Note: Next week, we’ll be returning to the main storyline, picking up where we left off earlier with the Gra Valkas Empire preparing to send a delegation to the United States.

——

Waizer, Calamique

Commander Metzil observed the scene outside the city walls. Mages assigned to each square urged the hundreds of monsters under their command to march forward. A testament to their magical research, the monsters obeyed and moved in unison. His heart sank, wondering how Mauli had managed to get such beasts under his control. His mind wandered to thoughts of demonic alliances and dark magic as the enemy formations stirred to life. 

He took a deep breath, preparing himself for the tough battle ahead. Suddenly, he was snapped out of his meditative state by rising commotion behind him. He turned around, ready to give them a motivational speech in order to quell their fears, but was then overcome by shock as he saw the trails of light above. “What in the heavens?” He muttered. 

His eyes followed their trajectory as they blitzed over Waizer’s walls before arcing down and slamming into the monsters, generating massive luminous explosions. The earth shook as more of these meteors culled Mauli’s army. He braced himself onto cold stone and regained balance, raising a hand to his eyes to block the bright flashes occurring outside the walls. 

Thunderous judgement bore down on the enemies, annihilating the commanding mages and sending the beasts into a frenzy. What few monsters remained were absorbed into the ranks of surviving mages and ordered to rush the walls. His shock subsided, recognizing that the battle was not yet over. “Ready oil, arrows and ballistae!” He called out to his men, yelling over the sounds of distant eruptions. 

He allowed the monsters to approach the city walls, waiting until they were in effective range of his weapons. “Fire!”

Bolts from ballistae were launched at the twelve-horned beasts, more than half of the shots missing due to the insane reflexes of the monsters. Buckets of oil were dropped onto the monsters below, followed by a volley of flaming arrows. A raging inferno soon engulfed the screeching beasts as they clawed into the stone wall, desperately trying to survive the unforgiving fires. 

While the defenders slowly whittled down the numbers of monsters below, another development caught Metzil’s eye. About 5 miles into the distance, toward the direction of Mauli’s camp, he saw dozens of firebirds flying in formation. “Shit!” He turned to his men, particularly the archers and ballistae operators. “Prepare for anti-air!”

Before he could issue any more orders, shrill whistles cut through the air. Overhead, six metallic birds soared past the city, matching the altitude of the firebirds ahead. The alien machines let loose streaks of light from their underbellies and wingtips before banking upward and retreating back toward the city. The streaks of light — miniature versions of the large explosive arrows that had wiped out most of Mauli’s monsters — tracked the firebirds, homing into them. With little time to react, clusters of firebirds fell from the sky. Their tight formation resulted in numerous casualties per explosion, leaving less than 20 survivors. 

Metzil felt his eyes watering at the glorious sight of falling monsters. Relief overcame him as he thanked the gods that he no longer had to fight what could have potentially been a disastrous massacre. This was the power of the Americans? He began to grin at the thought, noticing his men cheering. 

He nearly began to start cheering himself, but was stopped by an inhumanly loud roar emanating from the forest to the city’s left. Emerging from the trees, a large beast charged at the walls alongside 20 metallic contraptions below. With wide eyes, he felt his heart sink once more. “D— Diobehemoth!?!”

His mind raced; he knew of no way to defeat this legendary monster. The few mages under his command couldn’t even make a dent in the monster’s health, let alone defeat it. 

In an incredible, whiplashing rollercoaster of emotions, his hopes soared as he saw strange, flying insects coming from behind. These were more of the American flying machines that he was informed about earlier. Some of them touched down in open spaces within the city to disgorge reinforcements while a few remained in the air, moving to engage the large towering beast coming from the forest. Much like the silvery aircraft from earlier, these machines unleashed explosive light arrows from their wingtips and other appendages attached to the chassis. 

Flashes erupted on Diobehemoth’s armored skin, carving large crevices out of its flesh. It staggered backward, realizing it was outmatched. The American flying machines allowed it to retreat into the forest, seemingly ignoring the massive beast and instead focusing their firepower onto the metallic chariots below. 

In a futile attempt at resistance, Mauli’s vehicles spat fireballs at the flying machines, which were easily dodged. In retaliation, the Americans unleashed a flurry of smaller light arrows, easily piercing through the enemy vehicles. Black smoke rose from the smoking remains of Mauli’s flame tanks. Charred husks of what used to be people surrounded some of the wreckage: mage operators who failed to escape the Vipers’ assault. 

After eliminating all the flame tanks, the helicopters maintained a defensive position above Waizer’s walls, occasionally performing attack runs on the few pockets of monsters that were still attempting to breach the walls. American marines join in on the action, scaling the walls with their equipment and firing down with their lethal black staves, impressing most of the local defenders. 

Metzil observed these new allies with great curiosity, finding himself almost excited when one of them approached him. The tall Caucasian introduced himself as Captain Charles Harlow before moving on and asking questions about Diobehemoth. 

“It’s name is Diobehemoth,” Metzil explained. “It is a legendary monster that is over six stories tall and is highly intelligent. We’ve always thought it to be sealed away, but it seems that this is not the case anymore. From what I can recall from the old records, Diobehemoth has skin that can deflect arrows and swords with ease. I believe the heroes of old were able to weaken it sufficiently — enough that it fled back to its cave. Considering that it is now under the control of Mauli, I do not know if Diobehemoth has retreated to its domain once more.”

Captain Harlow jotted on a small notepad, nodding along as Metzil spoke. “So, are there any particular weaknesses? Any specific abilities that the monster has aside from intelligence?”

Metzil shook his head. “It relies heavily on its limbs and can grip items much like an ape. I would suggest disabling its limbs before going for the killing blow, unless you can defeat the beast in a single strike. Specific abilities? It has a significant mana pool, but we don’t know what it can use this mana for. I believe most of this mana is used for healing magic, though.”

“Alright. Thanks for the information, Commander.” The American then reached for a strange boxy device and spoke into it, relaying data about Diobehemoth.

——

USS America

Baker accepted a set of documents, perusing them as Captain Harlow continued to debrief him and several other marine squads. “The fuck is this reassignment?” Baker muttered under his breath as he read a hastily prepared set of documents. “Is that fucking King Kong?” He looked up from the papers, noticing the same look of disbelief on the faces of his fellow marines. He felt satisfied knowing he wasn’t the only one who felt this way, but still remained shocked at the mission assignment. He raised his hand. 

“Yes, Lieutenant Baker?” Harlow pointed at him. 

“Sir, a direct assault on the cave?”

Harlow nodded reluctantly. “That’s correct. I know it’s not ideal, and some of you,” he said, gesturing to the rest of the room, “are likely wondering why we don’t just air strike the damn thing.”

Mumbles of agreement swept the room. 

Understanding the concerns of his men, he resonated with them. “Right. If it were up to me, I would’ve let the Navy handle it. Unfortunately, the powers that be are interested in something inside the cave — something that’s emitting signals. They want this device intact, and have tasked us to retrieve it. We’ve seen traces of campfires in this area, so we’ll first be conducting a sweep for Mauli and his forces. If we find Mauli, we can use him to bring out this Diobehemoth. If not, we will use the tactics outlined in the handout and bring the monster into a kill zone outside the cave, where we’ll have explosives and helicopter support. We’ll be leaving at sixteen hundred. Questions?”

Nobody responded. 

Harlow began to clear out his projection equipment. “Alright. Head out to the armory and get your new gear in order. We have new sets of vests with rejuvenation cartridges, courtesy of DARPA. Nothing fancy like exosuits, but they should help keep you from getting tired.”

Hearing this, Baker got somewhat excited. As he and his fellow marines walked to the armory, they chatted wildly about the potential of new magical gear. They were already familiar with Baker’s enchanted shells and thus wondered when they would be able to enjoy new toys. The marines entered the armory like schoolchildren on a field trip, immediately beelining for the new equipment. A quartermaster helped them ease into the new vests, offering a demonstration. 

“These vests have small plates woven into the fabric, which run on magic gems. The plates have runes engraved onto their surfaces and constantly replenish your stamina until they run out, which depends on how much energy your body is using up. In general, they have an average lifespan of about thirty minutes and can be activated by thumping on your chest. Give them a try!” He said, handing the vests out. “I’ve got some treadmills where you can test your new endurance.”

Baker accepted a vest and put it on, feeling a refreshing coolness sweep through his body as the vest’s magic coursed through him. He hopped on a treadmill and began jogging, humming in surprise at the remarkable effectiveness of the ingenious device. After a few minutes of running, he felt no change in his body; it was as if he had just woken up refreshed. He stepped off the machine, handing the vest back to the quartermaster for replacement. 

“Remember, these devices won’t protect you from getting injuries, so don’t attempt movements that you normally wouldn’t. These are strictly for stamina and endurance during long firefights.”

Baker reflected on the upcoming mission. The more he thought about the devices, the more he realized how useful they would be if he ever had to escape from monsters. 

——

“Fuck!” Baker pounded his chest, activating the vest’s magic as he rolled to dodge rocks falling from the cave’s ceiling. “C’mon, let’s go!” He called out, picking up a slim, metallic box from the floor. 

His men followed his lead, pounding their chests and sprinting away from the collapsing cave system. Gunfire echoed throughout the cave as the marines fired blindly behind them, trying to slow down the large beast. Released from the control of Mauli’s mages, who now lay dead deeper in the cave, Diobehemoth unleashed its uncontrollable rage onto the humans below, seeing no difference between them and its prior enslavers. Minutes turned into hours as the marines desperately avoided Diobehemoth’s strikes, along with falling debris. Fortunately, Diobehemoth also seemed to know the risks of lashing out wildly at the marines; it did not want to cause a complete cave collapse and bury everyone — including itself — inside. 

The monster’s fear of a collapse prevented it from moving optimally, forcing it to slow down or hold back. This bought valuable time for Baker and his men, who felt relieved to see rays of sunlight shining through the cave opening in the distance. 

“Just a bit further!” Baker announced. 

The closer they got to the exit, the more the mountain shook. The cave entrance deteriorated, piling with debris as an increasingly angry Diobehemoth began to increase the power of its attacks. The marines ceased their fire, opting to focus their attention on avoiding the falling hazards. Hearts pounded as sunlight graced the sooty, sweaty skin of their faces. Sprinting as fast as they could, they jumped away from the large mouth of the cave, rolling onto the wet grass outside. 

After seeing that everyone had successfully escaped from the cave, Baker gave the all clear on the network. “Engage! Everyone’s out! Engage!”

The angered Diobehemoth burst forth from the cave, sending rocks flying in all directions as it angrily swept the debris aside. It let out a terrifying roar before being unceremoniously silenced by a hail of explosives from fireteams and loitering Vipers overhead. Missiles and rockets impacted Diobehemoth, sending it staggering backward into the cave. Each explosion tore chunks of flesh from its body, tearing its limbs to shreds, which were then barely holding on to the torso with thin sinews and bone. The creature’s face was disfigured to unrecognizable proportions as blood and gore, along with blackened, charred flesh flew from its head. 

The continued destruction, along with the detonation of C4, triggered a rockslide that completely destabilized the already precarious mountainside. Tons of debris crashed onto the weakened Diobehemoth, sealing its fate. With an immense cloud of dust, the rockslide ceased, as did the Americans’ weapons fire. 

Baker panted heavily, looking at the small box that he and his men had risked their lives for. “Shit, now that’s a story to tell.”

——

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