Dungeon Robotics 10-14

Good Morning! How'd the weekend treat everyone?

Chapter 14

Louella

A tinkling sound woke me from a thankfully dreamless sleep. Ever since that creature had appeared in my dreams the last time, part of me worried that he would reappear if I closed my eyes. We were on the small wavelength according to him and I wasn’t sure what that really meant. I’d rather not find out any time soon either.

I blinked the sleep from my eyes and sat up. Valorie was tapping my face with a worried expression. “What is it?” I asked trying not to yawn. She tapped my cheek again before pointing to the window. I got up and checked but only saw ocean and the Maelstrom in the distance. “I don’t see anything.”

She moved over to the wall and before I could stop her, started burning a line into the wall. A few seconds later, there was the drawing of a ship. She even put stick figures with mad faces standing on the deck. What little sleep was in me fled as I woke up completely. I rushed over to the desk and grabbed my tablet. “Captain! Stop all forward advance! Meet me on the bridge in two minutes.”

His response came back instantly, telling me that he had been awake already. “As you wish, your highness. It will be done.”

I dressed and grabbed a device from the vanity. Holding it to my chest, I channeled some mana through it and the snapped open forming a set of armor in a matter of seconds. One of Regan’s more useful creations. Not to say that everything he makes wasn’t useful. It was usually just a matter of scale. Still, after my near death with the demon at the capital, it was one of the few things I’d asked Regan for without worrying about my honor. I’d rather live to see another day.

Wrakras knocked and entered just as the last plate slid into place. “Expecting trouble?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I think its already here. Hurry and get ready. We’re not going into this one half-assed like last time,” I ordered handing another device to him. She shook his head and pulled his coat back. A small button was exposed which looked similar to the device’s.

“I’m covered. I’ll remember to use it this time,” he said with a tense chuckle.

“Idiot. Use it first next time,” I said smacking him lightly on the chest.

“As you wish,” he said with a bow.

I moved past him and we rushed to the bridge. By design, my quarters were relatively close to the bridge, but it still took half a minute to get there. Looking out the windows, I saw the rest of the fleet had come to a stop as well. The sight was almost eerie as a storm had taken shape in the few hours that I slept. It was pitch black save for the lights coming off the airships.

“What’s our location?” I asked.

“About three hundred kilometers south of the cape. There is still another two hours before we make landfall,” the captain replied tapping the map and enlarging it. We were almost directly south of the mountains that split the continent in half. In the area that had always been a sort of no-man’s land between the countries before.

“What’s the matter?” one of the officers asked with a worried tone. “We haven’t detected anything on our radar. Even our scouts haven’t found anything.”

“I understand your worry, but I have it on good authority that we’re likely not alone.” I felt my hair move and Valorie emerged. I could tell she was doing her best to reign in her desire to explore the bridge. “Where are they, sweetie?”

She looked at me then flew over to the window before pointing. I walked over to the firing controls and brought up one of the turrets. I pulled the controls onto my tablet then moved in front of her. With a few quick adjustments, the display was projected so that it overlaid the window. She moved the glowing red icon a few times before she turned to me and gave me a nod.

“Captain. Ready the men and the other ships. If this hits, we’re likely going to be springing a trap early.”

“Give us five minutes, no make it three. The troops will be ready. Come hell or high water.” He turned away and moved to the communications console. He began issuing orders faster than I could have. I knew the general overlay of the fleet and its composition, but for him, the fleet was like his family.

I held out my hand for Valorie and she landed with a tilted head. “I’d like you to go back to the cabin and stay with your sisters, but it might be better that have you with me,” I said with a small smile. I’d rather not expose her to the fighting. I’d already done that once done in the Beneath. Valorie grinned with a childlike ray of sunshine before she snapped her fingers. All her sisters appeared around her as if from a haze. I looked at them all then just shook my head. “You little tricksters. You have to get that from Regan.”

She flew up and hugged my check before her and her sisters faded from view. I knew they had considerable control over fire and light, but I hadn’t heard them or even detected them in any way. That was much greater control than I first thought.

Three minutes passed both remarkably slowly, and in the blink of an eye. The captain looked at me then nodded. I took a deep breath then placed my hand on the firing controls. A few orders from the captain and the fleet was plunged into darkness as all of the ships killed their lights. The plan was for them to instantly start moving to new coordinates to protect against any spells that might have already targeted us.

I blinked slowly before frowning and pressing down. Nine beams of charged light lanced through the sky in a single breath. Five of the nine struck true burning massive holes through an airship that appeared as if from a mist. The blow was lethal as the flaming vessel started sinking toward the ocean as it lost altitude. The flames casting the only light for close to a hundred kilometers.

A pelleting sound soon filled the silence. The storm began to downpour making waterfalls on the blacked out glass of the bridge window. I usually enjoyed the sound of rain. Thunder and lightning often soon followed which was good for a lightning cultivator for me. This time however, it was an ominous sound.

There was a boom before a brilliant white light washed over just about everything. Dozens of airships appeared out of nowhere in front of us as a curtain of light crashed down around them. I had to cover my eyes until the adjusted to the sudden flare even with the dark glass.

Streaks of lights that were strangely flat cracked toward our side. It was a good call to move before we struck as most of the light attacks missed. Large swatches of the ocean instantaneously boiled and steamed as the water was hit by the attack. Our ships responded in kind, firing at the now exposed ships. Beams of red light and solid rounds the size of a man’s head flew through the air.

Our barrage landed on the light current and failed to do much more than dim the light for a few seconds. I used the tablet to have the ship zoom in on the ships. Dozens of people with white robes stood pouring out mana into the curtain. We were too far for accurate measurements, but I had a gut feeling they were all like the Saint and Saintess we fought before. That put their number at somewhere between a hundred and a thousand. There was no telling if there were more in reserve on the ships.

Rubbing my forehead at the thought of the lengths these people were going, I turned to Wrakras. “I wonder how much mana a Celestial has?”

“Much more than our measly fleet, I’m sure,” he replied matter-of-factly.

I laughed at his straightforwardness, but he was right. If the last battle was any example, then we were going to suffer heavy casualties. We might even lose. It was a failure on my part to think that the leaders of the Theocracy would have at least some decency. To forcibly change this many people was horrifying.

I needed to do something to even the odds. An invisible hand on my check gave me an idea. I smiled and moving past Wrakras, I made for the observation tower. The ship shook a few times as it received hits. It looked like they had plenty of ammunition for the moment, but our shields were holding, for now. Reaching the observation deck of the tower, I asked everyone to leave for their safety.

“You too,” I told Wrakras who had followed me.

“But your safety,” he argued and I smiled.

I reached up and gave him a kiss. “Just trust me.”

Stepping outside onto the deck, I enjoyed a few moments of the rain rolling down my face before I snapped back to the moment. I looked up at the storm then took a deep breath before holding out both hands. Lightning started to flicker between my palms. I allowed my mana to build to levels I had never truly reached before.

Lightning was fast and deadly, but only if it was given time to charge. After learning from Regan’s library, I realized it was the electrical charge that was building. A quickly cast lightning spell was just a few hundred volts. One that was allowed to build and grow. It could reach dangerous levels.

My body began to glow blue and white as the lightning started arcing off any exposed skin. This would have been easier with Gulv, but I felt the elemental back in the valley. It didn’t matter, beggars couldn’t be choosers. The ship shook as the church began to concentrate on us. I was giving off more than a little energy. I’d essentially painted a target on my head.

Even in my concentrating state, I didn’t fail to notice as plumes of darkness flashed out to intercept the incoming light ribbons. They exploded with burst of charged mana. A bit more and I thought they might create anti-mana like when the necromancers attacked my valley. I smiled knowing that Wrakras was defending in what way he could and concentrated more fully on my goal.

My body soon reached the point that it was more electricity than flesh. I was purposely shifting. The storm’s own charge gave in and was pulled toward me. Dozens then hundreds of flashes of light signaled that I was taking in as much lightning as I could. Every time I felt near my limit, I soon pushed past it and kept building. It felt amazing.

At some point, the energy changed. It started to feel purer than anything I had experienced before. I risked opening my eyes and saw a stream of lightning coming from the Maelstrom in the distance. I had inadvertently started to pull from the source.

“Whatever will be,” I mumbled before closing my eyes and continuing to fuel my transformation.