a low voice to the Duchess. "I... I will get us out of this... alive..."


    Duchess Manarva only shook her head at his words and ignored him. Finally, they came out from the castlepound and found themselves in a garden that looked over the edge of the floating ind. Leung nervously looked at the dozens of airships still locked in battle in the skies around them when suddenly arge crimson red airship rose up and hovered next to the ind''s edge.


    Grappling hooksunched out to tether the airship next to the ind while long ramps dropped down. More red coated soldiers marched out before the girl led the way on board the waiting airship, taking along Leung and the Duchess.


    -----


    "Captain on the bridge!" The crew snapped to attention as ke entered the bridge. He waved the crew back to their duties before settling down on his usual chair and checking their current status. The Old Ugly and its escorts were travelling in formation towards the ocean where the Vengeance awaited.


    Ignoring all attempts at stealth, ke wanted his ships to get out of the airspace of the Protectorate as fast as possible before heading back to Fort Anchorage where he and his family will hop on a waiting Vector wing ship and return back home to the New World. He did not want Sherene and his child to stay a minute longer in this godforsaken ce and in the deepest corner of his heart, he wanted to raze the entire Protectorate down. But his priority now is not revenge, but to get his family to safety.


    "Sir! Beholder reports multiple contacts bearing two two seven, four hundred and fifty klicks from our position," The sensor operator called out. "We are headed in their direction and will be within visual contact in three hours!"


    "Protectorate?" Trism asked as he stepped over to the sensor operator''s station. He checked the report before he turned to ke and said, "Captain, we got a Protectorate Fleet ahead of us. Twelve ships."


    "It is likely our presence has been reported up to their chain ofmand," Trism added.


    ke nodded, knowing it was a matter of time before the Protectorate dispatched a force to investigate. They had encountered several airships that were either couriers or merchants on their journey within the airspace of the Protectorate. It was only because the majority of the Protectorate forces were tied up in their invasion ns that they had not encountered arge force and the asional patrolling airships were all easily dispatched before they could evene within hailing distance.


    "Continue at our course and speed," ke said. "I''m not in the mood to take detours!"


    Trism grinned as he turned back to the excited crew. "Alright, you heard the Captain! No detours! Set condition yellow!"


    "Aye aye, Sir!" The bridge crew jumped to their duties and quickly, the two Icarus ss airships escorting the Old Ugly received their orders as well and they too went into an alerted status.


    "XO, you havemand," ke said after he was satisfied with everything. He left the bridge, nodding to the salutes of the Marine guards and headed straight to his stateroom. Another pair of Marines saluted him at the hatch of his cabin and went he entered his cabin, he found Sherene and his son both curled up at one corner of the cabin with nkets wrapped around them.


    Seeing her like this nearly broke his heart, he made his way softly next to his family and sat down next to them. Sherene jerked when she sense another presence next to her and she nearly wed his eyes out in reflex but ke managed to hold on to her. "Sherene! It''s me!"


    "Ahh...!" Sherene stared at him with shock, her eyes filled with terror before she realised who it was. The hatch slid opened and the Marine guards rushed in, their weapons at the ready as they heard her scream. ke gestured them to leave and the guards quickly departed in embarrassment.


    "Are you alright?" ke asked gently as he released her shaking hands. His son had woken up from his mother''s cry and was staring wide eyed at the man next to his mother.


    "I''m sorry..." Sherene sobbed as she buried her head into her son. "I... I thought... y- you were some Priest... or Overseer..."


    "Come andy down on the bed," ke said as gently as he could as he held back his anger at the Protectorate. "Don''t worry, with me here, there will be no Priests, nor Overseers... Or even the Protectorate..."


    -----


    The aerial battle was short and one sided with the Protectorate not even being able to return fire. All twelve ships, two dozens of their ornithopters and several small craft were all gunned down. ke did not even appear at the bridge hence overallmand was led by Trism.


    He coldly ordered all enemies to be destroyed, even the small escape craftsunched by the Protectorate to be chased down and destroyed. He did not want news of their capabilities to leak out even though the enemy knew of their presence. He even ordered the attack helos on board the two Icarus airships to hunt down any other airships in the vicinity be it civilian or military.


    It took them another thirty hours of fast travelling to reach the coast where the endless dark blue waters of the ocean covered their horizon. Meeting them was two flights of F/A - 2 Vipers, swooping in overhead and spreading out into a protective cordon as they escorted the three airships.


    Another hour brought the Vengeance into view and Sherene gasped at the sight. She stood at the observation deck carrying her son and watched the supercarrier growrger andrger in her view. "Did... you build this?"


    "Not me, but the people of the UN," ke smiled, d that Sherene was feeling better toe out of the cabin to take in the sights. "They built it toe to save you."


    "But... but... how much did it cost?" Despite being touched by the actions of the people, there was a hint of rebuke in Sherene''s tone as she turned to look at ke. "How can you waste so much... gold on this?"


    "It''s... not worth spending so many national resources... just to save one person..." Sherene''s voice grew softer. "It''s not worth the resources and lives..."


    "Nonsense!" ke frowned as he leaned over and pulled Sherene into his embrace. "You are worth it... And the people all think so too! Everyone here is a volunteer and are willing toy down their lives... Just. For. You."


    "But..." Sherene felt guilty despite being deeply moved. "I can''t sacrifice the lives of the people!"


    "No, but they are willing to sacrifice themselves for you," Magister Thorn said gently from the side. "And they will it again and again... Because... you are their Princess!"


    ke nodded in agreement with Magister Thorn''s statement. "He is right... But even if you are not their Princess... I will stille to find you!"


    Sherene buried herself into his arms and whispered softly, "Thank you..."


    -----


    The waiting reception snapped to attention as the bosun whistle piped the arrival of the Captain and the Princess. Officers saluted as they stepped off the ramp of the Old Ugly hovering next to Flight Deck A and ke returned their salutes.


    Once the weing ceremony ended, the crew burst out into wild cheers as they wee their Princess home. The loud cacophony made Coa cry as the noises frightened him and he only cried harder when the massive serpentine head of Blue Thunder came looming over him.


    "Princesssss!" Blue Thunder joyfully greeted Sherene while tears dripped down his cheeks. He swept his wings over Sherene and gave her a hug. "I missed you soo much!!!"


    "Stop crying you..." Rastraz gave up as she rolled her eyes at Blue Thunder. "Stop embarrassing yourself! You are a father now!"


    "But... S- Sob! She suffered so much! Sob!" Blue Thunder sniffed hard. "I am so d we found her! Sob!"


    Sherene giggled as she felt a sense of warmth from seeing the silly dragon again. She held her crying son out to the crying dragon and said, "Blue Thunder, Rastraz, meet my son, Coa."


    "Ooo!" Blue Thunder sniffed and seeing the baby crying louder, also joined in crying even harder. Rastraz rolled her eyes once more and shoved the emotional dragon to one side and said, "Hmm, he got your looks."


    "I heard you had two eggs?" Sherene smiled at the red dragon who nodded proudly. "Have they hatched yet?"


    Rastraz shook her head, "They should hatch soon... I can feel them moving inside the shell... and I am a bit sick of watching them for so long..."


    "Don''t listen to her!" Blue Thunder moaned from the side. "She watches her dramas all the time! I am the one doing the watchi- OOOF!!!"


    Rastraz red at Blue Thunder who was rolled on the flight deck in pain after getting pped by her tail. "D- Don''t listen to that... imbecile!"


    Sherene giggled harder at the antics of the two dragons. She had notughed so much for so long and the sound of herughter felt both foreign and familiar at the same time. ke watched herugh and a smile formed on his lips as he sensed her emotions were started to recover for the better.


    "Alright, let''s get out of this wind," Dr. Sharon shooed them towards the ship''s structure. "Both mother and son are still in the best condition and the cold sea wind wouldn''t help!"


    "Sir!" An aide came running over and handed a message slip to Captain Nimo at the side. He took a quick look at the message before handing it to ke whose happy expression turned grim after he read the message.


    "What is it?" Sherene sensing the change in his mood asked curiously.


    "Nothing much..." ke''s eyes turned cold as he look over to the coast. "Just... some pests..."


    "Deal with it," ke said to Captain Nimo as he led his wife and child out of the wind.


    "Yes, Sir!" Captain Nimo''s eyes glowed as he saluted. He turned to his officers and ordered. "Order the fleet to go into Condition Red!"


    The officers grinned when they heard the order, knowing that the Protectorate who stole their Princess was here and they were eager to pay them back. The excited crew milling around the flight decks quickly scattered when the ear piercing wail of the sirens went off. In record time, the decks were cleared and aircraft were already being elevated up from the under decks.


    Sherene looked at the orderly chaos along the passageways where crew members paused to salute ke and her as they made their way to ke''s stateroom. "I- Is the..."


    "Yes, they are here," ke replied grimly. "But don''t worry... We will take care of it."


    Sherene nodded and for once, no longer felt the Protectorate as scary anymore. In fact, she felt pity for them especially after seeing the cold eyes of her husband every time the Protectorate were mentioned. They came before a tastefully furbished passageway where Marine guards in full armour stood guard saluting their arrival.


    "Go," Sherene said as they stopped outside ke''s stateroom. "I will be fine."


    "But..." ke frowned as he wanted to stay andfort his wife and son.


    "Don''t worry about me," Sherene said with a smile. "I can handle it..."


    "Go do your duty, Captain!" Sherene''s smile widened as she imitated a salute to him. "You fight your battles and I fight mine!"

 Chapter 657: The Creator and Judge of the World

    Chapter 657: The Creator and Judge of the World


    Inquisitor Campbell was feeling excited with his new assignment as his fleet was recalled back from the frontlines of the Cartel. He was already bored with the daily torture of the heretical short demi people for their confessions and sins until an urgent order came through from the Judges informing a crime most foul had urred back home.


    As the nearest Inquisition Fleet, he had been pulled away from his important duties of enforcing Law and Order upon awless and orderlessnd. And the fact that it was a crime most foul, Inquisitor Campbell was eager to prove himself to Ramuh and the Inquisition, but mostly for the chance to increase his prestige and merits.


    The Regional Grand Bishop had provided him with some information of the suspects, which appeared to be a band ofwless insurgents that had the power to destroy two cruisers of the Clergy and their contingents of Pdins on board. He wanted to discount those reports but he could not as the information came directly from the Grand Bishop himself, hence there must be some truth to their strength, no matter how unbelievable it was.


    He was a cautious person, even in an organization that righteous zeal was ced above everything else. Using his authority as Inquisitor, he dragged a third of the Protectorate airships garrisoning the border that was keeping the way open for their invasion into the Iron Kingdom. Thirty Protectorate cruisers and ten Inquisition cruisers should be more than enough to canvas thend for those heretics.


    It wasn''t even after a day when another urgent report arrived and the news of the remains of a reserve force consisting of over twenty airships was found. He rushed over with his fleet and had his ships spread out hundreds of kilometers to find traces of the damned insurgents. He suspected the heretical enemy might be the demi people of the Cartel, sent in to wreak havoc within the Holy Lands to disrupt Judgement Day.


    Word of the insurgents'' whereabouts was quickly found, from traces of wreckage and eyewitnesses from the towns and viges. The direction of their heading was quickly determined, their destination appeared to be headed for the coast. Inquisitor Campbell quickly sent word to the Cartel front, calling for reinforcements to cut off the escape of the heretics.


    But what turned out to be a simple blockade of the heretics'' route turned out to be something more. Contact with the blocking fleet disappeared after theyst reported reaching the coast made Inquisitor Campbell uneasy. His fleet was still a quarter of the day away from the coast where thest known location of the heretics and the blocking fleet was at and he wondered should he continue the chase.


    Finally, his own self preservation overruled his zeal. He turned to his staff and made up an excuse, saying, "The fleet will head to the nearest border town. Send out scouting parties, I want to know what is hiding out along the coasts and where those heretics are going!"


    "And inform the local Clergy and Inquisition office," He added. "Tell them we need more reinforcements... the enemy... is a lot stronger than we thought!"


    -----


    The Iron Kingdom, Inquisition Airship, The Ardor


    "Lord Inquisitor," An aide, entering the chapel, bowed as he made a report. "The Flying Fortress is now under our control."


    The Chief Inquisitor, Nerssia having her wounds seen to have dressed into a set of clean uniforms. The massive statue of Ramuh looked down over her head as she stood looking at the stone pedestal in the middle of the chapel that held seven pieces of items in various shapes and sizes. She did not seem to hear her aides words as she stared through the eyeholes of her newly acquired mask at the objects before her with fervent.


    "My Lord?" The aide inquired as he tried to get the attention of the Chief Inquisitor.


    "I heard you," Nerssia suddenly spoke after a moment of silence. "Bring me... my guests..."


    "Yes, Lord Inquisitor!" The aide quickly snapped a salute and hurried off, relieved that the Chief Inquisition did not take fault with him.


    A short moment, a couple escorted by Pdins came into the chapel where Nerssia was still examining the objects on the stone pedestal. Both Leung and the Duchess had cleaned up and were dressed in clean robes and even their wounds looked after. Leung looked around his surroundings warily while the Duchess remained calm and collected as she eyed Nerssia in the middle of the room.


    After a while of silence, Leung unable to take the stiffing silence, was the first to speak, "Erm... your Greatness, can... can we know what instructions you have for us?"


    Duchess Manarva shook her head at the fawning tone of Leung and she folded her arms across her chest and ignored him. Leung looked at her helplessly before he turned to the girl standing in the middle of the room. He did not expect the girl to be a person of such high rank in the Protectorate and he felt truly screwed.


    "Instructions?" Nerssia finally took her eyes off the items on the pedestal and faced Leung. "What a strange way of speaking you have."


    "Ah.. yes, your Greatest!" Leung smiled ttery. The scars and wounds from the airstrike of the UN had long healed with the dark powers of his unholy pact with the Snake. His Asian features and short round ears stood out among the elves and the scrutiny from Nerssia made him ufortable. "I- I am not from around here..."


    "You came from the New World," Nerssia suddenly said in a blunt tone and without waiting for a response from Leung, she turned to the Duchess and sneered. "And you... You can thank Ramuh for we have an... understanding with your Grand Marshal..."


    Duchess Manarva''s cold eyes narrowed as she red at the Chief Inquisitor. "What deal did that person make?"


    "I will not tell," Nerssia smiled underneath her mask. "But it suffices for you to know, that your life is currently... safe in our hands..."


    Duchess Manarva growled under her breath as she cursed both Nerssia and the Grand Marshal of the Tri State for whatever unholy deals they made. Leung nervously swallowed as he looked at the two women before he cleared his dry throat, "Erm... your esteemed one, I... I wouldn''t be killed too right?"


    "Not... at this moment," Nerssiaughed at the frightened expression on Leung''s face. She eyed him for a moment before she added cryptically, "You have something I need..."


    Leung cast another nce at the Duchess and finding her ignoring him still, he could only panic as he worked his mind for a way out of this predicament which he was very certain would have him ending up in trouble or worse, dead.


    She turned back to the pedestal and gestured to her priests to over. Carefully, one by one, she removed the items from the pedestal and ced them into a box carried by the Priests. "Come follow me!"


    Unable to resist, they followed her out of the chapel and down several passageways until they came into arge hangar space. The side of the hangar cranked open and they found themselves looking at the floating ind. Hundreds of red coated soldiers dotted the castle and the airship came over to hover next to arge castle tower tform.


    With a gesture, several hooded Priests and Judges led the way for Nerssia as they stepped off the airship. The Judges held censors of burning incense while the Priests sing song chants as they purified the castle. Soon the whole party came into a huge stone chamber where the only object in the chamber was a stone pedestal coveredpletely in glowing intricate runes.


    Set on the top of the pedestal was a glowing orb the size of a basketball. The Priests and Judges fanned out around the stone chamber, their sing song chants being amplified by the acoustics of the chamber. Without a word, Nerssia removed the glowing orb off the pedestal.


    Instantly, the ground beneath their feet shook and rumbling could be heard throughout the floating ind as the magic was cut off from the flying ind. The runes stopped their glow and Nerssia turned to the Priests carrying the seven objects and said, "We have at least two turns of the sandss before the ind losses all magic."


    "Start the ritual!" Shemanded as she took a shard of mana stone that Leung recognized as the one he saw with her earlier. She snapped the shard and motes of lights burst out and a small cube rolled out. She handed the cube over to a Priest who together with the others started someplex rituals that no one other than themselves knew the purpose of.


    Runes were scratched out on the stone floor surrounding the pedestal and in less than half a turn of the sandss, the magical circle waspleted. The Priests each set down one of the objects in their hands on seven anchor points of the magic circle before Nerssia took out an idol that was carved outpletely from a blue magic crystal.


    She set the idol of Ramuh down on the pedestal and made a gesture to the Priests who left the chamber only to returnter with a long line of prisoners still d in irons. The rattle of chains apanied the chanting of the Priests and Judges as if in sync and soon the chamber was filled with confused prisoners surrounding the pedestal.


    The Priests forced the prisoners down to their knees and following some unheard rhythm, they whipped the backs of the prisoners causing them to cry out in pain and shock. The chanting grew louder and louder following the cries and Nerssia at some point had picked up the glowing orb from before. "Repent your Sins before Ramuh!"


    As the chanting and screams reached the highest point, she raised the glowing orb above her head and mmed it down on the pedestal, shattering the orb. Motes of lights erupted out and instantly Leung felt every strand of his hair standing on his ends. The magical circle drawn on the floor shed into light and the seven items exploded into sparks and mes, further increasing the light intensity of the magic circle.


    All the while, the chanting continued and grew louder and louder, and the screaming grew impossibly loud. Leung and the Duchess both covered their ears as they flinched back from the noise while the Protectorate seemed unaffected. In fact, zealous fervent seemed to glow in their eyes as they chanted along. "Judgement is here!"


    Suddenly, there was a loud crack like ss shattering. The unearthly sound sent chills down Leung''s spine and instantly, everyone chanting and screaming in the room let out a single synchronized gasp and they copsed down, their bodies visibly wilting and turning into dried husks. Only Leung, the Duchess and Nerssia remained alive in the chamber that minutes ago was packed with people.


    "Do... we run?" Leung whispered nervously to the Duchess next to him whose face had turned pale.


    "I can''t move!" Duchess Manarva hissed back at him, cold sweat dripping down her body. Leung tried to move, but he too felt his legs seemed to be rooted to the floor.


    The crystal idol of Ramuh on the pedestal glowed brightly in the aftermath before slowly dimming down and returning to its normal appearance, except that there was something different with the idol. While its outward appearance has not changed, when one looked at the idol, it gave off the feeling that it was a living object.


    Nerssia stepped forward and paid her obeisance to the crystal figurine of Ramuh on the pedestal, "Wee back to the mortal realm, my Lord Ramuh! The Creator and Judge of the World. The Law and the Order of the World!"


    A deep voice sounding old as aeons were heard inside the heads of everyone in the chamber, "I... AM RAMUH THE CREATOR AND JUDGE! FINALLY... I... HAVE... RETURNED!"

 Chapter 658: Soul Torn

    Chapter 658: Soul Torn


    Leung froze as he stared at the glittering crystal idol in the middle of the chamber. Soft angry hisses could be heard from inside his soul as Nerssia walked over, carrying the idol in her hands. She took before Leung and the Duchess and dered in triumphant, "Lord Ramuh stands before you! Kneel in His presence and confess all your sins!"


    "Eh... Can I... I mean we... not do that?" Leung tried to joke his way out as he felt a strange sense of forbidding from the crystal idol. "I know he''s your god and all... But... you know? Freedom of religion?"


    An unworldly aura was suddenly given off by the idol and forced Leung and Duchess Manarva onto their knees hard and they could only bend their heads down under its pressure. Nerssia continued to speak as if not sensing their distress, "My Lord Ramuh! These two have been chosen as candidates for your ession onto the mortal realm!"


    "Can... you... shut... up... for once...?" Duchess Manarva panted as she cursed at Leung next to her. "Will it... kill you... to not speak...!"


    "VERY... WELL..." The aging voice of Ramuh rumbled in their heads as the crystal idol appraised them.


    Originally, Nerssia wanted to use herself as the host for Lord Ramuh but her ns changed once she encountered Leung and Duchess Manarva. Leung seemed to possess some unorthodox teachings of Lord Ramuh and he looked young and healthy, while he did not possess good looks, his strange features and ears made him unique and different from everyone.


    As for the Tri State Duchess, it was a bonus to find her on the floating ind. It would be a great gain for the Protectorate if Lord Ramuh sessfully merge with her soul, gaining her flesh body. With her identity as the Duchess of Lightning, returning her with Lord Ramuh residing in her soul would allow Lord Ramuh to subvert and convert the people of the Tri State to his faith.


    The Grand Marshal of the Tri State will never thought to suspect the changed Duchess and if she was unsuitable to be the host of Lord Ramuh, the most was that she would turn into a soul torn fool from the failed process. And Nerssia would also not break her promise of the temporary pact with the Tri State as the Duchess''s life was technically not harmed.


    With these two unexpected candidates appearing at the right time, she felt excited that very soon, she will be able to stand right next to Lord Ramuh as he brings Judgement down on thiswless and disorderly world! And even if these two failed as hosts for Lord Ramuh, she still have dozens of candidates including herself to fall back on. Just the thought of it made her wet and she flushed with anticipation as she held the idol over the two kneeling at her feet.


    "BE... HONORED..." The body of the crystal idol radiated brightly as a beam of white light was cast over the prostrating Duchess. She let out a cry of pain as she felt her soul on fire. Suddenly, with a burst of desperation, Leung lunged over and pushed the Duchess out of the way of the light beam and it shone over his body. Instantly, he curled up like a shrimp and screamed as his soul was being ripped out.


    Nerssia frowned at the act but otherwise did not, instead under her mask, she sneered at the pale and sweating Duchess sprawled on the floor. She coldlyughed at Leung who was screaming on the floor, knowing that it did not really matter who became the host of Lord Ramuh, for once He entered the mortal realm, He shall rule the world!


    -----


    Leung was never a hero nor a good samaritian. While he might have notions of helping the asional damsel in distress, it was more to feed his ego and only if it was a pretty face. For some reason, hearing the scream of pain from the icy Duchess made him lose his reason. He admit that he was attracted to the milfy looking Duchess and knowing his soul was damned for eternity, at that moment, he decided to be a hero.


    Using every ounce of his strength, he threw himself over to the Duchess. The heavy pressure from the crystal idol had eased slightly when it turned its attention to the Duchess which allowed him to move and knock the screaming woman aside.


    And he instantly regretted it. Indescribable pain coursed through his entire body. He could feel every strain of nerve, veins, bones, muscle, flesh and even his blood was like on fire. If it wasn''t his whole body feeling the same amount of pain or more, he would had gouged his own eyes out or even ripped his ears and fingers off.


    "BRAVE... BUT... FOOLISH..." A booming voice reverberated in his head, making him scream harder. "YOUR... SOUL... IS... FILLED... WITH... SINS!!! MURDER... THEFT... DESTRUCTION... BLASPHEMY..."


    As the pain intensify more, tears of blood flowed out from all his apertures and he spasmed on the floor. The booming voice in his head continued to list out his sins as it absorbed his soul and read his memories. "GREED... TRAITOR... LUST... WAIT... WHAT... IS... THIS... HOW?"


    -----


    Ramuh the Creator and Judge was a divine being of extreme principles. With the Kingdom of Gods destroyed during the Divine War and broken up into thousands and thousands of pieces and having His divinity depleted against the Outsider Gods, He had no choice but to retreat into the Void and hibernate to recover His lost divinity back as it was the safest ce for a wounded God to hide in the infinite darkness.


    He swore upon His divine name to bring order back from the chaos that followed after the Divine War and before He departed, He gave strict instructions to the remnants of His faithful followers. They were to restore the Law and bring Order to thend and Protectorate the world from the Outsider Gods. They were also a set of instructions on how to summon Him back onto the mortal realm and it would appear that His followers had finally seed.


    He did not know how long He had slept, but when He was awoken, He could sense that many eons had passed and the descendants of His faithful followers during the Age of Gods had awoken Him. Unlike before, the flow divinity from faith was barely even a tenth of what He used to absorb and that made Him greatly displeased.


    But still He has returned and while His strength was still not enough to breakthrough the barriers of the Void, thus in His wisdom, He hadid down instructions for his followers to provide hosts for Him, which will allow Him tear through the darkness of the Void. Now, before Him, kneed two people, one male one female.


    He choose the female first as He could sense her proud and unyielding nature, which He admired. Yet, when He poured His divine essence into her body, that wretched looking male mortal had threw himself in His way. Unable to retract His divine essence, He could only make use of the wretched male mortal for now.


    As he absorbed the mortal''s soul, memories flowed into His divine mind. Memories were quickly sorted out and categorized while He read the mortal''s soul. The mortal''s deplorable actions and sins were allid bare and He gave his Judgement on each and every sin, dragging out the agony of the process of consuming the mortal''s soul.


    Suddenly, while He was drawing out a memory from the soul, He felt a malicious intent lock onto Him. Surprised and curious, He focused onto the intent and to His shock, a hidden dark slithering mass shot out from depths of the mortal''s soul andtched onto His divine essence. He reacted by using divine fire to attempt to burn the malicious intent that appeared in a form a shadowy snake.


    Divine mes melted the smoky body of the snake, but yet it held on unyielding. Anger shed in Ramuh''s eyes as He channeled more of His power to kill the evil but despite what He did, the snake continued to bite on and suddenly, He felt His divinity was weakening slightly. "WHAT... EVIL... IS... THIS...?"


    "AN... OUTSIDER... GOD!!!" He roared as He came to recognize the weak and foreign divinity given off by the snake. How did an Outsider God be hidden in the soul of this mortal? Thought Ramuh. Was it a trap?


    He continued to battle yet the snake resisted all His attempts in trying to destroy it as it continued to absorb the divinity of Ramuh causing him to grow weaker. "DAMN... YOU!"


    -----


    The battle between two Gods inside Leung''s body had him sweating blood. He wanted to faint but yet was unable to and he could only suffer in agony as he witness the battle of two Gods vying for control of his body.


    "ENOUGH!" Ramuh roared once more, the roar of His voice in Leung''s head made him feel like his brains were being beaten into mush. Ramuh halted his absorption of Leung''s soul and sought to pull away from his body but the snake did not allow it. It hungrily held on as it absorbed more and more of Ramuh''s essence and divinity.


    Unable to retreat, Ramuh could only continue to fight, which wrought more agony upon Leung. Blood flowed out freely from his mouth and if it was not for the Duchess who had recovered and ripping the corner of her robe and putting it into Leung''s mouth, he would had bitten his tongue off.


    "Do something!" Duchess Manarva yelled at Nerssia who remained still as a statue as she watched Leung convulsing on the floor. "Stop the ritual! You are killing him!"


    "All in faith," Nerssia smiled underneath her mask. "Soon, he shall be reborn as a God and cleanse this filthy world of its sins!"


    "You are crazy!" Duchess Manarva growled and she stood up. Her body ached all over from the earlier divine pressure exerted upon her but her eyes glowed with determination. She suddenlyshed out with her leg, catching the Chief Inquisitor by surprise.


    The crystal idol flew off her hands and rolled away to one corner. Underneath her mask, Nerssia''s face contorted into fury as she charged at the Duchess. Fists flew and were blocked as both women fought in unarmedbat. The fight went on for several bouts without a clear winner as both women were highly trained in the arts of unarmed fighting. Despite both women were injured, one having being subjected to divine pressure, while the other suffering a stab wound in an earlier battle, it only further leveled the ying field.


    "I will KILL YOU!" Nerssia finally let out a crazed scream of rage and frustration as the fight dragged on. "You- You dare defile Lord Ramuh with your filthy body! DIE!"


    She threw herself forward without any care to her body, taking punches and kicks. Duchess Manarva could not stop her and suddenly she found herself trapped back against the wall. A moment of distraction caused her when Nerssia butt headed her causing her to m the back of her head against the cold stone walls, knocking her dazed.


    Nerssia quickly took advantage of the situation and saddled the Duchess and throttled her throat with both hands. The Duchess gasped for air and desperately tried to fight while Nerssia continued to scream crazily. Suddenly, Nerssia was pulled away and Duchess Manarva rolled over coughing as her lungs refilled with air.


    She turned around and with surprise, saw a blood covered Leung pulling Nerssia away. Too surprised and with her throat in pain, she could only dumbly watch Nerssia stare at Leung with captivation as she bent the knee to him. In that moment, A sense of loss overcame the Duchess Manarva as she knew the person that had saved her more than a few times was gone from this world.

 Chapter 659: Shut Down

    Chapter 659: Shut Down


    Power and strength coursed through every fibre of Leung''s being. The soul rending pain that he had suffered became a dim memory as if it had never happened as wave after wave offorting warmth epassed him. He stood up, feeling taller and stronger as if his body had been changed. He recalled a scene from some movie about a man bitten by a spider and felt it very simr to how he was experiencing things now.


    He heard a choking cry and he turned around, seeing two women struggling on the floor in a deadlock. Every panting breath, scrape of cloth, and the tightening of hands against the throating from both women was so clear despite the distance he was from them. Even as he looked, he somewhat even could see individual dust motes being stirred up in the air by the fight and the beads of sweat flowing down the side of the faces of both women to even their pores if he looked hard enough.


    The desperate gurgling cry from the Duchess snapped him back to his senses and Leung quickly rushed over to pull the masked girl away from her. Despite the wild struggle put up by the masked girl, he found that he could very easily hold on to her without effort. Even her kicks and fists did no more than tickle him.


    When she realized it was him holding her, her struggles and through her mask''s eye slits, he saw a fervent look of adoration. Once released, she dropped to her knees and kissed his bare feet in worship, "Hail Lord Ramuh, congrattions for sessfully crossing onto the mortal realm!"


    Leung was stunned by her promation before he quickly recalled that the earlier painful experience brought by the God called Ramuh. He touched his body, feeling his once skinny frame now covered with firm muscles and he wondered what happened between Ramuh and Apep. Was he still he or did he became a puppet of Ramuh or Apep.


    He frowned as he did not feel any changes mentally and that made him worried, as he was not sure if there was another additional presence hidden in his body. As he was despairing at his fate, he met the despondent eyes of the Duchess sprawled on the floor. She stared wistfully at him for a moment longer before she looked away leaving Leung confused by her.


    "Lord Ramuh! It is time to announce to the world of your return!" Nerssia suddenly said. She remained kneeling and added. "Your wisdom shall bringw and order to this world once more!"


    "I..." Leung''s frown deepened as he looked at the masked girl, wondering how did she mistake him as the God Ramuh. And at the same time, he wondered how best he could make out of this situation. In the end, he decided to y it by ear and he needed more information of where he was at. He cleared his throat and tried to make his voice sound wise as he once did with the Bluewood Empire in the New World when he was known as the Sage there.


    "Ahem... eh... Can you tell me more about this... Protectorate nation?"


    -----


    UNS Vengeance, Conference Room


    Words of greeting and well wishes bombarded Princess Sherene when she entered into the conference room together with ke. Their child was currently being watched by the dragons down at the hangar while they attended this meeting.


    The officers and senior staff in the conference room had smiles on their faces as ke called the meeting to start. The usual military reports of their current situation started first, followed by intelligence reports and finally, the overall report of their mission.


    "We will reach Fort Anchorage within a week at our current speed and heading," Captain Nimo of the Vengeance stated. "As per your orders, a Vector wing ship is being prepared and will be ready for departure back to the New World once we returned."


    "But we are still picking up arge number of airships around the vicinity of our sensors," Captain Nimo added. "We are beyond their vision, but if we return to shore, we might get spotted by the airships."


    "And we do not have enough strike craft to efficiently destroy every single one of those airships to prevent any rm being raised..." Captain Nimo frowned as he gestured to the map. "Our position will be leaked out either way."


    "Ignore the airships at the edge of our sensors," ke replied. "Only engage if theye within 20 kilometers of the fleet."


    "As for Fort Anchorage," ke cast a nce to Sherene before he addressed everyone. "Order them to shut it down."


    The senior officers and staff inside the conference room were shocked by his order. Captain Nimo half rose from his seat as he enquired, "Shut down the base?"


    "Yes," ke nodded. "Prepare the base to go into cold storage. We will be pulling back from the Old World."


    "B- But, Sir!" An engineering staff protested. "We spent so much effort and resources in building up Fort Anchorage as a forward operating base... Isn''t it a waste to just give it up?"


    "It may seem wasteful, but at this point, keeping the base fully staffed and running is just wasting our resources," ke exined. "There is nothing we need here."


    "The costs of keeping this base running isn''t worth the expenses," ke continued. "And besides the only useful trade, we can get is aetherium which in the past few months, we have already acquired a huge stock of it."


    "And besides, I am thinking of having the Banished people be the caretakers of the base here," ke said. "The majority of the base will be sealed off and if required, it can be reactivated if there is a need in the future."


    "But, sir," Trism voiced out his concerns. "Wasn''t the original n to take over part of the Old World?"


    "A- Ahem..." Sherene stood up and answered for ke. "I have... looked over the ns for the UN expansion into the Old World, including... reports from Commander Ford sent over from the New World."


    "What we need now... is notnd..." Despite her wane face, her eyes were bright and alert as she addressed the gathered officers and staff. "From what I understand, building this ship... taking over Ma and the Isles, has ced a huge burden on the UN itself, financially."


    "While taking over the Isles would help lower the financial burden, but there are still thousands of things needed to be done back home," The more Sherene spoke, the stronger her voice became. "We need to settle the problems at home first before we can even think of doing anything else!"


    "But my Princess," Trism did not give up. "Getting across the End Zone to here could be easilypleted within a day, instead of months or weeks."


    "And if we try returning with the Vengeance, there is a high chance this ship would be unable to make another journey back to the Old World!" Trism pointed out. "And as you said, the UN won''t be able to build another Vengeance for years toe due to our current finances."


    "That is why," ke suddenly spoke out. "The Vengeance will not be returning to the New World with us."


    "What?" This statement further shocked the gathered officers and staff as they stared at ke. To them, the Vengeance was like a second home, a beacon that reminded them of the great things that they could do. To abandon the Vengeance in the Old World was something that had never even dared think about!


    "Yes, the UNS Vengeance will be mothballed and hidden inside Waterfall Cove," ke stated. "Her weapons will be dmissioned and her systems shut down until the day, she will be needed."


    "Sir!" Captain Nimo hopped to his feet and objected. "This ship is the home and dreams of thousands of sailors and soldiers! To leave it here..."


    "What if the enemy or someonees and steal it?" Captain Nimo was very unhappy with ke''s decision and it showed on his expressions. "We will be practically handing over a super weapon to them!"


    "That is why I want the Banished people to be the base caretakers!" ke replied his tone broking no agreements. "They will be given training and take oaths to protect and look after the Vengeance and the base for as long as they live until such duty is discharged from them!"


    "Sir, is this wise?" Trism asked. "The Banished are a people of... unknown quality... We do not even know if they will betray us!"


    "They will take an oath with Plee," ke said while looking at Magister Thorn who has a thoughtful expression and stroking his beard. "I recall she is a Goddess? She should be able to do something to bind them to her to ensure their loyalty?"


    "Erm... that, might be possible..." Magister Thorn replied after a moment of consideration. "While her memories of being a Goddess is still iplete, I think it is a worthwhile try."


    "Than do it," ke ordered before he turned to Major James. "The Marines will take over the training of the Banished people. We have more than enough time for the Banished people to be proficient with firearms before the base shut downs."


    "What level of training, Sir?" Major James asked. "Marine standard? Spec Ops? Or militia?"


    "Marine standard will do," ke replied. "Just focus on ground and defensive operations for them."


    "Yes, Sir," Major James smiled as he noted down the orders. He was very certain some of his men would enjoy doing some teaching.


    "Sir, I still think it is not a good idea to leave the Vengeance here," Captain Nimo protested. "There are only so many Banished people we could train. How will they be able to hold off a determined attack by airships?"


    ke shook his head as he gestured to the map. "The Old World is in chaos, who will even bother toe here? And the Banished people are good at hiding, with training, keeping the base and the Vengeance a secret would be easy for them."


    "Bu-"


    "Captain Nimo, I understand and respect the passion andmitment you have to this ship," ke cut off any further protests of Captain Nimo with a raised hand. "I have been in your shoes before and not just once."


    "The Vengeance as you said, could only make one more trip back home," ke stood up and ced a calming hand on Captain Nimo''s shoulder. "It will not be able to return once more to the Old World when needed. Therefore, the best option of us is to leave the Vengeance here in the Old World."


    "As much as I want to bring the Vengeance back, " ke said. "I am very certain that when the timees, the Vengeance will certainly be much needed here than back home."


    "Yes, Sir..." Captain Nimo could only sigh and gave in. Orders had to be followed no matter how unwilling he was to lose themand of his beloved Vengeance.


    "The important thing we need to remember is our duty to our own people!" ke dered. "Why do we want to fight a wasteful war for? Land? Resources?"


    "We have all thend we need in the New World," ke sighed. "Hell, there''s still so muchnd not even properly explored or developed. And for resources, what do they have that we don''t? Aetherium? We could already fly before we even knew of aetherium! It is just a good to have resource and not a MUST have resource!"


    "Now that we recovered my wife," ke gave a loving look to Sherene before he continued. "Our main objective ispleted. And for this mission, our people have given up a lot."


    "Let''s not waste their efforts and sacrifices in starting a fight that will not do us any good and instead, let us focus on repaying our people instead!" ke said. "But of course, if theye looking for a fight... We will give one to them that they will never forget!"

 Chapter 660: Aces

    Chapter 660: Aces


    The majesty of the coastal line stretched out before Brendanus''s eyes as he rode on his Soarer. A yellow band was painted on the rear hull of the tear drop shaped Protectorate ornithopter, marking him as the Sky Leader of the several other ornithopters flying in formation alongside him. Dozens of symbols arranged in neat rows, depicting a chained tome or a burning scroll, further marked his aplishments and kills.


    A chained tome indicated the destruction of a military airship and Brendanus had three such tomes painted on his hull, meaning he had sunk at least three enemy airships of a destroyer ss orrger. Another forty small symbols of a burning scroll, indicated that he, as a Soarer flyer had at least forty confirmed enemy flyer kills.


    These markings, tranted to Terran standards, would make him a highly decorated ace pilot on Earth and Brendanus was a top notched flyer. He was proud of his achievements and it showed in his cruelpetence against thewless. He had also scored the most captures of civilian airships and most of the time, those prizes were void of the crew as he tossed everyone overboard except the ones he fancy.


    As he waszily admiringly the cloudy skies which break in the cloudyer caused rays of sunlight to shine down like the heralding of Ramuh''s blessings, a sparkle in the far off distance caught his eye. In his experience, such a sparkle was most likely caused by the reflection of the sun''s ray on crystal or metal. Excitably, he leaned over the side of his saddle and yelled over the wind to the pair of boilermen below, "Make more steam! I want more speed!"


    The boilerman squeezed inside the small boiler room rang a bell in acknowledgement and started stroking the mes. The other started shoving loads of coal into the open furnace of the boiler causing the heat to re up.


    Brendanus nodded in approval when he checked the steam gauge, seeing the needle raising. He changed gear, switching the cogs of the tail aerial screw and the speed of the spinning screws increased. He raised one hand over the protective crystal panels of his cockpit and made a gesture to the rest of the formation who followed his lead, as he turned towards the open waters of the ocean.


    His original mission given by the Inquisitor himself was to scout out a force of heretics that were suspected to be along the coast, heading along to the disorderly demi people of the Cartelnds. He had so boldly led his flyers into the Cartel as he knew the majority of the Cartel were tied up fighting the Judgement Day forces of the Protectorate and would not spare his small flyers any attention.


    Spotting that light reflect was the only thing so far they had, as they have not encountered any airships for several turns of the sandss. While it might turn out to be just a harmless merchant vessel, Brendanus won''t mind having some fun with its crew to ease his boredom.


    -----


    "Skull Lead, This is Beholder One Four," The cool female voice of the sensor operator onboard one of the Vector wing ships cruising high up above the skies spoke into the speakers of Flight Lieutenant Foy''s helmet. "Redirect your flight to sector Lima Seven. Multiple bogeys spotted. Good hunting, Lieutenant!"


    "Roger that," Lieutenant Foy let out a chuckle as he checked the map strapped on his left thigh. He switchms and said, "Skull Squadron, you heard thedy, redirect to sector Lima Seven."


    Return calls of confirmation came back from thems channel and Foy''s grin widened. He leaned his head up to the skies and tried to spot the Beholder One Four in the skies and recalled the pleasant night he had with the female operator that was currently flying onboard the wing ship.


    He gave his controls a gentle push and the agile F/A - 2 Viper leapt to hismand, breaking into a smooth roll as the other three Vipers of his Skull Squadron followed along. Painted in a two tone blue grey scheme, the F/A - 2 Viper had rows of tiny painted images of dragons, blimps, sails and even dragonfly like insects, just under the bubble cockpit.


    -----


    "Sky Leader!" The second sky flyer saddled behind Brendanus suddenly cried out. "Above us!"


    Brendanus frowned as he craned his head up to see what the fuss was and he was startled. The cloudy skies had dispersed slightly, allowing patches of blue skies to be seen. What startled him was a small group of flyers was actually heading towards them above the clouds!


    If it was the sharp eyes of his second flyer giving the warning, having spotted them between the clouds, they would not even know an unknown enemy had sneaked up upon them! Brendanus quickly called out to his second who was in charge of observation, navigation andmunications, "Call the wing to battle!"


    His second quickly furled out gs and waved them frantically at the rest of the formation. Seeing the call for battle gs, the other eight Soarers went into high alert, venting steam into their nose cannons and repeating bolt throwers.


    "What kind of flyers are those?" Brendanus felt a sense of unease as he went into a counter loop against the flyers above. "How are they able to fly so high?"


    "Here theye!" His second cried out a warning. He had sat up and mounted the swivel steam powered repeating bolt thrower and aimed at the diving flyers. "They are not flying our Holy Colours!"


    "Attack!" Brendanus cried out a split secondter. He continued keeping his Soarer in a yawing loop, wanting to force the unknown flyers down to their level and even hopefully, throwing them off course due to the speed of their dive, allowing him and his wing to go on a tail chase.


    The hiss crack of the bolt thrower answered him as his second made ranging shots at the diving enemy. Four against nine, Brendanus broke out into a small smile as he thought to himself. It would be their victory. They must have forced themselves into flying so high up just to make a high speed dive attack and hope to knock down a few of his flyers to even the odds.


    "But they are too naive!" Brendanusughed as a bell rang, signalling that his forward mounted steam cannons were fully charged. "We are the Just! We are the Lawful! We are the Order!"


    -----


    "Guns! Guns! Guns!" Foy cried out as he held down the trigger. He felt the entire airframe shuddered as he send a long burst of deadly 20 mm projectiles downwards at the flight of ornithopters flying in a looping circle. Almost instantly, the target he was aiming at disintegrated into pieces and his Viper tore through the enemy.


    His wing mates mirrored his actions and in the opening engagement, four out of nine Protectorate ornithopters went down in smoke and mes. He pulled his Viper out of the dive and nced at his rear mirror, seeing that enemy had attempted to go into a tail chase but were far too slow to match his speed.


    Grinning, he brought his fighter into a loop and came behind another Protectorate ornithopter that attempted to chase him, but were instead out manoeuvred. Another burst and shuddering of the airframe and another trail of debris of smoke and mes dropping onto the ocean''s surface. "Scratch two!"


    Quickly, the aerialbat turned into a mad skirmish, as ornithopters buzzed around dodging and weaving through the air while fixed wing aircraft chased after them. The Vipers pilots even had to pull the distance between each other as the ornithopters flew at a much slower speedpared to them, which made the skies very dangerous for head on collisions.


    -----


    Brendanus gritted his teeth tightly as he threw his Soarer into a sudden hover to his right just in time to avoid the brush of death in the form of fiery lines that made sharp whizzing sounds. He twisted his head left and right as he tried to make sense of the battle, only seeing trails of ck smoke everywhere.


    The enemy flyers were something he had never seen nor experienced before. Their speed, agility, and destructive weapons of sorts totally turned everything he knew upside down. Standard tactics against this unknown opponent were all not working! And now, he could only desperately keep himself alive by using every ounce of his abilities.


    "More steam!" He yelled down at the two boilermen as he focused all his attention to escape. He could still hear the hiss crack of the bolt thrower manned by his second, meaning that an enemy wasing close behind them.


    "They areing!" The desperate cry of his second made him jink his flyer to the side, once again narrowing dodging death. The enemy flyer came roaring loudly passed and he finally managed to get a good look at the enemy.


    The short glimpse of the enemy''s flyer made him dumbstruck as he had never seen such a steam flyer before. Instead of beating wings to keep the flyer afloat, it had a wide t wing on each side. The person flying the flyer appeared to be seated inside a bubble made out of clear crystal and the aerial screw at the tail spun so fast that seemed impossible.


    The sleek lines and curves made him distracted as he admired the smooth way the flyer turn and roll its way back towards him. Suddenly realising the danger he was in, he quickly turned his attention back to piloting his Soarer while thinking of a way to escape such a frightening flyer.


    -----


    "Last bogey still on the run," Foy heard his squadron mate report in. He turned around in his cockpit and spotted Skull Five and Skull Six on the Protectorate''s tail. "He''s good."


    "Skull Two on me!" Foy ordered his wing mate and he followed the chase, watching the crimson red ornithopter with a yellow band on its tail weaving here and there, dodging tracer fire from the rear. "Damn... He IS good!"


    "Skull Five and Six, box him in!" Foy ordered as he rolled his Viper. "Coming in high!"


    Bursts of flickering tracers could be seen as both Skull Five and Six fired from both sides, forcing the Protectorate ornithopter to keep its course. The glowing reticule oveyed over the ornithopter and Foy gave a good squeeze on the trigger, not even bothering to lead his target much, due to the distance and top speed of the travel. 20 mm shells spat out in a short burst and flew through the air raining down on the unsuspecting ornithopter.


    But as if the pilot has eyes on the back of his head, the ornithopter suddenly went into a hover, its nose pitching up as its wing beat the air furiously. Seeing the tracers dart through the space where the ornithopter would be if it haven''t gone into a hover, Foy was surprised. "Goddamn, he''s good!"


    He turned his Viper around and went after the ornithopter that had changed direction. He could see a small figure on the back of the tear drop shaped ornithopter and steam venting out from the armpits of its fluttering wings. He knew the co pilot was shooting at him, but at such speeds, it would take a God to hit him.


    The enemy pilot was good, very good in fact to pilot an ornithopter till such skills. He would make random darting moves left and right like an insect or suddenly hover to make the Vipers overshoot him. After a moment of observation, Foy shook his head as he thought to himself what a pity such an outstanding pilot was with the Protectorate.


    Foy lined his Viper up and tilted the controls as he fired his 20 mm cannons. As expected, the enemy pilot darted to the side, right into the sweeping tracers. The powerful shells shattered the left wings and punched head sized holes across the hull. The ornithopter seemed to freeze in space for a moment before its shattered wings stopped beating and dropped like a bomb down to the ocean, throwing a massive plume of water into the air.


    Foy circled his aircraft over the crash site and seeing the debris on the water, he gave the fallen a salute, "It was a good fight."

 Chapter 661: Rebel

    Chapter 661: Rebel


    The powerful whirlwind kicked up by the roaring iron wyvern nearly knocked the dwarven down. Thankfully, the Cartel Grand Lord Hammerfall reached out to steady his old friend from falling on his butt as the iron transport with its twin spinning des rose higher and higher. Grand Lord Hammerfall grinned as he waved goodbye to the transport in the skies andughed happily. "Free atst!"


    Lord Copperstone sighed wistfully at the disappearing flying machine in the skies before he picked up a haversack of supplies and said, "Well, despite being prisoners, I had a great time!"


    "Didn''t we both?" Hammerfallughed as he grabbed his own pack. "Well, now we must return to our people! The thrice cursed justice worshipers have to be stopped. Too bad, the Un An has no interest in helping us stop them..."


    "It is good enough of them to release us already..." Copperstone replied as he made his way across the rocky terrain. "And they were kind enough to put us just a day walk to a town..."


    "If it was not for the Protectorate, I would have liked to have an apprenticeship with their master crafters and... goblins techies..." Copperstone added sheepishly. "There are still so many things to learn!"


    Hammerfall shook his head as he walked towards the direction of the town given to them by the Un An. "But our people need us now."


    Copperstone nodded, "The knowledge I gained from my time with the Un An, will prove to be highly useful to our people! We must get to our foundries as fast as possible!"


    "Maybe once this godforsaken war is over, we can return to the New World and make some new friends."


    -----


    The Old World, Capital of the Iron Kingdom


    Crown Prince Herod seated on the Iron Throne, turned thunderous as he read the missive and crushed the scroll in his hands. "Have they gone mad?"


    "Your Highness, my Lord demands an answer!" The pompous noble serving as the representative to Lord Sincia''s faction waved a gaudy feathered hat in his hand impatiently. "Your im to the throne is insubstantial! His Majesty, the Heavens bless his soul, did not appoint you officially as the Crown Prince!"


    "My Father handed the Royal Seal to me and appointed me as Crown Prince!" Herod growled at the representative.


    "And who here can attest to that?" The noble made a grand show of gesturing to the gathered ministers and nobility inside the throne room. "The brave Generals and our beloved Iron King have fallen together with the flying ind! For all we know, you stole the Royal Seal!"


    "Enough!" Herod shot up to his feet and pointed at the smirking noble. "My brother, Prince Najja was witness to it, including several of the nobles here and dozens of guards! Father had even sent my brother to the City of Enders to call for an alliance with the other Great Nations!"


    At this moment after he finished his sentence, the doors of the throne room swung open and the fat figure of Prince Najja together with Lord Sincia entered. The Majordomo of the pce hurried after the pair, his usually calm expression was filled with chagrin as he failed to stop the pair. He straightened himself when he entered the throne room and proceeded to announce the new arrivals when Lord Sincia cut him off, "They know who we are!"


    The Majordomo nced at Herod for instructions before giving a bow and retreated out when Herod gestured him to back off. Herod turned to the new arrivals and frowned, "Brother, why are you here and not on your way to the City of Enders?"


    Prince Najja did not immediately reply to his brother''s question, only casting fugitive nces to his uncle beside him. In the end, Lord Sincia deemed to answer for him, "Prince Herod, you should step off the throne... It is not good to upy the throne when your father, my brother had just passed away!"


    "And since we are all family here, we will not look into the matter of you stealing and usurping the throne when your brother is the Crown Prince!" Lord Sincia''s eyes glittered shrewdly.


    "Preposterous!" A young low ranking noble supporting Prince Herod as a member of his staff cried out from the side. "We were all there! We heard what thete King announced!"


    Lord Sincia frowned as he gave a dismissal wave at the noble''s words. Yet his eyes held a hint of murder as he said, "This is why our great kingdom is failing! The young have no respect for rank and seniority!"


    "When is it your ce to even open your mouth when your betters are speaking?" Lord Sincia criticized the red faced noble. He turned to Prince Herod who was ring daggers at him and smiled, before he openly dered, "Truth be said, many of the nobility here do not support you."


    "Uncle, are you seriously trying to usurp the throne at this time?" Prince Herod growled. "Enemies surround us and youe here further cause dissent among us when we should be united?"


    "It is precisely this matter hence I brought this up!" Lord Sincia spoke in a condescending tone. "The Iron Kingdom is facing its greatest crisis since its founding! How can we allow an inexperienced Prince to take over the reins?"


    "While I might not be the best," Prince Herod''s eyes narrowed as he shot back. "My Brother Najja isn''t better offpared to my abilities!"


    "Ahh, yes!" Lord Sincia''s smile widened as he turned to the red faced Prince beside him andughed. "That is why I am proposing this... I will take the role of Regent until... either Prince proven themselves to be worthy of the Iron Throne!"


    The gathered nobility started mumbling amongst themselves. Seeing the situation turning for the worse, Prince Herod roared out, "Under what authority do you have to make such a deration? Are you seeking to rebel, Uncle?"


    "Rebel? Hahaha! You are overthinking this," Lord Sincia shook his head. "What the Iron Kingdom needs now is a capable leader and... neither of you... are capable!"


    Exmations of anger and chagrin came from Prince Herod''s faction at the disrespectful remark spoken by Lord Sincia. Prince Herod gripped his fists tightly as he controlled his anger and desired to throttle his Uncle right on the spot. He swallowed his anger and kept his expression calm before he sat down on the Iron Throne and dered, "You can say all you want... But I have been appointed as Crown Prince and is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne!"


    "I will treat your words as I have not heard them!" Prince Herod stated. "And since we are all family here..."


    Prince Herod used the exact same words spoken by his Uncle earlier. "We will not pursue the disrespect you shown to the Crown!"


    Lord Sincia gave a smiling nod to Prince Herod before he gave a perfunctory bow and said, "We shall see how capable your highness is!"


    Prince Herod watched warily as his Uncle led his brother and members of his faction out of the throne room. He felt a massive headache as the throne room emptied till only a third of the numbers remained. He knew his Uncle has many connections and it was only the respect and awe of his father that had kept the majority of the nobility under control, but now with his father gone, the weak willed nobility had quickly jumped over to his Uncle when the Kingdom was in a crisis.


    "Your Highness," The young noble who earlier had spoken up in defence of him, stepped forward and bowed. "Lord Sincia is getting bolder and bolder! Your Highness must deal with him immediately or it would be rearing a poisonous serpent in our midst!"


    "Lord Pent, that I know," Prince Herod replied grimly. "But now, we have more pressing issues!"


    "The Protectorate forces have stopped their advance and is now consolidating their gains and having their supply lines catch up to their forward troops," Prince Herod said. "And simrly, the Tri State is doing the same."


    "What are those despicable Tri State scum be thinking of to be allying with the Protectorate!" The disgruntled Lord Pent stated. "And Prince Najja was supposed to broker an alliance with the rest of the Great Nations against these threats yet he did not and now he even turned around and say you have stolen the Iron Seal of the kingdom!"


    "We deal with the problems guing our kingdom first," Prince Herod said as he walked towards the map table on one side of the throne room. He gestured to the pinned gs with various colours all over the map and said, "This is not just a mere battle... The Protectorate seemed intent on taking over the Old World..."


    A scattered ragged line of red and yellow gs was pinned along with thends of the Iron Kingdom, including the Cartel and even thends of the Dragon Lords.


    Lord Pent pointed to the yellow gs on the map and replied, "These locations have unconfirmed sightings of Protectorate forces while the red gs are locations with confirmed sightings."


    "How many forces have the Protectorate amassed for such an undertaking?" Prince Herod shook his head. "There must be something forcing their hand for them to embark on such an invasion..."


    "Could it be theing of their saviour? Their god called Ramuh?" Lord Pent suggested. "They have always been preaching about theing of the holy war to bringw and order upon the whole world."


    "The Gods have died many many years ago, before even our forefather''s time..." Prince Herod replied firmly. "As shown by magic disappearing from thend."


    "If the cause of this war is by the number of magic crystals brought back from the New World on board the Iron Fortress..." Lord Pent frowned. "Then their reason of invasion should have ended with the depletion of all the magic crystals when thete King used it all up with the flying fortress''srge scale spell casting."


    "Yet, they continued the war and even attacking the Cartel and the Dragon Lords..." Prince Herod added. "Something is not right here, but I do not know what..."


    "Our spies have no information on their motives for this attack..." Lord Pent said. "All they know was what they called Judgement Day for all sinners..."


    "Judgement day heh?" Prince Herod''s eyes slowly settled down on a location called Rashard where he parted ways with the mysterious crew of the Old Ugly and he wondered about their current situation. "Is there any news of an old and gaudy coloured merchant ship along the front?"


    "No, your highness," Lord Pent shook his head as he did not recall receiving any word in regards to the strange request of the Crown Prince. "My people are still keeping a lookout for that ship... Is the ship something important?"


    "No, never mind," Prince Herod sighed. "Don''t waste your resources on searching for that ship anymore, we have more pressing issues now."


    "Continue to reinforce the lines against the Protectorate," Prince Herod ordered. "They have overstretched themselves and their advance has lost steam... I am certain they have spent themselves pushing so deep into ournds..."


    "The troops'' morale has dropped since the news of the King had been defeated..." Lord Pent said. "And with Lord Sincia making trouble... I fear our troops'' morale will drop even lower..."


    "We need a victory to bring morale back up..." Prince Herod nodded in agreement. He suddenly thought of the strange Old Ugly once more and sighed once more. If only Captain ke had agreed to serve under his banner, he was certain that mysterious airship would achieve a major victory for him.


    "Our forces are stretched too thin for a massed attack," Prince Herod gestured to the gs representing their forces. "We need more ships..."


    He turned his eyes down to the scattered region of inds at the south and dered, "We need to secure an alliance with the Loose Confederation!"

 Chapter 662: Host of Ramuh

    Chapter 662: Host of Ramuh


    With eyes zed over, Leung was in a world of his own, his mind wandering aimlessly. He was seated on a raised tform, exquisitely decorated that rose a couple of stories tall and on a simrly overly ornate throne. Spread out beneath his feet, were hundreds and hundreds of kneeling people.


    From his vantage point, the entire top deck of a massive airship was filled with people all simrly dressed in red. The tower throne which he was seated upon, overlooked packed open deck of the airship and on his sides, were filled with arge choir of singing children and what appeared to be the upper echelons of the Protectorate.


    At first, he had been very afraid and nervous about being found out to be a fraud, but quickly he gained confidence when everyone he met, automatically went down on their knees to worship and some even kissed the floor he walked. He realised that whatever the Snake did, some divine portion of Ramuh must have been left behind in his body when they both disappeared mysteriously.


    He had once asked the scar faced girl, Nerissa, what he looked like to her, and she answered in reverence, "My Lord is like glowing like the Sun, his presence fills me with warmth."


    Seeing the fanatical look in her eyes, he gave up and instead asked the older woman, who seemed to have be even colder to him, her eyes averted away as she answered him. Her vague answer surprised him, for she said, "Your holiness... is filled with light and is like a shining torch in the darkness."


    Leung wondered if he was glowing as he looked at his own body. The mirror before him only reflect his ordinary appearance, with only several marked changes. First, he grew taller, almost a head taller than anyone and his muscles would have made those ancient greek sculptors crazy with their perfection. His once shaggy hair turned thick and smooth and even his unshaved facial hair made him look cooler and stylish.


    The most prominent change was his ears, no longer short and rounded, but now long and slim. This change made him most upset as he felt his identity as a human was disappearing in this alien fantasy world. His physical ability increased tremendously as evidenced by the number of spent women in his quarters in the past few nights. He did not seem to require sleep as hey there surrounded by sleeping naked bodies, his mind boding over the recent events.


    He indulged himself greatly, making use of his new identity to the fullest. But the novelty and freshness of his identity soon dulled as he had been required to attend mass. At first, he managed to keep his attention, but after the third or fourth priest or bishop had finished his sermon, he had lost all interest.


    The whole mass was filled with constant bowing and yelling of "For Justice" or "Justice Prevails" and so on. Not to mention the choir hymns were making him sleepy on the oh sofortable throne, had him nodding off in boredom. To keep up his appearances, he copied the lofty manner of those struck up officers back in Fleet HQ which seemed to further cement his status.


    As the chorus of another, "For Justice!" answered the bbering priest below, his mind thought of the two Gods he hade into contact with. One was the Snake or the Egyptian God, Apopis, whose identity was revealed after they pledged their souls to it. Connected by their condemned souls, memories and images were transmitted into their minds, allowing them to understand find out about its identity.


    The second God, was Ramuh, the Creator and Judge. He was one of the main Gods in this world and while he heard a bit of this God in the New World, he has no true knowledge of this God. Evening to the Old World, what he knew came from Protectorate and seeing how cult like they were, he could only take their word with a pinch of salt.


    He wondered if Ramuh was somewhat simr to Earth''s God, but having experienced what the Protectorate had been doing and preaching, he found both their teachings to be poles apart. Ramuh appeared to be a very strict, rulewyer kind of God. Laws, orders, and rules must be followed to the tee or suffer punishment.


    The scar faced girl, Nerssia had given him a brief of the Protectorate, boasting about their achievements and aplishments. Outwardly, Leung kept an interested face, but inside, he shook his head at their so called achievements, thinking how barbaric they were still and they don''t even have proper toilets either!


    The loud chants of Ramuh woke Leung from his daze and he slowly opened his eyes, one hand under his chin, while the other ced over the armrest of the throne. He looked as if he just graced the mass of people his attention and the crowd went into a frenzy as they praised him to the heavens. "HAIL LORD RAMUH! LORD RAMUH!"


    "Your Holiness," Nerssia appeared at his side. Lately, she seemed to have taken upon herself to be his personnel attendant. Even her position as Chief Inquisitor had been given up and handed over to another subordinate. "The Clergy is awaiting your holy presence in your Temple."


    "Right," Leung stood up and sighed inwardly. He looked at the kneeling Nerssia who had her eyes cast downwards on the floor and said, "For the Protectorate."


    "For Ramuh!" Nerssia answered him with a smile as she followed one step behind him. Leung walked barefooted along the red carpetid out before him and entered into the temple like super structure of the airship. There were no shoes his size and ever since getting Ramuh''s divinity, he felt no difort being barefooted.


    Towering rows of marble white pirs spread out from both sides, holding up the long triangr shape roof of the super structure. There were no walls within the temple, allowing Leung to see the clouds and blue skies as he strolled to a circr forum like chamber. The circr chamber was also without walls, only towering pirs holding up a round dome roof.


    Chairs ced in a quarter circle faced a massive throne set to the end of the forum. Without ceremony and acting cool, Leung walked past the bowing Clergy and sat down on the throne. Nerssia without missing a beat gestured to a waiting ve who brought over a bottle of the finest wine and poured half of it into a huge crystal goblet which Leung took a sip.


    "We see Lord Ramuh!" The members of the Clergy bowed deeply as they formed up before Leung. "Lord Ramuh be our Judge!"


    Leung frowned as he did not know what this group of old priests wanted. Seeing his frown, Nerssia red at the members of the Clergy and snapped, "You have displeased Lord Ramuh!"


    Hearing Nerssia''s words, the members of the Clergy dropped to their knees and kowtowed. "Justice Lord Ramuh! Justice!"


    Leung resisted the urge to scratch his head in confusion. He took a quick peek at Nerssia who seemed genuinely angry and wondered what the hell was happening. Turning back to the priests, he saw them all bowing and scraping on the floor and felt a bit ufortable seeing the elderly doing that.


    One of the white haired priest wearing a red vestment trimmed with gold thread crawled forward and said, "Your Holiness! We bear the sin of failing to bring Judgement upon all thewless and disorderly world!"


    Leung was even more confused as stared at the old man. Bring Judgement to the world? What did he mean by that? He cast another nce at Nerssia for help and Nerssia stepped forward once more and said, "The Clergy has failed you, my Lord! Thend outside of the Protectorate is still withwlessness and disorder!"


    "We will seek toplete Judgement day as soon as possible!" The old priest dered. "Already all our forces have sent out to bring order to this world! It is just a matter of time, my Lord!"


    "Forces?" Leung''s confusion grew. "Show me?"


    The priest quickly gestured to an underling, and soon, several underlings carried forward a huge dragon skin roll. They carefully ced the dragon skin roll on the floor before Leung''s throne and unrolled it, revealing a map of the world. Leung seeing all the wiggly scribbles felt a headacheing as he couldn''t understand how to read the map.


    Seeing their God leaning forward in interest, the members of the Clergy felt relief and they quickly exined their current strategy. It was at this time, did Leung realised that they were talking about subverting an entire continent and pushing their faith onto others. And he, as the host of Ramuh, will be the de take over the world!


    -----


    The Old World, UNS FOB, Fort Anchorage


    "Princess!" A small figure shot out from the waiting party and buried herself into the arms of Sherene. With her ears down and tears dripping down her face, Kaga cried and kept apologizing non stop to the Princess. "I''m sorri -eee!"


    Sherene hugged the crying cat girl back and patted her head. She looked around at the weing party and asked Kaga, "Where''s Takao?"


    Kaga buried her head deeper into the bosom of Sherene and cried even harder. "I- We don''t know..."


    Hearing her words, Sherene felt a deep sense of sadness in her heart. She hugged the crying girl once more and gave ke who was carrying their son a guilty look. Seeing her sorrowful expression, ke felt a stab of pain in his chest and entertained dark thoughts of violence upon the ones that caused Sherene pain.


    As if sensing his father''s dark temper, young Coa reached out with his tiny hands and tugged at ke''s peak cap. Seeing his yful son, the dark thoughts within ke''s mind vanished and he walked over and gave his wife an assuring hug and promised her, "I will do my best to find her."


    "Thank you," Sherene whispered as she leaned against ke with Kaga still in her arms. "It... really means a lot... She did so much to try to save me..."


    ke nodded before he dragged the still sobbing Kaga away from Sherene arms and growled, "Stop wiping your mucus on her!"


    "Sorrie!" Kaga sniffed as she rubbed her face, only to be chased away by ke to wash her face. Dr. Sharonughed as she watched the frightened cat girl run away from ke''s scolding and she linked her arms around Sherene.


    "Come, let''s get you a change of clothes," Dr. Sharon gestured to the mess on the Princess''s dress. "While Daddy here looks after the kid!"


    ke shook his head as Dr. Sharon led Sherene away into the base built into the cliff. He turned to an aide and asked, "Is the wing ship prepped?"


    "Yes, Sir!" The aide replied stiffly. "It is ready to departure back to the New World at any time!"


    "Good," ke nodded as he followed after the two women. "Get the orderlies to start moving my bags on board."


    The aide gave a salute and went off to carry out his orders. Meanwhile, ke called Trism over and gave further orders. "Start preparing the base to go into cold storage."


    "And one more thing," ke said after a short hesitation. "Keep a small Intel team here."


    "Sir?" Trism''s eyebrows rose in question.


    "I thought about it," ke sighed. "While I liked to have nothing more to do with the Old World... But I think we still need to be prepared for anything."


    "Keep a small Intel team here," ke said again. "Their duties are to collect intel, both minor and major and also to keep a small part of the base here running, support and train the locals pledged to the UN. Since with the new Vector wing ships, we can do weekly or bi weekly supply runs."


    "Does this mean, we get to keep some Army or Marines?" Trism grinned. "Intel isn''t known to be good at training soldiers, you know?"


    keughed as he gave his agreement, "Set the team up. I even throw in some techs to keep thempany!"


    "Yes, Sir!"

 Chapter 663: A Call For Celebration

    Chapter 663: A Call For Celebration


    Blue Thunder hummed happily to himself as he leaned out of the ''window'' dug out of the cave on the side of the cliff. He looked down at the cranking elevator rising up next to his cave abode and cheerfully called out at the figures inside. The elevator came to a halt just next to an opening in the cliff where one of servicemen inside the elevator utched the gate and gave way for the Princess''s party.


    Next, they wheeled arge cargo trolley filled with barrels of fish and locally grown potatoes. The potatoes included by the crew of the Vengeance quickly took over as the main staple for the Banished vigers living at the bottom of the cliffs. The sandy soil along the cliffs was easily turned into loam withpost from rotting vegetation and organic matter, allowing the round tubers to grow all year round.


    In just half a year, with knowledge and skills imparted by the UN, the cliffs of the Waterfall Cove had changed drastically. Stairs and tforms were cut into the surface of the cliff walls, with lumbering elevators for goods and people spaced out equally. Windows and doorways dotted the cliffs as well and each abode wasrge enough to house a family of eight.


    When Sherene was riding the elevator, the view before her was spectacr. The unique tri hull super carrier sat docked upon a bed of clear blue waters in the middle of the white sandy cove. All along, the cliff abodes, the locals had put up colourful awnings that decorated the windows and entrances.


    As Sherene stepped out of the elevator, she entered a massive cavern that was lit up by abination of glomps andmps powered by electricity. The servicemen wheeled the supplies into a side tunnel that had a tarp covering its entrance before they departed from the elevator again. Sherene could feel a brush of cool air when the tarp was lifted and she assumed that side chamber must be cold storage of sorts.


    "Wee, wee!" Blue Thunder''s cheerful voice rumbled as he came over with Rastraz in tow. "Wee to our holiday home!"


    "What holiday home?" Rastraz poked Blue Thunder''s back. "More like a work home!"


    "But... It''s so niceee!" Blue Thunder stuttered in shock as he gestured around the cavern. "It''s so big and airy! And we even have a heater!"


    Sherene unconsciously giggled as she listened to the two bickering dragons. She took the chance to nce around the dragons'' abode and found it simple but cosy and homely. The interior was oval in shape and at the rear of the cave, were several carpets stacked up together, creating a spot for the two dragons toy down.


    A projector and aptop on a tabley next to the carpets and arge crate filled with straw held tworge leathery eggs. Sherene walked over to the eggs and she ced her son down next to the dragon eggs and said gently, "Little Coa, meet the dragon twins!"


    "Hehehe," Blue Thunder quickly came over, ignoring Rastraz as he proudly hovered over the eggs. "Hello, little Coa!"


    Rastraz pouted as she came over and she gently turned the eggs facing the heater. She carefully checked her eggs before turning her attention to the little boy that was reaching out with his hand, trying to touch the eggs. "Your little one looks so weak... He needs to eat more to grow up big and strong!"


    Blue Thunder immediately rolled his eyes, "Have you ever seen a baby that huge and big?"


    "Orge babies are huge," Rastraz argued. "It''s just you soft ones that are small!"


    Shereneughed as she took an offered cushion from Blue Thunder and sat down on the floor. "Orges are twice our size..."


    "See?" Blue Thunder replied. "How can youpare sizes of babies from different species?"


    Sherene peacefully listened to the two dragons'' squabbling while keeping an eye on her son who was stroking the leathery eggs in curiosity. Coa giggled as he poked the eggs and suddenly, there was a crack sound. The crack instantly stilled all conversations as everyone turned their eyes to the eggs in surprise, just in time to see the egg with bluish hue had a line across its leather surface.


    "OH, MY GODS!" Blue Thunder''s jaw dropped as he stared at the egg in both excitement and panic. "IT''S HATCHING!"


    "Finally!" Rastraz let out a sigh of relief. She had been worrying about the eggs and had no idea how long they would take to properly hatch. Even the dragon breeders of the New World only gave an estimation of six to eight months, but both the eggs had long gone past that period. It was only with Dr. Sharon''s strange magic equipment and feeling the life inside the eggs, that she was certain they were still growing inside and not stillborn.


    "Oh no! What do we do?" Blue Thunder stared nervously at the crack on the egg. He wanted to run around but held back the urge as his brain went into meltdown. "Call Dr. Sharon!!"


    "What can Dr. Sharon do?" Rastraz hissed as she pped the clearly agitated dragon with her wing. "Calm down!"


    "What can I do?" Sherene asked as she carried Coa into her arms. She looked on with interest as she have never seen a dragon hatch before.


    "Erm..." Blue Thunder rubbed his head. "Hot water? Towels?"


    "Grrr!" Rastraz growled as she felt the urge for murder. "That is for hoomans and elves!"


    "Go call that... ck... b-... Saphia!" Rastraz pushed Blue Thunder to the entrance of the cave which was covered in curtains. "And get your crew over!"


    "Oh yes!" Blue Thunder grinned and he parted the entrance curtains and hopped out into the skies. With his wings spread out, he dived down and glided down to the decks of the docked Vengeance, bellowing as he went, calling for his ground team.


    Both Rastraz and Sherene shook their heads at the antics of Blue Thunder and when their eyes met, they both burst outughing. Sherene smiled as she watched Rastraz carefully pick the egg and ce it in her bosom as she curled up around it. The egg wobbled slightly and a piece of shell tore open, exposing a dark stubby snout.


    More cracks appeared as the hatchling tried to push itself out of its confines. It made weak cries of frustration and confusion as it continued to hammer away at the shell. Finally, the top portion of the egg broke apart and reviewed a small tubby dragonling. With its eyes still closed, it let out a small cry of victory and yawned before instinctively nibbling at the shell.


    The entrance curtains suddenly parted and a visibly excited ck dragon appeared. Her ck glossy scale glittered beautifully under the sunshine and she waddled in like a duck on both her hind legs as her eyes were focused solely on the dragonling in Rastraz''s arms. "Ohhhh!"


    Shended on all fours and sniffed around the dark blue almost ck dragonling with excitement, much to the annoyance of Rastraz who endured her probing of her child. Finally, seemingly satisfied, Saphia straightened up and dered, "He looks very healthy!"


    "That''s all?" Rastraz frowned. "After all that, it''s just... he looks healthy?"


    "Well..." Saphia sheepishly scratched her head. "I only know so much from what my Grandma said..."


    "I am sure that is a good thing," Sherene quickly stepped in as she noticed Rastraz''s temper was rising. "Healthy is good!"


    "Oh, hello Princess! I am sorry, I did not see you there!" Saphia finally noticing Sherene quickly greeted her. "Eh... Let him eat the shells and after that, he will be sleeping a lot."


    Rastraz looked down at her child and saw that the little thing had already finished half the shell surrounding it. The dragonling still has his eyes closed but in his tiny paw ws, he was holding onto a piece of broken shell and nibbling happily away at it. Coa seeing the baby dragon eating started to grumble as he too wanted to eat the shell.


    A soft bell suddenly rang and the sounds of a cranking elevator were heard. Soon, a red faced Magister Thorn, Professor Hamlot, Dr. Sharon and a few other friends came rushing out of the elevator. All of them having heard Blue Thunder''s yelling and came to visit and witness the hatching of a dragon.


    Soon, Blue Thunder returned with his crew and surprisingly with Captain ke as well. ke looked a bit pale as he dropped down wobbly from the back of Blue Thunder and he took a deep breath to calm his churning stomach. Sherene came over with concern in her eyes as she saw how sick ke looked, "Are you alright?"


    "Just need a little air," ke replied grimly. "Damn dragon flies worst than some VR roller coaster ride..."


    "Take it easy," Sherene said as she make sure Coa doesn''t disturb his father. "y with daddyter!"


    Feeling better, ke entered the cave and joined the rest in congratting the dragons. Despite her polite thanks and smile pasted on her face, Rastraz was getting ufortable with the attention given. She wanted to pull her baby away from the three academics who was staring hungrily at her baby.


    "Ohh! Look!" Saphia suddenly cried out as she pointed to the other egg. A thin but visible crack could be seen on the surface and before everyone''s eyes, the crack widened with a loud snap and broke. A tiny deep red dragonling poked her head out angrily and cried out loudly. Her cries seemed to affect her brother as the other baby dragon started brawling as well.


    "Oh how cute!" Blue Thunder cooned as he gently carried the egg over and said to Rastraz. "Her temper is just like you!"


    "Wait! How do you know their genders?" Dr. Sharon suddenly asked as she peeked at the cute chubby red dragonling that was munching away with ravish.


    "Oh, we can smell them," Saphia helpfully answered for Blue Thunder as he was under attack from Rastraz. She leaned down and sniffed the tiny red dragon who growled at her approach despite her eyes were still closed. "My Grandma had mentioned before, newborns will open their eyes within a few days."


    The three academics looked at each other and started a discussion amongst themself. Magister Thorn started saying, "I wonder how much mana does a newborn dragon has? How does it develop its magic?"


    "I think we should instead find out about its intelligence," Professor Hamlot''s eyes glowed wildly. "I read in ancient texts that dragons even baby dragons have a high degree of intelligence!"


    "I need some of their blood!" Dr. Sharon rubbed her hands in excitement. "It will help me get more data on dragons!"


    "HEHEHEHEHEHEE..." The three academics looked at each other in agreement before they turned their hungry eyes at the two dragonlings. The three dragons seemingly sensing something wrong, turned around and saw the look the three academics had on their faces and felt a cold chill down their spines. Instantly, both Blue Thunder and Rastraz each hugged their child away from the eyes of the three academics and red warily at them.


    ke shook his head at the childish antics of his staff before he cleared his throat in embarrassment. "So, what will the names of the children be?"


    Blue Thunder edged away from the hungry nces of the three academics before he looked at Rastraz and grinned, "We decided to name them, Kakhol for the boy and Edna for the girl!"


    By this time, both dragonlings had finished off the egg shells and little Edna gave a burp of satisfaction before she snuggled deeper into Blue Thunder''s embrace and fell asleep with a tiny snooze. As if unwilling to be outdone by his sister, Kakhol simr fell asleep in the bosom of Rastraz.


    ke seeing the happiness and joy among friends, suddenly dered, "This calls for a celebration! That''s it, we are going to celebrate!"

 Chapter 664: Domain of the Dragons

    Chapter 664: Domain of the Dragons


    In barely a few hours, banners, gs and pendants taken from the lockers of the UNS Vengeance were in full disy all around the hidden cove. As the sun slowly set down over the horizon, a huge bonfire was lit on the beach where the high spirited crew and soldiers of the UN celebrated their victory. The people of the Banish joined in the celebrations shyly except for theughing children who ran around the beach with sticks of skewered meat and potatoes.


    Blue Thunder happily shoved a barrel full of cheese covered potatoes into his mouth and licked the barrel clean. The call for celebration had the cooks in the ship''s galley break out the rations and he finally had the fill of his favourite food. At the same, Rastraz eyed Saphia warily as she yed with the twins, feeding them potatoes.


    The twins happily attacked the boiled potatoes with cheese, making smacking noises like their father as they fed themselves silly. Blue Thunder giggled as he watched his children enjoy the food as much as he had. He suddenly stopped in hisughter as he watched the twins demolish at least half the barrel of cheese potatoes by themselves.


    "Oh... I think the twins will eat me poor..." Blue Thunder moaned in horror. "How am I going to feed two little monsters with appetites like this?!"


    "Don''t look at me!" Rastraz stuck her tongue out at Blue Thunder. "Aren''t you some high rankingmander with the Air Force?"


    Listening to dragons'' quibbles brought a blissful smile to Sherene face as she leaned against ke. Their child Coa was ogling at the dragon twins, wanting to y with them but was also mesmerised by the giant bonfire and dancing people. Countless crew members and soldiers came over to toast both ke, Sherene and even the dragons.


    The flickering shadows of people dancing, drinks and loud music went on deep into the night and the celebrating people''s worries and woes temporarily disappeared.


    -----


    The Old World, Domain of the Dragons


    The once pristine white frozenndscape was now covered in smoke and mes. Twisted wreckage and bodies both humanoid and draconic covered the frozennds. Soldiers in white grey smocks and mirror like shields held against a wave of crimson coated soldiers while overhead in the skies, a massive aerial battle was underway.


    Drakes, the lesser cousins of true dragons, twist and turned in the skies, weaving an borate dance of death as they swarmed an out of formation Protectorate cruiser. Armoured in ovepping white grey tones ofcqueredmer leather to protect their vulnerable underbellies and almost simr in looks to a Terran Japanese samurai''s armour, the Dragon Lords'' drakes slowed down enough to squeeze through the deployed magical barriers of the stricken airship without turning into bloody pancakes.


    Landing on the decks of the Protectorate airship, the drakes and their single rider started to wreak havoc upon the airship. Unlike true dragons, drakes do not have a separate wing shoulder, their wings and forelimbs were connected as one. Specially tempered w sheaths were worn by the drakes, arming them with a weapon capable of rendering metal.


    The drake ridersmanded their rides to rip the hull of the airship up, tearing holes which the riders then tossed sks of alchemical fire into the interiors, setting explosions and fire to the ship. Protectorate soldiers rushed out to the top decks and attempted to fight off the drakes. Despite their best efforts, the number of drakes swarming the airship was too many until it prompt the Protectorate''smander to order his fleet to fire upon the hopeless cruiser.


    Sensing the intention of the fleet, the captain of the doomed cruiser let out a cry of "JUSTICE SHALL PREVAIL!" before ordering the magical barriers down. Dozens of steam projectiles hammered the cruiser, blowing away the drakes clinging to the sides of the hull and with a wrenching scream of metal, the Protectorate cruiser broke into two, the wreckage trailing blue grey smoke as it dropped to the snow below.


    The drakes scattered as the ship died, those fortunate enough to avoid the volley of projectiles from the Protectorate fleet, leapt off into the skies and reformed up for another attack on the enemy. As the drakes continued their harassment of the Protectorate fleet, the skeletal airships of the Dragon Lords appeared.


    Built from the ancestral bones of true dragons, the airships of the dragons were fast and nimble. As magic flowed easier through the dragon bone structure of the airships, it reduced the cost of using magical crystals to power anything magic. Nestled between the dozens of dragon ships, were three long coffin like vessels.


    As the airships shook into formation, the three coffin airships had long arms deployed out from its side, turning into a massive flying crossbow. The nose of the flying crossbow, swung open, revealing a massive bolt, over fifty metres long and four meters across. A dull pointed metal sheath covered the bolt and the bowstring made out from the tendons of past dragons were strummed back by gears powered by hundreds of crew.


    The creaking of the dragon bow ships could be heard even over the din of the battle and for a moment, the battle both air andnd paused as eyes turned to look at the flying crossbows. The other dragon ships at the same time, powered up their ship spells, creating multiple halos of magical circles to appear in the air before them.


    The dragon inmand of the aerial battle was an aged being, over a hundred and seventy years of age. His whiskers and horns had turned white, while his once vibrant golden scales had turned a yellow brown hue. He perched upon a dragon sized cushion on the deck of a dragon ship serving as his gship. The bones of the gship came from his ancestors and once he passed, his bones would too be used to serve the Domain of the Dragons for eternity.


    "Report! Lord Koldort!" A soldier bowed and reported. "The dragon bow ships are armed and awaiting yourmands!"


    Lord Koldort nodded his serpentine head andmanded, "Destroy the invaders!"


    "Yes, my lord!" The soldier bowed once more and the order was passed down. On themunication towers of the gship, therge fluttering red gs snapped down and a brief secondter, four loud ''TWANG'' resounded across the skies as the bolts were released. Following behind those bolts, streaks of magic from fireballs to magic missiles wereunched from the rest of the dragon ships.


    The opening volley mmed into the Protectorate charging forward to get into their own weapons'' range. The bolts easily shattered the magical barriers of the first ship they encountered before punching through the hull and continuing on, leaving behind a trail of destruction. One of the bolts even prated two ships at once, sending both drifting lifeless in the air. Another bolt remained buried deep inside the target it had struck, forcing the airship to sink towards the ground as its aetherium tanks were ruptured.


    Across the face of the Protectorate fleet, bright shes of magic shrouded the ships as the slower flying spells arrived and impacted against their magical defences. As the distance between the two fleets closed up, the frenzy of magic explosions increased. Finally, after the fifth spell volley, the dragon ships ceased their magic bombardment and switched to traditional weapons.


    Steam cannons and ballistae poked out from their enclosures and released their loads once the order came down. The dragon bow ship reminded at the rear with a small fleet of escorts while the dragon ships using their superior speed and manoeuvrability swooped in and out of the battle, their projectiles aiming for any weakness in the enemy formation.


    Lord Koldort observed both the battle in the skies and on the ground with a frown. The Dragon Lords had received word of an invasion into the Iron Kingdom by the Protectorate, which shortly after the Cartel were attacked as well. They had quickly brought their troops into readiness when a massive invasion force from the Protectorate arrived in their western borders.


    With the harsh frozennds as a buffer, the Protectorate generally would avoid attacked through thosends as it would greatly hamper their logistics and there was generally nothing in thosends. Usually, they would attack through the Lochfield causeway, which was a lot easier for the Protectorate logistic line and there were towns and cities that could be captured.


    But surprisingly, the Protectorate sought a round way through the frozennds in a direct attack at the home of the Dragon Lords! Thankfully, there were many scattered homesteads of hunters living in frozennds, making a living from hunting wild game and selling their meat and skins. The hardy hunters quickly reported the invasion force by trekking through heavy snow to the nearest outpost and very soon, the report reached the Dragon Lords.


    Lord Koldort quickly volunteered to lead the troops against the Protectorate and two dayster, his forces intercepted the enemy just a day''s distance from the capital. On his arrival, a bitter battle had already been raging on for over a day at the small outpost city of Frosthelm. With a poption of over thirty thousand, the outpost city built into the insides of a hill to preserve heat, served as a vital trade centre for the surrounding homestead and merchants, trading in furs, meat, ore and other necessities.


    The city also served as a garrison for troops and airships and when Lord Koldort arrived with his ships, the battle was well underway. The Protectorate airships, unable to bombard the city covered under thick mounds of snow, had deployed their ground troops to capture this city as it would serve as a vital logistic hub for the Protectorate forces.


    Soldiers of the Dragon Lords wore armour reminisce Terran''s Japanese samurais, in tones of white and grey, allowing them to blend in with the snow. Their sloping helmets helped block snowfall and the tiny eye slits prevent snow blindness. They wield long spears and shields polished to a mirror like surface, allowing them to blind their enemies with the reflection of the sun, giving them a superior home ground advantage against the Protectorate''s Pdins.


    The re of the mirror shields forces the ground invasion to a halt, forcing the Protectorate groundmanders to send in their War Jacks. But the terrain of the frozennds, bogged the War Jacks down, allowing the protected steam cannons and ballistae easy targets to shoot at. With the arrival of Lord Koldort''s fleet, the morale of the defenders went up and they fought even fiercer to defend their homes.


    Once the ground battle had been halted, Lord Koldort turned his attention back to the aerialbat. His ships had depleted half of their magic reserves in the opening stage of the battle and any dragon ship suffering heavy damages were given orders to retreat. Unless a dragon ship suffered critical damages to their propulsion wings or boilers, they could still easily outfly any heavy lumbering cruiser of the Protectorate.


    Despite his smaller numbers,pared to the Protectorate fleet, he was very certain this battle would be in his favour. His four bow ships were already recharging and while each ship could only carry eight ship killer bolts in their holds, it was enough to turn the tide of the battle.


    The only downside to this battle was the number of drakes being sacrificed. While they were not true dragons and have a mind of a beast, they still bore the blood of true dragons in them. Lord Koldort let out a soft sigh as his superior dragon sight witnessed a flock of drakes dying under a vicious barrage of steam fire.


    Just as he was sighing over the meaningless deaths of his lesser cousins, his eye spotted something over the horizon. A thin line appeared and slowly grew, turning from a line to a wall of dots. Under his superior dragon sight, he paled under his scales as his eyes picked up the individual dots as airships.


    Crimson coloured airships.

 Chapter 665: Family!

    Chapter 665: Family!


    The rear facing engines roared and coughed out ck foul smelling smoke as massive contra propellers of the waiting wing ship slowly came alive, the propeller des turning faster and faster until they became a blur to the naked eyes. The wind generated by the spinning des kicked up a constant spray of seawater as the wing ship floating next to the docking pier powered up its engines, ready to take off at any moment.


    Dozens of Marines carrying sea bags and their personnel gear, marched down the pier and into the yawning tail hatch that was wide open. The rear hatch was massive,rge enough to load an IFV or even a MAW spider tank in, was currently being boarded by Marines. At the same time, on another pier that led to a side hatch of the waiting wing ship, ke stood frowning as he looked at a stack of intelligence reports that were just wired over.


    "When are these taken?" ke yelled over the roar of the engines as he flipped the pages inside the docket folder.


    "Twenty nine hours ago," Trism yelled back. "Intel back home downloaded the images off the scheduled data dump from the orbiting probe. Once the data analystspiled the data, Lt Tavor immediately send the report over themunication balloons!"


    ke nodded, deciding not to pit his voice against the aircraft engines. He flipped through the report another time before he returned it to Trism. "Inform Saphia. If she still wants to return home, she has to find her own way back."


    Trism nodded as well and took a step back and saluted before he hurried off the pier, away from the roars of the engines. ke cast onest look at the supercarrier sitting tranquilly inside the cove before he turned and made his way to the side hatch where a goblin flight crew stood waiting and enthusiastically saluted and greeted him at his approach. "Hail big boss of bosses!"


    Amused, ke returned the salute to the excited goblin before he entered the passenger cabin. Seated in an officer''s cubicle, Sherene looked up with a smile, their child already asleep in her arms. "Is there a problem?"


    "The damn Protectorate had made a push into the dragons'' territory," ke exined as he sat down next to her. "The intel just came in."


    "Saphia''s people are under attack?" Sherene frowned as she recalled the gorgeous looking ck dragon. "Will they be alright?"


    "They shall be, after all, they have been fighting against the Protectorate for so many years," ke replied. "And they are protected by a natural barrier of frozennd. It will not be easy for any force to cross."


    "Does Saphia know?" Sherene asked again.


    "I had Trism inform her," answered ke. "If she wants to leave the UN and return to her people, she has the freedom to do so."


    "But you will not provide any help?" Sherene shook her head at ke''s expression. "How could you allow a single female... dragon... to even travel across half a world alone, especially at these chaotic times?"


    "You are right as usual, my wife," ke smiled gently as he held her hand and kissed the back of it. "So, my dear wife, what do you propose?"


    "The dragons are on the other side of this world right?" Sherene rified before continuing. "She would have to pass through thends of the Cartel before crossing thends of the Iron Kingdoms, before finally arriving home..."


    "The whole journey would take one month?" Sherene furrowed her brows as she made some mental calctions. "Or more, due to the current situation as detours would be needed to avoid warzones."


    "She will need definitely need an escort," Sherene said. "I don''t think she will make it back safe if she goes alone..."


    "True," ke nodded. "But also, by the time she reaches the Dragons Domain... one way or other, we will know which side is winning."


    "So you agree to my n?" Sherene asked with a small smile. "Will you send an escort with her?"


    ke smiled back and leaned over and kissed her forehead, "Of course, but who to send? I can have them use the Old Ugly since it is avable..."


    "How about Magister Thorn, if he agrees to?" Sherene suggested. "He has always expressed his wish to see the home of the dragons."


    "He can also represent the UN when meeting with dragons," Sherene added. "And establish friendly rtionships with them."


    ke nodded, "If he agrees, he shall have the position."


    "And one more thing," Sherene said hesitatedly. "They can also search around for news of Takao..."


    "You didn''t forget did you?" Sherene''s eyes narrowed as she stared at ke who did not meet her re. "You forgot!"


    "Erm, yes, I have forgotten about it..." ke sighed as he admitted his mistake. "I will get Intel on it..."


    "You better!" Sherene growled. "She is MY people!"


    -----


    The Old World, Fort Anchorage, Waterfall Abode 16


    Saphia was dozing off on her favourite spot inside her cave abode when the bell to her abode rang. The ding ding ding of the bell woke her up from her dreams and she sleepily crawled over to arge horn like object on the wall and pushed the lever.


    "ck dragon Saphia?" The horn cried out and she nodded sleepily while making some noises of acknowledgement.


    "I am calling to inform you, as of yesterday, the Protectorate has invaded thends of the Domain of the Dragons," The voice said in an eerily calm tone. "The dragons are at war with the Protectorate now."


    On hearing those words, Saphia snapped awake and she grabbed the magical speaking horn in panic. "What? Are they all alright?"


    "We currently do not have more information at this time," The voice replied. "But we have two options for you."


    "One, if you still wish to remain with the UN, you are wee to," The voice stated. "You will be given a contract and once the terms of the contract are up, you are wee to do whatever you wish, as long as nows are broken. This means, upon epting the contract with the UN, you cannot leave the UN without explicit orders."


    Hearing this Saphia''s expression fell. She knew that if she epted the contract, she will have no freedom. Feeling torn between her desire to join the UN to be with Blue Thunder and the younglings and the feelings of her home being invaded, made her pace around her cave in uncertainty.


    "Second, you can leave," The voice continued. "If you are returning to the Domain of the Dragons, the UN will provide a small escort to escort you home."


    "Who will be my escort?" Saphia asked curiously as she halted her pacing. While she was naive, she too knew that the distance was too great for her to make it back alone. It was a reason why she remained with the UN despiteing back to the Old World.


    "The Old Ugly will be your escort," The voice replied. "If you agree to the second option, a crew will be selected and assembled to be your escort."


    "I choose the second option!" Saphia cried out urgently. "When can we depart?"


    "In two day''s time," The voice said. "You will be contacted for a briefing once the crew has been gathered. Thank you and have a nice day."


    "Wai-" Saphia wanted to ask more but the caller had hung up. She stared helplessly at the speaking horn for a moment before she spun around and rushed out, leaping off the cave and flying over to Blue Thunder and Rastraz''s cave abode.


    Shended on the ledge of their cave and rang the bell, pulling the bell rope urgently. She could hear the grumbling tones of Blue Thunder as he came to the cave opening and poked his head out of the curtains, "Blue!"


    "Saphia?" Blue Thunder looked surprised. "What? Why are you crying?"


    "Its... Its..." Tears flowed down her cheeks as she sobbed at the cave way.


    "Who is it?" Rastraz called out from inside the cave. "The twins are awake!"


    "It''s Saphia!" Blue Thunder called back. "Something is wrong, she is crying!"


    "What? Ask her in then you big dummy!" Rastraz came waddling over. "Did you make her cry?"


    "N- Noo!" Blue Thunder quickly replied as he dragged Saphia into the cave. "She just started crying in front of me!"


    Rastraz pushed Blue Thunder away, gesturing him to look after the twins while she checked on Saphia. She frowned at Saphia who was bawling away and in a surprisingly gently tone, asked, "What happened?"


    "Its... My... home..." Saphia sobbed loudly as all her pent up emotions came out. She missed her home and family dearly, having separated from them for so long. Hearing the news of a Protectorate invade right into the heart of the dragon domain made her fearful for her grandmother, family and friends. "It''s... under... attack... sob!"


    After making sense of the bits and pieces of sentences between tears, Rastraz came to the conclusion that Saphia''s home was being attacked by the Protectorate. Blue Thunder came back with the twins hanging on his back and asked cautiously, "Is she alright?"


    "Her homnd is being attacked," Rastraz sighed as she settled down next to the crying dragon andforted her as best as she could. While she felt jealous of Saphia and irritated that her kids like her so much, she understood her misery and loneliness as she once awoke to a world where her kin has all disappeared.


    "Oh, no! By the Protectorate?" Blue Thunder made a guess and seeing the nod from the two dragons, he cursed wildly only getting smacked on his head by Rastraz''s tail.


    "Watch yournguage!" Rastraz hissed. "Don''t teach the twins!"


    "Oh! Sorry!" Blue Thunder sheepishly replied. He craned his head back and checked on the twins who were snuggled together on his back and had fallen asleep once more. Letting out a sigh of relief, he turned back and asked, "Did you ask for help?"


    "Th- They said, that they will allow me to return..." Saphia having calmed down, could finally speak properly. "A- and they will provide me an escort."


    "Ooo, that''s not too bad," Blue Thunder bobbed his head. "Who or what is going to escort you?"


    "The Old Ugly," Saphia replied. "They are still gathering the crew..."


    "Nice!" Blue Thunder bobbed his head more. "The Old Ugly is a good ship! The Captain used it to save the Princess!"


    "But would that be enough?" Rastraz asked. "From what I know, Saphia''s homnd is on the other side of this world... And a single ship against an entire Protectorate fleet?"


    "Ohh..." Blue Thunder frowned as he realized the implications. "Erm... Ras... Do you think we should follow along?"


    Rastraz snapped her head around and red at Blue Thunder. "And risk the twins?"


    "But... Saphia is all alone... and... because family?" Blue Thunder stammered under Rastraz''s re as he tried toe out with a good reason to convince her. "Didn''t... you always... wanted to find... other ancients of... your kin?"


    Rastraz''s re softened as she started considering Blue Thunder''s words. It was true that she always wanted to find more of her kin, the elder dragons as she wanted to know what happened to them all when she was hibernating inside a volcano. Seeing Rastraz deep in thoughts, Blue Thunder quickly added, "Saphia''s grandma might be one of the elders you are searching for and might be the key to your questions!"


    Rastraz narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Blue Thunder who quickly turned around and acted as if he was checking on the twins. She turned to Saphia who was leaning against her, her teary eyes looking at her with hope and desperation and Rastraz let out a soft sigh. "Alright, we shall follow along to keep you safe and see if I can get the answers I want!"


    "YAY!" Blue Dragon cheered as he swooped over, giving a surprise hug to both the dragons. "There''s nothing stronger than family!"

 Chapter 666: Devils Due

    Chapter 666: Devil''s Due


    Trism secretly rejoiced as he sized up the dragons lined up before him on the decks of the internal hangar of Bay Three of the Vengeance. He purposed put on a face of hesitation while he eyed the expectant expression on Blue Thunder''s face, the cold but with a hint of excitement on Rastraz''s expression and finding the sobbing and anxious Saphia.


    He came to a realization that ever since bing an Intelligence agent, he had learnt how to read people, from their facial expressions to micro expressions. And now, he could even understand a dragon''s facial expression. Finally, he let out a sigh to cover up his amusement and said in a serious tone, "You do know that the escort mission will have high chances to enter conflict zones?"


    "Yes, yes!" Blue Thunder bobbed his head repeatedly. "We all know!"


    "And your children...?" Trism pointed out to the two sleeping dragonlings cradled in a harness that Blue Thunder was wearing.


    "No, there are no worries!" Blue Thunder patted his chest in assurance. "Ras and I will ensure that our kids will note to any harm! Besides, they can meet more of their kin when we reach thends of the dragons!"


    Trism nodded as he conceded the point to the dragon. He nodded once more and said, "Alright... Wee to the team."


    "YES!" Blue Thunder joyfully cheered, his actions waking up the twins. Rastraz smacked Blue Thunder on his head and growled, making him regret waking the twins. Saphia let out a loud sob as she thanked the other two dragons, promising them the best royal treatment they will get will they reach her home.


    As Trism walked away, a small smile appeared on his face and soon, he started whistling cheerfully to himself as he exited the hangar bay.


    -----


    Magister Thorn was humming to himself and packing his things when the bell to his cave abode rang. He stopped his work and hurried over to the door which was just a thick curtain partition and found Professor Hamlot outside.


    "Hamlot?" Magister Thorn weed his friend in. "Is there any matter?"


    "Ah, yes," Professor Hamlot replied as he made himselffortable inside his friend''s house. "I heard that you epted to be the head delegate to visit the Dragon Lords?"


    "Yes, yes," Magister Thorn replied excitedly. "It was such a surprising turn of events! I was packing for the return trip, but suddenly, I was asked if I am willing to lead a team of delegates to the Domain of the Dragons to establish some friendly rtions!"


    "I... I would like to be part of that team," Professor Hamlot said. "Will it be alright if I join as well?"


    "Of course!" Magister Thorn cheerfully agreed. "This trip is getting better and better!"


    Professor Hamlot smiled back at the enthusiastic reply and added, "I am sure we will all find the knowledge that we all dearly sought!"


    "Too bad, Dr. Sharon couldn''t join us for this trip!" Magister Thornmented. "She has to return to Haven to oversee the health ministry... She has been away for far too long!"


    Just at this time, the bell rang again and Magister Thorn looked out of his curtain door and saw a familiar figure appear at his doorstep. "Speaking of the devil..."


    "I brought some local spirits!" Dr. Sharon cheerfully held up a basket filled with earthen jars. "And snacks to go along!"


    Dr. Sharonughed as she saw Professor Hamlot already seated in Magister Thorn''s abode and she set the basket down. "I kinda predicted that you will be here."


    Professor Hamlotughed as he knew Dr. Sharon had guessed his intentions. "Well... You do know how I enjoy digging up ancient ruins..."


    "And the best ce for all those historical stuff could be all found in a dragon''s home..." Dr. Sharonughed once more as shepleted the blushing Professor''s sentence. She shook her head and pulled out a jar as Magister Thorn carried over a few mugs. "I knew it! That is why... I brought all these here to have thest drinking session with you guys before I return and you lot go off on some... adventure once more!"


    "Cheers!" The three academics tossed each other in Terran style. They knocked their mugs together and finished off the strong local brew as they took thest opportunity to enjoy each other''spany before they depart on their separate journeys, unsure of when would they ever meet each other again.


    -----


    Lightning repeated shed through the armoured viewports of the cabin and despite the heavy sound proofing, the deep rumble of thunder could be heard. ke leaned against the viewport and saw an entirely different world outside of the cabin.


    Dark angry clouds covered the world outside with lightning constantly snaking and splitting the skies. Dark shapes of rocks and brokennd could be seen floating in the air between the shes of lightning while rain asionally sttered against the armoured windows before the strong winds blew the droplets away.


    He turned to look at Sherene who was sleeping, curled up under a nket with their child. Her brows twitched each time the skies rumbled. He reached over and gently patted her head, stroking her hair as he took in every contour and crease on her sleeping face. Already with proper meals and nutrition, her once sunken cheeks had started to fill out once more and herplexion had improved greatly.


    But he could still see the lines of worries and pain on the wrinkles formed on her face and a sense of helpless anger came over him. He knew Sherene had given up a lot, especially in protecting their child in such a savage environment. He could not evene to think of what would happen to their son if they found themter as what intel on the Protectorate church''s policy was that once children were of age at five, they would be taken to church run homes, where the young would be educated in the Protectorate ways of Law and Order.


    Sherene suddenly jerked in her sleep, her brows were knotted together tightly and she suddenly jerked awake with a cry. Her eyes were darting around wildly and her pupils were dted with fear. She stared around her surroundings in panic and only calmed down when she recognized ke who was hugging her and patting her back like a small child.


    She buried her face deep into the embrace of ke and fought back her tears. The nightmares had lessened over the days but when they came to her dreams, it was vivid and all too real and frightening to her.


    "Don''t be afraid, I am here," ke consoled Sherene. "We will be home soon."


    Sherene nodded as she calmed down and she looked out of the viewports, seeing a world of storm and lightning. The decks of the wing ship vibrated and together, a dull series of booms could be felt and heard as the turrets of the wing ship unleashed a barrage of cannon fire at arge fast approaching piece of floating rock.


    "This storm feels so... evil," Sherene shuddered as she saw the rock get blown into smaller pieces and pelted the magical barriers of the wing ship. "It just feels so wrong..."


    ke nodded as he joined Sherene in looking outside. "I have never seen nor heard anything like this until I came here."


    "Could this be a legacy of the Gods?" ke asked as he wanted to stop Sherene from thinking about her nightmares. "It is just toorge to be a natural urrence."


    "Maybe, Magister Thorn would have more theories about this," Sherene replied. "He would love to research this."


    "Yes, he did mention a few of his theories to me before," ke smiled as he recalled the old elf''s excited expression as he started a discussion about the End Zone. "He theorized that this storm ring is what keeps the magic on the New World."


    "And the floating rocks flying inside the upper levels of the clouds were most likely remnants of somend that had shattered during the divine wars."


    "I see," Sherene replied. As she continued to watch the outside views, she suddenly frowned when a sh of lightning lit up the skies and a shadowy figure could briefly be seen on one of therger pieces of the floating rocks. But it was gone before she could take another look.


    She rubbed her eyes and leaned back on her seat, thinking that she must be too tired and with the lightning and gloomy clouds outside, her eyes must have been ying tricks on her. How could there be anyone capable to live in such a deadly environment that high up in the storm?


    -----


    Rain pelted down heavily against the leathery skin of the winged humanoid being that crouched on arge piece of rock. Despite the strong winds and dangers of lightning strikes, it seemed unaffected by the raging storm as its yellow eyes stared unflinchingly at the strange triangle shaped object that flew very fast in the storm. The creature had observed several simr objects that passed through the storm for the past few circles and was very curious about it.


    It wondered if it contained more of those yummy fleshy beings that appeared in a flying ind many many circles ago. It started to salivate at the thought and it wanted to get closer to find out but it knew that that flying triangle was too fast for its skeletal wings to catch up.


    It had experimented with different ways of getting closer, but the strange object seemed to have very powerful magic as it destroyed any pieces of floating rocks it had sent its way over, killing many of its brethren. It crashed the rock underneath its skinny legs in frustration as it watched another rock filled with its brethren get destroyed by its powerful magic and the flying object quickly disappeared from sight.


    It hammered the ground once more, vowing in its ckened heart that one day, it would capture that object and hopefully, it would be filled with many many fleshy beings and it will feast to its fill! Thinking about it, made its hunger rise and it crawled its way into a hole in the flying rock. Inside were filled with rotting corpses and it grabbed the nearest and started feasting on the rotting flesh of the corpse.


    -----


    Unknown to the crew and passengers of the wing ship, Vector One Five, they dozed off in the passenger cabins and cargo hull, blissfully unaware of the danger they almost encountered. The gunners manning the turrets even joked and made bets on who will score the next hit of the flying rocks that came their way.


    The pilots continued on their routine checks and hourster, the wing ship flew into a wall of clouds and suddenly, they could see the dark clear skies filled with stars. Feeling relieved to be finally out of the endless storms, the pilots checked their position using an array of sensor andmunication balloons that were tethered on small inds around the territory of the UN.


    Once their position was assured, they plot a course for the city of Haven and the pilot made an announcement to the entire wing ship. "All hands, this is the captain of the Vector One Five. We have exited the end zone and is now en route to Haven. ETA is four hours, we will reach Haven just after sunrise."


    As the wing ship made its way towards Haven, a squadron of F/A - 2 Vipers appeared and formed up in a protective cordon around the wing ship. ke gently woke Sherene up and she stared groggily out of the viewports. Slowly, she started to recognize the city as the sun broke over the horizon and she started tearing.


    "I am... home...." She sobbed as ke hugged her. She kissed their sleeping child and whispered once more, "We are finally home!"

 Chapter 667: Resignation

    Chapter 667: Resignation


    The New World, United Nations, Sawtooth Mountain Airbase


    Massive wheels lined with treated slime squeaked loudly as they hit the tarmac. Friction between the two surfaces, burnt off the rubbery slime and smoke trailed behind the turning wheels as the wing ship taxied to a stop on the runway. The gigantic flying wing halted right before a tiny goblin waving a pair of light wands excitedly and a boarding bridge was slowly extended out to the side forward hatch while its rear cargo hatch slowly swung open.


    Carrying Coa in one hand, ke strolled out of the hatch with Sherene and the waiting honour guard contingent lined along the boarding bridge snapped to attention and saluted at their arrival. At the end of the bridge, both military and civilian officials awaited patiently and upon spotting the Princess, they all broke into apuse and cheers.


    Sherene was further overwhelmed with gratitude when they made their way out of the airbase, where thousands and thousands of well wishers had gathered outside the main gates of the base. Flowers were offered and confetti and gs fluttered in the air. Balloons and both magical spells and fireworks were released by the huge crowd that weed Sherene home.


    It was like a festival as thends outside the perimeter fence of the airbase had booths set up that sold food and drinks to even a stage where popr musical artists performed. Further out there were even hundreds of tents as many hade much earlier to wait for the return of the Princess. Hundreds of soldiers had to be deployed to patrol the grounds and kept the crowd controlled and orderly when the Princess exited in a motorcade.


    With tears in her eyes, she stepped out of the vehicle waved to the crowd under the torment of cheers. Coa overwhelmed by the loud noises, cried and Sherene lifted him higher to show him off to the crowd which cheers intensified even more at seeing the Grand Prince. Seated inside the vehicle, ke let out a sigh as he watched the people''s worship of the Princess and his child.


    "Captain, it is good to see you all back safe and sound," Seated across ke, Commander Ford congratted him. "It... must have been very hard for them..."


    "Yes, it is something we can''t imagine," ke replied sharply as he red at Commander Ford who looked away in embarrassment. "But that is in the past... Now they are back and I will keep them safe."


    "Yes, sir," Commander Ford replied guiltily. After a while, Sherene returned to the vehicle, her face flush with gratefulness to the people. She carefully handed Coa over to ke and was about to address Commander Ford when he spoke first.


    "Princess, I want to apologize..." Commander Ford said stiffly. "Due to my ipetence, your safety had beenpromised. Now that you have returned... I will formally submit my resignation."


    ke frowned at Commander Ford''s words while Sherene shook her head. "It was not your fault in the first ce... Who could have expected such a turn of events?"


    "Still, it is theck of my duty that you have suffered..." Commander Ford kept his head lowered. "I will take full responsibility for this."


    Sherene gave ke a helpless look before she said, "I ept your apology but not your resignation."


    "The UN government needs you," She added. "If you want to make up for your mistakes... You should continue working for the government to improve the lives of its people!"


    "She is right," ke sighed before he continued. "We need you at the helm of the government, because... the one resigning would be me."


    Commander Ford''s eyes went wide as he stared at ke in shock. "What?"


    "I am stepping down frommand," ke repeated tiredly. "I n to retire with Sherene and look after them."


    "But..." Commander Ford was speechless. He hade with a steeled heart to resign and take all responsibility for the screw up but instead, he was told to stay and the Captain would resign instead. "The UN is you! You are the UN!"


    "No, I am not," ke shook his head. "I had not shown my best when Sherene was taken from me..."


    "Instead it was people like you, Dr, Sharon, Lieutenant Tavor and many others that disyed your true strengths when shit went down," ke quietly admitted his ws. "While I drowned myself in defeat and disgraced the uniform."


    "If we were still under UNM Space Command... The things I had done and not done..." ke let out a self reproaching smile. "I would have long been court martialed and stripped of my uniform andmand!"


    "Hence, now that I found back my family," ke gently patted the excited child in his arms. "I decided to step down frommand and instead focus on them."


    "But, Sir, the UN still needs you," Commander Ford tried to persuade ke from stepping down. "It was by your leadership that we got this far!"


    "No, it wasn''t just by my leadership," ke shook his head once more. "It was thebined effort of everyone here! You, already are doing a damn fine job of keeping the UN running while I was down and out..."


    "I have decided," ke forestalled any more objections by Ford. "I will make this announcement tomorrow at the general assembly."


    "And I want you to take over my position."


    -----


    The Old World, Tri Border between the Protectorate, Iron Kingdom and the Domain of the Dragons


    "PUNISH THE SINNERS!" A gigantic figure with glowing white eyes roared. Behind the giant, circling in the skies was a massive snake as dark as the void screaming at the sun. "THE SUN! THE SUN!"


    Leung jolt up from his dream and looked around his surroundings in confusion and found himself in his bedroom. The warm naked body of Nerssia was curled up against him on his left and he could sense her beating heart. As he rubbed his face, he realised he was sweating heavily.


    He crawled out of the bed and entered the side chamber where a bathing pool that was constantly filled with warm water sat in the middle of the chamber. He stepped into the bath and sat down, soaking in the warmth. He had been somewhat enlightened to the current state of affairs of the Protectorate and the Old World in the past few days of meetings and listening to discussions.


    War with the entire world, he thought to himself. Did he really want such a thing? He tried to recall his own memories, but somehow they were difficult and fuzzy in his mind. He could only vaguely remember the ws and teeth of the Swarm and how after fell to the dark ooze of the Swarm.


    Would a total war be a good thing for the Protectorate? He was seriously considering it as somehow other memories flowed into his mind. Scenes of thousands of winged figures wearing golden armour kneeling down in obeisance and shouting his name, no, Ramuh''s name flooded his mind. Leung jolt awake once more and found himself still in the bath.


    Lately, his dreams had been a mess. He either saw scenes of Ramuh or the Apep, and it was getting harder to differentiate reality from dreams. He cursed inwardly and climbed out of the bath, grabbing a robe from the shelves and donning it before he returned to his chambers where Nerssia remained spent from the night activities.


    He crossed over to the balcony and looked out, seeing the night skies and the ground spread out before him. Hundreds of lights covered his view as the guiding lights of airships surrounding the temple ship kept in formation. It was a massive invasion fleet of the Protectorate consisting of hundreds of cruisers and transports.


    The sheer amount of tonnage and personnel had Leung bbergasted, as he wondered how was it possible for the religious nation to field such a force without crippling its own national resources. All he knew was the priests and Nerssia telling him that it was faith and their devotion to him that made it possible. Seeing such blind devotion, while it made him excited for he was the focus of such devotion, it also made him frightened at the consequences.


    What if the invasion fails? The Protectorate would be the number one enemy in the entire world, not to mention what if the UN decided to cross over to the Old World and interfere, it would mean the doom of not only the Protectorate but himself too. And how many will die for him, a human, pretending to be a God? Such thoughts were constantly in his mind and it made him very ufortable.


    Yet, each time, when he wanted to voice out to stop the priests from the war or step down as their God, but somehow, he was unable to do so. He would just stare dumbly at the looks of worship from the people and instead, give his blessings. After that, he would remain seated on his throne, feeling surges of powering from the fine threads of faith, invisible to the mortal eyes, as the people prayed and praised his name, the feeling give him both a guilty pleasure and dread.


    -----


    The Old World, The Cartel, The Silver Mountains


    The atmosphere inside the mountain auditorium was bleak as representatives of each n and faction listed out the current losses in the sudden war. The whole situation was unfavourable to the Cartel asrge swaths ofnd had been overrun by both the Protectorate and Tri State forces. Despite heightened defenses were already in ce, the sheer numbers of the Protectorate and the sudden breaking of the peace treaty with the Tri State had overwhelmed the Cartel border defences.


    Capital strongholds such as Green Mountain were surrounded, isted and cut off by the enemy and contact had been lost to many hignd towns and cities. Even the delegate from the Loose Confederation seemed torn between sending military help and wanting to pull out from the Cartel at the current state of affairs.


    "All mountains cities are to shut their doors and hunker down," The current Grand Lord of the Cartel finally dered. "All air andnd travel will cease from now onwards. The Great Tunnels will be opened and used only for matters of importance only!"


    The gathered Lords and representatives started mumbling unhappily at the decision. The Great Tunnels were awork of ancient tunnels that connect each Mountain City to another. Before airships were invented, the Great Tunnels were the Cartel''s greatest engineering feat and weapon, as it enabled the Cartel to move goods and people safely underground, without the fear of being ambushed.


    But ever since the invention of airships, the Great Tunnels had been abandoned as it was deemed too costly to maintain and slowerpared to airships. And ever since the Great Tunnels had been neglected, they fell into ruins and became a haven for monsters and beasts.


    "Each Mountain will do its part in opening the Great Tunnels once more!" The Grand Lord dered. "All hignd towns and cities are to retreat into the Mountains and the Mountains will be closed!"


    "We will sit out this war for however long it is needed!" The Grand Lord added grimly. "Like how our ancestors had outlived our enemies! We shall prevail in the end! Our enemies will leave once they find out that they cannot breach our walls!"


    At this moment, the doors to the auditorium mmed open and two scruffy looking dwarvens entered. Their unexpected appearance caused the gathered Lords to exim in surprise as they recognized the two, "Gr- Grand Lord Hammerfall? And Lord Copperstone!"


    "But... How? Aren''t you two dead in the New World?" Cries of surprise came from the Lords. "How did you both return?"


    "Yes! Nearly died a few times!" Grand Lord Hammerfall growled as he stepped forward and unceremoniously shoved the current Grand Lord of the Cartel off the speaking tform. "But now we are back and here to save the Cartel!"

 Chapter 668: Retired

    Chapter 668: Retired


    The wee party slowly winded down and after the majority of the guests had departed, a tired Sherene carried Coa up to the bedroom to rest. ke left the bedroom after ensuring Sherene and Coa had fallen asleep and made his way to his study. The waiting officers stood up when he entered and waited for ke to sit down behind his desk before they took their seats once more.


    "Sir, is it true you intend to retire?" Chief of Air Force, Commander Tommy unable to keep his silence anymore, asked. His once youthful looks had now matured over time under the weight ofmand, making him look older than his actual age.


    "Yes," ke nodded as he epted a ss of local spirits from Commander Ford. "I have decided to retire to spend time with my family. Ford will take over as Captain andmander in chief of the UN territories here, effective immediately."


    Seeing the disappointment in his officers, ke sighed and added, "I of course will still be around if you wish to consult me on any matters. As long it is in my capability to do so, I will help as much as I can."


    "I have full confidence in Ford''s ability to run the UN," ke continued. "After all he has been the one holding the UN together after... my... illness... I am very sure he will continue to do a good job at leading the UN."


    "As before, continue to support Ford to the best of your abilities," ke added. "We are now no longer just the crew of the UNS Singapore, but a nation. A whole nation of people is counting on us, on you, to lead them into the future."


    "I am very proud of you all," ke stood up and gave a salute to everyone. "You all have gone far and beyond your duty!"


    The officers saluted back and settled down after ke reassured them once more. After a few drinks, the officers bid farewell and departed to return to their residences. ke gestured to Ford to stay behind and once they were alone, he said, "Ford, think of this promotion as both a punishment and reward."


    Ford nodded as he understood the meaning behind ke''s words. ke continued as if he didn''t notice his nod, "Punishment for failing to ensure the Princess''s protection... You will have to make sure the UN thrives in this world and prep the military against the Old World forces if there is a day when total war breaks out between the two continents."


    "As for the reward," ke patted Ford''s shoulder and from the side drawer of his desk, he took out a pair of ranks tabs and handed it over, "Congrattions, you just made Captain!"


    "It is a tradition that a superior hands over his former rank tabs to his XO when he gets promoted," ke exined as he helped removed Ford''s rank from his shoulders and pinned up the new rank tabs. He stepped back and saluted Ford, "Captain Kevin Ford."


    "Thank you, sir!" Ford saluted back. He did not expect the promotion as it normally would require a four panelmittee of Captains or Admirals to review and promote a naval officer to Captain. ke had broken the tradition and directly promoted him instead.


    "Well, this promotion might not hold with UNM naval standards, if we ever get back to Terran space..." ke admitted. "But here, you now hold the highestmand authority. I expect nothing but the best from you."


    "Now go home and get some sleep," ke smiled as he chased Ford out of his house. "I''m officially retired now and I need some sleep too!"


    -----


    Ford now wearing the rank of Captain, did not feel the joy that he thought he would get when he made the rank. Instead, he felt the weight ofmand even more on his soul. He returned to Fortress Singapore, which it''s partial destroyed andter restored hull had long be part of the city''sndscape.


    Inside his office, he stared nkly out of the armoured windows that overlooked the city''s night scene and after a long while, he let out a soft sigh. He sat down on his chair and ran through the report that he wanted to hand over to ke to look over. Listed inside, were the reports on the UN''s economics, industrial, military, and poption growth.


    Instead, the report was now a wasted effort since ke had just effectively handed over everything to him. He tossed the report to the side and instead login into the system where he dug out the intel reports on the Old World. ke had specifically told him to be on the watch against the Old World and this made Ford curious about what the Old World had to offer.


    By the time he finished reading the reports on the Old World, Ford felt a sense of unease at the size and scale of the Old World. While technologically, the UN were superior, the Old World has numbers and a higher understanding of magic and Gods on their side and Intel even suspect that there were a few minor Gods still around in the Old World.


    The UN economy had taken a hit when they built the supercarrier to cross the End Zone to get to the Old World despite the generous amount of donations from the public. The additional airships, aircraft, and wing ships would have crashed the UN economy if it was not for the annexation of the Isles. The wealth of the merchant nation had helped keep the UN''s economy afloat long enough for it to recover and with the majority of the industry retooled for consumer products instead of military ware, the UN was finally seeing positive economic growth.


    Wars were expensive, especially deployments on another continent. If ke haven''t decided to stop the campaign in the Old World after finding the Princess, Ford would step forward to advise him to stop. Suddenly a smile broke out on Ford''s face as he put down the reports, heughed to himself while saying, "This is it!"


    He had found a way to ensure a constant flow of ie to the UN! The New World has an abundance of one resource that the Old World will kill to get their hands on. Mana stones!


    -----


    The Old World, Capital of the Suugon Dynasty


    A massive jade pce sat in the middle of an artificial ind. Canals and bridges connected the ind to the maind and dozens of boats could be seen moving along the waterways. Imposing walls glided with gold and jade surrounded the massive pce and hundreds of soldiers standing still like statues guarded the walls.


    Inside a huge chamber of the jade pce, the Eternal Emperor, dressed in rich brocade robes covered with embroidery of dragons sewn with gold thread, sat ramrod straight on a throne of gold and jade. A golden mask covered with borate carvings covered his face as was a tradition as the mask represented the eternity of the Suugon Dynasty.


    Arrayed before the throne was several steps that were lined with incense and candles, while further down, over a hundred officials wearing both civil and military uniforms in six rows kowtowed as one and chorused. "We greet the Eternal Emperor! May the Eternal Emperor live for a thousand years!"


    "Rise, my loyal minsters," The Eternal Emperor spoke in a sing song voice.


    As the ministers and officials rose to their feet, the mes of candles and incense smoke in front of them barely moved and the Eternal Emperor gave a satisfied nod. The lit candles and incenses were a form of detection of murderous intent. It was said that one could sense killing intent with the array of candles and incense and it became one of many methods of the Eternal Emperor to prevent assassinations.


    "We gathered you here to discuss the current situation that is happening to the other nations..." The Eternal Emperor said. "This situation worries us greatly!"


    "Your Majesty," A valiant looking general stepped fore and sped his fists together in salute as he spoke. "Our forces have been massed along the borders in preparation for war."


    "Give us yourmand and we will lead our troops to victory against those uncultured barbarians!" Another general stepped forward and said. "


    "Your Majesty, we must not act in haste!" A civil minister hurried spoke out. "We should let them fight among themselves and conserve our strength instead."


    "We have an agreement with the Dragons!" Another minister said. "They are asking for help, should we bring dishonour to our word?"


    "That treaty is only against the barbarians of the Iron Kingdom!" The ministers started arguing. "Fighting against those crazed religious fanatics is not part of the treaty!"


    "The Protectorate poises a great threat to the world," Another general pointed out. "They must be destroyed to thest child or they will grow like a blight to threaten the world!"


    "The affairs of the barbarians are not our business to interfere," A minister added. "With or without them, our Great Suugon Dynasty still grows strong and prosperous!"


    "Enough!" The Eternal Emperor suddenly spoke and immediately, the gathered ministers and officials bowed toward the Emperor. "Double our troops at the borders and have them be ready for war."


    "As for the Dragons... Continue to observe them," The Eternal Emperor ordered. "Only offer our aid when they have reached their end! The Dragons muste under our control!"


    "With the blood of the Dragons, the Suugon Dynasty will reign eternally!" The ministers and officials chorused.


    "With the Eastern barbarians at each other throats, we shall reap the rewards once they are exhausted!"

 Chapter 669: Anxiety

    Chapter 669: Anxiety


    The Old World, UN FOB, Fort Anchorage


    Saphia was pacing up and down the side of the runway where the three UN airships were parked. After every few steps, she would stop and look over at the work crew that was still moving stacks of crates and other things onboard the airships before she let out a sigh and resumed her pacing. The hard rock beneath her ws was slowly being worn out by her relentless pacing.


    Finally, a small wagon came rolling over and a person whose height barely reached her shoulders yelled at her and shooed her off. Saphia bit her lips and made her way sadly off to one of the hangars where Rastraz was curled up asleep. She stared at the sleeping red dragon and sighed, unable to remain so calm and carefree when the thought of her home was being invaded.


    There was a mighty pping of wings and Saphia looked up to see Blue Thunder carrying his two dragonlings came to a hover andnded right before her. The huge dragon gave a grin as he lowered his back to allow the twins on his back to scamper off his back, "Hello! Looks like the loading of the airships is going on well!"


    "Too slow!" Saphiained as she picked up the twins who came running over to hug her. "We should have left yesterday!"


    "Well, that doesn''t seem like a good idea..." Blue Thunder frowned as he gestured a w to the airships. "It''s going to be a very long and dangerous flight... And we need supplies for the whole trip..."


    "It will be hard to forage and hunt for food and in fact increase our travel time if we stop to do so!" Blue Thunder spoke with an air of a professional. He gestured once more to the airships and said, "So all those supplies are just for us! If without those supplies, we will take even a much longer time to reach your home!"


    "I... know..." Saphia sighed once more as she hugged the giggling twins. "I just... want to do something! Just sitting around doing nothing is... making me anxious!"


    "Don''t worry!" Blue Thunder reached out with his wing and gave Saphia a pat on her head. "By tomorrow, the airships will be ready for departure!"


    "Ahem!" Rastraz cracked an eye open and cleared her throat. "Kids! Come here!"


    "Mommy!" The twins screeched happily and they scamper across the tarmac into the hangar where they threw themselves into the arms of Rastraz. "Mommy!"


    Both the dragonlings had surprisingly grown up very fast in just a few days and even learnt a few words. The two dragonlings whose wings were still undeveloped was now almost the size of an adult Terran lion. Rastraz came out of the hangar with both dragonlings dangling off her sides as they tried to climb up her back using the spikes on her body. "Go help them load the airships if you think you are doing nothing!"


    "But..." Saphia looked down at her ws before she gave a nod and she hurried off towards the runway where the airships were parked.


    "Do you have to be so harsh on her?" Blue Thunder nced at the back of the ck dragon running enthusiastically to help the surprised ground crew with the loading of supplies. "She is still a child."


    "Hmph!" Rastraz snorted as she sat next to Blue Thunder and watched Saphia get in the way of the horrified workers and grumbled. "You two are getting too close!"


    "But we are good friends! Family!" Blue Thunder replied as he gave Rastraz a pat on her head too. "She''s alone... Just like when I first met you..."


    Rastraz shook her head and she turned away from Blue Thunder and waddled back into the hangar with the twins. "Call me when it''s time to depart!"


    Blue Thunder broke into a smile as he watch Rastraz disappear into the hangar before he turned around and lumbered over to the runway to help Saphia, much to the further annoyance of the ground crew.


    -----


    "Will the risks be too high if we choose this path?" Magister Thorn raised out his thoughts as the route of their journey was being discussed. "We will be crossing dangerously close to the border of the Protectorate."


    "We can choose a longer route which will bypass the borders of the Protectorate," Trism replied as he highlighted another colored track on the map. "But this will add an additional one month to our journey."


    "One month?" Professor Hamlot shook his head. "The Domain of the Dragon might have fallen by than..."


    "Or they will continue to hold their own against the Protectorate as they did for centuries..." said Trism. "Either way, it''s either take risks to reduce our travel time or y it safe and take a longer route."


    "Do we know how the war is progressing?" Magister Thorn asked. "Is the Protectorate winning or?"


    "At this moment, what we know is that there isn''t much change to the front lines," Trism replied. "Our intel onlyes from the maind and is not exactly up to date. We do not have real time intelligence in the Old World... yet..."


    "Hmm, so should we take the risk and attempt to cross thends of the Cartel and Iron Kingdom that is embroiled in war or take a longer route?" Magister Thorn asked once more. "An additional one month of travel would really have arge effect on our mission."


    "We can push through any blockades easily, as long as the numbers are not overwhelmingly against us," Trism replied. "The Old Ugly and the two Icarus airships have enough firepower to destroy ten, twenty times their numbers if their level of weapons is what we encountered before."


    "The other problem we would face, is resupply..." Trism tapped on the map on the table. "The Old Ugly and even the Icaruses would require replenishment of fuel, fresh water and even food after a month of hard travel. They can only carry so much in their holds..."


    "Can we resupply in the Iron Kingdom?" Magister Thorn gestured to the map. "We still have friendly rtions with Prince Herod."


    "Ah... That is if Prince Herod is still in power," Trism said. "We do not know the current political situation within the Iron Kingdom... So there could be a chance that he was disposed from his position. If that is the case, we might face some issues."


    "Even so, we will need to pass through the Iron Kingdoms," Magister Thorn sighed. "At the most, we can make use of the chaos between the Protectorate and the Iron Kingdom to get through?"


    "But it still doesn''t solve our resupply issues..." Trism said. "Unless we get a wing ship to drop supplies for us along our route?"


    "It could work," James Bone, CO of the Marines contingent remaining behind, suddenly spoke from the corner of the room. "Just that we need to have those supplies dropped in unpopted areas. Or my boys can move in to secure the area and we can wait for the supplies to be airdropped in."


    "Alright, I guess we can settle with our supply problems with these ways," Trism said. "If we can resupply with the locals, we will do so, if not we will have to call in a wing ship to drop supplies for us."


    -----


    Loose Confederation


    Arge fragment ofnd was floating over the sea and chains were extended out from all sides that connected to smaller isles around the floatingndmass. Dozens of colourful airships buzzed around the skies and upon closer inspection, the chains covered in a multitude of colourful banners and gs acted as a tether were actually massive bridges linking the floating ind to the smaller inds.


    Hundreds of wagons and countless people were making their way up the link bridges, where the Upper Executives of the Loose Confederation both reside and make nationwide decisions. The Floating Capital of the Confederation was the seat of power for the Loose Confederation and also the home of dozens of minor races.


    Sited in the centre of the floatingndmass was a white cathedral covered in a riot of bright coloured banners and gs. Under the sun, the cathedral looked like a child''s drawing, as it was surrounded by a wide field of blooming flowers and a circr moat covered with water lily like aqua nts. Connected to the cathedral were four white arching bridges simrly covered with fluttering banners and gs.


    Inside the top most level of the cathedral, a meeting involving the Upper Executives of the Confederation were going on. Each faction of the Confederation was dressed in their own colours, making the atrium forum looking like an art festival than a high level conference. Despite the festive disy of colours, the faces of the gathered Executives were grim and dark as they listened to the speaker at the head of the forum addressing everyone.


    "Both the Protectorate and the Tri State has broken the peace! Peace that we had for the past twenty years!" The speaker wearing a set of yellow court dress said. "Who knows if the Suugons will act?"


    "There has been no peace at all!" Another Executive dressed in blue yelled. "We have been fending off attacks from those bastards since our great grand parents time!"


    "Regardless!" The speaker in yellow continued on unfazed by interruption, "We should send tribute to the Suugons for peace!"


    "Tribute?" The gathered Executives except for those in yellow were outraged by the suggestion. They started booing the speaker and some even threw pieces of fruit smuggled in. The speaker in yellow ducked from the missiles and quickly hurried away under the booing andughter of the rest.


    Another speaker came fore, this time wearing green robes. The new speaker was short, clearly a dwarvan and he needed a chair to stand so that he could look over the podium. "We should send help to the Cartel instead of sending... tribute to the damned Suugons!"


    "If the Cartel falls... Those cursedw loving fanatics will surelye for us next!" The green robed dwarvan dered. "You all know how much they hate us!"


    This time, mumbles of agreement broke out from the Executives in the forum as they discussed among themselves. The dwarvan speaker continued on, "My colleagues and I believe that the Suugons would be too focused with the Tri State and the Iron Kingdom to bother with us."


    Calls of jeering came from those in yellow as they made their displeasure known. As the dwarvan''s face darkened, the doors to the forum suddenly swung open and a beastman in the uniform of the Confederation came rushing in. The beastman came to a halt before the forum and gave a quick saluted before he read the message in his trembling hands, "T- The Dragon Lords are under attack by Protectorate forces! This news is three days old!"


    The news shocked the Executives as they stared at each other dumbly at each other before all hell broke lose. People started yelling at each other in panic while others rushed to the exit to call their aides over to verify the news. The dwarvan speaker at the podium cursed as he banged the wooden surface of the podium, calling the forum to order.


    "Calm down! CALM DOWN!" The dwarvan yelled over the noise but no one bothered about him. He let out a tired sigh as he stepped down from the chair and headed back to his faction who were also made anxious by the news.


    "The Dragons has been our staunch ally for centuries..." The dwarvan mumbled to himself. "With them under siege... The damned Protectorate must be nning to wiped us all out!"


    "Call our people to be ready for war!" The dwarvan said to the rest. "This war is something we might not have a choice to avoid in anyway! We must be prepared!"

 Chapter 670: Divine Sense

    Chapter 670: Divine Sense


    The Old World, Protectorate - Iron Kingdom Border


    There was a loud nk as a part of the warped metal was wrenched back by a metal bar. Dozens of hands joined the metal bar and soon, an openingrge enough for an adult to squeeze through. Eager bodies quickly squeezed into the darkness and soon, items were tossed out of the hole to waiting hands.


    The items were quickly grabbed up and the people scavenging for anything useful quickly went through the broken remains of a Protectorate airship. All around were scores of people picking through the wreckage and suddenly, there came a cry from a young boy working as a lookout. Startled, the people quickly grabbed their findings and ran away from the crash site and into the nearby forest.


    Dozens of soldiers ridingnd dragons wearing red coats appeared and they charged into the panicked scavengers. The sharp tips of their short steamnces aimed straight at the backs of the retreating scavengers, poised to stab at the heretics. The boy who acted as a lookout scampered into a broken gap of the hull and hid.


    He wrapped his arms and curled up into a ball as he heard the frightened screaming of the people. The wreckage shook under the ws and weight of the cavalry as they charged past and the boy curled up tightly and covered his ears in fear. Suddenly, the ground shook wildly and the boy cried out. The earthquake continued on and the wreckage even shifted its position a few times while panicked cries and screams could be heard outside. He could feel something very heavy moving out there and felt the heavy stomp of its foot steps as it move.


    It was only after a very long period of time when everything had settled down and quiet, did the boy dared to emerge from his hiding spot. What he saw made he gasped in shock. A massive sink hole had appeared near the wreckage and the ground looked badly churned up. Trees were either uprooted or mashed aside could be seen at one part of the forest where severalrge w printsrger than an adult led into.


    He noticedrge amount of w prints of various sizes all over the area where the soil was loose, most of which surrounded therger prints. And of the Protectorate cavalry and the people he came with to scavenge for items at the crash site, none could be seen. It was as if they had vanished into thin air.


    After gathering his courage, he climbed down from the wreckage and ran off towards the forest, away from the scene of destruction of fallen trees and w prints. He only carried a looted pack found from a previous scavenging hunt that was filled with whatever food he managed to find in the wreckage. All thoughts of his earlier brush with death was soon forgotten as his thoughts were only on the faces of his younger siblings who would be fed with what he found.


    -----


    The Old World, UN FOB, Fort Anchorage, UNS Vengeance


    Plee flopped herself down onto the soft bunk bed and let out a sigh offort. She rolled over to her back and rubbed her satisfied belly, after having her favorite meal of cheese ''ber girls''. After almost a year, she could pronounce burgers but for some reason, she felt pronouncing it as ''ber girls'' was more appropriate.


    She unbuttoned her uniform and tossed it over a chair before she booted up a smallptop, borrowed from an unwilling blue dragon and logged into the ship''s entertainment library. Soon anime opening music came out from the embedded speakers. Plee bobbed her head to the music and changed into morefortable wear before flopping down on her bed once more and settled down to watch her current favorite anime series.


    She had grown a slightly taller and her body had filled up more while her speech and her understanding of the current era has improved a lot. Further training with the Navy had also taught her a lot and with her ability, she was finally given ess andmand of the Vengeance''s big guns a few months ago. It made her both proud and happy but the joy was short lived as the Vengeance barely had any chance to use its main guns, making her bored and unable to make some ''Bin bam booms'' as the goblins and followers of the Faith liked to chant.


    A sudden sense of vertigo struck her just as she was focused on the screen. She nearly cried out in shock but quickly regained her senses. She felt a very strong sense that attempted to invade her divine core but thankfully, she managed to resist that foreign sense and repeal it out of her body.


    She looked at the direction her core was, secured under hundreds of tons of reinforced steel and heavily armed Marine guards. Her breaths came out in short ragged pants and sweat covered her body as she found herself looking at the screen once more and she found the show had ended. It had taken over twenty minutes to push that foreign intent that tried to invade her core out! It wasn''t the first time this had happened and Pleeid down on her bed once more, her mind worried as she searched her fragmented memories of her time being a Goddess for any clue. The only thing she coulde out with was that it had to do with God or Goddess.


    No longer having the mood to watch her anime, Plee dressed into her uniform once more and headed out of her cabin to look for Captain Nemo. She found the Captain in the officer''s mess and out of training, she threw a salute to the Captain who was reading a book and holding a ss of amber liquid in his hand.


    "Good evening, Captain!" Plee stood at an attention and remained in salute, waiting for the Captain to acknowledge her as taught by her instructors.


    Captain Nemo raised an eyebrow at the God girl saluting him and repressed a smile that threaten to spill out. He set his ss down and slipped a bookmark on the page of the book before closing it and shook his head at the God Girl and remained her. "Lieutenant... There''s no rank in the mess."


    "Eh... yes sir!" Plee blushed as she put her hand down. "I..."


    "Sit down," Captain Nemo gestured the God girl who barely reached his shoulder to the chair before him. "Any drinks?"


    "Ah... I..." Plee stared at the board and frowned. She had a taste of the alcohol offered to her by the followers of the Faith and she nearly burnt the ship down. The followers of the Faith all learnt not to offer her any alcohol after that. "I... am banned... from alcohol..."


    "Get her some milk," Captain Nemo grinned to the bartender who nodded. He quickly poured out a ss of muffalo milk for the embarrassed girl officer. Captain Nemo thought back on how much the God Girl had changed. The first time he met her, she was naive, full of curiosity and impulsive. Now, her thinking had matured and she learnt patience, control and responsibilities.


    "What can I do for you?" Captain Nemo asked once Plee took a mouthful of the offered milk.


    "Sir... I heard that the Vengeance will remain here?" Plee quickly replied. "And that you will take... the core back to the New World?"


    "Yes," Captain Nemo nodded and he took a sip of his amber liquid in his ss. "You will be transferring back together with the core."


    "Can I stay here, Sir?" Plee suddenly said. "I... I think... something is calling me here..."


    "Something is calling you?" Captain Nemo sat up straight in his chair. His expression turned serious and he frowned. "Do you know what is it?"


    "No, sir... But for the past few days, I had felt a very strong... aura that tried to enter my core..." Plee answered with a small frown. "I do not know what it is... But I can sense it... Its...ing from there..."


    She raised her hand and pointed off towards the decorated bulkheads. Captain Nemo''s frown deepened and he quickly made a decision. "I will pass this on to High Command. In the mean time, report to medical and have them watch your condition!"


    "I am feeling fine, sir!" Plee shrugged as she was horrified inside. She remembered how Dr. Sharon and taken her blood and had heard many horror stories about Dr. Sharonter on, like how she will open up monsters or creatures just to see their insides all in the name of medical science. She also heard Blue Thunder''sints that Dr. Sharon wanted to steal his kids to experiment on. And the food, she won''t be able to eat her favorite ''ber girls'' under her care!


    "Still do a checkup, just to be sure," Captain Nemo smiled as he could read the changes of expressions on Plee''s face. "I will assign someone to watch over you too. As for your request, I will discuss with High Command over."


    "Yes, sir..." Plee felt depressed. She stood up and struggled to not salute and instead gave a bow like how those characters in anime usual do. "Thank you, sir!"


    Captain Nemo watched Plee shuffled off in low spirits and shook his head before he finished his drink. He left the officer''s mess and headed back to his office and quickly called for a meeting. At the same time, he ordered an increase in guards to watch over the core and also Plee, just in case.


    It had taken less than an hour for all relevant parties involved to gather at his office. Dr. Sharon, Magister Thorn, Lt. Commander Trism, Marine Major James and their aides sat around a table while Captain Nemo exined the reason for the summons. The expressions on everyone''s faces were bleak as they pondered on the news they just heard.


    "Another God here?" Trism sighed. "Could it have felt Plee?"


    "We still do not know much about the Old World," Captain Nemo added. "It could be a God or... something else..."


    "I need to report this back to Naval Intel," Trism sighed again. "I hate dealing with Gods..."


    "I will dy my return to the New World," Dr. Sharon said. "In the meantime I will do a full medical on her to see if there''s anything wrong."


    "I have double the guards on the core," Major James said while gesturing to Magister Thorn. "But... If its some kind of magical intangible enemy... My men can''t really do anything about it..."


    "I will see if we can put up more magical defenses then," Magister Thorn replied with a nod. "This is something new for me too."


    "Will this push back our departure time to the Dragons?" Major James asked.


    "It... shouldn''t," Magister Thorn replied. "And as for Plee wanting to remain here... Well, if High Command agrees, we can bring her along to investigate what she felt?"


    "Won''t that be a bad idea?" Dr. Sharon frowned. "It''s like going right up to the unknown and knocking on their door..."


    Magister Thorn gave a shrug as he stroked his long beard. "Maybe, but if we can find another God to add to our cause..."


    "Still this is quite dangerous... We do not even know if they are friendly to us or another mad God!" Dr. Sharon protested. "I say we send her back to Haven together with her core, to keep her safe!"


    "Both of you raised some valid points," Trism cut in. He looked at Captain Nemo before he continued. "Ultimately, it will be the decision of High Command on what to do."


    "Like what Captain Nemo had ordered, we will step up on security and wait for High Command''s decision," Trism said. "In the meantime, we will continue to prep for departure tomorrow."

 Chapter 671: Tying Up Loose Ends

    Chapter 671: Tying Up Loose Ends


    The Old World, The Cartel, Mirthil Mountains


    The crystal goblet shattered and its contents sshed out but the dwarvan dressed in a rich green doublet ignored the mess as he stared off into the distance. Shards of crystal exploded outwards but strangely enough, none of the sharp pieces left even a mark on the clenched fist of the dwarvan, in fact, he didn''t even seem to have noticed anything as he stood there motionless.


    "Lord Roth!" His retainers cried out in surprise and one of them hurried forward with a towel. Lord Roth blinked rapidly several times before he realised what had happened and he waved his retainers away.


    "I am not hurt, there''s no need to panic!" Lord Roth wiped his hand with the towel. "Leave me, we will continue our talks tomorrow."


    His retainers looked at each other before they stood up, bowed and exited the room, leaving Lord Roth alone in the study. He turned his sights once more to the far distance as if his eyes could pierce through the stone walls and stared unblinking for several moments before he let out a sigh.


    He walked out to the balcony and looked up to the skies before saying softly, "What we have dreaded hase..."


    "Caaaaw!" A raven the size of an adultnded on the balcony. It pped its midnight ck wings and as it folded them, the wings wrapping around its body turned into a feathery cloak and a fierce looking one eyed middle aged man stood in its ce.


    "Greetings, All Father," The dwarvan went down on one knee and paid his respects. "After all these centuries... He has rewoken..."


    "With his awakening, those that have slumbered would wake up as well," The one eyed figure shook his head before he turned and walked into the room. "This world will soon be covered in blood once more and many will enter Valha..."


    "Do not get too attached to the mortals," He continued as he filled himself a goblet of wine from the table. "Remember your identity!"


    "Yes, All Father," The dwarvan bowed once more and his hand sped a ne in the shape of a hammer. "Your son hears and remembers."


    "You have stayed amongst the mortals for many moons, I do not expect your heart to be made of ice, do what you need to but remember your true identity," The All Father grimaced as he took a sip of the wine. "Ahhh... You enjoy this weak drink?"


    The dwarvan smiled and shook his head before retorting, "Your son has lived amongst the mortals and have acquired some taste to it."


    "Bah!" The All Father sneered but still he finished the wine. "I have observed a mighty ship of iron and many flying shipsing out of the Maelstrom... and it has the smell of another Pantheon on them."


    "I could not divine anything out of them," The All Father rubbed the empty socket of his eye unconsciously. "I could divine nothing out of anything thates from the Maelstrom..."


    "It might have something to do with our missing exploration fleet into the Sea of Clouds..." The dwarvan frowned. "Maybe we can find out how to enter the Maelstrom from these neers?"


    "Maybe," The All Father poured another ss of wine for himself. "But that One has awoken now... It will be a difficult battle if He has recovered as much as a quarter of His powers..."


    "Much of our Brethren were defeated just by Him alone..." The All Father growled as he recalled thest battle. "My powers has weakened greatly and with the pitiful amount of worshipers in this world... Our strength can never grow to our prime..."


    "Maybe it was a mistake to leave Asguard..." The dwarvan whispered softly at the side but was still heard. The All Father sighed and set down his goblet before heading out to the balcony once more. He shook his feathered cloak and it grew, stretching out to be wings and a massive one eyed raven soon stood in the balcony.


    "Caaaw!" The one eyed raven let out a mournful cry and cast ast look at the dwarvan before it turned to the skies and threw itself into the air, its long wings pping hard. The dwarvan stood silently at the balcony and watched the ck raven disappear into the skies before he turned back in, his eyes filled with fire.


    -----


    The Old World, UN FOB, Fort Anchorage


    "Be careful with it!" Plee hovered nervously over the Marines and techs transporting the box that contained her core onboard the airship. Earlier, she was received her new orders given by Captain Nemo that she will join the delegation to thends of the Dragons and her core will be moved onboard the Old Ugly and serve as her Weapons Officer.


    Excited, she packed her stuff and hurried off to the cargo bay where a freight elevator brought her divine core up from the armored belly of the Vengeance. She followed the team moving the core out of the Vengeance and onboard the Old Ugly. Without the magical dungeon/divine core powering the Vengeance and providing power to the base, power generation was switched over fire elemental''s heart.


    "Look after that kid," Captain Nemo said to Trism as they watched the god girl hopping onboard the Old Ugly. "She might be a God, but she''s still a naive kid..."


    "I got it," Trism nodded and smiled at the expression on Captain Nemo. "You look like a father seeing his daughter going off on her own into the world."


    "Well... She is a good child..." Captain Nemo blushed. "It just feels... sad to see her go..."


    "I get it," Trism nodded once more and he turned to enter the super structure of the Vengeance. "I got an order to tie up some loose ends before we can depart. We will see each other again at another time!"


    "Take care and good luck on your mission!" Captain Nemo gave his well wishes to Trism who disappeared into the ship. Trism headed to the elevator which brought him deep into the interior of the Vengeance. When the elevator doors swung open, a couple of Marines manning a security checkpoint eyed him watchfully. They checked his identity both physically and magically before saluting and allowing him ess into the deck.


    He soon came to the brig of the Vengeance and after another security check, he entered one of the cells. The walls of the cells were padded but still, much of the padding had been torn out. Crouching in one corner was a wretched looking figure, mumbling to himself. Trism stepped into the cell together with a couple of Orkish Marines and he stood there for a moment, observing the prisoner.


    "... am theew... thew am I..." The figure mumbled to himself as he scratched at the torn padding. His fingernails had long been ripped off and ck stains of dried blood covered the padded walls, yet the figure did not stop his actions. 3


    Trism let out a soft sigh and he loosened the p of his holster. He drew out his pistol and checked it before he pointed to the head of the prisoner and said, "This is too good of a release for an evil being like you."


    Gunshots echoed out from the cells and shortly after, Trism stepped out of the cell. He reholstered his weapon and adjusted his uniform before leaving the brig and heading to his next mission.


    -----


    "Whoa!" Marine Major James cried out as the ground beneath his feet trembled. Lately, there has been more and more such quakes urring and none of the egg heads knew what was causing the earthquakes. After a while, the tremors stopped and his men who paused their boarding looked around in confusion until a sergeant started yelling at them to move their asses.


    "What is fuck is wrong with this ce?" Mills sighed as he picked himself off the floor. "Even the fucking ground is trying to fuck with us!"


    "Earthquakes getting more and more frequent..." James frowned. "But from what I know, there''s no volcanic activity around nor are we on some te boundaries..."


    "Shit, I don''t need you to go all professor with me!" Mills put on an expression of mock horror. "I joined the Marines... Not college!"


    "You learn this shit in high school just for your info..." Jamesughed as he shook his head at Mills antics. "Gods... You really need to read up more!"


    "Well... this shit is for those egg heads to figure out," Mills grinned. "I''m the guy who kills aliens and eats babies!"


    Jamesughed again before he gestured to the waiting Marines on the ground and said, "Threepanies of Marines would being along for the mission to thends of the dragons."


    "They will be spread out on three ships," James gestured to the airships. "You will take charge of Bravopany on the Old Ugly. Alpha will be with me on the Icarus. Dowlen will be taking Charlie on the Daedalus"


    "Shit, robocop ising along?" Mills eximed as he pointed to the huge hulking war machine being loaded into the Icarus''s cargo bay.


    "Apparently, he''s on some kind of redemption mission. He seemed to want to kill as much of those Protectorate as possible..." James sighed. "Then again, I don''t mind the extra firepower Dijon possesses..."


    "And... the crazy God girl ising along too..." Mills grinned. "What a circus! What''s next? A talking dolphin?"


    "Not sure why High Commands wants the girl along..." James frowned. "Still we got plenty of firepower if shit hits the fan..."


    "One modernized Loose Confederation ''nker'' ss merchant ship, two Icarus ss air frigates, three heavy weight dragons, two attack helos, threepanies of Marines, one angry war machine and one emo God girl... Yup plenty of firepower enough to take on anything!" Mills continued grinning to James as they made their way to the waiting airships. "If it wasn''t enough, Big Brother is just a call away..."


    "Seriously, I really hope we can get back home," James said. "I meant Haven, I miss my wife."


    "Well, lover boy, what''s so fun about staying all safe at home?" Mills winked. "Here, we get to shoot at things that... can''t shoot back!"


    "Did you call back or send any messages to that duchess of yours?" James slyly retorted back.


    "Erm..." Mills scratched his head awkwardly. "Well... I did send a letter and a gift back to her..."


    "Aren''t you worried that she will find someone else if you keep on dragging your heels out here?" James asked seriously. "She is, after all, a Duchess of the Empire and the Governer of Orwell''s Point... I''m sure there are plenty of suitors after her..."


    "I... urgh..." Mills sighed. "I don''t know, man..."


    "When Drake died... I saw how heartbroken Irisval became after she got the news of Drake''s death..." Mills paused in his steps and he nced out to the far horzion. "I don''t dare to get close to Titanna..."


    "I''m not afraid of death," Mills gave a shrug as he turned back to face James. "But... I don''t want my death to affect... her..."


    "I- We... are soldiers," Mills continued walking to the airships. "We can die anytime and this god crazy world... I- I don''t know how to face her..."


    "Fuck," James shook his head. "That''s some high level thoughts you got there..."


    "Didn''t figure you to be such a romantic," James said. "Still, don''t keep thedy waiting... If you don''t want tomit to the rtionship... Tell her. Don''t waste her time!"


    "Yeah... I got it. You take care!" Mills nodded and gave a wave as he headed towards the UNS Old Ugly while James stood there watching him join the queue boarding the airship. He shook his head and turned to the boarding line for the UNS Icarus.


    James sighed as he mumbled to himself, "Fucking join the Marines... See the fucking world and die alone in some fucking hell hole..."


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