Chapter 337

  Qualen Woods, Archduchy of Rebirth

  Darthar-Asaria Trade Route

  Alexandra's gaze was grim as she gazed at the video feeds. They were collated from her recon drones and ships, surveying their own army from the air.

  "The enemy saboteurs have used a mix of charges, incendiary, smoke, flash and conventional explosives." Said Subtlety. "We have caught some with drone footage and taken them out with snipers on the ships, but most appear to have disappeared back into the crowds."

  Alexandra nodded.

  "We should have set up some surveillance over our own troops. I was overconfident." She closed her eyes. "They're trying a smoke and mirror approach. Panic the civvies, to prevent us from falling back. And their army has probably gone into force march, but without the blackbirds being able to get close now, we weren't able to see it in time to warn us."

  "Our skirmisher screen is coming into contact with reinforced enemy elements." Confirmed the AI. "Most likely a form of vanguard."

  "They'll be clearing the way for their infantry. Probably something similar to their air cavalry tactics, spearheads of elite units to achieve breakthroughs, backed with the mass of the slaves to give them momentum and flanked with line holders who'll flow into the breaches after the shock troops are done making them." Alexandra opened her eyes. "What's our status?"

  "Our forces are drawing into their primary battle lines relatively unimpeded. The civilians however are causing havoc in our rear, and our artillery units are having trouble setting up."

  "Of course they are." Because the idiots were stampeding towards 'safety', and straight into the soldiers trying to prepare to keep them safe. "CQ?"

  "Approaching the area with her riot control units." Which was a fancy way of saying 'marines with baton rounds'. They had planned for this possibility, though it was mostly done with surplus ammo they'd made for the police golems in Rebirth, and she had in stock to help pad the supply shipments North, to hide the fact that she had stopped making anything and was running on fumes and warehouses. "Effectiveness...impossible to estimate."

  Alexandra nodded.

  "Yeah...How are our forward units doing?"

  "Sappers are still setting up minefields, and our armored spearhead has deployed. Skirmishers are still engaging and retreating towards our line."

  "Good. Smash one of their flank vanguard units with the tanks, then bring them back in. Give them a bloody nose, try to think we're going to attempt a breakout on one of the flanks."

  "And in truth?"

  The dungeon core grinned wolfishly.

  "Have you heard of Marshall Foch? From Earth's first world war."

  "Negative, milady."

  "He was a great commander of France. He once famously said 'My right flank is under immense pressure, my center is collapsing, cannot maneuver. Situation excellent, launching my attack.'" He'd also called the Versailles Treaty a 'twenty year armistice', which was to be staggeringly prophetic, but they didn't have the time to delve too deep into Earth's mess of seemingly cyclical great wars. At least they had them away from the homeworld now. "So we're attacking. Punch straight through the middle."

  "Milady, that seems...Uh..."

  "Unexpected? We need to get the civilians out. That means giving the other side pause or they'll run us down. So we attack, straight in. Be cute with trying to draw some reserves on their flanks, then grind their center to dust and force them to take a step back lest we cut the army in three, with the retreating shattered center and both flanks still in their normal positions, and then turn on one of their flanks to annihilate it in detail. Their slaves might not have morale, but their officers do, and after what we did to their elites at the bridge...they have to be thinking about their own hides now."

  "What if they try to encircle us?"

  "Pull off a Hannibal? They can try, but..." Alexandra gestured at the strategic map, which was being updated with a variety of icons, including the minefields...on the army's sides. "Their slave backbone will dissolve under the gas mines. They'll be able to harass us, but they won't have the sheer mass and numbers to encircle us. At least not quickly. Oh they'll use wind magic and such to disperse the gas, but not before it's shattered their initial momentum."

  The AI nodded, and Alexandra took a deep, useless breath, before continuing.

  "Alright. Warn me when CQ starts getting the civvies under control. And tell the Duke of our plan. Our golems will be the spearhead, his people will be the shaft that drives and holds them in our foes' flesh. That also means that if he breaks, we're staying there. He's the only way to pull us back out."

  Subtlety tilted her head in the way Arcadia did when communicating, and Alexandra felt a pang of grief and nostalgia, which she suppressed as the AI righted herself.

  "He says they'll succeed or die trying." Relayed the AI.

  "Best I can ask." Alexandra exhaled, or rather, her hologram faithfully mimicked it. "Alright then. Let's do this."

  *****

  For once, the troops protecting the artillery regretted their new weaponry. Bolt action rifles and submachine guns were amazing tools of war, but a shield was a much better tool to prevent a baying mob of panicked civilians from overrunning their only chance at salvation in their mindless panic.

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  Knight-Commander Philia looked as the first line began to crumble, civilians beating their way through their own defenders...and raised her hand.

  Her knights exchanged uneasy glances, but they obeyed.

  Three hundred royal knights grounded the butts of their rifles, and fixed bayonets.

  The Knight-Commander closed her eyes. She was about to end her carreer, but if the vast majority of the civilians lived free to demand her head, she'd have fulfilled her oaths.

  She opened her eyes as she heard the concert of cries, just in time to feel a shadow falling over her.

  She turned around, and watched the massive mechanical manticore land behind her.

  "EVERYONE!" Yelled out CQ, her voice amplified by the manticore's speakers. The closest civilians, those who had pointed at her, heard her and froze, but the mindless mob's screams downed out the rest.

  The boss raised her sword, and Philia was almost thrown to the ground as a lance of energy split the skies, the shockwave hitting the crowd like a sledgehammer.

  This time there was absolute silence.

  "EVERYONE!" Yelled out the boss once more. "You need to move back! NOW! Sunrise is coming, and we need to be able to maneuver while we fight them! Move back! Gather what you can from the camp and get back on the road!"

  Her voice rang in the silence, and the civilians looked at each other uneasily, their panic finally starting to ease as they began to realize what had been happening. But still they milled about, and Philia closed her eyes. She knew a riot dispersing when she saw it, but there was no way-

  "You heard her holiness! Move you rats! And behave like people, not animals!" Yelled out someone and Philia's eyes snapped open, immediately focusing on a giant of man wearing a kind of metal mask. He grabbed another civilian by the shoulders, and pushed them back, before doing the same with another, repeating his instructions.

  Soon enough, others wearing the same mask -the cultists Crystal had talked about?- began to do the same, and the crowd began to flow back, this time not moving with a semblance of purpose, following the cultists as they tried to organize them.

  The Knight-Commander felt more than heard the boss gesture, and golems began to descend from the skies in jetpacks, joining the cultists and encircling the crowd, helping direct it like shepherd dogs.

  Seeing the dungeon creations' joining them seemed to give heart to the civilians, and the mob began to separate into different groups, each intent on salvaging what they could and moving south.

  The ground shifted as the manticore walked to her side, and Philia held up her hand to forestall the dungeon boss as she moved to dismount.

  "Don't." Said the Knight-Commander. "Right now you're the symbol of their renewed purpose. Stay there. Be visible. Be calm and collected. Righteous, if you want."

  "But...I'm a commander! I'm supposed to give orders!" Said the dungeon boss, and Philia was suddenly reminded that however terrifying the boss was -what the ever living fuck had she even fired into the skies?!?-, she was still frighteningly inexperienced.

  "Sometimes, your job is to just stay there and look the part. You've given your orders, now you just have to look like everything is going as planned, so everyone can do their part." Philia turned to face the boss, and smiled sadly. "Welcome to having living troops, milady."

  The boss looked at her, and nodded.

  "Right." She turned back towards to the crowd, and made a face that was...

  Philia couldn't help it, she laughed.

  "I said calm and collected, not like you're having a hot poker up your-" She coughed as she suddenly remembered the dungeon core considered the boss to be her daughter, and her...protective tendencies. "Mouth and you're trying not to choke on it." Hastily corrected the Knight-Commander.

  "I'm fairly sure I'd be running around, my arms flailing in the air." Answered CQ with a smile, and Philia saw the ripple of renewed calm pass through the crowd as those looking over their shoulders saw the boss relax.

  "Probably. But still." Philia looked to her side, and gestured.

  And with undisguised relief, her knights took the bayonets off of their rifles.

  "Just in time, huh?" Said CQ, and Philia nodded.

  "Indeed. The cavalry arrived almost late." She smiled. Despite everything she knew about the dungeon core and her efforts...her daughter was just like that. And if this kind of person was who the core had raised, maybe there was something to her project. Maybe...Maybe she was for the best. "Almost."

  "I'll have you know a dungeon boss doesn't arrive early, nor late, they arrive exactly when they mean to!" Retorted CQ with a haughty huff, and Philia let out a chuckle, the tension that had invaded her muscles bleeding out. Maybe there was an edge of hysteria to it, but at this moment she couldn't care less.

  "Of course, milady. You arrived at precisely the right time. Now, what's the plan?"

  The boss' wolfish smile suddenly reminded her that adorable or not, she was her mother's daughter.

  "We sit tight, and watch the pretty fireworks."

  "Fireworks?"

  The dungeon boss gestured with her sword, and Philia turned around.

  Her eyes went wide as she saw the army assembling into an assault formation.

  "They're going to attack?!?"

  "Yep! The one thing that they won't be expecting."

  "That's madness!"

  Something passed inside the boss' eyes, and Philia's estimation of her youth and experience changed dramatically. For a split second she had the eyes of a hardened commander, the kind the Queen had when she'd sent her to Rebirth.

  "Maybe. But it's our only choice." The moment passed, and the smile returned to the boss' face." And we get to make sure the guns keep firing. I hope you're ready for another turkey shoot!"

  Philia swallowed her retort. She wouldn't exactly call fighting against Sunrise's best as they dropped from the skies to silence the guns a 'turkey shoot', but...well, they'd already won against them once, hadn't they?

  "Of course milady."

  "Then let's get them!"

  ******

  Alexandra looked at the constantly updating strategic map.

  Their drones were getting annihilated out there, but they gave a frighteningly accurate picture of the enemy's advancing skirmisher screen, both on the ground and in the air. And with that, she could estimate the army's location.

  "Milady, CQ has gotten the civilians under control and moving back."

  Alexandra sighed in relief.

  "Alright. Excellent." She looked at her own army on the map. "Then we can begin. Order the artillery to open us a path. And let's give these bastards a taste of what true warfare means."

  "Yes milady!"

  Alexandra watched as the AI tilted her head, and a few seconds later, the artillery disappeared behind a wall of icons as it opened fire.

  Sunrise was about the discover the true meaning of the Alcheryosian tale of the dog that 'caught' the wyvern.

  And she was a lot more dangerous than a mere overgrown lizard when she was cornered.

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