Dungeon Robotics 9 - 26

Good evening!

Louella

The standoff with the Thonaca fleet lasted until late into the evening. I almost started to regret telling the captains that they needed to make the first move. If anyone was in their right mind over there, then that wouldn’t happen. Any rational person could see that we outgunned them by a lot.

They might have armored their airships, but ours were made completely from metal. I would have to talk to the dwarves involved in the engineering of the vessel, but they learned about it from Regan’s dungeon. Dwarves! Learning about metal. I honestly never thought I’d hear that in my life.

That doesn’t change the fact that they knew their way around metal. They had already reached masterwork levels with the new material. Even Regan was impressed when he saw some of their works. I was confident that our airships could handle a dragon if one went at us.

“Puts you on the edge of your seat, doesn’t it?” The admiral noted as we watched the sun start to set.

“They might be thinking they can even the field in the dead of night.”

“If I was on the enemy lines and knew what these ships could do, I would be hightailing back to the king to recommend surrendering. Even if it might cost me my head.”

“I’m glad that you are as confident in our fleet as I am.”

“You could conquer the world with this fleet.”

“I’m not quite sure that’s true. There are plenty of things out there that are purely on the powerful side.” Just the thought of Glourios stopped me for getting overconfident. That was nothing more than a force of nature and he had caused so much damage. At least most of it was confined to the Beneath.

The soldiers were tense as the battle could start at any second. Frankly, while we had a good idea of their capabilities, the ones called Saints were a wild card. They might manage to change the flow of the battle in unknown ways.

“The scouts in the Theocracy haven’t found out anything more about these mysterious saints?” I asked breaking the silence that was hovering over the bridge.

“They are recruiting people at a swift pace. Anyone that has light mana is being swept up. We made contact with one before he went into the service. A week later he was like a different person. He didn’t even remember our agent’s name. He was forced to withdraw before finding much more out as he didn’t want to risk his position.

I tightened my grip on the railing of the bridge. “Sounds like mind control. We’ll need to be extra careful.” I had already had one experience with mind control, that was plenty in my opinion. The powerful liked to bend people to their will. I glanced over at Wrakras, while not controlled outright, he was still once bound against his will. I sighed at the thought.

“Ma’am. We have movement.”

I rubbed my eyes and turned to the officer. “Right as the sun is in our eyes, go figure. What do you have?”

“They are starting to spread out. It looked like they want to surround us with their greater numbers.”

“Order the fleet to split into pairs then concentrate fire on a selected target. Don’t let them cut you off from the greater fleet. No one fire until I say so!” I turned to the admiral. “Let’s give them a target. You us forward!”

The airship slid through the air just ahead of the others. The enemy had managed to gather nearly forty ships, making it almost three to one. They might think they have the advantage, but they were about to be rudely awakened. We were soon five hundred meters of the rest of the fleet while they flew into their pairings.

I walked out onto the deck of the ship much to the protest of the officers and guards. Wrakras just followed behind me. “Please tell me you’re not going to fly over there or something,” he mumbled and I smiled in reply.

“I’m not that crazy. I thought I’d just make some light.”

Tapping Helios on the deck, Gulv wrapped around it. Together they made quite the channeling staff. I pointed them into the sky, and pictured the spell I wanted to make. Pouring out the mana, a stream of light fired from my staff head into the sky. Once it was a good two or three kilometers above us, it exploded forming almost a miniature sun. I timed it just right as the real sun sank beneath the horizon.

“Not bad.” There was a whistling sound as a ballista slammed into the shield of the ship. The hexagonal shape that made up the shield sections flared as it blasted the projectile to pieces. “Looks like you upset them.”

“Did I do that?” I asked trying to sound cute. I looked back to the bridge. “Feel free to teach them a lesson!”

The structure next to us started to move. Almost a small tower, there were several barrels large enough for several people to fit inside. The turret took aim with only one of the barrels before there was a loud boom that shook the very air. The streak of light traced the line of the ballista and exploded against the ship that fired at us.

I lost my smile a little as the smoke cleared as the airship was unharmed. A barrier made of light fluctuated around it, protecting it from the artillery. “Looks like we’re not the only ones with upgrades,” Wrakras commented dryly.

“It just means this battle just got a whole lot more annoying.”

The fleet started receiving attacks from the enemy. While they used what Regan would have called rudimentary siege weapons, they were being reinforced with magic and at times pure mana. Spells from mages on board the enemy airships were also slamming against the shields of our airships slowly draining our reserves. We could likely last the night, but it would be a very stressful time.

Being out in front, our ship was taking the brunt of the enemy fire. It looked like they wanted to take the head of the enemy general. Not that I blamed them, I did paint a large target on my back. Wrakras and I returned to the bridge as the soldiers started filing out onto the deck. They had their own share of weapons to share with the enemy.

“How is it looking, admiral?” I asked.

“About what we expected. While their weapons have little affect other than draining our mana reserves, their shields are much stronger than we anticipated.”

“Likely due to the saints on board. They seem to have unfathomable level of mana available to them,” Wrakras commented. “The one I fought only lost due to her body not being able to handle the extreme levels of healing. If that mana was being directed to something like a barrier spell, the story might be different.”

I thought about it, but there was little that we could change without retreating. We weren’t sure that was necessary yet. “Give them a volley. See if they can handle a full barrage.”

“As you wish.” The airship started turning to the port side. It might make us a bigger target, but they would be able to bring five turrets to bear on the selected target. Once they all opened fire that was fifteen rounds being fired at once. It was quite the sight. The airship rocked as the artillery opened fire. Of the fifteen rounds, only one missed with the rest slamming to the lead ship of the enemy fleet.

The enemy ship’s barrier flared to life bright enough to rival even my fake sun spell. The blasts from the explosive rounds pushed the vessel back a few dozen meters and even caused it to lose some altitude. Once the smoke cleared, we found that the ship mostly intact. Some of the outer sections of visible wood were singed.

“Get me a close up!”

A screen popped up that showed the enemy vessel as if we were standing next to it. On the deck, there was a woman dressed in white that was on her hands and knees breathing heavily. It might not have gotten through more than a few embers, but if we kept hammering them it would only be a matter of time.

“Tough ones aren’t they,” Wrakras said from next to me.

“The night is young. Let’s see how long they enjoy our firepower.”

“I always did enjoy fireworks.”

~~~

A fireball slammed against the shields threatening to knock me over, but the device compensates for the power and we stabilize. With the saints concentrating on their barriers, it felt the other mages of the enemy plenty of free time to lob spells at us. Of course, we weren’t standing idly by. The soldiers on the deck, took aim at the offensive mage and fired a barrage of rounds at him. Even with the barriers from the holy mages, if we fired enough shells one would pierce here and there.

The turrets weren’t letting up either. They were all pointed at different targets to assist our allies on the field. The fleet battle had turned into a skirmish as the instead of surrounding us, the enemy had taken to getting as close as they could to prevent our turrets from being as effective.

“This is insane…” I said as one of the Thonacan ships very nearly collided with us. It was virtually glowing white as the barrier was being taxed from all sides.

“I worry they might start going for more desperate maneuvers soon,” Wrakras remarked to which the admiral nodded in agreement.

“You don’t mean…” As if to prove him right, there was a large explosion in the distance. One of our ships was impaled by an airship and they both struggled to stay in the air, even as they were basically merged together by the shredded wood and twisted metal. Since the barrier and shields were useless, soldiers from both sides started to engage in close quarters combat.

This would be a piece of cake if we weren’t so outnumbered. Before we could hammer one hard enough to exhaust the saint powering its barrier, another Thonacan ship would take its place. I had to admit it was a smart plan that took advantage of the seemingly endless amount of mana the saints had at their disposal.

I inadvertently reached up and touched the key that Regan gave me. It was connected to his satellite system which we used several times in Lecazar. It should have enough power to break the barrier of the enemy ships, but now that they were so close to us, it was impossible to use without suffering friendly casualties.

An explosion from the two ships that collided attracted my attention. Our soldiers were easily overwhelming the enemy on the deck. There was such a difference that I almost couldn’t grasp what was going on. It looked like the saint had been taken out by a headshot as soon as the melee started. Once it came to melee on the deck, my soldiers had an overwhelming advantage in both their equipment and weapons.

“I want you to link our targeting systems together than aim as many fucking cannons at one of those ships as you can!” I ordered finally losing my temper over the situation. We had the advantage. I wasn’t about to let some fake goddess that doesn’t care for her people wreck the continent with whatever plan she had.

All the turrets turned in the direction the ship that was only a few dozen meters from us. I pointed my staff and timed it for when they fired. With a boom, the turrets fired along with a beam of plasma that coated the barrier forcing the saint on board to use even more mana to keep it from falling through the barrier. Three of our other ships managed to turn most of the weapons on the same ship. The heat from the explosion was hot enough to metal steel.

The white barrier lasted for several breaths before it almost popped like a bubble. Everything it was keeping at bay slammed into the deck and quite literally obliterated it. There weren’t even any screams the destruction happened so quickly. Pieces of woods and metal that were burning or twisted it horrific ways rained to plain under us.

“Target destroyed!” an officer shouted with obvious glee.

“We have thirty-seven more to go! Let’s get to it!” the admiral shouted acting equally excited.

The enemy fleet soon started losing ships fast. Our force managed to regroup and we turned the enemy into target practice. I knew our firepower was strong enough, I just underestimated the strength of the saints at the start. Much like Regan they were a force that had never been seen before.

The Thonaca force also took the chance to regroup. Of their forty ships, only fifteen remained. A graveyard of airships now covered the almost three-kilometer radius under us. So much for bloodless. I decided it was time to end this. I pulled the key from my necklace and activated it, soon a gun formed.

Pointing it into the midst of the enemy force, I paused. “Ask them to surrender.” I waited, but it appeared they were going to attempt to flee. I shook my head and pulled the trigger. A solid beam of light soon arced from the sky and slammed into all the airships. One after another, the barriers shattered and soon the airships joined the graveyard under us.

“Damn fools,” Wrakras said shaking his head.

“The Grand vicar has to answer for this. Soldiers generally don’t get a say in the matter,” I said returning the key to its inert form.

“I agree with that. The church as acted like the people belong to them for as long as I can remember. It was one of the reason for my becoming… for taking up my previous occupation,” Wrakras said stopping before he outright said he was once a necromancer. The people all here might be able to accept a reformed necromancer, but this wasn’t the time to test that conviction.

I took his hand and patted it with some sympathy. The church was part of the reason my father was able to get away with as much as he did. If they actually followed what they taught, he would have been locked away a long time ago. Instead, he just lined someone’s pockets and walked away a free man.

“Send down some dropships. See if there are any survivors. Offer them aid.”

Next:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/47848541

Previous:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/47656325