Chapter 1180 (1/2)

As Vualla slowly slipped her numb hands into her heavy iron gauntlets, she had to suppress the ball of panic that was running through her chest like a rabid rodent. For each time since the strange dreams started, Vualla would have her… something drained, and then that weight would rip to pieces like a wax paper when she woke up. But not today, not now. It hung over her like a steel chain, cold and relentless against her skin even as she moved in the waking world.

Ready to take from Vualla. To devour her emotions.

It was there now, as the huge army of the Nether King began to march downward toward the bristling bases of the Aether forces. Vualla felt nothing as she looked on at the tide of Nether Beasts rushing down toward the comparatively minuscule fortifications. An army of over one million, with likely at least one thousand Nether Gatekeepers waiting to strike. With worse foes waiting beyond them, as the Nether King itself began to move downward.

The wild fury of the Nether King was like a weather pattern, lapping lightly down from the sky and soaking them all to the skin. In the face of that, they were-

There was a knock at the front of Vualla’s tent. In the next moment, her wish that the knocker be Randidly Ghosthound was so strong and sudden that she swayed lightly. Even the weight across Vualla wasn’t enough to handle that emotion and was pushed back by its vibrancy. But the emotion passed, and the lack of heat on her back meant that this individual was not Randidly. Still, her face broke out into a smile as she opened her tent flap and saw her visitor.

“Elliot! What are you doing here?” Even as the thirsty darkness continued to sip at her emotions, Vualla threw her arms around her brother and pulled him in for a hug. “You should get out of here. I don’t want to be pessimistic, but the fighting might reach this area. And the supply division should be retreating! Having you here won’t make much of a difference…”

“Bah, my worry-wort of a baby sister,” Elliot said fondly as he patted her hair. Then he favored her with a rakish grin as they separated from each other. “Come, I have a surprise. A good one. Maybe not enough to turn the tide, but Aether will not be cowed by the evil beasts that lurk in the darkness. May it always be so.”

The darkness that was sipping on Vualla’s emotions seemed amused at Elliot’s words. Which was somewhat shocking, as it was the first time she ever had the impression of emotions from the weighty darkness. But she allowed herself to be led outside the tent by Elliot. And what she saw there truly shocked Vualla to her core. “...where did they all come from…?”

“They are the forces at the front lines, gathered together,” Elliot said proudly. “They might have been stationed in other areas, but they are here now. And they will bleed this Nether army dry before they give up this base.”

Huge columns of forces were hurrying forward through the gaps in the fortifications that each of the Commanders had set up, bolstering the defenses immensely with just their numbers. And the sheer mass of bodies was what left Vualla floored. It was like someone had snapped their fingers and doubled the number of forces that the Aether possessed. Thousands of troops were marching forward to join the front lines, with long lines waiting for their turn to move forward and settle into formation.

“How many?” Vualla whispered. Despite her own struggles, seeing all these forces did a lot to inject confidence into her that they could live through this. Even the weight on her shoulders couldn’t suck that away.

My Path is the right one. We can win this without relying on… other methods.

“Almost two hundred thousand,” Elliot bragged shamelessly, as though he was responsible for gathering them all. He gestured elaborately and bowed to Vualla. “My princess, your knights are here to rescue you.”

You always were the bravest in imaginary games as children… and the first to tattle when we broke the rules.

Shaking her head, Vualla just stared at the troops in wonder. But the longer she looked, the more her brief respite from depression departed. It might have been the darkness continually walking with her, but it was also more than that. As Vualla looked at the army that was coming forward, she saw the details of them.

The soldiers that marched forward almost looked like beggars. And while there were some powerful images in the group, none were even close to Randidly’s tier of strength. They looked untrained and ragged to her eyes. Their armor was mismatched and ill-fitting. Rather than a true force, this looked more like a group of hastily raised levies.

...which is probably exactly what they are. Vualla clenched her fists so tightly that her wrist popped. The System throwing innocent bodies at a problem that it cannot solve on its own. That’s why… that’s why…!

“We are going to win this,” Elliot said as he looked up toward the shifting Nether army.

Vualla wished she could share some of his enthusiasm, but it was devoured as soon as she tried to feel it. The darkness would not let it linger long. Above them, the heavy nodes of blue veins shifted and drifted toward the Aether camps. Huge groups of powerful Nether Beasts began to flash into existence and then fall down to land on the no-man’s-land between the two forces. It started with just a few groups, but Vualla stood and watched almost one hundred squads appear and land.

It was a staccato of drumbeats announcing the approaching battle. The vanguard was coming. Vualla tightened the buckles on her gauntlets and prepared to kill.

*****

As the Nether Prince finally faded from existence, four individuals were once more standing in a tight square at the center of the array in Lord Miln’s tent. Three of them were slightly surprised and bewildered at the sudden change of scenery. Despite their obvious power and perception, it took them a few seconds to grasp what had happened. Or what it meant that the dream had cut out so early.