January 1, 629

  I watched Antares Squadron enter the fray, nodding at their display of combat prowess. Those chosen to fly the new generation of jet aircraft were the aces, the best pilots that Iron Legion had produced over the last two years. All of them were summoners, and all of them were on another stratum of combat effectiveness compared to their peers.

  Handed some of the best technology that Wonderland could offer, their presence on the battlefield was multiplied. With their speed and maneuverability, they were untouchable even by Sovereigns. Or, at least as far as we knew.

  With them once again asserting our air superiority, I turned my attention to the rest of the battlefield.

  The Line’s barrier was finally deployed in the time that Antares Squadron moved into action. Using Programmed Magic and empowered by Mana Crystals embedded in the wall, the barrier was able to repel the blizzard, giving roughly a mile of visibility. It allowed our turrets to fire for maximum effect, revealing the dense sea of incoming monsters.

  The expenditure to maintain the barrier, as General Gaffney had stated, was baffling to think about. We would burn through entire truckloads of Crystals by the day. There were entire teams and supply lines dedicated to making sure that every projection device was constantly stocked to keep the barrier maintained. Entire cargo planes were filled and emptied every day, a whole fleet of them exclusively used to ferry the mined Crystals from the Island of Continuance.

  The wealth being burned through daily was incomprehensible to the average Magus, and I already knew that these expenditures would continue for months. We had been stockpiling the Crystals for over a year now and the warehouses were finally being opened up. But the expenditures still exceeded the production rate.

  We had enough in storage to last us 3 months, a crucial buffer. With our production rate, we could draw out those reserves for a year. Once it ran out, parts of the barrier would have to be shut down, reducing kill efficiency.

  Of course, this war wouldn’t last a year. I refused to allow that Sovereign to sit there and wear us down for so long. I’d make my moves before then if it refused to budge, but my bets were on that mobile blizzard being the first to pick up its feet.

  It would realize that unlike the Treehouse, we couldn’t be overcome by numbers. We would repel every siege, repel every million of monsters, and it would be forced to take action itself.

  The timer on our war was determined by how long it would take for it to realize that we couldn’t be beat. Once it gave in, I’d play my cards.

  I just hoped that the Sovereign was dull enough to draw things out. I still needed time, and I couldn’t make such big moves before my own projects were completed.

  My overview of the local battle didn’t reveal much. The blizzard refused any observation, and I certainly wouldn’t take my Desert Eagles in there. The rear of their lines behind the blizzard, however, were chock full of targets.

  I pointed toward one a hundred or so miles from the blizzard, a nest that had been built up in recent days. It seemed there was a Gut Root there responsible for supplying sustenance.

  “General, have you started launching missions to take out these nests?”

  “No sir.”

  “Then allow me to start. Although the Scourge has what seems like an inexhaustible supply of food coming in from their Gargantuan Intestine, we have no reason not to take out their supply lines. If they’re planting these nests and Roots, then that means they need them. I’m taking a few helicopters, so keep tabs and use us as an example.”

  “Understood.”

  He responded as I turned, my steps taking me out of the Command Center and toward our staging area. I found my Desert Eagles there, as well as Talexia, Ikhor, and Faey.

  Everyone stood when I entered.

  “We have our mission. We’re raiding a Gut Root nest well behind the blizzard in order to take out a source of sustenance for the Scourge. Peak enemy strength sits at Authority 9. We’re taking a chopper from the airfield in ten. Pack light.”

  Everyone silently moved with my command, grabbing and checking their gear.

  I turned toward Talexia, smiling.

  “I know I said I’d have you stay back, but how would you like to watch the show?”

  “Are you sure it’s wise for a Marshal to head out into the field on a whim?”

  “We have camo to help mitigate signatures. I also wanted to take Faey, give her a little glimpse at some field work. I figured you and Ikhor would want to be involved.”

  “You figured correctly. Very well.”

  I nodded and turned to Faey. She looked at me with a wide smile, having heard what we said, so I just ruffled her hair.

  “Helmet on. We leave in a couple minutes.”

  “Okay~.”

  She responded enthusiastically, dropping her helmet on her head.

  Before long we were heading to their airfield where a few helicopters were waiting for us.

  We all piled in and took to the skies, the helicopters cloaking and going silent as they gained altitude. They flew completely invisible as we went around the blizzard.

  When we arrived at our target area, the helicopters landed on a small hill not far from the nest. Snow was kicked up, stealth systems dropped, and we jumped off.

  Once everyone was on the ground, they flew back to the sky, hovering invisibly nearby.

  Our vantage point gave us a clear view of the nest. The Gut Root in the middle towered over 400 feet tall, having only grown for two weeks. All around it were pustules filled with fluid, and around those were miles of thick red biomat. There was even a massive vein that traveled from the Gut Root to the Intestine, extending for several miles.

  Sensors deemed the atmosphere to be filled with dense toxins and poisonous Magika. A bit of observation showed some odd biological constructions that were spewing dense clouds of spores into the air. Perhaps it was to spread the biomat, but even back during my time at Stronghold Charlie, I hadn’t ever seen anything like it. Seemed it was just a new and fucked up way to spread something.

  All the more reason it needed to be destroyed.

  I had already equipped my exosuit with assault configuration, so thankfully I didn’t have to smell the rancid odors in the air like I did when I first encountered a Gut Root in the field. In my armored hand appeared a magical designator, which I pointed toward the base of the Gut Root.

  Then I tabbed up Polly’s comm line, hearing her voice.

  “Missile away. 10 seconds to impact.”

  “Eyes up everyone.”

  We all turned toward the center of the nest, my free hand falling on Faey’s shoulder. I pointed her gaze toward the Gut Root.

  “Watch this.”

  As soon as I said that, a streak of light slammed into the base of the huge fleshy tree at Mach 5.

  It exploded soon after, the ground all through the nest exploding into the air. A massive plume of flame rose from below, lighting up the night and sending the blasted tree into the air as pulverized chunks.

  I pat Faey’s back with a heavy hand, her body jolting a bit.

  “Alright, time to move. Wife, if you could take them on ahead.”

  “Of course, husband.”

  She shot me a smile before activating her boots, the Deagles doing the same. Then they started gliding along the snow, speeding toward the nest. I started walking with Faey and her parents.

  They cleared the way, the nest of monsters stirred into a frenzy. Many had died from the missile but there were many hundreds still about.

  Wide area spells from Umara cleared them by the dozen with minimal effort, while the knights like Vetsmon, Feiden, and Ponteck shot toward the higher Authority Royals.

  Those without any specific target simply started slaughtering the scattered monsters. Most of them were weak, no more than a warmup.

  By the time I started getting close with Faey, the monsters were all dead. We walked into the outer ring of the nest, the only portion that remained intact after the missile.

  I nodded at the carnage around me. The nest was thoroughly decimated. They could have another grow within a couple weeks, but it wasn’t like we didn’t have the ordnance to handle it.

  The Deagles gathered back around me, Faey glancing around like she didn’t understand what was going on.

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  With gazes on me, I gave a thumbs up.

  “Good. That’s it for the warm up. Now we get to have some fun.”

  “I was about to say. Was having a hard time believing you brought us out here for something so easy.”

  Vetsmon chuckled at me, my shoulders shrugging as I brought up a few images, sending it to their HUDs.

  “The General needed some reference material. Now though, we have a real target. Further down the Line there’s an Authority 10 Behemoth marching toward a Hardpoint. It emerged from the blizzard not long ago, but I needed to get you guys warm before tackling it. Now, we can go.”

  “Holy shit.”

  There were some mutters as they saw the data.

  The Behemoth in question was colossal. It looked like some fucked up triceratops, except this one stood 300 feet tall. It carried a lot of mass, and I was pretty sure it was built to punch a hole in the Line, because there was an army of monsters behind it.

  It was lumbering slowly along, its limbs and body as thick as a dinosaur’s should be. It carried a harrowing amount of mass, and its horns were covered in metal. I was honestly curious about what would happen in a head on collision with my wall, but I also didn’t have the illusion that the result would be anything flattering. The wall was not built to hold back the highest Authority enemies. It was built to block and annihilate millions of small fry.

  We needed to kill it before it poked my greatest defensive construction full of holes.

  The helicopters lowered back down beside us. As soon as we boarded, we were on a least time course to the target.

  It wasn’t long before it came into view.

  The behemoth still marched, mere miles from the wall and covering that distance uncomfortably fast. Tens of thousands of monsters flooded around it, some charging ahead, most keeping the pace, some getting crushed under the behemoth’s feet.

  I clicked my tongue, and at that moment, I got a ping on my Aerial. I scanned the message and chuckled.

  “Well would you look at that. There’s another one hitting the opposite side of the Line.”

  Faey turned to me as if in shock.

  “You mean they have two of these things?”

  “Probably three, actually. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s one heading down the middle that we can’t see. That one is up to the Marshals to deal with. For now, we focus on this one.”

  “What’s the plan?”

  Umara asked from beside me, causing me to sigh.

  “Let’s hope missiles can do some damage. It’s completely armored from the top though. Not sure how effective they’ll be.”

  I stepped up from my seat as we lowered our altitude. After throwing open the side hatch, I looked at the behemoth directly and got the designator pointed at it.

  I heard Polly’s voice in my ear.

  “Missiles away.”

  Another 10 seconds, and I saw three streaks zip past us, slamming into the back of the behemoth.

  They lit up the night with more fire, smoke billowing until Umara got up and cast a quick spell. Winds blew over moments later, clearing the smoke from afar and giving a clear view.

  It was completely unscathed, and the reason for that was the Authority 10 Royal on its back that we hadn’t detected before, as well as several other Authority 9 Royals backing it up. I suppose that since the behemoth’s magical signature was so colossal, a few tiny Royals wouldn’t get picked up if they were hiding themselves.

  I narrowed my eyes at them. Their barriers, composed of a dozen layers of magical defenses, were in complete shambles. But with a quick refresh, all of them were brought to full power once more.

  I gave Polly the order.

  “I need twenty high-yield missiles. We’ve got an Authority 10 on its back protecting it.”

  “Roger. 30 seconds.”

  We simply waited, and soon enough, twenty streaks of light came flying over in a staggered formation.

  They slammed into the behemoth one after the other, staggered close enough not to give the Royals time to refresh their barriers, but far enough to not get detonated all at once. Polly knew exactly what I needed.

  Sure enough, I saw some detonations occur deeper than others. Once every explosion was through, Umara washed away the smoke.

  This time, the Royals weren’t so lucky. Half of them no longer existed while others were dead or dying. That Authority 10 was the only one left, half its body scorched but still standing.

  As for the behemoth, without penetrator missiles, its back was still intact, left with nothing but dents and scorch marks.

  I looked down at Umara.

  “You guys want to handle this one?”

  “Sure! I’ve been wanting to test a few new spells.”

  “Have at it then.”

  I waved to the outside, Umara smiling before throwing herself out the hatch.

  She hurdled through the air before fire kicked up behind her, propelling her body toward the behemoth.

  The others quickly followed, jetpacks accelerating them straight toward that half dead Royal.

  Talexia stood, walking over to me with a frown.

  “John, that’s still an Authority 10, almost dead or not.”

  “Worry not, mother dearest. They’ve taken down a dozen of such Royals before.”

  “Is that right…”

  “Of course. Soften them up with a few missiles, and they become the Desert Eagle’s favorite challenge. They got Vetsmon down there too. That thing is already dead.”

  “Hm. To think a ragtag group of young soldiers has been fighting Royals entire Authorities above them. You may be talented, but I don’t like such recklessness. What other dangerous challenges have you been putting my daughter through without my knowledge?”

  “Uhh, that’s classified.”

  “Sure it is.”

  She rolled her eyes. I certainly wasn’t going to tell her about Continuance, nor would I tell her about what I had planned in the future. That was asking for a pissed off mother-in-law and I knew better than to invite such things.

  “Anyway.”

  “I’ll have a list of questions for you later.”

  “Once I kill that Royal we’ll be clear for more missiles. And the sooner the better, so let’s try this thing on for size.”

  “What do you mean, once you kill the Royal?”

  Talexia asked as I brought out a new weapon.

  The DSR 3000 was a bulky anti-materiel rifle chambered in 20mm rounds. The weapon was meant for the heaviest targets and wasn’t suitable to be shot by those without exosuits. It was equipped with the latest precision designs and optical systems for extreme range shooting, including ballistic correctors.

  Given that I was shooting no farther than a thousand feet, hitting my target would be a cakewalk, even in a helicopter.

  The pilot steadied as I took aim. Through my scope I could see a clear view of everyone whaling on the Royal. It was completely one sided, but the Royal held on, blocking attacks and evading with powerful magic.

  I waited for them to get it close to death. Then, once I found a good opening, when everyone was trying to finish it off, I let the trigger snap back.

  The explosion made my exosuit’s audio systems go mute for a second. Empowered by my magic, it kicked into my shoulder with enough force to make my entire body jolt back a bit, which was saying something.

  And I watched through my scope as the Royal’s head exploded into pink mist, the bullet then punching into the back armor of the behemoth underneath like it was butter.

  Everyone near the Royal quickly pulled back their attacks before looking up at me in the helicopter. I heard their chatter over comms.

  “Aww come on! I had that!”

  “What a fucking cockblock.”

  “Husband, I’m gonna have you for that one.”

  I smiled, putting the smoking weapon away.

  “Alright, get back on up here so we can drop some missiles. Unless you guys want to test your mettle against our ordnance.”

  “No thanks.”

  All of them hurried back, the helicopters lowering to pick them up.

  Once they were cleared, I heard Polly’s voice.

  “Missiles away.”

  We watched, and another batch of penetrator missiles slammed down at Mach 5. This time, the reaction of the behemoth was visceral.

  It roared in agony, but its body didn’t buckle. Instead, it started hurrying its steps, breaking out into a run.

  I frowned, seeing the wounds on its back. The armor was blasted away, as well as huge chunks of tissue underneath. But for a monster that big, they may as well be superficial wounds.

  “Polly, five more missiles.”

  “Roger. Missiles away.”

  They flew, and lit the behemoth aflame. This time, the fleshly wounds turned into deep holes that spewed countless gallons of blood.

  I frowned, and then Umara tapped my shoulder.

  “I can kill it from here.”

  “...Alright then. I promise I won’t steal the kill this time.”

  She laughed before sitting down on the edge of the helicopter. I took a step back, as did the others, and she started casting.

  A massive formation manifested with elemental light in front of the helicopter. It churned with thousands of runes and arrays, all of them interconnecting and surging with Mana.

  I recognized many of the runes, every image of the spell being memorized as I saw it. There was spatial magic, fire magic, air magic, and even some water magic. All of them intertwined into a single array.

  Then, when it flashed with completion, fifteen more arrays extended in front of the main one, each of them progressively smaller. They spun with their exotic functions, touching on the deepest laws of physics and magic, and warping the space around us so much that I could physically see it as the light bent around them.

  And then finally, the spell fired.

  My visor polarized, the beam that came from the spell vaporizing the atmosphere and turning it to plasma that would outshine the sun.

  I couldn’t even hear the behemoth cry out, the plasma causing so much turbulent noise that I could hear nothing but screaming, as if a hundred jet engines were surrounding my head.

  Thankfully it was only momentary. The spell quickly died, and I got a look at the behemoth.

  It now had a nice seared hole going clear through its body. The ground underneath was completely melted, flowing like lava around what was now its colossal corpse.

  I looked down at Umara with bulging eyes, and she turned back toward me with a wide smile, the liveliness in her eyes quickly fading.

  Her body went limp, so I quickly sent my exosuit away and caught her, pulling her into the helicopter and letting her lie against my body.

  “Holy shit, babe.”

  “You like it? So long as I get a minute to cast and use all my Mana, I can pull off some amazing things. I’m quite proud of that spell.”

  “I would be too. I mean, what the fuck can even survive that?”

  I looked back down, seeing the cooling pool of lava ignite the corpse of the behemoth on fire. It simply laid there, dead as soon as the beam hit it.

  Even Talexia was stunned, staring at the aftermath for multiple straight minutes.

  Umara muttered as her body went soft.

  “I just… need to rest for a bit.”

  “You just earned yourself the next month off with that one, honey. Go to sleep. I’ll get you in a bed soon.”

  She didn’t respond, her head finally going limp. Her eyes were still open though. Although she had completely run through her Mana, her body was still energetic.

  Mana exhaustion was an odd phenomenon that left a Warlock’s body in a state of delirium and suspended animation, their minds becoming jumbled as their souls opened themselves up to Mana in an attempt to recover as fast as possible.

  I cradled her before speaking to Polly.

  “Umara just saved us plenty of ordnance. Get a designator on the other one and start raining hellfire. Or better yet, get a Brigadier on it.”

  “Roger.”

  “As for the rest of us.”

  I looked at the other Desert Eagles, all of them still mute.

  I just smiled, proud of my wife’s display.

  “Let’s head back. We’re done for today.”