by Matthew Peed
“Good! Hopefully, it won’t come to that. I suggest you return to your original form.”
I waved my arms and widened the room to be able to hold her entire form and then some. If I knew the magic, there was a good chance she would get larger. I rather she not damage the vessel or my core.
Soza nodded and took off the dress I gave her. Handing it to me, she backed away and in a burst of flames quickly grew to her original thirty-meter form. She laid her head on the ground in front of me.
“Feel free to ride me if you want.”
I wasn’t sure how, but I swore I could see her blush. I hadn’t thought that was possible for cold-blooded creatures. “Thank you for the offer, but I’ll have to take a rain check. Are you ready?”
She nodded. I moved forward and placed my hand on her snout. The mana surged as I offered to bind her to my dungeon. When she accepted, mana flooded from my core, then into her. I was able to see her pool before it was changed. It rivaled Louella’s pool and might even have been a bit larger.
Mana flickered across her body as her scales took a metallic sheen. She grew but only by about two meters. For the most part, it appeared her mana was the only thing that changed greatly, growing much denser. I felt her mana capacity quadruple, and if she soon broke into tier four, I might have some trouble dealing with her if she tried to challenge me.
The magic died down soon after that. “Soza, are you alright?”
“Alright?! I feel amazing!” Flames flashed around her, and she transformed into her humanoid form again. It looked mostly the same, except that her hair had a metallic glint.
“That’s good to hear. There is just one more thing I want to do.” I moved over to my core and weaved a Barrier spell unlike I had ever done before. Now that Soza was truly linked to the dungeon I was able to do a spell that tied her life to the core’s. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I’ve been burned in the past. This is just a precaution.”
“I completely understand. I don’t mind being tied up like this, husband,” Soza said with a sultry smile.
“Glad you feel that way. Now, I’ll leave you to it. I will be back as soon as the pathways of my dungeons form. It should take roughly three to four weeks. Though I might be able to speed it up from my main dungeon.”
“You’re going to leave me alone for that long,” she said with a pout. “At least give me a kiss to help me remain strong.”
I flicked her forehead hard enough that she could actually feel it. “Down, girl. You’re going to get me killed.”
She shrugged. “That would just tell me you were not worth my affections.”
I kept my mouth shut, but inside I thought about Alara not stopping at me if she did attempt to kill me. Though, I’m not sure if she felt that way about me. She might have just seen me as a support that she needed to recover from her trauma. Other than the two kissed, one of which I’d practically forced on her, we hadn’t done much more.
I shook my head and turned to the core. Idle thoughts were how people died when they should be concentrating. Clearing my head, I entered my core more fully. Time to do or die.
Chapter 29
Louella
After the messenger left, we got to work preparing for the eventual rush that was about to take place. They might make us stew for a few more hours, but given how we treated their messenger, I doubted whoever the king put in charge of the enemy forces would sit still for long.
I made for the wall myself, even as Ezal and most of the other officers shouted at me to stop. I wouldn’t make my soldiers stand on the front lines without doing the same. Besides, I was likely the most powerful person at the fort. They would need me to do as much damage as possible in order to make the enemy think twice about sieging this place.
I reached the courtyard in front of the keep and saw three people I was not expecting. Nero, Yuno, and his sister were preparing their arms, along with a large number of other adventurers. I also saw Noir and her sisters together with the man who went by Meteor.
“Your Highness!” Nero shouted, running up to me. My guards moved to intercept him, but I just waved them off. Nero stopped about two meters away from me and swept into a deep bow. “My weapons and magic are yours to command. Your enemies will learn to fear you.”
“We are also indebted to you for all that we’ve gained in the valley. We have pledged to help in your coming time,” Noir said, moving up next to Nero.
“I’m just here to test my spell. The recent vision in the valley gave me many insights,” Meteor called from where he sat checking his staff. I wasn’t sure I liked the look in his eye, but as long as he was using whatever magic he’d come up with on the enemy, I would accept it.
Many other adventurers started to cheer or call out their loyalty as the gathering grew denser. Seeing all these people here to support and help us brought a smile to my face. Maybe this evening would be a rough one, but at least I wouldn’t be alone in the fight.
“Thank you, everyone! I promise to return this gesture in some way if we make it through this. Even though my words might sound hollow on the eve of battle, I believe we can get through this together. We are family and friends coming together to protect our loved ones. For many of you, it would be easy to turn away and start a new life elsewhere far from the battle. The fact that you stay to help fills me with immense joy. Again, thank you!” I finished by bowing my head to the adventurers and holding it.
“There is no need for that. We are here because this valley has become special to us. Even though I have only been here a few weeks, I would hate to see it destroyed for petty reasons. As I said for me and my party, I think I say for everyone here: our magic and swords are at your command, Your Highness.”
I looked over everyone in the gathering and counted at least two thousand people. That was not a small number. I moved forward and took Nero’s hands. “Thank you.”
“Anything for you, Azura Flower,” Nero said as he dropped his head in another bow. With a kiss to the back of my hand, he leaped back. “To arms, my friends!”
The adventurers split up into their individual parties and made for the walls. I stared after them before I went to the top of the gate. I wanted to be at the center so I could hopefully help out if anyone got into a dangerous situation. My guards took up positions on either side of the platform at the top of the gate. It would take quite a bit of force to get through them.
“Let them come!” I shouted, amplifying my voice so everyone in the fort and beyond could hear it. They needed to know that we weren’t scared. As my voice faded, there was an echo of thunder, and it soon started to rain. The result of mages working on both sides to create the storm. After that, silence filled the air, only punctuated by droplets hitting metal, cloth, and leather armor.
With a crack of thunder, both sides of the wall lit up as thousands of mages began to channel mana into their spells. Some went for quick and precise, while others took the longer route and used large spells for maximum destruction.
After a few seconds, the air was pulled and pushed as the wave of spells was launched from both sides. An almost solid wall of magic collided just outside the wall, causing mana to rip through the area.
The ground rippled and the air froze. Two of my guards moved forward on either side of a pedestal and started to channel mana to create a large chunk of metal. It was a little something that the mage’s tower had developed with knowledge from Regan’s library. The enemy would experience quite a few weapons like this today.
I placed my hands on either side of the almost meter-diameter ball of metal and channeled lightning to form a tunnel around it. The tunnel only lasted for a second before the ball of metal streaked toward the enemy almost faster than I could follow with my eye.
With a loud boom, the ball struck one of the barriers protecting the approaching army. It was ripped to pieces but managed to pierce the shield. The fingertip-sized pieces rained death on the soldiers under the impact site. To make it worse for the enemy, the
barrier that was struck gained large cracks.
“Again!” I ordered and began channeling my mana to ready the next one.
As I waited for the guards to create another metal ball, a large number of spells were directed at our location. Fireballs, blasts of energy, and lances made from darkness crashed against the wall’s barrier as it sprang to life right in front of us. The barrier protecting my forces likely couldn’t compare to the Thonaca one, but it was powerful enough to hold for a while.
My guards finished preparing the metal ball, and I created another lightning tunnel. This time aiming farther back, I targeted what looked like a command spot. They were too far forward to be the main command unit, but anything to hurt their chain of command was a good target to me.
With another boom, the metal ball streaked across the battlefield and struck the barrier. The barrier was still repairing from the last strike and couldn’t take it. I saw a flare of mana as a mage in the enemy ranks had all the excess energy from the barrier wash back on him. He quite literally exploded.
The metal ball didn’t break into as many pieces this time but still caused devastation as it ripped the command unit apart. The main person managed to throw up a barrier in time to save himself, but everyone with him was either dead or on their way. I motioned for my guards to start another. The two who did the first set had to fall back and gather mana, as the spell took a large amount of it from them.
The other towers along the wall were using similar weapons to hammer at the barriers around the enemy lines. The large amount of pinpoint force was taxing on the barriers. With nearly a dozen of the weapons being employed, we were forcing the enemy to consider whether this was a good idea or not.
In the midst of the torrent of flying spells, there was a blinding light. The next moment, only a charred path of destruction for at least a hundred meters remained. Even with the enemy’s barrier protecting them, whatever spell had just been used had completely obliterated everything in its path.
“Who the hell was that?!” I demanded from the sighter that was monitoring the battlefield.
“An adventurer, Your Highness. There was a spike of mana unlike any I’ve ever felt before, then there was a flash of light. I couldn’t even see what actually happened.”
“I see. Let me know if you can get some information on the adventurer in question,” I said, then turned back to the pedestal. The metal ball was just about ready. I didn’t want to anger someone who could cause such destruction so easily. The enemy army had started rallying and was working to reinforce their barriers by layering them.
I fired the metal ball at the enemy without a particular target but frowned when it failed to pierce the barriers they’d managed to reinforce. Only a few minutes had passed for the battle, but the difference in resources was already becoming apparent. My force’s spells were coming farther apart, while the enemy’s spells were still coming almost nonstop.
What looked like a blue fireball shot from the back of the enemy lines and morphed into a phoenix. It rose above the battlefield, then started raining fire on my soldiers. Whoever was controlling it was quite powerful. The barrier protecting my forces visibly weakened just from a few seconds of the bombardment.
I formed a lance made from lightning and threw it at the phoenix. It wasn’t just a spell effect, as it actively dodged the lance. I quickly controlled the lance to have it spin around and chase after the phoenix. They were about even in speed, but at least the phoenix wasn’t sending fire down on my forces anymore.
While I was dealing with the phoenix, another spell similar to the phoenix shot into the air. It appeared to be a dragon made of ice and water. As it flew over the battlefield, a deluge of water poured from it. Even though the barrier blocked it, the water flowed down the barrier and soon made it rough for my soldiers in certain areas that turned to pure mud.
Shortly, I sensed two more spells that were similar in strength ascend into the sky. I knew there would be tier three mages, but I didn’t expect for them to make their presence known from the beginning of the battle.
“I guess their king really doesn’t like me,” I mumbled.
“Your Highness . . . I think it’s more about just how scared they are of you,” one my guards said with a grin.
I nodded, matching his grin. If only Regan’s weapons had worked, then this battle might have already been over. Unfortunately, they had been unresponsive.
“I think he should be scared of us.”
As if on cue, the top of the fort opened, the roof sliding unnaturally, as it was controlled by Terra mages. Ezal, glowing bright enough to be seen in the gray rain-filled light, floated along with a dozen other mages around a large crystal. Runes and gears made of mana formed a massive complex spell construct around her. It was time to even the fight.
Chapter 30
Alara
“Mother!”
I turned from the statue of Regan and found Lena hovering next to me. She had a wild look on her face. “What is . . . it?”
“Undead on the surface! One of Lord Regan’s children spotted them moving from the east. There’s an army of them!”
My attention snapped to her as I let my senses flood out. I ignored the undead on the top floors that I had yet to reclaim. Pushing my mind to the edge of my aura, I spotted the first vestiges of the undead forces making their way in.
I moved my avatar to Regan’s Alpha after I located Jarvis. He was Regan’s advisor and had told me before to seek him if I needed anything. He was also in charge of the forces Regan left behind to guard the surface area of my dungeon.
I found him working over a table that had hundreds of vials on it. I could sense mana emanating from just about everything on the table. The cables that made up his eyes were observing several things at once as some sort of reaction was taking place.
One of his eyes turned to look at me, while the rest of him kept working. “Lady Alara, I presume you are here to discuss the undead army marching toward us.”
“Yes,” I said with a nod. The speed at which he was working on his experiment increased severalfold until he came to a stop, holding a single vial of platinum liquid. He put it away in his coat pocket.
“What is . . . that?”
He turned to face me fully, then patted the spot the vial was stored. “Don’t worry about it. About our undead problem, what are your mana stores at?”
“I am about . . . a quarter full.”
“That doesn’t give us too much to work with. I have command of Sir’s forces in this area, but that also doesn’t give us too much to work with. If we pull too many, then the undead being created by the leftover undeath in your dungeon could get out of control.”
“Defense?” I asked. If we focused on that, we could potentially hold the undead back for a long time. Long enough for Regan to come back.
“That is an acceptable path we can take. I just fear the objective of this undead force. We know that we’ve managed to only make a dent in the necromancer leadership. Depending on the number of leaders controlling this force, they could be quite dangerous.”
“What should . . . we do?”
Jarvis turned and appeared to be deep in thought. “Lady Louella is busy dealing with her own problem. I guess we’ll have to rely on the captains,” he mumbled, more to himself than me.
I heard the door to the room open and turned to see a group of people walk in. I recognized them as the captains of the ships that patrolled the area around my dungeon. Regan had introduced them to me once before.
“Looks like we have a bit of an issue on our hands,” Wilson said with his arm around Liz. At least I think that was their names. They were a couple and were never apart from each other unless forced.
“We never get a chance to rest around here,” Liz said with a pout.
“Wherever there be bounty or battle, I’ll be there,” said the captain I thought was named Benjamin.
“You lead the way, mate. I’ll be using your pretty boat as a nice shield
when the enemy cannon fire begins,” another captain said. This was, I believed, Spare.
“Good, you all have gathered without me calling for you. We have a bit of an issue. Any ideas?” Jarvis said with one eye on each captain.
“Those paltry undead can’t match up to us. I say we take the fight to them,” Benjamin said, moving his hand to the handle of his sword.
“Yes, but without Master Regan here, we would be walking right into a trap if, oh, I don’t know, an army of specters were to be among the corpses,” Spare said, looking at Benjamin like he was an idiot.
“We might not have Master Regan, but we do have Lady Alara. Couldn’t she serve in his stead?” Wilson asked, looking over to me.
“I’m not . . . sure what you . . . expect me to . . . do. I’m no match . . . for Regan,” I replied, shaking my head. Not only did I not know nearly any of the magic he’d used on me, but I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t freeze while they were dealing with the undead. If I caused any of Regan’s children to die, I wasn’t sure I could forgive myself. And I didn’t want to make Regan upset.
“We don’t need a commander. Any of us can serve in that capacity. We just need someone who can react to any sudden changes the necromancers might throw at us. A dungeon core is the best candidate for that role,” Jarvis said as he started to pace.
“Unlike Regan . . . I can’t move . . . my core,” I replied, lowering my head. I felt even more useless than I had in a while.
“We know, Lady Alara,” the captain named Liz said as she patted my shoulder.
Jarvis came to an abrupt stop. “Your core can’t move, but this one can. I wonder . . ” His eyes all focused on me. “Follow me.”
One of his eyes lit up, and we found ourselves on the command section of Alpha. We followed as he led us up the large building that served as the center of the floating city. The area became more heavily guarded as we moved closer to the core that sat at Alpha’s center.
After a few minutes, we made it to the room that surrounded the core. Energy much denser than my own pulsed from the glowing orb in the center of the room. I could see so many defensive spells that I knew I would have to be near full strength to have any hope of getting through them. And those were only the magic layers.