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Chapter 845 - Army Camp
🕑 Added 2024-04-05 13:00:07 +0000 UTCAfter Lurize appeared in his awakened golden form, the fight was pretty much over. His attributes skyrocketed to the point of rivaling someone at level 80. Even if that lasted just a few seconds, he killed Bren by using him as a battering ram to dig a hole through the mountain, then bisected Anya and tackled Zara, The Crimson Fang. His horns pierced the human’s skull before his form ran out, and he returned to the Legacy. Thankfully, it wasn’t like he had been destroyed, but the Royal Tutor would still need a few hours before being summoned again.
Having lost their front line, the humans tried to escape, but the Harmony Guardians weren’t about to let them go. Cyrus and Elara were jumped by the remaining titled blades, who were able to pin them down as Roan and Skyler finished them off. Kai, the one known as Shadow Dancer, managed to escape at first, but Sun used his [Solar Flare] to remove any nearby shadow that could be hiding the man, which allowed Vash to tag him with a spell that forcibly revealed his position. The assassin still tried to run, but now Nimbus had a moment to shine by catching them and letting Flint deliver the killing blow. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much of a chance to wait around there. The fight was anything but quiet, and if one team was able to ambush them, it wouldn’t be hard to expect another to do the same.
Still, leaving the bodies here was a waste. The Harmony Guardians quickly gathered the corpses, or what remained of them, and tossed them in the caravan before Randolf started moving again. During the next leg of the journey, as they rushed to the doorway, Hera, Flint, and Roan, with the help of Kalahan and Britta, took out their equipment and items that could still be useful. Around one hour later, they arrived at the doorway that was currently empty. Everyone was aware that both the Alliance and the Guild had people watching everything that passed through here, but controlling it was too much effort for what it was worth. This place was too far away from any of the cities to have proper support, and being right on the side of a mountain meant that any army that tried to hold on would be cornered. Another issue would be the possibility of an opposing force coming from the doorway itself.
While they were preparing to leave, Hera took that chance to pull all the bodies out of the caravan and place them neatly side by side, a few dozen metered away from the doorway they were about to use.
“Why are you doing that?” Flint asked.
“I’m assuming the guild will send someone to retrieve the bodies,” Hera explained.
“They are our enemies, why are you even bothering with that? If you are worried about their families, just toss their heads in a pile,” Roan rolled his eyes.
“I’m doing this out of respect. I think they deserve this much,” Hera placed Kai’s body on the end of the line, “Even if he sounded like a psycho.”
“I don’t understand you. We fed another group to the monsters in a room. Why are these any different?” Roan asked.
“They were helping a group that is experimenting on people and Spirits. They lost the right to be respected when they crossed that line. These people were just doing their jobs as soldiers. Besides, it is not just them. Their families deserve this, too. Not knowing what happened with someone is worse than knowing they are dead,” Hera walked back to the caravan.
“How do you know that? How do you know they are not involved in that?” Roan snarled.
“I don’t. So, I assume they are not. I might be wrong, but they are dead. I would rather make a mistake here, hoping for the best, than make people suffer needlessly,” Hera glanced at Vulcan, who was waiting for her near the caravan. He didn’t help the titled blades. Staying close to humans wasn’t good for him, “There has been too much suffering already.”
Roan stared at her for a long moment before sighing, “Do what you want. Just don’t expect my help.”
In a couple of minutes, they crossed to the next room. A place called Eternal Prairie. Just as the name suggested, it was a massive expanse of tall grass spanning over 300 kilometers in a near-perfect circle. Just like in the previous room, there were two cities here, one controlled by humans and another by the Alliance. The doorway they were using was located at the side of the room, closer to the Alliance city, but still far enough to be considered on neutral ground. As soon as they arrived, Randolf made the caravan run at full speed. They would be on the edge of the battlefield for a while, which could only lead to trouble. Then again, if a human group attacked them here, it would devolve into a massive battle with both sides sending in their army.
Despite that, no one wanted to stay there for long. It was the second area they had to clear while hoping the stalemate of the war would be enough to protect them, and no one liked those odds. The caravan moved fast, with Nimbus helping pull it to increase the average speed. Hera could see some movement on the opposite side of the plains, towards the human city and the various army camps spread across the length of the room. Both sides had spread their troops in a line to block any incoming attacks or battalions from sneaking in, but they also had a central command to organize everything. And that was the caravan’s destination.
After a few moments, when the group was already on the road they had to follow to reach the Alliance army, a whistling noise came out of nowhere, and an arrow hit the ground a few meters from the container. What followed was an explosion that tossed the entire vehicle to the side. Everyone inside tossed their weight against the direction they were flung towards in hopes that they wouldn’t end up toppling. What saved them was another explosion on the other side of the caravan, the difference being that the first blast was made out of fire, while the second was lightning.
‘I see them! A kilometer back. On top of a tower!’ Twiggy yelled in the court’s mind.
“Robin, can you hit an arrow out of the sky?” Hera called as the bow blade floated to her side.
‘For you, my Empress? Absolutely!’ Robin’s voice was filled with confidence.
“Crim, Viper, hold me down so I won’t fall. Robin, you fire, I load,” Hera created a frost arrow and placed it on the bow blade, which quickly fired at an incoming projectile. His arrow hit another just a few meters before it landed, creating a massive explosion at the back of the caravan. Everyone who was in the back had to cover it, since it was the most exposed of all the seats in the vehicle.
‘I’ll use a Solar Flare. Even if I can’t reach them, my light will blind our attackers!’ Sun started preparing the skill.
“Don’t!” Hera yelled, and she placed a thorn vine arrow on Robin, “It’s too much mana, and that light will tell the entire room where we are.”
‘Then what can we do?’ Sun asked.
‘Nothing. I’m the only long ranged attacker in the court. And we don’t need anyone else. I’ll keep you all safe,’ Robin fired not just the thorn vine arrow, but also two more coming from the edges of the bow as he triggered the [Seal Of Mystic Resonance.]
“Someone grab me!” Vash’s voice came through the communicator just as he flew past the side of the caravan. Thankfully, Kalahan was fast enough to reach out for him and hold the harpy by his feet before pulling him back to the back of the container, “Thanks! Now I can help,” Vash smiled and used a sound blast to intercept a couple more arrows.
But one of those projectiles wasn’t physical. A whirlwind spell blasted just by the side of the caravan, immediately creating a powerful gust of wind that tried to pull the supply truck to itself. Due to the weight, speed, or just luck, that didn’t happen, but it was enough to make them shake violently once more.
“Vash! Focus on spells. I can make a shield!” Neria pulled a large chunk of water from her staff and formed a semi-circle behind the caravan. It wouldn’t be enough to stop the arrows completely, but the spell would either force the attacks to explode or slow them enough to make it easier for Robin to knock them out of the sky. Skyler also helped make a secondary layer to that barrier, but since she was using sound waves, it was nowhere near as effective as the triton’s.
“How are they hitting us? They are so far away!” Remy was panicking, holding on for dear life in one of the side seats.
“Archers are better than you imagine. Even I have a skill that can show me where they are, I just never focused on long range fights,” Roan groaned. He couldn’t do anything to help now.
During that time, Flint jumped on top of the container and quickly started making a larger version of his power armor arms. He attached it to the metal top of the container; that way, if it looked like it would tip to one side, he could activate the pistons and, quite literally, punch the ground to tip the entire thing to the opposite way. It was crude, badly balanced, and it only could help if the entire thing was about to tip over, but it seemed effective. And he had a chance to test it almost instantly as another massive explosion hit the side of the caravan, almost making it topple to the left. The piston arm slammed against the ground, forcing the container to go back to the center of the road. Yet, that one save was enough to break down the metal joints. Flint went straight to the repairs, and as they continued moving.
Initially, the attacks became more frequent, but the farther away the caravan got from the doorway, the fewer projectiles started hitting until they were finally out of the range of the humans. A couple of the tires had been damaged, and large parts of the container were bent due to the impact. No one fell off the vehicle or got serious injuries, but there were plenty of bruises and cuts to go around, even with Kalahan trying his best to heal everyone. Neria didn’t have a chance to do that since she had to focus on keeping the shield up and rebuilding it every time the barrier broke.
Still, thanks to Nimbus, they were able to continue moving the caravan until they crossed the Alliance army blockade. There was a quick inspection of their identities before they were allowed to continue to the main camp. Randolf was supposed to deliver all the supplies to the same place, and the army would take care of splitting the crates amongst themselves.
The main camp of the Alliance in this room was made out of a large wood structure created from the bushes and the grass in the plains. There were other tents made out of stone, cloth, clay, and even metal in various different styles, showing how all species were trying to help each other. In the main camp, there was not just the command center but also large barracks, a few warehouses, and the central medical tent that took care of the patients in critical conditions that could be moved. The ones that couldn’t were on the emergency tents near each of the individual camps spread all around the blockade.
There was a quick discussion when they arrived and another inspection of their identities before the group was free to roam around. It would take a couple of hours to finish unloading the supplies since they had to check if everything was safe and if nothing broke during the attack. Only then would Randolf head to the city where the Harmony Guardians would stay the night. At that time, the team was free to do what they wanted. Neria went straight to the medical tent to help heal the soldiers. Roan was nowhere to be seen, but he was likely going to meet the beastmen in the area to see what he could do to help. Skyler apparently saw a few people she knew and was already greeting them, and Flint moved to the crafting area where people were repairing their gear and making more weapons and ammo for those who needed it, which left Hera to find something to do. She could just sit back and relax, but it felt off doing something like that in the middle of a battlefield, and she might be able to help someone. She just had to find out who.
