Level 1 Fallen

Chapter 194: War Council

With the countdown already looming over our heads, I made my way back to the palace. Along the way, I could see concern on everyone’s faces. This was not a war that outside parties would get involved with, even if we had more allies than just the League of Assassins. Thankfully, aside from the two villages, there weren’t many NPCs in Fallcry, so damage could be kept to a minimum.

As I thought about that, I remembered something and looked over at Kelly. “Would you mind going to Nora’s village and helping them to evacuate? From the direction that the dragon just flew off to, they might not be too far from the dragon’s camp.”

Kelly’s eyes narrowed at that, but she nodded her head. Taking a step forward, the air around her rippled and she vanished.

Soon afterwards, I arrived at the palace, where Diane, Bella, Ennolf, and Nuoda were all waiting for me. It was rare to see Ennolf out of the kitchen, and with such a serious expression on his face.

“What’s the plan?” Bella asked, stepping forward to start the meeting.

First, I looked at Diane. “Using what we know of the rift schedules, what are the odds that they’ll aim for a pincer attack at the last minute?”

Diane blinked, opening up a few different windows to compare the schedules. “Given the timing of the declaration, it’s unlikely. We share the nearest rift, and they have no reason to try to cut off our reinforcements this time. I wouldn’t put it past them to have a few dragons hidden to the north, but it wouldn’t be the same level of scheme as they pulled off before.”

“Most likely, they don’t actually consider us a credible enough threat, since we don’t have any other major kingdoms as our backers,” Bella pointed out with a small sigh. “They probably think that they can just bulldoze over us without any problems.”

As Bella said that, Kelly immediately appeared in the office, her eyes dark. I could feel an oppressive energy radiating off of her as soon as she appeared. “What happened?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at the bearfolk woman.

“The village was destroyed,” Kelly reported, clenching her fists at her sides. “Judging from the remains I found, it looks like they destroyed it when they first set up their camp.”

“Is that enough of an excuse to get the League involved?” Nuoda asked with a trembling tone, but Diane shook her head. “Why not? They were NPCs, they can’t be brought back. Isn’t that the League’s whole purpose, to punish people that go after NPCs?”

“It’s different for the other-realm NPCs like the Chimerae,” Diane responded, her own voice dark. “Although they can’t respawn, they don’t lack the power to defend themselves. Thus, wanton slaughter is still punished, but if it’s on a small scale, or if the NPCs actively fight, the League can’t get involved. Given how much they prepared for this, they likely baited Nora and the village into being the first to attack, that way they had justification if the League investigated. They’re arrogant, but they’re not dumb, especially after Erebus got involved last time.”

“Kelly, get Aetra’s village to evacuate,” I said in a firm tone. “They’re close enough to the city that the dragons won’t go after them right away. However, if they give an ‘opening’ for the village to attack during the battle, the dragons will have an excuse to retaliate.”

Once again, Kelly vanished, the air rippling. Afterwards, I looked at Nuoda. “How are the preparations going for the other lords that I told you to have found their own cities?”

“They’re still scouting for proper lands and finding city planners. I’ll call them back now,” she said, but I shook my head.

“Don’t. The dragons will likely intercept any small groups heading for Fallcry. Tell anyone that’s too far away to make it back quickly to stay away for now. Although the countdown makes it look like there is a non-aggression pact until the end, that only applies to people within the camps of the two sides. Anyone wandering out in the wild is still fair game.”

“Diane, tell your friends to prepare. I don’t know if the passive effect of the Sunset Isles will be able to stop the dragons from attacking during wartime. They should operate under the assumption that they will be attacked at a moment’s notice, and be prepared to defend themselves against high-level threats.”

Diane gave a firm nod in response, already opening up her friends list to send the message. With the death of Nora and her village, the atmosphere had turned far darker.

“Bella, Nuoda, how did the training of the soldiers go?” I asked, looking at the duo.

Bella was the first to answer, her eyes narrowed. “We invested heavily to increase their levels and numbers, and I led them through some training drills. If push comes to shove, they should be able to fight the lower-ranked dragon soldiers. Don’t expect them to be able to fight a grandmaster, though.”

“I won’t. Leave those to Kelly and I. I won’t be focusing on defense this time like I did with Ella’s war. I’m going to leave that to all of you. Once I’m done with my preparations, I’ll be focusing entirely on offense. And on that subject,” I paused, briefly using Beyond the Veil to verify that there were no nearby observers.

However, while there weren’t any nearby, I did see a trace of something. A glowing spot in the corner of the room, pulsing with faint energy. My eyes narrowed, and a spear of ki stabbed straight into it, shattering the spot of light.

The others in the room all reacted with alarm as I reappeared, their eyes turned towards the damaged corner. “Someone was spying on us,” I explained. I hadn’t been sure if Beyond the Veil would allow me to spot remote observers, but I decided to give it a try regardless. Given that Beyond the Veil itself had its weaknesses, it was reasonable to assume that there was no perfect skill.

“Anyways, as I said, I will be focusing entirely on offense. For that reason, after we are done with these plans, I will be disappearing for a few hours. There is a certain skill that I need to train just a little bit further, at which point I will have everything I need for complete confidence in this fight.”

“My preparations will be invisible turrets along the walls. Far more powerful and complex versions of what I used in Ella’s war. They should be enough to stop the lesser dragons from approaching the city, but it’ll still take everyone working together to stop a ranged bombardment.”

“Diane? How did your defense project go?”

The halfling looked up, still typing away to send various warnings. “It won’t compare to the natural barrier around Ella’s city, since we don’t have a proper City Planner, but I’ve set up a layer of runes all along the outer wall that are tied to a central battery array that’s charging up here in the palace. Currently, it’s set to accumulate power, but once I draw the connection rune, the barrier will rise. Unless it gets turned off from the inside, it should only be taken down once the energy has been depleted.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to know how she had gotten a runic battery, whether it was something she bought from another player, or a special rune pattern that she learned in the sanctum. Regardless, it was the effect that was important. “Got it. Ennolf, you’ll be in charge of maintaining morale. Right now, the atmosphere in the city is on the brink of collapse.”

“At this rate, even if we win tomorrow, a large number of people will leave the city. Or, they may even leave before then, feeling that there is no hope and not wanting to be tied down. You are a constant face in this city, one that has brought happiness to everyone you can. The people trust you, so this is a job that only you can handle.”

Ennolf nodded his head in agreement with a solemn expression. “Got it, I’ll do my best.”

“Is there anything that anybody else wants to add?” I asked, looking around. After a few moments, seeing that nobody spoke up, I continued. “When Kelly returns, tell her what I said. When the time comes, she can join me on the counter-offensive. And also tell her that I’ll be counting on her for round two. She should understand what I mean by that.”

“Are you not worried that the enemy saw our plans when they were still spying on us?” Nuoda asked, but I shook my head.

“Everything that had been discussed before that was just obvious behavior. We are the defenders in a siege battle. Securing ourselves is only natural, and we hadn’t mentioned any of our secret plans before that. Moreover, mentioning the barrier around the Sunset Isles that prevents monster attacks should discourage them from going after that city. After all, such a barrier would likely impose heavy penalties on those that go against it, so it wouldn’t be worth their time. Not when all they have to do to win is to take our capital.”

After I said that, I turned and walked out of the room. “Oh, and Diane? If you see an opening tomorrow, you can assassinate the enemy leader. Just make sure that you’re able to get out safely when you do.”

Diane’s eyes lit up, and she quickly nodded her head. “Got it. I’ll keep an eye out for my chance to strike.”

With that, I teleported out of the palace, immediately using Beyond the Veil. I teleported around the city rapidly, never staying in one place for more than a few seconds. For the first round, this was to remove any other observation points that had been set up, ensuring that the enemy was not privy to our plans.

However, once I had traversed the entire city twice over, my steps only became faster. Using the city wall as a track, I made lap after lap, pushing my use of Glancing Steps to its limits. Until, finally, four hours later, I received an evolution prompt. Glancing Steps-X had evolved into World Walker.

Now that that was done, I began creating my defensive turrets. Normally, shadows would naturally not be considered a viable building material for Walking Fortress. However, I channeled it together with Shadow Forge and Shadow King, both of which turned shadows tangible and made them a valid material. 

In addition, I added Beyond the Veil, ensuring that the towers would remain in the spirit layer, with only their fired bolts entering the material realm. These bolts were produced and guided by Shadow King and Shadow Forge, and could be fired rapidly. And finally, to prevent the towers from being taken down by fire breaths, I threw on Infernal Hellstar, which would absorb nearby fire to reinforce itself.

Naturally, I didn’t expect these turrets to be invincible. I had learned from experience that targets in the spirit layer via Beyond the Veil could still be targeted by energy attacks. However, this combination of five grandmaster skills was the single most powerful turret that I could make at the present moment.

That said, combining five grandmaster skills into one enchantment was far from easy. Even if none of them were magic skills, I felt the strain on my arms every time I attempted it. Every few failures, I had to heal my arms with Internal Recovery before continuing.

This process lasted even longer than training my Glancing Steps, with each attempt requiring me to clear my mind and focus on how each skill fit into the puzzle. And, after five hours and nearly thirty attempts, I finally felt the enchantment settle in. Now, there was only one thing left to do, and I only had half a day to take care of it. Less if I took into account time for sleep, and I was not going to go to such an intense battlefield half-dead from exhaustion.