The Mainland War – Chapter 37 (Battle of Broken Wing Mountain! Part 3)
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Meanwhile…

Succubus Homeland, Research facility

 

“If mana is released in massive amounts, it will move erratically and this causes it to form spell-like phenomena…” Rex muttered. 

 

The large tank that stored his mana inside of mercury was in front of him, he had been doing experiments on it for the last few days. With Kira starting to produce weapons and Bob handling the building projects, he found himself with time to research. He felt like understanding mana was the key to advancing the society he was slowly building on the island. There were also many things he was learning about the world around him as he continued his experiments.

 

“Hey Bren, I have a few questions,” Rex called from his desk. 

 

“What would you like to know?” She questioned.

 

“Flying monsters, there aren’t any that are high level. Yet they are everywhere in the ocean and from what Guffrey told me they are common deep underground.” Rex stated this for confirmation.

 

“That is correct,” Bren told him. “Low-tier monsters are the strongest in the air. Mid-tier monsters are incredibly rare.”

 

“Did you know that mana is capable of repelling radiation?” Rex said to her even though she wouldn’t understand. “It is doing the job of a magnetic field and blocking the solar winds from getting to this planet. I haven’t seen a monster above high-tier yet, but I am wondering if a nuke would even be as effective as anything but a giant bomb against one of them.”

 

“Carlog was the last one that the demons were aware of,” Bren told him.

 

“That’s right, the last supreme tier monster that came from deep in the ocean,” Rex confirmed. “I think at some point and time the mana on the planet decreased drastically. To the point that races that were reliant on it nearly went extinct, I am starting to believe that this is actually what started killing off the high elves. It also made the magical race of flowers that live in the swamp nearly go extinct, if they are even the same species as the ones who came before.”

 

“Do you have any proof?” Bren asked him.

 

“Yes and no, I have observations that were made by the high elves. They used a type of mount for their flying cavalry that was a type of mid-tier griffon.” Rex told her. “Those are extinct now, that or they evolved to live on the land where they were closer to the source of mana.”

 

“Why does this matter?” She asked.

 

“When I watched the bomb the succubi made go off and create all those different spells and phenomena I realized that I knew little about mana,” Rex told her. “While I have studied what it can do, I have never studied the substance itself until now. Just like with dark matter I am only able to see its effects but what I have seen is incredible so far.”

 

Excitement was building inside of Rex’s heart the more he thought about what he had discovered. The first thing was when Blue started playing around with a piece of uranium he had discovered in the ore pile, it was radioactive but only lightly so. Normally uranium doesn’t produce radiation strong enough to penetrate the skin, but it was incapable of passing through Blue’s slime. Radiation was something he had thought was capable of killing the creature, but this discovery made him think otherwise.

 

When radiation passes through the body it can damage the DNA in cells and this leads to defects and things like cancer. What if all humans had a shield that prevented this energy from entering the body? Water was one of the best shields against radiation because the hydrogen atoms were small enough to prevent the energy from entering, the other thing that did well was lead since it was so dense that radiation couldn’t pass through. It would allow planets that couldn’t sustain life normally would become very habitable.

 

“You have been working for several days here, why don’t we all go get some sunlight!” Bren suggested.

 

“I needed to make sure that the mana I keep stored here isn’t going to explode so I had to understand more about it. I still have many questions but at least I know that if it is stored in a solid or liquid as long as it isn’t moving freely it is safe.” Rex said.

 

Around his eyes were large bags from his several days of research, he didn’t seem tired though as he had a smile on his face. With Shaya handling the machining and Bob handling the construction, he was now free to research what he wanted. Everything was moving in a positive direction on the island and he was not as overworked as he was in the past.

 

“Your clothes have also gotten too tight, you should really have them resized and replaced.” Bren admonished him. “Leader Kira will not be pleased if your clothes don’t fit anymore.”

 

“I know, I also need to do some shopping for other things while I am out.” Rex sighed. “Normally Kira does all of it and I don’t have to worry about it.”

 

Rex looked around the laboratory he was working in and saw it was cluttered with papers and various tools he was using in his experiments. The various desks were all used to hold various papers that were important to his experiments. A look of relief crossed his face when he realized that he didn’t need to clean up all of this mess, then a look of horror passed over his face. Running around until he found a particular stack of papers, he breathed a sigh of relief after he had gathered them.

 

“What are those?” Bren asked him.

 

Rex found himself subconsciously holding them to his chest as he was greeted by her serious expression. Looking down, he saw the papers that contained the theory he created on an improved version of the weapon the succubi had created. He had realized that to make mana dangerous you have to force it to move rapidly and the best way was to store a large amount of it into a solid and instantly vaporize it. As a human, he too was also obsessed with things that went boom and he couldn’t help himself.

 

“These are my shopping lists, I didn’t want to leave them behind.” He told her suavely.

 

As a middle-aged man who had a lot of experience in a relationship, he would naturally be able to spin a tale to-

 

“Oh, then allow me to take it for you and I can pick up everything that you need.” She said with a bright smile as she held out her hand.

 

Rex looked down at the sheet of papers with his findings on weaponizing mana, then he looked up at her smiling face. He felt unsettled, he couldn’t help but be. This would be like giving the succubi the secret to making the great weapon of the succubi without any supervision. This made the 8 sheets of paper in his hand feel like they were made of lead.

 

“These are the blueprints for the ultimate weapon of the succubi! How dare you try to view them before your leader! Are you trying to say that you feel you are more worthy to judge this weapon than your leader is?” Rex put on his most accusatory tone as he pointed a finger at Bren.

 

Clatter! Crash! Clatter! Clunk!

 

The sound of the succubi guards dropping whatever they were holding was heard through the entire laboratory. The mouths of the succubi guard all dropped open as they looked at the papers with reverence. A smile spread over his face as he used a sure-fire method to keep these documents safe, invoke Kira. He already knew he was creating trouble for himself but this also wasn’t information that just any succubus could be given.

 

“My sincere apologies, I did not know that the future of the succubi was on the sheet,” Bren told him.

 

“Then why are you so desperately trying to read the papers?!” Rex yelled out at the succubus guard who dropped all pretenses and began wrestling him for the papers.

 

“The reliquary of the great weapon will pay anything for these! Just let me have this!” Bren yelled. “I protect you so faithfully!”

 

For once Rex was happy that he had gotten larger and stronger, he finally wasn’t able to be bullied by the succubi!

 

RIp!

 

A hole tore from the front of Rex’s pants along the bottom and up the back, he suddenly felt a draft in places that he wasn’t used to experiencing. This also caused Bren to stop trying to fight him for the documents as she looked down at his pants that were ripped in two halves. 

 

“Why don’t we go to the clothing factory?” Bren suggested as she stared at his underwear.

 

 ***

Meanwhile...

Elven Capitol, A large boutique 

 

There existed a shop in the elven capital that every female elf had heard about and many had been to. It was large at two stories and took up an entire block in the elven capital on one of the busiest streets. Inside many dresses could be seen on mannequins that were shaped like elven women, all had been carved from wood. Lotions, creams, lubricants, shampoos, conditioners, and soaps could all be found that were produced on the island and smuggled into the elven territory. 

 

The dresses were all elaborate and some were shaped like the petals of flowers or the leaves of trees. The ones that had started to get popular were the more open and risque dresses that the succubi wore. There was also a large selection of female underwear made from various materials. Massage and various other services were offered by a group of beastmen “slaves” who were all highly praised for their cleanliness and their work ethic.

 

On a massage bed that used a cotton mattress, a female elf could be seen naked with a towel over her waist, her chest and face pressed into the mattress. Behind her, a beastman wearing a white frilled shirt and tight black pants was applying pressure to her back and relieving all of her tension. Many of the products sold in this shop were produced by the Pride of Men, and in return for providing them with the slaves that were supposed to work in the shop, they sent workers here to help out. This also allowed the Pride of Men to procure goods from the elves.

 

“Dora, Dryfys is going too far! He keeps cutting my funding and he is slowly taking away all of my power!” Ashanda yelled out as she pounded the table.

 

“I have heard many complaints from the women who used to hold high positions in the court,” Dora commented, in truth, she was quite sick of hearing about it.

 

What she really wanted to hear more about was her beautiful daughter! When she received the Dorranger she found herself shedding tears of pride. It was a gun with two large barrels and a brand new caliber of bullet that was codenamed the Succubus Express! They called it that because of just how quickly the round would send the enemies of the succubi straight to hell!

 

“Dora, he told me that I need to issue a decree to remove the soapstone from the market! I am also supposed to just pay people money if they have any mining shares!” Ashanda was panicking. “What do I do?!” 

 

This statement caused Dora to pause as she thought of the repercussions of what she had just heard, this made her shock genuine. This then slowly turned into righteous anger when she thought of her beautiful daughter! Her daughter needed that borax for all of her projects!

 

“You are one of the biggest consumers of the product, you are also my friend!” Ahsanda began.

 

“He is going too far, someone needs to tell him to fuck off!” Dora said angrily.

 

This caused Ashanda some fear when she thought of how paranoid the high king was, then she paused as she realized where she was.

 

“He is going too far lately! I am so sick of turning into his sacrificial doll anytime he needs to do something unpopular!” Ashanda said angrily.

 

The two women were inside of the massage parlor, the only ones there were two workers from the Pride of Men who were completely uninterested in them. Dora was also seething as she tried to figure out how she was going to deliver this bad news to the island.

 

“A lot of my products use soapstone, I will no longer be able to provide a lot of different soaps anymore,” Dora said.

 

“I know! That is why I came to you first. There are a lot of merchants that are going to be furious!” Ashanda sighed out sadly as she said this.

 

Knock! Knock! Knock!

 

“Dora, do I need to help you beat someone up!” A female voice called before the door was pushed open.

 

A dark elf female with amber eyes and long white hair was standing at the door wearing a pair of leather breeches and a stylish top. Her name was Genevieve and she was a jewelry merchant from the dark elves.

 

“I love that I can walk into any room and not have to worry about the sunlight harming my skin!” She said with a smile as she pulled her shirt over her head and possessed it on the ground.

 

She revealed smooth toned abs with the rich skin color of the dark elves, this also revealed a dark green bra made from cotton and polyester. This bra did not stay on for long and revealed large pert breasts and nipples that were a darker shade than her skin. Walking over to a table at Dora’s left she laid down with just her pants and socks on, her shoes discarded on the floor along the way. Considering they had spas and various other services it wasn’t uncommon for elven women to be walking around naked.

 

It didn’t take long for another masseur to appear with oil and lotion and begin working on her back.

 

“This is the most incredible place in the capital!” Gwen said happily. “A gem nestled in a dung heap!” 

 

As a warrior from the dark elf race, she bore many scars on her skin from combat and she had well-developed muscles. She went underground to find veins of ores and gems and fight monsters underground. The dark elves were primarily a matriarchy since the men were usually in combat and weren’t around to run society. Gwen had always been considered eccentric and got along with the brash Dora.

 

“We will no longer be able to produce jewelry anymore if we can’t use the soapstone to ensure a good connection to the setting,” Gwen told Ashanda who looked glum.

 

“You are both ganging up on me! I also wear jewelry and like to smell nice!” Ashanda said angrily. “I don’t want to have to enforce this decree! But he is just waiting for me to defy him so that he can replace me next! I feel like he and that bitch Alysandri did this on purpose! Dora, I brought you this information first so that you could prepare.”

 

“What about me?” Gwen said dejectedly.

 

“You too of course!” Ashanda said.

 

Dora ignored the two as they started complaining about their day-to-day problems, she instead was thinking of what to report to the island. She decided to cut them off and ask an important question.

 

“When will this edict go into effect?” Dora asked.

 

“It will be announced at the beginning of next month,” Ashanda said sadly.

 

“That is less than a week away!” Gwen declared angrily.

 

What worried Dora was that she wouldn’t be able to get an answer from the island before it was too late. She got in trouble when she failed to hear about the currency conversion before it was too late and they lost a lot of their supply of silver. This had only recently been alleviated by trading with the beastmen who had access to their untapped silver mines. Borax was one thing they didn’t have access to in the beastmen plains as there wasn’t a place they had found that could produce it.

 

Dora stood up and let the towel fall off her lower body, she stood proud with her naked body revealing large breasts that put the other two women to shame. They were based on her already large succubus assets; she had slowly transformed her elven body to make it sexier over the years and closer to her real one. 

 

“I will need to do some accounting and see how much soapstone I can buy in this week then,” Dora told them.

 

“I am sorry to bring you this bad news!” Ashanda said angrily.

 

“No, it is good you told me before it happened,” Dora told her with a smile as she walked out of the massage room and into the hallway. 

 

She started making her way to an office that was located near the back and ignored the looks she got from the other female elves who were admiring her. Her hairless mound was natural but this was a look that many female elves were mimicking to great success with their husbands. With her long flowing hair that was washed and shampooed she was one of the most beautiful “elves” in the capital. Soon she reached a small office and walked inside of it, closing and locking the door behind her.

 

This small office had a desk and a bookshelf she used for paperwork, but it served a second purpose. Walking to a corner that had a small cabinet that was used to hold liquor in a corner of the room. With a few tugs on some different bottles, a click was heard as the wine cabinet slid off the wall and revealed a small staircase that she began walking down towards a hidden basement. This staircase ran directly under the one that went to the second floor and the basement was a secret addition.

 

After walking through this dark and narrow halfway down a short flight of stairs she came to a metal door and pushed it open. Inside was a room filled with elven money that stood in stacks and was wrapped in clear plastic. The stacks were all waist high and square in shape, there were several of them that filled the room. There were also bookcases filled with various sensitive information about many different elven officials.

 

This was all the money she had made over the years selling succubus products that she brought from the island. A smile spread over her face when she thought of how much soapstone this would buy her daughter. Little did she know that she was about to cause another crisis for the elven economy but she didn’t care. Her eyes instead rose to a rifle that hung on her wall with two barrels stacked on top of each other.

 

It had a rifle stock and two triggers with the word Dorranger on the side of it. It had a breach that caused the rifle to split on a large round swivel and the rounds were loaded directly into the chamber.  Below the rifle was the new and experimental Succubus Express round, with a plastic casing that was thicker than a standard one. That was to withstand the massive load of gunpowder to propel a bullet with a diameter of .800 of an inch(20.32mm) at their enemies. It had almost two times as much gunpowder as a conventional 50 caliber round.

 

“Don’t worry Shaya, your feelings have reached your mama!” Dora told the gun on the wall. “She will keep kicking ass so that the island will never run out of the things that are needed,” 

 

***

Meanwhile…

Succubus Homeland, Clothing factory

 

“It’s you!” Rex uttered in shock.

 

“You got so much bigger! No wonder you tore your clothes!” A voice said sadly as it inspected his torn pants.

 

What rex saw was a large creature with two large claws that was holding his pants in the air in front of 8 dark, beady eyes. White chitinous armor shone under the magical light as the large scorpion continued looking at the damage that was done to his pants. Finally seeing that there was no reason to repair the pants she tossed them to the side using her large claws. Turning her attention back to Rex, he was able to take in her entire form.

 

She was larger than a human with a tail that was thicker than his arm and 6 legs that she used to move around. The front pair of her legs possessed fine fingers like a human hand and she had a large set of arms that possessed razor-sharp claws. Her stinger danced in the air and her segmented tail was wrapped in colorful ribbons. Several bows were also added to her head to give her a more colorful look along with the ribbons on her tail.

 

Rex was standing in the middle of a large workshop that was made for the scorpion woman to make clothes in. She was the lead designer behind all of the succubi’s clothing lines and she created all of their uniforms. Using the back of her claws she raised Re’s arms into a T-pose and slightly spread his legs so that he was standing in the middle of the room in his underwear. She then scuttled back before she began to move sideways in small circles around his body.

 

Most people would be unsettled by a scorpion the size of a small horse circling them, but Rex wasn’t worried about it. It didn’t take her long before she stopped in front of him and began asking questions about the type of clothes he wanted. He was the only person she could talk to since she wasn’t capable of making sounds that people could understand. This had been bypassed by using a tail language that the succubi used to communicate in flight.

 

“I just want the same thing but bigger, I grew so much suddenly,” Rex said with embarrassment.

 

“That will be easy then, it will only take a few minutes!” She told him cheerfully as she scuttled to a large rock on the wall.

 

Many square holes were made to store different types of fabric on the large metal wrack, and she was able to climb this to reach the materials that were higher up. She selected a white cotton fabric and blue denim to replace the clothes he had been wearing and held these rolls of fabric between her large claws and her body. Then she climbed down and began unrolling it on the large table in the center of the room.

 

During this time Rex began to look around and saw several mannequins that were wearing incredibly elaborate dresses even by Earth standards. They were made of many types of different fabric and resembled the petals of a flower around the wearer's waist and elaborate sleeves and a top that was mixed with a corset. There were several of these dresses in various colors that had been designed and set up, there were also some samples of military garb and uniforms. If it wasn’t for the sheer verticality that the shelves had been built too it would have resembled something from Earth. 

 

Turning back to the table he was greeted by the large claws of the scorpion cutting through the fabric effortlessly as the shapes of a pair of pants and shirt were soon laid out along with belt loops and pockets. It was done at a speed that went beyond anything a human on earth could ever dream of doing. This was made more apparent when she used her tail and a thread to start sewing at the speed of a sewing machine. She stood on four legs and used the small hands-on front legs to make folds and bends while her tail moved at lightning speed using the needle to thread the cloth. 

 

“These should fit you much better!” She chirped as she slid a folded pair of pants over to him from her side of the table. 

 

He lifted them and they unfolded to reveal a pair of denim pants that were perfectly tailored. Opening the button and unzipping the zipper he slipped them over his underwear and discovered that they fit him perfectly. Sliding his belt through the loops he discovered that the stitches were strong and sturdy with no loose threads. His jaw slowly began to drop as he realized that she finished the pair of pants in less than five minutes.

 

“Here, I don’t want you getting cold!” She said as he felt something warm placed over his shoulders and found himself snuggling into it. 

 

Looking down he discovered a brand new white shirt and felt his surprise increase again as he started to look it over. It was a standard button-down design that he slowly pulled over his undershirt and pushed his arms through the sleeves. He then discovered something incredible when he realized it fit him perfectly just as the pants did.

 

“It looks wonderful, I will prepare a few more sets for you since you have grown so much!” She said as she began preparing more fabric.

 

“I wonder how Kira is doing?”Rex muttered.

 

***

Meanwhile…

Beastman plains, Beavermen fort in the canyon

 

“Why didn’t they send in their main forces? We spent all day waiting for them!” Kira muttered angrily.

 

On her head was a massive headdress made from discarded feathers of various hues. She wore her standard fiery red garb on her pale body and she sat on a large wooden chair that had an interesting shape. It was carved to look like Rex made of wood sitting down with a cushion on his legs that she was lounging on. It was made by the beavermen at Kira’s request and she was thinking of taking it with her when she left. Every time she saw his gentle smile looking down on her it brought a grin to her face.

 

“I don’t know how Rex is going to feel about that,” Welch said from the side.

 

She was wearing her black combat gear but she was also wearing a colorful headdress made from feathers. She tried to stop herself from getting caught up in Kira’s antics but she found herself failing at times. The one in the room with the largest headdress belonged to a gray fox with black fur on her arms, legs, and ear tips. Snow’s headdress stretched from the top of her head and dragged on the floor, each feather from one of the birdmen she shot down.

 

“I will put it on the porch!” Kira said firmly.

 

Welch sighed in exasperation as she saw the giant wooden chair that almost looked like a monument. Greko had ordered something similar to teach the young mousemen what the Supreme Cheese looked like.

 

“We have captured 79 prisoners.” Chief Flattail said as he walked into the room and made his way towards his large chair in the middle of the room.

 

They were all inside of part of the banquet hall that hadn’t had the floor chewed through to make room for equipment. The floor was made from flattened wood pieces that were pressed together and glued with sap and the walls were tightly woven and clayed. Everything had been cleaned but the beavermen were continuing to make cannons in shifts. Each cannon was equipped with the various metal arms they used to carry the weapons.

 

“So few?” Lunas asked in shock. “They sent at least 1000 birdmen.”

 

“Many of them died from the fall, the rest succumbed from their wounds. The only ones that survived were the ones who fell in the water and were only lightly wounded.” The beavermen said. “Our shamans have healed their injuries to an extent.” 

 

What the elves called alchemists the beastmen called shamans, these were healers who used magical herbs to make healing concoctions. 

 

“The Supreme Cheese is quite interested in them,” Kira told the old beaver.

 

“Yes, and Ratton is interested in him. He agreed to follow you to the island.” The chief said from his chair.

 

“That’ll be wonderful! Rex will be surprised!” Kira said with a bright smile. 

 

It was the night of the new moon and it was just starting to get dark, most of the beavermen were starting to bed down for the night. Greko walked in covered in dirt and sat down on a wooden chair and began to undo the straps on his boots. He sighed with relief as he pulled his sweaty paws out of the boots.

 

“Can’t you do that somewhere else?!” Lunas shouted.

 

Greko had just opened his mouth to utter a defense when they started to hear the sound of yipping and the screeching of rodents.

 

“We are under attack?” Greko muttered.

 

“Night raid!” A beaver yelled from the ceiling. 

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