Kim commanded the different groups of mages and ranged attackers; like Dwayne, she had also designated leaders in every castle to deal with their own independent issues.
Malkur was leading the aerial fighting forces while the dwarven artillery were run by the dwarven artillery commanders but their orders were passed down by the various leaders, with the dwarven artillery commander managing the fire support requests.
Cassie was assisting Josh, who was in command of it all.
“So, we going to do it?” Jake, the strongest necromancer among the Stone Raiders, jumped from foot to foot in excitement.
Necromancers had pretty bad reputations, especially among the POEs. His avatar looked like a sickly pale teenager, though he constantly wore colorful clothes. Right now he wore a bright-orange shirt and a pink pair of slacks.
Where the hell did he find those clothes? Josh shook his head and sighed.
“Yes, we’re going to use your plan.” Josh looked to the dwarven artillery commander. “Load the animation grand working shells.”
“Yes, sir.” The commander opened his interface and he started to give out orders.
“All right, see to your people and be ready for the Nalheim to do anything,” Josh said.
The different people nodded and disappeared.
Josh opened his eyes as he exited the Mirror of Communication and looked from the command post that he was in.
Having all of the leaders in one room was a terrible idea: if somehow the room was destroyed, then the command structure would take a severe blow. So they’d moved to using Mirrors of Communication to have their conferences.
A prompt appeared in his vision, asking whether he wanted to join Dwayne’s private chat. Josh accepted.
“Josh, I’ve bought a rune to improve attack strength for the southern castle. It looks like the Nalheim are intending to attack that castle first. Also, we’re up to 25% progression for the castles,” Dwayne said.
“Sounds good. Hopefully that will boost the strength of Jake’s grand workings.”
“We can only hope. I’ve got people to see to. Talk later.”
“Later.” Josh cut the private chat. Josh stepped onto the balcony outside of the command post. From here, he was offered a view over the citadel’s walls and across the battlefield around Goblin Mountain.
The ground outside of the mountain was a treacherous place. However, even with the mix of barrier busters and destructive rounds that the dwarven artillery dropped on the Nalheim, the Nalheim still made it past this hellish area and into the area that had been filled with traps.
There were too many Nalheim and they were protected by strong barriers. Although nearly half of those who exited the mountain were killed, with thousands pouring out of the mountain, they still had a massive fighting force.
Paths had been cleared out by the Nalheim charging constantly forward; thousands had died but it had worked.
The forces hidden in the meadows and patches of forest didn’t just watch, either; they led lightning attacks on the Nalheim, hitting them with spells and ranged attacks before fading away once again.
It was estimated that nearly a hundred thousand Nalheim had come out of the portal every day. Today was the fifth day. Out of the half million who had made it to Emerilia, a hundred and fifty thousand had died.
All of the gryphon-mounted generals without fighting forces had rested on Goblin Mountain. They seemed to be waiting for something. Their force grew slowly but they were powerful combatants; three of them were enough to pressure even Anna.
Josh’s eye moved from the gryphons and their golden bodies that reflected the sunlight.
Across the castles, the artillery seemed to quiet for a moment before they started up again. The roof atop the citadel’s tallest building shook as artillery cannons once again fired.
Grand workings could either be used to power the dwarven artillery, just firing off Mana-based artillery spells, or they could be launched at the enemy. They were readied upon leaving the artillery cannon; when they detonated in the air or on the ground, then the grand working would unleash its hidden spell.
The shining grand working rounds traveled through the skies. They slammed into the ground and erupted into a green smoke.
The explosions from before had all died down as green smoke spread out across the battlefield, as if it were sentient.
The battlefield quieted down. Here and there, aerial creatures let out ferocious battle cries as they clashed. On the ground, the war lizards let out their roars as well, as if sensing that they had somehow gained the upper hand.
Even the generals on their gryphons seemed to look out at the castles in interest.
A deep groaning noise filled the battlefield as underneath that green smoke, things started to rise.
The Nalheim looked at the rising creatures for a moment.
The first stood on its feet. A Nalheim missing one head and a chunk of its right chest appeared. A green light filled its eyes, the signature of an undead!
Once rising, the undead Nalheim looked to its comrades and charged.
Five hundred thousand had left the portal but only three hundred and fifty thousand were left alive. These undead were not controlled by a necromancer, so they were at most half of their original strength. Most of them weren’t complete, making them even weaker. However, only by destroying their brains would they die; this meant removing their limbs would make them weaker but it still wouldn’t kill them.
More and more grand workings fell down across the ground, covering it in thick green smoke.
The Nalheim moved into formations; without the incoming artillery, they were able to coordinate better.
Josh looked inside the command post where interface screens dotted the walls, showing multiple feeds from across the battlefield. Many of the Nalheim had died over the space of the five days since they entered. However, with the game system, their bodies at most lasted several hours.
Still, this was enough to interrupt the Nalheim. If any of them died, then they would only join the ranks of the undead.
Dwarven artillery cannons paused in their fire. With none of the rolling explosions or rumblings of these massive guns, it was eerie as they heard the sounds of battle in the distance.
“Load Mana artillery shells and barrier busters!” the dwarven artillery commander called out.
The Nalheim were grouping together to try to fight off the massive number of Nalheim undead and their beasts. Sky screams with their necks torn out and holes in their bodies moved to attack the living sky screams in the skies.
The artillery fired once again, two guns moments after one another.
Josh watched them land.
The Nalheim had grouped together to fight the undead; it was too easy to be swarmed if one was by themselves.
These groups were perfect targets for the artillery.
Barrier busters went in, opening the barriers up as the second shell fired just moments after the first fell upon the barrier-less Nalheim.
The Nalheim who had been advancing were now stuck in a quagmire of fighting off their undead that kept them pinned in one place and having artillery rain down upon them.
“Sir, something is happening!” someone said within the command post.
Josh ran back inside, following everyone’s eyes to a main display. “What the hell is that?” Josh yelled.
The creature squeezed through the portal, much like an octopus might move through a space smaller than it. It looked like a jellyfish with hardened scales along its top. Thin, almost whip-like orange and green tentacles seemed to move around aimlessly. The creature was clearly suspended in midair with some kind of magic or ability.
The Nalheim moved out of the way of the beast.
As soon as a path was made, the creature raced through the tunnels, expanding and contracting again so that it could fit. Its scales flashed with reflected light before it sped out of the mountain and into the sky above the entrance to Goblin Mountain.
A hellish scream made the very air around Goblin Mountain distort. It made the sky screams seem as if they were nothing but mewling babes. Josh felt his very bones rattle with that force.
Artillery spells in the sky were destroyed; trees were ripped up and thrown away from the mountain as dirt and debris created a dust wave that rushed outward, as if an explosion had just gone off.
The jellyfish-looking creature flicked its tentacles. Distortions appeared along the path of the tentacles, cutting five-meter gashes into the ground.
The generals on their gryphons who had looked down upon the battle with cold aloofness now bowed their heads toward this creature. Their gryphons likewise lowered themselves to the ground.
“All batteries fire!” the dwarven commander yelled out.
“Be ready for all attacks! Everyone to full readiness!” Josh yelled out, pulled from his reverie. He opened up a private chat to Party Zero. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he needed them with him.
Chapter 15: Discovery
“Blood reevers,” Malsour said, his voice filled with certainty.
“What kind of creatures are those?” Anna asked from where she sat.
“They’re similar to panthers. They have a Dark Affinity; they are extremely fast and strong. Some people tried to tame them to be their familiars but were largely unable to,” Malsour said, not missing how Ursk seemed to pay more attention to his words.
“They drink the blood of their enemies to gain more power. They were originally creatures that followed behind the demons and angels across battlefields when the gods and goddesses of the Pantheon were actively fighting one another on Emerilia.
“They would absorb the life essence of those who they sucked dry. The stronger the person was before they died, the stronger they would become. In battlefields, there were plenty of strong and powerful creatures and people. They grew in strength and eventually stopped following armies and started to attack others. One of the things was that the fresher the kill, the more power remained within their blood.
“They became extremely powerful creatures that would enter battlefields in packs, waiting for an opportunity. In the middle of a battle, they would reveal themselves. While both sides were distracted, they would cut down their ranks, feasting on the dead.”
“Well, they’re creatures, right? Could they be controlled?” Ursk asked.
“They could, but the formation that would be needed would be hellishly complex and the will of those trying to subdue them must be greater than the blood reever’s. Also, there will possibly be hundreds of them that appear. There needs to be enough masters to take command of them all,” Malsour said.
Ursk grunted, looking thoughtful.
“Could it be done?” Deia looked to Dave and Malsour.
Dave and Malsour looked to each other; there was no need for them to share words at this point.
“Sure, the power requirements would be heavy indeed and we’d have to use some of the precious soul gem constructs,” Dave said.
Malsour nodded beside him.
“If we do this, are you willing to trade with us?” Deia looked to Ursk.
Ursk held his chin and looked at them all. “If you do this for my clan, what will you ask for in return?” Ursk asked slowly. He might dress and look like some kind of barbarian, but Ursk was not some village idiot.
“Once you command the blood reevers, we ask that you join the Gudalo republic and support the Terra Alliance. As we help you here, others will need help in other nations and continents,” Deia said.
Ursk was thoughtful for some time. “I accept your terms.”
Screens appeared before her and Ursk to confirm the details of their agreement. Deia and Ursk were doing that when a prompt flashed across Dave’s interface.
He opened the party chat request.
“Dave, I wasn’t able to get a hold of Deia. Something appeared at Goblin Mountain. Get Party Zero back here as soon as possible!” Josh yelled.
“We’re on our way.” Dave stood.
The others looked to him as Dave accepted the attached image of the beast that had exited Goblin Mountain. He sent it to the other members of Party Zero as he opened up the party chat.
“We’re needed back in the citadel right now. I just sent everyone an image of the creature that just appeared outside of Goblin Mountain,” Dave said.
Deia and Ursk hurriedly talked to each other.
“Steve, I’m going to need you to make a soul gem construct for the orcs around the spawn point,” Dave said over the party chat.
“Let me know what you need,” Steve said, his normal joking tone subdued in the face of the disaster that had come down on the forces around Goblin Mountain.
***
Dwayne looked over the citadel’s walls at the Nalheim.
The creature that hung in the sky was still too far away for anyone to figure out what it was; even the Aleph were having a hard time trying to figure it out.
“That floating jellyfish-looking thing is a Nerhoun. They’re Level 2000 beasts. They are controlled by a king that rests within their scale-covered sack. It has the ability to float and fly. It can use its tentacles, disrupting attacks to destroy spells, as well as anything in its way. It can also create a massive Mana shield around its body. This can be used to cover Nalheim below; also, this is regulated by the Nerhoun, so those barrier busters aren’t going to work,” Anna said over the leadership channel.
Party Zero had just received the message from Josh and were now finishing up their discussion and racing back toward the nearest ono and through Terra to the citadel.
“Load plasma rounds!” the dwarven artillery commander called out
These rounds were the strongest that the dwarven artillery had, created by Dave with the inspiration coming from Deia and Induca’s Plasma Cannon spell.
This wasn’t just a simple artillery cannon round or grand working; this instead used special Magical Circuits around the artillery cannon.
Runes started to glow, forming lines made of characters that ran down the cannon. Artillery cannon rounds were loaded into the weapons.
When they were all ready, “Fire!” the artillery commander called out.
Around the barrels, blue sections of light seemed to cover the artillery cannon. They hovered around the gun and overlapped one another, extending past the barrel of the gun.
If someone was to see Deia and Induca’s spell, they would understand that these different solid light-looking items were in fact condensed sheets of flame so contained, that heat didn’t even seep out of them.
A magical circle appeared at the end of these condensed and overlapping plates of concentrated fire. The plates lit up from the base to where the magical circle appeared at the end of their reach.
The cannons recoiled as the magical circle disappeared. Multiple booms from the shells breaking through multiple sound barriers seemed to restrict the air around these guns.
The blue sheathing of blue plates continued to cover the artillery cannons.
As a new round was loaded, the magical circle would once again appear. All of its power drained into the artillery cannon to push it well beyond its limits, augmenting it with magical power.
The recoil was actually less but the rounds traveled much faster. With this, the cannons could fire much faster. These rounds didn’t have much arc on them due to their speed as they screamed through the air.
These were the same as the solid-looking flames and spell formations that Deia and Induca made when casting their plasma cannons!
The plasma rounds smashed into a Mana barrier that seemed to grow out from the Nerhoun’s head and expand down its massive body, encompassing all of the Nalheim in front of Goblin Mountain.
The plasma rounds arrived in cyan-colored explosions.
The Mana barrier quivered with the impacts of these hits but they weren’t enough to destroy the Nerhoun’s Mana barrier.
It sat there in midair, its tentacles killing the undead
off and covering the Nalheim who were fighting below.
Those rounds made the barrier fluctuate slightly, taking power from the Nerhoun but its Mana pool was as massive as it was. These rounds might weaken it but even with a half-dozen, the barrier stayed strong.
More and more rounds hammered the Nerhoun; the barrier’s color started to change.
The gryphons and sky screams within the barrier seemed to have received orders as they descended toward those on the ground. With their attacks, they greatly helped the Nalheim on the ground.
Slowly the Nerhoun started to move, the fighting following beneath it.
“Looks like the Nerhoun is headed for the eastern castle!” one of the observers called out.
Dwayne watched with cold eyes.
The Nalheim had cleared out a long path toward the south castle but now they were moving east. It seemed that with the Nerhoun’s arrival, the strategy had changed.
There were fresh traps to the east but in the south, not only were there the two southern castles, there was also the citadel sitting in close support.
East was the closest castle and it only had one other defensive structure near it.
However, all of the castles could support it with their long-range artillery.
Artillery spells rained down on the Nerhoun. Its barriers started to change color once again with this mass of firepower raining on it. It might be a massive powerful creature, but it was also a massive target, covering a large area in an extremely powerful Mana barrier.
The dwarven artillery and the mages of the Terra Alliance were not weak.
Within ten minutes, the Nerhoun’s barrier looked as if it was close to the end.
The Nalheim on the ground were in much better condition as they had finally finished off all of the undead that were roaming around. They started to pull themselves together as they moved toward the east.
Explosions went off as traps were found.
The Nalheim started to move into lines as they went.
“Seems that they got smarter when that Nerhoun came out, or that their commander that’s within it cares more to win than about piling on honors,” Dwayne said to himself. His eyes narrowed.
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