They would take control of the moon and the military facilities within it: the legions of drones that were ready to be called on at a moment’s notice and the orbital satellite network.
Everything was looked after by AIs but the second moon acted as a command center for it all. A hard line connection to Emerilia if the long-range kill switch that Bob had, or the empire, didn’t work.
Bob sighed as he looked at that revolving marble from Datskun’s main screen. He watched Emerilia, the planet he had terraformed and brought a race back from the edge of extermination on.
“I’m not going to give up without a fight,” Bob growled. He stood from his chair and headed toward the cargo bay, where a portal to Pandora’s box was constantly open.
***
The Nalheim stopped coming through the portal when their numbers reached one hundred and fifty thousand.
Five generals, all riding atop golden gryphons, marched out at a leisurely pace, as if the war that was happening around them were some mildly interesting parlor tricks.
The goblins were forcibly suppressed with the powerful auras of the five generals.
As the generals arrived, all of the Nalheim attacked. The four hundred thousand goblin army had been reduced to two hundred and fifty thousand. Tombstones and bodies lay across the goblin city; the fires had long ago burnt anything standing within the cavern.
The smoke and the limited light of the cavern made it hard to see but the Nalheim and different creatures in the goblin army remained unaffected with the limited light.
The goblins were tired and enraged from trying to fight those in the citadel and now the creatures that were pouring out of their portal and had ruined their homes. All of the goblins in the surrounding areas had come to fight. All of them piled in. The goblin army was tired but they were still fighting strong.
However, the Nalheim were simply better trained, with better abilities and gear. Their weapons were all made from sharpened steel, while the goblins’ weapons were largely rusted and blunt. Most of the trolls were simply using tree limbs or stalactites as clubs.
For every Nalheim that went down, ten to eleven of the goblins fell. That number only increased as the goblin army became tired.
Throughout the night, they fought a bloody and desperate battle.
As the dawn started to appear in the sky, the sky slowly became lighter and the goblin army started to break. At first it was a few of them rushing off, too tired and scared from the repeated slaughter. Goblins were territorial, but they were also cowards in most situations. If they had an escape route, they would take it.
When the Nalheim reduced the goblin numbers so they were less than their own, nearly one hundred and twenty thousand on either side, the first few started to flee. Some of them were cut down by the more loyal supporters.
The goblin army held on for another hour. The Nalheim saw that the goblins were weakening; they changed their formation to try to envelop them and cut them off from an escape route.
Some more tried to escape, tribe leaders leading their people away. Tribes started to fight with one another, turning the battlefield into chaos of people trying to fight the Nalheim, then the goblins fighting one another and others running away as fast as possible.
Within forty minutes, the goblin army was no more, with either all of them fleeing or being killed off.
The Nalheim went through the cavern. Their spears made sure there was nothing left alive within the underground city’s ruins.
“Seems that the battle will soon be upon us,” Jung Lee said.
“Wow, I’m like centuries old and that still sounded dumb as hell,” Jekoni said.
“You’ve been spending time around Steve, I see.” Jung Lee looked to Jekoni’s floating body.
“I have to say that it’s good to relax once in a while—no students, no body, no…” Jekoni’s hat flopped onto his face. “No thankful hat.” Jekoni stared at the top of the hat in his face, his eyes crossing over.
Jung Lee smiled. It was good to see Jekoni unwinding a bit. “Only took the possible end of the world,” Jung Lee muttered to himself.
“What was that?” Jekoni flicked his head back and his hat returned back to flopping backward.
“Just talking to myself, dear friend,” Jung Lee said. “What do you think they will do?”
“Probably recover from their wounds then start moving out of Goblin Mountain. Past that, haven’t got a clue,” Jekoni said.
Jung Lee nodded. His eyes passed over the ground. Without conscious thought, the air distorted in front of him so that he could see the different DCA groups that covered the ground around the mountain. Since the goblin army pulled back to their mountain, the ground forces had sowed the ground around Goblin Mountain with traps.
Without needing to have roads between the castles, it meant that the DCA soldiers could put down as many traps as possible.
Mages and engineers from other races joined together, creating a sea of deadly areas. The different races and groups all brought in new ideas, evolving and changing the traps as they went. What worked for one section of traps wouldn’t work for another.
Jekoni watched one of the dismounted pass through the portal.
They returned moments later. Behind them, more Nalheim started to flow from the portal. These fresh troops didn’t stop within the goblin city; instead, they headed right for the nearest tunnels. The sky screams walked through the small tunnels, looking awkward in the small confines.
Behind fifteen thousand troops, ten thousand lizards, and five thousand sky screams, golden gryphons marched proudly. The generals on their backs looked uninterested with anything going on around them.
Jung Lee looked out at the meadow. The ground rumbled and fell downward suddenly in an area.
The traps hadn’t been laid to just hurt those who stepped on them. They were also aimed at collapsing the tunnels that lay beneath the meadow and those that might pass through them.
Quickly, the Nalheim found out that the tunnels were largely trapped. Annoyed, they started to return to the goblin city, only to find that they had passed under other traps, which now collapsed the other side of the tunnel and pinned forces between rubble.
Fire bloomed within these enclosed areas. The ground heated up and melted down on top of the Nalheim.
“Smells kind of like chicken,” Jung Lee said as the Nalheim trapped in the tunnels were roasted by the heat-traps. He had little mercy for those who wished to take over his world and sow destruction in their wake.
Thousands of Nalheim died that night. Only ragtag groups made it back to the goblin city as more and more fighting forces continued to exit the portal.
Only one tunnel passage hadn’t been trapped: the one that exited the mountain the quickest and faced the citadel.
“How’s it going?” Dave stepped up beside Jung Lee, holding out a warm cup of Xer.
“Looks like my night was better than yours,” Jung Lee said. Dave looked tired; he could go a few days without it affecting him much, but Dave looked as if he’d exhausted not only his mind but his body.
“Spent the night making factories to make Mana wells and soul gem constructs,” Dave said.
Jung Lee nodded. The two items had proved their abilities to everyone. To be able to grow defensive runes into a castle within just a few hours, if given sufficient power—it was unlike anything Jung Lee had seen before.
“The Nalheim won. They started to try to explore the tunnels around Goblin Mountain. They found the traps within the tunnels. Entire brigades of thirty thousand were trapped in those tunnels when heat and curse traps were activated, burning them alive or draining the very life from them. Some of the forces made it out of the traps. Let the other brigades know. Now the generals are all together and talking with one another. Been that way for like four hours,” Jung Lee said.
“Well, that shows they’re really good at making plans,” Dave said.
“Once they’re fighting, they’re a powerful force, but
yeah, they don’t like making decisions quickly,” Jung Lee said.
“Well, I’m going to get breakfast and a nap if I can swing it. Let me know if they figure their shit out. Interested to see how effective the traps that the DCA put out are going to be.” Dave turned to leave.
“Will do.” Jung Lee didn’t need to eat much. The Free Affinity spirits fueled his body. If he wanted to join for a meal, he’d let the others know, but now they just assumed that he wasn’t really interested in eating. He ate once every couple of days and was fine.
Anna came up and started to teach him about general Mana manipulation as well as the different Affinities and their abilities.
Jekoni added in a few pointers while Jung Lee soaked it up. He’d mostly taken the path of the fighter. His only tie to the mage’s college and guild was the fact that he was always searching to advance his knowledge of potion making, which was an area of study within the mage’s college.
The midday sun had just crossed over, indicating the coming afternoon, when Jung Lee looked to the screen on his interface that showed the Nalheim generals.
They spread out, yelling their orders as Nalheim brigades—or what was left of them—moved forward toward the only tunnel that hadn’t collapsed.
“Seems that the Nalheim’s conquest of Emerilia has started in earnest,” Jekoni said in a somber voice.
“Artillery crews to your guns!” A dwarven voice rang out across the citadel.
In all of the first ring castles, dwarven artillery units moved to their weapons, checking that they were ready for action; safeties were removed and ammunition storage crates were opened. Soldiers from various races moved to the battlements. They weren’t as hurried as the dwarves but they were still prompt in their response.
DCA aerial forces checked their flight gear, armor and their wings, stretching and readying themselves for the coming battle.
Mages grouped together, figuring out who would lead their artillery spells and circulating their Mana so that it was ready to use within a moment’s notice.
Jung Lee felt as if his body had woken up. Purpose was etched into the faces and hearts of every person there. They were all here for one thing, one reason: to defend their homes and drive back the invaders. They would succeed or die trying.
***
Dwayne stood on the highest building within the citadel. He used a magical telescope to see the entrance to the mountain that the Nalheim would be exiting from.
As they tried to enter other tunnels, they were once again trapped and killed off.
The Terra Alliance had killed off more of the Nalheim with their traps so far than the entire goblin army had.
Dwayne looked around the citadel. Unlike the castles that had risen from the ground, the citadel was made from black stone and soul gems; the castles were made from gray fused stone and were lit by the growing soul gem constructs within their walls.
The soul gem constructs had formed the shielding and reinforcing runes and paused in their efforts, storing up the power that they were supplied. It wouldn’t be smart to have them continue building and then have no actual power left to power the defensive runes when the Nalheim reached the various castles’ walls.
Dwayne opened up his interface and moved to the Event tab. There was just one timer remaining.
Spawn Point (Orcish Swamplands)
Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
5
17
31
34
He sighed at those numbers. As he glanced to his interface screen, another thirty thousand-strong brigade had moved out of the portal and another followed on its heels.
The original nearly two hundred thousand Nalheim had been cut down to eighty thousand with fighting the goblin army.
Three hundred thousand had then poured out of the portals in thirty thousand units; they’d entered the various goblin tunnels. More and more came out of the portal and died in those tunnels, following their fellow brigades. The three hundred thousand swelled to six hundred thousand moving into that massive network of tunnels. The eighty thousand had started out when people started making it back to the goblin city, saying that the tunnels were death traps.
Nearly seven hundred thousand was reduced to just under three hundred thousand, but every minute, more Nalheim came through that portal. Now they were finally marching out of the mountain; they had returned to five hundred thousand in strength.
Dwayne felt his heart clench at those numbers. The Demon Horde led by the Dark Lord had been nearly ten million strong when it started out, though the DCA had time to wear them down on their travel across Ashal. They were tired, without proper leadership and just a fraction of their original force when they made it to Devil’s Crater.
“These Nalheim don’t care for losses, much like the demons, but they’re smarter. They work together—they have clear and effective tactics. They also have a constant flow of fresh soldiers coming in,” Dwayne muttered to himself.
“What you doing up here muttering to yourself for?” Esa walked across the roof.
Dwarves were checking their artillery cannons. They were already set and ready. With just a command, they would unleash hell down upon the Nalheim when they surfaced.
“We’ve got to control all of these castles or it’s going to turn into one hell of a shit show,” Dwayne said.
Esa nodded. “Yes, though it seems that there’s more to these castles than meets the eye.”
“What do you mean?” Dwayne looked to Esa.
“Well, it seems that the people who took over the various castles noticed that they were getting points once they took the castles.
“They’ve turned control over to the leaders within the Terra Alliance, who then went to Party Zero with questions. Seems that we’re gaining conquest points. The longer that we hold the castles, the more conquest points we gain. These points can be used to upgrade the castle’s walls, the actual inner buildings as well. They can be used to create magical circles within the castle to increase one’s fighting ability, or to build Weapons of War within the castle. Also, the castles can expand. There are major upgrades that would add in a second exterior wall while elevating the castle.” Esa smiled.
“Are they pre-planned upgrades or can we pick them?” Dwayne asked.
“Bit of both. The longer we hold, then the larger changes will happen by themselves, like the additional walls. Though for weapons, Magical Circuits, and upgrading what we have already—that kind of stuff—we have to spend conquest points on,” Esa said.
“How much of a boost are the magical circles?”
“Well, Dave thinks that they’re similar to the kinds of magical circles that are within every major city and town that empowers the city guards to make them stronger,” Esa said. “He said that he could do it, but he’s doing so many things at the moment that it would be better to just buy it from the castle upgrade list. Would increase our fighting strength—would also make it so that mages and such would be stronger in their spells.”
“Has Josh been told this?”
“Yeah, though he said that you and Kim should be the ones to decide what to do with the castles. He’s busy dealing with getting everyone organized as the head of the Terra Alliance with Cassie and Lucy’s help.” Esa looked to Goblin Mountain. “Good thing is that because we control all of the castles, we’re earning conquest points really fast. The longer we can hold them, the stronger they’ll get. Also, while the overall size upgrades will happen after the same amount of time, we can use the points from the secondary castles on the first castles. It’s not like the conquest points can only be used on the castle that they were earned from—they all enter into a pot. One second, I’ll give you admin rights.”
Esa opened up her interface and quickly moved through a few screens before a screen appeared in front of Dwayne’s face.
Castle Conquest
You currently control (8/8) Castles
Earning: (8)
conquest points per minute
Bonus: For controlling all of the Castles, you earn an additional (2) conquest points per minute.
Total points: 30,067
Rights: Administrative (Can spend conquest points to upgrade castle infrastructure and repair castles. Can also delete Castle infrastructure)
Eight more screens appeared below.
Southern Castle 1
Status: Under Control by Terra Alliance
Earn: 1 conquest point per minute
Evolution: 1 (Second evolution 10%). Can increase evolution to Level 2 by paying (90,000) Conquest points.
Upgrades: Soul gem construct defenses (player modifications do not count toward or against conquest points)
Southern Castle 2
Status: Under Control by Terra Alliance
Earn: 1 conquest point per minute
Evolution: 1 (Second evolution 10%). Can increase evolution to Level 2 by paying (90,000) Conquest points.
Upgrades: Soul gem construct defenses (player modifications do not count toward or against conquest points)
Eastern Castle 1
Status: Under Control by Terra Alliance
Earn: 1 conquest point per minute
Evolution: 1 (Second evolution 10%). Can increase evolution to Level 2 by paying (90,000) Conquest points.
Upgrades: Soul gem construct defenses (player modifications do not count toward or against conquest points)
Eastern Castle 2
Status: Under Control by Terra Alliance
Earn: 1 conquest point per minute
Evolution: 1 (Second evolution 10%). Can increase evolution to Level 2 by paying (90,000) Conquest points.
Upgrades: Soul gem construct defenses (player modifications do not count toward or against conquest points)
Northern Castle 1
Status: Under Control by Terra Alliance
Beyond All Expectations (Emerilia Book 8) Page 16