Chapter 18-475: Lighting Things Up (2/2)

The other cities didn’t fall quite as quickly as those two, but fall they did, as the same ‘goddess’ came down and took them away, then went into sequester to Atone for them.

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The smell of burning oil and gasoline was thick in the air, along with the tang of lubricants and scorched metal. The acrid fumes of necrombustion engines filled the air and made it hard to see, while hate lightning sparked and crackled here and there over shattered hulks and riven Constructs of brass and bronze and iron.

There were places of purity where white fires devoured the negative energy in the air, Possessed robots and death-machines rent apart by precise use of directed Weapons, while unclean power systems oxidized and fell apart in repentance for what they’d been designed to do.

Nikolai Kroischenko, the Firesword of Asia, tapped his temple as he looked around at the kill team that had just hacked apart hills worth of Gearmen and other forged things waiting to be unleashed upon the living, breathing easily enough through his alchemically-treated mask. -Tell Warlord Briggs that Site 12 is clear of Constructs and Animated.-

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-Site 7 is clear.-

-Site 20 is clear.-

-Site 11 is clear.-

Briggs looked at the virtual map in his head as he placed another intact copper skull from a Gearknight onto the heap on a waiting Disk. Baneskulls were important things to have available in this fight. Site 5 was what he’d assigned himself to. Sama had taken out Sites 2 through 4 with her team, basically testing the waters to see if the Shroudlord had noticed what they were up to, as well as rounding up more Baneskulls and figuring out what they’d be fighting and some tactics to use against them.

There’d been thousands of interested parties watching the fighting out the eyes of those doing it as they went into the storage armories and utterly trashed the hidden forces there.

Since they weren’t under centralized command and would thus only respond to personal attacks, the Constructs were much easier to destroy down there in the dark halls. They didn’t coordinate their actions and couldn’t move around properly, and since they didn’t react at all if the Coghound pack next door was smashed and Sundered apart, it made them much easier to take apart piecemeal.

Once it was plain the Shroudlord didn’t believe they’d actually discovered his hidden reserves, Briggs had made sure the teams were equipped with the needed Baneskulls, and then they’d hit all twenty-four sites they’d been able to nail down during a single day.

It meant they didn’t have to waste nukes on the things, allowing them to save those for wiping out some undead forces in the future. While the Aberrant might have informed the Shroudlord of atomic weapons, it hadn’t seen them with its own eyes, and would have the undead attitude that its troops were unkillable and enough of them could overcome any number of the living through pure attrition.

It was probably starting to rethink that line of thought as the spawnpoints of its outer Shroud were cleared permanently, and its vast and mighty Shroud shrank in and back. Dead city after city was exposed as it did so, cleared away, and Ruin teams smashed roads through the endless lengths of walls it had put up, finally bringing in support vehicles, artillery from the distance, and even tanks to deal with some of the larger Construct threats... although the Possessed Tanks rarely got to deal with our tanks before a rocket grenade took them out.

Such grenades were much easier and faster to make than Possessed Tanks, and cheaper to fire off. No need for magic except to aim, blow apart the turret or drive track as was vulnerable, and then just dispose of it.

There was some friendly competition in clearing the sunken armories, but since the contents could be very different, it was all in good humor. An armory of Gearmen and Coghounds was very different than one filled with War Wagons and Tanks, which was different from mixed forces, which differed from various kinds of necroic Golems that could also easily pop up, such things being largely tougher and more durable than most of the Constructs.

Of course, the really big and powerful Constructs were already out there in use, waiting ahead of those fighting with building-size Walkers lugging around artillery cannons, multi-armed nekmek beasts, and Gargants and Colossi buttressed with steel, short cannons, armor, and servos. There’d been hints of them seen in the distance, as some of them loomed higher than the walls that had been gradually getting higher as his forces closed on the primary border of the Shroudzone.

-Excellent work. Any real surprises, other than those cable constrictors?- he /asked of the raid teams firmly. The mechanical snakes had not been welcome, but smashing Liquid Rusting on them disposed of the things quickly enough.

Sundering Breaking Constructbane Weapons of adamantine were lethally useful against Constructs, and all the Senior Forsaken had Arsenal configurations for such things by now. It gave them great confidence when hacking and chopping down their foes of unliving metal, wood, bone, and stone when they could all be sliced apart like thick tofu.

There was a long list of Constructs they’d run into from this Shroudzone, giving them an idea of what to expect... but of course there would be surprises.

-How’s this one?- An image hove up from Klauz Orveitz’s eyes, the Swiss Guard focusing on a fairly well-made gear-creature that didn’t fit the proper mold.

-Geardrakes? No, that’s a chimera build, it’s got three heads. Thunder roar from the lion, fire or lightning from the dragon, and possibly acid from the bull head, if it doesn’t get you in melee,- Briggs /told them promptly, even spitting out a rough Stat line for them.

-Ranged attacks it is, but there are three of them.-

Briggs /grimaced at that, but nodded. -If they are reacting to you, leave them for last so you have more room.-

-Understood, sir!- the Swiss /replied, and his team pulled back, moving towards where more Coghounds were waiting, gears spinning silently, ready to head out with spinning saw jaws and scissoring claws to fight.

Crack them, harvest Baneskulls, Burn the carcasses for your Gear. It all worked out.