The command towers at the center of the camps were the first victims. The towers shattered, spraying destruction through the camps. Releasing shockwaves blew apart the roughly built structures. Sprays of flaming embers dotted the ground, setting the miniature cities aflame.
The retreating sect forces were caught up in the artillery’s fire, tearing apart the camp.
Fighters ran for the forests. Anything to get away from the two behemoths crashing into one another.
The crews changed from their pre-set targets. Their smoking barrels tilted toward the frigate, the formations along the barrels gathering power.
The first cannon reached its peak, pausing and shuddering with thunderous intent. If Egbert had breath to hold, it would have been torn from him in the wave of pressure.
The second cannon reached its targeted height, paused, and fired. Artillery crews, tired from days of fighting, worked their guns.
Egbert felt stronger than he had ever felt before as the guns locked onto their target. A series of batteries fired, devolving into a constant stream of attacks that pock-marked the ship’s mana barrier.
The frigate’s advance slowed; its cannons changed their point of aim, targeting the artillery cannons with a vengeance. Bunker barriers collapsed and bunkers were torn apart. The frigate’s mana barrier was starting to spot in places. The artillery crews zeroed in their attacks to the same areas.
The first few artillery rounds passed through. Mana barriers popped up around the ship, a second layer of defense that was smaller, more focused.
“Now?” Davin asked.
“Wait,” Egbert drew in more mana. He looked over to the castle as a window was smashed open. Rugrat shoved a desk against the window, using it as a rest for his railgun.
The airship’s outer barrier collapsed as the frigate shifted to spread the fire over its mana barrier instead of just one location.
Formation enchanted plates dropped from the bottom of the ship, carrying ground forces. The formations flared as they neared the ground, coming to rest on the ground at a sedate pace.
Black Phoenix riders on aerial beasts dropped from the ship and charged the artillery positions. Machine guns opened up with their stream of tracers.
Egbert felt the heat rising in his bones, the crackling of power that channeled through his body. Even if they took Vuzgal, they wouldn’t defeat them. You won’t break Alva. And you’ll have to pay a price.
Egbert turned back to the airship as a round punched through the mana barrier and struck the side of the ship.
“Now?”
Egbert drew power directly from the mana storing formations, channeling it through himself into the spell formation in front of him. “Now!”
The ground shook, and the wind was beaten into submission as Egbert glowed with power. He reached into the heart of the mana and turned it to his will. Five formations appeared around him, one green, one blue, one black, one red, and one yellow.
Buildings shook and collapsed as elements were torn from the ground, powering the rotating formations. Egbert’s bones burned away as he pushed his hands forward. The runes throughout his body flaked off under the sheer power channeling through them.
Several formations appeared behind and through the five rotating formations.
“Take my drill!” Egbert yelled at the ship.
The five elemental formations ignited with mana. Beams of elemental energy hit the spell formation pillar.
The pillar directed and added power to the spell.
Vuzgal fired a beam of elemental energy through the sky and into the weakening barrier. It punched a hole through it and smashed into the ship. The force was enough to lift the ship, carving a line into the ship’s side and under-decks.
Davin raised his arms. Flames came from his hands, forming into dragons of hardened flame half the size of Gilly. They roared and rushed toward the airship.
The first spell faded. Egbert’s body started to recover.
He dipped from where he had been flying.
“You good?” Rugrat yelled from his window.
“A little weak. That was a third of our power reserves.” Egbert glowed with power once again. “And for my next move, an oldie but a goodie. Meteor shower!”
Rugrat looked at the rail cannons. “I have an idea! Don’t use all the power!” Rugrat ran deeper into the castle, using his sound transmission device. Egbert traced him jumping into the basement and running to the railgun cannons.
“Here come the sailors,” Davin said.
Egbert looked at the aerial beasts that had rushed into the air. Formation-covered platforms dropped from the bottom of the ship while the cannon through the middle of the ship powered down. The ship covered it up, taking impacts along its side.
He looked at the front of Vuzgal and projected his voice into the Vuzgal command center. “Commander Glosil, the bunkers have been lost. The enemy is sending out their aerial and ground forces.”
“Thank you, Egbert. Nice spell.”
“I think it surprised them.” Egbert gathered in more power. “I need some time before I can cast another spell on that scale, else I will burn out my bones.”
“Get to cover. Let me know when you can use another spell.”
“In the meantime, I can control the undead and the mana cannons.”
“Do so. I’m pulling back my people to the inner city. The outer defenses are lost.” Glosil forced the words out. The combined sects hadn’t been able to breach their outer barrier after weeks of trying and had paid a heavy price to attack their barriers directly.
“There is always someone stronger in the realms.” Egbert’s eyes glowed brighter as he gnashed his teeth and stopped projecting into the command center.
“Davin come with me.”
Gregor felt the ship shift following the hit before settling down once again.
The staff looked in shock as the trees in the park beyond shed their leaves.
“Launch our forces. Cover the core cannon.” Captain Stassov’s words cracked through the room “Gregor, bring the old commander of the sects here.”
“Yes, Captain!”
Gregor turned and ran, his people following him as the frigate shook with impacts. He found the boy where he had left him. Grabbing him by the arm, he hauled him back the way he had come. “Captain!”
He caught the look on Marco’s face, trying to take in everything as Stassov looked over.
Marco had the presence of mind to bow to the commander. “I am Marco Tolentino. How may I serve?”
“This Vuzgal, what are their capabilities?”
Marco didn’t dare to hold anything back. Her commanders were stronger than his father who was one of the strongest men in the entire Willful Institute. “Their people are stronger than their level. They have much higher cultivation than we first realized.” He clenched his fists into tight white balls. “They have weapons I have not seen before. Like mana cannons, but they shoot out solid projectiles covered in formations. They do not rely on their own power. Instead, they rely on the power of their weapons.”
Stassov gave Gregor a pointed look. “Sha weapons,” she snarled. “You did not know who you were messing with.” Stassov snorted and walked to the map. “They took their time building this city. They didn’t flaunt their power. They kept it hidden. They were thorough in their preparations, which means they are smart. Many show off their strength and we deal with them before they are a threat.”
“Who are they?” Marco asked. He paled at Stassov’s glare, lowering his head, but seemed determined to find an answer.
She relented and looked away. “They are the Sha’s lackeys. A hidden group that must have been working on something for them. Why did you attack them?”
“They attacked our elder.”
“The real reason, sect rat.” Stassov’s aura pressed Marco to the ground.
“They had trade routes, crafters flocked here, and they had a powerful crafting dungeon and the protection of the Associations. They
have a Battle Arena, crafter workshops that span their city and training facilities that are rare in the Sixth Realm.”
“Dammit,” She hit the table in front of her. “Those sneaky French bastards. They’ve been working to build a fleet right under our noses—right here.”
“Do you think that they were able to finish any ships?” Gregor asked.
“I don’t know. They might have been making parts and sending them to the seventh realm.” Stassov growled, turning her eyes on Marco with a tooth filled smile. “You pulled the tiger’s tail. Good thing for us. I would have never let you get to the city’s defenses. Just their modified mana cannons would have been enough to keep your sects at bay. They didn’t want to show their power and draw attention.” Stassov’s breath hissed through her teeth.
“This Vuzgal, where did they come from?”
“It was owned by an empire from the time when other races walked the realms. The humans fought the lizard folk. The emperor used a powerful spell and turned people into undead. They remained that way, killing one another, and any animals or people that came this way.
“The city lords took the city a few years ago. Shortly afterward, they saved the Associations from being killed by a sect. They gained their help and built up the city. The lords are powerful crafters as well as fighters. Some people think that they are from the higher realms.”
“What do you think?”
“They are not pure warriors like people in this realm. They are strong crafters, possibly at the high journeyman level. They have strong mana cultivation and at least some body cultivation. They are not like people from the Fourth Realm.”
“You are smarter than you look.” Stassov turned him around, inspecting him. “What else?”
“That is all I know. We attacked the Adventurer’s Guild inside their city. They killed a cousin and an uncle of mine and the sect had to reclaim our honor. The Guild attacked us across different realms and now they have disappeared. They could be allied.” Marco’s voice strained against the ropes of mana that appeared around him.
“Strength of their forces?”
“We have not fought them in close range. We used spells and spell scrolls to attack them.” Marco’s voice relaxed as the ropes loosened.
Stassov closed her eyes then checked the map, looking at Marco. “You say that there are three dungeons, but I only sense one.” Stassov raised her hand.
“There are three dungeons in the valley behind the city! The city was made to control entry to the dungeons!” Marco was sweating as he spat the words out.
Stassov lowered her hand. “So, they are dungeon lords indeed. They must have combined the dungeon cores to increase their power.”
“Mana spike above the ship!” a controller yelled.
“What is our barrier status?” Stassov turned, letting her hand curl around her back.
Marco dropped to the ground with barely a grunt.
“They cut through several cannon decks and overloaded the mana stone supplies. The ship is working to recover but, with this Earth grade mana, power output and work is slow.”
Stassov threw out her hand. Mana stones piled between the formations. They cracked and fell apart and the power was devoured by the dungeon core. The formations looked like they were made from glass instead of vapor as the phoenix holding the dungeon core glowed with power.
“Focus on strengthening our barriers!”
The ship shuddered violently.
“What was that?”
“A mana relay was hit. It blew throughout the ship and took out some stabilization formations!”
“Two dragons, made from mana, are approaching.”
“Have the cannons focus on the ground. Get the mages to focus on the dragon spells.”
Chains with links as large as a man shot through the park and reached for the dungeon core.
Stassov stretched her hand out. Several blades of air appeared beyond the tower, cutting through the chains. They dropped to the ground and faded.
“What was that?”
“An enchanted arrow covered in a powerful spell from their large weapons! It made it through a gap barely wider than the arrow.” The aide looked at the information not understanding it.
“Our cannon?”
Gregor looked around as clan members attacked the chains that had punched through the park, tearing up trees and grass.
“It is inoperable.”
Stassov hit the table, breaking off part of it. “Mana barrier around the tower!”
The chains were like giant tree roots as they tore through the ship, weakening the inside.
Gregor steadily regained his feet when everything seemed to explode at once. He ducked away, relieved to be alive, and looked through the tower windows.
Light projection formations sparked with chaotic mana and smoked, cutting off and leaving them blind.
“Get my barriers back online and take out that fucking dungeon lord!”
Rugrat circulated his mana, drawing in more, reaching out to his connection to the dungeon core. The torrent of energy contained there was as terrifying as it was seductive.
One can be a god with that much power.
He was operating scan constantly, seeing through the stairs of the bunkers, up through the sandwiched plates of metal and compressed stone. He watched the men and women operating the rail cannon as it fired, shaking the bunker itself.
Mana congealed and opened the door ahead of him as he walked in. “I need that gun,” Rugrat said. his voice rumbled through the room. He no longer contained his aura and drew upon all his mana gates.
The team looked at him.
“Going to need a mana blast round, jack it up with the most mana you can get.”
“Get loading,” Gong Jin yelled from behind Rugrat.
Rugrat moved to the rail cannon, scanning it with his domain.
“Hey there, sexy!” He patted the gun and looked down the barrel, adjusting for distance, for wind, for changes in air pressure from the attacks outside the different barriers.
“Ready!” the ammunition loader said as the breach was secured.
Rugrat did some last alterations according to the round’s weight and powder ratios as he walked to the casting plate. “Well, never tried this before. Might want to step back a bit,” Rugrat said.
The people moved.
“Quickly now! Trying to blow up a dungeon ship here!” Power leaked through skin tracing through his body. He reached out and placed his right hand on the enhancement pad. It looked the same as the pad on the mana cannons.
The formation under his feet lit up as he braced himself, reaching out his left hand backward toward the castle.
“All right, let’s see what this does.”
==========
Do you wish to draw power from the Dungeon core and revert mana storing formations?
YES/NO
==========
Egbert or the Gnomes must have kept this in mind when they came up with it.
“Hell, yeah!”
The mana in the area surged toward Rugrat. He opened his mana gates as the wind tore at the people inside the bunker.
“Come on, come on!” His voice commanded mana itself, tearing it from its bonds. Mana redirected from the dungeon core and the mana storing formation was unleashed. It came in like a beam, passing through the walls without affecting them. It slammed into Rugrat’s open hand, breaking on his left wrist mana gate.
Rugrat gritted his teeth, closing his eyes and looking up as his body shuddered.
“More!” He stared at the beam as if seeing through the dirt, stone, and metal to the dungeon core entombed within.
Streams of power like ribbons of light split from the beam, dragged into his other mana gates, through the crown of his head and the base of his skull, through his elbows, his back and sternum, his lower stomach, the base of his spine, upper legs and his feet.
A thicker beam travelled down the first and crashed against his hand, thickening the spread
ing beams.
A whirling noise came from within Rugrat’s body as he compressed and guided the mana through his body. His mana channels lit up in brilliant blue light like electrical veins illuminating him from within. Smoke started to rise from his body. His skin darkened and blackened around the mana that thrummed in his veins. A loud whomp, whomp, whomp, came from his body, increasing in volume as the others in the room fought against the wind.
He created hands of mana, turning the traversing and elevation gears.
“Chains of mana.” Rugrat’s words gave direction to power, creation to energy. Power surged from his body as spell formations appeared around his hand and the pad.
The power from the dungeon core shut off.
The formation plate under his feet poured more mana into the spell as he released it. It traced through the pad, down into the floor, and up the side of the rail cannon into the breach.
The power of the spell transmitted into the heart of the round.
“Bon voyage.” Rugrat grinned and reached out and hit the activation formation.
The rail cannon’s formations lit up in sequence as the primer was struck, throwing the covered Sabot into the heart of the railgun, accelerating faster and faster. Its sheath came off as Rugrat stabbed a needle in his gut, depressed the plunger and staggered to the barrel. He took it out and leaned on the barrel, looking along her length, seeing the thin blue lines as the frigate closed her maw.
“Too slow, bitch.” Rugrat laughed as his features returned to normal.
A few sparks showed on the closing stone of the frigate as the blue lines disappeared.
Rugrat’s body was smoking as Gong Jin forced a potion into his hand. He drank as an act of reaction over conscious thought.
“Fucking-A, sir.” Gong Jin whistled, looking at the ship
“That should have fucked something up.” Rugrat looked along the barrel of the rail cannon.
“Right about, now.”
The frigate staggered in the air. Rugrat grinned.
Seventh Realm Part 1: A LitRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 8) Page 68
