Chapter 228: An Enemy Worth Fearing (1/2)
I lifted the bones into my pocket dimension, my crafting not quite finished. Torix stepped out of the room, and I followed not far behind. Once we reached the outer edge of our temple, we stepped out to a crowd of gialgathens. Ten were at our disposal during this attack. They were all guildsmen, including Krog.
Kessiah was on his back, strapped onto it with a leather saddle of sorts. She wore a set of power armor that cloaked into its surroundings, though the invisibility was incomplete. At a distance, it would prove useful, however. Krog was rallying the members,
”Jokia is here. That's all of them.”
Krog turned to me, ”We're ready.”
I glanced at them, sizing up the troops. The gialgathens were either young and fearless or old and resolute. They either didn't understand what we were running into, or they knew full well the bloodbath but dove in anyway.
It didn't matter since we couldn't afford to be picky here. I waved The Rise of Eden over them while shouting, ”Are you all ready for war?”
They roared out in a symphony of their intent. I turned to Torix, ”Will you be coming with us?”
Torix shook his head, ”Unfortunately, no. I cannot afford to leave this tactical point as I'll be managing a variety of forces during your excursion. Krog's tactical knowledge, while perhaps not quite a match for my own, will prove more than suitable for this battle.”
Krog nodded to me, ”Your master is a monster in his own right. I was wrong to ever doubt him.”
I rolled my shoulders, ”It happens. Now, let's show the Adair family we're the real monsters.”
Torix sent me a briefing of the current operation along with a few details for this specific mission. Our resident Sentinel reared back his spears before tearing a hole in dimensions. I stepped up to it, and Torix followed me,
”You'll begin the operation by stealthily reaching the agreed-upon coordinates. Once there, assault Polydra from this angle. I'll be relying on you to adjust the plan and deviate as necessary.”
I ripped open the space-time continuum as I gave Torix a thumbs up,
”Of course.”
After a bit of finagling, I got the tear to hit the size necessary for the gialgathens to walk through. Beyond it, the wind whistled through trees with insects chirping in the distance. It was night time in the region, two hours or so before dawn. A fine mist settled onto the forest floor, giving it a mythical appearance.
Holding open the portal, the gialgathens skulked into the ancient woods. As they did, Torix put muffling magic over their wings and feet. Sliding through the portal myself, I verified the age of the forest. Giant trees soared to the sky, each of them towering as skyscrapers. The branches and bramble at the forest floor were large enough to mimic the size of commercial busses.
Before soaking in more of the scenery, Krog walked up to me, ”This is Deepwood, a forest East of Polydra. Torix discussed this location with the Sentinel here. It's a sacred place, so I ask that you avoid destroying what lives here. It acts as a museum for prehistoric times on Giess, many of these species longer-lived than even we gialgathens.”
I nodded, reading a bit of the briefing as we traveled eastward. I carried us through the trees, hovering the entire troupe while Krog gave me essential tactical info. It kind of made the muffling spells useless, but whatever. This wasn't that hard to do, and maybe the spells would last into the fight and save a life. Eh, I didn't know.
Krog said, ”The assault shall be staged on the western bank of the city. This, along with our other attacks, will imply we've come from the west. Considering our amphibious nature, an aquatic or island base seems more believable than one stationed in the Rak'Sha dessert.”
I dipped us below a curving oak, ”Makes sense.”
”Polydra itself is a city where both Gialgathens and espens lived together. Since ancient times, the gialgathens lived on the upper portion of the cityscape. Since Schema's arrival, this has created a disparity in the technology used by the upper and lower echelons present there.”
”So the top half is like Rivaria with stone buildings and below it is something like Yildraza?”
”Yes. The Hybrid's attack came from the sky while the espens below blocked off underground or land routes of escape. This has encapsulated the gialgathens into an ancient storage room for leviathans from times past. Though sturdy, the walls of that prison shall not last forever.”
Krog looked me in the eye, ”Our goal is to wipe out the surrounding forces and enable their escape. That is how we shall free them.”
I pointed down, ”Why not burrow a tunnel for them to escape from?”
”Beneath Polydra is a dormant volcano. The magma ensures we cannot escape through that avenue without suffering severe losses. Seismic activity has also spiked here over the last decade. Polydra's about to be the sight of an eruption.”
I winced, ”So underground burrowing isn't an option. Alright. That does give me a few ideas, though.”
Krog showed his teeth, ”I've seen and heard of your 'ideas' before. That destructive, orbital bombardment shouldn't be used until after we've taken the gialgathens out of the leviathan's prison. Otherwise, they shall all die.”
I waved a hand, ”Just one thing before we continue. What were the leviathans again?”
”A race we fought to free the espens from servitude. They are large and capable but limited to underwater domains. They are the reason we escaped to the surface many years ago.”
If they were anything like the gialgathens, then they were worth respecting. We might be able to talk with them at some point. I tucked that tidbit into the back of my mind before frowning,
”Huh...Ok, so we'll be tearing a hole in the forces surrounding this prison then getting the gialgathens out?”
Krog nodded, ”You understood our intent. Once they're out, we'll be escaping to the sea west of Polydra. There we shall use your Sentinel friend to warp us to Elderfire. Kessiah will tend to the wounds of those that are near death. I shall assist with immediate tactical maneuvers. You will be our forerunner of destruction.”
I clanked my fists together, ”Sounds good to me.”
”Think it over as we travel. You may finish reading the briefing as well. We'll arrive ten minutes before dawn.”
The troop fell into literal silence, though several of the gialgathens were holding a telepathic conversation. They invited me into their discussion, so I listened in as they talked a massive amount of shit to each other. Like soldiers, the sense of comradery was there, and they laughed off the jitters before battle.
After an hour of dashing through the forest, we dipped into a set of smaller trees. Here my gravitational abilities proved vital; it made less noise than their wings did. We skimmed up through a mountainside, plumes of dark smoke rising in the distance. Dozens of miles passed before we swooped around towards the western side of the mountain.
As we darted around the center of destruction, Polydra looked like one big smoke cloud, at least from below. Fires burned in the proud city. We knew that much. That was the price we paid for the deceptive lure tactic - a good vantage point. It would come with time.
After reaching the other side of this lavaless volcano, we traveled over the peak of the mountain. Hovering over the edge of the snowy peak, a few clouds cloaked our descent. I set us down onto the snow, where the mist didn't block our view of the city. Finally, Polydra came into full view.
Polydra was as Krog described, a city etched onto the side of a mountain. It was separated into tiers of old and new buildings, stone, steel, and glass composing its varied surface. It matched up pretty well though, the contrast pleasant on the eyes due to some good architects no doubt.
That's where the prettiness ended.
Half a dozen skyscrapers along the lower edge of the city were engulfed in flames. Portions of the espen's territory carried scars from the escaping gialgathens. Patches of newly molten and solidified rock, crushed military vehicles, and fires littered the cityscape. At the same time, the older, rocky apex of the city was in shambles.
Five massive, aerodynamic spaceships hovered over the top of the city. They used gravitation to suspend themselves, an antigravity field surrounding them. A few floating pieces of rubble around the ships acted as the dead give away for that.
Atomic energy powered the innards of these ships, along with some Hybrid tech. A series of orange, pulsing capsules lined the lower sides of it. Above the orange cysts, lines of blue plasma sheened under clear panels. These spaceships stood at the front and back of two colossal dreadnoughts.
These dreadnoughts carried heavy firearms along with a central cannon designed for mass devastation. This along with a few smaller fighters offered aerial support to the hordes of Hybrids spread throughout Polydra.