In another Dungeon, Slade’s queen fiddled with metal quills, engraving mystical patterns on the flesh of an unconscious elf.
Violet spent little time ruling her place, and wore no crown despite her status of sovereign. Instead, she focused entirely on modifying the kidnapped elf lying on the operation table.
Gnoll witches and beholders watched her motions, studying the fleshcarving procedure, which was a well-kept secret of the Dungeon faction.
Behind her, a carriage-sized pink slime wrapped her and the elf, providing life support to both of them.
The humongous slime pulled her attention with a cough. “Hey Violet, watch this! It’s incredible!”
The whole room turned their gaze at him, and his body shone with light, displaying a battle between airships like a monitor.
“Hmm, Slade?” Violet left her bloody tools on the operation table and narrowed her eyes. “Wow, is this happening in real time?”
“Yes, my other unit is hunting around Holloweye.” Slade briefly showed Metiva, who put the crown back on Slade’s pawn.
He focused his sight on the roaring sky, sharing the intense battle that unfolded above them.
Metiva raised a question. “We often see the blimps flying around the mountains, trading goods between the Tower towns, but where did these ships come from?”
Violet was equally perplexed. "My sister didn't mention anything about pirates when she sent me here."
Then she smiled, spouting a sinister comment with mirth. "But now we can pin the blame on them for the elf kidnapping!"
Slade spared a glance at the unconscious elf, before turning back his attention to the battle. He expected these marshlands to be the last place to see some flying galleons. "How did they sail such big ships so deep in the land in the first place?"
“They seem to use flight air magic. It should be possible to sail difficult rivers if they combined it with water magic,” Metiva said.
Before the pirates dragged the trading blimps to the ground, a fleet of ships appeared from the mountains.
The pirates welcomed them with a barrage of cannon blast while the mages channeled rays of magic that tore through the wooden ships.
Projectiles seemed to bounce off an invisible shell wrapping the mage's ships.
"No way, even ships have a warding aura? I thought it was only for people." Slade couldn't wrap his mind about the attunement or artifacts needed to sustain such wide-scale protection.
Despite the magical protection, it seemed that Tower’s magical ships were less resilient when struck by cannon balls. The battle seemed to be equally destructive for both sides, until the sky suddenly darkened with clouds that coalesced from nowhere.
The pirate ships hastily scattered and dove back to the forest, while glowing embers appeared around them at an alarming rate.
A pillar of light descended from the sky, falling on a pirate ship and jumping to the next.
Just like this, a blimp and the pirate ship that latched onto it plummeted to the ground while the rest made their escape.
Violet cheered despite Tower being Dungeon's archnemesis."Yeeeeaaah! That's how you win a battle, with a big magic boom!"
"That chain lightning looked powerful." Metiva watched the sky clearing in awe.
"Huh, am I the only one worried that those guys are our upper floor neighbors?" Slade asked.
Violet shouted. “Hey, that ship isn’t falling far from your position! Go go go!”
What would the stolen cargo hide? Slade’s eyes glinted with greed.
