Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends - Interlude - Ambush

Interlude – Ambush

Interlude – Ambush

Sigmund ran out of his fort and looked down from his floating island. Their army was surrounded, the enemy was charging at them, the intent was obviously to pin them against the defenses. He cursed inwardly, that light, it was recognizable to him. The enemy had buried teleportation platforms beneath the ground, they had to have gutted the network in all the territories around them, then somehow activated it here. He wondered how they hadn’t noticed them, but there were countless powers that could’ve hidden them, even from an army. It wasn’t important right now. He looked down beneath his island and saw holes opening up in the defensive shields of both the Citadel and Emaros, and return fire started to hit his side’s siege equipment.

The world trembled, and Sigmund saw a man standing on top of the walls of Emaros, his very presence drawing attention. They called him the Elder King, because of how he looked. He was a human, his hair long and gray, his skin weathered and filled with lines, now also marred with black beneath his skin. He had achieved Immortality late, had struggled with achieving the requirements for what he believed to be a worthy Class upgrade. His patience had paid off, as he was now the King of Edicts; Prime of Fortitude. He hadn’t fought in a long time, too long, Sigmund didn’t know all that he could do, no one did. Emaros was neutral.

The Elder King raised his head to the heavens and everyone probably felt his power hit the sky. Clouds manifested and thunder flashed. Sigmund recognized that, one of his Edicts, this one would change the weather. A thunderstorm and rain falling down on them would make the fighting even harder.

Sigmund didn’t focus on that though; others would take care of the sky. Instead, he looked at the charging army, and knew that his side was unprepared for it. They needed time to regroup, to recover and set up a defense. He started using his perks.

In a World of My Own—and he felt his person get shielded from everyone else, but not from the world itself.

Then, he focused his attention on their army and the hostile one surrounding them, went even deeper he pushed his willpower through his skill |I Spoke And Everything Listened|, and whispered.

“SLOW THEM AND QUICKEN US,” his wordswere for the world, and the world alone heard it. He felt the drain hit him and he stumbled, one hand reaching for the railing. He looked down and saw the army charging at them moving in slow motion, or at least it appeared that way from this perspective. Not the defenders on the walls though, he couldn’t separate them. He raised a hand and signed for his vessel to be made ready. They had three minutes at most to form a defense, that was as much as he could buy, they couldn’t waste it.

The storm forming above them slowed, and Tali saw Cultivators specializing in wind or storm-related Qi flying up and preparing their defense. The enemy that had appeared all around them had slowed, someone from their side had burned a powerful card to buy them time. She met Ryun’s eyes, and immediately flew down toward their Sect.

They landed in the middle of chaos, and immediately saw a group of people standing in a circle, and they made their way there.

Karya stood with a piece of paper in her hand, which she waved once she noticed them.

“I’ve gotten orders,” Karya said. “To hold against the new arrivals for as long as possible, and also to send as many hard hitters to the siege front as we can spare without compromising our ability to hold off the attackers.”

Tali grimaced. “They want to end the siege as fast as possible?”

Karya nodded.

It wasn’t like they had many choices. They were surrounded, and they had a hard center in the middle of their army that was going to pummel them if they turned to face the outside threat. They had to choose one.

Karya spoke again. “They want to burn through the city and the Citadel defenses as fast as possible, and take them before we turn everything on the new arrivals. I am going to take Vanessa and myself,” she said, then she turned to look at Ryun. “We can do a lot of damage to the defenses, unless you think differently?”

Tali glanced at Ryun and saw that he was thinking.

“I’ll go as well,” Erdania said. “I can help break down the defenses better than I can fight against an army.”

Ryun nodded, then turned his head. “Tali, can you go above us? Make sure that any of the fliers don’t take advantage, you are our only real flier.”

“I can,” She answered him.

Karya nodded, then turned to her daughter. “Nayra, take command of our warriors, keep this front and provide help to the sects around us.”

Nayra hefted her spear and sprang into motion immediately, heading for where the battle lines were being drawn. Karya then glanced at Ryun again. “I am unsure of where you will be most useful—”

“—I’ll stay on the front,” Ryun interrupted, he glanced at Selia who nodded.

Karya accepted this decision and soon, they were all moving, heading for their positions. Tali could already feel something tearing around them, whatever was slowing the enemy down wasn’t going to hold for much longer. She caught up to Ryun as he put on his armor and pulled out a large javelin out of his storage.

“What are you planning?” Tali asked.

“Why do you think that I am planning anything?” He asked back.

“You… didn’t make any… comments. You were too agreeable,” Tali narrowed her eyes at him.

Ryun met her eyes, then glanced to where Selia stood nearby, waiting for him. “We are going to fight the enemy army.”

She nearly dropped it then. The words were… simple, ordinary in their situation, but she knew Ryun. When he said stuff it often meant exactly what the individual words meant. She opened her mouth, but then paused, something in his eyes made her stop.

She knew him well enough by now to know that Ryun would do as Ryun wanted, no matter the danger.

“Be careful,” Tali said. “That army is dangerous.”

Ryun nodded. “You too.”

With that he walked over to Selia and then they took to the sky, heading in the direction of the enemy. Tali glanced up at the storm clouds above, then spread her wings just as the rain started to fall.

Eratemus watched from his flying fortress, their plan had been good, but no plan survived contact with the enemy. Everyone knew that. They just hadn’t expected anything like this. He wondered what kind of a mind had thought this up. It was a brilliant use of the teleporter platforms that had caught them completely off guard. What had appeared as an easy victory for their army had suddenly turned into a much tougher fight.

Six undead warriors joined him on the balcony, each clad in full combat gear, the best that he could provide. Eratemus glanced at them, then spoke. “Head down, defend our lines, raise any of the fallen.”

His commanders nodded, their pale glowing eyes never leaving his. The six were his commanders, his greatest warriors, Death Knights who had pledged their service in life and continued it in death. He had bound their souls to the undead vessels, had wrought all of his knowledge in them, made them great and terrible. A human, a demasi, and a ravzor skeletons, one a minotaur zombie with a half-decayed body, and the last, his oldest Death Knight had once been a skreen champion.

“As you will Lord,” Death’s Blade answered, his antennae twitching through his helmet. With no other word the six climbed over the railing and jumped.

Eratemus turned his body and headed inside, he placed commands in his current vessel, then pulled his soul out and moved to the vessel he had stored in Hitor’s fortress. He opened his eyes from within his drake vessel and stood. The vessel had already been moved into the command room, where Hitor and some of the other Sect Heads were already gathered.

“Eratemus,” Hitor greeted. “We need to take down the city walls, it can house millions, enough to give us a more defensible position.”

“I agree,” Eratemus said. “Send a call for our strongest to help with the city and citadel defenses, I shall keep the newcomers at bay for as long as possible.”

Hitor nodded, and Eratemus wished that there was more that they could do. The enemy had obviously committed everything that they had here. Perhaps the Sect army could prevail, even against such numbers, but they would break themselves in the process. And that wasn’t something that the Sects could allow, Eratemus understood that.

Without lingering, Eratemus switched vessels again. They didn’t have much time before the enemy hit their back lines and the battle started in earnest. He settled into his human form, clad in armor and walking through a large cave. Inside, an undead dragon waited. Eratemus climbed up its back and sat in the saddle. Formations activated and he took control of them before ordering the dragon to move.

The undead beast walked out of the cave beneath his flying fort and out on a small platform. Eratemus took one last look at the city of Emaros and the Citadel, and then turned away. With a small prompt, the dragon leapt and spread its wings, heading for the enemy.

Yirrel Annsi stood at the window of her tower, looking out at the army assembled around them. Her play with the teleporters had worked. She had assembled most of Hastur’s remaining armies here. She had been gathering them ever since Hastur died. The foolish Empire thought that the monsters were pursuing them, but they had just been going in the same direction. The fliers had reached her years ago, but not all of those who were land locked had. It didn’t matter in the end, she had enough of them, along with all the remaining Generals.

She commanded them, monsters and taken both. As the strongest remaining servant of Hastur, it was her right. The thoughts of monsters rumbled in the back of her head, their intelligence was… strange. Sometimes, she felt like they were just blank pages that needed orders to fill them, and perhaps they were. They could think and had a strange cunning, but they needed guidance. Without Hastur, they were lessened, but they were still deadly.

The Generals in particular. She saw the Elder King begin his work, as she had ordered him to. The Sect Army was mighty, but so where they. Soon, they would see who had the right to inherit the world.