281 On Second Thoughts (2/2)
A lot of guest magi on the way to the warfront stopped by Three Pines to take a look at the Black Ruins relics, to see what they could see, learn what they could learn, and maybe take a little something worthwhile if they could take it without causing too much trouble. Unfortunately most of them simply couldn't make heads or tails of what they examined. Of those who made discoveries, one accidentally blasted himself into ashes, one ended up nailing his foot into the ground, and the third one completely disappeared and had not been seen since.
As for the war itself…
The tides turned again with a fourth Tier 8 Spectre emerged. Once again, the Tier 8 Spectres and Emperor-level defenders were matched in number. The defenders' advantage was lost. The Flame Emperor called upon the Deep Emperor to come back from the north and help out, but received no response. As for the Earth Emperor, Mal'thor-dras had only just woken up and promised to come help quickly.
Three days later, he still hadn't arrived. Reports from younger drakes coming from Dragon Lake indicated that Mal'thor-dras had not even left Dragon Lake, in fact. He seemed to have woken up very hungry and spent the entire past few days eating breakfast. At his fearsome rate of consumption, the youngsters were worried that Dragon Lake could run out of Tier 5 fish.
By then, the number of Mindy's new fightercraft built in Fal'Herim brought to the warzone for 'quality testing' reached three hundred. Had they all been fielded at the same time, Kara-Goth simply wouldn't have enough volunteer pilots to man them all. But over a hundred of them had taken damage from long-range Spectre attacks and required downtime to repair, repairs which the limited facilities at Nine Kings Mountain Range were ill-equipped to serve. With the bigger, slower airships taking to Remian's Rocky Thorns Airport and Kara-Goth's Airport for repairs, they ended up limping all the way back to Fal'Herim to get fixed.
”Too slow.” Mindy shook her head every time she considered her little fighters and their performance. ”The fighters are too slow. The repairs are too slow. Pilot training is too slow. Everything is too slow!”
Two days following, the Libertarian fleet arrived at the Nine Kings Range.
”Give us the area with the heaviest fighting!” Admiral Campbell requested.
”Uh… that would be the middle.” George managed, trying his best not to feel overawed by the military staunchness he was sensing from all these army officers.
”You're the commander-in-chief?” Campbell's eyes narrowed.
”Um… there isn't really one.” George half-wilted. Then, he brightened. ”Would you like to volunteer?”
Song Chen frowned at him, and Mindy grimaced, but Campbell simply nodded as if it was all to be expected. ”Certainly. I want a detailed list of military forces and a space three times the size of this tent to set up a proper command center.”
”Uh… we'll see what we can do…” George hesitated.
”On second thoughts, forget it.” Campbell straightened. ”Lieutenant! Send out my orders! I am taking command of the entire defense force, and will be commanding from the flagship!”
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Darian and Tim glanced at George. ”You know the dragons won't listen to him, right?”
George gulped. ”They won't?”
They really didn't.
Neither did the rest of the Wilds.
”Come on, guys! Forward, like he said! We're all on the same side, here!” George tried to coax them.
But none of them would move. In fact, George noticed a distinct trickle of wounded Wilds limping away from the warfront entirely.
”Why…? Why can't everyone just work together?” George asked. ”The whole world is at stake…”
”Then where's the whole world when the danger is here?” Mindy scoffed.
”At least they're here!” George raged. ”Why can't you see that? At least they came to help!”
”Thirty ships? One mothership, five cruiser-class, ten galleon-class, and fourteen frigates.” Mindy shook her head. ”Doesn't Libertaria have hundreds of airships? They didn't even send one hundred.”
”That's a lot more than what everyone else is sending!” George spluttered.
”And I'm thinking we should stop shouldering so much of the burden and let everyone else send more before we resume the fight.” Darian said darkly. ”I'm tired of bleeding and seeing our subordinates die while everyone else just sits back and do nothing. Now these clowns jump in and try to boss us around… even I won't have it, much less the Wood Emperor! I'm out.”
”Out?!” George gaped. ”Darian! DARIAN! Come back!”
But of course, he wouldn't.