Chapter 52: 'The Bomb'

 

The battle had already started on the ground below by the time Leida and her wing reached the south. Unlike the north side where Klauna opted for a more straightforward defence, the south side went for a more hit and run approach— constantly engaging and disengaging against the enemies along the long stretch of road. 

The bulk of the Ak'hims weaved in-between the gaps of the terrain and picked favourable matchups while the Saboteurs burst out from the ground below to disrupt the enemy and made the terrain more suitable for the Akhims. They do this by erecting stone pillars along the road as they sliced the enemies.

Though the plan worked well for a while, the enemy soon realised what the Ak’hims were doing and started grouping up together. They then erected wards and defences to protect themselves as they moved towards Dragonsmourne. They too, used the pillars which the Ak’hims were using just a while ago to their advantage, to prevent Ak’him artilleries from shelling them. The Second Army, the Third Army, the reserves and the mercenaries were all having a hard time just piercing through their defences. 

This decision soon proved to be fatal as Leida came just in the nick of time. She and her wing immediately formed before swooping down to breathe fire and ice on the road. The front of the road suffered the most damage as they were caught off guard. The subsequent soldiers down the road started to split up in order to avoid the airstrikes from Leida’s wing. The Second and the Third Army, being the veterans that they are, sprung into action almost immediately, picking off stragglers who split off from the main group.

A massive decimation of the Alliance soldiers. However, their numbers were endless— more of them kept pouring in from further south. This time with dwarves that have built themselves gigantic ballista to shoot the airborne units— especially the dragons. They were covered by their magic corp which did the same kind of anti-air formation that they did in the north. Knowing what happened to them last time, Leida ordered her soldiers to retreat out of range of the anti-air defences before they could strike.

Unlike in the north, where the Seventh Army literally had a mobile fortress to deal with the magic corp, the south only had a small detachment of soldiers. Though this detachment was definitely the best in the Kingdom and was more than enough to deal with this matter.

“I can’t do much until that anti-air corps is wiped out. Anything you can do?” Leida said to the book.

A few short seconds later, Kazakiel replied. ”I’m working on it. I need a distraction.”

Leida looked towards her men to ask for their opinion. Her officers only replied back with a nod. 

“Roger that, we’ll be making a low-risk fly pass through the enemy formations in about five minutes. I’m counting on you,” Leida said to the book before flying up higher into the skies, her wing following her.

“Defensive ward, people,” Leida yelled out as they took to higher altitudes. The soldiers then started to pre-chant their spells and erect small wards around themselves. It wasn’t as strong as the Analysts' more powerful force field, but it was enough to deflect a bolt or two.

Soon preparations were completed and Leida let out a terrifying roar. So loud that the people all across the battlefield could hear her.

“We are coming in hot now!” Leida shouted before transforming into a large red dragon. She then took a nosedive at the enemy’s position.

The air units freefall right into the enemy’s range as they start weaving left and right, trying to dodge the magic bolts coming towards them. Though not even halfway there, they pulled away and dropped whatever spells they had onto the enemies, before flying away out of the anti-air range. The momentum of the fall propelled them at high speeds. 

The spells that they managed to drop were all inaccurate and weak at most. It got a little bit of work done, but it wasn’t enough. It really was a low-risk fly by.

But their aim was just to buy time. Leida looked behind her only to see smoke and small fires coming out of the mage corp’s position. The intense barrage of magic bolts and large arrows that flew towards their retreating figure slowly but surely died down. The assassination squads led by Kazakiel, Balestra, and Blackmask did a phenomenal job at killing off their mage corps.

Leida ordered her wing to quickly reconsolidate again for another pass at the enemies below. The battle was still ongoing, they were going to do this quite a lot.

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Hours passed and the enemies were unending and relentless. Despite their very high kill to death ratio and their superior advantage in tactics and terrain, they were starting to get pushed back. The enemies were just sending out soldiers like they are sending meat to the grinder. There was only so much the Ak’hims could do against these numbers. Resources were starting to run out and fatigue was starting to build up. They won’t be able to hold the two points for long.

“Retreat. Move back to Dragonsmourne but keep your guard up. Do not let the enemies pursue you so easily,” Leida called out the order to retreat once she realized that they can no longer hold the lines.

Complying with her orders, everyone started to retreat back to Dragonsmourne. They maintained formation and ran while covering their backs from the Alliance who was chasing after them. Leida and Samiyadare’s wings both covered their respective side's retreat as they too, slowly made their way to Dragonsmourne.

The Alliance soldiers who saw this let out a loud and wide cheer, their morale boosted and they started moving deeper into Ak’him territories, following the Ak’him armies right at their backs. They never let up to regroup or even think twice. They just relentlessly chased them all the way back to Dragonsmourne.

And so, in the next hour, all the demons retreated back to the self-made fort of Dragonsmourne. Its big wooden gate opened for the armies of the Kingdom to enter. Though, with the enemy hot on their tails, some of the soldiers were afraid that a repeat at Prashyufa might happen. That they would fail to close the gate in time and that the Alliance would be able to charge right into the fort.

Their worries were misplaced as Klauna gave out an order. “Everyone is now out of the blast zone. Proceed with ‘The Bomb’.”

“Roger that. The bomb is now a go. I repeat. The bomb is now a go,” Blackmask’s voice came out of the grimoire.

As soon as he said that, multiple large explosions could be heard in the distance. It was only followed by more and more explosions. The explosions never end, only growing louder and louder. 

Leida squinted her eyes and saw huge piles of smoke coming out from the two points that they were holding. It formed a trail of what looks to be going to Dragonsmourne. Following the trail, she could see large explosions and infernos going off along the road and the areas nearby. The explosions creeped forth to Dragonsmourne, slowly annihilating the enemies that were in between the fort and the two choke points.

The proximity around Dragonsmourne was safe, of course. Klauna didn’t want to blow up Dragonsmourne just yet. The Alliance soldiers near the fort that wasn't affected by 'The Bomb' were soon surrounded and quickly picked off by the Ak'hims. It was easily done when the Alliance were cut off of their precious reinforcements.

This was phase two of the plan. Klauna’s way of killing as many soldiers with the least casualties as possible. Baiting and luring the enemies into a false sense of security before blowing it all away. 

By right, the battle should be won now. If according to plan, this was the moment where Klauna would declare the go for the Ak’hims to move forward and reclaim the two choke points. The enemy would be forced to retreat temporarily once they reclaimed the two points.

Everyone took a small breather and had a face of satisfaction at having successfully defended Dragonsmourne. They weren’t cheering just yet, they were saving it once they claimed the two points and have confirmed that the enemies will not come for them for the moment. All they needed was to wait for the smoke and flames to go away before going back in.

Leida and her wing took this moment to land for the first time in hours, taking a breather themselves before their eventual flight again to reclaim the two points. She landed right back where she was a few hours back, onto the small ground with the small tent. Aberanis, Parash and her younger sister were already there. 

“Good job down there guys,” Leida said to them as she landed, the energy in her voice was gone. On her face was a serious look on it as well. Though, there was a little bit of playful joy in it.

“Yeah…” Aberanis replied.

“What’s wrong? Why are you so down? We won, didn’t we?” Leida asked, curious as to why her best and childhood friend had such a grim look on his face.

“It’s just something that I noticed when fighting the enemies just now… How many did we kill today? They just kept coming and coming… How are they able to maintain such numbers, so deep into our territory? That’s insane…” Aberanis replied.

“I cannot say for you, but I think ‘The Bomb’ alone killed at least twenty thousand of them. And that’s just the south side,” Parash said in agreement to him.

“I think that’s around the number that I saw from above as well. What about it? Not really a big deal, considering we have fought bigger numbers before.”

“That’s not it… those people, half of them weren’t trained at all and the other half… it’s as if they’ve lost all sense of mind and logic. They just keep charging at us like mindless zombies…” Aberanis added.

“...well, whatever it is, it’s over for now. Let’s just wait on Ticah to give the order. We’ll discuss this later,” Leida said to Aberanis as she went over to the table to grab a small drink.

“Yeah…”

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And so, the Ak’hims waited for Klauna to give the order to move out. Tens of minutes pass by as the smoke from ‘The Bomb’ cleared away. The soldiers were anxious and were waiting for the okay to move forward and claim their victory. Their morale was high over their recent victory.

However, no such order was sent out. Thinking it simply wasn’t the time, the soldiers waited a few minutes more. 

...

Thirty minutes passed and still no orders. The soldiers were now starting to get even more worried.

Leida, in particular, started to get more impatient as time went by. “Spear. Doragon here. What is the status on the go? Are we moving in or not? You better not be dead.”

Nobody answered back for at least a few minutes when Klauna finally spoke out. “No go.”

“Huh? What do you mean no go? The enemies are dead now are they not? Are we to leave the choke points? Weren’t you the one so adamant on holding the two points?” Leida asked back. The others looked towards her with looks of confusion as well.

“I’ve received news from Wingless… there is a force that is four times bigger than the ones we fought coming their way to Dragonsmourne right now. They will arrive within the next few hours,” Klauna answered.

Murmurs could be heard coming out of the book as the other generals and officers talked in silence. Silence stares and murmurs could be heard amongst the soldiers near Leida as well.

“That’s not it either, there is also a force of at least forty thousand bypassing Dragonsmourne and taking the north route trying to blindside us. Or worst… heading straight to Divinatus.”

“What…? Four times more? A detachment to the north? Are you serious…?” Leida asked. Her jaws slacked and her eyes widened. She now understood Aberanis’ worries. How could they have so many troops left?

“I don’t joke around, Liliel. We cannot hold against these numbers, fort or no. And even if we can, we leave Divinatus wide open if we were to be besieged. If Divinatus falls, that’s it for us. We… we will proceed with Plan B. Start evacuating.”

Hearing this, soldiers from all over the fort started to lose hope. Morale took a big hit as soldiers started to talk with each other with uncertainty. They should know by now. They were briefed prior. Klauna’s plan B was the nuclear option, to retreat and lure everyone into Dragonsmourne before blowing it up to kingdom come. This was to buy them time and deny them the advantage of using Dragonsmourne as a staging ground for the assault on Divinatus.

Normally such a plan would work, the only problem was that…

“If I may, Lord General the Seventh," Vargus, the general of the minotaurs, said.

“...Yes?”

“The enemy won’t fall for it. If we all retreat at the same time and leave the fort empty… the enemy will just assume that it is a trap. Especially after ‘The Bomb’. They might even choose to ignore the fort and chase us directly as we retreat to Divinatus,” Vargus said.

“...One of us must stay behind, no? Is that what you are trying to say?” Saladis asked.

“In order to ensure the maximum damage to the enemies and to buy us as much time as possible…” Cera added.

A few moments of silence passed by with no one talking over the grimoire.

It was only after another minute passed that Klauna spoke out. “I and some of the Seventh Army will stay behind and lure them in. My name seemed rather widespread amongst their ranks. They will not let go of the chance to kill the ‘demon with the mighty banner’. We should make a go—” 

Klauna was cut off by Leida who could be seen rather angry at the Analyst. “Ticah, you sly dog. You know this a suicide plan. Why is the strategist the one staying behind?” 

“...” No replies could be heard from Klauna’s side.

“Do you even have an escape plan?” Leida asked once more.

“...” again no replies from Klauna.

Leida clicked her tongue. She then turned around to look at her wing— her most loyal subordinates, her men. She looked at them with a serious face, with a begging look as she nodded towards them. Her men saw this and looked at each other, taking a good look among themselves before nodding back to her.

 “Dammit, Ticah… Get yourself and your soldiers to Divinatus right now. I’ll do it.”

Aberanis, Parash, and Samiayadare all gave looks of shock as they heard Leida say that.

“What? What are you saying Leida?” Parash was the first to yell out to Leida. He was followed by the others, either through the grimoire or directly to her face by the people around her right now.

“I spoke with the men. Half of the First Army will stay behind. One thousand five hundred men. I’ll be their prime target. I’m quite famous on their side as well.” Leida said.

“... are you sure about this, Liliel?” Klauna asked.

“This is my hometown, Ticah. I was the one who said that we should hold this place. You tried to tell me, but I wouldn’t listen. I should be the one to do it.”

“I cannot order you to do this. I refuse to," Klauna said back.

Leida gave out a small chuckle. “You never ordered me in the first place, Ticah. I’m just following my own orders. Don’t sound too down now. There is still a chance that I get out of here alive. I am after all a dragon. I can just fly away.”

...

“... Understood. The rest of us will move out to Divinatus now. I wish you good luck. Whatever good that will do now,” Klauna replied.

Leida gave herself a satisfied nod before closing the grimoire.

“You can’t do this Leida! There must be another way!” Parash yelled out. 

His eyes then widened, as if he figured out a good idea. “I’ll do it! I and my men will stay behind—” 

Parash tried to yell out, but his words got cut off.

Cut off by a smothering kiss from Leida who held Parash tight in her arms. They stayed in that position for a while before finally releasing each other. Parash was then slammed right in the stomach by Leida before he could say anything else.

“Leida…” Parash said out weakly as he slowly lost consciousness.

“Goodbye, my love. It’s such a shame that we couldn’t get that wedding that we always wanted... Take care of him will you, Aberanis. Make sure he stays out of trouble,” Leida said to Aberanis with a smile, staring at him directly into his eyes.

Aberanis stared right back and gave her a nod. He then brought out his hand towards Leida. A hand that was met with Leida's hand. The two shared a handshake before Aberanis picked up the body of his best friend and moved away. The Second and Third army then started to disperse from the area. 

Seeing their fleeing backs, Leida then turned to the only remaining family member she had left. Her beloved sister that she’s going to leave alone in the world.

“Big sister…” Samiyadare spoke with teary eyes, her wings and her tails sunk low. Depressed. This was the last time they will see each other again.

Leida brought herself closer to her before giving her a hug. Samiyadere only returned the hug and the two stayed like that for a while. Once released, Leida went over to reach the sword from her hips before passing it over to Samiyadare. 

“Be proud, Samiyadare. You are the leader of the Dragonicias now,” Leida said to her with a smile.

Samiyadare gave her a salute with tears in her eyes. “I’ll do my best to uphold your legacy, Sister."

"I know you will. Oh right! Tell Cera that I am proud of her," Leida said before showing her back to Samiyadare, hiding her expression.

"I will," Samiyadare replied as she looked at the wide back of her elder sister.